Hey ,

A couple days ago I sat in traffic for 4 hours.

Not just slow traffic. Minutes-not-moving, people-standing-outside-their-cars-and-honking traffic.

And note, walang baha or ulan kahapon.

Just "normal" rush hour congestion. Just Manila. Ugh

This was for a reunion with two college friends — Juani and Aiyo. Haven't seen them in ages, and since my wife is also good friends with them, and they're both Ninangs of my son, we all went as a family.

I didn't bring the car because traffic, and para makatulog ako sa bus. Buti na lang talaga tama kutob ko.

Kasi sobrang grabe traffic.

Also, sidestory: Normally this is the exact scenario I bring my laptop for.

You know the one. The "what if I need to check something" laptop. Comes with me everywhere kahit alam kong hindi ko naman bubuksan. Less of a work tool, more like a security blanket lol.

This time I left it at home.

And somewhere around hour two, wedged between another bus and a jeep, it landed on me:

I DIDN'T ACTUALLY NEED THE LAPTOP ANYMORE.

The work was already running. Without me.

NGL, syempre may PTSD pa din ako and feeling ko kulang yung dala ko. hehe

But...

I had tasks going before I even left — research, some drafts, a prospecting agent. All of them just... continuing, while I sat there doing nothing but being angry at the corruption in government na naman (ano pa nga ba bago hehe).

A year ago that would've been a lie. Or at least you had to be really technical.

For common folks like you and me, we had to be AT the machine or nothing moved.

Not anymore.

And this is the thing I've been circling for the last few emails. The tokens. The game with Julian. The 5 sessions talking to each other. They all point at the same place.

There's a live bootcamp that teaches exactly this. Claude Code inside VS Code — building real things with your own files, turning the repetitive parts of your work into something that runs while you're stuck on a highway.

It's called Pilipinas AI Bootcamp. Batch 4 is September 22 and 24. Two nights, live on Zoom.

Full disclosure: I'm an affiliate, so I earn a small commission if you join through my link. But I'm also Batch 1 — this is literally where the token fix and the game with Julian came from.

Link if you want to know more: https://www.pilipinasaibootcamp.com/?ref=shodensan

It's application-based. You're not buying a seat blind — they read every application and only send a payment link if it's actually a fit.

sa sobrang puno ng bus, nag ninja na si kuya and pinaamoy nya paa sa akin hahaha ugh

Reply and tell me — what's the one work thing you wish would just keep running even while you're stuck in traffic? (although I don't wish for you to smell the conductor's foot haha)

Cheers,
Shoden "Laptop-Free In Manila" San

P.S. When it comes to really good old friends, you simply can't automate that kind of thing. So okay lang ma-traffic once in a while. They travelled from Taiwan and the farthest end of Fairview after all, so what's four hours?

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