thinking a lot about what david chang of momofuku said recently in an interview, that too many diners are focused on eating at the *best* restaurants, though this thinking extends beyond restaurants. letterboxd and beli have proliferated this desire, too.

i haven't been around that long, but long enough to know it hasn't been this way forever. i'm just as guilty of ranking and constantly comparing experiences against each other, but it's important to remember the basis of gratitude is to appreciate what you have, not search for what you don't. it can be dangerous to search for the best, then expect the best, all the time.

high standards, low expectations.

then i come across clips of ben affleck & matt damon on a podcast talking about how much moviemaking has changed over the last decade or so due to attention spans. studios now feel they can't get away with minutes of movie without dialogue, or even drawn out action scenes.

in the end, both restaurants and movies with dreams of making it in this world are subject to the same frustrating rule: the consumer is always right.

01.25.26 we skiied the streets of the west village. some of the most fun i've had in a long time.

the best folks working at the frontiers of their industry have rigid, disciplined routines. discipline is oft thought of as the opposite of spontaneity, naval argues that it doesn't have to be this way.

'live a disciplined life, spontaneously' sounds like a contradiction until you realize: discipline
creates the conditions for spontaneity to thrive.

a goal for my 2k26 has been to set aside dedicated chunks of time for writing, reading or other sideproject work. for me, it is almost more important to dedicate time to this type of work than it is to decide what to work on.

i also had fun conversations today around how to capture and package the energy of spontaneity. will continue to think about this as i build in disciplined routines and moments for spontaneity- both which can sometimes feel fleeting.

there's this temple east of kyoto in japan called saihoji. you must write a letter explaining your desire to visit to gain admittance.

you walk through the property to the main room and are asked to sit and write a sutra- the common buddhist practice of copying a scripture as a meditation and devotion, for the uninitiated.

the temple's garden is hands down the most beautiful place i've been to in the world. it feels like a wonderland and serves as an example of the incredible attention to detail across japanese culture.

it's also the place where steve jobs used to fly across the globe to visit, to get inspired during apple's heyday and develop ideas leading to the smartphone. ironically, his creation now makes it *more* difficult to appreciate the beauty of a place like saihoji.

i loved seeing fred again email the folks coming to his concert night of saying 'hey, we're all going to have the best time. what we've found is the vibe is best when we sticker phones at the door. we will have some of our best friends there to photograph, and you will get the photos.

yay to creating healthy screentime boundaries where they should exist. this is a silly little example, but i can already see this trend forming across communities and events. if you own a space its your job to define the rules, and in doing so, curate the vibe. phone usage guardrails are really nothing new, but as people continue to swap dating apps for meet cutes, remote work for offices and doomscrolling for *literally* anything else, i think it'll become cool for brands, communities and events to exclude screens without needing to boast about how much fun will be or has been had.

in the spirit of transparency, building habits important to me and putting a version of myself out there for others to see, i'm going to write a post everyday. it is a very small unit of agency i can take and an easy place for me to begin.

this is a place for casual, raw, unedited writing. the point here is thinking once, not twice, and shipping. at best, some pockets of this site will serve as a source of inspiration for others. at worst, i will exercise two muscles i care about- writing and working in public.

last thing- lowercase letters capture the feeling i want this writing to exude, so they will rule until i decide otherwise.