it seems that in order for one to guard against disappointment, they must first, as the pundits say, manage expectation. this is, I've decided, the path to emotional wisdom, else emotional wisdom itself, and my project du jour. this may or may not require surprising oneself with breakfast, frying the eggs before realizing, consciously, that you have first cracked them, or finding oneself at the park before deciding that fresh air might do the constitution some good. it's quite a challenge really and I'm left wondering, after such a cautious day, what kind of muscles a mind works in this managing, what a different mind might come of it in time, given enough of it.