This week I had to renew my monthly CrossFit dues for the first time, and I finally accepted the reality that I’m going to become a resident of Puerto Rico. It’s a good thing and was the intention for coming here, but in the back of my mind I’ve been very reluctant to commit.
I have lived here just over a month now even though it still feels like I’m on vacation. I’ve moved so many times over the past few years, and in the last year in particular I’ve strongly contemplated different career/work choices that it’s hard to stand firmly on one choice. It’s kind of like serial dating for years, then really falling hard for someone after a month. On the one hand that’s the whole point, and you’re happy, but on the other hand you are hesitant to announce that relationship to the world.
I’m trying to maintain a stance that I’ve been living unconsciously for a while now anyways: I’m very into what I’m doing right now, but I’m willing to change if there is a strong reason to do so. My current life is pretty incredible though. I don’t say this to brag by any means; I’ve had periods of my life with more money/accomplishments/prestige. As I get older I’m just getting better at appreciating everything, and understanding what I even enjoy. Right now I’m living a Millennial Instagram worthy lifestyle of beach, writing, gym, crypto, and social life, but what would have happened 6 months ago if I would have gotten a job offer at Google/Twitter? I certainly would have taken one of them, and had a fulfilling life that was different.
Where you live does have a large influence. A month removed from the Bay Area, and I see my ambitious nature has been sapped a bit. When I’m in Los Angeles for long periods I can’t get away from wanting to make and spend money, as well as look cool. Silicon Valley made me want to build companies/get a Master’s degree in CS/get social prestige through a big company/Y-Combinator/some other gatekeeper that bestows that I’d made it in life. Now in Puerto Rico I’m pretty happy to do a little bit of everything I like each day, even if it’s not making me an outlier in any one area.
The past few weeks I’ve really been getting back into reading. It was something that I relegated to before bed for a while, but now I pop open book mid-day for a bit when I feel like it. I don’t feel guilty either (unfortunately I often have productivity issues that I should be doing more) as initially I chalked it up to material to inspire my writing, but now I let myself admit that I can just enjoy my time.
I’ve been on a graphic novel binge over the last week. So many comics/graphic novels are kind of like time filler, not much different than how I used to feel about TV. The good ones are incredible though, blowing away any other art form for me. I use comixology now to save money (they get expensive), and really cling on to different author’s work. Some of my favorites are Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead), Jason Aaron (Scalped, Southern Bastards, Punisher Max), Matz (The Killer), and Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Essex County, Underwater Welder). As a warning these are almost all really violent/intense stuff (except for Jeff Lemire which is more poetic) which might be part of the reason I enjoy it so much. I feel like the medium can explore topics that are too visual for a novel, and too taboo for films.
A quick recap of the rest of my week:
- I finished a short story (my longest short story to date) which I’ll start editing next week or so letting it breathe a bit
- I’m getting further along editing my novel in progress gearing up to start writing where I left off
- I signed up for a training program that I’ve been casually doing for a month called Functional Bodybuilding
- I bought a $20 bodyboard and started going in the ocean with it… it’s very easy, and one of the funnest things I’ve bought in a while
- Trading went reasonably well. The markets have been going down, but I’ve been chipping away with algorithmic trading to make portions of bitcoin and ethereum each day. For some reason I don’t have any stress or anxieties about the prices going down, and am pretty content with the prices going in either direction. I’ll do a lot better if prices go back up, and I’m pretty confident they will at some point (could be a long, long while… or it could be next week), so I just trade accordingly.
On a final sharing note here are two new (for me) Spotify playlists that I like:
Max Richter “Sleep” Playlist (don’t have it on shuffle, it will screw it up) for when you want to read/relax/late night.
Claptone “My Clapcast Favorites” for upbeat/party music.
Here’s a badly cropped picture from downtown Old San Juan which doesn’t give the area’s charm justice, but just imagine if I had better photography skills 🙂
Andrew Manser 