Tonight, my mom and I continued our tradition of going to Shake Russell concerts. It was amazing, wonderful, so many good words and feelings. The venue was an adorable old barn-type place in town that we had never before noticed but that has apparently been a music venue for small events since 1969. Lyle Lovett and Shake Russell and many other known names apparently played there all throughout the years. And it was palpable in the space. Also, the sound system was awesome – the kind where you don’t even notice there’s a sound system, because it just works so beautifully and effectively.
Uh… it was just wonderful, y’all…
God blessed this night.
God, thank you for such an amazing and wonderful and heart-filling night tonight. Thank you for the absolute blessing that is Shake Russell and his music. And thank you for my family and all of the love that surrounded me tonight. I love you. Thank you. Please, guide me to fulfill your will in all things through my life. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Man, some days, it just feels like the world crushes you like a bug, and then you end up thinking of that final fight scene in Men in Black, and you get totally grossed out at the idea of all those bugs being squashed and eeeewwwww-ickk-gross!
Ugh… God, please, don’t make me figure this one out – just do as you wish, and I will follow suit wholeheartedly. Your will be done fully and forever. In your name I pray. Amen.
‘Arise,’ they told her.
‘Do it like this,’ they said.
‘It’ll be perfect,’ they promised.
But these were lies they said.
And so, instead of stepping up to being who they expected her to be, she stood up for who she truly was made to be.
And the world never was quite the same,
Once she’d set it aflame
With all that she truly was.
Post-a-day 2022
I believe we can grow afraid or we can grow from fear itself. Be brave. Be honest with yourself – your true, deepest, whole, God-given self – and speak up, step up. Do that one thing every day that scares you, that will change your life for what it deserves to be and is made to be. Be afraid. Be very afraid. And also have courage, so we can grow from the lessons we learn and create something amazing.
God, please, bless us with your love. Your will be done, and may it be clear what our next steps always are. I’m your name, we pray.
Gwen Stefani is another one of those artists who played an important role in my childhood. I remember singing the choruses to two of No Doubt’s songs while dancing around in the living room at our original house when I was only about four years old. They were “Spiderwebs” and “Don’t Speak”. I didn’t know what most of the lines meant, and I even had a few words wrong (“I gotta scream my phone calls,” instead of screening them, because had no idea that screening a call was something that existed), but I loved those two songs. To this day, I can still see the image I had in my mind of this woman climbing around and walking inside this massive spider web, while her landline phone was ringing in the distance. The phone was yellow, by the way. I genuinely thought she was telling a story of how she was doing crazy stuff, like walking in an actual spider web – she was out living life – instead of sitting around, waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for calls. I’ve related to it that way ever since it came out almost 27 years ago, and I have no expectation of that changing at his point – if it hasn’t changed already, I think it won’t at all.
So, all that being said, Gwen Stefani is kind of on par with Ricky Martin in terms of how it played a role in my early childhood. Naturally, when she sang “Don’t Speak”, therefore, I cried a bit.
And then, for Spiderwebs a coupe songs or so later, I went nuts jumping around and dancing.
I did that on several songs, of course, many of which I had either forgotten had been Gwen Stefani’s songs or that I had never known were Gwen Stefani’s songs.
Of course, she ended the concert with “Hollaback Girl“, and I then discovered that it wasn’t, “Mmm this much. Mmm this much,” but “Mmm this my sh**. Mmm this my sh**.” Rather different lyrics, yes, and the real ones don’t actually fit musically as well as my version of them. So, I’m sticking to my original understanding of the lyrics on this one.
All in all, it was a great and fun concert. And she even declared, “Praise Jesus!” at one point, which was baller in a whole new way. And no, Blake Shelton did not show up. She said early on that he was “babysitting” her kids… and my friend said, ‘I believe that is just called ‘parenting’.’ 😛 But the concert was filled with songs, and she even went over by about ten minutes, she had packed so much music into it. It was great.
Thank you, God, for the absolute blessing that was tonight and today on all levels. Please, especially, bless those who showed love to me today in particular, that they feel your love more fully tomorrow. Please, guide us all to be your love through our lives. Help us to be who you made us to be. And thank you for this opportunity of life. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Well, I’m on my bed, in the new apartment, getting ready to go to sleep. I am a tad nervous. I am still here, doing it, though. I can do this. I can have an amazing time living here comfortably.
But I just get to sleep now, as it is getting far too close to midnight for me still to be awake. Good thing I have the highway to keep me company, or else I might have felt lonely in the new place in quiet darkness.
God, please, keep us safe and well living here, that we may best fulfill your will in the world. I love you. Thank you for this life and its infinite blessings. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Man, my body is tired of menstruation… not having my supplements this time, leading up to my period, I mean, has been a real hassle. I spent most of the day sick today – exhaustion and weakness with slight elevation in temperature in the afternoon (I talk about this like I’m a weather report…). I felt roughly dreadful ever since my shower after the workout this morning. I went back to bed just for a nap, woke up after an hour, needing to potty and adjust the air to cooler, and then fell asleep hard for another three hours. I woke up hot and panicked, knowing it was later than it was supposed to be.
My mom didn’t mind too much, though. She still enjoyed the rodeo on her own, then left early, as it was incredibly crowded (as expected) by later afternoon, and brought me some soup. She just happened to have made some soup yesterday, and to have brought a bunch with her in thermoses to the rodeo, but not drunk them yet. It was just what I had needed, that soup. And it got me outside for a few minutes when I went to get it in the driveway and talk with my mom briefly.
I’m feeling much better now, but still not tops. Hopefully, I will improve throughout the night… though, it will be tough having to get up as often as it looks like I’ll have to do to use the bathroom (due to menstruation, not the potentially-menstruation-induced illness)… only tomorrow will tell.
At that, I bid you all a wonderful and rest-filled night! God, please, bless us all with your love in a new way tonight, that we better fulfill your will tomorrow. In your name, I pray. Amen.
Talk about dreams being manifested that we never new we had, I went to the rodeo tonight with my mom, and my brother and sister-in-law and one of my brother’s childhood best friends met us as our guests. Fancy parking pass and chute seats and all.
It was black heritage night, and it was Bun B and a whole line of black heritage rappers, which was why we had been given the tickets by some older friends of my mom’s – just not their style, you see.
Most of the music, I didn’t know myself, but I’m a fan of good music – good rhythms and lyrics and beats and all of it make for a good time for me (though I often can’t understand any words in music, not just rap) – so I was enjoying it for the most part. Though, I was quite tired.
Just as my mom and I were going to head home, a couple songs came on that I not only knew, but loved (for ridiculous reasons, obviously). And what was the one that blew my mind here?
“Ridin’”. Never had a clue I would love to hear that in concert, but here we are, and I loved it! I felt like a little kid who just got to see a herd of unicorns fly by. It was way cool. Chamillionaire and “Ridin’”, y’all…
But get this: THEN Lil Flip comes out and dives into “The Way We Ball”! Y’all… the little girl in me was delighted to have me fulfilling dreams she never even thought to dream… It was super cool!!
(By the way, if you don’t know here songs by name, look them up! It’s likely you have heard them! They were both big hits around 2005 and 2002 respectively. And I had no idea the guys were from Houston until tonight!!)
Also, fun fact, Bun B’s birthday is next Saturday, March 19!! He put on an awesome collaboration and mini-festival in just a one-hour show tonight for over 73 thousand people, and I am grateful to have been present for it. What a lovely accomplishment to have as a sort of birthday present to himself! Happy Birthday, Trill OG!! You rock.
So, thank you, God, for that very unexpected blessing. Brief as it was, it was powerful, and I am grateful.
God, I am trusting you. Please, please, guide me that your will be done – let my will be yours – and I pray that I love pursuing it with all my heart. Guide me to be your love and light expressed through all that I am in this life. Give comfort and ease to my family members who have been in pain lately, please. Grant a fulfilling and peace-filled passage to C as she moves out of her earthly body, please – let her know what she needs to know to be free, please, and help her pass through and to you fully. In your name, I pray. Amen.
hannah ananas 