#afterdarktext

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

...and then there's the Mandip Gill method. When she wants something, she writes on it on a sticky note and then it happens to her... I was thinking about that these last few days. Maybe there's something to actually saying stuff aloud/presenting it visually, rather than speaking to yourself internally, when it comes to trying to change your [lack of] fortune. (I spoke some words aloud last year, outdoors, in the field with the standing stone, and on the final word, a huge tree on the wooded hillside in the background collapsed. Well, I assumed it was a tree. It was a huge bang - freaked me out a bit.)

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

When I was out in the forest the other day, I imagined that, if I was in a band, we'd make an album called 'The Resurrection of Emile Corsi' and the cover art would be this group of priests trying to resurrect their favourite artist, only for all of them have super gloomy faces due the ritual failing. Not only that, but we'd get a small-time yet ultra talented artist to hand paint the cover and then pay them well over the odds for their work. Just as an act of defiance against the state of the world. It would be very satisfying.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

“Anger as pre-historic stones destroyed for French DIY store”   A few weeks back I met a van-lifer at the edge of the woods where I live, and had a chat with him. He was a nice guy and told me about a very non-touristy, hidden waterfall on the Welsh-English border, near the Black Mountains. On Tuesday night I was planning for a day-trip around there, to go investigate. Wanting to get the most out of the trip, I started investigating some ancient sites to visit on the route there. One of those sites was an ancient well where the water flows through a carved Celtic head. To my horror I read that, last year, the bathing pool the water flowed into was filled with concrete and a pumping shed erected on top of it of the ancient well and head. This made me so angry, especially as I read that it had been restored as recently as 2017. Just what the fuck has happened to society in the last 6 years?! That sacred well has stood for over 2000 years, being an important focal point of that area and then some guy has the audacity, without permission, to just fill it full of concrete? The Romans came and went, the Saxons, the Normans etc etc, WW2, the 20th Century and it remained largely untouched. And then you get to 2022 and some utter prick of an ego-inflated, big headed, asshole decides that it’s totally fine to fill it with concrete?! Just now, on the other site, someone put a post about how in Brittany, around 40 ancient standing stones have been cleared/taken down, to build a fucking hardware store... like... all that time, all those centuries... even older than Stonehenge,  and then we get to 2023... oh a store needs to be built there. I feel like we’ve crossed a line recently... it’s just so upsetting. All so some people can go buy some fucking tiles or a new bathroom... and of course, load the pockets of some chain DIY company.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Reading all kinds of horror stories about bands using AI for their artwork. If there's no thought, or artist expression gone into your cover, then, it's like... just take a photo of some mud, then. If you want a super cheap photo, just whip out your phone and take a picture of a piece of concrete.

On the plus side, this is really going to show the true artists from the people who are minimum effort, maximum profit. If I find a single hardcore punk band that uses AI for their cover art, then I'll... jettison them into space. Using it would be a betrayal of the entire ethos of the scene that they belong to.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Headed out for an hour or so, across the fields, to go find her. Very thick cloud this evening, but she was strong enough to shine through. Initially, I thought they [my photos] weren't too good, but I kind of like the glowing softness they have. Plus, it means they have something that sets them apart from previous months. Glow, my beloved, glow!

On my way back, I did my usual trick of focusing on tree branches with the out of focus moon behind - it's starting to feel a bit samey [to me], but it works well.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Came across a song called pareidolia, and I remembered hearing that word on a podcast recently. The podcast had a psychologist on it, as a guest (a guy I've known of for years, as he often appears in paranormal investigations as the sceptical voice of reason). There were two other terms he mentioned that this reminded me of. I just wanted to make a post/note of it on here. Hypnagogic This refers to your state of mind just before you fall into sleep. That place, right on the edge. During this state, I often hear voices - like multiple people having in depth conversations. Apparently this is a completely common and normal thing in a hypnagogic state. Hypnopompic The other side of the equation. This is the state your mind is in right before you wake up. Generally, these two states are where the lines behind dreaming and reality get blurred, and all the weird stuff goes down. Pareidolia This is when people see shapes or faces in objects, for example, seeing clouds shaped in certain ways. It seems to be mainly focused on faces though.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

It made me laugh a little, a while after the fact, but in the moment it was said with a genuine sincerity around the topic I was discussing. "This isn't about you!" I said to the narcissist

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

I was trying to find a certain text post of mine. Looking at the archive is pretty depressing. I've been writing a variation of the same post for years now. If I ever make it to author status, and beyond that, if by some miracle chance, become a mildly successful one, then publishers will have a field day with all these text posts of mine. "With his endless, incessant, quite frankly unhinged ramblings on the nature of reality, at this point, we can, in purely academic terms, conclude wholeheartedly, that he was completely and utterly bat-shit insane during this part of his life."

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

I have many questions about myself that cannot be answered, without knowing my 'baseline'. I can't test how I behave in a default environment, because I don't have access to that. It's hard to tell what is fundamentally me, and what is situationally me. I have suspicions that much is situational, especially as the abnormality of that situation, has so many layers. Layers that require an extreme modifying of my potential default behaviours, to navigate through, on a day-to-day basis.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

It feels like a pretty special new music Friday today - and on a Friday 13th no less. Brand new Judas Priest with a song about the state of the world, appropriately called 'Panic Attack', a new Creeper song that's gothic and dark and delicious, that leans heavily on 80s influences. New Crystal Lake... (I'll be honest the new singer has nothing on Ryo... but it's nice to have new stuff from them). Today has a holiday vibe to me. I feel like treating it has Halloween Part 1, or something. Oct 13//Oct 31. Flip the numbers. I don't know. Tonight, one of my favourite paranormal podcasts (Uncanny) is debuting in the form of a TV show. So I'm super looking forward to that too. Works well with the Halloween part 1 vibe. If you're in the UK, it's on at 9pm on BBC 2 and then on iPlayer.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Of course. Of course. Two good days and now I suffer. And it's never a fair deal, is it? It's like good, good, punch to the face. Try living with someone who has undiagnosed OCD, extreme misophonia, and is a convert narcissist of the very worst kind. Falling out with all the neighbours because their gardens aren't to his obsessionally high standard. That throws a fit if any of those neighbours make any noise that is louder than a field mouse eating a berry. Basically, if they show signs of BEING ALIVE, he loses it. I AM GOD. I AM KING. Problem is, it paints a target on everyone else that lives here, not just GOD-KING himself. I had a good Friday and a good Saturday. Time to pay the debt. Because that's how the universe works. That's how my universe works.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Listening to the new Judas Priest album. Track 9 'Escape From Reality' is very Black Sabbath sounding. From the Iommi style riffing to Rob's style of singing in some parts, that are very evocative of Ozzy. Even the lyrics are a bit Planet Caravan in places: "Get lost in a psychedelic maze/Levitating to a place that will amaze/Transcending in a void of time and space/Hallucinations from another worldly place" Escape From Reality and Master Of Reality are obviously fairly close too, as titles.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

I haven't really been keeping up with new music friday for about... a month now (it didn't help that I didn't have internet for two weeks at the end of Oct/start of Nov - I've not really been having a good time tech wise either, including my phone). If someone asked me about recent releases, I'd say we're in a bit of a quiet period, but really, I just haven't been paying attention.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Oh Tarja... that's happening a lot lately. I was just typing a message to a friend, talking about the moon and then she [Tarja that is] sings 'You're not alone below the moon', and the song was just in a playlist, so not picked out purposefully for being related to the moon. It's a new synchronicity thing that I've noticed happening recently - I'll think or read a word and then within seconds it appears in a song.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

Try getting a message through an ego that dense. It would be like tunnelling through a wall of diamond with only a piece of children's play cutlery.

[theemeraldforestafterdark]

I will finish my album of the year write ups. I did #10 and #9 and then lost the motivation a bit. I've kind of let the day run away with itself today too. But, I want to complete them for sure. Edit - alright, up next is...