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Category: culture

[a year in review] 2020 edition, part 2: slowing tf down

Above all the things that I examined within the year 2020, perhaps one of the most important themes for me was to slow the fuck down and deepen. You may or may not know that when I was a late teen I sustained a significant traumatic brain injury — a stroke that paralyzed the entire left half of my body for a month. As of this writing, it’s been over 17 years and my nervous system is still healing. So I’ve been somewhat “forced” to slow down due to my physiology, and it took me every second since that…

acts of service

I admit it: I can be a finicky customer. Not the demanding, unreasonable kind that causes scenes or unnecessary drama, but one that expects companies to deliver excellent customer service, because that’s what’ll keep me coming back. Since I’ve spent a lot of time living in Europe (Italy especially), and service standards there are very different, I think the experience has made me even more aware of the issue when I’m back home. In American society where clients are also expected to respond to service professions with monetary reward (i.e., tips and future business), we…