Morning Walk

Went on my walk this morning. It felt like it had been a long time since I fed the ducks. As with the last time, I fed them the whole bag. I’ll probably stick to doing that, instead of always splitting the bag into two outings.

Somewhat more worrisome, My right foot is still bothering me. It’s been at least a few weeks. Up near my toes, I have a sensitive, roughened patch, about an inch from my little toe, running almost up the side of the foot. I’m not sure what it is. I think it is the way I sit at the laptop. I have notice that when I am in deep concentration over something, I tend to press hard on it. I have no idea why. On the couch, I am sitting pretty low to the floor, which might have something to do with it.

I am just hoping it will go away like all the other little ailments, the back pain, the leg pain, the other kinds of foot pain. I have been very lucky about that. I just ignore them and they go away. I remain worried that that magic does not happen as readily when we get old, but for now, I still feel optimistic. Until then, though, it does make my walks that much less enjoyable. I may even hold off on doing it every other day, even though the weather is now good enough to go back to that steady routine.

Killing Time

Maybe I should put down ‘Internet porn and masturbation’ on my daily ‘to do’ list, so that I might procrastinate and actually get some writing done.

“Like you really care anymore.”

It’s not that I don’t care. It actually still hurts that I should be so worthless. But, yeah, huh, I am way used to it by now. I’m not Mr. Overachiever. I’m not Mr. Anybody. I’m just killing time, and now there isn’t even very much of that left to kill. If there is one thing I have done well, it is to kill time. I have definitely killed a lot of time, about fifty years’ worth. Laid it all to waste.

Kissinger on Ukraine

Russia and the West, and least of all the various factions in Ukraine, have not acted on this principle [of compromise]. Each has made the situation worse. Russia would not be able to impose a military solution without isolating itself at a time when many of its borders are already precarious. For the West, the demonization of Vladimir Putin is not a policy; it is an alibi for the absence of one.

-- Henry Kissinger

I'm a little surprised to hear from him. He still brings a strong game to the diplomatic table. In brief, Ukraine should be neither one with Europe nor under Russia. Ukrainians need to work out a government under which the eastern ethnic Russians and western Ukrainians can live with. And Russia needs to be secure in its control of that critical naval base Sevastopol. Of course, the devil is in the details as well as in the shadows, but it seems like a good general framework, something to build on rather that start World War III. Even the best of outcomes has to be a little wobbly and unstable, knowing that the big bear could strike out with his paw again, anytime he feels agitated. Perfection and perpetual world peace probably aren't real options. Kissinger captures this mordant realism well with his phrase: "The test is not absolute satisfaction but balanced dissatisfaction."

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