For every action...

...there is an equal and opposite reaction. I believe Isaac Newton figured that out first.

It's the truth. There have been a number of actions around here this week. I'm waiting for the "equal and opposite" reaction.

And it's not going to be pretty.

I won't bore you with the "every action" list. It is as you might imagine: payments that didn't arrive, people who are unwilling to reply to phone messages and emails, job applications that apparently vanished into the Great Void, Photographer D. trying to get me stirred up to write a story a publication is supposedly eager to get (a contention disproved, alas, by the editor of said magazine who was, at best, lukewarm to the idea when I called him today), and the usual chorus of people lining up to drink my blood if they can't get my money....

That's the action. What might the reaction be? That's something I don't want to consider.

Experience tells me that advising the howling mob that things are out of my hands will not calm them. I am not the government; I can't write checks without worrying whether there are funds to cover them. I can't print money.

Apparently, I can't earn money either.

I'm not going to make excuses. I chose to do what I do and, over the years, I have learned that it is a tenuous gig at best. You might say I should have been more ant than grasshopper, and I can't dispute that.

PARENTHETICAL DON'T-PAY-ATTENTION-TO-FABLES THOUGHT: Aesop -- or whoever the hell dreamed up all these cautionary tales of grasshoppers vs. ants, or tortoises vs. hares -- didn't take into consideration the simple fact that even the ant (or tortoise) can starve when the diet is meager enough.

What the hell. I have no brilliant answer, no snappy comeback.

In fact, I need a break (no matter how short) from this, a friendly shoulder to lean on while I consider what I might do.

I have learned, however, that I shouldn't expect to get that break.

So the "equal and opposite reaction" will be what it is.