Newsletter #57 - Marathon Again!

Every week multiple things trigger me to write a newsletter. Sometimes it's mental block, sometimes it's a deep thought, sometimes it's a memory.

But if I don't force myself into a weekly schedule, somehow I don't get to it.

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Last weekend I ran Tokyo Marathon. There were so many reasons to write:

• On Friday I was nervous before taking my flight. Writing is the best way to write off the nerves.
• At the airport I was contemplating how this travel breaks my routine. With 2 children the world became a lot smaller and more routineous. This was a step out of that. Life favors the bold and the brave. I and we should break the pattern more often.
• Finally, in preparation of the marathon, I read my newsletter about Khon Kaen Marathon last year. Doing this newsletter writing project for close to 18 months now, it's funny to read the things which are more than a year old. Some of it doesn't feel like "me" anymore. As if another person wrote it.

On the latter, that's one of the main reasons I write this newsletter. Because me and my thinking change. But if I don't write it down, I don't realise it.

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A lot of philosophical talk. The marathon itself wasn't very noteworthy, I was poorly trained and hence performed poorly. But I finished it!

And Tokyo was fun. What an amazing city.

Maybe it's not a city, maybe it's best to describe it as a machine. A well-organised, structured, discplined machine which provides shelter, transport and food for people who go about their ventures.

Other News

The weather is becoming blistering hot in Phuket, the peak is normally in April, after which the rains come. It's only early March right now and I feel like I'm melting.

A little quiet on the personal projects front. A new baby and more heavy workload on the freelance job keep me from making lots of progress.

I played with the idea of trying to get a couple of people together who are working on software projects as a kind of motivational group, but I can't find the right platform.

I was building an AI coach, I'm working on a map of nice places to live, and I'm working on Marjon's AI platform for children.

A new co-working opened close by. Lot's of facilities like a swimming pool, gym and coffee bar. But a little less on the community vibe. My other previous co-working is 45 minutes by motorbike. I might keep going there once a week. It was also next the beach, which allowed for nice beach walks during the break.

Life Changes

When I was in Japan I noticed everything was cheap. Ramen soup in a restaurant was 6 euros, a metro ticket 2 euros.

For my freelance contract I'm paid in USD.

To extent my freelance contract I was asked to reduce my rate with around 20%.

But on Monday the dots were connected between cheap soup, and my freelance work for Toyota Japan, when I was informed that despite reducing my rates, I ended up being more expensive.

The Japanese Yen vs USD exchange rate crashed. Soup is cheap, but foreign employees are expensive.

This has some major implications, on which I can only elaborate next week.

Signing off!

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