Comfort Obsessions?

[Willow]

I guess I don't have too many comfort foods.
Does anyone have any obsessions that allow them to drop out of reality?

Online activity is a big one for me. Also.. artwork, horses, reading, and music.

when I find someone I can have a crush on.. that's a real energy giver for me too. Not that it ever works out. And... the high feeling doesn't last very long either. I start breaking down into insecurity within a day. However.. the time spent on cloud 9 sure is nice.

How about spacing out? I do that a lot. Just sit there and hours go by and all I did was sit and stare.

I think all of these things are kinda like mind numbing or self medication.

I guess some of that is good for you... right? Like.. comfort foods. some of it evokes good memories of days gone by. But too much of any good thing can be a real downer.

[exwitchoz]

I guess I don't have too many comfort foods.
Does anyone have any obsessions that allow them to drop out of reality?

Online activity is a big one for me. Also.. artwork, horses, reading, and music.

Oi Vey! Obsessions do I have??? :rolleyes:

I live on the puter... not that I am a tech-head... and chat rooms have never grabbed me before but I enjoy time on this and one or two other Forums and look forward to getting online each day...

I draw... couln't paint a fence but I draw a lot...

I have a dog that answers to 'Dog' and a cat that answers to the fridge door opening... they are a comfort... esp Dog who sleeps on my feet...

...but when it comes to obsessions I guess 'B' Grade Sci-fi and cheesey Japanese monster movies are mine... I watch them over and over... I guess it takes me back to when I was a kid and sneaked into the lounge room when Mum and Dad had gone to bed and had the TV down REAL low so it wouldn't wake anyone and sat right in front of the TV watched the late nite 'Friday Nite Creature Feature' peeking over the top of a blanket...

They scared the crap outta me as a kid... but I loved them...

Now I love larfing at the cheesey effects... see the zips in the monsters suit... Yell "Aim for the wires you fool... Aim for the wires..." as Flash Gordon swoops down on the baddies tacky toy space ship...

...but there are still brief magic moments when I am 10 again... and the blanket starts to creep up to just under my eyes and the hairs on the back of my neck rise as the creepy music starts and you know the Creature is there somewhere in the mist... :eek:

...and I wouldn't swap those brief moments of recaptured innocence for quids... :)

[renee nelson]

Does anyone have any obsessions that allow them to drop out of reality?


Well how about prayer/worship? It works for me:)

[Jo Jo]

Woo woo! Lord of the Rings...

I like Tolkien's philosophy of it all. I edit for authors writing fan fiction and have friends in the fandom world there. It's a big mythology... good fighting against evil... and we discuss all the ins and the outs of everything about it - so many different aspects. We argue, agree and debate on it. It's my escape.

Then my art which encompasses Tolkien and animals - my husband's work in biology, and our animals, my pets and stuff. :)

[Willow]

Well how about prayer/worship? It works for me:)

Yeh.. prayer and worship used to do it for me too... no more though.
Now my faith is more cognative and my prayer less hypnotic. I guess the church problems have done that to me. I can't let myself go emotionally in that area anymore. The hypnosis has to come from some other source. I kinda would like to be there again without the negative problems of mind control from abusive leadership.

[Willow]

Tolkien was THE master!!!! I love his work. Even the Silmarillion caught my attention as a teen.

Animals... yep... me too. My cats and horse are my children!

Woo woo! Lord of the Rings...

I like Tolkien's philosophy of it all. I edit for authors writing fan fiction and have friends in the fandom world there. It's a big mythology... good fighting against evil... and we discuss all the ins and the outs of everything about it - so many different aspects. We argue, agree and debate on it. It's my escape.

Then my art which encompasses Tolkien and animals - my husband's work in biology, and our animals, my pets and stuff. :)

[Willow]

I'm a puterholic too. I guess it's a grand way to cope.
The sci fi I can leave behind though! LOL
Drawing?! Man after my own heart you are!
May I see some of your art? Is it online?

Mine's at www.zazzle.com/horsefeathers

[Jo Jo]

Willow wrote:
Even the Silmarillion caught my attention as a teen.... Animals... yep... me too. My cats and horse are my children!


Yay! Go YOU! Oh yeah... all his books... we have them all... he he, and we compare what he finally published to what he almost published, etc... we're quite nuts. I LOVE the elves. Right now we are going through stuff with Boromir's perspective - why he did what he did, and why he had to, to make things work out like it did. ;)

Yes, my husband and I decided not to have kids, so our doggies are our fur babies. They've been so exspensive lately we've decided we almost could have sent them to college. :rolleyes: ;) :D

[clementine]

My husband and I have watched a shameful amount of TV in the past few months...LOST is our fave. Also NCIS. House. The Amazing Race.
We just love a good movie too.
I also read to escape. I always have. Mostly fiction but some historical stuff too. And running magazines. I'm at the library every week.
I write poetry from time to time.
I recently found this forum a bit addictive. ;)
I run 4x a week...better endorphins than Prozac.
I also love going places like museums, art galleries, festivals, botanic gardens, zoos.
It's all a great escape!
Enjoy your escape today.
Clementine

[Jo Jo]

Wow, Willow... I love your stuff! It's just beautiful - I love your colors and all! I need to organize mine and get it all together like that. I just have some of my pencil, pen and ink posted in my LJ and just this one below in my Blog right now... Try this link to my Aragorn and see if it works...I haven't done this before so it might not work. :confused: I'll put some more in it and let you know. :rolleyes:

Willow asked:
May I see some of your art? Is it online?

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/2164/3487/1600/Aragornfx.jpg Oh click on the pic to make it bigger!

[ex-shep]

Yeh.. prayer and worship used to do it for me too... no more though.
Now my faith is more cognative and my prayer less hypnotic. I guess the church problems have done that to me. I can't let myself go emotionally in that area anymore. The hypnosis has to come from some other source. I kinda would like to be there again without the negative problems of mind control from abusive leadership.

That was a major fear for me. I could not even listen to a Bach cantata without going to orbit. I could listen to bluegrass and southern gospel in a detached state right out of my exit. I have to underreact when I worship. Knowing when I am praising the Lord or when I spacing out in an old mind control dynamic can be really tricky. I can sympathise.

[Jo Jo]

ex-shep wrote:
I have to underreact when I worship. Knowing when I am praising the Lord or when I spacing out in an old mind control dynamic can be really tricky. I can sympathise.

Oh, yeah, I'm right there. What's the Spirit? What's hypnosis? What's mind control? What's manipulation?

I was constantly looked at like a lesser being when I asked this before. Like "they" knew what the "spirit" was and if we didn't know... well, somehow we might learn if God bent down low enough. Anytime I asked I was ridiculed silent.

I know now when I was doing music... it was leading the people into that place. It was on the emotion of the sound and the repeating etc... The Spirit can meet people there, but that stuff is also, manipulation and hypnosis. *gasp* I didn't know I was doing that then... I was young and the leaders were just using my natural tallent. :mad:

It doesn't mean now when I hear it it's not sometimes like a siren's song to me. But it's really strange. I just am amazed at that whole place in it. Sometimes I freak and I won't let myself go there, I underreact like ex-shep said. Sometimes I don't care and I go there anyway, but I avoid that music so I don't have to test it very often. That's why I go to a quiet little hymn singing church. he he

[hornblower]

Obsessions. I have too many. Right now its crochet. Crocheting my puppy a huge sweater. My crochet looks like a wash rag gone awry??????????? :confused: :p
Its purple and dark blues and dark greens. Ive been molding it to him. I put it on him or try rather, but he wiggles and lays down to have me rub his tummy. I just try it to see if its right then I have to rip out tons of it because it never is right. Right now the two front legs are in and Im about an inch into his tummy.

I wanted it to have a hood on it but instead it was too small so now the hood is a huge collar............gorsh Ill have to figure something out to finish that part. So? Yarn is about 1.99 at Hobby Lobby so I bought a bunch the other day.......4 things of stuff. I figure this is christmas. I have one daughter in law that she and her daughter looked at me like i had blown a fuse last year because i made them earrings and bracelets to match. My daughter in laws think Im nuts so I guess that must mean my sons think Im touched too.

Oh well get a life is what I say?
These are probably the same people that think milk comes from a carton and dont know what a roast is? I was hoping to teach a little of the olden days to my grandsons but alas game boys hit the circuits.
I never had a toy in my entire life that I can remember. Everything I had I made. So thats still my obsessions. I try to repent but I got tired of doing that at that one church. Everybody there USED to be an artist....like its sinful to be one and to enjoy it.
Oh yeah I USED to do that, I painted in oils and so forth Yeah they said i was really talented but............I dont ever think about it now guess the Lord took it from me because the desires are gone now.

Then these same little men, I say little because they were little,:eek: :p :confused: :( :mad: :D :cool:
they would then go preach to the multitudes of kids telling them how sinful the girls were that wore bikinis, that these girls were trying to get the boys to think about them (horror) in that way!
This was my favorite time of day........they would start preaching this squasher bukle corn and I woukd feel my face turn red and then sure enough Id look at those kids faces and i would see the light dawning!!!!!!!! I would look, as if seeing into their minds, and see that we were all headed right out the door, not walking, not running, but FLYING as fast as we could possibly go like eagles longing for escape.


Yeah I used to obsess about that stuff now its real! Its happened and its going to happen more. Gee whilikers its so cold here! Our big swinging thing that has a hooded hood on it flew away today and some fence fell down right over the drive way. The whole house must have flown too today!
Ok fibros burning sayin goodnighty there one last try of the sweater before my baby and I hit the sack.
Did you know puppies will dig a hole right under the covers on your bed because wolves dig into their caves at night to sleep. Our little wolverine digs away and keeps our tootsies warm.:eek: :o :rolleyes: ;)

[Theodora]

LOL!!!! I crochet as well...among other things. It's terrific to have these things to keep our hands/mind occupied! Your saga of on-going creation reminds me of some things I've gotten myself into! (My mother used to call this "being your own worst enemy!") Right now, I'm working on finishing up an afghan, using different kinds of yarn for my husband to take to my mother-in-law when he visits her at Thanksgiving. I started with some of the heavy boucle yarn from Hobby Lobby...never having used that kind before...so when I went back recently to try to get enough to finish the project, they no longer carried that kind of yarn. SO......I bought other yarn to finish it...but then the weights are different, making it difficult to keep the project "in line."---so, in turn, I've done some creative "adjustment," running a draw-thread through some "channels" in the work...etc. All of this leaves MUCH that is difficult to explain. I'll try to e-mail you a picture when it's finished, FWIW.

Left you another response on the NACR forum....

Need to try, try again to get back to bed and to SLEEP. Insomnia is being a problem again...your prayers appreciated for that.

Take good care of you, my sweet sister in Christ. Wouldn't it be fun if we lived closer to one another and could actually compare "notes" on similar projects??? ENJOY what you're doing....including having a dog who insists that you love him as you go!

(((Hornblower)))--

Love and prayers--

Theodora



[QUOTE=hornblower;41909]Obsessions. I have too many. Right now its crochet. Crocheting my puppy a huge sweater. My crochet looks like a wash rag gone awry??????????? :confused: :p
Its purple and dark blues and dark greens. Ive been molding it to him. I put it on him or try rather, but he wiggles and lays down to have me rub his tummy. I just try it to see if its right then I have to rip out tons of it because it never is right. Right now the two front legs are in and Im about an inch into his tummy.

I wanted it to have a hood on it but instead it was too small so now the hood is a huge collar............gorsh Ill have to figure something out to finish that part. So? Yarn is about 1.99 at Hobby Lobby so I bought a bunch the other day.......4 things of stuff. I figure this is christmas. I have one daughter in law that she and her daughter looked at me like i had blown a fuse last year because i made them earrings and bracelets to match. My daughter in laws think Im nuts so I guess that must mean my sons think Im touched too.

QUOTE]

[exwitchoz]

I'm a puterholic too. I guess it's a grand way to cope.
The sci fi I can leave behind though! LOL
Drawing?! Man after my own heart you are!
May I see some of your art? Is it online?

Mine's at www.zazzle.com/horsefeathers

Love your stuff Amy... :)

Here's some stuff of mine from the Archives... I haven't done much in the way of artwork for a while so this is all old stuff out of my portfolio... but I've just started getting back into it recently so may post some more somewhere down the track...

Covers of some Booklets I wrote and illustrated in the mid-late 1980's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/Bloodless_Coup_Large_001.jpg)

A page from my old Book of Shadows (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/BOS_Large_001.jpg)

One of the few surviving pages of a comic book version of my testimony from the mid-late 1980's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/Comic_Large_001.jpg)

A pic I did a while back... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0006.jpg)

...and another... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0007.jpg)

...one from a DARK period in my life... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0005.jpg)

...and one from a dream I had... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0005.jpg)

[Jo Jo]

Squeeee... I love your art exwitchoz wow... great black and white graphic stuff. coooo ;)

[Anna Marta]

Wow this is great stuff!

I had forgotten the Friday night creature double feature... :eek:

I am a book-aholic either paper or on CD. Friends laugh at me cause I love espionage, thrillers, Robert Ludlum (and that whole genre), Michael Crais.

I also like to get lost in good shootem-up movies. One time we were on a kick to see how many people got killed in the first 10 min of Steven Seagal movies... a lot. I am not a romance novel, chick-flick person. I do get a kick out of the teenage genre though and love to laugh. The Princess Bride!

Okay, I am normal too - I do embroider but not counted cross stitch cause I can't count and when I screw it up - I say bad words and grandmas aren't supposed to do that, right?

Music - I am a boring classical freak with blues and jazz tendencies when the Viking leads me astray. When I need spiritual comfort I go to Elvis singing old gospel.

It was good to hear that others struggle with the praise music stuff. I would often sit at church and think someone had turned a switch when the music began that worked under everybody's chairs but ours. Often felt guilty that I couldn't work myself into the frenzy. Couldn't go to those women's things with ladies flitting around waving scarves and flags and banners and dancing. I always figured I wasn't "holy enough" to get into the ZONE. I love the praise music as such, but again as expressed by others, the manipulation makes me uncomfortable - mantra like and repeated chords.

Biggest comfort through the years has been our walks and talks. I make strong coffee and waffles and we walk till we find the "right" spot and have a cozy time. We have walked in all weather, seasons and times of the day and night when needed carrying a box of tissues. It's okay to cry and be sad in our house, but not to sit - if you're depressed you have to walk in a beautiful place and cry. That's been the rule now for 15 years and it works! The sculpture park in Oslo was "our place" for years - now it's down by the sea or along the fjord both are close to us.

[Carmen]

Sci-fi and fantasy does it! I like to re-read LOTR, see the movies...again, like Narnia too. I don't usually just watch tv, but get the ironing or mending done at the same time too. I have both seasons of Dark Angel, all of Babylon 5, various sci-fi films, I just love Ripley in the Alien films. Star Trek in any form(except the series that is chronologically before the original). Recently I have an interest in Cristina Ricci films and Johnny Depp films. I like the psychological hints in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although I liked the first version with Gene Wilder too. They are both so weird. Horror is good too. I can identify with exwitchoz's love of Flash Gordon. That film is so tacky, but it is great! I particularly root for the flying men and am sad about each one that falls. They seem more like what angels might look like to me, with armor and weapons.

Of course there is the next article or blog to work on, a biblestudy, or book to read. If I get really into it hours can go by like nothing. I love my 'puter.

[SpinningHead]

I love watching movies...
LTR triology
Harry Potter
X-men
Jursassic Parks
Jaws
along w/ goofy romances like
while you were sleeping
Sleeping in Seattle

Books
House projects
beading

Sleeping is a big one...I love a good deep sleep

House projects/renovations (need to finish my own & start on the next house)

Don't mind working w/ numbers/spreadsheets as long as there's wine & jazz

Wine/Jazz/Gourmet cooking
I love making some simple gourmet dish while jazz is one, a glass of wine is at my side and I'm just sautee'ing away. Last night I made this absolutely fabulous chard w/ chickpeas in this spicy sauce over brown rice. Could not get enough of it! I also have a corn & butternut squash chowder in the fridge and I'm grilling blue fish w/ steamed kale for tonight's dinner. So you get the point...I like to cook.

I love my animals, walking and bird watching. I have quite the variety of song birds at my house.

[hornblower]

I started with some of the heavy boucle yarn from Hobby Lobby...never having used that kind before...so when I went back recently to try to get enough to finish the project, they no longer carried that kind of yarn. SO......I bought other yarn to finish it...but then the weights are different, making it difficult to keep the project "in line."---
Praying for you Theo know what thats about. I need to soak in a warm bath and need to get my breathing machine on me again my husbands griping at me about that one.
I wish we did live closer. Id love to see your afgan. I too am buying yarn from Hobby Lobby oh I probably said that and i need to get more as cocos behind is huge as well as his tummy. Haha. I tired it on him just before i went to bed last night and its looking pretty weirdly good haha.
Its all so silly of me. Like a long haired dog needs anything to wear down here in hellhole. ?????????
I think its really me that needs to have something to wear in this cold ass world. Hes my baby so I am making it for my baby.........me...........its comforting doing it after my sisters harsh words to me. Warm heavy pretty lush colors like a deep forest.
Ill bet she is making one of her beautiful quilts. They are sewn to perfection tiny stitches so small they are amazing! Ill bet I said something that hurt her when I saw them too although it would be her takling it wrong again. I remember saying ooopseys...............
Mom would have sewn these tiny stitches like this but you wouldnt be able to see them............I could hear my Mothers critisizing voice saying this to me and to her too at the time.............but Mom didnt really m,ean it that way but somehow it always came out like that to us.
Personally I would rather see the work because it was perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cannot sew like that at all.
Nothing i make is perfect. Its always whopper jawed. Ill send a pic of my little huge Coco sweater ok? When its done hopefully today! He needs it today because his furs gone after the groomer yesterday and its freezing here...................:eek:

[Willow]

Wow!!! thanks for sharing your art! Thanks also for compliments on my stuff. Mine is more like graphic design, but I'd like to do more drawing like you do. A couple of your drawings really struck a chord in me. The raising of christ and also the Paul drawings are AMAZING. The celtic knot one that looks like a page out of an illustrative bible... that's cool too. Actually all your stuff is really good... just naming my favs.

Love your stuff Amy... :)

Here's some stuff of mine from the Archives... I haven't done much in the way of artwork for a while so this is all old stuff out of my portfolio... but I've just started getting back into it recently so may post some more somewhere down the track...

Covers of some Booklets I wrote and illustrated in the mid-late 1980's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/Bloodless_Coup_Large_001.jpg)

A page from my old Book of Shadows (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/BOS_Large_001.jpg)

One of the few surviving pages of a comic book version of my testimony from the mid-late 1980's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/Comic_Large_001.jpg)

A pic I did a while back... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0006.jpg)

...and another... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0007.jpg)

...one from a DARK period in my life... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0005.jpg)

...and one from a dream I had... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/bornagainpagan/scan0005.jpg)

[Willow]

I admire people who crochet and cross stitch. I never had the patience for some reason. However... I can sit all day and do other things. Go figure.

I forgot about my most recent obsession... Karaoke! I download karaoke songs and learn them in front of my computer by singing over and over again. It's a great distraction.