Subtle shields

From today's Pisces horoscope from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology:

In traditional Chinese medicine, wei qi is a protective energy that circulates beneath the skin, forming a shield against harmful influences. To nourish it, you revel in sleeping and eating well. You work diligently, with tender discernment, to maintain healthy boundaries. How are you doing with that, Pisces? Is it possible you’ve been working so hard on your deep transformations that you’ve semi-neglected this outer layer of strength? I hope that in the coming weeks, you’ll nurture the subtle shields that prevent you from absorbing every stray particle of psychic weirdness in your environment. Think of this task not as building walls, but tending to your garden’s edges.

Sunday Asides #114

• It's been a month since one of my part-time gigs verbally offered me a full-time job and it has not become official yet. That hasn't stopped them from loading up my schedule with meetings and pinging me on Slack like I have full-time availability though, and it's incredibly annoying. That being said, since I'm still not full-time employed...I'm going to start back looking for work beginning next week. I really hate that for me.

• But hey...here's some good news. Last week, I booked my first VO gig through the agency I'm signed with. Movin' on up, y'all!

• Also, I've been watching some really good TV this week. Great British Bake-Off, Youth, the A Different World revamp...even Beyond the Gates has been firing on all cylinders! And Abbott Elementary is coming back for it's sixth season soon too.

• The 9 games that shaped who I am? Anticipation, Chrono Cross, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, Picross DS, Electroplankton, EarthBound, and JezzBall.

• I graduated from Morehouse College 23 years ago, and I've yet to weaponize that for my own benefit. (That's what I get for working in tech and design, I guess.)

• MNEK's new album "BULLDOZER!!" has been on regular rotation over here since it came out. Black stuff. Fat stuff. Gay stuff. I'm really into it.

• "I love my special chips!"

• Quote of the week: "Money will always be paper, but gold will always be gold."

"You have no power over me!"

From today's Pisces horoscope from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology:

For the low price of $199, I could expertly dispel that annoying curse you’ve been lugging around. But I would feel sleazy taking your cash when you are fully capable of zapping the curse yourself. So instead I will recommend that you perform the banishing ritual, then write yourself a check for $199. Here’s how. Step 1: Visualize an object that represents the curse. Imagine hurling it into a beach bonfire and watching it burn. Step 2: Bring to mind a person you believe contributes to the curse. Envision a rope that ties the two of you together, waist to waist. Then imagine yourself revving up a chainsaw, slicing through the binding, and declaring, “You have no power over me!” Step 3: Roll on the floor as you laugh and cry tears of giddy release.

Sunday Asides #113

(Instead of writing this directly in the omg.lol interface, I'm writing this in iA Writer and saving it there before I publish. I'm testing to see if last week's Sunday Asides snafu was due to platform censorship instead of user error. Now on with the show!)

• The biggest tech news over the past week or so is that AI is going to kill us all. This harbinger of doom about AI isn't new — most of the white men accelerating this have said this over a decade ago — but the media blitz around former Anthropic research Jacob Coxon's tweet, both the U.S. and Chinese government responding with "man, fuck that," and the general public's awareness (and exhaustion) with everything AI-related has reignited this ominous omen. Here's my simple, country bumpkin ass take: this could all be solved if we, writ large, just stopped using AI. Unplug the boxes. Deactivate the features. Roll all this shit back like it's a faulty software update. Just stop it!

• The CDC has reported that 71% of Americans are fucking exhausted, and frankly I think the number's a little low.

• Tyler Perry is moving out of Atlanta and heading to Puerto Rico. I'm curious about what that means for his studio here, but I'm even more curious about what that means for his ongoing lawsuits. It's a lot of fine ass men in Puerto Rico too, Tyler! Leave the trade alone!

• What exactly is Joyniggz? And why is it called Joyniggz? I poked around on their socials, and it looks like some sort of gay interracial group where men do a lot of hugging and professing their love for each other, with a bit of new age spirituality and Christianity thrown in for good measure. (Let me know when the OnlyFans drops.)

• Biceptember? Girl, just post your thirst trap and go.

• Quotes for the week:

  • "To have 'just enough' each month is frightening."
  • "The only real blasphemy is the refusal of joy."

coax it out

From today's Pisces horoscope from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology:

In ancient times, Hawaii's Coconut Island was renowned for its healing powers—but on one condition. Those who sought its medicinal help couldn't just expect the local spirits to do all the work, but had to take part in awakening the magic. Legend tells us that a seeker could be cured by swimming three times around the island. This participatory approach to healing mirrors your current situation, Pisces. You are close to a source of renewal, but if you hope to unlock its full strength, you must coax it out with your ingenuity.