Tinerete fara batrinete - Mixie

Acum circa o luna Mixie a avut un o sinuzita complicata.

A trebuit sa mergem la cabinetul veterinar de urgenta din Lima. Pentru $432 au facut analize si i s-a dat un antibiotic. In 5 zile a fost ca noua 😍

Mixie a depasit 16 ani, o virsta la care probleme ca aceasta apar, din nefericire. Cu toate acestea, este intr-un perpetuu "kittenhood". O copilarie continua. Noi, purtatorii de grija umani, am vrea, bineinteles, ca minunatii nostri prieteni felini si canini sa traiasca in continuu: o tinerete fara batranete.

Ieri Mixie a facut ceva uimitor si amuzant. Poate voia sa-si arate ei insasi ca e "still in the game".

La un moment dat se avinta brusc pe casa, urcind direct pe plasa exterioara a patio-ului, trecind de o surplomba riscanta, pentru a se opri apoi 10 minute, in liniste deplina, pe acoperis, contemplind cartierul.

Dupa care, cu aceeasi viteza, se repede in partea opusa a acoperisului, coboara rapid pe crengile dudului din colt, pentru ca in final sa intre in casa, asezindu-se satisfacuta pe scaunul sau preferat - locul unde, de obicei, doarme extensiv.

Zen felin.

 

Photo © Mihai Caragiu

Pattee Library

Pictured here is a google maps snapshot of McKee Hall. Here is where I lived during the first years of graduate studies, listening almost continuously and exclusively to Bruce Springsteen (my roommate Bill was a big fan, and probably me and all McKee became big fans too). Worked on a lot of different math things ranging from Rogers-Ramanujan stuff, matrix models and string theory, computational complexity, codes and curves over finite fields. I was fortunate that the giant labyrinthine Pattee Library was very close. Pretty much like in Borges' Babel Library, the lights in Pattee's stacks were generally dim, as in the anticipation of a last minute sudden enlightenment or an uncovering of pieces of forgotten history laying dormant in an old, barely noticeable volume. Or maybe it was echoing in a mysteriously dark way the 1969 still unsolved and heartbreaking murder of the graduate student Betsy Aardsma in Pattee Library. In any case, getting out of Pattee after a couple of hours spent in the underground was a remarkable event whether outside was day or night. Getting out of the Library on a sunny day has an amazing effect (the satori of discontinuity) on somebody who spends hours studying in dark corners. On the other hand, exiting the Library while outside is dark too is also a great experience (the satori of continuity), due to the fact that it is not really a similarity, outside you can enjoy a late dinner at Ye Olde College Diner while continuing to wonder about the recent time spent in the Library.

Diamonds in the rough

A favorite pastime in the high school years: keep wandering along the remote railways and other similarly semi-deserted places in the city. On one hand it was probably the sensation of discovery and adventure because simply put, I was not familiar with the area, so it was sort of wow, that's something new, which way I go now - a state of mind that lasted for hours. On another hand, these long walks presented me the opportunity to became a witness to bits and pieces of the forgotten or abandoned life's puzzle, in the littering thrown around from the trains or by the residents of the communist era housing units. As an added bonus, there were wonderful poppy flowers everywhere. So in a sense there was a great deal diversity along the way. But the most essential thing was that, during each one of those long walks, a sense of undetermined awakening (albeit slow) developed in me - so that everything ended with a promise to come back.