The Earthquake, the Eclipse, and the Gay Pop

April came in and knocked the girlies down off their feet a little.

Twitter: @GatherThemPod
IG: @GatherThemPod
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/weallgatherhere

Email: Gatherthempod@gmail.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GatherThemPod/videos

Chapters

• 0:00 Catching Up With Jerome
• 15:23 Earthquake, Eclipse, and Cultural Commentary
• 24:52 Instagram Frustrations and Job Dissatisfaction
• 34:46 Challenges of Job Interviews and Emulators
• 43:38 Reflections on Media, Music, and Technology
• 55:16 Artistic Impact and Celebrity Culture
• 1:03:31 Jojo Siwa, Music, TV, and Streaming
• 1:11:15 Guns and Gun-Related Incidents
• 1:18:24 Impact of Guns on Society

Transcript

Jerome: 0:00

Thanks for listening to Gather them Podcasts. I am Jerome, the host, the show runner, the writer, the engineer, all of those things. I greatly appreciate it if you would leave a comment, review, thoughts, opinions. You know wherever you get your podcasts, you know it could be Apple Music, it could be Google, it could be Spotify. Wherever you listen to your podcast, rate and review. Also, share the podcast with your friends. This is how I can grow my listenership and expand the podcast a little bit. And again, I appreciate everyone that listens and let's get into the show.

Jerome: 1:15

Hey, y'all, welcome back to another episode of gather them podcast. I'm your host, Jerome, and we're back another week. I have my window open and I might close it at some point. I'm just letting this incense die out. I don't know. I've been burning incense a lot lately. I feel like it's been good in terms of like cleansing or representing cleansing for me, and so I've just been, like you know, burning incense, trying to feel more centered, more present, and you're not really supposed to breathe in incense smoke; I guess You're not really supposed to breathe in smoke period, like that's what you're not supposed to do. But that's why you're supposed to open a window, and so I, you know, could either put the internet out or I could close it. But we'll see. I mean, it's kind of stuffy in here, I don't know. We'll see how the background noise goes. But yeah, so we're back. This is another week. Another episode of PopCast was not present last week, but you know what Definitely going to make up for that last week was a lot.

Jerome: 2:28

I just I don't know what happened to me. I just felt like overwhelmed with or just exhausted, mainly like not so much overwhelmed but exhausted. I felt very exhausted last weekend, from Thursday until basically Monday, like I really I was treating it like it was a weekend and the funny part about it was the fact that it actually was not the week. Like I did not have a 40 weekend. I had a literal two day weekend like everyone else, but it was because of the fact that I just was so out of it. I I don't know.

Jerome: 3:05

I went to work Friday and I was like I need to leave early today, or I was. I asked to put my hours in. Uh, cause we got some hours during social work month. Like that was one good thing that did come out of it, but it still could have been like a whole day. I'm just saying, um, we got a couple hours to leave early without using our time, and I thought that was great, like I mean, it's a like. It's one of those things where I'm like it's a start, okay, great, cool. So I used my two hours and then I uh already had planned to leave early, but it was like when Friday came, I just felt like doing nothing. It was hard to do anything, hard to get motivated, um, and I just was ready to leave, I was done and I realized.

Jerome: 3:49

The thing that I realized is that so last week was actually a really busy week for me and in the sense that I had completed my grant writing project, so I completed that on Tuesday, April 9th. I had to turn it in early because Wednesday I went to a drag show called Snatcherella 3000, I believe it was Snatcherella 3000. It was a drag show or a drag performance piece of basically the way it was modeled, or I'll say like this and I'm probably like, I'm just really like naive when it comes to drag and like what certain things are, because, especially when I'm coming into something and it's like season six, um, if the promo looks like wwe or like wrestling, I'm gonna think that queens are gonna be jumping off. The promo looks like WWE or like wrestling. I'm going to think that Queens are going to be jumping off the top rope. Like that's just me. Me personally, I'm going to think that Queens are jumping off the top rope, but there was none of that. None of the Queens were jumping off the top rope.

Jerome: 4:58

I had a good time, though Overall it was a crowded space. It's Frankie Bradley's here in Philly. Um, it's a nice spot though I love. I feel like Frankie Bradley's needs the taboo treatment because it's becoming the new go-to spot. Um, don't want to get too distracted because I have to keep on time. Um, just because I have to do my own call shift, whatever. But I do want to just kind of talk about why I have been just so tired or what made me realize that I was so tired. And so Frankie Bradley's Cool Place. We'll definitely maybe talk about it more in a different episode, but because I am planning to go again for something soon. I know God is, gaga is tonight, but I'm not doing that. Um, I am doing something else and I can't off the dome. I can't think, but, um, anyway, that's not the point.

Jerome: 6:01

We went to that Wednesday it was really good. Um, I forget who won. I think it was d- j, d. I forget the queen's name, um, one I wasn't familiar with, but she, she was good. I mean, I think you know Mandy Mango fucked it up, but that's just me being biased, Mandy Mango is that girl? Um, but yeah, I thought it would be queens jumping off the top rope like, and I was standing the whole time because there was really nowhere to sit. Um, one of my, like, co-workers offered me a seat because I went with um two of my well, three of my co-workers, um, actually, uh, because we were going to support Mandy, who used to be our co-worker, and so it was really nice to just kind of have a little outing and support them and be able to I don't know have some fun. So that was great.

Jerome: 6:58

What else? What else? What else? I don't know why I put this thing in my calendar. I'm looking at something that's in my calendar right now and I'm like, why was that in there? Okay, but yeah, sidebar.

Jerome: 7:08

So yeah, I think that that between those two things, I think I was just really exhausted by the end of the week and I was just like, like I felt so I didn't feel creative, I didn't have any thought, like there were no thoughts, no, nothing. Like I just felt like I had to rest and all I did was really sleep the weekend away, and I feel like it was a combination of that and then me anticipating my on-call shift which, oh my God, I'm praying to God is just nothing. I hope nothing comes of it. I really do. I hope there's nothing. Like no one even to Google, like I don't want anyone to Google, I don't want anyone to have an exposure, or, if there is an exposure, I just want them to go to the ED. Like I don't want them to even call. Like that's just how I feel about it right now.

Jerome: 7:58

Um, cause, I got other stuff I got to do this weekend that you know some stuff. I'll talk about some of it over. Like I got things in the works. I got some things in the works. So you know I already told you guys I was going to have Terrence on the show again. I'm going on his podcast for an episode and I will let you guys know when that is out. But yeah, I got some shit I got to do this weekend. I can't be like, oh you know, and the shift in Sunday morning, which is great because the you know I can still have time to do the podcast stuff, but it's just like just the anticipation of when the phone is going to ring or if it's going to ring. I don't think I've had a shift where it has not ring once. But I'm hoping that this is the one because some people get that shift where nothing happens and I'm like great, perfect, nothing.

Jerome: 8:57

There's a lot of reasons I feel that way about the hotline, but you know, whatever, what else, what else? Yeah, so that was last week and then, you know, like I said, I have stuff coming up for this week. I will say I also had to change my panties multiple times this week when I got home because, girl, I mean, it's getting, it was getting, was getting warm, like yesterday was a little cooler, but the beginning of the week was warm and I was like okay, this is springtime weather and I walked home from work. Of course, it takes you 50 years on the bus to get home, um, but I had to come home and change my outfit because I was like drenched in sweat, like Like, that's how bad it was, but I'm glad it is getting nicer out, because I'm sick of the cold and you know, with it being a little cold again, I'm like, like I'm not ready to turn the AC on. I will say that Like I will, first and foremost, I will say that I'm not ready to turn the AC on because the AC just is too much in terms of money, because the AC just is too much in terms of money. And it's also nice to go outside and not have to Like, I like wearing layers, like that's the thing I do.

Jerome: 10:14

Like wearing layers outside. Inside I don't really care, but I mean, when I'm in my house by myself, I'll walk around naked, but, um, I stare at my own posterior, but I don't know, it's just something about being outside where I like feel like it's almost like extra protection. Um, that's just me. Me, I don't really. I'm not really like when I think about it, I'm not really the kind of person that's like I want to wear like really short shorts or anything like that. Like, sometimes I think it'll be cute, but I feel like I don't like when people stare at me. Now, I feel like I would be in way more attention then and I just don't really want to do it, um, like I would have to be in the mood to do what I feel like. Um, but I like wearing clothes, but them jeans was sticking to my thighs, the drawers was wet and I just had to take them off and sit in front of the fan.

Jerome: 11:14

First thing, as I got in and I was just counting that as my exercise for the week because I just was, I did it three days this week and I was like, yep, this is my exercise, um, to be to be, you know, announced when, if I did walk home Friday afternoon after work. Actually, no, I won't be doing that because I'm going to a training. I'm going to a training on Friday. Well, not a train, it's a training. It's like more, uh, it's like a presentation or a workshop, I guess. I don't know if it's like necessarily a training. I guess it is a training because we get social work credits for it. Um, which I gotta remember that bullshit because it's time to renew the license already. Well, next year. Well, jersey's in august, so that's coming up. But yeah, um.

Jerome: 12:10

And then the week before that, I just wanted to share a little bit, not too much. Um, I did do the career day thing, um, oh, before I even did that. So I did my prep presentation, which was thursday thursday before the first thursday of month, whatever. The fourth was, um, that was I think that was Thursday, cause the fifth was career day Um. So I did my prep presentation at work. That was for HIV prevention um, medication that I've kind of talked about before. It's my work, it's what I do right now, and I felt like very like up into the end.

Jerome: 12:48

That's also another piece, I think, of why I felt completely drained, because having done that presentation and I think I did mention it on that week's show was that I was working on it up into the end and I didn't know how it was going to go. But I got a lot of good feedback from that and so I did mention that in that episode. But I think that was also part of that whole situation of why I felt like really drained, reflecting Because I'm like I did two really big projects. I did a project for work and a project for a course that I was taking, plus still doing stuff for the podcast. So I'm like, of course I was drained. That makes a lot of sense. I had no like creative thoughts, anything, but not too much because. Not too much on that because, like, we already talked about it, but I did do career day and um, career day another big thing that I've been thinking about. So, uh, career day was really good.

Jerome: 13:47

I think it was just interesting how there wasn't that many people um there that went to bodine like that's where I went to high school like shout out, bodine. Um, there weren't that many people that were like there was like maybe one other person that I recognized that was in my class or knew from my class, but everyone else I was like I don't know who these people are and it could have been other alumni, I just didn't know who they were. But they partner with a lot of the friends of Bodine. They have this organization, friends of Bodine, which I guess they help support the school and do different events and fundraisers and raise money and all of this and the other, and it's like Friends of Bodine and alumni or something like that. So I'm kind of like I felt good doing it.

Jerome: 14:40

I was nervous a little bit, mainly because I was like I don't know what the fuck I'm going to say, but it did come together and so I'll talk about that a little bit more when I um do my episode when alexis comes on, um, so I'm excited. I'm excited about that, um, but it did come together. Yeah, I was just thinking, if I was like, is there anything else I wanted to share about that? And I'm like there is stuff I want to share, but I think I can also wait. I can wait, I feel like I can wait to share the stuff. I'm gonna, I'm gonna make y'all wait. Um, that's like a geeky thing to make people wait over. Like.

Jerome: 15:23

The fact that, like, I literally want to make you guys wait over um, fucking like a career day thing, is insane. I'm gonna close this window now. Hold on, okay, that's better, all right, so, um, oh, and there also was the earthquake thing. I barely felt the earthquake. Um, there's a lot of it's been literally like an earthquake and a clip and an eclipse since I've last done this podcast. That's crazy. Um, two like big, like actual sciencey events like happened in between podcasts. That's crazy.

Jerome: 16:07

Um, yeah, we had an earthquake on the career day and then I did, I felt it because we were I was in the basement and it was so crazy because I was in my homeroom advisory um, for a lot my 12th grade year and we were like I just you, we're talking, or whatever. And I was talking, I think, and I was like what the fuck is like? What was that? But I was also thinking it was like a truck, cause sometimes I can feel like the vibration of like trucks when they go by or I'm used to it like going, like walking down the street or across a bridge, like a drawbridge, and there's like that shaking from a truck. So I was thinking maybe it's just a truck, like I don't know, like constructions have no all the time in Philly. I have no clue what the fuck's going on and come to find out it's like it was an actual earthquake, only a 4.8. And I don't think anyone got seriously injured.

Jerome: 17:03

I didn't hear anything about that part, but it was interesting because a lot of people was like is that? Was that an earthquake? Was that an earthquake? And I just was kind of like maybe, but we're still here. So I was like so it really don't matter. I think I'm ready for the rapture, I'm ready for the clouds to go ahead and crack the fuck open, I'm ready for the rapture, I'm ready for the clouds to go ahead and crack the fuck open, I'm ready for that.

Jerome: 17:31

And then we had the eclipse, which, leading up to it, I already wasn't really looking for it, and then it kind of happened, and I'm like maybe that also drained my energy a bit the sun and the moon playing footsie a little bit like that. I don't know if it was that or it could have been a combination of all those things, but I just was like out of it, um, and even leading up to the eclipse, I started feeling that like like overwhelmed, just like off, kilter, out of sorts, and last week I justter out of sorts and last week I just felt very out of sorts and that was it was. It was a bad joint. But yeah, my experience, just kind of leading up to it though, was just that, you know, I was like, okay, I'm watching these spiritual TikTokers and seeing people talk about the eclipse and how it's going to be very significant and it's going to make a shift, and blah, blah, blah and X, y and Z, and then, eventually, I kind of fell off of it, because I was like I just want to see what happens to myself and I just want to know who might've been the most right or whatever. I don't know.

Jerome: 18:40

I just feel there is like, because we know that the moon does control or like, does influence, I'll say it that way Influences the tides on Earth and water and the push and pull and things like that, and so, and people say it's not far-fetched for the moon to actually have like, for like, we know that sunlight does. Sunlight gives us vitamin D. It has an effect on us. The moon also has an effect on us, probably because of the way in which, um, it controls the tides of of, uh, the water. I feel like it. You know there's other things that are probably going on too, but, um, needless to say, say, there was a woman that killed her partner and threw her kid, threw her kids out of the car because she believed some tiktok nonsense about the eclipse.

Jerome: 19:32

And I don't know how people can live their lives like that. Like that's a lot to believe someone on open faith, that about something that, even if it were to happen, like why would you want to kill them? Like I don't, I don't. I didn't read the article completely because I was like this is crazy, like I feel like people like take spiritualism way too far and it never calls for that. Like I don't think, like, even if it weren't a I don't know, even if it weren't a Ten Commandment or against the law or whatever, like I feel like, whether it's, you know, moral whatever, I feel like it's just wrong to kill somebody. Like I feel like that's kind of that's fucked up regardless. So I don't think that there would ever be a situation where so I don't think that there would ever be a situation where a creator would say I want y'all to just start killing each other. Like that's crazy, right, like that feels crazy and it's interesting.

Jerome: 20:37

I'll talk more about this at the end of the show. A little bit more, a little bit more about what you know about violence against other humans. You know things like that. So, yeah, so it was a lot of a lot of things. And also Dubai is like flooded right now, but I was also like part of that was part of the government, or the government playing around, didn't get to report other things last week. Rest in peace, chance Perdomo.

Jerome: 21:14

He passed like from a vehicle accident and he was very young. I didn't realize he was in his late 20s. Still, I feel like that thing about Gen Z looking older than millennials is true, because he looked like a millennial, more so than he looked like he was in Gen Z, so that was a little odd or not odd, but it was just like, oh, I didn't realize he was so young. I mean still would have been young, like if he was in his 30s, but yeah, like I like he was 27,. And that's really sad and just, I think, was they were doing or working on Gen V. I think they were working. I know they were working on another season of the Boys, but Gen V is also still in production or they're working on a second season because it was renewed.

Jerome: 22:17

So I'm like, damn, that's like really fucked up again. Not that, you know, that matters in the grand scheme of things, of course. It's just unfortunate because he, um is a, or was a young, um, a young actor. Yeah, he was a main character. That's sad, oh, oh, yeah, that's. That's a shame.

Jerome: 22:51

Um also, I guess, when uh also OJ Simpson died, um, I uh don't I don't really know how to feel about that because I again, like we don't, I don't really know how to feel about that because I again, like we, you know, believe he killed someone, like we don't know for a fact that he did, I guess. But I still feel bad. I mean, it's not like nobody. Here's the thing about death like death. Death is one of those things where you're like you don't really wish it on people, you don't really wish it on people, you don't really try to. I don't know like, you don't really try to be happy when people die and things like that.

Jerome: 23:34

There are certain people that I think deserve it because they don't benefit humanity. I think that there are certain people that are, you know, that hinder society, you know, as a whole, and it's because of their own selfishness and greediness. I do feel like there's certain people that when they kick the can, I'm like well, all right, bye. But it wasn't like he was just this person that was just doing all this like crazy stuff. So I don't know like or I don't really know much about him to feel any kind of way maybe that's what it is, but I was just kind of like oh well, that's unfortunate, um, but uh, you know if he didn't really kill someone, but either way, caitlyn jenner jumped in and was like good riddance, which was wild as shit and a crazy thing is. I was smacked as fuck when the news, when that came out, because I thought I would like. When I woke up the next morning I thought it was, I thought I made it up and I was just gagged Like I was dying because I'm like girl not you of all talking about some good riddance well, you actually fucking kill somebody. That's wow.

Jerome: 24:52

Um, also shout out to, uh, philly's drag queen, safira, safira, cristal, I think, is her name. I don't, I have not watched this season. Hopefully she wins, though, because she's like in the top three. When this comes out, of course, it'll be Friday, and you know, by this point, you know Friday night people will know who won, but you know, hey.

Jerome: 25:21

And then it's funny because the gays are like grease the poles, because drag races basically are and I say are as in like gay men, not mine, but like gay cultures, uh version of football or sports in general. Um, which is kind of funny, because straight men like do get into drag race like even as I'm like thinking like in the top of my head like I know a couple um, that's crazy, because I do know a couple um of my girlfriends that have said like that their boyfriends like have gotten really into drag race, and I'm like really like that's like I don't have gotten really into drag race and I'm like really Like that's like I don't even get really into drag race, but it's the competition piece, they like the competition piece. So I feel like if y'all like when people were talking about straight men using gay lingo, I'm like maybe y'all men is watching drag race, maybe that's what's going on Under the covers, or at their homies, I to the covers, right, they homies are, I'm not going anyway. Moving on um anyway. But I will say also, even if she don't win um, I shout out to the top three because they're all part of the northeastern part of the US. So I mean, shout out to that, but go Philly, of course. All right, we are going to do a couple quick grind my gears and these are just a couple things that have been bothering me over the past couple weeks, or things that I've just kind of been thinking about long term and have not really said anything about or put pen to paper, but oh my God, excuse me. And have not really said anything about. Or put pen to paper, but oh my God, excuse me, my allergies are like really crazy. So if you hear me like wheeze or that mucus, that's what that is. It's not sexy at all and I'm so sorry. I can't do anything about it.

Jerome: 27:20

But the first thing that like really pissed me the fuck off when I thought about it this week was I went to click on someone's caption and Instagram because they had posted a link to a contest, and it was for a Kate Bush vinyl, I believe it was, and it was being sold for record day in the UK, and I didn't know if it was like a thing where you had to actually show up in store or if you could enter online, and so I went to like click, of course, because you can click in like Facebook, twitter no one's really putting a link in TikTok, but you can post or X, I guess you can post an actual link and then click on it. But, whatever reason, instagram has not fixed that feature or done anything about that. And so I went to the actual Kate Bush page and then went and clicked the link in the bio, got very confused as to what to do and then found out it was in person anyway, and so, which means you had to be in the UK and you had to go on Rutgers Day, which I think is Saturday, which would have counted me out anyway, because I have to do my call. So I feel like with Instagram, at this point, my biggest issue with them is the fact that why the fuck can't you click a fucking link in a fucking caption? Why do I have to actually go to this person's page, scroll through, actually find within, like the link, within the link, just to get to where I need to be, to see if I can enter this like find out what the details are, like where the shit's going to be at, like when they're going to do the drawing, like all like.

Jerome: 29:11

Why do I have to like? And it'll be any article? Because, like I can do a research, like search or whatever um on them, or I can see a thing come up for them on like the them is the name of the um newspaper or the magazine or article hub, uh online for queer people, um, and it's the new, it's a new source for queer people. And when I go to uh look at their stories or when I look at their posts, they'll say, click on the bio for more. And then you click on the bio and then you have to go through like the different articles that have pictures to them. So the pictures I'm trying to like correlate them to the Instagram. What I saw on Instagram to make sure I click the right one and then I have to also open it up inside of Chrome browser. So it's just like it's too much, it's too many steps, it's not streamlined enough and I think that Instagram has had enough time to go ahead and fix that and make that a thing and stop fucking up the algorithm and people, the hashtags and people not getting noticed and like.

Jerome: 30:24

I hate that you have to fucking pay to get noticed on these apps. Now, that's the only way, because I used to get so much engagement and that's how I got a lot of my followers in the past and friends that it was through that engagement of connecting people or connecting with people that were like-minded, or getting to know people or make internet friends was through the different ways in which I was able to showcase my art and or my life, like whether it was just like a regular picture where I thought I looked good, or if it was something that like a photography photo, and I just feel like now it's like you gotta literally pay per day, like per post, and how many days you want it to run and how like who do you want it to reach, and all of this and that and the also too, then people also don't like everything on Instagram anymore because, um, the algorithm is the one thing and, um, people also will only really like your photos if they're photos of you looking like, like flexing, or um, doing something that is just like very regular, like people just be doing, like it's not like. I feel like we have just like we've been in flex culture for so long and I'm I'm actually very sick of it. Um, too, that can be another rant for a different day. But, yeah, those posts are the only posts that really get um, noticed and um, or get any engagement or any likes, like if you're shirtless or if you're, you know, dialed up and all the way dressed up, or if you're flexing with a car and a chain and all this and that like, those things get likes. But I feel like, or if it's comedy and you know it goes viral or whatever like, but again, I feel like, in order to go viral with anything that's not automatically off the rip, appealing, like if you have to actually put on a skit and you know whatever, it's a lot harder.

Jerome: 32:32

It feels like to go viral now or get some kind of like, notice or attention. That's why I don't be worrying too much when I'll be on X and I'll be talking about, like Nicki Minaj or something and I'm criticizing her and I'm like the barbs could eat me up right now, but they probably won't see this. So I guess that's the good and the bad, the gift, the curse, whatever I also want to say I'm just sick of interviewing. I hate having to. I'm like just becoming sick of these jobs. Like I'm tired of working a nine to five. I'm really tired of, um feeling like you have to prove you're enough for a position, just for them to pay you crap. Anyway, like I don't like that, um, and I don't like that in current jobs. Like I don't like in current jobs where you have to constantly like, like, keep like performing at like your top max in order to get some kind of like acknowledgement or award or recognition for what you're doing.

Jerome: 33:39

When it's exhausting to live in this world right now and every day is different. Like not every day you're going to be at your best, not every day you're going to have like this burst of ideas or the executive function to do stuff. You're literally just trying to get by, not like most of the time. And when a job don't pay me enough, I already start to like clock out, like in my brain because I'm like, okay, there's only but so much I can give you, because I'm still worried about the fact that my needs are not met all the way. You know the fact that I got, you know, as soon as I get a paycheck, it's going to all go to rent or I'll go to my car and I'm going to be like struggling for the next couple weeks like I'm not, you know, like it's just one of those I can't give myself like all of myself to something that's not giving all of itself to me. Um, and that's something I think I realized, uh, over the past year. Um, I think I always knew it and I've done it to some capacity, but I feel like I'm getting a lot better at it and saying what I have capacity for and what I don't.

Jerome: 34:46

And when it comes to interviewing, I'm like I can tell you all the things I do, all of the experience that I have, how I've handled certain situations, a lot of which I have to make up off the fly, because it's hard as crap to come up with a like. It's really really fucking hard to come up with a example of something when you don't really know what the questions are going to be. And the thing is is like you can always prep for an interview, of course, and have cases and scenarios lined up, but sometimes you get curveball questions, and sometimes those curveball questions are things like what was when you had a disagreement with a supervisor tell us about it and what happened. And you don't want to put on like your worst fucking front knows anything about interviewing, is going to shoot themselves in the foot and give an example that is nuanced or one that doesn't really sound. That sounds worse than like what it is. Or it sounds worse because you're trying to explain the disagreement and it's like because there's one example I could have used and I just was like this is going to sound crazy if I say it out loud. It's not going to, because there's too many players, it's not just me and also the thing was not my fault, like. So you know, trying to explain that and how I got looped into it in the first place would have been wild, and then like it just would have took too long.

Jerome: 36:28

So it's very hard to do that and be prepared, and I just don't like when jobs are like OK, you're great, or people in general I don't like when they're like you're great, like you're amazing, like you have so for, and I had that experience recently with a job where I just kind of like ate it, and I was like, okay, like you know, just tell me, how could have done better. Of course, one of the things that comes up is not having supervisory experience, and it's again it's like well, if I'm telling you I'm literally overseeing a bunch of people, I'm checking in, I'm seeing if things like boxes are crossed, x's are crossed, t's are dotted, or I crossed I's are dotted, if I'm doing all of that stuff, then, and also being like if I'm telling you I'm like skilled at a lot of different things, like I can, you know, oversee and navigate a program or whatever, I feel like you can easily transfer that to being, you know, a starting supervisor, because I feel like a lot of supervisors aren't great anyway, aren't great anyway, and so I personally just feel like when someone says something, when it's like oh, we didn't tell you, you know you're great and we're really impressed with your qualities, and blah, blah, blah, blah, but, like you know, you don't have supervisory experience. That doesn't mean anything to me. That doesn't mean again. It's like how do people even get experience if you don't get experience? No-transcript, excuse me. Or the money wasn't great.

Jerome: 38:46

Like I tried to do it and I really could have had a supervisory position and I really tried to do it One of the previous times I interviewed and got a job and all of this and the other, but the money that they were going to give me was just shit. Like I'm not going to take $1.90 more than what I'm getting now just to do more work and oversee people. Like I'm not going to do that. That's literally stupid. Like why would anyone do that? So? And they, like I'm not going to do that, that's literally stupid. Like why would anyone do that? So? And they're like, well, we, you know, have all these rules, blah, blah, blah.

Jerome: 39:17

Like whatever, maybe I'll talk about it on my tell-all, but like it just. And I talk about tell-all like as if I'm somebody, but I'm just meaning, like in the podcast world, like maybe I'll tell it one day when I'm out, but girl, it's just like I just don't understand what people will be looking for when it comes to inner, like Candidate sometimes, because if I'm telling you, I have the experience of doing X, y and Z and that I'm curious and I'm interested to learn and I'm a quick study and I'm willing to jump in if things go left or like somebody doesn't show up to work. Where we have we're short staffed, like, if I'm telling you all these things that make a good manager, like, why would you not? It's almost like you want to hire a bad manager then, because a bad manager is going to be like, well, we're short staffeded but I'm not doing it, so, whatever, like, and that's how most of these jobs have worked, and then the burden falls on the other workers who then quit. So I just be like, well, maybe it just wasn't for me, and that's fine, let me drink a little bit more water. Might have been that instant that tried to take me out.

Jerome: 40:33

Um, another thing that grind my gears this week was, um, the fact that the nes, the nas emulator, was uploaded to ios store but was taken down in fear of, um, the. I guess the developer was just afraid that they were going to get in trouble, and it's not so much that because I get it, you know. I mean why even put it up in the first place? You know that's. My question is, like I don't know, I guess I do stuff like that too, where I think it's a good idea and then I backtrack but, um, I don't going in knowing that, like, legally, I don't own these games. I feel weird about putting this on and on the app store, like why would I do that?

Jerome: 41:16

That, to me, is, is the part where I'm like all right now, but the part with the part that I'm really like annoyed with is the fact that we actually even need emulators because, or like that someone would have that fear of having to upload an old gaming you know, games or whatever or emulator for game boy, whatever it is because the fact of matter is is that there's a lot of old games that people want to play right now that aren't getting remastered and also that aren't that won't play on a modern game system, and people like we live in like houses okay, like you're selling to people that live in houses, apartments maybe, are sharing a you know room, maybe, uh, sharing a house or whatever because you, you know, no one can live on their own now, and I think it's like very unrealistic to expect people I mean, people do it people keep buying new game systems and they keep buying the new games and all of this and that. But you can't expect that a game from like 20 years ago is going to like someone's not going to want to play it. Like someone's going to like I get the urge all of the time to play X-Men Legends. And I sold my GameCube and I am like I still have the game but I'm like reeling because I really want to play the game but I don't have the game cube anymore. But also I'm just like I'm not gonna fucking plug, like it's impossible to plug a game cube in almost now with these new TVs. I mean there's still the function to do it, but the graphics look terrible, um, everything just looks terrible. So I'm like, well, the only other thing I could think to do then is to do the remasters or let people make these emulators and improve the game. Um, but these companies want to make subscription services and they want to like make you buy a subscription service to play a game and but then it's like the game is not even available, like the one that you actually won is not available because they haven't put it on there yet, and then you have to just sit around and wait, it's just too much.

Jerome: 43:38

Like I don't, I don't like it and I just feel like. I feel like with games, out of all of the media that exists, I just feel like it should be free. Like an old game after a certain amount of years, should just be when it no longer works for a system. Like literally like if you can't plug in your PS5 and play your PS1 game, then your system, literally like you need to be able to like just be able to buy an emulator and play the game. Like I'm sorry, you know it's unfortunate that technology moves in that way, but also that's unfair to the fans that initially brought the shit and that technology is moving in the way that it did so or a way that it is right now. So to me, like it does not make sense. I'm for I mean sorry, so sad. Like you can, of course, any other media. Like you can buy a book, you can buy. You can buy an actual game. Um, it's the console. That's the problem. Um, and you're going to want that they keep making new consoles for new games. Like they keep making new games for new consoles, I should say, but you're going to want to play those new games, so you're going to want to buy the new console and then you're not going to keep the old console forever because it's like where do you even put it, unless you have the space to actually put it somewhere, and then the graphics look terrible.

Jerome: 45:13

The play is a little like like it's meh, like it's not that great when in retro like, and when you're thinking of like these future games. You know, when I was playing I was playing mario sunshine and before I sold my gamecube and I just like the play on this is weird, like it is very weird. I don't know how I played it, played on this before. I think it's like learning the controller again, but even the like I was excited going in to play it, but even the gameplay I was just like all right going in to play it, but even the gameplay I was just like all right. I kind of want there's other things you can do, like I don't know, like run faster or do more, like stunts, more tricks, more whatever. Like the fact that I'd be playing batman. I'd be like really lost playing a game not knowing what to do, and and like there's only like three things you can do on like Mario Sunshine. It's just so it's not as fun. Like it's not as fun, and I know it's a different caliber of game, whatever, fine, but I just feel like with these newer games you can do more because there's more control options, and that's why I would love remasters.

Jerome: 46:32

But the continuity between game systems and gaming just doesn't make sense and I don't really know of a good way to fix that, especially when it comes to the owning piece, because if streaming goes away or if the internet dies, then there's no way to get those games like you just have to eat that. You know we were talking about that today at my job. But, like about the, we're overdue for Solar Flare and if it knocks out all the internet, like yikes, we are pretty fucked here on earth. But moving on, um, oh, also, lastly, the last thing that I have um was just stop touching your faces and your bodies. I saw a photo of megan uh fox and she just looked like some regular old somebody, like anybody, and I don't like that. I feel like plastic surgery just starts to take away the things that make people unique and I want people to stop fucking doing that bullshit. Um, all right, so we're gonna move into um the media lab and before we even get into the media lab, real good.

Jerome: 47:49

I just want to sidebar real quick and say that Cowboy Carter is still such a good album. Like I feel like it's taken me so much time to move through the album because the fact that the first half, like up until Sp until spaghetti, like not even then. Like I feel like once the the first half or first like arc or part of the song is, or songs are done from like american requiem to um, my road, or yeah, my rose, and then the interlude of the Willie Nelson Smoke Show or Smoke Hour, there's like wow, that's a lot to sit with. And then you go into a different story or a different theme of the album and then, by the time I got to Spaghetti, I'm like Beyonce, like I, there's a lot to hold, there is a lot to hold in this album and there's songs that are like really standing out to me that did stand out before and but they're like really catching my attention now and I'm like wow, this is making me feel some kind of way like emotional. And so I just wanted to say that and I also feel like, because this album is just so long, like I feel like we're not getting act three until 2027. I really really feel like beyonce is like y'all need to just sit with this shit first and then we're gonna get into the, to the, into the rock bag, um, and I'm okay with that. There's she's given a lot, so I'm not rushing.

Jerome: 49:34

The first thing I did want to talk about, though, in the Media Lab was Courtney Love's interview. I didn't get to actually complete the article, but the little excerpts I saw to talk about it lead me to believe that you know her point in all of like what she was saying in her interview was that, because I read some of the first half of it, and the point was that at least this is what I'm, you know, hypothesizing, based off of what I've already read is that she does think about music in the way of impact. So she does have her favorites. She does have the people that she listens to. I know she said she listened to Lana Del Rey, and Lana Del Rey needs to go on a seven-year break before making another album, which I actually agree on. I think she's pretty much right. Lana's put out.

Jerome: 50:44

The last couple projects have been just okay to me in the grand scheme of things. Um, in the grand scheme of things, uh, the was it Norman fucking Rockwell? I don't know why I'm like stuttering. Norman fucking Rockwell. That album was like her top album. I don't really know how to explain it. I mean, outside of the fact that it's her most interesting, I think it's her most interesting one that balances it's a good balance between what she's doing now and what she was doing before. It feels almost like if Born to Die, if her character in that album that she was like this Lolita and like portraying this like vulnerable girl, like really decided to put her panties on and like be like no, this is, you know what the shit is and you know there's still those moments of like uncertainty or like about you know a relationship or you know whatever. But overall, like, like it's a stronger album and born to die is always going to be one of my favorites, um, but when I listen to norman fucking rockwell, it sounds way more like whoa, like lana, like this lana is not a victim, this lana is telling her truth and and this Lana is still experimenting with some really big ideas and instrumentation and structuring and all of this.

Jerome: 52:26

And I feel like the only song I didn't like when there was a cover Doing Time. It's not a bad song or anything. I just don't care for it in the sense of, like the space of the album, like it feels like it was like a thing you just throw in there. Um, it does give Cali vibes and that's what the album does give. The album does give California vibes, um, immensely, I think, immensely, I think. But back to the article. So I do agree with that.

Jerome: 52:59

I also, you know, when she said that she, I guess, was asked because she's creating a podcast about talking about her love of women in music, and she already knew that everyone was going to be upset, and you know, or that they are upset with her voice and her opinion, but you know why she doesn't really kind of give a fuck, because she's made a career out of being unlikable, which is funny, because I feel like she's still likable to me, because I feel like I kind of get her point. And so she was talking about the idea in this interview, about the idea of dominating in the music industry, in the music scene, what that looks like. And I feel like dominating is a very broad term, because I understand what she means in the way of Taylor Swift is dominating because she has the draw, she has the pool, she has the cells. She's really popular. She's really, you know, I mean she's not super interesting. You know, I mean she's not super interesting. I have a theory behind that, but she's not like the girl that's like breaking or making this like lasting impact that is culturally significant. Now, like not to compare her to a Beyonce, but Beyonce, like I've talked about before, seems to be striving for a Michael Jackson status of being a household name, being a person that does not define by genre of music and that is willing to collaborate with a bunch of different people to make her actual vision come true. Like she's an actual artist, you know, and so I feel like I get her point, like I get like that thing.

Jerome: 55:16

Like some artists are talented and other artists are talented but creative, if that makes sense. Like not to shit on. You know y'all faves too much. You know y'all faves too much. But there's artists that are talented and that are talented and can put together good lyrics and you know impactful words and you know blah, blah, blah, and then you know xyz. But like, I ultimately feel like the best artists are the ones that break the, the. They break everything that we know down and create something new, or to create something new. I feel like that's kind of the point of life is nothing lasts forever and everything changes. And I feel like an artist that is able to, that is able to create their own genre or create a space in a genre that wasn't really there before, no one really noticed, or something that stuff feels very culturally significant for people, versus just singing or twerking on stage or whatever. Like that's not as impactful, like I think that this is going to be a big one.

Jerome: 56:38

But I feel like Taylor Swift has outlasted a lot of people and that is the one thing I will give her credit for, and I think the fact is that fact is that, like, why she's been able to do that is because of how regular she appears. Like she's very plain jane, like she. I mean, they always told her as a southern girl, but she's from fucking pennsylvania. Like bitch, I'm from fucking pennsylvania, um, really, from Maryland, I'm a little bit more Southern than her, but I live in Pennsylvania, but it's like, yeah, that's not Pennsylvania. So I feel like with her, like you know, when an artist like that, it's like people have already connected to her.

Jerome: 57:26

She's like this girl that lived in a small town and she, you know, sings about. Like the things she sings about I don't really know outside of, you know love or whatever. I don't really know all the things she sings about, but I think there's something because of how like she's just that Like she's not like trying to be over the top, she's like more so being herself, which is a regular white girl. Um, not to make it too much about race, but I mean it kind of sort of is, um, I feel like people connect with that and that's why a lot of black people don't maybe connect with her as much, because I don't often hear black people say with that and that's why a lot of Black people don't maybe connect with her as much, because I don't often hear Black people say turn on that new Taylor Swift joint or let's listen to Taylor Swift. We kind of be like, all right, we let y'all have her, but like and there's songs of her that I feel like everyone likes, like there's at least one that people like. Like there's at least one that people like, but overall, like I feel like she appeals to a lot of kids, a lot of young adults.

Jerome: 58:43

She's, I mean, a lot of older people that are conservative, like crazy conservative, like she appeals to a lot of people and so I think that the point is that she is that you know her being plain and basic is the thing that makes her famous or that keeps her famous, because it's not like she's now. I've been seeing Corley, red, corley, corley, right, corley, I don't know know, but I've been seeing her on my and I had to literally like I was getting to the point where I have to like block her um name on x, but they keep showing me photos but um and videos about her um and she's just like I don't know this whole like shift and like trying to create a new image. But the image is what everyone else is doing and you know people are like this is not what she's really done before, which doesn't. I mean I've seen the one video before, nikki minaj, and just kind of knowing a little bit about her um from what I've heard on like podcasts and things like that, it's like when you start following people, I feel like that's when you really just start to not be memorable and I think a lot of people and I might've said this a few weeks ago, but I think a lot of people aren't special and I think that a lot of people are and that's okay, like that's literally fine, like not everyone needs to be special.

Jerome: 1:00:24

I want to say that before I move on. But like, sometimes it like it really is, like sometimes life is just life, I think there are people that do stand out more than others, but I think some people are and that's fine. I think we've gotten. That's why I feel like we're over, or I'm over, celebrity culture and over consumerism and capitalism and all of these things, because it's all empty. It doesn't really showcase anything. Sure you have a car, sure you have money, sure you have nice clothes, whatever, but are you a good person at the end of the day? And I think that does resonate with people when they see Taylor Swift. Yeah, she is a rich person, but she also has this very regular appearance and does not like larger than life kind of thing that, like Beyonce, goes for more so. But I feel like Beyonce has to do that in order to be, because again she has to be, because again she has to be a defining staple or carve out her space. And also, beyonce's been around a lot longer.

Jerome: 1:02:04

Beyonce in this lifetime is because of social media, because of labels ruining the industry for corporate greed and different things like that, and so I don't know, I really don't know. But and not everyone can be a Beyonce, and that's my point. Like not everybody is like special, like not everybody is gonna be that that girl, and that's okay, it is fine. Like not everybody can be that girl, not everyone can be that bitch. Um, yeah, so I, I respect, uh, courtney Love I'm gonna finish the article, but I just respect her for saying that and then the fact that she said that she's, um, she likes that she doesn't like Beyonce's music, but like she likes what she's doing people's heads like terribly, because they was eating her up on x or trying to eat her up, but, um, I just feel like she is the kind of person that knows that. That is like smart enough to make that distinction, that you can recognize that someone's very talented, but you can also recognize when the music's not for you. And I think that that takes real um, it takes like bravery, but it also takes like knowing yourself to know that and to eat somebody up over the fact that, like, they don't like the same things as you were, so childish. So that's how I feel about that.

Jerome: 1:03:31

Um, also, there was the gay pop thing with jojo siwa and I feel like the thing she meant about gay pop was the fact that, um, she I think she honestly meant in her phrase because I was researching a little bit um, I think she just meant that she wanted more. I think she just I think she the idea is that she wants to just add to what people have already done for in the community for gay anthems. Like that's just kind of how I read it. I didn't read it as like she wants to create a genre called gay pop and that the genre is going to be, I don't know, like this big new thing that everyone just jumps into Because we already have gay pop, like we have gay artists that are writing pop music, like we have those people doing that. But I feel like she meant it as in like she wants to add it to the club classics or the pride, the pride parade, like she wants to be in the numbers with the girls and and that she does want to create her own genre. She had mentioned, um in another interview of you know, wanting to be in the genre or wanting to create a new genre. Um, she's mentioned that with her record label and, um, I mean, I think that's amazing, like I think that, um, more artists need to think that way.

Jerome: 1:05:12

And she, you know her song, karma. It's actually really it's not bad. It's not my cup of tea in particular. I might like hear it and be like, oh yeah, I know that song and like it, or not, tell someone to turn it off or whatever. But I feel like with her, she is like trying to like she was trying to go back in time a little bit to pull and redo that EDM clubby, almost rock-ish kind of vibe. It's like it feels like there's a a bunch of that going on in the song. Um, where these like the, there are these kind of like rock nodes or like very like punk inspired of like telling someone off or whatever. But, um, um, yeah, I don't know if I listened to it again, though there was one part that did grab me, because at first I was like what? And then there was like the long pause, and I think that was after she would have mentioned the cheating or whatever, and I was like, oh okay, like it was. Really. You could feel that effect in the song, like the effect of the pause from that song, and so I felt like that in itself was like wow, okay, I see you, girl. Um, but I think people are really just stupid and honestly, they just don't. Their brains are wrecked, uh, wrecked. Um, I started watching x-men 97. I won't talk about it right now because I'm going to talk about it later. Um, with tarot, with tarot, um, I saw the trailer for Maxine.

Jerome: 1:06:57

I don't know how I feel about it with the Night Stalker being involved. I feel like the Night Stalker gets brought up too much and I feel like, again, with these serial killers, why are we giving them so much attention? I mean, I'm curious whether or not, if she's going to be involved with the Night Stalker, like if she's going to be killing people too, or if she's going to be a victim of the Night Stalker. I just thought she was going to be going to you know, la or whatever, and trying to get famous and whatever. I didn't think it was going to be all this like this grittier subplot, or you know, la or whatever, and trying to get famous and whatever. I didn't think it was going to be all this like this grittier subplot or, you know, maybe main plot of this big murder situation. Now I feel like it does still have. That has to happen.

Jerome: 1:07:49

Yes, because X and Pearl are both movies that are that's kind of the point. But even in Pearl I think back on that and that was not the initial intention of the movie it seemed like. It seemed like there's just this war going on and World War I I guess, I think it was and the Spanish flu was happening and people were like getting sick and blah, blah, blah and they had to wear a mask and all of this and that. And I just it seemed to really like take place in a time when we were like it mirrored our time and I think that was like the perfect way to release a movie. Like having Pearl wear a mask in a movie and then like going, like having Pearl wear a mask in a movie and then like going outside and having to wear a mask in real life is like yikes and it's a good movie. That's a good ass movie.

Jerome: 1:08:45

I actually want to watch it again. I just watched it too last weekend. I want to watch that joint again, but I hope it just plays into the plot or like picks up after X and there's some kind of connection because it's a sequel. It's a sequel but it doesn't. I don't know if it's going to directly follow, in the same way that Pearl is a prequel but doesn't directly follow as well. Um, yeah, so did see that. Um, I'm, I'm still gonna see it regardless, but I I'm a little like, eh, I don't know. Um, pretty Little Liars Summer School is coming back May 9th. I, I can't wait for that. I've been waiting for that for a while.

Jerome: 1:09:30

Um, sidebar, disney, hulu, I, they're talking about cracking down on passwords in June. And is Max in that? I hope Max is not in that, because I share an account with my friend and I pay her the money for the account so we can get more of the bundle stuff included in a bundle. And if they're going to be cracking down on password stuff, like I guess I'm going back to cable tv or I'm gonna crack a book open and sit down somewhere because I'm not gonna do this with y'all, like I'm really not gonna do this with y'all. Like I've had hulu for ever, like even before I even shared with my friend and that became a thing like I've always been tapped into Hulu and so for that shit to be like part of this. Fuck a monopoly like fuck y'all monopolies. Like I hate, hate the way the future, the future sucks, like the future kind of sucks, uh.

Jerome: 1:10:27

Lastly, I just wanted to talk about the Rico, nasty and Boy Noise uh, boys Noise EP, um called Hardcore Dreams. It's really good. It's very short. It's basically it feels like a change of pace for Rico, but not really, because it sounds like an elevated version of her aesthetic and it gives sugar trap-iness. But I always feel like sugar trap felt like rave or club inspired anyway, and so I think, reflecting on that, I feel like that feels intentional, it feels like it's growth on her moving forward as an artist. I also feel like I can't be mad at her forever.

Jerome: 1:11:15

I'm still annoyed with her about the whole thing, with her like stealing from creators, but and I don't know she's ever said anything after about like that um, I hope she isn't. But if she is like I hope she just tries to understand that people like work hard and you know things are like, even if someone's stealing your shit, that don't mean that you gotta steal other people's shit. Like I get that like, just keep creating, keep pushing um, because she's such an amazing artist that has a lot of ideas and a lot of talent and I just would say, just like, not letting the, letting the fact that someone steals from you be the reason why you steal from other people, because people be working hard and shit is hard like it's. It's not easy, and I think that she's in a very niche lane when it comes to rap. Um, she's going to appeal more to someone like me, that is, um, that has that like goth aesthetic, that is like more alternative, you know. So, as a rapper, like her style is very specific and she's only going to appeal to certain people and that's okay, um, and that just doesn't mean you need to, you know, be mad about uh, or I'll say, not be mad, but like, still from other people, I'll just say that, um, but she's in like an enigma, like I still can't really figure her out. Like she's an artist that I can listen to. When I'm happy, I'm angry, when I'm in love, when I want to pop pussy, when I need to self-reflect, I just love how each project just kind of feels like its own thing or some like elevated version of her past work, like it's not ever the same and that's so interesting about her. Love that and that's it. That's all I got for the media lab.

Jerome: 1:13:06

Moving into the final thoughts, I can't believe we're here now. It felt like it's been taking a while and I feel like it's only that only reason I feel that way is because I'm on call right now. So I feel like it's only that only reason I feel that way is because I'm on call right now. Um, so I feel like I sped through the episode, or I sped through way quicker than what I wanted to, but it is fine. I these are all the things that I did write down. So, um, so the last thing I just wanted to kind of like just talk about was just pondering the reason why we even need guns, because the way in which it feels like civilians are getting shot left or right, that people aren't being held accountable for their actions, or this gun, like people being able to easily get guns, like no criminal history check.

Jerome: 1:14:06

And then it's like this woman. So her name is Lolith Hall, I believe that's how you pronounce her name, but she's a 61-year-old Lolitha Hall, I believe, is how you pronounce her name, but she's a 61 year old Lalitha Lalitha yeah, lalitha Hall, and she was shot by a man in Ohio, she was 61 and he's 81. And apparently he shot her, like fatally shot her, because he thought that she was working for a scammer that had just called him that day and had thought that she was connected to the scam. And she really lost her life over that dumb shit. Like I don't respect scamming, I don't respect scamming from everyday, regular people, um at all. Like I don't support that and I think that that is. It is fucked up because we all are struggling, um, but to get mixed up in something like a scam call like and lose your life over that, that is really wild and I and I can't even get into the whole like the white versus black thing because I just feel like okay, like that's, like that, it doesn't even feel like the point, like the point of it is the fact that this man, his first instinct was to shoot an unarmed woman, like what like? Who does it? Like no one, like, and she, literally, I think, came to his porch and he, you know, thought that she was trying to scam him or whatever, and he shot her once, which because she tried to walk away, but he shot at her or shot her once, and then they both got into an argument and then he shot her, I guess some more, and now he's being charged for murder and it's like this is so insane. So it made me think about.

Jerome: 1:16:09

The thing that then made me think about, um, was the fact like why do we even need guns? Like what is even the point? Because they're supposed to protect people, like that's, the whole point is to protect people from other people, animals, creatures, whatever, I don't know. You know, whatever they're supposed to be, a protective thing. And that was, and I don't like looking up gun law because it gets very political, it gets starts to get like well, every American has a right to own a gun, and that's like the first thing that pops up on Google and it's like okay, like cool, but at the same time, like people are dying, like like everyday, regular people are just losing their lives because of guns and misunderstandings and miscommunications or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it's happening way, way, way too much.

Jerome: 1:17:09

So I did a little bit of research and so there was a Pew research article and they listed research from the CDC that basically said that in 2021, that 54% of all gun-related deaths in the US were suicides and that was like 26,000 people about that's just me estimating and then like 43% around like 20,000 people yeah, 43% were murders, according to the CDC. And then there were only 3% of people that actually were harmed by, like, law enforcement. Like they had to make an other category for the 3% because it encompassed like the percentages for each individual thing were so small that they had to lump everything together. They had to lump together the fact that law enforcement does sometimes have to shoot people. Accidental deaths, so people accidentally killing themselves or getting shot or finding a gun, like kids finding a gun and shooting themselves accidentally.

Jerome: 1:18:24

Home invasions, so people getting shot for break-ins, things like that. And that's one of the reasons why I would say, okay, have a gun, because you just never know what the fuck is going to happen. Or why I would support, like, the idea of guns. Um, because I think that if anyone does break into your home like that's your property, like I feel like you should have the right to defend yourself. Now, if you're renting or whatever, that becomes a whole thing, but for the most part, I do feel like if you're renting or whatever, that becomes a whole thing, but for the most part, I do feel like, if someone is intending to arm you in your own home, you do have the right to blow them away.

Jerome: 1:19:06

But the problem with it, the biggest problem with it, is that in that 3% that doesn't really happen that much because it's lumped in with other percentages to make up a whole 3%. Like that's wild. And I try to think of it like okay, 2021, like what were we doing? You think you know that, you know COVID would have. I think COVID may have played a part in this too, but I mean, you still can't look away at the fact that 43% is pretty high. I that's just wild. I just can't.

Jerome: 1:19:49

Um, and also like where? The like where the shooters at when the crimes are happening, like when people are getting mugged and raped and all of this, that and the other. Like the fact that people be witnessing people getting sexually touched in public and not saying nothing or like doing anything about, like someone that I don't know. Like no one really ever has a gun. Like it never seems like a civilian has a gun on them when it really counts. Like people be having a license to fucking carry and it's like bitch, you don't ever fucking use it because you don't be where the criminals be. The criminals be randomly just popping up in, like the gas stations or convenience stores or liquor store whatever, and it's just like, but the people that should that the point of license to carry is to protect people in public and nine times out of 10, most people don't readily have a gun on them. Most everyday Americans like or you're not in that place, I'll say it that way, so they don't have a gun on them and, at the same time, they aren't in those spaces that the actual violent crimes are happening in. So I don't know, like that just to me, don't sit right with me and my point is just that I feel like they aren't protecting people, even if it is a 2021 study like whoop-de-woo, like I just feel like they're not protecting as many people as we love to believe that they do.

Jerome: 1:21:24

The other 53%, or the 53% that was the highest suicide. I mean, I feel like if someone is passively suicidal, you have more than one way you've thought about killing yourself. Like I feel like when the active like plan switches in and you have the intention of doing it, like you're going to figure it out one way or another and not to be morbid, but I, even in high school, like and not like I said not to be cute and funny, but like me and my friends have had this conversation. Me and my high school friends had this conversation about like, if we were to, if we had to die, like if someone was was like, oh, we have to kill you, or whatever. What would you choose? And there's more than one way that we've talked about, or like more than one way that you know sounds like okay, that actually you know wouldn't be bad, or whatever. Um, again, not promoting suicide, like definitely not doing that.

Jerome: 1:22:27

But my point is just that I know, as a person that struggles with depression and sometimes thoughts of suicide, I have thought of more than one way but and I don't have a plan, like that's like important, I've thought about it, don't have a plan, um, and I don't have any way to like execute the plans. Um, that's also kind of the other part. There were plans like I don't have any execution, like whatever, um, but anyway, um, I just kind of feel like if guns were taken away, people would still kill themselves, like that doesn't matter, like that. The point is just that people are like the people that are supposed to be protected by guns are not being protected by guns, like that's are supposed to be protected by guns are not being protected by guns. Like that's point blank period, end of the day. That's how I feel.

Jerome: 1:23:23

So I actually don't think that you know we actually need guns. I think that we just create fear and chaos in society when you know, play into um the story. Also, I think we just need to get back to fighting hand to hand, like mano y mano. Like I really feel like we need to just start swinging um again, like bring that back. Like I think that's the problem. We need to bring real fighting back. We need to bring back the swords um the shields, the bow and arrow. Like I feel like we really fell off with that. Like I feel like when the gun was created, it was all here we go, like this is going to get out of hand.

Jerome: 1:24:09

So I feel like, yeah, we need to get back to hand-to-hand combat, because I feel like if you can't beat me hand-to-hand, then you don't die. Like you just have to sit with that. Like you just have to sit, you can move, you know, if you have to. Or you know if you know I don't know if I lose, like I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna feel no kind of way like something. I really do think sometimes people just need their asses beat and you know. Then they be like okay, all right, I, I kind of see where I fucked up at um eventually, like it doesn't happen right out, but most people be like all right, well, damn, fuck um. But I feel like when it comes to like the gun thing, like just to be like, oh well, you know, I can just take your life, that's fucking crazy, that's insane to me and I think it's just uncalled for. So that's where I stand on that and that's it. That's all I got for y'all. Um, don't want to vamp a little bit. I feel like we did a good amount of time, did a good amount of time. I'm almost I'm so glad this month's almost over ciao, oh, but anyway, that's it from me, from me, um. Again. Leave a review. Leave, you know, your thoughts on how the episode was.

Jerome: 1:25:28

Um, if you have any letters, anything you want me to read. I've been getting these correspondences I will say this from like random people about wanting to do interviews and I'm okay with that, I guess. But I don't know Like I just be having, like it's going to take me some time, like, if it's not a listener letter where I can just be like and just put it together on a show and like, really do that. Like and just put it, put it together on a show and like, really do that. Like it's going to take me some time to like get around to like doing the research on someone that I don't know unless I've asked them to come on the podcast. Like, if it's a one of those things where you just want to come on, like unless you got something to promote or and I don't ask you, it's like okay, like I gotta look into it. Or if you're not like one of my dream guests or you're not like again, if I don't ask you, it's kind of like weird to just kind of ask to want to be on a podcast, like I don't know. That feels weird to me. I don't know I get it to promote your, but if you don't even got no following, it's like girl, we got to help each other. But anyway, if you got letters that you want me to read, send them and gather them, pod at gmailcom and what else. If you got any urges to like follow me.

Jerome: 1:26:54

Oh, I have something coming. I can't talk about it now. I want to talk about it. I mean, I guess I could just say it's going to be a website, but it's going to be for, not just for the podcast, it's kind of for um, a hub of like my own, like creative things, but, um, that's kind of sort of in the works in the background, but that'll be coming. That's kind of sort of in the works in the background, but that'll be coming. But if you want to connect to me on the socials is, gather them, pod on X and on X and Instagram God, my brain is like fried today. Excellent, instagram. And then, if you ever want to follow my TikTok, you can. I don't have a TikTok. That's very specific to the links in the bio. I'll just say that the links in the bio of my, of my Twitter and my Instagram, yep Links in the bio, so y'all can go click them links, uh, and y'all can find the tiktok. It'll be there. So, all right, that's it for this episode.

Jerome: 1:28:01

I hope everyone has a good weekend. Oh, and a safe 420. Um, I forgot that was also this month. Like this is this month's been a lot. It's, it's giving. This month, um is is really giving earth, earth, earth day 420, you know arbor day. We is eclipse. Earth is giving a lot like this month. This month is a lot airy season going into torresy, so I hope everyone has a good weekend, good, safe weekend, um, and I will talk to everyone again next week. Peace out, girl scouts.