Information Overload leads to Abandoning the Matrix

It seems like eggnog came early this year. I suppose that is how they would do it – I mean the eggnog industry; they’ve got to be paying attention to this trend of pushing Christmas closer each year to the Fourth of July. I think for awhile I was sort of living under the assumption that there were many out there who are ‘not paying attention.’ I’m realizing now that everyone is paying attention – to something.

There is too much. I’ve made half-dozen false-starts on this column – the reason is too much information: too many scandals, crises, wars, elections, icons passing away, natural disasters, medical mysteries, and financial catastrophes. I don’t know where to start; and once you start in, there’s no natural point at which to stop.

So forget it – by the time you read this, everything will have changed anyway.

I just came back from the yard – the dogs and I walked down to the creek under the light of a bright moon. It isn’t full, but it is on its way up and nearly there. That white light of the moon lights up the whole area, so long as there isn’t interference from artificial lighting. It is cold but not unbearable.

I came back with seed pods attached to my stocking cap. There were two of them, oval-shaped , spiky burrs; reddish-brown. They look a lot like caterpillars and that is what Trish thought they were, at first.

“Bob, there’s something…” but before she could finish, I’d swatted my hat away and flung it towards the fireplace. I guess she was trying to say I should be careful, because of the creatures on my head; but I mistook her to mean there was something terrible climbing over my skull – some kind of treacherous venomous spider, or maybe a radioactive, blood-draining mosquito. I take no chances, not this time anyway.

No harm done, then we figured out what they were – burrs.

I lost track of the days today. I’m in the middle of a longer assignment at my job, and so the activities aren’t varying greatly from one day to the next. If I didn’t have a job to go to, I’d never know what day it was. I might be fine with that. Right now I’m thinking the lunar calendar probably makes more sense anyway. There is nothing physical that signifies the passing of a week – it’s completely arbitrary, just a year broken down into mathematically symmetrical components. Following the sun, or the moon, there you’ve got something very real and tangible to go by.

I’ve got a great big wool coat to wear. It belonged to my grandfather, his army coat from 1945; big leather wrapped buttons and a fine, smooth lining of some material, maybe thick silk – I don’t know. It is stiff and warm, though it’s starting to loosen up. No one wore it for a lot of years; it feels very good to wear it now.  This coat makes me look forward to the colder months of winter. I’m wearing that coat right now – sitting outside on the porch; looking at my breath and typing this out on a lap-top my mom gave me recently. Things are starting to look really good around here.

madbob@madbob.com