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I don't want to live. I want to love first and live incidentally.

--Zelda Fitzgerald

_____

Some of you may remember I own (and love) an iPhone. Many people believe, mistakenly, that iPhones cost $300-400. AT&T sells _refurbished_ iPhones for $150. That's the only reason I own one. Considering how unbeatable this little machine is, that price is a _steal_. To own an iPhone is to have your computer in compact, mobile form. The screen is large and brilliant and there's virtually nothing you can't do with it, especially if you're a MobileMe subscriber, which syncs calendars, contacts, email, even browser (Safari) bookmarks with your computer; change those either on your computer or your phone and like magic they're automatically synced, wirelessly.

One can even use an iPhone synced with a Kindle--it remembers what you're reading and where you are, just like on a Kindle, so if you're stuck in a waiting room without your Kindle you can still read your book (unlike Kindle, however, the iPhone turns your book into an e-book (with a backlit screen)).

_____

Another quiz on Facebook this week was "what animal is your spirit guide?" Mine is the dolphin:

"You are a very mysterious and secluded person. You limit your interactions to a select few. These are your closest companions. You are all grace and intelligence. When you move, it is with purpose. When you speak it is with wisdom. But do not forget the importance of play! The Dolphin is here to remind you that life is not all proper and poise. It also needs a little time for you to enjoy yourself and those you love."

*Perfume*

Still waiting to hear back from the USPTO about my trademark on Eros Aromatics; it's just a matter of time, as I've already dealt with the opposition that the escort service Eros registered. We both had lawyers involved and they paid my re-filing fee. I must never refer to my company as Eros; it must be Eros Aromatics in full, but the best part is Eros is allowing me to do retail sales on erosaromatics.com. They have trademarks on Eros, Eros Men, Eros Toys, etc. so they are rightly concerned about infringement on those marks. Their opposition was based on the fact that I registered the trademark in a retail class and they use their name in retail. I re-filed in International Class 8 which is just for perfume and perfume-related items. They gave me the go-ahead and I can't imagine anyone else will have objections.

The next steps for me now are to firm up my plans for packaging and apply for the title Professional Perfumer from the Natural Perfumers Guild. I do have a personal assistant again and she will be able to help me prepare materials for the Guild. Once I get the title Professional Perfumer, I'll be able easily to find folks interested in being my apprentice. I wrote Anya McCoy (president of the Guild) and she said they used to have an intern program sponsored by the Guild (whereby interns to Professional Perfumers received credit for time spent working with the perfumer) but it was too messy and hard to keep track of so they scratched it; now the only benefit of apprenticing with me would be learning from me (though depending on the market I may have to offer a stipend). Another benefit of gaining the title of Professional will be that when I go into Henri Bendel, or Barney's, or Saks, to ask about their carrying my perfume, they will pay more attention to me than they would otherwise.

The requirements for the Guild are quite strict. The hardest part will be having finalized packaging; one of the perfumes one submits to the Guild must be in final, full-sized packaging. One must also submit samples of every perfume, and other items (deodorant, air spray, hair balm, etc.), in one's product line. Then when one launches a new perfume or product the Guild must receive a sample within two months of release. These requirements help ensure a standard of quality for anyone who calls him or herself a professional natural perfumer; at the moment their are a lot of hacks out there, with no real study or practice, trying to get in on the tide of natural-perfume popularity. This structure is the same kind that every artisan's guild has had since the middle ages (remember Grenouille from Perfume starts as an apprentice to Baldini and eventually gets his journeyman papers; unfortunately he lets himself be eaten alive before he reaches the official level master craftsman).

I have found bottles I like. My plan is to offer them with a screw cap, an atomizer, and a roll-on top (Serge Lutens does this, minus the roll-on). I will also offer each bottle with an embroidered handkerchief for help in application of the perfume if one desires; perfumed fabric stays fragrant much longer than skin, so after application one can throw the handkerchief in a purse or drawer for continued refreshers. The final element will be the box. One doesn't want to send out perfumes in a bottle alone; a nice box containing all the above elements is the classiest solution. I am also looking forward to selling solid perfumes as they are mostly unheard of (but infinitely useful; one can, for example, apply a solid perfume discreetly, at a dinner table or coffee shop or bar); I've also found the perfect jars for solids, aluminum exterior with a glass insert. Onward and upward!

*Index*

Adam's Index

Ranking of New York New York among cities on planet earth: 1

Number of bad things about New York New York: 0

Number of years Adam went lying to himself and everyone else about what's most important to him: almost 20

Degree to which he needed that time in order to appreciate fully his home: incalculable

Degree to which now is the best time to return home: inestimable

Amount by which the cost of living in New York has decreased: about half

Number of things to do in New York on any given day or evening: infinite

Frequency of feeling isolated in New York: never ever, even for the disabled

Frequency of feeling isolated in, say, Portland Oregon: constant

Number one aspect of New York: there is _always_ life on the streets

*Top*

Top five aspects of being home again

5. Friends

4. Family

3. The best of everything around the corner

2. Having _everything_ delivered

1. Real culture

*Kiersey*

I took the Kiersey Temperament Sorter and was told I'm an idealist/counselor (INFJ). An old friend turned me onto the test. This is so dead-on it's scary:

"Idealists (NF's), as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self--always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination, and they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

"Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life--things that are not visible or things that have not yet happened and that can only be known through intuition is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

"Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can feel quite guilty when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships, usually with persons with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

"Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

"Overview of the Counselor (INFJ):

As a Counselor, you are likely to be committed to the personal development and personal, inner growth of each person in a group or a team. You are not usually a highly visible leader, but you like to quietly work behind the scenes, influencing and guiding others to success. You can see the big picture and understand the inner workings of a group. You are focused on helping the individual reach their full potential. You are private about your things, and you are sensitive. Sometimes you will surprise others with your previously undisclosed interests.

"How You Communicate:

As a Counselor, you are sensitive to each person in a group, and you will speak with all team members to make sure the entire team is satisfied. You will usually be the one to come up with the team's vision and encourage others to cultivate success.

"Idealist Counselors and Career Considerations:

Curious and imaginative, you are happy when you have the opportunity to explore the universe of ideas. You do not usually seek leadership positions and prefer independent work to teamwork. In your ideal job, your superiors create a structure, provide you with resources, set some general expectations, and let you loose. Inasmuch as you are not particularly goal oriented, your ideal job situation provides you a sort of private enclave where you can work autonomously. Like other "creatives" (scientists, computer engineers and even writers and designers), you work best when you can deliver your work products--rather than yourself or your process--to others.

"Counselors thrive in a warm, supportive atmosphere. Of all the types, Counselors have the greatest talent for de-escalating situations. They can almost always find just the "right words." Without realizing it, Counselors "soak up" other people's troubles and become distracted from their own goals.

"Love and Relationships for the Idealist Counselor:

You typically appreciate the rewards that come from serious connections much more than those derived from casual dating or non-intimate socializing as a couple. In love, you're seeking your soulmate. You're apt to want the kind of partner who is willing to be, in Rilke's words, "a guardian of your solitude." Your own vision of life is clear and complex, and you assume that your mate is, or wants to be, similarly centered. That's not to suggest you're looking for a self-centered mate. Quite the opposite is true.

"The Idealist Counselor's Learning Style:

Counselors learn for personal growth and the sheer joy of learning.

Counselors seek out the concepts and greater purpose of learning.

Counselors love to share the results of their creativity.

Counselors synthesize multiple ideas into something new.

Counselors look for the effects."

*Shakespeare*

This soliloquy comes from Shakespeare. I include it here because of its appearance in the stage play of Hair (which my mother and I are going to see on Broadway; this is a phenomenal play/musical, a staggering stage production, which everyone owes it to themselves to go see, tout de suite). This is one of two places I've ever heard the word "mirth" used in song:

"What a piece of work is man,

how noble in reason.

How infinite in faculties,

in form and moving

how express and admirable.

In action how like an angel.

In apprehension how like a god.

The beauty of the world,

the paragon of animals.

I have of late

but wherefore I know not

lost all my mirth.

This goodly frame, the earth,

seems to me a sterile promontory.

This most excellent canopy,

the air--look you!

This brave o'er hanging firmament,

this majestical roof

fretted with golden fire.

Why it appears no other thing to me

than a foul and pestilent congregation

of vapors."

The other place is in a song by one of my favorite song-writers, Loudon Wainwright III, Grey in LA:

"And I suppose Laurie David sure knows

all those cars we drive heat up our earth,

and sea temperatures rise and those constant blue skies,

and brush fires can sure curb your mirth."

*Poem*

Worthwhile

When I lived out west

I longed to have something

I'd be willing to die for.

Now that I'm home again

where I belong in New York

all I have are things

to live for.

Yet many of us still have

this balderdash

foisted on us,

that a life lived

with nothing worth dying for

is unfulfilled.

Preposterous!

A worthwhile life is one

filled with people, places,

and convictions

that make one happy

to be alive.

How could it ever

be otherwise?

As we move on from

the last epoch,

characterized by sin and

suffering, we must all

stand firm in our

understanding that

willingness to die

is in fact a repudiation

of life itself.

Our new epoch is

characterized by action

and cooperation,

and willingness to die

has no proper place in it,

none at all.

Join the chorus:

"We aim to live for

the people we love."

*Quotations*

Poetry is the one place where people can speak their original human mind. It is the outlet for people to say in public what is known in private.

--Allen Ginsberg

Originality is nothing by judicious imitation. The most original writers borrowed one from another.

--Voltaire

Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.

--Oscar Wilde

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new after all.

--Lincoln

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

--Stephen Fry

A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.

--Louis Armstrong 

Every great architect is, necessarily, a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.

--Frank Lloyd Wright 

The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.

--Aldous Huxley

A thought is often original though you have uttered it a hundred times.

--Oliver Wendell Holmes

The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size.

--Oliver Wendell Holmes

*Politics*

I'm ecstatic that Obama decried the 60-year occupation of Palestine, in no uncertain terms. Now we'll just wait and see if this conviction leads to tangible changes for Palestinians in terms of humanitarian and moral justice. One can only pray.

_____

By Matt Frei for the BBC:

"In tight economic times one thing that continues to sell well is the Obama family. The stall outside our office is still flogging Obama tea towels, T-shirts and umbrellas. The New York Times is advertising historic Obama medallions and Time magazine continues to sell its Inauguration Day specials almost five months after the 44th president took the oath. The Obamas have also become an inadvertent product placement phenomenon. The cardigan that Michelle bought from J Crew and wore on her visit to London has been flying off the shelves. The August Wilson play Joe Turner's Come and Gone about black Americans in early 19th century and playing at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway, became a sell out at a time when many theatres remain half empty.

"The Obamas went to see the play last Saturday on a date night out in the Big Apple. I called Blue Hill, the west village restaurant where they dined on organic upstate cuisine, and asked if I could book a table: "Impossible for two weeks," the Maitre d' told me. By the way, Mr Obama's date, which involved a small army of secret service agents, a motorcade and a smaller version of Air Force One, cost the tax payer $24,000 (£14,500). It is a measure of the goodwill towards him that this expense did not cause a flap in hard times. Imagine if Gordon Brown had done the same.... This did not stop David Letterman from having fun with it: "It lasted four hours and cost $24,000. And former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer says 'Yeah, that's about right'."

"My daughter went on a school trip to the Washington restaurant where the Obamas had dined before they moved into the White House. "I sat at their table," she told me excitedly. Then there is the mobile dog drinking bowl that failed to convince the investors on the BBC's Dragons' Den but did convince Michelle Obama. Bo, the nation's first dog, now slurps from it. Orders have shot up. I almost forgot to mention the books. There are the two Mr Obama has written himself--which are still levitating at the top of the best sellers list--and there are other people's books, which have been propelled there because the president happens to be reading them. During the transition, the newly-elected leader was reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, Team of Rivals. Barack Obama wanted inspiration. The book catapulted up the charts, despite the fact that it had been published three years before.

"Just this week Mr Obama told my colleague Justin Webb that he was reading Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland, about an uprooted Dutchman in search of a nation. The writer is half Irish and Turkish. He was brought up in Mozambique, South Africa, Iran and England. You can see why the bi-racial president--who was brought up in Hawaii and Indonesia--liked the book. In fact, you might say that the books and their reader gel all too predictably. But that is beside the point. Netherland's sales rose by 40% to 95,000 during a recession when book buying is an endangered activity. But do not expect this president to boost the sales of too many books--he first mentioned that he was reading Netherland a month ago. Mr Obama clearly likes to savour good prose slowly.

"Product placement does not work with every president. George W Bush was an avid reader with a rather eclectic and surprising taste in books. When I interviewed him in early 2008, he told me he was reading Alastair Horne's excellent account of the Algerian civil war called a Savage War of Peace. The book did not pounce onto the best seller list. He also said he was getting stuck into the works of Albert Camus. They did not budge on Amazon--perhaps because no one could imagine Mr Bush cosying up to anything French, even in translation. They could single-handedly revive the stricken advertising market. Not that they will. I could more easily imagine the opposite happening, elsewhere. In Britain, some members of parliament have clearly been forced to fiddle their expenses because they feel they do not earn enough money. Since the taxpayer is unlikely to grant them a pay rise these days, I suggest corporate sponsorship, blatant and unabashed. The moat courtesy of Caterpillar; the duck island sponsored by the Harrods Foods Department. Or why not the new Parliamentary Expenses Reform Bill, brought to you by Rentokil?"

*Music*

Top ten random tracks

12. Lost in Space, Glen Tilbrook

11. The Strangest Thing, Jann Klose

10. One, Tina Dico

9. Naked as We Came, Iron & Wine

8. Man Who Couldn't Cry, Loudon Wainwright III

7. Blackbirds (demo), Erin McKeown

6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2), Jacqui Naylor

5. Solitaire, Maia Sharp

4. After the Bombs, The Decemberists

3. Boom Boom Goes the Day, Sean Hayes

2. The Lucky One, Freedy Johnston

1. Speed of the Sound of Loneliness (Prine), Jeffrey Foucault

Peace, love, and ATOM jazz