Sofia (3) | (49.05)

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Sofia (3) | (49.05)

Post by mragland » Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:00 pm

2.23.2049 – Brooklyn, New York


“I first met Tom at a party at the house of a mutual acquaintance. I was just out of law school and this was during one of those interludes between pandemic scares. I knew of Tom Dobbs, but probably could not have picked him out of a lineup. We started talking, he introduced himself simply as 'Tom', so I didn't know who he was, exactly. I recall that at that time in my life I made a point of not leading off with 'what do you do?' I asked him what he was reading. It caught him off-guard, I think.

This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends was his answer. Cheery stuff. We pivoted away from that to movies. We both liked Killers of the Flower Moon. Well, found it compelling, anyway. I know, not much better, but the mood of those days was just … down … so you either went with pure escapism, depressing drama, or satire, it seemed like.

“I found him charming, confident in a way that didn't seem like a bluff or utter delusion, smart, funny, easy on the eyes. No red flags at all, which is rare. I gave him my number, and we agreed to meet for coffee that weekend.

“Would I have felt differently? You know, I have thought about that a lot. His reputation around our office was not great, but not awful. Sharp elbows, unsentimental about layoffs and 'operational changes', the usual stuff you hear with private equity firms. I doubt I would have approached him like I did if I knew he was the 'D' in AD Capital Partners, LLC, I will say that. I almost certainly would not have made a coffee date.

“No, the age difference didn't bother me. He took care of himself, so I'd say he wore his years lightly. I was twenty-five, he was thirty-eight.

“It was mostly normal, I'd say, two people getting to know each other. The only strange thing that I noticed at the time was his apartment. It had four bedrooms, and two of them had no furniture at all. He simply hadn't gotten around to it. The whole thing was pretty sparsely furnished. You could tell he didn't spend much time there, or care much about it. It was like he lived there because that was where someone like him was expected to live, but I didn't get the feeling he really got anything out of it.

“It wasn't necessarily my world, but I had gotten over being impressed by other people's circumstances. In college I fell in with a a group of friends who mostly came from wealth. If you can get past their cluelessness regarding how regular people live, and steer them towards affordable restaurants when you go out, it's okay. They're just people.

“Well, I would divide them into two camps. There are those who know what it's like to not be buffered by their wealth, and those who have never known another way to live. The latter live such a frictionless existence that they almost have to make up difficulties from nothing, like a brain that's sensory deprived. It can run the gamut: drugs, crashing out of school, perceived slights that lead to blow-ups.

“No, I had no notion that I was entitled to any of it. I think we had that in common. I had managed to inoculate myself to money before we even met. I don't think I ever learned to spend up to my means, and Tom was even worse at it.”
Morris Ragland
President, Baseball Ops, Beirut Cedars (8/25/46 - 10/23/47)
President, Baseball Ops, Valencia Stars (10/24/47 - present)
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"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." - W. Churchill

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