february 18th, 2005

a spam:

Held eight small how. Way, million carry cook, loud soon. Number
garden plant, natural sea. That hit first. Ground only set. May
fresh, wide. Arm knew repeat might better with. Change, mean
smile ever full place. Felt bring saw travel, egg, said. Contain
day represent, think, me state.

+++

stream of consciousnes:


you all, beauty chat
happiness seer sucker concubine news realings
everything i do for you
lacey wraps endearing slaps
free forming test strips searching wildly
guardian angels whiffle ball
let's go to that planet underworld
a million light years flying fantasic in to you
no shame no blame no wacky ticker tape parade balloon animals
shape of you
you squeak when i touch you

===

the new thing to sweep the internet :)
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/lyle_24/myhero.swf
---

i'm going back and finding some interviews with me long long ao when i went be rachael (my birth name)
i'm just going to post them here so i don't lose track of them:
http://www.subterrane.com/voog/blueup.html

Here's an article by Simon Peter Groebner at AE.
Next time you see an ad for A&E on the side of a University 13 bus, take note of its psychedelic design. Our art directress, Liberty Eggink, made some of them with this guy singing into a microphone; the others borrow images of a feminine eye, decorated with swirly makeup and glitter. I think the owner of that eye, Rachael, would find her optic exposure poetically appropriate. Rachael leads the Blue Up?, Minneapolis' most adventurous pop creation. Her ahead-of-its-time music is lush with magical fairies and uninhibited exhibitionists; startling emotional power beside fairy tale symbolism. And Rachael's favorite symbol -- besides cups, stars, snakes, Geisha girls and scissors -- is her eyes. Just observe her artwork and lyrics on the latest Blue Up? disc, Spool Forka Dish.

Her large, royally decorated eyes are tiny Rachael's largest and most expressive feature, rivalled only by her broad- ranged voice. Indeed, the combined height of the trio is less then 15 feet. But when guitarist Rachael, bassist Carolyn Rush and drummer Renee Bracchi take the stage, the Blue Up? is huge. When I first saw them three years ago in the Whole, I was nailed with the revelation that there's much more to pop than testosterone.

The band draws from an obscure fringe history of pop music, from psychedelia to progressive rock to punk to new wave; Pink Floyd to Kate Bush to Bowie, Babes in Toyland and beyond. Courtney Love once admitted that the Blue Up? album Cake and Eat It inspired her most famous Hole lyric: "I want to be the girl with the most cake." What's most amazing is that Rachael and her band have spent 11 years trapped in a music scene that barely understands them. Rachael's exotic and often controversial flair exudes a potential-star power that contradicts the sound, attitude and gender conventions of the Midwestern rock/work ethic. Spool Forka Dish is the most ambitious pop recording from Minneapolis since Prince's prime. It shifts gears so often, from 12-string guitar rock to synthesized bliss to acoustic meandering, that unaccustomed listeners may be disoriented. Rachael places a premium on recording and performance over musicianship, and she's not very staunch about doing her own promotion work. Yet Rachael's visions extend far beyond guitar-bass-drums in dingy bars. She's much more like Bjork: Her music becomes a post-rock platform for sensuality, whimsy, studio command and neo-feminist assertiveness. The artist lives in, not with, her art. "You can't tell me how and where to shine," Rachael demands on Spool Forka Dish; the irony is that unlike Bjork, Rachael hasn't quite gotten her chance to shine -- yet.

After all, the Blue Up? boasts the bizarre misfortune of having three excellent albums which are all rare or aborted. Rachael's first self-recorded effort, the engaging, embryonic Introducing Sorrow, never saw the light of day once its English label disappeared off the face of the earth with the master tapes. Strike One. The Blue Up? bounced back in 1992 with the masterful, explosive Cake and Eat It, which boasted 23 tracks of emotional catharsis, lush psychedelic production, soundbite oddities and defiantly tough pop. Within nine months of Cake's release, the band surged forth to hard-won local notoriety. But the spotlight was finite -- Cake was released to tiny distribution on a friend's label, Catacombs, and is now next to impossible to find. Strike Two.

Their luck seemed to turn around when former Prince drummer Bobby Z "discovered" the band, signed on as manager and ushered in a contract with Columbia Records. For the first time, the Blue Up?'s stars were aligned for success.

Or so it seemed. In a gabble of bloated disorganization, Columbia sat on the big-budget debut Spool Forka Dish for months, only to issue it last May with impotent support. The single "Breathe You Out" got excellent airplay at home, but Columbia lifted barely a finger to spread the word. Two months after the release, the Blue Up? predictably got the boot. Spool went out of print, and remaining sale copies are dwindling. Strike Three.

After enduring all this, most bands would have broken up three times. But the ever-resilient Blue Up? forges on. I've always thought the acclaimed dream-pop label 4AD would make a better home for the them. But until something happens, the Blue Up? remains our best-kept secret. (ED: Of course, they DID break up, but what the hell).

An interview with Rachael (Ana) by Jon Steltenpohl at Consumable.
I'd steal it and show it here, but it says not to right on the damn site.

+++

another interview


http://westnet.com/consumable/1995/08.19/revblueu.html

INTERVIEW: Rachael of The Blue Up?
- Jon Steltenpohl

I recently had the chance to speak with Rachael, the lead singer of an incredible, emerging Minneapolis band, The Blue Up?. The band recalls echos of Kate Bush, XTC, and Peter Gabriel, and younger music fans will find an immediate resemblence to Tori Amos. Recently, The Blue Up? were signed to Columbia with the help of their producer, Bobby Z. Fans of Prince will remember Bobby Z as the drummer in Prince's band, the Revolution. In fact, The Blue Up?'s new album, Spool Forka Dish, was recorded in Prince's Paisley Park studios. However, unlike Prince protege bands such as Vanity 6, The Blue Up? is Rachael's own band and her music bears little resemblance to the Minneapolis funk sound.

If there is any similarity, it is the connections with the Revolution's Wendy and Lisa. Fans of Wendy and Lisa will find that The Blue Up? is a must have album. Bobby Z also produced Wendy and Lisa's first album, and the mood and emotions are similar. Spool Forka Dish is a bubbling concoction of raw emotions, simple playground tunes, and studio noodlings. Some songs are layered with criss-crossing words and melodies that weave themselves into an incredible sonic tapestry while other tracks are fast, guitar driven, pop tracks which cut through your ears like a freight train. And admist this array of stunning tunes are snippets of tiny melodies sung in a cute girlish voice.

That voice is none other than the leader of The Blue Up?, Rachael. Talking with Rachael was a great experience. Her view of the world is at a slightly different angle than the norm, and it was refreshing to speak with someone who wasn't locked into the everyday way of life. Her voice embodies the unholy marriage of a spiritual earth mother, a 4 year old, and a valley girl.

Consumable: What's it like being signed to Columbia?

Rachael: Being on a major label is so elusive and strange. I mean, there's just really no way you can describe it or anything. A million things might be going on, but you can't explain it to anybody cause you can't even explain it to yourself! It's kind of like The X Files or something. As soon as you join the FBI, you're on this secret mission. But you don't know what your mission is, and you don't know who your boss is, and you don't even know why you're doing it.

C: How much control did you have over your album cover?

Rachael: In the beginning, I had some control, and, after a while it just took so long. They took control to get it done. In the end, I really didn't have anything to do with it. But in the beginning, I had really a lot of control so it's like 70% me and maybe 30% them. I got to tell them how the photo cover should be. But I had nothing to do with the font or how they did it or that blue sort of weird thing that's on the cover. And I got my art in there. That was cool.

C: That center one with a spool, fork, and dish; is that where the album title (_Spool Forka Dish) came from, or did you draw that after you came up with the title.

Rachael: No, I drew that after I came up with the title. I'm more of a visual artist than anything. That's what comes natural to me. It's probably what I should be doing, because it's easy. But the reason I chose music is because it's hard, and I don't get it. It's a challenge to me - "What was I thinking!" But I just wanted to challenge myself in different areas. And I really hate math, and music is really mathematical. So it's really, really hard for me. I'm not very prolific; I really labor over songs because they are so hard.

C: How do you usually write a song? Do you have the words down first?

Rachael: No, I write the words last. I write all the music first.

C: That's interesting because it seems to me like your lyrics are so much a part of the song in terms of how they're overlapped with the melodies.

Rachael: Yeah, "It's a bitch." Yeah, [it's hard] just to make them all fit. And you're like, "Oh, god." It takes me, weeks sometimes to make the words go in. I usually just start with titles cause I don't really like sentences yet, but I've gotten to like words. I'm kind of working backwards. So, I usually just come up with a word and then I'll go "Oh, I like that word." And, I'll write that down. I have all these words written all over my house. And, usually, I don't ever go back and look at them. They just end up in little piles everywhere because I'll always have a new word that day. And then, I'll write like five songs just from a guitar... little songs, little humming things that came into my head. I'll be working on about five songs over a year or something. And each one has this really cool part, but each one has this part which sucks. So, they never get done, and then you go, "Eyew, what do I do? How do I fix it?" And then, after a year, it's like a stew. It's just been sitting there so long, and they all marinate together. And I'll just go, "Oh my god! All five songs fit together!" Kind of like, "You've got chocolate on my peanut butter." "No, you've got peanut butter on my chocolate." I don't know, and then they all smoosh together. And then, usually just one word that I've picked out sort of fits in somewhere.

C: How did you go from just being a struggling artist to having Bobby Z find you and getting in this whirlwind of being with a major label and everything?

Rachael: Well, I would definitely say I'm still a struggling artist. (laughs) But, he saw us play at First Avenue (in Minneapolis). It was the most amazing thing. Renee, my drummer, she wanted to play in this local band showcase night at First Avenue. And she went to Glam Slam, which was only two blocks away because she was supposed to see one of her friends there before we went on. Right when she walked out, she saw this postcard on the ground of just this angel playing this musical instrument. I mean, it was just sitting there for no reason. But she picked it up, and we all thought it was a superstitious omen thing, you know. She brought it back, and said "Oh, this means we're going to have a good show. It'll be ok" because we were all scared and everything. And then we were like, "Yeah, yeah, it'll be ok!" So we all kissed this postcard, and then [at the show] I saw this mysterious guy in the audience who I'd never seen before at First Avenue when I'd been in there. But, obviously, he's been in there because he made that movie [Purple Rain]. It was weird. I didn't hear anything about it for days and then he contacted our record company. And it at all happened from there. He just loved our music and decided to shop it and then produced our record. He liked it so much that he became our manager.

C: I've always been a fan of stuff that Bobby Z has touched, like the first Wendy and Lisa album.

Rachael: Oh yeah, he loves that album. He's really proud of that.

C: I brought them up is because I can hear some harmonies like theirs in a couple of your songs. Was that from Bobby Z's help?

Rachael: No, I did everything. I did it all.

C: That's cool because, with artists like Vanity, you knew that those were just Prince groups. But, when I listen to yours, I didn't feel like Bobby Z did that much in terms of the sound He just let you do your own thing?

Rachael: Yeah, I pretty much did it all. He just let me have free reign and helped when I got caught on a glitch or something. He's very good for guidance - someone who just can hold your hand, who kind of knows the way, but you're the one that's walking - like learning how to ride a bike. You're riding the bike, but he's there in case you fall. He was just so kind, and he always knew when to push me and when not to.

C: So you guys recorded at the Paisley Park Studios, right? In the bio, it said that you were in the studio across from Prince.

Rachael: Yeah, he was rehearsing the whole time. He rehearsed like 6 or 7 hours a day. It was crazy. It's not like he was in there the whole time, but his band had to be. He has, all these tapes of his voice so he doesn't even have to be in the room while they're practicing. And, you would never really know if he's even in there or not cause you'd always hear... singing. But you'd always think, "Is he in there or is he not in there?". It was weird, but we were literally right next to it. He was in the other room rehearsing really loud. -bam bam bam bam kaboom kaboom kaboom- You know, you'd be recording "Capture This", and you'd hear "Mother fuckerrrrr!!!! One Two Three Four... and a One!" So it was really interesting for about the first month. Then after about the second month it was like, "Oh my god! Is he here again today!" But it was definitely a huge novelty. Most of the time, it was like, "Woooow!", and I was trying to see him. Actually, we were banned because we -looked- at him too much.

C: Tell me about "Beautiful Hysterical" - it sounds like it's just you and the guitar.

Rachael: Yeah, it is.

C: That one seems a lot like Tori Amos' music where it's just you and the instrument, but you get so much feeling and power out of it.

Rachael: Cool! Yeah, I wrote that in the midst of recording the album. I just had this urge. I needed to write something that was really brutal, brutally honest. Like when PJ Harvey has songs where her mouth is just right there. It's pure.

I just wanted to do something really rough because everything else is so layered. I just wanted one song that's like "Here's me not layered at all."

I'm proudest of that song, although no one really ever seems to mention it. I guess it's not a "happy peppy" number. (laughs) I mean, I'm always really happy when I write a song, but I'm never actually giddily pleased or anything like, "Oh my god!" But I really was pretty happy with it. It's like, "I DID IT!" And it's the longest song I ever wrote, because all my songs are like two and a half minutes long.

C: Why did you take the whole album and play it backwards on the last track?

Rachael: Cause I listen to albums backwards. I have a 4 track, and I can flip tapes over and just listen to them backwards. And I always just thought that was cool. Mostly, everyone doesn't like the backwards track. But I wanted to put it on anyway. I did it for those 3 people that would go "Yeah!"

C: Have you found any hidden messages in your music?

Rachael: Yeah, I did actually. "Spoons for Seven" backwards is funny because the song has such a calming effect. If you listen to it backwards carefully I definitely say, like, in this really funny voice, "I'm nerrrrvousssss!". And it's so true. It's really true because I am really nervous and stuff. And you're like, "Oh man, even when I'm trying to be calm and I'm writing a calm song, it still says, 'I'm nervous.'" The truth comes out!

C: "Spoons for Seven" is a neat little piece. Does it have a special meaning to it?

Rachael: No, it was mostly just kind of a vision. I was foggy dreaming of, like, how everything is equal in a way. Like, animals and organic objects as well as inanimate objects like hats were like equally as important and would get go to heaven and have dinner all together.

C: You have that spirituality going through a lot of your lyrics and your music. At the start of your bio, there is a quote from you that says, "I want to make people happy and bring them out of the state of being angry. I just want to be a part of people's happy memories." Is that a philosophy of your own? Or a religion?

Rachael: I don't know. That's kind of a goofy quote. (laughs) It changes from day to day. It's really hard to peg me down because, I could be completely different tomorrow. But, that doesn't mean that the part of me will go away. It resurfaces and kind of goes around. But, I definitely do though. I don't want to be the album that people put on when they're really in a bad mood, and they want to get in a worse mood. You know, when they're really in a bad mood, and they're like, "I'm going to put on Bauhaus and drrrrrink!" Although I love Bauhaus, they never put me in a bad mood. Now, Skinny Puppy, that can really put me in a bad mood. I'd just really rather be that kind of album that, when someone's in a really good mood, they go, "Oh, god, I really want to hear The Blue Up?" It's like, when you put on the B-52's or The La's, and the person's acting really funny and they wanna dust their house. I just really see my music as being "happy dusting your house music!"

Spool Forka Dish by The Blue Up? is currently available in any decent record store. The album is a powerful collection of songs that will really challenge your mind. Just like the best of Kate Bush's work, The Blue Up? combines exquisite, embracing songs with intriguing studio work. At times, Spool Forka Dish sounds almost as if The Art of Noise were playing only live instruments in their music. If Tori Amos is "a little too weird" for your tastes, then maybe you should stay away. But, if Amos only gets you hungry for more, then The Blue Up? should help feed the space between your ears.

===

and 2 more for the night

excerpt:
"One of the coolest features in the exhibit is a Minneapolis Rock Family Tree. When I first looked at it, I realized there were a lot of bands that were missing, then I noticed next to it they displayed a basic family tree with Sharpies and an invitation to add information about bands not listed. The bands that have spawned from the original rock and punk scene of the 80s are incredible: Semisonic, Babes in Toyland, The Blue Up, Polara, Sugar, Zuzu's Petals and more."

http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=blue_up

excerpt:

"BLUE UP?
Cake and Eat It (Catacombs) 1992
Spool Forka Dish (Columbia) 1995

If the Babes were leather-coated tenth-graders who magic-markered Iggy Pop's name on their backpacks and read Maximumrocknroll, Rachael Olson — who sings, plays guitar and writes the songs for the Blue Up? — must have been more of the feline Kate Bush/Salvador Dali type. Nearly a decade after the band's 12-inch debut, three-fourths of the original lineup took a major-label flyer on Spool Forka Dish, which attempts a rapprochement between a flip indie attitude, a rarefied sense of psychedelia and the potentially precious artiness of Tori Amos. As produced by former Prince drummer Bobby Z, the kitchen sink shifts blithely from small-scale acoustic folkiness ("Feel Me Dying," "Beautiful Hysterical") to punk screaming ("Come Alive," "Exhibitionist") to panoramic ambient house dreams ("Capture This") to Heart-like rock grandiosity ("Shine," "Breathe You Out") to out-and-out nonsense ("H. Sidakr of Loops," which — as might be guessed from the reverse title — is the album played backward). Materially, Rachael is not above the silly title-naming of "Blasting XTC," but she's also capable of the feminist freedom declaration of "Exhibitionist" and the whimsical reveries of "Spoons for Seven." All of which makes for an invariably attention-getting frolic in a fascinating artist's uncommon world. And how often does a 29-year-old urge listeners to "go buy S.F. Sorrow and Parachute by the Pretty Things" anymore?

[Ira Robbins]"

8:21pm

oh ya...
and to add to my aggravating day...and this is quite a normal day actually, i just usually don't bitch about it this much.
some stupid ass submits 2 photos that are not his own to photocontest and then adds all this text to it explaining how these are not his photos. it was some photo he found of some guy with a firecracker in his ass for the theme "embarrassing". so i rejected it and said "read the rules before you post".
he said he wasn't surprised that his submission was rejected because he thought it was too "edgy".
i'm like, no it was not rejected because it was "edgy" it was rejected because

1. they weren't your photos and
2. you added all this text to it.

and he said nowhere in the rules was the specified. i'm like (valleygirl speak) "you are out of you MIND"
and on and on and on.

just....argh.

last week's theme i had some 18 year old pregnant girl who had just been fired from Mcdonalds yelling at me for not letting her stupid ass photo of a bunny in for the theme "ear". as in ONE ear not 2.

i deal with this crap practically hourly, and if i told you all about it all the time all i would do is bitch. so i don't.

but today...i just had my FILL of it and i am letting off some steam.

i'm sorry, but you know me sometimes i just overflow and just arrrrgh! this is all such silly crap, but when it comes at you day after day after day.....oonce in awhile you just have to yell!

and when a person who you thought was your friend jeaporadizes your safety...well, i am just PISSED OFF.

8:19pm

stream of consciousness:

motherfucking motherfuck.
spiraling backward into.
cheap shot mofo crooked grin smile wicked blister makes me cringe.
you stooped sucked in to make me fidget. uncool in my book.
and so now u are on my shitlist.
worse for the wear mack truck bling bling your attitude busts like a wallet.
i've never been into that.
you're marked now pen and ink and red at that.
going down like an esculator in my little black book of nowhere.
YOU you YOU i had your ticket all along but
like a dumbass let you into my fruit trees.
well suck on this, hilary.
you've nowhere to go but down and out
in my record keeping memorabelia.
see ya.

7:18pm

i feel so exposed today.
like i'm all weirded out about that guy, but i'm starting to calm down about it now. i've gone over every single last crumb of psychology on it like a rake and now i have mostly let it go.
so i got my nerve up and went to the little store for cokes and i'll be damned if some guy right in front of my building doesn't say to me, "hey aren't you so and so's friend?" and ...he was nice, too. but he said, "ya, so and so told me you lived here". so i have to say i am rather irked about that that she is telling people who i do not know where i live! so AUGH!
i probably, by this time, am under some total massive delusion that where i live is a secret in this city.
i'm sure if total strangers are like "so and so told me you lived here" then the cat's out of the bag now and that's that.
but gosh i am really peeved that she is telling people where i live! gah!
i will write her an email and tell her that's not so cool, but how many people has she now told? and who have THOSE people told? farging A. MOST people aren't going to bug me but all it takes is ONE ass to make my life hell, you know?
and i've already had that happen to me when some VERY weird drunk guy in this building would get on on my BBS in the middle of the night and start spouting off the exact address of where i was. it was really scary and psychotic and thankfully that person is now gone.
sorry to be such a complaining person today but AUGH!
people dissapoint me!!! she should damn well know that i don't want people knowing where i live! not like this would have stopped this person from recognizing me and introdcuing himself. it wasn't like he was hanging out in front of the building in 25 degree weather to meet me. he just happened to be there. and so be it.
but now i know she is telling people!
it makes me wonder what other friends i have who tell people.
i mean i know my good good solid friends would never say a word, and this person on a scale of 1 to 10 of friendness is about a 4.
but STILL. i DO knw her well enough that she DOES know i would not want that kind of information divulged.

and because of a few things her "friend points" were going down in my book. but this has really sealed the deal for me that she is now on the "aquaintance" list and not on the list of "friends who may become better friends later".

4:48pm

i'm so insanely sleepy. i don't know what is the deal.
jason can't excercise today because he has to go pick up his car so my day is thrown a tiny bit off kilter.
i need some caffeine or something.
people are really bugging me today.
i had a really stupid "discussion" with this ass who was trying to shock me by saying they killed cute fuzzy animals and would even eat their own cats or brother *YAWNSVILLE*
i'm so sick of people who think they are cool, special, or shocking by saying stuff like that.
it doesn't make you unique. it just makes you another disconnected ass.

then in a photo community everyone thought it was oh-so-cool to rag on sandra bullock.
YAWNSVILLE!
it doesn't make you cool to rag on celebrities just because it's cool to do that.
it's just makes you another immature whiner whose trying too hard.

and THEN i got an email from someone who wanted me to search in the LJ directory for everyone in minneapolis because they wanted to meet people in their area. they couldn't do it because they are not a paid lj user.
well, for one, searching for EVERYONE in minneapolis would be an impossible task and secondly, i had no idea who this person is. so i wrote "who are you?", thinking they could at least give me their lj username so i would have an INKLING of who they are.
and all i get back is "i'm nobody, i'm the snowball guy"
which at 1st i'm think WTF? what on earth does that mean?
and then i remembered that russian kid who tried to hit on me at the post office and then googled me with "ana+hat" and found me. *sigh*
well, i HATE people who are sulky and give weirdass answers to a simple question of "who are you?"
i mean, he can't just say? he has to sulk and say "i'm nobody, i'm the snowball guy?"
wtf kind of sulky ass answer is that?
ooo, it irritates me! just SPIT IT OUT MAN!
if he can't even handle a really basic email conversation then i sure as heck am not finding him people to hang out with and i hope i don't run into him outside again. gah. NIGHTMARE.
now i have a sulky russian boy from my neighbourhood who knows who i am and is being, i think, just a wee bit weird. i don't fucking need it.

it's good that he is small so that i could defend myself against him.
not that i think he is going to turn into some violent stalker. i just don't KNOW.
i just HATE weird sulky people who cannot communicate, find out who i am on the internet and then write me cryptic sulky emails.
it's NOT a good way to get on my good side, i can tell you that.

i hope if i just ignore him he will go away.
he's probably a nice kid. but just...like really young and immature.
thing is i AM ignoring him and he is not going away.
i hope he doesn't join ana2 and read this, that's all i need.

gah! major aggravation.

well google searches work both ways and now i have found his lj and even amazon wishlist. he's 26. he seems harmless enough.
it's just weird to extremely briefly meet someone on the street and then they google you on the internet and then mail you things and then not be able to engage in a simple conversation?
like tell me who HE is on lj or something? just...something!
am i being the one who is weird? am i overreacting?
i guess he's just shy. whatever.
but man, it just kinda freaks me a little.
you know?
it's just kind of a weird way of going about things.
it's feels stalkery to me.
but i'm not scared of him, i'm just...really really annoyed.
you'd think at age 26 a person could say something more than "i'm nobody, i'm the snowball guy". doesn't that sound like something you'd say in 5th grade?

earthlings!

i'm going to go take a bath now.

4:46pm

http://misprintedtype.com/
(i could spend forever at that site!)

when i got old harddrive died and i got a new harddrive, all my fonts were lost...
so...tell me your favourite fonts!
i need to download some :)

i found some good ones in the replies here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mimle/150940.html

3:19pm

someone kindly sent me the 9 piece box of the gatsby + daisy collection of chocolate truffles:
http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/detail.aspx?ID=910&CategoryID=370
they are really good chocolates! delicious! yum!
but i must say i do not taste ANY HINT of roses or champagne!
not even a speck! i am mystified!

2:17pm

 

Horoscope for Aries (February 18 2005)


Your desire to be and do everything for everyone will be taken advantage of. Back off and do what's best for you. It wouldn't hurt to ask for a little help this time around, especially if you have taken on too much.

and

A self-assertive mood

This is an excellent time for accomplishing all kinds of work. Your energy is high, and you have faith in your ability to achieve. Usually your health is quite good now, and this influence is extremely favorable for all kinds of physical activity. In fact it would be very bad not to be physically active, because these energies must have an outlet. If they do not, they can cause problems even when they are basically positive. Nevertheless you are in a self-assertive mood today. If you have to fight with someone to maintain your position in any matter, you will be able to do it effectively. You are not inclined to back down, although you will seek out a common ground where the two of you can agree, if there is any.