Made this awhile ago but seemed fitting for today.

I know I’m a middle aged man now because anytime I can’t sleep I watch WW2 documentaries lol 😂

I work in the educational system in Germany but with older kids like 16+ and I’m always shocked how dependent they are. They are like 19years old and ask me where to write down their task and if it’s okay to use squared paper instead of lined paper. And I’m always like “wtf, I don’t care, don’t even think about that irrelevant stuff”. It’s so sad to see that they just learn random things because teachers tell them to and they need to pass the exams. Actually, the curriculum sounds pretty good in Germany - in theory. Put practically, it’s a desaster. I teach languages and even though most of my classes have a centralized final exam to get their “school leaving qualification”which means I need to prepare them for this exam (so following a specific pattern for their text analysis for example) I always try my best to teach them content-related stuff they’ll need, e.g. our monetary system, current political decisions, critical thinking when looking at charts or reading newspaper articles even though this isn’t given specifically in the curriculum. But as I mentioned, the curriculum sounds great but everything in there is so vaguely phrased that you can basically do anything with them. Unfortunately, a lot of teachers stick to the topics that are given in the school books which is the common propaganda stuff you come across everywhere. I’ve never used text books because most of them are just rubbish.

It is inculcated from a very young age through government indoctrination centers: do as you are told, trust the experts, smart people can memorize lots of “facts” and regurgitate them on command, cooperation is the highest virtue, men and women are interchangeable, the government cares for you, taxes are so we can have nice roads, etc. Most can not break away because it requires rebuilding their entire worldview.

For those not Xitter, Craig Wright lost his appeal against me where he received a £1 judgement for putting forward wholly dishonest and false evidence.

After +4 years, this is all coming to a close.

Breath!

Every year, I spend 1-2 months living in Egypt. This is because my husband is originally from Egypt, his family is much larger than mine, and so while our economic base is in the US, our social base is actually in Egypt. I thus became multinational many years ago.

However, my husband spends 3-4 months each year in Egypt, while I only spend 1-2 months there. So, there are 1-2 months where I’m in the US alone. The reason I choose to do this is to look after the household and business, and because I’m not as productive in Egypt (inconsistent internet, less optimal workstation, way more social pressures, and so forth).

In some ways, we find that spending some time apart strengthens our relationship and lets us focus on our separate things for part of the year. And when we meet after 1-2 months, it’s such a great reunion. We find ourselves wanting to catch up on so much and spend extra time together. But also, even though in some ways I look forward to having time alone and indeed get a lot done during that time, I immediately regret it once I am alone. I find myself constantly looking forward to going to Egypt, as I am now. During these periods, I end up posting more on social media, either constructively or non-constructively, in what tends to be a replacement for diminished in-person contact.

This seems to be amplified by my work situation. When I was an engineer, I worked with colleagues in person each day, but now that I work from home, my colleagues are virtual and I meet them in person only at major events. So, this relatively brief window each year of being in a different place than my husband tends to be oddly monk-like, with me at home alone 24 hours per day, working and living and doing whatever I do. I think one of my future goals will be to increase my deliberate effort at spending time with local friends, especially during this part of the year.

Anyway, I’m doing a series of “real thoughts” uniquely on Nostr, and this is the first one.

Conclusion: Social circles are (obviously) a very important thing, including for workaholics and introverts like myself. Social circles affect us in various ways, and having gone through many cycles, I have become increasingly aware of the changes that take place during these seasonal cycles of being close to others vs far from others.

But we survived, and the control structure is now bare to see for everyone with a critical mind. gm btw.

I’m wondering if CashApp (or their banking payment) is insolvent or involved in Chokepoint 2.0 fuckery. I’m unable to cash-out for weeks now. Their so-called tech support is clearly being intentionally opaque and overtly unwilling to help.

“Not you keys, not your coins” also applies to CashApp, Strike, etc., not just exchanges!