Come Hell or High Water

Sometimes a confluence of events arises that really tests your mettle. You know it's designed by forces much greater than you as a test of your strength, your endurance, your perspicacity. What else could it be? You can either think of it in those terms or deduce that the cosmos hates you and is spitting in your eye. I prefer to think of it as trial by fire, complemented by the old adage, "That which does not kill you only makes you stronger."

Family members are pulling at each other and giving me vicarious fits. I don't make a very good referee. I never seem to have enough time in which to do the things I really want to do. All my time is consumed any more by "have to do" stuff, not "want to do" stuff. I need to schedule some additional "me" time. I'm still feeling a little ambivalence about the new job. Every other day, I like it just fine; the other days, not so much. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm making a lot more money -- and I have to do it because I've also made some hefty financial commitments. I have a hell of a lot nicer office, too. That helps. The prices of not only fuel but of everything that one can't live without are up. Dramatically up. It's like escalating fuel costs are at the center of a vicious cycle. One has to eat, so one must find a way to incorporate it into the budget and deal with it. All the politicians and their sycophants are giving me headaches. I wish they'd hold the election this weekend and get it over with. I have the sniffles -- maybe due to the weirdly changing weather, maybe not. And -- and, damn it, I have to be at work half an hour early this morning. Can you tell I'm not pleased about that?

You can fight all the trials, tribulations, and travails that come your way, but it usually turns out to be counter-productive; i.e., you zap more energy kicking and screaming than you do just sucking it up and finding a way to cope with it. You can give in to it and lie around whining about how unkind fate is. Or you can meet it head-on with élan and a clear head, take it on, and use it to your advantage.

I guess what some of these pitfalls boil down to is a battle of wills -- someone's will to make me an unwilling party to something and my will to avoid it at all costs. Most of the stuff going on, I shrug off. But that doesn't mean I don't sneak a thought about it every so often. I'd much rather think about puppies and ice cream and fresh green grass. There's not always a clear-cut winner in these little contretemps. They can be -- often are -- not much more than a battle of wits, clawing and scratching to the bitter end with every inch of ground gained soaked in exasperation. It's not easy. It's not meant to be. Nothing which comes too easily is worth gaining. If you emerge from it having gained some ground (and much insight), integrity intact, and not flat on your back from some stress-induced illness, then I guess you're coming out ahead.

In the long-run, what do all these extraneous bumps in the road that wear on your last nerve really matter? Not much, other than as object lessons because, come hell or high water, that which does not kill you truly does make you stronger.

Yeah, this is what happens when you got nothing and start off with a post about nothing.

You'll get a kick out of the wild mess of Words Gone Wild and GIGO Grammar rounded up by the Patois Paddy Wagon today and rushed to the Word Rehab ER. If the Voices give you any inside information on what they mean, please share. Otherwise, you're free to stand outside the bars and poke sticks at them.

captivuty
a class action law suite agents them
I need some assistants with my case
auhtors who’s contracts
there is no avenues
desition
ive rarely ate at taco bell
lieiing
cerain
cumlative
dissability
sexully