Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our King
Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.

• Exeter in Shakespeare’s Henry V, (2.4.142-4)

Rebels and rebellions, and such. Shakespeare's Henry V is a fun play, lots of action. Traitors to the crown are dispatched.

Horoscopes for 8.6.2020

The Leo

If I had a chance to, if I could? If there really was a “Magic Wand” I could wave about and make one dramatic change — to make life better — for The Leo? What would that one change look like? I’m suggesting magical, wish-list granted kind of event. Win the lotto? Get an ex back into your life? What’s the main desire? It’s birthday time, for the most royal, most valuable, and most wonderful Fixed Fire Sign there is, The Leo.

There is some hint of trouble ahead. There is some indication of a turbulent past. Panic and pandemic aside? In the moment, in the here and now, in the present moment, indulge me a little and think of that one wish. Not three, this ain’t a genie. Not a long litany of matters that need correction in your life, just that one, over-the-top, perhaps a tad selfish, but we’re wishing and hoping here, this isn’t about the future of mankind. One wish, what would it be? Close your lovely Leo eyes, click your heels together three times. Well, still here. I don’t have a magic wand, and I can’t grant wishes. But as The Birthday Leo, you can, within the limits of time and space. Let’s look at that wish and see if there isn’t a way to make that happen, soon.

Virgo

I looked at the list, notes, really, and the food items were, “Bacon, graham cracker, and hummus.” Sounds like a game show or cooking challenge wherein one is tested on preparing some kind dish with those items. Honestly, I doubt I could make sense of that kind of grouping. When I see graham crackers, I’m always reminded of one of the earliest pieces of trivia I happened across, a certain reverend — no relation — Graham invented graham crackers as a whole-wheat food to help prevent the libido from being over-active. Turns out “heart smart” and libido are connected. Who knew? That doesn’t solve the problem of what to do with my list, “Bacon, graham crackers, and hummus.”
[continue reading…]

August 2 Video

Just a reminder, log in for the video ...

For more... Click. Or sign in and click.

[continue reading…]

By th’ clock ’tis day,
And yet dark night strangles the traveling lamp.

• Shakespeare’s Scottish Play (II.iv.5-6)

Horoscopes for 7.30.2020

The Leo

There was an article, online, a few years back that cited the research used by the Frito-Lay corporation, scientific data used to build the better tasting snacks. Chips. The first Fritos were made in San Antonio, and it was, at one time, a localized treat, patterned after the what is, to me, ubiquitous corn chips at most near every TexMex palace. There’s something about the essence of the coarse-ground corn meal, grease, and I don’t know what else is used as herbs and spice. Something. I grabbed a bag of chips, though, a small, “lunch portion” package of chips and was idly musing about the aroma and the highly addictive quality. Can’t eat one. There's something that’s oddly satisfying, and therein is where science weighs in, something about the way their grease interacts with the animal nature of the human brain and drives us forward.

Also: drives our hands into the bag of chips. There was a science to this, as I recall, building the perfect snack, as it had to have a certain amount of salt, sweet, fat, and grease, and the elements needed to be combined in a certain fashion in order to operate correctly. Think they did it: built a better snack, scientifically speaking.

For majestic and mighty Leo? First, yes, happy birthday, thought I forgot, huh? And then? You can look at the list of ingredients, but remember, they all have to be combined in just the correct combination in order to have the desired effect. Like, with those spices? Some salt, but not too much. Same “hot” but not too much. And some garlic, but again, not too much. Read the ingredients. They researched your Leo tastes. Might want to remember that before opening another big of chips.

Virgo

Pick your way carefully. I am not a Virgo, I pretended I was when I stepped into the kitchen to refill my coffee. Lately, I’ve been using a demitasse espresso cup, really only holds about two swigs of coffee, but using it cuts down on the caffeine and increases the amount of time spent walking back and forth. Then, too, it also feels like I’m drinking gallons of coffee when it’s only a small pot. Still, as I traversed the route, I pretended I was Virgo. “Pick your way carefully.” That means?
[continue reading…]

One good deed dying tongueless Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that.

• Herimone in Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale 1.2.92-3

Horoscopes for 7.23.2020

The Leo

“The preacher was extolling the virtues of virtuous living, pretty cool message about staying in the present, and he paused. I let slip one little fart.” While possibly apocryphal in nature, one of my fishing buddies claimed this tale as his own, and stories like this, told in a boat on the water? Data is suspect, at best. However, if the Shakespeare quote doesn’t properly communicate with my Good Leo, then maybe my buddy’s tale will convey the same data. All those good deeds can get quickly subsumed by a single infraction, or perhaps, a simple mistake of passing a little gas at the wrong time. Pause in the sermon, and let a squeaker out that turns out to sound more like a bullfrog? I think the whole thing is made up, but it does illustrate a point about how a single mistake can wipe out years of showing up on Sunday morning with a tie on, tithing, and helping raise the roof on the new sanctuary. Yeah, fart once in church, all those good deeds, “dying tongueless....”

Virgo

How do you manage your time? Valid question, and one I’ve worked on over the years. For me, it’s fairly simple process, as I “live and die by the appointment book,” which, in and of itself, is a funny as I’ve been all electronic with my appointment minders since before the turn of the millennia. Makes certain portions of time management easy, like appointments for consultations. I tend to book up to six weeks out, at time. The question came from a Virgo “management consultant” type. “How do you manage your time?”

[continue reading…]

July 21 Video

Just a reminder, log in for the video ...

For more... Click. Or sign in and click.
[continue reading…]

Hark! Again;
These are the bells knoll for us. See, the lights
Move this way, Julio. Quick, behind yon arras,
And take thy secret stand. Dispute it not;
I have my reasons, you anon shall know them:
There you may mark the passages of the night.

Lenora in Shakespeare’s
Double Falsehood 3.2.64-

Two take-away points from the quote, just offhand, see if this fits, first, it’s that “hide behind the curtains” thing, shows up earlier in Hamlet. Then, there is the authorship question itself, but I leave that one well-enough alone.

Horoscopes for 7.16.2020

Cancer

The summer sun is near its highest point overhead. The moon is grudgingly making her way along. The planets spin in their predictable orbits. We move forward. As the Moon Children celebrate another lap around the sun? It’s an interesting year to have this orbit come full-cycle. As as happy birthday notice, and this applies across the broad spectrum of the Moon children, a whole swath of the night (day) sky? There’s a sense that some portion of the life has come full-cycle, or, for a select few, that this is at a turning point. A halfway point. A position halfway from “here” to “there,” and the individual destinations markedly vary. Doesn’t stop this being that position wherein a simple pause, consider it a birthday pause, to stop and assess directions. Stop and consider the desired outcome. Stop and look around to make sure this is the best course for the Birthday Person — at this moment. Just pause, look around, figure out the cycle then figure out where we are. Then, too, celebrate as this is still the Moon Children’s birthday time. Should enjoy that.

The Leo

At one point in my life, I recorded me doing a certain speech from a Shakespeare play. I had it, in my mind, having seen it several times, I had a certain way I thought it should be punched up and delivered. With Shakespeare's accepted canon of work, say 39 plays? Only so many ways it can be done, right? Hearing my own voice, inflection, as I read the words into the computer’s microphone? What I realized?
[continue reading…]