Tuesday, December 31, 2024

I like how this ended, too.

"The sun rises over the marsh, and the sky turns pale pink and blue. The house is quiet. A white-tailed deer prances behind a clump of palmettos and disappears into semidarkness. Birdsong begins. I’ve been on a near-constant jag of reading and writing about Jimmy Carter for three weeks straight. I’m wiped. My writing table and the old pine floor around me are littered with his books: Living Faith; A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power; An Outdoor Journal; Always a Reckoning and Other Poems; Our Endangered Values; A Remarkable Mother; A Government as Good as Its People.

I could keep listing the titles; they just go on and on. The man wrote 32 books. Year after year, Jimmy Carter wrote and shared lessons learned during his impactful life. Reflections at Ninety testified to his prolificacy as a writer. The audio version won him his ninth Grammy nomination and third win for Best Spoken Word Album. If you haven’t had the pleasure of listening to Jimmy Carter read his books in his distinctive southwestern Georgia drawl, you should go to your local library or streaming service and download one right now and start listening. I’m overwhelmed by the sheer volume of his words. Leafing through his final book, Faith: A Journey for All, written when he was 95 and a particular favorite of mine, I find this passage that renews my hope and inspires me to do better:

What are the goals of a person or a denomination or a country? They are remarkably the same: a desire for peace; a need for humility, for examining one’s faults and turning away from them; a commitment to human rights in the broadest sense of the words, based on a moral society concerned with the alleviation of suffering because of deprivation or hatred or hunger or physical affliction; and a willingness, even an eagerness, to share one’s ideals, one’s faith, with others, to translate love in a person to justice.'◊'"

~ Jim Barger, Jr. &:Jimmy Carter

"Jimmy Carter: Unwavering"— THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2024/jimmy-carter-unwavering-100

Cinematic.

This could be in a film, huh?

"On the morning Reagan was to take the Oath of Office, President Carter hadn’t slept a wink in over 48 hours; he was too busy agonizing over and planning the hostages’ return. Minutes before the Reagans arrived at the White House to ride with the Carters in the motorcade to the Capitol, Rosalynn brought a razor and shaving cream to her husband, begging him to get ready for the Inauguration.

'Jimmy,' she said, 'you have forgotten to shave, and you need a haircut.' His rented formalwear was still on the hanger, wrapped in plastic. A barber came in to cut his hair while he continued to talk on the phone.

Finally, the call came in from the Tehran airport: 'The planes are now at the end of the runway.' The hostages were on their way home. 'Jimmy,' Rosalynn implored, 'the Reagans will be here in 15 minutes. You will have to put on your morning clothes and greet them.' As he hurriedly dressed himself in the stiff rented suit, he looked in the mirror and wondered whether he’d aged so much as president or whether he simply was exhausted. Breathing a sigh of relief, he rushed to the ceremony to accept his defeat."

~ Jim Barger, Jr.

Jimmy Carter: Unwavering — THE BITTER SOUTHERNER

https://bittersoutherner.com/feature/2024/jimmy-carter-unwavering-100

Isn't that interesting!

"Jimmy Carter’s Life, in 17 Objects" - The New Yorker

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/31/us/jimmy-carter-17-objects.html

Could all of them have parents born in the same decade that I was born?

How time flies!

"ULTIMATE Boy To Girl Make-Up + Boobs Tutorial"

~ Vlad Ncl

https://youtube.com/watch?v=29iKE6fNrpY&si=Rqp_JidZflJW50wg

"clocked at 11 am dang"

@simplyysri

https://youtube.com/shorts/NdAUraFu_cE?si=zWSJtPRJ4ARra26A

"It is interesting to me that people can hold what appear to be such inconsistent beliefs."

~ John Guenther

Greenfield Recorder - "My Turn: Thoughts on abortion and Gaza"

https://www.recorder.com/My-Turn-Guenther-58556106

'Tis the night before the new year! What have any angels on high to say to us about our symptoms?

I am here on Earth, and I have to dialogue with myself about what I should eat this evening, and if I should still cook something but perhaps not eat it, and then get something for myself that is more just protein and vegetables, but also then I could still give the thing I was going to cook to the other person to eat, or just have a few bites? Hmmm.

I feel like there must be a lot of stuff that went on in a lot different kinds of childhoods. Stuff must have happened.

It is a big part of what makes so many people act so oddly when they get older. Hmmm!

It's good thing not all people need the same amount of attention for the same kinds of things.

X: "Eeesh these are some parents who love having fun with kids by making them cry I guess?"

X: "People are complicated."

"Humans are natural performers."

https://www.reddit.com/r/Smilepleasse/s/PSi173gejc

Twelve even weirder things to do than whatever they're suggesting.

"12 Weird Things To Do If You’re Barely Scraping By Financially"

https://financebuzz.com/supplement-income-yaez-2024

Whenever the inconvenience of someone else 's situation make you act oddly inhumane towards others, you could probably think of at least twelve better things you could be doing with your time?

Time to fall asleep! 😇

I like the feeling that some people are making the effort at being nicer and not poking the bear so much. Maybe we have angels to thank?

Monday, December 30, 2024

I feel like he would not have gotten elected if he treated men the way he treats women.

"Trump loses appeal of E. Jean Carroll $5-million defamation verdict"

https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-loses-appeal-e-jean-carroll-5-million-defamation-verdict-2024-12-30/

Discovered Vlad after a little documentary on Edith Wharton

"I Investigated LAS VEGAS as a 'Woman'"

~ Vlad Ncl

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pSuNy-NDu38&si=kIPSHCjGlmMn-wQl

"The Secret Life of Edith Wharton" | Historical Documentary

~ Lucasfilm

https://youtube.com/watch?v=j3fE9I3Vj7Y&si=K-rwJ08l8j82ghJp

"Getting dressed Christmas 1850s #christmas #victor"

~ Duchess Milianda

https://youtube.com/shorts/7BAR3kAPpnI?si=VKDYeboDYyJvM8wP

Then i watched this from my spot of luxury next to the cat who moved on purpose so I could have a comfy spot!

"Apparently 🪦moms are haunting my local @target..."

@honest2betsy

https://youtube.com/shorts/M2RQV1TctL8?si=dnjRE_jaEix6C3sq

Now I am in absolute luxury.

I was laying on my bed at an angle and my cat was in my spot and then my cat got up and moved to another spot next to me so I could take my spot and I didn't even have to move her and she just did it. And oh my God I can't believe how good I feel right now, and it's like I was just gifted a luxurious spot on the bed.

Just like so good.

It's a rather pleasant winter evening!

Now I'm happy!

I was able to make some things and send some holiday cheer through the mail to a few family members, and I'm glad the "late gifts" were enjoyed! Maybe I can do that again in the near future with more people.

Context?

"But I no longer feel so completely confident about the line that divides ‘abusive people’ from ‘the rest of us’."

~ Sally Rooney

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/28/sally-rooney-hell-of-fame-normal-people

"Rooney says it didn’t interest her to put the violence centre stage. 'I used to believe that abusers (and in particular, men who abuse women) were boring. And I still think there’s some truth in that, and I still find our cultural fixation with men who rape and murder women very tiring. But I no longer feel so completely confident about the line that divides ‘abusive people’ from ‘the rest of us’. And the novel maybe interrogates that division at times. I am probably never going to write a book from the perspective of a serial killer, but I do believe that many decent people have done things they now consider deeply wrong.”

~ Emma Brockes, Sally Rooney

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/28/sally-rooney-hell-of-fame-normal-people

Lol, again.

"There is something else, too; Rooney’s heroines are, without fail, always the smartest people in the room. They are also pretentious, priggish, self-absorbed and superior, condescending and driven by insecurity. They put me in mind, occasionally, of people I remember from university, those students who hung around outside the union on election day, shouting, 'Apathy led to the rise of Hitler!' at politically disengaged students as they passed."

~ Emma Brockes

"Sally Rooney on the hell of fame: ‘It doesn’t seem to work in any real way for anyone'"

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/28/sally-rooney-hell-of-fame-normal-people

X is going to be less awful this year.

X's survivalist vibes that seemed to say "What kind of worthless piece of trash female body doesn't produce the kinds of children who are clearly going to be raised to feel entitled to act like certain other kinds of children are worthless pieces of trash compared to the ones begotten by the lordly property owners" are getting meeker.

Maybe there will be more rooms at the inns this next year?

"American homelessness jumped by double digits nationwide in 2024, 3 percent in California"

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/california/2024/12/27/how-many-people-were-homeless-in-the-us-in-2024-and-in-california/77263512007/

"California accounts for about 25% of the nation’s homeless population and has the highest number of unhoused people in the nation"

~ Claire Thornton and James Ward

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/california/2024/12/27/how-many-people-were-homeless-in-the-us-in-2024-and-in-california/77263512007/

Previously on the show "Inherited Values from a Patriarchal Cult"

"This property that X owned really was the best thing about X, and that was according to X's own standards.

We noted that discriminating against the kinds of people X relied on to survive was a key feature of X's chosen lifestyle.

Next, X will be providing financial support for the little x's who matter the most."

Who are they.

"How Trump’s immigration rhetoric is impacting some college students"

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2024/12/08/trump-immigration-college-students-fafsa/76737394007/

Why not improve your empathy skills in the new year? Ample opportunities abound, eh?

Being so small-minded and racist and sexist as a survival strategy is very mean to many kinds of human beings.

Some of those human beings are other people's children.

Why not be better than that this year?

Alarmed? Who is alarmed.

"In California's conservative Central Valley, alarm over Trump's deportation threats grow

Over two-thirds of farmworkers are undocumented in the nation's largest agricultural-producing region"

https://www.mtshastanews.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/30/california-farmworkers-mass-deportation-trump-economic-impact/77092629007/

Will try this tomorrow...

Habit Reversal Training: What It Is & How It Works

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/habit-reversal-training

Isn't it funny how it also has an acronym: HRT

Win!

Sometimes I look at my chewed on clothes and I wonder why can't other people just make a tiny bit of effort to be more sensitive. I feel like seeing them improving would be so good for my mental health and my clothes would not get chewed on so much anymore. It would be such a win for them and for me. They would look better to the Future descendants who are going to be more sensitive. They would contribute create a nicer world for the rest of us. I wouldn't get triggered so much to chew on my clothes. It would be such a win!

What.

Have mercy on me Jesue, appointment of bubbles, er, a poor miserable sinner who doesn't worship the Mar-a-Lago owning white men enough, may the Lord have mercy upon us and...what? What did you just do.

"Traditional Christmas Carols/Midnight Mass Music (2016)"

JMJ HF Productions

https://youtube.com/watch?v=O5UI6yiQjMQ&si=t_eY1CSW9DfxH5jG

Did you just tell me that this midnight mass is BETTER?!

The alto section is off.

Sunday, December 29, 2024

very grand

"O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles) at Westminster Abbey"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1wHyMR_SCA

Ugh, those early 21st century values could be so harsh.

Does it ever seem like the patriarchy just wanted the privileged parents to act like the privileged children were like new toys for them to show off, and as long as they had the means to throw more money at them and keep them in private schools to protect them from the "lesser children," that was good enough, and any kind of "values" that the children could learn would just "take care of themselves?" WHAT KIND OF MORALLY BANKRUPT SOCIETY WOULD....

Wow, that church has an interesting name!

"Hark The Herald Angels Sing - All Saints Church Oystermouth Mumbles Swansea"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlBbjQzCpuk

What kind of parent did the patriarchy want us to be in the early 21st century?

"Labor Department investigating migrant child labor claims at Hello Fresh"

https://abcnews.go.com/US/labor-department-investigating-hellofresh-allegedly-employing-migrant-children/story?id=116530077

Why not change for the better now???

Because there are people who definitely know that people deserve better.

"How the rich talk about us"

~ ShinyB

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jmBdADq00xc&si=YZKHrY3l0ltKuSiQ

When did dehumanizing others who are less wealthy or otherwise different get more fun?

"How the rich talk about us"

~ ShinyB

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jmBdADq00xc&si=YZKHrY3l0ltKuSiQ

Also, maybe you should be more curious and believe that you deserve better.

Your cult is extremely mean and dehumanizing to far too many girls and women.

Although you can still find plenty of people who want to join it, I don't think it's healthy, and I think it's too cruel.

I think you shouldn't train your children to be in it either, and to do its practices to other people.

I will not be in your cult.

There's other cults that do this.

It's not just that one that she's talking about.

"Evangelical Christianity Makes A Lazy Thinker"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QB6ZJ-Q32OI&si=ooSSqoR5Zht89YCX

There's other cults that do it, too.

So sexist, like other sects of society.

She says this culture taught her to make her body size smaller and to try to be more attractive to the male gaze.

"Evangelical Christianity Makes A Lazy Thinker"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QB6ZJ-Q32OI&si=ooSSqoR5Zht89YCX

I had a feeling this part was made up.

"Rubin’s arrest wasn’t quite as heroic as it is in the movie, either. Sorkin has him preventing an attempted rape by saving a protester from conservative fraternity brothers angry that she is waving an American flag. While Rubin attempts to escort the survivor out of the park, a police officer puts a gun to his head and arrests him. That doesn’t seem to have happened: According to Pierson’s testimony, there was a fight over a flag, but it was caused by protesters replacing an American flag with a Communist flag, and we could find no record of any attempted rape."

"Trial of the Chicago 7 accuracy: fact vs. fiction"

https://slate.com/culture/2020/10/trial-chicago-seven-aaron-sorkin-accuracy-netflix.html

Why did he feel the need to put that in. I'm just curious and actually also kind of resentful but anyways I am also curious, like, what's the point.

I watched some of this movie about the Chicago 7 yesterday.

"Our movement was shot through with male supremacy and Sorkin unintentionally reminds us we still have a long way to go."

~ Nancy Kurshan

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/10/22/i-was-in-the-room-where-it-happened-one-womans-perspective-on-the-trial-of-the-chicago-7/

Her parents could be my age? Depends on when they had kids.

So cute!

"oh grandma"

@simplyysri

https://youtube.com/shorts/FQutHaND91U?si=LR5Azq6KgU4N__hW

"i just be saying stuff"

@simplyysri

https://youtube.com/shorts/0P-PY41uqFE?si=7oR39Ery6K_c8s_9

"why so many threats 🤠"

@simplyysri

https://youtube.com/shorts/OtY2D7Hf67o?si=ZanvVMwWRUnu1kQI

"club hopping to grocery stores!"

@simplyysri

https://youtube.com/shorts/e9U5fYt3yjY?si=2mZ_1IRrGvjeSJ2h

Figgy pudding?

"Traditionally the pudding is brought to the table, the lights are turned off, and the pudding is set aflame for everyone to see. It’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser that will elicit 'oohs' and 'ahhs'!"

https://www.daringgourmet.com/christmas-pudding/

Living Voices - "Medley Pine Cones and Holly Berries & We Wish You A Merry Christmas (1965)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlL6meAGIM0

Oh well, onto the next experience!!!

I gave away the chocolate. Probably more excited about the Marzipan stollen for now. But we'll see what the mince pies, eclefechan tarts, and Christmas pudding is all about before the new year!

Omg, I clicked on a link and then remember I just bought a chocolate bar with Guinness filling off the after-Christmas discount shelf.

TIME TO GO FOR SOME CHOCOLATE!!!!!

"Winner of Paul Mescal lookalike contest in Dublin receives €20 ‘or three pints’"

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/nov/07/paul-mescal-lookalike-competition-dublin-20-euro

I surely should read more of this.

"Rooney’s heroines are, without fail, always the smartest people in the room. They are also pretentious, priggish, self-absorbed and superior, condescending and driven by insecurity. They put me in mind, occasionally, of people I remember from university, those students who hung around outside the union on election day, shouting, 'Apathy led to the rise of Hitler!' at politically disengaged students as they passed.

Their cleverness is mocking and, to casual readers, one imagines, vaguely threatening: typical responses to young, smart women that have been deflected on to Rooney herself. She was 27 when Normal People was published and her experience of being in the spotlight is worked into the new novel through Alice who, after writing two successful novels, has fled to a remote house in rural Ireland. 'When I submitted the first book, I just wanted to make enough money to finish the next one,' writes Alice in an email to Eileen. 'I never advertised myself as a psychologically robust person, capable of withstanding extensive public inquiries into my personality and upbringing.' Literary fame, Alice writes, has been so thoroughly unpleasant and unnerving that, in her opinion, 'people who intentionally become famous – I mean people who, after a little taste of fame, want more and more of it – are, and I honestly believe this, deeply psychologically ill.'

"If you don’t want to read novels about writers, or women, or Irish people, don’t read my novels. I won’t mind."

Rooney is at pains to point out she’s not Alice. 'I have no appetite for writing about myself and things that have actually happened to me,' she says, instead casting her experiences as a 'mental library' she may draw from when creating her fiction. This seems a complicated way of preserving her privacy, but in any case, as it turns out, Alice’s horror of the publicity process is one Rooney wholeheartedly shares. I mention that I recalled her saying it would be graceless to complain about fame, and she’ll have none of it. 'I don’t remember saying that. And actually, I don’t think that at all.' Quite the opposite, in fact. 'As far as I can make out, the way that celebrity works in our present cultural moment is that particular people enter very rapidly, with little or no preparation, into public life, becoming objects of widespread public discourse, debate and critique.' It’s irrelevant whether or not fame was part of their plan. 'They just randomly happen to be skilled or gifted in some particular way, and it’s in the interests of profit-driven industries to exploit those gifts and to turn the gifted person into a kind of commodity.'”

~ Emma Brockes

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/aug/28/sally-rooney-hell-of-fame-normal-people

Growing up can be a painful process. Even after several decades in the same body.

Who has reminded you in this lifetime that many, many women and men were persuaded to dehumanize other people when it was convenient for them to do so, in order to "succeed" or get ahead in an industry?

A lot more people besides just a witty person who resembles "freeze-dried Prince Harry," that's for sure!

"No one does it like Martin Short. #CONAF"

https://www.instagram.com/p/DEDIu14oRBr/?hl=en

To the future...

"What the Sexual Violence of Game of Thrones Begot:

Ten years after the hit series debuted, television’s reliance on rape culture still feels exploitative"

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/05/game-of-thrones-the-handmaids-tale-them-tv-sexual-violence/618782/

"The Dark Side of Fitness Culture:

The Apple TV+ series Physical is a reminder that making people hate their body is a thriving pillar of American commerce"

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/06/apple-physical-hot-vax-summer/619249/

"The Literary-Abuser Trope Is Everywhere A spate of recent works—some memoiristic, some fictional—points to how uniquely teachers and mentors can manipulate their power"

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/05/vanessa-springora-consent-blake-bailey-literary-mentor-abuse/618928/

I feel like I should read more!

"Things people have said about me:

'Finally! A woman.' George Hamilton.

'Listen, Sophie, You might be underpaid, untalented (clearly, reading this piece), overworked journalist living in an not-so-great neighborhood that reflects your position in life but don't try to drag Taylor Swift into your misery.' Million Dollar Listing New York's Ryan Serhant.

'An aesthetic critic with an eye for detail and telling anecdotes, Sophie Gilbert's voice is distinctive and powerful. From her choice of topic to her choice of perspective, she inspires thought and the reappraisal of artistic truisms.' City and Regional Magazine Award judges.

"Bring[s] clarity and insight to questions concerning gender norms, feminism, and popular culture." Pulitzer Prize judges."

https://www.sophie-gilbert.com/about-me.html

There is something about mason jars and jam, though...

"It’s impossible not to wonder what she might have achieved had she been able to throw off the 'chain armor of propriety,' the phrase she used to describe the burden of having 'Mr. Emerson for an intellectual god all one’s life.'”

~ Sophie Gilbert

"The Lie of Little Women"

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-lie-of-little-women

"Little Women for the Instagram Generation"

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/05/little-women-review-pbs-bbc/560144/

RIP Jimmy Carter

"Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100"

https://www.ajc.com/news/former-us-president-jimmy-carter-100-dies/3ODQTR5NHVDTDF2SXOU34MKNZM/

He was the president when I was a baby.

The musical ones can be humorous, eh?

The Offspring - "Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QtTR-_Klcq8&si=Kyoch41TcbMO4aQC

Maybe people will be less insecure and less insensitive in the future.

Have you ever felt that you have to treat other people badly in order to feel better about yourself or be more in your comfort zone? Or if you have to do that in order to fit in with a family dynamic or a friend group, you are insecurely attached to your things and to your family and to your friends.

It really is weird what a certain mentality of "privilege" can do to the health of some people.

"Rick Roth is a staunch Republican and a conservative member of the Florida Legislature, but he’s quick to point out that he’s first and foremost a farmer."

~ Seth Freed Wessler

https://www.propublica.org/article/florida-immigration-bill-farmers-rick-roth

"Farmworkers spend all day in South Florida’s fields. Their humble Christmas wish: beds"

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/wish-book/article296987524.html

"Mike Love Performs at Mar-a-Lago Years After Bandmates Disavowed Trump"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-vibrations-for-the-beach-boys-as-mike-love-performs-at-mar-a-lago/

It's good that you're smarter and more caring and more capable of empathy than they are.

Since there are some really corrupt leaders who are so very greedy and shallow and prejudiced against other kinds of people. And they are inflicting real harm on others. I suppose they got warped by the Patriarchy somewhere along the way when they used to be little innocent babies...what happened to them?

Hmmm. Comfort zone issues?

The Grandma who cared about the well-being of all kinds of children didn't have to act like anyone who wasn't an abusive rich white guy was a worthless piece of trash, or someone to be ignored, because it wasn't too much out of her comfort zone to treat those people like real human beings. Okay! Lessons on Earth to be learned today, and tomorrow too, apparently!

Who gives you that weird vibe.

That they actually got the leaders who reflect their "values" and insularity and insecurity and the prejudices. So now it feels like we'll get to see Rome fall, or something?

Dogs being themselves!

They are very funny.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FunnyDogVideos/s/TdJzY3Uafc

What are they doing New Year's Eve, not partying at Mar-A-Lago?

"Farmworkers spend all day in South Florida’s fields. Their humble Christmas wish: beds"

https://www.miamiherald.com/living/wish-book/article296987524.html

"Bad Vibrations For the Beach Boys as Mike Love Performs at Mar-A-Lago"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/bad-vibrations-for-the-beach-boys-as-mike-love-performs-at-mar-a-lago/

Humans need fun!! Hence...

Lol!

"A Nate Bargatze Nativity Scene" | Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gpPPKtaayhM&si=wp6v1W1KBdv2T3Dk

Whatever feels good for whatever reason is what the brain wants, I guess?

"Roth said a mix of marijuana and malaise sent him off track. After he was placed on academic probation, he came home and asked his father to put him to work on the farm. To Roth’s surprise, he liked it. He was assigned easy jobs, like driving truckloads of radishes to the packing house. Though he’d often mess up basic tasks or show up late and hungover, his father’s workers knew that he could be the boss someday, and they treated him accordingly. Roth knew it, too. He also knew that if he went to work at some company, he’d start at the bottom, and there was no guarantee how far up he’d make it. Here, he had a clear path to the top."

~ Seth Freed Wessler

"Rick Roth’s Support of Florida’s Immigration Bill"

https://www.propublica.org/article/florida-immigration-bill-farmers-rick-roth

"And will there be songs about me?"

"A Nate Bargatze Nativity Scene" | Nate Bargatze’s Nashville Christmas

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gpPPKtaayhM&si=wp6v1W1KBdv2T3Dk

Formative childhood holiday season experiences!

"Do You Hear What I Hear" & "Little Drummer Boy" from The Living Voices.

🕊️🤱🏽🪄🎶

"Do You Hear What I Hear"

~ The Living Voices

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zuo_CMTdHdA&si=ZsLqY_ZqKp5l_Zm1

"The Little Drummer Boy"

~ The Living Voices

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RZus6_-IqE4&si=3IirKFpDgE4oi8Q7

More sensitivity about social issues and medical needs in our society would be great.

"When a Florida Farmer-Legislator Turned Against Immigration, the Consequences Were Severe. But Not for Him.

For a lawmaker’s political career and his farm, a federal visa program was a lifeline. For a young father trying to meet his son’s mounting medical needs, that same lifeline failed him."

https://www.propublica.org/article/florida-immigration-bill-farmers-rick-roth

Saturday, December 28, 2024

What does it mean

Dawn!

I want to go back to feeling healed again.

I feel quite a bad pain in my stomach. I feel grief. I think I will pray.

(I also want to ask, why...do you choose...to...)

Maybe it will alter. Of course it will; everything does.

I don't know why this knowledge that cruelty feels very cruel is coming back to me now.

It's a feeling; it will pass. It will pass. It will pass...

Friday, December 27, 2024

Hmmm...

Paris Paloma - "labour [LIVE at Tate Britain]"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=aNQNnRs6INE&si=yHWrGQdAnMS33s3F

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Oh wow.

I am really allowing that optimistic spirit in. What if we have great opportunities to grow and learn and advance and become more spiritual? It's actually getting exciting to feel like this could happen, and I think it could help us out a lot!!!

Ah, precious moments of insight and feeling aligned with higher wisdom and guidance! How fortunate a person can feel! It's good, it really is!

Wednesday, December 25, 2024

We definitely played this record.

"Carol Of The Bells"

~ The Harry Simeone Chorale

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lvVfIi0mQx4&si=gQiOR9Q8vijXgLYX

And then this one! What an enchanted evening!!

I knew I had heard a different version of Mary's Boy Child than what was always playing on the radio.

"Mary's Little Boy Chile (Calypso Christmas Song)"

~ The Harry Simeone chorale

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KwjI75Pim7E&si=oOCt87O8rxpG8ulg

I couldn't find it years ago, and I gave up. But here it is!

Oh oh oh I think this was the one!

That kind of whistling sound. That's what I heard.

"'Twas The Night Before Christmas"

The Harry Simeone chorale

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fEijZQZ5OwI&si=-6ls1PWa4n20XH_S

Thank you commenter on the 1942 version of this other one which is very similar.

'Twas The Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians -1942

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dPPltRf2tfo&si=BTdq-xT7kiJFiJxx

Oh, I found it! It played on a record.

After getting distracted by:

"Why Did Victorian Women Change Their Clothing 5 times a day"

~ Adelaide Beeman-White

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kXa6zzh2dhs&si=ehw5AcCIPlHwA59J

The childhood Christmas song presented itself.

Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians - "'Twas The Night Before Christmas"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NXPJDlixX58&si=loh5XCZjD5uZMdwP

Gift of the Magi.

The only gift I have to offer today to a sad soul bro is just a little bit of authenticity struggling to come out through a human experience.

I do not want to call a soul brother who has shown me the worst things I could ever see any kind of a "boss" (ew, no, what is wrong with you???) or other kind of thing. I don't understand why a bunch of people treat him like a boss when he just should be a collaborator, just like another writer in a writer's room.

Going to go look up Gift of the Magi now to see if I can figure out why I felt like typing it.

Remembering the labourers this Christmas as I craft a humble textile.

"Good King Wenceslas" | Jane Seymour and The Tabernancle Choir

https://youtube.com/watch?v=low_UI9zUfk&si=5pAC3WezUXfVNtG4

And remembering to include the "u" in labour!

Paris Paloma - "labour [Official Video]"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=jvU4xWsN7-A&si=7auFUgGwcd4Bmfi7

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

When was she born? 1890! When did she die?

"Despite being in her seventies while writing it, she told an interviewer that being Michael, the twenty-something narrator, 'wasn’t difficult. After all, you hear people like him talking all the time.'

The book is dedicated to Christie's relative 'Nora Prichard from whom I first heard the legend of Gipsy's Acre.' Gipsy's Acre was a field on the Welsh moors."

"Endless Night by Agatha Christie"| Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16366.Endless_Night

Gipsy's Acre!

"Endless Night – Agatha Christie" – Radhika's Reading Retreat

https://readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2024/06/17/endless-night-agatha-christie/

That was a good line!

"My bad. I'm Lad."

Gonna watch the rest of

"If I was the Dad..."

~ The Dad Who Lived

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UttSSqwIK9M&si=SAIHw_AWlEBNtSbQ

Think about tamer moments in history. What really happened to Agatha Christie? She survived, didn't she?

Sandwich that between two songs that have been going for your head again recently.

"Burn Your Village (Same Old Energy pt.II) - Official Video"

~ Kiki Rockwell

https://youtube.com/watch?v=fMtnktpF_t0&si=J93FKZq3gfFjm1CT

"The Strange Disappearance of Agatha Christie"

https://www.rosecalendars.co.uk/news/the-strange-disappearance-of-agatha-christie/

Miike Snow - "Genghis Khan (Official Video)" - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_SlAzsXa7E

I hope they had fun making their videos!

I think they did.

Maybe so?

"You should spend more time thinking about how we're still so much better to most girls and women than the Taliban is."

Well their addiction to misogyny and violence feels pretty bad, but it would be so much worse if you lived somewhere else.

"Human Rights group: Taliban bars Afghan women from studying nursing and midwifery"

https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/12/04/g-s1-36765/afghanistan-taliban-women-nurses-midwives

Why did they have such weird standards for human behavior in that era...

The "Sexual predators who are rich and who are also dads are just so much better to support than all the other kinds of human beings," messages must have been inculcated in them from an early age? I guess!

They didn't give everyone the manual.

"How to make misogyny feel like it's the most fun for the most gullible and willfully ignorant."

Is he any worse than you? Yes, he is. So what's your excuse?

Honestly, who even knows if Pete Hegseth could be any worse for women and girls and human beings than your favorite celebrity sports star who you still act like is more important than Jesus all the time???

Well, he doesn't live in a vacuum, does he?

"According to James David Vance, a deadbeat dad’s vote should count more than mine."

~ Amelia Robinson

https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/07/26/jd-vance-cat-lady-comments-jennifer-aniston-ivf/74543387007/

I am a DAD! Just treat me like you would normally treat THE OTHERS!

You know, like how you treat most of your society's women, immigrants, children, etcetera.

"'My Year Of Guards And Guns': Megyn Kelly On Standing Up to Trump and Ailes"

https://www.npr.org/2016/11/15/502042198/my-year-of-guards-and-guns-megyn-kelly-on-standing-up-to-trump-and-ailes

"Megyn Kelly takes swipe at Pete Hegseth not being not being marriage material while defending him from sexual assault allegations"

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/megyn-kelly-pete-hegseth-marriage-sexual-assault-allegations-b2653289.html

"Megyn Kelly Attacked Caitlin Clark For Addressing White Privilege"

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/megyn-kelly-caitlin-clark-white-privilege-wnba_n_675c584ee4b0a6324e3b233b

God help the parents of real human beings!

"JD Vance thinks my vote should count less."

https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/columns/2024/07/26/jd-vance-cat-lady-comments-jennifer-aniston-ivf/74543387007/

"Megyn Kelly Had A Totally Normal Reaction To JD Vance Getting Fact Checked"

https://www.pajiba.com/politics/megyn-kelly-had-a-totally-normal-reaction-to-jd-vance-getting-factchecked.php

I like cats. I really do.

I think it would be good to help everybody heal from their trauma and especially the people who got traumatized by people who are insensitive. And some of those people are parents who either voted for Trump or put sexual predators in other arenas (such as in the field of sports) on pedestals. And well, I mean, sorry, it's just ignorance really can ruin lives, and we've got to figure it out, how to find resilience, because obviously not all of those people are going to change overnight. Most of them don't want to change right away. Some of them may never change in this lifetime. It's time to heal the trauma.

I'm trying this. I don't have time to read a book about PTSD right now.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things. I cannot change the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

6 x 18 = 108.

Monday, December 23, 2024

Aren't they adorable?

"Famous actor Anthony Hopkins commemorates his beloved cat Niblo..."

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBPFtQWImBP/?igsh=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng==

This was such beautiful snippet of human life for me to behold!!! Thank you, universe.

I think I should make a resolution to find depictions of people who happen to be famous yet did not lose their humanity. It's really good for my mental health to see that, and sometimes I still wake up feeling sick about a few weird encounters I had with several people. If other non-famous people think I'm just making this stuff up "for attention," maybe that says more about their values than about my values. Maybe the whole reason why I had those experiences was precisely because I have different values than the values that they have?

But it made me feel like an outsider and it made me feel conflicted and it's kind of lonely, really. I don't recommend it. I'm not very much into the famous rich people version of success, and maybe I felt that way even before I had to sit next to someone who needs therapy on two different planes, and along the way I accidentally referred him to an artist I admired because I thought maybe she would be a good feminist influence on the lonely car salesman...Fame is like such a shady character when it comes to some people.

"You're No Good"

Linda Ronstadt

https://youtube.com/watch?v=e0vJNp5asqc&si=v1C1xMzhJy6RfV4m

"Pass or fail? #stupidrichpeoplefashion #fashion"

@Refashionedhippie

https://youtube.com/shorts/usfY0AbyBdI?si=THY_vxBc1b9fZaYy

People who get warped by fame and money really make me feel like throwing up. It's not a fun feeling. And I do not want to be like them. I did none of the "normal" things I was supposed to do according to what Society had taught me and various people around me were also convinced that we were all supposed to do the same things in this life.

Other people I met seem like they can more easily just go along with regular societal things, ignoring violence that the universe doesn't allow me to ignore, worshipping people that the universe won't allow me to worship. Famous people are not my favorite. Well they'll be over there being famous, and I'll be here, not being like them. My suffering is so unfair! Lol. Can't I have a fit about it? Maybe I want to read about other women who had unfair suffering on their creative paths. That sounds like a good idea. Until I burn out on that, too. Then I'll just have to wean myself off of chewing on my fingers or clothes in frustration, and I don't like that compulsion. I didn't always have it so couldn't it go away? I'm sure it could.

I could instead pet a cat or stand under a wonderful shower spray of hot water. Or maybe take myself over to Palm Springs. Should be saving that money, not spending it on a spa. But if I happen to have any extra money, and if I want to go to a spa instead of putting it into the savings account for a TTC retirement plan...Oh my God look at that typo! That's what they put on PCOS boards when they're "trying to conceive." Conceive what??? I have a lot to take care of as it is. I am enough, and maybe I can take care of a cat. I do not need to have a kid. Since I'm in that category of people who have off and on gallbladder issues, I have to go drink my malic acid now.

I'm so relieved that this probably isn't poison oak.

Plantnet app thinks it might be this:

https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/779

Which is much less threatening than poison oak. And different from this one.

"There’s Nothing Quite As Magical As The Tunnel Of Trees You’ll Find At Bayview Farm And Garden In Washington

Bayview Garden on Whidbey Island features a unique living tunnel of Laburnum trees, making it a must-visit for plant lovers."

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/nature/washington/bayview-farm-and-garden-wa

This will be my next entertaining "how the other half lives" video so I can see what a hotel I once upon a time wondered about might be like to stay in:

"Big Bear. California’s Hallmark Christmas Mountain..."

~ Elle McLemore

https://youtube.com/watch?v=or4sYvep8U0&si=aRx_uSs09DTKIyrB

Sunday, December 22, 2024

Mountain knows

I would like to heal more and become a more peaceful person. And I feel that would be better for my health too. So I'll need to learn more about how to do that. Okay!

🎶🎄 As the shoppers rush home with the treasures...🎁🎶

"The top though…#stupidrichpeoplefashion"

@Refashionedhippie

https://youtube.com/shorts/haxC0HYAcY4?si=ljc5PmMpPJNJLgsd

I thought the cheapest thing was the cutest, just by coincidence. It was the littlest, too. Maybe it will be at T.J Maxx someday?

Oh, having fun!

"Making the girlies feel safe a giggle at a time"

@Alaire_thomas

https://youtube.com/shorts/HmRSYr_vlhk?si=1gKLHnrVdFroQZq0

All good angles!

Sunbeamy!

There's no time like the present to stop making excuses for sexual violence just to fit in with your socially conditioned "friends."

"Last week, Texas Rep. Chip Roy addressed the allegations that Pete Hegseth had falsely imprisoned and forcibly raped a woman in a Monterey hotel room in 2017, saying, “You know, look, we’ve all had some indiscretions in our past and things like that. Every human has.” I don’t know what’s worse: That a sitting U.S. congressman sees alleged forcible rape as an “indiscretion” that all men have, that Roy seemingly told on himself, or that the rest of Washington D.C. just shrugged their shoulders and went about their day. In this new administration, violently assaulting a woman is not, and may never again be, a disqualifying behavior for the for a society steeped in rape culture.

~ Julie DiCaro