A new day.

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I woke fairly pain free.  There was some notion of pain back there but milder than it has been for some number of days.  A dose of aspirin just... to make sure.  A call.  It seems dinner was late and I think they hoped not to have to deliver, but I did ask them to.  I was just waking up and I am hoping for a run to town tonight, so food... might really help.  An email telling me that the Saturday event went well, with plenty of hands on deck.  All good.

I found a pack of cigarettes that allows me some tobacco hit from time to time.  While it is my house, and actually for that very reason, I won't smoke inside.  The smell lasts for weeks, even months.  While I was outside puffing, Sam decided to join me.  Yuck by the way, that instant massive hit of nicotine is... too much!  I don't know how smokers do it.  If there is a link to heart attacks and such, my guess is it has more to do with that instant huge hit.  Anyway, Sam kept checking my hands for treats.  Ah, I remembered.  When my mom is here, Sam is always out with her.  My guess is my mom is Sam's treat vending machine, same with Sassy.  I got a little peeved, then I realized... she is probably a candy machine for the children of my brother.  *chuckles*  And it doesn't stop there.  She probably spoils any small to medium sized children she can, and some adults too!  It's just... how she is.  She is called grandma by more children than you can imagine or than I can count, literally.  And, actually, I don't begrudge her that.

Of course, this lead to the notion of the fine art of seduction.  Oh?  Well, yeah.  No matter how fancy or complicated we might try to create the notion, it always comes down to a very few things.  Giving and getting.  My mother gives to my cats to get attention.  My cats take what is given in exchange for proximity.  It often ends up that there is more to it, the proximity allows the cats to be petted, which is good for them and us.  We change the cats by our notions, and lead them to a more human understanding through when, how, and if we choose to treat.

And there are many things that can and do seduce us.  Often our education, then job, lull us in.  Our loves and lovers, potential and realized, certainly draw us in.  Our hungers and thirsts, both right and wrong, can pull us strongly.  Which pulls us the most depends more on our needs and wants, or perceived needs and wants, than anything else at any particular moment, within our ability to accept.  We are so easily purchased, we sell short, we know the end.  With death as our future, and the time being completely unknown, plus the notion that even if we live we might not be able to earn, it is difficult to bet by holding out.  Best to sell while the animal is still viable? 

I doubt if much of this goes consciously into the equation.  That is why tradition, standards, and other things are so very important.  Without those we have no real idea.  When those have been set aside, or we are told all traditions are equal so we should just pick, then we are fodder for the control of fools who will lead us into our own destruction.  You don't need children, they say?  Oh?  Genetic suicide is wise?  Really?  Who will tend us, or at least take a measure of our needs and wants, when we are old?  Why, everybody will, they say.  Oh, I see.  Stick with tradition.  I have never known such a thing.  It was never involved in my equations.  Then again, I look around me and see... people coming from good homes have absolutely abandoned traditions.  I actually cling to a Euro-based traditionalism more strongly than most who were gifted it.

All that from a yucky cigarette, a begging cat, and a few days of pain.  Hmm, I don't think I'll make that trade again though, given the choice.  :p

Another smoke, another shower, then into town.  I hope.  Soon...  Later.