Sagittarius 15° (December 7)

First things first I need to put some Paris notes together for the next half hour. (Only it took a couple of days!) Gardens, Parks and Places.

Promenade Plantée.As part of a 12e outing. A sort of Paris Highline, following a defunkt rail line. Begins at the Bastille Opera. Nice views and benches to rest and follows above streets filled with arty shops.

Parc Montsouris.On the edge of the 14e, created by Emporer Napoleon III. English garden, small lake and waterfall with puppet theater.

Jardin des Plantesin the 5e. Endlessly fascinating botanical garden with Natural History museum filled with endless assembled skeletons. Other smaller museums and greenhouses. And there’s a zoo which we don’t go to because we don’t like zoos. The jardin is near to the end bit of boulevard St-Germaine and Diptyque, Chez René, Iode (see below).

Parc de la Villette. Dries used this place for a fashion show back in the day. Huge park with a science museum and music halls and outdoor art. It’s on the edge of Paris in the 19e.

Jardin Albert Kahn. Just outside Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt. Part of the Albert Kahn museum of historic photographs. The garden is a mix of Japanese, English, French with a mini Vosges forest reconstuction.

Jardin du Luxembourg.for those who have never been there is also a must. We like to visit all the statues of les Reines de France that punctuate the park.

Churches and Palaces

Sacre Coeur. If you have to go (and if you haven’t been you really do need to) then try to go toward evening when the crowds are leaving and attend Vespers which is typically 6PM. One of the better strolls up the hill would begin at the Moulin Rouge. You can keep the Café de 2 Moulins as a landmark in mind (it was where Amélieworked in that film). You might want to breeze through the Cemetery. There is also the I Love You Walland the Place du Tertre. There is still a windmill—the Moulin de la Galette and another famous cafe, La Maison Rose. If you use all these as landmarks it will make a nice jaunt!

Eglise Saint-Gervais. As I’m writing this in unlinear fashion I’ve already said it’s our favorite church. It is south of rue du Rivoli in the 4e (not technically still Marais but close enough) and the area is all beautiful shops and cafés-resto. We end up here a lot just to sit. And we try to time it with the singing masses which are beautiful. Don’t be put off by the homeless people camping around. The church is incredibly charitable and they disenfranchised do flock there.

Sainte-Chapelle. boulevard du Palis in the 1e. It is in the Palais de la Cité on the Île de la Cité. Gothic royal chapel dating to the 13th century, chapel of the French kings.

Palais Royale. Opposite the Louvre in the 1e. The galleries are filled with designer shops. Make sure to walk around the entire thing. Gaultier, Ric Owens, Jerome Dreyfuss,Pierre Hardy and Didier Ludot’s famed vintage store. A must do. As is strolling through the Gallerie Vivienne to the north. Colette’s residence is in this quartier too as is the Grand Colbert restaurant. You don’t have to eat there unless you’re Keanu Reeves and Diane Keaton in that sappy film. Go west to Place Vendome, go east to Place des Victoires.

Additional Strolls

Louvre through Tuilleries to Grand Palais and Petit Palais.

Marais north into the 3e around Arts et Metier then east to Republic and back down near Merci and Place des Vosges.

Hotel de Ville to Left Bank to Pantheon (near Cafe de la Nouvelle Marais) through the rue Mouffetard and Place Monge to Jardin des Plantes and to the eastern start of boulevard Saint Germain.

Pont Neuf to Left Bank up rue Dauphine, passage Dauphine, rue de Buci, rue de Seine, rue Jacob toward the 7e becomes rue de l’Université “rue de l’U” through the Place du Palais Bourbon all the way to the Tour Eiffel.

Of course along the Seine and the quais on the Left Bank. The Dries store is on the quai Malaquais and Shakepeare & Company bookstore is quai Saint-Michel. Just keep dipping up and down the “side streets” leading up from the river. Many art galleries.

Lesser Trodden Museums: (Buy a Paris Museum Pass in advance which will allow you to skip the entry lines. Go to parisinfo.com Check individual museum hours. With the strike on many museums will be closed.) *means prioritize!

Musée de l’Orangerie. If only for the rooms containing Monet’s giant Water Lillies. (With the strike on now it seems that these are the only rooms of the museum open)

*Musée Nissm de Camondo. A beautiful intact home cum museum of decorative arts. The family were like Rothchilds of the Ottoman Empire and their story is fascinating and tragic. Built in early 20th century to house Moise de Camando’s obsessive collection of 18th century furnishings, art and collectibles. Right off the Parc Monceau.

Musée Jacquemart-André: Also near Parc Monceau. A private collection of Italian Renaissance masterpieces. Thinking Jacquemart and André are a couple.

Musée Eugène Delacroix. rue de Furstenberg, 6e. Tiny museum in house where he lived in a pretty square with a garden and his atelier.

*Musée Mormotton Monet. Once a private (Empire) home of Mormotton the permanent collection (the room of tiny portraits is a fave) features Monet and Berthe Morisot. Right now there is a showing of figurative Mondrians which rarely get featured anywhere. It’s on the edge of the 16e and you can walk down a path right into the Bois de Bologneon a mild day.

Musée Maillol. rue de Grenelle in the 7e. Work by the sculptor plus pieces by Kandinsky, Matisse, Cezanne, from the private collection of Dina Vierny.

Musée de l’Hommeand the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoineare in the Palais Chaillot, across the river from the Eiffel Tower. The first is a museum of the evolution of man (Cro-Magnon jewelry!, carved mammoth tusks!) and the second feature plaster casts of the countries greatest monuments.

Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, avenue du President Wilson in the 16e. Bonnard, Modigliani, Braque et al.

Musée de Cluny(Musée Nationale du Moyen Âge). 28 rue Sommerar in the 5e. It is dusty and damp and dank and delicious (“for those who like that sort of thing that is the sort of thing they like”—Miss Jean Brodie). If only for the Unicorn tapestries.

And the  obvious:

Musée Picasso-Paris. rue de Thorigny, in the 3e just north of Marais

Musée Rodin, rue de Varenne 7e. (Eat at Josephine Chez Dumonezon rue du Cherche-Midi)

Shopping

Le Bon Marché. rue de Sèvres, 7e. Quite possibly our favorite store in the world. And maybe the first ever department store on the planet (don’t quote me). Now owned by the LVMH group it remains a wonder. Beware: you can lose track of time in here.

Flea Market. There are many marchés des pucebut with limited time you should go to the Marché Paul Bert Serpette which is at Saint-Ouen, “world’s largest antique and decor market”. Closed Tuesday-Thursday. It is within the larger flea market but you want to go directly there. Have lunch at Le Biron, 85 rue des Rosiers, or (where the market owners go): Le Paul Bertrestuarant.

Merci. On the Boulevard Beaumarchais. Just northeast of Places des Vosges: Concept store with designer and other fashions and beautiful home items. A delicious plant-driven restaurant (La Cantine) downstairs. Their (Le Used Book) café library, where you can also eat—great for a late breakfast.

Ailleurs. On rue Saint-Nicolas, a stroll east of Bastille along rue du Faubourg Saint Antoine in the 12e. Lighting, furniture, glassware, textiles, ceramics et al.

Azzedine Alaia. Women’s obviously but is like visiting a temple. rue de Moussy, Marais.

Art-Depot(great vintage shop—I bought 60s Persol sunglasses) and Lambert Lambert(antique furniture).They are both on the rue des Barres (also rue Pont Louis-Phillipe, just opposite our favorite church Église Saint-Gervais) in the 4e near the river. There is also a Papier Plusshop and the Abbey store(at least that’s what we call it) associated with the church which sells things made by monks and cloistered nuns. The Eau d’Emeraude is something we always buy—it’s made by the same monks that make Chartreuse—and it is a healing miracle.

Diptyque. When you’re back in the hood near Chez René and Iode and Jardin des Plantes you can dip into (get it?) this original flagship store. It’s pretty beautiful.

Eating

Chez René. In a Paris world where most of our favorite traditional restaurants have faded into memory, this place has come to represent one of the last great hopes. It serves things only French people will eat (kidneys and brains and other organs) but you are safe with the coq au vin or boeuf Bourgignon. Funny, charming waiters in the full kit and apron. Shiny dark red banquettes and a small zinc bar and exhibition posters fill the walls. At the very end of boulevard Saint-Germaine in the 5e near La Tour D’Argent. Reserve for sure: 43 54 30 23.

Bar à Iode. Also near the end of boulevard Saint-Germaine in the 5e (in case you haven’t noticed it’s one of our favorite areas). Delicious oysters and other raw shellfish and perfectly cooked fish dishes. A youngish couple opened this about five years ago and made a great success of it. Service can be slightly slow but definitely worth the wait. The decor is bright and simple—long blonde wood tables with colored metal chairs. Very Loic and Rob (Canteen) looking.

Café de la Nouvelle Mairie. rue des Fossés Saint-Jacques. This is our happy place. We go for tartines and bowls of coffee in the morning. We go for plat du jour or soup and mackerel rillette for lunch. And we definitely go for dinner at least twice a week when “living” in Paris. The food is simple and fantastic. The wine list (many organic reds) is superb—in fact it is mostly billed as a wine bar. It’s small and slightly cramped but always in a congenial way. The servers might seem aloof when in fact they’re super chill. Attracts many Sorbonne professors, philosophers, writers. Feels like the modern equivalent of an authentic 19th century cafe experience. Even some of the wait staff look like they’ve stepped out of Lautrec paintings. We tried to keep this place secret but word has definitely gotten out.

Vivant. This place is super special too. The chef/owner is the son of the owner of the clothing line A.P.C. but he is the real deal and totally committed to this “experience.” It is a tiny place. Most seats are actually at the bar (which we prefer). You have to reserve well in advance as there are few seats. The number they give doesn’t look like a landline +33(0)967499626.The bar is best, too, because you can see them making everything. The bar is basically also the kitchen. The walls are lined with cases of wine. The somelier is top notch. Everyone looks young enough to be your grandchild. It is beyond delish.

Josephine Chez Dumonet. rue de Cherche-Midi 6e. Surely as good if not better than Chez René however the Goop crowd has found it (thanks a lot Gwyneth) so it can be filled with people who are quite full of themselves. But it is a wonderful bistro. Prolly more relaxing for lunch (if you just have a soup for dinner). You would need to book. 45 48 52 40. I would definitely eat things like a terrine (made in house) and steak tartare and pidgeon and other authentic things here. The chef is Jean-Christian Dumonet and he knows a lot of New Yorkers.

Pizza Chic. When you just want a pizza and a salad but you still want to people watch and maybe spot a French film star or two this is the place. Probably among the best pizza restaurants anywhere. 13 rue de Mézierères 6e.

Le Voltaire. 27 quai Voltaire. when you’re also feeling very flush and French. Try to get seated in the back room with all the vraie Parisien.

Cafés/Wine Bar (other than Nouvelle Mairee)

Le Petit Fer Au Cheval. rue Vielle du Temple in the Marais. It looks like nothing. I always have lunch solo in the back. Great Plat du Jour. Or sit at the tiny bar and order the cheese and charcuterie plate which is enough for four (but I’ve also polished off myself). It’s a bit unkempt with a horrid toilet. But the real deal.

Le Pick Clops. Maris also on rue Vielle du Temple. It’s a holdover from the eighties (kind of kitsch Americana in style). Still I find it very neighborhoody and authentic since it’s been here foreover. Open till 2am.

Le Rubis.It can be intimidating both in terms of the space and the food but it is worth pushing through anxiety and claustrophobia as this place hasn’t changed in an age. Great for a rustic lunch not for the faint of heart. If the downstairs is full, the barman will expose a sort of secret door and stairway up to “à l’étage” to a small room of tables. It is very meaty (lots of sausage, pig trotters and such served on lentils for instance) but really so delicious. Stuffed cabbage, herring salad. Amazing wine (despite its ancient look it is noted as a genuinely lauded contemporary wine bar!). You can also hang outside for drinks and use the barrels on the street as tables. rue du Marché St-Honore in the 1e. (After a stroll in the Tuilleries!).

If choosing between Les Deux Magotsand Café Floreyou should do the latter. But both have become kind of tourist traps where the servers put French people in one area and the rest of us in another. I go here on “French Day” when I pretend to decided frogginess!

Have Fun! XX

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 14° (December 6)

Woke up at three-thirty once again but there is nothing to be done but just start moving and use the time wisely. I have furthered tidied my office—or rather let it tidy itself as I prepare for the grand exodus. I’m not overachieving right now and I don’t feel that I have to. got some writing done and contacted the Venice hotel as I said I would. Prepared the kitchen for the day and am soon to set out to get some errands accomplished. I need to see if my barber is in residence, first and foremost. Then I will slide down to UPS drop off and get some coffee ground at the factory and pick up some sicky supplies (cough drops and tissues et al) then do a breeze through Vintage In Vogue if they are open, which they are meant to be. I got on the phone to the conflicting doctors, too, and hopefully straightened all of that out. There are just over two weeks now until the grand exodus and I’m feeling fairly prepared to make said exit. I will set off soon and when I come back I will put together all the notes regarding Paris and have a lovely time musing on that while I let my choppers brighten. I’m not going to worry about the car right now as there seems no point in doing so. That said I could just give a call—which I did—and same old message as always: that he isn’t it. I will have tried many times. I will stop by there tomorrow after I make my morning dump run. All my errands went well; in the meantime we had a note back from the agent and there is no good news yet to report.

I said I felt okay about that but the truth is that somewhere I do feel the manifestation of sadness. I understand where one is coming from when they say they would like a win. I too would like a win. I’m not going to write back today because I just can’t bear it really. One of us will have to but I really don’t want it to be me. What can one do. All one can do is keep trying. People who work in publishing are, on the whole, a miserable, victim type individual. They dart around their flourescent lit halls, avoiding real work, then collect their paychecks. They’ve never had to have been creative in their whole entire life. They, like most lawyers, agents, managers, lie for a living. It’s fairly ridiculous. We shall continue to keep a positive attitude. When you make a deal with a publisher you are suddenly working for someone in a sense. And, at least for right now, we don’t have to work for anybody. That is the boon of being who we are. I will work today till around four o’clock and then I’m going to check out and just watch some movies or new Netflix series or some such. I am not here to overachieve. I am here to work my magic as best I’m able and that I can do without much muss or fuss. We are very fortunate. And most likely there will be a deal but if there isn’t one with the person in question than I believe we would have been saved from something. I know one thing is for sure: for wahtever reason we are not being given the easiest of rides in this journey; nor are we having the most difficult either. The most important thing I’m learning at this juncture is that I am capable of pulling myself up by the bootstraps and, moreover, that I have the ability to self moderate, even if that means more abstinence than temporance for awhile. Mainly I don’t want to be bothered by upset, nor do I want to be plagued by overwork. I want to take a light touch and I want to work some magic for awhile. It is about focusing on relationships and that means taking responsibility for those that didn’t serve me in the first place. I have to admit my part in those instances and all I can do really is concentrate on being my best self. It is too easy to be disappointed. Disappointment is a luxury I can ill afford. I wasn’t born into homeless poverty living on the streets of Calcutta; nor was I plopped into some lap of luxury. I grew up poorer than most, for sure. And I want to say I’m proud of that. I need to steer clear of others (anybody!) who equates their material wealth with some sort of superiority. If anything it is a recipe for the opposite being true. I just want to keep my side of the street clean, if not to myself.

I know what I’m doing is right I know the way I’m approaching my days just now is exactly correct. I have faith in my abilities and if people don’t seem to “get me” or my work or my brand or whatever it is you want to call it that’s also fine. I am going where the love is. And the main place that love is coming from is from me. I have no reason to flaunt that fact. I am not taking to social media every day (like so many others) putting up photos of myself. Sure, I am writing about my life and posting it on a Blague that is public, but you don’t seem me promoting the fact. I don’t believe in that. This is my way of being invisible in public which is one of my more favorite things to do slash be. I think that’s why I used to love smoking pot so much in my youth. I would smoke and it would relax me and I would be out in public, even in crowded places, and feel so cushioned and so beautifully alone. It lasted into my thirties. Then it backfired and instead of feeling cottony and chill and part of some invisible, silent fabric, I felt that there were alarms going off in my head. I still love the way it makes me feel, mentally. I love the ideas that it brings to light if not to life. But I cannot stand the way it feels in my body. It’s like little demons getting trapped in my blood or nervous system, that something is going to give way, that I’m going to have a stroke or something. I would never happen because  really what’s going on is some form of panic attack; and in truth pot aint the pot that I grew up on which just made me feel tired and slightly headachy or then, when the green stuff came along, sort of crystaline like the buds themselves, bursting with clarity and flavor. That was the stuff of my college life when that amazing superior bud was first introduced. I could smoke a tiny pinch, a crumb I would call it (didn’t we all) and be high for hours listening to records in my room which I would deconstruct. i had few clothes and I had fewer friends and I liked it that way. I either ran everywhere—to classes or workstudy, which was a deep sadness (having to work in the cafeteria or some such when none of my friends needed to do likewise); or I would ride my nineteen-sixtees no-speed, pedal-break red Columbia bicycle. I was all alone and loving it. I didn’t need another living soul on the planet. I just needed enough for some double cheeseburgers from some cheap place and I don’t think I needed to eat more than once a day. I remember the summer of 1983 living in an M.I.T. dorm and working at the B.U. School of Theology (basically I was the Registrar for the summer while the real one was away) and I know I went to lunch and had those cheeseburgers, which I would bring to my friend Chris’s where we would smoke put and eat them and watch The Monkees on re-runs. But I have no concept of ever eating dinner. Just like I have zero notion of ever being lonely. Who was I then. I know I didn’t have stresses because everything was ahead of me and I just assumed I would be, well, not rich and famous, necessarily (I never thought in those terms) but happy leading a creative life and fulfilled. I’m not quite though am I; although I’m not far off either. I just have a little negotiating to do. A little adjusting.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 13° (December 5)

We have a client this morning at seven. I woke up at three because S. was coughing. I haven’t gotten back to sleep. I won’t re-start my practice today. Instead I will try for a hair cut and I will also attempt to get all loose ends tied. We have to go over colors and stones which is fine. And I will put together a Paris brief for Pete and Ted and Tim and Billy (The new Bob and Carrol and Ted and Alice?) which is mainly going to be something we slap together for ourselves. During the client session I will jot down notes as occur to me. We have a new solar return chart for our morning session which is always an easy thing to focus on for ninety minutes. In any case I’m pleased to have the clients I have and I’m actually in the mood to beef up the clientele a great deal over the next two years while everything else gets put into play. I’m also really happy to take inventory of my friends, lovers and other strangers. I was going to be really good food-wise today but I am really jonesing for a delicious bowl of pasta and so that is what I will do. I ordered a coat from Harris Wharf for not a lot of money. Hopefully it will be big and roomy enough that I can work it fairly hard. I did get the contract conversation moving with the Art House. I am waiting on word from the other A.R.T. house. We sorted out all the stuff we needed to pharmacy wise. My primary has still as yet not sent information to Cape Cod office so I can schedule my procedure in April which I am definitely going to do. I have a tarp to put on the car for when we are away so I can at least postpone the whole conversation about water getting in. It doesn’t matter come Spring because I will work that car into the ground until such time as I get another one, which I hope will be by June. I want something really nice. And I will be able to protect it, now in the cold months, so that is all a boon. My desk is clearing slowly but surely and I will also have the house in working order and will actually begin to get all my costuming and actual wardrobe into place for the trip. I mean it when I say that I am not bringing a lot. I know I don’t need to. If the new brown coat work then that will be all I’ll need. Otherwise I will work my old A.P.C. cotton coat. These might all be private thoughts but honestly I don’t have many of those left. And I have no trepidation in letting anybody know it.

So I am making a sort of modified carbonara—sautéeing onions and turkey bacon which makes an incredible carmelization, with black pepper; four egg yolks, a good parmesan, fresh parsely, more pepper, pasta water and that’s it. I have to say it was better than the “real” carbonara with pancetta and wine. Absolutely fulfilled my pasta woolly and I will have gained a pound but it was worth it. And tomorrow I will be super “saine” and just eat some fish, vegetables, salad and soup. I also need to start whitening my teeth. I’m jealous of S.’s system which is just an hour at a time. Mine is four to six. And I loathe doing it overnight, so I have to find a block in the day. It’s good in that it keeps me from doing any kind of grazing whatsoever. I have set up my little yoga studio in the room next door and am going to get that process underway. I’m happy to get out and get some additional shopping under my belt today. There really is no substitute for checking things off ones list way before one might actually need to. I don’t think I have my brain completely around how to promote the books and such. I do think it my duty to start the outreach for the larger plan that I want to put into works, regarding Glow and all that it can be. I think that might be a very worthwhile operation, especially in regard to funding a Cambridge existence. It wouldn’t really take very much to put a prospectus together. And so it goes on the list! It is definitely time to diversify because we cannot count on the future remaining anything even remotely like the past. I am very much into this fasting concept I can tell you that much and just another twenty-five days of this sort of thing should hold me in quite good stead. I will be doing both yoga and teeth whitening at the same time tomorrow, the yoga eats up half of the whitening time in any case or should do. I should be able to stomach doing it at night in any case.

Oh lord I really am on a tear of offering up way too much personal information. But you know what that’s okay. Tomorrow I will dedicate most of this to putting together the Paris infor for my friends who are traveling there while reminding myself of what’s what in the process. My goal is to make friends while I’m there, bone up on my study. I think I might bring a bunch of easy French books with me that will keep us fresh and juicy and anyway speed the plow a bit on our education. I have those two French grammar books and a bunch of little novelettes. I think those would be the perfect things to bring with us as we can always mail them home to Brad. I am feeling a little less claustrophobic I think. And I will need to write to Laura and make sure she knows that I wasn’t really blaming her. I will also call Jeff at the glass company to make a little appeal. Or I won’t. It might be time to let the whole thing go. I will keep plugging away and I will be scrubbing my entire upstairs existence. That is not a metaphor that is me saying I actually have to clean and clear out the upstairs portion of my house, here, which has become my office in effect. I wonder if I shouldn’t pay rent to A/C in effect for the coming year. It won’t add up to much but it will add up to something. I don’t know. I mean probably better to take no salary and to keep the overhead low. By the same token I’d like to set a new preedent that we actually get paid for the things we do. I can’t say I’m grateful that there is no book right now but there is benefit to the fact. I promise to start making these entries actually mean something sometime soon.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 12° (December 4)

Wow the strangest dreams again last night. We have been falling asleep by nine and getting up by five the latest for many days on end now and I have to say it feels amazing. I am feeling rather caught up on projects and today will be a rather simple affair of doing some writing (including this) and catching up on banking (including a trip to do so in person in Provincetown) and completely cleaning up my desk and straigthening up the entire office continuing to make and run down the requisite lists in preparation for the grand departure. It is nigh on nine o’clock and I have done a bunch of busy work and communicated with T-S on follow up to yesteday’s conversation and I have prepared a soup and some roasted carrots and will ready myself for getting things to discard along the way into town today. Carbage is what I call bits of rubbish I can gather up and throw away locally without having to go to the dump. It isn’t strictly legal but if you know that process via which our kitchen has to function in order to separate the plastics from the glasses from paper from the rubbish. A compost bin was installed on the property soon after we moved in however someone (not us) dumped cooked food into it and completely ruined it; up till then I was giving scraps to chickens and composting and all of that but I just had to give up because our efforts were for naught in the end. So right I will put together the entire list of what needs to happen over the next four weeks and begin to tie off as I go, all the while trying to promote, mainly, the new year astrology books, to everyone within earshopt. Everything else will have to wait until our return in the Spring. Ah, the beauty of missing the entire winter on Cape Cod I cannot tell you how joyous a thing that will be. And I’m alreay envisioning the Paris apartment as a regular base.

So we headed into town and, I don’t know if he lies in wait or not, T. was at the post office as he often is when we go there. Today of course he knew we were coming. He suggested a coffee and I reminded him S. not feeling well and that we really can’t talk—we spoke for an hour yesterday he and I; and I put together minutes which he probablly will not have read (neither would he have read S.’s notes)—he is always on to the next subject: I will speak and try to make a point or a suggestion, and I can tell he’s not listening; all he is ever thinking about is the next thing he’s going to say. And points never land. He starts every sentence with “you know what I just thought of?” and one never gets any kind of resolution on what one has oneself said. It is very frustrating and it may very well be the deal breaker in the end on any further work-related ensembleness. We shall see. If we were to move forward, in any case, it would have to be me leading the way. It can’t be S. because she can’t have any more on her plate; and it can’t be him because he isn’t capable of focusing, forever struck by the next shiny object of thought in his brain. And anyway it doesn’t matter. It is a fine vanity project; and it will take off; but I’m not really going to do anything about it until February in any case because everyone will be on holiday.

The things on my plate: talking to doctors which is underway. Getting everything to lawyers which is also now tied off. I did some research on the factory landscape of Rhode Island and came up with some interesting leads I think. Bookmarking as I go. I am now going to do a little online coat shopping.  I am resigned to doing home practice of my yoga for now because there just aren’t enough hours in a day. We got some rain shoes and put them back in the box as they were flimsier than anticipated. I just went to Huckberry and saw the same shoes for a lot less so I’m wondering if we should just order directly from there (the same shoes) or laisse tomber. Nice drag king name: Les Tombay. I think I can move on for today….

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 11° (December 3)

Ah, the sign of Sagittarius with all it’s wild abandon. I don’t know how it is I feel yet today. I have been awake for two hours and it is only just past six in the morning. Today shall include a trip to town to get some food in, and a quick breeze through the vintage shop if it is open. I had crazy dreams full stop last evening; all I really remember is some weird kind of threesome set up (the sex part of which didn’t happen) and that I was going to sell my old car because I already had three others. We watched the Candy Darling doc last evening which was enlightening on a few levels. Anyway I am looking forward to even the tiniest outing to Orleans this morning do to simple things like visit the fish shop and so forth and then I get to CVS where (I won’t go into details) I end up telling the rude as shit pharmacist to go fuck himself. So much for my idyllic sojourn up Cape this morning. It is absolutely a joke. Honestly I feel that if I were six foot tall I wouldn’t have to deal with half the bullying crap I deal with. And then these fuckwads are always so surprised when I don’t take their projectile shit. I moved my prescription back to Provincetown so we shall see what happens. I hate being a person who needs a prescription in any case but what are you going to do. I was so upset I forgot to visit the vintage store which was the main reason I was going in that direction in any case. Oh well there are worse things. I am really trying to enjoy. I did make a complaint to the store manager whom I called. She kept me on the phone for hours using the same phrase (in the title above) over and over to describe how she was going to let the pharmacy manager (of sixteen stores) know. I later saw a message that she called. I’m going to say this.

First of all I have been getting my prescription filled at this CVS for years. And for some reason, at least a half a dozen times, over the years, my information falls out of your system. So I have actually taken that into account and whenever I go to the store I leave extra time. Sure enough I got there and Amy was working the counter. She said there was no prescription ready. I said that I received a text. I had my existing bottle of pills with me as I said I was prepared. She typed it in and said that okay yes she could fill it. I waited about twenty minutes—as I said I left time. All the while casually chatting with Amy and other customers. Meanwhile I can see the pharmacist very sour faced doing his job and noticed he was huffing and puffing a lot, frustratedly. One older woman came in and said she wanted a flu shot. The pharmacist overheard and practically yelled from behind his counter that “I’m not doing flu shots…we are too understaffed.” Meanwhile there had been about three other customers, including the lady, in the last twenty minutes. The old lady said that she had called and them man told her it was ok. The pharmacist overheard this and said “ok I’ll give her a flu shot since she called but nobody else.” Finally he had filled my prescription and when Amy ran it up it $15.99 which is not the price I pay. I say I only pay five dollars. She looked in the system again and saw my previous pickups and that indeed yes indeed I only pay five dollars but she said that somehow my insurance information had quote-unquote fallen out. I told her that this wasn’t the first time—that it happened often. I gave her my card and she put it in again. And said the price was now right. But the register wasn’t processing it for some reason. She kept trying. Finally she asked the pharmacist for help who was extra huffing and puffing and making it obvious to everyone that he was being put upon. I waited another ten minutes or so.

By now I’ve been there probably 30-40 minutes and he suddenly yells out William I can’t do this today it will have to be tomorrow. I said excuse me why is that. And he said very pointedly at me “because you JUST NOW gave us your insurance information and it takes a day.” I said well that’s not true, you’ve had my insurance information for years. It keeps falling out of your system which is not my fault. And as I’m explaining he literally throws his hands in the air and mumbles “I can’t do this” under his breath and disappears behind his work station. Amy looks at me. I look at her. And I said you know what you’re being very rude. He comes out saying I’m not being rude. You just now gave us the card information and there is nothing I can do. I said you are being rude. And I asked for his name. He said Nelson. Then some old man then pipes up and says to me that Nelson really is a very good pharmacist. And I said well that might be true but he’s acting like a rude bastard. At this Nelson raises his voice to say that I am permanently banned from this CVS that he will not fill my prescription today or any other day and that I should leave and never come back to which I said you know what Nelson go fuck yourself. How dare you treat a customer like this. I have been waiting patiently for forty minutes good naturedly and you tell me you can’t fill my prescription and accuse me of being the reason why and then when I try to explain you literally throw your hands up and mumble something under your breath and walk away. If that’s not rude I don’t know what is. So don’t act like suddenly I’m the problem because I’m calling you a rude bastard. And yes you should do exactly what I suggest which is go fuck yourself and in the meantime I’m going to complain about you so that you n ever treat another customer like this again. And so I went to the front desk to ask for the manager and was told she wasn’t coming in for another hour. So I got her name and said I’d call. I walked back to the pharmacy and asked an older woman worker who had newly appeared how to transfer my presription to another pharmacy. She told me what to do. I called Stop n Shop in Provincetown and moved my prescription there. I am very connected here on Cape Cod. I run a non-profit arts agency. And I have a very big presence on social media. I have yet to share my story publically as I thought that first I would have this discussion with you.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 10° (December 2)

Got up so early. Stella was already awake as she has inherited my dreaded cold. We cancelled the lot and just worked as best we could for as long as we could in front of the fire. Word that another targeted editor took a pass. We are baffled since the praise was glowing. It went like this “My apologies for the delay in getting back to you on this one and thank you for keeping me in the loop. Starsky & Cox’s proposal is fascinating, fresh and has the perfect mixture of thoughtful advice, mystical thinking and emotional resonance. I hadn’t thought much on the ways that self-help and personal growth and astrology intersect up to this point, but astrology remains a thriving part of the zeitgeist and rightfully so as I found their theories incredibly interesting. And beyond the initial concept, the advice in the proposal resonates in a way that I think many people already seeking a more mindful life will come to. Nevertheless, I just didn’t connect with the more prescriptive tone of the proposal in the way that I’d hoped and felt that it was reminiscent to other projects on the market or soon to come. Without that clear vision for how to best to break this book out, I’m going to have to pass on this one on behalf of [redacted]. I hope you will find the perfect home for the book.”

Right cheers thanks alot. Rejection letters are never fun but especially not when they seem so, well, accepting! Anyway, onwards and upwards (yet another expression people say when they want to make it clear that the relationship/collaboration is over (even if before it began). Turns out that publisher is all up Gwyneth Paltrow’s behind. It is time to take full stock of who we are and what we’ve done. I think it will make a lot of sense to publish various books, going back to decide which books have had their [redacted] expire, so that we can publish them under our own steam. I can publish the complete works of Shakespeare I think. These are questions for our lawyer. Or lord Mary, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m just going to have to be brutal about all of this and let the chips fall where they may. It wasn’t a busy day per se. The weather is rotten. I made a fire so that we could work together in the living room for, at least, a part of the day. I am resisting all urges. I am doing what is necessary. I am drinking tea and sucking on cough drops and hoping for the best and preparing for the not so great. I aim to be in the ot room in the next two days. I think it might very well be possible. I would like to put down some minutes from our meeting with Tim today as I think it will be important to do. I am also having to write up some things for folks to enjoy while on their trip to gay Paris. I’m not really sure what it is I suggest these days. I will ask the expert and see what she comes up with. Some brief minutes from the meeting:

Hello I thought I would just jot down some highlight “minutes” from our meeting today so that we have a record. And so Stella, who was feeling poorly, can catch up on what’s what as she resurfaces. I thought of at least one thing I neglected to say so I put those thoughts in bold to fill in any gaps….

I launched into the chat today, saying that on the Starsky + Cox front that I would be leading on the jewelry initiative. And that there were two parallel avenues I was going to be spearheading, one being sussing out with Alice what would need to be done and info-gathering from her on what design and production might entail; the other avenue being the putting together of a comprehensive agreement between Starsky + Cox (Wheel Atelier Inc.) and Tim-Scapes that would emcompass what we were already doing together while covering all that we potentially plan to do. On the Alice front I reiterated that she had the design illustrations from Tim and she imagined a two-full-day process of turning the illustrations into viable jewelry design drawings. Also that she was thinking about a Turkish production facility where sterling silver (or gold plated silver or both) designs could be made; and that there was mention of 100 piece minimum per (twelve) design. I mentioned that we would have Alice explore more options, either with that facility or others, and try to work out the possibility of smaller minimum per design; and also to give us some kind of rough estimate of cost. For Alice to do pretty much anything more that what she’s already done (eyeballing the designs and making some inquiries) we would have to pay her a fee for this two-full-day’s worth of work, culling any and all information, and getting the designs in readiness for sampling. What I forgot to say (although Stella may have already mentioned this in a previous chat) is that rather than being paid beyond that two-day stint, Alice would prefer toreceive a small percentage of the business (profits) along with us. This would also need to either be worked into our agreement, or as an addendum to it, or as a separate agreement.

I mentioned, in any case, that Marilyn suggests a simple two-page L.O.A. to replace the contract we now have in place as that contract is “overly complicated” and is actually more of a licensing agreement. And that I was thus going to lead on putting all the wording together, as best I can, in some semblance of would-be legalese, such that Marilyn could eyeball the agreement and make any changes without spending too much of her time (which is our money) on the document. As information came in from Alice, and based on our discussions together the three of us, here, on our end, I would be putting the pieces of the agreement together over time. There was talk of the new split for everything being 50-50 S+C/T-S (keeping in mind whatever cut we agreed on with/for Alice) to make the split uniform for all our collaborative projects/products. Whereas Tim spearheaded the tee-shirt collection, putting out $$ for production, we discussed the fact that Starsky + Cox would be spearheading the jewelry and funding the production of that. As such I mentioned that in that scenario we envisioned production costs being paid back first, off the gross, before the split would kick in—in comparison with the tee-shirt formula where the split happened from the first sale and production costs were deducted from the gross on a unit by unit basis. (We also reiterated the fact that the jewelry collection would have a double margin of wholesale and retail such that, even when sold direct to customer, it was at the full retail price, allowing us to wholesale the jewelry to other stores, unlike the formula we currently have in place for the tee-shirts.)

On that note we then discussed and reviewed the myriad aspects of the existing Astro-Scapes collaboration. We talked through the various scenarios of paying back production costs and aired our feelings and trepidations about the various methodologies. In the phone call (and subsequent email chats today) Tim decided he would continue to pay out 50/50% on the net as the intake for production cost per unit (@ $17 a unit) was indeed adding up to paying off (paying Tim back) what Tim paid out initially for production. But, in future, Tim will pay-off production first in the same manner as S+C would pay off production first in the manufacture of the jewelry. Doing things in like manner will help to streamline that bit of wording in what will be our comprehensive letter of agreement. In terms of the Astro-Scapes tee shirts, vis a vis other Tim-Scapes product in the Provincetown store, the tees aren’t proving to be as lucrative an inhabitant of the real-estate allotted them in the shop as other Tim-Scapes products are (at least at this juncture). So Tim will likely make some changes regarding display of the product in the store in 2020. We discussed stepping up the promotion of the tee-shirts, over time, online and via social media, which is happening in any case. And we also revisited the notion we had discussed all together this past Spring/Summer of creating more of an Astro-Scapes world to give in-store customers more opportunity, beyond tee-shirts to buy into the astrological product. In the end we seem to be in agreement that, though not selling like gangbusters, the tee-shirts are finding their way and with hardly any promotion as yet to speak of (beyond what little Q has done) they are still moving at a steady pace and that their appeal and success is enough to build on as we enter into their second six-months of existence. Tim is going to play with concepts of what additional product could be added to the “Astro-Scapes” world and S + Q will continue to outreach to influencers, bloggers and the like, along with traditional press focusing on the collaboration and the appeal, particularly, in the gift-giving season, etc.

We decided to put a pin in the jewelry (a bit) or at least to let it sit on the back burner, continuing to info-gather on the subject, while allowing some more comprehensive ideas concerning Astro-Scape world bubble up to the surface. We all agree that we are happy for the collaboration and that communication remains key in juggling the business partnership with friendship and letting the ideas come and the collaboration unfold without added stress or forcing any outcomes while making necessary adjustments (like it’s in-store presence) so that it doesn’t hinder other aspects of the Tim-Scapes product from selling. We agreed to go off and brainstorm a bit, to enjoy the holidays, and our trips away, and to come back together with some fresh eyes, new information and ideas and decide what the next best steps are for the existing tee-shirt line, for new product “ephemera”, and, ultimately (and hopefully) the jewelry collection, informed by more collection of data and more creative thought and a continued proliferation of promotional materials about the Astro-Scapes collaboration!

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 9° (December 1)

I’d like to think I’ll be getting things accomplished today but I’m still feeling so poorly. Still, I will soldier on, stay up in my office, and get done what I can. At times my mind swirls with ideas but it will happen when I’m washing dishes or vacuuming the house or something. Never when I’m seated in front of this screen typing away. There are still window screens to remove and I will get to that today as well. I also have to write to the Hotel Florato see what they have to say in regard to that last week in March. I think that shall be the best time to go in the end because we can truly travel light and leave everything at Dom and Nan’s (perhaps even at their office). I suspect we will hear back from them soon. I am looking forward to seeing the finances thus far of that particular buisness. Playing my cards right, I can come to understand myself and my own needs in the next four months. I know this sounds like quite a sharp turn from what I might have said previously but the fact is that I am writing different sentences on different days, once again, over the course of several entries. I have become so trapped feeling in so many various aspects of my life in which my relationship to bridges is just a part that I now must get underneath it all and attempt to return to some semblance of peace and self-understanding. I will devote myself to the care of one other individual as my one sacrifice in this world which can be enough. Otherwise I must be free to go inward. I must continue this journey. I am so aggravated right now you have no idea. As I’m writing this I am again interrupted by a circular conversation in which I want no part. So much hot air being blown around talking about how busy one is and how there isn’t enough time. It is such a ridiculous illusion and one in which I’ve had a part, admittedly. I just need to wake the fuck up right now and move forward on what is truly important. I have been kicked to the curb so many times over the course of the last decade I am no longer vulnerable. Anyway I have not much time for this sort of thing. I must prepare for Tuesday’s meeting:

So, with all we are doing these days, it was decided that I should lead on this. I first want to begin by saying that there are two parallel lines I’m exploring in preparation this. One is with A., who is the designer for our company, who has expressed interest in doing this and has also begun the process of sussing out for us what it might entail to produce this collection. Basically I have asked her as many questions as I could think of in envisioning the entirety of this process, and she has gone away to do some research and development on that score. But the bottom line is that this is something she can do. She would really be overseeing it. And it would entail making things in Turkey and so forth. Obviously, besides the logistics of the project I have asked her to suss out pricing from soup to nuts. Unlike our existing collaboration on the tee shirts, where Tim-Scapes is footing the bill and putting out initial costs, etc, it would be our business that would be spearheading the jewelry collaboration. Which brings me to the other parallel line for doing this project which is putting together some kind of structure between Starsky + Cox and your company because, again, we would be working opposite from the way we’ve been working. And in putting together an agreement, which we will ultimately do, which Marilyn will wave a wand over, we have to sort out that side of things, the collaborative side. Ideally, as you may have already discussed with S., we would have one agreement which would encompass everything. The agreement we have now is overly complicated as it is based on a licensing agreemeent. Marilyn thinks we need a simple two-page letter of agreement.

One simple agreement should detail the bi-directional nature of the arrangement: how for tee-shirts and perhaps other products under your purview, things would operate pretty much the way they have operated—I know you have already shifted to a 50/50 way of thinking if not operating; it would simply also state and detail that when it came to the jewelry line and perhaps other things down the road, it would operate in the opposite fashion, with our company leading and handing out percentages. It is possible we might need two separate agreements in the end—that it might be too tricky to put this all in one document—then again, Marilyn seems to feel that it could work under one comprehensive document. At least that is my understanding. But there is stuff to tackle even before we get there.

First, the model for the jewelry, even though we would be selling direct to consumer, would be that of a cost to wholesale to retail formula—that we would be “buying” the jewelry from ourselves to sell in our shops, taking both markups for ourselves. This would allow us to retail to other shops as well should a Nordstrom or that type of store want to buy for many doors. The tee-shirts, as they exist now, are not manufactured on that model. The wholesale price is in effect the retail price which prohibits us from offering them anwhere else but in your shop and online direct from us. With the jewelry we would need to sell through all money we first layout before we got to a 50-50 split, meaning the split is on net not gross. This is really the way we imagined the tee-shirts would have operated too but my suspicion is that you didn’t actually wait until you had been paid back your initial outlay before you began offering the 60/40 and now 50/50 split. So that too will need to be addressed before we sign a new deal. So my first question to you is: Has Tim-Scapes paid itself back for the money it originally put out? By rights this should come off the top of the gross. So really my question is: Each tee shirt sold first pays back its own individual production cost and then we go to split. With the jewelry we will be looking at making back all the production.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 8° (November 30)

We will get in the car super early today and head back to the Cape with me in the passenger seat. There will be no traffic. And we arrive back in time for S. to go to a class; and though I feel just horrible, I will nonetheless use the time to completely unpack and start to get my head around the coming week and final month here before we take off. Things needing doing include writing to Jim and letting him know we are away. He has been writing me daily about the deck so I will let him dangle a little longer before  voicing our plans. There is a call into S.’s derm otherwise I have to find someone this week. We have a back up plan for getting to Aberfeldy now in case the LLBs fall out. It seems we will switch plans and stay in the UK until we head to Paris. Not sure this is the smartest thing in the end but it could be the simplest. It is a matter of booking the right place. I will spend the better part of a morning reaching out to all my friends in London to inquire about potential places to stay. I will beef up my Paris profile, too, in the process. Everything is feeling just a little bit impossible. The plan is to have breakfast for dinner—for lunch, we had leftover vegetable soup that I made on Wednesday. But by the time evening rolls around we change that plan and I am pan roasting cauliflower in my cast iron skillet, to which I will add sauteed onion and anchovy and parsley and chicken stock, as a topping sauce for rice pasta. We plan on watching some serious films and yet we never get there. Instead we alight on the show Back to Life which I sort of love-hated.

There is this mandate for me to say more than this. It is like pulling teeth. I really don’t know where to begin. I feel as though I will disappoint myself in the coming weeks, once again. I have unrealistic expectations. I do do the same things over and over and think I’ll be spared the same results. It is definitely something I do. I have to make a sharp turn and stay off every kind of carb for the next nine days. As such I might have a ghost of a chance to shed a little before these upcoming parties. I will dust off the top hat I have sitting in the closet—a gift from a troll of a character with a nearby business. Really he’s just a crotchety thief of a pothead (and I think drug dealer too). One of the nasty sheep that find their way into one fold or other here on the tip of olde Cape Cod. Salonpas. There I said it. Been stuck in my brain all day. Had to get it out. Phew. I forwarded the information about the Orphans show on to Bill Mumy. I didn’t get any response. I must be resolved. I have begun perusing the people I need to approach. I sent out a whole bunch of FB pleas for people to give to the festival at the last of the year. Not a single response. I will do the same by email but I dare say it might be ineffectual. I could make an event of it I suppose but it just seems such a waste of time. I think I’m better off focusing on what I might achieve on larger, more scalable level. But first I must continue to invest in myself. And to that end I must look on the bright side or I’ll never move the spoon, so to speak. I have just a few weeks left on this rock and I’ve got to make the best of it. I look at my hands and they look weird and swollen like my father’s and it repulses me. I wonder if they will ever be slender again. Such a silly, selfish thought, perhaps.

I remember the feeling of anonymity growing up and how wonderful it was. That was the beauty of living in the 1970s. You could drive a truck through space and time that is how vast it felt. I could, as a kid, summers, at the Jersey Shore, walk out the door on any given weekday morning, the early warmth and floral smells pervading my being, the grainy cement of the sidewalk tickling my soles; and I could head off in any direction feeling every grain of my being. I suppose the answer is always meditation. I think that (and yoga) is the only answer to everything. I believe I have to stop and prioritize this. I have the resources to make this a part of my daily life. I can even go twice a day if I so choose. That’s what people who do yoga study do. Why should I not do the same. I see no reason to avoid the obvious. We have to find ways, nowadays, to recapture the natural spirit of how things should be. I am not contributing anything to the world writing this Blague as of late. I can tell I am creatively dry by the nature of this work. It’s okay so long as this dry spell gives rise to something better. It cannot all be fertile output all the time. We have to go through these spells. I think of all the transmutations of this endeavor. There have been so many incarnations. In the first year it was all about following the Sabian symbols; then it became a platform for various other creative and academic ideas. It also served as a kind of psychological exercise. There have been moments of Dada insanity. I do wish to go to Venice but I think maybe the winter is the only time to go after all. I’m going to champion that instinct. I will write to them today for sure. At the core I will get down to absolute basics. I will completely batten down the hatches in my office and begin to catalogue my books in librarian fashion. I will be more brutal in my editing of clothing from my wardrobe. These things will happen in the coming days as I plan my proverbial exit.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 7° (November 29)

So I don’t know what to tell you. It is the same and different all at once. I look back, I reflect. I think I could have done something differently; but nothing ever really changes and people build there little tree houses or whatever they do and they manage to squeak by, not really working, somehow always ending up surfacing, living off renting out the detritus of their existence. I have nothing more to give. Today is the day that I put it all on the line. I am bedridden, sick as a dog. S. will go out to get nails done while I lie there going in and out of sleep. She will return with medicaments naturale. I’ve succombed to sinus pain, cough, sore throat and fever. Oh well. I never get sick so I’m not really that concerned about it to be honest. I am trying to find something to watch on this weird, ancient television. With all the resources around here they don’t update anything. It’s just the way it is. Priorities. No judgments. They will all be going into town today to see the nutcracker. I will attempt to have some semblance of a life. I will try to work. It won’t work.  I am readying myself for this last three weeks at home. Really that is all it will be, I need to contact Jim about stuff. I want to get a haircut and get all my deliveries in. I want to find something nice to wear. I hope the thrift shops will be open this week. The one thing is I am going to prioritize some exercise, wardrobe, grooming and all such things as often get left in the dust. Weird how all the people I have fallings out with begin to overlap. It does very much feel like I’ve cut myself off from pretty much everyone. Or they from me perhaps. There is no use crying over spilled milquetoast. I have enough on my plate to keep my busy and happy in the process. Nobody will give a rat’s ass about most of the people shouting for praise.

Honestly I don’t know what you people want. I wish I had a clue as to what level of attention you think you deserve and why it is you desire it. I am all but gone from social media. I do not promote this Blague. I don’t want anything from anyone. “I want what I have.”—Starsky + Cox. I cannot understand all the greed. Not for money but for attention. How desperate have we become as a people. I don’t care what you think about the play you’re seeing or the food you’re eating. I have become so jaded and cynical and sad. I can’t explain why it is there is such a dearth of joy and giving in the world. I only know that in order to change it we need to make stronger, bolder moves. I can no longer live in fear. I don’t live in fear in fact. I live in a bit of horror if anything. Horror at the world. Horror at the prices of being alive. Horror at the lack of compassion one for another. Since when, I wonder, is someone like Parker “pals” with those creepy orphan people? When in hell would folks like Justin Elizabeth and Dolly overlap. How can it be that this world is not just some hologram of my own nightmares? The grifters of the world are the most obvious and disastrous and strange. I have nothing to do but be healthy and happy. I don’t know why everyone else out there is complaining so much as they dangle tidbits meant to make everyone else on the planet feel less than. I have taken myself completely out of all of that nonesense. I really have to give myself nothing but half an hour a day to get down my thoughts and feelings about all or any of this. I long to travel more and to make my little journeys.

The truth is that I will only ever get through a portion of what I need to accomplish today which is actually absolutely fine. I cannot overachieve anymore. I do need to get myself into some sort of shape so that I can feel my natural confidence soar. I don’t mean physically or even emotionally, but definitely spiritually. That is the only manner of being that truly matters in any case. I am prety delirious lying here all day. They will go from the ballet to Myers + Chang and I will ask for some hot and sour soup and some fried rice and I will eat it rather late and then fall asleep after watching all but the last Chernobyl. I’m running out of things to watch in the evening. I should be reading. I am only here for a very short time. And then I have to float around with no real place to stay; and then I must make my way to the airport. But that is not for another three weeks, in which span of time I will go to New York and be back in Boston a couple of times. It should all be good. I know there is much magic in all of this. I cannot believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen certian friends. I have such a sense of abandonment it’s not real. seriously i cannot emotionally handle it.

how can that be? how can I be so affected by lawn decor

i think people are extra honking as they go by

or I’m imagining it. in any case lawn decor should not cause me to disassociate from myself (is that the term?)

I have to write this:

HELP TO MAKE THE SEASON BRIGHT (AND GLOW-Y)

In the spirit of non-profits holding out their begging bowls, last ditch, in December, the Afterglow Festival comes to you on bended knee for help in making our own year ends meet:

As we enter year ten, we continue to preserve Provincetown’s legacy as the birth place of the modern American stage and as an incubator for progressive theater and live performance.

We champion emerging and experimenting artists, providing them all means necessary to come perform here, enriching Provincetown’s culture while honoring its theatrical birthright.

Beginning 2020, the Afterglow Festival will offer students and seniors complimentary entry to all our shows—it’s like townie night every night—along with educational talks and programs.

And so, for every tax-deductive Sparkler donation of $100 you make we will gift you a 2020 Haute Astrology by Starsky + Cox e-book of your choice as a thanks for your generosity.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox

Sagittarius 6° (November 28)

I think I’m feeling better but I will be so wrong about that. It was a fine morning and I’ve been vigilant about my new fasting routine. And my hope will be not to eat everything in sight today. I am quite coldy I realize as the morning goes on. I’m not in supercreative mode and ready to let things go. We ended up doing a little shopping last evening so we won’t arrive empty handed. The roads were completely clear driving up to see the in-laws. There is meant to be no drama, that is to say no cooking, and we have a noon reservation for dinner which is fine by me since I’ve been waking every day by around four. I want to continue on this path as I’ll be on European time by when we arrive there. I won’t say it’s not a struggle but the truth of the matter is that I need to get into the hardware of my being at this point. I won’t bore you with the astrology of that. Let’s just say I’m looking to get back to basics. I can’t even watch our own so-called liberal news anymore because it isn’t the news. News is reporting on things happening around the world and giving us more of a range of what is going on overall. I’m not even sure why it is I look at real estate. I am living a dream of some sort. I know this is all very random. It’s not that I’m intending it to be, it’s just where my brain is right now.

So we get there pretty much in time to bring our bags and have a little chat. There is ironic, apologetic boasting of what “snacks” will be later, which were supposed to be minimal but are being promoted as much more. We head to the restaurant. It’s weird to eat this early and I probably shouldn’t be having wine with a cold but caution is thrown to the wind. Most everyone has turkey. J. has salmon, S. filet mignon and I go for lamb chops. I dreamed of the blue-cheese wedge salad and so I start with that. And I get a hazelnut torte of sorts for dessert. It’s all quite quick. Millenials make the worst generation of servers ever to walk the planet. I’m feeling quite coldy now and return back to the house where I fall and remain asleep for two hours. Awakening, everybody is playing cards. There is food in the fridge but nobody wants to eat. I am apparently the only hungry one. The promise of making pretzels and dipping them in a cheddar sauce has gone by the wayside. I eat Dorritos and clam dip and a piece of pumpkin pie and have a half a glass of Chinon and I’m pretty well finished for the night. I don’t know what I’m thinking. I’m just feeling bloody awful. I can sense something seething and bubbling up to the surface.

I might be officially over everything including major aspects of self. I feel like making sacrifices. I feel like soaking up some of the excess, and sucking up all my so-called defeats. I’m also tired of trying to get blood from stones and letting everybody else, but myself, off the hook. I’m really not that interested or impressed by anybody who isn’t in my immediate sphere of friendship. I have had my eyes pretty much opened in 2019; and I’ve made a slew of mistakes, for sure. But I’m really ready to start letting go; and I’m hungry for new experiences, that I can tell you. I’m never really that happy on a holiday. Everyone in my family is dead, you see. And I’m not a huge priority but for maybe one or two people on this planet. That’s just the way it is. Orphaned and non-procreative and I don’t really have many friends. The ones I do have a very good ones; but we are not a very cozy lot, rather, we are, shall we say, non-co-dependent (which is often a euphemism for bloodless). I see people all around me clustered into clans that bordero n the cultish. Especially on Cape Cod and specifically in Provincetown. I suppose it is the same with the downtown New York City crowd. It’s fine. But I’m something of a pariah there, too, sometimes I feel. But that too is okay. Better than okay. That’s kind of where I’m going here:

I’m feeling driven forward, once again, in my life. This illusion of belonging on a grand scale to people, friends now synonomous with followers, in a world where everyone is bucking for position in some phantom pantheon. It’s preposterous. I think that might have been the message of the appearance of those Amish people to me at Penn Station. I know I have the wrong structure in that previous sentence but I am not looking back even in little ways like that. I have that adventurous feeling once again. That spirit of wanting to see the world. I literally have everything I need on my back. I travel with my livelihood and I should be happy to travel light. I am going to continue to loosen my load whilst filling my coffers. I want everyone to be happy and free, myself foremost. I want S. to be the happiest of all.

To view the original Sabian Symbol themed 2015 Cosmic Blague corresponding to this day: Flashback! The degree pointof the Sabian Symbol will be one degree higher than the one listed for today. The Blague portrays the starting degree of for this day ( 0°,  for instance), as I typically post in the morning, while the Sabian number corresponds to the end point (1°) of that same 0°-1° period. There are 360  degrees spread over 365 or 6 days per year—so they near but not exactly correlate.

Typos happen. I don’t have a proofreader. And I like to just write, post and go!
Copyright 2019 Wheel Atelier Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Get your HAUTE ASTROLOGY 2019 Weekly Horoscope ebooks by Starsky + Cox