victims and demons

A most important lesson to always remember:

Stay calm, and do not victimize yourself nor demonize others. Do the best you can, be kind, and shut up.

money money money

"Why are you working so hard, and at so many jobs?" he asked.

She thought for a minute, then replied, "Because my dreams are expensive."

half-smile

He breathed a small sigh of relief when the experiment was over, and smiled, a humble little half one. In his head, it was clear, the project had succeeded. What's interesting, is the audience knew it had failed. They had seen the collapse with their eyes, heard the disaster with their ears. But not to him. To the scientist, his controlled environment was a huge accomplishment.

Personally, I do not know if the thing failed or not. The clearest memory I have of the evening is the half-smile. Success is obviously relative.

cliche

The cliché, "kids can be cruel," makes little sense to me. Aren't adults prone to spouts of meanness? And just as often, if not more? Yet, I've yet to hear after I've regaled a friend with a tale of how someone was unjust, "Whaddya gonna do? Adults can be cruel sometimes."

lesson

Received an email today that was so curt and so full of assumption that my heart did that physical sinking thing it does when we are expecting one communication and recipients of another. Good reminder to self: be gentle and not-so-quick to assume. And go have a drink.