I could get used to this!

My sister and I have just got back home from visiting the spa. I must admit I really enjoyed it.

I didn't really know what to expect as neither one of us had ever been to one before, but having watched all the episodes in 'Friends' where Phoebe worked in a spa, I figured I had it pretty much sussed; which I did!! LOL!

The room was very tranquil. The walls and floor were a warm beige colour. There were scented candles on the dresser where a lot of the products were kept, There was a massage table with a cut out for your face to go through, just like in Phoebe's spa! On the counter, playing so softly that you almost had to strain to hear, was the CD 'Rockferry' by Duffy. Just in case I wasn't relaxed enough, before she began my session, the lady attending to me turned the lights down even lower than what they were.

I had a neck and back massage first. To be perfectly honest it made no difference but I guess it was relaxing. Then I had my face pampered with cleansers and scrubs. After the lady had put some pads soaked in some treatment on my eyes she started to massage my feet.

After a few moments I was startled by what I thought was snoring. I reasoned that I couldn't have fallen asleep so I shrugged it off. It happened again; I shrugged it off once more. But by the fourth incident I knew my ears were not deceiving me: I HAD drifted off to sleep!! And was snoring!!!!!!! IN PUBLIC!!!!!!!!!!!! I apologised to the lady in embarrassment but she laughed it off. When I told my sister later on what had happened she said that the lady who was giving her her treatments told her that people fall asleep all the time during sessions! It really is amazing!

Anyway, all too soon it was over. My lady finished off my feet with a moisturiser, washed off whatever she had put on my face, applied a lotion and then we were done. I could have easily gone through another hour of such pampering. I’m not surprised the stars love it so much! I may have found a new habit to indulge in this year!

What's the deal?

Greetings people! Hope your week has been great!!

Mine has been a bit strange. The people I work with are definitely odd. At first I thought it was just awkwardness on their part as I was the new girl on the block. Then I thought maybe I was giving off unfriendly vibes, which in my heart I knew I wasn't but I was seeking to find an explanation for their awkwardness with me. After crossing off these things, I've seen for sure that the people I work with are definitely avoiding connecting with me.

I'm a very open, embracing person. I love people and will talk to anyone. I have been friendly and courteous, but I have been made to feel a fish out of water. The person I am actually supposed to be working for has made no attempt to speak to me whatsoever apart from an irritated conversation today about where the cab booked to take him to a meeting was parked. Normally he just walks into our office and talks to the other two women and says nothing to me at all. On a couple of occasions he has waved to me through his office door, which I find peculiar, but that is it. Two other guys completely ignore me. One comes in and hi-fives the other two ladies and totally ignores me. Even when I asked his name he responded only to tell me his name and then continued with his conversation; he didn't bother to ask my name. That one word answer has been the only thing he has said to me in the nine days I've been there.

Today the boss, upon discovering I had chocolate biscuits said "I've totally changed my opinion of you." His PA who is my line manager expressed similar sentiment, saying that since she discovered that we had the same taste in certain things, she too feels differently about me, i.e. these episodes changed the way they saw me; it made me better in their eyes. And no, they weren't totally joking. It is the strangest situation I've ever been in but I'm not letting them affect me. I think it is bizarre for people of their calibre to behave this way. Never mind; I'm not going to stay there long. I'm working on finding a weirdo-free placement!! Will let you know how it goes.

Here we go again!

Well good morning folks! This morning I took the train to work; as I was approaching my platform I saw a familiar sign on schedule board that I hadn't seen for a long time: train delayed.

I chuckled to myself as I recalled the days of travelling on the Silverlink Rail service 2 years ago, quite possibly the worst train line in the whole of England. I've lost count of how many times the train was cancelled or delayed, in some instances the train was delayed by as much as 50 minutes.

One particular journey was so bad that I vowed to never use the service again. The train pulled into the station late, as per usual, and by this time the platform was thronging with people. We all fought, shoved and squeezed our way on the train and after about two minutes the doors shut. I was holding onto one of the bars that was at eye level for support and some unfortunate soul was wedged in my armpit. Fortunately for them my armpits were deodorised....as they are every morning I hasten to add!!

I could feel a variety of body parts squashed firmly into mine. I tried not to think about which parts they were as the train pulled away from the station. As far as the eye could see on my carriage there were people crammed into every available space. There were more people standing up than there were seated; I think I stopped counting after 100. You could hardly breathe. It was so bad that if the train had crashed we would all have died standing up! If I could have manoeuvred my hands to my phone I would have taken a picture of the sight and sent it to a national paper.

If animals were transported that way there would have been a national outcry with immediate remedies being drafted up in Parliament. But for Silverlink passengers, pfffffft, forget about it. Although that episode was the worst case of overcrowding I'd experienced on that line, it was pretty much standard fare.

As I waited on the platform today wondering what would happen, the train rolled up. It only had three carriages with possibly 200 people to get on. Yep, it was pretty similar to my experience 2 years ago; it all came flooding back to me. After one stop the congestion eased a bit. When I got to my stop I chuckled to myself and shook my head. Some things never change! I'd better steel myself as this is the way I will be travelling to work for the next few months or so!

New Career?

Never one NOT to act on impulse, I've booked myself onto a Life Coaching course for two days next month. I do love helping people. Funnily enough, once upon a time I could see myself as a counsellor, until I realised that as a counsellor you cannot tell people what to do. You have to help them find the answers themselves, which, depending upon the emotional/psychological state the client arrives at your door, may not always be possible at worst and extremely difficult at best. I prefer to make suggestions or give people examples of what has happened when other people have done the things I've suggested. I can see it now: sitting in my own comfy, spacious office with a steady stream of clients who I successfully help find their path. Counselling, listening and giving sound advice is one of my strengths so let's see if I can make a career out of it! Will keep you posted!

Memories

I've been thinking about my father a bit today. He passed away at 12.30pm on September 6th 2007. My family and I have been coping very well with it; I was concerned at the time that I didn't really cry about his death. I haven't cried for more than 20 minutes all told. Maybe because I'd had a little while to prepare for it, or maybe I don't really know how to grieve. Maybe I was in denial, because the whole thing seemed so unreal that I didn't believe my father would die from his illness. I don't know. In any case when I've thought about him today, tears have pricked my eyes.

Nothing triggers the memories really. They just come from out of nowhere of their own accord. I know people grieve in different ways, but I do wonder if I've repressed my emotions concerning my father's passing and other horrible events in my life, or if my emotions are frozen. I picture an emotional dam on the inside that is straining at the boundaries that is going to burst at any moment. I'm sure it will happen at some point and to be honest, I'm looking forward to it. It will be a complete release of every repressed/frozen/denied emotion that may be inside me. It will be very freeing, liberating in fact, and I believe it will help in closing certain chapters of my life for good.

Violence, violence everywhere

Today I witnessed two acts of violence. On the bus en route to church, three people got on a few stops from where I needed to alight. There was a guy who was cussing like crazy, every second word was a swear word. At first it was quite muted then he started to raise his voice. The guy was English and was racially abusing an eastern European couple. The eastern European guy got fed up and began to swear back at the English man. After the European guy threatened to shut the English guy up if he didn't stop, they both stood to their feet. Then as they sat down the English guy threw a punch and a fight broke out. It was over in a few seconds, but then they were on their feet again after the English guy accused the other man of spitting at him and more punches were thrown. They had each other in a head lock for ages. When they let go of each other the eastern European guy had a bloody nose. His girlfriend pleaded with him to let it go, but he was livid. I spent some time with them after we all got of the bus to make sure they were OK. I urged them to go to the police but they refused as they felt that the police would side with the English man as they were foreigners. It was sad; they were such a sweet couple.

The second incident was on my way home from church. There was a young man trying to make a U-turn in the middle of the road. He was completing his first turn when another car drove in to his space blocking his path as he tried to make his second turn. The young driver ended up driving into the pavement. The young man corrected himself and eventually completed his turn, the older guy who practically drove into him called out something. The young guy made an obscene gesture with his hand and the older guy obviously said something in return, because the young man got out of his car and threw something full force at the older guy's side window. It didn't smash but it may have cracked; I couldn't see. I really can see why people are leaving England by the boatload. It's getting worse.

What is the real issue?

So, Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. On the day that he won, I was in a state of shock and elation the whole day. The enormity of the occasion as well as the daunting task that lay ahead for the then President-elect Obama penetrated deeper into my mind as the day progressed. Every people group across the globe are pinning the fulfilment of their hopes and dreams of a better world on him; he will be expected to straighten out the economy of the US and assist with stabilising the global economy; he is expected to bring an end to the war in Iraq, close Guantanamo bay, sort out the war in Gaza, keep an eye on Pakistan and Iran’s Uranium purchase; the list goes on and on. Not to mention the very real threat of assassination by those who did not want to see him take office in the first place.

It dawned on me that quite possibly, in the history of mankind, no one individual has had more expected of them than President Obama. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think even Nelson Mandela was under this amount of scrutiny and pressure when he became the first black President of South Africa all those years ago, another incredibly moving occasion. Maybe he was; but in the post 9/11 era, there are threats and dangers today that didn’t exist in the Nineties so things are radically different for this new president.

Since President Obama’s victory, I have found the most bitter and extreme displeasure to this event in the once place I never expected to find it – the church.

There are those who are considered leaders and prophets of the Christian church as a whole, such as Dutch Sheets, who have gone on record as saying President Obama’s victory was not God’s desire, while others have stated that he is the anti-Christ spoken of in the Book of Revelation in the bible. They have taken this from Revelations 13, in which a charismatic figure has the whole world following after him for a period of time.

Now don’t get me wrong, I understand if Republicans are upset that a Democrat won the election and it goes no deeper than that. The church by and large is Republican. But from the conversations I have had and read, I don’t think that the issues people have with the president is solely his political affiliation. Google Barack Obama and the church or Barack Obama and Christians and see what you think.

I’m a Christian and whilst I don’t know the bible like the back of my hand, I know it says about leaders. Speaking to the church in the book of Titus chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, Paul the Apostle says this:
“Remind them (Christians) to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men”.

Again it says in the book of Romans Chapter 1 verse 1 to 7:
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God” (bold script mine).

And lastly in the book of Timothy it says:
“I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority (bold script mine), that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Such is their contempt towards this new president that some of those who are classified as prophets and Christian leaders to the nations seem to have ‘forgotten’ these scriptures. Why is President Obama exempt from the explicit mandates above as far as some of them are concerned?

I believe that God uses the right tool for the job, and this new administration is one of the tools He is using to bring to the forefront things in the church that had previously been hidden beneath smiles and “Christianese” i.e. religious sounding language. Whatever we think of the President and his stance on certain issues, we are called to pray for him and his administration. If there are things that we do not like, pray, God will hear and do as He sees fit. It is not the role of anyone, irrespective of the position they hold in various circles, to damn a leader/politician simply because they do not like them personally.

What everyone must realise is that this new administration is made of up of people who won’t always get things right, who will make mistakes and sometimes do things we don’t like. The fact someone is a hugely popular choice for a leader does not mean they are in league with Satan! It simply means that people are desperate for change and they chose the party that for them best represented that.

When all is said and done, whether we believe it or not, God is in control. He knew this day would come and He knows what He has created President Obama to do in this hour of our history. Let us not lose sight of that.