Category: Musicpervs Week

San Francisco. Solution.

Published August 3, 2023 By Bijay Shrestha

Impermanence is permanent.
Musicpervs

^{Vismay Patel – Dariya}

It’s been couple of weeks I’ve been out of instagram, facebook grid. I don’t know if I will ever be back. Although my X (formerly Twitter) usages has gone up.

Since Elon Musk took over X, residing in San Francisco and closely following his works, intentions and personality as a whole has personally made my life more purposeful.

San Francisco is not an easy city to live in. It is the 8th most expensive city in the world according to World Economic Forum but not without the grave problem.

In all sincerity, every-time I walk around the financial district, especially around the market street in the course of going towards my fitness center, or every-time I take a walk to the Ferry Building through Embarcadero, through Montgomery Street, every-time I take an Uber to go visit my best friend at El Cerrito; being able to afford all this, being able to have all of these experiences utterly enriches my heart. Not that this is the first time I’m saying I feel grateful to be living at this phase of my life. Yes, I’m grateful.

The center of it all, without-a-doubt is the ‘Solution’.

Sometimes I wonder, only had I not h.e.r in my life, how all of these was even a possibility.

Sometimes I wonder what if I lose her, that she leaves me on my own to be.

Sometimes I wonder what if I have to leave this city that I’ve fallen heads over heels with.

Namaste.

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It’s been a while

Published July 27, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

Break is a break, not a guilt.
author

^{It Won’t Hurt – Kochetkovv}

It’s been two weeks I’ve not written a word.

I am aware.

I’ve been listening.

I’ve been thinking.

I’ve been reading.

I’ve been learning

Too many things to ponder over.

Just. Selfishly. Taking an off.

It’s been a while.

Namaste..

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Walk the Talk

Published July 6, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
^{Theodore Roosevelt}

^{scars (ft. mishaal) [also on spotify]}

There’s a beautiful saying, “You can’t win if you’re not in the game.”

So, Walk the talk.

Today, in a conversation I’ve had with one of my former student (now a brother alike) who recently completed his Chartered Accountant exam after more than 7 attempts; He for sure is a fucking warrior; We went on to touch upon the idea of “when will one’s life be better at all?” To which I finished off with a quote by one of my mentor Naval Ravikant — “Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”

Implying the fact that for any kind of noble progress pursuit, it does demand suffering, it does sought sacrifice, it does crave commitment, it does call for patience.

That, Life for all good intents and purposes rewards action than the intelligence as James Clear clearly puts it.

That to live a life of purpose, that to be able to take up more responsibilities is more worthy that to merely wish for life to get better.

That so many great people fail to get even started in the first place, and signaling plastic virtuousness in absence of clear actions is obvious stupidity!

Walk the Talk.

Namaste.

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Internet is a weird place

Published June 29, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I?
Nobody but a defeated, deflated, pathetic testimony to a wrong way of living.
Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be? The Nature of the Psyche

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5xZhcmPl-Q

^{Somebody Else – Vancouver Sleep Clinic,Amelia Magdalena,Pop Goes Ambient}

We are constantly trying to push the narrative

that we are as happy as anyone could be

that we are enjoying this one grand life all the time, all the more

that we’ve been to places; seen places

that we’re wise or mostly pretend to be one

that we’re hunting, gathering and treasuring memories

that we’re pretty, handsome, beautiful and attention slash praise worthy

that we’re self-acclaimed celebrity

that we’ve figured it all out and caption them for other to get a piece of that shallow knowledge, shallow experience

that we have a perfect life

that we are somebody we are not.

Namaste.

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Gpa 4.0

Published June 22, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

Grades don’t measure tenacity, courage, leadership, guts or whatever you want to call it. Teachers or any other persons in a position of authority should never tell anybody they will not succeed because they did not get all A’s in school.
Thomas J. Stanley

^{Patrick Watson – The Great Escape}

Yes, that’s straight A for my Masters in Computer Science Program.

This Thursday, I wanted to write about Gpa 4.0. Not so much about the grades though.

Not at all to brag about how great I am.

For the record — I am not!

Looking back.

To me Gpa 4.0 is a story,

of so many sleepless nights,

of so many sacrifices,

of so many nerve-alarming exam preparation days,

of so many ‘on-repeat’ Joker track I’d listen to compose myself before every exams,

of so many nerve-wrecking exam hours,

of so many results published days too.

To me Gpa 4.0 is a story,

of so many spell-binding Professors,

of so many kind colleagues who I have learned from; and more importantly of so my pals who supported me and helped me in the heartfelt and most selfless way possible,

To me Gpa 4.0 is a story of

of so many little victories,

of crazy losses too,

of my fears,

of all those relieved days,

of tears too (hmm.. did i cry at any point? .. Sure, I did)

Had I not sealed my Masters program with Gpa 4.0, would the narrative of my story have changed?

No.

Does the grade tell anything about me?

No.

Gpa 4.0 is not about the grade for real.

Gpa 4.0 is all about this beautiful, bitter-sweet experiences I was fortunate to have lived.

Namaste.

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Good egg, Bad egg

Published May 18, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

We all want to be ‘The Hero of our own story’.
~author

^{Patrick Watson – Je te laisserai des mots (Cover by Marianne BL}

Whenever possible, ask yourself –

Am I a good egg or the bad one?

Let the question guide you.

Let the question be your north.

Let the question help you earthen.

Let the question inspire you to soar.

Let the question, question your true utility in someone elses’ life other than yourself.

Let the question un-naked, un-burden, un-stress you.

Am I a good egg?

Namaste.

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I’ve Smoked. Alcohol was a bliss.

Published March 9, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

At the end of the day, if i can say i had fun, it was a good day.
Simone Biles

^{Tommy Ashby – Closer}

I’ve smoked twice in life.

Once, while I was barely hitting my puberty. I was perhaps 10 years old and wanted to try the thing. I have to confront I already knew it was a bad thing to get into but we do crazy things all the time.

That time, I remember taking a long, unbeknownst puff, swallowing shit tons of smoke into my lungs, which led me to vomit my soul out, and then I was done. I could barely breathe!

The second time I smoked was perhaps two years ago (though I’m not sure about the timeline).It was when I went to Pokhara with few of my friends for a 5 days trip. And, since I had always wanted to experience first-hand how it feels to be high on cannabis (marijuana), I didn’t know until that time that you had to smoke that thing out ‘again‘ to be able to fly.

I vividly remember, I really really didn’t like the feel of keeping that cigarette butt between my fingers while I was being taught the skill of smoking by the few around me. I wasn’t surprised, I failed that time around as well. I fxckxng couldn’t learn how to smoke and thus, didn’t get high — after multiple, multiple tryouts on act-of-smoking.

Which is why, my bucket-list of having an experiencing of being high on marijuana is still unchecked.

One thing is for sure, I will never smoke in my life… ever!

Likewise, Alcohol was a bliss. I purposefully started to drink it (be it beer, wine, whiskey, whatever that gets you high) just to have the feel of having grown up. Just to signal people around me that I am old enough to rock and steer my own boat.

Truthfully, I never, never liked the taste of the Beer or Vodka. Wine was an exception because it was sweet mostly, and yes so was Jack. Contrarily I enjoyed the height of high it can get you into. Plus, If I am not wrong, the last time I drank was perhaps a month ago with Sam and his wife at their apartment while we played cards and b.a.s.i.c.a.l.l.y enjoyed. They didn’t drink much but I know I was the one who poured in the last glass. On the inside I felt like I was as drunk as the Bear on the trailer of Cocaine Bear, on the outside I tried pretending as cool as a perfectly plastic wrapped cucumber.

The next morning I decided, I am done with drinking alcohol too!

Let’s see if this intentional resolution remains a resolution.

Namaste.

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Sleepwalk

Published February 9, 2023 By 8ijay.shrestha

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement”
James Clear

^{Dimple – Sickflip, Mismatched}

The one mistake we often make is to sleepwalk in the name of living. Mostly unnoticed, unaware.

Sleepwalk could be many things: Passively scrolling, scouring, vulturing on social media. Movies. Soaps. Youtube videos. Porns. Impulsive shopping. Wishful thinking. Bitching. Sleeping (or to be precise — pretending to sleep in the name of taking rest). We might as well give it a puff if we smoke. We might as well go partying, drinking if we’re outgoing.

Let’s be honest — we’ve all been there.

We’ve all wasted, we’ve all wearied ourselves a little more, a little less, a little too much exploiting, overspending, undervaluing the only non-renewable currency — Time!

Well, now we know, let’s change that :-

Let’s try to be as much unpredictable.

More demanding of time.

Challenge(s) hungry.

Pain thirsty.

Always grinding but enjoying the restfulness too.

Disciplined. However, at times throw ourselves into healthy recklessness that is good for our mind and spirit

Deliberately awaresome of our choices.

Purposeful.

Responsible.

Lastly, as in the words of James Clear, “The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impossible to do. And the best way to create a good habit is to automate it so you never have to think about it again.”

Let’s try to automate our life bit by bit, step-by-step.

No pressure.

Not tomorrow.

Namaste.

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Finance

Published January 26, 2023 By Bijay Shrestha

It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.
Charlie Munger

^{Saar – Osho Jain}

Did this come with the age?

Because, I really don’t know why I’ve been caring so much about financial literacy these couple of months or roughly a year.

I really don’t know why I think that having wealth of real-information about money, investments, savings, strategies, or generally speaking being the best with numbers — is a fc*ki*g super power!

And, I’ll be honest, I suck at managing my finances.

I am horribly, horribly poor at managing my money although I had always been careful about it. But then, caring about the money and managing it are two separate things; while caring for the most part is firmly tied to the emotional response, whereas managing is a different ball game of mind cum intellect for sure.

Which is perhaps why I’m trying to be less of a sucky on this one noble domain.

Trust me, even my youtube search-tree recommendations have be populated with mostly five things these days. One Messi or things that has to do with him. Two finance videos. Three chess. Four Jordan Peterson. And, five Joe Rogan.

I wonder where have my programming video recommendations disappeared.

Furthermore, as I was growing up, I read somewhere that said something along the line that It takes a great deal of skill and wisdom to save and to spend money. Well, without-a-doubt, I do both but at the end of the day I always struggle in having enough information about my own self-made silos where I put my money in — be it groceries, HSA, recreation, shopping, et cetera.

Definitely, my banking app does tell me where I’ve been spending bunch but I’ve been realizing that to be the best at the game of money — forethoughts and access to the right information (resourcefulness per se) is imperative!

Which … I clearly lack.

I am committed to Learning. Unlearning, and Re-learning Finance.

Let’s see.

Namaste.

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