Updates after two months of not writing this newsletter

Halo!

It’s been such a long time since I last wrote to you. How did this work? I don’t even remember.

I could say I’ve been busy, but that would be a lie. The last time I wrote to you, I was in Penang, Malaysia. Penang holds a special place in my heart. The people there are very kind. Almost everyone says ‘Good morning’ to you every morning, and these small gestures make up your day in a cool way. I’m even planning to make Penang my base for my next trips around Asia next year. And last but not least, I tried the best steamed bun. Really, THE BEST. It was fluffy, filling, incredibly tasty, and huge.

I know, I know what you’re thinking: ‘Where is this place? I want one of those immediately.’ Okay, okay. Here you go. They don’t have the exact location on Google Maps, but this is the location I saved. It’s right in front of that location.

After this gastronomic recommendation, I would like to update you on the status of this newsletter you are currently reading. Despite considering myself a disciplined person, I haven’t written anything for the past two months. Why? Simply because I didn’t have anything significant to share.

Creating content, for me, is a way of sharing my curiosities, discoveries, and opinions throughout my life. I want this newsletter to remain a personal space for me to do just that. It’s a platform where individuals with similar curiosities can come together and share their unique perspectives on the world, favorite places, and formative experiences.

My primary occupation is writing software, and my goal is to make a living making my own software solutions. That’s why I have decided that this newsletter will no longer adhere to a specific periodicity. I know that the guru of the moment will tell you that this is not right, that you have to write consistently and that if you don’t people won’t read you. So be it.

Taking inspiration from Visakan Veerasamy, my approach is not to focus on writing something every Sunday, but rather to write newsletters when I have something meaningful to share or express. As Visakan says in his article:

Write 100 songs, cook 100 omelettes, talk to 100 people. It never seems like a huge deal until you try it yourself. It’s manageable, and yet it stretches you, and you’ll be observably different at the end of it. It’s an effective way to get a foothold on a new thing.

During a career that spanned over 75 years, it’s estimated that Picasso created approximately:

13,500 paintings
100,000 graphic prints or engravings
34,000 book illustrations
300 sculptures and ceramics

How many of these works are known today? Probably very few, as it took him more than 20 years of silent work to be able to make a living from his art. He painted, sculpted, and illustrated what he felt needed to be expressed, knowing that the chances of success were very low.

While I don’t intend to compare myself to Picasso, I share a similar aspiration: to create, share, and pursue what I believe needs to be created, shared, and done. Without a specific periodicity, but without ceasing to do so. And if the chances of success for Picasso were low, imagine for me.

What I’ve been up to

These past two months have been eventful, so let me summarize in four points what they have been like:

I started to work on an application called Sunbathe

Getting enough vitamin D is crucial for proper functioning of the body. However, half of the population has insufficient levels of vitamin D.

Together with Julia, we are building an application to help you determine, based on your location, how many minutes of sun exposure you need to achieve optimal levels of vitamin D.

We are in the final stage of development and will soon launch the application. If you want to stay informed, you can sign up on the website we have created. We will only email you when it becomes available for both Android and iOS.

I spent a few days in Seoul

After leaving Penang, I spent a few days in Seoul with my friend Marga. I didn’t have any expectations about Korea, so I simply went with the flow and started exploring the city. However, I didn’t use Google Maps as most of the local places are not available on the app. People primarily use two applications: Naver Maps and KakaoMap.

The feeling of being in Seoul is very similar to being in New York. It’s a vibrant city, full of life, ambition, and with many interesting places to discover. Koreans have an excellent taste for designing spaces, fashion, and everything related to art. Here are a few places I enjoyed (yes, they are available on Google Maps):

Monami Store Seongsu: An interesting stationery shop with well-designed pens.
Blue Bottle Coffee Apgujeong Cafe: A specialty coffee roaster with beautiful spaces surrounded by greenery, large windows, and ample lighting. While not ideal for working, I appreciate them for their design.
Anthracite Coffee Hannam: One of my favorite coffee spots in Seoul, offering power outlets and plenty of space to work.
Gwangjang Market: This bustling local food market captured my interest. It offers affordable prices and a vibrant atmosphere. You can find delicious and affordable meals here, including a good selection of protein. This place helped me develop a newfound appreciation for Korean food, even though I wasn’t a big fan before.

I returned to Malaysia, this time visiting Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.

I am currently writing these lines from Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is a highly underrated gem of Asia. Despite not receiving much attention, it offers incredible places to explore.

I will be staying in Kuala Lumpur until this Sunday, after which I will be heading to Sydney.

I was planning to give you a list of my favorite places in Kuala Lumpur, but this is not going to be free. If you want a list of some of the places I enjoyed in Kuala Lumpur, please leave a comment mentioning a place you have enjoyed from any part of the world.

Working on other projects

As Patricia Manterola said: “Que el ritmo no pare, no pare no”. The English translation would be something like this: “Keep the rhythm going, keep the rhythm going, keep the rhythm going, keep the rhythm going”.

Once we launch Sunbathe, I have a backlog of applications that I will prioritize and focus on completing and launching:

Firstly, I am working on a website that allows you to add the places you visit, helping your loved ones keep track of your current location around the world.
Additionally, my friend José and I are collaborating on BotScout, an AI that generates travel routes.
Moreover, I’m building a service for sending postcards digitally via the web. This experiment aims to explore how physical postcards can be transformed into digital formats. Users will have the ability to schedule a postcard for a specific date and send it directly to someone’s inbox. I would love to hear your thoughts on this concept.
Furthermore, prolonged exposure to high levels of noise can lead to stress, anxiety, and even depression. I’m not aware of an existing website where people can share locations to find peace and quiet. In case such a platform doesn’t exist, I would like to create one. I conducted a poll on Twitter. Only 4 people votes (my influence levels are -1000) and the majority voted in favor of it (thanks mom!).

After this amount of information you will probably have to take a vacation. Don’t worry, take the time you need.

Thanks for reading and see you next time.

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