FRIDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2021
Elon Musk is one of the most famous people in the world, is considered an inspiring cultural icon, and his business projects have brought him billions of dollars. He was born in the same year, in the same month, in the same week, in the same city as me.
Dexter Holland from The Offspring is a successful pop star. In 2017, he also received his PHD in Molecular Biology. He also started his own business selling hot sauces – made according to his own recipes. He also has a pilot’s license.
The guy from Pizza Rock arrived in Taiwan in 2000 – one year after me. He’s been all over Taiwan – in his own words, he has traversed every road, highway, and dirt road in the mountains. In 2011 (same year as me) he got married. He and his wife decided they wanted to start a business. They had no experience with restaurants but decided to start a pizza place. Went to Italy for a few weeks, ate lots of pizza, asked questions, and learned what to do. Back in Taiwan, he made his first pizza in a little Costco oven. The night before the Grand Opening, he reckoned it might be a good idea to see how the commercial oven delivered earlier in the day works. The first attempt was a total failure. Still, the next day they opened, and everything worked out well. They recently opened their 27th restaurant on the island. Three years before he opened his first restaurant, he also started a popular website with dozens of interesting articles about Taiwan.
Me?
I wanted to work out who I am or should be. I wanted to work out what the story is with religion, and with ethics without religion. I wanted to work out how one experiences meaning in your life. I wanted to work out what one has to do to be happy; that is, what people who experience happiness in their lives do right that people who don’t experience happiness in their lives don’t do or do wrong. I am satisfied with the answers I have worked out. Because I’ve carefully taken notes of the process, I have hundreds of pieces of publishable text – which I have already made available in various formats for other people to read. Sometimes other people read it. I further reckon that failures and successes of the last decade or two, as well as thoughts on other topics, have given me enough material for at least a couple more collections.
I am not a world-famous pop star. No one is going to Mars one day thanks to my hard work and ingenuity. I don’t have a PHD; I don’t have a pilot’s license, and I’ve never invented any sauce recipes. Nor have I started a successful business in my more than two decades in Taiwan that provides hundreds of people with jobs and thousands of people with delicious food. Like the guy from Pizza Rock, I also have a Taiwanese themed website. But there’s not much of value on it, and it receives little traffic.
Oh yes, after three attempts I also recently managed to get a scooter license. And – I make my own granola every week.
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