Ffolkes,

    Today, like any other day, has yet to show its true potential, though even now, the feeling of pregnant possibility is almost palpable. It’s hard to describe, actually, this feeling of electric, buzzing anticipation of…. what?  The very unknown qualities of the future, far-distant or immediate, add a certain tingle of both fear, and burgeoning joy, to the mix of emotions that swirl as we ponder the day’s dawning….

    For some, this jittery, bouncy feeling is too much of a morning, so, they bury their nose in a paper, sip their coffee, and try not to think about what might happen… But, for others, such as meself…. well, let’s just say that there’s no better start to the day than to feel as if it will be filled with challenges, with problems, with solutions, and with both joy, and pain…. Not a bad day, for a human……

Ffolkes,

The title of today’s Pearl, somehow, got close to meaning something, as well as connecting that meaning to what is contained herein…. I’m positive, however misguided that may be, if I just ignore that, it will pass off without comment…. Hell, I’m not sure if there’s enough ffolkes out there TO comment, but, since that’s neither here, nor there, we’ll ignore that, too. It seems like the best thing to do on a day such as this promises to be…. I’m not sure exactly where my head’s at, but, it ain’t here, exactly, and I haven’t a clue as to how to go about finding out where it might be….. You know, just in case I need it? I’ve been told that I could use it around here, but, I don’t know what they mean by that…. do you?….

Honesty….. there’s a subject. Trust….. There’s another one… Honor, truth…

Ffolkes,

Having spent the last 8 or so hours in complete and utter misery, or, as much as anyone sleeping indoors in a warm place can experience in one night, I am up, and ready to Pearl, in my own fashion…. Coffee’s siren call fills my senses as, bravely, I sally forth from the chamber of horrors that comprises my sleeping room, to do battle with the forces of evil one more time….

Not that there are any such nasty forces at play right here and now, but, it sounds more dramatic that way, making it easier to talk myself into this again. Motivation can play a big part in getting a Pearl done, especially in the beginning, when potential is strongest, but, the day has not yet been given a direction, or even a mood….

Motivation today will be an issue of note, I’m thinking, as it generally is…

Ffolkes,

    Ah, yes! I love the smell of artificial, imitation, deep-fried ANYTHING! I AM, after all, a trained consumer….

Okay, no ranting in the intro, bozoid one. Hie, there, ffolkes. In case it isn’t clear by now, I’m in a Zippy mood. While not a frequent occurrence, we can never tell quite what that will mean, in the final analysis; I’ve had it turn out quite well, at times; other times, I wake up in another state, (e.g., Wisconsin, or Sinaloa, in Mexico…. which was, admittedly, way better than Wisconsin….), naked, hung over,  with no idea where I’ve been, how I got there, what I’ve been consuming (the masters won’t like that!…. gotta consume our quota!…), or with whom, or what, I’ve been consorting…. Not…

Ffolkes,

I’m wondering, if the folks over at Kaiser are feeling a little premonition, a small niggling at the back of the neck, or a vague feeling of uneasiness. If not, they probably should, because I guarantee, they are about to become engulfed in a shit storm. Having reached the end of my patience with the issue they’ve forced upon me, I have consulted the proper authority (Sun Tzu, The Art of War), determined a plan of battle and engaged the first scouts to gather intelligence. Small events have been set in motion, which, combined with the other facets of the plan, will come down on their heads in an avalanche of legal and marginally legal manipulations and court appointments to keep their wolf-pack full of…

Ffolkes,
And then, I woke up….. at that magical hour of the day, when it reads as a perfectly balanced trio of primes, at 3:33….. or, as the Martians would say, a three, filled. It truly is a magical time, when nobody else is stirring, and I have the thought waves pretty much all to myself. I can direct the flow of them, or let them carry me off to a place where nothing is too fantastic to consider, and nothing is forbidden to think, or to say….. It’s a place in my mind I go to a lot, especially when I’m feeling stressed, or blue, because it’s impossible to feel bad there, where total freedom, of thought, of action, of life is not merely encouraged, but demanded…..

Then, of course, I come back to reality, reluctantly, but always in a better frame of mind with which to approach whatever…

Ffolkes,

    In response to the quote, from Sophocles, I would say, “except, perhaps, those we tell to ourselves.” That simple fact may be part of the problem, wouldn’t you think?….. Ah well….

In coming centuries, should we survive to see them, the Philae lander, (which you see above in an artist’s rendering of its descent to the comet on which it tried to land, taken from Space.com’s coverage of the event), may become the subject of a number of jokes, described as “Philae, the Bouncing Bot”, or other such inane nicknames, a result of the comical way it managed to complete its landing sequence…. Thanks to the unknown physical demands of the landing, onto a comet moving at great speed, the silly thing managed to bounce three times before coming to a complete rest on the surface, a…