Metal Monday (Heavy Metal & Hard Rock Playlist)

That last song is dedicated to our daughter Claudia and her fiancé Jake who just got engaged! CONGRATULATIONS!♥️ Happy Metal Monday with an iconic '80s power ballad thrown into the mix. \m/

Frag Hags

Frag hags are short for fragrance (loving) hags, a phrase which is self-deprecating and funny at the same time. The term came from a once popular fragrance board on an online makeup community site, and it is about as Y2K a phrase as they come because the time period of the online community's heyday started around 1999 - 2001. It was around that time when I first started chatting on a board full of people looking for a long lost perfume. I loved talking about my scent memories, but I love making new scent memories, too. My SOTN (scent of the night, a variation of SOTD or scent of the day as posted by fragrance lovers on X) is Jo Malone Beach Blossom. Nite, nite! 🌛🧹 Image: Kohl's

Happy Earth Day

Seven Seas - TNT

I hope your day is metal! \m/

Peaches of Immortality: Taoism’s Symbol of Longevity and Spiritual Transformation - The Taoism for the Modern World

The Majestic Red-Crowned Crane: Symbol of Longevity and Peace in East Asia - Japan Experience

Earth Day and the Tree of Life - Crystal Rhapsody by Sali O

Earth Day and the Tree of Life

World tree (also Tree of life) - Wikipedia

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold on her; and happy (blessed, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who holds her fast. (Proverbs 3:18) - Bible.com

Related articles:

Yggdrasil - Wikipedia

Irminsul - Wikipedia

Huginn and Muninn - Wikipedia

Irminsul: Norse Tree of Life Symbol Vector Image - VectorStock.com

Fred and Sally's Happy Anniversary

"Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from An Officer and a Gentleman, 1982

It's our wedding anniversary, not our band anniversary, although we are coming up on yet another anniversary of Fred Kimmel's Earth album launch on Happy Earth Day!🌎 Fred was kind enough to surprise me from work, calling me with his amazingly talented vocal students in the background to cheerfully wish me a Happy Anniversary with him! I've never experienced such sweet wishes in unison like a Happy Birthday in all the years we've been together. He and the girls made this day truly special, and I feel like our vows are renewed; THANK YOU!!💍🪐✨

For my leading man-beautiful and handsome beefcake, I would bake him his favorite cake (chocolate!) for this and every special occasion, especially every year on his birthday if I could, as well as, heck, jump out of a giant cake looking gorgeous and singing in person a breathlessly sexy a capella Stevie Wonder number if I could, but a cold, perfect picture of one such cake sans the real comfort of one actually made with these loving hands of mine will have to suffice for now. Dearest Fred, maybe I'll learn this potentially useful new talent requiring a certain kind of nerve and a sense of perfect timing by your next birthday or our next anniversary instead of trying to perfect an easy peasy Dump Cake (AllRecipes) which I actually made last month with canned peaches and yellow cake mix in the microwave. A word to the wise: Don't fill the microwave safe dish to the top, and use lots of paper towels over and under it because clean up is super sloppy. For the icing on the cake, listen to Fred Kimmel "Tomorrow Knows" from his album Earth on Spotify -- because with practice which takes real patience, Tomorrow Knows what we will all achieve in time!⏳ XOXO Love, Sali ❤️

Image: The BEST German Chocolate Cake Recipe - A Table Full of Joy

Latent Inhibition and MBTI

Read: Creativity tied to mental illness - The Harvard Gazette

I'm not sure if latent inhibition (LI) is measured by the Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI) and I'm just starting to learn about LI, but something tells me questions having to do with whether you're able to filter out outside noise and focus on a task do in fact factor high or low LI (not IQ) into your type.

Related article: Latent Inhibition - Science Direct

The Performative MBTI Couple

Happy Easter and Passover week to all who celebrate. This post is a follow-up to my previous posts on my MBTI (Myers-Briggs) type. After musing about the uncommon understanding that two of the same type can share near perfect compatibility contrary to soulmate "duals" which are actually near opposite types, and subsequently being typed by an AI model on X named Grok, I retook an online MBTI test and came up an ENFJ type. Why this is significant to me is that it matches my husband Fred's self-typing. In the past, I've typed myself an INFJ which I guess is similar enough to the "Actor" or "Teacher" type, and "Main Character" as I've seen Japanese X users refer to it. I've always seen Fred as a leading man type being the perfect frontman of every band he's formed. He's an excellent teacher and the son of two jazz musicians who were also teachers, one an assistant principal of a NYC high school and the other a lifelong music teacher at a community center. He also has had drama training in his past, and, of course, it has to be said, he's the cutest guy in the universe, and he's mine! ENFJ is probably the most perfect fit for him.

If I'm also an ENFJ, it might explain why I feel like either he's more of a rational type than I or that I'm the more emotional one. Two people of the same type probably see more differences between each other over slight differences, like the difference in male or female perspectives. We can argue over whether being opposite sexes creates a dynamic that makes one more dominant than the other, but I think our obviously different physicality, especially in strength, largely determines that. That obvious difference is why feminism exists. He seems more extroverted, too, because he's louder without trying, louder than when I belt my operatic voice, unless that's also my own perspective feeling like I need to be louder to be heard!

Aside from that, Fred and I share a musical background (both my parents sing and play instruments as do/did relatives on both sides), and I, too, have been the face of a Japanese TV show that ran for 10 years, fitting into the Actor/Teacher type. We both grew up in the boroughs of NYC during a tumultuous time in NY history when crime was at its highest point and survived. Maybe that accounts for our shared view that humanity and doing our part to make this world better is the most important value. Oh, and matcha; we both love matcha latte from Fay Da Bakery and being photographed with the cheerful spring green performative drink, but probably he more than I judging by his nonchalant expression. Cheers!

First Ms. Magazine Cover, 1972

Image: Ms. Vol 1, No. 1 Smithsonian American History Museum

Feminism in 1972 looked like Wonder Woman in her bustier and leotard bottom on the first cover of Ms. Magazine. There must be a reason women today are either buttoned up to our chins or completely naked, and anything in-between gets us accused of looking like whores.