It's not just the right time twice a day, it's my wife Michelle's birthday. She's 29 years old at 7 am this morning. That's really 29 as opposed to fictional 29 for the next decade. It's hard to believe we've known each other for almost four years already. Each moment I share with her is a blessing that I dare not take for granted. Recognizing her birthday has given me time to reflect on the flow of time, and the role it plays as a constant partner in our lives.
Time InVariant Systems
With weeks whipping by the way they're apt to do, I'm concerned about finding time to appreciate each moment, day, month or year. One obvious signal of time marching on is seasonal change. This time of year colder days force me to walk indoors and swap into pants from shorts as necessary. November's symbol in my mind is a container of a single long weekend with a big meal (Thanksgiving) followed by Michelle's birthday. The rest of the month is made up of discrete time chunks of focused work, cathartic walking and writing, and relaxing with family and friends.
Given the perspective of a long time engineer who's horribly curious and insatiably fascinated with fantasy, I can't resist imagining life as one incredible high dimensional simulation. Jumping backwards into memories reveals history, all the places I've been and people I've interacted with. Stopping at noteworthy events that shape who I am reinforces my decision making process, and what I hold sacred. Yet memories are fickle hints of ethereal substance and I'm apt to over exaggerate momentary impact. Hindsight differentiates the distractive faux emergencies from decisive actions. Running the clock forward reveals numerous potential futures, many benign yet some are sinister. The trick is deciphering which actions lead to which flavor of future for my loved ones, myself and friends.
The Grand Simulation is Ubiquitous
Every social event is experienced not only by ourselves, but uniquely by all people present. Each ego observer has their own high dimensional simulation of the world around them, painting a different picture of past, present and future. Absolute truth is little more than a mathematical construct. Shared experiences converge on reality through iterative observations, closest approaches, and internal individual reality models.