Sara J. (kefuwa)’s Reviews > Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen (Vorkosigan Saga > Status Update

When your young life offered its first disaster, naturally it loomed large. After you'd survived dozens, you basically just told the next one to take a number and get in line.

"Wasn't there some folk tale about a horse starving to death, equidistant between two bales of hay?"

Alex frowned. "But... Old Earthers didn't have space gods back then, did they? So why do it now?" - "Because we still have fortune and misfortune, I suppose." Cordelia shrugged, "Remind me to explain symbolism, projectionm and displacement to you sometimes." - "Much easier than explaining fear, loss, death, and grief," Jole murmured to her ear alone.

It wasn't as if she didn't have plenty to do. Once she'd worked through the top layer of the day's crises, there was always another layer, further down and more detailed. And a third one below that. The best camouflage for work-avoidance was more work? She contemplated the paradox, and decided, in all fairness, that it was just task-avoidance. One particular task, albeit with subheadings.

"Ambushed by your need for categories, again? Most categories are arbitrary, though I admit people do tend to find them reassuring."