"I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Oh, to understand...

You have to intuitively know when to use force and when not to.

Protectionism is deplorable. Making it difficult for internationals to work in the US is a form of protectionism.

Pen mark on my face or no pen mark, I think the interviews went very well!

Busy enough to be happy, but not too busy to be happy.

If your assailant was wearing eyeglasses or sunglasses, would you still try to use mace or pepper spray? You'd baffle them at least.

Sometimes when I talk I use my hands to gesture. Usually I'm not aware of it, so I don't know how frequently, in what kind of conversations or with what people I do it. Yesterday I made a point not to use my left hand when I was talking to some professionals. It was because there was a small stain on my left sleeve. I kept that arm under the table, but continued using my right hand. Making gestures isn't a bad thing, unless it distracts from what you are trying to say. It can make your points more empathic.

One time my family was on holiday and my dad pointed out some people in a hotel lobby that were having a conversation about 30 feet from us. Even though we couldn't hear the words, we had a very good idea of the conversation based on the hand gestures. I think we were in Guangzhou, China. Italians tend to use hand gestures a lot, most people know that. Gesticulation isn't restricted to them though.

The common problem with delegating: by the time you explain the task to someone, you could have done it yourself.

"corpus callosum"

I actually recalled this part of our anatomy in a conversation last night about the efficacy of the theory that some people are more left-brained and others are more right-brained.

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long."

- from Bladerunner

I want to design/invent a new sport. I don't want it to be an obvious variation of anything out there. How does one go about creating a new sport? I know it involves figuring out an objective and making rules. I wonder if I'll ever come up with good ideas for a sport. If I do, will it ever catch on? I wonder what's the best way to make a sport catch on - one good way is if you're a PE teacher and let all the students in your school try it. I think that's what Naismith did with basketball about 60 years ago.

How do you launch into a task that involves a group or other people? Do you typically plunge in, watch & wait, or a bit of both? What is your personal style - using a volleyball analogy, are you a bumper (defensive), setter (facilitator/controller) or spiker (offensive)?

Rats are remarkable. I saw one in daylight, pouncing about on a large lawn like a squirrel. NYC rats tend to be nocturnal, and they don't tend to hop. I wondered if it was deliberately trying to imitate a squirrel. Squirrels have an undulating motion when they hop on the grass and they have bushier tails. This rat was hopping like a mini kangaroo. I was baffled.

Sometimes in order to see more you need to see less.

I came up with this phrase as I was walking outside without glasses or my contact lenses. I felt that by seeing others less clearly, I could focus more on myself - what I was feeling, and where I was going. Normally when I or others walk up and down the runways/catwalks that are the NYC streets, we become preoccupied with looking at others. Someone may wear something different that catches your attention, or you may read something interesting off someone's t-shirt, or you may see someone you know, or you may see an attractive/unattractive person. There's a tranquilization of the self. The self is temporarily reduced to a viewer, someone who treats others as objects. Or, the self, being concerned with image, participates and allows others to view them as objects. Walking without being able to see very clearly shakes up these patterns.

FYI I'm only a bit shortsighted, my eyes are -1.75 and -2.00.

People who make and sell clothes often use tall, skinny women who don't eat much to help sell their clothes. I wonder exactly why the clothes are supposed to look better when worn by very skinny women. Perhaps they don't really look better on skinny women, but their skinniness makes the clothes stand out more. When people have something that the majority of people don't (skinniness in this case), they grab more attention.

Have you ever walked down a street, seen a pigeon and felt like you could have sworn that you had seen that same pigeon before?

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

Do you believe this adage? Are the things we already have more valuable than the things we only hope to get? What if you hold out, drop your 'bird' and try to go for the better option? You may be left with nothing or you could be successful and have something better.

Do I take an internship that I need to commit to now, even though it may not be what I want to get into and probably won't lead to employment with that company? Or should I hold out and play the nauseating game of applying to more companies? There is potential for many possible outcomes. In a way, this kind of thinking is counterfactual - how can you completely know that one internship is better than another before embarking on both of them? As we experience them we determine whether it's worth one bird or two.

Potential.

Similar but different. Back like the return of an echo - the sound a bit modified, it doesn't seem quite the same. In its journey it's influenced by the medium, but it's clearly recognizable.

I'm back in my apartment, after being abroad for much of the summer. It feels like something is missing. Not something material.