Hello World - From the Trenches
Life updates, future plans, cybersecurity, AI, and more
If you've come here to be amazed, leave now. I have no major life updates and no amazing achievements; just an ever growing love for life and simple living.
It's been a while since I wrote a piece of anything. And let me be completely honest with you. As soon as I put my stylus pen on digital paper, a storm of dopamine unleashes inside my brain. It's probably got to do with me writing all those books years ago. I step into different world, a world of possibility, a world of unconstrained imagination. A world of wonder!
2021 has been the year of devouring books and taking massive action. The first six months have been crazy, but as of recent I took the foot of the proverbial gas pedal for reading. I'm still spending hours each day with my nose in the books.
So far in 2021, I’ve read 130 books, and since 2011 the numbers add up to 610. I try to stay away from popular books (think atomic habits and the like) because I don’t want to be inside an echo chamber and think like everyone else thinks.
To note, there are a few books that I read and listen to over and over again. As Naval Ravikant would put it, it’s not about how many books you read, but about the books you read on repeat.
Since the beginning of 2021, I read and listened to Ben Hardy's Willpower doesn't Work for at least 10 times. This is a book on how the environment in which you operate and exist shapes you. Reading and listening to this book on repeat primes me to level up my game. I’ll stick to the book at least until I feel I’m getting closer to wherever and whoever I want to be - my future self.
Don’t get me wrong. I love where I am at the moment and I have an adoration for the process itself. However, I have ideals that pull me toward them. My future self is the ideal that I work toward everyday. I do not compare my current self with my future self because I would be in a mental GAP. I compare my current self with my former self, and I look forward to my future self. This train of thinking has been inspired by Benjamin Hardy.
As for my professional focus, in the past few months I went full-on cybersecurity. And there's been some noteworthy realizations here. The first is that I dont like bug bounties, at least not in the way everyone is doing it. I don’t look for XSS, SQLi, SSRF, XXE, and all those other vectors everyone is looking for. And I’m not a fan of Burp.
And this has been eye opening because it enabled me to focus on what I really enjoy. I love automation, miconfigurations, business logic flaws and data leaks. And I've built some crazy automations with Python and Bash recently that enable me to monitor hundreds of thousands of assets on an ongoing basis. My VPS runs 24/7 and I check results and submit reports whenever I get the time. I also do security code reviews here and there.
On that note, Synack and Bugcrowd have been kind enough to give me plenty of private assets to play with.
I also said I love data leaks. I'm part of the 10 or so trusted members of leakix, a platform that scans the entire internet on an onging basis. This allows me to investigate and report my findings. I do it in my spare time and this is all voluntary work (no bounties or rewards attached).
Yet, I often get a much deeper satisfaction from uncovering a major-leak and making the internet a safer place. And I’ve reported to DOD, the National Ambulance Service of UAE, and other major online presences. Points to my ‘karma’ are more valuable than dollars in the long run. And I play the long game.
Somewhat related, I recently refused a $100k a year salary because it didn’t align with my values. Decisions like this do nothing but to increase my self-confidence.
When it comes to Youtube, it went way down on my priority list, reason being you’ve not seen many uploads from me on either of my channels. This might change in the future. I’m in the trenches, put in the work, seeing no immediate gratification…
I realized I adore geometry much more than algebra. Brilliant has loads of courses to keep me hooked (I pay for the premium version). My love for math and it’s application in all areas of life is ever growing. I’ll soon take up physics and resume my biochemistry studies.
Also, my brainchild alterai.me is for sale. I love it so much but I don’t have the mental space to keep developing it on an ongoing basis. And l'd hate to see it die, therefore Im looking for someone to take over. I've listed it on two acquisition sites for $10k:
I have some open spots for coaching and consultations in cyber, machine learning and web application super-fast development with nocode (like I did with AlterAI - from idea to product in less than 30 days). No coding experience is required. You can contact me by replying to this email or DM on Twitter.
All that being said, I spend less and less time in front of my laptop. I love every minute of screen time, but my wellbeing is far more important to me. I’ve made it so that I have to earn my screen time.
Since late July 2021, I have biked more than 2300 km, a number I could have never imagined possible. I also go to the gym 3-4 times a week; and most recently, I'm in bed by 10PM.
I stopped the crazy fasting weekly schedules, even though I love fasting. I eat 2 times a day, an omnivore diet with days when I don’t eat animal foods (1-2 a week).
Yet, I still do a 2-4 day extended water fast every month.
My investments in the stock market are starting to take off, and as of recent I've been making movements (buy/sell) on a more frequent basis.
I guess I covered a lot of ground with this update…
What I look forward to in the near future is to resume traveling, read more books and take massive action on what I read, invest more and ride my bike even more.
If you’ve gone this far, thank you. As a token of appreciation, here is a coupon that you can apply on any of my courses and get them for free. I don’t need anything in return.
This is a time sensitive offer and it’s valid for 1000 people.
Coupon: NOVEMBERRAIN
Course links where you can apply the coupon code:
Neural Networks with Tensorflow
Artificial Neural Networks with Neurolab
Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn
And my books are free on Kindle, today. So grab ‘em while you can:
Stress and Adaptation in Phyisiology
Feel free to reach me out on Twitter with thoughts about what I said here or to tell me what I can do to help you grow in any way, shape, or form.
Cheers, Cristi
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