Two Sopranos Scenes That Happened to Me in Real Life

One time when I was young, I did something to get in trouble. I don’t remember what it was at all, but I was to be punished. My mom said, “That’s it, no more Gameboy!” At the time, I hadn’t even thought of my Gameboy in so long; I hadn’t played it for a while. “Aww, man,” I said out loud, acting upset at this completely inconsequential punishment. I remember feeling relieved at the lack of significant punishment but also recall a direct sense of guilt for being misleading about the degree to which this impacted me.

**Very small-scale Sopranos spoiler below:**

There was a scene where Meadow is being punished for throwing a party that gets very out of hand at her grandma's house. In the aftermath, Meadow approaches her family and suggests that they take away her Mastercard. They agree, after extending the time she had suggested. She later turns around and walks away with the camera revealing her satisfied smirking face. This was the move I pulled as a child with the Gameboy punishment.

Another iconic moment that happened on The Sopranos (small spoiler below) is a scene that happened to me in the exact same fashion. Tony and his boys go to Italy, and after they return, there is a car ride home from the airport, with the focus being the bleak, horrendous landscape of American architecture. This is in sharp contrast to the beautiful nature, art, and architecture portrayed earlier in the scenes in Italy.

This exact experience happened to me and my brother. Riding home from the airport after our trip to Italy, we found the landscape extremely depressing after seeing intricate statues and priceless artworks nestled into every crevice of Florence.

Thanks for reading.

The Cost of Waste: Inequality and Excess in Our Food System

One thing I really hate is waste of any kind. There are so many people suffering due to a lack of access to resources, and then there are tremendous amounts of resources being thrown away. Forty percent of food in America is discarded, and considering our notoriety for how much we consume, we could potentially feed a great deal of the world with just the efficient distribution of those resources alone.

Food waste is built into our system, a fact I learned while working at a raw vegan grab-and-go style juice and smoothie shop called Organic Avenue, which also sold raw food. It had a cult following and people paid premium prices for their food. Admittedly, the food was well thought out, healthy, convenient, and delicious. Initially, their juices came in beautiful glass bottles that could be reused. All the other bottles were made from recycled corn and other sustainable materials. However, food at Organic Avenue was prohibitively expensive and not at all accessible to the average person.

Some of their 14-ounce juices cost 15 dollars. This speaks to the inequality associated with access to health. This comes in the form of access to produce and fresh food, access to fitness, having the luxury of time to make healthy choices, and spending the time required to focus on such things. Then, the convenient options are 15 dollars a bottle. Due to the nature of the product (raw, vegan, etc.), many of the juices had an extremely limited shelf life—about 3-5 days, depending on the type of juice. Given the high-end clientele, we did not risk letting juices get close to their expiration date, so there were a lot of juices marked as expired that were still good.

Eventually, I learned how much food and juice was getting thrown out and fashioned my diet around this store's menu. I became extremely healthy and did so almost completely for free due to the amount of food employees were allowed to take home. One thing I noticed was that at 8:57 PM a juice would be 15 dollars, and last-minute customers would purchase a couple. About four minutes later, we would fill up trash bags full of bottles of juices and bring them out to the curb. Eventually, a crowd would await this moment, knowing there would be food, juice, and dessert delicacies in their plastic packages, completely appealing, fully nutritious, and free.

Of course, the people getting the food in this fashion were seen as low-class or unworthy, but those who paid 30 dollars for two juices minutes before were considered smart and prestigious.

So, I began to realize that in order to sell a 15-dollar bottle of juice, it was necessary to throw out juice because it costs only 3.50 to make.

The excess we produce necessitates waste. Anyone who works in the food industry can attest to the fact that, instead of selling food at a universally viable minimum, we profit and sell food to a smaller portion of people at a higher cost, in order to maximize profits, not caring at all about the kind of suffering this system inflicts on the global world.

During the lunch rush at this store, I would make smoothies, and we were supposed to fill little sample cups with different flavors to entice people to purchase a whole smoothie. We were so slammed with demand that we would make a ton of smoothies and ration them out quickly into the smoothie cups as they were ordered. This whole system invited chaos, but the pace of servicing customers took precedence. Sometimes, we’d be trying to give away the sample cups and couldn't do it because we’d made so much smoothie.

On one such day, I used all the wasted smoothie to paint an image, which I did in the sink. I think it’s beautiful but it’s also very symbolic of sheer waste, as the colors you are seeing are from the most hyper-expensive, specific organic ingredients. It’s really sad.

Anyway, the amount of waste is a travesty and the inequality in this world is completely out of hand. If things were better distributed, we could be living in a wonderful place. I should be painting with whatever color I want with luxury smoothies. Sadly, this doesn’t apply just to food. This principle pretty much exists across every industry as this is what happens when you maximize profit as the incentive for everything. None of it is sustainable and there will be a high cost to pay.

A painting made with Organic Avenue’s “Total Sweetheart”, “Nirvana”, “Lightweight” and “Powerhouse” smoothies. Retail value of this photo is approximately $44 dollars.

Another one. Here we have our “Total Sweetheart “and our “Dragon’s Breath” smoothie coming together for this expressive piece.

Thanks for reading!

9 things I recently sent myself on Instagram

All of us share a lot of content online that we consume. We see a video, a post, a meme, or a tweet that we like, and we send it to people who we think will also appreciate it. Often, we're holding up a screen, showing our phones to others, but many of these shared moments get forgotten. We are so inundated with information that we tend to forget a lot of what we consume and become desensitized to the volume of content we encounter. However, one practice I find meaningful as a measure of my interest in something—or as a way to curate content—is when I send myself something on Instagram. Doing this means I'm saving it because I value it. Every once in a while, I’d like to highlight some posts that I've recently sent to myself on Instagram, for whatever reason. here are 9 recent posts i sent myself on IG. 

Mind-Blowing Statistics in Context

I love this type of thing because it takes an ordinarily outstanding statistic and contextualizes it in terms that enable one to grasp the insanity of the achievement. Check it out here.

A Turkish Dessert

This is a delicious Turkish dessert being made, and I’m drawn to this video because of the excellence, expertise, and mastery. The motions are so skillful. Watch the video here.

Dropped Cake Mishap

This video is very different from the last one. The previous video was about precision and someone compeletely in their zone, but this one is a really unhinged occurrence that we could all probably identify with. See the mishap here.

Architectural Chocolate Creations

It is amazing what people do, and this is a really wild example of what a guy does with chocolate bars. Watch the incredible work here.

Bamboo Cooking

I just loved seeing this. I’ve never cooked a meal like this, and it looks incredible. Check out the process here.

The Spider Thing

I love this because it is seemingly witchcraft, but it is important for humans to remember that there is a whole plethora of stuff going on at all times that we are not privy to and cannot see, hear, smell, or taste. There are so many things in this world that we do not understand or cannot begin to experience. This is a very cool example of things humans cannot see. Watch it here.

Inspiring Strength

I love strength, and this video is just so inspiring because of how strong this person is. Check out the impressive feat here.

Larry Doesn’t Like Things

I really love this, and I love how the guy asks if it’s a bit, and he’s just so incredibly Larry. Enjoy the moment here.

The Straw Trick

I have a funnel, and I need a funnel. I tried this trick out, and it worked not to perfection but incredibly well. Watch the trick here.

How to Access Free Fitness: Exercise on a Budget

Exercise is prohibitively expensive, yet it should be accessible to everyone for free. This includes public spaces for outdoor activities, access to training resources such as gyms, and group fitness classes. Multiple health crises are ongoing in this country, and a populace that exercises regularly could mitigate many of these issues, ultimately saving our nation considerable amounts on healthcare. Furthermore, regular exercise leads to increased energy, strength, and stronger immune systems.

Accessibility to fitness resources isn’t just about gym access and free personal training. The time required to work out and take care of one's health is a significant luxury—it shouldn’t be, but it is. Most Americans are time-poor and have little energy for activities outside of work. When they do have free time, they're often drained and prefer to relax and unwind with their families. I strongly believe there should be compensated fitness time integrated into everyone's lives. This could be economically viable and even beneficial due to decreased health costs.

All this is well within our budget, but our government prefers to fund atrocities and genocides.

While this may seem like delusions of grandeur, I hope for a future where this doesn't seem outrageous at all, but is rather the norm. Until then, I have a little trick I’d like to share for how to search for free or cheap fitness classes and gym access in your area. This is most effective in metropolitan areas. I'm writing from New York City, where the options are plentiful due to the density of opportunities here.

This involves downloading the MindBody app. Download here.

Sign up for an account in the intuitive fashion. This app is used by many fitness studios, gyms, and self-care services such as massages and hair salons, to book classes or appointments. You can search for classes or services by keyword. Enter your zip code (or use your current location) and select a radius to search within. Then, switch to class names and type in the word "free" and scroll down to see the various options. You may also want to search for the phrases "complimentary" and "community," as community classes are often free, pay-as-you-wish, or much cheaper than the alternatives. You can also search for a specific teacher through this class tab. Here are some images of this below using different search terms (scroll through images using arrows) . To search for a specific teacher, type in their name where I’ve typed in the search terms. Make sure the “classes” tab is selected. Otherwise, you are searching for business names only.

There is also an app called ClassPass, which offers free trials to new users. Download here. Make sure you cancel your trial before the next billing cycle to avoid charges. This app allows you to use universal credits toward a diverse range of health and fitness services. Another mostly metropolitan-only option, which is much more niche, is getting a CorePower trial membership, which varies in length depending on the time of year. CorePower is a hot yoga studio with an emphasis on intensity and rigor. They have different class structures though. One free week is the current offer, but around New Year's Day, I’ve seen them offer a free month. Check out their offer here. If you’re interested in yoga but do not want an intense, heated class, New Yorkers can check out free outdoor classes in Bryant Park. The information can be found here, and it runs throughout the summer.

Also, see my previous article on how to get free food. Although many of these tips have diminished in effectiveness or value post-pandemic, there still remain some affordable options as well as really good deals. Many deals and offers from the good old days are no longer viable for businesses to extend. Thanks for reading and check back for more frugality tips and other nonsense.

The Language of Comedy

I had a breakthrough moment in comedy some years ago. It doesn’t involve me being funny on stage, because that’s yet to happen. No demonstrable progress has been made on stage.

That said, conceptually, it was a breakthrough. It gave me a huge insight into the journey ahead.

It started when Chris Rock said something along the lines of, “Dave Chappelle is the most fluent human being at the language of comedy.” Though this seems kind of obvious, hearing Chris Rock say “language” was somewhat of an epiphany for me.

Everyone knows timing is important in comedy, as well as tone, but what this helped me understand is that there is a whole learning process.

When you watch a comedian’s comedy special, what you’re watching is someone who has become fluent in the language of comedy and is orally presenting a book they’ve written. A book that can only be written in small segments through experimentation in front of an interactive audience.

Imagine you had to write a book in French, then be able to give an hour-long talk on it in a captivating, commanding way. How long do you think that would take?

I find this to be a good analogy because a lot of people don’t really understand stand-up comedy. The level of agony required to gain mastery of the art form and churn out good material before executing it flawlessly and making it look natural is lost on a casual viewer. When you’re at an open mic night full of beginners, the level of comedy is akin to a Spanish class: “Yo hablo español.” (The H is pronounced out loud here.)

So when you’re watching Ali Wong on a Netflix special, you’re watching someone who has learned a language from scratch and is presenting insightful, humorous information in that language. It’s an incredibly powerful skill.

Secret Santa: Another Boarding School Story

Every year at my boarding school, we had a Secret Santa. Everyone, including faculty, picked names out of a hat. Secret Santa was not a typical affair—things tended to be done in a unique way at this school. Instead of just one gift, we had to give five gifts throughout the school week. While this may seem expensive, there was a guideline to not spend more than one week's allowance, which was $15, divided between $7 received on Tuesday and $8 on Friday. We were encouraged to be creative rather than purchasing five $3 gifts. The $15 limit was essentially a way of saying, "Make everything." Secret Santa week was incredible. During lunch, there would be a bunch of skits or scenes prepared specifically for the designated person.

Sometimes, you knew nothing about the person whose name you chose, but they would write down three interests. People would also interview friends and plan cool gifts. At the end of the week, the biggest gift was exchanged communally at the end of the Christmas party. A surprise faculty member dressed as Santa and called names one by one based on the gift chosen out of the bag. The final gift would be accompanied by a poem, riddle, or hint about the identity of the Secret Santa. The recipient would guess, followed by some sort of hug or celebration.

The best gift I ever received—and I received many thoughtful gifts—was from a computer tech guy at the school. He was socially awkward but brilliant, hilarious, and interesting.

When it was time to guess my Secret Santa, I had no clue and had to be told. The gift he gave me was incredible; he had cut down some trees from campus as part of regular maintenance tasks he helped with—everyone at the school participated in maintaining the school. Proficient with a chainsaw, he used wood from these tasks to make me an incredible bowl and two chopsticks. They were absolute works of art and impressively executed.

I wish I could be a Secret Santa today, as I am a much more thoughtful gift-giver than I have historically been. I also see it in a new light. One time, I knew a lady liked Spaghettios and a band that sings a song called "Hella Nervous." So during lunch, we played that song out loud and had a whole line of people dance-walk up to her and hand her a can of Spaghettios.

I loved this tradition because it inspired thoughtfulness, creativity, and generosity of time and spirit as opposed to a more traditional, consumer-based way of doing Secret Santa. “Fuckin’ hippie school.”

Quintessential Christmas Mash Up

My Underground Enterprise at Boarding School

I went to a boarding school that was very cool. It was the best, most important school I've ever attended. It helped shape many of the values I hold dearest today, even if these values were not appreciated or internalized at the time. This was a very communal school that emphasized togetherness and had a holistic perspective on the education process.

This school was one that assigned all the students chores to do daily. These were little tasks designed to give each student the responsibility of a small portion of what was required to maintain the school. These jobs were to be performed in the morning right after wake-up. They would be simple tasks like emptying out a particular garbage can, cleaning sinks in the bathroom, or making sure the barn classroom was presentable.

The school had Quaker meetings and very socialist values. One of the teachers was first responsible for my hearing the term "property theft." Of course, the teacher was very wealthy and would not have thought this if I’d borrowed his car. I do not fault him for this and thought he was a very cool man. I learned tons of concepts that I’d never been exposed to.

I came to this school from a very materialistic town that my family had just moved to. This led me to have certain perspectives and behaviors that did not mesh well with the school.

Boys Store

Boys Store was a utility closet in the boys' dormitory that had snacks students could purchase. Students were able to buy snacks using their allowance waging was handed out twice a week 7 dollars on Tuesdays 8 on Fridays. The only thing about Boys Store was that it was very poorly run, intermittently stocked, and was not reliable. When you needed snacks, it was rarely open. Later, the store would open at bed check, which was at 10 PM. This was ridiculous because the only stuff Boys Store sold was soda, chips, candy, and ramen, all of which should not be consumed late at night.

Anyway, I noticed a huge gap between the food desires of the boys' dormitory and the services rendered by Boys Store. This led me to start my own entrepreneurial venture that I ran out of my closet. I stocked the inventory when my parents came to visit; I’d go to the supermarket and stock up on stereotypically boys' dorm-esque snack foods. My store had better selection, was more creative and in a very predatory fashion, sold items on credit. it was always easier to spend money you didn’t have.

I began selling items, and capitalistic tendencies began to corrupt my business practices. I learned that the menus I initially printed out prevented me from being able to charge different students different rates for the same product. When I took down the menu, I was able to charge whoever whatever, depending on what I thought they could afford and their level of desire, desperation, or hunger.

Eventually, the store began to have a corrosive effect on dorm life, and word of my store got to a faculty meeting—a meeting where faculty discussed and gossiped about the goings-on at the school. These meetings were often mundane; other times, they were riddled with crises.

Anyway, one day, my favorite teacher at the school parked his van in front of the school. In he came, carrying two grocery bags filled to the brim. He was followed by other students who were also carrying bags of groceries; they’d clearly just been to the supermarket. “We’re going to beat your little store,” the teacher said to me.

Later, the headmaster of the school had a meeting with my parents where he voiced his distaste for my entrepreneurial ventures at the school. They were incredibly disappointed, and the store was shut down quite suddenly.

I regret this kind of behavior and the plethora of ways in which I did not adhere to the spirit of the school. This was a lesson this was a lesson i learned in retrospect but i also think there are other lessons i learned by not adhering to the philosophy. i wish i had, those are important regrets, regrets that inform the future.    

I love this school and i wish to share many stories from the school. sharing stories about this school is one of my biggest goals.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more boarding school stories . Next story, is about starting a little casino.

A little bit about Emojis.

We are overusing certain laughing emojis—they're all out of control. 😂 This is the crying laugh emoji, reserved for some of the funniest moments in a lifetime. It's not often you cry laughing. 🤣 This one, with a head tilt, seems like an escalation. 😭 This one is often used and literally represents a stream of tears pouring down someone's face. 😆 is pretty good. 🤭😝😜 All underused. That’s all I’m saying.

Actually, I just wanted to publish this emoji phrase because it’s creative, and I’ve never seen it. When I haven’t spoken to a friend in a long while, I say let’s 🍅 🔨. This means for us to talk and discuss the latest happenings in one’s life. Maybe you know what I mean. Anyways, I just wanted to publish it here before it got huge.

Poor man's patent.

Back in the day, my friend told me that this was when you had an idea for something, so you wrote it down, mailed it to yourself, and didn’t open it. "The day at which it's timestamped is the day of your patent." I was convinced then, but that makes no sense. Nobody has to approve it? And I can’t open it? Until I’m in a courtroom defending it against patent infringement?

Some businessman opens a letter. "Sir, your product the Squatty Potty was originally thought up by me in 1996, you are being sued and will bear witness to the opening of the envelope containing the patent you broke."

Sounds legit.

Anyway, I’m doing that here with my stupid emoji combo. It’s me. Look at the date this was published.

Talking to one of my favorite people of all time.

This is me searching for it in messages.

Casio F-91W, a review.

Today, I left my house without my watch. I bolted out the door to make the subway at 6:21 AM. I really should have left at 6:14 AM for the subway I needed, but this one would work if all went smoothly.

I check my watch and realize I'm looking at my wrist. "Fuck. Where is it!?" I think. I make it to where I'm going on time, and it felt utterly reckless to be watchless. I realized how accustomed I had become to precision.

I had a seven-minute window to do something when I checked my phone for the time. A few moments later, I found myself panicked at not knowing how long had elapsed. Being watchless went from my norm to seeming absolutely reckless.

My parents always used to buy me watches in an attempt to get me to assimilate to human life. They would get me fancy watches, that they liked—not actually fancy, they’re not watch people at all, they like elegance and know very little about watches. They like Skagens, which a wealthy watch collector friend of mine referred to as a “fashion watch.” This was not a compliment. He had confessed his love of watches to me after I showed him my watch. For some reason, I knew without knowing that he would be into watches. I’d seen him wearing watches but never paid any attention at all. I was surprised by his reaction to my plain watch. "Oh, that’s a nice one!" he said. Later he told me he collected watches and had over a million dollars worth of watches. He suggested which watches I should get next, naming a couple my parents had gotten me. Swatch was mentioned—a higher level of Casio, too. My parents had actually purchased that fancier Casio for me when I told them my dream watch was this simple black one. I never wore it, and it's in its box currently. I do appreciate it more now, post F-91W.

Anyways, I'd like to take the time as a 2-week-plus owner of the F-91W to explain why I love it.

Its simplicity. To me, this is a prestigious watch. I think it carries status with it. This isn’t Rolex status or heavy-hitting watch status. It’s not new iPhone model status, or an Apple Watch. But what it is, is the flip phone of watches. Functional, durable, no frills, does what is advertised well, strong battery life.

This watch is incredible. I love how it looks, the no-nonsense minimalism, the simplicity, the intuitive user interface. Excellent. This watch has an incredible timer that goes to the 1/100th of a second and times nearly an hour with the ability to separate laps. You can set an alarm, it beeps on the hour for me, and has a light to illuminate the screen. The watch was introduced in 1989. You know what else was introduced in 1989? Me. I just discovered this when I looked up this watch. Here are some other things I’ve learned: the battery will last 7 years, making it a very economical choice.

Also, this:

"The Casio F-91W is a digital watch model introduced by Casio in 1989 and has become iconic due to its simplicity, reliability, and extremely affordable price. Known for its straightforward design, the F-91W features a simple digital face with an LCD display, a daily alarm, an hourly time signal, and a 1/100th second stopwatch. It's also water-resistant, though not suitable for swimming or diving.

One of the most notable aspects of the F-91W is its battery life, which can last about seven years, making it both economical and low-maintenance. The watch's design has barely changed since its introduction, which is a testament to its enduring appeal. It's often recognized for its retro aesthetic and has been a popular choice for both practical users who need a no-frills watch and fashion enthusiasts who appreciate its vintage charm.

“Despite its innocuous appearance and low price, the F-91W has gained a somewhat controversial reputation because it has been frequently found in connection with terrorist bomb-making. This association is due to its use as a reliable and easy-to-program timer in improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Despite this, the F-91W continues to be popular worldwide among a diverse audience."

Also, check out this screenshot below about who wears this watch and the two memes I made inspired by it. This is a Google search result.

Why is Osama in Bold but Obama not lol? Was google like, I know why you’re here you fuckin’ Arab? Google would. 🤷

See another shared passion at the bottom of this article.

Anyways, I love this watch. I've felt its impact in my life; I'm a watch person now, for the first time in my life. I feel very attached and am surprised by just how much a difference it has made in a couple of short weeks.

I also accidentally bought two knock-off F-91Ws, which is hilarious because the original cost me just 13 dollars. The knockoffs were 4 dollars, and the difference in quality was palpable.

I don’t use Amazon, because of having common sense about what that entails and where it leads, in addition to their atrocious human rights abuses. That said, I always utilize their database of reviews. I have a rule that I don’t buy any major electronics that have less than a 4.5/5 average rating (with many reviews).

Overall, I've become a true advocate for the F-91W. It's amazing how such a simple piece can so profoundly impact one's daily routine.

P.S I was harrased for this review, by a friend who had shit on my premature publishing of this article, which she emphasized did not adequately highlight the F-91W’s features or excellence. While she was correct, the article aimed to celebrate my purchase and wasn’t intended to be a review. I’ll review the watch again one year from now as our bond matures.

Alright that’s my time. Thanks for reading.

A Friendsgiving Bet

I have a story about a bet I made with a friend. I lived in this guy's place, the McKibbin Lofts, where he has resided for ten-plus years. This apartment is strikingly beautiful as soon as you walk in, with a huge wall of windows in the living room that lets in a lot of light, perfectly illuminating the 40 or so plants my friend houses. I met this friend because he lives in an apartment with seven rooms. He lives in one of them, of course, and rents out the other six to people wanting a cooperative Brooklyn living experience.

The beautiful apartment that my friend lives in.

I ended up living in this house after being introduced to it by a lady I met on Tinder. It was a really cool living situation. My favorite room I lived in (I lived in almost every room in the house during my short tenure) was when I didn’t live in a room at all. I actually lived in this little area affectionately called the nook. The nook was like the penthouse to Harry Potter's stair cupboard room. Anyways, this post is about a wager I made with this fellow, and I'd like to tell the story.

A roommate of ours, who has since moved into another apartment in the same building, threw a large Friendsgiving party that was finger food themed. She is Filipina, and she wanted the theme of the dinner to be all finger foods laid out on banana leaves. It was very cool. I invited my brother to this event, and he'd never been to my apartment. It was a really fun event. Notably, my friend, the main guy of the house (I’m struggling to not say landlord, but he’s not), was not present at this party. I remember finding that notable. Later, he arrived at the very end of the party with his girlfriend. My brother met him, and after a short while at the party, my brother and I drove back home to New Jersey where my parents live.

A few years later, this friend of mine completely denied the fact that he was at this event. I asked everyone who lived with us, but I did so with a leading question that wasn't fair; I planted a memory in their heads. Even so! The host of the party said she didn’t think so. She’s wrong, I thought, as her answer came in first. My brother met my friend; we talked about him on the car ride home. It was much easier for my friend to forget than for me to have a false memory, I thought. Anyways, there was a plethora of responses, and all of a sudden, it was leaning heavily yes. There was a group photo found that my friend was not in. I was not deterred as I knew he arrived after the photo.

Above are memories from Friendsgiving that my friend did not make. (He was actually not there yet, though). Raw-men I made with my friend. Dolmas I made with my friend and a raw tiramisu (that got flipped) that I made with my friend.

My friend stubbornly refused to believe me. I wanted to bet him $500 that he was there, as I was to be subletting his room for two weeks and I wanted to live there for free due to his unbelievable lapse in memory. Eventually, weeks after this all happened, I ended up making a bet with him where he would have to attend a brutally difficult hot yoga class. It was a beginner-friendly class but very difficult. I thought this would be good punishment as I did not want to take his money, but I wanted him to suffer, and to grow as a result of it. How could he forget our wonderful Friendsgiving event that had meant so much to me! I’m kidding, it’s not that serious, but I wanted him to go through that difficult class, and I wanted him to revel in my mastery of it.

By the way, this Friendsgiving event is where I executed the raw tiramisu cake flip. The article is linked here

To make a long story less long, eventually my friend revealed he might have an external hard drive with photos proving he was in Boston during the date of the Brooklyn Friendsgiving event. He was not. He ended up saying he lived in the apartment and it didn’t mean he was at the event, despite my emphasizing that he arrived at the very end.

He owed me a hot yoga session as agreed upon. I had a very difficult time scheduling this; we were trying to coordinate with another friend of ours who I'd gone with to this same studio. She had found the studio very difficult and wanted to come back to conquer a class that she felt had defeated her, and it did; she got wrecked. I alerted these two that the studio was shutting down (that’s how long it had been) and that there was one last opportunity. Everyone agreed on the date. My friend, the loser of the bet, agreed after I had said that if he doesn’t come to this last class, he would have to pay me the amount of money that the class costs. I did not want the money, but I knew the financial consequence was the only way to get him. On the eve of our class, my friend invited me to a party-like event. I told him to hydrate heavily if he was to be drinking alcohol as this class would result in a ton of sweat; being dehydrated would make it excruciating.

He informed me that he wasn’t coming, at which point I Venmo requested the $40 for class. By the way, when I made the bet, the class would have been free for my friend as a first-time visitor. It had taken so long that there was a change in management and this was no longer an option. My friend does well with his apartment venture, so I felt a $40 fee for being flaky, wrong about the bet, and neglecting his health would suffice. "Can’t we do like chill yoga before I'm gonna die yoga?" he’d plead. That wasn’t the term of the bet, was it now!?

Anyways, a couple of days later, I was with this gentleman at an event. I told him I'd go and I went, kept my word. Prior to the event, I was looking to buy weed; my friend hadn’t left, and I asked him if he could bring me weed.

The previous day, he had denied the $40 fee that he had implicitly agreed on in our text message conversation (I have receipts). Suddenly, he said, “If I bring you a nug, are we good on the debt?” Being the degenerate I am, I agreed. “A fat nug,” I say. My friend says he’s bringing a nug that can get him high ten times. Already I’m skeptical of this setup.

He gives me a nug I would value at... maybe $4.75... in the pre-legalization days... Nah, haha, it was fine, very underwhelming but it hit the spot. He did me a service, but I don’t feel at all that his debt was settled, not materially, not spiritually. I also had a very nice time with him that evening.

Anyways, thanks for reading and please let me and my friend know below in the comments what you think of this situation and what you think.

If he wants to voice his side of the story, I am willing to publish any response or objection he has to anything I’ve said.

My friend WAS at Friendsgiving. See above for where he ACTUALLY never was.

What does he owe?

(another leading question)

95 days, a transformation.

I used to be tremendously in shape. I still am, but I used to too (Mitch Hedberg origin at bottom). In all seriousness, I actually had a big decline in my level of fitness, which is completely fine. There is no need to be at peak optimal fitness at all times. Striving to do so can have negative physical and mental consequences.

However, the reason I was so upset was because my energy levels had severely diminished. I used to have electric energy, and I found myself very lethargic and unable to muster enough energy to get through my day. I was working out quite consistently, every day and quite rigorously at that. I just did not have the energy I used to have, and I was. I made two big changes. Having been 100% raw for so long, cooked foods had become something I vilified to an irrational degree. I did not feel physically well every time I ate cooked foods.

I made two big changes and had a huge transformation in terms of my physical appearance as well as my energy levels. I set a goal for myself 95 days. I said so to a friend for accountability on February 7th, and it is now May 13th. The 95 days have elapsed, and I am pleased to report that my fitness level is through the roof, as are my energy levels.

What did I change? Well, the two things that were big changes that I was going to be intentional about were the elimination of all seed oils. Seed oils, for those of you who don’t know, are oils that These oils are almost always derived from the seeds of crops and include: Corn. Canola, Cottonseed. Soy, Sunflower. Safflower, Grapeseed, Rice bran, Peanut. There is a very large movement to avoid these. Due to lobbying, it is possible to find very convincing evidence on both sides of every issue. It is often hard to know what to do. But when I examined things, I became suspicious of seed oils from a logical perspective more than a scientifically sound one (though I believe there is a strong basis for this). Seed oils are so difficult to avoid, and in everything, sometimes inexplicably. There are fantastic olives from this supermarket called Shop Rite that I loved eating. Then I read the label and realized they were soaking in canola oil. WHY! They’re olives. Obviously, the reason is cost. This cost is cut down at the expense of something. When you see how prevalent seed oils are and how difficult avoiding them is and you match that with the knowledge of the food industry in America and its predatorily capitalist nature, I was willing to be very strict about forgoing seed oils.

Added this so that the thumbnail was not the photos below.

The other thing I did, which sounds very difficult but has been a practice of mine for 8 years, is fasting. I fast for about 23 hours every day. Drinking only water. (Initially I started doing 16 hours for a year… then 18 for two years, i jumped to 20-22 before doing 23 hours a day for maybe 4 years now before this lapse) During this period of “mysteriously low energy” and lethargy, I had entirely stopped fasting. I had told myself that I was fasting, but I was cheating in small ways that had a significant impact. Anyways, I got really strict about two things that were already staples of my habits but I had gotten loose and sloppy with them. So I sent that friend the accountability photo and stayed disciplined. Let me be clear, I was very strong and fit in so many ways. I had just let myself slip in other ways. The physical transformation of this is impressive, but the energy is what is important. All different types of body can do incredible things. In fact, that aesthetic that is heralded as supreme for men and women in mainstream media is often one that is not at its peak strength or sustainability. Functionality power and energy are often sacrificed for a certain desired aesthetic. I am certainly proud of my physical transformation because it accompanies a period of extremely joyful eating, moderation the likes of which I’ve never achieved, and discipline in select areas. I think I look better, but that’s not everyone’s taste and it doesn’t matter. What I am extremely happy about is the energy with which I wake up and the joy I feel about life again, despite the horrendous circumstances, I feel a sense of excitement at the possibilities of everyday instead of overwhelmed by the tasks I have to complete and the day ahead of me.

Here I am on February 7th as well as today, May 13th. A few things. I have included a more flatteringly lit photo on the same day to show the discrepancy lighting can have. So it’s before, same setting after, different superior setting after photos. #1 the text #2 the before #3 the after #4. These results are not from the two above factors alone, as I am a very active person.

I am very interested in becoming someone’s trainer, and fitness and nutrition are of great interest to me. I am at the peak strength of my entire life right now, and I am confident I can help people come up with strategies and help implement them through a gradual, systemic, sustainable fashion. Please reach out if you’d like my assistance with this. I have aspirations to do so in a professional manner, and I would be happy to talk about any facet of this with any of you who are interested in discussing/learning more.

I have an extremely varied approach that can be tailored to many goals, lifestyles, and commitment levels. Whatever one’s goal is, there are things that can be done to help achieve that. It doesn’t have to be torture, but it does need to be consistent, sustainable, and integrated into your lifestyle.

Damn, this turned into a sales pitch. Thank you for reading, as always. Also now that I have all this extra energy… I have some business and career goals that I am going to tackle in the same fashion. I have a 95-day goal that starts tomorrow. Today is day 0. These goals involve education, career, business, and most importantly, comedy. On August 17th, I will report on the goal and its progress. It will be my 132nd blog post in as many days.

Please enjoy Mitch Hedberg. Look into him if you don’t know him, he’s a legend who was gone too soon. Video is 11 seconds long.

Speak to me about these Items.

This is a story about the time I watched "Babel,". I recall it being a good movie. I watched it with my parents in their bedroom. After the movie, we had a nice discussion about it. Discussions about television and movies are my favorite; I love discussing television with select people as much as watching the show itself. Part of the anticipation of new weekly episodes was the discussions that would happen afterward.

We had a nice discussion, and then afterwards, I left their room to return to mine. I looked on my bed, and my gravity bong, my preferred method of smoking, had been thrown on it with a terrifying handwritten note in my father’s terrible doctor handwriting. This I could read. It said, "Speak to me about these items." For those of you reading who aren’t familiar, a gravity bong, often made from a cut-bottom gallon jug, uses water displacement in a larger container to pull smoke into the jug as it's slowly raised, creating a concentrated plume of smoke ready to inhale when the jug is pushed back down. This method produces a dense accumulation of smoke, delivering a powerful and intense hit due to the large volume of smoke inhaled at once.

We had just watched a full 2-hour movie and discussed it, like everything was normal and alright, before I returned to see my smoking device strewn about. So, I had to quickly go into the kitchen where we had a discussion about the extent of my potheadedness, which was pretty high level at the time. He also told me that he found the gravity bong in my bathroom, which I share with my younger brother. I apologized and felt bad. The end.

Here is a photo of a later manifestation . (This is a placeholder screenshot from a video; I have a better photo, I’ll post that and the video later.) I wish I had a photo of that note; I can't believe I don’t.

Fancy Boogie Board, Low Yield

Way back in the day, my cousins used to go on a yearly beach trip. They lived in New Jersey, and I lived in Massachusetts. Many of these trips happened before I started joining, and this was the year I was finally going. First, we’d drive the four hours from Massachusetts to Jersey. Then, we would head to Wildwood, Ocean City, or some other tacky place we had chosen.

It was fun, but there was one thing I didn't understand well.

A major focus for the children was the size of the waves. We were young, so this wasn’t surfing, but on this trip, I was introduced to boogie boarding. My cousins had packed their boogie boards, something I’d never encountered or heard of. I was 2-3 years younger than both my male cousins, Tammer and Sherief.

An aside: I remember this one trip felt like the height of luxury. I rode with their family in their minivan, while my parents drove their own cars.

The reason this trip felt extremely luxurious was that my cousins had just gotten a van equipped with a television. At the time, screens were not ubiquitous, and I’d never seen or heard of a vehicle with a TV. As if this wasn’t enough, there was a Nintendo 64 set up; we were playing Mario Tennis while my aunt gave us bagel halves she was spreading with cream cheese before passing them back to us—a bunch of spoiled kids playing Nintendo 64.

Epic Game

I remember at one point we had to take a ferry to where we were going. The cars were parked in a special section of the ship, and I remember distinctly standing on some sort of balcony above and looking at the car with my cousins. “Damn, I wish we could be playing Mario Tennis right now,” I mused. “We can’t, the battery would drain,” answered one of my cousins, having already thought it through. (A Mario Tennis side note, at the bottom of this article. )

Anyways, we arrived in Ocean City and I was boogie board-less. My cousins all had them, and the main focus for all the children was hitting huge waves. Much to my parents' horror, the adults we were with were focused on gorging themselves on all-you-can-eat crab, with one of them even causing a tantrum when they missed the cutoff for the unlimited crab buffet. This poor soul was limited to only 36 crabs, which he later got comped due to his tantrum. Anyways…

My cousins bragged about how big the waves were. My father, who might have felt some competitive vibes being a newcomer to this scene, went out to buy me a boogie board. He returned with what appeared to me to be the Rolls Royce of boogie boards. It had a sleek, waxed bottom and looked incredible. I remember him bringing it to me on the beach.

It was such a hit; I remember everyone sliding their hands down the slick waxed bottom. My cousin made some remark about how I didn’t deserve a board this nice because I didn’t even know what boogie boarding was. We ventured out into the ocean, and I followed the lead of my cousins in the quest to catch big waves. Then it happened—I saw them start to ride waves and imitated them. The only difference was that while they rode the waves out to the shore in a smooth and swift manner, I was only able to ride the waves about two feet. I couldn’t do it at all. I refused to let anyone use my board, which I struggled to use for absolutely anything.

I had the best tools but was the worst at it. I DEFINITELY did not deserve this fancy boogie board.

This premium boogie board next to this standard version. Wait until you see the back in the next photo.

Look at that slicked bottom!

I have been practicing yoga for about nine years now, with tremendous rigor. I have gotten quite proficient and am very impressed with my practice. I’ve put in a substantial amount of work, and wherever I practice, I’m assumed to be a teacher and praised for my practice. I have never owned a yoga mat that costs more than $10. I buy the cheapest, shoddiest mats ever. I use them over and over and wear them down. They have served me so well, and my commitment to the practice and my non-attachment to the result while focusing on the process and consistency made me a force to be reckoned with. My yoga practice has helped me so much in my life, and I never bought a fancy mat.

I’d like to compare this to two things I can think of. My brother, who showed great promise with drums, lost interest quickly. My parents had by then bought him a really nice drum set, which did not get played and was not used to fulfill the musical hopes and ambitions my parents had for my brother but rather sat collecting dust in the basement. I believe purchases like this are premature and can often do someone a disservice in terms of allocating investments properly to reflect talents and work. For instance, my brother should have been bought a simple drum pad until the need for leveling up became undeniable.

Think about people who play drums on paint buckets; they develop their talents using the bare necessities and end up sounding great.

Another example is the trend of Kenyan marathon runners who trained without shoes. This strengthened their feet and gave them a substantial advantage over those who trained using plush sneakers that didn’t help develop foot strength.

Sometimes resources are a hugely beneficial head start that enables, and sometimes they’re a crutch that minimizes resourcefulness and drive. This idea underscores the value of starting simple and upgrading only when necessary, ensuring that passion and skill development lead the way, rather than high-end equipment that may not yet be justified. i also am not trying to glorify a lack of excess or struggle. I think a balance between access and earning your way up through consistency and effort is the way to go. thanks for reading as always.

Mario Tennis: An important side-note: I was so incredibly bad at Mario Tennis the whole entire time, i was mocked relentlessly for how bad I was on that car ride. Weeks later, i purchased the game, and I am now an unstoppable force in Mario Tennis. My friend Sebastian is the founder of Brooklyn Comic Con, an event run through his events company Sexy Nerds. He often hosts N64 tournaments. I often dare him, to start a Mario Tennis tournament with a cash prize. I would undoubtedly win. I also have a deluded friend Chris Deming, who thinks he stands a chance at beating me. Nope. (We will have a tournament and post results in a future blog post.)

Sherif, a bully.

Oof, this story is a rough one. The other day, my family was having a debate about evil and malicious people. While referencing the Stanley Milgram prison experiment, I said that it's scary what human beings will do in certain circumstances.

After some arguments about how there truly are evil and malicious people and that some people could never do bad things, I told them a story I'm very ashamed of.

I used to be a mean-spirited individual. I moved from Massachusetts to New Jersey, and the transition was tough in a variety of ways. First of all, I moved from a nice, quaint town that had a public pond where everyone would gather and swim. It was a nice, caring community. Unfortunately, we moved to a very affluent, terrible neighborhood to the point that it was featured on Real Housewives of New Jersey. Anyway, this was socially a rough transition for me. However, it was also a few days before September eleventh when I moved in, and I was about to be the new Arab kid at a mostly white, very racist school.

This led to me having a tough battle to fight; I was always hearing racist remarks at a time where fitting in was crucial. 7th grade is really rough, and I was new and didn't know anybody. I soon started making self-deprecating jokes with my race being the butt of the joke. I would joke about running late because I had flight school before class and things of that nature. A lot of airplane humor. Anyway, this dynamic kind of carried on and it made me a rough person.

Prior to attending boarding school, I was really tough and mean-spirited. This did not evaporate when I was in boarding school; I had to unlearn a lot of behavior.

In the 9th grade, I went to public high school for a brief period of time. I remember it being a social jungle. By then, I had many friends who were considered popular, played sports, and I had respect because of my sense of humor, which had expanded beyond self-deprecation and into more general class clown stuff.

Anyway, lunchtime is the iconic dilemma for students in high school. Where am I going to sit at lunch? This particular cafeteria had lots of round tables. I easily found a crew, and we started sitting together. It was a lot of male camaraderie and competitive vibes. One day, this kid Tony sat with us. We started making fun of him and teasing him. It was really horrible. I forgot everything we said but basically for many lunches in a row, this dynamic would exist where this guy would sit with us and everyone would just make fun of him all lunch.

Eventually, it started to escalate. I recall one day we made him pour soda on his homework in order to continue sitting with us, and he did. When I reflect on this, it is so awful and so cruel, it hurts me to think of it deeply. What the heck?

Also, I must mention that I wasn’t just participating to fit in; I was a ringleader in this, the soda idea might have been mine, but if it wasn’t, the spirit of it was led by me. I take a lot of blame for that; there is nobody to blame but myself, but I definitely think part of the reason I was able to behave like that was because of how tough my time socially due to the racism I experienced. This is not an excuse; tons of people experience racism and don’t incite others to ruin their scholastic assignments with carbonated beverages (which, side note, have no place in schools).

Anyway, yeah, this behavior is awful, and I did it to fit in, or to be cool, or funny. I felt good when I did it, I'm sure, powerful. I didn’t think about this guy as a human or something; if I had, I surely would not have been like this.

I don’t know the point of this; I think we should always be reflecting on our behavior, and realizing that circumstances make up so much of why we do certain things, as well as societal approval, encouragement, ostracization, etc. I think it’s important to realize that our behavior is dependent on a variety of factors that are vital to be aware of. Yeah, I don’t have a great bow to tie this all up with, but I wanted to share this memory!

Also, here is a very funny side note... for all my life I always wanted to write in a journal/keep a diary, etc. I would always write it perfectly for an audience and was never able to just write for myself. Until this one time. I just wrote a few entries from the heart and made them so honest. Well, one day I left this journal at my friend's house at college, and I went back to get it and without an ounce of hesitation, she was like, “I can’t believe you made that kid pour soda on his homework.” It was absolutely hilarious how little she flinched at having admitted to reading the journal. Zero.

When I was a kid, I always wanted to have a diary with one of those locks. That would have come in very handy in this scenario. But at the time, when I needed the lock, I didn’t realize that the best way to get people to not read something was to publish it as a blog post and send it to them.

Last thing: I once watched this lady make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using just her hands. And it was amazing. At the time I was disgusted beyond belief, but now I realize that it was baller, iconic, and very advanced. Here is a blog post I wrote on her and that issue. PB&J without the tools. Thanks for reading, and please be good to others. It is heartbreaking to think about what actions of mine, or similar actions could cause in conjunction with mental health issues and how difficult these things can make someone’s life or worse. Thanks for reading, p.s I nowadays I try to be the best person I can be.

An old friendship.

I had a really great friend whom I met through her work in the food service industry. We became really good friends and kept in touch for years. I would always visit her at her job, where we discussed school, our lives, romance, family, and a plethora of other topics. She would always make me huge smoothie bowls and smoothies, giving them to me for free. She was always adamant about making something for me, and it was always extravagant and delicious. The food chain she worked for had many locations, so over the years, I visited her at different locations throughout the city.

I even spoke to her mom on the phone a couple of times. Once, I made an unbelievably crude and distasteful joke, not knowing my friend would share it with her mom. Surprisingly, my friend told me her mom loved me for this crude joke.

Her mom suffered from some medical issues, and my friend carried the financial burden. She paid hospital bills and was always working nonstop. She was an ambitious, hardworking lady with tons of interesting life goals. She was paying her way through school to become a certified nutritionist and personal trainer. Her mom's health was something we always talked about, and I cared deeply for both my friend and her mom.

One day, she stopped talking to me and didn't respond to my texts, which was pretty inexplicable. It was really sad. I’m very wary of being someone who pesters, which I undoubtedly have been in the past, and probably am at times now. So, I try to space out my reach outs and account for people being extremely busy, as well as the seasons of life and modern-day communications.

This is how our text messages went when she finally answered me after some time. Please note the timestamps to see when I measured out my response.

Below that, I've included a photo of a masterpiece smoothie bowl she made for me. This was after I had not seen her in probably over a year, and I had come to a new location. She made me the most decadent, overflowing bowl, which she placed on the counter where it spilled over the sides. It was such a beautiful act of love. I wish her the best and have a lot of love in my heart for this individual. I pray she’s in a relationship and dynamic where she can fulfill important aspects and needs of the human experience.

i think bonding with people of the opposite sex and having a wide range of friends is important. it upsets me when there is a strict segregation of sexes socially. whenever i lose someone in my life for any reason i try to incorporate the things i liked the best about them into my life/ actions. i also like to think of the great memories i had with that person and the things they taught me. that’s what i do with this lady and i’ll always think of her fondly.

Such a decadent bowl, and a complete act of love, food is probably my most prominent love language, both giving and receiving.

Wrench

Today, while biking to a store, I spotted a guy setting up a table laden with phone cases on the side of the street. For the past few months, I've been living life like a lottery winner, strolling around without a phone case. It's lovely to feel the nice, sleek design of the phone as it was meant to be felt. Typically, I buy the slimmest, most stylish premium phone on the market, only to shove it into a giant, submersibly waterproof case. The past me would never have considered buying an iPhone case that didn’t boast an IP68 rating.

If you don’t know what that is, here’s the nerdiest article possible, which is, humiliatingly, on brand for me.

Anyways, I realized I needed a phone case because I didn’t want to continue pushing my luck.

"Do you have cases for the iPhone 12 Max Pro?" I asked, my eyes immediately landing on a hilariously large sign that read "iPhone 12 Max Pro." There were only two signs; that was one of them.

So, I started to circle my bike around the table to where he was pointing. That’s when I heard a wrench fall. "Is this yours?" I asked, thinking I might have knocked it off his table.

"No," he responded. "Oh, okay. My bad. I guess it was stuck on this CitiBike. The bike mechanic must have left it on, and it fell off."

"Okay, I like that green silicone one," I said to him, pointing at my signature color. "Fifteen dollars," he said. "Let's do 12," I suggested. "Ehh, alright, you’re my first customer of the day, so that’s cool," he agreed. "I’m gonna give you 12; we're set on that. But just out of curiosity, what’s the lowest you would have gone?"

I usually say "If you get a screen protector, I do the cases for 10 usually," he replied. "Cool," I said.l

I handed him 22 dollars. He struggled for a moment and then handed me 15 back, asking if it was right. "No, it’s only ten," I said, handing back the five.

We exchanged names and chatted a bit.

"Hey, do you want this wrench?" I offered.

"Don’t you want it?" he responded, or "Put it back by the CitiBike stuff?"

"Nah, the best thing I could possibly do right now is give it to you."

Then, I rode on to the store I was originally heading to.

Bikram Yoga (26&2) and the Tinder Lady

I engage in a yoga practice known as Bikram yoga, which is an exceedingly intense form of yoga. Similar to all my endeavors, it falls on the more extreme end of the yoga spectrum. Classes are conducted in 106-degree heat with pumped-in humidity, resulting in a copious amount of sweating. Each session lasts 90 minutes, commencing and concluding with a breathing exercise. Within the session, 26 unique poses are performed. It is a demanding, strenuous, mentally taxing practice that requires a remarkable level of discipline and resilience. Enthusiasts of this yoga style are often purists, and truthfully, it bears some cult-like aspects. This inclination is understandable because, despite my exploration of numerous other yoga forms, Bikram yoga offers something unparalleled.

Bikram yoga allegedly originated from Bikram Choudhury. For an illuminating insight into his character, one should watch the documentary "Yogi Guru Predator." It meticulously chronicles the sexual assaults and abuses he perpetrated. He is now banned from the country, yet he continues to teach overseas.

I intended to delve into the yoga community's complex relationship with this individual. It is predominantly disquieting. There exists a subgroup of individuals who still idolize Choudhury, despite widespread knowledge of his heinous acts against his students. An exceptionally skilled teacher once insisted that I "must go to India to practice with Bikram," underscoring the disturbingly cult-like indoctrination within this group. They seem to accept his sexual abuses as an unfortunate aspect of the practice, often rationalizing them with victim-blaming narratives. Additionally, I encountered a significant amount of denial among individuals who were unable to confront the grim realities, choosing instead to downplay or feign ignorance.

A particularly poignant conversation occurred with a woman I matched with on Tinder, which offered a stark contrast to the prevailing reactions. When she inquired about my yoga practice, I mentioned Bikram yoga. She then asked if I had seen the documentary, to which I affirmed, expressing my disgust and explaining my preference for referring to it as "26&2" to dissociate it from Choudhury's name.

She proceeded to share that Bikram yoga had transformed her life. Struggling with mobility issues and chronic pain, she practiced this yoga daily and found relief. However, upon learning about Choudhury's sexual abuse, she immediately ceased attending classes, deeming it wrong to support him. While I admired her steadfastness, viewing it as a commendable commitment to justice, I also found it unfortunate that a man could become so inexorably linked to a series of beneficial movements and practices. She confessed that these poses would forever remind her of him, an association I could comprehend. By the time I commenced the practice, the community had already begun distancing itself from Choudhury, though his name remained attached to it. Yet, I hadn't initially perceived it through the lens of him being a divine figure who invented the practice, which was the prevailing sentiment prior to my involvement.

Contrary to popular belief, Bikram did not invent these poses; rather, he appropriated them from his guru, one of many falsehoods perpetuated by this Trump-esque narcissist.

Bikram proved to be a masterful marketer of yoga in America. He charged exorbitant fees, made it fashionable, flaunted his wealth, and established a system reliant on his approval, reaping substantial commissions for the rights to teach this stolen series. His marketing endeavors played a significant role in popularizing yoga in America, albeit contributing to its over-commercialization. Nevertheless, it undeniably facilitated the spread of the practice. Despite the challenges and discomfort it entails, I remain enamored with the practice and would eagerly welcome the opportunity to share a class with you someday. After all, the post-class euphoria is truly incomparable.

I also initially harbored some guilt about continuing this practice, so I totally understand the decision to disengage. However, ultimately, I want people to benefit from this amazingly systematic series of rigorous poses. I believe it has the potential to greatly help many individuals. It is unfortunate that the actions of such a horrible man tarnished and minimized what was an extremely promising growing health movement. I will definitely write more about this later because this is a very important practice for me. Also, this topic and scandal is very dear to my heart.

Bic Lighters: Safety Guard Removal

Did you know that Bic lighters have a little child safety lock on the top of them? It's an amazingly unknown fact even amongst rigorous smokers who use Bic lighters every day. Perhaps you've flicked a Bic lighter that has had the child safety device removed; this might have felt particularly smooth and easy in a way you didn't understand. Turns out, you can have this smooth lighter ignition anytime; you just have to remove the child safety lock.

To remove the metal piece that acts as a child safety lock on a Bic lighter, you'll need a small tool like a screwdriver or tweezers. Use the tool to carefully lift the metal piece upward. Be gentle to avoid damaging the lighter or injuring yourself. Once the metal piece is lifted, you can remove it completely, enabling the lighter to function without the child safety feature. Do this step carefully because you can dislodge the wheel and ruin the lighter if you don’t do this step properly.

Kevin Durant

The Minnesota Timberwolves just swept the Phoenix Suns.

This was a huge loss for Kevin Durant, who was unable to even get one victory in the first round of the playoffs this year. Every year, every few games or milestones basically, there’s a heated debate about who the GOAT is: Greatest of all Time. Michael Jordan? Is it LeBron? Kobe? Steph Curry. Durant isn’t mentioned in GOAT conversations; I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that, and he’s not the GOAT. However, he’s an exceptional player. Kevin Durant is a legend, plain and simple.

The Last Dance documentary shed a lot of new light onto a topic everyone already knew. Michael Jordan is competitive. The fierceness and almost sociopathic nature of his competitive fire were on full display in this phenomenal sports documentary. This brought a lot of focus into the societal conversation of competition, what separates good from great, and great from elite. What separates elite from The GOAT? After The Last Dance, it was easy to believe that being insanely ruthlessly focused was the only way to win. Kobe Bryant certainly had a good dose of what Michael Jordan had. I love this particular story. Watch the whole clip below. It is about the time Kobe Bryant and his teammate had to face each other in the Olympics. I have queued up the link to the essential portion. But to get the whole background of how deep and insane it is, watch the beginning as well, hear Pau speak about it.

So Kobe and Michael Jordan, who are agreed to be among the greatest (and the greatest) to ever play the game, both had this ruthless competitive fire. Is that required? Don Bradman, a cricket player and the most dominant athlete in the history of any sport, was characterized as being kind, dignified, and full of humility while Jordan and Kobe were known for being ruthless and extremely confident, to the point of cockiness. What about another GOAT? Wayne Gretzky's demeanor is characterized by his humility, grace, leadership, and approachability.

Sir Donald Bradman, the Undeniable, G.O.A.T of all G.O.A.T.S. (consult wikipedia)

Where am I going with this? Back to Kevin Durant. At a time where some of the NBA’s elite are aging (Curry/James/Durant), their legacies are being measured. There is a collective consciousness that the way these players perform will be their final opportunity to contribute to their legacy and towards their ranking in the list of all-time greats.

Durant just got swept. Lebron James almost did too. LeBron gave due credit in the post game i to the Denver Nuggets team and coach. Then the interview was largely about himself, his future, his son’s future, which admittedly comes from the way he was asked and his role as the NBA’s figurehead. His situation with his son entering the draft is a pretty unique and interesting one; naturally, that’s gonna get questions from the reporters. All that said…

Kevin Durant’s post-game interview post being swept was an absolute class act. It made me like the guy so much. I don’t really know all that much about Kevin Durant. Maybe this is a good time to say, I do not watch basketball. I do not watch NBA games, not small ones, not big ones. But I follow. I read. I love the stories, the narratives, the personalities. Kevin Durant was exceptional in this interview.

I think his attitude is best summed up in this amazing display of irreverent trash talk fueled by competitive fire on the part of Anthony Edwards. Watch this whole thing. It’s 40 seconds. I love this so much. https://twitter.com/i/status/1781890771534094582

Michael Jordan would have tried to end Anthony Edward’s career in the following plays, game, years, and probably forever. There’s definitely something very remarkable about that. Kevin Durant’s reaction was incredibly different, polar opposite. Kevin Durant, who is a competitive beast (you do not win an NBA Finals MVP award without being so), does not want to lose, at all. But he rejoices in the youthful talent and the fiery spirit of Anthony Edwards. His entire post-game interview is incredible. It’s full of praise. I find the whole thing to be such a testament to true competition. He doesn’t want to knock Anthony Edwards down in order to be better; he wants the whole level to elevate. The full interview video is here. Below that are the quotes I love. Watch the video because Kevin Durant’s tone says so much.

Reporter: Kevin, Ant was saying that he's looking forward to playing with you at the Olympics. What have you thought about his growth and the leap and his performance in the series?

Kevin Durant: So impressed with Ant, so impressed with Ant, um, my favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league at 22. Just his love for the game just shines bright, and that's something that's probably one of the reasons why I like him the most, because he just loves basketball. He's grateful to be in this position, he's taking advantage of every opportunity he's gotten. Um, love everything about Ant, everything. And um, be watching him going forward and, um, you know, you know he's going to go out there and play extremely hard every single night. But was really impressed with him, um, and he's going to be somebody I follow for the rest of his career.

Reporter: Hi Kevin, uh, this is Sou Qu. At this point in your career, with all that you've accomplished and being as healthy as you've been in seasons past, when you have a season end like this, in this way, what's kind of the level of motivation going into next season for you individually?

Kevin Durant: I live and breathe this, bro, like I have nothing else, but like, you know, at this point in my life, I got a lot going on outside of basketball, but what I mainly focus on is ball, bro. So, like, yeah, I got motivation, I love to play, I'm going to come back next year, you know, ready to hoop, you know, so yeah, I don't think you should question that then.

I also appreciate the moments in this interview where Durant declines to "provide context" or "specifics" because he doesn't want anything he says to be perceived as making excuses. This, to me, epitomizes true competitiveness at its finest. All accountability rests on my shoulders. If anything contrary to that is true, it's inconsequential. This stance stands in contrast to LeBron James expressing frustration with officiating and the replay center: 'It bothers me,' in a game where he missed a crucial shot. (And by the way, he's receiving too much criticism for that shot; he's a clutch shooter. However, mentioning officiating in such a scenario is ridiculous.)

Wrapping it all up, this was such a beautiful interview to me, I needed to highlight it. The love Kevin Durant has of basketball is incredibly apparent and very endearing. The way he respects and reveres that love of basketball he sees in Anthony Edwards, incredible. So… as I said… I do not watch basketball, but I feel that I understand energy. I think we’re in a new era, it is hard to stay on top. Giannis, Curry, Butler, Luka, Irving. Dynasties are very difficult now, any random guy you’ve never heard of can drop 50 points in a game. Everyone is a problem. I was speaking with my cousin about how staying champ in the UFC is so difficult. Remaining dominant in the sport of MMA seems extremely difficult. However, I feel that this is the case for a lot of sports now, given the insane level of play and the immense talent of countless individuals. The game has leveled up tremendously. Boy is Jokic amazing, incredible. He feels unbeatable at times. I read energy though and I believe what Kevin Durant was speaking to, witnessing, realizing, was that the torch was getting passed down and this new young guy is the truth. And I’m putting my money where my blog is.

I believe in energy and momentum and I feel something here and If this seems stupid, ….. (see video below).

Preservatives.

I recently heard something that made a lot of sense. We are often told that shelf-stable food that doesn’t spoil is bad for you. It is full of processed items and preservatives.

What I’m about to say is a regurgitated version of a very simplified concept, but it made sense to think about: What is a preservative?

A preservative is a substance added to products such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and personal care products to prolong their shelf life by inhibiting microbial growth, oxidation, or other chemical processes that may cause spoilage or degradation.

Antimicrobial preservatives inhibit the growth of bacteria, yeast, mold, and other microorganisms. They work by disrupting microbial cell membranes, interfering with cellular metabolism, or denaturing proteins essential for microbial growth.

The problem with this is that our gut biome is comprised of bacteria that digest food. Some preservatives, especially those with antimicrobial properties, can disturb the balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut. This imbalance may occur because preservatives not only target harmful bacteria but also affect the beneficial ones. As a result, the composition of the gut microbiome, which is essential for digestion, immune function, and overall health, may be altered.

Basically, the very reason preservatives are effective in creating a shelf-stable food product is the same reason they are harmful for your digestion. It prevents bacteria in your gut from digesting food, the same way it prevents bacteria outside your gut from doing so.

Please read labels and minimize the amount of shelf-stable items you consume. Dehydration is a great way to increase a food’s longevity without adding preservatives.

Here are a bunch of natural preservatives!

citric acid which is included in the above photo, is often developed from black mold. here is some reddit controversy on one of the natural preservatives i just mentioned. that said, citrus, is often a great pervasive, as in lemons , limes etc.

Stay tuned for a post on Kevin Durant this week.