October is Here with Mercury Retrograde

Property of Snowberry

I don't want to use the word "hectic" to describe anything about my day or how I feel things going on. It'sthe word that keeps popping up in my head, and it seems like an easy word to describe things, but I want to free myself from it and find the underlying rhythm in everything. Things happen for a purpose and in a long line of cause-consequence chain.

It's not late, but I soon must be turning to sleep, which I love, because - really - my bed is amazing. It is. It's soft, comfy, spacious (for one person), warm but also deliciously chill. I finished my dinner with a glass of Merlot from a Chilean winehouse, I live in my own house, started decorating for Halloween, it's October and I had an amazing idea to present tomorrow for my thesis tutor. And - unlike it happens with other of my classmates, I have regular meetings with my tutor and I totally love him.

Today I made myself a Hungarian dish for lunch, and I still had some chicken soup left over, so I had a two course meal (no desert as I already ate all my apple pie). As I prepared the dish, I found myself so happy, and specially so happy to be me. Have you ever felt like that? I was happy I am me, and I was making myself a dish I love and that each day I eat food I love, and I don't have to conform. I can have my full meal, with an entry soup and a main course, and sometimes also a desert (not always because even though I may have desert, I'm too full to keep eating), and I can have food made in the oven!

I had some groceries delievered, and I had oranges and Granny Smith apples. Granny Smith! Nobody else likes green apples and I don't have to compromise! What a wonderful sensation! I even thought about making another apple pie, which I may or may not do. The sky is the limit.

I wore rings today on my fingers, and my hair loose. And it felt great! There is something in this thing, of me finding myself, giving into my desires, that makes me happy, liberates me and so I find myself being more inspired. I did great advances at one of my projects at my job, and I didn't cover for a lazy coworker. I remained honest and did my best, and my best was acually quite good.

And I had an idea that might be a breakthrough for my Master's Thesis! Oh, I hope it works out.

Money is a bit tight now, as I strive to save and I had some of my household stock running low, but I'm still keeping an eye on the goal. I might end up going to the beach with my Honduran classmates, but one way or the other, I intend to take some vacations in the beginning of November.

October is not only my witchy month. but also my creative month. And I feel it. Even with the Mercury Retrograde, I feel the inspiration and the great ideas coming.

Happy Halloween and Blessed Samhain!

Finally, my  favorite day of the year, Halloween!! I had plans to spend the day with my friends, baking all sorts of goodies, but that couldn't be done since one of the girls had to cancel on us. But things didn't fell throught as Laura and I went out to the movies. We had gone a couple of weeks ago to watch The Crimson Peak, and then we saw the trailer for The Last Witch Hunter, so we went to see that one. Hell, that was bad. Not too bad, mind you, but it wasn't a good movie at all. The plot was too predictable, and it had such a "Fast and Furious" flavour to it, you nearly expected Paul Walker to appear any minute on he screen. It had every heroe-antiheroe cliché all wrapped into one. I nearly fell asleep on it. Twice! But Lau and I had a great time, and that's what matters.

This year Halloween has been quite wonderful, with a lot of support from a lot of people I didn't ever expect to be so involved in it.There have been a few negative notes as well, though not related with the Halloween or Samhain and honestly, from a part from which I haven't been expecting anything good. I'm thinking this might be my cue to move on, get away from this place from which I can't expect anything good anymore. As the wheel of the year turns, a cycle is completed and the veil thins for us o glimpse through it into the world of spirits. What wisdom can we learn from them? Maybe one that says: "Move On".

Weekend of Art

It's a really sunny weekend, with a gentle breeze and nice Decemberish kind of feel to it. I mean "tropical December", which is what would be something like March-April in Europe, in those cases when the weather behaves properly and you get that nice little sunny day that feels good on the skin, but you still put on a light sweater and pack an umbrella. Actually on Friday someone commented somewhere - could be on Twitter for all I remember - that the day was very Christmas-like. This is our winter season, the deepest of our winter and it should be pouring like hell, and though we have had some of that too, it does actually look like we are getting ready to transition from rainy season to dry season.

Though I love rain, this weather is fantastic right now for doing laudry - which I am doing now! - but also for goint out to the backyard and do some art with my oldest nephew. We carved a pumpkin yesterday - okay, I carved it, and gutted it because he declared that he wouldn't go anywhere near that "yucky thing" we pulled out of the pumpkin - which ended up real nice - if I may say so. For today morning, however, we had to take it out to the backyard and hose it down because it was covered in ants. That didn't happen last Halloween. The pumpkin will now stay outside where any ant attack won't bother us inside the house, and where any pumpkin catching on fire wouldn't bother us either. At least not me. Yes, this pumpkin looks great, nice and plum, but it's a bit too low, so the candle in it soon starts burning the top of it. I still have one other pumpkin for carving, and since that one doesn't have a nice sticking out chunk, I might leave it with an open top (top-less? ^_^) so that it can be lighted up without risking catching on fire.

So, as the freshly hosed pumpkin was out in the nice Decemberish sun drying up, my nephew and I decided to go outside and do some art. So we opened the Box of Art and fished out water colors, trays for mixing colors, brushes and started doing some magic. He was really having fun with the mixing, enjoying how putting together two colors did yield a third one as if by magic. Making orange, purple, brown, pink...it was chromatic alchemy for him. We ripped out two pages from a new sketching pad - my bigger than the one we had been using so far, and after having fun discovering colors, we sat down creating something fun.

I was planning on making a small bag for myself, to replace the small purple Hello Kitty bag I left in Hungary - it's a small, simple tote bag I used for carrying things around like lunch and such - but haven't got to it yet. It's not supposed to be a difficult project - and come on, I've already made once a yoga mat bag! - but haven't started my little tote just yet. I haven't gotten any further with my letters, though I have already balled up several pages as none of my startings really please me. Ah mind! Maybe I should just take a moment in the moonlight to meditate, clear my head out, art up a little, maybe go back to my knitting, and then I'll be ready to pick up on things and roll with them.

Weekends, they can be wonderful!

Long Weekend with Kids

Taking advantage of the long weekend thanks to the moved Discovery of America (it's actually on October 12th), my eldest nephew asked his parents to let him stay with us from yesterday to today. He loves staying with his grandparents, and has been staying with us from time to time since he was little. His behavior has improved greatly since he was a child. He has become a very nice, very gentle little guy.

When my brother and his family came over for lunch yesterday, I used the chance to talk with my sister-in-law about our Halloween plans for the children. It's going to happen on the Sunday before Halloween actually, so we have enough time to enjoy the carving of the pumpkin, and the decorating of chocolate cupcakes with all sorts of Halloween motives. We talked in lenght about the matter, and my eldest nephew overheard us, which got his attention. Since he loves to do art - and has been asking me for several weekends now to do art with him - he was now interested in making Halloween arts, painting haunted houses and ghosts. ^_^ Indeed Halloween is more of a children's holiday than that of adults, but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy it just as much.

Spending a weekend with children is quite demanding. My nephew is a real angel now, a joy to be with, and the older he gets the more and more I enjoy his company. I can honestly say that he is a fabulous person, smart, interesting and with cultural inclinations, which is lovely in a world as cybernetic, instant and shallow as the one we live in now. Still, though he's perfectly capable of looking after himself, he's not here to be alone, he's here to spend time with us, and that means that we are supposed to spend it with him. And so we do, and no matter how much we enjoy his staying here, spending time with him means that we take time from our other plans. It means also that we should try and match his energy, and people our age are definitivelly not up to match the energy of a healthy, happy, active 7-year old boy. ^_^ Good thing he can be patient with us.

We shall see next time.

(Sorry, I was supposed to write about the Discovery of America holiday, but not right now.)

Decorating for October

Wow, it's nearly the middle of the month (okay, it IS the middle of the Month) and I hadn't made my favorite month of the year, my favorite holiday of the year be properly displayed in my blog. Well, that had to be fixed, and so, today, I just did that. So what do you think? ^_^

No, I won't go on talking about Halloween or Samhain right now and what it means to me. You'll have to wait for that post until the end of the month.

October is also known as the month of Breast Cancer Awareness. I haven't dealt much with that topic basically because I don't know much about it. I did partake in runs - last year, not this year - and was interested in all the information about how to   detect Breast Cancer in its early stages when it still can be treated. This year, how ever, I kinda fell off this wagon.

This year I've been concerned with other matters, namely colors. I'm two months into being back in Costa Rica and my clothes are not nearly enough anymore. I'm thinking about making myself trousers, since I have looked up and down and I can't find any pants in the style I like. I had more luck in this sense in Hungary, but in here it seems that most stores cater only to the sluts. My clothes hunting has been thus concentrate on tops. This is also a tricky question, because not everything available was to my liking. First of all, they can't be synthetic, so all polyester is out of the question. Then it has to be something I can wear at the office, so sadly most of the Hindi clothes are also out of the question (sad, because that's usually my best and most favorite source of clothes). Then it had to be only on the colors I'm lacking currently, which are pink, orange, yellow, violet, purple and ivory. I had red and blue in my list too (yes, blue!), but those got covered. Well, for some reason, when you are looking for a particular color, either all you find isn't in your size, or isn't in the style you want, or there isn't any at all. Yesterday I had the chance - due to a class I had in San Pedro - to go to LOB, a store that I love and adore but haven't visited in a while because it's rather out of my way. They had wonderful clothes in orange, brick orange and mustard yellow - no pink, purple, violet or ivory - and though I loved them, the yellows were a bit too transparent for my liking and clothes were in general too snug, and I don't like snug. So after trying on eight tops - one of which was just fabulous, with just the right hint of sassy on the sleeves, but which made me look like I had no waist at all, and I have - I came out of my favorite store with nothing.

I've checked Naf Naf, MNG (a red and a beige/brown), Zara (green - it was a MUST - and a white/blue), Benetton, Siman, Rosabal, GEF (a red and a blue), LOB, and a myriad of smaller boutiques, and yet nothing. It's totally disheartening. Three malls covered and only six tops! Well, there are still a couple of boutiques to check out, a Sweaters and a Claiso among them, so we shall see how this turns out later on. Wish me luck!

Blessed Samhain!

And finally this is my favorite holiday of the year: Halloween is here! ^_^ I've carved my pumpkin, baked my pumpkin pie, picked up some Halloween decoration (cauldrons and jack-o-lanterns), put out my plastic glow-in-the-dark ghost, wore my Halloween sweater (orange with coal stripes) and put candy on a round CD holder's top for the kids of the office. Completed the whole thing with listening to Witches BrewHaHa Halloween Special (WBHHfm), sent out greetings on the social networks and sms. The usual drill.

Truth to be told, I haven't prepared anything particularly for Samhain, even though it is the major Pagan Celebration - from what I gather. Alix was supposed to come up with something, but I haven't received as much as a peep about whether something will be done, shall I bring something, where, when and how will be done and so. If nothing, I was thinking anyways to make a small meditation ritual, the same way I did it for Mabon. (And right now Alix sent me an e-mail telling me she's out buying the stuff for Samhain.)

This celebration marks the Third Harvest of the year, your last bounty and starts the period of meditation, introspection, peace and poundering. Here you gather up and prepare to live from what you have earned. The darkest part of the year starts, which for me means the most stable, as night is usually quite similar through it's all its extent, showing none of the regular changes daytime naturally display. This is a great moment to gather your harvest, the last fruits of your labor and think about what you have accomplished, the meaning of it, and look forward to live from it. If your work's harvest has been good, and you can truly appreciate it, your time of peace and meditation - your winter - will be pleasant, but if your work hasn't been as good as it could have been, or you have neglected to properly appreciate your harvest, what you have accomplished, you will spend a bitter winter.

Many are prone to undervalue their job and their effort, and nothing they do seems good enough. Other on the other hand, seek to escape work and rather live out of what they can snitch from others. What last harvest do they have, when the harvest comes only from your own fields? How a winter will be spent when you sneer at your labor's result or if there's no harvest to live on, for you have left your fields plain and instead lived out of what you could steal from the fields of others, scavenging like carrion creatures.

This celebration is a good moment to take a moment and give ourselves a few slaps on the back, smile and make determinations about what would we want to achieve for the next year and the next Harvest.

Preparing for My Favorite Holiday

There's still over two week for Halloween - my favorite holiday of the year, even if we don't get it off at the office - and I'm slowly preparing to it. I've already made a few small purchases - two small plastic jack-o-lanterns and two lovely plastic cauldrons filled with candy and plastic spider rings that look so delightfully creepy, you can rest assured I would make people scream at the office by wearing them and letting them know that a huge, fat spider is walking on my hand. ^_^ I also plan to find a way to decorate Sookie, bring the Halloween to her too, though I bet plenty of people think that the dreamcatcher I've pending from the rear view mirror is creepy enough.

I've also spotted a place where I can get my lovely pawns on a medium size pumpkin for carking purposes. This actually happened yesterday, when - for the first time ever - I took the insane idea of taking Sookie out to run a few errands in the city. Yes, a Saturday, right around 11 o'clock, when the city is the bussiest - because there's nothing like Heredia on a Saturday morning-noon - and the traffic is so dense, the whole city transforms into a big, smoggy parking lot. Yet I did it becace it happens to be one of the rainiest, most freakiest days of the year. Rainy season's poster-day, plus some tornado and what-not has brought my beloved rainy mornings and rainy days and all cool and chilly... with the downside of lots of rain, getting wet every step of the way, and your laundry not getting dry all week. It's a bitch. I mean, I ACTUALLY had to iron all of my clothes - including jeans and t-shirts, which I never-EVER iron - to get them to dry.

However I've got an e-mail from my shipping company, that my Colts stuff was finally on the counter (and I had to pay for their services around 50% of what I paid for the stuff itself, which wasn't pleasing me at all), so I drove there. The place is in a particular location at a commercial center that looks onto a really bussy street. Coming out of there was going to be a real test. It seems however, that God was really on my side as I actually got out of there quite fast and easily. I didn't need to wait much for my stuff, and then though the road was packed to capacity and the cars weren't moving at all, and I actually needed to cross the line in front of me to get into the other line (not just melt into the flow), all I had to do was to roll down my window, smile pretty and quite soon a guy stopped and signaled me to go. The priviledge of being a woman. ^_^

From there I had to go to the supermarket to pick up a few things I've written up on a list. Some beverages, bread, paper handkerchiefs (it's flu season) and some cold medicine. Yeah, like that was going to be the only thing I would buy. Not so lucky. I was quickly pulled towards the veggies, because "hey, I shall cook something for next week to take to the office" (and lets not talk about the fact that Monday is a holiday), so I went to the veggies and got myself some mushrooms, zuccini (because it really seems that the only thing I think about when it comes to veggies is zuccini. Really, could someone please, PLEASE give me a veggie cookbook for Christmas so MAYBE I get a hint about how to actually use and incorporate other veggies in my diet?), some potatoes, some apples, chives... and there they were: The Pumpkins. Halloween pumpkins are not all that common here, and actually the first Halloween pumpkin I saw was the one Alix, her husband, her daughter and I carved last year, so finding them there, just waiting was a wonderful revelation. Now I can actually get my own pumpkin and carve it at home! And of course gut it and scrap it and make pumpkin pie from the scrapping!

There were smaller pumpkins too, but I'm not sure I'll be skilled enough to carve those too, though it would be fun to carve a small one and take it to the office. If it could safely house a tiny votive candle inside it would be a success! Not like anyone at the office cares for Halloween, but I'm a total sucker for the holiday! (Like you can't tell that already).

Also, as you can imagine, I also plan to somewhat do a Samhain celebration in the evening. In good theory we'll celebrate it again at Alix' place and this time it will be her time to preside the ceremony. However not much has been said, and it seems to me that there are big chances that she won't even be available for that day. (The first time we gathered for a celebration was for Lughasadh, where I was asked to preside and it came out really whacky.) However I'd like to plan and have my own - shall we call it Solitary - ceremony too, to meditate a little about the meaning of the Third Harvest and what it brings to my life, what it has summoned, what it has given and what's to come. It's important as these days feel indeed final, and I can't stop thinking with a certain, ethereal feel of peace, that this is my last October here.

For this purpose I have yet to read and yet to prepare, though I've already prepared a script for the calling of the corners that sits well with me, as I have paired it with my Christianity, seeing in each element an element related to God. This I wish to try out for the new start.

I must say that I'm feeling quite happy and accomplished. I'm proud at the resilence I proved with the thesis, at the strenght both Mile and I had, the determination, the supporting to get this through and conquer our goal. I feel it as a lesson that teaches us that though things ahead might seem hard and impossible, by persevering and keeping our eyes on our goal, by pushing, by not letting go and finding the right way, we can and will always succeed. It tought us also that God is there, that miracles do happen and the impossible becomes possible when the time is right and the star align for the purpose. I feel at peace and much calmer, more focused, centered in myself. Obstacles do not frighten me as I know there's always a way to reach to them.

This Harvest has brought me lessons, has brought me yoga, peace, determination, the closing of many cycles and forethoughts for the cycles to come.

Pride as a Virtue

It seemed up until a few days ago, that I would manage to write one post per day. It would have been nice to do so, to add up 31 posts for October, and round up, pair up a month with a number signaling my favorite celebration: Halloween. Before you ask, no I haven't started my planning and rounding up for Halloween/Samhain yet. According to plans, Alix shall "lead circle" for Samhain, if we actually decide to keep up this strange decision to celebrate in a Pagan-ish way the cycle of the year, so it's not like I must be working on it, planning and coordination - no matter how poorly the end result comes up - though most likely I would end up doing something small and private - Solitary Witch like - just like I did in Mabon (though I didn't took pictures of that).

In the past days, the days I didn't post a thing, I took part of two activities that made me think about pride in a very positive way, a way that should be kept and nurtured inside everybody's heart.

On Friday seven of my coworkers and I went to a work tour to know an Eolic Power Plant and a Hidroelectric Power Plant. Our company - which is a State Owned Company - started originally working on the energy sector, aiming for many years to bring power to every corner of the country at affordable prices. The ideal back then was to work hard and do the best to ensure the country could grow and develop. The company gave jobs and made sure to have the best professionals in every area, sending them to study, giving them chances to be better and serve better the country. Years after the company also took care of the telecommunications sector, also seeking actively to interconnect the whole country, ensuring low prices and access to phones to everybody. The level of penetration in both sectors was quite high, earning the country the first place in electrification, and I believe telecommunication reach in Latin America. (Or so we have been told.)

With the years, many upper tiers got corrupted and soon we found our labor force filled with people more interested in pulling personal benefit, sucking the blood of the company for the sake of their own pocket, than that of the country. Service degraded, poor choices were made, elitism sneaked into our ranks, with many middle and high management elements too quick to outcast the poorer segments of the country in favor of big companies, ready to give away important chunks of service and price, not thinking twice before fucking up the little people. The phrase "they don't make us so much money, they can go to anyone else" has been said more time than I'd like to recall.

On Friday, however, we were packed into a small mini bus and drove to the far West province of the country, Guanacaste, where in Tilarán and Sandillal we've got the chance to see an Eolic Power Plant (Tejona) and a Hidroelectric Power Plant (Sandillal). Aside from the tremendously poor planning and evident adjust-as-we-go system, it struck me how so far from the putrid higher management spheres, there were people still living the ideal, plausible proud of wearing the uniform, eyes filled with stars of love and pride when looking at the logo of the company. It got to me how these simple engineers, working in far away locations, among machines, staring intently at control panels, still had that unadulterated pride of being part of a force that's there to serve the country. They may not make as much as any of those working where I do, and yet they relate to their jobs, they would give their lives and souls to serve the country. In they lived the kind of pride many have forgotten, with their minds clouded by greed, juicy paychecks, big titles, work paid trips to anywhere in the planet, and the handshake from corrupted politicians who wish to break the company to pieces and give it away to their larger campaing contributors.

It made me think that Pride isn't a capital sin, but the sin is to forget pride, to outcast it and thus be open to sell out one's soul for money, for greed, forgetting the noble ideas that can make you grow by serving your country.

A second type of pride I learned of was the pride of being able to help. It happened on Saturday, when a former coworker of mine, Andy, and her sister, Cucha, took part of a walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. It was particularly meaningfull, because Andy and I have very different political backgrounds and positions: me more "State oriented", she definitivelly more "liberal", and yet it came the day she and I walked for a common cause, and donated for a common cause. Without any discussing, fight picking or anything (we never got into arguments anyway), we took part of a huge Pink Force, among men and women proudly sporting pink ribbons and pink t-shirts, surrounded by people who was there for a family member, a friend, and acquintance or simply for the world, in an effort to do something to help, to bring awareness about this illness and others like it.

Here differences went up in the thin air, made smoke and it didn't matter if you were against or in favor of this or that, didn't matter if you were of this or that religion, of this or that sexual orientation, poor or rich, healthy or sick, strong or weak, fit or a potato couch, what it mattered was that you were there, helping to bring a message to the world, to your fellow citizens, donating time, effort or money - as little or as much - to help those in need, to contribute with the recovery of those stricken with the illness and wishing them for the depths of your heart, without knowing them, to be better. You walked there in support, showing respect and sharing the pride of those who survived and made it, infusing your life strenght from close and from far, to those who are still in the battle. They are not alone and we, a big pink sea, came together to send them our thoughts and positive energy to encourage them to defeat the illness and soon walk with us.

This is Pride, and this isn't a sin. It's the pride of being helpful, of sharing, of doing something for others, it's the pride that doesn't seek to raise above others, but to pull others along, infect them with the feel and the happiness and move them to be part of a greater good.

Be Proud. It's a Virtue.

Our Halloween

First of all, I missed the game between the Steelers and the Saints. Go figure. I was lining up so much for it, I made arrangements to watch it, and at the end, I didn't see it. (I was looking for it on the wrong channel.) Did see some Vikings against Patriots, and I was surprised to see Favre play, as I was sure he was retired or so. I mean, wasn't the whole shebang in the game against the Packers about that?

Anyway, so I missed a game (at least it wasn't a Colt's game), but still I had a FABULOUS time with my friends. And when I say fabulous, I mean it was a hoot!

First of all, I must say that my gingerbread cookie pilot test was an absolute success. After last year's cookie fiasco, I took precautions trying out the recipe before hand, and since I was doing the test this weekend, it was only fair that I would make Halloween gingerbread cookies. Thus the Jack heads. The recipe is easy to make, and all you need is to be able to get all the ingredients, which I'm afraid, won't be so easy outside the American Continent. Why? Because the recipe requires molasses, and there were the sugar comes from some sort of root (Sugar beet) the possibility of getting your hands on good ol' molasses (sugar cane syrup) is near to impossible. Since Kari and I will be preparing the cookies in Hungary, where the Sugra beet reigns, the possibility of getting some molasses can endanger the whole project, specially because I haven't found a single recipe that seems doable (sorry Emeril Lagasse) and doesn't require this particular ingredient. Naturally, were I to find teh recipe, I'll have to test it before hand.

Anyway, I've got my cookies, watched the time of baking - all very scientifically - and then separated two batches: a big one for home and for my brother to take with himself (my older nephew got addicted on the spot with the cookies) and a smaller batch which I took with myself for my friends. The success of the cookies there was also blatant.

My friend Alix and I had decided from earlier, to celebrate Halloween together, since here there isn't much of a Halloween celebration, particularly with a lot of wackos already decorating their cubbies and houses with Christmas motives. Dude, really. So, Alix and I, the two witches, decided to celebrate our witchy day. (I totally forgot to send my customary message to all my girlfriends, but it isn't every year that you have such a cool celebration.) The celebration was all organized around The Carving of the Pumpkin. Alix and her hubby got this perfect pumpkin at a local store, something that wasn't really seen eariler before down here, in the Tropic of Cancer, and with the guide of hours and hours of Internet research, the techniques and tricks were mastered - theoretically -  and now the practival part of the game was to be implemented.

Using a whiteboard pen - trust me, you wanna do it, you take a whiteboard pen, otherwise you could ruin your pumpkin - we made all the markings on the victim pumpkin. Eyes, nose, mouth and lobotomy hole. Now, if you have never carved a pumpkin, you must know that it's freaking hard, and I mean FREAKING hard. It puts up a decent fight. The lobotomy was first, so we tackled the top carefully cutting around. The technique that proved efficient was to dip the knife and pull it out, then dip again. Once we had it all around knifed, we put it in again and this time moved the knife around, being so much easier to cut.

Once the top was off, we gutted the pumpkin, which again, was much harder than expected. Scrapping the seeds and the tendrils wasn't kids' play. Alix' daughter wanted to make pumpkin pie, thus she needed some pumpkin. It came handy, as so it happened that we needed to thin up the pumpkin's walls. Thus we scrapped some more before proceeding to poke out the eyes, nose and mouth. If you are a beginer in the carving business, you must take the following advise in consideration: design a face made out of straight lines. The traditional Jack-O-Lanterns are all made with straight lines, so start picking out a traditional face, and carve that. It's gonna look pretty and you won't have to sweat over the damned thing trying to carve a curve where neither the knife or the pumpkin cooperates.

Alix' daughter, Jo, gutting the pumpkin. Isn't she one cute little psycho-witch? ^_^

Alix' hubby, Jose, opening the skull of the pumpkin. 
See? Jo has an example to follow in psychomanship.

Once cleaned, to prevent oxidating, the pumpkin was thoroughly rubbed with cooking oil - inside, of course -  and then a votive candle was placed inside. The effect was to die for.

The Pumpkin has died, Hyne saves the Pumpkin!

Witchy Me and the Lit Pumpkin

Witchy Alix. If you see her around, do not buy her apples. I repeat, do not buy her apples!

 

Jack, in the Pumpkin.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! ^_^What can I say? This is ma favorite "holiday" even if it isn't celebrated here, nor I've ever been in a place where it were celebrated. I wanted to organized a common lunch with my coworkers yesterday to sort of celebrate it, or take it as an excuse for all of us to be mates, not only coworkers and feel good. The group wasn't game for it. Oh well, the spirits aren't the same for a while now.

My spirit didn't broke though, and since my coworkers wouldn't play nice and wouldn't participate in any friendly, bonding activity, I was left to my own devices. My own devices took me today to take a fun and resting day all for myself today... after the bank-tour.

My day started at 6:47 am when my boyfriend woke me up. Quick shower and my favorite cotton clothes: black gym pants, wide legs, black 3/4 sleeve shirt and grey dress wur no sleeves and a hoodie. What can I say? I love that outfit. Then I spoke to Kari over the Skype for less than an hour, and finally left on my bank tour. I was thinking about visiting Cynthia to give her a chance to talk about her boyfriend so she could get over him, but that plan went down the sewer as both Cyn and Rosario had plans. Hell, having kids, or kids&hubbie is a ticket for a boring, depressive, unsatisfying, grey, dull life. Hn, I should talk to Kari and tell him that marriage ain't a good idea. Waaaah~ they simply seem so... down.

Anyway, I ran my errands and then went to Paseo Las Flores. Damned if that commercial center looks bad. The movie section is going through remodelation, so it seemed the first part of my plans were doomed. I did want to go to the movies and watch "Gestación", a Costa Rican movie. So I went here and there, bought some colored tissue paper at the Home Depot to stack up my gift wrapping pool. I was going to buy an acrilic picture frame, but none of the ones I found there was right. I did pick up one, but when I was about to pay for it, I saw that it was chipped, so I gave it back.

I actually was looking for a pencase, a really small one that could hold a pen or two, for those times when I have to pack light my purse, but I don't want my pen rolling around the Universe inside there. Found none. At the end, since I had gone to a groceries store and bought there a tube of gumballs (because it had a Halloween Pumpkin on it, and I was desperately looking for a Halloween Pumpkin), I decided I'll reuse that one for light pencase. Then again... maybe not. Well, maybe I'll just crochet one for myself. Maybe use the uncapped plastic tube.

After the shopping and walking around, I've got hungry, so I went to score some food. I was thinking on something like a Subway soup or something, but the Food Court was packed to capacity, so no. Specially since I wanted to sit quietly and write in my journal. I ended up in Ichiban, where I tried a Soto Roll, which isn't so good, and an Orange Kiss, the first sweet sushi I've ever tasted.

The dessert looks lovely, but the rice paper that wraps the peach sushi sticks to the place to the point where you have to wrestle it off the place. Once you place it in your mouth, it seems to expland and holds up so well it makes it hard to chew and not choke on the piece. I took my sweet time, lagged with my Soto Roll and my Orange Kiss, a coke and then Club Soda. It felt good to have time to write in my journal, I had almost forgot the feeling of getting lost in pen and paper, scribbling words that won't be revealed to anyone else. It's amazing. It's the communion with oneself. A deep experience.

After that I went back to the movies just to make sure it was really closed, which would make it weird why were all the people at the mall. Well, it was working. Dirty, ugly, crammed but working, and they were showing the movie I wanted to see. So I got my ticket and then went to spend 1 hour 20 minutes while it started. I ended up in Librería Internacional, always a great place to be, and browsed around, mainly looking for a CD of Peregrino Gris. I've got the CD, and then bought also a book, "The Eye on Jade" by Diane Wei Liang, translated in Spanish. I know, I usually read only in English, French or Hungarian, but this time I wanted something to pass time, maybe some Vonnegut (which wasn't on supply), but I was looking mainly for a quick read, something to occupy myself while the movie started. The book seems good.

The movie was lovely. Simple, using commonplaces, and yet very enjoyable. Many people has critizice it for touching an overly worked topic: the teenager pregnancy, but I found the topic quite up to date. There were a few fairy-tale elements, but all in all the movie worked out magnificently. It was upsetting that some people were loud and constantly talked at the movie, but all in all it was a good experience.

This is what I needed. My head hurts a bit, my eyes, but I feel good. I look forward for the rest of the weekend, and getting my batteries recharged. ^_^

I Love Halloween

First of all, Happy Halloween to all my dear Witchy Friends out there! ^_^ May you all have a bewitching day, and get lots of candy and tricks. ^_~. I can already see the image in my head, of a funny gay situation:

"Treat of Trick!"

Answer No.1: "I take the trick."
Answer No. 2: "Ain't the same?"
Answer No. 3: "How about I treat the trick."
Answer No. 4: "Show me the trick and maybe I'll treat it."
Answer No.5: "I'm the trick."

Up to a few years, Halloween wasn't part of the Costa Rican traditions. I still remember when I was little that the kids of one family dressed up and ran up and down the streets screaming "Halloween! Halloween!" from the top of their lungs. There was no point in knocking doors and asking for treat-or-trick because nobody celebrated this festivity. The parents of these kids were with them and smiled, and we all thought that they had no shame. My mother frowned her nose at them and my father labeled them as "brainwashed by the yankees and making fools of themselves, as the yankees wanted them to". Well, okay, my dad has never thought anything nice of Americans and was convinced that Sesame Street and the Muppets were shows designed to program the minds of young kids to become their system's slaves.

Anyway, today only in a few neighbourhoods and in a few houses, kids can go asking for candy, but Halloween has been taken up mostly for partying. Pretty much all discos and bars are sold out, or charge insanely high entrance fares to partake in a costume-party.

Another thing I've always found wicked is that we have heard that some people in the U.S. go to work in costume. Yesterday he was Mr. Barry, but today, in Halloween, he's a Pirate (hopefully not in Somalia, Boosaase). Back then it was something unheard of, and just another think to pin on the "have-no-brain" yankees. Then, the call centers come, hire loads of young flesh into no-future positions, allienate them from their own environment... and they have Halloween with costumes worn at the office. Cowboys, ninjas, Sailor Moons and all sorts of... sorts, parade around in cubicles where normal-LOOKING people sat the day before, with headsets under their hats or carefully over tiaras, haloes, wigs, horns, antennas and other contraptions, while answering:

"Thank you for calling HP's Solution Center, how can I be of your assistance?"

If people could see them, they would scream:

"Holy Fuck! A black eyed, sexy leprechaun with Mexican accent wants to fix my computer, which I just hooked to the TV (instead of the monitor), broke the cup holder (CD Unit), or won't start even if I can see the plug because I'm holding it in my hand!"

So yes, we don't celebrate it.

Anyway, each year I send an SMS to all my girlfriends with a "Greetings on your day, Witch!", which I always get answered with laugher or a "Greetings to you too, Witch!". Today, has not been any different. I enjoyed sending the messages and then picking e-Cards on Hallmark for my friends and sending them all over the globe.

There are other things I love of Halloween, and particularly about the fantastic trio of these three days: Halloween, All Saints' Day (Samhaim) and the Day of the Dead. These days, probably due to my predisposition, I tend to be far more creative. The best of my poetry comes to me in these days, or around these days (though I forcefully defend my "title" as a prose writer, which I am, for I'm a very poor poetry writer, truth to be told), and so the plots for my stories, the solutions to knotted up stories and scenes just flow to me. They all, though, have kind of a "gothic" feeling to them, and they are stronger at night, but yet they make me feel better.

Today I feel like reading Ann Radcliffe... which can't be found in this Gaia forgotten land. Hn, and then people at my favotire bookstore ask why I don't buy more: because I can't find any other decent book to buy! I pretty much sniff up every good book I see, and some not so good, but please, please, I'd be happy to buy more if you'd just listen to me and bring the books I want to buy! And keep the influx of French books coming!

I tell you, Amazon.com is their death. There I find many of the books I like...

Change of Thought by Association. I dream with the day my favorite bookstore, which I visit at least once a week, will be in Hungary. With the thesis going on that day seems so close! I'm really, really burning for going there and live there... probably with no Halloween, even if the feeling and the flood of inspiration keeps coming to me, and whispering the most interesting stories and the words for verses filled with gloom.