Back to the grind… almost. First day of school today and I woke up with coronavirus, postponing my return to work for a few days. Five years after its appearance on the scene, COVID-19 is still thriving and bringing me down. But its a beautiful day so I am relaxing in my backyard with a laptop and reminiscing over the past few amazing months.
Two great trips to Maine, including our annual pilgimmage to Acadia, family time in Cumberland and Freeport, bonkers fishing expeditions, lunch at The Honey Paw, a 4th of July lobster bake, camping on Whaleboat Island with Painkillers at The Dolphin, and an absolutely perfect wedding for my cousin!
A biennial visit from our Barcelona family in Brooklyn, Warwick and Bellport;
Camping at a wolf sanctuary in South Salem, NY;
Camping on Fire Island;
Camping in the Catskills including a overnight backpacking journey;
A stroll through the New York Botanic Gardens;
A powerful show at Playwrights Horizons, Prince F*****;
An evening in Ridgewood, Queens featuring cocktails at Cassette and delectable dinner at Hellbender;
Dinosaur Jr. in Prospect Park;
Surprise Chef at Music Hall of Williamsburg;
Phish with old friends and King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard with young family at Forest Hills stadium;
Annual Lake George excursion with a tube float down the Hudson River;
Ivy’s 12th(!) birthday party in Brooklyn Bridge Park;
Rutgers football season opener;
Four days of golfing with Miles in the past week, as he is displaying early onset golf addiction;
And the first practice of our Flag Football team!
Some good reads and entertainment:
Ubik by Philip K. Dick – a cheeky and surreal sci-fi exploration of psychic powers and communing with the deceased.
Forces of Nature by Brian Cox – simple and eloquent explanation of our modern scientific theories
Six Numbers by Martin Rees – 6 constants from physics calculations, such as the strength of gravity and the nuclear forces, that seem absolutely perfectly tuned for the evolution of complex and intelligent life.
Why? The Purpose of The Universe by Philip Goff – Making a similar fine-tuning argument for life’s existence, but also positing that consciousness is elemental and every particle can react to information; our higher consciousness as a unification of smaller conscious entities, and pointing to a cosmic purpose for all life.
The God Theory by Bernard Haisch- Panpsychism from the top down; a universal mind of which we are all individual altars, filtering the great white light through our personal prisms.
The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav – Phenomenal examination of the bizarre and unbelievable implications of quantum theory, with a history of the groudbreaking experiments and uprooting of common sense classical mechanics, all connected to ancient Eastern philosophy and mysticism.
Movies and shows:
Superman – The new one and the old one with my kids
Andor and Rogue One – The Star Wars story to explain the Star Wars story
Ready Player One – rewatched with an aspiring gamer, who was clueless about the old-school references, but recognized every Fortnite character in the movie.
The Matrix – rewatched for the first time in 20 years with the kids and it stads as one of the most memorable movies I’ve ever seen.
