One of the most powerful things you can learn is that all of your suffering is internal. Your fear, your guilt, your shame, that part of you that's constantly saying that something's not good enough, that more is required - it's just YOU, telling YOU things that are taking away from your joy. Objective reality stays the same while you are telling yourself those things, suffering them. You can have the same reality, while understanding that everything is okay. The story you're telling yourself is framing everything as good or bad, and you dictate that story entirely. Even physical pain is internal. It's not to be ignored, but that suffering, too, is multiplied by your resistance to it. It's just a signal. You being upset that it's there is more self-inflicted suffering.

"Resolutions" don't work without a clear goal and a clear roadmap for how you’ll achieve that goal. Most resolutions sound like the weakest possible version of a goal: "Drink more water." "Go to the gym." How much water are you drinking now? How much do you want to drink? When will you go to the gym, and how often? Why go to the gym? You need to define EXACTLY what you want, and then make a roadmap for how to get there, starting from the end and working back toward the next thing you will do right now. Tracking is the first step to improving.

It’s said that Homo sapiens bred with Neanderthals—Homo neanderthalensis—but also might have caused their extinction. The book explores (through a fun, fantastical narrative) the interesting and often dangerous dynamics of an ancient world with all kinds of magical, but actually very real, creatures, as well as some mostly made-up humanoids. Think elves and dwarves, along with people descended from birds, pigs, and other things.  

The blog’s image is the planet positions on 10/21. Obviously not to scale. Don’t forget to look outside at night (no matter where you are) to try to spot some planets!

To me, the world is layers of games. The consequences of those games vary. Much of what you learn playing one game you can apply to another, therefore growing your skills, and steepening your own learning curve.

I felt it slip right into my foot, felt the small block of wood it was attached to lift up as I ran, now nailed to said foot. I imagined stepping on that block once more, driving that nail in deeper—instead of doing that, I crumpled, sliding head first across the dry grass. Then I screamed—the thing I’d been warned about had finally happened.  

I do jiu jitsu because I love GAMES and the acquisition of skills. Jiu jitsu is one of the most difficult and therefore rewarding games there is, and the number of skills involved is ridiculously high. It’s just pure fun.

 For the uninitiated: there are two routes for publishing a book, known as “traditional publishing” and “self-publishing”. You can find a zillion pieces of info on the differences of these things, but I’ll give the short version.

(Excuse this AI image, it’s for the boys!)

Your instinct to differentiate your experience (and often your self) by creating preferences based on bad-to-best is not conducive to happiness. Comparison is the thief of joy because rather than enjoying a thing, you are cerebrally judging it to decide whether or not it’s better than another. You are spending time in your head, ranking, rather than experiencing the thing, and (even possibly) enjoying it. Only one thing can be the best, so the light of that thing can cast a shadow on the wonderful thing you’re doing.

I’m writing (at least) three stories in this setting. One set in the present (2025), one far in the past, and one in the future. They will all be different genres, and readable in any order.

“Most people are idiots,” my father says.

His implication is not meant to disparage the majority of the population, but rather to empower his children to believe that the people who are creating, learning, and executing things are not usually special or gifted, they are simply the ones taking the actions that lead to accomplishment. What one person can do, you could also do.

I think there’ll be a perspective shift, soon, where things made by human hands are valued for the effort, the life, that was spent creating them. Machines are efficient. Humans—artistic. In the same way we appreciate beautiful calligraphy, or paintings, or anything handmade, we will always value effort.