Wow. Simply Wow.

I am totally and completely enthused by my hypnotherapy training that began this week!! There are 38 students in the class, of all ages and from all over the world (Mexico, New Zealand, England, Spain, Hungary) and from all over the US (Florida, Utah, Ohio, California, Illinois, Georgia...). The school--The Hypnotherapy Academy of America--is renowned for its excellence and I am very pleased to have found it and to be a part of the education. They are fantastic teachers.

The process of self-transformation alone is worth the cost. I had expected some personal change, of course, but the depth of this work is blowing me away. Plus I am learning the practical skills necessary for my own future career. I can't wait to sit with you and share this new knowledge and firsthand experience!

Some of the things I'd enjoy talking with you about include:

• A breakthrough in my ongoing internal debate of free-will vs. determinism.


• How one of our students had the brucitis in her shoulder healed as we watched a video of a post-op hypnotherapy session.


• The really amazing and fun inductions I learned this week.


• Some of the intense individual and group catharsis experienced throughout this week.


• The confirmation of my faith and many things I've held to be true, but have never really acted upon.... Jesus turned water into wine, etc., and then said that we'd do even greater things. Hmmm. When's the last time that I turned water into wine, let alone something even greater?


• The cool timing of my reading a Bob Dylan quote: "The picture you have in your own mind of what you're about will come true."


• Theoretical models of how and why hypnosis works.


• Very real examples of how I can help you through hypnosis.... In fact, I'd love to take you through an experience of the hypnotic trance for yourself!

There is so much more, but that's all for now.

If it will arrive before November, you can send a postcard or letter to me:
Dennis Plummer
c/o: Hypnotherapy Academy of America
509 Camino de los Marquez, Suite 1
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

Do You Know the Way

to Santa Fe? (I hope you sung that. I know the song says "San Jose," but that wouldn't make sense here now would it?)

I'm leaving for my crash certification course in clinical hypnotherapy. I don't know what kind of access, if any, I'll have to computers during that time. But I will be taking copious notes and making lots of observations to post here ASAP.

Hope to hear from you via comments on this site!

What to Buy?

I received a calendar advertisement in the mail today. I'm not sure if I want to buy "Hot Buns", "Under the Uniform", or "Pope John Paul II".

Maybe I'll combine my purchase to get "Hot Buns: Pope John Paul II Under the Uniform."

Or maybe not.

1,000 Pound Pig

Yep. I saw it.

What I found interesting was that it was housed right next to a big bar-b-que pit.

I wonder what that is like, smelling your future so nearby?

Coincidence?

Went to the doctor yesterday for my annual physical.

Came home to transcribe more of the Borden interviews. Borden's recorded advice of the day?

"The doctors today, they's a-skinning you alive. And then they charge ye to fix the skinning."

Hmmm.

I tried to post a photo of myself to my profile, but can't figure out how to do it. It won't let me simply upload like images in the posts. Anyone out there know what I should do?

Play Week

Besides working on the Borden stories (mentioned in my previous post), I'm enjoying a visit from my Aunt Linda and Uncle Harry. They arrived two days ago and I'm using their visit to see all of my favorite haunts in town before I hunker down in studies in Santa Fe on the 19th.

Getting Burned

Today I spent my time adjusting to life alone (after living two months with Susan, Howard and 17-month-old Jude, plus their black labrador, Gracie, and cat, Elvis). Quiet.

The time alone is surprisingly a challenge. I tend to go into auto-sluggard mode. Today that meant a dip in the pool, nude sunbathing (the landlords are gone) and, after tanning my own hide, going to a local grocer to bask in the aroma of roasting chilis. It is one of my favorite, among many, southwestern traditions. I only wish that I could add scratch-n-sniff to your monitor!

I'm attempting to use these 13 days to focus on getting some long-overdue writing done. This particular project is 16 hours of recorded story-telling by Borden, one of the late, great Highlander storytellers of North Carolina. I was privileged to know Borden and even lived a couple of summers in a nearby (20-minute walk) cabin that, like Borden's, had no running water and used a wood stove for cooking. He died few years ago, and after acting as minister and eulogist for his funeral, I think that his stories will probably trump my own walk across America for getting into print first. Although some progress is being made, I find myself simply letting the tape role and envisioning long afternoons at Borden's home, listening to history unfold.

If anyone has Smithsonian connections, I honestly think that these recordings--edited and upgraded in quality--are heirloom material. If I get the money to get my own Web connection, digital camera and the like, I will add some sound bites for you to hear. For now, my small and limited pile o' cash is going towards paying off debt, my upcoming hypnotherapist certification...and, of course, roasted New Mexican chili.

In the Same Boat...

For reflections on Hurricane Katrina, please visit my alter ego site, Attack Chicken.

Travel Report

For image, see post below and add a thousand bug splats to the shine on the car's finish.

• $2.99 – price of gas in Springfield, MO
• "Do Not Drive Into Smoke" –signs posted throughout OK. Okay…. You’re driving. Along a turnpike. There’s smoke. Now what is it you are supposed to do?
• Oklahoma City – first reception of an all Spanish radio broadcast. You gotta love the tuba and accordian duets.
• $2.93 – price of gas in Oklahoma City
• 5 miles west of Oklahoma City – sighting of first armadillo road kill
• OK Turnpike restroom – sighting of two stars of a boy band. I have no idea which one. (You do a google search on "boy band" images and you'll see why I couldn't precisely locate one of them.) How did I know they were a boy band? My car would fit 10x into their extravagant chauffeured bus. And they were too young to be a man band.
• 4 – the number of Louisiana license plates seen heading west
• Custer City, OK – Cherokee Restaurant and home of the “Collectible Porcelain Dolls”. Yeah, well. Can’t anything be collected, thus making it a collectible?
• $3.04 – price of gas in Amarillo, TX (88 octane)
• 51.5 miles – distance west of Amarillo when radio reception was reduced to only one station
• 7 miles more – distance traveled before losing all radio reception
• NM state line –first sighting of a NM license plate. I kid you not; it was simultaneous with the state line. Spooky. Do New Mexicans exist outside of New Mexico?
• $3.09 – price of gas in Albuquerque, NM (86 octane)