Hypnosis at the Dallas Palace

So, after our big day of bird-spotting on Sunday, we had to get home and get ready to go to Kev's work party at Southfork Ranch. I hadn't been there since I was a kid. My grandma Kelly and I think my great aunt Mary were in town once in the 80's, and we took them to Southfork to watch them filming some of the outside scenes of Dallas, which was in it's hey-day at the time. It was kinda cool, and we got a few autographs, but on the other hand, it was kinda boring, because they had to do take after take of the same scene, and it was really hot, and we had to be very still and quiet. Somewhere, I still have a photo I took of "Sue-Ellen" with my Kodak Disc camera. Remember those?

Anyway, Sunday night, Kev and I arrived at Southfork ready for an evening of fajitas and hypnosis. The ranch looks pretty much the same. Now, they do tours of Ewing Mansion, and host events like proms and work parties. Our party was in the Dallas Palace, which we got to by passing Miss Ellie's Deli and then parading ourselves through the gift shop, which sells mostly high-end lady's western-wear - colorful skirts and vests with lots of fringe and bolo medallions - as well as cowboy hats and leather accessories.

There were several round tables set up and ready, and after a short time designated for engaging in co-worker small talk, they opened up the fajita buffet and we got food. There was only one guy at our table prepared to volunteer for the hypnosis show, which didn't bode well for the hypnotist since he had 14 chairs ready up on the stage. I kept trying to get Kev to volunteer, but he said he was too much of a skeptic, and he didn't want to get up there and have it not work.

We ate our fajitas, which were pretty good, and then the company president got up to introduce the Master Hypnotist and start the show. The Hypnotist gave a little introduction, actually a pretty dang long introduction, explaining hypnosis, debunking some myths, and describing how he had used hypnosis to do many miraculous things, like solving crimes and stopping smoking and curing fears and so forth. He got my attention when he told of a lady in Oklahoma City that he had hypnotized, and how she delivered shortly thereafter a ten-pound baby with no anesthesia and no pain. Then he started asking for volunteers. Up went the one guy from our table, and a couple of other people, and then the poor hypnotist had to really start cajoling the crowd. He promised that if we were hypnotized, it would be like having 8 hours of solid peaceful restful sleep, and that we would also sleep well that night, and be more relaxed than ever, etc. All the while, Kev is nudging me and trying to force my hand up, and I'm saying "no way" because I am shy and 8 months pregnant and don't want to be on any stage in front of 100 people. But the poor guy was having a hard time getting volunteers (keep in mind this is a room full of very rational-thinking engineers) and the next thing I knew, I was headed up to the stage. After all, it has been months since I have had 8 solid hours of restful sleep, and I could use it.

I figured I would be super-easy to hypnotize. I am able to put myself in deep relaxation at yoga all the time, and I have a very active visual imagination. So I got up there, and he started the show (he finally got his 14 volunteers), and I'll be damned if I couldn't relax at all. When all was said and done, he only hypnotized 3 of the 14 people, and the rest of us had to leave the stage. I think under different circumstances, it would have worked, but here is my theory about why I didn't get hypnotized:

• I was nervous in front of all those people. I kept thinking that with an audience that big, there was probably at least one person looking at me. I don't like people looking at me.
• The chair was uncomfortable. I kept figiting around.
• The chairs were too close together. I was sitting between the company president and another guy, and their shoulders and arms kept touching mine, and I don't like that either.
• I had just enjoyed a delicious sopapilla, which was causing the Peanut to kick frantically with joy.

So, the guy went through his routine, and my heart was beating really fast and I was NOT getting sleepy and my eyelids were NOT getting heavy and I was starting to panic, thinking "It's not working! What do I do, what do I do?!" which made it worse. Then he told us we were going to forget our names, and he went along asking us one at a time what our name was, and I was happy to discover that 10 others besides me still knew good and well what our names were. We were then asked to join the audience, and the show proceeded with the three people who forgot their names. It was pretty entertaining, and I was glad to be in the audience, because those three had to act pretty silly, and it was all video-taped, so people are going to watch it later.

So, that's the story of how I didn't get hypnotized at the Dallas Palace. I would try it again, though. But not in front of an audience.

PS. When we got home, it was after 10pm, and guess who was at it. Rush guy. He is just about the worst guy ever.