The Musings of an Ex Ex-Pat

Libra Horoscope

This may be the most accurate horoscope I’ve seen in a while.  Especially, if you read it down to the detail of the dates.  April 7-July 21st?  Really?  Are you kidding me??  SPOT. ON. (and if you have any idea of what happened in my life between those dates you would know). 

In other news, I officially hate having Saturn in Libra and cannot WAIT for it to leave.  February 7th is here as of 15 minutes ago…retrograde.  Do it.  I can’t deal with you any longer….

Libra Horoscope for February 2012

By Susan Miller

In life, we often strive for a balance, with hard work sprinkled liberally with moments of pleasure. Lately, this balance has been off for you, and responsibilities and hard work have dominated your life. You may have felt that, at times, that life is a never-ending series of demands, and you may have wondered if this was to be how life would be from now on. No, dear Libra. Things will improve, and actually, parts of February will dotted with bright spots of happiness.

Your present situation is being heavily influenced by the rare, once-in-29-year visit of Saturn, the taskmaster planet whose job it is to help you find and develop your inner strength and character by presenting you with a series of challenges. Saturn periods can be difficult because of Saturn’s “tough love” methods, but thankfully, Saturn only visits us two or three times in a lifetime, each time with a two-and-a-half-year stay. Before this, the last time you coped with Saturn, it was from September 1980 to August 1983.

Saturn has been visiting Libra since October 2009, with only a brief break when Saturn retrograded out of Libra and back into Virgo from April 7 to July 21, 2011. Ever since Saturn returned to your sign in July 2011, he has not left your side. You may feel there’s been no relief. One way Saturn often works is to isolate you by removing all support around you so that you will develop your own inner resourcefulness and independence. Often when this happens we feel that others don’t understand the difficulties we face, and that lack of empathy often intensifies the feeling of isolation. (To counter this, surround yourself with only supportive people for now.) Saturn teaches the value of long-term planning and of being realistic and practical. Visits from Saturn are always sobering periods, but they also are ones that we grow in maturity and wisdom.

You would feel the most direct rays from Saturn if your birthday falls from October 15 to October 23. If your birthday falls earlier, in September or from October 1 to 14, you have already dealt with the most severe tests of this planet, and in that case, Saturn is now moving away from your Sun and you are starting to feel a bit better. If you were born in September, you are currently wrestling with Uranus, which is a whole different influence involving your partner, and I will get to that later when we talk together about romance. It’s unusual to have both of these big planets exerting a direct influence at the same time. There is a benefit to this, however, because more often the influence of these two planetary heavyweights is drawn out over the course of many years.

Although Saturn won’t leave Libra until October 4 of this year, this month all Libras, of every birthday, will get a needed break. Saturn will actually be friendly to other planets, which is welcome news. You are in the home stretch, dear Libra, about to be done, and once Saturn speeds out of Libra in October, he will not be back until 2039. In the meantime, you appear to be committing to something important - perhaps it is a long-held dream - that will require patience, study, and preparation. It may be a goal to buy a house, start your own a business, or write a book. Other Libras may be having their first child or, if in a later stage in life, waving goodbye to a child who is leaving their nest. Any new commitment or change in lifestyle that happens during a Saturn trend usually requires a major adjustment.

Saturn will now retrograde starting on February 7 and continue to slide backward until June 24. While retrograde, Saturn is a little weaker, so you may actually get a chance to catch your breath. Saturn is currently IN Libra, but RULES your fourth house of home, so if you were involved in a renovation or sale, progress will slow until the end of June. This is good to know. If you have tried to sell your house to no avail, it’s time to see your broker to decide about how to change your asking price. You may want to take the house off the market while you think about your next move. Be ready for a big push at your next most favorable time for home matters, the full moon, July 3.

This month you can make some progress, despite Saturn’s move backward. You might make a solid decision that you find agreeable for home or family matters on February 18, when the Sun and Saturn will be so beautifully oriented.

(Source: astrologyzone.com)

heidi8:

emmyc:

mostly10:

WHY THE EVERLOVING FUCK DID THAT NOT HAPPEN!?

wait a minute WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But… but…. they’re all still… like… alive!!!

This could still happen!!

Except Matt Lewis doesn’t really resemble a potato these days. 

(Source: riddlemetom)

My cousin is awesome

• Yeah well...that's my cousin : D
• Steven Tyler: You'll make a great Easter Bunny.
• Girl Auditioning: Well, I'm Jewish.

Harry, Hugo, and Cuckoo Clocks

I’ve been meaning to write something about this for some time now, but just haven’t had the time to sit down and research and write.  I apologise for whatever ignorance I may display here.  It is just something I found very interesting that I wanted to share.

Back in late-October, my mind was heavily preoccupied with other things when I glanced up and, in a bit of a daze, saw the following scenes on my TV screen: a young boy twirling around amongst a shower of pieces of paper falling on him, an old steam train pulling into a train station, a tall tower full of heavy stone staircases filmed from below, the inner workings of a large clock.  And for a moment, in my foggy mind, I thought I was watching a TV spot for Harry Potter and the Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone.  I could not figure out why this would be on TV.  At first I thought, maybe it was going to be played on ABC Family for Halloween (which was only a few days away), but then the title filled the screen and I found that it was for a new film callled Hugo which was coming to theatres soon.  That said, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this advert was geared towards the Potter fans.  It felt like some one high up was being incredibly clever and appealing to us on a subliminal level.  And let’s be honest, it worked.  After seeing that ad spot, I wanted to see Hugo.  I had no idea what it was, but the fact that it reminded me enough of the franchise which had so recently concluded, felt like a slight resurgence, a slight glimpse back to that feeling of fantasy.

I finally saw Hugo a few weeks ago and have to say, for the first few moments, I really thought I was just seeing things: Was that Mr Dursley and Madame Maxime quickly passing by in the crowd?  My brother sat beside me sure I was losing my mind.  How could I have spotted those actors in such a fleeting scene, especially when they were in a crowd of other actors?  I must be making it up simply because I had a Potter preconception.  But lo and behold, it was them.  Richard Griffiths and Francis de la Tour were both in the film.  And what I found even more interesting, was the roles they were in.  I’ve seen them act together before.  In fact, I saw the original run of History Boys at the National Theatre in London and met both actors after the show (Francis de la Tour was exceedingly lovely, I might add!)  But their parts in Hugo felt like such throwaway roles.  If they weren’t there, nothing in the plot would have changed, as far as I am concerned.  They added a comic relief, but didn’t further any plot and weren’t on screen all that often either.  The casting, to me, felt strange due to those reasons and I almost wondered if this was another subliminal Potter nod—if perhaps, these two actors were chosen, instead of others, to subtly seduce the Potter fans.

Moving forward, we are introduced to another character and in the initial introduction they are turned half away from the camera with their face blocked, but I still reacted with, ‘Is that Narcissa Malfoy?!’  Again, I was correct.  Helen McCrory played a much larger role then the others (playing the wife of Georges Méliès), but I still found the casting strange, especially because afterwards, I spoke to people fairly deep within Harry Potter fandom and they were equally unaware that these cast members were in the film.

I did greatly enjoy the film and plan to look into the book (though it seems that it is highly illustrated so it will have to be something I read and not audiobook), but I can’t help but wonder why I feel so drawn to this movie/book in a Harry Potter way.  I’ve done some minor research on it and it appears the book came out in early 2007, the same year that Potter ended.  I wonder if the author was consciously aware of that while writing.  Afterall, while Harry Potter is set in a fairly current time period, a lot of the castle and setting does appear to be derived from a similarly fantastical time period.  The thing that I was left with largely from the film though, was the idea of Georges Méliès, a filmmaker and magician whose story becomes very central to the Hugo Cabret tale.  This idea of magic, even though it is more ‘magician’ rather than ‘wizard’, appealed to me and drew me in further.  Also, having left the theatre, I found out that Méliès was actually a real person and not just a figment of imagination.  The thought of learning more about this ‘real’ wizard had a high appeal to me as a Potter fan, but also on a personal level.

Maybe I’m stretching (in fact, I probably am), but I found all these aspects combined, whether arbitrary or planned, definitely added to the appeal of Hugo for me.  And now, to take it one step further, I was sent a book as a holiday gift which immedietly appealed to me simply by the title, The Boy With The Cuckoo Clock Heart. But when I started reading it, I was led into a fantastical world that started in Edinburgh and made it’s way to Paris where a new character was finally introduced—Méliès.  The very same Méliès.  In the past month, I have suddenly come across this real life ‘wizard’ twice and whether or not it is coincidence or some sort of sign that I should learn more about him, I quite like the idea of a new magician featuring in my life at the moment.  This man, this film-maker, will never take the place of Harry (of this I am sure), but the fact that I’m still finding new and interesting magic in my everyday life is something I can appreciate, whether strategically planned or not.

H x

Skins Playlist

Does anyone know where I can get a song tracklisting for the Netflix/Home Video version of Skins Season 5 episode 3 (‘Mini’)?  I liked basically every song in that episode and Shazam has no results, Google lyrics is failing, Youtube has nothing, Wikipedia has nothing, and Skins Wiki only lists the original song listings which apparently are different from the Netflix release.  There isn’t even info on the credits for the episode.  Any help would be much appreciated.  I’m beginning to think these songs don’t really exist! LOL

accio-marauder:

The actors reading their character’s first appearance in the books

(Source: robinisthebride)

Only 2 To Go

I am so, so proud of myself.  I have just completed my first rough draft of the newest chapter of the book I’ve been writing and I am thrilled!  Not only, is this the longest chapter I have written, but it was one of the harder ones to write because of the subject.  And I’m incredibly pleased it has turned out the way it has because it was important to me that this chapter work properly.  I’ve been working on this since May, so it has been an eight month ordeal.

Also, this means I only have two more chapters to write before I am finally finished with the first draft of my book.  TWO!  I started writing this book back in 2005 or 2006 and I could have never imagined it would have turned into what it now is and I’m just really proud of it and really excited to finish so I can begin the process of trying to get it published—finally!

I know quite a few people who follow me on here only found me because of the reviews I’ve done for MuggleNet and to those people, I want you to know that I appreciate the follows and hope that when this is eventually done you’ll want to read more from me (which means hopefully wanting to read my book).  The book is about Harry, but not the way you probably think.  Wait for it—I’m hoping for good things to come :)

H x.

Stopped by a Stranger

I was running an errand for work today that took far longer to complete due to a cashier error and had me waiting around much longer than I should have been.  As I started to a leave, a woman walked into the store carrying a baby, stopped cold, stopped me and asked me if I’d ever had a reading done before.  She said something about my aura jumped out at her and she really wanted to do a psychic reading of me.  When I, embarrassed, declined, she started saying things to me, began her reading of me, and asked if she could read me right then.  I declined again and left the store.

But the things she said before I stopped her, while albeit, could be classified as incredibly vague generalizations, struck very close to home for me. And though I declined her due to the fact that I was already late getting back to work and because I had no clue if she was just some lady trying to make money off of me somehow, the more I think about it, maybe she wasn’t just trying to con me.  She stopped me, a total stranger, to tell me that something around me was very strong and pulling her to me.  I shouldn’t have even still been in the store anyways.  The cashier error prolonged my stay by a very long time.  Plus for some reason, the baby she was holding made me think she was less of a con-woman wandering around trying to make a buck and more of a real person running her own errands that happens to have a 6th sense.  I believe in those sorts of things anyways: I sleep with a bag full of crystals under my pillow to help me with things like stress, anxiety, direction, action, and love.  I was the girl in elementary school who would make predictions with her crystals at recess for her friends.  I’m the girl who, as recently as April, bought gemstones for herself and an extra for her best friend and, despite knowing he’s not really into that type of thing and probably not as much of a believer as me, I know he carries it around with him—or at least he did for a few months.  So despite the fact that I declined, I really sort of wanted to hear what she had to say to me.  And the vague generalization that she made to me doesn’t really feel all that vague, and didn’t even at the time.  In fact, I think it feels sort of on point.  And almost exactly 12 hours later, I’m still thinking about it.  And the thought has made me feel better this evening when I’d normally feel my usual blue, of late.  And the thought of what she had to say has made me feel like there is hope for me to feel happy again, that my body won’t torture me forever.  That somehow, things will be the way it should be.  Somehow, this stranger has given me hope again, even if only for just one night.

H x.