What Else Can You Expect When Mars Goes Retro in Your 7th House?

When I have a lot to share, I usually go into highlights-mode, as if I were a sportscaster on ESPN. Except on ESPN, they are really good at filling in small time slots, while I seem to have used the highlights as an excuse to write even more. Don't let the bullet-pointed format fool you, this one is a bit lengthy, folks.

• I've never been a big believer in astrology, but I'm always entertained by horoscopes. When I get a new magazine, I flip to them immediately, read my own and those of anyone else who happens to be in the near vicinity. This month, Vanity Fair reports that other Scorpios and I demand lifetime loyalty from friends and may find ourselves disappointed, "but what else can you expect when Mars goes retro in your 7th house?" My thoughts exactly... (Meanwhile, my mom has the "greater benefic planet occupying an exalted position in her solar 4th house" and my roommate's "ruler is in the 11th house." Does anyone really know what this means?)
• Elizabeth Royte, the author of Garbage Land responded to my blog about her book. It was awesome that she responded while my mom, who recommended the book, was here. She emphasized how important it is to consistently pay attention to how much waste we produce. She also sent a link to her website. As most of you know, I'm a little addicted to this blogging-business, and Royte's response will probably only feed this addiction. I love the strange little internet community that resides here at cleanuponaislelife.blogspot.com. Though most of it is comprised of people who are in my real-life community, it provides a unique forum for communication that I have come to love and depend on.
  
• I am probably the only person living in Queens who has been to Staten Island twice in one week. My mom and I took the Staten Island ferry yesterday because the weather was perfect and we thought it'd be nice to get out on the water. (Sadly, kayaking was cancelled.) Below is a picture of us on the way out (and proof that Josh just might be right about me and my inability to keep my eyes open in pictures.)

• While on Staten Island, we found this store that just sold dishes. It was here that we discovered a major difference between the two of us. Below is a picture of something I considered to be slightly scary. After seeing the picture, my mom said she wanted to blow it up and put it on her wall because it had so many bright colors. In case you can't read it, the sign says "All Decorative Hands $10.00 each." Please leave a comment if you have any ideas what to do with decorative hands. And is $10 really a good price?

• It was about 3:00 when we got on the ferry to go back to Manhattan, where we planned to do some wandering, coffee-drinking, and dessert-eating. We were on the lower deck of the ferry, enjoying the view and chatting, when two large waves caused by the wake of seemingly-innocent tugboat hit the side of the ferry and splashed up several feet, soaking approximately 30 people. And I mean soaked. My jeans were so heavy I had to cuff the bottoms twice so I wouldn't step on them and tighten my belt a notch to keep them up. (P.S. This also mean that on the first day in over a week that it didn't rain, we still managed to get wet!) My mom and I found this hysterical, and were immediately bonded with all of our wet peers. By the time we got back to Manhattan, we were freezing and had to buy completely new outfits: pants, shirts, jackets, underwear, and socks. We ducked into a Starbucks bathroom, changed into our new clothes, then got a snack to keep our strength as we traded turns lugging the impossbly heavy bag of wet clothes the rest of the day. We had a blast, though. This last picture is us finally heading home on the subway to enjoy an evening of Havarti and Shiraz with a movie and some late night talk.

• Now I am asking my mom for assistance in coming up with other highlights. Her oh-so-mature response, "I'm not talking to you." She is too busy going over the real estate ads, mentioning the prices of all the places I can never live and saying things like "It doesn't have a carport or a garage? I think a New York ranch house is different from a ranch house where I grew up."
  
• My mom is leaving tomorrow, but not before she joins in a game of Ultimate Frisbee, has more random conversation with my roommate and I, and eats a little more chocolate! Tomorrow also marks the return of the five-day workweek for me. What am I going to do?