The best laid plans of mice and men..

Back again, four years later. Different person, in a different place. Lost a lot, and then gained some. Along the way, crossed the threshold from being a boy to a man. Reading some of my past writings, I scarcely recognize who I used to be. The occasion is ripe to quote these lines I plagiarized shamelessly:

But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often askew,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!

- Robert Burns, "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough"