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Things Threw Themselves Together All Of A Sudden
A bizzarely apt musical selection, that I came upon while looking at an old link.
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FreeWill Wants To Look Lived-In
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of February 23, 2017
Soon I'll be off on my first vacation in 18 months. At first glance it might seem odd for an astrologer like myself to have selected two Sagittarians to be my housesitters. Members of your sign are reputed to be among the least home-nurturing people in the zodiac. But I'm confident that by the time I return, raccoons won't be living in my kitchen, nor will my plants be dead or my snailmail stolen or my TV broken. The current astrological omens suggest that most of you Centaurs, at least for the foreseeable future, will display an uncommon aptitude for the domestic arts.
*
Not me. Today I committed culinary treason by loading an English Muffin with Swiss and American cheese.
FreeWill Is All Coiled-Up And Hissing
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of October 15, 2015
One afternoon in September, I was hiking along a familiar path in the woods. As I passed my favorite grandmother oak, I spied a thick, six-foot-long snake loitering on the trail in front of me. In hundreds of previous visits, I had never before seen a creature bigger than a mouse. The serpent's tail was hidden in the brush, but its head looked more like a harmless gopher snake's than a dangerous rattler's. I took the opportunity to sing it three songs. It stayed for the duration, then slipped away after I finished. What a great omen! The next day, I made a tough but liberating decision to leave behind a good part of my life so as to focus more fully on a great part. With or without a snake sighting, Sagittarius, I foresee a comparable breakthrough for you sometime soon.
I could use a breakthrough. I've been trying to reconcile my future with the fragments of my past that I have left.
FreeWill: Disney and Distillation
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of October 1, 2015
Your fellow Sagittarian Walt Disney accomplished a lot. He was a pioneer in the art of animation and made movies that won numerous Academy Awards. He built theme parks, created an entertainment empire, and amassed fantastic wealth. Why was he so successful? In part because he had high standards, worked hard, and harbored an obsessive devotion to his quirky vision. If you aspire to cultivate any of those qualities, now is a favorable time to raise your mastery to the next level. Disney had one other trait you might consider working on: He liked to play the game of life by his own rules. For example, his favorite breakfast was doughnuts dipped in Scotch whisky. What would be your equivalent?
Some would say I'm living by my own rules now...but just haven't gotten to that thing that will make it PROFIT.
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FreeWill Looks Quizzical
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 2, 2015
There are lots of inquiries and invitations coming your way -- perhaps too many. I don't think you should pursue all of them. In fact, I suspect that only one would ultimately make you a better human being and a braver explorer and a wiser lover. And that one, at first glance, may have not as much initial appeal as some of the others. So your first task is to dig deep to identify the propositions that are attractive on the surface but not very substantial. Then you're more likely to recognize the offer that will have lasting value even if it doesn't make a spectacular first impression.
You WOULD have to say that to a research addict, would you?
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The Price Is "Yeah, Right"...or Inflation Hopscotch
It's about time I did something like this, if only for my own notes. I found This Inflation Calculator today while referencing something on Tumblr, so I'll play with it and show how a Dollar isn't a Dollar over a lifetime. Hmm...backwards or forwards?
* 2010: I go to Tech school after a Spring Break trip to Florida.
What would cost $1 (2010) ~ $1.07 (2015)
* 2006: I attend GenCon Indy with my buddies.
What would cost $1 (2006) ~ $1.16 (2015)
* 1999: I'm working in Gatlinburg for $10/hour as a Night Auditor.
What would cost $1 (1999) ~ $1.40 (2015)
* 1995: I move to Tennessee.
What would cost $1 (1995) ~ $1.53 (2015)
* 1992: I get my A.S. degree from Saint Petersburg College.
What would cost $1 (1992) ~ $1.67 (2015)
* 1988: My sister gets married to her first husband and my brother graduates High School.
What would cost $1 (1988) ~ $2.00 (2015)
* 1985: I leave High School with a G.E.D.
What would cost $1 (1985) ~ $2.17 (2015)
* 1982: My frosh/sophomore year in High School.
What would cost $1 (1982) ~ $2.50 (2015)
* 1979: My family moves from Pennsylvania to Florida.
What would cost $1 (1979) ~ $3.22 (2015)
* 1976: My family moves from Waterford to Gibsonia. Hurray for the Bicentennial!
What would cost $1 (1976) ~ $4.11 (2015)
* 1974: Is there LIFE ON MARS? My family moves to Waterford, PA from Chilicothe, OH.
What would cost $1 (1974) ~ $4.75 (2015)
* 1971: My brother is an infant; my family moves from Erie, PA to Chilicothe.
What would cost $1 (1971) ~ $5.77 (2015)
* 1969: If you believe, they put a Man On The Moon.
What would cost $1 (1969) ~ $6.37 (2015)
* 1967: I'm an infant, my sister is a terrible Two.
What would cost $1 (1967) ~ $7.00 (2015)
FreeWill Gets Scientific
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 17, 2014
"There is no such thing as a failed experiment," said author and inventor Buckminster Fuller, "only experiments with unexpected outcomes." That's the spirit I advise you to bring to your own explorations in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. Your task is to try out different possibilities to see where they might lead. Don't be attached to one conclusion or another. Be free of the drive to be proven right. Instead, seek the truth in whatever strange shape it reveals itself. Be eager to learn what you didn't even realize you needed to know.
FreeWill: She's a Frozen Fire...
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of June 12, 2014
Novelist Herman Melville wrote that in order to create art, "unlike things must meet and mate." Like what? "Sad patience" and "joyous energies," for example; both of them are necessary, he said. "Instinct and study" are crucial ingredients, as well as humility and pride, audacity and reverence, and "a flame to melt" and a "wind to freeze." Based on my interpretation of the astrological omens, Sagittarius, I believe you will soon need to meld opposites like these as you shape that supreme work of art -- your life.
...She's my one desire!
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FreeWill: Want Not, Waste Not?
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of May 29, 2014
"Longing, what is that? Desire, what is that?" Those are questions Louise Gluck asks in her poem "Prism." Does she really not know? Has she somehow become innocent again, free from all her memories of what longing and desire have meant to her in the past? That's what I wish for you right now, Sagittarius. Can you do it? Can you enter into beginner's mind and feel your longing and desire as if they were brand new, just born, as fresh and primal as they were at the moment you fell in love for the first time? If you can manage it, you will bestow upon yourself a big blessing.
Just when you are grateful for what you have, life throws something new at you?
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FreeWill: Hate Is In The Air
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of May 1, 2014
Actor Matthew McConaughey prides himself on his willingness to learn from his mistakes and failures. A few years ago he collected and read all the negative reviews that critics had ever written about his work in films. It was "an interesting kind of experiment," he told Yahoo News. "There was some really good constructive criticism." According to my reading of the astrological omens, Sagittarius, now would be an excellent time for you to try an experiment comparable to McConaughey's. Be brave!
I aspire to other people's indifference.
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Tepid 4:5
"At the beginning of it, an ascent to greatness and a descent into madness both look exactly the same."
FreeWill Pushes The Envelope
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of March 20, 2014
There should be nothing generic or normal or routine about this week, Sagittarius. If you drink beer, for example, you shouldn't stick to your usual brew. You should track down and drink the hell out of exotic beers with brand names like Tactical Nuclear Penguin and Ninja Vs. Unicorn and Doctor Morton's Clown Poison. And if you're a lipstick user, you shouldn't be content to use your old standard, but should instead opt for kinky types like Sapphire Glitter Bomb, Alien Moon Goddess, and Cackling Black Witch. As for love, it wouldn't make sense to seek out romantic adventures you've had a thousand times before. You need and deserve something like wild sacred eternal ecstasy or screaming sweaty flagrant bliss or blasphemously reverent waggling rapture.
The problem is normalcy has a very tight grip here. What's weird, isn't. Which way is down?
FreeWill Lives Large
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of February 6, 2014
"What is the purpose of the giant sequoia tree?" asked environmentalist Edward Abbey. His answer: "The purpose of the giant sequoia tree is to provide shade for the tiny titmouse." I suggest you meditate on all the ways you can apply that wisdom as a metaphor to your own issues. For example: What monumental part of your own life might be of service to a small, fragile part? What major accomplishment of yours can provide strength and protection to a ripening potential that's underappreciated by others?
It's hard to know the whole of one's own ecology, macrocosm or microcosm.
FreeWill Is On A Sugar High
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of October 3, 2013
To give you the oracle that best matches your current astrological omens, I've borrowed from "Sweetness," a poem by Stephen Dunn. I urge you to memorize it or write it on a piece of paper that you will carry around with you everywhere you go. Say Dunn's words as if they were your own: "Often a sweetness comes / as if on loan, stays just long enough // to make sense of what it means to be alive, / then returns to its dark / source. As for me, I don’t care // where it’s been, or what bitter road / it’s traveled / to come so far, to taste so good."
Dad bought us a bag of Cinnamon Mini-Donuts this morning. I'm wondering if I should have a couple with my next cup of tea.
I seem to be practicing good temperance everywhere else today.
To give you the oracle that best matches your current astrological omens, I've borrowed from "Sweetness," a poem by Stephen Dunn. I urge you to memorize it or write it on a piece of paper that you will carry around with you everywhere you go. Say Dunn's words as if they were your own: "Often a sweetness comes / as if on loan, stays just long enough // to make sense of what it means to be alive, / then returns to its dark / source. As for me, I don’t care // where it’s been, or what bitter road / it’s traveled / to come so far, to taste so good."
Dad bought us a bag of Cinnamon Mini-Donuts this morning. I'm wondering if I should have a couple with my next cup of tea.
I seem to be practicing good temperance everywhere else today.
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FreeWill Declares Dependence Day
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of July 4, 2013
Who was Russia's greatest poet? Many critics say it was Alexander Pushkin, who lived in the 19th century. His abundant creativity was undoubtedly related to his unruly libido. By the time he was 31 years old, he'd had 112 lovers. But then he met his ultimate muse, the lovely and intelligent Natalya Goncharova, to whom he remained faithful. "Without you," he wrote to her, "I would have been unhappy all my life." I half-expect something comparable to happen for you in the next ten months, Sagittarius. You may either find an unparalleled ally or else finally ripen your relationship with an unparalleled ally you've known for a while. One way or another, I bet you will commit yourself deeper and stronger.
There is only one woman in the world right now that even approaches that description...and it would be me in the role of her muse, rather than her being mine. *shrug*
Who was Russia's greatest poet? Many critics say it was Alexander Pushkin, who lived in the 19th century. His abundant creativity was undoubtedly related to his unruly libido. By the time he was 31 years old, he'd had 112 lovers. But then he met his ultimate muse, the lovely and intelligent Natalya Goncharova, to whom he remained faithful. "Without you," he wrote to her, "I would have been unhappy all my life." I half-expect something comparable to happen for you in the next ten months, Sagittarius. You may either find an unparalleled ally or else finally ripen your relationship with an unparalleled ally you've known for a while. One way or another, I bet you will commit yourself deeper and stronger.
There is only one woman in the world right now that even approaches that description...and it would be me in the role of her muse, rather than her being mine. *shrug*
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To Set It Free(Will)--I Have The Key!
Sagittarius Horoscope for week of March 21, 2013
On the one hand, menopausal women are no longer able to bear children. On the other hand, they often overflow with fresh possibilities and creative ideas. More time is available to them because their children have moved out of the house or don't require as much care. They can begin new careers, focus on their own development, and devote more attention to their personal needs. So in one way their fertility dries up; in another way it may awaken and expand. I suspect that whether or not you are menopausal, you are on the cusp of a comparable shift in your fecundity: one door closing, another door swinging open.
I certainly hope another door is swinging open. I had a dream overnight in which I needed something from my room...and new managers had taken over the building in which I lived and gave me a rough time about letting me into my room or letting me at my own belongings. The people you think are in charge of your life pretty soon won't be--and the next regime won't fall over itself to help you.
On the one hand, menopausal women are no longer able to bear children. On the other hand, they often overflow with fresh possibilities and creative ideas. More time is available to them because their children have moved out of the house or don't require as much care. They can begin new careers, focus on their own development, and devote more attention to their personal needs. So in one way their fertility dries up; in another way it may awaken and expand. I suspect that whether or not you are menopausal, you are on the cusp of a comparable shift in your fecundity: one door closing, another door swinging open.
I certainly hope another door is swinging open. I had a dream overnight in which I needed something from my room...and new managers had taken over the building in which I lived and gave me a rough time about letting me into my room or letting me at my own belongings. The people you think are in charge of your life pretty soon won't be--and the next regime won't fall over itself to help you.
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Better Or Worse Than Average?
A sidebar advert on Facebook today claimed that the average person has been to 17 cities. So I took that as a challenge, got a very small scale map of the U.S. out of a date book, and will check off from my travel experiences.
I was born in Erie, but according to the map it's too small to count. From there:
Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinatti - Charleston, WV - Niagara Falls - Pittsburgh - Baltimore - Washington, DC - Richmond - Charleston, SC - Savannah - Jacksonville - Tampa - St. Petersburg - Orlando - Gainesville - Macon - Atlanta - Chattanooga - Knoxville - Asheville - Columbia - Lexington - Louisville - Indianapolis - Chicago - Madison - Minneapolis/St. Paul
That's 28. Which I suppose is fairly impressive for somebody who didn't get into sports and who never had a job that involved travel. But as far as I'm concerned, it's nowhere near enough.
FP
I was born in Erie, but according to the map it's too small to count. From there:
Cleveland - Columbus - Cincinatti - Charleston, WV - Niagara Falls - Pittsburgh - Baltimore - Washington, DC - Richmond - Charleston, SC - Savannah - Jacksonville - Tampa - St. Petersburg - Orlando - Gainesville - Macon - Atlanta - Chattanooga - Knoxville - Asheville - Columbia - Lexington - Louisville - Indianapolis - Chicago - Madison - Minneapolis/St. Paul
That's 28. Which I suppose is fairly impressive for somebody who didn't get into sports and who never had a job that involved travel. But as far as I'm concerned, it's nowhere near enough.
FP
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The Year In Review: 2012
January: My best wishes to all my readers for this and every coming new year.
February: I don't know what I despise more...Having to watch my bandwidth like a hawk knowing that to stay under the limit I'll probably have to live without Internet for a few days in the middle of the month, or...Having the DNS server suddenly drop off for a couple hours at a time every so often.
March: Not the first time something like this has happened.
April: Come on now, Who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?
May: Blue Gender.
June: While I was asleep this morning, one of our family friends, Jessica, was here picking up a dozen eggs that Dad had gotten her from a nearby farm as per their usual arrangements.
July: My wishlists are a known quantity.
August: Yes, there are times when exercizing a fantasy is more satisfying than outright making reality of it.
September: I'd had a suspicion that the mockup fighter jet in DEAL OF THE CENTURY was based on a Learjet, and I'm still looking for harder evidence.
October: Channel 7-2 in Knoxville just tweaked their schedule again.
November: Well, after that incident in Morristown in which I heard some really nasty noises come from Moonshine's underside last week, Dad and I scrambled to find a repair shop to get her back to rights.
December: Over the weekend was the local IPMS club's Swap Meet, and I got several kits for very very cheap.
February: I don't know what I despise more...Having to watch my bandwidth like a hawk knowing that to stay under the limit I'll probably have to live without Internet for a few days in the middle of the month, or...Having the DNS server suddenly drop off for a couple hours at a time every so often.
March: Not the first time something like this has happened.
April: Come on now, Who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?
May: Blue Gender.
June: While I was asleep this morning, one of our family friends, Jessica, was here picking up a dozen eggs that Dad had gotten her from a nearby farm as per their usual arrangements.
July: My wishlists are a known quantity.
August: Yes, there are times when exercizing a fantasy is more satisfying than outright making reality of it.
September: I'd had a suspicion that the mockup fighter jet in DEAL OF THE CENTURY was based on a Learjet, and I'm still looking for harder evidence.
October: Channel 7-2 in Knoxville just tweaked their schedule again.
November: Well, after that incident in Morristown in which I heard some really nasty noises come from Moonshine's underside last week, Dad and I scrambled to find a repair shop to get her back to rights.
December: Over the weekend was the local IPMS club's Swap Meet, and I got several kits for very very cheap.
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Why I'm Not Posting Often
1) Last week I went to a science-fiction convention, where I did all the volunteer work for a scale model competition that only had three entries. As a result...
2) I caught Con Crud, which has been particularly intractable this time around. Luckily, I'm not too demoralized about that because...
3) Amazon.com has just started their "win your Wishlist" contest for the season. So I've been poking all over the Internet looking for Stuff I Want(TM). Between that and my usual Research Addiction(TM), I've been fruitlessly busy. Just the same...
4) My Internet connectivity has been its usual flaky, unreliable self.
2) I caught Con Crud, which has been particularly intractable this time around. Luckily, I'm not too demoralized about that because...
3) Amazon.com has just started their "win your Wishlist" contest for the season. So I've been poking all over the Internet looking for Stuff I Want(TM). Between that and my usual Research Addiction(TM), I've been fruitlessly busy. Just the same...
4) My Internet connectivity has been its usual flaky, unreliable self.