What was the thinking here?

My man found himself this evening about seven and a half miles away from the road, on a beach where there had once been a highway that had washed out one too many times, the government had given up on it.

I imagine he was rough-housing it, playing in his SUV on the beach. However, he got far too close to the water, and that beach decided he was going to park it. And so, he was stranded on that beach.

At present, he has been stuck for over two hours, and we have confirmed that the tide is going out, not in, which he had originally thought was the case and which elicited much panic and stress from the both of us. In fact, the tide will continue to go out for another hour+, which is great news.

The guy who works on his car sometimes happens not only to be a specialist on his type of car, but also to be a big-time off-roader who has something like 15+ vehicles, several of which are big trucks. I’ve ridden in one of them, actually. This guy is on his way now to go get my man and his vehicle off the beach. Yippee!

Granted, it’s an hour and a half drive just to where the road ends, plus those extra seven and a half miles on the beach. Also, if my man had mentioned it to me sooner, the friend I asked would have immediately recommended the very guy who is now on his way to rescue my man, and the whole thing potentially could have been set into motion an hour or an hour and a half sooner, instead of at ten o’clock at night…

However, he is on the way and he is the right man for the job, so we are all grateful.

God, please, get both of them and their vehicles safely home tonight and in great condition, please. Please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

On the defense, offensively

I attended a women’s self-defense class today. A friend invited me multiple times, so I imagined it was expected to be a good class. It was taught by a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor, which was actually the main reason I went. I had a feeling she would cover some extremely valuable stuff that is different from what we do in karate. By going, I could begin to round out my self-defense repertoire, something I’ve been wanting to do for some time now.

And I was right.

She covered some very simple ways to get out of wrist grabs, being bear hug-grabbed from behind, as well as how to take on being knocked to the ground and attacked by a man from the front/top, and, not only to stop him in two different scenarios, but to render him unconscious by restricting blood flow. That last part was definitely awesome to learn. I had always wondered how to do that, and I learned much for it today.

The whole class, though, I was thinking about whether I could execute this stuff on someone bigger and stronger than I am. I have always held my own in wrestling matches that are for fun, but all that stopped when I met my man. I do believe that I have not once bested him in any kind of wrestling scenario. I mentioned something of this to the instructor, and she said to bring him next time, so I can practice with him at the end of the class.

I guess I get to look forward now to practicing these crazy things with my man!

Thank you, God, for the many blessings of today. Thank you for this life. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Uuuagaggarrrggghhhh!!

I was at f***ing 97 days!!!! Aaaaaaahhhhhhrrrrggghhhh!!!!!! Aaahhh!!!! Aah!

And I missed it by 17 minutes. I had t even gone to bed or anything – I’d only just gotten home from a graduation party.

Talk about being pissed over something simple, yet being pissed, despite its being simple.

Ugh.

God, help me to release this pain, please. I have been working hard – please, help me to experience that. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Safe travels

Dear God, please, keep my man safe in his travels this weekend especially. Grant him the space he needs to release all that he has been carrying so heavily these past years. Help him to free himself willingly from the restraints that have kept him from being true to himself, true to the man You made him to be. Give him clear sight of who he wants to be, longs to be, was made to be, and grant him the tools and the endurance and the drive to become that man, always and forever. Thank you for the blessing of him. Help him to be ever more so the blessing Yoi long for him to be, both to the world and to himself. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Give some credits

At the end of a good movie or show, when the credits music is right, I love to dance to it. Especially if the movie was a happy one and one where things were accomplished, I am already in a celebratory and happy mood. Put on some great music that makes one want to move, and I am so on board. I, too, want to accomplish things and be happy and take on the world successfully, like they did in the movie (or, sometimes, show). The story followed by the music just makes me want to jump up and dance wild and freely right there in the living room. I love living room dancing period, and this is one of those living room dancing times that is particularly goofy and fun. It’s just great and so freeing…

I have yet, however, to find anyone since my childhood who enjoys doing this with me. When I first began visualizing the partner I wanted to have in life, back as a teenager or, possibly, pre-teen, I had these visions of the two of us dancing together in the living room of a cabin-in-the-woods type of house, in front of the fireplace, on the big living room rug. I wanted this to be a nightly occurrence, really.

Alas, that has yet to happen. It has partly happened, in that I got my man to dance with me a couple times to this long, thrumping song that plays at the end of the Mandalorian episodes. But that’s it for the living room dancing. Otherwise, I’m the only one who hops up after a film to dance around and have fun. I seem to be the only one who’ll dance around at all, really…

Guess I’ll have to work on that with him, because I really want to dance with him both at home and at dance things and anywhere at all. My first guess is that he likely is like most people – how I myself was at one point – in that he likely feels a lack of confidence in his ability to ‘dance around’ or dance spontaneously and freely/free-form, and so feels embarrassed whenever he attempts it, and, therefore, avoids it.

Here’s to hoping we can resolve whatever it is for him that holds him back from being silly and dancing with me, because it is such a wonderful experience to go wild with dancing in the living room. Cheers.

Dear God, please, heal us all. In your name, we pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Nostalgia

I find myself very much missing watching movies on VHS recently. I miss the previews at the start of the video, as well as the surprise bonus features at the end of the credits. In particular, Shrek was one of those awesome VHSs, what with the really cool character karaoke after the credits. That was awesome. And movies just don’t have any of that from the streaming services nowadays. And that is kind of really sad to me. :/

Post-a-day 2023

Close caws

Well, today was an adventure. Not only did the chickens not like and squawk at and run away from the lawnmower this evening, but one of them got chased big time by the dog this afternoon. The dog snuck around the edge of the temporary fencing, and went after the single chicken that was walking around in its own while I watched over the little one they all keep picking on (I was making sure it could eat some of the feed, which the others tend to block it from having.).

Fortunately, the dog stopped the moment I hollered at her, as though she’d been smacked with a broomstick, and I knew the struggle had ended – she submitted fully to me, and it was easy to grab her collar and hand her off to my man, who had come storming outside at my shout. 😛

You’ll have to forgive the camera positioning, as I can’t change that after the fact. However, the expletives and shouting that followed were removed quite easily from the video. 😛 However, by removing those, I also removed the footage that showed the chicken very easily walking around afterward, totally alive and physically well, if somewhat emotionally traumatized.

Post-a-day 2023

Nerds

My man and I just unintentionally got into a Duolingo battle to win the family scoreboard for the week, simply by coincidence. We both happened to do a lesson, and also happened to see how the score had changed for the other.

In the last seconds of the timer, he passed me up and got first place. I had a 30-point lead on him, but he eeked it out, nonetheless, by completing half a legendary round with bonus right before the time ran out for the day. So, even though he hadn’t finished the lesson, he’d gotten halfway through it, and it gave him the first 40 points for today and the next 40 points for tomorrow’s scoreboard. Ridiculous.

It was a fun little event.

I love this man.

Even though we have really been passing each other off lately, I remember that I love him despite it all, and even because of most of it.

Thank you, God, for our idiocy and nerdiness. Thank you for, even after all this time, giving me someone who can enjoy this adventure so well with me. Thank you for all of it. Also, please, heal all my mosquito bites, please. In your name, I pray. Amen.

Post-a-day 2023

Outdoor Opera

Well, there was a free performance by Houston Grand Opera tonight. The main parts were all played by HGO Studio members, which was quite cool. The whole thing was at an outdoor theatre in the middle of a park by the zoo. Shows and performances there are usually really great, and the opera was no exception. Though I had already seen this opera multiple times, La Traviata, and I had seen this exact production – though with more names, since this one used only the local studio folks who are working on improving themselves for their professional careers – it was still quite impressive.

Firstly, the performers were good. Bigger, though, was the fact that HGO actually brought 18-wheeler truckloads of sets and costumes just for these two performances (last night and tonight). They put a graded stage on top of the stage, then put their set on top of it. I’m not entirely sure they didn’t bring their own supertitles screen that hung up above the stage. And they also had two monitors on the sides of the stage, though out front, so I could see them clearly, but only could just see that they were video of the conductor, as opera usually has for the performers on stage. And, lastly, we got to sit right up front, only a few rows away from the stage. We could see each person and each costume and each bull skeleton clearly. It was great.

Even though we had two life flight helicopters fly over and some ghetto-sounding fancy boom box party that was taking place nearby in the park, it was still enjoyable. Oh! We also had a small incident of sorts…(?)

There is an area of theatre seating in front of the stage there and lots of people sit there (we were there tonight), and then there is the sound booth in a concrete little building at the back of the seating, and then there is a massive hill upon which loads more people sit for performances, picnic style or in lawn chairs on one half or the other.

Now, just at the end of the first intermission, two guys were standing atop the sound booth, one shouting out to the hill. It was quite weird, and we couldn’t understand what the guy was shouting, but it seemed very soapbox-like. Everyone had quieted down for the show to start, and the guy was still shouting. No one white knew what to do about it, and everyone was just starting to wonder what could be appropriately done. All of a sudden, a deep and powerful male voice yells from Hill Left, “Boy! Sit yo’ ass down!”
And just about everyone clapped and cheered. The guy then did shut up and sit down, and I chuckled massively to myself at the whole scenario. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. 😛 And I was also quite glad that it was handled without any violence or police. I had started to wonder if one or both would be imminent. But the kind man had both the courage and the ability to shout the men down and to let the show go on. 😛

Anyway, it and the boom box were both silly, but the show was still great. So, yay!

Thank you, God, for this lovely blessing. Please, bring my man home safely and healed even more from his poker night tonight. Heal us both wholly. Thank you for this life and these beautiful opportunities. Help us to seize them and pursue them fully, fulfilling your will as we become and be our best selves. In your name, I pray in gratitude. Amen.

P.S. I sent this to my man to show him how they, too, we’re playing poker! 😛 He laughed at it. And me. Haha

Post-a-day 2023