January 21, 2014
A Theory of believability
Today was a big day---I am officially one step closer to Mars! This step was made possible by the fact that today I learned that I passed my physical with flying colors! My doctor was able to sign off of my Mars One Medical form which means I have completed all the tasks that Mars One requires for part one of Stage 2!
As an adult, I have always had great physical health, with nary a problem. I've never had surgery, never really been hospitalized, only been to an ER once and I've never broken a bone (knock on wood), I've never had to check any of those zillions of boxes on those medical forms that one has to fill out periodically in one's life. (Well, except allergies--there better not be cats on Mars....) The only logical explanation is that I must have decent genes--because I certainly haven't done anything to earn my good health. (Who said, "Anatomy is destiny"?)
On my father's side I am French (my father was born in Nice and moved to the United States with his mother during World War II) and on my mother's side I am Swedish and German (Grandmother second generation of Swedes in Kansas, Grandfather second generation of Germans in Pennsylvania.) When I travel abroad, based on my looks, people do not immediately assume I am American (and, all things considered, I think that is a-ok.).
When I went in for my physical, I was blessed enough to meet with a with a doctor I have actually had a professional relationship for a long time. She and her nurse have been taking care of me for years. So when her nurse came in to do the preliminaries (blood pressure, weight, etc.) I stopped her before she started--I grabbed her arm with an earnest plea for patience. I told her that this physical was VERY important to me, as it would be a qualifying factor in a program I very much wanted to enter. (See previous entries as to why I don't just lead with "I'm going to Mars!!" anymore.) Just to get the right picture you have to know that this woman is TINY. I doubt she even era he's 5 feet. Me sitting down on the exam table in my flimsy cotton gown I was at her standing eye level. She asked what program I was applying for. I took a breath and said, "Well, I am interested in colonizing Mars---" and then I launched into a super fast and short rant about Mars One and Stage 2 and timelines and one way trip. She was shocked but respectful. But I couldn't tell if it was the respect you give someone who might be traveling to another planet or the wary respect you might give a crazy person. A lot of people have what I would qualify as strong responses to Mars, and some are actually incredulous at the idea. How?! Why?! What?! The nurse thought it was "interesting" and asked a lot of questions. I whipped out my Mars One document to make sure we covered everything. Seeing the document seemed to raise my believability level a bit. Maybe, I could see her thinking, she's telling the truth.
She finished up, left to get the doctor and I sat there on the paper covered table praying:
Dear God.. Ok. Thy will be done, and I promise I am willing to jump through every hoop and go to any length and untangle every knot that might complicate this process if that is what needs to happen your will not mine and I promise to go places I normally wouldn't go and for the record thank you for everything and thank you for the good health and all that and the access to healthcare and I don't take that for granted well sometimes I do but I am thanking you now and just to reiterate I am really available and open to YOUR will but I would really appreciate it if it went smoothly and wasn't too crazy and that I passed all the tests and if I can be helpful to you let me know and whatever--YOUR will be done not mine Amenamenamenthankyourhankyou. *
When I finished I could faintly hear the nurse in the hallway "It's a one way trip!...............You can't come back!" and then someone responded and then the nurse again "No, really! You can't come back!......Mars......I know!" This went on for a bit.
I chuckled through my nose.
Then my doctor came in. We starred at each other for a few seconds--she with her eyebrows raised to the ceiling and me smiling sheepishly. Finally she said, "Well, I thought about sending you down to mental health to see if you were crazy but it turns out there really is a Mars One." I laughed and nodded and she explained that she and all the nurses had gone online to check and it was really amazing. And then she said something that I hadn't really heard yet--in such a concise doctor-like no-nonsense manner. She said that she could see me doing it--going to Mars That it made sense to her that I (me, personally, Gillian) would want to go and she could see me making a real contribution. This made me feel great because, as I stated earlier, most people, in their confusion, are not exactly supportive. The whole topic quickly becomes abstract and about them--them going to Mars, them living on Mars them never coming back from Mars, them leaving everything familiar behind for Mars and---well, it can spin people out. So, it was really a nice change for someone to say they could see me there. I told her about my blog, mylifebeforemars.com, and she asked questions while doing the examination.
Then she asked me what I would be doing up there--I paused. Yet another question, from yet another person, that gave me more pause than I wished. ("What ARE we going to be doing up there....?") Since I am determined not to pretend I know anything I don't know--even though I reeeeeaaaaally want to sometimes--- and I don't want to look like a lunatic who is willing to fly to Mars but doesn't really know that much about it, I thought fast. (Please see January 9, Knowledge vs Information) For some reason, as I described in an earlier entry, I have this vision (secondary to the Total Recall spaceport) of sitting in a Quonset hut in a poorly lit environment staring at a box of rocks. But really, why would Mars One want ME to stare at a box of rocks? I did not qualify myself as a geologist. I did not qualify myself as a scientist of any kind. I qualified myself as a person who has spent the better part of her life studying art, philosophy, spiritual systems, religion and mythology. I told Mars One the reason I would be useful is because at it's very core, a Mars Colony was just that---a colony. A colony of people whose only commonality MIGHT be that they all came from Earth. Community conviction, common ground, all aspects of connection--for me, these things are absolutely reliant on art, spirituality and "story telling". I believed then and believe now, that I could be key in assisting with the building and sustaining of connection. To help shift this disparate group of people from just a colony to a community.
So, that's what I told my doctor. That I would be putting my skills to use and assisting in creating a community out of a colony, She was seemed, for lack of a better word, impressed.
Turning back to the task at hand: medically, she thought everything was going to turn out well, and she ended up being right. When I got all my blood tests results, and urine test results and the ECG results and all the rest, all my numbers fell right in the middle. I have never been so excited to be AVERAGE in my life. In the middle! EVERYTHING--in the middle.. Imagine that--thrilled to be average... (For the record: in this case, in the middle means "super good health". Not "ok health")
I made sure to do the follow up thank-yous and gratitudes to the Powers That Be. I felt so blessed that within 2 weeks of receiving direction from Mars One for this physical, I had access not just to any doctor, but a doctor who knew me, I had access to blood labs and ECGs and vision and hearing tests, I had access to all of this and more with relatively NO hassle at all. I said a prayer for the other applicants--that they had access to the resources they needed to move on.
Now, I will upload all the info and wait for my next instructions. (OMG, it's happening!)
As an adult, I have always had great physical health, with nary a problem. I've never had surgery, never really been hospitalized, only been to an ER once and I've never broken a bone (knock on wood), I've never had to check any of those zillions of boxes on those medical forms that one has to fill out periodically in one's life. (Well, except allergies--there better not be cats on Mars....) The only logical explanation is that I must have decent genes--because I certainly haven't done anything to earn my good health. (Who said, "Anatomy is destiny"?)
On my father's side I am French (my father was born in Nice and moved to the United States with his mother during World War II) and on my mother's side I am Swedish and German (Grandmother second generation of Swedes in Kansas, Grandfather second generation of Germans in Pennsylvania.) When I travel abroad, based on my looks, people do not immediately assume I am American (and, all things considered, I think that is a-ok.).
When I went in for my physical, I was blessed enough to meet with a with a doctor I have actually had a professional relationship for a long time. She and her nurse have been taking care of me for years. So when her nurse came in to do the preliminaries (blood pressure, weight, etc.) I stopped her before she started--I grabbed her arm with an earnest plea for patience. I told her that this physical was VERY important to me, as it would be a qualifying factor in a program I very much wanted to enter. (See previous entries as to why I don't just lead with "I'm going to Mars!!" anymore.) Just to get the right picture you have to know that this woman is TINY. I doubt she even era he's 5 feet. Me sitting down on the exam table in my flimsy cotton gown I was at her standing eye level. She asked what program I was applying for. I took a breath and said, "Well, I am interested in colonizing Mars---" and then I launched into a super fast and short rant about Mars One and Stage 2 and timelines and one way trip. She was shocked but respectful. But I couldn't tell if it was the respect you give someone who might be traveling to another planet or the wary respect you might give a crazy person. A lot of people have what I would qualify as strong responses to Mars, and some are actually incredulous at the idea. How?! Why?! What?! The nurse thought it was "interesting" and asked a lot of questions. I whipped out my Mars One document to make sure we covered everything. Seeing the document seemed to raise my believability level a bit. Maybe, I could see her thinking, she's telling the truth.
She finished up, left to get the doctor and I sat there on the paper covered table praying:
Dear God.. Ok. Thy will be done, and I promise I am willing to jump through every hoop and go to any length and untangle every knot that might complicate this process if that is what needs to happen your will not mine and I promise to go places I normally wouldn't go and for the record thank you for everything and thank you for the good health and all that and the access to healthcare and I don't take that for granted well sometimes I do but I am thanking you now and just to reiterate I am really available and open to YOUR will but I would really appreciate it if it went smoothly and wasn't too crazy and that I passed all the tests and if I can be helpful to you let me know and whatever--YOUR will be done not mine Amenamenamenthankyourhankyou. *
When I finished I could faintly hear the nurse in the hallway "It's a one way trip!...............You can't come back!" and then someone responded and then the nurse again "No, really! You can't come back!......Mars......I know!" This went on for a bit.
I chuckled through my nose.
Then my doctor came in. We starred at each other for a few seconds--she with her eyebrows raised to the ceiling and me smiling sheepishly. Finally she said, "Well, I thought about sending you down to mental health to see if you were crazy but it turns out there really is a Mars One." I laughed and nodded and she explained that she and all the nurses had gone online to check and it was really amazing. And then she said something that I hadn't really heard yet--in such a concise doctor-like no-nonsense manner. She said that she could see me doing it--going to Mars That it made sense to her that I (me, personally, Gillian) would want to go and she could see me making a real contribution. This made me feel great because, as I stated earlier, most people, in their confusion, are not exactly supportive. The whole topic quickly becomes abstract and about them--them going to Mars, them living on Mars them never coming back from Mars, them leaving everything familiar behind for Mars and---well, it can spin people out. So, it was really a nice change for someone to say they could see me there. I told her about my blog, mylifebeforemars.com, and she asked questions while doing the examination.
Then she asked me what I would be doing up there--I paused. Yet another question, from yet another person, that gave me more pause than I wished. ("What ARE we going to be doing up there....?") Since I am determined not to pretend I know anything I don't know--even though I reeeeeaaaaally want to sometimes--- and I don't want to look like a lunatic who is willing to fly to Mars but doesn't really know that much about it, I thought fast. (Please see January 9, Knowledge vs Information) For some reason, as I described in an earlier entry, I have this vision (secondary to the Total Recall spaceport) of sitting in a Quonset hut in a poorly lit environment staring at a box of rocks. But really, why would Mars One want ME to stare at a box of rocks? I did not qualify myself as a geologist. I did not qualify myself as a scientist of any kind. I qualified myself as a person who has spent the better part of her life studying art, philosophy, spiritual systems, religion and mythology. I told Mars One the reason I would be useful is because at it's very core, a Mars Colony was just that---a colony. A colony of people whose only commonality MIGHT be that they all came from Earth. Community conviction, common ground, all aspects of connection--for me, these things are absolutely reliant on art, spirituality and "story telling". I believed then and believe now, that I could be key in assisting with the building and sustaining of connection. To help shift this disparate group of people from just a colony to a community.
So, that's what I told my doctor. That I would be putting my skills to use and assisting in creating a community out of a colony, She was seemed, for lack of a better word, impressed.
Turning back to the task at hand: medically, she thought everything was going to turn out well, and she ended up being right. When I got all my blood tests results, and urine test results and the ECG results and all the rest, all my numbers fell right in the middle. I have never been so excited to be AVERAGE in my life. In the middle! EVERYTHING--in the middle.. Imagine that--thrilled to be average... (For the record: in this case, in the middle means "super good health". Not "ok health")
I made sure to do the follow up thank-yous and gratitudes to the Powers That Be. I felt so blessed that within 2 weeks of receiving direction from Mars One for this physical, I had access not just to any doctor, but a doctor who knew me, I had access to blood labs and ECGs and vision and hearing tests, I had access to all of this and more with relatively NO hassle at all. I said a prayer for the other applicants--that they had access to the resources they needed to move on.
Now, I will upload all the info and wait for my next instructions. (OMG, it's happening!)