I found William Saroyan on the first day of 2022. Since that day, I feel down William Saroyan’s rabbit hole. I watched a bunch of videos about him, listened to podcasts, and read his short stories. I ordered a bunch of the early edition of his book via eBay(the 1940s). They have fantastic cover designs and felt super close to them. They will be an excellent addition to my fiction library, which already includes my favorite writer, Tobias Wolff, Paulo Coelho, Leonard Cohen, Raymond Carver, Haruki Murakami, and others. ( I try to only buy fiction hardcopies, I read nonfiction via Kindle App on my dedicated iPad for this)

The way he wrote his short stories is related to any immigrant’s life. He was born and raised in Fresno (2.5 hours drive to San Francisco), and her family was Armenian from Bitlis, Turkey. So you can easily understand the old Anatolian cultural values and norms are his writing structure.

He was a humanitarian who lived between 1908-1981. Won Oscar and Pulitzer. As a first-generation immigrant early 1930s, I think we can learn so much from him. You should check out his Wikipedia to learn more.

If you want to start to read his early/late short stories, It is a great collection. If you have US Amazon Kindle Account or are living in the USA, let me know (email me). Your first Saroyan on me!

I came up with a handful of ideas. Read a book, write anything, listen to music, watch movie/show, make tea for yourself, draw something, play with your kids, etc.

But the Internet has more things to offer us. If you google the “right question,” you will find hundreds of ideas.

I try to optimize my day as much as I can. I don’t like to waste time. I know “time” is the most valuable asset.

If I don’t work, I read. If I don’t read, I listen to podcasts. If I don’t listen to podcasts, I write/think. If I don’t write/think, I go to the gym or for a walk…

But it’s ok to have a down day sometimes, not want to do anything. So those “unproductive” days are fine. This journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

Things don’t go away when you ignore that.  Sun doesn’t keep shining because you close your eyes. Don’t ignore it! Either fix it or acknowledge it. Know the reason why you can’t change it. And wait for the right time to fix it or let the others do it for you. 

But, if you really want to ignore something, that means those stuff are not important to you. You are ready to forget them. 

There is always room to learn more and see more. I believe in the first degree of learning which means you put in the work.

Books, teachers, schools, and mentors are great vehicles to take you from bottom to ground level. After that, you have to climb by yourself. Do not accept anything by default because someone is saying so. Learn by doing it!

I ask this question myself all the time. The reason is I’m asking is not try to be normal or not. Just want to benchmark my behaviors to my peers. The good part of this question is, what’s normal anyway? Who’s normal are we benchmarking?

Today I found a podcast about this topic. The podcast is also called “Am I normal?” Data journalist Mona Chalabi is covering questions like – Should you break the law?, Should I move home? – How many friends do I need?

Does normal even exist?

Days are just days.

Some days pass fast some days pass slow!

Dreams stay! Never pass until you achieve them. Sometimes you need two maybe three lifetimes to see your dreams. That’s ok!
They are not like days. You can’t ignore them.

Even everybody around you not acknowledge it, newer generations might discover it!

Dreams has no expiration date. Days have it only 24 hours. Live your day with your dream!

I think this will be my last “celebration,” the anniversary of my daily writing journey. It was actually yesterday, but nobody remembered it 🙂 You don’t have to remember anyway.

Yes, I started Dec 29, 2019, to write daily on substack till December of this year. It is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Last two years, thanks to daily writing, I discovered many great writers, books, and blogs/websites. Also, I had a chance to meet some of my loyal readers. So, I wish all of you a happy new year and stay around.

Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and introduce yourself (If you don’t already)

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Right after Christmas day (12/25) to New Year is the slowest week of the year in America. Rest of the world? Technically they are slow this week too.

All the countries sync up the almost same calendar. Everyone is celebrating “New Year.” This slowest week is a gift for us to think/find what we are planning to do in 2022.

I don’t like making a plan for my personal life. Life is full of surprises. So I only make times on my calendar for opening “new opportunities.”

We have enough food.

We have a warm house.

We have a car.

We have family and friends.

We have enough money to buy anything we “need”.

We watched all the movies/shows we were supposed to see.

We have been to all the cool places.

We read all the best sellers and sophisticated books.

Ok, what else is left?