The Magic Mountain (Week Sixty-One)

05/15/2021

The Magic Mountain (Week Sixty-One)

This week, in accordance with the recently updated CDC guidelines, I started running again without a mask. It was a relief. Over the past few months, I've started listening to podcasts on my runs, which meant that between my glasses, my headphones, and the mask, the real estate represented by my ears was definitely overdeveloped.

Losing the mask helped. I felt lighter. It made me consider losing the headphones, too. As recently as last year, I would have said that I would never listen to anything while running. It was time I used to meditate (I know: not officially, don't @ me), to let the mind wander, to come up with amazing ideas that would never occur to me when I wasn't running (even though running ideas, like dreams, are never as exciting as they first seemed when reconsidered in a static position). But I'm not quite ready to abandon podcasts, in part because I feel like I can learn relevant things, and in part because I feel like podcasts can almost trick me into feeling like I just went out and had coffee or a drink with some friends, even though they did all of the talking. One thing about lockdown life is that it's greatly increased the amount of time I spend with my voice in my head, and it's nice to replace it with some other voices for a while.

At the same time, I passed many people -- pedestrians and fellow runners -- who were still wearing masks, and I wanted to reassure them, to explain that I was vaccinated and had never voted for a Republican. (I didn't do this, fortunately.)

So far, it's been a cool spring, which is my favorite kind of spring. It felt good to breathe. But even without a mask on, I found it difficult to envision returning to pre-pandemic life: taking the train back and forth to work, flying to conferences and vacations. Sitting in the airport lounge, eating granola and fruit from the buffet. I feel like I've lost some trust in society, or maybe my ability to navigate through it. I imagine going back to pre-pandemic life would be like going back to high school or something; fun for a few seconds but then pretty awkward once the novelty wore off.

I kept thinking about what my friend Natasha tweeted: "I could do another year in quar, tbh." Lol but also hard same.

I also kept thinking about the end of The Magic Mountain, when Hans, after spending seven years at the sanatorium, finally leaves and is last seen on a WWI battlefield.

Posted at 12:32 PM in Expression, Science Projects | Permalink

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Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past

Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.

Video: The Chaos Detective

The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.

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Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

05/15/2021