othRisk^overspenT ^fuxiTitle ^ tcost@DramRefresh #200w

In the “open” blog, I will maintain multiple tags related to overthink as the oth risk is highest and more visible in this blog than recrec or tanbinvest blogs

The overspend grows with the blog volume.

— These 3 tags all cover tcost of blogging esp. overthink, over-analysis.

• overspenT — overall tcost Already overspent, including fine-tuning, critical reviews, dram refresh…
• tcost@DramRefresh — specifically about dram refresh.
• … Some of these blogposts have vague titles instead of unique, original content. Consider deletion. Apply t_fuxiTitle
• othRisk — Risk…. NOT a recorded incident.
• …. Some othRisk items also have t_fuxi and t_fuxiTitle

See the tag descriptions.

Blog posts in the “log” and “effi” categories are prone to overthink.

— Soul-search and historical reviews
Similarly, most of my t_tectonic/T_defense blogposts are big, sweeping commentaries, not addressing an immediate question/decision.

They tend to get vague titles + too much dram refresh.

Each blogpost often starts with a seed and builds up incrementally. So it can take a lot of laser focus, care and feeding.

In a way, this is similar to the challenge faced by a creative writer (BoRong?)

— eg: bedbug blogposts: I spent hours reviewing bedbug lessons in my blog, years after the traumatic experience. This deep review is crucial. Similarly, After the SARS outbreak and the Asian financial crisis, Singapore government had serios reviews.

y SO much analysis@ffree, Defense,carefree #Inception #400w

Q1: what motivates me to spend so much time blogging on Defense, carefree, ffree, FOMO^livelihood?

My current carefree/ffree life feels fragile, fleeting/impermanent, almost surreal, like a dream, too good to be true.

Therefore, just as [[inception]] characters constantly check the totem, I feel the urge to review my blogposts in T_defense, T_carefree, T_ffree, in an attempt to make sure my carefree life is real not a dream. Jolt — perhaps it’s ok to live the surreal life without questioning it, just like the last scene of [[Inception]] — “Using Mal’s totem – a top that spins indefinitely iFF in a dream – to test if he is indeed in the real world, Cobb does not observe the result and instead joins his children.”
— A related question: Q2: Why writing so many blogposts comparing my ffree with peers?
A: since my teenage years I have witnessed the vast majority of adults (99% of the people around me) struggle and suffer the stress, and later experienced the same myself. Since 2017 I started seeing some reasons to feel free — so surreal and tantalizing as to demand an examination and clarification. After some research, I now believe there are a few /identifiable/ differences (between me and peers) not only in attitude but in actual and projected cash flow figures.

A: FOMO esp. due to brank (a lost game). This is a powerful driver for my comparative analysis.
A: ( secondary j4 ) rationalize my U.S. housing decision. The mainstream choice is a $800k school district home.

See blogposts on HaiFeng discussion, and rely to Genn
— T_FOMO^livelihood spotlights the intersection (rather than “boundary”) between my carefree surreal world and the real world of “other people”.

SDXQ remains a real FOMO, real pain, real dilemma, though it doesn’t affect livelihood.
— My monthly expense tracking exercise is another “reality check” in terms of livelihood, ffree, carefree, brbr
— OC_effective, brank, slowTrack
These are my weaknesses, 短板. Paradoxically, they serve to highlight my carefree livelihood, brbr, barebones ffree, my career longevity
— For a insightful contrast, I also spend lots of time on these other topics but for subtly different reasons:

• T_bless — I don’t feel any urge to deep dive on this topic. I’m happy with a quick introspection

— career longevity= #1 Bedrock@ffree
As to my carefree bliss, wellness is even more important, more fragile than career longevity.

leisure reading ^ blog review

Leisure reading, though fresh content, is less ROTI than blog review. Therefore, I now allocate close to zero hour each week to leisure reading such as but not limited to

• [[读者]]
• 刘墉
• [[Fortune]] [[Time]], newspapers
• listen to BBC

! Warning — beware risk of becoming self-absorbed, self-isolated, disconnected, inward-looking in my outlook, with permanent blind spots. For this reason, it’s good to have some soulmates, but reading can be more effective.

Tech reading is not same as leisure reading.

Blog review is comparable to leisure reading. I think it’s much more relevant to my pains, my goals, my satisfaction,,,. However, I don’t need to compare blog update — a different activity altogether.

[20]G5 Shields@family_livelihood #800w

— See also

• [20]random list@Protections #close2heart #marriage
• G4 personal advantages: Revealed over15Y has a similar short list but a different perspective.

— introduction

I now spend lots of time (over thinking?) blogging and analyzing my various protections, which make me feel deeply satisfied (safety).

( I prefer the physical feel of a “shield” rather then the abstract concept of “protection”. ) Multiple shields on multiple fronts are important to both my heart and mind, despite their limitations. In a way, human existence is always fragile, and whatever protections always fragile. A big dose of detachment is needed on a regular basis.

These shields even make me feel superior. Together, these protections constitute one of my key strengths, though not competitive strengths per se, as in a scarce-resource context. I don’t need to but often want to compare within my circle.

Note this blog is strictly on livelihood, not ego protections (like PIP, stigma, trauma,,,) or family pains (like kids delinquency)

• — legends
• [4|5|9=among group of big4|5|9]
• [b=let’s ask those with relatively high branks like Siddesh] — these “Siddeshes” fly high but vulnerable without my protective armor.
• [d=conscious, active detachment needed]
• [$$$ etc = value-for-the-family of the protection, and reliability to a lesser extent]
• [AAA etc = reliability rating of the protection, and value to a lesser extent] — I used to assign higher rating to external protections, but now need more self-reliance and self-confidence. See locus@control:current carefree high ground mostly due2%%effort

— short-term protections

• [CC $] [9bd] My nonwork income and assets — Reliability depends partly on my active management. CPF-life is more reliable like “A”
  • ⇖ Jolt: the investment seminars always exaggerate the value and reliability of this particular protection, which is actually much lower than SG citizenship, wellness etc.

— medium-term protections

• [AAAA $$$] [2] robust tech career longevity is arguably the #1 bedrock of my ffree
  • Actually career longevity depends a lot on physical longevity, but in this list, I separate out wellness.
  • continuous, self-driven learning attitude, with plenty of refresh/reinforce, 温故知新
  • [A $$$] [b] IV competitiveness including theoretical skills. If I lose my job during covid19, but demand remains, I would rely on IV skills to get another well-paying job.
  • [B] [d] WallSt contract job market — protects against early decline of demand
  • [C] [d] robust demand for java across industries
  • [A $] [b] dev-till-70 as a mentality is an effective shield.
  • [B $$] my on-the-job survival skill is slightly less reliable as protection.

— long term protections

• [AAA $$] [3b] good burn rate as Family [6] — protects against many cash-flow threats including job insecurity during covid19.
  • more reliable (albeit less valuable) than my wellness “shield”
  • adaptability, resourcefulness … will be highly valuable when “burn rate environment” deteriorates like gas hike, bx hike, mortgage hike, fare hike, disappearance of low-cost gyms

• [AA $$$$$] [4bd] wellness — lifestyle + current condition. Higher $value than all other shields.
  • [A] [d] diet habit, BMI green zone
  • [AA] exercise lifestyle
  • [d] good sleep — protects against workload, ,,,
• [A $$] [5b] SG citizenship — protects against healthcare inflation, long-term nursing cost, housing cost, general inflation. Some protective benefits of SG citizenship are not measured by money —
  • protection against poor service (common in many countries) when I’m in need of help
  • protective environment for up-bringing of kids — drug-free,,
  • protects against covid19 job insecurity. Job support (Singaporeans’ livelihood protection) wass the biggest medium-term concern of the Singapore government, arguably a bigger concern than 1) outbreak management 2) food supply
  • See the full list in ## SG citizenship: value imt GC
  • As listed, all other shields require active, high maintenance effort (Nonwork income is lower maintenance). This shield requires zero effort on my part, as the government puts in a huge effort maintaining this shield.
  • This item “defines” and “anchors” the A-rating. This item has lower reliability because it’s beyond my personal control. Singaporeans tend to have too much confidence in the PAP leaders as if they are Gods and never misjudge, mis-calculate, lack strength/vision. Well, there are very capable leaders in other countries, too, but their citizens don’t have such naive perceptions.
• [$$$$] [5d] stable marriage — is a cornerstone and protects against many threats.
  • Is this a livelihood protection? Grandpa would say yes as he pointed out how marriage affects the kids and my own livelihood.
  • How reliable this protection is? Up to me. Grandpa would say you can choose to show more tolerance (包容), more respect,  more understanding, more kindness
  • [$$] harmony at home — long term is best, but any harmony is valuable protection for kids and aging parents.

[6] PERSONAL burn rate would be rated AAAA

roti@blogg^need4reflect ^aboutOth

Both need4reflect and rotiOfBlogg tags help me locate first-aid ideas. These ideas help me defend my habits (blogging habit and reflective habit). Overlap? Normal, to be accepted.

• roti@blogging .. more specific about blogging
• t_aboutOth blogposts are usually about need4reflect

tcost@blogg=comparable2..#wellness++

My high tcost of blogging is comparable to

1. the extra tcost of exercise (yoga/jogging/..) beyond the actual workout minutes
2. diet preparation, nutritional research…

My reflective blogging is critical to diet (and exercise, to a lesser extent) because ..

• my overall wellness and vitality is the #1 deciding factor in my dev-till-70 long-term plan,
• weight is the (#1 wellness factor) surprise tail that wags the dog, in my case
• the psychological element (hunger, temptation, motivation..) is the #1 challenge in my case. Temptation is the (#1) deciding factor and #1 obstacle to my diet
• blogging is my #1 essential effort on the psychological elements, esp. temptation.

My introspective blogging is effective because diet (and exercise, to a lesser extent) is all about self-management — self-discovery, self-understanding, self-motivation, self-monitoring, self-adjustment, self-experiment, (Note I didn’t say “self-discipline”)

— parenting — the tcost of blogging is a critical part of parenting, because the mindset, mentality … of the parents is a fundamental part of the parenting challenge.

Parents get emotional. Parents are imperfect humans. Some grow as parents by reading, discussing with partners and friends. I choose blogging.

Therapeutic — I can become less irrational about my son’s studies and weight, via blogging. Therapeutic Blogging takes lots of mental energy + time.

— more j4 thinking/blogging about tcost, tbudget etc

My time allocation strategy, roti … is crucial to my self-esteem/self-hate, dissatisfaction, regrets, emotional pains … In this battle, I can become more rational via blogging. Therapeutic Blogging takes lots of laser energy + time.

erase^move /relic/ posts→open blog #FXO

The Problem — in the recrec blog, the search result often becomes noisy and littered with outdated blogposts.

Therefore, I feel it’s useful to relocate some of them to the open blog.

• Risk — these blogposts won’t receive enough attention once relocated,
• .. but … actually I don’t want them to, as they are distracting.
• tcost — out of habit, I tend to read each post rather carefully, multiple times, before relocating.
• verdict — hold off the relocation

alternative — moving these outdated blogposts to under a new author ..  Did it solve The Problem?

• Not fully. I can choose “Mine” to filter out the old_blog_owner, but when I click on a tag, that author-filter is automatically removed 😦
• Verdict — keep experimenting this alternative.

— erase: tcost too high

blogposts on FSM funds and FXO trading: consider removing.

forever half-completed todo list

Some todo list items are meant to be LGlp and remain forever half-finished or not-started.

Fend off the zsms that you have wasted the effort to include them in your todo list.

It can be useful to periodically review the todo list and prune the outdated items.

roti@ home-organization #!!guilt #screws,抹布

Update: time spent over the years organizing tiny screws adds up to 3-9 hours (wide confidence interval). Clearly I felt the need and benefit[3], but in hind sight, Roti is very low even when I’m not busy! Perhaps best to throw away some and buy a full box of pre-organized screws

I also remember spending half an hour sorting scrap cloth, at the age of 7… Let’s not spend too much describing or analyzing it.

—-

“Home organization” is an IKEA term. I like this phrase. For me, it encompasses

• “visio” — home layout
• “emc” — classification and storage of various belongings
• optimization for space and easy access
• (child) safety — prevention of accidents, and easy inspection of /trouble spots/
• loss of (important) things at home — can be painful and costly
• aesthetics

Many people find it confusing, messy, even uncomfortable operating in a “less organized” [1] place. They put in daily hours over many weeks to improve things so as to feel better about his or her home. There are magazines devoted to home improvement and home set-up.

Q (introspection): Is the effort wasteful?
A: No. It’s about personal comfort, personal need… Einstein played the violin when he could be doing science … My dad is still a productive, and motivated researcher in his 80s but what he needs most is recreations!

Between me and my wife, this home-organization thing has been a tug of war and the most frequent source of (often non-trivial) conflicts. I wonder why we bother? I think we tend to trivialize our need for a “comfortable [2] home”.  Because this human need is actually deeper than we acknowledge, we are often surprised how strongly we stick to our preferences, unable to be flexible.

I can see my mom and my dad have very different home-organization preferences. Do they have non-trivial conflicts?

[1] unorganized? no
[2] The meaning of “comfortable” can be highly personal.
[3] otherwise many screws are hard to find and basically lost