The deer are here. Seven deer are grazing their way through my front yard. They just survived days of freezing air, freezing rain, rain, snow, and winds. Eat up. My Roku died. What am I going to do for background music, a show to watch during dinner, a possible movie, and white-noise ambiance to help me sleep? I am glad our roles were not reversed. Disasters, or even just bad weather, can put things into perspective and also highlight what’s truly essential.

The deer, my Roku, a few computer glitches, are not news. Or at least, they’re not news for the news. Listen to your friends in real life. The issues people talk about are people, kids, and pets, houses, maybe their cars if they’re not working right. The news is not going to care about the local weather unless they must or if there is a good video of a bit of disaster. The things I’ve heard most about this week have been frozen pipes, housing friends until houses are fixed, driving, flying, food, doctors, – and sports, but I ignore that.

On a personal level, the world is worrying about climate change, politics, and economics. I’m worrying about my broken Roku, an overworked computer that choked on a massive file and subsequently lost a week’s work, a frozen then busted rain barrel, and my car’s low air pressure sensor that is confused by low pressure caused by low pressure. PV=nRT, as I recall.

This is another duh! comment. There is a disconnect between what’s on the news, what’s in social media, and what’s on the minds of my friends. Some of my friends are very concerned with causes that need support and injustices that must be revealed, but they are also talking about their kid’s painting, their new pet’s antics, and whether the roads are free of ice. The volcanoes emptying a town in Iceland doesn’t get as much attention as the mini-earthquake we had 33 miles (km?) beneath us.

It is the nature of a Digital Singularity that change is a constant, and that rate of change is constantly increasing. Keeping up with the news is impossible because we are presented with an overwhelming wealth of insights into the world that we could easily ignore before the internet arrived. And yet, many try. I do, too.

But Nature delivered a series of storms with such regularity that it was if the world was going to see what it took to slow us all down long enough to look around our neighborhood. Here we are, about a week later, and I can see a patch of blue sky, the mountains on the horizon, and the possibility of a nice sunset.

For a week, we worried about those pipes, and roads, and gutters, and trees, and things that were immediate. I used ‘were’ on purpose because they ‘are’ immediate, but as the comforts of civilization return, we pull back to wander outside our close circles. What show should we watch? Are the sporty teams playing? For the more serious, how’s politics – especially this year because every day counts and we just missed a few.

Eventually, we re-establish normality (ha!) and begin ignoring the essentials and assume they will work. When you’re shoveling a sidewalk or driving on ice, the weather is more important than a poll or a caucus.

I was one of the lucky ones. I was anxious the entire time, but my pipes didn’t freeze. Maybe my anxiety made me drip faucets, run lots of hot water, and double-insulate the lines. Cheaper than busted pipes! I burned a lot of firewood in case the power went out when it was 11F, but the power stayed on until some car hit a pole. At least that was when we got back above freezing.

My Roku broke, probably from being dropped so often that I can’t tell which bounce broke it. I shoved so much work through one computer that it clogged, barfed, and trashed a podcast episode I was editing. Another file that I’ve eagerly awaited for months finally arrived, and promptly overwhelmed the computer, and possibly another of my machines.

We’ve entered 2024. I accelerated the publication of Firewatcher a few years ago because the rate of change in the world was about to out-strip the backstory. As I watch what’s happening, or will when I get my new Roku, I think I am right that the acceleration continues. (Hmm. I hadn’t thought about this until now, but everyone could find their personal limit when they disengage and quit trying to keep up.) Great things are afoot.

Intermediate things are afoot, too, because life requires a response, sometimes to disasters, sometimes to deadlines, sometimes to good news.

Immediate things can out-prioritize them all. If the pipes are frozen, worry about politics later.

Politics is on schedule to change this year, and it isn’t waiting. Climate change is rattling our cage by throwing weird weather at us. I even have doubts that our economic system can remain unchanged for much longer. Go ahead, please, add to the list.

It’s a Friday evening, so I’ll write and write, and without the Roku, maybe watch some YouTube, or write some more. I have more than enough food and fuel. I can ignore them for a while. The deer have come out of hiding, munching their way across my lawn. These ones survived. These ones survived and are a reminder that most life does what it can with what it has. That’s how life has worked, continues to work, and is a good reminder that concentrating on the basics and persisting can accomplish much of what I need.

And yet, how long until I get that new Roku?