You get older and you start to disconnect.<\/p>\n
Every morning I wake up and immediately jump on my phone. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave it by the bed, at some point I turn off the ringer and plug it in in the other room, otherwise I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never get to sleep. But when I wake up, I grab it first thing and then sit down on the throne and read the news.<\/p>\n
Yes, the porcelain goddess. You might find that gross, but in truth I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve always loved the bathroom. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s private. If the door is closed, no one can come in, especially if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s locked. Grow up in a split-level with four other people and you treasure your privacy.<\/p>\n
And like in that old Joni Mitchell song, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking at the news and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all bad. Putin wants to invade Ukraine because Ukraine is going to start fighting first. And he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s convinced his constituents of that fallacy. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re gung-ho. As for America, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity are fanning the flames of trucker protests in the U.S. Meanwhile, Trump takes his presidential documents to Mar-a-Lago and it seems the brouhaha of Hillary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s e-mails is forgotten. As for Ukraine, Michael Moore is telling us to stay out, as is Fox News, but those in D.C. on both sides of the fence are saying we have to defend Ukraine against the Russians.<\/p>\n
Now if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to the area, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s astounding how close these countries are. Like states in America. As for burying one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head in the sand in the name of nationalism, today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s paper said that BMW was buying back 50% of its Chinese operation to ultimately own 75%. The old laws limited ownership, now Xi has loosened it up. And BMW has to operate in China, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest market!<\/p>\n
Having grown up in the last century it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to fathom the changes. Forget the loss of kumbaya, forget the greed, forget the billionaires, hands-down the United States was the most powerful and profitable nation in the world. One thing we know for sure, if the sun hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t set on this paradigm yet, it soon will.<\/p>\n
As for democracy\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
So on one hand I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m drawn in. On another, I detach, because in truth I won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live that long. The long term effects of global warming\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad now, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be really bad after I pass away.<\/p>\n
So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m torn between two worlds.<\/p>\n
But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even worse. Everybody my age is retiring. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right, they saved for decades, invested that money they made oftentimes doing work they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to do and now they want to relax. Which is hard for me to fathom, I still believe I have some runway. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m one of the few who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to call it quits.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the game has changed. There used to be clearly defined winners and losers. Now I hope your victory satisfies you, because no one else cares. So you question what your direction is, and why you do it.<\/p>\n
And back to Putin\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stealing from his own country exactly why. To become even richer? I mean how much is enough? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s my age, I think with a hundred million dollars I could do just fine, never mind a billion.<\/p>\n
And this weekend is the Super Bowl. Which is being played in L.A.<\/p>\n
I think the game should be banned. One day we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll wake up and do so. A humane, caring society wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let men damage themselves this way, getting CTE, shortening their lives. But there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much money involved. And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the few avenues of success available to Black people. So as long as the pay remains high, you will find people to participate.<\/p>\n
And I remember the first Super Bowl. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how old I am. Back when it had no gravitas, when the AFL was seen as kind of a joke, and the first two Super Bowls proved it, and then came Namath.<\/p>\n
Now in the name of money they play football in the winter. But ironically, in L.A. this weekend, where the game is being held, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like summer, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the eighties.<\/p>\n
And in truth, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spent most of the past two years housebound. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been in a cocoon. I talk on the phone even less than I did before, which was miniscule to begin with. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m waiting for the time when I can turn into a butterfly. Which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite yet. Then again, like I read in that tweet, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done the research at YouTube University and have decided that Covid is gone and the country needs to open.<\/p>\n
So we got on Sunset\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6to the beach, just like in that Steely Dan song. And the traffic was worse than it is even on a summer day. Because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Saturday, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Super Bowl weekend and tourists are here, everybody wants to drive up PCH, have that California experience, which in truth, you cannot get anywhere else.<\/p>\n
And after parking I surveyed the ocean, which is glassy, and a big wave came in.<\/p>\n
And I smiled.<\/p>\n
Ella was making a sand castle. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s three. When I was that age I went to the beach all the time, every day during the summer, with my mother. And I built sandcastles too, but back then the tools were made out of metal, not plastic, and I cut my hand on a rusty bucket and got my first stitches, four, in my hand, at age four.<\/p>\n
And the waves keep coming in, big wheel turning, the hand of God.<\/p>\n
And it really isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any different than it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always been. Like George Carlin said, save yourself, the planet will be here forever.<\/p>\n
But George is dead. So many are dead. The biggies and those not so big. Like Ian McDonald of King Crimson, they wanted me to write about him. And I certainly know who he is, and how he ventured to Foreigner, and he was there for the first three albums, before Mutt Lange came aboard and jetted an already huge band into the stratosphere. And if McDonald had died back then\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it would have been big news.<\/p>\n
But now rockers are dying left and right. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s their time. Their bad behavior and lack of medical attention is catching up with them. We thought they and their music were forever, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird to grow old and find out that is not true.<\/p>\n
So there are so many things I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t own. But none of them would give me that feeling of staring out at the water, the sun on my face, just one human being on the face of the earth. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only context that really matters, the rest is a competition you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re involved in until you reach an age where you can see it is a joke, no one is remembered, and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take your money with you.<\/p>\n
So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really about the next generation. You gain joy from seeing them experience for the very first time that which you know by heart.<\/p>\n
And this year, reluctant to go to a party, I now realize I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not that excited about watching the Super Bowl, that I could miss it completely and lose nothing. Even the commercials\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean what they used to.<\/p>\n
Nothing means what it used to. But you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to get old enough to realize this.<\/p>\n
Then again, the younger generations are all about experiences. They need to document them, but once again, you get old enough and you know you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll probably never look at those pictures again and after you die they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get thrown out or deleted.<\/p>\n
And this may sound like a downer, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not, not at all. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been LIBERATED! It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay to fight with the ignorant. The truth always outs. And sure, you need money to live, but you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really need that much, otherwise you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just showing off, and like David Geffen posting a pic of himself on his yacht during Covid, you become a target of ridicule.<\/p>\n
You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to be happy on the inside.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a challenge. Because nobody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happy all the time, nobody. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to endure the lows to appreciate the highs.<\/p>\n
Like being inside forever and then coming to the beach.<\/p>\n
Where the freedom we embraced in the sixties was launched. By the Beach Boys, the rest of California. Now, everyone wants to make fun of California, point to its flaws, but if they were here today they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d change their opinion.<\/p>\n
Yes, at the end of the country, three thousand miles and three time zones from the east coast. Or, as Larry Ellison told Dr. Agus\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll give you the money to build a research facility, but not in New York. In New York you fail once and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re done. In California you fail and you pick yourself up and do it again, and again. And why would you want to be in New York anyway, where you talk to bankers, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it better to be on the west coast with the creative people, the thinkers?<\/p>\n
But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not trying to convince you. I hope you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re happy where you are.<\/p>\n
If I had my suit with me I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go in the water. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already gotten my feet wet. Sure, the water is cold, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so hot out, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refreshing. It would be a shock to the system.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the kind of shock I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking for.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Can the World\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Most Connected Doctor Cure Cancer? – He was physician to the late Steve Jobs, pal to Elon Musk and Howard Stern, counselor to both Trump and Biden. Now he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s founded the most cutting-edge cancer center in L.A.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d: https:\/\/bit.ly\/33mrZVu<\/p>\n
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