Author: Amy D Lux

Minimalism Is A Process

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In December 2015 my New Year’s Intention was to simplify my life. This sentiment was my only resolution that year. Well, let me tell you, simplifying was not simple at all. In fact, it got much more complicated before it simplified.
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Almost 5 years later and it is still my main objective, to simplify. 5 years ago I would have never have believed it would take me this long to shift my lifestyle. I didn’t realize my whole lifestyle would become scrutinized to such an extent in the process, but I am so happy it did.
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You see, my innate call to simplification was due to oversaturation and overstimulation. I had to first observe, then identify, then evaluate, in order to successfully eliminate. This began a process of unfolding, and of deep work yearned for by my soul.
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Now, I regularly re-prioritize. Choose what to delegate, what to let go, and what is worth holding onto. These are all practices, because they take practice. We don’t always get it right on the first try.
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Everytime I declutter it feels like such a release that it seems like there couldn’t possibly be any more to let go of. But every 4-6 weeks I evaluate what of my possessions has not been utilized, and I release them to someone that will actually use them.
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The best part of the journey is that it isn’t just belongings that are being evaluated. It’s relationships that don’t reciprocate. It’s ideologies that do more harm than good. It’s negative self talk that has long since expired. It’s committing to profound authenticity and refusing to hold a veil between you and your truest nature.
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Minimalism is a process. Enjoy the ride. ❤

TOGETHER! | ISSUE 2

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A B U N D A N C E

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Hello Beauties!

My recent social media fast worked wonders for my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It was both productive and restorative and I can’t wait to share my projects and insights with you through forthcoming posts. 

Today I want to talk about opening to abundance. I was inspired on this topic while walking my dog through the Oakland neighborhoods this afternoon. There is so much incredible plant life everywhere. The juxtaposition of the urban jungle meshed so intricately with the gorgeous flora thriving within this harsh environment always gets me p-u-m-p-e-d. I picked a few flowers that were poppin’ off to bring a little spark of joy to my minimalist abode and the word jumped into my heart: ABUNDANCE.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on my practice of habit stacking. One of the areas I’ve improved this is to do a moving meditation while walking my dog, and making the walks longer so we are getting more exercise as well. So that’s meditation, exercise, and taking care of my pup all in one. Triple Habit Stack! I open a 30 minute guided meditation on youtube, pop in my earbuds, and set out. I don’t watch the content, but rather just listen to the audio while taking in the sights on our stroll. I’ve been practicing this walking meditation for 30 minutes a day, but on the weekends when I have more time I’ve been doing an hour.

This has been infinitely fulfilling because my sweet pup, Venus Vega Dlux, aka VVDlux, aka Queen V, loves it and she is absolutely bursting with delight anytime we are moving and exploring. Plus, adding a 30 minute meditation to my day has been life altering. I am a busy body and have always been bad at sitting still, so incorporating a moving meditation has been incredibly rewarding, and entirely more realistic, for me.

In order for abundance to find us, we must first make space for it. Part of this entails letting go of things that don’t serve us, especially in the mental space. Letting go of a scarcity mentality is first and foremost. Fear is the birthplace of a scarcity mindset. We are seeing this in full force through the lens of the pandemic. It is fear of lack of supplies that makes people horde. With an abundance mindset, you know there is always enough for all of us.

How do we move through fear in order to lean into an abundance mindset? You can not eliminate fear, you can only walk through it. This is the only way. On the other side of fear is liberation. There is no feeling like it, when you conquer your fears. Identify your fear, then imagine how you would feel once you’ve dismantled it. Embrace this vision every time you are confronted by fear. This is how you will eventually dominate it. It is like working a muscle; the more you use it, the easier it gets. I can’t tell you that it won’t be hard, but I can tell you that it is worth it, very very worth it. Once you start seeing with this perspective, abundance becomes obvious all around you. It is beautiful, endless, and exponential, just like you. ❤

Emden

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Despite a limited travel schedule, I set out on the long and varied journey to Emden, built to spend a day and a half with Alice because it’s been 8 years and she is important to me. As I get older, I more heavily realize the importance of key people in my life, and how it keeps getting harder to stay connected while proverbially adulting. It is still beyond me how so many years have passed and I didn’t even realize it until we sat on the couch and did the math together. This globe sure spins fast sometimes.

I go to work at 6am to try and cram all of my projects in by 11am in order to leave early to drive from the Oakland Coliseum area to San Francisco International Airport. I hadn’t been able to find a reasonable flight from Oakland Airport, 5 minutes from the office, to Springfield, Illinois during Thanksgiving. It didn’t help that I was too busy to properly shop this flight in the first place, so flying out of SFO ended up being the best I could do with the time and budget I had.

Before setting out I kept second guessing the time I had allotted for the drive to the airport, concerned that I’d underestimated any complications and potentially miss my flight. I would only have an hour to complete the commute and make it comfortably to my gate. My housemate had recommended that I skip driving altogether and take BART, but that was estimating an hour and a half with a few too many transfers for me to have confidence that I wouldn’t make an error with my novelty to Bay Area public transportation, plus I couldn’t leave work that early anyway. Google Maps claimed 45 minutes to the lot but with it being the day before Thanksgiving I knew that could swerve at any moment.

Fate appeared to be with me as I hit very little traffic and made record time. I discovered the SpotHero app the night before so I was able to secure parking in advance at nearly a 3rd of the going rate. We got a nice windy rainstorm thrown in to the scenario so crossing the Dumbarton Bridge with limited visibility slowed everyone greatly. Miraculously I still made it to the lot in 35 minutes and breathed a sigh of relief.

My relaxing state was short lived as I fought with the barcode scanner for 10 minutes before finally calling tech support. I had researched to ensure that this app was valid, and saw it got a thumbs up from Forbes and other renowned tech and business outfits so it caught me off guard to be hitting this snag. The free minutes I’d gained on the commute were quickly slipping away and my anxiety increased as I saw the shuttle I intended to be on drive past me to exit the lot, as I realized that I had no idea how often it ran, or how long it would take before I figured out how to get into this damn pre-paid parking situation.

Luckily, tech support was spot on. There was another machine that had signs all over it warning “Do Not Take Ticket If PrePaid Online”. Peyton assures me, despite the signage, I should take a ticket so I can make my flight and we’ll get the barcode snafu figured out when I return from my trip. As I go to retrieve the ticket I see a help button as well, which she encourages me to engage, and the voice on the other side nonchalantly reports, “Yea that machine always gets weird when it rains”. He confirms the plan to take a ticket and figure it out on the return. Tech in the rain, go figure!

While waiting for the shuttle I have the pleasure of helping the next two people stuck at the gate with my newfound knowledge. The shuttle finally arrives after about 20 minutes and we’re off to the races. I will never stop praising my Global Entry card, especially in moments like this. In airports of any size I am at my departure gate in a matter of minutes with my shoes, toiletries, and electronics remaining exactly where I originally placed them. Magic.

After an hour drive, a finagling of parking, and my first flight under my belt, I change planes from a sardine stuffed Boeing 777, to a scarcely populated puddle jumper landing me in Springfield, Illinois. Upon arrival, Alice and her sister Marie pick me up for another hour drive to their little country town.

Even though it’s 11pm by the time we near her home, it doesn’t stop Alice from giving me a local tour of Hartsburg to show me her school house and the local sites of her youth. It is a literal school house, the likes of which I’ve only seen in western movies, and I feel transported in time. Next, we drop off Marie and then arrive at Alice’s where we gab on the couch past both of our usual bedtimes. By now it’s been 10 hours since I began my journey, but the time change would have you believe 12 hours if you look at a local clock, and Alice has some stunning antique clocks in her home. I can’t stop staring at how beautifully intricate every detail is. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her that I don’t want to miss a moment in her congenial presence, but our eyelids put up a fight and we call it day.

We sleep until our hearts content the next morning and enjoy tea and toast as we slowly come to. It’s Thanksgiving day but we accidentally miss most of the televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, instead catching up with the stories of the past near decade. It’s already 3:15pm by the time we realize we’re about to have company and better get the food going. The doorbell rings.

Alice is a self made woman and at 76 years young she still doesn’t need a thing from anyone. She seemingly effortlessly handles the entire meal while I get to know her sister, brother-in-law, and his son. She finally accepts my pleas to help and lets me carry the finished dishes to the dining table.

Everyone is chatting as if we already know each other. Marie even starts to wonder if she’s met me before. I wonder too, but it isn’t so. The day turns to night and after swapping tales and stuffing our gills, we clean up and part ways. Alice and I don’t make it as far into the wee hours this time, and I sleep like a log in the quietest home in all of Illinois.

It’s only been about 34 hours since I arrived but I’m leaving this next day. I want to cram in as much as possible. There are some pretty big bird feeders outside that I’m hoping to fill while Alice is still sleeping, but she’s hidden the seed from the resourceful country mice, and consequently me, so I can’t find it anywhere. While searching, I go outside and find there is a cemetery right here on the property. Alice’s house is a converted church, next to the old railroad depot. She told me Seth was buried here, but it was dark when I arrived and we never ventured out of the house the day before. I had wondered if it was commonplace to have a backyard burial in the state of Illinois. Stepping outside and realizing where I was, it suddenly made a lot more sense.

I walked up and down each aisle, marveling at the worn carved words on mossy, tilted gravestones from the early and mid 1800s. There was a cemetery on my high school campus at Andover, and I was that weird art kid that used to go there and write poetry at all hours. I don’t know what has always drawn me to old cemeteries, but my perception heightens and I am reeled into the stories of the souls here in this shared sacred space. I hadn’t spent time wandering a cemetery this way in decades, but it was somehow natural for me to stop at each headstone and imagine the lives and times of the dearly departed solely based on the names and dates engraved in stone centuries ago.

I arrive at Seth’s Stone, but actually see Alice’s first which startles me for a moment. I hadn’t imagined her passing yet. She’s absolutely spritely and it simply hadn’t crossed my mind. Next to her stone lay both her husband Jeffrey and son Seth. I take a deep breath and have the conversation I’d been needing to have with Seth for 11 years. There was a lot to say and in my sadness I simultaneously feel gratitude to feel his presence and express the thoughts I’d been holding that I could never tell anyone but him. I cry, then regain my strength, and go back to my task of trying to fill the bird feeders.

I fail yet again at this final attempt to find the bird seed and cave to asking Alice, resilient Alice that needs nobody’s help, but I just wanted to do this for her! She is so selfless and caring and I somehow have nothing worthy to offer her. I wasn’t going to take no for an answer even though she protested multiple times the day before. I am so amped up on this task that upon seeing her I practically demand to know where the bird feed is kept, not realizing that she had barely wiped the stardust out of her eyes and didn’t need me sassing her first thing in the morning. So I drink my tea while she has her breakfast and we enjoy more great conversation. After breakfast, she shows me the secret stash, a big metal trash can that I walked by a half dozen times in the garage. I had actually looked in another trash can at one point, and it was literal trash so I hadn’t proceeded with that curiosity again. We drag it out and fill the giant feeders together. I’ve always been a bird enthusiast so it’s exciting when they come flitting about the window by our cozy spot on the couch.

After a tour of Emden, a quick visit to say hi and bye to Marie, and then a tour of Lincoln where Abe is eternally revered, we head back to Springfield Airport. I’ve been to tiny airports before, but I’ve never experienced one that had no personnel present and every gate is locked down. For a moment I panic and question if it has been cancelled for some reason. Emden is in the middle of Springfield, Peoria, and Bloomington, all of which I had been referred to. Had I booked a hacker fare leaving from a different town and forgotten? I call Alice and asked her to wait a moment so I can get my bearings before she heads home, just in case. She has only made it to the stoplight down the road so I’m assured that I won’t be stranded as I navigate this ghosted airport.

A few minutes later a man with a PPE vest emerges from a staff door and I ask him, naively, if the airport is operating normally. He informs me that the earlier flight had been canceled so the staff dispersed, but he believes the evening flight is planned to depart as scheduled so people should be showing up shortly to open the airline kiosks and security gate. I call Alice back, feeling a little silly, and she is on her merry way once again.

Now reversing the route, I calculate that the amount of time spent traveling to and fro Emden, Illinois adds up to more hours than I spent awake there. Nevertheless, the commute was shorter than the 8 years that slipped by, and worth every minute.

Dawn of Time: Part I

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Dawn was exploring Santa Fe, New Mexico. She had stepped into La Reina after hearing that the owner was originally from Austin, like she. The vibe was perfect: minimalist, modern design with an adobe flair, and a superbly sweet and delightful bartender.

She was contemplating existence, as a weary traveler can be known to do. There had always been a pending sense of alienation within her, even though she could pass through towns and crowds and instantly engage with her ENTJ personality leading the charge. She had thousands of friends and acquaintances from all over the globe, meeting people was genuinely natural for this lone wolf. Her own exuberance could exhaust her though, and cause need for a recharge. At times a bath and some candles could do the trick, but usually it was solved by something larger – through the exploration of the great wide globe, hours long urban hikes, people gazing, shoe gazing, exotic cuisine, and being intimately lost in a foreign language.  Long train rides alone with her thoughts for days at a time were soup for the soul, as were cave explorations with wild monkeys, and moped rides on the wrong side of the road. This is how the troubles of her world could always be solved.

The call to New Mexico wasn’t much different. Exploring, out of any comfort zone, was where she found true comfort. Not getting bogged down by the daily grind, not getting caught in the cyclical insanity of bills and obligations, not being a cog in the machine. Not knowing is what she always knew best. As she sipped her very first Mezcal and listened to the Music Brokers playlist that the bartender had discovered in Mexico and was playing for her guests this evening, Dawn kept subtly remembering the truth. The truth that had been hidden since the so called Dawn of Time. It’s the kind of truth that runs in your veins, a deep knowing that can not been denied. While she couldn’t describe it with certainty, she was, in fact, waking up.

It felt asinine to say out loud, the stuff of conspiracy theories. Luckily, others were waking up too. Soon our origins would be clear, unbeknownst to her. Dawn had often used this banter comedically, long before she understood where her jokes were coming from. Like when Conan O’Brien was on Late Night, Dawn would joke about how he was an alien but it was confusing because he was a good alien unlike most that were bad, such as many US Presidents and big time CEOs. Clearly most governments and corporations have been run by aliens for eons, which made it all the more strange that Conan wasn’t evil at all. “Just look at him! He is way too tall and pale to be a real earthling,” she would joke at the party while everyone laughed along and said things like, “oh definitely,” and ” I can totally see that!” There was just something in his eyes – he was an alien, but he was the same type of alien as she. It was one of the first times it made sense that she truly was an alien, because she too was not evil. She was a good alien. She was, after all, an origin alien.

To Be Continued…

B R O O D

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In those moments

of quiet and

self reflection

are you listening?

TRULY

listening

to the deep,

to the howls

of your soul.

Can you hear her

telling you your dreams

your desires

in earnest?

or are you running

a to do list?

the shoulds,

the busy busy,

the guilt?

For what?

Unleash the brainwash

remember your yearning

before its too late

and you are the metric

we always hear about…

no one ever

laid on their deathbed

and said

I wish I worked harder.

Carpe Diem

Every Damn Day

 

The Long Way to Tulum

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Ahhhhh Tulum. While a weekend isn’t much time, there is plenty to get into for a relaxing or exciting weekend in Tulum, whatever you’re going for! For me, Tulum was the gateway to Belize. I love watching the countryside roll by on road trips, whether it be by car, bus, or train….so taking the long, relaxing way to Belize was the ticket for me, and I had the added bonus of checking out this hot to trot destination along the way. Getting there was an interesting journey in itself.

I started with a one way ticket from Austin to Cancun for $112 plus taxes. I would’ve used points, but I’m planning a bigger trip (always, amirite?) so I want to save up my miles a little longer. For the past year or so I have been buying direct from American Airlines because I have a strong account with them thanks to my business travel, but I recommend Skyscanner if you want to find the best deal, especially if you have flexible dates. Skyscanner has pretty much become the new “matrix” if anyone remembers that little secret a while back. At some point it seemed like the matrix became Google Matrix, but Sky Scanner has nailed it at this point. Check out the wiki for some interesting history on the company.

My flight was scheduled for later in the day because I was leaving on a Saturday and was overbooked until my departure, so I needed most of the day to settle my affairs before leaving the country. For this reason I decided to spend the night in Cancun, but you can catch the ADO bus right from the airport to Playa Del Carmen or Tulum and go direct.  I love sleep and I hacked a free hotel so I was good to call it for the night in Cancun and get up early for the lil bus ride to my fist destination.

When you arrive in Cancun, there is a flood of tourism hosts to greet you as you head out of the airport. I needed to find out where to go to find the free shuttle that the hotel provided so I ended up talking to one of these guys. As I have sat through a pitch before, I knew exactly what he was leading up to. He was offering to pay for my taxi in the morning to a newly built hotel, give me a free breakfast while likely try to get me to buy a timeshare, and then give me free private transport to Playa Del Carmen or Tulum, whichever I chose. At first he wanted $30 for all of this and a mere hour and a half of my time in the morning, which he then whittled down to $20 because I’m a tough sell. Looking back, I spent slightly more than this between breakfast and the ADO bus but this was marginal. The main reason I didn’t go was because I was excited to start my vacation and was planning on taking an earlyish bus to Tulum and didn’t want to lose the time on the sales shenanigans. But, much time was lost, as you will soon learn. I might actually take him up on it next time. If you have a little time to kill and know how to say “No” at the end of a sales pitch, this actually is probably worth all the freebies, especially if you are looking for travel hacking ideas or are budget traveling.

As I mentioned, the hotel had a free airport shuttle. Most of them do, so if you’re doing the hotel circuit don’t hesitate to use this service! It is easier to set this up in advance if you aren’t planning to get a local sim card for your phone. If you do have a sim card you can just call them when you arrive. Another useful thing to note is that Skype allows free 1-800 calls from anywhere in the world. This saved my arse in Thailand when my bank card stayed behind in the ATM in Chiang Mai, but that’s a story for another post!

I arrived at my free hotel just in time to grab a late dinner and get some free drinks from a hilarious and quite toasted gal I met who happened to be there because she got kicked off the plane trying to leave earlier that day. Brawny, like the paper towel, was how she introduced herself. She didn’t seem entirely sure why they wouldn’t let her on the plane, but figured it was likely because she was too intoxicated. She decided to continue the trend throughout the day so by the time I arrived at nearly 10pm…let’s just say the next hour and a half was very entertaining to say the least. Cheers for the beers, Brawny!

I have two methods for acquiring free hotels. First, I have an IHG rewards Mastercard. IHG – International Hotel Group, has a huge line of partner hotels and I get one free hotel per year just for having the card. I use it for my daily purchases and the points rack up to get me multiple free rooms throughout the year. The trick here is to pay your credit card in full every month so you don’t incur interest charges. I also have mine set to autopay the minimum so I never get late fees, but I usually pay the balance before it’s due to make sure I don’t get hit with the interest.  Don’t overspend! Live within your means and you’ll be fine. You don’t need all that shit sitting in the garage anyway. Cancun Day 1 expense tally: $22.77 for my fancy dinner including 1 beer and a tip…Camarones al Ajo – soooo gooood.

Good Morning, Day 2! This was way more “interesting” than intended. I never realized how flexible I was until I met someone that I realized might not be able to handle fluctuation the way I can. Before that I couldn’t understand why everyone isn’t as in love with travel as I am. I guess it’s not for everyone. If you can’t roll with the punches I can see how travel could be stressful, especially in foreign countries. I’m so grateful for my sense of adventure and creativity. Whenever my travel plan goes awry, I typically laugh about what a good story I’ll have to tell. There are certainly exceptions in the moment, especially if you’ve ever been sick on the road (!) but overall the pros always outweigh any type of derailment I’ve ever encountered, by a landslide. So, for now, let’s get onto the day’s derailments!

I had a nice mellow start by sleeping in and enjoying the breakfast buffet with beautiful garden views. I speak very broken half Spanish (I’m working on this!) so the waiter amusingly corrected me when he asked me how I was and I answered, “Buena”. He explained the difference between Buena and Bien and then told me I was both. Ha, thanks, buddy. I then took the free hotel shuttle back to the airport where you can get the ADO bus. Again, I made the decision not to “wait”; you typically have to change busses in Playa Del Carmen but the ticket lady told me there was a direct bus – but not for an hour and half. I declined and hopped on hoping to make up that time at my destination. Well…

I’ve mentioned this in previous posts: bus travel in just about any country besides the US is classy and comfy. Only in the US do we have a level of classism that you have to drown in the stench of urine to be economical in travel. In most countries, there are many affordable travel options. Mexico’s busses are no exception, clean, cool, and spacious. There’s even the added bonus of free internet at the bus stations so you can use the waiting time to get your plan sorted out or touch base with friends online. Awhooooø!

I arrive in Playa and buy my connection pass at the ticket booth. She pointed out “AU” to me, but I wasn’t following what she meant. It seemed easy enough though because  it was a tiny station and there was a sign above one of the bus stalls that said “Tulum”. I only had to wait a half hour for the bus so I walked down to the beach, took some snaps, and bought a magnet to add to my collection. When I came back a bus had just pulled into the stall. It was 15 minutes until the scheduled time of 1pm so I thought that was my bus arriving in time to get everyone loaded up for an on time departure. I want to preface this with the fact that at the onset of this trip I was beyond exhausted. I recently had a medical diagnosis and a slew of other personal onslaughts that have not been supportive of me being my normal, chipper self. In my unfortunate state, I became an easy target for whatever chip this driver had on his shoulder that day. I asked him if it was the bus for Tulum and he said “No, that leaves from the other station”. I didn’t even know there was another station but I immediately thought that must’ve been what the woman at the ticket counter meant when she pointed to “AU”?? This “concerned” driver said he was passing that way and could get me to my bus that left in 10 minutes. I was so grateful and simultaneously nervous about making the bus. This moment felt stressful but I knew I was on my way to the beginning of some much needed travel therapy so I persevered.

We arrive at the other station and I have 5 minutes to spare. Nice. I go to a counter to find out which stall I should go to for the bus, and the gentleman there tells me I need to go to the other station. Excuse me? The station I just came from…but…noooooooo. When I explain that the driver told me to come here and omg halp, he says I have to go to the ladies at the other counter. The ladies at the other counter tell me I have to go back to him so he can exchange it. He says he can not (will not) exchange it. Nobody. Will. Help. Not sure what the bus driver was after by derailing me. Now that I know better about how to read the bus tickets I see that it states the station on the ticket, but the driver was so convincing that I didn’t even look. MY BAD.

Finally another man comes over and is helpful. He exchanges the now gone bus ticket with one that leaves in an hour and half, “for sure” from this station. He seems legit and even refunds me a few pesos since it’s a different bus line. Since I’ve just been had I want to confirm it online, plus, said busline, Oriente, has had a single bus sitting there the entire time – not coming nor going – while the ADO lines are in and out every 5 minutes. I’m super skeptical at this point. I go online and find, as I had thought, that the other station has busses leaving for Tulum every half hour, and, I discover, I could’ve easily walked the half mile back and made it to the 1:30 departure, but these guys had no interest in informing of that option and I am lost in a sea of Mexico without a clue at this moment in time. So I did what any tired travel gal would do, facebook message your favorite bilingual latino back home to make you laugh and co-create new spanglish terms while you wait impatiently for a bus that may or may not come. Hector to the rescue. lolito. And then the hour and half flies by.

The bus came! A tiny working class man in front of me is kind enough to compare his ticket to mine and I am assured that I am finally going in the right direction. This guy was covered head to toe in paint and drywall dust and had the biggest, friendliest smile in the world. I really needed that humanism right then. My joy was renewed.

You think this day is done? Guess. Again.

I trek to the hostel from the station, a mere 2 blocks. I confirmed my walking directions on google maps before heading out and tilt my puppy head to the side in minor confusion when Google Maps states that this location is “permanently closed”. That can’t by right, I think. I just booked it last night on Hostelworld. Alas, I arrive, and that ish is legitimately locked down with one of those city official posters on the front. The ladies in the restaurant underneath are like, yup, no bueno. Can this day get any longer? At this point I am seriously regretting not paying $20 for personal service at the expense of an hour and a half timeshare pitch.

Baaaaack to ADO to use the internet I go. I find one that looks decent, The Mayan Adventure. On the way there I pass one or 2 and decide to pop in to check one of them out. Closed. I get to Mayan Adventure and it has a big ole wrought iron gate with a padlock. My half size backpack starts to feel heavier than it is. There’s a doorbell and a European girl comes in, gets my MO, and then flits to the back to get the owner. When she returns, the owner has gone but I am welcome to wait for an hour or so, probably, but she’s not sure if there’s availability because she is just camping in the back and the place is kinda under remodeling. Thanks, you’re sweet, but no thanks. It’s time to unload. She recommends a spot that I thought I saw out of the corner of my eye down a side street around the corner. I head that way. They are open. They have rooms. The are appropriately named: The Weary Traveler. This place clearly magically appeared to eradicate the details of my day. Alejandro gets me hooked up at the front desk and I settle in, grab some grub, and enjoy the free caipirinhas happy hour they offer every night. Gracias.Gracias.Gracias.

Bar Exchange

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I bought Gourmands from Tuff Tiff and was planning to move into a room in the back, a converted storage area that was shotgun style and black. There were long shelves all along the sides but I was excited to remodel it. Then I would fill the Kay street house with tenants but John – who was merged with Andrew – was upset. He eventually agreed but only if we got less roommates. The bartenders were slacking off and it was pure pandemonium. Things had slipped for a while and they didn’t know it had been purchased. It was a total free for all but I knew all the bartenders and they were excited that I was going to be helping out.

Tony had 2 white widows growing out of his back that turned into trees. They were pretty (!) but had to be removed. Mary knew the complicated terms to identify them and how they were different. It was fascinating.

There was a contest/meeting for financials. It was a 30 day challenge like whole30 but with money. Tony did really well and everyone had to give a speech. I missed his speech (and everyone loved it a lot!) because I was gagging in the other room. I had been drinking a can of coke and I poured it into a glass. It was full of flies but I had already drank half of it before I realized and it made me puke. When I went back into the awards ceremony, Tony had just finished his speech and another participant gave a gift to the coordinator, which was a large set of gorgeous antique silverware. The guy was so impressed that he gave Tony a set as well. Then he asked if anyone else wanted to buy a set for $700 and everyone did because it was an incredible deal.

Sueño

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At a moment’s notice, I was going to what appeared to be Spain with a friend and her family. It felt more like South America but geographically it was in Europe.

The first night I was super tired so I went to sleep early. The next day it took a while to find each other but I found her at a bar restaurant and we had a drink. I felt like I needed a shower and said I’d meet her later. We had to catch a bus to another town too. After the shower, I decided to go on the bus ride early and meet them in the next town in a few hours because I didn’t want to go back to the bar.

The bus was loud and crowded. It was a 3+ hour ride. After 2 hours I was restless and regretting not taking the bus ride with them. What was I going to do while I waited? Just then we were coming upon a small town which I had heard of, and I decided I would get out and explore. Then I could get back on the next bus to the final destination and our timing would be aligned. All the while I had been texting her about what I was up to so we could meet in the evening.

The town was tiny. When I first got off the bus, I noticed a building where all the commuters were coming from and assumed it was the station. I had immediately gone over to inquire about the next bus towards Madrid but at the moment I crossed the street they closed the large iron gate and it was revealed that it was more of a church. I noted the streets and location to return for the next departure and presumed it was more of a bus stop than a station since it was such a tiny town.

Coincidentally, though we appear to be in Spain, this Madrid seemed more like the Madrid in the corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. We were in the boonies. This was a landmark, not a destination. Further, our intention was to go to an even tinier town near this parallel Madrid.

I headed towards a cafe for an espresso. When I arrived, a beautiful wolf pup of about 6 months old befriended me. She listened well and wouldn’t leave my side. After she made it clear that she was adopting me, we walked the streets together.

I ran into 3 acquaintances, who happened to be children. I explained that it was time for me to get started towards Madrid to meet my friends. I told them I had only learned Spanish for 1 week and asked for help translating to find the bus as the stop where I arrived didn’t seem to be active any longer. We found a restaurant and went inside but there wasn’t anyone around so we wandered the halls until we ended up passing through a very busy kitchen. No one seemed to mind this. We came out the other side to a tiny bar.

The 2 older girl children were chatting and doing their own thing, but the younger boy stayed with me (and my new wolf / dog Venus Vega). I was stumbling all over my words trying to speak Spanish. It came out blended where some words were Portuguese or French. Before I even began fumbling over the language, it was clear that the waitresses had zero interest in helping me. They were already grumpy and it was cramped and I was just in the way. At this point it was getting late and I was feeling desperate. I knew the busses would be stopping for the night and I would miss my friend and her family for the second night in a row. This was definitely not what I wanted.

The young boy spoke fluent Spanish but he stayed mute after stating, “I don’t want to deal with them.” I couldn’t understand this. He saw me struggling to deal with them and getting nowhere yet he stood there not helping. Why was he even staying?? He suddenly seemed very juvenile but instead of stomping his feet and throwing a tantrum he was simply being a plain old jerk. At this moment I also realized that none of my texts had gone through to my friend, rendering me AWOL. I could only imagine what she and her family were thinking.

A woman sitting nearby started making small talk with me. She was from France and was sad that I didn’t speak French. I tried to explain how important it was for me to remember what little Spanish I knew during this stressful moment. We both wanted to understand each other but couldn’t.

Finally, suddenly, out of thin air, the words came rushing to the forefront of my mind and I exclaimed, “Necessito ir a l’autobus a Madrid!” The entire staff looked at me in disbelief. How did she know these words? Time stood absolutely still. I waited for someone to tell me the answer.

Nap Tri

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My nap was amazing! I feel rested but I dreamt that I was running a triathlon while I was sleeping, except I had to finish the last mile in 2 laps, but I stopped to do a craft show first and had put on jeans. When the time came to run the last mile in 2 laps, I didn’t feel like changing my clothes and doing it anymore! I woke up before I could see if I actually finished or not!

Time Warp Conditions

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Pete was in the corner eating all of my Nutella.   

3 of us laying in corner to regroup but the crowd came in.

They strangely crowded the tiny stage even though the large hall was vacant.

Went to the same place in NYC where the GPS always freaks out, probably because of the time warp, the altitude too high, the snow, the train coming, too many people. I’ve been there before so I knew when I started walking a certain direction that it would lead to empty dark confusing woods and it’s really hard to get out so I stopped, turned around, and thought about how I could get help. When I turned around there was a little boy too close and out of control with his actions and he spun into something on my hip that made a smacking sound against something on him. Metal? He started to cry and I asked if he was ok but they were very absorbed with themselves and didn’t hear me.

Manifestation Harvesting

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I was practicing my manifestation skills by looking in a magazine and making the items appear almost immediately. I didn’t do it on purpose at first. I saw a beautiful jacket and I thought “I want that. I wish I could see it in person so I could decide if I want to buy it”. Then I looked up and a woman walking by was wearing it even though it was a super rare and unique item. I knew immediately my manifesting skills were getting stronger so I decided to practice then and there. I flipped through the pages and would see an item I like and look up and sure enough someone walked by with it, the exact colors and everything. I kept getting faster until the finale was a super unique organic shirt that was short and flowy with a back that opened towards the bottom, brown with a bone white border and it appeared floating on a hanger right next to me. I felt like I just won a race. Now there was no question that I was indeed manifesting these things and I knew I could manifest anything if I merely decided and believed.

6.28.16

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I was living with Ricky. I moved but then we met the owner and it was available again (or still). Ricky said the rent was $1800 but he could get the landlord to pay us that amount since he hadn’t rented it yet, so we’d break even. He wanted to keep the money himself and kept assuring me that I would get free groceries instead.  It was in New York, and my new place was on the outskirts of the city. I loved the location and was excited. The hotel part – huge steps I was running up and down. Getting Cider, bartenders were really nice. I left $7 on the counter that disappeared. It seemed like a customer picked it up. I had to run up and down the giant steps to go get more money to replace it. I also ordered a small personal pizza, but when I came back from getting the money the bartender was struggling to figure out how to put the pizza into a sandwich. The 2 bartenders and I all thought the men description was just for a pizza but he explained that the description was outdated and this was the new menu item. Everyone was pretty confused and we just watched as he struggled to make the pizza sandwich.

Party Time

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Carl and Macy were planning to move in with me. It was a week before moving day and Macy came over and said “I mean, we aren’t formally committed right? This just isn’t going to work”. There was a party next door the night before and there was one cigarette butt in a trash can that had gotten water in it from the rain. I knew those parties would be happen more than once a month, it was always said to be once a month, and that one was a little rowdier than usual because there was a biker gang in town and they brought a pool hall/bowling alley with them. I was going to play one round of something, but my partner didn’t show up. Then a group of 8 elderly people came by and tried to take over before my friend arrived. I went to the biker gang, that we were supposed to play against to tell them that my partner was missing and they offered to pair me up with one of their people even though we wouldn’t technically be against each other anymore. They were really nice, just had brutal appearances, and we ended up having a blast. I stayed up way later than expected and had a bit of a hangover by the time Carl and Macy arrived. The pool hall/bowling alley and everyone was gone and it was back to be a normal apartment complex but since we hadn’t seen each other in so long, Macy just assumed I partied all the time and would not consider it, even though it had been 3 weeks since they agreed and Carl still wanted to. I knew it was probably for the best and that I could get another roommate easily since the location was so good.

Shapeshifter

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I met a bird that could talk. She was an ancient soul.

When I asked how she spoke English she said I was actually understanding her language.

She could also shiftshape.

I walked my dog home – he kept crying and told me he was floating out in the middle of the universe. He was lost floating in space, even though his body was here with me.

The paint on the walls looked solid in dim light, but messy camo in bright light.

It think when the bird crosses into my realm, it spins the dog out and that’s why he was floating in the universe.

I Had to hold him in my lap with my arms wrapped all around him to keep him still in the universe.

He was a combo of Mars and Jupiter, but bigger.

2.12.17

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I adopted a kid. I went through an adoption agency and hadn’t even met him in person. They gave me 10 days before he arrived to decide if I was sure, but the ten days went by in a flash and the night before they were due to come over I realized it was probably too late to change my mind. My heart was racing with stress, because I realized I was unfit for the task. I wanted to help a child in need, but I knew my schedule was so all over the place that I wouldn’t even be able to get him to school on time most days. And what if I needed to go out of town for an extended period? I sat on the brink, riddled with fear, waiting to meet my teenage son.

Biz Trip

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I went on another business trip and plumb forgot my suitcase. I didn’t realize until I was deboarding the plane and remembered that I had not ever placed my suitcase overhead. My BFF was changing planes there and she was perplexed and acted strange and judgy to me about it as she was liked right by to her next destination. I had to divide the clothes on my back into 4 outfits to make it through my next two back to back training seminars. 

When I checked into the hotel, bagless, I realized that not only did I forget my suitcase, but it was left in the last hotel, at least 4 days prior and the chances of recovery were lost. I started counting the items in the suitcase and cost that was adding up was getting extremely high and difficult to replace all at once. 

I went to take a shower to reset but there were 3 women who were bullying in there. I tried to get out quickly.