Chuck and I planned to get a 6-movie pass. Now we just have to find 6 movies we both want to see.
See the full BIFF 2011 program on the website.
I can’t remember if I did have nice nails at my semi-formal but probably not, because despite trying to quit the habit for over 10 years now, I haven’t been able to. It’s not that I don’t want to or I don’t have the encouragement (read: loving nagging) to do so, it’s just a habit that is so ingrained in my system that I can’t.
So, faced with a lifetime of self-hand-loathing I decided it was time to take action and to that end I visited … a hypnotherapist.
SCARY!
When I told people I was planning on doing so, I got 2 reactions. The girls all thought it was a great idea and were keen to see what I thought of it. The guys all made bad ‘clucking like a chicken’ gags. Hypnotherapy is of course, nothing like that. The idea behind it is to access a person’s subconscious and re-program it to reflect the changes a person wants to see in themselves. A lot of people try it to quit smoking, others for anxiety or depression. The process and the purpose may be different for each person but the concept is the same – persuasion of the subconscious to accept a different reality and thereby altering the outwards or visible behaviour or attitude.
There was none of this malarcky.
For me, it was about changing my daily routine. Picking my nails was part of my every day routine, just as much as getting out of bed, making breakfast or showering – all of which I do without much thought, because they’re mostly controlled by my subconscious. Picking my nails is like that. Because it is something I have done since I was a child, my subconscious has it on my list of daily to-dos, something to be done and crossed off, just like my morning shower. So the aim of my session was effectively to re-program my subconscious to cross the habit permanently off my daily list.
The offices of the Brisbane Hypnosis Centre were is an uninspiring building in Everton Park. First impressions when going in were worryingly new-age, with a very hushed receptionist, the scent of incense and orientalesque cushions. My therapist – let’s call her Anna - started by asked all about my habit; when I started, why I did it, when I did it, how it made me feel, why I wanted to stop, what I’m tried to stop it, etc. She then went into quite a detailed layman’s explanation of how the process of therapy should work.
After that, the real process of ‘hypnosis’ began. I got comfy in the huge, squidgy recliner, arms on the arm rests and neck straight and relaxed. Anna started by taking me through an imagination exercise, to relax and start activating the different parts of my brain. She then went into a long monologue in deep hushed tones, talking about letting go and release, telling me that when I’m in that picking-nails situation I will decide not to pick but instead will feel calm and confident and turn my attention to other matters, I will no longer feel the desire to pick, and so on. While this was happening, my body went into a state of hyper-relaxation, like it was falling asleep, suspended above all matter, or like I’d taken an amazing muscle relaxant.
Writing this even a day later, I’m not sure of just want she said. You’re not expected to listen to every word, rather let them be there, part of the experience that you are having, speaking to your subconscious. I did have occasional, clear conscious thoughts but I tried to banish them as much as possible. I do know that she very cleverly used the exact terms and phrases I had used myself to describe my habit, woven in between the tones of ‘floating away’. She also talked about how I would feel in a month’s time looking at my beautiful long nails and about feeling calm and confident. It was all terribly life affirming.
The cynical side of my brain wanted to stay awake through it all – all that hypno mumbo-jumbo, ha didn’t work on me! But if you go in with that attitude of course it isn’t going to work. I have to believe it’s going to work on some level because otherwise it’s guaranteed to fail.
Walking out of the office, I DID feel calm and confident and that feeling is still here the next day. I have gone to pick at my nails once or twice I confess, when I’m distracted by other matters, but each time I’ve stopped myself. I may need to go back for another session or two but I feel very positive about the whole experience. And you never know, maybe in a month’s time I will be glancing down at my lovely nails and thinking how good they look.
Aftersocks! Care, share, wear a pairAftersocks are a fundraising project from the Rural Women of New Zealand. Made locally and with 50% local Merino Wool, all funds raised go to support communities in Cantebury and Christchurch to recover from the Earthquakes in early 2011.
Not only are they for a good cause, they look freakin' cool!I love my new socks, which arrived courtesy of my fabulous sister in law. Chuck also got a pair, so if you see him wearing them, compliment him on his nifty charity-socks.
If you'd like some Aftersocks yourself, then go to the website and buy some immediately.
ery similar pattern and style to the previous books. A bizarre opening scene leads to a progressively more complex and intricately-woven plot that is explained brilliantly in the final chapters with the goodies getting a satisfying ending, the baddies getting some form of comeuppance, liberally lavished all over with conspiracy theories, evil empires, politics, puns and innumerable literary gags and references.
We're all vaguely familiar with the story of Frankenstein. There's a mad scientist and a monster and all manner of evil things. We all know Mary Shelley wrote it when she, Percy Shelley, Byron and I imagine a few other drug-addled soaks challenged each other to write the scariest possible ghost story. Mary Shelley came up with version one of her now famous novel. That was what I knew about 'Frankenstein'.
The author Mary Shelley.
I look at a few fashion websites regularly. Not because I’m that fashionable, I just love to look at the clothes, the style and occasionally I see outfits that make me salivate a little with envy. I most regularly look at The Satorialist and the New York Magazine’s fashion blog The Cut.
I think I may have a new regular favourite though; Advanced Style. It’s a street style blog but blogger Ari Seth Cohen only snaps persons of a more ‘advanced’ age. It’s brilliant. The men and women he snaps look amazing sassy fun and fabulous. I couldn’t agree more with the blog’s byline;
Proof from the wise and silver haired set that personal style advances with age.
When I’m out and particularly at the theatre, I see so many men and women whose crisp white or grey hair is the perfect topping off to their thoughtfully put together outfits. Maybe it’s that they come from a generation where people actually got dressed rather than just putting on clothes: a generation of suits, handkerchiefs and your Sunday best, long before throw-away fashion existed.
Writer Ton Wolfe, photographed by Ari Seth Cohen and featured on Advanced Style.
My Grandma is a little old for it now but I know that in her day she had a certain style, even when living in Yeppoon. Most of the best and most admired clothes I own today either come from her or my mothers’ closet.
Even if you don’t look at fashion blogs you must check out this profile of 100 year old Ruthie. If I look as good as her when I’m even 80, I shall be a lucky old woman.
I was going to blog a list of great fashion and style websites but I’m feeling lazy this morning so will just give you the link to a thrown together list I made for my previous workplace’s blog.
Floating villages and a statue gifted by the Sultan, marking something or other. In gold.
This was the closest we got to the Sultan's 1000 room palace. That is the tour bus window you see on the left hand side there. 
Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque complete with gold-covered dome. 
pork dumpling-a-licious
and...
I love 4, 10, 15 and 23. So maybe it is a good thing I have to pause on purchasing for a month. This gives me extra time to decide...
I'm not sure exactly why or how this happened but some part of my brain that has superior control over my motor functions clearly thought it was a good idea. I am trying to organise my finances, set long term goals and get my life sorted for 2012, so in theory at least the 'pledge' – yes, pledge – that I have taken is a good idea.
