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My Profile
Retro-retrospection - 2008-10-06
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12:20 a.m. - 2005-05-17
So what's new? In an effort to break out of my extreme Net rut I started following links this morning. You'll never guess where I ended up. Charles Manson's blog. Yes, THE Charles Manson. And you know what? It was pretty fricken funny. Despite the near perfect weather conditions for gardening, I stayed in and cleaned. I got a rather shocking piece of news last night and used Scrubbing Bubble therapy to work through all the different angles today. No, I'm not going to discuss it here. Suffice it to say nobody is ill, pregnant, or arrested. So be chill. Actually the therapy was half bubbles/half Sims. I started a new neighborhood a few weeks ago. My third. Each neighborhood is better than the last. By better I mean the houses are aesthetically pleasing, yet easy to play. The gene pool is broad without being unwieldy. I think I've got a good grip on how best to age my Sims so they have some good times with the grandkids and then make a graceful exit. I've learned lots of handy things like to buy clothes for the kids before they're born, so that way when they age up they're not wearing the same boring outfit as every other kid in the neighborhood. And to refill the fridge during trips to the store so the damn delivery guy doesn't wake up the whole house bringing emergency rations at 3:00am. Alternating chores and Sims works out pretty good. Right now the new neighborhood's 2nd generation is busy having their kids. I'll play through a pregnancy, then go clean. I run through a cd and dance around dusting and sweeping. When the cd is over I come in here and play the next pregnancy to birth. This current lot is rather given to twins. As each birth gets going I squinch up my face waiting to find out if another set of twins is on the way. Those twins are exhausting to play! Especially during infancy. With this neighborhood I'm shooting for zero population growth. If the couple plops out a set of twins on their first go-round then that's it. That's all the kids they get. I may have to add fresh blood later on, but I learned with my last neighborhood that irresponsible breeding leads to VERY crowded houses and forces all the other families to have a passel of kids too. Otherwise the in-breeding gets scary. By the 3rd generation the whole thing becomes a nightmare. There's something like 48 households in that neighborhood and 70% of them are Johansens. Maureen called today. Her brother is convinced someone laid the malocchio (the evil eye) on him. Maureen wanted to know if I knew how to get rid of it. Of course I know how to get rid of the evil eye. What kind of gypsy would I be if I didn't? However, Mo Bro's problem isn't the evil eye, his problem is he's walking the wrong path. If you keep stepping in tiger pits then you change direction. Duh. But there's no talking to Mo Bro, the malooch is upon him and his luck will never change until it's been taken off. See, this is where witching gets sticky. I want to help. I know that a counter-curse would help Mo Bro psychologically. He'd believe he was free and would credit any positive life changes to being rid of the malooch. All well and good. Where's the harm? I'll tell you, doing a counter-curse on Mo Bro is the same as a surgeon knowingly removing a healthy appendix. It's unethical. You don't dick around with this stuff! What you put out comes back! Say I do a 'palliative' counter-curse, the greater good is served by giving Mo Bro some relief and the hope of a luckier future blah blah blah. Sure. And what happens to me down the road? Someone bullshits me and I buy it and end up being a fool. Is this philosophy self-serving? You betcha. But it also helps with temptation. I'm not naturally pure of heart. God knows there've been plenty of times the desire to send some mischief (or worse) someone's way has been nearly overwhelming. It's only the surety that evil comes to those who evil do that keeps me from the dark side. Or perhaps I want to tweak things a little to make it go my way. Uh uh. Bad news. No good ever comes from fixing the race. I learned this the hard way. William Wyman Jacobs knew what he was talking about when he wrote The Monkey's Paw. Trust me. Anyhow, this doesn't help me with Mo Bro. After much thought I decided to make him a luck pocket. I can do this with a clear conscience. The guy could use a break. Giving someone a talisman for good fortune is not the same as doing unnecessary spell work. Stop! I know you're going to ask. I don't usually give recipes, but this time I'll make an exception. Only this once though. If I start getting hit up for love potions, voodoo dolls and next week's lotto numbers I will have to get jiggy on your asses. You do not want to piss off a peri-menopausal witch. Seriously, you don't. Luck Pockets: Make a small (3"x3") cloth bag with a drawstring opening at the top. I make mine from velvet. You use what speaks to you. I've seen luck pockets in everything from calico to leather. It must be sewn by hand no matter what you make it from, so choose wisely. When you've made the pocket thread it with a red drawstring. Again, use what you think works. Ribbon, braided embroidery floss, yarn. You have to go with your gut instinct when it comes to kitchen witchery. What goes inside: A pebble drawn from running water. Assemble everything and stuff the bag. You can put the organics in a small ziplock, it doesn't hurt anything and it's tidier. Pull the drawstring closed and tie it loosely. Tell the recipient to put something only they know about inside. Something personal, a poem, fingernail clippings, a photograph. In doing so the pocket becomes uniquely theirs. Then either they carry it with them or put it in a place where it can be held every day. Next to the bed, in the medicine cabinet, by their vitamins, it's important that the pocket be touched at least once a day. That's it. The recipe for luck pockets. There's no specific chants, but while you're sewing and gathering all the stuff it's vital that you think good things. You want to draw as much positive energy into it as you can. May fortune smile upon you, ~LA
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