Love and death come uninvited.

The farther down a path you go the harder it is to turn back.

[solemn] "I have stolen your life."
- Shimada Kambei to Gorobei Katayama (just before he died)

I love my letter opener.

Appearance and function -
It's long and sleek. Double edged. Has a red handle. Well balanced. Stainless steel. Made in Japan. I love slotting it in and the sound & sensation of the long tear.

History -
I found it 6 or 7 years ago at an abandoned office of a bankrupt construction company in Hong Kong. I was searching through their records, as part of a summer internship. I was working in insolvency. Office furniture and machines go to auction to raise money for creditors, but I don't think the letter opener would have sold. I think it would have been thrown away. I saved it.

Gratuitousness -
Fingers can open letters - a letter opener is not a necessary item. Yet, it makes the whole experience much more sleek, refined, efficient. Isn't love also gratuitous? What concrete thing does it actually do or serve in itself? It's not necessary in life, but it makes life more... refined, elevated.

Hmm... when I started writing this post I never realized that the conclusion would be that my letter opener is a symbol for love.

"You think wisdom is a flower for you to pluck. It is a mountain and it must be climbed."

I've started noticing the term Greater China. Is it a throwback to the great in Great Britain? Is there a reason for it? Seems a bit pretentious.

Half of the population of India is under 25 (NY Times). It's very youthful. If I go over there I'd be middle-aged. What a scary thought.

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others."
- Jonathan Swift

(He was also the person that came up with "A penny for your thoughts.")

I have a friend who was put on the list of missing after the World Trade Center attacks by one of his friends. They were both in Pennsylvania, no where near the places attacked. It has had a number of repercussions. For example, if someone finds out that he was on the list and offers sympathies/condolences, he can't really say, "well actually my friend thought it'd be funny and put my name down as a joke." It's dark humor, but I have to say it's quite original. I wonder if his name will be read out somewhere.

The smallest voice is the loudest voice.

The US leads the world in the proportion of 35- to 64-year-olds with college degrees, but it now ranks seventh among developed nations for 25- to 34-year-olds (NY Times).

The younger generation is lagging educationally compared to the baby boom generation. Tuition costs are going up faster than income and inflation. It's not a good trend. What's happening to the competitive advantage of the US? It's not just that other nations are catching up, the US is losing ground.

With the exception of Harry Potter, management books, self-help books and biographies of the rich and powerful are the best-selling books in China. Just an indicator of how pragmatic people are this side of the world (I'm in Hong Kong now). If I lived in Asia I think the side of me that does things for intrinsic rewards would be stifled.

When a teabag of green tea turns water brown, has the tea gone bad? The leaves are green, the water unmistakably brown. The drink tastes like wood. It's not unpleasant.

On a recent conference call, while I was explaining something I noticed I was gesturing with my free hand. I was amused after I noticed this. When communicating in person, gestures, expressions and body language help us to understand each other. Most of communication is non-verbal. But over the phone was my hand-waving helping? Do people gesture as much in person as when on the phone?

Sometimes I imagine (hallucinate?) that my phone is ringing when I'm in another room. I think I can hear it faintly, but it's just my imagination. Maybe I have psychic powers - and I'm sensing that people want to call me. Or maybe, more likely, I'm too used to answering calls and just have expectations that my phone should be ringing.

Successive approximation

Nothing is ever going to be perfect - so it's better to get something together and running quickly and make improvements as you go along than to keep wondering if it's right/perfect before you begin/launch. Reflection is seductive and can hinder or trap us, while action takes courage.

This is related to the 80:20 rule. The last 20% of a project takes 80% of the time/effort. One can make huge strides quickly.

The tumult in the heart
keeps asking questions.
And then it stops and undertakes
to answer
in the same tone of voice.
No one could tell the difference.

Uninnocent, these conversations start,
and then engage the senses,
only half-meaning to.
And then there is no choice,
and then there is no sense;
until a name
and all its connotation
are the same.

- from The Conversation, by Elizabeth Bishop

I saw this in the subway. It's poignant in an ambiguous, secretive way. We tend to see ourselves in art, and I did get the feeling that this poem encapsulates what's going on in my life right now. But egocentrism aside, I do have a story.

You can tell you're with a group of people that work in finance when they ask someone celebrating their 25th birthday, "Did the Q1 results meet analyst expectations? What is the outlook for the share price?"

I plan to go to a Russian bath house with some friends sometime in the near future. I've never been to any sort of bath house before, let alone a Russian one. I look forward to having a big guy (probably called Sergei or Vladimir) whack me with birch tree branches. That's supposed to be part of the experience. It's supposedly relaxing, but I suspect I may start laughing...

Charles Foster Kane: You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man.
Thatcher: Don't you think you are?
Charles Foster Kane: I think I did pretty well under the circumstances.
Thatcher: What would you like to have been?
Charles Foster Kane: Everything you hate.