On May 15th Pat and I got our second dose of vaccine. For us, the 2nd Quarter of 2021 marked the beginning of a slow return to a new normal. I will describe some of the changes that happened but first I will summarize some of my regular activities.

The Ajijic Book Club continued meeting via Zoom. Unlike in previous years, I was not reading every book club selection. However, I did read three books and I enjoyed writing book reports about them.

In March I began a daily practice of mindful breathwork.

Also, I read and wrote reports on four other books, reflecting my decision to not be constrained by ABC selections.

 

I also read The Divided Brain and the Search for Meaning by Iain McGilchrist but I did not find time to write a book report.

 

And I wrote three essays.

And I added to the In Memoriam section of this website.

Something quite special happened in April. My sister’s granddaughter, Gabrielle Greener, shared three very personal essays she had written. They were very powerful, very moving and very well written. I am hopeful that some day, when she is ready, these essays will be put in the public domain. Slowly, because she connects with me only sporadically, my relationship with Gabrielle is strengthening and becoming more important.

In May I met, in person, with my good friend David Bryen. During the pandemic we met via Zoom and exchanged occasional emails. But David was eager to begin meeting again in person. We enjoyed meaningful conversation and a couple of hours together passed very quickly. We met again in June.

There was one part of my conversation with David that I want to record and not lose from memory. We discussed the loneliness of the human condition. I shared with him what a psychologist once told me in therapy, that I had an unhealthy fear of being alone. David responded with a very different perspective. Why not, he asked, deify the longing? Perhaps my too frequent feelings of loneliness drive my quest for connection and community. Perhaps, although the longing will never be fully satisfied, this quest leads to good outcomes.

In April I sent an email to my long time friend, Ken Lewchuk:

Of all my friends, you are most like me.

We are/were both accountants. We both struggled with workplace induced stress. We both have/had an unstable job history.  We both experience above average anxiety. We both love to run. We are both still on first marriages and have good wives. We both have no children. We both like to read nonfiction. We both love philosophy. We both had a religious upbringing and have left religion behind. We are both Canadian. We both lean left politically.

...Would you be interested in developing a deeper friendship? Exploring what this would mean would be part of the process. Of course, there would be risks, could blow up in our faces, but I think the risk is low.

Ken accepted my invitation and we began regularly exchanging emails. But our dialogue did not go as I had hoped. From the very start, I found it difficult and frustrating.

Pat and I continued email exchanges with Linda Goodsir, which now have a growing undercurrent. We have different perspectives on vaccinations and freedom fighters. We are becoming increasingly aware of living in different versions of reality from some of our family and friends.

We live in an age of an overabundance of information and I live on the verge of being overwhelmed. Nevertheless, there are some sources which I value sufficiently to pay for. In May I added a subscription to Unchartered Territories with Tomas Pueyo.

Three other sources of information that I pay for are:

There are also two sources in the Metamodernism / Game B community that I am now going to more often:

My sister Nikki is a fan of the Montreal Canadiens who are doing unexpectedly well in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In May, I began watching hockey again, something I have not done for years. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

There are some activities that seem to be fading away. I was not able to re-establish contact with Brendan. I stopped receiving Letters from Ethan Chau and Charlie Derr. 

Lastly, I wrote, but did not publish, three articles for Unknowings. This is a project that I do not want to move forward with alone. But to date I have not found anyone to proceed with. That is somewhat disappointing but my efforts will continue. And I try to not be driven by goals and objectives, trying to hold them lightly.