Month: September 2017

The Knot Theory Story

Press, Interviews, Media Requests

Knot Theory currently has loyal fans from 24 countries worldwide. In 2013, Knot Theory completed its third successful project on Kickstarter. In 2012, designer Tanya Huang pitched Knot Theory to the dragons on Dragons’ Den, enticing all five dragons to make her offers. However the segment didn’t air on TV possibly due to a technical error (though you can find the webisode online), so Tanya flew to Shanghai and explored for 6 months instead.

For interviews, press coverage, and media requests, please contact us via our contact form.

Knot Theory Press Coverage:

– GQ UK magazine
– Kickstarter
– Dragons’ Den
– Oops! Japanese Magazine (cover)
– CBC News
– Vancouver Sun (cover page)
– CTV
– Global TV
– CityTV (Breakfast TV)
– Vancouver Television
– CBC radio
– VIFF 2012 Red Carpet Closing Gala
– Leo Awards 2012
– Vancouver Men’s Fashion Week
– Kenton Magazine New York
– Fame’d Magazine
– Homorazzi.com
– Straight.com
– UnfinishedMen.com
– ChristieLohr.com
– The WE

 

As of today I have about $950,000 CAD in the bank.

I used this calculator and figured that if I have $2MM in the bank at 4% return rate, and spending $5K/month at 3% inflation, I’ll never outlive my money.

http://www.calcxml.com/calculators/i-am-retired-how-long-will-my-savings-last?skn=119#calcoutput

I should be able to have $1MM in the bank by end of this year.

However, there are other things:

• Parents. I need to support Dad. Mom too. Though Mom might have leftover money for me. I won’t include that in my expectations though.
• USD to CAD exchange rate
• Investment – right ones will make me even more money; property investment might give me monthly income
• Fun stuff – travels, luxury
• Health stuff
• Boyfriend/Husband – I need to find one who, together, we’ll make more rather than less.
• Most of my money is not invested to make 4%
• Taxes – corporate and personal
• World economy

Basically, if I can accumulate $2MM in the bank, and perhaps $500K ~ $2MM for other things, then I will never run out and can have lots of fun too.

The reason why I’m thinking about this is that, Alex is 42 years old with no savings. He just got a job for $16.5/hour, and he is excited. It’s in film. There will be overtime. He’ll get to meet people and make connections.

I don’t think he is thinking long term however. He needs to make enough money to live for another 40 to 50 years.

He’ll have to start from scratch.

If he makes on average $45K/year for the next 25 years, and saves 1/3 of it (there’s tax to account for too), then he can accumulate $375K. If he lives ’til 95, then he will have $1K per month to spend, plus probably $600 from the government.

That’s the best case scenario, and it ain’t go great.

Looking at Cat, who is in the same boat. 40 and no savings, making very little.

Nicole, even worse. 40 and in debt. But she has her mom to lean on. So about the same.

Tyler? Brodie? Cyndi? Tina?

Vanessa didn’t start making good money until her late 30s. She is probably making $60K/year? But she made good investment and had savings.

Anna is doing probably $55k/year. She has savings.

Summer is doing well, but she was miserable at 40. She pretty much had to start from scratch. But she had a running business, so not really.

The point is, do I have respect for Alex? He is excited about this film job, and with guidance can probably find even better opportunities. If he was 10 years younger, this is awesome, but he is not.

Right now he doesn’t want to focus on a side business. That’s fine. But if in say half a year, he still hasn’t found something paying more than $80k/month, he should probably do a side business.

I don’t know what to think of the situation. I guess I’ll just be supportive at least until I go to Taiwan.

Mixed feelings about today and life in general.

Sales were down to 35 today. Maps are no catching on after a VL campaign. I’m a bit worried. Ying’s containers aren’t making a lot of profits, but she is selling 10 a day without PPC ads!

I need to find a way to revive Knot Theory rings on Amazon, and sell lots maps! C’mon brain. You can figure this out!

Of course, best bet is getting Amazon Exclusives. Fingers crossed!

—

Played in a Richmond volleyball tournament today with Elan, Mary, Jerrod, Tim, and Kelly. Got slaughtered. These teams were so good! Tim is really funny. Jerrod and Elan too actually. Elan is becoming more and more likeable. Though he hit me in the head today with a ball, by accident.

I didn’t play very well today. Sigh. I played ok at Fortius on Thursday though. I didn’t like Elan that much, but he was the one who invited me to both games!

The Richmond oval is amazing. It’s so big, so new, and full of activities.

—

JL’s 24th today! He is so young. But he is so loveable and mature. I really like him. I like Kaelynn too. And Steve.

I took 2 Katy love pills before going. I also took 2 After Party Pal, and one after. I think they are all very helpful!

I did feel a bit more loving with the Katy love. And more alert. I also felt a lot less tired with the APP pills. I’m not sure if it was just one or the other that brought on those good feelings. I shall try again soon.

We played stack pong. It took me 5 drinks to learn the game, and I was a bit hammered.

JL and K’s place has the most gorgeous view. Even better than Alex’s! And their rent is $1400! On the 23rd floor.

Drinking and talking and playing that stack pong game was fun. After that, we went to Portside. I’ve been there before, when it wasn’t called that. There was a fashion show there. Way back when.

I’m definitely in a different place now. These things don’t interest me that much. We’ve gone clubbing 2 times together now….both times, no on hit on me. Is it because I look old? Is it because I’m Asian? Or is it because I look too hot? Haha. Either way I feel a little sad. Not that there were cute guys…but it seemed like every girl got hit on except for me. Even Steve.

I felt pretty good physically though. Those pills are good.

I felt that no one wanted to touch me. People keep a bit of a distance from me. Why is that?

—

Alex is coming over tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it, but at the same time not too attracted to him anymore. I was very attracted to him on our first date, but…sigh. 1. too skinny, 2. old / older looking than I thought, 3. unsuccessful at 41 almost 42, which makes him seem pathetic at times, and 4. unambitious.

But he is great is many ways too. 1. Funny, 2. likes Sci-fi, 3. Tall (6 foot 1), 4. kind, 5. blue eyes, 6. touchy feely, 7. totally open-minded about my hair and thinks I’m gorgeous.

I did pray to God to give me a guy for the mean time. Someone I enjoy making out with, because it’s been so long. It’s been 6 months since Jeffrey. And, Alex is so much like what I prayed for. I wish he was a bit cuter I guess. Less scrawny. If he was less scrawny and more successful in his career venture (and has a career), he’d be perfect.

Why is he unsuccessful at 41 though? Not smart enough? Not skilled enough? Not lucky? Not resourceful? Wrong direction? Lacking certain traits such as follow-through or perseverance? I can’t tell yet. I’m quite sure I need a successful boyfriend though. I want to be a power couple together!

I want someone very good at marketing, and can help me market my products. Maybe I shall hire a marketer. A cute one haha.

 

Had a really fun first date with Alex yesterday!

Met him on OkC. I really didn’t plan on meeting anyone any time soon… in part because I feel like giving up, and in part because of all the travelling coming up.

He seemed like a normal and fairly good looking guy who likes sci-fi, and was very straight forward about setting up a date.

I met up with Julianna and her friend Shotty(sp?) for sushi, and they dropped me off at Soho Billiards for my first date like parents dropping off their kid first day at school.

I like how tall Alex is. 6’1. Perfect height. He is 41, but he is skinny and fairly youthful looking. There were no surprises in how he looked..he looked like the photos…maybe a bit cuter.

He wore a black leather jacket, jeans, and a blue plaid shirt.

I thought he was gonna be boring, because he was very concise on his messaging prior to the date. His profile was brief too. Said he had a great sense of humour, but there were no hints of that in his profile.

Turned out he really was a lot of fun. He was great at carrying a conversation, and he was a good listener. He was pretty good at pool, but he tried really hard to let me win. I was so bad at it that day for some reason.

He ended up playing with his left hand, with only one eye open, while standing on one leg. Haha.

I kept complaining about the game. How would you change it? He asked. I said, I would hit the balls directly, instead of hitting the white ball. So he let me do that 😀

Still he won. But we had a great time, and laughed so much. And all is not lost. I spotted two foosball tables, and we played 5 games of foosball – and I won! hahaha

He paid for everything. I was surprised it was $40.

So I offered to pay for Pour House. He was very polite and didn’t order much. I added some food and it came to $70ish plus tips and such. $86 I think. But that’s ok. (Just that the food tasted awful and the waiter was a bit rude.)

I really like him. And I want to be an equal couple.

He is an INFP-T, but he didn’t seem very introverted at all.

I like that he likes sci-fi, self-improvement, and has a good sense of humour. He likes trying new things. He has a youthful presence. He seems very gentle and sweet. Oh and very blue eyes…based on the photos. It’s hard to tell in person because we were in somewhat dark places all throughout the night.

I am a bit concerned that he has no high nor steady income. At 41, almost 42…he hasn’t got this sorted….

Sometimes he says incredibly stupid things about science…and I wonder just how smart he is. I’ve yet to find out.

His ideas of ventures are very small and limited. That can change though.

I wonder how talented, smart, and sincere he is. I wonder if we can be a power couple. I wonder if we can be a sweet couple.

He told me the plot of a sci-fi story he had in mind. There was a boy and a dog. I asked if the dog can be a giant rabbit. He was pretty good at going along with my “plot twists” on his story haha.

He walked me to the skytrain, and just as we arrived, he pulled me in for a kiss. That was pretty hot.

We kissed for a while. I had longed to kiss someone for months….finally! It was so nice. Exactly what I wanted. <3

We kissed passionately for probably 10, 15 minutes. The skytrain had shut down. Probably during our kiss haha.

I had to take a cab home. He shouted at the driver, “Drive safe!” So cute.

I got home at 1:30am. I was so turned on and filled with hormones I couldn’t sleep until sometime past 4am. I had two extremely good orgasms..and another one today.

Today I felt exhausted. Not sure if it’s because of the raging hormones.

He messaged me in the evening and invited me to his place on Wednesday. He’ll cook for me! I asked what, he said, scallops and bacon of course! I was so surprised that he remembered that being my fave!

Part of me am so worried about all the ways this might not work out….but part of me very excited. There’s potential at least!

Oh and I didn’t very clearly state that I have alopecia in my most recent profile. I just wanted a tame profile without saying too much, and that means saying just “alopecian” instead of going into details. It also meant removing all the fun photos, leaving just photos of me sitting in restaurants, etc. I don’t like having to have the alopecia conversation later on..but…that’s just the way it is.

One thing I learned about him is that he was a foster kid growing up. He had 3 brothers, and they are all foster kids. I’m interested to find out more.t

I really like that he doesn’t shy away from expressing himself. He was like, “I can’t wait to see you!” “I’m so excited!”

And he’ll download a sci-fi movie for us to watch. How amazing is that?

 

 

 

Things I can do to promote my beautiful scratch map:

1. VL – expensive (remember to set max to 1) $400 + 150*$13 = $2350
   1. If can sell $2350/15 = 156 then it’s break-even
2. Amazon Exclusives – need to wait 2 weeks to find out if doable
3. FB ads – might take time
4. FB video ads – need to make video; need to learn to do ads anyway
5. Contest: Grand prize: a trip?
6. Raise price to $37.5
7. Start VL. $2.63 each
8. Create and run FB ad, FB page; 50% off (2 days?)
9. Create video (3 days?)
10. Run FB video ad; 50% off (1 day)

 

After over 2 years of invisalign, my teeth are finally looking great!!

It didn’t even look this great in the morning. In the afternoon, Dr. Lam filed down some of my teeth, which made me “added” to my tooth that is too short – I didn’t even know it’s possible! And he did a great job.

I was so happy!

I’m thinking to give some gifts for everyone. Knot Theory bow ties, doggie bow ties, rings.

Jeffrey liked my “6 shades of Tanya” photo on FB at 1am today.

Strange, right?

This alone made me think about him way too much.

Why did he do it? Why at that time? Why that photo?

Part of me tries to think as little of it as possible. After all, I already decided that we will never happen and we won’t make a good couple anyway.

Part of me am thinking that he is missing me late at night, and wondered just how in love he is with his current gf. Or maybe he isn’t as loyal as I thought he is. Or maybe it’s an innocent like. Or maybe he is complex and just wants to make me feel better. Or maybe I am special, and he still wants me.

I really don’t know. But one thing is for sure. I won’t be visiting his FB page ever again.

Sigh. When can I find someone who loves me the way he does?

I miss his innocent face. I miss his sense of humour. I miss how outgoing he was on my birthday. I miss his kindness. I miss his generosity. I miss how he loved me.

But I know that at the time I wasn’t sure if he was the one. He liked old stuff, he talked about more literal things than abstract things, he wasn’t as smart as most of the guys I’ve been with. Oh and, when we were together, we rarely just talked and laugh so much…there was something silent and boring about our time together…I wasn’t sure why. Oh and when I saw his most recent photo, he didn’t look very good. He has gained some weight.

It’s easy to romanticise what we had and who he was, because it’s gone and he is gone. At the same time, I should not discount what we had and who he was, because we did have a good time and we did love each other. I want to remember us as having a beautiful, sincere relationship.

It’s that fine balance…of giving enough weight to both sides of the coin. That makes it harder to heal.

Still today I cried after I masturbated. It’s because I thought of him just before I climaxed. I didn’t intend to, but I can’t help it.

Memories of him are fading away though, and eventually I’ll feel nothing at all. Right now, my stomach still aches when I think about him. It’s a deep level of hurt.

I know that if I’m in love right now, it wouldn’t hurt. I wouldn’t still be so emotionally connected to him. I imagined that’s what he had, but it’s strange that he still looks at my photos and likes them.

I’m grateful though. I’m grateful that him and I had some good times together. I’m grateful that he helped me have an amazing birthday. I’m grateful that he showed me that someone can love the way he does…and even if no one loves me the way he loved me, at least I briefly experienced his love.

I’m grateful that, Bubbles did help me find a good friend, Erynn! Thanks Bubbles!

Thinking about how much he’s influenced me. I got a pineapple bikini. I designed a vintage map. I bought some basil plants and took care of the goji berry leaves Mom gave me. I posted about fish just today (hairy-frog fish…so cute).