June 16, 2006

Magic Eight Ball, Anyone?

Long ago and far away, four suburban women gathered weekly to imbibe beverages, nibble nosh and shoot the shit. BYOB it was, the "B" encompassing beverage to bullshit to banality to bitch. Candles burned, gossip flew, estrogen flowed. The brainchild of one woman, the rest tagged along because they could. Thursday night in the 'burbs.

It was a motley crew, this group of four. One a married mother of one, another a married mother of four, and two partnered lesbians raising a boy. Guess which one was me. Now guess which one was Wendy. Toss my friend Tina in the mix and there is but one I've never mentioned here.

We attended the college graduation party for Tina's eldest daughter recently. (There's more than one good story in that event, but for now it's just glossed over as part of the setup for the story I'm really telling here. But allow me to toss in kudos for the Graduate and the rest of her gal pals from RMWC. Job well done, ladies! Now welcome to the Real World! You're gonna love it!)

Anyway, at that party we ran into Jill, the fourth previously unblogged-about member of the Thursday group. Which led to a recent gathering on our porch. Jill brought over her cairn terrier, Boo, and her traditional bottle of wine. She does love her wine, that woman. We sat, we drank and chatted, we watched the dogs play until it got too dark to see them.

Tina was late. She missed the tale of Jill and her psychic adventures.

Psychic adventures? Oh yes! She shared her recent trip to have a psychic reading. Apparently she had not been a psychic virgin either.

Personally, I don't have much use for psychics. I figure the future will get here when it gets here and the adventure is in the surprise. (I feel the same way about babies. Where's the fun in knowing the sex before the little monster pops out?) But our friend seemed quite pleased with the reading she had received. More power to her.

I'm just not ready to trust there is another layer of ethereal awareness tapped into only by select persons hardwired to view what's coming down the pike (similar mistrust contributes to my skepticism toward religion). However I harbor no illusion my actions completely control my future. There are just too many variables. How can a stranger possibly predict it?

The human mind is so easily suggestible. Sure, it may be nice to say, "Oh wowser! My psychic predicted _____ would ______! That's why the _____ has _____! It had nothing to do with the way I _______ the _______ !"

I guess I'd just rather maintain at least the illusion of personal responsibility for my unknown future as it hurdles toward my present. I'm comforted assuming whatever happens is because I _____ instead of _____. There's plenty of room, however, for giving credit when credit is due to dumb blind luck or misfortune.

Whatever. I'll just take it as it comes.
How about you?

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12 comments:

tiff said...

I once had a friend do a tarot reading for me. SHe had to turn the card over three times before it said anything except that I was headed for a dark and evil life.

And thus it began......

Nah - I don't put much stock in that stuff, but do allow as to how it MIGHT carry a grain of truth.

Middle Girl said...

I have a story to tell (don't we all) but I won't tell it here. Suffice to say, psychics, nope, not for me.

However, if you see me about to slam into that brick wall up ahead, give a girl a holler, would ya. Thanks.

Gina said...

I'm open to the fact that there may be people with a "sense" of the possible future. But by and large, I think most of them are entertainers at best, charlatans at worst.

Now I bet it's been a while since you've seen the word charlatans! I pride myself on obscure word usage. ;)

Teresa said...

I'm pretty much a stone rationalist at heart, though I do love me some Alison Dubois (as played by Patricia Arquette, not the living person Allison DuBois [note spelling change to denote her distance from the character on the TV show, for which she is nevertheless a consultant], as played by herself).

weese said...

if i were to go to a physic she would say things like... i seee....
mops and buckets, o wait! a tractor...no perhaps thats a circular saw.
no surprises.
which is perfect for me.
i would however like to know when i will die. that way i can not only be wearing something appropriate - but the house will be clean (someone always drops by after you die)

Val said...

Nope - not for me. The power of suggestion would somehow lead me down the path towards whatever was predicted...

Career Guy said...

I think there is a certain fascination with the future, the unknown. Surely you read the supermarket tabloid front pages on New Year's Eve to see that this is really the year the world will end. OH--that thing about knowing when you will die? There was a novel about thirty years ago called The Bowman Test in which someone discovered a way to learn that very thing. I bet with the mapping of the human genome, we will be able to figure that out some day. Provided we don't kill ourselves drinking, driving, flying, adultering, drugging, eating...well, you get the idea.

Hmm. My word verification is wfqddu. Seems oddly profane somehow.

KMae said...

I'm into them!
I think it's a great gift - like being born with a beautiful singing voice.

Anonymous said...

fairly new here. i enjoy your page. i get these 6th sense things, and i can read eyes. my instincts are bang on 98% of the time so i heed them. have a good weekend.

Tawanda said...

Wow, I go away for a few days, and look at all the interesting posts and comments!

I must admit we had one of the Ouija boards. I would make the little thingy spell out all kinds of outrageous things, all along saying "Wow! You're not doing that, are you?" to everyone else who had their fingertips softly sitting on it.

That's clairvoyance.

maxine said...

I see great happiness in your future. I really do know about these things. Really.

Taradharma said...

i believe in employing any and all tools in order to lead a good life. if that means sometimes giving in to my curiosity about my future and having my tarot cards read, i'm game. it's all in my interpretation. i take it with a grain o' salt and marvel when something seems to 'hit home.'

very funny and interesting post.