MJ's Journal

07 October 2026

An account of the mayor's office

Her voice was unmistakable. It was Olivia alright. I looked to you and you touched your lips. You were about to say something. Whatever it was, you drowned it. You did that often. Still, I wondered if this would be the first of many adventures together. I believed our dreams were interlaced, like lines alternating odd and even.

I don't know if you'll make it in the end. But I pray you do.

10 September 2026

An account of Othership Adelaide

The instructors asked us to divest our words for silence. I was relieved. I was sick of hearing myself talk about everything. That didn't stop me from wanting to laugh though. Sage-infused snowballs. The gong. The three-hundred dollar wool sauna hats. The watering can the instructor used to hose us down like zoo animals. The heat, however, was no laughing matter. The refiner's furnace, as Malachi would suggest. At first, panic, as the door shuts. Then pressure, for leaving before you are called is a disgrace. Before I knew it, I was slinking out of the sauna with group one. The ice baths were next door; four rectangular prisms in a row. I stood by my bath. The ice cubes were clear, unfoggied by calcium. I couldn't help but touch the surface of the bath. The cold was no laughing matter either. I stared at it and told myself I was tough. The bell rang and in I went, one foot after the other. I shrunk down, my arms instinctively wrapping around my knees. At first, shock. Then, disbelief. The instructor reminded me to slow down my breathing. I endured the ice bath. My body begged for leaving. I remained like this until I was numb. I accepted what I didn't like. I accepted what I couldn't change. Numbness is acceptable until you realize you're dying. Tom Hardy's words, "cut it off," came to mind. I thought about them when the bell rang. It was time to get out. I knew, from making amateur ice baths at home, that leaving was the most excrutiating part. The heat returned, and so did my sense of feeling. I imagined a dog shaking its coat and wiggled my legs, spurring my own blood into action. Even so, the stinging didn't subside for another few minutes. When it did, I was still marked by the cold; a deep chill in my chest cavity. Still, joy and pain can coexist. There's a certain euphoria that comes from conquering a tub full of ice cubes.