Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Journey 211 ~Braxton’s Balancing Act, Virgil~

Bless Me, Echo,
For I have sinned… On this day five years ago, I stood between “rage and serenity.” The middle of the effing road.

The most dangerous place to drive. Really! Movie Quotes! X-Men: First Class vs. They Live. That reminds me. Am I watching dog movies Saturday, or The Mill, Spontaneous, and other things? Tradition, Inspector Echo. Braxton and my movie nights. Memories. Sometimes his Favorite Girl would be here to watch with us. I would read right from this loveseat. I cried my eyes out the first night B III passed. Hell, I sound like MAGA, Echo.

Unlike Trump and the Cracker Hats, I own my sins. Why isn’t Braxton here, Inspector? Because, with these hands, I signed away his life. I couldn’t protect my firstborn. Braxton.

“I’ve abandoned my child! I’ve abandoned my boy!”
Daniel Plainview

I’ve never seen the movie “There Will Be Blood.” But there was—anger at the Day Job, hiding from Braxton.

“Pinch me, pinch me
‘Cause I’m still asleep
Please, God, tell me
That I’m still asleep.”
Barenaked Ladies ‧ 2000

Indifference, my dear Inspector. This is my greatest sin. I don’t want to feel anything.

Man will always choose darkness rather than light. First, do I mean me? And second, I said choose, but there is no choice. I’m scared, I’m sinful in a PURGE sort of way. All crimes, including… And am I sexual? Yeah. I don’t choose. I fall. Tight rope be damned.

If Braxton were here, you could ask him. Good would have been recognizing something was wrong with him and getting help. Eff the Day Job. Bad would have been taking my anger at people out on him. But no, I picked him up and fell asleep—our last good sleep.

Up all night/morning Thursday, I called the vet that afternoon…

And? And! He would be dead by Sunday. All because I couldn’t maintain balance, Echo.

“Sitting in Limbo.” Only now it isn’t the Day Job—love vs. Later. B III vs 2-V They are both my sons, my kids. But between my sister and me. My Old Man clearly chooses her. And I can’t say I blame him. But I’m the same. I mourn Braxton, but where does V stand?

Love vs. Hate. I already told “her” that I don’t hate her. M Anime! Braxton’s Favorite Girl would kick my ass for talking to M Anime now. But between M and I… Rage, Lust, and…

Love? Nah… Braxton would bark I need to choose Love for myself. Life or death? Breathing? Braxton’s Balancing Act, Virgil

1823 Days Without B III, Day 1264 of Virgil’s Arrival

B.L.M. Braxton’s Life Matters,
Will

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Journey 204 ~B Needs Blankets, Virgil~

Bless Me, Echo,
For I have sinned… What? Have I not given Braxton and M Anime the wall-to-wall mourning and misery they deserve? Blanket coverage?

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Inigo, The Princess Bride

Thank you, Inigo Montoya, but I have bigger sins. Three if I’m specific. Although SIGH…

“Sigh No More.” Well, not until E-Day anyway. But the fact that I’ve had Forty-One E-Days (Cue Ben-Hur Galley Drums) is a sin in and of itself. The fact that I’m breathing, that I don’t want to be, that “I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all.” “Sometimes, yet I still pretend.” That brings me back to the big two, Inspector. “Love and Happiness?”

Without my son, Braxton. Without my girl, M Anime. Why aren’t we talking about them?

I swear at the Day Job, I wanted to scream out, “My son is dead!” I could play his songs…

Next week? Am I trying to get fired? Beats Frozen.

“Pinch me, pinch me
‘Cause I’m still asleep
Please, God, tell me
That I’m still asleep.”
Barenaked Ladies ‧ 2000

And while we’re on the subject of Elsa and Anna… Day One? Eww. Relax, Inspector, it wasn’t those sisters that got me off this afternoon. But it wasn’t M Anime either. And that’s my point right there. What am I planning for this week and Saturday? As if grieving is supposed to be a surprise. I’ve mourned Braxton for going on five years. But the woman I was going to marry, potentially, and who was going to have my children.

Inspector, this is new. So I thought I would dance to the two songs I dedicate to her. Those are: “Days Go By” by Dirty Vegas and “King of Wishful Thinking” by Go West. Hmm.

Sorry, I’m not Rick Grimes. I lost my family, Inspector.

“You ain’t no kind of man if you ain’t got land.”
Spoken by Delmar O’Donnell

And thank you as well, Delmar O’Donnell. Or should I speak as Prince Hector did, with all the honor the gods, love your woman, and defend your country? Braxton was more than a prince. He was my little god. And I failed him as I fail his little brother Virgil.

Woman? My woman? She’s married or is about to be married to someone else in Georgia, Georgia… So close and yet so far. But I’ve been thinking of that Ludacris tune for weeks, Inspector. Earworm? Like “I’m only a man in a silly red sheet.” I’m not her Superman, E.

It’s not easy to be me, Inspector. “I’m only a man in a funny red sheet. My country? Eff MAGA! But B Needs Blankets, Virgil

1816 Days Without B III, Day 1257 of Virgil’s Arrival

B.L.M. Braxton’s Life Matters,
Will

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Journey 197 ~Codename B, 002 V~

Bless Me, Echo,
For I have sinned… But I have vomited… Yet. I’ve been very, very STUPID. I’ve seen a woman’s well, several women’s vagains.

Now that was awesome. And I wish I could say “Everything Is Awesome.” But Inspector?

I haven’t vomited yet. And I’m feeling quite sick. It’s of my own doing, of course. Hell, saying “of course” makes me sicker. I mentioned I finished reading Braxton’s novel…

And that makes me feel STUPID? My Dear Inspector Echo, you can take your pick.

Another day at the Day Job, perhaps. Only today did I realize MAGA Cracker Hats surround me. And yet I’m still the Village Idiot when it comes to those people. You can take what I did while sitting here a few minutes ago. That didn’t help me at all, Echo. Getting “Down With The Sickness?” And this is yet one more day Braxton is gone.

“Pinch me, pinch me
‘Cause I’m still asleep
Please, God, tell me
That I’m still asleep.”
Barenaked Ladies ‧ 2000

January is going to be one mother effing month, Inspector. If I survive today, tomorrow…

Hell, if I get to the 18th… Braxton knows what MAGA will do on Monday. And I’ll never mention M Anime again after the 24th. The 5-month breakup Anniversary, Inspector.

Honestly, how do I fix my mouth to lie like that? Or my fingers to type out such and such.

“Anxiety, keep on trying me
I feel it quietly, tryna silence me.”
Anxiety ‧ Doechii

“It’s not over
Because a part of me is dead and in the ground
This love is killing me, but you’re the only one.”
Daughtry

Anxiety is killing me right now, but ok, let’s say I make it to the 25th, what comes next, hmm? The end of the month? The day I committed the greatest crime. My Braxton died.

And not a day goes by that I wish I hadn’t joined him. You want a song, my Dear Echo.

He Lives In You. Always.

And that is what makes me ashamed of the things I do. Braxton was/is the Pete McVries to my Ray Garraty. And for once, I am talking about the movie over the book. Braxton reminds me a bit of my “big sister.” She told me, “You can’t build a strip club next to a school or something to that effect. Quite true. But honestly, I’m like “The Running Man.”

Inspector, I’m not escaping, I can’t get away. There “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.”

Inspector? Who I am and who I want to be is the distance between a woman’s Yabbos. Seriously, on a good day, it’s from her mouth, to her yabbos, to her… I should stop. Echo. Eww. Codename B, 002 V

1809 Days Without B III, Day 1250 of Virgil’s Arrival

B.L.M. Braxton’s Life Matters,
Will

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Journey 190 ~Virgil The Red, Braxton~

Bless Me, Echo,
For I have sinned… But not name-wise. I mean, the title sounds a bit Viking-ish. But I don’t call V, B… often.

And whatever does that mean exactly? I don’t call Virgil, Braxton. Braxton is gone, Echo.

But sometime today, I have to ask for time off so I can grieve for my son. Grieve indeed, yeah right, Echo. The 31st falls on a Saturday, so why even bother? For simplicity’s sake:

1. I only recreate the day to the best of my ability. Barbecue, crying, etc.
2. I’ll never face ACCEPTANCE
3. This will be the fifth year of Braxton’s passing.

So, five years since I wrote Braxton’s book, “My Turn To B III.” Talk about humiliation, Inspector Echo. I’ve been reading my “work,” and I can see why it ain’t selling. Hell, Virgil is probably thinking, if that’s how he’ll be remembered. Then choose immortality.

“Pinch me, pinch me
‘Cause I’m still asleep
Please, God, tell me
That I’m still asleep.”
Barenaked Ladies ‧ 2000

Because Echo, his face would be red to be read like that. Pet Loss, Erotica, Haremlit, and my bank account. But worse of all would be my search history. I’m an evil man, dear Echo.

Smooth Criminal, I am not. If only I had the Magic Glasses, which, according to Goodreads, was my longest book of the year at 517 pages. 8,829 pages read in 52 books. I expected I’d do better. And they can’t all be “Seven Days In June” by Tia Williams, ha.

But anyway, my search history… Where do I begin? Did you see the cover of Journey 189 ~ That’ll B WHITE Virgil~? What if I told you it was supposed to be so much worse? BJ?

But I turned red regardless.

How could I tell? “First, let me explain that I’m just a black man…” And not a member of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. Anyway, besides that cover, before I forget, “Of course.” I was reading B’s book yesterday. And noticed how many times I used the word “Of course” on one page. Like Robin Scherbatsky saying the phrase “But, Um.” Ok, so I told Dear Future Wife about a fantasy I had from TWD, and I was able to manifest, manipulate, augment…

Everyone needs to STOP! Hell, why not hand the planet over to machines and computers?

“I got bills to pay. I got mouths to feed.” And that brings on a whole other red alert, Echo.

RAGE. Virus? Savage? Fight For NY? Virgil The Red, Braxton

1802 Days Without B III, Day 1243 of Virgil’s Arrival

B.L.M. Braxton’s Life Matters,
Will