Horoscopes by the Fishing Guide to the Stars starting 5/2/2013

“The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp.”

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet [II.ii.21-2]

Taurus: Always love doing a bit from Romeo. He was such a sap. Reminds me that we still have some R&J material kicking loose and free Taurus. Part of the problem as no one seems up to Taurus speed on what to do. The problem with Shakespeare’s R&J? It’s real title is “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” not just R&J. Not all love stories are tragic, as I’ve had a few with happy endings. However, young love, and more important, infatuation, that’s what this is about. Don’t confuse Mars and the Martian influence with true love.

The other part of Shakespeare’s R&J? Tons of “stars” reference points. The original star-crossed lovers, eh?

Gemini: “Man, what’s the deal with all the Gemini?” Buddy was bemoaning his fate as there was surfeit of Gemini is his life, and not being Gemini-understanding, my buddy was overwhelmed. You know, as a Gemini, you can do that to mere mortals. Gemini, bright, brighter than everyone else, comes on too strong, too, too much… So much so that…

What I enjoy about Gemini interactions — I’m Gemini friendly — is the way their brains cycle through material faster than I can wrap my head around a single thought process. One of the secrets for dealing with Gemini, too, is understanding that Gemini is a veritable fount of ideas, cascading forth, like a spring bubbling up through a fissure in the local limestone to make springs. Lots of that material gets washed downstream, the good, the bad, all co-mingled in the Gemini stream of consciousness.

Gemini: some people are having trouble keeping up with you. Consider slowing down so the rest of us can understand. At least give us a score card.

Eclipse Notes.
Eclipse action.

Cancer: I love them “beauty” shots. I was looking at a friend’s webpage, a promo, fluff piece. Her image had been redone. I’m unsure if it was in the film studio, with make-up and lighting, or if she was digitally remastered. Her skin was smooth and the — I find them attractive — wrinkles around her eyes were gone. Hair was bleached out, supposed to look sun-bleached, when, in fact, it was either chemical or digital — but not natural. Too much time in Austin, and I prefer the real age, and the real age “look.” I’ve complained about this before, the image on the site doesn’t really look like the person in real life. That is a problem. The solution, and one I personally have stuck with? Stick to real images. With the abundance of image making devices, phones, tablets, and so on? It’s easy to have a real picture. Might not be as flattering in narrow way of seeing this, but in the long-run, big-picture view? Much better.

“Wow, you really do look like your picture, in fact, you look better in person.”

The (mighty) Leo: Hello, Leo, the Best Fixed Fire Sign. Ever.

We have a problem. You want to fix that problem, in all Mighty Leo Haste. Not going to happen, and as such, you need to stop.

Simple message for mighty Leo friends: stop.

“But I don’t want to stop!”

And I don’t want you to stop, either, but, to save time, energy, and most important, the good Leo hide? Best course of action?

Stop.

Virgo: I was fishing with a (clear) Curly-Tail on a 3/8-oz. jig-head. Great bait, works wonders at this one lake. Had two in the ‘live well’ from that very bait. I tossed it at ‘lay-down,’ promptly snagged a rock, and lost the bait. I reached for the next pole I had, which was rigged with 4-inch stick bait, no weight. I set the first pole down, and I picked up the next fishing pole with something on the end, not thinking, not changing what was tied on, not missing the pace. This is a reaction, impulse-driven action, not thinking, not slowing down, just grabbed the next available tool. Next piece of hardware that would finish the job. The next thing I needed.

Don’t think, just let instincts take over. From a clear Curly-Tail to a black-plastic, no metal flake stick bait, the change was severe. Shouldn’t work. If I were to think about it, the bait change would give me pause and I would have to stop and lose valuable fishing time. Don’t stop, don’t think, and the pictures are on the website, someplace, me with the fish.

Libra: I recall, it wasn’t a reading, wasn’t a big deal, I was in another town, and I was talking about the recent turn of events, the shift in publishing, and what I was going to do. I vowed, to one person, that my column was going to stay free and on the web, as long as I could make it. Couple of years later, I guess, I’ve had to eat those words. It was a casual conversation, not really a big deal, and at the time, I did want this material to be free and freely available. I still do.

As I excavate then excise that memory of the conversation, I can recall that I thought I’d get adequate traffic and revenue from advertising. That didn’t work. I had to change my thinking. As a Libra, I tend to believe that the most prized possession is the Libra brain. There’s a single sticking point, and now is the time to change our thinking about that. Hint: doing so brings in more money. Two words — excavate and excise. “Dig it up,” and “cut it out.”

Scorpio: I was out the other afternoon. I meant to just walk up to the post office, and maybe stop to get an ice-cold beverage, but I wound up walking much farther than I intended. I know, in April, in Texas, late April, it’s hot. Hot and sticky. I was drenched with sweat by the time I got home. The top of my head was sun-burned, too. Little patch where the thin hair doesn’t cover like it used to.

One Scorpio I know will revel with malicious glee at that comment, the thinning hair and sun-burned pate. I got no one to blame but myself. By now, it’s almost full-summer heat, or close to it, and the sticky, humid air is filled with Gulf-Coast moisture, just making the scene less desirable to some. I like it, but the sweating in the heat came about as being unexpected. Still, it’s not that unusual. As a Scorpio, a good Scorpio, malicious glee and all, there’s something that will take longer and make you sweat much more. Is it bad? No. Is it worthwhile? Yes. Will you be as uncomfortable was I was last week? Probably.

Sagittarius: Buddy of mine — Sagittarius — called me up, seeking inspiration. We chatted, I turned over his chart a time or two, nothing big on the Sagittarius front, and I rang off. A few hours later, he texted me a picture of large stein full of what appears to be beer.

I’m not sure. I’m not sure what the message really was supposed to be, but the way I read it? Leisure time usurped useful work time. Just a guess. Looks like a few sips of the beer had been had. Looks like he was chilling and relaxing, and I would guess, a favored leisure spot to sit and sip suds. Right idea, wrong time. As it turns out, there are few people who listen to me, and it was merely a phone picture from someone else who had forwarded it to my buddy and he then forwarded it on to me, to see what might happen.

He was really in his cubicle, at the office, at work. He considered the image to be the closest he was going to get for afternoon beers. As a fellow Sagittarius, I think that image of a glass half-full of beer? That’s the closest we should get to being too relaxed at this moment.

Capricorn: I do not like Video. I don’t like video production, I don’t like it when I search for a particular term, maybe instructions or a literary reference, and the results are all video. It annoys me. There’s the intro, the hook, the content, then the wrap up, then some advertising, then another conclusion, with just enough information that I need to watch it, then the credits roll. Have to watch those, too. I’ve probably complained about this before, but I don’t like instructional video. Not how I work. Let me read something and I’m fine. Anymore, though, the web is being cut up into three and five minute sketches. I do one, myself, and I enjoy the production work. The deal is, video should be for fun stuff, tell a story, include exotic destinations. Then, too, it shouldn’t always be for instructions. The instructions I found weren’t clever, and the added material was annoying rather than instructional. What to do? Why this matters? In the next few days, you’ll stumble into a place where you’re looking for a particular set of instructions. I’m sorry if video is the only way it can be delivered. Annoying, isn’t it?

Aquarius: The secret to making a delightful — perhaps the best in the world — mimosa? Fresh Orange Juice. Pulp and all, the fresh-squeezed stuff. The trick the real key to understanding how this works? It was at a big Sunday Brunch ordeal I got dragged into, and I was watching, too early for me to be drinking, besides, I would only drink black coffee, but that’s not the question. I watched as at least two of the other participants waxed poetic about the flavor of the mimosas. I asked the guy pouring. His choice, with that batch of oranges, I suppose it would make it single-label orange juice, his versions? “It’s 60/30, 60 percent orange juice, 30 percent champagne,” and he held up a bottle so I could see the label. Cheap stuff. Good, but like I suggested, relatively inexpensive. Cheap stuff. The correct mix is not 50-50. Rarely is any equitable deal in live 50/50, and that brunch, the champagne brunch, as the folks at my table were starting to get tipsy, I realized that the ration changed, around the second or third glass of orange juice mixed with champagne. Good orange juice, cheap champagne, and I wonder what the other ten percent was? In life, in the Aquarius life, nothing is 50/50 this week. Remember that. More like 60/30. Which end do you want to be on?

Pisces: North of Austin, there’s a ranch, the entrance is clearly visible as we whip by on the interstate. Name? “Fat Chance.” I can’t make this stuff up. A ranch called, “Fat Chance.” Begs so many questions, I don’t know where to start. However, as a Pisces, there’s but one place to start. At the beginning. I wrapped my head around the influences in the Pisces chart, and all I could think about? Begin at the beginning. Start at the starting point. Don’t start halfway through, in medias res, don’t start at the end like, reverse engineer the situation, start at the beginning. Start at the starting point. This isn’t arbitrary. This isn’t a made-up deal. This works better if you obey the process and start at the starting point with no leaping to conclusions that might — or might not be — based upon observed facts. Like the name of that ranch? I doubt you’ll start at the beginning, “Fat Chance,” huh.

Aries: For a while, I was walking in the morning. Not too early, but early enough to get a good distance in, like maybe a two-mile trip to a coffee shop, grab some go-juice and walk another mile and half home. I was in, one morning, around 8 in the morning, wrong time. There was a line of suits out the door. Inside, the full crew was working, at a frantic pace with the mocha-chocolate-vanilla-raspberry-skinny-soy-blueberry orders. “Can I get a sausage in the oven?” One of the crew members yelled out, she looked at me, and she blushed. Just a little. I can hardly pass up a line, “I bet you say that to all the boys.” She smiled, the moment of mirth shattered by some impatient soul, needing his coffee in a hurry. Coffee and something-sausage on a bun, toasted. Be aware. Pay attention. Listen. Watch, learn. You’re going to be fed a straight line, just like that. My response, the Aries response, this works even better towards the females (in my life), “Bet you say that to all the boys.” Can reverse it a little, or adjust and tweak as need be, but the important part? Listen for it.

“You can’t just feed me lines like that and not expect a response.”

Grin. Not everyone gets it. I do, but then, I’m tuned to an Aries ear.