Author Archives: Alan Ilagan

We have arrived at long last at winter’s final day. How many weeks has it been? Count the weekly blog recaps below and see for yourself. In total, it wasn’t a horrid season. We had some snow storms, and then the temperatures remained steadfastly below freezing, ensuring the insulating blanket of snow cover for the gardens and the grass. We didn’t lose electricity for any stretch of time, so we will count this as a relatively benign season. Peruse the weekly recaps below for a more detailed glimpse into how we made it through the winter wilderness, then look to the Eastern sky for the dawn of spring tomorrow… 

12/23/24 ~ A Recap Bordering on Holiday Joy

12/30/24 ~ A Holiday Recap in Limbo

1/6/25 ~ A Recap Filled with Comfort Food

1/13/25 ~ A Toasty Recap

1/20/25 ~ A Recap Slightly Later Than Usual

1/27/25 ~ A Recap Clad Only in Underwear

2/3/25 ~ A Recap Fronted by David Beckham’s Bulge

2/11/25 ~ A Day Later Recap Due to Divinity

2/17/25 ~ A Super Bowl Recap

2/24/25 ~ A Floral February Recap

3/3/25 ~ Already A March Recap

3/10/25 ~ A Lost Hour Recap

3/17/25 ~ A Recap with Outtakes

For reasons that should be obvious (these look ridiculous!) the two photos here are outtakes from The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale and were wisely never used in the final project. Twenty years ago I wa much more careful of my image and putting forth only what I thought was presentable, and these in no way passed muster. Today, I find them hilarious, and am happy to parade myself looking like a sheer-sheathed, frilly fool with peek-a-boo Calvin Klein briefs. When at last you know how to take the pissout of yourself, you become more or less invincible. On with the weekly recap, if it so pleases you…

It began, sigh, with another FAFO moment for those who voted for the FOTUS.

This shirtless quartet of gents in shades of gray righted the ship for the moment.

Our lone Dazzler of the Day was Josh Groban, who hasn’t texted me since.

Gray matter on my head.

The cop-out post, or, a skylight pictorial series. 

Scarlet streaks of hope in a backyard of gray.

A scandalous take on boba tea.

An anniversary memory wish.

Birthday wishes for Skip garnered a favorable social media response, further evidence that people want to see anybody other than me up on here. So send me your Dazzler recommendations! Almost all will be honored! (Even you, Urbanczyk… someday…)

These days I find myself doubting everything.

Animal in meditation.

Obsessed – utterly OBSESSED – with this Lady Gaga song.

Disturbing dreams and comforting realizations.

Echoes of incense in a sacred space.

The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale went all gratuitously naked and nude, with an underwear-heavy post titled ‘Vanity Under Where‘ and then re-doubled on the effort with a post titled ‘Vanity Under There‘ and capped things off, literally all off, with this George Michael-inspired ‘When you shake your ass, they notice fast’ post. 

Now let’s have a great week of Mercury in retrograde! It’s Monday, my friend Ann’s favorite day, so rock out with your whatever out and do the damn thing. 

We pause once again to honor our posting schedule of The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale which will return next weekend (and do come back then because the ballerina bit is about to begin and it is tutu much!) For those who have lost track, below is what has been posted thus far from that 2005 project:

~ The Divine Diva Tour: A Fairy’s Tale ~

1. Pink Frilly Fairy: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three
2. Homage to Herb: Part One, Part Two and Part Three
3. A Purple-Hued Interlude
4. Style & Panache: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
5. Purple Puff Confection: Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.
6. A Blue-Hued Interlude
7. Fuchsia Fabulousness: Part One. Part Two and Part Three.
8. Bad Boy Bangs – Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.
9. Vanity Under Where: Part One, Part Two. and Part Three.

The featured photo was a selfie (because some of us were doing selfies way back in the 80’s and 90’s, ahem) taken back when the Divine Diva tour was in its planning stages. I was on my way into the office job I had at the time, which was located unironically in the Capital District Psychiatric Center. Andy always joked/hoped they’d mistake me for one of the clients and keep me overnight, but I always outsmarted them. It was a brutalist concrete building inside and out, with large gaping stairwells that were not seemingly designed for such a space, as there ended up being nets of thick rope hanging over the spaces where someone might jump. Fascinating and disturbing all at once, not unlike the trajectory of the fairy’s tale already in progress… 

We have replaced ‘bedtime‘ with ‘scrolling in bed’ time and we are the worse for it. 

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