A simple reason I like to try on clothes in-store or in-person (or trying out shoes in-person) is because you never really know whether you like or something or not, until you try it out, test it for yourself, on your own body, etc.
This applies to ‘test driving’ a car, ‘test driving’ a home (ideally, you could experiment and test living in a certain house/condo/apartment for a week or two or a month before signing a year-long lease), testing out a camera (in praise of ordering cameras online on Amazon and if you don’t like it, just return it). Same also goes with iPhones, iPads, Laptops, Apple devices, etc (buy it, and test it, and if you don’t like it, return it within 14 days).
In video games, people often complained that a certain character or race (Protoss) is “OP” (Over-Powered). But this is assuming that everything should be ‘fair’ in life. But unfortunately, that is not how real life pans out. In real life, striving to become OP (OVER POWERED) is good.
The interesting thing is that it is not ‘slavery’ per-se, it is more like indentured servitude.
Essentially this is what happens:
We will ‘loan’ you this ‘free’ land, and you will populate it through your great toil, and eventually we will put advertisements around it, and low-key subtly control you (‘nudge’ you) to maximize your likes/followers, and to trap you within this golden cage of social media.
In fact, the best flex you can do as a photographer is this:
When people ask you what your Instagram is, you tell them: “I don’t have an Instagram”.
The whole time Henri Cartier-Bresson desired to become a painter, and happenstance picked up photography (as a side hobby), but (fortunately/unfortunately) became too good at photography, and he became famous and the GOAT of photography, but the whole time, he just wanted to paint.
This is why Josef Koudelka is probably a better role model than Henri Cartier-Bresson:
Koudelka is in his 90’s and still shooting.
Even Daido Moriyama— he is a good role model because he pretty much keeps his head down, and focuses on his own photography. He has remained quite prolific his whole life.
Even myself, being born in 1988, I desire to stay motivated to shoot until I am 120 years old.
Also, keeping your in-camera JPEG settings consistent. Extra small JPEG, and shooting the best in-camera high contrast black and white JPEG (the best technical settings here).
Then — what to change? Go on more epic adventures, and shoot more.
I suppose this is a good thing, because I cannot recall the last time I did research on new cameras.
The true elite photographers use RICOH GR IIIX.
Also why RICOH GR IIIX? I like it because it is obscure– nobody knows what it is.
And as an aesthetic thing, to have something that nobody else owns is a good thing. This is true elitism:
To own (or not own) things that differentiate yourself from others.
For example, even the Lamborghini URUS– everyone has one now (no more interest), and also in every single color way (I’ve seen the URUS in red, yellow, black, white, orange, etc). TESLA is cool, but even TESLA is not unique anymore. I’ve seen a TESLA in all variations. Currently the only car which is interesting to me is the new Corolla GR.
What if the most optimal conditions for your personal thriving is to just have a big-ass house in the (quiet) suburbs, preferably somewhere warm (Southern California), a fast wifi connection at home, the proper tools you need (a good MacBook laptop, iPhone SE)/RICOH GR IIIX, a good nights sleep, and a good gym closeby (to lift, do deadlift, squats, etc). Also close to a Costco Business Center, to get tons of meat.
Also, no necessity to transit or drive anywhere.
“The party’s in here, we don’t need to go out!” (Kanye West, the life of Pablo)
Something I’ve observed being a new parent— witnessing other parents doing things which I witnessed as dumbing down their kids, like feeding them Cheerios, giving them tablets and having them watch YouTube, use phones, etc. Or talking to them or treating them like a baby, or being overprotective.
Yet instead of feeling some sort of indignation or outrage out of this, just let them be. If they want to dumb down their kids, so be it.
Taking it further, if people want to stultify their own personal growth through mindless consumption of media, social media, their phones, etc., let them be. The most virtuous thing you could do is just focus on your own development, and ignore others.
Go to Costco Business Center, and buy your own top sirloin steak meat (super cheap), cut it yourself, and grill it on the pan (like making your own all you can eat Korean BBQ for yourself at home). The other night I easily cooked and grilled around 3 pounds of top sirloin steak– so much cheaper, cleaner, more efficient, tender, delicious, fast than any supreme restaurant.
With technology, it seems the best strategy is to just buy whatever is newest, most expensive, and max it out. This is the strategy that my old IT director boss taught me:
When you gotta buy new equipment for the office, it is best to just buy the most expensive, top-of-the-line computers, and squeeze 5-8 years out of them, than to buy mid-tier stuff, only to have to replace them in around 2-3 years.
For example, I bought my 13” MacBook Pro Touch Bar (refurbished, maxed out, in 2017) and it has still worked pretty well until now (although with macOS Monterey it is starting to slow down a bit):
With the storage, it seemed that 1TB (terabyte) was excessive at the time, but it looks like always having the additional extra (extreme) buffer is wise:
This is why in some regards, the new iPhone Pro with 1 Terabyte of storage is actually quite smart:
Buy your phone now, maxed out (spend ~$1500 USD), but don’t think about it for the next 5-8 years.
Even when I got the new iPad Pro, I got the mid-tier storage (256 GB), and actually quickly maxed it out with importing my photos. A simple workaround is just shooting extra small JPEG on my RICOH GR IIIX.
With cars, it seems the wisest option (if you can afford it) is just get a maxed out Tesla Model S Plaid (0-60 in 1.99 seconds), which will probably not be beat for many years in terms of speed. And we all know that speed is paramount. And like Google AMP says (Google Accelerated Mobile Pages) says:
If it is not instant, it is not fast enough.
I suppose the theory of trying to make things as ‘future proof’ as possible is:
Quit wasting our time, mental resources and reserves to think about the future, just get the best right now, and don’t think about it for the next decade, and just focus on what is most important– creation.
Creating words, creating blog posts, creating articles, writing books, making photos, and doing creative artistic things.
Triple. Tri-layer. Tri-force. Tri-motor (plaid). Three layers. Three things (triangles).
For example, I put on two pairs of training underwear for Seneca, and a pair of shorts on top, which gives them a total of three layers, to prevent him from leaking and peeing through it. At first I thought two layers was sufficient, but it is not. Three layers is best.
A random question on my mind: do they sell triple ply toilet paper?
When the weather gets cold, put on three merino wool T-shirts to keep warm, or at least three layers of clothing.
What’s the ideal number of kids to have? Three, if you are strong enough for it.
Also theologically, think about the holy trinity. The father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
Also the best films tend to be trilogy. The fourth installment of some thing is almost never good.
Things which you are scared of, or what causes fear inside you are things which you are actually really interested in, but for some reason, you’re afraid to attempt or pursue it, because you’re afraid of the negative consequences which might be related to it.
For example, when you see a beautiful woman and you feel fear … it is because you’re actually interested in her, and desire to engage with her, but you’re afraid of the negative consequences if you get rejected?
Theory:
Fear is enthusiasm in disguise.
In the context of street photography, fear is enthusiasm. This means–
When you see something or a scene you want to photograph and you feel fear, it means you really want to photograph it, but you’re afraid of the potential negative consequences associated with it.
The best plug-ins are the plugins or addons or extensions which BLOCK or REMOVE superfluous functionality.
For example, plug-ins which BLOCK advertisements, popups, cross track site trackers, cookies, annoyances, “notificationsâ€, comments, social media, etc.
Also, the best technology REMOVES NOISE or distractions. My love for noise cancelling things like BOSE noise cancelling headphones, AirPods Pro noise cancelling, moving into a quiet home and neighborhood, door sealing to seal out noise, noise dampening material, silent cars (electric).
A thought: I like the idea you can store your wealth in open source (Bitcoin) and harness that (digital) wealth into creating your own digital creations.
Bitcoin as the new “gold standardâ€.
Or in other words —
Would you rather have Bitcoin or a Tesla?
I’d rather have NO CAR and 10+ Bitcoin instead.Â
One of the big upsides of having a kid— you learn to utilize your time very very well. And it becomes a great filter:
What is truly important to you in your life, and what is not.
For example, labor saving devices as helping you do MORE with less time and effort. These are good. For example, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, Roomba, and even powerlifting at the gym (my whole workout is often only 30 minutes for squat, and maybe less than an hour for one-rep max sumo deadlifts).
Also, flying as better than driving (if you have the option).
Black tank top “wife beater†(UNIQLO), black UNIQLO workout shorts (roll them up, to make them “short shorts†to Flex your turbo thighs (thunder thighs), vibram five fingers EL-X, exofficio boxer briefs.
