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Doing Things That Aren’t Supposed to Be Done
The first example I can remember was when my friends and I, nineteen at the time, bought a forty foot long school bus. The idea was so absurd and without precedent, that it seemed impossible. It was like being at a zoo, where you know that you’re standing two feet away from a fully grown…
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Believing Things That May Not Be True
In poker, you make money whenever your opponent plays differently than he would if he knew what cards you have. When you do the same, you lose money. In other words, whenever you act in a way that you wouldn’t if you knew the truth, you’re making a mistake. The same could be said for…
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Why I Take Ballet Classes, And Why I Like Them
About eight months ago, I had the idea that maybe I should be doing something to work on flexibility and posture, like yoga. I’ve taken yoga in the past and liked it, but never really loved it enough to stick with it. Maybe I’ll try ballet, I thought. A lot of members of my family…
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The Long Shots
I have a favorite type of hand in poker. I like it because it makes up a huge chunk of my winnings at poker, is good solid play, and looks idiotic to bad poker players. It’s the kind of hand that pulls hundreds of dollars in your direction, and sometimes a couple angrily-thrown cards from…
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Treading Water Doesn’t Get You to the Shore
If there’s one long-term state that I won’t tolerate for myself, it’s treading water, putting out effort just to stay where I am. I want to either expend effort to move something ahead, or triage it and let it sink. If it’s important enough to me to do, I’ll put everything into it and do…
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Live Every Day Like Your First
I’ve never been a big fan of the phrase, “Live Every Day Like Your Last”. If I was going to do that, I would book the most ridiculous multi-leg flight possible, and go try to see my loved ones one last time. On the plane I would work on my will and write people tons…
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The Opportunity of Adversity
Have you ever noticed that adversity is often a good thing when spoken about in the past tense? I wrote a story a long time ago about how I got in way over my head exploring a cave in Austin. Being stuck in that cave was probably the hardest thing I ever had to do.…
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Why and How I’m Learning All the Languages
Before going to Romania, I decided I’d try to learn a bit of Romanian. By almost any measure it’s sort of a pointless language to learn, but I figured I’d get a kick out of pretending to my I didn’t speak any for a couple days, and then all of a sudden surprising my friends…
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Adventure is a Choice
Two months ago I was on a cruise ship making its way through the Mediterranean towards the Atlantic. My friend Brian and I sat down to dinner and were surprised when we were joined by two girls our age, Lucia and Andreea. Cruises aren’t exactly known for hosting people under forty, let alone pretty Romanian…
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Five Reasons I Recommend Japan to Everyone
When offering advice, I try really hard to actually give advice that’s suited for the person I’m giving it to. I make an extra effort to do this, because I know that I have a tendency to think that my way is the best way for everyone, and to just advocate my way of doing…
