I believe that horoscopes are pure baloney. But I like to read mine from time to time, sort of like how I play the lottery and pick up heads-up pennies: better safe than sorry? But really, the reason is more that it ‘feels good.’ Even though I know that it’s a work of fiction, it’s reassuring to read something suggesting that I’m going to have a good week or whatnot.

So I was playing around with the ‘widgets’ on iGoogle, and added a horoscope one. The past three days, it’s basically suggested that I’ll be lost in introspection, not my usual self, and that my life will be very confusing right now. As I start to think about what I’m going to do after college, this is alarmingly bleak.

I think horoscopes should be like fortune cookies: optimistic little sayings that brighten your day and make you feel good, even if no one thinks it’s worth a hoot. But when I turn to fiction to brighten my day, and it instead suggests I’m going to be miserable for a while, it’s not quite what I wanted.

I tried removing that horoscope and adding a different horoscope widget that drew its data from a different source. That one tells me that major events are going on behind the scenes in my life, and that, when they come to the surface, I should count on those I trust most to help me deal with them. Which is perhaps even more bleak than suggesting that I’ll be depressed the next few days.

Really, who writes these things? Do they stand to profit from the sale of antidepressants?