A VISIT TO THE READING ROOM

Went to see Sandy after another sleepless night.

Sandy is the cool owner of The Reading Room at Marikina Shoe Expo, near Bellini’s.  She not only has a gift for seeing, she has a matching gift for finding the precise words to describe what she sees.  (Turns out – and I just surfed her blog now – Sandy’s a terrific poet in her own right.  No wonder she has such a way with words!)

Some of the girls at work introduced me to her four years ago.  I remember my first soul card reading with her, a highlight of which was, ”You’ll be promoted three times as quickly as anyone else in your work place.  You won’t even always want it.”

Of course I just smiled when the girls asked me what she’d said.  Kapal kaya ng mukha kong ulitin yon.  But here I am literally three promotions later, whatever you may believe about the power of suggestion, and curious as to what Sandy and my subconscious have to say about my upcoming plans.

At the reading, Sandy laid out her initial spread and this is what she saw, “For someone who has always been focused and dependable, you now have the mental libido of a 14-year old boy.” Haha Sandy, not just mental. “Your thoughts are fractured.  You have more energy than you can imagine and it’s taking you in so many directions it’s not easy for me to read you today.  But it looks like you are about to do something drastic you may regret.”

If I quit in March or April, the cards say I won’t be able to afford to simply write because of unexpected financial obligations that are going to crop up. “Have you actually figured out how much you’re going to need to take a one or two year sabbatical?” she asked.  “Nope, I just want out,” I said. (This from a girl who once created a complex 30-year personal financial plan …)

A good time to leave will be the end of 2008, she claims to see, ”Then you’ll have enough to live well and write without worries for years.”

I don’t know if I can stand to wait another year.   But I can’t say I haven’t been warned about being irresponsible.

Reality check: I took on several very major expenses the past month.  I mean major.  I wasn’t totally thinking straight.  And somehow I just figured I could quit and still manage to pay for everything, even with our blasted stocks now more than a peso below IPO price …

I did ask Sandy about things besides work.  

If her cards hold any truth, my vacation lifetime continues.  The upcoming writing will be ………………. and whoa, an upcoming relationship will be ………………….. (writer pauses, blushes, stares up at the ceiling, smiles, blushes again) ………………..

Let’s just say, we’ll see how things play out. 

Before I left, Sandy said she is very, very happy for me and where I’m taking my life. If she wasn’t a reader she said she would encourage me to up and leave right now because she knows I’m bursting with excitement at the thought.  She then gave me details of an upcoming short story writing competition.

Now if only I could focus long enough to finish writing anything …