Mad hangs with slick mofo Nick Turner today; white FD, car talk, music talk, camera talk, design talk, food, life talk, what’s not to like?! Helps the guy is calm (ZEN as fuck, really), and has a calming effect on me, which is a good thing as it doesn’t take much for me to get manic these days!
PS: Nick has gone freelance, check out his awesome work on his instagram. Follow: @therealnickturner
Funny how everyone asks “R U OK?”, but once you tell people you aren’t they yell “HE’S LOST IT! TAKE YOUR MEDS CUNT!”.
Just sayin’. I’ve come cleaner about my problems than most, in a public arena too, it’s how I’ve always done it. How people can make fun of the fact that I am sick, seeking help and on medications is a little beyond me.
It amazes me that they can so freely, in an open arena (Facebook), kick me whilst I am down in order to get likes on their hurtful comments.
I’ve had guys read my articles and patronise them as nothing but a scream for help. YES! That is what they were!
Running my brand as me hasn’t been easy all these years, it’s possibly getting harder, but the fight feels way more worth it to me now than ever. I’m determined to get the thousands of followers that were only following me/ZEN for the babes and cars to unfollow. It’s going to take a little time, but I’ll get there.
I’m a Joe Rogan fan. For those who don’t know Joe Rogan; to me he’s primarily this guy that commentates on live UFC fights. He calls the biggest fights and to this day it still blows my mind how he knows enough about martial arts to be able to call moves live as the world watches with him. I mean, most would have a hard time calling the difference between left and right punches at live speed, let alone calling what kind of punch it is, and why it’s being thrown. He’s a damn good UFC commentator.
Joe’s also a stand up comedian. I’ve watched a couple of his acts and find his brand of comedy a little too aggressive for my liking. Doesn’t really help that I think he gets on the stage smashed (Joe Rogan is a huge advocate for smoking weed) or at least that’s how I interpret his energy on stage.
Joe also runs a free podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience which has been around since 2009 and legit is one of the world’s most popular podcasts.
I’ve been seeing the old word “shill” absolutely everywhere on social media the past few weeks. It’s got to be the first bandwagon word of the year and a good one at that too as it goes quite well with my desire for everyone, especially business oriented entities, to be more transparent with their audiences.
TLDR: Joe Rogan interviews CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey and the entire world loses its shit, as Joe seemed to be asking Dorsey soft questions in place of censorship questions everybody wants answers to. The episode has been downvoted 71,000 times compared to 11,000 upvotes causing Joe to make an apology on his next episode.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who’s been on Joe’s show and is someone Joe considers a “friend” (more an frienemy to keep close IMHO), has since gone all out against Joe. He’s not the only one. A quick search of “Joe Rogan Jack Dorsey” on YouTube and you’ll find more than a few people calling Joe out to be a “shill”.
I’ve watched the podcast, and I agree with the haters on this one in that I think Joe missed an opportunity to talk about censorship and Alex Jones with the guy who IS Twitter.
In Joe’s apology video he explains that Dorsey has agreed to return for another interview, this time with someone at Twitter who actually does the banning. It’s going to be an interesting show, one which I feel, despite the content, will cop just as many thumbs down as the first one.
I’m seeing a separated woman of strong faith (it’s complicated). Her husband (also of strong faith) broke one of the Ten Commandments. They have a gorgeous 4 year old son and have decided to go through divorce.
Does what we do here on Earth even matter? It’s hard for me to believe it does when, every now and then, you get blaringly loud signs from God that you’re not at all in control of your own life.
A few months ago I met 2 Elders. I’m thankful to both of them for taking the time out to invite a total stranger into their home. They listened to what I had to say; everything from earbashing Mormons on weekends as a kid to vultures trying to convert Dad to Catholicism on his dying bed.
Through visual storytelling they helped me to see Religion in different ways, they helped me to understand that God is not to there to be blamed for what others do wrong, it’s more about your personal relationship with God, and his offer to walk beside him is there for me if I wanted it.
They tried to convert me on the spot, but I ninja turtled into my shell. They’re not going to get me that easily! They then asked if I was at least willing to try to talk to God before I left. To make a prayer. I did this without much hesitation, and realised that speaking to God feels just like speaking to Dad.
When I speak to Dad I ask him to please look after my mother and sister (sometimes out loud at his gravestone, sometimes in mind), I feel that I speak to my father like one would speak to God.
I was then asked if it would be OK if they said a prayer for me. Of-course! I was SO down! They asked for God to show me a sign within the next 7 days, a sign so strong that I wouldn’t have any doubt about God’s existence.
I got that sign too, LOUD & CLEAR.
My mother let me know that an esoteric family friend looked into my future and told her that if I don’t settle down with this married woman, I won’t get another chance again to have kids and a normal family life. I’m like Mum, please.
Later that afternoon said married woman and I were slothing on the couch going through design posts on my personal blog, we scrolled all the way back to 2013 (yes we were bored) and we came across an interview I did with raised by wolves.
It’s a good interview! I really enjoyed re-reading it as I felt it encompassed quite a few of the things I had going on, that I’d like to get going on again!
The next morning the doorbell rang and I took delivery of this amazing parcel.
It’s the sign I was looking for! A smack in the face! A printed edition of raised by wolves with the interview that I did in 2013, the interview that I just happened to read last night, printed and laid out so beautifully in front of my eyes in the morning.
OK. So God exists. Does that change anything? Well… not really?!
I have more questions, and so long as I have questions I’ll forever ask them… because to question is to live, right?!
I’m a good person, but I could be a better person. I could learn to better respect others’ beliefs, to better listen and learn from them before so quickly deciding whether to give influence or take influence.
I believe God exists, but to be a good person has nothing to do with Religion.
#Einstein #backonthebike #bikeshopping
The $3,300 carbon Canyon Inflite CF SLX 9.0 Cyclocross Bike. © C. Lee / Cyclocross Magazine
Been looking at all these new fancy 2019 Cyclocross bikes, pictures of guys in muddied up lycra carrying their bikes over the rough stuff. This is John Tomac. He was my 80’s downhill mountain bike hero. Drop bars CHECK! Disc wheel CHECK! Way ahead of his time. He didn’t finish many races (mostly due to flats back then, a flat and you were out!) but he rode so aggressively and stylishly no one cared!
#GETBACKONTHEBIKE
Baby Steps.
“What About Bob?” (1991) was a hilarious movie to me as a 16yr old teenager. It’s even funnier to me now at 43. In the movie Bob (Bill Murray) gets given a book written by his psychiatrist Dr. Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss) called “Baby Steps” (a book that I, and surely many wish actually existed!).
Bob: Baby Steps?
Dr. Marvin: It means setting small reasonable goals for yourself one day at a time. One tiny step at a time. Baby steps.
Bob: Baby steps.
Dr. Marvin: For instance, um… when you leave this office, don’t think about everything you have to do in order to get out of the building, just think to what you must do to get out of this room, and when you get to the hall, deal with that hall, and so forth… you see? Baby steps!
A lack of any kinda of consistent pattern in how I lived my life for a few years eventuated in 6 solid months of smoking an ounce of weed a week, not getting off the couch, not eating right and most important of all, not sleeping well. The lack of sleep made me crazy. It all became obvious to me when I was watching serial killer documentaries; all these guys were pretty normal until they didn’t sleep for 3 days, and that’s what I believe drove them mad enough to go through with their evil plans.
Impatience is a curse.
Wanting to hurry things up once you’ve had enough of feeling sorry for yourself and thinking too big isn’t great when you’re down, as the last thing you want to do is disappoint yourself even more. When I was at my worse I couldn’t even get up off the couch to piss in the bathroom (I’d piss in a mountain dew bottle instead), people were suggesting I get back on the bike, or go for a swim at the rock pool, but they didn’t understand that those most mundane every day things were the hardest things to do.
Taking a deep breath is a small step. It’s amazing how the small tiny little steps have been massive for me lately. It’s like when Dad died, he just had complications on top of complications until he was, well… dead, but man if he was to have had any tiny little baby step forward, we would have taken it, no matter how small a step, as it might just have been the sign we needed to turn the tide.
I’m in a really good place right now, and I’m already starting to develop some big plans. I feel I’ve gotten back on track by A) getting some sleep and B) setting myself up with some very small goals which I’ve absolutely smashed out of the park.
Comedy or not; “What About Bob?” made an impact on me as a teen, and the simple concept of “Baby Steps” is one that I will for sure utilise from time to time in future.
Jane’s Addiction: “I’ve been caught stealing. Once when I was 5”.
Did anyone else shoplift when they were kids? I stole a LOT and never got caught (I’m sure I’ve paid it back in karma tho?!).
A good school mate who lived in my area and I used to catch a bus into the city most weekends. We went so often, his parents thought we must have had girlfriends and that we were going in to the movies on dates every weekend. Little did they know that we were actually shoplifting.
We would both wear big coats and backpacks. You could very easily roll magazines into your arm sleeves. I had a jacket I wore under my coat that had zippers all over it (everything bought in Hong Kong on holidays had zippers all over it at the time!). I used to shove POSCA PENS in the zipper pockets (which were fake pockets that just dumped the pens into the jacket lining allowing me to carry a LOT of stuff).
We got more and more brazen and started to do some legitimate shoplifting. We would take a 10 pack of TDK blank cassette tapes from Woolworths on George Street and simply go down the escalator, with goods in hand, and exit via the QVB Exit. scot-free.
On one weekend we thought we’d head into Chinatown to lift. Big mistake as my mate’s tall, and white! The first shop we went into I loaded up, got out and crossed the road to wait for my mate to come out, but he was stopped. I saw him lift his arms and all these pens just fell out onto the street.
I never saw that mate again on weekends. I’m sure his parents busted his nuts. Didn’t stop me though, I just went on to new heights.
One weekend we got a crew together to check out this huge CD & LP sale at the Hordern Pavilion (The Hordern is where all the big rock and metal bands play in Sydney). We pooled our cash together and with it I bought a few hundred dollars worth of LP’s and CD’s, walked out, emptied the goods and walked back in with the receipt.
Any one of us could then walk in, get whatever CD’s and LP’s we wanted to so long as the value was the same as the original receipt. If security asked to see a receipt for the goods in hand you’d just produce the receipt we started out with earlier that day.
Porn mags were sold like crack cocaine in high school. I remember some of my guys throwing porno mags into the year 7’s playgrounds for free, only to hook them into buying new editions each month.
It wasn’t until my little sister got caught shoplifting that I stopped. Mum and Dad had gotten a call from a store to say they had my sister, and that she had been caught shoplifting. This hit my parents pretty damn hard as they themselves ran a retail store in Centrepoint Tower (now Sydney Tower). My little sis copped it pretty bad from Dad, so bad that I never ever wanted to have Dad that mad at me… so I quit!
