Mercury Retrograde Report



1/3/10 was quite a day of malfunctions. Either that or my magnetic force is really something right now.



1. First thing in the morning, I noticed my phone wasn't charging. I was holding it in my hands when the screen suddenly went white. It's never done that before. Then it went dead.



2. A few minutes later, I got on my computer and was looking up directions to the restaurant where I was meeting some relatives, and suddenly, the computer just shuts down like we had a power outage. My dad was in the same room and he looked into the kitchen to see if the power was out, but it was just the computer. I tried turning it on and it would power up, then just short out again. I did it twice, then told my dad the computer couldn't seem to turn on. "You must have some serious electro-magnetic force today," was all he had to say. I went out to lunch and when I came home, I saw the computer was fine. My dad told me my mom turned it on and it worked fine. So I got on it and seconds later, it suddenly died again like we'd had a power outage. It wouldn't start up, yet my mom tried and it started up fine for her. I figured I might have something magnetically strange going on with me today, so I left the computer alone. Later I would find out that whatever happened to the computer killed my speakers. Only one of them works, and the sound is so low and far away, it sounds like a tiny radio inside an ant hill.



3. I was sitting in my dad's car, and he was putting something away in the trunk. There's a button you can press for the door to come down and close automatically, but there should be a sensor that lets it know if something's in the way. He was leaned into the trunk putting something away when the door just starts closing. He reaches out his hand and hold the door, trying to keep it from squashing him, but it wouldn't stop trying to close. He had to forcefully push it back open. That was kind of scary.



4. We went to visit my grandfather's grave (we tried to go yesterday but didn't make it out). We went back to my parents office to get my car, because I'd met them there and left my car in the parking lot. I told them I was on my way to get gas and would see them at home. The computer said I had 14 miles left. I got on the freeway, and the "Check Engine Soon" light came on. We just got the car back. Baby got a brand new heart (new engine). I couldn't believe it. Then the car started losing power. My speed was dropping, first 50, then 45, and I saw the next exit coming up so I hoped I could at least make it to the exit. My car got me 50 feet into the exit, dying on the shoulder. I figured the computer had malfunctioned and it was out of gas. The sun was going down, and of all days for this to happen, the day my cellphone died. So I had to run a mile to the gas station, and buy a $15 one-time-use gas container and half a gallon of gas (I figured the full gallon might be heavy to run with). I asked the guy working there how to use the container, but he wasn't particularly smart, so we spent half an hour fiddling with the parts. The seal was broken for some reason, so I had to run with the container in my left arm, held really still to keep the gas from splashing on me. I got the car running again just as it got dark, getting home an hour and a half after I'd left to get gas. When I got home, I asked my family if anyone had been wondering what happened to me. My mom said she had been worried and had asked my dad why I'd taken so long, but he'd responded that I'm a big girl and can take care of myself. Indeed I can. Lots of cars had passed by me as I ran to and from the freeway exit, and not a single person stopped to offer assistance. Whatever. I was lucky it'd happened where it'd happened.

4. Computer keeps reverting back to today's date as somewhere in Feb of 2002. No matter how many times I reset it to the correct date, it keeps going back to 2002. I have no idea why...can't even remember what I was up to in 02.




5. Played basketball at the gym. First, a tangent. Wore these black soccer socks that cover my calves, because they've been cramping whenenever I take a jumpshot. I hoped keeping them warm would prevent cramping. They were really effective, as my legs would *almost* cramp after 4 hours of full-court running, but they soldiered on. Gym guys are already mildly obsessed with my legs because they're so strong, but the socks kind of made them look ridiculous--to anyone who's ever had a fetish for female soccer players, I looked like the Darth Vader of female athletes. I was wearing all black--black Adidas Floater OG's, black basketball shorts and a black tank top with those socks. I looked pretty badass. My mom asked me why I didn't just change my name to Angelina and strap on a gun. I'm pretty sure I got passed the ball a lot more because of the way I was dressed. I didn't play exceptionally well (terrible ball-handling today), but I did score a lot, including this one drive into the lane with a one handed banking floater over a jumping defender that was really not normal for my skill level. Just one of those lucky things that will make people think I'm a better player than I actually am. This really muscular Asian kid with a knife tattoo on his shoulder who's built like he was sculpted out of rock was following me around all night talking to me. When he was leaving, he wanted to know when I'm going back to Seattle, and when I would be at the gym again. It was flattering. The universe has been throwing me a lot of really cute but younger guys this week. I almost invited this guy who works at the gym out last night, because he's a really nice guy, he's insanely cute, he always comes in and rebounds for me when he sees me, and he always blushes whenever I smile at him. But the truth is, I always want to go out with guys. But I'm often too nervous being out with guys to really enjoy it. Thus, my conundrum. And my hope that with the right guy, things will be so natural, I'll just feel comfortable.


So, the malfunction. I was at the gym playing basketball wearing my heart rate monitor, but it kept reading that my heart rate was like 218, and then it would go to 0 and get no pulse. It was really erratic.


*****

All this makes me wonder if Mercury Retrograde is just a time period where magnetic forces are a little wonky. Or a time where it does something to people's inner magnetic forces that causes a lot of confusion and mishaps. Mercury is an element that is mysterious and volatile. And we just had a full moon. If I wake up tomorrow morning to find like paper clips and assorted metal objects sticking to me, I can't say that I won't be completely surprised.