The Crooked and the Straight

Chin’s Thirty Three Happy Moments.

13. It has been raining for a whole month and I lie in bed in the morning like one drunk or ill, refusing to get up. Suddenly I hear a chorus of birds announcing a clear day. Quickly I pull aside the curtain, push open a window and see the beautiful sun shining and glistening and the forest looks like having a bath. Ah, is this not happiness?

After many evenings of reading and quiet contemplation, I reach the end of the book. I put it back on the shelf, pick up another, and begin reading. Ah, is this not happiness?

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From Seneca's essay, "On Tranquility of Mind:"

But nothing delights the mind so much as fond and loyal friendship. What a blessing it is to have hearts that are ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety, with whom you are less afraid to share knowledge of something than keep it to yourself, whose conversation soothes your distresses, whose advice helps you make up your mind, whose cheerfulness dissolves your sorrow, whose very appearance cheers you up!

(Update: I found a similar, but not equivalent, translation of "On Tranquility of Mind." It's worth reading.)

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Dear Jake,

According to my reciept from Discount Tire Co., Inc., I have you to thank for torquing my lug nuts after I bought new tires for my car. I am quite pleased with the torquing you performed and, although I will never know your last name, I write this letter to you in the hopes that one day you will Google your first name and the company you work for (or worked for) and happen upon these words expressing my gratitute. My 100 foot-pounds of gratitude.

Torque on, Jake. Torque on.

(P.S. I don't mean that "100 foot-pounds of gratitude" in a weird way or anything. The same goes for "torquing my lug nuts.")

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A couple of people have asked me what the new name means. It comes from Sun-tzu's The Art of War, specifically from a couple of passages from Chapter 7, "The Fray:"

The difficulty of the fray
   Lies in making
   The crooked
   Straight
   And in making
   An advantage
   Of misfortune.

and

Victory belongs to the man
   Who can master
   The strategem of
   The crooked
   And the straight.

These specific quotes come from the translation by John Minford, which is one of the more eloquent translations I've read. (Other translations will undoubtedly differ.)

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This is my blog. There are many like it but this one is mine.

Okay, we're back. New name, new layout. All the old entries are gone, so all your hyperlinks have been broken. No, the old entries and comments aren't coming back. I stopped writing for many reasons, but mostly because it wasn't fun any more. Hopefully I can figure out how to make it fun again.

I thought I'd try a clean start, but I make no promises. I'm only here to entertain myself, although you're welcome to come along for the ride.

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