Mortality

It's natural to reflect on your mortality after you outlive your closest friends. You age another year or two, still are hanging around, and reflect some more. You get sick, wonder if this is what the end feels like, and reflect some more.

The practical consequences of this is that I'm changing the priority of my projects. I changed the question. Not, what should I do next? But, which one un-done would be the greatest loss? I always thought I'd return to Sally after the Cold War but now I think I'll turn to Nails In My Coffin. Sally is intensely personal, yes, and might gain power as a result, but it's not very original except in some formal things I'm trying. This kind of story is everywhere. Nails, on the other hand, has an unusual look at final years and a good package for it. Of course, I expect it also will be easier. So right now my thinking is Nails after Baumholder.

Everything won't get done because I'll never be without ideas. Nature of the beast. But surely some ideas are more ordinary than others. The two "original" things to play with are Nails and my evolving notions of music drama, getting down some stuff that John later can help me with.