For the Week of: 10/2-8/2003
“A goodly apple at the heart.
O what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice [I.iii.98]
Mars has started a long — forward — trek, all the way through Pisces. Again.
Show your support for Fishing Guide to the Stars — live in El Paso, last weekend.
Libra: Happy Birthday, Libra dear. Weird weekend ahead. No other way to explain it. Things may not be absolutely tip-top in your world, but then again, they’ve been much worse, and this is all starting to get a bit better. Maybe not great, but at least a little bit of improvement. And then, on into next week? Events really start to take a turn for the better. Yes? Yes. Simply put. It’s that easy. Look for the shining moment out of the mess.
I’ll promise, being your birthday time and all, that there is just such a brilliant moment or two, in the next couple of days. There’s an ebullient spirit that might be–or might not be–shared. Use it. Enjoy it. Not everyone is floating along like you are. At least one particular Libra is going to send me a hasty note, within moments of reading this, and assure me I’ve got it all wrong. Don’t be that one Libra. Looking at this as a whole, there’s much more good than ill. The good times will more than balance out the hard times.
Scorpio: Big hint: it’s about everyone else but you, my fine little Scorpio friend. It’s not about what’s up with you, it’s not about what’s going on in your life. It’s not about anything that has to do with you. The focus is elsewhere. As in, “any place but here.” You can fight, struggle, argue loudly with me, and all those other people, or you can just sit back and relax.
There’s a restaurant with a nice patio, not far from Shady Acres, and that patio provides some of the finest entertainment in the world. The last time I visited, though, I was toting a cup of Jo’s coffee–substantially better than the restaurant’s own brew–and the new staff members didn’t recognize me. Or my cup of coffee. Particular to Texas alcoholic legal code, you’re not supposed to bring liquor onto the premises of place that serves liquor.
Your Scorpio self knows that I only had non-alcoholic cappuccino in that cup. A particularly good cup of coffee, I might add. But the new staff was just trying to obey the rules as set forth by the management. So either the coffee had to go, or I couldn’t sit and enjoy the lovely evening. I gulped down most of the coffee and tossed the cup into the trash. I could’ve fought the issue, and I might’ve won. But sometimes, even when I’m right–or when you’re right–it’s just easier to acquiesce to their demands. I spent the rest of the evening, like you should spend the next couple of days, watching the variety of street life troll by the patio. Good entertainment, although, it would’ve been better if I’d been allowed my favorite brand of beverage. Can’t have everything.
Capricorn: There’s a brilliant window of opportunity, and the problem being, just when does this particular window open? It’s going to happen in the next couple of days. Might be a long time, that window might be open for almost a week. Or it could be one of those narrow windows of time, just a few moments before the options are no longer available.
Looking at the Capricorn chart, I kept thinking about a certain lake, one I don’t fish at too often, and how there’s a special portion of that lake, a cove along the eastern edge of the lake. That spot is full of stumps, aquatic vegetation, all sorts of stuff that pokes up through the surface of the water. Early mornings, with a heavy mist, it looks spooky. There’s an eerie calm that pervades the scene when the big motor shuts off.
After a couple of casts, the only noise usually comes from a breakfast in bag, as the paper rustles from the wrapper around the “egg-looking product combined with a ham group thing topped by a cheese product stuffed between two pieces of bread material” my fishing buddy is munching on. Such noise doesn’t disturb the quiet calm of the scene. Worst thing that can happen? Get a fish. Nothing ruins a quiet morning’s reverie than to have a large-mouth bass take some bait. Now, is that a timely interruption? Or is it a rude interruption? Or, could it be that window of opportunity, just beginning to open?
Sagittarius: I was feeling really good the other afternoon. I mean, really good. Life is rolling along just fine. Computer’s working fine now, the mail is getting delivered, everyone is happy, and I was just sure that I was on top of the world, in fact, I was sure I was in top form. One editor shattered that illusion of “everything is okay in my world” rather quickly. I got some work back–my work–that was “red-lined.” Heavily red-lined. Like, it was almost, not quite, but almost to the point that I just needed to start all over.
At least I typed the names of the signs right, and I got those in the correct order. It was a pretty disheartening break. I was sure that was mighty good stuff. “Nice typing paper, good-looking typeface, now if you can just do something about the order and consistency of the wording itself, we’ll have this licked.” Yeah, “we’ll” have what licked? Seems like what I should’ve been doing was licking [maybe kissing] a portion of that editor’s anatomy.
Only, like most Sagittarius types, I’m no good at that. You’re rolling along, just sure you’re in top form, and along comes some person destined to take your good attitude and shoot you down. Look on the bright side, you can learn to cuss in an artful way. That’s what I did. Then I took my shirt off, sat down at the keyboard, and tended to the corrections. Sometimes, those editor types really are smart. I didn’t realize it, but there were a few holes in the logic with that material I’d just turned in. Listen to the criticisms. Don’t take them to heart, but it never hurts to listen to another point of view.
Aquarius: Big city traffic is always amusing, as there’s some kind of hydraulic theory that would actually correctly address just how cars ebb and flow in the lanes of traffic. I was running along, coming into Dallas from Ft. Worth, along the old turnpike [Interstate 30]. The temporary construction sign said, “Right Two Lanes Closed.” Which means, as Dallas drivers are wont to do, most vehicles started to merge to the right. I slipped over into the left lane, slowed to a crawl, and courteously let other drivers cut in front of me.
What amazed me, and why I thought about this incident, was that Dallas drivers on the turnpike that morning? They intentionally avoided the obvious signage that suggested the right lanes were closed. They would squeal their tires, merge over, only to discover that the right lanes weren’t going anyplace none too quickly, then try and cut back, cussing and banging on their steering wheels.
There will always be a delay with traffic in Dallas. Always. Fact of life. It’s a rule, or goes back to an historic Spanish Land Grant or something. Then there’s the idea that there is a big sign. Loath as a good Aquarius is to pay attention to just such a sign, maybe you should watch. Merge over to the left. Like the sign says. You’ll get there a lot quicker if you allow for delays and plan on following the rules–unlike those Dallas drivers.
Pisces: The clothing I usually wear to work, a nicely pressed tux shirt, “Big Bass” cufflinks, jeans, boots, and so forth, don’t always slide easily through the metal detector at the airport. One October morning, I was up and a little cranky, on my way to work for a weekend, and the pre-dawn mist was ever so inviting–for fishing.
Not much of a morning to be up and off to my other work. Since all my jewelry and so forth doesn’t slide through the metal detector too well, I usually try and wait to get dressed until I’m on the far side of the security screening. I would suppose that it makes for an odd sight, some guy with a tux shirt, trying to thread the studs through the holes, attaching big, clunky cufflinks, and sliding a bolo tie up tight, all the while, trying to balance a laptop PowerBook and a big cup of coffee. Doesn’t help that I was probably talking to myself, too, muttering and wondering out loud why I wore so much metal.
There are two lessons contained in this story. One is about metal detectors at airports. You know that they are there. You know to remove all metal from your person before going through. Can’t say it catches you by surprise. The second is that putting all this stuff back on, and trying to thread those ever-so-cool-looking studs while looking in a reflection in the departure lounge window, wishing to be any place else but here. Enjoy wherever it is that Mars is dumping you off, and when you hit those roadblocks, remember, there was a sign.
Aries: Ever get to the point where you have to make a point? Ever get pushed so far that you just have to make a statement, right or wrong? Ever get some smart aleck astrology writer who keeps asking stupid questions, and you just want to slap him around? Wait, forget that last question, I’m not geared for any Aries abuse, be it physical or verbal, not now. Probably not ever, but that’s a different question. Deal is, you’re trying to make a point, and the problem is, no one is listening. I’ll agree that you’re right, at least in the spirit of the question. And I’ll agree that you’re right, in the concept that you really feel a strong Aries need to make your point, that is, to make your point of view known.
Problem being, no one seems to be listening these days. Then there’s the problem of available facts. I know, you can only work with what facts are available, what is right there, in your [lovely] Aries face. While absence of facts has never bothered me or any of my immediate family, it does create a problem here, especially for your Aries self. You can only work with what’s at hand, and doing so, judging from the relative position of Mars in your chart, you might not be working with all the facts. That’s the problem. Cool it for a little while. Sure, there’s a change in seasons occurring, and sure, there’s a change brewing up to make life better for your Aries self, but you might want to make a serious effort to collect ALL the data before you start making your point.
Taurus: I’m not much for “fall” fishing as the mornings are a bit too chilly for my personal tastes. However, I was thinking about just such a trip coming up, and I was getting all excited about it. You know, the buzz that builds in the back of the brains, imagining myself in a boat, up on its plane, sailing across the lake, the wind whipping in behind my sunglasses, bringing a tear to my eyes, the thought of the sun finally crawling up towards its noon position, shedding the layers of clothing to enjoy a little autumn sunlight, and fishes putting up the good fight.
Bent fishing rods are happy sights. It’s the anticipation, as much as it’s the actual action. That’s the clue. There’s a great sense of “something wonderful is coming up” in your chart. But it’s not here, not quite yet. What are you supposed to do? Biggest problem, as I understand it, is trying to keep the concentration on work while you’re at work. I’ll promise though, if you keep concentrating on work while at work, then, when the “big deal” finally gets here, you’ll have ever so much more fun. Don’t think about it.
Gemini: I was listening to my “Bubba Gemini” the other morning, and he was railing on and on, like a Gemini typically does, about this, that and the other, and when he finally got around to making his point, which diverted from the topic of discussion several times, he was belaboring that he wasn’t sure about a certain situation, and his conclusion had nothing to do with any available evidence.
In that absence of evidence, in his Gemini mind, he’d concocted a huge and terrible scenario, with calamities, problems, downfalls, “the end of civilization,” anarchy, and of course, personal strife in his Gemini land. Funny part of this? To me, anyway? There wasn’t one shred of physical evidence to suggest any of it was true. Thankfully, from my point as a listening audience, I was able to determine that he was merely going out on a ranting limb, and making up “worst case scenarios” when there was not one drop of physical proof top support his claims.
It’s not bad, but some desired information isn’t coming through fast enough to satisfy your Gemini mind. If you have a fishing buddy who can put up with your ranting, all the better, as you have an appreciative audience. Otherwise? Just because there’s no evidence to support your dire predictions? Don’t go there. Save us both much time worrying.
Cancer: I was with my Cancer buddy, just the other day. His dog is a scoundrel and a mongrel, and a pretty smart animal, all things considered. After all, the dog has free run of the trailer and the trailer park, gets feed three times a day, gets regular visits to the pet care professional, and, as a bonus, that dog gets to roll around in any kind of stinky, corpse-looking thing it wants to, and there’s not a lot of consequences for its actions. Unlike us humans. If I were to roll around in a squashed, dead squirrel, and show up at home smelling like that, I’m sure I’d kick me out.
That dog? He’s got the good life. Alas, the Cancer dog-owner? He doesn’t as he’s stuck cleaning up after his pet. They — the management — recently installed those “pick up after your pet” boxes around the park here, you know the kind, dispenses a little plastic bag, and there’s a convenient waste disposal can right by it.
Hint, hint? Dogs will be dogs, though. Like my Cancer buddy, you’re going to be stuck cleaning up after your pet. Might not be a dog, give me a cat any day, much cleaner, and I know my mistress is not going to be rolling around in any dead critter’s corpse. But in the “Life of Cancer,” you are going to be stuck cleaning up after your pet. Could be an animal companion, like us, or it could be a pet project you’ve been working on. The joys of having dependable friends.
Leo: The Leo’s trailer, in Shady Acres? It’s going to be rocking. I may live four “houses” down from that trailer, but I can imagine, by the time the weekend starts to roll around, I’ll be listening to their music instead of my own. It’s probably going to be some antiquated music, stuff that’s 20 or more years old, but it will be loud, as befits the Leo.
It’s party time, pure and simple. I sometimes play the role of a crotchety old man, and in that role, I’m going to complain about how loud your Leo music is. The only proper response, though, is to tell whomever is complaining, to just get over it. You want to party, you need to play, now’s the time to do it. Go and have some fun. Crank up the tunes. Enjoy yourself. And no matter what happens, don’t listen to tired old farts like myself when we start complaining about 9 PM being our bedtime, “if it’s too loud then you’re too old!” Dude.
Virgo: Years ago, I collected data, more out of a personal desire to do some kind serious astrological research than anything else, and all the information I collected was about sun signs paired with their favorite flavors. After the program had been running for a year, though, I started to notice a disturbing trend, folks would just log on, and randomly fill in the spaces, leaving me with incomplete data. It’s not like a survey on the wide open expanses of the web is really a truly random and statistically correct model, but I did get some interesting feedback. One recurring event, especially after the survey had been running for a while, was that not everyone was interested in my food groups, being of Southern extraction and all.
Those food groups? Basically, it’s fried, sugar, or liquid. To pay homage to my roots here in Texas, I have to include something from the Tex-Mex variety, as I do like it hot. But that fails to cover something that kept getting written in under Virgo: Eggs Benedict. Never exactly made sense to me, I would figure a smart, alert Virgo would opt for a more healthy option instead of eggs sitting on top of a hard biscuit, with a slice of ham and slathered in a yummy Hollandaise sauce. I’m at a loss to explain the Virgo-Eggs Benedict connection. And rarely am I at a loss for words, too. Doesn’t mean that it’s not a valid connection, either. Some things in life can’t be explained within the frame of normal logic, i.e., some relevant research doesn’t always fit the hypothesis. When that occurs, especially this weekend, be a little more willing to shift your point of view and wrap some arcane theory around the facts so it all makes perfect sense to your Virgo self. The rest of us might be befuddled, but that’s our problem, not yours.
