Latest / Kaleidoscope - Perspectives Beyond The Surface / Kaleidoscope PBTS: E5 Convenience | Dopamine | Ragequits

Transcript

Kaleidoscope PBTS: E5 Convenience | Dopamine | Ragequits · Kaleidoscope - Perspectives Beyond The Surface

0:00
Tough questions. Honest answers. Oh, the messy
0:06
truth. Your perspectives. Let's begin. Welcome
0:14
to Kaleidoscope. I'm so sad. Now we're back online.
0:21
Hi. Hi. Justin. Hello. Welcome. Thank you. Welcome
0:27
to the fifth episode of Kalareska. It's been
0:32
a long time in the making. It has been a long
0:34
time in the making. Thanks for reaching back
0:36
out to me. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I really
0:39
appreciate it. Tell us about yourself, Justin.
0:43
It's been busy. That's why I want to go back
0:44
to you now. So I've been preoccupied now finding
0:50
a new job. So that has just been achieved. Signing
0:53
the contract and be moving cities. of Suzhou
0:57
where I've been for the last five years where
0:59
he's on the Ningbo Ningbo Ningbo which is apparently
1:04
a very beautiful city as well yeah so yeah I've
1:07
never been there okay I have very very briefly
1:09
is it worth going I'm told it's very nice and
1:13
people like I know quite a few people who work
1:16
in Ningbo The recruiter had said to me, I've
1:20
got to let you know that the school itself is
1:23
quite far out. It's not in downtown. And maybe
1:26
that was supposed to be a deterrent, but that's
1:29
wonderful for me. I'm not too big into city life
1:33
and convenience, which I'll get into later as
1:35
my topic for today. Excellent. Yeah. What's been
1:41
happening? I don't like talking about my personal
1:46
life. No, no, no. No personal life. What do you
1:49
mean what's been happening? What's been happening?
1:51
I'm waiting to do this podcast. For weeks. The
1:56
most anxious. Today I am. I don't know where
1:59
all my stuff is. I lost all my notes. I think
2:02
I know where it is. Yeah, it's been a busy time.
2:05
So I've been looking forward to this as well.
2:07
Got the orchestra to attend this evening, which
2:11
will be really nice. Where's the orchestra? Right
2:13
here in Ginger Lake, the Sujo Mall. yeah i really
2:17
want to go as well yeah in the mall or it's natural
2:20
no no no of course it's a amphitheater that's
2:24
very near very near the mall so it's don't think
2:27
like cultural building the cultures they're in
2:30
moon hard next to boxing oh my god sorry guys
2:34
where i live right it's like another city i gotta
2:41
drive all the way up there i knew that you don't
2:43
go to bangkok like come on i mean If I had a
2:49
car maybe, it's just so much. It takes so long.
2:52
Too much effort. It's every two weeks and it's
2:55
well worth it if you get that relaxation from
2:58
the music and if you're into classical music,
3:00
yeah. Okay. What's been happening in my life?
3:07
I'm looking for new opportunities always. Continuing
3:15
this podcast. Yeah, this is this is the biggest
3:18
opportunity Yeah, I'm thinking about going to
3:21
Thailand and now two months till we see what's
3:25
up there You want to come where I might? I might
3:29
have to Nice. I might not have a choice. You've
3:32
been before never. Oh, I know you could yeah.
3:35
No, it's yeah, it's amazing. Okay We'll go to
3:38
Shanghai and then we'll go back home Well, I
3:42
give Bangkok a wide berth, but as I said, I'm
3:44
not a big city person Take your words for it.
3:51
All right Who's gonna go first today before we
3:56
start before I do this deal who's gonna go first?
3:59
Wait, let me I really want to see I really want
4:02
to check my notes. I think I wrote things down
4:04
I can't find them on my phone. I think I wrote
4:06
them in my my books This is Riverside, isn't
4:11
it cool? Very much so. If you're watching this
4:15
today, welcome to Kaleidoscope. We've started
4:19
using Riverside to record the podcast. It makes
4:24
everything much easier. It includes AI to make
4:27
editing easy. It automatically transcribes everything.
4:31
I think we can translate as well. If you like
4:35
it, if you want to record cool videos, or edit
4:39
long -form videos quickly. In the doobly -doo
4:43
is my link. It would help me out if you get it,
4:50
because I'm going to forget Riverside. So that's
4:53
going to be posted on, you're using that to record,
4:56
right? Riverside, you're going to be posting
4:58
it on your YouTube channel. Yes. But actually,
5:02
Riverside will also be doing all of the clips
5:05
and stuff that go onto TikTok and Instagram.
5:08
And it happens quickly, really quickly. We started
5:12
the first time with Luigi's Flame from the last
5:16
episode. Yeah, it just makes life so easy for
5:20
me. We're looking at like seven to eight hours
5:24
recording all the way down to 20 minutes. Wow,
5:28
that's a lot of time saved. You found it. Super!
5:37
whatever off the cuff we're doing this let's
5:39
go that's the way i rock man i'm so mad at so
5:43
many cool intro thingies all right stored them
5:48
in your yes queen noggin yep want to try hello
5:52
this is the episode or this is the podcast where
5:55
we ask um difficult questions pose interesting
5:59
perspectives and dive into those from everyday
6:02
people from anywhere in the world i'm I'm what
6:08
happens when a spreadsheet happens to think that
6:12
it has feelings, collides with a sci -fi glitch
6:15
and comes out as a queen. Welcome to Kaleidoscope.
6:23
I'm Justin and I'm a meat -coated skeleton hurting
6:28
through time and space. In my spare time, I save
6:33
kittens from trees. basically an all around nice
6:37
guy if you stop that if you stop that I said
6:40
kittens I would believe that but the treatment
6:43
the tree things too much yeah everyone I'm Luigi
6:48
and I have a I don't know how can I stand up
6:52
to this I have a strange fear of public gyms
6:56
and Fendi failed cynicism of other people's statements
7:03
about themselves. Yeah, 100%. Thanks for the
7:09
welcome. Thanks for having us here at RubyRubes.
7:12
Who is going to, who wants to go first today?
7:17
How serious is yours? Yours is pretty serious.
7:22
It's an Excel spreadsheet. I always wanted him.
7:26
You know, I was trying to make my little serious
7:29
start line harder. Well, I don't have anything
7:32
like hard to start with. Let me go. It's the
7:36
idea that simply put in two words, convenience
7:43
kills. So yeah, not too lighthearted either.
7:48
But the idea that especially where we are here
7:52
in China, it's just so easy to get everything.
7:55
delivered to you. It's your lifestyle is made
8:00
super convenient. But if there's ever a breakdown
8:03
in that chain, you know, like we had some time
8:07
ago in 2020 service delivery and food stops,
8:11
everything falls apart. You can say yeah. Yeah,
8:14
when that absolute clusterfuck happened. Yeah,
8:18
everyone was stuck with their finger up there.
8:20
They're proverbial because nobody knows how to
8:22
do anything for themselves. So convenience kills.
8:25
You think COVID made people less capable of things
8:32
because... No, no, no. Just they were shown,
8:36
like if there's that supply chain breakdown,
8:39
everyone goes and buys everything from the supermarket
8:41
or we just at the touch of a button get our coffee
8:44
delivered. When that wasn't able to happen due
8:46
to COVID, it highlighted how we could be stuck
8:50
up shit creek without a paddle. Because we're
8:52
so dependent. Yeah, on delivery. Do you think
8:54
people were not capable of going up to buy coffee
8:58
or, you know, whatever? Yeah, people don't even
9:01
cook anymore. Like you can just go to the supermarket
9:03
now to buy your own food to cook it. And so a
9:06
few people do that, because it's more convenient
9:09
to get delivered to you. Now, I think I don't
9:14
I don't know, I have to disagree. I mean, I agree
9:16
with what you're saying that people don't know
9:18
how to cook, or they don't cook. Now, I would
9:20
say that's very specific to where we are. I think
9:23
about this a lot, too. I just think because everything's
9:28
so affordable, let's say, yeah, China's really
9:33
easy. That's exactly the thing. Maybe cooking
9:36
doesn't happen for us, but I think of back home,
9:40
I think cooking is still a very common routine.
9:44
Maybe young Zoomers get all the... Order out
9:49
stuff to take out stuff. That's pre -made and
9:51
they yeah, they got money to spend baby. Sure
9:54
I've been cooking a lot because it's so terrible
10:00
No before losing weight, but okay, but I've also
10:05
just been enjoying eating a lot more and but
10:08
but I do get my groceries delivered to me sure
10:11
and I rarely go to buy them sometimes I do I
10:15
can say I I cook I would rather cook than order
10:20
out because I just want to know what I'm eating.
10:25
But, uh, yeah, I'm so lazy at half the time.
10:28
I'll just starve. I don't even want to walk down
10:30
the street to buy groceries. That's how lazy
10:33
I become. That's how convenient everything is
10:35
for me. But so, okay, wait, what's your point
10:38
again? That convenience kills. It's just too
10:42
easy to get takeout food. Yeah. What does it
10:44
count? You're sold. Well, yeah, we'll get around
10:47
to that. But also convenience in terms of all
10:51
the pre -made foods, like all of the chemicals
10:53
that are inside foods are super bad for you.
10:56
And of course, people, it takes just that bit
10:59
of effort to go shop for yourself. Even when
11:01
you're shopping, you're not sure what's in your
11:03
ingredients, but you've got to try and shop carefully
11:06
so that you can cook at home. And people are
11:08
like, oh, there's too much effort to go to the
11:10
supermarket. Oh, it's too much effort to cook.
11:12
So you're just people becoming more lazy. by
11:15
consuming all this pre -made food and while you're
11:19
losing the skills of cooking. I mean, some people
11:21
may not know how to cook in a little generations
11:24
time. So you're saying it's killing society?
11:29
Yeah, if you take it down to people giving their
11:33
kid an iPhone or a tablet to entertain them because
11:37
it's more convenient for the device to entertain
11:42
your child. then you're even losing that family
11:47
dynamic. So, yeah, it bleeds into everything.
11:50
OK, there's a lot going on here. So people are
11:52
losing their ability to cook and family home
11:56
time or whatever. Yeah. Ritual dinner is breaking
11:59
families apart because no one's having dinner
12:01
together and talking to their kids. Making us
12:04
up. So there are two very different things. But
12:09
they result from the same. But we have to we
12:12
have first we have to. systemic. Recognize where
12:15
we are though. Again, I keep coming back to this,
12:17
but you know, we are in China. I don't know,
12:19
do Chinese families sit down and have dinner
12:21
together every day? I used to. I think they do.
12:25
Is it less? But one thing that is true, yeah,
12:29
is cooking has become the purview of the grandma.
12:35
And it's not in China. In China. Yeah. And I
12:40
think that is also true for Thailand from an
12:43
experience there. Okay. And it was not true in
12:48
Western society. And I bring it back to you.
12:50
I used to live in Thailand. You're saying grandmas
12:54
in the West don't cook? No, no, they do. But
12:57
they cook much less for the nuclear family, because
13:03
here in China, they coalesce, they come together
13:05
after children are had. The parents often hand
13:11
those children over to the grandparents and the
13:14
grandma cooks and often the parents will come
13:19
home and they'll eat food that the grandma cooks.
13:22
That's not true for every family. Often it's
13:26
the mom and there's a lot of stay -at -home moms,
13:29
especially in our orbit because we work with
13:34
wealthier families in general. I think for their
13:39
less wealthy families, when both parents are
13:45
working, they either order in, or the grandma
13:51
cooks, or the grandpa, I don't know. Well, I
13:55
would argue that if push came to shove, families
13:58
would manage their time and cook, but this is
14:02
the culture for the grandparents' cassettes.
14:06
They do that. They do the cooking. But I also
14:08
think it's a newer culture. Because I think that
14:11
before, society was more structured in the way
14:20
that the traditional man works, breadwinner,
14:24
woman at home, housewife. And then parent and
14:29
kids come home after school. But now it's changed
14:33
to... Everybody's doing everything until like
14:36
9 p .m. Every night sure and What's happened
14:39
is that grandma is still cooking the meals the
14:43
same way she has for the past four years Fair
14:49
I think we need to focus What but why I I think
14:56
it's focused because the Okay, so are we talking
15:01
specifically about families? No, we're talking
15:03
about how convenience has Convenience was born
15:08
out of necessity in China. I think like everything
15:12
Necessity is the mother of invention. People
15:17
needed more convenient ways to get food because
15:20
they need to be working longer hours and doing
15:24
like why do we have Uber Eats because people
15:26
can't be fucked to go out and buy food. But and
15:30
that's killing society. And one thing that I
15:33
was thinking about this podcast, the other day,
15:36
I said it to someone or I described it as this.
15:39
It's the podcast where. That that calls back
15:43
to the time when people met in bars and had conversations
15:46
that blew their minds and then left. Yeah, yeah.
15:51
And that doesn't happen anymore because of convenience
15:53
and as a result of COVID, like those two things
15:56
together. But I'm still not sure exactly what
15:58
it kills. Exactly, Dan, you're right. Yeah, it's
16:03
still very nebulous. Convenience kills. Sounds
16:06
real cool. Should make a t -shirt. But kills
16:11
what exactly? Convenience is a killer. Yeah,
16:15
I was thinking about it like it's everything
16:17
from like I'd said from from food to the way
16:20
that we meet people is all online, but so we're
16:23
more connected, but we have less to say or we
16:27
feel isolated. That's another point of it. From
16:32
music, for example, you can get in touch with
16:35
any sort of music that you want, but there's
16:39
no genre that defines the entire age anymore.
16:44
So I don't know, as a as an old timey person,
16:47
when I say kills, maybe it's just getting the
16:49
way of life that I'm accustomed to. We're just
16:52
so old, we don't pay attention to what's happening.
16:55
Yeah, youngins, because I think, you know, things
16:59
still, there's still like dynamic things in life,
17:03
like genres of music and sacred stone. But yeah,
17:07
you have to for music, you have to Be quite specific
17:11
how you find that music. It's not delivered to
17:14
you through the radio. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
17:16
that's true. Which I mean, wow. Well, then we
17:20
have the issue. Well, we have just a new medium
17:22
to discover music before was the radio. So it
17:25
was very limited. They're all pushing the same
17:28
agenda. I was it was radio and newspaper and,
17:31
you know, the state control media. Yeah, the
17:37
publishing houses and the big corporates, we
17:41
knew that like 70s was disco and 80s was glam
17:44
metal and 90s was grunge. What era are we in?
17:47
I think those things came out of the era having
17:53
passed and then people being able to look back
17:55
and kind of classify it as like, oh, there was
17:57
a predominance of this kind of music during this
18:00
era. I think that's just a limit of mediums that
18:05
were used. So okay, I think we have, sorry, let
18:12
me, sorry to interject. So, how can I put this?
18:21
Media was limited. We didn't have social media.
18:23
We didn't have the internet per se. And so we
18:28
had radio stations that pumped out music. for
18:31
example, and they were all playing the same thing.
18:33
Why? Because maybe because that's what was available.
18:40
That's what was popular. That's what everyone,
18:43
you know, whoever was in charge of whatever music
18:46
company was trying to push and sell. And so that
18:50
our options were limited in as much as we only
18:53
had very specific things to go to to find that
18:59
stuff. And nowadays with things like, let's say
19:07
YouTube, if you have the drive, you can discover
19:15
new music. It's a lot easier. Whereas, I guess
19:19
the past kids would have to go to the records
19:21
tour. This kind of starts leaning into what I
19:24
want to take them on. Because it's like the social
19:28
bubbling of The algorithm pushing you in a certain
19:33
direction because it's convenient It's killed
19:37
the opportunity to it's it it's killed the need
19:40
to force yourself to look for new thing Is it
19:43
pushing you somewhere? Is it just making suggestions
19:46
based on your preference? It's certainly making
19:47
you maybe lazier the structure of of it Maybe
19:53
it's not put it's not pushing you but it's definitely
19:55
guiding you in a direction. Yeah based on what
19:58
and AI arbitrarily arbitrarily thinks no based
20:04
on what you are choosing and what it is seeing
20:07
you choose exactly and then that's going in and
20:10
then it's going oh this user likes this so increasing
20:12
engagement i would increase engagement by feeding
20:16
them more of this yes they get sucked into slowly
20:22
slowly but surely they get sucked into this bubble
20:24
where everything feels the same. I don't know
20:26
if you ever browse YouTube, but after a while,
20:28
I feel like, fuck, I've been watching the same
20:31
shit for hours. Yeah, because it's what you're
20:36
into. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Instead of going out
20:39
and seeking something yourself with switching
20:42
topics and keeping getting fed this. And I think
20:45
for us, for us, we came from a time where we
20:49
had to fact check and, and figure things out.
20:52
and try new things, but I think for a lot of
20:54
newer, for the kids that we're teaching, maybe
20:58
then they're not doing it. Sure. Maybe. Well,
21:02
I mean, no, definitely. But I also don't want
21:04
to cynical because I don't think that they're
21:06
doing it because... No, we, our kids are fairly
21:09
young and ours is only one place. Like, we can't
21:14
speak for the greater world, so we really don't
21:15
know. I don't want to speak about that either
21:20
because... too much old kitty winkles and just
21:26
a critical thought you know people aren't thinking
21:28
um analytically or critically they're just sort
21:31
of absorbing whatever's being fed to them by
21:33
algorithms by uh apps that deliver your food
21:37
to your door you just it's just that convenience
21:40
and filled no longer makes people have to go
21:43
out and search of something okay what one single
21:47
aspect of society do you think convenience is
21:51
I don't know. I don't think so. If anything,
22:05
because things are so convenient, wouldn't family
22:08
have more time to spend with each other Yeah,
22:10
that's what I don't think. They should, but people
22:13
don't see, I don't see a lot of that. I see people
22:17
working. I see people when they are relaxed,
22:20
they're all in their own worlds. You may be in
22:23
the same room, but you're not really bonding.
22:26
It's the separation. So that is what I mean,
22:30
is that everyone's engaged on their phone. Parents
22:33
see it. Excuse me. Kids see it because the parents
22:36
do it you tell the kid don't don't use your don't
22:39
use your smartphone. Don't look at You know device,
22:43
but the parents are doing it all the time people
22:45
echo what they see. Yeah Yeah, we had a friend
22:52
of ours the other day was Saying he said something
22:55
actually similar to that. He was at the park
22:58
with his family and his kid was Well, he's playing
23:01
with his kit and then all these other strangers
23:03
kids came and played with him and his kid because
23:06
their parents were so disengaged they were just
23:07
all looking at their phones yeah and it really
23:10
frustrated him because he didn't want to play
23:11
with a bunch of strangers kids they're winning
23:13
addiction yeah maybe maybe parents are just burnt
23:17
out maybe parents don't want to have kids and
23:19
they have these kids for whatever reason i think
23:21
too many people are having kids that shouldn't
23:22
be having kids and people that should be having
23:24
kids aren't yeah so but okay let's say we didn't
23:28
have phones what would these parents be doing
23:31
Talking to other parents and then looking at
23:33
their kid and be like, all right, cool. Okay,
23:35
Timmy Yeah, that's nice. The kid would be like,
23:36
ma look at me and they'd be like, uh -huh. I
23:38
still be talking whatever final destination,
23:42
you know, it's just I Think I think these are
23:46
dynamics that have always existed I'm still intrigued
23:51
by the whole convenience kills. I think okay,
23:54
maybe it's dopamine addition. Yes more than convenience
24:00
kill racing dog mean heads you know just uh quick
24:03
fixes yeah doom scrawling yeah i definitely do
24:08
it's a real thing it's a real thing yeah no i
24:11
know i know i know how much time i waste staring
24:14
at my phone and then you get people like just
24:17
this morning i saw someone posting something
24:21
online saying life is so boring give me a reason
24:25
to continue living Well, I mean, that was before,
24:28
that was before self -punctuation. Stop posting
24:30
shit on this. Go do something else. Go touch
24:32
some grants. I want to hug you. That was my reason.
24:40
It's scary. I think if we're going to go like
24:45
convenience kills, convenience, increase separation
24:50
and stress and lead to higher rates of suicide.
24:56
I would say, yeah. I have no idea. Not scientific,
25:03
not just anecdotal observation. Anecdotal? Okay,
25:08
say it again. Let me think about it. Does the
25:11
fact that, okay, so it's a little bit, the chain
25:15
is a little bit longer. The fact that everybody
25:17
needs to travel to work, especially here in China.
25:21
Increase distance from family and Convenience
25:27
decreases the need and stress for needing to
25:30
like go out and meet new people. So you further
25:35
isolate yourself because you don't need to leave
25:38
your apartment and you become so isolated that
25:41
you forget how to interact with other people.
25:43
And as a result, you become depressed. And as
25:46
a result, maybe suicide rates increase. I think
25:56
if someone had a tendency, like, if they had
26:00
suicidal tendencies, regardless, it would happen
26:06
irregardless. But I don't think that something,
26:10
you know, makes that happen. Unless those tendencies
26:15
aren't there, if that makes sense. Yeah, but
26:19
they wouldn't be, you know. exacerbated because
26:22
people would be forced into some sort of situation
26:25
going out mixing with others. I certainly think
26:29
that socializing and moments like this even just
26:33
here three people coming together in a room instead
26:36
of being across the world sure increases like
26:39
there are a sense of community and well -being
26:43
as compared to just switching this off and then
26:48
that you're alone. Imagine if we were just in
26:52
our separate house, yeah, rooms, yeah. I feel
26:58
really, do we just, I feel like I'm just the,
27:02
yeah, yeah. I'm like, what's the problem? What's
27:04
wrong with me alone all day? We used to go up.
27:11
I mean, if. If being alone is a choice, then
27:15
absolutely that's a valid choice. I don't want
27:19
to touch on introversion and extroversion in
27:22
a big way, but I like being alone sometimes.
27:26
However, I recognize that when I'm alone for
27:30
too long and I don't go out and try to meet new
27:33
people, that adrenaline rush for me to go to
27:37
a bar and have a beer and meet someone new is...
27:42
I mean, fucking huge. I loved it. And if I don't
27:46
do that, I become very negative. Sure. Yeah,
27:51
I can see that. I can understand that. Yeah.
27:53
So I think if it's a choice, yeah, definitely
27:56
Val. If it's not a choice and you feel forced
27:58
to stay alone, I guess I need you. Yeah, that's
28:01
true. That's very true. You want to add? No,
28:07
I'm good. Thank you for listening to my... My
28:14
point? So many things happen. We really diverged
28:21
a lot on that one topic, but I think we led into
28:24
like the most one interesting thing that came
28:27
to mind is like, yeah, using technology and then
28:30
the paradox of being connected as we're more
28:32
disconnected. Yeah. So, you know, there are a
28:36
lot of. You know, a lot of people. Touch on the
28:40
subject one person. I was thinking of in particular.
28:42
She's an academic her name is Sherry Turkle,
28:44
and she's famous for like You know How society
28:50
becomes again more lonely with more Like social
28:56
media So, you know like texting and Whatever
29:02
can give us a sense of like intimacy, but it's
29:05
really like one. It's really one -dimensional
29:08
and it really does lack human interaction. So
29:13
maybe that's why people feel more close with
29:16
their devices. It might be good for me. I think
29:20
that example that I brought in, if we were sitting
29:24
in separate rooms here, the connection that we
29:28
had would be authentic and real and we could
29:32
see body language and stuff. It's also very clinical.
29:37
And once the door shuts, once the connection
29:39
closes, it's like a clean cut. Sure. Yeah. It
29:45
doesn't splice into your life, really. Yeah.
29:49
Yeah. It's just amazing. It doesn't touch your
29:51
face. Was it? Super. Nailed it. How can you say
29:59
that? Lighthearted. You want to ask tough questions?
30:02
Yeah, yeah. Sorry, this topic didn't bring on
30:07
a conspiracy theorist today Yeah, that was good.
30:11
I want to I want to have a quick breath Do you
30:18
guys want light -hearted or do you want to go
30:20
deep I Think we deep and you didn't you want
30:24
to take in a different direction? I feel like
30:27
we're gonna be today. Yeah, I also think we're
30:30
not gonna do okay, so I'm gonna start with but
30:34
this one maybe there's just too much shit going
30:40
on in our lives well yeah there's too much bandwidth
30:43
you know too much bandwidth being occupied by
30:46
other shit that's the metaphor bandwidth cheers
30:51
thank you welcome back welcome back to part two
30:55
episode five i'm going I'm gonna, I'm gonna go.
31:07
So I think that a lot of times things happen
31:17
in your life and you have a rage quit moment.
31:23
Yep. Right? That can happen. I want to know what
31:28
the silliest reason is you almost move countries,
31:32
quit your job or dyed your hair blue. Why, why
31:39
did you change things? Yeah, you can tell this
31:47
to him. No way. Oh, dude. It wasn't a rage quit
31:55
for me. Rage quit. Is that a thing? It's what
32:00
Elon Musk does when he's playing computer games
32:03
and people start trolling. Yeah, I know what
32:05
Rage Quit is. You're asking why I made a big
32:08
decision in life. I did something reckless without
32:11
thinking. I know what a Rage Quit is, but I don't
32:14
have any Rage Quits examples, but I know I did
32:16
something like why and when I came to China.
32:19
What really made me go to China finally? The
32:23
moment. I was a pizza delivery man. And I was
32:30
a pizza delivery man for a franchise restaurant.
32:36
And I was having an argument with the waitress
32:40
about the philosopher Kant and masturbation.
32:46
And I kept saying the name Kant, Kant, Kant,
32:49
Kant. This is what I think. And I think the management
32:53
heard that. The management was unaware they had
32:55
hired a man with a graduate degree to be a pizza
32:58
delivery man. But hey, that's the economy at
33:01
the time. Everyone's like, oh, China's going
33:02
to be so bad. It's all like that. Sorry. You
33:05
know, academic pizza delivery man. When worlds
33:09
collide. I got I got walked off the premises
33:14
that day, they said, they said, I said, what's
33:18
wrong? I said, I can't tell you. No, you got
33:19
to go. I walked off and I was like, oh, yeah.
33:24
Wow. And the colleague you were having an argument
33:28
with, she didn't stand up for you at all? No.
33:32
Because I would have been like, I was like 28.
33:34
Did she know who Colin was? No, I was trying
33:37
to explain something to her. She was a staunch
33:39
Christian. And I don't know how it came up, but
33:42
her argument was... You're going to go blind?
33:45
No, it was girls don't do that. And I said, and
33:50
for some reason I said, OK, but then I just had
33:52
a thought. I was just, this is my... My argumentative
33:56
side, I just said, but guys can do it, right?
34:00
She goes, yeah, that's no problem. And I said,
34:02
wait a minute. It just snowballed. And then I
34:08
had to just try to enlighten her. I was still
34:13
working at the university while doing this job.
34:16
Every day, I was just on, on for lecturing, on
34:19
for teaching. And I had just finished a book.
34:23
about the history of masturbation i think it
34:25
was called like on the hand or with the hand
34:29
even the hands something like that and a big
34:34
part of why in the west masturbation from what
34:37
i remember masturbation is seen as this uh you
34:40
know sin was because con was a philosopher and
34:45
he wanted to make money and a parent he had created
34:51
i could be wrong someone could please tell me
34:53
if I'm wrong somebody um he had created devices
34:58
to curb masturbation and he or rather no no no
35:02
he wanted to publish papers so he somehow got
35:08
in cahoots with other people who said masturbation
35:12
was wrong so that's how he sold papers and by
35:19
papers on academic research, whatever, philosophy,
35:21
whatever. And then the Christian church was like,
35:23
yo, this guy's really famous. You're getting
35:25
really popular. Let's jump on that. Let's join
35:27
the bandwagon. And then masturbation was a bad
35:30
thing. It was a really bad thing. And then so
35:35
that's why it happened. That's why everyone,
35:38
at least in the Western tradition, I guess, everyone
35:42
thinks masturbation is this terrible thing. You're
35:44
telling me that a grown person in this day and
35:47
age is a woman don't masturbate. It's just adamant.
35:51
Hey, this was like more than 10 years ago. So
35:54
it's this day. I don't know. I think zoomers
35:56
are very different. Okay. Generation. Okay. Very
36:00
different. I think this is before this is before
36:02
super wokeness. This is before, you know, George
36:06
Peterson, all that stuff. Wait, is Jordan Peterson
36:10
in your mind considered super well? No, not at
36:14
all, but he's the other center, but what really
36:17
yes, but my point is it became In the in like
36:22
this wokeness became popular. Oh, yeah, and those
36:26
zeitgeist Fair enough in around I think if I
36:29
remember around 2014. So this is an altercation
36:33
Been around 2013. Okay. All right. So when that
36:39
happened I was just like Walked off and just
36:42
couldn't believe what happened And I called my
36:44
friend. I said, I just got fired. He's like,
36:49
why? And I said, can you come pick me up? I'll
36:52
tell you. Predictable. And then after that, my
36:57
family had sold my child at home. And I was like,
37:01
OK, well, I guess it's time I go to China. That
37:03
was it. I always planned on going to China. But
37:06
I was just always at my university working. And
37:09
I was just, you know. Oh, I gotta work more,
37:12
I gotta get more experience. And that's what
37:14
happened. So I guess that was kind of my ragequity
37:16
moment. That's definitely, that's definitely,
37:20
it's not, it doesn't have to be a ragequit moment,
37:22
but it's definitely a like, fuck this moment.
37:24
Yeah. That's cool. That's a good story, thank
37:30
you. Yeah, it's a very good story. Do we have
37:31
masturbation? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah Can you
37:42
I'm not good with philosophers. Can you just
37:45
give me a brief break? No I'm not a good I'm
37:51
not necessarily good at philosophers. I'm not
37:53
a philosophy student. I know only points and
37:56
bits of them I could tell you that I in popular
38:00
culture Kant is known as a huge racist Okay,
38:04
and he had he has like really I guess I guess
38:09
you could consider them like kind of conservatively
38:10
points like masturbation's wrong. In popular
38:14
culture. In popular culture. He was, he's featured
38:17
a few times on, I haven't watched enough of a
38:20
podcast of her episodes on YouTube, what's her
38:23
name? You sent me this person. Oh, philosophy
38:28
too. Philosophy too. Yeah. But he also like,
38:32
I know him because when I wrote my thesis, I
38:33
had to read a lot of Kant because he wrote about
38:37
like, a judgment in terms of like needing judges
38:40
to critique things and have standards. Okay.
38:43
Or like art. So you know philosophers kind of
38:47
do everything. Yeah. Because they're smart enough
38:49
you know and he's one of the smart ones. Smart
38:52
ones but not woke. But not particularly woke
38:56
no. Yeah okay. But he was he was definitely like
38:59
one of the big guys in the enlightenment. He
39:03
don't need but yeah so and there you go. My story?
39:08
Yeah. What did you read? Um, I was seeing a girl
39:13
that was, um, like myself, quite rambunctious.
39:17
And I had seen her, I had friends in the family
39:21
first. And when I got to know, I was staying
39:25
with, with, with people as her younger sister.
39:29
When we got to liking one another, the family
39:32
was like, Oh, with the two of your bad combination.
39:36
And like anything like that, the more you try
39:38
to push something apart, head over heels in love.
39:44
In lust, at least. She got a big financial payout
39:48
for a disability that she had, but we just had
39:55
quite a hedonistic... weekend, and I had become
40:00
fed up with the line of work that I was in, and
40:02
I, like yourself, always had it in my mind to
40:05
go to the East, not necessarily China. And I
40:10
didn't go to work for a week, and obviously that
40:14
ruffled feathers on their side, and I was like,
40:17
yeah, the line has been drawn in the sand, and
40:20
I'll be leaving soon, and just up and left. You
40:23
decided not to go to work? For a week. It was
40:28
quite a, not a rage quit. No, I didn't. I stayed
40:33
out of it. It didn't show up. So not a proud
40:36
moment at all. Thanks for bringing it up. But
40:39
that was when I was like, yeah, okay. Things
40:42
need to change direction probably for her benefit
40:45
and mine. And now she's super happy and healthy
40:49
and not as much weird. No. Why didn't you go
40:59
to work? It had nothing to do with work. You
41:02
were just heartbroken. No, we were just having
41:05
a Oh, you were with the girl. Yeah, we were together
41:08
and we didn't go to work. I didn't go to work.
41:10
She wasn't working. We got a big financial payout.
41:18
Like an eat, pray, love kind of thing. Yeah,
41:19
we just road tripped for a while. We just bundled
41:22
everything into the car and we just went around
41:24
the South Coast. Wow. So romantic. Super, right?
41:27
I just don't, I still can't, I still don't understand
41:29
why you just wouldn't tell your job. I'm not
41:31
coming back. Yeah, I don't know, just absconded.
41:34
So, um, none of it. So, it is a good word. I
41:38
like it. Um. That's my story. Now I have to tell
41:46
my story and I have no... fucking clue what i've
41:51
raged quit um i remember why i went yeah so this
42:00
is the story well it's not really a stupid reason
42:02
actually before i moved abroad before i went
42:05
to asia yeah i was doing i was working two jobs
42:10
one was as like an online consultant doing SEO
42:16
for websites and web design. And the other one
42:21
was like part -time glass repair for windshield
42:27
chips. So like I had a dentist drill and it would
42:29
be drilling holes into people's windshields and
42:32
fix it and then claim insurance on that. It was
42:35
pretty good. Wait a minute. It sounds like you're
42:37
doing something illegal. No, no, no, but with
42:40
consent. So they're trying to get insurance and
42:44
they're getting you to commit a crime so they
42:45
can get insurance? No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
42:47
They come to me with an insurance claim and then
42:50
I execute on the claim. I fix their windshield
42:54
and then claim the money for fixing their windshield.
42:58
But you fixed the windshield. Licensed windshield.
43:00
Oh, I took it as you were damaging the windshield.
43:03
I was like, what? Hey, I need some money. Yeah,
43:06
yeah. Help me set my restaurant on fire. And
43:14
then I was also working part -time for this guy
43:23
that was affiliated with the owner of the glass
43:25
company that I was working part -time for. I
43:27
was writing our marketing pieces and designing
43:32
their website for Australia. I wanted to go to
43:34
Australia for love and Yeah, so I was sitting
43:43
in a meeting with the stupid piece of shit leader
43:51
of SEO who was like four years younger than me
43:55
and was only in that position because he's mommy
43:58
and you own the company and he was about to be
44:01
sent to Australia, which is where I wanted to
44:04
go and then he and I had one of the highest value
44:08
portfolios at that time in the sales team and
44:11
it was like, oh, you're not doing well because
44:13
of this and this and this and you don't know
44:14
how to do it. So SEO, because this is the strategy
44:17
we're using and you're supposed to be doing that.
44:19
And I just go, this is all arbitrary bullshit.
44:23
Like, it's, it's a theory. And this is how I'm
44:27
doing it. And I have the highest value portfolio.
44:29
And then I walked out of the meeting and I quit
44:32
and I'd been thinking about coming to going to
44:37
Thailand for a while. that company was in Thailand
44:40
with the marketing Australia guy and I phoned
44:46
him. I handed in my resignation. I phoned him.
44:49
I was like, I'm going to Thailand. Are you going
44:51
to give me a job? And he goes, yeah, I'll give
44:53
you a job. And then I walked up, quit the glass
45:00
company thing as well. And two weeks later, I
45:04
was on a plane to Thailand. In which year? If
45:07
you don't want 2012 and 12 and your year that
45:10
2014 and 14 in the after in 2018. So there's
45:15
four years right before COVID. Oh, yeah. Well,
45:19
any state would have screwed you up. Okay, I'm
45:21
not done. So then I go to Thailand. Yeah, I start
45:25
working for this guy more and he's supposed to
45:27
pay me. Oh, but he hasn't paid me. And I'm also
45:31
like, I need a visa. Yeah, I'm here on a tourist
45:34
visa right now. I've got two months. And he's
45:37
like, I'm working on it, I'm working, always
45:39
just working on it. So I'm like, okay, fuck,
45:44
I have a problem. I need to start teaching. I
45:47
need to start doing something to earn money.
45:49
Easiest way to do that, teach. So I get a tennis
45:52
shirt and start teaching in this shitty vocational
45:57
college where... Thai couturiers are following
46:01
me home and it's just not appropriate at all.
46:07
They're over 18 but they want to do things that
46:11
they want to do to a teacher. So I quit there
46:16
because of that and then go teach at this teffa
46:19
company and then I shut down the... website,
46:26
the Australian website for this multinational
46:29
OEM manufacturer for Toyota. Okay. It's the company
46:32
that I was talking about. Right. It's a motor
46:35
manufacturing. What's OEM? Original Equipment
46:39
Manufacturing. Okay. So they're a factory in
46:41
Thailand that make original parts for Toyota.
46:44
Okay. And they were moving into Australia and
46:47
selling like the cabs for the pickup trucks,
46:50
the canopy. Right. Really nice ones and I shut
46:54
down their website. It was like paying up or
46:56
I will not switch it back on oh And then they
46:59
paid me and then I switched it all on and that's
47:02
it Those were about like my quits into teaching
47:06
Yeah, it sounds like a movie. Mm -hmm where the
47:11
the protagonist, you know gets away with something
47:14
that sounds Almost illegal like extortion. I'm
47:19
don't give me my money or else. I'm not gonna
47:20
turn the website back on Jesus, they had to pay
47:23
me. I had been arguing for three months. I'm
47:27
giving you something that you haven't paid for.
47:31
I know what your first job was like when you
47:33
arrived, but as I started off saying in the beginning
47:36
of this conversation, that I got a new job and
47:38
I needed to provide references. I've been at
47:41
the same institution for the last five years.
47:43
Prior to that, when I arrived in 2018, the person
47:47
that I worked for for a year, in COVID strike
47:50
that month, it was like, oh, we can't, we're
47:53
shutting down and we can't pay any of the employees
47:55
any money. Yeah. So I deleted their, their, their
47:59
details, obviously. And now all these years later,
48:02
got asked for the, um, for the reference. And
48:04
I was like, what does this person's word mean
48:07
anyway? Anyway, I was able to provide our tech
48:10
details. But strange how something like that
48:13
could nearly upset. But if it's shut down and
48:17
it doesn't exist, how does it go? I think it's
48:20
just an HR tick list. You know, they need to
48:22
say, oh, there was a reference available. There
48:24
is a human, even though that person. Did you
48:27
get a release letter? I did. Oh, that should
48:28
count. Yeah, it should, right? I just really,
48:31
by the way, they have to give you, I don't want
48:33
to talk about that. I really hate this thing
48:39
like provider records. Look at my CV. And especially
48:42
for an expat working here, there's very little
48:46
value in fudging your work experience if you've
48:50
been living in a country for x amount of years.
48:53
Yeah, I would agree. I mean, pretty good grift
48:55
if you manage to create that out of nothing.
48:58
Yeah, exactly. But I think it's just the culture.
49:01
Everyone needs references. It's very, it's very,
49:03
police very heavily, which is, you know, it's
49:06
good. It annoys me. That's me. I think that was...
49:12
I brought the light into the heart. You definitely
49:18
had a more interesting first stint in Asia, I
49:22
think. No kids are following me home. Do I? It
49:28
was so weird. Getting to your apartment and looking
49:32
back and like four of your students are like...
49:34
Hiding behind trees? Yeah, like literally not
49:39
trees but walls. Yeah. And yeah, I remember I
49:43
was pretty down at that time because of the job
49:47
being lost. And I remember over Christmas, it's
49:51
like a three -week holiday. Wow. In time. Nice.
49:56
Different, they have a four -term system and
49:59
a two -semester system. Okay. There's value in
50:01
that. Yes, I agree. It's feeling good for me.
50:04
It's feeling attractive. I was watching Downton
50:10
Abbey. Just like, dreaming of beers. Downton
50:14
Abbey. Oh, during that time? Yeah, during that
50:17
time. What a strange thing to watch. I think
50:20
there were times where I just, I like self -COVID
50:24
-ed myself. You know what I watched? You know
50:25
what I watched when I was - Just because it's
50:27
a company, right? I just quarantined myself.
50:30
Not during, that wasn't during COVID, was it?
50:32
No, no, no, no. That was just like, you were,
50:34
yeah, just like, down in the dumps. Yeah, down
50:38
to the abbeys. You know, I have tons, I have
50:42
tons of examples of that for myself. One, you
50:45
know what I watched when I was like down at one
50:47
point. I don't know if I should be proud of this
50:49
or ashamed, but Riverdale. River. You guys ever
50:53
heard of that show? Riverdale? What's the app
50:58
that you use? Riverside. You know the Archie
51:00
comics? Listen, this is going to sound really
51:02
strange having this conversation with you two.
51:05
Yeah, I know Archie comics. Jughead and Veronica.
51:10
Riverdale was the edgy show that created from
51:15
the Archie comics. Teenagers. I remember Archie.
51:21
So I watched binge watching that like it was
51:24
nobody's business. See, we all watch terrible.
51:32
I don't know. Ready for watching things just
51:37
out of loneliness and company Harry Potter. So
51:42
yeah, I just love having that in the background.
51:46
I kind of grew up with it and it's just that
51:48
escapism. What's your feeling about JK right
51:50
now? I don't have anything. Super thankful for
51:55
that. She's becoming vocally and cleaning people
51:59
like me. Okay. Yeah. Turf. She's a turf. And
52:04
she's very upset that somebody like in the show
52:06
they cast a black person. A snake, I think. Is
52:12
there a Harry Potter snow? A show? Harry Potter
52:15
snow? Harry Potter snow. That's a new drug on
52:18
the market. Is there a Harry Potter she got?
52:21
The magician of this reality. Harry Potter snow.
52:25
So they've put a black person in a snake? I don't
52:28
know. I just heard about this yesterday. Now
52:32
the straight people and the conservatives are
52:34
upset with her too, which makes me happy. We
52:36
still haven't answered my question though. Oh
52:37
yeah? Is there a Harry Potter? Show it's coming.
52:42
It's coming. Okay Well, I'm not that evident
52:46
watch that I'm gonna go to following up. I like
52:48
the escapism of the films So it's cool. Yeah,
52:52
they're watching black books at the moment black
52:53
books all British. I know How many times do you
52:59
think you've watched Harry Potter Too many times
53:04
more than I'd care to admit hours and hours,
53:07
I mean Even if it's just on the background and
53:10
I'm cooking or I'll be playing guitar or something,
53:15
maybe I'll mute it, but it's there. I think in
53:18
the way like maybe radio used to be, like radio
53:20
is a companion because I live alone, have done
53:23
for most of my life. It's on instead of the radio.
53:27
That's what I do. I put podcasts on. Podcasts
53:29
that I really care about. I listen to someone
53:32
live streaming. And you do that too. I do that
53:36
too. I think everybody knows that. Maybe that
53:39
kind of brings us back to our original topic
53:41
of loneliness. Technology. Can't just be alone
53:47
and sit with our friends. I dare you to try and
53:49
just clean and not listen to stuff. You can't
53:52
do it. Have you tried TRE? Do you know what TRE
53:56
is? A new drug. We don't get it. Combine that
54:01
with Harry Potter. No. Sounds amazing. So TRE
54:07
is a type of meditation that is meant to access
54:11
your nervous system. It's called trauma and stress
54:16
release exercises. Okay. And basically you, you
54:21
know, when you have that like lactic burn in
54:23
your muscles. um after leg day and your leg like
54:27
shakes on its own volition yeah you activate
54:30
that response on purpose and you let it play
54:33
out nearby okay and it's like i've done it a
54:39
few times it's uh it's amazing i don't think
54:43
i have the skill to even move no it's good so
54:45
that you're you're uh you're able to channel
54:50
and activate that yourself. That's a great exercise
54:52
too. Yeah, but it's not conscious. It's subconscious.
54:57
You're lying on a yoga mat to activate this and
54:59
you let allow your release. I can be just mine
55:03
from your muscles. Okay, so you don't control
55:05
them and your body just shakes and the shake
55:07
moves every time. How do you do that? Yeah, that's
55:10
what I'm saying. Like surely you should have
55:12
that connection from your mind. You're from your
55:15
brain to that muscle to that nerve to activate.
55:18
I know what I just lie down. I'm going to sleep.
55:20
No, no, no, no, no. You have to you do some exercises
55:23
that allow you to That allow for their response
55:26
to start happening because it's a subconscious
55:28
response if there's a bomb that goes off right
55:30
next to you If somebody shoots a gun, you're
55:33
gonna you're gonna shake. Yeah Wow, right? Yeah
55:35
that response that's being activated outside
55:37
of its state of trauma Okay, so, okay, so I would
55:43
have to do like a hundred squats to feel the
55:45
burn and then I gotta sit like 20 and then you
55:50
don't need to do that many and then there's a
55:54
that you kind of keep them tight when you're
55:56
on the yoga mat and you do some like there are
55:59
a couple of different exercises you can do there
56:01
of course it's on on two person e re theory okay
56:06
it's a thing folks it's a thing it's a thing
56:08
that i've done with my therapist it makes me
56:11
feel amazing yeah makes me feel really happy
56:14
it makes sense to me as well because when you
56:18
have trauma your body releases that trauma through
56:20
the shit right Well, it's fight or flight, isn't
56:23
it? It's like a permanent being released into
56:25
your muscles to use it. Activating that and allowing
56:28
it to run out. Because a lot of times we've been
56:31
taught in our modern life just to repress it,
56:33
keep control, stay control. Yeah, that's awful
56:36
advice. Go and get rid of stress at the gym or
56:41
run or do something to let it out. Don't turn
56:44
eyes. Well, I personally rather just go to the
56:47
gym, but at least it's a and available. I wouldn't
56:52
because I'm afraid of the gym. You were sincere
56:55
about it. I can be here with you. No, gyms just
56:57
make me uncomfortable. I just don't... Oh, you
56:59
mean not go to the gym? Self -conscious for the
57:01
gym. Oh. But I do go. So it's not a germaphobe
57:07
thing where there's a lot of... That followed
57:08
me too. Okay, sure. I wish... No, but no I can
57:12
it's not I'll it'll bother me it bothered me
57:15
like it bothers everybody But not in that huge
57:18
level not in the way that I can't I it's more
57:21
of a self -conscious that I go I Do I get worried
57:24
about touching? Sweatiness we're a thousand sweaty.
57:29
Yeah. Yeah, right. I literally take alcohol spray
57:34
and that's what I think I want to do like bring
57:36
a little spray bottle with me which sounds really
57:40
I draw a keen my hands off but you always risk
57:43
touching a face or something Yeah, yeah I love
57:49
I covet the gyms that have Signs everywhere.
57:52
Let's say like please clean the equipment and
57:54
they brought it give you towels They have wet
57:57
wipes tea from the dispenser. Everyone thinks
57:58
this where you feel dirtier than everybody. This
58:01
is Oh, well, I mean they exist I rue the day.
58:06
I know where they are I'm right here, I know
58:09
where they are, and I've been. So that's the
58:13
dream. I keep telling Remy to open a gym and
58:15
make it like that. I want it, but now I need
58:18
money. I'll do it. Partners, partners sponsor.
58:21
Cleanest gym ever. Who wants to sponsor opening
58:24
a gym? I'll do it. Because then it means I get
58:28
to go. I have an expert. Oh yeah, you do? He's
58:32
in Wishi right now. She's visiting a really,
58:35
really cool gym. that has all of that stuff.
58:37
And it's like a proper powerlifting gym. Got
58:40
seven powerlifting, like professional powerlifting
58:43
stations that you can squat bench and deadlift
58:45
at. The photos I saw of her doing her powerlifting,
58:49
the weights of these black really thin discs.
58:52
So it looks super clean. Heavy chunks of whatever
58:56
weights that are. The black ones. Super shiny.
59:00
Red plates, red, green, yellow. So they each
59:05
color. denote a weight and it's the same the
59:09
same denote the notation is that correct i don't
59:13
know have we looked up what what do you know
59:16
what's it called yeah denotation denotation yeah
59:20
there we go uh the olympic plates oh i i imagine
59:25
i was i had no idea there was weight color coordination
59:34
weight this heavy. Yeah, so this is how the bar
59:40
the bar is for in weightlifting like the Olympic
59:45
where they lifted about. Yeah. For women that
59:49
bar is 15 for minutes 20. Really? As heavy as
59:52
that? I thought it was maybe just 10. No, the
59:54
bar itself is 20 kilograms. As a standard, you
59:58
can assume that any bar is 20 kilograms. Okay,
1:00:01
then you sometimes you'll see the big caps on
1:00:04
the outside. Yeah, those caps are each two and
1:00:06
a half kilograms Sure. Okay, and then that's
1:00:10
exact. The red plates are 25 The blues are 20.
1:00:15
The yellows are 15 the As there's readings Are
1:00:21
10 and then small reds are five. So is every
1:00:25
bar always 20 pounds? No 20 kilograms. These
1:00:28
are three kilograms It's either, no, unless it's,
1:00:33
it should be marked. If it's not, at the end
1:00:38
of a chapter. In my brain, I just don't, I don't
1:00:41
think, I don't acknowledge the bar has weight.
1:00:44
I'm like, does it count? No. No, it does. It's
1:00:46
20 KB. It's because you're from so close to the
1:00:50
States. You guys don't use measurements. So it's,
1:00:52
how can I put it? It's the, it's the weight of
1:00:54
like half of a washing machine. It's pretty light
1:00:57
washing. Yeah, it is. I don't know what other
1:01:01
measurements people from the States use, but
1:01:03
it's never metric. No, no, okay. When I go to
1:01:06
the gym, it depends. Some it's kilograms, some
1:01:10
it's pounds. Yeah. So the bar, if there's a bar,
1:01:14
if it's a standard, obviously you get non -standard.
1:01:16
So I just have to look at the end of the bar
1:01:18
and it'll say - Like there should be a cap on
1:01:20
there. There should be 20. Otherwise you can
1:01:24
assume that it's 20. And so if the bar is shorter.
1:01:28
Yeah. It might be a seven, but I think seven
1:01:33
is the lowest for like a standard sized free
1:01:37
weight. Interesting. You got a profession for
1:01:41
your start up your gym. Favorite exercise in
1:01:43
the gym? Cable flies. Cable flies, interesting.
1:01:48
Yeah, because I need to work on my chesticles
1:01:51
there a bit. The push -ups? Yeah, sure. Oh, my
1:01:56
favorite? Pull -ups? Okay. Or biceps? Too big
1:02:05
for that. How many pull -ups? How many can I
1:02:07
do? I'd say I can do 20. Well, that's good. But
1:02:14
I'm tiny. For me, it's a lot to lift. It's a
1:02:17
bad girl machine. Oh. Doctors hip abducting.
1:02:21
Yeah, I know that. Hip throws, squats, dirt lifts.
1:02:26
That's what I like to do. I don't do pull -ups.
1:02:28
I'm 97 earth kilograms. That's, uh, yeah. Yeah.
1:02:34
Well, that's even all the more, the heavier you
1:02:37
are, the more reason to do it. Cause you'll get
1:02:40
stronger when you're so light diminishing return.
1:02:45
Do you do the like calisthenics workouts at home?
1:02:49
I do. Yeah. Okay. I got a bar in the bathroom.
1:02:52
Cause it's the only place where I have like solid
1:02:55
walls. So it can stay. And then I have weights.
1:02:59
in my laundry room. I'd seen a few weights there.
1:03:02
So it's limited what I can do. Well, I mean,
1:03:04
with a bit of imagination and the willpower,
1:03:06
you can do a lot of exercise. It really is like
1:03:09
you have to outlast yourself and that's what
1:03:12
sucks. Like you go to a gym, you can just put
1:03:14
on heavier weights. So it's a lot more. It's
1:03:19
not, it's not so discouraging. Like the more
1:03:21
reps you have to do, if you have a limited weight,
1:03:23
you guys do more reps. So it's like true willpower.
1:03:26
I enjoy the comradery of Jim. I have to go there
1:03:28
and talk crap the entire time, but it's nice
1:03:30
to have some company. No, I like it too. When
1:03:33
I was back home last year and I got a gym membership
1:03:36
at a random gym, I was just a stranger. But when
1:03:37
like a person approached me and said, can you
1:03:39
help me spot? I was really like, oh my god, me?
1:03:44
Really? I don't know the willpower to do that
1:03:47
stuff at home. I remember during lockdown and
1:03:50
I was alone in my apartment for six weeks in
1:03:52
the old city. I was like, I'm going to be super
1:03:55
fit. I'm going to do all this stuff. And one
1:03:56
day, yeah, I'd be running up and down the stairs
1:03:58
and do pushups. And the next day, 12 o 'clock,
1:04:01
midday, passed out drunk from vodka. You know
1:04:04
what I mean? Just like this weird spiral. And
1:04:08
then the next day, back on the fitness. And then,
1:04:11
you know, go like that for a while. Sure. What's
1:04:15
your PR, Smita? PR? Yeah. Personal Records firm,
1:04:21
Squat Bencher. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man.
1:04:23
I don't know. For squats? For me, I feel like
1:04:27
I can just keep going for squats. Again, I'm
1:04:30
really light, so I can just keep doing squats.
1:04:33
Without weights. Not a lot. 70 kilograms? Okay.
1:04:36
Because I have not dedicated enough of my life
1:04:39
to weights. I'm all about the glamour. Most of
1:04:42
it's terrible. Benching? Now only 70. I do just
1:04:47
10 reps of that. 10, 11, 12. It's not incredibly
1:04:52
heavy at the moment. That's stronger than most
1:04:55
people. Is it? Okay. I'm gonna bench and see.
1:04:58
I gotta find out. Now I'm really curious. That
1:05:00
seems to be like the standard that everyone measures
1:05:02
by those, like benching or... ASPD, that's the
1:05:08
thing. Squat Bench to Dist. Deadlift, that's
1:05:11
it. But I don't deadlift because bad back and
1:05:13
I'm scared I'm gonna mess it up again. So it
1:05:15
takes really good form, which I don't have yet.
1:05:18
Yeah, right. Yeah, it does. People think deadlift
1:05:21
isn't technical, it's experience. It is, right?
1:05:24
Yeah. I'm also afraid of doing that stuff. What's
1:05:28
your... Four? You want to go? Okay, best for
1:05:33
what? No, I mean, do you want to do your perspective
1:05:36
here? Oh man, my perspective was... We talked
1:05:40
about it. It was the paradox of loneliness. The
1:05:48
paradox of learning. Sorry, with social media.
1:05:52
The more we're connected, the more we're lonely.
1:05:54
I got other topics. You guys want to talk about
1:05:57
kids without reading? Yo, kids can't read. Why
1:05:59
don't kids read more? Kids are reading less.
1:06:04
Yeah. All this dopamine hit from, you got a three
1:06:08
second, a three millisecond. Okay, let's do it.
1:06:11
I was kind of into the gym talk, but... Okay,
1:06:14
let's continue with the gym talk. Okay, how about
1:06:17
this? I didn't tell you what my PR is like. PRs
1:06:19
for what? Okay, let's... Nah, I'm curious, what
1:06:22
are your personal... I know you have personal
1:06:23
bests, because you do... One of your hobbies,
1:06:28
from knowing you, I think, is just like... the
1:06:33
competitive nature of like, lifting. Not me specifically,
1:06:38
but my partner. Yeah, but so like, it's a vocation
1:06:40
of yours. Like, that's why you exercise. Yes,
1:06:43
to get into shape, but there's also the dynamic
1:06:45
of your best. She's a professional athlete. Yeah.
1:06:48
So for me, when it comes to exercise, I know
1:06:54
it's for health, but actually, I'm very, it's
1:06:57
very Lester Berman of me. I just want to look
1:06:59
good naked. But when I'm totally demotivated,
1:07:04
I don't think I look good naked, but when I'm
1:07:05
totally demotivated, I do have to remind myself,
1:07:10
do it for your health. And that makes me do it
1:07:12
even if it's not good. It's kind of like brushing
1:07:13
teeth. You gotta brush your teeth. People brush
1:07:16
their teeth and they hate doing it. And the good
1:07:19
thing about working out at home is you don't
1:07:23
have to go to the gym. So you can do a bad job,
1:07:25
but at least you're willing to exercise. Back
1:07:31
to you. Yeah, my heaviest squat ever. I can't
1:07:34
do anymore. Where's a hundred and fifty kilograms?
1:07:39
Something pounds. Yeah. But now it's down to
1:07:43
like a hundred and fifteen. But then the reps,
1:07:46
that's like just one. That's that's PR is measured
1:07:49
at one rep max. I'm so curious. I really want
1:07:52
to know what mine are. You're going to have to
1:07:55
help me. We can go to gym and maybe in school
1:07:59
or you can come to my place. I just yeah, I just
1:08:02
really want to know what my max things are because
1:08:05
I feel like I don't go as hard as I could. Right,
1:08:08
let's say that comrade agrees. Yeah, like you
1:08:11
have to warm up for it first. You have to do
1:08:15
weight and you build up to that weight because
1:08:17
if you just go as heavy as you think you can,
1:08:20
you're going to hurt yourself. Yeah, yeah. My
1:08:22
heaviest. deadlift ever was 185 kilograms correct
1:08:28
but once you get time wouldn't you tie yourself
1:08:31
up before you know you need to you need to proc
1:08:35
your nervous system to activate deadlift at 85
1:08:40
yeah i got both kilograms yeah bending bar but
1:08:45
now it's down to 135 and that's probably still
1:08:50
worth a beat It still is much more than most
1:08:54
people can do. Bench press, it's 75 max, but
1:09:03
now it's like 70. When you do those deadlifts,
1:09:08
where do you attribute most of that muscle strength
1:09:11
coming from? What muscle do you think? It depends
1:09:13
on the kind of deadlift that you are doing. So
1:09:17
it could be conventional, which is your feet
1:09:19
closer together. and then that goes through the
1:09:24
quads or it could be sounds like sumo deadlift
1:09:28
and that goes through the glutes okay i'm afraid
1:09:33
of doing my legs i'm really afraid of like breaking
1:09:37
my knees or something that's silly doesn't yeah
1:09:40
you have to start if you're not used to doing
1:09:44
heavy weight you have to start a little bit lighter
1:09:47
Well, see, yeah, that's the thing. When people
1:09:50
do stuff like that, it's for just a weird kind
1:09:52
of personal best. Like, why would you want to
1:09:56
just try and lift that much if you're going to
1:09:58
potentially hurt yourself? Yeah. No, no, no.
1:10:00
You're not going to potentially hurt yourself.
1:10:02
Do you want to do it? Or you just want to make
1:10:05
something really happen? For Sophia, she's doing
1:10:10
it as a sport, right? She won the competition
1:10:13
last year. What was I gonna say? Yeah, ego lifting
1:10:21
is a major problem. A lot of guys go into the
1:10:24
gym, they go like, I'm just gonna go full power.
1:10:30
And they just use terrible form and terrible
1:10:32
technique and then they hurt themselves. That's
1:10:35
how it happens. And I think, yeah, that's stupid.
1:10:39
You have to start and build up the weight slowly
1:10:42
and proc your nervous system every time to go...
1:10:46
as heavy as you can, you can make quick jumps
1:10:50
like a lot of weight. You start with like, you
1:10:53
do 20 reps of 20 kilograms and then 10 reps of
1:10:58
80 kilograms and then five reps of 120 kilograms
1:11:02
and then two reps of 130 and then one rep of
1:11:06
180. Right. Whatever kind of escalation you want
1:11:14
to go through. Yeah, yeah, I like it. I like
1:11:18
I don't like the competitive nature Because I
1:11:22
know keep gentle son. You're a good lifter. I'd
1:11:24
never win I'm not an ego lifter because I know
1:11:26
that's also I'm so neurotic, you know, and I
1:11:29
don't ever want to hurt myself So I'm definitely
1:11:32
not an ego lifter. I want to just you know, I
1:11:36
only got server was speaking. I only got into
1:11:39
exercise. I was always such a Passive guy and
1:11:44
long hair when I had hair and guitar play. I
1:11:47
wasn't like my brother was the gym fanatic I
1:11:50
was like, ah, yeah, I'm not about that life So
1:11:52
when I did start I had some good success with
1:11:54
some friends that had their camaraderie and we're
1:11:56
doing that CrossFit sort of high -intensity training
1:11:59
stuff. That was a juggle Yeah, but then I did
1:12:02
get into that wanting to really push and compete
1:12:04
with these guys I've already been doing it injured
1:12:06
my back from a car accident that came out of
1:12:09
that week's hedonism I told you about before
1:12:12
I came to China that crazy week. I didn't go
1:12:16
to work. I ended in a car accident. And so yeah,
1:12:19
that's flared up and it's debilitating. You know,
1:12:21
you don't want to injure yourself. So I'm also
1:12:23
paranoid about doing that. And now keep my form.
1:12:27
I don't want to go too heavy. Strict this form.
1:12:30
Oh, yeah. Bro. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Gentlemen,
1:12:37
I think that's the end of the podcast for today.
1:12:41
quick end of the session free for all if you
1:12:44
want to ask something or talk about something
1:12:47
bring something up feel free to do that now you
1:12:53
caught us off guard yeah yeah i caught you off
1:12:56
guard i'm sorry i did have you saying that made
1:13:00
me forget what i was going to talk about i did
1:13:04
have another topic because we were talking about
1:13:06
the gym but i'll save it for another time we
1:13:09
could talk a long time about it i think yeah
1:13:11
for sure i'm good sure you look kind of like
1:13:17
you like i got something about something it was
1:13:20
your earrings i was trying to find out what was
1:13:22
on them and then i couldn't figure it out a little
1:13:25
geisha okay was either a geisha or one of the
1:13:30
um uh the british guys with the buzz be on the
1:13:34
guards guards yeah so be a weird choice right
1:13:37
that's what that's what i was still deliberating
1:13:40
in my head. But otherwise, I appreciate you having
1:13:43
me here, man. Yeah, thanks for coming. Thanks
1:13:48
for hosting. It's my pleasure. Yeah. Thanks.
1:13:54
I'm the host of the podcast. You're the host
1:13:56
of the venue. Enjoy it. Are you moving? No, but
1:14:05
landlords, who knows? Oh yeah. Pickle. Pickle
1:14:09
fence. Yeah, I might. I might be. Maybe it's
1:14:13
going to be online. Maybe less connected and
1:14:16
more connected at the same time. That will certainly.
1:14:21
Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching
1:14:24
Kalani's Cup. I'm going to stop now. Okay.