Ramanujan Redux

With the NBA Playoffs in full gear, roundball fans are always reminded in commercials of the greatness that once graced the NBA every season. Michael Jordan graced the league for fourteen spectacular seasons of dunks, fallaway jumpers, game winning shots, and championships. He exemplified the winning attitude that all human beings hope to adopt.

Yet one reason he was so brilliant was how easy he made it look. We glossed over the physical punishment that a 6′6″ guard took driving to the hole in a tall man’s world and focused on the breakaway slam reels. For over a decade the NBA has suffered from this me-first type of play, with everyone subconsciously believing that by taking the toughest shots possible, they could be like Mike. And of course, they can’t and couldn’t. People forget all the hard work it took for MJ to be MJ.

Arguably there have been more talented individuals out there, before and since. But no one else put the work in as much on the court as he did, for individual and team. And it shows with the six rings.

But it was never just about making the impossible easy. Let’s listen to the words of the man, shall we? (Click on the link to watch the video).

1. It’s Not About the Shoes

Just like in Fight Club, your possessions do not define you. They are rewards for hard work and accomplishment, not a shallow display of your own self-worth. Unmerited rewards lead to emptiness inside. Your actions are what is substantive. Their impact will last far longer than your shoes.

2. Not Meant to Fly

There are those among us who say there are limits to what they can accomplish. These people are a nuisance. Get rid of them, extirpate these undesirable qualities within yourself, and start learning to break limits before the burden of age catches up with you.

3. Challenge

Sweat hard when you’re battling. Make sure you’re dead tired when you walk out of your workplace. Exhaustion shows how far you’ve pushed yourself in pursuit of your passions. Make sure you rest only when your efforts hinder rather than help.

4. Michael vs. Mia

Once you become one of the best, challenge yourself against the best, or those who share your goals and desires. Their attitude towards work and success is infectious. Let it become the only disease that you never want to heal.

5. Nothing but Net

Challenge yourself in every facet of life, even if it means absolutely nothing in the long-run. It makes life more exciting, more thrilling, more exhilarating. Oh, and put a Big Mac on the line for the winner. (more…)

Sometimes I think we get phrases wrong.

Remember when we were kids? Wide-eyed? Wondrous of discovery and the backyard, of new things and new places? Then we get older, believe in burdening ourselves with reponsibility and shackling ourselves to the yolk of adult life? So we use phrases like “Live every moment like it’s your last one?” to get us through the day, to energize us to getting things done, to maintain the idea that we’re working hard in the face of our eternal damnation of expiration?

There’s a fatalist and depressing feeling to these sort of pronouncements, isn’t there?

Our first moments are the ones we should channel. Ones where we’re surrounded by playmates and family, where we’re able to freely experiment with what we want and find what stimulates us. Death may be a powerful motivation tool to keep us productive, but it leaves us grimmer, distraught, and morbid that it might close in us at any moment. Surround yourself with life and things will become easier for you. At least that’s how I feel complete.

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War illustrates many an interesting point, but there was one thing that comes to mind—the easy path never looks like the right one. When attacking, the easy thing to do is attack head-on—it’s also the easiest way to get lit up like a Christmas tree. When defending, the easiest thing is to hunker down, don’t move—but eventually you’ll be overrun, overwhelmed, and someone else will take the place in the bunker. What is it about taking the hard path that makes it the right way to survive the longest? And why do many of us decide to choose the easy path even if we know what would make us happy?

“Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.” Again, the easy thing is to repeat is what is successful right? But what is successful today will not necessarily be successful tomorrow. One must retool, reorient himself to his surroundings, and adapt to the situation in the proper way. This is hard. But it’s necessary.

“According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one’s plans. “ Again, not easy to change in the moment, especially if one is set in their ways. We can think of this in business with the Entrenched Player’s Dilemma. How does one leave what they know works for them right now? Isn’t it difficult to sever ties with someone you know very well, even if this person adds nothing to your life? Nevertheless, the right choice remains there for us to accept–that our time and effort is too valuable to be spent on petty squabbles. Think of the big picture. There will be more people to meet and connect with. The time you lose in the meaningless battles you fight you will never get back.

Fight smart. Don’t just fight hard.

What are your own thoughts and elucidations on these quotes?

Not recommended.

There’s nothing wrong with the people I lived with this past fall. In fact, I couldn’t have lived with a more agreeable bunch than those five–they were quiet, kept to themselves, didn’t intrude in my affairs.

No, it’s not how these people interact with me that matters. It’s what these people bring to the table–something I don’t have. A companion. Everytime I come back home, I see lovers cuddling on the floor, arguing about the mundane, cooking and eating and talking. Six people in a house becomes four, because two pairs seem conjoined at the hip. If I had my own girlfriend, I probably wouldn’t mind this situation as much, but being single, it becomes unbearable. My room becomes my sanctuary.

And in my fever and sicknesses of the past fall, I realized that these situations made me very anxious. Very angry. Very tired. Very lonely.

It made me realize how far I have to go in my life. It’s not a comfortable place to be, constantly being reminded of what you don’t have, of what you long to have. Being with people when you’re young is so important, because the older you get, the fewer chances you will get to meet others. And couples don’t provide that ideal situation to meet others.

And that’s not because it’s new to me, but because I’ve experienced it before. For eighteen years. The love seems more innocent and interested here, but it fills me with a distinct sadness, that I couldn’t have gotten that sort of love and understanding from my parents, rather than the unconscious sniping and whining I dealt with through adolescence. I never gained that sort of understanding that would have pushed me toward meeting other people, instead placing myself in situations that isolated me further.

Living with couples has definitely been part of the latter. That’s why I had to change things up.

Unless you are a social recluse who despises contact with other human beings, here’s my advice: The only couple you should ever want to live with should be your own.

What living situations have you learned to avoid?

(NOTE: I wrote this a few weeks ago, but I decided to wait until I found a new place to have it posted out. Just to avoid any misjudged ill-will.)