October 23 2026

1:23

We have done the people who think climate is up for debate a disservice. Schools like to pretend that we ‘know” things, that knowing is a state of being and final. So when a few scientists disagree about climate change they think we don’t know because it is not 100% our schools failed them. Its out fault.

October 24 2026

Ate fried tomatoes and rice and a soup is cooking with red beans and ground provisions.

There’s a flood warning.

23:37

I want to revisit the issue of safety on this island and how I don’t blame Jamaicans. It may sound foolish or like an excuse to say this. But we do not manufacture guns. Our gun violence is tied to our plastic neighbour the U.S.’s lax gun manufacturing laws, throwing around death machines like candy. We don’t make guns. Our neighbour does. We get gun fever from them, the sheer proximity.

Guns, McDonald’s and plastic. The U.S.’s main exports, seemingly.

October 25 2026

Had plantain fritters, rice and peas (red beans) with fried tomatoes reduced in coconut milk, then rice and peas with fried ackee.

The flour says product of Jamaica but I don’t know of us growing wheat. The rice is from Guyana.

I’m making a fun, dancey beat.

October 26 2026

1:53

Just had a dream that gave me a small victory. I needed that.

15:21

I keep having nightmares that I owe the library books. For Borrows to work they have to have delivery and pickup. Otherwise it’s a stress.

20:29

Had tomatoes and rice, ackee and jamaican dumplings and irish potatoes and a bit of yam. Soy milk to drink twice.

22:13

Oh my goodness I have a song that steers me straight into the skid! It’s hilarious! Have to find a way to make it work.

22:51

Guys. The song is cool.

October 27 2026

00:19

This song is kind of spooky. I think it’s a Halloween song. If I finish it today, I can publish it as a Halloween song. It would take a big push. It would be a rush. But it has some virality.

I dunno. It’s possible. I have to finish it tonight (next few hours) and… the song is work. I have to rap which is not something I have a lot of practice in. I have to have enough variation rather than just riding a vibe like I usually do cause it’s dance music.

It’s a challenge. Let’s see how I do?

If I finish it to satisfaction and to nothing but positive feedback from the 2 or 3 people I play it to in the morning, then I’ll publish and try for a Halloween streaming frenzy! At least on Bandcamp I can stream that right away!

5:08

It’s awful.

5:20

Less awful?

16:11

I did not publish, still have a couple things to fix and the weird deal I made with myself meant I couldn’t. Too bad. Viral type songs keep slipping through my fingers. I had ‘Hot Hot Heat’ for the summer, ‘Test Two’ for Jamaican Pride, and now ‘Voices’ for Halloween. Sucks.

18:44

I reworked the track and I’m uploading to the services now!!

19:00

I’m offsetting the single. Same deal, $5 for ten hours of streaming per week for a year. This is my last spending money, the rest is for necessities.

20:01

Had broccoli reduced in coconut milk with rice and peas, a carrot to munch, a sandwich of the remaining broccoli and soy milk.

Now for a preview of the track and explanation:

Opening lyrics:

“Careful, I got voice in my head.

They could say you should be dead.

They could paint the whole town red.

I got voices in my head.

You should really watch your step you know

I’m a pacifist but I could let it go.

Make this moment exceptional

Free my temper like I like to free my ‘fro…

And a girl is getting tired,

Be hated and be admired

Inflated and then denial

Live rent free like a brain child.

I don’t know what they say about me

I’m that girl near the sycamore tree

I’m that one that will tell you to ‘flee’

Voices heard what you said about me.”

Halloween “Voices”

Hey everyone, it’s spooky season and this time of year comes with a lot of ‘mentally unstable’ tropes that caricature neuro atypical people to be irrational and dangerous.

This is a ‘steer into the skid’ song. The worst things one might imagine about my mental state upon hearing a pathology associated with brain chemistry. “Voices” from the inside of the thing, come about because you’re so lonely that your brain feeds you social cues from found sound, things that ‘sound like’ words then become words then become echoes of bad thoughts and bad experiences, then become a pathology. Until then it’s a bit of a fun ride, having what feels like ‘telepathy’ and perfectly reasonable interactions in your loneliness. That was my situation. Missing the type of friendships that sailed me through the worst of times as a young person. Lost over time and moves across the globe and COVID and with social media ties cut. So lonely I could cry. But I’m stoic. So instead of crying my brain gave me voices.

Take it or leave it. But sometimes we have to be brave enough to cry.

In any case, as relates to the song, I don’t hear voices, I see larger scale agreements that could be a number of things including human made things that have no cosmic theatre, just the machinations of individuals. I have heard the ocean waves speak to me giving advice. The beat of tires on road. The squeak of twigs and branches giving way to breeze. The twitch of an animal’s limbs to the left (negative) or right (positive). I have been in discourse with the universe before whether real or imagined. But pills will quieten all that down. What remains is the stigma of what must be going on in your brain.

Just to be clear, the rules of society don’t suddenly disappear because you hear a ‘voice.’ You still have manners, you still have the ability to say no, you still have your own mind and your own wishes to fulfil. And if you want it quiet, sometimes you can just say you want it quiet. Sometimes. Other times the intrusiveness of the thoughts is learned from the society surrounding it. Or other factors.

In the end, ‘voices’, like anything, are multitudes.

The ‘imagining’ at the end of the song is about two states, one the imagining of things that leads to the pathology being named and assigned. The other imaginary that allows you to recover despite what might be said about this ‘unsexy’ ‘neurodiversity’ that isn’t fun like ‘bipolar’ or full of utility like ‘autism.’ Instead you are the true definition of ‘crazy’ basically. And there’s nothing left to be done. Unless you imagine your way out of it, since there aren’t many open cases of people who have pioneered this particular ‘pathology.’

October 28 2026

20:17

I had cornmeal porridge last night, had potatoes and jerk seasoning fries today, fries tomatoes sandwiches and a salad of lettuce, carrots, sweet corn, raisins, and fresh lime juice, cane sugar, oil and vinegar vinaigrette tasted yummy.

I’ve released “Voices” to the streaming platforms yesterday and on the channels I manage today.

I need to finish the album to at least 80% once Saturday arrives, end of the month. Then I will send to Bandcamp editors to see if they’ll feature it which, personally, I think they should but hey, I am clearly biased in that, ha! Just think they should.

I feel ok. I do have my same baseline worries. But for example, this time last year was hurricane Melissa, and this year instead it’s been rainy and even a bit pleasant. I like the rain.

When I lived in the countryside rain meant water in the pipes. Jamaica has a lot of water but the electricity to pump the water is lacking. So we have a ‘water, water everywhere not a drop to drink’ issue. Pretty ridiculous.

Decent day. Might even say ‘nice.’

October 29 2026

I am a pacifist. Even when I was literally losing my mind, the judgements I pronounced kept people alive… if a bit uncomfortable.

This idea that brain chemistry determines personality is so off putting to me. And inaccurate.

I have taken far more hits than I have hit back. That’s what made making the song so wild and freeing when I ideated it… it made me shriek with relief. Finally. An outlet.

Alchemy.

18:53

We’re emptying the pantry basically so I had some rice porridge last night, baked beans and rice, then baked beans and bread and now cup soup with curry, coconut milk, maggi vegetarian seasoning and oil, and some more rice porridge as dessert. Food people. Food. It’s important.

This week has been semi productive, semi slothful. Oh and while I didn’t go into details, Jamaican police have let me down again. I was supposed to get a callback and nothing.

I assume when it’s something important, they act. I had to take a bus to get there. Security issues are exempt from the strike.

Anyway. Hope everyone is thriving and I think it would be silly to take my song too seriously when literally everyday I sacrifice having a biological family because I want myself and others to live so much. So, any spin that may come out of it is patently ridiculous. I’m a fountain of love. And I’m self cleaning. Got the bile out and made it pretty. Alchemy!

Links to stream or download “Voices” from Aleya Jobson, findable on most streaming platform:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/voices-single/6827838022

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3VuBewoUv24WrWVFFK05i3?si=yU8Q8HGRQvGdj1H9Gxqx9A

Bandcamp: https://aleya.bandcamp.com/track/voices-2

Fastfrwrd: https://fastfrwrd.info/product/voices-from-aleya-jobson/