The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

It has been a week of the most amazingly beautiful weather. It has been warm but not hot with low humidity and beautiful light breezes. Nothing like the hot icky sticky mugginess that we had this time last year and which basically totally ruined all of Christmas
So far the forecast is 28 celsius for the big day which must be the lowest ever. Such a bummer the serpent is working 3-9 that day and early the next morning so will not be able to party properly

That has made the Izzie decidedly grinchy. It was different in 2008 and 2009 when Christmas was on a Thursday and then a Friday - both Izzie days off. But 2008 was a stinking hot day and 2009 was also hot but with the added bonus of having the plumbers out on Christmas Eve to fix a hot water leak.

But in spite of being over the whole snowflake and Santa thing, Monday was a glorious sunny day and could feel the sap rising and a sense of enchantment and expectation.
The day job soon put a dampener on that and managed to get all freaky and neurotic on the afternoon coffee crawl in spite of the absolutely gorgeous weather.
Confirmed beyond all possible doubt that the day job has become so toxic that it is totally necessary to first return to the lair and have a long shower to wash all the nastiness off before even attempting to do anything useful with the rest of the day

Did that on Tuesday and it made such a huge difference. Felt so much better and got so much more done and managed to keep the demented beasties at bay

Same procedure today but the silly serpent's quick 30 minute nap (to make use of the two hour limit on bus tickets) turned into a two hour snooze.
A bit peeved at this waste of a beautiful afternoon but decided not to mope but just get on the bus at 5pm and go to watch the sunset at the beach in Fremantle as originally planned. But it did mean no coffee crawls or visit to the Juicy Beetroot for happy hour munchies

It was a refreshing feeling to feel all warm and toasty rather than cranky and scratchy. The bus driver was bit of a jerk as most of them are these days. When in the psycho state, would be a blubbering wreck by the end of the journey. But today the psychic shields were in working order and was able to filter out squealing kids and the usual last minute slamming on of the brakes routine so beloved by most bus drivers.
The last five minutes of the trip did get a bit iffy but sat in the sunshine on a gorgeous medieval style bench at Kings Square and slowly recovered

Had been chirpy and cheery both Tuesday and today. The weather must have been a big factor. Noticed that even the usual disgusting antics of the goblins of rostering on people who are on holidays thus leaving us short staffed again did not bother the Izzie. It all just bounced off.

Saturday was the complete opposite. Also gorgeous weather but was getting upset over the littlest and silliest things. Then randomly opened a page of one of the many books lurking near the serpent basket. Not the one about chaos magic but something similar.
Bibliomancy is such a useful 'divination' tool. Often the perfect piece of advice will turn up even when not actively seeking it. Stuff about auras and energy shields saying that if you are feeling overwhelmed all the time especially when in the presence of lots of people, it could be because your 'protective shields' have crashed and are letting all sorts of negative nasties in.
Oh yesss. Could so relate to that. The damned things have been down or constantly crashing since mid November and all the old tricks to bring them back do not seem to be working. Well not quite true. A nice warm shower definitely works wonders and brings an instant transformation in vitality and motivation.

There ware strange pictures of scratchy blobs that looked rather like cells full of holes and long dark lines which they called cords although straws seemed a more appropriate description

Today got to experience both sides. The sunset was gorgeous. Got a bit peeved though when of all the empty spaces along the beach two stupid tourists insisted on taking pictures of the sunset right in front of the spot where the Izzie was sitting. A few evil snarls and hisses from the serpent might have moved the morons along.
Visited a bottle shop after the sunset in search of the last of our Christmas presents. The place was full of noisy bogans and Izzie was getting more and more sensitive to their antics. Getting tired and just about to crash. Got out and slinked to the bus stop. Twenty mins sitting outside looking at the stars in the garden restored equilibrium

The strangest experience ever was one afternoon where it became increasingly sticky and humid. This was at the serpent sacred site of the old lunatic asylum that is now an arts centre. Putting on the impartial Martian hat, noticed how our base mode changed from happy to cranky and back again as the wind rose and then disappeared.
You cannot let the weather dictate the state of your mind but it is good to learn what triggers push the grumpy buttons so as to try avoid them or over ride them

Tomorrow will be another gorgeous crisp and crunchy day. Will be spending lots of it sitting at the beach and then watching the sunset and listening to the waves. That is one serious battery recharging exercise.
The Izzie has got some serious repairs and maintenance to do on those protective shields. Most of the year they have been in bits and totally useless.
The mind is a strange and scary thing. Most of the old rituals have seemed to stop working. It's time to find some new ones. Nothing less than the serpent sanity is at stake.