As we live near the seaside we tend to visit the amusement arcade every few months for some light hearted fun. We found a fruit machine we absolutely love playing, it's called Crazy Fruits. 

It is a simple 5p play (about 10cents) and the jackpot is only £5 ($10) but we get value for money and we actually understand what the buttons and features are! Having recently decorated and moved some furniture I recognised a great space under the stairs that would accommodate a fruit machine.

I convinced my wife that we should buy a machine from ebay so we could use it as our own savings bank. She liked the idea, the hard part was finding a machine at a sensible price. I was lucky and I managed to get a machine delivered for just £150 ($300) complete with manual.

We have had some great fun but today it started playing up. Looks like a possible power supply problem. The good news is that the seller owns an amusement arcade and has agreed to send me another power supply.

If it works well I could be treating my own family for gambling addiction! Great to have some new hypno challenges.

Take care all 

David

Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open! 

Yesterday was one of those days where I tried to do too many things in too short a time and ended up wondering where the day went!

The day started with some web time, updating the content and design of a new client's website. I got going really well and made good time on some of the content. Then I came across the various formats of documents that needed recoding to take out the unnecessary code that Bill's Micro$oft chucks in. It took a while but I felt good once it was tranferred.

I went to send an email to the client and was gutted to get a bounce back with my McAffee stating that my IP address was on the spamhaus blacklist. This was news to me, and not good news either. I was checking the Spamhaus site and it was telling me I was not blacklisted. Hmmmm? Which piece of software was telling porkies? McAffee or Spamhaus.

The hour I waited for Spamhaus to clear and recheck was used to complete my expenses forms for the past couple of weeks. Tried sending email again - just bounced straight back. I decided to leave it and take my wife out for lunch.

Our favourite restaurant was a bit busy (we live at the seaside so lots of tourists) and we think the chef was on holiday because it turns out that the proprietor was cooking. Our meal was not as good as it would normally be. It was becoming one of those days!

The last and best part of the day was going to the cinema with my wife to watch the last of the trilogy - The Bourne Ultimatum, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We got home and relaxed a bit before I decided to check my email problem.

Still wasn't sending email. I checked Spamhaus again and I noticed a little indicator telling me I was not blacklisted but I needed to change a setting on my Outlook account. Took 10 seconds and all was working again. Just goes to show that even experienced professionals can still make mistakes when they try too hard.

Take care all.

Is it just me or do we sometimes fall into the trap of most professions? For example if you know a mechanic the chances are his car is the only one in the street that looks as though it is held together with rust and good prayer! And the decorator down the road - the paint on his house is peeling faster than the skin on a lobster coloured sunbather!

I sometimes sit back (making sure that I don't spill any of the red nectar from my bucket sized crystal glass) and look at myself and think - damn I could do with a good therapist. Then the other side of me kicks in and says "Whoa there boy, you do this all the time - just zap yourself and all is well." So why does it never seem that easy when you try?

If I analyse the theory I suffer the grave risk of spiralling in ever decreasing circles until I disappear into oblivion. I know that I am a good hypnotist because I believe I am and my clients reap rewards. I also know that there is more than a passing resemblance of hypnosis being confused as a placebo effect.

Even attending supervisory meetings, peer groups, and all manner of other CPD, I feel that the majority of them feel to me like a good old mutual back patting session. And guess what - this only happens when I ignore my instincts and work beyond the limits my body and mind are telling me about. I guess a good session with a hypnotist could be the answer.

After all - have you ever seen a barber cut their own hair, and make a decent job of it?

Now where did I put those scissors? 

I am currently doing quite a bit of driving and my daughter suggested that I use her sat nav system to help with those unexpected detours and to protect the rest of the motoring public from the dangers of me reading a map and driving simultaneously.

The basic set up was already done, home was indeed the home option, so now all I need to do is add the postcodes as I need them. Fantastic!

As my daughter was not really flush with cash at the time of purchase she didn't bother with speed camera subscriptions so I thought it would be good if I paid for the subscription. I duly went to the Tom-Tom online shop and purchased the speed camera option. While I was there I couldn't help but notice you can buy new voices.

The one that struck me as a great value for money option was John Cleese. I can confirm that it is very surreal to be driving along and have John Cleese giving you the directions. Cool! Especially when he makes comments at your final destination - "You can get out now but expect me to carry your bags for you! You're on your own from here." 

The best thing I found on the new toy was a life saver - I left the motorway services only to realise I had forgotten the main reason for stopping - get fuel! The sat nav has an option for finding all sorts of interesting things - especially fuel stations. One and a half miles later all fuelled up and at about 4p per litre cheaper than the services.

Off to Cardiff tomorrow. Wonder what else my new toy can do? 

I very rarely get clients who fail to keep appointments, let alone those who pay in advance! But it has happened.

Last week I was asked for an emergency appointment, having explained that new clients have to go through an intake interview and then we decide the best way forward and if necessary make an appointment.

The client arrived early for the interview and was very hyper in terms of nervous energy. We had the usual discussion and then started looking at the case background. Things were going really well. The client was amazed when I did a heavy/light arm test followed by a handlock - all while he was 'awake' as he put it. He was so impressed that he even paid in advance for his first therapy session which was due two days later, the Sunday.

He never arrived. I was unable to contact either of his phone numbers that evening or the next day. I thought that maybe he had heard Monday instead of Sunday so I prepared again the next day - still no client. Several attempts at contact have failed. I will see if he shows up tonight.

If not then I will write to him to see what has happened. I'll let you know what happens...