"chuck me in to shallow water before i get too deep."

an unexpected (much appreciated) check arrived in the mail today, and i had cause to consider the nature of karma earlier this evening. two ideas, both stained by a childhood babysitter's media habits, came to mind:

1st
a vision of karma as the vertical wheel on The Price is Right, with each contestant attempting to muscle it around... "come on big wheel, come on big wheel..." spinning harder and harder, trying to land on that elusive dollar sandwiched between those measly green five and fifteen cent squares.

2nd
The Wheel of Fortune, that immaculate horizontal karmic wheel, spinning so delicate, each white peg slowly cutting into the momentum... but even in the colored whirl of expectation, you can always feel the black wedge of "bankrupt" looming. in its empty reflection you can see the fading beauty of Vanna, the impending mortality of Sajak.

i do not know what these totems mean, but that unexpected (much appreciated) check meant more to me than yesterday's Chapter 11, and it is a privilege to live in the age of a dying empire.