5 life changing lessons I have learnt from the French

Those who know me well will testify that the French exert a big influence over my thinking. So much so, I even think in French (one reason could be BC during the Covid years. I have been spending an awful lot of time with them). Though at times it has been an acrimonious and vexful relationships, full of tantrums and barbed whassap messages…. However…. I cannot deny it has also been surprisingly sweet, warm and deeply nourishing as well. Because the French and only they don’t see my autism as a curse. They see it as a strategic creative wonder weapon that can add rather than subtract from their business ethos. Hence it is a sweet collobaration. So heart warmingly sweet for me

that I still find it deeply intriguing and a very important part of my life. These r some of the things I have gathered thru the years from the marvellous French.

1. It is possible to agree to disagree instead of killing each other. There’s no need to invest so much of yourself in a position that you end up painting yourself in a corner with everyone else who might have a different point of view from you. Being able to compartmentalise your position allows you explore other options by even working with those who might not share your point of view.
2. If you want to eat well. You need to be able to cook it yourself from scratch…… Otherwise you simply have to settle for second best. You absolutely need to learn how to make homemade pate…… After that life will never be the same again.
3. Strive to be chic and attractive especially when you’re old. Taking a keen interest in your appearance is not narcissistic, it’s taking control over your life… It shows you’re still very much in the good fight. Being able to feel good about your appearance is not vanity…. It just means you have made a conscious decision to be the best you can be in your age category and there’s an abundance of joie de vivre in your spirit. If you really want to come across as quietly polished, cultured and sophisticated lose your Rolex for a Cartier.
4. It’s possible (I’ve done it not once but many a time) to do big projects without getting too many people involved. Small is beautiful because you can hold really serious meetings while sitting on the grass in summer and wear a flower on your lapel without looking too ridiculous.
5. Don’t be afraid if you don’t seem to belong to any specific group at all. Instead appreciate the freedom of electing to be your own firebrand ……remember, that is your right and its elemental and most importantly don’t bother abt what others think abt you. Let me tell you a secret – most of the time, they r not thinking abt you as much as you think they are! Just put all your waking hours in living your life. Because the best revenge is to simply live life well and with few regrets. The rest don’t matter at all… People who don’t know this are simply immature to think they have got it all figured out.

Handley Page – Victor

In my opinion……. Bloody impossible to fly safely. The person who designed the cockpit instrumentation layout should have his pension locked up in a similarly designed safe. Believe it or not. The auxillary switch for the APU is located under the first officers seat! (just kidding :))

https://youtu.be/1URYgpy-Wkg

Maturity – when you can turn away from your object of desire

A few days ago. Someone offered me a parcel of land that I had always coveted and even secretly wished I owned. I’ve had this obsession to make this land mine for many years, but everytime it came my way. There was always something that would conspire to scuttle the deal. And when it was offered to me this time. One half of my mind whispered, ‘just grab it. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth like you did the last time!” The problem is simply this. The landowner who is offering this parcel of land for sale assumes that I want it and he even believes that I am willing to pay the sky and the moon just to have it. That was why during the meeting with the broker representing the landowner, when I was asked to make an offer. I told this person that I am not in the position to make an offer….. not presently. This had the desired effect of startling him and the others and served merely to confirm my suspicion that they had been informed that I am most interested. When someone asked when I would be in a position to make an offer I said, it’s best that we discuss this matter on January 25th 2024….. There’s no need to rush. I realise that some of you may be asking – why does this man seem to be complicating his already complicated life with yet another layer of complication? Why can’t he just say or do what he really desires? And if there’s such a thing as an answer maybe it’s to be found in the cautionary tale of being careful what one wishes for. Sometimes it’s best not to allow one’s desires and wants to exert such a disproportionate influence over one’s heart and mind and one way to deal with that overpowering feeling is to cultivate the wisdom of delaying gratification…. because (sometimes) what you desire with every fiber of your heart may not necessarily be good for you. As what you cannot put down gracefully and walk away from without turning back, you can never truly own. As since it exacts a such a complete hold on your desires, it actually owns you! Hence it is pointless to talk abt true power or for that matter the purity of will, when one does not even have the discipline to throw what one loves most into the abyss.

US and German Tanks for the Ukrainians

Inorder to spearhead a spring counter offensive to the East. The Ukrainians need at least 400 tanks (not even counting the strategic doctrine of at least a 100 in reserve) . Ideally divided into four armored and motorised columns comprising of a ratio mix of 1 tank to 4 armored personnel carriers and 4 light fast moving artillery pieces. Two of these columns will project into the salient in Donbass and two configured as the claws of a crab on either side closing fast to encircle the Russians 150 km east of the Dnipro. Every staff officer whose accustomed to planning regularly would know this as an immovable sine quo non of warcraft. So why are the US and Germans only sending less than 50 tanks to the front? What do they hope to accomplish with that miserable number of tanks. At one level of understanding it hardly makes any strategic planning sense at all. Unless one is attempting to forward the proposition the charge of the light brigade is a sensible military plan. But then again which part of the Ukrainian War makes any sense at all?

The Right to Turn a New Leaf

Sometime back ago. I was asked by an old friend to sit in a committee to give my opinion on a prospective candidate who was seeking a line of credit to grow his perfume business in Cambodia. My first impression of this man was like the others. He came across as ‘confidently competent’ and his application for a credit line even if it appeared a trifle ‘over extended’ was reasonable. But when he mentioned in passing, he used to mine Bauxite in Cameroon and Phosphate in Chad. It sounded odd enough for me to move closer to the edge of my chair and peer intently at this fellow. The man wore hard wearing Goodyear welted Brouges. The type that only Afrikaners wore in Namibia. They were laced desert fashion with a butterfly knot to prevent scorpions from sneaking into them. Only someone who has worked in the desert would ever wear those type of heavy set shoes. He wore a tool watch. An 80s era Rolex submariner before Rolex became synonymous with Bling culture with the outer bezel set fifteen minutes at the three o’clock position. That could only mean he was accustomed to traversing the Sahara at night. Maybe he used to run guns. Or could it have been illicit ivory. As by positioning the outstretched hand to the North Star, one could find the constellation of Taurus which always reliably pointed to the confluence of the Gambizi and Nile to the East of the Sahara. An old Beduion trick. His right index finger was visibly deformed with an unsightly scar. Someone mentioned earlier it was an unfortunate Polo accident. His finger caught the stirrup and that tore off his flesh. But the man had once been a legionnaire. Maybe even a deserter. As an injury of that uncommon nature could only have been inflicted by the badly designed St. Etienne FAMAS semi automatic rifle… a failure common to earlier models often resulted in the charging handle blowing back scarring the index finger. No the man was not really who he claimed to be. Yes his credentials were certainly beyond reproach. But it was probably all fabricated. And most of it was most certainly faked. Despite all this. I still vouched for his good standing and he got his much needed line of credit. I didn’t share any of my suspicions with the others either (Thats not something I do, traffick in gossip and rumors….. I consider it conduct unbecoming of a gentleman) . At this point in the recount. You. The perceptive reader may ask why did I stick my neck out to facilitate the deception of this fellow. Well let us just say – I happen to subscribe to the belief that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt. Let us even say that when a man is sincere about turning a new leaf. And I believe he is. Because his past can only be described as excruciatingly painful and difficult. Hence. The least any decent man can do is pretend not to acknowledge his chequered past. After all, it’s not as if my past is anywhere as white as virgin spring snow is it? Otherwise how could I possibly see right thru such a character? No. I am sure he would make us all terribly proud for making the right decision.

A Lesson of Trust from the French Connection

There’s a quote from the much celebrated French author Marcel Proust. It goes like this – Ce qui pour nous fait le bonheur ou le malheur de notre vie, constitue pour tout autre un fait presque imperceptible. This is a deceptively simple quote that often misleads. As at one level of translation what it means literally is – What makes us happy or sad is seldom noticed by others. But at a deeper philisophical level of French Salon parlance it means something completely different and it is so different from the textual form that I will not even attempt a translation for fear of committing violence to its actual intent. Suffice to say at one level of translation the author is attempting to convey the idea that one should never inflict sadness upon another to a point where the trust that binds is destroyed beyond all hope of redemption. This quote is pertinent to me. As I had a torrid relationship with my French counterparts who have been regularly buying perfumery raw material from moir. Recently I cancelled the agreement to supply unilaterally which might have seemed provocative and even confrontational, but nonetheless it did not exceed the ambit of what would normally constitute a business agreement to the extent of labelling me an untrustworthy person. One reason for this was because for the last twenty years. I have cultivated a deep and even somewhat intimate relationship with the French perfumery fraternity. To such an extent that I am considered one of them. Hence although my actions might have been considered legally reprehensible. They were nonetheless viewed by most to be a matter of honor where my only crime was to insist on satisfaction. I guess what I am trying to convey in a convoluted manner is this – never do anything that destroys the trust that binds. One could do almost anything else besides this, but never impinge on the sense and sensibilities of others to a point where they might even be inclined to label you as an untrustworthy person to justify sending you to exile. Draw blood on the account of honor (to yourself and those who belong to your creed) if you must…but don’t ever destroy the trust that binds. Ridicule to defend your prestige and good standing…but again never destroy the trust that binds. Be rude. Put an idiot who doesn’t know his place down! But again never destroy the trust. Because if you should be so silly as to cross that sacred line. Those who once placed their trust on you will never ever feel inclined to deal with you ever again…..and if that happens. You will be truly fucked!

Shalimar

If I can continue to supply the French Dream factory with perfume wood. The fairytale will go right on like some Felini movie. It will not stop simply BC most prefer to live in a dreamscape. Rather than to deal with the daily grind and grudge of reality. As when one is still within the embrace of a story……. the dream of dreams goes on and on.

Moi qui cherche du bois à parfum au fond de la forêt. Je suis le pourvoyeur de rêves.. Je le suis.

Solace

At times you feel that everything around you has come to an end. I am sorry. Let me just stop right here and start all over again. Strangely when writing this. I felt the need to begin the sentence by inserting ‘it’s only natural sometimes for all of us to feel that everything around you has come to an end.’ But on second thoughts, it’s not natural for anyone to suffer from these intense feelings of foreboding. Not unless you’re bleeding profusely in some nameless trench in Ukraine just after a vicious artillery shelling and you realise that you’re truly done for. Short of that, fortunately for the vast majority of humans, it’s rare to ever feel completely alone. It’s rarer to be suddenly seized by the realisation time is frozen and rarer still to be besieged by the ridiculous notion – you don’t exist. At first, you might feel exhilarated by the sense of freedom, but eventually you’ll be infected by an even stronger underlying feeling that you are lost and you will never be able to go back.

The jungle plays tricks on one’s mind…..

Recently when I led yet another expedition deep into the Jungle in search of perfume wood. I was suddenly and inexplicably assaulted by these dark thoughts. I felt the need for confirmation that the world had not suddenly come to an abrupt stop. I searched the blue skies for vapor trails left by jets flying high above to confirm the existence of civilization. But there was none. I switched on the satellite phone to lock on to a signal, but it just kept blinking with the typescript searching for signal…… I desperately needed some form of assurance that I am not a figment of my own imagination and that I actually exist. Not as a abstraction, but as a real person. I peered deeply at the faces of my men for this confirmation of existence. Nothing. Then slowly like how the vigor of a river suddenly relents when it comes before the infinity of the ocean. It dawned on me that I was well and truly in my element. The jungle. That I had always looked upon with a mixture of fear and fascination was really where I belonged and most importantly verified by feeble existence. I was home.

Brutal Space

I snapped this during the height of the Covid pandemic. Sometime around late 2021. Unlike some. I didn’t enjoy the lockdown at all. Hence I made it a point to get out as much as I could. During one of my salutory mournful walks. I was lucky enough to get lost in some building. I liked the way, the afternoon sun streamed so cleanly to highlight the contrasting edges thru the camera. In a sense this harsh and surgical delineation between light and darkness was remiscent of what I previously gathered abt brutal architecture. To my limited understanding, brutal architecture was all about power projection. Most of it was cobbled together from the Japanese science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Tsutomu Nihei. Where the main protagonist was often depicted alongside very imposing and dark architecture that looked functionally terrifying. Brutal architure wasn’t about finesse or even form following function to produce what the Swedes would call Hygge. Rather it was all about how far concrete and glass could invade one’s personal space and even overach to attempt to appropriate one’s consciousness. In essence. I saw the endless and sometimes mindless regulation of movement on people during Covid as a form of sovietization that mirrored the repulsive philosophy of brutal architecture…. The lines were too harsh and arbitary with broad draconian strokes between 1 and 0 and 0 and 1 with no possible room for improvisation or even negotiations. Like I said. I loathed those fucking Covid lockdowns. And when I look back on those lost years, it just mirrors many of my equally lost sentiments. The terror of loneliness, the constancy of the pain of my cut up hand, the sense of alienation that comes from the arbitrariness of judgement and being misunderstood all the time (even today I find it difficult to go back to those friends. I tried many times to rekindle the camaraderie, but there’s always enough resentment to stay away and this is a source of profound sadness) the depths of struggling to find ones rightful place in a strange and alien environment. The futility of the moment and above all the mood of ennui that seemed to go on and on and on. I am just glad it’s all over n done with now. Go on….. Breathe!

I am the jungle and the jungle is I

One is always in communion with humidity in the tropical jungle. Humidity presses into skin like a steam iron. The air thick like porridge. Sweat streaming and stinging the eyes with every labored stride. We all pause for a water break. Most strain high above enviously at vultures circling above the jungle canopy. Their wings bronzed by the sun. But it doesn’t last. Soon the skies darken and rain is loosed again. Beginning like a soft pattering drum beat then reaching such a deafening crescendo like arrows against flesh and soon the trail is transformed into a river of mud. A thunderous crack high above flitering thru the thick jungle canopy like some omnimous omen. Everyone looks up pleadingly for the rains to relent, but it rains thru the night into the morning and thru out the following day. I have turned into a fish. Yet another into a crocodile and perhaps two more into frogs. We can no longer feel our limbs and hands. I stare at my palms, they look leathery. There’s an alien quality deep in the jungle. So deep that it might as well be only a country within my mind. There’s an almost eerie silence that descends on the jungle like a thick fog as we lance thru the last valley and ridge. On a promontory separating the lapis hills of the two sisters. I see the tree of trees, she stands resplendent before the rest. A sublime solitary figure blazed by a shaft of clean copper light. I see her as if she’s the only woman on earth and I am the only man. I present her tribute and bow. She accepts shyly. Then I realise that just as she is the symbol of the jungle itself so have I been magically transformed into the very obsession of my question….then the answer slowly unravels to the distant chop chop chop of a resupply chopper. All the men look up hopefully and soon they’re all jumping with joy. We are saved! Someone shouts out. But I am all alone consumed in the moment for I realise that I am the jungle and the jungle is me.

Knowing when to quit

In my estimation. There’s no presumption of shame in throwing in the towel. Sometimes going on for the sake of going on, just makes no sense at all. Knowing when to throw the towel i.e calling it a day has to be a valuable life skill. I have strengths, but I also have weaknesses as well, and when I take stock of everything that I can and cannot do……. Maybe its best to just cut off the stuff that I don’t do very well, not even when I try really hard to do it well. I don’t for example like to hike to another’s pace, it destroys my intrinsic rhythm… So usually I find myself lagging far behind during a long trek. I don’t mind being the last guy. It took a while for me to gain the confidence and authority to be the last guy in a hike. Part of the reason has to do with my ego and my strange association to the idea leaders need to be up at the frontline- the the guy at the head of the pack. But once you buy into idea that leadership is not about leading up in front as it is about supporting the most capable and emphatic guy to lead. Then I think, it makes alot of sense to throw in the towel.

Deep, Deeper and Deepest into the Jungle…..

In search of perfume wood. Deep, Deeper and Deepest, right into her core I journey like a solitary spaceship barrelling into the infinity of space. So Deep that even consciousness is warped by the gravity of her very existence that is inescapable. So Deep that I find myself having to remind myself who I am constantly just to remain sane. As she gnaws silently into my soul destroying all attempts at resisting her. She taunts me. She toys with me like a cat pawing a mouse. Yet I journey. Deep, Deeper and Deepest. So Deep that I find myself contemplating the smallness of my courage amid the flaming forest of time. I have travelled thru the ocean of time to find you I whisper to her like a supplicant….please let me pass safely….. Please grant me and my men safe passage thru the gates of ancient wood of a thousand poets and dreams.

Beautiful, but Deadly

Blistering fast! But impossible to control due to its delta wing configuration and non existent rudder authority……… In its brief, but torrid test history in Melun-Villaroche flight testing centre, it proved so unweildly (this was kept secret for many years) it took the souls of 3 of the worlds most experienced test pilots of that era. The Mirage IV.

Above illustrates the size comparison between the petite standard Mirage III & 2000 fighter and supersized IV prototype configured as a 2 seater. It’s ironic that if the Ukrainian airforce have only one squadron of these prehistoric 1960s supersonic bombers, they could have forced the Russians to seriously consider an armistice or possibly even detente.

The Power to say ‘thanks, but not interested’ to forbidden fruit

Sometime ago. During a high stakes negotiation. I had the distinct impression that my rival was trying to lure me into a lousy agreement by using sex. Through out the entire meeting I led this seductress to believe that I was under her spell. Just before the evening ran out when she pitched the idea that I should go back to her place. I told her she was not my type. I went on to share with her I have a thing abt girls will short hair. Her hair was just too long. When she pressed on. I blunted her advances dead in her tracks this time by asking her to get out of my car. After that I just drove right off…….driving back. I realised my rivals had to be either running out of ideas or mucho desperate or both to resort to such a strategy. I tore up the agreement the following day and tripled my price. This time I realised they were not in a position to say no.

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Learning Outcome:

If you peruse thru the ignominious history of man’s fall from grace. You will find that sex plays a preponderant role in facilitating his downfall. This is because pound for pound sex is not only a very expedient crowbar, but it also has one of highest success rates. Even higher than covert means such as espionage, psyops or subterfuge….and this is simply because man does not know the wisdom associated with saying No! But the day after you learn how to say no to forbidden fruit. Suddenly there is no more mystery to tit and ass. Suddenly you will begin to realise that it’s an age old con job that usually comes with an overpriced anti climax. By wisdom I refer to the ability to see thru and beyond the object of desire into the strategem and finally the deception. Once you develop this skill, you will find that you will suddenly become very confident around women. Neither will you continue doing really stupid things like keep picking up the tab when you go out with women. Or survive just on pot noddle just to impress…. You will no longer feel the need to do all these demeaning things because you are now empowered with the truth – there’s nothing there! It is maybe 99% imagination and the rest is not even worth mentioning. I want to stress what I have said here under the strongest possible terms. I am not teaching you to be a misogynist, nor am I advocating disrespectfulness to womanhood. What I am simply forwarding here is the discipline to seriously respect your manhood. And part of that education requires you to have the ability to say No….. even if its served up right before you fast and furious. Even if its prime cut. Because when you develop the mental muscle to say No to that sort of temptation that means you can delay satisfaction and that discipline is what will allow you to set your eyes on great endeavors. All serious men know this arcanum. This is why they never mix business with pleasure. At the heart of this is a spiritual war to cleanse yourself from lowly and base desires. When you develop the discipline to say no like a soldier suddenly your mission and goals in life can only become clearer and more defined. Suddenly you can distinguish the salient from the vapid, the succinct from the waffling and most importantly the real from the chimeric. Many men do not know of this discipline that is why they are still wandering and very lost in the black forest.

The cost of getting along with others

There is a cost. The question is whether u r aware that there’s a cost. Or oblivious to it. I say this BC those who r unitiated will tell you it’s free…. Understand this! If the cost comes at the expense of you having to cannibalise who you are just to be a crowd pleaser. Then you have to consider whether it’s worth it. The problem when you’re busy pleasing others…. You don’t know. It’s not a straight forward calculation simply BC life frequently compels one into endless compromises and contradictions. Hence sometimes one has to be a hypocrite or betrayer of the self to just get by. I admit that this is especially true in my case. There have been many cases when I had to bite my tongue and go against the grain of what I felt to be right n needful. Another thing, you must understand there’s also a cumulative cost as well. And this aspect of being a compromise is seldom discussed. That’s to say if you keep cannibalising who you really want to be to be someone who is pleasing to others all the time. Then at some point you will lose your core. Or it will simply dissolve like one of those effervescence tablets and what you need to realise is this – that kind of loss is not something that is easily replaceable. Some men for instance go so far so many times from their core, they get lost and can never find their center ever again only to become very hollow men. If you really want to know what a hollow person is – he’s a person who believes in nothing, that means he will also stand up for nothing and since nothingness is his creed. He can be everything and flavor to everyone. The problem is serious men don’t respect such men. They are considered inferior! I want to speak plainly. But if you believe in something and have a core of ideals. They and when I use that word ‘they’ I am referring to those who want you to be exactly like them will not like you. But they will still respect you. And respect is very important because they know you are not like some dog they can kick without paying a price. Because you have such a thing as a core. A hardness like porcelain hard candy sorrounded by a soft éclair. They know if they kick you. You will bite and you will probably not let go even if they bloody you, not even if they put two bullets in your head.

Now you know something you didn’t know the day before. I am teaching you the art of how to be a real man.

Knowing the limits of one’s nose

I work alot with my nose. If for instance I get a cold, that could be the difference between getting a $40,000 scent wrong for something that’s just 4 cents. If you have to rely on your nose alot. At some point your sense of smell can just get swarmed and your nose will just decide to go on strike. Usually in one sitting. I go thru no more than 6 scents. Anymore and the assessment is simply not reliable and I never take strong beverages, chew gum or smoke 3 Hours before a session. No one really knows why the nose just decides to switch off, but one good theory is simply information cum sensory overload. A trick that I regularly use to reset my nose is to always carry some wool in a neutral smelling container……usually 3 or 4 big whiffs clears nose noise to zero. As for coffee beans…..everyone thinks they work, but in reality, they just confuse your nose even more. Wool is good…..only one industry tip, keep it in a dark cool place. I use foil stored in a cool thermos. Not in a greenhouse like the glove compartment in your car.

The Wisdom of Silence

I have observed. The vast majority of humans have been schooled to be wary and even fearful of silence…. to many silence is mysterious. So it should not surprise that it has the power to disturb. It is even conceivable, we have normalise the idea of being suspicious of silent people by assuming it’s some kind of character defect. What makes this redefinition possible is noise and chatter has become such an embeded feature of life. We literally exist in a cacophony of perpetual noise and chatter. A world where its not unusual for our daily routines to be inundated with the distractions generated by a torrent of noise. Hence only thru the act of reclaiming silence can we rediscover the wisdom to enable one to remain grounded, focused, and most importantly restore much needed control and composure to our restless minds.

Why the winter for tech is good….

Because all the calefare and tourist and housewife investors have been burnt so badly they will probably not go anywhere near tech or crypto for the next decade. They’re all gone! Hence. This is the time when seriously bad arse mothers will start investing and accumulating tech stocks. 🙂 When everyone is shit scared of getting burnt. This is the time for professionals to come right in and invest!

Good Riddance Alfred!

I’ve got a feeling the next time you see this epic loser…. He would probably be taking your orders behind some cheap Chinese take away in nowhereville like Los Ybanez simply BC. After FTX it’s almost impossible to live down that sort of reputational damage. I really dont know who to pity more SBF or Alfred Lin……Good Riddance to rubbish!

P. S I can VC better than you Alfred! Forked outa whopping USD200 over million and didn’t even bother to ask for a seat on the FTX board BC he thought SBF was a smart guy! Q:What kinda of idiot makes a 200 mil VC investment on that basis? (You should be investigated by the SCC for being a co-conspirator in the FTX fraud! ).

Mending Broken Fellowship

Everything can be talked thru to reach resolution PROVIDING there’s trust. With trust even if there’s a little of it, all things are possible. Without trust nothing is possible……. The moral of the story is NEVER do or say anything that subtracts from the trust account. If you can’t add more into the trust account. Thats fine, but don’t make your situation worse by foolishly running a trust deficit…thats infanticide!