Love
Happy Valentine’s Day. If you have a partner, maybe do something a little extra special for them. If you don’t, do something a little extra special for yourself. Tell your parents you love them. Get together with your friends. Celebrate each other.
Maybe we should try to show that extra love to people we care about every day. That’d be a nice example to set. I bet it’d have a big butterfly effect too. The thing is, if you want to show other people love, you have to show yourself love first. Like anything else I talk about here, I believe that can be achieved through discipline and practice. Look yourself in the mirror and find something you love about yourself. Say it loud. Do it every day. Once you start feeling that love for yourself, you’ll find yourself naturally emanating that love. Others will feel it too. You’ll be much better prepared to share it. Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.
-J.P.
P.S. - I’m sure Understanding would appreciate me letting you guys know that they say “Understanding is the highest form of love.”
All Talk
It’s pretty widely believed that most people are all talk these days. It makes it hard to be taken seriously in important moments should you have that problem.
The saying goes, “his bark is worse than his bite,” but ironically if you start biting the bark off trees in public you have a very good chance of putting an end to that narrative effective immediately. Or people saying anything mean to your face for that matter. Highly recommend to those prescribed high fiber diets.
-L.U.D.
A.I., I Apologize
On February 3, 2023 I used Chat GPT for the first time and trashed it for not being funny enough. I took it a step further by generally trashing the direction of technological advancement. “I’ll be safe,” I declared, confident my skill could not be replaced by a machine.
Yesterday on February 11, 2023 I had a mix session with Joe, the engineer who’s mixing all our music this year. There was one edit I wanted to make to my vocal because it sounded a little wonky, like my voice suddenly disappeared. When Joe found the spot in the track he said, “Wanna know a secret? Your voice is generated by A.I.”.
It turned out I was too close to the microphone, so the audio signal was a little too strong and would distort. Rather than asking me to re-record the take, Joe just plugged my audio into a machine that processed the information and regenerated a cleaner version, which he then mixed into the song. That’s right, just a week after I claimed to be irreplaceable, I was replaced, on my own song.
So, A.I., I’m sorry for all the shit I talked last week. Turns out you’re pretty nifty. I won’t tell you guys which song it was, so maybe it can be a fun game you can play, trying to guess which one of the upcoming releases features a vocal from a Joe-bot. I’d be surprised to find out you were able to identify it. I didn’t even really notice. They would’ve gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for me and my meddling dog.
-J.P.
E Flat Minor
Quick reminder to make stuff with your friends when you have a chance. It’ll keep you fresh.
-J.P.
Thursday, February 9
I almost forgot about this today. I’ve been getting caught up in the day-to-day these last two weeks or so. Maybe it’s more like since I got back to California. Things are moving fast!
The timeline for one of the projects we’re working on has changed a couple times now, and that’s been tough to navigate. When I set a date in my head I really try to stick to it. As soon as things start to changed I start getting anxious and then I feel rushed and then the product suffers.
This time is a bit different, though. The reason the timeline is changing is because we actually have an opportunity to get some people outside of ourselves involved, which could do a lot of good for our Beautiful Idiot aspirations in the long run.
I guess what I’m saying (and trying to teach myself) is to be less reactive. Allow room for change. Remain open to the possibilities. All that hippie shit. Maybe the world could use some new hippie shit…
…hmm.
-J.P.
LeBron James
Last night, LeBron James became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA when he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record in the third quarter of the Lakers/Thunder game in Los Angeles. He got the ball at the right elbow, posted up Enrich Williams and hit a fadeaway jumper to give him 38,388 points for his career. The game stopped, his family and friends flooded to court to congratulate him, Kareem was there with the commissioner, all kinds of celebrities, they played a tribute video… it was a momentous occasion. He ended the night with 38 points, 38,390 for his career, and has plans to play at least a few more years, so he’ll likely extend the record by at least a few more thousand points by the time he hangs it up. I may never see anyone top his mark for the rest of my life.
When he was 16, LeBron was anointed “The Chosen One” and placed on the cover of Sports Illustrated. LeBron was drafted first overall in 2003. 20 years later, he has four championships, four finals MVPs, four regular season MVPs, two Olympic Gold Medals, the scoring record, and he’s fourth all-time in assists too. That’s just on the court. He opened a school! He literally sends kids to college. He’s been the face of basketball for two decades and practically never made a mistake as far as the public is concerned. Imagine having an expectation placed on you to be great, and then exceeding that expectation, to become arguably the greatest of all time to ever do the thing you do.
I had his rookie jersey, his first signature sneaker, and I used to pretend I was him when I was shooting at the hoop hung on the door of my bedroom. I’ve watched him master his craft and dominate in his field for 20 years. He took it upon himself to become the very best he could be and it turned out he could be the best ever, and he’s still going. That’s one of the most incredible parts, in my opinion. He came into the league an exceptional playmaker, often dismissing the idea that he was a scorer when the media asked. Over time however, he scored more than anyone else ever has. Proof that commitment to pursuing the thing you love the most will take you further than even you can imagine. I’m grateful to be a witness to LeBron James’ career. He’s inspired me to see how far I can go.
-J.P.
Quick Guide To Happiness
On days you’re feeling blue, try some of these simple activities. It might brighten your mood a bit.
Don’t hit snooze
Drink more water
Go outside, if circumstances permit
Get dressed
Complete one easy task. (Make your bed, sweep your room, do the dishes, etc.)
Give yourself a compliment in the mirror. Take the time to get specific.
Write down your thoughts
Put your phone away
9. Try something new
10. Exercise
11. Scream into the abyss. Swing your limbs uncontrollably. Punch the air. Kick about. Realize how ridiculous the problem is. Remember how silly life can be.
I’m not going to promise immediate results, or any results at all. This may or may not work for you. However, I can say with some confidence that inaction will not yield any results either. If your options are do nothing or try something, I’m inclined to advocate for the latter. What have you got to lose if you’re already feeling down? You become a certain way by committing to practice. That routine brings you closer to your goal. Happiness is a way of being. So you must commit to the practice.
-J.P.
The History of Numbers
History of numbers kinda feels like a good parallel to the history of people - gets to a certain point and pretty quickly just starts doing what the first bunch did over and over in different iterations and calling it “bigger numbers”, when it’s really just more numbers. But it’s not even more numbers, it’s the same numbers more times… and then as they inevitably multiply, division becomes unavoidable over products, which just raises more quotients and less answers, and honestly minus some changing powers here and there you start to see that there’s no BIG difference, just a bunch of variables looking for proof, and now crap ain’t addin up. Ain’t that sum’?
-L.U.D
