Hey, how’s things? How are you doing? Is it all working out ok? I’m in between travels. I have a few days before I head out again. So it’s time for a little life admin, catching up with people and laying down plans. Always take the time when you have it, to do the stuff you have to do. Life admin. Life moves quick, deal with the annoyance of life admin. Deal with it. Plus, always catch up with the people. The good people. Not the ones who are just ‘there’. And be present when you do catch-up. You only have that moment. Use it wisely.

I was spurred into writing by this article from The Guardian, which documents the clampdown in the US on the Crypto Markets. Now, as a disclaimer, I’m not a crypto guy. I’m a cold, hard cash, kinda guy. But I have been following the whole crypto thing for a while, primarily to see when the Powers That Be (PTB) would jump into action to either stop crypto or absorb it into the mainstream. The reason for either of those options is that you can’t have an exit ramp for people to move outside The System. This is not conspiracy theory stuff. Capitalism rolls on because there is no credible, competing system. If you are the homeless guy on the street, you are still in The System because you still need The System to survive. So the PTB need to ensure that The System survives. Destroy or absorb any perceived threat, but let The System continue.

Why am I telling you this? (And trust me, we’ll be back here again.) I am telling you this because you are in a system. Irrespective of your circumstances, you are in a system. It is imperative that you recognise this. You can call it Capitalism, you call it whatever you want, but you need to recognise you are in a system that dictates a fair chunk of how your life runs and how it will turn out. You need to recognise that system and learn to manipulate it to suit your aims and objectives. You can’t beat The System, but you can use The System just as much as it uses you. The System wants you to be a good worker drone. It wants you to earn the money and spend the money on stuff you don’t need. That fuels The System. That maintains The System. Once you are useless to The System, it will leave you to collapse in on yourself (retirement). If you let it. So observe The System, understand your priorities and needs in life, and manipulate The System for your own ends. Maybe you are a warrior (male or female) who wants to change The System? All power to you, but you can only change The System from within The System. Anything outside of The System will be seen as a threat, and ultimately destroyed or absorbed. This not The Matrix (but there are parallels). This is not a conspiracy theory. Look around and see The System.

I still read or occasionally watch the news. I appreciate that for some people it is depressing and the fear that spills out of the news certainly needs to be tempered. Feel the fear and live your life gloriously, anyway. I appreciate that a lot of people deliberately tune out of it. I was explaining, in a brief synopsis, to someone what had recently happened that day. Admittedly it was a bit grim and depressing, and they quite rightly asked why I had told them about it. Fair point. I had never ignored the news. Being a child of the ’70s, tea (the evening meal) was structured around the 6pm news. We sat there, listening to the BBC, continually being informed of potential nuclear war, the conflict in Northern Ireland (it was a civil war, call it what it was. “The Troubles”, as it was often called, sounds like a recurring minor dispute between two people), the war in Lebanon and the AIDS crisis. It seemed to be these constant messages, beamed into our collective subconscious. But I understand people’s desire to look away, and I will never judge anyone for that. However, my take has always been that people are changing the world, mine and your world, and I need to be aware of those changes, as firstly those changes may impact me and secondly, I might need to do something about these changes. The cheapest price is to pay attention.

However, in the spirit of keeping it light, I learnt about something I never knew existed. Firstly, I love learning about new stuff. Secondly, this thing is so inspiring and so thought provoking, it has been occupying my mind for a few days. This interesting and glorious thing is Solarpunk. I had heard of steampunk and that didn’t really interest me, as it seemed rather contrived (to me at least, if that’s your thing, have at it). What I really liked is it’s refusal of pessimism. Anyone who knows me is aware of my borrowed relentless optimism motif, so this really chimed with me. But go check out Solarpunk. It’s a future you really need. And you do need to consider the future, people. It comes around soon enough. Ready or not, the future is here.