What I'm Doing Now
Well, hello stranger.
In a radical departure from the true meaning of the word now, I'm writing this one 440 days after my last.
That's a whole lot of nows I missed.
Sorry, friends, but the best nows are the ones you're too busy experiencing to write about.
Anyway, let's TL;DR this bitc... no, wait! I'm just a little over-caffeinated right now... a moment, please.
*Clears throat*
*Finds his professional voice*
Okay. Let's TL;DR this bitch.
Dec: I was back in the UK to celebrate Xmas. Santa obviously didn't get my note about MRR.
Jan: I moved back to กทม (ko-tho-mo). That's how cool people say Bangkok in Thai, by the way. It was wonderful. I love Bangkok. It's my "default" city. The one I could stay in forever, but don't, due to indecision.
Feb - May: I, along with almost every indie builder I know, landed in Đà Nẵng. That's how cool people say Da Nang in Vietnamese, by the way. It was honestly unreal. So many adventures, so many chances to meet people in real life that I already knew well from X.
Jun: Following a very social first half of the year, I copy-pasted last year's escape to the stunning Thai island of Ko Pha-ngan. Post-May is low season there. It's delightful. A tiny bit of rain, tropical, remote, not too busy. I had the best lock-in of the year, and built out the first version of Langmaxxing.
At this point, you may be questioning the meaning, or at least my understanding, of the letters T L D and R. I don't blame you.
It's another radical departure, I'm afraid.
Listen, just be happy you're not reading AI slop for once. Every single one of my questionable word choices came from my meaty brain. No weights were harmed in the making of...
Anyway, back to this nominatively indeterministic TL;DR...
Aug: Despite other plans (see "indecision" above) I decided to head back to Da Nang. I normally wouldn't spend the hottest month of the year in Da Nang in Da Nang (you following?), but I had some family visiting, and also a midlife crisis.
Don't worry, a mini one.
Listen, let's just be honest here. The TL;DR is dead. I tried. I really did. My fingers just want to finger. It has been 440 days, if you hadn't noticed.
Since moving out to Southeast Asia almost 3 years ago, I've been working for myself. I've had the absolute pleasure of building only what I wanted to build. A fantastic way to go broke, if anyone's looking.
Some things I built made a little money – nothing to shout about – but enough to keep me going.
But by Aug, I'd realised that I needed a change of pace. Money gives you options, and my options were shrinking a little too quickly.
So I stayed in Da Nang. That's where I write all of these very long sentences from right now.
The plan: pour all my effort into Langmaxxing. It's by far the coolest thing I've built by the way – go check it out. Why do you think I'm even writing this /now update?
And between now and the end of the year, perhaps find some paid work.
The universe has some kind of vendetta against me, because weeks after that decision, I got a few out-of-the-blue offers I couldn't refuse, and suddenly I'm a cog in a machine again. A nice machine, though. And I like all the other cogs.
I have to admit, it's a perfect routine. Working European hours from SEA is a good split. 8am–3pm I get to focus on Langmaxxing. 3pm–11pm I get to keep the party going.
So, lots of changes, friends.
But life's good and I'm enjoying working with some smart people again.
Being solo for ~3 years is lonely. There's nobody to challenge you. It's actually (for now) very nice to have that back and be working with people who are making me better.
Not to mention the extra comma.
I have only 2 weeks left on my Vietnam visa. After that I'll be back in Bangkok. Nov + Dec are my favourite Bangkok months. If you're around and want to hang out, let me know.
Maybe I'll pull off the whole year this time.