Day: July 29, 2025💾

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Thematic Map: State Forests Over 4,000 Acres

Confusion

Lately I find myself confused about so many things in this world. Maybe it’s the rapid rate of change, the conventional wisdom being smashed in most violent of fashions this year. Or being stuck in liberal suburbs of Albany that has all these plastic houses and ziegest I do not always agree with – even though I am aware of other places in world that aren’t AlbanyI reached out to Google Gemini for it’s thoughts on what it means to be confused in world we live in today.

Feeling confused is a common human experience, often stemming from a lack of clarity, information overload, or the inherent complexity of life. It’s a state of mental disorientation where understanding or making sense of things becomes challenging. This feeling can be triggered by various factors, including stress, anxiety, fatigue, or even medical conditions.

  • Information Overload: We are constantly bombarded with information, and our brains can struggle to process it all, leading to confusion and indecisiveness.
  • Life’s Complexity: Life is inherently complex, with many unknowns and unexpected situations. This can be overwhelming and lead to confusion, especially when we’re faced with choices or transitions.
  • Cognitive Biases: Our brains use shortcuts to process information, but these can lead to errors in thinking and make it harder to understand situations accurately.
  • Psychological Factors: Stress, anxiety, and fatigue can all contribute to confusion, making it harder to think clearly.
  • Lack of Clarity: When we lack a clear understanding of a situation or when information is ambiguous, confusion is a natural result.
  • Medical Conditions: Certain medical conditions, like infections, strokes, or neurological disorders, can also cause confusion.
  • Seeking Clarity: When feeling confused, it can be helpful to break down the situation into smaller parts, seek information from reliable sources, and engage in activities that promote mental clarity, such as mindfulness or journaling. It’s also okay to reach out for support from friends, family, or a therapist.
Map: Green Mountain National Forest North

I’d rather be just anticipating things then doing them 💭

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older, that Beach Boys song goes. Maybe the reason why I am so focused on procrastation and looking forward to the future is that I know at that at some level the future is pretty vapid despite the often colorful dreams about how good things will if we only reach tomorrow some point the future.

We will give you $250 is you agree 👍🏻 to the big snip this week 👀 the advertising text from LASIK wanted me to know. Itchy eyes and no swimming 🏊 for the rest of the summer seems like shit especially because I haven’t done summer vacation yet. Delay, delay, delay it seems. But once my vision is permanently fixed, what fun is that? I hate my irrated eyes and dealing with contacts, but it will be fun that morning when I wake up. 👓 After that, it will just be normal to never think about glasses or contacts for the rest of my life. I get when people say, I wish I had LASIK sooner.

I could be on summer vacation this week, 🏖️ if not for my delusions about the wheel bearing and my truck dying. But also I just like dreaming of summer vacation more then actually going on it. I could leave on Friday morning for vacation, but I want to avoid Watkins Glen for race weekend, 🏎️ and I need time to figure this all in my mind, what I actually want to do on vacation besides spend a lot of evening giggling and having fires. 🔥 And watching shooting stars and doing some fishing. 🐠 That said, I am kind of so bored with the Finger Lakes, and it almost seems like a waste of time to go out there again, for yet another year. But it’s an easy option that is pretty much thoughtless and vapid. Don’t you know vacation is supposed to be easy, just hours sitting in the sun next to the pool, riding trail, and floating on the tube. ⭕ Delay has it’s costs – we loose nearly 45 minutes in daylight in the evening over the next month, so it will be dark much earlier for summer vacation come a few weeks from now.

Yesterday evening was hot 😰 but so pleasant out at Five Rivers especially as it started to get dark out. Read for a while 📚 but I was having issues with the Libby book on homesteading loading on my phone 📱. In some ways it would be nice to have been on vacation this week. It was werid, I think it was actually warmer outside then in my apartment. Usually on real hot days it’s the opposite. I am out of frozen fruit, so I’ll have to plan on visiting Hannaford this evening or maybe on the evening commute. Need to get milk too so I have that for coffee and cooking. 🐮

I think this weekend I’ll make it a long weekend. 🌽 🏊 🏕️ Not sure if I am going to take Friday or Monday off. I need to build my confidence with the truck again and just deal with the slightly loose shock bushing as it ain’t getting fixed until after summer vacation and Labor Day. It’s really not a big deal except in my imagination. It will make it another month. Probably some of the movement I’m feeling is the frame rotting out and the shocks being bad. I could see if some places other places would take it sooner but it’s fine. Do need to get that replacement jack in case I get a flat before the weekend – I probably end up getting it from Tractor Supply 🚜 but I want to research my options a bit more today before ordering or committing to buy. I’m thinking Schoharie, I have been considering on Saturday getting up early and hiking the Diamond Notch Trail and exploring the Diamond Notch Falls, then head up to Mine Kill State Park to swim and camp at Burnt Rossman in the evening. I don’t know yet though for sure – depends on the ultimate forecast – plus I’m just so tired lately.

Thematic Map: Each dot represents a census block with 100 New Yorkers
Map: House Pond Trail