Testing, testing, one, two, three.

Okay, it's 5.15 pm January 22nd. I'm hitting northbound on the 580 about to cross. I'm almost at the toll plaza for the Richmond Center of Elbridge. I'm looking at a very nice sunset. The sun has passed behind the hills of Marin. I can clearly see it's a very clear here to the Golden Gate and land and beyond it. It shouldn't be staring off over in that direction. The sunset has got all colors, really nice colors in it. There's a... It's going from obviously a strong orange, yellow to orange, way off towards San Francisco, almost with a pinkish hue. Yeah, Mount Tam. Shades of it are still in burgundy almost. With a hint of orange and other parts of dark green, foresty green. And the clouds are broad strokes across the sky. Very thin. Settle fog coming off from the Pacific. See lots of marine birds down on the little tiny rocks below the bridge. And yeah, this is the remainder of the sky as a strong blue. It's quite picturesque today. I'm glad I'm able to report it verbally at least. Hopefully I can try and remember it from my description. I just finished listening to a portion of Hannah Tham. On audiobook, I downloaded it. Kind of felt pressured by Matthew and Julie to read it. Not so sure if I'm going to. It's really hard for me to get into science fiction even though they call it speculative fiction. You know, if you have something to say, just say it. I don't understand why you have to make up a whole new world. But then again, you know, I've got my own crazy weird things too that I'm doing. And so my comfort zone is just in a different spot. I definitely applaud them for reading, you know, what I consider. You know, even if it's Neil Stephenson, it's probably the best of the genre. So there, I'm reading TimeStore Romance. And I'm reading the Ecom magazine. But yeah, and I was very impressed that Matthew read just reading. Even though he said it with nowhere. That's precise little point. I should tell him he should read one QA4 next. But anyway. Yeah, must be nice having a lot of free time on your hands. I do have free time, but it's only in the car. So I want to make it count. Which is why I want to talk about. I'm almost off the bridge here. But I, I want to talk about or at least brainstorm out loud. What the three books are that are going to form the envelope in which Florence's letter. Three, you know, is stuck inside. Do you have to pick three books that would sum up the experience of feeling out of place in the world. And one in which one feels like a magnetic draw to a place that feels like it's almost a second home or a first home for that matter. What would they be? I mean, it seems like no. So if Florence is sending this as a four shadowed message of what she wants to do. Then maybe one of the books is the tale of the life for the tale of Humseti. I mean, that's clearly one of them. I mean, the goal here was that she goes to Egypt. She, you know, and she hears the call to prayer and she feels like she's gone home. That is what I just, you know, it baffles my mind that someone can have a life like that. That someone can be so feels so out of place. And yet, seems so happy and comfortable. And maybe she wasn't happy and comfortable. Maybe that's what I am denying by convenience. Maybe she was often quite sad and despondent. You know, I have to talk about what were the conditions under which she left home. And, yeah, why she did it. You know, what was the the bigotry, the prejudice, the racism like first hand. Now, in the the tale of Humseti is the memoir or I don't even know if it's a memoir or not. I don't think it's an autobiography, but it's definitely an account of this woman who ended up becoming a saint. I mean, she was practically a saint among the locals. She, she as a child was brought to tears in the British Museum. When she saw the statue of Saddi I for the first time and was clinging to it and had to be pride away from it upon closing time. And then finally the first chance she gets, she goes to Egypt. And before she knows that she's helping archaeologists find the location of a garden, you know, buried in a site that was presumed to be the palace of Saddi I. It was this fascinating stuff. She was able to prove the past. And so people literally thought she was a reincarnation of the one of the wives, I think, of Saddi I, or if not the wife, but his true love, a slave girl that was in the palace. I'm not absolutely sure. I have to have to read the story to remember it. But let's say that's one of the books. Okay, well, so if there were three books that sort of form a Rosetta around this letter. What's in the letter? What does it say? What does it reveal that no one ever knew? I think one of the good technique here will be to not reveal what's in the letter. And the letter will be the link. The tie that binds Rosalithia to Florence. It will be the account of Florence. Her first hand account of when she witnessed her mother trying to kill herself because she didn't trust doctors and wouldn't take her medicine. She didn't trust the modern world. And was driven mad by it. She was felt like a slave to the passage of time and she couldn't break free. And she resented the fact that she was responsible for other slave children. A slave having to teach slave children was the last straw for her. The first couple of weeks, you know, the first week or two she thought, I'll change them. I know Spanish. I know their language. I can speak to them. But there was no amount of speaking to those who didn't want to listen to who could see right through her that she wanted to enslave them. And it wasn't until and so Florence heard her mother you know talking to herself and saying these things. And and perhaps it was, you know, perhaps Florence was actually listening to her and writing it down in hopes of, you know, secretly giving it to a doctor to help her because maybe she had seen a doctor and maybe she hated what the doctor revealed or diagnosed and maybe she, you know, hated the fact that she had to you know, consume the medicine or, you know, take a chemical to make herself feel normal. She wouldn't do that. So this is, I mean, I like the kinds of stuff that I'm talking about here but and really it's just notes for or the actual, you know, thoughts and dialogue. But hmm what is the story all about, you know, we we have our fam we have what is lore, you know, I mean where does lore come from what is the where does religion and um um love and is it really religion? No, it is how does our our lore how does our how do folktales retail our lives? I mean, we've got uh Egypt is at the center of the story that's twisted with with fact and fiction and so um if if Olm Seti is that middle story then then then what is the pure myth and what is the um pure fact? you know you The home city is simply the core of home city is that there's proof that you can feel out of place and you can go to the place that feels like home and you can survive and succeed there. Period. Now are there stories where people feel out of place and don't succeed? Or are there stories where people need to escape as opposed to permanently stay out of place? I remember the tale of home city if this is 1950 well you know it's well that could be another strange thing is how was the tale of home city holding the letter how was that holding the letter? And if the other book is the royal road to romance then that's another example of a book that she would have cherished and kept the letter inside but what's the third one? I mean the royal road to romance is purely a you know the mind nothing mind is a pure escape genre so if we say that really I forgot the name of the English woman who eventually the locals call her home city if we consider her mentally you know disturbed or then the royal road to romance breaks down right I mean this is the royal road to romance is is purely one man's love affair with travel and exotic places and the ability to describe those exotic places. But they really I mean they're static is there something about those books that draw you in? Is there a book about escaping and never coming back? that's what you know I think Rosalithia will find and you know do we have one happy book one sad book and one angry book? If you had three books that represented a Rosetta stone for the story what would they be? If we look at I mean one aspect of the Rosetta stone is that the Greek was known the other two weren't but the other two were closer to each other than the Greek ones and the demonic one was a little bit known because I guess they still had written Coptic or Coptic was written in Greek but they had evidence of Coptic written in demonic I can't remember. So the known thing the known language helped to decipher the others by providing a starting point. So let's say for example one of the books is a starting point. What would that book be? It's high school level you know reading material and we're talking like 11th 10th and 11th grade reading obviously you can read at any age but like you know that's the target. I'm gonna pause for now because I need to think.