👀 Life Observations
The Rule of 3's
This week, three seemingly healthy people I know suddenly and tragically left this realm for no apparent reason. Two were around 60. One in her late 40s. I hope the rule of 3's means no more this week (or next). With each one, I gasp at how unexpected it was. Healthy people should not die in their sleep at 60 years old. It makes me wonder if Covid, with its effect on blood vessels, played a hand.
It also makes me think about the plaque buildup an MRA just found on both sides of my cerebral artery. If I hadn't gotten that MRA (a test I'd never even heard of a month ago), I wouldn't know. How many people are walking around with plaque building up in their brain blood vessels who don't even know it because they don't have symptoms?
I'm hopeful to find out next week at the neurologist whether my crazy new headache a few months ago may have been caused by this plaque.
Keep in mind that I'm a person who drinks very little over the last decade, eats tons of fruits and veggies, and walks almost everywhere.
Menopause and feeling hopeless
It’s one thing to have knowledge of all the negative stuff going on in the world, but then mix in the cocktail of female hormones known as “menopause” (or “peri-menopause”).
I am pretty good at staying positive, but every month now during my menstrual cycle, I feel completely hopeless and alone. Any worries I have come right up to the surface and make me question why I’m here, what my purpose is, and what kind of terrible future awaits me. It’s like drinking booze when you’re in a bad mood already.
This definitely sidelines me every month because it makes it hard to want to contribute to the world or keep moving forward because I feel like what’s ahead of me is worse than what’s behind me.
Guys, honestly, if you know anyone going through peri-menopause or menopause, just be there for them because you could not even begin to imagine all the things their body and mind are going through.
💰 Capitalism Chat
Having Empathy for billionaires
There is a billionaire trapped in a seemingly homemade submersible that was not inspected by any regulatory agencies and runs on a $30 gaming controller.
He paid $250,000 to be there and signed a waiver that indicated, in several areas, that he could very likely die on the voyage to see the remains of the Titanic, which is sitting on the bottom of the ocean near the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.
There is a thought provoking meme going around instructing him to simply pull himself up by his bootstraps to get out of his situation. Many see this as extremely offensive, and it is clearly without much tact. To me, the meaning of this meme is that, despite being a billionaire, you're still human just like the rest of us and your money won't save you at 12,500 feet under the ocean.
The reason rich people go on these normally unattainable missions (see also: up into space in a rocket) is likely because they couldn't spend all their wealth in 1000 lifetimes and they get bored after affording every luxury in the world.
Being able to go up in space for fun is a disgusting and excessive use of money (especially given the resources and environmental degradation necessary to accomplish it when the trip had no other mission). It’s yet another sign that billionaires shouldn’t exist.
Back to empathy… I, of course, hoped the entire crew of this vessel would be rescued, but it is looking like they were not. 😢
📑 Project Updates
Web Development
I’m getting to the end of a really interesting client project. He’s in art licensing, and his website required a lot of customization. As I may have mentioned, I used AI to help me with some of that, and it was a really interesting process. Right now, I’m in the process of uploading around 10,000 images to his site and making sure they end up with the right categories, tags, and artist designation.
My business, Solid Red Studios, is open for new clients at the moment, so if you or anyone you know has a great website project you need built, hit me up.
The Hugmobile
While I have not been super active with The Hugmobile (other than to give my last FREE HUGS of the summer a few weekends ago), my goal is still to wrap my vehicle, so I’m hoping to sell more online hugs and merchandise. (Paying subscribers, find a discount code at the bottom of this newsletter.) I’m about $2000 short. If you want to support The Hugmobile, there are several ways. Check them out on the website.
I’ll be talking more about next year’s Epic European Adventure in the future, but I did decide that I’m going to need space to bring a bunch of stickers with me. I’m going to make 50-100 stickers each that say “Hugs Can Heal The World” in the language of each country I’m visiting. So, here’s what I’m going to make:
Portuguese: Abraços podem curar o mundo
Albanian: Përqafimet mund të shërojnë botën
Croatian: Zagrljaji mogu izliječiti svijet
Greek: Οι αγκαλιές μπορούν να θεραπεύσουν τον κόσμο
Italian: Gli abbracci possono guarire il mondo
Slovenian: Objemi lahko začelijo svet.
Turkish: Sarılmak dünyayı iyileştirebilir
Catalan (Andorra): Les abraçades poden curar el món
Serbian (Cyrillic): Загрљаји могу излечити свет
Serbian (Latin): Zagrljaji mogu izlečiti svet
❤ Please contribute to the project to help me pay for these stickers!
You can also become a paid subscriber to this newsletter as all the proceeds from this newsletter also go to The Hugmobile.
🌻 One Positive Thing
Everyone in my city is coming together for Pride this month. It’s a joyous time full of lots of events, big and small. This weekend is the parade and festival, and I know the whole city will come out to celebrate the diversity that makes our city great.
⏰️ Currently
📚 Reading, “It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism” by Bernie Sanders. (Please buy local.)
📱 Studying Portuguese on Duolingo. I’ll only be in Portugal for two weeks next year, but I just decided to learn some of the language. I’m enjoying it and find it very interesting how it relates to Spanish.
📝 Taking the second class of my Strategic Storytelling certification. I’m enjoying it and enjoying being healthy enough for it not to feel like a burden but instead something I’m excited about.