success

If You’re Gonna Use ChatGPT For Everything, Then At Least Do This

/ Stuart Danker / 41 Comments

The future of writing will mirror the fashion industry, in the sense that fast-fashion will still have its audience, but it’s the handmade items that will stand out.

It’s a pretty fitting analogy, seeing how humankind can never compete with machine-made. But that’s only if you take these factors into account: speed, accuracy, low cost.

Yet it is the long production time and imperfections that give bespoke items their value. And I’m optimistic that I will belong in this segment of the market when that time comes.

A plastic world

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon once ChatGPT went mainstream. All of a sudden, friends who spoke English as a second language began crafting immaculate Instagram captions and work e-mails.

It may seem like they’re putting their best foot forward, but all they’re doing is presenting a fake mask, because I know for a fact they don’t speak like that.

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I Ran 167 Days In A Row And I Don’t Recommend It

/ Stuart Danker / 22 Comments
A compilation of Stuart's IG Story archive

My IG Story archive is just videos of me running.

It’s not that I don’t want you to run. I don’t recommend it because you should find something that resonates with you. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with a little introduction.

So I’m the type of person who’d adopt a new habit, just because. No warning, no prep, and boom—suddenly I’m on a meditating streak.

That’s how I quit my one-pack-a-day smoking habit. I just decided I wanted to stop smoking. That’s how I turned vegetarian for a couple of years.

And as of 12 June 2024, I’ve officially run five kilometres a day, 167 days in a row. Some days I walked (pulled my back). Some days I ran circles in my room (COVID quarantine). But ever since I told myself I’d cover a certain amount of distance every day, I found myself unable to stop.

Do I want to run a marathon someday? Nope. Am I looking to lose weight? Never. So why the hell am I doing this?

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Why I’ve Lost Interest In Words And What I’m Doing About It

/ Stuart Danker / 64 Comments

So I lost interest in words for a bit. No writing, reading, or even listening to words, except when work is involved. It was just one thing after the other: a new job, a newborn, my old procrastination habit. You know, the usual.

But it’s coming up to 16 months since landing a full-time job, and I’ve realised I hadn’t written for myself since. 

Do you know how much time 16 months is? I could’ve written just 250 words a day and I’d have two novels by now. I could’ve spent twenty minutes a day learning a new language and have mastered a fourth language. I could’ve laid one brick a day and built a tiny little ledge. Okay, this one’s not so impressive, but I’d have my very own ledge. Alas, all that potential is now gone.

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So I Wore All Black For A Year To Improve My Social Skills

/ Stuart Danker / 41 Comments
Stuart in black tee doing stand-up comedy

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. My pre-all-black days.

I’ve always worn a black T-shirt for as far as I can remember. Scroll back through my Instagram account and you’ll probably catch the rogue grey or white, but I’ve always leaned more toward black clothes.

I have to credit my genesis story to the series Californication. Hank Moody was a true inspiration to the budding writer that was yours truly, and so I adopted the fictional character’s wardrobe, as well as the philosophy of a personal uniform.

But then came the next level—the day I decided to wear all black. Every day.

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This artist is dropping bombs about writing

/ Stuart Danker / 8 Comments

Ideas are about confluence. I believe it’s Neil Gaiman who said that. I can’t come up with quotes like that. That’s because I don’t typically insert ten-dollar words like confluence into my everyday speech.

And that’s despite the fact that I live in Kuala Lumpur (which literally means muddy confluence in Malay), but I digress.

Anyway, in my spare time, I watch sketchbook videos so I can fancy myself an artist. That’s when I came across this talented Singaporean’s video and found myself upon a confluence.

Chroma Moma’s (who shall henceforth be known as CM) thoughts on art mirrored mine on writing, and that was how this post was born.

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