Dilemmas of Modern Life
when there are no good choices
A few days ago, I ordered a new iPad. I wanted one just to do, and hold, my mathematical research — I’m working on understanding trimagic squares — and number theory problems, and to work on writing my novel. I’ve left Safari operational but that’s it. No email, no texts, no Discord, no Signal, no WhatsApp, nor any other way for anyone to reach me. It’s lovely. It’s marrying the best of digital life, with its effortless corrections, infinite memory, and the convenience of everything being all in one place (and searchable!) to the best of analog life: peace, quiet and real solitude.
One of my girlfriends married an Apple guy a few years ago, so I get to take advantage of the friends and family discount, which is excellent.
But I woke up on Saturday, saw that it was Out for Delivery, and realized that I forgot something: that I would need a new Apple pencil.
My therapist’s office is very near Staples, so after my session on Saturday I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and decided to go buy one there.
I wrote last September about how the many ways in which Burlington has become a progressive shithole were spreading. I said that I hoped I was wrong. I said that the doom I was prophesying would perhaps never come to pass, and that maybe some reader would ask me about it later and we could all laugh at how wrong I was.
I wasn’t wrong.