For most people its best to do some sort of guided meditation at first. Most minds are flying wild all over the place and the guided aspect of meditation helps out. I think its particularly important if you are prone to mistake-tilt. I used the app headspace and thought it was pretty good for beginners. Sam Harris has a few guided meditations. I use that one sometimes. I also enjoy doing a "body scan" I used this model at first and created my own after awhile.

Getting comfortable and eliminating possible distractions is important. I often lie down if there aren't any comfortable sitting positions. I use my breath as an anchor for my attention.. If I find myself going off the rails on some thoughts, I recognize what happened, then take a few breaths focusing on how the breath feels.

Yeah, I've been thinking of better ways to share information and teachings.. I've been considering a podcast, or starting a website. Hell, even writing a book has crossed my mind. I should really get started on this instead of whaling it off by sharing the sorts of information I'm sharing on a 2+2 poker forum entitled "crushing plo". I do like the idea of acting primary as a reference to material at this point in my life-- I can't claim to be an expert at anything other than poker. I'm not sure how the blockchain backup works. Can I just post something on a freelance website and have someone backup all the posts for <$30?

My self-sustaining house building project is basically a way to scratch my own itch for a challenge, while also furthering my mission via an adventure. I've been playing around with variations for a few months now. I think creating an environment for learning how to learn(meta-learning), and also an ideal environment for for creative work is the best model I can follow.

My general theory is based on the premise that we are entering an age of all information being available and easily accessible + "AI technology". This effectively makes specialization useless. The vast majority of careers we have today will be automated by computers within the next 40 years. AI shows tremendous potential in specialization. "general purpose" and "multi-function" types of intelligence are more difficult to develop. As specialized knowledge is outsourced, there is less value to be added by humans. There will be new types of jobs we can't anticipate. For instance, being a virtual-world reviewer or developing pill-making algos for uncommon genome variations. Jobs and "careers" will come and go even faster than what we have seen in the last 50 years. Technologies will advance even faster. Being able to learn and adapt effectively to new tech becomes more important than being an expert in any given technology. Meta-learning becomes more valuable.

Similar to in Aldous Huxley's utopian world in "The Island", the education system revolves around learning how to learn. At a young age, children figure out how they learn best. They focus on the learning process before they focus on subject material. Perhaps some kids learn better hands-on, while others learn better through a combination of visualization and verbal instruction. The education system we see today is a relic. It will take decades to change the mainstream educational model to fit the current world economy. The current education system teaches children how to become employees. We are building robots that will become better than the best human accountant in a decade... but we are spending resources teaching children to become accountants. Derrrrrp.

Anyways, enough ranting on that subject. I'm not the first person to come up with these sorts of ideas. There are meta-learning facilities/schools that exist and have existed for a long time. I plan to learn from these places before creating my own.. unique recipe.

tmc is a cool idea

As I said before, I believe karma works off of your intent/energy and what you actually choose to do-not what you have other people do for you. And the scope is very very narrow man. Like I don't even think volunteering at the local food bank or whatever actually does much good or even does as much good as being a good human being every day.

good karma is viewed by most as sort of creating good energy or whatever when the far far majority of it all is about creating less conflict/ pain around you / in your life and the lives of others. In other words- it's not really about the **** you're doing-- it should be about the stuff you're choosing not to do. Another thing is karma doesn't just apply to silly human stuff- we are talking about the universe and everything in it-- let that sink in.... and then realize how ****ing dumb it is to think karma gives a damn about money or somehow takes it into account.

Like the animal loving, granola hippy vegan, quasi beach bum minimalist has infinitely more good engergy/ karma/ influence etc than the rich guy or even the average meat eating, consumer driven person that donates money and occasional volunteers.

So many people love to make a complicated, convoluted mess of things when it doesn't have to be. Everything good is simple. Keeping it simple. If you focus your energy on creating less conflict/ pain chaos in your life and the lives of other living things (not just humans dude) and not because you have to or you're being paid to--but because you actually want to-- then karma is going to "reward" you for it.

I wish you'd address my points before making your own. I think "choosing to do" or "willing to do" an act is where we diverge.

If I pick up a shovel and dig a hole, and I "choosing"/"willing" to dig a hole? I think we both answer yes. If I wash dishes to earn currency and give that currency to someone else to use a shovel to dig a hole.. Am I now "choosing" to dig a hole? I'm quite sure you believe this is not considered an action on my behalf. That is, that it is not of my will that the hole is being dug... Now, what about something more blurry. Let's say a doctor prescribes medicine and recovery routines with the intention of helping someone who is sick. The sick person has to get the medicine and do the recovery themselves. Is the doctor choosing to help this person? ...To me, the shovel, the fiat currency, and the instructional words are all tools used to impose ones will. I understand that you, and likely many others do not agree with me.

I think its simply wrong to assume all people who value living to spread love + minimalism have infinitely(or even more) good energy/karma/influence than others. I'm not saying that its wrong or even sub-optimal, but I believe that in terms of influence its not even close.

What about the warrior? The warrior conducts dangerous missions. He risks his own life to protect the community. He pushes himself to the limits to be capable of doing that which most cannot. The warrior is willing to kill others to protect that which he loves. If a pack of hungry wolves arrive to a small community in the midst of winter and the warrior kills them to prevent them from eating the food reserves/people.. What is happening here? Is he spreading bad energy? He is choosing to kill, but his physical actions are necessary to assert his will to protect the community.

If your average meat eating consumer driven person supports "bad things" with his actions of eating meat, buying slave labor clothes, and driving a car, etc.. but say hes doing so with the intention of helping other humans/animals/the planet/comsos. Let's say he lives the consumer lifestyle because its the only way he knows how to make $100k/yr, of which he plans to donate $40k to help humans/animals/the planet/cosmos. I'd argue this person has a much larger influence/karma/good energy than a positive good vibe vegan hippie that serves smoothies with a smile near the beach.

I realize most people do not donate anywhere close to 40% of their income. I'm simply making a point that it is possible to have a positive impact on the planet while choosing to live a sub-optimal lifestyle. It all depends on intentions. I agree that most meat eating consumers have less positive influence on the world than your average minimalist vegan.. but it isn't always the case. Also, I think many people intent good, but then get lost in the ego-driven consumer world and eventually generate a net negative influence.

In unrelated news, I'll be heading north tomorrow for 10 days. I'm taking up my own advice to take a 1-2week vacation every couple months.

I'm quite burnt out. The last 6 weeks have been intense. I've been pushing my body and mind to the max. Training 4-6 times per week, sauna/cold showers daily, and playing >50hrs/wk of poker. I've managed to put in 302 hours of poker, total. The increased emotional sensitivity combined with less sleep is a potent productivity killer. I'm the strongest, fittest, and most flexible I've ever been- so that's cool, too.

That said, I'll be stopping my micro-dosing experiment. It lasted 6 weeks-- shorter than what I intended.. but long enough that I can remember what its like. I would not recommend introducing micro-dosing into a potentially high-stress, performance-driven environment. For a poker playing lifestyle, I think optimal use is normal doses a few times a month in a relaxing setting. Perhaps a couple days before or after a long work-stint. I recommend to eat as little as possible around the time you dose, no meat/animal products, and insuring to create a relaxing environment. An environment with minimum distractions(dark room, with ear plugs) is useful for accessing your unconscious mind.

I'm flying to north Australia. Planning on practicing fasting, yoga, meditation, and lounging. I found a "yoga/meditation" retreat center to explore. Rechargeeee.

you're doing exactly what I said people do- making a convoluted complicated mess (in this case an unrealistic/ fantasy example) in irse to justify doing something you probably shouldn't/ would be better off without from a karma pov.

Suboptimal would be a massive understatement though don't you think? And tbeir doing way more damage than good... wouldn't you agree? Tbc I'm not being condescending- I wear nikes, eat meat although very rarely, and my existence still depends on sufferring and pain. I'm just saying let's be honest- from a wholistic point of view humans are the absolute nut low- and very few people do anything about it- and that number is even smaller because the many voluntee or do good solely out of ego.

I also agree that we as a species have good intentions... but we are freaking lazy and selfish and deluded... which means our intentions don't really amount to much if our end result is a self destructive death spiral for life on this planet.

Look it's great that you're volunteering, and donating or whatever. And that many other people are doing the same things. But if you truly wanted to to help life all it requires is two simple things- don't eat meat and don't spend money on **** you don't need. Those two things are infinitely better/ contribute more than any donations or volunteering could ever do.

Edit: and since this was about karma- living a life that doesn't create unnecessary conflict pain etc, co existing with life and the planet and all that hippy hocus pocos **** is where you get the amazing karma-- and it's also where you realize money doesn't amount to ****/ has no bearing on karma/ happiness / life purpose etc etc

The examples don't appear a mess to me. The way I see it is this; actions should be dictated by intentions. I thought the examples were pretty good at illustrating this point. I used different types of actions(neutral/good/bad) and showed how actions that create suffering could be the result of intentions.

These intentions should be aligned values. The warrior is a warrior because he values the longevity and well-being of those he protects. The doctor is a doctor because he values the longevity and well-being of those which he heals. If the warrior is protecting people because he values the luxuries from the protection money, something is out of line. To show how nasty misalignment of intentions and values can get.. If the doctor is a doctor because he values the suffering of others, then you have a sadistic person committing massive destruction(the archetype is a witch).

Perhaps it is in the misalignment of intentions and values that creates delusion. Perhaps the misalignment of actions and intentions is where laziness and selfishness is created. If this is true, then value-discovery is an integral part of the process.

Maybe acting with intention aligned with ones values is the ending of suffering.

I still hold the opinion that if I consciously focus my actions on doing something I know to be mildly destructive with the intention of appealing to greater good, it is okay. I am not a poker player. I play poker for resources. I am submitting to sitting at a table and competing at the game of poker because it is a good way to secure resources to refine and teach the process of aligning values and intentions with actions.

I believe the discovery and optimization of this process should be a long and gradual awakening, to distill and understand lessons learned from each part in the process. If one were to suddenly wake from delusion/selfishness/laziness in an instant, they would forget how to get into that state of being.

I still strongly disagree that choosing to eat a vegetarian diet and never spending money on non-essential items are the most effective actions possible. I believe it to be more influential to the world if one were to consciously use meat and luxuries to better secure resources allocated to alleviate the suffering of others. Yes, its more complicated and requires a longer time frame. That doesn't mean its less influential.

I hold the notion that money can be used as a tool to generate happiness/life purpose/karma etc. If it becomes the only tool, there is a problem. I live frugally in general and occasionally enjoy "luxuries".

I've been trending towards a unrefined, whole-food vegetarian diet for years. I believe my eating choices influence the world and myself. I enjoy to volunteer my time helping others by teaching and healing. I spend most of my time making money so I can do this optimally.

I don't know if you're trolling me or not man especially the 3rd to last paragraph. Like it reminds me of the last time I talked about climate change with a climate change denier... or a vaccination denier lol. They refuse to accept the irrefutable evidence laying before them.. because that would mean they would have to change or they would accept what they are doing is very harmful and those two things are the worst on ego (and is also what I'm sort of getting from your responses).

I'm not going to be the next bill gates. You're not going to be the next bill gates. Nobody should do bad **** (when there are many different options available) and justify it by "I'll make up for it later"-- much like I alluded to with the sinner that thinks they can game the system god made (supposedly) or the rich guy that turned into a philanthropist that will erase the horrible **** they did to get there. --- the numbers are out there, an average person with a vegetarian diet over the course of 60-85 years saves an insane amount of resources, time, energy, life etc that they couldn't fathomly spend money to get the same results. Same with living a more minimalist lifestyle. It's so freaking simple and obvious.

I'm very surprised with all the drug experimenting going on you haven't let go of ego or had a major, major dose of empathy and thought. Because that's really what most you included need. A massive dose of empathy and compassion for life.

And again I'm not an ultra hippy vegan. But I have a very much reduced meat/animal diet and am not into an ultra consumerist lifestyle either. But I hace the balls to admit that yes- my life existence depends on suffering and pain and strugggle and ****. frankly it's troubling how many people don't have the balls to admit that and you can't solve a problem without first identifying it.

Anyways my rant is over. I hope you find that massive massive dose of empathy and compassion and logic you seem to be missing. Regardless if you find it through drugs or by just sitting in a room with nothing in it and thinking **** through. Gl

Not trolling(although, I was high when I wrote the last post). It's a bit too generalized for my liking, but interesting.

It's not about earning to give at a "bill gates" scale.. it can be done on a smaller scale to realize huge benefits. Effective altruism.

I haven't had an experience of ego loss to date. Doses of empathy have been experienced(although perhaps not super strong) and reflected upon..

I think failing to solve a problem is not from a lack of balls or courage, it's commonly from ignorance.

would you agree that the most effective action possible would be to stop reproducing. overpopulation seems like the #1 cause of basically every problem to both humans and nature.

I'm not sure about overpopulation problem, I haven't researched it that much. I heard population growth is slowing down and should slow down more into the future with current global trends. I'll ramble on a bit on what I do know and think about this (I think I've done so in the last year)

It's far more important to stop irresponsible, poor people from reproducing. They are the ones rocketing the population. In first world countries, birth rates below the poverty line are far higher than the birth rates above it. Third world birth rates are higher than first world. Since you began reading this paragraph, a woman in Africa as popped out a baby that will starve to death. It would be cool if there were a cultural/social norm that regarded it shameful if you brought a child into the world without being responsible or resourceful enough to properly care for it. It's such a huge drain on society...

You know, the more I think about it the more that reproduction seems like a great way to save the world. It's one of those things that should be slow to change. Cultural norms and trends that are aligned with reproduction trends that are good for the planet seems like a good starting point. Rules on if you are like this you can't reproduce wouldn't work in a democratic society.

But, social/cultural norms can be changed, slowly, with resources. For instance, say someone gets pregnant. They make minimum wage, don't have a partner(and have a bad history with romantic relationships), tend to have drunk violent men around the house, and they can barely support themselves. The norm should be somewhere between very common and mandatory that person gets an abortion. I think there are a couple reasons why this isn't the norm today. First off, consumer culture is about the individual. One individual being more or less fit to bear a child goes against the grain of the culture. **** y'all, I'll do what I want. Second reason is that society doesn't understand how much strain that newborn child will put on the mother and society. IT's hard to measure. Not to mention, they will probably have a sub-par existence and continue the cycle of poverty, pain, and suffering.

By contrast, it would be cool if people fit to have children were encouraged to do so. For instance; someone who developed skills in IT consulting for 10+ years and had amassed large sums of resources. If the cultural/social norm was to
encourage this person to focus less on IT consulting and more on parenting-- we'd get to see a child raised that is far less likely to put strain on the parent and society. Plus, they will probably have a better existence and be more likely to do good for humanity.

We already see evolution trending towards creating these norms.. Sexuality does this. Males with resources=more mating potential. Woman with autism and cerebral palsy=less mating potential. But this method is so limited and so slow. It is much better for humanity if I raise a child with a parent who is not that attractive, but extremely supportive and amazing with children, have genes that promise very little chance of any health problems, and whom is essentially my best friend. Although, I'm a young human male and given my circumstances I'm equally or more likely to rear a child with a more attractive, less supportive, less competent woman with more gene defects that is not my best friend. So yeah, the whole biological system we have going on here really limits from acting on ideals.

I'm not so sure there are any simple ways to the most effective ways to help humanity/nature in a macro sense. Overpopulation seems like a good angle to tackle it from, but it has to be on a huge scale. There are probably lots of small projects that individuals or groups could do that would have huge effects but aren't sustainable solutions. For instance, crowd-sourced projects like my free meat for animal killing VR stand. It isn't going to solve world hunger, but the benefit:cost ratio is huge.

agree with your facts about teh poor making too many babies that statistically stay poor and become 'bad' people. I would disagree that more middleclass+ people should have babies though, as these are the actual ones who put the largest strains on natural resources. They may give back to humanity and be more balanced people, but I doubt 10 kids in an african village consume as much meat, iphones, cars, plane trips, precious metals, fossil fuels, video games, fast food, plastic, etc... as an upper middle class materialistic person.

I know it sounds sick and don't want to come off as sadistic - but mass genocides and plagues have probably been the largest contributors to preservation of nature than anything else. tens of millions of people dying a couple generations ago equals many billions less people today.

It's something I've put more thought into than actual research - but from my limited viewpoint its the only thing that matters. too many humans is what's not sustainable. Cut our population in half and we can eat as much meat as we want and leave a giant carbon footprint. Mother nature would thank us and human equality would skyrocket.

Moore's law would drop a bit and we may not have as 'advanced' of a modern world as we have today - so that's an argument against me. So many brilliant minds appearing from the masses will get us to a point of singularity sooner rather than later. Then we have actual black swan events that save us all, turn us into downloadable consciousness AI, or wipe us out to begin anew... all of which are assumed to be better than raping each other and the planet on an exponential daily basis.

i sounds much bitter, so hatred. I'm not. I love all but see crazy problems building up.

In regards to the middle/upper-class people having babies. I think it would be far more useful if the people with resources focused their efforts on parenting rather than just having a baby. The idea is the ones that are resourceful have a general higher level of competence, so they should, on average, be better parents. I think there is a big difference between having a kid, and raising a kid. My theory is that if a kid is brought into the world by career-driven, busy, couples and raised by paid-laborers.. they are going to get less love and attention and be more likely to fill the void by living consumerism-based lifestyles.

The emphasis we have today is on having a child. If you are middle/upper-class it's the norm to have a child, work hard and send them to childcare facilities. It would be cool if the norm was to focus on raising children, and working less.

I had written a paragraph about genocides/asteroid events and then deleted it.. I think technology will be our ally here.. I suspect there will be several forms of technology we are unaware of at this point that will help a growing population inhabit the earth in a sustainable fashion. This is pure speculation, but yeah, tech innovation seems to be the main human driver, so I got faith. For instance, lab-made meat is becoming better, easier to make, and cheaper. Imagine if decreased livestock 1-5% per year over the next 10 years moving towards lab-grown meat. It seems reasonable to me that the technology would improve drastically over the next 5-10 years, to the point where it makes sense from a $ stand point. I imagine the resource inputs for cultured meat are lower than livestock, its just a matter of the technologies/methods efficiency.

Black swan event is going to happen eventually, its a matter of time.

Yeah, I know the death/destruction ideas from you are not coming from a place of hate-- I was thinking along the same lines.

lol at PLO being the focus of this thread.

I read; the stages of meditation yesterday. I considered milestone one of four to be the "end-goal" of meditation. I'm going to introduce meditation objects into my practice. I'm a n00b at visualization.. and I suspect this is the major communication method when you get deeper into these realms.

I know that my biggest meditation leak is mental wanderings attributed by desire. I don't know how to approach this..

I found a pretty awesome yoga studio here in Cairns. First class was with the founder, who seems to be a great teacher. But yeah, my body is way out of balance. I imagine this is an imbalance that was exaggerated by the strength training in Sydney. Meh.

Been re-reading "autobiography of a yogi". The events that take place in this story are perplexing.

Got a fun update.

Alright, so on Wednesday(last post) I was chilling in my airbnb lobby while a cleaner was cleaning up the house. I stroke up a conversation while making lunch, and she commented on my lunch (a yummy salad). During the conversation she mentioned she is one of the organizers for a festival in a nearby town. Turns out its a festival packed with yoga, meditation, and similar sorts of activities, vegan-only diet, in the rainforest. Of course, it just so happen to start the next day, and she was driving up with one available seat. Of yeah, and it was ~free.

So yeah, I spent the last 4 days in the rainforest. I will share a trip report.

Okay, so we(4+tons of gear) drive ~2hours up the highway and take a dirt road 20-30minutes off the coast towards the rainforest to daintree. We arrived to a field, offloaded our gear into a truck and drive across to a nearby river. To get by the river there was a boat and a rope strung over the river. After the river, we trekked up a hill. All the while I'm lugging along many kg's of food/gear/music gear. Finally, we arrive.

This place is on the top of a large hill overlooking the rainforest. Beauttttiful view. So yeah, there is the main house which is a pretty big structure made with wood/scaffolding. Surrounding the house are hundreds of fruit trees. There is area designated for camping, and we go set up our camp. Then, we head back to the main house. The sun is just setting. This is the first time I notice that some people are not wearing any clothing. Vegas nudists. Girls and guys. Okay, cool. That night turns into a big house party with awesome people and live music. Fruit, mushrooms and ganja are passed around liberally.

The next day I get up early and spend an hour or two moving gear as more people are coming in. No need for the gym, hauling around gear up a muddy hill is quite the workout. This ends up being a good play as there were mushrooms growing all over the place and I got to meet everyone coming in to the festival. I found a good place to do some yoga in the afternoon, and had an effortless session. The evening came quick, and I got to dance/party all night.

The next day I woke up early and found a nearby Teepee. There was a group smoking inside, so I joined in. Shortly after, its time to set up the marquee. I like to help out, so I decided to help out. Not the best thing to do whilst stoned. Anyways, turns out setting up a marque isn't an easy task and requires quite a bit of collaboration and strength. It took a couple hours and I spend most of the time holding down a stake while the other parts of the marquee were being setup.

Shortly after getting the marquee setup I go through a sound journey with a sound healer. Got relaxed and accessed the subconscious. Felt great after, then the partying begins.

The next day I get up early and decide to be less active with my body as I've been exerting myself to extremes. However, there is an early afternoon yoga class. I can't say no. Thankfully it was a light class that got me loose. I stuck around in the marque and participated in a partner yoga/massage swap workshop. It was awesome. Half the crowd decided to be naked.

The next day involved weed/weed cooking in the morning, and a sound journey in the afternoon. The sound journey was >1hour and I spend a large amount of time focusing on the third eye(buzzing with energy). After the journey a man with a spanish accent gets on the mic. He announces that there is land in Colombia being cultivated for permaculture/retreat centers. 15 properties, near Santa Marta in Colombia. 50% of the land is for private use, 50% for a retreat/public space. Yeah, so this is essentially exactly what I'm looking for.. so I connect with him.

Shortly after, there is an "ecstatic dance" workshop. I had never heard of this, but supposedly its quite popular. Essentially, its a 5-part music/dance meditation/adventure for 1.5 hours. It got super wild, and we all started dancing naked together in a group and hollering/cat calling. Felt great and was fun. I haven't done anything like it before, and I will be doing more of it in the future. After the dance I partied for a bit, and went to the tent early.

The next day I dug a trench up, exchanged contact details with some people, and hitched a ride back to the city.

Overall, one of the better experiences of my life. The connections I made at this place were outstanding. So many like-minded awesome people. I made connections for Colombia and New Zealand, which will be in my near-term travel plans. It also was quite challenging, which I like. I arrived with 2 t-shirts, shoes, 2 pairs of underwear, and a box of kombucha. Operating with so few things was an eye-opener. It was so easy to get help from others. Kombucha ended up having a high trading value, smart call on my part. I really got to test my limits physically, which was great. I have tons of energy/strength/endurance, but I spew efficiency hard. Many of the people around me were yogis/dancers and tended to complete tasks with far less effort than me.

Ah I could write on for ages, but yeah, detailed enough. Will happily answer any questions people have about "hippie festivals".

Finished reading Autobiography of a yogi. It was densely packed with teachings and stories. I'd like to give it another read in the future.

At the end of the book the protagonists(yogananda's) deceased master appears in a vision-like state and gives a lesson on the nature of existence. He explanis that there are three-bodies to which a soul is attached. The physical (earthly existence), the astral (astral planes), and the causal. He explains in detail the differences between the planes, the processes of birth/death, and the nature of beings in various planes. I found it very interesting. 'Autobiography of a yogi' is a mind-blower.

---

In unrelated news, I'd like to state that I've been lowering my dependence on money in my life. In the past, I wouldn't have flew last minute for a vacation a month before I was vacationing. I wouldn't have paid rent in two places at once. In the past, had I booked a backpackers for 3 nights, I wouldn't have spend 3 nights sleeping at festival in the rainforest.

Cairns has been an interesting experience for me. Part of me is cross-armed/pensive about the dollars being spewed. I attempted living in the moment and planning as little as possible on this trip. That strategy costed ~$1.5k for a 10-day vacation near to Sydney.. Certainly spewy. However, the better part of me is pleased. My recent behavior has opened up huge opportunities, and given me some of the more enjoyable experiences of my life. Plus, I'm refreshed and ready to compete in the upcoming poker series.

I'd like to write about the impact of extended intense poker playing. >8weeks+ of playing poker without much of an outlet for release tends to accumulate stress and tension. It's gradual, but eventually I'm in a state of suffering. I get there so gradually that I'm unaware to the degree of my suffering. The state of 'suffering' isn't suffering like an illness. It's more like I'm disconnected from my body in a sense. I feel less alive. My neck/shoulders are tight.

I thought 3-5x sessions of strength training/wk, sauna/cold showers, meditation, 50-55hr/wk of poker, and frequent psychedelic trips was a healthy schedule for me. I think it is good in a sense, but becomes unhealthy if it goes on for too long. It's good in a sense that I have the confidence to know I can stress my body/mind and still perform/improve. However, it's unhealthy in the sense that the stress accumulates and chills in the body.

I'm going to be focusing on using my energy more efficiently in the future. Yoga is a great outlet for exploring this-- so I expect to be practicing more yoga. I was referred to a 10-day vipasana meditation retreat in northern New Zealand. I'll be starting off my NZ adventures with that retreat.

Went super deep in the opening event. $440, 1200ish runners, got 12th. I'm really happy with my play. The mtt was super soft (even the final two tables only had a couple ~pros). My bustout hand was a marginal spot. 11.8bb 12 left, payjump at 9, I'm second shortest in chips. 7 handed. Table has a couple nits(one in CO, one in BB), and a loose fish on the button. I pick up KQo in the LJ... I ended up jamming. One of the nits time banked in the co, and called the 11.8bb shove with a 20bb stack and AQo. I lost. Anyways, shove is +EV, of course. I think min-raise may be more +EV. I would min raise KQs, I would min raise on a pay jump, and I'd min raise if the fish is on the bb.

Taking today off poker. Sorting out crypto/money stuff, booking surf trip, and relaxing. $5k event in a couple days.

Not sure if minraise is more +EV there. depends on players, but by jamming you are folding out a lot of flips that can 3b jam on you, and raise/fold seems not good as well when you aren't on an actual money bubble. nice run.

where's the surf trip to? Where did you live in Bali? just got back from Ubud and obv seems like your type of place

Minraise and allin are close as far as EV goes. I think the best case for min-raise is its certainly lower variance, because we can comfortably fold >50% when faced with a jam. We'd need like 36% for chipev and have <33% vs the nit jams or 3b/4bs.

That said, I don't really know the relative weight of variables in these MTT spots. I know which variables are relative and have sense of how important they are from RIO videos.. But, yeah, I have no idea what sorts of values models spit out. Example: EV of FGS with 10bb in a super soft field.. relative to say, EV of ~+.7BB on a 12bb shove relative to EV of MR.

Thanks, yeah it was a good run. I'm happy with my play.

Surf trip is a few hundred km north of Sydney. Byron bay/Sunshine coast area.

I was ~15km north of ubud at a guesthouse in the ricefields, next to a yoga ashram. I liked being able to rest in a quiet place, and having access to food/events in ubud. Yeah, I really like that area.

surreal story brother. looking forward to the next time we cross paths on this rather large spinning orb.

+1. Weirdest pgc stories ever. (And I use weird in a "miles from mundane, cooler than one of those desert festivals" sense.) Interesting how you can go from these highly spiritual/emotive experiences and right back to crunching equities for poker.

Thanks y'all.

I find the drifting between business/spiritual extremes to be interesting. I think its pretty important to get a sense for what people experience going from corporate life to mystical experiences.

Made day2 of the $5k. Got a superrr good table draw. I'm average in chips, starts in a few minutes.. $188k up top, 22 left

gl bud, ship the tourney so you can buy lots of land for naked dancing :P

interesting, so much to read too. ive only read last few pages

Likewise. I've been seeing some of your hiking photos on fb, you found some awesome spots.

haha tyty, indeed. I unfortunately only collected some of the dancing lands..


Finished 13th in the $5k for a ~min cash.. Happy with my play, but certainly played far from perfect. I made a few unusual, exploitative turn check backs to induce versus what I thought were wide flop floats, this tended to be quite effective versus aggro recs. I made a monster mistake in the early levels calling off a small sized river bluff with top 2 and a busted fd versus a reg in a spot where he is rarely bluffing.

Also, I made a good call ~5 from the bubble. I have 30bb and open aq utg, whale shoves 32bb in hj. I call. I think its winning 4-6bb, I'd fold if it was winning <3bb, as the table was ultra soft. He showed up with a9o.

I made a bad fold near the bubble. 13bb stack in sb, whale in bb, I have tightish image. HJ(good reg) 2x opens off 15bb, folds to me on btn I have 20bb and a8o. I think this is a trivial shove, ~+1-4bb based on my assumptions/reads. The times I shove and lose I still have 5-7bb.

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I've got a few more MTTs in Sydney. $1100 monster stack today, $1000 6max, $500 mixed(may play), $3000 main, $500 plo.

I'm pretty excited to be leaving Sydney. I haven't really had many positive experiences over the last couple months. I haven't made many friends, only gone on meh/poor dates, and the construction is sooo ****ing annoying. Also, I tend to ignore events/opportunities around here as I feel the need to work while I'm here often to justify spending ~$100/day to live here. I expect to be able to have better experiences for much less in the future.

I applied for a 10-day vipassana(silent meditation) course in New Zealand. I think its unlikely I get accepted(it was full weeks ago). I will apply for another course in October if I don't get accepted.

Also, I booked an airbnb <500m from a yoga studio in Auckland for a total of $150 aus for 1-week. The studio has 1wk unlimited yoga for $25.

I found an article written by a couple that spent 6 weeks in NZ visiting permaculture communities. I will be following their lead and contacting many of the same places they visited.

subbed and gl