Less mercurial, please.

Right now I am in a hotel in Tulsa. It is very quiet, tucked away off 169 near Broken Arrow. It is situated near a lot of retail including a Target, and yesterday when I went over to get some toothpaste I found these pajamas on sale for $10 and they made me smile a bit, for which I had been sadly wanting since late Tuesday:

He seems a such jolly little elf despite the dumb hat, hanging around on a bright pink background. And, you know, there are more of them spotted around doing the same – mushroom harvesting – and a few have sleds, which leads me to think the pink polka dots are stylized snowfall. It's also 8 degrees and snow-covered here in Tulsa, so their cheery faces and cozy flannel landscape seemed appropriate. 

I started the new year off so thoughtful, happy, and hopeful, and I don't know what happened in the past few days but it really took the shine off. So in addition to feeling a little bit of a target for unknowable reasons, I also feel neither thoughtful nor happy nor hopeful. I also feel a bit uncharitable towards some folk, and less in love with others. In short: the only thing I am happy about right now are these pajamas in this hotel room, which is blissfully populated only by yours truly. I would really like to stay here the whole week.

As a skeptic, I'm not so into the astrology thing, as you can probably well imagine. However, it is interesting how it really seems to speak to something every now and again, and more than one person mentioned Mercury retrograde so I had to read about it a little more, and I found this here little snippet on a new agey site whose link I'm happy to forward if you like but I'm not going to bother linking for now because I am lazy:

Because Mercury itself rules how we think, we will be adjusting
everything related to thoughts, concepts, ideas, and communication,
especially how technology and material elements play a part in the
physical manifestation of ideas. When Mercury retrogrades, we find
that many parts of our life are being revised. Often these
revisions can be a surprise or throw us back a step. However, these
revisions which occur during a Mercury retrograde, are a "course
correction" and provide a stop gap measure until we can review
situations. During this time of revision, change is compounded and
confusion is created by our reactions to the ever-changing
situations. Thus anything started during this time will ultimately
be taken back or even revised further, making for a
high-frustration time. This will be especially true with changing
our minds, reviewing new ideas and our communication being improved
and honed so not to be mis-understood.

Which, you know, is mostly a bunch of drivel, BUT BUT BUT this exactly what has been happening the past few days. Bad technological communication! Adjusting thoughts! Misunderstandings! Craziness! Spooky, scary! Boys becoming men! Men becoming wolves!

Ah hum. Sorry, just switched to 30 Rock.

So although I cannot say the above is anything but hooey, I think I will follow the website's direction:

The best mode to be in during a Mercury retrograde is one of
"non-reaction", and with earth signs being impacted, physical
environment will be changing continually during a Mercury
retrograde. Treat the time period as a time of gathering
information, yet because the information will be in constant change
it would be like trying to comb your hair in a wind storm. Best to
wait until the changes stop before attempting to make things
orderly. Therefore, just let the winds of situations blow around
you without reacting. Once Mercury turns direct, take a look at the
information that is still around at that time and go about putting
everything in order, while maintaining the fine art of
flexibility.

Which means I'll just be waiting until January 15 to communicate much with anyone since apparently that's when Mercury stops fucking around. Don't want anyone taking anything I say wrong and feeling insulted, or acting superior, or causing me to feel shitty and stupid, or like my marriage is useless. I'll just sit here and let shit happen around me, and get back to thoughtful, happy, and hopeful as soon as possible.

LEMON OUT!