No one can say John Danaher is one of the world’s greatest grapplers, a title typically bestowed on the likes of Rubens Charles Maciel, Marcelo Garcia or Roger Gracie. And rightfully so.
Because Mr. Danaher does not compete. In 2015, he had major hip surgery. Soon, he’ll also need to replace a knee. Walking is painful, nevermind grappling.
I am not as tough as I think I am.
The realization hit me while laid out flat, the side of my face crushed against the mat. On top of me was a blue belt named Nestor. He pinned me down with his legs, and using his arms he started working on my grip.
I once had a family friend named Andrew. He introduced me to Puff Daddy, Usher, and Triple Five Soul apparel. He also had a brilliant mind for medicine. Rutgers University literally created an award in chemistry, so they could give it to him.
While he was in medical school, I asked him how he did so well in his studies. His answer was simple:
Update 3/30/2019: I no longer use StashWealth and instead of switched to Vanguard. Everything about this review still stands — it was a reflection of how I felt at the time. For a brief explanation on why I switched, read this. I will write a more detailed article on the decision in the future.
When I was 14, I started packing take-out orders at a Chinese restaurant.
I’d stand in the oppressive kitchen in poorly fitted dress shirt from TJ Maxx for 7 hours and box ubiquitous white boxes of Chinese food. I’d put an X on the check, then sort and drop different sized boxes into a brown paper bag, like Tetris.
When I worked in literary management, our writer clients would call me looking for tax advice. “What can I write off as an expense?” and “Can I write off my rent if I work from home?”
For his 2018 New Year’s resolution, Mark Zuckerberg vowed to fix Facebook.
From his post: “Today feels a lot like that first year. The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do — whether it’s protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent.
“My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues. We won’t prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools. If we’re successful this year then we’ll end 2018 on a much better trajectory.”
In my favorite half-hour comedy, How I Met Your Mother, the characters Lily and Marshall had a series of long-term bets about the future.
“Barney will watch the sex tape.”
“Marshall will go bald.”
“Ted and Robin will end up together.”
This inspired me to keep track of my own bets for certain decisions in my life. I’d record the decision, write down a few sentences about my reasoning, and revisit it a year (or more) later.
When I was in middle school I had three key beliefs about my future:
1. I wouldn’t buy a house. Instead, I’d live in a RV. I’d drive around the United States and park on residential sidewalks and in Walmart parking lots. My cousins teased they’d let me park my RV in their four-car garages in the winter so I wouldn’t freeze.
I can’t say Taylor Swift is my favorite songwriter.
When it comes to conveying complex emotions, she doesn’t hold the beer of contemporaries like Sara Bareilles or Lorde.
The first musical I remember listening to was Miss Saigon. My mother played the cassette on weekends, and we listened to it dozens of times. As a boy, I tried assembling the story by the songs alone: Why did Chris leave Kim so suddenly? Why did he marry Ellen? For years, for some reason, I thought she was stuck in a Vietnamese jail with her son Tam, not hiding in a village.
A couple weeks ago, I saw the musical for the first time, and songs like Why God Why? and I Still Believe transported me back to those weekends, that cassette, those moments wondering what transpired between Chris and Kim.