Holmes Minor

Today, my baby turns 11! Happy birthday Minisculus!

1. I need to make the cake. Now. [Edited to add: it's in the oven now]

2. The other big thing is that BTS dropped their new album Arirang. The seven have finished their military service obligation and are getting ready to go on a world tour. They performed a one-hour showcase of the new songs in a historic square in Seoul and now are making the rounds doing promotions.

I like the album more and more as I listen to it. I am so glad I got the Netflix. I think I have watched the showcase at least 10 times (more in bits and pieces) since it aired live on Saturday morning. I pre-ordered a version of the album and it came but I wasn't entirely smitten with my photocards so I ordered a different version of the album today which comes with STICKERS (very important) and photocards I think I am going to like more. For ARMY reading this, I got the simple Rooted in Music version and the other version I ordered today is Living Legends. Needless to say, I did not tell the boys' father I ordered another version of the same album. These are the secrets which keep a marriage strong. I am looking forward to bethctg visiting in August and going to the concert when they come here. RM seems to be recovering from his sprained ankle and I hope the boys stay healthy and strong for the long journey ahead. They performed at the Guggenheim in NYC which was very nice, elegant, classy. I will be posting videos and fan cams as we go along. They did a Spotify event in NYC and were looking very good, more fuck boy style.

So when I was a nurse in the nursing home a long time ago, there was a resident who was a fan of Prince and she had a little VCR and watched Prince videos (concerts, Purple Rain, etc) day and night and I always thought it was a bit bizarre but I will be her one day with my BTS videos.

3. So air force guy moved two weeks ago and I have been filling in here and there at work, picking up shifts when regulars go on vacation or call out. I had a VERY stressful lady last week. I had a quiet guy yesterday. I am supposed to start a regular next Wednesday. I still have jazz man and my Indian lady as regulars.

4. Minor is doing track and chorus. Minisculus is doing soccer and gaming.

5. I am reading The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher. I am listening to Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals read by the author Oliver Burkeman. Stil trying to get through the contemporary black poetry anthology This is Honey.

6. I watched The Glass Onion (Knives Out) and loved it. This is my kind of film. I really loved Brick, too, back in the day.

Here is a fan cam of the Spotify event:



5. No weight loss. Sigh.

The Black Girl Comes To Dinner by Taylor Byas

We drive into the belly of Alabama,
where God tweezed the highway’s two lanes
down to one, where my stomach
bottoms out on each brakeless fall.

Where God tweezed the highway’s two lanes
with heat, a mirage of water shimmers into view then
bottoms out. On each brakeless fall,
I almost tell you what I’m thinking, my mouth brimming

with heat. A mirage of water shimmers into view then
disappears beneath your tires.
I almost tell you what I’m thinking, my mouth brimming
with blues. Muddy Waters’ croon

disappears beneath your tires.
I want to say I’m nervous beneath a sky brilliant
with blues. Muddy Waters’ croon,
the only loving I’m willing to feel right now, the only loving

I want. To say I’m nervous beneath a sky brilliant
enough to keep me safe means to face what night brings.
The only loving I’m willing to feel right now, the only loving
that will calm me—I need you to tell me I am

enough. To keep me safe means to face what night brings
to the black girl in a sundown town—
that will calm me. I need you to tell me I am
safe. That they will love me, that the night will not gift fire

to the black girl in a sundown town.
Your grandmother folds me into her arms and I try to feel
safe. That they will love me, that the night will not gift fire
are mantras to repeat as

your grandmother folds me into her arms. And I try to feel
grateful. But get home before it’s too late and watch out for the flags
are mantras to repeat as
we drive into the belly of Alabama.

Thank you to my friends for the recs of songs with green in the title (green is the low-key theme for March here in okapi-land).

The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway. . . .
He did a lazy sway. . . .
To the tune o’ those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!

( Read more... )

Beloved, Or If You Are Murdered Tomorrow by Elizabeth Acevedo

Wednesday's word is...

...egregore

An egregore is a non-physical entity or thought-form created and sustained by the collective thoughts, emotions, and attention of a group of people.

Origins and Etymology

The term "egregore" comes from the French égrégore, derived from the Ancient Greek egrēgoros, meaning "wakeful" or "watcher". Historically, it referred to angelic beings known as "watchers" in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. In modern esoteric and occult traditions, the term evolved to describe a collective psychic or spiritual entity generated by the shared focus of a group.

An egregore is not merely symbolic; it is considered to have a form of independent existence, influencing the thoughts, behaviors, and emotions of the group that created it. It can arise intentionally, through rituals or focused visualization, or unintentionally, through repeated collective attention. The more energy, devotion, or attention a group invests, the stronger and more autonomous the egregore becomes.

--

I found this in this YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsvMrDldOpQ

The Patriarchy's Secret Weakness | Why Withdrawal Works with the summary: Patriarchy is not just a system of laws. It is a ghost we keep alive by feeding it. In this video, I explore the concept of patriarchy as a "Stealth Egregore"—a self-sustaining psychological pattern that survives not through our consent, but through our compliance

1. Good things first: I updated my soap opera today. I got a lovely Saint Patrick's Day card from dine.

2. I went running today at the lake, but it was FREEZING and my time was as slow as the first of the year. :( On Sunday, I picked up Minor's prescriptions, three of them were $5 each and the epi pen was...$560! I didn't get it. I asked the doctor to send it to another pharmacy and will use a Good Rx coupon to try to get down to something more reasonable. Epi pen. Like the thing that prevents ANAPHYLAXIS. American healthcare, ladies and gentlemen.

And the boys' father changed our insurance. So we used to pay $50 for specialist visits, but now Minor's 20-minute visit to the allergist was...$311. I feel like I need a lie down and a cold compress and smelling salts every time I get a healthcare bill these days.

3. I had an awkward conversation at dinner last night and I came to realize that I have no idea how Minor's brain works, and after a long, long discussion trying to understand, many questions trying to tease out his logic, I still don't understand him. And he said some hurtful things among other things, I am 'a character' to him. :( I wish I were a character in my own fanfic! What a wonderful world that would be.

4. I have a new lady client on Thursday and Friday. We'll see how it goes.

5. Diet isn't working. I am trying to track my calories but failing. I got a year subscription to My Fitness Pal app so I can just scan the barcodes but I am not doing a good job of keeping up with it. The good thing about the diet is I have access to a web portal with Monday, Wednesday, Friday new 20 minute workouts with the Australian/New Zealand young lady screeching at you (not the British lady with the beautiful wife who runs the programme) and it is strangely motivating to do it and finish so she can rest her voice.

6. I got the Netflix (for BTS comback!) and watched Kpop Demon Hunters. It was okay. It was a bit too close to home at the portrayal of kpop fans for me. I feel SEEN and I don't want to be SEEN. But I didn't mind them poking fun at the 6-pack abs phenomenon among kpop idols.

My favorite Irish YTer:



I blatantly stole this from dine: