h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Its amazing how plants journey through cultures isn't it?

Having studied feng shui, I do not practice it at all. It can make you feel empowered but it originally devised to work out the orientation of the coffin so that the ghosts wouldn't visit. Western practitioners have made a mockery of it and practice it in new and daft ways.

But placement and aesthetics are important and so feng shui is important in that it makes you look into it, and the progress in a direction that is truer for you.

For instance when working on a relationship coner, you think on the relationship and what you want, and all that focusing helps you work out where your path lies.

>For instance when working on a relationship coner, you think on the relationship and what you want, and all that focusing helps you work out where your path lies<

That's a very good point! I have a tendency to live my life "by the seat of my pants" so to speak, but occasionally it is helpful to me to focus on things a bit more: to help me work out where things are headed, and how to go about moving in a certain direction.

I found a really cool flower pot at the thrift store Friday, it's glass with a light blue backgorund and a bunch of Greek gods and goddesses on it. K's roommate is giving me an aloe vera cutting to grow in it. I also found a metal plant stand which will perfectly fit around one of my potted plants I have sitting on the floor. It's painted a really dark green- I'm going to sand it down and paint it in this really nice bright blue K's kitchen is painted with.

We did a bit of retail therapy yesterday- stopped at Tower Records and I got two CDs (both by the Misfits- "Static Age" and "Earth A.D.") and two DVDs ("The Manster" and "Monster From A Prehistoric Planet") on sale.

On the agenda today are several things I need to do for myself that I haven't gotten around to for a while. I got some sweaters at the thrift store as well, so I've got a heap of laundry to wash. I'm going to give my hair a henna rinse, copy five more CDs of K's, water my plants, tidy up the kitchen and sweep the floors, and then grab a bottle of wine and perhaps some take-out for dinner. What's everyone else up to?

Well, I'm off for now to reply to Willem's latest, and Kaz, and whomever else I can find.

Sounds like you have some groovy stuff!

See Feng Shui can be a useful tool. Sometimes when you have a problem, you need to forget about it and let it mull for a while in your mind, until you get a flash of inspiration. Feng Shui allows you to collect the things which represent the area of life you are concentrating on and leave them to mull over. Its a useful tool, just not something to base your life on.

I believe in programming yourself, by knowing the Jade plant is a money tree, every time you look at it, you think 'money tree, in the right place to bring money in'. So you develop a more positive view of your financial situation, this welcoming new opportunities which you may have ignored before.

Hope that all makes sense!

Sure, that makes perfect sense to me!

That's kind of how I view magic, in a way, too. Rather than the more typically held view of "prayer", wherein one puts their fate completely in the hands of whatever deity they put their faith in, I tend to lean more towards a hands-on approach. I try to arrange things in particular ways, incorporating colors and shapes and other stuff into little groups that inspire a certain emotion or atmosphere, in relation to what that little corner or area is used for, and what it represents to me. I try to keep lots of potted plants in the areas which don't have a view of trees, so I can see something other than the street outside. I have tried to bring a lot of blues and reds into the decor, because those colors make me feel good- blue tends to calm me, red to cheer me. It's funny, because I used to prefer a more utilitarian, austere environment, because I'm funny about things "matching", and I have lived in apartments for my entire adult life. But I can bring lots of plants and knick-knacks and the like in and co-ordinate away without the risk of "clashing".

Thanks for all of the advice and good perspective, Kaz. You've always been helpful to me in finding ways to tap into personal energy and strength.

PS- I am having a heck of a time with hootoo today, this is the only thread I've been able to post a reply to instead of receiving a DNS error message. I'll keep trying throughout the afternoon to reply on some of the other threads, maybe I'll have better luck in a while.

If this is the only thread you can reply to, then I had better put this link here
http://www.spiralspider.demon.co.uk/kaz/exhibition/naturesdesign.htm
as you may miss my journal entry about how my photos are all up on the internet now!!

Thanks for posting the linkhere, as well,, Kaz! I just spent some time looking at all of the photos close-up (I can see them much, much better now that they're a bit bigger and I can emlarge them so much more). They are are absolutely breathtaking! I loved the ones with the trees. And I've never been so close to a bumblebee from that angle before (I'm allergic, so I miss out on seeing the little guys other than from a safe distance). And the birds! And the crystals! And the gorgeous flowers- what's the one with the yellow stamens with the purple fringe around them called? And the mushroom is REALLY cool! Thank you!!

That flower is called a Passion Flower.

You know I picked up a bumble bee and a wasp today to rescue them from the paths. They are lovely creatures! I'll have to take a photo of a wasp, so you can admire them as well, without having to worry about being stung!

I am glad you like them!

Did anyone else watch the Presidential debate on Friday night? (I'm sure JEllen caught it!) I watched with K and the roommates, they were amused by my outbursts (and I imagine got to know a bit more about me from the topics which got my hackles up).

I was a bit disappointed that Kerry got off on a bit of a tangent and never really addressed the main issue when asked by the one woman how, while maintaining a woman's right to choose, he could guarantee that taxpayers who find abortion to be morally wrong would not be expected to contribute to federal funding for the procedure. While I'm against the legislation of morality, because it is so very subjective, I can respect a person's feeling strongly about not wanting to have to pay for something they feel is wrong: I'm totally opposed to my tax dollars going toward faith-based initiatives and school vouchers. I was pleased at the stand Kerry took toward the partial-birth abortion ban, because it left no exceptions for extenuating circumstances and life-threatening situations. We all applauded Kerry's remark about parental notification- who in their right mind would expect a teenage girl who was raped by her father and became pregnant, to have to notify the parent responsible for her situation?! Good for Kerry for pointing out that these issues are not always as black and white and Bush would like to think.

It was quite entertaining to me to see how riled up Bush got. He fumed. He smirked. He scowled and sputtered. And he was also extremely rude- interrupting, standing up while Kerry was speaking, tapping his foot, and otherwise doing his best to create distraction while his opponent was speaking.

(That's how we spent our Friday night, watching the debate, eating some of the Pad Thai I'd made, and then watching a movie [I forget which]. We also had dinner last night and watched three more episodes of "Soap" from the Netflix. Fun, fun, fun!)

Oh, I've never seen a passion flower before, though I have lots of botanicals with passion flower in them. Now I know what it looks like! Thanks!

I'd love to see a photo of a wasp! It's really cool of you to get photos of them for me so I can see them safely. Just because I'm afraid of being stung/bitten by insects and having an allergic reaction, doesn't mean I don't appreciate how beautiful and cool they are. Even some of the homelier ones, like centipedes, are pretty neat. Did I tell you about the centipede I saw at the zoo that was almost a foot long? It's legs were as wide around and my pinky fingers. It was HUGE!

Oh, I forgot to mention how aggravated I got with Bush when he talked about stem cell research. Destroying life, indeed! What, taking a fetus, which for all other intents and purposes would be considered "dead", or else destroyed, and using it to save and /or enhance the quality of existing lives? Huh? Embryonic stem cells could most likely stop my legs getting worse. They could help people I know and love, or their family members, who have demyelinating conditions, Parkinson's, or serious spinal injuries (like me). Thank you, Kerry, for looking at the Big Picture!

Massive 4 inch long centipedes in southern africa called (in chichewa) "chongololos"! Great fun, they curl up in a ball & kids play with them; bet Willem knows about these.

zdt

I love those centipedes, but they can give quite a bite. When it comes to giants, millipedes are more my thing!

During Autumn we get some lovely garden spiders out there on dewy webs, looking forward to photographing those, it means getting up early though!

Bush sounds a bigger prat everytime I hear something more about him!

Yeah, he is, Kaz. I just hope that more and more voters will continue to see him for what he is. As the old saying goes, "the moral majority is neither".

My bronchitis is acting up again (still?), I phoned the pharmacy today and they called my doctor and asked him to authorize a refill on my inhaler, which is now empty. I haven't heard anything back yet. I dread the thought of a late-night trip to the emergency room. At least this cough syrup I've got is helping.

That's about it for this week so far. Tomorrow night I'm supposed to watch a French film called "Children of Paradise", if the video store still has it. Has anyone here seen it?

Oh, I suppose I should also update you all about the work situation, so you'll know why I've been so bummed (and busy job hunting) recently.

It seems the company has enough money guaranteed by their lenders to cover the utilities and payroll through the end of November. After that, if a merger isn't in the works, things might get kind of weird. I understand that all of the offers are on the table, and the president is working hard to negotiate "the best deal for everyone", and one which would allow the company to remain intact. Which I find hard to believe, as the property itself is prime real estate in an area which is rapidly becoming gentrified- the land itself is probably worth a few million. But who knows? Details to come, as I get them.

They weren't treating you right anyway PC. Here's to a successful job hunt!

I'm online, and would love to talk if you feel like chatting.

JEllen

Yes, the job was a pig, plus with them being creepy about you & K working together, it might be a "silver lining of cloud" type situation.

; see it as a new door opening.

zdt

Thanks, JEllen and Terri. It's frustrating: a pig of a job where you're not treated right still pays the bills a lot more easily than NO job, y'know? And K and I have been so sarcastic and silly about the whole thing with our immediate supervisors, even they realize that we don't chit-chat much at work because we're much too busy *working*.

Either way, K's been looking for work with publishing companies around the city (his background's in journalism), and I'm looking into other customer service-related positions. I think the accounting experience I've gained these past few months might help me if I were to look into management opportunities. What do you all think?

It's so frustrating for us both right now trying to pick and choose between which bills to pay and which to blow off. One plan I've been kicking around is to apply for another credit card or two, max them out buying stuff I'll need/want (enough to hold out for a while), and then file bankruptcy. I'm trying not to worry too much about stuff, though- it won't change the outcome at all and will only drive me crazy in the meantime.

A new door opening is a good thing to see this as. I'd been looking for a while, but not very hard. Now I've got to seriously seek other opportunities- maybe a really good one will catch me by surprise. Thanks for the well wishes for . I love you guys.

Love you too!

I can't phone out on my phone right now, but can recieve calls as far as i know (Tell me about bloody bloody bills!) if you want a chat, or am well up for MSN if you want.



zdt

I could swing a phone call if you liked- to the landline, of course. Foreign mobiles are a bit out of my price range at the moment, till I figure out what's going on with work.

I'm also up for an MSN chat, whichever you'd prefer. And I can stay up another hour or so without a problem!