Thursday, June 6, 2024

 Thursday, June 6, 2024   

    B was at my door at 6 a.m. with five eggs.  He warned me they were dirty. They had grass stuck to them. I told him about my chainsaw.  I don't qualify as a master mechanic. He offered to take the tool to see if he could fix it.

   Isaac used the eggs B brought up.  They were fertile with blood spots and fetuses. Isaac picked them out. Eating something with eyes was too much for him despite the additional protein.

  I had a dental appointment for a cleaning. I asked Roxie about her kids. Her oldest, a boy I worked with briefly when he was still in elementary school, had just graduated from high school and went to work with his dad's construction company. They were currently working on a major project in the southern part of the island. They stayed there during the week and came home on weekends. One of her daughters has a problem with reading. The school was providing tutoring. 

  I told Roxie about my dishwasher problem. I wanted to hire a handyman at $50 an hour before I called a plumber at over $100 an hour. She had the name of someone. She also mentioned that her son could do it. I may ask for her son if I can't get a handyman in.

   I finally made arrangements to have the dead fan palm at the top of my driveway cut down. It's hard to find a gardener around here. Everyone is booked. There's more work than there are gardeners. I asked Casey, a friend of Yvette's who participates in driveway yoga and Yvette's classes at the studio. He stopped by around 1:30 but hadn't brought any necessary tools. He said he'd be back tomorrow.

     I noticed I had scheduled an acupuncture treatment for 10 a.m. on Friday, the same time as the Hula class. I didn't enjoy the Hula classes that much, but I went because they were good for me. I'd forget to put them on my calendar and then schedule something else for that time slot.

    Edward Slingerland, author of Trying Not to Try, talked about conscious effort versus unconscious effortlessness tonight on Hidden Brain tonight. Which is better, the spontaneously moral man who does kind deeds because it feels good, or the one who acts out of a moral imperative, as per Kant? The loving shopkeeper who treats his customers well for the sheer pleasure of it, or the emotionless shopkeeper who hates his customers but treats them fairly because it's the moral thing to do.

      I remembered my dad saying the man who threw himself on a hand grenade without thinking was not a brave hero. True courage requires conscious consideration of the consequences and doing it anyway. Pure Kant. 

     I showed Isaac my new discovery.  I could get the spine of my upper back stretched out on the vertical by reaching my arms forward and pulling my chest back.  Gokhale taught me to pull my head back at the neck, like backing a car into a garage. Engaging the upper back put the apex of the contraction further down my spine. It felt more satisfying. I said something about using the muscles on the ventral side of my cervical spine. Isaac took an anatomy course in anticipation of his stint in med school. He did a complete autopsy. He said there are no muscles on the ventral side of the cervical spine. Ok. Back to the drawing board. I have to explore further.  

B stopped by and returned my 4" pruning chainsaw in working order.