MIAA

The morning after being locked out of Facebook. . .note smile

So for the past month I've been MIAA (missing in astrological action) because I was locked out of Facebook. I wasn't really out of action because I do have a website but comically, with T Uranus square my Sun I was also locked out of this at one point (all resolved)!

I didn't realise what a problem all this was going to be until my return to London when my email inbox was FLOODED with demands to know where I was. I was scolded by quite a few lurkers for not being more on the ball in letting folks know I had landed safely (guys, I'm not Buddy Holly!). How was I to know so many people follow my adventures when they don't like or comment on my posts? Fortunately, there's good old blogger and it kind of took the pressure off of having to answer so many emails just to be able to post that I really had landed safely.

But back to Facebook. . .

It was a bit of a bummer to get locked out of Facebook. I tried not to make a big deal out of of it but I realised what a problem it was when it dawned on me what a lot of work it was to respond to individual emails or to pick up the phone to actually talk to people.

And here's where we get to the source of the problem: my hearing ain't so good. I can't hear on phones unless I have earbuds in--and what a drag it is to know the phone is vibrating but not being able to get the buds out in time to answer the phone. And then to have to hear the message (and lately I get an awful lot of JUNK messages). Anyway, I decided that if folks want to talk to me, they could do it via written messages so I ditched the phone (actually the battery blew and I couldn't be bothered to replace it). I didn't bother to update the cell phone number stored on Facebook because wtf, why would I need to do that?

Anyhoo. . .with all the travelling, I guess Facebook wanted to make sure my account was safe and secure by sending codes to this old cell phone number (which I no longer had access to). And as there seem to be no humans one can reach on Facebook, I just had to be patient. As Tom Petty once said "The Waiting is the Hardest Part"!

I even went through the 5 stages of grief:

1) Denial: I kept compulsively trying to log in and then checking to see if I really was locked out

2) Anger: I try not to swear because as a teacher that is definitely not a habit I need to cultivate. But I did a lot of swearing in Facebook's direction

3) Bargaining: Well, I told myself, if I can't access my old account, I can always start from scratch (actually I couldn't because when I gave in and tried to start a new account. . .Facebook sent more codes to the old number!!). That was a bummer of a day.

4) Depression: Kubler-Ross herself said that the stages of grief didn't always follow the same order nor did they necessarily happen at all. I wasn't depressed but I was pretty frustrated.

5) Acceptance: Of course eventually, I just let it all go. I reckoned I played on Facebook far too often and I just focused on my work. And good goddess, I had a PILE of stuff to get on with. And I finished most of it before Facebook sent me an email with a link to help me.

Almost straightaway, I got access to my account again. I was delighted to see so many of my friends had been campaigning for my return! Gosh! Thank you!

Tea at the Queen's house (yes I do have permission to use their photos!)

So to update on what I'm doing now. . .I am deep, deep, deep undercover as a teacher of English as a foreign language. A lot of teachers are too knackered to work over the summer (and they get paid anyway) but as a working job teacher, I'm both lucky enough and experienced enough to be able to walk into any school and just get on with it. I've got a good gig going on in an ultra plush school in a VERY nice part of London. I've seen a West End show ("School of Rock" thank you very much!), went to Harry Potter World, Arsenal Football stadium (this experience is for another post!), every museum in town and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. I even had tea with the Queen (OK maybe I pushed it a bit there--I did the tour of Buckingham Palace and had tea in the garden with all the other tourists including my pupils).

Oh and I have to give a MASSIVE shout out to Chris Renstrom!!! I've been using his daily horoscopes to teach English idioms and new vocabulary!! Astrologers always ask me how I squeeze astrology into education and when one has 20+ teenagers reading out their daily horoscopes, the only option is to stand back and admire the beauty of the heavens in the classroom! And I could not have wished for a better astrologer than Chris. Thanks buddy and I can't wait to see you in INDIA!!

I have to keep reminding myself that I'm in the quiet before the storm. The KIA/IVC conference in India is like 5 months away and very shortly, I'm going to be BURIED in academic papers. Good job I'm a teacher, eh?

More news on our great connections a bit later. . .