The Election

First, for those who had candidates or ballot measures they were really passionate about who won, congratulations. I really hope that what you voted for plays out in the manner you want it to in the way you think it actually will.

But I'm disappointed. I really thought we were turning out as a country and we didn't. 18 million fewer people voted than 2020. Even Trump supporters were less, from 74.2 mil to 71.8 mil and let's be honest, y'all rep Trump more than Latino Catholics rep the Virgin Mary and I have 2 references in my house and one in my wallet alone.

I really thought this election was going to be it, was going to be the year were finally people got it. Sure, no one really liked the Presidential candidates (yes some were super hyped, I get it) but guess what, you don't get better until you start ACTUALLY participating in the local stuff and demanding better there. Trump is the literal exception to the rule. If Citizens United didn't happen, neither would have Trump. The vast majority of his funding through all of his campaigns have been through SuperPacs and 501cs, which hey, not going to knock the hustle.

But if you want better, you have to demand better at the local level. And if you think politics doesn't impact your life daily it is truly because you are privileged enough that your politicians are ensuring you don't pay attention to it so you don't pay attention to them. So you don't notice potholes or streets not being plowed or traffic lights not working or trash along the streets. But be careful to not paying attention. If you ever had kids you know when they are quiet is when shit is happening.

So I was really disappointed to find out that so many people bailed to do THE MOST BASIC OF BASIC CITIZEN JOB. There will never ever be a candidate you agree with 100% unless you yourself run. It's a bus route, not an uber.

We have to do better. Sincerely I don't care what political party you are a part of or what you believe in (that's not true, if you think that centipedes should have free roam in even in houses I truly hate your stance but I will encourage you to still bring forward your proposals) we have to not just vote, which is like basic, we need to actually engage.

Because to pretend that life itself isn't political when we drink water that we get it from the pipes or in a plastic bottle that has to go through a processing plant that has been verified by government agencies or has to pass through customs and the importer into the country and has paid a tariff that has been passed on to you, is not fundamentally political is willfully ignorant. And that is just one thing. And you can't escape water. It's in your drinks, food, shower, laundry machine, etc.

Politics is everywhere, even if you don't want to admit it. And local politics impacts you massively. Start there and then maybe one day soon, we'll stop saying for Presidential candidates the lessor of two evils every 4 years. That's what giving a damn can do.

Hot Take: Dimension 20's Neverafter

College Humor creating Dropout has led to one of my all-time favorite shows - Dimension 20. A D&D playthrough show cases some of the best story-telling I have seen.

My addiction to this show which is really a series of various shows can not be explained other than the talent on display is amazing. I have been become so jaded by TV these days being so formulaic that I can predict what is going to happen so early that it isn’t fun to watch really.

It is almost better to watch the clips with the jokes on YouTube so at least I can get what might be original in the show. Nothing feels authentic anymore. But here, this does.

Don’t get me wrong predictable can still be done incredibly well. Historical retelling done well can still be well worth the watch but odds are it rarely is because they never trust the audience enough to do the work or they are trying to hard to draw conclusions that aren’t real or worse mythologize people who were simply human.

But in this show, you get to see people show real emotions in humor that touch on dark, weird and strange themes. That have characters that are larger than life yet feel ordinary and everyday. And stories that are so well worn that we all know them by heart feel so new that we don’t know what is going to happen next. And that kind of creativity I adore. There is no fake “a feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty” where you read it and yet somehow she is now an annoying boss babe who seems to have even less agency. No, this is a woman who learns and grows and feminist but in a way that is more true to life than a bumper sticker approach.

The amount of horrors in this show is insane and yet I laughed so much it was ridiculous and it was because of the cricket saying don’t drink water. It was because of how amazing that the cast was of weaving a tale that was so dark and yet keeping it light enough that it never fully consumed you.

Which is why I love Dimension 20. They are my one go to. My one consistent show I watch. And it’s because I trust them completely to help me unwind. To turn off from the world. When it is dark and dreary. They are an escape I can count on. And I love them for it.

Letting Go

The Theme for this year is all about Letting Go. 2023 was rough, a lot of death. But 2024 needs to be about letting go of ideas, ideals and concepts that are bad for me, so some more death in a round about way.

But that will be good for me.

I need to be able to see things for what they are, and deal with them for the reality of the situation. It will let me be able to move past some toxic environments, relationships and habits that aren’t good for me and let me stop being toxic myself.

I think that is really what growing is all about. We are all toxic to someone in the end. So this year is really about going through and taking really hard looks at my life and focusing in on what I need to do to get myself on the right path. Hopefully that will get me to where I need to be.

Hot Take: YouTube's Andrew Huberman

Andrew Huberman’s Podcast and YouTube channel has become one of my favorites. It also not so secretly helped me to solve what was a two year misdiagnosis nightmare journey that had me on a ton of drugs that had a lot of bad side effects and were not helping.

As a Stanford Associate Professor in Neurobiology with a PhD in Neuroscience and an Ophthalmologist, I was willing to take him seriously on the one topic he was referred to me for, migraines. I am not a huge fan of people who flip me medical advice from “doctors” on any social media platform because most people have no bloody clue to how to decern appropriate medical advice from the specialty they are receiving it from.

After Covid, my sensitivity to this went through the roof. I ended a lot of friendships over this. MASSIVE AMOUNTS of them. It was a new infectious disease that seemed to be impacting the respiratory system, might be impact the heart and the brain and is incredibly quickly mutating. So listening to those specialties, along with data scientists and of course, epidemiologists who are analyzing large amounts of patient data to find patterns makes sense. Anyone else, immediately is sus without coming to the table with a lot of reputable data to back it up. And antidotal data, unnamed sources and being dressed in scrubs I can walk into any store and by myself doesn’t count.

So, like I said, might be sensitive. But here comes Huberman. And like the man of my dreams, he comes with receipts, I mean cites his sources. Now as a person who also does this when I make a point/argument (everyone assumes whenever I talk I am arguing, I’m not, I’m just loud and excited), this is like a cool breeze on a summer’s day.

But he doesn’t just do this all by his lonesome, oh no. He brings other experts in their specific medical field that specialize in the thing they are talking about.

And THAT is the kicker. See, that, that is special. People do not realize how freaking special that is. But it is. I will probably do a post on my nuance issues with people who call themselves experts versus people who are experts but don’t necessarily use the word expert unless when necessary but given how long that would be, that does need to be another post.

But I appreciate what he does. I like that he is trying to bring medical education to the masses. That he links actual studies. That he then gives an overview of the study and translates the big fancy medical words to normal words so people can understand. That is awesome.

But the fact that he did that, and that his advice on migraines actually worked got me thinking. I have access to this stuff because of my job. I speak healthcare. So I requested my medical records. Like all of them.

And then being me, started to make my own longitudal medical record. I then started to go through his back catalog as a start because he had already done a lot of the work to find me studies. I started to take myself off the meds I believed were doing the most harm and had cross-referenced with friends who worked in pharma along with studies I found that backed it up. I looked at my medical history, my family history and dug in to determine what was the key potential issues and asked for the tests and low and behold, I was bloody right.

Now the med they put me on to fix that was at too strong of a dosage and it put me in the opposite direction and that is a whole other story and yes, I fired almost all those docs and switched over to new docs. But this one, this one reminded me that I had the power all along. And for that I will always be forever grateful.

From having migraines 5-6 days a week to 1 a month with the goal to getting it down to 1 a quarter soon. Love ya Dr. Huberman. Keep fighting the good fight.