Lemuralia, It’s Halloween In May!

Happy Halloween, biz-nich-izzles!

It’s May. It’s spring!


It’s time to celebrate Lemuralia!


Wut?
Is that a kind of lemur party?


Well, no, not quite. 
Before the Catholic Christians messed around with the dates- as they always seemed to do- the month of May was the time when some ancient Europeans would turn their thoughts to lemures or the dead- the scary, unhappy dead. And how to make sure they weren’t a bother to the living. 

Romans, in particular, held observance for lemures on May 9th, 11th, and 13th. 

May 11th just happens to be my birthday and it’s an “unlucky” day according to the Romans.

Which would explain so much about me?

They warn against people getting married in May, but what of those born in the month?

Are we screwed?

For me, yes. I’ve been sufficiently, quietly screwed right over in so many ways through the years. Given the list of things that are wrong with my existence, I’m not exactly living the most ” #blessed_life. “

(If you want to see it, I have the list. It’s even in alphabetical order for you persnickety snarks out there.) 

Back to those lemures:
In one way or another, the Romans figured out that to appease these unhappy dead you would have to walk around your home barefoot at midnight on these three particular days in May and throw dry black beans (or fava beans) over your shoulder (or spit them from your mouth) while reciting, 


 Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis. 


And then clang your (copper) pots and shout 
“Ghosts of my fathers and ancestors, be gone!” a lot.

I might be cursed, I might might identify as basically dead, but I’m not as dead as beans.
I don’t want legumes for my birthday or a loud and pointless amount of noise aimed in my direction. What would I do with any of that?

Then what do I want?

  • Straight up- send money. 
    Grease the gears so this preta can reclaim some joie de vivre. What’s more life affirming than being gifted the stuff that helps you move fluidly through a capitalist system?
  • And then you should to go treat yourself- treat yourself to a gooey chocolate fudge brownie and wash it down with a hot cafe mocha in my honor because I can’t eat chocolate or drink coffee quite like I used to. SIGH.
  • And/or bake a nice batch of ossa dei morti. They seem really tasty! 
  • And then, just, like, be a better person than who you were the day before.
  • Being a better person is the best way to appease, or honor, or stick it to your ancestors and all who came before you.
  • Also, send money. It’s my birthday!

 ” #manifest ”

April Ticks By

Needle mark from my second blood test

April ticks by. 

I do not want the month to linger, but I don’t want it to vanish without my noticing; without me having left my mark on this delineated section of time.

I pressure myself to write a blog post and publish it before the month ends. I have to make up for the negativity of my last personal post. It was a downer. That was the truth of the state I was in. But no longer.

Here is my good news: 

Summary:

  1.  New computer.
  2.  I am no longer battling three infections.

My long awaited, zippy, new computer arrived. I’ve named it Palau. 

I’ve settle on naming devices after all the little extra bits of land that are part of the United Stated but are not states that dot the Pacific Ocean. Because, why not? I was inspired by being so near to the Pacific Ocean and that these devices are extensions of me that are not me. So it seems logical. But I’m sure it’s still only logical to me.

Anyway-

I’m setting it up and will absolutely need to dive into the embarrassment of ‘dongle-land.’ 

The computing devices these days are pushing for smaller components and streamlined shapes so there is no room for cd readers or cables that require large ports to plug in. So you need adapters in order to use older tech. And you have to pay extra for the headache of all these adapters or switching over to all new compatible tech. 

For the dollah dollah bills you have to hand over, why couldn’t they just throw in an adapter for free? Which would be a really nice little gesture for all the headaches being caused.

I think we can all agree that transitioning to solely usb-C at this stage was a Crappy idea. 

{You see what I did there? ‘C’ for ‘Crappy.’ Ha. Ha. Haha. Ha. C’est trop drôle.}

Dongle(s) or not, this machine seems up to tackling what I am about to throw at it. I’ve only really started tinkering with a few little projects. The latest operating system isn’t compatible with all applications that I had been using so there is still more for me to figure out. It takes a little while to settle in, right?

If you read my last personal post, I wrote of a health issue I’ve been dealing with. It was a bleak stretch of uncertainty and depression, but I as this month goes along I am feeling improvements. It only took three long months and a lot of herbal supplements, but I have turned a corner. I am almost back to myself. Or a self that isn’t quite as gummed up.

My last two blood tests have come back negative. The bacteria are under control. Huzzah.

And on a health related note:

Not once in my life did any one ever seriously recommended that I take an iron supplement.

Me, a person who has never been above the poverty line for their entire adult life; me, a person known to faint since I was little; me, a person who has lived through anorexia; me, a person with depression; me, a performer known to be on stage for nine hours stretches; me a person with obvious dry skin!

Why would no one recommend an iron supplement to me?! I don’t understand…

Well, I made the recommendation to myself a week ago. And I am suddenly a functioning entity. It’s like when I put on eyeglasses for the first time. 

I did some research in to it and iron can be a complicated thing to get into the body sometimes.

It is more complicated when you are very fond of coffee and tea. They seemed to be the list toppers of things that screw the bio-availability of iron in other foods. Bio-availability is the ability of a substance to be absorbed and used by the body.

I have managed to go without coffee since January. I am still trying to figure out what tea infusions are ok to drink while I build myself up again.

And then there is chocolate. 

I’m dealing with complicates stomach issues that need to calm down so I am not supposed to eat chocolate- which also can block iron absorption, btw. I dutifully went almost two months without it, but then was jonesing so bad I ended up setting myself back more than once. 

I need to rethink my strategy with chocolate.

Because no one ever prescribed this to me, I will prescribe it to you:

If you are feeling lousy don’t reach for alcohol or caffeine. 

Try taking a B12 + C + iron combination supplement. 

Let me know if you feel different.