Welcome to March, that’s right, it is MARCH, somehow, already, the month that always comes after February, which was last month, but still, how is it March already, how is it March, the month they say is in like a hare and out like a tortoise, I believe, March, so if you have the urge to lie down and take a nap at any point this month, just remember to keep plodding along, march on, reader, that’s why the month is called March, reader, and not Stop, and not Nap, and do remember to have a whiskey, too, reader, whenever you can…good luck to you this month, long-winded reader...
Moya
Happy Birthday…sort of…well, maybe?
Longtime readers will recall that TOA started on an otherwise ho-hum day in February 2016. Normally, seeing the day come around on the calendar would merit some mention of an anniversary or even a birthday party, but in this case I’m not quite so sure since the exact day I got started was the 29th. Ain’t no 29th no more, you know? So if you do have this strangest of birthdays, reader, please get in touch and let me know what this space should do to celebrate (or not) at this time next year.
Updating a previous item…
I’ve really liked the results of always saying you’re welcome to anyone who thanks me. The simple expression validates the other person’s feelings and I should not need to remind my emotionally healthy readers of how vital this basic task is for us all. It is inexcusable to do anything that makes others question the reality of their inner worlds.
And if you still really like those cute little dismissals of gratitude, I’ll repeat what I noted a couple of months ago – just say you’re welcome first...THEN...say whatever you want!
Example:
"You’re welcome, but it was nothing...because I’m so superior to you that if it weren’t for my selfless ability to help others, you would be the social equivalent of a tortoise on its shell, unable to flip over and do more important things like eat lettuce or live to a hundred or beat the stupid f’ing hare in a stupid f’ing race...no though, really, anyway, like I said, you're welcome..."
March links
I liked the article on This Is Anfield that summarized Goal's interview with Jurgen Klopp. Longtime readers will know Klopp as the manager of Liverpool Football Club and - more importantly - the topic of this enthusiastic TOA post from last August.
The main idea of the story was to describe his managerial philosophy. My favorite quote on the matter is below:
'To create a situation where everybody feels important, enjoys themselves, knows their jobs, feels respected and feels needed – that’s how life should be,” Klopp told Honigstein, who himself referred to this ideology as ‘Gesamtkunstwerk – a highly flammable concoction made up of thrilling attacking football, a special bond in the dressing room and supporters screaming their hearts out.'I think 'gesamtkunstwerk' will probably be the first item in Lost In Translation II (if we would be so lucky for this book to ever be written, of course).
This column from The Irish Times appealed to my background in economics and brought up a very important point in the process. In hindsight, I’m surprised I’ve never heard anyone mention this import-export based idea to me (I think the preferred explanation involves 'fair trade'). I’m also a little disappointed in myself that I haven’t been more thoughtful about the global costs of my mostly vegetable-based grocery shopping - this is something I could have probably figured out for myself and written about, but I didn't.
In addition to school massacres, America is also the only major Western democracy where people regularly go bankrupt because of medical bills. Articles like this one help simple-minded folks like me understand the math. If the article doesn't make sense, review the stuff I wrote about cash flow (or go talk to someone who has ever gotten knee-deep into the muck of our
I don’t listen to every episode of The Tim Ferriss Show anymore but I do tend to really enjoy the ones where he interviews a guest I know (of). In this show, he speaks with Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (among other highly successful books). I really liked their brief discussion about how pro-con lists tend to talk people into bad decisions (or out of good ones). I was also emboldened by how similar Rubin’s note-taking process for reading books and creating personal resources was to my own current routine.
Finally, longtime readers will not be surprised to learn that my final blurb for this section ran several hundred words longer than I originally intended. Look for a follow up post this month with my thoughts on this More Or Less podcast episode that covers China’s audacious, unlikely, and incredibly important goal to end poverty in the next five years (ten years ahead of the UN's sustainable development goals and probably several centuries ahead of whenever the USA checks in).
The TOA Books of the Year – nominees
It took me a lot longer to get going on this project than I anticipated in January. I finally decided to get the list of nominees together, eliminate a few per month, and try to determine my top book of the year through a basic process of elimination. Unlike China’s poverty eradication plan I referenced above, my plan is meek, highly plausible, and very much non-essential. (It might, however, take five years.)
Here are my nominees for the 2018 TOA Book of the Year Award – or, as it is otherwise known, 'The Most Irrelevant Prize in World Literature'.
January - First and Last Notebooks by Simone Weil
January - Small Is Beautiful by Ernst F. Schumacher
February - Tenth of December by George Saunders
February - Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
May - Epitaph of a Small Winner by Machado de Assis
June - The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
June - The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
June - The Four Agreements by don Miguel Ruiz
July - Foundation by Isaac Asimov
July - Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenko
August - Animal Farm by George Orwell
August - The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
August - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
September - Impro by Keith Johnstone
October - Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford
November - Broken Vessels by Andre Dubus
November - Threads by Kate Evans
December - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
December - M Train by Patti Smith
Did you leave the apartment at all?
Not really, no.
Oh.
Yeah.
Really?
Not really, no.
Oh.
Yeah.
So…
I went to DC for a great weekend.
…and…?
I worry that I became further radicalized in my views.
OK, whatever.
It’s not like I don’t want to discuss it, I just think I’ll end up writing more about it soon, so…
Story dangling…that’s kind of annoying, don’t you think?
Not really, no.
Anything else?
After four mostly successful months of daily posts, I’m going to slowly start cutting back on the schedule. The general idea is to get down to around three thousand words or so per week starting in May.
Now, I know what you are thinking reader – sure, sure, but I’ve heard it all before, every alleged cutback actually leads to MORE posts, and look at this mess we have now, daily posts, like I don’t have anything better to do than read DAILY F'ING POSTS, and mostly useless posts, at that!
Well, I’m here to make that age-old protest, reader...this time is different. This! Time! Is! Different!
This is mostly due to my...finally...coming out of retirement in the middle of the month. This long-threatened move will mean, at least theoretically, that I’ll have better things to do than write daily f'ing posts. So, for the short-term, I’ll probably cutback on some of my work here.
In March and April, the transition will start with longer posts on Tuesday and/or Thursday with shorter entries going up on the other weekdays. The weekends will remain the same for now. And when the May newsletter rolls around, I’ll probably have another update on the exact details of how I’ll limit TOA to just three thousand words a week.
But the big question here is, who cares, right? Like, reader, you are probably wondering, what does all this mean for my weekend? Well, the big news is that tomorrow will be the first full ‘off day’ since last October. So, enjoy the day, reader – go reconnect with family and friends, maybe catch up on some old posts, or just go outside and sit on a bench. And if this sounds like a bit much, reader, please be patient – we’ll be back in action on Saturday with more of the usual irrelevant content.
Until then…
Thanks for reading in February.
In the next month of…True On Average…
1. Another reference to the tortoise’s famous upset of the hare!
2. We decide, once and for all – is Bono true, false, or…a feminist?
3. I lose my new job because of something I’ve written here.
See you in March!
