2018.05.03 - Day 50

Eliza - I guess it is different living in a small seaside town to living in a big city like Miami. I had a woman friend visit me a few years ago, a Londoner, and she was amazed at the number of people who said hello to me when we walked around. They weren't friends, just people I know by sight. I refuse to use any kind of device or book if I go out anywhere. I find just being out of my apartment for a while is so interesting nowadays! I go to hospital in Belfast tomorrow for a Pulmonary Function test and will enjoy just getting out and enjoying the scenery. I sometimes have conversations with ambulance drivers - one had grown up In Kenya and had a degree in geology, strangely enough. In one of Joko Beck's (Zen) books she describes someone jogging through Central Park listening to an iPod. A beautiful flock of geese flew overhead and the person wasn't even aware of them. On the other hand I am probably just old fashioned, since the new cultural norm seems to be the use of devices to shut yourself away from those around you. I am old enough to remember a time when people felt nervous about using an ordinary telephone because only wealthy people actually had one in their home.

Just a note to say I have been here every day but not posting any comments. I've had to back up and re-read one person at a time to hang onto their individual project/experiences/details. It's well worth the time, but it does take time. There are also cross-overs in replies, themes too, that appear in the day-to-day logs. I've been pondering those as well. Cheers. Raffi

That was a string in the book I finished recently, One Hundred Days of Solitude, when things like ice and telephones began appearing in the family's remote village... the strangeness of things coming in from the outside - although the book falls into a "magical realism" category where every thing and every one keeps taking and untaking strange turns. Another appointment today. Not sure what I will do or not do. Let's see.

Have been doing the same, Raffi. Reading each day, then reading one person's thread through several days, then reading other people comments on each other. Then seeing several people seemingly being together doing the abstractly same thing on different projects.

Those 'learned' social norms. The accepted social behaviors. Small children who have not learned them yet will make eye contact in waiting rooms.
That shock at the first time observing one of those acceptable behaviors being violated.
Then the shock of "now everybody's doing it" when looking around at the bubbles of individual phone readers as dinners with others at the same table.
Then family members asking "Do you know that person you just talked with?"
The old people's magazine (AARP) has an article on how social interactions can keep you young.
Just had a conversation with crows at the end of driveway about it being Tom turkey puffied up season.

Re: not seeing the unknown...
On day 9, there is a comment about an oft not seen Van de Graaff generator.
Douglas Adams stated the obvious (though from a different POV):
"A SEP is something we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem…. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won’t see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye.

The technology involved in making something properly invisible is so mind-bogglingly complex that 999,999,999 times out of a billion it’s simpler just to take the thing away and do without it……. The “Somebody Else’s Problem field” is much simpler, more effective, and “can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery.”

This is because it relies on people’s natural predisposition not to see anything they don’t want to, weren’t expecting, or can’t explain."

Thank you Eliza! A little better today. Mrs. Nordwind also got the shot with me and is similarly affected. And we have a follow-up shot in two months. :-/ My main problem is that masking possible dangerous side-effects of the new meds.

Riddle wrote: "Small children who have not learned them yet will make eye contact in waiting rooms." That is until I look back and they quickly hide behind their mother and peek around her...

Anyway, I sat at the back of PaB meetings, and I managed some short reading of Homo Ludens, continuing the linguistic chapter... "Homo Ludens" is Man the Player, and there's a surprising number of words we hear that echo that Latin root for play. On Day 44, I talked about "elusion". The news talks every day about "No collusion!" Surely this is all ludicrous! Or am I deluding myself?

So mind-boggling complex! :)

Sleepy now, but have a few notes taken earlier in the day. As usual what I imagine will be what I'm doing and what I end up doing are quite afield of each other.

Note 1 - Ordering not so common drink at common drink place. Watching person make it and then, it isn't for me. Make joke about needing to meet the person who ordered that. Which sets off a complete comedy scene from all the makers behind the counter, performing whole skit about said person (who wasn't there - was a mobile order waiting to be picked up). Hilarious. Walk away smiling, feeling every bright moment of the day so far together.

Note 2 - Waiting for appointment. "Mandala Day" - remembering Stim once describing a mall as a giant mandala. So much happening. Not many people seem to know how to walk comfortably. Do I? Does walking always look so odd when you really look at it? Holding book in hand, but decide not to open it, at least not yet. Breathing is crucial to not zoning out but being relaxed and attentive. Keep breathing. Relax shoulders. "Judge nothing that occurs."

Take surprising amount of time to think a single thought, "Miami as a personality, has a strong facade, but it isn't that hard to puncture."

Note 3 - After a while, somewhat isolated, second waiting portion. Begin Homo Ludens. Thrilled. Underlining already on the first page. Ties in with "sweet spot" of non-apathetic leisure.

Nice timing!

PS - "I sometimes have conversations with ambulance drivers - one had grown up In Kenya and had a degree in geology, strangely enough."

So true. You can never tell what a person has experienced from the moment you find them in. Have a good appointment Zen. edited 02:22, 4 May 2018

Today lunch sketch was interrupted by ...lunch, I like it anyway, but no RL pic.. A picture of tabouli, grape leaves and Turkish coffee and you would understand why I stopped.

:))Smiling as I read the above posts...
Slept well! Dream perhaps but not remembered.
Our rental on the market had an offer and it was for the exact price. Now we wait for the inspections. Very exciting...