California’s Not a Dream

One year ago today, I moved from Florida to good ol’ expensive ass California – to have all my dreams and savings crushed into nothing so I’d inevitably start considering creating that sugardaddy.com  profile after all. Nah, I’m playing…my dreams aren’t all crushed yet, my sugar daddy will definitely pay my student loans. Aside from realizing how real all the rumors were about Cali, like the traffic..and that it is in fact, really f**king expensive..I feel good about my move. Yea, I’m baaaasically broke…But I am having THE time of my life.  I can’t stress enough the amount of times this year alone I’ve had to take a moment to myself, breathe in, and think, “I did this.” I created this life for myself, and this life really is mine. I have a whole group of amazing new friends, I’ve been to countless festivals (ahem…yes Coachella included, duh), I had a surprise birthday party, I’m co-producing a comedy show next month…Guys, I even tried standup comedy for the first time…and for a first time it was pretty damn cool, PEOPLE THOUGHT I WAS FUNNY!Crazyiknowright. It’s just been that fantastic and that alone has been unbelievable to me at times. I value my experiences and having the memories that I do so much more than any material thing. Over the years I’ve constantly looked back on my 20s with mostly smiles on my face – not just about all the tough lessons and adversity I have overcome trying to figure out who I really was blah blah etc.., but on all the late reckless nights and adventures I’ve been on too. These are the things that will last a lifetime. And guys, I just landed a new kick ass job – so I won’t be so broke anymore! Goodbye glucose father! &Like yea, CA is probably still going to rape me financially…but I guess that’s just the price I’m paying for some “priceless” experiences, sprinkled with an immeasurable wealth of personal growth and…yea I gotta say it, self-love. I’m technically rich AF!!!

Such Inlighten

I think it would be cool to go back and give people from the past futuristic drugs. Like what if we could go back to the 1700’s and give all of the Colonial soldiers cocaine? Would the US have won the Revolutionary war sooner because they had more energy or would we be sniffling slaves with English accents? I’d really want to give a caveman acid. Imagine a dude in a loincloth trying to pantomime all of the secrets of the universe as trees and seas melt all around him. “Bam-Bam enlightened now?!” Bringing new age drugs to the past would obviously cause a few hiccups in the timeline, right? It undoubtedly would have sped progress up a little bit. Instead of swing dance in the 1920’s, soldiers would have been pop-locking (and dropping) on their return trip home from the Great Moon War between Earth and the Mars colony. Would there even have been war if psychedelics were more ubiquitous early on? Where is this going? I don’t think I know for sure but I do think there is a bigger message here though. It doesn’t have to necessarily pertain to drugs. I think that the more we stifle things such as ideas, thoughts, feelings, drugs, emotions, etc., it stunts our growth. Growth to you could mean financial or familial but growth to me is about learning how to create that perfect balance of contentment and hope or desire for things to come. I think the drug war has caused an arrested development for global growth. While I don’t think that you NEED to ingest something to become “enlightened”, I do think psychoactive substances are catalysts for growing the collective subconscious. Maybe this was all the proof you needed for the war on drugs. Idk. Time’s up. See you tomorrow.

Episode 123: Smasmortion Ban

The guys throw the top back on the topicals. The Georgia/Alabama abortion ban, penile lengthening surgeries, school lunch shaming and the college plagiarism business are all discussed.

Clay and Friends – OMG

Anna Sofia – Meaner Girl

Party Called Life

I was born with a serious disability called sobriety.  The side effects include things like having difficulty concentrating on daily tasks, high anxiety, frequent mood swings, and over time, permanent damage to my retinal tissue since I’ll often experience the irresistible urge to go on early morning hikes and stare at the sunrise.  I think as a society we’ve been doing a great job with unveiling the stigma against mental health…That’s great, I love what we’re doing there…  But what about the stigma against sobriety?! WHY IS IT that when I’m self-medicating (successfully), and having the time of MY life (because I’m a happy drunk), people assume I may have a problem? Ok obviously joking here…but on a serious note: I’m 27 years old, 3 years from 30, and I keep hearing this message from people that I’ll need to “slow down” soon.  I don’t think I ever need to slow down to settle down (I used to though).  I’ll slow down on the drinking and partying and living my life to the fullest whenever I slow down on the drinking and partying and living my life to the fullest.  There’s no magic number for when that should or does happen?  Am I not “grown up” because I still like to party? No.  People fundamentally, at their core, don’t change.  The message: I’ll ALWAYS be the girl…or ahem…the woman, who loves her bottomless mimosas (hold the OJ) and brings as much fun as she can to this party called “life”.

Jobs

I always end up hating my job. I can’t tell if it’s because I don’t want to work for other people or because I’ve always signed up to work for the wrong people. Now before you think I’m taking shots at my direct managers, I’m not, I actually appreciate the people I interact and work for. I’m not above or better than anyone, I’ve just always had problems with the way companies are run…especially big companies that I’ve been apart of during my office “career”. Companies get so big that they can’t possibly be efficient. They get so big that employees within the company (especially myself) feel like nothing they do as an impact or matters. I work for a giant healthcare company now. They have so many “benefit” programs and miscellaneous publications that I wonder if they want to stick to their core competencies at all or they just want to skim off of the people who earn money for them.

My first job was cashiering for Al’s Pizza. I loved that place and it was the perfect fit for a high school stoner. I’d smoke a bowl in the back parking lot before work, put in my 4-6 hours and then dip out with free pizza. Ah, back when times were much simpler. It wasn’t rewarding but it served a purpose at that time in my life. It taught me about punctuality and serving others.

Next, I worked as filing clerk for a law firm. I actually made pretty decent money but as you know, lawyers aren’t the most fascinating of people. It turned me off from pursuing law as I realized I was having the same interactions and I eventually got bored after exactly a year. After all, I only took up an office job to prove to my parents that I was professional enough to work for the family company. So, after almost exactly a year, I put my notice in and decided to work alongside my parents.

Working with and for my parents will be a separate post in itself. That’s WAY too much to get in to right now. I think you all understand.

After I realized I wasn’t exactly a chip off the ole block, I got a job at a comedy club. That was the most fun job I’ve ever had but it just didn’t pay enough for the time I put in. I love comedy but I value my time and sanity more than laughs and free nachos, so I eventually had to move on from that.

Then I worked for a “logistics” company. Basically, my job was to sell “lanes” to truck drivers to move freight from Point A to Point B. It was an experience. I got to learn about the backbone of American trade while earning a decent paycheck. Eventually my girlfriend and I made the decision to move away from home in Jacksonville, Florida and head north to where I reside today, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

That leads me back to the healthcare company I currently work for. Now, I have to throw some caveats in about my earlier comments on inefficiency. In my current employer’s defense, The United State’s healthcare system is so fucked up that I don’t think it’s possible to run an efficient business in it. There are just too many patients and hospitals and doctors and illnesses and accidents that there’s almost no way things can run smoothly. I don’t want to get too much in the weeds here but big companies like the one I work for just seem too big and cumbersome to navigate not only the healthcare industry but the world around it. There are complex systems and devoted employees that revolve around things that don’t add value. Things like PTO software, internal online shopping stores for knickknacks, company specific podcasts and the like are byproducts of a bloated business entity. I might have lost most of you and that’s because I can’t be too specific right now (for obvious reasons). Some of you feel my pain though. Like why did my company rent out a football stadium for our annual Christmas party? Couldn’t they have just given everyone bonuses and boosted “morale” that way?

What I’m getting at with all of this is that I don’t think most people are job compatible. At least, I know I’m not. I need to figure out how to stop working for people and move away from the “income to live” trap. I can’t stand when people say, “Be your own boss”, because I never want to look or think of myself as a “boss” but I want to eventually be free of a set schedule and predefined expectations as to what my output should be.

I want to wake up everyday with the freedom to do exactly what I want, create value in people’s lives and ultimately be self sustainable. I guess that kind of starts with this website. I want it to work for me but that won’t happen until I bring something of value to the people who visit. That’s where you come in.

What could I possibly do to create value in your life? What do you want me to research and refine so you don’t have to? Just let me know, I’m all ears (and eyes).

 

Episode 122: Mormon, Moldy, Moist

Recorded on a Sundee, dropped on a Wednesday…Zack’s gotta do better. The boys get topical. A bartender is charged for serving a murderer. Don’t let your forbidden fruits rot. What kind of guy would you want to date your daughter?

Schoolboy Q – Floating (feat. 21 Savage)

Lynyrd Skynyrd – Simple Man