Fishing Guide to the Stars: 3.18.2010

“I met a fool i’ the forest,
A motely fool.”
Shakespeare’s As You Like It [II.ii.15-6]

Fishing Guide to the Stars
For the week starting: 3.18.2010

Aries: Railroad right-of-ways make great pedestrian thoroughfares. In Dallas, one old trunk line was turned into a hike-and-bike pathway. I’ve used railway right-of-ways as a walking path since I can cut through largely suburban areas unnoticed, undetected.

For years, one of the most famous hobo camps was located just to the east of the rail line that cuts through the South Side (Austin, TX). Makes for interesting travels.

However, this isn’t about that, it’s about walking on the rail ties. Railroad ties are interspersed at intervals that are hugely inconvenient for me. My stride doesn’t match up well. Not at all, would be a better fit. To me, it’s trade off, a largely unpopulated stretch of inner-city terrain, better for my soulful meander, with the drawback being no rhythm. The ties afford no beat, whatsoever. Either my steps are too short or my stride is too long and I overstep.

I’ll trade the badly placed ties for clear, unobstructed views. Might break up the stride, a little — a lot — but I’ll adjust and compensate. You’re gong to have to make similar decision, adjust and compensate? Is it worth it? In my example? The solitude, the peace? Yes, it’s worth it.

Taurus: As an early adopter of technology, I’ve seen image editing programs improve from a simple hammer-and-nail program to the sophisticated, smooth and easy-to-use packages that are available now. The term “photoshopped” is now a generic expression that means an image was digitally manipulated. Or might’ve been manipulated.

I saw just such an image. Looked like it had been doctored up pretty good. While I can work with an image-editing program as well as any geek, I’ve also found that anything more perfunctory than cropping, hue, saturation, and stripping out unwanted colors? Anything more than a few simple “point and click” actions? I’m really not interested. Too much work. I can make suggestions, but I doubt I’ll be doing a pixel-by-pixel makeover on any image.

Just that the verb “photoshopped” has entered the vernacular? That, too, should be an indication of where we’re at, as a population who doesn’t trust what we see.

There are two points, for Taurus, two points. Lazy and cynical. Lazy, like me, someone who will only do the minimum of image manipulation, out a sense of self-preservation. Or cynical. Like, “That was a cool picture, but are you sure it wasn’t photoshopped?” Cynical or lazy, that’s the way it plays out. Personally, well, you already know, I’m the lazy one. It’s too much trouble to edit this stuff.

Gemini: One of the problems with age is shattered illusions. Hopes, dreams, fantasies? Not just broken, but shattered and crushed, ground underfoot by harsh reality. When I looked at your chart, what I was thinking about, given the relative position of several elements, I had an idea. There’s a way through this mess.

There’s a way to get the cardinal T (Sun/Mercury Square Pluto Square Saturn) to work for you. Thank Jupiter in Pisces, for starters. Pick one of your childhood dreams. Or maybe just a frank illusion that you know — no way it will work. Just no way, but still, you cling to shards of hope. Here, Jupiter will bring one of the dreams, make one of them, just one, one crushed and broken dream will come through.

It’s a simple Jupiter equation. There’s a child-like innocence that works. One dream can come true. Within the time frame of this horoscope. But which dream, hope, fantasy will it be?

Cancer: I have but one image to share. It’s like, okay, I’ll just spit this out. Modify as need be. Imagine one of those cheap office chairs, usually five plastic arms at the bottom, splayed out with plastic rollers on the bottom of the arms. There’s no sidearms on the chair, just seat and back, and even the back isn’t much larger than a postcard. When this chair was new, the fabric was soft and pliant, but after only a few hours of wear and tear, it’s flat, uncomfortable, and frankly, not much fun.

Ugly, to boot. Maybe it’s not even padded. Imagine that you’re grabbing the sides, the bottom of the chair, and while you’re sitting there, firmly gripping the seat? Someone comes along and gives you a good spin. Feet up, or tucked in, or even straight out, which where centrifugal force would carry them, you’re spinning around faster and faster. Maybe the person looking on is pushing you around faster. Hold on tight, as this will eventually wind down. Or maybe not.

There are several ways to stop spinning. Time, inertia and entropy dictates you can coast to a stop. My suggestion. However, if you try and fight with the chair, the circular spinning motion? You’ll probably crash over. Yeah, that’s another way to stop. Your choice, but I’d opt for inertia and entropy, let the natural laws work. It’s easier on you.

Leo: I slipped in from an afternoon walk, intent upon collecting a free afternoon espresso. There’s this really fetching young Leo I know, and she had just gotten off her shift. I plopped down next to her, and we became engaged in conversation.

Leo’s really are just the most fascinating people. We were getting along fine until she glanced down at the music scrolling past on my iPod. Eclectic doesn’t begin to cover my tastes. So when one song brought her discord, I just popped it forward to the next song. “Cool,” she said. Always try to impress the Leo.

I took my afternoon beverage to go, as the way I see it? Universal disdain is fairly common with Leo right at this moment. Someone like me? I know how to turn it around. I also know enough that I wanted to end it on a high note.

I’m sure, given the random way the Universe works?

I’m sure the next three or four songs would’ve sunk my standing in her eyes. Careful: Leo darling. Not every person you encounter this week will be as perspicacious as me. I walked out on high note, good impression, my usual cool and suave self.

If you can keep it blessedly short? That will work.

Virgo: It’s a rare day in March, we get these achingly clear skies. Blue, blue sky. Not a cloud in the sky. Typically, there are clouds that blow in from the coast hundreds of miles south of here. Laden with moisture, big, white fleecy clouds that — sometimes — turn into rain storms. But mostly, it’s just gentle clouds, which is what makes the clear skies so remarkable.

About two or three days in a row.

Fish shut down, due to the high pressure. Not an issue for me. The BlueBird skies are gentle relief. Makes for less texture to the sky, but then, sometimes, smooth is a texture, too.

I watch the weather and I try to coordinate my activities in harmony with the weather. Great day for a hike, nice day to sightsee, not a good day to fish. I can force the issue, and I can grab some catfish gear, head over to another spot and sink some lines, looking for Mr. Butt-Ugly Catfish. Not really what I’m into that much. Not so much. Means I’ll try and fit my current schedule around what the weather is doing.

Fit your Virgo activities to what the weather dictates.

Libra: I was reading e-mails, waiting on a girlfriend to get ready. She appeared out of her bedroom, “How does this shirt look? Does it go with these slacks?” I glanced up.

“Sure, looks fine.” She huffed. A few minutes later, she appeared again, different outfit. I may be male, but I was smart enough to notice and look before I said anything. “You changed?” “How does this look?”

“Looks fine.” She sulked back into the bedroom. I was reading RSS Feeds, so it wasn’t any big waste of my time, I had on the same shirt I’d worn the night before.

Not like I was going to change.

Not like I’m going to change.

She appeared again, same slacks, different blouse. “Looks fine,” I reiterated. More noises I couldn’t decipher — I could, just meant another outfit was on its way. She appeared again in what she was wearing the first time, I closed the laptop, dropped it in my backpack and we were gone into the night.

You can be like my Libra date, change, change again, and then, change back into what we started with in the first place. Or you can be like me, I had something to read that kept my mind occupied during the changes. No impatience on my part.

Scorpio: A girl friend was being kind, and she gave me a pound of (you know the brand) coffee. Ground coffee. Espresso Roast, ground coffee. Nice gesture, much appreciated. Except that I tend towards whole bean, and even then, I’m kind of picky, as I prefer an Italian Roast, although, some the Jamaican or Hawaiian beans are better in a medium roast.

I can’t really afford the fancy stuff, not me. So when I ran low on regular beans, I heaped a coffee spoon of that (you know the brand) Espresso Roast on top of my regular beans, after I did the grind thing. I’ve been accused of grinding the beans in my teeth. Not happening, but never let the facts interfere with the tale.

The first sip, that one morning, it was a few weeks ago, it was kind of cold that morning, and the first sip tasted like chocolate. Sort of a chocolate overtone to the coffee, rich, thick, a few stray grinds in my teeth, and that single heaping tablespoon of free coffee added just the right flavor.

Normally, I hate blending coffee beans, coffees, any of that. I’d like to think I can be an effete purist. However, a happy mistake lead to a discovery that this one blend, born out of desperate straights, yielded up a wonderful cup of coffee. That’s the point, Scorpio, don’t be afraid to bend some of your internal rules, as need be, to accommodate the situation.

Don’t be surprised if it works out well for you.

Sagittarius: I was looking at a geographical map that charted the indigenous languages in the Americas, prior to the arrival of the European settlers. Just in my area, I counted fourteen different language groups. Some of them are names I’m familiar with, but others are something I don’t see too often. If ever.

There was one dialect — might be a tribal language — I’d never heard of before. It covered a good deal of West Texas as its range, so I wondered why I’d never heard about the dialect. Linguistics fascinate me, but I’m more drawn to the modern variations.

A Texas accent can change in fifty miles. I haven’t formally documented that fact, but I’m not the only person who’s made the observation. Does the land determine the language or does the language determine the land? Good question.

This week, I’m of the mind that the land determines the language. Which is why a subtle accent shifts and changes in as little as a 50 miles. Instead of getting bogged down in stupid little details, which can happen, instead of worrying about some issue that has no relevant impact, consider some of the bigger picture items. Like, does the land determine the language, the environment, does that shape the language of certain people?

Capricorn: I like Southwest Airlines. Have for years. Early on, might still be visible on some of the older planes they have, there’s a warning label on the starboard-side wing: “Wet Fuel Cell Do Not Remove.” Two lines, all caps, stenciled on a cover plate that, presumably, leads to a fuel tank that has a wet fuel cell. Boeing 737-300, in case you’re into that stuff.

That single warning label, I can trace my entire EULA back to that single warning label. The consequences are immense, it’s a legal document, it’s really a privacy statement, legal disclaimer, disclosures, a binding contract, and best of all? A “get out of jail free” card. Started with a simple label, a small catch-phrase that tickled my sense of the absurd.

A simple idea born out of a proper sense of the absurd. Look around your Capricorn world. There’s a simple idea that can be nurtured, coaxed, pruned and grown into an epic opus, like 5K words of warning. It’s the simplest of starting points, and I figure that’s what you can look at.

“Starting over, again?” Less about starting over and more about picking a new projected starting point. The example, those simple words on an airplane’s wing? That was the launch point that gave birth to a whole different side of the way this website works. In the event you’re wondering, that fine print I’ve got? It’s both legal, binding and, at the same time, a mockery. As a Capricorn, I’m sure you’ll appreciate that.

Aquarius: Pay attention to details. Have you ever read, I mean, really read some of the Terms of Service (ToS), End User License Agreement (EULA) and Fine Print (the Fine Print)? Some of that stuff is scary. Turns out, as a user, you have no rights. The product you just bought? You thought you bought? You just rented it, according to the terms mentioned hereunder.

There were a number of photo and video “sharing” sites. As I looked at the real terms and conditions, I discovered that I didn’t own the first broadcast, digital rights to any of my own work. Nor subsidiary rights. Means anything that’s frankly derivative of my ideas? They get to keep all the money. Right now, no one is making a pile of dough off my material. But that’s not the point.

This is about what does, or, for that matter, doesn’t work for your Aquarius self. Some days, a little digging is called for. Like now. Look though, at least skim the material before you hit the “I agree” button. Before you blindly agree to some software license? Read some of the terms. Might shake you up a little when you get to the part of sacrificing your first-born child. I know you wondering, “That isn’t really in there? Is it?”

If you haven’t read, how would you know? Pay attention to details.

Pisces: It’s that weird March weather we’ve been having. One minute, warm enough for a long hike, almost a sweaty trip in shorts. Later that day, temperature drops, and it’s too cold for my tastes. I was supposed to go out and meet some friends, the other evening. Soon as I stuck my nose out the door, I decided it was too cold, and the cold temperatures didn’t make me feel sociable, at least, not with that group. Or any group.

I would feel sociable with a cat, curled up, or maybe with a certain date, but that would be about it. Weird weather. There’s a sense, here in Pisces, a sense of foreboding and impending doom. A doom and gloom noise lurking at the back of the brain. I can easily attribute this feeling to certain planets. There’s an arrangement in the night sky that’s going to have an oblique pressure on Pisces. There’s a sense that there’s something “about” to happen. It isn’t.