What Does It Look Like To Have Unlimited Curiosity?

This Week:

What do dogs and kids have in common that you might not think?
Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve what you admire?
A lens to my past self.

May 2023

Su	M	T	W	Th	F	S
30	5/1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31	6/1	2	3

Where In The World Was I?

Denver, CO

This content was originally hidden upon publishing.

Wanna Buy A Toyota 4Runner?

This was the biggest event of the week by a mile.

The Crazy Detail And Photoshoot Day

On Tuesday I parked the van, drove the 4Runner to a detail shop, waited for it, diddling around on my laptop in the meantime.

The plan was to take the listing photos of it that same day, partly because it would be the cleanest and best-looking then, but also because I didn’t really have any other shot this week. It would end up raining the rest of the week, so this was it.

I drove to the parking lot of Mile High Stadium on the south side, but the sun was still blazing that day and they were doing construction in the background. Not ideal.

But, I took it as a practice run to figure out what photos I wanted to take.

Eventually I called it and went to the library near by to cool off (it was hot!) and wait until the clouds rolled in. And boy did they roll in.

I went back out around 5pm to a different lot and the lighting was just perfect. The clouds rolled in to block the harsh light, but there was still enough light out.

The photos were stellar, but I knew in the back of my mind this was just plan B.

The real plan A was to do a photoshoot at a parking lot in Red Rocks. I thought that backdrop would be perfect.

So, I drove out there, but when I arrived, things went south quick…

I pull into the park and there’s cars everywhere and people with high-vis vests with “EVENT” on them directing traffic.

Literally on the one night I drove there, on a random Tuesday, there was a concert… LOL

My stomach sunk as I drove around looking for the place I’d take photos, but all the lots were full and blocked off by event staff.

On a side note, I’m proud of myself for this:

I pulled up to two of the event staff blocking two different parking lots and told them I wasn’t there for the event, I just wanted to take some pictures and then bounce out. I asked if I could pass through just for a couple minutes. One of them directed me to another lot and the other said I’d have a better shot going down the road to a different area.

Essentially, they were both rejections.

I’ve had a tendency to be afraid of rejections, uncomfortable situations, and social situations, so this was a win for me. Something about the urgency of the situation combined with the confidence of being in the 4Runner (it’s like a instant x5 confidence boost).

Anyways, the second guy’s advice turned out to not be what I wanted. I took a photo there anyway, but I accepted that it just wasn’t gonna work out there.

So it was the plan B Mile High Stadium shoot that turned out to be the one. I was really happy with how the photos turned out.

I made it back to the van absolutely exhausted around 8:30pm. Fortunately, it was still there… And I ended the night with just barely enough time get a quick shower in and get to bed on time.

This day was crazy.

It was like every moment was uncertain and new. It felt like there was so much chaos to content with.

I’ve had this feeling a couple times recently, just enough to notice the pattern (mostly in the previous moves I made – from east coast to SF, from SF to Denver, Denver to the Tetons trip). They’re always hectic and chaotic but I’ve always come out the other side.

The Listing Day

The next day I edited the photos and started drafting the listing on multiple platforms.

But what happened next was not what I was expecting…

On one of the platforms, I was expecting to pay a fee to list it, so after I had drafted the copy, I hit the big button at the bottom.

But that button published the listing 😅 “Congratulations, your listing is now live!”

I had a quick moment of panic, then thought, “welp I guess we’re sendin’ it!”

I’m grateful for that little mistake because it’s possible that I would’ve waited one more day to get everything just perfect.

That said, the act of finally publishing the listing didn’t really soothe much of my anxiety.

The part of this process that I’m most fearful of is meeting with buyers, negotiating with them, and ensuring I get a verified payment and not scammed… So, still TBD on that.

This content was originally hidden upon publishing.

Results Update

The listing’s been up for about 5 days now.

In that time, I’ve had:

One definite bot/spammer respond wanting me to contact them.
One real person respond asking for some more info, but then throwing me a low-ball.
One potential bot/spammer also responding wanting me to contact them.

I priced it pretty high to be honest as I wanted to fit in with the rest of the market comps and I’m not too time sensitive. It has over $5,000 in upgrades, which I also feel boosts the value. That said, I’m definitely willing to negotiate.

Hopefully in the coming week or two I can score some more interested buyers.

Coffee From The Week

The Molecule Effect
Frank & Roze
Huckleberry Roasters
2914 Coffee

Business Update

No meaningful progress since last week.

This content was originally hidden upon publishing.

My focus as been scattered and I’ve been prioritizing getting the 4Runner listed (and sold). That needs to happen to unlock the rest of the planning I’m doing before heading abroad…

And my brother and sister-in-law will be in Spain for 3 months this summer, so I’m trying to make sure I can everything planned, done, and wrapped up so that I can meet them there.

So, About That Weather 🌧️

Probably one of the only times I’ve written about the weather… But it’s justified.

It’s been cloudy and raining almost every day this week.

It’s honestly been weird. I haven’t seen this much rain in years.

It also kind of feels like I’m in Seattle in the winter (as I’d imagine), waking up and it being cloudy all day…

But when the sunshine poked out one morning, oh mah lord was it nice.

Thoughts From The Week

Energy Absorption

This came up twice this week, which is why I wanted to share it.

One evening I was at Wash Perk. I had just done a walk around the park and was sitting in the shade after doing a meditation.

Down the hill from me was some kind of party or gathering. There were probably 10+ people grouped together chatting, playing corn hole, etc.

But the star of this moment was the golden retriever part of the group.

I sat there for probably 20 minutes as I watched it sprinting around the group, jumping into the stream, and playing with the other dogs.

I could feel the chaotic energy of excitement.

I sat there with a big smile on my face.

And then on another day this week, a similar thing happened.

I was at Sloan’s Lake just having finished a walk around the lake and meditation. I sat at one of the tables as watched as this mom and her two girls walked around.

The toddler would point at the duck floating in the water, then yell and scream with excitement, hobble around, then point at the geese eating the grass and scream with excitement, all with this huge smile on her face.

Everything was new.

Everything was exciting.

I sat there just absorbing her energy with a big smile on my face as I felt her curiosity for the world.

Dogs and kids are such a perspective shift.

A Lens To The Past

I redownloaded Facebook to my phone this week. I took a couple scrolls this week to see what’s been on my feed and see what people are up to.

Man, it was like looking through a lens into my past life.

It made me think of my past self, the one who just graduated, sitting in his apartment as COVID was locking everything down, feeling that hunger to just get out to SF and start working.

It made me think, man, my life has changed so much since then…

And so I pondered, what would I tell him?

I won’t spoil it, but I had a lot of fun writing up a little letter that I’d send to him. I’ll post that to my blog once it’s done.

Update 5/15/23: Posted!

A Letter To My Past Self

Are You Willing To Do What It Takes?

A (paraphrased) note from the journal this week…

I watched a video from Kara & Nate (travel YouTubers/vloggers) this week.

I felt surprised at how open and comfortable Nate was in this situation where he was trying to communicate in broken english/spanish with his host. I viewed that situation as incredibly awkward and uncomfortable.

But I had this thought, that I admire/wish/want to be that confident and open in awkward and uncomfortable situations, call it an “openness to experience.”

Immediately my next thought was, “well, are you willing to do what it takes?”

People don’t just wake up one morning with that level of openness to experience.

If you scroll through their video history, you’ll see a slew of physically demanding challenges, uncomfortable situations, and new experiences, from driving across the country of Peru on crappy motorbikes, to taking a train through India, to climbing a ladder over a 2,000ft drop.

THAT.

THAT, is what it takes to develop the openness to experience Nate has.

Sacrificing your ego and need for comfort to pursue, seek out uncomfortable situations, and constantly push your comfort zone to the limits is what will develop the openness to experience you admired in that situation.

The question is, are you willing to do what it actually takes to get that?

Jumping into van life felt like a step in this direction.

Let’s hope this year’s plans get me closer.