Kareem: 20 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 30

4. Play the piano. I took lessons as a kid but, like a lot of kids,  didn’t stick with them. Maybe I felt too much pressure. After all, my father had  gone to the Julliard School of Music and regularly jammed with some great jazz  musicians. Looking back, I think playing piano would have given me a closer  connection with my dad as well as given me another artistic outlet to better  express myself. In 2002, I finally started to play and got pretty good at it.  Not good enough that at parties people would chant for me to play “Piano Man,” but good enough that I could read music and feel closer to my dad.

5. Learn French. My grandparents were from Trinidad where, though it  was an English-speaking country, the school system was started by the French.  Whenever my grandparents wanted to say something they didn’t want me to know,  they’d speak French. The language seemed so sophisticated and mysterious. Plus,  you earn extra James Bond points when you can order in French in a French  restaurant.

6. Get handy. I always wanted to be one of those guys who, whenever  something doesn’t work, straps on a tool belt and says, “I’ll fix it.” I like  the Walden-esque idea of complete self-reliance. Build my own house, clean out  the carburetors, find out what carburetors are. Recently my washing machine  broke and flooded my entire downstairs. I was forced to stand idly by waiting  for a plumber to arrive while water rose around my ankles because I didn’t know  how to shut off the water. That’s the kind of experience that makes you have  your testosterone levels checked.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *