Damn. Enough with the Mercury retrograde, already! My computer decided last weekend was the perfect time to have a nervous breakdown – deadlines and Mercury Rx be damned. So we spent the whole damn weekend building and configuring a new system. Almost a week later I’m still installing apps and running into stupid-ass problems right and left, annoying little things that have to be reconfigured or reinstalled. It’s been kind of a nightmare.
Astrologers will reflexively caution you against buying computers or cars or whatever when Mercury is retrograde, but the truth is, Mercury often forces the issue. If your car dies and you need it to get to work, you’re probably not going to wait three weeks for Mercury to turn direct. Ditto when your computer takes a massive dump and your entire livelihood depends on getting a replacement up and running, stat. These are some of Mercury’s little jokes. Funny!
Here’s my best Mercury Rx story so far. For weeks I’ve been engaged in an annoying struggle with a client who has always been a pleasure to deal with, but has recently had some kind of meltdown in their accounting department, resulting in the interminable delay of a rather sizable check. Tempers were getting frayed and my mood was gettin’ ugly – then yesterday, at long last, the payment arrived. On my way out the door this morning I thought, “Gee, maybe I’ll swing by the bank and deposit that long-awaited check.”
You know what’s coming. I couldn’t find it. I looked high, and I looked low. I tossed my car, but came up empty-handed. Emerging from the backseat, I caught a glimpse of our garbage can nestled against the curb, awaiting the weekly collection. “Surely not,” I muttered, looking away. Then again… I dashed over, opened the lid, and was relieved to find the can hadn’t yet been emptied. I reached in, pulled out the bag I’d thrown in last night, opened it up – and lying almost on top was the check. Which once was lost but now was found, etc.
My nerves are getting frayed, people.
Here’s something cool, though: On Tuesday, the author proofs for my book arrived! And let me tell you, it is cute. Really cute. Not sickeningly cute, either; nicely cute. The illustrations are – there is no other word for them – adorable. Now it’s time to slog through and reread every last page of the manuscript I put away in January and catch all the blunders I overlooked, the ones my editor probably looked at and thought, “Well, it’s probably the best the poor dear could do.” Mercury retrograde, man – it’s all about going back and revisiting the past, but this time I get to edit it with a nice, new purple Sharpie.
How is Mercury torturing you this retrograde season?
