These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Pretty much all my adult life I’ve used an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. Experimenting without one now. Set a timer when I go to sleep, stop it when I wake up, see how long I slept. In theory, my body should rest as much as it needs to, and wake when it’s good and ready. We’ll see.
2
Also quitting coffee for the next 10 days, until I’m back in Ireland. The past year or so I’ve gone from 5 cups a week to 2 or 3 a day. That’s too much for me. I’d rather not feel so dependent on it, and I doubt it’s doing my digestive system any favors.
3
Reading a biography of Tony O’Reilly, considered to be the first Irish billionaire (before he lost it all). He’s the reason you see Kerrygold butter in supermarkets all around the world. Definitely a natural-born entrepreneur. Unlike me. This shit doesn’t come naturally to me at all.
4
Writing a review of Respondent. Before I write any review, I google around and see what the existing reviews are like. Most of the time I’m encouraged by what I find: shallow reviews by people who didn’t actually try or test the thing they’re reviewing. I believe it was Zig Ziglar who said, “there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”
5
Was at the coworking for a few hours this afternoon, right by the beach. Took a basketball break at the outdoor court nearby and ended up playing a fun 5-on-5 scrimmage. Walking back there was a dude on a unicycle and beyond him three kite surfers skimming waves. It’s a good place to be, Las Palmas.
6
First proper virtual reality gaming session, four of us at a place here in the city. Customer service ain’t great, but the technology is impressive. We spend 40 minutes botching a bank heist and another 20 trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. Sweating by the end of it.
7
Meditating, and there’s a sadness there. I try and sit with it, don’t push it away. There’s a line I try to remember at times like this: “We don’t need to feel better. We need to be better at feeling.” But I don’t sit there long. Just a few minutes. Then I drown the sadness out with work and Netflix for the rest of the day.
8
Been reviewing these survey sites. I think they’re crap and nobody should waste their time. And yet I read reviews from non-affiliates (i.e. non-biased reviews) and there’s plenty of praise. How can anybody enjoy doing such dull work for $2-3/hour? I don’t get how people can value their time so little.
9
At the coworking, encouraging myself to get stuff done. Been in a slump all week, trying to be gentle with myself. Getting frustrated won’t help. Coworking isn’t helping either. I end up watching crappy YouTube videos and shooting pixels. The start of a slippery slope.
10
I watched a whole season of a show on Netflix today. 12 episodes. That season was shot in multiple countries, required the skill and communication of hundreds of people, probably took a couple of years from inception to completion. And I blow through it in ten hours.
11
There’s a sport popular here in Spain called padel. It’s a bit like tennis, but with walls. Imagine if tennis and squash had a baby together and you’re close. Anyway, for my final evening on this island myself and a few friends went to a padel club atop a mall and smacked balls at each other for a bit.
12
We’re living in a world, he says, where everyone wants to be remarkable. And all we see on TV and the internet are remarkable people, extraordinary things. Very few people are willing or able to embrace their ordinariness. But if you can embrace your ordinariness, well… that is something truly extraordinary.
13
A holy trinity for my mental health: stretching, meditation and free writing. 5-10 minutes of each gach lá makes a massive difference. Keeping the coffee to one a day helps too. Mad that I’m 37 years old and still figuring this shit out.
14
Been in Cork and Waterford city centers the past two days. Loads of prime retail locations sitting empty. Hard to succeed with a brick and mortar business. Rent, rates, insurance, all that jazz. The odds are stacked against you. So glad my work is online, way less hassle.
15
Slept ten hours each of the last two nights. Didn’t even think I was that tired. I tend to sleep better back here in the Irish countryside though. Probably some combination of the quiet, less artificial light, cooler temperatures, and a lighter workload when I’m home.
16
Been all around the world, fifty-odd countries, but there’s plenty of Ireland I’ve yet to explore. We’re up around County Galway the next few days, staying in a small town that had more heads before the spuds went bad. Yeats lived near here in a castle, and now a bunch of Brazilians call the place home.
17
Hiking in the Irish countryside, across streams, through woodlands, up and over a couple of hills that once told time. You can see as far as the Shannon from up here. Later we’ll drive to a village and sit and chat at a cafe that feels like someone’s house with a couple of auld petrol pumps out front and a young lad on a fine big horse.
18
Galway is buzzing with the sunshine today, live music up and down the main drag, heaps of people claiming spots of green along the waterfront, drinks and skits. I enjoy the walks and the talks around the place, trying not to let that run in with the homeless lad earlier take up space in my head.
19
Had been waiting several weeks for particular affiliate payments to come through. My account showed I’d been paid hundreds, but I’d yet to see a penny. Four emails unanswered. Looked like they were going to screw me, little I could do about it. But some relief in my inbox this morning.
20
There’s a part of me when I’m back in Ireland that wonders what if. What if I’d never left, eleven years ago? What if I’d returned for good, eight years ago? In a village like Kilsheelan on a day like today, walking in sunshine by a gentle river, it’s easy to imagine being happy here.
21
Been asking more people about working online. Would they be happy enough sitting in front of a computer all day? Or would they rather be out and about, having more human interaction? Responses are mixed. For some it’s a dream, for others a nightmare. No one path right for all.
22
I likes having a go at a sudoku puzzle every now and then because it reminds me to be persistent. You get stuck on one sometimes, feels like an impasse, but eventually, if you keep going, it’s like the grid yields to your will and coughs up the next number.
23
There have been three main cities in my life. Waterford, where I grew up. New Orleans, where I lived a teenage dream. And Amsterdam, which mesmerizes me for a million reasons. Back there now for a short stretch, among the bikes and the canals and the woeful customer service.
24
The fact that weed is illegal in most places is nothing short of crazy. Especially when things like alcohol, tobacco and gambling are above board. Gambling proves that addiction isn’t a substance issue. Criminalizing drugs isn’t helping anyone.
25
We’re about forty minutes north of Mokum by train, stopped at the corner of a spectacle. Throngs of tulips, bright strips of color stretching off into the distance. We’ll get caught in a downpour cycling back, but that’s okay. No rain, no rainbows.
26
On a flight to Bali, via Singapore. Reminding myself that we booked these flights for free. Credit card points. And the same card gets us lounge access, free food and drink at every airport. Credit card companies bank on us being irresponsible and racking up debt. Don’t do that and it’s easy take advantage.
27
At a raw vegan place. A lady across the way orders a big bowl of salad. When it comes, she places her hands over the bowl and pulses them while taking a breath so deep her shoulders reach her ears. I this very annoying, probably because I wish I cared as little as she does about what other people think.
28
Here we go again, my least favorite thing about travel: finding accommodation. We scoot around town for a few hours, checking out a bunch of places. Do this in Chiang Mai and you’re spoiled for choice. Here, we’ve yet to find a half-decent spot with a kitchen, even beyond our budget.
29
One of the best things about switching my business focus a few months back has been giving up the “lifestyle” posts on social media. Used to do that as part of marketing my course, showing that I was walking my talk. Not that I hated doing it, but it’s a relief now not to be documenting every sight I see, every place I go.
30
Finally found a place. Proper kitchen, great location, easy on the budget. Can’t move in for ten days, but we can stay at our current place until then, no big deal. Will likely stay a couple of months in Ubud all told. Looking forward to getting back into a routine, getting back to work.