podcast. I Hope They Hear This

Sometimes, you just have to let your thoughts out. That's exactly why David Shin created the podcast I Hope They Hear This.

Exciting Titles & Calming Monologues
David Shin has a calming voice and a lot of thoughts. When I found his podcast on Podcoin, I expected to be angry, prompted to begin fiery discussions about my thoughts after each episode. With episode names such as I hope Korean Americans Hear This and I Hope Trump Haters Hear This and I Hope People Who Think Hitler Was Evil Hear This, how could this podcast disappoint my want for opposition at times? I was awkwardly surprised at the intellectual monologues that crept through my headphones.

Shin adorably references his wife's critiques of his episodes on occasion, and works to make his episodes easier to follow as he experiments with his new found hobby. His opinions are well formed and often analytical, but need some time to explain. I found myself growing better understanding not only for his points, but also for the many possible sides presented by Shin. This is an amazing listen whether I agreed or disagreed with each point of discussion, and I look forward to hearing the many more episodes.


(Note: My referral code for Podcoin is Alir2jd5, if you feel so inclined. The previous links do not include my referral code.)

YASG. Young Adult Survival Guide

I've just seen a meme that said

"We need to make a new survival guide. Idk what I'm doing anymore." 

I agree wholeheartedly. We really need to help each other out in this sense. Each of us has something to add to this conversation, but we may each need help figuring out what it is. Send me an email or leave me a comment that tells me a bit about a topic you know.

What Can You Share?

Do you know everything about taxes, and can write a blog about the cliffnotes for those really drowning? Recently purchased a house and want to share all the tips you learned along the way? Do you interview for entry level positions and can write about the major "red flags" of old ways of narrowing down interviewees that often are just habits of our socially awkward generation? What are we as a generation needing to work on that you as an individual can spread fixin' knowledge about for the masses?

Already doing a blog about this? Let me know! I'll send people to your blog or site.

Drop me a line! I'm open and love to learn. Let's help each other and the next generation!

Stool or Chair: Where is The LINE!?

In my household we regularly hold ridiculous debates. Our current one is where exactly is the line between a chair and a stool?

We begin by attempting to define them of our own accord to see if we agree. When this fails and words cannot be agreed upon, we google definitions for a reputable source to define each individually and attempt to find a line we can agree upon... and when this fails, we devolve into extreme exceptions to the other person's definitions.

Chair vs. Stool

Google defines a chair as follows: Noun,"a separate seat for one person, typically with a back and four legs."

Google defines a stool as follows: noun, "a seat without a back or arms, typically resting on three or four legs or on a single pedestal."

This brings us to the discussion of the where the line is. Can a seat be both? there may be two lines: chair, chair-stool, and stool. The use of the word "typically" in both definitions is really what is throwing us with this discussion: the word "typically" allows for so many exceptions to the "rule" we are attempting to define.

Help Us Decide!

Where is your line? When is it a chair? When is it a stool?

Podcast. White Lies

I quite enjoy listening to podcasts that investigate and retell the various angles of a story and how it has evolved both socially and factually. The ever-evolving game of telephone we play as kids can be so harmful as adults in social circles, and so very difficult to unravel when an entire community plays it for over five decades.

A Story of Law & Social Influence

The podcast White Lies by NPR takes two young men from Alabama to the small town of Selma, Alabama to investigate a trial that occurred shortly after, and likely was related to, the Bloody Sunday Massacre after a peaceful march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. in the mid-1960s.

The two podcast hosts search desperately for the trial transcripts for the murder of a white religious leader and northerner who had come to Selma after Bloody Sunday in an attempt to help the turbulent town. Along the way, they interview people alive at the time including trial jurors, discover various media circulated at the time, and unravel stories told down through generations of the stories told socially through the many grapevines. Depth is added to the investigative story by way of current political and historic structures and stories of the town that help paint a picture of how the town may have looked in the 60's.

The White Lies podcast is well written, well executed, and well balanced. I highly recommend it to the podcasts listeners among us.

Podcast. Imagined Life by Wondery

This has by far been my favorite podcast, and it continues to surprise me in the best ways. I truly hope Wondery keeps this podcast coming for many, many episodes.

Get to Know Who You Think You Know

The model of this podcast is that you, the listener, are the main character in a story. After much research, an episode is written to put you in the place of someone you likely know, or at least have heard the name or heard part of the famous story.

You learn all about little known, but very relevant stories of the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood of this person. Each episode focuses on the life, struggles, and triumphs of one person. Along the path of the podcasts, clues are given about who "you" are, and there is so much care taken into making sure the clues are not too obvious.

I highly recommend these podcasts for the entertainment, mystery, and education about another's life. Check out the podcast: Imagined Life by Wondery.

Book. Wicked

I recently finished the book Wicked by Gregory Macguire. I'd heard of the play, and because of my lovely spouse's obsession with musicals I had already memorized the entire soundtrack for the play based upon the book.

One of the best parts about this book is that I have never seen the play, and my spouse has never read the book. Almost every time I finished a chapter, we had an in depth discussion about the differences between the book and the play. This was better than a book club for me, and I think this was the perfect book to do this with. I look forward to watching the play now that I've finished the book, but I also quite enjoyed the many discussions we had about the book along the way.

Book vs. Play

Without giving away too many spoilers, I strongly believe that with this book one can watch the play before reading the book without "ruining" the experience by knowing what comes next. While the story lines are incredibly similar, even the main characters change between the book and the play. Characters and their entire entangling story lines are removed from the play. Events that seem so important to the book are missing entirely from the play.

I'm really excited next to see the play. I've heard all about it, but wish to fully experience it for my self soon.

Have you read the book? Seen the play? Let me know what you think!

Bellingham Game Company, LLC

I recently became a part of the Bellingham Game Company, LLC.  It really has been quite an adventure navigating the legal world of registration, tradenames & trademarks, copyrights, and taxes. We even launched a Kickstarter Campaign recently, and the amount I have learned is ridiculous. I'm learning about appropriate utilization of keywords to keep our target audience engaged without accidentally getting people who aren't interested in our company's products. I'm learning about my own bias and inability to see multi-layered statistics clearly. Eventually, I'll get better at it, but for now I'm still doggy-paddling my way though the learning process. It's been great fun and I look forward to learning so much along the way.

Our team so far is amazing. The one common thread we share is a love of artistic hobbies and tabletop games. Together we have hashed out rules, discussed designs, set individual and company goals, and come together to build what is now the Bellingham Game Company, LLC. We hope to utilize our variety of life experiences, vocational skill sets, and market research to develop many entertaining, strategy-encouraging, table top games for a variety of people to enjoy. We also look forward to eventually earning enough capital to both develop the next game, edition, or expansion and to better support our favorite local charities throughout Whatcom County.

Whether you play with friends or family, a tabletop game is a good way to pass the time while chatting and catching up. We hope you like our games and support our company even if that support only means checking in on the facebook page and clicking the "follow" button. This simple action can help us appear to others when they search terms that are relevant to our business.

Watch the Bellingham Game Company Facebook Page for our many games and editions and expansions to come. We have quite a few ideas in various stages of development, and with your help we can get off the ground and running toward a cornucopia of tabletop games for a variety of age groups and lifestyles.