Ira's Interdimensional Push On The Digressive Renouncement of Chasing What Doesn't Exist #1

Hello again world, Today I start the Interdimensional Push sub-series of the Biweekly Examiner to document the five week trip I am on in Europe right now and beyond when I move to Zeist, NL on September 1st. My previous biweekly updates have always been for my tours around the states and globe but now I realize that I can benefit just as much from reflecting on and sharing my day-to-day life, especially as juicy topics abound with an international move, incoming baby, and my ongoing navigation of the monotony of adulthood. I hope this blog keeps me connected to people of the past, present, and future and can serve as some kind of inspiration to live reflectively, intentionally, adventurously, and most of all lovingly. Without further ado, the top three ways that I found myself chasing what does not exist these last two weeks were: <ol> <li>Moving to the Sky Lagoon: On July 4th of all days I moved into my new place in Zeist with Talja. It’s on the 13th floor with pretty killer views of the forest north and south of us (pictures <a href = https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ITRdEr6aNzY0yKCHKxEeI6b85jU1vMKQ?usp=drive_link, target = "_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>). Many hands made light work as we had the kind assistance of two of Talja’s closest friends, an outgoing roommate, and the ex-girlfriend of one of the friends of all people. The highpoint of the move and now the apartment was and is without a doubt the couch, which we got for 40 euro after a nice 10 euro discount because we were a young couple, had to go up the stairs because it was too big for the elevator, and now frames the big ass window facing south and not a TV!!!!! Happy birthday America, I’ll be back when there’s more decentralized power.</li> <li>Loops and loops of loops of blues in the Amsterdam coffee shop: The one and only very lovely Ms. Natalie Rynczak gets the distinct honor of being the first to visit me out here, although she really came with her family and was staying with her pals in Amsterdam but be that as it will be. We took some of the nice tourist loops around Amsterdam coming dangerously close to me whipping out my umbrella to mitigate the sun as I hadn’t perfected my go-bag with a bandana yet. We, with her friend Tom, of course landed at the coffeeshop as would have happened sooner or later and smoked the trippiest stuff in the house. At first I was able to close my eyes and see my skeleton, adjust my posture accordingly, and then breathe into my whole body. Afterwards I started to see the world in terms of loops - the circles of the seasons and our routines, or if we were lucky staircases that revolved closer and closer to some goal where we could then orbit tightly or loosely without ever arriving. I saw some loop slayers too whose mission in life was to smash other people’s loops (I’m sure you can think of a few examples) and ultimately I saw the possibility of life coming to close as the rhythm of the last loop steadily came to it’s last leg and then stopped. I can only imagine that I wasn’t the greatest company as I looped on all these loops and loops but I was grateful for the not so subtle reminder about how much life is about what we focus on, and we are all free to loop on as sexy a loop as we can think of.</li> <li>Shay-K 2K Comes to Town: Talja and I had the honor of hosting a former student of mine who I am happy to now call a friend, Sir Sahriar Khan on his first Euro splash. It was great to see him on a different continent as he blossoms into a young man. We did the rounds of Zeist, then Utrecht, and then Amsterdam before seeing him off on his first international date where he scored an epic kiss on the forehead, most worthy of intergenerational lore indeed. He’s now off to Berlin as he should be and we are off to Belgium to celebrate my bday, I’m wishing nothing but love and light for this young fella as he decides what kind of life he wants to live - this side or the other of the meglo-capitalist divide and I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.</li> </ol> I called this the digressive renouncement of chasing what doesn’t exist because for one, it harkens back to the name of a philosophical deep-delve Reuben and I once speculated about writing but more relevantly for two, because all of these events and my time here so far have me thinking about what is real and what I really want with this new life I am starting. Whenever people ask me if it is hard to move the only part that I can really say is difficult is being so far from my people (although they are already visiting and planning to visit 🙏🙏🙏). There have also been a couple-few encounters as well so far with people that leave me feeling like a blood-sucked vampire victim (think Norm and the psychiatrist with no boundaries from the salon Katia). We will never live in a true <a href = "https://www.skylagoon.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sky lagoon </a> no matter how much we refer to our home as such, the loops and loops and loops and loops are unfalsifiable, and Shay K’s forehead kiss is now just a whisper of the past, although a groovy whisper without doubts. I see no use chasing these whispers either because eventually we may arrive and then what? Turn our spiral loops into circular loops and just loop and loop and loop from there?? There’s nothing here that isn’t back home except my people (and unspeakable medical bills for pregnancies…) and the difficulty of now being so far away from these people gives me some perspective on what’s real. I hope that this trip and my new beginning here becomes a chance to bring new incredible people into my fold, as this is the closest to what I’ve found so far that I know for sure exists. From the far side of the pond, Ira P.S. Follow your fascinations too, that’s another biggie that exists.