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Jul. 22nd, 2002
Came to school more or less on time for my 6 am breakfast with Darkside. He was busy: first working on a D&D campaign idea he had, and later reading the text for his next class. Assorted silliness. He didn't walk me to class today, as he was busy, and this was DeVry and I'd be safe walking by myself. I pouted and gave him a choke-hold hug.
I ate fire this morning!
No, seriously, get your mind out of the gutter. Darkside's elemental nature is Fire, yes. We knew this already. But no, he was not the one eaten.
Professor Bird is a hypnotist, in addition to teaching science. This morning, he hypnotized the entire class (the standard "Your hands are welded together" and "There are balloons attached to your wrist" as screening) and then picked out the three most susceptable/cooperative subjects: this one guy (I think his name is Max?), the redheaded girl who I shall call Bambi, and *drumroll please* ...none other than the Lunatic.
So the Lunatic goes up to the front of the room and is hypnotized some more, doing my best to cooperate, feeling that this is a very familiar state from my sessions of self-hypnosis over the years (thank you, RAH and Joan Eunice), and knowing that if I Willed it to be so, I could step out right then and there. (I tested, with the welded hands, and noted that a minor act of will did indeed pry a finger loose, but I didn't want to disrupt my own hypnotic state more than that, because I was curious.)
Instead of opting out now that I was this far in, I stood there in front of the class, feeling only vaguely silly, holding a metal rod with cotton wrapped around an end in one hand, and going through the three steps: visualizing the flame as it was held out in front of me, sticking the rod in my mouth and completely sealing my mouth, then withdrawing it and holding it in front of me, declaring in a loud clear voice, "Power!" Bird commented to the class that the proper saying of the word "Power!" was the most difficult part.
After perhaps three dry runs of this, he judged me ready, and took the rod from me, and did something out of my view. I hadn't known what was going to be happening until that point.
He returned with the cotton wet, and a lighter in one hand. He lit the cotton instead of tapping it as he had before, and swiftly guided my (trembling) arm towards my mouth. Fire went in, closed and sealed mouth.
The fire consumed the small amount of air inside my mouth and then went out, creating a partial vacuum. "Power!" I declared, removing rod from my mouth and holding it out triumphantly in front of me.
Bird then announced that yes, indeed, I was a very powerful person, and that this was a very powerful demonstration of the strength of my mind and focus, and elaborated that pretty much anyone in the room could have done the same thing. He brought me out of my hypnosis with the instruction that I would remember everything that had transpired and that I would realize the full implications of what I had done.
I realized that the stuff he'd used to make the flame tasted damn nasty.
After that, we filled out a worksheet as a brief let-down exercise before he released us to the world. I finished swiftly, as I'd worked with semi-log graphing before. On my way out, Bird shook my hand again and congratulated me.
When I'm not under hypnosis, I'm going to see how he does compare against me for size, because he reassured me that he was a big and powerful man when I was under, so that I wouldn't worry about leaning against him when he was hypnotizing me.
The rest of the class was somewhat impressed with the demonstration of fire-eating. Some of them wanted to know how it had felt from my side. Some of the class hadn't been quite as hypnotizable; I heard one guy saying that he couldn't get his wrist up in the air when there had supposedly been balloons on it.
Bird had us taking deep breaths in and out, or what he thought to be deep breaths. I remember that I thought that for me to be relaxing, he wasn't giving me enough time to be breathing; what did he think I was, an amateur?
All in all, an interesting experience.
No, seriously, get your mind out of the gutter. Darkside's elemental nature is Fire, yes. We knew this already. But no, he was not the one eaten.
Professor Bird is a hypnotist, in addition to teaching science. This morning, he hypnotized the entire class (the standard "Your hands are welded together" and "There are balloons attached to your wrist" as screening) and then picked out the three most susceptable/cooperative subjects: this one guy (I think his name is Max?), the redheaded girl who I shall call Bambi, and *drumroll please* ...none other than the Lunatic.
So the Lunatic goes up to the front of the room and is hypnotized some more, doing my best to cooperate, feeling that this is a very familiar state from my sessions of self-hypnosis over the years (thank you, RAH and Joan Eunice), and knowing that if I Willed it to be so, I could step out right then and there. (I tested, with the welded hands, and noted that a minor act of will did indeed pry a finger loose, but I didn't want to disrupt my own hypnotic state more than that, because I was curious.)
Instead of opting out now that I was this far in, I stood there in front of the class, feeling only vaguely silly, holding a metal rod with cotton wrapped around an end in one hand, and going through the three steps: visualizing the flame as it was held out in front of me, sticking the rod in my mouth and completely sealing my mouth, then withdrawing it and holding it in front of me, declaring in a loud clear voice, "Power!" Bird commented to the class that the proper saying of the word "Power!" was the most difficult part.
After perhaps three dry runs of this, he judged me ready, and took the rod from me, and did something out of my view. I hadn't known what was going to be happening until that point.
He returned with the cotton wet, and a lighter in one hand. He lit the cotton instead of tapping it as he had before, and swiftly guided my (trembling) arm towards my mouth. Fire went in, closed and sealed mouth.
The fire consumed the small amount of air inside my mouth and then went out, creating a partial vacuum. "Power!" I declared, removing rod from my mouth and holding it out triumphantly in front of me.
Bird then announced that yes, indeed, I was a very powerful person, and that this was a very powerful demonstration of the strength of my mind and focus, and elaborated that pretty much anyone in the room could have done the same thing. He brought me out of my hypnosis with the instruction that I would remember everything that had transpired and that I would realize the full implications of what I had done.
I realized that the stuff he'd used to make the flame tasted damn nasty.
After that, we filled out a worksheet as a brief let-down exercise before he released us to the world. I finished swiftly, as I'd worked with semi-log graphing before. On my way out, Bird shook my hand again and congratulated me.
When I'm not under hypnosis, I'm going to see how he does compare against me for size, because he reassured me that he was a big and powerful man when I was under, so that I wouldn't worry about leaning against him when he was hypnotizing me.
The rest of the class was somewhat impressed with the demonstration of fire-eating. Some of them wanted to know how it had felt from my side. Some of the class hadn't been quite as hypnotizable; I heard one guy saying that he couldn't get his wrist up in the air when there had supposedly been balloons on it.
Bird had us taking deep breaths in and out, or what he thought to be deep breaths. I remember that I thought that for me to be relaxing, he wasn't giving me enough time to be breathing; what did he think I was, an amateur?
All in all, an interesting experience.
Drama: size, extra-large
Jul. 22nd, 2002 09:52 pmBleh, is all I can say. Bleh bleh bleh.
Had discussion. Reached a conclusion less horrific than I had been fearing. Went home, stressed.
I hope I'll be calm, easier with myself, in a month's time. No less silly an arbitrary choice of times than Ekaterin's year of mourning. One month. 28 days. Time for the frantic mind to spin around in circles. Time for Darkside to pat my head awkwardly and tell me I'll be all right, with or without others to tell me I'm wonderful, great, awesome, delicious. Time for me to punch my pillow and yowl about life, love, the way the world spins backward some days.
Time to sing sappy love songs along with the radio with vicious lungs; time to cry in the rain, or at least in the shower (this is Arizona. One must remember to be practical.); time to reweave mind and heart.
Time to heal. Time to grow the fuck up.
Who the hell needs drama?
Had discussion. Reached a conclusion less horrific than I had been fearing. Went home, stressed.
I hope I'll be calm, easier with myself, in a month's time. No less silly an arbitrary choice of times than Ekaterin's year of mourning. One month. 28 days. Time for the frantic mind to spin around in circles. Time for Darkside to pat my head awkwardly and tell me I'll be all right, with or without others to tell me I'm wonderful, great, awesome, delicious. Time for me to punch my pillow and yowl about life, love, the way the world spins backward some days.
Time to sing sappy love songs along with the radio with vicious lungs; time to cry in the rain, or at least in the shower (this is Arizona. One must remember to be practical.); time to reweave mind and heart.
Time to heal. Time to grow the fuck up.
Who the hell needs drama?
New Kid In Town
Jul. 22nd, 2002 10:07 pmOn Monday, the new kid saw me, saw my necklace, and said, "Merry meet!" to me.
Friday, the new kid and I chatted about this and that. I didn't catch his name then.
Today, I spent somewhere upwards of five hours chatting with the new kid. First, he came by in the cafeteria where Darkside and I were hanging out. I hailed him, and he paused long enough to sit down and be introduced to Darkside. They started chatting away a mile a minute, Darkside smiling and laughing, outgoing as anything. (Darkside is quiet and reserved, mostly. There have been exceptions. It takes a lot to make an exception.)
The new kid's nickname, based on my standard creation scheme, is to be Panther. He's a Water, from Arkansas. I didn't know they had Wiccans in Arkansas!
I introduced him to the closer of my local witches. He got along with all of them, a good sign. He's an RPG and anime fan too, which is an even better sign. He shared war stories of him vs. abusive churches, usually to their detriment. Even if they're bogus, they're still good stories.
He and I got each other caught up on what's been happening in our romantic lives. There's this chick. He's had really, really bad luck with guys of Darkside and Shrimpy's given name, which gave me the flying giggles. I queried: was he a Dave? No, but his best friend back home was.
We exchanged high-fives upon knowing that same thing about the shields of your partner when you've got a certain kind of bond. It just doesn't work, is all. I did some astral skating to find something out for him. When I do that, and then come up holding a bubble of something, it's not to freak out, it's just to share that yeah, I was there, and yeah, we're talking about the same character... my wrist bones ache. I should know now to grab with my primarily projective hand.
Sounds like an interesting guy, all in all. We did a small degree of the information crossload that you get when there are two social people who are getting to know each other at as swift a speed as possible. We've been needing another Water, to balance out all that Fire. (Mmm, eating fire!) It looks like Dawn's an Air, as one of her nicknames is evidently Butterfly.
The spirit who hangs out with my pendant showed up and began making the usual trouble that happens when I get a new male close friend. Panther ID'd that it was after him, and that it had showed up when I'd touched my pendant. That was clue enough, and I opened the proper channels and sent the proper reassurances; the botherment stopped. Is this going to happen every bloody time I meet a new guy? It certainly seems like it!
Friday, the new kid and I chatted about this and that. I didn't catch his name then.
Today, I spent somewhere upwards of five hours chatting with the new kid. First, he came by in the cafeteria where Darkside and I were hanging out. I hailed him, and he paused long enough to sit down and be introduced to Darkside. They started chatting away a mile a minute, Darkside smiling and laughing, outgoing as anything. (Darkside is quiet and reserved, mostly. There have been exceptions. It takes a lot to make an exception.)
The new kid's nickname, based on my standard creation scheme, is to be Panther. He's a Water, from Arkansas. I didn't know they had Wiccans in Arkansas!
I introduced him to the closer of my local witches. He got along with all of them, a good sign. He's an RPG and anime fan too, which is an even better sign. He shared war stories of him vs. abusive churches, usually to their detriment. Even if they're bogus, they're still good stories.
He and I got each other caught up on what's been happening in our romantic lives. There's this chick. He's had really, really bad luck with guys of Darkside and Shrimpy's given name, which gave me the flying giggles. I queried: was he a Dave? No, but his best friend back home was.
We exchanged high-fives upon knowing that same thing about the shields of your partner when you've got a certain kind of bond. It just doesn't work, is all. I did some astral skating to find something out for him. When I do that, and then come up holding a bubble of something, it's not to freak out, it's just to share that yeah, I was there, and yeah, we're talking about the same character... my wrist bones ache. I should know now to grab with my primarily projective hand.
Sounds like an interesting guy, all in all. We did a small degree of the information crossload that you get when there are two social people who are getting to know each other at as swift a speed as possible. We've been needing another Water, to balance out all that Fire. (Mmm, eating fire!) It looks like Dawn's an Air, as one of her nicknames is evidently Butterfly.
The spirit who hangs out with my pendant showed up and began making the usual trouble that happens when I get a new male close friend. Panther ID'd that it was after him, and that it had showed up when I'd touched my pendant. That was clue enough, and I opened the proper channels and sent the proper reassurances; the botherment stopped. Is this going to happen every bloody time I meet a new guy? It certainly seems like it!
Votania's rarely seen me happy and giggling. Evidently this is a behavior I mostly save for Darkside. I've evidently been quiet and depressive all the time she's known me, just about. Having me continually happy and smiling and laughing is a new one on her.
I'd hate to see what I'd be like without the stablizing influences of Darkside and Votania.
--Wait, I already have. Nope, I don't like that, not one little bit!
I'd hate to see what I'd be like without the stablizing influences of Darkside and Votania.
--Wait, I already have. Nope, I don't like that, not one little bit!