A lifetime ago, I discovered my life’s calling… Well, it would have, could have, should have been my life’s calling… Unfortunately, the US government literally blew up my plan! (And I mean “literally” literally, not as an intensifier for figuratively, as so many do these days.) How the US literally blew up my life’s dream, causing me to stop studying Mandarin for 25 years I studied government in college and was studying economics in grad school when I met my wife, a physics PhD student from China. I quickly realized studying China – with its rapidly expanding and globalizing economy – would be far more interesting and useful than being the hundred thousandth economist studying Western economies. ...

With a son in college and a daughter applying this fall, it’s time to share my advice on how NOT to pursue a PhD because I’m an expert. Before jumping into self-criticism, I did two things well in grad school: I spent eight years in grad school and earned three degrees without paying one penny because I held a fellowship every year. I studied hard – inside and outside the classroom – and learned a ton. However, I made three gigantic mistakes: ...

In my September 2023 post “Xi Jinping has ruined China”, I wrote: Since Xi expelled foreign journalists for doing their jobs, I’ve been struggling to find quality, unbiased coverage of China, since much English-language coverage of China comes directly from the Chinese government, its paid Western shills (“white monkeys”) who are some of the few foreigners remaining in China, or Falun Gong-owned media. I recently discovered a pair of westerners (one American; one South African) who each lived in China for over a decade, motorcycled all across the country, and married Chinese women. They loved pre-Xi China but eventually fled with their families and are now sharing their honest perspectives on and footage of Xi Jinping’s China. I’ve watched a ton of their videos (albeit skipping the annoying ads) and have learned a lot from their Youtube channels: ...

Reading (your?) holiday letters inspired me to speed-write this. Given how late this is and the cat-herding-esque nature of getting other family members to write and/or approve an official family letter, this is a solo effort / personal letter. Here are my (very unofficial) 2024 Lavin family awards… Most stressful process 2024 began in the middle of college application season. The stress and exhaustion is real. While taking a full slate of high school classes and extracurriculars, Daryl was simultaneously writing and editing a bazillion school-specific essays asking him to explain why University XYZ should admit him (and traveling to audition for trombone studios). For more, see my May blog post on “College Admissions Insanity”. ...

In 2024, I “read” – mostly listened to – far fewer books than in 2023. (Here’s last year’s list) Reasons include: Youtube addiction Listened to more podcasts Watched more TV (It’s Apple TV+’s fault for producing too many great shows… “Silo,” “Slow Horses,” “Lessons in Chemistry,” “Mythic Quest,” “Shrinking,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” “Masters of the Air,” “Dark Matter,” For All Mankind," “Ted Lasso,” “Prehistoric Planet,” “Foundation,” etc.!) Fewer long, solo outdoor walks Listened to even more jazz I took fewer long, solo walks outdoors because: ...

After watching a flood of reports about “drones” flying over New Jersey and – increasingly – other neighboring states, I stepped into the cold night air Friday, December 13th – yes, Friday the 13th! – not expecting to see anything flying around my house but curious whether I might. I almost immediately started filming quite a few things in the air around my home. It felt bizarre in light of countless media reports of unidentified “drones” across much of the US East Coast and beyond. ...

2024-09-28 update: I still remember how stressed my dad was the morning he drove me to college 37 years ago. He must have been experiencing the same insane mix of pride, joy, loneliness, and sadness I described in this post. The day I posted this, an interesting article – titled “Lighthouse Parents Have More Confident Kids: Sometimes, the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all” – appeared in The Atlantic by Russell Shaw. It covers similar material to Dr. Wendy Mogel’s The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Timeless Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children. Shaw wrote, “I’ve spent the past 30 years working in schools… Too often, I watch parents overfunctioning – depriving their kids of the confidence that comes from struggling and persevering… We’re biologically wired to prevent our children’s suffering, and it can be excruciating to watch them struggle. A parent’s first instinct is often to remove obstacles from their child’s path, obstacles that feel overwhelming to them but are easily navigable by us. …When parents seek to control outcomes for their kids, they are trading short-term wins for long-term thriving – they’re trading the promise of a college bumper sticker for a happy, well-adjusted 35-year-old.” I barely slept last night. Instead, I stressed over a parenting situation I won’t describe here. While not sleeping, my brain reminded me of two events that helped me solve the mystery of why I felt so terrible. ...

About two years ago, I experienced intense pain in my lower right abdomen during a walk. I feared appendicitis, but the pain eventually went away. Six months later, I noticed a lump in my groin and realized I had a hernia, something more than 25% of men will eventually experience. (I’ve seen some estimates as high as nearly 50%!) “露馅儿” (lou4 xian4 er) is one of my favorite Chinese phrases. It literally means “to leak/expose the stuffing/filling.” It’s generally used metaphorically to mean exposing a secret, like “spill the beans” or “let the cat out of the bag” in English. A hernia is the spilling of material that should remain inside the abdominal muscles, like the filling falling out of a dumpling. ...

A few updates: I normally sleep on my side, and a single piece of tape sufficed. But following hernia surgery in August, I needed to sleep on my back. I found I needed two pieces of tape when sleeping on my back. When I haven’t shaved, the tape I use sticks poorly. The longer my facial hair grows, the more likely the tape is to come loose during the night. ...

My first four “Jazz I Love"s – #1, #2, #3, and #4 – were assorted jazz recordings from the past few decades. #5 focused on 1960s jazz and #6 on piano jazz. I’ll now share a trombone-focused edition. I’ve tried to include at least one performance by many great trombonists. Please treat this as a starting point for discovering more amazing performances by these incredible artists. Enjoy! Nils Wogram & Harry Watters Cherokee - Slide Factory European Trombone Festival 2009 ...