Back In The Conversation

First day of the Yoffs, wahoo. 

I watched three games, the last one with my Dad. 

I do not believe that Raptors-Nets is real. It's a government conspiracy and that series isn't happening. 

Embiid is so frustrating. 

Denver is my West pick.
Boston is my East pick. 

Why doesn't everyone chuck cross-court touchdowns like Jokic? Is it a style thing? Like copyright infringement, but game? Is he really the only one that understands how to do this? I mean I like it. 

Playoff basketball, now the rules are a little different. Ok. Fair enough. It's much better to watch than regular season. 

I didn't say this but MPJ is the real deal. 
Watch out for Jamal Murray too, dude is really one with the ball and fast as fuck. 

Jameson Cold Brew seems like an awful product to me. 

Shuffling papers, whatever. Home court advantage isn't part of the playoffs now. 

Luka is big and strong and has a handle, and off he goes to layup town, and he's got touch so  it goes in, and they're just standing there like idiots saying "we didn't give up the corner three so we're good". Or something. 

Do you hate sports, and especially football? You are safe from football. You can always say no to football and no one will call you a slur or insinuate that you're a bad person. 

Sports are half unwatchable due to Math Ball. They are neglecting beauty. It's a sad, frustrating mess, especially for baseball. I still love baseball. Love it. Can't really watch it. Love it. Can watch playoffs though for sure. 

Yoffs. Yoffs coming AT you this year. Yoffs on yoffs. Then Regular Season Football, then more yoffs. God, yes. 

Hmm, today I just read notecards that I've had sitting on my desk. Notes to myself. I keep a big stack of index cards of things I want to remember. Ideas and what not. Is this work?

Oh, today, I had a hum in my signal that I couldn't get rid of. I haven't had that happen in probably ten years so I consider it of significance. Look at me, rationalizing my failure on the fly. To drown it out I played music that I CREATED so if anyone comes to strike me down for copyright problems we can talk about it. I keep hearing that happens, what even is that? Terrifying, is what it is. These tech companies, it's a lot. They are really confident. 


Things that come up:

-Existentialism
-Behaviorism
-I know, hold on to your seats
-NBA 2k is an insidious scam
-Are graduate students satisfied with their leadership?
-Do universities do enough to disseminate information to the public? Is that their job? Hmm, there's these other guys, the media. 
-I have some technical glitches, but it's alright
-Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn
-I legit forgot the fact that horns are made out of horn
-I was trying to think of what Old World people made out of horn, like how ivory is used to make piano keys, and guess what, it turns out they used horn to make horns
-Like how you would blow into it to create a noise, like horns
-Old school, new school? What's true, what works?
-Are "True" and "False" real concepts let's talk about it let's deconstruct it come on please i'm so in need of something to hang my hat on and be known for can we please just question fundamental elements of life that we need to maintain sanity please can we please i'm so in need of validation please ah I have no talent please let me change everything in a memorable way
-Ah, I give up some ok lines I've had in life, they're out here now, I just collect lines
-I am good at Madden
-Nonsense is a bad sign - if you catch yourself speaking nonsense, take a nap. Get some sleep. Eat something. Be careful. Don't be sayin all nothin all the time or else people will not want to deal with you. Not cause you're a dick, but just because it's like, what is, what? Like, nothing works, you know? Make sure you can talk. 
-Keep your calves and your hamstrings stretched
-Integrating global philosophy into psychotherapy - yeah, just do that, that shouldn't take long at all, just like, do it
-Flow all day
-I mean, ok, duh, but how?
-Swords have hilts

Breh, I mean, listen, just some guys chopping it up. What do you want from us?

No, seriously, today, AJ and I zip through 18 lifestyle-philosophy type topics, with the assistance of my grandma's egg timer. "3 minutes a topic!" Ha ha, ok Gaynor. Whatever you say.


1. Smartphone as landline.
-I am pro-this
-Imagine a world without other people's opinions
-Once, you used to be able to pick up your neighbors' phone calls? What?

2. No caffeine.
-really
-Imagine a world when you fall asleep when you go to sleep

3. Seeking atonement for being raised in an androcentric culture.
-I yam what I yam, and I am sorry for talking like Popeye

4. Vegetarianism vs. masculinity.
-Hmm. Do what works best for you, but what if we had all the psychopaths doing the slaughtering? What did you just say? 
-There be no judgment here, the food blogs are everywhere

5. Really basic stoicism.
-I have rebranded this segment as "basic bitch stoicism" because don't tell me I have to be exhaustingly sophisticated to have a single good notion 

6. Listen to at least one news source from the other side of the political aisle.
-[Shia Labeouf noises]

7. Read actual books made of paper.
-There will be zero notifications there to distract you
-You can annotate the book
-People will think you're not a complete moron, or they will at least act that way to get you to leave them alone about it

8. Full Sleep to enjoy life more
-If you believe in climate change, you believe we are not all wired to work 9-5
-What about a 2-10? Are many people nodding their heads vigorously?
-There is no replacement for Full Sleep and you suffer by ignoring this fact

9. What about porn?
-[animal sounds]
-are you familiar with the economic principle of "opportunity cost"?
-you can be more than Glands with an internet connection

10. Edamame, the magic bean!
-Not related to topic 9

11. Discovering homeostasis among the chaos.
12. Setting goals is easy - following through is difficult but fulfilling.
-Hopefully we are not too condescending here, but really. The "slightly harder" path ends up being much easier than the "easier at first and then completely impossible" path

13. I don't know if I'll ever get a tattoo.
-Is it wise to commit? What about committing to a symbol? Eesh, hmmm. 
-You're certain that the ink just stays there and doesn't get into your spleen or anything?

14. Sleep posture matters - get the right pillow.
-One under your head, one between your legs, and one under your hips. AJ taught me this last part, and, one night later, I'm a full convert. Don't have your spine gettin all bendy while you're trying to reset the Mech Suit that is your body.

15. Even fake plants make a room feel more alive
-You can't kill them, and they're still nice and green

16. At what point will the Beatles fall into obscurity?
-Should we be sad about the future? Or, just whatever? 
-No one listens to Gregorian Chant at a party without raising considerable alarm bells

17. "BURN DOWN YOUR SOUL"
-Anyone ever said this to you?
-What a phrase
-I feel uncertain now

18. Put existentialism in your toolbox.
-Nah forget it, we're done, we're done

/// oh boy, it's ok, i got you, we got this

/// I mean, where did I get this notion that earthquakes can have multiple epicenters? I really truly thought that immense earthquakes can have 2 or 3 identifiable epicenters.

/// I searched high and low for evidence of this, and no, it would appear that I just distorted reality in an attempt to make my point.

/// It happens when you don't quite know what you're talking about, which is something that happens all the time. Hopefully that is the only thing that I mangled today. 

/// I will not back down from my position that homo sapiens is one thing, and because of that, our problems are everyone's responsibility in whichever way they can contribute. Also because of that, we have an ethical imperative to cooperate and function together. I mean, everyone knows this, but sometimes we blow RIGHT past it and lose the foundation. We all want the same thing: to have a life we can enjoy and to feel safe where we live. When someone does not have that, there is an ethical imperative to help them reach it, and there are endless ways to do that.

/// Might just be easy for me to say, but I'm going to keep saying it cause I think it's true. Cohesion, harmony, coexistence, cooperation. These are fine goals to keep in mind. 

/// I especially like the term social harmony, because it already exists to a degree and can be increased. You might notice how many complicated things work well every single day because of social harmony, like driving around with hundreds of other people who you don't know, and (in the past, and in the future) attending an event with thousands of others, and everything works out just fine. 

/// We are good at being in harmony in many places, so we know it's possible. 

/// You learn more from friends than enemies, I bet. 

$$$ Mark is my friend from 7th grade, and he is here to talk parenting. He's a dad to a young daughter. I'm single and have a psychology degree. 

$$$ Ive been studying developmental psychology lately, like all last semester, when I had this class on it in graduate school. It's cool stuff. IT IS LIFE. LIFE HANDBOOK CONTAINED WITHIN. Not really, I don't give explicit advice, but people generally have a feel for what happens, so they write books and what not about it. Today, we discuss this sort of thing. Information is readily available. 

$$$ Today's mission is to compare psychology texts with popular parenting books. Are we all on the same page here, or not at all? That seems like it matters.

$$$ We dink around for about three and half minutes, and then get into it. I ferociously defend games, as is tradition. 

$$$ I mean to say "I've never been pregnant, and never been *WITH* someone who was pregnant."

$$$ Mark has read Emily Oster's books Expecting Better and Crib Sheet

$$$ I have my textbooks: The Life Span - Human Development for Helping Professionals, and also: Psychology. Literally the title. Psych 101. Absolute basics. Aka what people think and already know for the most part. 

$$$ We immediately attack the process of science itself, because life is an endless flood of contradictions. Before long, I am getting stuck on Actual Integration. I have some pet ideas. 

$$$ IMPORTANT CORRECTION: I have the paper-publishing bit totally wrong. Everyone publishes papers who is a PhD candidate, but only about 1% of them get CITED. As in used by another graduate student or professor in their work. 

$$$ I illuminate the repetitiveness and shallowness of my psychology education. I am eternally annoyed by this and am now taking action. I believe all these programs can be elevated by holding every class to the standard of the best classes. There are great classes half the time, then half the time, it's a fraudulent waste of four months. It's offensive when the effort level stoops to truly pathetic, which happens about a quarter of the time in my experience. Some monitoring and upholding of an already existing standard (actually lecture with expertise! actually give productive assignments! actually know the field! people do this! it isn't rocket science!) would snap everything into place and create a legion of better therapists and psychologists. And people in general. I wonder if this applies to other fields. 


$$$ Psychology is a feminized field. It started as a male-dominated field, as it was introduced by male physicians. It is different now. I run headfirst into stereotypes, cause I am here to talk about the words. This conversation is about language quite a bit. I don't mind saying things. This isn't a criticism - stay tuned for the statistics on this. It be how it do, ok?

$$$ We find a good example of unnecessary gendering causing a problem. 

$$$ We do talk about current events, and things get real podcasty for a while. We're like "yeah! I saw that - and get this - I have something to say about it" but it's fine. RACE, PRIVILEGE and PATRIARCHY are touched on for all you political types out there.

$$$ Michelle Penelope King is another author recommended by Mark.

$$$ We actually give some advice, whoops: it seems good to educate yourself about the positions on the other side of the political spectrum, especially if you identify very solidly with where you are. Good beliefs withstand challenges, and being aware of the totality of the political conversation is kinda nice. It's like ok, that's all the ideas, now I see why everything is eternally crazy. I'm going to lie down for a half an hour and then cook and eat a steak. 

$$$ We eventually get into the topic at hand.


$$$ We go on.

$$$ We discuss a few other things along the way.

@@@ a quick address begins

@@@ i give my opinion that friendship is good

@@@ i provide suggestions for starting friendships

@@@ eventually i refine a loose point i made earlier

@@@ i implore you to be kind

@@@ okey doke!

>>>Last time, I trotted out something of a claim.

>>>I may be given to claims, but this is no claim.

>>>I'm a little worried about something.

>>>Is our current predominant model of psychotherapy powerful enough to tackle the epidemic of meaninglessness, emptiness, drudgery, disconnection, and loneliness that we like to call the "mental health crisis?"

>>>I'm not certain it is. 

>>>There's lots of ways to go about this. I explain the predominant model as it appears to me. I also paint a picture of the field. I'm in school! 

>>>I weave many ramblings together into a poddy pod pod. 

>>>It's a diatribe. I say that I have "the" plan, but it's just one guy's thoughts. Ain't no perfect truth. 

>>>I manage to get to the point, despite uncertainty that I can do so. 

>>>I'm worried that the predominant model is FLIMSY. 

>>>You get my take on the famous old school psychologists. I am "pro." Are you "anti"? Hmm. I wonder how you feel throughout the day. I like my mood a lot, and it is consistent. I worked incredibly hard for years to create it. 

>>>I know you can hear me clicking my mouse, clicking my pen, and flipping pages in my books and notebooks. Welcome to my show! You are back in the conversation with your host, Alex Gaynor!

>>>You are introduced to one of my cornerstone ideas: Actual Integration.

>>>At the end I have a few words that I left out that are really important. Please keep listening after the end, cause there's a PS. 

>>>I am creating work for myself left and right, which is good, cause I need something to do.

>>>You be good now!! Bye! Talk to you next time!!

+++ I explain my purpose. 

+++ I reveal who I am.

+++ We are going into the teeth of problems.

+++ We will also have fun exploring various psychological topics. 

+++ I explain why my disability, hyperacusis, dictates the terms of my life, and is one reason I am doing this poddy pod. I will keep bringing hyperacusis up until I am certain that no one else will get it. You don't want any part of this. You really, really don't. 

+++ I say other things I will do, like talk to friends and talk about sports. This is my show!!!

+++ Ok, thanks, I love you, bye!

Oh man, ok, so we're just going for it then?

We are.

Will and I do our best to break down and make sense of some of the perplexing ongoing conditions of everyday life. All these words, man. Watch out for some isms. We do fine. 

We share our respective baptisms into the world of occult traditions and how we carry these ideas around nowadays. 

I reveal personal tragedy, as is tradition.

We generate reasonably helpful tips for activating and optimizing your inner life.

We wonder if we millennials have lost our sense of community entirely. We're not sure! I'm fairly certain that it would be bad if that happened. We discuss what to do.

What about these skeptics? How annoying. But ugh, I know. It doesn't make any sense at all. I get it. 

Is space fake? That would be ridiculous. It isn't. Space is real. Come on. 

Will gives me an astrology lesson that I wish I had explained better for you. Sorry. We were looking at charts. See if you can hang in there for the pearls. 

We spend a lot of time staring the brutal uncertainty of life dead in the eye, and saying "listen, I have a busy day today. Why the constant draining of me? I have to do my laundry." Of course, as you do this, you laugh quite a bit. It's fine! It's fine, you just go to sleep and then wake up and eat and etc etc. You got it.