Virgo: "The ermine is so fastidious that he will allow himself to be caught by hunters before he will take refuge in a muddy spot," wrote Leonardo da Vinci in his Bestiary. The legendary behavior of this small mammal has a resemblance to certain Virgos. Let's hope you're not one of them. To avoid getting trapped in the coming days, you will have to be willing, even eager, to get dirty. Here's your motto: The miracle is in the mess.

I got very little done last night. Honestly, the news about Heath Ledger kind of floored me. I know it's somewhat odd to be so down about a celebrity I've never even met, and I can't really put my finger on why this particular one is so hard. I guess it's that some celebrities live lives that are openly full of dysfunction: Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan.... so openly self-destructive that you can't help but feel sorry and angry at the same time, and you have to grudgingly admit that you wouldn't be too surprised to read that headline. And Heath wasn't always the most altogether guy, but my take on his interviews was that he always seemed honest and insightful and so very human. Always, he was passionate about his work and excavating his own feelings to lend emotional credibility to his roles. He was an incredibly talented actor, and there are bits of me that are in mourning for my own teen heartthrob days. shadowcaptain hit the nail on the head when he said that to a degree, celebs cultivate their own notoriety, and we live vicariously through them and those they play... so it is a loss, even if it is a loss of publicly-presented persona. A little bit of quiet sadness in my day.

Also, I don't believe in hell, but some part of me hopes that a special hell exists only for the members of the WBC. Their hatred is a disease.

What I did get done is planning out tomorrow's supply order and ordering a couple of deals... I got five green garnet briolettes for an absolute steal. They just might be going into a Firefly-inspired piece, but I'm going to have to be really careful about that one 'cause Fox likes to sue. I talked for a bit with zenmaster and texmorgan. Seems I'm going to have a Tex this weekend, which means I need to do a quick cleanup to make my room presentable. It's been a rather artistic mess of late.

In odd news, I got an email from a friend to guage my interest in a job in NYC. It's strange; before last November, I never would have considered moving to New York. And I'm not sure I'm ready now. I have a job here with coworkers I like, and that's worth something. My friends and support network are here. But on the other hand... I'm starting to feel like the pond Baltimore offers is too small for me. I want to move, but I'm not sure where. Part of me wants to move to London or another part of the UK, but I don't really have a reason. But it seems that all signs have been pointing to NYC of late. It's something I'm going to have to give serious thought.