Hello (again) from the Trenches

I’ve been so immersed in my non-creative endeavors for the past few months that there’s been little room for the creative stuff. I used to write books you know…

Since my last blog, I divided myself between cybersecurity assessments, reading, lifting weights, and riding my bike. I find solace in the mundane (sometimes).

There are still traces of the adventurous within myself, and to satisfy that inner craving I took a 5-day trip to the Canary Islands in the middle of the winter. I went down one of the biggest slides in the world, reaching a speed of ~80km/h. It was insane.

I’ve gone low-key in February, March, and April, focusing entirely on growing my expertise in web application security by taking in a great number of projects from different clients, surpassing my 2023 performance.

My interest in AI is still there but I do not actively pursue it, other than having created a few GPTs for personal use as well as experimenting with different prompt engineering techniques on ChatGPT.

I’ve also upped my daily reading time. In 2023 I only read a handful of books. The number of books read to date in 2024 is 24. One of the books I’m currently reading is a biography of John D. Rockefeller. I also listen to different audiobooks on Audible on repeat. One of them is Ben Hardy’s Willpower isn’t Enough, a true gem.

I go to the gym 6 times a week now. I used to go 2-3 times at max. I alternate between cardio and weights. My greatest joy is the back workouts where my goal is to increase strength and the number of pullups I can do. It’s hard and it takes time, but I trust the process.

I now eat two meals a day and overfeed myself (3,000-4,000kcals/day) until I put on a few more pounds. Then, I’ll resume one meal a day, which is my preferred feeding strategy. I don’t restrict carbs but I try to eat clean. I’m experimenting with a good number of supplements, one of them being lycopene. I might write more about this in the future.

As I feel I need some healthy dose of novelty, I’m planning a few trips throughout 2024, which will be a great opportunity to meet new people. I’m very excited about this.

I guess this has been a 10k-foot perspective over the past few months. Feel free to say hi on X and IG or even reply to this email. I’ve been quite active on IG lately.

And until I come back, I hope you have a great time!

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