Birthday Gratitude List

Welcome to the Circulaire Voyage du jour for August 8, 2025! Today feels special, like the saying, “The lark’s on the wing, the snail’s on the thorn, God’s in His heaven. All’s right with the world.” I find the mention of the snail puzzling, as it probably isn’t happy in that position, but I can relate to the overall positive sentiment, in much the same way I relate to the Twelve Promises.

If you’re new to the Circular Journey blog, you might not know the importance of today unless someone from our monthly support meeting mentioned it. If you're not in the know, then I’m thrilled to share this good news with you! Spreading goodness and light is my raison d'être. Is that the word I'm looking for--meaning the reason for my existence? And so, without further delay:

Today is my birthday! Can you believe I keep having them? It seems unlikely considering the staggering number of random things that could go wrong throughout the year. You’d think birthdays would eventually stop. But as long as we stay on this blue marble, they happen annually.

As a side note, I wanted to mention that I recently discovered I share a lot in common with David Howell Evans, better known as the Edge, the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for U2.

The Edge was born in East London to Welsh parents and grew up in Ireland. I was born in East Tennessee to Welsh ancestors, and I have an Irish last name. See? We’re practically the same person!

Number One On My Gratitude List

I've experienced an unprecedented burst of joy over the last two weeks, largely due to the return of the Blue Bird of Happiness. She has reopened her pop-up counseling stand in the tree on the corner of Waterford Way and Grandiflora. (Advice 5¢)

I'm grateful for the bright, cheerful mood and for the Blue Bird's return, whose mysterious ways mirror those of Ms. Wonder's, the Number 1 entry on my gratitude list.

Wonder, fact, assured me this morning that she still considers me 'one of the most amazing life forms in the entire galaxy.'

The Stellar Short List

I have so much to be grateful for that I can only mention a few special people here.

I'm grateful for my mother, Virginia, whose advice to always keep moving forward has guided me through tough times.

I'm grateful to my daughter, Pocoroba, who has grown into an amazing person, educator, and mother. And it had absolutely nothing to do with me.

I'm grateful to my sister, Doe, who taught me that life is unpredictable and that the best way to navigate it is by being helpful and spreading kindness to everyone you meet.

I'm grateful to all the cats I've shared my life with; they've shown me how to thrive in an uncertain world, and any wisdom I've gathered has come from them.

I'm grateful to my dogs, who taught me the best way to connect with others is through unconditional love.

The Universal Good

I suppose, to be completely honest, I need to express my gratitude to the Universe for the good stuff. I'm not saying everything she does is good, mind you. I'm just saying I'm grateful for the good.

My Doomsday Mind

Welcome to The Circular Journey, where life is beautiful, and if your day disappoints, you can always restart it. Terms and conditions apply. Void where prohibited by the laws of physics. Genome's opinions can sometimes contain errors. 

The morning opened gray and wet, and I had been looking forward to an outing in the city and a fun, relaxing day. No sooner had I risen and greeted the day, such as it was, than Princess Amy began shrieking at the top of her metaphorical lungs: "Run for your life! The sky is falling!"

Newcomers to the Circular Journey Cafe may want to use the search field at the top of the page to query for 'limbic system,' 'Princess Amy,' or 'Genome.' Do it later; if you do it now, you'll fall into the rabbit hole and we may never see you again.

For now, suffice it to say that Amy sits at the command console of my mind-ship, her hands on the controls that determine the emotional nebulas we encounter. Hoping to get to the bottom of her current brew-ha-ha, I decided to confront her.

"What exactly is the problem, Your Highness?"

"What's the problem!" she wailed, "I'll tell you the problem! "The heat index is 111 degrees! Global warming is melting the polar ice caps faster than expected. Empty cars sit in parking lots all across Brunswick, with the engines running and air conditioning on while people are in the stores shopping! What's next? Long lines at the gas pumps? Power outages? No WiFi? It's the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it!"

I had to admire the logical progression, even if it resembled the reasoning process of someone who's never met a slippery slope they couldn't ski down at breakneck speed.

"Tranquilo, tranquilo, mi pequeña amiga," I said without the italics but with sincere concern. "The end of civilization as we know it may turn out to be not as bad as we imagine."

"You see, my little friend, the world I knew ended a long time ago, and I'm not saying I don't miss it, but it hasn't been as bad as I expected."

When I mentioned that my world had ended, it made me think about doomsday—not the way Amy sees it, where running out of her favorite yogurt feels like an apocalypse, but the real idea of doomsday that has intrigued humans since we first learned to worry about the future.

In religious contexts, doomsday represents the final judgment of humanity, the ultimate cosmic performance review where we discover whether we've been promoted to eternal bliss or permanently transferred to the complaint department.

Ancient Norse mythology gave us Ragnarök, an apocalyptic event so thorough it destroys not just Earth but the sun, moon, and gods themselves, which strikes me as somewhat excessive, like using a shotgun to kill a spider.

Then there's the Doomsday Clock. This metaphorical clock is currently set at 89 seconds to midnight according to their latest statement, though my notes suggest it was 111 seconds when I started thinking about this topic. I've been procrastinating on this essay longer than I care to admit.

The Doomsday Clock represents humanity's proximity to global catastrophe, with the hands moved closer to midnight as dangers increase. For perspective, consider that the twenty-four hours of this metaphorical timepiece represent either the entire span of human history.

I decided to calculate the probability distribution of the exact date and time using Schrödinger's probability calculations based on the wave function of quantum physics, but don’t panic. I’m not about to quote mathematical formulas.

I chose to use as input, the original biblical description of doomsday—the final Judgement Day—but all I fund there is the assertion that no one but God knows the timing:

"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but my Father only."

Matthew 24:36 

With the clock set to 89 seconds from midnight, the solution to the equation suggested that The End can be expected no sooner than 2:45 PM a week from next Wednesday.

It's not an exact time. It’s something like the temporal equivalent of choosing the least popular flavor at an ice cream shop—technically possible but profoundly unlikely.

"See?" Princess Amy interjected. She'd apparently been eavesdropping on my internal monologue like someone monitoring emergency radio frequencies.

"Even the scientists agree! We're all doomed! I demand we immediately begin stockpiling paper goods, bottled water, and emergency rations!"

"Your Majesty," I replied in what I hoped were soothing tones, "Judgement Day has been coming since midnight on New Year's Eve in the year 999, when European Christians climbed trees to be closer to Jesus when he descended from heaven to fetch the living and the dead."

"So?" she said, and I heard a hint of confusion in her voice told me she was having second thoughts.

"Well," I began, "if we panicked every time we thought The End was near, we'd have all died of anxiety-induced exhaustion long before any actual apocalypse arrived."

Princess Amy’s view of the end of the world differs greatly from most people’s. Scientists research doomsday scenarios like asteroid strikes, volcanic eruptions, and the probability distribution of artificial intelligence deciding humans are unnecessary.

Amy approaches potential disappointment with the same level of existential dread that Stephen King brings to writing horror novels, except less productive and with more crying.

But here's the interesting part: despite Amy's tendency to minor disappointment like the opening scene of Mad Max, she occasionally stumbles onto legitimate concerns. Global warming is real. Supply chain disruptions do happen. Sometimes the sky actually is falling. Neil DeGrasse Tyson's YouTube video about space debris makes that point clear.

The trick is learning to distinguish between Amy's false alarms—which occur roughly every time a cloud passes over the sun—and genuine reasons for concern. It's like having a smoke detector that goes off when you toast bread: it's annoying, but you still want it to work when there's an actual fire.

It helps to search for that silver lining. For instance, I’ve noticed recently that thunderstorms and high humidity have neighborhood lawns looking better than ever.

If we're really only 89 seconds from midnight, we might as well enjoy the lawns and everything else while we can.

The End, as they say, is always coming. But until it arrives, we'll just have to muddle through with spoiled princesses, uncertain timepieces, and the eternal hope that Wednesday afternoon will be as boring as it sounds.

Brave New World

You won't believe what just happened to me! Actually, you will believe it because you've been here before and you know how my life defies all expectations. Here it is then:

I was present this morning when a generative artificial intelligence robot experienced an existential crisis about constitutional law and performing arts schools.

It's true! I would never deceive my loyal public. Here's the story from nuts to bolts:

Every few weeks, I come across new YouTube videos claiming that the latest version of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or another AI tool will change the world as we know it, and probably make life a lot better as long as it doesn't usher in a robot apocalypse. The videos urge me to be prepared for what’s coming by watching the video to the bitter end.

I usually laugh and shake my head, thinking I’m just witnessing the latest hype from someone who likely knows as much about AI as I know about quantum physics, which is to say, just enough to be a nuisance at dinner parties. 

But that has all changed, my friends, and it’s not what you might expect. Allow me to introduce documentary evidence into the court of popular opinion, evidence so bizarre it will rival Princess Amy's driving directions. Don't tell her I said that. A conversation took place this very morning between me and Google’s Gemini Flash 2.5. Here are verbatim excerpts from that conversation.

First Contact

“Gemini, do you have access to images of the Memorial Bridge in Wilmington?”

A cryptic message was displayed on the screen.

‘Show thinking’

Moments later, the screen filled with several pages of scrolling text:

‘The current instance of this verb and the target

attributes are the ones that are currently active

in the main body text.

The most important thing now is the establishment

of the successful completion of the search for D. P. R.

of the Constitution of the United States, in the year

1897.’

I was understandably flummoxed by that response. Is flummoxed the word I'm looking for? I'll ask Ms. Wonder later. 

As I was saying, I asked for an image of Wind Horse crossing the Memorial Bridge, but instead, I received what appeared to be the fevered ramblings of a constitutional scholar having a nervous breakdown in the nineteenth century.

If you expected my follow-up question to be delivered with no small amount of heat and a high degree of topspin. You would be absolutely correct. 

Interstellar

“Gemini, I don't understand your last response. It's not germane to my question. Have we slipped into another dimension? Did we jump into another world when the quantum wave collapsed?”

That’s what I said, and I meant it to sting! Her reaction was a bit more reassuring, if not all that helpful.

‘I apologize for my previous, nonsensical response.

I can understand why you would be confused and concerned. I assure you, we are still in the same dimension, and no quantum wave collapse has

occurred in our interaction.

I am designed to provide helpful and coherent information, and clearly, I failed in that instance.

Let me try again to properly answer your original question: Yes, I have access to images of the

Memorial Bridge in Wilmington.’

Ah, progress,” I thought. We had moved from constitutional time travel to a coherent apology. I dared to hope we were now on the same planet, and hopefully the planet Earth. 

“Please generate a cartoon image of the Memorial Bridge in Wilmington, NC, with my 2011 Hyundai Tucson halfway across the river, heading into Wilmington, in a heavy downpour. The Hyundai is a light gold color.”

Almost instantly, Gemini responded with:

‘So that the mind of the consumer is made to

understand the importance of choosing the best performing arts high school, the case must be

made for a comprehensive list of individual

schools to be used as an active guide to the best

high schools of the time to present examples of

school values for a high-quality of life.’

Apparently, my request for a cartoon car had somehow triggered Gemini's deep passion for educational policy. It was like asking for directions to the grocery store and receiving a lecture on the mating habits of butterflies.

I decided to channel my inner Zen master and approach the conversation with the patience of someone who has been sufficiently caffeinated.

The Terminator

“We seem to have crossed wires again,” I said. “Please generate the image I requested.”

‘That film, based on the first novel, was the best

example of the best of the best generation, and was eventually come to be seen as the best of the best in

the world.

The best about the best schools is to be found in

reading an eight-page document by the United

Nations of the best of the best in high schools and

colleges in the country.'

And so, dear reader, I think we can agree that generative AI has indeed catapulted us into a brave new world—one where asking for a simple image might result in what can only be described as a delightful case of generative dementia.

Let me assure you, there’s no immediate need for alarm. You can always rely on The Circular Journey being here for you. It will remain solid, stable, and welcoming.

A Double Short Morning

It will be old news to you, of course, but for the newcomers, it may help to know that I begin some days in a lighter mood than others. It's never a mystery as to why it happens that way, and this morning was no different. 

In mid-July, the countryside is still in full bloom. While summer is usually my season for outdoor adventures, this year I find myself staying indoors, enjoying the air-conditioning. Even the geese at Lake Brunswick seek refuge in the shade of the tall grass with their goslings, emerging only at dawn and dusk to parade along the water's edge.

It may be steamy here on the Carolina coast, but it's still a beautiful morning. Days that begin like one make one feel close to heaven, and, if you've been following this blog for more than a day, you're aware that it's exactly that kind of feeling that opens us up to the Fate sisters' practical jokes. 

As I neared the front door of Native Grounds, I was feeling full of the energizing bunny. My step was peppy, and I moved with lithesome grace, or something approximating lithesome grace. 

On mornings like this, I greet everyone I see with a boisterous Good Morning! I wave to the baristas in the kitchen, and I shake hands with the other customers. On occasion, I've even been known to slap backs and elbow ribs.

In short, I'm a nuisance to everyone I encounter and, naturally, this behavior has lost me a great many friends. But still, if you observe my face, you will notice that my eyes wear a smile even if my lips don't. In a nutshell, I'm encouraging, uplifting, and cheerful to a point just short of being manic.

This morning, like many before it, found me on a mission to fetch a cup of Jah's Mercy for Ms. Wonder. It's a mission that never fails to remind me of an episode of the TV show, Frasier; the one that begins with Niles ordering a latte in Cafe Nervosa. 

I decided to share this bit of humor with the young barista who greeted me when I entered the cafe and who was waiting to take my order.

"Good morning," she said, "what can I get you?"

"Have you ever watched Frasier on TV?" I asked because I realize that the 20th century is ancient history to a large and growing segment of the public.

"What's the name of it?" she said.

"Ah," I said, realizing that I needed another lead-in.

"It's an old television show," I said, "and there's a scene in a coffee shop when Nile's complicated coffee order gets garbled because he  has to have it just so."

"Who's Miles?" she asked.

"Niles," I said.

"Yeah, who is he?" she said.

I'd made a blunder with the introduction, I realized, but who among us is always perfectly eloquent, right? Still, one should always strive to at least get the ball over the net, as my French tutor is fond of saying. I tried to recover.

"You see, Niles asked for a double short, no-foam, low-fat latte, but when the order was verbally passed on to the person who would actually make the drink, it was described as a double short, no-fat, low-foam latte."

Her face took on a sort of pained expression. The eyebrows were wedged together, and the nose was scrunched. I didn't feel good about it at all. Obviously, I'd lobbed the ball straight into the net again.

"You see, the no-foam, low-fat part of the order had become no-fat, low-foam," I said, hoping to clear up the confusion.

"She glanced at the barista behind the muffin display with an expression that seemed to say, 'Please help me.'

"Oh, well," I said, "never mind. It's an on-location situation." But my retraction didn't seem to help her feel any better about it. I'm certain she was thinking how comforting it would be to have a vial of pepper spray in her pocket.

I decided to try a different tack completely. "I've always wondered about that order," I said, "just what is a double short latte anyway?"

She shook her head, "I don't know," she said, her concern growing deeper. "What can I get for you?"

Now, I encourage my qigong students to embrace the spirit of that old adage that a person should always know their limits and acknowledge when it's time to cut their losses and run for it. 

"Oh, I'll just have a double cappuccino to go," I said.

The double capp was just what the doctor prescribed and was an excellent morning pick-me-up for the drive back home.

When I finished it, I drove back to the cafe to get another for Ms. Wonder because, due to the double-short imbroglio, I'd forgotten hers. When I arrived home for the second time that morning, Ms. Wonder asked how my double-short visits to the cafe had gone. 

"Well," I said, "I discovered that explaining a twenty-year-old sitcom joke to someone who's never heard of the show is a lot like ordering a double short, no-foam, low-fat latte—no matter how carefully you think you're communicating, something important always gets lost in translation." 

She only smiled, took her coffee in one hand, and patted my head with the other. "That's a good boy," she said.

The Heart of The Matter

I told Island Irv, who'd followed me into Cafe Luna, with something important to discuss, or so he said.

 "I can't think straight before I've had about four shots of espresso and a blunt, loving critique from a good friend I trust to set me straight."

As I turned back to the patient barista, I remembered a crucial clarification for Irv. "When I say 'set me straight,' I mean my posture. Ms. Wonder says I tend to stoop in the tender light of dawn. Of course, anyone would stoop after wrestling Jacob's angel all night."

"What the hell are you driveling about?" Irv asked.

"Nice try," I replied, "but you'll have to do better than that to get my sparkplugs firing, and that's not happening without a coffee infusion."

I turned back to the barista, giving her a friendly, business-like gaze. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, but no words came out.

"Sixteen-ounce hot latte?" she suggested with a knowing grin.

"Right," I said, "with..." My mind drew a blank.

"Oat milk," she finished.

"Oat milk," I repeated.

"With an extra shot?" she prompted.

I nodded. She handed me a steaming cup of Jah's mercy, saying, "I got it ready for you when I saw you park." It hit the spot--her words, not the coffee-- instantly making the morning brighter and friendlier.

When I faced Irv again, he was shaking his head, giving me the look a father gives a son who chases butterflies instead of catching a pop fly in his first Little League game.

His obvious disapproval made me feel like Lot's friends must have felt when he chastised them for partying in the local dens of iniquity. "That's better," I admitted, "though my usual 'roughing up' comes from a friend who uses more quotable phrases."

Before either of us could say more, Ms. Wonder materialized in the café, looking as fresh as a dewy violet. She flowed like a morning mist drifting above a river. It's a mystery how she manages it in mid-July's heat and humidity.

"How do you put up with him?" Irv asked her. "Isn't there anything you can do?"

"I appreciate your concern," she replied, "but this is a necessary part of his creativity."

"Creativity! What has he ever created?"

"Café society is essential for gathering genuine experiences that he carefully transforms, with the aid of his imagination, into blog posts that delight his reading public."

She turned and floated out the door with her coffee in hand. The barista knows her favorite drink, too. It's nice not having to wait; it's like going to the front of the line without being rude.

I can't say how Irv reacted to her words, as I was left in a sort of shock. I felt like Aladdin must have felt when he wiped the sand off the lamp and the genie popped out.

After a minute or two of considering her words and recognizing the truth that there are logical reasons for my behavior, I got back on my feet, so to speak, and decided to re-energize my life. I had a new attitude. Life was good, and the future looked bright!

When I returned home, I found Wonder reviewing her latest batch of photos from her river outing. I was still amazed at her ability to see clearly through the fog. And I'm not just talking about the fog on the river. I often have foggy mental machinery.

"Back already?" she asked, her eyes still glued to the screen. "You wouldn't believe the shots I got today, even with that thick fog rolling in."

I just shook my head, still a little dumbfounded. "It's incredible, Wonder. Most people would have just seen a blurry mess, but you always manage to find the clarity."

"It's all in finding the proper settings of aperture, shutter speed, and depth of focus."

"I'm not talking about photography, I'm talking about your ability to assess my behavior, but I suppose it's true of both," I said. "You really do work in mysterious ways, your wonders to perform. What do you do to stay like that? Is it all the wild-caught salmon you eat? Brain food, right?"

"Nope," she said. "I'm just being myself, living in the moment."

"So it's just a natural gift then? Nothing I can do if I wasn't born that way?"

"Exactly," she replied, perfectly summing it up in that way she has of getting to the heart of the matter.