So more recently inspired by Cindy, I’ve been reading more books by Thich Nhat Hanh, these wonderful little Zen meditation books made from parallax press in Berkeley.

Anyways, two of my favorite books are “how to see” as well as “how to walk.” For me, those two things make up like 80% of my being. My passion of seeing, photography, and the visual arts,  as well as walking, the source and insight of all my intelligence.

Why?

The reason why I quit the news, and don’t follow any news is because honestly, it is all based on false perceptions and false reality.

For example, people seem to lack the ability to have subtlety and nuance. For example, it is much easier to paint somebody as left right or even moderate… Rather than allowing people complexity specialty and nuance.

For example, things that kind of confuse people; to be a left-wing liberal Democrat, yet be pro Donald Trump? Or, the idea of being a right wing conservative Republican, yet being anti guns. or being pro gay and lesbian and bisexual rights, yet being anti transgender hormonal injections.

Complexity.

Humans are complex, and we put them into bubbles. And also, it seems that a lot of our distress and suffering or annoyance is come when we spend too much time thinking about other people. I have an interesting ethical idea;

Modern day society teaches us that it is virtuous to care about the emotions the feelings and the well-beings of others.  Get this over obsession with other people is actually what causes the seeds of ignorance and mis conception.

Therefore, my antidote is to instead, become more self-centered, more self focused, and more autistic. 

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Even seeking to understand yourself takes too much time 

Know yourself, know thyself. 

In our short lives, it is already almost too much to seek or to strive to understand yourself. Let alone others.

For example, things which are a waste of time; man seeking to understand woman, and also… Woman seeking to understand man. Because our hormones are like at least 100,000 times different, the one will never understand the other. But instead, the more constructive thing is to understand the reality that we are different, and to strive to work to operate in the same direction.

Blue angels philosophy

A random thing that I watched, one of the coolest things I’ve seen, certainly cooler than top gun because it is actually real, is watching the blue Angels. There are great new IMAX 3-D film that just was shown at the California science center which I had the privilege of watching.

The general idea is that you take the best of the best, the six top elite pilots from the entire Navy Air Force, can you teach them to fly as one.

There are two remarkable formation; the first is the diamond, in which there are four fighter jets, in a perfect diamond shape, nearly knows to nose, in the front, left and right and the rear.

Then the final formation, the perfect Delta. When you have two solo fighter jets number five and six, finish up the rear left and the rear right, and it gets so so close like 6 to 12 inches apart, and it is like they are a perfect spade flying together.

They practice like 12-18 hours a day, 223 flights today, for like six months straight. And they are certainly at a point in which they have like a mind met, they’re 120% faithful of one another. And this is critical because they are flying so close together, even one small movement will mean the death of potentially one or two pilots, or all seven. I think there’s been a total of 26 blue angel deaths in their career.

Family delta force

Back in Providence when I was working out at the local park, and I met some military guys, and asking them who the toughest were, he said Delta force. So currently the living situation I have at the crib is me Cindy and Seneca, that is four of us in total.

I suppose I am at the front, Cindy is at the rear, and Seneca and my mom on the left and right. Later we will figure out how to add number five and six.

Anyways, the goal is for us to fly together as one unit in the same direction. And misconceptions misperceptions etc.,  could actually lead to death.

Once again, you’re kind of need to must have the visual of all fighter jets, stacked on top of each other, and literally as a spectator you hold your breath, because even the smallest movement will mean that for the whole formation.

And once again, you gotta practice like 12-18 hours a day, no interruption, hard-core full, constant drilling and practice. Also, I think this is where the military interest is that technically at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter and it may be seen as a “waste of time”, or resources. Because there’s about like 155 full-time staff who make this all possible as well.

And this is what I personally find fascinating; the idea is that when you take a bunch of people and have them commit to one singular goal, even though it may seem like a waste of time and resources, amazing things can happen.

Your own personal training

Also another thought is that what we tend to be missing from modern day life, especially once you finish high school and college, is that it is difficult to find a tribe, or better yet be a leader. In modern day life, once you hit your 20s mid 20s late 20s, 30s 40s etc.… Social structures fall apart. There is no more union of society because we are all seen as a bunch of individuals.

But what is the problem? When you have a bunch of people acting at solo individuals, rather than considering the fact that they are in fact, all part of the same Delta formation, people become strange, detached, lack of sense of purpose and direction? Does this insipidus March towards Consumerism, individualism via superficial fashion options, and superficial forms of differentiation.

But what if instead of trying to strive to become more apart, the goal is actually to become more collective, … kind of like think of King Leonidas in his 300? 

Why has collectivism fallen apart?

Good question; it seems natural that to be together makes sense. Why then has it become an ethos that everyone seeks to try to go solo?

I think in terms of consumerism, it is more profitable this way. If everyone is trying to become their own rockstar on social media, certainly this will feed the algorithm and the monetization of the company. And the way that the news works is that the more division and conflict and clicks you get, the more money is being made.

Therefore if you think about it from structural level, there is no financial incentive to promote peace reconciliation and mutual understanding, and mutual flourishing. 

Happier

For example, even though I don’t go to the gym anymore, looking back… It’s a little bit weird that all these guys are trying to compete with one another, once again… Assuming that we were all alpha males, we were all part of the same Spartan 300, and that we are all training together to fight on the million Persians, against King Xerxes, shouldn’t the general idea be that we are all rooting one another along?

Winning together?

Once again, thinking that we are all a unified friend, rather than antagonists?

And this is a hard thing with diplomacy; easy to paint good guys and bad guys, but doesn’t everyone want mutual peace, cease-fires, and no more killing?

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So in modern day life, it looks like the primary way that these skinny fat loser cowards can inflict great pain and or death is through guns bullets etc.

I feel like back in the day, maybe an ancient Greek times, things were a little bit more clear and better;

You had your spear your sword, your shield, nothing else.

Spartans have short swords so we can get close to the enemy.

Also the biggest issue is now, many cowards bark from afar, and never settle arguments up close and personal. For example, more recently I’ve started confronting a bunch of assholes who smoking in public, asking them to not smoke in a public place, and all these Shorty guys, Fake alpha males try to punk on me?

Anyways, confronting an issue, up close and personal, like literally in the flesh face-to-face, I think is the way.

The issues with technology is that it puts on some sort of silver mask on ourselves.  For example, easy to have an adrenaline rush or anxiety when you have to confront your boss with an email, or some sort of message. A lot less of an issue when you actually talk to them face-to-face, standing up outside?

Nobody is the bad guy.

I think also a great thought is that actually at the end of the day nobody is a bad guy.

I think also big problem here is that we tried to paint an arrow on the “bad guy“, but the truth is, the truth is far more complex. You cannot paint a single figure as a bad guy, not Vladimir Putin, not Elon Musk, Not Jeff Bezos, not even Donald Trump.

Scapegoat fallacy

Also when we have certain issues in our lives, it is very simple to try to escape somebody, whether it be before our misery in our own lives, or even for our happiness. Typically there is not one single cause of pain or joy in our lives.

So I think, rather than scapegoating anything or anyone, far more wise to stay focused, and concentrate on a deeper “truthy” perception of the world, rather than false views?

Bulletproof body bulletproof mind

A big thought I have is that actually, when we are in physiological pain, bodily pain when it comes to certain things in our body, we project that anger onto others.

For example, I kind of tweaked my knee in a bad way a few days ago, and last night over dinner, I kind of strangely snapped at Cindy, for no good reason?

Even me looking back at it, very very uncommon and bizarre. So therefore, maybe the intelligent line of thinking is maybe, the strange way in which I reacted and responded to seemingly trivial issue, is it because I was overly sensitive because of some sort of over sensitive pain receptors in my body? 

Bulletproof vest

Anyways, a big thing that I think about a lot and consider is becoming bulletproof. From a spartan philosophy, the general idea is if somebody shoots a bullet at you, and even intends harm, the general idea is that the bullet will ricochet off and not cause you pain. Or maybe you’ll feel a little bit of pain, simply from the impact of the bullet, but, it will not penetrate to and do real damage upon you?

Shield up!

 a random thought about Captain America, very very interesting that Captain America doesn’t really have a weapon per se; he only has a shield. The reason why I think this is so interesting is that technically, the best way to approach life is through armor and defense?

For example, you don’t need to attack nobody, but, you must be able to defend against other people.

Let us remind ourselves that it is no longer called the ministry of war, it is called the Department of defense. Also if you think on a soccer or football team, what is the most important player? The goalie. Assuming that you have an impregnable goalie, technically, the other team can never win, at worst a draw?

Maybe even if we think about foreign conflicts, maybe the idea is that we don’t need to overpower the other side, but simply be so strong do you have so much defense that simply the other side cannot win, and at worse, will subside into a draw?

No contest

From a stoic perceptive, I think the best way you could respond to an annoyance or stuff is through ignorance, ignoring, and also delaying reaction?

Silence is our armor.

For example whenever I hear stuff that I find strange or annoying or unnerving, I found that the best response is to just not respond to it, do not waste any long capacity or larynx muscles on it?

The secret to winning is not losing

For example, the secret to becoming rich as simple; just don’t go broke. Even 1000 X thought I had the other day was every dollar saved could be worth $1000 in the future? Assuming you’re on the bitcoin standard.

Also, being a weightlifter, power lifter, hype lifter whatever,  or even bodybuilder, actually… I think 99% of the equation is simply not getting injured. My primary critique of weightlifters and fitness enthusiast is that we should dedicate maybe like 90% of our time towards injury prevention, doing dynamic warm-ups and exercises that strengthen our joints and ligaments, and flexibility, the general idea is that we have to become like bamboo; the strength of bamboo is in her Flexibility? Also funny note, flexible, flexibility… Is the same word as flex. Isn’t it funny that yogis can flex how flexible they are by doing these funny backflip moves and turning themselves into pretzels, or Gumby, yet a bodybuilder is not able to flex his muscles proudly in public, without a feeling of shame?

Ideas

The first general idea I have a simple: in order to lift 20% more weight, you must actually strengthen your hips joints and ligaments?

For example, recalling my journey to lifting 1000 pounds at the gym, I would literally spend like at least 30% of my workout time on doing yoga hip mobility stuff? Another thought: mobility is just micro strength? 

Certainly the human body is not like a gasoline engine, but I think typically, if you have some sort of hot rod or something, before doing the quarter mile or testing your 0 to 60 speed, typically of what you’re supposed to do is you’re supposed to warm up your engine, do a few test laps, and heat up your engine before going full throttle?

Long-term gains

So if you have the goal of just becoming super super buff and jacked, in your 20s and 30s, and then becoming a cripple for the rest of your life like Ronnie Coleman, or you have the option of having a six pack and a phenomenal physique until you’re 120, Which option would you take? Certainly the second. Yet why is it that most fools take the first route by taking steroids and other weird stuff?

I think the prime issue is that on social media, it is impossible to display longevity. For example, visually you cannot really represent longevity and durability, and also… Longevity and durability is not very sexy. 

For example, nobody is going to brag on social media that they’re Prius plug-in prime can drive them like 1,000,000 miles, nobody cares. It is far more impressive to show off your 0 to 60 drag speed races.

And once again, here is where we must act a little bit more critical, ask yourselves at the end of the day… Does it really even matter? 

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Other thoughts

Projectiles are for pussies.

Even in Spartan times, the Spartans would make fun of the archers, knowing that real men did not hide behind armored walls,  flinging projectiles.

Similarly speaking, I think the card is in modern day times is even worse than hiding behind some sort of armored castle wall, people hide behind like three levels of cowardice; first, anonymity, via fake pseudonyms on the Internet in which you don’t expose anything, second, Separation of the physical self, once again… I feel like 99.99% of conflicts could be solved by having two humans in the flesh, standing next to each other talking it out? Or even better… Putting them together in some sort of beautiful nature area, having them go on a walk, and forcing them to just talk it out for about an hour? And even if nothing is resolved after the hour… Certainly both parties will feel a little bit better?

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bulletproof soul

A tactical soul.

One of my favorite scenes in John Wick is when he goes to see the tailor, and the Taylor ask him what occasion it is for, and he gets his new suit and tie and suit jacket, and what type of materials he would desire and he said “tactical. “

As philosophers, the soul, the human soul, our soul is certainly the most critical things here. Is it possible to create a bulletproof soul?

Leonidas, King Leonidas, means lionhearted. To have the heart of a lion.

What is also kind of interesting to me when watching movie 300 is that the Spartans, are mostly bare? The only armor they have is their helmet, their shield, bronze armor for their shins their fore arms, but they have a bare chest?

Certainly this is more for bravado and movie flair, but still… The visual is fascinating to me?

Bulletproof vehicles

Certainly the cyber truck is still the goat here. Or maybe having like some sort of hybrid Toyota sequoia or something.

The only non-negotiable thing on the road is to not die in a car accident. Everything should be optimized around this. It is possible and preferable to be late, to be stuck more in traffic or whatever… Certainly these things have short term annoyances, but dying in a car accident or even worse having your spouse or kid dying in a car accident is a non-negotiable.

Sometimes when I’m stuck on La Cienega or the 405, I kind of now understand why so many people in LA desired some sort of high-powered SUV, or truck? It is kind of like protection. Like having a bulletproof vest but on the freeway?

I suppose the difference is that it is probably more of a perception thing; I really don’t know if you’re technically safer in a car crash if you’re an SUV or a truck versus being in a Toyota Prius. But the perception is people feel safer in larger vehicles?

I even read something super random from Roxanne gay, who wrote something that like when she was a child she was like sexually molested or something, and her psychological and physiological response was to become as big and fat as possible to simply protect herself from others and the outside world?

Even NASSIM TALEB, when he started to have a lot of anxiety about the outside world from other people and economists,  how he could not sleep even after chamomile tea, instead of hiring a bodyguard  decided to strive to actually become and look like a bodyguard? This is where I first discovered one rep Max lifting, the best way to turn yourself into your own personal bodyguard.

Even now, I’m starting to think, maybe the new eat those in approach I am working towards look and become or seem more like Security? Rather than seeming or looking like a civilian, to either look like a security guard, or better yet, police, or better yet, SWAT team, special weapons and tactics team, Even better, a navy seal door kicker, shout out to my friend Walter Magerison– the ultimate courage?

Door kicker

Do you remember when King Leonidas says this is Sparta and kicks the messenger into the hole, that infamous kick… Maybe that kind of door kicker should be the number one exercise we train for?

Even when I was a kid learning taekwondo, the forward kick, the Forward thrust kick , might be the most effective kick to defend yourself against an enemy? The ultimate lever; doesn’t look super flashy, but is actually the most effective?

Sparring

Where to concentrate your energy power and force?

Still… The best way I think about one rep Max lifting is that it is concentration and meditation. For like 30 seconds before you attempt a new one repetition maximum lift, you cannot be distracted you must be 100% focused. No audio no visual no distractions. It is pure transcendence.

A lot of these weirdos who take mushrooms or LSD or hallucinogens who seek some sort of out of body experience, or even seek intoxication through alcohol or marijuana, maybe we should just get into hype lifting and powerlifting instead?

Just log it.

Photography, our daily photography practice could also be considered another form of a photo log, of our lives?

A blog, a web blog, a video log, a Vlog, all of this is also simply forms of recording a log?

Captains log, even a bathroom log, is all forms of just adding marks to log things for the sake of it?

You don’t need a reason to log?

Even nowadays, whenever I send email newsletters or whatever, they are kind of more like essay logs, like some sort of random ideas that I am currently working through myself, and thinking that there’s even a 1% chance of utility for you, I send it to you? 

Maybe what courage is via negative, simply not being a coward, or not having fear?

A man who is fearless, somebody who is fearless… What would this look like?

How to subtract fear from your life

Conquering fear has always been kind of my number one preoccupation in life. Because I think… Maybe like 99% of fear that we got is simply predicated on false perceptions, or some sort of physical deficiency?

Simple prescriptions:

1. Throw your iPhone iPhone Pro into the trash: honestly I think 99% of stuff we ingest now from our mobile phones is fear porn; imagine if you could like voluntarily watch two girls one cup, or human centipede on loop, like 1000 times a day… Would you do it? Probably not. I even had a thought; if you have an issue with iPhone or smart phone addiction; maybe when you go home, just turn it off and lock it into the glove compartment of your car?
2. Second thought is maybe instead of owning an iPhone, iPhone Pro, just own an iPad Pro instead? Certainly we need a computer to thrive in today’s world, I think that structurally, having an iPad Pro encourages me to do more creative productive stuff like reviewing my photos, voice dictating essays, sending email newsletters etc., whereas an iPhone because it is so compact… Encourages more mindless scrolling?

Outside.

Very difficult to feel anxious when you are outdoors in a beautiful nature, with beautiful sunlight in your face, looking at nature. Or, if you are staring at a barbell with templates on each side… All of these other superficial issues in your life will fade away.

Trust in iron & steel

Steel & iron therapy — once again, daily weightlifting, could maybe get rid of at least 90% of the issues in our life?

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So kind of a bad philosophy that I have… After thinking about this for a long time, assuming there is wise and there is foolish, there is courageous and there is cowardly… It seems that the truth of the matter is then, assuming that most people are foolish, what that then means is that most people don’t know what is good for them.

For example, the fault of the Austrian economists like Murray Rothsbard etc is that they say that each individual is 100% rational agent, which means that the decisions that people made for themselves, is for their best interest, even though we made sneer at them for being foolish. 

OK then assuming that the majority is right, that then means that 80% of Americans who are obese and overfat is a good thing, that the Toyota Corolla is the best car on the planet, that Starbucks Frappuccino‘s are the best beverage, and that McDonald’s hamburgers are both the best food item in that McDonald’s is the most successful restaurant of all time. And that China mainland China because she has the highest sheer number of individuals, is the best nation.

Certainly we know this is not the case. The reality of the matter is that assuming that we are the new Spartans, King Leonidas and his 300… certainly better to be a spartan 300 than one of the million Persian slaves, and also, better to be a Sparta with her few inhabitants than Persia.

Visuals

In reading the politics by Aristotle, the good idea I have is… Thinking of this notion of being a philosopher king. The general idea is that almost all of the systems are bad.

For example, according to Aristotle democracy is bad because for the most part it is governed by a bunch of poor people, without much virtue because freeman Are the only men who could actually attend virtue, because they actually have leisure.

Certainly Aristotle knows that tyranny is bad.  but I think the difficult thing is that people kind of define tyranny in an imprecise manner… a tyrant is actually an individual in which all the power resides in one person. 

Oligarchies are bad because oligarchies only imply rank based on riches. 

Then what is the direction we head towards?

I’m King Leonidas 

I was recently re-watching the movie 300 on the plane, thinking of King Leonidas, as a child, not being thrown off the cliff, and then, in the winter with the wolf, no fear just a heightened sense of things – a similar feeling, right beyond the first and the last moment with King Xerxes, the final stand.

Obvious decisions are obvious

Typically, when I’m not 100% certain about a decision, I just put on my weight vest, and I go on a long walk.

Once you have come to your decision, obvious decisions are pretty obvious.

Maybe once you have reached your obvious decision, it is like casting your spear, with your form perfect, throwing it straight into the head of Xerxes.

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Once you throw the spear, don’t look back.

ERIC

So not to invoke too much weird conspiracy theories or whatever, trying to think about this more sociologically and philosophically, I like this idea of thinking about social engineering, being a social engineer etc. 

Thank god for sociology

First, I’m starting more and more… That my studies and deep dive into sociology has actually yielded amazing fortunes.

First, ironically enough, studying sociology and teaching me to “de-matrix” myself has made me a lot financially richer. Like insanely a lot.

For example, I’m pretty certain and committed to the idea that anybody who got in early on bitcoin, like I did in 2018, when bitcoin was only $6999 a coin, you kind of needed a little bit of disconnection from reality, etc. For example, starting to unlearn ideas of currency etc., back in 2017 when I was zenning out in Vietnam  was certainly one of the greatest windfalls in my life. 

People like to talk a lot about “reality,” perhaps it is better to think about first principles physics etc.  for example, I’ve been doing another deep dive into my best friend Aristotle, and one of the greatest things about Aristotle, and honestly the funny thing is that nobody criticizes the great Aristotle, because he had his head screwed on well, the general idea is that I think the best way to profit in life is to think first principles, back to basics.

For example, Aristotle in his ethics, talks about chief goods, which essentially means the end goals or desires that we have of something.

first principles,  thinking from first principles maybe one of the greatest superpowers of Elon Musk. For example, if you think about Tesla; rather than thinking about “how to make a better car“, which is just the Toyota kaizen Way  i’m making each generation of the car about 3% better indefinitely, a first principles approach is like asking the question “what should a car be and what should a car look like?”

Other example with Steve Jobs, the original first principles thinker; when he was prototyping and imagining the first iPhone, rather than thinking by analogy, which is like how do we take a pre-existing blackberry and make it “better“, he reimagined the whole thing. He had the genius idea that it should just be all screen, And to get rid of the physical keyboard, even though people were addicted to their crack berries with the physical keys. I still remember in the early days when I was in high school, even an early college, when the original iPhone came out, people will talk about how their words per minute on the blackberry was like 1 billion times faster. But now, once again thinking about first principles, I never type anything with my fingers on my thumbs anymore, only voice dictation. Why? Voice dictation is still like 1000 times faster than typing on a keyboard and certainly your thumbs. 

I’m pretty convinced that the only reason people don’t use voice dictation more is because they are fearful of looking stupid. And this is where I have found it insanely beneficial to spend a lot of time traveling being in different countries etc., other countries they use voice dictation like almost 100% at the time. For example in Cambodia, to type in Khmer the local language takes like 1 trillion stroke so everybody has devised that it is actually much more efficient to voice dictate everything.

Also, one of the grand upsides of interacting and mingling with mainland Chinese, who often walk around the grocery store with two brand new iPhone pros that done each other, hand holding it, is that they have mastered the art of voice dictation out loud, with zero shame.

If anything, the only reason why people hate mainland Chinese people is that they wish they were them; full of zero concerns about other people their perceptions, all wearing Louis Vuitton, and they really don’t care about what other people think about them. And they’re like 1 trillion times richer than you. 

Courage of being outside, the courage of social life 

So after 10 days in Mexico, 11 days, going to see the monarch butterflies in Mexico at Valle de bravo, Mexico City, and also renting a car and driving for a few days, what have I learned?

First, ironically enough LA is kind of like paradise, especially being in West LA, Culver City. Why? First, one of the biggest issues about a lot of these great foreign countries, is pollution. In the race to industrialized, pollution is out of control. For example I love Mexico City to death, but one of the critical issues here is that There is so much pollution outside, and I don’t think there really are any laws against pollution there, so you see so many trucks without Cal converters driving around, smogging up the air. 

Second smoking. For me, one of the things I made hit the most in embody reality is secondhand cigarette smell. And this is the big ethical issue: 

Technically, when a smoker smokes a cigarette, because they are doing it through a filter, they actually are being exposed to less cancer than their secondhand smoke which they shoot out.

First do no harm unto others. This means ethically, one should not be permitted to smoke in public. Public means where there is other people who are walking around you.

Which means, ethically, it is fine for you to smoke inside your house with your windows closed or your car windows closed etc., but ethically, one should not be permitted to smoke outside in public or on the street.

What are the things which is actually insanely infuriating to me is that people have a strong sense of indignant about smoking in public like he has some sort of God-given rights to do so? Not only that but most people are kind of wimps, they are a bunch of sissies who don’t have the courage to ask a person to not smoke in public. Especially when you’re with your kid.

Actually this is a big thing I’ve personally discovered for myself is that things are now different once you have a young kid, I think in the past when people would smoke I would just take it, but now that I share the air with Seneca, it is for his sake.

Therefore, my thought on being a defender or an avenger is to simply defend those who you love, obviously your firstborn son, your wife, your mom etc.

Protect and defend those who you truly care for. 

Meat Paradise 

Going to Costco yesterday, picking up ribeye steak, beef ribs etc.… The truth is seriously in America we have access to everything. Even Amazon prime, we are seriously living in the best world of all time.

Also another random thought; the upside of living on the second story apartment building, you have access to more natural light! Nowadays the meme is for a lot of wealthy LA homeowners to build these funny two or three story mini building block Lego houses, but the great tragedy here is that when you’re on the bottom floor, you don’t have any access to natural life. Therefore the name of the game is to keep building higher, the second or third floor, in order to absorb a little bit more natural light.

Even my mom who had this very interesting idea is that why do plant humans other natural beings need water? For photosynthesis, photo like futons, the light, and to synthesize energy and power.

Also ironically enough if you think about the word photosynthesis, and that we are photographers and we shoot and we make photos, shouldn’t we integrate more light photons into our everyday life?

Photon Canon!

One of my favorite games is a kid growing up was Marvel versus Capcom, and also one of my favorite characters was Iron Man, and also war machine. They had this pretty cool super in which Iron Man can shoot a photon cannon.

Pretty cool because you could hardness the power of the sun, you could do real damage?

Also a fun idea is that actually, if you think about the genius of Elon Musk, Tesla, solar city etc. is the general idea of harnessing the power of the sun, solar panels solar panel power , as certainly the future.

Certainly the technology that we have access to right now doesn’t have enough power yet, but, it seems to be the most logical path forward.

harnessing more sun in your own everyday life?

Therefore the funny idea I have; maybe if you desire more strength power or whatever, just spend more time outside in the sun! If you’re afraid of the sun put on some sun block or a hat, but no no no you will not get sun cancer.

Certainly there are cases in which if your heritage is super super north Sweden, and your pale as a ghost, then maybe putting on sunscreen and hat and stuff is a good idea, but still, don’t be afraid of the sun, embrace it!

goals?

So, some simple thoughts:

First, still… Whenever I meet a lot of people their life goals and dreams and ambitions typically involve some sort of travel like traveling to Japan, etc. And even though traveling could be seen as a little bit superficial sometimes, I still think it is a super good idea because it will really really open up your eyes to the rest of the world, to re-challenge your typical assumptions, etc.

Second, create your own doge.  Department of governmental efficiency is literally about just cutting programs which seem kind of superfluous. Political matters aside, I do believe it is a good idea to try to cut superfluous expenses whenever possible, and therefore, it seems that it will almost always be a smart economic decision to cut costs, efficiency is all about cost cutting. 

Also, what a lot of people do not understand about Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey all these great entrepreneurs, is that in fact, they’re genius is sprung from the fact that they are masters of efficiency and cost cutting. Even Jeff Bezos, don’t forget how he would cut out Doors from Home Depot to create desks. Even apparently CEOs at IKEA all fly economy as well.

Spartan Sexiness

Some superficial things I often think about is like what is the best car, the best clothes etc., but the truth is the best shirt is no shirt, being topless or shirtless, think of King Leonidas and his 300.

Even pants and shorts, essentially know that the Spartans were all essentially in male bikinis. Even a kind of random thing is that my last pair of ex officio underwear that I purchased were the black “give N go 2.0” briefs — not the boxers, but the ones that look like a speedo.

Sublime samurai

One of my favorite visuals is this all black all Matt black samurai in full samurai armor, with some hints of gold and red tassels, from chubby cattle.

Even though all black everything all that black everything is kind of a superficial aesthetic, screw it, it’s still pretty good.

bitcoin belongs to me! 

We are all Satoshi we are all Michael Saylor

I think ultimately my great pride of owning bitcoin, bitcoin is like a bitcoin owner or a property owner, is that there is actually a deep sense of pride in owning bitcoin.

Considering that I’ve been stacking bitcoin since 2018, like at least 20 or 30 purchase orders, I guess I am really committed.

Even though bitcoin is still kind of political now, considering the US strategic bitcoin reserve act,  one of the big ideas and thoughts is that bitcoin is for the most part, pretty a political which then means, you can just bitcoin and chill, without having to stay updated with annoying news about all this ridiculous political matters and affairs. 

So a big thought on my mind, is thinking and wondering what is more valuable; bitcoin, microstrategy, something else?

So one of the first investor announcements in which I attended, live webinar, hosted on Zoom, for micro strategy maybe like October 30 last year… Very very exciting as it was my first time attending a live investor call. To see Michael Saylor in the virtual flesh, life was really really exciting… Like seeing a live rockstar!

Anyways, well what was kind of interesting was Michael Saylor branded microstrategy as a “bitcoin treasury company“, or funny enough a… “BTC”.

 in another talk you did in front of a bunch of investors, maybe a month prior to that, he essentially noted that essentially micro strategy was becoming a bitcoin bank, however you cannot do overnight deposits in withdrawals which means that micro strategy has a permanent base of bitcoin treasuries. And if we think about the greater macro trends of bitcoin going up forever to the top right, then what that means is that micro strategy is easily poise to become a $1 trillion plus company. Maybe at least 3 trillion or even 10 trillion in the next 10 to 20 years?

Bitcoin bank

I think for a long time if you said, you can invest in a bank, in the early days. For example can you imagine investing in JP Morgan Chase like 120, 200, 300 years ago? Certainly your family would have a fortune.

Or another analogy like becoming standard oil, becoming an oil company, investing in oil. Certainly everybody understands that oil is valuable, but the way that John de Rockefeller made it very very useful was being able to standardize oil, and transform the crude oil product into useful stuff like creating asphalt and also Jet fuel engine, and the gasoline you put in your car.

We are still in the early days of bitcoin, and now… The floodgates have opened. I feel like the whole planet right now is like a crypto arena, like a real life game of gladiator, a crypto Colosseum.

Anyways, things are starting to get fun and interesting; the reason being that now when everyone is becoming to get scared shitless, this is when the real fun begins! If anything, I’m hungry to get access to more capital, to invest when everybody else is scared. I guess having big balls is a huge benefit in today’s fun exciting volatile world.

Wagyu is the key

In a totally unrelated note, on my 37th birthday, I had the extreme pleasure of being treated to the “gold”, level of all you eat Japanese Wagyu Korean barbecue style, in Little Tokyo at my new favorite restaurant on the planet, “chubby cattle”. All you can eat wagyu, A5 Wagyu… I love America!

And also kind of unrelated, probably one of the best kept secrets is that Costco sells American style Wagyu beef, ground beef, 70/30, in these bricks, which taste insanely good and great, and is only maybe like I think five dollars a pound? Typically my favorite is beef ribs, but one of the big problems about beef ribs is that half of the weight is just a bone, which is in some sense “filler”, unless you instant pot the rib bones later to make a beef bone broth soup, which is also a good idea, but anyways, I had only about 3 pounds of the Costco Wagyu ground beef last night, just cooked as simple burger patties, and I slept in like two minutes. I’m almost wondering… If you suffer from insomnia I have a hard time sleeping whatever, just try this; get a bunch of the Costco Wagyu ground beef, cook it at home on your fry pan or air fryer, try to eat at least three or 4 pounds of it, and then I can almost guarantee you that you’ll fall asleep immediately. And the upside of sleeping insanely well  is that the next day, you wake up with so much bigger joy excitement, strength wellness optimism happiness and glee, and isn’t this what everybody wants?

Weight lifting

I’m starting to think more and more, certainly anybody and everybody can benefit from weightlifting, doesn’t matter if it is your 70-year-old mom, your neighbor next-door, you and your wife your kids whatever.

Instead of thinking of it like weightlifting, maybe we should think of it like gravity training. If you think about Goku in the gravity chamber, the basic concept and principle is simple; you’re fighting against gravity, which will strengthen your tendons your bones your ligaments your body your muscles etc.… But I think the key idea and the key secret is Towards strengthening and hormesis;  you do not want long-term stress on your body at a medium intensity. Instead, you want an insanely high stressor or insanely high impact, for like half a second, for an insanely short duration, infrequently.

For example, better to lift 1000 pounds, once, for half a centimeter, once a week rather than to lift 100 pounds, 100 times, five days a week.

Also in terms of fitness, better to do insanely short fun sprints, for like 30 seconds, the “HIIT” style, high intensity interval training rather than “run“ for like five hours straight?

Ground beliefs

So, assuming that you have the ground truth that bitcoin is going up forever, in a very volatile manner, very jittery, up-and-down, but ultimately to the top and right forever, then what?

I also have a very interesting personal thesis about return; maybe from a physics perspective, the general idea is that in order for a high to go higher, you need a lower low?

For example, if you did not have insanely high dips down, you cannot have new insanely high highs?

This also becomes interesting as a life philosophy, in theory if you want higher highs, you also need lower lows?

Maximizing pleasure & joy?

I think what a lot of basic heatedness don’t understand is that actually, if you desire a higher high you also need a lower low. What that means is simple; in order to harness a higher high, you actually need to become more spartan, sparing, embrace fasting.

For example, rather than blowing your load every single day, if you want to in theory maximize your hedonic sexual pleasure, you would actually in theory… Want to be celibate for like 29 days, and only have intercourse once a month? 

Similarly speaking, if you were dumb rich, you would not want to buy a Lamborghini each and every single day, 30 days straight, 365 days in a year straight. This would probably not bring you much joy. It’s kind of also like eating Japanese A5 Wagyu meat, it is only enjoyable if you eat it like once a year, once a month at tops, if you have it each and every single day, even the richest most wonderful thing can lose its appeal.

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I LOVE LA FOREVER!

My mind is blown… It’s like February 2, still technically dead winter, and the sun outside is so beautiful warm and nice, I could still be shirtless end of January early February? I’m never leaving this place!

Actually one of the funniest thoughts I have about leaving the state going to Vietnam for about a month Hong Kong for a weekend being back… Things that America, LA and the west side have going for it:

1. Air quality here is 10000x cleaner and better than Asia: Ironically enough, one of the greatest benefits of being in the west side, Culver City etc.… Is actually, there’s not many smokers. It is quite rare here. Compare this to being in Hong Kong Kong, in which literally like 99% of the men all smoke in the streets? And also being in Saigon, I love Saigon to death but the downside is because of the rapid industrialization, the pollution in Saigon and Vietnam is so bad.
2. Access to meat: in another funny turn of events, actually, having access to beef and meat in America is like 100 times better than anywhere else in the world? If you’re in Asia , getting access to beef is actually very difficult; I suppose all the government subsidies for beef in America will benefit us.
3. Freedom of speech: after being in Asia, the truth is you don’t really have freedom of speech in Asia. One wrong sentiment and boom, you’re gonna get a knock on your door. And also… Internet censorship, no no no, the Internet is not censored in America, it is more or less 100% free. Just try going to anywhere in Asia or Southeast Asia, when certain websites are banned or blocked or whatever… And then your mind will be opened. Even a simple thing… If you’re in Hong Kong, you cannot use ChatGPT.

What if where you currently were standing were already paradise? 

I also have another funny sentiment; actually a very positive and optimistic one: we forward in 2025 I’m just gonna think that everything is good, even the “bad”?

So simple!

SimpleStrategy?

One of the best nights of sleep of all time… Eating a pound of beef liver, cooked perfectly medium rare, a bunch of why you ground beef from Costco, 70/30, I think hitting the socket around 7:30 PM, waking up at 7:30 AM, wow, that 12 hours of sleep? Anyways I feel reborn.

January 31, 2025… My 37th birthday! Wow, seeing it in type looks really big. Maybe I’ll be stuck at age 36, or 26, or 16 forever.

Anyways, towards my Zen training, I think a very very simple way to start life is when you wake up first thing in the morning, take your shower your bath whether hot cold or both whatever… And then when you start drinking your morning coffee tea, or maybe both, to just resist the distractions of profits loss, gains or whatever… To essentially have a practice of not exposing yourself to any information in the morning first thing in the morning, whether good or bad. This also includes checking Twitter, any news or social media, your financial accounts, your stock your bitcoin etc. 
If anything, the true ideal way to start the day is with your iPhone totally off, perhaps charging in the living room outside, off. And on top of that, if you need an alarm to wake up, just buy a standalone alarm on Amazon or something, to wake you up.

The worst way to start the day is checking your iPhone for email and notifications text messages etc.… The best mind is a fallow mind, the best mind is an empty mind. 

Why?

My thought is that with an empty mind, anything and everything can come in. With an empty mind, you let the vibrations of your own mind your own life experiences be the stimuli to strike new ideas within you.

Considering that we are all philosophers, yes you too, even Seneca at the age of four, he is already asking me a lot of questions on why things are the way it is in Korean, “weh?” The most beautiful three letter word in the English language! Why?

I think it’s hard because even now… Making it big, I’m starting to even rethink some thoughts about wealth. Practically and metaphorically I retired in 2017, when we are paying $320 a month in rent in Vietnam, and essentially Cindy and I were in a position in which I realize, we would never run out of money. Even though we ate out every single night, we’re at coffee shops all day… Our income even our “passive income”, far outstripped our expenses.

certainly things changed a lot since moving to LA, in which living expenses have gone up by a factor of 10 X, now our rent is $3200 a month, and also the cost of food due to inflation has gone up by at least 2X, beef ribs at Costco are now $5.50 a pound, whereas at the Costco business center even maybe three years ago it was only $1.99!

Anyways, certainly it is difficult to 10 X your income, leverage is difficult. But perhaps if you put your family on a bitcoin standard, you can get there.

Why 10x

My personal thought is let us say that bitcoin is like roughly $100,000 a bitcoin, what that then means is if you think ahead enough, when bitcoin hits $10 million a bitcoin, assuming that you are spartan with your money and not foolish, that means that easily, you could 10 X and 100 X your money from here. 

So let us say that you’re being paid $20 an hour, that means that actually you’re being paid $200 an hour, or better yet, $2000 an hour assuming you know how to save in bitcoin.

I had this thought maybe about three or four years ago, thinking about my friends who worked at Amazon etc., if you took your good tech salary, and just converted all your currency into bitcoin, you would have been able to retire at least five or six lifetime ago.

Now what

So it looks like the great shakedown is starting. But that then means is real life has hit the pan, and moving forward, life will only continue to become more extreme, more of volatile, more crazy.

And I actually had a thought… The reason why we new Spartans, we new Stoics, we new bitcoiners are doing so well is that actually, I think there is almost like kind of a natural selection bias which is happening here;

Those who can tolerate the most volatility, shall thrive the most.

Bitcoin will continue to be volatile, forever. And I think that’s the whole idea; those who cannot tolerate harness or even love volatility, cannot thrive. 

Living in a more extreme volatile world

Let us fast forward a bit, four years from now, 2029, when Trump is out of office. Don’t be shortsighted; no no no, there will not miraculously be some sort of savior liberal Democrat who comes in, “fixes“, or reverses everything. I think time and reality is like a one-way ratchet; when you crank up the volatility of real life and time in one direction, you cannot reverse it. 

For example, no no no, bitcoin will not drop down to $10,000 again. Or $6000, or $1000 or $100 of bitcoin. This is not how physics or thermodynamics works. 

For example, you cannot have water flow upstream, no matter how hard you may believe in it.

Bitcoin is physics

I think the hard thing for people to understand is the reason why bitcoin is such a paradigm shift is that it is the first bridge between the virtual the cyber and the real.

For example the whole notion of proof of work, the whole idea that you actually have to use real life and energy in the real world to produce, create, and mint a bitcoin, or even secure it, is a feature not a bug.

It’s kind of like producing another human life, having a child. The truth of the matter is if you want to birth a child, you need a “proof of work” in the real world, in real reality.

For example, you need a female mother, you need a male sperm, and you need the incubation phase, you cannot rush it, the mother must consume deep nutrition, you must birth the child.

And when the child is born, obviously you must nurse the child, feed the child, raise and care for the child.

You cannot digitally clone a child, or digitally birth a child, which is kind of like the whole idea behind “proof of stake”. 

Even life if you think about it, a human life, the reason it has any worth is that it is finite. Even if you had all the money and power in the world, you cannot as a man live more than probably around 122 years, certainly you cannot live 130, 150, or 1000 years. Even from a philosophical perspective — I don’t even like the idea of living that long.

Even if magically somehow we did invent something that allowed us to live to be 1000 year old, with a 26 year old body and a six pack… I think there’s a certain point in which you would just want to pull the plug. And not have to do it yourself.

Anyways, why is the mind so valuable?

First, I think raising Seneca, has been one of the most valuable and most precious things of all time. And, it has taught me more about philosophy and human nature more so than reading thousands of pages of philosophy.

For example, a simple observation; typically children never have to carry a backpack, a side pouch, anything in their pockets. Or their hands. As a consequence, they’re always running around! A child is never still and this is a good thing.

Also, a practical one; most children assuming that they’re under the age of four, do not carry an iPhone in their front pocket.

Let us see that the downside of having an iPhone or a phone in general is that once you pull it up and use it, typically it stops your movement. If you have an iPhone in your hand and you’re looking at it or working on it or checking something or reading something or listening to something, you’re not also doing a backflip.

As a consequence, a child has the ultimate mind; 100% free, present in the present moment.

If you think about it, what that that means is that a child is actually an ultimate zen master; a child is fully experiencing reality in the present moment, not thinking about the past or the future.

Certainly a child has memories; for example Seneca still remembers our experiences in Hong Kong, and that the 973 bus from Tsim Tsa Tsui (TST) takes us back to our hotel in Sai Ying Pun. And he remembers the colors of the metro lines, the blue one and the red one.

yet he doesn’t really “dwell” on the past. He is fully in the present moment, taking our Amazon boxes, asking me for tape, and creating trains of his own, connecting it to his cart, and training his constructed train all around the house.

Or he will take the expo dry erase marker marker eraser, and fly around the house like an airplane, not thinking of “utility“, or other things like that.

Even when you observe a child playing, climbing structures they’re not thinking about anything else, they’re just enjoying the climb!

How and when and why do adults get corrupted? 

They not like us!

I think one of the things which is the most shocking to me as a father having a firstborn son is that if you think about it… As a man, assuming that you have a child your first child is your son is a boy is a man, the heir to the throne, you should consider yourself blessed 1 trillion X.

Whenever you see families with three girls, no boys, you know what they were shooting for.

So this whole notion of a absentee father to his son is a very very bizarre thing. Once again, to me, even if you could take all the trillions of dollars on the planet, nothing in the whole universe is more valuable than my son. Or my relationship to him.

And this is where I think it is wise to hedge your influences from philosophers thinkers, or even zen monks who have never had a child, they may theoretically understand child’s mind, but until you have actually raised your own child, you shall never know. 

Not only that but until a man has had a son, man shall never know.

Why does this matter?

On the flight from LA to Asia, I finally had the privilege of finishing the Odyssey by Emily Wilson, excellent. In fact I’m starting to read all of her translations, even including the tragedies of Seneca.

One of the biggest ideas is Odysseus, his relationship to his son. Also what’s interesting to me is I just came to discover that actually, even though I had no idea, I guess Achilles also had a son?

Anyways, how then this becomes interesting to be is that in America at least, and in the west, we are trying to think that this whole notion of a nuclear family, husband and wife, at least two kids, white picket fence, etc. But if you think an ancient Greek times, Kings had like 10 to 20 children, I think even one of the funniest stories of Hercules is that he was somehow able to impregnate like 50 daughters of this one king?

Anyways, I say don’t stop trying. If you’re a man, try to birth at least one son. And even if you cannot, that’s OK, most likely your daughters will one day birth a son and you’re fine. A grandson having a grandson is like the same as having a son. 

Goals

So then, proceeding in our life, what is our goals?

First, certainly philosophy is a noble goal. To spend your life pioneering thoughts, ideas concepts etc., that will benefit you your wife your kids, the future of the human race is a noble impetus to life.

Even now that I think about it, I feel like I have lived at least 10 lifetimes, and I am so grateful.

In moving forward, certainly everything in life is an ululation, and that is great!

Some current thoughts:

1. How to inject more of volatility in your life, assuming that the more volatility you have in your life, the “more” better your life.
2. What is better, to have $1 million of bitcoin, or $1 million of micro strategy stock?
3. New thoughts on fitness exercise weightlifting, etc.?
4. New modes of living thinking and being? The dynamic range of living in the states versus abroad in Asia?

Ignore politics

Simple thoughts: never read the news, the only thing that you should interrogate is bitcoin, Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy news. Because the only news which should concern you is in regards to your money nothing else.

ERIC

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