A Post for the Post

I am putting up a post, for the sake of the post. Will this count as a blog note? Probably not. Well, I guess it would since I’m posting it anyways. By the way, what the ef is a blog note? I just made it up.

I’m trying this new idea of free writing on a day to day basis. I normally hand write in a journal, but today I’ll be trying it out on the computer. The hardest thing about freeform writing on a computer, for me personally, is that making corrections is so easy. You just hit the delete button and voila, everything is a blank new slate. And, my mind just jumps everywhere so i can write about anything and quite quickly. Like just now, I’m not even sure what exactly I am writing about, what the subject is, or more, what the point of this is, but i’m just writing. It makes no sense, but I suppose this is what my mind sounds like if someone were to be listening somewhere.

As my funemployment continues on, I’ve realized that I’m anxious about something even though I have nothing to be anxious about. It seems like worries really never go away. In fact, it seems that worries, concerns, responsibilities, etc. are all what make up this thing we are in called “life.” How unfortunate. No, that’s not right. How FORTUNATE. All the things that we think about, that we care about, that we give a fuck about, are the things that make up your life. Your day to day, your plans, your friends, conversations, thoughts… these become your memories. And memories, in the end, is just life. Right? Maybe this makes sense, maybe this doesn’t.

Maybe I come back in a year and read this and wonder how could I write and publish this openly for anyone to read? But for real, let’s be honest, James. You don’t have to worry about that. Who cares if someone reads this and thinks “wow, your writing sucks.” Because honestly, you’ve been writing for a very short period of time, and even more honestly, who gives a fuck what that person thinks? If I’m learning anything as I get older, I’m learning that everyone has their own opinion, and mine’s the most important to me.

Ugh, I just erased a lot of my own writing when I pressed the back button too often. Oh well.

There Is No Spoon

It always annoyed me when I got some philosophical bullshit “there is no spoon” response to any question. What the hell is that supposed to mean anyways? That the world is actually not real and we’re all plugged into a machine imagining a bending spoon?

Yes, I learned eventually that the boy was trying to tell Neo that everything was in the mind. It was easy for me to nod my head along in agreement saying “oh yeah, totally. Everything is the mind. It all makes sense now.” But really, it didn’t make any sense to me.

That’s why I came back from my Southeast Asia trip wondering why everything felt exactly the same. My San Francisco world didn’t change at all while I was gone. And finally, months later, it clicked. I was still holding onto a damn spoon. I was expecting to return with a complete different view on the world, a deeper understanding that “there is no spoon.”

But really, now, I get that to understand this phrase, it’s a perspective change. It really is in the mind. I left hoping, wishing, praying that I’d have this miraculous perspective change when my head wasn’t willing to change at all. No matter how differently I wanted to view something, it was still my same mind processing everything.

I’m blabbing, this is very long winded, so I’m just going to stop for today. This is the beauty of writing for myself. This isn’t making any more sense to me, therefore, it must really be confusing for you. Let’s try again tomorrow.

Money Retirement

My last day at ChimpChange was today, on April 1st, 2019. I’ve also decided to go into what I”m going to call Money Retirement. I retire from money. I’m done looking for jobs for the sake of cash. I’m tired of working for money. I’m going to redefine what a “job” is to me, and what “working” means to me. I made a quick post about this on Instagram.

To be clear, I’m not entering retirement. I’m so far away from not needing money. My attitude is just going to be different moving forward. I’ll work again, and I’ll definitely have a job again. It’ll just be coming in from a totally different perspective. A “job” will no longer have the same definition to me, and “working” won’t ever be the same.

My Own Path

I just gave my 1 month notice to my employer. I feel great. I am on cloud 9. I have nothing planned for the future. In the last couple months I thought I would move to Singapore, Australia, Vietnam, San Francisco, Chicago, or DC. I also thought I’d hike the Pacific Coast Trail. I thought I’d just travel for a few months.

Almost everyone told me to find a job before I quit. That i’d be even more stressed without having anything lined up. And yes, that is true. In fact, I think the most important thing to remember here is that no matter how happy or relieved I feel now, there will come a time when I am just as miserable as I was yesterday.

Such is life. Life is sorrowful and leads to disorder if left to its own devices. Which is odd, since in order for life to start, there needed to be atoms that randomly decided to organize themselves to create the first cell. And those cells had to merge to eventually become the first organism. Strange, eh?

I’m leaving this job on my own terms. My entire life, I’ve gotten input for every major decision I’ve made. And I made them without thinking about the most important thing. What do I want to do and will it make me happy? Moving forward, I will make decisions with my input being the highest value. And if it goes south, then I will deal with it. If it goes north, then I will deal with it. Life will continue moving whether you’re going with the current, against the current, or slumped underwater begging for it all to stop.

Living is not easy. At all. As I was growing up, I thought it was supposed to get easier. When i’m considered cool and have lots of friends. When I get a job. When I get promoted. When I make more money. When I manage a team. After I travel. After I find a girlfriend. After I move to some new city.

It never got easier. It only got worse. I was fighting battles for all the wrong reasons… for what society and culture have trained me to think was being successful.

Not anymore. Everything I’ve done has lead me to this point and I accept that. This was my fate, if you will. Every decision I made, right or wrong, I did it and it brought me here. To this very moment of writing some long ass blog that maybe a few people will read.

I quit living life for others and being consumed by what others think. I’m going to start finding out what it means to live for myself. And if I have to start by quitting and being an unemployed 35 year old single guy having no idea who he is, then so be it. Amor fati, my friends. I’m moving outside my well. (HA, you like that plug???)

Remakes and Reboots

I was walking to work today and saw a billboard for the remake of Dumbo. It feels that most mainstream movies are remakes or reboots of older movies. Got me wondering if we as a society are just stuck in the past.

I’m definitely stuck in the past. My past failures and screw ups. I’m moving on from the past. I don’t know how, but i’m going to figure it out.

Fantasy Baseball and Self Confidence – written 2017.04.02

I had lunch today at an Indian restaurant in Aonang Krabi. My server, Anon, who I pegged as the owner, took my order. I first ordered the butter chicken and then asked about the chicken tawa. He said, “I suggest you order the tawa. You will absolutely love it.” And he was right. I absoluately enjoyed the meal.

I began to wonder how he stated so matter of factly that I would like the chicken tawa dish. It’s very similar to butter chicken, so I think that could be a good reason. But how could he recommend it with such confidence. When I worked as a server, I don’t think I have ever recommended any dish the way he did. What if a dish I recommended ends up not being good that day? What if the customer does not like it?

I’ve been thinking a lot about self confidence during this trip. I’ve come to realize that I truly lack it. I don’t know how to accept any type of compliments and most of the time, I inwardly wonder if their comment is even true. I want to become confident in myself, in a humble manner. I dislike arrogance and I was once told that my head was too big. Maybe it started an internal struggle to understanding what the difference was between being confident in oneself and being an arrogant ass.

Anyways, self confidence came into play during this year’s fantasy baseball draft. Over the last 4 or 5 years, one of my big rules was to never overreach for any player. I want to be fairly close to each player’s average draft position. I figure that’s the safest way to get the best value during the draft. So I never reached for players, even if I really liked them. I wondered however, why I never felt strong enough to pick a player ahead of their ADP. If I was confident in what the player could do during the season, shouldn’t their draft position be much higher than what others think? This lead me to realize that I’m not confident in my knowledge of fantasy baseball to have a strong opinion on anyone. Hence why I never really take risks during drafts. I know there is no close correlation to fantasy baseball and reality, but for me, this analogy made some sense.

This year, without even realizing, I decided to forget my ADP method and pick up players I thought would do well even if it meant having to reach for them ahead of their ADP. I ended the draft feeling horrible. I got players I liked, but my team looks horrible. I’m already thinking I’ll have to fight to not be last place. Since I was drafting in Southeast Asia, the draft was in the morning, so I had all day to critique my draft. This was the first time I had thrown ADP out the window and reached for players multiple rounds ahead of where I’d normally draft them. I was more anxious this draft than in previous years. I was putting confidence in the research I had done ahead of time to the ultimate test. Next year, I need to somehow evaluate the players in my own way (not listening to just fantasy experts online) and come up with a better drafting strategy.

I know that building a fantasy baseball team is not really a big way to increase, or maybe even analyze, one’s self confidence, but I thought it was an interesting analysis about myself. I actually am not sure how to build self confidence, but I’m going to start off with fantasy baseball. Because what’s the worst that can happen? I lose in fantasy? Better here than in reality.

In the meantime, we’ll see how this season goes. Maybe I’ll somehow get a boost of confidence in six months.

EDIT and posted on 2019.01.30. In the 2017 season, I finished 6th place with a 10-12 record. I was given the “most unlucky team” of the year award. I should feel great about this result considering how I thought I didn’t draft well at all. Shrug.

Living in My Pond

I’ve been living in my pond my entire life. Sure, there were other ponds that I visited. They were close by, but I could always return to my own. You could say, I lived in a community of ponds. It was comfortable, easy, and best of all, direction was given to me by everyone else that lived in the network of ponds.

I’ve just realized I’ve been living in my pond my entire life. The same pond. And it doesn’t fit me anymore. It’s time to get out and see what else is out there. I’m afraid of leaving. What if I never make it back? What if there’s no where else to go? Maybe that’s the point of life. To go out to different ponds and see what else is out there. It’s time.

Purpose

I just sit here, hoping, wanting to find something that is meaningful for me. I have a cushy job at the moment. I have had one for several months now. What have I accomplished during that time? Nothing that is meaningful. Nothing that makes me proud. Nothing that took my blood and sweat to build. Nothing to call my own. I changed nothing of myself during the last several months and I complain that nothing is getting better. I am doing that to myself. Aim to do something, anything, by the end of January. By the end of January, I will have completed Tallgeese.

That is my purpose for this month.