Lost_Warrior

Yes, it was Pittsburg LOL. Chicago is nice, has some beautiful architecture, but I didn't really like it all that much. I am having fun, and getting more and more used to being here.

I have made it safely to MN. The journey was interesting, but not that great. I did get to see Pittsburg (beautiful!! I'd LOVE to go back!) and Chicago (nice, but not great). I was so exhausted from dragging my luggage everywhere (too cheap to rent a locker...dragged it all around downtown Chicago). I was 2 days on the rails, luggage in tow the whole time and gods my arms hurt!! I arrived in Detroit Lakes at 3 AM...and the sun was coming up by the time I made it to bed. I'm having fun, although I'm really homesick at times. Al is already teaching me stuff, I made a nice scroll today (but it got wrecked unfortunately...oh well I'll make hundreds more) and a really nice twist. I'm thrilled, because I have never done these things so well. Kathy is teaching me about herbs and such. The really awesome thing is that they have a lot of pagan friends; they were even considerate enough to ask if I had a "day of rest" in my religion (I don't, but it's so cool that they asked!) The dog Shotzy got attacked by a wild cat of some sort. She's OK thankfully but the poor dog can barely walk (getting better though). I have very little time online, so I'll see you all occasionally...

o.O you have no idea how similar that is to what I was mockingly called in elementary school...I was "Kelly McJello" for quite a while. (gawds are gradeschoolers immature)

Caesar was pronounced Kah-HEE-Szah if memory serves correctly. "aedile"- I must be the odd one out. I say "ay-DEAL"

Tomorrow I'm catching the train to MN. It will be at least until Friday before I get online again. I'm really nervous about the trip, not sure why. It is a lot of things I have never done before, but I think I'll be alright. I just wish I could stop worrying LOL. We had our memorial day celebration yesterday, and my cousin's friend got his car stuck...you should have seen us trying to get it out. We got it out, but it was by 6 or 7 of us sitting in the trunk to add enough weight to get the front bumper off the pavement. After that KT's friends came over, and we had a "jam session" that went until almost ten PM.

Thanks! I hope I do!

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for my dad's. I catch the train on Wednesday, and I'll have limited net access (not so much at my dads, but definitely in Minn.) for the next 7+ weeks. I'll try to keep you guys updated with frequent blog posts as I can manage. I've got several Roman books packed for reading material

You guys crack me up.

Scented oils from resin: This one is extremely easy; I actually discovered it by accident. You need: ~Some carrier oil (grapeseed works well, so does mineral oil; I haven't tried any others. Recommend grapeseed for skin use) ~Resin incense (such as Frankincense, Myrrh, Copal or other) I can tell you from experience that Dragon's blood does not work well at all sad and Myrrh works phenomenally. mr blue ~One of those liquid potpourri burner things with a tealight candle (mine is made from soapstone) ~Of course, a bottle to put the oil in when you're done, and a funnel. Here's what you do: ~Grind up the resin and put it in the burner thing, with some oil. For a strong scented oil you'll need to use a good bit of resin; the more resin, the stronger the scent. ~Light the tealight, and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes (depending). You should see bubbles start to come up from the resin, and smell it releasing it's scent. When this happens, let it "cook" just a little bit longer. Blow out the candle and let it cool, then take the candle out of the thing and pour both oil and resin into the bottle (the oil will still be warm). ~You might need to make a couple of batches to fill the bottle because most of those burner things don't hold much oil. This makes nice anointing oil or just perfume oil. It has a subtle, yet very long lasting scent. (I'm wearing some amber myrrh oil that I put on at about 5 30 AM; it's now 2 04 PM and it's still going strong.) It can be rubbed all over your body, because the scent isn't strong or "harsh". (Do shake well before applying because the resin will settle out. You'll get bits of resin on your skin but they can be brushed off. Shaking helps the scent.) You probably will only smell carrier oil when you sniff the bottle, but when it's applied the scent comes out. Enjoy! Oh, and let me know what other resins work with this process. So far I've tried Myrrh (wonderful!), Amber (works well with the Myrrh, never tried it by itself) and Dragon's Blood (doesn't work so well). Salt Scrub Another extremely easy recipe: You need: ~Salt (sea salt is preferable. Lacking that, table salt works) ~Baking soda ~Essential oils of your choice To make the scrub: ~Mix some salt and baking soda in a bowl (more salt than baking soda...maybe...one part soda to two parts salt? I don't measure anything...) ~Add your oils, amount depending on type of oil, and personal preference. ~Mix well and spoon into a jar To use scrub: ~Wet skin ~Rub salt scrub over skin and then rinse

How could I forget that??

Oh, you'd love to see me naked, wouldn't you? I wouldn't say the rite went "swimmingly" but I think it went well. It took me a while to sort everything out in my brain, and I'm sort of still reeling from the experience; at first I was disappointed, but I find that is no longer so; I'm not disappointed, it just didn't go the way I thought it would (weeks of preparation means one is bound to have some preconceived notions of what it will be like.) I did end up kneeling on briers and spilling the grape juice on my leg. But other than that, nothing was really screwed up.

I am no longer employed at a certain gas station/subway I've been complaining about for the past several months. This job has been hard on me. Very hard. No one knows exactly how bad it's gotten, with the exception of maybe a few close friends. But I toughed it out, and I survived. And damnit, now I'm FREE!! I WILL really miss my coworkers though. We had a lot of good times together. The meeting I was griping about earlier wasn't so bad; I feel like we got some things accomplished; at least, it didn't ruin the rest of my week. That night, we scrubbed the floor of the deli clean. We were high on 409 fumes, and we had a great time. My back, shoulders, ribs and legs still haven't forgiven me. Tomorrow I am getting up early to do that Coming of Age Rite I've been talking about. Today is the last day of this part of my life. Tomorrow is the dawn of the *rest* of my life. I've done much preparation, but I'm still very nervous. I hope all goes well. It will be done by the time I get online again. I set off for my dad's on Saturday; I'm spending a few days with that half of the family before catching the train to MN on Wednesday. I'm terrified, but in a good way. I have a hook up for a job doing blacksmithing when I get back; a REALLY COOL job. I really hope it works out. Until Saturday, there remains much packing and preparation to be done, as well as catching up with family and friends one last time before I leave. So much to do, so little time.

If it were Bubonic plague, the huge fires would in fact provide a measure of protection. The reason for this is that it is spread by fleas and rats carrying the fleas, and, if huge fires were built around the city before the plague got a foothold, they would keep out the rats, and the fleas. This is said to have protected the Pope during the plague in the middle ages.

I really don't know how to answer this from a historical standpoint. I for one believe, very strongly, that they are unique individuals; of course, that's from a religious standpoint, not from a historical or in any way scholarly standpoint. (and I really don't think that "UPG" religious discussion belongs here, but PM me and I'm more than willing to talk about it )

Come on, I can do this! Just four more days of my crappy job left! I can do it, I know I can! I have a meeting tomorrow at 8 am, about all the ******* that has been going on. It's pretty much guaranteed to make my last four days more stressful, but it's only four days, I can make it. I have made very good connections apparently, and when I get back from MN, I have a pretty definite hook-up for something that is nearly the perfect job for me (I say nearly because nothing is perfect!). I can't wait, I'm so psyched!! I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow, because the sooner I get started on my four days, the sooner I can get done with them.

I just received a beautiful hardbound copy of Virgil's Aeneid, and I was wondering, how that title is pronounced? I really feel like an idiot whenever I try to say it, because it comes out "Aay-nEEd"...um...yea... Help?

Sunburn remover? Wouldn't that make the situation...so much worse?

Is there any record of them using burning to get rid of unwanted facial hair? I know this is done in some places in the tropics (Brazil, I think?). I hear it's really not that painful if it's done right. Ancient Nair! Did it remove most of your skin as well, just like it does today?

That takes far too long for the impatient modern man. not to mention painful (but women don't seem to mind.) I would be scared sick if someone came anywhere near my face with one of those. Are they similar design to the old iron razors used by the Romans? I seem to recall the ancient razors being more rounded...shell shaped? than straight, but I am uncertain.

::hugs:: I had wondered where you went. Here's to a great rest of 2007! Hope you are getting out of (or have already gotten out of) that crappy job.

I love the discussions, and most of the people on TC. I love the fact that I can talk freely and openly about many beliefs I cannot express elsewhere, and that I can discuss such things as building my own religion from scratch without getting too many weird looks. I don't know what it is that is bothering me about it, I don't. Something about the atmosphere of the place, or the attitudes sometimes displayed by some of the staff. You know how you can be really annoyed by something but can't figure out why? Kind of like that. I found out today that the SIG board I'd wanted to start is not going to fly. I did not find this out from the one in charge of them, who won't speak his mind on the matter apparently; I found out from my friend who is also staff that the things I wish to discuss do not mesh with the "TC Culture" and that the staff is nervous about even having one thread about it; even though the members clearly want to discuss it as my SIG thread is causing "spin off" threads all over the board. Talk about feeling like they just want certain things swept under the rug. I mean, I guess I can understand it. For example, I wouldn't allow a section for discussion of black magic on my forum because it makes me uncomfortable; but I wish they'd had the guts to tell me that they felt this way about my beliefs, instead of going along with it to a point, stringing me along, but having my friend tell me "no it's not going to happen". I really don't like Myspace or Yahoo, because both are ridiculously slow on my computer. I don't like email groups either; to me they are hard to follow and hard to participate in. TC is the best I've found, and I feel lucky to have found it, so I guess the best course of action is to swallow my damn pride and pet peeves and enjoy it for what it provides for me. I lucked out and didn't have to work with the "instigator". I don't have to work with her for most of the week; I'm happy.

I'm a member of a website called TC. It's great, the people are great, for the most part, and the conversations are wonderful. The one thing that really bugs me is that the hosts are a bit erm...pushy. And one thing they are VERY pushy about is that each reply must contain a quote, made using the quote button, of the post you're replying to. It doesn't matter if you are making a general reply to everyone, you still have to quote *something*. It's very annoying, but I don't think the quote button is the issue that I have with it. It's the attitude of the staff about it. They're trying to make an SMF forum into a Beehive forum, because they "hate drill-down forums" and "they can't do their job if they can't follow the threads" so they want a link back to some thread or other in *every post*. Done in a specific way. Ok, not my fault they can't figure out what people are saying. They must have the conversational awareness of dead flies, if they can't figure out when a post is in general to everyone and when someone is replying to a specific person. I really wish there was another website around where I could talk about paganism the same way I can talk about it there. I'm REALLY hoping the issues between my coworkers have been resolved. I have to go to work today, and I really don't want to. I am so freakin' sick of the DRAMA around that place. If I have to deal with 8 hours of one particular person not doing her job, making messes and stirring up trouble (I'm starting to wish she HAD walked out) I'm going to lose it. Just two more weeks and I'm FREE!! I got my dragon's blood oil today, and I'm really disappointed to find out that it doesn't smell at all like dragon's blood. It smells like carrier oil, and that's it. I know that Myrrh resin steeped and heated in oil makes a wonderful perfume, as I'm wearing some right now (I discovered it by accident; my Myrrh stinks to high heaven when actually burned, so I put it with some mineral oil in one of those potpourri burner things.) I don't know why the dragon's blood didn't work that way, maybe I'll try making my own. I do love my Myrrh perfume though. I finally got a new ISP, and I think the kinks are still being worked out of it as it's a brand new connection. It seems to be working quite well now, but I was having major problems with it before. If you call Epix tech support, they tell you that you need a new computer to be able to connect to the internet um...NO. So we hooked up with Chilitech. I hope it works. If not, well it can't get too much worse than Epix and it's cheaper.

Nor do I. Especially since Subway had been up and running for over a month before.

All in all this week wasn't too bad; but these past two days nearly killed me. Friday was the grand opening for Subway, and we were absolutely slammed. It nearly killed us. We were so busy we couldn't keep up, and there were at least 14 of us working. The people were lined up nearly out the door, for hours on end. It was nuts, but we made it. I got my picture with the Shell race car, and a picture of the rather perverted looking neon sign in front of my store. I'm sending them to my dad. Saturday wasn't nearly so busy, but my coworker was having a conniption and nearly walked out, after calling every manager AND the district manager, over a fight with one of our coworkers (it was a stupid fight to. The girl was WAY out of line, and the other called her on it, which caused her to decide to walk out mid-shift.) Things are smoothed over now, but it made the night pretty darn stressful. I'm hoping by the time I go back to work on Tuesday it will be taken care of. I also think I'm getting sick. Everything is going around, and the last thing I need is to get sick for my trip. I'm drinking thyme tea every day and taking zinc supplements. Thank gods I have the next two days off; if they try to call me in, the phone will be unhooked. I'm sleeping till noon tomorrow. I got my train tickets, so I don't have to worry about them being lost in the mail anymore. And I found $50 I didn't know I had, when I was cleaning out my lock box. Perfect timing. I received an invite to the History Book Club today, which I plan on joining (four books for a buck each, and they have really cool books!) so I should have reading material; if not by the time I go to MN, by the time I get back and get a better job that allows me time to do things (I hate working third shift; "mornings" suck because I'm getting ready for work, and don't have time to get started on much, and "evenings" are very late at night, so I end up going to bed as soon as I can.) TWO MORE WEEKS!! If I got through Friday, and today, I can get through anything!

I'd be a Centurion's wife. Or, I would disguise myself as a man and sneak into the infantry...just trying not to get pregnant and blow my cover.