Briefly, A Delicious Life (musings)

Hanami 2025

How mature is mature?

I've been contemplating advertising as a 'mature escort'. At 37 years of age, I am closer to 40 than 30. Escorting is perceived to be a young woman's game, so I feel it's worth pointing out, in case you came here expecting some- one in their early 20s. In advertising, 'mature' essentially means middle aged, an age that (according to Wikipedia) spans the range from age 45 to 65. Being Asian, most people guess me to be 10 years younger. So, essentially, I started off worrying that people might find me older than what they expected, if I don't apply the label, and ended up worrying that, once I do, those who come explicitly in search of a middle aged escort might not find me mature enough for their taste. Thoughts?

Finish the sentence (to be continued)

The last time I cried ... over a line from Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton.

The last time I pissed myself laughing ... over the pages long made-to-order porn video commission screenplay chapter in Tony Tulathimutte's Rejection.

If I won the lottery ... nothing much would change, I'm already living life the way I want to live.

The key to a good life is ... don't covet other people's lives.

The greatest pleasures ... are the simplest ones: making do with what you have and can afford. Like a sandwich.

My pet peeve ... is any online submission form where I have to click myself from 2025 back to the month and year of my birth. MANUALLY. IN MONTHS.

My favorite quote to live by is ... Never look back and think, I could have eaten this!

My favorite place to be on a Saturday night is ... home alone, tacos, ice cream floats, something interesting on the telly (zapping channels like in the 90s, no streaming services here).

My favorite thing to do on a Sunday arvo ... I try to get all my shopping done on Saturday, so Sunday is just for browsing the market, walking around the city taking pictures of things I haven't noticed before, if it's a nice day and everyone is out and about, I like that special atmosphere, that feeling of all is right in the world, no fighting, no stress, everyone just having a good time, enjoying food or just a coffee.

I try to live ... as slowly as possible.

Pay What You Can (a thought experiment)

I once ate at a pay-what-you-can cafe. Since then, the idea got stuck in my head.

My best friend's dry response: "It's either going to be massively successful or absolutely disastrous."

I get where the disaster part comes in. People will think I'm a fraud and this is all a scam. People will try to take advantage. People will think I'm bonkers.

Pricing is the most crucial aspect in any business. Fees are set to customer perception, market positioning and competitiveness. Providers go high or low according to their branding and their desired target demographic.

My target customer is someone who I feel lucky to have come across, and vice versa.

I'm in the business of serendipity, of being in the right place at the right time for the right person. I'm sorry if it sounds cringy, I don't mean it in a sappy romance epic kind of way. I'm saying, we are two strangers who found each other across the internet and we happen to click and have a fabulous time not because we are perfect but because we just happen to be right for each other in that moment, in that mood. For that to happen, the stars have to be truly in alignment. Or as the Taylor Swift song goes, It was rare, I was there....

How do you set a pricing strategy for making delightful chance discoveries? You can't really.

All you can do is put yourself out there and be open to what comes your way. Life has a way of working out. The important lesson I learned is to not get in the way. I want to leave that room with a smile on my face as much as you do. I don't have any new year's resolutions for 2025, but a new year always carries a notion of a clean slate, of new beginnings. So why not cast away the doubts and do the radical thing: take a chance and see what happens?

It's not that big of a step. With my regulars, we hardly talk numbers anymore anyway. They take care of me, I take care of them. I prefer it that way. The gift is in the giving.

Honesty boxes have been around for ages and they work (for the most part) because people are fair-minded (for the most part). Or at least, they see the point of why doing the right thing is the right thing to do.

This industry has a way of stripping your notion of common decency due to the numbers of bad actors one runs into on both sides of the aisle. People get burned, and with each bad experience, a bit more trust and goodwill goes down the drain and we are all poorer for it. But walking around expecting the worst of people is no way to live. Sometimes, trust has to be advanced to make a go of it.

"In an age of irony, the deepest subversion is to be sincere." Let's break some eggs?

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