PS C:\> tar -xf Hit_A_New_Low_v1.zip
Application_Install.exe
I woke up with a loose plan and the day blew right past it in the best way. Farmers market, Bigfoot Festival, REI, a psychedelic rock show, a sunset. That was the plan. However, liminality was there again, and it had more unexpected gold inside it.
That all happened, kind of. What actually happened was an old friend appeared, a hug from someone who feels like sunshine, a painting I bought myself that looks more like my insides than my own reflection does, a poster of suffering finally hitting the curb, a new photographer friend who shoots the exact same weird multiple exposures I do, mountain bikes catching air, ice cream, and a dance on an empty pier to a song called Low that was anything but.
That is the application. The rest is the source code.
Sunsets are fascinating because each is unique, and completely unpredictable.
A metaphor of liminality you can see with your own eyes, 365 times a year.
Source_Code.txt
The open-source code below is free, for you to analyze, modify, and build your own application with.
> an old friend and a sparkling ball of joy: unplanned_connections.log
The Bass Boss, Liquid Stranger, is one of my favorites. Weird as shit. He is who I danced to in the WHO-KAYOTE video featuring his song “Who.” Liquid Stranger songs are impossible for me not to dance to.
Tonight I recorded a dance on the pier after a wonderfully unpredicted day. I ran into a friend at the farmers market I met years ago doing improv. He runs a men’s group I recently found and understands the healing journey well. A stellar human being and we had a wonderful chat. He introduced me to a delightful woman with a cute dog that I have a feeling I am going to run into again. I definitely didn’t anticipate running into him at the market.
Then I ran into my favorite sparkling bundle of joy friend who runs a booth there, complete with a warm hug and smiles, like always. I love seeing her, and I always feel full of glitter inside afterwards. We run into each other all the time. Its the craziest and bestest thing, and completely unpredictable.
On my way back to my car, a different booth caught my eye. A booth I somehow walked right past on my way in. The artist Sierra James (siearts.com) has this painting that I have seen for well over a year at the market, and saw it in an art gallery a month ago. It’s captivated my heart ever since I first saw it. In my entire life, I have never bought a real painting from a real artist. Today, I had cash left over from my Operation Unmasked Wonder road trip, and I bought it. It makes me incredibly happy. And will forever every time I look at it.
> the painting that looks like my insides: self_portrait.png
I told my daughter about it, in a text that said:
I bought myself a treat at the farmers market today. I have been eyeballing this for well over a year. I had a wad of cash I brought on my road trip that I didn’t spend. So $120 later, I walked home with something that will forever make me feel at peace and happy. A good investment.
It’s replaced the $5 poster someone from my past gave me, that I had to get framed at my own expense. The person who “wished I was here” but never visited me and eventually ghosted me. Every time I looked at that poster it made me feel awful inside. Per the decision making matrix I developed, I am removing shit that increases my suffering. It is now gone.
Said poster of suffering is on the curb waiting for its new home, where it will actually bring someone joy.
The beautiful woman in the painting is free. Smiling. Swimming through the water. Pure vibrant radiating feminine energy.
This painting I bought today is how I feel inside me. I’m her underneath all this masculinity costume and mask I wear (sometimes I feel aligned with masculinity and wear it willingly and authentically, other times not). Non-binary is the label our world uses. I’m autistic, I don’t like social binaries, especially around gender identity. I prefer to just say, “I’m me.”
> bigfoot and a fellow multiple exposure weirdo: parallel_lines.raw
Then I went to Maple Falls for the Bigfoot Festival and randomly met a guy who is also a photographer, and twenty minutes later we had exchanged contact information. Found out he does multiple exposure work, and when I showed him some of my flipped multiple exposures he lit up in excitement because he does the same thing in his. In our conversation, the parallels in our styles of photography, and even our gear, was unbelievable. I didn’t anticipate this new connection appearing out of thin air. Here it is, and I am going to explore the hell out of it.
All friends start as strangers. Having never learned to not talk to strangers, I keep making new friends. LOL.
> photos i didn't plan on taking: unplanned_capture.jpg
On the way home, I hit REI for some bouldering gear. Then I went to Trackside to check out their Psychedelic Rock festival. As I was walking from the parking lot to the festival, I passed by the pump track and saw people catching air off the ramps. I had my little Ricoh GRIIIX camera with me and took a photo. And another. And another. An hour later I had some really amazing photos. I didn’t anticipate capturing any of these photos today.
I realized I didn’t need to pay $25 to go into the festival because I could hear the music just fine outside the low fence. Instead I grabbed some ice cream, also not planned. After that I participated in the large kindness project I am a part of, and eventually went back to my car and went home.
> nobody was on the pier so i danced: get_low.mp4
After I got home, I grabbed my backpack and went to the pier for sunset. I did plan this. It was a stunning sunset tonight and made for some great photos.
One of one.
1/1=1=100%.
Math.
I had my trusty earbuds in and was jamming out to music and a favorite song came on. Low. By Liquid Stranger. I found myself moving. And by the end of it, there was nobody on the pier. And I set up my 360 camera, and recorded a proper dance to the song. I had a blast. I didn’t anticipate recording a dance today.
> predictably unpredictable, again: liminal_space.log
Last night, when I went to bed after writing my July liminality blog, I had a general idea of what today would be. I would wake up. Go to the farmers market. Go to the Bigfoot Festival in Maple Falls. Go to REI and get some climbing gear. Go to the psychedelic rock festival. And catch a sunset. While all of that did actually happen, so many other unanticipated and unexpected things also happened because I let my mind be open to all possibilities and not locked into the exact day I envisioned.
I am ending my day with a deepened connection with an old improv friend, hugs from my favorite sparkling ball of joy friend, a painting that brings me immense happiness and reflects an inner part of me, a new photography friend, climbing shoes for a hobby I didn’t even know I would be exploring a week ago, some wildly different photography of people jumping mountain bikes at the pump track, $25 still in my pocket that I didn’t pay to listen to music inside an alcohol centric venue that I could hear just fine outside of it, ice cream in my belly, and a new happy dance recorded at the pier.
Breathtaking.
And today is the first day of August, with 29 more to go. And this is how it’s already gone. Predictably unpredictable, with unexpected amazing things filling in all the spaces that I didn’t even know existed. Venturing into the liminality and being open minded to things I never would have thought would happen continues to pay off time and time again. I can’t wait to see what’s waiting tomorrow. A day that I have no plans or idea what I am going to do with. I wonder what new low I will hit tomorrow.
We shall find out. 🥰
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