It was a little hectic trying to get 3 cats their meds and wolfing down some supper before I head out the door at 12:15pm. I had a longer then usual wait but the bus drivers time was just before 12:30pm. The usual wait at Clairview lrt and into Carona and I had a nice leisurely walk into work. Work crews are re-flooring the main level of the Baker center with Tyle, I got in and after acclimatizing myself and getting organized, we started with deaf ice hockey. I had a slow start but I ended up with $180 and we had to switch campaigns to Cancer Recovery and I got one sale from there. I was surprised because when Mike called totals I ended up in the middle of the pack. Also, I got my 3 hours. Excellent. I took my insulin right at the break and had a sandwich and a fruit cup, just something to get my insulin going. At 5 we ended up doing Optimist and we were instructed to sell tickets JT instructed 4 tap shooters and the rest of us, cold and cold and semies. It was terrible. I had top total for $100! The important thing is I got my 7 hours in for today and that’s all I care about right now. So far, I’ve got 17 hours in. If I get another 7 in for tomorrow and, 3.5 guaranteed for Friday and 4 guaranteed for Saturday= 31.5. And that’s my goal/week. I keep that up for another 3 months, and I’ll qualify for my medical and that’s what I want. Once that’s done I can get my teeth taken out and dentures. No more toothache pain. The only downside is that the medical plan costs me even though I have to qualify for it. Welcome to socialized medicine folks, only here in Alberta. Anyway’s we also got the bonus of getting paid until 9pm, and I got home shortly after 9pm.

Anne’s still at work as she gets home latter then me. I’m interested at seeing what my pay cheaque is for 31.5 hours. Even more so when my, raze in pay starts to $10.hr. I figure after taxes, I think I’ll be getting something like $285/week. I’m giving Anne $150/week to cover for expenses and I get the rest. That will give me $135/week to play with. Basically 31.5/$10/hr = $315/week, or $1250 gross. Net pay = about $1140. Ten years ago this was a decent wage for someone but now what with everything going up and all it’s barely cutting it.

Georges guest tonight on Coast is Robert Bruce from Australia. I like listening to George’s show. The blurb on his guest tonight states that Bruce has explored Metaphysical and paranormal anomalies the world over and is Australia’s leading Mystic. No disrespect to Bruce, but how can I put this nicely? The mundane tosses the word ‘metaphysics’ around because they don’t like to use the word Occult. To the person not in the “loop” the word Occult suggests Satanism or Satanic. Metaphysics is a nice word and makes it sound like “mystics” are highly intelligent and skilled. They know what they’re talking about and we should really respect them because metaphysics sounds like science. It’s an ego thing basically. The word Occult simply means hidden, or hidden knowledge. Metaphysics has nothing to do with Magic. Metaphysics is not even associated with the Occult or even mysticism. Metaphysics is a branch of Philosophy. Ceremonial magic is Occult. Real magic or ceremonial magic is more or less associated with groups like The Golden Dawn, The Rosicrucian’s and the OTO as well as Wicca. Ceremonial magic is almost Gnostic like. However even Satanists use the Occult. The Occult is not devil worship but it can be. The Occult ir Real Occult is very benign and has little to do with Ouija boards and New Age practices. To use the term Metaphysics in use with mysticism suggests to me at least New Age. The Occult encompasses many practices such as Alchemy, the Tarot, Hermetic Qabalah and even yoga. Although Christian’s will say these things are Satanic. When people toss the term around Metaphysics they are implying the word “Occult” but without saying the word because they don’t want to scare off the Christians or those they want to sell books to. It’s dishonest but most people that claim to be “Mystics” don’t realize this. They’ve lost the meaning of the word Metaphysics or just don’t know the real meaning of what metaphysics actually is about. Metaphysics again has nothing to do with “Mysticism.” I’ve studied the Occult for over 25 years and I admit I’m no expert. So when people use the terms metaphysics and mysticism together don’t buy it. I'm also not saying this guy won;t be any good either. He might just turn everything I said above into crap. I'm not judging him, I'm just mentioning the proper use of the term metaphysics.

Anne made us a nice supper while watching the news of the day. The big story is more talk of a possible downtown arena. This is an exciting project. That’d be great to have the Oilers right downtown but the Postal grounds isn’t downtown it’s off the beaten track slightly. I think the best place would be right across the street from the Law courts. We’ll know more about this in November.

I didn’t get any work done on F Wednesday what with having to get up early to go to work. This doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped work on F for the job either. I’m going to get up at 10am this morning and fix myself a coffee so I can do some more work on F. This is what I’m going to do right now.

 
e. Jim