Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Here's how a real man smokes pot. None of these wussy bongs or pipes or joints. And even better, the pipe is dual-use for between puffs. Or maybe you prefer to smoke a big blunt?

Anyway, BME members update later today… So much work to do on so many unrelated projects… Why is it that the more successful you get the less time you have to yourself? Isn't it supposed to be the exact opposite? There was a story in the local Gringo Gazette a while ago about this, I think lifted from one of those email forwarders… it goes a little like this.

A successful American businessman is vacationing in a little seaside Mexican village, and sees a fisherman coming in early in the day with his catch. As he's getting into his rusty old pickup, the American asks the fisherman, “why are you finishing work so early?”

“I've caught all the fish I need,” says the Mexican.

The American asks him what he's going to spend the rest of the day doing, and the Mexican replies, “oh, I'll have a nap with my wife in the afternoon, play with my kids, and then drink a few beers with my friends for the evening.”

The American explains to him that if he spent more time fishing he'd make more money and that he could build a profitable business — “If you spent the whole day fishing, soon you'd have enough money to buy a second boat, and then a third.”

“Oh really? What then?” asks the fisherman.

“Well, you could own a whole fleet of boats, and with the money you could move to a big city like Mexico City or even New York to run it from. You could even open your own processing plants and eventually you'd become a multi-millionaire like me.”

“How long would that take?”

“Oh, maybe twenty years,” says the American.

“And what would I do then?”

“When you're old, you'd be able to buy a house in a small seaside village, maybe do a little fishing in the mornings, and then spend the rest of the day with your family and friends. It would be paradise.”

Anyway, it's a silly story, and in the newspaper they added a stupid twist ending, but whenever I'm swamped in work I think about it. Having money is nice because it gives you a lot of freedom to travel, get things you want, and so on, but it comes with sacrifice as well…. There's not a lot in this world that I want that I can't build myself from scratch if I have time… Sometimes I wonder if I'd be better off on a farm with a nice toolshed than in front of a computer.

But I suppose in time I can do both?

And as misguided as it may be, I really do want to make sure that my daughter and my brother's kids never have to worry (and Rachel, although she can take care of herself perfectly well)… While I hope the future of the West is sunny, it could easily spin off into harsh and unpleasant territory, and people may need all the help they can get.