As soon as I woke this morning, I felt numb inside, numb to all emotion. The power principles that usually help to lift the mood were not working.
I’ve recently questioned the Universe’s sanity over her decision to enroll me in multiple courses of instruction simultaneously. I reasoned it might be helpful to have a heart-to-heart with Princess Amy if a small cluster of gray cells in the brain has anything to pass for a heart.
"Perhaps life in the 21st century is an acquired taste," she said. "I remember that you hated Brussels sprouts for years but now you fancy them. Give modern life the same chance you gave Brussels sprouts."
"You think there's hope in that approach, do you?"
"You might consider this," she said. "When you examine it narrowly, how little do you really have to dislike about your current situation? You're only unhappy because life isn't like it was in the gay nineties but just think how very few there are of decades like the 1990's. One in a century is my guess."
Our talk didn't help. Some occasions demand nothing less than a time-out. This was one of those occasions. Minutes later, had you been looking for me, I could be found walking through Magnolia Plantation. My plan was to consider all my options, which didn't take long. There were few.
As I strolled casually down the sidewalk with the artist formally known as Prince singing "Get Crazy" in my left ear, a fire truck suddenly popped up like a demon king in a Thai water opera, and tooted a horn that sounded like Rush Limbaugh denouncing liberal democracy.
It's never difficult to tell the difference between a ray of sunshine and a Genome who's been pushed too far. And in that moment, it has never been more clear.
That doesn't mean that I tornadoed around in public like the Tasmanian Devil. Certainly not. I behaved like the nice boy next door, always my strategy when in public. I mentally gave the driver a piece of my mind and I searched the databanks for choice, juicy words.
If negative emotions ever invoked a dark reality on any piece of fire-fighting equipment, that f-f equipment was one.
The major exception to the rule about Taz's behavior is that I often, regrettably, do behave like Taz when in the company of Ms. Wonder. What a saint she is! I don't know how she puts up with me. Please contribute to her campaign.
But in that startling moment mentioned above, the Limbaugh moment, the idea of being tugged this way and that, reminded me of the Buckminster Fuller concept of precession.
I know! Look, I've never denied that my mind works in mysterious ways. Mr. Fuller's precession is just another example of that. Some people find my chaotic thinking amusing. It may be helpful to think of it like Brussels sprouts. I'll bet you once didn't like them either.
An example of precession is the combined effect of the sun’s gravitational pull on the Earth and the velocity of the Earth as it circles the sun. The first force is acting to pull the Earth into the sun; the second is working to escape the sun's pull and send the Earth hurtling into the cold depths of space.
The combined effect of the two forces provides the perfect combination to keep the Earth in orbit at just the right distance from the sun to support life and be hospitable to you and me.
I know! Magic!
I can only hope that a bit of precession will result from my personal tug-of-war and have a magical effect on my life. And on Wonder's life. She deserves it far more than I do.
Don't misunderstand. I'm not saying the idea of escaping gravity and flying off into space isn't appealing.