Why is finding your passion so hard?

If you think you haven't found your passion yet, you're probably expecting it to be overwhelming.

Hey Explorers. Welcome back to Useful Not Famous. This is the show where we teach you or talk about, rather, the ins and outs of running a profitable business, and strive to be the most useful people you know, or you know, or you know.

My name's Amara.

I'm Jeff.

And here we are. Here we go.

Haven't figured out that little segue yet.

No, it's perfect. But, yeah, if I know. So, wait.

It was, if you're pursuing your passion…

If you feel like you haven't found your passion yet,

Yeah.

It's probably because you just feel like finding a passion should feel overwhelming. Like, "This is it!!"

Yeah, just like Yeah, like what you hear about when like artists get inspiration, and it's like the lightning struck me, and I'm like, "Oh, my god. I see it now." So, I would actually ask you a question.

Okay. I thought you were gonna say something terrifying.

I had to burp, so I had to take a pause. I just chugged a protein drink. But, what would you say is your passion?

I mean, besides me, obviously. Tosses hair nonchalantly.

You say You say that, but like you're not wrong. I know you're being silly, but…

He likes me.

You are my everything. Now,

Aw!

On top of that, in terms of, yeah, what I like to do and what really gets me going, like it's really it's something we explore on here. Like exploration is it. This is like what we're doing.

This is the stuff that does sort of make me come alive, but more niched down further, it's problem-solving. Just like Don't you nod. You're like, "Good answer."

I did know the answer.

Yeah. It's problem-solving because everything I do is it stems from like, "Ooh, here's a challenge. Here's something that I can like solve, and I want to solve it in the best way possible."

So, actually, then, when did I've never asked this before, but when did you realize that it was problem-solving? Was there Like did you have that like "Aha!" kind of moment? Or was it just like talking I guess you just answer because I'm feeding you answers.

So, when did you realize problem-solving, even if it wasn't exactly the term "problem-solving," but just like the action of it, when did you realize?

So, like I think it is just in trying to verbalize it. So,

Okay.

I don't know exactly when, but in the in like the last handful of years, sort of really drilling down to that,

Just because I think they always say you don't think by talking, you think by writing,

Yeah.

And like trying to figure out so like who How do I position myself differently than maybe how I have in the past or reposition when I was doing my personal podcast, like all these different things.

I think that's what played into like me trying to write down and figure out what how would I define who I am, because usually it's like, "Oh, what do you do?" It's like, "I have a brand agency and a video marketing thing."

And that's like so this's just the tiniest little sliver of what we actually do with people,

Yeah.

Because it's like, "Well, yeah, we do that, but then we also do 80 million other things, too." Also,

Well, that's the secret. We like pull back the curtain.

Can you, side note, can you see the polka dots on the wall behind you and then the one on your eye right now?

Okay, I didn't know if you would, so it is like, yeah, it's right there.

Okay, I need to move We have

Do you want me to? No, I got it.

We have a disco ball in our living room, so It's a little Yeah, it's

Oh, that's a disco ball?

So, it's not just a disco ball. It's a little melted disco ball, but you put it on things. So, it's just kind of like Isn't it fun?

So, anyway, I have Look how cool that is.

So, anyway, I have it over there, and I was like, he looks

Can you see it here? There we go. So, it'll melt off the table, and you can't even see that it melts on my side, so look at that.

Oh, you could like put it on your arm. Anyway, I just noticed it, and I was like, "Oh, god."

Well, I didn't know I didn't even think about seeing it on the stream, but yeah, so that's it.

I really did, as we were chatting. So, anyway.

That's even better, right in the middle.! Vanished.

Okay, perfect. Anyways, so back to your life's passions. But yeah, it was just through exploring, basically, and just realizing, well, like talking to people.

Well, yeah, and how do I define it for people?

Yeah.

So, what about you?

What are my passions?

. I mean, disco balls, clearly. I don't really know.

I knew I was gonna ask you that question, but then I didn't actually think about what I would answer. I figured it would go different. I mean, like the obvious things are like art has always been a passion of mine, and same with history, but I didn't really realize that until I got older.

And then it was like, "Well, what do you wanna do?" And it was like, "I don't know, make art and talk about cool things." And that's basically what I do now, which is really funny. I don't know, I have a lot of passions cuz I'm just curious about a lot of different things, which I know like you are, too. So, which is also why we bond very well together.

I don't know. Like art and history have always been my go-tos, but I also really like learning things, and I recently learned that I love teaching people about the things that I've learned, as long as like I'm super passionate about it, like passion within passion.

It's funny because the way So you say, "What's your passion?" and I answer in a first principles way, so drilling down as far as I possibly can. Like, what's the core fundamental? And for me, it's problem-solving.

And I said, "What's your passion?" And it's interesting because you your response was, "What are my passions?"

Oh, yeah.

Like, because it makes sense, but it's it also shows how we think about things differently.

So,

Cuz I'm like, what makes what's the thread with all of these? Like Netflix knows my thread, have one person versus the world, and that's every single thumbnail they or cover art they show me. And if you don't already know, Netflix has dozens of cover art options for every single thing on there, and they tailor it to you specifically.

Yeah, I wonder what mine would look like. Yeah, it's funny. I just think of passion, I think because I come from a more traditionally like creative art-focused background.

"Land down under."

Just how you started out as a character.

Come from a land down under.

So, that to me

Wait, you come from What, say one more time?

A more like traditional, like art sort of focused background. So, it's more like disciplinary focused, I guess, for your passions. I don't know, I think it's the way that things are talked about, it's a little different for art, where it's like, "Oh, well, illustration is my passion." Like that was my passion forever, and I still do it, but definitely not as much as I used to.

So, I think it's I think I haven't quite actually figured out what the root of everything is. Like teaching people

Well, let's unpack that.

Oh, god! Everyone's like, "Okay, skip, next." I think, though, I think teaching people and like sharing knowledge, that is something that I really care about, and I think that's probably one of the most important things, which is why, in previous episodes, we've talked about AI so much and how people aren't using it are not using it properly, effectively, and are offloading their thinking in their brain to AI, which is giving basically everybody the same exact answers.

And that drives me fucking nuts because I think you should just be able to This is something we were talking about or yesterday. Like right now you can post your own thoughts all day every day. Like there's basically no guardrails on it.

Like you can be tweeting every second of every day. Like there might be a threshold where it's like, "Okay, you've tweeted 10,000 things today. Like you need to give it a break." But I don't know.

I've never tweeted that much.

Well, even just saying TikTok, just because that feels a little more on target. But yeah, like I think if you just literally like if we were livestreaming this 24 hours a day,

Yeah.

Just think about the number of at bats that is. It's not just our practice, but literally what is it, 86,000, something, something, something seconds in a day.

Yeah.

It's like if you think of each of those seconds as an at bat where someone might actually tune in, it's like we're taking so many at bats, and we can just do that with social media, whether it's streaming, whether it's TikTok, whether it's Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or whatever.

Yeah, regardless of the medium. But just before we get too far, that like you can literally share any thought that you have throughout the day, and I forgot where I was going with that. Damn it.

Well, no, but this is a rare But like also you can also blog now, too, or vlog. Like you can share every single thought that you have. That's where I was going with it.

Is why then are you offloading kind of that most important part of you and being a human and being a unique human to having something that has like groupthink, essentially, where it's like it's the same ideas that are being passed around? Why would you isolate so much and only use that one thought that isn't even your own unique thought?

I think people are so afraid of being wrong, quote, unquote, but the beauty, which we've talked about with perspective, is like there literally is no right or wrong. It's just purely Like when you really boil things down to right or wrong, like there are certain things like murder is pretty wrong. However, what's the context of the murder?

Was it self-defense? Was it this? Was it that?

Are you John Wick?

Exactly! Poor little puppy. Yeah, just like all the context, like everything there is no definitive truth, which I think we talked about last week or the week before, which is endlessly fascinating.

So, I think that's what holds people up so much, is like they don't wanna be wrong, and they aren't able to back up their own thoughts with, "Well, this is why I think this way." And I think that sort of rapport needs to be practiced, cuz like if you don't talk about it, circling all the way back, I've never talked about my passions, like, "Oh, well, I'm passionate about X," which is why I have no answer I have like the hobbies and things that I like to do, but I don't have it distilled down to, "Well, I like to be the hero of every story," or whatever.

So, it's it's very interesting.

Do you think it's that people don't want to be wrong?

I think they're not that they, sorry, not that they don't want to be wrong, they're afraid of critique from other people because, as a species, we like to belong as much as possible, and belong to a tribe or belong to the group versus being the outsider. Or if you are gonna be the outsider, you really have to go sort of like full tilt on that.

So, I just think people have a lot of fear of not being accepted, cuz that's like the number one thing that we hear when we film with people, is, "Well, what if my friends see this? Or what if X sees this, or my brother, or my sister, or my mom, or whatever, my dog?" It's like, "Wow, that's a cool dog." But that's the fear when you boil down to it, it's like, "Well, why don't you wanna post more?" "Oh, I just I don't have time." And then when you dig a little deeper, it's always that fear of not belonging.

So, I think that's why a lot of people have fear of expressing themselves, and like we all do though to some extent, cuz there are certain things that I don't post, cuz I'm like, "Eh, I don't think people need to know that about me."

I think a lot of the use of AI, too, is ease.

Oh, 100%.

Like, even I think that almost plays in more heavily than Yeah, I'm not really saying that AI is because they're afraid of sharing their thoughts. It's more because it's easy to use, and then you can offload all of your thought. So, like I don't yeah, I may have misspoke, but I don't that's not Those two don't go together.

It's not, "Well, I need AI to tell me what to think because I'm scared of showing whatever." It's purely just, "Oh, this tool will do all the thinking for me. Fuck yeah, I don't need to think at all. Like that's great!"

When in reality, you should be thinking even more now because you have the tool to just speed up like copywriting and stuff. Like it's fucking fantastic.

Now, the thing that came up the other day, I think it was Avi Loeb who said it. It was something along the these lines, but he was like, "AI doesn't need humanoid robots or to be in a robot. If it can convince us what to think and do, then we become those robots."

Exactly.

Which is such a wild concept. Like if we're afraid of AI being sort of general intelligence, like artificial general intelligence, AGI, where it just it can do everything, it becomes almost sentient at that point, or maybe is at that point. If we're afraid of that, how is it going to get its bidding done?

It can be purely through manipulating us. It doesn't need to somehow break out of the computer if it's so good already.

It manipulates. And that actually reminds me of something. What holiday is it, and where do you feel in terms of what you've experienced in the internet world of

Well, it's November 3rd. Is there a holiday on November 3rd?

So, not of today,

But so Halloween just passed.

Yeah.

And how much did it feel like Halloween?

Oh, none. It felt like Christmas more than Halloween, which makes me sad.

And why?

Because Oh, I think I think I smell what you're stepping in.

Well, because like I don't feel Christmas yet, but you definitely do, and it's come up a lot in the last probably two or three weeks.

Yeah, because I spend quite a bit of time on TikTok. Not like a ton. So, I'll I'll say quite a bit of time.

Out of all of the social platforms, I only spend time on TikTok. Twitter, a little bit, not much. Instagram, absolutely none.

I'm a post-and-ghost there because I absolutely hate Instagram.

Well, we like the interest-based algorithms, so they like you're interested in this.

Yeah, I like not knowing Yeah, I'm more interested in the surprise of whatever is going to show up in my box of Cracker Jack. I don't need to know the goings on of everybody. Not that I don't love people, but I don't really need to know any of that information.

If I want to know, I'll ask, but otherwise, I don't need to participate in that personally.

Well, and I think more so, even beyond that, it's not that you don't need to know, it's more rewarding to have a conversation.

Yeah, like I'd much rather have that.

Yeah, I don't want the data of everything, so it's like, "You did this, you did that, you did that. Now, what do we talk about?" It's like, "Oh wait, tell me. You said you went on a trip.

Where'd you go? How was it? What'd you experience?"

Exactly. I love that so much more. Like I want the story of it from their perspective.

Like I love hearing about people's trips.

Yeah. Yes, the organic nature of it.

Yeah, whereas I don't want to have it be a one-sided relationship where I creep on every single trip you go on and then it's like, "Well, I know everything about you. You don't know anything about me, personally."

And there's nothing wrong with anyone Like it's not a judgment, it's just not how we use it.

Yeah, I purely just mean for me. Like other people I know like do that, and that's amazing because that is what like invigorates them. I like being surprised.

I like knowing not knowing like, "Okay, well," I mean, obviously, with your algorithm, you will sort of have an idea of what's going to pop up, but there are surprises sometimes, which I find more fun for me. But anyway, so I'm rarely on social media, which is very ironic, but I spend most of my time on TikTok, and a lot of the things on there have been about Christmas, specifically Ralph Lauren Christmas because that is what I looked up last year to decorate our house.

And I realized that's what it was when I after I brought it up to you, I was like, "Why the hell is it Ralph Lauren Christmas? I haven't looked up a single thing." I went to the Ralph Lauren store downtown in Chicago, but it shouldn't still be tracking me for that.

How long have you seen Christmas, again, it's November 3rd today?

Oh, like beginning of October. It was like, "You should do this charcuterie board," or, "Here's gift wrap," or like, "Here random Disney treats that are going to be at the parks," or like whatever, just like, "or wear this cute little Christmas outfit." That's a very small portion of my TikTok, but it made enough of an impact where I was like, "I should get plaid." I've never liked plaid in my whole life.

Enough of an impact. Your favorite holiday's Halloween.

I know.

And you didn't feel like it was Halloween.

It genuinely didn't. Like I still can't even believe that it's Halloween has already gone. Like I don't know, and I didn't even really set up like our normal little Halloween party that we do and Yeah, I don't know.

For anyone wondering, it's You didn't get the invite, cuz it's the two of us. It's a We just have yeah, a little spread of Which, you had the spread of food and watched a movie and everything.

It's yeah. I was just gonna invite like random people. "Hey, show up to our house, here's where we live."

But we have friends who listen now. Like, I'm we're slowly learning that people who actually know us actually are listening, so it's like, "Oh, hi."

Oh. Hello. Hi, everyone.

Haha!

Yeah, but Halloween's always been my favorite holiday. Like, well, Christmas as a kid because you get shit, but then Halloween from like middle school to now, but now I feel like Halloween didn't have as much of an impact this year for me, but Christmas 100%.

And now swinging all the way back around to AI using us to do its bidding,

Like you go to Target, I think it was October 20th, maybe, they were taking down the Halloween stuff and replacing it with Christmas.

Yeah, that was gutting.

It was well, it was almost two weeks, if not more than two weeks, before Halloween where they're like, "Okay, it's time to move on to the next." But now the question is, is that because we're looking at revenue and like Target and big-box stores are like, "We make our money off of Christmas. Let's give it as much runway as possible.

We're struggling a little bit cuz everyone shops online now, this and that"? Or is it because, for whatever reason, the algorithms have been showing more Christmas? Did the algorithms influence the people who purchase product, like the purchasing department or whatever, for Target to shift their timeline?

So, they're like, "Oh, people are actively looking for this. Are our hits on the website for Christmas stuff that wasn't available yet?" Like, how is this result received? Where did it come from?

That's the interesting thing.

That is an interesting hypothesis, cuz I didn't think about social media influencing that as much, but back when I was doing more seasonal content, like making cocktails and doing recipes, it was July, or even running my Etsy shop, it was July when I would start making these things because it was like, "Okay, well, I need to get it out by next month," because as people are starting to search, which is typically like early September, because they're starting to think, "Oh, okay, people are back to school.

There's really nothing to look forward to in September," besides one of my favorite holidays, your birthday. And then the next holiday

Which I hope you all celebrate.

The next holiday that you're gearing up for is Halloween. And that was what I was doing was in July I was drawing these creepy things, which I like, but then even then I was like, "I'm still in like a summer frame of mind." so, I think I think it is sort of self-fulfilling in a way where you do have all the influencers and trendsetters and things like that telling you what to do or expect for fall Halloween seasonal trends, and just like in the fashion industry, those collections have already been made like a year ago, like literally a year ago.

And you just said the influencers telling you, but they've actually been They've been influenced by what's been sort of pushed down. Like that,

Well, yeah. It's like a little cycle. Like they're all feeding into each other, it feels like.

Cuz my immediate cynicism says, "Well, yeah, it's the consumerism at the stores," where, yeah, times are a little tougher, and money is down significantly for in-person big-box stores. So, between July 4th and Halloween, there's a huge gap where like you have back-to-school stuff, but then after that, what can you sell in these stores?

So, you immediately start pushing like I think it was before schools even started they had the Halloween stuff in, and I was like, also, we don't spend that much time at Target, we charge our car there. So, that's why it's so funny.

We go to one store.

Yeah.

We don't go to any other store, but yeah, because we

Because they have a charger out there. So, then it's like, "Oh, well, we'll just walk around and see what's what."

And then if you're thinking, "You don't have a charger at home?" No.

No.

It's so close, there's no reason to.

Yeah, it's so much faster. And it's nice to get out of the house a little bit. But I like my immediate cynicism, yes, I think you do have a an interesting hypothesis, but I do feel like it is mostly because you can sell the most like during a longer time window because it feels different than having the scarcity, especially because this is a numbers game for retail.

It's like, "Okay, we need 1,000 people to buy all of the" or like whatever the numbers are, but, "We need a large amount of people to buy these products because they're so cheaply priced," which we're not even gonna talk about what's expensive and what's not, but if you I mean, you're not gonna buy a Halloween tree for $40,000, but you would buy a cute little one for $5.

So, Halloween tree.

Well, yeah.

I was trying to think of anything. I was like, or spooky pumpkin. If the spooky pumpkin at Target was $40,000, they may only get a few buyers for that because it's such a specific price point, it's a smaller subset of people who can afford that.

But if it's a $5 spooky pumpkin, tons more people can afford that. So, I think, especially for Target's price point, I think it's more just a numbers game of trying to get as many consumers in as possible.

Well, and Black Friday was invented to get all these stores back into the black because they're in the red throughout the year, and that was like, "This is the time of year where we can actually turn our profit around for the whole year."

There's Black Friday sales.

So, all these stores back into the black because they're in the red throughout the year, and that was like, "This is the time of year where we can actually turn our profit around for the whole year."

Yeah, and what's the red, and what's the black?

Bad and good. I don't know too much, just like I think that's red and black, but definitely Black Friday would be getting back in the black.

Yeah, the red was like danger zone where it's like you're not clearing any profits, but then the black was where basically you would make all of your money for like 3 months out of the year, cuz then as soon as January hits, you're fucked until like May, basically.

So then the question is, is it even that? Because Black Friday isn't as much of a thing anymore. We've seen that middle of October.

Black Like last week I was looking up one thing and it said, "Our 40% off Black Friday sale." I had to walk over and show it to you. It was like

Haha!

October 28th. It was like, "Wait, that's not That's just wild, like a month ahead of time." But everything's about making a moment. So, it's like, "Okay, if we're gonna capitalize off of the Black Friday moment, people are pushing it forward, okay, let's push it forward a little more and then a little more.

Eventually, it's January 15th and it's like, 'Black Friday's right around the corner!'"

How funny would that be? Be like, "I think your marketing department is drunk."

But, yeah, it's weird then. So, does all of this It's a whole cyclical thing. Like, if algorithms and AI are influencing it, what's influencing the algorithms and AI, and is it the stores, not maliciously, but like the people in charge in July figuring out Christmasy things that then algorithms start to be like, "Oh, people are looking for this, let me start showing it," and it trickles down from certain like tiny worlds, like a tiny world of the buying department, say, purchasing department.

Then it starts to trickle down a little further and throughout the algorithms, they're like Google search is like, "Oh, searches up a little for Christmas." And it's like, "Okay, now we push this." Then this says that, that says this, do-be-do and do-piss. Now you're

Haha!

Don't point at me and say piss. How dare you!

But it's the chicken or the egg. Is it because the retailers need this to happen, or is it happening because it's happening? Like, it's I feel like there's no answer, and there's no way to ever know the answer.

I do feel like it is kind of both. Like I do think it feeds into itself, so it's almost cannibalizing itself. For the holidays specifically, like there isn't anything after the 4th of July, really, that's a major holiday until Halloween.

Yeah, there really isn't anything. Like there's Labor Day, but that's like the end of summer.

And Labor Day and back-to-school are sort of the holiday, but no one decorates for Labor Like decorates in the sense of

Yeah, I guess the consumerist holiday.

Yeah, there you go. Cuz even 4th of July really isn't a consumerist holiday. Like you can buy fireworks or you buy like grilling stuff, but that's it's very specific, like almost the last holiday of summer is like the beginning of summer when like you buy new outdoor furniture or you buy a new grill with the hopes that you're gonna be outside, and nobody ever grills, or they grill once, and then it's like, "Oh, cool, that worked."

Well, and across every business that like I've worked with and like helped grow for the last 16 years, 100% of the time,

That's literally half my life.

100% of the time, June is the worst month.

Yeah.

100% of like they always have a dip. No matter from my perspective, no matter the industry, every single industry dips in June.

Except for real estate.

Oh, there you go. So, yeah, I guess consumer level products.

Yeah, consumer-based products, like things that you can buy basically anytime. But real estate is a very specific thing, but yeah, so real estate aside, that's like the only one that really isn't It follows the exact inverse of everything else, basically.

Like your life's biggest purchase. So, everything that isn't your life's biggest purchase seems to go that way. But also, I don't know in car sales.

So, cars could be similar to real estate. So, maybe we're maybe I'm looking at up to a certain threshold of money, of cost. Maybe that's it.

Yeah, anything like sub $30- or $40,000, basically. Maybe. I don't even know.

Well, not to put numbers on it, or whatever.

Yeah, I didn't even think about cars. I don't think about that at all. Haha!

Maintaining Critical Thinking and Online Feedback

Yeah.

But yeah, it's just weird. So, then offloading your thinking to AI.

That's how we got here. I was trying to remember. I was like, "Where the hell did we even begin?"

But, yeah, the tough part is we want things to be easy. We can use AI to improve our output in life, but if we use it to think for us, it's a slippery slope,

100%.

And if you want to separate yourself from everyone else in a good way, if you want to be able to rise above and succeed and build and grow and do the things that you maybe dream of, after you discover your passion,

Haha!

Like think differently. Or as Steve Jobs would say,

"Think different."

Haha!

Well, and I think, too, you can't be afraid of having negative feedback from whatever you put out there. Cuz like even a video that I posted today has gotten a lot of negative feedback, but it's not anything crazy. It's purely that Johannes Vermeer used a projector to help him with his painting, and he was a 17th century Dutch artist.

There's a whole documentary called "Tim's Vermeer," it's very, very fascinating. And a lot of people are upset by that, which I find fascinating, and like I think you just have to make stuff and expect to have negative feedback, and then you kind of just get used to it, and then you almost become invincible because you're sort of hoping and expecting for it, because that's helped my video do tremendously well on all the platforms, like tremendously well meaning vanity metrics.

So, I think you just you need to push past it and not be afraid to get negative feedback, even though it's hard. Like even if it's from a loved one, like I've had family members be like, "I don't like your videos, like they're terrible," or, "Why do you swear?" or, "Why do you edit like that? That's awful." And it's like, "Okay, cool.

That's your thought. Like thank you, but I don't really care."

I don't care.

Yeah, it's like

Like we talked about, there's no such thing as fact and truth when it comes to things like that.

Exactly, and it's like, "Okay, cool, that's what you think. Then if that's how you" Like, not shitty, but if that's how you feel, you should make content then, because then you can put your own artwork out there.

Or at least it's not for you.

Exactly, and that's what I literally said. I was like, "Well, yeah, thanks, but like I know that the video isn't for you specifically, so I know it's gonna reach the right people." So, just don't be afraid of that, I guess, would be what I would say, which I know is easier said than done, but with practice, it's so much simpler.

And remember, it's not a critique on you as a person, because in person that face-to-face, that other person would not say those things to you. However, it's a critique of what they're projecting onto the piece of content you made, whether it's like, "I don't want I identify as an artist or art critic, and Vermeer means so much to me that you're questioning my identity, you being this piece of content, not you the human.

So, I'm gonna stand up for it." So like, it's not about us ever, it's always a mirror back to them and how they're maybe insecure or merely want to get noticed because they're noisy.

Yeah, and sometimes people can have valuable feedback, but it'll be delivered in a more compassionate sort of way versus like an argumentative way. Yeah, so I you just need to put it out there and just see what happens.

And like when we don't get attention, it feels good to be like, "I'm right, you're wrong."

Like, this is so random, but you had someone comment on the trick-or-treating hours

Oh, my god.

About you being wrong about the trick-or-treating hours because it's these, and then it was just funny because they're not from the town that this content was for, so

Yeah.

They presumed, I guess, or just hadn't thought it through that, "Oh, trick-or-treating hours are the same everywhere, and I know the trick-or-treating hours."

Well, yeah, they said, "What are you talking about? It's from 6:30 to 9:30. What the fuck are you Where are you?" And like LOL, and I was like, "This isn't a nationwide set of hours."

Haha!

I was like, "Ours is from this time." I was like, "Do you live in this town?" And then they deleted their comment, which I was like, "That's crazy."

But, see, it's like because they approach it with a little bit of with more snark and things that you could take personally, but then just rationally being like, "Well, I mean, just so you know, this is only for here. Everywhere is different,"

Yeah.

Then they feel bad. You're not trying to make them feel bad, but they were just like, I don't

I was.

I'm just teasing.

But they don't wanna look bad. No one wants to look bad, they want attention and like, "Look at this dummy." And then they're like, "Oh no, I'm the dummy." And then it just sort of comes back, or a lot of times people like, "Oh, I didn't actually think about it that way, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come on so hot.

I had a rough day," whatever it is. I've experienced both ends, especially with historical content, that is extremely inflammatory, shockingly. People will absolutely tell you how they think and feel, and I've gotten both sides where like somebody was like, "You're completely wrong.

Like, you're not even remotely accurate." And I was like, "No, it is like according to this and this," and I cited my sources, cuz I do my research, and then the person responded and they're like, "Yeah, I'm sorry. I had a rough day, like I took it out on you," or whatever. I wasn't even remotely expecting that.

But then it was like, "Oh, yeah, people just comment and they don't even think." They don't even spellcheck, also, but people just comment things, and they're not quite thinking through all of it. Like, even though we all know about cyberbullying and blah, blah, blah, it really is just like in the moment, they're just like, "Blah!" But it doesn't mean anything, which is even more disheartening in a way,

Haha!

Cuz then it's like, "Well, this wasn't special for me," because if they did it to you, they're doing it to everybody else. So, it's almost sadder that it's not about you. It's purely about them in that moment of like dopamine rush that they get, and then they're on to the next person.

It's like, "Well, what about me? Don't you wanna berate me a little bit more?"

Well, yeah, we're worried about what everyone else thinks, but the sad, uncomfortable truth What everyone else thinks about us, but the sad, uncomfortable truth is that they're not thinking about us at all.

I know. That makes me sad. No, I'm just teasing.

But, it's good. Don't you silently laugh.

I didn't.

Psychotic laughter.

What were you gonna say?

No, I was literally gonna say, "Well, that was a good chat."

Okay.

Sorry, I just shouted into the mic. I feel like I need to have this on a stand, cuz holding it up hurts my arms. Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Ai-yi-yi. Okay. We'll wrap here.

I need to wrap? Should I sing my song?

You should.

No, it's not coming out.

We might make music using AI tools and things, and it's so much fun. Anyway, we'll see you next week.

Bye!

Bye!