Zelda Speaks
Topic: The Zelda Diaries
Wednesday 2:49pm

Everyday in everyway the world gets meowier and meowier.
I have so much fun every single wake up.
Picasso makes me giggle because she runs around and lets me chase her. Then she boxes with me so I can practice standing on two feet. We go on hallway vacations and she shows me doorways. Picasso is very smart and fascinating.

Quincy tells me to stay away from the dangers in the window. She says those flying things want to eat me. She is so helpful and protective.

Zoe insists that I help her eat her food because she says I'm a growing girl.

This place is way better than when I was with my brother who would beat me up all the time and not let me get any milk. MILK! I forgot about milk. I wonder if any of these girls can help me get some?

Mommy is the bestest mommy in the whole world. She wears toys on her feet so I always have something to play with. And she calls me Lala which is my song. And she tells me she loves me over and over and she doesn't have to tell me that because I figger that she loves me with all the big sisters she gives me and the food and the kisses and the toys.

I'm a very lucky kitten.
Z

Quincy Speaks
Topic: The Zelda Diaries
Wednesday 2:43pm

Does it really matter what I have to say? Is anyone listening? Is this thing on?

The good thing about the new cats is that they think I'm tougher than I really am. Picasso is good and discrete and doesn't tell the truth. "What they don't know won't meow them." Picasso likes to say.

I still get my window. I still get to sleep with Mommy. And when I'm bored I wake up the new one and spit at her. Just for a meower.

Quincy

Picasso Speaks
Topic: The Zelda Diaries
Wednesday 2:31pm
How am I supposed to feel when I have yet another interloper to share my space with. Boy I thought things were bad when it was just me and Saki. Who knew that one day I would look back fondly on those days.

Things got really good for the longest time when it was just Quincy and me. We got to sleep all day and we'd take turns running around. It was a pretty ideallic existence. Quincy can be a little stinky with the poohs but overall it was tolerable.

Then Mommy brought in Zelda. She was a cute little thing. She was never all that quiet but that was okay, it kept us on our toes. I have to admit that sometimes we do sleep a little too much. But the jumping on me and the biting of my back feet and the following me everywhere. It gets on a girl's last nerves. She grabs my tail. She just doesn't stop. But she is fun when we go on our hall outings. Well it's fun because she gets scared of every little noise and runs back home screaming at the top of her lungs. And I would run too but I'm so busy laughing that I can't run.

Now Mommy goes and brings in another girl and this one is almost the spitting image of me. She's just darker that's all. Sometimes at night, Mommy can't tell the difference between us. Is this some kind of joke or something? sigh!

The good thing is that she is keeping Zelda busy so she can't be all that bad. The only problem is that it's one more to compete with for the prime sleeping spots.

Maybe later when Mommy is rubbing my back, I'll bite her really really hard, just cuz.

Zoe Speaks
Topic: The Zelda Diaries
Wednesday 2:18pm

I don't know why my mommy sent me away. I thought I was a good cat. I always gave her all my love and came to her when ever she called my name. But I'm in a new home now. It has taken some time to get used to this place.

There's a little on who is really really cute... when she is sleeping! She has given me a couple kisses but then she backs away really quickly. It's kind of like what you humans complain about when someone shakes your hand limply. Why bother kissing me and then running away? She makes no sense.

She laughs at me when she eats my food and pokes at my bum when I'm walking by. She is a regular brat. I don't know why new mommy seems to love her so much.

The big cat that looks like me but more brown looks like she might actually be the friendliest in that she doesn't want to tease me. Maybe she and I can become mates because that little one bugs her constantly.

The third cat with the long hair seems a bit snobby. She just likes to go and sleep with new mommy and sit in the window. Boy I wish i could sit in the window. She only comes to see me when I'm asleep but then she wakes me up and gets all snooty. I don't know about these others.

New Mommy keeps insisting that they are my sisters but I don't think that's the truth. New Mommy asks about ten thousand paws a day if everybody is okay. Yeah sure lady, we'd be okay if you stopped asking us. But New Mommy, although really chatty, isn't so bad. She actually brings me my food and she caresses me a lot. And she gives the good people kisses. So maybe I'll stay.

Well, I have to paw off. Seems there is a line up to poke the tumputer. The thing about these other girls is that when they see you doing something they want to do it too. Lemmings!

Zoe

Smoking Metaphor
Topic: Someone Else Said It
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C L E A R T H I N K I N G from Uncommon Knowledge

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Psychology for success, health and happiness
July 2007
Sent only to subscribers

Teaching Tale: Sailing to freedom

If metaphor is a stand-in for another pattern in life, then we can see people's addictive behaviours as metaphors. So the alcohol may be a metaphor for a friend who is there in time of need to the drinker, the fix may be a stand in for an exciting lover to the junkie and so on. The addictive substance or activity acts as a stand in for what the person really needs in their life - it's always a poor substitute in the end though.

Here's a tale I sometimes tell to smokers who wish to be free.

There was once a man who was lucky enough to be able to retire at a young age. He had a passion for sailing and boat building. Over a period of time he built himself a beautiful sailing boat. It was a work of art. The sails were purest white, the deck gleamed and the cabin and sleeping quarters were most comfortable.

He began to travel the seas. He sailed around wonderful tropical islands and got to know different people in different harbours and ports. One day this man dropped anchor at a particular port and decided to have some fun. He went into a bar and fell into conversation with some local men who seemed like great fun. They drank together and laughed and seemed to get on marvellously. Then one of the men, after hearing about his boat, suggested that they could all work together. They could come and live on the boat and be paid as crew members. They could do all the work and the owner could pay their wages and just relax. What
fun that would be! The man readily agreed and the next morning - somewhat hung over - they all set sail together.

And so life continued and all seemed great at first. But, bit by bit, the man began to notice that his boat didn't quite look the same any more. In fact, these men (whom he was paying to be there) were sloppy and grubby. The sails started to look a little shredded
and grey, and seemed not catch the air the way they used to. The deck always seemed to be dirty and smelled bad, and other parts of the boat seemed to be rusting at an alarming rate. What's more, he no longer found the men to be enjoyable company. And in fact
they had started to order him around, telling him when he should eat and sleep, and always wanting more money.

Eventually he decided enough was enough - he wanted his beautiful boat back the way it was and the way it should be. He called them together and politely told them that he no longer wanted them around, pointing to the disrepair of his boat. But they just sneered at him and refused to go! He suddenly began to fear he had a mutiny on his hands. Were they going to take over and destroy the whole boat? He felt he had lost control of his life at this point, and really did not know what to do.

But bit by bit and little by little a cunning plan started to grow in the back of his mind.

One day he called his by now more or less 'captors' together and said: "You know, there's a certain port I know not too far from here that has a really thriving night life. The pleasures of that place are
indescribable; let's all go there and have a wonderful time!" The parasitical men were excited by this prospect - after all, is self-indulgent pleasure not the sole purpose of living? So they set their course for this delightful place.

Eventually, with the boat even more tattered and threadbare, they sailed into the harbour of this lively community, full of distractions and delights. The men in their greed for a good time almost threw
themselves out of the boat in their haste to sample the delights of the sea port. In their haste they didn't notice that the owner had stayed on board. As soon as they were out of sight, he upped anchor and steered his boat to open waters, thrilled with his
successful offloading of those poisonous charmers who had so threatened his well-being.

And astoundingly, with very little work on his part, as he sailed out into the fresh clear air of the open seas, he noticed that the sails were white once more and caught the air powerfully as they used to, driving his boat forward, while his deck and cabin gleamed and
shone. As he sailed onwards with high heart, he thought with satisfaction how wonderfully his boat would now survive the years and travels ahead as those destructive men became an increasingly distant memory.

How this man found true companions to genuinely help him on his voyages is, of course, another story...


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