We made the difficult decision of doing the procedure on my dog again. I don’t know if it was the right call – financially, emotionally, whatever it is doing to her – but that is where we are now. We spent six hours at the emergency vet because there were some other more severe cases that needed to be seen before her. She did great though and came out of it like a champion. They did not remove as much fluid as the first time – possibly because we brought her in much earlier.

We have decided to set a date to put her to sleep rather than wait for this to happen again. Unless, of course, she gets worse again before the date we chose.

During that entire time, I was brainstorming tons of ideas and was frustrated that I did not have my computer with me to research and jot things down. Maybe tomorrow after some rest I can remember some of the things.

Thank you for your message. I am currently out of office with no set return date. I will get back to you when the time is right.

Gone through the bunker... Rafters pigment fads' reverence of a looping lasso. Round and around — caught! Get down! Sand on sand, clustered, throat-clogging expanse. Doom the rotten! Doom begotten! Doom the room that flips lapsed bandwidth. Every message is a citadel forgotten... A memory misplaced... A lie within the truth of a lie critiquing understanding... Life's apprehending all of man's refusal to ascend. All that bend beyond the rend. All who call the lull of withdrawal a sin. All who spin just to recycle the loss of a win. Let's pretend! Let's make amends! Let's... ...this is the end.

Written July 20,2026. © 2026 AnOublietteofThought.

Dear Aunt Martha, Today would have been your 100th birthday. I hope it finds you singing songs to Jesus with the heavenly choir, like you always said you wanted to. It took us a couple of days after the storm hit to clear the road well enough to get to the house. By then, FEMA had switched from rescue to recovery. The river had gone back to where it belonged, leaving tons of silt and a few bodies behind. We found that young couple from upriver, their dog, and the baby huddled together still inside their expensive new Jeep lodged between the outcroppings at the fishing hole. It wasn’t pretty.

Caleb said he thought you died before the storm hit. You were in your chair on the porch with your Bible in your lap and the house had not been prepped for weather. Widows were open, and some rain had blown in, but the old place had not been damaged. Patches was in the middle of your bed with a new litter of kittens.

Some civil engineer with a Yankee accent kept walking around the place muttering to himself. When I asked him what was wrong, he went on and on about how great-grandpa had built it to cooperate with nature instead of dominating it and ranted about the hubris of the construction industry. Caleb spit tobacco juice on the ground and said, “Maybe this time you damned flatlanders will learn a thing or two.”

Feelings are still running high in the valley 5 years after the hurricane. People grumble that the big tourist towns got most of the help and some are still living in temporary trailers. These old mountains still grab the clouds and squeeze them, reminding too many of what it was like before what we thought would last forever was blown away.

It’s raining today, the same steady, hypnotic drizzle that set in before the hurricane came along. Everyone in the neighborhood has a radio tuned to the weather channel now and they get nervous whenever they hear thunder.

They finally finished rebuilding the bridge and we can get back and forth into town quicker than taking the detour through Dutch Falls . I quit my job in California and moved into the cabin as soon as the courts said it was legally mine, but it took a while. I haven’t finished unpacking yet. Thank you for remembering me in your will.

I was away too long. I didn’t realize how much I had changed until I was buying gas at a convenience store in town. The kid behind the register gave me the side-eye, up and down look before saying, “You ain’t from around here, are ya?” His attitude changed when I told him who my grandparents were. But I’m not so sure if I fit in anymore. I hadn’t seen Caleb since before I left, when I met up with him to get to your place after the storm he said, “You put on shoes and went to town, didn’t ya? I hope ya didn’t get too big for your raising.”

Since moving back to the valley I’ve been faced with ingrained attitudes inherited from family about those who are different and unfamiliar. I thought they had been erased until I came back to my “roots.” It hit home. People in these hills remember history. To many post Civil War Reconstruction was yesterday. Family karma is passed down in subtle, social ways, too often unconscious until we take active measures to uncover them. It’s not easy and most folk don’t want to spend the time and energy to do it. I thought leaving would fix things. I had to manufacture anger like most young people do and I don’t think I ever fully separated. Life felt claustrophobic and I was not ready to marry a local boy and start spitting out babies. I wanted more glamour and excitement than that, yet your letters and care packages were my secret comforts. I reminisced about the hills under a pen name and managed to survive college by waiting tables. A PhD, three husbands, and a career teaching never filled the empty spaces in my heart.

When I traveled for book tours, spending large amounts of time in cities up north and out west, I resented being treated like an exhibit in a zoo. It sometimes came in hand to have people automatically subtract 30 points from my IQ as soon as I opened my mouth. Most often it came from the “professionals”, the educated social climbers, I encountered. They have asked me whether we wear shoes where I come from and if the movie, Deliverance, was a true story. Some dared ask if I belong to the Ku Klux Klan.

Gentrification is coming into these old backwaters much too fast. I was hoping it would take much longer for the tourists to find us. Last time I saw Caleb, he said that his bull had cornered a group of hikers up into some trees at the edge of the pasture. Apparently, they didn’t read the no-trespassing signs. Edith Hartwell caught a SUV with Florida plates parked beside her garden and a couple of strangers helping themselves to the corn and tomatoes. Locals won’t shop at the old store across the valley anymore since the Wilsons sold it to those people from up north. Last I heard they were opening branches in larger towns and selling nostalgia along with the horehound candy, fishing rods, and cast -iron pans.

I find myself walking in the space between being a local and an outsider. I became “gentrified” through education and experience and no longer fit into a defined tribe. I think Caleb is still mad at me because I refused to marry him straight out of high school, but it’s good to see that he found a nice wife and sturdy children.

Somewhere along the way I became a Zen student and I wonder how my practice will fit into my new lifestyle. Should I turn the farm into a retreat space or monastery? That feels too much like how the Wilson’s treated the old store. Thanks to Zoom, I can continue meeting with Roshi and the sangha as long as a bird doesn’t light onto one of the wires or a squirrel doesn’t short out a transformer.

I could ramble on for hours and too many pages, but the sun is going down and I need to feed the chickens. Patches’ progeny are nagging me for their gushy food and I’m hungry. Instead of sitting on the porch with a Bible, I sit in your chair with a sutra or a koan. There’s not much difference between the two.

I hope your celestial choir practice goes well and you get a break to peek down over the edge of a cloud once in a while to check on me. Much love, more later. Geneva

A retro-styled wristwatch, a Timex T-80 Digital watch, Pelikan, Waterman and Conklin Fountain Pens.

I've posited elsewhere that I have become something of a “techno curmudgeon” — that is someone who has serious reservations about technology, and therefore has adopted older technology. And yes, that is one possible connection between Fountain Pens and Wristwatches, but there is something else that I feel connects them, and other things that I am interested in.

So, I am not certain if this will be a series of posts or not, but sometimes I think there are things that are connected in non-obvious ways. And, hopefully those connections are worthwhile examining.

Necessities Turned Luxuries

While it is quite a niche item these days, when people think of Fountain Pens, they most likely think of Montblanc. Maybe Pelikan, or possibly Conway Stewart. Wristwatches are a little less niche, but most people are still likely to think of luxury brands: Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, possibly Audemars Piguet or Cartier.

But there was a time when these items weren't luxuries, and it wasn't all that long ago. That's what I want to talk about just a bit.

When Fountain Pens Were Essential

Fountain pens were pretty essential items up to around the invention of the ballpoint pen. Brands like Waterman, Parker, and Conklin were some of the most recognized in the world. These weren't the luxury items they would become.

The invention of the ballpoint pen can be traced back to John Loud's 1888 patent. However, the initial design for a ballpoint pen were not commercially successful. The primary idea was that a ball-and-socket would be used to deliver ink to a surface. Loud's primary motivation for this design was to be able to write on rough surfaces that a fountain pen was not capable of handling. However, the design proved too rough to use on paper, and so it wasn't a viable product.

It wouldn't be until Laszlo Biro and his brother Gyrogy were able to perfect the formulation of ink, and make it work with the ball-and-socket mechanism for the modern ballpoint pen to be invented. This was in 1943, which, of course was during World War II. It wasn't until after the war that these pens started to proliferate.

Prior to the invention of the Biro (and later Cristal) pen, fountain pens were the primary writing tool.

When Watches Were Essential

The history of mechanical wristwatches is a little more complicated. It wasn't until the 17th century that the hairspring was invented, which led to the creation of reasonably accurate timekeeping devices in the 18th century. However, aside from some particular uses, the modern wristwatch really didn't become a common item until the 20th century. What about the 19th century? Men mostly carried pocket (or fob) watches, which wristwatches were for women.

However, in the 1970 there was a new type of wristwatch: the quartz wristwatch. First brought to market by Seiko on January 31st, 1969 with the Astron, quartz wristwatches quickly started eroding the mechanical watch market. And about a decade later, quartz digital watches would become a new, futuristic force in wristwatches. This disruption to the market forced many mechanical watchmakers out of business, while those that survived found themselves moving into the luxury category.

Brands like Seiko, Citizen, Casio, Timex and Armitron became some of the biggest names in watches during this period in the United States. And they still are today, although the invention of cellphones and smartwatches has largely supplanted both the mechanical and quartz watch industries.

However, the interesting side to this is quartz and digital watches have not completely moved into the luxury market segment the way mechanical watches have. Many of the brands known for their quartz watches offer a range of items from everyday watches, all the way to luxury watches.

Conclusion

I think it's interesting that the items that were at one time essential, but now are seen as either obsolete or luxury items have been making something of a comeback. Don't get me know, I have no illusion that they will ever return to the prominence they had during the 18th-20th centuries. But, it seems as time and technology marches along in the 21st century there are more people looking back to the past technology, and picking up on the items that were essential and embracing them again.

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Categories: #Essays Tags: #watches, #wristwatches, #FountainPens, #technology, #time License: Copyright Unattributed. Licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.

17 July 2026

“The Moon” by David Berman, from Actual Air (1999)

The Moon

A web of sewer, pipe, and wire connects each house to the others.

In 206 a dog sleeps by the stove where a small gas leak causes him to have visions; visions that are rooted in nothing but gas.

Next door, a man who has decided to buy a car part by part excitedly unpacks a wheel and an ashtray.

He arranges them every which way. It's really beginning to take shape.

Out the garage window he sees a group of ugly children enter the forest. Their mouths look like coin slots.

A neighbor plays keyboards in a local cover band. Preparing for an engagement at the high school prom,

they pack their equipment in silence.

Last night they played the Police Academy Ball and all the officers slow-danced with target range silhouettes.

This year the theme for the prom is the Tetragrammaton.

A yellow Corsair sails through the disco parking lot and swaying palms presage the lot of young libertines.

Inside the car a young lady wears a corsage of bullet-sized rodents. Her date, the handsome cornerback, stretches his talons over the molded steering wheel.

They park and walk into the lush starlit gardens behind the disco just as the band is striking up.

Their keen eyes and ears twitch. The other couples look beautiful tonight. They stroll around listening to the brilliant conversation. The passionate speeches.

Clouds drift across the silverware. There is red larkspur, blue gum, and ivy. A boy kneels before his date.

And the moon, I forgot to mention the moon.

Wassermelone – 10. Juli

Heute hatte ich einen sehr ruhigen Tag, und nach den gestrigen Emotionen war das sehr erleichternd. Unsere Kollegin Constanze hat eine schöne Wassermelone ins Büro mitgebracht und sie mit selbst angebauter Pfefferminze vorbereitet. Das war eine sehr schöne Entdeckung. Ich mag Wassermelonen sehr, aber sie sind etwas kompliziert fürs Essen vorzubereiten. Deswegen fand ich es eine sehr schöne Idee, die geschnittenen Stücke mit frischer Pfefferminze zu mischen, sodass sie noch einen frischen Geruch bekommen.

Der Sommer ist für mich mit einigen traditionellen Sachen verbunden, unter denen die wichtigsten Schwimmen im See, Eis und Wassermelone sind. Das Meer gehört für mich nicht so selbstverständlich zum Sommer wie genug Wassermelone und Schwimmen im See. Und da Schwimmen für mich hier noch nicht so erreichbar ist, esse ich fast täglich Wassermelone! Wenigstens eines der wichtigen Elemente für einen perfekten Sommer ist damit aktiviert.

Fast jeden Tag kaufe ich hier eine kleine Wassermelone und habe im Hotel mein wunderschönes Ritual: im Sessel sitzen und diesen sommerlichen Prozess genießen! Man muss ständig die Wassermelone schneiden und essen und schneiden ... Die Hände sind nass und klebrig, der Bauch voller Flüssigkeit, und das Beste ist, dass diese Freude sogar im Hotelzimmer erreichbar ist! Einen großen Teller und ein Messer haben wir inzwischen auch. Außer Sandwiches und Wassermelone haben wir hier keine weiteren kulinarischen Besonderheiten.

Da ich heute schon so detailliert auf kulinarische Freuden und Herausforderungen eingegangen bin, muss ich noch hinzufügen, dass für einen echten Litauer das Leben ohne normales Brot sehr schwierig ist! Wir haben in Litauen eine ganz bestimmte Brotsorte, die international nicht unbedingt so verbreitet ist. Unser traditionelles Brot ist dunkel und hat einen starken Geruch und Geschmack. Hier kann man in den Läden natürlich auch Brot finden, auch ganz dunkles, aber es riecht nicht so ... Nicht so litauisch.

Wir haben auch ziemlich hohe Anforderungen nicht nur an dunkles, sondern auch an weißes Brot, das ebenfalls schön und frisch riechen muss. Hier in Berlin finde ich meistens geruchloses Brot, und das ist für mich ungefähr dasselbe, als würde ein Mensch ohne Intonation und Emotionen sprechen.

Also vermisse ich das Brot! Aber noch nicht so stark. Besonders im Sommer, wenn es so viele Wassermelonen gibt.

Übrigens muss ich hinzufügen, dass ich auch viele andere essbare Vorteile hier in Deutschland sehr schön finde und zu schätzen weiß. Erstens ist es hier beliebt, dieses halbgebackene Brot zu verkaufen, das man zu Hause selbst fertigbacken kann, und das finde ich sehr schön. Natürlich nicht für jemanden, der im Hotel lebt, aber grundsätzlich muss man sich darüber wirklich freuen.

Außerdem gibt es hier eine große Auswahl an leckeren vegetarischen Produkten, die in Litauen nicht so vielfältig ist. Angefangen bei allen möglichen vegetarischen Würstchen bis hin zu veganem Käse, Lachs und vielem anderen.

Meine Assistenten sind allerdings sehr klug und können diese vegetarischen Produkte sofort unterscheiden. Mindaugas sagte zum Beispiel, dass eine Sorte Würstchen genauso riecht wie die „echten“ Fleischwürstchen. Aber nicht für Begemotas und Pipiras. Ich versuchte, beide mit meinen Leckereien zu verwöhnen, aber sie wollten sie nicht einmal nehmen. Also sind sie beim Essen wohl eher Mindaugas' Freunde.

Noch eine schöne Sache: Hier in Schöneweide gibt es ein sehr gutes Burger-Café! Oder vielleicht eine Burgerei? Wenn wir eine Wäscherei und eine Bäckerei haben, dann können wir doch auch Burgerei sagen? Auf jeden Fall haben wir am Abend einen Burger mit Halloumi probiert, und der war viel besser als diese geschmacklosen Burger von McDonald's!

Am Wochenende werde ich sehr wenig machen, mich vielleicht nur ein bisschen mit meinem Schreiben beschäftigen und noch mit meinen iMovie-Studien. Und nächste Woche ist unser Büro im Urlaub, aber ich werde trotzdem manchmal hierherkommen, weil das Internet nur hier wirklich gut funktioniert. Im Hotel haben wir damit auch einige Herausforderungen.

Aber dort, wo es gute Burger, eine gute Eismanufaktur und noch dazu funktionierendes Internet gibt, kann ich auch lernen und arbeiten!

You fan my fire. You have access to my love and passion. You flaunt me in front of your peers. You benefit and feed off my energy. You love the idea of me. But when it counts, you bail out. You run away. You don’t have the capacity to match my depth. I find myself frustrated and unfulfilled. A relationship with you is transactional. I look back. It has always been that way.

It’s been a while since I’ve written something of substance I feel like so I guess today is that day. I feel like I’m more and more coming towards the conclusion that I am not really interested in K In the way that I would hope I would be for a partner and I know that my brain can be irrational and I’m kind of feeling a little bit low right now and so I’m not rushing to anything and I’m waiting for my therapy session to talk friends and such, but I feel like she hasn’t even done anything to egregiously wrong, but there’s just enough things that I realize it isn’t really what I’m looking for. I really dislike the fact that I just am not attracted to her in the way that I thought I was if I’m being honest. We went to the waterpark for our first day and I just didn’t really find myself attracted to her. I also thought she was a more confident person on first impression and more extroverted, but as I got to know her a little bit more, I recognize from the things that she said how she does still struggle with insecurities, and generally isn’t that extroverted or social. And I recognize that in my mind it more drifts towards Oh. I can fix that rather than it be something where I feel like wow that’s like admirable and I would like to be more like that. I also feel like she heavily depends on the friend group that she has, and that’s kind of it. She’s also pretty introverted according to her and doesn’t feel like that up with the kind of person that is best for me. I also feel like she is trying hard to get me to like her, which is nice, but at the same time it feels like it’s almost like she feels like I’m out of her league. And I kind of feel that way in someway. And I feel like myself I am settling for someone that is a really bad sign, enough for me to seriously reconsider everything. Especially this early on. I know that I’m also just not really feeling good so everything would be great, but I find myself almost avoiding her texts or dreading them. I find myself thinking about Moore and More how I can reject her or let her down easily with the minimal amount of pain to her. And I find more and more reasons to call it off rather than to continue. I think I will go on a second date, but I really don’t know if I see this as a relationship.

It sucks both because I feel bad for her, because I think she is really cool and personality wise. I think we get along pretty well, but I just can’t help myself from not really feeling attracted to her or being interested in her in that way. And I wish I could, but at the same time I still feel like I’m settling, and I feel like it would be one of those things where I would feel like I am punching down in someway. I just feel like if I have the option to swap lives with her I would never make that choice. And I feel like the fact that I don’t even consider that for a second makes me concerned. And I feel like a shitty person, even though I know that I’m kind of writing this to no one, but it really does feel like I am out of her league. I hate how much I’m stating that, but I guess it’s because I feel like I haven’t yet found the words to convey it in a way that I feel happy with. And I feel really vain and shallow, but I just don’t find myself interested in her, and it feels more like she is someone who wouldn’t really have a separate life aside for me that I would find fascinating. I feel like she meets a lot of the criteria for some of the basics I’m looking for, like kindness, a level of independence, and humor to some extent. But when I think about someone coming along in the future, that really does line up with a lot of the things that I want rather than the necessities, I feel like I would want to be with them rather than my existing partner if I decided to date K. And that is fucked up and not the kind of situation I would want to be in, and the fact that I don’t feel like K is that person to begin with is enough of an indication that I should listen to that. I still want to at least go in a second date and talk with my therapist, of course, but I feel like I’m more and more making up my mind.

Freundinnen & Freunde der Weisheit! Entscheidungen zu treffen ist nicht immer einfach. Oft stellt sich im Nachhinein heraus, dass wir uns geirrt haben. Solche eigenen Fehlentscheidungen nehmen wir jedoch weniger schlimm wahr als solche, die wir aufgrund schlechter Ratschläge von aussen treffen. Wie können wir also „besser” entscheiden?

Eine Studie der Cornell University zeigt, dass Menschen sich tendenziell schlechter fühlen, wenn sie aufgrund von Ratschlägen falsche Entscheidungen treffen, als wenn sie auf eigene Faust eine schlechte Wahl treffen. Die Forscher wollten herausfinden, ob Menschen mehr Reue empfinden, wenn sie falsche Entscheidungen aufgrund externer Ratschläge treffen, oder ob sie sich bei eigenen Fehlentscheidungen eher mit Pech abfinden. Das Ergebnis: Wer auf seinen eigenen Instinkt hört, fühlt sich langfristig besser – selbst wenn die Entscheidung nicht zum gewünschten Ergebnis führt.

Die Studie ergab, dass Menschen, die nach einem schlechten Rat eine ungünstige Entscheidung trafen, häufiger Reue empfanden, während diejenigen, die ohne äusseren Einfluss falsch entschieden, dies eher auf Zufall oder Pech zurückführten. Die Forscher betonen, dass es wichtig sei, den eigenen Überzeugungen zu folgen und Ratschläge kritisch zu hinterfragen. Viele Menschen nehmen an, dass ein Rat von aussen die Verantwortung mindert – tatsächlich fühlen sie sich aber schlechter, wenn sie sich gegen ihr eigenes Bauchgefühl entscheiden.

Die Autoren empfehlen eine dreiteilige Strategie für bessere Entscheidungen: Erstens sollte man die eigene Kompetenz einschätzen und überlegen, ob man in einem bestimmten Bereich über fundiertes Wissen verfügt. Zweitens ist es entscheidend, zu prüfen, ob der Rat von einer kompetenten und gut informierten Person stammt, die die eigene Situation richtig versteht. Drittens sollte man den Wert der Entscheidung selbst hinterfragen – wenn es um Kleinigkeiten geht, lohnt sich ein intensives Abwägen oft nicht. Letztlich stärkt es die eigene Zufriedenheit, die Verantwortung für Entscheidungen selbst zu übernehmen und dabei auf die eigene Intuition zu vertrauen.

Denkanstoss zum Wochenbeginn

„Wer nur redet, bringt sich um das grosse Vergnügen, zu schweigen.“ – W. Somersett Maugham (1874–1965)

ProductivityPorn-Tipp der Woche: Produktives Prokrastinieren

Wenn Du schon prokrastinierst, dann sinnvoll! Nutze diese Zeit für kleinere, weniger anspruchsvolle Aufgaben, anstatt ziellos durch Social Media zu scrollen.

Aus dem Archiv: Die radikale Tugend der Gelassenheit

Kaum ist das Handy entsperrt, prasseln sie auf uns ein: Nachrichten, Meinungen, Bilder, Konflikte. Was als kurzer Blick auf die Uhr begann, endet oft in einem rastlosen Zappen durch Krisen, Konflikte und Konsum. Zwischen Schlagzeilen, Mitteilungen und algorithmisch kuratierten Ablenkungen verliere ich leicht das Gefühl für das, was mir wirklich wichtig ist. Der Tag beginnt im Reizmodus – und nicht selten bleibt er dort. In solchen Momenten spüre ich, wie weit ich von dem entfernt bin, was ich eigentlich suche: einen ruhigen, klaren Blick – kurz: Gelassenheit. Doch was heisst das eigentlich? Und wie kann man sie finden, ohne sich in Gleichgültigkeit zu verlieren?

weiterlesen …

Vielen Dank, dass Du Dir die Zeit genommen hast, diesen Newsletter zu lesen. Ich hoffe, die Inhalte konnten Dich inspirieren und Dir wertvolle Impulse für Dein (digitales) Leben geben. Bleib neugierig und hinterfrage, was Dir begegnet!

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EpicMind – Weisheiten für das digitale Leben „EpicMind“ (kurz für „Epicurean Mindset“) ist mein Blog und Newsletter, der sich den Themen Lernen, Produktivität, Selbstmanagement und Technologie widmet – alles gewürzt mit einer Prise Philosophie.

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Disclaimer Teile dieses Texts wurden mit Deepl Write (Korrektorat und Lektorat) überarbeitet. Für die Recherche in den erwähnten Werken/Quellen und in meinen Notizen wurde NotebookLM von Google verwendet. Das Artikel-Bild wurde mit ChatGPT erstellt und anschliessend nachbearbeitet.

Topic #Newsletter