Spooky Season And Audio Walk Plans

Tasha 0:09

Hey book is baddies. Welcome to Black Girls Literature. We're fun of women, fun of literature, and fun of my basic.

Steph 0:22

Step into the lit live. Black Girls Lit starts now. Black girl in our cell complex.

Tasha 0:28

Hey, bookish baddies, and welcome back to another episode of Black Girls Lit Podcast. Hey Sonic.

Steph 0:35

It's Star.

Tasha 0:36

It's Steph. All right, y'all. It is fall. It is October. It is spooky season, and we have a lot going on. The first thing I want to tell you guys about is our first event. Yay! We're gonna be doing an audio walk, right? So basically, you're gonna show up, meet us in Suwanee Town Center, and we're gonna walk together about 45 minutes and um listening to our November book. Now it doesn't matter where you're at in the book, start, finish, in, doesn't matter. We're all gonna be listening separately, walking together, and then we're gonna meet up at the end at Suwani Social and we're going to hang out, talk a little bit, and have some drinks, of course, because that's what we do here. We be lit and lit. So it's gonna be our first event. We cannot wait to see everybody October 24th, meeting at 10 o'clock. Be on the lookout for all the details. Tell your friends, cannot wait to meet you guys. But before that, let's jump into this episode,

Atlanta Hard Cider And The Book Setup

Tasha 1:35

right? We are starting off this month. We're gonna be doing something a little different. Rather than a liquor, we are going with some hard cider. Atlanta Hard Cider Company, to be exact, because they are a local bread, and y'all know we love a local liquor. Atlanta Hard Cider is actually founded right here in Marietta, Georgia. Started in someone's garage with a little bit of experimenting with apples and fermentation, and it has grown into an award-winning distillery and cidery. So they got liquor and cider, and most recently has started making um hemp-infused seltzers. I had an incident with some hip-infused beverages, but that's another story for another day.

Star 2:17

Can't wait to tell you guys that story. I have fixtures too.

Tasha 2:22

Steph, just let's get into the book.

Steph 2:25

Okay, so this month, you know, it's the fall, so we're doing Intercepts by TJ Payne, is a gripping horror thriller that asks one terrifying question. What happens when the government's most dangerous experiment escapes containment? Joe has spent years working for a secret organization that uses horrific human experiments to create powerful psychic weapons. He believes the sacrifices are worth it until a mysterious woman connected to the project begins haunting his family. As his daughter becomes the next target, Joe must confront the horrifying truth behind the experiments and decide how far he'll go to stop the nightmare he helped create before it's too late. So without giving away major spoilers, Intercepts Bill's from a conspiracy theory into an increasingly unsettling horror novel filled with suspense, disturbing imagery, and emotional stakes. It's known for its creepy atmosphere, fast pacing, and moral questions about how far people will go in the name of national security.

Ratings And Horror Versus Thriller Debate

Steph 3:31

It was sure. Yes, let's yeah, Tasha, give us give us your rating. Okay, guys. I know the rating system.

Tasha 3:42

Cheers. Sip, babysit, or send it back. Okay. I was really looking forward to this book. You know, it was Halloween time, I'm thinking spooky season. So I was ready for a good horror. I don't know that it really gave me what exactly what I was looking for. So I'm gonna be honest with you. Um I'm coming in with a babysit. I I'm coming in with a babysit. I I didn't love it. I mean, it wasn't like horrible, or really just it wasn't what I was looking for. I guess when I was thinking we were doing like a horror book, and this is more like thriller, like a little bit of suspense. It wasn't getting what I wanted it to give. So um, yeah, definitely got a babysit for Tasha.

Star 4:22

Oh, wah, woman. I'm so sad.

Steph 4:26

How does it feel? How does it feel?

Tasha 4:28

You know, because you love to give a good four. I I really dislike a book. So but it was, it was, it was hard for me to get through. I was just kind of like, I mean, I finished it because you know, it's my job, but um, it was not my favorite.

Steph 4:41

Well, when you say it like that, the recommendations are kind of low.

Star 4:46

I'm so sad. I hate that for you. Oh, dang. Now, I will say, um, I now I'll agree that horror, when I thought horror, I was holding off on reading it because I was like, oh, I'm not gonna be able to read this at night because it's dark outside and then I gotta go to sleep. So I did hold off on starting it for a while for that reason. And when I did, I was kind of in the same vein. Like, this is not a horror. This is definitely more psychological thriller, maybe even a biography to some extent. But we'll get into we'll get into that. For that reason, though, it got a cheers for me. That's very shocking. No, so imagine my surprise as you guys are texting about it and like uh uh and I was like, oh, I don't know what they're reading. I I don't know, but it got a cheers. I mean, it wasn't it wasn't spooky scary, it was we'll talk about it, but it definitely got a cheers.

Steph 5:49

How you feel, Steph? So first time for everything, I started the book, got to pay chapter five, and I couldn't continue. And it was like, my even my daughter was like, Mom, just read a couple of chapters a day. I was like, sure, girl. And then I was like, I still can't do it. So I succumbed to the audio ways, and I tried the audio, and I put it at 1.5 because I just wanted to get through the book. That's where I was. So this is leading me to tell you if I had to do all that to get through the book, I'm gonna send it back. So I'ma send it back. You know, yes, it's a psychological thriller, not a horror. It wasn't. And we're gonna get into the specifics of why it's more psychological than anything. And it just, I couldn't catch it. I couldn't catch it. I didn't want to catch it. I didn't want to um, but we could talk about it, and maybe Star will give me insight on maybe why I should have gave it a two instead of a one. It's because it's definitely never gonna be a cheers. Love you, TJ.

Tasha 7:00

Okay.

Steph 7:01

Yeah, so we'll get into the

Ruby Static Cocktail Tasting

Steph 7:05

first drink that star is gonna tell us about.

Star 7:11

The first drink that we're doing today, we're calling it Ruby Static. You know, I'm not gonna keep you long. I'm not gonna get into a whole bunch of detail. Read the book Ruby Blood. Let's just call it what it is, and static for the white noise, if you will. So there was a lot of blood, there was a lot of white noise. And I'm gonna leave it there. Ruby Static. We have some of the pomegranate flavor, Atlanta hard cider. And we just mixed that with a little 100-proof rye whiskey. Don't be scared, don't be alarmed. Yes, I said 100-proof rye whiskey. But we needed to do the 100-proof because that will cut the sweetness in the pomegranate cider. That's what the thing, that's what the internet has said.

Tasha 7:56

It's written too sweet.

Steph 7:57

Yeah, because yes, let's try the case.

Tasha 7:59

We gotta try the cider first.

Steph 8:00

Put ice, put ice tosha. It's it's still a little chilled.

Star 8:04

Cheers!

unknown 8:07

Cheers!

Star 8:08

So this is the pomegranate by itself. It's cool.

Steph 8:11

It's like flavored beer. Yeah, yeah, the pomegranate, but can you taste the pomegranate?

Tasha 8:16

It's not honestly, it's not too sweet. So maybe we didn't need to cut it with whiskey.

Star 8:20

We did, because the the internet said we did. Oh, okay. Yeah. Let me let me see what the cocktail is talking about. Now it's strong, so I'm gonna tell you that now. Um, you might need to add a little ice to it. It's it's definitely whiskey. So we got the whiskey for sure, and we got that pomegranate cider little um, and we garnished it with some fresh pomegranate seeds. So when the drink is done, gonna get them seeds together. That's really good. Because that's the healthy part. Okay, well, that's good. Yes, fire. This is really good. Don't be scared. That's what I'm saying. Scared.

Tasha 8:55

It's kind of like like what's what's like old-fashioned but a little softer. You know, some people can sometimes old-fashioned be a little too much, you know, it's still it's a little too strong for you.

Star 9:06

Yes, it's definitely. This is good. So thank you, thank you, thank you. And so while y'all enjoy that um beverage there, the discussion question that

When Work Crosses The Moral Line

Star 9:18

I want to get into. So, as Steph alluded, Joe worked for the company. That's what we know. There were a lot of parallels in this book for me to just real life scenarios. The biggest thing for me that stood out first and foremost was how much control and power the company had over its employees' lives and their interactions with people, like to the point where if things went wrong or people got hurt at work, like they would, you couldn't talk to, you couldn't talk to who you wanted to talk to. They would send in actors to play, you know, bereaved friends or family members. So my question is, with all of that going on, when is it time to take a step back? Like when, when is the job asking too much? Where do you draw the line that, okay, yes, this is my employment and I need to be employed because it provides the means to, you know, to manage the lifestyle. But where do you draw the line between what I'm willing to do for work to sustain my lifestyle and the job is so it's doing so much and it's gotten so extreme and it's having so much control that my lifestyle is not even my own anymore. Like there's I think there's a line there.

Tasha 10:35

When when it's no longer well, first, okay, if it's impeding like your family, anything that's gonna like attack your family or interfere with how you live your life with your family, I think like that would be a hard line for me. So when the way, oh well, you know, you can't, which okay, it's it's a very fine line, especially coming from a military family. I've been a military wife and daughter, and there is that there's definitely that thing of, okay, well, there's things that your spouse can't tell you. Okay, I can accept that. But for me, I feel like if it's something, if my family is in danger, I have to be able to somehow I'm gonna have to choose my family over whatever, the company, the job, whatever. If you if you ever feel like you're in a position where you have to choose the job or your family, there is no choice. So that's where that's the hard line for me. If I ever feel like that pressure of this lifestyle, be damn, we gotta figure something else out. We hey y'all, we're going off the grid. Okay. Yeah.

Steph 11:43

I mean, but Joe, for the thing is with Joe, he already lost that. So for him, he was at a place where he lost his family. So he didn't really that hit that wasn't his stopping point.

Tasha 11:55

Well, I'm gonna say Joe Joe made some choices I probably wouldn't make.

Steph 11:58

Correct. I think for me it's just more, I think my moral compass, because at some point, I don't know if I would ever start the job because of what he does. Like, well, he's a supervisor now, but when he first started. So I think for me, it's more of a moral compass and the government be doing some shady stuff, and then it's like you get caught up in it. And it's like once you start your moral compass, you can. I feel like how far you go, you can never get it back if you get too deep into it. And when you get caught up, and then your moral compass is like, no, I want to go in the right direction. I feel like you're so deep in it's too hard for you to come back out.

Tasha 12:36

Well, and that's the thing, it'd be it's a very slippery. It is something it is like it's baby step, so it never starts out and extract in. You know what I mean? So you kind of like, oh, okay, well, my moral compass is here, and then oh, well, that line keeps going through the room. And you keep removing a little bit, you know, give them an inch, they're gonna take a mile, sort of vibe. And so that's why kind of I I I feel like a lot of people probably find themselves in situations where they're like, How did I get here? Yeah, when when did my morals get this loose? Yeah. And then they could start taking steps back and realizing it was never one giant step.

Steph 13:15

It was just little, and I think it's I think age plays a factor, ambition plays a factor because of where you are in life. Because when we were younger, we did a lot of things where it was I was working overtime, I was working all day trying to make money, what you want me to do, all the things. Now I like my time outside of the eight hours that I provide you. And so it's just, I think as I've gotten older, that moral compass changed. When you're younger, I'm not saying that everybody's going in and doing bad things when they're younger, but you're more willing to at a younger age because you're so ambitious and you're trying to move up whatever ladder you're in, corporate, you know, medical, athletic, whatever division that you're trying to move up, whatever ladder that is, sometimes, like you said, that moral moral compass line keeps getting extended. But I think it starts usually at a younger age because we do things. We're we're hungrier. We want to strive more when we're younger to get certain things.

Tasha 14:16

What do you think is that as you get older, you realize more of what's important?

Steph 14:20

Yes.

Tasha 14:21

Whether it's your health, yes, your family, but you just realize the things that really matter. Something to you.

Star 14:28

Yeah. And I think to that end, it was the the twist for me at the end. I was like, oh shit. Like at the end, because again with the parallel is you you get you go so far, you go so far, and you, in a sense, age out of the system, right? So we'll bring in somebody younger and replace you or put them in your place, and then you become, you become the the case study, if you will, right? Or of what what not to do or what you don't expect the new person to come in and do. So that was that was super tricky at the end. I said, oh damn. I mean, it was a good idea. That was good. It was a it was a good twist at the end. I kind of saw that part coming though.

Tasha 15:16

I didn't. I didn't, I kind of saw that coming. You saw that coming? I did. After what happened, yeah. I normally I did.

Steph 15:23

I saw, but this is because of what happened with the daughter and the mom. If it's happening with the daughter and the mom, I feel like it's the people within the company.

Tasha 15:32

I guess for me, it just it put me back in the mindset of just like, I mean, regular, our regular lives and jobs, where just to remind you, hey, you're so easily replaced. So easily replaced. The way you go in here, you're giving them your whole blood sentence, your whole body, everything. And then if you're not there, like somehow they manage to figure it out. And in your mind, you're thinking, like, oh no, if if I don't do this, no one can. Like, I'm I am the person, I'm doing it. Yeah, they need me. And then you retire, or you get in a car, I mean, Lord Ben A, you get a car card, you can't come in and turns out, oh, they just gonna slide new model coming in. You out, old out, new in. And what I think when when that doesn't, when you realize that part of any job, you're like, oh, let me start moving a little bit different because there are aspects of my life that are not replaceable. Yes. Whether again, that's my health or my family. Family time. Um, let me start treating this job the way they treat me, like I'm replaceable. Let me treat this job the same way.

Star 16:33

Because they absolutely are. And that's the part I think we forget. And I think again, it's we get so comfortable and locked into what we think is, or this false, I'm gonna say this false sense of security, because that's what it is. Because they will, yeah, it don't take but a second. So yeah, that was that was interesting to me. And I think that was probably the part that locked me in more than anything was just right off the top. It was this the company. That is honestly what intrigued me the most because I work in HR and I've been the company person. I've been the up all night on vacation with my computer and doing the things and getting the things done. And then when the list comes down of layoffs, I've been on that bitch. Like, you know what I'm saying? So to keep it a bug. Yeah, to keep it a buck. Like I've been on it. So that was what brought me in immediately is that we make a lot, we go in and we make a lot of sacrifices for the company. And maybe.

Steph 17:45

Sometimes it's not worth it. I mean, it is worth it because you know, you your reputation is you your name. Like that's your name. And like I told my kids, just because I'm not a CEO of a company doesn't mean that when you come across my name, you're not gonna say wonderful things. You know, so, but at the same time, it's a it's a a balance. Like I want to be great with my job, but it it depends on the job because some jobs you really have to give more than eight hours. So it's a matter of what your passion or what your dream is. The company, I felt like Joe sacrificed a lot. I felt like there was no vacation. I felt like you don't take days off. And the days that you take off, you're limited on the conversations that you can have. So, like, like you said, being in the military family, you understand that there are certain things that you can't divulge, you can't discuss, which is understanding. But then it's like you can't do anything. There's no venting. Who do you vent to after a long day? What if something happened, which happened in the very beginning of this book? There was something that happened. It's like you can't really discuss it with anybody except your coworkers.

Star 18:51

And not even them, really. Right. Because they might go back and tell on you. They have the whole thing under surveillance. Like the house, the car, the kids, the wife, the ex. Yeah, the whole thing.

Steph 19:03

Like, and don't say anything like, don't say anything to the point of it might affect the company. They'll be like, You out. Because even with Joe's daughter, there were things transpiring with her, and he had to watch what he said and how he moved because it was gonna put a target on her, and she could have been part of the experiment too.

Tasha 19:24

Yeah.

Steph 19:25

Wild, wild.

Star 19:27

I can't believe and and a sip and a uh a babysitter. I think it just again it's just it just wasn't for me. I'm just I'm just fine.

Tasha 19:35

That's fine. It's okay. Uh yeah.

Steph 19:40

Yes, that's what we did. That's what we did. That's what we did. We are like romance girls.

Tasha 19:44

We we we like a little rom-com, a little like a little lusty, a little who might, you know. Hey girl, take me out on a date.

Star 19:52

Yeah, that's cool, but I'm gonna tell y'all about the matrix in a minute. Go ahead. Okay. What's the next who's who's got the next question?

Steph 19:58

Okay, that'll be me. So we are going to do

Whispers In The Dark Cocktail

Steph 20:04

we're doing the Atlanta hard cider. It's that crisp apple. So we're doing mine, which is an apple crisp cider. And I made my cocktail where it's gonna be whispers in the dark. We'll try the cider first and then we'll get into the cocktail. But while we try it, let's do a little cheers.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

Cheers, cheers.

Steph 20:29

More flavored beers. I like this one better.

Star 20:33

I like the pomegranate better. Tastes like apple cider to me. It's not bad.

Tasha 20:38

It's not I actually like the pomegranate better, to be honest with you.

Steph 20:41

Yeah, it's it's sweeter, yeah. I could do that one. My cocktail is Whispers in the Dark. It's a hauntingly smooth fall cocktail blending crisp apple cider, aged rum, warm pumpkin spice, a little bit of lemon, and a touch of bitters. Sweet, spice, and mysterious. This chilling sip captures the eerie suspense and hidden secrets lurking beneath the surface of intercepts. Ooh, okay. Spooky. Right. So if you do this, you can warm it up. It's fall, and add a little cinnamon stick into it, and you can have a little warm cocktail sitting outside enjoying the fall weather.

Star 21:24

That's good. No, it smells amazing. It smells like fall. It smells like go get my Ug Boots. This is and this cinnamon stick in here is everything. So if anybody's keeping track, that is whiskey and rum. Rum. Now, so we get lit.

Tasha 21:43

This is like a good little hot tiny. I could be in the I could do by the fire pit with this in the yeah, yeah, for sure.

Star 21:49

I like it at room temperature. I don't necessarily know that I would love it hot, but it is.

Steph 21:56

I've had a hot, like I'll just go. I I've done the apple sauce. And I add fireball to it.

Tasha 22:03

Oh, okay.

Steph 22:04

That's been good. That was one of my fault. Y'all can just drink it for no reason. I mean, who wants who wants a nice morning? Just drink it for nothing. Is it for nothing? Is it? It's a Saturday morning. It's the fall. You have a little, you know, some cider and some fireball, and you sit outside and enjoy. And good morning is what Steph said. Or you could try coffee with some Kahlua and some cream.

Tasha 22:33

Not for nothing. I mean, it's a Saturday. I'm not drinking just for no reason. I'm drinking because it's a Saturday.

Steph 22:38

I'm drinking because it's Saturday and I'm awake.

Human Experimentation As The Real Horror

Steph 22:40

And I can have read a book. Ding ding ding. It works. You know what?

Tasha 22:45

You you got to be thankful for every day. So, you know, it's a Saturday, and he wanna make you a hot fireball. Yes. Cheers.

Steph 22:54

Cheers. Cheers. Thank you. Hello. Good morning. Let's talk, get back to this book, please. So the book explores whether trauma can spread beyond the people who directly experience it. Did you think the real horror was the supernatural elements or the human experimentation? The real horror.

Star 23:14

I'm gonna go with the human experimentation. Um the supernatural piece of it is not necessarily so frightening to me. From Riley's perspective, maybe. But as a reader, I would say the experimentation piece was more horrific to me, especially what they did. What the people that were being experimented on when they came to or revolted or rebelled or whatever we're calling it. And when they decided to hit hell no, when they decided the jig was up and they weren't taking it no more. Now that was scary. Like that was that was very scary. That was very scary. Like, yeah.

Tasha 24:07

So for me, it was I would agree. The human, the human experimentation part is is scarier than the supernatural to me, only because it's sort of like he, I would say he definitely did a good job being like, it was just real enough to make it be like, is this real? This could be happening right now. Like, so I think for me, like that's scary, because like it wasn't so far-fetched that you're like, uh, okay, okay, Freddie Krueger. No, it was like, is it y'all think oh, you know, so it was just real enough to make you feel like, hmm, this is possible. So, and if the things that were written about in the book are true, then that's scary as hell.

Star 24:51

Scary as hell.

Tasha 24:52

Scary as hell. So the that part definitely more so than supernatural. Because it's easy to be like, uh, ghosts aren't real, you know, and to like brush off stuff like that, you know. But when you get to stuff like that, that that seems like, oh, it could be. Now you got me looking up my shoulder, like, what? I'm like the mirror catch right here, head on the swivel, like, oh, what's going on? Which, and that's like that, that's why I felt like Star would like the book because you know, she be right here looking deeper into everything. You know what I'm saying? So I do I do understand why she enjoyed the book. Me on the other hand, I'm just kind of like, I don't, I don't want to be thinking that stuff like this is possible because oh love, they're coming to get me. Like, I can't be going through life like that. Y'all know I like to walk around my head in clouds. And so I don't want to think I can't be thinking that this is true.

Steph 25:47

Like, no. I can't. Well, I think we all agree. I for me, it's the human as well, because I feel like it's like you're a lab rat at the end of the day. And, you know, for you to do that to a human being, what how do they even end up there? What did they do for you to choose them? And then it's just like they're away from all of their family. And I'm I'm assuming they're like they're dead, but they're really not dead, and they just take the body. You know how they like some people sign their body for science, sign their, you know, if they die and stuff. I don't think a lot of people do that. And the people they do ask, it's because you got a lot going on with you.

Tasha 26:21

It's definitely not gonna do it now. She is dope. Even if she was gonna donate her body to science before, are you now organ donor?

Steph 26:28

That's all you get for me. That's it. That's no more. But no, for real, like it's the human experienceation, like just hearing what they went through, how they did it, and then the people that have to come behind and clean up after them. And you see these people. This is, I'm not comparing it to anything like a nursing home, or it's like when you have to take care of another person. And that's a lot. And I would hope someone would take care of me the way that I that I would take care of you, which is in a, I feel like I'm a great caregiver. And so I would want to be treated like that. And the way they treated these people, I was just like, that's inhumane. And I think that's probably another reason I couldn't get into it because I was like, no, no, ring the alarm, sound the bell, like pull it down because it's like I felt like it was wrong. And for it to get to where it was because it's for psychic abilities and what they used it, the government used it to try to get inside information, but the way they did it, it was like you're using somebody else to get that. Y'all couldn't find any kind of other way.

Star 27:30

And they were literally torturing these people to get the inside. But you were saying you didn't know how they chose the people. So there was a point in the like towards the end, where we realized how they were choosing the people. So it was like this multi-phase thing experiment that was happening. This was just, I think, like phase three of it, or like two or three. So it was like site B or something like that. So, which meant which I figured out was the first group of people that they were experimenting on the people that went. Were the people that were like at the first facility. That maybe some of them were the employees at the first facility. That's what I think. And then they then that's where they came from. And then okay, let's see, because let's see how much further we can get people to go. Like, let's see how much more we can get people to let go of their moral compass in the sake of research for the company, right?

Steph 28:33

So that's how after this site, Joe ends up and finds himself being and then it's it's the human experimentation where they become more powerful than the experiment. And I think that's what happened. They became more powerful than the experiment, and it's a vicious cycle that's happening from each site to the sites that they keep changing. Now I remember now as you said it because you know I had it on the audio at 1.5. So I was getting through it. So I yeah, at the end of it, it was the experimentation. They were becoming the experiments. Yeah.

Star 29:12

And I always say it's funny because Tasha just said um something like, it makes you uncomfortable because the the potential realness of it is the thing that makes you the most uncomfortable when you're

When Art Mirrors Real History

Star 29:25

reading the book. Like, especially if you're a romantic head in the clouds type of person. But I but I always say one thing I started to question some years ago, may, maybe or maybe not, I started to question or maybe not question whether or not life imitates art, or does art imitate life? Y'all share that.

Tasha 29:46

I was this the thing. When you said that, it because the whole time we've been talking, it just made me think of like we're like, oh, you know, like this is so crazy. Or we could talk about all the times in life and history where people have been experimenting on. Like, let's we want to dive into the Holocaust, we want to dive into the Tuskegee experiments, we want to dive into the Henrietta Lax, where they took her cells and they've been using themselves all throughout biology for many decades now, um, without her permission. We want to talk about the experiments that were done on black women that fund that basically founded the entire gynecological studies that we have now and how they would be performing these different surgeries and stuff on black women with no sedation and cutting babies out of them, all these different things like that, you know. So is it life imitating art? Or are I mean, so we can go there into things like it, and there's just so many things. I mean, I and honestly, not even like, so we can look at those parts of it, but then even because I'm again, I am a big like criminal. I mean, I watched like a lot of um, what's the stuff? True crime, true crime type stuff, whatever. And the number of serial killers who maybe around there doing experiments, or they like took people just so they could have them in their basements and doing experiments. Like, people are crazy. They're crazy, y'all.

Star 31:07

Y'all be safe out here. Dangerous out here.

Tasha 31:11

It's like that's for me. That's my good. I just give me a good little love story because I can't be, I can't be worried about somebody snatching me out the out the K. Roger parking lot while I'm trying to get my groceries. And now here I am with somebody's lab. I just can't, I can't, I can't live my life like this.

Star 31:28

K. Roger, stop playing with me. Girl, K. Roger. Uh that's Kroger. That's Kroger, but no exactly. I'm about to go up here to K. Roger. Please. What? I love that. Girl, take us to take us to the next cocktail and the next. I am definitely feeling mad.

Tasha 31:52

Oh my god. I think it's a comedian that listened to it. That's how he said it. I was like, and I've been standing like that ever since. Baby, I'm about to run up here to K. Roger. Because what? My best. Okay, so I got the third cocktail. This one, we are doing the honeybee. I don't want to call this everything but honeybee. So it's the little heart cider, the honeybee heart cider. Um, let's see, I actually didn't taste it by itself. Let's see what they're talking about here. They're talking about.

Star 32:26

I would imagine it's gonna give us some honey notes. A little sweetness, maybe. A little sweetness. Let's see what they're talking about. I don't smell any honey. Almost that. Cheers. Cheers.

unknown 32:38

Cheers.

Steph 32:40

This is my favorite.

Star 32:41

I was getting ready to say this might be my favorite.

Steph 32:44

This is my favorite.

Star 32:45

I think I don't have a hard cider palette because they all taste the same to me.

Steph 32:49

It's all just flavored beer. It's all just flavored beer. The apple one is more, it you could tell the crisp and it's sweeter, and it's but this one is just right.

Tasha 32:57

I don't need I actually like this.

Steph 32:59

Yeah, I don't need, I wouldn't need to. I like them all though, to be honest.

Tasha 33:01

I do like ciders. Yeah. This is not bad. It's not bad. Okay, well, for the cocktail, the cocktail is actually, it's with gin, with the uh Bar Hill gin, which is a gin that has a um has little honey extracts in it. So gin with some fresh squeezed uh fresh squeeze lemon juice, a little simple syrup, so ginn and juice, and top that off with this honey bee apple cider. Not apple cider, but the hard cider. Let's drink. Let's go.

Steph 33:30

Cheers. That gin hit the back of my throat. I wasn't I wasn't ready. It's good. I'm not a gin person, so when it when it hit the back of your throat, surprisingly, it it is yeah.

Tasha 33:42

I wasn't, you know, you got to be prepared. You gotta prepare the back of that throat. Like you can't just they can't just be creeping that up on you. You gotta sorry. Let me get myself,

Honeybee Cider And A Gin Topper

Tasha 33:56

girl.

Star 33:57

Okay, I like this drink too though.

Steph 33:59

Now I like it, but that gin taste.

Star 34:01

This is my favorite drink of the three.

unknown 34:04

Is it really?

Star 34:05

This is my favorite drink, I will say.

Tasha 34:07

Tachi, you're redeeming yourself. It'd be so hard to impress, you know, star. Just star, huh?

Star 34:15

That was so that was so pointed. Like this is me.

Tasha 34:20

No, now I'm thinking about it. Um, Steph, too, because Steph also, and Steph ain't gonna lie to you. She was like, Oh, it's it's a drink.

Star 34:27

But I I it's now I will say though, Tasha was adamant about the the specific gin and this fresh squeeze lemon juice. So please understand it was no shortcuts with Tasha's cocktail. Don't play with mine. Yeah, because y'all not gonna keep y'all not gonna keep playing with her. Oh, I gotta ask you a question. Let me put the drink down. This is the but this is good. This is my favorite one.

Tasha 34:50

Okay, okay. So, okay, my question has this the book touched a

Conspiracy Scale And Matrix Energy

Tasha 34:55

little on conspiracy theorists, and there was, of course, the whole idea of the super secret, you know, government facility, all that stuff like that, right? So, my question where do you fall on the scale of conspiracy theorists? So we're gonna be a little scale here for the scale of ooh, myself, like so. One being my cell phone is literally reading my mind, like hey, you're not, which I think everybody sort of thinks like that. Oh, this cell phone definitely is in my head at this point, or all the way to the extreme of 10 being we're living in a giant matrix type assimilation of life, and we we literally have no control.

Steph 35:32

Where do you fall on the stuff? Young Steph would have said one. Steph now is like at a 20, like it'd be changing. The government be the the way the government be working, uh it's scary. It's very scary. I just the more money you have, the more conspiracy there is. Is that's the that's the shortest way that I can put it. Like when you're when you're up there from power to money and the things that could happen, like wow. Innocent people get hurt because of those type of people. And that's how the company was made.

Tasha 36:14

It's like that book this this could be real life. That book could be real life.

Steph 36:17

It could be real life. So you high up on that scale. After I just said it, sure, Tasha. Yeah. No, I am high up on the scale. I feel like it is. Can my can my comp uh, my phone, yeah? My phone reads stuff because it's like I was just, I bet you all day today, app something cider, something pumpkin fall related will be on my phone. It happens when you go on the streaming, any kind of social media services. It's like the ads that come in. How do you know I was even thinking about that? It'd be one thing when you said it, but sometimes you don't even say it.

Tasha 36:50

Say it. You just think it. Or I had a conversation with somebody in the gym. My phone wouldn't even buy me. Have stuff popping up on my phone now. Come on now. No, yeah.

Steph 37:01

We are too far in. We could be doing uh cars in in sp in the air right now. I feel like the I feel like we're very far advanced. The government is just giving it to us in doses because we're not ready.

Star 37:14

I'm gonna tell you how they know. Because we're it, y'all seen the matrix. The matrix trilogy. It's my favorite. You've seen iRobot, small doses, yes, there is small doses to see who's gonna reject the program. Correct. Yes, we're in the matrix. Yes, it is uh computer-generated simulation. We have no control. The only problem is choice. If we do, if we have choice, we accept the programming. If we don't have choice, then we reject the program. So you're at a 20 and the whole system failed. So you're at a hundred. I am, I am the definition of conspiracy theorists.

Tasha 37:51

That's why I knew she was like the book. Like when she I knew it because this is her. You know, she's always about her discernment. She be seeing through people.

Star 37:59

We if you're not paying attention to her, be discerning.

Tasha 38:02

Star never looks at people. She be looking through them. Like she be like looking and she'll like focus in them a little bit. And you'd be like, oh.

Steph 38:10

That's why the Lord, he has to come to the doorstep. I am the Oracle.

Star 38:14

I'm the Oracle. I cannot. What? What? I'm the Oracle.

SPEAKER_03 38:19

I cannot.

Star 38:20

Are y'all crazy? Is anybody paying attention? Hello, is it hello? Is this thing on? I'm the Oracle. We're in the matrix. Listen, and it's okay. Don't anybody be alarmed. We know how this plays out. Everybody calm down. Everybody calm down, stay focused. This is not a drill. Okay. Red or blue. Red or blue. Please understand. Red pill, blue pill. What you want? Revolution, but not be televised. We'll talk about it. Okay. Don't be alarmed. This is where we are. Everything's gonna be okay.

Steph 38:51

So you're high on the scale.

Tasha 38:53

I'm high on the scale. I 100%, like we've never had this conversation, but I knew that about her again, only because I, I mean, I hang out with her a lot. I spent a lot of time with her. And when I tell you for real, I've only like recently been noticing how for real, like, she does not really like look at people. She really be like looking through them, like, is you real or not? I feel like she be looking for something in their eyes to see are they robots or are they real? Because she for sure believes that some of the people out here walk around, they're not real people. So she looking deep, like I think she be trying to read their eyes because she does have the gift of discernment. So she be trying to say, okay, is you real? She's trying to find out whether they're real or whether they want to lizard people or not. And the eyes are the eyes are the window to the soul. Like, stop listening. I kid you know, we've never had this conversation, but I feel like when I was reading the book and I was like talking with Alvin about it, I was like, I said, this is a question I want to ask. I was like, because 100%, Star is, she is a conspiracy theorist for sure. I was like, and I was telling him for real, I was like, mm-hmm. I was like, because she be listening too hard and looking at people too hard. Like she really be right here trying to figure, like, uh, oh, Lizard person for sure. Like when it comes down to it, like if we have to try, if we're like out here fighting for our lives and trying to survive stuff, we gotta link up with star because she for sure is gonna be able to tell us who we can and can't trust. Because I can read the code.

Steph 40:09

I'm here for it.

Star 40:10

I can read the code. I know what you know like y'all see, y'all see yellow pillow, blue pillow, black mirror, like I see the code, man.

Steph 40:18

Like, y'all out here playing anyway. It's about to be the minority port out here, so you gotta be careful.

Star 40:23

Y'all, y'all stay vigilant, okay? But it's all it's all good.

Tasha 40:27

Okay. As for me, I think I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't really, I can't be getting too deep into thinking like, oh, this and all this stuff could be real, because that would it would make my head explode because obviously I really am. I'm like, I think because I'm an empath. And so like I always like take on people's worries and shit. So if I had to really be out here like thinking about all of these things that could be happening, and all this, like, oh, people getting out, it would be all consuming for me. So I really, that's why I live in the clouds. Because I'm just like, let me just let me just stay up here where everything is all good and it's bubblegum and rainbows, like anything else would be too much for my brain to handle and process. So I have to like, do I think my phone is reading my mind? Yes. But do I think that we are part of some simulation game and hey, we really don't have any control. We out here just pawns in it. I nah, I'm just like, because again, if is it possible, maybe, but I just can't. I just I can only deal with what is. I can't deal with a lot of what ifs. Oh, what if, what if, what if? Now it would be too much, literally, for my brain to process. So I just have to deal with what is and what's right in front of me, which also why I'm very gullible. I be believing stuff all the time, like, because I'm just like, I'm just of you saying, okay, that's cool, that's okay, you know.

Steph 41:46

But I should I would hope that we could do that with people. Like, I don't want to have to die, dissect and decode good morning. Is it good? Is it the morning?

Tasha 41:56

If you have the natural discernment like Star has though, it don't take that much out of it. It's not even a lot of energy in it. It's just a natural.

Steph 42:04

You just know. I hate you. I y'all should see the facial expression. It's just so don't worry about it. She's so serious, so very the oral on this unserious topic.

Tasha 42:15

Don't worry about it.

Steph 42:17

Don't worry about it. So, for those that really want a psychological thriller, read the book.

Star 42:23

The way that they disrespected intercepts, it's mind-blowing to me. But again, everybody is not ready to take the pill. So, you know, red pill, blue pill. What what you want to do? I'll take the pill. Don't worry about it. Okay. This is the reason why we're a well-balanced group. So don't worry about it. We all can offer something. We got it covered. Yeah. Okay. Any any final thoughts or are we good? Because I mean, all of this is being recorded literally by us and by

Final Thoughts Next Book And Share

Star 42:58

the simulation. I I believe it. Yeah, it's all being tracked by the simulation.

Tasha 43:03

So I will say that I wouldn't, I would be down with a field trip over to Marietta to the Atlanta Heart Cider Company just to do a little sampling. They like host events and everything. I'd I'd be down for a little field trip. Okay. Okay. BG, y'all might be. BG got a little real trip coming up. We could do the free.

Star 43:20

Because you know, fall is my season. You know, I'll be outside during the fall. You be outside in the fall. You love a little cool breeze. We can do the live there. Nice little cool breeze. We'll see. Y'all stay tuned. Before we close, you know the vibe. We always save space for something to sit with. Sip on or carry into your week. A lit challenge to move you, a top for thought to ground you, or a memorable quote from the book that lingers like a good sip. This episode, I'm going to leave you with the top for thought. And I've alluded to it. We've discussed it. Does life imitate art? Or does art imitate life? Does art imitate life? Does life imitate art? Are we in the matrix? Are we not in the matrix? Maybe, maybe not. Y'all stay safe, stay vigilant. Okay. That's it for this episode of Black Girls Lip Podcast, where fine women, fine literature, and fine libations always meet. To the words that found you, the poor that held you, and the version of you that showed up to listen. Remember to share us on your favorite social media platforms and make room for someone else at the table. We'll be doing next, our next book will be Ken. Ken by Tyree Jones, which is also, like Tasha said, the book that we'll be doing at our first eye. Audio walk. Our first audio walk event um at the end of the month.

Tasha 44:39

That's how you fast walk. Get your hips moving.

Star 44:41

You gotta get your hips moving or just your arms? Oh I like to move fast and don't be going nowhere. Baby. Hope to see y'all there. Until then, read boldly and sip slowly. Cheers.

Steph 44:56

Bye y'all.