"Thing is," Brian said, digging through a muddy swamp of memories that only got muddier in Adam's presence. "If I 'member right, you got distracted a lot as a kid. Hell, you got those old New Age magazines and you were out of it for weeks!"

"Now," Brian said, loosened a little by stout stout, "I sure ain't the expert on these things, but seems to me you decided what you did the first time around because of what you like, didn't ya?"

"Anyway, so take it f'r what it's worth--not much--but seems to me it'd be a rough old world of you're all...frustrated. Matters a lot more'n if you're happy than say...me."