Golden Compass - Part 2 and odd occurrences

I finished the book. I won't tell you anything about the content (I shouldn't have told you that other stuff, in case you're going to read it or see the movie), but suffice it so say I've now got my own professional opinion, and it is this: I would NOT let younger children (under the age of about 12) read it, as the content is kind of gruesome (violence to children, or threatened violence), BUT the premise is positively breathtaking, and I can't wait to get started on the second book. I think Pullman is right on with his symbolisms and statements about organized religion and how that plays in our lives. Again, this is all just my personal opinion, which is all anyone has anyway, right?

Odd occurrences? Uff da, and I'm not even Norwegian (I'm Swedish, to be exact). First, Tuesday night while were getting to do the message, we heard a noise in my front office. I went out to check, and saw that one of my lights had exploded. Yes, we all thought it odd (that's never happened before). Wednesday morning I was in my office typing on my computer, and one of my overhead lights ... yeah, that's right - exploded. That afternoon, my watch stopped working. No worries, I thought, it needs a new battery. Except ... the next day it was working perfectly again. That night I woke up at 2:30 to the strains of single notes being played on a guitar. Had Erik come home? Was he playing? I listened for a while - it went on for about an hour. I asked Erik the next day, just to be sure. Of course he hadn't come back home last night. Hmmmmm. Even for ME that's all a pretty strange 48 hour's worth of oddness. What does it mean? I don't know, but it felt like some energy shifting around inside of me, and that affected the lights, my watch, and maybe increased my awareness so I could hear the celestial guitar playing? Oh, and not to mention all the street lights that popped off AND on during those two days. Well, only 3, I think, but still...

Another TWO odd things happened yesterday. A client actually seemed to SEE what I was seeing while I was doing his reading. I was having trouble describing a certain thing, and he piped up with an answer. I asked him to describe what that thing looked like, and it was what I had seen, but didn't know what it was. Then I saw something else, and was just opening my mouth to tell him about it, and all I said was, "Have you ever..." and he named just what I was about to say. Eerie - I'm used to being able to see into OTHER people's minds, but not used to it being a two-way communication. Later last night I was playing a game with Bill that I've played with all my kids - I write words on their backs, one letter at a time, and they try to guess what I'm saying. I usually write something like, "I love you, Bill" and he gets it right after the "I love" usually, so I tried to shake it up by writing "hi." I made the straight line down, and Bill piped up "Hi?" Seriously... I couldn't believe it. What's going on here?

So I don't know, I just don't know, but it's cool, it is, as if I'm connected to every single thing in the Universe, not just people, or even animals, but lightbulbs and watches. It makes me feel comforted and included, it makes me feel connected, and not lonely. We're all in this together, and I'm seeing more and more how it all works. I know I should just KNOW it by now, understanding that I'm in that place of unity, but it takes a while to get used to the newness, like Neo waking up from his lifelong coma to see that the whole rest of his life had been a dream. That's what I feel like - waking up from a long, LONG dream, and even though it's still a bit eerie sometimes when stuff happens that we can't really explain, overall, it's just really really cool (kind of like the weather outside).