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Category: Random Thoughts
Someone paid for this ad campaign?
I saw the attached poster today in Union Station. I stood and stared at it wondering whether I read it correctly. Then I took a picture of it and stared at that for a while. Using Adams bank gives Abigail Adams the vapors? And that’s supposed to be a good thing?
Having the vapors was a medical term used roughly around the time of the Civil War, which was fifty years after Abby Adams was dead. It was used to refer to nervous disorders like depression or hysteria. There’s a misconception that it was also used to refer to flatulence, though I cannot find hard evidence of that. Either way an ATM that gives me gas with a bought of depression seems like a place I want to bank. I wonder if the bank gives away a combination of Gas-X and Zoloft with every checking account?
Someone paid for this ad? I think Creative got a little too creative.
Fighting umbrellas
No no, not how to fight umbrellas, but umbrellas to use in fighting. John Steed shouldn’t be the only one who can fight using an umbrella. Looks like the Filipino Secret Services uses them as well. Definitely check the video out.
Do not wait – In memory of William Nicholson
Last week a friend of mine from the tai chi school, William Nicholson, dropped dead. He was at the school joking with other students when he turned his head and fell to the floor. He died leaving his wife and two daughters.
I don’t think that you ever fully appreciate the people around you until they are no longer there. William had an amazing positive spirit and great sense of humor. Work was secondary to him. Although he was a successful lawyer, work was merely a means to an end and not an end in and of itself. He was very active in the community. He took an active role with his eldest daughter’s field hockey team. He made sure if someone around him needed help that he found a way to help.
In short, he was a man I could have learned a lot more from.Big Willy, as he was known at Great River, was an active martial artist. He had been studying taijiquan for nearly fifteen years. He was at the school usually twice a week. He and I roomed together in Estonia during one of our festivals there. Most recently, he was the head judge at the Traditional Chinese Sword League’s First Tournament. He also helped manage the school’s finances. He will be sorely missed.
I’ve taken some time off. Ever since my grandfather’s death I have been working like a fiend. William’s death piled upon that. I really needed this time to clear my head. Though it may not be the most sensible thing to do, I headed out on a little road trip which has given me some time to process those things I should have processed sooner.
I keep coming back to this lesson: do not wait. If there is something you want to do, do it as soon as possible. Do not wait. William was a fit 48 year old; you never know when your time is up. Do not wait. It doesn’t matter what those things are that you want to do, be they personal or professional, do them now.
I didn’t learn as much as I could from William. What I did learn, I will incorporate into my life. I will not dwell on what I could have learned but did not. I will not wait.