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One of my favorite activities when I’m on vacation is to read.  On this trip I brought along two books by Bill Bryson, an American-British journalist and author.  Both books were national bestsellers.

The first book, At Home, is a marvelous read – all 532 pages.  If you are at all interested in British history, I recommend that you put it high on your list of books to read.  In fact, I’d make the same recommendation even if you don’t care a bit about history – British or otherwise. Bryson is a masterful storyteller.

The second book, One Summer—America 1927, is also narrative nonfiction that is both informative and highly entertaining.  It’s filled with amusing anecdotes and a fascinating cast of characters. I laughed out loud when I read this about Babe Ruth:

Babe Ruth was driving a car in New York one afternoon and was pulled over by a traffic cop.

“This is a one way street,” the cop said.

Ruth replied, “I was only driving one way.”

I don’t read many books that change the way I think about life, but each of these books qualifies.  For example, here is a particularly insightful passage on the impact of American movies around the world:

“Moviegoers around the world suddenly found themselves exposed, often for the first time, to American voices, American vocabulary, American cadence and pronunciation and word order…The psychological effect of this, particularly on the young, can hardly be overstated.  With American speech came American thoughts, American attitudes, American humor and sensibilities.  Peacefully, by accident, and almost unnoticed, America had just taken over the world.”

Enough said.  I hope you’ll have the opportunity to read each book.

Daveen and I are traveling on the new Viking ship Mars.  We love the ship and, perhaps unfortunately (for my waistline), the food is outstanding.

I’ve thought for many years that today is the best time in history to be alive, and the best place to live is in the United States.  Of course, I haven’t had the opportunity to live elsewhere, and who knows what the next century may offer. It could be even better. But I’m a practical guy.  Apologies to Daveen, but why not love the one you’re with?

I love all of you as well, but now I’m off to dinner.

Alan

During the past week Daveen and I have been touring New Zealand.  I brought my laptop with me solely for the purpose of writing my blog while we’re away.  I know I must be relaxed, because it took me almost a minute to remember my password.

It’s Sunday here, and we spent a lovely day cruising on Lake Taupo then enjoying a massage in our beautiful room at Huka lodge, which I recommend – unless you want to lose weight.  The food is far too delicious.

This blog may be more succinct than usual because it’s late and we’re leaving early tomorrow morning for Auckland to continue our adventure.

I realize that normally we travel for between ten and twelve weeks out of every year.  But the past several years have been anything but normal.  In February 2020, I read a book about the so-called Spanish Flu of 1918. I remember feeling thankful that we live in an age of modern medicine in which a pandemic wouldn’t be possible.  Little did I know that in less than a month Covid-19 would sweep the planet and drastically change the way we lived.   This is only our second major trip since 2020.

And yet, while I am relaxing on the other side of the world, I keep up with the news from home.  I see that snow has actually fallen in Los Angeles.  The last time that happened was, I believe, in 1952.  It was a Saturday.  I was twelve years old and wanted to play in the snow, but I had a piano lesson.  My parents insisted I attend.  By the time I returned home the snow had melted.

As they say, life is what happens while you’re making plans. Or practicing the piano. Or on vacation in the wilds of New Zealand. We’ve all weathered the past few years as best we can.

While I’m sorry to have missed my chance to play in the snow in Los Angeles for a second time, I’m grateful to once again be enjoying the joys of traveling.

Love to all.

Alan

As many poets know, if you pay attention, the world is full of “found” poems.  I “found” this title at lunch last week inside a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant.  I think it is considerably more thought-provoking than the generic fortunes you usually find inside fortune cookies – such as “Your hard work will soon be rewarded.”

I’ve always assumed that the stage is already there – and our job is simply to enter stage left or stage right and play our roles.  But I’m always – well, generally – glad to have an opportunity to expand my ideas and perceptions, so while I might not be sure what my fortune means, it is certainly worth thinking about.

You create your own stage?  Perhaps that means we each choose the environments in which we will live our lives, and those become our stage.  For me the two most important “stages” in my life are my family and my business. In one I am the founder and in the other I am the patriarch.

On my family stage I am fortunate to have a large family. Most live in the Los Angeles area.  Especially during the Covid pandemic my social contacts have largely been limited to work and family.  Why catch Covid from a stranger?  That’s what families are for.  We get together with our sons or daughters almost every weekend and, we always enjoy each other’s company.  No one drinks, so there is never a drunken uncle at our Thanksgiving celebrations.

In business I formed ACF more than fifty years ago, and that is my other chosen stage.  I, and thirty to forty others, have been the rotating cast that populates the ACF stage.  Several employees have been with me for more than thirty years.  I must admit that, at least in business, I believe in one dictator – I mean leader – at a time, and my role as CEO and president has lasted for more than half a century.  Take that, you term-limited presidents of the United States, (public office is not and has never been one of my chosen stages).

A famous writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature was asked by a reporter, “How do you feel about that?”

The author replied, “I don’t know.  I haven’t written about it yet.”

That response always rings true to me.  Writing about something brings me emotional clarity and I often know better what I am feeling and thinking after I’ve written about it.

What is your stage, and who is your audience? Who are the other players? Is your stage one you have created for yourself? If not, and it isn’t one of your choosing, perhaps you should, as per the wisdom in my fortune cookie, change stages and create one that suits you better.

That’s something worth thinking about.

Alan