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December 31, 2024 / 0 Comments

2024 Year in Review

I’m an advocate for reviews each year. Some people do quarterly reviews, others do yearly. Regardless of the frequency, it is important to reflect on where you are in life so you can make better decisions about the future, and learn from your experiences of the past. Writing these notes down has proven useful to many people, myself included.

You can see my previous years here:
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023

SUMMARY

We had a big Christmas celebration with a bunch of friends at our house in Phuket at the end of the year, and headed back to Bangkok for NYE, watching fireworks from the top of our place there.
In mid January we went to Tokyo with a group of friends, in Shibuya area, then flew to Niseko for a week to ski. Was a great trip as always and a lot of fun skiing with the crew.
When we got back from Japan, our friends Bryce, Sam, Shane, and Ashely came out to Thailand to visit us from Colorado.
In February we did a gender reveal party at Yellow Lane – and the gender was a secret to us until then. Was a fun party and glad we celebrated it.
At the end of February, I did a carnivore diet challenge with a few other friends. Was definitely hard but learned a lot about myself and the diet from it.
Our friend Marc hosted the Q1 birthday celebrations at POA Theatre with a casino night.
In early March, Kemji and I went to Pattaya and stayed at the new Grand Center Point Space Hotel, we stayed there for a couple nights and attended the Pelupo Music Festival – saw Jack Johnson which was excellent.
Later in March, we flew to the US to visit family before the birth of our son. In March, I went skiing in Winter Park with Richie & Carlie.
At the end of March, our friends Sam & Bryce hosted a baby shower. A week after, we roadtripped to Salida and stayed with Andrew and his wife.
In April we rented an RV and roadtripped to Texas to see the total solar eclipse. We stayed outside of San Antonio near Canyon Lake on a friends 80 acre ranch. It was an amazing experience with Uncle Tim and crew.
At the end of April, we came back to Thailand to prepare for the birth of my first son. We also joined the soft launch of Dip, a new onsen in Ari, Bangkok.
In May, we went down to Phuket to work on our house and recharge out of the city before being back in the city for a few months to raise our son Andrew.
When back to Bangkok, we signed official marriage papers in Thailand to ensure our son would have Thai and US passports shortly after birth.
In June I joined a subcommittee in my building to help improve the build, which has been a nice learning experience. And we prepared for the birth of Andrew.
My son Andrew was born on July 3rd.
Also in July, we completed construction of Kemji’s dad’s house in Nan.
July & August were spent at home learning how to parent baby Andrew, and still an ongoing pursuit.
In September we did a staycation at Shangri-La along the river. It was our first time traveling outside the house as a family.
At the end of September, I attended The Network State conference in Singapore. It was inspiring and interesting to see all the speakers and met a lot of cool people.
In October, decided to do a road trip to Phuket via Pranburi and Surat Thani, spending a few days enjoying the beach along the way.
In early November, we celebrated our friend Pollards bachelor party in Patong in Phuket. Around 15 people flew in for the 3 day event.
In early November we flew back to Bangkok, Andrew’s first time flying, to attend the bachelorette party in Bangkok and then their wedding at the Peninsula riverside in Bangkok.
In early December, we ate at Le Du Kaan with Brad and Yeen, exploring a new rooftop restaurant which was excellent. A couple days later we flew back to Phuket where we are now.

This year was busy, and overall quite enjoyable. It was shaped in large part around the baby due date in July. We had to come back from the US in April to prepare for birth and visit the hospital for regular checkups. After birth in July, we spent a few months mostly homebound learning how to parent and take care of our new son. It was the longest stretch I’ve had in Bangkok without leaving in the entire 12 years I’ve resided there. A nice new experience.

Overall, the year was fun, exciting, and satisfying, and we’re so grateful to have Andrew come into our lives.

WHAT WENT WELL THIS YEAR?

This was certainly one of the most transformational years of my life, and one of the best. Creating a new human and raising them is a large responsibility, but one that has brought more love, joy, and satisfaction than I knew existed. It is magical, and fundamental to us as humans. It is one of those experiences that you can’t describe or write, but one that has to be experienced to really understand.

I wrote 2 articles on the topic, firstly about my thoughts on becoming a dad before Andrew was born, and another was a letter I wrote to Andrew on the day he was born. I’m doing more writing on the experience in attempt to capture how profound the experience has been, but it is quite difficult to put it into words.

A lot of this year was spent preparing for the birth, dealing with birth, and then learning to raise a child.

You have the same amount of time each day, but now a much larger responsibility that takes up a lot of time. But contrary to what some people say, it’s been one of the most productive times for me. I think this is due to Parkinsons Law – work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

For most of my adult live I’ve had all the time in the world to work. With a kid, I have less time, therefore I get more done in less time. Unexpected but true. It’s a sort of forced time boxing.

It has also ignited motivation to be healthy, to build, and to create as it changes now only the time horizon I operate on, but also encourages me to be around for a long time to be apart of his life. It’s hard to describe how rewarding the experience is, but it is no doubt core to our evolution and a major part of the experience of being a human being. It’s bizarre how few people get to experience it in modern day, really it’s mind blowing.

I knew we’d want help raising Andrew, and grandma was there from day 1. She has been a tremendous help. We didn’t evolve to raise a kid with 1 or 2 people, but a family. Grandparents are a vital part of the experience to not only learn from, but to help with raising a child. It also clearly brings a lot of joy to them, and hence why family structure is so important. No one mentioned to this to me before we had a kid, but the #1 suggestion I’d give to anyone having a child is to get help from day 1, ideally from grandma/pa who typically want nothing more than to help out and share their wisdom.

Health: I also cut back on alcohol a lot more this year – while it wasn’t perfect, I’ve made progress from 2023 and plan to keep this trend going. Part of it was definitely due to the responsibility to want to be present and sober for my son, and my family, but also driven by wanting to be healthier. After all, it’s all about balance. I’ve realized that maximizing energy is the best way to live most of the time, therefore I’ve cut back on a lot of things that kill my energy, like late nights, weed, or alcohol.

This year involved a lot of learning on the business and investment front. Business has grown stable and I’ve launched many new projects. Markets have been very unique the last couple years since Covid which has caused huge increases to a seemingly already overvalued market. Berkshire Hathaway is holding a record $325 billion in cash. AI has also been incredible to witness – the utility and growth of all things AI has been astonishing and it’s hard to fathom how much it will revolutionize almost every industry from support, to law, to education, to medical.

It is also weird how it seems to be a bubble that most people are still not yet aware of. Nvidia is now a $3.29 trillion company, one of the most valuable in the entire world. Everything is all time high from crypto, to real estate, to equities, to gold. It makes navigating the landscape a challenge.

At the same time, Trump winning the US election and making big regulatory changes to the government and shrinking government are also positive signs for growth to an already overpriced market. Incredible year indeed and I think everyone is confused about how to navigate it from an investing perspective.

We had a lot of fun experiences this year that were unforgettable. Having friends from the US visit, skiing in Japan, visiting the US and seeing a total solar eclipse with my uncle and friends was incredible. Would definitely do it again.

I was consistent on exercise this year and made some good progress. Diet wise, overall, I focused more on protein. For most of history it was a primary part of our diet eating animal meat, but in modern day you have to diligently focus on ensuring you get enough since the modern food industry is well out of our normal evolution selection of food. And the difference between getting enough protein and not is quite substantial in how your body develops.

Humans should strive to be strong, because strength is correlated quite well with avoiding injury, optimizing of your body/metabolism, and longevity. The older you get, the harder it is to gain strength so start now, it’s the youngest you’ll ever be.

WHAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL THIS YEAR?

While this year was great, I have a lot of room to improve on many fronts. I have about 30 new books I’m waiting to read, but haven’t set aside the time enough to actually get through them. I’d like to spend more of 2025 reading and thinking more deeply.

I could also make more improvements to my health – sitting less, spending less time on the screen, and avoiding junk food. I do like chocolate and donuts, and I sometimes eat them too much. It’s all balance, and not doing it too frequently.

I’d like to spend more time in nature in 2025 – a lot of time was spent in the city this year, and while that is fun, it is vital to spend time in the wilderness.

WHAT AM I WORKING TOWARD?

Business wise there is a lot in the pipeline. I think everyone should be creating more, and coming up with their own unique creations in the world. Could be a business, a website, learning to make an app, building a garden, etc. Humans evolved to create and humans learn by doing. I plan to do a lot more creating/building in 2025.

I look at each day as an opportunity to improve. I plan to keep refining the systems and just making things better each day – improved health, more writing, launching more projects, learning more, more experiences, etc.

In 2025 I will buy a house in Colorado, something that has been in the works since before Covid. Covid fundamentally changed the market, but given we have a family now and plan to spend at least a few months a year in the US, we need to get a house and it’s something I’m looking forward to.

With our new son, a lot of the days are spent raising him and learning a lot along the way. Starting to think about school and how we plan to do that, but it still a few years away. We also will work to expand the family in 2025.

As always, working to spend less time on the screen overall, and 2025 I’m determined to make it a reality.

All together, I’m incredibly grateful for 2024 and all the experiences we were able to have. Here’s to making 2025 the best year yet.

I post daily thoughts and interesting things on X here.

I’ve started posting weekly videos here sharing things I find interesting or useful.

September 7, 2024 / 0 Comments

Politics and Divide

Today there seems to be more division than ever amongst our society, and specifically I’ll talk about the US here, though these concepts more broad apply worldwide.

The big question is why? Why are we so divided? I’m convinced it is largely due to disinformation and propaganda, where we understand reality differently than it actually is. In other words, if I understood the situation as you did, I would believe as you do. But because I understand it to be different, I believe differently. I think this applies to lots of things, but especially in politics where there are major deliberate propaganda campaigns on both sides which cloud our view of really what is going on. Additionally, some concepts are more nuanced and complicated, and require understanding beyond just preaching about how change will happen and capturing peoples emotions.

My effort here is to share my current understanding and I’m open to anyone who reads this to comment or reach out to continue the discussion of where my understanding may be clouded.

I’d like to go through some of the main points of confusion in effort to clear up the confusion and bridge the gap between those who agree with my perspective and those who don’t. After all, all we have is communication. If we aren’t willing to openly talk about what we think and why we think it, we never can bond or share a mutual understanding of the country, or of reality as we understand it. It seems many people on the left won’t talk to people who support Trump and many people on the right won’t talk to people who support Harris – but that is the opposite of what we should be doing.

It is currently September, 2024, and Biden/Harris have been president/vice president for the last 4 years. The glaring first question is, do you feel the country is better now than it was 4 years ago? Biden/Harris has been in charge, and Harris is running again for another 4 years.

Lets start with the fundamentals…

What is government?

The age old debate is around how big/small the government should be and how much power it should have. But firstly, we should define what it is. The government is an entity thats job is to serve the public, the people who elected the people into government and into power. The job of the government is to ensure civility and ensure that society functions and that the market works. This means some regulation and protection to ensure the public is served safely and fairly. The government is funded by the public – that is to say that a portion of your earned money is taken from you (taxes) to pay for the mandatory government expenses. This all makes sense, assuming that the government is doing its job in that a) it is serving the public and society is functioning well, and b) the hard earned money that is taken to fund the government (taxes) is spent wisely and efficiently. If a or b aren’t done, the government is failing at its job, by definition.

If you look throughout the last 100 years, the government has ballooned, from $567 million (~$20 billion in todays dollars) in 1900 to over $6 trillion in 2024. A brief history:

In 1900 there was no federal income taxes, federal revenues were generated from customs/tariffs and from excise taxes on goods like alcohol and tobacco.
It wasn’t until 1913 when the 16th amendment was implemented to create federal income tax. The tax rate was 1% on income and tiered up to 6% for the highest earners. Contrast this to today where the highest bracket is 37%.

One of the fundamental issues with government is that it is inefficient – that is to say that because it has no competition to improve or oversight to be frugal, it almost always overspends and is inefficient. Because of this fundamental of pretty much all governments worldwide, it is important that the government stays small, has oversight to ensure spending to properly done, and that the budget is balanced. Compare that to a business where there is competition and it has to make profit to survive, it means businesses need to be very efficient with spending to ensure the survival of the business.

What we’ve seen over the last 15 years is a rapid increase in spending, and a massive deficit that is getting far out of hand (see below).

Here are the biggest misunderstandings between the left in the right in the US in my opinion:

Government debt –

The US is currently $35 trillion in debt, with the interest payments (~$1 trillion/year) alone surpassing the department of defense budget ($858 billion in 2023). We have to cut government spending at all costs and reduce the size of government or else America goes bankrupt. History shows us we’d end up like Argentina, which went from one of the richest to one of the poorest countries in the world in just a few decades. You can’t just raise taxes to pay this off, it is required spending is cut. Currently the government is spending way beyond what it brings in and getting worse. Here is the government debt plotted over time:

And here is the government spending by year for the last few years:

2017: Federal Spending: $3.98 trillion, Federal Revenue: $3.32 trillion, Deficit: $0.66 trillion
2018: Federal Spending: $4.11 trillion, Federal Revenue: $3.33 trillion, Deficit: $0.78 trillion
2019: Federal Spending: $4.45 trillion, Federal Revenue: $3.46 trillion, Deficit: $0.99 trillion
2020: Federal Spending: $6.55 trillion, Federal Revenue: $3.42 trillion, Deficit: $3.13 trillion
2021: Federal Spending: $6.82 trillion, Federal Revenue: $4.05 trillion, Deficit: $2.77 trillion
2022: Federal Spending: $6.27 trillion, Federal Revenue: $4.90 trillion, Deficit: $1.37 trillion
2023: Federal Spending: $6.41 trillion, Federal Revenue: $4.71 trillion, Deficit: $1.70 trillion

As you can see, spending is way over budget even though revenues have soared. Taxes are effectively taking a portion of hard earned money and giving it to the government to serve us, the public and the society. Currently, they don’t seem to be serving us well, and are spending our money very poorly. Notice in 2023 they spent $1.70 trillion over budget, even though they brought in almost $5 trillion dollars in revenue, which is nearly double the revenue from just a decade ago. To put it into perspective, the debt is increasing by about $10 billion a day in 2024 – completely unsustainable spending. This is probably the biggest issue in the USA and if spending can’t be cut, everything will fail, including the banks. This is a major issue that many people seem unaware of, but is well worth noting and understanding.

Immigration –

I’m very pro-immigration and allowing anyone hard working to come into the US. But it needs to be done legally and through an efficient system created by the government. We can’t just open the border to allow anyone to come through when my wife has to go through months of interviews to move to the US. It isn’t fair or legal, nor does America have the system to support it financially or otherwise. If you look at the official numbers on the official Customs and Border website here are the recorded numbers:

2017: 415,000
2018: 521,000
2019: 977,000
2020: 646,000
2021: 1.956 million
2022: 2.76 million
2023: 3.20 million
2024: 2.6 million (through July so far, will definitely surpass 2023)

As you see, it has gone up rapidly in the last 4 years. Note that these are simply recording incidents of illegal immigration, and it is estimated that roughly 50% aren’t recorded. Then means over the last 7-8 years, upwards of 20 million people have crossed into the US illegally. To put that into perspective, that is 4x the population of Colorado, and roughly the entire size of New York City. The only way to say this isn’t a problem is to be unaware of it, which seemingly half of the US is. There is no where for these people to go to integrate into society, pay taxes, etc. And governments don’t have the money to support them (see point above). As a result, cities are struggling to find housing, pay for the care, and integrate them. This is a massive failing of the government, which is their job to fix and ensure this doesn’t happen (as with every government in the world having the same responsibility for the countries they serve).

Taxes –

There is a common misconception that the rich don’t pay taxes. On the official government website, the top 10% of earners pay 75% of all federal income tax. The top 1% of federal income earners pay nearly 50%. The wealthiest pay most of the taxes contrary to what most think. But percentage isn’t even a good metric as the rich make most of their money off capital gains, which is taxed differently, and many of the rich don’t have income (like Steve Jobs famously paying himself $1 a year). So we should talk absolute amount paid in instead.

Comparing percentages is like apples to oranges because wealth can be earned tons of different ways than just income, and all ways are taxed at different rates. You have to tax capital gains differently than income, as there are many ways to earn money through work, investment, business, etc. Therefore, we need to talk absolute numbers, not percentages. And when we look at the numbers, the rich fund the entire government through taxes. The lowest 50% pay 3% of all federal income tax. This is fine and I’m not against it, but to say the “rich need to pay their fair share” is disinformation as the rich already pay the overwhelming majority of taxes in the US. Again, going on point one, we need to cut spending immediately, which means if we cut spending, we get a surplus and have the capital then invest into other things. If we raise revenue (raise taxes) before we cut spending, it makes no logical sense and we end up with the same problem.

Inflation –

There is a lot of talk about inflation and some disinformation about it. Many believe it is corporate greed driving prices up, but that is a fallacy. What causes inflation? Inflation is where the value of a dollar goes down, meaning your spending power of $100 drops. In 2020 when Covid started, the government locked down businesses and cities. Because of this, they had to give stimulus or else every business would fire all their employees and go under. When the stimulus is given without actual product or services, there is an increased supply of money for less goods/services, which means inflation goes up (prices rise for the same goods/services).

Additionally, because of the global lockdowns, supply chains got disrupted (the market) which made prices go up. For example, if only 1 shipping company operates instead of 5, there is no competition and it can raise prices. Competition (the market) drives prices down as companies compete for value vs. cost all the time in a market, which is important.

The combination of increased money supply and disruption of the market is what led to inflation going up to 8-10%, which was entirely predictable. If you have 10% inflation for 2 years, you have > 20% inflation over 2 years, which means $100 has spending power of $80 and so on. In short, inflation is caused by increasing money supply and the reason prices are way higher now than 5 years ago is due to government policies which increased money supply. It is not corporate greed and this is a disinformation.

To put another way:

The rise in prices (inflation) is caused by government overspending, which increases the amount of money faster than the increase in goods & services output. That is the vast majority of the problem.

Inflation was particularly bad during the Covid years, as there was massive government spending, despite productivity plunging, as people were forced to stay home.

This is further exacerbated by excess regulation, which prevents the market from solving an unmet need (eg housing in high-demand areas). Occasionally, there is monopolistic behavior by companies, but this is relatively rare and usually only possible if those companies have gained control of their industry regulator. Again, a government, not private sector, problem.

The Constitution –

Republicans want to protect the founding fathers America and the American constitution that was designed to protect powers and has worked well for America so far. It is what has separated America from most other countries in the world, and should be protected with care. Things like freedom of speech are vital to a free, open society. Freedom of speech means someone you hate can still say something you disagree with and it is legal and allowed. Censorship is anything that goes beyond the laws that govern freedom of speech. Currently this a major movement to censor people and places, like Youtube taking down videos they disagree with, or people wanting to arrest Elon Musk for running X as a free speech platform. In short, the Republicans simply want America left to the same rights as 20-30 years ago. There seems to be a misunderstanding on this point.

Abortion –

It’s a touchy subject and I’m pro-choice entirely. Trump has repeatedly said there would be no national ban but the decision would go to the states instead of the federal government (which was overturning Roe v. Wade). In general, the federal government should give more power to the states so they can govern how they wish – that is to say govern how the people that live in that state vote. For example, legalization of weed in Colorado but federally illegal leads to strange conflicts when the decision should just defer to the state.

I’m all for moving more power from the federal government and into the states to give more control to the people that live in each state. For people who want an abortion, the majority of the states support it so the option will be available. There are 2 sides to the coin so it is only fair different states get their way based on their own beliefs. Even though we don’t agree, in America we can let people freely choose based on their own beliefs.

The role of the government is to lead the nation and ensure the system works – ensure crime is low and people abide by the laws, education and health is good, budget is balanced, and the society flourishes. If the society isn’t functioning well, crime goes up, people are unhappy and unhealthy, and civility breaks down – it is a failing of the government. Again, I’d like to ask the question to you as a reader – is America better today in 2024 than it was say 4 or 8 years ago?

Voting fraud –

It is impossible to say there is vote fraud, but there is a significant incentive for foreign adversaries or powers that be within the US to manipulate and modify the actual vote of the people. This exists in many countries throughout the world. We need to ensure we have a robust voting system that ensure there is not voter fraud, and if there is any suspicious voting or fraud possibilities, we should talk about them. We should not assume there isn’t fraud, because there very well could be, We need to ensure voting integrity is of the upmost importance of if there are any red flags, we need to raise awareness about them and get to the bottom of it. There is certainly the possibility of fraud and we need to protect against it at all costs. This video explains one way to think about it.

Because disinformation is a major problem as I’ve presented here, I’ve have tried to clear up some of the confusion in effort to bridge the understanding gap. If you watch one channel like CNN you get clips of Trump taken out of context, and if you watch Fox, you get clips of Biden/Harris taken out of context. As a result, it is vital to go to the actual source and watch the interview/video in full.

You can go on Youtube and type in “Kamala Harris interview”, “Joe Biden interview”, or “Donald Trump interview” or “Elon Musk interview”. I’d encourage anyone from both sides to watch full interviews with people that you disagree with and see their true character. Most of the time because things are taken out of context, and you get a bigger and better picture of the person than what the media clips, often a completely opposite view. Watch or listen to an hour long interview with Trump or Musk or Biden or Harris, or ideally, all of them. You’ll definitely get a more realistic view of who they are and what they think. If you haven’t done this, you’re almost guaranteed getting hit with disinformation and propaganda on both sides, which is causing divide amongst us.

On that point, it’s surprising how many people I’ve met who say that Twitter is way worse since Musk acquired it. Yet every person that says this has never used it. The anti-Musk propaganda is incredible and effective. As is pretty much all other propaganda (on left and right). It is like saying a book is bad but you never opened it. I’d encourage you to use X/Twitter and see for yourself – read the book.

It is obviously better in every way since he bought it, and usage is at an all time high. To say otherwise is ridiculous, to anyone who uses it, it is clearly improved. It is faster, more slim, more features, more useful, etc. I’ve used Twitter since 2008 and it has been an incredible resource to not only connect with a lot of interesting people, but to learn from people who share links/ideas. When Musk bought it, most investors were for it due to the 15% premium and the fact that Musk has a remarkable track record with creating companies – Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX, solar city, to name a few. He has done an incredible job with X so far – and the vast majority of people who actually use it would say the same. Regardless of what you think of Musk or where you are politically, give it a try for yourself. Open and read the book before you criticize it.

Again, if you’ve only watched a clip or heard what CNN said about Musk, it is propaganda. Go straight to the source and use the platform to judge for yourself, or watch the original uncut interviews.

The amount of fighting and hatred throughout history, and even now, that comes from politics and religion is hard to fathom. People hold strong opinions because it matters. And we tend to hang around people who share similar belief systems about life, economics, business, freedom, and equality. This is because these ideas matter, and affect each and every one of us. It not only affects us, it changes how we behave and how to observe society and the world around us.

The core philosophy underlying this is that at the deepest level as humans, all we have is our ability to communicate. If we can’t communicate, what are we doing on this planet together? Holding thoughts in your mind does little. Share your thoughts, it acts as a good error correction mechanism. However, how you communicate matters. Writing forces us to put down our thoughts in a more ordered manner, while a verbal conversation with people can go down tangent after tangent and it is quite easy to talk past each other. Like Minchin said, like hitting beautifully executed shots from opposite ends of 2 different tennis courts.

With the age of propaganda and disinformation, both sides are becoming more polarized. Given this, one solution is to listen and try to have conversation with others from the opposite side. It is hard, and often ends on which propaganda the other side watched or listened to. Is the best solution to just avoid these conversations all together? Or to share openly how you feel? It’s not an easy answer, but all we have is communication. Shutting off our voices only leads to more polarization because we then are unable to understand each other, which is exactly what is happening now.

I think it is probably best to have a conversation when both people are interested. Otherwise, vote and live life based on the values you hold. My writing here is an effort to share my understanding of what is going on, and open it up to conversation. Please reach out if anything I posted is wrong or needs to be corrected, I’m open to discussion about anything.

Regardless of what you believe, I wish you all the best in 2024 an beyond – it’s one of the most fascinating times to exist in human history.

June 29, 2024 / 0 Comments

The World You’re Born Into

June 2024 – this is a letter to my son about what I’ve learned in life so far and would like to pass on.

You can listen to this article here.

Dear Andrew,

We live today in interesting times, perhaps the most interesting of times. There has never been a world quite like the one you’re joining. 8 billion people share the planet at the moment, and there are more people and more prosperity than anytime in human history. There is more opportunity than ever before.

We have more advancements in science, technology, medicine, and engineering than ever before. We have more cures for diseases, longer life expectancy than ever, and global poverty rates are at the lowest they ever have been. Yet, we also face major global issues that plague humanity. People in the western world aren’t having children anymore. 70% of Americans are obese or overweight which is toxic to the mind and body. We have an ever growing global arms race that threatens global peace. And screen time and porn addiction have caused a crisis of our attention and of our minds. It is worth knowing of these issues so you can be prepared to face them.

Life is a miracle, truly. Of all the possibilities to exist, of all the eggs or sperm that could have been created, you exist. Life is a gift, and to be born into a family like ours makes you incredibly lucky. We’re incredibly lucky. Recognizing this luck is important so you know where you’re at, and you don’t take it for granted. It isn’t a given, your life must be earned.

Life is full of ups and downs, unexpected events, overwhelming high times, and occasionally some times of confusion. This is normal. It is part of the normal development of a human to go through these stages. Recognize that at each stage, the goal is to constantly improve and get better. Each day is an opportunity to improve, to learn, to share, to create, to enjoy. Every day is day 1, it’s a new day. The past is what has made you who you are, but it is gone, all there is is today, and the future that you create.

How you deal with unexpected events that come out of life is the quality of your life. Heartbreak, death of a friend or family, accidents, and mistakes are all part of life that everyone goes through. No one is perfect, but ensure you reflect and learn from the mistakes you’ve made. Train and prepare your mind to handle anything that is thrown at it. Mindfulness practice to pay attention to your thoughts is useful. Exercise is vital to relieving stress and keeping quality of mind, let alone having a strong/fast/fit body. The mind and the body are one.

Fall in love, enjoy sex, but do it safely. Use protection and then have fun. When you’re young, explore. Travel to places that interest you, be excited to meet other people, be curious about other people. Everyone has a story you can learn from, and you learn most by asking questions and listening, not by telling others your stories. But do tell stories when people ask, you can inspire people. And the practice of telling stories is good for learning how to socialize.

Read often. You can learn a tremendous amount through the brains and eyes of other people. Lots of people have existed before you, learn from them. The more you can learn and understand, the more effective you’ll be at life. Don’t underestimate how much knowledge you can learn from just 30 minutes of reading a day. A book is a lens into the brains of some of the brightest thinkers of life. Read things that interest you. It’s worth studying psychology (how and why humans think and behave in different ways), finance (understand money, business, economics and the broad things that shape the world). Study history, how the world came to be the way it is. Read biographies and autobiographies, it is fascinating to see how different people got to where they were in life, and biographies tell their story.

Life’s a pursuit of improvement, and getting better. Get stronger each day, smarter each day, create a little something each day, be kind and generous to people each day. Small tiny improvements each day can lead to drastic improvements over time, the key is actually making progress each day.

Life can be overwhelming sometimes, and things can take up all of your time and attention. Ensure you’re spending part of each day moving forward in whatever that means to you. A stronger relationship, a stronger body/mind, a stronger business, a new experience, etc. Most importantly, enjoy the ride. Have fun in life, there is a hell of a lot of fun to be had.

Think independently about what you want to do. When I was a teenager I decided to study abroad in England. Not sure what triggered it but I was basically the only one in university who wanted to do it, and it ended up being transformational to me as a person and widened my perspective in a big way. I found that the classic 9-5 route wasn’t for me.

I recall in university when I was about to graduate, everyone around me was talking about the salary and the job offers they were getting, but my mindset was on growing my business and traveling. It was what I felt deep inside was the right idea, and I always had the plan B to become an engineer worse case, so I really had nothing to lose.

That decision ended up being a great decision. I tell this story because throughout life, I often felt strongly about a way of life that didn’t align with everyone else. Even now, at 35, I still feel this way. The way society and even many friends live and behave is quite different to how I think we should live. Recognize that there is no right answer, but there are better and worse answers. Think for yourself about really what you want to do and don’t be deterred if society thinks otherwise. You know best deep inside. Try it, and see what happens.

When you fall off track and make some bad decision, get back on track right away. Never have 2 bad days in a row. Getting back on track is as important as being on track in the first place.

Have a family. Sure, when you’re young explore and date and see what you like and enjoy. Communicate, it’s all we have humans. Find a partner you can be honest with. Monogamy is not for everyone, and we probably didn’t evolve as men to be so. Sexual variety is important, but don’t let that stop you from committing to a person, having a wedding, and having kids. A wedding is a great opportunity to bring together a bunch of cool people to celebrate. Any opportunity to do that is good, celebrate everything, if nothing else, life.

How you communicate is important. Don’t just say what you think, craft what you say such that the other person will understand. Do to others as they want done to them, not as you want done to you. How you want to be treated may not be how they want, so understand how others, including your partner, want to be treated and treat them that way.

Be fit, be active, spend lots of time outdoors. Play a sport, do yoga, pump iron, run. The stronger your body, the better you think, the more energy you have, and the more motivation you tend to have. All good things in life come from having the energy to capture them, so being physically fit is vitally important. The mind and the body are one. Avoid steroids and focus on being strong, fast, and fit, not just looking strong.

Spend below your means. Making money and keeping money are 2 different skills. You can lose money faster than you can make it, so make wise decisions. Never invest into things you don’t understand, it’s a sure way to lose money. If you spend below your means, you’ll have a surplus. Invest the surplus and use it to help others.

Helping others is a tricky issue. You can’t just give money to someone and expect it to be better. Give a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish. But, having the resources to help when one needs it or when an opportunity arises is useful, and gives a peace of mind. Study the effective altruism movement – people like Peter Singer were interesting to study. GiveWell.org, and Kiva.org are organizations I’ve supported for years.

Study philosophy, and the various kinds that interest you. The study of what is, the study of knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, moral philosophy. What is right and wrong. It is a fascinating discussion that will help you throughout life make decisions that align with your morals. But the first step is discovering your own morals, so studying moral philosophy is vital.

Write. Put your ideas onto paper and get them out of your mind. The sheer act of writing makes your mind come up with more ideas. Write about anything you want.

Focus and capture energy when it is there. Sometimes you’ll be motivated and sometimes you won’t, that is normal. When you have the motivation, or the ideas, do the act and build the thing or write the article or utilize the motivation. It is normal for it to come in waves and in seasons, and when it is there, use it.

Having downtime is as important as working. People think of downtime as a waste but downtime is where ideas are formed, it’s where your mind processes what is has taken in, and it is where you become creative. Downtime is some of the most important time in life to think and recharge.

Start the day with a glass of water next to the bed, and ideally get out into the sun not long after waking up. It gets your body and mind ready for the day and helps you sleep better at night.

Live diligently. Figure out what you want to do and deliberately go for it. Looking for a partner? Date, and get better at it. Want to make friends? Study how to improve. Want to start a business? Start building and learning how the best do it. While life can’t be controlled fully, we can certainly change how we behave, where we live, what we pay our attention to, who we spend time with, how we learn, what we work on, and how we work. These decisions are the most important decisions of our lives, because they are our lives. Our life is what we do. Our life is how we think. Our life is how we live.

Build and create things. Anything. Could be a business, a piece of art, a new shop or store, a website. Humans learn by doing and creating is where fulfillment and satisfaction come from. We evolved to create so ensure throughout life, you’re creating and building stuff often.

Be reliable. Always show up on time, Being late means you’re wasting other peoples time. Don’t waste others peoples time. When you say you’re going to do something, do it. Reliability is a human trait that will serve you well over time. On the same token, avoid people who aren’t reliable, or who waste your time.

The traits that plague many people are envy and resentment. Wish everyone you meet, especially the people closest to you, the very best. When people around you succeed, wish them well. Life is better when the people around you succeed. And when you’re treated poorly or unfairly, move on and avoid any further suffering.

Never underestimate the value of a solid night of sleep. You can go to bed feeling one way and wake up feeling another. Sleep a lot. Sleep is foundationally important to the body and mind, and it not only makes life longer, it makes it better. Avoid having 2 days in a row of poor sleep. If you sleep poorly one night, ensure the next night you sleep well.

The modern era is full of distraction. Ensure you’re consciously choosing where you pay attention and what you pay attention to. If you aren’t aware and deliberate in choosing, your attention will be chosen for you and you’ll end up spending your attention on stuff that doesn’t matter or isn’t important. Focusing and choosing what you pay attention to vital in the age of abundance of everything.

Opportunity favors the prepared. Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they come. This could be in finding a partner, a friend, capturing a business opportunity, or simply having the freedom to go somewhere when you get invited.

Take action. Action is where all possibilities lie. You never know until you try, and action produces information. Action is also where you learn, come up with more ideas, and gain insight into what happens. Always bias toward action.

And move fast, time goes by quick. Don’t wait for someday. 1 week is 2% of the year.

Be grateful, express gratitude often. Reflect on who brought you your food, who cooked it, who served it, where it came from. Reflect on the efforts of people who host parties, drive your taxi, or clean the building you’re in. The more you’re aware of how lucky you are, the more grateful you’ll be. Say thank you to people always when they help, serve, or are kind to you. You can’t say it too much, but you can not say it enough.

Spend time in nature. It is how we evolved, to be out in fresh air, surrounded by green plants, in a quiet, beautiful landscape. The Japanese have a term “forest bathing” for therapeutic relaxation. Never underestimate how important being in nature is to recharge, think, and relax. The mind enjoys it, so prioritize time in nature often.

Pay attention to the little things, always, And the little sensations. Taste every bite fully and observe the feeling. Observe tiny insects walking around in detail, observe buildings and discover how they were built. Visit beautiful architecture and see how it makes you feel inside. So much of life is observing in more detail, there is fascination to be found in everything.

Life is a journey, and you learn a lot by simply being. All the best things take time, and often longer than you think. Constantly be working to get better and improve at every part of life, that is what life is about. It is a gift to be, to fall in love, to have friends, to eat amazing food and see amazing places. Most importantly, enjoy the ride.

I wish you luck and an amazing life, it’s a privilege to have you as my son,

Dad

June 24, 2024 / 0 Comments

Becoming a Dad

Note: This post captures my best effort to convey my current perspective on having a kid, and how it affects my mind, perspective, and life at this time. June – 2024

The goal for 2023 was to get a baby in the oven. It is a strange feeling to do the act knowing that you’re doing it with intention to actually reproduce, and not just the joy of having sex that usually accommodates the action.

When I was in my 20’s, I was confident I didn’t want to have kids or get married. I didn’t see the point. But I knew approximately every 4 years my mindset on most things has changed, and ever since I was 14 or so, and this has held true even today as a 35 year old. As a result, I hold feelings, perspectives, and opinions less strongly than I did before, and always keep an open mind to the possibility of my mind changing on anything.

It is good to do it not only to prevent becoming stubborn, but to be open to change, something most people should strive to do more. And as we age, we obviously change as we have more perspective on life, and more experience of existence.

Before getting pregnant, the entire focus was on how do we maximize the chances of it happening. The average couple today takes 6-12 months. As soon as the pregnancy tests positive, our focus quickly shifted from trying to make it happen to then ensuring that it goes as smooth as possible to produce healthy offspring. It is interesting how quickly that shift happens. One step at a time.

As things progress, and you can hear the heartbeat, it changes you in profound ways. The best way I can describe it is the actualization of something. It’s one thing to imagine a friend dying, it’s another to actually experience it. It’s one thing to imagine flying somewhere on vacation and having a life changing experience, it’s another to actual experience it. Many things in life are like this, the actualization changes you in ways that can’t be actualized without experiencing the event itself.

Having a kid is the most profound of any of these experiences, and one that we’re supposed to have. It changes you in overwhelmingly positive ways. It is surreal to first hear the heart beat of life you’re creating that is 50% you, living inside of your partners body. It is your partner, and your partner is it. It then develops eyes, lungs, a heart, and countless blood vessels, all at the direction of the DNA, the mother just has to eat and the miracle of life works its magic. It is hard to fathom how experiencing this changes you.

It is generally true that if we live within our evolutionary instincts, life is better. Our bodies and minds evolved for billions of years to work in precise ways. For example:

Health – you have to be active and outside or else your body weakens, you feel terrible, and you become frail.
Sleep – sleep with the sun and you live longer, have more energy, and are more aware of the experience of life as more neurons fire.
Social – we’re social primates and need friends, if you’re lonely it slowly kills you and you feel horrible.
Diet – we need real whole foods or we get diseases that kill us.
Sunlight – simply being outside in nature is vital to the mind and the body, and without it, you feel worse.

Mating and reproduction are also perhaps half of that pie of the core evolutionary requirements. Not reproducing is like eating an unhealthy diet, neglecting your health, rarely getting sunlight, or sleeping poorly, you’re living way outside the bounds of what we evolved to do. How this affects our mind can’t be overstated – for both men and women. I don’t think as humans we can understand how much it affects us if we don’t do it, but you can certainly feel the positive effect if you do.

You can speculate and imagine, but without the actualization, you’ll never know. The effect is profound and life changing.

If you observe pretty much all life on earth, animals are born, spend virtually all of their life eating and mating, then reproducing before dying. The eating is a massive part of their lives, as is the mating part of life, as well as the raising the young. The raising the young is vital not only to the survival of the species, but what it teaches the elders about their own lives. Humans are no different. We’re born, our parents spend 18 years preparing us for life, and then we venture on our own, to then reproduce. That experience is core to who we are humans at the most fundamental level. And for all of human history, it was normal to have 5+ children, without question.

But in just the last 50 years or so, something radical has changed. Birth rates are rapidly declining and fertility rates are falling off a cliff in all of the western, developed world. Why is a very interesting and important question to ponder, but for a later article.

If we don’t reproduce, we have a gaping hole in our existence, one that is impossible to over exaggerate, and it is only an illusion to fill it. Throughout history, if you didn’t reproduce, it was because you had some deformation that prevented the possibility, or you were unlucky to find a partner to reproduce with – both which were incredibly rare. In modern day, most are choosing not to reproduce for a number of reasons. It is a radical and abrupt shift.

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Is it that our society has shifted from about the group and others to about us? The 2 most common arguments I hear about not wanting children is the cost and the time. Cost is a fair point, though the same people who often mention cost are the same people who fly for vacations regularly or have the luxury to purchase a new car or house. Cost was rarely preventative in history because family was so important – it was the most important thing – more important than anything else. Today though, prices are higher and we expect more luxury in our western lives. In some sense, we take for granted how normalized luxury has become – even the poorest in the US on welfare still have TVs, air conditioning, and other luxuries that kings didn’t have 100 years ago. It is up to each couple to decide what is best for them and their budget, and what their priorities are.

The second point about freedom is certainly valid, but also selfish in that it implies my time is best spent doing something else. In fact, your time is likely best spent doing nothing more than having a child. Again, the basis of our existence isn’t just about creating life for the next generation, it is about discovering ourselves, learning through our children’s eyes, having responsibility, and the actualization of it all that changes us in remarkable ways, remarkably positive ways. I’d venture to say that having kids would make almost everyone better off, contrary to what they already currently believe.

The third part is that we’re social primates. Social proof is a real and valid phenomena. If we see a lot of people watching something, looking at something, or going to a place, we therefore are more likely to go and do the same thing. On the same token, if most people are not having kids, the default for us is to not have kids. It goes against the grain and going against the group is hard. Since we’re social primates, we evolved to do what the group does. If the group is misled, so are we.

Society often behaves in ways that I disagree with, and likely you as well. Overcoming the group instinct in modern day and really thinking independently about what is important and what you want to do is vital. I think society has this point quite wrong, and most people would be far better off with children. Society would be better off.

There is also a strong connotation that life is over when you have a kid in the sense that all the stuff you did before you can’t do anymore because you have a family. In fact, the opposite is true, life just begins. As mentioned, there is so much to learn about yourself, life, your family, your friends, and just experience from being a parent. Again, it is core to being human as food is to us. We need it, it is part of us, and without out, there is something missing deeply.

People also think they will lose freedom. Sure, you give up some of your time to raise your child. With that said, I’m confident I’ll still do whatever activities I desire, whether that be traveling, exploring the ocean, hiking, socializing with friends, or building a business. Priorities do shift but that is the point. Make priorities or know what is most important in life. And also on that point, I feel more motivated than ever to build and create It’s all about discovering that balance, seeing how you feel, and setting your priorities. I have no idea what the future holds, but what I’m saying here is my experience on this journey so far.

It’s now normal to not have children. As a result, I look around and notice we’re almost alone on this journey as very few of the people we know have any children. Is it overcoming that tough decision of going against the crowd? Is it being ill-informed about the importance of family on our livelihood and becoming a flourishing human? Or is it that we’ve become such a selfish modern society that we don’t care about creating and shaping the next generation? I’m not sure, all I can do is convey thoughts and make the decisions that I think are best for answering the question of how to live a good life.

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Like most hard decisions in life, there is doubt, and uncertainty. Most avoid making tough decisions because they are tough. But, we have this life and we can’t wait around forever. Think independently about it. Not an easy choice but a necessary choice. You never know the feeling until you try. All I can convey from this moment is what it has been like for me and why I went about it.

Every hour throughout the day, I have a clear realization that “wow, I’m going to be a dad and Kemji is going to be a mom”. It is a big responsibility, but a responsibility that I’m ready, confident and eager to learn, and excited to experience. In my 20’s I was a seeker of ultimate freedom – freedom to do anything I wanted anytime I wanted.

But as I’ve grown into my mid-30’s, I desire responsibility. Responsibility is not only deeply rewarding, it creates balance, and responsibility also often means you’re serving beyond yourself. My motivation to wake up each day and build, create, share, and learn is largely driven by the impact I want to have on the people around me. Many people in life now rely on me, I need to ensure I keep the foundation stable and don’t mess it up. I want to use the position I’m in, seize the opportunity fully, and have the greatest impact I can doing it. The world needs more people doing this, now more than ever.

Life is a gift. It is precious, and it is truly a miracle to exist at all. I’m grateful to my parents for creating me, and if I can be any part of giving that to someone else, I will.

I will say, it has been way more exciting than expected and gives us something profound to look forward to. It comes up many times a day, and is the last thing you think about when you sleep. It’s truly remarkable to think about, creating life.

As humans we evolved to create. As men especially, I think we evolved to create and provide, and if we don’t, we lack it. Life is the ultimate form of creating – having a child. It changes you in ways that can’t be put into words.

The easiest way to see the perspective now and describe it is that as humans, we evolved to reproduce. It is at the deepest core of life as we know it. If you don’t reproduce and go through the act of creating, see the baby grow, be born, and raise them, it leaves a gaping hole in your existence and leaves a fundamental stage of the development of life missing.

Adoption

Many people decide to adopt, which is certainly a net positive to life. And likely you can love a child you adopt as much as yours, but love is a hard thing to measure in quantity. I will say that the experience of conception, hearing the first heartbeat, watching it grow in the stomach and interacting with it from the outside changes you in profound ways. Ways that I’ve tried my best to describe here. I’ll have to write a post after he is born to convey how that changes me, but so far the first 8 months since conception has been overwhelmingly exciting, positive, and it’s hard to imagine life without doing it. I wish everyone the best, nonetheless, on our journey of creating life and raising the young in the future of humanity that lives on long after us.

In addition to what I wrote above, these are the big changes I’ve noticed/felt, explaining in words to the best of my ability:

I’ve learned so much about myself, my relationship to Kemji, and my relationship to simply, life.
I’ve noticed and balanced emotions better – When you have an argument with your partner normally, it can get heated, it is human nature. When your wife is now pregnant and having extreme increases in hCG, estrogen and pro-estrogen, it means the man needs to be calm and empathize with those emotions that she can’t help. As a result, the man improves his ability to listen, communicate, and react. I’ve certainly noticed this in myself, which has been massively positive.
The feeling of seeing life come to be can’t be exaggerated and is difficult to describe. Hearing the heart beat, see a human grow, and react to your voice is remarkable, magical. And knowing that it was created by 50% you brings sheer joy to life.
Thoughts leading up to having a kid – doubt, uncertainty, unknowns, responsibility, but a confidence that it can be done and is part of the journey of life. Now the thoughts are that it is becoming very real in the next month, and it gives me such a feeling of responsibility outside of myself and the need to take better care of myself and become a leader to my son.
The future – legacy, meaning, purpose, responsibility, intention, direction – all of the above a child brings. More than anything, it is a massive part of life to simply look forward to, a journey and a mission, and a new sense of being to perform at your highest level.
Others – I hasn’t considered this but it has now become apparent not only the joy our son has created for us so far, but also the joy he’s brought to my mom and brothers, but to Kemji’s mom and family. Having a kid isn’t just about you, there is nothing more an older parent would rather become than a grandma or grandpa. It’s core to our existence as elders to see the new generation flourishing. I hope when I’m older I get to experience the same.

This experience also helps create balance, because you have intention to improve your health, your fitness, your diet, and your mind. This reason to improve is important, because you want to do the best you can.

Each morning we wake up and listen to him. Each night we say goodnight to him. We deeply look forward to seeing him grow and welcome him to life.

Kemji is now 37 weeks pregnant, so in about 1-3 weeks Andrew will come into the world. The experience you go through as a human to create life is something that can’t be explained, it can only be felt, but this is my best effort at putting into words. It is at the deepest core of the human existence, and it changes in in ways that are profound and indescribable, as I’ve repeated here. Again, only 8 months into the journey and I already feel it, a feeling where it is hard to imagine otherwise. It’s like seeing the light on the other side, I had no idea what I was getting myself into but it has been a joy.

While our son Andrew hasn’t yet been born, the 8 months so far creating him has been nothing shy of magical. I’m convinced at this point that most people would be far better off, far more fulfilled, and life would be far more exciting by having children, contrary to what the masses think and imagine. At the end of the day, to each is their own given their own perspective, understanding, and expectation of what life should be. When I ask the question “how to live a good life?”, no doubt having a family has to be one of the top suggestions.

This purpose of this post was to do my best to share my current views, and advocate more people to join the journey. Life has been an absolutely blast so far, I’ve been incredibly fortunate and blessed to be able to do what I’ve done in life so far, and I’m eternally grateful for it. At the same time, I feel like life is just beginning – I haven’t even experienced what it is like to be a parent, to grow old, and still have an incredible amount to learn, as I discover every time I talk to my elders. While I’m new to the whole parenting arena, it is way more exciting than expected, and it has made life better in every way. I’m very much looking forward to the experience.

What changed, of course, is that I had kids. Something I dreaded turned out to be wonderful. – Paul Graham

If you’d like to read Paul Graham’s excellent piece on Having Kids, check it out here.

Here’s to a great 2024 and beyond. All the best.

December 23, 2023 / 0 Comments

2023 Year in Review

2023 is already coming to an end, and it’s time for the yearly review. 2022’s year in review I got 80% finished but never published, so I will combine it into this 2023 year in review.

Previous years in review here:

2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

2023 Summary:

Got married in early January, and my family came out to visit for the first time.
In February we did our annual skiing trip to Niseko in Japan which was incredible. Perhaps the best ski trip I’ve ever had.
In March/April, we were in Phuket working on finishing our house (2 years in the making), and we hosted a few friends for Songkran (Thai New Year)
In May we were in the USA for a few weeks visiting family (had a great party with Uncle Tim and had a couple fun nights gambling in Blackhawk), and in early June we flew from the USA to Paris (France), took a train to Cologne (Germany), and then a train to Munich to spend a couple days at Therme Erding.
We were back to Bangkok in June, got caught up on work, fitness, etc.
In July we visited Nan province to visit Kemji’s family up there. From there we flew back to Phuket to work on the house more and relax in nature.
In August we were back in Bangkok visiting friends and catching up on work, and at the end of August I flew to the US.
I spent all of September in the US solo, going to concerts (seeing Frank Turner at the Stanley), going bear hunting with Austin, going to Steamboat Springs with Tim/Karla, and attending Richie’s wedding up near Lyons, Colorado. Was also in Blackhawk for 2 nights with John/mom and thoroughly enjoyed it. Also saw the Counting Crows at Red Rocks.
In early October before heading back to Asia, Renae, mom, and I went to a beer festival in Evergreen, and then saw Gaslight Anthem with John, Scott, and crew the night before departing back to Thailand.
I spent 2 weeks in Bangkok getting settled back in before heading to Phuket to get a new couch delivered in the second half of October. I also attended the vegetarian festival with Steve for the first time finally which people do piercings and push needles and knifes through their skin – it is pretty wild, google “Phuket Vegetarian Festival”. It is worth seeing in person.
At the end of October, Kemji’s parents came to stay with us in the house in Phuket for the first time, and also took them out on a boat around Pha Nga Bay with Aaron and Lenny. It was an excellent trip.
In November headed back to Bangkok, played with VR games at Emquartier, met up with Josh/Shampoo and their new baby, and attended the Bangkok Light Festival at RCA.
In the middle of November we flew to Koh Phangan with 10 other friends to stay in an incredible villa as a group. It was an excellent retreat organized by Chris with a great sauna, cold plunge, and gym in a remote part of the island. I hardly left for 10 days, and it was productive and relaxing.
From there we went back to Phuket and I competed in the Spartan Asian Championship nearby our house there with Gabe and Lenny. It was a fun challenge and 80 minutes of effort but a lot of room to improve in 2024. A week later in early December I attended the Cannabis Festival at Blue Tree to see the latest in the industry
In early December we were back in Bangkok for a checkup and some business, and currently it’s December 22nd and I’m back in Phuket at our house writing this report. In 2 days we have 11 friends visiting and we’re hosting a Christmas Party and will be here through the New Year. It’s been a busy, but fun and fulfilling year.