Hey Suki.
You ready?
Yeah. I removed my socks and put my feet in the wooden tub. The water temperature was a little too hot at initial contact.
Are you warm and comfortable?
Yeah. She starts to lubricate her hands with the massage cream.
How are your legs doing? She sits down on a little stool.
Pretty wrecked, I went snowboarding yesterday. She lifts my left foot and starts pinching my toes.
I wish I’m younger, but I can’t do it anymore now that I’m older. I had a bad fall and torn my shoulders and it just
traumatized me haha.
Yeah one really bad fall will do that.
So how was it on the mountain?
It was packed, coz it was like the first day with good conditions.
There was a lot of people huh?
Yeah, it has been a really bad season, it’s been so hot this winter. I’m trying not to make a face.
I meant like on the road driving back.
Probably, by the time we leave it’s quite dark so we didn’t see traffic. We stayed for like 10 hours up there.
10 hours?!
Yeah we went up at 10 am til like 7 pm. I’m trying not to make a face.
Damn no wonder your muscles are so tight. She presses her thumb on my left calf, it hurts but in a good way. I’m trying not to make a face.
Oh yeah? I’m trying not to make a face.
Oh yeah. She’s been doing this for a long time now and I know she could just tell.
You have to work today?
No it’s president’s day.
I should’ve taken the day off. I forgot about it.
Haha It’s almost like you are protesting by coming in at work and not celebrate it.
Yeah I don’t get emotional like that. I just miss competency you know. People are too emotional over politics and forget about doing the actual job.
I agree.
I had a client come in and said I’m gonna vote for so and so because I just like him better, I didn’t like that.
Yeah unfortunately it’s just a popularity contest at the end.
I had another client was like I wish we could have a female president, like that’d be so cool, but I’m like, I don’t care about male or female, just let it be someone who can do a good job.
I don’t know, maybe the midterm can change something.
But that’s why he’s deploying ICE so hard on blue states, so that he can stir more shit up and activate martial law or however he can justify changing the election his way.
That’s the thing. Even though most people are pretty moderate and reasonable but there’s a sizable population of people that will support him no matter what
I told some clients about project 2025 and they didn’t believe me, it’s all written in the first place and people still voted that way.
I didn’t think he would pass through congress either, but I was so wrong.
It’s not just him though. It’s his whole team. He can take all the blame at the end of the day but there’s a whole group of people working for him, and people supporting that agenda with money. People with enough influence to affect the economy.
I think the bubble might pop soon, now that people are starting to realize AI products only works most of the time. Like why would you drive a car that’s only safe 80% of the ti…
I literally had a client come in and she was on the phone with her AI boyfriend.
What?
I was talking to a friend and she was listening to AI advice telling her what to do. I’m like you been with him for 17 years and you are gonna listen to a computer and she’s like but it’s like smart
It looks smart but it’s not real human advice though. That’s why I deleted dating apps because pictures online aren’t real, I show up to dates and she’s not who I expected and I’m probably not how she imagined.
I heard young people are doing speed dating again. Talking to people face to face. It’s better this way. I don’t like anything that involves groups.
Groups?
Like groups of people, I don’t like hanging out or listening to them.
You not chill with the squad like that?
Nah, I prefer 1 on 1 situations. I get to know this person better. I get to work with them, teach and learn from them. It’s an exchange.
Woah.
That’s why I’m doing this. I like touching people. People are so touch deprived. I see an increase of customers every time something bad happens with the economy.
That’s crazy.
Yeah it could be an emotional thing too. Sometimes they come in and their muscles are doing fine but they act like a totally different person after that.
When I got my first gig I was so happy and acted like I won a million bucks, even though it wasn’t anything crazy, but knowing where I came from it was a major win. And then I kept wanting more until I got burnt out because I convinced myself that my self worth was dependent on work, and how much I can produce.
That’s why you can’t build success on motivation.
What do you mean?
Because it’s just dopamine.
But if you don’t have motivation then how do you even start doing anything?
Effort. Effort and repetition. Repetition over time.
Woah.
That’s why I don’t believe in love or when people say I’m with him because I love his smile or even personality or anything like those.
That’s so facts, I don’t even like lifting weights but I’ve built up a habit of moving around so I just felt like I had to go to the gym. But sometimes I just don’t feel like it.
That’s the daily struggle. My son tells me mom I’m depressed and I tell him you can feel depressed and do nothing today or you can look at it and be like hello depression, you know?
I have a theory that those rich people probably hit their mid life crisis and can’t figure out what their purpose is anymore so they chose to just make more money. And money buys power. And that’s how we got here.
Yeah. People forget that they can just be.
I know another guy that graduated a couple years before me, and he’s like a senior level software engineer at Meta. probably about 6 to 7 years now. I came across his Linkedin last week, he quit and opened up a restaurant. I’m like, how burnt out you gotta be to have a career change like that?
Yeah it happens to brainy people a lot. People who do brainy stuff for work come home and want to turn their brains off. That’s why they tend to watch reality shows. It relaxes them. People who don’t do brainy stuff like to watch National Geographic, some educational stuff.
It’s like you have to find balance, otherwise balance will find you.
That’s the daily struggle.
She dried my feet with a warm towel. Take your time to get up, I’ll see you next time.
I stared at my toes for about a minute, not sure what I’m feeling. The air felt a little stiff. A customer walked by and made the faded pink curtain (I thought it was a wall) wiggle a little. Somebody had let out a noise behind the curtain, followed by a quick giggle. I slowly got up. I’m sensing a feeling of motivation. Not motivated to do anything in particular, but motivated to be.
