Wedding Scenario #1

I was born in the Circus City Capital of the World!

For those who don't now, that means Peru, IN. This Wedding plan is in tribute to our adventurous roots.

Imagine the big top, and the audience (our guesta) are seated in the bleachers. The Circus City band is playing, in the performance area is only the Master of Ceremony to perform the wedding. Suddenly, the clown car rolls out and starts circling the arena. When it stops out pop the best men! They set up a Ring of Fire, and you here the engine revving off stage. It is Matt! His hair is a bright red Bozo afro, and he is off, jumping a motorcycle through the firey ring.

Then its time for the bride. I will be dressed like a princess and riding on a Unicorn, followed by bridesmaids twirling batons.

For the catering we will have Corn dogs, Snow cones and Cotton candy, plus popcorn. There will also be elephant rides.

All the world is a ball of energy

Mimi did Reiki Therapy for me over the weekend. Essentially it's an energy treatment. The therapist aligns your body's energy, breaks up any blockages and creates balance in the body. This is about an hour long Hands-on session.

Problem #1--I twitch! When I lay down on the massage table, my body started twitching uncontrollably, everywhere--my toes, my shoulders, my legs, my abdomen. Afterward I discussed this with Mimi. I often start twitching when I fall asleep, like my body doesn't want to let go and relax. This is a breathing issue, she said. I don't take time to breathe deeply, into the diapraghm. Yes, that sounds about right. Throughout the day I do a lot of yawning and "ha-rumphing", which I've come to associate with a need to take deep breaths and get more air. So, according to Mimi, due to lack of oxygen, my nervous system is all out of whack, and I am to spend several uninterrupted minutes a day concentrating on deep breathing.

Problem #2--Mimi became very emotional and when she was dealing with my right arm and hand. Being a writer, I assumed maybe I was feeling guilty about not working on my current project! But while I was sharing the comment with Matt, I realized it was probably related to my shoulder. I tore my rotator in my shoulder exactly a year ago this weekend. For three months I wasn't allowed to lift my arm, else I risked having to go for surgery! This was really the beginning of the end of my time at Nordstrom. The injury occurred at work because I was short-staffed and trying to do too much by myself. And frankly, I just never recovered emotionally. The shoulder is healed now, but still very sensitive--warning: don't try bowling!

Problem #3--The back of my head. I have been plagued by nightmares forever, often waking up with a soaking wet blanket and bed, or else waking myself up with shouting and yelling. Then it has always been a problem to wake up thoroughly--like the dreams would keep ahold of me for a while before I could shake the sleeping off. However, since the reiki I've noticed I wake up much clearer and much more quickly in the morning.

Things that I saw: Sometimes people will have images come up during reiki therapy or chakra-balancing. I did not really see images, just colors. Especially when she was treating my 6th chakra (third eye)--I felt this sense of speed and then this purple tunnel encapsulated my body and mind. When she moved to the 7th chakra (crown) it changed to a the image of a swirling green and purple ball that kept reappearing and then fading into the distance, looking something like a yin-yang, which turned out to be interesting since reiki is meant to balance out your chi.

Things Mimi saw: She said the image of the Virgin Mary kept occurring. I am not Catholic or Orthodox, though because of my Ukrainian roots, I have been to Orthodox services and am familiar with icons of the Virgin. Mimi asked me to contemplate what the meaning of her appearance during my session may be.

Reiki is meant to draw you into tune with the energy of the universe. The Blessed Mother represents Benevolence and Submission. Acceptance in life is sometimes a struggle, and I try to remember to be grateful and accepting of my life path everyday (we are where we are needed...), so I think perhaps it was a reminder of how to live life everyday.

MacNiven's--Does it have any value as food?

MacNiven's is a Scottish-themed restaurant downtown on Mass Ave, in case you haven't been there (consider eating before you go!)

I have to say, I had never eaten there, and had sort of wanted to. I've met friends for drinks a few times late night--and was always highly impressed by their humongous Beer List, and if you like Scotch--I'm sure they've more selections than anywhere in the city.

It is a Scottish themed restaurant. I'd heard of their haggis, assumed their might be some sort of shepherd's pie, but other than that I didn't really know what to expect.

Matt and I were in the mood to try something new. Neither of us had eaten at MacNivens. My ex-roommate and her beau used to have dinner there every Friday night, and Matt's brother (who often frequents the downtown restaurants) had mentioned it was pretty good. I knew the the atmosphere was intimate and woody, and they had lots of new beers to try. Sure, why not, it'll be great.

We started with the Haggis sampler. Now, most people might be shy about trying Haggis based on its description--basically a mush of organ meats and grains--but, if you are going to eat Scottish, might as well try it once. Plus, though I don't often eat red meat, I have always enjoyed a little bit of organ on my plate. I can thank my Dad for this, I think, since early childhood memories involve fighting him for the baked innards from the turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The dish comes with a small bowl of Haggis, several small slices of rye bread and a huge portion of butter. So, Matt and I start out spreading the butter on the bread and topping it with the dull brown mealy mush of Haggis. After a couple of servings, I am not bothered by the organy taste of the stuff, but the overwhelming saltiness of the dish. It occurs to me to taste the butter on my finger, and I discover they are serving the stuff with salted butter! I was shocked, really. so we continue on the appetizer without the butter, but really our pallets have been so assaulted the only thing either of us can taste by that point is just tons of salt.

I am sad to say the appalling use of salt and butter did not stop there.

For the entree I ordered the Pan Seared Trout. I had just been reading some foody article about pan-seared fish, and was excited when I saw it on the menu, expecting a delicious slightly crispy skin with the warm and light meatiness of the fish. Whoa--who would of thought, they did not even pan sear the skin side, and it came out a mush slimy grey film on the flesh of my fish. Now, this meal might have been okay still except for the fact that the darn thing was drizzled in so much butter there was actually a pool a couple of centimeters deep filling my plate, and even making the side of veggies soggy. Worse yet, it was that same darn salted butter they had given us before. Are you kidding me!? You can't cook a fish and flavor it without killing my mouth in a soup of salted butter? I couldn't eat it.

Matt had no better luck with his dish. It was some kind of deconstructed shepherd's pie, they meat, carrots, and onions drowning in gravy and the potatoes and neeps on the side. He also was so sickened by the taste of salt creating a toxic effect in his mouth (and in his head--he actually felt his pulse exploding in his brain!). The only thing on the plate palatable, according to Matt, were the neeps--which apparently is the Scottish name for rutabaga.

We spoke with the waitress, quizzed her about the food, and she said, well it's always served that way.

So diner beware. Your may be taking your life into danger when eating at MacNivens, seriously--imagine if you were a customer with high blood pressure, you might explode!