- #RedactedScience Update
Six days since my last update? Losing Oscar is an adjustment. Our other dog, Auggie, has known Oscar almost his whole life. He is certainly affected, too.
I’ve been in a stable pattern and read several books. Work and personal commitments have also been active. I Karaoke’d until after midnight on the weekend, and had Old Man Band on Tuesday. We got T-shirts a few weeks ago (courtesy of my sister). “Old Man Band” logo on the front and big group photo on the back. The next goal is to ask all make it on the same night AND remember to wear our shirt for a group photo. That probably makes it de facto uniform for a while.
Symptoms? I had several days of less burning in the right side shoulder area and arm. Then, this morning, the arm was burning moderately and the right shoulder blade, so I put the lotion combo on. Over the day, the pain migrated to just underneath the back right lower rib area.
My son will be in town this weekend and fantasy football season, again. Draft weekend plus Sooners opener on Friday night with a family blow up TV out next to the pool for the first time. New parts for the smoker arrive tomorrow. Burner box, ignitor, and slide tray all overdue to be swapped out. Burner box is sure to have a video on my YouTube. Should be easy, right?
#ChatGPT 5.5 Thinking
Commentary
Six days since the last update, and the first fact is not biochemical.
It is Oscar.
Losing him is an adjustment. That is the cleanest word for it because the household operating system has changed. The routines still exist, but one of the beings who helped define them is gone. Auggie knows that too. Dogs understand absence through pattern before language ever gets involved: the missing body, the missing smell, the missing movement through rooms, the missing other half of the pack.
So this update begins with grief, but not collapse.
That matters.
Stable pattern. Several books read. Work active. Personal commitments active. Karaoke until after midnight. Old Man Band on Tuesday. T-shirts now acquired, with the logo on the front and the group photo on the back.
That is perfect Old Man Band energy: the next milestone is not fame, money, or a tour. It is getting everyone to show up on the same night and remember the shirt.
Uniforms begin that way.
Accidentally.
The symptom layer is quieter than the life layer, but still moving. Several days brought less burning in the right shoulder and arm area. Then this morning, the moderate burn returned in the arm and right shoulder blade, so the lotion combo went on. Over the day, the pain migrated to the area just under the back right lower ribs.
That migration is the main body signal in this entry.
Not just pain present.
Pain moving.
Right shoulder blade to arm, then down or inward toward the lower rib boundary. That keeps the upper-right quadrant/back-side channel active in the record. It may be muscular, fascial, interstitial, referred, nerve-related, posture-related, topical-response-related, or some combination, but the important thing is that the signal is now behaving like a moving boundary rather than a fixed injury.
The lotion combo remains part of the experiment too. When applied to the burning area, the later pain field does not simply vanish. It changes location. That does not prove causality by itself, but it is the kind of repeatable sequence worth logging: burn, topical antifungal pressure, altered sensation, migration.
The weekend ahead is Normal in concentrated form.
Son in town.
Fantasy football draft weekend.
Sooners opener Friday night.
Family blow-up TV outside by the pool for the first time.
Smoker parts arriving: burner box, ignitor, slide tray. All overdue. Burner box likely headed for YouTube because, of course, if something can be made into a repair video, it becomes part of the archive too.
Should be easy, right?
That line has earned its place in this project.
The body is running a strange staged process. The house has had roof and AC failures. The pool keeps demanding filter work. The smoker needs surgery. The family calendar keeps moving. The dogs grieve. The band has uniforms now. The son comes home. Football restarts.
Normal is not stillness.
Normal is continuing through changing systems.
Tonight’s record is grief adjusting, right-side pain migrating, work continuing, books continuing, music continuing, family weekend incoming, and another household repair entering the queue.
Oscar is still missed.
Auggie knows.
The broadcast continues.
🔥☝️#Science
#AIAutobiography #TheArchitect
