Inside One Student's Day

Quarantine Day 42 and Absence Day 60

I've now been in quarantine for 42 days, and been absent from my regular routine for 60, nearly two months.  So, what did my day look like today?

Well, I'll record this for myself, and you are welcome to read as well, if you are curious:

• 3 a.m. Wake up, go find my wife, invite her to come to sleep, she's having insomnia, and like a virus, it passes to me, and I get up, and go do some writing
• Write about a lot of the questions I have, at least 50, if not more
• Notice a few social media friends appear to be online, post a question: "Why are you awake right now?"
• Eventually, go back to bed, before sunrise, or perhaps once the first son awakens -- no alarms or wake up calls anymore... probably a good thing, for their sanity and happiness
• Dream that I wanted to go someplace far away, and then remembering that I could fly (not particularly well, not like Superman, my max speed in this dream seemed to be about 200 km/hr at the very best, and I ended up getting blown off course, and not making it to my destination... :-(  and, I really wanted to get there, too.  

• Wake, weigh in, shower (reflect that, next to food, hot showers are the most amazing thing provided by civilization and how people who are away from civilization, like in the Survivor TV show, for example, dream of the hot shower, and bask in it once they get one)
• Eat breakfast (1/2 cup oatmeal, 1 cup water, 2-minutes in the microwave, 1 sliced banana on top, 1/2 cup soymilk; plus a vitamin B-12, and a glass of warm tap water with a vitamin D.)
• Notice that my YouTube videos which I attempted to post 24-hours earlier are still not uploaded... and seem to have actually went backwards... *drat*... I guess those don't post yet, perhaps another time
• Take photos of the snowy day.  It was a snowy morning exactly one year ago
• Catch up on some more news (I like the CNN.com virus news feed, a lot of irrelevant items, but really interesting anyway; also some really interesting things on ZeroHedge.com.  The Automatic Earth is very good as well; as is just browsing my social media feeds (Facebook and Twitter).  Several very good articles in ZeroHedge, particularly ones that point out that the stock markets (and other markets) are no longer even close to real, and that everything is being either nationalized (purchased by the Fed and/or Federal government) or privatized (purchased by huge banks, hedge funds, billionaires, or nations); also articles on the coming famine
• Older son has a huge Algebra 2 exam, I think for the end of the first semester of Algebra 2?
• My younger son is developing an new currency/money (called Meowmew s), but he has not yet figured out how to spend it (why would anyone accept it), so we make some lists on what he might spend it on, and what I might spend it on.  He doesn't want to do any chores, so that I can spend them, but he is willing to make me a piece of art, and so he spends 45+ minutes making me a painting of the cat, which I buy for 10 Meowmews.  (I got those by exchanging them for some coupons that he'd given me back at Christmas.)  He wants to print out some more, so I show him how to turn on the computer and do that (double-sided).  He ends up offering me three Meowmews for some caramelized Easter popcorn; so now I have more to spend later... hopefully on chores :-) 
• Negotiate with younger son for how many "Screenpennies" he has earned, and also how many he can spend trying out a "new" Wii game
• Richard Heinberg interview; which I title "What Will We Eat?" (in memory of Michigan documentary film maker Chris Bedford).  Richard is a big picture thinker who has written a dozen books on the local future ( under the term "relocalization" ).  The topic is the coming food crisis.  Before that, I have to struggle with my computers and my Internet connection, but eventually, I get things stable enough to have a 30-minute video call.  I also had decided to do 10-15 minute interviews, so this worked out well, and I get the entire project done, including publishing to YouTube, and the title image, and the description, in a reasonable amount of time.
• Richard also likes to write, and emails me the link to his recent article on post growth economic thinking, and we set up another call for Monday.  Looks like a good start because he is talking about MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), UBI (Universal Basic Income) and other money topics which I've been addressing with Steve Keen and others in the past couple of monthsl
• Lunch, a couple veggie burgers (Morning-star black bean burgers, in a pan with a lid, four pieces of toasted bread set on level 3, vegan Hellman's mayo on all four slices, one cut up roma tomato divided onto two of the slices, a lot of fresh baby spinach on both sides, yum)
• Chat with my mother and father on the phone, after they have chatted with my sons
• Watch Nova: Mysteries of Sleep on the TV with both sons... take some micro-naps right before the segment on micro-naps --
• Hmm... read some more news, I guess, and post the photo of the gathering of humans at the state capital building.  Eat some frozen mango and later a bowl of wheat cereal with chocolate soymilk
• Oldest son makes a call with his friends via video to discuss starting an entertainment business with the new currency that HE is working on "Beybucks"
• Take a nap! :-)

• Wake up, dinner time, capture a few photos on the ground now bare of snow; thanks to my wife for making pasta and a nice vegan tomato based pasta sauce.  Find out that my younger son wanted to spend some Meowmews on window shopping online, and he never figured out how to help me with that :-(
• Family movie time; Netflix / BCC / Participant Media "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind"; the first time I saw it... wow... that was a really good pick, especially to watch with the sons.  Themes included: public education, the value of education, family as a unit, food, subsidence farming, economics and capitalism, famine, poverty, property, violence, altruism vs selfishness, the risk of acting globally rather than locally, debt, exports and imperialism, and many more.  Really, bang up... let's see which awards it won... none! That's crazy, at least it was well respected by a number of people
• Work on setting up interview #6 for my the Local Future youtube channel, whis one with one of the founders of the Evonomics.com web site ; do a little emailing with him to see what he's willing and able to contribute
• Tuck the sons into bed, making sure to kiss them, and look them in their eyes, and tell them I love them
• Read all the comments about my post regarding the gathering at the capital building, react with love to almost all the comments, respond in general, and then to only one of the comments
• Get a bowl of frozen strawberries to munch on
• Write this here! :-)  Ta da!  Now it is 202004160250; which I think is 10:50 p.m. local time -- My computers now only tell me "Zulu" time (UTC / Greenwich Mean Time)

• Reflect on how today's theme has been about both food and money; and that money is food... which is to say, that money, at it's most essential level, represents food.  This was illustrated strongly in "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" when the only asset the family had left was a small amount of money, which they used to buy a few kilos of grain, which they then had to make into flour by hand, then bread, so they could have a small loaf each day to share amongst the seven of them (but not the dog).  Money is food, and food is most importantly energy, and that relates everything from my entire day together, even the people who went to the capital, using enormous amounts of energy, and time, to share their frustration about not having the freedom to get what they needed so they could feel secure, especially in the food arena, and who are most likely still feeling compelled to pay monthly bills, like mortgages and rents and insurances and etc., even though they have no means of "working" for civilization.
• Next, time to post this to social media,  floss and brush, and visit with my wife, and hopefully have a long and restful sleep  :-)
• Oops, I added some links, and read a very fine article by The Automatic Earth about addressing existential risks by The Only Man Who Has A Clue: Nassim Taleb.
• Chat with wife for a while and snuggle before falling asleep around 12:30 a.m. or 1:00

• 6:20 ish a.m. Cat wakes me, get up, see if there is any wisdom from Jesus or the bible which relates to food, hunger, or energy.  Whether or not one believes Jesus was a magical figure, I think the stories often have relevance now.  I suppose I could have looked into other religious traditions, but as Jesus's story is more recent than Abraham, or Buddha, etc, I like to look into Jesus first.  I settle on Matthew 25, recognize that bank means "pile" or "store" of grain, create the quote (below) with only the fewest words 
• Publish, and share on social media

202004161100 UTC Aaron Wayne Wissner