I get all the news I need from the weather report

I need to weed the garden, prune the bonsai, fertilize the petunias. Or perhaps I should just uproot the entire plant.

Certain things in my life have fallen into stagnation. Not because they are dead, or aren't being used, but because they remain still. They're thinking, they are alive, but like a tree, they're growing algae and moss, and parasites threaten to drive a chisel through their bodies slowly, until one day, they crack and the rot is exposed. And passers-by peer through the crack, and think, wow, it's been dying for years, I thought that old tree would be there forever, it looked so strong, and it was so stable...

As humans with language, song and thought, we don't like to think we can fall victim to things so easily wiped away as lichens or fungus. We're active creatures. We clean ourselves, our food, our living spaces. We run from being in one place for too long, with our jobs, our kids, our schools, our restaurants. But when you come home from all that at the end of the day, you sit.

See, that's when it happens.

When you're sitting there with your beer, your significant other and your television, you're letting things outside of you think for you. You're letting your television, your couch, your computer, your significant other, become parasites to your thought.

In farming, that's when the plant is cut and burned--after it's produced fruit, and probably won't any longer. Farmers know when to terminate life. Plus, it's good for the soil, all that decaying matter, mulch for the next crop.

If I terminate it now, it will decay. But when it's done, I'll be better for it. Spread the compost around so the soil can gather experience.

My life looks too much like this right now. I'm trying to find a compromise, to make this situation as painless as possible, but that's probably because I've been sitting still for too long. No real change happens painlessly. Compromising with what ails you is a silly thought.

My neighbor popped her head in my place the other day when we were getting ready to grill some steaks outside. She looked in and said, "Man, it's cozy in here. I love our little apartments. But they're so cozy, they make it hard to leave, and change, and grow." Then she turned around and left me with that.

This just isn't getting better with time.