The Page of Cups: Good Stuff is Coming Your Way!

This morning for my daily "Love" card, I pulled the Page of Cups, which is usually a good sign in the tarot world, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.

Pages can represent people already in or coming into your life or situations you might soon find yourself in. If the card signifies a person, then the Page of Cups stands for a younger or at least youthful highly-emotional, creative soul. The Page of Cups is someone who is fun, but at the same time, a tad on the sensitive side.

If the Page of Cups represents a situation, its meaning will depend on whether or not you are single. If you're already in a committed relationship, then this card usually foretells of good stuff coming your way: pregnancy, proposals, new beginnings, etc. You and your partner are about to move into a new, exciting phase of your relationship. Expect happiness and intimacy. Yay!

If you're single and you pull the Page of Cups in a love reading, then a younger suitor might have taken notice of you. Or perhaps you're about to meet someone who makes you giggle like a crushing teenager again.

Either way, love is in the air!

The Lovers - Let's Talk About Love

This morning for my love/relationship daily card, I pulled the Lovers. Yay, right? Well, not so much, at least for me. You see, while the Lovers card looks all lovey dovey and most associate it with new relationships and romance, whenever I pull it, it usually manifests itself in the form of obstacles, forks in the road, and major decisions regarding a current love interest.

I guess you can say that when it comes to my own relationship readings, the Lovers is NOT such a great sign. :(

For someone already in a relationship, the Lovers means that one partner is not happy with the level of commitment. There's a disrupt of harmony and your union just isn't...a union right now. It's almost like you need to make a choice. Can you deal and accept your partner for who he/she is and continue on the current path of the relationship? Or, is it time to go your own way?

Either way, your relationship has hit a major intersection, and the two of you can't decide which way to go together. Right? Left? Straight? The heart and the head are clearly in conflict here. And, I hate conflict. How about just go home and go back to bed? Because that's what I'd love to do. Close the drapes and watch a marathon of Futurama. Maybe order a pizza...   


Now, like I said, this is what usually is going on in my own life when I pull this card. For others, especially singletons, it can mean that two people are into you and you'll have to choose which one you want to be with. Oh la la!

5 of Swords: Watch Your Back!

Every morning I do two tarot readings and pull a card of the day for each: one for work/life and one for love. Today for my work/life card, I got the 5 of Swords. Boo!

As you can probably tell by the picture, this isn't a card of great joy. The guy holding the swords looks like a self-righteous douche, who pissed off his opponents so much that they just gave up. "Fine, you win, Asshole. Just get the hell away from me."

So what does this card mean for me? Am I the self-righteous douche? Or am I the guy walking away? I'm not sure, and frankly, I don't want to be either!

Am I currently negatively affecting someone I care about? Are my actions destructive? Gee, I hope not.

When I'm giving a reading for someone, this card tends to come up if my readee has recently been stabbed in the back by someone they trusted. So, that's another interpretation of the 5 of Swords. And, once again, not a stellar one.

Here are some other not-so-awesome meanings of the 5 of Swords:

• Workplace drama (maybe a coworker is trying to throw you under the bus)
• Back stabbing
• Winning arguments but not because you're right, because everyone is so freaking sick of fighting with you, they give up
• Someone in your life is not who they seem to be
• Challenges
• Manipulation

Oy! Maybe I should just go back to bed?

A New Blog Focus - The 6 of Wands

Hello my fabulous peeps! It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog, but that's all going to change as I'm returning to the blogging world with a new focus. While I'm still the goddess of nerds (I think I shall always be), I've also discovered that I long to be the goddess of something else as well...something of a more mystical nature...something metaphysical...drum roll please...the tarot!

I've been reading tarot cards since I was that geeky teenager who stayed in her room on Friday nights with a pint of Ben and Jerry's instead of going out on dates. A very special friend, Natalie, gave me my first deck when I was just 15 (the very same deck I still use pretty much all the time today in fact).

Back in September, I started taking an advanced tarot class, and my instructor, Jeanne, mentioned that my way of looking at the cards is insightful with a twist of amusing and that I should start blogging about their meanings. So, now I am!

Last night in class I did a relationship adversity spread and my outcome was the 6 of Wands, which I find to be a very very very positive card. But, one of the people in my card interpretation group totally disagreed. She said it means leaving and moving on, riding away. I know we're all entitled to our own opinions, but I so do not see the 6 of wands that way. At all.

I mean, look at the person on the horse! He's being rewarded for his hard work. Even his horse looks honored to be in his presence, "Hey, man, you're awesome. I'm proud to be carting your ass around, and I just might have a small crush on you, too." Not that I'm into bestiality, but look at those come hither eyes! The horse is definitely carrying a torch for her rider.

Anyway, I think this is a great card, especially in a love reading. I think it means:

• Success is right around the corner
• You'll soon be acknowledged for all the hard work you're putting in the relationship (or people are about to take notice of how awesome you are if you're single and ready to mingle)
• Personal triumph/success
• You will overcome obstacles/problems
• You're about to receive some well-deserved attention/affection
• Your partner/love interest thinks very highly of you

I get annoyed when readers take a card that's clearly happy/positive and put a negative spin on it. It's not that I'm mad because they're telling me what I don't want to hear (well, yeah, I am), but the tarot is already full of not-so-awesome cards that spell trouble for relationships. If my guides wanted to communicate that to me, I would've pulled one of those. Or, at least, I like to think I would've.

Nerdrodite Loves Her Wine

I have never considered myself a blend gal when it comes to wines, especially since I tend to shy away from coveted Bordeaux Blends, but after trying a couple red Meritage blends, one delicious one in particular at a chain restaurant in Boston's Back Bay, I'm hooked.

Maggiano's has a 2009 Hayman and Hill Meritage from Monterrey, California that is simply delicious. This tasty libation is a blend of 48% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec, 5% Petit Verdot, and 1% Cabernet Franc.

This tasty ruby-colored wine has a nice berry quality to it. Velvet berries is probably a better description of how if feels on the palette. I'm not a big fan of wines with strong tongue-drying astringency, and this Meritage's winemakers went pretty easy on the tannins, which I respect. I know, I know, tannins help preserve a wine so it can age, but a tongue-mummifying wine just doesn't do it for me.

I highly recommend the 2009 Hayman and Hill Meritage to winos who think a chain restaurant can't possibly have a great wine list, because this will change your mind, at least it did for me. This is also a must try for all you wine drinkers who dislike reds for whatever reasons (too astringent, dry, peppery...teeth-staining, etc).

So, the next time you're in the Back Bay, pop into Maggiano's for a relaxing glass. Tell 'em Nerdrodite sent ya.

Being Dumped

So, those of you who know me, know that I went through the worst breakup of my life late last June. And, since it's been over a year, I found myself reflecting about my situation and what I learned from it. So, here it goes:

Breakups are hard. Yes, that statement is a totally overused cliche, but it's the truth. They're rough. Being dumped by the person you thought was "the one" does something to you. It changes your entire being and creates a bitterness that festers inside your very core...at least for a bit, while you're in the anger phase. It makes you eat a ton of Edy's Grand Light ice cream and then immediately book it to the gym to work off your guilty calories. It makes you cry every time you see the Wedding Singer on TBS when Adam Sandler serenades Drew Barrymore on the plane to Vegas. It makes you go see psychic after psychic just to give you hope that someone new will come along someday. It makes you form parasocial relationships with hot Travel Channel TV show hosts. (See past blog about Adam Richman.) Basically, it kills.

But, being dumped by the person you thought was "the one" is also a gift. It forces you to reach inside yourself to extract the gumption you need to move on. It makes you go on a date with a person of the same sex...just to see because you so never played that game in college. It allows you to take that trip to wine country you and he had always talked about with a good friend instead. And, you secretly know that you had a much better time with her than you would've with his hairy self. It pushes you to try dating a different caliber of guys, the nice nerd, who says "oh dear" instead of "oh shit." It helps you to be a better friend to others when they find themselves going through the same heartbreak. It gets you to write more, and you come up with several funny essays about your failed relationship, two of which are going to be in a book. :) But, most importantly, it teaches you how to have compassion and love for the one person who needs it most, you. 

For the Love of Boston

"I would've taken it if I were you," my mom said when I told her about my newest life drama. "You have nothing tying you down."

Um...leave my favorite place in the world? Does she not know me at all?

I can honestly say I've given up a lot for this city. In 2007, I moved here from south of the Mason Dixie Line after graduate school. I walked away from three dear friends and a serious relationship. Well, technically, the guy walked away from me. We tried long distance, and I even tried to get him to move up here with me, but no dice. 

However, I didn't mourn the loss of NapoDyno for long. I cried for maybe like three hours tops, ate a chocolate-covered coffee roll from Dunks, and I felt so much better. I mean, come on, I had Boston! And, she is soooo much better than NapoDyno.

I've wanted to live in Boston my entire life, and I can't explain why. I've just always felt drawn to this wondrous city. So, here I was, dammit. Sure, I was boyfriendless, but I had Boston to distract me, and it did.

Then in June 2010, my love of Boston was a catalyst in the demise of another relationship. He hated it here and kept applying for jobs out of state. It eventually lead to tensions and him deciding I was way more into the relationship than he was. It hurt like a kick in the face by a person wearing golf shoes. But, if he hated Boston so much, we obviously weren't meant to be together anyway. Ironically, I hear he's living in Quincy now. Which is kind of sad, yet funny. Way to get out of dodge, Sasquatch.

So, once again, I found myself on my couch, crying, but with the comfort that I still had Boston to come home to. And, she would never dump me...no matter what.

Two months later I moved out to Cambridge and fell in love all over again. Not with a dude, but with Cambridge and Davis Square. I n fact, I love my apartment so much that my poor landlord will have to drag my decaying body out of it because I'm never leaving. I'll even tolerate the yappy dog next door and the busybody neighbor who's always all up in our business. This place is worth it, believe me.

I remember taking the T home from work the first time after my move and seeing the magnificent view of the Charles River as the redline crossed over the Longfellow Bridge. God, I love this city, I thought to myself as I craned my neck to see the skyline whizzing by and the river gleaming in the setting sun. I smiled and silently offered thanks to Boston for saving me from a boring life in freaking Connecticut with a cheap bastard who had more hair on his hands than on his freaking head.

Flash forward to April 2011, which was literally the best of times and the worst of times for me. The company I worked for decided to close the Boston office. I was told I could keep my job if I moved to California.

Now most people who I've told this to think I'm certifiably insane. Who wouldn't want to move to Sunny SoCal? Nerdrodite, that's who! Hello, Boston is the love of my life!

Boston is my home. I love her for better or for worse. I just hope she loves me as much as I lover her.