Confessions of an Artist.

It was probably 25th April. I woke up and as usual, opened the page of book Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss. I was rather lucky or was that my brick-rock brain which somehow fell upon the page that would change my life: The Slow-Carb Diet Cheat Sheet or One-pager. The Slow-Carb diet is to constantly avoid White Starchy Carbos for 6 days a week and take protein the first thing in morning. Many people take coffee or some kind of bacteria like Kombucha or Apple Cider Vinegar, I use Pickles, yes God bless fermented foods with Pulses, veges, Meat and Egg, which is really important. Second principle is to pick some meals and eat them consistently for 6 days. Then take one day off and ""go nuts". But my journey started with French Fries. After that, I would do nothing but wake up and eat and egg. Then I would add a flatbread, which is like traditional in Asian foods, but anyways, I would take spinach and chicken. That was it. I repeated that for maybe 3 weeks. I started tracking changes first week and hell, I was gaining muscle and losing fat on my thighs. Also, my belly shrank from 89cm to 83cm. I then switched to Intermittent Fasting, a brutal one because basically we have a festival called "Ramadan" or a kind of like custom where we "fast" for like 30 days. Actually, I did more of a "Cyclical Ketogenic" Diet. But hell, my mom would eat Carbohydrates everyday for 30 days. Umm.. she didn't lose fat(I doubt she gained, since she doesn't measure and of course, these people don't have "set of principles" or values to guide them, most of their beliefs are inherited from other people and media assholes). But I did, after 28 days, I measured myself and my belly shrunk to 81.4cm. That was mind-boggling. I just dropped a size of pants! from 34 to 32, yuck when they measured for clothes, my dad was like, "that's a pretty good waist to have". Yes dad, this is what MED and principles do to you. 

Has anyone of you watched the movie Escape Plan? Aww man, Arnold and Sylvester look fuckin' ripped at even 70s. In that movie, they escape through Rottmayer's helicopter and lands on a Moroccan bank or coast. And then a CIA agent, who was not CIA agent but Rottmayer's daughter comes and picks up Manheim, the real name of Rottmayer.

Well, the main theme of movie is Portos, whose real name is Breslin, is an author of some kind of prison security book and his work allows prison institutions to build some of the most finest prisons in the world. The whole prison is centered on a ship and the ocean. I think of that as a metaphor to my previous example of losing weight and gaining muscle. As an "Objectivist" within a true Altruist society, where the label "good" is given to guys who work till 5 AM and this society puts importance on those people. But I think it's really a screw-up of priorities. It is a failure for Asian and Third World countries to put their certain people in isolation, like the Actors and actresses from Antarctica. The actress Alison Sudol(@alisonsudol) is from Antarctica(as appears from her Instagram, but correct me if I'm wrong Alison!) appears to be "alone" or the men or Entrepreneurs or change-makers from African coasts, like Elon Musk the South-African turned American industrialist, we just cannot nurture and value our innovators. Elon was abused in South Africa. Arnold Schwarzenegger knew if he wanted to live and not just live but to surround himself with good people, he needed to come to America and leave Austria. Humans and fellas like em' are destined to be isolated, so to say, in a world consisting of "human interactions" and the humans-as-social-animals theory. 

Imagine a guy, let's say deadmau5(@deadmau5) riding down the road on his McLaren. He's embarked upon a journey. He's committed to it. Now he gets other people committed to their own journeys in music. He calls them Coffee Run. He talks to them about recent events and sometimes career and uploads them. They've all embarked upon a road and now they hang out together. In-fact just 12 minutes ago, he tweeted this(see image)

Twelve minutes age he was fucking "embarked upon" the road. I mean that's legit. And what I was doing? Hanging out with bunch of losers and waiting them to leave so that I can write this article or a sort of novel-style article that I'm writing now. 

You know, if you combine technology with arts, any sort of art, whether military like Arms, you get certain output. It is thus in the hands of our leaders how they direct the talents of today's artists. Whether they hire them to design military products, like they did back in those days with Leonardo da Vinci, who pretended to be a military engineer. If we keep doing that, then one day we might get Cyborgs, the machines turned enemies and disloyal to its own creator(s). 

Another great application of technology is the concept of Coffee Machine from the movie "The Green Hornett"by my absolute favourite Seth Rogen (and Evan Goldberg, too!). In the movie, Cato is the coffee-maker. But his machine sort of inspired me. It roasts and blends those coffee beans and then... amigo! coffee is made. It's not like the coffee you get from powdered coffee. Or if you add "powdered sugar" it then sounds good. I don't know what they say, umm I think whatever.

But in the movie, the father kind of is snappy and expects kid to "serve" to something valuable. Or more accurately, the concept that man has to drain his testicles in order to feed his families is absolutely insane and I just don't like it. You don't have to "work hard". You don't need to "Hustle". You just need to wake up everyday, perform rituals/habits that get you into the zone and produce your work, that's all. Some of you might say I'm disrespecting hard-working parents. Nope, it's my blog first-of-all. Second, these are my principles. Third, I use them to analyze lives of people who matter to me. Works so hard and then hurts us by saying, "I have to drain my energy on this crappy cubicle so that I can feed your stomach!". I'm so sick of it. If he didn't like us, why he mated us in the first place. Oh, I get it. But was that my fault? better off that way. Wouldn't I have been born and problem solved? right, at least for some few short-term days. 

When I was born, my parents announced the news happily and distributed "Mithayi", the Asian word for sweets. But then what? Maybe I should twerk-it-up-baby and you'll know!

Many battles were fought on lifeless surfaces, yet the base of war is to take away any chances of life possible on that particular place/surface. It is thus a privilege to know that you are being a muddy ground for a battle that is not even your own. Little, lifeless surfaces. 

To be fair, I'm not much of a family man. In fact I so despise that status that if you give me that status I would quietly reply with, "Nope, the real reason my parents are struggling is because they intended to give birth to us", although it was out of their control. And that's what they don't like. They can't accept the fact that certain things are out of their control. My mom often says, "Better you were not here on Earth, you piece of abandoned kid"(there's a word for that called "Harami" in Urdu/Hindi). Well, If I was ever to come on Earth, it was so that I could do some good to Earth, not through my opinion or media appearances, but through example(although that's not thaaaat bad, ;) ). Hey, enough of this midlife crisis shit. Let's move on Aaliyan, it's internet.

Hello, I was born. I would never have any career. I am like a particle free one, drifting on the atmosphere but trying to find meaning in chaos through Philosophy, journaling, writing, interviewing and deconstructing heroes. 

(I asked the beautiful Eve Mauro on Instagram{@eve_mauro} her most-gifted books and her beliefs that other people think are absolutely crazy or insane. This was her answer. Love this girl.)

 I am purposeless. All I know is that I wasn't born for some purpose, but to do my job and to make a difference in the world for one or two people. My goal is to put disconforming evidence out-there, as Charles Munger would say. My goal is to help people (and my own self) overcome their own Availability-Misweighing tendency (Google it, lazy ass). I have no career. Zero partnerships, as of yet. Sometimes, seems like loneliness was the only answer.

There is this book named "Choose Yourself" by James Altucher(Programmer turned Entrepreneur turned Philosopher). After reading the book, I was like "Let's CHOOSE YOURSELF!!!". In terms of writing, the previous arbitrary or obscure sentence would be though of as non-sense by most writers. It is by the theory that I must omit words that appear again and again in speech, for example "like". Yes, bald boys, I know grammar and writing too. Not to brag, my scores were highest since 6th grade (I never remember a time I scored below 90% in English, okay that's too much maybe I did on some occasions but that doesn't matter. No one needs a doctorate to imagine a world. Language is often a poor representative of abstract objects or thoughts. But we are here to disprove that.). It's not just enough to earn money. The true nature of a man rests in Standing on the shoulder of giants. That man is not a slave to the blind and timid masses, but free from savage thoughts through use of such tools are philosophy and they are living examples of the famous maxim of Newton, "And so, I stood On The Shoulder of Giants".

I would consider myself to be the Earth's most unlucky man. But that would be from the perspective of normal people. If I were to analyze myself from my own principles, I am trying to imitate my great-great-wise ancestors and striving to be perfect in an imperfect world. That's all. This blog could be thought of a diary. A diary of a mad and unlucky man. As often does God mentions in the Holy Quran, "And indeed, the human is weak". Indeed, I am.

Perhaps, one of the earliest lessons was rejection. Countless times have I tried reaching out to startups in Pakistan, but no luck. But it's all acceptable, in fact lovable. It is acceptable because of the fact I was ignored. It is lovable because it showed me that I was playing the victim. If you're doing this write, then please stop. If I were to give my 15-year-old self some advice, it would probably be to stop thinking about career and money and to put your skills to rigorous use, as they are subject to change. To polish them and test them where they would grow without any restriction. The only restriction I encounter is mother. The only person who can screw-up or build my future is mom. To write these articles, takes some time and I have to perform "chores". I would never grow up my kids that way. But that's away. I don't control that. So hopefully, if on one unlucky day I don't write, it's because mom screwed up that day. Stay with me guys, I'm fighting hard for freedom. I just would like to buy an Airplane, where it's quite and me, my blog or notebook and my ideas + a copy of Poor Charlie's Almanack. Some of you wonder how I did this. Well here is this paragraph from the book that gives me direction everyday and I'm going to post it here (hopefully, I don't get copyright strike).

 

This piece is magical. It was my aha moment. It is. It will. Every single day. 

Now this saying seems befitting to me, "Alone, but happy". Lol. (Don't trust someone who claims to be alone and happy at the same time, just ask me :( )

The luxury of choice for me is just this small battle: do I succumb to the bad example of my dad, or do I, honestly take a hard look at myself, every single day?

When I was in 6th grade, I remember I tried experimenting with "making girls as friends". It was not a successful experiment, or was it? anyways soon I was exhausted and retired and gave up. It was nevertheless, not a good cause to take. Which was true back then. I still am unsure and I just don't talk about that in real life. I don't know. But you know this is blog and my goal is to put content. Honest one. You are after-all my true fans(thanks to Kevin Kelly). 

In all honesty, I would either kill myself or really change the world. But both take extreme hard work to pull it off. But when you have principles or set of values, you don't necessarily change the world but you have some good rules of thumb to depend on, those that would allow you to navigate the test of time and life and probably difficult decisions.

Hey guys, it's 4:08 AM and I am fucking sore. I don't want to complain but I would try to continue writing this on tomorrow, in refreshed state(I was complaining I might "forget" these ideas, as I would have to write this and also write the article for the next day. Sounds intimidating but sure we'll try).

It's interesting to think my journey of knowledge. Maybe my goal is to acquire as much knowledge as possible in small bite-sized pieces everyday. If you have discipline to wake up, read and write and imagine everyday, then you might as well one day do it or build an empire. For empire building is nothing but taking and making things out of thin air. For everything, it all starts with principles, imagination and experiences.


 In the video game Dragon Age: Inquisition, the concept is that everyone loses their mind and is hacked and corrupted. As a result, leaders were directed towards wrong priorities. One of the things that happens as a result is that the leaders ask themselves wrong questions. As Tony Robbins would probably say, "Quality questions creates quality life". As leaders, we need to see where people are following something out of tradition, or something they feel they are "destined" to do. not only is this thinking dangerous but bad for employee productivity. I would suggest exposing employees to stoicism and writings of Ayn Rand, so they have an idea that your company is not focused on money making, but to sort of function as a self-correcting mechanism and your goal is to increase overall Principles/R&D of your company over time, not the number of employees. It is your job to protect your company against bureaucracy.

In old times, like the Greek ones, when Democracy was novel. Thinkers like Plato and Aristotle, who were generally mentors and mentees of each other. When I was a kid, I studied in History book that I guess Aristotle was student of Plato(hey, I'm no historian, correct me If I'm wrong, history buffs out there) but the point is they all stood on the shoulder of giants. This journey of Artists is a daily struggle, yet his works spread slowly. It is, after all, subject of Ryan Holiday's (@RyanHoliday) book "The perennial seller". Like the Greeks, slow entities are slow. And they are like steel or metal. They take time to melt, but by rushing, you end of breaknig it or making it shapeless. It is through carefully and slowly handling it that you are able to mold it and define elasticity into it. 300: Rise of an Empire has this kind of story, when Themistokles rushes, he knew he was mistaken. But in the end, without the supposed-support of Sparta, this man marches and the result of slowly breaking each step and MVPing his way slowly slowly and then advancing toward killing Artemenesia(what's the name? I forgot spelling) and then Sparta arrives. This is what he meant(Darius the king) when he said, "Don't repeat your father's mistake, Leave the Greeks to them. Only the gods can fight them". This, I was, paraphrasing. Take over is a slow process. There are some leading indicators that only leaders can see. Remember, bacteria spreads slowly, but spreads vastly. It's really about cycle time. Today, Google conglomerate is the example of the old Greek.

It would be my privelege to look back and then say, "All right, so all the toil was so that one day, I would be out of world and be an example to the world". Newton was so ahead of his time that it was not until TWO centuries, when finally what he wrote finally started making sense.

It is my new hobby to just write. In fact one day I tried to copy Sylvester Stallone by attempting to convert my daily bullet points to a script. And I did. You can read it here: https://aaliyantheyoutuber.blogspot.com/2018/07/mclaren-secrets-short-movie.html

If I die and get asked what you were doing all the time. I would reply, "Being slowly bleeded by the Earthians. What else could I ask for?"

Yes, what else could I ask for?

Proof:  Mark Twain, despite his genius, died broke. Read his biography.

Socialism failed and the so called Faiz Ahmed Faiz was jailed.

The last of Mughals, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was captured by the British.

Tesla forgot to Patent his inventions and Edison ended up getting credit. If there's one pattern history has shown, that is the creative is forced into something he hates. Lost and damned. In the end, it is their designs that the selfish world lives and thrives on. That is why I love the quote of Bill Gates, "Life is unfair. Get used to it."

When the opposing king hired Leonardo da Vinci, he would pose himself as military engineer.

The artists know they died and they died with honour. That they served their master and did their work.

Nothing in this world will come and patent your creativity. Do It Yourself. Take how much help you need, but DO IT.

Whether you want to work and then charge people 2000$ dollars. Do it. Be Expensive.

But don't be overwhelmed. When given two choices, choose both.

But above all, Look above and say, "Bless us". Sky is your friend. Have you ever tried the Star Therapy?

Drink Water, eat steak (or proteins) and exercise. Only by focusing on external, your selfish internal self will function like a self-sufficient entity.