Entries from the diary, and the 2026 margins. 2026-10-04T00:00:00Z Non Arkaraprasertkul https://diary.nonarkara.org/ https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/14/what-does-writing-do-to-me/#margin-2026 2026-10-04T00:00:00Z

4 October 2026. He called this diary a real history of confusion. His present, he said, is peace. This note does not rewrite the entry.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/23/day-9-three-years-in-shanghai/#margin-2026 2026-10-04T00:00:00Z

Resident fieldwork in Shanghai began on 21 June 2013, after visits from 2006 to 2013. He lived at Jing’an Villa, near Nanjing West Road. The 2015 post did not know shanghai.nonarkara.org.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/15/day-119-a-return-to-this-blog-and-simulation-theory/#margin-2026 2026-10-04T00:00:00Z

4 October 2026. He called this diary a real history of confusion. His present, he said, is peace. This note does not rewrite the entry.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/11/30/designated-survivor-bangkok/ 2025-11-30T00:00:00Z

He woke to the hook looping in his skull:

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/05/08/125-fragments-chapter-1/ 2025-05-08T00:00:00Z

Preface

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/21/124-the-only-thing-that-matters/ 2025-04-21T00:00:00Z

So, I’m scrolling X a couple days ago, and this comedian’s up on stage, killing it.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/18/day-123-confidence-is-built-by-failing-full-stop/ 2025-04-18T00:00:00Z

“How did you get there? Did you read some life-changing book? Did you practice those TED-style hand gestures in the mirror?”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/17/day-121-how-i-never-paid-a-penny-for-my-education/ 2025-04-17T00:00:00Z

People look at my resume — MIT, Oxford, Harvard — and they ask, “How the hell did you pull that off, Non?”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/17/day-122-finding-flow-unlocking-joy-and-efficiency-in-work/ 2025-04-17T00:00:00Z

People often ask me, “Non, how do you get so much done? How are you so effective at work?”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/15/day-119-a-return-to-this-blog-and-simulation-theory/ 2025-04-15T00:00:00Z

So I haven’t done much with this blog since 2019. I had to start a new job. It required that I spend most of my time learning new things.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2025/04/15/day-120-daniel-kahmeman/ 2025-04-15T00:00:00Z

People keep asking me.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2022/01/07/day-118-expo-2020-dubai-an-ultimate-guide-part-1/ 2022-01-07T00:00:00Z

Every five years, nations gather in one location for a six-month event. The host city invites these nations to build “pavilions” – physical structures that house exhibitions showcasing their unique selling points. This gathering is massive.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2021/05/27/day-117-notes-from-my-personal-experience-working-for-a-top-design-firm/ 2021-05-27T00:00:00Z

I was hired as an anthropologist to ‘observe people’ at one of the most famous design firms — here’s what I have learned.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2021/04/10/day-116-kodawari-or-an-attempt-to-reach-perfection-a-quick-read-about-japanese-professionalism/ 2021-04-10T00:00:00Z

Remarks: This post is sort of a repost of a previously published article. I rewrote it a bit to make it shorter and more concise. I couldn’t believe how long-winded and off-the-topic the original article was. It was so hard to read! I hope this one is an improvement. Comments welcome!

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2021/04/04/day-115-some-truly-useful-japanese-concepts/ 2021-04-04T00:00:00Z

If not because of COVID-19, I would have travelled to Japan again for 16 years in a row. In some years, I travelled to Japan more often than once. My love for Japan went all the way back to when I was about three-year-old, reading my very first manga (or Japanese graphic novels).

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2021/03/21/day-114-minimalist-benefits-of-working-from-home/ 2021-03-21T00:00:00Z

From travelling the world with 7 kgs (15.43 lbs) to spending less than 10 % of my income each month by living like a monk, I have tried to push the boundary of de-consumerism. I genuinely believe that we will gain more when we live with less.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/12/31/day-113-a-minimalists-using-typewriters-in-2020/ 2020-12-31T00:00:00Z

December 31, 2020

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/09/04/day-112-an-old-machine-and-work-ethics/ 2020-09-04T00:00:00Z

Day 112: An Old Machine and Work Ethics

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/06/18/day-111-how-light-and-cheap-travel-helped-me-escape-death/ 2020-06-18T00:00:00Z

In my darkest hours, during which I was choosing between living and dying, I found the perfect method to help me make such a decision — travel.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/06/10/day-110-2-years-of-traveling-the-world-with-just-1-backpack-an-accidental-minimalist-tale/ 2020-06-10T00:00:00Z

Day 110: 2 Years of Traveling the World with Just 1 Backpack: An ‘Accidental Minimalist’ Tale

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/06/06/day-109-the-fact-key-and-action-to-help-you-work-on-the-better-version-of-yourself/ 2020-06-06T00:00:00Z

“I am so glad to have met this version of you.”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/06/02/day-107-when-things-get-rough-do-this/ 2020-06-02T00:00:00Z

I recently received an email from a former colleague.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/06/02/day-108-how-i-got-out-of-the-darkest-time/ 2020-06-02T00:00:00Z

First, I can’t tell you how happy I am to be alive right now to write this post.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2020/05/09/day-106-coping-with-covid-19-anxiety-super-practical-things-to-do-during-at-home/ 2020-05-09T00:00:00Z

I wrote this post on Medium (my new favorite place to read) a while ago and thought that it might be useful to re-post it here with some feedback on thoughts and comments that the post received.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2019/04/05/day-105-what-ive-learned-lately/ 2019-04-05T00:00:00Z

Day 105: What I’ve Learned Lately

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2019/01/09/day-104/ 2019-01-09T00:00:00Z

Demanding nothing in return for his kindness, the sage eventually obtains everything;

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2019/01/04/day-103-on-design-culture-part-1-of-many-more-parts-to-come/ 2019-01-04T00:00:00Z

What’s design?

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2019/01/01/day-103-on-insecurity-and-how-to-get-rid-of-it/ 2019-01-01T00:00:00Z

Happy New Year!

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/12/28/day-102-some-podcasts-i-simply-cant-recommend-enough/ 2018-12-28T00:00:00Z

I have received some wonderful words of gratitude and thoughtful feedback on the 100th post (on the 44 books that changed my life). So, in this post, I want to turn the spotlight to some of the podcasts that have the same impact on my life. As I mentioned in my last post, I easily get in the “state of flow” — a mental state of complete absorption in the current experience — when I engage in my beloved activities such

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/12/27/day-101-how-to-deal-with-unpleasant-events/ 2018-12-27T00:00:00Z

A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin Ekaku , the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter’s accusation, he simply replied “Is that so?”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/12/15/day-100-books-that-change-my-life/ 2018-12-15T00:00:00Z

Let me savor the moment a bit.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/12/14/day-99-why-i-dont-read-news/ 2018-12-14T00:00:00Z

Yes, I only learned about the Thai soccer team in the cave after they’d gotten out of the cave…

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/10/06/day-98-what-i-know-for-sure/ 2018-10-06T00:00:00Z

It’s getting there. I am 3 days away from the 100th day — hooray.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/10/02/day-97-problematizing-time/ 2018-10-02T00:00:00Z

Once upon a time, a wise man I spoke to. “There’s no problem; there’s only time,” said he. Little did I understand.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/09/21/day-96-in-praise-of-self-improvement/ 2018-09-21T00:00:00Z

As I mentioned, I want the last 5 posts to be about the “self-improvement values” that I have held dearly. That said, I have not always been able to practice them.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/09/10/day-95-in-praise-of-incrementalism/ 2018-09-10T00:00:00Z

I am just five days — five days — away from the golden “100 days” mark. For those who don’t know why that mark is important, please return to the first page of this blog. I have been asked by a dozen of friends, “What are you going to do once you get to the hundredth day?” I actually have not thought about that. I am thinking of two options: Going back to my previous posts and revise them (as in, “re-broadcast” or “r

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/09/07/day-94-on-making-an-argument/ 2018-09-07T00:00:00Z

O.k. I just couldn’t sleep.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/09/05/day-93-on-freedom/ 2018-09-05T00:00:00Z

Freedom is one of the most difficult topics. We all want freedom, but…

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/09/04/day-92-on-jealously-i-forgive-and-forget/ 2018-09-04T00:00:00Z

How many people does it take to make your life into a spiritual practice? Never mind if your partner will not cooperate. Sanity — consciousness — can only come into this world through you. You do not need to wait for the world to become sane, or for somebody else to become conscious, before you can be enlightened. You may wait forever. Do not accuse each other of being unconscious. The moment you start to argue, you

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/31/day-91-on-design-thinking-part-11-in-praise-of-a-checklist/ 2018-08-31T00:00:00Z

I was listening to one of my favorite podcast NPR The Hidden Brain the other day. The newest episode was a re-run of one of its most practical episodes. It’s on the use of a checklist.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/27/day-90-on-design-thinking-part-10-designing-your-life-part-2/ 2018-08-27T00:00:00Z

Hooray! I have reached the ninetieth post!

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/26/week-89-the-saddest-sonnet/ 2018-08-26T00:00:00Z

Have you ever felt disgusted by your own existence?

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/25/day-88/ 2018-08-25T00:00:00Z

I have moved the previous Day 88 post “Only If I Can Do These 12 Things” to the main page of this blog and changed its name to “Principles” since these are, essentially, the principles by which we should aim to live our life. Now, in this post, I want to quickly unpack them into practical guides.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/14/day-86-the-anti-fragile-manifesto/ 2018-08-14T00:00:00Z

Living in the world as hard and chaotic as it is today, it’s not enough just to be flexible and resilience — we need to be “anti-fragile.”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/12/day-86-on-design-thinking-part-7-dealing-with-criticisms/ 2018-08-12T00:00:00Z

I was about to go to bed when the idea of this blog post came to mind!

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/11/day-85-design-thinking-part-7-the-four-noble-truth/ 2018-08-11T00:00:00Z

A few months back during a Facebook Live Interview with a news correspondent Dr Nattha Komolvadhin on the topic of design thinking, I had alluded to the similarities between notion of problem-finding and solving of design thinking and of Buddhism. Ever since I have been asked by a few colleagues to explain in details. Specifically, I talked about how similar between the “Four Noble Truth” and the problem-understandin

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/09/day-83-on-design-thinking-part-5-the-power-of-diversity/ 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

In my previous blog On Design Thinking Part 1: The Gist , I have outlined the three key ideas of design thinking. Let’s recap in these timeless words:

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/09/day-85-on-design-thinking-part-6-stoicism/ 2018-08-09T00:00:00Z

If I were to write my own list of “ what I should have known before turning 20 , ” the top of the list would have been Stoicism.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/04/day-82-12-rules-for-life-power-of-now/ 2018-08-04T00:00:00Z

I have received a lot of wonderful comments from my last post: The Power of Now. In this post, I want to combine the 12 rules for life and the power of now, in order to lay out clearly why and how the life we are living, no matter how difficult it seems, is not all that bad.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/03/day-81-the-power-of-now/ 2018-08-03T00:00:00Z

When my father passed away in 2010 — the black swan event of my life — I was left with nothing much for which to live.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/02/day-80-on-design-thinking-part-4-design-fast-and-slow/ 2018-08-02T00:00:00Z

As the title suggests, I am going to talk about design in terms of “heuristics” and “general probability.”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/08/01/day-79-on-design-thinking-part-3-the-black-swan/ 2018-08-01T00:00:00Z

First, this is not about the film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, but the book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/07/31/day-78-on-design-thinking-part-2/ 2018-07-31T00:00:00Z

So, let me tell you a bit about the background of this design thinking series.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/07/27/day-77-gossiping-or-by-definition-a-crime-against-humanity/ 2018-07-27T00:00:00Z

I was initially planning to continue the writing of my newest series on design thinking, of which the first part had been written as the Day 76 post . I, however, have been engaging in many meaningful discussions with friends, colleagues, and guests of this blog who were highly entertained by my last post on the 12 rules for life, especially on the tenth rule: Be distrustful of gossip.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/07/25/day-75-12-rules-for-life/ 2018-07-25T00:00:00Z

A confession: I forgot to continue writing this post!

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/07/24/day-76-on-design-thinking-part-1/ 2018-07-24T00:00:00Z

(Please skip this paragraph to the next if you are a first-time visitor to this blog. This first paragraph is going to be all about my confessions and apologies to the die-hard readers, especially those who’re kind enough to subscribe to it. So, yes, I have been rather lame. I thought I could get back to writing again after my last post Day 75, after getting stuck at an airport’s terminal for 12 hours. Since then, I

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2018/06/20/day-74-what-i-learned-getting-stuck-at-an-airport-for-12-hours/ 2018-06-20T00:00:00Z

This might be a bit of a surprise to many: How I eventually return to writing this blog again. The truth: I have always been wanting to return to write this blog. It’s just that for the past two years since my last post, I have been living a different kind of life — no longer as a student who had the time to sit down daily and write his thoughts to share, but an employee in a super cut-throat profit-driven field. I h

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/09/19/day-73-tony-robbins-six-basic-human-needs/ 2016-09-19T00:00:00Z

While I was on the treadmill yesterday, I listened to Tony Robbins’ podcast episode called “Six Basic Human Needs.” For those who don’t know who he is, Tony Robbins is one of the world’s most famous inspirational speakers, business, and personal coaches, and gurus in self-improvement. He appeared in one of my favorite movies of all time Shallow Hal, featuring Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow. Robbins’ Ted Talk “Why We

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/09/17/day-71-how-to-change-the-world-part-1/ 2016-09-17T00:00:00Z

I know. I know. It’s been a while since my last post. Apologies for those who may have been waiting for a new post. It hasn’t been easy moving from one place to the other, leaving an old job for a new job, and so on. But I am back! Although I can’t promise (not even to myself) that I would be updating my blog as frequently as I may want, I will try my best to keep up with the requests on the topics and ideas about wh

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/09/17/day-72-the-power-of-logic/ 2016-09-17T00:00:00Z

I have two stories to tell. All of which speak to one central theme: The power of logic is limitless. Let’s begin.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/07/16/day-70-a-nonism-dictionary/ 2016-07-16T00:00:00Z

General abstention from activities and substances regarded as damaging to one’s health or well-being.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/07/10/day-69-the-herzfelds-rules-part-2/ 2016-07-10T00:00:00Z

In this post, I’d like to introduce some more titbits of the Herzfeld’s Rules. I have learned over the years from the man himself that some of these mistakes do have an impact on how you are perceived by your colleagues and superiors. As one anonymous person once said: “Grammar is what about knowing the difference between your shit and you’re shit .” I could not agree more. In fact, also over the years, I have learne

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/07/05/day-68-a-minimalism-manifesto/ 2016-07-05T00:00:00Z

Why all the sudden am I becoming a “minimalist?” (At least I’m hoping to become one). For one I am moving out of the city that I have been living in for three years and I cannot possibly take all my belongings that I have mindlessly accumulated over the past three years with me. So, I am becoming a minimalist not only to manage my expectations and objects that I own but also to keep track of what “realistically” and

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/06/29/day-67-on-disappointment/ 2016-06-29T00:00:00Z

Why, lately, I have felt so beaten up? It’s almost as though a number of people have sandbagged me and then put me in a bag before throwing me into the river with a large piece of steel attached to it to make sure that no way I would escape the death penalty. Why? The best method to answer this question, needless to say, is to ask myself and then look inside my own mind, trying aggressively to find out what has happe

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/06/17/day-66-the-herzfelds-rules/ 2016-06-17T00:00:00Z

The topic today is about effective communication, which, I would like to define, is the effective conveying of ideas from one person to another. The conveying of ideas that is not effective is not communication. Then, I should make it clear that the use of the apostrophe (the punctuation mark ‘) in the title of this post does not indicate the authorship. In other words, it’s not Herzfeld who has come up with the “Her

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/06/02/day-66-on-a-failed-relationship-i-thought-i-was-lucky/ 2016-06-02T00:00:00Z

It’s good to be back on my blog, writing again. Thank you all for all of the kind words of congratulation. It’s good to have a Ph.D., although I wish I hadn’t done it . It’s good, still, to have accomplished something in life no matter how trivial it may be or may sound in the infinite universe of things, people, and knowledge of which I am a tiny part.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/05/16/day-64-my-resume/ 2016-05-16T00:00:00Z

Day 64: My Honest Résumé

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/05/15/day-64-i-wish-i-had-never-done-a-phd/ 2016-05-15T00:00:00Z

“ Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” – Oscar Wilde

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/04/01/day-61-home-is-where-the-heart-is/ 2016-04-01T00:00:00Z

Live from Los Angeles and Boston. I just got back to the US less than 4 hours ago. About 8 hours ago, I was sitting at a bar inside the American Airlines terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) enjoying my Californian-styled pizza (whatever that meant) and a full 5L pint of Samuel Adams lager (which was slightly larger than a typical Bostonian pint). Sam Adams, by the way, has since I arrived in Bosto

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/04/01/day-62-reflections-on-the-urban/ 2016-04-01T00:00:00Z

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/03/21/day-60-a-60-day-anniversary/ 2016-03-21T00:00:00Z

When young people “discover philosophy” today, it usually means either that they have come upon writings that call into question what they thought they knew, or that they suddenly feel awake to new modes of perceiving and interacting with the world.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/03/20/what-59-what-brought-me-to-china/ 2016-03-20T00:00:00Z

How did a Thai national attending a university in the US end up spending three-third of his life, and counting, conducting research on China?

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/03/14/day-59/ 2016-03-14T00:00:00Z

I have been asked, a few times, about my experience of writing about morality. In my last post, I have laid out the blueprint of my reasoning for moving from writing a longer blog post to a shorter series of aphorisms, or, as defined by a dictionary, a concise statement of a scientific principle. Typically by an ancient classical author, aphorisms are a series of words laid out to bring home the point that are hardly

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/03/06/day-57-on-the-economy-of-words/ 2016-03-06T00:00:00Z

Lately, I have been writing many short aphorisms. Almost everyday, in fact, as though my brain can’t stop thinking about what makes life worth living. The more I read, the more I write. The more I experience, the more I come up with thoughts that speak to my very essence as a human being about what it means to be born into the world. Am I a philosopher? Well, I would like to think that I am.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/02/14/day-56-new-years-resolution/ 2016-02-14T00:00:00Z

I was planning to write this post more than a month ago, but somehow I totally forgot about it and did not have a chance to look at my little notebook where I put down quite clearly by hand “2016 New Year’s Resolution — Day 52.” Well. I missed it by 4 days, since it’s Day 56 today. But let me get to it anyway. Let me begin with a question: What’s the difference between being a flip-flopper and someone who evolves and

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/02/13/day-55-on-writing-well/ 2016-02-13T00:00:00Z

Thanks to the responses from the students at the Global Studies Program at Thammasat University in Bangkok where I had the honor of giving a talk on the topic All About Writing (and the Art of Doing it Well), I had the opportunity to sit down and write about how I think makes me want to write well (although this does not, in any way, imply that I write well). Well, I think my writing is not bad. Well, I should not co

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/02/12/day-54-giving-up-the-urban-life/ 2016-02-12T00:00:00Z

This might sound like me rambling, but as the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) is about to depart, and the people are coming back to the city again, I want to write about how much I like Shanghai when it’s so empty like this when the memory and feeling of it being empty are still fresh in my mind. In the past week, the city was empty owing to the migrants, whose population constitutes almost half of the city’s popu

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/02/11/day-53-writing-on-the-couch/ 2016-02-11T00:00:00Z

I know, I know, I haven’t written anything since January. In fact, I haven’t written anything since the beginning of January. So, it’s been more than a month now that this blog has been dormant. That’s not my intention at all. Some of you might even be wondering, “Is Non going to get the 100th day as he has planned?” Well, once and for all, I have never doubted that I’ll eventually get to the 100th day. I set the goa

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2016/01/08/day-53-what-does-god-is-dead-mean/ 2016-01-08T00:00:00Z

Arguably one of the most misinterpreted quotes of all time is Friedrich Nietzsche’s “God is Dead” (i.e., the title of this post in case you haven’t noticed). This post is going to be a short one.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/28/day-51-my-oral-history-as-written-by-someone-else/ 2015-12-28T00:00:00Z

I forgot completely to mention how happy I was that I got to Day 50 in my last post — that’s halfway through the goal of one hundred days that I had set for myself at the beginning a few months back.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/22/day-49-on-sex-part-2-5-q-a/ 2015-12-22T00:00:00Z

It felt as though I had dropped a bomb yesterday.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/20/day-48-things-i-cannot-live-withoutut/ 2015-12-20T00:00:00Z

As always, since I am a master of tangent (sounds like a title that can become a reality TV show, doesn’t it?) I didn’t get to talk about the 16 things that I cannot live without which was what I originally set out to do in my last post. So, let me do it here. But since the list itself also appears in my last post, I’ll reorganize it based on the three ethical categories that I believe to serve well for this particul

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/20/day-49-on-sex-part-2/ 2015-12-20T00:00:00Z

Having spent the last three days of my life in Japan, I can’t help but to feel overwhelmed. A society that on the surface seems both socially orderly and culturally conservative is in fact very liberating when it comes to sex.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/19/days-48-on-my-relationship-with-objects/ 2015-12-19T00:00:00Z

I guess it would be unfair to write about what I don’t have without writing about the opposite side of the spectrum: What I have and (hopefully) will always have.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/17/day-46-what-i-never-have/ 2015-12-17T00:00:00Z

Here I am, waiting at the boarding area for my very first “non-business” trip in years. How am I feeling? Mixed: my feeling is caught between great and weird. It’s great because I don’t have to prepare a presentation, or a transcript for a talk, or any plans for meetings, or anything. It’s also weird because I have not done this for years. In the past decade, as I can recall, all my trips have been work-related. So,

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/11/day-44-whatve-i-learned-from-teaching-moral-philosophy/ 2015-12-11T00:00:00Z

This post is going to be brief. It’s 1am in the morning and I need to hit the sack. Although I just had a weird dream — I wasn’t sure where exactly I was in my dream, and when my eyes finally opened I had to spend a few second thinking about where I was until I eventually came to realize that I was in my room, here in Shanghai, and not in Bangkok, Boston, Tokyo, or any other places. Tomorrow, although I sort of know

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/07/day-42-on-bad-arguments/ 2015-12-07T00:00:00Z

Did any of you realize that I had skipped Day 42?

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/04/day-44-combating-bad-faith/ 2015-12-04T00:00:00Z

There is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy. All other questions follow from that.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/03/day-43-on-loneliness/ 2015-12-03T00:00:00Z

Watching online a new television drama Manhattan , a story about the famous atomic bomb research program led by J. Robert Oppenheimer between 1942–45 that gathered US best scientists together to produce the nuclear weapon to fight the Nazi Germany, while holding a glass of affordable French Merlot (a type of red wine from France; known as the second most popular red grape in America after Cabernet Sauvignon) I bought

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/12/01/day-41-all-about-nana-part-2/ 2015-12-01T00:00:00Z

Every time I took a train through Hailun Road Station, I feel as though I cannot breath. There’s something inside that propels my emotion toward bitterness, like being thrown out of the top of the building. The feeling of free-falling, being pulled down by gravity but without knowing how far the floor is ahead of me, is both a source of anxiety and penetrative fear. In short, it’s always a real pain to think about wh

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/27/day-40-on-sex-part-1/ 2015-11-27T00:00:00Z

Try to imagine a society in which there is no marriage. One where men and women take multiple sex partners in their teens, 20s and 30s, and never settle down with one. Imagine a society without husbands or fathers — one that has no word for father. Impossible? We assume the nuclear family — with a father, mother, and children — is the basic building block of society, and anything else seems unimaginable.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/25/day-39-on-time/ 2015-11-25T00:00:00Z

Making efficient use of time is my raison d’être

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/10/my-butterfly-dream/ 2015-11-10T00:00:00Z

Once upon a time, Zhuangzi dreamed that he was a butterfly, flying about enjoying itself. It did not know that it was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he awoke, and veritably was Zhuangzi again. He did not know whether it was Zhuangzi dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was the butterfly dreaming that it was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is a case of what is called th

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/09/day-38-all-about-sam/ 2015-11-09T00:00:00Z

Sam (an intentional gender-neutral pseudonym) was visiting our city for a few days, so my friend and I took Sam out to dinner. A conversation about weight came up during our conversation about food. “I am blessed to be able to eat a lot and not get fat,” said Sam. We did, in fact, order a large amount of food that evening and were successful in finishing all of it by the end of the meal. According to my standards, Sa

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/08/day-35-worst-mistakes-people-make-in-their-20s/ 2015-11-08T00:00:00Z

My colleague Mike — yes, the same Mike with whom hitherto engaged regarding our different understanding of Schopenhauer and the Buddha in my last post — shared an interesting article on his wall today, and that is about, as the title of this post suggests, the worst mistakes people make in their 20s.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/11/04/day-35-how-i-come-up-with-a-topic-about-which-to-write/ 2015-11-04T00:00:00Z

I must admit that I didn’t expect to receive so many comments from anyone at all about this blog. In fact, since I started this blog as a little writing project only for myself, I didn’t think anyone would be reading it at all, let alone finding it worth following, or their time to spend reading it. So, when I was notified by the system that there have been more than or thousand visitors to this blog, I couldn’t real

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/31/day-33-waking-life/ 2015-10-31T00:00:00Z

Probably one of the most difficult films I have watched lately, Waking Life is. As a response to my last post, one of my students suggested this film. He probably knew a little about my obsession with dream interpretation.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/29/day-32-what-makes-life-worth-living/ 2015-10-29T00:00:00Z

First of all, let me be clear from the beginning: I don’t have the answer for such an impossible question. Second, I didn’t just come up with such title to make this blog post sound more interesting than it is. In fact, I may not have anything new to share with you today, in this post. You, actually, might find that this particular post to be the most shallow, content-less, and lack of substance of all of my posts. S

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/28/day-32-on-professionalism/ 2015-10-28T00:00:00Z

Since I have moved into my new place, where there’s a cable TV, I have been sitting in front of my flat screen television everyday, watching shows after shows on my new favorite TV channel, NHK World TV (stands for Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai or Japan Broadcasting Corporation) from Japan (but in English). Growing up reading Japanese graphic novels or manga, I always have a soft spot for Japan and Japanese culture. In fact, I’

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/26/day-31-why-modesty-is-bad-for-the-society/ 2015-10-26T00:00:00Z

I am NOT a particularly modest person.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/22/day-30-the-kind-of-love-that-will-last/ 2015-10-22T00:00:00Z

**Spoiler alert. This post is the last installment of the “Why I Give Up Love” trilogy. I’d have to warn you, this blog post is not a conventionally rosy-eyed blog post about “how to love.” Far from it. This is a blog post about how NOT to love.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/19/day-28-who-ive-become-an-outli/ 2015-10-19T00:00:00Z

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. “Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/16/day-27-on-aging/ 2015-10-16T00:00:00Z

I find four reasons why old age appears to be unhappy: first, that it withdraws us from active pursuits; second, that it makes the body weaker; third, that it deprives us of almost all physical pleasures; and, fourth, that it is not far removed from death. Let us, if you please, examine each of these reasons separately and see how much truth they contain.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/14/day-25/ 2015-10-14T00:00:00Z

I only care about how I see myself, and not about how others see me. I have never been so clear on this before. In fact, I never understand why many people care so much about how they look, especially in photos. Around me there’re so many people who are willing to spend a lot of time taking selfies, retouching them, and then posting them on social media platforms, with the hope that their photos will be liked and app

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/14/day-26-on-death/ 2015-10-14T00:00:00Z

I borrow the title of this post from Montaigne, one of my favorite philosophers who is up there, for me, with Rousseau, Thoreau, and the Stoics. I have been thinking about death lately since the death of my father, which is more than five years ago now. All the great writers and social psychologists are right: “we’re all stronger than we think,” and this wisdom is dated back to the 500 BCE with the Stoics who were th

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/09/day-22-on-being-an-existentialist/ 2015-10-09T00:00:00Z

First, I have to start thinking more before I write in order write fewer words! I have written more than 3,000 words in last two posts, which are a lot of words considering how far behind I still am in terms of my dissertation. I mean, if I could write 3,000 words in my dissertation in two days, I would be much much better of than what I am right now (I would have had the entire thing written already so to speak).

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/09/day-23-an-existentialist-bicycle-technician-i-met/ 2015-10-09T00:00:00Z

One example of “bad faith” that [Jean-Paul Sartre] gives is that of a waiter who does his best to conform to everything that a waiter should be. For Sartre, the waiter’s exaggerated behavior is evidence that he is play-acting at being a waiter, an automaton whose essence is to be a waiter. However, in order to play-act at being a waiter, the waiter must at some level be aware that he is not in fact a waiter, but a co

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/09/day-24-on-riding-a-train/ 2015-10-09T00:00:00Z

I realized, just now, that in my last post I ardently violated my own rule by writing more than 500 words. Well. There wasn’t a rule or anything but I did mention that I would like to write fewer words (“fewer” by the way is correct here because “less” is used only with an uncountable noun), so that I could spend more time working on my dissertation, but I guess that I didn’t happen especially when I was writing abou

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/06/day-21-on-duty/ 2015-10-06T00:00:00Z

Last year, a few people asked me how I dealt with the difficulty of my fieldwork . It wasn’t just the frugal living condition, but also the crashes of self-interest in the face of contemporary capitalism that I had to deal with on a daily basis. My answer was that I coped with it by reading books on moral philosophy, mainly those of the Eastern tradition in which I have always been interested. Whenever I found myself

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/04/day-20-my-cousin-or-on-education/ 2015-10-04T00:00:00Z

I have been observing my little cousin over the past few days that we’d gotten to spend time together. She came over to spend a couple of nights with us, during which we swam, exercised, went shopping, ate together, and so on. It’s great to have these two days with her, which was mainly because her break coincided with my visit to Bangkok. Because ever since she was born almost a decade ago, I have always been abroad

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/03/day-19-on-posting-on-social-media/ 2015-10-03T00:00:00Z

Would I be okay if this is my last post?

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/03/day-20-on-my-coffee-addiction/ 2015-10-03T00:00:00Z

I am a coffee addict. Ever since I was introduced to coffee I have never bee able to live a full day without it. Well, I can, but I wouldn’t want to. Thailand in the 80s and 90s where I grew up, coffee had yet to be a big part of Thai society’s cultural life. My father, for example, also brewed a flask of tea for himself to take to work. He would consume the entire flask (also known as, a hot water thermos) bit by bi

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/10/02/day-16-how-do-i-want-to-get-old/ 2015-10-02T00:00:00Z

The architect Louis Kahn once said that good architecture “age beautifully.” And that’s it — that’s how I would like to get old. The ideas about what life is are very diverse. Religious people believe that life has a much larger purpose, such ass about paying off your debts, cleansing away your sin, and about living every minute to pay respect to the supreme divine power.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/30/day-16-on-being-a-skeptic/ 2015-09-30T00:00:00Z

Today marks the two weeks benchmark of this blog, which is great, because the last time I wrote a blog I didn’t get past even the first week benchmark. Today, I want to reflect on a comment about which I have been concerned lately: “You are having an identity crisis.” This comment came as a surprise because I never thought, even for one second, that I was having a problem with my own ability to identify myself vis-a-

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/28/day-14/ 2015-09-28T00:00:00Z

It is clear to me that being a passionately mad man is more reasonable than being a boring man of rationality.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/28/day-15-all-about-nana/ 2015-09-28T00:00:00Z

Nana is the love of my life. I knew that since the first time I saw her in Shanghai in the summer of 2011. She was much younger than I: she’s very bright, shiny, and happy. I knew that she was the one since I first saw her, and that feeling has never changed. Five years have past, and the only thing I regret about our short encounter is that I never get to tell her how much I love her.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/27/day-13-living-stoically/ 2015-09-27T00:00:00Z

Last night, while enjoying a cup of my own cold brewed coffee (and a spoon full of Bailey’s Original), I had a great moment all to myself to reflect on the last few years of my life, and the result of which was the last post in which I described my rough intellectual path of becoming who I am in the present. I have come to the conclusion that I have always been a stoic.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/26/day-12-emotion-versus-reason-continued/ 2015-09-26T00:00:00Z

It was a good feeling beyond my capacity to explain it in words to wake up on my bed at home here in Bangkok. The weather was far from perfect, I must admit. That said, home’s always home, and there is a good reason for most people to “feel at home” when they are at home. I was tired from traveling on the jet plane, but was still able to get out of my bed before noon, which was partly because it was too hot to still

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/25/day-11-emotion-versus-reason/ 2015-09-25T00:00:00Z

In the 18th century, the Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote that human reason is “the slave of the passions.” If Hume had meant by “passions” what we mean by that word today, his observation wouldn’t be worth noting. Obviously, when we’re seized by intense feelings like lust or vengeance, our reasoning faculties are not running the show. But Hume meant “passions” in a different sense; he meant feelings, broadly sp

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/23/day-9-three-years-in-shanghai/ 2015-09-23T00:00:00Z

The Master said: At fifteen I set my heart upon learning. At thirty, I had planted my feet firm upon the ground. At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities. At fifty, I knew what were the biddings of Heaven. At sixty, I heard them with docile ear. At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right.” ― Confucius, The Analects of Confucius

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/23/day-10-on-writing-fieldnotes/ 2015-09-23T00:00:00Z

The last thing I want to turn this blog into is a platform for me to complain about what I don’t like about Shanghai, and sometimes, the world at large. The temptation is always high. For instance, I got home deadly tired today. I even slept on th bus on the way back because I had stood too long today, and the sleep I had last night was way less than adequate. I was lucky that I didn’t have my bike with me as I had n

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/21/day-8-on-the-nature-of-question/ 2015-09-21T00:00:00Z

What struck me today was a poll related to a recent news in South China Morning Post , as well as various news sources, about the possibility that pilots of one of the world’s best airlines Cathy Pacific (CP) might have been overworked by the airlines, which may lead to very scenario of possible “seriously risky situations” once airborne.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/20/day-6-why-i-give-up-love-part-1/ 2015-09-20T00:00:00Z

In everyone’s life, there must be that moment that you feel you could live forever. Imagining a middle-age person looking at his/her own photos in the 20s and mutter to his/her ownself, “that was such a good time, and it’s all gone — all of it.” The time when everything around you was beautiful, and because you had the vision to enjoy it, and the energy to seek more beautiful things, you felt as if the world is yours

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/20/day-7-why-i-give-up-love-part-2/ 2015-09-20T00:00:00Z

Excessive exercising in the past few days really got me tired. I couldn’t get up at 6am like I used to. This morning, for instance, I was kept in bed by the fatigue from yesterday until 10am. However, that wasn’t a problem, as I never liked to go out anyway. I always find comfort in staying in, and staying at home. Yes, I am a stay-at-home person, which is, quite surprisingly to me, something that not many people cou

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/18/day-5-tradition-whats-good-for/ 2015-09-18T00:00:00Z

Absolutely nothing.

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/17/day-4-why-i-bike/ 2015-09-17T00:00:00Z

“A gentleman shouldn’t go on and on about what he does to stay fit. At least that’s how I see it.” In Haruki Murakami. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/16/day-2-some-more-reasons-to-reflect/ 2015-09-16T00:00:00Z

There you have it: a reason to write. These social psychologists, in their study, have shown that “reflection leads to better performance.” Just 15 minutes, they claim, after a day of work helps you find out what are the takeaways of the day, including both the lessons learned, as well as successful stories that, in the spirit of self-help zeitgeist, facilitate your sense of motivation conducive to carrying on of the

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/16/day-3-writing-degree-zero/ 2015-09-16T00:00:00Z

Today, I spent a few minutes after lunch thinking about my career. While writing a chapter of my own dissertation, I got distracted by a visit from someone I knew, and then got completely distracted by that person’s question about me and my life in the past ten years. Suddenly, I realized that everything that I was writing at the time was about me. True, I was writing about my informants, and their lives (at least th

https://diary.nonarkara.org/2015/09/14/what-does-writing-do-to-me/ 2015-09-14T00:00:00Z

Writing, first of all, is something one can only do alone. You can get someone to help you with proofreading, editing, and revising what you have written. But when you write, you write it alone. No original idea worth spreading, reciting, and thinking about, can come from other people telling you what to write. You have to do it alone.