Friday, January 25, 2008

It's in the Cards

As part of being recruited into the role of Body Master at Horus Oasis, I am having a third degree initiation pretty much shoved down my throat. You have to be third to be a body master, therefore...blah, blah, blah.

Here are the internal factors at play. First, I don't want to take an initiation until I feel I am ready. Second, I never feel ready for anything until I have prepped, analyzed and scoped it out far more than is reasonable. So, by these two points, I never feel ready for anything. Third, I took my second degree because it was a prerequisite for something else I wanted to do. Fourth, I really want Horus to succeed, and I am the only hope the body has (right now, at least), so.....

Crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

After talking with Holly and Beverly, I determined to consult The Oracle. I put forward three choices, and did a simple three card draw on each choice. Here is how it fell out...

Choice One: Tell the O.T.O. to go to hell and I'll take third on my schedule, not on theirs.
The Moon, Two of Cups and The Empress - All reversed.
Not good. Deception, breaking apart, then loss and infertility.

Choice Two: Submit the paperwork, then arrange for things to get delayed until I feel ready. In other words, lie to them:
Ten of Cups, The Lovers, Page of Swords - All reversed (again).
Not good. Rug pulled out, miscommunication and strife, an effort falling flat before it can go anywhere.

Choice Three: Hand in the paperwork and just do it now:
Eight of Swords (reversed), Death, Justice.
Release from bondage, transformation, and things being set right. And we won't EVEN make that connection between the Death card and the focus of the Third Degree ritual. No. Not us. No way.

So I grabbed the paperwork, filled it out, and will ask the outgoing Body Master what in the blazes to do with it (assuming he shows up at Mass tomorrow).

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A bad case of Shingles

This weekend, I went from the top of the world down to the very depths. ...from replacing shingles on the roof in Tooele to dealing with raw sewage in the basement of my mother's house.

A few weeks ago a storm blew through Tooele. And blew, and blew and blew. The wind separated many small things from the houses they were attached to - such as shingles, siding, doors and windows. Fences were blown over. Trampolines were tossed about. Trees were uprooted. Across the street from the Tooele house, three grand old pines were toppled like dominoes. A string of telephone poles south of town were snapped in half like matches.

I was initially told that the shingles in the yard came from the neighbors place. Wrong. The repairs cost less than $40, but it took a day from my life and left a raw patch on my butt cheek. I learned that I am not quite over my fear of heights, but that I'm not as bad as I used to be. I learned that wind torn shingles like to fold in the middle then tear off - not blow off in one piece. I learned how to carefully pull nails under existing shingles, then slide the replacements up underneath them. I learned that repairing roofing is a helluva lot more work than installing roofing.

And I learned that if you spend the day with one butt cheek supporting your weight on asphalt shingles, it will be pretty and red and raw and it won't let you sleep for two nights in a row.

This was on Saturday, January 19th. Two days later, we got 6 inches of snow. For once, the universe arranged for things to happen in the correct order.

Before leaving for Tooele, I noticed the drains backing up in the basement. I hoped to ignore it for a few days before dealing with it. Poor choice. So on Monday, the plumber was there to root it all out. In the past the problem has been the line out to the street, with access from the driveway. This time, it was in the house under the concrete floor. It was rooted out, and toilets could once more be flushed without fear. But when I went to clean the floor (ick), the floor drain.....didn't. So out came the snake, and I got to clear that one on my own. Either I had two blockages that just happened to happen at the same time, or one blockage that was where the two lines join. Either way, it works now. Between the "roof tar clothing" and the "raw sewage clothing" I had an interesting load on laundry to do.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Tour Report - The disaster that was the 10th

If the universe was trying to use the events of this year's Existential Angst Tour to send a message, something to frame the coming year, that message would be, "Just give up now."

I spent the entire day working The List and got only a few things done. Those few things took an ungodly amount of time. Then I burned two hours playing taxi driver for Kathleen and Shannon.

Today has some "gotta do" diversions that will eat up at least three hours (I'm guessing closer to five). It is maddening.

Somewhere in all of this muck is a lesson or an answer or something. I'll look for it when the In Baskets are cleared.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tour Update - Numero Uno

Existential Angst Tour 2008 has passed the mid point. I am wondering if it really going to accomplish anything. What can be salvaged?

The point....
...was to process my living space as if it was one large In Basket - which is what it is. Like many people, I collect things, drag them home, then dump them - telling myself I will deal with them later. The collection builds until both physical, virtual and psychological space is heaped high, with narrow paths that connect bed, bathroom and front door. (Is it really that bad? Whether or not, it still feels like it.)

Monday, the planned first day of the tour, was devoured by the Road Trip from Heck.

Tuesday, the planned second day of the tour, was spent clearing the decks for battle: Laundry, cleaning, daily tasks, unpacking, etc.

Wednesday, the planned third day of the tour, was the first actual day. To cast eyeballs on my living space, it would be difficult to see change. The fact is I am not happy with the effort put into it. But there was change, and there was effort. There were several physical In Baskets assembled in anticipation of The Tour, and at least one of them was taken care of. Another quite large and old In Basket is well under way. So there is progress.

Today. I burned about an hour dealing with Horus Oasis business, and it looks like the same business will take a large block of time tomorrow. But at least I am handling these items up front, getting them out of the way, and not allowing them to either turn into emergencies or attach to the tail end of 'the eternal list' and never get done. This will be an important thing for me in the future - handling new issues up front instead of allowing them to become lost.

And with that, back to it.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Road Trip from Heck

On Thursday of last week, Melinda and a friend got in Michael's car and headed to New Mexico for a conference. Melinda was presenting a paper. The paper part went well. The rest of it was a non-stop fiasco.

Thursday:
The car broke down in Flagstaff. They got towed to a shop, took a taxi to the airport, rented a car and finished the outbound leg of the trip.

Friday:
Kat and I - as planned - leave at 6 AM to join her. But instead of taking the short route, we head to Flagstaff. The mechanic tells us, "The car works for me," followed by "I can look at it sometime next week." Not an option, so we have to find a place to park it until the return trip. A local LDS chapel, in the far corner of the lot.
Arrive in Albuquerque late and drop to sleep.

Saturday:
Conference. Four papers presented in the session. A dozen people listening. Papers were 1) Jews and pressures to convert and/or assimilate into medieval xtian culture, 2) A comparison of the Maleus to the Demonology by King James, in light of the case of Anne [can't remember last name], 3) The Maleus Malificarum and the Making of a Witch (Melinda), and 4) Martin Luther labeling the Pope as the Anti-Christ.
After conference the girls set sights on spending money and eating too much food. I broke off halfway through this quest and stayed on the Hotel, listening to the Hour of Slack, reading and swilling mediocre wine.

Sunday:
Travel home. Meteor Crater. Return rental. Broken car works fine until just north of Flag. Tow back to town. Rent U-Haul truck and tow dollie. Drive through snow until on far side of the San Fransisco peaks. Hit snow again south of Cedar City. Park it all in the Wally World lot and spend night at Melinda's place.

Monday:
Get car to mechanic. Return rental truck. Go home. Drive Kate to Ogden. Drive back home. Collapse.

The total money damage from the freaking car thing is about an even thousand dollars. That is without the repair bill that will hit us in about a week. I'm pretty pissed off. I voted for Michael to buy the Camry. But no! He wanted the HONDA. Oooohh. Honda. ...that cost 600 in repairs within a week of purchase. Happy, happy. Joy, Joy.

I'm pretty disgusted because so much of what went wrong would NOT have happened if Andy hadn't been ignored or bypassed. Melinda took Michael's car because she didn't know if hers would make it. Was my opinion sought? No. Michael's car was the one I voted NOT to buy, and that has been a pain in the ass from day one. I'm further disgusted because I am the one who had to make the choices on how to dig out of it, who bore the brunt of the extra work, and who will end up having to pay for it all.

End of rant. My next post will ignore this and speak of Existential Angst Tour 2008.