I recently wrote about being a hopeful skeptic.  I’d like to be a believer, I’m just cynical enough to think I know how the world works, and many things that require a leap of faith are hard for me.

Despite that, I also mentioned meeting a psychic recently whom I believe is the Real Deal.

Teresa didn’t conjure up something spooky to make me believe.  In fact, when I did go and attend an event at her store, it was far from spooky.  It was far from anything I expected, actually. Especially since it was dubbed as a Spirit Gathering.

Teresa talks to and claims to hear from the Dead.

I know most have a preconceived idea of what that might be.  We’ve all seen Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost”.  And we’ve heard stories of scams where someone calling themselves a psychic or medium has fleeced people of their savings by promising contact from beyond, or the removal of a curse, or something like that.

For starters, there was no fleecing.  For what it would probably cost to go to a movie, Lisa and I had a very entertaining and enjoyable evening.

The fact that this was so reasonably priced was a surprise.  I don’t really have anything to compare it to, as my experience with these kinds of things is pretty limited (limited to this one, actually).

I know, you’re probably thinking there was some important message I needed to hear, but could only get if I went to some other, more expensive, possibly private event.  While Teresa does offer private readings and such, this wasn’t part of any sales pitch that night.  Not for me, or for any of the other people there (I think there were around a dozen of us).

In fact, Teresa started off by saying there were no guarantees that everyone would get a message from “the other side”.  Some did.  Some sort of did.  And some didn’t.

This all took place in her shop, Starcrafts.  She and her co-host for the evening sat on either side of a table, and the rest of us sat in a sort-of-semi-circle facing them.  It was a very relaxed atmosphere.  There were no floating crystal balls, no disembodied voices, and no lights flashing off and on.

There were even jokes made – about each other, about some of the dearly Departed and even about the stereotypical idea of a Spirit Gathering.

The way it worked is that Teresa would say that she was hearing something from someone (insert particular message for “something” and name of Departed for “someone”).  Some of these were pretty specific, directed at someone in particular.  Some were a little vague, as if Teresa wasn’t sure she was hearing the message correctly.  And some seemed to miss the mark completely – that is, whoever the message was for didn’t seem to understand what it was supposed to mean, or even recognize who the send supposedly was.

The times when the person in attendance didn’t get it, or know who could possibly be sending the message, there was never an attempt to alter it.  No games.  She didn’t say it’s from someone named Rob or Ron, or maybe Rich.  Or Ray.  Or Bill or Steve or Dan.  Or maybe it’s a woman with an R in her name.

I got a rather innocuous message.  Someone over there is proud of me.

That’s nice, but it doesn’t prove anything.  In fact, none of what happened that evening really proves anything.

For me, though, it’s more about the kind of person I believe Teresa is.

She comes across as someone who believes they have a pretty cool gift, and she gets goosebumps when something particularly cool happens because of this gift.  There isn’t the ego you might expect from someone claiming to have some supernatural or extra-sensory ability.  She’s self-assured enough to believe she is what she says she is, but she’s not arrogant or over-confident, insisting you believe.

I should also mention that the other people there that evening were all very friendly.  I instantly felt like I was part of the group, and not an outsider horning in on someone else’s experience.

Finally, since she and Lisa are friends, I have spent time with her outside of her shop.  We’ve talked about mundane topics like writing and movies (and not winning the lottery) – everything isn’t about ghosts and the Dead and past lives and all that other stuff.

Some of it is, though.  And I’ve heard some interesting stories about when she was growing up, and about Sharon Tate and about the Titanic.  But those are her stories, not mine, so you’ll need to ask her about them.

There’s another Spirit Gathering this weekend, and if you’re in the San Diego area, you should really think about going.  I can’t promise you’ll hear from anyone, or that you’ll have an experience that will make you believe anything.  I can only tell you you’ll have an entertaining evening.

You can check out Teresa’s store HERE and you can find her schedule of events HERE.

Oh, I almost forgot!  Here’s what shuffled out of my playlist while I was typing this…

R.E.M. “Pretty Persuasion”
Squeeze “Tempted”
Paul Simon “Dazzling Blue”
Bruce Springsteen “Stand On It”
Brian Setzer “Red Hot”
The Clash “London Calling”
The Rolling Stones “Rock And A Hard Place”
Yes “It Can Happen”
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “I Need To Know”
Kansas “Song For America”
The Cars “Sad Song”
Sting “Brand New Day”

Ken

So I've taken on a new little project.

I'm helping my dad move his business online.  He sells imprinted sportswear, the good stuff, and he's spent the better part of the last forty years, traveling the roads of the Carolinas (and Virginia, too).

If you're in that part of the country, and you've bought a t-shirt to show your support for one of the local college teams, the odds are pretty good that my dad had something to do with getting that shirt in the store for you.

Though I can selfishly admit that back in 1983, when N.C. State won the NCAA Championship, those Official Brickyard Survivor shirts were my idea!

Anyway, the same is true if you bought a nice souvenir shirt from your vacation at the coast (from the Outer Banks to Hilton Head) or in the beautiful North Carolina mountains!

I'm hoping that I can help him get off the road, at least to a degree.  It's good for business, since he'll be able to let his customers view his wares online, at their convenience.  This will be especially helpful when he has something new, and can let them know with a phone call or an email, allowing them to stay up-to-date as never before.

Of course, as you know, there are already a couple people online selling t-shirts and the like.  Maybe more than a couple.

He's not looking to take over the world, and has no allusions that this will become something like winning the lottery.  But it would be pretty cool if this could help him get off the road a bit, and maybe take a trip out west to see one of his favorite kids (that would be ME)!

Not much on the website just yet, but you can check it out HERE (particularly if you're interested in getting a St. Patrick's Day shirt)!  And even if you don't want to buy anything today, I'd appreciate it if you'd check it out and let me know what you think!  Is there something missing?  Something I should fix or change?

I'll keep you updated on the progress, and everyone's invited over when he and my mom come out to visit!

Ken