James’ Daily Emails

Something I like to do when I’m doing a podcast interview is to tell the person on the other end something along the lines of, “Don’t worry if you mess up, there’s only 3 people listening.” It’s meant to put people at ease, to just relax and be themselves and not be thinking about all…

It’s good to be back in the good ole U.S. of A. I just spent seven months in Vietnam nurturing my relationship with my beautiful wife, and it was well worth it. We’re hopeful her visa will finally be approved and she’ll get over here before the end of 2021. I’ve got a few quarantine and…

I am REALLY looking forward to getting back to the United States. I am NOT looking forward to being separated from my lovely bride, Sana, again, for an indefinite period of time, again. But we had much meaningful quality time together, not to mention the progress made on her visa application in the 7 months I was here. She knows…

On Facebook today, I came across a post that made me do a bit of a double take. At first, I thought the person who made the comment was one of those dudes who’s got a full six-pack, but lacks the little plastic thing that holds it all together. The OP was someone who was…

Many years ago, I listened to Wynton Marsalis’ recording of Grand Russian Fantasia. If you haven’t heard it, it’s okay. Let’s just say my 18 year old brain couldn’t comprehend how something so difficult could be played with such ease. Well, Wynton made it sound easy anyway. But I remember thinking, “That’s impossible, no way…

Awhile back, I guess going on 2 years ago as I write this in July 2021, I received a voice message from Ben Greenfield’s executive assistant. Ben was putting the finishing touches on his mammoth book Boundless and they were in discussions about having it narrated in audio format. They had flirted with some of the…

Today’s my birthday. Yay me. My wife Sana joked that for some reason my birthday is celebrated 3 days prior, and 3 days after the actual date. I don’t know about that, but I will say she’s better than I am at honoring the occasion. I’d just as soon eat a piece of cake, say…

There’s something that’s a big nuisance among bloggers, authors, podcasters, content creators in general. And that is when someone who’s having a bad day, or who feels entitled to be offended at anything and everything, or whatever the case may be, decides to leave a 1-star review for the show, book, podcast, blog, fill in…