When gas is high, I squat by the mempool and watch transactions queue up like the morning subway rush hour—whoever bids higher gets on first, and the ones with low gas fees just wait to be pushed out. Honestly, the recent ETF inflows/outflows debate has been getting loud: when risk appetite in US stocks swings, crypto trembles along too. The result shows up in the mempool in reverse—big players increase their bids to run ahead, while the small gas fees from retail users are like riding a shared bike on the highway: you can’t move even an inch for half a day. I tried a transaction once, set a mid-tier gas fee, and then watched others cut the line—my order got repeatedly kicked out and put back in, like a package nobody wants. In the end I was too impatient to wait and just canceled it; the fee was wasted. I feel bad, but there’s nothing I can do. Anyway, now when you look at the mempool queue, you can tell who’s the boss and who’s the subordinate—just like macroeconomics: whoever has more money calls the shots. Look at those MEV-sniping bots—they pay gas like it’s free. They play with information asymmetry; we play with adrenaline. Forget it—wait for the next block. Be patient.