This Week in Freebies

We are definitely rolling into November. The nights are cooling down quite nicely... and so is the house. Last night we slept in a balmy 10C/50F house. We needed an extra blanket for that one! .... speaking of which.. I need to go and pull out the futon kansoki for Mayu so that she can heat her side of the bed up as the sheets do get quite chilly. I'll be right back...

This week was a great week for "freebies", let me tell you!

After the gym yesterday, I was at Y Plaza shopping for groceries (exhorbitantly expensive, thankyouverymuch). I ran across our neighbour across the street from our old house in Sanno. She works in the food preparation section of the supermarket. She waved and smiled. I waved and smiled.

A little later on she came up to me and told me that a lot of their autumn vegetables were ready and asked if I would like some. Well, never to turn down food of any kind I whole-heartedly accepted her kind offer of vegetables. We agreed that I would pop by their house in the early evening, around 6pm or so.

Thanks to her kind offer I was able to return the broccoli and daikon to the produce department save a few hundred yen on an otherwise ridiculous grocery bill (nothing was on sale, nothing near expiry).

I made it home in good time and was doing a few things around the house when the doorbell rang about 5pm. It was Mr. Ito and he was delivering the vegetables that his wife had talked to me about earlier that day! How nice of him to do so! For the entire time we have been living here in Kamishii-mura they have been giving us vegetables all summer (eggplant, cucumbers, tomatoes), and in the autumn and winter (daikon, broccoli, etc.)

This summer, because I suffered from the shingles and really haven't yet fully recovered, I never got around to visiting them, or receiving any vegetables from them in exchange for wonderful conversation. It is a shame because they grow so many that they really do appreciate it when we come and help them decrease their vegetable load. On this day Mr. Ito dropped off a beautiful healthy head of cabbage, along with three perfectly formed daikon radishes, two ears of broccoli, and several carrots.

Those fresh, organic vegetables were a very nice treat to receive.

For Free!!!!!

In addition to that nice surprise, all day Monday, and all day Tuesday I had the Japanese Tax Agency inspecting me! They grilled me, and dug up absolutely everything one might imagine from the kimono sales for Cam2PR, to my Paypal account. They even asked me to print out my Etsy online Store for proof that I am conducting an online business.

The went all the way back to when I started working for myself, namely 2003, and asked me a great deal of questions while pouring over every little detail of my invoices, and my bank books, as well as my investment statements from both Japan, and those received as inheritence from my grandparents. It was probably one of the most stressful days of my life, as anyone who has been inspected by the "IRS" will know. My entire body has been on ultra-high alert this entire month because I was informed at the very beginning of the month, that this inspection would take place at the very end.

What a long month!

In the end, they found some things that they said I really cannot deduct as expenses, like my MBA degree... which does seem strange to me because in order to be a consultant to management teams, one needs to understand management business, therefore taking an MBA for this purpose would make perfect sense. Of course were I an English teacher and took an MBA, I could very well understand that it would most likely not be business-related in a direct sense.

They also gave me a good indication of the actual amount of deduction I can use from my rent, utilities, gasoline, etc. based on the ratio of business:private use of space in our home, and non-work life.

They found where I had missed (accidentally... of course, I'm innocent!) a zero on recording one of my invoices for my revenue.

They found a few other things that they told me are not recognized as tax-deductable. Then they also pointed out that I accidentally overstated my earnings by about $15,000 in 2006.

So, in the end, they said that my overstatement, and my understatement kind of balanced out (not really, but...) and that they would leave it at that. The tax gestapo then packed away their stuff, took their bazillion photocopies of my documents, told my accountant they would call him for a formal final assessment ... and left.

And that was it!

The stress over the few days before and those couple of days was so intense that I had an extremely difficult time BEing. Thank goodness I was able to breathe, and be somewhat the observer of my thoughts, because had I not been practicing this since January, and without the absolutely wonderful support from friends, keeping me calm and cool, I swear the nervousness would have sent me over the edge! As it is, I lost a few pounds because my stomach simply did not want food for a few days (as often happens when my stress levels skyrocket). Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

But... what I want to say, is that since it ended (with a nice big triple shot of the best bourbon in the world after the second day of grilling), I was able to have a shift.

Instead of the tax gestapo coming and inspecting my ass off... what I got was three tax specialists for an entire full two days to inspect every single record of my business over the past five years and tell me exactly what I can and cannot do must and must not do in order to meet the tax laws of this country.

For Free!!!!!!

Talk about a week of freebies!

I love you.

Cam

Autumn's here, so let's enjoy the leaves!

Today was another clean the yard day. Yesterday's rain stopped, and it is an overcast, cooler day (18C). It feels really nice to be outside working in the yard. Mayu started it with some sweeping up and cleaning of leaves because we have someone coming over today to practice AHR (Aroma Hand Relaxation).

 

This woman, Taniguchi-san, works with Mayu but she does "Body Balance" or a dry massage that is deeper than aroma massage which is designed to relax, not to work the muscles. I got to be the model for her practice. Yaay! I sure can't complain... I get to have two women's hands sliding all over my body... up and down my legs, my back, arms.... (no no no no happy ending gang, this is not Thai Massage). The only sad thing is that I usually never make it past about 10 minutes before I start snoring! That means I'll miss all the fun! Drat!!

 

I thought I would fall asleep, but I had my mp3 player with me and was listening to some wonderful stuff that kept me wide awake, elated, and totally at peace. I didn't fall asleep once, enjoyed both of their hands all over my back and legs and just was in the zone... and I must admit that Taniguchi-san's touch is a lot deeper than Mayu's, who is trained in relaxation. It is a different feeling all together.

 

We cleaned up as many leaves and weeds and stuff as we could in the yard and around the street. Mayu went in for lunch at the 11.30 bell and I stayed out and did some more because I had a later, larger breakfast than she did. I took a stump in our yard (one that I had peeld, burned, and buffed many years ago) , one that isn't rotten and used it to stand on so that I could finish trimming the tree out by my car. It is the tree I showcased last year about this time to show how bald everything got after the Silver Center Gardeners came and prepared our yard for winter. Now that tree is ready for winter, by me. Last year i thought I had cut it back too extremely, but this year it grew like never before! So I did it again, and cut it waaay back, and I think it looks just fine the way it is. I like it like this! Wait until you see (maybe) the yard after the Silvers come and prune it all waaaay back.

 

The Silver Center gardeners will come by in November (we booked but they are filled up until that time) to do the entire yard. It will cost us more this year with the extra costs we have to pay to have the clippings carried away (trucking fee) and burned (new bylaw). Such is life, I guess. We have paid for this every year and just haven't bothered to ask our owner to help. I consider it a part of the fees to enjoy this place as long as we have been able and as long as we can. If any of you ever come for a visit while we are still here, I think you will agree that it really is worth the cost, and the effort to have the greenery that we are graced with in this home.

 

I cut away a few of the hostas that are finally starting to turn yellow; I'll cut the rest in the coming months as they turn, little by little until the entire yard is clean of them until next spring when they grow like crazy of their own volition. I also cut the rose "bush/tree beeste" back down to about chest height. The branches on it are as thick as a mechanich's index finger and this year the thing kept growing and sprouting and blooming so that finally in the rain yesterday, to prevent my umbrella from always getting caught in the thorns as I walk Mayu out to her car in the mornings, I cut it back. It was seriously about 12ft high! It just kept growing! AND it kept blooming, so there were roses waaay above the tree that it was standing next to. I found that rather humourous.

 

I needed to label our trash bags, and take a few out to Mayu. We have to label them with the area we live in, and our names. Why? Because those damn Japanese don't follow the rules! They throw non burnables out on burnable day, and so on. And then they refuse to come and collect it when the garbage collector won't take it away! So it sits there until the next day comes around and they just pretend that it wasn't theirs. It really bugs me, this aspect of the Japanese culture. They don't want to take responsibility for anything, don't like "inconvenience", avoid any sort of admission until caught, and then bow, say "I'm sorry" and expect to just be forgiven. It is like that in the traditional businesses as well.

 

Today one of the old guys across the street came by to say that we should ask the owner of our house to have the big zelkova tree cut down because in autumn time the leaves fall and make garbage everywhere! Yes, he isn't the only one to believe this shocking thought. When we left the previous place we lived in, one of the big reasons was because our neighbour (and a nice guy, too) complained about the same thing about the big old beautufiul trees there, so many times, that our landlords came and cut all the trees down, killing any green that was once there, and driving up the temperature in the house. If it falls... it's garbage and an eyesore and should be cut down.

 

This is shocking and probably hard to believe coming from a culture that seems to love gardens, and bonsai, flower arranging, tea ceremonies, and all that stuff. But it's true. Very very sad... very sad indeed because they won't realize the true impact of what they say until it is too late. 

 

As Mayu said, it is really sad that they forget the beauty of the falling leaves, how poets for thousands of years have been writing about it, as a beautiful part of the life cycle. We get to enjoy watching the trees grow, expand, fill out. They give us shade, moisture, and a comfortable soul. In the autumn they change colour and give us more pleasure, and then we watch them fall. But for so many people here, even the old ones who grew up with so much more greenery around, to them it is "garbage" and the entire tree should be cut down. It's a very very sad statement of this entire society.

 

The people in Tokyo, the concrete jungle, appreciate it so much more because they don't have it nearly as much as here! They try to recreate nature, and greenery because they know the stresses of living in a heat island, a concrete jungle where it is very hard to find a quiet place to enjoy some peaceful nature (this was the hardest thing for me when I first moved to Yokohama in 1989). And they do a really good job at it, too!They know, so they try to recreate what over here, they want to just cut down, toss away, and forget. How sad.

 

We live in a relatively new community of 50 homes surrounded by older communities. The greenery here is surprisingly lush for the rest of the area. When Max first came here for a visit when we moved, he was shocked because it looks so completely different from the rest of the village. Well, if this mentality of "falling leaves are but an eyesore, and garbage" continues, then the beautiful large trees in Japan, even out here in the country don't stand much of a chance to continue growing, and giving us such beauty, and peace in the soul.

 

I love my Shangri-la so very much. I hope that you will come and visit me before either I am gone from here, or here is gone from me! Seriously, this is an open invitation to anyone who wants to visit. I have always offered this since I started writing blogs as I do so want to share with you what I have experienced here for the past 20 years. Who knows how much longer we will be here? Seriously! Take me up on my offer if you can; because I will take care of you with all my soul and once your time here is done, send you lovingly on your way back to family and friends so that you too can share the wonders with those dear to you, and perhaps instill in them the dream to visit Japan some day. This chair is here, and waiting for YOU!

 

I love YOU!

 

Cam 

 

P.S. Clocks back for North Americans this weekend? If so, I will be "two hours" ahead of Jenny and Sheila, "three hours" ahead of Stefnee and my Dad, "I'm not quite sure how many hours" ahead of Rachel and Paula, and "five hours ahead of Abby and Kristen over in California". We don't change our clocks here so I'll still be the same time away from Matt and Jaime. As for Europe... I know that I am seven hours ahead of my best friend Michela in Italy but that it changes to eight hours for the winter months. I'll let those of you over in euroland figure out the rest, OK? And for anyone else, Japan is GMT +9hrs. Those who know what that means, know. I dooo love you! I really really DOOOOOOO!!!!

 

ThoseSneakyJapanese: Virtual Rage

Just when you thought you had seen enough with "road rage", "blog rage", and all the other whatever-induced "rages" out there where seemingly ordinary people momentarily lose their mind and go on a rampage "killing" spree, comes a brand new "rage" out of Japan: "Virtual Rage"!

Read on to learn how one woman in Japan, who's online avatar was "married" to another gamer's avatar, murdered her "virtual husband"('s avatar) when she found out that he had virtually divorced her!

Talk about an addictive personality! Talk about STOOOPID!

I love you!

Cam

P.S. This may sound ridiculous to you, but you need to understand if you are not here in Japan to see what is really going on, that this kind of stuff, along with bizarre murders, and weird, internet-related killing sprees is seriously on the rise. This society is messed up and in a very bad way. Under 20s are totally without morals, and the 30 something are so fucked up by something - we can't quite figure out what it was that their parents did in raising them, other than giving them absolutely everything they wanted without teaching them the value of anything, including it seems, the value of life, but it is often enough to see that something serious has happened that they are killing themselves, their children, their parents, and even anonymous strangers for very very bizarre reasons.

When I told Mayu about this, she just told me that a 14 year old girl here drove a truck over a man, dragging him for about 10m (10yards), and killed him. She ran away but was caught. When asked why she did it, she responded that she had never driven before, but had done a lot of online driving on various games and was confident of her driving skills therefore wanted to "test them" in the real world. This is a serious example of why we really need to be careful with our children and video games, especially now that they are available 24 hours a day and kids no longer have to go down to the video arcade and pump quarters into games like we did in our youth.

Correction: It was 180m (180y) not 10m, as Mayu had mistakenly informed me. And he didn't die, or so the news stories say.

Let's be careful out there!

*******************

Online divorcee jailed after killing virtual hubby
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press
 
 TOKYO: A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.

The woman, who is jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data, used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.

The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.

She has not yet been formally charged, but if convicted could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.

Players in "Maple Story" raise and manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.

The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.

Guns 'n Roses 'n Dr. Pepper Team Up to Make Fat America Fatter!

Wow... who would have ever thought that good old Guns 'n Roses would make a bet with Dr. Pepper and win!

So now, Dr. Pepper has to offer a free drink to EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN in existence (except the two band members who were not involved in the album).

Get this! And then go get your Dr. Pepper, today!

And while you are at it, watch your blood sugars and your insulin soar!

Oh, and if they use aspartame in the DIET... keep an eye on your carcinogen levels.

I love you!

Cam

P.S. Talk about an amazing marketing tactic! You gotta wonder if the boys and girls at Dr. Pepper are laughing, or crying. It could swing both ways.

****************************

Dr Pepper flowing as new Guns album arrives
By Jonathan Cohen Jonathan Cohen – Thu Oct 23, 8:02 pm ET Reuters –  … NEW YORK

(Billboard) – Guns N' Roses fans thirsting for the band's first album of new material in 17 years will have a sweet, fizzy treat to savor as they listen.

Dr Pepper is making good on a promise to provide every person in America a can of the soft drink if "Chinese Democracy" were to arrive in 2008, and has revealed details of the plan.

"We never thought this day would come," Dr Pepper vp marketing Tony Jacobs said Wednesday. "But now that it's here all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Interested fans are being asked to visit DrPepper.com (http://www.drpepper.com) on November 23, the day "Chinese Democracy" is released in the U.S. exclusively via Best Buy. After registering online, fans will receive a coupon redeemable for a 20-ounce Dr Pepper wherever the drink is sold.

The twist: The coupon is available for only 24 hours and will expire on February 28.

BizTalk: Two Goals are Better than One

Mayu used to ask me in the beginning of our relationship where I "wanted to be in 5-10 years". That was a tough question for me to answer as I have, more often than not, lived in the NOW moments, and left the future to shape itself based upon what I did right now. I am 43 years old, and I've made it this far, so it can't be a totally wrong concept. It has worked well for me.

There are, however, some changes in the air that will need to take place in 2009, due mainly to two primary factors: the subprime loan fiasco in the USA, and the collapse of the financial industry in the USA. These have rocked the entire world, and the splashback has actually hit over here in my little Shangri-la. Thanks to Americans drastically tightening their belts, the number one consumer economy in the world has gone into recession, and well.. the industry of the world, China, as well as everyone else on our fair globe, has been negatively influenced so much that this splashback is hitting everyone, everywhere.

It is time for me to set some new goals.

Everyone sets goals. In many cases they turn out more to be dreams than something we actually achieve with success. We set goals like:

• I want to lose 10kg.
• I want to make a million dollars.
• I want to get my MBA degree.
• I want to go on a cruise holiday.
• I want to move to a different country.
• I want to get married.
• I want a comfortable pension to live off once I retire.
• I want to retire early.
• I want to get divorced.
• I want to change my job.
• I want to make more money at my job.
• I want more customers.
• I want to start my own business.
• I want to landscape my yard.
• I want to blah blah blah blah blahhhh....

... and so on.

In some cases we achieve our goals, but in many cases we don't. I have always wondered what would be a good way to improve on the rate of success...

Here is something to think about: If we look at a goal as a final destination on the "flight plan", we will see that in order to reach that goal, we must pass through a variety of points on the map. Each point is but one part to the entire plan, but it is essential to the plan's overall success.

It's like I always say... make a plan for the future, but live in the NOW. The NOW are those little points we need to pass through. What does that mean in this instance? I think that if we focus on little things that we can do right now, eventually we will achieve our final goal. The final goal may seem lofty, but when broken down into these minuscule steps, it suddenly does not appear quite as daunting.

The following article I found in my Nikkei Weekly. When I read it, it resonated with me on both business, and personal levels.

I would like to share this article with you in hopes that if you have a seemingly insurmountable goal that you really want to achieve, you can try to apply this "set two goals at a time" concept and take all the little NOW steps in between that will get you to where you want to go.

So, where do YOU want to go, today?

I love you!

Cam

Setting a goal is surprisingly difficult, so set two at a time
Randy Cross, Nikkei Weekly, 2008/10/13

 

I have been studying and teaching time management for many years now. Everyone needs to manage his or her time effectively, but it is critical in my line. My business is recruiting and sales training. Therefore, my time is my only product. If I do not use my time efficiently, I cannot make money.

 

Time management is all about setting personal goals. If you do not have clear­cut goals it will be difficult to accomplish anything in a timely and efficient manner.

 

This sounds simple, but I have discovered that effective goal setting is surprisingly difficult. I struggled for many years until I discovered a basic fact about setting goals.

 

You must set both numerical and behavioral goals.

 

What is the difference between the two? In a sales context, a numerical goal would be something like, "I will sell $80,000 worth of product this month." In a weight-loss context, a numerical goal would be, "I will lose 10kg this month."

 

Behavioral goals are different. Instead of focusing on a numerical result such as selling $80,000 worth of product a month or losing 10kg, a behavioral goal focuses on your daily activities; For example, a behavioral goal in sales would be, "I will visit two new potential customers every week and ask them for an order." For the weight-loss scenario, the behavioral goal might be, "I will only eat breakfast and lunch for the next month."

 

Which type of goal do you think would be more effective in reaching the desired results?

 

The answer is that you need both numerical and behavioral goals. Of the two, however, the behavioral goal is the more important. Let us look at the weight­loss example again, as this is an issue for many people (especially for us overweight Americans).

 

Let us say that you want to lose 10kg this month. This is the only goal you set. You weigh yourself every morning and then try and adjust your daily diet and exercise to reach the goal. You concentrate on trying to lose 10 pounds.

 

Without a definite behavioral goal, you have to constantly remind yourself to eat less and exercise more. Sometimes you remember and sometimes you don't. You may lose some weight if you concentrate hard on the numerical goal, but even if you do, it is hard to sustain the same concentration day after day. If you do not meet your numerical goal of 10kg, you may become discouraged and give up.

 

Now, let's say that you want to lose 10 pounds and you set an effective behavioral goal such as skipping dinner for the next 30 days. This behavioral goal is much easier to follow. It is simple. Do not eat dinner for one month. It is also much harder to cheat on yourself when focused on behavioral goals.

 

Let us look at another example, this one in sales. Let us say you want to sell $80,000 worth of product this month and this is the only goal you set. Some days you are all fired up and run around seeing customers or trying to find new ones. Some days you are less energetic (or perhaps discouraged), sit at your desk and worry about how to increase sales. Again, your sales may increase but it usually takes a tremendous amount of self discipline to pursue a simple numerical sales goal.

 

Instead, what would happen if you stopped and thought carefully about the one activity (behavioral goal) that would definitely increase sales? Earlier we used the example, "I will visit two new potential customers each week for one month: In your business, it maybe something different like, "I will get my largest current customer to increase his orders by offering a weekly technical seminar to its employees." Or, "Every week, I will ask five current customers for a referral to a new customer."

 

I use these behavioral goals in my business. Four years ago, when our business was slow I set a numerical goal to increase sales by 30% in three months. I focused my behavioral goal on getting referrals. I set the numerical goal of calling three acquaintances or current customers every day. It worked. We ended up with more new business than we could handle.

 

Please try this yourself. Identify a problem in your business or personal life. Set a numerical goal and behavioral goal and then concentrate on the behavioral side. I think you will be pleased with the results.

 

-Randy Cross is president of Executive Resource Group Inc.

Kamishii Disaster Relief Snapshots

To continue along the same disastrous lines as I have since yesterday's "Disaster Relief" Double Whammy, I thought that I really should post the few photos that I took with my keitai here on Flickr so that you can get a different "eye's view" other than just of my breakfast (on video), and the actual event (on video). Not everyone has video-compatible internet.

This is the first time ever to conduct this large of a disaster-relief event in Fukui. And it was even more enjoyable to note that our village was the first of the first to get it! They plan on doing it around the prefecture from now on and rotate through different districts so that other communities can also get a chance to ... participate. You can see the entire three point five hour event all smushed down into about seven minutes of video called Kamishii Disaster Relief Exercises.

I arrived at the relief center (the little community center behind our house... in front of our house behind the houses in front of us) at 8.15 in the morning. There was a brief talk and we all marched to the elementaryschool where other areas of Kamishii had also been gathering. It turned out that there were approximately 600 people who showed up in total, from little babies, to the elderly. I got to wear a helmet that was too small for one of the exercises in which they wanted me to participate; the "save someone from a burning house" exercise you saw me videotaping. That was my particiaption. But I get ahead of myself (needed a way to explain that photo of ME!)

At first, we all lined up according to the districts we were from. Not everyone in the village came to the event, but rather just a small fraction. We stood there as the people responsible for the districts reported on how many people were in each household and if they had visited each house, and took note of who was home, who was not (this actually happened about 8:05 after the 8am alarm went off).

While some were participating, most of the people just hung around watching. It did seem that rather than us practicing for disaster, we were just kind of witnessing some sort of ceremony. Oh well, that's life. At least we got to do another community thing.

Various events occurred during this time and you can see them on my Kamishii Disaster Relief Exercises video.

Near the end, I have to say, that the highlight was when a helicopter flew in, lowered two rescuers down, and rescued two girls from the top of the school roof. They musth have had the time of their lives flying around in the helicopter after that air lift! I bet it is a memory that will stick with them forever!

When all of the drills were done, there was the firefighter's marching band. They came out to the school ground and stood (didn't march) and played several brass band songs while the women that you can see in front, stood twirling baton flags. I would have liked to have seen more movement among the dance-twirlers because they didn't move around that much.

Finally, when all was said an done, we all lined up for the closing ceremony, the fire chief gave a closing speech, and we walked home.

I love you!

Cam

Ascending Into Your Higher Cosmic Self

This is the continuation of my previous introduction to Cameron Day's meditation to help clean the soul, reclaim your energy, and take control again of your ego. You can read the introduction at: Some Pretty Serious NewAge Wackhead Shit

Well... I just listened to all six of the 10 minute sessions... I liked them!

The deep breathing is very relaxing, very energizing, very nice. Cameron also explains things in a very modern way, talking about GPS, Office Assistants, minimizing the ego like we minimize a web page by clicking the little button in the top right corner of the window, and other things we are comfortable with in our current level of technological awareness. (He goes a bit overboard delving into the Douglas Adams Galactic stuff, but to each their own...)

Although not particularly fond of his voice (I prefer Haydn's voice on the meditation Processes I have been doing all year to Cameron's.... this Cameron's.. not my Cameron's), I can get by that and not let it bother me. Because that is my ego trying to find ways not to relinquish its control, and I am aware of that, and at the same time would like to gain control back of my mind and minimize the ego to the original role of assistant and basic guidance system, I am interested in working on reclaiming control.

I like this little series of audio meditation. I like that they are broken down into 10 minute segments. I guess it is great to do 10 minutes here and there, but again, in order to be able to work well on the next phase, you need to do the previous phases as well (you can do them in your own mind without the help of these tapes once you get used to doing so) so it's not like you can have EVERYTHING done in 10 minutes by skipping to the last process. Just like cooking, there is a process and you really do need to start at the beginning, take one step at a time, and finish with the food prepared and ready to enjoy (unless you pull a box of precooked bacon out of the fridge, open it up and munch on it that way - which, by the way is apparently delicious, believe it or not... right Stefnee and Scooter?). Always breathing deeply... always breathing deeply...

in....................................

out...................................

I think I will add these processes to my meditational package and work on them in addition to what I am already doing.

In fact, I'm going to put them all up on my site here for ease of access; Cameron gives us permission do that as long as we link back to his page at www.ascensionhelp.com (mission accomplished). Please feel free to download the attached files to this blog and you can listen to them on your mp3 player at your own discretion. Or, you can go to his pages, follow the processes by clicking the videos there (he has you close your eyes anyway so the images are really just so that the audio can be put on YouTube), downloading a written page for those of you "aurally challenged", or download them yourself at the bottom of each page.

Addendum to my attempts: It seems that I can only put a maximum of five attachments on one post, and since there are more, I tried to add a zipped file. But then I was limited by the maximum file size of 20MB. That means, that rather than upload the files for you, I will put the links to Cameron Day's downloads so that you can get them from my page by right clicking the following links, and saving them to your own computer / mp3 player.

The order you see below, is the order that Cameron discusses the process. I like that name, and I like to write it too! Cameron Cameron Cameron Cameron Cameron!

1. higher-self-meditation-didg.mp3
2. cosmic-flush-with-didgeridoo.mp3
3. energy-refund.mp3
4. egominimizerdidg.mp3
5. reclaimingenergypart1withdidg.mp3
6. reclaimingenergypart2withdidg.mp3
7. peeling-layers-with-didg.mp3

And that should do it! Anything to make YOUR life a little bit better, I LOVE to do, with all my heart and soul.

I ADORE you!!!

Cam

P.S. Cameron does get a little bit bizarre talking about the galaxy being and stuff like that. I started to wonder if Tom Cruise was going to show up as a guest breather or something... but eventually Cameron comes back on track. And when you realize that he is just using jargon that is comfortable to himself, it really makes it much easier to work with. Just describe it to yourself, as you see fit.

P.P.S. It seems that I can only add a maximum of five attachments. So.... I am going to put the last three parts in a zip file and attack it that way. Sneakysneaky me.