How things stand almost two months later

OK, so as of Sunday, I'm guessing it's been a month and a half (remember:  I'm guessing!) since I ended my formal relationship with J.  It's so strange:  I feel more comfortable around him now than I did before.  Does that make sense in any way?

Anyway.

I just finished JR Ward's "Lover Mine".  It's the eith book in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and all I can say is OMFG!!  The characters are so in your face you have to laugh at them, while the sex scenes, depending on the characters "acting" them out, swing from pure vanilla to the sadistically raunchy - and no matter which you find yourself reading at the time, you'll be captivated!  Naturally, however, we now need to get book 9 ("Lover Unleashed") and when it's finally published next year, "Lover Reborn".  Here's a rundown of the books and the main romance in each one:

1. "Dark Lover":  Wrath, son of Wrath, and King of the Vampires, and Beth, half-vampire daughter of Darius and;
2. "Lover Eternal":  Rhage, cursed with a second form, and Mary, a human counsellor;
3. "Lover Awakened":  Zsadist, a former blood slave, and Bella, a vampire taken and tortured by the lessers in the previous novel;
4. "Lover Revealed":  Butch, former homicide detective, and the vampire Marissa, the "great beauty of the race";
5. "Lover Unbound":  Vishous, most brilliant of the Brothers, and Doc Jane, a trauma surgeon;
6. "Lover Enshrined":  Phury, sire to the next generation of Black Dagger Brothers, and Cormia, a Chosen for the Scribe Virgin who desires individuality;
7. "Lover Avenged":  Rehvenge, half-sympath druglord, and Ehlena, a nurse at the vampire clinic;
8. "Lover Mine":  John Matthew (a.k.a. Tehrror), the mute and previously unknown brother to Beth, the vampire queen, and Xhex, Rehv's half-sympath head of security until the previous novel;
9. "Lover Unleashed":  OK, I haven't read it yet, but apparently the story of Payne, the twin Vishous knew and only bred female warrior of the vampire race, and Dr. Manuel "Manny" Menallo, an ex-colleague of Doc Jane's;  and finally
10. "Lover Reborn":  (publishing date:  March 2012)  The story of Tohrment and his second chance at love.

All in all, I can't frikking WAIT to read 9 and 10!

I'll have to say quite honestly that I haven't been very cartomantically inclined recently.  Where before I would have the drive to read the cards whenever the urge hit, I haven't felt that need in a while.  I hope and pray this "dry spell" gets rained on VERY quickly.

In that vein:  here are three cards for the past month.  See if they make any sense to you.  (As an added exercise, I'm not going to give the interpretations beyond a keyword / keyphrase; I want you to tell me what you saw in the cards!)

1. Ace of Pentacles:  positive twist to finances;
2. Two of Pentacles:  it isn't as bad as it seems;  and
3. Seven of Cups:  stop daydreaming.
4. Suprise Card:  Key II, the High Priestess:  follow your gut and expect a suprise.

Tell me if any of these cards (not necessarily with my keywords) make any sense for you in regards to the last month.  My e-mail addy:  dieter.kok@gmail.com

Big hugs,, guys and gals!

Time to get used to...

... being single (-ish).

Confused?  Don't worry, I'm also still trying to figure it out.  I broke up with Julian two weeks ago, but, being the rather selfish creature I am, I said, I still want to have sex with you and be in your life and and and.  He said, that's fine.

Last week he was a bit fragile and said he's like to talk.  I thought, OK, but I know what this is about and I'm standing by my decision to be single.  I went through that weekend ... and waited for nothing.  I tried to start the conversation but as per usual in the past few years, the subject was changed and being me, I let it slide.

(When things go well for him, such as with the new job, etc, he doesn't handle "not nice" things very well).

Eventually, two weeks after initially saying he wants to talk, he asked me to go through on Wednesday night and I agreed, and we finally talked.  And talked some more last night.

So, technically, we're both single, but still together.  Funny how much more sense that made in my head as compared to typed out.

Thank you for the amazing night, you guys!

Just got home from a really nice night of sushi with a group of friends.  I haven't had so much sushi at once in a long time, and I am actually physically uncomfortable right now.  I even managed to coax two cups of Chinese saké down my throat and, an hour and more later, I'm still burping the terrible stuff.

Anyway, enough moaning.  I had a really good time and for once got to sit in on some nice and naughty conversation that made me think, "I should be blushing at this."  IT WAS SO COOL!!

So, I'm working on a secret project.  Only two people know the details.

Check out this instrument:  it's called a sanshin, and is both precursor and cousin to the traditional Japanese shamisen.  It was based way back then on the Chinese sanxian (notice how they all the sound the same, or similar, when you say their names?) and developed in Okinawa before it spread to the rest of Japan and became the shamisen.  If memory serves it's because of the amount of trade happening between China and Okinawa at that stage, but hey, Wikipedia would know more specifically.

This version is the traditional python skin version...

... while these two images are of 'kankara sanshin', or tin-can sanshin, made

during and just after WW2.

It really sounded like an ugly little instrument when I first heard it, until I watch a little 8-minute documentary of it on Youtube and listened to a master play a kankara.  Wow, what a sound!  I suppose it once again just goes to show the difference between amateurs and maestros.

All things bright and Cape Towny...

Last night I finally managed to get myself a nice quartz point that I plan on using to tip a wand.

This isn't it, but it looks almost exactly the same.

I have been very lax when it comes to this blog, and I actually feel very bad about it, but it's almost as if I only want to write something when I feel down or depressed.  Why is that?  What is it about writing that makes it so much easier for us to share how we feel than actually saying the words?

Anyway, nonsense in my head.  I'll come back to this at some other point.

The wand I'm planning will have a hollow core and something inside it.  I'm still trying to figure out the "how" and the "what" of it, but this is the idea.  I don't want a normal type of wand, a piece of stick with some coloured ribbon wrapped around it and a stone glued to the end.  No, this one will have the stone SET INTO the wood, and some wrapping, and a hollow core with something inside.  and I'm going to carry it around with me, so in length the wand isn't going to be so long.

Phew!  Take a deep breath!

I noticed when I got home last night that my crystal has a rainbow or two inside it.  That is so wicked!  Rainbows are good luck, aren't they?

I also have a new set of tarot babies - the long-sought after Hanson-Roberts Tarot!  I've been looking for this deck for a few years now, and here my friend the Tarot Mama brings me a deck at the last meeting!  I was so thrilled.  They live in my bag now with the Primary Deck and the Gypsy cards.  Tarot bliss much...?

Things will look up. Deep down I know that - so why am I having such trouble making it a constant conscious thought?

I seem to have lost my drive in terms of the finance department.  Is there something wrong with me?  I want to use the money I make, but inevitably I end up giving it out on some other cause.  I hate having a loan to pay off (only because it wasn't insured against retrenchment - I mean WTF!?), but I wish I could give my mom more in terms of board, etc.  Paradox much?  (Or is there some other word that would be better used here??)

Anyway, I did rather well at the Bothasig Fayre the other day (somewhere around R 600) and I'm thinking I so wouldn't mind making that kind of dosh every day.  So, time to implement The Secret (weapon).  Heh heh heh.  That's the obscene amount of pasta I had for supper talking, by the way.  Ususally it wouldn't be a problem, but since the pasta was bolognaise and bolognaise involves red meat I happen to be suffering ever so slightly right now.  All energy usually used for my brain (or what remains of it) has been diverted into my stomach to digest the mince.  My mental circuits are sizzling and snapping and sparking.  Eish.  Intlokusami yaxnola.  I hope I spelt that right.  And said it right.

Goodnight, all!!

Is it called work-related stress when you haven't got any work?

I've found myself faced with this question on and off over the last few weeks and still haven't got a clear answer. Who does?  Come on, anyone?

On the upside:  I've finally started my zither project, and recently finished my embroidery project (I mentioned it in the next to last post).  Once it's been given to its new owner, I'll ask her permission and try and post a pic.  I've advertised my embroidery in a bid to make a spare cent and have had a bite from my Tarotmama friend.  I'm not going to be giving any names, she knows who she is  :)

I can't wait to see what my zither will look like.  I'm basing the overall design on a Chinese guzheng:

Besides the issue of the bridges (which my musical boyfriend says are easy enough to make? sort out?), I've been having some trouble with a workable sound box.  Regardless of whether or not this is going to be a concert instrument, I'd like it to at least be recognisable as something musical.

Huh, light bulb:  who's going to teach me how to play the thing...?  Hey, nothing like trial and error, I suppose.

If anyone happens to have a few thousand to spare, I wouldn't mind a real guzheng (hint, hint).

Peace out for now!

Today I babysat a college.

No, nothing weird.  I actually just watched the front office while Placecol rented the Beauty room at Face to Face.  Since the college is closed for business today and tomorrow, Jacob and Yolandi have no reason to go in, except for the Placecol thing.  However, Yolandi needs rest, and Jacob actually has things to do, whereas I, sitting at home cleaning house all day long, don't.

So I'm babysitting the college for two days  :)

I've come to realise over the past week or two that the heart and human emotion are incredibly fickle things.  Trying to make sense of them is an exercise in futility, and in any case, emotions making sense would make this life a rather boring existence, would you say?

The card combination for today:

I actually haven't got one...  It turns out, with moving my room around for the new bunk bed, I don't really have my cards within easy reach right now, and since I'm typing this from said new bed...

Well, you get the idea.

'Night, world!!