Windfall...with the luggage strewn, the least of which is...The Neurotic's Handbook.

Charles A Monagan's "Inside Anxiety: The Private [Lies] of Neurotics"

Bizarre Influences

There is something in the nature of the neurotic that loves things such as horoscopes and palm readings and the like.
Part of this fascination has to do with the neurotic's self-absorption, to be sure, but part also is due to the convenient idea that our fates may not be entirely under own own control. We are perfectly willing to accept any good fortune that comes along as a product of our own design, but it is handy to be able to blame bad luck on some grand and sinister force.
The thing is, it's hard to tell which astrologer or which palm reader to believe. You pick up three daily papers and you get three different horoscopes, each one vaguer than the last. You wonder where the "unexpected journey" will take you and which "co-worker" will need your "advice." Similarly, when someone who is trying to pick you up in a bar reads your palm you don't know whether to laugh or cry or call a cab.

What follows should clear up your doubts once and for all.

Your Horoscope For The Rest Of Your Life [Abridged Version]

Aries (March 21-April 19) : Your worst suspicions will always be confirmed.

Taurus (April 20-May 20) : You will continue to forget where you hid things.

Gemini (May 21-June 21) : The spiritual meanderings never really do stop.

Cancer (June 22-July 22) : A life of gathering useless information.

Leo (July 23-August 22) : No end in sight for the restless self-appraisal.

Virgo (August 23-September 22) : A life of impossible choices.

Libra (September 23-October 23) : Continued specious self-improvement.

Scorpio (October 24-November 21) : A life of undefined desires.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) : A career of seemingly linked but ultimately disparate ideas.

Capricorn (December 22-January 19) : You never run out of good last-second solutions.

Aquarius (January 20-February 18) : A lifetime of unsatisfactory afternoon naps.

Pisces (February 19-March 20): The imagined slights continue to cause problems.

The Puzzled Expression

By 1927 a wide-spread neurosis began to be evident, faintly signalled, like a nervous beating of the feet, by the popularity of crossword puzzles.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald

And so crossword puzzles remain popular as the neurosis continues to spread and deepen. The puzzles have a salubrious effect on the troubled mind. For a brief time they take the neurotic away from the cares of the real world (i.e., the rest of the newspaper) and into a sanctuary of strict order, clear laws, and well-defined borders. Certain among us, of course, turn the puzzles into yet another anxiety-ridden exercise by racing against the clock, using ink only, or sneeringly rejecting any offers of assistance. These approaches ultimately can lead to the most profound sort of misery.
...
Crossword puzzles also provide us with a curious aggregation of celebrities. Each of these people has made his or her mark in some other, usually worthy pursuit only to be awarded a second claim to immortality by virtue of possessing a strange, vowel-heavy name. The same undying fame has been conferred upon a handful of cities, animals, and natural watercourses as well.