Today started with some magic – the simple kind where I confidently imagined where my lost airPods were and immediately found them more or less where I imagined they would be. An hour later, I used the airPods for an unexpected call that opened the door for an entire new parallel universe I had seen through the door keyhole a month ago. I spent the rest of the day preparing for the potential opportunity to walk through the door. Until a few moments ago, when I heard the news that a friend passed away today. He had been in my thoughts this last week as I knew he was ill. I’m still shocked to hear the news. RIP Brucie.
This song randomly started playing on my phone today.
It’s been a few days since returning from a 9 day road trip with Zae. We learned we can travel together in a free flowing state. Zae is very much in the moment. She is more free flowing than me and being with her gives me a taste of what it might be like for other’s to be with me when I’m in a free flowing state. I often would be planning ahead when she would interject “Do we need to decide that now?”. We were 4 hours from Austin, and 1 hour from checking out of the camper we had rented for the night when she asked “Can we stay another night?”. As in many cases before, I found myself quickly scanning the set of universes around me and focusing on the two major sets – staying or leaving – and feeling into my body as I resonated with the energy of each set. Being so close, time wise, to the two sets of universes did give me a stronger body sensation of each set of universes. This is one thing I learned from the trip, that while it is possible to quantum sense multiple futures that are days, weeks, months, or years away, it is easier to quantum sense multiple futures when they are minutes or hours away. A related corollary is that the larger the differences in the two sets of universes, the stronger the difference in feeling it will have in my body when I’m quantum sensing each set of universes.
Artwork created from our to go boxes from Pasta Cafe Italian Bistro, Roswell, NM, Sept. 14, 2021
Our trip started out with a long drive to Roswell, NM, on Sept. 8, 2021. Along the way, we were talking about “would of, could of, should of” and how that really doesn’t serve us, and how we have both come to this point in the present moment from different paths and experiences. We then saw this church sign on the side of the road with the message “It is not where you’ve been, but where you are going”. Of course, there are lots of different messages in these words. The message we heard was to live fully in the present moment.
“IT IS NOT WHERE YOU’VE BEEN BUT WHERE YOU ARE GOING”
We continued our drive, making a few rests stops along the way, but still on the road at sunset.
Sunset on drive to Roswell, NM, Sept. 8, 2021
We got in late and checked into the Day’s Inn. Feeling hungry, we almost ordered takeout from the nearby Pasta Cafe, but for some reason decided not to. It was a bit synchronistic that we ended up eating at the same Pasta Cafe on the way back home a week later, having the spaghetti with home made meat balls and the green chili alfredo, and then driving back later for chocolate cake dessert.
We decided to skip the first day of the festival and camp at Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway, CO. On Friday, we took our time driving to the festival, stopping to enjoy the beautiful mountain scenery.
Painter near Ridgway, CO, Sept. 10, 2021
The festival was at Tico Time Resort at the northern border of New Mexico. When we got there, the performers were testing their equipment and most people were cooling off in the river running through the property.
Main Stage, Tico Time Resort, Unison Festival, Sept. 11, 2021SUP Acro Yoga, Unison Festival, Tico Time Resort, Sept. 11, 2021Scott Nice set, Unison Festival, Tico Time Resort, Sept. 11, 2021
We decided against camping at the festival and instead stayed at a hotel nearby in Aztec, NM, the Presidential Suites – one of the few hotels allowing pets. The double queen bed room was the one we ultimately found to be the most roomy and comfortable for both of us. I found myself drawn to one of the books that Zae brought with her, “The Little Book of Stoicism”, by Jonas Salzgeber.
The Little Book of Stoicism, by Jonas Salgeber
In reading the book on Stoicism, I understand now that Stoicism is not about the suppression of emotion, which seems to be a common assumption. Even the google definition #1 says “the endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and without complaint.” The second definition is only slightly better, still stressing an indifference to pleasure and pain:
Stoicism: an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded at Athens by Zeno of Citium. The school taught that virtue, the highest good, is based on knowledge; the wise live in harmony with the divine Reason (also identified with Fate and Providence) that governs nature, and are indifferent to the vicissitudes of fortune and to pleasure and pain.
What I came to believe from reading a few pages, is that Stoicism is about being present with, and not possessed by, our natural emotions, however strongly they are. For instance, on our road trip, there were a few times when I felt very strong emotions. I want to encourage myself to feel these emotions, and feel the debts of these emotions, and be present with them as they move through my body. Even if I am feeling emotions based on grieving the perceived loss of a future possibility, or an unrealized expectation, these emotions are valid and I want to feel them fully. However, I don’t want to have those emotions take me down a rabbit hole of depressions that affects the rest of my trip. I want to observe them as they pass through my body and know that by being present with them, and feeling them as if in meditation, that they will not remain stuck in my body.
Some quotes on Stoicism from wikipedia seem relevant to post here:
The universe itself is God and the universal outpouring of its soul; it is this same world’s guiding principle, operating in mind and reason, together with the common nature of things and the totality that embraces all existence; then the foreordained might and necessity of the future; then fire and the principle of aether; then those elements whose natural state is one of flux and transition, such as water, earth, and air; then the sun, the moon, the stars; and the universal existence in which all things are contained.
Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things that exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the structure of the web.
This quote from wikipedia on Stoicism seems consistent with the model I use for universe surfing:
Stoic theology is a fatalistic and naturalistic pantheism: God is never fully transcendent but always immanent, and identified with Nature. Abrahamic religions personalize God as a world-creating entity, but Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe; according to Stoic cosmology, which is very similar to the Hindu conception of existence, there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and cyclic. Similarly, the space and Universe have neither start nor end, rather they are cyclical. The current Universe is a phase in the present cycle, preceded by an infinite number of Universes, doomed to be destroyed (“ekpyrōsis“, conflagration) and re-created again,[27] and to be followed by another infinite number of Universes. Stoicism considers all existence as cyclical, the cosmos as eternally self-creating and self-destroying (see also Eternal return).
This quote also resonates with my own personal spirituality:
A distinctive feature of Stoicism is its cosmopolitanism; according to the Stoics, all people are manifestations of the one universal spirit and should live in brotherly love and readily help one another.
Back to the trip, we stopped at Echo Pavilion where Zae played the ukulele and had a photo shoot.
On the way back to Austin, we stopped at the Inn at the Delta. Before we checked out, we discussed staying another night but due to not being in a very Stoic state, our emotions led us to get on the road. Later, after our emotions calmed, we both regretted the decision as it was quite a nice place to stay. Maybe we will return another day.
Inn at the Delta, Room #5
We made our way back to Roswell for the night and in the morning went to Bottomless Lakes State Park. Olli was living his herd dog instincts to protect us from the dangers of the deep.
Bottomless Lakes State Park, Sept. 15, 2021
We did another photo shoot before getting back on the road towards Austin.
Somewhere outside Roswell, NM, Sept. 15, 2021
We found a camper for the night in Garden City, TX, which is where we hung our artwork shown at the beginning of this blog post. Upon checkout, we decided last minute to stay another night even though we were only 4 hours from Austin. It felt relaxing to have a “free day” to not be on the road and was a reminder to me to insert rest days into my future road trips.
On the way home, we stopped at a park in Eden as we did at the beginning of our road trip.
Park in Eden, Sept. 17, 2021
I’m noticing a desire to be a bit more public in posting pictures from my trip. To date, I’ve kept posts absent of personal pictures and details. I can sense that in the future, I do post without these restrictions.
Head versus heart – my head says that our trip was quite perfect in all ways – healing, grounding, free flowing, intimate, loving, romantic in a friendship way and centered in the universe with which I feel most alignment and seems most aligned with Zae’s wishes. My heart feels desire for more romance, deeper intimacy, and an attachment to limitless possibilities of future growth together with Zae.
I kept the live stream of the Renegade Burn running on my TV this weekend – tuning in whenever I was home. There are nearby universes in which I was there with my brother, who invited me at the last minute.
Courtesy @teleportcam on twitch.tv, Sept. 6, 2021
I also ran early this morning before the heat came. I started off pretty fast and then realized I was not wearing my “magic cap” that I had credited with my record breaking 2.49 mile run a few days ago. I immediately noticed a loss in energy and ended up running only 2.33 miles in 21:19. It is definitely a stretch goal for me to get close to 3 miles in 20:20.
Last night I did some planning with Zae for our first road trip, going to Unison Festival. As the story unfolds with Zae, it feels exciting to have access to only one page/day at a time.
Rosh Hashanah begins this evening at sundown and ends in a couple days at sundown. The next year 5782 is a Sabbatical year, or 826 times 7, and more importantly 118 times 49, making it the 7th Shmita in the cycle. It is interesting that in this Shmita year we will be seeing forms of debt relief, such as student loan debt. Cycles are strong in the energy of the multiverse and I would expect debt relief of different forms to occur. What implications this has for the value of the US dollar can be easily predicted.
Dog Beach Rebels at Flamingo Cantina, September 3, 2021, Austin, Texas
Yesterday, a couple of my friends, A&Z, and I celebrated a birthday. We shopped, ate, danced, and satisfied our sweet tooth craving with some ice creme on Congress. We had quite a bit of fun and kept celebrating until midnight. By the end of the night, I was feeling quite depleted as I dropped them off at their car. I started crying, which is rare for me. They asked what was wrong, and I didn’t have the words. All I could gain access to was my feeling of depletion in terms of my ability to give and a strong desire to receive accompanied by a belief that A&Z were also feeling depleted and unable to give right now either. I’m not used to feeling depleted. Last night I cried myself to sleep for the first time in I don’t remember how long.
In the morning, I awoke with some clarity. During dinner, one of my friends had been talking about their recent breakup and how hard it was to not be in intimate connection with their ex-partner. I had had a similar conversation with another friend earlier in the day at Barton Springs. The energy of both of these conversations was resonating within me at the end of the night and I was subconsciously feeling my own sadness that I was no longer in communication with my ex-beloved, Yana. It required me sleeping on this to realize this in the morning. I never really grieved the end of my relationship with Yana, although she has been on my mind the last 3 months that we have been out of connection. It felt like last night I was able to grieve, and also able to feel deeply my sadness and express these emotions. While difficult for me, I welcomed my tears.
This morning, I felt gratitude, strength, and optimism that I now have an enhanced ability to feel and express my emotions, especially ones of sadness which I have tended to avoid in the past. I felt reborn. I wondered what else might be different in this new universe in which I awoke. I decided to run for the 5th time since I started running again. My first run, I had run 2 miles in 20 minutes. My best run so far was my 3rd run at 2.31 miles in 20 minutes and 20 seconds. This morning, I shattered that record and ran 2.49 miles in 20:22. I’ve set a horizon goal of running 3 miles in 20:20, which is my lifetime fastest time that I ran in 1980.
Type 1 interferons are protein molecules in the blood that protect the body from viral infections. Autoantibodies are antibodies that attack the body’s own immune defenses. Generally, older people have more autoantibodies. The highlighted research found that 13.6% of individuals with critical CoViD-19, defined as admitted to the ICU, and 18% of people who died with CoViD-19, possessed type 1 interferon autoantibodies. In the general population, 0.4% of healthy people have autoantibodies and this varies with age, with 0.18% of those 18 to 69 having type 1 interferon autoantibodies, 1.1% of 70-79 year olds, and 3.4% of 80+ year olds. The research team suspects that the severity of other diseases besides CoViD-19 is worsened by type 1 interferon autoantibodies.
The IC assesses that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure that occurred no later than November 2019 with the first known cluster of COVID-19 cases arising in Wuhan, China in December 2019.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
So, in most universes near us, SARS-CoV-2 emerged in or near Wuhan, China around November 2019.
In addition, the IC was able to reach broad agreement on several other key issues. We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon. Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way. Finally, the IC assesses China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
So, in the vast majority of universes near us, SARS-CoV-2 does not appear to have been developed as a biological weapon and officials, at least in China, learned about the virus when the initial outbreak occurred.
There do appear to be perhaps as many as half or more universes around us in which SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered, to a greater or lesser degree. In a large subset of these universes, there is sufficient evidence of such genetic engineering.
After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, though, the IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
This quote shows clear evidence of multiple sets of universes of almost equal number around us. There is one set in which SARS-CoV-2 jumped naturally to humans from a non-human host. There is another set in which SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a laboratory, either in natural or genetically engineered or enhanced form.
Four IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus—a virus that probably would be more than 99 percent similar to SARS-CoV-2. These analysts give weight to China’s officials’ lack of foreknowledge, the numerous vectors for natural exposure, and other factors.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
In the vast majority of universes in which SARS-CoV-2 infected humans directly from an infected animal, there doesn’t appear to be any direct evidence of this occurring. In these same universes, there doesn’t appear to be any direct evidence of an alternative origin.
One IC element assesses with moderate confidence that the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These analysts give weight to the inherently risky nature of work on coronaviruses.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
This quote is the strongest with “moderate confidence” in SARS-CoV-2 originating in a laboratory, specifically the Wuhan Institute of Virology. At this point in reading the summary, it feels like the lab-origin universes outnumber the natural-origin universes by 2-to-1, 3-to-1, or even greater. The pandemic was an unexpected event and in the vast majority of universes around us at the time of the initial outbreak, the outbreak did NOT occur. In all of these universes, there was no “laboratory-associated incident”. The fact that even one IC element would access with moderate confidence that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab points to this being correlated with the vast majority of universes in which the CoViD-19 pandemic occurs.
Analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, with some analysts favoring natural origin, others a laboratory origin, and some seeing the hypotheses as equally likely.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
Since the set of pandemic occurring universes are still quantum affected by non-pandemic occurring universes, it is expected that there would be a split in views. Also, a “laboratory-associated incident” is arguably more likely than a jump from the wild, all things being equal and assuming the Wuhan lab had SARS-like coronaviruses, which it apparently did.
Variations in analytic views largely stem from differences in how agencies weigh intelligence reporting and scientific publications, and intelligence and scientific gaps.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
Gaps in intelligence explain why one IC would have “moderate confidence” in a lab origin theory while other ICs have “low confidence” in a natural origin theory.
The IC judges they will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19 unless new information allows them to determine the specific pathway for initial natural contact with an animal or to determine that a laboratory in Wuhan was handling SARS- CoV-2 or a close progenitor virus before COVID-19 emerged.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
So, both sets of universes remain nearby without evidence of the animal that could have hosted SARS-CoV-2 before it jumped to humans, and without evidence that a laboratory was experimenting with SARS-CoV-2 (not sure why the report restricts the lab to be in Wuhan).
The IC—and the global scientific community—lacks clinical samples or a complete understanding of epidemiological data from the earliest COVID-19 cases. If we obtain information on the earliest cases that identified a location of interest or occupational exposure, it may alter our evaluation of hypotheses.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
So, in the universe in which epidemiological data from the earliest CoViD-19 cases shows a link with either a lab or natural origin, then we will find ourselves closely surrounded by one set of universes or the other. It’s interesting to imagine how this so called “collapse of the wave function” would occur. In the parallel universe model of a mixture of surrounding universes, then in a subset of the natural origin universes, a link would be found to natural origin, and in a subset of the lab origin universes, a link would be found to a lab origin. In each of these cases, the universes in which one or the other happens would begin to attract other “like minded” universes consistent with the link found.
China’s cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of COVID-19. Beijing, however, continues to hinder the global investigation, resist sharing information and blame other countries, including the United States. These actions reflect, in part, China’s government’s own uncertainty about where an investigation could lead as well as its frustration the international community is using the issue to exert political pressure on China.
Unclassified summary of assessment on COVID-19 origins, 2021-08-27
In the universes in which SARS-CoV-2 “escaped” from a lab in Wuhan, and evidence of this is undeniable, there will be expected resistance by China’s government. In the universes in which SARS-CoV-2 naturally found it’s way to humans through a wet market, there would also be expected resistance by China’s government. So, this statement of China’s resistance would be expected in both sets of universes and doesn’t really provide much insight into which set of universes are nearer.
Final thoughts: It’s of interest that there exists an “unclassified summary” of such an important investigation. An exercise for the reader is astral project to a universe in which the entire investigative report is released, read it and report back.
Last night was a reminder to trust the universe. During the afternoon, I co-working at OPA’s with Z. We took some photos of a kitten there.
Kitten at OPA’s Coffee and Wine, August 27, 2021, Austin, TX
After Z left, I ran into my friends D&B, then ventured to silent disco on Congress and saw V and her daughter X, decided to stroll down Congress solo and caught the end of the The Blues Specialists’ set at the Continental Club. As I was leaving, D&B were there looking for some live music.
The Blues Specialists at the Continental Club, August 27, 2021, Austin, TX
We parted ways, walking different sides of Congress. I took the long way and made it into Guero’s Oak Garden just before D&B walked in.
The Jon Blondell Project, Guero’s Taco Bar, August 27, 2021, Austin, TX
I noticed a woman at Guero’s Taco Bar. She was there with her dog. We ended up sitting at the same table and started talking. Mandy & I closed down Guero’s and then also June’s afterwards. The entire evening, including meeting Mandy, would definitely fit into the category of unexpected events. If the hypothesis that events have equal amounts of connectedness to past and future holds, then the events last night are strongly connected to the future. So for both of us, in our own timelines, the events of last night will likely have significance when viewed backwards in time from our own futures. Our drink toast at June’s was to Mandy’s hopefully successful closing on her condo. It felt to me like we were toasting a future that had already occurred.
Yesterday, I also randomly noticed (via social media) that my friend Cindy, who I had met in Santa Cruz a few years, was in town. I messaged her and we may meet up today. I’m noticing that universes in which Yana and I are still together are nearby. My friend Katie told me earlier today that she had left a sweet message with Yana yesterday inviting her to move in with her. It’s a just over 3 months since Yana and I have spoken and I miss her dearly.
Today, I ran for the first time in I don’t remember when. I ran two miles at a 10-minute mile pace. The temperature now is 99ºF so I’m guessing it was over 100ºF when I ran. It felt good to move my body and burn up some of the stress hormones I’ve been feeling in my body.
Today over 72 people were killed in two separate apparently suicide bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan – one at the airport’s Abbey Gate and one nearby close to the Baron Hotel.
Yesterday, the 7-day average of CoViD-19 deaths hit a record number of 9,856 for this sixth wave of CoViD-19 infections. A week ago on August 19, the 7-day average of daily CoViD-19 cases peaked at 657,522. Dividing these two results in a worldwide case fatality rate (CFR) of 1.499%. This compares with a CFR of 1.695% using the previous peak in the Spring of 828,292 7-day average of daily cases on April 29th and 14,041 7-day average of daily deaths on May 3rd. Both of these are lower than the CFR calculated from the previous Winter is 1.988%, based on Jan 26, 2021 peak 7-day average deaths of 14,808 and Jan 11, 2021 peak 7-day average of cases of 744,724.
Comparing to a year ago, the CFR was 2.43%, based on a peak 7-day average of 6,415 deaths on August 5, 2020, and a peak 7-day average of 263,473 cases on July 31, 2020.
For my county of Travis County, the CFR is roughly calculated as 0.7% using 7-day average of 4 deaths and 7-day average of 565 cases. This compares with 1.1% for total cases of 100K and total deaths of 1108.
It is important to remember that the CFR is not the same as the IFR, the infection fatality rate. Only a subset of infections are validated by tests and become confirmed cases. The ratio of cases to infections depends on the level of testing in the community. Deaths due to CoViD-19 are believe to be a more accurate value. So, the IFR is very likely less than the CFR. If the IFR is calculated for your specific cohort group (age, health conditions, etc.), then it can give a reasonable estimate of your chances of dying from CoViD-19.
For comparison, in 2018 living had a fatality rate of 0.7546% worldwide. Travis County had an age-adjusted fatality rate of 0.62% overall and 0.72% for men (TravisCounty nih.gov death rate). I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but it seems that living for a year in Travis County as a male is currently about the same risk of dying as having a positive CoViD-19 test result (7 per 1000).
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My brother sent me a link to research done in Israel comparing those who previously had CoViD-19 with those who were vaccinated. It is “the largest real-world observational study so far to compare natural and vaccine-induced immunity to SARS-CoV-2”. Science reported August 26, 2021 on this research in Having SARS-CoV-2 once confers much greater immunity than a vaccine—but vaccination remains vital. From the article:
The newly released data show people who once had a SARS-CoV-2 infection were much less likely than never-infected, vaccinated people to get Delta, develop symptoms from it, or become hospitalized with serious COVID-19.
Results SARS-CoV-2-naïve vaccinees had a 13.06-fold (95% CI, 8.08 to 21.11) increased risk for breakthrough infection with the Delta variant compared to those previously infected, when the first event (infection or vaccination) occurred during January and February of 2021. The increased risk was significant (P<0.001) for symptomatic disease as well. When allowing the infection to occur at any time before vaccination (from March 2020 to February 2021), evidence of waning natural immunity was demonstrated, though SARS-CoV-2 naïve vaccinees had a 5.96-fold (95% CI, 4.85 to 7.33) increased risk for breakthrough infection and a 7.13-fold (95% CI, 5.51 to 9.21) increased risk for symptomatic disease. SARS-CoV-2-naïve vaccinees were also at a greater risk for COVID-19-related-hospitalizations compared to those that were previously infected.
The conclusion is clear on the benefits of antibodies created from an active CoViD-19 infection versus antibodies created from one or more vaccines.
Conclusions This study demonstrated that natural immunity confers longer lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease and hospitalization caused by the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, compared to the BNT162b2 two-dose vaccine-induced immunity. Individuals who were both previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 and given a single dose of the vaccine gained additional protection against the Delta variant.
One statistic from the paper that was not highlighted above was that the chance of symptomatic breakthrough infection in the vaccinated group was 27 times more likely than symptomatic reinfection in the unvaccinated previously infected group.
After adjusting for comorbidities, we found a 27.02-fold risk (95% CI, 12.7 to 57.5) for symptomatic breakthrough infection as opposed to symptomatic reinfection (P<0.001)
It’s been a full day, starting with ecstatic dance at the high road and ending with friends harmonizing tones under the full moon at Casa de Luz. My throat is sore – not from a cold, but from yelling with angry emotion at dance. I’ve apparently been storing some anger in my body while I’ve been feeling an abundance of love and ability to support others.
A guy approached me at Barton Springs today and tried to convince me that I should get vaccinated. I tried to tell him that I was quite satisfied with the full mix of antibodies I stored in my long-term memory after catching COVID-19.
My brother just texted me “I like the idea of starting back the blog with your conversation with the guy at Barton”.
Hmmm – Good idea! my past self thinks as it receives this message from the future! 🙂
Anyway, back to the “guy at Barton”, he asked me “Do you want the pandemic to end?” and when I took a while to answer, he was confused. “When someone asks me if I want the pandemic to end, I yell out YES!!!!”. I told him that I thought the pandemic would end when people stop paying attention to it, but that the cold virus that causes COVID-19 will be with us from here on and that he, and everyone else, will eventually be infected if they live long enough. I expressed my view that if everyone were vaccinated, then the strains of SARSCoV2 that didn’t like the vaccine would go away, leaving only the strains that were resistant to the vaccine to move around the world. I think it was around this point that he said our conversation wasn’t “fun” anymore.
In Austin, this week has seen the peak of cases and cases are heading back down. Perhaps that’s why Barton Springs required me to wrap my shirt around my head before letting me in. “Everyone must wear a mask to enter – manager’s orders”, said the person sitting in front of the gate. At least once you get inside the gate, you can immediately remove your mask, or shirt in my case, and walk freely wherever you wish. Society, in Austin and elsewhere, is really struggling with how to react as we are in coming up on two years since the first COVID-19 case was identified. It is interesting to see that cases are as high or higher than they have ever been, and yet everything is still open in most places around the world.
More to come on this topic. I’m tired now. I felt an urge to write and then realized it was day 600 since I started blogging about feeling a new world. Other topics coming are Love, intimacy, and making a movie to save the world.
This morning I woke up feeling well … unexpectedly well. I even exclaimed to my friends that I don’t recall ever feeling so healthy and alive – almost like being reborn. To tell the story properly, I should start at the beginning – well, not the very beginning since I don’t have that much time, but I’ll start at the beginning of the week.
Day 397 (Sunday) – My good friend Katie had been staying with her ex and sons for a few weeks. When I heard she was flying back to Austin, I offered to pick her up at the airport. Mid afternoon I got a message from her – she missed her connecting flight. Ahh, evidence of a split in the universe, I thought at the time. Her missed connection was an unexpected event. I dismissed it instead of pondering what new futures might be visible now. An hour later I got a new message that she had been placed on a new flight arriving late Sunday.
“I can still pick you up – and you can stay overnight if you want”, I text Katie.
“Awesome!”, Katie replied.
Had I stopped to ponder the universe split, I would have realized that it had increased the probability that Katie would be staying over. Most likely, had I picked her up earlier in the day, we would have caught up and then I would have taken her home. But with her arriving late, it was more likely she would stay over. Nothing much else changed between these two universes where she made or missed her connecting flight.
My day continued normally and I picked Katie up at the airport. I confirmed she wanted to stay over.
“Would you like to take a shower?”, I offered. You can’t be too safe these days with a COVID pandemic and potentially infected people traveling on planes.
“Yes, that sounds really good. Do you have any clean clothes I can wear?”, Katie replied.
“Sure, you can also do a load of laundry if you want”, I answered.
As Katie took a shower, I showed in the other bathroom. After we were both dressed, Katie said with annoyance, “My ex just texted me that he has a fever. He probably made himself sick. He’s such a hypochondriac.”
I even had a good night’s sleep. Since the beginning of the week when I found out my friend had become sick with COVID, I had been preparing for the worst. I had picked her up from the airport late Sunday and we had talked late into the night, falling asleep together in bed. She coughed a few times during the night, but nothing alarming. While she was over, she got notified that someone she had been in contact with recently now had a fever. In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to this moment. It was like …
(to be continued)
2021-0219F-0836-AustinTX
Day 416 (Friday) – Katie and I are listening to soft piano music playing over the Sonos speaker in my living room. The sun is reflecting off of the ice covered trees outside. Snow is still on the ground from a few days ago. We are cuddled under the covers while lying on Katie’s egg-crate mattress topper. It’s time for us to write. Katie just read a prompt to me about how when we are creating, then the creator is also creating through us. It made me think about life and creation. I imagined how all life on Earth could have been designed by some intelligent alien life form and somehow seeded onto Earth. But this could not be the original creation event since the intelligent alien life form also needs a creation story. I zoomed my perspective out in both time and space and imagined and quantum field of random fluctuations flowing through the field. This reminded me of the Tai Chi that Katie and I were practicing the day before and how the instructor led us through a slow, smooth movement practice that would occasionally result in a slap of energy. From this zoomed out perspective, I saw the entirety of the universe we know as an infinitesimal point in space-time.
“It’s going to be lumpy”, Katie said as she stirred a pot of polenta on the stove.
“That’s what our universe is, just a bit of lumpiness”, I replied.
surfing the universe 