sprout's sprigs

i have a tendency to fall into a deep spiral with so much time and not that much to do so heres a bunch of things i could do instead of rotting in bed (for my own future use)

pet my dog

watch a new movie

go on a walk

draw with chalk

make art outside

go sit on a park bench

go to a cafe

go to the mall

clean my room

donate my clothes

crochet

knit

write a shitty story

this might sound stupid but for one of my honors classes i have to write a midrash which is essentially biblical fanfiction and to be honest its been pretty fun

guys ive run into a dilemma. it is my first time really dedicating time to my island in acnh however i have created a problem for myself.

i have procured an entirely egregious number of flowers. hundreds of them.

it has reached a point where i have started trying to clear out a space for a tree nursery to increase my collection of fruits but at every turn there is FLOWERS EVERYWHERE. and they never stop reproducing. i have more flowers now than weeds by a significant margin.

i have tried to dig them up when i can to put them in storage but then im just back at square one. i could sell them but ive got some that are harder to breed and i dont want to lose them.

guys I slept through a very important appointment that was going to be trying to fix the excessive fatigue and daytime sleepiness I have been experiencing and that kind of irony really just rubs salt into the would huh?

Abbey - Mitski

This one I feel relates to the sort of existential hunger that many people (including myself) yearn for. The constant feeling that we are meant for more than just monotonous being is a relatable one, especially in the midst of financial strain and grueling work.

The way that many people satiate this yearning is through religion, by establishing a relationship with their god(s) or through personal faith. I feel this religious experience is reflected throughout Midnight Mass, with each person having a self-contained yearning and finding solace in the same or similar space.

”I was born waiting for that something, just one something.”

Along with the longing for meaning in one’s life, the song also portrays how this devotion to finding meaning can consume someone’s life, to the point that they believe this one something is their entire reason for being and soon becoming self-destructive.

We can see this in Father Paul and Bev Keene especially. While Father Paul was eventually able to identify his mistakes, his love blinded him and his belief in the vampire as an angel ultimately destroyed the island.

Hated Sunday - Black Box Recorder

Hated Sunday - Black Box Recorder

While the song itself doesn’t much discuss religion directly, there is an implication of religion through the title. Sunday as associated with Christianity/Catholicism relates to the show.

”Honoring politician, dead. Car found parked at Beachy Head. On Sunday, Hated Sunday.”

”Your mother calls, she’s alright. Your sister calls, she’s in hospital.”

The song discusses the dread that comes along with the start of the week, and the monotony of the interactions that often fall on Sunday. Phone calls with family, ongoing familial crises, political events on the news.

There is an established undertone of turbulence throughout the song, although it is all portrayed in the same monotone. The atmosphere of the island in Midnight Mass is not dissimilar.

I think this is important to Riley’s character because it is what I imagine he felt returning to the island after so long. While some things have changed, the island has largely remained the same. Despite it all, there are small tragedies going on all around that only reinforces his resent for a God who picks and chooses who gets miracles.

I am back on my bullshit again!

This will be part of an ongoing series where I post songs with the characters I associate them with.

P.S. The show mentioned can be pretty graphic and there is a brief mention of animal death in my analysis (cats), obviously I do not go into detail or spoilers as to why just please beware.

Woman (in mirror) - La Dispute

The song, if you are unfamiliar, is about a lover reminiscing on a past relationship through small domestic glimpses of everyday life. Little things like getting ready for Thanksgiving with their families. On the same album (Rooms of the House), there is another called Woman (reading). Both of them focus in particular onto the small intimate moments shared by partners through seemingly inconsequential instances.

In Woman (in mirror) there is also a distinct emphasis on this being a past experience, now ended. The turbulence of the couple’s split is more fleshed out in Woman (reading), but there is still hints of it in this song. One of the lines says the following: Its the slowest days by the bathroom, that somehow never seem to go. Where I watched you put your makeup on, the smallest sounds leave the clearest echoes.

I think this most clearly relates to Riley and Erin’s past relationship, especially after they return to the island. Its established in the show they have been involved romantically in the past when they were younger, and there are still hints of that sprinkled into the show.

Its how I imagine they see each other in some way. Much has changed since they last saw each other, Erin being pregnant and Riley having gone to prison. They try to find hints of who they were as kids in their current selves and in some ways come up short.

We can especially see this early on in the show. Riley shows a certain uncertainty in how he should interact with Erin while she’s pregnant, trying to veer her away from the cats washed up on the beach in case she catches toxoplasmosis. Erin brushes him off in a way, informing him that it is mostly a myth and she would be more likely to catch such a thing from gardening than dead cats.

To preface, this was initially born out of a character playlist I was making about the show Midnight Mass, specifically with the character Riley Flynn. I thought this song in particular had a lot of parallels with the show and it kind of exploded from there. I will probably end up posting a condensed version about the song as it relates to the show.