Author: Logan Lo

Focusing on the finish line with Lillian

Post author By Logan Lo
Post date 2014/12/01
1 Comment on Focusing on the finish line with Lillian

Finishing up with some work soon

For those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope it was a nice one.

Didn’t do much, myself – went home that day to see the fam and came back that day. Trying to get a handle on all this work I have.

I see the finish line, though.

Friday is the last of the largest projects I have with some smaller ones wrapping up in the middle of December.

Been working on this portfolio of stuff for the past five or six weeks. I’m pretty mentally drained.

Being so close, though, seems to make time stretch out longer. I think it’s because I start focusing on the finish line instead of the work itself.

Ever hear of this lady named Lillian Alling?

Seems she came here to NYC from Russia when she was a kid and, in 1927, decided she had enough of the Big Apple – something I wrestle with myself – and the rest of America. So she decided to go home.

But she had no scratch and no means to get there.

Unbelievably, she decided to walk back to Russia. From New York. Her feet were her only carriage.

She walked from NYC to Chicago, then through Canada. The last record of her was in 1929, when she was Nome, Alaska.

Seems she was there trying to get someone to give her a boat ride across the Bering Strait, where I assume we was gonna continue to walk until she got home.

Dunno if she made it.

I do know, however, that she probably made it that far by just focusing on the individual task at hand, which was putting one foot in front of the other.

And not dying, I suppose.

Which brings me back to my tasks at hand. Trying to focus but I just want it to be Christmas already, and my work to be done.

It’s hard to stop staring, once you see it. The finish line.

Wonder if Lillian ever got to see home, or if she died with her feet facing home.

In my head, I like to think she made it home.

On the flip side, my brother’s in town with his new girl and he took me out to eat twice – well, him once and his girl once.

One of the times was Shake Shack. Some of the best burgers on the planet – unfortunately, everyone seems to know that so that’s why I almost never got even though it’s only a few minutes from home.

I really gotta stop thinking of food all the time.

Location: Jersey
Mood: anxious
Music: My feet is my only carriage, so I’ve got to push on through

Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags family, work

personal

The eating before the eating

Post author By Logan Lo
Post date 2014/11/24
No Comments on The eating before the eating

Scheduling in food

Him: It’s closed! Logan, you didn’t check to make sure it was open?
Me: Dammit, sorry. First round’s on me.

There’s been a lot of people that I’ve not seen because of my work, but I finished up with a set of projects this week and last, so I’ve been catching up with people here and there.

One person I see a lot but don’t actually get to spend enough time with is my wife. She had an early morning one day and came back with some baked goods.

Her: No scones, though.
Me: That’s fine, I’m not really a scone person anyway.

Also got to see another buddy around the way for some steak sandwiches and tater tots at Gin Mill, the local dive bar.

Him: Are you full? Want to order just a basket of tater tots and more drinks?
Me: Yes. And yes.

Finally, just got back now from seeing some other friends of mine. We were supposed to head over to Little Town for oysters and beer but I didn’t realize that they weren’t open for lunch.

So we went over to Pete’s Tavern instead and just got the regular burger.

Me: I’m in the mood for a hard apple cider.
Waitress: We don’t have that.
Buddy: I’ll have the Stella Artois Cidre.
Waitress: OK.
Me: Wait, that’s a cider.
Waitress: Do you want that?

Now I’m back home with just two more projects left for the week. Looking forward to turkey day with the family.

Him: Do you always think about food?
Me: Always.

Location: someplace without oysters
Mood: fatty fat fat
Music: It’s cold outside and she hands me my raincoat
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags conversations, dialogue, frends, overheard in ny, photos of food

personal

Pula and Ren: The Motto of Botswana is “Rain”

Post author By Logan Lo
Post date 2014/11/19
3 Comments on Pula and Ren: The Motto of Botswana is “Rain”

And what’s your life’s motto?

In my room hangs a painting of a Chinese character that my father drew.

It’s composed of two smaller characters. The top part is the character for blade. The bottom is heart. There’s no precise English translation but most translate it as perseverance or resilient but that’s not exactly right.

It tells a story, at least to me: Even with a blade in your heart, you must persevere. You must survive.

The flip side of the story says that it will take a bowie knife in the heart to stop you.

In Africa, there’s a country called Botswana where they’ve suffered centuries of drought and desertification. And they have a single word motto, “Pula” – which means, “Rain.”

It sums up what permeates their lives and their thinking. I suppose that’s what mottos are supposed to do.

If that’s the case, then this character from my father is my motto.

It is our fate for Life to beat us one day but I’ll still scuffle and struggle until I’m breathless and weak.

It’ll take a knife in my heart to stop me. Even then, I’ll try to survive the blow.

Location: last night, wide awake in bed
Mood: resilient
Music: I’d be a fool to surrender when I know I can be a contender
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

business

Your most valuable asset

Folk you, compound interest

The past few weeks have been a series of 15-hour days. Was supposed to go to see Alton Brown – who was in my neighborhood for a show – some college buddies, and a few other events but ended up working through them all.

No fun.

There’s this story that Einstein was asked what the most powerful force in the universe was and he quipped, Compound interest.

Regardless of whether or not he really said it, I often tell it in tandem with a Brian Tracy quote: Your most valuable asset is your earning ability. It’s your ability to apply your knowledge and skills in a timely fashion in order to get the results for which others will pay.

I’ve reached a point in my life where people randomly call me and say they say they want to hire me for this or that.

Because I have less time left for compound interest, I invariably say yes.

A few days later, a check arrives in the mail from people I’ve never met. And then I get to work. This happens more often as the year comes to a close.

Now, when it comes to feast or famine, I’d much rather have feast. Just wish it was a little more evenly spaced-out.

At least I have a few minutes each day for thoughtful discourse with the wife:

Me: I’m surprised at how much you like country music.
Her: It’s not country music, it’s folk music! There’s a difference.
Me: Folk you!
Her: (laughing) I can’t even be mad at you for that.

Location: my desk
Mood: tired
Music: as long as you are with me, there’s no place I’d rather be
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags conversations, dialogue, overheard in ny, quote

personal

Thanks for the quiet weekends

Post author By Logan Lo
Post date 2014/11/10
No Comments on Thanks for the quiet weekends

Veterans Day Weekend 2014

It was a quiet weekend here in the big city; tomorrow is Veteran’s Day in America so a lot of people – myself included – took today off from work.

Didn’t do all that much; went and saw my mom and then took a trip out to my wife’s family as well.

And I baked cookies – a lotta cookies.

A quiet weekend and I’m grateful for the men and women that do what they must so the rest of us can have quiet weekends.

Hope you had the same.

Location: the burbs
Mood: sympathetic
Music: To distant shore with the gifts they were given
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags family

personal

Die knowing something

Die knowing something. You are not here long.

There was this photographer named Walker Evans who took some pretty famous pictures – you might recognize some of his work.

All of these pics are his.

He always walked around New York snapping shots but with much worse equipment and much better results.

He once said, Die knowing something. You are not here long.

Always thought that to be sage advice.

I suppose we all wish we had more time. However much we’re given, never feels like much.

There’s so much I realize I don’t know and I would like to.

There just never seems to be enough time.

Location: heading to post office
Mood: worried
Music: i’ll keep waiting and some day, darling you’ll come to me
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags opinion, photography, quote, self-improvement

personal

And for dessert

I’m a sucker for unhealthy food

One of the most difficult things about what I do is that I have to give an estimate of how much a project will cost.

The last thing you want to do is say something will cost $1,000 and then have to revise that figure up to, say, $3,000. As a rule of thumb, I almost never revise my estimates.

Having said that, I radically under-bid on some projects and spent far too much time over the last two weeks buried in work. This weekend was two back-to-back 16-hour days.

Before that, though, did manage to sneak out for a haircut and meet up with my buddy Cuba to get some really bad-for-you fast food.

Cuba probably walks around with a single-digit bodyfat index – something I wish I could boast but can’t.

Yet he and a small group of my friends, all of whom I would classify as athletes, have a soft-spot for junk food once in a while.

Now, I try to have fish at least once a week, veggies or fruit with every meal, a copious amount of water and fiber throughout the day, etc.

But every so often, I give in to temptation and order, say, 10 White Castle burgers, 20 Chicken Rings, a sack of fries and two Diet Cokes to split with a buddy.

It’s the Diet Coke makes it all ok.

And for dessert?

Me: What’re your thoughts regarding pizza for dessert?
Him: It’s a good thought. Let’s do it.

Running to the gym right now.

Location: behind tons and tons of paper
Mood: overworked.
Music: We drink away the days with a take-away pizza
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags conversations, dialogue, friends, overheard in ny, photos of food

personal

What does religion mean?

Arguing your religion

While I’ve been pretty busy lately, I’ve not been so busy to avoid getting embroiled in religious arguments – online and off.

And I’ve gotten into no less than three just in the past 24 hours – mainly due to Pope Francis supporting evolution, which the Church as done since at least 1950.

Oddly, all three arguments have been with atheists. The thing is that they don’t understand the basic definition of the word, “religion.”

Is religion a belief in god?

No, because that would mean that religions like Taoism and Buddhism, which have no god, are not religions. Yet they are.

Religion is “an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.”

It’s how we organize the world for ourselves.

The reason why you get so annoyed with all those gun enthusiasts, staunch vegetarians, rabid animals righters, virulent Liberals/Conservatives, etc. is because you’re tired of having their religion shoved down your throat.

It’s how they see the world and they want – badly for some reason – for you to see it the same way.

In any case, atheists see the world and our role in it sans god. And that is absolutely fine with me.

But just like you probably don’t want to be harangued at the airport by (American) Christian fundamentalists, I don’t want want to asked to explain how I see the world as it relates to me while eating a late-night gyro.

Logically, there’s zero difference in those that utilize peer pressure and shame to put down a religion as there is to build one up. The core point is the same: see the world as I see it, or you are dammed/wrong/stupid, descended from apes, etc.

It’s this weird militant atheism that people seem to have that I find the most peculiar – like furiously sleeping. As if how I see the world affects them.

Some people just wanna eat a gyro in peace and I say, let them.

Him: You don’t really believe in god do you?
Me: Why does what I do in my head matter so much to you?

Location: work
Mood: wishing for a breakfast gyro
Music: can’t stop can’t stop, I’m still looking now
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags conversations, dialogue, human condition, observations, opinions, overheard in ny, rant, religion

personal

King for a day

The Men Made of Stone Hit Number 1

Because of my work lifestyle, some weeks are quiet while others are ridonk busy. Last week was the latter.

Earlier in the week, my buddy Gilson Oliveira from Resilience Marketing gave me a ring and said he wanted to try a few things to market The Men Made of Stone; I said yes, since most of his ideas are pretty brilliant.

He said that Friday and Saturday would be interesting. Didn’t have too much time to really think about it.

Friday, I was up in the Bronx and then White Plains for clients and then stuck on the highway during rush hour. It wasn’t until late that night when I had a chance to check my personal emails.

And I was floored.

My book was the number one Noir Crime ebook – beating out Lawrence Block’s A Walk Among the Tombstones – as well as the number two Vigilante Justice book – not even ebook, just book.

It was all pretty amazing. Now the question is: What to do next?

Been fleshing out some more fiction in my head but I switched over to non-fiction, specifically dating, for a while with A Great First Date and A Great Online Dating Profile, only because there’s a ton of information for those topics I can cull from this blog.

Of course, I could also write about what I actually do professionally, which is what Gilson recommends.

I suppose writers just have to write. What the next thing will be, I’m not sure. Not yet, anyway.

Me: That’s amazing, you’re like a magician. How do you do it?
Him: (laughing) Well, it’s a good book. And if I’m a magician, you know I can’t tell you.

Location: the office, shortly
Mood: busy, busy, busy
Music: I’ve heard it said or maybe read
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags conversations, dialogue, friends, overheard in ny, writing

personal

Asian-ish

Post author By Logan Lo
Post date 2014/10/23
5 Comments on Asian-ish

The Story of Sessue Hayakawa Pt. 1

#469147743 / gettyimages.com

When I was in college back, quite literally before the last turn of the century, I wrote my college thesis on The Hidden Asian in Film.

Did you ever notice that there were no Asians in any of the original Star Wars trilogy?

But the Asian influences were everywhere:

The Emperor / The Emperor
The Shogun’s helmet / Darth Vader’s shogun helmet
Martial arts / Martial arts
The force / Qi
Yin-Yang / Dark-Light Side of the Force
Jedi knights / Shaolin warrior monks

In fact, the story of the original Star Wars “borrowed” heavily from the Japanese film Hidden Fortress but Lucas didn’t think any actual Japanese merited any screen time.

And that’s pretty much how films and television treated Asians for years – Asian-ish. Even characters like Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were Asian-like – caricatures played by Caucasian actors.

But there was this fella named Sessue Hayakawa, who is not the fella pictured above but was the first sex symbol of Hollywood – ever. He pre-dated Rudolph Valentino by several years.

And his story goes just a little bit in explaining why there’s always been an Asian influence in Hollywood and television but few actual Asians.

For that part of the story, I’m going to head over to my friend Jocelyn’s website: Speaking of China for part 2 of this entry.

Location: yesterday, with a pot of coffee
Mood: ready for the week
Music: My oh my oh my what a wonder, my oh my oh my what a wonder
Subscribe!
Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.

Tags discussion, interesting facts