MeaganMichele

[T Jeanal @tjeanal]

Fundraiser by Jennifer Olsen : The Claydon Ohana, Lahaina Fire Tragedy https://t.co/HSLGHdbX3h

[steph @steph_mcca]

banks email like "Ummmmm we have a MESSAGE for you. In your INBOX" and then the message is like "Hello we are your bank"

[MeaganMichele @LadyBiermann]

Is there an update of what’s happening at the Shoppes, @ChinoHills_PD?

[lil arab @sweatyhairy]

we need an oppenheimer movie about the guy who invented the crunchwrap supreme

[Adam Grant @AdamMGrant]

Other people's expectations are not your obligations.

Responsibilities are commitments you choose to make. Upholding them is a key to taking care of others.

Expectations are pressures others impose on you. Rejecting them is often necessary to take care of yourself.

[Dan Regan @DanRegan_Comedy]

Saw another story about a missing hiker.

I never went missing sitting at home.

[Billy Oppenheimer @bpoppenheimer]

In the back of a comedy club, a struggling comedian got a chance to talk to Jerry Seinfeld.

He said he’d been struggling and sacrificing for about 10 years to “make it” as a comedian. Approaching his 30s, he was worried he’d taken the wrong path.

Seinfeld gave him this advice:

“This [pointing at the stage] is such a special thing,” Seinfeld says. “This has nothing to do with ‘making it.’”

“But did you ever stop and compare your life?” the struggling comedian says. “I see my friends, and they’re making a lot of money. They’re moving up. They’re all married. They’re all having kids. They have houses. They have a sense of normality.”

Seinfeld makes a disgusted face and then says, “let me tell you a story. This is my favorite story about show business.”

“Glenn Miller's orchestra is doing a gig...They can't land the plane because it's winter, a snowy night—they have to land in this field and walk to the gig.

They're dressed in their suits. They’re carrying their instruments. They’re walking through the snow—it's wet and slushy.

And in the distance they see this little house…They go up to the house and look in the window.

Inside they see this family.

There's a guy and his wife—she’s beautiful. There's two kids, and they're all sitting around the table. They’re smiling. They're laughing. There's a fire in the fireplace...

These guys are standing there in their suits. They're wet and shivering, holding their instruments, and they're watching this incredible Norman Rockwell scene.

And one guy turns to another guy and goes, 'How do people live like that?'

That's what it's about.”

Takeaway 1:

Comparison, it is said, is the thief of joy.

James Altucher has written about a cure for comparison.

Usually, when we compare ourselves to someone, we compare ourselves to a select few aspects of their life (their house, their good looks, or their professional success, etc.).

Instead, James writes, “picture that you can change places in every way with them. But then it’s forever...Would you do it.”

Usually—as Seinfeld’s story illustrates—the answer is…no, you wouldn’t want their whole life.

Takeaway 2:

One of the differences between Seinfeld and the struggling comedian is the way in which they view comedy.

The struggling comedian sees comedy as a means to some end—there’s some amount of money or celebrity that would make him feel like he “made it.”

For Seinfeld, comedy is an end in itself. “[It] has nothing to do with ‘making it,’” as he said.

For Seinfeld, as Ryan Holiday once told me, “The work is the win.”

- - -

“The set I get to do tonight at 7:20 PM is the win. I get to do comedy—I won. It being predicated on doing X or being bigger than Y—no, no, no. To me, it’s always just been about the work. I’m on house money, full-time.” — Hasan Minhaj

Follow @bpoppenheimer for more content like this!

[Susie Dent @susie_dent]

This is your regular reminder that to 'quiddle' (18th century) is to spend all your time attending to trivial things, as a way of avoiding the important ones.

[Icona @iconawrites]

Every generation should read The Lord of the Rings and learn that men are allowed to show affection, that power corrupts, and that happiness does not come from being a ruler but from baking potatoes and snoozing in an armchair by the fire in your cosy Hobbit hole.

[John Frankensteiner @JFrankensteiner]

Could have retired talk shows after this moment, never got any better than this

[𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘆 𝘃𝘀. @im_all_id]

I wish Google maps would be like "sick" when I make an illegal turn to save a minute

[No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen @NoLieWithBTC]

Republicans are declaring an all-out assault on democracy in Tennessee right now.

[Rich Stearns @RichStearns]

Guns are the #1 cause of death for children in America. We made our deal. We get all the guns we want with few restrictions. The cost? Just a few thousand dead children every year. Other countries valued their children more.

[MeaganMichele @LadyBiermann]

@EFtours Parents still haven’t been refunded. Our rep, Justin Orens, ignoring our emails/calls. When we call no one lets us talk to anyone that can help. They’ll just “pass along my info”. I don’t think there’s anyone running this company.

[MeaganMichele @LadyBiermann]

@EFtours Hey EF. Our school had to cancel the trip, in a timely manner (I’m the teacher)Our parents aren’t being refunded. Money still being charged each month. Our sales rep, not responding. We need someone else to talk to, but no customer service rep is helping. Please contact me.

[Ruth Graham @publicroad]

Calling Lent "Mark Wahlberg's 40-Day Challenge" from now on

[MeaganMichele @LadyBiermann]

@clhubes 2/3/23

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

When people are literally dying from mass shootings and police brutality in our country, but our culture just hears the loudest voices in Christianity protesting drag queens and books, we can’t expect people to believe our religion has anything to do with life conquering death.