butterflies: not necessarily free

So it's Thursday and I've got a few things on my mind.

Things are looking up. People are opening up businesses, turning corners, getting inspired. It's really busy at work. And my brother landed himself an amazing gig. He's squarely on the path to career satisfaction.

Maybe even artistic satisfaction.

Which is amazing, and has me thinking.

About paths taken or not taken. How minor changes made in the past would have a huge impact right now.

This was best demonstrated in an episode of The Simpsons.

It's the butterfly effect.

And hindsight is a bitch. Consider:

1974: I begin to use and flush q-tips down the toilet on a daily basis (for two years).

This makes perfect sense to me at the time.

1976: A few plumbers arrive and extract something out of a pipe in the wall.

My parents begin asking questions pertaining to q-tips

(nothing ever comes of it).

1983: Daily avocado activity begins!

1984: Daily avocado activity (and the occasional peanut butter and jelly on waffles instead of bread - sandwich) has a negative effect on me that I can't deny.

1985: Daily avocado activity ends.

1989: I decide to wait tables for a couple of months. Just to get ahead of my bills.

1994: I get comfortable and take up with avocados again (but not the waffle thing).

2005: I discontinue waiting tables.

2007: I finally push off doing laundry for too long. There is no turning back.

Also, avocados=over. For real this time.

So should one attempt to live in the present while simultaneously reading it as the past? Is that not the formula for living in the future?

But wouldn't that be as bad (and way less glamorous) than simply living in the past?

Wouldn't it..?