Insanely happy that about a month after, a month later… I caught Covid about a month ago, and now I feel good.
Weird?
So a weird thing; about a month, two months ago… For some reason maybe out of unusually abundant strength, I started randomly waking up insanely early in the morning, around 3:30 AM, 3:45 AM, 4 AM, 4:15 AM, 4:30 AM — etc.
 one of the annoying things was I don’t really know how to operate why I didn’t really know how to operate when waking up that early. Difficult to figure out what to wear in the morning when I would go on a walk because I wasn’t quite sure how cold it would be outside, what to do in the morning etc.
However eventually I fell into a certain rhythm where I would wake up super early, have a bunch of coffee at the house, think a little bit, publish some thoughts on my blog from my iPad at home, and then go on a long walk, in Culver City, from the arts District to the downtown area, and know what either voice dictate my thoughts into my iPad Pro in iA Writer, like I am doing right now, or I would just do Vlogs on my Lumix Jin camera, streaming any random thoughts on my mind. 
Then about a month ago, I caught Covid from Cindy, and for about a month, I would sleep in really long periods of time, until around 8 AM, 8:30 AM etc.… It was first good because I’d like to get the extra sleep but also bad and so far much as I no longer had the solo mornings to myself to walk think etc.
What does Covid do to you?
No no no, Covid wasn’t some elaborate hoax by Bill Gates to put 5G in your brain, or some sort of weird government conspiracy theory about putting fluoride in the water to control your mind.
Now that we got out of the way, certainly Covid does something weird to your body and your physiology, for me, in manifested as tiredness, having less vigor, changing my sleep and wake up patterns?
Before I cut Covid during that period of time, I would naturally fall asleep early around 8 PM, 9 PM latest. But then after catching Covid I would want to sleep a little bit later like 8:30 PM, 9:30 PM, 10:30 PM?
Anyways, not sure if there is some weird fake pattern seeking here, but long story short I feel pretty good, ready to conquer the Internet again.
Reset?
The other day we were able to get Cindy‘s mom to come in, babysit in for a little bit and Cindy and I went on a lovely couples massage for 90 minutes. Maybe this was a good hard reset to help me sleep better, and now, today I woke up a bit earlier again, naturally around 5:45 AM, feeling like my old self.  
Money Thinking
So something on my mind, something insanely fucking annoying.
So JP Morgan Chase seems like a bunch of gangsters; they held my money hostage, when I was trying to transfer a nominal amount, to my Coinbase crypto account, there was this bullshit fraud detection team on the back end, which is essentially a bunch of outsourced remote labor in the Philippines, who held my money hostage for almost 2 weeks, trying to “approve” it, even though I verbally and in person and in on the phone and at the bank location verified that indeed it was me, not a scammer who was trying to wire money into my Coinbase Crypto account.
I understand that it is kind of a good idea to try to prevent people from getting scammed from these crypto scams, but, I verified my goddamn Social Security number on the phone in person and online, did all the paperwork and the signing etc., and as a consequence, I missed a good market opportunity, buying bitcoin when I was only $38,000 a bitcoin, and two weeks later I had to buy it at $47,000 of bitcoin.
I’m still happy that I’m in the green, but still… It made me fucking angry because that was a lost opportunity market cost, something that probably cost me potentially at least 100,000 or $150,000 in profits.
Something that I learned about money:
it ain’t about how much money you make, or how much money you earned, or whether you take a profit or a loss… Rather, it is about how much money you think you should have made. 
Why this matters
So some thoughts:
First, growing up poor, now being rich, something that was always very confusing to me was how rich people would be so foolish when he came to money, in terms of gains. I wasn’t quite certain about this question:
If you already have $100 million, what does it matter if that $100 million becomes $200 million, $500 million, $1.5 billion, $3 billion, $5 billion, $10 billion etc.?
Then a big thing that I realized; it isn’t about how much money you make, how much you gain, what percentage you gain etc.… what seems to matter more is percentage mental hypothetical what you should have gained, not the ultimate gain itself. 
Speed?
So some thoughts:
The first one has to do is speed. My extreme fucking annoyance was I should have been able to trigger my trade at $38,000 if bitcoin, that moment, that day I wanted to do the bank wire transfer, but even bank wire transfer, Quickest is same day within 6 to 8 hours, or maybe one day, or maybe one to two business days. In the world of trading this is way too fucking slow.
Money, money moves, money trades should be done instantly, in milliseconds. Nanoseconds. Faster than you can think.
Bitcoin problems
The lightning network is a good solution for bitcoin, yet still… One of the big issues with bitcoin, when you’re trying to transfer it by it sell it or whatever… Bitcoin moves slowly.  For example, when I did a major trade from chain-link back to bitcoin, I had to wait maybe one or two hours it felt before the final bitcoin transfer was done. Having to wait is a supreme annoyance, especially when I think so quickly.
Money moving at the speed of thought?
So one investment opportunity, or one speculation that I had back in 2018 2019 was digibyte, DGB. I got the tip from investor that I met in Singapore, named being, who showed me his trading account balance on his phone, I think he was only maybe 24 years old, and logged $1 million in profits in a single year, and after talking to him, this guy was very very Wise intelligent and smart, and also knowledgeable… When he was a student at NYU in the states, as a Singaporean exchange student, he and a bunch of buddies predicted that the price of oil was to drop, not to go up post the invasion, and as a consequence he and his buddies made a shit load of money.
Anyways, he is the one who told me about digit, his visions of creating a digibyte café, where people would hang out, have coffee, and speculate on world affairs, make trades with digibyte etc.
To me the number one interesting thing about digibyte was the speed. It promised transfer speeds at least 100x or 1000X times faster than bitcoin, and at least four times faster than even Litecoin. 
The tricky thing is that Digibyte or DGB, Itself is technically worth nothing. It is just a token or a cryptocurrency or crypto token thing that you could trade quickly, in itself it has no inherent value.
I recently checked the prices out of pure curiosity, and tragically saw that it tumbled below a penny. I think when I was speculating in Digibyte, I first bought it on poloniex, later moved it to freewallet.org after it got delisted, apparently due to some sort of arguments between Jared Tate the Digibyte founder and the founder of Poloniex,,, and I think I later sold it, and transferred my money back into bitcoin when I rode it from 2 cents a digibyte to 20 cents a digibyte or something. I forget the exact numbers numbers, but I know with 100% certainty that I got at least a 10x gain out of it. 
Anyways, my current thought is this:
Fuck the banks!
JP Morgan Chase is a good bank in so far much as it is universally trusted, is ubiquitous, in America it is at least by 1000X the dominant bank. When I was a high school college student, the first checking account that I opened up was Bank of America, and later after I got married to Cindy, we mutually joined our checking and money accounts, and I ditched Bank of America to join JP Morgan Chase which was her bank, which was a good decision.
But now, after this fucking crypto wire transfer fiasco… Fuck those guys.
Permissionless?  
Once again, the thing that is so bizarre to me and makes no sense is this:
if you are trying to transfer and wire your own money, and you did it at a bank teller in person and signed all the necessary paperwork and showed your identification cards etc.… Why would J.P. Morgan Chase block your transfer, have some random people in the Philippines in the back office verify your information before making it live?
Theories:
First, JP Morgan Chase does not want money to leave her coffers. What that means is that if I transfer $125,000 out of my JP Morgan Chase checking account, and I transferred it to Coinbase or some other crypto trading platform… That is $125,000 JP Morgan has just lost to make Theoretical speculative bets with my own money.
What that means is this: the way that the banks make money with your money is that when you put your money into your checking or savings account, they use your money to make speculative bets and hedges with your own money, while promising you these nonsensical “cashback offers on your money” or credit card “points” (which is such a fucking scam).
Good energy versus bad energy
A new thing I have discovered: a lot of people who are miserable, act with a bad attitude etc., or either broke, in debt, not happy with their lives etc.
Apparently a very interesting thing I learned is that even a lot of these famous actors, in LA and beyond; are desperate to get jobs. As a consequence, they are always mulling about town,  in the second anyone ask them to be on their show or not, they instantly agree.
Even apparently a lot of these famous actors, their yearly residuals from the screen actors guild, SAG, might only be $200 a year.
Therefore, whenever somebody gives you a bad attitude or grumpy or whatever… Assume that they’re broke, in a bad living situation etc.; and don’t hate or resent them for it.
Back to the banks
So the first thing to consider is in regards to banks.
 First, I am not one of those weird crypto anarchist who wanted to demolish all the banks. Banks are good for a healthy thriving economy and society; I still feel safer having my money in a traditional bank savings account or checking account than I do  having $500,000 or $1 million stuffed in a sock drawer at home.
Second, I am a fan of Visa. Even when traveling internationally, being able to use a visa credit card or a debit card to withdraw cash or to pay for things abroad in Vietnam etc. is insanely useful, instead of going through the arduous task of always changing money.
But the big question is this; ultimately what do you want to do with your money?
Goals?
I think a big thing to consider is your goals. Your life goals your life trajectories your desires etc. The question is once you have all the money in the world, $1 million, $10 million, $100 million, $500 million, $1.5 billion in your bank account whatever… then what? 
Some thoughts:
First, devote yourself to philosophy. Philosopher last. Even great military conquerors come and go in our forgotten. For example I just watched some of the Napoleon movie, I paid for it on Apple TV, purchased it from the Apple TV shop on my iPad for 25 bucks, scrub through it really quickly, and the funny thing is this;
Even after all of the great military exploits by Napoleon, no, in the year 2024… We just think of him as a shorty guy. 
Even apparently Friedrich Nietzsche was a huge fan of Napoleon,  but now, nobody cares for Napoleon. Nobody thinks that he is great.
Who is remembered?
 Eventually, sooner or later, people trend towards philosophy. Even studying sociology was a gateway drug to philosophy. Even all of the self-help books and business books is also a road to philosophy.
Seeking greater wisdom for the sake of what?
A big philosophical thing to consider is what is the purpose or the point of wisdom. Philosophy simply means the love of wisdom. Back in the day, the term “philosopher“ was funny; it was essentially a humble way of saying that “I am not yet wise, I am not yet a sage… But I seek or I desire to become wise.”
But… Once you are wise, and you have wisdom, then what?
Wisdom as the means or the will to power?
So I have a funny philosophy: maybe wisdom is simply a means to power. That is; when people are seeking wisdom, what they are really seeking is power. What that means is the more wisdom I have, the more power I have.
However, does wisdom really equate to power? Maybe not really.
What is true power?
My personal theory is that true power is physical, physiological. Even if you had all the money in the world, even if you’re a billionaire or a 10 billionaire or 100 billionaire… If you are weak, in poor health, lacking vigor etc.… All of that money is worthless. Physiological power is the true power.
Can money help you with gaining more power?
My simple formula:
Money is good when you could use it to improve your physiological power.
For example:
- Money for a gym membership, for buying weightlifting equipment at home, using money to pay rent in the extremely desirable neighborhood where you could walk everywhere, money for fitness related things is good.
- Money for massages: now that the cost of labor is insanely expensive at least in the states; a true luxury is being able to get a massage in America, why? Getting a deep tissue massage, something that could help promote healing recovery and regeneration and regrowth and growth in general… Is an insanely great benefit. For example I think a lot; why is it that Cindy and I were both so productive while in Vietnam? My theory is that we got a massage maybe 4 to 5 days a week; getting a high massage in Vietnam maybe only cost 5 to 6 dollars USD an hour? as a consequence, having the time to get a massage was insanely recuperative and good for us. The double upside of getting a massage is that both you get a free nap, a chance to think and recover, and also, when a good masseuse can really dig very deep into your muscles and help you relax, you will sleep deeper and better, making you more powerful and productive the next day.
Time?
A big question; how does one live a happy and virtuous life in Los Angeles?
Simple: don’t drive for more than five minutes a day. 
People are shocked to hear that I don’t drive more than five minutes a day in LA. How and why? Living in Culver City Los Angeles… In the arts District… I am not a five minute drive away from the best parks, the best hiking paths, and even in the mornings, I no longer have to jump into a car; I could walk directly to downtown, voice dictate my thoughts into my iPad, think, grab a cuppa coffee at Phils, Vlog etc.
I think the big secret is an opportunity cost thing ; even if it is a 15 minute drive to go to a good close by near gym, 15 minutes there, 15 minutes back, which is 30 minutes in total… That is 30 minutes you could spend walking, stretching, being outside, standing on your own 2 feet, or even lifting weights in your own garage gym, off the grid gym, home gym, or ghetto parking lot gym.
Therefore if you have the option, don’t spend more than five minutes a day in a car.
Tesla auto pilot?
I got the funniest visual when I was in Beverly Hills, close by in Rodeo Drive, I saw a white Tesla model 3 performance, And a successful looking guy in the car, not driving just having the car drive itself,  sitting on his butt, on the phone looking like he was doing some important business work, and having the car drive itself around stop and go in person traffic.
Also pro tip:
The major investors that I know in Tesla, the ones with $100 million, $200 million in Tesla stock and assets, their personal family only drive baselevel Tesla model 3 cars.
Investor or owner?
Whenever people fuck with me, or give me poor service, whether at a Tesla store at Lululemon etc.… I often tell them that I am a major investor, and suddenly… I get treated with far better service.
Better to own Tesla stock than own a real life Tesla car.
 For example, I am a funny case; I own a lot of Tesla stock, yet I drive a 2010 Prius, in white, which I got for free 99 ($0.00)– for free.
The reason why people are so poor is that they spent too much money on physical things and possessions and cars etc. Even I feel bad for my friends who bought an early model Tesla model three; now that the new new Tesla model three is out, everyone wants to get rid of their old Tesla model three cars, even the version from 2023, and upgrade to the newest newest version.
And, the funny trend is I’m sure within the next five years, there will be a major refresh to the Tesla model why, X, S, and also cyber truck. Imagine when they finally produce an all black matte black Tesla cyber truck, or even better… An all white, all matte white Tesla cybertruck — the people who jump on the bandwagon too early typically end up regretting it later.
James Almeida
A new friend that I made in Los Angeles, a creator, new YouTuber who does build videos, who essentially built himself a 5K monitor for less than $300 in parts, just search him on YouTube, wasn’t early adopter of the Apple Vision Pro and when I asked him how it was, he told me “Its okay. Definitely not worth the $3,499”.
I’m thinking about getting an apple Vision Pro just to test it, then I’ll probably just return it later, because the issue with the Apple Vision Pro is that it is already outdated. Let us consider how it is only using the M2 chip, which is already outdated for the Apple M3 chip. Therefore a simple productivity tip is instead of buying a new Apple Vision Pro, just get a new Mac computer with a M3 processor, whether it be the new MacBook Pro or even an iMac.
http://chrisathanasiadis.com
Chris Athanasiadis— A street photography fan of mine that I bumped into Santa Monica, Santa Monica Pl.; he has been living in Angeles Santa Monica the last four years, and history photography approach and philosophy and ethos and blog is great. 
He got the new Nikon ZF camera, and also has a Rico GR camera, and he told me an interesting strategy in which he rides his bicycle around and just shoots street photography. He is also very smart, he works and lives remotely, and also, because he is on East Coast time the second that it is 2 PM local time, he goes out, and shoots street photography all day! 
And technically isn’t this the ultimate goal? You just spend your life in which you could just shoot street photography all day every day?
When I asked him what is his purpose or his Telos, he told me that every day he just wants to make at least one good photo? And just keep uploading it to his blog? Good idea, and also, he also deleted his Instagram. Very smart idea. 
What is Tom up to?
Do you remember Tom from MySpace? Your first friend?
Apparently now he is just traveling the world, making photos, uploading it to his own website and blog.
Other photographers?
Chris Michel — a successful entrepreneur that I met in SF, who founded the military.com website, later sold it to monster, and now it’s just focusing on his passion of guitar; seems that a lot of these successful entrepreneurs venture capitalist etc. after making all the money and success, they just want to focus on their photography?
Trades out of strength or out of weakness?
I have a simple suggestion; whenever you make an investment, any investment, make sure to do it when you’re in a good mood, when your strength is high, it is nice and sunny outside. When I made my big bitcoin trade, I will never forget; I was topless in the direct sun, outside, in an insanely good mood, basking in the sun. I think a big trades should be embedded within Good physical physiological settings.
Never make any trades or investments when you’re in a bad mood, when your strength is weak etc. 
GREEN
Also, as long as you’re in the green, as long as all of your trades were done in the green, perhaps rather than thinking about how much money you should have earned, think about how much money you did earn. 
Now what?
The big question after all of this is; “Now what? 
Delete your Instagram, stop using Facebook, stop watching YouTube etc. A better suggestion is all of that time that you spend hypothetically on media social media etc.… Use that opportunity to build up your own brand Empire.
Some big lessons today:
First, actors have no power. Even the super famous ones like Jason Momoa etc.; I’m sure that they’re not as rich or successful as you think they are. The real head honchos is one her brothers discovery, especially the head honcho I think his name is Stephen Newhouse —
The head honcho have all the power, the actors producers directors whatever… they are all poor. 
Rich or poor?
A simple heuristic; how do you know if somebody is rich or poor?
It is not a money thing. Because you could be earning $10 million a year, but if you’re stuck and chained inside a cubicle office all day, with no access to natural light, just ugly fluorescent lighting, stuck in a bunker, somewhere underground, not permitted to exercise, eat good meat whatever… Essentially you’re stuck in a cave… Is any of it worth it? No.
What you really want is freedom. Freedom of schedule, freedom of mind. The simple heuristic:
Can you go two years without checking your email or using your email? Or do you have the ability to quit email?
New directions
Start on blog. Self hosted. wordpress.org, and host it on Ionos.com — self hosted is the way.
Why? fucking wordpress.com; apparently I violated some sort of bullshit content policy that I’m not even sure of, and as a consequence my whole word press.com website was deleted?
Also a big problem; if your website is hosted on the wordpress.com server, your website will be blocked or inaccessible in Vietnam, China or other parts of the world.
For example my website erickimphotography.com/blog – I believe that even fans from mainland China could access my website. When I was in Phnom Penh Cambodia, I was curious and I use the website youkou.com — the Chinese version of YouTube, and I actually saw this mainland Chinese kid, screen casting and explaining who ERIC KIM was. If I have fans in mainland China, very good sign.
The future of the Internet?
A big question is in regards to the future of the Internet. Who will own it, will it matter?
First, I have a thought about two factor authentication, biometrics etc.