Saturday 12 July 2003

Pic of the day: Not exactly crowded. (Picture from real life. Yes, there is one. Although in this case mostly plant life.)

In real life

In real life, I did not go buy groceries today. There was two reasons for this: One, my right foot hurts. It hurts under the sole, where I walk. So I wanted to give it some rest, unless I absolutely must move about. Two, my stomach hurts too. Actually I am not absolutely sure it is the stomach, it could be the upper part of the large intestine. That would fit with the behavior of said intestine the last week or so; it seems unhappy. But it just might be the stomach too, for I am not hungry. This is a rare thing to last for so long a time. I am not likely to starve to death for the next few days though ... while I'm not obese, in real life I am in the upper part of average, right on the borderline to overweight.

In real life, the sun was shining outside the Chaos Node. There are a few clouds, and it has happened that the sun has been hidden for a little while. But mostly, it beat down on the land with brightness and heat. I certainly would not mind moving about outdoors on a day like today. But you take what you get. This is the day I have been given to live, this time.

In real life, I washed the floor a little today. Not very thoroughly, just enough to clear out the breeding ground for dust bunnies. I don't want them, but I don't panic at the sight of dust either. It must have been a while since last time ... the bucket of water was fairly dark when I finished. I guess a little extra humidity doesn't hurt either. After all, I subscribe to the theory that our species was first adapted to life at the beach. In real life, there is a beach less than half an hour's walk from here. But today is not the day to visit it. Let the foot get a chance to repair itself.

In real life, I spent part of the day almost naked. It's not like anyone is looking anyway. And I don't have air conditioning – this is Norway after all, and the days are few when we cannot cool down naturally. I had a window partly open ... it opens toward the forest, there is not a house in sight for such a distance that their windows are just small black dots; humans are not visible without extra optics. And I doubt anyone on their side would point their telescope my way ... In real life, I am not such a star.

***

In real life, I am all alone here. Just like almost all Saturdays. (Last Saturday my brother and his family was here for a while.) But somehow, I don't feel alone. And I'm not just talking about the muses in my head; actually they have been pretty quiet recently. I'm not even talking just about God, although that is certainly a comforting thought too. But humans crave some human company too. Just a little, in my case. And I have that right here. The slim cable right here is my electronic AORTA – always online real-time access – filled with the beat of countless hearts like my own. The friendships I have made online ... some of them fleeting, superficial. Others that have become part of my life as much as my family, if not more these days.

You can tell me that only the empty chairs are real. That only the silence is real. But in real life, I have to blink back tears of gratitude when thinking about some of the friends I have met in this strange new spirit world. In the end, what is the real life ... the body or the soul?