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Upon the Start of Another Orbit

Gregorian:Sunday, 12 October 2025
Mayan:Long count = 13.0.12.17.18; tzolkin = 2 Etznab; haab = 16 Yax
French:21 Vendémiaire an 234 de la Révolution
Islamic:19 Rabi II 1447
Hebrew:20 Tishri 5786
Julian:29 September 2025
ISO:Day 7 of week 41 of 2025
Persian:21 Mehr 1404
Ethiopic:2 Teqemt 2018
Coptic:2 Babah 1742
Chinese:Cycle 78, year 42 (Yi-Si), month 8 (Yi-You), day 21 (Jia-Yin)
Julian day:2460961
Day of year:Day 285 of 2025; 80 days remaining in the year
Discordian:Setting Orange, Bureaucracy 66, Year of Our Lady of Discord 3191

All the above are descriptions of the current rotation of the particular point on the surface of the planet in approximate relation to the planet's position in its orbit to the sun. It also, coincidentally, is my fortieth orbit of said sun, or my birthday. 

    Time, though scientifically defined such that one second equates to the duration of 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two specific energy levels of the cesium-133 atom, is, fundamentally, a subjective thing we (humans) use to measure the gradual entropy of our perceived experience. Similarly, distance is subjective, likely much more so since dilations of space have been measured. So, despite time and distance being subjective, I feel comfortable saying that in my 40 years of being alive (which has its own deep dive of meanings), I have, in some manner, experienced 1,262,304,000 seconds and traveled with the planet approximately 2,773,780,168,000 miles through what we call the universe. Seconds and years fall pretty common among measurement designations across the world but my use of miles arises from growing up in the U.S., where I now live about half-a-mile from the the house in which I spent my childhood. 

    The concept of "I" is also a fun deep dive of meanings but that will be reserved for another time. There have been many versions of "I" or "Me" through the years such as Justin, Tiger, Little J, Rabbit, Doogie, Dr. Houser, and many others. My jobs have also given me titles such as prep cook, line cook, server, lab attendant, phone banker, barista, loan processor, instructor, academic advisor, composer, collaborator, professional musician; just to name a few. In this time I have had friends, partners, lovers, enemies, acquaintances, and all kinds of various versions of relationships between people. Through my experiences I had good times, bad times, boring times, exciting times, stressful times, maddening times, calm times, and, as hopefully this post expresses, times of deep reflection and thought. 

    I suppose what I am getting at is that, where I am today can be traced through a complex and varied path that led me to my beliefs, politics, philosophies, and ideals. It must be said, of course, that my opportunity to reach these points in my thinking came from a privileged position including economically and racially. Many of these views and morals that I hold now technically label me as a domestic terrorist in the eyes of our current administration but that, too, is likely for a different conversation. Though there are things I would change about my life as it is, who wouldn't, I am overall pretty happy with my life. These many orbits of a rocky planet around a star have treated me well and led me to be a person that I am content to be. 

    For many years, my parents have asked me for wisdom or deep thoughts on my birthday, so, in that ongoing tradition, let me present a few things I have settled on over the many years in my understanding. 

  • Everyone is someone and we are more the same than we are different. 
  • Nothing is black-or-white, everything falls in complex shades of grey because there is always more going on behind or below the surface than it seems we account for.
  • Be aware of more than just yourself, we are all in this together and cannot make it work alone.
  • Complexity is beautiful, recognize it and appreciate it. 
  • Everything (well, most things) is what you make it, the absurdity of existence is pliable and you get to choose the paths you travel; don't forget you're not alone on those paths. 
  • People are social, being part of a community is important (pick a community focused on compassion, not one focused on hate).
These represent aspects of my engagement with the world and how I would like to see others engage as well. 

    The next few billion seconds spent traveling the next few trillion miles hold a lot of (subjectively) new and interesting experiences and I am excited to continue this journey!

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