JasonGastrich.com

Everyone should write about moving things that inspire them.

I wrote a poem on December 15 after something bad happened to me. This is what happened.

I rode my bike a couple of miles to Safeway. It was a pretty grueling ride because it was against a strong wind. When I got to the bike rack, a woman dressed completely in black was sitting a few inches from the bike rack in a corner smoking a cigarette. The smoke was blowing on me as I took deep cleansing breaths at the end of my trip and it was disgusting and unhealthy.

As I locked my bike, she moved a few feet away from me and cigarette smoke kept blowing on me, so I said something derogatory to her and walked into the store.

It turned out that she was a Safeway employee working in Starbucks. She didn’t identify herself and I wasn’t sure who employed her. However, she walked past me and repeated to me what I said to her and got the manager and security guard. They approached me and I told them what happened and they said ok and let me stay.

Meanwhile the employee must have called her husband. When I left Safeway the front tire of my bike was flat and a man popped up with a camera. I unlocked my bike and accused him of vandalizing it, but he denied it. He ultimately tried to impede me by grabbing my bike and standing in between me and the way I was trying to walk. He said the cops were coming and that I did something to his wife. I left, he went inside and nothing happened.

The next day I took my bike tube to Island Biker and the owner screwed a core into the air valve. Apparently the Safeway employee’s husband unscrewed and stole the core from my front tire’s air valve. Fortunately the store owner had the special tool required to remove it and he had extra ones from flat, old tubes. The tire held air and worked fine after the core was replaced.

I thought it was over, but today the employee’s husband was in Safeway wearing a cowboy hat and sunglasses and pointing a camera at me. I took his picture twice; before and after he put his sunglasses on. I have no idea what his end game is or if I will need a restraining order. I hope for his sake he doesn’t follow me or bother me.

Whether people like it or not Donald Trump is a rich businessman and has conducted business his way throughout his life. It worked for him because he was rich and he could throw his weight around, but it hasn’t worked well for American diplomacy.

I think North Korea is tired of the Trump administration and calling their bluff. They don’t want to denuclearize and I think the Trump administration thinks they can make them do it with enough time and veiled threats. The sad truth is he has been unable to bring peace to the Koreans and the U.S. still has an armistice with North Korea.

If you listen to Republicans like Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz when they were vying for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 they were honest about Donald Trump. The comments that they made were horrifying and true too.

Trump has been able to carry the evangelical vote because the alternative is unpalatable and because he is a “pro-life” Zionist. However, some people like the editors of Christianity Today that are closely watching and listening know that he is a disaster and off the rails and causing irreparable harm to everything under the sun in a critical time when we need a leader to do many other things.

I think Trump also owes some of his success as a politician to his career as a TV reality show entertainer. I think some conservatives watched The Apprentice and acquired a fondness for Trump without being coerced or manipulated. He just seemed like a fun, sometimes bombastic character with a cool catchphrase.

Unfortunately for evangelical Christians I think Donald Trump is an old school Christian. He hasn’t participated in the way that church is conducted now. This means that he may not know or understand the Bible or even the important biblical principles and values that 21st century, fundamentalist Christians hold dear.

It takes somebody that is actively involved in church to think and behave like Christians do. The less time spent with the “flock”, the more unpredictable one’s behavior may be. The more time spent with Christians and in the Bible the more one’s behavior aligns with the others that do the same thing.

My 40 day fast went well. Eating every other day for 80 days was an interesting experiment. This will be my final update.

I didn’t weigh myself when I began, but on the last day I weighed 169.4. This means that I probably lost 8-10 pounds. It felt good to break into the 160s.

I approached it like I was eating one day for two days and I burned about 6,000 calories every two days. When I created large calorie deficits, I lost more weight, but when I ate a lot I saw little progress. It was not too difficult to maintain some sort of calorie deficit though.

During the fast my creative juices were flowing. I wrote the last 40 stories in my A Brand New World book series. I also wrote dozens of poems, hundreds of quotes, several blogs and took pics around Maui.

I realized that I needed to take a B12 supplement because I am a vegetarian. I found an affordable one from plant sources and started taking it daily and it has made me feel good. I am stoked that I came to that realization because I would hate to deprive my body of something important.

During my previous 40 day fast in 2016, I fasted 40 days in a row and lost about 25 pounds. It felt long and I didn’t exercise much. Eating every other day was easier because I kept counting the hours until I went to bed. I wasn’t sleepy or eager to sleep, but that was essentially when I got to eat again because I didn’t want to eat in my sleep.

Now I am doing maintenance and trying to break even until January 1. On January 1 I am going to fast for 40 days by eating every other day again. I will document it a little better and limit my calories and see better results. I will likely be in the 150s when I finish.

After I finish fasting on March 20, I will finish the book I am writing about fasting. I will include all the things that I learn. I may sell the book on Amazon and offer it for free on my website.

I suppose there were a few keys to my success. The most important thing is to drink lots of water. You should also swallow some salt (not table salt) on fast days.

I exercised on my fasting day the same way that I did on my eating day. In fact, I think I exercised even more because I rode my bike long distances and did yoga more when I didn’t eat. I think that was important because I think the body will lower its metabolism if it goes into starvation mode, but exercising can keep your metabolism where it should be.

Some say that fasting can subtract from your muscle mass and I think exercising is a good way to maintain your muscle mass when you fast.

Good luck in your diets and fasts.

Today is the last day in my 40 day fast. I am intermittently fasting (eating every other day) for 80 days. It has went well. I have been inspired to do it again on January 1 and do it even better.

I was originally planning on leaving Maui and moving to Kauai around Christmas. However, since this is the rainy season and Kauai usually gets lots of rain I decided to stay put and go by April 1. No foolin’.

Today I am finishing the final story in A Brand New World. The 10th book is called How It All Ends and there are 104 stories in it so far. When I finish #105 there will be 500 in the series. I may take two days to finish it though. Spoiler alert: Bowen Yang is in it.

I am going to publish How It All Ends on December 20 or 21 in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. It will feel amazing to finish such a big project that took such a long time to imagine and write.

I have been inspired to publish a picture book of pictures that I take around Maui. However, it will be a unique book because it will just contain trash. I hope to inspire somebody to clean it up.

On January 1 or 2, I am going to publish my second quotes book. My first one (10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings) was religious and corresponded to the Bible. I published it many years ago.

My quotes book will contain quotes from mid-June through December 31. You can thank Twitter for it. As soon as I was banned from Twitter, I started posting my “tweets” on my website on a new page called Quotes. They are as real as my tweets and life.

Next year I will probably post quotes on my site on a weekly basis. I will still write them and keep them no matter what.

I am in the middle of writing a book on fasting. I will probably finish it in early 2020. After I move to Kauai, I want to write a book of 109 haikus. I wrote books of haikus on Oahu and Maui in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

I am also writing a book of general poetry. It has about 40-50 poems in it so far including poems I have published on my website and ones I haven’t shown to anyone. I will probably publish it around January 1 or April 1. After I move to Kauai, I will probably start a new general poetry book.

I hope to publish a book of fonts in 2020. I actually want to publish several books of fonts. Since I write uniquely with my left hand and write hand, I figured it would be interesting to see if I can make a font. I don’t care for my cursive, but printed lowercase and uppercase fonts with each hand will be fun to create.

I would also like to publish a few audiobooks in 2020 and read poetry books that I have published and record my voice. Hopefully, I will find a nice quiet spot to do this somewhere because it could be fun and another way to connect with readers (and listeners).

There is at least one other book that I would like to publish in 2020. It will be a surprise though. I can’t spoil the surprise, but I will be shocked if I haven’t published it by 2021 and I will probably publish it in early 2020.

When I was 20 years old, I got a DUI and it changed my life. Fortunately I didn’t hurt anybody or get into an accident, but I lost my driver’s license for six months.

To satisfy the court I took weekly classes at Alcoholic’s Anonymous and paid a fee. I realized that if I hit somebody and kill them I will live with it for the rest of my life which would be in jail. It was a wake up call to me and I stopped driving after drinking.

When I was arrested for DUI, I was on campus driving from my fraternity house to my apartment which was less than a mile away. While rolling through the stop sign at 3 a.m. didn’t put anybody in danger, I had driven under the influence in the past. When you hear that somebody that gets caught for DUI has done it before many times I think there is some truth to it.

Since I stopped driving drunk, I started telling others to avoid driving drunk too. They could kill themselves or somebody else (or both of them). It just isn’t worth it. Pass out, walk it off, sober up, get an Uber or taxi or find a designated driver.

Good luck.

Today marks 180 days on Reddit. Here is what I think about it.

Reddit is weird and I don’t like it, but I’ve gotten used to it. Since I was banned from Twitter in mid-June, I’ve been using Reddit for the first time. It sucks and I’ll probably stop using it in 2020.

I’ve been rudely banned from groups for no reason. I’ve been banned from some groups for posting just one post that was actually factual without any commentary. Some moderators of popular groups on Reddit don’t have much integrity.

I’ve been banned from some popular groups for accidentally posting a link when they don’t accept links. I’ve been kept from posting in some groups because of “low comment karma”. Sometimes a subreddit will make me wait 8 minutes before posting because of it which is bullshit. The main reason I have low comment karma is because of trolls. Reddit essentially lets trolls games the system.

Imagine Twitter with anonymity where people can make much longer posts and you’re starting to picture Reddit. There’s a reason why anonymity is rampant on Reddit and it probably isn’t a healthy one.

Reddit is stupid because of the predictable way people upvote and downvote. Trolls are everywhere too. They’re predictable and pathetic and desperately want to silence certain things.

Want lots of upvotes on Reddit? Take sunset pics or sunrise pics and post them. Write quotes on pics and post them. Post some news articles. People love that bullshit and you’ll be a Reddit hero.

I’ve little doubt that some of the morons that have banned me from their group have researched me and disliked me personally for some reason. A few others that aren’t moderators have done it and sounded like crackpots. In particular the moderators of r/The_Donald and r/Quotes were quick to ban me for bullshit and were chatty and full of shit afterwards (others have done the same, but they didn’t seem so biased and jealous).

I don’t recommend Reddit to anybody. It’s like the old Usenet. It sucks and it’ll probably be replaced by something better soon (or merged into another company).

Reddit says how many people are in a group at a time. If you want to get your posts in front of lots of people you could try Reddit. That’s one of the few good things about it: distribution. You don’t have to have followers to instantly put your words in front of thousands of users.

Reddit should make a way to backup posts and comments. I would like to backup mine.

Reddit is a good way to view porn. The various groups come right up and there are pics and videos on the website and links to them on other websites. Very handy.

Another good thing about Reddit - since I am being objective and giving positives and negatives - is that you won’t be banned from the entire website if a moderator says you’re guilty of breaking a subreddit’s rules. You’ll only be banned from it and they don’t add up. If it was Twitter, they’d ban you from the entire website after your third infraction (like they did to me).

Reddit should develop a way to arbitrate subreddit bans. Some of them are arbitrary and unfair. However, it may be good when an asshole moderator exposes himself because I hate to throw my pearls before swine. If people want to be jerks, then I’d prefer to avoid their subreddits anyway.

I still blog on my website. I also have a page for stories, quotes and poems. I do not and will not rely on third-party software or websites to host my original content. It belongs to me and I don’t trust them. Tumblr and Twitter have stolen my data. It takes a little extra time to code it by hand, but it’s worth it and I don’t mind.

Good luck.

I have been writing a book series called A Brand New World for 7-8 years. I have written 491 stories and there will be 500 stories when I am finished. Only 9 more to go! I intend on finishing them before the end of the year.

I started writing ABNW stories in 2012 after I started living on the street in Long Beach, California. I had went through a grueling, horrible and inappropriate criminal trial and fought four bogus felony charges for a year until they offered me a one-misdemeanor plea deal on the day of my trial and I took it. I left San Diego for Long Beach shortly afterwards.

I decided to study journalism at Long Beach City College even though I possess other degrees. I wrote for the school paper and I was an editor. I watched the news every day (they played CNN in the lunch room) and I began noticing all sorts of things because I was asking lots of new questions. My stories began telling the “story behind the story” like the backstory of big news stories around the world. I started noticing spin and how the mainstream media was concealing some things (or ignorant of them). The discernment that I had prayed for hundreds of times was kicking in though.

This is a list of the books in the series and how many stories are in each one:

1. A Brand New World: The First 15 Months - 136 stories
2. A Brand New World: What Happens Next - 44 stories
3. A Brand New World: From Station to Station - 54 stories
4. A Brand New World: Outside Like Islands - 29 stories
5. A Brand New World: An Audience of One - 16 stories
6. A Brand New World: After the Anointing - 21 stories
7. A Brand New World: Fallen From the Sky - 25 stories
8. A Brand New World: How You Will Die - 30 stories
9. A Brand New World: How You Will Live - 40 stories
10. A Brand New World: How It All Ends - 96/105 stories (in progress)

I took the bus everywhere in Long Beach while listening to the radio and I am a Foo Fighters fan hence the title “From Station to Station”.

I moved to Hawaii in November 2014 and “Outside Like Islands” reflects the new mindset.

The first four books (263 stories) follow a similar pattern of storytelling, but the fifth book includes 16 stories that have meanings for my daughter. I have not seen her in many years and I lost her as a result of the aforementioned court debacle. However, those stories were written to convey messages to her while we are apart.

I wrote How You Will Die while I lived in Miami, Florida for four months in 2018. Somebody dies in every story and a character named Rico is introduced. The story follows him as he leaves the military and travels across the country with a secret.

How You Will Live includes an important survival/health tip in each story. While I lived on the street in Oahu, I wrote this book. It follows Rico from Havana, Cuba to Hawaii.

Now you can read the first 96 stories in my final book on my website which I am writing in Maui. I will keep posting new ones there until I finish and then I will remove them and publish them in a book (Kindle and paperback). Enjoy!

(I added the part below on 12/11/19 at 1:29 PM HST)

Over the last month or two, I have been aiming for a December 20 publication date. This means it would probably be available in paperback and Kindle on December 21 or 22.

Each day I have counted how many days I have remaining and how many stories I need to write. The ratio was two days per story, but now it is about one day per story.

Exciting things have been scheduled for December 20 like the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (which sounds like the last movie in the saga) and Bombshell movies and Donald Trump's impeachment vote in the House of Representatives. Perhaps it is only fitting for A Brand New World: How It All Ends to end on the same day.

(I added the part below on 12/13/19 at 9:55 AM HST)

I have been fasting for nearly 40 days (one more week to go) by intermittently fasting. I eat every other day. My fast began on October 1 and it will end on December 20. It has went very well and I will write a book on fasting in 2020 and include what I learned.

What kind of music do you listen to?

I listen to many different types of music. Growing up I only listened to certain types at times, but now I listen to just about everything.

For a few years I only listened to Christian music. I attended Christian music festivals in California, Georgia and Washington. I was in this phase when I picked up the guitar.

My earliest music memories were listening to soft rock, pop, etc. and alternative music on the radio. I also sang songs in church and in chapel at school.

In the San Diego State University dorm, I met interesting people from around the country and the world. I guy from the south introduced me to Skynyrd. Another dude that would later become my first roommate was a music guru and introduced me (or reintroduced me) to dozens of amazing rock bands.

When I moved to Long Beach in 2012, I listened to songs on the radio and when I moved to Honolulu in 2014, I listened to songs on the radio for a couple of years.

When I hear old music, I don’t always agree with it if it’s religious. Sometimes I reinterpret it or I just listen to the instruments. There are only a couple of songs like that in my #1 playlist, but I usually skip them. If nothing else it reminds me of that mindset that exists today even if I have changed.

I like rock, rap, reggae, country, pop, soft rock, classic rock, electronic, acoustic, instrumental, jazz, 80s, 90s, etc. All of those genres are in my playlist. Listening to whatever suits my mood is easy to do with Spotify. Here is my playlist.

One kind of music that I am not interested in anymore is praise and worship. It was good for church, but I don’t want to hear it now. The Christian songs that I still listen to now are more like alternative songs than praise songs.

Being able to play a lot of instruments may make me interested in music that features them. I can get bored if the song is too simple. I have taught guitar, piano, bass, drums and voice lessons. I can also play harmonica, cow bell, shakers, tambourine, maracas, synthesizer, keyboard, flute, trumpet, tenor sax, etc.

Lately I have heard new music I’ve liked by Adam Lambert, Death Cab For Cutie, The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, Ozzy Osbourne, Beck, Marilyn Manson, Third Eye Blind, Billie Eilish, blink-182, Green Day, The Goo Goo Dolls and Katy Perry.

Dear Jordan,

I love you and miss you a lot. How are you doing?

It’s hard to believe that you’re 17 years old! Are you excited to be a senior? I remember my senior year and it was a lot of fun. I hope yours is too.

I am in Maui and it’s nice. The temperatures are warm, but it’s rainy and windy sometimes. I like it here even though there are ups and downs.

Have you applied to any colleges yet? Where do you want to go to school next? What do you want to do for work?

I’ve been writing books of short stories and poems. I’ve also written a book on playing ukulele and I am going to publish a book of quotes and some other books soon. I’ve published over 40 books! Writing is exciting. Remember when we were going to write a book for kids together?

What’s your grade point average? What’s your favorite class? I finished high school with a 3.2 GPA and my favorite classes were Art and P.E. I only applied to San Diego State University because I wanted to go there and they accepted me.

Have you taken the SATs yet? SDSU accepted people with any score if they earned a 3.0 or higher in high school. State universities tend to be easier to get into than UC schools. I got around 1,000 on my SAT. I bet you can get at least that score.

You’re smart and I am sure that you can do whatever you put your mind to even if you don’t go to college. It’s up to you.

I wish we could talk and do fun things together. After you turn 18 in September, we can do whatever we want and it doesn’t matter what any authority says; courts, judges, pastors, relatives, social workers or otherwise. What do you want to do? We should go out places like before.

Remember when we did everything together? I liked being with you at the beach, riding bikes, playing video games, coaching you in soccer, playing instruments, making meals, visiting the tide pools and everything else we did. You’re awesome and there is nobody else like you.

Take care of yourself. I hope I see you in 2020.

Love,
Dad

Today my fast is 3/4 finished because it’s Day 60 of 80 days. It has went well over the last two months.

I’ve learned many things about my habits, fasting and food reduction by fasting this way. I hope to articulate them in a book after I am finished. I may offer it for free on my website (as an ebook) and in paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon.com.

I am making progress and I look better and feel well. I think those are the most important things. Hopefully, I’ll never be in this transitional place again. My weight has always fluctuated and I always lose weight after I gain too much.

The most I have ever weighed is 187, but my best weight is probably between 140-155. I probably weigh around 170 now, but I will weigh myself on December 1 to know for sure. Hopefully, it will give me an accurate idea of how many pounds I lose each month. I was flirting with the BMI’s “overweight” category in September, but now I am firmly in the “normal” category.

I’ve never eaten more in a single day than I have on this fast. I haven’t tried to overeat, but I’ve allowed myself to eat a lot because I am eating every other day. I think I ate over 5,000 calories one time and I don’t recall ever doing that in the past.

One thing I learned is that I could sabotage this sort of fast if I eat too much on the eating day. I estimate that I burn 3,000 calories every day, but it varies a little. The amount I have eaten has varied a lot from 4,200 calories to 4,800 and maybe more or less sometimes. Nonetheless, I think my weight has consistently lowered every two days on average, so it is like tacking and sailing toward my goal.

I learned also that I weigh more after my shower. I think my hair and skin retain water for a while afterwards. Otherwise, somebody may be adjusting the scale at the gym. I am going to avoid weighing myself after showering.

I think the consistency in my life has helped. When I fasted for 40 days in Hawaii island in 2016, it was a great circumstance because I was off the grid and alone. In a similar way I am getting plenty of sleep now and eating healthy food and liquids, so I am able to do this without too much trouble.

I’ve been an organic vegetarian for years, but I started considering how I need to get B12 in my diet. It’s in meat and meat products, but it has been added to organic soy milk (by the Silk brand), so I’ve started drinking it this month. I’ve felt a little boost and I think I was deficient for many months.

Although I have done it without fail, it’s always difficult to skip food for an entire day. I haven’t been too tempted to break my fast though. I am determined to succeed.

I’ve taken body and weight measurements and I’ll compare them on December 1 because I took them on November 1. That’s in two days.

This may be my last update before I finish fasting on December 19. After I finish I’ll write one more update with some final thoughts, insights, facts and figures.

Thanks for reading and good luck in your dieting and fasting.

I am thinking about returning to Facebook some time during 2020. Here are some of the pros and cons.

Pros:

I can......

1. talk to the people I used to talk to on Twitter
2. see what people are doing like I used to on Twitter
3. journal with my pics, posts, links and such
4. drive traffic to my website
5. connect with family and friends
6. reconnect with people wondering how I’ve been
7. use Facebook’s technology to broadcast
8. see how my old friends are doing
9. find breaking, new, local, national and international news
10. read posts from people that only post them on Facebook

Cons:

1. I don’t think very highly of Mark Zuckerberg
2. I dislike seeing ads
3. I hate it when companies steal and sell my data
4. Facebook may have sold ads to shady people that led to bullshit
websites that influenced some people’s vote in the 2016 presidential election
5. I know a bunch of rich braggarts
6. It could consume a lot of time
7. They could try to track my movements or online activity and sell it or something
8. A federal employee said she spied on my Facebook account in 2011 which led to bogus criminal charges that I had to fight

The House of Representatives questioned nine witnesses in the Ukraine scandal that involved the president. I watched about a dozen clips of them on YouTube, so I got the gist.

One thing I think some people are missing is that the $391 million in “security aid” (military aid) that the U.S. wanted to give Ukraine was going to be used to buy American weapons like the Javelin which was mentioned. This means that withholding the money not only jeopardized Ukraine’s security, but harmed American workers too. It also benefited the Russian-backed militia in Ukraine and they say Ukrainian lives were lost during the delay.

I think the impeachment inquiry is a good idea because they should get to the bottom of whatever happened. The interviews have been telling and the Democratic Party majority House of Representatives will likely vote to impeach him. The Republican majority in the house voted to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998. The senate did not though.

Is anybody else going to be indicted? The sitting president can’t be charged with crimes, but everybody else can be. How about Mike Pompeo and Rudy Giuliani? Before this is over I think we may see charges filed against them for being complicit (co-conspirators) in the Ukraine debacle.

Years ago when the mainstream media was hung up on the way that Trump was elected I voiced my concern about accidentally missing his new crimes by being too focused on the previous election. He and his crew wanted to take advantage of a new Ukrainian government, but when Ukraine wouldn’t play ball it apparently gummed up the system. At the time career U.S. statesman Ambassador Rice identified it as something that would blow up too.

I think the problem has to do with it being Joe Biden. Biden is the leading Democratic presidential candidate to oppose him in 2020. If it was somebody else that wasn’t running for president, then I don’t think it would’ve gotten this far. However, it would have been wise to let somebody else pursue it (e.g. the Justice Department, C.I.A., Ukraine, etc.). Trump obviously has a vested interest.

In the end the motive is probably secondary and doesn’t matter except to prove there was a criminal intent. The most important thing is probably the aid’s demonstrable delay and the president’s request for a favor. Ambassador Sonland said they were connected and it was a known fact among several of his cabinet members too. I imagine they should be questioned about it.

This is the midpoint of my 40 day fast. I am taking 80 days to do it by fasting every other day. 40 days to go.

Even though I started on October 1, I weighed and measured myself on November 1, so I will compare the numbers at the end of the month. I think I lost at least five pounds so far and probably closer to 10.

I think it is working and that I will finish on December 19 and start the intermittent fasting cycle again on January 1 for 80 more days. I will document that one if it works.

The fasting days are difficult sometimes, but drinking lots of water and organic black coffee and unsweetened green and red tea helps. They stave off hunger and give me a little nourishment.

Feasting days are fun because I eat whatever I want all day. I usually opt for healthier choices though. I like chowing down even though it takes extra time, effort and money. I buy the best organic food I can find and afford.

I need to make sure that I don’t eat too much on feasting days. If I eat 6,000 calories it nullifies the 6,000 calories I lose over the course of two days. I want to keep it around 4,000 calories or so to reach my goal in 2020.

My body is ok with organic red wine on both types of days, but I drink a little less on fasting days. I may drink 3-4 ounces on a fasting day and 6-7 ounces on a feasting day; sometimes much less or none though. It has vitamins and antioxidants and I stay in ketosis, so it helps.

Good luck with your diets and fasts.

My first month of intermittent fasting went well. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. Today is Day 32, so there are 48 more days to go.

I started eating on October 1 and then I skipped food on October 2. I followed this pattern for the entire month and I think I lost 5-10 pounds. I didn’t eat for 15 days and I ate for 16 days.

I have noticed more definition in my arms and legs. My belly is shrinking too. Losing weight has reminded me of the way that the body burns fat all over and not just where you want it to.

I am going to keep better track of my weight loss this month because I am doing it again. I will take some pictures and weigh myself. I just measured my calf, thigh, stomach, forearm, bicep, waist and neck to see how much everything shrinks.

I rarely weigh myself, but I will try to be more consistent while I am on this fast. I weighed myself on October 28 and I was 176 pounds. This is more than I thought I would be. I was fully clothed, but it was a fasting day.

The weather is getting colder and my body has felt colder too. Sometimes the indoor air conditioning feels very cold on fasting days. However, I still have some body fat to keep me warm for a while.

If this keeps going well I may do it for nearly six months. In a way the fat that I have accumulated is an investment. Right? If it saves me $20 every other day, then it seems like an investment; like poker chips I can cash out.

The main reason for my fast is to improve my health. I have some minor, unique health issues that I think I can fix by getting and staying lean. They are exacerbated when I am heavier though.

It may take many more months until I reach my goal, but I will eventually have to eat more on a daily basis. I probably won’t reach that point until next year though.

I have not eaten anything today because I ate yesterday. In November, I will eat on odd days and skip food on even days. Since there are 30 days, I will eat for 15 days and skip 15 days of food.

Some of the keys to my success include: eating a lot of healthy organic food on eating days, getting a solid 7-8 hours of sleep (and sometimes an extra hour), drinking lots of water and swallowing some Himalayan pink salt each fast day.

I also look at the number of hours in the day that are remaining before I sleep and consider that to be how long I have until I can eat. For instance, it’s about 5 p.m. now and I will sleep by 10 p.m., so I only have to fast for 5 more hours. I will be asleep until 6 a.m. and then I will eat. Fasting during sleep is easy (obviously) and thinking that way helps.

Good luck in your diets and fasts.

The news has recently reported on a scandal that I noticed years ago because the government is investigating it now.

Government officials in other countries may have collaborated to throw Donald Trump under the bus after he presumably lost to Hillary Clinton. It looked to me like some of the election tampering crimes were minor enough that they wouldn’t make a big difference in the election, but big enough to put him in jail for a few years.

It apparently originated in Russia, but having some operatives in other countries to corroborate various aspects of the tampering would have been wise. They could have even helped the people in Russia.

It boils down to whether or not you think the Obama administration’s C.I.A. hated Donald Trump that much. It was probably a response to his behavior in the days before the election. According to CNN every poll said Hillary Clinton was going to win, so I think they banked on it and were setting him up and he is somehow getting wise to it now or finding time to pursue it even though the trail is pretty cold.

I will be 25% finished with my 40 day fast at the end of the day. I am doing an alternate-day fast for 80 days. If it works well I may take 12 days off and do it again on January 1.

It already feels like an accomplishment because I see it working and I think I can do it. It will take work and mental toughness though. Every day I don’t eat I think about eating and quitting, but I always talk myself out of it and keep going.

I have found that eating up to 4,250 calories every other day means I lose about a pound every four days. This means I should lose about 20 pounds during the fast.

I started on the first of the month, so I have eaten for 10 days and fasted for 10 days. I ate extra on eating days, but I still created a significant calorie deficit. Fortunately, my metabolism burns around 3,000 total calories each day. I like my 400 - 500 calorie, daily exercise regimen too. It is mostly on my bicycle.

Part of the reason this has worked is because I have eaten healthy food on eating days. If I would have eaten junk food, I would probably feel terrible right now. However, I ate plenty of fresh, raw organic fruits and vegetables along with lots of good stuff. Corn and tortilla chips beckoned to me, but I put them off another day.

Other things that have helped (besides Himalayan salt) is getting enough sleep, staying hydrated and stretching. Since I am always riding a bike, I am always stretching anyway.

On fasting days I drink plenty of black coffee and unsweetened green and red teas. I also drink a swig of red wine every once in a while. All organic.

I haven’t had any honey. I like honey on extended fasts because it helps my voice and improves my immune system. On a one-day fasts, it hasn’t felt necessary.

Long ago I read that you burn glycogen for the first part of your fast and it takes a few days to start burning fat in ketosis. However, I think the body can go into ketosis much sooner than that especially if you are active.

One incentive for sticking with the diet is the savings. The organic vegetarian food I normally eat costs around $15 or $20 a day. Fasting for 10 days is a little like saving $150 or $200. Good deal and it saved me lots of time too.

I am stoked that I don’t have any major health issues and I don’t take any pills. Each day I take organic garlic and organic turmeric with organic black pepper gel capsules, but that’s it. They’re good for me and natural. I make them from powder, so I know exactly what is in them.

If you want to fast, lose weight or both you might want to try it. It adds up and it isn’t too difficult. Also, most doctors and dietitians recommend losing up to 1-2 pounds a week and that is what this fast targets.

Adjust the diet to your calorie needs. Figure out how many calories you burn in a day. Multiply it times two. Subtract it by -1,750 and that is how many calories you can eat. Doing it that way will burn one pound every four days which is nearly two pounds a week.

Mine looks like this:

3,000 x 2 = 6,000 - 1,750 = 4,250 calories every other day

Good luck.

These are some thoughts off the top of my head about the debate on CNN tonight.

Joe Biden - Acted like he was the seasoned veteran and the obvious choice. Suffered some attacks from other candidates, but he defended himself. Seemed a little tired.

Kamala Harris - Indignant. Angry. Seemed to want justice.

Amy Klobuchar - Friendly and pissed. Voice shaking in frustration. Finger pointing.

Pete Buttigieg - Green. Passionate. Trying to express how he is different than the old senators running.

Tulsi Gabbard - Smart. Not going with the typical Democratic Party flow. Independent. Seems to have the right (peaceful yet strong) answers to foreign policy problems.

Bernie Sanders - Sounded like he did before the heart attack. Passionate. Angry. Different. Wants universal healthcare. Seemed a little tired.

Andrew Yang - Likeable enough. Stoked to see others talking about universal basic income. Has different tax idea with VAT.

Elizabeth Warren - Feels entitled to the richest Americans’ money. Sort of the epitome of the Democratic Party left. Wants 95% of student debts forgiven. Seemed a little tired.

Tom Steyer - Threw the candidates a bone. Anti-Trump like everybody else and praised himself for being an original. Billionaire apparently.

Beto O’Rourke - Can’t listen to this guy. Seems so rehearsed. Good points and ideas sometimes. Seems greener than Buttigieg somehow.

Cory Booker - Indignant. Interested. Willing. No frills. Knows they will lose the impeachment vote in the senate.

Julian Castro - Seems professional. Like he’s drinking his own kool aid, but could probably land a better job after the election.

My intermittent fasting is going well. Today is the 14th day, so I haven’t eaten for six days and after today it will be seven days without food.

It is working well and I have lost a few pounds. Since I keep track of everything that I eat in my calorie log, I have noticed that I eat more on the days that I eat. In fact, I have eaten up to 4,200 calories in a day.

If I ate 6,000 calories every other day it would invalidate my diet because I would eat the same amount of calories in two days that I burn in two days. However, I don’t eat that much.

Burning 1,800-2,000 calories or more every two days is good. This means I could burn a pound every four days or about two pounds a week. Since I have been on this fast for two weeks, I have probably lost four pounds including a little water weight.

My clothes are fitting better and I can tell that my body is shrinking. It is doing it at a slower rate than usual because I usually fast without any food for up to a week or two. I still have a long way to go though.

I exercise a lot because I ride my bike about 10 miles a day around town. I also stretch and do some yoga poses. At the end of the day my body feels like it got a good workout. I don’t change this based on whether I eat or not.

On days that I don’t eat I drink a lot of black coffee, unsweetened green tea and red tea. All organic. I also try hard to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water.

Today is Day 14 of 80 days. If I lost 4-5 pounds, then I could lose about 25 pounds in the end. That is about what I lost when I fasted without food for 40 days in a row.

I chow down on eating days and eat cashews, lentil and vegetable soup, granola bars, corn chips, potato chips, broccoli, pretzels, pea chips, red wine, Rockstar drinks, pumpkin seeds, apples and grapes. All organic.

Somehow this diet is easier than eating half of one day’s calories in two days. In other words if I eat 4,200 calories one day and skip eating the next day I could also eat 2,100 calories every day and achieve the same result. That would work because I still burn about 3,000 calories a day.

I like fasting and the feeling of an empty stomach. I like drinking fluids and avoiding food. It simplifies life and every day brings me closer to my goal.

I have been pulling organic sesame oil and sucking on tiny pieces of real organic black licorice from time to time. I have also burned sage and ingested organic garlic and organic turmeric with organic black pepper supplements. They improve my health and my stomach tolerates them even when it’s empty.

Good luck in your diets and fasts.

I started intermittent fasting on October 1. I am fasting every other day for 80 days. In October, I am eating on the odd numbered days. I don’t eat on even numbered days.

It has went well so far. It is about 10% over because today is Day 8 out of 80 days. I will fast for 40 days and it will end on December 20, 2019.

I have fasted for 40 consecutive days, but I have never intermittently fasted this long or this way. Avoiding food for one day is not very difficult, but ingesting some Himalayan pink salt has helped.

I think I will lose 1-2 pounds a week at this rate. I will take some pictures and weigh myself soon. I am more interested in how I feel and look though. It will be interesting to see how much my body changes.

When I am finished I will be able to compare the two different kinds of 40 day fasts. Perhaps one of them is easier or more effective.

If you are thinking about fasting you might want to start with a list of reasons. As I considered this fast I started making a list of reasons. They are personal, so I may not share them, but that is a good motivator.

On days when I don’t eat I drink a lot of water. I also drink black organic coffee and unsweetened organic tea (red and green). I haven’t had any honey or apple cider vinegar yet. I drink a swig or two of organic red wine throughout the day.

Yesterday I exercised at the gym in addition to my regular routine (bicycling about 10 miles around town). I also stretched and practiced yoga. It felt good and I can tell that my body is shrinking.

One good thing about this fast is that my body doesn’t change quite as fast, so I have a better perception of its size.

When I fast for extended periods of time in consecutive days my body changes quickly. It makes it difficult to remember how much my body has changed, but cutting the metamorphosis speed in half helps.

Good luck in your fasts.

My perspective on chocolate has changed over the years.

When I was young I ate it on occasion. I liked Hershey’s bars, M&Ms, Kit Kat bars, Mars bars, Snickers, Reese’s cups, etc. I would also eat chocolate in cakes, cookies, muffins, fudge, chocolate sauce, etc. After I went organic, I gave a lot of those up, but I have found lots of great organic chocolate brands and a few products.

Some chocolate is considered “vegan” because it has no dairy in it. That is the kind that I like to eat. However, I rarely eat it now because it is just a decadent snack. I have to remember to check the ingredients because the organic chocolate brands vary.

I used to think eating dark chocolate improved my health, but I came to realize that I needed to eat an extraordinary amount to make a difference. I don’t see it as a health supplement any more.

As an organic vegetarian and somebody that wants to leave animals including cows alone, I prefer eating the non-dairy version on occasion. It tastes great and it is healthier and better for the environment even if there are fewer places that sell it.

I don’t think chocolate is bad in moderation, but limiting my intake to 1-2 200-300 calorie servings a week is plenty. It still has a high sugar content. The bars with quinoa in them have a nice crunch and provide some fiber.

Since I don’t drink sodas or eat most sugary foods sometimes I have a few calories to spare and I don't mind spending them on chocolate. Tasting things like Coconut Bliss' Dark Chocolate vegan ice cream bars makes me realize that great tasting chocolate doesn't require dairy. At first it was pretty mind-blowing because I thought it was a critical ingredient.

When I was a kid, I ate everything. However, my parents preferred giving me healthy food.

My mom packed a healthy lunch for me in a brown bag or lunchbox every day. It always included fruit, a sandwich and a snack or two like string cheese or pretzels.

My dad usually cooked dinner, but my mom did too. He cooked steak, chicken, fish and other stuff. My mom cooked pasta and made cookies, salads, etc. Once in a while we ate out at a restaurant and even a fast food place maybe once or twice a month.

In 2013, I stopped eating “conventional” food and started eating only organic food. My diet started changing in 2012, but I didn’t go full blown organic yet, so I switched my food (not drinks) to only organic food.

At the time I liked eating large tubs of yogurt, but they usually weren’t organic, so I had to get more picky. I was drinking Starbucks coffee which wasn’t organic, but I left it behind in 2014. I switched to only organic liquids 1-2 years after I switched to eating only organic food.

I have always liked cheese on pizza and in burritos and other dishes. However, I have always liked eggs alone and in dishes too. I stopped eating eggs in March of 2019. I was eating organic eggs and I felt like I had enough. The consistency grossed me out too.

I think my digestive system is ok with dairy foods, but not if I eat an excessive amount of them. Eating non-dairy coconut milk popsicles tastes like ice cream. There is also a brand or two that makes non-dairy ice cream that tastes good.

I gave up yogurt because even after eating organic yogurt I realized it didn’t have the probiotics that I needed. It only contained a few of them at best. I don’t like the taste, but I drink organic apple cider vinegar because it is a prebiotic and I think it’s much better.

My parents have been big believers in milk. They always gave it to me and my dad still drinks it every day. He doesn’t drink organic milk, so I think he is actually getting steroids and antibiotics in it not to mention sugars. Milk may have aspartame in it because they were trying to get it in milk without putting it on the label.

Cheese was the last food from the dairy department that I gave up. I actually gave it up on Twitter when I was trying to explain my diet. I knew it wasn’t very healthy, I hardly ate it and I couldn’t defend my need for it. It felt good to change on a dime.

Most of my food choices revolve around health, the environment and my affection for animals. Even though I am an organic vegetarian, some things like cheese seem to be harmless and even beneficial. Eventually I thought it did more harm than good though.

There is a lot of saturated fat in cheese. It clogs veins and arteries and raises your blood pressure. It also comes from cows that must be used for their byproducts and I’d prefer to avoid being involved.

Avoiding cheese has been pretty easy. Once in a while I have seen cheesy chips or popcorn that I have wanted and I just recall that I don’t eat cheese. I found an organic substitute for cheese popcorn and it tastes great.

Since it is difficult to find cheese and other foods in the organic variety it makes it easier to avoid them. If everybody sold them in my favorite foods around town they would be tempting.

I used to be an organic Lacto-Ovo-Pesco vegetarian because I used to eat only organic food including dairy, eggs and fish. Now I avoid eggs and dairy and I eat fish once or twice a year. You could call it an organic pescatarian diet, but organic vegetarian is probably more accurate.

I am slowly giving up fish. There are enough fish in the sea to feed me a meal a couple of times a year. However, I am concerned about the plastic, mercury and lead in their diet. I also think fish may have feelings after all and they are probably just another animal that we should not kill.

Part of the reason I’ve avoided giving up fish is because they’re in the Bible. Raised as a Christian I was taught that eating fish was fine. Jesus did a miracle with fish and some of the disciples were fishermen. I increasingly see little or no need for it and a risk by continuing to eat it though, so I am sure I’ll quit soon. I can get fish’s nutrients in other foods even if it isn’t easy.

I actually became organic before vegetarian, but I sort of did it at the same time. Organic was the priority because I wanted to live as long as possible and I could tell that the filthy streets of Long Beach were going to quickly take their toll.

Now I am breathing cleaner air in Hawaii as I have been becoming a stricter organic vegetarian. People love fish here, but I see what is in the ocean, so I have to be picky and it may be best to avoid seafood altogether if possible.

Are you on social media platforms? Have you used Reddit or Twitter? I have used both of them and these are the pros and cons.

Pros of Reddit

Reddit’s design makes it easier to connect with likeminded people because it breaks communication into subreddits (aka subs) for different topics. For instance, you can talk to people about Hawaii in the r/Hawaii group. You can ask users a question in r/AskReddit, discuss religion in r/Christianity and post an angry rant in r/rant.

There are subs for all kinds of topics and after you use Reddit for 30 days you can create your own subreddit and be the moderator. I did this and mine is called r/1sdkid and it is for all kinds posts.

Upvoting and downvoting posts and comments is a little childish, but it is better than the like button. I lobbied Twitter to remove the like button or add a dislike button. However, I still think both platforms could do away with all sorts of popularity counts and it would improve them.

You can write the moderators and they will usually respond. You can also write the main Redditor administrators and they will respond. This comes in handy if you have a question or if somebody is harassing you.

Reddit is anonymous because nobody uses their real name as their username. Most people don’t even write anything in their bio. You can follow users, but follower counts are not public (at least not yet) and they certainly aren’t used like the merit badge they purport to be on Twitter.

You can’t get globally banned from Reddit without doing something horrible. They do not care or take it into consideration if you get banned from a subreddit.

Cons of Reddit

Some subreddits have weird rules (e.g. adding words to the subject line, selecting a flair, etc.) and if you post in a lot of them they can be hard to remember. Your post will be rejected if it doesn’t follow the rules. For instance, if you post a video link in a subreddit that does not allow them it will be rejected. If you break the rules enough times they can ban you from that group.

Some subreddits have moderators that ban users very quickly. I have been banned from almost a dozen groups and half of them were for simply making one post that was meant to be a joke. Some mods take themselves way too seriously and some groups are full of deranged people.

I have been banned from the following subreddits and I do not recommend them:

r/latterdaysaints
r/The_Donald
r/donaldtrump
r/democrats
r/Catholicism
r/news
r/inthenews
r/McDonalds
r/quotes
r/quotations

Reddit does not provide a way to backup posts and comments. The only way to do it is to scroll down while viewing your posts or comments and when your computer has loaded all of them you can copy and paste them or save the page, but that could take a long time if you have a lot of them.

Pros of Twitter

Twitter makes it easy to follow and write messages to celebrities, world leaders, professional athletes, musicians and the media. You simply have to know their username to contact them.

Twitter is constantly advertised by businesses, so lots of people are on Twitter and sometimes they use their real name too. Twitter verification is not a bad idea, but I told them they should verify everybody instead of picking winners and losers.

Twitter is also good for connecting with your elected representatives and hearing about natural disaster warnings from government agencies. You can follow them and read what they tweet.

Twitter makes it easy to backup all of your tweets. You can download them in one file.

Cons of Twitter

Twitter does not support freedom of speech and they have rules regarding what you can and can’t say and they aren’t very clear. I was suspended three times for stupid reasons and after the third time they would not reinstate my account.

Twitter’s verification system seems arbitrary because they have verified people that hardly anybody knows with a few thousand followers, but they have not verified others with 10-20 times the number of followers. They provide special features for verified users and users tend to follow them more often, so it is unfair.

Twitter does not make it very easy to scroll through the pictures that you have tweeted. There is no link to see them and you must scroll through all sorts of other tweets to find them. This is a hassle and why I had to use Instagram too.

Donald Trump. Need I say more? Twitter is a worse place because of Donald Trump’s tweets. For the first time in history a U.S. president regularly uses Twitter and tweets absolutely horrible things to people putting down their religion, race, socioeconomic status and politics. He boasts, brags and lies. It is like watching a bus full of people burning. You hate to see it, but you can’t look away.

Twitter deletes all of your tweets if you get banned. It is like you were never even there. They also delete your lists. Sadly, you can’t back them up after being banned.

Conclusion

Even though I had over 180,000 followers on Twitter, more people respond to my posts and comments on Reddit. They are different platforms that feature different things, but both of them are useful, unique and could use improvement.

I could return to Twitter under a pseudonym, but I haven’t and I probably won’t. If they don’t want me there, then I don’t want to be there. Even though I miss communicating with users on Twitter they need me more than I need them.

I felt this departure coming for a while. The Twitter administrators are a weird group of fundamentalists with strange expectations that I don’t understand or respect. However, Reddit has filled some of the void.

In case you were wondering I was suspended on Twitter three times, but none of my suspensions were for good reasons. The first time was when I responded to Catholic trolls that attacked me for replying to Pope Francis’ tweet. The second time was for asking comedian Daniel Tosh if he was retarded. The third time was for telling off an anti-choice jerk because she said people should not let their kids near me because I am pro-choice.

Before I posted my final tweet I paused and thought about it. I had a feeling that they may suspend and ban me for it, but I tweeted it anyway because I had no desire to walk on eggshells or be somebody that I wasn’t. I am proud to say that I did Twitter my way and went out with a bang.

I don’t think that people should be suspended or banned for doing anything except for breaking the law (e.g. making death threats). If social media companies would simply require users to follow the existing laws instead of making up their own weird, subjective rules it would be better, more consistent and free.

I think social media companies should be regulated like public utilities. Jack Dorsey and the other CEOs have a lot of power and when they ban somebody they prevent them from easily communicating with a lot of people. This isn’t fair or right and there is no arbitration or 3rd party review. It is their way or the highway.

Good luck and have fun.

I don’t miss Twitter at all because I am resilient and I have a lot on my plate.

The first few years that I used Twitter I mainly used it as an announcement service anyway. I followed so many users that I couldn’t see anybody’s feed. After I unfollowed everybody in 2018 and followed a few hundred people it became even more like 2-way communication in real time.

Instead of tweeting my quotes I made a web page for them on my website. I post them almost every day and sometimes more than once. I may publish a book of them. I have already published one book of 10,000 quotes.

Reddit has made the transition away from Twitter easier. I like how I can use many more characters in my posts and comments. The karma, upvoting and downvoting is ok. It is like Twitter, but there are different groups instead of one big group and it does not focus on followers.

I took a two week break from Instagram as soon as I left Twitter about a month ago. It didn’t feel the same anymore, so I wanted to rethink how and if I wanted to use Instagram without Twitter.

Yesterday I created an Instagram widget and embedded it on the left side of my website. There are six thumbnail pics that visitors can click or hover over and read about. Since I have used IG for years it has become a good photo album. There are pics from Oahu and Maui, San Diego, Miami and everywhere in between.

I feel like I have a lot more time without using Twitter. I think I am also probably more balanced throughout the day and night. There are a lot of mean people that tweet offensive things on Twitter. It is a shame that Twitter can’t be as liberal as the U.S. laws allow. Since they aren’t that way it means they are controlling allowable speech. They want people to conform to their expectations.

The verification system on Twitter is nonsense. Everybody or nobody should be verified. They should at least make it optional for everybody. They are in essence picking winners and losers because verified users get more followers just because they are verified. They also get more features. Twitter has revoked verification for arbitrary reasons as well. It is always bad when a company with all the power is inconsistent.

Talking to politicians, musicians, funny people and reporters was exciting on Twitter. I saw the way it influenced and was consumed and ignored. I saw a lot of people running like the demon possessed sheep that ran off a cliff and died.

Now I do not use Twitter or Facebook. I haven’t used Facebook for years. I post and comment on Reddit, upload pics and videos on Instagram and edit Wikipedia. I also upload my poetry and quotes to my website. I like my creative outlets now.

Twitter is unfair and they should not ban people after three suspensions. Every suspension I got was equally stupid and unnecessary. They are acting like the Christian schools I attended as a child.

Once a year in grades 1-8 I’d get a spanking from the principal. With it came threats of suspensions and expulsion, but I persisted and graduated. I did not get spanked in high school because they didn’t do that there, but they threw me out in 11th and 12th grades. That is how Twitter seems.

In 11th grade they threw me out for the accumulation of referrals. They were for dumb stuff like wheeling Mark Baldwin down the hill in a teacher’s rolling chair and my hair touching my shirt collar in chapel. Also, talking in class. I didn’t think throwing me out was fair or right for the Christian school to do because I was a 16-year-old Christian. I enjoyed attending Valhalla High School twice and graduating from there though.

I was thrown out in 12th grade for attending a party at my girlfriend’s house with my buddies. There was beer there and that was against the rules, but I digress.

Finally, since 2012 I have always used airplane mode, so I do not get notices about messages unless I am at a WiFi network. This is always liberating just like not being on Twitter and Facebook feels liberating.

I think it is funny that Taylor Swift dropped her new hit song “You Need to Calm Down” on the day that I was suspended for the final time. June 14. I also think it is funny that I was suspended on Flag Day and after I appealed it the suspension was upheld on Father’s Day. June 16.

O.J. Simpson joined Twitter and tweeted his first video on June 14 too.

Enjoy your life! I am!

When I heard Bruno Mars first song on the radio, I liked it. He has a good voice and a talented band. Just the Way You Are used to make me think about my daughter.

I also liked Grenade and then I guess he grew up. What seemed like a cute innocent song about a girl turned out to be the beginning of something weird. I don’t like any other Mars songs. Sure, you can dance to them, but something seems off to me.

It seems like Mars has changed. He started singing when he was a small child, so he has grown up a lot. I think I just caught him in between stages.

Apparently Mars was born in Honolulu and he has a Mexican heritage. His real name is Pedro Gene Hernandez.

I live in Hawaii and I have tweeted some things to him that might have seemed strange, so I wanted to clarify. I don’t hate Mars and I’m not jealous of him. I just don’t care for his music anymore.

I rarely stop liking a musician, so that is why it has seemed weird and I wanted to explain. It’s nothing personal. It’s just not my cup of tea because I thought he was somebody else. I think I saw him becoming somebody else too.

Kimie Miner and Anuhea are two musicians from Hawaii that I like. I also like listening to Jack Johnson, Maoli, Sean Na'auao, Garrett Douglas, Don Ho, Hoku, Eli Mac and others.

Unless you believe things like the sun stood still, a man parted the sea, a man walked on water and a man rose from the dead some things in the Bible are clearly untrue. Is Jesus a liar though?

Since none of Jesus’ writings exist it is difficult to accuse him of lying. If he did not make any claims, then none of his claims could be false. However, the gospels are written about Jesus. They quote him and talk about his miracles. Some of them may be fabrications though.

On one hand Jesus might have been honest and others simply lied about him. It seems quite obvious that they lied about many things including the resurrection. Jesus could have been a revolutionary leader that said and did many great things and his followers simply exaggerated and lied to increase their following especially after his death.

On the other hand if what the Bible writers wrote was true to their recollection (e.g. Jesus told them it was true or they were in on a conspiracy), then Jesus might have lied. If we are to believe that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (which is impossible), then who do we pin the lie on? Was Jesus complicit?

Since the gospels were written after Jesus’ death and their canonization was much later Jesus obviously had no say about what was true or not. Consequently, I don’t think that we can prove Jesus lied. The gospel writers that wrote to convince people to believe had an agenda and if somebody lied it was likely them.

I finished writing and Amazon published 103 Haikus in Maui yesterday. I like their publishing and print-on-demand features for authors. It was the 36th book that I have published.

Here is the List of Haikus:



I am starting a new fast tomorrow, so I am also going to write my fasting book this week. I am not aiming for a certain page count, but I will just “ramble on” about the unique things I have learned from fasting. I have written an outline with seven chapters, so I think I know what I want to say the most.

After I publish my 40th book which will likely be in 2020, I am going to record audiobooks. Reading the poetry books will take some time, but it could be fun and worth it. I have published over a dozen poetry books. Maybe I can speak them like Alec Baldwin or Bernie Sanders. JK.

I will probably fast for 10 days maybe with a break in the middle. We’ll see. The book could take a week.

Today is the 2-year anniversary of my mom’s death. It is easy to remember because she passed away on the first day of summer after a botched surgery in Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, California. I would stay away from Dr. Lin and Dr. Mohedin because I don’t think they know what they are doing. If my mom didn’t sign all of her rights away pre-surgery, I think we could have sued them and won because they messed up so badly and it resulted in her death.

My dad, my best friend Charlie and I scattered my mom’s ashes in Wailea in front of the condo where they liked to visit Maui. We have the exact coordinates and we have agreed to scatter my dad’s ashes there after he passes away. I am thinking about visiting today. It looks like there will be a beautiful sunset.

Since my mom took about 20 years off work to raise me while my dad worked I spent a lot of time with her. She loved me a lot and was there for me. We had a lot of fun and I thought she would live at least another 10-15 years. She was a person of great faith, so maybe we will meet again in the afterlife.

Take time to tell people you love them and spend time with them. Things can change in the blink of an eye and never be the same. I still have all the emails from my dad while she was in the hospital fighting for her life. It looked like she was going to pull out of it, but she didn’t and I miss her all the time. RIP Mom.

Do you want to tweet Mark Zuckerberg? Well, the billionaire manchild is too afraid to get his own Twitter account, but his company Facebook has one. This is how you reach him.

If you want to contact Mark Zuckerberg on Twitter you tweet:

@Facebook #MarkZuckerberg

If you write Zuckerberg you might want to ask him some questions. Did he get lots of nudes after he asked for them? Is he going to sell ads to Russians again? Does he still let the government spy on people and give them customer info?

I think it is appropriate that the pound sign (aka the hashtag symbol #) also stands for fuck. Even though you have to take the extra step of typing a hashtag to contact Zuckerberg you can rest easy because you are also saying, “Fuck Mark Zuckerberg”.

Since I wrote about my top three 2020 Democratic presidential candidates I also wanted to write about my three least favorite candidates. They include Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris.

Joe Biden would make a poor president for many reasons. A lot of the problems in America and in the world today are a result of decisions that he made while serving in Congress and as Vice President. For instance, he doesn’t seem to know what to do about the $22 trillion debt except for add to it.

Biden is also a Catholic and there are already too many Catholics in Congress and the Supreme Court. We need less superstitious people in office and not more superstitious people. He also does not seem to have a strong moral compass and will change his position willy-nilly.

Elizabeth Warren would make a poor president too. I do not believe that she understands and cares about hundreds of different issues, but I think she reads a teleprompter and hires good researchers and speech writers. I would like to know which issues she cares about the most and who she will appoint to her cabinet because she is clearly throwing ideas on the wall to see what sticks.

Warren likes to be liked a lot. She will be 71 years old by the 2020 election and she seemingly dreams up bad, far-left ideas. I think she knows that they will probably never be implemented, but she wants to reach a demographic to get them to vote for her. These are not the things that we need in a president now.

Kamala Harris would also be a poor president. Since she was the attorney general in California in 2011, I have the same problems with her that I do with former Governor Jerry Brown and former President Obama. I used to live in California and the medical marijuana collective that I directed was illegally destroyed by the government in 2011 and I had to fight a tremendous legal battle.

Harris lacks vision like Brown and others in California. If they had vision they would have had a plan to prevent forest fires that have devastated the state. If they had vision they would have had a plan to prevent the drought that devastated the state. Developing desalination technology, planting more indigenous plants and clearing dead underbrush before fire season are a few simple ideas.

Dishonorable mention: “Beto” O’Rourke and Andrew Yang

In 2011 and 2012, I was screwed by the legal system in San Diego, California. However, I was not only screwed by the legal system, I was also screwed by sexism at Child Protective Services (aka Child Welfare Services).

My former wife and I were growing medical marijuana for a collective that I directed. It was legal in every way because the roughly 50 patients had their paperwork and we had a copy of it. It was even incorporated as a mutual benefit nonprofit corporation. However, it didn’t matter because they found a way to get us before it was recreationally legal.

We had a dispute with my neighbor because he was a religious nutcase and did not like us growing medical marijuana. We happened to have a daughter too. My neighbor lied to the police and told them that he was unable to rent his back house because of the marijuana smell.

The plants in the greenhouse that my former wife and I built was in the enclosed, side yard in between our homes on our property which was divided by a 6’ fence. They were not flowering, so they didn’t even smell. I also spoke to a man that talked to them about renting their back house and he said my neighbor wanted too much money for it. However, he lied to the police and told them that our child was mixed up in the “mayhem” too.

On March 10, 2011, four branches of the government (San Diego police department, Dept. of Forestry, DEA and CPS) broke down my front door with a battering ram and arrested us. We were charged with four felonies: cultivation of marijuana, distribution of marijuana, possession with intent to sell marijuana and child endangerment. We lost our daughter for seven months and had to go through CPS’ steps of classes and supervised visitation in their San Diego county offices to reunify with her. I had to take a bus for about two hours to see my daughter once a week.

When people hear stories like this they always wonder what was really going on. When they broke down our door, there were no other drugs (although marijuana is more like an herbal supplement) in the house. There were no guns. There was no money and there were only about 3-4 ounces of marijuana in glass mason jars. By the way they acted they were expecting to find other things, but we never had any of those things.

My former wife was better at “playing the game” and she seemed like she was ready for this to happen. She confessed and sang like a songbird when they questioned her before they even drove us to jail. Apparently she was already jockeying to get custody of our child and sell me down the river.

When you have a child and both parents have criminal charges like these you must go to two courts: child (aka juvenile) court and criminal court. We had separate attorneys (a different one for each court too) and we were unable to properly defend ourselves in child court because it could have convicted us in criminal court.

We were behaving legally according to California's medical marijuana laws, but we still had to fight the charge of child endangerment and it took an entire year to do so. It sort of handcuffed us and made us lose Jordan for seven months and go through their twisted reunification process. You can read about everything in a journal-like, day-by-day account that I wrote as it was happening in my book The Wrong Side on Amazon.com.

In the end we took a one misdemeanor plea deal in child endangerment on the day of our trial because they only offered us a one felony plea deal in child endangerment until that day. Otherwise, we would have had to fight all four charges and could have faced years of jail time. Somehow my former wife was awarded 90% custody and I was given 10% custody of our daughter Jordan. She was 9-years-old too.

It was very unfair and I was not going to stay in San Diego and beg my former wife to see my daughter and that is what would have happened. I would have gotten to see her three days a month and anything extra would have had to have been negotiated. I think she knew that she got away with murder because she never even asked me or a judge for child support.

In 2006, my former wife slapped our daughter on the leg and she screamed. When I walked into the room and asked if everything was ok she came after me and hit me. Jordan and I ran down the hallway and locked the bedroom door behind us. I had never seen her that way, so I called the police and they arrested her for domestic violence. We could have gotten a restraining order, but we accepted her apology. I only say that to show how her arrest record still didn’t matter to the people that gave her 90% custody of our daughter.

I have missed my daughter dearly and I have been concerned about her welfare, but I won’t talk to my former wife again. I never wanted to be away from Jordan and I love her very much. I taught her everything. We did everything together and I remember dropping her off at school in the morning and the ways that we connected all the time. Being away from her due to the government’s decrees has been tragic.

It is great that marijuana is recreationally legal in California now. However, the fact that it is still federally illegal is very concerning. Its illegality gives the government and corrupt people a loophole to take advantage of others like we and specifically me and my daughter were taken advantage of.

Many people think it doesn’t matter if the cops don’t care about prosecuting people which is the case in a lot of places around the country. There is no law that makes it legal, but cops just look the other way. However, if somebody is out to get you they can get you especially if it is not recreationally legal.

Despite being legal on the state level the federal government (e.g. the DEA) can always raid your home or collective and press charges against marijuana users. Fortunately, there are many rich and powerful marijuana sellers, manufacturers, consumers and growers now, so the chances are growing increasingly smaller that the federal government will take action against them. The laws still need to be fixed though because depending on which people are in office and law enforcement they can still bust anybody in the country with marijuana.

Last edit: June 21, 2019

More than 20 people are vying for the Democratic presidential candidate nomination for the 2020 election. My top three choices are Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard.

Bernie Sanders is qualified from spending many years in Congress. Many of the elected representatives in Congress have become part of the problem, but he has tried to fix a lot of the problems. He also voted against the disastrous Iraq War that has opened a can of worms in the Middle East.

Some people dislike Sanders because they say he is a socialist. However, America is a capitalistic society and nobody can throw a switch and turn it into socialism. There are actually already many socialist programs like social security, welfare, food assistance and public housing. Socialist services also include the police, fire departments, military, public schools, public libraries, roads, etc. Let’s not forget airport security, the FDA and EPA too.

Sanders has a good knowledge of the government and I like his vision for U.S. Free healthcare seems wise in light of the way the government has allowed people to pollute the planet and consume food that causes diseases. Free college tuition (at least at the community college level) seems wise too. The more educated people are the better decisions they will make and people need education more now than ever before.

Pete Buttigieg is another one of my favorite Democratic Party candidates. He is personable and he served the country in the Navy. He is also smart, sensible and has a good sense of humor.

Buttigieg is appealing to me because he has experience serving the country at the local level as mayor, but he has no experience in Congress. He is 37-years-old, so he is younger than many of the other candidates, so he brings a youthful vigor to the race. He is also more in touch with modern problems and solutions opposed to the generation that grew up with two tin cans tied to a string.

Tulsi Gabbard is one of my favorites because she is smart and passionate. She is beautiful too the first female president will probably correct issues that have plagued a country that has been ruled by men. She is my representative in Congress because I live in her district in Hawaii. In fact, I have lived in her district in Oahu and Maui.

Gabbard is an anti-war veteran and that is rare. She is unafraid to meet world leaders that the government does not like. She loves her country and has a passion for the underdog. Gabbard knows the effects of climate change, wants to end reliance on fossil fuels and knows how destructive the war on drugs (especially marijuana) has been.

Honorable mention: Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar

Today is Father’s Day and this morning Twitter said my third suspension is permanent. I’ve deleted the application and asked them for my data because I don’t want anything to do with them anymore. It’s a shame that all of my tweets, polls and lists are gone now. I said goodbye to Instagram and opened a Reddit account too.

Twitter is a horrible place. Have you ever read Donald Trump’s tweets or conversed with his followers? How about the anti-choice crowd? Talk about Trump Derangement Syndrome. I rest my case.

There are lowbrow jerks on Twitter and when you respond to bullies and express yourself they suspend your account. They make you conform to a subjective set of speech rules, so I feel liberated now and I never want to use their website again.

Today I learned that O.J. Simpson opened a Twitter account on Friday. I think it is fitting that a convicted murderer started using Twitter on the day that my account was permanently suspended. They will not hear my insights or exhortations anymore, but they are welcome to hear his bullshit.

I think my ex-wife is mentally ill and my daughter never liked her much, but she won 90% custody because Child Protective Services (aka Child Welfare Services) is sexist. I do not want to go through my ex-wife to speak to my daughter, so I have to wait a little over a year until she turns 18 to reunite with her. I am looking forward to it a lot because I taught her everything, we were very close and we are family. Unfortunately, she has had to be around a lot of nutty religious hypocrites.

Today is the 5-year anniversary of my favorite baseball player’s death. Tony Gwynn was an outstanding ballplayer for the San Diego Padres and I always liked watching him play. I saw a tribute video about him and I wrote a tribute on Reddit. RIP Tony. You will always be one of the greats.

It is unwise to put your hard work on a website that can remove it for any reason and that is what Twitter does. Fortunately, I backed up most of my tweets because they are gone now. When they suspended my account for the second time, I deleted all of my tweets from their website because I didn’t trust them anymore and they were not respecting my data, my wishes or my rights.

Today I updated my web pages, removed links and linked pages and websites that I am using now. I look forward to the future and the way that things are changing.

I joined Twitter in 2011 when I was charged with four felonies and fighting for my freedom. The federal government testified that they spied on my Facebook account, so I was done with them. I just wanted to let people know what they were doing to me for growing medical marijuana for a legal collective in California. I ended up taking a one misdemeanor plea deal with no jail time to avoid going to trial and since recreational marijuana sales were legalized in 2018, I consider my Twitter experience a success.

Good luck.

The last time Congress approved a federal minimum wage increase was in 2007. To put that in perspective Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was 17-years-old and George W. Bush was the president.

I think it is time to increase the federal minimum wage, but increasing it from $7.25 to $15 is absurd. People that demand it to be raised to $15 probably don’t understand that everybody will have to pay more for things. Proponents act like millionaires and billionaires will just pay people more money out of their riches, but it won’t work that way. People tend to forget that the only thing that rich people love more than money is getting more money.

Politicians in Congress that protest with people to raise the minimum wage are puzzling. It is their job to raise the minimum wage. Are they protesting themselves for not doing their job?

I think it would be wise to raise the minimum wage to $10 or $12. However, 15 states and the District of Columbia already have a minimum wage that is either near $10 or over $10. No matter what the federal minimum wage is states can pass their own minimum wage laws. A steep hike may put small businesses out of business due to being unable to pay their employees a lot more money.

Many things need to be changed in America and I understand that people need money. However, when I see people protesting for more money I always wish that they were protesting for higher quality food and clean vehicles instead of just more money to continue selling subar stuff. However, if they raise the federal minimum wage a lot and the cost of products increases it will inevitably result in people buying less of them, so it may help a little.

To people arguing for a $15 federal minimum wage, which is more important, more money in your pocket or a habitable planet? Perhaps you should not even be working at your job if they are destroying the planet and you are making some idiots rich.

On June 2, 2019, I added TDS-B (Trump Derangement Syndrome - Type B) to the Trump Derangement Syndrome entry on Wikipedia. I used information on Urban Dictionary and Twitter because it was readily available and addressed the opposite of TDS. However, it was reverted and removed.

I wanted to write a separate entry for TDS-B because it resembles the opposite of TDS. However, after posting a message and receiving a reply in the Talk page I decided to simply add it to the TDS entry.

I first noticed traditional TDS among some anti-Trump liberals. However, I have also noticed a form of TDS among pro-Trump conservatives, but it is different. UD mentions both in the same page like it is the same thing, so I wanted to differentiate.

Here is the article that I wrote:

‪TDS-B‬

‪TDS characterizes an ailment that affects some liberals, but others argue that some of Trump’s conservative supporters have TDS too, but with different symptoms. These symptoms can include paranoia, playing the victim, abandoning logic and reason, a disconnect with reality and misplacing blame. Sometimes TDS-B is characterized by racism, xenophobia, homophobia and violent, homicidal or genocidal positions especially toward immigrants.‬ ‪Some say TDS-B is the opposite of TDS and others have associated it with being in a cult. It has also been associated with authoritarianism.‬

I also cited two tweets and the UD article. Also, here is a link to the TDS Wikipedia page and the Talk page in case you want to read them or contribute. Here is how it looked on Wikipedia.

If you are on Wikipedia and want to stroke their ego by citing it with other sources the way they like it by all means go ahead and do it. When I have some time, I may find some “approved sources”. It is ironic that it was rejected because Urban Dictionary is created by users like Wikipedia is. It looks like they have the same standard to me.

I found it unfortunate that the other basis it was rejected was “no original research” because I called it TDS-B. It has to be called something. I don’t like citing myself as a source, but it seems childish to wait until somebody else says TDS-B before it can be typed on Wikipedia.

Some odd people control Wikipedia sometimes, but I digress.

Good luck,
Jason

On May 8, a 35-year-old hiker named Amanda Eller got lost in the Makawao Forest Reserve in Maui and fell 20 feet down a ravine and injured herself. She was unable to get out, so she survived for 17 days until a search party found her.

On May 14, I searched the forest for her, but I didn’t see any sign of her. I took a bus from Kahului to Makawao and walked 2-3 miles to the forest. I had never been there before, but I followed the trail map and walked around for about 90 minutes.

The forest was beautiful and the air was clean. I took a trail and there were some switchbacks and it gave me a taste of what it was like. I noticed a search party on my way to the top, but I didn’t talk to them or join them. I just wanted to do my own thing and let them do their thing.

I didn’t like hearing that somebody in my community was missing. It bothered me a lot possibly because I lost my daughter in 2011 and it eventually compelled me to look for her. I wondered if there was a bad person or a monster in the forest and I was shocked that they could not find her for so long. I wondered if they knew what they were doing. The longest trail is only 6.2-miles and it is a loop with some switchbacks, so it only extends for about three miles.




The search party included helicopters, rapellers, search and rescue dogs, police, fire department and hundreds of volunteers. It was on the local and national news every day too. Eller’s parents came and raised money to put together a search team and it worked. On May 20, I had asked the FBI to come and investigate because I did not think the police were going to find her.

On May 24, a helicopter that her dad hired presumably with money they raised on Gofundme.com spotted her and rescued her. She had a fractured leg and had lost 15-20 pounds. She also had bug bites and an infection. She survived on water from a waterfall and by foraging plants, berries and guava.




Yesterday Eller gave a press conference for an hour and answered questions and explained what happened. It was amazing to hear her tell the story. I hope she writes a book or it gets made into a movie. She is a strong person and her mental and physical discipline helped her get through it. Her account was moving and inspiring too. It was refreshing that she did not invoke a religion or proselytize, but simply mentioned her respect for a higher power.

I was intending to search with the search party on Friday, May 24 which was the day that they found her. However, I was rudely awakened at 2 a.m. and had to call the police to report an incident, so I got a poor night’s sleep and decided that I would go on Saturday if they hadn’t found her. Since the helicopter spotted her and I would have had to descend a 20’ ravine like she did I probably wouldn’t have found her. Also, they were assigning people areas, so I could have been in a totally different spot.

On May 20, I tweeted Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, USA Today, NBC, BBC, Newsy and Civil Beat to ask them to send reporters to Maui to cover the story. I told them the local news was not covering it very well because they focus on Oahu which has a much bigger population. Fortunately many major news stations covered the story and to KHON’s credit they broadcasted small segments and uploaded them to YouTube virtually every day. Sometimes they included a few more clues or what volunteer searchers and law enforcement were doing.

On May 22, I told somebody on Twitter that they needed their Tommy Lee Jones from The Fugitive movie to lead the way. Eller’s boyfriend seemed like he had PTSD and I knew he couldn’t do it. It turns out that Javier Cantellops was that guy. He had served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, he knew Eller and he spotted her from the helicopter.

On May 23, I created a Wikipedia article for Makawao Forest Reserve. I had not edited Wikipedia since 2006, but after I tweeted Jimmy Wales and he retweeted my request for somebody to make the page somebody told me I should make it. Over the course of a few days I learned how to code an article and wrote it as well as I could. Although I knew it had to focus on the forest, I created it to add the disappearance of Amanda Eller hoping that it would draw interest, coverage and more volunteer searchers.

On May 23, I also tweeted a musician named Corey Harper because he was in Maui. I asked him if he wanted to be a hero and encouraged him to join the search party on Friday. Since he was visiting with his girlfriend Ireland Bassinger-Baldwin which is Alec Baldwin and Kim Bassinger’s daughter it probably would have been covered by more media and disseminated further. I noticed that they were in Lahaina because I saw Ireland’s Instagram stories.

Since I have fasted for 40 days in Hawaii, I knew that Eller could survive for several more weeks without food. I also considered spending the night in the forest, but that would have been a bad decision. I figured somebody would smell a decaying dead body, so I thought she was alive in the forest.

There are also a couple of random things that I think are interesting. She slept one night in a boar’s den and my college fraternity friends nicknamed me boar. Also, I had been writing a book called 103 Haikus in Maui for several weeks and Eller lives in a town named Haiku. On May 16, I wrote one haiku about her and one about the forest.

When I began studying journalism in college in 2012, I started paying close attention to the news every day. During the last seven years I have heard a lot of depressing stories about suffering, murder and war, so this one is unique because it has a happy ending. In fact, I think it is the happiest story that I have heard this decade, so I wanted to blog about it.

I hope we learn something from this and never give up. There is truth in the adage “where there is a will, there is a way.”

9 pictures on Instagram that I took in the Makawao Forest Reserve

15. Beep your alarm all you want, but I don’t want your stinkmobile.

14. Are you on the way to a Polluter’s Anonymous meeting?

13. Do you like polluting on little babies or old ladies the most?

12. I am riding my bike in front of your vehicle because the shit smell comes out the back like your ass.

11. I will wear your sins, but I can’t redeem you.

10. What’s in your gas tank? Cherokee or Comanche?

9. Your descendants will die in your sins.

8. You are lucky that your kids bow down to your gods, but your grandkids will dance on your grave with me.

7. If all of you lose the same way it may look like winning.

6. Maybe you can move inland, avoiding buying coastal property and turn the bridges into drawbridges.

5. Do you drive around a sports team in your SUV or do you have a mental illness?

4. Were you unable to find the big one? The big one can’t find you.

3. We have obesity and pollution epidemics and somehow people can’t figure out how to solve them.

2. Light pollution, air pollution AND noise pollution!? Well, hook me up!

1. Do rainbows come out the back of that one?

When I was a little kid, I was overweight. In my childhood pictures I am chubby even though I liked and played sports. I have never been obese though.

In between 7th and 8th grades, before I had a growth spurt, I was 5’ 3” and I weighed 155 pounds. After my growth spurt and exercise regimen that summer I was 5’ 8” and 135 pounds which is in the healthy range. It was a drastic change. However, by the time I was a senior in high school I weighed over 180 pounds and I was about 5’ 10” which was overweight again.

I played football and soccer in high school, so I was typically a little heavier when I played football and I lost lots of weight when I played soccer. However, in my adult life I have been able to keep my weight in the 160-170 pound range which is the heavy end of the healthy scale for my height and body type. Fasting has helped a lot because I fast regularly for many days at a time. Exercising regularly and recording what I eat has helped as well.

When my mom passed away she was obese like her mom. She needed a knee replacement and it caused some health problems. I think her obesity affected her health and took years off her life. Her untimely death in a hospital because of a botched surgery prevented me from helping her lose the weight, but I had hoped that I would return to California one day to help and inspire her to get lean again.

I do not despise overweight or obese people. I feel bad for them and I wish I could lose the weight for them. I wonder why they don’t fast and eat healthier, but I do not make fun of fat people and I do not hate them. In fact, I feel the same way that I feel about coaching an underperforming athlete.

When I coached soccer I was frustrated because we didn’t win one time, so I called my dad and he said something wise. He said the kids want to win more than I want them to win. He said they are playing in front of their friends and family and want to do well more than I want them to do well and he was right. I think the same thing is true about overweight and obese people. They are aware of their weight and they want to be lean and healthy more than we want them to be that way, so harping on it is unnecessary and probably counterproductive.

I am an organic vegetarian which means I only eat organic vegetarian food. I’ve been this way for 5-6 years and I feel great. Some people ask if I am a vegan and I am not one.

I am not a vegan because vegans eat things that I would not give to animals or put in landfills. The food they eat is contaminated with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, etc. It is also grown in sludge (excrement) and has GMOs in it. These things tend to be bad for the human body, the environment and other lifeforms.

I consider honey to be medicine, so I enjoy swallowing a little each day. Vegans are apparently divided on it, but they tend to avoid it because bees make it. However, honey has health benefits and I think it has benefits that we’ve been unable to measure. There is nothing like it too. Agave and maple do not have the same benefits.

Organic food can’t have table salt in it because it contains synthetic additives like sodium aluminosilicate, silicon dioxide and magnesium carbonate. It also can’t have high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils or artificial sweeteners in it.

Organic food is healthier than vegan food. For instance, vegans eat processed food, but organic food is unprocessed or minimally processed. It can’t include synthetic preservatives, artificial colors or artificial flavors to be USDA certified organic food, but vegan food can have those additives. It also can’t have synthetic antibiotics or synthetic hormones in it.

The human body is organic. Yours was organic. I think food is like medicine or poison and you have to make the right choices to become healthy and stay healthy. The healthiest diet you can eat and the best one for the environment and other lifeforms is an organic vegetarian diet.

Some people eat with a lot of faith, but I don’t. I hope you eat the healthiest food that you can find and experience good health. The old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is true. Good luck.

I’ve used Twitter since 2011 and my account has been through a lot of changes. I’ve even weathered two spurious suspensions, unfollowed everybody, stopped developing my account and deleted all of my tweets (which are backed up on my website).

Every week about 100 users follow me. I am thankful for their interest and I hope they enjoy my tweets. Every week about 500 users unfollow me too.

I’ve analyzed my account for years with Tweepsmap and about 15% of my “unfollows” are actually accounts that get suspended. Most of the others are likely using software that automatically unfollows users that unfollow them after a period of time.

I developed my Twitter account for years by following 1,000 engaged users each day and eventually unfollowing users that didn’t follow me back. About 500 users would follow me back each time. That’s how I got over 150,000 followers although about 70,000 users have followed me without me ever following them. Read my other blogs below called The Future of Twitter and My Twitter Resolutions to see why I changed my Twitter philosophy and behavior. It was mainly due to Twitter’s actions.

One huge drawback of following 174,000 accounts like I was doing is that my feed was useless. For instance, if you follow 600 users that you are interested in and 173,400 accounts that you are less interested in you won’t ever see their tweets. Your feed will be a blur every time you refresh it. This makes Twitter an announcement service instead of a way to connect with your favorite users by reading their tweets in real time.

On the bright side my unfollows have nothing to do with my tweets. The weekly amount has been consistent no matter what I say. Software like Just Unfollow and Manageflitter can automatically unfollow users that have unfollowed them. Spending no time or money to develop my account and connecting with about 600 rad users that I follow is worth losing followers though. The only downside is it may look like my account is becoming less popular and sometimes jerks say negative things, but I can hold my own.

If I could do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing. There’s no account like mine because I am unique. Also, my tweets are read and disseminated by influencers regardless of my follower count. For instance, my account is on 872 Twitter lists. Some of them are pseudonyms that read and disseminate what I write, but don’t like or RT my tweets or identify themselves.

Some of my tweets get no likes or RTs, but that’s ok. I experience awesome things and tweet what I discover. I read and watch lots of news and tweet it too. It’s exciting and Twitter is like a public journal. If you count the 872 lists I am on and add all of the likes and RTs I get each day it’s plenty. I am just the messenger and not liking or RTing my tweets says more about others than me.

My advice is to live life to the fullest, don’t worry about how many followers, likes or RTs you get and definitely don’t buy them. I connect with users that have a dozen followers as much as I do with users that have millions of followers. I value content more than numbers. Numbers can be faked (e.g. buying followers, likes and RTs) which is something that I’ve never done and won’t do.

Nobody pays to advertise my account and I’ve only asked two users to follow me in the eight years that I’ve had it; one did and one didn’t. Do you know who did and who didn’t follow me?

I asked Gabriel Iglesias (aka Fluffy the comedian) to follow me when I lived in Long Beach, California because that’s where he’s from and he followed me. I also asked the Dalai Lama to follow me, but he didn’t. He’s following zero users though.

Enjoy your online experience and I look forward to your original content and interesting tweets.

Marijuana laws in the U.S. are messed up. They vary from state to state while simultaneously being federally illegal.

Some states have voted to legalize marijuana in a variety of ways. They range from terminally ill patients being allowed to purchase or grow it to recreational cultivation, consumption and sales. The penalties for marijuana possession also vary greatly.

One of the biggest complaints about marijuana laws is that they are unequally applied to people of color. I could see how that could be possible because in my experience police officers in California and Hawaii haven’t wanted to deal with a white kid smoking pot by the corner. However, consuming marijuana in public is still illegal in every state along with being federally illegal.

If a police officer wanted to take it out on the kid by the corner smoking a joint with 7 grams in his pocket he could mess up his life for a long time with charges like possession of a controlled substance, distribution, etc. If he was in touch with the federal government and federal agents he could even notify them and they could add federal charges. Since the court systems are different the suspect would need to retain two attorneys and go to both court’s hearings. Fortunately, I think police officers have been told by their superiors to focus on other things (e.g. crimes with a victim).

Some politicians are saying marijuana should be legal and minor marijuana charges should be expunged. I agree because it is simply a plant that heals and it has never killed anybody. I think the dyslexic marijuana laws and the war on marijuana have caused a lot more problems than the actual plant.

Traveling with marijuana from state to state is tricky. If the TSA which is part of the federal government wants to they can notify federal agents to arrest you if they catch you with any marijuana. However, I think they have been told to let people fly if they have a small amount and are traveling between legal marijuana states. Patients may need to show their paperwork though. Flying within your state can be tricky too. If you live in a medical-only state and can’t produce your medical paperwork at the airport they may confiscate it.

States across the country are legalizing marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. The federal government needs to reschedule it because it is not a Schedule I drug. I don’t think they want to admit that they have been wrong. It could also affect jobs (e.g. DEA), funding and even have a ripple effect throughout the Americas. Some countries have already been legalizing it despite the U.S.’ toxic, fragmented approach though.

I began using Facebook a lot after I got an iPhone in 2008. I liked it because it connected me with friends from the high schools and colleges I attended. I also found random friends (e.g. summer camp, soccer, travel, work, graduate schools, etc.) around the country.

In 2011, the DEA, police, CPS and Dept. of Forestry raided the legal medical marijuana collective that I directed in California. Forestry Agent Michelle Sarubbi said she spied on my Facebook account. Ever since then I have stopped using it. Well, after I posted pics of what the raid did to my home. I just connected it to my Twitter feed for a few years.

In 2016, while Donald Trump was running for president I started hearing about people getting their news on Facebook. I had created a newsfeed page with dozens of domestic and international feeds after Google Reader was “retired” in 2013. Getting news on Facebook sounded like a horrible, risky thing to do, so I made a strong comment against it in October and shared my link z.sdkid.com. Later, it came to light that Russians allegedly bought ads and floated fake news stories on Facebook that may have influenced voters.

In 2017, I deactivated my Facebook account and I have not missed it. I have friends and family on it, but what is the cost of connecting with them? Who do I support by using Facebook’s system? I think the answer is clear and I don’t want anything to do with them if I can help it.

I prefer Twitter over Facebook and I have tweeted the #deletefacebook hashtag many times. I am looking forward to the next batch of companies that have not invaded our privacy and sold our democracy down the river. I used to use AOL and MySpace and I can’t recall either of them doing the horrible things that Facebook has done. Also, their plans for the future seem suspect to me.

“Facebook is where you lie to people you know. Twitter is where you tell the truth to people you don’t know.” I can’t take credit for saying it first, but I see the truth in it. Thanks Twitter. Bugger off Facebook.

I recently moved back to Maui from Oahu and I like it. There are some similarities between the two islands, but there are a lot of differences too.

Oahu has a lot more people. Honolulu has close to 500,000 people and the island has around 1 million or more. Kahului is the biggest town in Maui and it has 25,000 people. The entire island has about 50,000 people.

There are more things open 24 hours in Oahu. Even though 24 Hour Fitness in downtown stopped staying open 24 hours, there are other places like Safeway, Walmart, McDonalds, Foodland, 7-11s, etc. They also have a Starbucks that opens at 3:30 a.m.

The state library in Oahu is open on Monday, but the one in Kahului is not. Also, Honolulu is home of the capitol and many of the elected officials and lawmakers for the state. The University of Hawaii’s main campus is in Oahu too.

In Hawaii Kai I saw amazing sunrises and in Ala Moana I saw beautiful sunsets. In Maui I see amazing sunrises in Kahului and great sunsets in Kihei. They have much of the same foliage at the beach and around town.

Honolulu is more bike-friendly because they have painted bike lanes on more streets. There are not many bike lanes in Maui. However, I was hit seven times by vehicles in Oahu and I have never been hit in Maui.

Oahu has better surf. The North Shore is famous for giant waves and they can get 30’ and 40’ waves in the winter. Maui is good for snorkeling and wind surfing though.

I am writing the final book in A Brand New World and it is called How It All Ends. I have written the first nine stories and I am working on #10 now. There will probably be 95 total stories and it will bring the grand total to 500 stories in 10 books.

I have dozens of story ideas, so I will be writing all sorts of interesting stories this Spring, Summer and Fall. I also acquire new story ideas all of the time because I watch and read a lot of news and lead an active life.

I originally thought I would be in California at a college studying journalism while I wrote the last book. It would have provided a serious atmosphere and structure along with a steady stream of news stories. However, it was not in the cards, so I am writing it from Maui. I don’t mind writing it here and perhaps it will be a little more upbeat with a dash of comedy every so often.

I may develop the Godlike voice behind the curtain’s character, but I want to focus on stories. Writing a fluid story is an exciting process and it helps to stay open and take it as it comes. Every day is a news dump, so it is always good to analyze and synthesize what is going on.

I am open to continuing the book series for at least another book or two later. Also, I may launch a spin-off series or adapt it into something else. However, I think it will feel great to take a break because I have been writing ABNW stories non-stop since mid-2012.

Rico’s knowledge about the government's secret sonic weapons testing program has been sidelined because of his injury and the new story format. However, it will resurface soon and it could be part of a future book or series.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the last book. All of the ABNW books and many others that I have written are available on Amazon.com.

My thoughts about abortion have evolved over the years. Even though I was born and raised as a Christian, I was personally against abortion, but pro-choice until college. At a campus Bible study, a girl that said she was almost aborted convinced me to be pro-life/anti-choice.

Nowadays I am not a Christian, but I am the way that I used to be. I am personally against abortion, but I am also pro-choice. There are several reasons why.

If you extrapolate the pro-life/anti-choice position, it may result in an irresponsible parent raising a child that she doesn’t want. Alternatively, it may result in a mom having to give her baby up for adoption. Some moms do not want to carry a fetus to term and give the baby up for adoption. It is not fair to control a mother for over 18 years of her life and that is the responsibility of a mother.

I think we should respect what mothers want. I do not think that governments, religionists or moralists have any authority over a mother’s body. They should respect her wishes.

While the fetus is inside a mother’s body, it is dependent on her, so she gets to make the decisions for it. If I was a woman, I would not accept anybody’s input on what I should do with my body and I think I should give mothers the same respect. I only eat and drink organic food and I take care of my body better than others do anyway. Always consider the source.

Nobody has the moral authority to tell a mother what to do. People are treating the planet and their body like a toilet (e.g. burning gasoline, burning coal, eating food that is not organic, rubbing harmful chemicals on their body, etc.). Why should anybody listen to somebody like that? Why should anybody feel inclined to bring a baby into this world because others pressure her while they are destroying the very air, land, water and food that the child will need to survive?

Having a child is a huge decision because children take a lot of time, effort and money to raise. I think a mother knows what is best for her and that we should leave it in her hands. Even though some people find it easy to control others nobody likes to be controlled and that is what it comes down to.

This is Venezuela. Nicolas Maduro was elected by Venezuelans on May 20, 2018 and Juan Guaido proclaimed himself interim president on January 23, 2019.

Date: March 25, 2019
Russia reportedly sends 100 troops to Venezuela

Date: March 21, 2019
Guaido's chief of staff detained in Venezuela

Date: March 16, 2019
A National March on Washington was held in rejection of criminal U.S. policies on Venezuela.

Date: March 15, 2019
‪This Is Life In Venezuela When The Lights Go Out‬

Date: March 13, 2019
Venezuela: Maduro blames massive power outage on US-orchestrated 'cyberattack’‪

Date: March 6, 2019
Venezuela: Inside 23 de Enero, the Chavista district of Caracas still supporting Nicolas Maduro‬

Date: March 4, 2019
How was the tour of Juan Guaido in Latin American countries?

Date: March 1, 2019
MSNBC's Ali Veshi chokes on his own propaganda

Date: March 1, 2019
Venezuela: U.S. will continue to take "appropriate actions" against Maduro

Date: February 26, 2019
Venezuela: Maduro blames Colombian president over border clashes

Date: February 25, 2019
VIDEO: Guaido supporters start fire

Date: February 24, 2019
Venezuela: VP Rodriguez calls for support at People's Assembly

Date: February 24, 2019
Canada's "Humanitarian Aid" for Venezuela: Provocation or Genuine Concern?

Date: February 20, 2019
Venezuela army on 'alert' for border violations, backs Maduro

Date: February 20, 2019
US admiral threatens Venezuelan military

Date: February 19, 2019
Maduro: US president speaking in almost Nazi style

Date: February 18, 2019
Argentina: Maduro supporters march on US Embassy

Date: February 18, 2019
US Found To Be Shipping Arms To Venezuela

Date: February 18, 2019
Dueling concerts to rock Venezuela

Date: February 16, 2019
'Fancy' coups: US-backed workshops exposed as revolution masterclasses

Date: February 16, 2019
More sanctions: US hits Maduro government with new penalties

Date: February 14, 2019
Inside the neoliberal laboratory mobilizing for regime change in Venezuela — and preparing for the theft of its economy

Date: February 14, 2019
50 countries join Venezuela support group to back Maduro

Date: February 13, 2019
Thousands of Maduro supporters rally in Caracas

Date: February 13, 2019
USA: Rep. Omar grills Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliot Abrams over Iran-Contra role

Date: February 12, 2019
Venezuelan Crisis: The Long History Of U.S. Intervention

Date: February 8, 2019
Trump Admin. Admits They Want Venezuela’s Oil, Plus Troops In Iraq

Date: February 1, 2019
Ecuador: At least 168 Venezuelans return home from Ecuador

Venezuela's Constitution

Last edit: March 25, 2019, 10:25 a.m. HST

It can be difficult to determine the weather in Hawaii. Since it is an island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, rain clouds approach the islands quickly. When I live on the windward side of an island, rain clouds are on top of me very quickly. At least in tthe south I can see them approaching and hitting the hills as they slowly roll in with the wind.

Windy.com is a good website to see wind direction and speed. It is also great if a hurricane or similar weather system is approaching because it can play the projected path for the foreseeable future. Here is the link to Hawaii. https://www.windy.com/?21.294,-157.689,6

Did you know the weather app AccuWeather was caught selling its customers’ location data to a third party? You may want to stay away from weather apps. I do.

KHON2 News boasts the most accurate weather and they are pretty good. You can watch them on TV or on YouTube. They link up-to-date forecasts and special weather warnings on Twitter @khonnews.

If you type “weather honolulu” (our your town’s name or zip code) in a search engine like Bing it will tell you the weather and it gives you a slider. If you slide it to the right you can see the percentage chance that it will rain. When there is over 50% chance it usually rains a few minutes at least. When it is decreasing below 50%, it is probably safe to go outside without getting wet.

Freak rain clouds zip through and rain on sections of town, so it is difficult to prepare for everything. Sometimes it rains and there are no clouds in the sky. Those are puzzling. I ride a bike everywhere, so it is important for me to figure it out. I don’t use an umbrella, but I wear a bathing suit and waterproof jacket sometimes.

Good luck determining the weather in Hawaii.

I became a Christian when I was seven years old and I attended Christian schools and colleges. It was a way of life and I attended church and Bible studies too. I believed it and enjoyed it and didn’t sweat the haters. I even published 10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings from the messages that I heard over seven years.

In 2011 the government broke down my door for growing medical marijuana for a collective in California and it burst the fundamentalist bubble I was in. I call it a fundamentalist fog now. Everything was painted a little differently before then; a little more rosy, but it was a process too.

I had written a book called The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible: Correccted and Explained as my Ph.D. dissertation and it was a rebuttal to a skeptical Bible commentary. After studying Greek and Hebrew in seminaries and obtaining advanced degrees, I wanted to explain some potential remedies for alleged Bible errors because I was a literalist. The things that I couldn’t prove (e.g. claims in the distant past of miracles) I took on faith. I essentially trusted people around me that believed and I no longer did because they didn't have more evidence. They only had more faith.

I think it took time to get to that point. I used to debate atheists and I think their logic helped me see things differently. Even the recollection of my more aggressively anti-God professors at San Diego State University made more sense with their criticism and sticking to things like the scientific method.

I don’t think Jesus was God (if God exists) and I think I am more of a general theist, polytheist or deist, so I can’t call myself a Christian. The Bible does have some interesting verses in it and some true things. I just won’t believe afterlife claims or unprovable things. I think a lot of it is fiction even though believers could make most of it come true like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In America today a lot of people have opinions on universal healthcare. Some people want it and others think the government can't afford it. Many people already get medical coverage from their employer.

I don't like hospitals because my mom passed away in one after a botched surgery. I take zero pills every day because they cause degenerative diseases and I want to live forever. I also realize that superbugs are being created in many hospitals. Nonetheless, I recognize that some people need or want healthcare.

I feel that government owes people healthcare because they have allowed a need for it. Since they have approved of the country in its current state (e.g. dirty air, polluted water, subpar food that causes disease, pills that cause horrible side effects, etc.), they should pay for medical care.

The doctors in America will still do the work because nobody will go to a foreign country for medical care and we aren't going to create brand new doctors. Therefore, the transition should be seamless. The only thing that is changing is the person that is paying for it.

If people mistreat their body or trust liars and harm themselves and need medical care that's fine. However, I think medicine should be personalized because not everybody lives that way and some people have other needs. For instance, the things that keep me healthy include steam rooms, saunas, massages, organic food, exercise, dental visits, etc. If those things are not included in healthcare, then I wouldn't call it healthcare.

When I was 26-years-old, I married a 20-year-old woman and we were both Christians. She became pregnant on our honeymoon because she forgot to take her birth control pill. Neither of us wanted an abortion, but I suggested that we give our child up for adoption.

Despite her young age, my wish and our short marriage, she refused to consider giving our child up for adoption and she said she would leave me. Consequently, we saw the marriage counselor (a pastor at The Rock Church) that we saw for pre-marital counseling and he sided with her. He told me that I needed to do what she wanted.

We were devout Christians, so I was surprised that they were apparently ignoring Ephesians 5:22 which says: "Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord." I thought this verse meant that when a contentious issue with lifelong consequences came up that I'd get the tying vote, but I was wrong.

My wife and I had the child and parented her. We named her Jordan at my father's suggestion because she was conceived after we were baptized in the Jordan River. I decided to fully embrace my role as father and I was fortunate that she was such a daddy's girl. However, her mother and I separated (and divorced a year or two later) when she was only eight years old.

I had hoped to bond with my wife and travel the world with her before having children. She had never dated anybody and this was the first time that she was living away from her parents (two hours away). Nonetheless, it didn't really matter what I wanted.

Christian guys, don't get married thinking like I did or you will probably regret it.

People are divided over gay marriage in America today. What is your position?

From my youth I have been taught in church that homosexuality is a sin and that gay people shouldn’t get married. They used a verse in Leviticus and a verse in Romans to justify their position. However, I began seeing it differently when I got older.

First, I do not support marriage and I think marriage is foolish. I am divorced and I do not want to marry again. I think many bad things come from marriage and it is antiquated. I also think the government shouldn’t prefer married couples, but I digress.

I’ve been taught that marriage originated in the Bible and was ordained by God. I was also taught that marriage is not just a promise to another person, but a covenant with God. I took my covenant very seriously too. Therefore, I thought gay marriage should be different and I still do. If another category of committed relationships can’t be created, then perhaps a “civil union” would be best.

Part of the reason why my viewpoint on gay marriage has evolved is because preventing same-sex people from marrying seems like discrimination. They want visitation rights in hospitals, parental rights in schools and to legally inherit their spouse’s possessions without a hassle. Why should we deny that to them and make their life more difficult?

Whatever your perspective may be, I hope that you leave room for you to evolve and consider how others may want different things than you do. It can be easy to forbid someone to have something that you don’t want, but mature people should be able to stand up for people that have different needs no matter what they were taught.

I am fascinated with the way that Americans are addicted to cow products. Do you know how many you eat?

Milk, yogurt and cheese are three of the most popular dairy choices even though they tend to have lots of saturated fat along with ice cream. However, hamburgers are probably the most popular food in the country. Hamburgers and cheeseburgers are sold everywhere all night all day every day.

I grew up drinking a 1% glass of milk with breakfast and a glass of milk with dinner. If they served milk at school, I bought a milk card and drank milk there too. My parents assured me it was a great source of proteins and vitamins like calcium. When I got older I drank nonfat and bought it by the gallon or even two gallons at a time.

After I stopped eating meat, I still ate lots of yogurt for a few months and a little for a few years, but eventually I gave it up too. Why? Everything in the list of benefits from probiotics to essential amino acid proteins can be found in other foods cheaper with less impact on the environment and less potential harm to me.

I think some people are suffering from some of the downsides of eating cow products like constipation, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. However, what’s often worse than the actual cow product are the things they add to it. Whether it is white bread on a hamburger, aspartame in yogurt or antibiotics and steroids in milk and meat, there are things served in and with cow products that could be changed for optimal health.