-scopes. & imaginary friends.

i get this rather embarrassing email everyday that has to do with cats.

many moons ago, i signed up for some free astrological reading per day thing. it’s one of those things you sign up for when you’ve been browsing your astrological chart(s) for over an hour and reading about what moons might be aligned with some planet that apparently will totally rock your world if you’re not careful. if you’re like me, you’ll sign up for this in a moment of complete weakness.

the only times i have ever sought wisdom from the stars has been when i have found myself without any answers elsewhere. maybe you are depressed. confused. lost. angry. unsatisfied. whatever it is, after calling on friends and family to help you find some resolve in your life or current state of what-have-you and they don’t provide you with the answers you wanted to or expected to hear, you google your zodiac sign.

or at least this is what i have been known to do.

if my friends and family (and my own logic) cannot explain why i am finding myself in the what-have-you place that i seem to have found myself in, i’ll consult my imaginary friend(s) in the sky. call it pathetic. call it a coping mechanism. call it what you want, but i bet more of us are doing it than we are willing to admit. 

speaking of imaginary friends, did you ever have one ? or some ? i did. i had quite a few actually. i am certain that the movie Drop Dead Fred spurred me to create my own imaginary friends. and it’s not as if i was lacking real friends in my life, but i remember feeling pretty damn cool that i had them. and i don’t want to say this for fear of knocking the actual flesh and blood friends that i had when i was kid (because i’m still close to many of them), but i think making up imaginary friends is an exercise that maybe, in some way, prepares you for the life ahead and the people you choose to be around.

it’s an opportunity for you to use your imagination to create your perfect friends. being an artist, my imagination has always run wild and the thought of making up some imaginary people to hang out with was incredibly appealing. i could tell them anything (without fear of them spilling the milk) and if i got sick of them i could stop hanging out with them whenever i wanted to and if i found myself feeling lonely i could hang out with them right away. i’ve always been a dreamer. and apparently, after reading what i just wrote, i’ve always been crazy, too.

i remember sitting at my desk in elementary school (and no, i never invited my imaginary friends to school) and looking out the window. the school i went to was partially underground. literally. the windows started around the third way up the walls at ground level. so, looking out the window meant you were staring at grass and the gym building just fifteen feet past the grass. i actually really liked that sort of environment, perhaps i was a mole in a former life.

that said, i remember, on more than one occasion, my mom approaching me with my report cards. i was never an A++ student, but i retained a steady A-B average all through school (the only class i have ever failed in my life was religion and i’m still proud of that). she was not concerned with my grades, but with the little comment that a teacher would jot down at the bottom of said report card. this comment was not so much about my inability to focus, but about the fact that i was always staring out the window during class. and i remember staring out those windows. still, to this day, i felt as if whatever was going on outside was probably a lot more important than what was happening inside the classroom (i’m still proud of this, too).

looking out those windows was so therapeutic. it was an escape from my classmates, the teacher, the algebra, the grammar, etc. and i still stare out windows. i am still under the impression that whatever is happening outside is probably a lot more important than whatever is happening inside my room, my apartment, my place of work, and probably even my own head.

getting back to this embarrassing email about cats. i get my own astrology horoscope every day in my email. it’s stupid and inaccurate, just as i would expect it to be (and yes, i read it every morning and usually laugh to myself). a few months ago, when i was having one of my moments of weakness, i opted for some free “in depth” astrology reading online. the only cat(ch) was that i had to sign up for another nonsensical free daily horoscope. i had probably close to twenty options. romance horoscopes, career horoscopes, and the like. but there was only one horoscope that caught my eye.

it was the daily CatScope.

i own a cat. her name is Alaska. she’s a rescue cat and everyone who has ever had the pleasure of meeting her can vouch for the fact that she is the most talkative cat you could ever meet. she meows incessantly. i can have full conversations with her. i particularly enjoy playing the “meow game”, whoever meows last wins. she wins nine times out of ten. a lot of people claim their cats “meow a lot.” trust me, your cats have nothing on Alaska.

so owning a cat prompted me to sign up for the daily CatScope. even if i didn’t own a cat, i would have probably still signed up for it. the daily CatScopes are hilarious, i highly recommend them.

the best part ? these horoscopes are far more accurate than my own.

[palm readings. micron & marker in moleskin.]

jessi