People are dying, and that’s bad. It’s also not something that many of us can do much to fix. We’re all locked in isolation, having seen vacations cancelled and lives put on hold. Yes, the tragedies are tragic. However, we still have to find a way to move forward in our lives and make each day count for whatever it can.
 |
| Manhattan |
This week’s post is about that experience, for whatever it’s worth. I’d love to hear what’s going on with others.
1. I hate working from home.
The most surprising thing I’ve learned about myself is that I really do not like working from home. Mostly because I’ve been pretty good about keeping my personal and professional lives separate -- it helps that no one in my house understands my job at all -- and now that I’m stuck mostly working here, the boundaries are blurred together in ways I find largely unacceptable. I’ve scheduled myself into the office twice per week, and that’s helped, but it’s also absolutely as much as I can possibly justify going in, and here we are.
Like a lot of this, we’re all just gonna have to learn to live with our new reality while it persists.
 |
| More Manhattan. I took these on the way to work on Monday. |
2. I miss swimming more than anything else.
Losing the last month and a half of ski season sucked, and losing our trip to St. Thomas was worse, but it’s the lack of my usual physical outlet that’s been the hardest thing of all. Whenever I’ve struggled in the past, I’ve been able to work my feelings out in the pool. I’m not sure how I’d have handled life’s more dramatic ups and downs of life without that life-saving outlet, and not having that now is in a very real sense like not having a significant part of what makes me *me*.
I’m still cycling, yeah, but it’s not the same. Really, I’d need to put in something like 75 to 100 miles per week on the bike to have a comparable overall workload, and it’s gonna take me some time to build up to that.
Worse, I tried to run yesterday, and I totally hurt my knee. As I write this, I can barely walk, much less ride. I really hope I haven’t hurt myself too badly because it’s gonna be hard as Hell getting in to see a doctor right now.
3. I’m so, so glad I’m not my kids.
I’m trying to imagine my life as a quarantined teenager, stuck at the house with my parents, forbidden from swimming or any real escape from my folks’ consistent craziness, and basically just… stuck.
That’s my Hell. For real.
Consider this: if they’d cancelled swimming through the second half of my junior year in high school, I’d never have made my Junior National cuts, which means that I probably wouldn’t have gotten recruited by the Army Swim Team, which in turn would’ve changed everything. Among many, many other bad outcomes, my folks would’ve wound up paying for at least part of my college education, and then they lorded it over me for the rest of my life.
I’m telling you, that is my actual Hell. Good God, what a nightmare.
4. It’s a tricky time in the stock market…
 |
| @themotleyfool |
...but probably not one you can afford to ignore. Motley Fool says -- amazingly -- that we should buy Amex, Exxon, and JP Morgan Chase. Friends, that is not the way I would play it. The whole market is discounted right now, so personally, I’d argue that we shouldn’t be trying to find alpha right now, we should just try to safely play beta. Hot Tip: beta is way, way easier to predict on the whole. Or, to put that another way, if the whole market is down, we need to be prepared for the inevitable rebound across the market as a whole.
Don’t overthink it. Just find some stable companies with solid offerings that people actually need and buy the dip. That dip is now. Then wait. It might take a year or more, but people are people, and capitalism is capitalism. I personally prefer dividend stocks at times like these, but whatever. The point is, this too shall pass, and when it does, the whole world will -- eventually -- rebound.
5. I’m making a will.
I’m also giving some thought to some other end-of-life-type stuff. How could you not in the midst of a pandemic that’s killing thousands? No, I don’t think anything bad is gonna happen. Still, this stuff has been on my mind.
So. The best thing I’ve ever written is an original graphic novel called Green Mountain Gunslinger. I’ve been saving it literally forever in case I ever get the chance to pitch a movie to a person who can actually get a movie made. However, life is life, and we are where we are, and truthfully, I’d rather folks know that GMG exists and read through it if they want than have it disappear forgotten after I’m gone.
Also, I’ve been compiling a volume of poetry called Radical Thoughts on a Rainy Day. This is not a secret. Hannah’s supposed to print a few copies and hand them out at my funeral. That’s actually in my will. I want you guys to have something to talk about around my casket besides sadness, and well, this is my way of getting that done. Call me crazy, but I want to control the narrative, and I’ve taken steps to make that happen.
It is weird. I know.
On that note, let’s cut it for the week. Happy Friday, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment