Today, I’m going to wax poetic with de Vinci. It will be my first trip to the High since I’ve moved here (yeah, 10 years and I’m finally visiting the worthwhile tourist stuff). It’s my present to myself, since I didn’t go anywhere this year. I’m determined, next time I go to France, to visit Chateau du Clos Luce and see the de Vinci exhibits there.

I’m feeling reflective today, sorting through more issues to figure out how to move forward, reconcile myself to some sort of acceptance of this past year. The highs have definitely been awesome and I welcome that the winds have been kind enough to push me in the directions and I was able to recognize and submit to those. I can’t even begin to describe the level of happiness that those changes have brought me. But the lows that preceded were horrible.

Summation of age 31

This weekend was a social whirlwind for me. Saturday night was psychosu‘s ‘new jobbitty party’. Had a blast with that, and tossed my idea to buy my friend’s condo by her. So far, she likes the idea and it gives her time to get her stuff in order. Bonus. Then came home and put my bed together and passing out on it at around 1.30AM. Woke up to Pastry im’ing me, apparently I forgot to turn off my im’s. Was a good thing, because I needed to wake up, but totally missed the wake-up call. Cleaned up the house, reorganized everything, made chili. The chili was good, but I think I didn’t add enough chili powder. The purple onion and lamb was awesome in it, so I’m really glad I made that choice. Got dressed up all schmancy-like, being stress-free is really nice for wanting to dress up. The downside is that I am definitely out of practice for corset wearing. Then off to moonbird‘s picnic at Oakland Cemetary. It was wonderful to play catch up with some folks that I haven’t seen in a while, and organize a yummy dinner with a friend for later. w00t!! Snuck off around 4ish to finish the house cleaning and start relaxing.

Outside of that, I’m definitely still working through some residuals. Kept my distance from various folks for reasons of odds and ends. Had hoped teh Su could have made it, would have helped that ‘awkward’ feeling a little bit, but hey, I had nancy624. 😀 I really wish Pastry could have been there, he would have had fun, and enjoyed the scenery. I think he’ll get along great with everyone too, can’t wait till New Year’s to introduce him to everyone. Gonna be so much fun.

First, my thoughts out to everyone at Ft Hood, and I’m glad to hear that J&J are safe. I have my thoughts on the whole situation, based on what I know from various sources, at this point in time….but I won’t go into them until more info is released.

Now….

Apparently, with the descent into winter I’m starting to wax poetic again. I’m half feeling the desire to finally visit Helen, GA to walk around the old town under the Autumn colours. Lots of thoughts spinning through my head, oddly at peace, but comfortably. The trip last weekend, as wet as it was, was very enjoyable. I actually was able to spend some time with the Fomorian (not you A 😉 ), and was surprised at the length of time I’ve known him, in that I haven’t actually known him. I look forward to getting another conversation of the same with him and the rest of my family. I’m in a settling mode, even contemplating a condo, but restraining because of the business. There’s a chance I might be moving into a friend’s, to help her out, looking at my options and we’re keeping the communication lines open for that. Guess that would be a ‘training run’.

I’m also feeling the travel bug, again. I love Fall, the idea of walking around Central/Southern Europe just stokes a few fires. Not sure where I want to go, but definitely want to head out again. But yeah, that’s gonna be on the back burner. Maybe I could get away with a weekend in Montreal, have been wanting to go back there for a while.

Need to write more poetry, Sunday should be good for that. Tuesday, I have evening work, so I’m probably going to hit up the High in the late morning/early afternoon before I have to be at my office.

Happy b-day to me, I turned a wonderful 32 years old today. I went shopping, got an email from the leasing agent saying the landlord likes the idea. Next step, business plan.

Oh yeah, I got waffle house, compliments of psychosu, a toothbrush holder and a new pair of shoes. Now to clean out the closet.

So, apparently the health plans coming out of Congress include this:

Individuals under the $829 billion Senate Finance Committee plan would be required to purchase health insurance coverage or face a fine of up to $750. The House bill imposes a more stringent fine of up to 2.5 percent of an individual’s income. Both versions include a hardship exemption for poorer Americans.

CNN Health plan unveiled

Which, to me reads, “If a private plan is too expensive for you, and the government plan sucks ass, you’re fined.” Not what I would consider all that great, considering I have a catastrophic plan (that I do prefer) that keeps going up as my net annual income does not. So, when it comes down to cutting costs should I need to, it will be the first to go. And like hell I’m going to force someone else to pay my way, and I sure as hell don’t like the idea of forcing me to let someone else pay my way.

So, I was daydreaming about the leasing situation, and what my options are….and in my vision, my response to the agent was, “Rivers always flow in the path of least resistance.” Tomorrow, I check one of those paths.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

“Behind every face, there are a thousand faces,” says film director Bryan Singer, who worked on two of the X-Men movies. He deals with professional actors, who specialize in revealing the myriad faces beneath the surface. But I think his assessment applies to lots of people, especially you Scorpios — although it must be said that you do have mad skills at hiding all the action going on beneath your surface. This Halloween, I urge you to make a break with tradition and show five or six of the real you’s lurking below your poker face. Costume suggestion: be inspired by Joseph Campbell’s “hero with a thousand faces.”

FreeWill Astrology

Or the 7 Faces of Dr. Lao? The question becomes, which faces to show? The lover, the sage, the mother…..etc, etc, etc? I know one face will be the veil walker, another will be the warrior, given my station within ritual the mother will also be present. The Judge, mayhaps?

As far as this year has gone, it has been interesting. I am seeing many new colours emerge within my community. Some I like, some I don’t. There have been several judgements made, I’m predicting that more will come before year’s end. Transition is full of that, and this is a time of transition. I’m still considering where I want to go next year, or at least what progress I want made. I’m this close to telling the leasing agent for the space I’m looking at, to withdraw my interest. I understand what they’re trying to accomplish, but I’m feeling that there is too much stumbling and not enough thought occurring. That, and she keeps upping the cash-in-hand number, at this point it stands at a number that would crush my business, and that I will not have happen. I have options, I have made my contacts, so something will happen and I will be ok. I half think she’s trying to torch my chances. Which goes back to my many faces…I am very much like Mystique, able to shift as needed, yet still remaining true to the core.

Scorpio (October 23-November 21)

The astrological vibes suggest that you open yourself wide, try everything, and give freely. I urge you to adapt as your motto an exhortation that once came out of the mouth of the seven-year-old cartoon character Dennis the Menace: “Hey! Wake up! Let’s go everywhere and do everything!” More than any other phase in many moons, Scorpio, this is your moment to make YES your battle cry. The world is asking you to be bigger than the old you, wilder than five blood oaths put together, and as strong as the full moon rising over a mountain.

FreeWill Astrology

Hrm, sounds fun!!!! But can the rest of the world handle an unbridled Freak? If not, oh well. 😀

That said, in order to make this business flourish in the manner it needs to, I need to run full steam ahead, I need to have the outlook that attracts what I need. I called the leasing agent and said, “What exactly do I need to have, on hand, for this to work?” She told me, and I said that I will talk to my bank and have my financiers call you. This will work.

Otherwise, I am feeling quite well, surprisingly. The fan didn’t spread shit too far around, which is nice, makes clean-up much easier. Found out last night, what exactly was making the “railing is falling off the wall” sound, and it was just my neighbor and his goalie pads on the way to hockey practice. Signed the lease, today, for my current space to stay there till everything is taken care of with the new space – or I find another space. Now all I need are a few yoga instructors (send them my way please, if you know of good ones who like to work with small classes).

The important things are falling into place, for my life, that makes me happy. The rest are just details.

We’re definitely heading into winter. I’m growing more introspective and yesterday was good for that. I ran over to ‘The Avenues’ to spend some time window shopping, found me a new nail care kit and the nails are happily trimmed. The girl in the Origins store cracked me up, I think she actually thought I was my age, since she was sitting there talking to me about all the anti-aging stuff. But all in all it was pretty good, I didn’t find a pig mug for Pastry, but I did look. Today is more shopping, after finishing up at the office I’ll be heading over to one of the gun stores to see what they have, then home and maybe some laundry, then hopping on teh bike o’ doom for a ride over to REI and the stores over there to see what all I can find. Then back home again.

I think I’m going to treat myself to a spa day this year, for the grand ole 32 (yeah, I’m a baby amongst my friends, I know). I really hadn’t put much thought into what was going to happen this year, and it’s suddenly creeped up on me. I was supposed to be having the grand opening for the new store (I think I said that already in an earlier post, but I’m too lazy, ATM, to go look it up).

Otherwise, missing some of my local friendlies. It sucks that I haven’t been able to make it out to various parties and outing-like things (hint: planning on Oakland, just tell me the date!!) I’ll set aside money this week for the next marmot day, and attend brunch. The neighbor is back, but it’s still quiet. There are updates on that front, but I’m in the wait-and-see mode. Doing a lot of that, but patience is good, and I’m not needing to go anywhere all that fast.

Oh yeah, circling back to the start of all of this, I’m redoing my wardrobe, so if anyone wants to stake some claims on my clothes, let me know. There are definitely keepers, but some stuff will be needing to vacate premises and I’d rather start with people I know and can/will use the stuff. Time to kick in to taking care of myself again. Since I haven’t been training, I’ve had time to be lazy, which means I have time to invest in self-care.