Just before the holidays, I ordered a tablet for a work project. There was a seasonal promotion running at the time: buy the tablet, get a free wireless keyboard. In my multitasking, list-checking, end-of-year rush, I forgot to add the keyboard to my order. A couple of weeks later, after the tablet arrived, I went … Read more
’Tis the season of lists. Beyond the usual Top Ten books, movies, fashion moments, and travel adventures of the year, I’ve seen more unusual roundups, such as the strangest news stories and the cringiest pop-culture moments. Here’s my not-so-sensational contribution to the world of lists: five insights gleaned from books and life I intend to … Read more
One of the things I catch myself saying far too often is some version of: “I will be xxx when yyy happens.” It shows up in harmless-looking lines like: I’ll feel better once I deliver that big presentation I’ll relax on Friday night, after this crazy work week ends I’ll start my quest for spirituality … Read more
My coworkers expect me to show up at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday to answer questions on Zoom. Mortgage and credit card companies expect me to pay my bills on time. The elderly seniors who live with me expect me to have their meals ready on time every day. These are expectations borne out of social … Read more
Forced to replace our car during Covid, we ended up buying an overpriced Tesla. Yes, this was back in the early days, before the world’s first trillion-dollar payout man went full Bond villain. And yes, I bought the stickers earlier this year to avoid the public shaming of being seen in a Tesla. When I … Read more
I enjoy doling out free (often unsolicited) advice far more than receiving (or acting on) it. One suggestion I routinely toss around is to encourage people to volunteer at local running events, even if they have no interest in the sport of running. Aside from the good karma, spectating at endurance events, especially longer ones … Read more
My private integrity is a highly confidential matter. Don’t ask questions, and I won’t tell you any lies. Anonymous. We push our chairs back after we’ve dined at a restaurant, we roll our shopping cart back into the corral instead of abandoning it in the parking lot, and we hold the door open to let … Read more
Quick question: are you a better-than-average driver? If you said yes, you’re in good company. Almost everyone does. In one of psychology’s classic studies, researcher Ola Svenson asked students in the U.S. and Sweden to rate their driving skills compared to others. The results? A whopping 93% of Americans and 69% of Swedes claimed they … Read more
One of the more useless skills I’ve recently developed is the ability to tell time without needing to look at a clock. Sure, in terms of utility, this ranks somewhere between being able to recite the first 23 decimals in Pi or knowing the entire lyrics to the Beatles song I am the Walrus. Still. … Read more
It was supposed to be a three-minute task. I log on to the website to cancel my landline service (a term that may only be familiar to people of a certain age). Of course, the “Cancel Service” menu option does not exist, so I initiate a chat session. Soon, I’m told, “You need to call … Read more
I’m in awe of the creative things people can do: writing goosebump-inducing literary prose, shaping the most exquisite objects with their bare hands, or conversing with their plants so lovingly and knowledgeably that the plants respond with the most beautiful flowers and juiciest fruits. Blessed they are. I’ve always felt creatively stunted when it comes … Read more
As I mentioned earlier, we were traveling across Europe on a two-week trip that involved too many cities (courtesy of my FOMO—previously documented), and every imaginable mode of public transportation: flights, trains, buses, and taxis. Which is a long-winded way of saying: luggage space was limited. Now, I’m still a long way from traveling in … Read more
Travel is great. I highly recommend it. Most people travel for the usual reasons—to see the world, experience new cultures, take a break from their daily grind, or just relax. Every single one of them, a noble pursuit in itself, is enough to justify any misadventures. But, let me add, perhaps, the best reason to … Read more
Here is a list of fifty reasons I’m grateful—small and big freedoms I have the privilege to enjoy. Some of these are trivial, while others may sound a bit more profound. Many of these are freedoms from constraints that have historically or culturally existed. A few are self-imposed limits I’ve carried for years, only now … Read more
I don’t know why we’re here, but I’m pretty sure it’s not to enjoy ourselves. Wittgenstein. I have often heard people say, “You are exactly where you need to be.” They believe that everything happening in our lives—to us, around us—is part of a grand plan of self-discovery and personal growth. It sounds profound. I’ll … Read more
Bernard, one of Virginia Woolf’s fictional characters in The Waves (1931), offers this hauntingly relatable monologue Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires…I am not so gifted as at one time seemed likely. Certain things lie beyond my scope. I shall never understand the harder problems of philosophy. Rome is the limit … Read more
Let us accept the natural order in which we move. Let us reconcile ourselves to the mysterious rhythm of our destinies, such as they must be in this world of space and time. Let us treasure our joys but not bewail our sorrows. Winston Churchill It’s been a difficult few weeks. Talk of cancer—multiple diagnoses—has … Read more
The source of all pleasures is the satisfaction of the stomach. Epicurus I’m exhausted already—even before I start writing, because I’ve spent too much time eating (carb-loading). Now I’m in a full-on food coma. It occurs to me now that if only I had spent even a tenth of the time I’ve spent thinking about … Read more
It may sound odd, but in this era of lifestyle vloggers, social media influencers, and ubiquitous life coaches who seem to have it all figured out, talking about impostor syndrome feels out of place. And yet, if we tune into the people we meet IRL (in real life—not the curated highlight reels online), we’ll see … Read more
Though it sounds Shakespearean, the idiom Misery loves company wasn’t coined by the Bard—the ultimate master of stories on power, revenge, and the messy depths of the human condition. The idiom is thought to have roots in Latin and classical literature. The phrase “Misery loves company” is just a pithy way of saying that when … Read more