Signs

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?

~ Five Man Electrical Band

no….

Born under a bad sign
Been down since I began to crawl
If it wasn’t for bad luck
You know, I wouldn’t have no luck at all

~Albert King

nope….

Suspicious signs
Within your mind
Will make this jinx complete
And now you find
The end of times
When the black cat crossed your feet

~ Paraskavedekatriaphobia (Friday The 13th)”, Fozzy

who???

Had a strange experience the other day with my alarm clock. Thought maybe some of the above music lyrics would make sense of it all.

But they really don’t.

Going to bed the other night, my hubby looked at our little square alarm clock (that everyone has owned from the beginning of time) and said “Am I drunk? Look at the clock!” Since we both just had chocolate milk, I doubted that was the case. I turned around and looked at the clock on my headboard and it said:

18:88.

We hadn’t had a power outage lately, so I figured it was just stuck. Plugged into the wall, so it wasn’t dying batteries either.

Pushed the clock button. 18:88. Pushed more buttons. 999. Okay. A different button. 666. “Isn’t that the devil’s number?” I asked. No response. My last attempt produced a 999 backwards.

I unplugged the clock  and tossed it in the garbage.

Now. Wackier minds than mine might take those numbers as a “sign.” From whom I haven’t a clue.

But just as there is supposedly signs from the Goddess and God everywhere you look, signs are hard to interpret. Since all interpretation is in your head, it’s easy to make a sign say anything you want.

18:88 interpreted by the Five Man Electrical Band would tilt to the hippy version; long haired hippy freaks dancing to a psychedelic number in the sky. To Albert King, 18:88 is just another depressing number in a long line of depressing numbers. Paraskavedekatriaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th) as sung by Fozzy (whomever he is) could lead to frozen moments of jinxes and black cats.

Signs can — and are — interpreted by everyone differently. If finding an upside down pineapple on your walk through through the woods means the end of the world to you, you might need to start preparing for it. If your find four peas in a two-pea pod, something big might be in your future. If you find a cardinal feather by your bird feeder your deceased friend may have  been by and left you a note.

You can also choose to see things as they are.

An upside down pineapple.

Four peas in a two-pea pod,

A Cardinal feather.

Don’t spend your life looking for signs to guide you. Note such anomalies, marvel at them, take what you can from them, and keep moving. The world doesn’t slow down just because you’re trying to interpret it’s quirks and droppings.

Sometimes weird numbers on a clock are just that. Weird numbers on a clock.