Friends, Finland, Future Shop and Facebook

Last week of October coming up - unbelievable. Without the church year calendar in front of me 24/7 all the weeks sort of melt into one another.

I had a wonderful day last Tuesday. Wonderful, because I spent it with my friend Rob Pollock. Rob's living with incurable colon cancer. The treatments take their toll on him for sure, but this week he was feeling good, eating and enjoying a Guinness. Rob lives in the west end of Vancouver so we met at the Sylvia Hotel for lunch. There's free parking underneath and the food was delicious. Then we went for a walk along the beach and into the park. Rob was a forester before he was a minister so he knew all kinds of cool stuff about the trees. I just knew they were beautiful. The sun was shining, the leaves crunched under our feet and the soft breeze off the water made everything smell fantastic.

On one of the pathways we met this little fella - tame as could be:

I just walked right up to him and took his picture. Rob had the energy to walk for hours! It was awesome. Great conversation too. I took this picture of us and it's probably the most hideous picture of me, but our smiles are so indicative of the day!











It was a weird coincidence but I got 3 new clients via Skype this week - one from Finland, one from Sweden and one from Norway. All three are lovely women - intelligent and attractive. They're all suffering from emetophobia - one is so severe she hasn't left her house nor eaten anything in 2 years. Every day she drinks 4 "Boost" drinks and nothing more. She's too terrified of germs to go out or have anyone come in hence the Skype counseling. I hope and pray I can help her.

Since I'm doing almost all my work via Skype I decided to invest in a new webcam. The microphone on my computer isn't great and the camera is meh. I didn't buy the computer with that in mind. So it's a business expense. I also hope to do some "webinars" in the near future. I've discovered there are all kinds of ways to make money from home these days. Hopefully I'll get my new camera before I'm scheduled to give an internet lecture on leadership at Atlantic School of Theology (AST).

Charlie's away on business this weekend and Alvin is in Leduc with Alex, so no Skype calls with her either. Guinness is guarding the house! Oh ya - Alex took some hilarious pictures of Micah for "MikeyTheBrat" Christmas cards I'm making. Speaking of Mikey - read his blog this week and find out how he reacted to Guinness having to wear the "cone of shame."

Katie phoned yesterday and she's doing great at SFU - getting good marks. She'll be busy this weekend doing ballet rehearsals and studying for a midterm. Good luck Katie!

I found a friend on Facebook this week I haven't seen for 15 years. We both worked at Ballet Classique - when I had cancer I worked there in exchange for Katie's ballet lessons. She was an amazing and really fun modern dance and jazz choreographer from NYC. She lived in Vancouver that year, then returned to New York. We had some good times. Gotta love Facebook!

Yaking, Yak and the Crystal Cathedral

Last week I came out of the closet here on my blog - as a person with a history of the debilitating anxiety disorder "emetophobia" (fear of vomiting). Just so you know, I'm now convinced that I am completely recovered. Anxiety-free. As evidence of this I survived Norwalk recently with no anxiety. I survived listening to Alex have Norwalk in the house with me with no anxiety. And this past week I've survived combing through the internet looking for pictures and videos with the search word "vomit" with no anxiety. Well maybe a little. Just before I click "play." Anxiety 0/100. Grossedoutedness 100/100.

That's been my week pretty much. Reading about puke, looking at puke, talking about puke.

On the upside, I've met some awesome new clients via Skype. They are women from California, Texas, New York, Ontario, England and New Zealand. It's been awesome to be able to reach out a helping hand, an understanding ear, from so far away and an honour to come to know each of them. They are all smart, attractive, likable women. And their lives have been completely ruined from being terrified every minute of every day. Today I prayed for them but mainly for myself. I hope I know enough and am skilled enough to help them.

Today I did something I thought I would never do: watched the Crystal Cathedral worship service on TV. I sang the hymns and listened to the solos and scriptures and sermon. It was good. I felt close to God. I didn't care that I wasn't part of the faith community, because I felt a part of the community of saints. In fact, I was glad not to have to pass the peace (I hate that) and glad not to have to go for coffee and make idle chit chat with people. Besides, I was in my pajamas.

Don't worry, I'm not a convert. Next Sunday I look forward to joining again with my United Church sisters and brothers again at Ryerson United Church. Sans pajamas.