The link to the review is here, and yes, my friends, the review is as neoliberal as those books seem to be. You can catch a glimpse of how a brain that has been marinated in neoliberalism works. Although I do understand that “works” is too generous a word to apply to the linked piece of writing.

The author of the review doesn’t really review anything. She retells the plot in a scatty manner of somebody who interrupted her reading after every two pages to check the much more enticing goings on in her social media accounts. What the reviewer thinks of the books or what connection she sees between them other than that their heroines go on dates is never explained.

Only at the end of the article does she venture into something akin to reviewing. Here is the entirety of that part of the piece:

“YOLO” is the last phrase to appear on the last page of this book — and lo, you doth only live the very once. You might as well write like it. This book swings big. The ball arcs toward Gehenna, and Kemp’s hyper narrator Naruto-runs off the page, trying kawaiily to get under it. Here, at last, is someone doing something new.

Do you understand what this paragraph means? Neither do I. I have read the review and have no idea what the reviewer wants to say or why she even bothered. Neoliberalism always devolves into utter meaninglessness. Meaningless books, relationships, lives. It’s all as bleak and tawdry as these novels and the person writing about them.

Are you his best friend, too? Have the rest of his friends also become acquaintances? The reason why I ask is that the romantic relationship between the two of you has collapsed because you wanted him more than he did you, so the relationship was unequal. (Of course, the he/she may be completely swapped in your situation).

Another question is, are you still in love with this person? Meaning, are you really friends or an unwanted ex-lover clinging to a situation and a person being clung to?

If the relationship is still unequal, I think the right thing to do is to find a reason why the situation of being rejected is something that you seek. Once you figure out why “continuously rejected by the only person who matters” is your go-to scenario, the scenario will go away and you’ll move on to something better without even noticing.

I’m not suggesting any drastic measures like dropping this person immediately because if this is a situation that you need, you’ll re-engineer it in some other form. Instead, I suggest thinking about other situations in your life when you felt like you did when this person refused to move in. And other situations where you felt like you do at the realization that you’ll remain all alone if you cut this person out.

It’s always best to find the reason instead of forcing yourself into something. The way you know you found your answer is when the situation falls away painlessly and casually.

I’m sorry, I know everybody is tired of my university drama but I have to share the argument in favor of eliminating physics and Chinese that is advanced by our Chancellor:

Somehow, we are able to comprehend the elimination of jobs occupied by milk delivery men, typewriter repair technicians or elevator operators. It is far more difficult to embrace the contemporary analog. Yet, in our daily living, it is increasingly difficult to avoid self-checkout, and half of people shopping in the grocery store aisles are fulfilling online orders. The elimination of some positions, the creation of new ones, restructuring or making organizational changes should not, by default, be understood as a sign of financial trouble.

https://www.alestlelive.com/opinion/article_b3c4883a-c5b8-47c5-8643-29bede5eae41.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawJnUcFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHgvuOB3V-z41Qpvgvwl2RONgEBXSPaawu9S3Oz09e0pJ7qxs2M_2LMaEnJpo_aem_fDP42CePxqsVk5CLALTHqg

Yes, physics is totally the equivalent of home milk delivery. And speaking Chinese has been phased out by the disappearance of Chinese speakers from the planet. They must have left it for another galaxy together with milkmen.

Speaking of which, I believe that home deliveries of fresh milk straight from a cow were a wonderful thing. So there’s nothing much to celebrate in the loss of that custom.

The funny thing, though, is that I’ve heard these arguments from my Dean delivered verbatim. This is cultish behavior at its scariest. One intellectually impoverished dude comes up with an analogy between physics and typewriter repair and then a bunch of people with PhDs eagerly repeat this extraordinary piece of silliness. Honestly, what grade would you give to a freshman student who’d come up with such an analogy? It’s embarrassing.

This is complete bonk:

bro to bro: you have to completely forget dating until you get your life together.

— LUI (@iamluisolivas) April 12, 2025

The truth is the exact opposite. Love is the best fuel to propel you to incredible victories. There’s nothing like falling in love to give you a qualitative leap in every aspect of your life.

Both N and I were a complete mess on every level the day before we met. But our passion for each other propelled the kind of growth in all areas that would have never happened otherwise.

If you are betrayed and disappointed by a group of people, what do you do? What is your coping mechanism?

Mine is that I tell the story to several people in a row. Not at once because it’s the repetition of the story that helps. I understand that this is a very female way to cope. What do men do?

I wept, people. And now you have to:

Look at me. I’m a Malibu Liberal.

I believe in climate justice. Can you believe I actually said those words?! I’ve posted those words. I’ve whispered them into quartz. I ate kelp-based protein and offset my flights to Tulum through an app made by annoying Stanford kids. I composted at scale. I did all of the things.

Our home was solar-powered, LEED-certified, AND tastefully non-invasive—except for the footprint, which was enormous. But it was *intentional*. And even though it cost a fortune, I STILL did all of the things. We marched. We meditated. I once cried over a Greta Thunberg speech in my Range Rover outside Nobu. But nature doesn’t care about ANY of that. It just burns—helped along, of course, by decades of political incompetence.

And when it burned, the city sent not one, not two, but THREE lesbian fire chiefs with not a single hose between them. Look, DEI is important, I get that. But not when the hillside’s ON FIRE. The mayor showed up three days later from Africa, only to take a selfie and mispronounce “Malibu.” And I’m all for representation, but that [REDACTED].

We lost EVERYTHING! And when we tried to rebuild, we met the final boss: Democrat bureaucracy. Six months for a soil report. A year for coastal variances. Our rebuild “disrespected the ridgeline.” Whatever that means. I met with the Architectural Review Board while on mushrooms and I still don’t know if that meeting was real.

Our contractor was approved, then unapproved, then deported. We got a violation for sandbagging our own driveway. We’ve spent $120,000 just to *not* live in our house. I asked a councilwoman for help. She sent me back a workbook titled ‘Rethinking Home’ and a notice from the county asking us not to disturb owl mating zones while our lives are literally ash.

So fuck it.
Fuck the permits.
Fuck the endangered sand beetle.
Fuck the Architectural Review Board.
Fuck the Democrats.
Where is my MAGA hat.

[True Story]

https://x.com/frandalorian/status/1909230004430688655?t=wQ1qSpBwv8TTztB_kEv_-A&s=19

Yesterday we had an open forum for several of the programs that are being cut. The administration is continuing its underhanded tricks. A room that was assigned for the event was way too small for the number of people who came. It was also extremely hot. More than half of the attendees had to stand packed very close together, sweating and barely able to see anything behind the backs of other standing attendees. The whole event was a fire hazard and a safety hazard of great proportions.

These conditions are particularly onerous for older colleagues who have health issues. And that’s precisely the point. These are people who are the most familiar with the programs in which they have worked for 20-30 years. Their perspective carries the most weight. The administration was trying to force them to leave before they could speak.

Many people still spoke and said many important things but I could see that it was physically taxing for quite a few colleagues.

It’s quite outrageous that one single administrator is causing all this damage to buff up his CV and the rest of the administration is obediently carrying out his every wish.

The Chancellor called the police to remove the union members who came to protest at his budget talk with small, hand painted signs. The signs were not threatening or insulting but they did make a gentle pun on his last name. I’ll link but I don’t promise the article wouldn’t be censored again.

This shows that he’s a very inexperienced administrator who is not ready for this role. A person who is fit to lead would have addressed the content of the signs with good humor and sweetness. He’d say, “guys, great pun. My own favorite pun on my last name is this…” That would have been more productive for him than turning protesters into martyrs.

Today, we had another, much larger protest, and many more people came with this exact sign. Because they now know that it gets to him.

Forget about my university and this particular Chancellor. The point is that if you want to have an impact, you can’t leak. You can’t leak emotionally. Practice, meditate, imagine that you are surrounding yourselves with high walls that conceal you from view.

If you are a teacher, an administration, or a supervisor of any kind, you cannot respond to people under your command emotionally. You lose all authority by doing that. Even to direct insults you can only respond with motherly or fatherly kindness. And it has to be completely genuine. People experience high levels of anxiety around a teacher or boss who comes off as uncertain and emotionally incontinent. They act out more because of this anxiety.

Also, one more important trick. If somebody sends you long, ranting complaints, never respond to them with more than three sentences.

Sentence 1 should be: Dear ABC, thank you for communicating your concerns / wishes / ideas.

Sentence 2: Unfortunately, I will not be able to implement these suggestions. (Or whatever is appropriate to the situation).

Sentence 3: I propose that you…. And briefly outline what you propose. Briefly being the operative word.

The most loserish thing you can do is to start writing a point-by-point rebuttal of the complaint, bickering over details. Or give explanations of why you do things you consider necessary. Whoever explains, loses. Forget the word “because.” “Because” will be your downfall as a figure of authority. 

I have talked down such a number of problem students, colleagues, and administrators over the years that I am absolutely certain that this is the only way. And you know what? The administrator with whom I had the most ferocious public confrontations (during COVID it was) later told me privately that he really respected how I never gave any reasons and was always very secure in my conviction of what I was doing. Since then, we became great allies on a different cause while still despising each other’s position on COVID. And I now see him imitate my “no, I will not be doing this, thank you” in our current struggle which is kind of really cute.

On every channel where I appear, women show up in the comments to say that my hair is too crazy and this prevents them from understanding my argument. Every channel!

I am yet to meet a single man who’d have any problem with my hair. It’s always women. And OK, I do have wild hair. I cut it as short as it’s ever been. I try to keep it less wild. But why is it such an issue?

I have always struggled with understanding the language and the rites of female communities. I was brought up mostly by men, and this is the result. Can anybody help? I’m sincerely stumped as to why it’s the hair and not absolutely anything else they could pick on. It doesn’t hurt my feelings or anything. But I feel that something is being communicated to me that I’m not managing to understand correctly.