Mercury Goes Direct!

Ready, set, go!

Mercury retrograde not only means a stall to communications, but a stall in your brain. As it goes, even when it moves ahead, the planet is still sleepy and affected by its shadow, making its haze last about a week after. So, true to this cycle, it means slowly emerging from a brain dead period isn't uncommon. If you are suffering from this malfunction, to stimulate yourself back into full capacity a little faster, jolt yourself with a dose of color--as in wearing or just staring at your astrological power color to ignite the genius in you again!

THE COLOR CHART GOES AS...
Aries (March 21-April 19) Red
Taurus (April 20- May 20) Kelly Green
Gemini (May 21- June 20) Turquoise
Cancer (June 21-July 22) Silver
Leo (July 23- August 22) Gold
Virgo (August 23- September 22) Navy Blue
Libra (September 23- October 22) Cobalt Blue
Scorpio (October 23-November 21) Crimson
Sagittarius (November 22- December 21) Purple
Capricorn (December 22-January 19) Hunter Green
Aquarius (January 20-February 19) Electric Blue
Pisces (February 20-March 20) Pink

Mercury Retrograde

Remembering the past.

Written September, 2001. First published @ SXSW Award Winner for Best Gurl website, www.planetkiki.com, in response to the terrorist attacks.

AMERICA’S WAKE UP CALL:

HIT THE SNOOZE OR GET OUT OF BED?

The first reports of looting have come in since the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York. As horrific as that seems, is as predictable as it can get. After all, a New Yorkers’ reputation is all about being a brooding bad-ass criminal that is really a loner at heart. It is part of the stereotype. So, why should this be so shocking? Life goes on they tell us — and so it has.

Of course, the report of looting, set in such a grim backdrop of carnage, is crass. However, it magnifies the questions we must respond to. It is not just asking ourselves about life going on — that is a given. The question we must ask ourselves now is, how do we want life to go on? What is the quality and level of respect we want to live among? Are we capable of really learning from our past? As this country comes back to a semblance of normalcy, what will it bring? Will it only take a few more days, or weeks, for this fabrication of unity to begin to crack? Do we let our apathy come back with the TV stations’ scheduling, or is this redemption going to revolutionize our minds?

As we all have seen in the last few days, love has out poured throughout much of the world. Throughout the streets of New York — a city famed for its cutthroat environment — strangers are hugging one another; people of all colors are praying together; volunteers and donated supplies are superfluous. Around this nation, the same spirit of unity has driven people to sit on the sides of random highways, waving to strangers in their cars and of little children selling their toy collections to help others in need. It has been an awe-striking phenomenon that has been infectious throughout the nation. No matter what economical class, political allegiance, religious clique, etc. that one belongs, lines that divide have gone asunder. The masses have found a connection through grief. We’ve been given a reminder that we are one nation — however dysfunctional — but like most dysfunctional family, when the madness strikes, we stick through the thick together.

Yes, despite these random reports of obscene selfishness coming in, we should not feel the need to be diverted by the jadedness, allowing it to infest our minds. We need to react, remembering all the kindness and love that has been brought to the surface, and seal those bitter cracks. The statistics are in; ignorance is the minority. There are more of us, than there is of it, and let that serve as our common bond. Let’s not make this sense of togetherness a temporary reaction, but a rediscovered instinct. The alarm clock has gone off, and accepting that and treating everyone as an enemy, if you can’t get your way, is no longer acceptable. It is time to go deeper into your thoughts and emotions, and think about real priorities of what life is about; understand it isn’t always about you. Life includes every single living being in this world. It is about everyone caring, respecting, sharing, having patience, etc., for one and all. These are the pillars of a peaceful society.

We all share this life together, and these events have given us the taste of how powerful it can be to live in a positive alliance. September 11, 2001 marked a day when a renaissance of humanity was woken. We have witnessed the effects of ignorance at its most unimaginably depraved level, and have proved we won’t allow it. Know now that the way we were living before, in all the apathy and arrogant bitterness, was wrong and unnecessarily counterproductive. Know now that it is horrific to be brought together at this price — a price that should forever serve as our reference point for the mistakes we all committed before. Know now we should no longer take for granted the choices and the quality found in how we choose to exist, and how giving we all can be. Know now we must destroy the arrogance and ignorance we allow to exist because of indifference. Know now we need to refuse to be engulfed in, and act out, the frustrated anger we all can get caught in because of our egos. Know now we need to continue to embrace what we each can do, to truly achieve peace, love and happiness — and all the slogans of positivity. Understanding we are all together is taking the first step; living with it, appreciating it and embracing it, is the next. Know now that we should no longer think an eye for an eye, and call it a day. In these days, we have seen too much, suffered too much and proven too much strength to want to revert.

So, as this tragedy’s day will move farther down the time line of our history, what will our personal actions be? With massive, and useless carnage occurring throughout many generations of our existence — what can we gain from our generations’ calling? We have learned so far, history has had two effects — it teaches or it taints; leaving us at the daunting decision to let this moment be a defining one, or just another tear-jerking twist in the human archives. It is each our personal responsibility to either uphold the knowledge we have been given and retain this appreciation for life as part of our daily existence or not. Which will you choose?

Jupiter re-enters Pisces

More, more, more!

Jupiter is retrograding back into Pisces today, where it was when it entered January 17 and was until June 6th. Now, it goes back and finishes the job it started, completing its run until January 22, 2011. So, to get a refresher on all that you should focus on making fabulous again, click to the link below.

http://fortunekiki.blogspot.com/2010/01/jupiter-enters-pisces.html

Venus enters Scorpio

Obsession or bust.

Today, Venus went into Scorpio for a super extended time -- as in 'til to January 11, 2011 (with the exception of November 7th-29th, when it briefly backs up into Libra). This means a period of intensity that can fling you around the spectrum of emotions without warning, making you want to hold onto everything for dear life... As it goes though, the best way to get out the other side OK is to let go; savor the intensity, but resist getting so caught up that you set up self-sabotaging traps, as this is a time when it's likely that you'll have to sink to the bottom, to rise to the top--and you know it, a period of no gray areas. It's hot and it's spicy, to put it mildly...

However, with such extreme emotion that can happen, words can only give you a slight clue on what this transit is all about. So, to truly get the full depth of this experience, without jumping head first into a fiery pit, is to see and feel its beauty and destruction through the lens of cinema. Yes, to best do your homework on this subject matter, sit back and watch these films that capture the passion and power that is Venus in Scorpio and you will further understand that this time isn't for faint of heart. (Double click for full screen viewing)

Bitter Moon (1992)
"In Roman Polanski's black comedy-thriller, uptight British couple Nigel (Hugh Grant) and Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) encounters wheelchair-bound American expatriate novelist Oscar (Peter Coyote) and his young French wife, Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), on a cruise to Istanbul. Sensing Nigel's fascination with Mimi, Oscar recounts the sordid tale of their love affair, which gradually deteriorates into a series of sadistic and degrading sex games." Netflix


Heavenly Creatures (1994)
"The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson helms this chilling true-life drama set in 1950s New Zealand about an obsessive friendship between two girls -- introvert Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) and self-confident Juliet (Kate Winslet, in her film debut) -- that led to murder. The two become increasingly inseparable, retreating to an imaginary world, until their relationship invites opposition from their families that ultimately begets blood." Netflix

New Moon in Virgo

Time to focus!

When it comes to all things Virgo, it means time to get to business, as Virgo is the harvest sign. So, to make this day count I tried to plant seeds...and since it was in my 4th house, the area that rules home, I wanted to organize my mess and really sort out making my place a real home...Instead, I meandered and then found this, Making of A Male Model, a fabulous 80's mini series starring Joan Collins and Jon-Erik Hexum, with a stellar supporting cast, which includes Roxy Roker!

What better way to kick off a moment to get organized with some procrastinating? After all, nothing revs up getting one's ass into gear like panic!

Mercury Retrograde in my solar 11th

Ramshackling it's way through my house of hopes and dreams.

It's already happening. Today, I started getting excited about next Wednesday's new moon in Virgo, Jupiter going back to Pisces and Venus entering Scorpio for a super extended time. All are suppose to be amazing and even more amazing for me...but lately, every time I think there is going to be something special, it never happens...or if it does shows signs of something, it eventually gets taken away in a series of prolonged and confusing events.

It's dramatic and tragic in its own way, every time, so it should of been no shock to see a big dead cockroach in the entrance of my building as my first omen today. Then, yesterday, I saw dead ladybug in my apartment...and even my headphones.

In every Mercury retrograde, inevitably one pair of earphones always gets destroyed. This time, it was two, and in a matter of 24 hours...So, time to downsize on the expectations of triple threat Wednesday, just like today's disappointing Hurricane Earl?

..."OK, new moon in my house of hopes and wishes; Jupiter, the planet of luck, in my house of romance and career; and Venus, pleasure planet, lighting up my personal pleasure axis, what now?"

(Update: September 9th, killed another set of headphones, now making the total of 3 in just a week!)

Full moon in Pisces

Feel the Nirvana.

A day reserved to feel as if you're going to burst open with emotions, and hopefully they're good ones, just like Marie's (West Side Story)...Otherwise, hit play and sing along until you're feeling it.



Update: Maybe it's the karma from bitching and moaning about noisy funerals and monks, but THIS DAY SUCKED! No matter how I try to follow my own advice, it's not going to work! Whatever, hypocrites give the best advice...Anyway, during the rain at 2am, somewhere on my bike ride home, my keys fell out of my pocket or bag!!!! In a state of panic and backtracking, with no luck, I had to call my friend from around the corner until he woke up, to get my spare set...how mercury retrograde, he's my friend from high school...and sweetly, he was a doll about it...So, yeah what in the hell is the universe trying to say? As it goes, this Pisces moon cycle began with me dropping my computer during the new moon and killing it and now it ends with this!!!! WTF... Anyway, just more complaining because I want to and I guess for me, this Pisces cycle is all about the woe is me factor...FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!...just saying...

Sun enters Virgo

I'm just saying...

I live across from a Buddhist Temple and down the street from a funeral parlor and for the past few days, they've both woken me up too early in the morning and pushed me into my day feeling too cranky for words--which is doubly painful, since all my recent travels have turned my brain into a timezone milkshake...

Anyway, as of recent, the monks have been leaving their doors wide open and chanting extra loud, playing all sorts of new instruments that aren't the most eloquent. Just a lot of crazy blowing and banging that is impossible to ignore. How it equates to any semblance of divining peace? Who the fuck knows...

...and somewhere in this city, the economy must be picking up, because extra elaborate and extra loud funerals are happening again, as in too many sad Dixieland musicians lined up on the sidewalk, blaring loudly at the crack of dawn; all sounding as if they're playing in their own time and going at it until the large procession of mourners all find their way to chauffeured cars on a one way street that can often clog traffic up for way over a block away... Between the banging, blowing, honking and gonging, I am at the end...I know how bitchy and bitter it sounds to be inconvenienced by someone's death or another's prayers for peace, but OMFG, why?

...Maybe it's the super critical Virgo energy in the air or maybe I just have to face the cold hard fact that I really am just that mean and sour? Who knows, truth is so subjective these days...

Mercury goes retrograde in Virgo

Ahhhh, memories...

On July 30th, three convicted murderers broke out of a maximum security jail in Arizona. While one was caught early on, two were still on the run, complete with a first cousin/lady love in tow. By August 6th another was caught in Wyoming, about 60 miles outside of Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, the armed incestuous couple was not. The following days, the search grew more intense, with the area of Yellowstone Park being the focus.

On August 15th, Julie G. and Kiki T. started their road trip towards the same destination, Yellowstone, the hotbed of fugitive action...but unlike the screwy cousins, they weren't running from the law, just reality and thankfully at every stop, there were willing participants ready to aid and abet their cause. However, by August 19th, both parties were no longer fugitives for varying reasons.

5-Day Fugitives



Special thanks to Jef, Chaz, James, Charity and Ken, fantastic enablers and of course, xoxox to my partner-in-crime, Yulie.

Uranus re-enters Pisces, my solar 5th

Weird lessons regarding love...

Today, I decided I was going to start my traveling adventure early and take the train to the airport. Little did I forget that the reason I never do this is because I hate hauling my luggage up and down stairs, but lucky little me, this city is filled with lots of virile men that will do my dirty work.

As I was standing in front of the turnstile, contemplating why my ass wasn't in a cab, in comes kind-of-sexy-guy-#1 to carry up my suitcase and swoop them down two flights of stairs. Although he didn't speak any English (he was Spanish), he could muster enough English to tell me I was beautiful and really, what more did he need to say?

...However, after a transfer and a few more flights of stairs, he was starting to say he loved me, so I scooted over a little farther, and no worries, as there was yet another guy willing to jump in to save me. He had a hot body on him too, and was all about helping me sort out the various train lines and which specifically was going my way. (Fun factoid: The A train in NYC goes to the Airtran that takes you to the airport, but there are 3 different destinations on the A and only 2 of them will connect you to the right place.)

...Anyway, when Mr. Man #2 got to be too much, I turned around and there was yet another gentleman wanting to chat me up and find out all about my travels...So, lesson to be learned today ladies, if you want your ass to get picked up fast or just need a few good strokes to the ego, head to a subway, train or bus with a suitcase, because dudes love being helpful and nothing like hauling extra baggage, literally, to get the masochism out and swirling about you.

P.S. Two months ago, for a weekend trip I also had to haul my suitcase into the subway and once again, met a sexy Russian guy. He carried my suitcase over several flights of stairs and he even rolled it up a long mini hill underground. I'm telling you, suitcase and estrogen, a deadly combo for man...It's like shooting fish in a barrel!!!

New Moon in Leo

"If you're sad and like beer, I'm your lady." Lady Port-Huntley

Since I am still somewhat hazy from jet lag, which included a nearly 36-hour straight sleeping marathon, I'll save you from my nonsensical mutterings and give you one the greatest cinematic masterpieces of all time for this very enchanting and entertaining new moon, Saddest Music In The World.

From 2003, Saddest Music In The World is from experimental film mastermind Guy Maddin. Set in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada during the Great Depression, this dark comedy of sorts is plotted around a competition announced by a legless beer magnate to find the saddest piece of music in the world and includes a totally brilliant performance by Isabella Rossellini.

See it for yourself and feel the enticement...the trailer:


For members of Netflix, watch instantly for free at this link: http://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=60034805&trkid=222336&strackid=2a748663193fe958_0_srl&strkid=687548667_0_0

All others, sorry to say I couldn't find a free streaming link, so to watch, you can get rent or buy a copy at Itunes, but know it'll so be worth it, as it's one of those films you can watch over and over again, as there are so many nuances to the cinematography and plot that there's always something fresh to each viewing and the music is amazing! Here's the link:
http://itunes.apple.com/video/the-saddest-music-in-the-world/id259419029?uo=5&partnerId=30&siteID=r_hLdsPKLqc

Venus enters Libra, my solar 12th

Karma, karma, JACKPOT!

One of my biggest dreams came true today! When I checked into my 9-hour flight from Berlin to NYC this morning, I got the news of a lifetime! I was being upgraded to business class!!!!! This is something I have always dreamed of and even tried several times to get...like when me and my precious FLC went on our budget beach vacation to Jamaica and told everyone we were on our honeymoon to try to get free stuff, but to no avail, as NO ONE BELIEVED us...seems someone wasn't able to sell it as a hetero...but anyway, that is a whole other story and this was pure magic. The news broke as followed:

C.P. (counter person, complete with German accent and a goofy personality): So, Ms. T., we see you booked a window seat.
Me: Yes.
C.P.: Well, you still have a window seat, but we've had to move you. Is that okay?
Me: Sure.
C.P.: You are now in business class. Is that okay?

This is when the shit hit the fan and I reacted like I won a lottery — eyes big, jumping up and down, grabbing my friend, hugging him, then jumping up and down with him! I even took a picture of me and the airline worker responsible for the switch, a boy that looked 15. It made him blush and all his co-workers giggled, but whatever, I didn't care. I love him and loved that he bumped me up!








(Here he is — my hero. See, he really does like 15, right????)



So, yeah, I have no idea how I am ever going to fly coach again after this???? I did fly first class and business class once, when I was in Thailand ages ago, because it only cost $20 more, but those were only 1-2 hour flights and the only noticeable perk was a choice in sandwiches, as opposed to no choice...this was a whole other beast and OMG, YES, all those stories I heard about what happens behind that curtain are true!!!!

As soon as I sat down, (and btw, no line in entering the plane, got to cruise onto the sky priority line with no wait time!) they're pouring the champagne and seemingly genuinely excited to greet me. There was no rushing of the seats, fighting for that one slither of arm rest with the person next to me or trying to contort myself to fit in for maximum comfort for the long haul.

No, instead there were other things to do: look over the menu to decide what I wanted for dinner, peruse the wine list, pick which magazines I wanted, sort out the entertainment system, look over all the toiletries in my free mini overnight bag and learn all the controls of the buttons in which my seat could spread out — as in lying down or just popping up the foot rests. Sorry to sound to provincial, but this was a fairy tale come true! (...and btw, the fresh baked cookies are also real!)




(Look how cute the salt and pepper shakers are in business class!)








Funny, funny was that just a few weeks prior, on a train coming home from the beach I met a air steward and asked him how to get myself bumped up to first class. His little tidbit was that when you enter a plane, greet the stewardesses and stewards and bring them chocolate. He even suggested mini Snickers, because for some reason that is something he found they prefer. Of course, I also wonder if cold hard cash works too...cause God knows I'd rather fork over some $ on the DL to them than their corporate counterparts, as it'd also cost way less this way too...Whichever the case, whatever you can do to get this perk of all perks, if you can't afford it, do it...So, here are some other tips that might help you better enjoy flying the friendlier skies (according to some more research I've done):

1. Dress nicely. Although when I got the bump up, they had already arranged it before I even appeared, but I am told, if you want to wow the attendants, you're going to have to look the part. Think superficially. If they want to lick you, they'll put you in first class.

2. Don't be scared to ask everyone. Although I am told it's the attendants that can really help you, not the counter person. If you have to, complain that the person next to you is too smelly or your seat is broken or something that gives you real cause to get your seat changed. Of course, this might just mean a lateral move, not a vertical one.

3. This is a bit risky, but arrive late and then complain that the reason you were late was because of a competitor airline caused it and how much they suck. From what I am told, the receiving airline will want to make themselves look good and save your day, which may mean an upgrade.

4. Ask the ticket counter to code your ticket. Although they might not be able to help your cause directly, there is a whole secret language your ticket has that can help you maneuver your way through the system. Ask for this code for a possible upgrade, so the gate keeper can know you are in the know and from there, this will up your chances of getting bumped up.

5. Surprises like this are more likely when you've got a stockpile of good karma on your side. So live nicely, happily and lovingly and hope your next flight might mean a way the universe can give you a nod. If not, oh well and whatever, at least you're probably heading somewhere pleasant for something exciting, so be grateful for whatever you do have.





(Is it me, or is the sky prettier in business class?)