Pointless Chitchat : Big Sky AstroBlog

Dec

3

toothy Our saga begins a decade ago, in a neighborhood about ten minutes from here. The veteran of two root canals, I immediately recognized the dangerous throb in my number 14 molar. Having recently returned to San Diego, where I’d never really found a dentist to call my own - I’d been hoofing it to L.A. twice a year for exams, until one of my dentist’s hateful underlings crossed me - I didn’t know where to turn. I ended up in the office of the most regrettable dentist of my considerable life’ s experience. She forwarded me to an endodontist who performed an efficient root canal and packed me back to devil woman. For reasons that are lost to history, the tooth was never capped, but built up and filled.

Fast forward ten years, to the office of my shiny new dentist, referral from trusted friends. “Why wasn’t this tooth ever capped after the root canal?” she puzzled, tapping the x-ray. “It wasn’t?” I boggled. “We oughta cap that,” she recommended. Weeks later, after receiving dispensation from the insurance company, I’m in her chair, stressed beyond belief because while dental procedures cause me no angst, I’m definitely uncomfortable in any situation that requires me to recline prone with strangers hovering over me and impeding my movement. She finds decay. She finds a crack. Alarmed, she shuffles me to another endodontist to get an answer to the musical question, “Can this tooth be saved?”

One hour and two scary, buffalo-strength shots of Novocaine later, after lying inverted for twenty minutes, marsupial style, in a frickin’ chair with a dental dam, a hose, and two sets of hands in my mouth, I hear the heartbreaking words: “I’m sorry, but we can’t save it.” Cue poignant, level buzz of flatlining monitor…

So the tooth will out, and something artificial must fill the gaping void. To understand just how traumatic this is for me, please understand a few things. First, I grew up in the 1960s in a rural place where a complete set of teeth was still a luxury few could afford. My own father wore dentures, and haunted by Dentugrip and the toothless maws around her, my mother vowed no child of hers would lack for a full mouthful of original condition, factory-installed choppers. From the age of five I was in the dentist’s chair twice a year. The longest I’ve ever gone without a dental exam was two years. I brush. I floss!

And now I’m losing a tooth, all because one dentist was incompetent and another I called my dentist subsequently - for something like nine years! - failed to point out the a dead, brittle, vulnerable tooth hanging out in my mouth. A ticking time bomb of tooth terror, if you will. Suddenly, all that stands between me and the hillbilly patina my mother feared is a stub of jagged tooth remnant with a hastily applied temporary sealant. I suppose we’ll have to put off re-roofing the house and get me an implant, because I’ll be damned if I’m getting bridgework, which the incessant television commercials of my youth trained me to regard as a slippery slope leading inexorably to Depends and Lawrence Welk reruns. I’m only 46 years old, people!

See what happens when Saturn in Virgo wrestles with natal Pluto and Neptune, kids? Innocent teeth suffer.

December 3, 2007 | 5 Comments

Sep

20

It is I, your absent friend. This Mars/Pluto opposition (exact September 21 at 1:33 a.m. PDT) is kicking. my. ass, people. And Jonny’s. No matter how hard we swim, the waves keep knocking us back down. (Also, commuting is extra-horrible the past couple of weeks. People are driving like maniacs, am I right? Mars in Gemini. Dorks.)

The news of the world has been so frustrating and irritating of late that I’m about to go on another full media blackout. Ugh. A couple of years ago I had a long, awful transiting square from Pluto to my Mars, and it felt just like this, what with the sense of utter powerlessness, futile rage against an overwhelming, faceless enemy, etc. Just…. ugh.

Things are not all bad, though. For instance, editing has commenced on my book, and I’m pleased to say that my editor is officially the nicest man on the planet. Also, we had a tremendous visit last week with a couple of friends who were returning to the states for the first time since relocating to the UK earlier this year. What’s more, I’ve fallen in love with a new TV show, AMC’s Mad Men. Have you seen this thing? It is IN-credible. Come for the zany, anachronistic vibe - the ceaseless smoking, the blatant sexism, the five martini lunches - and you’ll stick around for the characters, who are absolutely fascinating. Much love. Episodes are available on iTunes.

Plus, yesterday was National “Talk Like a Pirate” Day. Arrrrr!

September 20, 2007 | 2 Comments

May

21

The Sun entered clever Gemini this morning at 3:12 am PDT, but I don’t feel any smarter yet. How about you?

The last couple of weeks have been all about fixing things around here. When the transiting Sun squared Saturn (May 9), my back went out - as per usual for me under Sun/Saturn squares. And before you “Secret” people try telling me I’m manifesting this, I just have to say that I’m almost never on top of current aspects enough to be setting myself up with negative thinking. Most of my astrology work at the moment is electional, which means I can run down the major transits for 2008 off the top of my head but don’t have clue one about what’s happening this week. Anyway, it took a tedious three or four days of yoga and soft chairs before I could spend much time at the computer. Stupid back.

This wouldn’t have been so bad - I could have worked from the sofa - except, of course, my laptop recently met with catastrophic misadventure. HP finally sent a special box and shipping label last week and I packed up my smouldering laptop and sent it off for repair. I was shocked and thrilled when it returned within just a few days, fully functional - though of course they replaced the hard drive and I lost everything on it; no biggie, all my data was backed up. Kind of a hassle restoring all the applications, though. Still, I’m reasonably satisfied with how the whole situation was ultimately resolved, though I still think I had to jump through a few more hoops than was strictly necessary to get HP to step up and fix the problem. A two-year-old computer should not smoke, right? It’s bad for its health.

In other repair news, Jonny finally finished off the floor of the garage, filling the gaping hole that was left after last year’s repair of the listing wall. Soon we can move everything back into the garage, which means we’ll no longer have a patio, driveway, and backyard that are overflowing with garage flotsam. It will mean relinquishing the coveted title of Trashiest Neighbors on the Block, but so be it.

Now our car is with our mechanic, enjoying a few rejuvenating spa days before we take off for a mini-vacation to San Francisco. The purpose of our visit (other than the fact that SF is my husband’s favorite city in the world) is to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary - a half a Saturn cycle! - with our good friend (best man at our wedding) and his partner. Fourteen years sounds like a semi-impressive amount of time, but truthfully, it’s hard to remember a time when we weren’t married.

And I mean that in a good way.

May 21, 2007 | 4 Comments

Apr

6

Two great friends of ours just made a huge move from San Diego to London. For months, they downsized in preparation for the move; they must have had three or four yard sales, and everytime they visited us they left boxes and bags of household items. They spent weeks scraping and patching and painting the 1913 bungalow they’d called home for more than a decade, getting it ready to sell. It sold quickly in a soft market; and last week they packed up the remainder of their belongings, gave away their car and relinquished their elderly cat to a doting new home, and flew away to the U.K.

Can I just say here how much I miss them - but also, how very, very jealous I am?

I’ve been feeling very stuck, very much in a rut these past few weeks. My days have been as flat as a soda that’s been sitting around with its cap off. To put it bluntly, I’m tired of who I am, what I have, and how I spend my time. And my life is by no means bad! Neat husband, swell house, good friends, modest success in my chosen profession. So what gives?

This morning, looking at my chart, I was struck by several things. First is that Uranus/natal IC-MC transit, which is kind of old news at this point. I’ve been feeling itchy for awhile, restless for a dramatic move or even a change in my career. And while my back was turned transiting Saturn turned retrograde and is once again perilously close (5 degrees) to my natal Sun. It sucks to simultaneously feel as though you want to make a change and at the same time to feel as though you’re pinned under something heavy.

But today I also noticed that transiting Pluto has inched into my second house (the house of possessions, for those of you keeping track at home), and that furthermore it’s getting mighty close to opposing my natal Venus. And that really nailed it for me - the tremendous urge to jettison cargo, you know, to empty out the closets and get rid of old junk, to sell the house and rent for awhile, to go on a fast and dump a bunch of weight. I feel the need for a new relationship with stuff, and with the shape and structure of my days.

From experience, though, I realize that often, when you feel stuck, modest changes in routine can be almost as refreshing - and certainly a lot less traumatic! - than large ones. Paint a room, cut your hair, take a weekend trip - or even, as my mother once told me, “Just clean out one drawer, anything to get you moving.”

So tell me: What do you do to get out of a rut?

April 6, 2007 | 12 Comments

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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