Hello, friends! I had to take a day off from posting due to a change in my routine while I sent a manuscript through my whole day and left me with little energy to show for it at the end. One of those changes was needing to go into the office for my day job. I work on websites, which means I am locked in to a computer all day long. That also means I can do the work from anywhere with a stable internet connection, such as my home office. I’m a bit curmudgeonly about going in, because I have everything set up perfectly at home to satisfy all my weird neurodivergent requirements.

For one, I usually work with the lights off. Not in the dark - during the day, I’ll open the curtains to let in some natural light. I cannot stand the glare of fluorescent tube lights in your eyes all day long. My chair is just right, my monitors are situated optimally, and I’ve got a nice, soft foot cushion to prop my feet up on. I also have a space heater to keep my legs warm if the air conditioning makes the ambient room air a little chilly.

I feel a little off when any one of these things is changed; when they all are at once, it directly hurts my productivity. As a cog in the capitalist machine, it’s my civic duty not to allow that to happen. So I always skip the meetings when they’re not mandatory — no offense to anyone, but it’s time better spent at home for me. Not to mention they’ve known I’m vegan for a while, but still don’t offer to make accommodations. That’s their choice — but it sends a certain message.

It gets harder and harder to carry water for capitalism as I learn more and more about its negative consequences. We’ve been conditioned to feel like it offers us some type of freedom, but the reality is it just means the freedom to give all your money to an evil corporation of your choosing. The thing is, I don’t have much faith in communism becoming anything but an equally corrupt institution here in America. Democratic socialism seems to be the closest thing I’ve found to a middle ground, but I’m admittedly not as well-read on it as I’d like to be.

Next year, my wife Amber and I will turn 40. I think I’d like to celebrate by visiting the Monroe Institute. If you haven’t heard of it, the simplest way to explain it is a place devoted to facilitating your exploration of higher states of consciousness. The founder, Bob Monroe, began having out-of-body experiences which in time he learned to control by developing a method for it. He’s written three books on the subject, most famously Journeys Out of the Body. In the course of researching Bob, I learned we share the same birthday: October 30. If that’s not a sign of some sort I don’t know what would be! That concludes another page. Thanks for reading. Be sure to like my post and subscribe!

— Jared Caraway