The Commission has approved of the framework for the acquisition. It has been a long road to reach the approval stage for the largest acquisition in history. The company has a 39-yr history in the industry, and its recent developments really do speak volumes for the brand.

Paul recently got a temporary gig in the industry. His thoughts were simple when he joined this organization, he just needed somewhere to land. But in all of the haste for him to "just find something," Paul found himself in the middle of exactly what he told himself wouldn't happen again.

39-yr history, he kept telling himself. The length of time was important to him. He wasn't interested in some fly-by-night encounter. He was adamantly against something that wouldn't mean anything. The meaning is where he placed his value, and the value was placed exactly to his plan. It was the plan that had the issue.

Juggling the different aspects of the environment, he once again repeated his oft repeated thought, this was supposed to be permanent, but remains temporary.

If at all he knew anything, he knew this one thing. The one thing had to be something special because it really did made everything else easier or unnecessary.

Paul felt fortunate to be part of such an amazing organization, one of the largest in the region. Despite the acquisition, Paul still felt tied to the organization on a deeper level, but it wasn't the case where he found himself tied to something permanent. In his travels, and through books, and with the help of his calm, centered mind, Paul conjured the ability read the situation by reading the people.

Most observers would wonder what the happenings of Paul's mind were all about. It does seem rather random, objectively so, that Paul would want something permanent but accept something temporary; Paul wanted something that builds on greater than he knew before, and he found it; Paul also is a confusing character because it turns out that he isn't somewhere that fits neatly into what he describes.

We see the dilemma in his eyes. We can feel the question as an undertone to the words he speaks. Even his confidence feels like a question.

______

The story of Paul is quite random, and it doesn't go anywhere. That was an exercise, and it turned out difficult to write. There was no direction from the beginning, and that seems to create a jumble of thoughts on the page. The mind is funny like that. It just keeps running, and the thoughts come out. The thoughts don't have to come out, but they arise without control. The observation of the thoughts is key. The presence and space are key. There seem to be a lot of keys to this door. I'm imagining a door with five keyholes, and each one needs to be inserted and turned simultaneously to gain access to what's behind the door.

That's freaking tough, man! Five keys at the same time?! I might need help. The two hands and two feet won't be enough to turn them all. I also conjures a strange image to think of someone trying to use both hands, both feet, and a mouth, sitting on the sit bones, smashed up against the door, working those keys with all the parts of the body. Perhaps is would be easier with some help. There is no rule that says all the keys must be turned by the same person. A partner can help access what's behind the door. But this partner must be trusted. The trust is required for the simple fact that this partner will see what's beyond the door. They will be a part of the next steps if they are chosen to assist in unlocking the hidden room.

If the world has any place of refuge, let it be near. If one should seek, I would hope that one does find. There are many ways our friend Paul could have turned out, but it is arguable, and probable, that he is still turning out.

Olive knows this all to well. She is now falling for this person with the fake-dating scheme. This is something that could have been predicted. I thought Ol was into rom-coms. I have a tough time believing that she hadn't considered this possibility. There exists a sense that she is trying to convince herself that through intellect and willpower she can overcome the feelings that are beginning. The honesty is absent in this relationship. Not in the way that they are fooling each other of the explicitness of their arrangement. It's the dishonesty that comes from lying to oneself about feelings.

Perhaps Olive really doesn't know that her body is falling in love with Adam. The comfort and ease she describes with him is beyond what she has clearly experienced before. The girl was emancipated at 16. She had no father and lost her mother at a young age. The foster system was not the most secure and supportive environment. We know that because she got out of that as soon as the law would allow.

People being people. That's what this book is teaching me. There are so many ways a person can choose to live. The endless posiblities are all but certain to collapse into one reality. Wait a fucking minute!

Okay the Schroedinger's cat of it all. We are talking about a future state. The infinite collapses to the definite when observation of the state happens. All possibilities exist until only one can exist. The past is an observation of the definite, the collapsed universe represented in the single point of outcome. Once the state is observed, it moves into the past in the next instant. The future holds all possibility, but the past is no indicator of the future. Can it be said that one doesn't want to look because the looking removes the possiblities of a different outcome.

Hypothesize all we want, but the outcome will, without exception, be the one that is observed.

Life on purpose.

Dream on purpose.

Plan on purpose.

Live on purpose.

Talking such things through with the one who is by our side, that feels like a fantasy, but the plan and the observed outcome need not differ drastically. The key (yeah, a sixth key pehaps) is the plan. Another crucial element are the principles and values of the partner. The chosen path, the planned path, and the walked path can be the same one. Even if the middle of that road doesn't quite look like it would lead the right direction, we can trust that the road will get us there without knowing how it twists and turns its way to the desired destination.

What's the difference between Paul, Olive, and us?

Only the path, only the experience, but the center of it all remains the same. The core identity of the experience cannot be differentiated in a meaningful way.

________

Okay, all that is written doesn't have to make sense. As the road twists and turns, its beauty abounds. There are no rules. Just do the thing that excites, figure the rest out later.

Although a dangerous hedonistic urge might excite and still not be chosen, it can be fun to have the discussion of possibilities, but there's danger inherent. Yep, still randomness.

This has gone too far to be useful. Writing just to write can be freeing; we discuss Paul, and he can do anything without us feeling like his choices will lock us into anything. We can cheer for Paul because it doesn't really affect us. We are Paul's friend, not his keeper.

There may be some decent nuggets buried in these paragraphs. We'll leave it for you cognitive archeologists to dig out and study.