WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.770 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.770 --> 00:00:05.510 align:middle line:84% I can hear little snaps from the-- 00:00:05.510 --> 00:00:07.760 align:middle line:84% Yeah, that's cool, like a little patter-- 00:00:07.760 --> 00:00:09.710 align:middle line:90% pitter-patter is nice. 00:00:09.710 --> 00:00:11.910 align:middle line:84% OK, I'll read just one more from this one. 00:00:11.910 --> 00:00:14.240 align:middle line:84% And then I'll move on to the new book. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:18.050 align:middle line:84% Do we all know what cryptocurrency is? 00:00:18.050 --> 00:00:20.540 align:middle line:84% That's a hard swerve, we didn't know we were going there. 00:00:20.540 --> 00:00:22.670 align:middle line:90% Yeah, Bitcoin, cool. 00:00:22.670 --> 00:00:27.980 align:middle line:90% 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:29.775 align:middle line:90% I went through a bad breakup-- 00:00:29.775 --> 00:00:31.400 align:middle line:84% I moved to San Francisco, and then went 00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:33.080 align:middle line:84% through a bad breakup immediately-- 00:00:33.080 --> 00:00:34.790 align:middle line:90% very convenient timing. 00:00:34.790 --> 00:00:38.030 align:middle line:84% And I ended up sleeping on my friend's porch for a while, 00:00:38.030 --> 00:00:42.470 align:middle line:84% and that friend was really into cryptocurrency and had just 00:00:42.470 --> 00:00:44.600 align:middle line:84% gotten a job with-- this was the early days, 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.420 align:middle line:84% basically no one knew what it was-- 00:00:47.420 --> 00:00:49.550 align:middle line:90% and it turns out he worked-- 00:00:49.550 --> 00:00:51.778 align:middle line:84% he was the first employee for Coinbase. 00:00:51.778 --> 00:00:52.820 align:middle line:90% Do you know what that is? 00:00:52.820 --> 00:00:54.620 align:middle line:84% It's like-- I don't even know how to describe it-- 00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:56.037 align:middle line:84% but it's one of the big companies. 00:00:56.037 --> 00:00:58.805 align:middle line:84% Anyway, he was kind of a dirt bag-- 00:00:58.805 --> 00:01:02.480 align:middle line:90% 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:04.920 align:middle line:84% just, I love you, all of you are great-- 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:06.450 align:middle line:84% no, no, at the time, he was living 00:01:06.450 --> 00:01:10.350 align:middle line:84% with seven other friends, and he was the younger brother of one 00:01:10.350 --> 00:01:11.995 align:middle line:84% of my best friends, and he happened 00:01:11.995 --> 00:01:14.370 align:middle line:84% to live in San Francisco so he let me sleep on his porch. 00:01:14.370 --> 00:01:18.330 align:middle line:84% And then after maybe five years, he 00:01:18.330 --> 00:01:21.420 align:middle line:84% was on the cover of Forbes magazine. 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:24.060 align:middle line:84% He was flipping a coin into the camera, 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:27.150 align:middle line:84% he had like a Wayne Gretzky mullet, 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:29.970 align:middle line:84% and he was wearing a tux, like a magician, 00:01:29.970 --> 00:01:31.812 align:middle line:84% and he was flipping a coin into the camera. 00:01:31.812 --> 00:01:34.020 align:middle line:84% Which I always thought was so corny, because bitcoins 00:01:34.020 --> 00:01:38.220 align:middle line:84% aren't even real coins, they're just numbers. 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:41.130 align:middle line:84% Anyway, this poem is about that time in my life, 00:01:41.130 --> 00:01:42.000 align:middle line:90% and it's also-- 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.340 align:middle line:84% it contains everything I know to this day about cryptocurrency, 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:49.510 align:middle line:90% which really isn't very much. 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:51.870 align:middle line:90% It's called, "Interim"-- 00:01:51.870 --> 00:01:53.610 align:middle line:90% On the glassed-in back porch 00:01:53.610 --> 00:01:55.740 align:middle line:90% of a friend's house on Folsom, 00:01:55.740 --> 00:01:57.780 align:middle line:90% I slept three weeks on a heap 00:01:57.780 --> 00:01:59.670 align:middle line:90% of patterned wool blankets, 00:01:59.670 --> 00:02:01.680 align:middle line:90% a large ziploc of granola, 00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.900 align:middle line:84% and a jar of pistachios on the sill. 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:06.310 align:middle line:90% I woke to bus traffic 00:02:06.310 --> 00:02:07.930 align:middle line:90% in the floorboards and sun 00:02:07.930 --> 00:02:10.600 align:middle line:90% on my face, drank thin coffee 00:02:10.600 --> 00:02:12.040 align:middle line:90% and scoured the listings 00:02:12.040 --> 00:02:13.960 align:middle line:90% for a studio someplace more 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:15.540 align:middle line:90% possible. 00:02:15.540 --> 00:02:16.860 align:middle line:90% Each day nothing 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:18.450 align:middle line:90% and each day I paced 00:02:18.450 --> 00:02:20.220 align:middle line:90% the bright narrow side streets 00:02:20.220 --> 00:02:21.990 align:middle line:90% with my friend, who was taking 00:02:21.990 --> 00:02:24.240 align:middle line:90% time off and who was an expert 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.770 align:middle line:90% in digital currencies. 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:28.090 align:middle line:90% I'd tell him about the collapse 00:02:28.090 --> 00:02:30.760 align:middle line:90% of my marriage and he tell me 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:32.350 align:middle line:90% about the distant servers 00:02:32.350 --> 00:02:34.360 align:middle line:90% that mine electronic coins 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:36.910 align:middle line:90% by solving complex equations. 00:02:36.910 --> 00:02:38.750 align:middle line:90% Not very helpful. 00:02:38.750 --> 00:02:40.570 align:middle line:84% The specialized equipment required 00:02:40.570 --> 00:02:42.490 align:middle line:90% for this kind of work. 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:43.270 align:middle line:90% I would ask him 00:02:43.270 --> 00:02:44.770 align:middle line:90% basic questions and he would 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:48.140 align:middle line:84% answer patiently, the coins are encrypted code. 00:02:48.140 --> 00:02:50.680 align:middle line:90% The code is the currency, 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:54.690 align:middle line:84% value is determined by the market. 00:02:54.690 --> 00:02:56.100 align:middle line:90% Those days every detail 00:02:56.100 --> 00:02:58.710 align:middle line:84% had the glimmer of potential cruelty. 00:02:58.710 --> 00:03:01.470 align:middle line:84% Hot pink curtain caught in a shut window, 00:03:01.470 --> 00:03:05.370 align:middle line:84% drainpipe signed King baby, in white-out pen, 00:03:05.370 --> 00:03:07.230 align:middle line:90% paper bag of potatoes, rotting 00:03:07.230 --> 00:03:09.000 align:middle line:84% in the trunk of the car I borrowed 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:12.350 align:middle line:84% to retrieve a crate of books from storage. 00:03:12.350 --> 00:03:14.270 align:middle line:90% I called a man about a place 00:03:14.270 --> 00:03:16.400 align:middle line:90% above a Thai restaurant and lied 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:18.440 align:middle line:90% about how much I make in a year. 00:03:18.440 --> 00:03:20.210 align:middle line:90% He was from Pittsburgh, 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:22.910 align:middle line:90% we talked about rain 00:03:22.910 --> 00:03:24.620 align:middle line:84% he said he'd call later to tell me 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:26.640 align:middle line:90% if I got it. 00:03:26.640 --> 00:03:27.570 align:middle line:90% On another walk, 00:03:27.570 --> 00:03:29.460 align:middle line:84% I asked my friend more questions, 00:03:29.460 --> 00:03:31.750 align:middle line:90% Will it replace cash? 00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:32.520 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.650 align:middle line:90% 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:37.300 align:middle line:90% Is it untraceable? 00:03:37.300 --> 00:03:39.110 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:03:39.110 --> 00:03:40.390 align:middle line:90% What happens when they run 00:03:40.390 --> 00:03:42.970 align:middle line:90% out of equations? 00:03:42.970 --> 00:03:45.400 align:middle line:84% A bus hummed past, skimming the branches 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:47.710 align:middle line:84% of the Ficus tree, giving us shade. 00:03:47.710 --> 00:03:49.960 align:middle line:90% It's not like that, he said. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:51.981 align:middle line:90% It could go on forever. 00:03:51.981 --> 00:03:55.670 align:middle line:90% 00:03:55.670 --> 00:03:59.960 align:middle line:84% I've really cornered the market on crypto-poems, 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:02.500 align:middle line:90% nobody's doing it like me. 00:04:02.500 --> 00:04:03.000 align:middle line:90%