Gathering thoughts…
A world of little thoughts.
Starting a company feels like creating a conspiracy against the world. Few people understand why you're doing it. Many question your decision making. Some feel their own values being challenged. My cofounder has mentioned that "time is the enemy" -- that we need to get our product launched faster and get to revenue…
My friend Rahul and I recently exchanged messages praising the 1977 Fleetwood Mac album Rumours, particularly Lindsey Buckingham's gorgeous guitar in Never Going Back Again. Which reminded me of how I started building my CD collection. It was 1989 and I'd just arrived in New York as a student with no cash to spare. I…
In December 2022, I chose the word ’connect’ as my word of the year for 2023. I want to connect with people in person and on social media. I want to connect with others through my writing and connect my actions to my purpose. Connecting on social media requires: Showing up daily to post content. Responding to comments…
I scored 11 out of 11 here. This has been, I suppose, the greatest source of psychic pain. It’s hard to cope, when you’re constantly reminded that the way your mind works is a mess. There are benefits to this psychic disorganization, it just takes some time and understanding to accept the benefits. I’ve accused myself…
When you sit and stop listening to your cravings, stop giving in to your aversions, stop following the “should”s, just sit, eventually you realize: wanting isn’t craving. they’re not even similar. A common response to “What if you just did whatever you want all the time?” is “Oh, I’d just get fat and play video…
I am realizing that storytelling is a soft skill that I should have learnt early in my career. Storytelling is one craft that gives a positive spin to the most useless work. It can also turn the most beautiful work into a hot garbage.
Age is just a number Remember you can be young By being in your own skin Treat funny stuffs as funny stuffs Try to light up mood Your job would literally affect who you are as a person Comparing your engineering job to jobs in sales Environment are more light hearted But don’t get affected by your environment Think…
The “future of work” is often imagined as a sudden rupture, a world where digitization, artificial intelligence and automation replace jobs overnight. Yet in developing economies such as Indonesia, the shifts seem less like a single break and more like a series of overlapping transitions— technological, social, and…
Why are we so willing to change things like our cars or kitchens, yet so reluctant to change our deeply held beliefs or opinions?
Lately, everything seems a bit blurry. Too many thoughts. Too many feelings. A mix of the two and it's a mess. I'd wish to not feel, but being on a perpetual high, due to the pill-popping, makes me feel emptier than usual. The emptiness engulfs me, leaving me completely bare and broken. I've been feeling like this for…
Primeiro: eu assino a news de uma pessoa chamada Lalai Person. Foi por conta dela que eu achei esse nicheless e também revivi a vontade de morar na Alemanha, que parece um país bem quadrado no quesito regras (leva multa de 5 euros se atravessar o sinal fechado e as pessoas não estão sempre correndo na escada rolante,…
Recentemente a minha vida mudou. De forma irremediável. Passei os sete dias mais difíceis do ano, com camadas do meu ego caindo como se fossem peles de cobra. Sem escapatória. Elas tinham que cair pra eu continuar rastejando por aí. A velocidade foi incomum. Em sete dias, devo ter mudado de pele e descoberto uma nova…
Giving a gift or receiving one is so complex, right? One never quite knows what someone would like. We're grappling with how useful, grand, meaningful, or liked a gift will be. The anxiety around a good gift never ends because, for the one giving, it is a matter of 'how well did I do?'. For the one receiving it, there…
For five years, I had a hectic commute to and from college. I have used Mumbai locals for all of those five years because it was the fastest mode of transport. Conveniently, after I graduated, I did jobs that didn't require a commute that would tire me. However, I just started working at a new job and anticipate some…
Elon Musk said: "Love is the way, no matter what." For a man with four wives and twelve children, it may seem easy to say such a thing, but after giving it solid thought, he is true. Love is an intrinsic craving for every individual; if you were to ask anyone, they would undoubtedly recount their experiences with…
I am a shelf builder who displays my creativity, in my areas of practice, on my shelves. Recently, friend, Marlon, shared about the three domains in creativity - corporeal, hermeneutic, analytical - where Christian Julmi unpacks Hermann Schmitz's phenomenological approach. In the same conversation, Marlon and I…
There is an attraction in Disneyworld´s Magic Kingdom very few people take any time to visit. It´s called the Swiss Family Treehouse, a steel and concrete-tree based on a 1960´s film, The Swiss Family Robinson. In the film, a Swiss family ends up stranded on a desert island after their ship is attacked by pirates and…
You need someone you can tell everything. I share with my friends. They know a lot about me, but they don’t know everything. You can tell your journal everything. This essay and the next are examples of how I use my journals as a best friend. You may be surprised when your journal gives you an answer. I often clear my…
Twenty-four years ago, I had a great idea. I started a journal to record my sons' actions and words. Sometimes I look back at old photos and wonder about the details behind the picture taken. A written record provides even more details. My great idea lasted about eight months. Then nothing. Now I am writing and…
Imagine yourself inside one of many sections - zoom the screen - you see small circles of “players” Life is literally a series of choices in a game You feeling anxiety (thinking yourself not doing the right things); And not thinking because you have no one to compare to ie comfort zone But once you know about “there’s…
It’s kinda a different feeling living without social media. It wouldn’t be this way if I hadn’t tried it for years. All my adult life was spent before a screen waiting for approval. Now I just sit in front of it.
It is difficult to really 'enjoy' coffee at home. Compare having coffee at home v/s having coffee in a cafe. The latter is always a more enriching experience. Why? Expectations and context-setting. You go to a cafe and see people enjoying coffee. You keep your phone on the side, take a sip and actually 'feel' what…
Getting home from work and being in a kitchen all day it makes you realize how much more you want that dream to work. Cooking it’s cool it’s fun and creative but to be doing all day? Not that cool. . . Need to hyper focus more on the dream/goal
After burning all my codex free tokens last night i had a thought. I think vibe coding is the same as scrolling Instagram reels or Reddit threads. There is a feeling of anticipation of how the result of the agent will be and what if it makes our project fast like a slot machine which engage our brain more and more…
Reflecting on the experiment of writing every day for more than a month, I can say that, at first, like any other challenge in life, it seemed daunting. You doubt yourself and are scared of all the "what ifs" that could happen. The first days are probably the hardest; there is a change in your life, and you're not…
hard to accept, but a lot of what we believe is placebo. dogmas, rules & ways of living that don't really prove themselves; but don’t hurt either. believing in them isn’t always bad – ease of mind based on false beliefs is ok. but I believe this derives from a societal disease of not practicing scientific skepticism –…
I know that "Your brAnding is mOre tHan jusT Your logo" is a tired phrase of the 21st century design world and everyone seems to be throwing it around like confetti in a feeble attempt to add depth to their content. And while I'm here to mock it with you, I'm also here to be a party pooper and say it's true. Just…
i like volcanoes the same way i like indie movies and indie books: volcanoes are different from "normal" landmasses but they're also different from each other i've been on two volcanoes: Kīlauea on Hawai'i and Mt. Etna on Sicily my favorite is Mt. Etna i am curious about this one volcano in Indonesia which has "blue…
Acordei animada, mas atrasada. Coloquei meu celular pra carregar, tomei banho, tomei vitamina de banana com chocolate que meu amor fez pra mim. Atualmente, essa é minha comida favorita. Fui pro aeroporto de ônibus acompanhada do meu amor. Fico tão feliz de ver o quanto ele me apoia. O avião atrasou bem. Mas finalmente…
What if what I thought was wrong My perspective aren’t the right one The thought process is not the strongest one How do I forge it within myself To have intelligence I need to be hardworking and keep thinking on it Work on the details Been too lazy to think And that becomes a habit Even the type of bikes, the roads,…
Coisas que eu adoro pudim quente pudim gelado pudim com bastante calda abrir leite condensado para fazer pudim fazer calda do pudim ligar o forno sabendo que ali vai um pudim esquentar água pro banho maria do pudim bater a massa do pudim no liquidificador tirar o pudim do forno e esperar esfriar colocar o pudim na…
after coming back from indonesia, and having thoroughly enjoyed the people there, i feel WEIRDLY more /japanese/ than ever (having no japanese heritage whatsoever) what i mean is that the "weird" desires arising in the hearts of a people who have been increasingly burdened by capitalistic demand, materialistic…
Hola lector, lectora! El día lunes 14 de mayo 2023, tuve una reunión con mis cofounders Alexis y Luis para determinar el rumbo de Fonogram y de otros proyectos paralelos que teníamos corriendo en la compañía. Decidimos poner pausa a algunos proyectos y los guardamos en "el cajón de los buenos proyectos" que es un…
(original: 2009 April 18) in memory of jengyee: april 27 tree planting at Cal for the tree planting ceremony ... To commemorate Jengyee's lasting devotion to Cal, a beautiful California live oak tree will be planted on campus just south of Etcheverry Hall. We cordially invite you to join us for the planting and an…
never have i actually made an elevator speech. in my past life as an insurance sales exec, we learned the art of the elevator speech--a succinct product pitch short enough to share with a stranger in an elevator. i want to believe i've honed the art of brevity in anything; i am, after all, writer of flash and micro.…
Back to writing again, as I process emotions I've been avoiding for a while. I'm determined to be consistent this time. Last week marked one year since I escaped my abusive family. When I went back home to meet my dad, I was heartbroken to see how much he has aged since the last time I saw him. Despite still loving…
I don't hate my job, but I don't love it. I've been running away all these years, jumping from one job to another and then hating myself. All because I don't have the courage nor the discipline to chase my dreams. Chasing your dreams isn't a luxury, it's hard work and requires a lot of determination. I am ready to…
I love non fiction. The Master & His Emissary by Ian McGilchrist is ideal, a fascinating study of the brain and how it works. If you are interested in creativity it’s a gold mine. Sadly I can’t say the same for fiction. Of course I SHOULD appreciate the works of great authors but impatience kicks in, pages gets…
another Saturday alone. its as if i have been jogging in place for years and year and years. maybe its time for huge change. massive uprooting of my pattern. What i desire is companionship and desire leads too suffering. perhaps what i want lies within companionship. What exactly is it about companionship is…
I was thinking whether or not I should write this post. The reason I didn't want to is simply because my opinion on this does not matter at all. The reason I did want to write this is that it can throw some light on my thought process which applies to other things in life. I'd say I'm quite pro-Elon. Simply because…
We allow phones at our dinner table. I know that’s counterintuitive coming from someone who 14 years ago, declared, ”When we are empty-nesters, we'll still have dinner table conversation.” At the time, I wasn’t worried about phones. It was magazines. Now a phone comes out almost every evening at our dinner table, for…
As I currently sit on the rooftop of my co-living community, I’m reflecting on what I’m grateful for during the past year here. One of the most beautiful experiences has been witnessing how everyone contributes something unique to the community based on what they love and who they are. I’m constantly trying to push…
Wife, after sharing second thoughts about starting a new job: "Do you think they're the kind of people who would hire a woman just because she's a woman?" Me: "Wondering whether you're the benefactor of affirmative action feels kind of gross, doesn't it?" Wife: "Ugh" I should note that the Hebrew term for that…
i may sound like a soulless creature here, but i did use to have a soul i promise - it was a garden with fragrant flowers, honeydew, some butterflies and all shades of colours. i don't know when i became a parched desert but if i am this today then i am also what i was. i am just scared, i think, of the colossal…
more than words, silence speaks harder. more than being full, emptiness makes things clear. more than always being occupied, space makes things happen. being present everywhere can make you empty from inside, people need space to fill themselves up and come back with an better understanding of who they are. Charles…
I write this at 8 AM on my birthday in one of my worst states of mind in a while. Ideally, it shouldn't have been this way. Courts have closed in Kolkata for summer holidays and I was to embark on a vacation abroad after more than two years. Only for my visa not to arrive in time. At this point, I am gutted. A while…
i hate how much i loved your laugh. i hate how lonely all of this growth feels. i hate that you never celebrated my hard work. i hate that i tried. i hate that i loved your car. i hate that i loved every bit of that part of you that made me hate myself. i hate that i stayed. i hate that i waited while your mouth…
Something I have learnt about myself. I was always confused about why I was an F in MBTI. I thought I was through and through T. I overthink all the time, don’t I? But I now realise that I’m very dependent on my feelings, and they really dictate my life. For example, I can think something, it can make a lot of…
