Tarot Cards and the Inner Tussle

Back on Nusa Lembongan with Andre and Auggie now; Andre’s mother, SusieJo, will be here in two days. It will be nice to have another adult to talk to at night, another human to help keep Auggie entertained.

I missed the Mayan Astrological gathering the other night but I did end up with a Tarot card reading. It claims my lord and my artistic side are at war, that I will go through a dark inner spiritual death but arise happy and fulfilled by my new world.  I asked her if the difficult decisions I had to make this past year counted and she said no, I will be faced with life-altering decisions that will kill off something inside my soul. Bloody excellent, I said.

SEMI-USELESS SHIT I NEVER LEARNED FROM MY FATHER:

• ·      Overdosing on B12 does not keep the mosquitoes at bay. However, my fingernails have never looked better.  On a related note, despite having heard otherwise from someone I once considered a good friend, Nusa Lembongan has mosquitoes.  A lot of them. Auggie calls himself Auggie Cake for Mosquitoes. I just itch and bitch.
• ·      Filling the solar shower from the sink is the better choice since the hose fills the bag with not only water but leaves and other choice morsels most people are trying to wash off in the first place.
• ·      The solar shower needs to be filled every time it is used. Both times the power has gone out for the day (killing the running water), we had forgotten to fill the solar shower. Believe me, you want a shower after spending the day swimming, sweating and walking through dusty sand. Watching Andre and Auggie climb into our bed, grungy and tired . . . goodbye white sheets.
• ·      The romantic image of a single rooster waking up a quiet farm with one or two melodious calls is a fantasy perpetrated by travel agents. Fucking roosters travel in flocks of 1,697 and crow all fucking day long, beginning at the delightful hour of 4 o’clock a.m.  Chicks are equally deceptive, playing the “ahh, isn’t he adorable” card while secretly herding a sibling contingency of yellow and brown puff balls out into the middle of the road just as a tourist, new to motorcycles, is trying to find the hand brake.
• ·      Anyone who has issues with dizziness, compounded by bending over, should not clean house in Indonesia. The broom handles end at the waste. The sinks are set at thigh level but the bowl is two feet deep. The floors need to be swept after every meal and snack lest you desire spontaneous ant hills, featuring the famous biting ants.  The dishes must never reside, dirty, in the sink or zillions of knats will make friends in your kitchen, the curious rat in the ceiling will show up, and various insects as big as your fist will soon arrive to the party.
• ·      Leaving the light on in the bathroom at night will make it easier to find your way in the dark, but the insects and geckos will also find this true. I leave the light on purposefully now because I like to see the lizards on the ceiling, though the one that was as big as my forearm was a bit unsettling, huge eyes staring at me as I urinated, a defiance of gravity I hoped he could maintain.
• ·      Scooby Doo Suduku on Auggie’s Leapster Explorer is too hard for him. And me. I can only hope one of us doesn’t throw it into a wall before the trip is over.
• ·      The Hindu Elephant god is my new favorite warrior. From what I can glean during muddled conversations with Balinese, the god is called Ganesha (?).  At one point he fought evil by breaking off his tusk, using it like a knife, stabbing evil to death, preserving good. The Balinese have a three day holiday celebrating the defeat of evil. I am going to learn more about this god and his particular story; I would like to teach this mythology alongside the story of Achilles and Beowulf.  We have purchased two pieces of art that feature him holding his tusk in his hand (he has four, I think) or in his trunk.
• ·      It is possible to become sick of rice.
• ·      Indonesian pizza is NOT pizza. But Bali Budda delivers.
• ·      A smile goes a long way . . . but it still won’t get an internet login and password from the uptight classists who own the resort next door.
• ·      Discarded water bottles, coconut husks and sand can make an interesting game for Auggie. Don’t bother playing chess with him, he cheats.
• ·      Andre can not be placated by the beauty of an island if there is no surf or wind. He needs to become a drinker, life would be so much easier for him.
• ·      I’m about to finish another great book, one that would be good for book groups: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.
•  I can't decide if a Tarot reading is self-fulfilling prophecy. If so, I just wasted a lot of money on a prophecy I should have re-directed.