We're Not Going to Make It

Wondering what brought on my last entry?  Read on:

My wife recently had a terrifying medical emergency.  Don't worry, she's recovered and doing really well.  Still, she said after too long a time in the hospital, that if she'd been alone in the house when it happened, she'd probably be dead.

Terrifying.  Makes me think of things like the image atop this entry.

I don't ever want to see her laid low like that again.  I don't ever want to see her that ill.  That frightened.

But it brought home something I've known since my father's death long ago.  Life doesn't just keep going.  "Happily ever after" can happen, but it won't be forever.  Nothing is forever.

So, while I never want to see something like that again—or to go through an ordeal like I had in my own hospitalization a couple of years ago—I or we or she probably will.

Which is to say, we're fine for now…but not forever.

For those of you impatiently waiting for my next novel, take heart: it's written.  It's been through a round of revisions, even.  And it'll get another round, and be (self-)published.  Only a matter of time.

For that matter, the novel after that is mostly written as well; over 80k words.  But it's not going quickly.  Nothing is right now, not for me.  So take heart, and I'm sorry I'm taking so much time.

Time.  "Too long a time."  "Only a matter of time."  How many meanings those words can take on.

Turn Off My Heart

Turn off my heart
Be guided by my brain
My feelings overwhelm
Like a downhill train

Since I—
Since I—

Turn off my heart
I can't go on this way
Think and only think
Don't let my heart betray

Since I—
Since I—

Turn off my heart
I can't afford to feel
There's too much to decide
Must have nerves of steel

Since I saw you fall
Since I stood appalled—

Turn off my heart

Getting Rich Going Bankrupt

You may have noticed that there's at least one guy out there who's got all the money in the world, despite having business after business go bankrupt. How'd he do it? Well, I haven't dug into it all that deeply, but as far as I can tell, the trick to it is something like this:

    1. Start a business
    2. Borrow a ton of money to expand the business
    3. Make a lot of money off the business*
    4. Don't repay the loans used for expansion
    5. Declare bankruptcy for the business.

*Make sure the profits go in your personal pocket as much as possible, not the company's coffers.

A neat trick if you can do it—in a way. And, of course, it's not sustainable, because eventually no one is going to loan you any money.

Still…I can say a neat trick, but I certainly have to qualify it. After all, it's not the neatest solution for everyone. Sure, the person starting and running the business comes out of it really well, but nobody else does. The banks take a financial hit, and thus so do their owners or shareholders. The customers for the business can be left holding the bag on any advance purchases. And then there are the employees, who have to restart their careers through no fault of their own.

I guess on second thought there's nothing neat about it. Unless only one person in the world matters.