For most of us, life is not like a sitcom. We don’t meet up with our friends every single day at Central Perk or MacLaren’s or Cheers, but we do have our spots that we prefer over all others. We may not go there all the time, but we feel most comfortable there. It is where we are in our element, where we invite everyone to join us. It is our home field, as it were.
Mine was Memphis Taproom.
So I was quite dismayed a few weeks ago when I read the news that it would be closing its doors for good.
Ancient Rome was a crowded place. There were all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds and social statuses jostling in the streets. It would have been difficult to make your way through the mass of humanity.
“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”
– Jim Rohn
Why don’t most New Year’s resolutions succeed?
Maybe it’s a new job or even a new career. Perhaps it’s a promotion. It could be a spot in a graduate program or a leading role in a big show.
The details can vary, but the underlying thought remains: I don’t belong here and, worse, everyone will realize it any moment now and I’ll be shunned forever.
It’s called imposter syndrome and while it seems to affect all of us, we internalize it to the point that we believe it affects only us.
I take a long walk nearly every single day.
It is one of the many reasons I was able to lose 40(ish) pounds, but I don’t do it only for the health benefits. I also do it for my mind. The walk allows me to get away from the spreadsheets and Zoom meetings, work on solving problems that seem unsolvable, and helps me generate ideas and breakthroughs, for both my personal and professional life. It helps my mental state as much as — if not more — than it helps my physical state.
Of course, there are side effects to everything and my daily stroll is no different.
“Having a bad boss isn’t your fault. Staying with one is.”
– Nora Denzel
There are three people I think about virtually every single day:
The 2010s was a decade in which the line between rap and other genres became not only blurred, but largely nonexistent. Referred to by some as the “melodic era,” it was no longer a rarity or even a surprise to see a hip-hop artist transition into harmonizing, and while that had certainly been done in the past, it now became de rigueur as Drake, Young Thug, and many others rode that wave to stardom.
At the same time, some dudes stepped onto the scene and began flooding the market with their own music that sounded fresh but at the same time reminiscent of projects that had been released in the mid-’90s. No singing, no theatrics, just grim street tales of drugs and violence delivered over grimy, pounding basslines, creating a “gnarly sound inspired by the slimy criminal underbelly of Buffalo, New York.”
“I ruined Christmas!”
The tears burst from my nine-year-old’s eyes as she blamed herself for the ramifications of a global pandemic that has lasted for three years. All kids go crazy for Christmas, of course, but my daughter is certainly in the highest percentile of Santa fanatics, so having her holiday plans dashed was especially difficult.
This is the post where I lay out the best things I wrote this year. Maybe, in a year like this when my productivity was lower, it might include everything I wrote. We’ll never know (don’t check).
Film adaptations are tricky. How can you boil down 400 or more pages of story, themes, and character development into a two hour film without losing the impact of what was on the page?
Anyone that has had their favorite book turned into a movie knows the feeling of being simultaneously excited and anxious, hopeful and terrified, at what the outcome will be.
Now it’s my turn, as the film adaptation of The Tender Bar, the book that completely changed my life, is set to be released in theaters and on Amazon Prime Video.
The Passion of Christopher Pierznik 