Quiz: Did I Cancel These Plans Because I’m A Flake Or Because Mercury Is In Retrograde?

We all know that when Mercury goes retrograde, communication, technology, and travel tend to break down. People are advised against making major decisions during this time, as thinking may be reversed later when the planet stations direct. But what we don’t know is, am I a flake for canceling the following plans, or is it Mercury’s fault?

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1. My sister’s bachelorette party with many drunken twentysomethings that I said I’d help plan but I did not because I’m not “good at that stuff.”

2. Shopping for jeans, a miserable and statistically fruitless task, in Manhattan, which is all the way over there.

3. The beach trip to the Rockaways that ended after I texted everyone, “I think it’s going to rain, maybe we should ‘rain check’ hahahaha.” It didn’t rain, but the pun worked well.

4. That time my friend suggested we get ice cream after work, but not at the place I like.

5. My friend’s birthday drinks hang (she wouldn’t call it a party) that also happened to be the day after Halloween, when I’m tired and out of cute outfits. She pulled this last year, too.

6. Harry Potter-themed trivia night with a bunch of Hufflepuffs and one Ravenclaw-Slytherin cusp.

7. That time my former co-worker asked me to get breakfast, even though she has no relevant gossip to share.

8. Barre class at 6:15 a.m. with my sister who says emphatically that I will “like” it. The emphasis is how I know she’s lying.

9. My friend’s improv show at 11:55 p.m. in Hell’s Kitchen, which is all the way over there and a little further right.

10. That one time I tried to meditate and ended up reading five articles simultaneously and re-watching an episode of Seinfeld.

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Answer Key:

I’m a flake: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Mercury in retrograde: None; astrology isn’t real.

Both: 9; trains were delayed, which is classic Mercury retrograde.