WEBVTT - #593 - Switchfoot Lead Singer Jon Foreman on Almost Breaking Up Before “Meant to Live” Getting Dropped & Bad Financial Decisions 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:09.160 Did anybody tell you anything about me coming into this 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:09.800 room at all? 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.520 The only text I received was like five minutes before, 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:14.920 did you know where you were coming? 0:00:15.160 --> 0:00:15.920 No? 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:17.759 No, So you just stringed, you just follow feet, and 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:19.160 you came here and you didn't know what you're walking into. 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:20.160 Yeah, kind of didn't know. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.119 I knew you were affiliate with sports and the Dancing 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:24.800 with the Stars, and that was kind of it. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:28.840 Our guest today is John Foreman and the lead singer 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:29.600 of Switchfoot. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:31.320 I'm a big switch Foot fan. 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.000 We were meant to live for so much more that 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.080 one and I dare you to move. 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:39.159 I sing them perfectly too. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.879 He's a Grammy winning songwriter and the voice behind some 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:45.879 of the most well known songs and alternative rock. As 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.680 the lead singer of Switchfoot, he has led the band 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:53.000 through ten million albums sold crazy nearly three decades of touring, 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:55.560 and after five years, the band is back with their 0:00:55.760 --> 0:00:59.720 fourteenth studio album, Forever Now, that comes out June twenty sixth. 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:02.520 I think you're going to love it if you like Switchfoot, 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:04.880 which I do. They got a brand new single, wake 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.240 Up Mister Crow. They're going on tour and this is 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.200 just a fun conversation about traveling and I know nothing 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:16.120 about surfing, surfing and music. So here he is John Foreman, 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:20.679 the lead singer of Switchfoot. John Good to see you, man. Yeah, 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:22.679 I've been a fan for a long time. I was 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:26.000 coming in and I left my radio show and I 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.760 was coming over and I was with my wife and 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:31.840 I said, Hey, do you know Switchfoot? And she said yeah, 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:33.400 because I know a lot of switch Foot songs. And 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.520 she's like eleven years younger than I am, eleven and 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:37.280 a half or so. And I said, what do you 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:40.679 know and she said Walk to Remember. And I was like, no, 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.640 I think you're talking about the wrong wrong band, And she' 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.800 was like, no you And I said, I don't know you, 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:48.280 and so we listened to you. 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.280 Yeah, so our switch foots are different. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.160 My wife'switch Foot and my switch Foot are completely different. 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:54.520 Because that's where she was. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:57.120 She knows, you know, she's probably seven songs deep on 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.720 you guys, which is significant for any band. And I 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.040 was I didn't even know you guys were in the 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.080 movie A Walk I don't think I've ever seen a. 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.440 Walk to Remember. Yeah, yeah, I know. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.440 It is funny because we we had a ton of 0:02:09.480 --> 0:02:14.040 songs in that movie, and yet that movie feels like 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.480 it represents a totally different cross section than say, the 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:21.639 songs we played you know two nights ago in Jersey, 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.880 like the songs that we would I don't. We haven't 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:29.320 played you Live in a long time. But yeah, I 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.480 still love those songs as well. It's feel like a 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:32.440 different band almost. 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.160 Is there a type of person that knows you for 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.919 a different thing all? 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:42.000 I mean, that's the funny thing. So I'm in this 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.440 other band, fiction Family that nobody knows about, with Sean 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:50.520 Walkins from Nickel Creek and a couple other guys and 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:55.040 this guy's I'm singing in switch Foot or I'm singing 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.520 a solo show and this guy comes up to me 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.760 and he's like, are you in a band? And like 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:03.280 I think I know where it's going, you know. He's like, 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:05.440 fiction Family, right. 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.200 You know, And I'm like, yeah, that's me, you got me. 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.280 It's funny how even with the people that will come 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:13.359 up to me, they'll know me. I can tell by 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.480 their age and their age, their age and their sex 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:18.960 what they know me from. Right, Like if it's a 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.120 dude and he's in his forties and fifties, he probably 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.400 listens to like my NFL show. If it's an old 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.560 lady she saw men dancing with the Stars, if it's 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:30.119 like a family American, like, I can tell when they're 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:31.799 coming up what they know me from. And I just 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.320 thought it was wild because I've been again, I've been 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:35.720 a fan of you guys forever. I did not know 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:37.280 you were in the movie. And my wife knows you 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.400 just from that, and she's like, I'm a massive fan 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:40.480 because of that. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:41.440 That's fun. 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:44.760 My daughter probably, yeah, she would know you from Dancing 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:45.360 with the Stars. 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:47.960 She would apologize to her for that. Yeah. 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.520 For me, yeah, most people that didn't know me before 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.840 Dancing with the Stars didn't really enjoy me on Dancing 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:55.400 with the Stars. 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:57.160 That takes some khone though. Man. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:03:59.680 My wife's all was like, you could do that, and 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.240 I'm like, no, I wouldn't. I don't think I ever 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:02.920 would they. 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:03.680 Ever ask you to do it? 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.960 I if they have, I've blocked it out. I don't think. I, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.040 Like I said, that takes something special and I don't 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.560 know that I have it, So hats off. I have 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.520 a friend that was at a festival and I think 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.800 it was in like West Texas two thousand and two. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:21.920 Or two thousand and three and you guys were playing 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.640 a five o'clock slot and I think it was after 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.039 Meant to Live a hit MTV, and he told me 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.279 that there were like twenty thousand people there for a 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:35.719 five o'clock slot because that song had popped so hard because. 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.080 It had landed on MTV. Does that sound familiar to you? 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:45.320 Yeah, that was a wild time. The whole experience of 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:49.599 that was surreal on a lot of levels because you 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:54.479 go from playing for twenty people that could kind of 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:57.720 care less, you know, to playing for a lot more 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.440 than that, and almost overnight, it felt like there. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:01.880 Was a big shift. 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.600 Yeah, that was a strange period because that was our 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:11.400 fourth record and we made it with the attitude that, 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.120 you know, let's make one last record and then we'll 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:16.680 break up and get real jobs. 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:17.440 No way. 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:21.279 So yeah, that was like that was the mindset, let's 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.880 just give it all we have. And and we were 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:27.000 you know, independent at the time, and we recorded this 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.360 record up in La in a week and you know 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.839 had of course, you have high hopes you want to get. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:34.159 It out there. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.159 But right before the record came out, we got dropped 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.040 by Sony Records, And so I mean everything. 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:46.680 If you're thinking through your life at. 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.800 The age of you know, twenty three or so, you're 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.120 not thinking, oh, this is where everything turns around. 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.040 You're thinking, Okay, well that's cool. That was a good run. 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.160 Let's go back to college and yeah. So that was 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:01.440 that was my experience of that season. 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:04.400 The first three records that you put out, were you 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:05.719 guys just grinding in a van. 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:07.640 Yeah, we would. 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.320 So there was this thing in the nineties and early 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:18.800 two thousands called cred and if like, you wanted to 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.119 get cred and the only way you could get cred 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.200 was by doing it the hard way. So it was 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.440 not seen as some sort of flaw. It was seen 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.680 as whoa, those guys they tour in a minivan and 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:34.039 they eat ramen, and that's so cool. 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:35.240 They do that for their art. 0:06:36.279 --> 0:06:38.520 I don't know that nowadays it's cool, but that's the 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:39.880 way we saw it. 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.360 So we would pack all our stuff. 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.200 In the minivan, and you know, we drive across the 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.280 country a lot of times. It was a rental, rented 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.040 minivan and we're you know, we're a three piece at 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.760 the time, and we turned the car in with thousands 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.200 of miles at the end of the tour. The guy 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:02.000 like checking out in is like this has to be 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.920 a mistake. You guys put two thousand miles on this thing. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.200 So yeah, that was that was the early days when 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:08.880 you started. 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:11.840 Were you just playing like in your town like was 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:15.240 or was the idea Let's just start booking shows immediately. 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:21.520 So the dream when I was in high school, the 0:07:21.640 --> 0:07:24.880 dream was to break even on an album that we 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.640 paid to record. So I spent you know, took all 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.040 my bus boy money from working at the restaurant and 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.720 spent it all on the studio and I did the math. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.840 We needed to sell like two hundred and thirty copies 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.800 of this album and then we break even. And so 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.400 we had our sites real high. We wanted to sell 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:47.680 two hundred and thirty copies and when we did it, 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:48.560 that was success. 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.200 You know, we did. 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:56.760 You know, I think my brother and I were pretty resourceful. 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:01.920 We love the hustle, and it felt like we were 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:05.320 kind of cheating the system that we were actually breaking 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:06.480 even with rock and roll. 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:09.000 But we had no thought. 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.520 Of thinking like, oh this could actually you could get 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.400 a mortgage on a house with this kind of thing. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:13.600 You know. 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:17.400 It was like, no, this is you have to graduate college, 0:08:17.400 --> 0:08:19.080 you can get a real job, so you. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.320 Would record your albums at a small studio in California. 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:24.840 We did the first few there. 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.120 The first switch Foot record, we were actually recorded here 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:31.880 in Nashville. So what were you before Switchway? We were 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:34.959 a band called et cetera, Were you etc? 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.280 Or just yeah, yeah, yeah? 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.120 And how many of those guys were the guys that 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.000 ended up being a switchlay My brother, myself and a 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:46.520 drummer who he left to go back to the East Coast. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.439 And our drummer, now Chad, said we said, hey, you 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:52.760 should join our band, and he was like, well, let's 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:55.760 start a new one. And so that's that's why the 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.079 name changed. Well, yeah, we switched the switch names. We 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:03.720 had a another name in between, called chin Up, and 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:05.600 we thought that that was too hard to say, and 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:10.600 somehow switchfoot is easier, which it's not. I had a 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.440 lot of speech therapy as a kid, and I don't 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.400 know why we picked a Dave's switch Foot. It's it's yeah, 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.600 but it's that's that's what we thought was a better idea. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.480 I don't know how to serf. I'm from Arkansas. Water 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.560 makes me uncomfortable still, so I'm not a water okay, 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:30.120 salt or fresh either both land land okay, yeah. Way, 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:34.040 generally speaking, do you like being near the water, not 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:39.480 even like sitting at a lake or Okay? If if 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.040 I am, I need to be doing something. I need 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:44.760 to be doing some kind of activity. I just never 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:46.800 grew up on water. And my wife loves the beach. 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.080 Most people love the beach. Yeah, I just at this 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:51.720 point in my life, I just like some good WiFi. 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:52.800 Okay, you know. 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.040 What about Okay, what about the mountain or like a 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.120 field or the streams or or any of that. 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:01.920 Do anything. 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.160 I've been in some cool places. Yeah, if you say what, 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.000 let's go back and forth. Coolest places we've ever been, 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.800 things we've seen to be a fun exercise. I remember 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.679 the first time I saw the Grand Canyon. I was 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:19.640 blown away. I could not believe how grand it actually was. 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:22.640 One of those things that lives up to the name, right, Yes, 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.440 very few do. And I remember seeing the Grand Canyon 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:28.800 and I had a show on that GEO where I 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:32.040 had to go and clean the skybridge underneath that clear 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:33.640 thing people stand on, and so I'm on a single. 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:35.839 It sucked because I hate it's crazy suck. It was 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:39.439 the worst thing ever, but you're you were you clean 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.400 that thing from underneath on a road. 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:45.480 Oh my gosh. Okay, now I've got some watching material. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:46.360 I hated. 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:48.760 It was the first episode, and you knew I didn't 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:50.240 die because there were like eight episodes. 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.920 If they put it on Colley. 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.720 The Grand Canyon was awesome, and I used that word 0:10:57.760 --> 0:10:59.440 like it was meant it was awesome. I could not 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.560 believe it. I'd never seen anything physically like that before. 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.800 So that's going to be in my draft. We'll do 0:11:04.880 --> 0:11:06.679 three each. Grand Canyon number one. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:07.319 Pick you're up. 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.720 Okay, this one holds a special place in my heart. 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:16.760 There's this place called Uluwatu in Bali, and it's a 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:21.960 surfing spot that is legendary and been there many times, 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:27.640 and it is stunning. I mean, the secrets out on it. 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:32.320 It's no longer like this hidden thing. I think Richard 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.480 Branson and a bunch of people have houses Oprah or 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:36.559 whoever on the top of it. But it's like this 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.840 four hundred foot cliff that just goes straight. 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.400 Down into the water. And then the. 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:49.240 Entire that entire coast is exposed to huge Indian Ocean 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:55.560 monsoon season swells, and so some of the best waves. 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.319 There's this cave that you walk through to. 0:11:58.320 --> 0:11:59.160 Get to the ocean. 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.960 So you go down these stairs that are connected only 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.839 at the bottom and the top, and there's monkeys that 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:09.520 live in the caves, and then you paddle out through 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:13.720 the cave into the ocean and it's just this living 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.360 reef and these world class waves firing off in front 0:12:18.360 --> 0:12:20.839 of you. So that's that's a special place in my heart. 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.320 Did you know I'm assuming the laura of it before 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:24.680 you got there and the when you got there. 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.559 Did it live up to it even though you've heard 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:28.600 about it? Yeah, So. 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:37.000 Being a surfer, it's funny because surfing it's a very 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:42.880 egalitarian sport where if you get to the spot and 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:44.839 you want to paddle out. 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:45.120 Go for it. 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:47.480 It's not like the super Bowl where you have to 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.600 get drafted and make your way there, you know, like 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.600 there's no one checking credentials or anything like that. But 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.679 every you know, I'd say probably ninety percent of the 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.080 surfers around the world would know what we're talking about. 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:05.640 And so, yeah, it absolutely lived up to the hype. 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.520 My number two is going to be because I had 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.160 seen it on television my whole life and growing up 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.880 I lived in Troilither Park, so I never really thought 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.520 i'd get to leave the state, much less the country, 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.080 and it really wasn't that big. But just seeing the 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.360 Eiffel Tower in person was the coolest thing to me 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.880 because it was like I was getting to experience things farther. 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:28.280 Away than I ever thought I would get. 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.840 To experience things. Yeah, so it meant that to me. Yeah, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.920 so to because I'm assuming you've been to Paris. Yeah, 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.160 and I love the seventh or twice now we love it, 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:38.960 like yeah, and we have my wife and I have 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.400 great memories of being there. And I remember the first 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.040 time we were driving in we weren't driving, somebody was 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.360 driving us and seeing like the top of it, and 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:49.240 you get and I just had this like overwhelming feeling of. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.280 Like I'm not I don't have to be that kid anymore. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.840 Wow, because I'm getting to see things I never thought 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.320 I would get to see and something I only thought 0:13:58.320 --> 0:13:59.360 that felt fictional. 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:01.440 Yeah, it almost. 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.640 Those are those moments where it feels like it's almost 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.480 like a mythical innerplay where you're like, oh, yeah, I've 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.640 read Harry Potter and then oh no, actually, oh it's real, 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:12.400 you know, like. 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.400 Yeah, that to me because the meaning to it. I'm 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.800 gonna put that as my number two. Seeing the Eiffel 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.480 Tower and then you get to basically go up to it. 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:20.760 We didn't go up in it, but you know, we 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.040 have a big picture in our house of us in 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.160 front of it. That means more to me than just 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:29.080 that old structure behind us. To me, it's something I 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:30.720 never thought I would get to see in person. Getting 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:31.680 to see it in person. 0:14:31.640 --> 0:14:33.360 Yeah, I love that. Okay. 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:40.520 So my number two, I think the thing, so this 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.240 is going to be more of just a feeling that 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.880 I have in an entire country. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.840 So when I'm in India. We've been in India. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:59.120 Several times, and there's just this magnificent claustrophobic explosion of 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:04.480 color and smell and people and and taste and everything 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:11.600 is there. It feels otherworldly where you think to yourself, Okay, 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.800 I've arrived on some sort of Star Wars planet and 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.280 this is this is the way this planet behaves, because 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.320 there's no way this is Is this really Earth? 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.720 You know? So safe to you there? I don't. 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:31.280 Well, I've found that in most cultures, the it's the 0:15:31.320 --> 0:15:33.680 brackish water. If we're going to go with a salt 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.680 saltwater freshwater analogy. That is, the feels like the places 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:43.920 that are dangerous, so like, for example, the border between 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.760 Mexico and the US. I never feel safe near the border, 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.200 but the further south you get into Mexico, the more 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:54.520 safe you feel. I feel the same thing in India, 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.400 like the further you get away from like the tourist spots, 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.840 the more you just feel like, oh, I can roll, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:04.840 but I did. I never felt like I was letting 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:08.440 my guard down because it's such an abrasive affront on 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.800 every one of your senses all at once. 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:12.920 It doesn't mean my list, but when I went to Haiti, 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.000 I kind of felt that way. Yeah, Like the further 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:20.200 I got out of town, yes, my heart could rest 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:24.200 a little. My resting heart rate actually fell a bit 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.160 because in town there's people, there's gun people are holding guns, 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.560 there's but once you get out, I feel like everybody 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.600 was a little more chill, like that everybody was a 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:38.560 condensed Yes, So I don't totally relate. India's always been 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.520 something that I guess have friends that have been And 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.120 one of my friends went landed in the airport. 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:44.920 It was like, I'm not doing it came home. 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:52.520 I get that it's a very visceral, uh affronting feeling 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:58.760 where you're you're completely engulfed in humans and not an 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.040 always pleasant way, you know, I think. But I do 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:07.480 think maybe being around crowds all the time at festivals 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.199 or whatever, maybe that helps a little bit with that 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:11.320 kind of thing. 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.800 Okay, you got to go one more. Third one might 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:16.120 are going to be because of the way they made 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:20.399 me feel. Okay, I went to Japan, and this was 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.200 when I felt like, as different as everybody is, we're 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:25.400 all the same. Yeah. I went all the way around 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.000 the freaking world. Yeah, and I would see families doing 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:34.640 family things. Yeah, people solo doing solo people things, Dad's 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:39.119 religious everything that felt like it was supposed to be 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:42.320 so different from what we're taught, but it was just 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:42.800 the same. 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:43.359 Yeah. 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:47.440 Like there are universal languages, yeah, that we all share, 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.280 regardless of our cultures that we grew up in and 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.280 that were so bound to each other by them, even 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.520 if we constantly fight it or were taught were not 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:00.240 the same. Going to Japan made me feel like, man, 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.040 maybe I should listen to the news so much. Like 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.280 that's the feeling I got there because I felt like 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.480 I was exactly like them. Wow, when my whole life 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.760 I had been told that we're from different culture, so 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.320 we're so different. They use chopsticks, we use fox were 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:17.240 they're crazy. But in reality, what I learned by like 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.639 being there was God damn man, we're all the same, 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:25.399 just chasing the same thing, same dreams, same core values. 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:29.000 And that is how I felt about just being in 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:33.000 Japan in general, because it felt so foreign, because it 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:35.479 looked so different and it was so far, and there 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:37.080 were like two versions of it. There was like the 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:39.600 Japan that was like super chill, and there's like Space 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.760 Age Japan, and I was like, this is just like 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:45.159 the Jetson's crazy and there's Japanese music playing over and 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.200 had no idea, and I was learning, trying to say 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:48.879 the words like nisi wa and I was you know, 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:50.840 I got and I was saying the things. I was 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.080 trying as hard as I could, and they were so 0:18:52.080 --> 0:18:54.400 appreciative that I was trying. And I remember just having 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.320 like a sense of man, Earth's kind of cool, like 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:00.639 I shouldn't fall into the traps that the divide. 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:01.879 That's good. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.639 I love that, And I do think that travel is 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:11.840 probably the best education, you know. And yeah, I have 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:16.480 a friend from Taiwan who grew up here, moved there, 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.280 super smart guy, like double major math in computer science 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.080 in three years, and he's out to Taiwan and then. 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.840 And he comes and visits and. 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:34.240 He comes back to America and he's like, man, I thought, like, 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:35.360 he's like the same thing. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:35.600 He's like. 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:37.480 I was reading the news and I was like, I 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.679 thought America was blowing up or something, I you know, 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.160 But then I realized I talk to people back home 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.520 in America, and I'm like, I don't know, Everything's fine. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:47.880 People are people, and. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.159 They still love each other, and they still love their family, 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:54.760 and they still are trying their best. And yeah, I 0:19:54.800 --> 0:20:00.320 do think maybe the the thing that sells the news 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.040 often is the scandalous things in the in the margins, 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.240 and and for the most part, you know, people are 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.119 generally aiming for the right thing, you know. 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:11.680 So that's a that's a good point. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.160 Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor, 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.280