#[ and tons of cables that I was too lazy to get rid of ]

[heartxshaped-bruises]

Just found out someone apparently broke into our basement last week when I wasn't here, and the only stuff they stole from me was that one broken TV that will blow up in your face if you plug it in again, according to the guy who attempted to repair it back then xD

I wish I could witness what happens 🤣

[tracynotabi]

Riptide Day 0-1

So I wasn’t going to record my time in Ohio, just because I forgot to take pictures and we weren’t really mobile, but looking back, there were just too many memories to forget and I just really wanted to share with everyone how much fun this community is, despite the fact that we were canceled.

Most people will be referred to by their names, but I’ll introduce them with their tags first. If you see this and would like your name removed/changed, please let me know.

Also, some of this is not a perfect play-by-play because I am writing purely from memory.

Also, please note, there is degeneracy.

Thursday; September 9, 2021

Starting off the day, Kevin (The Doctor) and I had basically no sleep. We woke up at 7am PDT (read: 6:30am but too lazy to get out of bed) after getting to be around 4-5am mainly because Kevin wanted to hang out with his friends in Discord before he leaves them for the whole weekend. Me? I was just procrastinating on packing.

Joey (Big Large) texts in our group chat that we never got rid of from Emerald City that they’ll be at my place in 10 minutes with Ivan (Ivayne), because they were driving up north from Elk Grove, which is about 20 minutes south of where we live.

The plan was to drive to Robert (PotatoesAreYum)’s place and then make the two hour drive to San Jose, where we would catch our 1:45pm flight.

Why did we do this? Because our tickets were canceled for Blacklisted 6 and we couldn’t get refunds so we only had credits to work from, but apparently, Sacramento Airport did not have available flights to Ohio that were by Alaskan Airlines.

We took off, leaving Sacramento and heading to Davis. Part way through, we get a text from Robert asking how far out we were, because he had to poop, but we were 11 minutes out.

Robert, the descriptive man he is, describes that his poop was ready to crown, so he was good. I thanked him for the visual, because goddamn, I needed another one after getting a Snapchat from Joey the night before of his ass hanging out in jorts.

Robert: At least I didn’t sent a picture like Joey. But if you want a picture, I could send you one. Me: I would cancel your flight.

We end up driving south to Kevin’s brother’s house, where we tried to find a Jack in the Box that was on Google Maps. We spent about five minutes looking for it before ultimately giving up and going to a Hawaiian BBQ/Donut shop. We were just as confounded as you are probably right now. Food was OK.

Kevin’s brother insisted the Jack in the Box was there but for the life of us, we could not find it. He took us to the airport and off we went to Chicago. Yes, they played Smash at the airport, because this is what Smash players do. 

They also played on the flight. Sidenote: there was this very loud cat in the aisle across from me that was meowing like crazy.

Flight from Chicago to Cleveland sucked. It was hot and cramped and they took our baggage away.

We land in Cleveland at about 11pm? Parker (Boringman [Sip Mastah]) was waiting for us at our gate because he had landed an hour before us.

We go down to Ground Transportation to reach our shuttle when I read the little red tag one of the flight attendants gave me. It said that our baggage would be given to us at the end of the flight.

... Well, we had just passed through security and going down the escalator at that point.

Well, fuck.

We run into Washington at baggage claim and I’m panicking because I have no idea if our luggage is going to pop out at baggage claim. Joey, Kevin, and I go up the escalator - the WRONG escalator and we go up a flight too much. We go back down and the airport’s just empty.

Makes sense, it’s 11pm EDT and there’s not a single worker in sight.

Robert texts us saying our luggage popped out and I hate life because the wording on the ticket, I swear, implied it wasn’t going to come out of baggage claim.

We go back down, grab our luggage, say bye to Washington, and head on our to the shuttle wait area.

There, we run into Luke (Yung Quaff) and Will (Twisty) from Massachusetts. Apparently, they had been waiting for the shuttle for over an hour and it was about 11:30pm at this point in time and we’re so tired because we’ve been travelling the whole day and there were people waiting for us to goon with.

We get to the shuttle and it’s an hour to the resort. Crying inside.

We check in and our room is on the other side of the resort from Guttey and Spencer (Mr. Watch and Learn)’s room even though they provided our confirmation number when they got their hotel room. What the hell.

Seeing everyone in that room was so amazing. I can’t remember everyone there exactly, because let me tell you, that room at one point probably had more people than it should have and we most definitely violated some kind of fire hazard.

Friday; September 10, 2021

Twisty ended up staying the night in our room because we had a two bedroom, two bathroom suite with six people. Our suite had a king bed, two queen beds, and a queen pull-out from the couch. Joey and Robert - the two largest people - stayed in the king bed. Kevin and I shared a queen. Ivan had a queen. Parker had a queen. Though I believe the first night, Parker and Ivan shared the queen (?) and Twisty stayed on the pull out.

Twisty barrel-rolled the whole night.

The bed squeaked so much it was insane. I think it only really bothered me, but that was fine because the guys needed their rest more than I did.

Spencer, the god that he is, ended up driving from Long Island to Ohio, and he offered to take us to go get some groceries for his room and us at Meijer.

It seated five, but I don’t really count as a full human size-wise, so I sat at Kevin’s feet, who was sitting in the passenger seat, underneath the dashboard, while Guttey, John (Gluteus), and Luke sat in the back.

Shoutouts to Meijer. Had a ton of awesome stuff.

A bunch of wings and thighs that probably weighed as much as a chicken itself plus 2 Liter Coke for $8.

It was all a blur, but we ended up in the Chad Room at some point - the Presidential Suite, just as crews were starting.

We end up meeting Yuko, who had a very large speaker about the size of me curled up. He ended up making an entrance and there’s a video on Twitter where you can just hear Joe (Qtip) go, “I’m scared.”

Also ran into Zoey (Frost) again. :) Haven’t seen her since she left NorCal. We ended up just talking a bit, catching up, before I think Kevin needed me to go back to our room for a Wii.

I ended up walking entirely back to our room on the other side of the hotel - next to the convention center, getting out Wii, only to find out two things:

1. We didn’t have composite cables. 2. There was no other outlet.

We ended up getting kicked out after Qtip’s team won anyway.

Can’t remember anything else, other than the goon was too hard and too real but if you would like for me to include anything that happened while I was there, let me know! :)

[theabsolutelytru]

Hot Take: Millennial should be 1981-2001.

Also, nobody in the category “Millennial” seems to think they’re a Millennial, even if they’re firmly in the middle of it, because of all the negative propaganda against this age group.

First, let me start by saying that the spread IS large, and I get that it’s confusing and hard to say that someone born in 1981 is similar to someone born in 1997, or whatever, but honestly, that’s just age difference. Someone born in 1949 isn’t similar to someone born in 1961, either. The similarities should be just enough that it doesn’t change much between the ages.

Like, a lot of people calling themselves older Gen-Z or Zennials, I have a ton in common with, and I was actually born in 1989. I don’t, strangely, have much in common with someone born in the early 80s. I honestly think the 80s is different enough from the 90s and 00s (when I was a child and teen) that if anything, the Millennial generation is drawn incorrectly on the older end. Like, maybe instead of my earlier category, it should be something more like 1986-2001? Like, people who are a bit too young to actually remember the 80s. But I digress.

My point is, I think people calling themselves “older Gen-Z” are actually younger Millennials. The problem is that the cut-off age has been in flux for about a decade (the debate between 1994, 1996, and 1998), but also, I think one of the major problems is how Boomers made it their goal in life to use Millennials as the scapegoat for everything wrong with society. It doesn’t help that they used Millennial as code for “young person” until a few years ago when Gen-Z got coined (sometimes they still do. So many older people are still calling teenagers Millennials. I’m so sorry, teens.). So, anything teens did wrong, they went “Millennials are so stupid/bad/weird”. So, I think people who are squarely in Millennial, hitting their mid-20s/early-30s were all “Uhhh... we’re not the ones eating Tide Pods” which sort of threw the kids under the bus, and the kids were like “uhhh, we’re not actually Millennials lol.”

So, we got off on the wrong foot, in the first place. Then, people who were born in the mid-late 90s decided they didn’t necessarily want to be grouped into the Millennial thing, either. Thus, the cut-off ages getting older, and the term Zennial being coined. 

The gag is, a lot of the things Gen-Z defines as Gen-Z things are Millennial things... especially Black Millennial things. A lot of stuff that’s “Gen-Z language” is just AAVE or Black slang that’s been around for decades. A lot of the whole “Gen-Z are activists” thing is just Gen-Z continuing the work of Millennial activists, but then pretending that Millennials never did anything. Like, Black Lives Matter totally started in 2013 and was created by Black Millennials... today, Gen-Z white girls put a BLM sticker on their TikTok and think they did something.

Also, I think there’s confusion about, like... conservative Millennials being representative of a problem in Millennial culture rather than, like... just that they’re white. Mostly. Like, a lot of white Gen-Z are conservative, too, just like white Gen-X, and white Boomers. The problem, as much as we like to pretend it is, isn’t really the generation. There’s a problem within whiteness as a whole, and we’re just... not talking about it because it’s easier to say, like “Okay, Boomer” and pretend it’s not... a whiteness problem. (Also, Black Boomers similarly aren’t really the problem when people complain about Boomers... but, that’s another topic for another day.)

Anyway, back to, I think that this whole Gen-Z vs Millennial thing started because of the same reason nobody has ever wanted to refer to themselves as a Millennial. Boomer media demonized Millennials as lazy and entitles babies, and then a few Gen-Z kids did some activism and media started going “Gen-Z are great!!” (and I honestly think that a lot of that was Millennial and Gen-X writers praising the kids for using their voices, which somehow got lost...) so everyone who is a younger Millennial was just like “Nope, I’m Gen-Z” and everyone who is actually Gen-Z is like “lol yeah, Millennials are whiny babies who won’t get a job to actually get a house instead of a shoebox apartment lol” and when negative press about Gen-Z came out the term didn’t really exist, so everyone was still just saying “Millennials” and then Millennials were like “uh, no, we’re not actually in high school anymore, that’s not us.” So, it was also sort of like throwing Gen-Z under the bus, so I think it created a line of animosity among them and yeah... here we are, where Gen-Z seems to think we all are “plant moms” and “girl bosses” who are obsessed with Harry Potter, and Millennials... for the most part seem to be really proud of Gen-Z, so it’s weird that they actually dislike us so much...

...while simultaneously liking our celebs, activists, and internet personalities, so I don’t actually think they dislike us, I think they’ve just bought the propaganda. 

And I think the propaganda made young Millennials not want to be... and decide they’re Gen-Z...

which makes our generation ridiculously short. Like, if you listen to everyone who says they’re not Millennials, so older Millennials and younger Millennials, it leaves like 8 years of Millennials. Which isn’t a generation.

So, either we get rid of the distinction and split it down the middle and give the older half to Gen-X and the younger half to Gen-Z, or we admit that it should be the standard 18-20 years that every other generation is, which would be 1981-1999/2001, or we shift it properly, which would actually be probably 1986/7-2001.

Because it’s strange to me that I have to be in a category with people I don’t relate to (I don’t remember The Never Ending Story and didn’t know what a Teddy Ruxpin was until they started talking about it in Umbrella Academy) and that people I have a lot more in common with are a different generation from me because they were born 6 years later (I like ATLA, YouTube & TikTok, I grew up watching Disney Channel on basic cable, most of my college classes had online components and I remember the dreaded 11:59pm, most of my formative teen/young adult years were spent on social media.)

[thisishowyouletgoandfindyou-blog]

Recommended by

Richard Reis

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Richard Reis

"I write this not for the many, but for you; each of us is enough of an audience for the other." - Epicurus http://richardreis.me/May 16How Less Helps You Do More — Minimalism And Your Brain

Hello dear,

By the end of this letter, you’ll know something that’ll make you wealthier, but also think better.

This knowledge changed my life. I’m excited to share it with you.

Many of my friends know this, but minimalism is something I have been a big fan of for quite some time.

Now, I hate calling it “minimalism” because the word comes loaded with whatever past meaning you attached to it.

So from here on, whenever I say “minimalism” I want you to think “no clutter” or “no sh*t lying around”. Whichever you prefer.

With that big, fat, elephant out of the way, we can begin.

Why minimalism?

Two reasons:

I believe it’s an amazing “brain-enhancing” technique.

It saves a ton of money (this is, after all, a finance series).

I think #2 is self explanatory. Let’s dig deeper into #1, it’s very important.

Why is minimalism an amazing brain-enhancing technique?

“A messy room equals a messy mind”.

As it turns out, that’s true.

Psychologist (check out the insane CV) Dr. Jordan Peterson’s favorite advice is “clean your room”.

In fact, Dr. Peterson gets letters from people telling him how cleaning their room changed their life!

I’ve experienced the benefits personally, and it works.

Here’s a direct quote from Peterson:

“My sense is that if you want to change the world you start from yourself and work outward because you build your confidence that way.

I don’t know how you can go out and protest the structure of the entire economic system if you can’t keep your room organized. […]

The world presents itself as a series of puzzles, some of which you’re capable of solving and some of which you’re not. You have many puzzles in front of you that you could solve but you choose not to. Those really are the things that weight on your consciousness, knowing ‘oh I should do this’, but you don’t.[…]

It’s like, don’t be fixing up the economy, 18 year-olds. You don’t know anything about the economy. It’s a massive complex machine beyond anyone’s understanding and you mess with it at your own peril. Can you even clean up your own room? No. Well, you should think about that.

Because if you can’t even clean up your own room, who the hell are you to give advice to the world?” — Dr. Jordan B Peterson

I couldn’t agree more.

Sidenote: This may seem odd, but I have a hypothesis as to why minimalism/ cleaning your room is effective for better thinking.

This insight came to me from meditation. I know that when someone meditates effectively, the brain regions known as Default Mode Network’s (DMN) activity diminishes. These regions are what make you ‘daydream’ (aka not focus): “I shouldn’t have said that to Bob this morning”, “I regret not asking that girl for her number”, “that a**hole who cut me in the freeway last week could have killed me”. Meditating (basically) shuts down those voices and allows you to focus on the present (which makes you more effective).

Soooo doesn’t the same brain activity increase when your place is messy? “oh I should vacuum this floor”, “those dishes look dirty”, “damn, my closet is a mess”.

My hypothesis: A messy place increases activity in the DMN, which doesn’t allow you to focus 100% (making you less effective). This could explain why when you ‘go minimal’, you focus better (and most people say it’s life-changing).

If everyone had a clean room/ apartment/ house, the world would be a better place 🙂 (I just gave a great PhD thesis for some neuroscience student out there).

Do you understand the importance of minimalism now?

If you’re home, perfect! Look around you, is there something you’ve been meaning to clean? Does opening your closet stress you out?

This physical clutter is probably also cluttering your brain. Hence why you can’t focus.

If so, what follows is tactical advice that will help you clean in record time.

When should you “go minimal”?

Many bloggers will tell you to start slow and gain momentum.

This… may work.

Unfortunately it didn’t work for me. And I believe it won’t work for you either.

Why? Most people are lazy when it comes to tidying (come on, how long have you been thinking about organizing your mess?)

Therefore, the best solution I found came from the ginormously popular book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” by Marie Kondō.

In case you don’t know Marie, here’s a nice summary from Tim Ferriss’ awesome (recent) interview with her:

“Her books have sold more than seven million copies and have been published in more than forty countries.

Kondo’s methods have become so famous that her last name has become a verb, ‘Kondo-ing,’ and people who share her specific values are referred to as ‘Konverts.’ She has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people.”

Yeah, wow.

Marie’s philosophy is much closer to mine. If you want to declutter your life, pick one day and do it all at once.

“When you tidy your space completely, you transform the scenery. The change is so profound that you feel as if you are living in a totally different world. This deeply affects your mind and inspires a strong aversion to reverting to your previously cluttered state. The key is to make the change so sudden that you experience a complete change of heart. The same impact can never be achieved if the process is gradual.” — Marie Kondō

How to declutter1. Pick a day

Pick a day, any day. And start early in the morning (this will energize you).

“But I’m too busy.”

I think that most people who are “too busy” miraculously have enough time for other things like cable TV or Netflix.

Unless you have 5 kids, work 3 jobs, and are a single parent, you’re not “too busy”.

“Too busy” is also a polite way of saying “this isn’t a priority for me”. But if you weren’t convinced from the intro that cleaning IS a priority, chances are you’re just being lazy.

2. Put it all on the floor

If this sounds like a song title, it’s because it’s the fun part.

“Where do I start?”

Marie Kondō recommends going by categories, not rooms.

“Don’t start selecting and discarding by location. Don’t think “I’ll tidy the bedroom first and then move on to the living room” or “I’ll go through my drawers one by one starting from the top down.” This approach is fatal. Why? Because most people don’t bother to store similar items in the same place.” — Marie Kondō

The correct sequence she recommends is this: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items, and mementos.

Go around your house looking for everything that fits in each category (and put it all together at once on the floor).

Don’t touch items in a category unless you’re done with the previous category. There are many reasons for this (though too long to include here), if you really want the details get Marie’s book. If not, just trust me.

Easy.

3. Discard

“Now I have every item in a category on the floor, what do I do?”

This is what makes Marie so special. She talks about the concept of “sparking joy”.

Grab each item one by one, and ask yourself “does this spark joy?” If it doesn’t, it goes in a trash bag.

“Why does this work?”

Because (this might blow your mind), people own things they don’t really like! *gasp*

I know right? People actually have clothes, shoes, books and/or other items in their homes that they don’t really like all that much.

This is why I like minimalism; everything you own is something you love.

I love my “uniform” (I wear the same clothes every day), I love my whiteboard, I love my yoga mat, heck I even love my blender!

I don’t understand why people keep their closets full of clothes they “kinda” like, their kitchen full of ugly utensils they dislike, and their bookshelves full of books they’ll never read.

This is why you have to look at each item and ask yourself, “do I love this?” (or, even cuter, Marie Kondō’s “does this spark joy?”) and if the answer is “kinda” or “no”, in the trash bag it goes.

By the end of this, some people end up with 10+ full trash bags (I’ve been there).

Getting rid of them is an AMAZING feeling. You’ll see.

4. Store

I don’t mean in a storage unit (how dare you).

I mean now that you only kept things you love, find a place for them and organize them well.

Here’s an example with clothes.

That’s it. That’s my entire wardrobe (year-long baby).

I just picked what I like best, and stuck with it.

Going to a high-school where we all wore uniforms taught me it’s soooo much more convenient than having to worry about what to wear every day. This is why I wear a “uniform” to this day. Besides, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Obama made it cool (so I’m not “weird” anymore I’m “avant-garde”).

Sidenote: Wondering where I got those sweet folding skills? Learn how Marie Kondō does it here (t-shirts and tank tops), here (pants), here (sweaters and hoodies), and here (socks and stockings). Hell has a special place for people who occupy space hanging clothes than can be neatly folded.

Common But’sBut what if I want to buy something new?

The idea should be for you to only own things you love (what a concept).

Stop accumulating, surround yourself only with your favorite stuff.

I’m sure most people wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time.

Therefore, why not keep the 20% you love and get rid of the rest?? You’re not really using it anyways and it’s cluttering your space and mind.

The end result is for you to only be surrounded by the things you love (or… spark joy).

This also means most of your items will be high quality.

Now I’m not saying own as little as possible (we can’t all be enlightened like the Buddha, or Jesus).

What I am saying is a lot of your purchases were impulsive, kinda like stress eating. Except instead of accumulating fat, you accumulated clutter.

The clutter is stressing you out. Get rid of it, and see what I mean.

But I’m a girl

Sidenote: This is a common “but” I’ve heard very often from different friends who all happen to be female. So, I have to include it.

Until further DNA evidence, being a girl doesn’t mean you have to have lots of clothes. To prove it, here’s the awesome YouTuber, LightByCoco, showing the concept of a capsule wardrobe.

You might “enjoy” shopping. But re-read the intro and see why it’s never a good idea to surround yourself with clutter.

I’ve found that guys and girls tend to wear their same favorite clothes over, and over, and over again.

So, get rid of all that other stuff you never really wear! Your mind (and closet) will thank you.

But I don’t have enough space for all my stuff, I live in a small apartment

So do I. Living in a small apartment doesn’t mean anything.

It just means you have way more crap than you need. And that’s a bad, bad habit.

It simply means that even if your house looked like this (look at that space! And no clutter! Wow):

You’d still find a way to make it look like this:

Messy people are messy independently of where they live.

Most people see empty rooms and feel the need to fill, “oh some flowers would look nice here”, “oh maybe I need a lamp”, “I wonder if I need paintings on the wall”.

Stop!

That’s how you end up with a ton of items you don’t like that much. Stop the madness.

But I have kids

The “I have a partner and kids” is a bad excuse.

Joshua Becker is a minimalism blogger who’s married and has two kids. He’ll prove anyone who uses the “I don’t live alone” excuse is wrong.

But my roommates are messy

I’m a big fan of leading by example.

Begin with yourself. Clean your mess. Others will follow.

I shared a 3 bedroom house with 18 people. I found that when I tried to keep things clean, others would follow.

It wasn’t always perfect, but it’s better than blaming others.

But can’t I store most of it in a storage unit?

You’re just trolling me.

Kidding, but what about rebound?

I’ll let Marie Kondō answer this one.

“Rebound occurs because people mistakenly believe they have tidied thoroughly, when in fact they have only sorted and stored things halfway. If you put your house in order properly, you’ll be able to keep your room tidy, even if you are lazy or sloppy by nature.” — Marie Kondō

Sometimes (I mean once or twice a year), I may end up with a little more stuff than I need. Recently, after losing 35lbs I kept large clothes that are too big now, for no good reason!

No one’s perfect.

The key is to simply grab your trash bags and get to work 🙂

But, trash-bags?? Does that mean I should throw everything away?

Of course not, here’s what I do:

Try to sell it on eBay. If no one wants it after 30 days I:

Give it to Goodwill if it’s clothes.

Give it to the local thrift store if it’s other items (books, gadgets, CD’s…)

Throw it in the trash if it’s too much trouble.

But never, never, ever just leave stuff lying around.

And that’s it for today!

Today, we learned:

The amazing psychological benefits of a clean space.

How to declutter.

How to organize.

How not to make excuses for owning a bunch of things you don’t even like.

See you next week, be well.

R

P.S.: It turns out decluttering doesn’t only help the individual, it can benefit entire cities! A friend of mine recently shared with me the Broken Windows theory.

Before 1985 New York City was as violent and dangerous as Gotham. By 2001, crime had dropped significantly (and kept dropping for the following ten years!). What led to this huge crime drop? They cleaned the city (no graffitis, no people demanding payment after car window cleaning, and no public urination… among other things).

A clean, clutter-free environment does indeed make the world a better place🙂

Your mother was right, clean your room!

Is this helpful? Please ❤️ it below, comment or Tweet me 😊 Hearing from your fellow readers and you is what makes writing these letters such a joy.