cats vs dogs

i was arguing the superiority of domestic felines to canines in my office when i stumbled upon a great revelation. shamelessly quoting myself, i quote: "convincing one's cat to be affectionate is an art form. upon arriving home from the shelter with your new cat, she does not instinctively jump into your lap and slather you with hot bestial saliva! she dashes terrified under your couch and peers out at you with justifiable fear, for what small animal should voluntarily enjoy being stroked by the large hairless mitts of a gargantuan, possibly predatory, bipedal monster? i say to you, fellows of my workplace, workers in cooperation, that just as two dueling minds play not a game of chess with but two pieces, one invested in intellectual satisfaction should not prefer an easy conquest of a pet's affection, but rather a long, arduous, and romantic battle with crying rains of arrows and the ceaseless whinnying of rearing steeds–which is very much like living with a cat."

don't know what to do with myself

sitting in a chair and staring at a monitor might be celebrated as the new modern pasttime, but for me it gets old fast. i have things to do but my mind is arrested by tedium. there are actually many things for me to research, nearly too much, but i am not confident that anything i do will be implemented, or for that matter, appreciated. what am i to do if everything i produce, often through some travail, is criticized and kicked back to the drawing board instead of supported and viewed optimistically as a work-in-progress. as a scientist (or as close as i can get to one), i understand the need for meticulousness and planning when it comes to beginning a project. however, i feel like i am working alone and forced to report to one who doesn't even try to understand my work. instead, he barks corrections at me and goes off on tangents about WWII and the CIA. he still refuses to understand the technology (which i've offered to explain more times than i can count), and this is a detriment to the progression of the project. he also can't stand staying within the bounds of my papers, and insists on wildly speculating about all sorts of ideas, sometimes not relevant to the project at all (such as unmanned army spy planes).

given all this, why would i desire to continue working hard? frustration is something that a strong mind should be able to combat effectively enough to reinstill some comfort. but we all have our thresholds. i shouldn't have to fight for my superior's attention, i shouldn't have to explain things to him multiple times, i shouldn't have to rewrite the same proposal 6 times to get approval.

the atmosphere here is unnecessarily oppressive.

happiness

i am happy this morning. it feels good to write such a simple sentence with such a simple message. these days my brain has been clouded with too many interwoven thoughts. and like with an audience at a crowded lecture, one cannot pull apart the idiots from the scholars. some of these foolish thoughts have been constricting the righteously informed ones with their thick sluggish coils, and left me gasping for mental direction. sever the serpent's foul head and toss it o'er the cliff to be battered by the rocks below!

lo, the skies are quarreling with the seas, and a furious color hath wrecked the soft yellowing of dawn! these times are times of legend, and every day a noble conquest. has chivalry taken its last breath? have iniquitous knaves been given liberty to run amock and set the hills afire? then i shall stand atop the tallest green hill and plant my sword in the earth, allow the wind to carress my face, and wait for the final settling.

ideas as caged doves

If our ideas were caged doves, my boss would be the happy customer with the rented rifle who shoots them down.

And just when i thought i couldn't get more pessimistic, all the world's polar ice melted and sea levels rose seventy-five meters.