Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
Speaker 1: It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
Speaker 1: That remaining one percent holds incredibly meaningful information that could
Speaker 1: change everything. And I'm not just talking about your family treat.
Speaker 1: I'm barrittun Day Thurston and on this season of Spit
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio podcast with twenty three and Me,
Speaker 1: we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry, it can
Speaker 1: also be key to understanding your health YO with barrettun Day,
Speaker 1: Welcome back. What I love about this season of Spit
Speaker 1: is that we get to hear from different people with
Speaker 1: different perspectives and from all walks of life. Take this
Speaker 1: next episode, for example, Ray Harkins of the podcast On
Speaker 1: Words or Less sits with this good friend Andrew Cannon,
Speaker 1: a skateboarder, brand manager at Santa Cruz Skateboards and the
Speaker 1: lead vocalist for the band were Tip. These two geek
Speaker 1: out in a candid conversation about connecting to others through music,
Speaker 1: the power of healing, and the importance of understanding one's
Speaker 1: health as a way to take control of your life.
Speaker 1: You'll hear Ray and Andrew share their excitement and enthusiasm
Speaker 1: for the twenty three and Me traite reports, taking you
Speaker 1: along for the ride as they share some of the
Speaker 1: insights they gathered from these discoveries. Who is more likely
Speaker 1: to turn red when drinking alcohol? Who is less likely
Speaker 1: to have a fear of public speaking? What percentage Neanderthal
Speaker 1: DNA are you? What Ray and Andrew discussed is only
Speaker 1: the beginning of what we can learn from taking the
Speaker 1: twenty three and me test. There's so much more to
Speaker 1: discover when it comes to your health, information that could
Speaker 1: change the way you live your life. As Ray himself says,
Speaker 1: the reports can be enlightening in so many different ways
Speaker 1: and can inform a lot of choices you make as
Speaker 1: it relates to your health. So let's check it out.
Speaker 1: You're listening to a hundred Words or Less with Ray Harkins.
Speaker 1: Hello you podcast humans. Thank you very much for downloading
Speaker 1: this special episode. This is a bonus drop for all
Speaker 1: you find people out there. And uh, I'm incredibly excited
Speaker 1: because twenty three and Me is sponsoring this episode and
Speaker 1: I got to do something pretty unique. I mean, it
Speaker 1: is definitely a conversation with a person that is involved
Speaker 1: in independent music that that core still exists, but we
Speaker 1: were able to talk a lot about things that frankly,
Speaker 1: I just don't get to talk about within the context
Speaker 1: of this podcast. So here let me spell it out
Speaker 1: for you. So I have Andrew Cannon on the episode today.
Speaker 1: Andrew Cannon is the brand manager at Santa Cruz Skateboards.
Speaker 1: He's also the lead vocalist for an amazing band called Worship.
Speaker 1: You need to find them in all the street platforms.
Speaker 1: If you're a fan of heavy music, you absolutely will
Speaker 1: love Worship. But Andrew and I both took a twenty
Speaker 1: three and me tests. We've actually both previously have gone
Speaker 1: through that process, not only from the um you know,
Speaker 1: the health side of things and the ancestry side of things,
Speaker 1: but we were just really curious about what this report
Speaker 1: would tell about us, and um it was. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. The the amount of information that you're able
Speaker 1: to find out via your DNA is U is really
Speaker 1: really cool. And of course a lot of people that
Speaker 1: go through these tests are curious about their ancestry, and
Speaker 1: we talk a little bit about that. But then just
Speaker 1: the fact that you can find so many different elements
Speaker 1: of your health that is contained within your d n
Speaker 1: A is so cool, and this report is enlightening and
Speaker 1: so many different respects and can inform a lot of
Speaker 1: choices that you make in the future from your health
Speaker 1: and everything else that's you know, wrapped up in that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was excited to talk about this because
Speaker 1: I personally I believe the more information that you have
Speaker 1: about who you are as an individual, not only from
Speaker 1: a personality perspective, but then genetics please a huge partner.
Speaker 1: And so I was incredibly excited to work with twenty
Speaker 1: three and Me and team up with them to bring
Speaker 1: you this particular episode. Andrew and I talk about our
Speaker 1: own musical d n A where we just basically nerd
Speaker 1: out about how we got into independent music, and I
Speaker 1: talked to Andrew a lot about that, and then we
Speaker 1: we wax philosophic about a lot of different elements within um,
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of why we live our lives
Speaker 1: and why we want to know as much as humanly
Speaker 1: possible about who we are as humans. So it's a
Speaker 1: real fun one and we do get hetty in a
Speaker 1: positive way. And uh yeah, I'm just incredibly excited to
Speaker 1: bring you this special episode that is sponsored by twenty
Speaker 1: three and Me. So check out the conversation with Andrew
Speaker 1: and I will talk to you at the end of
Speaker 1: the episode. You've dope into my life via the Internet,
Speaker 1: like many friendships that start these days. And once I
Speaker 1: started to become, you know, aware of not only your background,
Speaker 1: but then the fact that you are, you are such
Speaker 1: an unabashed fan of music. And it makes me so
Speaker 1: happy because I think that there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that are maybe a little more like, oh yeah, like
Speaker 1: I like bands and stuff, but you're like, yo, I
Speaker 1: like bands and that's and I where where does that
Speaker 1: come from? Like? Is it just the fact that, like,
Speaker 1: whatever you've been into, you want to make sure like
Speaker 1: everybody knows that, not in an annoying way or maybe
Speaker 1: an annoying way. I don't know, but I mean it depends,
Speaker 1: you know. I think for me, my dad was a
Speaker 1: big music fan growing up. He was actually just out
Speaker 1: here visiting and it was so much fun too. I
Speaker 1: went and bought all these like used Yes records and
Speaker 1: Genesis records and stuff like that. Um, because I was
Speaker 1: like what my dad. I grew up listening to that
Speaker 1: with my dad in the basement, and uh so I
Speaker 1: think I get the love of music, But my mom
Speaker 1: also loves music, like I just grew up around people
Speaker 1: that really liked it. But my dad is a nerd
Speaker 1: sort of like I am. Where you'll be listening to
Speaker 1: a song and he kind of does that like oh
Speaker 1: this part, you know, and uh and so I think
Speaker 1: I just I think his own personal passion with music
Speaker 1: sort of informed me to feel comfortable like loving those
Speaker 1: little things. Um and honestly, I just think the coolest.
Speaker 1: So you know, we're talking social media base here. Like
Speaker 1: absolutely people could be like, oh, that's annoying or whatever,
Speaker 1: but that's literally the purpose of social media. And for
Speaker 1: myself personally, I value it so much because the amount
Speaker 1: of people that share music with me it's fantastic. Like
Speaker 1: people will just randomly DM me and be like hey,
Speaker 1: check out my band, and I'm like awesome, thank you.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's just like a small ep they're super
Speaker 1: good or whatever. But for me, I'm like social media
Speaker 1: literally supposed to be social. It's not a one sided thing,
Speaker 1: like hey, here's what I'm into. I love finding out
Speaker 1: what people are into. I love when people share stuff
Speaker 1: with me. I think it's a really fun process. But um,
Speaker 1: I just love music. I mean, it makes me feel
Speaker 1: so much and because of that, I mean, I act
Speaker 1: very much on feeling as a human being, and so
Speaker 1: to be able to share that with someone and hope
Speaker 1: that someone else could maybe have that experience is so cool,
Speaker 1: you know, right, that's very valuable. I like what you
Speaker 1: articulated there in regards to It's like those little moments
Speaker 1: and those things that gets you hooked on, whether it's
Speaker 1: a band or a song or those are the things
Speaker 1: because you, especially like you're talking about, as a kid,
Speaker 1: you have no autonomy. I mean, yes, you're making some
Speaker 1: decisions on your own, but you're usually subjected to whatever
Speaker 1: it is your surroundings are. And to have that I
Speaker 1: like prism that you're viewing it through of like oh,
Speaker 1: my dad gets stoked at this drum part, like okay,
Speaker 1: and then that's kind of where it goes from there,
Speaker 1: where you're like, Okay, maybe I'll pay attention to drums
Speaker 1: first because that's what I saw, like my dad's breaking
Speaker 1: out about or my mom really gravitating towards Yeah. And
Speaker 1: I just think that the cool music is so cool
Speaker 1: because it connects people in different ways. Um, this is
Speaker 1: like a silly story, but um, I'll never forget like,
Speaker 1: so when I when I got into like heavier music,
Speaker 1: it started off with corn. And uh I remember I
Speaker 1: went to the wall and I bought like a um
Speaker 1: they sold it to me even though it had parental advisory,
Speaker 1: and I bought like a corn tape right, and I
Speaker 1: think I got Life is Peache first, And uh I
Speaker 1: remember I was at the Orthodonist office and I saw
Speaker 1: like our old neighbor and he was like probably ten
Speaker 1: years older than me, and he was like, hey man,
Speaker 1: and I was sitting next to my mom. He's like,
Speaker 1: what kind of music? And I was like, oh, I like,
Speaker 1: you know, like maybe heavier stuff or I was like
Speaker 1: I really like Rage against the Machine. And he was like, dude,
Speaker 1: have you ever heard of Corn? If you haven't, you
Speaker 1: need to listen. And I remember sitting on that couch
Speaker 1: with my mom next to me and being like I
Speaker 1: can't say yes, I've heard of them, because then she'll
Speaker 1: know that I have this tape she doesn't know about
Speaker 1: it's parental advisory. And so the coolest thing about music
Speaker 1: is anyone can connect on music, you know, like it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, Like I can talk to my dad about Genesis,
Speaker 1: I could talk to someone younger I could talk to
Speaker 1: people about all kinds of stuff, and I love things
Speaker 1: that sort of break those barriers from like an age perspective,
Speaker 1: just because I do, you know, I love connecting with
Speaker 1: people that are older than me. And I think it's
Speaker 1: such a great segue into learning cool life lessons and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So um, I love that. I love
Speaker 1: that part of it all. Yeah, and I think and
Speaker 1: I know this sounds like just like the most cheesiest
Speaker 1: transition at all possible, but just like that's and I
Speaker 1: think that's what you know, I mean, what we're talking about,
Speaker 1: just like you know, musical d N a like human DNA,
Speaker 1: like the connectivity that you feel and when you discover
Speaker 1: more not only about yourself through um, you know, these
Speaker 1: these these tests you do, whether it's like, Okay, i'm
Speaker 1: gonna sample this record and I'm gonna not like that,
Speaker 1: but then I'm gonna try this other record and I
Speaker 1: really like that, And it's not like you can articulate that.
Speaker 1: It's just that exactly what you're talking about, that reaction.
Speaker 1: But then at the same time, a whole community opens
Speaker 1: up if you are into that piece of music. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I feel like we're existing in such a cool
Speaker 1: moment right now. And I know I keep talking about
Speaker 1: social media, but um, working in the skateboarding industry, like
Speaker 1: we've seen so much cool connectivity about skateboarding and about
Speaker 1: you know, different communities forming and sort of going against
Speaker 1: what has been the case in skateboarding, you know, and
Speaker 1: we really see it in like, um, you know, the
Speaker 1: queer skateboarding community and stuff like that, and it's so
Speaker 1: cool to see all these people connecting are on stuff
Speaker 1: they're psyched on, you know, and you can be psyched
Speaker 1: on like whether it's you know, like bedroom style rap
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. Like there's it's so cool that
Speaker 1: people can just be like, you know what, I'm interested
Speaker 1: in this and they can put it out there in
Speaker 1: the world. People can connect on it and just be
Speaker 1: like you can just make friends everywhere, and I just
Speaker 1: love that, you know, sure, and the and to your
Speaker 1: point too, like the world becomes so much smaller and
Speaker 1: when you have those common touch points, like you're talking
Speaker 1: about whether you can relate to a person who's older, younger,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter you know, where they came from anything,
Speaker 1: as long as you have that that commonality of just
Speaker 1: like oh yes, I like this band, I like this artist.
Speaker 1: So that's that is your little entry point and the
Speaker 1: world becomes so much smaller because of it. Yea, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that part. I think it's so much fun.
Speaker 1: I love I love I love being able to put
Speaker 1: out there the things that you're about and then seeing
Speaker 1: other people that are like, whoa, I'm into all that
Speaker 1: same stuff, and then so quickly you can get together,
Speaker 1: like you know, you and I like got together it
Speaker 1: went golfing and had fun and just talked and it
Speaker 1: was just super enjoyable, you know, because you were like, oh,
Speaker 1: there's so many different connective points here, and it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, so we share a lot of these common
Speaker 1: ideologies and you know, I feel like, UM, when you
Speaker 1: are able to do that, it's just it allows for
Speaker 1: these really cool connections that you never would have had. Um.
Speaker 1: And I think a big part of that is sort
Speaker 1: of being vulnerable and putting out there the things that
Speaker 1: you're psyched on, even if it's cheesy or even if um,
Speaker 1: other people might be like, I don't know, that's whack,
Speaker 1: and you're like, it's just who I am. I'm kind
Speaker 1: of whack. Yeah, You're like, you know what, I can't
Speaker 1: change me bro, I'm not exactly sitting here trying to
Speaker 1: pretend I'm that cool. I'm just me, you know, totally
Speaker 1: totally and kind of on that topic. The uh, once
Speaker 1: you started to get introduced to music that I guess
Speaker 1: wasn't your parents and wasn't being played on the radio,
Speaker 1: how did how did that transpire? Oh? Man, um, it
Speaker 1: was always funny, just uh, my parents didn't understand it.
Speaker 1: They were not stoked on it, um and it wasn't
Speaker 1: like they were bum But I'll never forget. I think
Speaker 1: I was in I don't remember if it was like
Speaker 1: middle school or high school, but I was into all
Speaker 1: the like kind of the new metal stuff that got
Speaker 1: introduced to me. You know, because I'm so envious of
Speaker 1: people that grow up now with Spotify and YouTube because
Speaker 1: they can just find everything and go down crazy rabbit holes.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think there's something about the search that
Speaker 1: was really fun growing up. But you know there's a
Speaker 1: lot of bands, like even like punk bands and stuff
Speaker 1: where people will share it and I'm like, I just
Speaker 1: never got into it when I was younger because I
Speaker 1: didn't have the CD um and so for me it
Speaker 1: was I think I started off getting into like punk
Speaker 1: stuff with like Descendants and stuff like that. Um, and
Speaker 1: my parents were they didn't mind all of that, but
Speaker 1: I think it was once I started getting into the
Speaker 1: louder sort of screaming stuff where they were like, mmm,
Speaker 1: I don't know about this, but I'll never forget. Like, uh,
Speaker 1: I wanted to go see Cold Chamber with some of
Speaker 1: my friends in high school. They had like a little
Speaker 1: new metal band and stuff, and uh, my dad was
Speaker 1: just like, absolutely not, you are not going to that.
Speaker 1: So you got shut down. I got shut down. But
Speaker 1: you know I was able to go to like hardcore
Speaker 1: shows and stuff like that, and uh, you know, seeing
Speaker 1: bands like Bain and Boy Sets Fire and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and that you know, really changed my life. Sure. Sure,
Speaker 1: And how how was that stuff like coming into you
Speaker 1: because I know clearly skateboarding has been a very large
Speaker 1: part of your life as well, And so were you
Speaker 1: getting introduced to bands via that or was it kind
Speaker 1: of just like your group of friends that kept bringing
Speaker 1: records your direction? It was a mixed bag. So like, um,
Speaker 1: A really good example is the first time I ever
Speaker 1: heard Refused, and I had never heard music like refused um,
Speaker 1: and it was in a Woodward video, So I would,
Speaker 1: I like would go to Woodward Camp UM when I
Speaker 1: was like in middle school. I went a few times.
Speaker 1: I was like super lucky, and uh, they would send
Speaker 1: you a video to get you psyched, like a VHS, like, hey,
Speaker 1: here's what happened last summer, get ready for next summer,
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget. It was actually in like one
Speaker 1: of the BMX dirt Jump sections um, but they had
Speaker 1: new noise by Refused and the way his vocals were,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know what this is, but
Speaker 1: I think this is the best song I've ever heard
Speaker 1: in my entire life, and it blew my mind. So
Speaker 1: it was a little bit of a mix of some
Speaker 1: of the skate videos still had some punk stuff in it.
Speaker 1: And then I would just go to shows with people
Speaker 1: in our zone and you know, growing up in Westchester, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 1: like right around that area, it was pretty awesome for that,
Speaker 1: like being able to go into Philadelphia with you know,
Speaker 1: some of the older kids, and my parents were very
Speaker 1: trust thing of me, UM, and so I would get
Speaker 1: to go into Philadelphia, or i'd get to go to
Speaker 1: like you know, uh, like one of the That's All
Speaker 1: shows or whatever in like Delaware. You know the different
Speaker 1: zones in p A, and uh so I heard a
Speaker 1: lot of new bands that way too, Like Baying for
Speaker 1: Me was a band that I hadn't really heard of,
Speaker 1: and I went to see Boysets Fire and being opened
Speaker 1: up for them and their hands down one of my
Speaker 1: favorite bands of all time. And it that like set
Speaker 1: that night like changed my life completely, you know, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that notion of, you know, seeing an opening
Speaker 1: band that is just so unsuspect, like you have no clue,
Speaker 1: and then you see everyone else's reaction and then you
Speaker 1: can't help but not be moved or you know, want
Speaker 1: to engage in the art in some way. And yeah,
Speaker 1: just at that point, you're like, oh so now I
Speaker 1: like this band as well as the band that I
Speaker 1: came to see. And you know, I'm you're just going
Speaker 1: to a bazillion shows and stuff like that. You've probably
Speaker 1: done the same, but like at one point I had
Speaker 1: to kind of remind myself, like, dude, you need to
Speaker 1: go and watch some of these new bands, because you know,
Speaker 1: my schedule gets crazy. So I would be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I'll be there at you know, I'll
Speaker 1: watch this band for forty five minutes and then I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go home, you know. Um, But there is magic
Speaker 1: to going to see openers and stuff like that to
Speaker 1: just get excited about new music. And you know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned this, like just being excited about music. That's one
Speaker 1: thing that is so interesting to me. Like I'll talk
Speaker 1: to some people that like hardcore, like metal, and it's
Speaker 1: so funny when they're like, I only listen to these records.
Speaker 1: I don't like to listen to new stuff, and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: can you imagine being like, yeah, I only eat pizza.
Speaker 1: Hut pizza. It's just the only thing that I'll ever
Speaker 1: eat because it's what I've been eating for twenty years.
Speaker 1: And you're like, dude, there's so much better pizza out there,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. So it's kind of crazy to me
Speaker 1: the way that people shut that down because the accessibility
Speaker 1: of music and the opportunities for people to learn how
Speaker 1: to play instruments and be influenced by so many different things.
Speaker 1: I mean, the music that is coming out right now
Speaker 1: is phenomenal in my personal opinion. You know, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1: Just the idea of calcifying. I mean, to your point,
Speaker 1: it does take effort and you have to go through
Speaker 1: the deliberate choice of you know, going to a show
Speaker 1: on time. Like you said, all of these things that
Speaker 1: you are, you know, you take for granted when you're
Speaker 1: young because it's just like you have nothing but time,
Speaker 1: and then when you have to actually put work into it. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's your exactly what you're saying. Where I almost find
Speaker 1: more value out of it now because I feel like
Speaker 1: there's more. Even though music is more easily accessible than
Speaker 1: it ever has been, there it still takes digging. You
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta know where to look, you know. But
Speaker 1: that's again, and I go back to social media on
Speaker 1: just being this awesome opportunity for people to share, and
Speaker 1: it is so much fun to have somebody send you
Speaker 1: something or you know. One of the things that I
Speaker 1: love is I follow all these people from bands that
Speaker 1: are super you know, nice or maybe I don't know
Speaker 1: them or whatever, but it is so cool when all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's like eight people are posting the
Speaker 1: same thing and I'm immediately like, all right, I gotta listen,
Speaker 1: and I think, uh, the last example of that was that, um,
Speaker 1: I think it's Foreign Hands. Oh yeah, yeah, dude, what
Speaker 1: a good album? Like it is so good and so
Speaker 1: for me. I love that, Like I love being able
Speaker 1: to sort of see what people, um people are talking
Speaker 1: about and then go oh, I'm gonna dive in. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think, um the person that has the like ten
Speaker 1: out of ten every time. Uh. And I haven't met
Speaker 1: Jeremy Baum um, but he is like his opinion on
Speaker 1: music in my personal like from my personal view, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: he just knocks it out of the park. It's such
Speaker 1: a big music guy that I haven't gone wrong with
Speaker 1: any suggestion he's put out there yet. You know, right,
Speaker 1: you're like you are by musical Kindred Spirits, and I
Speaker 1: get where you're coming from. And yeah, no, it's it
Speaker 1: is fun to exactly what you're talking about, be able
Speaker 1: to navigate and in the same way that you know
Speaker 1: back in the day quote unquote where it was like
Speaker 1: you know, zene culture and people really focused on reviews
Speaker 1: and once you started to follow a person's opinion, whether
Speaker 1: it was like a actual, you know, full zine that
Speaker 1: you were consuming from one person, or whether it was
Speaker 1: just like, oh, I really like this this guy's reviews
Speaker 1: or this girl's reviews, like I'm gonna follow along with
Speaker 1: that it's the same idea, except now it's just like
Speaker 1: you said, it's much easier to dip in and recommend
Speaker 1: music that way. Absolutely, absolutely so kind of on that
Speaker 1: similar topic where it's just you know, you are are
Speaker 1: discovering more of yourself and you are wanting to, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just be aware of obviously the world around you,
Speaker 1: what you got into, you know, skateboarding. I know you
Speaker 1: you know, pursued it professionally, and obviously it's the industry
Speaker 1: that you've worked in for many years. Um, when did
Speaker 1: you kind of start to I guess I've noticed who
Speaker 1: you were as as a person, you know, just as
Speaker 1: far as like, oh yeah, my general disposition is like
Speaker 1: oh I'm either you know, mad or happy like all
Speaker 1: those I guess kind of emotions. When did you start
Speaker 1: to recognize that yourself? Honestly, I think it was probably
Speaker 1: in my twenties. But I'll never forget my good friend
Speaker 1: Mike Leslie when we were when I was like sixteen,
Speaker 1: he um was a filmer and he worked for the
Speaker 1: skate shop, and at one point he was like, honestly, dude,
Speaker 1: I know you're always happy and you're like stoked, but
Speaker 1: just so you know, like sometimes that comes off cocky
Speaker 1: two people, and I was like, oh, okay, Like I
Speaker 1: thought I was just being friendly, you know. Um. So
Speaker 1: I think that I always knew that, like my overall
Speaker 1: attitude was a little more positive than a lot of
Speaker 1: other folks out there. But I would say that it
Speaker 1: probably wasn't until I was in my twenties. Um. And
Speaker 1: you know when I when I got sober, because I
Speaker 1: drank um in my early twenties and I've always had
Speaker 1: kind of a not like a badly I've just had
Speaker 1: a bad relationship with alcohol, and it wasn't who I was.
Speaker 1: And that was a big piece of like actually stopping drinking.
Speaker 1: Was like I don't love the person I become when
Speaker 1: I drank, because I'm far more proud of the person
Speaker 1: I am on a regular basis, like being positive and
Speaker 1: looking at the bright side and um, you know, being nice. Um.
Speaker 1: And when I drank, I was just a really selfish
Speaker 1: individual and I didn't like it. Um. And so that
Speaker 1: was twelve years ago that I stopped drinking. But I
Speaker 1: think once that changed, it really helped me to like
Speaker 1: get in touch with myself and who I was and um.
Speaker 1: And then honestly, even in the last few years. Um,
Speaker 1: just like doing therapy and stuff like that. UM helped
Speaker 1: me a lot with being more vulnerable and UM, because
Speaker 1: I was always the guy that you'd be like, hey,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? And I was like, oh, I'm fine,
Speaker 1: things are good. And I had friends tell me like,
Speaker 1: you know, we'd catch up. Um, we'd catch up, how
Speaker 1: are you doing? Oh I'm good now, man six months
Speaker 1: ago that when we talked last if, I was in
Speaker 1: it and they're like, yeah, but Andrew, when we talked
Speaker 1: six months ago, you said everything was fine. And I'm like, oh, uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know I was in a tough spot or whatever.
Speaker 1: And so, UM, the last few years, like three or
Speaker 1: four years, I definitely have been working on being more
Speaker 1: open and vulnerable and sort of honest with my emotions.
Speaker 1: And so honestly, I would say even into my thirties,
Speaker 1: it really took me time to become the person that
Speaker 1: I am proud of, you know. Yeah, yeah, And I think,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know that whatever that's saying of it's
Speaker 1: not about the destination. It's the journey. And I you
Speaker 1: know that's a whatever, a cliche. But at the same point,
Speaker 1: like that, you always kind of gathering information about yourself,
Speaker 1: whether it's your own personal taste or whether it's like
Speaker 1: just the you know, internal inventory that we all do
Speaker 1: or you hopefully do on yourself, because like you said,
Speaker 1: they're definitely people that you meet and run across that
Speaker 1: just you know, stick their head in this end and
Speaker 1: it's just like oh yeah, like whatever, it's I'll just
Speaker 1: I'll get through it. And there's no um, there's no
Speaker 1: internal audit, like you're not honest with themselves first and foremost,
Speaker 1: and then in turn it's not easy for them to
Speaker 1: be honest with others. And it's not fun. No, No,
Speaker 1: it's true. It's not fun always, you know. I mean, um,
Speaker 1: it is super difficult and really being able to like
Speaker 1: take that step back and look at yourself critically, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and you can also be kind to yourself
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, you know what I do like
Speaker 1: this about myself and that is what makes me special
Speaker 1: or whatever. Um, but it is not a fun process.
Speaker 1: But I highly recommend it for anyone out there who
Speaker 1: just because it is huge, you know, being able to
Speaker 1: be happy with yourself. I feel, you know, not to
Speaker 1: get way too deep, but it's like, man, we get
Speaker 1: one shot at this life and It's a big reason
Speaker 1: why people are like you do a lot of stuff,
Speaker 1: or you have a lot of hobbies or whatever. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, because I'm gonna die, Like there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a point where I don't get to do anything.
Speaker 1: So I'm trying to suck the marrow out of life
Speaker 1: the best I can. You know, of course you're supposed to.
Speaker 1: You're you're dead poets society ing it exactly. It's I
Speaker 1: just feel like, um, that's the we are all so
Speaker 1: fortunate to get to be here and living in this time.
Speaker 1: And I know there's a lot of crazy ship going
Speaker 1: on in the world, and I'm not trying to put
Speaker 1: that aside, but when you step back and you're able
Speaker 1: to go, Okay, what are the things that I can
Speaker 1: control within the scope of my life, It's like, man,
Speaker 1: it is magical that we're here right now and that
Speaker 1: we get to, you know, chat about life, and we
Speaker 1: get to go to concerts and we get like I
Speaker 1: get to go skateboarding and talk about skateboarding for work,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's like life, life is pretty amazing,
Speaker 1: you know, and we get to share so many wonderful
Speaker 1: things with people, and I think that, um, Unfortunately a
Speaker 1: lot of people struggle to connect with that just because
Speaker 1: there is so much going on. Um, but that's where
Speaker 1: I do think like therapy and just kind of taking
Speaker 1: a look at your own life is really nice because again,
Speaker 1: we're only here one time and are our time frame
Speaker 1: is relatively limited, so you know, you have to enjoy it. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: and and I mean I think that was very articulately
Speaker 1: put and I think that can dovetail nicely into the
Speaker 1: idea of just you know, the DNA testing. And obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, one of the reasons why we're here chatting
Speaker 1: about this is because we've both you know, did the
Speaker 1: twenty three of ME test. And I'm sure there's a
Speaker 1: wide variety of reasons why people do that, whether it's
Speaker 1: you know, they're curious about their ancestry or health or
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. What was uh, I guess
Speaker 1: your entry point to like wanting to do that in
Speaker 1: the first place. Was it just the fact that you
Speaker 1: wanted to discover more about you know, your health than
Speaker 1: where you came from and stuff. Um, well, so my um,
Speaker 1: my ex wife and I definitely like she we had
Speaker 1: talked about how cool it would be, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: and so I think it was like a holiday it was.
Speaker 1: And she was like, oh, I got us these kids,
Speaker 1: and I was like, sick, let's do this um. And
Speaker 1: so we went through like we went and did the
Speaker 1: whole spit test whatever um, and then you get the results.
Speaker 1: And it was super fun because, uh, when I would
Speaker 1: talk to my parents about like, oh, where are we
Speaker 1: from whatever, they'd be like, yeah, we're just like you know,
Speaker 1: like Western European. And I was like that's not a
Speaker 1: good answer. You know, I don't really know um. So
Speaker 1: for me, it was really fun to take a look
Speaker 1: at this. I'm also really intrue, like I'm personally really
Speaker 1: interested in uh like all the personality test stuff and everything.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I want to know what makes me tick um,
Speaker 1: And I want to know like, Okay, what am I?
Speaker 1: Why do I feel certain things? And there's so much
Speaker 1: cool there's so much cool information out there, you know
Speaker 1: that can help you to kind of like when you
Speaker 1: do look at yourself from like a bigger picture standpoint
Speaker 1: to grow and stuff. It's like it's fun to take
Speaker 1: those tests and stuff. So the twenty three and Me
Speaker 1: thing was a really good example of being able to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, let me, let me look at some
Speaker 1: of this stuff, you know. Yeah, no, and I think
Speaker 1: it's really it's engaging no matter which way you look
Speaker 1: at it, whether it is like you said, just the
Speaker 1: you know kind of ancestry, or whether it's just the
Speaker 1: idea of what more information can I find out about
Speaker 1: myself that can lead me to you know, become a
Speaker 1: better person, or just frankly no more about the way
Speaker 1: that I internally tick because you know, to your point
Speaker 1: of in regards to you know, watching your dad reactive music,
Speaker 1: Like there is that idea of you know, environment versus
Speaker 1: you know, inherited genetics and all of that mixes into
Speaker 1: a stud together that makes us as human beings. And
Speaker 1: the fact that you can actually like literally take a
Speaker 1: test that tells you these things where it's like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: Like I I had no idea that you know, I
Speaker 1: might be um, you know, predisposed to like restless leg
Speaker 1: syndrome or whatever. It's like, it's not it doesn't worry me, No,
Speaker 1: it's just I'm like, oh, well, that's a heads up,
Speaker 1: like talking about that. Yeah, Like I annoy so many
Speaker 1: people with my stupid leg. It's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: nothing personal. Gang it's literally how I'm wired. No, totally,
Speaker 1: it's just those things that you find out that there
Speaker 1: is no way in hell prior to this that you
Speaker 1: would ever be able to like point definitively out and
Speaker 1: be like take a tested like this is what it
Speaker 1: told me, and it's just like and yeah, not definitively,
Speaker 1: but to a point where it's just like now you
Speaker 1: have that information and you could do with it what
Speaker 1: you will, And that's like how that's unbelievable. Probably in
Speaker 1: the same way that you know, I connect the idea
Speaker 1: of us getting influenced by you know, music and once
Speaker 1: we started to you know, get introduced ideas of you know,
Speaker 1: straight edge and veganism and vegetarianism and like that is
Speaker 1: all part of the same like sort of self improvement
Speaker 1: journey that I think people go on absolutely and the
Speaker 1: more you know about yourself, um, the and I think
Speaker 1: there's also like a bit of peace to a lot
Speaker 1: of that stuff too, Like you know, when I started
Speaker 1: learning about brain types and when I did like we
Speaker 1: have these uh like p I I think they're called
Speaker 1: personality index things we did for work, and like you
Speaker 1: learn all this stuff about yourself and it's sort of uh.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes like the burden a way of like, man,
Speaker 1: why is it that I just struggle with like staying
Speaker 1: on task or whatever. And then when you get into
Speaker 1: it and it's like, oh, your brain does this well
Speaker 1: or you do this well, but you're not so great
Speaker 1: at this. Not to say that it gives you a crutch,
Speaker 1: but it sort of allows you to give yourself a
Speaker 1: little bit of grace and go, oh, okay, that's not me,
Speaker 1: Like maybe I personally am not doing this to myself.
Speaker 1: It's literally how I'm wired or whatever. And then from
Speaker 1: there you're like, cool, maybe there's steps I can take
Speaker 1: to change that, you know for sure. I mean you
Speaker 1: you hit that nail on the head where it's like
Speaker 1: the more information that you have, um, you know, the
Speaker 1: better you are to be able to either, like you said,
Speaker 1: address the problem, correct it. Uh, you know, be able
Speaker 1: to augment the way that you live your life if
Speaker 1: it is something that you know you do want to
Speaker 1: work on and change. And it's like there, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like I just think of the idea. I think
Speaker 1: it's so funny how this test gets so specific where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, yeah, you're less likely to match a
Speaker 1: musical pitch. Are you less likely or more likely? I
Speaker 1: have less likely, which is so funny because I mean,
Speaker 1: of course, like the joke is like, yeah, you screamed
Speaker 1: for a hardcore band. Of course you can't. You can't
Speaker 1: match a musical pitch. But like reading that really, you know,
Speaker 1: informed the fact that it's like, yes, there are times
Speaker 1: where like I literally try to sing and I could not,
Speaker 1: Like I could not. I remember I so distinctly remember
Speaker 1: where it was, like Taken was recording. We were recording
Speaker 1: our last EP and like two thousand four before we
Speaker 1: you know, broke up, and they're on these demos of
Speaker 1: certain songs. I was singing and a lot of it
Speaker 1: was you know, I've auto tuned was placed on it,
Speaker 1: and it was I just remember being in the vocal
Speaker 1: booth and just like beating the hell out of myself.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know how fun it is to record vocals.
Speaker 1: It's all worse. It just beating myself up for like
Speaker 1: not being able to hold a particular note. And then
Speaker 1: I just it would just be so great to like
Speaker 1: go back in time and be like, hey, guys, I
Speaker 1: got this report that tells me it's a little bit
Speaker 1: harder for me to hit this bitch. You're like, oh,
Speaker 1: it all makes so much sense now. We put out
Speaker 1: a little EP not long ago. Um, And it was
Speaker 1: the first time that I had ever tried to sing
Speaker 1: like on a thing. And I love singing, like I
Speaker 1: will sing all day long if we're in a like
Speaker 1: I'll pop into a meeting and just start singing about
Speaker 1: what we're doing, like because I'm just a goof UM.
Speaker 1: But it was the first time actually trying to do
Speaker 1: it in like a studio setting. And uh so I
Speaker 1: recorded with um Zach Rippy out here in Arizona, UM
Speaker 1: and he was so rad in the process because he
Speaker 1: was so helpful in like getting me to where we
Speaker 1: needed to be. But man, singing versus yelling is such
Speaker 1: a different beast. Like you're like, oh wow, that like
Speaker 1: actually sucked, whereas like yelling, you're like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: did it sound like pissed enough? Like this? Right? Am
Speaker 1: I actually doing this into the mic loud enough? Like
Speaker 1: what are we? What are we talking about here? Do I?
Speaker 1: Like he said, do I sound pissed enough? It's so funny, man,
Speaker 1: It's I always and I don't know about you, but
Speaker 1: I've I've only on and recorded vocals because getting into
Speaker 1: like an actual band for me was a later in
Speaker 1: life process, but part of that like what do I
Speaker 1: want to do before I die kind of thing? And
Speaker 1: uh so I've only recorded a couple of times. We
Speaker 1: recorded are the first album that I was on with
Speaker 1: Worship in uh up in Oakland with Scott Evans, who
Speaker 1: is such a wonderful human being. Um and so he
Speaker 1: was super helpful and like helping me understand like how
Speaker 1: to do the recording part um. But man, it was
Speaker 1: so funny. I'll never forget like walking into his studio
Speaker 1: and just seeing all this stuff and how like nice
Speaker 1: and fancy things were, and then being like I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna yell into that microphone like what am I doing?
Speaker 1: This is so insane, Like there are people that have
Speaker 1: phenomenal voices doing this stuff, and I'm literally like, ah,
Speaker 1: so right, it's just like comedy, you know, Oh it
Speaker 1: totally is it totally is something else I found funny
Speaker 1: in regards to, uh, you know, the the particular test
Speaker 1: traits that it, you know, identifies where it's just like
Speaker 1: wake up time. I'm I found that so interesting that
Speaker 1: what's yours? Yeah? Mine? It said? It said in the
Speaker 1: report that it was like it was around seven am.
Speaker 1: I wake up earlier than that, But I just I
Speaker 1: was I I wonder if at some point that if you,
Speaker 1: you know, depending on when in your life you take
Speaker 1: the test, would it give a different result, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: if you're taking it when you're like, you know, twenty one,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, yeah, I sleep like ted you know,
Speaker 1: ted am wake up? But I just yeah, so what
Speaker 1: what was yours? I have eight oh four am, which
Speaker 1: doesn't actually feel super off. I mean, I like to
Speaker 1: get up early. Um, but that's not my natural thing.
Speaker 1: Like I used to be like a night owl and
Speaker 1: um but I love going to bed and getting up
Speaker 1: early and kind of like kicking the day's ass, uh
Speaker 1: if I can. Um, So like for me, I'm like,
Speaker 1: nothing good for me happens after ten pm, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like that's just that's like literally when
Speaker 1: you're like going down some kind of an internet rabbit
Speaker 1: hole that you're just like even like even just like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I was up till three am searching for
Speaker 1: bands and it's like, dude, get off of the Wikipedia page.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter to bed, you know. So uh So, yeah,
Speaker 1: I definitely get up earlier. Um, but I thought that
Speaker 1: was interesting because if I went to bed at say ten,
Speaker 1: between ten and eleven, I would probably wake up right
Speaker 1: around that time, right, yeah, for sure. Right, it's like
Speaker 1: if everything worked out according to plan. Yes, But I
Speaker 1: mean I did find it engaging because it's like, even
Speaker 1: if you know that that wasn't accurate, it was that
Speaker 1: idea that, oh, this does like seven am still by
Speaker 1: most stretches of the imagination from a normal person perspective,
Speaker 1: that's like, you know a little bit earlier, like oh yeah,
Speaker 1: just comparing our reports where it's just like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: like I wake up an hour earlier than you, Andrew. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's true, it's true. And there you go. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm done. It's just lazy over here. Yeah, you're super lazy.
Speaker 1: So I have to ask you a question about it,
Speaker 1: because this one I thought was super fun. Did you
Speaker 1: check your neanderthal DNA? I did check myerthal what's your results?
Speaker 1: And I think, well, because it quantified it from a
Speaker 1: percentage perspective, right, yeah, And I want to say I
Speaker 1: want to say it was around like eighteen percent or
Speaker 1: something like that, like you have more neanderthal DNA than
Speaker 1: eighteen percent of other customers. Yes, yes, I think that
Speaker 1: was it so pretty pretty Neanderthal heavy, I think No, No,
Speaker 1: that's pretty. I think that's light. Yeah, because dude, hey, Andrew,
Speaker 1: you have more Neanderthal DNA than of other customers. I'm
Speaker 1: a fucking animal, dude. Like, no matter how you slice it,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, is it's Andrew. He's kind of a
Speaker 1: lot of Neanderthal in him. Don't just don't worry about it, Like, dude,
Speaker 1: so good is he over? They're flinging his own He's guys,
Speaker 1: he's Neanderthal. It's fine, right, Yeah, excuse me your soul.
Speaker 1: It's cool. That one made me laugh so hard when
Speaker 1: I saw it, and I was just like okay, right, good,
Speaker 1: good to know, good to know. Yeah, it's like there's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, to to that point of just like there
Speaker 1: are certain bits of information that are just like cool
Speaker 1: to know. It's not like there's anything that you can
Speaker 1: do to change that. It's like, all right, that's that's
Speaker 1: good to know. Yes, Yes, what was weird to me
Speaker 1: was like looking through them and they're just like small
Speaker 1: silly things, but like the ring finger versus like index finger,
Speaker 1: Like yeah, my ring finger is way longer than my
Speaker 1: index finger, and like toast stuff. I just think stuff
Speaker 1: like that is fun, like yeah, what does it say?
Speaker 1: It's like, um, likely at least a little unibrow, and
Speaker 1: it's like, god, damn it, how did you know? Like
Speaker 1: totally are you going to call me out like that?
Speaker 1: You know? Yeah? And I and I think too like
Speaker 1: it really um many times, like especially if you take
Speaker 1: it at an age where you are, you know, a
Speaker 1: little more comfortable in your own skin rather than you know,
Speaker 1: maybe your early twenties or whatever. Just that idea that
Speaker 1: a lot of this stuff isn't um necessarily like that revelatory.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh yeah, that that that that tracks like that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that adds up. It's like okay, that makes sense. But
Speaker 1: then that yeah, but then there are certain things that
Speaker 1: are just like wow, I first of all, I would
Speaker 1: never know that about myself, and secondly like, oh wow,
Speaker 1: I I guess that is me. I just never thought
Speaker 1: about it in those terms. Did you what about your
Speaker 1: fear of public speaking? I was told like, no fear whatsoever.
Speaker 1: It was like totally comfortable, no problem whatsoever. What was yours?
Speaker 1: Mine was defin mine definitely said like less likely to
Speaker 1: have a fear of public speaking, which is right, yes,
Speaker 1: less likely that was, And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm
Speaker 1: we're good to that at all, totally. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: we're good there if we could get up there on
Speaker 1: stage and you know, yell into a microphone in front
Speaker 1: of strangers, like, you know, I think there's something there's
Speaker 1: something there. Yeah. Absolutely, the the uh what you were
Speaker 1: going to ask a question? I'm sorry, Oh no, I
Speaker 1: was just gonna say, you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: those things on there that are kind of like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's you know, that's cool. But for me, truthfully, the
Speaker 1: actual ancestry composition I thought was very cool. I don't
Speaker 1: know if like I'm curious what yours was? Yeah, mine,
Speaker 1: it didn't necessarily surprise me as well, kind of going
Speaker 1: along to the what I was saying where it's like,
Speaker 1: oh that that tracks, but um, yeah, it was definitely
Speaker 1: um Irish and Polish. That's where the my ancestry uh
Speaker 1: kind of comes from from that perspective, and so, but
Speaker 1: it was interesting because there were certain aspects of my
Speaker 1: family like I am Raymond Edward Harkins the four or
Speaker 1: the third, my sons the fourth and um My Raymond
Speaker 1: Edward Harkins the first he was adopted, and so there
Speaker 1: were certain like we generically speaking new where that kind
Speaker 1: of where his ancestry sort of came from, and it
Speaker 1: was validated by this report. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: it was like, well, you know, there's not any records
Speaker 1: beyond him, you know, kind of starts there. That is
Speaker 1: very cool, like that that aspect of it. I feel
Speaker 1: like it's so rad too um to be able to
Speaker 1: dive in on. I definitely like when I got mine back,
Speaker 1: it was like, Okay, I'm seventy point nine percent British
Speaker 1: and Irish. But what was interesting was I was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: I'm like twenty one point eight percent Polish and I
Speaker 1: didn't know that, and so I was like, oh, that's cool.
Speaker 1: And also, um, you know, I don't mean to speak
Speaker 1: ill of my parents, because they probably told me a
Speaker 1: bunch of this stuff, but I was like, when I
Speaker 1: was younger, I was so like, I just want to
Speaker 1: go skateboarding and listen to me. I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't care where I'm from, Like I'm playing Pennsylvania, what
Speaker 1: do you mean? Um? But it's been such a fun
Speaker 1: thing to learn about that stuff as you get older,
Speaker 1: and you know, I did the thing where you can
Speaker 1: kind of track your relatives and look at your family
Speaker 1: tree and you know, so you know, us talking about
Speaker 1: doing this podcast was a really fun opportunity for me
Speaker 1: to kind of get in the weeds a little bit
Speaker 1: on this stuff. And like, again because I did this
Speaker 1: a while ago, so it was fun to crack it
Speaker 1: open and look at these things and be like, whoa,
Speaker 1: this is kind of wild actually, like looking at the
Speaker 1: family tree and seeing who's in there from my family
Speaker 1: that's taken the test, and it was it was cool. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I agree wholeheartedly. Yeah, I know I took my
Speaker 1: test about yeah, probably maybe two years ago. But it
Speaker 1: was one of those things where as you started to
Speaker 1: you know, poke around and take those quizzes and like
Speaker 1: travel even further down that you know, path of knowledge
Speaker 1: within the tests that you did, it really honestly, I
Speaker 1: just can't and this is such a cheesy thing to say,
Speaker 1: but it's just like, you know, knowledge is power, and
Speaker 1: just that idea of understanding more about yourself and your
Speaker 1: predisposition to certain things and like not liking certain things,
Speaker 1: and it just all like I found the alcohol flush
Speaker 1: test result where it was like, I wouldn't turn red
Speaker 1: if I drink, And I'm like, I literally would never
Speaker 1: know that because I've like never personally drank, Like I
Speaker 1: mean I drank when I was like, you know, fourteen
Speaker 1: or something, but I've never never ever been drunk in
Speaker 1: my whole life, and so for me to read that,
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I never would have known that. Otherwise, No,
Speaker 1: it's cool. I think, what about do you do caffeine
Speaker 1: or do you not caffeine? I do caffeine, So are
Speaker 1: you likely to consume more? Or no? I I was
Speaker 1: right on average, but um, it didn't. I was surprised
Speaker 1: because I do feel like, I mean, I think I
Speaker 1: have about like four cups of coffee a day. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's wildly out of whack, but I
Speaker 1: definitely think it's on the higher side. I yeah, mine
Speaker 1: is definitely likely to consume more, which sounds about right
Speaker 1: because I feel like, just as a human being, like, um,
Speaker 1: like I'm an alcoholic. But I think a huge piece
Speaker 1: of that is because I never did drugs. And I'm
Speaker 1: so thankful because whatever I would have done, I probably
Speaker 1: would have just been like, yep, that's what I love
Speaker 1: that and so um for me, I'm I'm always curious
Speaker 1: if there's like things in here that are just like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're just like a sort of like a pleasure addict.
Speaker 1: And you know what I mean, like whether it's working
Speaker 1: out or skateboarding or you know, like music or what
Speaker 1: it's like you just consume things at a high level,
Speaker 1: you know, in general, and I find that to be
Speaker 1: very interesting, right totally. And on that same notion of
Speaker 1: just like the more you know about yourself, like I
Speaker 1: you know, tie that directly back into when we started
Speaker 1: to discover music and trains of thought that were either
Speaker 1: contradictory to what we had been told or were a
Speaker 1: completely different point of view, because like I know, I
Speaker 1: mean you mentioned rage, rage against the machine, and I
Speaker 1: know for myself that was so revelatory because it was
Speaker 1: this you know, I mean, yes, of course the music
Speaker 1: was sick and unbelievable, but then the idea that they
Speaker 1: were speaking about other people's experiences that first of all
Speaker 1: did not look like me or were from a completely
Speaker 1: different part of the world. And then that that just
Speaker 1: like crack my head open, where I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: so not everybody is raised in a you know, the
Speaker 1: upper middle class suburb. It was like, oh yeah, that
Speaker 1: makes sense totally. And where I'm from in Pennsylvania is like,
Speaker 1: you know, very much like an upper middle class area. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, and it's also very like very predominantly white overall,
Speaker 1: at least it was when I was growing up, you know.
Speaker 1: So it was like it was interesting to hear about
Speaker 1: all those different experiences from you know, people through music
Speaker 1: and you know, and then obviously traveling makes such a
Speaker 1: huge difference as well as like the actual impact of
Speaker 1: all of those things and seeing them and going okay,
Speaker 1: like this is life, you know. But but music opening
Speaker 1: that door and that sort of allowing you to question
Speaker 1: things was like really huge. I mean, I'll never forget.
Speaker 1: I mean I spent a long time as an atheist, Like, um,
Speaker 1: it's literally high school. Um. I remember like I was
Speaker 1: listening to Slayer a lot, and I just was like, what,
Speaker 1: you know, like what is up? You know obviously gets
Speaker 1: you questioning religion and all that stuff. Um. And then
Speaker 1: I remember I became an atheist because at one point
Speaker 1: I remember trying to like pray before bed and I
Speaker 1: just was like I don't understand what I'm doing. What
Speaker 1: like what is happening. Um, because I was raised Catholic.
Speaker 1: Um like very loosely, we were kind of like creased people.
Speaker 1: But um, the it was interesting because all of the
Speaker 1: music sort of change that stuff for me. And then
Speaker 1: what's really funny is the music sort of brought me
Speaker 1: back around. Um not because I'm religious now, um And
Speaker 1: I know that. I know that even saying I listened
Speaker 1: to any Joe Rogan is like hot button, but um,
Speaker 1: sure I listened to the Ray Cappo Joe Rogan. Um.
Speaker 1: And I'm not personally like a big youth of Today fan. Um,
Speaker 1: but I was just really interested in his whole deal
Speaker 1: as like kind of a yogi and stuff like that. Um.
Speaker 1: And I know that, like people get bummed on him
Speaker 1: for breaking edge bro, but um but I'm just like whatever, man,
Speaker 1: he's a human being. He has his own experience. But
Speaker 1: what was really interesting was the way that they talked
Speaker 1: about religion and like they I think they were talking
Speaker 1: about like a Nash or something like that, and He's like,
Speaker 1: so you really believe that? And raised deal was he
Speaker 1: was like I'm not saying I believe it. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying maybe, and so possibility and that blew my mind
Speaker 1: and so in that like this was literally a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, two or three years ago whenever that
Speaker 1: came out, and it kind of had me like take
Speaker 1: a step back and go, you know what, instead of
Speaker 1: saying I believe in nothing, I sort of changed my
Speaker 1: attitude to being like, you know what, I'm comfortable with everything.
Speaker 1: And it doesn't mean that I necessarily believe it all,
Speaker 1: but I think for myself, it allowed me to open
Speaker 1: myself up to as corny as it sounds, like the
Speaker 1: universe in a different way and be comfortable saying, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe there are certain things that kind of come together
Speaker 1: and they maybe happen for a reason or whatever, and
Speaker 1: um and I don't love the idea of like fate
Speaker 1: because I like the idea of human choice and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, but I do think that there is a
Speaker 1: lot of um the when people come to this is
Speaker 1: gonna sound weird, but you've just seen Donnie Darko, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: so that pardon Donnie Darko where they have those crazy
Speaker 1: things coming out of them, right and like leaving them around.
Speaker 1: I always think about, you know, sometimes you end up
Speaker 1: in a really cool conversation or you meet someone that
Speaker 1: like you hit it off with really quickly, and you're like, Wow,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be lifelong friends now. And it's always so
Speaker 1: interesting to kind of like when you take a step
Speaker 1: back to go, man, the fact that the two of
Speaker 1: us are right now having this conversation with all of
Speaker 1: our life experiences and they all brought us to this point.
Speaker 1: Like the fact that we're talking right now about this
Speaker 1: stuff is crazy because the amount of stuff that had
Speaker 1: to come together to get us to this point is nuts.
Speaker 1: It is like just the the simple you know, addition
Speaker 1: of all of these extenuating circumstances that will lead you
Speaker 1: to this exact point is just like I mean it obviously,
Speaker 1: That's why we only use a portion of our brains
Speaker 1: because I think if we use more, like we would
Speaker 1: not even be able to function, because like you have
Speaker 1: to have that cognitive dissonance to be like I'm not
Speaker 1: thinking about every moment being just like oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: Like I can't even believe I'm here, should be crippled,
Speaker 1: but I'm I'm such like a um, I'm such a
Speaker 1: uh sort of like I don't know, feely person whatever.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I love to do that stuff, Like I
Speaker 1: love to take a step back and appreciate the moments
Speaker 1: and appreciate the things that are happening, because again, and
Speaker 1: I don't mean to sound morbid, but it's like, you
Speaker 1: never know when you're gonna go. And so if you
Speaker 1: can wake up in the morning and go, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm stoked to be here. And even if your day
Speaker 1: is a little crazy and you can fall asleep going,
Speaker 1: you know what, even if today was a little tough,
Speaker 1: I'm thankful to be here. You know, I still did
Speaker 1: it right. Yeah, Like, I think there's something really really
Speaker 1: special about all of that. So yeah, I agree. Uh.
Speaker 1: The last thing I want to hit on was the
Speaker 1: idea that um, you know, I know both you and
Speaker 1: I are you know, have experimented and currently are you know,
Speaker 1: vegan vegetarian, and like that connective tissue between understanding the
Speaker 1: you know, health reports that you get from this and
Speaker 1: just understanding like likes and dislike, Like I love the
Speaker 1: cilantro ye if I laugh about that one, because it
Speaker 1: is such a huge like that's that's a tough one,
Speaker 1: right there, man, totally totally Yeah. I I I was
Speaker 1: less likely to consume it, so, which is accurate because
Speaker 1: I personally don't like I, I do a little bit
Speaker 1: of cilantro, but not to the point where I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, it has to be on everything. I So
Speaker 1: mine is inaccurate because mine says that. I I think
Speaker 1: it says. I'm let's see here slightly higher odds of
Speaker 1: disliking cilantro. Nah, I am like put it everywhere. I'm like,
Speaker 1: my blanket is made out of cilantro. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: just like, yep, I want to just wrap myself up
Speaker 1: in it. So that one for me was not correct.
Speaker 1: But what about the asparagus one, because that one's another
Speaker 1: funny one, the asperity I can't honestly, I can't remember exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I do. I I think it was accurate in the
Speaker 1: fact that I was less likely to consume that. Again,
Speaker 1: I smell it in your p That's that's the big one.
Speaker 1: It's can you smell it in your pa? I absolutely
Speaker 1: can't when I consume it. That is reality. Mine is
Speaker 1: uh yeah, mine is your genetics make the likely to
Speaker 1: be able to smell the asparagus odor in your urine.
Speaker 1: It's perfect, like it's so so good. Well yeah, and
Speaker 1: speaking of vegetables, just like the the idea of understanding
Speaker 1: your health and then making you know, choices around that
Speaker 1: and consulting with you know, doctor's physicians, everything that you
Speaker 1: should go through when you're making these change is um.
Speaker 1: But the the idea of us arriving to those conclusions
Speaker 1: through a myriad of influences like for us obviously via
Speaker 1: music and stuff like that. But then you know, so
Speaker 1: how I guess how did you connect the idea of
Speaker 1: you know, you going on the you know, vegan vegetarian
Speaker 1: road in general. So for me, Um, I mean it
Speaker 1: all started early on because uh, Destroy the Machines Earth Crisis.
Speaker 1: I remember being in middle school and listening to that album.
Speaker 1: I bought it, Um, I think I might have My
Speaker 1: uncle would like take me to Philadelphia randomly and we
Speaker 1: would go do stuff UM and uh we went and
Speaker 1: bought some CDs, and I remember I bought I Think
Speaker 1: Earth Crisis, Destroy the Machines, and then I brought I
Speaker 1: bought shy hlud Um A Profound Hatred of Man and
Speaker 1: both of those super important bands to me. But Earth Crisis,
Speaker 1: you know, it was at the time where I would
Speaker 1: sit and read the lyrics and all that stuff, and
Speaker 1: I was like, whoa, Okay, what is all this what's veganism?
Speaker 1: This is wild, you know, because my mom's from Midwest,
Speaker 1: my dad is from outside Philadelphia. It was very much
Speaker 1: meat and potatoes. Um. And as I've gotten older, we've
Speaker 1: laughed at just like they'll I'll order food and they're
Speaker 1: just like, where did you come from? You know, because
Speaker 1: they're literally like, yeah, we'll just have the pork chops
Speaker 1: and the mashed potatoes and that and you know, and here,
Speaker 1: and I'm like excuse me, can I please do this?
Speaker 1: And can you make it really spicy? And and they're
Speaker 1: just like my dad's like I can't even have spici.
Speaker 1: It's like my bald spot sweats, you know. So. Um
Speaker 1: So it was earth crisis kind of planted the seed
Speaker 1: way way way back, but it was not reasonable for me.
Speaker 1: I didn't think at the time to become like a
Speaker 1: vegetarian or anything like that. And then, um so when
Speaker 1: I went to college. Um My my ex wife was
Speaker 1: a vegetarian since she was young, and at some point
Speaker 1: I just kind of was like, oh, I'm gonna become
Speaker 1: a vegetarian, you know. Um And so I remember I
Speaker 1: was maybe like maybe it was around when I was
Speaker 1: twenty or something like that. Um, I don't even honestly,
Speaker 1: it was somewhere in my twenties, maybe twenty six whatever.
Speaker 1: I um, I was in Las Vegas and I was
Speaker 1: out there announcing a do tour event and we stayed
Speaker 1: and did a skateboarding trip afterwards, and I had driven
Speaker 1: out because it was so close to Phoenix, and uh
Speaker 1: I saw one of those busses drive by that has
Speaker 1: like the advertisement and it was like Slayer playing at
Speaker 1: you know, one of the casinos. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna that's like the day after our trip ends,
Speaker 1: and my birthday was coming up. So I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm just gonna get a hotel room
Speaker 1: because Vegas is so inexpensive, and I'm gonna see if
Speaker 1: I can buy a Slayer ticket. And so I went
Speaker 1: and saw Slayer alone in Vegas. And beforehand, I went
Speaker 1: out to dinner. I think I went to like t
Speaker 1: g I Fridays or something, and I got like chicken fingers,
Speaker 1: and uh, I took a bite and I got one
Speaker 1: of those real chewy bits. And I had been toying
Speaker 1: with the idea of like maybe I'll become a vegetarian
Speaker 1: because Charlie tom was the world Industry's team manager and
Speaker 1: that's who I skated for. And he was a vegan,
Speaker 1: so he was like, you know, really helpful for me
Speaker 1: and like dietary change and also just like my drinking
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Like he was a really good
Speaker 1: role model, UM, just for like active and healthy living
Speaker 1: because he was older, UM, and he ripped, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I want to be able to skate like
Speaker 1: Charlie when I get older, and so UM, I stopped
Speaker 1: eating meat that night and I never had it again. UM.
Speaker 1: And then I became vegan maybe a year later. And
Speaker 1: it was one of those like I was vegan at
Speaker 1: home and vegetarian on the road because when I was
Speaker 1: doing skate trips, I was like, well, I want to
Speaker 1: be able to just like eat cheese, pizza or whatever.
Speaker 1: And then and then it just became this ethical thing
Speaker 1: for me where I just was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: can't do that anymore. I'm not allowed to just like
Speaker 1: give myself a pass. And so there was like a
Speaker 1: January one like all right, I'm just gonna officially be
Speaker 1: vegan and then uh. The only thing that took some
Speaker 1: time was um Swede giving that up because of uh
Speaker 1: skate shooes, and I think maybe I went like I
Speaker 1: don't even know if it was like six months and
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't do this. This is ridiculous,
Speaker 1: what kind of a I can't be that? And then
Speaker 1: uh so once I gave that up, it was like okay,
Speaker 1: here we go, um, and it was a So that's
Speaker 1: been a big thing for me, just because, um, trying
Speaker 1: to find vegan skate shooes is a little bit of
Speaker 1: a process, but a lot of the companies are doing
Speaker 1: a really great job now and um, it's fun. So
Speaker 1: I do these little like vegan tree reviews on YouTube, um,
Speaker 1: just because I think it's such an important thing for
Speaker 1: to have information on like what products are actually good,
Speaker 1: you know, totally totally yeah, No, it's cool, and do
Speaker 1: you explaining that process is exactly what I think, you know,
Speaker 1: most people need to do as they're approaching life in general,
Speaker 1: is just like explore, find what you're comfortable with, you know,
Speaker 1: find out more about yourself, because only with that information
Speaker 1: would you be able to make that educated decision to
Speaker 1: be like yeah, I am going to do this or no,
Speaker 1: I am not going to do this. What's interesting to me?
Speaker 1: And I have a feeling you and I are on
Speaker 1: the same page in this. But um, what's so interesting
Speaker 1: to me is when people like sort of start out
Speaker 1: for ethical reasons or whatever, and then they kind of like,
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, how can you stop being vegan or whatever,
Speaker 1: and they're like, well, my doctor told me that I
Speaker 1: shouldn't or whatever, and I'm always just like, I mean, hey,
Speaker 1: everyone can do their thing, but for me, I'm like,
Speaker 1: it's just an ethical thing, Like I don't want to
Speaker 1: hurt animals, so therefore I'm not going to do that.
Speaker 1: And even if a doctor was like, you know, Andrew,
Speaker 1: I think you should be eating red meat, I'd be like,
Speaker 1: that's cool. I'm not going to, you know, just because
Speaker 1: I think at some point you kind of get the
Speaker 1: no pun intended, like you know, wool out from over
Speaker 1: your eyes and you're like, oh, okay, this is really
Speaker 1: not a cool thing. So everyone can make their own decisions.
Speaker 1: And I'm always a personal fan of like when people
Speaker 1: are like, you know what, I go vegan one day
Speaker 1: a week or whatever, I'm like, that's awesome. It all helps.
Speaker 1: And I think we um, and I will say this
Speaker 1: about a lot of vegan culture. Um, a lot of
Speaker 1: people are real uppity, and that's totally fine. But also
Speaker 1: it's like keep in mind it's your own decision and
Speaker 1: try not to push yourself on others because I mean, man,
Speaker 1: even at one point, I remember on social media I
Speaker 1: posted my friend David gravette he was catching a fish,
Speaker 1: you know, catching release, and I got like multiple d
Speaker 1: ms from people that were just like, I cannot believe
Speaker 1: you would do this, And I'm just like, don't you judge, Like,
Speaker 1: get out of here, get off your high horse man,
Speaker 1: Like my friend is psyched, like away, um, And it's
Speaker 1: just because I feel like, you know, look, if you're
Speaker 1: doing it because you want to get on the high horse, like,
Speaker 1: that's fine, But I'm not that person. I don't care
Speaker 1: about that. People can do whatever they want but for me,
Speaker 1: and I'll happily talk with anyone about it because it's
Speaker 1: small changes that make a big difference. You don't have
Speaker 1: to stop eating meat completely or dairy or whatever if
Speaker 1: you don't want to, but if you skip a meal
Speaker 1: that helps you totally. Every every you know, every incremental change,
Speaker 1: no matter how small it, you know, it adds up
Speaker 1: to literally us talking here right now, at this very moment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: little little bits just make changes, you know, exactly exactly. Well, dude, Andrew,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for going on this uh philosophical
Speaker 1: fun ride. Fun. Sorry, I got all getting all deep
Speaker 1: on you, man. That's exactly what it's all about. Man,
Speaker 1: There's there's only one way to go, and that's uh,
Speaker 1: that's deep as I'm with you on that. There we go.
Speaker 1: That was that. And I really really genuinely want to
Speaker 1: thank Andrew Cannon for um coming on this episode with
Speaker 1: me and enjoying the the the conversation that we had
Speaker 1: because it was, like I said, it was a little
Speaker 1: bit less than conventional, but I was really excited to um, yeah,
Speaker 1: just pick his brain and get into this whole thing
Speaker 1: that is only made in part because of the sponsored
Speaker 1: episode that is this, And thank you very much and me. So,
Speaker 1: if you are curious about anything at all about this
Speaker 1: particular episode, you can go to twenty three and me
Speaker 1: dot com. You can find all of their testing capabilities
Speaker 1: and um yeah, I've done it before, wholeheartedly recommended. So
Speaker 1: thank you very much, twenty three and me. Thank you
Speaker 1: very much, Andrew Cannon, and until next time, be safe, everybody.
Speaker 1: And that's it on another Dope show. Did this episode
Speaker 1: inspire you to take a closer look at your health history,
Speaker 1: your genetic makeup. Who new DNA could reveal so much
Speaker 1: about our past while also holding the keys to certain
Speaker 1: health insights that may impact our future. I continue to
Speaker 1: be inspired by these stories, and I hope you do
Speaker 1: as well. Catch you next time. Listen to Spit, an
Speaker 1: original podcast from I Heart Radio and twenty three in
Speaker 1: the on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. Yeah m hm