Tag: Murphy’s law

Mercury retrograde

Mercury Retrograde Begins – Again!

Published on by dgkaye66 Comments

I have written about the planets and how Mercury Retrograde wreaks havoc in our lives before, particularly affecting communications, plans, relationships and more. It’s the time when Murphy’s Law kicks in – when anything that can go wrong, will go wrong as it emerges its ugly head and comes into effect. Well, welcome to this new cycle of trouble-making Mercury, which has arrived in full force.

Mercury comes to us approximately three to four times a year when it appears. It begins to appear as though it’s going backwards when orbiting the sun. It usually lasts for about three weeks, with a couple of add on days for good measure – three to four days before it begins, and the same after, known as the ‘shadow’ period. This year we are ‘gifted’ with four retrogrades – hang on to your hats! Well, it began yesterday and hasn’t wasted a moment of bestowing its gifts in my life already. You can read here about this retrograde and how it will affect you and your astrological sign. But whether or not it comes in your sign, just know, it really doesn’t spare anyone in some way or another. It officially begins today, but almost everyone I know has had a taste of it already this week.

Let me start with my awaking to a feeling of impending doom yesterday. I awoke with that feeling, turned on the TV and found the breaking news that the Queen was dying. I began writing a post that my insides were begging me to write about our beloved Queen, and within two hours later, she passed.

As I was having my own personal mourning period over the loss and talking to a friend on the phone, my internet and landline died too. I ran to my cell phone to try and call back the friend who I got disconnected from and found NO CELL SERVICE. Yes! It wasn’t the power, but AGAINNNNNNNNNNNNN Rogers network, which I only recently wrote about the huge communications outage with Rogers – Canada wide! I vowed to change over to Bell Media, and as procrastinating as I am, have not yet managed to get to that part. Well here was a good kick in the ass to remind me to GET RID OF ROGERS!

As though that weren’t enough, I’d yet to get a chance to call my bestie in England as I’d missed her call, and it came in just after the Queen passed. I then found another message I missed about a very good friend of mine and my husband’s being back in hospital again with his chronic breathing issues – courtesy of him catching Covid in early 2020, which has taken him to several hospital visits ever since. He suffers asthma and the Covid gave him many complications with it afterward. I then discovered another missed message from my friend I made in Mexico, Shelley, who I recently spent a week visiting her home about two hours east of where I live. Her and her husband had other friends over from Toronto this past Labor Day weekend and and were hit with their friends in their car by a suicidal drunk driver and almost killed.

I then proceeded to get dressed to get out and find some wifi again and in the process did my daily routine of stepping on the bathroom scale before I got dressed, and somehow managed to nick the corner of the scale on a wall while placing it back. And the scale died too. This retrograde looks like it’s going to be a doozy for me and some of the people in my life and it’s only officially day one.

One thing I’ve learned in life is to NEVER say, ‘What else can go wrong?’ Because I feel like that question invites an answer. So thanks for letting me vent. And please be careful and diligent during this VERY unpredictable phase. Consider yourselves warned.

If you are interested in learning more about how we are affected, this article below is quite succinct:

https://www.rd.com/article/mercury-in-retrograde/

Mercury Retrograde explained in simple terms:

©DGKaye2022

Newsworthy notes

The #BloggersBash Blues – Am I Going to the Bash or Not?

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Blogger's Bash Competition 2017

THIS ISSUE OF THE BASH COMPETITION IS FEATURING ‘MURPHY’

 

I have been looking forward to going to the Blogger’s Bash since I saw video and blog posts about how fun the last one was last year, and because so many of my wonderful British friends will be there.

 

When I formulate a plan to do something, I do it. I will move mountains and obstacles and arrange whatever it takes to see me through my mission. The only problem is, I can control my stuff, but I’m not in control of what fates are in store for the people I’m counting on to make my plan come to fruition. Also, when it comes to me and my best friend Zan, we’ve always had a third party meddle in our plans. In fact, this third party has been a part of our lives as long as we’ve been friends, and yet, we’ve always managed a way to dodge or work around “Murphy” and his motto: “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

D.G. Kaye and Zan

 

Zan and I laugh a lot, and even when there’s a matter we share between us that isn’t a laughing matter, we’ll instantly bring up “Murphy’s” name and blame circumstances on him, because his timing is the absolute worst. So here’s the thing, my plans to get to the Bash in the UK are on lockdown at the moment. Unlocking the plans will depend on whether Murphy sorts himself out before the day of the Bash, plus a day to let me get to the UK, and recover another from severe jetlag.

 

So here’s the scoop on my our (meaning mine and Zan’s predicament).

 

Zan is known as someone who is notorious for moving . . . a lot. She has bought, renovated, lived in, and sold many homes throughout her life. She emailed me in March while I was in Arizona to notify me that her house was once again on the market. She presumed the house would be sold and moved out of into a temporary rental while her and her husband built yet another house, but assured me, wherever she was at the time of the Bash, I’d be staying with her because I’m considered family and don’t require ‘guest’ attention or accommodation, a couch would be fine, and I could assist her in packing or unpacking, whatever the case would be at the time. But there have been several interjections by Murphy.

 

At first I was worried about going to the UK, leaving my husband alone for a week or so, but I had managed to arrange things on that front. Then Zan and I kept missing each other’s calls from Skype (time zone issues) and we finally got hold of one another and she updated me two weeks ago that the house issue was still dragging out with the lawyers of the buyers, and when it does confirm, she’ll have 28 days from that date to pack up, find a rental and move. Yes, the woman is an amazon warrior woman who gets shit done.

 

We kept stringently in touch of the updates so I could know when it was safe to book my trip and that I wouldn’t be landing in the UK on her actual moving date where I would also be relying on her to pick me up at Gatwick airport, a good hour and forty minute drive away from Kent each way, and the Bash date was growing closer as another week passed before the deal went through and the 28 days begin counting down.

 

A week ago, we spoke and the deal still wasn’t sealed but she told me to book my airfare anyway and we’ll deal with it when the time comes. Something nagged away at my subconscience and intuition, telling me to wait out the end of the week before booking and wait to confirm all was going to work out before I committed to an airline ticket I didn’t want to lose money on if I couldn’t go. Before last weekend approached Zan Skypes me again with her announcement ‘New Event Updates’, I knew full well that Murphy was making things difficult for both of us to connect.

 

At first Zan informed me that matters still weren’t sewn up with the house issue, but in the next breath, informed me that she’s coming to Toronto either this week or next. “Omg, what?????????” I threw my hands in the air and pretended to be tearing my hair out on camera as we talked on Skype.

 

Zan’s mom is ill, a suspected return of a cancer is quite possible. She lives here in Toronto, where Zan is originally from, and Zan’s sister is also ill, her sister being her only sibling and no other family to help their mother out, and considerably too much for her sister to take care of by herself. Of course with all the kerfuffle, we managed to laugh as Zan pointed out that Murphy was up to tricks again because she obviously didn’t have enough on her plate without having to fly back to Toronto in the midst of mayhem, which of course falls onto our plans of me coming there.

 

Zan said she will stay in Toronto for approximately 10 days to assess her mother’s situation and talk to doctors and when the house closes confirmed, will fly home to pack up her house in whatever time is left on the contract while her husband looks for a temporary home and if need be she’d hire packers to pack up her house, depending on the time frame left. So where does this leave me, besides the fact that I’ll get to spend time with my bestie while she’s here in Toronto?

 

So I said to her, if she comes and winds up having to stay till the end of May, we’ll fly to the UK together and I’ll still make the Bash. Now, we think that sounds good in theory and we’ve agreed that I shouldn’t book my fare until her life takes some more definite structure, and if things work out okay by mid to end of May, I’ll be purchasing a last minute flight to the UK. On the other hand, Zan isn’t certain if her mom could be living out her last days now, and may have to stay longer in Toronto and merely dash home to the UK for a few days to straighten out legalities and living arrangements and having to fly right back to Toronto again. So basically, Murphy has indeed interjected himself once again into our lives and plans, and as of this posting, I am unable to confirm that I am still coming to the Bash or not, depending on how all these chips fall.

 

If you found this post confusing, try being me and Zan, but then again, don’t even bother.

 

I know myself and many of my good friends who will be at the Bash are all waiting anxiously to spend some time and give each other some big hugs and I am doing my best to keep on top of the situation and am fully still willing to come to the UK, if Zan’s situation permits, up until within 3 days of the Bash if it should so work out that way and I can get a last minute deal for late booking as opposed to being robbed by an enormous price for same reason. So I just wanted to let my wonderful blogging friends here know the situation currently, because I know we’ve been anxiously waiting to meet, and if I can make it happen, I wanted you all to know what is entailed in order for me to do so.

 

Now that you’re all updated with as much as I know up to this point, I will certainly keep you all posted as Murphy the situation unfolds. As Zan says: “Pause, alert . . . watch this space.”

 

Oh, and I promised to give a shout out to Zan’s little grandies, Poppy and Barney, as they were visiting Zan when we last chatted and they were thrilled to show up in our Skype conversation wanting to know who their glamma was talking to and found it was cool to talk to their grandma’s best friend across the pond on a computer, and to be chatting with a ‘real’ author, lol.  I told you two little cuties I’d mention your name in this blog post. 🙂 Now go to bed.

Back from Vacay

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st. martin

 

Hello! I don’t usually like to broadcast to the internet that I am on vacation, but some of you may have noticed that my posts have been sparse. Yes, I went on a glorious two and a half week vacation to Florida for three days and then on a two-week Caribbean cruise. I had originally planned a whole routine of how I would sneak in some work while on vacation and put up a few posts a week and perhaps get some writing done but that proved difficult as the social activities abounded and I had such computer problems with my website while on the ship.

ship view Aruba

I bought an (expensive) internet package and as though that weren’t enough, the lag in between getting pages up was eating up my minutes hungrily. I managed to eventually get my emails up every morning ( in slo-mo) and get onto twitter and for the first four days I did manage to get here into my website. One day I could no longer log in to my site, a box came up that it was a malware site and I look like a robot and the ship’s internet provider wouldn’t let me access it. I went crazy. I spent time in the internet room with a tech, complained to guest relations but their internet provider, apparently a military provider based in the United Kingdom, deemed my site not safe. I then had to resort to days when we were at port and lug my laptop to a cruise terminal to try and pick up free wifi, but two ports proved to be bogus wifi. It seemed that hundreds of people were seated on the floors in these terminals, trying to connect to the outside world thus hogging up too much wifi and again I couldn’t connect. Although I did manage one more post as my determination was fueled to not be forgotten and managed to connect for five dollars in the terminal in Saint Lucia. I once again lugged my laptop and purse and shopping bag, trudging through the extreme heat in search of some wifi. That was my last post as the remainder of days were at sea and I was S.O.L. in accessing my site.

St.Thomas

Some of you may have noticed that I did still respond to any comments though because I did manage to find a way to get up my notifications by logging into to some of your blogs (thank you), I just couldn’t open my main page. I complained a lot to the front desk, to the point where they credited my account and gave me back tons of minutes for wasting my valuable time and paid minutes trying to log in. It seems that no matter where I am, I have these website woes. I was convinced that “Murphy” had sent some distant relative to accompany me on vacation so I wouldn’t forget him. I had visions of my readers wondering where I was and if I just abandoned my blog without notice. I think in future I may just post something like my friend Carol when she went on holiday. She put up a picture of a palm tree and wrote “Taking a Break”. That just seems so much simpler.

My Three Day Vacation…Or Was It?

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wtf

Every year at this time, my husband and I go south of the border for three days for a little Christmas shopping and some casino fun.  This time it was a little different, as we seemed to have an extra passenger with us; an unwelcomed passenger, in fact this little guy had been hanging around me for well over two weeks now.  I’ve given him a name over the years, as he always shows up at the most inopportune times.  Nobody can see him, as he is not human.  But, nonetheless, I know very well when he is around.  His name is ‘Murphy’, in fact, only me and my best friend Zan are aware of his presence and we named him together.

Why Murphy?  As in……’Murphy’s law’…..you know….. whatever can go wrong, will go wrong?  Yup, that’s him.  Murphy has taken quite a shining to me lately and I can’t seem to shake him.  Now I’m a girl who loves a good challenge, but this guy has been wearing me thin for weeks now.  When Murphy’s around, things break, communications get complicated, my computer gets possessed, things get lost.  There are delays and obstacles in everything I do it seems.  So just to give you a sampling, I’m going to share my mini holiday here.

While I looked forward to my little escape, I was apprehensive about leaving my work behind as my little world had become, just that, for many months, writing and working on my upcoming book, Conflicted Hearts.  So I took my laptop with me so I could stay in the loop.

autumnThe weather was gorgeous, beautiful autumn temperatures at 68 degrees and the beautiful red leaves in full colour.  After a day of power shopping, my legs didn’t seem to have the same stamina of yesteryear.  My legs were aching and comfortable shoes, were no longer.  Of course that didn’t stop me from fulfilling my addiction for high-heeled shoes and boots.

After dinner and an unsuccessful attempt to win any money, I went up to my room, turned on my computer and felt back in my element when I was connected back into cyber world.  It was all in all a good day, considering the bumpy two weeks at home that I seemed to be fighting Murphy off at every turn.  As I turned in for the night, I assured myself that things were looking up and Murphy had not followed me to the U.S.A.

The next day I woke up and when I got out of bed, my legs felt as though they had trudged 100 miles and didn’t want to move as fast as my brain wanted them to.  My husband went down to bring me up a Tim Horton’s coffee, black, so that I could eat my usual travel breakfast in my room.  Because I am gluten and dairy-free, it makes things a bit challenging to eat breakfast out, so I always bring along some gluten-free muffins, almond butter (for protein) and soy creamer for my coffee because I don’t like it black.  As I anxiously awaited the arrival of my coffee, I dragged my slow azz over to the mini fridge to take out my food.  Usually those little fridges never really get things very cold.  My husband returned with the coffee and I eagerly went to pour in the cream which wouldn’t pour because it had froze, along with my baseball-like muffin and block of almond butter.  Oh ya, I got that old familiar feeling that my buddy Murphy hadn’t gone too far.  As always, I needed to overcome his antics and find a solution to my frozen breakfast.

It was a lovely sunny day and the warmth of the sun had heated the room considerably.  I placed the muffin and almond butter on the window sill to try and thaw them, even a tad.  As I smelled my delicious coffee aroma, I was determined to find a way to get me some cream.  Light bulb idea.  I took my cream into the bathroom, placed a Kleenex over the spout to filter it as I blasted the blowdryer on high for a good ten minutes directly on the spout.  Oh ya, that’s right!  Nobody was going to come between me and my morning coffee.  I finally got to drink my cream laden coffee and I ate my semi-frozen muffin with some almost thawed almond butter and got ready for another shopping venture.  I had made a list of things to get for gifts and that day wasn’t too successful as it seemed as though anything I was after was either sold out, out of the size I needed or okay, whatever.

After a long day of shopping, I was now in my stocking feet because my feet were killing me.  While puttering around my room, I was wishing that out of the three pair of shoes I brought and the five new pair of shoes and boots I bought, I could find something that didn’t hurt while I wore them.  But no such luck.  So I forced myself to walk down to the casino at a senior pace and play some slots before dinner.  No luck.  After dinner, I decided that I didn’t want to go back to the casino, I would just go back to my laptop and catch up in my world and watch the Thursday night NFL game.  When I washed my face and got into my night shirt, I propped up some pillows, some for my head and two for my legs to elevate, I got out my laptop…….and it wouldn’t turn on.  I tried all my usual arsenal of tricks for this sometimes recurring incident that Dell insisted was fixed.  Again……not happening.  I resolved myself to just take the day off from cyber world and watch the football game.  As I flicked through the channels, I found, college football, baseball, tennis…..But No NFL.  Par for the course, I thought.  At least I found my Grey’s Anatomy and after that I passed out anyway.

The next day we headed home with all my shopping bags and weary bones in tow.  When I arrived home, I was eager to get on the computer and catch up on the 176 emails I had piling up in my account.  I sat myself down and opened my laptop, only to discover, it still wouldn’t turn on. I gasped.  I knew what was to follow and I didn’t want to go through the drill but I had no choice but to call Dell support.  I knew from the many calls in the past that this call was going to cut into my evening work time…..three hours worth!  While the tech did all the hocus pocus on my computer to no avail, I was flustered and counting down the passing hours that I would once again have to make up after.  They told me it was the LCD on my screen that needed replacing.  As I felt displeasure at the deduction, I made it clear that I’ve had so many issues that never seem to be resolved regarding this, and that I was a writer who had no time for this or to be sending out my laptop yet again, especially while I was on a deadline for my editor.  As she empathized with me she offered to send a tech to me later next week and in the meantime offered to assist me in connecting my old desktop computer’s monitor to my laptop.  I sighed heavily as I knew what that was going to entail.  She guided me through disconnecting it from my dinosaur desktop.  This procedure involved me moving furniture to get access to the back of the desk, leaving me a tiny crawl space and sorting through what seemed 150 wire connections all tangled up.  Finally I connected the two and voila, I had a screen.  After getting off the phone three hours later,  I proceeded to the basement to look for an extension cord.  That monitor from upstairs had to be taken downstairs to the family room where all my work was scattered all over the room in piles.  So I got an extension and went to the family room, I had to move the couch and the carpet to get behind to the plug.  My husband carried down the heavy monitor and placed it on the coffee table, perfectly blocking the view of the television and I went to connect it, except the cord I had found didn’t have a three-prong hole.  Duh, ya, perhaps I should have looked at the plug’s connection first.  By this time I was ranting with expressed volume as I used some ‘choice’ words.  My husband offered to bring in his industrial extension cord from the garage.  I was hesitant as I was afraid it may have had too much power and may have blown out the power in the computer, but at that point, I threw my hands up in surrender.  He brought in the dirty cord, which I wasn’t about to start cleaning, nor did I want it laying on my carpet.  So I plugged it into, yes, the hallway leading to the family room and let it lay across the tiles, coiled looking like an industrial site with the added cyclonic effect of papers all over the floor.  Now into the fourth hour, I began working.  It was weird and uncomfortable, as I typed on my laptop with the top half closed over the keyboard so I could see the too far away monitor with my not so great vision, but I plowed on through my emails and my follow-up comments to my wonderful blogging followers.

It was about midnight while I was surfing around when I noticed that my laptop had miraculously been showing what I was also seeing in front on the big monitor.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Once again, my possessed computer had shown new life.  What happened to the ‘LCD is gone’?  Why did I go through all this?  Was this yet another temporary appearance of my screen?  Should I cancel the tech service call to replace it?  Did Murphy leave, or is he playing games?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I do know the clock is ticking and I have to get back to revisions!

DGKaye©2013