Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

I was in 2nd Lifetoday, and did two readings for myself for Jenny. The first, which used "Oracle Cards" was: WAIT, YES (to one's intuition), and EXPLORE OPTIONS. the second, which used Karma Cards read: South Node in Libra in 5th House, which translates to: Remember relationships with the trust of a child; Reconsider the beauty of fun, romance and making art; Now is NOT the time to do it with your partners, and do it dramatically.

Er, I must be really centred. The above confirms what I've been feeling. In fact, I've almost fel "drunk" at 2nd Life today. Jackie says that my chakras are probably all clear and balanced. Probably (sigh-upwardly)...

Yesterday started out OK at first.

I left home an hour early in order to get some retreads for my front types on the Rauni (my car). I expected to have to leave the car at the shop and pick it up after readings at 2nd Life. As it was, I got them done in under 30 minutes and for only $60. THey're not new, but they will be good enough to pass rego. I even got into the shop slightly early.

Only had one reading but on the whole it was a good day at the shop. Bugsy came in to pose for the "F2M" (Heirophant) card in my Tarot deck, and I got Jackie (who's managing the place while Liz is on holidays) to pose for the "Gatekeep" card (The Magician). Then things got weird.

I was talking to Jackie about her reading and working in the shop (we both know this is coming) and when she said that she'd be reading, but not at this location (both of us expect Liz to move to a better location) the curtains to the hallway fell down! They were only held up by pressure on an old cardboard roll, but that system works. We blamed it on the "ghost" that's supposed to be in the shop. Actually, there are supposed to be two - a young girl and an older boy. The young girl one has played games with all of us, though mostly hiding and then returning stuff that we then go and look for.

The two best examples of this:

• Liz went next door for 3 minutes, and though she kept an eye on the shop via a joint window and saw no one entering it (and there was no one else in there), returned to find a book on Buddhism (and not one of hers) placed on the front counter.
• Once when I was wetting up for the day, I noticed my "Laura" sign was on the door to the "practioner's room" (where Sandra and I practice), then when I walked past next it was gone. After a long look (and one in which Liz also checked the door) it was nowhere to be found, and then appeared again on the door!

Needless to say, most times this happens, it's pretty harmless. But yesterday, well...

I left the shop late, walked calmly to my car (which was parked at THE STORE's multistory carpark) and promptly discovered that I didn't have me keys - any of them! Now I'd deliberately checked that they were in my bag before I left the shop, but they weren't on me when I got to my car. I double checked my bag and they were nowhere to be found. I stashed all my gear (Tarot case, drawing equipment and shoulder bag) under the car and walked back to the shop, carefully checking where I'd walked.

No keys.

I got to the shop and it was shut. I knocked on the door for about a minute but no reply7, and the lights were out, so I guessed that Jackie had already left. I went back to the car, got my gear and made for the nearest bus stop. I caught a bus to Civic Railway station but had just missed one train, so I went to "The Haven" and got a burger to eat. Then back to the station and I caugfht a train to Cardiff Station, and waited for a bus to Glendale.

Had a weird conversation with a disabled and elderly couple at the bus stop, who talked about Barnsley, weren't waiting for a bus themselves (they were up there so that one of them could smoke) and then proceeded to miss the train to Broadmeadow which they were waiting for! Eventually the bus came and I was able to get as far as Glendale. I started walking home from there, and constantly pearing over my shoulder for a Sugar Valley Bus which may or may not have come along (I wasn't sure of the times). I got just past Edgeworth and then too some shots of a gate and fence for the "Gatekeeper" card, and promptly missed the bus as it went past! Undeterred, I walked the remaining 3 km, taking shortcuts via a couple of bush tracks, which I knew really well.

I'd left 2nd Life about 5:05pm, and finally got home about 8:45pm, after walking about 6 km with a heavy load. I felt buggered as I staggered in the back gate, and Pegaus was all over me with jumps and kisses. My house keys were on the same bunch as the car keys, so I had to sneek in via Peggy's doggy door. As I started the phone started ringing and I urgently tried to get through (must lose weight). See, I had a luggage tag with my name and phone number on the key cluster, so it could have been someone phoning to say they found them. Only it stopped just before I picked up!

I opened the front door from the inside, and went back out and fed the pets. Then I came back in and dialled * 10 # to call back the last dialler. It'd been a wrong number. Gasp. After a toilet break and some fruit juice, I phoned Jackies home number (lucky I had her business card at home) and found out what had happened. She hadn't left the shop until 6:30pm, but had been in the back counting the day's takings. She said she never heard me knocking, so either:you can't while you're in the back; I got there too late; or the "ghost" was still playing a trick on me (you stinker!). Jackie will check the shop today for the keys.

After the call, I collapsed in front of the TV, watched Angel and Buffy episodes, and fall fast asleep. This morning I caught the bus to the uni, as I haaad business here for most of the day. Later I'll phone Jackie and if she's found the keys, travel to the shop and collect them. If they're not there, well I'm not sure what I'll do.

I will do two things after this, though:

1. Get duplicates of important keys cut, and stash them somewhere at home.
2. Maybe, for the first time, get a mobile phone.

A mobile phone wouldn't have helped much in this instance, as I only had Jackie's number at home anyway, but over the last month there's been a number of occassions where having one would have been very handy. Until now, I've been afraid to get one, because I thought I'd spend too much on calls.

Maybe though, if I get a pre-paid one, tghat won't be a problem, and I can take it out with me on trips to Sydney and other times as well. We'll see I guess.

Odd though - I feel very very tired right now (and stink with sweat to high heaven) and my right leg and foot (which I'd already stubbed on a concrete flagstone a couple of days ago) hurts a lot. But I don't feel down about this. It just happened, is all.