My brother had to go to the hospital a few hours ago.* It's uncertain what's going to happen. All I can do is distract myself.

Nothing like a personal crisis to put things into perspective; to provide the subjective sense of meaning that not only makes the world go 'round, but makes it chase its own tail, hopelessly, haplessly trapped in its own inertia.

The stress, and my intuitive reaction to it, make me realize that I've become one of those petty creatures of habit...