We took a walk up the nearby Great Hill woods before our T-Day dinner yesterday, and another one today in the rain up the same hill; puppies Shadow and Lily ecstatic, running free.
We enter via Piper Road, the red line. After going there only once, puppy Shadow was excited, knew where to get off the street and onto the trail.
Late this morning we went to the Babico’s diner, in nearby Maynard, a little town still with local shops lining its downtown streets.
Walking in woods and eating out. That’s pretty much what we do around here. Went to a Korean cafe in Maynard for dinner Wednesday evening, had my usual bibimbop (sp?). And of course screens, much time on screens, everybody on his/her own screens.
T-Day evening Sean, Colin and I watched some Red Bull mountain biking downhill time trials on the giant TV screen. Terrifying. They loved it; both seem to need adrenaline danger in sports.
T-Day before dinner, we went to an early showing of the film Arrival, and I’m still trying to figure out what I think about the movie. Glad that ETs are not depicted as predatory; glad that the heroine was decidedly heart-based inside the stern military complex camp set up in Montana to view one of the 12 ships visiting Earth; glad that the film focused on language and communication against the usual militarized background of who’s out to get who; glad of all sorts of things about the movie, especially the idea of attuning to the visitors to the point where the heroine could recognize their communication as visual, and based on circles, cycles —
thus shifting time out of linearity, and, according to the movie, much else! However, although the question of alternate time-lines did get an airing, it was not done in a coherent manner, and I imagine left most of the audience confused. As an astrologer, I have long intuitively absorbed the meaning of “time” as both various and cyclical, so felt right at home with the ET signatures.
Also appreciated the heroine’s tentative, troubled attitude, and her way of using silence to convey meaning as she had to connect with the military types around her who were planning to blow up the ship if the ETs didn’t come out and say plainly why they were there and state their intentions.
And I appreciated the way the film portrayed the silly in-fighting among national identities on Earth, and the very skillful manner in which it introduced the subject of ET, demonstrating to one and all that this is the most important topic we can ever imagine as humans on this planet.
But in the end, the movie left me deeply unsatisfied. Not sure why.
It didn’t seem to affect either the Sean or Colin or the kids one way or another. Which puzzled me. We only barely talked about it on the way home.
BTW: the kids are able to hold a conversation with adults while looking at their screens. Our conversation at the Babico today, thanks to our decorated young waitress, centered around kids’ tattoos, rings in various places, including big rings inside ear drums, that when removed, leave the lobes flapping, says Uncle Colin. Sean mentioned that one of the young workers at IBM has his head shaved and a mohawk down the middle. He told him that he would look so much better without the mohawk! Kiera and Drew aren’t even puzzled by, much less attracted to these various current forms of identity. At least not yet! Their father, uncle, and Grannie Annie, all nontattooed, and non-ringed, are exceedingly glad.
Also talked about various games that Drew plays with his friends, online. He’s angling for another one with his Dad now, says it’s just $5! 75% off today, Black Friday! And he’ll even use his allowance (that which is not yet set up in his blooming “stock account”) to buy it!
I mentioned that in some circles, this is “Stop Shopping Day.”
Drew: “What??”
Then, immediately, slyly: “Come on Dad, it’ll teach me how to cooperate in a team!”
“What’s the problem with him getting this game?” I ask Sean.
“It’s about robbing banks.”
“Well, he’s already a murderer!” I laugh, chagrined (in reference to other online games).
I ask, casually: “Are there any online games that show economic alternatives to capitalism?”
“What?!?”
Again, Drew is shocked. Of course, at nearly 14, he’s already conditioned to be intensely competitive and money-hungry, though at heart is still a charming, friendly boy.
Kiera has other priorities. And one of them, apparently, is leaving her artistic signature in ketchup as she left the cafe, much to her father’s annoyance.
This evening, we will share T-Day leftovers with Sue, the kids’ Mom, who now lives about a quarter of a mile away. They share the kids; this is Sean’s weekend.
Home sweet home.
