Had to attend a city council meeting this evening to gain approval for a sculpture project.  I’ll not mention which city, but they’ve been a great client.  Even so, I had to sit through 90 minutes of discussion regarding some new ordinances.  Thought it would never freaking end.  Then my part came.  I got up, did the power point, told a few jokes, elicited a few laughs, won approval, and marched out the door at 9:00.  All in a night’s work.

At home, my wife and I watched an Independent Lens documentary on teenage factory workers in China (mostly girls, in this case), the conditions they endure, the insanely long hours they work, the terrible pay, the denied pay, the lost pay, the cheating of the factory owners, and the endless travail that has been life in China for so many centuries, no matter under what regime.
Rather puts things in perspective.