I try not to regret too much the choices I’ve made or at the very least, learn from them when the consequences don’t match up to my expectations or my sense of self. And Universal Truths of Nida, Number 8 is “Measure yourself against yourself,” if only because it allows me to sleep better at night (those nights when I’m not sleeping on my millions — small denominations, I like my bedding soft and fluffy).
But this is going to take a little while to choke down with my greens. Not that I knew the kid well or have any sort of vested interest in either his success or lack thereof, but our runs on the political theory circuit intersected a few times when we were undergraduates. Our paths have obviously diverged a bit since those American Democratic Thought days. But he had a weekly column in the school newspaper that I enjoyed immensely, so I look forward to reading his book and thank him for bringing some semblance of good news to the old alma mater.
If any book editors are reading this, I’ll just put it out there that I would be willing to entertain a $650,000 two-book deal on, say, a behind-the-scenes look at the fast-paced, high society Lancaster nightlife through the eyes of a plucky young copywriting entrepreneur. Zhang Ziyi could play me in the movie version.