Good morning. Hello. How are you? #487
I'm about to go to the Asian grocery and I am so excited. Jackson was a dick. The last Shakers are still standing. Jane tells time.
Good morning. Hello! How’s it hanging this fine Friday? It is cloudy here and I am excited, I want rain rain rain. My plants want rain. I’m listening to my vinyl edition of the new Low album, it took way too long to arrive it didn’t show up till Wednesday. BUT the good thing about it is that it has an edit of the first song, “White Horses,” so that it doesn’t have that super annoying full minute of that dink dink dink dink repetitive sound that really, really grates on me, even though I like repetitive sounds usually? But there’s something about this specific one that I just find intolerable. Anyway, the edit is way, way better. And besides, the album already had a weird long experimental ending on a song on “Days like These,” don’t need two, amirite?
Roy is feeling much better today. It seems I mischaracterized things, he was not “dry heaving” and it was not a furball, it was some other mouth-oriented display of nausea, but he seems on the mend. A vet was consulted, and while I feel like he’s missing a little bit of a spring in his step, he seems much improved, thankfully.
Today is five weeks without the nicotine.
It’s three weeks since I messed up my leg. There is still a six inch bruise but it is mostly faded. My entire thigh feels tender to the touch, which is very odd. Just… sensitive. It still hurts to move it in certain directions but it is much improving. There are some weird, but not strong, shooting pains occasionally. Shooting pains is not the right word. I don’t know how to explain them I have never had them before. They don’t feel muscular, they feel vascular. It is odd. But all in all, things are improving nicely.
I’m off from work today, very exciting. And I did not complete my harrassment training yesterday, too many meetings. I am now six days late, I’m such a rebel. Soon, management is going to come down on me.
Jane is off at Grammy’s this morning, and as soon as I finish these words I’m going to head off to Durham and go to Li Ming’s World Market, the Asian grocery, and I am very excited. Maybe they’ll have some new Japanese Kit Kats. Maybe the Japanese have opened up the Kit Kat missile gap between our two nations again, American Kit Kats having stalled with the delicious pink breakfast cereal flavor. Man I am so into the concept of a Kit Kat gap between our nations. And I need more bamboo, shaoxing wine, glutinous rice flour, hot sesame oil, fish oil, dark soy sauce. I think that’s it? Maybe buy some fresh mung bean sprouts for some variety from the canned ones. I am very excited, god, I can’t tell you the last time I left the immediate vicinity of North Chatham.
Jane has stopped using “Jane Phone” in our morning time together and instead has been picking up a sharpie and asking for paper, so I bought her her first sketch book yesterday. Actually that’s probably not true, she probably has a sketch book somewhere that Mama or Grammy bought, but it’s her first daddy sketch book. I’m happy to get her away from the screen, even though screens are awesome.
Also she tells time now. Like the minutes and everything. On an analog watch. We are not sure who taught her this. I mean, we knew she understood the hour hand but the minute hand and counting by five was beyond her, but then yesterday morning she just pointed at the numbers around the phone and counted by five. Did Grammy do this? Did the Kahn Academy app? No idea. Its so weird that even confined to a parcel of property with three other people you still have no idea where she gets things.
Still reading this magnum opus book about American history from 1815-1848, What Hath God Wrought. We’re into Jackson’s first term now, and, boy, that guy is just a bad person all around. It’s such an embarrassment that he’s still on our twenty dollar bill. And of course, when you read about him your mind is immediately drawn to his most obvious comparison, Donald Trump, so, hey, big shocker that the Trump administration stalled on getting this slave-holding asshole off of our money. And thank you Biden and Jen Psaki for getting that process back on track? But, like, can we have it now, please? Slaveholder, killed a man for no reason, extrajudicial trials and killings, ignored the supreme court, kicked the Native Americans off of their land, just a horrible, horrible man, and I haven’t even gotten to the trail of tears yet. Really not the best thing to read before bed, fucks with your dreams, gets you hyperventilating with anger and moral outrage. Not pleasant. And, of course, nothing was done, no one saved them, no one stopped it. Lots of people tried. There were so many people against “indian removal” — it barely passed both houses. There was significant opposition even in the south. People knew. This is not “oh it was a different time.” Almost half the population of the United States was like “this is evil and wrong don’t do it.” It’s absolutely not a matter of changing morés.
And, of course, as with reading any history of the US before the civil war, slavery dominates everything. It is so obvious to any reader of history books that the US and Slavery were inextricably linked, that the history of the US is the history of slavery. “Indian removal” wouldn’t have happened without the 3/5ths compromise. Jackson wouldn’t have been elected without the 3/5ths compromise. The Missouri compromise wouldn’t have happened without the 3/5ths compromise. Getting outraged about the 1619 Project is essentially being a flat-earther.
Followed up on those last Shakers up in Maine. There was an article about them in July, in the Press Herald. There are still three of them. They’re not sure exactly how old Sister June is, probably in her 90’s. She’s not seen much. Brother Wayne left in the early 2000’s. A Boston Herald reporter came and did a feature on the shakers, and Wayne started flirting with her, and not long after that, he bought a secret cell phone and started talking to her and within a year they were married, leaving just two: Sister June and Brother Arnold, who seems in charge. But sometime since then a Brother Andrew has joined them, he’s been around for a few years now. What’s weird is that on the Shaker’s extensive Facebook Page and Website, there are no pictures of Brother Andrew. I am assuming he’s super hot and they don’t want anyone to know so they don’t fall for him and he leaves again and then there are no more shakers. By all accounts Brother Andrew is a lot younger than Brother Arnold, who seems to be in his late 60’s/early 70’s. But it does not seem inconceivable that in a decade or so Brother Andrew could the last remaining shaker, inheritor of an entire religion, which is kind of funny. Fingers crossed that he is planning some sort of major overhaul of the religion and turning it into a sex cult or something.
One cool thing is that the Shakers maintain a very extensive web shop, and you can actually buy an actual Shaker chair sold by actual Shakers again, right now.
Okay this is a little bit of a short one today I want to get going. It’s gonna be so great to fire up the Friday release radar and go for a drive. I hope I get stuck in traffic. God. I can’t remember the last time that happened I used to hate it so much.
Let’s do a mix! Moody and Quiet, our most popular series of mixes, volume 44, because I am a sad bastard. I wish there was more Mistle Thrush on Spotify. Actually just this week I finally obtained a CD of Val and Scott from Mistle Thrush’s previous band, Funeral Party, Serpentime. It was great. They were so great, Mistle Thrush. I’ve been really into sort of early-ish Floyd again lately. Listened to Saucerful, Ummagumma, and Atom Heart Mother again this week. It’s been so long since I listened to these. God I like them so much more than the Waters era. Barrett era is first, Gilmore era is second, Waters era is third. There. I said it. No takebacks. And I never loved “Classic Girl” probably because of the video and my general unfair distaste toward Ritual but it came on this week and… wow yeah, great song. Finally thanks to Conrad for alerting me to Bonny Light Horseman, great album.
Okay have a lovely weekend, talk to you all Monday I am going to sleep in the next two days till eight o’clock and that is very exciting. Drop a line. I miss you.
Ah glad you listened to Bonny Light Horseman!