Matt's Journal

Up 2am; read for an hour then went back to bed. Woken up 6am by my phone – it was Luke attempting to call a work associate. So we talked and then we got up and I put on shorts and a coat and biked over to get bagels and cream cheese at my favorite place by the DMV. It was fun and I realized I missed getting up early and doing things like that. Now, I want to get money at the bank and deposit a check (I can do that online though) and go get a little food at the coo-op. I can do that by bike. I want to do it early not late to avoid the rush.

They’re talking about opening up business again. Some places are doing it earlier than us. There’s pressure from wacko right-wingers to open up earlier. They’re not totally crazy; a lot of people are suffering. There’s fear of a resurgence in the flu months next winter.

I was up, ate and then signed on to write this. I have since been sidetracked by random web browsing – check mail, then follow a link and bingo- into the rabbit hole. I do that a lot, and it is worse now perhaps than it was. I can monitor how much time I spend in apps – there are tools for this. Maybe I should do that.

Today I want to check the sprinkler that doesn’t work – may be just a matter or cleaning it. Replacement is not hard. I have a list of other things too. I do like being active. Today got started early and I like having the day ahead of me and don’t want to lost that by sitting around typing – much less by surfing the web.

Reading from last night; book by R. Feynman, a set of lectures in Seattle. His style is deceptively simple and casual and seems trivial but he says some good stuff. Like, belief in different things being “possible” vs “probable” – a big difference. Aliens visiting is possible – a lot of things are possible – but are they probable? He points out that if you know enough to see how complicated things are you’re in a better position to know what is probable. People are gullible because they don’t know enough. They don’t know enough because – they’re stupid? Because they don’t care or aren’t curious? Or maybe too busy or worried or stressed to know more?

We’re all gullible in one way or another. When CV19 hit I thought “what’s the big deal? EG schools closing? Overreaction. Then others closed. To my credit when I saw the explanation – keep hospitals from hitting their capacity – I bought into it.

My old aunt Jackie was going on 96 when she died. They’re going to have an online funeral. I read that the French-speaking New Orleans people are long gone but that’s not true. My Dad’s family used it at home and so did my mother’s family to a lesser degree – maybe the last of the old Creoles? They spoke it and I heard it with pleasure but I sure didn’t understand it except a few words like ‘cher’ (with a cheek-pinch) and ‘couillon’ (bad drivers). I learned some for fun later on my own. It was not particularly encouraged growing up.