Jesse is not only my neighbor in bangkok, whenever he actually decides to live here, but he was one of the most influential people in my life last year.

The way I met him is quite unique: I got sent a youtube link to a CNBC interview he did on being an expat in Bangkok. Basically I had a weird amount of information about him, from him, but not really from him personally. It made me feel a bit like stalker.

Jesse originally hails from near Chicago, and like me, he ended up in Bangkok after a life nomadic punctuated by many other pitstops. It’s rare that I meet someone even higher on the non-normie scale than me, so this turns into a bit of a Q&A.

In this episode, we talk about: what this normie and non-normie scale is exactly, the benefits of shrug emoji parents, how to inject novelty into your everyday life, his ratio of internet friends, his Panama chapter, and the nomad versus expat life (and we clown my former guest and our mutual friend Mark Zhang a bit). Thanks Jesse!

My pal Mark returns, this time with a baby in tow!

It’s pretty great to be able to have a snapshot in time of someone’s life, before and after having a baby. You're welcome, Mark.

I’m realizing that is part of the appeal for recording these conversations for myself as well. They are moments and places in time that represent different phases in life, and the same exact type of intersections and relationships will never occur again. Damn, time is tough.

Let's consider this the fatherhood episode for the time being. As a reminder, Mark is the CEO of Manta Sleep, which produces the world’s greatest eye mask.

Among other things, we talk about: witnessing a childbirth, the life changing magic of the scheduled c-section, how to encourage out of the box thinking in kids, the fear-based nature of Asian families, his strange obsession with primal man and living like a caveman, being well rested because of his wife’s sacrifice, and the most religious moment of his life.

Thanks, Mark!

Once upon a time, I went to a co-working space in Taipei called the Hive, and that's where I met Jeff. It became immediately apparent that we had a lot in common, and we quickly built a ritual of talking about our shared perspectives over cheap sushi.

We talked about identity things, expat things, Taiwan things, exercise things… but in the end, we talked the most about two things: money, and life fulfillment. And this episode contains a lot of that.

Jeff is a BBC and has been living in Taipei for about a decade. Aside from people who have paid me money as an employee, he might be the person who has made me the most money in my life.

In this episode, we talk about the pursuit of ego in various phases of life, wanting to decapitate himself and replace his head with a white kid’s head, his adventures in therapy and self-identity, and why he thinks rock climbing is the perfect and most challenging sport.

Thanks, Jeff!