This week I finished: Repo Man: I remember watching this movie in the 1980s, loving it, and feeling like it was an underground movie. I rewatched it again for the first time in decades and enjoyed it as much as ever. It was different than most movies. It took chances. It has many quotable lines. The life of a repo man is always intense. I don’t remember why I chose[…] Keep reading →

I see the statement Everyone should change except me. as one that defines our time. We recognize the problems. Like traffic, we all contribute to them, but also like traffic, we feel like they—other people—cause it and we’re caught in a mess of their making. Of course we cause traffic as much as anyone. We cause our cultural and environmental problems too. We could change.

I recently finished Bruce Springsteen’s memoir Born to Run. Below is what resonated with me and motivated me most: Bruce Springsteen wrote in his memoir Born to Run about discovering the guitar growing up in a working-class New Jersey neighborhood. The day after seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, “I convinced my mom to take me to Diehl’s Music on South Street in Freehold. There, with no money to[…] Keep reading →

I was talking to a solar expert on installing solar panels to my roof, now that my coop board has approved my looking into a pilot program. He brought up a satellite view of my roof. Check out this image from satellite view: If you didn’t know what to look for, you wouldn’t see it, but you can see my solar panels! All those black squares are tiling to walk[…] Keep reading →

A friend told me about a difficult situation for himself at work. The person he reports to suggested that he lacked assertiveness. He listened to being told the information calmly, but when he reflected afterward, he felt a lot of different things, including feeling “twisted up inside” and “frustration, anger, disappointment, feeling misunderstood.” I can’t say for sure if he would benefit from learning the skill of assertiveness or whatever[…] Keep reading →

I don’t use refined oils at home and try to avoid them elsewhere. I attended a catered event and ate a noodle dish with a lot of oil and nearly no vegetables. They served grilled vegetables that were also covered in oil. The noodle dish was very palatable, in that it gave me pleasure to swallow it down my throat. It didn’t actually taste that good. It just prompted me[…] Keep reading →

Yesterday was sunny. I went to Washington Square Park. I had been scheduled to meet a friend in the park before the problem with my roof arose so combined activities. We spoke about an hour. I think he enjoyed seeing everyone approach and hearing their questions and my answers. Right off the bat several people asked me about it. Some were interested, some just curious, some weird. So far only[…] Keep reading →