Oracle Readings Received: One Card Draw (April 6 2015)

from alexseanchai's One Card Draw

You get three cards because one leaped out of the deck while I was shuffling! The card that insisted on being heard is the Son of Swords, reversed; the others are the Magician, turned left, and the Four of Cups, turned left.

Upright, the Son of Swords is a very discouraging card: you know all those people who think short-term and competitively and don't consider the consequences? That's the Son upright. Reversed, however, he knows to consider the long-term, to value others as much as himself, and to prize art as strongly as science and emotion as strongly as reason.

The Magician is an actor, in the sense of one who takes action. She gets things done—when she's upright. Turned left, something is in her way, often a lack of confidence. The Four of Cups, turned left, suggests what that something is: she's caught up in past disappointments instead of reflecting on the present and the desired future.

Your bonus card is the Priestess of Wands, turned right. The card depicts the Priestess and the rain and rainbow she just brought about. Turned right, she has an intense focus on what she needs to do in order to accomplish what she needs, or is needed, to accomplish.

Oracle Readings Received: One Card Rune Draw (March 20 2015)

from ariestess's March 2015 One Card Draw

Your rune :: Tiwaz [reversed]

It would appear that your creativity is at a standstill. The pathways are blocked and need to be cleared so that you can return to your normal creative ways. Take the opportunity of the season's stereotypical cleaning phase to help clean up the cobwebs and detritus clogging your mental pathways.

Pimp It! rune :: Wunjo

A direct result of the cleaning of the previous rune will be a sense of renewal and fellowship with those around you. They may or may not be doing the same spring cleaning, but the desire to interact with those around you will be stronger. Don't fight that feeling.

Refer It! rune #1 :: Jera

Another positive result of both the internal spring cleaning and the socialization is a sense of prosperity in one's life. This prosperity can be material or otherwise, but that doesn't matter. The well-being that comes from this sense of achievement can go far to helping you accomplish your goals.

Refer It! rune #2 :: Raidho

On the heels of all of these previous runes, you will find yourself rewarded in a way you may not have expected. Have a bag packed and ready, because you'll be traveling soon. It may not happen until later in the spring, or even summer or fall, but it will definitely happen before the doldrums of winter kick in.

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (Mar 7 2015)

Question: What do I need to know?

Pandoracle says: Neon Trees's "Animal"

Oracle Readings Received: Psychic DJ Oracle (Feb 28 2015)

Question: What's Next?

Pandoracle says, Taylor Swift's Blank Space.
She said she interpreted it as us getting some much needed breathing space.

Common House Residents Journal #15: 2015-02-14

Entry #: 15
Journal Type: outworld
Date: 2015-02-14
Replies: yes
Author: Maureen
Trigger Warnings: language, food/health issues

Some jerk on the bus this morning was eating a peanut butter bagel. The smell of most peanut butters makes us nauseous bodily (we aren't allergic bodily that we know of, but that's been a known vertigo trigger since the body was probably 7). For some of us, like me, the dizziness is worse than others (inworld I am actually allergic to peanut butter among many other food allergies).

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow. Apparently we're supposed to get thunder snow in the wee hours of the morning tonight/tomorrow. Carlos, Cecil and I might set an alarm to watch that.

Tomorrow I might mess around with our hairchalk and see if I can do my faux undercut hairstyle better with elastics since the bobby pin method doesn't hold very well.

Also going to do a lot of writing and catching up on online classes. Hopefully the power won't go out.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Common House Residents Journal #14: 2015-02-10

Entry #: 14
Journal Type: outworld
Date: 2015-02-10
Replies: yes
Author: Maureen
Trigger Warnings: none

It's been a week. All this snow is annoying. We don't usually read the news, but this is definitely the hilarious thing of the day Break-up Letter to Snow from the City of Boston. (Also totally my sense of humor.)

Tomorrow we're stopping by the bank to deposit money so we can order our early birthday present from fiancé: tickets to the Welcome to Night Vale Live Show when it comes to Boston. It gives me all the more reason to finish updating my cosplay of myself around our actual birthday. I think we're also going to see if we can pick up the rest of the pieces to make a few other Night Vale cosplays around then (bonus if they can also double as actual clothes). I might also put our gift certificate to David's Tea in our purse. Maybe I'll go get a cup of tea while we're downtown.

I'm also poking at different online things. Hoping I can figure out what to do about money. Not sure what exactly we're going to tell KR (our MRC counselor) tomorrow. But we're doing what we need even though there's a pretty big learning curve right now for the three things we want to do.

I got 1.5 weeks of one of the MOOCs we're studying done this morning. Hoping I can do another 1.5 -2.0 done tomorrow.

Also might have to restart the artist's way again (we are so behind on it might just want to do a re-do again I'll figure it out tomorrow. It is the end of mercury retrograde after all. Also this E-squared book Carlos adores is actually kind of fun. The first experiment only gave us small blessings (admittedly we were in a bad mood so that could be why), but the second experiment has been somewhat successful: I spotted 6 sunset-beige cars today. Tomorrow I have to keep an eye out for yellow butterflies. (I'm using the 48 hour rule loosely because the snow has thrown off all the local timing; we're doing things on more like a 72 hour cycle).

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

[FICTION] IF I STAY BY GAYLE FORMAN

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a YA novel about having to make the ultimate choice after tragedy.

After a tragic car accident, Mia spends one day in an out-of-body experience telling her story through flashbacks to her past as she considers the choice she has to make: if she stays.

While it’s marketed a bit to Twilight fans on the cover, that’s not the impression I find fits with it. Looking at the other books inside the cover that are marketed as “other books you may like” to me the one that this fits best along with is Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, which is one of my favorite YA novels of all time because it grapples with identity, hope, family, and difficult situations.

I enjoyed this book because the pacing is well-done and I have a weakspot for flashback fiction, but what I like in this book, is the fact that between the flashbacks and the narration, there is the underlying theme of family of choice: that family doesn’t have to be your immediate family and it can include friends and other loved ones as well. The other thing that drew me was the role music plays throughout the storyline’s flashbacks from Mia’s passion for cello to different aspects of her life where music is central to her family and her relationships.