Monday, August 29, 2016

Institute Day 2



Ok we are on Day 2 of INFO 5600 Institute (a fancy name for two long ass days of class – 8 am to 5 pm).  Hopefully, since we did “awesome” ice breakers yesterday (yep that’s a shit ton of sarcasm there) and got our groups sorted out for the semester, we are done with the forced socialization.  Which, honestly, the ice breaker was the worst, but my actual group is pretty awesome.

Once I got home, man, I was so keyed up after sitting for 9 hours straight in lecture.  I ended up taking Josey for the full H.G. loop (both sides of our street cul-de-sac) and then did 25 minutes on the elliptical!  I am just very tired of being overweight, of random pains, and of being out of shape.  I am ready for a change already.

We went to another of Sam’s soccer games on Saturday and I want to play.  But I know right now, there is no way.  I would utterly die.  But it gives me something to strive toward.  That and Krav Maga classes.  I want to be able to do both of these – and to do that I have to get into shape.

But back to INFO 5600 – this is the last mandatory classes.  And this one is quite labor intensive if I am understanding everything.  I will certainly have to put in a LOT of time and effort to stay on top of it all.  And I haven’t even looked at the work load for my 2nd class.  Oye!  Hopefully it won’t have as heavy a work load as INFO 5600.  If it does, I won’t have much of a life outside of work and college until December.

So I was feeling a twinge of guilt over unfriending Andy – I know.  It sounds so silly, but it is what it is.  So I hopped over to his FaceBook page and the sheer UGLINESS contained in his posts actually made my stomach churn.  Beyond disgusting.  Needless to say, I feel zero guilt now.  And actually my overall mood has improved since cutting him out of my life.  I never realized just how toxic he had truly become.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Institute Day 1

So today is day one of the Institute Days for my INFO 5600 course. We have to meet in person for 2 days and then the rest of the course is online.

And for the past 3 weeks or so, my anxiety has been through the fucking roof. So of course we have to do “ice breaker” activities and a goddamn group project. Fucking hate that crap.

And I do understand the good points of group work. I just would rather do the work myself.

Oh well. Just gotta make it through this last mandatory class. All the rest after this one will be of my own choosing.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Thankful Thursday



I am thankful….
1.       Really getting back to my spiritual core and I’m finding it stronger, wilder, more beautiful, and so much wiser than when I left it behind a while ago.  Seems it needed its time in the wilderness to truly hone its teeth and it came back when I was ready for her.
2.       Laser pointer.  I wasn’t able to take Josey for a walk today (due to the lawn care guys plus trash and recycling guys), but I was still able to run her utterly ragged TWICE in the side yard having her chase the laser pointer.
3.       Gail, my new zone leader.  She’s been very quick to help out with all the insanity at my campus and I am very grateful for that.
4.       Leviathan’s hatch-day cards arrived this week and they are pretty damn awesome.  Can’t believe my lil serpent girl is turning TEN years old in September!
5.       Finally able to snag one of Luna Blue Boutique’s awesome crystal pendants.  The Little Sorceress just enthralled me and I couldn’t walk away from it.  So it was a bit more than I had budgeted in the fun money part of my paycheck this time around, but that just means I will have to buckle down on the next paycheck to make up for the deficit.
6.       The good staff members that I do have.  They are truly amazing and I am very lucky to have them.  Especially with the insanity of my campus.
7.       Finally cutting the internet ties to Andy on FaceBook.  I just couldn’t handle the negativity he spews everywhere and especially when it’s directed at me and my friends.  Enough was enough and he had to go.  And I feel so much better about it.
8.       That one of my former students stopped by today just to say hello.  Jonathan hasn’t been in my after school program for about 5 years now, but he apparently remembered us fondly enough to stop by to say hello.  That’s one of the biggest compliments one can give about my after school program.
9.       The way my room is set up.  I finally like where everything is and it all feels comfortable.  Like it really is MY room.  Finally.
10.   Back to school sales!  Gimme all those notebooks and spirals and pens and 3-ring binders and make it dirt cheap!  Hells yeah!

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Little Sorceress

FINALLY!!! It’s mine!

I’ve been eyeballing and drooling over the beautiful crystal necklaces and wands made by LunaBlueBoutique for well over a year now. And finally, one grabbed me and just wouldn’t let me go. I kept coming back to it. I couldn’t let it pass me by.

So I bought it. It’s pricey, but beautiful.

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And this is the write up the creator wrote about it:

The Little Sorceress - Intense Blue Flash Rainbow Moonstone and Amethyst Wand Pendant - Accelerated Psychic Development, Feminine Wisdom

Vibrating with the feminine wisdom and Goddess energy of the waxing and full Moon, moonstone has a reflective, calming energy. It helps to strengthen intuition and psychic perception and brings balance and harmony with the All. It is said to have the power to grant wishes. Moonstone honors the Goddess in all women. It aids in dieting, gardening, psychic awareness and meditation. The Rainbow effect invokes a spectrum of light, and feels cleansing and uplifting.

For many on the “crystal path”, Amethyst was a first love. Amethyst has long been called the “sobriety stone.” It is said to assist those coping with alcoholism, compulsive behaviors, and addictions of all kinds. Amethyst brings energies in mystical realms of stability, peace, calm, balance, courage and inner strength. It is often used in metaphysics to protect against psychic attacks. On the spiritual level, amethyst is said to help open to communication with angels, telepathy and other psychic abilities. It is thus an excellent stone for meditation or dream work, past life work, and to help you see your path. It has also been used to help ease the pain of grief, and promote happiness.

– Although Luna Blue Boutique’s Crystal Energy pieces are well-made, sturdy and created to last, it is not recommended that they be worn in or exposed to water. I am filled with joy, love and light when I am creating so they come to you charged with my best intentions and brightest energies! That being said, as with any crystal that enters your world, you will want to cleanse and charge them to resonate with your own needs and intentions. As with the above advice, it is advised that you work with dry methods of clearing and cleansing. Some of my favourites are passing them through sage smoke, placing them near a speaker playing your favourite music (sound is an amazing re-calibrator of crystal energy!) or burying them in uncooked brown rice and leaving them overnight.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Lesson in a Sunset



I saw the most beautiful sight from my bathroom window….the gorgeous beginnings of an amazing sunset.  My window faces east, so I see the faint beginnings, not the fiery end.  But this was beautiful as it was the first time I’ve seen the blue sky in over a week now, due to the weeklong rains we’ve had.

So deep blue sky, with even deeper blue thunderclouds on the horizon (for we have another week of predicted rain ahead of us).  White fluffy clouds just above that.  And above that, pale lavender pink wispy clouds.  And above that, pale rosy pink clouds.

I wanted to jump out of the shower and race downstairs to get my phone so I could take a photo.  But I knew that by the time I got back up there, that glorious moment would have faded.  So instead, I stayed and I soaked it all up.

And it hit me then.  Beauty truly is all around us all the time.  Even in the heart of the city, beauty will sneak up and just strike me with utter awe…most of the time, when I am least expecting it…but needing it the most.

And this is the core of my Craft, my Path.

As much as I don’t like it, I AM an Urban Witch because this is where I live.  I live in the city.  And if I were to focus on the things I THINK I have to have to be able to be a thriving Witch, then my little heart would have shriveled up and died so long ago.

While I would love nothing more than to have a massive yard (taking acreage here honestly), with a full outdoor Circle set up, a sacred grove planted, and shrines and altars everywhere….that just is not where I find myself currently.  And that is ok.

I don’t have to go out into true wilderness to talk to my gods and my spirits, though it does make it easier.

So for now, I see this as an exercise to truly put my Craft to practice, to build up the spiritual strengths I need.  And when it is time and I find my true home with all that unspoiled land that I dream of….oh how powerful that area will become…and me in the center of it all.

But for now, I’ll take those perfect Texas sunsets with the powerlines crisscrossing it.  I’ll take the sounds of birds twittering mingled with the daily lives of my neighbors.  I’ll take my little patch of land and witch it up as best I can.