It’s almost the end of the zodiac year of the rabbit. According to tradition, you must be weary during your zodiac year because your year tends to warrant more bad luck. I think I can confirm that for this past year. As we slide into the year of the dragon, the final push of bunny bad luck seems to be following me.
The other day I was on the D train towards Manhattan with Luca and somehow the topic of some old high school classmates came up. I won’t lie, I was talking mad smack about these people. During that moment of shit-talking, I unconsciously started fiddling with the rings on my hands. I decided to remove one, revealing a fresh cut covered by the ring. I scanned the ring for any sharp bits or if a piece of a rock or something got caught between my finger and the ring - nothing came up. This spooked Luca, a very spiritually sensitive person. I thought it had to do with karma because I was saying less-than-nice things about some people from high school at that moment. Luca kept saying it had to do with another ring I used to wear.
A few weeks ago I attended an art book fair at Pioneer Works. A beaded ring I used to wear every day snapped while I was in the art space’s outdoor area. Tiny tiny pearlescent beads flew everywhere. I tried to catch them but the small beads slipped through my clumsy fingers. The beads I couldn’t catch escaped through the planks of the deck I was standing on. Luca had a bad feeling. I was already so distressed that day because it was the day of my ex’s birthday party that he never invited me to even while we were together. My trusty ring breaking did not help my uneasiness. I never fixed the ring or got any sort of replacement. I usually wear two rings on my left hand but after that day, only one nickel band adorned my hand. This surviving ring is what caused the aforementioned cut. Now I don’t wear any rings on my left hand out of paranoia.
When I got off the train at West 4th St, I felt vulnerable and naked with my bare hands. As I exited the station, before the turnstiles, I encountered the street photographer Daniel Arnold in his natural habitat scoping out a shot of some tourists. I was a bit starstruck because I’m a big fan of his work. In fact, a few weeks ago I attended his artist talk at Index Space. Every person attending the talk was straight out of r/analog clad in rolled beanies and expensive Leicas hanging from their necks. Daniel Arnold poked fun at them by showing us never before seen iPhone photos he took on the first gen iPhone back in the day - probably more telling of a good story than any of the photos those film photo bros were taking with their expensive cameras. The hosts of the event continued to top off Arnold’s glass of wine throughout the talk, even when he mentioned he rarely drinks. What was meant to be an hour-and-a-half talk went well over two hours. The man kept talking and talking about his passion for capturing New York. At one point, he accredited his unparalleled desire to capture New York to the utmost loneliness and horniness he felt in the city. He thought he would be single forever and the only way to take all the pent-up tension of being lonely was to focus it all on photography. He is now in a committed relationship if that matters. I honestly related to him. He reminded me of my college self so caught up in tiny hyper-fixations of art and design that I never felt the need to date. I have a newfound respect for Daniel Arnold - it was a real treat to be there. That’s Daniel Arnold himself sitting on the floor pictured below - and me right behind him!
Anyway, back to West 4th St. We were there to scope out a yarn store for Luca’s newly founded crochet shop. I wanted to check out some other stores in the area afterward and as we walked around, I suddenly had a violent hiccup attack. I was hiccupping at full volume so aggressively almost to the point of gagging and puking. I looked at Luca baffled. What the hell is happening I thought. They rummaged through their bag for a bottle of water that I chugged and eventually, the hiccups went away.
Luca said I needed to get a replacement for the beaded ring that broke. Or at least something round to bring back a similar energy or protection like that of the evil eye. When we got home, they gave me a round pale blue crystal called Angelite. It was meant to make my bond stronger with my guardian angel. Where is she though… I need her the most now. Luca also gave me a tarot reading to make sense of all this craziness in the past few months. I drew 2 of cups, 3 of cups, and 7 of cups reversed. To put it simply, there is an imbalance regarding what it is I want in life right now (I think this could mean anything between career and relationships) and I should surround myself and trust in my friends/people who love me to get through this. It felt pertinent as I just made my two-year work anniversary and I also just started dating again (perhaps I’m not ready for this just yet but time will tell).
Happy Lunar New Year to you, my readers. And to my fellow bunnies, the bad luck is almost over! I hope you’re celebrating the start of the year of the dragon properly! xoxo until next time