long day's journey..

i have been thinking for a while now about how one gets from one place to another.
i talked at SV high school a few weeks ago at a career day forum. my co-panelist spoke about the rambling, tangled path from point A to point B. i have been thinking a lot about choice, luck, desire, hard work, direction, ambition, talent, and friends....
i wonder how decisions are made, and not made. i wonder why choices are made. i wonder why some people have burning desires for things that others don't want at all. i wonder, when i look at a pile of beautiful, broken bits of things...why i decide to put some together, and how many, much better combinations i am missing.i wonder how one choses the subject for a painting.
i wonder if one choses from a collection of available objects ( colors?friends? lovers? ) based on the contextual appeal, or if one just knows the right thing when it comes along....

i am currently, more than ever in my life, surrounded by amazing, talented friends. i feel like i would chose each one a million times over to be a part of my life. i've been realizing that being successful is really just being connected to people that you adore and respect and that feel the same about you. .....your friends love what you're doing, and you love what they do....there's mutual support that takes no extra effort. is there anything better?
i notice all of the time that a mutual influence spreads through ever widening circles so quickly. i am noticing how much the creative thoughts, ideas, inspirations, obsessions and creations of each of my friends has an influence on everyone we know.
is it luck, or magnetism, or astrology, or context that we are in such good company? did we make decisions in the past that lead inevitably to these meetings and influences?

at the end of the day, i feel incredibly lucky to be in such good company, and a part of what ever tangled mess it is that is my life.