Experience #3 In Need of a Crystal Ball

No one has ever accused me of being a patient person. So when I found myself unsure of what direction to go with my life now that I’ve turned it upside down, I, of course, did what any impatient person does, and added consulting a psychic to my list of experiences for the year.

New Orleans is filled with plenty street psychics as well as ones that work out of the back rooms of occult shops. I wanted someone I could listen to without laughing at them and telling them they were lying, so I did a bit of research and ended up with an appointment with Cari Roy.

I enlisted my sister as chaperon as I traversed to her house in a part of New Orleans I’d never visited before and ended up at the purple door of a small blond woman with cold hands and a knack for surprising me over the hour that followed.

After the initial hand to hand contact, she sat back in her chair and weaved the story of what my life would be like over the next two years or so. It felt as though she’d tapped into one of the dream versions of my life, if I’d dare dreaming that big anymore. She predicted I’d be going back into journalism (which I’ve been working on over the last two months), moving to New Orleans (which I’ve always wanted but never considered a possibility), and that I wouldn’t be alone forever (which let’s face it, is a real possibility with how picky I am after recent experiences). She described my children’s personalities perfectly and was able to predict how their lives would turn out with only a nod of my head. She gave letters of the names of people who would help this dream life occur. Details so specific that I now find myself looking for these hints in everything I research.

Of course, this last bit has caused some friends and family to bristle. I was asked to promise not to live my life by the words of a psychic. And after searching for the house that she predicted I’d live in, a friend commented, “So you’re going to make the psychic’s words come true.”

I must confess that all these great events in my life that she predicted make me want to run out and make them happen. If you knew your life could turn out that great, wouldn’t you want to try and have it all? She presented me with all the improvements my life so desperately need right now and returned hope that possibilities I thought I’d given up long ago might still exist.

But that would be the dreamer side of my personality talking. The other side of my personality is a realist, and unfortunately, it usually has the last word. Ever notice that reality is another way of saying that you doubt something can happen, that not everything is possible. I suppose a healthy dose of reality is not a bad idea, but for most people it’s an excuse not to try, to give up on some possibilities when the odds seem impossible.

Once, long ago, a world of possibilities opened before me, and because of the realist side of my personality and a large dose of fear, I chose to take the safe path, the path with little risk and little difficulty. I’ve regretted that one choice for a long time. So for this year, a year where I’m trying to have an adventure in happiness, I think I’m going to suspend reality for a bit and allow the dreamer side of me to see what really is possible. People like Da Vinci or Oprah didn’t achieve their goals by believing they were impossible. They dreamed it and told themselves that it was possible, without doubting they could achieve it.

So maybe everything she predicted won’t come true. Maybe I won’t be able to have that life, but it won’t be because I shut myself away and didn’t try. It won’t be because I gave up and settled for something less than I’m capable of. I’d prefer it be because I tried and failed.

Hopefully, I can revisit her again for another reading to tell her that she was accurate on this one, and I really was on the first step of my journey of change as she said in her opening words. That I didn’t just give up and not take that next step because I didn’t want to prove that a psychic was real.

So if you’re looking for a good psychic, I could definitely recommend one who will motivate you to change your life.

Experience #2 Beauty is Painful

When I was dreaming up my list for 2011, I attempted to put down everything that I always said I wanted to try but had put off for one reason or another. The experience featured in this blog was a last minute addition.
I had entered an online contest to win free laser hair removal , and I thought it might be interesting to try. When I got the call that I had won one of the prizes, I was quite surprised and immediately added it to my list.

I went in for a consultation where I would learn how much money I’d need to add to my prize amount to pay for said treatment. One of my first concerns however was how much pain was involved. I have a high pain tolerance, but I wasn’t looking to be tortured. The procedure was described as being a slight pinching sensation. So I thought that couldn’t be that bad. I after all was a pincher growing up, and there was an incident after my mother had grown frustrated with my pinching and my sister’s biting that she had showed us exactly what those two behaviors felt like. I should have asked for a demonstration on exactly how hard they pinched because my mother had certainly not pinched me that hard.

I’d describe the sensation as having a needle prick you over and over on every inch of your legs, while you lay there cringing and anticipating the next sting. There are definitely spots that are tenderer than others, and I discovered every single one in the hour and a half process.

I suppose women really do go to great lengths to make themselves beautiful. I never thought I’d be one of those women, but my list of fearless adventures for the year are causing me to rethink my idea of what I will and won’t try.

Besides what’s a little pain if you never have to shave again? I‘m hoping it’s like what they say about having a baby and the memory of the pain will fade. Because of course, it takes more than one treatment. I go back for round two in two months.

Experience #1 A Toast to the New Year

In true keeping with the predictability of my life, both experiences I planned to start the new years with were canceled. Not to worry though, I improvised with something else from my thirty-three item list. I’m also sure that the cancelations weren’t some divine intervention telling me that this list is impossible. I’ve rescheduled both and will mark them off my list soon.

Instead, I spent the day sharing a bottle of wine with a good friend and talking about all the things that have changed in the past few years of our lives. My drinking wine of any sort being one of those changes. Wine was one of those things that I never really gave much thought to. I got married at twenty, and it wasn’t legal or something I had any inclination to try. In college, I visited a winery in Covington, but I didn’t have any appreciation for its strong taste.

But as I was compiling this list, I realized that one of my biggest problems in the last decade was that I hadn’t tried new things to really figure out if I truly liked them or not. In the past when I’d been offered wine, I’d automatically respond that I didn’t drink it.

So recently, after much taste testing, I’ve decided that wine is not so bad. Especially when you share a glass or two with a good friend and realize that, though many things have changed, you’re okay with these changes, even happy about them. I can definitely drink a glass to that.