Tag: t_stickyQ11

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##more spare time can”Buy”me__ #XR

Posted on by tiger40490

Now spare time is scarce, but in retirement, spare time would be too much.

k_soul_search

See also

XR described to me that (lack of) spare time means so much to him — coaching his son on Chinese; coding drill; personal investment; … However, if he is given 50 hours of spare time, can he be productive in those 50 hours or just 5 hours?

update as of Oct 2020: My Spare time was more scarce esp. during UChicago days. Now I have a rare lifestyle with more spare time, so now I believe most people including XR would not be productive if given this much spare time.

Original title: What can more spare time including leaves “buy”me? Answer:

  • lower-body flexibility; cardio fitness
  • more therapeutic, reflective blogging
  • more (productive or fun) time with kids
  • more QQ and coding drill?
  • slightly more exploration of local codebase on my own, without time pressure.
  • more wellness research, for self-care and teaching my kids. Parents spend a lot of time talking to kids about wellness.
  • more calls to Beijing
  • Spare time did buy me lots of blogg→evaluation@life→more satisfactions

However, limiting factor is not only spare time (like O2) but absorbency:

  • insufficient absorbency for localSys
  • insufficient absorbency for jogging, stretch
  • insufficient absorbency for coding drill

Jolt: Before I scold ah-boy about his absorbency deficiency, look in the mirror.

##which weaknessES limit def[LifeChances] #driv`,stature

Posted on by tiger40490

k_soul_search

Everyone goes through difficulties in life due to this or that weakness. Among them, you will surely need to overcome or deal with 1 or 2 “key weaknesses of your life”– personal handicaps. I would say your limitations basically determine your life chances, like boundary conditions in PDE.

[c/C = I can see some specific life chances affected by this weakness]

  • Does CAD affect my life chances? It does if it hits me in my 30s, not if in my 80s
  • [C] handicap – exams… Many people are outside the top 20% at studies, but become successful professionally.
  • [c] weakness — office smarts, corporate maneuver.. seem to limit my “opportunities” within a corporate environment. However, as Honglin might say, my hands-on tech skills provide arguably better career longevity, which is a big part of life-chances.
  • .. Therefore, the hands-on tech weaknesses of those corporate managers might be a limiting weakness, too!
  • handicap .. Empathy was a personal handicap but primarily in office. Interpersonal and relationship skills are not so obviously weak.
  • — financial skills
  • [c] handicap — saving, self-discipline
  • [C] weakness — rEstate … In the East Asia context, not having a rEstate position early in your life limits your freedom and financial high/low ground.
  • weakness — stock picking… During each major downturn (1997 Asian, dot-com, SARS, 2008 GFC, 2020Covid), there were major buying opportunities. You won’t need stock picking per se, but stock picking would be the ultimate skill to improve your freedom, financial high/low ground…
  • — physical limitations
  • Weakness – my lower-(and upper-)body flexibility. This has not affected my life at all. (In older years this might increase my risk of injury.)
  • Weakness – coordination skills for basketball… Look at some of classmates in high school. Definitely affects self-confidence among peers.
  • Weakness – middle-distance running… This is a bigger thing in Singapore due to NS fitness test. Not a big problem in other countries. However, endurance does help heart/lung and aging.
  • intimacy .. see below
  • [C] Weakness – overweight… Much bigger impact, as it affects dating, health, longevity, parenting…
  • [c] Weakness – stature…. A bigger problem for guys in China as it affects dating.

— in this blog, life chances are something personal .. My life chances represent the chances I want for my life. I may want the same chances for my daughter, but she would ultimately decide what chances she wants for her life.

eg: Some active runners like YY.T would feel deprived in terms of life chances if affected by knee injury

eg: I want devTill70 as an “occupation”, so a drop in demand, or my JIV weakness would affect my life chance. For FIRE guys who want to retire early and enjoy life, this is not part of their life chances. See YY.T chat.

eg: You care about quality of intimacy into your 50s. But for your partner, intimacy is perhaps not part of her life chances. Sexual difficulties (like orgasmic dysfunction) doesn’t bother her.

— [c] driving vs [C] English .. Look at my friends Jun.Z and Alina… personal handicaps. English listening (more than speaking/writing) was a handicap in my earlier years in Singapore.

Many of my friends have a handicap in English writing. Consider my MLP colleagues vs Sophia/Y.Zhang/Rong.Zhu

Oral English has a lower entry barrier so fewer friends have that handicap but consider SY.Chang, Kevin/Gary, Rong

The English handicap affects half the “peers”, but driving handicap affects only me. Driving is a personal handicap, more physical than English language handicap. I need a much higher t$budget just for learning to drive. I already spent $2k+. Need to be $10k. The vehicle doesn’t have to be the strongest or “safest”. I would say average safety rating is sufficient.

Driving affects job choices, housing choices [SY.Chang was able to rent a home much further out from office], learning resources.

I would need a special budget for potential fines.

I also need a huge tBudget for learning and “managing” license + vehicle.

For the first 1 or 2 years, I should avoid driving the family at all. Even in local street, you can get hit or drive off the road and hit something dangerous.

with%%well-protected livelihood, y FOMO[def1] high-flyers

Posted on by tiger40490

k_X_FOMO_v_livelihood

See also

  1. ffree ^ envy+FOMO has a similar theme
  2. other blogposts under T_FOMO^livelihood
  3. 4 def@sucess provides a framework. In this framework, we feel the FOMO pressure/drive because we have yet to achieved (enough) success.
  4. ##wrong priorities@ deathbed|wellOff 

Case study: Jiang.Zhu is an unknown LeadEngineer figure that I last met in 1991. Both him and the Fenix CTO are largely unknown personalities, so my mental pictures of them are imagined/fabricated content fitted onto a half-skeleton. My team lead U.P is someone I know much better. He explained that out of 10 things about the firm, he was happy about 7, and the other 3 are important. He gave one example about “select me as a front runner”. I guess in these individuals, there is still a lot of untapped potential, a lot of drive, ambition. Compared to them, I probably look “lazy” (but how about zqbx?)

Jolt: Similarly to my “laziness”, my son may look lazy. In contrast, at age 13 I was more disciplined, more motivated, more ambitious than him.

Lazy or not, at my age whenever I look out towards the deathbed I feel the visible signs of success are ultimately unimportant.

Case study: Consider JackZ and Raymond’s situations. At my age and economic level, what endeavors are really strategic?
1) wellness lifestyle improvements like yoga, sustainable diet habits, BMI
2) dev-till-70 accu, plowback,,, including QQ and CIV
? academic parenting? No. I prioritize motivation, bonding, coaching, self-discipline
? prepare for relocation to U.S. including car ownership, burn rate control

I have a well-protected livelihood thanks to

  • SG Citizenship; wellness; family harmony
  • low burn rate; diversified income-generators
  • dev-till-70 career longevity, based on lifelong learning attitude
  • — beyond the G5:
  • globalization reducing basic cost of living
  • retirement destinations in MYS etc

Q: so why do I still envy those supposed “peers” who now earn more? Why do I need higher incomes?

— A: there are job positions where you can earn more without sacrificing lifestyle. You would need something (luck? skill?) to get into those positions….. Clearly I still want to earn more. Am not a Buddhist monk.
— A: financially disqualified — some exclusive “clubs” would reject me, my kids, or my family.
— A: basic livelihood (part of successE) is easy to achieve, but beyond that, FOMO, deprivation are deep-rooted fears in most people. They drive us to lifestyle creep towards fancy luxury, the new inventions of the last decade + bigger houses + top schools.

see the blogpost on khmer villagers and a reasonable minimum standard.
— A: (An indirect definition of) FOMO/FOLB/kiasu is in the Singapore DNA. I see FOLB in the unfolding story of SG as a nation.
Many government departments, mainstream media, mainstream schools … are often funded to promote adoption of new technology, new products/services.

I often say the biggest economic engine in the U.S. economy is technology improvement, evolutionary or revolutionary, far beyond digital technologies. Japan, Korea, Taiwan are often seen as competitive economies exactly due to their high-tech manufacturing sectors.

So a lot of national economies may grind to a halt if without new fancy offers esp. new technologies.

The steam engine was arguably the first in a series of new technologies to revolutionize world economy. Can you boycott this FOMO, in the spirit of Buddhism?

This also explains why we envy the start-up “legends” like Jiang.Zhu (whom I don’t even know)?

— Q: why envy the ex-peers who moved up like Siddesh, CSDoctor etc

A: brank, OC-effectiveness… are /potent/ symbols of power, success, admiration. Income is one element. If we only look at income then … not so potent, not so enviable.

— Q: why envy the lawyers (Zi Yang) or doctors (TTSH ENT specialist)

A: I told my son 人往高处走.. SuccessC/E. We parents want our kids to have (extrinsic?) motivation, with some FOMO.

A: life chances. More income means more life chances for my kids. But is this a 无底洞?

— burn^rot .. Somehow I feel a pressure to work harder (burn) and close the gap in terms of FOLB. If I ignore the gap, I feel like rotting. I feel those high-flyers are more “burning” — working harder on income/wealth. However, I doubt their zqbx.

Remember burn is basically successZ+C

fertile^sharpQ^stickyQ

Posted on by tiger40490

Both: the blogpost Must be a question.

— t_sharpQ is for well-defined, short-n-sharp (jolt) often yes/no questions

— t_stickyQ is for non-trivial questions to be reviewed periodically due to real risk of crowding out.

Reality — Mental energy is limited. You can’t focus on many things for a long time.

— T_fertile overlaps with stickyQ, when the question is important, and not yet fully explored.

## what2eat when hungry+!hunger #long term

Posted on by tiger40490

See also ## 9 raw foods to try more often and ## weight-watchers: safe2overeat

Every now and then I find myself wanting or needing to eat something more satisfying, even though I am clearly not hungry, perhaps after some chia seeds or some raw vegetables.

The hunger could be due to cognitive strain, such as coding drill.

Here are the “better” foods to eat when not hungry:

  • #1 raw food .. with dip. Half of them are rather tough
  • #2 cooked mix of broccoli, onion etc
  • fruits — some (banana) have relatively high calorie and starch
  • fat-free milk — still some calories
  • liquid egg white
  • green machine? lots of sugar, even though no sugar added !
  • milo + low-fat milk
  • low-fat yogurt iif satisfying
  • avocado — well-known calorie amount
  • meat without visible fat

## satisfying@low-cal@@ # often tasty

Posted on by tiger40490

“Filling/satisfying” means “enough to stop me eating other foods”

Filling AND low-calorie sounds contradictory, like an unbelievable bargain, too good to be true, but in reality this might be possible and my experience seem to prove it — I think with these foods and with delaying meals I was able to cut my starch intake by 75-90% and my calorie by half (a more precise estimate is not worthwhile)

Note we all need variety, though some individuals needs less of it. I just hope I can rely on these super foods as the base of my daily intake.

  • — unsorted:
  • soymilk?
  • 金针菇 — 37 cal/100g
  • ham — at 90 cal/100g #normal turkey/pork cold cut is 60 cal/56g
  • [t] liquid egg white — much lighter than whole eggs — what’s the calorie?
  • [t] heated tiny raw carrot — starchy, fibrous, fairly tasty
  • [tt] persimmon — quite filling and very tasty
  • microwaved carrot and cabbage — taste much better than raw, and extremely small calorie footprint
  • [tt] sweet potato? I feel a small one already fills my stomach. Good portion control.
    • In contrast, baked potato is measured as the #1 most satisfying food, but I consider it medium-cal
    • lentil? promising
  • banana? sometimes filling
  • [tt] edamame? relatively low calorie but more calorie dense than many starch foods including rice .. https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrition-comparison.php?foods=20053-16109&serv=100g-100g&qty=1-1
  • raw veg  + chocolates? need self-discipline, but since I often eat 2 to 4 pieces only, portion control is generally easier than nuts and ice cream,
  • [t] my own ABC soup
  • raw veg + chicken/ham as a salad? filling but unsure about calorie
  • raw veg + light ice cream?
  • chicken breast? i think so, but I tend to assume lots of hidden fat close to the skin
  • [t] green machine? Is it filling enough for the calorie?
  • [tt] ice cream?? at 100cal/100g (low-fat or nonfat) it is still relative calorie dense. Satisfying if accompanying raw veg
  • chia?? filling but not very satisfying…. was sustainable for a few months.
  • — Now some of the tried-n-failed “solutions”
  • raw veg — by itself still hungry afterwards
  • cooked veg — calls for rice or other starch
  • yogurt — not satisfying
  • milk — not filling
  • [question mark(s) after the food indicates my suspicion ]
  • [t=tasty. tt = very tasty, stress-relief comfort food]

Q: with more budget,how would I improve%%diet

Posted on by tiger40490

Variety is key now. To stay away from the “undesirable” foods, I need to buy a wide variety of fancy foods.

  1. before you know there’s any free food in the office, eat large amount of tasty and relatively-healthy foods, usually expensive, such as fruits, sweet potato, edamame,
  2. stash away high quality snacks in office to fend off free foods in the office
  3. [e] more grape tomatoes
  4. [e] more grapes
  5. [e] more cut melons
  6. [e] more fancy fruits, but MUST exercise control to reduce carb and fat accordingly
  7. once a while buy some diet ice creams like the 70cal/68g nonfat.
  8. more fish and meat pre-cooked, in small amounts,
    1. but minimize starch
  9. small amount of cooked veg
    1. but minimize starch
  10. [e] ice creams – small amount of tasty and relatively healthy ones. Be ready to discard  or give away.

[e=expensive]

Q: sustainable level@daily cal+starch

Posted on by tiger40490

Once a while, I would lose control and binge on 3000-4000 cal  a day. It doesn’t mean all is lost. I usually cut back to my sustainable level very quickly.

For years I tried and failed to lose weight, largely due to starch — I assumed brown rice or wheat bread don’t add to my weight. Now I think starch was responsible for 60->66->80% of my calorie intake, because I ate less meat and much less fat than my peers. I did eat lots of nuts though.

sustainable level of daily Calorie —> 1500, 50% of my max capacity. 七分饱 is considered good habit.  Starch is the dominant component, usually contributing 800 to 1400 calories until Nov 2018

sustainable level of daily starch —> 5 to 6 Singapore servings. Below 1 serving/day as of mid Dec 2018 but Used be 8 to 10 servings consisting of

  • [1-2 servings] My Singapore lunch is typically 1 serving of rice. There is often some starch in the potato or beans. There’s sometimes a dessert too.
  • [2-4 servings] One family meal is in recent years, average 2 servings of rice + some potato/yam + peas.
  • [3-4 servings] my snack and breakfast is often 1 serving of starch unless I go overboard (close to half my snacks). 3 snacks/day on average. I sometimes have 4 to 6 servings of starch across my snacks+breakfast.

Our own estimate of what’s sustainable depends on our personal experience esp. the most recent experience. For now, I have a successful recent experience of cutting down starch and calorie. a few years later my “sustainable” target might be adjusted higher.