Lux Apollo

Home, sweet home. I sighed, fumbling with my key in the lock. It was a little hot out walking back from the subway in the sun. Not that I didn’t enjoy it. Actually, I think I’m going to spend some time out on the back patio once I’ve settled. I shucked my shoes and tossed my keys into the basket, then took my gym bag downstairs to put the soiled clothing in a hamper ready for the wash. Mike preferred doing the laundry as one of his household chores, but I’d been doing more of it lately.

:-D Well, this is an interesting turn. Another lawyer working late? Oh dear. Hopefully if it becomes a consistent issue it won't put too much strain on Jason and Corey. I have a feeling that may not be the case.

Oh dear...

Oh god I feel so spoiled to have this chapter after the roller coaster ride we've been on. Lots of smiles and warm happy feelings. Nice work skinny.

I love the way you generate the feelings of discomfort and anxiety in Clint and Donny in this chapter. And all these little questions to be answered! Gah! The next bit is going to be crazy, isn't it? Well done, sir!

...trying not to think about a lot of things, but distinctly he does not include Luke in that list. I wasn't expecting Jackson to break up with Ally, not at all. That was... well, kinda amazing. It's going to create a lot of complications because the bitch is really starting to come out now that she's being shown Luke is a real threat to her personal world order. Looking forward to see where things go next!

Ugh, you really put us through the wringer with this one. I hope Kellar gets through this with no lasting damage, and even more so thathan they can find something, anything at all that will help them deal with the hunters. We know of at least one more active one in the crazy fucker's nephew. Great stuff!

Yeah, the Trumpian witch hunts are very topical... and they have always been a part of the X-men's universe, so it was easy to bring that history in to mirror some of our real-world problems of today. Sometimes I think there is a part of John, maybe a growing part, that is listening to himself and just shaking his head and waiting for his more histrionic parts to chill out. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I think John has a long history of having parts of his life come crashing down due to things beyond his control. John is a very reactive person, indeed, so it's not surprising that an important outside event (no matter how much he dismisses it as something that obviously was a foregone development) would trigger some internal strife. Thanks for reading.

Heavy but true. Heartache but perseverance. Beautiful.

Thomas Adès is an interesting (but not dead...) contemporary British composer. He's wrote some really cool stuff... including a scene in the opera 'Powder her Face' where there is simulated fellatio behind a screen with the character singing while giving the blowjob. Anyway... this is his 2010 chamber piece Polaris:

October 7, 2021 Okay, so I’ve been too busy with teaching lately to bother journaling. Not that I’m particularly consistent in the first place, but at least I write something mildly substantial when I do. Anyway, the lack of journaling has only been exacerbated by the fact that I’ve been getting opinion gigs from the Times and the Post again. I might even manage to snag a gig for The Atlantic if things go well. That would be fucking spectacular. So what’s changed, you might ask?

Enormous? Maybe. They definitely have increased in size, but that's partly my fault for not planning things out for nice bite sized pieces. I'm working to get things back down to the 5-6k words range, but I'll only do that if it will do the material justice. Well, that and I really should be working with a beta or two and an editor. Sigh. Maybe on the next project? Bringing the reader into the character's head is something that I have done a lot of in my past writings, even when they fall into more of a third-person omniscient perspective. I'm glad you are enjoying the trip through David's thoughts. I think David definitely has had a moment of clarity, but whether or not Mike can adjust to what David's attempts to forge a new status quo (or if David can even manage it!) remains to be seen. Thanks for reading!

Yeah, I'm curious to see how their date will go, and how that is going to frame David's understanding of where Mike is at. David is perhaps being a touch too harsh on himself with the whole codependency line of thought, because I think we've seen, subtly, that both of the boys have a breaking point. We'll have to wait a little on the date since next chapter is Brady time.

Yeah, I think David did pretty well for himself here too. He had some moments of feeling overwhelmed, but he didn't let things spiral out of control and seemed to be able to find some positives and some things to motivate himself forward. Brady time next chapter!

All I have to say is... d'awwwwwwwwww. So very sweet.

I am not a Liszt fan either, but I do like giving more obscure composers some appreciation. Is the piece a masterpiece of the piano repertoire? That is not the case here, but beyond the elements of virtuosity, there are some very interesting things he did with compositional/gestural devices and extended tonality that I found interesting maybe in a more academic sense.

Feeling a bit happier today, and needed some fun music while I work. Guillaume de Machaut (~1300-April 1377) was one of the monolithic figures of late medieval music and poetry, and of the ars nova musical movement in particular. He was a prolific composer of both secular and sacred music, and his Messe de Notre Dame is the first surviving example of a complete Catholic mass ordinary written as a unified piece (although this is contested by some in the musicological community). Machaut was also very important in the development of a number of secular music forms, such as the ballade, rondeau and virelai, although he wrote almost exclusively with themes of courtly love in the lyrics. 'Je vivroie liement/Liement me deport' is a fun example of the virelai genre.

I'm not much sure what to make of this chapter either! Is David's 'me' there implying putting an emphasis on concentrating more exclusively on himself, or trying to be independent and take more responsibility for his emotional health and the dynamics of his relationships, at least from his end? After all, the last few sentences before that he's talking about reaching out to family and friends, and trying to find renewal. Then again, at the beginning of the chapter David kept having those moments of thinking 'my' (insert). Is that him being smugly possessive, or is he still in a bit of disbelief over the whole situation? David said Mike promised they'd have a date on Saturday evening, so we should have some answers about his job then. Unfortunately for you, that is not the next chapter... mwa ha ha ha!

I'm glad Alex was the smart, caring girl she can be - and the pushy, get-things-done one too! So... this is a great positive step for David, but I still have this shaky feeling since we don't have words from David's mouth yet. Three days left... has the real Danny, the one that wants David to be happy with his life (and alive!) won out over the siren in David's bent mind? What will a night with Twoey do so soon after this scare? Will it finally bring them closer, bring them to the way they both wanted to be? I'm shaking a bit, partly because I'm cold, partly because I'm anxious, and partly because I'm happy. Good stuff, dude.

At least it's only one-for-one forward and back this time. I think. I hope. David is trying to move some amount of onus of the issues onto himself. He's convinced himself that if he can stop feeling frozen out by Mike, or at least have that feeling toned down, by having a regular work day, spending time with friends and keeping up with a more active lifestyle, then things will be easier. He's still not had a chance to talk to Mike, but some of these are things that David has been considering doing right since the beginning of the book - and things that Vicky has encouraged as well. Co-dependency is an interesting thing (and can be very unhealty). David is showing that he feels his insecurities are stripping him of agency in their relationship and is fighting back by trying to be more independent instead of keeping everything bound up between he and Mike. Partnerships come in all different styles - some couples need more space from one another than others, and from time to time the balance will shift back and forth. With the help of clear, emotionally restrained communication, one can hope to find that balance point once again whenever it seems to have shifted. David has a lot to learn, that's for sure.

It will be interesting to see what you say when we do get to that part, eventually.

There was a knock on the door. My door. My new office door. It was still hard to think of it this way. I guess that’s to be expected since I’ve only been back on the job for three days. That and the fact that this used to be Steve’s office, a place of irritation, frustration and dread for the year and a half before I lost my old job to the recession and that bastard’s malice. At least Alec and Judy, the materiel manager, had agreed that we could make some changes to this space, given my

And now for what I meant to post today - a piano work by Carl Tausig (1841-1871), one of Liszt's greatest students, who tragically died of typhoid only a few months before his 30th birthday. He was regarded as an amazing pianist - one Rubinstein actually called 'infallible' at one point. Tausig's output was rather small, and is seldom heard. Here's a recording of his piano piece 'The Ghost Ship':

Rameau's works have a special place in my heart, both as a harpsichordist and a fan of baroque opera. He had such a talent at setting the atmosphere for drama or comedy, giving the orchestra and singers the space they need to bring the characters to life. Here's an extract from a concert of various works by Rameau celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Les Musiciens du Louvre, an air from the comic opera Platée. Mireille Delunsch is absolutely brilliant as 'La folie'.