S3EP3: Mid-Week Mashup

Hey, gang! Welcome to my life – where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. I’m Freedom and I’ll be your host, coming at you from within the depths of Geistopia.

DOC: Velcum To My Life ees a prochect, un experiment in Life unt ART. A living storyboard, if you will. Its premise ees zat life ees experiential, unt zat you can, unt do, experience ze life you choose. It ees based on Ze Veel of Life unt Ze ARTs for Ze New Millennium as life building tools. Ja, it’s true!

WALT: Welcome to my Life is an I T.V. Studios/Geist…House Players Production, in association with the Center for Creative Inspirationalism. JustUs Productions, the parent co

mpany, would like to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to the following for their ongoing, and oft-times unknowing, inspiration and support:

Princess Cuddlebug

Princess Sunshine

Company

The Shaman

The Pillar

F’n Bob

The Entire Putt-Putt-Putter Clan

The Warden

FaeriePrincess

Professor Siggy Chong

Sparky Wentz-eclaus

The VanMan and General Ralph Glossop, and Craze (may they R.I.P.)

The Messengers of The Galactic Federation

Looch

The Bassett Hound

Bert-On

The Baker of the Cornbread

Andy Pandy

The Mudder

Zason

St. Diane & You

Brother John

Spooky Queen

Boom-Boom Snuffbox

The Nameless One

Tim-Bo

The Cousins

The Rox

PDT

Sir Richard Slouch

The Wix-ians

The Socialite

The Village of Idiots

Piz-Niffer

Dancing Queen

Downtown Encyclopedia Brown

Dick Pointer

Soup, the Son

The Legendary Pink Elephants

Baby-Mama Rabbit

Wisconsin Belle

The Babes

Aaaand, of course, a very generous sponsor who (not-so-much) wishes to remain anonymous.

It is…Tuesday, January 18, Two-Thousand and Twenty-Fun. Time...Reversing

Theme – One Problem at a Time

This is kind of how I have gotten through lately. It’s all we can do really – just conquer our lives One Problem at a Time. It’s what I’ve been doing with The Vantasm. Every time I turn around there is something wrong with her. I had her in again just today. Rotors and brakes were replaced. Rear turn signal was replaced. And, still, there is a wheel bearing on the list and now I must be aware of the calipers. [This is not to say that there is anything wrong with them. We’re not sure of that which is why I must be aware of them.] There’s not much to do about any of it except deal with it as it becomes necessary. It’s not just the vehicle. Example – I have Quicken on the one laptop. The laptop itself had charging issues – which I have resolved [at least temporarily.] I reached a point where I could no longer use the laptop. Between the need for an internet connection [which was hard to find living in The Vantasm] and the charging issue, it just wasn’t something I could do properly. Settling into the apartment I decided I would see if I could get things up and running. The first problem was to take care of the charging issue. Done. Of course, for future need, I realized that I had already resolved the internet issue when I got the new phone and service. I now have hotspot availability. Internet – on the go. Next I needed to update the information electronically. This is one of the reasons I pay for Quicken – so I can update my two main bank accounts with the click of a button. [And some minor edits.] The one account shoots back with issues. I click ‘Fix it.’ I’m asked if I have changed the information recently. No. Update again. I thought this worked and it would take quite sometime before I realized that it was not. Now when asked if I have changed information I try yes. I go through a whole new process to update it – which appears to be working in the moment. Only it did not. Almost, but not quite. The bank wants to verify my identity. Cool. It use to do this every morning when I logged in. It would ask me to select where the code would be sent. My email was ever the only option. Click. Email. Code. Update. Only this time the only option was to send the code to my phone. My OLD phone. The number that I no longer have. New problem. This one will take some legwork to overcome. There will need to be chats and phone calls. Perhaps even emails. Stocking the apartment. Everyday I think of something new that we could use – be it food or some ‘tool.’ [Things such as paper goods, pain reliever, utensils, etc. are covered in ‘tools.’ Perhaps we should say Resources, since once upon a time, on The Wheel of Life, Resources was Tools.] Anyway, one by one, as the actual need arises or the opportunity presents itself, I take care of it. The whole of life is problem after problem. This is not a negative statement. I think it is a natural process. There will forever be the next thing to do or take care of, the next challenge, the next obstacle. All we can do is handle things One Problem at a Time.

Lesson – It Always Works Out – not as You Want, but as You Need

I’ve had several examples of this lately, but one in particular stands out. We all know I struggle with my finances. One step forward, two steps back it always seems. This past week was no exception. I started Monday morning about $250 behind. It didn’t even look good on paper. My main bank account was in the red by $80, with at least a couple charges yet to come out. On top of that I had a $100 pending check to my mechanic and, though it hadn’t posted yet, my 1st of two car payments for the month had been due on Sunday [the day before.] I had, in my pocket, $90 cash. [Which, ironically enough, I had withdrawn the previous week and had not yet spent.] So, I knew, no matter what the day brought, I had that $80 covered and there would be no overdraft fee. All I had to do was make my 25 minute drive to the nearest branch before the close of business that day. In the meantime, I worked. My one app pays me within moments of clicking ‘Cash Out’ and so I tried to take whatever work I could from there that morning. I made some, not quite enough to cover the full $80 but enough to cushion my next morning once I deposited the $90. My next two issues were the check and the car payment. There was nothing I could do about the car payment but there was just the slightest chance that I could stall the check one more day. I made that call and explained the situation. Unfortunately, as I would learn Tuesday morning, it was too late. The check had been deposited and now cleared. But, with the money I had made the day before, and the delay in processing from my other bank, the money was there to cover it – just barely. Still, covered and no NSF Fee. Now, all I could do was try to beat the clock. Make the money before the payment processed. Wednesday the payment still had not processed. I’m still not exactly sure why. After some investigation – on the app and by automated system, I determined that for whatever reason their system skipped that payment. I don’t know why. It still has the next one [which is this Sunday] earmarked properly. So I’ll see what happens with that. I thought long and hard about how to handle this situation. My head told me that I should get it resolved and have them take the payment. This would take some time and more i-depth phone calls and it could also put me at risk for a financial catastrophe afterwards. My spirit told me to just let it go and deal with the repercussions later. This is what I chose to do and I have absolutely no ill feelings about it. It will hurt me, but only slightly and temporarily. I have certainly overcome much worse. But it also allowed me to finish my week properly – get gas, groceries, whatever was needed. Plus, it set me up to start this week strong. There was money in the account this morning. [I say this morning because yesterday was a bank holiday and nothing processed fully until today.] It was more money than I have seen at the start of a week in several months. But, again, I was able to take care of business today. All of my business actually and now I can just sort of coast through the rest of my week. I got my groceries and my gas and the vehicle repairs and other miscellaneous supplies for the apartment. With what was in the account and what I made today it is all covered. So, again, I can just kind of coast through and let things take shape. I haven’t had that feeling in quite some time. For me, the positive outweighs the negative. What I personally find amusing [and what inevitably leads to recognizing the Lesson] is that as early as Monday the message I was getting was, “You will find $100.” “Right,” I thought, “ and where will I find $100? Just laying on the side of the road?” The truth is, I ‘found’ more than $100. It wasn’t what I was thinking. That’s not how my mind was seeing it play through. Never in all of my forecasts did I imagine that I would ‘find’ money by missing a payment. But that is what happened. It all worked out. Not how I wanted, but precisely how I needed.

Observation – I have Some Serious ADD.

It’s true. I can’t stay focused on one particular task for long periods of time. The more routine or menial the task the more this is true. Currently, in the apartment, I have about 5 different tasks going on. Little bits of this or that piled here or there. I had a lot I wanted to work on tonight, including this post. So, I worked at something until it was ‘good enough for now.’ Then I let sit what wasn’t done and moved to the next thing that needed to be tackled. I got it to ‘good enough for now’ and moved on. This is how my night has one until I found myself sitting at the desk typing away. But even this I cannot focus on for long. I have to step away from time to time. Stretch my legs [and my mind.] This is how it has always been. It is why it takes me so long to get a post done and I know this. It is why when I did get writing done each and every Sunday [long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away] it was an all day event. I write until my brain hurts and then I must distract myself with something. Tonight it is taking care of the 5 things I have left strewn here or there. What is worse, is when I don’t have the distractions. Then I just can’t seem to find a groove at all. One might wonder how I can drive all day. It is very routine and extremely menial. Except that it is always different – different jobs, different routes, different pay. I am making new calculations every hour of every work day. Or, perhaps, how do I wash dishes at The Theatre. That has to be mundane and routine. And, yes, it is. But again it varies by day and audience size, what is ordered [or what is not.] There is a definite system and routine to it all if you do not want to get too bogged down, but I must constantly be readjusting my approach throughout the night. And, when it gets to be too much, I go out and have some cigarette – stretch my legs and my mind for a moment. It’s The Theatre that helped me realize just how severe things are for me. I say I struggle with focus and yet I do focus – just in my own ‘unfocused’ way. But, if I lose my focus or it never starts then I am lost. Such was the case this past weekend at The Theatre. We are running a show with a very different format. Now, with how it runs, the majority of my early night is very slow and a lot of nothingness. I found that by the time I did get busy I was very scattered and disorganized. I wasn’t able to get my groove on. I just had nothing.

The Post

It has been one of those times when I find it difficult to stay caught up and on pace. The last week and a half seem to have been very intense for me. So much of it is a blur it went by that fast. This is only the second time in that window that I have felt calm and restful. [The first being only 24 hours ago.]

Last week had me running frantically and this week started very differently than most. I had the girls this past weekend and since yesterday was a holiday they stayed all the way through. Sunshine was supposed to have an appointment at 11 AM [we thought 11 turned out to be one.] It’s about an hour away but the plan was for me to take her. However, it got changed to a virtual appointment and we never had to leave the apartment. My week work week did not actually start until today.

We opened the new show at The Theatre. The schedule is actually quite simple with only Friday and Saturday [occasional Sunday] performances. But, there are 2 back to back on Saturday and the run is actually 3 ½ months as opposed to the normal 6 weeks. So, this has me and the girls constantly juggling everything we want to do.

The girls are helping at The Theatre for this show. Not every show and not all the time. But I think it is good for both of them. They are learning things and being productive and making a little bit of money. Along the way we get to spend time together and bond a bit.

I feel very settled in at the apartment. It feels very much like home. [To bad it is only another 3 month stay.] It took some time and a lot of energy and focus, but the girls and I absolutely have it feeling like home. We have things organized, set-up, and comfortable.

The process of The Nest [I forgot that’s the name for the apartment] has been a work in progress. It has been happening in Stages & Phases. I think I covered a lot of this previously, but I want to skim through it again.

There are so many facets of living and each facet has been taking it’s own course along the way. Groceries have been an escalating happening. At first, I was buying only what was needed for a few days at a time – basics and essentials. I bought milk and bread. So, I also bought cereal and peanut butter and jelly. This would handle a couple of breakfasts and lunches on the road. I also bought some quick dinners.

I did this a couple of times and then, on their first weekend here, the Princesses and I would go on a big shopping trip. Very big. I think that might have been the most I have ever spent on groceries at one time. We upgraded the basics ot include cheese and eggs. We bought everything we needed to make the holiday dinner and breakfast that we had planned. I bought a mixing bowl because one was needed.

The following week I made a quick re-up stop for some of the basics and then we went shopping on the weekend again. Again, we added to what we had. We bought some herbs and some more snacks and drinks. The next week would bring the same – a mid week stop and then a larger stop the night before they came. [Because the night they came we had to go to The Theatre almost immediately.]

I do my shopping in phases as well. For instance, I go to The Dollar Tree for certain things – candles, kitchen utensils and supplies, dish soap, etc. Whatever I can make use of. I don’t really buy groceries there, but I will occasionally get some snacks. My next step up is a trip to Walmart. I will buy groceries here but it is either the essentials or things I can’t really find someplace else – or things that are cheaper such as soda. But, I also stop here to get other things – oil for the van, tablets, candles, power cords, etc. I know people bust on ol’ Wally World but it is a good one-stop quick shop for the basics of almost any area of life. [And it can be a bit cheaper.] Finally, I go to larger grocery store for everything else – cheese, dinners, etc.

I mention this because today things shifted. I knew I wanted to do some shopping today but I hadn’t quite settled on where or what. I had finally decided on the Dollar Tree, figuring I could do the other tomorrow and I could go to the grocery store Thursday. I did Dollar Tree and ended up getting a bit more stuff than I had intended when I walked in but it was all stuff that will come in handy.

As my day progressed and things weren’t quite flowing the way they usually do, I decided I would make a stop for the basics at Wally World. However, while I was in there , I decided that I wanted to get enough stuff so that I wouldn’t have to stop again this week. So, I not only re-upped the essentials but I bought a lil extra of this or that. I either bought extra or I was buying a small back up of what was already here. My hope is that I do not have to go to the store again until next week.

Each week, I saw slight differences. After that first big initial payout the total cost has dropped slightly each week. [Except last week when I had to buy two reusable bags while I was in the store because I forgot mine. Still, they are actually designed just right for me to be able to use for deliveries so they become a business expense…and, yes, I have actually used them.] We went from $181 that first trip to $66 today. And, today, I stocked up on some extras.

Moving in had its stages as well. First it was clothes and stuff from the Vantasm, plus I grabbed my three crates of kitchen stuff from The Cave. I got everything in and laid out a basic home for the important things. Everything else has shifted slightly day to day. But then it was other things – computers, tvs, the girls stuff, some random furniture pieces I wanted to use. When I needed my Reiki table I brought it over and found a place to keep it. From there it has been working hand-in-hand with another stage of being in The Nest.

I see this as an opportunity to work on clearing out and cleaning up The Cave. Whatever is left of my life is just shoved, thrown and jammed in there. I have reorganized several times since I left Olde Geistopia. However, every time my life shifts, my needs shift. So, I go in and find what I need, drop off what I don’t and move on. Things have become chaotic. Add in bags of cans and other metal I am collecting, plus trach that has come along and suddenly I couldn’t move in The Cave, let alone organize and work.

It started with the kitchen stuff and then the reiki table and a few chairs. Piece by piece, box by box space was being made. I brought a random bag of trash over to get rid of with my trash here. I brought some cans over to prep for scrapping when I can.

In my efforts I found a couple of boxes of random decorations I had around The Cave. Those have come to The Nest and almost everything has found it’s home. Just a little touch of me to go around The Nest. This past weekend, The Princesses and I went through all of our apothecaries. We organized the herbs, labeled them in a way everyone could read them, divided them among boxes and crates. [The Princesses each have their own apothecary box and I have a new 1940’s US Army wooden footlocker that I am now using to store all of my herbs. We got rid of unneeded jars and unknown mixtures. [You don’t want to burn it if you don’t know what it does.]

Through all of that I was also able to properly set up my altar once more.

There is still a lot to go through in The Cave but slowly it gets done and along the way it makes life in The Nest all that much sweeter. I’m also slowly getting rid of what is no longer needed. Over the years I collected quite a few chairs. I used some of them in The Cave. I used some of them at Hoagie’s. I even used one of them while I was living in the tent. I was holding on to them for the day I would get a place. Three years into all of this and I am not any closer to that Goal. So, do I really need to continue to hold onto them? Besides even when [I really want to say ‘if’ but I know that is the wrong word choice] even when I find myself in an apartment/home of my own, if I do find I need chairs I am certain they will come to me as easily as this round of chairs did every time I needed one of them.

I have managed to get back into most of my routines, including devotions and ritual. I cannot tell you how much I have missed all of that. It brings me a sense of wholeness. I even got to make my first batch of holy water in almost three years.

It’s been a wild and crazy ride so far and it isn’t even half over yet. It’s had it’s challenges and things do not always play out how I would hope. For instance, it is much later right now than I wanted it to be. I wanted to get up early and start my day. Instead I am going to let myself sleep until I get up. I am going to drift into my day and let it be what it will be. No day, no moment has gone how I would have wanted this entire time. But everything has happened exactly as needed. Why should I think that this moment is different than any other?

I’m not overly concerned. First of all, I am ending the three day Full Moon Cycle. Today is the day after. Everything gets wonky at the Full Moon. But also, the cycle I was given has the next ‘major’ date at the end of next week. Which also happens to slightly coincide with Imbolc. It’s hard to see in the moment sometimes but I would have to say that everything is linning up exactly as it needs to.

Overall things are good. I haven’t felt like this in a very long time. I would say all the way back to the beginning. [Only then I was so new and so naïve.] I am getting right back into my old groove and routine. I am feeling in-tune, light-hearted and light-spirited. It’s like life…starting all over again.

I have one final little story for this writing and then it is seriously time for bed. [Though I really did need to get this writing done.]

I had an invitation to go see the Harlem Globetrotters in February. This put me in a slightly awkward situation [which hasn’t come to full fruition yet.] It is on a Friday night and just the day before I was invited I had told The Theatre that the girls and I would not be there that Saturday. We have something planned to do.

If you’re not already there, go to the Welcome to my Life Facebook page – WTML. Or the YouTube channel – WelcomeToMyLife08. You can also find me on Facebook under Rev. Matt.

Wherever you are and whenever you are – Like, Comment, and Share – we’re on a Journey and it takes you to get there.

So, without hesitation, for now and for always, from here in Geistopia, this is your beloved Rev…

WALT: And Walt…

DOC: Unt Doc…

JOHNNY: Aaaaand Johnny…

And those guys, saying, “Stay Tuned-In, Fellow Travelers,” and wishing you Peace, Love, Light…

WALT: And Freakishness, Baby.

The Totems & Archetypes

**from Ted Andrews’ Animal Speak**

This has been a very potent totem for some time now. I have seen more foxes this year than I have in the rest of my life combined. In particularly, I have seen quite a bit of roadkill. Am I not allowing for these energies? Am I using them incorrectly?

Fox - Feminine Magic of Camouflage, Shapeshifting and Invisibility.

New world opening up. The process of creation is beginning. Guide to enter the Faerie Realm. Unless a male can recognize the magic of the feminine - in himself or others - and learn to use it to Shapeshifting his own life, it will ultimately lead to destruction. The Kundalini, and the freeing of the creative life force. Practicing and using camouflage. Working to blend in with surroundings, to come and go unnoticed, moving silently about without revealing your intentions. Learning to control the aura. Adjust its frequency and intensity so that you harmonize more with others. Levels of energy and fertility. If the focus stays on the creative energies, any sharp turn in the individual’s life will be handled with ease. Fox people have the ability to insulate themselves from anything that may seem cold, especially in relationships. Can appear larger than they are - for personal protection or for making greater impressions. Establish a trotting pace. Ability to move into new directions. Call upon new resources instinctively. Excellent ability to hear what is not being said. The ability to hear spirit. Size people up accurately. Develop the ability to see spirit. Aromatherapy. Awakening of the Kundalini. Higher forms of discrimination and discernment. Capture any prize.