A thought: perhaps the best way to live life is to broaden your horizons– both metaphorically and literally.
Horizon Chase 
So a funny game on the iPad I’ve been playing with Seneca is a game called Horizon Chase. It is like a pixelated, old-school retro racing game in which year racing and driving into the horizon.
The horizon is an interesting metaphor because it is a metaphor of that which is just above and beyond the horizon. Nobody is 100% certain where the horizon is, but chasing it, into broaden it seems like a good idea.
A panopticon view to life
One of the things I love most about going to the hills and the vistas, going on top of the hill and looking out out it is super epic pen optic con view I have of the world, LA and things.
When you’re on top of a vista, with a total Panopticon view of the world, it is great because you feel elevated, more powerful, inconquerable, indomitable.  in fact this is why I prefer the mountains in high up vistas rather than the beach.
The beach is great and amazing everything, but still, the feeling of being higher up, you literally do feel greater, grander, more powerful, more all encompassing.
In fact, the insanely elevated feeling that I had while living in Vietnam was that I was also literally on top of the world, so beyond everything, once again, only paying $320 USD a month for rent, living in a tiny hotel room or tiny studio apartment, everything paid for, Eating at all my meals and drinking unlimited coffee, and having supreme time to focus and think, this was true paradise. Also no phone, no distractions, no nonsense.
How and where to broaden your horizons?
So the first very basic idea is that you could broaden your horizon by just not restricting yourself to one small category of things. For example for myself, even though I’m most famous for photography and street photography, my interests are infinite. Design, physiology, the body, philosophy, aesthetics, bitcoin and cryptocurrency etc.; it is all infinitely fascinating to me.
I think this is why people are so confused by me, because I refuse to stay in a small box. Even some thing that I am starting to realize more and more, being Asian American, queen American in America; everybody is secretly low-key racist towards Asian, Asian American men in America. Why? Typically, Asian Asian American guys are seen as short, not for muscular, meek, more feminine, introverted and quiet spoken, lacking social skills, and not in tune with hip-hop and rap culture; E-40, keek da sneak, too short, Kanye, Jay Z etc. 
 so when I pull up, super loud and boisterous, smiling and happy, handsome and good looking, with a really cool slick back Brad Pitt fury haircut, topless, highly muscular, full body tan, people are just a little bit befuddled by me.
It kind of goes a lot of ways, we are not allowed to be loud, boisterous, ratchet, etc. 
Don’t allow yourself to be stuck in a tiny bubble
I think the reason why there’s a trend that we must be so small narrow focused and niche is because of fear.
It looks like the modern day person is very afraid of unpredictability. We don’t like people who are unpredictable, I think in fact, we prefer people to follow a basic social script; any sort of behavior or activity which is off script, off the rails is seen as scary for a lot of individuals.
However, the extreme irony:
in real life, we hate making iContact with strangers, conversing with strangers, we always have our sunglasses on, full tents in our cars, we are afraid of social engagement and interaction. However at the same time, when we watch media TV shows, movies etc.; we love the outlandish, the ratchet, etc.
The reason why I see media  consumption is so fascinating is because I think that is what people truly desire, truly want, but, are too afraid to go get it in real life.
The same thing was a video game; then I think video games, video game culture etc. is fascinating because once again it also shows some sort of deeper human Aires, however people in real life are afraid to go get it in real life.
So what is the big issue here? 
I see several issues at play here:
First, the sociological one, and second, the ethical one, and third, the physiological body one.
Social logically, society is not equipped or optimized for free thinkers, free spirits, free individuals etc. Let us consider that essentially, we are the new mole people.
Consider the average kid, the average suburban kid, or even the average American kid, who is raised in captivity. They are born indoors, inside a hospital or whatever, since they are small, they are always indoors; in a house, in a daycare, in a preschool, in a “Montessori“,  in a car, it may be at most they are permitted 30 minutes to an hour of fresh outdoor sun and play, but all of these overprotective parents always cover them up with long sleeves, long pants, hats and sunglasses, sunblock etc., preventing them from getting all this beneficial upside from the sun and UV radiation.
Taking further, think about K-12 education. Why is it that all these institutions are indoors? I kind of prefer a more hippie Spartan approach; I would prefer classrooms that were all just outdoors.
Or beyond that, why have school at all? Honestly I think for a lot of parents, it is just seen as free daycare.
Not only that, but even once you get to university and school, college etc., you’re pretty much indoors all day. You’re indoors all day when you’re studying in the classroom, your indoors all day when you’re studying in the library or your dorm room, and when is it that students are the happiest? we are happiest when we are at the beach, hanging out with our friends, at the beach bonfire etc.
Different directions and life paths?
Assuming that you no longer need to work†for a living, then what? What do you want to become, what do you want your kids to become?
 First of all, nobody wants their kids to just become good worker bees. Because that is still the trend today.
I’m also starting to realize more more, it don’t even matter if you get the worlds best job at Apple Google Facebook or whatever; the huge downside is all these offices are still indoors. Another thought I had while in the parking lot garage;
Would you be a trillionaire if you had to live the rest of your life in a subterranean, fluorescent lit parking lot garage? Even if you had all the billions of Lamborghinis in the world? No!
Back to nature?
If we think about video games, Final Fantasy, riding around in Chocobo etc.; what is it all about? Real world, free world exploration!
I think for example, video games are good for poor kids. Why? If you’re a poor kid, and you have no money, your world is limited. Maybe besides owning a bicycle, there’s nowhere you could really go and explore.
Actually, one of my favorite memories and point of gratitude spending my formative childhood years in Bayside queens, New York was just how open freedom it was, hang out with my best friends, riding around our bikes all around town, going fishing at the pier, playing roller hockey together etc. PS 169.
The best thinking and horizon broadening happens when and while you’re just walking around. 
I think about this very literally, and also, very practically.
The big problem in today’s world is that we are so cramped. That is consider, we are just sitting on our butts all day. In fact, I’ll lead the desires that we have are just glorified butt sitting.
For example, are strange and bizarre desire to own and drive all these exotic cars, technically you’re not really doing anything. To simply approach your Lamborghini, unlock it, pop up this is your doors, hop on in, turn on the large engine, make it loud, drive really fast, spin around, Pop out, with the scissor doors going up again, looking at this beautiful design object, what is the point?
For example, a lot of people fantasize about driving the PCH, along the Pacific Coast Highway, in some sort of luxury sports car, convertible or not.
What they don’t understand is on the weekends, there are lots of cops. There are maybe four or five highway patrol just waiting to capture you and only that but most of the time it is trafficky.
Something to do which is actually much more pleasurable is just drive your whatever car to the mountains, and just going to hike and walk around! Or even more fun is just going to the gym, showing off, being loud, lifting heavy ways, and instead of revving your sports car or your muscle car, Scream really really loud in real life.
Another funny thing I have discovered:
Why are we allowed and permitted to rev the engine of our sports car and also cars, but we are not allowed to rev up our voices, and roar our voices?
For example let us say that you have some sort of Lamborghini Ferrari or Porsche or whatever; you are allowed to accelerate really quickly, posting the loud engine. And the sound of the exhaust whatever. Some people call this sound beautiful. 
But, modern day man is not permitted to be loud, scream, talk loudly in public. The modern day loser man is only permitted to wear AirPods, AirPods pros, noise canceling headphones, fully tinted out sunglasses, and stay to himself.
Real world training 
Some simple suggestions I have include simple things:
If you see a beautiful person, doesn’t matter if male or female or whatever, compliment them. Compliment their look, their face, their style their demeanor etc. whatever. One of the good things about living in LA is that to a large degree, everybody is very image-conscious. Assuming that you’re just not the typical tech nerd who always wears the company hoodie or sweater, people spend lot time thinking about their outward appearances. Their jewelry, their fashion, their clothing, their fashion sense, their car, their accessories, etc. Anything that is perceived by the outside world. 
Show me your screenshots, and I shall tell you who you are
A funny suggestion that I have is if and when you go on a first date with somebody, a simple thing and strategy you could do is either with permission or without, pull up their screenshots in their iPhone. A lot of people I see will often screenshots stuff they want to buy, stuff on Amazon, stuff on other e-commerce websites etc.
A screenshot is funny because it is almost like a public private memory log; typically we screenshot things we want to remember, or things we value, things we want to buy etc.
Once again, if you have ever shopped for clothes yourself or bought your own shoes or your own car or whatever, you two are also image punches. In fact I don’t know one human being, one modern-day human being who is not image conscious to a certain extent. 
Now what?
 so the trillion dollar question is this: let us see you brought in your horizons, you do it all well, what is the point?
First, you as an individual, the human spirit thrives on expansion. Soul expansion is a good desired outcome. The more you could expand your soul, the better.
This means expanding your ambitions, your hopes your dreams etc.
Second, exploration, our passion for novelty. For example, Seneca is currently three years, one or two months old. He really really loves and is excited whenever we discover and uncover a new playground park. We have this hand motion we invented called “ttang ttang ttang‖ which is essentially a hand motion that I invented which is putting both your hands into fifths, and being them together, whenever we are excited or having fun.
Cheviot Hills playground park — we went there the other day, in Los Angeles, he loves it!
Expansion packs 
Can you imagine a world and the universe in which we never had any sort of expansions? For example, I’m grateful that we had a Diablo two expansion pack, also a StarCraft expansion pack.
Keep it easy!
Another weird thing in American society, we glorify the hard, the difficult, the painful, the arduous, the toilsome. Why? 
I have the theory; modern day society tries to indoctrinate you with the slave like, servitude mentality. If you are praised for working a lot, working hard, certainly this will benefit society. But will it benefit you? Often not.
Let us consider the foolish optimization we do: we work hard, we toil, we sacrifice our bodies our health our soul in order to make more money or whatever, buy the nicer house, the nicer car the nicer clothes, etc., we work more… But as a consequence, we sleep less, we spend more time sedentary, we become weaker sicker etc. All for the sake of what? 
Man is no longer permitted to be manly and as a consequence his testosterone is insanely low and as a negative downside and consequence … man and woman can no longer beget children?
Being in the direct sun — not this fake UV lights or whatever boosts testosterone, all of these positive hormones for both men *and* women?
A funny strange thought — has your private region whether man or woman ever been in the direct sun? Maybe there’s some benefits to getting direct sun exposure on your genitals? You don’t need to go to the nude beach or whatever — just do it private at home next to a direct sunlight window?
Certain pleasures weaken us — alcohol, weed drugs etc … certain pleasures strengthen us like sunbathing, being topless in the direct sun, weightlifting etc. Hot sauna.
The logic behind this was pretty simple — the site designated for construction was bordered by five roadways, so the developers decided to go with a five-sided building. Naturally, they called it the Pentagon.
An incredible amount of workers and materials brought it together.
The grounds and building went up in a stunning 16 months. The building was officially completed in January 1943, thanks to the help of 1,000 architects and 14,000 tradesmen who worked three shifts around the clock. A staggering amount of materials were needed, too, including:
435,000 yards of concrete
43,000 tons of steel
680,000 tons of sand and gravel
The first tenants moved into the building in April 1942, several months before the building was finished.
Something I have been meaning to write or create or do is like some sort of book, ebook, pamphlet, or introductory primer to stoicism. I really think that stoicism is probably one of the most useful and philosophical models to live normal every day real life. Yet, I haven’t really found a good instructional guide on it, especially when I was self teaching it to myself.
Consider this a practical primer, cutting through the BS:
What does stoicism mean? 
Stoicism, stoic, the stoa in ancient Greece– essentially the stoa was like some sort of portico, patio, pillar, outside, essentially a spot where guys would just hang out, talk shop, talk philosophy, etc.  
I think about the show “Hey Arnold†in which I was raised with… the notion of “stoop kid“, the notion of a stoop is that in a lot of cities, especially the east coast in New York, you have this little stoop or porch, stairs that go outside your front door… and you could just hang out there, engage in social and neighborhood life etc.
The new stoa? 
One of my happiest moments was when I was living in Providence Rhode Island, and then COVID-19 hit. Everything was closed, besides the park. I can still go to the park, hang out, workout, do chin ups– I learned how to do muscle ups, more bodyweight calisthenics stuff, and also… I had a lot of fun with this “rock toss“ challenge and workout… in the middle of the park was a huge ass rock and huge ass stone, and every single day I would go there pick it up, and then eventually work out with it; throwing it around for fun, doing overhead presses with it, clean and jerks, squats, and eventually I would just throw it around for fun. Funny enough it might have been the most fit I was in my life… this was the true “functional†fitness.
The inspiration — Hector lifting an insanely massive stone (barely 2 strong men could lift it)… using it to break down the door of the ships of the other side.
Open air, open sun concept
Anyways, the reason why that period of covid was so good is that it was in the middle of beautiful Providence Rhode Island summer, so nice and bright and warm and lovely… and one of the good things was going to the park was like an open forum, a new anatheum for a lot of really cool guys to come, hang out, talk shop, go topless and shirtless, workout and hang out.
I met some really interesting people during that period of time. I met some guys who were really cool. For example, one guy I met was in the US military Navy, I think he was training to be a Navy seal or Delta force or something. Another guy in some sort of ROTC training, another cool guy from the hood, and also I would say I probably met half a dozen friendly drug dealers there. And of course a lot of people who believed in conspiracy theories; really friendly, a little weird, but overall good guys.
Anyways, one of the biggest benefits of hanging out at that outdoor park, open air, nothing but green grass, the beautiful sun and the fitness equipment was that I think having this sort of open air environment is actually very conducive to socializing, thinking and thought, and pro social behavior. My theory about a lot of modern day antisocial behavior has to do with the structures which enclose us. For example, almost universally most guys at the gym are extremely antisocial. Why? My theory is that because most gyms have closed, cramped narrow ceilings, and do not have access to natural light, or outside space.
The only good gym I went to which was interesting was the golds gym in Venice, which has this really big outdoor workout area. I think this is much more natural and more fun and better; to be able to work out directly outside outdoors, with your shirt off.
Who is this philosophy for?
Stoics, stoicism — it was originally I think codified by this guy named Zeno, and over time he picked up some followers. Essentially the whole thing happened organically; Zeno would first share his thinking on philosophy ethics and pragmatic ways to deal with other people and the downsides of life, he built a following, and then his followers would propagate the thoughts and start their own little schools of thoughts, their own little stoic clubs.
What is “real†stoicism?
Would I like about stoicism is how loosey goosey it is. It is kind of like zen, or taoism… it is not really quantified as a religion, or a strict moral order. In fact, a lot of the ancients stoics would meditate on random stuff like cosmology, natural sciences like Seneca, how volcanoes worked or whatever. I think nowadays in today’s world, we focus primarily on the pragmatic side; how to deal with fear, uncertainty, downsides etc.
So how did I discover stoicism?
I think I might’ve first learned about stoicism from Nassim Taleb and his ANTIFRAGILE book. I was curious, and my curiosity went to deep. To quote NASSIM TALEB and the Venetian saying “The ocean goes deeper, the deeper you wade into it.â€
I literally consumed every single book I could find on stoicism, even the obscure ones. Funny enough, a lot of the stoic thinkers tried to claim other philosophers as being stoic, like Seneca did with Diogenes the cynic. 
Cynic, cynicism, actually comes from the word canine, the dog. Diogenes was considered the “dog†philosopher, first used as a pejorative, but ultimately Diogenes reappropriated that title for fun! He saw dogs as tough, almost like wild wolves, rather than seeing them as a negative thing.
Even Achilles when he was raging against king Agamemnon, he called him “dog faced“ as a heaping insult.
Who is worth reading?
First, Seneca. Seneca the younger, his dad was called Seneca the elder.
In fact, this is such a big deal because Cindy and I named our first son, Seneca, directly after the stoic philosopher. This is true soul in the game; if you name your kid after your favorite philosopher, certainly it is a sign that you really liked that philosopher, or found them impactful.
The reason why I really like Seneca the stoic philosopher is because he had real connections to real reality. What that means is he wasn’t just on the sidelines; he actually existed in the real world, engaged in real politics, was even advisor to the emperor Nero, the bad one, who eventually low-key coerced Seneca to commit suicide, in a manly, dignified manner.
I think this was because maybe… there was actually a plan to overthrow Nero, and essentially Nero found out. 
What makes Seneca so good?
I really like Seneca because his writing is accessible, practical and pragmatic, and interesting.
A lot of thinkers tend to lack connections to real reality, I have no tolerance for boring philosophers to talk about metaphysics, which is things which are not physical. Like thoughts ideas, the universe, electricity and energy, strange phenomenon and conspiracy theories on ghosts, “energy†whatever.
For a long time, I would hear the term “metaphysics†being thrown around, and I had zero idea what it actually meant. 
Meta– on top of. Or nestled within.
Physics — the physical, physical phenomenon like gravity, first principles.
The reason why metaphysics philosophers tend to be a bunch of losers is that they are all weak and anemic, nerds or geeks or weaklings who seem to have some sort of physiological degeneracy, which encourages them to opine or talk or think about impractical things, superficial things.
Personally speaking, I think philosophy must be practical. 
Practical, praxis, practice — to do!
The Spartan, Zen Stoic, demigod ideal
I have a very funny ideal; the general idea is that your body looks like a demigod, and your physiology is out of control. The general idea is one must be tall, strong, highly muscular, low body fat percentage, I’m not exactly sure what my body fat percentage is, but maybe it’s around 5%.
Also, physical fitness is critical to any stoic. My ideal is to walk 50 miles a day, eat 20 pounds of meat like Milo of Croton a day. And also, abstinence from silly things like media, alcohol, drugs, marijuana etc.
Trust no thinker who does drugs!
Even our best friend Nietzsche said that coffee was bad, because it would make people dark and gloomy. He encouraged 100% cocoa powder instead. 
You let the drugs talk I let my soul talk ayy! – Kendrick Lamar
Simple technique:
First, look at a picture or a portrait or a full body shot, ideally topless of the artist, philosopher or thinker or individual… then judge their thoughts later.
Why? My theory is this: the thoughts of an individual is hugely affected by their bodily physiology.
For example, an extreme example: if somebody is locked inside a solitary confinement cell, and not permitted to go outside for years, but, he had a pen and pad and would jot down some thoughts… Would be the quality of these thoughts? Certainly dark and morose.
In today’s world, why does it matter, what is the significance of stoicism, etc.?
First and foremost, I think we are living in a troubling time, especially with the advent of modern day internet based media and advertising. I think 99% of what is propagated on the internet is fear mongering, and what is hate? Hate is just fear.
The first thought on stoicism is that it is just fear conquering. What I discovered about street photography, is that 99% of it is conquering your fears. Conquering your fears of upsetting other people, getting in some sort of verbal or physical altercation etc. In fact my bread and butter workshop is my conquering your fears and street photography workshop, the workshop which is still interesting to me even after a decade.
Why is this so important? I think it is rooted in almost everything; conquering your fears is rooted in entrepreneurship, innovation, risktaking and real life.
Even my speculation in crypto. 99.9% of crypto speculation is just balls. Having the balls to make big bets, and when things go south, knowing how to master your emotions.
A simple extra I have is this: just imagine it will all go down to zero.
It was useful because when I was in college, my sophomore year I got really into trading stocks, and I eventually lost my whole life savings, maybe around $3500 USD, and some bad penny stock which I actually misread the financials… the whole time I thought the company was making a profit, but actually it was taking a loss. I actually didn’t know that if profits are written in parentheses, it means a loss.
It was funny because my initial start as an investor was back in high school, I bought some Adobe stock when I was a high school junior, and also some mutual funds, which both went up after about 4-5 years.
Also I remember in elementary school computer class, when I was in the sixth grade in Bayside Queens, there was some sort of stock stimulation trading game, and actually it was funny… the kids who made the most money and were the most successful just put 100% of everything into Apple, note this is when we were only 12 years old, and I was born in 1988.
Stoicism and capitalism?
Funny enough, it seems that stoicism actually plays well with capitalism. Why? According to modern day capitalist thinking, the best way to approach life is to be objective, strong, stoic, unemotional, logical and rational.
Also, with modern day media there is so much fear mongering in the news, about some sort of global armageddon, global financial ruin, etc. I call it “fear pornâ€.
Therefore stoicism as a mindset is useful to think and position your mind in such a way that you could consider that life is all upside, no downside.
In fact, if I could summarize stoicism in one sentence, it is that life is all upside, no downside. Inspired by NASSIM TALEB.
Sex and Stoicism
So, is stoicism useful to you if you’re a man or a woman? Does it matter?
The good thing is I think it could apply to both sexes. Conquering sexism and social pressures is useful if you’re woman, and also if you’re a man.
Also, gender is social. Lot of the expectations set on us by society is socialized and gamed to a certain degree.
Stoic strategies 
First, we got to unchain ourselves from modern day ethics and morality. I believe that all modern day philosophy and thinking and ethics and religion is bad.
For example, the notion of turning the other cheek is a patently bad one. Why did Jesus turn his cheek? It is because he lacked on army.
Also, philosophically I think we should put no trust in Socrates. I thought which has puzzled me for a long time was this “Why was Socrates so ugly?
Monster in face, monster in soul.
I think Socrates was a degenerate, and he lacked any sort of real power. Therefore he turned logic and rationality into his terrorizing weapon (via Nietzsche). Back in the day, you didn’t need logic or rationality to have things your way, you simply was able to dictate that which you wanted to pause it, because you had a military force behind you. Just think about Machiavelli and IL PRINCIPE– the reality of being a mercurial prince, king, and military leader is hard, stoic, “immoralâ€. But ultimately it all comes down to war, conquest, the military.
Trust nobody who uses rationality or logic as their tyrannizing weapon. 
In fact, I believe that all should have the body and strength of some sort of super soldier. Essentially look like all the guys from the movie 300, this is our ideal.
Demigod physique. 
What has helped me
Allow yourself to be a bad, immortal, “evil†person. When you decide to adopt an unorthodox way of thinking and living, you’re going to rub some feathers the wrong way. And truth be told, even if you act in a strange vibrant way… At worse you’re only “mildly†annoying other people.
For good inspirations, I think the best stoic writers and thinkers include Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius and also the humor of the cynic philosopher Diogenes. I would even posit the idea that one could consider Alexander the Great as a stoic. Why? When you’re trying to create an empire, and you always have your life on the line, certainly this takes a stoic mindset. Also, let us think and consider that Alexander the Great had a copy of the Iliad by his bedstand, it was the only book he traveled with during his military tours.
Imagine the worst possible case scenario, and backtrack: Apparently even NASSIM TALEB would do this when he was a trader; every single day when he would go to his trading desk, he would assume that his investments would all go to zero, and if that wasn’t the case every single day, it was just upside. Therefore for myself, I just think to myself very simple; imagine like I got zero dollars, zero money, and literally all I need is meat, a Wi-Fi connection and I’m good. 
Live like a poor person: The notion of “debasing“ the coin or the currency is the general idea that you are not a coward in regards to money. The best way to think about money is like a social tool; I think money is actually just codified labor. If you want people to clean bathrooms, run the cashiers stand, you have to promise them money. Even Seneca said the upsides of simulated poverty; essentially living like a poor person, or even a homeless person when you don’t need to… is the ultimate position to be in. Why? True freedom of spirit and soul; as a philosopher thinker writer or whatever… you cannot be “canceledâ€, because there is nothing to cancel. As long as you could pay your rent, buy meat at Costco, and publish your thoughts to your own self hosted website blog, and pay your server fee, you have 100% freedom. And also, still… America is the best place to be because there is true freedom of speech and expression, you don’t want to be a trillionaire but not be able to say what’s really on your mind. And I think this is the big issue with entertainers, actors, media people… as long as you’re signed to a contract, you don’t run your own production company, or, you’re still a slave to money… you’re not really going to see what’s really on your mind. Why is it that the Rock cannot say anything bad about China, or Tibet? Because he is still enslaved by the media corporation. New slaves by Kanye West.
And this is the true courage of Kanye West; he literally put everything on the line, and even lost his spouse and I think maybe his kids? All for the sake of revealing inequities. 
“I throw these Maybach keys fucking c’est la vie! I know that we the new slaves.â€ï¿¼- Ye
Stoic training
The fun thing about stoicism is that you could just make it up as you go, devise your own strategies and whatever.
“Fucking c’est la vie!†My favorite Kanye West line.
Essentially the general idea is that in life, one should not take things too seriously. Laughter is golden, I forget the philosopher who was called the laughing philosopher… Democritus?; better to laugh about the follies of human beings rather than to be dark and morose about it.
Also, thoughts from the Odyssey; if you look far enough  into the future, everything becomes comedic and hilarious.
So when you’re in some sort of bad situation, just think to yourself “Perhaps one day, 20 or 30 years from now… I will look back at this and just laugh!†It will just be humorous.
Honestly, laughter, and kind of being able to joke about things might be the best way to live life and deal with setbacks. 
Modern day ailments
Problems in modern day life:
Too much time spent indoors, not enough time out in the sun. Perhaps it is better to be out outside all day, and joyful, even with the risk of getting skin cancer or whatever… rather than to be indoors, scared, weak and anemic. Differences between if you’re a man or a woman, but still… the most beautiful skin has a sunkissed, olive color tone; the true privilege is having a full body tan. 
Get chatGPT, the paid premium one. And use the image generation AI art tool DALL-E. People pay therapists to just speak their mind, and get some sort of sounding board. I actually think it’s much better to chat with AI instead; because it will not judge you, and ultimately what is a therapist anyways? A therapist is just a mirror, a sounding board for you to verbalize and flesh out your thoughts. Often when we talk about our problems, 90% of the issues go away because once we verbalize it, we feel much better about ourselves. The next thing I’m going to do is build some sort of therapy bot. 
Not enough walking: I have never met anybody who walks 30,000 steps a day and is depressed. Even my friend Jimmy, who works as a US postal worker delivering the mail, he walks around 30,000 steps a day and is always bright cherry and jovial. I think this is also where people who hike a lot or walk a lot in nature are so happy; when you’re able to walk around a lot, and zen out… you just feel much better. My simple suggestion is when you go on a hike or a walk in nature or even in the city… leave your phone at home, or locked inside your glove compartment, and don’t bring any headphones or speakers or Apple watches or whatever. Just bring along your camera, and enjoy. My personal ideal is the bear lifestyle; walking 50 miles a day. 
Real stoics don’t call themselves Stoics?
A funny thing I have learned is that when you call something something, it isn’t that.
For example, if someone calls something a “luxury carâ€, it ain’t. For example, a true modern day luxury car is maybe a Tesla, but Tesla never calls itself a luxury car. Also the ultimate luxury technology company is probably Apple… but Apple is very intelligent and not calling themselves a luxury brand.
A pro tip is when it comes to websites, read the alternative text, the header text, the stuff that shows up in the tab of your browser window. If the website, the automotive retailer tries to market themselves as a “luxury†brand, typically it is actually a sign that it isn’t a luxury brand it isn’t luxury brand.
Thought: what are some good examples of true luxury brands which don’t overly calls itself luxury? 
In someways, we can think and consider stoicism as our new luxury. In fact, having luxury, luxury of mind and soul… and luxury of freedom of speech, isn’t this the ultimate luxury?
When somebody asked Diogenes the cynic; “What is the best human goodâ€? He said “Freedom of speech, speaking your mind, having the power to see whatever is on your mind.â€
In fact, my current joy is becoming more and more free talking, and free riding. What that means is this; I’m ain’t going to censor myself no more, even if I might be politically incorrect insensitive or whatever. 
Also, I would prefer to speak my mind and seriously hurt the feelings of others, rather than soften it for the sake of the other person.   Similarly speaking, when people call themselves “influencersâ€, they are not influencers.
Stoicism as a technique and tool, not the end
Ultimately I think we should think of stoicism just like having another tool inside our tool kit. For example, if you’re a chef, you’re going to have different knives for different purposes. If you’re going to cut a big piece of meat, you probably want a big ass meat cutting knife, not something you would use to slice an apple with. Similarly speaking, if you’re going to scoop out the insides of an avocado, better to use a spoon rather than using a fork, or a knife. 
I think the problem is when some people get too into stoicism (I prefer writing stoicism with a lowercase), they think that everything needs to be consistent, and must fit into this nice little neat box of what is considered “stoicism“. This is a bad line of thinking… let us consider that Marcus Aurelius never even mentioned stoicism in his writings, his collections of thoughts, which we moderns call THE MEDITATIONS… it was just essentially his personal diary, to help him conquer his own personal fears and thoughts, I don’t think he ever intended it to be published publicly. I think he just wrote it to himself as self therapy. And I think the only stoic philosopher he even mentions is maybe Epictetus.
The future of stoicism?
For myself, I just come out with certain to work out thoughts and techniques because it helps me, and when I find these tricks or techniques or secret hacks or cheat codes… My passion is to simply share it with others. 
And ultimately, things are ever in flux and evolving and changing and adapting.
For example, I’ve discovered the quality of my thinking is different when I am in Culver City Los Angeles, compared to being in the boring suburbs of Orange County.
Also depending on my social environments… my stoic thoughts are different when I am in a gym, vs just working out by myself in my parking spot in the back of my apartment.
Also, the quality of my thoughts is different when living with family members or other people versus just living with myself Cindy and Seneca.
Stoicism is all about living with other people
Assuming you’re not growing your own vegetables and living in the middle of nowhere… you probably have some interaction with other human beings. As long as you have an iPhone, an Android phone, a smartphone, a 4G or 5G internet connection, wifi, a laptop, have to buy groceries somewhere… you’re still going to have to interact with other human beings.
And this is good. There is no other greater joy than other human beings.
In fact, modern-day society is strange because in someways, the ethos is to be antisocial and to be cowardly. But in fact, the best way to think about things is that real life is interaction with other human beings, and social conquest. One can imagine a lot of modern day entrepreneurship as simply a big dick swinging contest. He who is the most masculine confident tall and strong and stoic shall win.
More ideas
Assume that everyone is mentally insane: Have you ever been out in public, and you see some sort of crackhead or strange homeless person who acts radically, smells terrible, and is obviously mentally ill? Do you hate them for it? When they say something weird to you… do you take it personally? No. Why? They are crazy. Perhaps we should just adopt this stoic mindset towards other people; some people are actually physiologically ill, mentally unwell… don’t trust the opinion of nobody.
A lot of people are trying to actually deal with their own inner demons: For example, becoming the successful photographer and street photographer I am today… I’ve dealt with some individuals who would say anonymous bad things about me, and later I found out that their mom just died or something. I cannot imagine what it feels like losing a mother… therefore if somebody spew some hate on me because something bad happened to them, I’m not gonna take it personally.
Self-flagellation: I think a lot of people who are sick, mentally or physiologically self flagellate themselves. Essentially the way that they deal with other people or themselves is some sort of metaphorical self-flagellation.
For example… you know those strange individuals who have the whip and whip themselves, and inflict pain on themselves? I think some people do this metaphorically to themselves and others.
You just want to stay away from them.
Why so scared?
My personal theory on fear is that a lot of it is tied to morality and ethics. I think the general idea is not necessarily that we are afraid of anything… I think the true fear is that we’re afraid that we are some sort of bad evil unethical immoral person.
For example in street photography, the general ethical thought is that it is immoral to take a photo of somebody without their permission, because there is some sort of it inherent evil behind it. Is this true? No. Taking photos and not really a big deal.
Why do people make such a big deal out of small things?
I think it is because some people are just overly sensitive, which once again comes from some sort of physiological weakness.
For example, if you’re a weightlifter who could lift 1000 pounds, assuming you’re not taking any steroids or anything… are small things going to bother you? No. But let us assume that you are a skinny fat man, all you do is drink alcohol and smoke marijuana and watch Netflix, and you spent too much time on Reddit… you are 40% body fat, and have never lifted in your life. And also your testosterone is low and you never go outside. Certainly the quality of your thoughts is going to be different than if you’re a happy gay monster, lifting weights outside in the direct sun, laughing and having fun. 
In fact, I’ve actually personally discovered that the reason why a lot of people hate me is because I am so happy jovial and gay. They are secretly suspicious or envious of me? 
Weather and mood
Probably one of my worst experiences was this jarring transition; I was super happy insanely happy being in Vietnam in 2017; with a beautiful weather, the beautiful light, the happy people the great amenities etc.… and then that winter Cindy and I went to Europe, in Marseille Berlin and Prague, and maybe London… seriously the worst winter of my life. Why? I wonder if so much miserable feelings and thoughts simply comes from the darkness and lack of light. a lot of Europe is actually quite miserable; dark, unhygienic, morose.
Even Nietzsche had a thought about Schopenhauer; How much of these emo European philosophers came from the fact that it was just complaining about the cold weather in Germany etc.?  For myself, my ideal weather is Southeast Asia; I love being in Phnom Penh Cambodia, Vietnam etc. In the states, am I the only one who loves living in Los Angeles? Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar said that LA was the best for women weed and weather… I would definitely say the biggest upside of living in Los Angeles is the light, the sunlight. It actually does get quite cold here, but usually most reliably even in December during the winter time, the sun will always come up. As long as there is bright sunny light, I will be happy. And I think maybe for myself, considering that I am a photographer, and photography means painting with light… light for me is critical.
I also wonder how much of it is a physiological thing and a genetic trait; for example I could even recall being a young child, and my mom telling me that the most critical thing in finding a home or an apartment was light and natural light. Even now… 90% of my happiness comes from being able to have access to natural light, ideally floor to ceiling windows facing directly the sun, having some sort of modern temperature regulated apartment and home. Even living in our tiny studio minimalistic luxury apartment in Providence Rhode Island, where it was always 75° warm and cozy, and not frigid and damp and cold and dark and humid… I was always good. But moving to an older house, where it always felt damp and cold… this literally lowered my happiness by 1000%.
Therefore, if you’re feeling miserable sad or whatever… I say spend three months living in Hanoi or Saigon in Vietnam, or go to Phnom Penh Cambodia. I wonder if 90% of peoples misery is simply due to the weather.
Stoic assignments
â€Better to be a gay monster than a sentimental bore!†– Fernandino Galliani, via Nietzsche
My stoic ideal is somebody who is happy, gay, smiling, no headphones or AirPods on, no sunglasses on, no hat, no facial hair, no baggy oversized clothing, no tint in their car. Somebody who makes great eye contact, laughs, stands up upright, jokes, and fools around. Like an overgrown child.
Also, lift weights at least once every day, ideally in the direct sun. Just buy some weightlifting equipment on Titan.fitness, I like the farmers carry handles, the Olympic loadable dumbbell, and also the Texas power squat bar. Just buy some cheap weights, and or buy a heavy 400 pound sandbag, and just have fun throwing it around.
True stoics are masculine
A true stoic should look something like Hercules or Achilles. Or like ERIC KIM; I have the aesthetic and the physique of Brad Pitt in FIGHT CLUB except with a lot more muscle. Like my friend Soren says, the Adonis physique and proportions.
A real stoic is sexy
I think a real stoic is sexy, happy and fun. Who doesn’t take life too seriously; and think of everything like a fun game. A real stoic would be joyful and cheery like three-year-old child without any adulteration from the outside world.
Why do adults become so dark and morose?
I don’t like talking with or hanging out with adults, uninteresting.
At what point or age do people become so emo?
Typically, highschoolers are very optimistic. Even college students. But I think at least in maybe college in high school nowadays… the bad trend is towards “over concernâ€, about the world the planet ethics animals etc.
I find a lot of this thinking superficial, performative, and uncritical. I think “animal rights“, “saving the planet†is this new pseudo world religion; which is just capitalism 3.0. I find the whole pet industry the whole dog industry to be insanely bizarre, and I trust nobody who talks about “saving the planet“ who owns an iPhone, owns any sort of car, or has an Amazon prime subscription. Certainly not any vegans.
A real stoic is a carnivore 
Animals are animals. They are lower on the hierarchy and totem pole on earth. Man is the apex predator, the apex bully and the apex tyrant.
Should we care for animals or “animal rights� No. Animals are our slaves.
If you consider even dogs and pets… they are essentially our emotional slaves. People talk a lot about the virtuosity of dogs being loyal or whatever… and giving you unconditional love. This seems like some sort of emotional slavery.
The only dogs I respect are some sort of canine dogs, some sort of attack or defense dogs, or hunting dogs. For example, John Wick 3; Halle Barry and her dogs. An animal should either be a weapon, or nothing.
Why do people care about animals so much?
Essentially it looks like men no longer have a backbone. No more spine.
I trust nobody who owns a dog.
Let us not forget; they call it dog ownership, or “owning a petâ€. There is no more concept of “human ownership, or “owning a human.â€ï¿¼ï¿¼ï¿¼
End goals 
What is the end goal of humanity? To me it is towards entrepreneurship, innovation, art and aesthetics, philosophy etc. Design.
Stoicism should be considered a tool which could aid you in these things.
For example, I think 99% of entrepreneurship is courage. Stoicism could help you with that.
I also think with design, great design is also 99% courage, having the courage to attempt something that won’t sell or be received well… stoicism is all about practical courage. The only designers with courage include Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Elon Musk, Kanye West. 
Also, weightlifting. To attempt to lift a certain weight you have never attempted before takes great courage. For example, me atlas lifting 1000 pounds; that is 10 plates and a 25 on each side, this is true stoic training. Why? The fear of injury is what holds most people back; if you had successfully conquered this fear and not injured yourself, this is pure stoic bliss.
The physical
I think the only and the only proper way to lift weights is one repetition maximum training. That is; what is the maximum amount of weight you’re able to successfully lift or move, even half an inch?
To me, the courage is the success. Even if you had the courage to attempt it… that is what is considered success. 
Simple exercises to do include the atlas lift, innovated by ERIC KIM, or a one repetition max rack pull.
Or, a high trap bar deadlift, heavy Farmer’s walks, or heavy sandbag carries. Or even a simple thing you could do is go to the park or to the local nature center, find the biggest rock there and just see if you could pick it up.
Now what?
If you’re interested in stoicism, and have had some interesting thoughts on stoicism, one of the most noble things you could do is start your own blog. I think blogs are 1000 times more effective than publishing some sort of static printed book; I think the problem in today’s world is that everyone is seeking some sort of legitimacy by being picked up by some sort of legitimate publisher and getting “published“, and seeing your printed book at Barnes & Noble whatever.
I say it is better to be open source, free and permissionless, decentralized. Just publish your thoughts and book as a free PDF, and just host it on dropbox, Google Drive, or your own web server. Share the link freely, and also just publish the raw text as a big blog post. 
Even Sam Bankman-Fried wisely thought; 99.9% of books could just be summarized as big blog posts.
Don’t trust any modern day published book which isn’t free, because… there is some sort of hidden clout chasing somewhere. 
Even one of the worst compromises that led to the demise of Ray Dalio was the fact that he took his Principles book, which was essentially a free ebook PDF on his website, and then took it off, because I think he got a book deal with Simon and Schuster. After he did that, he lost my respect.
If you’re already independently wealthy, and you don’t crowd source your self-esteem… why would you need to externally validate yourself by getting some sort of constipated publisher and annoying editor?
Editors are bad.
Now what?
Start your own blog and start blogging your own thoughts on stoic philosophy, and even start a YouTube channel and start vlogging on it. My generalized thought is simple: if your thought your idea your blog post your video or whatever could even impact the life of one other human being on planet earth… it is worth it.
ERIC
What is the secret to the maximum amount of happiness in life? The maximum amount of danger. (Nietzsche).
