Personal Horoscopes
My friend S. had this great idea about writing your own horoscopes. I didn't get it at first...it seemed that writing your horoscope was cheating, but actually it makes a lot of sense. You end up seeding your day for things you want to think about, or intuitively think might have some value. There's also the sense of mystery and anticipation, plus it's actually fun to throw something out there crazy to mix things up. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a new line of work. I like how it takes narrative concepts and puts them in the real world so that "Life Imitates Art".
Here are my first three:
Dave, on January 19, something you see through glass will trigger a childhood memory, remininding you of dreams past! Pay particular attention to sales clerks, and mind their wisdom!
Dave, you will gaze upon the winter sky and call to mind a challenge that you must face. You will appreciate smell in a way you haven't before. Search your refrigerator, and be amazed.
Dave, you are by nature introspective. Tomorrow, Jan 21st, the external world beckons! Something you watch on TV tonight will relate to you in an unexpected, yet familiar manner. Try drawing something...you may be delighted by what happens. Oh, and don't forget to take out the garbage.
Highly recommended! Already, we've synthesized some rules:
A good horoscope should have one thing you will be likely to experience, one thing to evoke some kind of reaction, and something completely nuts :-)
A good horoscope should have something that makes you introspective, look inside your self, extraspective, look outside yourself, and relational, look at the relationships between things!
I think it goes without saying that you shouldn't be too literal in fabricating your own horoscope. Give yourself some wiggle room! But don't make it too easy to fulfill...what's the point then? You're probably the kind of person who steals from the bank in Monopoly when you're the Banker and builds hotels everywhere...you're missing the point of playing.
Of course it’s easy, you just needn’t be personal about it and change it to third person speech. Also, generalize things instead of saying specifics. And you can trick anyone ;)