Lost Hearing Aid

Hi, Everyone!

I think I’m about finished with all the searches I reasonably can do. Because I gave my contact info to a bunch more people in the last two days, I’m going to wait a few more days to order a new hearing aid, just in case…

I want, first of all, to extend my thanks to all of you for your support, and in triple doses to Harry. Second, I want to complete my feedback, because I think you all accomplished something incredible, and it deserves to be documented. I also realize from the PsiberDreaming conferences that one of the purposes of feedback is that it helps sharpen these amazing and mysterious psi skills that you/we are applying.

Here, briefly, is my search today (Wednesday):

– Went to the Transit Authority’s Lost Property Unit at Penn Station. No hearing aid there; I left a written and drawn description.

– Filed a police report at the Midtown South police precinct.

– Walked to Bryant Park / Main Library and looked around a bit more. (Discovered I was wrong about there being a catalog/newspaper box there, at least on that side of the street.)

– Went back to the 12th floor of 295 Madison and looked around a bit more. One reason I wanted to do this was that I hadn’t checked the reception area too closely before, and I wanted to confirm my recollection of something there (Juhani): In the reception area, there’s a spiral staircase to the 13th floor. (From the elevator lobby, there are also the usual emergency exit stairwells.)

– Picked up several community newspapers, concluded the classified ads in them are unlikely to be much use. (Leeballz, I think you’re right that putting up posters could be a good idea. I don’t believe I’ll pursue that, though, partly because of time and the poor odds, partly because I didn’t see any in that immediate area and would guess the park maintenance people have orders to rip them down as soon as they go up.)

I discovered that I still had 7th Ave. and Broadway mixed up, and when I was there two days ago, I felt kind of confused. So my written description of the route may be slightly off, but not such that it matters. I’ve corrected the map yet again.

Although I didn’t find the hearing aid, I did find at least one more good hit …and I took more pictures. They’re in the Follow-up Pix album at http://gsturz.myphotoalbum.com/. (See photo #15 for the new hit.)

It seems to me the vast majority of things mentioned in the RVs corresponded to something along my route or in my timing [or, in Gosh’s case, in my email and personal reading unrelated to this topic!] Those hits are of varying strength, of course, from almost-chance to almost-in-person. And, of course, there’s also the subjective factor. All along Broadway uptown, there are center islands with shrubbery and (probably) some kind of short iron fence that could resemble a bike rack. But I felt almost zero resonance of Broadway with Leeballz’s park setting and bike racks, and an instant and magnetic resonance for Bryant Park.

This morning (in my time zone), Harry said offlist that his inner skeptic wonders whether, in a city as big as New York, everything submitted in the RVs was bound to hit something. That’s an important question, so I want to answer it here.

It’s almost true (psi aside) that you can find just about anything in New York. And before I went out on my first RV-assisted search the other day, I was afraid that was exactly what would happen. But I was impressed with the fact that some things were hard to find off my route, or even in certain parts of the route. For example, in some neighborhoods, I would have passed two or three fish markets within a dozen blocks; on my route, the only fish I spotted was the salmon sign that so closely matches Kathy Turner’s drawing. There were several allusions to fashion (Kathy’s slipper / beautiful nightwear, Harry’s clothes-but-raw-materials, Beth’s sewing basket)…and, as I mentioned, Bryant Park is just outside the edge of the Fashion District. I can find dozens of fabric stores and tailors in the Fashion District, but I would be hard-pressed to find one in the Diamond District or the Financial District or on Publisher’s Row. I was even surprised that I didn’t notice any fabric store, fish market, or basket in a window display along the stretch of Broadway I covered, where any one of those things would seem somewhat likely.

With all those marvelous hits, I have to wonder whether I didn’t do a very good job sending the target. Don’t hate me for this, but it never really occurred to me that I should concentrate on sending, and I’m not sure I would have known how to. When the RV mission started, I figured the hearing aid was out there somewhere, and I left it up to it to connect with you. All I had were guesses, and I suppose that’s all I sent. That could be an interesting discussion: How can the owner of a lost item send it effectively as a target, and should the person even try?

I’d also like to hear how you incubated your dreams or set the intention for waking RV. What wording? Did you focus on the hearing aid? Its purpose? My energy attached to it? Or on me and my reliance on it? Or what?

I feel that other purposes have been well served by this mission, though. One may simply be further development of RV. Another is that, for someone who’d grown disengaged from and tired of New York City, it gave me new eyes for my city, and I found myself wanting to take lots of pictures to show you all. I hope you don’t mind.

Thanks for your contributions and concern and patience, everyone!! I know I gave you a huge amount to read. I would still love to hear any correlations with the pictures and any comments, especially on how to “send” or “view” a lost target.

Love,
Gloria

Dear RV* - is that you Harry???

I’m sending the image of the Chinese slipper - I’d drawn it in my dream book but couldn’t get ArtRage to work in time to send it - I send it now because it is so like (in shape) the Salmon BUT I’d still think it had something to do with Chinese slipper (but maybe not)

Kathy

Dear Harry:

Since Gloria has still not found her hearing aide, I wanted to add this information after reading the dream submissions and seeing Gloria’s "travels" on the day she lost her hearing aide.

Gloria: I noticed that you hadn’t checked the Library yet. I wonder if you were in an "annex" part of the building. It’s worth checking. Did you use a restroom while in the Library?

I didn’t add this earlier dream to my dream account posted, which now seems it "might" offer some information. I dreamed I went to a small storefront "house" with Rita Dwyer, and she had a key hidden outside the house and entered it to go to a file cabinet to look for some information. I needed to use the toilet, and went upstairs in the house hoping to find one. Instead, I found only sleeping rooms with lots of beds in them. I went to an "information counter" to find out where the toilet was located. A tall, brunette woman greeted me and told me that the bathroom was in the "annex." I asked her to tell me "where in the annex," since I’d already been there, and couldn’t find the bathroom. She refused to answer me because for some reason she thought I was some "intruder." I told her that Rita knew me and I asked her to "page Rita Dwyer." The woman refused to do this, which upset me. Then a man handed me a red plastic cup that formerly held chocolate, with a Valentine’s heart design attached to it, and he expected me to urinate in the cup, suggesting that the only "relief" I could get was to urinate in his valentine cup. I felt stymied by the woman at the counter, and betrayed by the man with the valentine chocolate cup.

Okay, maybe this is more detail than you need for this particular effort at finding the hearing aide, but this was the dream preceding the one where I attempted to "match two maps together."

I dreamed two nights earlier of being at a "subway/train station," as some people were heading to a baseball game. I didn’t board the train, but was just passing through.

My dream reference to Nantucket should be expanded. In the dream, I had a Nantucket style purse in my possession, which is basically a "basket" with a wooden cover that clasps over the basket. I applied the reference Nantucket to the "island" I dreamed of, using waking deduction since I’d dreamed of "an island." But in the dream it was a purse, and I believe it was Hannah who referenced dreaming of a basket.
Also, in the same dream series with all of the material I have submitted above, was a reference to the numbers 6,7,8, implying the dates that a woman planned on visiting me.

I also met a man who was a living "daruma;" a man with one real eye and one eye painted onto his face; I acquired a "daruma" several years ago at a Japanese "Fashion Fair." So "Fashion" and "Fashion District" seem to continue to stand out….. [But I’d start with the Library if you were in an "annex," and check the "Ladie’s Room"….
Well, that’s all for now. Good Luck Gloria. I hope and pray that you find your hearing aide!

XO,

Goshengolly

First thing you’ll want to know is whether I found my hearing aid. I didn’t.

I really hate to disappoint you–the thought of how great you all did, hitting locations on my route, kept me going when I was overwhelmed by how many cracks, crevices, drains, grates, and places there are in the New York City landscape. I spent about 20 minutes on the first block and popped a few brain cells trying to look at the ground, dodge the cabin-fevered lunch-hour crowd trying to grab the one day of high temperatures (tomorrow, snow), remember precisely where I walked a week and a half ago, and look up at what was around me while trying to make any metaphorical, punning, or visual connections with the viewings.

I dealt with the stress the way I always do. I stopped to eat. But then I got back to work, and I had fun. I got to meet lots of nice people. Did I mention how challenging it is for me to concentrate on the first warm day in a month, and in bookstores?

Despite all the possibilities, I find it really interesting that I turned up very few matches that were any better than the ones I already described. I did discover that there’s a Fashion Education Center at the corner where I turned from 40th Street onto Broadway. (Which isn’t Broadway, as it turns out; it’s 7th Avenue, also named Fashion Avenue. I have 7th and Broadway permanently confused, because they cross and Times Square and I can never remember which is on which side above and below Times Square. I’ve corrected it on the map I made.) (Kathy T., Harry, and Rita [in February]) had information that seemed to me to be fashion connections, and Hannah posted on the IASD board a mention, from Beth, of a “sewing basket.")

I didn’t consider the Fashion Education Center and 7th (Fashion) Avenue good news, because they extended the hits out a couple of blocks; previously (and in fact still) they’re quite concentrated, as you’ll see from the updated maps. I’ve added your names at the spots where I feel your viewings corresponded. I’ve also added a timeline image, because some of the hits had to do with timing rather than location.) With your names, I’ve put a plus sign where a connection seems particularly strong, and a minus sign where I think it’s unlikely or could apply to several places along the route.

I figure you deserve to see what I think you viewed, so I took pictures. You can see them, I hope, at http://gsturz.myphotoalbum.com. You should also be able to add comments to the photos, which I’d really appreciate. You can let me know if anything strikes you as a good hit, or if anything seems really off. Except for the long shot of the black building and the harmonious color scheme (not) in the last shot, pretty much everything This photo album is also where I’ve posted the revised maps.

So here’s how and where I searched (from about noon to about 8 p.m.):

– Times Square subway station and outside block (lots of small rocks caught in grates all along that block, so I looked very closely for my hearing aid). The tan seats that Noah saw could be some of the seats in the subway cars, although these are molded plastic. (Hannah posted her husband, Noah’s, comment on the IASD public discussion board: Noah saw tan leather or vinyl seat cushions.)

– Asked at the two subway token booths I had gone to that original day.

– 40th Street north sidewalk, not quite as thoroughly.

– Bryant Park (some; ate lunch there). Bryant Park is what I think the setting Leeballz described is all about.

– Talked to the Bryant Park maintenance crew, who said they keep found items for a week then send them to HQs, which is in a high-rise across 42nd Street (500 Fifth Ave.). I left my business card with the crew, in case my hearing aid turns up.

– Went into Bryant Park Grill (which I’ve never been in before) and asked the hostess, who checked with the office. Took a picture of the mural, which I thought might resonate with Kathy Turner’s Chinese slippers.

– Went along the north side of East 40th St. (although I’m pretty sure that I originally walked on the south side). The north side is where the Salmon River Restaurant is, for Kathy Turner’s fins. I also discovered here a very clear connection with Hannah’s 5, 7, 9–the street numbers. (Numbering both east and west starts at Fifth Avenue.)

– Checked with a cleaning guy and the concierge at what must be 1 W. 40th St.

– Went into Jack’s 99 Cent Store. I thought I might have seen Chinese slippers there, but I didn’t today, and nothing resonated.

– Checked again with the Mid-Manhattan Library’s lost and found, and went inside to look again. There’s a set of stairs there (for Juhani, who posted in the IASD Psi Dreams group and public discussion board) that’s kind of odd, and it’s over what I thought was the cookbook section (I was wrong; it’s the graphic novels section). (Juhani’s cleaning woman also made me think of 295 Madison, because I went back that first night and talked to one there, but I wasn’t on the stairs at any point. I forgot to go back there today.) I have the phone number for lost and found.

– Went to Book-Off, where there’s a strong connection for Kathy Turner (it’s mostly Asian-language books), plus possible connections for Juhani, Harry, and Gillian (stairs…the way I turned / cabinets on short legs….dust bunnies). I liberated lots of dust bunnies temporarily with a ruler I took along to swipe under the cabinets (bookshelves). This took a long time, because I was doing it surreptitiously–didn’t think the staff would appreciate me turning up their dirt, so I had to stop and browse every time someone came into that aisle. I pushed all the dirt back under the carpet–er, cabinets–and then realized I had no choice but to have more faith in my fellow human beings if I wanted to check under the shelves opposite the cash register. Sure enough, four employees lifted out every bottom-cabinet drawer in that whole aisle to look underneath (and these drawers were heavy–full of books. The one woman asked for my card so she can call if they find it.

– Went to 500 Fifth Ave. to ask at Bryant Park headquarters, but the receptionist checked and said they don’t keep the lost and found there, I have to talk to the park’s security guards. She asked for my card, anyway.

– Found the security guard manager in the park and had a nice chat. He bought his father hearing aids. He wasn’t optimistic–snow has been shoveled, etc., since I lost the darned thing. He told me to try Midtown South Police Precinct; this is something that never would have occurred to me. I gave him my card. Almost killed myself saying goodbye, because I backed up off the edge of the three granite steps…but didn’t fall. Amazing save.

– Looked around in one set of iron lampposts. You never know.

– Followed my route back to the Times Square subway station and got on the express train.

– Got off at 72nd St. and walked my route on the east side of Broadway. Passed Fishs Eddy, a distant second as a fit for Kathy Turner’s fish fins, I think.

– Remembered, when I saw it, that there’s a firehouse I know on 77nd Street. Asked there. They said people would be more likely to turn in lost items at the police precinct.

– Went to the 20th Precinct on 83rd St. Waited an hour and 45 minutes. My cop friends have told me that police work is hours and hours of boredom interrupted by moments of terror. I was there for the boredom. Except for the first and last 15 minutes, I was alone in the lobby. “NYPD Blue” this was not.

– Went to Barnes & Noble. I wish I had taken a picture, because now I can’t even remember whether the structure is white or tan. But there are very prominent green awnings, which could possibly account for Gillian’s green setting (and the white house?), and, more remotely, Leeballz’s park and heavy hedges. Checked with the lost and found. The cashier, clearly empathetic, read through the lost and found log three times, hoping to find my hearing aid listed. Didn’t. I went to the cafe. Jean felt this is where it would be. You can reach it by stairs, so it could be a Juhani hit. It has kitchen appliances, per Gillian. And I made the sort of leaning and turning motions that Harry described. But I couldn’t find it, in the café or along the route I’d taken in the store last time.

– Followed my route back to the 72nd Street subway station.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I need to check the subway system’s lost and found and go to the Midtown South Precinct, which are near each other. It’s supposed to rain hard in the morning, then turn to snow at noon. I also want to check the lost and found of the Main Library, so I’ll check more closely at the southeast corner of the library. I checked the southwest corner quite well. Not sure, Leeballz, which one you had in mind.

I’ll report back again.

Many thanks to you all!
Gloria

Dear Harry:

The only thing I could come up with in my dreams was of a "map" being compared to another "map," in terms of location of the lost item. One map was in black in white, the other was in color, and both maps were part of a "story book." Then I was on a small airstrip, on an island, and saw a small passenger plane on fire.

So I wondered if our subject had taken a vacation to an island (I’ve been dreaming of being on a small boat in a few dreams this past week - sail boats). And I wondered if they lost their hearing aid on a small plane (small inter-Island passenger plane.) I also have dreamed of "Nantucket" in one of my dreams this past week since your RV request, and a ladies cosmetic type bag, with shower items in it.

So, my guesses are: The hearing aide might be found in a small cosmetic bag that the subject took to a "shower" room, [while on vacation] or they lost it on a small airplane while on vacation, or on a trip to an island….

I wish I could have been more specific and accurate. But this is my best guest based on a dream…

XO,

Goshengolly