I woke up with the feeling that I was in a spaceship on my way to another galaxy. Flashes of Bruce Dern in Silent Running, which I watched on German TV when I was a teenager, and Dr. David Bowman in A Space Odyssey, jogging around a centrifugal device, which created artificial gravity on the Discovery One spacecraft.
This year I spent more time in my house and studio than ever before. Very early in the morning I leave the house to walk through mostly empty streets – it’s not a big step to imagine that the streets that I know so well could be a projection and that I am actually walking along a narrow path around the circumference of a ship. The bumps in the road, that not only look like bumps but also feel like bumps, are very well engineered. They make this a better exercise for the body because I have to take them into account and step over or around them… eye-to-feet-coordination. I usually wear headphones and listen to music or a podcast or just to binaural beats. The headphones remove the noise of traffic and make my world quiet.
I have several rituals that mark the time. There is my daily meditation, for example, and the daily afternoon celebration that consists of taking an espresso and a small madeleine with my co-pilot, sometimes combined wih a game of cards, usually at 1530 and after a yoga session. Yes, I learned how to make really good madeleines a few months ago. There is the guitar practice and some daily reading. There is the weekly making of bread…
I realize that I could be good at interstellar travel. I am content on this ship, content with my morning walk, and the little things that fill the day.
Now you are in my world!
I saw “2001 A Space Odyssey” when I was a child. It affected me deeply. Of course, I loved the music but I loved the whole idea. That may be mainly why I worked for NASA. Funny, many NASA folks display the “2001” poster in their Offices. One guy covered his office door with it. NASA people also love STAR TREK.
I also adored STAR TREK, especially the original Crew. Maybe because I was so young when I first saw them. I have a large print of a drawing of Spock and Captain Kirk up in my office here at home! Once I saw William Shatner at the MGM Commissary. He was sitting alone reading a book. I almost got up the nerve to speak to him, then chickened out. He was concentrating so on his book.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/oct/18/star-trek-nichelle-nichols-martin-luther-king-trekker
That’s a nice article about Lieutenant Uhura who almost quit her role, but Dr. King talked her into staying.
I watched Star Trek and Kung Fu in the Sixties, dubbed into German, on my grandparents’ black and white TV. It’s why I am in Santa Fe now. Well, that plus Jimmy Carter. Americans have no idea how much JC changed the perception of the USA.
Oh yes. I loved Kung Fu. I saw David Carradine in the MGM Commissary, too. He was at the next table, staring a hole in my face. He really seemed to BE Caine. I was so shy I got up and left instead of going over to say hello. Darn me! But he was so focused on me, I felt a bit frightened.
I would love to see Star Trek in German. Wow!
Thank you, Ottmar. I enjoyed this well-written, very interesting article.
tks for the binaural beats link.