It was a pretty laid-back holiday.  I woke up late this morning and did a little paperwork before breakfast.  Then breakfast turned out to be brunch with some of my housemates.  By the time I'd eaten and had a cup of coffee, I discovered my route for the day.

I often find myself wishing I could watch life without affecting it.  This was the case today, as I watched five bozos jumping all over each other for mana while they drank to be merry.  There was little generation going on, so the race was tight.  It was entertaining, and as usual I got pulled a couple of times.  That's one of the ways in which it differs from TV, certainly.  I'm never quite sure what to do in situations like that.  I sipped my beer and settled back to watch it uncurling.  At the end of the day all one can do is strike from their job.  This is what having a job means: having the capacity to end a service:  to make the lights go out, or the crops stop growing, or anything as long as you're the one that does it and it's happening at least in your own small corner of the world.

The trouble with most real jobs is that there are so many others who can do them.  Automatically, the individual gets alloted his square little piece of the cookie and he can choose to eat it or drop it back on the plate to get chopped up again for the others.  To strike means everyone jumps in together - nobody eats until the whole plate is pulled back.

Whether or not the plate eventually returns, this sort of discipline is difficult to muster and maintain.  The ones who find themselves pouring the drinks are the ones who make a study of what everybody wants to drink.  They gladly inhabit the capacity and responsibility for smoothing the surface of our pond, each by sending out circular signals that fall off rapidly. They are everywhere and for that we must give thanks.

It's admirable that the concern for what everyone wants takes its root in the centers of their minds.   By the unending application of this tropic force is the world kept free.  By obtaining and providing what each participant wants/needs, a few work to keep the game jumping for the even many.  Everyone needs protein, liquids, air, and motivation, and when these are supplied the whole field comes to life with dazzling plays and heart-stopping reversals.

I guess it's like watching football, but I haven't the slightest idea who's playing and where.  Now that I've a few more hours before I go to sleep, I think I'll do a little reading.