Wow, That Was Harder Than it Needed to Be
Jan. 9th, 2019 01:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseAdmittedly, I have been procrastinating on setting up my work email so that I can view it from home. Several months ago, Ramsey County experienced a payroll hack that had IT scrambling to plug holes. One way in which they did so (inconveniently for _me_) was to set up a two-point authorization for those of us who need to check email remotely (i.e., from home.) This required an app and, thus, obviously, a smart phone, which I didn't have until very, very recently.
Even so, I've had my smart phone for a couple of months and I only just (after some good-natured harassment from my family yesterday) decided that today would be an excellent day to make all the various calls to the IT folks and Get It Done. First, I forgot my password enough that I locked myself out of the log-in page that would get me started on the process. Then, after calling to change it, I discovered that it didn't matter because I had been dropped off the official list of people who needed to access this whole deal. So, I had to call AGAIN. And, then wait an half hour.
So, I took full advantage of my half hour and I went to the library to return a book that was about to be due and to pick up another on hold. I then, went to the grocery store and picked up victuals for dinner tonight. (Mason really wanted "meat muffins"--which are basically individual meat loaves in muffin tins.)
Back at home I downloaded the app and thought I had it all set. Well, for reasons unknown to me, the process got hung up in the verification step and so I had to call IT AGAIN. This time the guy was one of those people that you sort of wonder how they keep their job because he was so inarticulate, while also insulting my intelligence ("Did you try to scan the QV code from the PDF?" To which I said, "Do you THINK I'm a moron?" He chuckled but added, "You'd be surprised how often that's the problem.") But, he also left me with the "instruction" to wait for a call back from IT when they were done resetting my account.
Good f*cking thing I didn't wait for a call before I tried again, because I'D STILL BE WAITING.
Instead, I thought, surely it's been long enough and I went through the process and this time it worked, no hitches.
Good news, everyone: I appear to still be employed by Ramsey County and I now have access to mail at home.
Woo.
Otherwise, I printed out all of the submissions for tomorrow night's Wyrdsmith's meeting (for those of you who are new subscribers, Wyrdmiths is an in-person writers' group that I founded back in 1997-ish[?] that has been on-going ever since. We meet on Thursday nights at a local coffee shop and talk writing.) We have one very short story from Adam, and new novel bits fromnaomikritzer I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing both of those tomorrow while I sit at the laundromat washing all of the rag rugs that poor Ms. Ball ruined with her Hell PoopTM .
Today's spell was the first entry that actually appeared to be a spell as I would define one. This was "Spell for Stability" by Melanie Marquis.
Having asked for suggestions from my family for the best room in the house that might need a boost of stability, I was given permission from them to focus on the living room.
The living room is hardly a chaotic space, but our kitchen really is the heart of our home. The living room tends to be where we have our little (often hormonally charged) bickering sessions. All of our things collect there. Also, recently, it was where Ms. Ball spent her final hours. So, it seemed like a good choice for a boost in stabilizing energies.
Because I'm like this, I first vacuumed the rug and picked up all the cat toys that had been spread all over the room. I also pulled out our rock collection and washed out the bowl and cleaned off each rock as I examined them. I also lit a stick of incense.
Per the spell, I chose four rocks that "appealed" to me. Having done a bit of research for the previous spell into stones/crystals, I chose four clear quartz crystals, approximately all the same size.
Shawn and I have a cut glass bowl that's full of various rocks that I have polished over the years (I collect hobbies and so I have a rock polishing kit). We have always picked up rocks and such when we see them, so I had a lot to chose from, I had a few others picked out, but, in the end, I liked the uniformity of the clear quartz pieces.
The instructions then say, "Hold each one in your hands individually and focus your thoughts on something that makes you feel secure and grounded."
Instantly, what came to mind was an old oak tree, growing in the center of a vast forest. I imagined an ancient, venerable tree with a huge trunk and deep roots, the kind that are able to withstand any tempest, as well as dark lean winters, and even the overabundance of sun and heat in the summertime. Because I was trying to "stabilize" our _living_ room, I made sure to imagine that this oak tree was not ALONE. But, that it stood as part of the community of trees, a center of life, a place where people and animals could find shelter and build their homes. I imaged it bursting with all sorts of life, and its branches reaching outward, welcoming to all, gaining strength and replenished nourishment from the sun as well as from the groundwater via the roots.
Then, I placed my charged quartz in the corners of the room, to act as anchors, pillars, foundations.
The spell as written stops here.
In my personal experience there's no point in going this far if you're not going to charge the spell with energy. So, I stood in the center of the room, facing east, and raised energy by singing the song my family considers the Goddess chorus, three times.
When I was finished, I was sure to ground the excess energy.
Even so, I've had my smart phone for a couple of months and I only just (after some good-natured harassment from my family yesterday) decided that today would be an excellent day to make all the various calls to the IT folks and Get It Done. First, I forgot my password enough that I locked myself out of the log-in page that would get me started on the process. Then, after calling to change it, I discovered that it didn't matter because I had been dropped off the official list of people who needed to access this whole deal. So, I had to call AGAIN. And, then wait an half hour.
So, I took full advantage of my half hour and I went to the library to return a book that was about to be due and to pick up another on hold. I then, went to the grocery store and picked up victuals for dinner tonight. (Mason really wanted "meat muffins"--which are basically individual meat loaves in muffin tins.)
Back at home I downloaded the app and thought I had it all set. Well, for reasons unknown to me, the process got hung up in the verification step and so I had to call IT AGAIN. This time the guy was one of those people that you sort of wonder how they keep their job because he was so inarticulate, while also insulting my intelligence ("Did you try to scan the QV code from the PDF?" To which I said, "Do you THINK I'm a moron?" He chuckled but added, "You'd be surprised how often that's the problem.") But, he also left me with the "instruction" to wait for a call back from IT when they were done resetting my account.
Good f*cking thing I didn't wait for a call before I tried again, because I'D STILL BE WAITING.
Instead, I thought, surely it's been long enough and I went through the process and this time it worked, no hitches.
Good news, everyone: I appear to still be employed by Ramsey County and I now have access to mail at home.
Woo.
Otherwise, I printed out all of the submissions for tomorrow night's Wyrdsmith's meeting (for those of you who are new subscribers, Wyrdmiths is an in-person writers' group that I founded back in 1997-ish[?] that has been on-going ever since. We meet on Thursday nights at a local coffee shop and talk writing.) We have one very short story from Adam, and new novel bits from
naomikritzer I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing both of those tomorrow while I sit at the laundromat washing all of the rag rugs that poor Ms. Ball ruined with her Hell PoopTM . Today's spell was the first entry that actually appeared to be a spell as I would define one. This was "Spell for Stability" by Melanie Marquis.
Having asked for suggestions from my family for the best room in the house that might need a boost of stability, I was given permission from them to focus on the living room.
The living room is hardly a chaotic space, but our kitchen really is the heart of our home. The living room tends to be where we have our little (often hormonally charged) bickering sessions. All of our things collect there. Also, recently, it was where Ms. Ball spent her final hours. So, it seemed like a good choice for a boost in stabilizing energies.
Because I'm like this, I first vacuumed the rug and picked up all the cat toys that had been spread all over the room. I also pulled out our rock collection and washed out the bowl and cleaned off each rock as I examined them. I also lit a stick of incense.
Per the spell, I chose four rocks that "appealed" to me. Having done a bit of research for the previous spell into stones/crystals, I chose four clear quartz crystals, approximately all the same size.
Shawn and I have a cut glass bowl that's full of various rocks that I have polished over the years (I collect hobbies and so I have a rock polishing kit). We have always picked up rocks and such when we see them, so I had a lot to chose from, I had a few others picked out, but, in the end, I liked the uniformity of the clear quartz pieces.
The instructions then say, "Hold each one in your hands individually and focus your thoughts on something that makes you feel secure and grounded."
Instantly, what came to mind was an old oak tree, growing in the center of a vast forest. I imagined an ancient, venerable tree with a huge trunk and deep roots, the kind that are able to withstand any tempest, as well as dark lean winters, and even the overabundance of sun and heat in the summertime. Because I was trying to "stabilize" our _living_ room, I made sure to imagine that this oak tree was not ALONE. But, that it stood as part of the community of trees, a center of life, a place where people and animals could find shelter and build their homes. I imaged it bursting with all sorts of life, and its branches reaching outward, welcoming to all, gaining strength and replenished nourishment from the sun as well as from the groundwater via the roots.
Then, I placed my charged quartz in the corners of the room, to act as anchors, pillars, foundations.
The spell as written stops here.
In my personal experience there's no point in going this far if you're not going to charge the spell with energy. So, I stood in the center of the room, facing east, and raised energy by singing the song my family considers the Goddess chorus, three times.
When I was finished, I was sure to ground the excess energy.