PP #21: A Tribe Member Exits; Finding Calm in a Turbulent World
Project: Pioneer #21, March 10, 2024 Sunday 11am
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Project: Pioneer is the live reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle, just at the start of winter. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality/afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. Audio podcast at this link, Apple, and Spotify)
In this journal post:
Our Current Status and Updates
Buddhism: Finding Calm in a Turbulent World
What’s Next?
Current Status/Updates
Okie, let’s get to the Project: Pioneer tea. Giavana, Pia and I came back from some errands in town the other day and saw a big ole’ empty site where the new couple were—the biker dude on the other side of old Elmer with the big loud truck and big loud dogs. Maybe they’d had enough, this full-time RV life isn’t for everyone. I wonder if Elmer had anything to do with that.
The new lady on the other end is settled into her massive rig, complete with a drop-down back deck and sliding patio door! That’s pretty cool. We’re told she works at Chewy, and she has a pack of yappy dogs. The couple between us and her also have a few yappy dogs. So, a few times a day, the loud truck dude would fire up, and it would set off all the dogs. Or, the dogs would all set each other off randomly, perhaps to annoy the humans. It’s been kind of like living in a pet store. Great for security, though! Little Pia doesn’t take the bait, she’s a very good, quiet girl, unless she perceives a presence in the threat vector.
In post #19, we described how we chose our new site for the spring and summer. The only info we didn’t have, which is quite topical lately, is who will our neighbors be? The sites in that wooded area are more spread out, but others will be in fairly close proximity. With all the ruckus lately, it’s been top of mind. We checked in with management and were happy to hear the neighbors on both sides are weekender-only type folks. Hopefully not obnoxiously loud ones!
Last Sunday was beautiful, way up into the 60sF. We went for a nice long walk by the pond and lake and bought groceries for a wonderful home-cooked meal. Our fellow pioneers were all outside, inspecting their rigs, making a few preparatory steps for the spring migration to the woodlands.
We’re hoping to build a temporary deck or porch to enjoy, and Pia will have her large dog run. The temps look great so far through March, so I’m psyched. Although, this morning Giavana and I are both stumbling around trying to deal with the overnight daylight savings time change. This will require a nice Sunday nap :-) But hey, another hour of sunlight is good for the soul.
Lastly, on the health front—since I had the newer, more accurate high-tech heart monitor jammed in (see last post), I’m getting more detailed info. Like, a call from a nurse at the electrocardio team, who sounded a bit panicked. Let me transcribe for you, with dramatic effect, as I am wont to do (Giavana is getting a bit tired of my drama in this matter—perhaps I can give the next State of the Union rebuttal from our sparse kitchen?).
Ring, ring…
Nurse: “Hello! Mr DeCarlo? Oh, thank God you’re still with us!”
Me: “Whassup?”
Nurse: “Your device transmitted four heart stoppages last night, up to 8 seconds each, the first at 8:45pm. Were you awake then?”
Me: “Yeah, I was watching Cops.” (Will Ferrell/John C Reilly Step Brothers reference)
The electrocardio doc is holding fast on the pacemaker, waiting for me to pass out while driving, apparently. We also went to see the actual cardiac surgeon, who, equipped with this info, said quite forcefully (direct quote this time, no drama!) said, “Jesus Christ dude, your heart is stopping for 8-9 seconds, get the goddamn pacemaker!” He is a pretty laid back but dramatic and funny guy.
So, it won’t be long I guess. There are some new high-tech pacemakers that don’t require jamming probes into you, and can be removed when their batteries die. Plus, it will keep Bill Gates and George Soros in the loop as to our location. Maybe they’ll Venmo us some cash when they see we’re at an expensive restaurant.
Lastly (for real this time…), Giavana and I are going on a nice getaway this week, related to our financial business. Airports and all, ugh. With the above news, we’ll be selling the business, which I very much look forward to. Every major stressor removed is a good thing for me and my ticker. It’s time. I’m ready. We’re also planning a trip to scope things out in Canada, because the direction this country is headed in seems to get worse every day. Part of prepping is to establish an escape plan if you can’t stay put.
Free subscribers will continue to get all the updates on prepping, spirituality/afterlife, politics, RV living, and personal finance. Now that I’ve opened the Pandora’s Box in the more personal area, I’ll try to post a weekly (or so) update in that area for paid subscribers.
Buddhism: Finding Calm in a Turbulent World
Something bad happened recently, and I poured my heart out to the inner circle here in the My Demon Returns, My Mea Culpa post. It’s been rough for me, and yesterday was very hard. Recent stress led up to that, so I need to step back and do some post-mortem analysis to figure out how to lower the stress, and how to deal with it, because stress is a part of life. There is no escaping it.
In fact, that’s a core concept of Buddhism. We often seek and strive for a perfect life without problems, but that’s unrealistic. Start by giving up that nonsense. Build countermeasures, as we outline in our prepping posts. Continue by teaching yourself how to better deal with bad things. Go further by removing any stressors you can.
I’ve been trying, but it’s hard to reprogram a brain this old. It takes work to undo old habits and build new ones. There are victories and setbacks along the way. For example, one night last week we ordered take-out. I ran out in some miserable weather to pick up the food, stressed because I had to swerve wildly to avoid a squirrel that ran out in front of me in the dark and rain, and had to wait for the food when it should have been ready. I got it home, struggled to get inside and keep everything dry with my hands full. Then I got everything ready because Giavana was busy. I opened her bag and saw they had put the wrong sauce on Giavana’s food. She likes vodka sauce—the orange stuff. Everything had built to a crescendo by then, and I lost control and hollered out the f-bomb. Turns out, Giavana was on a work call, and was unmuted. Sentence: another day in the dog house.
Mindfulness teaches us to be present in the moment without judgement and keep things in perspective. Old Elmer thought we were loud until the biker dude showed up on the other side of him. Think about what you have to be thankful for when bad things happen, and understand bad things are a part of life. They may be part of the test.
I’ve worked on mindfulness but need more than that. My afterlife revelations help considerably, but I still need to be the best person I can to get there. Even if you don’t believe any of that, it’s important to realize you can fool everyone else, but you can’t escape who you are. You always know exactly who you are, and if that’s not a good person, it will affect you in ways you don’t even realize.
For example, a recent errand brought me close to our old apartment complex. I thought about swinging by and raiding the doggie poop box stations for some “free” poop bags, as I was almost out. I quite subjectively felt entitled, as we’d paid a gazillion dollars in rent over the two years we lived there. But, is that right? However minor, it’s stealing. I have no right. We own a business, I wouldn’t like people stealing from me just because they were past customers. Most importantly, in the most imperceptible way, I’d feel bad about myself. A few bucks for a new stash of poop bags is an incredible value when self-esteem comes with it.
Which brings me to Buddhism, at least at its core. It’s not a religion. It’s a way of thinking, a way of living. Mindfulness is actually a part of it. You don’t have to wear funny clothes, burn incense, ring bells, or even meditate to follow the basic principles. The core of it is:
To be “awake,” meaning aware of the realities of life, the good and the bad (or…woke, ha! I can never figure out why that’s used as a slur—as opposed to what, being asleep?)
Money, celebrity, and power, can’t bring us lasting happiness and most people are unlikely to achieve those things anyway, so we’re setting ourselves up for unnecessary suffering by chasing after them. Greed is the lust to want to get more of what we want, whenever possible, at whatever cost to others. Material things are nice, but the true internal happiness we seek doesn’t come from them. Don’t some of the wealthiest people we see appear to be always angry, hateful, and/or miserable?
Ignorance prevents us from seeing things as they really are. So does fear.
Everything we stress about—jobs, money, ourselves, are only here for an instant and will pass out of existence forever. All that likely lives on is our soul, our eternal spirit, so prioritize your treatment of it.
Bad things will happen—tailgaters, traffic tickets, sickness, incorrect food orders. Acknowledge that, don’t be surprised. Sure, it can be upsetting (human nature, how we’re wired). No problem there. It’s what you do when upset by it that’s the problem! I.e. shouting the f-bomb when your spouse is on the phone with their manager. Now you have two pains—the original one, and the one from how you reacted. Be in the moment. It will pass. Others are experiencing the same thing, you aren’t alone. Something good will happen to follow.
Buddhism is about wisdom, ethical conduct, and discipline. I’m working on that last part. I quit drinking completely. That will help. Now I’m trying to not use trashy language or over-react angrily when bad things happen.
Buddhism doesn’t have commandments you need to follow or you’ll go to hell, or anything like that. It does have a few precepts, or basic guidelines to try to follow:
Abstain from taking life unnecessarily
Abstain from taking what you are not given
Abstain from sexual misconduct
Abstain from bad or hurtful communication
Abstain from intoxicants that cloud the mind and reality
Two short, great books I recommend are No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners and Buddhism Plain and Simple.
What’s Next?
Next week I’ll report back on our business trip. I’m queueing up a post on the financial side of prepping. We’re also planning a trip to Canada to scope things out. I’ll write about the current attempts to transform America into a Christo-fascist theocracy. Get your red robes and white hoods ready, ladies. These don’t end well for anyone.
I’ll start creating more personal posts for the paid/foundation subscribers, starting with follow-ups to my disaster from a few weeks ago and how things are transpiring with that debacle in my life. So, paid and foundation subscribers, keep a look-out for that one early this week.
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We move through the world in a narrow groove, preoccupied with the petty things we see and hear, brooding over our prejudices, passing by the joys of life without even knowing that we have missed anything. Never for a moment do we taste the heady wine of freedom. We are as truly imprisoned as if we lay at the bottom of a dungeon, heaped with chains.
— Yang Chu, the fourth century B.C.E. Chinese philosopher
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