this-is-our-new-normal

[this-is-our-new-normal]

I’m here for you

Why cats knead when laying on your lap or how dogs can sense you’re troubled or ill. Animal companions are the best *warm fuzzy feeling*.

[this-is-our-new-normal]

Simulated Minds

Me

Today I was thinking about whether I’d be able to see my parents in the next year because of this virus pandemic. I miss them dreadfully. There’s very little on my mind today. I had a bit of insomnia last night and my Hulu app was crashing so I went looking for something to watch on Netflix and landed on The Social Network. Ah, it’s still a good one and I still enjoy watching high school / college dramas.

Reading List

Too deep for being up at 3 am. It’s not the first time I’ve read into this theory. Here’s the article that popped up in my feed tonight.

[this-is-our-new-normal]

The Door to the Soul

Me

...

Reading List

“So we are focused on each other’s faces, but there is still at least one thing missing: that moment when your mutual darting attention comes to rest and you make real eye contact, not the off-kilter kind that comes from peering at a screen located a few inches from a camera, but an actual meeting of actual eyes transmitted through the air of a shared room. You look into each other, and you see, even if you don’t say it out loud (and you rarely do) just how rare and precious this is, this intimacy that you have kindled by agreeing (and again mostly without saying so) to be honest with each other, and to sit with the consequences.” Link

Let me just leave you with that to think about. I’m always interested to learn more about VR, but how can we fill in this kind of missed connection...? Or the need to let your eyes wander a bit?

[this-is-our-new-normal]

On the secret life of trees

Me

Today started with a health emergency but now I’m here with a Chardonnay in hand, mind mellowed and watching the leaves of the tree outside my kitchen window sway in the wind. This is my favorite kind of moment mostly because of the weather. I’ve always romanticized the tropical summer day when the air is heavy with warmth, the kind that seems to be hugging your bare skin in an everlong embrace like two lovers after a long absence. The heavy medium slows all life around you and is conducive to long, still moments left for contemplation. I still prefer this type of airy thought over the modern chop-chop efficiency of multitasking and pomodoro-ticking strategizing time blocks. It’s the only time I stop to think about what I’m doing with my life.

Thoughts

I came across this article from Pocket.com about the long lasting life of certain trees and the surprising ways they socialize and have developed mechanisms to collaborate with other plants for purposes of survival.

One of the oldest living trees is a nondescript bush in Riverside, California, which if any of you have never heard of, is a city moderately on the outskirts of LA in Southern California. At the moment I can only remember it for being know for its university and as the site of a gunman shooting two years back. This one Palmer’s Oak that lives off a hillside is estimated to be some 13,000 years old (3 zeros, it’s not a typo). It’s only like 3 meters or about 10 feet tall... talk about outdoing other more flashy trees ;-). Any significant growth only happens after a bush fire. It made me think, “Palmy, you are more than a survivor. What a show of resiliency that you shine most brightly and do your best work after such decimation to your body.”