Synchronic​ity 11 years after 911

Here we are, 11 years on. Today is already weird for me and I've only been awake about an hour. It's 4:30pm here in NYC, I've slept through most of the day after a bizarre night of sleep. It wasn't so much that I couldn't wake up, but that I thought I shouldn't -- like there was important work to do in the dreamworld. I remember telling my wife as she got out of bed that I had to go back to a dream about "apples and dragons" but now I don't remember any of the details. Though I've been awake for an hour and had some coffee, I still feel very much out of it --like a part of me is still there.

When I got online, I had a message from my friend Peter that confused me even more.

How could I forget? (Isn't this a day we're told to "never forget"?)

Yes, indeed, the Sync Book is one year old today. Happy Birthday baby Sync Book. ...And you've got a little brother or sister on the way. (Sync Book Vol 2 coming soon!)

I guess my mind is distracted because I have a lot on my plate right now. I'm working on my own book (Suicide Kings) as well as Sync Book Vol 2 and trying to keep my head above water financially and find time for my family (the most important of all) and just juggling a lot. There may soon come a point where I have to put all this aside to take care of more pressing matters, but, for the moment, it feels like the work we're doing is vital and significant and worth the temporary sacrifices. I guess in my waking life too I feel like there's "important work to do in the dreamworld."

I found some time this week to begin setting up the foundations of a database. The idea is an amalgam of one from Douglas Bolles, conversations with Jason Barrera, and a related idea of my own. Doug wanted to do a "Book of Stars" depicting actors that resonate a certain archetype in the Tarot. Living in New York, I see movie posters and advertisements everywhere, and it occurred to me that the movie posters themselves were Tarot cards. I wanted to set up a database of these posters-as-cards but as Jason and Doug and Justin Morgan have helped me flesh this thing out, the idea is very quickly becoming a combination of everyone's vision (as it should be). This is a work in progress, but it is already well worth your time to look at. Check out http://movietarot.blogspot.com/

There are many days where this works seems thanksless. And then, there are days like today--days where someone I've never met before sends me an email letting me know they are enjoying the work that's being done and that they are working on it too. It makes the weight feel less like a heavy load and more like an honor.

Hi Alan,

I enjoyed listening to your interview with Neil Kramer, and I know you are going to be puzzled about this one (or not).

This morning, in the centre of The Hague (the Netherlands) : there was a collision of two trams.

September 11 (9 11), tram number 9 and 11 collided at exactly 11 minutes to 10 -summertime-. But wintertime, which is in fact the real time, exactly 11 minutes to 9.

It's strange to read the reports, but yes, that's what happened. Tramnumber 9 and 11. No fatalities, but 36 people got injured, so it has made it to the Dutch newspapers. You were expecting something on this day right?

All the best with your work! 
-Thijs van Tongeren

Thank you all for another year of support and friendship and fellowship.
Much love,
Alan