Jennie S. Bev

Estates in San Ramon

(Images by NorrisCanyonEstates.com)

On Sunday, I went to Norris Canyon Estates gated community in San Ramon, California and was captured by its breathtaking hilly landscape. So close to urban amenities, including 30 miles from San Francisco, a stone's throw to Dublin and Pleasanton, and another 20-30 minutes to my existing home in Mountain House.

I loved the quality of the properties as well. Very well designed community and totally exclusive with security guards in  front of the gate. Manicured lawns and "living at the top" kind of feeling.

What a place for full-time retirement in 4-5 more years. Well, in such a beautiful setting, I should be able to write better books and columns. Perhaps a Nobel prize in literature is way out of my league, but a few best-selling books without much literary content should be doable. :)

 
(The Santa Barbara style I loved.)

Enjoyment

I didn't realize how busy I was until I tried breaking down the hours and activities. So far my activities are divided into:

• Business activities
• Academic research
• Writing columns
• Writing books
• Activism volunteering
• Household chores

Where is vacation and leisure time? I'd need to make another extra day for it. Can I work four days in a week and enjoy life the remaining three days? Let's see.

I've gotta! Will go to Vegas, finally, and enjoy the whole week doing nothing.

A pool in Morocco

A beautiful pool to enjoy the day.

Five technologies

Five technologies that could change the world according to WSJ are:

1. space-based solar energy
2. advanced car batteries
3. utility storage (to store energy derived from solar and win power)
4. carbon capture and storage
5. biofuels from algae

So, hurry up and invest in these businesses.

Time in life

Time is the most valuable commodity in our lives. Our lives are basically identical with time we spent. We rely on time for our existence.

I'm working to live with more meaningful time. Rather than with time used for working. And the most precious time is when it is spent with loved ones at home.

May my home at heart be still and isn't affected by my home I'm losing.

Saving earnings

Ramit Sethi's book "I Will Teach You to Be Rich" is easy to understand and doable even by a financial novice. I've read it and give it a two thumbs up. Next step would be joining his "scrooge club" named The Scrooge Strategy. Been thinking seriously to join. [Hey Ramit, if you happen to read this posting, you've got yourself a big fan and I might write about you.] :D

Retirement mindset

Already semi retired but why is it so hard to enjoy doing nothing?
Where is my retirement mindset?

Enjoy the sun, enjoy the air, enjoy the crowd.
Entertain myself.
Be happy, be joyful.

Don't worry, The Force will take care of the rest.

Letting go and replacability

It's never easy to accept the fact that we're losing an important piece of our lives. I'm losing it, soon. I fought for it but it might not have been sufficient. Sometimes we have the system to blame, sometimes we have the people behind the system to blame.

My good friends have laughed it out loud, they no longer cry. I'm no longer crying either. I need to accept it and let it go. 

It's easy to say, "If you love someone, you set him (or her) free."
Now that it's something so meaningful (but not as much as a loved one), why is it hard to accept and let go?

It's time to let go. It's time. We can always find another. It's just a thing, so it's replaceable.

It's replacable, but the memories aren't.

Ordinary person, extraordinary live

Enough said. :)

Home Bridge

Home bridge.
Will start re-decorating my house as soon as I'm back home.
Left my heart in San Francisco Bay Area.
Still.

The best answer

The best answer is oftentimes not the one that answers a question.
The best answer is sometimes when  it is said.
Be it a good or a bad one, it doesn't really matter.

The best answer is time. Sometimes.

Starfish

Life is like a starfish.
Clinging, floating and being washed away.
I'm a pilgrim from the past heading into the future.
In between, I pass by the present.
Sometimes with awareness, sometimes without.

In doubt, I give way to faith and grace to emerge.
Sometimes the answer is time.

The Lord keeps me.

Heart

Oftentimes, we love others more than we love ourselves.
We need to love ourselves too. Remember? :)

Habitat

Having worn many hats (most of them are self-made): CEO, publisher, president of a university (soon), columnist, activist, and academic, it took a lot of time to reflect upon who I am and where my habitat actually is. As an individual who works with anything related to mind matters, it is quite interesting to observe myself that I'm most comfortable in a high-quality environment. In other words, I like the feel of high-quality things, including the latest and the coolest gadgets.

Am I materialistic? Maybe yes, maybe no. I believe in enjoying ourselves to the fullest but I also believe in giving back to community. I love modest cabins by Lake Tahoe, but I can stay longer in a Marriott or a Hyatt. I love cruising through Alaska, but I prefer to stay in Palo Alto or San Jose or South San Francisco. I love ethnic cuisines, but I favor Subway sandwiches or Hong Kong dim sums.

My habitat, thus, is likely to be urban or suburban close to a big city. People I would like to hangout with are likely to be successful entrepreneurs who are independent and strong willed. Many of them are millionaires or multi-millionaires. They are practical and reasonable with strong reasoning. They are positive and non-judgmental. They can do big things with very small capital. Some of them also teach at universities, but not as a full-timer.

They are doers. They think and do what they think. They are optimistic. Things are just things detached from romantic notions of life. They are pragmatic and reflexive.

I have returned from "what if" scenario of another life that I could have lived. No longer denying the strong entrepreneur who thinks by herself and makes strategic decisions. And these are conferences I'd like to attend shortly (some are too late to register, but I hope at least I go to those in November and December).

• E-Learning Conference and Expo in November in San Jose
• E-Book Summit in December in NYC
• Moodle Moot in October (too late now) in Orlando
• DETC Fall Workshop in October (too late now) in Naples
• Mobile Content Conference in October (too late now) in London

Wired learning and mobile entrepreneurship are important components of my habitat and I'm grateful for it. It's great timing to be an accidental retiree, isn't it?

Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. Read the debate on being an entrepreneur.

Stream

Life is a stream from one moment of consciousness to another. Things change but we keep flowing through. Have peace at heart.

Living Purposes

What are my purposes in life?

• Be a human by believing in humanitarian causes
• Be a student by learning things that interest me
• Be a master by adhering to my own rules, not others

By being diligent and conscientious.

Realistically speaking (the sequel)

Investment management is something I'd need to brush up. Need to learn how to trade and invest in a more advanced way.  And to make good use of this free WSJ subscription. (I have just unsubscribed to the print version, thanks to Ramit Sethi's advice to cut down subscription expenses. I'm trying to cut down many expenses as well, so I can have more cashflow to be invested elsewhere.)

Have been considering to learn more from UofL. It's a good and structured program, and it caters to one who travels a lot like me.

Full-time retirement goal: in three years. Keep visualizing and saying it. It's more than The Law of Attraction, it is a sincere prayer to help others by helping ourselves first.

Realistically speaking

It seems that the second round of moving is coming shortly. We're likely to be moving to a new place. I have been considering a few great places in Northern California to call home again: Monterey, Livermore, Tracy, San Jose/Silicon Valley, and Sacramento.

We haven't made our final decision. Among the considerations are:

• Air quality and pollution
• Safety
• Scenery
• Intellectual opportunities
• Business opportunities
• Networking opportunities
• Cultural opportunities
• Living cost (relative and almost the same)
• Social and economic classes

After a thorough consideration, I'm still a realistic person more than an idealistic person. And I really need to be in a place where I feel most at home and have access to what the region has to offer. Boston and Chicago (and other East Coast cities), move aside, please. I have decided to keep my Californian residency and be involved in this state's multicultural and advanced communities.

My passion in learning is likely to be limited as "hobby" and "activism," and not as a "main profession." Regardless my strong passion in several idealistic subjects, such as human rights and writing.

Most likely, I'll still be spending more time starting new ventures, including an online university, a brick-and-mortar college, and an investment company. And hopefully, also a property management company (considering current buyer's market). My entrepreneurial goal is incorporating a few more ventures and have them delegated properly, so life goal of full-time retirement in 3 years can be achieved. 

I'm very happy that I'm now working on an idealistic and semi academic endeavor for a few weeks before focusing on those new ventures. I'm learning both perspectives: as the "grantee" and as the "grantor," as my ultimate goal would be as a "grantor" eventually when time comes.

Keeping fingers crossed. Ied Mubarak for those who celebrate Ied Fithri.

Five years

It took me a long time to decide not to do the one thing that I thought I would do (because my loved ones have been motivating me to do so as they believe that I would make a great one). It would require five years to accomplish and it is way too long a time to finish just one task (a gigantic one, that is).

I have come to terms that it is better to do a few things within five years. The things that are meaningful but not necessarily as "glamorous" or "highly prestigious." 

In my simplistic mind, it would make the whole world if I can produce one NYT best-selling book (for my writing passion) and a few start-ups (for my entrepreneurial passion). A few business ideas have come up as well. One of them is an online university based in Northern California. It is part-for profit and part-non profit as it will be giving away many 100% scholarship seats.

My mother always gives me the freedom to be myself and to pursue whatever I wish. My hubby always wants to me to be my best, while I don't always want to do. He often said, "Jennie, look at them, they are not as talented as you are, but they are so high above. Why don't you pursue this? I'm sure you'd be much better than them." I was surprised and usually I kept quiet.

I believe that every human being has the capacity to achieve anything they believe in. But we also have free will. I have chosen a path less traveled and it's very important to be realistic. Whenever I weigh the "idealistic" goals with "realistic" ones, I usually choose the latter. Better be realistic so I won't regret later.

Of course, I believe in balancing family obligations and humanitarian/civic activisms.

But five years is such a long time to spend on working at something completely idealistic without knowing where life is going to take after that. I'm sorry, it's just not me. I'm still my mother's daughter, my husband's wife, and my future children's mother, but I'm a person who doesn't believe in being glorified for one singular thing.

I like doing many things at the same time. It makes me happy and feel useful. Even when those things don't take me to the summit of Himalayan mountains.

Life is too short. :)

Labor Day weekend

On the road this Labor Day weekend.