hazel curtis: fear doctor

Fear. We let it run our lives. We all have a fear of something. I'm TERRIFIED of popping champagne corks. (What if one of them hits you in the face and you LOSE AN EYE?!!) A girl I work with is scared of fish and another can't be in the same room as a rubber band. We all have fears.

So how do we go about getting rid of these fears? The answer, I've now realised, is Hazel Curtis.



I was lucky enough to attend a session of Hazel's last night and can now say that through her three H program - 'hear' the fear, 'hold' the fear, 'hiss' the fear - I am no longer scared of champagne corks, immigrants, climate change and growing old (well, the last one still scares me, but now less so).

I would highly recommend attending a Hazel session for yourself - but hurry because she is in great demand and only available until March 14. (Oh, and watching Hazel and Jimmy, her sweet assistant, interact with each other is simply wonderful!)

a (sort of) ghost story

One of the brilliant things about living in Carlton's north is that when one is having a night out on the town, whether it be dining, dancing or movie-watching, home is merely a cheap cab or tram ride away.

And so last night, after saying farewell to some friends (who had to trek to their south-of-the-river homes), I caught the number 8 tram home. It was a pretty chilly night so I was happy that I didn't have to wait long for the tram to come and collect me. Now, for those not in the know, the number 8 tram goes down Lygon Street and therefore runs parallel to Melbourne Cemetery. Usually, I don't pay the cemetery much attention when I'm walking home because usually, it's during the day. At night, I much prefer to catch the 96.

Anyway, this night, I found myself hopping off the tram and walking down Lygon which would then take me to my street. As I wandered down the road, with my iphone playing some tunes, I glanced over at the cemetery, which was on the other side of the road. Now, I'm known for having TERRIBLE eye-sight (I'm short-sighted) but I tend to always wear my glasses when I'm walking home alone at night, you know, so I can see where I'm going. So with my bespectacled eyes, I looked at the cemetery. And I SWEAR TO GOD I SAW SOMETHING THAT DIDN'T LOOK HUMAN!

In fact, it looked like a tall...thing...with a face that was remarkably similar to the face from the Scream films. You know, this one:



Thinking that my eyes must be WAY bad, I glanced over my shoulder and looked again towards the cemetery. And, again, I SAW THAT HORRIBLE FACE!

Well, I freaked the SHIT OUT and had to stop myself from running all the way home. I has shivers running up and down my spine and I figured that even if that thing wasn't actually there, then my mind wasn't in a good place. That's a lose/lose situation in my book.

So, yeah, that's my ghost story. I swear I'm taking the 96 home from now on.