20210124u Day 390: Personal Observations

2021-0124u-1200 Austin, TX

I wasn’t planning to write today. Something seems to be bubbling up and I’m not sure what it is. I hope that by writing my thoughts down now, whatever it is will reveal itself.

I just got off the phone with my beloved. We had a somewhat heated discussion about white privilege due to my not accepting my beloved’s belief in the importance that white privilege has played in benefiting me throughout my life. We found common ground in agreeing that racism exists in the world and the world would be better if it did not. We also agreed that many white people have benefited from white privilege. We also agreed that I have also benefited from white privilege. However, we disagreed as to the extent that white privilege played a role. I believe that the vast majority of my personal achievements would have been possible regardless of my race or skin color. I even believe that there’s a chance I may have benefited additionally as a minority due to affirmative action programs in existence during my education and early career. As I type this however, I’m becoming aware of certain times in which I felt “blessed”, or lucky, and I’m wondering now if my luck was due to the color of my skin, or my race, or being male, or some other discriminatory factor. I have to admit that there were times in my life that I have received large benefits and have not really been able to logically explain or understand from where these benefits came. I can accept the possibility that white privilege, male privilege, religious privilege, or some other privilege was a larger factor than I have previously believed.

Before my heated discussion, I watched a few videos – a press briefing from the new white house administration, and a couple videos on financial bubbles forming due to the easy money flowing through the system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was pleased to hear Dr. Fauci present a reality that felt in alignment with the reality I believe to be true. I especially liked when he answered a question by saying he didn’t know the answer and that the Biden administration was adopting a policy of only answering questions for which there is a known answer – not making something up on the spot just to have an answer. For the financial videos, I was glad to see Dr. Ron Paul doing well on Kitco news and still promoting liberty, reduced government and sound monetary policy. I’m attracted to him because he does not pledge allegiance to either political party and has a consistent set of beliefs. I don’t agree with all of his beliefs, but at least I can follow his logic when he explains why he holds them. One of the other videos was an interview by Bloomberg news of an individual who seemed to be reading a prepared statement warning Robinhoodlers and Stonks purchasers that one day the FED will not come to their rescue.

Also, today, like every day this year, I had a conversation with my Aunt who is on the board of directors of my condo HOA. At the end of 2020, like a final kick in the ass, our HOA found out that our management company had been stealing our money for the last 5 years and that we were broke with over $30K in debt. I’m now in a universe in which I’m working full-time helping our HOA get back on it’s feet. I hope to use this full-time effort I’m putting forth to tunnel to a universe in which I’m putting in similar effort towards something meaningful AND also getting paid for it.

What are the chances? I just checked to see what was happening on Nov 1, 2016, the day that $25K was moved from the HOA money market to checking. The next day another $25K was moved and then all $50K was moved out of our control to another HOA. This was Election Day 2016! The same time period when most people around the world felt a huge shift from the normal time line to a very unexpected time line. The conclusion of this fraudulent activity ended about the same time that Trump left office. What are the chances? Synchronicity.

20200518M Day 139: Trump Takes Hydroxychloroquine+Zinc Prophylactically

20200518M Santa Cruz, CA: While I was writing 20200517u Day 138: Some US States have 6x Higher CFR – Hydroxychloroquine?, it was reported that Trump takes Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc prophylactically. So, I thought I’d make this post short and just add a couple updates on hydroxychloroquine.

  1. May 18, 2020: StatNews.com reporter Andrew Joseph writes a health article: Utah went all-in on an unproven Covid-19 treatment, then scrambled to course-correct, which discusses the history of Utah and hydroxychloroquine.
  2. May 18, 2020: From NPR report Despite FDA Caution, Trump Says He Is Taking Hydroxychloroquine As A Preventative “President Trump on Monday revealed to reporters that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine and zinc to protect against the coronavirus” for about 10 days.

20200504M Day 125: Happy 43rd Birthday Mike Schaupp – RIP and May the Force of your Spirit Live On

Michael Schaupp, also known by his musician name Jackson Danny, was born in Carmel County on May 4th, 1977.

Screen Shot 2020-05-04 at 12.25.25 PM

He was riding his 1996 Honda motorcycle northbound on Highway 17 around 1:25 pm, Dec 10th, 2013, when a woman driving a black 1994 Ford Explorer SUV made an illegal turn onto the highway and drove into his path. Schaupp hit the SUV and was thrown 20 feet across the roadway. He was taken to the hospital where he died of his injuries. The woman left the scene of the accident and abandoned the vehicle. Three months later, she turned herself in and was charged with a felony count of hit-and-run causing injury or death. The following song was played at her trial. It had been performed by Mike a few months before his death. The name of the song and the woman – Joline.

In the song, Mike changed the lyrics a bit. It is interesting to see the changes he made. Here are the lyrics as best I can reconstruct them – some changes of interest in bold from the original song by Dolly Parton. The “To never love again” change is in a stanza that is a mixture of two different stanzas.

Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
I’m beggin you don’t take my man
Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
Please don’t you take him can
Please don’t take him cuz you can

<Instrumental>

Your beauty is beyond compare
Flamin’ locks of auburn hair
Skin of ivory … eyes emerald green
Smile is like a breath of spring
Voice is like a summer rain
I cannot compete … Jolene

Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
Beggin’ you, don’t take my man
Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
Please don’t take him cuz you can
Please just take him cuz you can

<Instrumental>

And you could have your choice of men
To never love again
You don’t know what it means to me, Jolene
I had to have this talk with you now
My happiness depends on you
Whatever you decide, Jolene

Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
I’m beggin’ you don’t take my man
Jolene … Jolene … Jolene … Jolene
Please don’t take him cuz you can
Please just take him cuz you can

Mike’s fatal accident was part of a story written by Jennifer Wadsworth for the July 8-15, 2015 edition of Metro, a local newspaper in San Jose, CA. The story was about Lupin Lodge, where Joline worked and/or lived at the time. For some reason, the original link for the story goes nowhere and there is a shorter version of the story. Here is an excerpt of the original story:

Michael Schaupp left Santa Cruz around midday Dec. 10, 2013, for a 2pm class at Ex’pression College in Emeryville. The 36-year-old father and design student had driven the same northward Highway 17 route countless times on his 1996 Honda VLX motorcycle. Drivers who shared the winding mountain road with him that day said he looked at ease, like an experienced rider. And he was.

But about a half-hour into his commute, a 1994 Ford Explorer shot out onto Highway 17 from Idylwild Drive in a southbound arc that cut off Schaupp and sent him hurtling to the shoulder, according to detailed reports by California Highway Patrol officers. A trail of blood plotted his trajectory. The Explorer’s 47-year-old driver, Joline Fay Cohen, scrambled out of the SUV just as another car pulled up to the scene.

Oh my God, I just killed that guy,” she told the witness, per the CHP. “Did you see him hit my car? What should I do?” Without waiting for an answer, she hopped back in the driver’s seat and drove away. A second witness pulled onto the shoulder and put a blanket on Schaupp, protecting him from the winter chill until help arrived.

A short distance north, Cohen, in a long black coat and dry dirty- blonde hair, left her car at Bear Creek Road and began walking along the shoulder, the collision report continues. Campbell resident Brandon Rohzen told police that he picked her up in his minivan, thinking she’d just got into a fender- bender and could use a lift. From the passenger seat, he said he remembers her calling Lupin’s office landline. “I hit somebody,” she shouted hysterically. “I think they might be dead.” Horrified, Rohzen slammed on the brakes and told her to get out of his car.

Schaupp died two days later at Stanford Hospital. Yet three full months passed before Cohen surrendered herself to authorities on hit-and-run charges that landed her in a Central Valley women’s prison.

Lupin residents claim Lori Kay harbored a fugitive during that time, leaving them no choice, they said, but to tip off CHP investigators to Cohen’s whereabouts. As a live-in assistant for several years to Lori Kay, Cohen ran errands, oversaw the main office and, according to CHP tipsters, had a reputation for smoking meth and driving erratically. Lupin management tried to distance itself from the damage, announcing online that the club had fired her as office employee before the crash. “She was allowed to stay because there are such thing as tenancy laws,” Lori Kay explained.

But the tragedy raised more questions about Lupin’s hiring practices. In an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit against Cohen, Schaupp’s mother, Denise, and 19-year-old son, Caleb, also name Lupin as a defendant. The Schaupp family attorneys claim that Cohen was acting “within the scope of her employment” while driving the
SUV and that Lupin is vicariously liable because it employed her “with knowledge of her history of reckless driving, erratic behavior and substance use.”

 


Obituary of Michael Carl Schaupp

Born in Carmel, CA Mikey: heart of lion, strength and steadfastness of a bull, playfulness of a laughing monkey, sensitivity and wisdom of an elephant, protective and nurturing as a mother bear, connected and ethereal as a spirit bird, and humble as a man. Born with big dark eyes and a deep gaze, Mikey often surprised others with his level of attentive observation as a baby. As a lil’ one, he loved the outdoors, preferring to sleep outside under the stars and up in his treehouse. A smile, soulful kind eyes, enduring loyalty and readiness to help were his tokens of friendship. His voice rang clear with passion, touching the core of life’s beauty, pain and mystery. With each song he wrote, he invited the possibility for a better world. Deeply embodied, he was a model for connection to one’s integrity and truth. His quick wit &amp; easy sense of humor were medicine to our hearts. He understood that life, love, and friendship were a fragile and important gift, and if nurtured and protected, could all be eternal. Your love Dana Schlick, mother, Denise Schaupp, and beloved son will together forever embody your energy. May your journey to the next life be filled with adventurous trails, beautiful music, freedom and so much love. You radiated in this world and you’ll shine as a star in the next. All who knew you were so blessed to have you for 13,373 days. Your embrace of love, friendship, and generosity will live on in our hearts, memories and in everything that we do. He lived the lyrics from his song To Live, may we do the same: To love my world, To give myself, To live and live and live. Memorial will be on the Winter Solstice, Saturday, December 21st, from noon to sunset, at Seymour Marine Discovery Center. Please bring your favorite dish to share, and something that withstands the elements that reminds you of him (rock, stone, wood- creativity welcomed!) for a collaborative memorial sculpture.

20200318W Day 78: It’s a New Universe!

SantaCruzSunrise20200318

Santa Cruz, CA: I did something this morning that I haven’t done in a while – I got up early to watch the sunrise. I drove to the lighthouse where I first learned to universe surf six years ago. Even though seven million people are sheltering in place around me, you wouldn’t know it by walking along West Cliff right now. It feels very much like the old universe I still remember where people are doing their same daily tasks and getting ready for the day. I see a couple with a baby in a stroller. The church bells are ringing. The surf is crashing against the shore. Runners are getting in their morning run before they go over the hill to work – except they most likely won’t be going to work today.

I’m amused at how the Universe is such a trickster. Yesterday, I went to top off my car with gas. The cash price was cheaper, and so I asked my partner if she had cash. She gave me $12.25 for a $12.04 bill. I asked her if she had a nickel. She looked and looked in her purse and didn’t have any more change – only the quarter. So I went to the cash register with the feeling of wanting to hold on to the quarter. When I offered the $12, the attendant said that was good as he reached his hand into an empty penny-saver tray and pulled out 4 imaginary pennies. I kept the quarter in my hand and returned to my car. There were a few used disinfecting wipes to throw away, so I grabbed those and put those in the garbage. I noticed I was about to throw my quarter away! As I pulled it out, I noticed it was now a nickel!! I showed it to my partner and asked “Did you give me a quarter or a nickel?”.

“I gave you a quarter”, she replied as she quickly took the nickel and threw it back into her purse after noticing it was a nickel.

“Wait, let me see that again”, I requested. She dug threw her purse and finally found the coin. It was now a quarter again – although it looked like a different quarter to me with lots of crumbs on it.

I meant to go through her purse when we returned home, but forgot. I actually don’t have an explanation for what happened. My only clue is when I returned home, I felt in my pocket and pulled out a quarter. It was like the Universe knew it had flubbed up and needed to give me a reason to be able to rationalize what had happened.

The synchronistic part of this story is how a day earlier I was telling my new housemates about my grandfather’s experience during the Great Depression. My grandfather told me that when he lost a nickel, he would get physically sick because money was that precious. I wonder if the Universe was letting me feel that yesterday – which I definitely did.

We now live in a world that operates on a currency that is no longer backed by gold. Dollars are not worth an ounce of Silver anymore. They are only worth another paper dollar. And, if toilet paper continues to be in short supply, you may not even be able to get paper dollars soon – only digital.

20200224M Day 55: Alphabet down 4.28% – I guess news travels fast ;)

Yesterday, I blogged that I was 20200223u Day 54: Surfing to a Universe where I work for Alphabet. Today, Alphabet stock is down 4.28% on my surfing move (Ha!).

Of course the financial news didn’t pick up on my surfing move and they blamed the drop of Alphabet on a 125nm diameter coronavirus. I mentioned a risking to stocks 30 days ago in 2020 Day 25: Wuhan Coronavirus in the Year of the Rat:

I’m feeling now a universe where the stock market is negatively affected by the Wuhan coronavirus.

The feeling I remember having then was more negative than the drop in prices today. which was the worst day in two years. I’m currently invested in a superposition of two universes – one where I’m fully invested in the market and one where I’m fully out of the market.