Yeah, I finally got a replacement for my old and busted Echo. It remains to be seen whether I can keep up with the payments. It's not blue; it's pale sea green.
No - because all fades into the mists of time. It is not forgetting so much as it is healing. What is to be served by opening the wound again and again?
By continually looking back, we completely miss our present and fail to look forward into our future. The bell cannot be unrung, but it need not continue to toll.
We do not honor the dead by mourning them endlessly. That makes us just as dead inside. We honor the dead by living - living now, in the present, not in the past.
Life goes on after death. THIS we should never forget.
You walk at dusk on a cool spring evening, carryng a blanket and a flashlight.
You come to open ground, where you can clearly see the sky above. Spreading out the blanket, you lie down. As the sun makes its exit, the stars come out on a moonless night and twinkle brightly.
You feel the light that shines within you, that divine spark in your core, vibrate. It seeks to join the stars in the sky. The light expands until it fills you completely, and then you lift from your physical form and up into the night.
As you rise, you see other lightbeings joining you, drawn by the same desire.
Though the night had once seemed dark, it now glows with the light from all of you, each its own star. But even one is enough to banish the darkness. Your ability to shine your light gives you the power to reach others, to make their world less dark, to guide them towards their own divinity.
You feel that connection with your higher self, and with the stars. Truly, you are star children; the elements that make up your physical form are only made by the explosions of great stars. Both within and without, your beingness is entwined with theirs.
Eventually your form draws you back, and you return to your body on the blanket. As you settle inside it, you can still feel the warmth of your light shining within you. You rise, pick up the blanket, and make your way home, the flashlight an extension of that glow you carry with you wherever you go.
I've been reading all of your posts out there in LJ Land, and not saying a lot myself. Here's a catch-up; it's got both good and bad bits.
The Good:
1. I have new custom orthotics for my shoes, and it seems to be making my cranky knee happier.
2. One of my doctors thought that my general malaise might be due to adrenal fatigue, and gave me some Drenamin to take. It has made a huge difference. No longer am I falling asleep at work or after work, but I am tired at a more appropriate hour at night.
3. Internet still wonky, but I have a tech coming tomorrow morning to sort it out.
4. I think I have all the materials I need for the things I want to get done before Costume-Con.
5. I found a missing family recipe, and immediately made up a batch of it.
The Bad and Ugly:
1. I spent the weekend with a head cold.
2. Our department is getting mucked about with as part of company restructuring. The bottom line is we have to move our office and we get an overall supervisor whom we have had in the past and dislike intensely. I am hoping this is not a train wreck.
3. My car was t-boned on Saturday. It was my fault. I have a ticket to pay. My car is drivable, but totaled by the insurance company. I really don't have the cash for a car payment at this time. I am bruised and sore.
They've adjusted the grow zones for the US, and my city has gone from 5b to 6b. Climate change deniers may feel free to STFU.
And yet, it's not quite enough for some things my friends and I would like to grow. I've tried the "put the dwarf citrus trees in pots and take them inside for the winter" trick; it failed miserably. I need to put something out and leave it there. And some of those require a minimum of zone 7. Foiled again!
This is a rough time economically. There were many struggling out on the streets before everything went tits up.
BUT - don't you need a permit to be soliciting money on the street? Otherwise, you're a panhandler, and they are not allowed.
I see so many panhandlers - there's one at virtually every exit ramp. It makes me wish we had, for lack of a better term, "bum alerts": a number you could call to report an illegal panhandler's location. Police would come, ask what services the person needed, and take them to the appropriate agency for assistance. Plan for alternatives, because we know the demand is going to be higher than the supply.
Once this has been done, and every effort has been made to get needed help, it should be noted if the person is continuing to work with the agencies. If they refuse help and return to panhandling, they are essentially saying they would rather do something illegal. And what are we supposed to do with people engaging in illegal acts (Wall Street punks notwithstanding)? Well, arrest them. (Yes, I know prisons are overcrowded; if we'd spend less time harassing pot smokers and whores we could free up some space.)
I want them to not be in the street where I have to avoid hitting them. I want them to put as much time into getting out of the cold as they spend standing in it. They can't have all given up on getting out of their situation, can they? I'm trying not to be all "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" about it, but sometimes I wonder.
Either this, or I'm going to have to figure out how to mount a discrete gun under my car that shoots some sort of dart into a bum's ankle, laced with something. Step away from my car!
Dear cow orker who wants to know why I haven't done something that we discussed in a meeting:
1. The meeting was the day before we went on holiday break; 2. When I got back, I had a short week in which to do payroll; 3. This week has been filled with billing and reporting; 4. Tomorrow is probably the only available time I have to do the quarterly report you get so antsy about having, because - 5. Next week is again a short week for doing payroll, followed by another week like this week, and - 6. Did I mention that MY BOSS (which you are not) wants her people to find time amongst everything else to help her with the quarterly and YEAR END taxes, AND the W-2s? All of which has to happen before the 31st?
Then you have the nerve to say I was a bit snippy to you? You should be glad that's ALL I was.
My company closes between Christmas and New Year, and our department took the Monday after off as well, so I had a chunk of downtime.
I didn't make any plans going in. Good thing; before I knew it, the schedule had filled with visits and outings. What time I did have at home ended up primarily spent unconscious. No, I hadn't fallen ill; my body just decided it wanted sleep, and lots of it. One 24 hour period comes to mind where I was only up for 9.5 hours. *zzzzzzzz*
Went to museums; saw a Monet exhibit (not really my taste), and a selection of items from the history of the local weaver's guild. I liked that one better, especially a dollhouse-sized reproduction of an 1840's prairie home, where all the linens were woven of sewing thread (she won the household linens category against full-sized entries) and she whittled all the furniture in the house as well.
Good food, friends, and weather - absolutely no complaints here.
Then I got 2 big pieces of bad news:
1. A friend from folk dance was on a cruise in the Caribbean with her husband when she fell ill. Turns out it was bacterial meningitis, which led to several strokes, which led to brain death. In less than a week, she went from vibrantly healthy to dead.
2. My work mentor, who retired a few months ago, died. I couldn't make myself go to her funeral; it hurt too much.
excited
irritated
thoughtful
busy
sore