Gather No Moss

So a couple weeks ago, I thought that it’d be cool to read a poem to myself once a day. Sort of like following the old aphorism “Starting the day right.” I wouldn’t say that it was a confidence thing. More like find myself some soulful nourishment before going into that cold, hostile environment.

Caveat: It’s not the co-workers that are hostile, but rather the room and environment is. To quote Armageddon “Imagine the most hostile environment ever.”

Off topic: Paige Davis from Trading Spaces is HOT.

So, a couple weeks ago, I went to google.com and did some searches. I used terms like “Daily Poem” or “Poetry Mailing List” etc. The results came in two categories:

Self-affirmations and Other

To those who missed out on those missable Saturday Night Live episodes in the late 80s, Self-affirmations are poems where you stand in front of a poem and just recite something to build your own confident. The phrase “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and doggone it, people like me” epitomizes this movement perfectly.

I can’t imagine basing my confidence on a poem I received off of the Internet.

There were hundreds of these Daily affirmation mailing lists.

The “Other” category only had two entries. The daily Shakespeare sonnet, and the daily haiku. Now what I was looking for was a potpourri mailing list. Where one day I may be reading some Poe, and the next something out of the Sonnets of the Portugese. Give me something written by a wild-eyed long-nailed Aboriginal shaman. Give me an excerpt of an old Viking rowing song.

Give me something RANDOM and PASSIONATE.

And instead, I had to settle for a daily Haiku.

I don’t have anything against haikus. They’re cute. They can be deep. They’re short. They’re not filling. But they are fun.

But for FOKK’S sake! Here are the last two haikus I received from this list:

clipping toenails -
each one chooses
a new direction

-Edmund Hardy

Soft footsteps
of students bunking
class test

-R K Singh

Do people know what a haiku is? 5-7-5 syllabic structure people. It isn’t hard! That’s all I ask. These poems refuse to respect the time honored traditions of the form.

I do like the toenail one though.

I used to run a website called InfoHigh, I saw that the world was slowly becoming a sea of rapid access information. And that certain people would be drawn to being in touch and up-to-date all the time. They would become addicted to being the most knowledgable person in topical events, a la Paris Hilton, Bhutto’s Assasination, the newest releaase of MacOS. You name it, they would know more than you.

I was one of those people, and it’s been hard for me to kick the habit. If only I’d run across Tim’s book earlier, I would have saved a lot of time. Certainly, all that time spent obsessing over the events of the day was wasted, and time that I wish I had back.

A recent guest post at Tim’s blog talks about how to stay in touch without the world, without being smothered by the 24 hour news cycle. You guys should check it out.

I love learning languages. Back in the day, while I was working for the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, I helped setup a tour called “Science in American Life.” Working at the Museum of American History, I interacted with visitors from all across the world. From Argentina to Zaire, and I found that before I could really get to presenting my work, the exhibit and the cool activities we had for children, I had to create a connection between me and my “audience.”

And to do this, I learned how to say “I’m hungry” in a bunch of languages. Last count, I clocked in about 30 different languages. Whenever I meet someone, I ask where they’re from. And if it’s one of the languages I’m familliar with, I practice my little piece of their culture. I say “I’m hungry” in Burmese, Gaelic or Slovenian, and the conversation starts.

People love it when you take the effort to speak their language. Even if it’s something so simple as “I’m hungry.”

I speak English, Vietnamese, French and Japanese, so learning languages has always come pretty easy. I’m moving to Thailand in a couple weeks, so went looking out on the Internet for ways to learn Thai.

I found Open Culture to be of great help. They’ve got a bunch of podcasts for 20 different languages. There’s a Thai podcast, and I’ve downloaded it to listen to OVER and OVER again in the car, in the subway and before I go to sleep. For me, the key to learning a language is repetition repetition REPETITION. Sorta like how most people get to Carnegie Hall.

Today I got to listen to an interview of Alex Roy by Tim Ferris. Alexander Roy is a captain of Team Polizei 144, and winner of the Gumball 3000 in 2003. The Gumball 3000 is a 5000km (3000km) race through Europe (sometimes) on public roads. Imagine driving as fast as you can through public roads and breaking every traffic law possible. Team Polizei did the Cannonball Run from Los Angeles to New York City in about 32 hours, averaging about 130 mph.

Pardon my French, but that’s FUCKING insane. If this isn’t leading a life less ordinary, I think I need a better dictionary. Alex Roy is described as a “travel executive, filmmaker, and philanthropist” and I would love to be called just one of those things, let alone all three.

Unfortunately, you have to visit the page to listen to the interview, as Tim Ferris has cunningly embedded it there. (I can’t link to it directly). But trust me, it’s worth a listen.

If Alex Roy isn’t an example f the New Rich, I don’t know who is!

As I was googling Tim Ferris today, as I am wont to do, I came upon the “Geek Guru” offering a free autographed copy of “The Four Hour Work Week.” I just have to review his blog and post the following text:

John Murch the Self proclaimed Geek Guru is offering a FREE autographed copy of Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Workweek to review John Murch’s blog. John is trying to make more passive income with his blog.

To start my review, I have to admit that I am super jealous. The guy has met Tim Ferris in person. I’m hoping that I will be successful enough sometime to soon to run into him somewhere around the world. John Murch’s blog is about creating passive sources of income to fund his own ambitions of becoming a member of the new rich. His research into making money on-line is mostly based on blogging. However, John also spends time on talking about various ways to save money, either by solar electricity or even building a DIY whiteboard.

All in all, John’s blog is a breath of fresh air, as someone much younger than the average passive income blogger. Most of his peers are too busy trying to make it rich than to help others follow in their footsteps. John is an active voice in the blogosphere, having successfully branded and protected his title as “Geek Guru.” His blog is well worth visiting. Go ahead, check out the Geek Guru.

I want to be a member of the new rich. Of course, this is different from being one of the nouveau riche as defined in the 1920s.

But what does it mean to be new rich? I supposed it would be best to begin with a definition of the old rich. The classic definition of rich is based strictly in monetary almost Marxian terms. The more stuff you have, the better your life is.

An utterly simple and shallow definition.

The new rich are a whole different breed. The new rich define wealth as an abundance of experience and excitement. They have the freedom to do whatever they want and enough resources available to do, go and see the world while they are young enough to enjoy it. That’s the lifestyle I want.

I am frightened of growing old and living off of a 401(k). I do not want to spend the best years of my life in a cubicle, marking time and waiting for retirement. That life is not for me.

It feels like I will have to apologize to my Mom, because I know she disagrees with me.

I first came upon the term while listening to a podcast from last year’s SXSW, in Austin, Texas. Tim Ferris was giving a presentation on how he only worked four hours a week, and more importantly, used the remaining time to not only follow his dreams, but achieve them. The talk was very inspiring, and his book, “The Four Hour Work Week” is an instructional road map on how to follow his footsteps, and become a member of the new rich.

I want to be a member of the new rich. I want to be a rolling stone. And I will Gather No Moss.

This is my journey. I hope I can inspire you as Tim Ferris inspires me.