Tipping Point

When I was a kid, there was a weird little game that, at the time, was enormous fun - Don't Spill the Beans.

Playing was fairly simple - the beans (real ones, back then) were evenly divided among the players, and then each player gingerly placed a bean onto the pot lid.  Eventually enough beans were on the pot lid to cause it to tip over, and whoever made it tip had to collect all the beans.  The player who first offloaded all of their beans, won.

I don't recall if I ever won a game.  I played it at school, probably in kindergarten or first grade, and that seems an awfully long time ago.  The sound of the beans pouring onto the plastic surface underneath was enormously exciting and especially satisfying when it was another player who caused the havoc.

Lately, I've rather felt like that pot, although slightly less goofy, teetering at the tipping point but not quite ready to fall over.  Beans drop in and I wobble, but somehow manage to remain upright.

The thing is, I'd kind of like to turn upside down and dump the whole damned load, let someone else gather it up, tidy away the mess, and start over.

I feel like I'm on emotional gimbals when what I really want is an axle.

Sometimes, one needs to dump the beans (spilling sounds so passive - I like the more aggressive dumping for this), and I just can't seem to manage it.