I sometimes wonder if people are afraid to do bold things unless they obtain a commanding nod from a smiling, glittery fairy wielding a wand that’s been clearly labeled with the word serendipity.
You see it with the person who refuses to advance his career despite myriad opportunities. You see it with the good-looking person too afraid to approach someone at a bar. You see it with the person who says yes to everything because saying no is just too much of a bother.
So we act like cattle, mingling in the herd until it’s our time to become a Big Mac.
One of the reasons I’m worried about Vladimir Putin’s reckless escapades in Ukraine is because Putin isn’t wanting for serendipity. He basically lassoed the fairy and tortured her into submission. He’s doing what he likes, and the best we can do is talk about hitting singles and doubles and warning him that if he continues to pretend like it’s 1938, one of these days we might not like it. Putin can be controlled, but only if we want to control him. But we don’t, so we don’t, so Ukraine burns.
I used to think that certain things needed to align a certain way in order to clear a path of progress. Such magical thinking no longer holds much sway. Things happen for a reason, and a lack of good fortune isn’t it. Accept the consequences of what you do, and what you don’t do, and stop waiting for the magic to start.

Errata —

• Spent one night in Chicago last week, to participate in a day-long emerging-competencies workshop sponsored by the National Association for Healthcare Quality.
• I received a letter from Western Michigan University officially welcoming me into the graduate certificate program in applied statistics.
• Looks like our micropublishing house idea will proceed. We’ll start with an anthology. First board meeting is in one week.
• My boss continues to be strongly supportive of my career.
• The cats have been delightfully mellow the last few days.
• I filed paperwork to run for an elected GOP precinct delegate position in Kent County.
• I rolled an updated PGP keypair — see the right margin for a link to my public key.