R.I.P. Cassandra Lynn Hensley

(reposted from my collectibles blog)

R.I.P. Cassandra Lynn Hensley, who died two nights ago following an evening where cocaine and champagne were consumed after a time of not feeling well. She was 34 and leaves behind a daughter.

I didn't know the February 2006 Playboy Playmate Of The Month, but I do know models who did, and this has come as a shock to two of them in particular.

Her Twitter account still updates with her automatic daily horoscope, and the one published just hours after her death turns out to be eerie in retrospect:

Unspoken obligations prevent you from doing what you wish today. No matter what you do now, you might not feel completely fulfilled. Working harder isn't the answer, but neither is escape.

As a tribute, here is a card I got in a box of Benchwarmer's 2006 Holiday cards, an autographed insert (#15 of 16):

The Zodiac Killers

I was born September 14th, a long, long time ago - in a galaxy that seems far, far away.

All my life, I'd been told I was a Virgo, those pure, über-clean nerd people. That, apparently, was according to the Tropical Zodiac, which pits Virgos as those born between August 23rd and September 23rd.

Turns out there's such a thing as a Sidereal Zodiac associated to a Cyril Fagan person who decided Virgos should be born between September 16th and October 15th, making me a Leo instead (August 16 - September 15). To half-corroborate this, Walter Berg and the International Astronomical Union (yep!) pit the Virgos' cycle as actually being from September 16th to October 30th, and Leos being from August 10th to September 16th.

Leo... that's manly, authoritative and extrovert. Kinda fits a singer/songwriter. Plus, the only thing I ever kept in any kind of order was my music (CDs, mp3s) and films (VHSs, DVDs). So, yeah, if I were a believer, that one would fit much better.

But one thing's for sure: in the Chinese Zodiac, this is the Year of the Rabbit, and I am a Horse. I know at least a dozen ladies who will agree.

So Happy Chinese New Year. We're in either 4709, 4708 or 4648, depending which scholar you wish to believe - which is my favourite part of the Chinese calendar: they don't give a shit about a timeline, no one's keeping score, they just ring in another new year by celebrating the year's harvest and they take the time to cleanse the crap from the past year and hope for a better one ahead. Literally, according to Wikipedia:

The Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

Jesus fucking Christ - they actually remember what the point of being a human being is. When will they take over the planet already?