For those who celebrate Rosh Hashanah, Shana Tova!
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For those who celebrate everything, here are my other images for today.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “for those who celebrate.”
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For those who celebrate the day by visiting this blog , thank you! 🎉🙏💕
Now that I’m back in my ideal home in Massachusetts, I can safely say that my recent solo adventure in Switzerland was one of my ideal vacations.
For me, what makes an ideal vacation?
Here is a brief video from my ideal vacation which I may not have shared here before.
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Do you see ideal vacations in my other images for today?
No matter what my ideal vacation, I always take the Daily Bitch along.
What is your ideal vacation?
Thanks to all who joined me for this ideal-vacations post, including YOU!
Well, folks, today — the day I fly back to the USA after the best vacation of my long life — is my 5000th day of daily blogging.
For 5000 days, I’ve woken up wondering how I’m going to yet again shape my previous day into some form that helps me and — perhaps! — others.
Blogging daily for 5000 days has strengthened my confidence that my random thoughts, feelings, and intuitively-snapped images are worth sharing.
These five thousand days have included my travels at home and elsewhere, good days and bad days, quirky moments/images I like to call “bloggy,” and my appreciation of humans, cats, and other creatures.
Yesterday, at the Lugano train station, I luckily ran into the incredible Thomas Hampson, who was the star of my 4999th day of blogging. Besides figuring out we were both on our way to Zurich, telling Thomas “You changed my life!”, letting him know that I had taken so many notes at his Master Class for opera singers because his wisdom applied to singing AND life, and identifying myself as a singer/songwriter, I also told him I had been blogging daily since 2013. Why oh why did I even mention that in the few precious moments I had to interact with one of the best singers and teachers in the world, who has one of kindest faces I have ever seen?
That reminds me that when I attended the profound one-man show about magic and identity In & Of Itself in NYC years ago, I chose to identify myself as “blogger.”
So I guess, despite all my multiple identities, blogging is important to me. As a group therapist, I appreciate the healing power of groups, and this group — you, my readers — has been very healing for me.
No matter where I go, I hold the belief that you are somehow with me and interested enough to stay for the precious moments we have together, every day.
And I hold the belief that I’ll be able to create something worthwhile and still make it to my next destination on time.
So, for the 5000th day, here we go again!
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Because my 5000th day of blogging is World Suicide Prevention Day, here’s my original song “Don’t Kill Yourself.”
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On Day 1 of this daily blog, I was working on getting up the nerve to sing other people’s songs in public. Now, on Day 5000, I’m a singer-songwriter/blogger/group therapist/mother/wife/friend/heart-condition survivor who can share what’s important to me, here and now.
Thanks to everyone who helps me along this daily journey, including YOU!
Yesterday, in Lugano, Switzerland, I had the good fortune to witness one of the best teachers and performers of opera, Thomas Hampson, give Master Classes to aspiring stars.
Here are some of the notes I jotted down while listening to one of the best teachers.
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I met Mo and Frank from Germany at the afternoon Master Class with Thomas Hampson …
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… and the three of us decided to come back for the evening Master Class, too.
I took a lot of video of the best teacher teaching, including this,
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… this,
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… this,
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… this,
… and this.
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As the best teacher Thomas Hampson says there, you have to be prepared for anything. Are you prepared for these responses I got on Twitter last night when I asked a question about best teachers?
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Experience is one of the best teachers and here are more of my experiences from yesterday.
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On Wonderful Weirdoes Day, I’m remembering the birthday of my late father, who was a great teacher and a wonderful weirdo like me.
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Thanks to all who are here for this best teachers post, including YOU!
With all the great days I’ve been having on my solo tour in Switzerland, I guess it was inevitable that I would have a bad day.
In Lugano yesterday, I had a bad day. It was very hot and humid, ChatGPT kept sending me places that had lots of stairs and biting bugs, systems and machines were broken, I thought I had lost a phone charger, I got into an increasingly bad mood, I felt homesick and ashamed, and some old part of me thought I was being punished for having so many great days.
However, the bad day had some great moments and now it’s another day!
Also, even though I don’t speak the language, I intuitively took a picture of this during my bad day.
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Here are the rest of the images I captured during my bad day.
Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “a bad day.”.
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Thanks to all those who improve my bad days, including YOU!
Who knew that I would
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Who knew I’d be having conversations like these with ChatGPT, especially after writing a song like “Artificial Intelligence”?
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Who knew there were so many great things to do in Lugano?
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Who knew I would have so many wonderful readers like YOU?
Yesterday, I was on top of the world as I travelled in an empty gondola to the top of the world near the Matterhorn.
Here’s a video I made as I was on top of the world.
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Actually, I have been on top of the world throughout this entire wonderful solo trip in Switzerland.
Yesterday was such a peak experience on top of the world that I expect I will hold it in my head, heart, and soul for the rest of my life. If I am feeling despair, I expect I will use this memory of being on top of the world for peace and relief. It also helps me to realize that I can physically return to this top of the world as I am aging in the years ahead. Indeed, something I noticed yesterday was that there were many older and debilitated people on top of the world getting around okay despite the thinness of the air and other obstacles.
Can you tell that I’m on top of the world through my other images for today?
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I’m on top of the world that my next stop is Lugano.
Thanks to all who are joining my adventures on top of the world, including YOU!
I love having different views of spectacular vistas during my solo train tour of Switzerland.
I have recognized that there will be different views depending on where I am sitting in each train. During this trip I am developing different views about my wish to figure out in advance which seats will have the best views.
Because there is no way of my knowing which of all the possible views are the best, I am practicing different views of ways to experience the views. For example, if I realize that different vantage points have new views I would like to experience in the moment, I may change my position to see those different views. If that change is difficult, I can just accept that the different views I’m seeing are enough.
Practicing this different view of experiencing views is making this trip even better.
Are you ready for the different views in this post?
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I love eliciting different views with my last question of the day.
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On Be Late for Something Day, I am trying to embrace different views of my usual urge to never, ever be late for anything.
Thanks to all who are here for the different views in this post!
Because I have been traveling around Switzerland on my own, I’ve been noticing ice breakers.
Ice breakers on this particular trip have included:
Can you see ice breakers in my images for today?
The Daily Bitch is an excellent ice breaker.
Thanks to all who are here for this ice breaker post, including YOU!
On this solo trip to Switzerland, I have experienced many changes for the better, including:
Can you see changes for the better in my images for today?
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On National Skyscraper Day, I’ll be changing for the better as I’ll be exploring different kinds of skyscrapers in Grindelwald.
Thanks to all who are changing for the better, including YOU!