no relapse, but I am stuck in a forein country- we get a week of break but almost everyone here has 2-3 papers due as soon as it ends. I could go see my good friends in another city- but probably at the expense of this coursework- which I don’t even want to be doing! I want to keep my promise to my friends! but I don’t think I can…

argh, I’m so sick of school. I want to ecape.

but then, I’ve been saying that since middle school.

Hunkered down here trying to get through the week. I’ve been sick for a week but I work as a dog groomer. It’s me and my boss and if I don’t work she has to take up all the slack. EVERYONE wants their dog groomed the week before Thanksgiving so I take some pepto or some advil or both and keep trucking through.

Today our new apprentice snapped and threw a temper tantrum which caused a dryer hose to hit a co-worker. For that and a few other transgressions I let her go.

Money is tight, schedules are tight with my kids and my boyfriend’s kid and work. Something will give though. It always gets easier again.

While sitting at my computer staring at Cheney’s chart and wondering how Mars backing into his Neptune will manifest, there was a sharp jarring. I thought it might be my neighbor slamming her door but a minute later the FM station announced that Santa Barbara had, indeed, had a little earthquake. I quickly entered the data for the earthquake and the Ascendant of the quake was 24 degrees Gemini - the degree at which Mars will station before turning direct in early 2008.

I’m paying attention to 24 degrees of anything right now. I’m wondering how it will manifest when Mars backs into George Bush’s Neptune while it is retrograde…

Feeling bad for turkeys today.

Caught a son in a lie ONCE AGAIN (I didn’t catch him so much as it was just a blatant in your face couldn’t miss it lie)- and I wish to be done w/assisting him w/his ‘life’ stuff, but because he has to go to his class or default on the entire course and he has to have the class w/100% attendance to take the test to get certified to keep his job, good old Mom bailed his butt out of a jam once again and hauled him to class because his car is in the shop. It was the old ‘all roads lead to bleak’ syndrome! SMIRK!

Can’t seem to convince the little bugger that he is shooting himself in the foot, but father-dearest & I are getting to the end of our rope w/him.

My child is acting like a turkey-rear-end.

Yeah, nothing is going right here, either.

My man got laid off, then his car was stolen. I’ve been arguing with my ex over turkey day plans with our kid for at least a week. Mom’s dryer broke just when I was trying to catch up on laundry, so now she needs her dryer fixed or replaced and I have to do laundry at the laundromat. And it just keeps going…

Horrible money and living situation. Okay, the living situation isn’t that bad, but the person who lived there before painted her walls dark green and hot pink and yellow and silver … and drew smiley faces and for this Leo … dark green is not going to cut it.

Money? I don’t even want to talk about it.

I’m going to do what I normally do this time of year .. pray to God I don’t get called to my job. The only difference is I’ve been in a limbo state - in suspense - for the last 7 mos. regarding that job, all the attempts I’ve made to avoid it have worked, the ONLY difficulty (besides saying good-bye to it permanently) may be the holidays. I think it amazing and pathetic there are people who can’t handle one holiday away from family; I’ve spent 14 years with most holidays on call and away from my family of origin….I don’t even relate to traditional ceremonies anymore and look at them like quaint pagan rituals almost.

Since I’m # kazillion on call tomorrow it looks like I may be cookin’ the pack of Cornish game hens though .. well, one of them. The other must be eaten raw by the dog.

I’d like to jump in here as I have a few thoughts about Mars Retrograde in Cancer. First I want to add a little perspective. I think that holidays are hard no matter what the planets are doing. So many people have such huge issues. Since I re-married (1994) a man with two children of his own our holiday’s, particularily Thanksgiving, have always been extremely hard. There’s so much pressure on the kids to be with the family that’s the most stuck. To make things easier I tried shifting our Thanksgiving to Friday. No breaks from the ex-spouse or my step kids mom….not only did she get them for thanksgiving, she interfered with their coming to our dinner the next day. Until people grow up and learn how to act instead of react, everyday is Mars retrograde as far as I’m concerned.

Now, for the flip side. What I did notice was that people that have planets or cusps in cardinal signs, and in particular those that share the points in a composite chart, had unexpected accidents on the home front. The day after Mars turned retrograde one of three cats tipped a can of paint thinner over on himself.

I had been wondering how the retrograde in cancer would play out, so shortly after this event, which is really out of the ordinary for us, I realized it would present accidents or crisis on the home front.

Now I have a question for the experts. Can anyone tell me if they have noticed a Neptune/Venus (Venus in Neptune’s shadow) conjunction in the charts of men who incest sisters, step sisters…???