How to use the current directory?

Greetings all!

Asdf noob here. I have spent hours on what I would think would be incredibly simple. Help would sure be appreciated.

I cloned a repo for a package that is available on quicklisp. I modified it. However, everytim I do:

(asdf:load-asd "thepackage.asd")

(asdf:load-system "thepackage")

It loads the standard distribution rather than the copy I am editing. I have tried stuff like:

(asdf:load-asd (concatenate 'string (namestring (truename ".")) "parenscript.asd"))

with no luck. I tried many other things too with no luck.

How can I force asdf to load and use the package in the local directory rather than the cached standard distribution?

Thank you!

Blake McBride