A Gift from Elon Musk

The Minimalist Billionaire that Keeps on Giving

It was October 7, 2018. I met up for tea with Dr. Martin Polanco that afternoon in Solana Beach. He is a physician and healer doing amazing work treating PTSD with Ibogaine and 5MeO-DMT. After leaving the coffee shop, I went to one of my favorite spots, a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, to enjoy the sunset… and enjoy it, I did.

San Diego sunset

After I arrived home, I couldn’t find my multi-colored textile pen case containing my multi-colored collection of Pilot G2 07 pens, that I had used for years for my journals. I had bought it in Siem Reap, Cambodia back in 2014 and it had some sentimental value. I emptied my messenger bag on the floor. I double checked, and triple checked. No pen case in sight.

I repack the contents of the bag, hop back into the Mazda Miata with James Bond, our border collie, and head back to the bluff. He is excited. It’s an adventure! We walk up the sandy trail, and I shine my iPhone flashlight under the bench. No pen case in sight.

There is a man standing there in the dark. He helps me search to no avail, then says,

“Well, if you want to stick around for a few minutes, Elon Musk may have a gift for you…”

Suddenly, he points. A fireball is blasting through the sky and I witness the rocket launch, surreal and ineffable. We have a moment together, listening to the distant roar, and silently watch the rocket slowly disappear into the night sky.

October 7, 2018 Space X rocket launch from Solana Beach

On my way home, the Cambodian pen case mysteriously reappears in my messenger bag, as if it shifted back into this dimension from another one. Magic? My subconscious mind guiding me to this experience? Synchronicity, regardless.

Elon Musk is a real-world Tony Stark. SpaceX, Tesla, Solar City, Neuralink, The Boring Company are all moonshot projects, and Musk is somehow working on all of them. Musk announced in 2020 that he is selling all of his houses and most of his possessions, to reduce his personal “attack surface.” The richest man in the world is embracing minimalism so he can work more efficiently.

Wait But Why has a great series detailing Musk’s achievements, yet there’s something very human about him. His talent stack includes rocket science, energy technology, engineering… and he is also a master-level Twitter troll.

It seems like he is in on a glorious cosmic joke, living this reality as though it is a simulation, playing Roy like Rick. He’s giving us live streamed astronauts going into space, self-driving electric cars, and rocket launches that we can view from our beaches.

Thank you Elon Musk, for being an inspiration, and putting on one of the greatest shows on Earth. The Elon Musk reality television channel is far more interesting than the Red vs. Blue show. Be like Elon.