Here's my sign, baby

By Julia Allison | Special to amNewYork

August 7, 2006

I'm embarrassed to admit that the world's No. 1 cheesiest pick up line "Hey Baby, what's your sign?" would actually work on me right now but only if you really wanted to discuss it.

My current astrology fetish started as a trivial diversion yet another way to procrastinate studying in college (I majored in Procrastination).

Like most people, my interaction with the much-maligned subject had been limited to mindlessly scanning one-line horoscopes in the back of magazines then dismissing them the way I would a fortune cookie ("You will get a great surprise!" in bed). Whatever, right?

That was until my new-age-loving cousin Andrea (a life coach in LA, for chrissake) told me about her favorite astrologer, the indefatigable Susan Miller a former Daily News columnist and Access Hollywood commentator who runs the popular website AstrologyZone.com.

Prolific and perceptive, Miller avoids the platitudes so common to newspaper hacks, with long, detailed monthly forecasts that are to put it mildly unfailingly accurate and completely addicting.

How addicting? Well, since New-Age-Andrea told me about it five years ago, not a month has gone by when I haven't eagerly clicked on the site (at least once!) to check out my 'scope. I'm a Pisces with Gemini rising, by the way.

The Boyfriend, if you were wondering, is a double Aquarius. That means he's gregarious and friendly with an obsession with new technology. He's an air sign, I'm water. He's fixed, I'm mutable

And herein lies the most fun part of astrology it gives you YET ANOTHER way to analyze your relationships. In fact, every time I get a New Boyfriend, in a fit of unmitigated "I-Will-Never-Admit-I-Do-This-But-I-Can't-Stop-Myself," I immediately proceed to the Love Match section of the site to see if we're "compatible."

High School Boyfriend? Virgo. No wonder we didn't work out! Virgos are perfectionist workaholics. College Boyfriend #4? Uh don't even know his sign. Obviously it wasn't that important of a relationship.

Is it a little nutty? Maybe. But so is over-analyzing "What He Said" versus "What He Meant" with my girl friends. And none of us will be stopping that inane behavior anytime soon.

I keep telling myself that I don't really believe in the stuff, I just like to you know check it out. And if it bears more than a passing resemblance to reality, or offers me any insight onto my life or the character of my relationships, then well it's free! Why not take it? Hell, I can't afford a therapist!

Julia refused to buy a new laptop because it was 'mercury retrograde' last month. She's clearly crazy. Email Julia@JuliaAllison.com