My disappointment at waking late again was tempered this morning by a breakfast of carrot cake. And I look forward to more cake and an assortment of other tasty delights for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I had to miss the party; but the party came to me. I am eternally grateful for thoughtful friends…you know who you are.
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Cats are basically untrainable, but they are accomplished trainers. Or would it be more accurate to say they are expert manipulators? Given their innate narcissism and egotism, coupled with a pronounced lack of compassion, the latter description is more appropriate. Our knowledge of those characteristics notwithstanding, humans allow ourselves to be deluded, duped, conned, deceived, and otherwise misled by the conniving beasts. The consequence of their trickery, though, seldom is life-threatening, so we forgive them—in the hope that next time their displays of affection will be genuine. Purring is a display of a cat’s arrogant self-congratulation for its successful dishonesty. We interpret it, though, as evidence of affection—exactly as they intend. Shrewd creatures.
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Early in the month—a time when one hopes income will exceed expenses, if only by a shred. When the month comes to a close, measurements and calculations reveal whether that hope was justified or realistic. The timing may differ from place to place and person to person, but the concern about money lasting at least as long as month is nearly universal. Whether economic exchange is governed by units of money or by barter, it is a constant stressor. Throughout history, humans have relied on economic reciprocity. Communism, though, relies (conceptually) on economic altruism. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Human evolution could have favored communism; instead, it favored various forms of capitalism and control. Universal benevolence would be preferable to unfettered greed. Achieving that state of affairs would require a massive thinning of the herd, though, which would be contrary to the core concept of universal benevolence. Capitalism, on the other hand, is not bound by benevolence. My ability to think coherently about economic theory is severely limited by an astounding lack of knowledge and an overabundance of fantasy.
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This morning’s dream: I was to make a presentation about security in mystery shopping. In the presentation, I was to use a loaded revolver that had no trigger guard. Somewhere in the dream, I was abandoned by friends who left me at a pharmacy, where I wanted to buy cigarettes (an ugly theme in my dreams of late). I lost my presentation notes and my phone and, for a time, misplaced the gun—which somehow had been dropped in water. Two people from my association management past—Tommy Mills and Lorri Kern—were in the audience for my presentation. Another member of the audience taunted me; I threatened to shoot him, but the woman in charge of the class promised to deal with the jerk. There was much more to this tangled dream, including walking through a deserted industrial area beneath a decaying freeway, but I cannot remember how some of the seemingly unconnected scenes might have been related. I felt intense stress during the entire dream sequence; I wonder whether I really felt stress or whether the stress was purely imaginary…like the dream?
