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mallorys_camera“You know, I carry this three-by-four copy of the Constitution around with me,” Public-Policy Eleanor told me yesterday. We were in the middle of a two-hour phone marathon. “I even read it occasionally. It’s a flawed document.”
“Flawed, true,” I said. “But flawed in the sense that it could not possibly have anticipated the changes of the last 250 years. It was revolutionary for its time.”
“True,” Eleanor said. “And I suppose the deal is that the United States is such a young country that it hasn’t gone through a complete breakdown yet. But all countries do, don’t they?”
Since Eleanor wasn’t available to frown at thoughtfully, I scowled at one of the cats. “It’s a global breakdown,” I said. “And not a breakdown so much as a swing of the pendulum. That pendulum is always swinging between what I suppose in value-neutral terms one might call collectivism—although it’s manifesting right now as fundamentalism—and individualism.
“Thing is with eight billion humans on the planet competing for resources, the world really can’t afford individualism. Humanity must shift into a more collective mode if it is to survive. The resurgence of fundamentalist religions is one manifestation of that shift. Oddly enough, the Internet is another.
“It’s all very difficult for me to contemplate since every fiber of my being screams, Individuate! Individuate! But really, I’m looking at my own extinction.”
###
Somewhere in the midst of this conversation, I mentioned my current penuriousness in the wake of California and moving. Eleanor immediately responded, “Do you need money? I’ll give you some money.” (Eleanor is rich.)
Of course, I responded, No, no, no, no.
But I was honestly touched.
See, Patrizia? There are people who love you. You do have friends.
###
Speaking of friends: Tiresias John has apparently dropped me because I didn’t want to bond with him in endless texting sessions over the womanly ecstasy of penetration.
Oh, well!
Easy come, easy go.
(I guess there could be a pun there.)
This leaves me with exactly one friend on this side of the river!
Someone had told me that dating app Bumble has a friends function.
So, I signed up for it.
Here’s what I wrote in my introduction: Born some time back, dead at some indeterminate point in the future, everything else is NOW.
Two hours later, the app pinged insistently from my phone.
EIGHT people want to be friends with me!
But here’s the kicker: In order to find out who those eight people are, I have to pay the app $14.99!
Are eight new friends worth $14.99?
###
Other than that, Iggy went back to the City yesterday, leaving me in solitary possession of the house for the coming week.
I like Iggy well enough but I don’t feel any great desire to annex him into the friendship circle.
For one thing, I am totally uninteresting to him.
As an aging person, I am kinda used to being uninteresting to those around me, but you’d kinda think propinquity might drive interest.
It doesn’t.
As far as Iggy is concerned, I’m lawn furniture that pays rent and looks after the chickens & the garden in his absences.
###
It’s nice to be alone in the house, though mostly I hunker down in the new Patrizia-torium ‘cause air conditioning. There is a honking big air conditioner downstairs that’s very efficient, but I shudder to think how much electricity it must use. It’s a waste if I can stay comfortable upstairs.
Mostly yesterday, I was moony. The political events of the last week and a half! They’re so very, very disturbing to me. And I guess my personal life is so ascetic—no partner, no kids—that there is nothing to distract me from political events.
I Remunerated.
And I scampered out to photograph the defunct Borden Milk property.
For an old factory, it’s rather attractive:
“Flawed, true,” I said. “But flawed in the sense that it could not possibly have anticipated the changes of the last 250 years. It was revolutionary for its time.”
“True,” Eleanor said. “And I suppose the deal is that the United States is such a young country that it hasn’t gone through a complete breakdown yet. But all countries do, don’t they?”
Since Eleanor wasn’t available to frown at thoughtfully, I scowled at one of the cats. “It’s a global breakdown,” I said. “And not a breakdown so much as a swing of the pendulum. That pendulum is always swinging between what I suppose in value-neutral terms one might call collectivism—although it’s manifesting right now as fundamentalism—and individualism.
“Thing is with eight billion humans on the planet competing for resources, the world really can’t afford individualism. Humanity must shift into a more collective mode if it is to survive. The resurgence of fundamentalist religions is one manifestation of that shift. Oddly enough, the Internet is another.
“It’s all very difficult for me to contemplate since every fiber of my being screams, Individuate! Individuate! But really, I’m looking at my own extinction.”
###
Somewhere in the midst of this conversation, I mentioned my current penuriousness in the wake of California and moving. Eleanor immediately responded, “Do you need money? I’ll give you some money.” (Eleanor is rich.)
Of course, I responded, No, no, no, no.
But I was honestly touched.
See, Patrizia? There are people who love you. You do have friends.
###
Speaking of friends: Tiresias John has apparently dropped me because I didn’t want to bond with him in endless texting sessions over the womanly ecstasy of penetration.
Oh, well!
Easy come, easy go.
(I guess there could be a pun there.)
This leaves me with exactly one friend on this side of the river!
Someone had told me that dating app Bumble has a friends function.
So, I signed up for it.
Here’s what I wrote in my introduction: Born some time back, dead at some indeterminate point in the future, everything else is NOW.
Two hours later, the app pinged insistently from my phone.
EIGHT people want to be friends with me!
But here’s the kicker: In order to find out who those eight people are, I have to pay the app $14.99!
Are eight new friends worth $14.99?
###
Other than that, Iggy went back to the City yesterday, leaving me in solitary possession of the house for the coming week.
I like Iggy well enough but I don’t feel any great desire to annex him into the friendship circle.
For one thing, I am totally uninteresting to him.
As an aging person, I am kinda used to being uninteresting to those around me, but you’d kinda think propinquity might drive interest.
It doesn’t.
As far as Iggy is concerned, I’m lawn furniture that pays rent and looks after the chickens & the garden in his absences.
###
It’s nice to be alone in the house, though mostly I hunker down in the new Patrizia-torium ‘cause air conditioning. There is a honking big air conditioner downstairs that’s very efficient, but I shudder to think how much electricity it must use. It’s a waste if I can stay comfortable upstairs.
Mostly yesterday, I was moony. The political events of the last week and a half! They’re so very, very disturbing to me. And I guess my personal life is so ascetic—no partner, no kids—that there is nothing to distract me from political events.
I Remunerated.
And I scampered out to photograph the defunct Borden Milk property.
For an old factory, it’s rather attractive:
no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 03:42 pm (UTC)Brain: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..."
Me: "Shut up, brain. Not helpful."
That is such a beautiful factory.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 05:47 pm (UTC)Instilling feelings of Apocalyptic Doom is useful for the various agents that like to manipulate humans. It is worth reminding oneself that every epoch has contemplated its own version of Apocalyptic Doom, and yet, not one Apocalyptic Doom has come to pass.
Although I suppose there's always a first time.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-15 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 07:37 am (UTC)You are very loved XX
no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 04:54 pm (UTC)True for me as well.
You are also very loved. ❤️
no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 04:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 02:50 pm (UTC)love the photos from the Borden factory. Gorgeous.
no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 04:53 pm (UTC)But "making friends" depends upon one's surroundings & the available pool. As a single woman, I'm kinda ruled out of the couples circuit, and it's impossible to see what the other pickings are. I should probably start playing pickle ball. 😀
no subject
Date: 2024-07-16 05:32 pm (UTC)