Magical thinking, intimate injuries and Otis Redding
(No. 43) 2021 = 5 By Stephen P. Williams
But first, this: Lili Hayes
Magical thinking for the new year
Hollywood sidewalk. Photo by Devin Avery on Unsplash
From a nonbeliever’s perspective, the numerology contained in 2021 is boring AF. Here’s how it works: add up the numbers until you reach a single digit sum. For instance, 2019 was a complicated equation: 2+0+1+9 = 12. Since 12 is a double digit number, you add those two together until you get a single digit: 1+2 = 3. Three means -- I can’t remember and since 2019 is distant history, who cares? Numerologically, 2020 breaks down as 2+2 = 4. Four means 2020 was a year of calm healing. (Accurate, right?) 2021 adds up to 5. According to one well-known numerologist, that means “positive vibes” are on their way. Well, I wish that for all of us.
You can take a deep dive into what I think is the dubious (but fascinating) world of numerology here, with a free reading and a video explanation of what you are all about. (I am known to be brilliant and empathetic -- so true.) It’s a lot of fun, and as good a way as any to predict what will happen in 2021.
Because the year is so new, I have not yet formed any coherent thoughts (obviously). So today I offer you an array of tidbits to carry you forward. January is always a great/terrible month for thinking about getting older -- there’s no way to avoid acknowledging the passage of another year. But it also offers so much hope, in the form of longer days, the promise of flowers, and the freedom from thinking about holiday obligations.
Let these tidbits keep you youthful.
Mice are so damn lucky
Drug reverses age related mental decline
“I will die at age 120” (says 118 year old)
Kane Tanaka is 118 years old. That makes this Fukuoka, Japan woman the oldest person on earth. She attributes her longevity to “Eating delicious food and studying.” For fun, she eats chocolate and drinks Diet Coke.
Sleep for youth
No, it’s not how much you sleep, it’s the vibrations you experience while sleeping. That is, if you are a fruit fly.
The meaning of your pillow
Your sleep position reveals all.
Naps
Common sex injuries
Talk about sleepus interuptus! Here’s how people hurt themselves while getting it on.
Talk funny
Why you should speak to yourself in the third person.
How dogs age
More clickbait from the New York Times
Four minute exercise (the headline is misleading).
Somehow, I still got older
I’ve been writing about and sometimes trying the nutritional supplement called NAD, aka “the next big thing,” for decades. Somehow I still got older.
Every vaccine question answered
Since older people will get the vaccination first, you might as well read this.
A song for you
Starting the year at the beach
How not to wear a mask.
Let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to write about. And have a wonderful year! stephen@stephenpwilliams.com