Friend-Sitting

I haven't been doing any studying or anything like that for the last two days. I've been friend-sitting Star. She is going to AA and I'm very proud of her. I'm also exhausted! She was talking about drinking and feelings and remembering stuff. Then we went and visited Bean and Stubby, and they talked about God. Plus Star was angry about stuff and I could feel the anger coming off of her. Luckily, we had some chuckles and I was glad to be there for her. I don't know how much help I was, but she said I was being a good friend so that's OK.

I got my new couch and Indy, my cat, really likes it. My other cat, Smoky, doesn't seem too impressed. This is kind of fun! I'm even changing my cats names. They are incognito, so their cat friends don't know what they're up to. They don't really have any other kitty friends. Smoky, especially, hates the neighbor kitty.

I guess I should say something about Nature U. I'm on vacation for another month. But I'm still working on stuff, or at least I should get around to it pretty soon. I'm really tired. Bye for now!

Revelation, Meditation and the News

I made chicken noodle soup for dinner tonight, homemade. No one's sick, exactly. I'm still in shock over my friend, Star, and her revelation. I'm just glad she's getting help for her addiction problem. That shows real spirit and courage, which she has in spades. I guess I'm not handling it too well, though. I worry about her enough as it is. I worry about the people I love, I can't help it. Especially the ones with health problems.

Today I did a chanting meditation for Ancient Rites. We were supposed to chant a word like, "OM", except related to Norse Mythology. That was a real eye-opener. Instead of thinking about the past or the future or things I couldn't control I was pulled right into the present moment. I realized that instead of waiting for the perfect moment, to do anything, the moment is now. In other words if I want to do something or share something or say something, the moment is now. It is so good for me to stop and just smell the incense. LOL! Like smelling the roses! Then I wrote it up and submitted it to the boards.

My brother, Jed, came over and we talked and ate veggies. He mostly just played on the computer, looking at news sites. I get enough news just with Yahoo news and reading the occasional article. I'm glad I don't have TV. TV news is horrible, all negativity. I don't need that in my life. I'm really trying to be a more positive person. I look through faintly rose-colored glasses. Literally! That's all for now. Have a good night anyone who's reading this.

Good Forecast!

I just did my Divination for the week. I look up my Transits (Astrology) on my handy-dandy wall calendar that I calculated myself and look them up. Then I draw one Rune and meditate on its meaning. After that I throw my coins and do an I Ching hexagram. Finally, I do a short Tarot spread and look up the meanings of the cards. I got exceptionally good forecasts this week, although the Tarot spread indicated a lot of people involved in my life this week (court cards). I'm not sure if I'm looking for revelation or just a confirmation of what I already know. A friend of mine, Bean, told another friend of mine she was going to Hell for reading Tarot cards. Well, that's the end of that friendship! Bean told me the same thing about a year ago, but we remained friends, sort of. I will do a lot to patch up a friendship, even with a Conservative Christian. But I'm wondering if I compromised myself instead...

I took classes at an online writing school for awhile, I'll just call it Peer Review Writing School because that's what it was. No teachers to speak of. Well, you can learn from your peers, but it would have been nice to have more than just a book and some information for each class. Some classes I was the only one there. I guess I just need more guidance than some. See I said I might bitch a little bit. I don't know how I feel about this blogging. Star wants me to blog on a diet and exercise website. I might do that. But I would blog there about food, exercise and stuff like that. Well, that's it for tonight!

Monday Night

Well, I'm not hypomanic or anything. Just hadn't gotten enough sleep for some time. But I slept well last night and the night before. I'm making dinner right now. I don't usually eat this late, but I had a poetry chat with my online poetry group. My best friend, Star, is coming over later. She wants to fix my hair, so I don't know if we are going out or what. It's Monday night, but anything is possible. I did one of my meditations for Shamanism last night. I feel so good afterward. It's nice to just be quiet and still with just incense and a candle going. That's for my Norse Mythology based Shamanism course which I'll just call Ancient Rites. The other one I haven't worked on for awhile which has a more modern bent, I'll call that one Modern Rituals. I'm in the first year of both studies. But I've been in the first year of Modern Rituals for two and a half years now. Sigh. Well, playtime tonight!

In the Way

Sometimes life gets in the way of studies at Nature U. Sometimes it's just my mood. Like I went to bed at 5am last night. I don't discount that I may be getting hypomanic. I doubt it will turn into full-blown mania, but I have my eye on it. I didn't get shit done today. Nothing on my list. Well, I emptied the dishwasher. I'm a Virgo and pretty organized with to-do lists and all that. But some days I just can't face all that. There are two women at school I'll call the Wyrd Sisters. One of them, Sister Alice, just started a blog too. She's a real pistol. It will be fun reading her blog. I hope she keeps it up. Just like I hope I can keep writing this blog.

More and more, the stuff I'm interested in doesn't interest my family and friends in RL. So I have this network of online friends who are interested in the same stuff I am or at least some of it, which is cool. If I knew I'd have this much fun on the computer I would have learned how to use them a long time ago instead of just a few years ago.

Our classes ended a couple weeks ago. Got an A in Runes 3. That's not even the third Runes class, more like the third introductory class where we learned the basic meanings of the Runes. The Runes are new to me so I had some trouble synthesizing them into poems. I write poetry too. I'm listening to Simon & Garfunkel, "Mrs. Robinson". We will find out what classes are offered for the Spring Quarter in February. Classes start up again in March. So I guess I'm having my Winter Vacation. Doesn't really feel like it. I guess it's all in your attitude. Where'd my positive attitude go? I think it must be in the wash. :)

Golden Rule Days

I decided to start a blog about my graduate school studies and experiences. I will change names and the name of my online school. I love it! But it is stressful at times. I'm in my 3rd year of graduate school. I'm getting my Master's in Interfaith. I'm also taking two Shamanism programs and a Divination program. No, I'm not going to define them, look it up if you want to. I can't sleep, which is becoming normal for me. That's why I'm up so early in the morning. And yes, this plays hell with my days. I'm a little bit cranky.

I go to Nature U. That's what I'm gonna call it. We have another nickname for the school, which is even better. I have a great teacher there. I'll call her Dean Dharma, which is a great name for her, believe it or not. I haven't thought up nicknames for the other students yet, so bear with me. I get along well with most of them anyway. I do want to focus on the positive and not bitch too much. But I probably will. You see, none of my friends in real life (RL) are in graduate school. None of them are in college. None of them are even taking classes. So I feel kinda isolated in my studies. Another reason to start a blog. Hopefully it will have some funny bits. And even if I change the names to protect the innocent, I will be honest here. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. I might stretch the truth a little, but I won't break it.