Looks like the AC is going to need some repairs, but in the meantime the landlord gave us a mobile AC unit to at least put in the bed room. I remember listening to someone talk recently and they were saying in the Summer, it was common that people would sleep on their porch, fire escape or yard. That was around 1950’s, no one does that anymore. Honestly, if I slept on my front porch, I’d be afraid I would wake up in the middle of the night to red and blue lights. It used to be fun for me to hate on authority, now it’s so trendy that I have to move on to a new topic. Maybe that’s what brings me to more spiritual thoughts, or maybe being cooped up in one place for so long has my mind going on celestial journeys. Whatever is going on, I don’t mind because it’s pretty exciting for a life. If everything were to be “the way we always do it”, that becomes boring. That sentiment is also frustrating because nothing stays the same, so doing things the same way as the past for no other reason than “it’s what people do” is usually the wrong answer. I came up with the right answer this past weekend, get stable food, water, and shelter. I know I shouldn’t be giving away all my secrets, but you seem trustworthy. The trick with those things is if no one puts energy into the system and people are taking from it, then the whole thing will collapse sooner or later. Unfortunately we must all do uncomfortable work. It’s not unfortunate, we’re very fortunate to be here and be given an opportunity to make ourselves into whatever the mind can dream up.
Hi Ho Sky Drone
I’m feeling good today, I already got my run in and I’m ready to greet life as the shinning sun I am. It’s been hot, boi I tell ya, so hot our AC unit may be struggling. We’ve got the ceiling fans on though and I like that. I usually prefer to not have AC on, but I think the house we’re currently in has non vented soffits and there are no screens on any other the windows so we’re boxed in. Well if I can’t have air moving through the house, we’re going to have to pay for electricity to move the air by force. Daily activities adjust around the height of the sun now that it’s summer. For instance I wanted to go for my run today before the sun came up and yesterday when I took the dog for a walk we left after 8 PM. The sun is still blazing at that time because we’re on the edge of a time zone, basically giving us an hour later of sun compared to those on the eastern edge. The walk last night felt like I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. First off no one is walking the streets because it’s so hot, but also because of current events. The other part was it seemed like every house I passed had someone sitting on their porch taking in the Summer evening, I was walking down empty streets with what felt like rows of people staring at me; very strange. I’d also like to point out my annoyance at the fact that I have to say current events because if I were to say the V-word, P-word, or C-acronym, then an algorithm will most likely throttle my exposure. That is true censorship, but you’ll never see anyone in the streets protesting it. How could they communicate their intentions without being able to say the words. That’s how you know rebellions are authorized, you see specific terms all over headlines. If media companies didn’t want people to see it, theres enough garbage on the internet to burry any attempt at awareness.
Aye Brah, go Ham
Oh boi, 4th of July 2020. What can you say? Well I’ll start by saying I think America is awesome. As Rousseau pointed out, the origin of inequality was when one man staked out a square of land for himself and everyone believed it. Of course a person who lives, as Jefferson put it, three score a decade can’t own something that is billions of years old because like the song says, “This land is your land, this land is my land”, so sure fight for your rights, throw tea into the river and curse the monarchy. America is built on a group of people banding together to throw out the most powerful nation that had ever existed. As crazy as things seems, America is still a democracy and that’s even crazier. Think about all the changes this country has gone through since 1776 and we are still able to come together to decide the course of our future through voting and discourse. For a comparison of how hard it is to keep a massive country together, the USSR was founded in 1922 and dissolved with her people starving and abused by 1991. America is still an experiment though because our gates are open and the people who come through are afforded the same freedoms as those born here, that’s a lot of different opinions that have to work together. Only time will tell if open or closed boarders are the way to go, but for those who don’t know, fighting for American rights only to be shut down by American military is a part of our history. In 1791 a tax on American spirits(primarily whiskey) was instated. A group of farmers, mostly revolutionary war veterans, refused taxation without representation and roughly 500 men attacked the tax inspector’s home. In 1794, president George Washington himself led over 13,000 troops to squash the rebellion. That is why another head on Mount Rushmore’s policy was, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”
Yeehaw
I’m feeling a little sick this morning, it was probably from snacking late at night and my body struggling to digest it while I’m asleep. I expected to need some sort of rest because I’ve been going pretty hard lately, so that’s fine and I’ll give my body what it needs. Feeling sick makes me think about all the time I’ve spent frolicking around in health. Resting after activity is necessary, but I’ve also gotten a lot stronger over the last couple years. When we were looking at houses a year ago, I didn’t have it in my head that I would be able to do any house repairs and this year I decided I could build an entire house if I wanted to. I’m happy with where I’m at and the way things are going. I’m grateful for the strength to make me do the work I think needs to be done. I watched a documentary recently following some Amish families and a woman said she was happy to be taught that if there’s a job do, she does it. It’s an idea that seems rational, if there’s a problem then fix it, but of course it needs to be taught to us. How often will a kid make a mess and make sure it’s completely clean before returning to what they were doing? Work is hard and it’s not rational to do, it only makes sense to humans because we can see into the future; towards the fruits of our labor. I know that if I eat a 500 calorie deficit everyday for a week, then I will lose a pound of fat. A dog never chooses to go on a diet. I think I learned the importance of work before learning to rest. For so long when I felt the need to rest I looked at it as being too weak to continue. Sure that’s true, but it’s unnecessarily tough on myself and is what leads to me quitting an interest because I get “broken off” as the cowboys would say.
Shimmering Silver Stream
My week is coming along swimmingly. I feel like I’m starting to hit my steps with the podcast. There’s definitely a fear to it, I described it as similar to being in a fight and after I’m done I’m grateful for getting through unscathed. I like fighting though, so I get excited to go back in the ring. When I release these words from my head to the page or the microphone, it frees up space to where it feels like I hooked up another battery to my brain. Overclocking myself can dangerous, so I have to be properly resting and eating, but it’s a bit of a new lease on life. I’ve got freedom to be myself somewhere in this world. Mary was actually saying that this is probably the most people close to me have heard from me, that the person she knows is different than my public persona. I have to make myself boring to fall in line, but now I’m entertainment and I know how to be entertaining. Look how my loose lips lol lines like licked lollies. Which reminds me, I’ve started reading Paradise Lost again, it may be the only but more likely it’s the best epic poem written in english. Mastery of language can treat a person’s mind like a roller coaster, brought along for climbs and drops, twists and turns, all while keeping the reader safely on the ground. The nice part about me creating with words is it motivates me to read more great literature, but for art as a whole I’ve become more receptive since I’m trying to figure out how can I use newly acquired information to improve what I’m doing. I don’t care what I’m creating, I want to do it the best I possibly can and at this point I’ve figured out a routine for how I learn. Maybe you’ve heard people talk about “flow” in work, that’s sort of what I meant with adding a battery. Because I have a better understanding of how I work efficiently, I provide that, and I seem to be spending more of each day in a state of flow, it’s a beautiful feeling.
Celestial Symbol
I saw a pretty flower today, it was orange, no pink. It’s funny how we can make up our own reality, that’s probably an idea that social media preys on. I saw some people want to hold the big social media companies accountable for promoting hatred by pulling ads. “I didn’t read the article.” A common phrase heard today. Everyone knows people don’t read the articles, so news is now found in the headlines. I’ve blamed Twitter for this in the past, though it’s not twitters fault for the character limit, that was the limit of technology. Texting was Twitter before they blew up, regardless, character limits on a message led to people regularly reading dozens of 140 character messages instead of a couple pages of one story. What I regret most about the digital age is how it crept up on us, I was a kid growing up in it, so I don’t feel that bad. That last sentence also refers to everyone growing up and culture shifting with time, so perhaps we should all abandon regret for lessons learned instead. What I learned from the digital age is you have to be vigilant towards outside sources effecting our selves. Also, pulling ads from Facebook is like saying you don’t like the water from the river, so you’ll dig a well; you’ll be getting a lot less water and it doesn’t stop the river from flowing. Facebook has over two billion users, taking into account that they aren’t in China, that’s somewhere between ⅓ and ¼ the global population in one place. You want to talk about a super computer or real AI, that’s these companies, how can one person or even an army of thousands shut down an organization that serves billions. Humans no longer control computers, we’re just along for the ride.
Stuttered on the studded
Finally I can unhinge my bones. Taking the day off on Sundays is rejuvenating. I also had to take Saturday off from the podcast because the house we’re currently in isn’t big enough to do audio only entertainment while people are home. That’s fine, I usually need to take more time to rest than I give myself. There’s not much going on this week, so I should have plenty of time for rest and exercise. I can feel my belly has gotten to a new level of girth and have to be vigilant about exercise. I need to stay away from sweets too. It’s been tough because on one hand I’m trying to conserve my energy for the move as well as dealing with the stress of home buying. Because the buying process is so stretched out, it’s been too much resting. Combine that with the state of the world for the last couple months, and I need to start regular cardio activity. I’m going for a run as soon as I finish this and I was going to take the dog, but I’m staring at him now while he sleeps. It’s better for me to go on my own because waiting or struggling with a sleepy pup is another hurdle to entry that might keep me down the path I’m on. There’s a book by Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, called The War on Art where he says it will seem like as soon as you start to get your act together, people around you will conspire to keep you where you were. It’s an idea I’ve often thought about and one I had to talk to Mary about this weekend. I don’t think it’s an intentional act of evil, but that feeling stems from things being less stable when you’re trying something new, so an act that might have gone unnoticed before will now feel like a personal attack. The other element is the people around your aren’t used to you doing this new thing, so they don’t know how to act. You may think they’re trying to pull you to your old way, but they are treating you the old way because a new precedent hasn’t been set yet. Intentions and boundaries should be made clear whether with human, child or pet.
All hail troll toenail
I believe all the house stuff was solved yesterday, though we are still waiting to set a date to close. I mentioned before, why does the date matter, if the paper work is ready then send it over and we’ll sign it right now. This is the 21st century and we have to drive across town to sit in a specific room, have a notary look at our I.D.’s, all so we can sign a piece of paper. There’s no need to ever leave your house again from a physical stand point, the pandemic has proven that. DocuSign has boomed from all the work they’ve gotten in the past couple months. Notary is a dying job too. Right now we have online notaries, a notary will look at you holding up your I.D. through a webcam. Now let’s say that notary wasn’t a human, but a face recognition program. My phone already has that technology in it, so given that a person can’t open a program without it first authenticating my face and I can sign a document with my phone, that should be legal grounds to enter into a contract. Also, you can never tell me my signature isn’t valid, I’m the one who decides which of my signatures are valid. In fact no signature is valid, it symbolizes a “man’s agreement” that I will be true to my word. If a party member decides not to be true to their word, it’s the judge that decides what was valid and who is owed what. The judge is given that power by the people through election and subsequently the civilian muscled officers. A contract that isn’t brought in front of judge means nothing and a plaintiff who is never brought to court won’t be charged. That’s only the first 300 words that come to my mind when they mention moving the closing date.
Galactic scholastic, except it tanked
It’s bright and early, so I’m off to the race. Actually, I’m writing this early enough that it isn’t bright outside yet. I’m sure the sun will pop out eventually, what are the odds Mr. Sun decides to take a day off? How would we even measure the day? Anyway, I got some stuff sorted out with mortgage people. I don’t know if I’ve been locked away from the public so long that I forgot what people are like, but it felt like no one had a clue what they were doing. There’s been an issue for days that we were given a report for the house and submitted that to the bank. The bank representative kept saying they more, so I got fed up and called the bank to find out what they need. After two hours of being passed around on the phone someone was finally able to tell me the form number the bank wanted. Yay, I got the information, so I pass it to our agent and he called the company that issued the report. They claim the report we handed in days ago is in fact the same form number. This is why I can’t live in the normal world, for me it’s all do or die.
Speaking of not living in the normal world, I wanted to take a moment to announce my intention to be taking Sundays off from posting anything online. It gives me time to recharge and catch up on anything if I need to, but more importantly I’ll have a day where all my thoughts are kept to myself. The more of my consciousness I put online, the more I worry about a program trying to simulate me. I’m still going strong with the podcast, Being Chris Cooper, and if you like this content, you should really give that a follow. When speaking I can provide way more information for the machines learning me.
Expensive Thrills
As closing for the house approaches, once again all these people who buy and sell houses for a living are running around like chickens with their heads cut off having no idea what to do. They move dates around like what day a piece of paper gets signed matters or because they need so many days for paperwork to sit on someone’s desk. That’s not the age we live in, there’s no reason that everything for buying a house couldn’t be done in one day, or one click. Large sums of money can be moved instantly, paperwork can be sent all over the world to get multiple signatures in seconds, so when I hear we have to move the date because there’s no way we could get the paperwork together in a couple days, I know the company is full of it, but whatever they’re calling the shots. I’ve got nothing to lose though, so I’m not getting caught up in their mess. I might file a complaint about this loan officer though, it felt like she’d been avoiding us until two days before claiming she needs all this documentation. They had a month to ask for this stuff and now its all rushing around? No thanks, I’ve been through this before and got caught up in it then, now I’m not going to let a bunch of paper get my emotions. This morning was nice, I went walking through the garden to take more pictures. It’s been awhile since I’ve gone out in the morning, possibly because it’s been so rainy. Usually I water the crops in the morning and walk down the line to make sure water is flowing and pull for weeds. I’ve been worrying less about weeds because soon they won’t be my problem. Soon none of these stupid people will be my problem, I’ll be resting on my own land.
Chris' Morning Pages 