Crippling Capitalism

In life there are only two kinds of people-

Creators and Consumers.

When you’re 82 years old on your death bed, are you going to be proud of that car you bought?

That house you mortgaged?

That meal you ate?

Everything I don’t know about Rastaman

I don’t know why some Rastaman ignore me.

I don’t know why some Rastaman swoon at me.

I don’t know why some Rastaman call me Empress.

Taking things personally

The epiphany I had so long ago when I was 18 or 19 was that I lived my life according to a system. I lived my life according to an imagined perception of judgement and the need to adjust and alter my self and the appearance of myself to appease the imagined thoughts and judgements of strangers. Strangers I was surrounded by each day walking to the store or going to class or sitting in traffic with.

New York Lies

To all the New Yorkers who squeal and stamp their feet at rats

Kensington, New York

YOU are a filthy animal.

YOU are a plague upon this earth.

YOU are the profilerant of death and disease.

Who are the REAL minimalists?

It’s not these guys.

Nope. It’s not white dudes in a first world country with their aesthetically pleasing Macbooks.

These are the real minimalists.

How much money can you make as a freelancer? About as much as a musician.

Woodbrook, Trinidad

You know all those minimalist traveler dudes, who blog about freeing yourself from the 9-5, becoming a digital nomad, living the dream?

Yeah those dudes are on to something. But that something, is hard to sustain.

I freed myself of the 9-5 a year ago. The 9-5 where I made minimum $22 an hour. Consistently. Week to week. For years.

And now here I am, free, in the Caribbean, a digital nomad; explaining to customs officials who ask how my boss allows me to travel so much, that my ‘boss’ is actually a whole bunch of different people from Nigeria, South Africa and Jamaica who pay me very little for quite a lot of work.

Question everything; Sleep on the ground

Why do you sleep on a mattress?

Why are we spending a third of our day on a bed of tens of thousands of dust mites and their excrement?

Why are we suspended 12 inches above the ground on a further 12 inches of spongy material, reinforced to achieve that perfectly ‘firm’ feeling?

mnml lifestyling and the Minimalism Movement

Minimalism in architectural design requires MONEY and extreme attention and even devotion to detail.

It requires much over-focusing on tiny things such as walls intersecting with floors in perfectly straight tape-lined fashion.

If  ‘Grand Designs’ has taught me nothing else, it is that minimalism is a huge money and time suck.

How to travel with one carry-on bag and NOT be a self-righteous wanker about it

St Louis, Missouri

Don’t buy a bunch of crap when you arrive.

Aside from this defeating the purpose of minimalist travel, the world does not need more shit in landfill. Being the wasteful tourist who leaves umbrellas and giant shampoo bottles and aluminium water canisters and Victoria’s Secret freebie towels and dressing gowns in the hostel dorm is not doing the reputation of  ‘white foreigners’ any good.