cock-blocked by roommate

I felt inferior in college, so I started meditating.

I got into one of the best business programs in Canada.

Everyone seemed smarter, taller, and more good-looking than me.

Any sense of coolness I developed in high school was instantly washed away.

To make matters worse, I self-sabotaged my dorm room situation.

It began with losing the student housing lottery and being assigned to ‘West Campus’—the exiled student residence 20 minutes from everyone else.

It wasn’t that bad, and I made friends with everyone on my floor.

But then I decided to push it and apply to move to main campus.

If accepted, I had to move, regardless of where they put me.

I lost the lottery again.

I made it to main campus but was crammed into a single room retrofitted to fit two people.

The nail in the coffin was my roommate — a foul-smelling super-nerd who did nothing but play video games and inhale Doritos.

I don’t have a picture, so I got Midjourney to create an approximation:

I can smell the musk now.

I still remember the incessant clicking of his mouse that continued late into the night…

It was only interrupted by the occasional “FUCK!” when he lost a close round of League of Legends.

This specimen was first-class pussy-repellant of the highest degree.

That year was hard. The first 6 months were quite sad and lonely.

Then I met a guy named Andrei Liskov — a weird dude but in a good way.

He was obsessed with self-improvement and got me to read The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.

I devoured that book and started meditating as prescribed.

After a few sessions, I was hooked.

I remember sitting in my dark little dorm for 3 hours at a time, feeling like only 10 minutes had passed.

I would open my eyes and feel like I was in a holy place, feeling nothing but love for my smelly cockblock of a roommate.

It was like a superpower. At any time, I could achieve total stillness amidst a sad and anxious period of life.

I meditated a lot that year and continue to this day.

That period taught me the immense value of presence.

In modern life, people get trapped in a metronome, oscillating between thoughts of past and future.

Glimpses of the present are as brief and fleeting as the metronome’s ticking.

Modern life is amazing, but it's designed to keep the metronome in motion.

It's up to you to take conscious action to stop it.

Do at least one thing per day to sink into the present moment.

This can be:

• Hard workouts with no music or phone

• Walking without podcasts (like a true flâneur)

• Eating food without watching or listening to something

• Not checking your phone (for at least) first 30 minutes of the day

• Sports (especially combat sports)

• Massages

• Reading, writing

• Playing an instrument

• Sauna, ice bath

• Any activity where you go DEEP

• Anything that gets you out of your head and into your body

The more of these activities you do, the better you will feel.

You'll develop a deeper awareness. You’ll be more at ease and more patient.

Moments will envelop you instead of flowing through your fingers like sand.

Time is so precious, yet we blow it like an unlimited resource.

We auction it away at bargain-basement prices, one notification at a time.

Let this email remind you to STOP, and go deep with your attention.

Less checking of the phone. Fewer shallow distractions.

More planned stretches of time where you're doing one thing and nothing else.

See you next week. 🧘‍♂️ 

Graydon

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Cool things I found during my weekly internet stroll.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts AI superintelligence. Summary here if you don’t want to watch the 5-hour interview.

Open AI CEO Sam Altman also predicts AI superintelligence.

Just by watching a surgery, surgical robots can now perform with the skill of a doctor.

This lady has successfully stopped her metronome.

Served up by Spijker & me.

Heartless - Alex Wann Remix | WhoMadeWho, Kölsch

Definition of Love | Naomi Sharon

Another Life - Marten Lou Remix | Naomi Sharon