vacation with Genghis

I rented a car for the ocean. I feel like I am on vacation in another country. Even my own roads and skies look different.

I am having that feeling of glorious self-care.

The wonderful thing in Bergamo is to do nothing in Bergamo. A coffee when you feel like it. Sleeping until you are slept out.

It is with tremendous indulgence that I choose to be here blogging at Kinko's... before sleeping well in my own bed... before rising rested, to drive to the ocean.

I'm reading a fantastic book about Genghis Khan. Ghenghis Khan: the making of the new world. It wasn't so hard what he did. It was the unwaveringness with which he stuck to his vision and principles. Well, okay, it was hard. But it was hard for the right reasons, not all the more-typical wrong ones.

Like, when he was a serious Khan with an army of horsemen numbering in the hundreds of thousands, he set up a principle of having every major commander & noble send him their son and their son's best friend. Not to keep as hostages to be killed in case of the commander's bad behaviour, as was usual; but to be trained and educated as a corps of replacements for incapable commanders. It worked great -- the commanders were more incented to keep their jobs, the kids got educated and became great administrators, and over time, all the families became tied to the Khan's inner circle through their kids.