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The Art of Being Unreachable

When your life genuinely interests you, everything shifts. You stop performing. You stop seeking constant reassurance. You become someone who exists fully, richly, independently—and that independence is the most seductive thing in the world.

https://open.substack.com/pub/themuseandthemelody/p/the-art-of-being-unreachable

[2026 NYR Reading Goal] Total: 13/15 - Fiction: 6/8 - Non-fiction: 7/7 ✅ 1. The Diary of A CEO - link 2. Purple Cow - link 3. Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop - link 4. This is Marketing - link 5. Ogilvy on Advertising - link 6. The Creative Act - link 7. The Tipping Point - link 8. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - link 9. Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts - link 10. The Twins of Auschwitz - link 11. Flowers For Algernon - link 12. Strange Houses - link 13. Strange Pictures - link

[BR] Strange Pictures by Uketsu (translated by Jim Rion) was nudged into reading this after strange buildings. finished it on a flight home. i felt that this book is better than strange buildings, easy read too. was quite shocked when the murderer was revealed and how every prior chapter connected. i still don’t quite understand the rationale for drawing the mountains when the victims were about to die. both had different motivations, but still it didn’t quite make sense to me rationally speaking. also, i felt really bad for the reporter kid, especially during the narration of his death. the protagonist is definitely one screwed up character… 4/5

making it a point to buy a book in the same blind box fashion every trip i take i will buy based off the book cover and hope that it’s a good read🗿 this time, The Second Chance Convenience Store

i used to think retail would be unwilling to shell out big money because of inflation and rising costs, until i saw labubu and especially pokémon TCG genuinely don’t think a secondary market price of $1000+ on these Royal Pop watches will deter anyone

the timing of Royal Pop is extremely interesting to me and i believe it is well planned out this release was already in the making since 2023, when AP commented on Swatch’s IG post: when do we launch? administrative, logistical, legal, etc. issues aside, definitely no coincidence that it comes at a time where consumers are spending more to regain semblance of control in their lives (look at popmart labubu etc.) youths have negative perception of the future: if i can’t buy a house, i’ll buy what i want instead luxury market is also facing the highest pressure as demand slumps globally, so the natural path forward is the compression of the luxury market (good for retail!) what AP is doing w Royal Pop seems to be retapping into youths by making a piece of their brand affordable through collab, borrowing concepts from labubu craze, familiarity bias, and demand slumps of high end luxury items it also works as a way of getting youths one foot in, where they might eventually turn into paying customers of AP if Royal Pop is a blind box sale, i think it’s the perfect storm for retail this concur w this article here as well: https://manofmany.com/watches/swatch-audemars-piguet-labubu-of-watches

[cc] Singaporeans and the culture of queueing https://www.instagram.com/p/DYNmQYUkpmF/?igsh=MWdhaGtjYXlsanFnbw==

[cc] novel experiences create fresh memories https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS9gVBFk6/

The Mathematical Reason Most People Never "Make It" #BM

Price’s Law states that the square root of the number of people in a domain does 50% of the work.

Even if you give everyone the same resources, the same training, the same chance, outcomes will still stratify eventually. Some people will compound their advantages. Most won’t.

https://kaguura.substack.com/p/the-mathematical-reason-most-people

15 years ago, the internet was an escape from the real world. Now, the real world is an escape from the internet.

Get inside your life

I heard this story about how the bodies of people who die of thirst in the desert are often found carrying full bottles of water because they’re afraid that if they drink it they won’t have enough left to make it out of the desert. When we’re fixated on the lifestyle and not life, we stay stranded, wasting the right moment in front of us by waiting for “the right moment” when it was, is, and always will be the moment of now. We waste youth on being anxious about aging. We waste good company worrying about being alone forever. We waste nice candles by not burning them, and pretty dresses by never getting them dirty with sweat, rain, and makeup. When we spend life contemplating its finitude, that’s when we’re actually wasting it the most. Life is just this moment. What you’re doing right now, what’s happening around you, that’s it. That is your life.

https://www.sherryning.com/p/get-inside-your-life

How Short Life Is https://x.com/punk6529/status/1507787390114488322?s=20

recent realisations about Ikigai is that the 4 aspects do NOT have to come from the same source eg. you love your job, you are good at your job, you are getting paid at your job, the world needs what you're doing i believe the goal is just to achieve the 4 (through whatever means), and you will find happiness you can be good at a job, get paid for it, and not love it. you can still find/practice your passion on the side (maybe cooking, knitting, pottery, etc.), while volunteering to feel a sense of gratitude to the world the permutations and combinations are endless in achieving the 4 i'm glossing over a lot of the smaller details and possible factors that might prove this wrong, but i'm just trying to speak broadly to say that it IS possible for those that might be going through something rn remember what they say about being delusionally optimistic about life! "whether you think you can or can't either way you're right", said Henry Ford

quick reflections on this: i am truly blessed. the fact that i am remote working in another country, on a trip that was decided impromptu 48h before. to be able to enjoy travels and work (i like my job) at the same time is amazing. this actually motivates me way more in life in general - to have free will. definitely a lucky fella compared to others that hate their jobs or are confined to boxes in office. rigidity kills the spirit, because free will is lost. in our current era, real flexes have ceased to be material goods (as discussed many times before here), but instead have been shifting toward experiences, free will, and time! i believe society still tends to conflate the two because majority are laggards by nature that tend to chase old rules -> change and realisation as a herd takes time. money won't mean much as inflation carries on. surviving gets harder. chained to jobs. less time for self. less everything that we crave deep in our subconscious. it's not about the bags, cars, or houses anymore like it used to be for older gens, but the free will and a healthy state of mind and soul. p.s. Korea is really interesting because they have gone the other way as a society ie. young adults are so pessimistic about their own future that they consciously choose to spend majority of their paycheck on luxury goods that they can't afford (LV, Hermes, Gucci, etc.). it's all about looking good and putting up a front here. even if it costs you a limb. why bother saving? because i'll never be able to save enough for a home anyw, so why don't i pamper myself instead and present a thriving front to others. the epitome of a superficial society. (good watch on the history of plastic surgery culture in South Korea here, which adds to the culture of apperances)

you want free will. you want freedom. https://x.com/dantefofante/status/2053215797368045611?s=20

said stream earlier today great weather and location to just sit back whether it is to read or relax i need more of these

[2026 NYR Reading Goal] Total: 12/15 - Fiction: 5/8 - Non-fiction: 7/7 ✅ 1. The Diary of A CEO - link 2. Purple Cow - link 3. Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop - link 4. This is Marketing - link 5. Ogilvy on Advertising - link 6. The Creative Act - link 7. The Tipping Point - link 8. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - link 9. Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts - link 10. The Twins of Auschwitz - link 11. Flowers For Algernon - link 12. Strange Houses - link

[BR] Strange Houses by Uketsu (translated by Jim Rion) this book was recommended to me by three friends! so i had to give it a go. simple and short horror read, i finished it by a stream in ~1.5h. the story is captivating enough to make you want to flip the page at every juncture. overall, the concept is interesting to me but i definitely would’ve preferred if it was a serial murderer not for ‘tradition’ reasons. 4/5 quick read, something different conceptually

don't know if this is even a real story and i don't even care this is really inspiring!! chase rejections to the point of "accidental" success