you're weird!

Snow is falling in Fukuoka.

Fukuoka is supposed to be like Florida.

You can tell people ain’t used to it.

Brings me back to when my ex-girlfriend from Hokkaido and I moved to Kyoto.

Kyoto is normally cold, but the people there aren’t used to snow.

Well, she was.

On a particularly heavy night, I remember her blasting past the speed limit without a care in the world.

She had her kid in the car and no snowtires, so I freaked out.

“What are you doing?!”

All she did was reply with pride, “I got it. I’m from Hokkaido.”

Still didn’t change the fact that she had her kid standing up in the back because she was screaming to escape from the carseat.


But no matter how reckless it might’ve been, in her eyes she was a veteran and had a handle on the situation.

A queen of the snowflurries.

A master of the crystal ice.

A top gun of the flakes from the sky.

Now back to snow in Fukuoka.

People ain’t used to it.

Which is expected. Because the island it’s on is in the south.

But what I find funny is the lack of adaptation.

They shiver and bundle up and turn on the heat. But mentally, they’re in a different place.

Arguably, if you think you’re cold, you’re gonna be cold.

The Jamaican-Florida-Man inside of me instead decides to embrace it….

Cold showers (just 30 seconds after my hot shower) in the morning….

Sleeping without the heat at night…


Of course, I’m no Wim Hof.

But I find that embracing the cold on my own time is a great way to insulate myself from the fear of freezing outside.


And this brings me to why I’m emailing you today.

I aim to challenge people in my books with different types of ideas and storylines that you might not often find yourself coming across.

This means that I have to change up my input.

The movies, books, and music I consume have to have my friends, my girlfriend, and even my family, saying, “You’re weird.”

At first, this strange input shocks my system.

But over time, I get used to it.

Then, I can go out in the world and tackle any weird problem.

If I didn’t do this, I’d end up writing like everyone else.

My stories would be lost among all the carbon copies out there.

That are exponentially increasing day-by-day with AI making it easier than ever to execute on creative ideas.

Instead I inoculate myself with innovation.

So here’s a question for you…

How can you stay weird?

Talk soon,

Brandon “tapping into my weirdness“ Chin

P.S. If you’re looking for weird books based loosely on the people, places, and experiences I’ve had over 9 years of living in Japan, then grab my Ultimate Book Bundle below for 50% off:

brandonchin.net/products/shokunin-universe