Retrograding

When I had a series of unfortunate events a few months ago, Susan introduced me to an astrological superstition: "Mercury is in retrograde." Susan explained that during this three week span when Mercury appears to be retrograde (traveling backwards), star followers believe that it brings bad luck. As I listened to eir explanation, the words traveled in one ear and out the other -- in a figurative fashion, obviously. Picking up on my skepticism, Susan rehashed how it was Kim's sibling who explained the concept to Kim who didn't believe until ey noticed a correlation. Likewise, Susan was skeptical of Kim's account, then found that ey suffered bad streaks during this period, too. Nevertheless, as I strive for rationality, I ignore superstitions like "Mercury is in retrograde" out of habit, despite multiple testimonies to the contrary.

Meanwhile, in present time, it's been a rotten week. Take just yesterday for example. In addition to the fight, I learned that my application for health care was likely to be denied because of my jaw problem, found out that a relative of mine has liver cancer, and had my debit card suspended on suspicion of someone using it to make unauthorized purchases. All four of these situations prompted me to have too make numerous phone calls and stress me out. Then, on top of it all, I had to miss most of Margarita Mondays, usually one of the brightest spots of my week, so that my housemates and I could meet with our landlord. The landlord is perhaps the most single unpleasant person I know. He calls to harass for things we have no control over and/or aren't our fault. Although we are, by his own admission, the easiest tenants he's ever had, he constantly threatens us and tries to bully us into ridiculous situations. The meeting with our landlord goes predictably horribly. He refuses to compromise and yells at us, acting like a big baby. You truly have to see this guy in action to believe it. At the end, I actually cry a little because I want to move out and not have to deal with him anymore. My roommates and I are now stressed and divided as to whether we want to put up with this shit any longer. Moving seems like a good solution, except that we're all traveling this summer, making such an event nearly impossible.

Actually, most people I know are having an uncharacteristically rough week. Today, on the way home from work, I picked up a pizza to bring home in the hopes of cheering up my friends and me. As soon as I put the pizza in the car, the box tipped over and the hot cheese ran right off the pie and all over the back seat of my car, leaving an inedible mess. Gah! I came home, sat down on the toilet, then while I pooped, text messaged an inquiry to Susan: "Is mercury in retrograde?" I also made sure to inform eir of my other simultaneous activity. The reason I asked was not because I genuinely thought Mercury was in retrograde, but as a way to indicate how rotten my life had been.

Not twenty minutes later, I received an unprompted message from Desiree about how ey, too, has been having a rough time and how ey feels that "Mercury is in retrograde." Peculiarly, I've not once discussed this concept with Desiree in the past, nor would Desiree have any idea that I just brought it up to another friend. The coincidence was enough to inspire me to check the internet to find out when exactly Mercury is in retrograde. Much to my surprise, Mercury is, in fact, in retrograde. It jarred me and left me pondering whether I might just believe this superstition after all.

One thing is for sure--there's not a chance I'm going to check when the next time this astrological event will occur.