About my circumstances

I went back and reviewed your original letter to me because a few things did not add up relative to my circumstances even back then.

It seemed you had me pegged right but not my circumstances entirely so.

That seems to be more obvious now than ever.

My situation is very unique you can’t make typical American assumptions about it.

I am not behind the 8-ball financially because of the financial crisis.

Unlike most Americans, I saw that crisis coming years in advance.

I had another crisis going on at a more personal level.

To some extent it still is.

And that is why I don’t have any money.

I am living off family money that I manage. We are not millionaires but we are not poor either.

We did not lose any money in the crisis because I saw the crisis coming.

But it is not my money. I live off of money that is gifted to me therefore I have very limited finances.

I have been in personal crisis since mid 2000.

Not all the same crisis one after another not all related won’t detail them here will take too much time too much typing. I can maybe give you a hint by noting that the first crisis involved getting a pre-reform adoptee into my life. Turned my life completely upside down.

The most recent crisis only settled down in recent months but is still not gone.

I am actually ill as a result for some years already getting better but still can’t work full time at least not intensely.

But my productivity is not the mini day kind anyway.

You mention that certain professions such as computer programmer have a different kind of productivity that involves spending much time on one task. You approve of that as well.

That is what I do. I am a former computer programmer more accurately stated in my case a software engineer. That is what industry turned me into. I am actually primarily a hardware engineer by training and did some of that as well. I am used to working diligently at a task for however long it takes and that is what I did with your books as well.

I can talk to people on the phone for an extended conversation or in person. I can read. Other things especially tasks that require much motion I am still limited in by my illness. Even dialing a phone number is still physically painful. I can drive but the later in the day the better. My pain gets progressively less intense as the day wears on. I used to be a morning person getting there again.

Given Mark Hamilton’s profession I can understand why he used the mini day kind of productivity. My productivity is of a totally different kind the opposite of his.

Most of the specific techniques you talk about in your books won’t work for me right now. Again too many assumptions about how American I am. I neither have a job nor am I self employed.

In fact it is my very lack of Americanness that is probably most useful to you. And it is what enabled me to see the downturn of 2008 coming more than 7 years in advance. The downturn you now see coming in the future I saw coming at that same time, in the summer of 2001 as well, after a recovery that would follow, and is following, the downturn that happened in 2008. See my financial website.

I did become an American citizen in the early 1980’s. A few years later, I decided to walk away from mainstream American society. That was in 1991. I have no intention of ever returning to mainstream American society again. If I can get things accomplished by joining you, that would be great.