I sat in that meeting facing my manager and my colleagues. The track lighting above smelled of burning. plastics. new installation done as well as anything else anywhere. systematic failure on the grandeous scale of a world's fair. After a significant ping pong of non-ideas, entities and statements, I chimed in. I would do the work that no one would do. I would ante up and realize we're all reincarnated with all our experiences over and over again. some nights i dream of the first time i was in third grade. some times i dream of it so vividly my new self breaks through and tells them how it really is. how it doesn't matter. how it's over. and then i change into my sandals and walk on the beach. that's life.