Into The Breach

The body, the mind, the spirit break, but the world rolls onward with whatever intent it may have, and you are either going to get back onboard or. . . .   Yesterday, I was dragged back, weak and unwilling, but necessity dictated.  My part of the factory had a rupture while I was gone, and I either needed to seal it or someone else would.  Preservation prevailed.  By and large, I think, it was the best way out of the sick world and back into the living.  Problems flew at me at unprecedented speeds.  The world out there is much faster than the one I'd been living in.  My horizons had been six inches, a foot, perhaps two or three feet away.  Like a quick zoom out from close to far, the field of view expanded to the seeming edges of space, I quickly reduced to a mere speck among specks.

Experience got me through the work day.

I stopped to pick up Thai, a delicious coconut soup, some fried rice with chicken, pig, cow, and shrimp--everything they had.  A bottle of the world's best tasting sake.  I know it was because the hang tag said so.  It had a rich texture with hints of natural sweetness and peach and vanilla notes.  The tag told me that, too.

On the couch, I watched the season premiere of "Mad Men" while I ate.  It was too bleak, I thought, even for someone whose life seems as bleak as mine.  It is a mistake that many series make as the seasons go by.  They forget what audiences liked originally, that admixture of winning and losing, laughter and sorrow.  Too often, it all becomes about sorrow.  Blog writers forget that eventually, too, but it is a lesson worth learning.  Audiences want to have as many ups as downs.  Chaplin's genius was understanding that.  Tragicomedy.  Hopefully young, yes.  Hopefully old?  How does that wear?  There were a few scenes worth re-watching.  Freddy's opening pitch, of course.  Meagan's arrival at the airport, Don taking the passenger's seat.  Airplane pillow talk.  Don eating franks with Freddy.  The final scene.

Afterwards, I knew I was getting well again.  I had eaten every crumb of fried rice, licked the soup bowl dry.  I had drained the bottle of sake.  I may have even had a romantic thought or two.

The sun had still not set.  I was still hungry and wanted more drink.  I would go back to binge watching "Game of Thrones."  I'll tell you about that later.  Perhaps you are not rid of me yet.