Hit out of the blue

Went on a photowalk today, not super productive, but hopefully got a few things. I've got a video I need to figure out how to edit gooder.

My earbuds have been missing long enough that I've given them up as gone. I ordered new ones, but wired earbuds are just not much of a thing now? So, no music on my walks.

And then I saw this:



Fucking Waterboys reference? Fuck, it's been ages since I listened to them. And me without earrbuds.

Watch on YouTube

(The singer-songwriter behind the band was pagan and big into the 90s neo-pagan Wiccan boom. So, referencing this mainstream hit, like on a pin or something, used to be code for being Wiccan when you were in a space where you didn't want to wear a pentagram. I don't know how widespread this code was, I do know that it was a thing. I used to see a long of old, faded Waterboys shirts at certain festivals. I have also seen those lyrics as a tag before but not in ages. Also, the song is a banger and I don't think I've heard it in 15 years so seeing that was like a bolt out of the blue. I've listened to it like ten times on repeat when I got back. Between that and playing Lost Records my brain is suddenly very nostalgia addled

They also had a single called A Girl Called Johnny, and I just want very into it for some reason, back when I listened to music on CD)

Anyway, they are one of those 80s bands that you just don't see on compilations or played in any of those TV shows or movies set in the 80s.

(no subject)

* The Parallel Worlds discord, local bookstore that runs two of the book clubs I am in, are having temp spin-off groups for Murderbot and also Locked Tomb. I started Gideon the Ninth a while back, but didn't finish it. I was very determined to get caught up last year, but something derailed that and I forget what. Considering how much fan merch I see for the series, I need to get that first book read and this would be a great opportunity. On more than on occasion I almost bought stickers not realizing there were fan merch for the series. So yeah, drowning in book-club-ness.

* Today in the mail I got a box from Japan with this:


I did not order this. Box has my name on it and everything. I've started reading it, because what else should you do with creepy mystery manga? Slow going because it's been a minute since I read untranslated manga.

I did order Boys Run The Riot in it's original form, but from a seller in the US, not Japan. I've been in touch with them about the box, they say it's nothing to do with them. The person who runs the eBay shop is on vacation in Germany for two months. My order came in while the shop had been closed for weeks, and I knew that. Just not a lot of places to buy it untranslated so I placed the order anyway. Amazon.co.jp wont ship the Japanese language version to the US for some reason. Boys Run The Riot is probably going to be an upcoming Trans Book Club read. We made a short list of about 6 books that most of us said we were all interested in, while Dead Collections is next, Boys will likely be in the next few months. I should have picked it up ages ago, and I want to read it in Japanese because I (think I) can.

So, for now I have Oyasumi PunPun to practice with? I guess?

Note: I fully expect to get an email next month saying that yes, somehow this was a glitch with my eBay order. How else could this have happened?

* The likely upcoming books for Trans book club are: Finna by Nino Cipri, Johnny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead, The Borrow a Boyfriend Club by Page Powers, Boys Run the Riot by Keito Gaku, Nimona by ND Stevenson, and Manywhere by Morgan Thomas. All books I am at least fine with, most I am looking forward to. I am going to see if I can get Idlewild added because it's on my TBR and also it's on the schedule for Queer Book Club so that would be convenient.