Happpppy Sunday! Why am I so happy? Because I got out and *movvvved* baby. I am not a big fan of couch potato-eing as I just get depressed. As I say to my husband, it feels good to move the chi or energy or prana around, whatever you'd like to call it. Saying that, right now it's HOT outside and we are not moving from inside the cool safety of our house until the sun goes down. 

This weekend the swell was big, and the tide low early, so both days we were down the beach pre dawn. This morning was particularly fun - it was clean and peaky. We paddled out as the sun *just* began to poke it's head from the horizon, and surfed with a pretty nice crowd for a couple of hours until the tide was too high for the waves to be any good. We had a brekky of mangoes and muesli and a cuppa in the carpark with friends which was lovely in the sunshine. 


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After that we went to a car show - more on that in a later post - before retreating indoors for the worst part of the day, where I packed my bag for travel at last and tidied a bit before retreating to the couch to read a little. 

This segues nicely into the first question of @galenkp's Weekend Engagement prompt which asked if there was something currently popular in today's society that annoys me. I could think of a list as long as my arm, but I'll start with one - celebrity worship. Obviously 'celebrity worship' *generally* isn't popular, but certain celebrities are, and I really struggle to get it. 

She's playing in Melbourne this weekend I think - my son actually has a roadie shift, which sucks as it's quite hot in Melbourne! Ticket prices ranged from a partially obstructed view for $80 to the 'It's Been a Long Time Coming' ticket which is $1249.90, which gets you:

- One Unforgettable A Reserve Floor Ticket 
- Special Set of Four (4) Taylor Swift Prints 
- Exclusive Taylor Swift VIP Merchandise 
- Commemorative Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour VIP Tote Bag 
- Collectible Taylor Swift Pin, Sticker & Postcard Set + Souvenir Concert Ticket 

Here's me worrying about spending twenty pound each to see the Beat in Somerset at the end of March. 

Why it annoys me? I can't quite pinpoint it. Perhaps it's things like the furore over people not being able to bring friendship bracelets in unless they're wearing them - like wtf, people make hundreds of plastic friendship bracelets to trade with other fans? Yeah I'm a Swiftie Grinch I suppose. Or that headlines over Taylor Swift trump say, what's happening in Gaza. 

But perhaps it's just *me*. What if I listened to her music? Where do I even start? The songs I hear on the radio in the supermarket don't gel with me as it's not even my type of music. But maybe if I gave her a *dedicated* listen. Tiny Desk Concerts are always great. So as I type, I'm listening. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVnP8G6ITs

Nope. It's not my thing. It will never be my thing. In fact, I quit after two songs. 

But lying on the couch this afternoon, I [caught this article in The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/listening-to-taylor-swift-in-prison) by Joe Garcia, who went to prison at 33 for murder and is about to be out on parole at 53. There couldn't be anyone more incongrous than Taylor Swift and a prison inmate, could there? But here's this guy who spends 20 years being a Swiftie, much to everyone's teasing and inability to understand, although he actually meets *other* inmates who are *also* Swifties. Even people who made fun of him seemed to respect her music: 

> My neighbor, Rasta, was the weed man for the building, so I played Swift to drown out the guys who were lighting up outside. Rasta made fun of me, but the crowd always liked her “Bad Blood” remix, featuring Kendrick Lamar. “That’s the shit right there,” they’d say. “Who would’ve thought?”

This articulate piece explained why he was such a fan. Her music helped him out during challenging times in prison, particularly around a break up (read the article to find what happened if you need a pick up), emotionally resonating with him. Themes of love, loss, and growth aligned with his own experiences and reflections. It gave him a sense of normalcy, connecting him to the world that he left behind, and of course, like any music, gave him a form of escape. 

It's a really lovely article that made me understand why Swifties might be, well, Swifties. 

How could I be annoyed at that? 

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# `With Love,` 


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