Geneen Roth's workshop - Day 2

<div align="center">Grace and me at the Women Food and God workshop</div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRp66fCspakb9hiptKDvmKouPj52nVyk_vKz6YaAQIeyj0U8iH1mEJ1N98nh6n_D4U48doQ6khKi0r6LkF4cUZL4f24dFW4iww4jRZY02EuWpCzAAxVL51iD4HQp_lc_3VNthi-GHTkwS/s1600/Geneen+009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ex="true" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRp66fCspakb9hiptKDvmKouPj52nVyk_vKz6YaAQIeyj0U8iH1mEJ1N98nh6n_D4U48doQ6khKi0r6LkF4cUZL4f24dFW4iww4jRZY02EuWpCzAAxVL51iD4HQp_lc_3VNthi-GHTkwS/s400/Geneen+009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />I got a lot more out of this workshop than I expected. I don't even know where to start. I learned things I didn't expect to learn, and I didn't learn things I thought I would learn. The workshop isn't just about our relationship with food, it's about a lot more. It's about our relationship with ourselves. <br /><br />I have a lot I want to write, but I'm exhausted. It was extremely emotionally draining. Looking inside of myself isn't exactly a fun thing to do. There's a lot of pain involved. I promise I'll write more details about this later. I've been jotting down notes all night, but can't quite get my thoughts together on it yet.<br /><br />Also, Geneen isn"t "skinny", she's just a very small, petite woman. She's very healthy looking. <br /><br />I loved hanging out with Grace all day. She's just a total kick in the pants, and she made what could have been an intensely emotionally unpleasant day into a fun day. I love her sense of humor and her laugh. We did get in trouble from Geneen about talking too much. I felt bad about that and didn't realize we were disruptive. I felt like I was in grade school again. Oh well, I'd do it again. We had a lot of fun (in between the crying stuff).

Geneen Roth's workshop - Day 2

Grace and me at the Women Food and God workshop  I got a lot more out of this workshop than I expected. I don't even know where to star...

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For a Liddypol Lad...

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwCEBpWI0u_b3VePxj6tszvLSmCkZ3ZrWL6ciw0dLxIgLg1rDhWPya7L0t1X2TGlgKCvs-ayhPZ2_ECSCIu7MW0onRRfWWo6tSU8VPkiolcaGmoYFy7-wHFBIAaO4okIm736FRYB0RitL/s1600/beatles-1%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525917891786339122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcwCEBpWI0u_b3VePxj6tszvLSmCkZ3ZrWL6ciw0dLxIgLg1rDhWPya7L0t1X2TGlgKCvs-ayhPZ2_ECSCIu7MW0onRRfWWo6tSU8VPkiolcaGmoYFy7-wHFBIAaO4okIm736FRYB0RitL/s400/beatles-1%5B1%5D.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 235px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">John Lennon would be turning 70 right about now...possibly a discomfiting thought for some baby-boomers, especially those who took to heart certain lyrics of the Who's "My Generation"..."I hope I die before I get old." </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">As fate would have it, John Lennon did die before he got old - he had just turned 40 when he was killed in 1980. But the years he lived were incredible, most of all the last 17, when he, as a Beatle and after, reigned as one the great icons of popular music and culture...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Most who are reading this are familiar with the story of the Beatles and I'm not going down that well-worn path, nor will I review/critique/analyze them or their astonishing music...this is about what I remember...</span><br /><a name="more"></a><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">In my life, the period just before the Beatles exploded on the scene was one of deep sadness. This was late 1963 and President Kennedy had just been assassinated.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Sometime after Christmas that year we, my friends and I, began to hear about the Beatles (not Beetles). We knew there were four of them, they were from England, had long hair and were goodlooking ("cute"). Then one day a friend got his hands on a copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and a group of us listened to it in one of the listening rooms of our school library. We played it again and again. I thought they sounded totally different, almost strange, but they had so much energy...and their harmonies reminded me of the Everly Brothers... </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-AU5KZlrk0P30s1OJUqOtmAtOKnNi2cNGWwBKJEYFtbI0JNYCPLw2wz5AGu0qO1hXYFlx1jJFE8TMOYPE6T7dTH6yhVcr1sG7k3qFROE7OJFa3uiUOdlMH5hkXUd3dMPiSUYjPAn1V9U/s1600/beatles+3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525917389677796162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-AU5KZlrk0P30s1OJUqOtmAtOKnNi2cNGWwBKJEYFtbI0JNYCPLw2wz5AGu0qO1hXYFlx1jJFE8TMOYPE6T7dTH6yhVcr1sG7k3qFROE7OJFa3uiUOdlMH5hkXUd3dMPiSUYjPAn1V9U/s320/beatles+3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 268px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 270px;" /></a>On a Sunday night early in February 1964 the Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. We were all watching. And when it was over...uncannily...the excitement, the elation didn't end. In some ways, looking back, it seems as though the planet had flipped on its axis that night. The Beatles were all anyone talked about at school or anywhere else for days...weeks ...months. Their records were all over the radio (and on our record players), one song after another..."I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Please Please Me," "All My Loving," "Do You Want to Know a Secret," an endless stream of hits. Then, that summer their first movie, <b>A Hard Day's Night</b>,<b> </b>came out and was a popular and critical smash. To be young then was blissful.</span> <br /><div><div><div><div><div><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I was so devoted to the band that when the editor of our local paper wrote a scathing editorial about them, ridiculing them, I was inspired to fire back a letter of my own. I worked hard to counter the editor's attack with some flair. It was printed and I was much admired at school (and even at home). It was a well-written response and I may have sounded older than my years...because one day I happened to overhear a couple of girls talking about it, not knowing I was nearby. One of the girls commented, "she didn't write that letter," referring to me...I broke in to set the record straight. And I received a letter from an older man in the area who, though not a Beatles fan, thought the editor had overreacted and congratulated me on what I'd written.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">At first I didn't have a "favorite Beatle" even though having a favorite Beatle was <i>de rigueur </i>among young Beatle fans in those early days. But I loved "the Beatles" not John, Paul, George or Ringo individually. This would soon change. That spring I happened upon John's book, <u>In His Own Write</u>, at a local bookstore. He'd written most of it years earlier while still in art school, but it was published in April 1964. A collection of short stories and short poems accompanied by John's own drawings, it was irreverent, surreal, nonsensical. Perfect for the times and perfect for me. I had found my favorite Beatle and he was not only a rock 'n' roller, but intelligent, artistic and darkly funny...</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTuayModr4kh9BE8YzU5pEtaSkYqG_T62Q8vFr9IhB_sMDg-GS67hTApm2v2m56QpVXmyScGPCJW9eAL_B4UvQVGSnS03XuhoIJP_wcQA63jLDnEO__XQUrsVNWTp_mTQ8Hys_vy7P8Kt/s1600/john-lennon-in-cap%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525911433675442754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheTuayModr4kh9BE8YzU5pEtaSkYqG_T62Q8vFr9IhB_sMDg-GS67hTApm2v2m56QpVXmyScGPCJW9eAL_B4UvQVGSnS03XuhoIJP_wcQA63jLDnEO__XQUrsVNWTp_mTQ8Hys_vy7P8Kt/s200/john-lennon-in-cap%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 200px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 168px;" /></a>John described himself in an introductory page of the book ("About the Awful"):</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><i>"I was bored on the 9th of Octover in 1940 when, I believe, the Nasties were still booming us led by Madolf Heatlump (he only had one). Anyway, they didn't get me. I attended varicous schools in Liddypol. And still didn't pass..."</i></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The Beatles had kicked off their first U.S. tour with their appearances on Ed Sullivan in early 1964. A year and a half later, they made their second tour of the states. This time the tour included a city near me...San Diego, California.</span><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpV54pCPvRjqbHsqNLeb33Rj-GtYUuKf0YTI-uxo61EXp95a6FpIv8AsgXU4x0cKvnluNGHpI4hpFCc6CmtwkGEwRQdEgSq6u0qsJfzp7M52zLE6tQkJjoeo8Lk5M80HRNyDVshhyCO8k/s1600/beatlesticket_pic%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.gif"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525912289717177250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpV54pCPvRjqbHsqNLeb33Rj-GtYUuKf0YTI-uxo61EXp95a6FpIv8AsgXU4x0cKvnluNGHpI4hpFCc6CmtwkGEwRQdEgSq6u0qsJfzp7M52zLE6tQkJjoeo8Lk5M80HRNyDVshhyCO8k/s200/beatlesticket_pic%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.gif" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 98px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 218px;" /></a>...and so it was that I found myself at Balboa Stadium on Saturday night, August 28, 1965, for a Beatles concert. We'd gotten the expensive seats ($5.50 each), but were still were nowhere near the stage, which was ringed with policemen, as was the area in front of the stands. That was OK, though, I'd anticipated distance and obstacles and brought a pair of binoculars.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">How do I describe the experience of being within 50 yards of my idols, the idols of my generation? Joy? Euphoria? Intoxication? I think I had an out-of-body experience...</span></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesOMGaHSbs1oai-QJw087DS_ctQiA9AdQ1L66mSaCEyAHfcY_9FiEo9XYZGg_9iTlGUZq_dqCmIdLA9Wq9K50F1QVtQ5L1srhg6PGKoTvcumyVLh9ag1SSjK4ibUTaNKo9GypTlTj9cXU/s1600/beatles-shea-stadium%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5525915695558791714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesOMGaHSbs1oai-QJw087DS_ctQiA9AdQ1L66mSaCEyAHfcY_9FiEo9XYZGg_9iTlGUZq_dqCmIdLA9Wq9K50F1QVtQ5L1srhg6PGKoTvcumyVLh9ag1SSjK4ibUTaNKo9GypTlTj9cXU/s320/beatles-shea-stadium%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 229px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 303px;" /></a>The Beatles played for only about a half-hour, but it was a half-hour of songs I loved played by the band I worshipped. I remember "Ticket to Ride" best of all...but it was so hard to hear anything; their sound equipment was prehistoric and, of course, there was the screaming...those eerie deafening waves of high-pitched screams that never let up. The Beatles later admitted they couldn't hear themselves play, but you wouldn't have known it, they were having a great time on stage, performing and clowning around with each other.</span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Many years later I watched a film of the Beatles at Shea Stadium and it dawned on me that the New York concert, staged less than two weeks before San Diego, was essentially the same show I'd seen, the same songs, the same jackets...the same supernatural screaming. Seeing it was like going back to Balboa Stadium and reliving that night so long ago.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It might be a cliche to say that the Beatles changed my life, but they did, and their impact has been lifelong. </span><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This weekend, in honor of John's 70th birthday, I'm going to be watching <b>The Beatles Anthology</b>...I'll borrow the boxed set I gave to one of their newer fans, an 18-year-old with impeccable taste (that's you, Nick), last Christmas.</span><br /><br /><br /></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519522406670876450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4UBkgoA_0-BUgpX0lyPgMxzBFk_YogIliz4FP-JljGl5aoMVEhzgYpdWKWVl6KTkObPhJAwlH0pu9deZcFBasLRJYE1tNEs2R_aTLEZZxeSy4-mPbkCBaHuNX8TU_HaAZfkbDImk-zKJD/s400/john_lennon_rainbow%5B1%5D.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 282px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 299px;" /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>

John Lennon The Beatles The Lady Eve (author) For a Liddypol Lad...

John Lennon would be turning 70 right about now...possibly a discomfiting thought for some baby-boomers, especially those who took to heart ...

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The best part of the Geneen Roth workshop

It's midnight and once again, I can't sleep. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever sleep again. Insomnia sucks.<br /><br />Tonight I attended the first three hours of the Geneen Roth "Women Food and God" workshop. Tomorrow is eight more hours. Remember I read the book last July and got on the G.R. bandwagon. Quoting the book. Saying it was the best thing since sliced bread. <br /><br />You may have (or may not have) noticed I stopped talking about her and the book. I sort of fell out of love with the whole idea of intuitive eating and Geneen.<br /><br />I almost didn't even go to the workshop. Luckily I was able to make contact with a fellow blogger that lives in the area. I knew she was also attending the workshop. We'd never met but had exchanged a few emails over the last couple of years.<br /><br />Meeting Grace was absolutely best part of the evening! Grace from <a href="http://notes-by-grace.blogspot.com/">Grace's Notes</a> (and formerly from <a href="http://55aliveandlosingit.blogspot.com/">55 Alive and Losing It</a>). OH. MY. GOSH. I love her! It's like I've know her my entire life. She's funny as heck, super easy to talk to, and it was just like I had run into an old friend. It was super cool. Plus she's gorgeous! Beautiful blue eyes that sparkle, gorgeous strawberry blond hair. Sweet smile. And she's thin, but in a good, healthy way. Other than Geneen (who I think is too skinny),  I think Grace was the healthiest looking person in the room of 800 women. <br /><br />It's so funny to see pictures of someone on their blog, read about their thoughts and struggles with weight, read about their life and then to actually get to meet them in real life. Truly one of the best experiences of my life. <br /><br />About the workshop, well, so far, I'm not sure what I think. Some of the things Geneen talked about make a lot of sense. Some of the visualization stuff she had us do made me cry. I think I sort of had a revelation about my compulsive overeating. All these years I said it was just because I love food. Something she had us visualize made me go holy cow! Okay, I really said "holy crap!" but I'm try to clean up my vocabulary. I think I know why I'm like this and have serious food issues. I'm still trying to absorb the whole thing and will write more about it later, once I figure out what it means and if having this new knowledge about myself is valuable. It's something I never thought about before, until tonight. Like I said, more on this later.<br /><br />I guess I'll try to sleep now. I'm exhausted but not sleepy. I have to be back at the Seatac Hilton at 8am for the workshop. Hopefully I'll find a way to fix what is broken in me when it comes to my relationship with food.

The best part of the Geneen Roth workshop

It's midnight and once again, I can't sleep. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever sleep again. Insomnia sucks. Tonight I attended the...

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Why I Love Nye County

I rarely drive through Nye County without buying one or more of the local newspapers. There are at least 2: The Pahrump Valley Times and the Pahrump Mirror ("Nye County's only independent newspaper" -- not sure what that means but I sense that relations between these two journalistic centers may not be the best.)<br /><br />Today's Pahrump Valley Times' lead story was about a huge bust of a burglary ring -- over 3 dozen people arrested in one week!!! (The jail didn't have room for them and had to cut most of them loose on thier own recognizance, to the chagrin of the sheriff.) Who knew there was that much to steal in Pahrump? One of the ring leaders seems to have brought down the wrath of the law on his fellow alleged burglars by allegedly holding up the Kingdom Gentlemen's Club which is the town's strip club in a castle -- I thought it might be something more colorful but that was not stated in this artilce. Another article in the same edition referred to the owner of the Kingdom GC as "the owner of a brothel." Could be a separate enterprise. But if the burglars have started holding up brothels, things have just gotten out of hand. The owner of the Kingdom GC, according to the Pahrump Valley News, is also the publisher of the rival Parhump Mirror and has been convicted of bribing a former county commissioner -- but this is the rival newspaper talking. I know nothing about it myself.<br /><br />The law was on a roll. In some complicated and indirect way, the massive burglary busts came from leads garnered in the discovery of a "massive marijuana grow opertation" allegedly owned and operated by a single family in two houses. The dad and sons are on the run while mom is either in jail or out on bail.<br /><br />If that were not enough, U S Ecology (Now doesn't that sound like an innocent green name? They operate a hazardous waste site.) has been accused of 18 EPA violations and fined $497,492. That would cause me a financial inconvenience. U S Eclology denies any misconduct.<br /><br />There is a controversial move afoot for the city to buy the Kindom Gentlemen's Club. Maybe they could buy U S Ecology while they are at it. Or U S Ecology could take over the canabis farm to raise money for the fine. But would anyone buy pot from a hazardous waste collector?<br /><br />The political news featured stump speeches given by candidates at the Artemsia Community Center. The content of the speeches was largely ignored becasue of the more colorful Q&A session which sounded a bit like last year's health care town hall meetings. The paper had a big picture of a local lawyer asking a candidate challenging questions while she (the lawyer) wore a sidearm. The story related that at least one other cross examiner from the audience was also packing heat. I do not know why they attend political meetings armed, but I surmise there is a reason.<br /><br />At a recent meeting, the county commissioners refused to watch a 3 minute dvd a citizen wanted to show them so they could see the flooding in her neighborhood. Bad move pastorally.<br /><br />Of course there was happier news. The "annual grape stomp" has been expanded to a 2 day event. A crew of firefighters visited Charleston Elementary School. But the big good news is popping at the other end of the county in Tonopah. Great Basin College is planning to open a campus there. The Town Board is considering buying the Belvada (a disused bank) for its new convention center. Solar engery is about the double the population.<br /><br />I never drive through Nye County without discovering lots of action. I always listen to Richard Eloyan's Ballad of the Nye Country Drifter and imagine bandits hiding around the occasional curves of Hwy 95 as I race through intermittently observing the speed limit. It's a happening place. If Clark County were this colorful Fr. Sherm's Las Vegas Review Journal would not be reduced to covering national and international news we don't really care about.<br /><br />Disclaimer: I know nothing about the facts of any of this. Nothing. I am just saying what I read in the papers. Nor do I have the least malice toward any of these people. I do not know them. I did read the list of the recently arrested and was pleased not to find the names of anyone from St. Martin's in the Desert. They are too busy providing wholesome fun for the town's teens and knitting prayer shawls. They have no time to grow pot, burgle shady enterprises, or even intimidate political candidates with hostile questions and guns.

Why I Love Nye County

I rarely drive through Nye County without buying one or more of the local newspapers. There are at least 2: The Pahrump Valley Times and the...

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