Tranche2global's Blog

…This Birthday…

tranche2global — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:26:46 +0000

I am 57. I recognize how precious time is and I choose more carefully every moment how to spend it– with raving reviews from deep within!

Experiences that waste my growing sense of time, I eliminate. And I am asked, but to write about, isn’t all experience useful. And I answer, true, there is always new fodder needed for the story’s villain. But, I have a lifetime of that to draw upon– there is a season for everything.

…Your Interests?…

tranche2global — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:04:34 +0000

Filling out a questionnaire, asking my interests, there are many interesting categories to choose from, but I check just one, Other. Then, because I choose Other, I am prompted to explain what Other is for me, and I do, “I just like to write, and family, fitness and food, keep me at it”. There was not much think time needed. This is important– as my 57th birthday approaches, it’s nigh time.

…quotable quote…

tranche2global — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 18:14:13 +0000

Your work is to discover your work, and then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it.

-Buddha

…like an animal…

tranche2global — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 14:05:47 +0000

Premodern man did not face the fundamental challenge. For example, he did not choose fitness because it was good, he was fit out of necessity. Running after prey was instinct, spin class at 5 am is not. Choosing good over evil is often hard, but it is the choice that counts, that can mark me civilized.

…my mother would say…

tranche2global — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:14:56 +0000

“Tell me what you’re interested in, and I will tell you who you are, and, who your friends are too” and I am thinking to add, “and even who your partner is”. When I look back in time, at my different friends and partners, be it my work life or personal life, I think this is pretty true. When I put my full attention on being the person I want most to be, concerns with mismatches seem to sort themselves out– including the realization, that sometimes it has nothing to do with mismatch.

…what I couldn’t bring home…

tranche2global — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:38:44 +0000

My friend Yuanyuan from China, in Paris working for Credit Agricole, our little soirées over foie gras mousse, baguette and Chinon, talk of French culture, Chinese culture, American technology and generosity, the valuation of the Yuan, Liu Xiaobo, Steve Jobs. I remember wishing, the first time we met, that she hadn’t just seen Eat Pray Love the night before. At first I let Yuanyuan go on and on, because I had answered truthfully, I had not seen the movie. I didn’t say I had no interest in seeing it because I thought perhaps she liked the film a lot, or something impossible like that. I finally said I had skimmed the book a few years before, and we had a good laugh about me then, as well as everything else.

…bringing Paris home 4…

tranche2global — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:25:21 +0000

A refreshed relationship with my sister made its way home, too, from Paris with me. She came all the way from Victoria B.C. and stayed one week. I would look up from my work at Cafe Panis at about 10 a.m. and there she was with some knitting, ready to sit and order her omelette mixte (ham and cheese) and doooble, and we would chat. I don’t know if we have ever been happier together.

…bringing Paris home 3…

tranche2global — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:16:14 +0000

It never hurts to take up a few new bad habits– just think of the challenge of getting rid of them later when the party is over! Well, I would never take up smoking at this stage, but my waiter Enzo at Cafe Panis did introduce me to the wonder of his doooble espresso on an empty morning stomach– same amount of ground coffee but a bit less water into the machine– almost syrupy, and straight to the blood.

…bringing Paris home 2…

tranche2global — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:37:29 +0000

I wrote everyday at Cafe Panis. I am writing now at Peet’s in the Urban Garden uptown. Chipping away, best I can, at old habits that don’t serve me is what it gets down to. Writing alone at home is an old, familiar, and very comfortable one that has to go.

…bringing Paris home…

tranche2global — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:35:04 +0000

I walked everywhere in Paris. So I am walking and walking everywhere I can in Charlotte, and I may just walk myself out of auto-dependency. I am not doing this to save the environment, I am doing it to save my soul. After being off it for two months, riding around town in a private car feels strangely insular.