Ep. 212 "When it Rains it Pours" (A Raw Entry)

[00:00:00] Hello, diary listeners! This is coming to you really late. It is now Friday, May 10th, and I apologize. I mean, you know, it's not great to start a podcast with apologies, but I owe you guys one. I shoot for Tuesday and I have for a while.

[00:00:25] But the simple truth is that I have been beyond swamped. So this week's diary entry, I am dumbing... Dumbing. Dubbing. When it rains, it pours. Welcome to the Apprenticeship Diaries where raw meats refined. That's be real, we're still working on the fine.

[00:01:16] What it took, what it takes, and the stories that are made. Join us as we learn from professionals about how their stories begin. Ugh. Listeners, I am just so happy that my coffee worked this morning.

[00:01:43] I wish, you know, I know all of us have had those days where you just wake up and you're like, really? You know, I've been trying my best to wake up each morning with such gratitude. And I had so much to be grateful for.

[00:02:03] This morning both my cats are lovely. They're so wonderful. They were surrounding me, my one little dude, Iqus, who I had a scare last year that I would lose him. I'm just so blessed that he's still around. He was very emphatic about getting me up this morning.

[00:02:25] He was pushing his head into me, he was licking my hand, he was pulling my arm, just trying everything he could to wake me up. And it's been everything in a bag of chips this week, listeners. It's been a lot.

[00:02:42] And again, with the gratitude I should have, you know, you wake up and you're like, I got a full night's sleep. In fact, I got home last night and I couldn't function after my day of tattooing.

[00:03:00] It's been nonstop ever since I left for Oklahoma, but it has just been continual ever since. And it just feels like it's not going to let up. I haven't allowed my plate to be emptied before I am welcoming the next meal.

[00:03:19] It's just notifications, people reaching out, checking in, scheduling the next things, trying to work. I'm actually excited about a few things. I mean, I'm excited about everything. That's the problem is that I want to be involved in all of it. And I don't want to get cranky.

[00:03:44] The other thing is just, you know, it's that time of the month for me. I happen to be a lady who still experiences all of that and that has its own musings.

[00:03:58] So there's that uptick of sensitivity that I'm going to be feeling for at least the next week and just kind of juggling all of that. Not to get too personal, but it's just a reality.

[00:04:15] And periods aside and all that mess, I regret that I didn't wish anybody a happy single-demise. My boyfriend Rico, actually my fiance Rico, because we hope to be married very soon. It's going to take some planning and it's going to take a lot more than we want.

[00:04:42] But because we just want to be married like, but it doesn't happen that way. Rico's birthday was single-demise. He is born on May 5th. That makes him a May baby or a Mayby. And yeah, he's been lovely lately. He's really been working with me lately, which is great.

[00:05:04] We found a pretty awesome rhythm with each other, which is interesting because I've never had this before with anybody. He has been exceedingly good at self-soothing and his latest thing, which I don't understand, but I'm not mad about is blueberries.

[00:05:25] He has been all about blueberries, blueberry bushes to be exact. He's been buying them left and right along with other plants, but mostly blueberries. He's super excited about the potential of ordering plants and having them delivered.

[00:05:41] He is having delivered today to lemonade, pink lemonade blueberries, which I don't know how you can classify them as blueberries they're not blue, they're pink. But he's very excited. He wants to make his own blueberry.

[00:05:58] He has all these different tropes now like if you have one that's not good. If you have two that's better. If you have three that's better than that and four that's best something like that. I've heard it like a million times now.

[00:06:11] I'm surprised that we have way more than four blueberry bushes now though. And yeah, we're not going to need for blueberries. But yeah, so there's been random blueberry factoids in the background of all the different things going on. Let's see. Let's get back on track and rehash.

[00:06:37] So yeah, I went to bed last night just completely laid down on my upstairs bed. I came in. I usually like peel off some clothing didn't kind of ashamed about that because I definitely tattooed yesterday.

[00:06:55] I don't think there was any problem because I just laid on top of my bed and like, you know, set my head back and I could barely I could just not move like everything about where I was was so right.

[00:07:09] And I was trying to get back to a few people yet again and kind of consumed with all that I still have to do and I just couldn't move. And so I fell asleep fairly early for me.

[00:07:22] My whole body has been saying like just don't just lay down.

[00:07:29] And then this morning I was being woken up by my cats, like I said and something I had to admit to myself that I had forgotten yesterday was that I didn't get my cats more of their food. They have food.

[00:07:50] They just refuse to eat the food that they have. I was trying to get my one cat math. Well, I was trying to get both of them on this. They're both having kidney distress. They're old their elders. I'm I'm I'm moving into the elder phase too.

[00:08:08] But they're older cats and you know, their kidneys need a little bit more stuff. So when went and ordered all this food in the hopes that I mean you can't I guess you could buy one thing at a time just to try it out.

[00:08:23] But that wouldn't have been a great forecast because at first my little girl who was said to need it she ate it right away.

[00:08:31] And then ever since that one time she hasn't touched it since so I don't I don't know what happened the first time but she hasn't eaten a sense.

[00:08:41] So we ran out of their normal which my cats are bougie and they are they just love fancy feast and I have to I'm kind of blessed there because they absolutely love that brand. And I've heard that it's not bad for the kidneys either.

[00:09:00] I was just ordering the food that the doctor recommended she had warned me that they might not eat it. And in fact they don't. So all I had was that food. And so they're like, I mean there's there's hunger protests going on all around the country.

[00:09:18] And it's exactly what was happening in my home in the past couple days. Like, you know, there is food. It's just not the food that they want. And you know, they kind of resent being hungry for their own their own wants, you know, and their own special whatever.

[00:09:40] So so I was like, oh my God. And then when I woke up I was like, I am still tired. Like, how do you sleep like over 10 hours and still be tired? Like, I was so upset.

[00:09:58] And I think I've shared with y'all that I I take my mouth shut at night. I really recommend it to anybody who finds themselves to be a mouth breather. It's it's wonderful. It's weird. There's so much weird shit that I have embraced about me that I don't.

[00:10:20] I just don't even care anymore. But yeah, like I take my mouth shut and when I woke up, like, I typically it has revolutionized my sinus cavities and stuff. Like, I really haven't felt any congestion at all since I started doing it.

[00:10:38] And I think it's because I'm actually properly filtering the air that goes into my my body. Even even when I'm talking, I notice that I I mouth breathe and I I've been trying to take in a more active stance to just breathe in through my nose.

[00:11:00] I find myself like, like not breathing correctly even and it all comes from just a lack of exercise. Another thing I have to do that I don't do that I need to do.

[00:11:17] So I but I woke up just completely congested and I was like, man, and then outside it's kind of it's not cold, but it's cooler and it's damp. It's raining. It's projected to rain all day. Hence the name of the podcast.

[00:11:34] But also just the whole the whole tenor of everything. It's just it's been incessant. Like I feel like there's so many loose ends that I and so many balls I'm juggling. So I guess this is a this is a diary confession.

[00:11:51] It's a diary entry, but it's a it's a check in very honest, transparent, raw confession for all of you. So when I got up, my first act was to to kind of process process how I was feeling and being like, oh my God.

[00:12:14] Oh my God, like there's no food to feed these cats and they're there. I mean, they're protesting. So I just put on clothes and I was like, I need to get them food. So I went out. I went out and I got them food.

[00:12:32] Actually, I got a I got a pause for a second. I'll be right back listeners. Okay. Praise God. As I was telling that story about going to the store to get cat food, I realized that I had left water boiling downstairs.

[00:13:03] And it's been a considerable amount of time since I put that water on there. So it had completely evaporated. And I'm going to have to leave here and I'm going to set a timer in fact on my phone so I don't forget.

[00:13:19] But see, that's how scatterbrained I've been listeners. I could have burnt my house down. Thank God. Thank God. I remembered. But basically when I went to the store, I was like, I'm congested. I think I need something.

[00:13:36] So I bought really hot ramen so that I can take in a really hot broth.

[00:13:44] And that's what I was making before I decided to do a bunch of stuff that led to the here and now, including recording a podcast, which I am going to make sure that I stop. In. Let's see how long does it take for water to boil?

[00:14:03] I don't know. I don't watch it clearly. So yeah, we'll just we'll put it for five minutes and I'll talk to you all for five minutes and then I'm going to stop again.

[00:14:17] And when I come back, I will have some liquids because I it's not that the congestion is still there a little bit. It's kind of a day for hot liquids. I'm looking forward to that. But yeah, I. Oh my God. My God. My God.

[00:14:37] It's it's just it's it's been a week. It's been a week. Yeah. And I'm. I'm really trying to on top of feed my cats and not let them down and be a bad mom, which. The joy I've I it's they ate so fast guys.

[00:15:02] It was I felt kind of so bad to to to feed them and see them just so hungry that they like eradicated their food moments. They were so grateful. So yay for the win.

[00:15:24] What I will say is that post coffee and moving around a little bit and kind of shaking, shaking the Sandman dust off of me. I do feel a little bit better. Definitely still a little congested.

[00:15:38] I think it's just the, you know, beautiful Maryland fluctuation in temperature and all that whatnot on top of just the workload that I've had and that I have put on myself. And I don't I don't I don't even have kids. I don't even I don't even know.

[00:16:04] I don't even know how I guess they do it. They do it people who have children they do it. In fact, one of my clients recently reached out to me she's a new mom and she she's been on the podcast. Shout out to Suzanne Witt.

[00:16:26] She's she's lovely and she. She she contacted me and she's basically like I had a dream that you and I you were making me tattoo my whole torso and you wanted to tattoo my face too. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing.

[00:16:47] But basically people I told her I was like people have dreams all the time that that I'm you know this tattoo villain.

[00:16:56] I was like, I'm kind of it's kind of funny because it's completely it's always completely opposite to the reality of the person that I am in real life.

[00:17:06] I think it's just their their anxieties going rampant and I'm kind of so happy that I'm a character in their play. That's what I told her. I was like, I'm you know, I'm happy I made it to your dreams.

[00:17:21] Sorry that I was so so adamant about tattooing your face. I in fact was just talking about how much I am not for fight face tattoos yesterday. So I was like, well, isn't that funny?

[00:17:36] But yeah, she's a new mom and I was like, I know your new mom. I'm sure her life has been a kick in the head. You know, it's been crazy.

[00:17:47] She reported back that it was wild and I'm sure just on every single level it was wild and has been and will be because that's what it's meant to do. There's there's been a lot down the pipeline for me listeners.

[00:18:04] There is I have come back from Oklahoma experience that I'd like to go back. I wanted to go back sooner than I might be able to. That's OK. I will get back there and I will do the things that I aim to do.

[00:18:25] I am very overwhelmed by how many cool people I met there. Speaking of like raining and storms and all of that stuff, I am quite surprised that I did not mention that within within the last podcast.

[00:18:45] We actually were there during a couple like tornado warnings and I got to experience that every day at noon tornado testing and stuff on Saturdays in Oklahoma City. In Tulsa, I don't recall them having that if they did. I didn't hear it.

[00:19:09] But in Tulsa we actually experienced some legitimate warnings and sirens going off in the air BNB at like 5 30 in the morning. There was this hellish storm to which the opening credits of this podcast. I'm sharing with you some of the sound bites because I actually recorded it.

[00:19:32] It was so it was so intense and it had a very different. That's my timer. I'll be back listeners on that note. Well, this is proving to be very interesting episode. Speaking of alarms. Oh my gosh, my nose, my nose. My sneeze. Crikey. Oh my goodness listeners. Sorry.

[00:20:19] Oh, so five minutes is in fact a perfect amount of time for four cups of water to boil. That's all it needs. That's what I just found out. So my my hot liquids are in hand.

[00:20:38] As you guys can tell I'm not joking when I say that that my my sinus cavities are a bit congested. I don't know what just crawled up my nose and made me sneeze but it's been a it's been a it's been a it's already here. My next book.

[00:21:03] Okay listeners, I've got something to share with you that I'm already in love with. I don't know about you but I'm a total book nerd. I have so many books.

[00:21:11] A lot I haven't read I admit there's just something about having bookshelves full of possibilities that calms my soul. So when I attended the Bogota City Tattoo Fest this past August for the first time I was delighted to run into my friend, Ina Vigilato.

[00:21:24] We've actually had her on our show so go check that out. Straight away it was like God use Ina to guide me over to Black Dagger books.

[00:21:33] There I met Travis Lawrence and Josh Rowan the creators of this enterprise and got hooked as soon as I saw their product. It's these beautiful little books just full of art amazing art from amazing tattoo artists.

[00:21:44] From here I'm just going to read what their site says Black Dagger books is an ongoing collection of artists defining modern tattooing published monthly one artist per book one book per month.

[00:21:56] A subscription is $25 a month you get inside of these beautiful books these these custom stickers each one is filled with the most gorgeous artwork and it always concentrates on these awesome tattoo artists and I try to follow each one as soon as I set up my own.

[00:22:14] As soon as I open the book I'm just like oh my God. So it's really worth it. Do yourself a favor go over to black dagger books dot com or if you're on IG black dagger books it's all one word and check out their product.

[00:22:30] Like I said the subscription is awesome and I'm really happy this quells everything about you know the book nerd new the art collector. It also cures any guilt that you might have about having books just laying around because this gives back to the artist community.

[00:22:46] It's a win-win and just so everyone knows I'm not being paid to shout these guys out I just genuinely love their product and also I really love them you know the creators Travis and Josh were amazing they were so kind to me they gave me so much of their time at the tattoo festival.

[00:23:01] So if you ever have the chance to meet them talk to them they're great guys I just can't say enough things so do yourselves a really big favor go check it out. Thanks so much listeners let's get back to our podcast. It's been a week.

[00:23:17] It's been a week. But yeah when we were in Oklahoma we did experience quite a storm. Apparently there was some tornadoes that actually did happen in the surrounding areas and people that were affected greatly.

[00:23:33] What I what I learned during that is if you are in fact and if you're in a in a place like this you grow up in a place you know this but if you're not and if you have never been.

[00:23:48] In a place like this I didn't know what to do ever. I had people be like oh get under a doorway and I'm like isn't that for earthquakes. I'm pretty sure that's earthquakes. Apparently you get to a middle room away from windows.

[00:24:03] So when I was in Tulsa and all this happened essentially my Airbnb was a room and it was surrounded by windows like it had it had windows everywhere. And there was like a huge sycamore tree that was leaning towards the house.

[00:24:25] I mean they're pretty sturdy but it was like if it was going to fall it would be falling in our direction.

[00:24:32] And then there was a power cord like not a power cord but like an you know a power line that went in between that and the place I was staying.

[00:24:44] And then right next to us is the car port because we're in an outbuilding it's like a in-law suite that I was staying in apart from a main house.

[00:24:54] And so my car is parked right next to us so when all this started happening my dad like wakes up and he hears the I didn't know if he heard the alarms or the sirens because he now has hearing aids and I didn't know if that was even something he was hearing.

[00:25:13] He was registering if he was even awake. So he wakes up and he's like should we seek shelter? And he just kind of giggles and like rolls back over. My dad's going to be 70 this August so I guess for him it was just also comical.

[00:25:31] And it did strike me that way too. And he was kind of like well we're screwed. We better be ready to meet Jesus if all this goes south.

[00:25:45] Are we ready potentially dying Oklahoma over this but I just felt secure that nothing was going to happen and if it did what could we do? We couldn't do anything. We were basically in a room surrounded by death potential.

[00:26:00] So it was kind of, I mean for us it was hilarious. Just to share that with you guys I'm surprised it didn't even touch on that with my last entry.

[00:26:16] I was trying to get everything in a bag of chips in and share with you guys but as I'm telling it I've told it so many times outside of the podcast and I'm not even certain that I didn't say anything about it last time. You know that?

[00:26:31] Like I can't even, my brain is so fried right now. I almost burnt my own house down. It's so fuzzy that I don't, I don't even recall if I said anything. I don't think I did. I don't think I did.

[00:26:49] I think it was a baffling thing for me that I could go through all that and then never mention that. So I have a guest spot coming up in June. It's actually in Maryland. It's in Annapolis which is about an hour away from me.

[00:27:11] It's not, I mean that's factoring in traffic which there always is going into Annapolis. I'm excited about it. I'm feeling out Dapper Dog. I just met at the Baltimore Tattoo Convention, the two owners. I'm going to visit the crew and see about all of them.

[00:27:38] Seeing what it could evolve into, I'm not sure. I'm weighing a lot of things right now. I'm not going to overly disclose anything because I'm not sure of anything but that's really where I'm at with that.

[00:27:52] It's quite a cool spot and already I'm trying on some different things that I never have. I'm going to feel out their request acquisition forms. It's been such a long time since I've had any form of staff to help me get business

[00:28:13] and deal with business that I don't even know what that feels like honestly. Yeah, that's going to be interesting. I like the guest spots because everybody runs them differently.

[00:28:34] If I were to open up my own tattoo shop at any point, this is all just fodder for how I would do it and how I would regulate it. I'm sure even in field testing so many different people's ways,

[00:28:55] I would make something that would have flaws because once you've created a system, good old human beings, man, they find a way to undo that. They'll try to a lot of the times.

[00:29:13] I create systems all the time to truly make my workflow the best it can be with me and my clients and half of them just really want to undo it or reroute it or test the boundaries of it.

[00:29:33] I know it comes down to their schedules conflicting with mine or their reasoning conflicting with mine or something, but I really have made it as easy as possible for all of them to deal with what I need to do.

[00:29:57] I hope you guys aren't overly hearing these dings, these notifications. I'm not sure they're and now my cat. Oh my God, I just got a text. See, it's been like this. I think, oh, I can record my podcast now. I've got plenty of time cats fed.

[00:30:17] I've gotten back to everybody surely that I need to right now. Nope. In the time that I've been talking to you guys just even now, I've gotten two different text messages from two different people, one of whom I didn't even talk to today just randomly.

[00:30:33] I'm not mad about it because I like him. I like him as a person, but I can't even describe to y'all how much. What is it May? Are we all what they call in Bambi Twitter pated? I mean, I know that was about sexual attraction,

[00:30:59] but is it just the energy flowing? Is everybody like waking, birthing, rubbing elbows, seeing what they can do? I mean, it's just spraying guys. So to let you guys know what I am excited about,

[00:31:18] and I don't even know what I'm going to be able to do for them, but I know the one thing that I'm commissioned to do and I am going to work on today. I'm teaming up with the Paradise Tattoo Convention,

[00:31:33] which I hope you all will seek to come to. It's in October, late October. It's going to be from the 24th through the 27th. Always a fabulous event. Please, please, please come. I've scheduled a podcast with Jake Meeks and Derek Young. I'm sorry.

[00:31:55] I don't want to get his last name wrong. Derek, I want to say younger, but I'm, I'm, I don't want to blaspheme it. So I'm going to look it up. I haven't been my phone. It's terrible. But he actually owns a Youngberg, pardon me, Youngberg, Derek,

[00:32:16] I excuse me. I got the first part right. But he owns a distribution company, a supply company and stellar human being. Such a great man. And he is, oh, we're going to talk about it. But, but Jake through fireside,

[00:32:38] Jake Meeks is going to be sitting down with both of us. And we're going to talk about all the things that are to come with Paradise. There's, they're, they're trying to do even more. They always try to scale it last year.

[00:32:51] They listened to certain things that at the end of the event, things they could do better, things they could offer, you know, some fun things. So there's, there's a lot coming down the pipeline. We are all sitting down in the beginning of June,

[00:33:06] Jake Meeks, Derek Youngberg and I. And we're going to have like a little podcast pow wow on fireside, fireside tattoo and just talk about it. I'm, I'm excited because I met Derek at last year's and he was so awesome.

[00:33:24] And I've been, I've been meaning to get a podcast interview with him for a while now. So it's kind of nice to have an icebreaker like that with Jake and catch up with Derek and see what's on the horizon and then

[00:33:36] maybe be able to corral him in his own, you know, just by himself and have him confess his beginnings. He's been in the industry for like 30 years. So he's, he's really cool and he's watched a lot of iterations of tattooing.

[00:33:51] But yeah, I'm going to be working with the Paradise people to help with the event, like actually helping to create the event, which I've never done. And also amongst that I have, I'm going to be looking into Capcut, which is a editing software for social media posting.

[00:34:18] Don't know anything about it. I was assured by Gabe Ripley that I would need five minutes and I would be fine and hack it. I don't know. I've done, I've done as much as download it and I have, I have downloaded the two software updates that have come

[00:34:37] through since then. So I don't, it seems like they're, they're updating the software all the time. So I have the latest and greatest thing of it. I was told that paying for it was a good idea. So I'll probably pay for a subscription and then just

[00:34:54] dive face first. Part of that listeners is because Premiere Pro, I like, but it's a lot and I'd like to, I'd like to expand my horizons for even the podcast, you know, like I do some really great podcast interviews with everyone.

[00:35:15] And so far I haven't done any video. I have recorded a few with Carol LaBaron, another human I hope to get in touch with soon. My God. And I have a whole podcast that I recorded with her that I haven't released yet.

[00:35:31] Hopefully it's, you know, the timing makes sense. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. It's way too behind, but I've done, I've done video with her and that's been really cool. I haven't done two YouTube videos. I don't think of her podcast. I'm not sure.

[00:35:58] But anyway, it's a huge investment to do video editing. I like it though. I find it very fun in all of these spaces where I find myself trying to hack a program and see what I can do with it. I genuinely like it.

[00:36:19] It's just the time to sit down and actually digest it all. So I've been told that Cap Cut is very user friendly and exceedingly quick and it creates nice shorts for social media posting and reels and all the good stuff.

[00:36:34] So I'm looking forward to playing with it and seeing what I can make for the Paradise Tattoo Gathering and what I can add to their space because having that as an incentive for them will, yeah, it will help increase what I'm able to do

[00:37:00] for my own podcast eventually. And as you guys well know, Slow Road Awesome over here, there's not really anything pressing me to get amazing quickly. Yeah, I like feeling out this space and playing with the medium. I like being honest and transparent.

[00:37:29] I like kind of giving you guys a play by play. I like how raw this is and, you know, I'm finding myself even with my regular podcast that I enjoy going through a bit of, I think you guys are hearing this. I think it is my computer.

[00:37:51] You're gonna hear those dings. I should let you know the notifications that I'm getting. Sorry. Even with my regular podcast that I'm listening to, the formula of the way everyone speaks, I'm getting hip to and I'm finding myself actually like talking for them in those moments.

[00:38:21] It's so formulaic that I know what's gonna happen next and there's something comforting about that but then there's also something that's like, wow this has become very formulaic. And I know entirely what to expect and I'm not sure.

[00:38:42] I listen to a lot of commentary so it sings that are play by plays of what will happen, you know, what is happening currently and it's like a person's thoughts on the matter. And I enjoy their takes that I enjoy but the formula

[00:39:00] of the podcast, I'm just kind of like, wow this is very rhythmic. You know, there's no fun like little, like, ooh, you know, little spice in there, little hit in there and it's like, ah, that's nice. That's nice. I'm learning more about something or I'm getting

[00:39:19] something dazzling and different which I get. Hard to market those things, hard to market things that go wayward and I know how many people love the rhythmic comfort of the familiar. But is that life? I mean guys, I mean this is where I'm stuck right now.

[00:39:43] When it rains it does pour and your whole day can get completely derailed in a moment. Just per the weather, just per something that you didn't expect and that's how it's been lately guys. And it's been funny because I have thought about

[00:40:07] the times when my schedule and my rhythm was so locked in. There's so many rules about how to contact me, how to get to me and it was intense, you know? Like it was intense. There were a lot of people who completely

[00:40:27] understanding of it, there was a lot of respect for it. It felt weird because it kind of puts you in this space of like, I don't know, just being a certain kind of untouchable kind of person. And yeah, I've had so many experiences since that time

[00:40:59] that kind of came out of nowhere where I kind of let my system drop and I've enjoyed those moments, those little hits of spice in life that if I hadn't allowed myself to experience them, I just wouldn't have gotten all of the beauty out of those things.

[00:41:26] It would have been, I probably would have more money. In all of this I'd probably have more money. I might have made my broth a little spicy, guys. That hit me a little bit. Let's hope it works. Yeah, there's lots of ways to make money.

[00:42:06] But I find that for myself the goal is wealth. Wealth. Wealth is not necessarily a lot of money. Wealth is experience, it's people you come across, it's opportunities that you are given, little moments like your cat desperately trying to wake you up

[00:42:38] in the morning and realizing that it's a gift. It's a gift to have that little being so adamantly trying to get you out of bed even though you don't want to wake up. And it's a gift to wake up, it's a gift to,

[00:42:54] even though your whole face is congested and you're still tired from your week, it's just such a gift. I have found that the more that I push for certain goals and cut all the fat,

[00:43:24] the things that I sacrifice sometimes are not worth what you get in the end. You have these goals and you think, why do I have the goal? And it could be to scale a whole other thing. And maybe that's worth it. Maybe that's worth it.

[00:43:47] I just find that for myself, what I end up sacrificing sometimes is not worth it and I feel really bad that I sacrifice some things for others and my pockets might be fuller but my experience and my life that I get to live with others is not.

[00:44:19] It's a delicate balance, I think, for us to live this life and do what we're meant to do on this planet but also be the kind of person that when all is done, meaning your life, that people remember you well.

[00:44:48] And I've watched so many people who I've seen and I look at and I'm like, wow, they're very successful and very well known and all this stuff but I'm not sure if people are going to remember them well. You know, you try. You really try.

[00:45:12] And you got to think, you know, like if it... I don't know. It's a tangent. It's a foggy congested tangent. All I know is guys, as I'm hanging in there, trying to have balance, trying not to have too much burnout,

[00:45:35] needing to put out a podcast for all of you, not really knowing what I'm saying. All I know is that if I get too regimented about a whole bunch of stuff, I think I lose access to a lot of important opportunities

[00:45:53] that keep me, my soul, my art fresh and good, like really balanced and very good. Otherwise it just... there isn't enough struggle. There isn't enough discomfort to push to the next thing. I get too complacent and... Yeah, yeah. So I'm trying out a lot right now guys.

[00:46:29] And this is this week's podcast. I am going to be hitting you guys next week with another tattoo artist that I'm going to be introducing if you don't know about him. I'm excited to work on his podcast and present him to all of you.

[00:46:51] He just opened up his own shop and he's had quite the time in the tattoo industry and it's a multi-national experience. He's been in a few different countries with his work, which is something I can't speak to. He's also a parent, so... you know, as I sit here,

[00:47:18] overwhelmed, cloudy, upset because I was woken by my cat and I was still tired when I woke up and I still have a mountain of things to do and I don't even know how I'm going to do it all.

[00:47:33] You know, there's people with far more on their plate than me or at least perceptibly and they do it. They do it all the time. So with that, if you are feeling overwhelmed as I am, know that you have good company.

[00:47:50] We're all going to hang in there together. It's all going to be alright and more than likely we're going to survive the storm and be better for it by the end. Stronger roots, you know, alive, cake in, greeting the sunlight the next day. All that good stuff.

[00:48:13] So I'll leave you listeners. We'll keep this rather short because like it sounds, I don't really have much to tell y'all. I just wanted to put out a podcast today to kind of share with you guys where I'm at. Hopefully you turned it off

[00:48:31] at a point that might have stressed you out or just seemed like it wasn't necessary for you to listen to. I don't know. But if you got this far, I appreciate you. God bless you. Have a very powerful week. You know, God bless you

[00:48:50] and all that you need to prioritize. I hope that you know what to do first and then the next. Take off all the boxes. We're going to get there guys. We're going to get there wherever it is. We're going to get there. I love you all.

[00:49:04] Have a great week. Catch you Tuesday. Hopefully. Bye. That was close.

[00:50:08] We look forward to hearing from our listeners.