December 29 & 30

I'm having a good break. Have had some much-needed down time. Have gone for a bike ride or run every day this week. Getting plenty of sleep.

When practicing bass last night, I found that I got the best results when trying to have a light touch. As Carlos Castañeda said, "To be a warrior one needs to be light and fluid." (A book of mine, The Little Zen Companion, seemingly misquotes this to say "To be a man of knowledge..." this is something that Castañeda did write about, but in this case it seems he was talking about a warrior, In any case, I like it.) I remember thinking this when trying to learn the Romance from Lieutenant Kije by Prokofiev; one particular Eb minor riff needs a light touch not only to sound good, but for you to even get through it at all. And it extends to other areas of life too, as the Castañeda quote exemplifies.

Seeing the old-school "Unforgivable" videos really brought back some good feelings. Lifted my spirits in a way that needed to happen.

Elie Honig inspires me. He's scrappy. He seems to have a simple, direct approach to things that I will emulate in 2022. I dig his approach to work - dive in, full throttle, nail the details because they matter. (A Twitter thread he posted tonight, 12/30, inspired this paragraph.) I appreciate that he's unabashed about his attention to detail and his general acumen. I like his simple and direct language. He's good at breaking down complex legal concepts into everyday language, peppered with colloquialisms that spice things up. It's largely what I strive to do when communicating science.

So, in 2022, I need to be light and fluid. I need to go for it when it comes to nailing the details and the fundamentals. I'll be like the Elie of engineering. And I will take regular breaks to remind myself of the finer things. To do otherwise would be...unforgivable.