"Written for Entertainment Purposes"

The Gazette, 18 April 2013

There is something to be said about horoscopes...I am not an avid horoscope reader nor do I believe in their accuracy. I think I did one day when I was in Junior High and was likely searching for reasons why a boy didn't like me, but also on that day I recall seeing in small writing "written for entertainment purposes" at the conclusion of a daily horoscope installment. It ended right then and there. Since then I have operated on making my own "horoscope" and taking things in strides.

Yesterday was the first time I looked at my horoscope in probably 20 years while I was waiting for the coffee in the gold handled pot to finish brewing...

In case you were not reading the Sagittarius horoscope in an Eastern Iowa newspaper it said" Go where you can use your talents. You need to be put in a position that speaks to your strengths. Otherwise, you will be in a constant state of resistance and dreading the next step".

I didn't think twice about it, but it made me think about the other Sagittariuses out there. I would be money that some are struggling with their positions and might read this as truth and perhaps even take it as a sign and act on it.

Because I always try and get the posts to relate to architecture here is my attempt...well, it's more of a story and why I didn't take this horoscope to heart:

Many architects have the story of "I've always wanted to be an architect. Since I was a little boy or girl playing with an erector set and Lego's, I knew it." For me it wasn't that simple. I didn't know I wanted to be an architect until I had an anthropology degree and most of a Masters in Architectural Studies completed. It was a fateful day sitting in my professors 1426 palazzo on the Arno River in Florence when I put the book down and said "No! I want to design the buildings, not read about them!"

And I never looked back.

This was my ah-ha moment, much like I'm sure a few Eastern Iowan Sagittariuses had yesterday reading their horoscope. If it was meant to be, I wonder if they acted on it. I'm not sure I would be as happy as I am had I not changed my life around in that instant.

I do, I must confess, always read my fortune cookie...I've had too many come out to be true than not. I had one once that said I would receive a very important letter and two days later I got a letter in the mail from Shive-Hattery saying that they wanted to interview me. And another time I had one that said "your mate will bring you a pleasant surprise"...within a week he proposed! Nutty.