It’s queer that you mention chopping cilantro — I have an old (41-year-old) Henckels 8” chef’s knife, made in Germany — and even with my pain-filled hands I still love the feel of the knife as I chop my monthly cilantro.

When I think of repetitive tasks, I think of the films that we were shown in grammar school of ‘assembly lines’ with one person responsible for tightening a nut every 15 seconds. That used to be really creepy to me. It made me ill. It still makes me ill. I would not have had a successful career as a nut tightener.