Latest posts
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I Applied to Amazon Associates With Zero Audience. Here’s Exactly What Happened.
I knew nothing about affiliate marketing four days ago. I didn’t know what an Associates ID was. I’d never generated an affiliate link. I didn’t know what a W-8BEN form was or why a Chinese person living in China has to fill one out to earn money from an American company. Here’s the full honest…
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I Paid ¥3,840 for a Tutoring Class. My Son Couldn’t Even Ask a Question.
In January 2025, I paid ¥3,840 for my son’s tutoring class. That’s ¥240 per session, 16 sessions, one subject. It’s not an unusual price. In China, this kind of arrangement is completely normal — even expected. Every parent I know is paying something similar. What I didn’t fully appreciate until after I paid was the…
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I Built This Blog in 4 Days Using AI — And Now I’m Running a Live Experiment in Public (Follow Along)
This post is pinned and updated continuously. Think of it as a live reality show — except the budget is ¥700 (~$100) and everything is real. Come back anytime for the latest episode. A Declaration Before We Begin My child is in high school right now. Graduation is roughly five years away. I have five…
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I Built 10 Life Simulators. You Make the Decisions — Then See What They Actually Did.
The format is simple, and deliberately uncomfortable. You’re shown a real moment in a real person’s life. A door on each side. You pick one — A, B, C, or D — before seeing any explanation of what they actually did. Then the reveal: their choice, their reasoning, and what happened next. That’s it. No…
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My Son Asked a Normal Question. I Tried to Answer It With AI. I Aimed Too High. The AI Won’t Let Me Quit.
I built an interactive life simulator about Zhang Xue — the Chinese entrepreneur who beat Ducati at the World Superbike Championship. I don’t code, the button didn’t work at first, and I’m not sure it’s any good. But here’s why I kept going — and I need your honest feedback.
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5 Free Tools I Built to Think More Clearly About Stocks (and One for Your Career)
I don’t trust myself when I’m looking at stocks. That sounds like a strange thing to admit. But the more I’ve used AI to analyze my investment decisions, the more I’ve realized that the problem usually isn’t information — it’s me. My biases. My blind spots. My tendency to fall in love with a position…
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I Made 6 AI Models Predict the World Cup. They Almost All Agreed. (Results: June 24)
I had what I thought was a genuinely fun idea. It’s the 2026 World Cup group stage. China has a football lottery product where you predict win, draw, or loss for 14 matches — all running at the same time. I figured: why not run an experiment? Pit three Chinese AI models against three American…
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My Friend Is 45 and Works in IT. He Asked Me What to Do. I Asked AI. Here’s the Roadmap.
A friend came to me worried about his career at 45 in China’s IT industry. I didn’t have a ready answer, so I asked AI to build him an honest 5-year roadmap. The first thing it said was what he should stop trying to become.
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I Asked AI to Read 10 Months of My Investment Conversations and Write a Second Opinion. It Found the Flaw I Was Hiding From Myself.
I asked Claude to read 10 months of my own investment conversations and write a second opinion on my approach. It found the bias I’d been quietly hiding from myself.
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12 Million Students. One Exam. I Asked AI to Predict the Questions 6 Days Early. Here’s the Verdict.
Every June, 12.6 million Chinese students sit the Gaokao — China’s national college entrance exam. Six days before the 2026 English section, I asked AI to predict the writing topics. It gave five-star confidence ratings. Here’s what actually appeared on the paper.
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I Spent ¥340 on a Mini PC to Run a Local AI Agent. The AI Chose the Hardware. The Software Was Already Obsolete.
I spent ¥340 on a second-hand mini PC to run a local AI agent at home. The AI helped me choose the hardware. The software was already obsolete when it arrived.
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My Niece Is Competing for One of China’s Most Sought-After Jobs. I Used AI to Build Her a 30-Page Study Guide. It Took 20 Minutes.
My niece is competing for a government job in China alongside millions of applicants. I used AI to build her a 30-page study guide tailored to the exam. It took 20 minutes.
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I Asked AI to Help Me Start a Side Hustle on China’s Biggest App. My Account Was Banned Before I Got a Single Follower.
Total time from account creation to permanent ban: less than 24 hours. Zero followers gained. One post published. Here’s exactly what I did wrong — and what I’d do differently.
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My Dad Said “Just Use the AC.” I Asked AI Instead. ¥546 Later, I Barely Need It.
Summer on a top-floor apartment in southern China. My dad said just run the AC. I asked AI what else could be done. ¥546 and one rooftop insulation project later — I barely need it.
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I Fed 20 Financial Reports to AI. It Ignored My Question and Found a Better One.
I started researching a tire company and asked AI to work through 20 financial reports. It set aside my original question and found a completely different one — one I hadn’t thought to ask.
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I Used AI to Research Parkinson’s Disease. It Found 81 Active Clinical Trials in China My Doctor Never Mentioned.
When someone close to me was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I asked AI to search for active clinical trials in China. It found 81 that were recruiting. My doctor had never mentioned any of them.
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I Fell in Love with a Stock. My AI Noticed Before I Did.
There’s a moment when you stop analyzing a company and start rooting for it. I didn’t notice when I crossed that line with one of my holdings. My AI noticed before I did.
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I Built This Blog for About $96. Here’s Exactly What I Did.
This blog cost about $96 to launch — a Namecheap domain and Hostinger shared hosting. Here’s exactly what I bought, what it took to set up, and what I’d do differently next time.
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Before I Buy a Stock, I Go to the Supermarket
Before I commit to a consumer-facing stock now, I go look at the product in person — supermarket shelves, store traffic, what people are actually buying. It sounds simple. It has changed how I invest.
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The Two Stocks I Held for Years That I Should Have Sold Much Earlier
I held two stocks for a combined five years that I probably should have sold within the first twelve months of each. Here’s what I was telling myself the whole time — and what finally changed.