Acheing Joints and a Crystal Ball

Yesterday I was denied the privilege of spending sometime here in Cyber Space do to the unexpected scheduling of my work. I spent a grand total of ten hours in their with no place to rest my hind quarters for what seemed an eternity.

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My toes were the first to protest this outrage and, like a certain supervisor I have who seems to sour everyones mood when he is around, my toes began to spread their unhappiness amongst the other joints in the area. Thus, every joint all the way up to my knees began to complain loudly.
But unlike that certain supervisor who got out of my hair around 2pm, my joints would continue to whine until I removed them from service at 10pm.

Also around 8pm I began to get kinda loopy from boredom and exhaustion. And with nobody in the store and only the occasional Drive-Thru order, singing, dancing, and getting rather creative with how the few orders were bagged/handed out seemed a reasonable way to try and liven up the last two grueling hours of work.

I'll admit readily that I got several smiles as well as looks of aversion while I made sound effects for the buttons on my til, and sent people off with a musical " Have Beautiful day!!" even though by then it was well into the evening. I enjoyed being me strange self all the same.

Today, how ever, I was presented with another challenge. A shopping excursion that resulted in a major question about life.

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My toes were once again protesting their sorry existence as I marched around the first store of the morning with my mother ( they have yet to recover from yesterday). When baby brother pointed out a colorful ball filled with sparkly floaties that spun and dipped inside it when shaken.

I picked up the strange object and found that it reminded me of a crystal ball.
As I continued to exchange the ball between my hands I began to wonder of the origin of a crystal ball.
I find there are many things in our culture that we simply except without question, we know the meaning it has for us and what it is used for today. But how often do we stop to contemplate the origin of the objects and traditions?

It struck me as funny and I made it a point to make this discovery today.

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During my search for information I came to know that Crystal balls are objects used for scrying ( the art of seeing into the past, present, or future). The use of Crystal  to do this began, from what I can tell, with the Druids of early Britain. Crystal was used because of it's clarity and ability to bend light, which gave it "mystical properties" so to speak. We recognize the Crystal Ball more readily  because many of the crystals scryers used were rounded stones. 

Oh, and here's an interesting fact.
I found that there are safety measures to owning one of these  mystical objects. I mean besides the obvious :do not lob this at your neighbors head, type rules.
These supposedly harmless objects can burn hands and start fires. Owners of Crystal balls should not leave one unattended on a window sill and should keep it covered when in full sun light, or risk burning down there potpourri infused tent or scorching their intensely manicured hand.

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you learn something new everyday I guess. Personally I think their just pretty to look at with little real purpose. Looking into a crystal ball would be about as useful as shorts and flip flops in a snow storm as far as I'm concerned.