The Willingness to Fail to Be Free / Successful

The desire and pressure to succeed has never been higher among today's working elite. But what is success? And why do we want it so badly?

In capitalism success is measured in only one thing: who has the most moolah (money). The money is used to buy fancy cars, a big house, vacation trips to exotic places and cool clothes. It's the American Dream to put it simply. The easiest way to communicate to the adjacent community that you got cojones the size of melones and not afraid to use them. The cojones that is.

Bigger is ALWAYS better in capitalism. The person with the most stuff when he dies wins the whole freekin' game. It's that simple.

But outside of the MBA class we all get tired of measuring ourselves with anyone who comes along, to flex our financial muscles and to pound our chests all the time.

The mind suffers, the body suffers and life suffers. So enter the second face in life: money is not everything. Being No. 1 at everything starts to feel old. Ask any 80 year old.

Then there is insight. Hmm, what if I found a healthy balance between the worldy, mindful and physical aspects of life. Revelation. Life is great in an old non-braggable t-shirt.

Remember - there is only one life. There is no second chance at living it so why waste it. Be all you can be means a lot more than the medals on your collar.

Peace!

Live to Work or Work to Live

We are having the most delightful people passing through our Arizona residency, contributing to our physical and philosophical world wide adventure.

The thoughts and values on life, work and happiness differs like black and white and yet, there are a lof of simular thoughts and ideas.

Man, in the lightest or darkest hour, is never alone.

Chicken Wings

We found some delish Chicken Wings at Safeway the other day and today I got the opportunity to BBQ them.

Man, I've never been a big fan of CW but these were fantastique. I guess the trick is slow-cooking and well marinated.

PS. Watch the Sox!

Literary Sunday ( I Think)

I was up at 4:13am this wonderful morning. That's far ahead of sunrise, daytime soaps and weekend papers. To be honest, I didn't realize that it was weekend until the Missus and I started to discuss the story of Jesus' resurrection. That by the way, reminded me that today is actually Easter.

Our current April residency is out in the Southwestern desert and there are few things that reminds you of day or holiday. It's both very nice and a little bit scary.

But back to my early rise. My mind has been troubled by a few intellectual challenges and my body with digesting a lot of fantastic wine. That computes to an early rise.

It's not as bad as it sounds. I made some coffee, read, wrote and comtenplated until the sun rose and then watched how the desert woke up. Usually hoping to see some new animals but mostly end up with rabbits, pack rats and cardinals.

Anywho, a clear sign that it's weekend is when we get the WSJ (Weekend Edition) AND the NYT. I really enjoy the latter. The articles are fun, provoking and very well written. I really enjoyed the story about Globalization (Americans want risks; Europeans security) and about the anti-Sex-in-the City new literary genre: fratire (literature about men being themselves).

Book stores have been filled with chick-lit in a poor assumption that young men don't read but young women do. Please let the feministic literary trend be over, dead, gone. I cannot stand to watch another show about shoe fetishism, men being bastards and the womens right to indulge in indulgece. All derived from a poorly written novel by some acne-infested 20-something woman with dead social life and a dream of the knight in the white armor. For Christ sake, get a job!

PS. This all all Oprah's fault!

The Cradle of Creativity

I was sitting on the porch early this morning when I realized that I have spent the past few days in deep concentration over a few new books. I got so lost in what I was reading that I forgot time, place (almost) and all the usual daily anxieties.

The moment I realized that I felt a warm flow of happiness pulsate through my body. This is it, I thought, this is the true meaning of everything. To be able to focus on what challenges your mind and tickles your interest and forgetting all possible fears and greeds.

An article about domain names in WSJ - I think - caught my attention and I went online to check out if my domains could fetch any value. One think led to another and through pure online discovery I was browsing through a site called ChangeThis.com. The manifesto about Slacker@Work drew my attention and I started to read, chuckle once in a while and found my mind going off in all different creative tangents. I had epiphanies, resurrections from the past and visions of the future.

Slacker@Work is about people that are best at doing what's important to them and that makes them the most productive within the workforce. It's therefore crucial for a slacker to find the right job, more so than the carrerist who is focusing on what will bring them to the next hierarchical level. A slacker comes up with smarter ways of doing things and is basically paying for the carrerist salary.

Obviously, that kind of manifesto got me all wound up and on a prawl for more resources, thoughts and ideas on the subject. I dove into papers on structured procrastination, lifehacks and how to run your own life.

It furthermore made me realizde that my time off should be extended. I'm looking for a life sentence.

Under The Tuscon Sun II

"A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labor and there is an invisible labor."

Victor Hugo

The Future of Regrets

[Tucson, 92° F, São Paulo by Morcheeba]

The notion of regrets is an adult pastime. Before the age of 30 there are few regrets due to the short time span. In other words, how much damage could one do in 10 years?

After 30 everything becomes more clear but also more serious. And there is suddenly a past that one needs to be aware of. Gone is the innocence and also in many cases the joie de vivre.

So when I think about the future I'd like to start to reflect over the past. What regrets do I have? Well, there are a few: not being so impulsive, take more risks and challenge the status quo more!

There is nothing about working harder, going to church more often or working on those abs. That tells you something, doesn't it.

Funny how the past can actually teach you something about the future. The second exercise I do is to imagine myself being 80 years old, looking back at the majority of my life and asking the same question.

In the big picture the devilish attention to details disappears and the most important things stands out. Life becomes something more than the everyday and yet it's in everyday that life is lived.

To me there is one philosophical question that has never been answered: How can life be lived to the fullest? I'm not looking for a religious answer, nor a financial.

Until I find out, my bet is wine, cigars and love! :)

Under The Tucson Sun

The picture perfect sunrise reflected onto the patio door knobs and into our bedroom early this morning. But at that time I'd already had a cup of java and was eagerly researching one of my latest discoveries (HEC).

The desert sunrises are magic and with the temperature hitting a mid-day 90° F (32° C) the early hour is both majestic and very comfortable.

Like in Spain, the afternoon is for siestas - either to slow down the pace or just have an 1-hour nap before the second part of the day begins.

We are rather - or should I say relatively - busy until lunchtime and then when the sun hits zenit we just lounge. I prefer somewhere on the pation in the quiet shade and the Missus indoors.

There is really no reason to head into the city. Most things are delivered to the house and the ones that aren't we can live without. The only challenge has been getting good cigars but that will eventually be solved - I hope.

Relaxing takes time but after almost 6 months off work I'm starting to get really good at it. The anxiety of not working is gone, the stress level close to zero and the pace very, very comfortable. I realize that work can be a disease as lethal as cancer.

But being born with a few peak performance genes I still feel that I need to accomplish some things everyday. Two days ago it was to find a good entry point on an oil company trade (+10%), yesterday roasting a chicken on the outside BBQ and today, well, today I haven't decided yet. It could be as simple as perfecting the afternoon siesta in the beautiful Tucson sun.

"You Can Have It All"

The accelerating business of personal development is taking an ugly turn. Never have I seen so many commercials, infomercials and promotional editorials for products or services that can help you get it all.

The sales message is that it's your right, your entitlement as a human being, to have strong abs, bigger breasts, find love, have a successful career and a happy family. And you can do it; just buy the latest book, DVD, audio book, seminar et cetera and it's all yours. Right!

This morning I heard Al Roker performing yet another promotion for a housewife turned author. Her message was that it's not just your right but your responsibility to "have it all" and that her book was a very important step in getting there. I think she meant that the book is important for her bank account.

To me it all sounds like yet another Ponzi scheme where the folks that have reached the 'top' is now wanting more in the name of happiness and therefore decides to sell their dream to the career thirsty economic middle class. The altruistic argument that they want to share their 'experience' is laughable.

I believe that the main reason why people percieve themselves as unhappy is very much due to all the commercials telling them that a life without rock-hard breasts, Pamelaesque breasts or a multitasked life is a failure. And who wants to be a failure in other people's minds.

Well, do I have the cure for you. It's my new book: 'The iSlacker's Guide to The Lazy Life That You Deserve'. It will be out in the fall for the bargain price of $19.99. There I'll share all the secrets to happiness that everyman should know. It's a really, really important book! Really!

Wine Politics

Arizona wine laws prevented Arizonians to buy wine out-of-state - without a distributor as a middleman - until last fall when the US District Court changed this injustice. The expected impact would be increased wine consumption and lower local prices but nothing of the sort so far.

Our unscientific, random test showed that the wine prices are in general 50-75% more expensive that in California. That lead us to order wine online and get it shipped via 3-day FedEx. That amounted to a 23% saving per bottle including shipping costs for a case of Alamos Malbec 2004.

On The Road

What's more American than a roadtrip? The Missus and I decided - far ahead of our sabbatical - that we would one day venture upon the quintessential roadtrip and visit the beautiful Southwest by car. So last Monday we packed the Boxster with the essentials for a 4-6 week roadtrip and steared towards our first destination: Menlo Park (40 miles south of San Francisco).

Agreed - it wasn't the most aggressive first day but one has to ease into anything new with style and grace. We stayed over with some friends of ours and kicked of the culinary part of the trip with a visit to the classic Stanford hangout: The Dutch Goose. A burger and a Guinness does wonders.

Our second day started at 6am and our destination was Ventura with a lunch stop in Santa Barbara. We took 280, then 85 onto 101 all the way down and got caught in rain and thunderstorms. Not the best start but at least we were on our way.

Our third day started around 6.30am and our destination was Palm Springs through the northern suburbs of Los Angeles. We actually passed within 5 miles of my old High School. The rain kept pounding the freeway like as butcher a flank steak. Luckily we got onto the car pool lane on the I-10 and could fly past Glendale, Pasadena et cetera.

Palm Springs had the same rain as LA and felt deserted. I had hoped for Rat Pack esthetics, cool 60's style and happening parties but I guess we got there 40 years to late. Oh well, we hung out with some senior citizens at the local diner, had a burger and headed east to Rancho Mirage - our hostel for the night.

I woke up at 6am on Thursday morning and discovered that Palm Springs was back to it's blue sky and blazing sun. We checked out, grabbed a Latte and got back onto the I-10 for our 260 miles ride to Phoenix and a furher 100 miles to Tucson.

The I-10 was a magnificent stretch of freeway, lingering across the desert like a tired snake. It was pretty much open road except for the occassional semi and stubborn truck in the left lane. We flew across the desert and I could finally use the 6th gear. Once the speedometer reached triple digits I knew that our roadtrip was going to be great fun. Nothing beats the sound of a Boxster, doing 85 miles per hour and shifting down to 4th gear to pass a semi. The roar, the roar!

Finally in Tucson we now have a few weeks before the next leg to Santa Fe, Taos and Denver. Tucson is enjoying heavenly springtime with 80 degrees during the day and a sun hotter than the Missus (if ever possible).

Tonights delight is a simple Malbec, a Ribeye steak and roasted potatoes on the outdoors BBQ. The sun is setting and the mountain behind the house is lit up in burning orange. The temperature is dropping quickly. Life is at it's best when the only need is an extra sweater.

Bohemia Revealed

No place has meant more to the bohemian lifestyle than the cafes in Vienna during he latter part of the 19th century. It might be a shocking revelation to a lot of folks that Starbucks neither invented the café or the coffee. They did invent the American coffee shop (i.e. very different from the idea of the European coffee shop in Amsterdam or the small cafe) and they did do invent the Café Latte (Milk Coffee?) – 90% milk and 5% coffee and 5% foam. I rest my case.

But Vienna created the meeting places for intellectuals, politicians and writers to have their daily dose of espresso and discuss the worldly affairs. These cafes were the first urban hangouts and created what we call the bohemian class / lifestyle.

I grew up – starting in High School – in cafes sipping Café au Lait (which means coffee with milk, not milk with coffee). From there on most of us – dreamers, writers and pre-intellectuals (i.e. pre-college) – headed south in Europe and spent the summers in France and Italy, doing very much the same: sipping Noisettes (France), Macciatos (Italy) and Cortados (Spain). All meaning an espresso with a sip of warm milk. Not only milk, just a sip.

Then San Francisco happened. Internet, bohemia and cafes all wrapped up in one tasty taco. I’d come to Ginsberg country, to where being on the road was the preferred lifestyle and where the counter culture had had it’s birthplace. But that might be getting ahead of time, since the beat generation moved from lower Manhattan to North Beach.

Bohemia is everyone’s real dream of a lifestyle that often ends up being Suburbia. Unfortunately they have nothing in common as it’s being lived but that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Bohemia is about literature, art, open-mindedness, heart, passion, late night dinners and that has never – even though perceived – being a threat to the Suburbian lifestyle. We’ll, you might wanna ditch that Mini-Van.