living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

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SavingWithBabies
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by SavingWithBabies »

It's June! Are you done with grad school? What's next for the living situation?

Autotroph
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Autotroph »

SavingWithBabies wrote:
Thu Jun 02, 2022 7:35 pm
It's June! Are you done with grad school? What's next for the living situation?
You have a good memory! Makes me happy to see your comment, as I have been planning on an update.
My defense was June 1st -- it went much better than expected. I would give myself an ~8.5/10; the committee was impressed, as was my adviser. In his words, I did 'well above average'. The best part was they gave me the summer to finish my dissertation. I could turn it in now and be done, but I would like to put more time into it. So, the plan is to spend the next ~1.5 months finishing that and publishing two papers.

Personally, I am proud that in the weeks leading up to it I remained mostly composed and didn't over-stress. I continued smoking weed and playing video games on a near-daily basis. This had great ROI, and also got needed social interaction. I'm also pretty sure I got close to my 'limit' --i.e., the rate of information coming in was probably about the same as the rate of information going out lol So at some point, working more becomes counter-productive. Only so much you can do... Perhaps keeping my normal routine also somehow signaled to my body 'everything's cool, we're still doing what we always do, no need to panic'. However, there was a ~3 day period about two weeks out where I got about 2hrs sleep per night, and ate ~1k calories per day. On the third day the stress hormones started to dissipate and I could think rationally again -- 'hey kid, remember why we're doing this -- have fun and do your best'. Strangely, I could feel my muscles, particularly my abs, being very tense during these days. Like I was flexing non-stop and it was difficult to stop. Was very sore indeed. Definitely NOT fun, but an interesting experience. For sure a roller-coaster of emotions, and there were a handful of times I seriously considered just doing an 'all but dissertation'.

Every day for the past month I have listened to the band Parliament -- particularly wizard of finance and placebo syndrome. Dancing was a great break from realty. I also watched the movie 'good burger' (free right now on youtube w/ads). I loved it as a kid -- also where I discovered Parliament. Nickolodeon was good.

Regardless, my plan is to stay here for the summer, as it will be even more empty than it has been. I'll probably leave here sometime in August, and don't have solid plans for where to go. Most likely back home and stay with friends/family until I decide what to do next. There are many paths I am considering, and they all include continuing to live as frugally as possible. The idea of working in (bio) tech and living in a van in the parking lot is appealing. Ideally, I would get a job near some nice university, mortgage a house, rent out all the rooms to students and stay in the garage (or in a van on-site or similar). Or just stay in one of the rooms.

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Jean
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Jean »

mortgaging a house, renting it and living in the garage is a plan that only a very smart and handsome person could have.

7Wannabe5
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Back in the olden days when my life was fun, I dated a guy who was a former member of Parliament. The funny thing was that when I described him that way, people usually assumed it was more likely that I was dating a guy who used to be a British politician. He was cool, but he thought he could win at craps.

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fiby41
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by fiby41 »

My office is on premises owned by the company and there was a suspicious door on the terrace which I have come to know now is to a "guest's room."
The team lead who is 5 years my senior lived there for the past 2 months but left this month to rent nearby.
There is some renovation work going on and he might return after its done as he hails from ~500km away. He had invited me to live at the office half-jokingly which I see as an invite to be his apprentice doing tasks which are boring to him.
Cons to living out of office are: higher expenditure on food, lonelyness, work will expand to occupy more of my waking hours like in WFH, doing overtime for free.
Pros: Save 3 hours per day spent on commute. Trains are often late/cancelled during the monsoons when rain clogs up the tracks.

Autotroph
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Autotroph »

@7 Didn't expect that response, but that is cool! To me, the band exudes confidence; so I guess I can understand being so confident you think you can beat craps lol

@fib Presumably you are not currently paying rent, which is by far the biggest 'pro' of living out of the office. In my case, I ended up spending less on food. I make ~90% of my meals at the office which is almost entirely: oats, salads, bread + olive oil + nutritional yeast, and then a crockpot meal 2-3x per week that has a few lbs of chicken breast. Plus about ~3 protein shakes per day. This was largely because the alternative of eating out frequently was too counter to my fitness/savings goals that I had to make a dramatic change in my diet/lifestyle. The only thing that really needs cooking is the oats and crockpot meals which are easy. The loneliness aspect is the hardest, but you find ways to cope, e.g., calling friends/family more. It's a good challenge in that sense.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by SavingWithBabies »

Congratulations on the successful defense. That makes sense with the living arrangement for the summer. I hope you find your house in a college town.

The college town I'm in is way overpriced right now. There are some very aggressive local investors that tend to buy and rent at top dollar. I don't think it would be exaggerating to say the average rental price has doubled in the last ten years and is up by 20-30% over the last 3 years if not more. We tried to buy for a while here but I'm throwing up my hands and renting until we can go live on a boat for a while. Then maybe we'll come back and build (not to save money but rather to spend a bit more and get what we want). Although sailboat cruising might change what we want.

Autotroph
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Autotroph »

@SVB -- thank you. Yes, it is like that in Ann Arbor, the local college town back home. It is hard to believe that rental properties there get a similar price to here (southern california). To me, this seems absurd.

After a few months of sporadic lifting, I have finally committed to a 12-week program (https://www.muscleandstrength.com/worko ... ce-workout). It took me a few months to get the movements correct, and determine the appropriate weights. Actually, I am still in the process of getting the 'best' weights -- i.e. lifting heavy enough to get good results, but not be so sore that the next 1-2 days are miserable.
This will be my second week following the program completely, and so far I like it. I think it does a good job of getting a full-body workout, and I like that it has you doing squats each workout. In fact, each workout *begins* with squats -- my favorite lift. I read somewhere that the effect of this is to improve results in subsequent lifts, as squats apparently release a lot of growth hormones and similar (?) I'll have to find the research paper. Before I started, I had trouble doing bodyweight squats. I think the issue was one of mobility, not strength (?) To prepare for the program, I spent a lot of time doing those, pushups, pullups, and other bodyweight exercises.
I imagine that, like myself, most people would experience a significant improvement in their quality of life if they did regular resistance training. Nothing novel with that statement; however, I do think people significantly underestimate how large that improvement would be. Especially those of us who work at desks. It makes me sad when I see people whose movement patterns are clearly 'off' and maladaptive as a result of our sedentary lives -- especially those in their 20s. So many suffer from muscle imbalances and similar postural issues (e.g. https://www.physio-pedia.com/Upper-Crossed_Syndrome and its related 'lower crossed syndrome'). From what I understand, muscle asymmetry/imbalances lead to compensations in gait. This compensation furthers the asymmetry/imbalance and the process will spiral out of control. One has to take control at the cognitive level, and not let the body fall into maladaptive patterns of movement.
When I was preparing for my defense, it was very important for *me* to be able to present myself with proper posture -- head held high, shoulders back, etc. In my head I kept repeating 'no matter what happens, hold your head high and stand behind your work'. These words have become visceral for me, as I now understand that in order to literally hold your head high requires neck muscles that most of us lack. My desire for this is partly due to having low self-esteem -- any flaw, real or perceived, gets magnified. With that said, having strong neck muscles (and feet) have unequivocally improved my QOL. Sometimes I wake up and my neck is very stiff, unable to rotate one direction; the occurrence of this has: (1) decreased significantly since I started training my neck muscles, (2) when it does occur, it takes less time to 'recover'.
Tangentially, one thing that has become apparent about my-self is that I am overly-critical, to the point of being counter-productive. I need to do a lot of work here; most of it stems from childhood trauma, which was not unlike Kafka's. Like anything, this can be beneficial or harmful depending on the context. In my social life, it is quite harmful, where as in my professional it *can* be beneficial.

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Slevin
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Slevin »

Yeah its super common to lack the proper mobility to do squats with good form (I had the same issue when I started). I'm glad yours seems to be improving, and the feet health as well.

A small counterpoint I don't think many people "resistance train" with the outcome goal of bulletproofing / longevity / QOL increase. Mostly just classic lifts from what I see in the gyms / etc around here. I'm loving the nudging I'm seeing from some big influencers towards a more longevity based approach to resistance training, but a lot of the young lifters come in because they want big muscles / etc and so stick to the more classic training programs (like the one you have linked above) that tend to create as many long term issues as they solve.

The movements for bulletproofing are different than anything that would show up on any normal "training" list. Basically you would want to work on strengthening yourself in the full ranges of motion of each joint section of your body, but for simplicity of the argument let's just say wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, hips, knees, and ankles. So then you need to build a list of exercises that strengthen these joints in different ranges of motion (and build "strength in length", and then add that to a more basic training protocol. Then you need to make sure to be using single limb variations as well, to make sure you are actually building something like equivalent strength in either side of the limbs. Just the training is the work of at least a decade, maybe two depending on how far you start out of the norm. Building the training program and adapting it to yourself is much much more difficult, but there are some people doing a great job of it right now (in my opinion). A classic set of the shoulder bulletproofing exercises that I've seen across disciplines can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieNWgx5 ... vertoesguy (I link Ben a lot because I think he does some of the best job actually explaining what and why for most exercises and how they fit into the meta system of training, but some people don't like him being "showy" in some vids).

Autotroph
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Autotroph »

You make good points. For me personally, my primary goal is to increase my QOL and longevity -- I don't care *too* much about how I look. That said, I'm still a beginner, but I would imagine the long-term issues you allude to would be due to, e.g., lifting too heavy, poor form, etc. The movements on their own don't seem like they should cause any issues (??)

Yes, I am familiar with KOTG; I mentioned Starrett in a previous post and I think KOTG too (?) I have done some of his recommended exercises, and in general, I really like his content/message, and emphasis on hip flexors. I also like how he attempts to quantify everything and chooses exercises that can be regressed to absolute beginners. As a person, he appears genuine and caring. Perhaps I should be doing his program instead, but it's a lot of content to absorb and costs money. More importantly, I've already committed to the one I linked :-D Once I'm finished with the 12-week program I linked, maybe then I'll go through his. In any case, I do plan on going through his program(s) at some point. How would you suggest I get started, and what kind of training program do you follow?

As for the video you shared, I think next time I go to the gym I will start to incorporate those exercises. The one he does at ~2:00 appears quite similar to a 'Cuban rotation'. I do this (and a few other) exercises on my 'off' days with the intent of improving mobility. I also do daily yoga, which I find quite effective. I have noticed in particular cuban rotations are very challenging -- I am very weak in this area. The shoulders in particular appear to be a common weak spot, and I am no exception. Thanks for the video!

Now you have me second-guessing myself :-).

ertyu
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by ertyu »

1-year update? How goes it?

Bonde
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Bonde »

I'm also curious.
Hope you're doing well :)

Autotroph
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Autotroph »

Looking back on it, living out of the office was definitely worth it.

Running:
I *finally* ran the marathon Jan 2023 and smashed all my goals, completing it around 4:22! It was 36 degrees Fahrenheit, and I had to shovel part of the track. Most of the 16 weeks of training were through Sep-Dec so the weather was pretty awful. Few runs we were at -18, which was brutal as I have acclimated to the California weather. I then spent the next ~4 months being a complete couch potato and losing a significant amount of fitness. That sucks, but I have to learn from it. Long term the goal is to continue improving my physical/mental health and running is a vital part of that so I need to prioritize the habit and enjoyment of running. Today was a bad day from the start, but I went on a hard run and it turned it around. Running very good on the body and mind mmm.

I started running again two weeks ago; my sister joined me and is doing a couch to 5k to lose weight for her wedding. Through the marathon training, I discovered I think I would prefer to run a fast mile/5k. So the goal this year is to run a sub 6 mile and perhaps similar for the 5k. Running 'fast' is a nice feeling.

Life:
Since February I have been playing online poker since it is legal here finally. I have been waiting for this for over a decade when they made it illegal. So far I have made $10k each month (pre tax, although I don't know how taxes work on it yet). I am not really sure where this is headed, but if I can make at least $100k this year playing I will continue one more year. Earning a living from poker has been a dream of mine since I was 18 and it's finally happening. However, it's not all fun as poker is a very tough game emotionally, but that is why it appeals so much to me.

There are also a lot of worries -- what if I get sick of this damn game after 5 years, which is very likely? By this point, I will have been out of work for a while and that concerns me as I don't know how difficult it will be to obtain a tech/finance job with that gap in employment. What if it becomes illegal again or the poker economy takes a hit? Furthermore, I most likely would make quite a bit more money in the tech/finance industry than poker, although it is possible to make a few million playing poker in the next 3-5 years if I rise to the top. Sometimes I also struggle with questions like: is my purpose really to exploit people out of their money in a game? Some of which likely have a gambling addiction?

Although I'll probably make less playing poker than otherwise, it is actually enjoyable and I don't anticipate getting this excited over any job. The amount of personal development poker offers is also valuable. There is quite a bit of variance, so there can be stretches of time (days, weeks, even months) where you don't win. These periods, known as 'downswings', are devastating emotionally. You start wondering, was I just getting lucky this whole time? Am I just a bad player? I had one recently and nearly quit multiple times. But this is reflective of life -- there are periods of time that just really suck, and you have to know you can get through it. Training for the marathon, especially in the winter, helped significantly in dealing with strong emotions and learning to grind through the hard times. There are always highs and lows -- when you are in a low you have to understand you will probably come out of it. There are also times when you lose in poker when you have, e.g., a 99% chance of winning. These moments are also devastating.

Conversely, there are periods of time where you 'upswing' and this also presents challenges. When you are winning hard and crushing everyone, you might overestimate how good you are. This can cause you to move up in stakes prematurely, or play with reckless abandon thinking you can't lose. This aspect of the game was very surprising to me.


Drums:
I started playing drums earlier this year and love it. I always hated this instrument cause I thought it was for idiots lol Through running though I realized I very much like rhythmic, physically demanding, activities -- sex, drums, running, etc. Listening to parliament was also a major catalyst for picking up the drums.

ertyu
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by ertyu »

Where do you live now?
Autotroph wrote:
Wed May 03, 2023 4:38 am
Sometimes I also struggle with questions like: is my purpose really to exploit people out of their money in a game?
It's all exploiting people out of their money in a game. If you have a job, you'd be helping someone else exploit people for a share of the pie. No ethical consumption under capitalism

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Seppia
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Seppia »

I would disagree ertyu
“The economy” is not a zero sum game, gambling is

Henry
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Henry »

If you have pangs of conscience because you are exploiting degenerate gamblers you will never be successful. Guys got rich playing Michael Jordan in scratch golf. Hollywood stars invite rich dupes into their game because they know they are star gazing. They are your bread and butter. So either get past it or find another way to exploit people. You are either a shark or shark meat.

white belt
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by white belt »

To echo what Henry is saying, there are pretty much 2 paths to make money playing high level poker as far as I understand it. One is the tournament circuit where you're going against other high level players. The other is private games. I recently listened to an interview with Daniel Negreanu, who was one of the top pro players in the world for many years. He said he knew of people that made much more money playing private games than WSOP and similar. The competition is just so much worse so you have a huge advantage as a high-level player. It doesn't matter if you're the 6th best poker player in the world if the top 5 are at the same table as you (very likely if you make it far in the WSOP main event). Meanwhile, there are a ton of millionaire/billionaires looking to throw serious $$$ around in high stakes games on any given weekend. You just have to have the connections to get into those games and the skill to clean up. Of course, you as the individual have to decide where you draw the line morally (e.g. Negreanu said he wasn't comfortable taking grandma's retirement savings, unless grandma is a billionaire). OP probably already knows all this though.

Henry
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Henry »

white belt wrote:
Wed May 03, 2023 5:51 pm
You just have to have the connections to get into those games

Molly's Game is a good movie to watch on the topic.

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Jean
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Re: living out of my office in pursuit of ERE

Post by Jean »

i like capitalism, because the rule are clear enough for me not to become shark meat, but i still don't feel comfortable becoming a shark. or maybe is just a way to justify laziness

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