Getting back into Swimming...

Finally I got all my web e-mails integrated into one mail application (I hate to admit it but it seems Windows Live Email could do the trick). Unfortunately the 3G/3.5G wireless network is not reliable enough to pull all my e-mails online to my desktop. Therefore I would either switch back to the ADSL (or the optic fiber) network, or heading to a friend's place and beg for their reliable connections and also the wider bandwidth. I am taking the latter approach because I hate signing up ISP contracts for two years even more. I decide to wait a few more weeks and see if I can live in the 3G/3.5G frontier.

It is no secret that I have been kind of lazy since I came back from USA. I think I have lost some steam and am not ready to jump back to the swimming pool just yet, but that has to change as I can not simply sitting at home staring the computer screen 24/7. My energy level is down and I probably just need to bite my tongue and pick the pace back up. Like it or not, it is time to get back to the work out routines.

Hopefully it could get me back to rolling instead of sitting still at home. The jet lag and the generally static feeling due to the economy downturn are surely not helping. However I just have to get myself back into working out again. There is simply no other alternative I believe. This autumn has been static ever since I got back in Taipei. Sitting at home and playing with my laptop all day surely is not healthy for me at this moment. As the NIKE slogan would say: Just do it! That seems to be the only way to get out of this crappy mood and stop dragging my own feet to fitness.

Last week in October...

As we enter the last week of October and move into November. The recent event of a teen age Tarot reader ran a scam upon former President of Taiwan was all over the news. Maybe this will be done and over with by the time November comes to us. It surely gives Tarot a bad public image in Taiwan, but to be honest most of the Tarot readers are not helping in getting their homework done and truly helping people that come to them for advices.

It does put me in some thoughts. I enjoy helping people with the knowledge and messages I learn from Tarot, but there are simply too many ways to screw it up. I have put off establishing my own Tarot reading practice for a long time and now it seems a good idea to put it on hold again for the indefinite future, until all the dust and hypes are settled of course.

Now that the young run-away who claimed to be a Tarot reader is arrested for his other crimes of fake identities, maybe the whole event can be done and over with. The downturn of economy has been on a lot of people's mind. It seems a relatively chilled winter is just around the corner. I believe it would be a good idea just to hold myself together and move forward one step at a time. With the jet lag and most of the house chores behind me, it is time to rebuild the daily routines for my life.

Back to Taiwan...

After 20 something hours of flight and bus rides. Finally I arrived home safe and sound. Soon I will head to Taipei for my tutoring meeting and it is great to see my friends again. Yesterday I just got my phone bills paid, so it is necessary to find some cash somewhere. It feels as if a new year has already started. Economy has been slow so I plan on lay low and stay low to sit out the bad weather...

Just recently the news reported that the previous President of Taiwan went to see a Tarot reader for card readings about the future for him and his family. It is rumored that "Death" was one of the cards he pulled and it was interpreted as actually death and extremely bad luck. All I have to say is that they have read the card wrong because by the book everyone who studies Tarot knows Death does not literally mean death itself or not even some kind of bad luck. It just means that a ending event cycle in life and maybe sooner than one knows, a new beginning.

Also the most popular way of card readings in Taiwan seems to be this "Ask a question and then pull a card" style. Has any of these readers actually learned about Tarot and maybe how to use a card spread? They love to claim how they have learned Tarot for more than 10 (or 20) years, but in this case the guy is merely in his twenties. Furthermore the lady who commented on this guy's reading took the opportunity and claimed herself a medium and psychic after she spent some quiet time in jail. All I can say is how brave they have become in these self serving claims. ;)

Anyway, let the rule of Karma take its own way. What goes around comes around. People might want to think more about those when they make certain moves in life...

Happy 41th birthday to me...

I know to write about my own birthday does sound really pathetic, and it is indeed just a number anyway. It comes to me that I now have a blog and it is actually a good place to write anything I like in it, even if it contains no value for anything or anyone else...

In fact I would be on the flight back to Taiwan on my birthday. That itself is an interesting event I guess. Should I run into anything worth documenting I will surely write it down here. For whatever reason there may be this birthday happens to have a handful of little coincidences going on. It will be fun to see what they lead to later on.

Mercury went retrograde on Sep 24th and it comes direct on my birthday. On top of all this a full moon comes into the sky a day prior to my birthday, on Oct 14. In the western astrology this still has significant meanings even it misses by a day (a few degrees I think). I have just learned a bit about myself during this retrograde and it is really self rewarding to say the least. During the time period I visited my sister's in USA and bought a new computer, started this blog, and got a handful of things going on. The few days out of the retrograde should prove at least to be busy and interesting. I admit I am eager to find out what awaits me in Taiwan. :)

Getting Ready for Mercury Going Direct...

Mercury has been retrograding since Sep 24, and so many things have been changed. My stay in USA got extended for a week. I got a new Windows Vista laptop. Started a personal blog... and soon we would be under regular day to day energy after Mercury goes direct from Oct 15 forward. I will hop on the flight home on my birthday and it will be under the spell of a full moon. With my natal Sun, a full Moon, and Mercury going direct all going on in one day, I am sure things would pick up right after my birthday gets started. On one hand I could not wait for the exciting new chapters to begin for the coming birth year, as promised by the horoscopes; on the other hand I hope it is going to be a smooth ride and not bumpy and annoying all the way to the end. A few small things have happened during this time frame, but they were nothing short of a miracle of course. Life surely would change a lot as it goes forward. I guess I just need to be honest and sincere and get ready for whatever life has to offer for my new birth year.

Moving from XP to Vista...

Well I wish I could last longer with my Windows XP laptop, as I heard that Windows Vista would have a lot of problems and was basically quite crappy to use. However I had my old laptop since 2005 and it has been more than 3 years of use and abuse. Anyway there was this Acer laptop for $400 USD plus tax, which was simply too good to pass. So I dived into my pocket and got it home in the end.

So here I am. With another Windows laptop... To be honest the Vista experience has not been too bad for me. Of course it is probably due to the hardware upgrade from a 1.3 GHz single core Celeron CPU to a 2.0 GHz dual core Pentium T3200 for the most part. It is for sure that Windows XP would probably fly on this machine if I can get the software drivers for it to run. Hmmm... Maybe I will check the Acer support web site just in case. ;) However I am set for now and get ready to return to Taiwan in the meanwhile. I hope the 7 days here is more than enough for me to test whether this Acer is good enough for my daily use.

Only time could tell if I have bought a good one for the next 3 years. I surely hope I did. Sure it is not Apple or Sony, and it is not very fancy from the look of things. But for what I did it should be more than enough to get everything going and flying. I just hope I can use it for another 3 or 4 years. By that time the iPhone 6 should be what everyone is using and laptops would probably heading straight to recycle bin for sure. Watch out Microsoft, it would be wise to get Windows Mobile in shape by then. :P

Mayan Tarot...

Another nice tarot deck I have seen lately is the Mayan Tarot. I just like its colorful symbols and cute pictures. I might end up buying it to add to my collections. The design is simple and to the minimum. It is something I can enjoy and practice on my readings in the near future. After seeing most of the new decks that I would like to collect I would probably narrow them down to Revelations Tarot or the Mayan Tarot. After I spend the money for a new laptop I will see what is left in my credit card for such purchases. ;)

The Cosmic Tribe Tarot...

This is one of my favorite modern deck done by Stevee Postman. The whole deck and other imagery work of his can be found in www.stevee.com. I had a copy before and it was fun to do readings with it. The artwork is much more brave and a lot of computer editted imagery is used. It is one of the best tarot decks done of the computer generated images, in my opinion. I believe it is inspried by the Toth Tarot deck by Aleister Crowley, which I never feel a strong connection to. However this deck is strong in energy and imagery, and I like the quality of readings it gives.

Revelations Tarot...

I just recently ran into a nice tarot deck called Revelations Tarot by Zach Wong. The good design of it is that the author actually designs to make the reverse card a different picture from the upright card. The art work is quite good, but I do not usually use reverse in my tarot readings. I am still considering of buying it. I guess it would depend on how much cash I have in my pocket and how bad I need it for my tarot collections. :)

Staying in USA till Oct 16...

It happened that I would stay one more week to help my sister with her kids. Luckily both of my tutoring offers still are valid when I get back. My friend Sam already said that it could happen this way, but one could never know it for sure until the future reveals itself. In the meanwhile Mercury is on its way out of retrograding this week. The week I come back to Taiwan would be in a flux of energies due to Mercury going from retrograding to direct on my birthday, not to mention the full moon coming close one day prior to it. The first week back home would surely be an interesting week nonetheless, as if I could not whip up enough personal drama from growing into the big FOUR-ONE OLD already. ;)

Mercury Retrograde...

For now things have been moving a bit slow due to the Mercury retrograde. For people who like to find out how it would impact their life, I would highly recommend the monthly horoscopes from the Astrology Zone by Susan Miller. She is really good at pointing out the planets' activities and thus one can make informed decisions about their current life. I personally read mine in the beginning of each month, so I can plan on my monthly schedule accordingly. It seems the mid October would be the time when all things get on the move again. In the meanwhile we can slow down and review what can be done for the future and how things can get better from the past experiences.

A Three Headed Dog...

Recently in my readings for myself I have often encountered 3 face (people) cards and they are quite a bit unusual for me. They just keep showing up so I think I would make a note of them. Later on I can look into this and play the game of "Who are these?". Of course most of my friends know how I am likely to make a fool of myself, but through an unexpected event of watching a stranger in MRT I discovered why Buddha claimed love and attraction as a strong form of attachments from one's ego/self. It was quite intriguing actually. However I'd better keep it to myself for now as I have already been known as cynical and/or bitter among family and friends. Well from this point of view, a blog is kind of thinking out loud now, isn't it?

Angel of Healing Light...

One of my close friends, Sam, has found his true love after 18 years of being single. It surely gives all the single people out there hopes and encourages everyone to be brave and take what life has to offer head on. During the readings we did for him and his love one card kept popping up and maybe it would best describe the bond they have shared. I believe the karmic connection between them would be significant. Best wishes for the newly met. ;) It surely is great news in the period of Mercury retrograde.

Visit my sister in USA for a month...

Really it is always a pleasure to visit my sister and her family in Detroit MI, USA, but as we know it, all good things must come to an end. On Oct 7 (Oct 8 in Taiwan) I am leaving USA to head home and resume my life in Taiwan for work and fun. I am looking forward to going home but I would also love to visit them again soon. The Ten of Cups is a good card as my wish for my sister and her family. Happiness is certainly in the air within one's grasp even in this downturn of economy in recent years.

A Fresh Start...

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for your interest in visiting my blog. It is my first attempt of building one so please bare with me for the postings. I have not yet decided what I am going to make of this blog. One step at a time I guess...

For a great English Tarot reading site, go to:

http://www.facade.com/tarot/

For a great Chinese ( Chinese ONLY : 全部中文 ) metaphysic study web site, go to:

http://destiny.xfiles.to/

For my personal study and a web seminar of Tarot, go to:

Kabbalah and Tarot

Thanks again for dropping by. Hopefully something making sense would pop up soon. :)

Best Regards,

Sincerely, Mark Her