You pave the path, and cultivate your own culture. You don’t follow anything or anyone.

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I love barebones. Clean, minimal, without flourishes and superfluous elements. More spartan, cold— this is our new luxury.

Uber-base level Tesla Model 3, white, black interior, cheapest model, no additional autopilot (~$39,999) with the cheapest aero rims.

iPhone SE with no case in black. Or MacBook Air, cheapest base model (only $899 with Apple education discount).

RICOH GR III/GR IIIX, black and white high contrast monochrome small JPEG mode.

No headphones. If you want to listen to music, just play it off your laptop speakers or off your phone speaker.

Just one all black everything outfit. Black merino wool t shirt, UNIQLO black athletic shorts, black leggings, no socks, only minimalist shoes (water shoes, or Vibram 5 finger type shoes, or the “L-Run” brand minimalist zero drop shoes on Amazon).

Barebones website and blog design.

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Whether it be looking at and reviewing your photos, working out in the morning, seeing your kid in the morning, or your morning coffee!

Not that things are getting more expensive, but the value of the USD is becoming less because of inflation? Don’t save your money in USD, buy Bitcoin or Tesla stock instead.

Towards “re-usable”, things that aren’t disposable. Fewer goods, more expensive and premium-luxury. Better curation of our tools, life and things.

Anti gas cars, anti hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars. Electric as supreme, as it is “re-usable”. Even with babies and kids — transitioning them out of disposable diapers as soon as humanly possible.

Anti film, pro digital. Anti physical things, pro ephemeral online or digital things.

More expensive, and better.

Lidar as a game changer. Polycam is the one. iphone Pro good for portable Lidar:

Why toe socks are so great?

Beautiful things don’t make for a beautiful person.

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La Sportiva gore-Tex boots, an expensive Gore-Tex jacket, merino wool, etc.

Why? The goal isn’t to live in the most luxurious home in the mountains, but to be outdoors.

Therefore, the best way to think about clothing is outdoor armor. Any type of clothing which helps you be outdoors longer, go further, and be more brave is better.

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Something nobody really talks about: the importance of safety. For example, I just did a quick weekend trip in Lake arrowhead, and when driving up the mountain, there was an insane amount of fog, which was very dangerous. At that moment, the thought: what would be the maximum the safe car to climb up the mountain, surrounded by fog, with icy roads?

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Nobody knows what it means to be happy, but we know what it means to be focused. Knowing how to focus on something better you can control.

Therefore, put your strength and efforts towards focus. That means, knowing how to get rid of distractions.

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Also, skech on top of your screenshots!

The best ethos for raising a child, also works well with adults.

Best to be hands-on.

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Danger breeds focus.

Focus over “happiness”.

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Bitcoin ATM?

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The Palm Springs modern art museum as a great place!

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Currently doing a weekend retreat at Lake arrowhead, in the mountains at an Airbnb cabin lodge. To escape the cold, we drove to Palm Springs, checked out the art museum, and did a short fun hike, and walked around the downtown area. It was my first time in Palm Springs, and the main Avenue is very interesting. Almost like a bougie Santa Monica meets Vegas. Great for Street photography!

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The mountain air and elevation as very restorative for your health.

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I love cruel and harsh landscapes. They sharpen me, focus me, and inspire me.

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In praise of the mountains:

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How can we optimize our lives to live more dangerously, more recklessly?

Living in the mountains, desert, or more unforgiving climates. Places where it snows. East coast people as having more hair on their chest compared to soft California folks.

The purpose of life isn’t to stay at home, but to leave, embark, explore, discover, conquer, and traverse.

If you judge others or compare yourself to others, you equivalize yourself to others. Assuming you’re a rare plant, treat yourself as your own category, your own species.

When people challenge you to an argument don’t be suckered — there is no “winning” an argument by reason, logic or dialectics. Just ignore them, and don’t acknowledge what they said or their existence.

If I shot a lot of photos in a given day, it is a sign that I had a great day.

Actually not a horrible focal length!

In praise of iphone Pro to edit your photos while in the field.

What do we want? Things to be faster, more instant.

Consider the “Insta-pot”, or even “Insta-Gram”. Instant film (Polaroid, Instax).

Digital photography as superior to film photography because digital photos are instant.

Opt for smaller. With Tesla, get Model 3 Performance over Model S Plaid. iPhone Mini over iPhone Pro. Small is the new (clutch) luxury.

Small luxury apartments (less square footage, more modern and premium) over big (boring) and ugly suburban homes.

Not a matter of a ‘step forward’ or a ‘step backwards’. Rather, just different.

I say–

Embrace it.

Don’t stick to the old ways, even if it were in fact … ‘better’. Ride with the new.

Your aesthetic tastes will change and evolve as your life changes and evolves. Ride it!

Become less concerned with consistency. Should your life goals at age 12 be the same as age 21, or 33? Or 50? Or 120?

The sign of progress and evolution?

With technology, the march of technology is always forward and brutal. And whether we like it or not, perhaps it is best to just ride that wave?

Quick thoughts on iPhone 13 Pro:

The first thought is that I don’t actually really like the new design. I think it is big, bulky, heavy, and ugly. Yet, there are many things which are redeeming: this includes the improved battery life, the brighter screen, and the faster processor.

What is the iPhone for anyways?

The iPhone is no longer a phone. I think the iPhone Pro is just an iPad mini mini. It is an iPad which happens to fit in your front pocket.

For myself personally speaking, I actually really like the new iPhone Pro for blogging, vlogging, and processing and editing my photos.

I am also a big fan of the new 120 Hz screen, everything is so much more smooth and buttery. It makes for doing things like Zen Brush 2 and calligraphy even more fun.

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Uplifting habits:

Being outdoors, in the direct sun, walking, thinking.

Depressing habits:

Sitting on your butt all day, being indoors, also being indoors on a laptop all day on a standing desk.

Thought —

Better to just be walking around all day (30,000 steps a day) on an iPhone for work, instead of being at home on a laptop all day … even though the Laptop ix 1000x more efficient?

The minimum viable equipment you need in life:

1. Digital camera (The newest Ricoh GR III/IIIx camera)
2. Laptop (the most powerful MacBook Air)

The upside of a laptop:

The form factor doesn’t change.

Compare this with the iPhone — the form factor is always changing (with the Pro — always getting bigger, thicker, uglier).

Thus a simple idea:

Perhaps it is a good idea we keep the form factor consistent (in regards with our tools), and instead … innovate based on the artwork and things we create!

For example, Toyota seems to always be changing their designs of their cars, for the sake of it … and to perhaps drive sales?

At least one good thing with Porsche (911) — the goal is to continually refine it, perfect it, while keeping the form factor consistent.

With cameras, RICOH GR, and Leica M Rangefinder — the form factor doesn’t change, whereas the guts and engine is strengthened, improved, made smaller and more thing. More refined.

Therefore from an innovation perspective … maybe it is a good idea to keep consistent the form factor, and innovate instead by…

1. Making it thinner, sexier, more slim.
2. Making it more powerful (while keeping the same, small form factor).
3. Making the UI/UX more intuitive. Make it more fun and playful.

For example, even the future of TESLA:

No need to make a totally new design for the car designs, but to keep improving and innovating the self-driving features, and the UI/UX software on the screen.

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It seems that most people don’t have ‘taste’. But what does this mean?

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The bigger, bulkier, the uglier and the worse.