"Because without the bitter, baby..."

A character from a book/movie I had read/seen a while ago had said, resignedly, "There is always something." Lately, I keep hearing those words over and over in my head (no, not in the unnerving, voices-in-my-head, insane manner). Have you ever noticed how there is, at every point, an incident or situation which either constantly plays on your mind, or bothers you, or is just there, like the proverbial white elephant in the room? Two years ago, it was Parental Trouble - the Meltdown, accompanied by Angsty Adolescence. A year ago it was the more general Existential Angst and Trouble with Friends. Once you got past that, the Case of the Bitchy Absconding Friend occurred. Then, there was the Biggest Bang (not even remotely a sexual innuendo, unfortunately) - the Difficult Relationship, closely followed by its globally successful sequel The Heartbreak. You identify the pattern, and begin to mutter, "Something has got to give," more and more frequently.

Then again, due to that annoying propensity towards contemplation, you back-track. Maybe the continuous series of unfortunate events (to borrow Lemony Snicket's ingenious title) aren't all that continuous after all. It's highly likely that the cliche about life seeming all bad because we don't realise the passage of time during the good times may by true to a large extent. And, of course, as the Stars said, "Live through this, and you won't look back." As for the next disaster lurking around the corner, all you can do is wait, with the assurance that you will be able to deal with it more easily because of the last one, and the subsequent "maturity" it induced.

"...the sweet ain't that sweet."

"It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."
— Lemony Snicket (Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid)


[Title and black italicized text courtesy 'Vanilla Sky', image from www.xkcd.com]