In the film “The Matrix” Neo sees a black cat walk across a hallway. The scene repeats its self a second or so later. The team understand that “they” have changed something in the matrix and that the agents are coming. Glitches in the observed space-time are indicators that the machines have changed the perceived world in the human battery stack.

One could rephrase that the flow of Dao has been perturbed and interrupted.

I have had numerous occasions when my assimilation of “how things are” has been turned head over heels. It can be very simple things which have interrupted the flow of Dao.

Earlier this week I had an appointment I made, cancelled by someone other than me. I doubt there was any malevolence, simply that I need to comply to method and process, to somebody else’s view of how things should be. I could not believe what was happening when I arrived for my appointment Monday morning having received a reminder text on Friday. “They” changed something without asking. Since then my dreaming has stopped, the flow has changed. The Dao has been perturbed and by a very simple seemingly harmless action. My course towards the future has been altered. It cannot be altered back. It remains to be seen if my dreaming returns or takes a break whilst I am carved and sliced.

During the night when I awoke as one dose of painkiller had worn off and before the next kicked in I was reminded of other glitches in the matrix. I noted that Monday was a glitch in the matrix. In one case I arrived at a ferry port expecting to be met and the other person had “forgotten”.  That rearranged things.

Another glitch in the matrix which was part of the most bizarre few days happened around a supposed job interview in Leuven. I had applied for a job concerning GaN semiconductor growth. As a part of my preparation for this I read up all the latest research and examined over a third of the company’s extensive patent portfolio. I was fully prepared for a technical interview. On arriving in town by car we could not find the hotel in the one way system. It took many iterations. This was a bad omen.

The next day I went to the interview. Because there was an incumbent in post I was ushered off to a secret location on site. I was “interviewed” by  several fairly senior people including the CTO and a vice president. None of whom had prepared. They gave me a PR bullshit presentation and did not ask much at all. I did not join in with the bullshit. The CTO and I did not gel in any way. The HR person was nice and gave me a pleasant probing interview. That night I had a dream with dolphins in…

The following day we drove back into Brussels. There was roadworks. I took a turn and it dumped us right in front of the Eurostar train station, as if by magic. The universe was saying get the hell out of dodge. Later walking around the train station there was a protest complete with large inflatable plastic dolphins. The HR lady called us when we were in the main tourist square to say I did not get the job.  By the time I got home I was discombobulated. “What the fuck has just happened!” It was a massive glitch in the matrix which lasted several days, an alternate reality seemingly overlaid. It was a disorganised mess and I dodged a bullet so to speak.

Around the same time I was interviewed for a space agency job to do LIDAR measurements from satellites. The “interview” lasted about half an hour. They were sat with name cards in a quasi-formal setting. Euro-fat-cats. I thought WTF again. Several months later whilst we were moving house in the snow I got a ‘phone call from Holland. It turns out they were offering me a very well paid tax free job. We went to sign contracts, look at houses etc. We had viewed the housing portfolio before and had our hearts set on one in central Leiden by the canal, which we could afford with the generous salary. Just as we were due to do a viewing we heard police sirens and the viewing was cancelled, for no obvious reason. “They” changed something. There were more warning police sirens. It turned out it was the outgoing director general’s rented house. Anyway I extricated myself from the contract subsequently and this kicked off a chain reaction of events. It was a glitch.

After each of these glitches in the matrix it takes several days or several weeks in which things get back to “normal”. Until a new flow of Dao starts.

The bottom line is that if something looks a bit too good to be true, it probably is. I will treat any untoward or unexpected with much more disbelief than I once did. I am heads up for any more incoming glitches.