Agitarius | Day 48
Pledge Allegiance To The OAR, And The Learned Arcanum Of A Carnivore "Starter Kit"
Friday, March 15th (Moon in Virgil)
Plan, prepare, pragmatize! Make your Friday a day of priority and action! Consider the icy whitewater splash of your OAR against the cold, rough creek stone of the BYE as they converge, pulling you forward, sideways, and under in your roiling stream of critical decision making. While neither your job nor your “son” are expendable, consider the primacies of the day, and which hand holds the shorter leash with the tightest grip. With Nestor’s Junior slated for another risky, potentially pasta-and-peanut-butter-rich weekend with his father—Nestor “Chef Boyardee” Senior—you will need to spend a sizable portion of the day at the butcher shop to procure, then prepare, and pack no less than six protein-rich meals of beef, sweetbreads, and fowl. Apologize profusely and give a heartfelt pledge of your commitment to the company and your allegiance to the OAR in a Slack text message to your boss and the Human Resources manager, but explain that you have a legitimate family matter to attend to and will need to use eight hours of Family Flex today. Your boss will reply, “K,” several hours later. In times of struggle, when lacking confidence in the footfalls on your own rocky path, remind yourself that the world-wise guidance of others is always in reach. With words failing you as to how to tactfully explain your situation, outstretch your arm and knock at the door of knowledge—knock three times, specifically, with escalating levels of voluminous force, as the Argentinians are usually in the backyard, out of earshot, brewing their morning coffee in a dented tin kettle over fresh morning flames. Still unsure as to what the Argentinians actually do—you think they are semi-retired, but the conversation always diverges before you can get a definitive answer—be relieved at their enthusiasm in dropping any and all existing plans to help you shop for and prepare twenty to twenty-five pounds of freshly butchered meat. Spend the afternoon roasting beef, chicken, chorizo, and lamb; learning the arcanum of the asador from the old man; sharing rich red wine from a very old cask while his wife sings and strums brightly feathered chords on the nylon strings of a classical guitar; and getting a crash course in smoking and vacuum packing meat for storage. The Argentinian couple offer to help you get started with compiling the comestibles of a carnivorous diet, even providing you with a “starter kit” of delicacies from several well-organized double-door freezers in their garage! By sunfall, you will have a blissful wine-buzzed smile painted across your gob, and a large cooler filled with meal-ready proteins that you will load into Nestor’s minivan with a firm set of feeding instructions laminated—the Argentinians even have a laminator!—and taped to the lid. Your lucky-duck daily digits are 9, 24, 33, 38, and 87.