Must stop with the quizes...

...except that I read Tarot cards for years and still turn to them occasionally in times of stress. I am uncertain, however, how to respond to this result. It's nothing that I expected. At. All.

I Am

Which tarot card are you?

Destiny, fortune, luck, success. The 4 elements. Unexpected turn of luck.
In the midst of sky and clouds is the disk of Tarot with the letters of the Divine Name placed between. At the corners are the four guardians of the earth: the eagle, the man, the bull and the lion. The disk is in movement signifying constant change and transformation. The sphinx atop the wheel holds the sword of discernment and represents balance in the midst of unending fluidity.

I'll take it, because I buy the "constant change;" my life's been nothing if not that. Balance in the midst of fluidity? Well, I'll leave that for others to decide.

Tarot geeks like me want to be powerful figures like The Empress. This however presents an interesting challenge.

Me to telemarketers: That's Ms. Scarlettina to you!

I made a telemarketer hang up on me tonight and I'm quite pleased about it.

First of all, it should be noted that I signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry and still received two calls from telemarketers today. Not sure this idea is workin', at least not yet.

So what happened? The phone rang. I picked up. There was that pause filled with the chatter of other telemarketers in the background, then a young woman said "Hello, is first name there?"

I said "This is she. You may call me Ms. Last Name since we don't know each other."

There was a pause. Then the telemarketer said, "Woooow." And hung up.

Now, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask a complete stranger not to assume such intimacy. I really don't. She didn't ask my permission to call me by my first name, so I didn't feel the need to give it. I'm not sure what that "Woooow" was meant to convey or what this young woman was thinking, but it stopped her in her tracks. Telemarketers seem to be put off by the formality I require of them. I'm guessing that part of their training requires them to use first names in order to appear friendly. In fact, I had one young woman actually tell me that her training required her to call me by my first name. I told her that I found that unacceptable and she was completely flummoxed. She, too, ended the call.

Now, at some point, I'll start asking these people to just stop calling. In the meanwhile, however, I may continue to do this a while as a social experiment. There may be an essay in it, or an article or something. I just think it's fascinating.