As you can tell…

I haven’t yet decided which route I want to go for this blog.

In the meantime, I just had a fantastic, yet exhausting, weekend, training with the two groups that train at the dojo where I study Ninjutsu, under a teacher who came up from New York City to teach a special Friday-night-and-all-day-Saturday seminar.  He was really cool and really friendly (so were his wife, one of his students and her husband, who also came along), and he made sure we knew the door to his dojo would always be open for us if we were to go to New York.  Cool!

On a completely other front, I bought The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.  Now, I have a couple of vegan friends, and veganism had always seemed to me like a crazy, over the top, borderline unhealthy diet, due to the amount of supplements my friends had to take, and the constant calculations of “did I get such and such nutrient today?”, but Alicia’s book makes it sound so easy, and so healthy, even without said supplements (some things, like vitamin B12, can be incorporated through certain fermented foods, but she does suggest a supplement for it twice a week, just to make sure).  So, even though I am still transitioning to lacto-ovo vegetarianism, it has really inspired me and it’s even making me seriously consider eventually going vegan.  At least 80% vegan anyway.  Because it would be hard for my mother to understand why she would have to stock certain things like soy cheese and soy milk just for when I come to visit on weekends.  Although, I might have my own car as soon as next summer, so that would make it easy for me to pick some up on the way there and to bring the leftovers home, but yeah, I’m not there yet.

Since purchasing this book, I’ve been a bit more daring with the trying of new foods.  New foods consumed since purchasing the book: edamame at a sushi place (AWESOME, I found frozen edamame at my local grocery store, by mistake too, this week, so I might be buying that soon), kale (which I cooked myself, sautéed in a pan with a bit of olive oil, butter and garlic salt, YUM!), and sweet potato fries (I am obsessed with this last item, it’s the best side to a veggie dog in a folded up multigrain toast).

Revamp!!!

I just realized that between three blog accounts on here, one LiveJournal account and a Blogger account, I was stretching myself too thin!

So I’ve decided to revamp this place to make it all about my own personal growth.  I’ll be talking about my spirituality as well as my quest for healthier, happier living.

I’ll make it a goal to attempt to blog at least a few times a week, possibly make it with different subjects each time.  I’m not sure yet which format I wish to follow, or if I want to make it, say, with something about spirituality on certain days and something about my fitness progress on another day, with something about transitioning into a healthier, more plant-based diet on another day (and insert some ranting about my Selective Eating Disorder and Food Neophobia and how I’m pushing past that to discover new foods and dishes)?  I’m not sure.  I could make it a Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays thing, or be more random about it?  I don’t know yet, but I’ll be planning this thing and getting back to you, preferably by October 31st or November 1st, with a whole new format.

It’s a New Year (for us following a Celtic-based holiday calendar), so time for a reboot!

I only have about 5 minutes

Until I have to go back to work, but I just wanted to say that I got a new position at work… right in time for Harvest.  W00t!

It’s a bit more hours and a slightly higher hourly wage, so it’s much appreciated.  No more client contact (it’s a data entry position), and I like it muchly, so far, despite it being slightly repetitive.  Or, possibly, because it is repetitive.  I’m not sure yet.

I just saw the most beautiful blown glass dipping pens in a nearby metaphysical bookstore, and we wants the precious!  At $20 apiece (or so I saw), I can afford it next week, once I get paid.  Hopefully, there will be some left.  They even come with their own little inkwells/ink bottles!

I was also eyeing some of Isaac Bonewits’ books, mainly because I have never read his stuff, and was considering asking the manager if it would be possible to order some of Vivianne Crowley’s or Doreen Valiente’s writings.  I’m getting more and more into more academic/classic writings on Wicca and Paganism, which I felt were heavy texts before, and I’d like to start with those two esteemed ladies’ works.

What be new?

I got my Reiki Level 1 attunement on Saturday, and am just now starting to feel better from the physical detox symptoms.  I think things that didn’t help me cope with them was that I spent the following 24 hours caff’ing it up, so that, by Sunday evening, I was having a mild case of the sniffles, accompanied by a slightly sore throat and mild fever.  The fever came back last night, but not the other symptoms, and today, I’m energized, despite lack of sleep.

My knee is still non-functional to the point of not being able to participate in Ninjutsu class again this week.  Hopefully, I’ll be better for October.  However, I am better enough to start walking for exercise gradually.  I mean, I’m still slightly limping, but I still walk faster than 95% of people, completely painless.  Ironically, since pain has gone away (unless I move my leg a certain way), I haven’t had my usual knee pains that were predating my injury.

How I got here?

This morning, I walked to the bus stop in 10 degrees Celcius weather (sorry about the lack of Farenheit conversion, I don’t really have time to look it up… probably mid to high 40s?), and the crisp, cool air was so reminiscent of Autumn in Montreal (like late September) that I felt my blood rush through my system.  Cool air at any time in the day after the heat of summer always gives me that slight rush: “It’s Time!”

I started on this path (my early Wicca-inspired Pagan path, at the very least), in November 1998.  Almost 11 years ago.  And that was the type of weather (okay, maybe it was a little colder) that we were having.  Short days, cool weather, golden autumn-y sunshine… even the accoustics are different in cooler weather.  And when the wheel starts turning in that direction, I always walk a little prouder, shoulders back and head high, feeling a better connection with the Divine, and with the Universe, as well as with my Higher Self, or at least, what that connection is becoming.

This morning was no different, except it happened a little earlier in the season.  I felt the rush, the need to light candles and incense and WORK.  I haven’t seriously worked at home since initiation, I’m sad to say.  I have to make time that I don’t really have.

Oooh, by the way, come to think of it, I started feeling this rush last night, while I was making my dinner/cleaning my kitchen.  Between sleep, work, commuting and attempting to keep my apartment in order, I really need to get to work.

It is Time.

Sometimes, I drag my feet…

This is me, dragging my feet… *gestures towards the gaps in posts*  Haha…

I’ve been a bad blogger and a bad Wiccan and a bad Kunoichi and a whole bunch of things, recently.  I usually have a reason, bad or good, usually the weather (what the heck is wrong with it? Oh, right, global warming).

I’m having the blues, crying out of nowhere at night, at home.  Fun!  I want to blame it on my birth control prescription, which I have due to possibly suffering from endometriosis.  Isn’t it odd, though, that I only ever took the pill while I was single?  I mean, what sense does that make, right?

Office issues aside (and yes, there is a lot of crap happening at the moment), I still enjoy my work, meaning the position I was promoted to a year and a half ago, very much, most days.  I may be taking a diploma in web design starting at the latest in September 2010 (yay!), though I would rather try to get a BA in Religious Science or related topics, but hey, what can you do?

I don’t really talk about my days much because there usually isn’t much to say.  My life is that boring, I swear!

I haven’t posted since late march? Really?

Sorry about the lack of updates.

I am about to leave for my Ninjutsu training for tonight.  I will be spending all day Sunday at a hotel for a Ninjutsu seminar, and am supposed to be doing my orange belt demo next tuesday.  If you add to that the fact that I have taken up walking on a regular basis as exercise (I hope to eventually be able to go jogging/running), and am studying all I can about diet and how to eat right, I’ve been busy, busy, busy forging a healthier me.  I lost about 4 lbs so far, and then ballooned back up in a matter of days, then started losing again.   Which had me go “What the heck?”

Aside from that, I’ve been pretty inactive spiritually, but I might do the spiritual stuff in my end of day wind down, since I’m planning on doing the exercise stuff in the morning, except when I have Ninjutsu, which is in the evenings.

I have found a lovely area west of my neighbourhood, which is great for walks and runs.  It’s residential, with actual yards, and trees and mostly single homes instead of apartment buildings.  Or smaller apartment buildings, like 4 to 6 units.  It’s nice, but the people kind of stare at you as you walk/run by, a bit wide-eyed over someone actually exercising.  It’s funny.  But the birds singing and the leaves whispering in the breeze are worth the weird stares.  It has also been making me feel more connected to the land I live on than before.  It’s just a shame that the whole area east of me feels very sterile and unwelcoming.

Oooh boy…

Am I in for a lot of work, or what?

Okay, Beltane is around the corner, and my High Priestess has asked our coven to help lead the ritual.  There are a few French-speaking people in my group (including me), who would be more comfortable doing so if their parts were in French (excluding me, haha).

But since the semi-decision to do the thing bilingual has been sort of taken (it wasn’t a definite yes, just a suggestion that would be seriously considered), I have had this nagging gut feeling that there lacks proper, serious resources about Wicca and Paganism in French.

Oh, there’s the odd French translation of two of the Cunningham books lying around, but most of the stuff that is out there is… well… crap that’s written by a former tabloid journalist (at least, as far as the books available in Quebec go) who was fired from his former scandal rag job because he wrote a flat-out lying article about the separation of a band, who weren’t separating and sued the magazine because of that.  How nice.  Honestly, I’d never purchase his books, and the reader reviews I had from friends who purchased them were that they were crap.

Which has brought me to this point.  The French community might need something more than English books as reading non-fiction, informative texts might be a bit daunting, even to a person who is seasoned in reading fiction in English.  Especially when it talks about religion and spirituality.

So I may be starting an informative blog, all in French.  But I still need to think some more about it, and about how I want to go about it…

More later.

The dust is still settling.

Initiation was on 01 February.  I’m still unsure what has changed and what hasn’t.

I am registered with SparkPeople in order to have new, shiny tools to aid in the whole weight loss and getting fit thing.  I am not sure yet if I’ll like it better than Calorie Count (they seem to have less brand names, and I am not sure yet if they have some restaurant foods listed in their database), but one thing that was very interesting about them is their Meal Plans tools, along with a shopping list based on the coming week’s worth of foods!!!  YES!  That makes things easier for someone who never knows what to eat or what new things to try or how to plan the shopping accordingly!  I’m going to start using the Meal Planning tools next week, since I registered after I’d purchased my food for the week, but it’s there and I shall try using it next week.  I picked vegetarian options for the Meal Plan, which will make my planning of what to eat open to veggie stuff.

And this means I will be spending some time cooking.  Okay, I can deal with that.    And if something is unappealing on the meal plan, I’ll substitute other things.

Spiritually, I have Solitary Pathworking to work on.  S, my mentor, has told me not to fret too much over not having emailed her yet to set up a “Check-in date” with her.  She told me, let the dust fall, settle into your new groove, then let me know.  Also, she’s strongly advised me to start working on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram ASAP, because I never really did it before, and it needs doing, before I progress.  I need to do it daily (if possible) for two months in order to be ready by the time we try cool new things like Drawing Down the Moon or other such heavy energy channeling work.  And that’s not counting doing Three Cauldrons and Brighid’s Shield daily, which I haven’t done in awhile and do need to start working on again, since I’ve been feeling disconnected recently.

So here is me, about to go and sweep the floor, at least in the area where my altar is, and then, off to clean up at least the top of my altar to be ready to do some work tonight and tomorrow morning.  Tonight, I’ll focus on evening work, meditation and other, tomorrow, I’ll do the Three Cauldrons, Brighid’s Shield and the LBRP, before getting ready to go to work.  So up at 6:00AM, do some spiritual work, then off to get ready for the workday.

Oooh boy…

Work is currently insane.  We’re not too sure what went on, but since 2009 started officially, it’s been crazy.  Several calls on hold, long wait times, and lots and lots of new reservations being done.  Which means I constantly need to be pulled from my regular tasks to help with the data entry team.  Which also means that I’m so out of the loop that when I do work at my own assigned tasks, it takes me forever to do what I used to do in no time.

I have started drinking more teas instead of coffee, and more importantly, more water again.  I also bought a plethora of vegetables, both fresh and frozen, and will be cooking a whole bunch to eat with rice tomorrow for lunch, oh, and a breaded vegetarian chicken cutlet.

In the upcoming weeks, I am going to go through three initiations, if you want to call them that.  Tonight, I am doing my 9th Kyu demo (that’s to get my yellow belt).  On February 1st, I am getting Initiated in the tradition I’ve been training into for the past year.  And finally, on February 18th is my written exam in order to get my learner’s permit.  I will be a driver.  Even though I’m already 30!

On the spiritual level, it feels as though I am undergoing a gestation or a digestion period.  It’s sort of like I’m sitting on things, until Initiation.  I wish I was working more, but for some reason, it’s part of my back-pedaling process.