The Right People Can Further a Dream

This made so much sense to me when I heard it..

I used to train jujitsu at a small school in New Jersey, and there was a guy there who went on to become a professional and he fought in the UFC.

He was being interviewed 12 years ago, and they asked him about how it all started for him, and his answer was this:

“I was in Atlantic City scheduled to fight, and several guys belonging to a reputable team in Florida were at the event as well. They saw me and invited me to go to Florida to train with them and the rest was history.

It wasn’t that the guys at my school in New Jersey were bad or not good to train with, they just weren’t taking it as serious as I was.”

Of the many jobs I’ve had over the years, people ask about what jobs I liked and which I didn’t, but I tell them, there was never a job I didn’t like. It always came down to the people I worked with.

And, so, I’m at this point again where I need to make a decision about my next job, and I’ve been thinking about my experiences and what my friend from jujitsu said.

Given what I know about myself-taking into consideration, my intelligence, drive to be successful, personality, and passion, I ask myself, “how do I go about finding that job or that group of people who can take me to the next level?”

What’s it going to take to finally cement a foundation from which I can build the rest of my life?

Inferiority Complex? Not My Problem

Well, I just lost my second full time job this year. What happened this time? Basically, I was challenged to a fight by a coward, and then I was fired. It was my second week of work, and the tension was building since the second day! The second day!!!!!

Who has a problem on the second day of work?

Apparently, me.

I can’t believe the hatting that’s going on here. I never in my life, thought, people would have a problem with another person working for a living. I’m not a celebrity who’s making easy money. I’m getting up every day and going to work for shit money. And, people still have a problem with that.

The jealousy and the envy is beyond imaginable, and all I’m trying to do is earn a paycheck.

I can’t even get trained properly by the female who’s training me without 2 or 3 guys coming in the room and showing off, carrying on, singing real loud, yelling, making a scene, obnoxious, rude…grown ass men-being so immaturely needy for attention, approval, and validation.

Are you kidding me?

I don’t need to stroke your ego.

I don’t need to even look at you.

I don’t need to laugh at you, and you’re not funny anyway.

30-year-olds acting like middle school children.

I was hired last week, and I was told, and I quote, “There’s not one bad egg in this building.”

Oh, really? So, I guess employees who lose all control and try to pick a fight with other employees is a good egg?

You know what?

I picked this job because it was something I was truly interested in. Despite the work and shitty pay, I wanted it because I really felt it was a good place for me, but you never can gauge the shithole, scummy, low-life attitudes of the people you work with until you actually start working.

So, the piece of worthless trash coward who lost control, yelled, cursed, and challenged me to fight gets to keep his job, and I’m out? Well, fuck you, fuck your cops, fuck your business, and fuck your staff.

Why am I behaving?

I’m behaving because the job is important to me, paying my bills is important to me, and being a productive member of society is important to me, but if I’m going to continuously be fired for no reason at all while I’m being attacked and challenged, until I’m driven into poverty, then I might as well start fighting. My life is on the line. My future is on the line.

You’re gonna fire me anyway. You’re firing me now and I’m the victim!

You’re supposed to support and help good people, not treat them unfairly and challenge them because you have an inferiority complex.

Blue Moon Scope

August 30, 2023 Edition

Friends, Fans, and Followers..

Thank you for visiting N.B. and welcome to the August 30, 2023 edition of Moon Scope.

Wow, so, there’s a lot going on with this lunar cycle, but we’ll start with the Blue Moon. There was a phrase people used to say, and I can remember my grandmother specifically saying it. Instead of saying, once in a while, she would say, “Once in a blue moon.” It was another way of saying something barely happens, or rarely happens.

As far as astrology or astronomy is concerned, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. It’s rare that we have two full moons in the same month, and it won’t be until May of 2026 that it will happen again.

Is it really rare though?

Well, our calendar, which is also called the Julian calendar, is based on the solar cycle (365.25 days per year). We have 12 months, and each month typically has one new moon and one full moon, so, it’s rare and kind of a big deal when that extra full moon shows up. However, a lunar calendar has 13 months, so naturally, it’s accounted for.

Anyways, the Moon won’t be turning blue tomorrow night.

If you remember, this moon cycle began in Leo on the 16th of this month. I published a post titled, Dear God, I wrote it on the night of the new moon, and if you want, you can go back and read it.

The current moon cycle culminates tomorrow night in Pisces-a blue full moon in Pisces. The Moon represents the subconscious mind, and since it’s in Pisces, we could experience thoughts pertaining to mental institutions, prisons, rehab centers, and karmic justice.

The new moon in Leo gave us a fresh start and an opportunity to create a new life for ourselves, and if you took advantage of that energy, this culmination should provide some major revelations. As much as it hurts, we sometimes need to let go. Perhaps, we tried to kick a bad habit ourselves, and it didn’t work. So, you come to grips with the reality of your situation and respond with, “I tried. I need help, and I’m going into a rehabilitation facility.”

Maybe there’s someone in your family, or a friend of yours who’s a habitual law breaker. He/she might be a criminal, and you as the parent or the close friend, have been downplaying their situation and covering for that person. Sometimes, it’s the loss of freedom that wakes people up to turn their lives around.

Pisces is the natural ruler of the 12th House, and the 12th House is full of mystery. It’s the end of the road (wheel) and it deals with issues involving karma, the law of return, and cause and effect.

Here’s a great example. I caught chickenpox when I was in kindergarten. Now, here I am, it’s almost 40 years later and I just had an outbreak of shingles last week. I had know idea shingles lies dormant in your body once you catch chickenpox. It’s cause and affect. Anyway, I’m feeling better, kind of, but that’s a great example.

Intuition and spirituality are definitely highlighted now because the sign is Pisces and Pisces is a water sign. Pisces is also mutable, which means we are going to be more open minded and more receptive than usual.

Suddenly, we gain the ability of being molded by the energy of our environment, if that’s what we chose to do. As the saying goes, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. It’s not a time for confrontation or conflict. Ride the waves and let your intuition guide the way forward.

2 and 6 are the luck numbers.

Breaking News! Soul Alignment

I wrote about this briefly on Twitter last month, but it’s still going on, so, I’m going to share it with all of you.

The picture to the right is from Chiron, a book written by Barbara Hand Clow. If you look at the top of this pyramid, you’ll see the outer planets capping off the soul level of human maturation or development. Neptune is in the middle, Pluto is to the right, and Uranus on the left. This is the peak of human consciousness.

The picture below is the current astrological alignment represented in the Chart of the Moment given to us by Astro dot com.

I rotated this image so you could see what’s staring us all in the face. You can see Neptune in Pisces at the top of the triangle, Pluto is to the right in Capricorn, and Uranus is to the right in Taurus. So, this alignment, represents the peak of human consciousness, and it’s the outer planets capping off the soul level of human maturation development.

Some of us will see it immediately, and some of us will have to stare at the image for a bit, but eventually, what should appear to you (if you’re ready to see it) is a 3-dimensional triangle with the energetic aspect lines connecting the planets shooting into the triangle, representing the crown, or top of our heads, and down to Mercury and Mars in Virgo and Libra.

Can you see that?

It’s a great time to meditate, and it should be a great time to heal and ask for answers to questions that we normally wouldn’t receive. Notice how Mercury and Mars are at the bottom, which definitely puts them in opposition to Neptune.

Are we being asked to chose between our violent warring selves and our spiritual development or higher selves? I think so, because we’re way overdue for this change. Clow wrote about this in her book, Mayan Code.

The picture on the right is from her book, Mayan Code, and it shows that our evolutionary genetic strain for aggressive man went into extinction in 2011! The “Peaceful Man” is what’s going to survive on. This is why there’s so much manipulation behind war and fighting, it’s always fueled by something, and that’s because as a species, we’ve moved beyond violence. If you’re like me, and you just can’t be around certain people anymore, or certain attitudes, or certain behavior, don’t fight it. Don’t be afraid to let go and follow the guidance.

Wow, I guess Alister Crowley (featured image) doesn’t look so ridiculous now does he?

I got that picture from:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.otago.ac.nz%2Fenglish-linguistics%2Fenglish%2Flowry%2Fcontent%2F11_mysticism%2Fd_people%2Fd_crowley.html&psig=AOvVaw2C2VJmNaw5JKienTDmRbFz&ust=1693319344767000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=2ahUKEwjSv8ehyP-AAxUVCFkFHZ-HAVIQr4kDegQIARA5

Good Evening

Tonight, I just felt like typing, about nothing in particular.

I hope you enjoyed, “Where’s the Rest of it.” I don’t write much short story fiction because I’ve been so immersed in astrology, but I think at some point I’ll get back into story telling.

I’ve also been working on my fourth book, which is still untitled. I don’t know what I’m going to call it, but it’s definitely going to be a contribution to astrology. Currently, I’m working on a chapter that’s about goddesses, and seriously, when it comes to understanding the planetary gods and goddesses in our charts, nothing can be more helpful than studying mythology.

I’d say, probably for the last two years, I’ve been delving (I can’t stand that word-delving), but when it comes to mythology, that’s what I’ve been doing-delving into it.

And, as far as the internet goes, Wikipedia is great to reference for a snapshot of something, but when you’re ready to get real about things, you must hit the books.

There’s so much out here too in terms of information, and every author has his/her own style of how they approach their respective subjects, but I’ve been reading Greek Gods, Human Lives, written by Mary Lefkowitz.

Photo by Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz on Pexels.com

As a matter of fact, I just reached out to her through email, to tell her how happy I am with her book, and boy oh boy is it a good one.

So, I researched Juno, the Roman Goddess, on Wikipedia, and Wikipedia gives you lots of information, but it’s missing something, and that something is what you get out of the texts. Information online becomes popular opinion after a while because no one bothers to research anymore..

but, in Greek Gods, Human Lives, you’ll learn that Juno was an angry and hateful goddess. She was married to Jupiter, King of the Gods, so that made her Queen of the Gods, but she just had so much hate in her heart because of her attachment to Carthage. And, she persecuted the mortal, Aeneas because she knew his descendants in Italy were eventually going to destroy Carthage, but of course, Aeneas didn’t know that.

She hated him because he was a Trojan, and she made his life very very difficult. She hated Paris for rejecting her beauty, and she hated Ganymede because Jupiter chose him as his lover and made him immortal. I mean, I guess she had a reason to be upset since she was married to Jupiter, but that wasn’t Ganymede’s fault.

So, she just harbored this hate and resentment, and that’s not good because she had the power to make the human condition worse than it was.

Anyway, my point is that when you familiarize yourself with the mythology, you’ll have a whole new perspective when you glance at an astrological chart and see the position of a god or goddess.

Interesting stuff..

Have a good night everyone, and thank you for visiting Nooz Buffet.

Hidden Gem

I drove past it yesterday, and I said to myself, “Oooh! I have to go back there!” Today, I did.

For me personally, places like A.L. Bergstresser & Son are what make Pennsylvania so appealing.

The picture you see to the right is the storefront, and you just don’t see many places like this anymore. When I walked inside today, I felt like I was spun back in time to the Wild West or somewhere down South. There’s an ATM out front on the porch, as you can see, and when you walk through the door, you’ll find yourself in the cozy seating area of an amazing eatery. The food is great and the prices are affordable.

They have a little of everything-an old fashioned general store still standing in modern times. The address is listed as 3640 Lower Saucon Rd., in Wassergas, Pennsylvania.

And, here it is in 1906! The best part about this property is that there’s an antique store right behind it. It looks like it’s connected from the side street, but it isn’t. A.L. Bergstresser is on the corner and the antique store is just before it.

If you’re looking for something to do one morning on the weekend, you can have breakfast cooked for you, fresh coffee brewed, and browse the antique store! A.L. Bergstresser is quiet little place in a quiet little part of town..

definitely, a hidden gem!

Dear God

I forgot to publish this. I wrote it on the night of the last new moon.

Dear God:

I thought tonight would be a perfect time to thank you.

As of late, you’ve probably been feeling the stifling hot air emanating from my essence here on earth due to my constant complaining, cursing, and questioning, but after several good things happened recently..

it would only be right for me to thank you when things go right if I’m going to complain to you when they go wrong.

What I’ve learned is that your timing is perfect, and you would never put something on my plate if you didn’t think I could handle it.

It’s one thing say,

“You lost that because something greater is coming.”

“This happened because God is trying to teach you something.”

“God has a special plan for you, it just hasn’t manifested yet.”

And, it’s a completely different thing entirely to truly believe all that in your mind, and living each and every day feeling it in your heart.

As I continue to walk this path, I do so humbly, with appreciation and gratitude, love, and care reserved. I never stopped believing, and I never stopped trusting, I just didn’t understand why you do the things you do.

I do now.

There is a chosen purpose for this life, and I know the ordinary person would have to be pulled so far off the beaten path to realize that, but it’s true.

On this beautiful evening, as this new moon cycle commences in the sign of the Lion, let us celebrate. Let us enjoy the love and warmth that only a creator can feel for his creation.

Where’s the Rest of it?

Where’s the Rest of it?

By Francis Joseph LaManna

Horror, Short Story Fiction

The night I passed out from fear is one I’ll never forget. It was late at night, or rather early in the morning, probably around 2 o’clock. I was working an overnight shift, and I just left the building for my lunch hour.

The place I worked at was located in a busy district of large city that seemed to be open around the clock, and that just added to shock of what I saw. There are some things you never expect to see in place that heavily populated all hours of the day and night.

It was the third week of October and those warm summer breezes that swept through the city were long gone. The air was brisk with a slight chill to it-not exactly coat weather, but sweatshirt or long sleeves for sure.

Knowing I only had an hour for lunch, and ten minutes of that break was spent getting out of the building, I was basically speed walking. Through the darkness of the early morning and the crowds of people still out for a good time, I walked with my head down. I hated that I needed to rush. The city was illuminated with antique gas lamps, which gave it a colonial look. It was nostalgic and beautiful.

There was a convenient store two block away, and that was my destination. Wasting no time when I arrived there, I barreled through the doors avoiding the comments from the customers who were on their way out.

“You don’t have to be so rude,” they yelled.

Whatever. I didn’t take long for me to pick out my order because I usually get the same thing every time I go there, iced tea, a turkey sandwich, and a bag of potato chips. Some people say I’m a creature of habit, but I think I’m just superstitious.

So, here I was, back outside in the store’s parking lot enjoying my turkey sandwich at 2 o’clock in the morning. When I was finished eating, I put all the garbage into the bag my order was placed in, and I was about to toss that bag into the dumpster. Like I usually do.

The convenient store had one of those 10-yard roll off containers on the premises. It was the kind of dumpster that was open at the top with a big heavy door on the side, which was always closed..

but, not tonight.

As I got close to the container, I saw a sneaker sticking out from the side. The heavy metal door was ajar. I continued to approach the dumpster because from where I was standing, it looked like someone threw a sneaker in the box and it fell out of the side.

Well, I paused dead in my tracks. A leg was attached to the sneaker. I was terrified, and for a second a thought about turning around to get someone from inside the store, but I was frozen. I couldn’t move.

A brisk October morning suddenly turned bitter cold, and as I stood there shaking from fear, I was hit with the bug of intrigue. Shall I go further? I thought about it for a second, and because I was already so close to this leg, all I had to do was lean forward.

I did, and that’s all there was! It was a sneaker with a foot in it that was attached to half of a leg.

“Where’s the rest of it,” were the last words I muttered before passing out.

The End

Where’s the Rest of it is a short story fiction written on August 24, 2023 by Francis Joseph LaManna, and published for the first time on Nooz Buffet dot com.

Copyright

© [Francis LaManna] and [http://noozbuffet.com], [2018]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Francis LaManna] and [http://noozbuffet.com] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Francis Joseph LaManna

That Time of the Year Already?

Sun in Virgo

Astrologically speaking, Mr. Sunshine has officially began his transit of Virgo. I checked several hours ago, and the Sun was on the zero degree of the Starry Maiden. I just love the fall, and a lot of time traveling can be done between September and November, but that my friends, you did not hear from me.

The Sun is our force for life and creation, for without it, life would not exist.

Astronomically, the sun spends 45 days in Virgo, but astrologically, the sun is there for about 30 days. Naturally, the 6th House is Virgo’s domain, and the energy there manifests into the areas of health, wealth, work, and service. Health of of great important here because the 6th House focuses more so on service-those we serve, and those who serve us. Without our health, we’re limited and ultimately, service is affected.

Today, Mercury, the planet of communication, commerce, and the fast mental energy associated with everyday decision making is the ruler of Virgo. Now, there’s some controversy surrounding this, but even so, we’d be doing ourselves a major disservice if we didn’t act like Virgo and gather as much information as we could about Mercury’s identity.

Mercury was a a Roman God in the Roman Pantheon. Mercury incarnated was known as “The Good Shepard,” but Mercury the God, acted as a guide for souls during the afterlife. The God ruled over things like communication and commerce, divination, messages, finance, travelers, luck, and trickery.

As we trace Mercury’s origin, we find that the Greeks called him Hermes, and the Egyptians called him Thoth.

Personally, if the astrological sign of Virgo was given to the Goddess Astraea, I don’t know why Virgo wouldn’t be ruled the asteroid, 5 Astraea, thus, allowing Mercury to become the ruler of only Gemini. Perhaps, I will incorporate Astraea into my readings and see how that works, but, so we’re all on the same page, we’ll continue using Mercury.

Virgo is feminine earth, mutable and sensual. Those who were born when the Sun was in Virgo will display the qualities of Virgo most prominently, but Virgo qualities will also be highly noticeable in the personalities of those who have Virgo on the ascendant.

Virgo is know as the perfectionist, which is why you’ll sometimes hear people call her the technician. It’s a very conscientious sign, and Sun/Virgo people strive to do what’s right. When it comes to work, they are very thorough, but modest and humble. Virgo isn’t the bragging type, she like to let her work speak for itself.

She’s reserved and modest and doesn’t view herself as better.

When I was in school, the school year always began when the Sun was in Virgo, which in hindsight, is interesting because Virgo loves reading and gathering facts, as a matter of fact, the personality type is more of a detective. They love gathering facts to look for truth. The truth is super-important to Virgo. Virgo is well organized and she understands the importance of planning time.

Happy Birthday to all the unique individuals who were born during the sun’s transit of Virgo!

Virgo 8/22-9/21

Retail Theft

After an audit, store A, was said to have $50,000.00 is merchandise unaccounted for.

That’s $50,000.00! That’s approximately $1,000.00 per week that’s; either stolen, damaged and not scanned out, or just lost.

Here are the reprecussions of that:

*If that much stealing is going on in your store, that means the average customer is a criminal. If your average shopper is a criminal, good people who are educated and honest are not going to want to shop at your store because of the low-life low-element trash that shops there. Good people don’t want to be in the company of that type of trash. So, the customer that’s actually going to spend a lot of money in your store, will go to another store in a safer neighborhood.

*So, not only is your store losing money from theft, but the thieves are actually pushing the people with money away to other stores. You lose on both ends.

*You tell your employees that aren’t enough hours to spread around, so some people are working 10 hours per week, while others are working 45. The problem isn’t a lack of hours, it’s no money in the budget to pay for labor because you’re losing $1,000.00 per week.

You see, you think you’re a good manager, but like every other manager I’ve met in this state, you’re shit.

I’ve been working in retail for a very long time, and this is how you deal with theft.

Acknowledge and greet the customer. If a customer realizes you’re actually paying attention to them, they’re less likely to steal.
If you see a customer in the store or in an isle for a very long time, turn up the heat. Ask them if there’s anything they need help finding, basically you want to pester them to get them moving along.
Doing those two things right there will cut the theft in half.
To get continue reducing theft, a small loss prevention team might be necessary.
Place cameras in the store, and in highly visible places, post consequences for customers who are caught stealing.
Don’t allow them back in the store.
Have designated areas for damaged and empty packages, so you can keep track of what’s actually missing and what’s damaged.

What you’ll begin to notice is the atmosphere in your store will change. Eventually, the good customers will come back, and they’ll spend money.

In a store where everything is cheap, you don’t want the nasty customer who gives you a hard time and spends $3.00. You want to the quiet customer, who appreciates the shopping experience and spends $50.00.

This is just another battle of good versus bad.