Super Power Tuesday. Flex’em up mi gente. Today is the day we remind you to flex your super powers and repeat your Super Hero Mantra. Mine is, “Humanity for the win.” I’m rooting for the home team. Who, or “what,” is the competition? Anyone and any thing that’s anti-human.
“You shall know them by their fruits.” Here’s a tiny example for those in the back row dancing awkwardly to what the Earth is vibrating. “Genocide, is anti-human. Okay?”
Magic Moonday.
Here’s a story from the “Everyday Magic File.”
We pushed out of the Oasis yesterday, because we must get outside every day. We don’t always make it. Just because. Those days, very few and far between, mind you, that we don’t get outside, we “rationalize” that we need to rest and relax and repair the vessel.
We needed to get at least a couple of miles in yesterday. It’s a triple-benny, (benefit), at least. We get the exercise, the sun, we record our show segments outside as we walk, and we can pick up some goodies from the market.
So we’re coming up on the market and there’s this lady, elder, (maybe senior to me, but it’s difficult to tell these days.) There’s a shopping cart, (trolley), with bags in it. A car with an open trunk, (boot, for you Brits), and a look on her face the reveals the dreadful task ahead. The damsel was heavier than she should be and had trouble moving.
It’s like a split-second that all this stuff happens. Our eyes connect. I point to the cart with my fingers, then to the car. (“Do you want me to transfer these bags to the boot?”)
“Por favor? Gracias.”
Spanish is the first language down here.
“Un pleaseur,” (French, but it’s a reflex). Or is it, “placer”? Because it truly is a pleasure to help. And I’m trying to figure out what I’m trying to say as I load the groceries.
She asks me, in Spanish, what language I speak. (I’m comprehending a little bit better daily.)
“English,” says I.
“I speak English,” she says. As I’m finishing up. Maybe a half dozen bags. No big deal. She says something about how we’d been communicating in sign language. Which is probably my second language down here. Maybe a combination of pointing, facial expressions and body language. The “language” we understand, without knowing how we understand it. In hindsight, I can explain, in a sense how I knew she needed help and would accept it. That’s another underlying current. She could have managed it, if she had to. And then there’s the alignment element, that Mind ponders constantly, like it’s a background program running.
Five minutes sooner and she may not have even been out of the market yet. Five minutes later, the job would be done. Many signs were there. The open trunk. The way the cart was positioned. Did I read her face? Her body language? The effort it took for to navigate from the sidewalk to the street?
I offered. She didn’t ask. That makes a difference in the dance as well.
Human interaction.
Part Two.
The Dollar Store.
There are these hardback notebooks I like. I use them to keep notes and records regarding the daily videos. Whenever I have a fistful of dollars, I’ll stop in and see if there are any of these things available. I’m looking, and touching, opening books, and so on, but I don’t see any. So I’m looking for something comparable. I stroll around to the other side of the shelf. Nothing there.
I’m about to leave.
Universe says, “Let’s give it one more try.”
We’re moving stuff around and then we see a few items. Hardback. Corny covers, but okay. They are really for kids anyway. They look smaller than the ones I prefer. But okay. Sold. I grab three of them.
One of the indications of the decline in our economy is that there’s only one line open in most stores, even the discount retain stores. And in larger super markets. Wynn Dixie, especially. They have self-check-outs. Four machines monitored by one person, who is watched by a manager. Meanwhile, for cash customers, and those who prefer human interaction, there’s one line open. And the cashier running that line, is notoriously slow. It’s like the stores punish you for preferring humans to machines. The penalize you by stealing your time.
What the Dollar Store has is a “dynamic check out.” After the one line stops moving, someone will open a second line. Sometimes. It’s not, pro-active, (a word used a lot at the turn of the century, and all but extinct now). It’s reactive. It seems that most activities, at least on the level your humble vagabond functions, is re active.
Anyway, I get in the one line that’s open. Right in front of me is a shopping cart with stuff in it, but no human. So I’m looking around, ready to bypass this empty cart, when the lady shows up. She asks if I want to go ahead of her. I have my three books.
(This conversation is happening in Spanish. I know how to tell her I’ll wait. I have no rush.)
The length of the line behind me has literally tripled. (It was the first day of school, by the way.)
The lady in front, turned out to be the clog in the drain, her cards were being declined, one after another. Three strikes. Or did I miss count?
“It’s still the right line.” I say this out loud. Because it was the only line. This is how we maintain sanity. Plus, we are never in a hurry when shopping.
Meanwhile, a second line opens up, and everyone is flowing through easily, while girlfriend is on her phone, in her purse and in her wallet. Eventually activating a new card, finally completing the transaction and unclogging the drain. I’m next. $4.01 for these books, including the tax.
“Uno momento,” I tell the cashier, as I dig a penny out of my bag. “They can’t decline cash,” I tell her, in a mix of English & Spanish. Delayed reaction, but she gets it. She returns a dollar from the fiver I gave her, but forgets to hand me the books.
“Mi libros,” I say. Kind of surprised that it came out so naturally.
She apologizes and hands me the bag of books.
Ego is fighting the urge to think, “should have taken the offer to go ahead.” It was psychologist and 1980s self-help guru Wayne Dyer that says, “You can’t should have.” Which is a funny line, but true. You can’t rewind. So don’t worry about it. I got the books I wanted. And as it turns out, they are the same size and same type that I wanted. I was happy to get them. But we paid. But we won.
Part Three – Tea.
We don’t really shop at super markets. We hunt. We hunt for BOGOs. (Buy one, get one.) When it comes to packaged items, you save what you spend. Half price. 50 cents on the dollar. With meats, it’s more strategic. It’s the lesser priced of the two. So you got to get two items whose prices are as close together as possible. Sometimes we get lucky, and find two identically that are priced. I’ll tell you what though. The prices are still going up.
Anyway, it’s chicken soup week and I went out “foraging” for bogo mushrooms and whatever else that was on sale, that I could stash away in my “prepper pantry” for Armageddon.
Before I head out, I will send out an incantation. “Peanut butter should be on sale. Let’s see how much they are asking for blueberries. Although I’m drinking less tea, I will still buy tea.” Stuff like that.
I get to the market, peanut butter is on sale. But I don’t need peanut butter. I already benefited from that spell. I looked at my favorite tea blend. Same price. The price for a box of 100 “leading brand” tea bags has doubled since I’ve been here. But here’s the blessing, a couple of times a year, they go on sale. So does the second level brand of tea, which is okay too. Bogo. So the price that has doubled, goes back to what it was 6 years ago. I am not shy about buying 400 tea bags either.
But there are other boxes on sale. Half price. Small boxes of 20. Flavored teas. Some without caffeine.
“I said I would buy tea,” I say to Universe. And I did. It’s pretty good too.
Monday was a day when the magic was flowing. We had strong walks to and from the market. We laid down some tracks in the street studio for future episodes. Helped a fellow human. Good vibes. Got the books I wanted. Which seems like a minor gift, but when you think about the Stones, “You can’t always get what you want,” it’s lovely when you can.
Stay sane, stay strong, stay safe, stay savvy, stay serene, stay sovereign, stay subscribed.
PEACE.