"I'm concentrating very much on my role as a father. I'm a new father and I take my duties and responsibilities to my family very seriously and I want to bring my children up as good people with the idea of service and duty to others as very important. But if I can't give my time to my children as well, I worry about their future."
— Prince William, 2016, criticized for uncompromisingly seeking a secluded, 'normal' life for his young family out of the public eye
"You need a strong, unified family base to allow you to have courage to go out there and take risks you probably wouldn't have taken without that strong foundation to fall back on."
— L.L. Cool J
"Every time I take a shower, I turn off the hot water after I'm all cleaned up, and let it run cold. Standing under cold water for 10 minutes releases my mind from everything – good and bad. It gives me a mental break and lets my body deal with the state of discomfort. It also reminds me of the life I left behind and that I can make it through anything."
— Marcus Lutrell, former SEAL and author of Lone Survivor
"About 12 years ago, I was running a lot and feeling the wear and tear on my knees, so I decided to try yoga. It was the answer.... It tones my body, soothes my stress, and gives me energy. My creativity and focus came back and it changes my whole spirit."
— Tommy Hilfiger
"My Andes experience taught me not to lie. There was no sense in lying when we were so close to death. At home my children were born with the story. When my son, Hilario, was four years old, he was asked, 'Did you know that your daddy ate his friends.' My son answered in a very natural way, 'Yes, come along and I'll tell you what happened.'"
— Dr. Roberto Canessa
"All I knew then was what I wasn't, and it took me years to discover what I was. Which was a writer. By which I mean not a 'good' writer or a 'bad' writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper."
— Joan Didion
"You have to build habits that keep your energy high. This is my formula: (1) Vigorous exercise: When I have a great workout, I rarely have a bad day. (2) Good fuel: When I eat clean, my energy rarely sags. (3) Good partners: Working with positive people keeps your spirits up. (4) Balance: I pray and I also laugh a lot. You won't have focus without balance. (5) A goal: A worthy challenge will take care of your motivation for you."
— Eric Greitens, former SEAL, author, and current Governor of Missouri
"The best way to cheer yourself up is to cheer everybody else up."
— Mark Twain
"Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world, or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home. Virtual reality was once a dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones."
— Mark Zuckerberg
"I think it was important for me both in the (foreign) films I was watching and in the travel I was doing to see, despite the distances, how similar we all are in some ways. And I don't mean that to eradicate the differences because I think our uniqueness is special too, but it's nice to know that we're all wrestling with life and consciousness. I think when you travel, you get that in a very visceral way.... I'm a storyteller. I'm a storyteller while always trying to become a better man, you know? That's who I am."
— Barry Jenkins, writer and director of Moonlight which won the Oscar for Best Picture
"If it was easy, everyone would do it. You have to be a little bit crazy; you have to have gumption and tenacity. A lot of people give up at the first roadblock. But, for entrepreneurs, if there isn't another road, we create it. We break concrete; we throw dynamite; we figure it out."
— Jessica Alba, actress and businesswoman
"Obama... noted at one point that even in the nation's darkest moments he gains strength – and perspective – by tapping into an abiding sense of optimism. It is a heartening notion in an era of blaring headlines, instant analysis, and perishable soundbites."
— Vanity Fair magazine
"I try to be a realistic optimist: I'm very clinical about where we are today, but extremely optimistic about what we're going to get done in the future."
— Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest
"They say that in your 20s you're trying to work out the man
that you want to be, and in your 30s you discover who he is. And warped
and all, beer gut and all, brain damage and all, you just kind of go,
'Well, this is it, and I might as well try to polish it a tiny bit.' I'm
stuck with who I am, but I can be man enough to iron out the creases."
— Sam Worthington, actor
"If I'm given a negative view, then I'll take that and work harder. You just have to get through anything that's irrelevant or a personal attack, and you might find the gold nugget that can take you to the next level and closer to what you want to achieve in life.... Naomi Watts says it took her 10 years to become an 'overnight success.' And what about Geoffrey Rush? He was almost 50 when Shine hit."
— Sam Worthington
"The sort of life that I had had previous to this popular success was one that required endurance, a life of clawing and scratching along a sheer surface and holding on tight with raw fingers to every inch of rock higher than the one caught hold of before, but it was a good life because it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created."
— Tennessee Williams
"Purity of heart is the one success worth having."
— Tennessee Williams
"'Every day I wake up and there's a barn owl in my bed,' he says. Fortunately, (Simon) Rouse's girlfriend doesn't mind. Nor does she mind the the kestrel (a kind of falcon) flying around the living room, or the 30 birds – all of which are capable of snapping the neck of a rabbit or even a fox – living in cages outside his home. Sure, there are aviaries for birds like this. Rouse just prefers the roommate situation. 'To me, it's normal,' he says. 'But to everyone else, I suppose I'm kind of a freak.'"
— Men's Health magazine
"It's so tempting... to retreat to narrow arrogance, pre-formed positions, rigid filters, the 'moral clarity' of the immature. The alternative is dealing with massive, high-entropy amounts of info and ambiquity and conflict and flux; it's continually discovering new areas of personal ignorance and delusion. In sum, to really try to be informed and literate today is to feel stupid nearly all the time, and to need help. That's about as clearly as I can put it."
— David Foster Wallace
"If my career had turned out like the fantasy I had of what it was going to be, it would never have made me happy. But I couldn't have known that until it didn't happen. I found a success that is so much bigger and deeper and better, and it's because it happened later. If any of what I'm having happen now – the successes – would have happened to me when I was younger, I would have been ruined. Because when you're young, and things comes super easily to you, and you have successes right out of the gate, you're liable to think that's how it actually works. You start to think you don't need to be fully prepared or committed to have these things meet you.... I muscled a lot of what I've achieved by sheer force of will and relentless determination. And I wasn't hearing a lot of 'Everything's going to be fine.'"
— Sarah Paulson, actress
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."
— Thomas Jefferson
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience."
— Thomas Jefferson
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."
— Thomas Jefferson
"We're all dying, but if you're not chasing your dream, you're already dead."
— Steve Mazan, who is still alive despite being told 12 years ago that he had inoperable liver cancer and less than five years to live
"The part came very easily for me – which doesn't say much for my mental health."
— Anthony Hopkins on his role as Hannibal Lector
"I'm very pleased to be here. Let's face it, at my age I'm very happy to be anywhere.... I can't afford to die. I'm booked. I'd lose a fortune.... I would go out with women my age, but there are no women my age.... I can't understand why I flunked American history. When I was a kid there was so little of it."
— Comedian George Burns who lived to be 100 and continued to work until his death
I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest
of my life.... Retirement at 65 is ridiculous. When I was 65 I still had pimples....
The most important thing in acting is honesty. If you can
fake that, you've got it made.... I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate.... I love to sing, and I love to drink scotch. Most people would rather hear me drink scotch.... In those days, the best painkiller was ice; it wasn't addictive and it was particularly effective if you poured some whiskey over it."
— George Burns
Friday, December 29, 2017
Friday, December 22, 2017
#385
Megan's basketball bag was stinky last night. That's awesome! A sure sign someone's an athlete and competitor: stinky gym clothes wadded in a duffel with shoes – that aren't roses either – and water bottles, ponytail holders, and so on. I love Megan!
I realize her stinky clothes may reflect poorly on me, as I am Megan's laundryman. But don't worry, I'll wash them. At least once, like mid-season. Kidding.
A word on the word 'competitor' which I used above: Competitors, of course, aren't just those who oppose other people, other teams. Competing with oneself, the person you were yesterday, the athlete / worker / artist you were yesterday, is competition too. It's the hardest kind, in fact; continuous improvement is a continuous challenge, the opposite of complacent, the farthest thing from lazy. It's definitely the most important kind of competition. Amen.
At the train station in Chicago, there's an area called the French Market. It's full of proprietors at counters selling a cornucopia of consumables. Michael likes to eat there (when he comes into the city with me), but I walk through just for the smells. There are inviting, interesting aromas of all kinds. We don't use our noses like most animals. Maybe we should. At the French Market I breath deeply and sniff donuts, baked goods, bread, cooked meats, cured meats, seafood, spices, ethnic foods, coffee, flowers. It's a feast for the nose and eyes, and the taste buds too if I stop and eat as I do with Michael. And sometimes they have live music so the ears aren't left out. Life can be rich if you take a second to consume it, in the moment, by observation, inhalation, whatever, take it in, say thanks, and then head off to work or catch your ride home. Amen. Again. Sorry. Very preachy today. Drank too much coffee.
M 'n' m both had orchestra concerts last week and they were fantastic. Michael's show featured some high school musicians who were truly brilliant, it seemed to me, in particular a violinist who was magnificent and flawless; I imagine it will cost money to see her play someday (the school concerts are free). And there was a young man who played the piano and then the viola in the highest of four levels of musicians. I was like, "Holy shit, wasn't that guy just playing the piano like Elton John, and now he's fiddling like 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia?'" That's special. Musicianship at its finest. Michael's in the second level of the four groups; not bad for a freshman. He learned the bass this year and performed with that; formerly he played only the cello. I love Michael! Megan is a cellist, and I suspect her adoration of her big brother played a part in her choice of instrument.
I realize her stinky clothes may reflect poorly on me, as I am Megan's laundryman. But don't worry, I'll wash them. At least once, like mid-season. Kidding.
A word on the word 'competitor' which I used above: Competitors, of course, aren't just those who oppose other people, other teams. Competing with oneself, the person you were yesterday, the athlete / worker / artist you were yesterday, is competition too. It's the hardest kind, in fact; continuous improvement is a continuous challenge, the opposite of complacent, the farthest thing from lazy. It's definitely the most important kind of competition. Amen.
At the train station in Chicago, there's an area called the French Market. It's full of proprietors at counters selling a cornucopia of consumables. Michael likes to eat there (when he comes into the city with me), but I walk through just for the smells. There are inviting, interesting aromas of all kinds. We don't use our noses like most animals. Maybe we should. At the French Market I breath deeply and sniff donuts, baked goods, bread, cooked meats, cured meats, seafood, spices, ethnic foods, coffee, flowers. It's a feast for the nose and eyes, and the taste buds too if I stop and eat as I do with Michael. And sometimes they have live music so the ears aren't left out. Life can be rich if you take a second to consume it, in the moment, by observation, inhalation, whatever, take it in, say thanks, and then head off to work or catch your ride home. Amen. Again. Sorry. Very preachy today. Drank too much coffee.
M 'n' m both had orchestra concerts last week and they were fantastic. Michael's show featured some high school musicians who were truly brilliant, it seemed to me, in particular a violinist who was magnificent and flawless; I imagine it will cost money to see her play someday (the school concerts are free). And there was a young man who played the piano and then the viola in the highest of four levels of musicians. I was like, "Holy shit, wasn't that guy just playing the piano like Elton John, and now he's fiddling like 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia?'" That's special. Musicianship at its finest. Michael's in the second level of the four groups; not bad for a freshman. He learned the bass this year and performed with that; formerly he played only the cello. I love Michael! Megan is a cellist, and I suspect her adoration of her big brother played a part in her choice of instrument.
Thursday, December 21, 2017
Stuff About Things #11
"I plan it so I finish skating and work before 3 PM. This way I can spend time with my kids. With my teenage boys, I can identify with the awkwardness, being less confident than you project, and the need for belonging. When I was that age, I had support for my skating, but I didn't have anyone campaigning for my personality. So I try to instill in them that they are funny and interesting, and to be curious about the world."
— Tony Hawk
"My Grandpa (Francis Ford Coppola) told me, 'Learn to love anxiety, because it never goes away in moviemaking.' ... (My new movie) is about the growing pains of being young - discovering who you are, realizing your parents are flawed human beings, realizing that life gets more complex, and not less, as you get older."
— Gia Coppola"
Relax. No one else knows what they're doing either."
— Ricky Gervais
"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."
— Thomas Edison
"Ten days before he became so famous that crowds would form around any building that contained him and waiters would fight over a corncob left on his dinner plate, no one had heard of Charles Lindbergh. The New York Times had mentioned him once, in the context of the coming Atlantic flights. It had misspelled his name."
— Bill Bryson, One Summer: America, 1927
"Luck lives in the city. Luck don’t live out here. You understand? ... Wolves don't kill unlucky deer. They kill the weak ones."
— Cory Lambert (played by Jeremy Renner) in Wind River
"I write every day. There's nothing like a well-structured sentence to make you feel like everything is right with the world."
— Makenzie Leigh
It's a mystery I've never solved: What is it that drives me to perform when I can hardly hold my own at a dinner party.... (If forced to choose between rock and writing) I wouldn't hesitate, I couldn't live without writing."
— Patti Smith
Knowledge will give you power, but character will give you respect."
— Bruce Lee
"Laughter and Hitchens were inseparable companions, and comedy was one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal.... (He was) the most indefatigable of allies and the most eloquent of defenders."
— Salmon Rushdie on his friend Christopher Hitchens
"It could be argued that those who seek to make themselves over into a finer state of health and physique and fitness should not put off the job until they are in their 59th summer. As against that comes the piercing realization that, if you have actually made it this far and want to continue featuring in the great soap opera of your own existence, you had better take some swift remedial steps. It was all summed up quite neatly by whoever first said that if he'd known he was going to live this long he'd have taken better care of himself."
— Christopher Hitchens
"Accept the seasons of your heart."
— Kahlil Gibran
"Outer world follows inner world."
— Peter Sage
"Let you religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."
— G. K. Chesterton
"Bad style doesn't discriminate. What it does do, kind of like coke-snorting and clubbing, is get much, much less cute as you age. When you're young and you dress too trendy, you look like a schmuck. When you're old and you dress too trendy, you look like an even bigger schmuck."
— Details magazine
"I love elections. It's so much fun. It's even more fun when you're not on the ballot."
— Barack Obama, saying so wryly
"I relish risk. Risk is extra life."
— Jeremy Irons
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
— Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
"If something didn't capture my attention, I was beyond useless. If it did, my focus was unbreakable.... I improved very quickly because of my ability to focus on one thing that fascinated me.... I don't live one day at a time, I live 20 minutes at a time. It drives my wife Anita crazy because I can't think of what I'm doing tomorrow."
— David Feherty
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
— Louis L'Amour
"I'm always working to find the balance between the ideal and the practical, and that's why I like this advice from Steve Jobs: 'Realize that sometimes best is the enemy of better. Sometimes I go for best when I should go for better, and end up going nowhere.'"
— Jack Dorsey
"You may not be an eternal optimist, but you're probably not a natural naysayer either. You just need to build your optimism muscles. Each week, pick one part of your life - career, relationships - and envision the next decade if all goes well. This exercise can improve your whole-life outlook, say scientists from the University of California at Riverside."
— Men's Health magazine
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."
— Kahlil Gibran
"Without suffering, no beauty."
— French saying
— Tony Hawk
"My Grandpa (Francis Ford Coppola) told me, 'Learn to love anxiety, because it never goes away in moviemaking.' ... (My new movie) is about the growing pains of being young - discovering who you are, realizing your parents are flawed human beings, realizing that life gets more complex, and not less, as you get older."
— Gia Coppola"
Relax. No one else knows what they're doing either."
— Ricky Gervais
"I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work."
— Thomas Edison
"Ten days before he became so famous that crowds would form around any building that contained him and waiters would fight over a corncob left on his dinner plate, no one had heard of Charles Lindbergh. The New York Times had mentioned him once, in the context of the coming Atlantic flights. It had misspelled his name."
— Bill Bryson, One Summer: America, 1927
"Luck lives in the city. Luck don’t live out here. You understand? ... Wolves don't kill unlucky deer. They kill the weak ones."
— Cory Lambert (played by Jeremy Renner) in Wind River
"I write every day. There's nothing like a well-structured sentence to make you feel like everything is right with the world."
— Makenzie Leigh
It's a mystery I've never solved: What is it that drives me to perform when I can hardly hold my own at a dinner party.... (If forced to choose between rock and writing) I wouldn't hesitate, I couldn't live without writing."
— Patti Smith
Knowledge will give you power, but character will give you respect."
— Bruce Lee
"Laughter and Hitchens were inseparable companions, and comedy was one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal.... (He was) the most indefatigable of allies and the most eloquent of defenders."
— Salmon Rushdie on his friend Christopher Hitchens
"It could be argued that those who seek to make themselves over into a finer state of health and physique and fitness should not put off the job until they are in their 59th summer. As against that comes the piercing realization that, if you have actually made it this far and want to continue featuring in the great soap opera of your own existence, you had better take some swift remedial steps. It was all summed up quite neatly by whoever first said that if he'd known he was going to live this long he'd have taken better care of himself."
— Christopher Hitchens
"Accept the seasons of your heart."
— Kahlil Gibran
"Outer world follows inner world."
— Peter Sage
"Let you religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair."
— G. K. Chesterton
"Bad style doesn't discriminate. What it does do, kind of like coke-snorting and clubbing, is get much, much less cute as you age. When you're young and you dress too trendy, you look like a schmuck. When you're old and you dress too trendy, you look like an even bigger schmuck."
— Details magazine
"I love elections. It's so much fun. It's even more fun when you're not on the ballot."
— Barack Obama, saying so wryly
"I relish risk. Risk is extra life."
— Jeremy Irons
"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."
— Sarah Elizabeth Lewis
"If something didn't capture my attention, I was beyond useless. If it did, my focus was unbreakable.... I improved very quickly because of my ability to focus on one thing that fascinated me.... I don't live one day at a time, I live 20 minutes at a time. It drives my wife Anita crazy because I can't think of what I'm doing tomorrow."
— David Feherty
"There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning."
— Louis L'Amour
"I'm always working to find the balance between the ideal and the practical, and that's why I like this advice from Steve Jobs: 'Realize that sometimes best is the enemy of better. Sometimes I go for best when I should go for better, and end up going nowhere.'"
— Jack Dorsey
"You may not be an eternal optimist, but you're probably not a natural naysayer either. You just need to build your optimism muscles. Each week, pick one part of your life - career, relationships - and envision the next decade if all goes well. This exercise can improve your whole-life outlook, say scientists from the University of California at Riverside."
— Men's Health magazine
"Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."
— Kahlil Gibran
"Without suffering, no beauty."
— French saying
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Lenny Kravitz and the first validation not from his parents...
... which means his parents gave him A LOT of validation to help him arrive at this impressive 'second' validating moment. It's an important job we have as parents to inspire, reassure, and validate. I guess even rock stars can flower into full bloom under parental support. I just never thought of parents as helpful to rockstardom.
"I was playing in Switzerland and after the show there was a knock on my door. I said, 'Who is it?' A voice said, 'Yoko Ono.' And I was like, 'Yeah right.' I'm thinking somebody's playing with me: 'Go away.' Another knock. 'Who is it?' 'Yoko Ono.' I think I said something crude, to leave me alone. Finally, they knocked again, and I opened it because I was curious to see who was pulling this gag on me. There was Yoko Ono, standing at my door. I'm a huge John Lennon fan. My first album had a lot of his influence because I was so into the Plastic Ono Band at that time. So Yoko came in and was telling me how much she enjoyed my music. Then she told me, 'John would've really liked your album. The way you sing, that's the kind of voice he wanted to sing with.' I was blown away. I couldn't believe that this woman was telling me this. Then we began a friendship and I played at a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool in 1990. It was unexpected validation - the first thing I can remember in my career that was not from my parents."
— Lenny Kravitz
"I was playing in Switzerland and after the show there was a knock on my door. I said, 'Who is it?' A voice said, 'Yoko Ono.' And I was like, 'Yeah right.' I'm thinking somebody's playing with me: 'Go away.' Another knock. 'Who is it?' 'Yoko Ono.' I think I said something crude, to leave me alone. Finally, they knocked again, and I opened it because I was curious to see who was pulling this gag on me. There was Yoko Ono, standing at my door. I'm a huge John Lennon fan. My first album had a lot of his influence because I was so into the Plastic Ono Band at that time. So Yoko came in and was telling me how much she enjoyed my music. Then she told me, 'John would've really liked your album. The way you sing, that's the kind of voice he wanted to sing with.' I was blown away. I couldn't believe that this woman was telling me this. Then we began a friendship and I played at a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool in 1990. It was unexpected validation - the first thing I can remember in my career that was not from my parents."
— Lenny Kravitz
Monday, December 18, 2017
On Bill Russell, a giant
"I love the interviews that I learn from. (For example) I adore Bill Russell. Segregation was never a problem for him – if you don't want to see me play, that's fine. I'm outta here. He had a dignity and an aura about him that I only experienced one other time – when I shook hands with Nelson Mandela. It wouldn't have mattered what era Bill Russell had been born in; he would have been a giant at whatever he did."
— David Feherty
"He was born in 1934 to poor parents in Louisiana, the Jim Crow South. He became the first African-American superstar in basketball. Before he was drafted by the Celtics, he led San Francisco University to two NCAA championships (San Francisco was his first and only scholarship offer). He also won a gold medal in 1956. He quickly became the centerpiece of the Celtics’ dynasty in the late '50s and '60s. He was the NBA’s MVP five times and an All-Star 12 times in 13 seasons. He and his rival Wilt Chamberlain are the only players to get more than 50 rebounds in a game. Russell’s intensity was unrelenting, as were his expectations of his teammates. He would get so worked up before games that he would vomit. The sound reassured his teammates. Havlicek called it 'a tremendous sound, almost as loud as his laugh.' And, said Havlicek, 'It’s a welcome sound, too, because it means he’s keyed up for the game and around the locker room we'd grin and say, man, we’re gonna be all right tonight.'"
— New England Historical Society
"The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation, and people go deeper than that."
— Bill Russell, who did some broadcasting/commentating but didn't like it and didn't continue
"If your kids experience kindness growing up, they will know how it feels. A lot of people equate kindness with weakness. But true kindness is an act of strength."
— Bill Russell
(For his philanthropic accomplishments in Civil Rights and mentoring young people, President Obama awarded Bill Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom.) "'Is this the greatest personal honor in his life?' (He was asked.) 'A close second,' Russell replied. Umm, what’s first? 'When he was about 77, my father and I were talking,' Russell answered. 'And he said: You know, you're all grown up now, and I want to tell you something. You know, I am very proud of the way you turned out as my son, and I'm proud of you as a father.' 'My father is my hero, okay, and I cannot perceive of anything topping that.'"
— The New York Times
— David Feherty
"He was born in 1934 to poor parents in Louisiana, the Jim Crow South. He became the first African-American superstar in basketball. Before he was drafted by the Celtics, he led San Francisco University to two NCAA championships (San Francisco was his first and only scholarship offer). He also won a gold medal in 1956. He quickly became the centerpiece of the Celtics’ dynasty in the late '50s and '60s. He was the NBA’s MVP five times and an All-Star 12 times in 13 seasons. He and his rival Wilt Chamberlain are the only players to get more than 50 rebounds in a game. Russell’s intensity was unrelenting, as were his expectations of his teammates. He would get so worked up before games that he would vomit. The sound reassured his teammates. Havlicek called it 'a tremendous sound, almost as loud as his laugh.' And, said Havlicek, 'It’s a welcome sound, too, because it means he’s keyed up for the game and around the locker room we'd grin and say, man, we’re gonna be all right tonight.'"
— New England Historical Society
"The most successful television is done in eight-second thoughts, and the things I know about basketball, motivation, and people go deeper than that."
— Bill Russell, who did some broadcasting/commentating but didn't like it and didn't continue
"If your kids experience kindness growing up, they will know how it feels. A lot of people equate kindness with weakness. But true kindness is an act of strength."
— Bill Russell
(For his philanthropic accomplishments in Civil Rights and mentoring young people, President Obama awarded Bill Russell the Presidential Medal of Freedom.) "'Is this the greatest personal honor in his life?' (He was asked.) 'A close second,' Russell replied. Umm, what’s first? 'When he was about 77, my father and I were talking,' Russell answered. 'And he said: You know, you're all grown up now, and I want to tell you something. You know, I am very proud of the way you turned out as my son, and I'm proud of you as a father.' 'My father is my hero, okay, and I cannot perceive of anything topping that.'"
— The New York Times
Friday, December 15, 2017
#384
Megan had about 8 inches of her hair cut off. I didn't notice but several of her basketball teammates did. "You got your hair cut! It looks great!" they told her cheerfully. "I didn't notice," I said. "Of course you didn't," they said. I love Megan, her hair, and her basketball team. Her teammates are great supporters of each other, friends, competitors, little comedians sometimes, winners, sweet, smart, very tough; I'm grateful Megan is a part of it all. Indeed, the girls play hard and occasionally collide, bump, knock each other down. But it's never dirty (like Duke's Grayson Allen, for example, who trips everyone in frustration). So on Sunday when an opponent ended up on the floor and the other coach stormed out and glared at our team, I took heightened interest; it seemed like he wanted to snap at our girls. I felt myself begging him to do so. Which is wrong of me, of course. I can be conflict-averse, passive-aggressive, and just plain wimpy, but there at times when this is not the case, when I feel free and right and completely oblivious to everyone except the person I think is behaving badly. Or about to. The other coach looked down and mumbled something we couldn't hear. Good. I would've thrown some energy at him otherwise, only verbally obviously, but enough to embarrass myself and accomplish little else. But I wouldn't have cared; it's very liberating to be single-minded like that. "You talk to your team. You do NOT talk to our team. Ever. Out of anger, anyway. No one will make our girls feel bad for playing hard and competing fairly. They are respectful and good-hearted; I know this about every one of them. Coach Mike and I witness this over and over again, as do all the other families; we've spent many hours together. It's really a special group. There are ornery kids in the world, some with only a speck (but a measurable speck nonetheless) and I have known and coached a few of this sort, and found it interesting, challenging, even enjoyable (being around, and trying to steer and focus, all types of competitors). And I can tell you exactly none of Megan's teammates have a mean streak (or speck). Megan, on the other hand.... ah, not true, she is one of the least aggressive; she's a million miles from ornery on the court; maybe she should be a smidge closer, in fact?
The instinct to protect and defend someone else is a fascinating one to me. Evolution may explain why we do so for our offspring, but what about for friends? When no harm to ourselves is impending, but we put ourselves in jeopardy for a friend... what is the force behind this, the scientific force or explanation? Is it 'the preservation of social structures inside which members can more optimally survive and thrive?' That sounds like bullshit because it is; I just made it up. But we are social beings. Even so, it doesn't sound very Darwinian to risk big for a friend. It's something finer. For some people it's a job to risk and serve (armed forces, police, fire, education professionals, those in charities, non-profits, some churches) and I'm grateful. It's impressive when dedication and sacrifice are on full display in someone who isn't a mama grizzly bear with two cubs behind her.
Yes, grizzlies are the quintessential protective parents. Yes, it is only the moms. (Bear dads are deadbeats and dangerous but let's not examine that as metaphor or any kind of common, cross-species trait, thank you very much.) Grizzly mamas are enormous, fierce, and aggressive when it comes to keeping babies safe. This is common knowledge. This is awesome. Every parent not only understands, but admires, the grizzly mom who will unhesitatingly deploy a massive paw, bristling with claws like a morning star, to scalp, de-limb, slice to ribbons, or otherwise deter any creature that threatens her cubs. Her message is clear: Don't do it. Don't even think about it. Thankfully, we aren't wolves or mountain lions that – because they're either very brave or very starving – will sometimes attempt to take a cub, and sometimes succeed, despite unfavorable odds and horrible, bloody risk. As for humans, according to research, seventy percent of human deaths caused by grizzly bears are related to mothers protecting cubs. Oh, and the mothers also teach the cubs everything, feed and care for them, hang out and play with them, snuggle them.... Hey dad bears, WTF?!
The instinct to protect and defend someone else is a fascinating one to me. Evolution may explain why we do so for our offspring, but what about for friends? When no harm to ourselves is impending, but we put ourselves in jeopardy for a friend... what is the force behind this, the scientific force or explanation? Is it 'the preservation of social structures inside which members can more optimally survive and thrive?' That sounds like bullshit because it is; I just made it up. But we are social beings. Even so, it doesn't sound very Darwinian to risk big for a friend. It's something finer. For some people it's a job to risk and serve (armed forces, police, fire, education professionals, those in charities, non-profits, some churches) and I'm grateful. It's impressive when dedication and sacrifice are on full display in someone who isn't a mama grizzly bear with two cubs behind her.
Yes, grizzlies are the quintessential protective parents. Yes, it is only the moms. (Bear dads are deadbeats and dangerous but let's not examine that as metaphor or any kind of common, cross-species trait, thank you very much.) Grizzly mamas are enormous, fierce, and aggressive when it comes to keeping babies safe. This is common knowledge. This is awesome. Every parent not only understands, but admires, the grizzly mom who will unhesitatingly deploy a massive paw, bristling with claws like a morning star, to scalp, de-limb, slice to ribbons, or otherwise deter any creature that threatens her cubs. Her message is clear: Don't do it. Don't even think about it. Thankfully, we aren't wolves or mountain lions that – because they're either very brave or very starving – will sometimes attempt to take a cub, and sometimes succeed, despite unfavorable odds and horrible, bloody risk. As for humans, according to research, seventy percent of human deaths caused by grizzly bears are related to mothers protecting cubs. Oh, and the mothers also teach the cubs everything, feed and care for them, hang out and play with them, snuggle them.... Hey dad bears, WTF?!
Thursday, December 7, 2017
The most important things... and don't wait to write some of it down...
"People say, 'Man, you must have some amazing realizations about
life.' It's funny, but what I learned from my injury was something I
already knew: Family and relationships are the most important things,
not what kind of job you have or the car you drive."
— Jim Kane, who recovered from a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that initially left him unable to walk and talk
"I came home to a pale and elegant body in an open coffin, her thin hands crossed on her breast.... A million sights and sounds rang through my head as I stared down at her. I thought about the times when I was a little boy, no more than five, when she would let me sleep at the foot of her bed so we could listen to her Philco, how I drifted off to sleep with the tinny voices.... She told me she saw Hank Williams once, back before he died. But she was flying pretty high on her medicine that night and might have told a lie, since she felt that another benefit of old age (in addition to playing your radio all night long if you want to) was that it gave you license to lie (with a smile).... But it was then, as that dead man's poetry ran through my mind, as I stared down at that old woman I had seen for just a few hours a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas because I wrongly believed I was doing more important things, that I knew I should not wait any longer to write some of this down, whether anyone ever read it or not."
— Rick Bragg, All Over but the Shoutin'
— Jim Kane, who recovered from a traumatic brain injury in a car accident that initially left him unable to walk and talk
"I came home to a pale and elegant body in an open coffin, her thin hands crossed on her breast.... A million sights and sounds rang through my head as I stared down at her. I thought about the times when I was a little boy, no more than five, when she would let me sleep at the foot of her bed so we could listen to her Philco, how I drifted off to sleep with the tinny voices.... She told me she saw Hank Williams once, back before he died. But she was flying pretty high on her medicine that night and might have told a lie, since she felt that another benefit of old age (in addition to playing your radio all night long if you want to) was that it gave you license to lie (with a smile).... But it was then, as that dead man's poetry ran through my mind, as I stared down at that old woman I had seen for just a few hours a year on Thanksgiving and Christmas because I wrongly believed I was doing more important things, that I knew I should not wait any longer to write some of this down, whether anyone ever read it or not."
— Rick Bragg, All Over but the Shoutin'
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
Saturday, December 2, 2017
#383
I would rather grocery shop with M 'n' m than by myself, but I get annoyed when they grab pricey stuff, like the boutique-y brand when the same thing on the shelf below is half the price. It's packaged differently – and on 'Red Alert Savings!' – but it's familiar, it's not generic usually; yeah, I mean recognizable brands overshadowed by alternatives that are organic, vegan, imported, not imported, small batch, family owned, eco-friendly, 'as seen on Shark Tank,' 'all profits go to charity,' whatever, and that's terrific, but I won't buy breakfast bars at eight bucks a box. Then I checkout and... "Would you like to donate a dollar today to children in need?" Ah geez, what kind of supreme asshole says no to that? Well, I do. Sometimes.
I want M 'n' m to be good at something that I, for one, am pretty shitty at. Parenting without hypocrisy, by the way, isn't parenting; they need a parent, not a buddy. And I forget this everyday and act like a buddy. God help me. And forgive me. And God help M 'n' m. Anyway, this is what I want: I want M n m, if they decide not to think about something, to be good at not thinking about it. Sounds simple, right? Well, I suck at it. Obsessive-compulsiveness runs in our family, and probably ADHD, and I'm pretty sure they run in every family now; we are over-stimulated by media that's relentless, ever-present, and often negative. It's more important than ever to block out distraction and limit unhelpful thoughts. We know when our thoughts become self-defeating and cynical in a way that doesn't serve us. But we let 'em get that way, and carry on, especially when things go sideways and we need their help the most. If I could imbue M 'n' m with one skill, it would be the ability to control and steer thoughts. Keep it positive, yo!
"You can't go from mentally broken to mentally fierce. You build it, you build it, you build it. There are a lot of ways to build it. Self-talk, seeing things in a different light, reading biographies of people who had a hard time in life and made it, hearing the stories of other people who had the same problems as you do and made it.... Anytime you have a negative thought, just crush it, destroy it, obliterate it." — YouTube motivation video
I want M 'n' m to consider another idea... the idea that just being human... just being a human being... is extraordinary. It's remarkable. There's nothing else like it in the universe (that we know of, yet). The human body, the human mind, the world... it's all pretty amazing. You don't even need to be on drugs to think so, man – you know, hallucinogenic, psychedelic, bliss-inducing shit. (I'm trying to be clever. I shouldn't do that.) What I mean is: being impressed with your hands, eyes, voice, mind, what it means to be human, what it takes to be human (it's not easy) and all the things accomplished and created by human beings, and expressing this wonder and appreciation, is far from ridiculous. It sounds a little silly and trite, but it isn't; it's fucking impressive! So there. I know that 7.6 billion people exist today (I just googled it) but that doesn't make us boring, common, unimpressive. On the contrary. (Although I love this headline from The Onion: Miracle of Birth Occurs For 83 Billionth Time.) Regardless, I think every person has the potential to astonish the rest of us, and many will. I agree with Ken Burns, the master documentarian, filmmaker, observer of history and humanity: "You begin to realize there are no ordinary people. That's one of the great lessons of 40 years of doing this history business." We're extraordinary. Every on of us. Amen.
I want M 'n' m to be good at something that I, for one, am pretty shitty at. Parenting without hypocrisy, by the way, isn't parenting; they need a parent, not a buddy. And I forget this everyday and act like a buddy. God help me. And forgive me. And God help M 'n' m. Anyway, this is what I want: I want M n m, if they decide not to think about something, to be good at not thinking about it. Sounds simple, right? Well, I suck at it. Obsessive-compulsiveness runs in our family, and probably ADHD, and I'm pretty sure they run in every family now; we are over-stimulated by media that's relentless, ever-present, and often negative. It's more important than ever to block out distraction and limit unhelpful thoughts. We know when our thoughts become self-defeating and cynical in a way that doesn't serve us. But we let 'em get that way, and carry on, especially when things go sideways and we need their help the most. If I could imbue M 'n' m with one skill, it would be the ability to control and steer thoughts. Keep it positive, yo!
"You can't go from mentally broken to mentally fierce. You build it, you build it, you build it. There are a lot of ways to build it. Self-talk, seeing things in a different light, reading biographies of people who had a hard time in life and made it, hearing the stories of other people who had the same problems as you do and made it.... Anytime you have a negative thought, just crush it, destroy it, obliterate it." — YouTube motivation video
I want M 'n' m to consider another idea... the idea that just being human... just being a human being... is extraordinary. It's remarkable. There's nothing else like it in the universe (that we know of, yet). The human body, the human mind, the world... it's all pretty amazing. You don't even need to be on drugs to think so, man – you know, hallucinogenic, psychedelic, bliss-inducing shit. (I'm trying to be clever. I shouldn't do that.) What I mean is: being impressed with your hands, eyes, voice, mind, what it means to be human, what it takes to be human (it's not easy) and all the things accomplished and created by human beings, and expressing this wonder and appreciation, is far from ridiculous. It sounds a little silly and trite, but it isn't; it's fucking impressive! So there. I know that 7.6 billion people exist today (I just googled it) but that doesn't make us boring, common, unimpressive. On the contrary. (Although I love this headline from The Onion: Miracle of Birth Occurs For 83 Billionth Time.) Regardless, I think every person has the potential to astonish the rest of us, and many will. I agree with Ken Burns, the master documentarian, filmmaker, observer of history and humanity: "You begin to realize there are no ordinary people. That's one of the great lessons of 40 years of doing this history business." We're extraordinary. Every on of us. Amen.
Friday, December 1, 2017
Stuff About Things #10
"It's funny – we didn't get along that well at first. He was the
coolest guy around. Everybody thought so. I'm a skeptic. I kept asking
myself, 'What's so cool about this guy?' But he was so not full
of himself. You just knew he had this big heart, and there was room in
there for the whole universe. Then I started listening to him play, to
the songs, how they were little dramas. And it started working on me. It
was so organic, the way our relationship developed.... His ideas would
spill over one another like a flood. And he would pop out notes like
rivets, each perfectly formed. I can't tell you how hard that is, to be
that consistent at that speed."
— Phil Lesh talking about Jerry Garcia
"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily."
— Zig Ziglar
"What makes you enthusiastic? Find what makes you enthusiastic and you're at the highest level of human experience. The path to happiness is enthusiasm." — YouTube motivation video
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
— Charles Kingsley
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
— Winston Churchill
"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success.... Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful.... Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
— Phil Lesh talking about Jerry Garcia
"It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart."
— Dalai Lama
"The heart that loves is always young."
"The heart that loves is always young."
— Unknown
"Now I just want to fly home between shows. I just like it: pruning trees, straightening lawn chairs and shit. And camera phones have made the world difficult to live in. I'm approachable and always up to take pictures, but it gets old.... You know, when I started, I liked Big Macs and Budweiser and I still like Big Macs and Budweiser.... If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If it looks good, you'll see it. If it's marketed right, you'll buy it. But if it's real... you'll feel it.... I always looked up to so many people before me and was lucky to become such good friends with them. I learned so much hanging out with those cats.... Surround yourself with good people. Whether they're the best or not, people are capable of learning if they've got good hearts and they're good souls."
— Kid Rock (I've been reading a bit about Kid Rock lately and it's interesting; he seems generous, genuine, refreshingly honest)
"Now I just want to fly home between shows. I just like it: pruning trees, straightening lawn chairs and shit. And camera phones have made the world difficult to live in. I'm approachable and always up to take pictures, but it gets old.... You know, when I started, I liked Big Macs and Budweiser and I still like Big Macs and Budweiser.... If it sounds good, you'll hear it. If it looks good, you'll see it. If it's marketed right, you'll buy it. But if it's real... you'll feel it.... I always looked up to so many people before me and was lucky to become such good friends with them. I learned so much hanging out with those cats.... Surround yourself with good people. Whether they're the best or not, people are capable of learning if they've got good hearts and they're good souls."
— Kid Rock (I've been reading a bit about Kid Rock lately and it's interesting; he seems generous, genuine, refreshingly honest)
"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily."
— Zig Ziglar
"What makes you enthusiastic? Find what makes you enthusiastic and you're at the highest level of human experience. The path to happiness is enthusiasm." — YouTube motivation video
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
— Charles Kingsley
"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
— Winston Churchill
"Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success.... Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful.... Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"To converse with Dwayne Johnson is to be immersed in the positive, a symphony of up notes. It is also to be flattered with questions." — Men's Journal magazine
"The core of Dwayne (Johnson) is his relentless drive, and that has never wavered... and his ability to be very coachable. He has no vulnerability in that way. Other people ask how was it, and they want to be told, you were great! He'll say no, really, let's break it down."
— Dany Garcia, Johnson's ex-wife and current business partner
"He wanted to know about what makes things funny. He's got a lot of humility, which is not a feature that usually gets you very far in show business. He's not a afraid of asking questions."
— Alan Arkin on Dwayne Johnson
"He never looks as if he is trying or posing. That's his secret. People in our business want to be perceived differently than they are. But you never get the sense he is trying to prove anything to anybody. Really, he is a good guy. Just a really good guy."
— Steve Carell on Dwayne Johnson
"At first I had to fight to be taken seriously in Hollywood. I understood I would have to do that."
— Dwayne Johnson
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather, try to become a man of value."
— Albert Einstein
"Life is too short to be small."
— Benjamin Disreali
"I think it's surprising for people (that neither of us are affiliated with a political party). Maybe it's the current climate, but our parents raised us to have our own opinions and emotions and be curious, independent thinkers." ... "People will say to us, 'Why are y'all so normal?' It's like, Thank you... I think."
— Barbara and Jenna Bush, former 'first daughters'
"To converse with Dwayne Johnson is to be immersed in the positive, a symphony of up notes. It is also to be flattered with questions." — Men's Journal magazine
"The core of Dwayne (Johnson) is his relentless drive, and that has never wavered... and his ability to be very coachable. He has no vulnerability in that way. Other people ask how was it, and they want to be told, you were great! He'll say no, really, let's break it down."
— Dany Garcia, Johnson's ex-wife and current business partner
"He wanted to know about what makes things funny. He's got a lot of humility, which is not a feature that usually gets you very far in show business. He's not a afraid of asking questions."
— Alan Arkin on Dwayne Johnson
"He never looks as if he is trying or posing. That's his secret. People in our business want to be perceived differently than they are. But you never get the sense he is trying to prove anything to anybody. Really, he is a good guy. Just a really good guy."
— Steve Carell on Dwayne Johnson
"At first I had to fight to be taken seriously in Hollywood. I understood I would have to do that."
— Dwayne Johnson
"Try not to become a man of success, but rather, try to become a man of value."
— Albert Einstein
"Life is too short to be small."
— Benjamin Disreali
"I think it's surprising for people (that neither of us are affiliated with a political party). Maybe it's the current climate, but our parents raised us to have our own opinions and emotions and be curious, independent thinkers." ... "People will say to us, 'Why are y'all so normal?' It's like, Thank you... I think."
— Barbara and Jenna Bush, former 'first daughters'
"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude."
— Oprah Winfrey
"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen."
— Winston Churchill
"I grew up in America, a martial culture. We are Spartans, not Athenians. Jocks get trophies; nerds get wedgies. Our public spaces are named after generals, not scientists or composers. We love stories about people facing danger and fighting evil back-to-back, risking their lives and saving each other for a good cause. All this despite the fact that we're mostly a nation of shoppers. While our fighting's done for us by professionals, we participate in war the way couchbound sports fans do in the game.... The most truthful writers on the subject admit that war is both terrible and beautiful, calling forth not only brutality but the finest humanity - valor, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and kindness. 'Under fire, Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings in the world,' one soldier says of another in Full Metal Jacket: 'All he needs is someone to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life.' ... (And regarding the politics of war) Michael Herr writes about the grunts' political views on Vietnam, for example, 'We all had roughly the same position on the war: We were in it, and that was a position.'"
— Tim Kreider, Men's Journal
"Nobody's a hero, nobody's a villain, we're all a little of both."
— Jeannette Walls
"I choose to run toward my problems, not away from them. Because that's what heroes do."
— Thor
"Everything in the universe is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty."
— Rumi
"(Upon returning home to Hawaii after a trip or a show), the first thing I do - even before I walk into the house - is spend a half hour checking out my garden. I grow taro, spinach, kale, eggplants, peppers, and a lot of different herbs.... When we're recording, the band can pull plants and make a salad."
— Jack Johnson
"Now I just want to fly home between shows. I just like it: pruning trees, straightening lawn chairs and shit. And camera phones have made the world difficult to live in. I'm approachable and always up to take pictures, but it gets old."
— Kid Rock
"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
— Rumi
"Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning."
— Benjamin Disreali
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."
— Will Durant
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
— Aldous Huxley
"I grew up in America, a martial culture. We are Spartans, not Athenians. Jocks get trophies; nerds get wedgies. Our public spaces are named after generals, not scientists or composers. We love stories about people facing danger and fighting evil back-to-back, risking their lives and saving each other for a good cause. All this despite the fact that we're mostly a nation of shoppers. While our fighting's done for us by professionals, we participate in war the way couchbound sports fans do in the game.... The most truthful writers on the subject admit that war is both terrible and beautiful, calling forth not only brutality but the finest humanity - valor, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and kindness. 'Under fire, Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings in the world,' one soldier says of another in Full Metal Jacket: 'All he needs is someone to throw hand grenades at him the rest of his life.' ... (And regarding the politics of war) Michael Herr writes about the grunts' political views on Vietnam, for example, 'We all had roughly the same position on the war: We were in it, and that was a position.'"
— Tim Kreider, Men's Journal
"Nobody's a hero, nobody's a villain, we're all a little of both."
— Jeannette Walls
"I choose to run toward my problems, not away from them. Because that's what heroes do."
— Thor
"Everything in the universe is a pitcher brimming with wisdom and beauty."
— Rumi
"(Upon returning home to Hawaii after a trip or a show), the first thing I do - even before I walk into the house - is spend a half hour checking out my garden. I grow taro, spinach, kale, eggplants, peppers, and a lot of different herbs.... When we're recording, the band can pull plants and make a salad."
— Jack Johnson
"Now I just want to fly home between shows. I just like it: pruning trees, straightening lawn chairs and shit. And camera phones have made the world difficult to live in. I'm approachable and always up to take pictures, but it gets old."
— Kid Rock
"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself."
— Rumi
"Seeing much, suffering much, and studying much are the three pillars of learning."
— Benjamin Disreali
"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance."
— Will Durant
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
— Aldous Huxley
Monday, November 27, 2017
On the heels of Thanksgiving, a few words about families and friends
"The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family."
— Lee Iacocca
"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
— Jane Howard
"You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them."
— Desmond Tutu
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
— Helen Keller
"Some people go to priests, others to poetry, I to my friends."
— Virginia Woolf
"I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that better."
— Plutarch
"Friends are the family you choose."
— Jess C. Scott
— Lee Iacocca
"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."
— Jane Howard
"You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them."
— Desmond Tutu
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
— Helen Keller
"Some people go to priests, others to poetry, I to my friends."
— Virginia Woolf
"I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that better."
— Plutarch
"Friends are the family you choose."
— Jess C. Scott
Friday, November 24, 2017
Stuff About Things Special Edition: Thanksgiving!
Okay, some facts about Thanksgiving. Hopefully not fake facts, you know, 'fake news,' info we must discount, disparage if it's inconvenient or inglorious. Although, there is a lot of bullshit out there; I've complained about that myself, so much 'news' is sensationalized, inflammatory crap; 24-hour, non-stop, red-faced crap! But bullshit and opinions have always been around, since the beginning of time, so I should probably get over it. There are facts too. Truth exists. Let's hope this Thanksgiving trivia is derived from historian consensus and accurate! From allparenting.com:
The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days.
Thanksgiving didn't become a national holiday until over 200 years later. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who actually wrote the classic song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced President Lincoln in 1863 to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, after writing letters for 17 years campaigning for this to happen.
What was on the menu? Not turkey. Likely venison, ducks, geese, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish. They probably ate pumpkins, but no pumpkin pies.
The first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives, no forks. Forks weren't introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren't a popular utensil until the 18th century.
Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners. (Which I mentioned, coincidentally, in #382!) In 1953, Swanson had 260 tons of extra turkey and a salesman suggested they package it onto aluminum trays with other sides like sweet potatoes. The first TV dinner was born.
Thanksgiving was almost a fast, not a feast. The early settlers gave thanks by praying and abstaining from food, which is what they planned on doing to celebrate their first harvest. But then the Wampanoag Indians joined them and turned their fast into a three-day feast.
The first Thanksgiving was held in the autumn of 1621 and included 50 Pilgrims and 90 Wampanoag Indians and lasted three days.
Thanksgiving didn't become a national holiday until over 200 years later. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who actually wrote the classic song “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced President Lincoln in 1863 to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, after writing letters for 17 years campaigning for this to happen.
What was on the menu? Not turkey. Likely venison, ducks, geese, oysters, lobster, eel, and fish. They probably ate pumpkins, but no pumpkin pies.
The first Thanksgiving was eaten with spoons and knives, no forks. Forks weren't introduced to the Pilgrims until 10 years later and weren't a popular utensil until the 18th century.
Thanksgiving is the reason for TV dinners. (Which I mentioned, coincidentally, in #382!) In 1953, Swanson had 260 tons of extra turkey and a salesman suggested they package it onto aluminum trays with other sides like sweet potatoes. The first TV dinner was born.
Thanksgiving was almost a fast, not a feast. The early settlers gave thanks by praying and abstaining from food, which is what they planned on doing to celebrate their first harvest. But then the Wampanoag Indians joined them and turned their fast into a three-day feast.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Jason Momoa on parenthood and his uncle Craig
Tender words, mostly, from Jason Momoa, aka Aquaman, aka Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones: "I really can't tell you what the hell I was doing before I had kids. Just fucking off. Wasting time. I think I was pretty reckless and definitely a bit out of control. Now I'm more focused. I probably love myself more and take care of myself more because I want to stick around.... I want to be remembered as, I hope, an amazing husband and a great father. My kids are my greatest piece of art. If I can pump them full of amazing stuff and surround them with beautiful art and music, then I'm going to live out my life watching them. They're already way smarter and just way better than me. God, I love it. It's beautiful. I want it to be the greatest thing I ever do: make good humans." — Men's Health magazine
Momoa, an only child, was raised in Norwalk, Iowa by a single mother. For a father figure, he had his uncle Craig. "He was kind of like my dad growing up, because my dad was in Hawaii. Craig was an all-around amazing man. He took care of his family, he was kind, he was strong, he was really funny. He was definitely the man I looked up to."
Uncles are important too. Very important. I've had some of the best. I'm grateful.
Momoa, an only child, was raised in Norwalk, Iowa by a single mother. For a father figure, he had his uncle Craig. "He was kind of like my dad growing up, because my dad was in Hawaii. Craig was an all-around amazing man. He took care of his family, he was kind, he was strong, he was really funny. He was definitely the man I looked up to."
Uncles are important too. Very important. I've had some of the best. I'm grateful.
Monday, November 20, 2017
Saturday, November 18, 2017
#382
Megan struggled to find an outfit for school yesterday. She was frustrated and blamed me, "Dad, you haven't done my laundry since the Paleozoic Era." Wow, good one. I said, "So it's been a million years?" She said, "At least." We looked it up. 250 million years, to be precise, give or take a few million. That's some nasty laundry. Actually, not true; after that long, it would be dust (only Twinkies last a quarter-billion years). Her clothes would be out of style anyway, if by some miracle intact. This isn't like jean jackets, platform boots, leg warmers, whatever makes a comeback from the '70s and '80s. These clothes belong at toga parties now, Halloween, museums.
As always, I 'm only entertaining myself – although I've had hundreds of readers lately and I appreciate that – and I was thinking about important and sophisticated things like foods fiercely opposed to decomposition, e.g. Twinkies, and I thought of... TV dinners. They were kind of a treat when I was a kid. So was a movie on TV like The Wizard of Oz (the 1939 version). This was before VCRs and video rental, before a new movie came out every second. For TV dinners we'd have Salisbury steak or Hungry-Man fried chicken. It makes me sad that M 'n' m have never scraped a brownie out of a tinfoil TV-dinner tray. Now everything is microwavable and plated in paper. You could poke holes in, bend, and crumple tinfoil. Grease was more fun on metal. That's how I remember it. I inflate and distort memories, but life was simpler and better for it. Kids today have so much they have less. And I don't want M 'n' m and the next generation to have 'less.'
I was interested, inspired, comforted, something, to hear that Bear Grylls – the SAS commando and sufferer of a parachuting accident that broke his back, among other toughnesses – is afraid of something. What scares him? Cocktail parties. That makes sense to me. Sometimes I thrive in social situations; sometimes I'm overwhelmed, awkward, overeager to be accepted and liked. I try too hard to please, to be nice, to be witty. (I suppose that's obvious; it's what I do here.) But I realize now – and I want M 'n' m to know – that other people are more worried about themselves (than you) in those situations, and that's fine and normal; they're judging themselves more than you. Relax. Be kind, calm, confident, stay within yourself. Even the seemingly over-comfortable and self-assured at cocktail parties have insecurities to mask, although they may be more evolved and practiced (than I am, at least). And that's okay. Of course, the other extreme exists: people who genuinely have limited interpersonal self-awareness (either by excessive personality or medical condition) but I don't think M 'n' m – or many teenagers, for that matter – fit this description; they worry about how they're perceived. Hopefully, young people are forming good values, and beginning to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Self-examining this way is a lifelong process – if you ask me – but it's a useful and meaningful one. My uncle Kirby always told his kids, before they left the house for a night out, "Don't forget who you are." I love that.
As always, I 'm only entertaining myself – although I've had hundreds of readers lately and I appreciate that – and I was thinking about important and sophisticated things like foods fiercely opposed to decomposition, e.g. Twinkies, and I thought of... TV dinners. They were kind of a treat when I was a kid. So was a movie on TV like The Wizard of Oz (the 1939 version). This was before VCRs and video rental, before a new movie came out every second. For TV dinners we'd have Salisbury steak or Hungry-Man fried chicken. It makes me sad that M 'n' m have never scraped a brownie out of a tinfoil TV-dinner tray. Now everything is microwavable and plated in paper. You could poke holes in, bend, and crumple tinfoil. Grease was more fun on metal. That's how I remember it. I inflate and distort memories, but life was simpler and better for it. Kids today have so much they have less. And I don't want M 'n' m and the next generation to have 'less.'
I was interested, inspired, comforted, something, to hear that Bear Grylls – the SAS commando and sufferer of a parachuting accident that broke his back, among other toughnesses – is afraid of something. What scares him? Cocktail parties. That makes sense to me. Sometimes I thrive in social situations; sometimes I'm overwhelmed, awkward, overeager to be accepted and liked. I try too hard to please, to be nice, to be witty. (I suppose that's obvious; it's what I do here.) But I realize now – and I want M 'n' m to know – that other people are more worried about themselves (than you) in those situations, and that's fine and normal; they're judging themselves more than you. Relax. Be kind, calm, confident, stay within yourself. Even the seemingly over-comfortable and self-assured at cocktail parties have insecurities to mask, although they may be more evolved and practiced (than I am, at least). And that's okay. Of course, the other extreme exists: people who genuinely have limited interpersonal self-awareness (either by excessive personality or medical condition) but I don't think M 'n' m – or many teenagers, for that matter – fit this description; they worry about how they're perceived. Hopefully, young people are forming good values, and beginning to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Self-examining this way is a lifelong process – if you ask me – but it's a useful and meaningful one. My uncle Kirby always told his kids, before they left the house for a night out, "Don't forget who you are." I love that.
Stuff About Things #9
"Sometimes when you come up the rough side of the mountain, it allows you to learn really valuable lessons and when you do fall in love with the process, the process will love you back."
— Matt Campbell, football coach at Iowa State
"There's always that doubt in the back of your mind about what you're doing, and I think you need that edge, I think you need that to be successful."
— Jim Boeheim, men's basketball coach at Syracuse
"Do the good that's in front of you, even if it feels very small."
— Sharon Salzberg
"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."
— Arnold H. Glasow
"An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production."
— Robin Sharma
"The human attention span is now shorter than the attention span of the goldfish. It's down to eight seconds."
— Arianna Huffington
"I'm a big believer in micro-steps (to self-improvement).... I don't do anything perfectly, I'm a work in progress."
— Arianna Huffington
"I would recommend they read the latest science around the importance of sleep and pauses in the course of our day. Because we claim to be data driven, but we are ignoring the data. The prevailing culture still believes that being 'always on' is the way to succeed, that cutting down on sleep means we are more productive because we have more time available. So I would show them (students) the latest science and then I would bring together new role models, people in the arena, people they admire like Jeff Bezos (who strives to get eight hours of sleep for better clarity, decision-making, and so on)."
— Arianna Huffington, advocate for proper self-care, sleep, digital detoxing, walking, etc.
"You can't really run your life from your inbox."
— Arianna Huffington
"I was born and raised in Los Angeles, a California girl who lives by the ethos that most things can be cured with either yoga, the beach, or a few avocados."
— Meghan Markle, actress and girlfriend of Prince Harry
"The distinction between base avarice and honest ambition may be exceedingly fine."
— Reverend Noel Blackwell, 1853
"If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough."
— Mario Andretti
"Smile when it's raining, and when you're going through hell - keep going."
— Bear Grylls, survival advice
"I am ordinary, but I am determined."
— Bear Grylls
"... if you can help people feel stronger and more capable because of what you tell them, then it becomes worthwhile... in ways that are impossible to quantify."
— Bear Grylls
"I haven't always succeeded, and I haven't always had the most talent, but I have always given of myself with great enthusiasm – and that counts for a lot. In fact, my dad had always told me that if I could be the most enthusiastic person I knew then I would do well. I never forgot that. And he was right. I mean, who doesn't like to work with enthusiastic folk?"
— Bear Grylls
"Families are always great levelers."
— Bear Grylls
"If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your family."
— Ram Dass
"I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me – that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns."
— Anne Lamott
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."
— Thomas a Kempis
"Don't judge someone just because they sin differently than you."
— internet meme
"Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions."
— Elizabeth Gilbert
"Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct."
— Thomas Carlyle
"No rain, no flowers."
— internet meme
"After playing poorly in her first match of the year (at the Australian Open held in January), in which she felt she had missed too many backhands, she went to the practice court and for two and a half to three hours hit 2,500 of them, by her estimation. If she missed one, she started over. She did roughly the same the next practice day."
— Vanity Fair article about Serena Williams
"Don't explain your philosophy – embody it."
— Epictetus
"Riches and rank have no necessary connection with genuine gentlemanly qualities. The poor man with rich spirit is in all ways superior to the rich man with a poor spirit.... He who has lost all, but retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and self respect, is still rich."
— Samuel Smiles, from his book Self-Help published in 1859
"Do you know what the word 'hero' meant in ancient Greek? Get this, it didn't mean 'tough guy' or 'killer of bad guys.' It meant 'protector.' A hero has strength for two. A hero's secret weapon? Love, compassion, empathy. Quite simply, a hero cares. And, very importantly, a hero is willing to do the work required to optimize, and build the strength to make a difference in their families, communities, and world. And you know what? Our world needs heroes today more than ever before. We need you to be a hero."
— Brian Johnson, creator of Philosophers Notes, check 'em out!
— Matt Campbell, football coach at Iowa State
"There's always that doubt in the back of your mind about what you're doing, and I think you need that edge, I think you need that to be successful."
— Jim Boeheim, men's basketball coach at Syracuse
"Do the good that's in front of you, even if it feels very small."
— Sharon Salzberg
"Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."
— Arnold H. Glasow
"An addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production."
— Robin Sharma
"The human attention span is now shorter than the attention span of the goldfish. It's down to eight seconds."
— Arianna Huffington
"I'm a big believer in micro-steps (to self-improvement).... I don't do anything perfectly, I'm a work in progress."
— Arianna Huffington
"I would recommend they read the latest science around the importance of sleep and pauses in the course of our day. Because we claim to be data driven, but we are ignoring the data. The prevailing culture still believes that being 'always on' is the way to succeed, that cutting down on sleep means we are more productive because we have more time available. So I would show them (students) the latest science and then I would bring together new role models, people in the arena, people they admire like Jeff Bezos (who strives to get eight hours of sleep for better clarity, decision-making, and so on)."
— Arianna Huffington, advocate for proper self-care, sleep, digital detoxing, walking, etc.
"You can't really run your life from your inbox."
— Arianna Huffington
"I was born and raised in Los Angeles, a California girl who lives by the ethos that most things can be cured with either yoga, the beach, or a few avocados."
— Meghan Markle, actress and girlfriend of Prince Harry
"The distinction between base avarice and honest ambition may be exceedingly fine."
— Reverend Noel Blackwell, 1853
"If you have everything under control, you're not moving fast enough."
— Mario Andretti
"Smile when it's raining, and when you're going through hell - keep going."
— Bear Grylls, survival advice
"I am ordinary, but I am determined."
— Bear Grylls
"... if you can help people feel stronger and more capable because of what you tell them, then it becomes worthwhile... in ways that are impossible to quantify."
— Bear Grylls
"I haven't always succeeded, and I haven't always had the most talent, but I have always given of myself with great enthusiasm – and that counts for a lot. In fact, my dad had always told me that if I could be the most enthusiastic person I knew then I would do well. I never forgot that. And he was right. I mean, who doesn't like to work with enthusiastic folk?"
— Bear Grylls
"Families are always great levelers."
— Bear Grylls
"If you think you're enlightened, go spend a week with your family."
— Ram Dass
"I have a lot of faith. But I am also afraid a lot, and have no real certainty about anything. I remembered something Father Tom had told me – that the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns."
— Anne Lamott
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."
— Thomas a Kempis
"Don't judge someone just because they sin differently than you."
— internet meme
"Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions."
— Elizabeth Gilbert
"Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct."
— Thomas Carlyle
"No rain, no flowers."
— internet meme
"After playing poorly in her first match of the year (at the Australian Open held in January), in which she felt she had missed too many backhands, she went to the practice court and for two and a half to three hours hit 2,500 of them, by her estimation. If she missed one, she started over. She did roughly the same the next practice day."
— Vanity Fair article about Serena Williams
"Don't explain your philosophy – embody it."
— Epictetus
"Riches and rank have no necessary connection with genuine gentlemanly qualities. The poor man with rich spirit is in all ways superior to the rich man with a poor spirit.... He who has lost all, but retains his courage, cheerfulness, hope, virtue, and self respect, is still rich."
— Samuel Smiles, from his book Self-Help published in 1859
"Do you know what the word 'hero' meant in ancient Greek? Get this, it didn't mean 'tough guy' or 'killer of bad guys.' It meant 'protector.' A hero has strength for two. A hero's secret weapon? Love, compassion, empathy. Quite simply, a hero cares. And, very importantly, a hero is willing to do the work required to optimize, and build the strength to make a difference in their families, communities, and world. And you know what? Our world needs heroes today more than ever before. We need you to be a hero."
— Brian Johnson, creator of Philosophers Notes, check 'em out!
Invictus by William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
This book excerpt...
... is about surfing, which I've never done, but the book came highly recommended and I checked it out and here we are; I just found this very rich, philosophical, metaphorical, challenging. I haven't surfed but I've lived. Someday I hope to try surfing.
"But surfing has always had this horizon, this fear line, that made it different from other things, certainly from other sports I knew. You could do it with friends, but when the waves got big, or you got into trouble, there never seemed to be anyone around. Everything out there was disturbingly interlaced with everything else. Waves were the playing field. They were the goal. They were the object of your deepest desire and adoration. At the same time, they were your adversary, your nemesis, even your mortal enemy. The surf was your refuge, your happy hiding place, but it was also a hostile wilderness – a dynamic, indifferent world.... The ocean was... endlessly dangerous, power beyond measure. And yet you were expected, even as a kid, to take its measure every day. You were required – this was essential, a matter of survival – to know your limits, both physical and emotional. But how could you know your limits unless you tested them? And if you failed the test? You were also required to stay calm if things went wrong. Panic was the first step, everybody said, to drowning. As a kid, too, your abilities were assumed to be growing. What was unthinkable one year became thinkable, possibly, the next. My letters from Honolulu in 1966, kindly returned to me recently, are less distinguished by swaggering bullshit than by frank discussions of fear. 'Don't think I've suddenly gotten brave. I haven't.' But the frontiers of the thinkable were quietly, fitfully edging back to me."
— William Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
"But surfing has always had this horizon, this fear line, that made it different from other things, certainly from other sports I knew. You could do it with friends, but when the waves got big, or you got into trouble, there never seemed to be anyone around. Everything out there was disturbingly interlaced with everything else. Waves were the playing field. They were the goal. They were the object of your deepest desire and adoration. At the same time, they were your adversary, your nemesis, even your mortal enemy. The surf was your refuge, your happy hiding place, but it was also a hostile wilderness – a dynamic, indifferent world.... The ocean was... endlessly dangerous, power beyond measure. And yet you were expected, even as a kid, to take its measure every day. You were required – this was essential, a matter of survival – to know your limits, both physical and emotional. But how could you know your limits unless you tested them? And if you failed the test? You were also required to stay calm if things went wrong. Panic was the first step, everybody said, to drowning. As a kid, too, your abilities were assumed to be growing. What was unthinkable one year became thinkable, possibly, the next. My letters from Honolulu in 1966, kindly returned to me recently, are less distinguished by swaggering bullshit than by frank discussions of fear. 'Don't think I've suddenly gotten brave. I haven't.' But the frontiers of the thinkable were quietly, fitfully edging back to me."
— William Finnegan, Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
Monday, November 13, 2017
#381
I can't park in the garage right now because my space is full of other shit (a wheelbarrow for mulch, construction materials, sports gear, more sports gear) so this morning Meg and I headed down the driveway to a frozen minivan. It was 17 degrees. This is no biggie for January in Chicago but it's early November. We shivered and climbed into the van which wasn't any warmer. I exhaled a plume of breath and looked at it. The car turned over slowly. Meg shifted in her seat, trying not to touch anything frozen, but everything was frozen. She said, "Do you have butt-warmers?" I'm pretty sure she knew the answer. No. I don't have heated seats. Then I noticed she didn't have a coat. No coat! Actually, she had a coat but she was carrying it instead of wearing it... which, you know, makes total sense when it's freezing out, dude. Question: Why is this fashionable? Michael wore hoodies and stubbornly shunned jackets also. At their age, I remember rolling jeans, fixing turtlenecks, spraying hairspray, spraying cologne, but the winter jacket meant nothing; its presence or absence, its style or brand, announced nothing about you. (Except for the cool kids who skied and had lift tickets dangling like jewelry.) Anyway, as a parent, I draw on my own young experience for a kind of comparative understanding. This, of course, is often futile, irrelevant, illogical. Things change. If you wore a hoodie to my junior high back in '88, you'd hear snickers. Sweatpants were a no-no. As for butt-warmers and cars: I buy base models because I can't afford to pay extra. Or maybe I choose not to (that sounds better). As grueling as life is without heated seats, I survive so I can do other things: travel, eat sushi, get tickets to Hamilton or a Cubs game. I didn't go to Hamilton or a Cubs game this year. My arguments with M 'n' m often blow up in my face like this, also. But my money is finite, which is a fun problem to have most of the time; I get to make decisions and enjoy them. My goal is to help M 'n' m with college, and at the rate things are going, I'll be able to pay for one textbook and a pizza.
A question just popped into my head: How many words are there in the English language? I asked Google. Literally. Verbally. You know how it goes: I tapped the Google microphone icon on my smartphone, said the question, and a pleasant female voice replied: "The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries." I will ask Siri and Alexa and confirm consensus. Remember the days when you had to thumb through books to find answers? And sometimes you couldn't find an answer and were left to wonder. Yeah, that was the effin' stone age, man! How unenlightened we were. But we were thoughtful. And happy.
Meg had her first basketball tourney of the season over the weekend and did awesome. I love her.
A question just popped into my head: How many words are there in the English language? I asked Google. Literally. Verbally. You know how it goes: I tapped the Google microphone icon on my smartphone, said the question, and a pleasant female voice replied: "The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words. To this may be added around 9,500 derivative words included as subentries." I will ask Siri and Alexa and confirm consensus. Remember the days when you had to thumb through books to find answers? And sometimes you couldn't find an answer and were left to wonder. Yeah, that was the effin' stone age, man! How unenlightened we were. But we were thoughtful. And happy.
Meg had her first basketball tourney of the season over the weekend and did awesome. I love her.
Friday, November 10, 2017
The Wisdom of Travis McGee via John D. MacDonald
My
favorite fictional character in a series of books is a guy called Spenser,
created by Robert B. Parker. My second favorite is Travis McGee, who
appeared in 21 novels by a genius named John D. MacDonald. MacDonald
passed away in 1986 but I'm grateful I can read and reread what he left
us, including these quotes from the inimitable Travis McGee:
"The only thing in the world worth a damn is the strange, touching, pathetic, awesome nobility of the individual human spirit."
"Education is something that should be apart from the necessities of earning a living, not a tool therefor. It needs contemplation, fallow periods, the measured and guided study of the history of man’s reiteration of the most agonizing question of all: Why?"
"All the little gods of irony must whoop and weep and roll on the floors of Olympus when they tune in on the night thoughts of a truly fatuous male."
"I can bend my own rules way, way over, but there is a place where I finally stop bending them."
"I know just enough about myself to know I cannot settle for one of those simplifications which indignant people seize upon to make understandable a world too complex for their comprehension."
"Every day, no matter how you fight it, you learn a little more about yourself, and all most of it does is teach humility."
"If there was one sunset every twenty years, how would people react to them? If there were ten seashells in all the world, what would they be worth? If people could make love just once a year, how carefully would they pick their mates?"
"Appreciate the therapeutic value of silence. It is the McGee version of being a loner: merely having some people about to whom you don’t have to constantly react."
"Somebody has to be tireless, or the fast-buck operators would asphalt the entire coast, fill every bay, and slay every living thing incapable of carrying a wallet."
"I wanted to be stable as all hell, but the world was on a slight tilt. It was like being yanked around an unexpected curve. You lean for a long time. My friend Meyer, the economist, says that cretins are the only humans who can be absolutely certain of their own sanity. All the rest of us go rocketing along rickety rails over spavined bridges and along the edge of bottomless gorges. The man who believes himself free of any taint of madness is a damned liar. The trouble is, you never know exactly what might tip you off those rails."
"I had thought that I was in fine balance.... I had even believed I had grown another little layer of hide over those places where I could be hurt."
"Acquaintance rather than friend. The dividing line is communication, I think. A friend is someone to whom you can say any jackass thing that enters your mind. With acquaintances, you are forever aware of their slightly unreal image of you, and to keep them content, you edit yourself to fit. Many marriages are between acquaintances. You can be with a person for three hours of your life and have a friend. Another one will remain an acquaintance for thirty years."
"I think there is some kind of divine order in the universe. Every leaf on every tree in the world is unique. As far as we can see, there are other galaxies, all slowly spinning, numerous as the leaves in the forest. In an infinite number of planets, there has to be an infinite number with life forms on them. Maybe this planet is one of the discarded mistakes. Maybe it's one of the victories."
"Newsmen have a very short attention span. It is a prerequisite in the business. That is why the news accounts of almost anything make sense to all ages up to the age of twelve. If one wishes to enjoy newspapers, it is wise to halt all intellectual development right at that age."
"We're all children. We invent the adult facade and don it and try to keep the buttons and the medals polished. We're all trying to give such a good imitation of being an adult that the real adults in the world won't catch on. Each of us takes up the shticks that compose the adult image we seek."
"Old friend, there are people — young and old — that I like, and people that I do not like. The former are always in short supply. I am turned off by humorless fanaticism, whether it's revolutionary mumbo-jumbo by a young one, or loud lessons from scripture by an old one. We are all comical, touching, slapstick animals, walking on our hind legs, trying to make it a noble journey from womb to tomb, and the people who can't see it at all that way bore the hell out of me."
"Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities. Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure. Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living. Do without plastics. Smash the servomechanisms. Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids. Love all love. Hate all hate."
"Being an adult means accepting those situations where no action is possible."
"People take you at the value you put upon yourself."
"Nobody can ever get too much approval."
"At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self. Some come to realize this after they are in the nursing home."
And a quote about MacDonald from Lee Child, the creator of Jack Reacher, another unforgettable, resourceful, resilient, principled, tough character in fiction that is just rich and wise:
"The fight was never easy and, one feels, never actually winnable. But it had to be waged. This strange, weary blend of nobility and cynicism is MacDonald's signature emotion."
— Lee Child
"The only thing in the world worth a damn is the strange, touching, pathetic, awesome nobility of the individual human spirit."
"Education is something that should be apart from the necessities of earning a living, not a tool therefor. It needs contemplation, fallow periods, the measured and guided study of the history of man’s reiteration of the most agonizing question of all: Why?"
"All the little gods of irony must whoop and weep and roll on the floors of Olympus when they tune in on the night thoughts of a truly fatuous male."
"I can bend my own rules way, way over, but there is a place where I finally stop bending them."
"I know just enough about myself to know I cannot settle for one of those simplifications which indignant people seize upon to make understandable a world too complex for their comprehension."
"Every day, no matter how you fight it, you learn a little more about yourself, and all most of it does is teach humility."
"If there was one sunset every twenty years, how would people react to them? If there were ten seashells in all the world, what would they be worth? If people could make love just once a year, how carefully would they pick their mates?"
"Appreciate the therapeutic value of silence. It is the McGee version of being a loner: merely having some people about to whom you don’t have to constantly react."
"Somebody has to be tireless, or the fast-buck operators would asphalt the entire coast, fill every bay, and slay every living thing incapable of carrying a wallet."
"I wanted to be stable as all hell, but the world was on a slight tilt. It was like being yanked around an unexpected curve. You lean for a long time. My friend Meyer, the economist, says that cretins are the only humans who can be absolutely certain of their own sanity. All the rest of us go rocketing along rickety rails over spavined bridges and along the edge of bottomless gorges. The man who believes himself free of any taint of madness is a damned liar. The trouble is, you never know exactly what might tip you off those rails."
"I had thought that I was in fine balance.... I had even believed I had grown another little layer of hide over those places where I could be hurt."
"Acquaintance rather than friend. The dividing line is communication, I think. A friend is someone to whom you can say any jackass thing that enters your mind. With acquaintances, you are forever aware of their slightly unreal image of you, and to keep them content, you edit yourself to fit. Many marriages are between acquaintances. You can be with a person for three hours of your life and have a friend. Another one will remain an acquaintance for thirty years."
"I think there is some kind of divine order in the universe. Every leaf on every tree in the world is unique. As far as we can see, there are other galaxies, all slowly spinning, numerous as the leaves in the forest. In an infinite number of planets, there has to be an infinite number with life forms on them. Maybe this planet is one of the discarded mistakes. Maybe it's one of the victories."
"Newsmen have a very short attention span. It is a prerequisite in the business. That is why the news accounts of almost anything make sense to all ages up to the age of twelve. If one wishes to enjoy newspapers, it is wise to halt all intellectual development right at that age."
"We're all children. We invent the adult facade and don it and try to keep the buttons and the medals polished. We're all trying to give such a good imitation of being an adult that the real adults in the world won't catch on. Each of us takes up the shticks that compose the adult image we seek."
"Old friend, there are people — young and old — that I like, and people that I do not like. The former are always in short supply. I am turned off by humorless fanaticism, whether it's revolutionary mumbo-jumbo by a young one, or loud lessons from scripture by an old one. We are all comical, touching, slapstick animals, walking on our hind legs, trying to make it a noble journey from womb to tomb, and the people who can't see it at all that way bore the hell out of me."
"Up with life. Stamp out all small and large indignities. Leave everyone alone to make it without pressure. Down with hurting. Lower the standard of living. Do without plastics. Smash the servomechanisms. Stop grabbing. Snuff the breeze and hug the kids. Love all love. Hate all hate."
"Being an adult means accepting those situations where no action is possible."
"People take you at the value you put upon yourself."
"Nobody can ever get too much approval."
"At times it seems as if arranging to have no commitment of any kind to anyone would be a special freedom. But in fact the whole idea works in reverse. The most deadly commitment of all is to be committed only to one's self. Some come to realize this after they are in the nursing home."
And a quote about MacDonald from Lee Child, the creator of Jack Reacher, another unforgettable, resourceful, resilient, principled, tough character in fiction that is just rich and wise:
"The fight was never easy and, one feels, never actually winnable. But it had to be waged. This strange, weary blend of nobility and cynicism is MacDonald's signature emotion."
— Lee Child
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
It's that time again: Mantras and motivation... which, of course, is another M 'n' m
Just do it.
Start.
Push yourself.
Do work, Son.
One more.
Be a force for good.
My cup runs over. ― Psalm 23
If it disappoints you, think of it less.
Self-respect comes from hard work.
What you do defines you.
We gonna do this, or we just gonna talk about it?
The only easy day was yesterday. ― SEALs
If it doesn't suck, we don't do it. ― SEALs
There is no tomorrow. ― Apollo Creed
Hey, I didn't hear no bell! ― Mickey
Keep moving. ― Rambo
Keep making shots.
Discomfort is growth.
Train your will.
Pioneers take arrows.
Brother, stand the pain, escape the poison of your impulses. ― Rumi
The intelligent want self-control, children want candy. ― Rumi
Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment. ― Rumi
Be childlike, playful, and wise.
Free yourself from the tyranny of constant thought.
It's okay to live a life others don't understand.
Life is an attitude. Have a good one.
The painting isn't done in the middle.
Love more, worry less.
My song is love. ― Coldplay
Love is all around you. ― Tesla
There is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything. ― Ryan Adams
How may I serve?
Sprinkle kindness, scatter joy.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ― Dylan Thomas
This mustn't register on an emotional level. ― Sherlock Holmes
We won't get weak, that's not in us anymore. ― Rick, TWD
Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with. ― Rick, TWD
Your bad habits are in the hallway doing push-ups.
Relax Luther, it’s much worse than you think. ― Ethan Hunt, Mission Impossible
Every warrior hopes a good death will find him. ― One Stab
But Tristan refused to speak of her. ― One Stab
The wind cannot defeat a tree with strong roots. ― The Revenant
You're okay. Keep fighting. ― Ronda Rousey
Comparisons are odious ― Jack Kerouac
I can do this all day. ― Captain America
We carry our own. ― Grandma Bev at Grandpa Swede's funeral
There is power in optimism.
There is power in gratitude.
There is power in ritual.
Make practice a practice.
Rust never rests.
Terror is a fine instructor.
Bet on him, if you like. ― Herger the Joyous
Grow stronger. ― Herger the Joyous
(I am not a warrior!) Very soon, you will be. ― Herger the Joyous
I’ve been through worse. ― Wolverine
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
Which is the greater pleasure?
Enjoy every minute of it, Hon.
...but the dreamers of day are dangerous men... ― T. E. Lawrence
You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Don't avoid, or chase, confrontation.
I only harbor healthy thoughts.
Within us is the power of self-repair.
I honor the power within me.
Thank you for M 'n' m.
Thank you for ....
Great multitudes came to him, and he healed them all.
"Deep within man dwell slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action."
― Orison Swett Marden
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control."
― 2 Timothy 1:7
"Iron is full of impurities that weaken it, but, through forging, it becomes steel. It is the same with human beings."
― Morihei Ueshiba
"In the midst of winter I found within me an invincible summer."
― Albert Camus
"Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness, and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, but they become legend."
― One Stab, Legends of the Fall
Start.
Push yourself.
Do work, Son.
One more.
Be a force for good.
My cup runs over. ― Psalm 23
If it disappoints you, think of it less.
Self-respect comes from hard work.
What you do defines you.
We gonna do this, or we just gonna talk about it?
The only easy day was yesterday. ― SEALs
If it doesn't suck, we don't do it. ― SEALs
There is no tomorrow. ― Apollo Creed
Hey, I didn't hear no bell! ― Mickey
Keep moving. ― Rambo
Keep making shots.
Discomfort is growth.
Train your will.
Pioneers take arrows.
Brother, stand the pain, escape the poison of your impulses. ― Rumi
The intelligent want self-control, children want candy. ― Rumi
Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment. ― Rumi
Be childlike, playful, and wise.
Free yourself from the tyranny of constant thought.
It's okay to live a life others don't understand.
Life is an attitude. Have a good one.
The painting isn't done in the middle.
Love more, worry less.
My song is love. ― Coldplay
Love is all around you. ― Tesla
There is nothing wrong with loving the crap out of everything. ― Ryan Adams
How may I serve?
Sprinkle kindness, scatter joy.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. ― Dylan Thomas
This mustn't register on an emotional level. ― Sherlock Holmes
We won't get weak, that's not in us anymore. ― Rick, TWD
Confrontation's never been something we've had trouble with. ― Rick, TWD
Your bad habits are in the hallway doing push-ups.
Relax Luther, it’s much worse than you think. ― Ethan Hunt, Mission Impossible
Every warrior hopes a good death will find him. ― One Stab
But Tristan refused to speak of her. ― One Stab
The wind cannot defeat a tree with strong roots. ― The Revenant
You're okay. Keep fighting. ― Ronda Rousey
Comparisons are odious ― Jack Kerouac
I can do this all day. ― Captain America
We carry our own. ― Grandma Bev at Grandpa Swede's funeral
There is power in optimism.
There is power in gratitude.
There is power in ritual.
Make practice a practice.
Rust never rests.
Terror is a fine instructor.
Bet on him, if you like. ― Herger the Joyous
Grow stronger. ― Herger the Joyous
(I am not a warrior!) Very soon, you will be. ― Herger the Joyous
I’ve been through worse. ― Wolverine
A smooth sea never made a skilled mariner.
Which is the greater pleasure?
Enjoy every minute of it, Hon.
...but the dreamers of day are dangerous men... ― T. E. Lawrence
You can measure a man by the opposition it takes to discourage him.
Be comfortable being uncomfortable.
Don't avoid, or chase, confrontation.
I only harbor healthy thoughts.
Within us is the power of self-repair.
I honor the power within me.
Thank you for M 'n' m.
Thank you for ....
Great multitudes came to him, and he healed them all.
"Deep within man dwell slumbering powers; powers that would astonish him, that he never dreamed of possessing; forces that would revolutionize his life if aroused and put into action."
― Orison Swett Marden
"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control."
― 2 Timothy 1:7
"Iron is full of impurities that weaken it, but, through forging, it becomes steel. It is the same with human beings."
― Morihei Ueshiba
"In the midst of winter I found within me an invincible summer."
― Albert Camus
"Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness, and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, but they become legend."
― One Stab, Legends of the Fall
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Jeremy Renner on parenting
"Renner was 42 when Ava was born. 'It was like seeing The Matrix,' he says. 'In a second, everything just opened up and made perfect sense.' He named her Ava because it's 'a classic Hollywood name' but also because it's a palindrome, like Renner. He has custody every other week, he says, and the rest of the time she's with his ex-wife.... I ask him the most fun parts of having a daughter. 'Everything's fun, man. Especially at this age.' She loves dance, gymnastics, musical instruments, swimming. Renner tries to keep her from being too girly: 'Like this Christmas,' he says, 'she got a princess castle, but she also got a tool set.' ... Friends say Ava is everything to Renner. 'She has her daddy wrapped around her finger,' (Renner's friend, Kristoffer) Winters says, 'The few times in life I've seen him cry were because he missed something of hers.' ... Renner says he would have loved to have more kids. 'I'd like to have eight running around,' he says. 'A gaggle, a little clan.' He thought about having another girl and naming her Hannah, also a palindrome. 'But at this point,' he says, 'that's not in my future.' I tell him you never know, but he shakes his head. 'It takes two,' he says. 'Doing it alone is not fun. You want to share the experience. You kind of want a partner. I've done so many amazing, cool-ass things in my life - but I think as we get older, there's more value in doing something with somebody.' ... 'I won't even let (Ava) watch Avengers. The only reason she knows I'm Hawkeye is because I'm on her pajamas.' ... 'Parenting is not a sexy thing. But when someone has fortitude, they're always going to be there. I'm the rock,' he says."
— Josh Eells, Men's Journal article about actor Jeremy Renner
— Josh Eells, Men's Journal article about actor Jeremy Renner
Sunday, November 5, 2017
#380
I'm envious of Michael. He plays an instrument and plays it well. The cello. Every time I hear it, his playing sounds more fluid, versatile, crisp. I don't know how to describe music. But I know his confidence as a musician grows every year. Because confidence comes from hard work, practice, getting shit done (in your chosen craft). Amen. Michael's orchestra had a concert a couple Saturdays ago and it was fantastic.
I watch Modern Family with the kids. If you're unfamiliar – because you live on Mars? – Modern Family is a TV show on Earth. It's loaded with goodness, but it isn't light on adult-y stuff either. The characters are vivid, various, and hilarious. And they're uniquely expressive and vulnerable in cutaway scenes where the characters talk directly to the camera; they talk to you, the audience; they open up, explain. They confess. They overshare. Naturally, I love it. Ferris Bueller talked to the camera too, and everyone loves Ferris... the sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads. Ferris was my favorite movie as a teenager. Ferris Bueller's Day Off released in 1986. It isn't super-clean either. But it's pretty great.
Ed Rooney, School Principal: What is so dangerous about a character like Ferris Bueller is he gives good kids bad ideas. Last thing I need at this point in my career is 1,500 Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls. He jeopardizes my ability to effectively govern this student body.
Grace, School Secretary: He makes you look like an ass, is what he does, Ed.
E: Thank you, Grace, but I think you're wrong.
G: Oh, he's very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.
E: That is why I need to show these kids that the example he sets is a first-class ticket to nowhere!
G: Oh, Ed, you sounded like Dirty Harry just then.
E: Really? Thanks, Grace.
Jeannie Bueller: In a nutshell, I hate my brother....
Druggie at the Police Station: You ought to spend a little more time dealing with yourself, a little less time worrying about what your brother does. That's just an opinion.
J: What are you, a psychiatrist?
D: No.
J: Then why don't you keep your opinions to yourself.
D: There's somebody you should talk to.
J: If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.
D: Oh, you know him?
Ferris Bueller: Never had one lesson!
Ferris Bueller: This is the part where Cameron goes Berserk.
By the way, there's a reason I mentioned Modern Family. Last night during the show, Megan said, "Dad, you are Phil Dunfy." Phil was having an especially bad episode. I was like, really? I felt insulted. Then I felt complimented. Then insulted, then complimented, then offended again. It's probably, exactly, how Phil would respond in a similar situation. Megan watched me process her comment. I was silent but I was reacting – happy, hurt, happy, hurt – and Meg read me and smiled. Busted. Phil is goofy but he's caring, creative, energetic, generally optimistic, and he tries hard to bond with people, especially his kids. Sometimes he's an idiot. Most of the time he's juvenile. Okay. Ouch. Oh well. Someone at work told me I was Phil Dunfy, also. Been called worse. Thank you for the compliment.
I'm closing in on #400. I intend to get there. Maybe then I'll stop. But why can't I always write? Even if I'm a scuffling minor-leaguer. Or little-leaguer. It's fun. Thanks for reading.
I watch Modern Family with the kids. If you're unfamiliar – because you live on Mars? – Modern Family is a TV show on Earth. It's loaded with goodness, but it isn't light on adult-y stuff either. The characters are vivid, various, and hilarious. And they're uniquely expressive and vulnerable in cutaway scenes where the characters talk directly to the camera; they talk to you, the audience; they open up, explain. They confess. They overshare. Naturally, I love it. Ferris Bueller talked to the camera too, and everyone loves Ferris... the sportos, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads. Ferris was my favorite movie as a teenager. Ferris Bueller's Day Off released in 1986. It isn't super-clean either. But it's pretty great.
Ed Rooney, School Principal: What is so dangerous about a character like Ferris Bueller is he gives good kids bad ideas. Last thing I need at this point in my career is 1,500 Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls. He jeopardizes my ability to effectively govern this student body.
Grace, School Secretary: He makes you look like an ass, is what he does, Ed.
E: Thank you, Grace, but I think you're wrong.
G: Oh, he's very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads, they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude.
E: That is why I need to show these kids that the example he sets is a first-class ticket to nowhere!
G: Oh, Ed, you sounded like Dirty Harry just then.
E: Really? Thanks, Grace.
Jeannie Bueller: In a nutshell, I hate my brother....
Druggie at the Police Station: You ought to spend a little more time dealing with yourself, a little less time worrying about what your brother does. That's just an opinion.
J: What are you, a psychiatrist?
D: No.
J: Then why don't you keep your opinions to yourself.
D: There's somebody you should talk to.
J: If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.
D: Oh, you know him?
Ferris Bueller: Never had one lesson!
Ferris Bueller: This is the part where Cameron goes Berserk.
By the way, there's a reason I mentioned Modern Family. Last night during the show, Megan said, "Dad, you are Phil Dunfy." Phil was having an especially bad episode. I was like, really? I felt insulted. Then I felt complimented. Then insulted, then complimented, then offended again. It's probably, exactly, how Phil would respond in a similar situation. Megan watched me process her comment. I was silent but I was reacting – happy, hurt, happy, hurt – and Meg read me and smiled. Busted. Phil is goofy but he's caring, creative, energetic, generally optimistic, and he tries hard to bond with people, especially his kids. Sometimes he's an idiot. Most of the time he's juvenile. Okay. Ouch. Oh well. Someone at work told me I was Phil Dunfy, also. Been called worse. Thank you for the compliment.
I'm closing in on #400. I intend to get there. Maybe then I'll stop. But why can't I always write? Even if I'm a scuffling minor-leaguer. Or little-leaguer. It's fun. Thanks for reading.
Stuff About Things #8
"You know that assignment you always get in high school when you’re reading Walden, to keep a journal? Well, I just kept doing that."
— John Hughes
"Relax. No one else knows what they're doing either."
— Ricky Gervais
"If somebody would ask what is it that you breathe that's not air, but that's what you need, it's art. I have to see it constantly. It's not even like 'O.K., I'm going to look at art in the evening'; it's all day long."
— Raf Simons, Chief Creative Officer at Calvin Klein
"Just think of all the things that have come and gone in our lifetimes, all the would-be futures we watched age into obsolescence – CD, DVD, answering machine, Walkman, mixtape, MTV, video store, mall. There were still some rotary phones around in our childhood – now it’s nothing but virtual buttons. We are the last generation to grow up with crappy video games, with actual arcades instead of quality home consoles. If you wanted to play, you had to leave the house and mix it up with the ruffians. That is, we are the last Americans to have the old-time childhood, wherein you were assigned a bully along with a homeroom teacher. Our childhood was closer to those of the 1950s than to whatever they’re doing today. It was coherent, hands-on, dirty, and fun."
— Vanity Fair magazine, Why Generation X Might Be Our Last, Best Hope by Rich Cohen
"I lived to see the jokes about the possibility of these motors displacing the horse fade away and automobiles fill the streets and cover the nations."
— W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868–1963, from The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century
"I grew up in a simpler time, in an America where you didn't instantly download the newest hit single on your phone... no, sir, you bought 12 CDs for a penny, with the stipulation that you purchase the 8th CD at the regular club price. That CD was a rip-off, and their selection sucked, but it was a good way to stock up on greatest-hits albums.... I was the first in my family to go to online college... I'll never forget the day I received my diploma, because it went into the spam folder.... I proudly showed it off to my parents, after updating my Flash Player, since it was an animation. It turned out the attachment had a virus, and some guys in Nigeria demanded a thousand bucks or they'd delete all my files.... I have a wonderful woman I share my life with now, Lucy. I met her two nights ago on Tinder..."
— Vanity Fair magazine, a humor piece by Teddy Wayne
"You gotta really stay sharp.... You gotta be sharp."
— Tom Brady
"It's year-round, and I try to make a big commitment... I put a lot of effort in... I spend a lot of time working at it... it takes effort and discipline, but as long as I can do that I know I can be successful on the field."
— Tom Brady ... or ...
"Well, I'm always working on my techniques, my fundamentals, I mean, I think that's a daily thing for me because you don't wanna just... you know, I always think you can get a percentage or two off a week and over the course of five weeks, you're 10% off where you want to be, whether certain quarterbacking techniques or, you know, things like that, so you gotta really stay sharp. So I film a lot of those things so I can watch it daily, know really what I'm looking for, and, you know, you gotta be sharp.... I think everything keeps me up at night, the expectations are so high, the standards that have been set here are... they're just high, for everybody, and everybody wants to do a great job, and there's a lot of effort, and guys are putting in a lot of work.... I love being a part of it. I wake up everyday thinking about how I can help this team win and the work I need to put in so I can be really held accountable for what I do, so I can be really dependable for the team, and we've had a great thing goin' so hopefully we can keep doin' it.... I think (my lifestyle) is hugely important. I've just learned a certain way that works for me, and I try to incorporate those things into my daily life, and it's year-round, and I try to make a big commitment... I put a lot of effort in... I spend a lot of time working at it... it takes effort and discipline, but as long as I can do that I know I can be successful on the field."
— Tom Brady ... the guy is practically my age and still winning Super Bowls, and Super Bowl MVPs, he's won four – four! – Super Bowl MVPs, and don't forget he was drafted in the 6th round, he's not a perfect physical specimen, he has worked to get to the top... I was disappointed by 'deflategate' but his work ethic, discipline, and dedication to health and longevity is impressive
"Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can."
— Danny Kaye
"A scorpion must sting. A wolf must hunt."
— Wonder Woman
"I didn't have any fear about being too personal. I said what I wanted to say; I was talking to myself."
— Charlotte Gainsbourg, on the songs she wrote for her 'revealing' fifth album, Rest
"Leaders set the culture. Federer gives lie to the notion that top athletes must have a nasty streak. For all the metaphors bestowed on the guy, you will not hear him likened to an 'assassin' or a 'cold killer' or, for that matter, a 'tiger.' Federer generally performs with a smile on his face and an unruffled demeanor. He treats his colleagues as opponents, not enemies. He's played his entire career absent controversy, much less scandal. This affects the entire tennis culture."
— Sports Illustrated magazine
"I'm not introverted the way some (politicians) have been, but I'm not an F.D.R. or a Bill Clinton either, who are just constantly in a crowd and relishing it. I like my quiet time. There's a writer's sensibility in me sometimes, where I step back. But I do think that I am generally optimistic. I see tragedy and comedy and pain and irony and all that stuff. But in the end I think life is fascinating, and I think people are more good than bad, and I think that the possibilities of progress are real."
— Barack Obama, Vanity Fair magazine
"Early in my presidency, I went to Cairo to make a speech to the Muslim world. And in the afternoon, after the speech, we took helicopters out to the pyramids. And they had emptied the pyramids for us, and we could just wander around for a couple hours at the pyramids and the Sphinx. And the pyramids are one of those things that live up to the hype. They're elemental in ways that are hard to describe. And you're going to these tombs and looking at the hieroglyphics and imagining the civilization that built these iconic images. And I still remember... thinking to myself, there were a lot of people during the period when these pyramids were built (who considered themselves) really important... people anguishing over their relative popularity or position... (but all that's left) today are the pyramids. Sometimes I carry with me that perspective, which tells me that my particular worries on any given day – how I'm doing in the polls or what somebody is saying about me, for good or for ill – isn't particularly relevant. What's relevant is: What am I building that lasts."
— Barack Obama, Vanity Fair magazine
"When I ran for Congress in 2007... I finished a fight in San Antonio, then flew to the Philippines to campaign. I wasn't prepared. I lost.... There's a lot of poverty in my province. I wanted to represent them. I came from the dirt like everyone else.... Some people thought I would not try again, but I came up with a better plan... and I won.... I schedule my training and fights around congressional recesses... I don't think about retiring right now. I want to fight more. I pray that, with God's will, I can. I didn't worry about my boxing career because I'm good at managing my time.... I've learned good lessons from my mistakes.... What I don't like about politics is the corruption.... Public service is my calling."
— Manny Pacquiao
"What looks like arid scrubland contains countless Indian burial grounds and other sites sacred to the tribes who lived there: the Nez Perce, the Umatilla, and the Yakama. For 13,000 years or so prior to the white man's arrival the place had been theirs. To them the American experiment is no more than the blink of an eye."
— Vanity Fair magazine
"(In Cambodia) I found a people who were so kind and warm and open, and, yes, very complex. You drive around here (Los Angeles), you can see a lot of people with many things, but not often expressing happiness. You go there, and you see the families come out with their blanket and their picnic to watch a sunset."
— Angelina Jolie
"Here we don't shout. We talk."
— Rith Pahn, in Cambodia, yelling is not just disrespectful, it's also considered a sign of weakness
"I was very worried about my mother, growing up, a lot. I don't want my children to be worried about me. I think it's very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything's going to be all right even when you're not sure it is."
— Angelina Jolie
"Let's embrace being not normal."
— Angelina Jolie
— John Hughes
"Relax. No one else knows what they're doing either."
— Ricky Gervais
"If somebody would ask what is it that you breathe that's not air, but that's what you need, it's art. I have to see it constantly. It's not even like 'O.K., I'm going to look at art in the evening'; it's all day long."
— Raf Simons, Chief Creative Officer at Calvin Klein
"Just think of all the things that have come and gone in our lifetimes, all the would-be futures we watched age into obsolescence – CD, DVD, answering machine, Walkman, mixtape, MTV, video store, mall. There were still some rotary phones around in our childhood – now it’s nothing but virtual buttons. We are the last generation to grow up with crappy video games, with actual arcades instead of quality home consoles. If you wanted to play, you had to leave the house and mix it up with the ruffians. That is, we are the last Americans to have the old-time childhood, wherein you were assigned a bully along with a homeroom teacher. Our childhood was closer to those of the 1950s than to whatever they’re doing today. It was coherent, hands-on, dirty, and fun."
— Vanity Fair magazine, Why Generation X Might Be Our Last, Best Hope by Rich Cohen
"I lived to see the jokes about the possibility of these motors displacing the horse fade away and automobiles fill the streets and cover the nations."
— W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868–1963, from The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century
"I grew up in a simpler time, in an America where you didn't instantly download the newest hit single on your phone... no, sir, you bought 12 CDs for a penny, with the stipulation that you purchase the 8th CD at the regular club price. That CD was a rip-off, and their selection sucked, but it was a good way to stock up on greatest-hits albums.... I was the first in my family to go to online college... I'll never forget the day I received my diploma, because it went into the spam folder.... I proudly showed it off to my parents, after updating my Flash Player, since it was an animation. It turned out the attachment had a virus, and some guys in Nigeria demanded a thousand bucks or they'd delete all my files.... I have a wonderful woman I share my life with now, Lucy. I met her two nights ago on Tinder..."
— Vanity Fair magazine, a humor piece by Teddy Wayne
"You gotta really stay sharp.... You gotta be sharp."
— Tom Brady
"It's year-round, and I try to make a big commitment... I put a lot of effort in... I spend a lot of time working at it... it takes effort and discipline, but as long as I can do that I know I can be successful on the field."
— Tom Brady ... or ...
"Well, I'm always working on my techniques, my fundamentals, I mean, I think that's a daily thing for me because you don't wanna just... you know, I always think you can get a percentage or two off a week and over the course of five weeks, you're 10% off where you want to be, whether certain quarterbacking techniques or, you know, things like that, so you gotta really stay sharp. So I film a lot of those things so I can watch it daily, know really what I'm looking for, and, you know, you gotta be sharp.... I think everything keeps me up at night, the expectations are so high, the standards that have been set here are... they're just high, for everybody, and everybody wants to do a great job, and there's a lot of effort, and guys are putting in a lot of work.... I love being a part of it. I wake up everyday thinking about how I can help this team win and the work I need to put in so I can be really held accountable for what I do, so I can be really dependable for the team, and we've had a great thing goin' so hopefully we can keep doin' it.... I think (my lifestyle) is hugely important. I've just learned a certain way that works for me, and I try to incorporate those things into my daily life, and it's year-round, and I try to make a big commitment... I put a lot of effort in... I spend a lot of time working at it... it takes effort and discipline, but as long as I can do that I know I can be successful on the field."
— Tom Brady ... the guy is practically my age and still winning Super Bowls, and Super Bowl MVPs, he's won four – four! – Super Bowl MVPs, and don't forget he was drafted in the 6th round, he's not a perfect physical specimen, he has worked to get to the top... I was disappointed by 'deflategate' but his work ethic, discipline, and dedication to health and longevity is impressive
"Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can."
— Danny Kaye
"A scorpion must sting. A wolf must hunt."
— Wonder Woman
"I didn't have any fear about being too personal. I said what I wanted to say; I was talking to myself."
— Charlotte Gainsbourg, on the songs she wrote for her 'revealing' fifth album, Rest
"Leaders set the culture. Federer gives lie to the notion that top athletes must have a nasty streak. For all the metaphors bestowed on the guy, you will not hear him likened to an 'assassin' or a 'cold killer' or, for that matter, a 'tiger.' Federer generally performs with a smile on his face and an unruffled demeanor. He treats his colleagues as opponents, not enemies. He's played his entire career absent controversy, much less scandal. This affects the entire tennis culture."
— Sports Illustrated magazine
"I'm not introverted the way some (politicians) have been, but I'm not an F.D.R. or a Bill Clinton either, who are just constantly in a crowd and relishing it. I like my quiet time. There's a writer's sensibility in me sometimes, where I step back. But I do think that I am generally optimistic. I see tragedy and comedy and pain and irony and all that stuff. But in the end I think life is fascinating, and I think people are more good than bad, and I think that the possibilities of progress are real."
— Barack Obama, Vanity Fair magazine
"Early in my presidency, I went to Cairo to make a speech to the Muslim world. And in the afternoon, after the speech, we took helicopters out to the pyramids. And they had emptied the pyramids for us, and we could just wander around for a couple hours at the pyramids and the Sphinx. And the pyramids are one of those things that live up to the hype. They're elemental in ways that are hard to describe. And you're going to these tombs and looking at the hieroglyphics and imagining the civilization that built these iconic images. And I still remember... thinking to myself, there were a lot of people during the period when these pyramids were built (who considered themselves) really important... people anguishing over their relative popularity or position... (but all that's left) today are the pyramids. Sometimes I carry with me that perspective, which tells me that my particular worries on any given day – how I'm doing in the polls or what somebody is saying about me, for good or for ill – isn't particularly relevant. What's relevant is: What am I building that lasts."
— Barack Obama, Vanity Fair magazine
"When I ran for Congress in 2007... I finished a fight in San Antonio, then flew to the Philippines to campaign. I wasn't prepared. I lost.... There's a lot of poverty in my province. I wanted to represent them. I came from the dirt like everyone else.... Some people thought I would not try again, but I came up with a better plan... and I won.... I schedule my training and fights around congressional recesses... I don't think about retiring right now. I want to fight more. I pray that, with God's will, I can. I didn't worry about my boxing career because I'm good at managing my time.... I've learned good lessons from my mistakes.... What I don't like about politics is the corruption.... Public service is my calling."
— Manny Pacquiao
"What looks like arid scrubland contains countless Indian burial grounds and other sites sacred to the tribes who lived there: the Nez Perce, the Umatilla, and the Yakama. For 13,000 years or so prior to the white man's arrival the place had been theirs. To them the American experiment is no more than the blink of an eye."
— Vanity Fair magazine
"(In Cambodia) I found a people who were so kind and warm and open, and, yes, very complex. You drive around here (Los Angeles), you can see a lot of people with many things, but not often expressing happiness. You go there, and you see the families come out with their blanket and their picnic to watch a sunset."
— Angelina Jolie
"Here we don't shout. We talk."
— Rith Pahn, in Cambodia, yelling is not just disrespectful, it's also considered a sign of weakness
"I was very worried about my mother, growing up, a lot. I don't want my children to be worried about me. I think it's very important to cry in the shower and not in front of them. They need to know that everything's going to be all right even when you're not sure it is."
— Angelina Jolie
"Let's embrace being not normal."
— Angelina Jolie
John Hughes and Writing
"I grew up outside Chicago. I went to one of the high schools where John Hughes set all of those iconic teen movies. I studied them as a religious scholar might study the Bible, searching for answers, clues. The Breakfast Club was not one of my favorites, but it was said to define my generation. In that movie, Hughes... says more than he probably intended, which is the way with art. Now and then, you are telling the future without meaning to."
— Rich Cohen, Vanity Fair magazine
I'm from the same generation referred to above, and I grew up outside Chicago, and I loved and studied Hughes films, also. We watch Christmas Vacation every year, and so does everyone else; that's another screenplay written by John Hughes, based on his short story in National Lampoon magazine, Christmas '59. I didn't know what the word 'virgin' meant until I overheard its use in The Breakfast Club, which my parents were watching with my uncle at the time. I was listening from another room and 'virginity' was a hot topic in the film; you know this if you've seen it. Hughes's teen films are classics, but so are Planes, Trains, & Automobiles and Home Alone, and before those, Mr. Mom and National Lampoon's Vacation, the first in the series starring Chevy Chase.
At the young age of 59, Hughes had a severe heart attack and passed away. A long life isn't guaranteed.
"John Hughes never stopped writing. He was notorious for this trait, especially in the 1980s, when he churned out screenplays faster than Hollywood could make them into movies. The script for Sixteen Candles came forth in a two-day burst during the 1983 preparations for The Breakfast Club, so impressing his studio overseers that it jumped the line to become Hughes’s directorial debut, in 1984.... Writing was, for Hughes, not so much a profession as a condition of life. The thoughts that germinated in his brain took a direct path to his hands, which filled notebooks, floppy disks, and hard drives with screenplays, stories, sketches, and jokes. When he wasn’t writing creatively, he was writing about how much writing he was doing. A spiral-bound logbook from 1985 finds Hughes keeping track of his progress on Ferris Bueller. The basic story line, he notes, was developed on February 25. It was successfully pitched the following day. And then he was off: “2-26 Night only 10 pages … 2-27 26 pages … 2-28 19 pages … 3-1 9 pages … 3-2 20 pages … 3-3 24 pages.” Wham-bam, script done. All in one week.... At some point, Hughes 'stopped and looked around,' and he realized that he didn’t want to make movies anymore. He wanted to be at liberty to spend as much time with his family as he pleased, to work the farm he owned 75 miles northwest of Chicago, and to exult in the resolutely uncoastal ethos of his beloved Midwest. And by 1990, with the release of his highest-grossing movie, the Macaulay Culkin sado-slapstick comedy Home Alone, which Hughes wrote and produced but did not direct, he had the means to put Hollywood and the movies behind him. For all his success in pictures, Hughes’s directing years turned out to be an aberration in his life - a shortish stretch that required him to do uncharacteristic things like be in L.A. and keep the company of actors. The one normal aspect of this period for him, consistent with the rest of his life, was the compulsive writing. It was a habit that dated back, appropriately enough, to his teen days. 'You know that assignment you always get in high school when you’re reading Walden, to keep a journal?' he said in a 1988 interview. 'Well, I just kept doing that.' ... Hughes, his sons say, reveled in grandfatherhood.... he now viewed it as his primary duty to be, in his younger son’s words, 'the curious, engaged grandpa in the seersucker.' The creative writing he continued to do was, therefore, not necessarily for public consumption. In recent years, he worked in a variety of formats: memoir, short fiction, and, yes, screenplays. But he was content, (his son) John III said, to 'pump the stuff out for his own satisfaction, comfortable with it never going anywhere.' He’d had his say, and it was time for others to have theirs. This mind-set was, as contradictory as it may sound, consistent with the one that led Hughes to become the sympathetic voice of teendom in the 1980s. One of his major hobbyhorses – 'a constant topic,' in (his son) James’s words – was the attention-hogging egotism of his own generation, the baby-boomers. In his view, the boomers did not know when to step aside and cede the stage. 'He was kind of upset not to see more people of his generation passing the baton,' John III said. 'He wanted to give youth a voice.'"
— David Kamp, Vanity Fair magazine
— Rich Cohen, Vanity Fair magazine
I'm from the same generation referred to above, and I grew up outside Chicago, and I loved and studied Hughes films, also. We watch Christmas Vacation every year, and so does everyone else; that's another screenplay written by John Hughes, based on his short story in National Lampoon magazine, Christmas '59. I didn't know what the word 'virgin' meant until I overheard its use in The Breakfast Club, which my parents were watching with my uncle at the time. I was listening from another room and 'virginity' was a hot topic in the film; you know this if you've seen it. Hughes's teen films are classics, but so are Planes, Trains, & Automobiles and Home Alone, and before those, Mr. Mom and National Lampoon's Vacation, the first in the series starring Chevy Chase.
At the young age of 59, Hughes had a severe heart attack and passed away. A long life isn't guaranteed.
"John Hughes never stopped writing. He was notorious for this trait, especially in the 1980s, when he churned out screenplays faster than Hollywood could make them into movies. The script for Sixteen Candles came forth in a two-day burst during the 1983 preparations for The Breakfast Club, so impressing his studio overseers that it jumped the line to become Hughes’s directorial debut, in 1984.... Writing was, for Hughes, not so much a profession as a condition of life. The thoughts that germinated in his brain took a direct path to his hands, which filled notebooks, floppy disks, and hard drives with screenplays, stories, sketches, and jokes. When he wasn’t writing creatively, he was writing about how much writing he was doing. A spiral-bound logbook from 1985 finds Hughes keeping track of his progress on Ferris Bueller. The basic story line, he notes, was developed on February 25. It was successfully pitched the following day. And then he was off: “2-26 Night only 10 pages … 2-27 26 pages … 2-28 19 pages … 3-1 9 pages … 3-2 20 pages … 3-3 24 pages.” Wham-bam, script done. All in one week.... At some point, Hughes 'stopped and looked around,' and he realized that he didn’t want to make movies anymore. He wanted to be at liberty to spend as much time with his family as he pleased, to work the farm he owned 75 miles northwest of Chicago, and to exult in the resolutely uncoastal ethos of his beloved Midwest. And by 1990, with the release of his highest-grossing movie, the Macaulay Culkin sado-slapstick comedy Home Alone, which Hughes wrote and produced but did not direct, he had the means to put Hollywood and the movies behind him. For all his success in pictures, Hughes’s directing years turned out to be an aberration in his life - a shortish stretch that required him to do uncharacteristic things like be in L.A. and keep the company of actors. The one normal aspect of this period for him, consistent with the rest of his life, was the compulsive writing. It was a habit that dated back, appropriately enough, to his teen days. 'You know that assignment you always get in high school when you’re reading Walden, to keep a journal?' he said in a 1988 interview. 'Well, I just kept doing that.' ... Hughes, his sons say, reveled in grandfatherhood.... he now viewed it as his primary duty to be, in his younger son’s words, 'the curious, engaged grandpa in the seersucker.' The creative writing he continued to do was, therefore, not necessarily for public consumption. In recent years, he worked in a variety of formats: memoir, short fiction, and, yes, screenplays. But he was content, (his son) John III said, to 'pump the stuff out for his own satisfaction, comfortable with it never going anywhere.' He’d had his say, and it was time for others to have theirs. This mind-set was, as contradictory as it may sound, consistent with the one that led Hughes to become the sympathetic voice of teendom in the 1980s. One of his major hobbyhorses – 'a constant topic,' in (his son) James’s words – was the attention-hogging egotism of his own generation, the baby-boomers. In his view, the boomers did not know when to step aside and cede the stage. 'He was kind of upset not to see more people of his generation passing the baton,' John III said. 'He wanted to give youth a voice.'"
— David Kamp, Vanity Fair magazine
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
#379
I professed my fanhood for Bear Grylls here and now I must do so for another Englishman, a knight in fact, who I've recently learned more about. His words and philosophies are inspiring; his actions, adventures, daredevilry, business successes, and humanitarian efforts are impressive (lest we forget: actions speak louder than words). I'm referring to Richard Branson, or Sir Richard Branson, although I bet he's quick to dispel or oppose any pretentiousness that comes with the title. He said this in an interview and it's great advice: "I actually think everybody should write a book about their lives. I've persuaded a number of people to do so.... You don't have to have led a very public life, I think everyone has led interesting lives. Your children and your grandchildren will be fascinated by the lives you lead." I am grateful for every word my grandparents wrote that was saved by the family. My dad's dad kept a journal during the Korean War and my mom's dad wrote several letters home from WWII. I continue to ask questions and pry stories out of my grandmas. They're awesome women; I'm so lucky, and M 'n' m are lucky to have them as great-grandmas. I spent considerable time with one of my great-grandmas when I was young – I was cared for by a person born in 1900! – and I'll never forget her motherly generosity and dependability. She had a wonderful sturdiness of character. I won't forget her house and garden, her cactuses and Siamese cats, her coin collection and the organ she played beautifully. How much I'd love a book about her life and times! She rode in a covered wagon. She lost a young son tragically (to drowning in the ocean) and was heartbroken I'm sure. She would not allow anyone to leave her house without a hug. She was a Dodger fan because of Jackie Robinson, and she smoked, drank beer, and watched baseball when she wasn't mothering and feeding everyone. And her daughter (my grandma) became the first Ph.D. in the family and one of the most all-around impressive women I've ever known, a sheer force of productivity and love. I remember my great-grandma sitting with me at a table and doing a Lego set while listening to the radio broadcast of the college football game everyone else was at. Awesome. What a woman! So just do it, someday, please, for your descendants, write down a few thoughts and stories. In a journal, on Facebook, in emails, whatever. In any form or format your loved ones can keep... or photocopy or scan or otherwise digitally archive; let them figure it out; you just record your slice of history, what you went through, what advice you'd give, your life's joys and curiosities, and so on; it's fascinating and your grandchildren will thank you.
"First of all, I'm lucky, I have a very extraordinary mother, and a lovely father, and we're a very, very close-knit family, and that's fortunately continued with myself, my wife and children, and so on ever since. So that's given us a fantastic foundation as a family.... Well, my mother, her whole approach to bringing up her children was one where she'd be arrested today but in those days she could get away with it. At age three or four she would shove me out of the car two or three miles from grandmother's house and tell me to make my own way there. She would put me on a bicycle at age seven or eight and tell me to ride 300 miles in the pouring rain, again to grandmother's house, and her attitude was, you know, if we survived we'd be the stronger for it. She wouldn't allow us to watch television, for instance, we had to get out there and do things. She would push us out of the house and tell us to come back in the evening.... We lived in the countryside and it was a fun upbringing, and a very loving upbringing; it may not sound like it, but she wasn't actually trying to kill us, she did love us as well [laughter].... It's fun, my mom's 94 now and I just saw her a few minutes ago and she will never stop. I mean she's got an idea a minute, and, you know, we've always had to run to keep up with her, and put the two of us together and it's a dangerous combination!"
— Richard Branson in a phone interview with Tim Ferriss
"When things went wrong (during his various dangerous adventures)... if you're gonna survive, the only way you're gonna survive is by keeping focused, by staying positive, even if you are facing almost certain death, you're definitely going to die unless you stay focused and stay positive and fight to the bitter end, and, you know, there have been circumstances where, on paper, we were well over the 90% chance I'm not coming home, and I think by staying focused and staying positive, and with a big dose of good fortune, we made it all the way back."
— Richard Branson, interviewed by Tim Ferriss
"I think humor is important, putting on a brave face, cracking jokes, plenty of hugs; I think hugs are important [laughter]."
— Richard Branson, speaking of how he reassured others as Category 5 Hurricane Irma roared over them devastating Necker Island
"Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.... A company is people.... The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers.... There's no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff the way you would like to be treated."
— Richard Branson
"Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple."
— Richard Branson
"If your dreams don't scare you they are too small."
— Richard Branson
"I don't think of work as work and play as play. It's all living."
— Richard Branson
"First of all, I'm lucky, I have a very extraordinary mother, and a lovely father, and we're a very, very close-knit family, and that's fortunately continued with myself, my wife and children, and so on ever since. So that's given us a fantastic foundation as a family.... Well, my mother, her whole approach to bringing up her children was one where she'd be arrested today but in those days she could get away with it. At age three or four she would shove me out of the car two or three miles from grandmother's house and tell me to make my own way there. She would put me on a bicycle at age seven or eight and tell me to ride 300 miles in the pouring rain, again to grandmother's house, and her attitude was, you know, if we survived we'd be the stronger for it. She wouldn't allow us to watch television, for instance, we had to get out there and do things. She would push us out of the house and tell us to come back in the evening.... We lived in the countryside and it was a fun upbringing, and a very loving upbringing; it may not sound like it, but she wasn't actually trying to kill us, she did love us as well [laughter].... It's fun, my mom's 94 now and I just saw her a few minutes ago and she will never stop. I mean she's got an idea a minute, and, you know, we've always had to run to keep up with her, and put the two of us together and it's a dangerous combination!"
— Richard Branson in a phone interview with Tim Ferriss
"When things went wrong (during his various dangerous adventures)... if you're gonna survive, the only way you're gonna survive is by keeping focused, by staying positive, even if you are facing almost certain death, you're definitely going to die unless you stay focused and stay positive and fight to the bitter end, and, you know, there have been circumstances where, on paper, we were well over the 90% chance I'm not coming home, and I think by staying focused and staying positive, and with a big dose of good fortune, we made it all the way back."
— Richard Branson, interviewed by Tim Ferriss
"I think humor is important, putting on a brave face, cracking jokes, plenty of hugs; I think hugs are important [laughter]."
— Richard Branson, speaking of how he reassured others as Category 5 Hurricane Irma roared over them devastating Necker Island
"Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.... A company is people.... The way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers.... There's no magic formula for great company culture. The key is just to treat your staff the way you would like to be treated."
— Richard Branson
"Complexity is your enemy. Any fool can make something complicated. It is hard to make something simple."
— Richard Branson
"If your dreams don't scare you they are too small."
— Richard Branson
"I don't think of work as work and play as play. It's all living."
— Richard Branson
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