2007 October : Big Sky AstroBlog

Oct

29

We’re beginning to pull ourselves back together here in San Diego after a very long, nerve-jangling week. For those of us who live a reasonable distance from last week’s fires, life has gotten back to normal pretty quickly. Students have returned to school, and Qualcomm stadium, which served as the county’s largest evacuation center, is back to hosting football games. In my neighborhood, folks are brushing a little ash off their Halloween pumpkins, washing their cars, and enjoying a cool autumn breeze.

In a way, it’s too bad that we’ve regained our equilibrium quite so quickly. Don’t get me wrong: I’m thrilled the fires are nearly contained and that people have been able to return to their homes! But there is something precious about the moments when a disaster is unfolding, when everyone seems to rise to the occasion and show their best selves. For days it seemed, last week, no one in San Diego had a bad word to say about anyone else. But today, that part of life has returned to normal, too. People are taking the opportunity to pat themselves on the back for all the good works they did down at Qualcomm, while simultaneously taking the opportunity to complain about the “opportunistic homeless deadbeats” who took advantage of the free food by posing as evacuees. On the other end of the spectrum are the growls about all those self-serving local politicos who scrambled for photo-ops with visiting dignitaries (mostly with governor Arnie, not so much the president).

And Mercury retrograde continues to work its mischief, too. Jonny volunteered for an information hotline over the weekend and on Saturday night they began receiving calls from residents of a community very close to an evacuation area. The callers were alarmed because they were smelling smoke and they thought the fires had reignited. But as it happens, it was just that the winds that blew smoke and ash out over the Pacific last week have done a 180, and the air that’s blowing back toward us smells exactly like a fireplace after you’ve doused it with water.

As one reader noted at the end of one of my recent blog entries about the fires, these fires began with Mercury retrograde at the same degree it occupied at the beginning of the last big firestorm in 2003. She didn’t feel we’d learned much from that previous disaster, and in many ways - the county’s overdevelopment, in particular - I agree. But in terms of handling the crisis, the county seems to have pulled through pretty well, all things considered. So is it really too much to hope that, just for a brief while, maybe, the screeching heads on the radio and tv could set aside their squabbling and savor the gratitude and kindness of those days? Do the winds of discourse have to change back to their old direction, blowing fetid, nasty, acrid-smelling invective with them?

So what I would like to say is, simply, thank you. Thank you to the firefighters who were the true heroes of this ordeal, some of them working literally for days at a time with no sleep at all. Thank you to the county, state, and federal officials who pulled together, however imperfectly, whatever their motivation, to minimize the loss of life and danger to property. Thank you to all of my neighbors who manned hotlines, who looked after displaced animals, and made sure folks who’d left their homes in the dead of night at least had a cot to sleep on and something to eat for breakfast. And thanks to my sensitive and compassionate faraway friends and readers who took the time to write and express their concern. I’m just fine, but there are a lot of people in this county who are suffering, so please send them your thoughts and love.

October 29, 2007 | 3 Comments

Oct

24

Fires rage to the northwest and the south, but none have gotten too close to us. The strong Santa Ana winds appear to be dying down a bit today, which should help. In the midst of it all, life goes on and so do deadlines. It was interesting writing this in the midst of all the drama:

Enough Enough
As I write this, the county where I live is overwhelmed with enormous brush fires, worse than the firestorms that consumed whole communities almost exactly four years ago. Local news coverage is filled with terrified residents who were forced to evacuate their homes, and most of their stories are the same: Of pets that were crated up, a few beloved and irreplaceable photos or mementos grabbed, and a few clothes and toiletries stuffed hastily into bags. Many of the fire’s victims left behind half-million dollar homes and thousands of dollars worth of personal belongings, in some cases barely escaping with their lives. Yet, every shaky voice expresses gratitude - thanks that their family is together and safe, for the firefighters risking their lives to save houses and humans, for the outpouring of help and support from the community….(go to article)

October 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Oct

22

Once again, San Diego is on fire - and it’s looking a lot worse than 2003, when we actually evacuated north to escape the smoke. We’re a good distance from the action, at least for now; there are massive fires to the northeast and southeast, and somehow we’re not even getting much smoke here. Yet. But anything’s possible with these crazy-ass winds blowing from the east, straight toward the coast. Send good thoughts to San Diego!

October 22, 2007 | 7 Comments

Oct

19

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?

October 19, 2007 | 4 Comments

keep looking »

Sign of Leo

Moon sextiles Mercury at
4:20 pm on Jul.5, 2008

Moon opposes Neptune at
5:22 pm on Jul.5, 2008

Moon trines Pluto at
3:05 am on Jul.6, 2008

Moon goes void of course at
3:05 am on Jul.6, 2008

Moon enters Virgo at
4:04 am on Jul.6, 2008

Moon conjuncts Mars at
9:19 am on Jul.6, 2008