Author’s Note: This is a book of Verse that was written during my personal spiritual awakening process, during the time I was encountering my ‘Shadow’, the dark parts of our self that we mostly avoid. The writing would come complete-whole. I would feel it inside me and write it as I heard-felt it. No editing has been done except for clarity. In my interaction with God-Source-Love my experience is, It doesn’t struggle to create. While receiving these verses I was deliberately encountering the forgotten-rejected- abandoned- parts of my Self as happens in Amazonian Ayahuasca shamanic journeys which are becoming popular now. I asked God for real healing and I spent many soul journeys traveling into my inner self. It is important in order to heal(which means to become 'whole' again),that we accept, allow, bring back inside us those lost pieces of our own selves. Often those pieces are 'dark', or we've labeled them so. Which is why we rejected them, sent them out... More > and away from us to begin with.< Less
A few weekends ago, a crew of friends and I celebrated James' birthday by going apple picking at Carter Mountain Orchard. We have recently decided that we are too cool for birthday dinners, therefore we wanted to do something fun and different that everyone could enjoy. Carter Mountain Orchard is about 70 miles west of Richmond and it's no problem to get in the car for a day trip. We almost didn't go! It was misting and chilly that morning, two of my friends were hungover and another lost his phone the day before. Plus, we had just cycled and I just wanted to stay home and eat donuts. So many elements! Needless to say, we all powered through and decided we were going! I am so glad that we did, we got a little workout and a lot of apples. Oh, and apple cider donuts!!
Ok, to be honest, I don't love apples. I typically only buy them to be juiced, but within that past couple of months they have been on my radar. I think because we got an apple corer as a wedding present and that truly made a difference. Now I snack on apple slices with nutritional yeast sprinkles. I hate biting into an apple, I always feel like I'm gonna break a tooth and I just can't take those kinds of risks with my mouth. I do love me some Granny Smiths and I was pleased that they were very ready to be picked. James is an apple lover. He is the first person to order stewed apples or drink apple juice. I didn't have a plan for what I was going to do with these apples but I just knew that I wanted as many as I could pick!
My apple haul was pretty major. I still had about 16 or so apples two weeks after we had gone picking. The Granny Smiths were in pretty good shape and I decided it was time to make applesauce! Also, I have been really interested in making Apple Cider Vinegar by using apple scraps and was excited to finally have enough. You should know that I am obsessed with drinking ACV, in my water or shots! I used the first recipe that came up on Google and it was from The Pioneer Woman. A wise chef once told me that you make any recipe your own if you just change one ingredient. (I pretty much changed nothing.) I liked this recipe a lot because it was vegan and did not use butter. This recipe yields about 5 pints of applesauce. Què delicioso!
Add all of these ingredients in a large pot. Medium heat on the stove until the apples are soft. Throw you that shit in your Vitamix. I didn't even get a picture of my apples getting blended, it's just that quick.
1. First you will need to get your fretboard ready by first thicknessing it to standard dimensions of around 1/4". Go ahead and cut the fret slots. You should radius your fretboard at the nut and last fret using the same radius number that is noted on the gauge.
2. Before you cut the fretboard taper use a digital caliper with the Neck Contour Gauge to measure the width at the nut and at the last fret. Make sure you take the measurement directly over the fret slot. Mark these numbers on your fret board and use a ruler to connect the marks.
3. Cut out the taper of the fretboard and check that your fingerboard width matches the appropriate measurements (the cut-outs are deliberately made slightly large so as to more easily check the fingerboard radius).
4. At this point the neck will have already had the peghead glued and thicknessed, peghead veneer glued, the heel glued, the truss rod installed, the neck attached to the body by bolts or dove tail joint, then the fretboard glued to the neck blank. There are many steps in this process that are not covered by this tutorial.
5. Go ahead and install the frets while the back of the neck is still flat. This eases the pressing of the frets, or hammering of the frets because you do not have to worry about the neck rolling on you, or damaging the back of the neck.
6. With the neck ready to start carving, create a quick jig to keep the neck stable while carving. It is made up of a 3/4" thick piece of plywood that is 24" long x 3". Clamp or bolt to your bench top, and a place a rubber router pad between the frets and the board to protect the frets. (Click HERE to view the Video)
7. Next you want to remove the extra wood on either side of the fretboard. You can use a chisel or rasp to get it down flush with the fretboard. As you get closer to the fretboard you can use a cabinet scraper or sanding blocks.
8. Create a template for the heel shape and make a cut out for the truss rod. This small jig is made out of 1/4" hardboard, and cut to any shape you want. Trace this on to your heel, then cut a little outside of the line.
9. Next you want to cut off the excess outside of the line that you drew in the previous step. You can use a saw or chisels to get it down, then use a rasp as shown below. Draw a shape on the end cap to whatever you choose, but be sure to leave it long enough for the bolt inserts. Bolt inserts are usually 1/2" to make it slightly longer than that. Trace it on the cap, then cut and rasp around it.
11. In the next step you will start to carve the thickness and curvature just in front of the heel, around the 10th fret. Refer to the template for the exact location to start carving. Most steel string guitars are marked on the template at the 10th fret. So directly under the 10th fret, use a rough rasp or a microplane to get the right thickness and curvature. Continue checking the curvature against the template as shown in the videos and pictures below. But be sure to leave about 1mm or 1/32" oversized. Final sanding will take care of this later.
12. Next you will do the same step at the 1st fret that you just did at the 10th fret. You should also start to transition the neck into the peghead as you do this.
13. At this point you should have the area in front of the heel and the area under the 1st fret thicknessed and contoured to within 40 thousandths of an inch. You will have a large lumpy area in between these 2 points. The next step is to remove the material between the 2 points using a spokeshave(or any other tool to quickly remove material). As you get closer to the final dimension, switch to a rasp or scraper.
14. Next you will use a small straight edge or ruler to find lumps in the neck that need to be evened out throughout the curve and up and down the neck.
15. The final step is to use sandpaper to smooth and blend any marks left by the rasp or microplane. Use 80 or 100 grit for this step to get even closer to the final thickness at the 1st and 10th fret, then finish with 220 grit. At this point you should have a carved neck. Congratulations!
As opposed to illicit drugs — which are sometimes in a raw state like cannabis or cocaine and must be self-dosed — prescribed drugs are as convenient as they could be. They come in a pill, chewable tab or liquid form and are packaged, like foods, in slick boxes and durable, portable little bottles.
Pharmaceuticals and all manner of remedies and medications (both secured and available over-the-counter) have been designed to be taken readily, easily, which is precisely why they are so popular.
This is also the reason that they are popular to take for non-prescribed benefits, simply in order to feel a particular compound's effects in a normal state of bodily health (this is 'recreational' or 'non-medical' use). People also may self-medicate during an illness or while experiencing certain symptoms, but without correct attention from a physician or pharmacist.
In any case, prescription drug abuse is comparable (and only slightly less prevalent) with marijuana abuse, which is one of the most popular illicit drug lifestyles.
Again, the general convenience and high usability of prescribed drugs (which are so common that adults or children without prescriptions find it easy to pilfer, borrow or buy spare pills from others — who themselves may or may not have been prescribed) turn out to be a significant part of the reason that pills are dangerously easy for abusers or addicts.
Also, there is the fact that the pharmaceutical industry arguably has become too powerful, too influential in the country's overall health care system. The drugs they produce exist within a general atmosphere of safety and officialdom — reinforced by their ubiquitous presence in the media, news headlines, celebrity lives and so forth.
On the other hand, if one examines statistics that show the rise in demand for prescription drug rehab treatment or the rising trend of overdoses, the social illness is also clear. But the risk factors for abusing these prescription drugs or receiving negative effects from them are numerous, and they include:
The pharmaceuticals marketplace has provided the eager public with a smorgasbord of slickly advertized formulas (despite common jokes about their excessive, awkward disclaimers following the branded drug ads). Any sharp observer notices that most of the ailments these medications target or treat are not necessarily life-threatening, but lifestyle oriented (like Viagra, acne remedies, or pills for 'social anxiety' or hair-loss).
Such social messages and their ramifications lead to a permissive culture toward the quick fix of taking chemical compounds — instead of dealing with certain problems, like sleeping disorders, using holistic approaches that correct and improve one's lifestyle. This state of affairs (the totality of our society's misunderstandings and underestimations of the harm of taking so many medications) are particularly harmful for younger users Many children are simply brought up quaffing pills, accustomed to the simplistic and convenience-obsessed logic of over-medication.
Unfortunately, spotting somebody's signs of abuse or dependence upon legitimate medications can be more difficult than in the case of illicit drugs. The effects, potency, reliability, usability and even low price of many prescription drugs make it easier for an addict, for example, to keep their experiences and sensations unknown to others. Somebody can be a 'functional addict' of pharmaceuticals much easier than with illicit drugs, which generally take more time to procure, prepare and take into the body.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, non-official use of prescribed drugs falls into three main classes (opioids for pain, depressants for the central nervous system, to treat psychological conditions, and stimulants). These classes can be used when seeking to identify abuse or addiction. For example, one who may be addicted to pain killers will show associated relaxed effects, while the effects of stimulants have noticeably different somatic signs.
A successful treatment for anybody addicted to prescribed drugs must respond to their particular needs, obviously. There are a variety of modalities for rehabilitation available — each person must pick the most effective, with help from doctors. In some cases, a 'dual diagnosis' is appropriate, which means that the patient has a serious psychological problem to sort out as well.
Research has shown that unless the treatment is comprehensive (going to the personal roots of an attachment) it is usually ineffective over the long run, even if physiological attraction to the substance(s) has been resolved. That's why we offer a long term, in-depth and holistic program at our drug rehab center in Florida.