My Fish Chair
This is a photo of my favorite chair. I advise you to never try to sit on it. It’s a piece of art, but a very uncomfortable chair.
I bought this chair while on a cruise in Alaska. As best I recall, Daveen politely refused to have it in our home, so it became a temporary resident of my office — for the past twenty-five years.
Lessons learned?
- When buying furniture or art or other objects to decorate the public areas of our home, it’s better to consult Daveen in advance.
- Not everyone shares my taste in art. Or chairs.
- My office is decorated in a jumble of different styles, all of which reflect my eclectic taste. (Not just gold, gold, gold like the present Oval Office in D.C.)
- I’m better at buying things than I am at organizing them in any kind of coherent order. Kind of like my shoes at night – which mysteriously turn up in unusual places, although I always find them in the morning – in the bedroom, or bathroom. Or kitchen. And even sometimes in the closet.
- While my organizing style is unreliable, my taste is consistent. I still like the chair.
But we live in a world where we all compare ourselves with others all the time. There is a tale I have shared over the years, which seems particularly relevant to this blog. Years ago, Gina, a dear friend of mine, referred a new investor to me. The investor visited my offices and reported back to Gina that she wouldn’t invest with me. My office had failed the “Century City Chic” Test.
Three years later Gina mentioned to me that her friend was now REALLY not going to invest with me.
“Why?” I asked. “Is my office in worse shape now than it was then?”
“No, Alan. She invested everything she had with her Century City financial advisor. And he lost it.”
I know I’ve made more than a few poor investment decisions myself, and my fish chair may be one of them. But I also feel uniquely attached to it. This might be the only chair of its kind that exists and, to me, it’s special.
Hmmm, I wonder which one of my children I should leave it to?
And, from an investment point of view… never judge a man by his chair.
Alan