I had a stressful week.
The Free Three-Day Challenge should have opened for registration last Monday, except the tech behind it didn’t work. Every attempt resulted in bogus errors.
Five different people/companies worked to find a solution. Based on their recommendations, I tried this, then that, then this other thing. No go.
By mid-week, I decided to postpone the challenge until we could fix the problems.
Many attempts ensued with even more failures.
I snapped at one of my best friends this week, not once, but twice.
My cell phone wouldn’t allow me to listen to voice messages. Others told me they couldn’t leave me messages.
Then, someone in Life Writers said, “Oh, Mercury is in retrograde. That’s what’s going on.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but I liked the idea of having something to blame everything on.
A little research landed me on The Old Farmer’s Almanac website, which explained the concept. Four times a year, the earth’s position in its orbit in relation to Mercury gives the optical illusion that Mercury is traveling backward, hence Mercury in retrograde. This instance began on April 21 and continues through May 14. Ugh!
I don’t know much about astrology, but Mercury is supposedly the god of communication, intelligence, media, and technology. When the planet is in retrograde, the Almanac says to expect confusion, delays, frustration, increased tech problems, and miscommunications. That described my week!
Finally, late Friday afternoon, a tech support team figured out the problem, which resulted in an easy fix.
So, the Free Three-Day Writing Challenge is on and now open for registration.
If you’ve never done a challenge, read last week’s post: What’s a Writing Challenge?
It’s a way to write, learn, read great stories, meet new people, and have fun at the same time.
Who knows if Mercury in retrograde had anything to do with my website problems or bad behavior. Still, I will be careful, deliberate in what I say, and not take on anything extra until May 14, just in case.
What about you? Have you had negative experiences you attributed to Mercury in retrograde? How do you handle times when nothing seems to go your way? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
Then, sign up for the Free Three-Day Writing Challenge: Writing Emotion.
Remember, the only way to do this wrong is to not do it at all.
Until next time, happy writing.
Please note: All grammatical and typographical errors have been put in this article for
your enjoyment in finding them.
Pat, I certainly appreciate your clarification on the subject. And here I thought that some gremlins were breeding in our internet which only works – seemingly – when we don’t need it! Phone was out. Voicemail didn’t pick up. Calls didn’t go out or come in…
Please forward your complaint to Comcast who will be thrilled to learn that Mercury is officially on the hook for the outages. We must be saying our prayers wrong.
On a serious note: We’re glad you got things squared away.
Heck, yes, I’ve had tech problems this week, several. I thought that someone must have hacked into my phone, my computer, my app accounts and Netflix. Glitches and their solutions make me crazy. If it is Mercury in retrograde at least it’ll be over in a few days.
So sorry for your problems. Tech problems can be so very frustrating. I did have some files come up missing this week from the website I maintain and I haven’t yet been able to find them. Could it be Mercury?
I love this! Had the same sort of week myself … sending u all the best!