It’s hard (but not impossible) to be in a bad mood when someone is singing about the sun coming out.
And who better to do that than The Beatles?
Here comes the sun, doo-doo-do
Here comes the sun
And I say, “It’s all right”
Similarly…
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It’s beautiful and so are you
Those are lyrics from Here Comes the Sun and Dear Prudence… in case you didn’t recognize them.
Good morning and happy Monday, friends!
- New YouTube Video: Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury
At some point last year, I brought up how local libraries often offer free digital access to audiobooks and other material through websites like Hoopla. I was really excited about that, so I made a trip to my local branch and got a physical library card—something I hadn’t possessed since I was a kid.
About a week ago, I stumbled upon a random Reddit comment from someone who was getting free Udemy access through their local library. If you’ve never been to Udemy, it’s basically a giant conglomeration of on-demand training courses (which you usually pay for, yes). Unfortunately, my closest branch did not offer this perk, but I decided to expand my search radius. And you know what? I found one just a few miles away that had all the things I needed. It took me about 30 seconds to register for an electronic library card and get Udemy access.
I’m bringing all of this up for two reasons. First, I love free and accessible information, so I’m always happy to spread the word about resources I find. Second, it’ll let me segue into how I’ve been spending my time this past week.
As you may already know, I’m back in school and working toward an IT degree. Along those same lines, there’s a few industry certification tests I plan to complete soon, one of which I’ve been studying for the past few months. It’s really common for people to buy training courses as part of the prep, but I was trying to not invest additional funds. I mean, you have to pay for the exam itself already, and they’re not exactly cheap. But I found one for free through my library access… 33 hours of video and about a dozen practice tests.
I dove in. I decided to give myself a “goal” date for completion and scheduled my exam for a couple of weeks from now… June 22 to be exact, although the specific date didn’t matter too much because you can reschedule as many times as you want.
And then on Friday, I asked Selene: “Would it be crazy to just take it tomorrow?” My head was full of information. I was reliably passing the practice tests. Why not? So I rescheduled my appointment for 11am Saturday morning.
The exam was hard, but the last 2-3 minutes were excruciating. After I clicked the submit button, it made me answer 1000 survey questions before showing my score. Why was I taking the exam? Did I pay for the exam all by myself? Was someone going to reimburse me for the exam? Did I study for it? How much did I study? Where did I study? Have I gone to school? Have I had work experience? What kind of work experience?
But the only question I wanted answered was: did I pass?
Yes, yes I passed.
So that’s a significant load off my mind, which I’m grateful will no longer be occupying my thoughts as we take a trip to festival later this week.
Because in just a few days, it’s Summer Magick! Come catch me and my workshop on runes if you’re so inclined.
Now, for some more Alchemy fun, I finished my video on the Tria Prima.
I think it’s pretty cool, so you should go watch it (and then subscribe if you haven’t) and all that jazz.
In other news, we’re still waiting for our car insurance company to issue payment. In fact, I was literally just on the phone with them again a few minutes ago. The car was totaled, dudes… what’s there to decide? They seem to be sitting on their bums.
But now let’s move onto happier things! To celebrate my victory over tests (and because we have been working really hard and deserved a night out), Selene and I had some fun this weekend.
We found the WORST taco place. Holy smokes. It was bad.
Lukewarm, tasteless tacos. Uncomfortable service. Horrible drinks. I won’t call out the venue by name, but now we certainly at least know where not to go.
Anyway, that wasn’t a fitting end to the night, so we hopped places and got some tastier treats.
I think that’s just about everything I have to report for now. I’ve got a presentation to prepare. Hope to see some of y’all at Summer Magick!
Stay tuned for more soon!
Aerik Arkadian 
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