How I Discovered the Three-Minute Gym

Weed, California, May 2007: The other day I learned that the discovery of Bubble Gum was by accident.

A fellow, who worked at the gum factory, was trying some different formulas and discovered quite by accident that his formula (a) allowed bubbles to be blown, and (b) when they burst, they were dry on your face and didn't leave a mess.

The first version was clear colored. Boring. So he decided to add some food coloring to it, and the only color he had on hand was pink. Voila! Double Bubble brand bubble gum was born. And to this day, bubble gum is traditionally pink.

ACCIDENT BECOMES SOMETHING NEW

There is a saying that "It Steam-Engines at Steam-Engine Time." Meaning that a thing appears when its time has come. That when conditions are right, the new idea emerges. And we see examples of this throughout history. Marconi and Tesla were both busy inventing the radio at the same time on opposite sides of the globe.

Maybe the time was right, but I stumbled onto the Three Minute Gym quite by accident.

[Read more ... ]

The Year 2011 ... Coming up!

January 8, 2011, Weed, California -- Time to take stock.

My counseling business grows, slowly. I've completed certification as a hypnotherapist, and I'm a certified Tantra Yoga educator now. Still working toward certification in EFT and Focusing.

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) comprises a large part of my practice these days, because it works so well, but I'm also learning the basics of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and find it easy to use and effective, once I understand it.

I've been giving monthly classes in Mount Shasta for four months now, on the subjects of dating and mind stuff. It's also growing slowly in attendance. This Thursday we had a new record high, with 15 people attending. Cool Beans!

The Megatar touchstyle guitar business dimished for a while when the squabbling heads on television were screaming that the sky was falling, but now has been recovering just fine.

It looked somewhat grim at the time, but I felt in my heart that it was somehow a good thing, and so it was, for during that time I had time to establish my counseling business, and we created an entirely new construction method for two-hand tapping guitars made of metal and composite. A great sound and wonderful price point. Onward and upward with creating more music on this planet!

During the next three months I intend to become proficient at setting up (and doing) radio guest interviews for myself and a few friends who have digital download products for sale. It appears that I happen to have previously learned pretty much everything needed for such an operation including all the internet backend and email follow up. So I'm quite curious to see how it goes.

I'm now the coordinator for the Source School of Tantra events in Ashland Oregon, so if any current reader would like to explore a spiritual practice that generates tremendous intimacy at will, and a totally different approach to sexuality -- best I've ever experienced in this lifetime, quite life-transforming -- then contact me and I'll get a reservation made for you in the March weekend class, or explain more about it, or both! :)

My health has drastically improved.

About nine months ago, I changed to a vegan diet and mild exercise and some mental things, and dropped 70 pounds, only 22 more to go, and I'll be back at my weight at age 25. Cool beans.

I have more energy and feel better than for the last 20 years, and am again looking for the love of my life. I feel that she is drawing near.

Today and this weekend I have a lot of clean-up to do, clearing my desks, updating bookkeeping, planning the campaign for the Ashland Beginners Tantra Yoga Weekend Workshop, and generally making my plan for 2011.

My general resolutions for this year are --

1. More money and working easier, more security and fun in my life
2. To create a happy childhood
3. Love in my life, in every direction

My friend, what is *your* plan?

How to Wake Up

Weed, California, November 16, 2010 -- Last night I was reading "Use Your Brain for a Change: by Richard Bandler, and he was describing how people motivate themselves to do things ... such as how we wake up in the morning.

One fellow described using anxiety (how he'd be late, etc) to get himself up, but then this woman described how she thought about the pleasant things she would be doing. And when there were no pleasant things she liked doing, she thought about how pleasant it would be to have them *done*.

So this morning, I tried to think of things I'd enjoy doing today, but found little joy in the doingness of most items on today's priority list: the Jackson Wellsprings booking followup, writing up listings to place ZenTappers on EBay, and some administrative things.

Rats! I didn't really want to do them! Oh, what to do?

[Read more ... ]

A Hot Bath in the Cold Rain

Ben Lomond, CA in the Santa Cruz mountains, November 7, 2010 -- So I was scheduled to assist at a Tantra Yoga Beginner's Weekend Workshop with the SourceTantra folks, and therefore on the day after my "How to Feel Good Fast" event, I packed, kissed my dogs good bye, and drove down to the Santa Cruz mountains.

But then, as it turned out, the person with whom I'd volunteered to assist hadn't passed on the info to the person who passed on the info to the person who coordinates that event, and so ... they didn't need me to assist at all.

But since I'd already blocked off the time in my appointment book, and didn't want to have wasted the time I spent writing it down and all ...

[Read more ... ]

It's In the Cards

Santa Cruz Mountains, August 20 2010: Back at the Tantra Certified Educator's training, I have been wrecked upon the shoals of Scylla and Charybdis, and as Martha Stewart so often says ... that's a good thing.

Scylla and Charybdis, for inquiring minds that want to know, were the two navigation hazards for Greek ships, at least according to the stories. Charybdis was a female goddess, but also a sea monster with a huge mouth that swallowed vast amounts of water; in other words, a whirlpool. Across from Charybdis was another hazard, a huge rock (Scylla). Thus when a ship had to pass between them, it was "between a rock and a hard place," as we said in Texas, where as everyone knows, navigating ancient sea vessels is a topic of constant discussion among the town folk.

So what does this have to do with the teacher's training course in Tantra Yoga?

It's that I've discovered that so much of what I thought I knew about how to learn things .. just doesn't work here. Bummer. It's like this ..

[Read more ... ]

Enter Tantra Yoga

Boulder Creek California (Santa Cruz Mountains), June 25, 2010: For months I've been fascinated, excited, and terrified.

It happened like this --

For three years after Adrienne and I parted, I've wanted no woman in my life.

And then came a day ... that I did.

Well, I know what to do (http://sweetheartreport.com), and so I began the process.

I'm seeking the Love of my Life, my Beloved, my dearest lover and best friend, yet again. I've had a few hundred lovers in my life, and been deeply and completely in love three times. I'd like to make it four. I'm ready.

Back in San Francisco days, in addition to picking up women in the supermarket, on the bus, in classes, at a funeral, and on the street, I'd learned to use classified ads. That was the big thing, back then. And twenty-some years later, it's online dating sites.

I tested two sites, one against the other. (Match.com wins. SeniorPeopleMeet.com works and provides plenty of prospects, but it seems to hand me more women who are being "old people." While I know how to act my age, I also want the freedom and fun of acting like a kid, and Match.com seems to hand me more creative and vibrant women.)

One of my first dates was a small, delicate, and enthusiastic young lady of about my own age, with an endearing sweet smile, wild auburn hair, and a body that seemed both refined and indecent. And thirty minutes into the conversation she said a particular word.

[Read more ... ]

Being Happy Today

Mt. Shasta, CA, June 2010 -- For several months now I've been engineering a secret project.

(Shhh. It's a secret- Uh, no, wait. It's not a secret any more. Never mind that hush-hush stuff. You can blab this all over, if you want to, OK?)


Years ago, back in San Francisco, and even earlier than that, I did some counseling. I didn't stick with it, because other things caught my interest. (Mainly women, I can admit it.)

The type of counseling I did was kind of unusual. It uses a very sensitive biofeedback meter. This thing is so sensitive that it reads on your thoughts.

And that's why it's so useful. If we're in a counseling session, I can ask you questions, and then when a resulting thought occurs, no matter how quick it goes by, I can steer you to that thought again. It's kind of like a compass and a steering wheel right inside the mind. Oh, it's not perfect. But it's pretty darn good.

And if that thought that just flashed by just happens to be the answer to why you feel stuck in your job for example, why you feel frustrated and can't seem to get ahead ... well, that's a pretty handy thought to be able to track down.


And I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

[Read more ... ]

Thanksgiving and Good-Bye to an Old Friend ...

Network Answering Service, San Francisco, 1984: Way back in the day, many years ago, my wife Lori and I ran an answering service on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco, with hundreds of musicians, actors, small businesses and the like for our clients.

And one day, a young woman came to San Francisco from the East Coast, to make her fortune. Her name was Andrea Lewis.

She showed up, and we gave her work, and the in-house communication training we did, and she became more and more self-confident and took on more and more. At one point, when I was off on some dumb adventure, the whole place was run by three women: my wife, Andrea Lewis, and our manager Mara Kimmel. That round-the-clock staff of 30+ was just humming.

It was sometimes tough times. And it was some really good times.

A VOICE

Andrea Lewis had a voice. A helluva voice.

She got a lot of encouragement from us, and began to sing in gigs, and found a spot on the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. They won four grammies, and performed in Carnegie Hall.

POLITICAL

Alway political as all get out, sometimes she thought I was a warm and kind fellow, and other times she opined that I was a sexist, honky, capitalist pig.

And she'd tell me about it.

I liked her.

A VOICE ON THE AIR

Not long after the end of Network Answering Service, Andrea found her true home, as a co-host on popular San Francisco radio station KPFA, and she's been a favorite voice on the air ever since.

On November 15, 2009, Andrea Lewis, age 52, died at home of a heart attack.

And I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that she was still on this planet to give me grief like back in those days gone by.

A MEMORIAL

Her parents came in to the San Francisco Bay Area from Florida, because KPFA arranged a memorial service in Oakland.

Some of the old crew from Network Answering Service, including me, went to attend, to remember her and to think back on those days.

THINKING BACK

This woman who had come to San Francisco from Detroit many years ago, and found a home in the community that had arisen around our answering service company on Geary Boulevard in San Francisco.

With us and our gang she got employment, friends, communication training and lots of encouragement.

She went on to become a much-loved radio talk show host on popular radio station KPFA, along with achieving some great results with her music.

WE DIDN'T KNOW

When Andrea died last week, suddenly and unexpected, we were all shocked to hear the news. You see, she seldom said much about herself and we didn't know she was seriously ill, even though for others, she used her gift at interviewing them, both making them feel at home and also getting them to open up on some of the tough questions.

Here is what her friends at KPFA Radio had to say.

A MEMORIAL

The memorial service was amazing: Attending was the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, the local congresswoman, Barbara Lee of Oakland, made arrangements to read Andrea's name into the Congressional Record, and notable speakers remembering her included a Poet Laureate of California, along with professors from Stanford and University of California praising her journalism and mourning her as a friend.

They played recordings of Andrea singing, blues and jazz. Her former jazz band played, and there was even a performance of dancing girls with huge drums. It was a heck of a send-off. The only one who would have enjoyed it even more, Andrea herself, was unable to attend. Or maybe she did.

On the huge wall above the stage in this large church, bigger than life, they showed a montage of photographs, including several dozen from our Network Answering Service days together. Eight of us Network folk had come, some for hundreds of miles, to be there. To say good bye and remember her.

The large church was so packed that many had to sit on the floor, along the walls, and stand in the lobby outside.

THANKSGIVING

And what does this tell us?

It tells us to cherish our friends.

It tells us .. not to let them slip away.

November celebrates Thanksgiving in the U.S., but there's no reason it can't be day of "thanks" everywhere in the world.

So I wanted to say "thank you" to all of you who have been a part of my life and times I've seen, down through all the years.

I just wanted to let you know I'm grateful.

Thank you for being here, on this planet, in these times.

James Bond on the Eigenharp?

November 12, 2009, Weed, CA: It's not a Chapman Stick on Steroids? It's not a sweet-voiced Mobius Megatar. Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's .. an Eigenharp!

Check out this amazing instrument, and then click the Link beneath the Video to pass it on to your friends!


Chapman Stick? Megatar? Nope. Eigenharp.

The Holiday Cheer Touchstyle Club

Weed, California November 2008: Hot on the heels of the Mobius Magnificent Layaway Plan ... comes the "Holiday Cheer" Touchstyle Club, with perhaps hundreds of dollars of savings for deserving little girls and- Oops, I meant to say dollars of savings for deserving musicians around the globe.

Yes, the Touchstyle Club, strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal man; and who, disguised as Kent Clark, mild-mannikin at the Daily Bungle, a grape necropolitan snoozepaper ...

As you can see, things are going downhill fast here at the on-site news center. That's because I stayed up late last night, and then woke up early with yet another set of bonus stuff for anybody wanting to save perhaps Hundreds of Dollars -- oh, did I say that already -- well, perhaps I did.

If you'll take a quick peek, you can see why I've become over-excited. Be sure to *read every word*, from top to bottom, and then let me know what you think, you good little boys and- I mean, you good musicians, you.

Here it is --

The Holiday Cheer Touchstyle Club.

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

Ginette Degner's blog, November 2008: The Bloggard has completely stolen this list from Search Engine Diva, even the title, because it made me fall about. Maybe you'd like it, too.

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice!

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. At the Office, put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ‘ For Marijuana.

6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.

7. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.

8. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is ‘To Go’.

9. Sing Along At The Opera.

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.

11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream ‘I Won! I Won!’

12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling ‘Run For Your Lives! They’re Loose!’

13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, ‘Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.’

14. Pick up a Box of Condoms at the Pharmacy, Go to the Counter, and Ask Where the Fitting Room is.

Bloggard Travels to Squidoo

Squidoo.com, May 31, 2008: For those as may be interested, the Bloggard, in his persona as Traktor Topaz, mild-mannered musician at a great metropolitan newspaper, has posted an article at Squidoo.

For some reason, the Squidarians call an article like this a 'lens.' So really, the Bloggard has created a lens. So now we know.

The name of the article is Play Guitar How To: Tap Guitar or Pick Guitar?

It has a story of a poor monkey, and some suggestions for fellows as would like to play a normal guitar. (Not everybody needs to play a Megatar. Different smokes for different folks, we say.)

If you enjoy the article, please put a nice commento on the commento formo. Gracias!

Tiny Flowers

Weed, California, Saturday May 10, 2008: Usually around mid-day, the dogs and I like to take a little walk around the house and the very large vacant lot next door. It's mostly an open field, with some tall and graceful trees at the far end.

If we have walked to the end, and walked around one or more of the trees ... well, we know we've been somewhere.

Today, the air was cool, but the sun was warm on us, and I plodded along after Charlie the dashing young boy, and I was lost in thought, watching my feet, for the now fast-growing grasses can hide gopher holes.

And I saw ...

[Read more ... ]

I Say it's Spring

Weed, California, May Day, 2008: I find myself waking earlier, for the sun bangs upon the blinds, and the dogs grow restive.

Yawning, I stumble outside, following the dogs. There is white frost on the newly-long grasses, and I blink in the light. The mountain is wreathed in clouds upon its shoulders, but rises above, up into a clear pale blue sky, and bright sunlight startles me in the crisp air.

Dogs dart here and there, in a world of fantastic scents hidden in the chill. As we make our way around the house, the frozen grasses crunch beneath our feet.

Suddenly I'm startled by the little tree near the road. I'd been told it was a cherry tree, but now I know.

Upon its twisted branches, pink cherry blossoms.

Yearning has Faded

San Francisco, Spring 1982: In the house on Tenth Avenue that I shared with Quinlan the photographer, I had a dream one night, that I saw Carolyn my high-school sweetheart. I'd like to say she came to me and that she cared for me, but she just passed nearby with a glance. And I was filled to overflowing with yearning. I awoke, and the dream left me with the yearning, as if it had been yesterday.

Last night, I had another dream ...

[Read more ... ]