road rolls round right

road rolls round right
left leads lawlessly
bypassing bureaucratic boundaries
with wild wonder
my mind mutters
postulating possible paths
towards tomorrow's trek

August 1, 2007

The End of Meetings

time slows
I wait
till awakened
meeting ends

On The Principle of Groucho Marxian Self-Exclusion

The comedian, Groucho Marx said:
"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member."

Groucho's principle of self-exclusion rests upon one or more of the following assumptions:
1. There is something wrong with any vetting process that he could pass.
2. There is something wrong with the club because it accepted him.
3. There is something wrong with him.
4. Clubs that would exclude him are superior to clubs that would include him.
5. Groucho is in a position to refuse membership.
6. There may possibly be other people like Groucho that should be excluded.
7. Since clubs consist of members, there is something wrong with the members that would vet Groucho or someone like him.

While in Groucho's case, he applied the principle of self-exclusion to a club, it could be applied more widely to any organization:

"I would not join any organization that would include someone like me."

A more strongly stated principle, the Strong Principle of Self-Exclusion would eliminate "someone like me" and replace it with the more definitive "me:"

"I would not join any organization that would include me."

For those who accept Groucho's principle after obtaining membership in an organization, a slightly different formulation is needed:

"I will quit any organization that has previously accepted me."

This formulation, also know as voluntary exit, is not without practical application.

Adam's 2nd Law

For RM, who requested a follow-up to my 1st Law

Adam's 2nd Law:

"All traffic to my blogs, The Art of Laughing and Adam Markus, increases their Google search optimization."

The 2nd Law, perhaps as obvious and unoriginal as the 1st, is of great utility to me. Thank you for your support!
Adam

Everything Changes

To my loyal readers (Akiko & Mom),

Sorry for the disruptive move to the new blog, but business is business and pleasure is pleasure. I moved everything but your kind comments here. I am too lazy to do that. Sorry.

To everyone else. If you are looking for my comments on admissions counseling, go here. This blog is just about the rest of me.

Cheers,
Adam

"Adam's Law #1: The Yamanote Line"

This "law" basically applies only to Tokyo's Yamanote Line:
If the train is crowded, wait for the next one because it will be less crowded. The Yamanote comes so often that one train tends to fill to capacity, while the next one will be less so.

Please note: This is not a metaphor, merely the observation of someone who has taken the Yamanote Line for almost eight years in total.

MY ART

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
-Elizabeth Bishop, from One Art

The art of living isn’t hard to muster:
Enjoy the hour, not what it might portend.
When someone makes you promises, don’t trust her
-Marilyn Hacker,from From Orient Point

MY ART

The art of laughing isn’t hard to foster:
Smile at everything and don’t lament.
For every life is an inevitable disaster.

Laugh every day, never mind the disaster
of lost luggage, money badly spent.
The art of laughing isn’t hard to foster.

Don’t feign laughter, just master
a sense of humor, ignore all intent;
for introspection will not prevent disaster.

I laugh now at boyhood disaster:
lost bliss in a shared room, my first love’s feint.
The art of laughing isn’t hard to foster.

I’ve laughed at my bad choices. And vaster,
great opportunities to be content,
But regret is not my master.

---Even laughing at all I love is a gesture,
not of contempt, but of what is evident;
that the art of laughing is not too hard to foster
when faced with the certainty of inevitable disaster.

-Adam, July 21, 2007