French language (法语, 프랑스어, フランス語)

 As MJ and I descend upon the City of Light this Thanksgiving weekend in lieu of celebrating the exclusively American Thanksgiving holiday (really taking a risk that Covid-19 shutdowns won't extend from Austria to all of Europe) I suddenly swelled with a burst of inspiration to refresh my French language skills, which have been dormant since my last AP French class in high school, more than 16 years ago.......ever since then it's been bits and scraps of French sprinkled through my life: a jeopardy question about the French word "avant-garde" here, a football wide receiver named Pierre Garcon tere, watching Midnight in Paris (great Woody Allen movie, perhaps his best) there. My adult self probably should have warned my high school naive self that applications of French just doesn't come up that much in my adult life, especially living in Los Angeles, where Spanish is king for second languages and as I moved further and further away from Canada, where it could actually be useful in cities like Quebec. I also found that watching movies/ videos with French subtitles was so very helpful, whereas dragging through 6th period French class (I liked the high school French teachers, but it's hard to keep any teenager's attention, even in 2004-2005 without Iphones) just didn't have the same effect. Lupin on Netflix was the one that I found to be quite entertaining while providing enough dialogue to practice listening skills. 

I'm thankful (as we get closer to Thanksgiving) that I did learn French; it laid the groundwork for at least some working knowledge of French, and gave me confidence that I could acquire other languages starting from scratch later on, like Japanese and Korean......I also have found that Spanish and French are great second languages for high school students..... they're sufficiently similar to English that it's not tedious, and learning new words and the feeling of getting smart (kind of like the adrenaline hit of getting a question right on Jeopardy) reinforces continuing to learn. And both Spanish and French have rather easy vocabularies.....it's not hard to remember "un chat" is a cat, or "garcon" is a gentleman (like the Beauty and the Beast villain) especially since there are references to French culture and language in so much of society. It's the non-Romance languages that have nothing in common with English like Arabic, Chinese (all the Asian langauges), Hindi, Sanskrit, etc. that present the biggest challenges and put up the largest barriers to entry. Beyond the surface level, though, French grammar is quite a bear to understand with all the tenses and conjugations as well as memorizing which are masculine and feminine nouns (I never got the hang of these) and pronounciation is particularly tricky, as I've never properly rolled "R's" in my life. 

Anyway, I actually doubt I will use any French or have to learn any French to survive the (grueling!) 3 days we'll spend in Paris, but it might be cool to understand the metro directions, for instance, or someone chatting at a restaurant somewhere (if we can even get into any restaurants with the Covid restrictions) or just learn the French names of the touristy cites. (Île de la Cité). 

The Ten People You Meet and DON'T Meet During a Pandemic

 It's a little late in the pandemic, but not too late to reminisce on some of the great things during the pandemic, mainly from having to go to the office: 

1.) I DON'T meet The morning Starbucks/ breakfast/ fruit guy. When I lived in New York, every morning was like a 10-round boxing match, from being woken up by the sound of the alarm going off to sliding into the door at the office, sometimes with various subway lines and buses to go through. By the time I got to the office, I'd already gone through a whole day's worth of stress and travel, working up an appetite and having to go see the donut guy, or the bagel guy, or the fruit stand guy right there outside on the curb of Lexington and 55th street, who I swear made a killing selling a bag of grapes for $5 or bananas for 3 for a $1. During the pandemic the commute is simple: I roll out of bed, I walk from my bedroom to my living room and a makeshift office, turn on my office, and start to work. Probably one of the biggest things I will miss about the pandemic, if we ever go back to the offices full-time. 

2.) I DO MEET the security guards checking me in at the library: The library is a very personal process for me and a quickstrike extraction operation like a SWAT team: I have a target, I go into the library, I acquire the target, and I evacuate the premises. Except now with Covid, libraries are indoor gathering places, so temperature checks are required and mandatory assessment of Covid risks with questions like "have you had Covid symptoms in the last 24 hours?" (I wonder if anyone ever answers yes to these questions, or if you have had Covid symptoms would you just smile sheepishly and slink away). 

3.) I DON'T MEET people in the elevators; I groggily got up at 7:30AM this morning to go pick up MJ from a night shift (I really do appreciate her effort and feel bad that she has to do night shifts from 7:00PM to 7:30AM in the morning, she calls herself the vampire and saw 4 people already in the elevator, and instantly made up my mind: I'll take the next one. Whereas pre-pandemic I'd have no problem squeezing into a crowded elevator, especially in NYC where the next one might not be coming for a while due to the sheer amount of people and I'd risk getting breathed on, stepped on (no laughing matter nowadays after the Travis Scott concert deaths due to being trampled on), I now am pre-conditioned just to pass on sharing space with strangers. 

4.) I DO MEET people at Costco and Whole Foods, nowadays hot spots for people to gather to get essential goods but also feel normal again; I sure did during some down days just to feel alive again and make sure I wasn't in a "28 Days Later" or "I am Legend" movie, that I was in fact sharing the planet with live human beings. Especially with supply chain shortages hitting Christmas shopping and retail, I feel like even more shopping is done at Costco and Whole Foods (own the stocks of both) or at least it felt that way this weekend, possibly due to the pre-Thanksgiving Day rush. 

5.) I DON'T MEET the Black Friday shoppers, EVER! I never have and never will get into the Black Friday weekend push, even though it was paused last year but is possibly coming back in select stores this year. MJ and I may do a little international travel because well, most other countries don't celebrate Thanksgiving and won't have the travel rushes from American travelers stuck at home eating turkey. 

6.) I DO MEET various internet personalities online, from podcasts to Youtube videos to Netflix specials to online cookbooks, I've used the internet to expand my social horizons. Last night I even used an online recipe to combine 2 things I normally wouldn't get excited about, zucchini and mushrooms, to make a sautee dish. Secret: butter makes everything butter, even if you use vegan butter like MJ and I constrain ourselves to do. Other new people I've "met" online: Ken Jennings through the Omnibus podcast and recent Jeopardy host roles, Easy French Youtube videos to do a refresher course on French (it's actually fun and energizing to get back on that saddle, like speaking to a friend I haven't met since high school), even more Jim Cramer but also his possee of David Faber and Carl Quintanilla on Squawk on the Street, etc. 

7.) I DON'T MEET many waiters and waitresses who are friendly but with an agenda: The thrill of eating at a restaurant is gone, if it ever existed. I will go somewhere for the food if it's renowned and if MJ has diligently scouted somewhere that she wants to go, but like Las Vegas I've outgrown the sit-down restaurant for the sake of it, and the whole tip system is now even invading fast food and pickup/delivery places. Although the restaurants aren't mandating it, I DO MEET pretty often that computer screen that asks how much I want to ask (the person giving me my order coyly requests that I just "answer a question for me") and it starts at 15%/18% as more and more restaurants pass off the cost of labor (I know it's difficult to hire people nowadays) onto the customer, and in fact the stock market is rewarding companies that do so (like Home Depot) with higher stock prices and punishing those that don't (Walmart) even though as a customer I feel like Walmart is doing the right thing to try to help the working people consumers of America who are still struggling to make a living. We'll be paying 15% for picking up food pretty soon and 30% for service at a sit-down restaurant. The humanity! 

Love Hard (More like Online Dating is Hard)

 I don't write much about individual movies anymore because I'm focusing on the big picture (so many great movies I haven't even heard about much less seen!) and it's really a travesty I haven't done a marathon of all the Alfred Hitchcock movies, or Stanley Kubrick movies, or David Fincher movies.....but what can I say, a good romantic comedy will suck me in every time. And Love Hard isn't just any romantic movie, it's one with an Asian American man as the lead (Jimmy O. Yang, who is the same age as me, has the same background immigrating to the U.S. from China/Hong Kong, and more importantly looks like me. I didn't really understand when black people say they needed to someone like Obama become president to realize it's possible or to feel represented, but Jimmy O. Yang kind of does that for me, a nerdy-look Asian guy making it as one of the lead actors in a non-kung fu/ martial arts movie, and not just cast as the nerdy guy. Although, he kind of is in the movie at first). 

Love Hard is so relatable for anyone who has ever done online dating (as I did before I met MJ) because you can sift through profiles, send out short messages to people you like, but you don't really KNOW until you meet in person, and that's what the movie is built on. I retired from online dating years ago, but suddenly the movie brought all the memories back of the awkwardness, the shallowness of rating people based on an online profile (but mainly just people's photos, which is about 80% of the calculus). I'm happy to say that I never got catfished by someone who was completely pretending to be someone she wasn't, but definitely there were some embellishments of photos and picking photos with the right lighting that you only realized until you met the person. I also like to think I was rather honest in my own profile, but of course like anyone else I filtered the photos to only the "good ones" and definitely do a bathroom selfie or make myself look like an axe murderer. 

The movie was a win for me in terms of presenting Asian Americans in a positive light and presenting the downsides of glorifying beautiful-looking people in that less beautiful-looking and unpopular people like me and Jimmy O. Yang get ignored, as well as the depressing reality of getting rejected over and over again in a game that only values great cards, but finding myself repeatedly being dealt a bad hand. I appreciated the movie's messages and the effort to make a happy ending for Jimmy O. Yang and the female lead at the end, but let's be honest: in reality the attractive young lady from Los Angeles with an online writer's job is NOT going to move to Lake Placid, New York to start a life with an Asian American glasses-wearing guy who still lives in the basement of his parents' house where he grew up in, works at the sporting goods store for his dad, and apparently hasn't had a girlfriend before. That's just not a good match, and no matter how funny and insightful and inspiring Jimmy O. Yang can be that girl isn't going to stick around for long. Forget all the "soft factors," just the attractiveness factor is going to be the downfall. Unfortunatley in this society we are judged by how we look, and the girl i goisng to be judged by how her bf/ future husband looks, and eventually that would wear down the relationship, from what her parents think and what her friends think. They say Love conquers all, but in the dating world unfortunately beauty conquers all. The harsh reality that as much as the message of Love Hard to not judge someone by an online dating profile is commendable and praiseworthy, when it comes to our own lives we'll still pick the beauty/attractiveness because it's a reflection on ourselves as well (it's kind of like the liberals who want better conditions for the homeless and more affordable housing, as long as they don't build it in THEIR neighborhood). I'm guilty of the same; I used to judge mostly by physical attractiveness and not necessarily at first by compatibility, because as much as I got judged by those, I knew how important it was as a criteria and put that first. It's just a matter-of-fact thing that's a heartbreaking but true part of our world. Love Hard is a good, funny movie and I like many parts of it, but the big underlying theme still rings hollow to me as unrealistic. 

Orchestra (乐队, 오케스트라, オーケストラ)

It's been a long time since I've played in an orchestra, but once in a while when I go to an orchestra concert I'm reminded that I used to be somebody, I could have been a contender. (On the Water Front, Marlon Brandon). My fits of nostalgia came back this evening when MJ and I went to take in a night of music from legendary composers Edvard Greig, Haydn, and Dvorak, from 3 different countries as well. We sat as close as we could to the orchestra, and especially close to the first violin section, my old stomping grounds (although, I sometimes played second violin too, an underrated and underrated section that bolsters the rest of the orchestra and lets the melody stand out). 

When I was in orchestra, I was often bored, nonchalant, and looking to get home earlier to do some homework (in high school) or partake in other activities. I didn't cherish the music, didn't value the pieces that we were playing and didn't enjoy myself; I often found it to be burdensome and played to not mistakes, not to get the notes right. I didn't have pride in myself as a musician, and played with the one thing musicians can't lack: soul and spirit, the desire to play beautifical music, which in itself should encourage one to play as close to perfection as possible. I often get notes wrong, and my philosophy was just not to stray too far from the pack, and blend in to the rest of the violin section as possible without looking (or worse, sounding) out of place. Even this had its problems, because the bowing often got tricky and I'd often be playing an upbow when others were playing a downbow. I would often have to cheat and look up at the first chair (section leader) to get back on track with the bowing before I lost my place again. There was a time when I desired to be leaders on sports teams, law school organizations, etc., but I never wanted to the first violin of the orchestra. Way too much pressure, and if I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't want everybody else to be looking at me too and mimicing the wrong person. 

Anyway, today's performance allowed me to be in the audience with a close and personal look at the violin section, of a professional orchestra, that plays professionally!I expected them to be pristine and exquisitely trained musicians, the best of the best who may have even went to music schools and tried out for their positions against various competition. But as I leaned in closer, I realized that even they make mistakes! I'm no conductor Rodrigo from Mozart in the Jungle (on Amazon Prime) who picks out each wrong note from every single instrument in the first episode, but I could tell from experience certain minor misses, nothing fatal of course but enough to be caught by the trained eye, and by someone with a critcal eye like MJ (And the first violin also had a wardrobe malfunction, not the Janet Jackson kind, but the armpit areas in his tuxedo were torn, which looked horrible whether or not he did it on purpose or not. I will say that I don't miss having to dress up in suits and wear tight and uncomfortable clothing, which we didn't practice in, during the actual performances). These definitely were professional musicians and they probably sounded a lot better than I ever possibly could have, but with so many moving parts and notes, page turns, conductor cues, bowing changes, etc, etc., it's really impossible to have a perfect concert, and no one expects them to: one upbow when everyone is doing a downbow looks awkward, but then you just get back with the pack and continue on. 

What I really took out of it was how much I missed the joy of playing in an orchestra, that feeling of finally putting all the pieces together and hearing the other instruments also playing at their best, to perform magic in front of the audience, defying for a single night the modern era of Iphones and internet pirated music that can play any piece of music at any time with 100% precision, knowing that the live music being played right there right then will never be played or reproduced ever again. And then earning the thunderous applause from the gratitious audience afterwards, accompanied by the feeling that it was finally over and I no longer had to stress about missing a note in the most embarrassing way. I miss that feeling. 

-Robert Yan 

Hope on the Horizon (地平線に希望, 수평선에 희망)

 I looked up how to say the phrases "Hope on the Horizon" or "Light at the End of the Tunnel," but there are only literal translations in Asian languages, nothing that depicts those ideas exactly. Call it an American aesthetic, this idea of hope and light shining through in the depth of darkness. Which is what the Covid situation in the world is turning out to be, as more and more businesses start going back to the office and things "get back to normal." A lot of people have been living "back to normal" for several months now, but at least in terms of official government mandates and concerts, games, and public events, things are finally getting back to normal. The stocks of Zoom, Peloton, Roku, Docusign and plenty of other "stay-at-home stocks" that dominated during the pandemic have certainly slacked off and given back much of those prior gains, and without another pandemic (Geez let's hope not) or a fundamental change in business model by those companies that would seem like a long-term trend. Hey, maybe at some point they'll open up the Jeopardy taping sessions to the public (during the pandemic it's just been a closed set, no audience, which slightly takes away from the experience). 

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for other world problems, such as global warming, global wars, global hunger, global lack of leadership? That seems to not have light yet, and it's kind of reflective of the human condition to not have hope on the horizon. Wars seem like a consistent status quo, even though it seems counterintuitive: most people seem to understand that in the grand scope of things humans are very trivial compared to the universe, the cosmos, and take up only a tiny speck of time in the history of the world, but we can't come to the realization that we shouldn't be fighting each other. Easy for me to say, as I live in the lap of luxury and have access to everything I want whenever I want it (including considering a possibility of going to Paris, France for Thanksgiving) but one big problem is this idea of needing to be "he biggest man in the room," or being the toughest guy in the room, otherwise someone else will take that from us. This applies as much in the street (gang violence, people needing to project power, strength in a desperate attempt not to look weak) as much as it does global politics and the history of the world. The more I learn about the history of the world from Julius Caesar BC days to Sumeria, Egypt, China, name any civilation, and it's usually peppered with stories of rulers usurping the throne using strength, or a benign king who tries to rule justly without war and violence but gets dethroned by someone who uses ruthless and merciless techniques. I don't blame some of the warlords of the past for being ruthless: they wouldn't become king if they weren't, and if they weren't ruthless someone else would come along who was and kill them. It just a tragic situation akin to the prisoner's dilemma: you can't trust others to do right by you, so you betray them/ seize power first. Even in socities that don't have brutal bloodletting over power like the United States, you have political demagogues who try to gain power another way: through ruthless manipulations of the truth and of the common people to get votes, by whatever means necessary. I always wonder why there isn't a political leader who just tells it like it is and is honest with everyone and tries to keep all election promises (I'm naive enough in these times to think that I could be that kind of politican)- the answer is that politicians are by definition not like that, and if they do try to go in that direction they will either be voted out and not heard from again or change their position to what fits best with getting votes and we're right back to where we started. 

So is there hope for the world? Maybe, even if it doesn't look like it right now. We just have to somehow break free from this paradigm of greed, only doing what's best for ourselves all the time (including myself). But can we all collectively do that at the same time and trust each other to keep it up forever? The course of human history suggests no. 

Farmer's Market (农贸市场, ファーマーズマーケット, 농민 시장)

 I woke up this Sunday morning super refreshed from expelling the aftereffects of the vaccine booster shot (slight headache and chills the day after, but then slept them all away!) and flush with the excitement of getting an extra hour due to daylight savings time (Time! Glorious time!) and giddy as a boy on Christmas morning in anticipation of going to.....Farmer's market. 

OK so that last part isn't true, I've never in the history of my existence been super excited to go to Farmer's Market, whether it was with my parents on Saturday mornings to the local Camarillo one, or the ones in L.A. with MJ, even the "Chinatown Night Market" that's essentially the same thing except it's at night.... the idea of going to an alternative to a grocery store never really appealed to me. The prices aren't exactly bargains, the venues are usually a bit of a walk away, and they're all these eccentric type of foods with fancy-sounding names like "organic" or UV-protected. As usual, much like going to enough music concerts, art museums, and coffee houses with MJ, I see some of the allures of Farmers' Market. 

1.) The locations are usually in a nicer area of town, or at least a part that has views of the city and surrounding community. Actually, the No. 1 priority is likely ability of merchants to unload their produce and have enough space to sell them, but to attract customers the aesthetics of the place sometimes comes into consideration. For someone who doesn't get out of the house much, it is nice to be "en plein air" (that's an art type, but it means in the outdoors) and feel amongst other people, even if half of them are just making a detour before heading to the football game later in the day. 

2.) There's some live music going on, it's like a festival. I have this weird nostalgia about going to my mom's corporate events back when she worked at large corporate pharmaceutical companies, where there'd be a retreat for employees and their families, with carnival games, face painting, balloon tossing, chili contest. Farmer's market reminds me of mini-versions of that with everyone's little booth and caricature artists hanging out and the smell of different types of food wafting into my nose from different corners of the market.........also funny signs that say "That's too much bacon---- said no one ever" which would have been funnier to me 10 years ago unfortunately rings too true, I actually think people eat too much bacon and other red meats, especially pork and beef. 

3.) Free composting! Didn't know this before, but at certain farmer's markets you can drop off your compost waste (apple cores, banana peels, leftover vegetables) so that instead of winding up in the garbage and then the landfill, it may actually be put back into the cycle of life, back in the soil by farms. A whole new way of thinking about the term farmer's market. MJ was very excited about this and brought 3 bags of compost that we'd be keeping in the freezer with my leftover banana peels......all those bananas I'd be eating may have finally come to a resolution! A very liberating feeling indeed but also feeling good about being serious about recycling. Bill Maher on his political show "Real Time" commented about the millenial generation stating they care about the environment but then not acting like they do by following Kylie Jenner, buying bitcoin (which requires tons of energy to keep up) but MJ is taking actual strides to do it, including keeping vegan and converting me along with her. On Sunday mornings we don't go to church anymore, but we do buy into the religion of improving the planet (hopefully). 

4.) Talking to people! Remember that? Man I miss it, where the only conversation I usually get is with MJ and picking up my Chipotle order, and even that has switched to online orders only so I don't even get to say "brown rice, black beans, salsa, etc....." There's a friendly guy at the vegan kitchen right at the bottom of our building that makes friendly chatter and asked if I felt "boosted" after getting my booster shot, not that funny but his smile after he cracked the joke made me smile as well. But that's it! Maybe subconsciously that's even why I volunteer to go to Costco and Trader Joe's recently, just to get to be outside and be among people and tell the cashier that I brought my own shopping bag. But at farmer's market I can ask questions in earnest and show interest, and maybe even use longer than 4-word sentences! I got a 2-dollar bill the other day and struck up a conversation about the benefits of a meatless diet with the gentleman who dispersed the Thomas Jefferson bill to me. It was great! I still am capable of speaking English and being understood! 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan 

Booster Shot

 Today I learned what a flood stopper does to a washing machine supply and how that complicates life for a condominium owner. Apparently before making any home improvements whatsoever in a condomium, one needs to consult the condominium association in order to make sure it is approved/doesn't violate condo rules/hasn't been discussed and vetoed already before I even bought the condo. It's frustrating and is really making me second-guess my decision to buy a condo. Even something as straightforward-sounding as replacing the washing machine turns up new challenges. It's like Forrest Gump except opening up a chocolates is a scene out of a horror movie: it's Pandora's box of chocolates and you never know what you're gonna get. This time it was the existence of a flood stopper, which sounds like something they needed at the Hurricane Katrina cleanup or CNN covering a natural disaster on an island country but instead is a device that is installed to prevent water leaking everywhere when dispensing into a washing machine, especially for downstairs neighbors because water has a propensity to flow downwards. Our condo association required that every unit install a flood stopper to its washing machine, so imagine my surprise when the washing machine company arrived with our brand new washing machine, MJ and I are all jazzed to finally do a clean wash without residue of the last machine, the installation gentleman is ready to pack up the old machine and ship it out like an unwelcome guest.......when (horror music hits) there he stops and says he can't do anything until the flood stopper is uninstalled by a certified plumber, as there are alarm systems and attachment to the water piping that he dare not try to disassemble likely for fear of (gasp) being responsible for any damages. 

So no new machine, I have to call a plumber to de-install the stopper, THEN call the washing machine company again, THEN call the plumber AGAIN to put the flood stopper back in. It's not lost on me that when we lived at an apartment all of these things were taken care of by just a quick phone call or filling out a maintenance request. No such luck no our own. 

The stock market has gotten quite a booster shot of its own in late October to early November as several stocks have shot up again like it's the moon, and not just IPO's like Portillo's Hot Dogs (Chicagoans love them) or Avis Rental car due to the semiconductor shortage, but even trillion-dollar valuation companies like Tesla and almost-there Nivida, who climbed 12% (15% at one point) on just positive sentiment about its role in the metaverse, not even because of earnings or any merger news, 12%! On a top Fortune 500 company! Incredible! As a Nividia stockowner from a 4x in valuation ago I feel like I Katrina and the Waves "Walking on Sunshine." 

And yes, I did get a Covid booster shot today at my local CVS, quick and painless and necessary, as my single-dose JNJ was feeling a little vulnerable in the face of Delta and other variants. I wonder how many people got a JNJ-Pfizer booster combo, as most people didn't exactly brag they got the JNJ. If it's anything like last time there'll be a shocking report the day after I get the booster that it may cause blood clotting. Ironically my booster date is also the date Aaron Rodgers (former Jeopardy guest host) and Packers quarterbrack getting eviscerated for not getting vaccinated and defending himself for not doing so, blaming it on the woke mob. As more and more people get boosters, I feel like it's the new extreme dichotomy in America: red v. blue states, rich v. poor, white v. non-whites, and now.........the super-vaccinated v. the unvaccinated. Not much middle ground, like some guy that just got one JNJ vaccine and said, "I'm good!" It seems like human nature at least nowadays to take the more extreme stance, either "Go big or go home" and take a strong stance, even double down on positions like Rodgers did today. 

Also human nature: to get comfortable with how things are and forget about past pain and experience, like the very bad, no-good day I had 7 months after the first vaccine.......couldn't get out of bed, felt weak all over, questioned whether getting Covid would even be this bad......and then less than 24 hours later I was back to normal and never felt better, letting the negative experience fade away into memory and allowing myself to risk it again with this booster. Here goes nothing! 

TIL (Today I learned)

 I didn't learn about "TIL" today, but it's quite a useful phrase for rehashing one's gained knowledge in any given day, as opposed to just letting it slide and fade into memory; it also forces me to write out or explain what I've learned in my own words, which requires a much deeper understanding fo the subject and better grasp of the necessary facts than just multiple choice or a one-word answer to a clue (like in Jeopardy). The Superior Court judge at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in L.A. who I did my externship for after my first year of law school would ask me every day, "what did you learn today?" which I imagine he asked of his children too, but it's a pretty effective way to test if they've learned anything and enforce what was learned. 

But today I did learn that "Let's go Brandon!" is a trendy euphemism being used by people who disapprove of Joe Biden in lieu of "F You Brandon." Every president gets a group of haters who come up with a slogan like (Remember "Thanks Obama!") , but this is one of the more creative (not that I necessarily approve of the message) in a dog-whistle kind of way but also having it gain popularity by being succinct and catchy. It'd be fair to say that President Biden's first year in office hasn't gone exactly the way he probably planned it to be, as he's taken a more progressive stance on many social issues but bungled the exit out of Afghanistan and alienated some of those in the center of the political aisle. 

TIL that America is desperate for semiconductors to build more automobiles, thus causing a dearth in supply of avaiable automobiles and causing rental car companies like Avis to do well (stock shot up 108% in one day after reporting absurd earnings). Hope our Honda Accord 2013 at 120000 miles can hold up for a while longer before this is all over! 

TIL many different things on Jeopardy, but apparently that a "stuffed shirt" means one is pompous and inflexible. TAD I learned that SAD is a thing, or Seasonal affective disorder, and that those gloomier seasons of fall and winter are coming. Yesterday I learned that I can forget things I thought I knew cold even if I wrote it in this blog a couple weeks ago, as there was a clue about a Greek 6-headed monster in the Odyssey and I failed to identify it was from Scylla and Charybdis (see previous article). 

TIL you can order a laundry machine from Costco and the price of the machine comes with removal of the old machine AND installation of the new machine! That is like mana from heaven for a guy who isn't handy ("The Handy Man" was the name of the homo habilis, an earlier species of hominids) like me who dreads pulling out any wires or chords or "hooking things up" unless it's like hooking up free tickets or something. Hope it goes off without a hitch!