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  “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

-David Foster Wallace-

Have you ever wondered something? Thought about something, or maybe even had an epiphany.

When is the last time that you noticed that you were breathing air?….. That’s the water!

Stardate: Friday June 18, 2022

Location: The Club In The ATX

Song playing as I begin this post: Farruko – Coolant

Recently I was listening to some podcasts and I happen to come across one from Tom Bilyeu. And in it, Tom Talked about David Foster Wallace and his commencement speech about water. I think its a really great analogy for todays post.

Since my last post I have felt a little uneasy about a lot of things. But I don’t think this is un-normal for anyone that is having to destroy and restructure their life.

A part of me wants to say that a lot has happened since my last post, but sadly I think that I have really only been in “buffer days”. For those that don’t know anything about buffer days…..

A man named Dan Sullivan created a system called “buffer days, focus days, and free days” It’s a great way to structure your week such that you can be the most productive. I’m pretty sure that I talked about it in one of my previous posts. But yeah, buffer day…. I just really feel like lately that life has been just one long buffer day.

Let’s see if we can hit on some points and see if I can filter thru the ups and downs on this quest of mine

My life will always be about health, money, love, and accomplishments. In there is family and friends.

As of late my health has been better however, my time management is still just so fucked! Recently I went and pulled out my weekly planner from a few years ago, and as I sat with my tablet and was working my schedule for the week, I just had a pickle of a time trying fit everything into the time I had before going back to the club.

Full disclosure, as of this writing I am currently in the ATX Thursday thru Sunday. And because of so many small factors, the actual time that I have to create and execute on things in my personal life is really really small. When I was filling in my weekly planner, the first thing I did was fill in the days here at the club, then I filled in my sleep. After that, well, there just wasn’t a lot of time left. And so after much mental debate, it still looks like I must stay awake for a minimum of 24 to 28 hours from Sunday thru Monday. I am finding that what I will be trying to do is to try and do my preplanning on Saturday and Sunday (while here at work) and then on Monday, do everything I can to execute as many things on Monday as possible. And then whatever I can’t finish on Monday will be rolled over to Tuesday. And well, Wednesday will be a mixed day. Sadly I can’t yet have a free day.

In Dans Sullivan’s idea of “Free, buffer, and focus” the idea is that you must have time to plan, time to execute and time to recharge. Without recharge it becomes nearly impossible to properly buffer and execute at optimum levels. And I have truly been feeling this.

As of recently I have been using a mind map to try and throw all of my thoughts of things that I either need or want to accomplish (Everything from going to the gym to sending items to my family on the island and everything in between) And as of this last week is worked semi well. Thru my weekly planner I can see that where I really need to buckle down is to properly manage my sleep. which is really difficult because once i arrive home, I must quickly shower and get in bed. And by the time I lay in bed, the sun is already shining in my eyes.

Then there is the way in which I must get things accomplished at the 4plex. As of recently I decided that it’s time for me to no longer pay the water at the apartments. So almost a month a go i got my plumber to look at the project and give me his analysis of what the costs would be to get every tenant to have their own water meter along with a shutoff valve for each unit. Sadly this “small” project will set me back almost $3000. In the past the thought of $3000 for a project really used to bother the shit out of me, but now…. and I don’t know if it is because America’s current economy where gas prices are at a all time high of $5.00 a gallon or if it is just after almost 10 years with the 4plex, I am noticiting that NOTHING is cheap to fix or do. So for me with a sticker price of $3000 to give every tenant their own water meter is something that I estimate will pay for itself in 9 months. Then I will actually be saving money. Since my acquisition of the 4plex I have always paid for the water. But soon this will be a thing of the past.

Now… my health…. Well. my body health seems to be looking descent. I am still luckily only doing one meal a day, and I don’t snack or cheat. Although while at work and on Mondays, I do have coffee with real butter and MCT oil and ground cinnamon and nutmeg and cocoa powder. The one meal a day has been doing really well for my blood sugar, however the downside is that even though it is allowing me to burn fat, sadly it is also burning the fat laden between my muscles. Which is now not allowing me to look as muscular. And worse…. Over the last few months, I have only been going to the gym on average once a week. Where in the past I was going to the gym 3 days a week. And truth be told, I think the real reason for muscle loss is just the fact that I have slowed my gym time from 3 days to one day.

Then there is Apt#2 that is still in the remodel phase. I really wanted to have that completed by the first week of July, but now, it looks like it won’t get completed until the end of July.

Soon I will be meeting with the engineers and work out the details to redevelop the land on my other property. Remember the goal is to find a way to build 12 apartments. And as of late, the economy is getting to difficult for people that the deal that I have with Rich to build two houses and sell them for top market price looks like will not be a great outcome. As of this writing, many people are starting to really worry about their money and the cost of food and gas. I even saw a news clip that said that people are beginning to wonder if they should buy a house. So I am hoping and having my fingers crossed that the two houses that Rich builds will be able to get a high sale return. If not then my deal with Rich was really just a waste of my land.

This next week I must make some time to go to some banks and ask about loans, I will also visit my mortgage guy and see what news he can give me about getting me money out of my 4plex. Somehow, someway, I MUST be able to build my first of the 12 apartments.

Then there is my loneliness. Sadly I broke down and texted the woman that I deeply care about. Several months ago I blocked her number from contacting me, but I have not been able to get her out of my head, so I recently got a burner phone and texted her. She seemed very happy to hear from me, but again…. This text just happened last night and is still very new. For all I know, her texts could be meaningless. By tomorrow hopefully I will hear a reply from her and if she really misses me then we will connect. The conundrum for me is that when she is not around I miss her deeply, and when she is in my life, then my world tends to evolve around her. That part of my mind focusing too much on her must change.

Too many things are about to drop here soon. And when I say “drop” its a radio DJ term meaning that things are about to happen.

Things about to drop in the next 30 days is that apartment #2 will be fully remodeled and will be on the market

All tenants will now have their own water meters. There is a lot that I must accomplish to ensure that the metering system works properly. I must ensure that the billing software is properly working with the meters and that everything is computer connected such that it is all fully automated. Just a lot of work to set that up.

I will be meeting with Joan again, This means that I will be going thru the next phase of trying to orangize my time better.

I will be meeting with my money & time advisor. He will be helping me to understand if I am really making decisions that are in alignment with where I say that I want to go.

The build of the corner deal with Rich will finally have the concrete slab finished and the framing of the homes will begin

I will be trying to really nail down someone to lend me money to build the first 4 of 12 apartments. And as I have been thinking, In order to build the first 4 apartments will cost me close to $400,000. And because of the economy currently in turmoil, I have been thinking of how I can build apartments with less than $400k. And on my property is a house. The house is old and was in a remodel phase until the city shut me down for not having permits. So I have been thinking that here soon when I meet with the engineers, I will see if there is a way that I can build 3 apartments and keep the house.

But all this is contingent on how I will get the money and how much I will have to pay back and to whom I will be paying the money to. I think in the end I will probably end up with a home equity loan from the property. Which means that I will need to see what my new mortgage will be. And I will need to really think about my ability to pay the new mortgage.

Then there are things at my house that need attention. like the garden. It’s not much of a garden other than about 30 to 40 tomato plants. I didn’t want that many tomato plants, but the guy that I had helping me is really just not always there mentally. And sometimes until I can hire real people, I sadly must take what I can get. But soon that will not be the way I do things. I will find the right people to help me in life. Not only is there the garden, but also a very small patch of grass area that has now turned to brown dead grass. and along the perimeter of this dead grass is wood trim that needs painting. And not only that, I am pretty dead set to have a balcony in the master bedroom. Sadly my welder quoted me a price of about $4000 to install a balcony on my house. I’ll tell ya…. nothing in life is cheap. And if it’s cheap then it’s probably not worth it.

And I forgot at the 4plex there is the video monitors for each of the apartments. I had my electrician installing them, but now I am at a sticking point where he (the electrician does not know how to install the locks, so I now need to get hold of the lock manufacturer to get a video of exactly how the lock works… And like all shit that isn’t easy… The manufacturer is in china! FML!!! Then on top of that I am going to need to get the welder out to the 4plex to probably redo the gate. Which again is just another stack of money that I must invest to the property….. If I want to ensure to get good tenants

Then on the personal side, there is still my body. like I have sadly been going bald for over 20 years. Luckily I have done things to try and hold off the full effects of balding, but as of the last year or two the regimen that I was using has not been working as good, so recently I have really been looking into the latest info for help on hair as well as skin and wrinkles etc. And after much research I have recently invested in micro needling pen. Research is showing that micro needling the face does great things for the skin. Research is also showing that micro needling the scalp is also beneficial and helpful to keeping the hair that you have on your head, as well as help to grow hair that may have seemed to have been lost. So now about every two weeks I must now spend time to micro needle my scalp, and about once a month I must also spend time to micro needle my face. This whole idea of micro needling is still new to me, and really doesn’t take a long time…. It takes about 30 minutes to actually do the process, however, I must take an additional 20 minutes to numb my face and or parts of my scalp. What is micro needling? Well micro needling is (for me) a pen like looking device. it houses about 24 surgical type needles and the needles go into the skin from a depth of .5 mm to 2.5mm  the needles vibrate/ move at different speeds to puncture the skin/scalp. The different depth affect different layers of the skin and cause the skin to heal in different manners. the point for me is that now, a new regimen of health care must now be added to my life. And this is just more time and more effort to keep something of a status quo.

At some point I must be able to make enough money so that I can buy back more time for my life. More time to enjoy my life. At some point I must begin building my apartments. At some point I MUST finish the remodeling of my current 4 apartments, And hopefully within the next 5 years I will finish my house. Just so many projects. And each project requires so much money and so much time, and not forget that one very important ingredient ……. EFFORT!

Oh and I forgot, I MUST finish getting the items purchased and ready for shipment to my family on the island. I have had a box sitting there for now about 4 months with just a couple of items in it. And sadly again, the items that I need to buy is extremely costly.

And then rounding out the things that need to happen in the next 30 days is clothing. Sadly all of my jeans now have holes in them. And luckily for me, holes in jeans is an accepted fashion and considered a cool look for todays times. But for me I would like to have some jeans that do not have holes in them, and also now all of my shirts are also now faded, which again is just more money to look acceptable for what I expect of myself.

The only real question…. Can I get all of this accomplished? And my only answer is….. I have no choice.

And if somehow the universe puts love in my life, then I must again find time for this.

Wish me luck.

Love,

Max.