mercury retrograde

my girlfriend pointed out to me the astrological fact that the planet responsible for communication and ideas, mercury, has appeared to trail 'backwards' in its orbit across the sky---a condition also known as 'retrograde' by ancient astronomers/astrologers. if the planet ruling communications and other 'mercurial' fiefdoms is appearing to move in the opposite direction, what effect could, almost logically [in a medieval way] be anticipated? that all one's communications can be botched, undone, untied? yes. no wonder my head has felt turned 180 degrees...

i don't know if a small planet very far away is responsible, but i do know that this past week had been a communications DISASTER with my said girlfriend as well as with my attempts to find an apartment at the jersey shore. other co-varying factors most surely are: the fact that i'm using craigslist almost exclusively in my housing search; that i'm searching in new jersey...after two solid months of banging my head against the wall [to make myself feel BETTER], hours of driving, being told off and blown off, this morning i've finally had a moment of closure in my housing search!

dare i share my most interesting housing search snafu?

the listing was modest and no-frills enough: share my beautiful home. large, wi-fi, your own kitchen, yard, friendly black lab, etc. i think the black lab had me sold on it before anything else. the owner was difficult to understand over the phone due to her accent [or was it mercury?] but we talked and worked out a time to see the apartment. i pull up: very nice neighborhood! grand, new house! very promising! i meet the landlady, the kids, the dog...everything great so far. the space is expansive---the whole basement floor, in fact. the landlady tells me she isn't a private person---leaving me to wonder about the significance of having said so...though the comment verged on classic-segues-into-pornography, i didn't dwell too much on it.

next day, i left a voice mail message, informing her of my decision to take the place. then i waited a number of days for a reply. then she leaves me a voice mail message, asking me what my decision is...and that she can only accept the rent in cash, being that she isn't supposed to have tenants in her house. didn't she get my message? cash?! red flags! next, i e-mailed her saying that i wouldn't want to put myself into such a precarious housing situation, in a place where i'm not supposed to be. she writes back: no one can tell me who can or can't live in my home. i want someone to live in as a family member, who i can rely on when i'm not here...[and charge them CASH for the privilege?]

translation: she wants help with her two children since she works so much....er, don't people get paid to do that, not pay to do it? after a sherlock holmes-ian line of questioning, i discover her true motivation! in the same way, my girlfriend and i needed hours of telephonic emotional archaeology to unearth what we really have been trying to say to each other during the past few days...[we're better now, thank you!]

damn you, mercury, moonwalking across the sky!