Tired of feeling overwhelmed by the challenges of adulting? Join me, your host Tommy Heights, as I take you on a hilarious and enlightening journey through the labyrinth of adult life. In the first chapter of this episode, we tackle the practical aspects of adulthood, from deciphering the cryptic instructions of Ikea furniture to mastering the art of grocery store etiquette. With a sprinkle of common sense and a dash of wit, we navigate the complexities of managing finances and even dip our toes into the world of car maintenance. Get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even pick up a few life hacks along the way.
But adulting isn't just about practicality, it's also about finding positivity amidst the chaos. In the second chapter, we dive deep into the emotional side of adulthood, exploring how to stay positive in the face of negative news and dealing with energy vampires that drain our spirits. We share personal stories and examine the struggles of loyalty while providing practical tips on how to make small improvements in our lives. Join me as we uncover the secrets to finding joy in hard times and discover the precious five minutes of inspiration that can keep us going. Get ready to navigate the labyrinth of adulting with humor, wisdom, and a sprinkle of joy on this exciting episode of the Observation Station.
Tired of feeling overwhelmed by the challenges of adulting? Join me, your host Tommy Heights, as I take you on a hilarious and enlightening journey through the labyrinth of adult life. In the first chapter of this episode, we tackle the practical aspects of adulthood, from deciphering the cryptic instructions of Ikea furniture to mastering the art of grocery store etiquette. With a sprinkle of common sense and a dash of wit, we navigate the complexities of managing finances and even dip our toes into the world of car maintenance. Get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even pick up a few life hacks along the way.
But adulting isn't just about practicality, it's also about finding positivity amidst the chaos. In the second chapter, we dive deep into the emotional side of adulthood, exploring how to stay positive in the face of negative news and dealing with energy vampires that drain our spirits. We share personal stories and examine the struggles of loyalty while providing practical tips on how to make small improvements in our lives. Join me as we uncover the secrets to finding joy in hard times and discover the precious five minutes of inspiration that can keep us going. Get ready to navigate the labyrinth of adulting with humor, wisdom, and a sprinkle of joy on this exciting episode of the Observation Station.
Do you ever lift your head up from your phone, look around and think to yourself my God, everything is weird. Well, we do a lot. This is the Observation Station, a unique, entertaining and hilarious podcast. If we observe it, we talk about it. Anything and everything, anything and everything. Let's get weird and let's have some fun. This is the Observation Station and now your host, tommy Heights.
Speaker 2:
Welcome, esteemed listeners, to another episode of the Observation Station, the podcast that delves into the intricacies of life, culture and the human experience, all with a sprinkle of humor. I'm your host, tommy Heights. Today we shall navigate the labyrinth world of adulting. Subject as perplexing as deciphering the assembly instructions for Ikea furniture. That's kind of the unwritten rules of adulting. You don't know what's going on, but you've got to kind of figure it out. So we're going to go through some segments here, figure out what the breakdowns in the categories of the adult life, especially when nowadays young people are like what am I even supposed to be doing? Because when we were a kid, being a grown up especially me, being 29 was a lot different than what things are nowadays. So let's get this thing started here. So first we're going to start off with the first segment what even is adulting? So adulting?
Speaker 2:
It's a term that's gained cultural traction. It's essentially the art of masquerading as a competent adult until you either become one or perfect the act. So it's the same as like stand-up comedy, where timing and delivery is crucial, but the only difference is that the punchline often involves unpaid bills and existential dread. So it all comes down to how you want to categorize what it is being a grown up. I remember being on the playground and if you got bossed around they'd go oh my God, you need to act grown up, because you're acting like a little kid and you're like man. I am a grown up and you think to yourself you weren't grown up at all. But then the more you got older and older, you felt like maybe when you got close to 13 or 14 years old, when you started feeling more like kind of a man and thinking to yourself I'm an adult, you know, I can do what I want to do. So far from the truth. Now that I get older, I'm just like laughing back and thinking my God, how could you even think to yourself that you're an adult when you're 13 and 14 years old? Not that I knew that, I wasn't the king or queen of the house, but you feel like you're invincible and nothing's going to hit you.
Speaker 2:
So grocery stores that's like the Olympics. You know, the first unwritten rule is to never embark on a grocery shopping expedition when you're hungry. It's a recipe for a shopping cart filled with regrettable choices. So the 10 items or less lane serves as a stage where basic arithmetic skills and social etiquette are put to the test. So it's a comedy errors. But the stakes are your dignity and a few awkward glances. So you're over there trying to even count because I'm trying to be extra and say, do I have 10 here or a little bit over and stuff? But what about those people that purely have an entire cart filled with a bunch of chachka and crap that's like just stacked to the brim and they're just taking up the 10 items or less line? That's why they're putting these self-checkout lanes, because they're like you know what we're done, hiring people here. You want to play these games. We can play those too. You do it yourself.
Speaker 2:
So I don't know the whole thing about the grocery stores. It can test your patience, especially the way people act in there trying to go around your cart and all this. So it's like, dude, just chill, you just want to get out of there as quick as possible. Sometimes with the way that things are in there and it's just kind of stressful. But we do have a lot of cool stuff going on here. We've had some freaking progress here and stuff you gotta do what you gotta do and it comes down to then, when you get home, it's like bills, bills, bills, bills, bills, and they're relentless. And it's the tragedy that is adult life. So just when you think you gain financial footing, and another bill appears as a feud by a malevolent director. So it's like a ceaseless game of whack-a-mole where your mallet is your rapid depleting bank account and a bunch of bills popping up bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. So that's why I like to have it where.
Speaker 2:
Right now I'm driving a 2012 Toyota Camry that just hit 214,000 miles. That thing is running like a champ. There's no messing around, bullshit. Where you go, oh, I want to have this nice car, all this other stuff Well then it comes down to the maintenance. That car breaks down. You're going to have to do $800,000 minimally, plus the. You know the oil changes of these cars are not cheap either. Those are 400 bucks. They're not like $80 car changes or oil changes. These are things that are normally just like 3,400 just for that. And then there's always something else that has to get fixed. You know, with luxury cars, insurance is higher with luxury cars and if you're putting in the proper gas, which is supposed to be premium, you know that's another added expense. Now gas is going up again here in September of 2023. See, nobody has it where they understand what is the next play for the economical future at the end of the year of December 2023, from now until then?
Speaker 2:
Because if you're going to have these elections where this man that we have as president right now I know that some people, you know you want to do the political stuff. Look at who's running this country the guy doesn't know where he's at. Frankly, I mean, then you're going to have somebody go well, it's better than it's better than this person, or it's better than that person, or, oh my God, okay, wait till it just starts having it where we really get the full effect. Because if people are still talking like that, it's because that's a good litmus test for we haven't had the full effect of the bad policies of our current administration. Because in just a short amount of time, so many things have gone downhill in the country that it just, you know everyone's fighting more than ever.
Speaker 2:
You know, as an adult, you thought everyone's going to get along with each other, because you're like, yeah, grownups, they just talk to each other and you know that just, I don't know, it's like a whole mirage of stuff, like the social media is a whole masquerade of people putting on stuff that doesn't even have anything to do with what their life or what they stand for, all just to make a facade again for people to like them, for stuff that they don't represent in reality. So social media platforms can often make it seem as though everyone else has mastered the art of living life, and it's misleading. I mean a well-prepted standup routine. The lives you see are as carefully, you know, as curated as a Netflix comedy special that you have up there. It's not off the dome. These are well-rehearsed sets that people do. I mean.
Speaker 2:
You have to remember the comparisons not only the thief of joy, but also prolific instigator of anxiety. To just be talking about wish I had this, wish I had this envy that, oh my God, must it be nice to be him or her? Why not have it where it's like okay, what do I have today? How am I going to be happy with that? Just because you see somebody posing in front of a jet doesn't mean it's there, so it could be just some jet that's outside there in the hangar and you're just having somebody take a quick pick and dip off and say, well, look in front of the G5, bullshit. A lot of that stuff is just completely made up. You know you have to figure out, to have all the complexities of life come into play, of saying that person might not be happy with themselves. They might be happy with themselves. I don't need to worry about that, I don't need to be envying other people. That's really what it comes down to.
Speaker 2:
You have to enhance the way that you think of things. When you're grown up, you know people say, oh, I got to have it. Where I budget? Now I have a job. You know you're going to have kids, other things. It's another thing you're going to have to do, especially when it comes to living a financially responsible life.
Speaker 2:
So many people right now are broke as hell. I mean, you're going to go out there and see these people are buying sneakers. I was even hearing it. It wasn't even thinking about this. People finance these vacations. They go on. That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life. You're financing a vacation. I don't care if you cannot afford it, you should not be on it. I mean, what are we doing financing this kind of stuff? If you have to be financing a thousand or $2,000, you should not be going on a vacation. That should be something that is far from even in your realm of possibilities. Because if that's gonna be what you're financing, then that's another bill that's gaining interest. So your vacation costs more than initially planned out for. So that makes zero sense, you know, hey look, it might be a challenging endeavor, but it's fertile ground for taking a step back and laughing at the shit that goes on in life.
Speaker 2:
You're a kid talking all this stuff on the playground, or to your parents saying you know, I can't wait till I'm out of here and do my own thing when I'm a big kid. And the funny thing is, when you are a kid even, like I said, I revert to that 13, 14 years old if you do something you know, not so bad, they're like oh, don't worry, you're just a little kid. But if you really mess up, do something I don't know, have a specific instance, but just something that is deemed by that person that's really messing up, then they're like you're a big kid. That same age, same person, it could be a day difference, different people. Though You're a big kid, you should know better that you're a grown kid and stuff. But the other person says don't worry, it's just because you're young kid, not. You're grown, you're small still, you're still learning, but the other person's like you should already know. Everything is the perception of the person talking Cause. Sometimes it's like okay, well, why am I having it? Where this person says I'm incompetent, but the other person says I'm growing? That's where people need to say is this person an energy vampire? Because a lot of people are the ones that want to bring you down.
Speaker 2:
Every time you say something good, it's like oh well, you know, you don't have time for this stuff. There's enough negativity out there. Look at the news. All that is is just telling you all the bad stuff that's happening. And then at the end they're like oh well, here's a dog. Hope you feel good, have a happy day. It doesn't even make any sense right now. What's on the news that people say I need to see this in a loop over and over again because it just makes you feel bad as a person. It's like tornado struck a town, killed 10 people. The next one is man crashed into building, burns down. It's like there's no way that in the world there's all negative news. There's no way has to be. There's good things that happen, but it's all just inundating us with bad stuff.
Speaker 2:
The constant bombardment of things that are bad, is where people are getting accustomed to saying, okay, look, okay, look, this is how it's gonna be. I'm going to figure out how to make my life just miserable in a pity party so that other people can just join in with me and say, hey, look, I'm kind of miserable, but I like your support. Some people find that to be great, where they get the empathy of other people and if you actually go and fix things for them, they're like no, I want it to be broken, because I like the pity party. They don't say it like that, but it's. That's really what they like is the attention from people just empathizing with them. There are people like that Just don't have it.
Speaker 2:
Where you have the energy vampires, where you constantly go back to them over and over again, those are the ones that just make it. Where you wake up, you feel great, you talk to them on the phone five minutes in bad idea. Energy is being sucked out hence the vampire terminology and you just feel like, why am I talking to this person? Every time I talk to them, I feel terrible. That's the last thing you need in your day is a person that makes you feel bad every single time consistently after speaking with them because it's exhausting. Some people are like that where they're, it's a happy person to talk to. Those are the greatest ones, especially when you grow up and see how difficult it is to find friends that are loyal to you in the ups and downs of life. That's something that's great. When you have a person to really fall back on genuinely, when you have a friend to really understand all your bad things and the ups and downs of life.
Speaker 2:
If you ever had some things that you didn't trust anybody else but that one person with and they're constantly just having it where they can help you, that's not something that you can come by nowadays. A lot with it. The loyalty of people is very fleeting. It's not something that you can count on. A lot of times it's not being paranoid or going out there saying I don't trust this person and we'll never trust anybody.
Speaker 2:
But I mean, it's challenging, but if you go far in life, that's what it is a challenge. Everybody can't be on the same train as you to say I need to take these complexities, make it easier for me to digest it, plan it, optimize my schedule and allowing me to focus on more pressing matters like deciding whether cereal is an acceptable dinner option. So I mean, look, adulting, it's a challenging and tough place. If you can't find humor in it then it's gonna be far too serious. And that's really where I figure it.
Speaker 2:
You know why have it where things get too serious in life? If it comes to be where the fun is sucked out and you're thinking yourself what more is there to do in life? Well, that's not the whole point of living. The whole point of living is to have it where you wake up and say, okay, maybe it's not, or I'm in a good mood at this moment, but let me do my best to say, okay, do I need to meditate, listen to some music, hop up and down and kind of just running some you know, jogging motions around the house or something like that, and you know people think it's weird, but if it makes you feel better, there's nothing like having it. We're in your own body and mind, you feel better and nobody can say anything about it. Some people are in such the you know, the dumps all the time. They're so used to just crap. Nothing's good, so they're used to it, you know. So gotta get better at just feeling good about your life as it is right now.
Speaker 2:
Main thing is just to say before I wrap it up is a lot of people are down not only on cash but their emotions. You know, everything seems to be kind of in a dark place right now. It's not something that seems to be where everyone's getting along. Figuring out what to do to make things better is a journey of self-discovery, and you can't ask other people but yourself on how to make your own life better because at the end of the day, when you wake up, you have a soul, you have a mind and a body. You are who you are. You are an adult.
Speaker 2:
Listening to this, hopefully, I just sparked a little bit of inspiration for five minutes. If that's all you need is five minutes of inspiration, you go to the TV and forget about it all. No worries, I entertained you for just a little bit to make sure those couple of seconds where you laughed is a bit better than it was before. So Well, you know. There you have it. I just wanted to make sure that some better life management for adulting and the rules that nobody talks about, but it's kind of where you have to figure it out yourself. No one has it on a book or a video. Nowadays, more or less on YouTube, you have it. But so many situations, so many lives how are you gonna have it where? Just have one cookie cutter way of doing things. In your life, my life and anybody else's life. We all are unique like a snowflake. That's what makes everybody so cool.
Speaker 2:
So next episode is going to be meals in the Instant Pot. So I'm starting to do some meals in the Instant Pot where I'm learning how to take a pressure cooker and have kind of infinite meals. Just wanted to have it where. You know, it's a little bit of a journey of saying, hey look, let's try to ditch this microwave and taking all the nutrients. Now that we have it in life, where so many people are eating like shit, we gotta have it where stuff is made at least a little bit better than just having it where everything is microwaved just for convenience purposes. You know, you got the air fryer, so let's try to do a little bit better. You know, let's get some Instant Pot meals here. Make sure to bring your appetite.
Speaker 2:
Other than that, everybody look glad to have you guys again here on the journey. A lot of new episodes are gonna be coming out Trying to have it where I get a little script going on here, more cohesiveness from start to finish. So hope you guys are enjoying this. Other than that, take a good look at yourself and saying I'm an adult, I'm doing my best and that's who I am. Everybody else can just step out of the way because this is my territory. Signing out, salute. Have a great week and everybody, take it easy, don't worry about it, everything's gonna be all right. All right, everybody.
Speaker 1:
You've been listening to the Observation Station. We find everyday life and everyday situations hilarious. We hope you've enjoyed the show. We know we had a blast. Make sure to like, rate and review, and be sure to tell a friend about the show. That would help too. See you next time on the Observation Station.
