I recently celebrated my 15th birthday. And I don't know about you, but I just love having birthdays! There's just something about being catered to for the day, getting everyone together at my favorite restaurant, and eating as much birthday cake as I want -- not to mention unwrapping birthday presents. It's just awesome...
I hope I never outgrow birthdays.
Recently, I realized that a bunch of people close to me were all having birthdays at the same time and I started thinking about the similarities in our personalities. And that's when it hit me that we were all Geminis!
Don't get me wrong: I'm a pretty practical person. I mean, I don't plan my life around my daily horoscope or anything like that. But I do like to read about star signs and the compatibility with other signs of the zodiac.
And if you've ever checked out your horoscope in a Teen Vogue magazine while you were waiting at the orthodontist or standing in line at the store, you have to admit that a lot of the time, what they say about you and your personality is pretty accurate. Right?
Well, in my family we have one Scorpio, one Virgo, two Capricorns, and two Geminis. And I have to tell you, we pretty much follow our star signs by the book.
For example, my little brother, Sloan, is a Capricorn. Capricorns are described as natural-born leaders. They are practical, ambitious, responsible and humorous... on their good days. And that's Sloan. In fact, a few weeks ago, we had to travel to shoot the video for my new single, "Gotta Get Out," and I was really glad that Sloan came along. We joked that he was our "roadie" because he took care of all our stuff during the shoot and made sure everything was safe. He was even in charge of navigating the subway in a foreign country. He did a great job! He was the perfect roadie. But best of all, he kept me entertained. The trip was so much more fun because he was there to joke around with. He kept everyone laughing because he's just hilarious.
On their bad days, Capricorns are described as suspicious or dictatorial (control freaks). And I gotta be honest (hopefully Sloan won't read this), sometimes that's Sloan, too. But because he's my little brother and I understand this Capricorn side of him, he gets a pass when he's having a rough day.
My Mom is a Capricorn as well. And because I know that she will read this, let's just say that she and Sloan understand each other very well. In fact, even though they are goats, they never butt heads.
My Dad and I are both Geminis, which means that sometimes we have very interesting things to say and we can talk, and talk, and talk -- and other times, we don't say anything at all. That's right, we each have two personalities, like twins. And yeah, sometimes we might procrastinate a little and other times we might come across as know-it-alls, but hey, we're Geminis, and our minds are too busy to be concerned with those details.
Then you have my older brothers, Alfred and Tyler. Alfred is a Scorpio and Tyler is a Virgo. True to his star sign, Alfred is black-and-white about almost everything. There's no gray area for him. He also has really good intuition, and is a fierce competitor. Does he think he's in supreme control and does he love giving orders? Of course -- that's why he makes a great doctor.
Tyler is a lot like Alfred when it comes to being analytical and observant, but he's also very skeptical which can be frustrating sometimes when I'm trying to get him excited about doing something new, like listening to a new artist or going to see a new movie.
So now you know all about the Cinkles!
The reason I wanted to share all of this with you is because knowing what makes someone tick, or even just how they might react to a certain situation, can come in handy when you're trying to make a new friend, mend a friendship, or just understand why someone did or said something.
So the next time someone who you were just sharing a joke with in class responds to you with the cold shoulder, keep in mind that it's probably nothing personal. In fact, there's a good chance that she's a Virgo. Knowing this, you might not take her "on again, off again" friendship so hard.
Your best friend -- who does things just to make you happy, doesn't like confrontation and really knows how to listen -- is probably a Libra. And so what if she holds a grudge when she's been wronged? The grudge only lasts until she feels that a proper apology has been offered, right?
Meanwhile, your other friend -- the one who is extremely sensitive to criticism and rarely forgives a perceived insult -- well, he's probably a Leo. The good news is that he is very loyal and really knows how to throw a party.
Well, as you can see, I really have a lot of fun with star signs and I do consider myself a bit of an astrology buff.
But I try not to take it too seriously because although at times it seems too accurate to be just coincidence, the truth is that deep down, I can't forget two things: 1) The current position of objects in the zodiac circle is no longer consistent with the principles of astrology that were set up thousands of years ago. So your "sun sign" is actually shifted over by one now. So a Leo is supposedly a Cancer now, and that's just wrong; and 2) Why aren't other masses in the solar system included? I mean what about stars and black holes? And Pluto, Uranus and Neptune, which were only discovered in the last 300 years? How do they fit into all this (my other personality wonders)?
At the end of the day, I have to say that while astrology is fun, nothing really takes the place of talking face-to-face with your friends and family and getting to know what makes them tick by spending time together.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go off and read my horoscope. After all, have you ever known a Gemini to sit still this long?