Category Archives: Life is Fun!

Okay, this is getting weird

Posted on September 16, 2013 | 6 comments

Ever since Jeff and I have decided to make this trip to the UK actually happen, things have been falling into place in fun and bizarre ways. Here is the latest:

In a scene from the BBC mini-series Blackpool, David Tennant‘s character, DI Peter Carlisle, interviews Hailey, the prostitute, (played beautifully by Lisa Millet) about the murder of Mike Hooley. The interview takes place, I’m assuming, in the famous Blackpool Ballroom, with the also famous Wurlitzer organ being played in the background. Carlisle is interviewing all of the local hookers, and has invited them to neutral ground and supplied a nice tea.

Lisa Millet, as Hailey, and David Tennant as detective Peter Carlisle, having tea and questions in the Blackpool Ballrom

Lisa Millet, as Hailey, and David Tennant as DI Peter Carlisle, having tea and questions about sex and death in the Blackpool Ballroom.

One of the things we (well, I … Jeff doesn’t know it yet) intend to do while in Blackpool is have tea and pastries, like Hailey and Carlisle, at the Blackpool Ballroom, hopefully sitting in the same spot and getting a picture or two.

Because having tea in England is not like it is here (usually at a McDonald’s drive-thru) I have no idea of the proper etiquette and I’ve been doing some research so that I’ll know how to behave. 😉

Here comes the amazing synchronicity. Last week, a friend asked me to meet her for lunch somewhere in Mesa, a city about 45 minutes away from here. Because it’s a long drive, I plugged my iPod into the car speakers and listened to a playlist. Yep, I played the Blackpool soundtrack (obsess much? you betcha!). One of the songs is “I Second that Emotion”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ22McAHs3E

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the place we were meeting, and that song–which I haven’t heard, aside from the soundtrack, in many years–was playing on the radio.

But wait! There’s more!

My friend, who has no idea that I’m planning this trip, had a surprise for me. It was an English-style tea party, complete with manners and etiquette lessons. Let me reiterate that she had no idea that I was wanting to learn this very specific and unusual thing.

Boom. Out of the blue. Just like that. I now know how to not embarrass myself once we hit the shores of a country where drinking tea is like breathing.

And I learned that I love Earl Grey tea!

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Posted in Abundance, Blackpool, Humor, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Lisa and Jeff, Travel

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Can you stand another coincidence?

Posted on September 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

This is just a quickie post, about another Blackpool synchronicity. After my first blog on the subject of our planned trip there, my new friend British friend (and Blackpool expert) posted a whole bunch of great links for me (Thanks, Mike!). One of them was for another show that was filmed in Blackpool, called Funland. One of the main characters in the series is named Lola, a rather unusual name. Coincidentally, the main character in my novel series is named Lola–a rather unusual name.

The plot thickens!

 

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Posted in Blackpool, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Lisa and Jeff, Travel, Uncategorized

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Psychic Dreams

Posted on September 1, 2013 | 7 comments

My most recent blog, about our planned trip to Blackpool, England, has indirectly caused me to realize that this trip will be the fulfillment of a longtime series of very specific recurring dreams. I’ve been dreaming about Blackpool for years, but didn’t recognize it!

I used to dream about Florida, long before Jeff and I ever thought of moving there, and once we arrived I was able to recognize scenes from various dreams as they were happening in real life. It’s so weird to have them come true like that, when I didn’t even know what they are showing me. I remember a Florida dream about a garden near a swimming pool, with statues and spiritual symbols in it. It turned out to be a serenity garden in which Jeff and I got married.

laserium control console

The control panel in my dream looked a lot like this one. Image Source: http://www.patrickmccray.com/2015/01/

The first psychic dream that I can remember coming true took place in approximately 1989. I had a bizarre dream that took place in a darkened room, where there was a big, black control panel and weird geometrical shapes of light in the air. Because I had never seen anything like it before, it was kind of scary and I thought I was nuts. Why on earth would I be dreaming about something so alien?

Then in the mid 90s I started working for Laserium and my boss was Ivan Dryer, the pioneer in the laser concert industry, who performed the very first laser show at Griffith Observatory in the 70s (you can read all about it by clicking the link under the photo of the control panel). Ivan asked the laserist in the studio to give me a demonstration of what they do. It didn’t take long for me to  recognized the laserist’s control panel and the geometrical light shapes in the air!

I’ve also dreamed a lot about New York City and somewhere in Great Britain. The New York dreams are coming much more frequently lately, and I have a feeling I’ll be there before the end of the year. For what reason, I do not know.

The exciting thing to me, now, is the dreams of the UK because a puzzle piece has just fallen into place. The dreams never told me exactly where they occurred. I have just been shown that someday I’d be there, near the water, and Ireland entered into it somehow.

But get this. In most of the dreams about the UK, I always saw something unrecognizable embedded into the ground, like tiles or patterns in concrete. Weird dreams. These tiles were set into a circular pad of cement. I could always sense waves nearby and I knew that Ireland was related somehow. I’ve never been able to pinpoint what the dreams were about, but they definitely included this water’s-edge, weird-patterned tilework.

Comedy Carpet viewed from the top of the tower - Picture of Comedy Carpet, Blackpool

This photo of Comedy Carpet is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Well, I’ve just discovered where in England those seaside tiles are–in a town I’ve only recently heard of, Blackpool. In my research about the town, in an effort to manifest this trip, I just happened to stumble upon this photo.

The tiles (which aren’t really tiles, it is a concrete and granite installation which features catchphrases and jokes by more than 1,000 comedians and writers)  are called the Comedy Carpet.  (More irony: Jeff and I met when we were both professional standup comedians.) You can see the circular cement pad, and the waves crashing onto the shore. And, Blackpool is on the Irish Sea.

I am blown away to finally learn where in England I’ve been dreaming about for so very many years, and that I was unintentionally planning a trip there! Wow!!!

Oddly, the Comedy Carpet wasn’t installed yet when the movie Blackpool (the inspiration for this trip, starring David Tennant–the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, Sarah Parish and David Morrissey) was filmed, so I wasn’t aware that there was a connection to my dream tiles when I saw the movie and began to plan this trip. In fact, I’d been having dreams about the “tiles” for many years before they existed.

I wasn’t even thinking about these dreams when I started to plan our trip to Blackpool recently. In fact, I had completely forgotten about the dreams until I saw photos of the Comedy Carpet. I can’t help thinking that there is a much bigger purpose behind this trip than Jeff and I just having a fun lark-about abroad. I can’t wait to find out what it is!

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Posted in Abundance, Blackpool, Humor, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Lisa and Jeff, Travel

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Next on my Bucket List: Blackpool, England

Posted on August 15, 2013 | 75 comments

In which author Lisa Bonnice sets her intention for her next goal: a lengthy visit to the UK, with the pinnacle of the trip being a photo of the sunset over the Irish Sea from the “Eye” of the Blackpool Tower.

Sunset over the Irish Sea, and the Blackpool Tower. (from the Blackpool Tower facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackpoolTower)

I just completed the first major item on my lifetime Bucket List. I have officially become a best-selling author. Boom. Done.

So now what? I didn’t really make any big plans beyond that, because it’s taken 52 years to accomplish this one. It’s sort of been an obsession, so I didn’t make a bucket list beyond that one thing. But now that I’ve achieved that goal, I want to make the next one fun and easy.

Our plan (my husband Jeff and I) is to indulge some of our curiosity about the UK from what we’ve seen on BBC America and our love of the Beatles. We’re going to visit some of the Doctor Who sites and museums (including Cardiff), then go to Liverpool to visit the Cavern Club and do whatever Beatles site-seeing is available, and finally head to Blackpool.

Why Blackpool? A British friend of mine asked that very question. “Why Blackpool!? It’s the Coney Island of the UK!”

I responded, “That’s exactly why. I love kitsch.”

But there’s more to it than that. The BBC aired a mini-series a few years ago filmed in and entitled Blackpool. Through a long and winding trail of links about David Tennant (the Tenth Doctor) I found a bunch of YouTube videos that allowed me to watch the whole thing (all six hours, ten minutes at a time).

Watch Blackpool

Your mileage may vary, but I found this miniseries to be one of the most well-written, well-acted and well-executed productions I’ve ever seen. And it made me fall head over heels in love with the town of Blackpool! I simply MUST BE THERE!

I must step foot inside the arcade where Ripley Holden’s life began to unravel. I have to walk along the Promenade where DI Peter Carlisle wooed Natalie Holden. And (he doesn’t know this yet) Jeff and I will have tea, and then dance in the famous Blackpool Ballroom!

The Blackpool Ballroom, with its famous Wurlitzer Organ. (from the Blackpool Tower facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TheBlackpoolTower)

We’re shooting for summer of next year, 2014. We’re intending to align our visit to Blackpool with their annual Illuminations festival. We have a year to make this happen, and I’ve already started the process.

And … go!

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Posted in Abundance, Blackpool, Humor, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Lisa and Jeff, Travel

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My one resolution: No More Apologies!

Posted on December 31, 2012 | 3 comments

I gave up New Year’s Resolutions a long time ago. This one just happens to coincide with the start of a New Year, so I might as well claim it as a “resolution” (although, doesn’t that automatically doom it to only last until February? Eeek!).

Anyway, it has come to my attention that one of my biggest personality defects, for lack of a better phrase, is that I voluntarily give my power away to the lowest bidder. As soon as anyone casts doubt on something I say or do, I instantly cave in and cry “Uncle!” even if I honestly felt that I was in the right before they said anything.

This isn’t news, really. I’ve always known that I do this, but I also thought that it was because I was wrong, after all! One of the things I’ve always liked about my personality is that I’m very willing to see both sides of a story and admit when I’m wrong. I am, naturally, a very fair person — TO OTHER PEOPLE! When I’m right, however, I rarely stand up for myself and say so. That’s the problem.

With Neale Donald Walsch, shortly after he offered, without even being asked, to write a foreword for my first book.

With Neale Donald Walsch, shortly after he offered, without even being asked, to write a foreword for my first book.

Even Neale Donald Walsch noticed this about me, when I had only known him a couple hours. He had just found a copy of my first book that day, and he volunteered to write a foreword for its second edition. That evening, he was raving about it to a crowd of about fifty people while I sat in the audience, ecstatic to hear someone of his professional stature saying such amazing things about my work. He announced before an entire room of my respected peers that he would do whatever he could to help me get the book seen, “…because she doesn’t even believe in her own work!” He could see better than I could my extreme fear of someone reading the book and disputing its veracity, even though I was very careful while writing it to make sure that couldn’t happen.

My fear of being proven wrong or laughed at because I made a mistake has kept me from succeeding, even when I know I’m right. I downplay my spiritual beliefs for fear of ridicule by friends and family members who are either atheists or believers of a standard religion’s doctrine, even though I KNOW how to tap into the power of the Universe and make it swirl into whatever I want it to be.

All these years, I was sort of proud of my ability to be so humble. The problem is, it hasn’t been humility, it’s been fear.

Over the last week, I’ve read a couple books that have given me a whole new way of looking at this issue: Will I Ever Be Good Enough? and Realms of the Earth Angels.

The first offers a “real-world” look at psychological reasons for this kind of behavior, which is called the Impostor Syndrome. BOY, did I relate to that!!!

The second offers a “New Age” look at spiritual reasons for this, and suggests that it might be caused by vows taken in past lives to stay quiet and not rock the boat, or draw attention to myself. That feels so true, so on the money, and I’m not even gonna apologize for resonating with this, even though last week I would have.

Talk about a double whammy! And just in time to claim my power back for a New Year! Look out, 2013, Lisa Bonnice finally believes in and claims her own power!

Here’s you a magical dog!

magical dog

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Posted in Humor, Life is Fun!, Shape Shifting, Spirituality

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Change the blade

Posted on December 13, 2012 | 1 comment

ME (in the shower, thinking, as I shave my legs): I only have one new razor blade left, but this one is going dull. I can feel it tearing into my skin. I really should change it, but they’re so expensive.

INNER CHEERLEADER: Wait a minute, not taking care of myself when I need to is a ‘lack of abundance’ mindset. I need to change the blade and declare to the Universe, “I can afford all the razor blades I need.”

ME: Yeah, but we really don’t have the income right now for something that has become a borderline luxury. That’s fine ‘pie in the sky’ thinking, but the reality is I really should be frugal. I’d hate to be so poor someday that I can’t afford even that and look back on today, thinking, “God, I was so wasteful back then. I wish I’d had the foresight to not blow through the last of our money.”

INNER CHEERLEADER: Oh my god, listen to all that negative talk! I am powerful! I am the creator of my life! I am abundant! I am prosperous, and phooey on that negative karma!

ME: Yeah, but there’s no reason that razors should be so expensive! Have you seen the price of them lately? And I really resent the forced upgrades that all of the brands are doing, adding more and more blades, and making the triple-bladed kind, which I was just fine with, obsolete. In fact, the brand I used to buy regularly before the upgrades don’t even work that well anymore. I wonder if the manufacturers use deliberately dulled blades in the older versions so we consumers have to buy the higher priced ones.

INNER CHEERLEADER: What are you, a conspiracy theorist now? The new, quadruple bladed ones work better because of new technology and advancements in their research.

ME: Maybe, but still …

(the razor handle slips out of my soapy hand, falls to floor of tub and the cartridge pops off)

BOOMING VOICE: Oh, for fuck’s sake, change the blade already!

***

Moral: the more of your old shit you let go of, the less time you’ll waste on inner dialogs like this.

Here’s you a shaved dog:

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Posted in Humor, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Rants, Uncategorized

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To beat or not to beat — not much of a question

Posted on November 30, 2012 | 1 comment

I didn’t make a deadline I set for myself. It was one that I was taking seriously, but I was still unable to make it. In the olde days, I would have given myself a thorough and long lasting thrashing about how much I suck. Fortunately I’ve grown up a little and that is no longer my reaction. Instead, I’ve decided to see what I’ve learned from this.

The deadline was to complete 50,000 words toward a new novel in one month, by participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), a contest that one wages against oneself. I could have probably pulled it off if my household had not experienced an economic disaster, the kind that so many other families are living through while our society rewrites itself. So, yeah, I was a little distracted. It has taken me this long to begin to feel like every little thing is gonna be alright.

On the plus side, I did get over 30,000 words written, and the storyline itself is pretty much finished in my head. All that’s left is the “scribbling and bibbling.” I’ve fallen in love with the new characters and am enjoying fleshing out the folks we got to know in Book 1. I’ve renewed some good work habits that I let go lax since I finished my last book (I needed a break) and am enjoying writing again. This is going to be a fun book.

So, I may not have met that goal, but I am certainly further along on that project than I would have been if I hadn’t even tried.

Yay me!

Yay, me!

Yay, me!

Along those lines, today is my 52nd birthday. I refuse to wallow in fear and self-pity about what is going on in the personal side of my life. That’s what I’ve spent the past couple weeks doing, and that’s what derailed me in this contest. I know it’s up to me to change how shitty that has made me feel.

So, as a birthday gift to myself, I’ve written a new bio, because even with my ego pushed aside, I have to admit it’s a pretty doggone interesting story (even if it is long–52 years worth). I’m going to, just for today, toot my own horn without apology. If you’re interested, you can read it here, on my bio page.

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Posted in Be Careful What You Witch For!, Humor, Life is Fun!, Lisa and Jeff, Spirituality

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Look how high I am!

Posted on October 12, 2012 | 4 comments

Sometimes I feel a little snarly toward people who post condescending “Isn’t life great when you’re me?” statuses on their Facebook profiles. I feel like Paula Poundstone talking about her cat  that climbs the curtains and pronounces, from the top, “Look how high I am!” and all Paula can do is sit there and resent the cat, “Yes, you’re very high.”  To these people I might add, “Quit showing off and show me how to get up there, too, or shut up.”


(fast forward to about 6:40 in the video for that specific bit)

I say that before I say this. Look how high I am!

I think I finally figured something out, something big! I’ve been practicing that metaphysical, law of attraction, new age mumbo jumbo for a very long, long time. I can totally relate to people who ask Abraham, at Esther Hicks’ seminars, “I’ve been doing the work. Where’s my stuff!?!” Lately, though, I’ve had a really nice, steady flow of feeling okay. Things are pretty good and getting better.

This comes after years of long stretches of down between the ups. The highs were really amazing, but the lows were so freakin’ low (no, I’m not bi-polar, I’m learning to fly). But recently I have been able to maintain a feeling of grooviness for a longer time. I’m gaining altitude and it feels NICE.

Then, out of the blue, yesterday, I crashed. Hard. I felt like I was hit in the face with a brick. After such a long time aloft, it felt awful. The contrast was so harsh that all I could do is shake my confused head and wonder, “wtF???” Suddenly, money was flying out the window for really stupid things, I felt like crap, and I was filled with rage.

Now, this morning, I feel amazing again. Just like that. Double WTF? So I thought about this.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been stewing over some imagery in my head, trying to put it into words, trying to grok. I’m still having a hard time verbalizing the essence of the image, so try to feel into what I’m saying here, because sometimes there are just no words to describe a vision. It’s an image of a lightswitch, of sorts, that we can flip to instantly turn on what Abraham calls “being in the vortex.” I’ve been feeling like this is an ability that I’m evolving into (and probably so are you) but I just couldn’t grasp how to flip that switch. I knew it was possible, but couldn’t reach it.

I think that yesterday’s crash and today’s miraculous rebound were the Universe’s demonstration to me of the stark, immediate contrast between here and there, and how it’s only a matter of stepping from one vibe into another just by remembering what it feels like to be here. That switched can be flipped by a memory of feeling awesome, and if it doesn’t work right away, just keep trying. Eventually the circuit will connect.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on this. Share it with your friends and ask them to add their two cents. Let’s figure this out together.

Here’s you a dog:

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Posted in Humor, Law of Attraction, Life is Fun!, Rants, Spirituality

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Emo Philips, comedy genius

Posted on September 20, 2012 | 3 comments

The first time I met Emo, I was still waitressing/bartending at Snickerz Comedy Bar in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was a huge name in comedy at the time–he was on all the TV shows and cable channels, and he had even released a record (that’s a large, round, flat piece of vinyl, similar to a CD, that we used to play on something called a “record player”). The club was sold out for all the shows, SRO (standing room only). Like most big name acts, Emo kept to himself and the staff didn’t see him much. My most intimate interaction with him, that time, was when he signed an 8×10 glossy photo for me, “Dear Lisa, Thank you for the hamsters. Love, Emo”

Pardon me while I have a Strange Interlude: That Saturday night, on my way to work at Snickerz for Emo week, I totaled my car and smashed my face up a bit. My nose was broken, and my uniform and face were both drenched with blood. I knew that if I went straight to the hospital and called in “sick” from the ER, Kevin (my boss) wouldn’t believe how serious it was, because NO ONE called in sick during one of these SRO events without losing their job. The fact that I was in shock (and a bit of a drama queen) helped me to do this — I drove to the club and parked my crumpled car in front. I made my way through the crowd that was waiting to get in, up to the front to where Kevin was seating people. One look told him that I wasn’t faking just to get the night off. He sent me off to the ER, tout de suite.

Anyhoo, my real Emo story is much more fun.

Years later, after I had moved to Chicago and had been performing comedy for a few years, a good friend of mine was working at Catch A Rising Star. His name was Gary Kern and he was a “comic’s comic.” This means that he was so funny that he could crack up even the most jaded comedian, and sometimes the crowds just didn’t get how really brilliant he was. Gary had a lot of friends and several comics came to see him that night. We were sitting at a table, chatting, when Emo (who was also a fan of Gary’s) came into the room and sat next to me, the only open seat at the table.

I would be lying if I didn’t admit how cool it was that I was at a point in my career where I was  hanging out with the caliber of performer that I was with — that Emo Philips would just stroll into the room and sit next to me as though I were his peer. But I digress.

At one point, Emo turned to me and said in his lilting, sing-song voice, “I have a joke I’d like to tell you. Let me know what you think.”

It went something like this (you have to read this in Emo’s voice):

“I went to the doctor and said, ‘Doctor, it hurts after I pee.’ The doctor said, (*dramatic sigh*) ‘Emo, Emo, Emo … When you’re done, don’t wring it out.’” With this, Emo made a tight, wringing gesture, as though he was squeezing water out of a drenched towel.

Not only was it a funny joke, it was the fact that Emo Philips — one of the cleverest, cleanest acts in comedy — was telling me a dick joke. I laughed long and hard.

The best part was his reaction to my laughter. He was so happy that I laughed, I mean genuinely happy — his face lit up with absolute pure delight, like a child about to blow out birthday candles — so very happy that he hugged me tight and exclaimed, “You liked my joke!”

It was one of the sweetest moments of my life, witnessing such innocent happiness and being the cause of it. It still makes me smile, to this day.

I’ll close this blog with a prayer by Emo Philips: “Dear Lord, Please break the laws of the Universe for my convenience.”

Here’s you an emo dog:

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Posted in Humor, Life is Fun!

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The sequel begins

Posted on July 6, 2012 | 1 comment

A couple years ago I wrote a book called Be Careful What You Witch For!, which  was intended to the be first in a series about Lola Garnett, a bored housewife, mom and office drone who wakes up with unexpected psychic abilities, and no instruction manual, and Twink, the reluctant, sarcastic fairy assigned to assist and educate her.

I started working on Book Two, but then got sidetracked by another project, a “true crime” book I co-wrote with Stacey M. Kananen, which is going to be published by Berkley Books in April 2013 (the working title was Sink or Swim, but the actual title is still being decided upon by the publisher–I’ll let you know what it is as soon as I know!). Well, that book has been put to bed, and I find myself with itchy fingers.

So, I’m officially saying hello to Lola and Twink again, and getting back to work on the next book in her series, tentatively titled Shaman-a My House. In it, Lola decides to take some classes in shamanism/soul retrieval at a “New Age” bookstore and, in her naivete, is conned by a trickster spirit from the other side of the veil who is determined to imprison Lola’s soul.

Meantime, she becomes friends with Madeline LaRue, the transvestite antique store owner from Book One, and is dismayed when Madeline falls in love with an obnoxious man who Lola has dubbed “the Tennis Jerk,” due to his annoying habit of screaming and grunting whenever he swings his racket at the tennis court across the street from Lola’s house.

Lola and Twink spend a lot of time on the other side of the veil, trying to untangle Lola’s soul from the web cast by the soul stealer. They must figure out clues and symbols left for them by both naughty and nice spirits, while Lola struggles, as usual, to maintain a balance in her home life, with her eye-rolling husband, Chuck, and her extremely teenaged daughter, Amanda.

Plenty of laughs and hijinks are guaranteed, as Lola and Twink once again find themselves in a complicated, crazy mess. I can’t wait to find out how it ends!

And, of course, here’s you some dogs (I love the one on the lounge chair who couldn’t be bothered to come and bark at us as we drove by!)

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