“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” (Revelation 1:1)

What is the purpose and specific prophetic message this verse brings to us today?

In Revelation 1:1, we see that the Book of Revelation is given to the followers of Jesus Christ to “reveal” something which would shortly come to pass. God the Father gave this revelation to His Son, Jesus, to convey to His servants (all those who were following Him; or would ever follow Him) to make them aware of the things which would soon come upon the earth.

Since God has a much larger perspective of time than we do, the word “soon” referred to this specific time as it relates to the entire history of the world. Most biblical scholars therefore agree that the beginning of what we refer to as “End Times” began when Jesus became flesh and was born into the world and will culminate when He returns.

This expanded time frame was not, at first, understood by His followers. They assumed that Christ would return during their lifetime. However, as time passed they eventually concluded that End Times would play out over a longer period of time than they had first imagined.

As a result, they also came to realize the importance of recording everything they had experienced concerning the life and teaching of Jesus so it could be preserved for those who would be living when He actually did return.

This was the reason they were commissioned by God to bring the Holy Bible into existence. The entire Word of God, including the Book of Revelation, serves as a record of the complete story of God’s provision for mankind’s eternal salvation; Genesis to Revelation.

Jesus sent His angel messenger to make the significance of this revelation known to John, the Disciple and servant of Jesus Christ. This is the same John who established the record in the Word of God in the Gospel of John, which includes the testimony of Jesus and the account of all that John had personally seen pertaining to the life, death, resurrection, and Word of Christ.

Revelation 1:3 promises that those who read and hear the words of this prophecy and hold on to the things which are written within the pages of this Book, will be blessed (given the favor of God and will benefit from receiving these words) because “the time is at hand.”

How does God intend to benefit us in End Times through reading this historical prophetic Book?

Elsewhere in the Scriptures we are given a clue through an illustration describing the process of End Times as “a woman in travail,” about to give birth. This is a picture of intense, on-going waves of painful changes and periods of rest until the very end when Jesus Christ will suddenly return.

The Book of Revelation contains a blessing that will be revealed to us over time by reading the words of this prophecy – and continuing to read them. It is necessary to continue reading the Book of Revelation, because the “revealing” was given in symbolic form and this message was designed to require careful interpretation over the years, comparing it to historical events as they would unfold.

In essence God is saying, “Just read it.”

Even though we may not completely understand what we are reading, God wants us to read it for the purpose of collecting pieces of a puzzle which will eventually be assembled in End Times.

Even the Disciple, John, did not understand the vision he was given.

Since this was a futuristic vision involving things with which John was not familiar, it becomes obvious that he was trying to describe it in terms of the things he saw and did not understand, such as the type of warfare and military devices engaged, which had the appearance of insects with mouths and tails that could belch fire.

The Book of Revelation was clearly designed by the Creator and original Author to be obscured until a specific time in history when everything would be revealed.

As time passed, things on earth would change. Mankind would become familiar with the players of worldly conquests, various religious and political powers, and new inventions. Therefore the blessing would come as this information was collected and assembled to form this important message of the End Time.

Even today while we are still struggling to understand the true meaning of the Book of Revelation, this process of “revealing” is carefully timed and controlled by the Spirit of God to correspond to the actual End Time scenario so believers will be able to accurately determine the times we are living in and begin to realize just how far along this count down process really is.

We find in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, a warning concerning a “strong delusion” and another warning given by Jesus is found in Matthew 24 regarding a great “deception” – both taking place in End Times. Only those, who faithfully continue to personally feed on the entire Word of God and thereby be indwelt by the Spirit of God, will be able to rightly interpret the Book of Revelation and correctly compare what is written with what is actually taking place.

Personal Bible study is not an option. The stakes are too high to risk being influenced by the opinions of mere men and religious icons. We must embrace this responsibility ourselves and personally be nourished in spirit by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

If we do not listen to Him, He will not listen to us. It is as simple as that.

For this reason Jesus gives us another warning in the beginning of the Book of Revelation, Chapter 2:4-5:

“Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

Those who have left their first love, who do not remember, repent, and do the first works, will be removed from their (presumed) relationship with Christ. Regardless of what we believe about the eternal security of a professing believer, we must all admit that this warning from the lips of Jesus sounds extremely serious and should not be taken lightly.

Most professing Christians believe that leaving the first love has to do with our love for Jesus, but this is only part of the interpretation which is dependent on the multitude of worldly definitions regarding what “love” really is. Jesus said that there is an imitation “love” that calls Him “Lord,” but is not really willing to give Him preeminence or genuinely acknowledge Him as Lord at all. (Luke 6:46)

The rest of the real interpretation is found in the “Hidden Manna” throughout the entire Bible as God defines these “first works” as the most important thing in life.

This warning is given at the beginning of the Book of Revelation because unless we are doing the “first works,” we will not be able to rightly divide the Word of God or accurately interpret what is written about End Times in the Book of Revelation.

Because the Word of God makes it clear, in Ephesians 2:8, that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works, the “first works” mentioned in Revelation 2:4-5 cannot refer to any physical works, but to specific works of the spirit that are only experienced by true believers; not required to be saved but evident when one is saved.

These are works that involve recognizing the preeminence of God and feeding on the “Hidden Manna.” They take place as a result of being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and testify to our genuine relationship with Him.

It is this “Hidden Manna” which protects us from the great deception and enables the Book of Revelation to be accurately interpreted and revealed to the children of God so we can overcome and endure to the end.

“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth (Word of God). He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Revelation 2:16-17)

As of March 23, 2018, the S & P 500 (at $2,588.26) was down roughly 10% from its January 26, 2018 all time high of $2,872.87, and down about 3.2% for the year, presumably in anticipation of an imminent trade war.

Additionally, interest rate sensitive securities were trading near 52 week low levels as bond and other fixed income speculators shed inventory in anticipation of at least three 2018 interest rate hikes.

Obviously, a market scenario like this is challenging for:

• Major market participants (institutional investors) whose bond inventories are shrinking in price.
• Stock market speculators in much too high PE and low or no dividend equities.
• Income focused investors (retirees and “soontobes”) who hold positions in illiquid individual fixed income securities.
• 401k savings account holders whose pooled investment portfolios are, by design, much too heavily invested in equities.

But, it is a perfect storm of opportunity for Market Cycle Investment Management (MCIM) portfolios. The MCIM process focuses only on fundamentally sound, S & P B+ or better ranked equities of profitable, dividend paying, companies (Investment Grade Value Stocks). No individual stocks are purchased until they are trading 20% below their 52 week highs.

MCIM portfolios are diversified in several ways, and every security pays either dividends or interest. New issues, NASDAQ companies, and Mutual Funds have no place in MCIM portfolios, which also have strict profit taking disciplines that eliminate the pain of watching major profits slip away during corrections. Additionally, “cost based” asset allocation precludes the need for portfolio “re-balancing” while assuring annual income growth with a 40% or higher income purpose asset allocation.

While markets climb to record high levels, the lack of individual equity investment opportunities is ameliorated with the use of equity Closed End Funds (CEFs). These are managed, classically diversified, “real time” tradeable, portfolios covering most market sectors while providing much higher than normal (after expenses) income.

In the income purpose “bucket”, well diversified income CEFs (both taxable and tax-free) are used to assure higher than normal income from all types of generally illiquid securities… securities which (in CEFs form) magically become available in totally liquid form.

How have IGVS equities and CEFs fared in the three major meltdowns of our lifetimes?

• In 1987, IGVS equities were the first to recover, and there were no company failures or dividend cuts; few CEFs existed at the time and they were not a major portfolio holding, but individual interest rate sensitive securities rallied as interest rates were lowered.
• In 1999, IGVS equities and most CEFs did not “bubble” along with the NASDAQ, and rallied strongly during the flight to quality that followed the dot-com disaster. “No NASDAQ, no new issues, no Mutual Funds” was a winning credo then, as it should be in the next significant correction.
• In 2008, everything tanked and two or three financial services IGVS companies were crushed in the government witch hunt. Overall, there were few dividend cuts in equities, as IGVS companies rallied from the bottom at a slightly faster pace than the S & P 500 through 2014. Income CEFs, however, outperformed the entire stock market from 2007 through late 2012, while maintaining their dividends until 2016 or so, when tax free CEF yields began to fall.

Thus, while some managed portfolios may have inherent quality, diversification, and income concerns during corrections, MCIM portfolios have new investment opportunities. While some investment portfolios must deplete capital to pay monthly income to retirees, the vast majority of MCIM portfolios have excess income that is used to grow capital in any market scenario.

Four varieties of investment opportunity exist as this is being written:

• The number of IGVS equities falling 20% below 52 week high levels is growing.
• There are approximately forty primarily equity CEFs, representing a wide variety of market sectors, with current yields between 7% and 9% after all internal fees and expenses.
• There are no less than sixty-one taxable income CEFs, representing a wide variety of security types, with current yields between 7.5% and 9.5% after all internal fees and expenses.
• There are at lease thirty-one federally tax free income CEFs paying between 6% and 6.6%, after all internal fees and expenses.

For your long term portfolio health, make sure that you take advantage of them… this time. It’s been ten years since the last significant market correction, and it just makes sense to use an investment medium that provides the necessary fuel to add to positions at lower prices. The clock is ticking.

The “add to at lower prices” approach is particularly effective with CEFs, where every addition:

• Reduces your cost basis, speeding the return of profit taking opportunities.
• Increases your dividend yield on the security, and.
• Increase your annual portfolio income.

What’s that old Boy Scout motto? Right…

Imagine Biblical “End-Times” prophecies happening in your lifetime! Does thinking about disasters like the three days of darkness and the Wormwood predictions trouble you when you’re alone in the still of the night? If so, the “End-times” knowledge in a Bible-era wisdom text called The Kolbrin Bible offers new hope through new insights. Parts of it were written in the very days when Jesus walked the Earth, and it echoes the warnings of the Bible, that we could be in the “End-Times!” Yet, it also tells us some of the ways in which the ancients survived their “End Times.”

Unlike the rare and arcane texts used by Bible researchers, The Kolbrin Bible offers a familiar way to understand Bible prophecy. Written with families in mind, it offers simple “you-were-there” style accounts of many of the disasters also mentioned in the Bible. As a historical text, it covers the period between Exodus and the latest additions to the New Testament.

Within its 596 pages, it offers a profound collection of prophecies and creation stories. Published by Your Own World Books in both print and eBook editions, it is now available at Amazon.com and other popular Internet bookseller sites. Our newest edition, The Kolbrin Bible: 21st Century Master Edition, is available in print and four eBook editions, as well as in two abridged versions – the Egyptian Texts of The Bronzebook and the Celtic Texts of The Coelbook.

The print and Adobe eBook editions of all three versions are indexed. Additionally, the index in the Adobe eBook editions is fully hyperlinked. All feature the Kolbrin Citation System by Marshall Masters. It is designed to speed collaborative research, such as within Bible study groups or college courses.

By reading and sharing this ancient text with others, you will deepen your understanding of the Nature of God because of the way it complements the Bible. While God used the Bible to chronicle the growth of a Nation, The Kolbrin Bible chronicles the lives of those who loved Him, and in a manner that reaches deep into the soul of the reader.

From ancient times and diverse lands, the Bible and The Kolbrin Bible contributors describe many of the same accounts. Focused on individual impact, The Kolbrin Bible authors make you feel the gritty darkness against your skin, hear locusts swarming in to destroy your crops, and then leave you to watch your livestock whither and die before you.

The Kolbrin Bible also offers ancient stories that could have been excluded from the Bible during its first translations centuries ago. These ancient stories reveal new “End-Times” perspectives with breathtaking clarity. You’ll read about “End-Times” harbingers such as the giant “sky-monsters” (meteors) that battled in the heavens above until God cut them apart and threw them down upon the Earth.

According to The Kolbrin Bible, these “sky-monsters,” precede and accompany the “The Destroyer,” a massive object in a long-period orbit around our sun. What does it look like? They warn us that it “burns redly” as it enters the core of our system.

Mentioned profusely in the texts, the prophecy is clear. The “Destroyer” will return after The Kolbrin Bible is revealed to humanity — but could the ancients be wrong? Not likely. Our sun is more violent now than ever before in recorded history, and our planet is warming, as are the other major bodies in our system. Perhaps these are harbingers of the “Destroyer,” as well.

While The Kolbrin Bible offers somber warnings, it also offers hope. According to the ancients, the “Destroyer” is attended by “heralds” that can wreak havoc upon the Earth, and through the havoc, help humanity to grow in wisdom, and thereby, closer to God.

If our understanding of the ancient prophecies is correct, the return of the “Destroyer” will happen in the near future. This makes the “End-Times” warnings of The Kolbrin Bible a matter of urgency. For those with the foresight to prepare, “the eyes” to see and “ears” to hear and the “heart,” with which to understand, it opens a doorway to ancient knowledge stretching back to the very days when Jesus walked the Earth.

With the future of humanity at stake, the need for the common man to access the wisdom of The Kolbrin Bible is paramount.

Marshall Masters ©2006 All Rights Reserved

Of all the human experiences in life falling in love is the euphoria of the human condition. Going through adolescence many experience puppy love and infatuation but not the life changing emotion that is associated with a great love of ones life. For many this kind of great love only happens once in a lifetime. I guess I am one of the lucky ones to have experienced three times a lady in my lifetime.

It was the summer of ’67 I was a lifeguard for Conference Point Camp on Lake Geneva. Little did I know how a beautiful young lady could have such a profound affect on the rest of my life. For the rest of that summer we were as one. Then as suddenly as she came into my life she was gone. I learned how to cope with her loss but, her memory has stayed with me all through the years.

It was years latter I married the mother of my children. Then again after 10 years through more downs than ups we parted ways. I guess it was inevitable. From the onset the deck was stacked against us. After a few years of soul searching it happened again. On a Saturday night in ’83 what a lady and what a night happened to me.

Little did I know that in an instant the mutual spontaneity of attraction that quickly blossomed into the greatest love I had ever known lasted for 4 short years. As her illness progressed I wished I could have done more. After her passing there were others but none could ever replace what she did for me.

It had been over 12 years of blindly searching for love but, never really finding it. Somehow after those years of trying I ended up in Florida still searching for the last great love Little did I know that once again love would finally come my way. As luck would have it she was standing right next to me. For weeks I taught her swimming and as she progressed the student quickly became a teacher herself. Now it has been 22 years since those days in the pool. Growing old through the passage of time we have weathered many of life problems but always managed to give love in return.

Those memories of great joy and ecstasy subdued by the tragedies of life have been tempered by the passage of time. So fortunate I’ve been to have experienced a life filled with jubilation, triumph amidst great sorrow and loss. Even now in the Autumn of my life I am lucky enough to say three times a lady happened to me.

A common concept when training in any sort of speed sport is that of lap times, split times, and overall times. These concepts are not relegated only to the realm of running; they are equally important in swimming, bicycling, automobile driving, horse racing and any other sports where the competitor covers a measured distance.

It can sometimes be confusing to tell the three apart, so here are some basic definitions so that you will know what somebody is referring during conversation.

• Overall Time: Overall time on the face of things is pretty easy to define. It simply tells you how long it took to get from point A to point B. In a race, it will be how long it took you to get to the finish line. It can get a little more complicated, though, when you split your overall time into net time, moving time and gun time.
  
  1. Net Time: Net time refers to how long it takes you to run a race from the moment you cross the starting line until the moment you cross the finish line. It is usually measured by an electronic chip or tag worn on your shoe, ankle or bib number.
  2. Moving Time: Moving time refers to how long you were actually in motion during a run or a race. It could be as simple as stopping your watch at a cross walk or if you stop to relieve yourself, or could be time deducted during a race while you are at an aid station getting weighed. Very few races will track moving time to use as way to determine winners.
  3. Gun Time: Gun time refers to how long it takes you to cross the finish line starting at the sound of the gun, no matter where in the field you began your race and no matter how long it takes you to reach the starting line.
• Split Time: Your split time is your overall time at any given point in your run. For example, in a 4 mile race you might have split times of 7:00, 14:00, 21:00 and 28:00 minutes at each mile if you were running at an even 7:00 minute pace. Your split time would be your overall time at each specified way-point if your run or race ended right there.
• Lap Time: Your lap time is the time it takes you to run in between splits. In the above example, each of your mile laps would have been 7:00 minutes. The lap time is how long it takes you to get from one split to the next. The clock then starts over for the next lap.

Laps and splits will not always be for the same distance. For example, in a triathlon you would have separate splits and lap times for your swimming, your biking, and for your running.

In general, though, you will most often see mile or kilometer splits unless there is a more easily defined lap. On a track, you might have a 400 meter split, and in a pool you would have a 50 meter split.

During marathons, you may have splits every 5 kilometers, and during an ultramarathon your splits may be at specific aid stations throughout the course with no standardized distance between each one.

Tracking and analyzing your lap and split times can help you improve your training and pace yourself through a race, so I recommend keeping track of them during your interval sessions or for when you are going over your race strategy for or after a race.

· Gymnastics level 1, 2 and 3 balance beam routine has a time limit of 30 seconds.

· Gymnastics level 4 beam routine has a time limit of 50 seconds.

· Gymnastics level 5 balance beam routine has a time limit of 1 minute and 5 seconds.

· Gymnastics level 6 beam routine has a time limit of 1 minute and 10 seconds.

· Gymnastics level seven balance beam routine must be a minimum of 30 seconds and a maximum of 1 minute 20 (80 seconds).

· Gymnastics level 8, 9 and 10 minimum of 30 seconds maximum of 1 minute and 30 seconds (90 seconds).

Ten seconds before your time is up the person timing will either ring a bell or say “warning.” Once your time is up you will either hear a bell ring again or the person timing say “time.” If you go over time you will receive a 0.10 deduction from your average score. If you are a level 7-10 and your routine is shorter than 30 seconds you will receive a 2.00 point deduction from your final score plus a deduction for whatever is missing in your routine. The time for a beam routine will began as soon as the gymnast takes off from the mat or springboard. And the time ends as soon as the gymnast lands on the mat after her dismount. If the gymnast falls during her routine the person timing will stop the time once the gymnast makes contact with the floor. The time will restart as soon as the gymnast makes her first move to continue her routine. The gymnast only has 30 seconds to remount the balance beam after she falls off. This time will be timed separately; this means there must be two stop watches. The person timing will notify the gymnast when she has 20 seconds and also 10 seconds remaining to remount the beam. If she doesn’t remount the beam within the time limit the balance beam routine will be terminated. Within the 30 second fall time a gymnastics coach is allowed to coach and talk to the gymnast without receiving any deduction. During the fall time the gymnast may perform a skill on the mat but will receive a 0.20 deduction.

Have you ever wondered about the parable of the sower in Matthew 13? Jesus said a sower went out to sow and some fell here and some fell there; talking about hard ground and shallow ground and ground full of weeds. Then He mentioned the good ground. When the seed was planted in the good soil it produced, some threefold, some sixty fold and some an hundredfold.

That could be a pretty good return on your seed if it was multiplied back to thirty, sixty or an hundred times. Well the same principle holds true with your money as well…if your money were seed and you planted it into good soil ti would yield you a return of thirty, sixty or an hundred times. Fantastic…I give a penny I get a dollar back or a dollar and I receive an hundred dollars…that’s the kind of investing I like to do. The problem with this is that is not what fold means. Let’s do a little experiment: take a piece of notebook paper, now fold it in half from top to bottom; open it up and count…from where the fold is to the top is one and the fold to the bottom is two…agreed?

Okay, fold it back together; now fold it again from side to side; open it back up and count there should be four divisions. Alright, you get the idea. You have folded the paper twice now and have four divisions; fold it twenty-eight more times and count them…and this will give you thirty fold. If you really tried to fold the paper thirty times you found out that it is impossible. You discovered about seven or maybe eight times is all you can fold a piece of paper unless you flatten it with your car and then you might get one or two more folds. So calculating ‘fold’ is not going to be done folding a physical piece of paper so let’s try adding it up. If you notice when you folded the paper it doubled in number with each fold or in other words it was compounded one hundred percent with each fold so the math is fairly simple. Start with a one fold return and you receive two.

A two fold return gives you four; three fold gives you eight; then sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, one hundred twenty-eight, two hundred fifty-six which is only eight fold. Sound impossible…then it has to be God’s principle. I could not stand not knowing what the real numbers would be so I set out to crunch some numbers; at just thirty fold you would get a whopping 1,073,701,824 (that’s one billion, seventy-three million, seven hundred-one thousand, eight hundred twenty-four). Listen, we’re talking nine zeroes here; that’s phenomenal. Care to take a guess what sixty fold would be?

After all that is just thirty fold again. If you guessed 2,147,403,648 you are absolutely wrong. That’s right…wrong, wrong, wrong. Sixty fold is 1,151,973,021,073,889,216 (one quintillion, one hundred fifty-one quadrillion, nine hundred seventy-three trillion, twenty-one billion, seventy-three million, eight hundred eighty-nine thousand, two hundred sixteen) which is slightly more than double the thirty fold. How good is God…eighteen zeroes! And that’s only sixty fold. Guess, go ahead I dare you…if you are like me, I did not know theses numbers existed. I can now say them but still cannot wrap my mind around them…okay here goes…one hundred fold is 1,201,064,595,207,167,685,882,431,343,616 (one nonillion, two hundred-one octillion, sixty-four septillion, five hundred ninety-five sextillion, two hundred seven quintillion, one hundred sixty-seven quadrillion, six hundred eighty-five trillion, eight hundred eighty-two billion, four hundred thirty one million, three hundred forty-three thousand, six hundred-sixteen). Wow, read this one off and impress your friends or let them look at you like you are crazy like mine do me.

Hey I don’t care what people think about me I care what God thinks about me. Anyway these numbers are based on one seed planted or one penny or one dollar or maybe a hug or a kiss. The principle behind the fold is increase which is what God is all about contrary to popular belief. (A quick side note here…so far everything has been viewed as positive but if you plant a negative seed in negative soil it produces negative results. Ever wonder why things just don’t seem to go you way?) What if instead of giving one dollar you gave one hundred or a thousand. If you received an hundredfold return and wanted to know how much that would be just multiply 100 x 1,201,064,595,207,167,685,882,431,343,616 = 10,106,459,520,716,768,588,243,134,361,600. I know the question is about to drive you mad so I’ll ask it then attempt to answer it…why don’t I see this kind of return when I give?

Well to be honest, this is a tough question to answer. If you go back to the parable in Matthew 13 you’ll see that some seed fell on the pathway and produced no return some fell on rocky ground and produced nothing and some fell in the weeds and produced nothing; only that which fell on good ground produced anything but even at that not all seed produced an hundred fold. One thing to look at is your seed must be planted in good soil to produce anything, period. I truly believe the better the soil the greater the harvest. God alone knows why the return is what it is going to be and I believe it has something to do with the intent of your heart in your giving.

‘Modern Times’, an all-time classic was made in 1936, seventy-seven years ago. But it is not the hilarious situational comedy alone that lends the movie its timeless character. There is more to draw from the film than the obvious amusement it offers. True, the film is labelled under the ‘comedy’ genre by default and there can be no dispute about it. But a closer look could tell us that Charlie Chaplin’s theme was born of hunger, poverty, pain and suffering that he had witnessed. If you read about and have some understanding of the Industrial Revolution, the infamous Assembly Line method of production in factories and the Great Depression of the 1930s, I wonder you won’t be able to laugh as much watching the film as you would do otherwise. The appeal of Modern Times lies in the fact that the lessons of its theme extend way beyond the frontiers of the period in which it was made and the realities that inspired its making. The lessons hold good to this day. What lessons?

One: If you are a manager, you would do well to recognize that you are likely extract better output from your human resource by creating conditions that make work enjoyable rather than focussing entirely on things like the quality of machinery and the strength of the employment contract terms. If you fail to see it you will only end up driving the people working for you crazy leading to chaos.

Two: The supreme power of the human will notwithstanding, as Steve Jobs said, there is something called karma or destiny whatever you call it and you must believe in it. You might only be waving a flag just to alert its owner and that could make you a unionist instantly, a leader the next moment and a prisoner the moment after that. Not to deny the philosophy of Ayn Rand but the sad fact is that our control over our lives – of what we do and what we don’t, what happens and what doesn’t – is quite limited. Remember the corporate truth which says that career planning is an oxymoron?

Three: All of your problems could suddenly dwindle to dimension of a speck the moment you find someone with whom you share a chemistry. You know, chemistry is a wonderful that makes a ramshackle old shed feel like the Buckingham Palace. Suffering, if inevitable, is less terrible when there’s someone to share.

The bottom line in the style of the film’s narration is that there’s something that can make even the darker and uglier side of life entertaining. That’s what you call perspective – being able to take everything in your stride and laugh it off. It may look like a helpless compromise but it has its own value when there’s no other option, doesn’t it?