Fri. Dec. 8, 2023: An Afternoon on the Couch
image courtesy of Agata via pixabay.comFriday, December 8, 2023
Waning Moon
Chiron, Uranus, Jupiter Retrograde
Cloudy and cold
We had a little snow yesterday evening, and overnight; again, just enough to dust.
Today’s serial episode is from Angel Hunt:
Episode 92: Kegan’s Advice on Lianna’s Love Life
Kegan has advice, whether Lianna wants it or not.
Tomorrow’s serial episode is from Deadly Dramatics:
Episode 42: Nina Has a Plan
Jake reverts to typical behavior when Nina agrees with him – with dire consequences.
Meditation was good. Charlotte was thrilled there was Zoom.
Packed up some of the cookie platters, and did the deliveries to that side of town. Everyone was surprised and pleased (which is the point).
Got home and gave myself the afternoon off. I had no pressing deadlines, and I was tired, so I rested. I tried to take a nap, but that didn’t work. I puttered around a bit, did some decorating, read, and was a cat mattress. A new Bluesky contact uses the phrase “cat mattress” and I think it’s hilarious.
Received a package from a friend that looks delicious! Tracked the packages I sent on Monday. Some more arrived; others are still in transit. That’s why they went out early!
Had to pay shipping and enter some information I already sent for an oracle deck I backed on Kickstarter months ago. It irritates me when I have to fill out a form that was already filled out the first time, especially for additional costs higher than originally estimated. Had I known how expensive the shipping would be, I wouldn’t have backed it. It’s nearly 1/3 of the deck’s cost on top of the deck, and the deck isn’t cheap. Plus, the updates have been erratic. This one may have been a mistake to back. I had hoped to get it before the holidays, but that’s now in doubt. Good thing I hadn’t ordered it as a gift!
Quite the contrast to the other deck I backed, CITY OF DREAMS ORACLE, which pairs with the MIDNIGHT CITY TAROT (both built around NYC locations). Both of those decks are amazing, the artist was wonderful and forthcoming and reliable, the shipping reasonable, and the quality topnotch. Same with FORAGER’S DAUGHTER TAROT (although that wasn’t a backed deck, I just bought it once it was out) – great quality, clear communication, reasonable shipping, and even bought the deck as a gift for a friend. Same with MYSTIC MONDAYS, which was recommended by an online friend, and the whole interaction was a great experience. If you click the links on these various decks, you’ll see how different they are from each other, how strong the visions, how high the quality.
So we’ll see, once this one arrives, if it was worth this hassle and cost. I doubt I will back another deck any time soon, unless I’ve already dealt with the creator, or the individual comes highly recommended. Live and learn. They can’t all be good experiences.
I love working with different decks, and using different decks for different things. I don’t have quite as many as my friend, author Jamieson Wolf, who regularly posts his work with different decks on Facebook (and has a sale, once a year, of the decks he’s decided not to keep). But I like working with different interpretations and exploring the possibilities. And some decks just connect better than others, and different decks connect with different people.
Speaking of working with decks, I did some work yesterday with the Rackham Tarot, which was a gift from a friend last year, and is great for dream work. Since I’ve had a lot of weird dreams lately, I figured it was time to do some analysis. That was a big help. Because the dream interpretation sites online are, shall we say, less than helpful.
Then, I did some “getting acquainted” work with the Tarot of the Great Outdoors, a deck I won a couple of months back. The major arcana is set in National parks, which is pretty cool. This deck has a very practical bent to it – even the cards that are more challenging in other decks have a sense of practical, common sense steps to take to overcome those challenges, which works well. I’m enjoying getting to know it.
I had a good exchange with an editor with whom I’ve worked before, about a flash fiction they decided not to use. This editor is very supportive of my work; although it wasn’t what they were looking for this time around for the publication, they encouraged me to expand the piece; they feel it’s better suited to longer than their word-limit. I’ll block off some time early in the new year to work on it again.
As I lounged on the couch, I got another idea for a piece, that nearly fell into my brain fully, so I made some notes – on my phone! In Keep Notes! Aren’t my techy friends proud? I’ll get to it when I get to it.
I was writing in my head a different piece that needs to go out fairly soon. Because it is quite short, writing a few drafts in my head makes it more efficient once I put it on the page. I can’t do that with long pieces but it works for short pieces.
Headed off to yoga, for another double class. I’d made a crockpot meal, so I didn’t have to worry about cooking when I got home. I was already hurting from all the baking. While the classes helped, my bad hip started really bothering me later in the evening. There’s a knot in muscles under other muscles, and it’s hard to get it. My acupuncturist used to know exactly where to put the needle to make it release, but I haven’t found an acupuncturist here yet. I wound up taking valerian root and knocking myself out.
Slept for 9 hours and woke up feeling much better (valerian acts as a muscle relaxer. Don’t drive or operate ANY kind of machinery if you take it).
Today, I have more cookie deliveries and some errands to run. It looks like it will snow again any minute. By Sunday, it’s supposed to be in the sixties. By Monday, another storm. Wacky!
I hope to finish cookie deliveries this weekend, AND finish the decorating. I have a book to read for review. Script coverage I didn’t do yesterday, I’ll do this afternoon (I’m still well within deadline). Legerdemain will get some attention over the coming weekend and next week, along with some other pieces. Plus, I have to do next week’s episode videos. I’ve been terrible about promoting anything this week, so I have to make up for it, and do the video for “The Ghost of Lockesley Hall” so that can start making rounds.
I pushed off the stollen baking to next weekend. I might finish a project I need to have done before Solstice, though. We’ll see.
I sat with January’s calendar for a bit to mark out the test run of focusing on one serial per week, so I can deep dive, instead of switching between them every day. That will be the January Experiment, but in order for that to work, I need to get ahead on Legerdemain this month, since that is ongoing. I have to make sure I’m uploaded/scheduled into early February for that BEFORE I start switching off weeks.
Have a good one, and I’ll catch you on the other side.
Brace yourself. Mercury goes retrograde on the 13th, and stays there until New Year’s Day.
