The O Bulletin: One Day I Will Be Myself
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed writing these short form newsletter-like posts. There’s something immensely satisfying about sharing with you some of the interesting things I come across without beating you over the head with a full-length blog post and without running the risk of my messages getting lost in social media.
Thank you to those of you who did not care for this type of content but who nonetheless allowed me to continue visiting your inbox.
My life is going to get excitingly busy here in the next few months, has already gotten substantially busy, and these types of posts help me keep a connection with you. Maintaining a connection with you despite the rest of the crazy in my life is important, so it’s unlikely the O Bulletins are going to completely disappear.
If you truly dislike them, maybe you can drop me a note and tell me specifically how to make them better?
Thought of the Week
“If you’re not doing some things that are crazy, then you’re doing the wrong things.”–Larry Page
Your Reading Recommendation
This is chicken soup for the soul, adult version, because life? Well, it’s messy and complicated, and it is from this mess and complication that we tend to learn most.
One Day I Will Be Myself
“I imagine my father is contemplating his mortality. If I receive another phone call one day, it won’t be a surprise. 38 years and only a single happy memory, yet I wonder what I would say if I picked up the phone. Have I proven to myself that I am not him? Am I far enough away from my resentment to open myself up for a final reconciliation? “There’s nothing stopping me from initiating the phone call. Nothing preventing me from reaching out. Except that I’ve gone this far without his presence. I’ve conquered obstacles, given into fears, followed my dreams and have seen some of them come true, all without him here to witness or advise or cheer me on or steer me in the right direction.” Read more.
Book Recommendation
*Insert record scratch.*
Before I get to the recommendation, allow me a moment to complain about my good friend, Amazon. You see, when people criticize Amazon for being a monolith, I defend it. People say Amazon has been the death of small business, and I say 60% of small businesses have thrived because of Amazon.
A couple weeks ago I received this message from my dear friend:
“Effective on or around September 18, Amazon is terminating your Amazon Associates account as well as the Operating Agreement that governs it.
“Why?
“Under your state’s unclaimed property laws, we are required to report and turn over to your state of residence the funds in your account as we had no record of contact with you within a period of time as prescribed by law. As a result we are also closing your Associates account.”
So, I initiated a chat with one of their technical support representatives, an accessible process, to their credit, because their rationale is bogus. The lady informed me it was actually because I hadn’t made sufficient sales to keep the account open.
My current balance is somewhere north of $6. These affiliate links only generate a few cents per product purchase.
To add insult to injury, they’re not even going to give me that much, because you have to meet a $10 minimum before they’ll process a payment…
I’m not 100% in love with the treatment I’m getting from my friend, Amazon. I have their credit card, generously help support their existence and have been doing so almost since it launched. And this is how it treats me?
So, here’s what I’d like you to do. Assuming you needed to make a purchase from Amazon anyway, use the affiliate link below. Even if you don’t care for the book, clicking on the link will make it possible for me to get credit for any purchase you make while on the site for a period of 24 or 48 hours.
I’m not asking you to spend a fortune, just enough to help me keep my stupid Associates account open long enough for me to reach $10.
It’s a shameless request, isn’t it? I agree, but what Amazon is doing is equally shameful, and hey, this only matters to you if you needed to grab something from Amazon anyway.
I wish I could say I’m calling it quits with the beast. No hypocrisy here though. Amazon has me right where it wants me, and it knows it, the dirty skunk. Help me stick it to the man! Or the Amazon, as it were.
Okay, onto the recommendation!
Have you ever witnessed another family’s drama and been like: Damn, I wish I could be a fly on that wall! … No? Well, you’re a better person than me! Haha.
Olympus, Texas is southern family drama at its best. By which I mean it has all the fixings of a multilayered conflict that’ll keep you wondering what comes next, and what comes next is not the main course you expected.
Maybe it was the narrator that slam dunked this for me. Karissa Vacker gave it just enough twang to make it sing for me, and I’ll be looking for more from this author thanks to her vocal talent.
Pick it up. I don’t quite know what to compare it to in the way of a good related read, but that, to me, is what makes it so good.
5 stars, and I’ll be reading it again in future.
This Week’s Tip
There are friendships that are meant to fade, friendships that may have been mutually fruitful for a season but have since run their course and deserve to let quietly drift.
There are friendships that are toxic and need to be cut off in order to keep you healthy.
But this week’s tip is about those friendships that might be worth saving. Don’t wait on them to act; you can’t control what they do, but you can take the first step to see if there’s life still there. My challenge to you is to find one friendship that may have lost its way and try to rekindle it before it’s gone for good. Even if the departure is inevitable, you will sleep better knowing you tried. Good friends are hard to come by.
From the Archives
Don’t rush to get married. Don’t fall victim to a scarcity mentality that makes a rushed marriage seem appealing. Don’t wait until it’s too late to get help. Don’t limit yourself to relationship advice that only supports your side of an argument… But, I would also be remiss not to reiterate the entire point of this article: Do not become so old that you forget the beauty of what it was like to love when you were young. A few dents on your heart from disappointing risks are better than a heart grown stiff from disuse. Read more.
Let’s touch base next week!
