It's a hard day for me to record the episode. It's been a very strange and emotional week. It started with some family related incidence that turned into both my dad and brother having surgeries from unrelated situations. In the middle of the week, Seattle had 3 shootings in 24 hours, all of which happened within blocks of each other. And on Sunday, Kobe Bryant, one of my idols passed away in a helicopter accident. Today's episode, I am wearing my Kobe Bryan #8 Lakers jersey in his honor. Growing up in Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant was my introduction into basketball. He's the reason I first took interest and he's someone I looked up to for the next decade of his career. His final game in the NBA was on my 27th birthday, and all I wanted to do for my birthday that year was watch his last game. His passing is horrible and I'm so sad he left us so early in his life. I'm trying to take some silver lining from this circumstance, because the events earlier in the week had me heated. I wasn't able to record this episode at my regular Friday timeline because of my mixed emotions between family and the reactions from the shootings in the city. I have been frustrated at how quickly we judge, place blame and form opinions on situations we don't know about. Just minutes after the shooting happened downtown, people were placing blame on homelessness, gun laws, police enforcement, drug use, and Uber & Lyft were being criticized for their fees skyrocketing as thousands of people requested rides out of the city. 

We need to find more people to prop up that represent positivity and encourage us to remember we are all human. No matter what side of the fence you are on, we need to look at each other with more respect, patience and empathy. 

This episode is a bit of a rant. I need to be better at not being so judgmental, and evaluating my emotions before I place blame. 

If you need help after these tough situations, please seek help and talk it through. We all have issues as humans, and we all need to work on forgiving each other.