Good to Bad, Beautiful to UGLY!
The WEEKEND!
In regards to AI... it was fantastic.
I arrived Friday night and was assigned by Anne to be staff. This way I put in 8 hours and I don't have to pay. Hm... put in 8 hours and save $65... OK! The first night I went to opening ritual and then climbed down the hill... or rather down the mountainous path which was quite steep and took about 10 minutes. From 10pm on I sat by the fire and listen to stories and worked on my ... ahem... powers. I learned to manipulate fire; to draw it to a point or to snuff it out.
As dawn approached my friend called in Apollo who I perceived as posing before us, giving us a look that said 'what do you want, I'm busy'. 'We' showed him the sunrise from our side and soon the deity was on his way.
After a scant few hours sleep I got up and ate another meal of pita, boiled eggs, cheese and turkey slices. From there I was asked to help create the sweatlodge. First of all you need 16 birch saplings. Before cutting them down with a machete I would ask them if they wanted to participate and would offer them tabacco (one of the 4 sacred smoking herbs). All trees said yes save one who answered me plainly 'I don't know'. "I don't know?" I repeated shocked. "I will offer you tribute," I added - to which the tree agreed. When I looked down to start cutting the tree I realized that there was already a stump there. Ergo the base had two trees sticking out of it, one of which had already been removed. I thanked the tree and moved on to another, telling it it had done enough already.
Secondly, you must collect 16 stones - called grandfathers - in a similar fashion. Asking and offering tabacco. I only needed one stone so that went quickly.
After all was amassed I helped bend the branches, sanctify the holes, and tie the ends. By the end we had a almost-completely-historic-looking lodge, other than the fact we had no material and were forced to use a tarp to cover most of the top.
HOWEVER, before going into the lodge I was talking with a lovely girl (my age) called Nadia. We were comparing stomachs when Louise, the Algonquin native lady who was to do the lodge, called us and two other ladies into the tee-pee. There she performed an intense (probably about 30 minute long) healing to help cure the girl's heart, body and soul. The release was fantastic. All I could do was cry cry cry and help the girl release her pain. I have never felt people like that - not while healing. Needless to say we were all very emotional and picked ourselves up for the waiting sweatlodge.
Once inside the lodge I gave the grandMOTHER stone my fears, as did others. I made a wish of what I wanted to accomplish... although even then I had at least 2 goals in mind... both of which seemed equally important. Chanting. Calling. Quarters. Spirits. All seemed to come and I kept calm and composed by delving into my yoga meditative state. I don't want to say what happened but I feel I was too blocked to accomplish what I needed to. I needed more time...
After that I jumped for 1 minute into leech-ridden waters and freaked out. REALLY freaked out. One girl even had a stand by me moment with one leech in her armpit and one up her ass crack. SO GROSS!~ Did I mention the water was a beaver pond scarcely the size of a kitchen? Bah.
I went to the potluck shortly thereafter but by this time I was tired, drained, dehydrated and HUNGRY. I ate some of the cherries that I had brought along with some pita with dip, humus and nachos, two hot dogs and a doughnut. I started to shiver as the air turned cold, the bugs bit and the fire started to die. "No more," I said and proceeded to walk down the hill/mountain to my tent. As I get there I notice: no tarp, no fly. SHIT. All my stuff and my sleepingbag was wet. Not quite soaked, but not sleepable either. I highly coerced into Rick's tent and meditated/slept-without-sleeping until Monique (my tentmate) arrived down at the tents. So, Rick Monique and I all piled into his tent and slept. yay. At one point I was sleeping on my hand so I rolled over and vainly tried to move my fingers.
"WIGGLE YOUR BIG TOE!" I definitely had a Kill Bill Moment. Ha.
Sunday found me eating the same meal yet again. I did a women's ritual which was good and powerful. I had a bit of chi-gong lessons. I helped people pack up, and I got complimented a lot. YAY!
At least after Sunday I felt calm, collected and energized.
MONDAY
Then monday hit. My mother and I had a nice lunch, followed by a trip to the Body Shop, and then I met my chica. As we were hanging out we ran into a dog who, instead of being friendly, whimpered at its owner. Right then and there I knew what was wrong, and looked at the sky. Off we ran to Mikes and soon thereafter a small tornado not-quite-touched down in the area. His basement flooded in a couple inches of water, the treetop outside split right off right before my eyes... and many people's houses and cars got damaged. HOLY CRAP.
I soon felt that I still wanted to go to the bar, so that's what I did.
"Bah humbug on damage and OFF I GO to the bar~!" WAI WAI~!
The bar is another story. My friend and I started to have a spat. You see she is now single and very attractive so ALL the guys my age (and I DO stress the all) are asking me if she's single, etc. etc.
She's poor so I even bought her dinner.
You know what she says to me yesterday (tuesday) after ditching me and niglecting to call me?
Here's a snipit of the conversation:
"So next time I piss you off, remember that you piss me off too," I said.
"Well yah, this is revenge for last time..." she starts.
"Don't start. I don't give a shit about the he-said/she-said kind of bullshit" I finish. I couldn't talk much to her after that.
"Oh, and stop telling everyone I'm single," she starts "it's really pissing me off". At this point I have to hang up after a very brief farewell.
She didn't even thank me for the meal. What kind of bullshit is that???
Furthermore Tuesday (yesterday) night ended badly:
I went to pick up a library book since I wouldn't have time after yoga. I didn't go to yoga (I was waiting for chica to call me).
On my way to the library I had to stop short of a car who barely stopped (ie: rolling stop = not a stop) and I said aloud "nice stop". The bloody asshole followed me all the way to the library to tell me "You're not allowed to ride on the sidewalk". Can you believe the nerve of that MOTHER F$^&#ER!?
Then when I got into the library I was slapped for being late with a $7.50 fine... which the lady felt necessary to explain to me for like, 5 minutes. What's worse is I didn't even have time to read that book! BAH!
I think the worst thing about Tuesday is that it started so good - I actually was surprised by my company giving me Employee of The Month (for June) for which I was awarded a certificate and silver pens etched with my name; they gave us all muffins, juice.
What a crappy end to a glorious weekend.
Since when is Tuesday like Monday? Oh yeah. Long bloody f-in weekend.
Happy Canada Day EVERYONE!
In regards to AI... it was fantastic.
I arrived Friday night and was assigned by Anne to be staff. This way I put in 8 hours and I don't have to pay. Hm... put in 8 hours and save $65... OK! The first night I went to opening ritual and then climbed down the hill... or rather down the mountainous path which was quite steep and took about 10 minutes. From 10pm on I sat by the fire and listen to stories and worked on my ... ahem... powers. I learned to manipulate fire; to draw it to a point or to snuff it out.
As dawn approached my friend called in Apollo who I perceived as posing before us, giving us a look that said 'what do you want, I'm busy'. 'We' showed him the sunrise from our side and soon the deity was on his way.
After a scant few hours sleep I got up and ate another meal of pita, boiled eggs, cheese and turkey slices. From there I was asked to help create the sweatlodge. First of all you need 16 birch saplings. Before cutting them down with a machete I would ask them if they wanted to participate and would offer them tabacco (one of the 4 sacred smoking herbs). All trees said yes save one who answered me plainly 'I don't know'. "I don't know?" I repeated shocked. "I will offer you tribute," I added - to which the tree agreed. When I looked down to start cutting the tree I realized that there was already a stump there. Ergo the base had two trees sticking out of it, one of which had already been removed. I thanked the tree and moved on to another, telling it it had done enough already.
Secondly, you must collect 16 stones - called grandfathers - in a similar fashion. Asking and offering tabacco. I only needed one stone so that went quickly.
After all was amassed I helped bend the branches, sanctify the holes, and tie the ends. By the end we had a almost-completely-historic-looking lodge, other than the fact we had no material and were forced to use a tarp to cover most of the top.
HOWEVER, before going into the lodge I was talking with a lovely girl (my age) called Nadia. We were comparing stomachs when Louise, the Algonquin native lady who was to do the lodge, called us and two other ladies into the tee-pee. There she performed an intense (probably about 30 minute long) healing to help cure the girl's heart, body and soul. The release was fantastic. All I could do was cry cry cry and help the girl release her pain. I have never felt people like that - not while healing. Needless to say we were all very emotional and picked ourselves up for the waiting sweatlodge.
Once inside the lodge I gave the grandMOTHER stone my fears, as did others. I made a wish of what I wanted to accomplish... although even then I had at least 2 goals in mind... both of which seemed equally important. Chanting. Calling. Quarters. Spirits. All seemed to come and I kept calm and composed by delving into my yoga meditative state. I don't want to say what happened but I feel I was too blocked to accomplish what I needed to. I needed more time...
After that I jumped for 1 minute into leech-ridden waters and freaked out. REALLY freaked out. One girl even had a stand by me moment with one leech in her armpit and one up her ass crack. SO GROSS!~ Did I mention the water was a beaver pond scarcely the size of a kitchen? Bah.
I went to the potluck shortly thereafter but by this time I was tired, drained, dehydrated and HUNGRY. I ate some of the cherries that I had brought along with some pita with dip, humus and nachos, two hot dogs and a doughnut. I started to shiver as the air turned cold, the bugs bit and the fire started to die. "No more," I said and proceeded to walk down the hill/mountain to my tent. As I get there I notice: no tarp, no fly. SHIT. All my stuff and my sleepingbag was wet. Not quite soaked, but not sleepable either. I highly coerced into Rick's tent and meditated/slept-without-sleeping until Monique (my tentmate) arrived down at the tents. So, Rick Monique and I all piled into his tent and slept. yay. At one point I was sleeping on my hand so I rolled over and vainly tried to move my fingers.
"WIGGLE YOUR BIG TOE!" I definitely had a Kill Bill Moment. Ha.
Sunday found me eating the same meal yet again. I did a women's ritual which was good and powerful. I had a bit of chi-gong lessons. I helped people pack up, and I got complimented a lot. YAY!
At least after Sunday I felt calm, collected and energized.
MONDAY
Then monday hit. My mother and I had a nice lunch, followed by a trip to the Body Shop, and then I met my chica. As we were hanging out we ran into a dog who, instead of being friendly, whimpered at its owner. Right then and there I knew what was wrong, and looked at the sky. Off we ran to Mikes and soon thereafter a small tornado not-quite-touched down in the area. His basement flooded in a couple inches of water, the treetop outside split right off right before my eyes... and many people's houses and cars got damaged. HOLY CRAP.
I soon felt that I still wanted to go to the bar, so that's what I did.
"Bah humbug on damage and OFF I GO to the bar~!" WAI WAI~!
The bar is another story. My friend and I started to have a spat. You see she is now single and very attractive so ALL the guys my age (and I DO stress the all) are asking me if she's single, etc. etc.
She's poor so I even bought her dinner.
You know what she says to me yesterday (tuesday) after ditching me and niglecting to call me?
Here's a snipit of the conversation:
"So next time I piss you off, remember that you piss me off too," I said.
"Well yah, this is revenge for last time..." she starts.
"Don't start. I don't give a shit about the he-said/she-said kind of bullshit" I finish. I couldn't talk much to her after that.
"Oh, and stop telling everyone I'm single," she starts "it's really pissing me off". At this point I have to hang up after a very brief farewell.
She didn't even thank me for the meal. What kind of bullshit is that???
Furthermore Tuesday (yesterday) night ended badly:
I went to pick up a library book since I wouldn't have time after yoga. I didn't go to yoga (I was waiting for chica to call me).
On my way to the library I had to stop short of a car who barely stopped (ie: rolling stop = not a stop) and I said aloud "nice stop". The bloody asshole followed me all the way to the library to tell me "You're not allowed to ride on the sidewalk". Can you believe the nerve of that MOTHER F$^&#ER!?
Then when I got into the library I was slapped for being late with a $7.50 fine... which the lady felt necessary to explain to me for like, 5 minutes. What's worse is I didn't even have time to read that book! BAH!
I think the worst thing about Tuesday is that it started so good - I actually was surprised by my company giving me Employee of The Month (for June) for which I was awarded a certificate and silver pens etched with my name; they gave us all muffins, juice.
What a crappy end to a glorious weekend.
Since when is Tuesday like Monday? Oh yeah. Long bloody f-in weekend.
Happy Canada Day EVERYONE!