Beginning of January 2026, I had the most highs of my life including my birthday. I had a friend and his wife come over from Korea who were so well mannered and comfortable that I didn't feel the time going by. My wife cooked such delicious foods that we didn't go out to restaurants!  And my friend opened a new world for me; AI! He taught me the basic AI. The day after he left, I got into a depression. That was to be expected because what goes up must come down at some point. I was so high! He also told me that in our time, we are younger than our age. I became 66, but you have to multiply by 0.8 to your age. Which makes me 52.

That concept blew my mind! I got back 14 years!

When you age, you can tell that you're aging. You just cannot do what you did when you were young.

When I golf, I can't even tee my ball up because my back doesn't bend anymore. Shit~~! I used to go to the bathroom every morning, but now I go in 3 days. So, I have to make myself think that I just have big intestines.

You have to adjust and justify your thinking when you age. You have to change!

I arrived at thinking that I am lucky that I am an artist. Artists thrive on change, they have to change all the time, otherwise, creation becomes dull and mundane.

But, living in Laos for 10 years, I become a Lao! Everything is bopenyang!

It means it's OK, but the connotations are immense. If you are late for an appointment, bopenyang, and they go on business as usual. They send you an invitation to a wedding and starting time is at 6. So, Koreans go there at 5:30. And they wait sitting around for 2 hours till the wedding! There are people arriving at 9:00!

You just have to adjust to their culture, bopenyang!

Problem is that, that kind of mentality doesn't make the country grow these days.

That's why Laos is a poor country.

Thing is, they are the kindest people in the world as well. They are happy as they are.

Who's to say they are poor when they are happier than you are or ever be?

Happiness is very subjective.

10 years is a long time.

But when you look back it's less than a second inside your head! Shoop  ~~~~ it goes by.

I came to a conclusion that where you live makes you feel differently about time. If you live in a metropolis and work every single day, time would feel differently than if you live in Laos like me. Laos doesn't have stress! If you are a foreigner, there are few things you need to do, but it's like that in all country. For me, even that became a nuisance. You know that you're lazy when necessity become a chore. That's the profound revelation I realized in 2025. I was fuckin' lazy for 10 years living in Laos.

You can only do nothing for so long, you wake up one day and just say "Fuck! I need to do something~~~!"

The only thing that disturbed me in Laos are the police who blockade to get money from you.

I guess it's my distaste for the system which they represent. In the early years, I really had a distaste for them, but now they do much less. I guess they are getting paid now. Lao government is very poor, but some people are very, very rich. They call them 1%. When I first came, there was a story that a general died and they found $600 million US dollars in cash in his vault. Lao rich don't use banks, which makes perfect sense to me. And the rich likes to flaunt their wealth by building massive mansions with domes and drive Rolls Royce’s. If you have enough power, you can do that in Laos. If you are a Lao!