What does today mean to

Having the most lovely lie-in today after a night of too much booze, Ian and I were talking.

You go through your life, and good things happen and bad things happen. No brainer, let's keep going. You make plans for your life, as you make the plans, you start to develop a personal investment in them coming to fruition.
Okay, let me tell you what spurred this on - a friend (and flatmate) of mine just had his four-year work permit denied. As his 2 year working visa is expiring this week, this is a massive problem for him. As I've seen him walking and sitting around the flat this weekend, I sense this massive sadness coming from him; he's lost control of the situation, as all his future plans relied on him getting this visa.

It reminded me of where I was, not that long ago, when my company told me they weren't renewing my contract, and another time, when Ian and I had the hiccup that we thankfully overcame. When things don't go the way you've planned, your whole world collapses. Obviously the magnitude of this collapse is relative to the importance of the plan; with visas, jobs and relationships, it can be pretty devastating. Worse than, say, the store not stocking your favourite flavour of smoothie.

And they say that the bad moments in your life help to throw into relief the good times; if life were all sunshine we'd probably never recognise it. But it is such a desperately sad place to be in, to be living in the disappointment of an unrealised plan, that it can feel suffocating. I see my friend, and I hate how bleak he must be right now. I know that were I in his shoes, I'd be feeling pretty darn low.

Sucks to be sad; and sucks to have to see someone you care for be sad. I wonder sometimes if this is the way my life will be, whether I'll have some enormous disappointment that would colour the rest of my future. Like I would end up, on a bus, giving someone younger than me advice specific to my mistake, like 'don't invest in plastics, Jimmy!', trying desperately to live down my specific tragedy.

So, anyone watching the Olympics then?