Lizzy Miles's Blog

Mirror Synchronicity: Fly on the Wall

If you didn't watch the vice-presidential debates last night, you may have heard about the fly. Apparently a fly landed on Mike Pence's head and was there for a couple of minutes. He did not swat it away or react.  Perhaps because this has been a tense time for everyone, people are quick to find humor where they can. Apparently, the fly was so funny, it started trending on Twitter. It even made the New York Times. 

I go to see what all the fuss is about and when I go to play the debate, this comes on...

 

Mirror Synchronicity: Elvis lives on

Yesterday when I was getting a blood draw, the technician told me her mom went to high school with Elvis. He was a senior when her mom was a freshman.

Then I went to my first visit to a hospice patient with dementia and we started talking about music. I asked her who she would like to hear and she said Elvis.

Later in the day, I was talking to a friend who went to the ADEC conference in Atlanta this year. The friend brought up a really interesting presentation that she had seen about celebrities who live on in lore...and of course, my friend mentioned Elvis as an example. I screamed in her ear.

Elvis lives on.  Two synchros in one day and I wouldn't have bothered, but after I heard the third, I had to post.

Mirror Synchronicity: Damn Raccoons

This week we noticed that every morning when we were leaving for work, our cat Kizzy was staring outside. There were raccoons climbing up to our 2nd floor deck.


We thought it was a one-off but then when it happened several days in a row, I started looking online to see what I could find about repelling raccoons. I'm cheap so I wanted to use something natural. I sprinkled a bunch of cayenne pepper around the deck and started collecting cat hair.

When my friend Kristi asked me to go to lunch, I sent her a text asking her to collect some dog hair and bring it with her. She asked why and I sent her the above picture. Her response was, "Sure, but I'm not sure it will work because it hasn't stopped them from tearing a hole in our soffit..."  She sent me this picture:

Damn raccoons.
At lunch we talked about the expenses to repair all of the damage caused so far by these rascals. I was horrified and nervous about my homemade method of deterrent. When I got home, I went out on the deck and found the raccoon toilet. I have a picture, but I will spare you the visual of seven piles of crap. I started reaching my phone through the deck railings to try to take pictures of where the deck meets the house and discovered WE HAVE A HOLE TOO.

Damn raccoons.

I might have never thought to look for the hole had Kristi not asked me to lunch & I thought to ask for dog hair. This mirror synchronicity might have saved us from more damage. I hope.

Mirror Synchronicity: Ninjas on the mind

For the past two months, I have been working on an article connecting ninjutsu to hospice. I read multiple books and wrote my article. I sent it to our editor and then she had several changes which I found discouraging. I let the article sit for another two weeks and then finally resolved to finish it.  You can read it here if you're interested...

Immediately after I finished it, I texted my one of the other editors to let him know that it was finally done. Then I looked at the mail stack that my husband had left for me, and I had a Postcrossing postcard from Japan with tiny ninja stickers on it.
The following day, I received another package in the mail and it was Japanese Newsweek with an article that I was in!




I think I'm turning Japanese. I think I'm turning Japanese.,. I really think so. Honestly though, I love Japan. My family was stationed in Okinawa when I was an infant and I was told at one time my first words were Japanese... 

Mirror Synchronicity: The Other Me

Lately my name has been coming up a lot in reference to other people with the same name. The first incident was on Jeopardy. My husband was laughing when they introduced the contestants and one was "Liz Miles." He wanted to know if I wanted a picture. I did not. Especially not after she talked about the sex life of Japanese men during her story. What?!



Here's an article written about her unexpected story.

But then a week later, I saw a CEU at work offered by Liz Miles, a pharmacist. I have not met another Liz Miles in person, so I might go to the class even though it is over my head. Kind of cool that these two are smart people. I'm in good company.

The icing on the cake though was a very long email I just got, thanking me for my involvement in some camp in Colorado.

It read in part:
Great Job everyone!I want to say a great big THANK YOU to each of you for the part you played in making our first day of Expedition Norway go so well!  We had 125 kids come today and every one of them had a huge smile on their face!  I loved seeing you all interacting with the children and loving on them.  My heart is overflowing with gratefulness for all of you and for what God is doing through you!
I don't know this for sure, but I wonder if it's the same Lizzy Miles in Colorado who bought Cutco knives, which is (I believe) the sister of "Bruce" who invited her to a wedding. Both the knives and the wedding invitation were connected to a Lizzy Miles in Colorado. The knives purchase scared me because I knew I didn't buy any knives and I worried about identity theft. I researched the situation and confirmed that is was a typo on the email. whew! 
Bruce was apologetic that he sent me a wedding invitation intended for his sister. He said since it was his sister he should have known better. I don't have any brothers... maybe Bruce will be my honorary brother.

There is also a Lizzy Miles in England for whom I get email. One was bad for me to receive. Though I have never met her, I feel it's not my place to share her medical information that was sent to me by mistake. Certainly, I emailed the senders and they were quite embarrassed. Strangely, they wouldn't give me Lizzy's true email address. I wanted it in case I got other emails that were intended for her (which has happened.)

So what does all this mean? It is a big reminder to me how connected the world is. I think we always were connected, but now with the internet, it's almost supernatural (in a good way.)  I would like to meet some of the other Liz Miles/Lizzy Miles people out there. Maybe if they google themselves, they'll find this article...

Mirror Synchronicity: No Fate

The last time I was in Las Vegas we ate at Chin Chin Chinese restaurant at New York New York Casino. The meal was excellent. After the meal, the waiter brought the check and fortune cookies. As you can imagine, I LOVE fortunes and all that stuff. I was disappointed to find that my fortune cookie was empty of a fortune. When the waiter came back with the credit card, I mentioned the empty cookie (with hopes I would get another cookie, I think.)  Without missing a beat, the waiter said,

“There’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

I then learned from my husband and the waiter that the quote was a line from the Terminator. I don't know if the waiter had used that line before, but I thought it was quite witty to come up with that response so quickly.
This happened 5 months ago, and as I am getting ready to go to Las Vegas again, yesterday I was thinking about that restaurant and that exchange with the waiter.
Then last night I was watching the latest episode of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. There is an episode set in Turkey. The main character is reminiscing with an old friend and said, "How did we get here from there?"His friend replied, "The future has not been written. There is no fate but what we make."Another character said, "That's beautiful, is that from the Koran?"and of course Gary Sinise's character replies, "Terminator II"
So, this is definitely a mirror synchronicity that happened for me and I wonder if it is a directional synchronicity too. Is the universe reminding me that my future is in my hands?

Mirror Synchronicity: School Zone

Today as I was driving through a school zone with my husband, he mentioned that sometimes he forgets to slow down. He described how some lady yelled at him.

I said I used to forget, until I got pulled over once. He didn't remember that I had.

I told him that I just got a warning, which he couldn't believe. "I thought school zone tickets were automatic," he said.
We ended up talking about school zones for several minutes.

This evening, when I logged on my computer, I got a Facebook prompt to see my "memories" from today.

Imagine my surprise to see this from seven years ago today:

Directional Synchronicity: Is "Badass" the New "Rock Star"?

The Badasses seem to have kicked the Rock Stars butts.

A couple of weeks ago at a friend's birthday party I noticed he had a gold necklace that said BADASS. Then I started seeing and hearing the word badass everywhere. In fact, I did a Google News search and it surprised me to see the word used as a headline in so many articles.

The word is not new, but seems to me to be quite trendy now and the usage has not been standardized. You might see Bad Ass, Badass or BADASS. Reminds me of the time when some of us wrote e-mail, which turned out to be a pain, so it evolved to email. I think badass as one word will win. The way it's used varies too.

It is mostly used as an adjective
25 BADASS ways to say no
8 Badass women warriors
10 badass Latinas Every American Should Thank
Celebrate Chuck Norris on His Birthday with 10 Badass Memes
and my favorite - 11 Most Badass Last Words Ever Uttered

but sometimes used as a noun













There is even a website store named BadAss Jewelry. (note the capital A).

Now maybe it's just me, but I don't think this word has been mainstream very long. A couple of years ago, the aspirational adjective was to be a rock star, or to be around rock stars. The New York Times noted the popularity of the Rock Star buzz word in the Fall of 2015

How Rock Star Became a Business Buzzword

And sure enough there were a lot of articles about business people being rock stars
Business Plan: Become a Rock Star, 5 Characteristics of a Rockstar Startup CEO and 5 Ways to Keep your Rock Star Employees from Quitting

There are still articles about rock stars but now it seems that badass has taken over. It's hard to prove the evolution because musicians are still "rock stars" in media articles and a lot of rock stars have been dying lately. Additionally, there are brands with rockstar in the name, most notably the energy drink.

So why the transition?  It's the second dictionary definition in the McMillan dictionary that intrigues me:  "ready to behave in an unpleasant way when necessary".

Google gives a similar definition: "a tough, uncompromising, or intimidating person".

A journalist for Atlantic Monthly claims that badass has been appropriated as a feminist word.

This blog is a record of my synchronistic experiences, so with me noticing the word badass everywhere, does that mean the universe is telling me to be one?  That's not my assertion. I I don't really identify with either word.  I like cat videos and muppets and rainbow colored candy.  What do people like me aspire to?

I'm still trying to figure this all out.

Synchronicity on TV: Angel from Hell

If you like synchronicities, this new CBS comedy show with Jane Lynch Angel from Hell is a must-see.  This trailer should give you an idea of the humor.  Warning: the trailer has spoilers of the first episode.  If you trust me, I would just say find the first episode and watch that.

Mirror Synchronicity: The origin of the Vulcan symbol

When I first started this blog, I said I would only blog when I had synchronicities. I was very good for the first few years and then it fell off. Well, I have had several synchros in a row that were quite odd. I felt that I needed to come back to posting to here when things happen. This is a record for me to remind me of the nature of the universe.
So anyways...
A couple of days ago, I was in a Half Price Books store when an older woman came up to me and told me that she liked my t-shirt. It said, "Happiness is an inside job." (Nothing to do with Star Trek.) She asked me where I got it, which I thought was an odd question. I was slightly embarrassed to say that I still shop at Forever 21. Sidebar. Anyways. She randomly started talking about the Vulcan symbol and how she could never do it until the day "he" died. I asked if she was talking about Leonard Nimoy and she said yes. She mentioned that he borrowed the symbol from a Jewish gesture. The conversation was a long and strange encounter, and odd enough for me to tell my husband about it later that evening.

Tonight we were catching up on last night's Jeopardy. Leonard Nimoy was a category, and there was a question about the greeting that originated from a Jewish gesture. I didn't capture a picture, but the question was, you guessed it, "What is the Vulcan Salute?"

You can learn more about the Jewish origin of the Vulcan Salute here.