Month of Dec 2024
End of year reflections
//Can’t beat a Colorado ski day
Theme of the Month - End of year reflections
The questions/thoughts that led me to the posts for Dec 2024 were:
What are more random insights from clearing out your keep notes?
What should I buy my wife for the holidays?
How was traveling Rome in 2013?
How is life like a video game?
What are your reflections for 2024?
2024 was pretty awesome. As the tradition goes, I do my 30 year end activities. I’ve written my yearly life reflections since 2008. Good times and memoirs:
For more Year-end reviews:
Year-End Reviews
I’ve been on a bit of a health bender after my Japan and Thailand travels, but it’s been interrupted by being spoiled with my parents visiting. I’m sure there’s some foreign word describing the joy and behavior from seeing your parents and getting spoiled by them. It’s a wonderful feeling.
A topic of conversation that came up recently was around “Die with Zero” highlighted by this podcast episode with Chris Hutchins interviewing the author Bill Perkins:
This deserves its own blogpost in the future, but it really resonated with me that our health span and net fulfillment is more valuable than our net worth. I take a look at corporate people working in Japan and think how brainwashed how they spend their whole life at a single company. What I didn’t realize is that an Americanized technique of jumping between companies or moving up the ladder is really just as brainwashed. We’re taught to stay on the wheel and become obsessed with money because money and spending makes the economy work.
The part of the podcast that resonated most with me is the timely ordering of experiences. The health span has dependencies where some of my desires and dreams simply cannot be put off to a better time. There are opportunities that arise that might just be better to take because you wouldn’t see the same scenarios line up again. It brings me a sense of joy and pride that I’m the type of person that says yes and asks for forgiveness instead of for permission.
There was also a point in the episode that talked about people who have focused on saving so much that they’re likely never going to spend their money. The money was the goal and it became all consuming. It seems like a good business idea to build services for the elderly as they’ll be happy to spend their money indiscriminately for conveniences. It’s no wonder these <insert PC term for old folks homes> rake in so much money. Perhaps I’ll open a resort where we’ll all get really good at playing video games in a cool 90’s themed LAN party while taking lots of shrooms. Or maybe we’ll all buy a mansion together and just have parties every night.
The blogposts I’ve published this month were:
Don’t try and learn my observation techniques, Clembot. I see you taking notes.
I still don’t know what I’ll get my wife. Hopefully the time I spend with her is good enough.
![[Travel Advice] Rome (as a local)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_140,h_140,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e72615d-25cf-4b4b-be71-5ff0aee2978d_584x386.jpeg)
Rome with a local driving around the coast was pretty darn amazing. My 20s were quite fortunate.
Life is clearly a game where you need to level up your stats and explore some side quests. One of the major quests is figuring out what the main quest actually is.
Some ideas for Jan 2025?
30 AI and Crypto Narratives - Okay, I’ll bite. Wrote this piece to appease the masses.
30 More AI Buzzwords - Latest buzzwords from reading some different research papers and looking at headlines.
30 Mechanism Design Examples - Consider how different incentives are created to lower costs and increase engagement from the community to fulfill key product value.
30 New AI Careers - Rethinking our post-labor economic jobs. Let’s all switch to the gig economy.
Reflecting on 10 years of writing lists of 30 - I still love writing lists of 30! It’ll define my whole life.
30 Future Decade Goals - We split the next 30 years into goals per decade as mapped out by Evie’s age. This was a great activity in long term planning for her ages 6-16, 16-26, and 26-36.
30 Ways to Stretch Time - Wealth doesn’t mean money, but time. It’s our only limited resource.
30 Things I do for Self Care - We all need to figure out what restores our energy and keeps us sane.
Kicking off “Her Life in Lists of 30” - I think I have enough material from my monthly lists of 30s to cover this and launch it in 2024. Maybe I’ll find a publisher for this book? I think I’ll be happy with more substack subscribers than a single book defining a decade. If it’s popular, maybe I’ll do a book tour!
Thank you for reading and I hope everyone stays safe! See y’all in the new year!
Please suggest a list of 30 and I’ll write it! I’ve written 290+ lists of 30 and only publish ones that I think other people would enjoy. It’s my fun brainstorming routine.
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