Usually, I have a "stream o' thought" post BELOW my "Wordless Wednesday" post... but today, being the "Fourth of July" and me feeling particularly good about our neighbours to the South, I wanted to put those pictures of the American buses up early.

So... stream of thought time... hmm...

Well, I kinda burned myself out of late with some lovely novellas posts here and on the History blog mostly... and I'm sittin' on a good one for the Paranormal blog...

...so what to post to INTRIGUE you...

Well, I know one thing I've been sitting on that I got more than a few (read: LOTS OF) e-mails about...

Who was that psychic/sensitive/mentalist that you contacted that shot you down?

Well, let me fill in newer readers (of which, there are MANY!!!) on what happened...

I was listening to a radio program, I told folks... the radio program was "Coast to Coast AM" with George Noory. For reasonably obvious reasons, I've been a listener for a few years... since it was almost strictly "The Art Bell Show"... although my favourite host was Barbara Simpson... moving along now...

On the show, George was talking to Uri Geller... famed "spoon bender" and mentalist... and a few other things... which is why I said some would feel this person was "questionable".

None-the-less, he mentioned on the show that he'd helped "many" people and answered "thousands" of e-mails...

Now, I'm a "doubter", and not a "denier"... in fact, I will be TOTALLY honest with you, I've had psychics and sensitives I've worked with in the ghostly stuff that have blown me away... and NOT with "vague interpretive" stuff... but the ones I worked with that were amazing were NOT "psychics" by profession... in fact, all of them said something to me that made sense... and all of them said the same thing... I can't turn it on or off. Either I get something, or I don't.

Want more info? Click here. I wrote an article about my feelings about "store front psychics" amongst others...

...so, now that I've covered my butt, let me continue...

Well, those who know us well know that the bus thing means a LOT to us... and I thought to myself, Y'know what? What the heck! I'll send him an e-mail and see what Mr. Geller suggests!

Now, in a twist of fate, the e-mail I sent him was a few hours after I posted the information about "Puppy Monster" passing away entreating the blogsphere to help... which, thanks to many, they did and in grand style... and this was the TOP post when I sent the following to Mr. Geller...

Dear Mr. Geller...

I'm 110% sure you get thousands of e-mails... and many like this... but I have always thought that one will never succeed if one never tries, so I am writing to ask for your insight and your help.

It's a long story, but I'll try to make it brief.

My family and I went through some very difficult times a couple of years back, and we got through it with flying colours. One of the things that got us through was discussing what we would do WHEN things got better.

During this time, I was unemployed and spending a great deal of time "surfing" websites and news... in between very strenuous job searches... and one news item caught my eye.

I have been a "fan" of London's old double-decker buses since I was very young and was saddened to read about the demise of the old Routemaster buses from the streets. This wasn't an overwhelming sadness, but it was sad none-the-less and got me surfing and looking at old bus photos.

One photo in particular, an old bus currently in Santa Rosa, California, caught me eye... and was, weirdly enough, adopted by my wife and step-daughter as "our bus".

Thus, we sometimes would "forget our financial troubles" by dreaming of what we'd do with the bus and wear we'd go in it.

The good news is that I found re-employment and we're making excellent headway in getting out of the very bad place we were in.

Well, "our bus" was still a going concern... as it's place in the world is in jeopardy... it will either most likely be sold for scrap or "carved up" beyond restoration.

The bad news is we cannot possibly save enough money (as we are digging our way out of our debts and even still catching up on back rent) to save the bus within the next few years.

Time being critical, I started a website and blog in hopes of having people help us... it's honestly that important to us as a family... to save this old green bus.

Now, I am not writing to you to ask for money, but to tap your brain for ideas on what we could do... how can we get the "word out there" about our dream? How might we find someone who is in a position to help us... or several people... or however we can save this bus.

I know this is presumptuous to even write to you about this... and honestly, I doubt I'll get a response... or that you'll have the time to read all this mess I've typed...

...but as of now, the will to try and make things happen is even more important... I want to show my step-daughters that, indeed, dreams can come true if you try.

So, what can you suggest? Any help or ideas would be most helpful.

I wish I could pay you for your time or assistance, but as I said, we're still getting over some rather troubling financial times...

Respectfully Yours,

Matthew James Didier

P.S. - I'd send you the URLs (addresses) to the blog and site, but call it a hunch, your spam filter would probably kill it... If you are interested, you can simply take my e-mail address, knock the matthew@ bit off, and enter into a browser et voila... again, if you're interested...

...and as "regular readers" might remember, his response was brief... BUT CREDIT WHERE IT'S DUE, he responded...

Hi Matt, yes I have a suggestion, go and visit a children hospital, go to the cancer ward look around and get your priorities right, I believe that if you spend your spare time helping sick kids you will be feeling more satisfaction in what you do,

Hmm.

Now, perhaps it's me, but BOY this seemed rather harsh and sharp... and yeah, after doing what we could for "Puppy Monster"... and knowing that we do go above and (sometimes) beyond in helping everyone we can... not to mention our own story about our own sick kid who's blessedly better... this was a REAL kick to the nads for me... it was a shot at the whole family, really.

Anyway... now I won't waste your time... if you're interested on how I felt about this at length and my feelings, you can click here because I agreed with him... but man, he REALLY didn't bother to look at the the blog or read anything... which, in some ways, I can't fault... I know he is a very busy man.

...but man...

Read this please, and you'll understand why this just seemed ever more nasty... and remember that the "sick kid" in our lives who's better is the one mentioned in that post.

Now, ABSOLUTE CREDIT where credit's due... he wrote... he DID read my e-mails, and he did respond... he was just about as helpful and "spirituality uplifting" as a bad case of kidney stones.

...but now you know...

NOW, here's a twist... upon reading this, I heard from another "well known" psychic (this time, the person uses the word "psychic",) who's been featured in a few books and whatnot who basically read the "rebuttal post" to Mr. Geller's e-mail, said to me that, indeed, they "feel" that we WILL be successful with our quest... and that it would involve three letters I "have been seeing often in the last few weeks."

Now, I'd give this name, but they have not given me permission... and I'm kinda big on ensuring all is kosher... which is why I waited to spill about Mr. Geller... especially if the most recent "foretelling" is incorrect...

...but as far as saying it was Mr. Geller who kinda jammed me... and since it's only a "half-slam" that, in essence, I agreed with... I figure he shouldn't mind if I let you know whom it was that basically said, "Give up and devote yourself to working with sick children you selfish son-of-a..."

...come to think of it... if I met someone who told me they worked with making sick kids better and WEREN'T fulfilled with their efforts, I'd be rather shocked... and appalled.

Anyway, here's the "tempting" thing... I have been noticing three letters (in a row) a lot lately... in my work, in my hobbies, and in life... and I won't share them YET, but I am going to share them with Sue and maybe, if January rolls around with no bus luck, I'll let you know what they were...

OF COURSE, if we have success BEFORE January, I'll let you know what the "letters" were/are... and if we DON'T see a connection, perhaps you might and can let us know.

So there you have it... a little name dropping... and a "mystery"!

And on the bright side, how many people can claim they were smacked down by a grumpy Uri Geller?

The standard last note on the old blog... PLEASE SUPPORT THE DREAM!

This blog is here to help promote a dream that an entire family shares... that dream is to rescue an old London Double-Decker bus.

Please, if you have a few minutes, take some time to find out more about this bus and the kooky dream by clicking here.

This bus is VERY special to myself and the whole family, and any help any person can lend us would be most gratefully accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested, there's our pixel ad site, HelpCoverTheBus.Com and a PayPal donation button (see the upper-right hand side of the blog) and, of course, a Cafe Press shop for T-Shirts and shtuff!
(...and who doesn't need some shtuff!)

Please help us make this dream a reality and save a piece of history!

We thank you for your support!

Please Note: We are also hoping for help from a public relations/marketing standpoint... If you might be able to assist OR know someone who might be willing to, please click here and read this entry...