John hasn’t been around as much in the past week, knowing that our six-week experiment is almost at an end, and that I have more than enough information for this last (for now) entry.  I was caught by surprise by how much I’ve missed him, his presence in our lives for the last month has been almost constant. 

If anything, his noticeable absence in our life is further confirmation of how very much with us he was.

When John’s in the room, he has a real, physical presence.  He fills the room up with energy, warmth and good humour.  He often likes to tinker with things physically in the room – he blinks his “doorbell” (a little solar light that never seems to work unless he’s in the room), he taps his coffee mug making it swing on its hook (when we sit down for a discussion, we always make John a cup of tea or coffee too) and he fills my head with delicious, funny, flattering dialogue, little quips and comments that keep us laughing all night. 

He’s so charismatic, such a charmer, and he makes you feel *very* special when he’s talking to you.  I missed him so much I was telling my friend Shelly about my “invisible friend who’s moved on to do other work.” 

He came for a visit that night, and chided, “You don’t need to miss me, just say that you want to talk to me.  I’ll come visit.”

“We feel so lucky just to have had the time we’ve had with you, John.  We don’t want to monopolize you.” 

“It’s no bother, coming to visit with you lovelies.  Just talk to me, I’ll come over.  We can watch the Simpsons!”

Which brings me to the topic of this last entry in the series:  POP Culture John Lennon loves which he shouldn’t know about (because they were created after he died).

Let’s start with TV:

The Simpsons.  John says, “I spent most of the 90s watching the Simpsons!” John is a bit sorry that he’s the only Beatle to have missed the opportunity to cameo on the Simpsons.  George likes to tease him about this. 

(BTW, I feel the need to clarify, I’m sure John didn’t literally spend most of the 90s watching TV.  He likes to exaggerate a bit to prove a point, this point being, how much he likes the Simpsons.)

The movies:  Ferris Beuler’s Day Off & The Breakfast Club.  Both apparently by the same director, both full of little John Lennon quotes, which he enjoys immensely.  He also appreciates the perspective of the movies, from the point of view of the rebellious, creative teenagers who just couldn’t follow those damn rules.  Principals in both movies were characters who were complete tools, which John loves, as they remind him of his own complete tool principal. Watching these movies with John making comments in the background is too much fun.

The Sound of Music, the movie.  We watched this one over Christmas.  It was part of our “Spirit Party” that night, and I can’t remember all we talked about.  John watched the Sound of Music when he was young; watching it brings up happy memories.  (I guess technically this shouldn’t be included in the list since it was made *before* john died, but since we’re talking about TV he likes, I figured I’d mention this one.)

Nowhere Boy, a movie about John Lennon.  When Sweetie asked John what he thought of the movie, he promptly replied, “I was a handsome lad!”  John likes to rib George, “do YOU have a movie, George?  Who plays you in your movie, eh?”

Sweetie sent me this email comment after she read today’s entry: 

One night I got up to pee, half-asleep and there’s John:

“Do you think I’m as handsome as the boy in my movie?”

I’m like, “Oh, well as far as I can tell, he only *appears* to be handsome because he’s pretending to be you”.

So then he gets quiet, probably trying to decide if I’m feeding him a line or not. 

And eventually says, “Oh, you’re good!”

 John on today’s Music:

John is a huge fan of independent little bands.  Sweetie and I were invited to an informal jam session at the legion over Christmas, and I distinctly heard John say, “You should go to that.”  We were feeling hermity, so we stayed in.  And damn, if it didn’t turn out that our FRIENDS were playing in a band they’d disbanded years ago.  They apparently brought down the house – we were just *sick* with regret the next day when we heard what we’d missed.

“Don’t worry, you can see it after you die,” John consoled us.  He showed us the big viewing room in which you review your life, and you can program this viewing to show an optional experience you may have missed. 

“Just don’t use this as an excuse not to do things,” he cautioned.  It’s much better to have the experience than to say to yourself, “Oh, I’ll just watch it when I’m dead.” 

John’s also a huge fan of Lady Gaga.  He insists we must go to one of her concerts, says she’s fantastic.  And for the record, he didn’t mind one bit that she played his white piano.

 

And now, movies John shouldn’t know about but *doesn’t* like:

Any of the Austen Powers movies.  When we first showed him Austen Powers, he asked, “Is this supposed to be about me?”  The fun the first Powers movie pokes at the 60s & 70s and the stereotype of Brits having bad teeth completely put John off.  He did pop in while we were watching Austen Powers 3, and tried to give it a second chance… that time we were laughing about Dr. Evil’s son ranting in a very 90s fashion (I didn’t ask to be born!)  It was another cultural reference, and a negative one at that, which John just didn’t connect with. 

Help – the Beatles movie he was actually in!  Sweetie watched this by herself first and he kept a running commentary “Why are you watching this?  I look so fat!  Ugh!  This movie was not supposed to be so terrible.  We honestly believed it would be better.  We trusted the director and the producer too much, we were so naïve.  And now look, this piece of shite out in the world and we can’t get rid of it now!”   When Sweetie cued the movie up so I could watch it, John said, “Well if you’re going to watch that shit again, I’m leaving!”  And so he left.

And I have to agree with him, it is a truly terrible movie.

There are little things John has left behind in our life that will be constant, warm reminders of him.  One of which is the name of my Sweetie’s second spirit guide.

Sweetie has two guides, one named Clara, who is learning how to be a guide.  But Sweetie proved to be a more challenging charge than anticipated and so Clara had to call in her advisor & teacher as a second guide.  This fellow presented to me as very tall, rather butler-like.  Reserved, super-intelligent and as such, not attached to temporary, trifling things like names.  When we asked what we should call him, he said, “You may choose a name for me.”

In my head I heard a distinct, British voice chirp, “Brian”

“Brian,” I said out loud.

Sweetie stared at me.  “Brian?  It seems a bit modern for a spirit guide, doesn’t it?”

“It’s a perfectly good name,” I narrated, according to this voice.  This was really early in my relationship with John, and I wasn’t completely aware that was him speaking at the time, but looking back, there’s no doubt. 

Both Sweetie and I immediately thought of “The Life of Brian,” the Monty Python movie poking fun at the seriousness of Christian tradition.  But surely that couldn’t be where the name Brian came from, right?

Well Sweetie looked it up, and apparently “Brian” has meanings attuned to ancient lords and leaders – suitable to her guide’s high, learned status in heaven.  Brian it is.

It’s only now that we’re getting to know George better, that we learned George bankrolled the Life of Brian – that movie wouldn’t have happened without George Harrison.

And the first few minutes of the movie, we hear the line, “What is this child’s name?”
“Brian.  What?  It’s a perfectly good name!”

So Sweetie’s very serious spirit guide carries a joke name, bestowed upon him by John Lennon.  Nice!

I’m feeling a bit divided about this entry – like I’m supposed to draw some sort of conclusion at the end of these six weeks of John Lennon Fridays, but really, it’s an ongoing conversation.  For now, John is spending more time with a new student of his – a young woman, looks like a teenager, long blond wavy hair.  I wonder if she’ll stumble upon this blog in the future – that’d be neat.

The thing is, I think that John’s really made his point in previous entries.  This last one is not the last John Lennon Friday, just the last for now.  He’s making room for George to move into the forefront, because George has been teaching us quite a bit.  John will continue to visit and contribute, and so this is not the neat ending for which the writer within searches. 

The best I can say, in conclusion of this first set of “celebrity” spirit contributions to the blog is this:

I’m sure that if I read all those books written by other psychics about John, I’d find things in there that pushes my limits of suspending my disbelief.  I’m sure if those authours read this blog, they’d think I got a few things wrong myself.

That’s okay.

Such things cause the divides among psychics, when we disagree upon each other’s interpretations of similar subject matter and the need to assert oneself pushes past ideals like “let’s just all respect each other and let it be.”

So thank you for reading these John Lennon Friday entries with an open and warm heart.