What I Read: May 2018

Hello everybody! Here we are with another month of 2018 down. It's now summer time for me, so I've got loads more free time to do whatever I'd like. I'm still keeping up with my crazy reading pace. I finished 29 books this month, so my total for 2018 is 132. My big goal for the rest of the summer is to finish all the books I physically own. I need to make that a bigger priority instead of checking out more books from the library. I'm now checking out books physically and digitally from the library and found that I have a little bit of a problem checking out more than I intended too. I'll see something that I've been wanting to check out forever, and just snatch it up so I don't have to wait until someone else returns it later. Anyways, that's beside the point of this post. I'm going to talk about some of the cooler graphic novels I've read first.

I read 15 graphic novels this month, with a lot of those being new series I've wanted to check out. I didn't enjoy a lot of the ones I read, but there were some gems. Runaways continues to be great. I finished volumes 2 and 3 this month (both got 4/5 star ratings). I thought that was the end of the series for some reason, but it turns out they continued the series a year or two after the third volume came out. I didn't like the twist in the third volume, though it does make sense. I'm interested to see the aftermath of this big reveal. I'm a big fan of Daredevil and saw that there was a Daredevil: Yellow graphic novel recommended to me. I loved that one. It also got a 4/5 star rating. I had some minor problems with it, but overall, the art was fantastic, and it was cool to see Daredevil in action. I'm a big fan of true crime and was surprised to see one about Jeffrey Dahmer. My Friend Dahmer is written by a high school friend of Dahmer. It details how different the guy that the author knew was from the serial killer he became. I also rated it 4/5 stars. Some of the 3/5 star ones I read are: Giant Days Vol. 1, Spider-Man: Miles Morales Vol. 2, Vision Vol. 1, The Best We Could Do, and SuperMutant Magic Academy.

Book wise, I've read some interesting stuff. I still haven't found many new favorites, but I am crossing books off my list that I've been wanting to check out. My most recent read is Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (2/5 stars). It follows the events that happened in the 1920s where many members of this wealthy Osage native American family keep turning up dead. It's gotten some very high acclaim, and I believe it's even won quite a few awards. I wanted to like it, but I found it insanely boring. It's not the gripping, suspenseful true crime that I crave. It's more of an information overload. I'm not sure if it's the author's writing style, or the fact that it happened so long ago that most of the evidence/people involved are long gone. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I also recently finished Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anna Helen Petersen (3/5 stars). I really enjoyed the front half of the book, but the author seemed to ramble on towards the end. It mostly touches on the double standards that women face in today's society. Men's perceptions of women need to change now. This isn't the 1800s anymore. It also made me realize that I read way more male authors than women. I went through my spreadsheet that I use to track my reading and found that my reading isn't as evenly split between male/female authors as I once thought. For the rest of the year, one of my newer goals is to read more women authors and feminist books. I did read some more true crime, like American Kingpin by Nick Bilton and A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold. Both were 3 star reads, which were enjoyable to read yet not new favorites. I love reading celebrity memoirs and checked out Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson (3/5 stars). She was the child actress that played Matilda and was also in Mrs. Doubtfire. I thought it'd be mostly about her life after her acting days were over. That wasn't really the case. It was more so essays about different times in her life. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought, though she did bring up some good points. I'm also getting into YA again to lighten up what I'm reading. I read quite a few, but most of them didn't blow me away. The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater (4/5) was a good true crime about a teenage girl that got set on fire by another teenager. It got way deeper than I expected. I surprisingly still haven't rated any books 5 stars this year, so we'll see if that changes throughout the summer. That's about it for now. Thanks for looking!

What I Watched: May 2018

Hey everyone! Now that summer is finally here for me, I've had a lot more free time to spend on things I actually care about. The first things I've done so far is catch up on some TV shows and movies that I've been wanting to watch. TV shows are my big priority this summer, as I've got quite an expansive list of ones I want to finish. There's so many good Netflix originals coming out along with current and older shows. I'll talk about TV shows first and then get into movies.

The first show I caught up on is Jessica Jones. I finished season 2 towards the middle of the month and really enjoyed it. It didn't seem as action-packed as the first, which I didn't think I'd like at first. I ended up loving the direction it went. This season turned me against some of the characters that were my favorites in season 1. It'll be interesting to see where they take it next. Another Netflix original I ended up falling in love with is One Day At A Time. I finished the majority of the first and second season in a matter of days. It basically just follows the life of this Cuban-American family that lives in LA. It's nice to see a diverse cast for a change. It's a very funny and heart-warming show. I love the family dynamics. The grandmother is probably my favorite character. I'm bummed that the next season doesn't come out until 2019. I also finally started Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I had seen a few episodes here and there a while ago, but I've never managed to actually start the show. I finished season 1 and loved it too. The cast is also diverse, and they're all so funny. I love shows about cops, so I'm excited to keep watching. It was just trending all over the internet thanks to Fox canceling it. Luckily, NBC picked it up, so it lives on for now. I try not to watch as many current shows, since I usually can't watch them on TV when they originally air. The apps for TV networks have become pretty good, so this isn't as big of an issue for me anymore. On the NBC app, I've been watching Good Girls season 1 and A.P. Bio season 1. I loved Good Girls and am excited to see season 2 whenever it comes out. I love the premise of it, and the three main actresses are great. A.P. Bio is entertaining as well. The students are my favorite part about that show. As far as what I'm hoping to watch in June, I just started Runaways on Hulu. I've loved what I've read in that graphic novel series thus far, so I'm excited to see how the show compares. I got a trial of Hulu for free with my Spotify subscription and just realized that it expires in a couple months. There's a few Hulu originals or exclusives I've been wanting to watch, like Runaways and Scream Queens. Those are going to be my bigger priorities throughout the rest of the summer. I just hate Hulu, since their excessive ads throughout the shows are so annoying.

I haven't been enjoying the movies I've seen as much the shows I just talked about. There's been a lot of mediocre ones that probably aren't worth me mentioning. My favorite movie I saw in May is Black Panther. I'm kind of late on the bandwagon for this one, but my hold for it finally came in at the library. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I didn't like Wonder Woman all that much and thought this one would suffer the same fate. Wonder Woman forced the romance way too much. Black Panther was great though. I liked that the main women were all bad asses and not just there for show. The action was great and not too over the top. I loved all the actors. It was very well done overall. I was worried that it would be too long, but I didn't feel that way at all. If you're into Marvel, it's a must-see movie for sure. I also saw Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I didn't like this one all that much. It was okay. I liked Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart's characters the most. It had some good music in it too. The last movie I'll mention here is Ingrid Goes West. I mostly wanted to see this one since Aubrey Plaza is the main actress. I loved her in Parks and Recreations, so I thought I'd enjoy this movie. I didn't love it. It was a stupid plot and wasn't that funny to me. I think my expectations were too high. I didn't know what to expect either, so that probably didn't help. I wouldn't recommend seeing it. That's it for May. Thanks for looking!

Recent Library Pickups #1

I recently went to the library and picked up some stuff to read and watch. I always end up checking out way more than I planned, but that's all the fun of the library. I thought it'd be cool to start showing some of the stuff I've checked out over the course of the summer.

I did get one movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. I requested a ton of recent releases, so I'm hoping they all come in this summer. I liked it but didn't love it. I liked the main cast, but the teen versions of them weren't the best. Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black made for a nice trio. It was funny at parts, and the plot was cool overall. I've only seen bits and pieces of the original Jumanji, so I can't speak to how the two compare. I wouldn't have paid to see it in theaters, ye it was a nice use of two hours of my night. 

I picked up two YA books that I found in the new release section, Tyler Johnson Was Here by Jay Coles and Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi. I do read a bit of YA to help lighten up the Adult fiction and nonfiction I read. I feel like I can still relate to some of it, but I know that won't be the case in a few years. I already started Tyler Johnson Was Here and think it's just average so far. My biggest complaint against it is the cheesy dialogue. It's not how real teens talk at all. That's usually a big issue with the YA I read. It covers the issue of police brutality against unarmed black teens. It reminds me of the guy version of The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas, which I read last year and enjoyed. I don't think I'll end up loving it, but it does offer a new perspective which is normally absent in YA fiction. I don't know much about Down and Across. The synopsis looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. I believe it's about a high schooler that is going through the struggle of applying to college and the stress of not knowing what he wants to do with his life.

I checked out one graphic novel, SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki. I've heard a lot of good things about it. The art looks cool from what I've glanced at so far. I don't know much of what it's about. That's usually how I like to go into a book. Having unrealistic expectations is always a huge disappointment for me.

The rest of what I checked out is all adult books. They are Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, American War by Omar El Akkad, and Good As Gone by Amy Gentry. The first two have been on my list to read for a while, so I'm excited to finally get to read them. Killers of the Flower Moon is a true crime about these wealthy people in the U.S. with ties to oil that get murdered. American War is set in a near-future America where a second Civil War is taking place over fossil fuels. It follows this family and keeps up with their struggles during the war apparently. I've heard great things about both. Good As Gone stood out to me because of the crazy colors. It sounds like it's suspenseful, and they said people that liked Gone Girl should enjoy it. The basic plot seems to based around this girl that gets kidnapped and comes back many years later. It says her mother doesn't believe her story entirely, so I'm assuming the book unwraps what really happened. It'll be interesting to see what I think of it, because I've never heard of it before. These will be included in my monthly wrap-ups depending on when I finish them. Thanks for looking!

Flashlight Talk: Clicky vs. Twisty Lights

I've tried my fair share of flashlights over the years. I've always gone back and forth on whether clicky or twisty lights are the best for EDC. As long as they're well-done, I've found that either will be fine for EDC. Nowadays, I do usually prefer clickys for several reasons. I thought I'd share my thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of clicky and twisty lights.

Clicky lights are probably my favorite because of their ease of use. They can typically always be used one-handed. The same can't necessarily be said about twistys. Unless there is good knurling, it can be hard to get a solid grip on a twisty light with one hand. With my main EDC light, I never want to struggle to get it to turn on quickly. Knowing that the button is always on the end of the light makes it that much easier to turn on, even if it's dark out. Plus, with lights that have rubberized tailcaps, it's even easier to differentiate the button from the body of the light. On a side note, I don't think I've ever tried a light with a side switch before. I've tried dual button lights, like the Nitecore TIP and TINI, but didn't like them much since it was harder to remember which button controlled the power and modes. With twisty lights that you keep loose in the pocket or in your bag, it's sometimes hard to distinguish which end of the light is which in the dark. For UI purposes, it's much simpler to have to press a button than to twist the head of the light repeatedly. Mode memory can save you from having to twist the light on/off four or five times to get to a specific mode. However, mode memory isn't a given on all lights. The only big issue I've found with clicky lights is they're more likely to turn on accidentally. Buttons can easily get pressed without noticing. With twisty lights, it takes deliberate effort to physically turn the light on/off. Also with clickys, it's neat that you can do momentary on by half pressing the button down. You can sort of make twisty lights momentarily turn on by pressing down on the head of the light. That works better on some flashlights than others though. It is neat that more companies are starting to do single mode twisty lights. I honestly thought that was a dumb idea when I first heard of it. Now I'm a big believer in them since I love my Olight i3E and Thrunite T01 so much. I would much rather have a single mode twisty than a four or five mode twisty flashlight. I just got a Fenix UC02 in that has you twist a little for low, and then all the way for high. That's a nice twist to the typical twisty light, It's a lot smarter of a UI than twisting quickly on/off, yet it still won't beat a clicky in my eyes. With clicky lights, the only other downside I can think of is that you're adding an extra part that has the potential to break. I think a button is more likely to degrade with use over time. I could see someone losing the head or body of a twisty light if the threads suck or get loose frequently, so I guess that's another potential downside for them.

Twisty lights can be slightly more compact, since they don't have to deal with the added length of a button. The differences in length can be very negligible though, so it's not a huge selling point to me. That's probably why most small keychain lights are twistys. It'd be pretty ridiculous to put a button on something like the Streamlight Nano. Plus you wouldn't want to risk turning it on accidentally all the time. I really can't think of any other ways a twisty light would beat a clicky. I'm sure the production of each is different enough, but I really have no idea which is easier for companies to make. I feel like it'd be a twisty light, since you wouldn't have to worry about all the details associated with a button.

For me personally, I'd take a clicky over a twisty light any day. When I was first getting into EDC, I was more evenly split. I can definitely tell that I prefer clickys now though. Ever since I got the upgraded FourSevens Preon P2 with the clicky, I've let my classic twisty Preon sit in my Pelican case. You can't make up for the ease of use of a clicky. For my EDC lights, ease of use is everything, and I find that clicky lights win in that regard every time. Sure there are issues with buttons potentially dying over time or accidentally turning on. They're not a perfect way to operate a light, but there's less downsides than with a twisty light. Having to repeatedly twist a light will always take way more effort than a few quick presses of a button. I thought there'd be more points to talk about between the two, but I think I touched on all the big things. Do you prefer twisty or clicky lights in your EDC? I feel like it really comes down to personal preferences and what you are used to. Thanks for looking!

Spyderco Dog Tag + CRKT Ritter First Impressions!

Hey everybody! I ordered a few things off of Cutlery Shoppe, since I saw they were discontinued and on sale. As you can tell by the title of this post, those two things were the CRKT Ritter and Spyderco Dog Tag. I've wanted to try both for a while now. The prices were too good to pass up. They're definitely the last things I'll be buying until I can sell some of my gear. I'm way more impressed with them than I was with the stuff I bought from Blade HQ. It should be a lot of fun to try them out.

The Ritter is a nice size for EDC. I've always struggled to find small fixed blades that I could EDC, but I could actually see myself carrying the Ritter. Since the knife is so small, the ergos do feel a little cramped. It's more of a two-finger knife, which I'm not that big of a fan of. The sheath is solid, and I feel like it'll disappear whenever I carry it. Luckily it does fit in my little EDC pouch, so that's probably how I'll carry it. I'm probably going to cut off the lanyard it came with. It was cool that it came in its own Altoids sized tin. It seems a little too big to go into one of those Altoids survival tins. I don't think it'll get a permanent place in my collection. I guess I'm still on the hunt for the perfect small fixed blade. I don't really need a small fixed blade for EDC anyways, so maybe I'll just call off the search.

The Dog Tag is much cooler than I expected. My two big complaints are the all-black color combo and the chisel ground blade. That last complaint isn't the end of the world, and I chose the all-black since I'm cheap. I always liked the look of the teal/aquaish one, but honestly it's way too much for what you're getting. This was around $40, which I do think is more fair. I couldn't see myself paying more than that. It's very easy to open and close one-handed. That was my biggest concern going into it. It's got titanium handles and CPM S30V for the steel. That's so impressive for the price. It's fairly light too, though I don't think I'd carry it anywhere but my EDC pouch. I think I'll enjoy carrying it, but I don't see it sticking around in the collection either. I'd much rather get a Squarehead since it actually locks. The detent on the Dog Tag is decent. It doesn't take all that much effort to close. Obviously you shouldn't be using this for intense stuff anyways. For lighter tasks, it seems fine. I am impressed overall though. Oh and the ergos are okay. It's not the most comfortable with the small size and squared off shape. I'd consider it a three-finger knife for me personally. I do like the Dog Tag's ergos more than the Ritter. That's about it for now. Stay tuned for the videos/future posts on these! They'll probably be sold in July or August, so if you want to check them out, maybe wait until then. Thanks for looking!

How Food Allergies Affect My EDC

Hey everybody! If you saw one of my last posts, I talked about the severe food allergies I have and what it's been like to have them as I've gotten older. I wanted to do that post before I talked about what I actually carry for my allergies. The only two things I really carry for them are Benadryl Allergy pills and an EpiPen. I will say my current EpiPen is actually expired. I've only ever had to use it once in my life, so now that I have fewer allergies, I don't see the need to keep getting new ones every year. Benadryl Allergy is some magical stuff that really does wonders in an allergic reaction. That's what I was given in the emergency room when I had to use my EpiPen, so I figured it was good enough to be one of my main options. I know there's many people out there that have way more severe reactions where the EpiPen is completely necessary. There's been a lot in the news recently about EpiPen prices being ridiculous. I just saw that there's an actual shortage for them as well. That's ridiculous. Allergies are so common in this world, and there's so many people that may need them to save their life. No one in politics or pharmaceutical companies seem to care though. I'm fortunate I'm at the point where I really don't need to rely on having an EpiPen anymore. Since I'm only allergic to nuts now, I feel fine enough to just rely on Benadryl if anything goes wrong. 

Even before I knew what an EDC was, I still had to find a way to have these two things with me. When I was in elementary/middle school, I always kept my EpiPen in the nurse's office, so luckily I never had to deal with carrying it myself. My mom would also keep some in her purse too, so she was the one that really had it in her EDC. Once I got to high school, I started carrying them in my own backpack. That's probably one of the main reasons I still carry a bag with me in some form or another, whether it's a backpack or a purse. I obviously can't stick these two things in my nonexistent pockets, so a bag will always be a necessity for me. My allergic reactions are few and far between now, but until I lose the nut allergy, I'll probably always have to find a way to at least carry the Benadryl with me. If you have allergies or know anyone else that does, I urge you to be prepared in case of any reactions. Benadryl is at least readily available and easy to carry. You never know when it could come in handy. I don't see it leaving my EDC unless I ever get to be allergy free. I guess having allergies taught me to always be prepared in case anything bad happened. That's something that I still apply to my EDC to this day. It's not much, but these two things could really save people's lives. The only other thing I carry regarding my allergies is snacks that I know are allergy-free in case I get stuck at a place where I can't eat anything. I hope you enjoyed this or that it at least it showed you more scenarios you could potentially prepare for! Thanks for looking!

Having Food Allergies: Then vs. Now

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I've had serious food allergies for the majority of my life. Ever since I was born, I was allergic to milk, eggs, peanuts, and tree nuts. If I ever ate any of these things, my throat would close up, I'd throw up, get hives, etc. At one point, if milk touched me, I'd get hives all over my body. I'm happy that none of them were airborne allergies. I've luckily grown out of the milk and egg allergy, but I am still allergic to nuts. If I was forced to have half of my allergies, that's exactly the way I'd want it to be. It was next to impossible to find food that was dairy free as a kid. It's much easier to avoid nuts than dairy. I had such a limited number of things to pick from, especially because I was a picky eater as well. I pretty much had a rotation of like 10 meals that I ate. It's interesting, because when I was a kid, my milk allergy was the worst, with eggs close behind and peanuts/tree nuts were not very severe at all. Now that's completely flipped. For some reason, my nut allergy has gotten way worse and my milk/eggs allergy is obviously gone. As I got older, I was able to eat things that had milk/eggs mixed in to it, like with flour in baked goods. That helped a lot, but I still missed out on all those elementary school pizza and ice cream parties. I sat in a specific section of the lunchroom that was "allergy-free," which was annoying to have to deal with. Dealing with my allergies now is tons better than when I was younger. I still hate being allergic to nuts, but it's more preferable to being allergic to dairy as well.

I wanted to do this post to talk about how my food allergies have affected my life over the years. My next post will be about how my allergies affected my EDC. I thought this post would be a nice little intro about how my allergies have evolved over the years. I feel like the world has become more careful when it comes to food than when I was a kid. I didn't end up doing the food challenge that made sure I was actually okay to eat milk/eggs until the end of 2015. I wanted to do it before I got to college, but I was so terrified that something would go wrong. It's a whole process where you eat the food in bigger and bigger doses and are monitored for like 4 hours. Luckily, they went well, so I've officially outgrown my milk and egg allergies. Even after I passed the challenges, I still didn't eat milk/eggs for a few months. I was afraid I was actually still allergic to them. I think pizza was one of the first things I tried. Dairy Queen ice cream was another big thing I tried, and it was nasty. It tasted just like cold, solid milk, which I guess is fitting since that's exactly what it is. I had a really awesome co-worker that brought me all sorts of food to try too. After I realized I actually was good with milk and eggs, I started being way more adventurous with what I ate. I do find that I'm not as cautious with double checking labels now, but luckily, I haven't any issues that I could have controlled.

By far the best part of growing out of my milk/egg allergy is that I can have dairy. Cheese was the big food group I always felt like I was missing out on. Italian food is what I've enjoyed most with my newfound food freedom. Some of my recent food obsessions are Goldfish, pizza, lasagna, chicken Parmesan, Philly cheesesteaks, cheeseburgers, yogurt, quesadillas, scrambled eggs, and the list goes on and on. I still hate chocolate and milk to this day. People always look at me weird when I say that, but when you go like 16 years without having them, you find you don't really have the taste for them. I'm not much of a sweets person either, since all the good desserts/candy always had milk in it. Whenever I went trick-or-treating, my family got the majority of my candy. Smarties are my go-to candy of choice.

I've had a handful of allergic reactions over the years, and they're not fun to deal with. Fortunately, I've only had one where I had to use my Epi-pen, but that was in elementary school. I had eaten some sherbet at a family get-together at some restaurant that had promised there was no milk in it. Of course they were wrong, and I ended up going to the emergency room. They just gave me Benadryl allergy pills, which I found out was really good for getting over future reactions. I've had others since then but was fine after using Benadryl. My most recent allergy attack was probably two summers ago. In the last 5 years, I think I've had two major reactions. One was caused by what I think was some sort of ranch chicken on a Subway sandwhich when I was a freshman in high school. That was the only time my throat was actually starting to close up. It was definitely the scariest one I had to deal with. The most recent one was at the beach during a summer vacation. I had eaten at a restaurant there before with no problems. For some reason, I had a massive reaction to the chicken tenders I had. My eyes were swelling shut, I was getting hives, and my nose got super stuffed up. Either they were fried in peanut oil or there was some other cross contamination. I've heard people with peanut allergies can actually eat peanut oil since it's so refined. That really showed me that you can't always trust everything, even if you think there's none of your allergens in it. When things are prepared off-site, you have absolutely no clue what they contain or have come in contact with.

My biggest annoyance with food companies is their reluctance to stop cross-contamination in their factories. Like I said, my nut allergy is very severe now, so if a food label says it could contain traces of nuts, I'm not going to risk it. It would not be hard for food companies to restrict common allergies to certain areas in their factories. You wouldn't believe how many foods that have nothing to do with nuts may contain traces of them. I've been trying to find easy snack foods, and practically all of them contain nuts in some form or another. Companies are losing out on so much money from potential buyers, because they refuse to fix their contamination issues. I can't ever find any granola bars that I can eat, since they're all made on the same equipment as the ones with nuts in them. Plus on a side note, why does every desert/granola bar have to have chocolate and/or nuts in them? It's not like food allergies are so uncommon.

I honestly didn't think having allergies was all that bad, because it wasn't like I had been eating these foods and then had them taken away from me. The worst part was not knowing if I'd react badly to something for whatever reason. You do get used to what you can and can't eat pretty quickly. I was very cautious about everything I ate. I always had to scrutinize the allergy label on every piece of new food I wanted to try. My mom was really good about making me allergen-free foods and checking labels. My dad never quite knew what I was allergic to. Once he made me eat a Hershey kiss in pre-school thinking I'd be fine. Let's just say it did not end well. Maybe that's why I still ate chocolate all these years later. All of my reactions were when I ate food from restaurants or other unknown sources. To this day, I still don't enjoy eating out, because you never know what is in something. I love home-cooked meals, since you know exactly what is in them. The question I always was asked when people found out about my allergies was how I managed to survive without being able to eat all this stuff. I just answered I eat food, drink water, and breathe air like everyone else. It's a lot easier now to work around food allergies than it was when I was a kid. Allergies are so common that many companies have moved away from common allergens. I know gluten/wheat allergies have been on the rise in the previous years. I'm happy I was never allergic to those, because there would have been even less things I could safely eat. With veganism growing every day too, there's also a lot more dairy-free options now than there used to be. Going on another brief tangent, I don't see myself ever going vegan or on any other sort of diet in the future. I've already lived more than half of my life on such a restrictive "diet" that I don't want to willingly limit my options again. I have mad respect for people that go full vegan though. When I was a kid, unless you went to a specialty food store, it was hard to find many good, dairy-free options. I never liked soy milk, and there weren't many other alternatives. A lot of the dairy-free things I did eat as a kid got discontinued, because they probably didn't sell well enough to the general masses. I'll do still find myself slipping up sometimes and telling people I have all my allergies. It's easier to explain why you don't eat certain things if you're allergic to them.

So yeah, I think that's about everything I wanted to say. I hope you enjoyed hearing a little more about me. Stay tuned for the post about what sort of things I had to carry for my allergies even before I had an EDC. Thanks for looking!

New EDC Gear From Blade HQ!

I recently bought some new gear to celebrate the end of the semester. All of it is from Blade HQ, which is my favorite knife website to shop at. I picked up a few of the things on my list of gear I wanted to try this year. My first impressions of the bunch aren't overly positive so far.

I picked up a Boker Kalasnikov, CRKT Pilar, Fenix UC02, and the SOG Centi I. The Pilar was what I was the most excited about initially, because I never expected CRKT would put one out with G-10 scales. I really didn't want to buy the one with stainless steel handles. I love this orange and dark gray color combo. I think the price is a little high ($35), since they didn't upgrade the steel from 8Cr13MoV. I do like the ergos overall, which was my biggest concern. The CRKT Squid had terrible ergos, and I thought the Pilar would fall to the same fate. The thumbhole is too close to the handle, so it's kind of awkward and difficult to open. You can still access the thumbhole fine, but it takes more effort than I'd like. The backspacer is also super heavy, since it's a solid chunk of stainless steel. I'm assuming CRKT just used the same backspacer off of the all stainless steel one. It's way too heavy and weighs down the end of the knife. If I end up keeping it, I may look into a way to make a different backspacer out of G-10. I really do like the design, so I'm going to hold out hope for now.

The Fenix UC02 is the main flashlight I wanted to try this year. The compact size and the fact that it's rechargeable were the big selling points for me. Plus, I love the purplish color it comes in! I'm not the biggest fan of Fenix, so I'm a little wary about this light. I've had quality issues with them in the past, and their flashlight technology is usually pretty outdated. It has a 130 max output, which is pretty impressive in such a tiny package. The machining on the body of the light isn't that great, so there's not much to grip onto. This combined with the fact that it's already very small and a twisty light means it's not the easiest thing to use, especially one handed. I had a ton of problems getting it to turn on too. I didn't realize it also unscrewed at the end. There was this little black circle that had to be removed from the battery. I ended up removing some sort of black sticker that was covering some part that contacts the head of the light. I think it's all good now, but Fenix's instructions were not that clear. I was trying to do some more research on it after I got it in the mail and was shocked to find that the high mode only lasts for 25 minutes. That's pretty bad runtime if you ask me. The low lasts for a little under 4 hours. The UI also kind of surprised me. Instead of the typical twist on/off to cycle through the modes, you just twist it until it turns on for low and twist it all the way tight for high. There's a weird clicking sound that happens when you get to the point where the modes change. It's not the end of the world, but I'm not used to any of my twisty lights having audible sounds like that when you switch modes. The micro USB charging port built right into the light is nice. I do wish Fenix had made it so you don't completely have to remove the head of the light to charge it. I'd be afraid of charging the light in one place and somehow misplacing the head. So far, I think there's a lot more wrong with it than I'd like. As a keychain light, I can't see it replacing my Olight i3E.

Last but not least, I briefly want to talk about the Boker and the SOG. I'm grouping them together, because they both feel like junk to me. The Boker looked cool in pictures online, but it looks crappier in person. The auto is so slow compared to the Kershaw Launch 4. That could just be because of the much shorter blade on the Launch. You really have to press down on the button to get it to open. The ergos are good, but I'm not in love with the feel of the handles. They're made of metal with ridges and slight texturing to them. It's probably the knife I'm most disappointed in so far. The SOG is also a piece of garbage for different reasons. It reminds me of a Spyderdo Bug/Honeybee wannabe. For $10, it's a complete rip-off. I figured I'd throw it in my cart since I needed $10 to get free shipping. I definitely regret not trying a different keychain knife out for that price. The handles and blade are way too thin and feel cheaply made. I thought it was a framelock for some reason, so I was very surprised to see it's a slipjoint. I just was checking Blade HQ, and they have it listed as a framelock. I guess they just copied the description from the slightly bigger Centi II, which does have a framemock. I still should've read more about it, but it was one of those last minute impulse buys. It takes very little effort to close the blade. Obviously, it's not meant for any heavy uses, but I still wouldn't want to use this as my keychain knife. It's way too thin, so there's next to nothing to hold onto. Be prepared for a post on this sooner rather than later. I already know that it's not worth the $10 at all. That wraps it up for this first impressions type of post. The Pilar and Fenix should at least be fun to add to my EDC this summer. Reviews and more videos on everything will be coming at some point this summer. Thanks for looking!

FourSevens Updated Preon P1 Thoughts

FourSevens' Preons are by far my favorite EDC flashlights of all time. They combine a sleek design with great performance. I carried the classic Preon P1 as my main EDC light for quite a while and didn't ever expect to upgrade to the newer model. Once FourSevens sold off most their stock after being sold to Prometheus, I figured I'd at least give the updated P1 a try for a crazy good deal, only $12. It was definitely my best flashlight purchase last year and probably of all time. I never thought I'd say it, but I do think I love the updated Preon P1 more than the classic one. If you can still manage to find one anywhere, I highly recommend you pick one up. It's pretty much a perfect light in my eyes.

The biggest difference in design with the new Preon is the grooves on the body. I thought they ruined the sleek look of the classic, but they have grown on me quite a bit. They are surprisingly not that noticeable to the touch. They help provide some extra grip and look cool too. I like the simpleness of the Preons most of all. There's nothing fancy to them. They just work. The inclusion of the tailcap is awesome! I much prefer a clicky light over a twisty any day. The clip is also redesigned, but I'll get to that a little later. I've carried mine daily over the past few months, and I've had no issues. FourSevens made a great, high-quality product. It's a one AAA light, which is the best battery type for EDC in my opinion. You're getting a slim light that is lightweight and has good performance for basic EDC stuff. Oh and the blue is awesome! I'm happy that FourSevens decided to offer it in the blue in addition to the boring black.

Now onto what really matters, output. The max output on this thing is 100 lumens, while the low is 5 lumens. The medium mode is 20 lumens. Those are solid numbers for a AAA light. It would have been nicer to have a little more lumens on the high end, but honestly, 100 lumens is more than bright enough for me. I typically use the low and medium modes for everything. The beam is a nice tint and is more of a hotspot than flood. I don't have any complaints when it comes to the beam. Also, real quick on runtime, max runtime is an hour, while the minimum runtime is 20 hours. The medium mode can go for 3 hours. Runtime numbers don't mean much to me since I only use my lights for a few seconds at a time. That makes it seem like the battery lasts forever. I will say, I run an Eneloop rechargeable battery in mine, and I don't believe I've had to charge it once since I've been carrying it these past few months. The runtime has been great for my EDC usage.

The UI is simple to use once you get the different configuration levels setup. If you haven't tried any FourSevens' lights recently, they've started doing a variety of configuration levels. This helps cut down on modes you don't need. There's five different configurations you can choose from. To change them, you have to repeatedly turn on and off the light (8 times I believe within a few seconds) until you see it flash a certain number of times. The number of flashes corresponds to what configuration you're on. The default configuration is High/Low. I like to have a Low/Medium/High, so I had to change it to that configuration which also has the strobe. These are all the various configuration levels: #1 High, #2 High/Low (default configuration), #3 High/Strobe, #4 Low/Medium/High/Strobe (this is the one I use), and #5 Low/Medium/High/Strobe/Beacon high/Beacon low. I do like that it can minimize the number of modes you have to cycle through. I find all the strobes/beacons worthless, so it's nice you have the option to mostly get rid of them. It's not that hard to change the configuration with the clicky, but with a twisty it's a nightmare. That's one of the reasons I hated the Mini Mark II. Luckily, you only have to deal with switching the configuration once if you aren't happy with the default. You can accidentally trigger the configuration changes if you're cycling through all the modes quickly and don't realize you got to those flashes. I've accidentally changed the configuration that way, so I've had to be more careful with being slower. Once you do get the UI all situated, it's great. I do like that you have to individually click to go through each mode. You can also momentarily press down the tailcap if you only need the light on for a second. There's mode memory too, which works exactly as it should. You can only use the tailcap to turn the light on and off. I know some lights with a tailcap and twisty allow you to turn it on both ways, but this one does not. The tailcap does take a decent bit of pressure to fully press. I don't believe I've had any issues with it accidentally turning on like with the older Preons. If you bump it with your hand, it might momentarily turn on, but I feel like it'd take more force to turn it fully on. It's always possible with clickys though, so you just have to careful. I carry mine in my little EDC pouch, so it's not something I've had to worry about.

The clip is greatly improved over the classic Preon's clip. It's a little bigger in profile and looks way nicer. It's easy to carry and stays in the pocket well. I know lots of people had problems with the classic Preon sliding out of their pockets due the sleekness of the body and a crappier clip. The grooves on the body also help to prevent it from sliding out of the pocket, so I guess they do have more than a cosmetic purpose. 

I think I can finally say this is my favorite EDC flashlight. The design is awesome, the price was phenomenal, it has a clicky, it's high quality, and it has a great output. It does everything I need it to do without any problems. You can't really find them readily available anymore, which is such a shame. I don't think I would have paid the $40 price tag originally, considering there are brighter lights out there at that price. Heck the Thrunite T01 is brighter (125 lumens) and is only $10. I think any where less than $25ish is more of a fair price to me. I do highly recommend them if you can get your hands on one. Like I said, it's a perfect light for me. It has been serving me quite well in my EDC. I always had such a hard time finding my perfect EDC light, so I'm glad I found these Preons. Thanks for looking!

Sophomore Year Of College Reflection

Hey everyone! As I'm writing this, I just finished taking my last two finals of the spring semester! Thank goodness. I'm now a little more than halfway done with college! I've got three more semesters left, and I couldn't be more excited to be almost done. It's been an interesting year, but I thoughts on college have stayed more or less the same. I actually just looked back at the post I did after my freshman year, and I still agree with what I wrote there. If you want to read that too, check out the link here. So far, my first two years have been full of boring pre-requisites. Luckily, the rest of my time in college should be spent on my real major classes. I also figured out that I much prefer the fall semester for some reason. In both my spring semesters so far, I've had two classes that were horrible to sit through. I gave up on them relatively early, mostly due to bad professors. I've done very well in the fall academically, but not quite as well in the spring. Not sure why, but that's how it has worked out so far. This post is mostly going to be me rambling about certain topics that stood out to me. Sorry if I jump around weirdly.

The thing I was looking forward to the most this year was moving off-campus to an apartment. I love living on my own and having my own room again. The freedom to cook all my meals was the best part. I hate the food on-campus at my school, so getting to pack food everyday was great. My apartment was kind of a piece of crap, and my roommate was a nasty slob. I lived close to campus with tons of other apartment complexes surrounding me. I'd always hear my neighbors through the walls and parties when the end of the week hit. It is what it is. In most college towns, that's usually going to be the case. Overall though, it was a lot better than dorm life. Luckily, I'm moving somewhere nicer a little farther from campus with a different roommate, so my living situation should be a lot better next year. I found that I don't particularly like apartment living, especially with college-aged people, because of all the noise and the close proximity to your neighbors. I'd much rather live in a house that isn't attached to anyone else's. I lived on the second floor of my building and got the noise from above and below me. After I graduate, I don't see myself trying to live in an apartment again if I can help it. I'd also like to avoid having anymore roommates if I can. On a more positive note, I found that I love public transportation. Driving through campus during class changes is a nightmare, so having the opportunity to take the bus to campus everyday is great.

Class wise, I've finally started to take a few more relevant classes. I liked my classes way more in the fall than this past semester. My schedule worked out a lot nicer then too, with most of my classes back to back and done pretty early in the day. This past semester I had a pretty spread out schedule, so I was on-campus from about 8:30 am to 5 pm every day. It was kind of draining and left me feeling like my days weren't as open. I even had a once a week class that met at 6:30 to 9:15 pm, so one day a week I was stuck on campus for 12 hours. Usually that late at night, I'm already relaxing, so having to go to class was always such a drag. It was a class I ended up enjoying, but the timing of it still sucked. I've also started to take the maximum amount of credits, 18 to 19, each semester. It's mostly by necessity, since I'm trying to graduate a semester early with two degrees. I still feel like I'd take that many even if I was only getting one degree to maximize what I could learn. I don't plan on going back to school ever again after this, so I'd like to take advantage of it while I have the chance. I'm mostly just eager to graduate and move on with my life. College is fun and all, but having to be in class, studying, or doing homework leaves you with little free time. I always feel like there's some assignment hanging over my head or something I should be studying for. This past semester I had 21 exams that I had to take. That's way too excessive. Whenever it seemed like I could relax my studying, there was always another exam right around the corner. I've never agreed with the fact that the education system views exams as an appropriate way to judge knowledge. I've gotten worse as a test taker in college, because the professors are always trying to trick you or give you like 8 answer choices to pick from. Getting to work full-time when I graduate seems better based on the fact that after you leave work you're pretty much done for the day. With school, I go to class all day and still have way more to do when I get home. Again, it's a ridiculous system, but I don't see it ever changing. Back to classes though, the main ones I enjoyed this past year were these two about basic statistic methods, an intro to finance, microeconomic theory, environmental economics, and one about healthcare economics. They all were taught well, and I feel like I actually learned a lot/was interested in the material. If you weren't aware, I'm getting a dual degree in Statistics and Economics. I'm hoping to work in insurance when I graduate or maybe do something with data science if that doesn't pan out.

One of my main highlights of my college experience so far has been my job on-campus. I just work in an office for one of the departments on campus, but it's a lot of fun and my bosses are great. I also went to a lot of interesting events this year that I probably wouldn't have typically gotten to go to. I feel like I never really hit my groove this semester. I've heard people have a sophomore slump, but I don't know if that's what it was for me. I even had a few snow days or delays this winter which is unheard of at my school. It was a good overall year though, and I'm grateful that I've had the chance to get higher education. I do think college is pushed on people too much considering most high schoolers don't even know what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

I'm expecting next year to be pretty comparable, since there aren't many major changes coming. I'm already used to living in an apartment, and I should get to take better classes. My summer plans aren't too crazy. I haven't been too concerned about finding any internships since I'll be working for the rest of my life. I figured one free summer of my life wasn't going to hurt my future job prospects. This is probably the last real summer I'll have, because I definitely need to find an internship next year. I'm so excited to have a nice, lowkey couple of months. I'm staying at my school for most of the summer, and I'll just be taking a class and working at my office job. There should be lots of videos and blog posts coming. I have a lot of new gear that just came in, so that should keep me nice and busy. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed hearing about how my second year of college went. It was much better and more interesting than the first. Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for lots more posts soon!

Trying Lots of New Knives

Hey everybody! It's almost summertime for me, and I've gotten a lot of new knives to try lately. You could say life's pretty good right now. First off, I need to give a huge shout-out to Drew! He very generously loaned me quite a few of his blades to review on here and on my YouTube channel. I'm super excited to try them all out, as quite a few of them have been on list to try for some time now. I geniunely appreciate the kindness and support from all you awesome people that keep up with my thoughts on EDC gear. You should see tons of videos and posts coming this summer!

I wanted to give my first impressions of all these blades in this post. You should see more in-depth posts on each of them in the coming weeks. To list them all off first, in the top left corner and working down somewhat diagonally is the Kershaw Skyline, Gerber STL 2.5, Kershaw Pub, Ka-bar BK-11, and then Victorinox Recruit and Cold Steel Voyager large are off to the side. It's quite a nice selection to work through, since there's a little bit of everything from small to mid-sized knives and a fixed blade that I probably never would have tried in my life. The two I'm most excited about are the Skyline and the BK-11. I don't buy too many fixed blades anymore, so the BK-11 will be a nice change of pace for me. Drew was telling me the scales are custom micarta ones, and I really dig them. The edges are nicely rounded off, so the handle melts away in my hand. The ergos impressed me a lot initially, but after holding it some more, I wish the handle was a smidge longer. My pinky just barely hangs off the butt of the knife. It's not the end of the world, and I haven't carried it enough to see if I'll grow used to it. The sheath he has with it is great. It's kydex and has a nice belt loop attachment on it. You'll be able to see a closer look at it in the unboxing I did (should be up today by the way) and in my thoughts in a separate blog post as well. I don't ever wear a belt, but I did discover I can clip the belt loop part in the waistband like how I typically carry my clipped knives. In the quick test run I did, it carried surprisingly well. I don't know much else about it, so it should be fun to give it some more pocket time.

The Skyline is a knife that I've always heard of ever since I first got into knives. Everyone I watched had one at some point. It seemed like a necessary knife for a knife nut to pick up at some point. It's a well-known knife for a reason. The ergos are great, and the fact that it's a flipper is awesome. It's a relatively good flipper, though I do find myself not flipping it cleanly open all of the time. Sometimes I don't need any wrist action at all, but other times, it's necessary. It's a cool budget knife from Kershaw. My only real complaint about it is the weird stubby clip. Other than that, I do think I'll really enjoy it.

Next up, let's go onto the Voyager. One of my favorite knives of all time is the Mini Tuff Lite from Cold Steel. I haven't tried many Cold Steels, but I know the Voyager is one of the more popular models. Cold Steel has it in all the size ranges from medium to this large one to an even bigger extra large one. The design isn't anything crazy, but I've found simple is often better when it comes to EDC. Realistically, it's too big for my carry. Thumb studs are always hit or miss for me, yet these ones are great. They're placed in a nice spot so you can easily open the blade. The Tri-Ad lock is always fun to have on a knife since it's so strong. I don't think this is one I'd want to carry everyday, but again, it'll be one of those ones that changes up my EDC a bit.

Last but not least, all the small ones. The Gerber STL 2.5 is another one I've always had my eye on since I first got into knives. I love my small knives, and it seems like an interesting alternative. I thought the thumb hole might mean it could be opened one-handed, but it's not possible. The hole is too close to the handle, and the knife is so small that you can't really get any grip anywhere. I'm fine with it being a two-handed knife though. I don't dig the metal handles with the combination of how slim they are. It's a very pocketable and affordable knife, so we'll see if it ends up surprising me. I still think the Spyderco Ladybug is the best keychain knife. The Gerber does have it beat in terms of size. I hadn't seen the Victorinox Recruit before, but it essentially seems like a classic Victorinox. It's got a very solid toolset for its size. From what I remember, it seems smaller than the Cadet sized Victorinoxs, which I really like. I could see myself keeping one in an emergency or hiking bag. I'm on a Victorinox kick at the moment, so I expect it to get some love from me. And finally, onto the Kershaw Pub. I've recently been talking to one of my friends about what knives we've been enjoying lately, and she really likes her Pub. She was pleasantly surprised with how great it was, especially for the price and its size. I've never tried any friction folders before, so it's a completely new experience for me. I still need to figure out the best way to open it. You'll see me struggle to get it open in the unboxing I did. It's interesting overall though. I do think it has potential. For the price, I don't expect there to be any glaring issues with it. I'm not sure how I'll like carrying a friction folder vs. a typical locking folder. 

Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Thanks again to Drew for loaning these to me! There should be lots of posts and videos on them coming your way. It'll be fun to see which ones end up impressing me. At this point in time, I don't necessarily see any of them supplanting my current favorites. Only time and carry will tell I guess. Thanks for looking!

Kershaw Cinder Thoughts

The Kershaw Cinder appealed to me so much because of its size and price. I figured it'd be a piece of garbage since you can find them for less than $10. It greatly exceeded my expectations. The Cinder is a gem for the price! I definitely recommend you pick one up.

Quality wise, this knife is pretty good. I've always had quality issues with Kershaws in the past, but I haven't had any major issues with it yet. The lockup is very solid, and the action is smooth. There is a little bit of rusting going on near the bottle opener. It's a cheap knife and steel, so it's what I'd expect. I don't really care, since it's not that noticeable. The blade hasn't rusted at all luckily. For the price, the quality is good enough. Design wise, it's very simple. I like the look of it. It's a Hinderer design for anyone that cares.

Going onto the blade, the steel is 3Cr13MoV. It's a 1.4" blade with a 1.125" cutting edge. That's not the biggest obviously, but it does work well for those lighter EDC tasks. It's not the best steel in the world, but again for the price, what would you expect? It's been fine enough for me. I could see this knife going on the keychain for those times you need a small, backup knife. It's a little on the heavier side thanks to the liners, but I don't think it'd weigh your keys down too much. The thumbstud is easy to access and still can be opened one-handed. It can be removed with a torx screw, which is very interesting to me. I don't think it could be reversed, because the back scale interferes with where it'd stick out. There's some jimping on the spine of the blade, but it's not that grippy in my opinion.

The scales are just textured plastic. My only complaint about them is that they're black. I wish Kershaw made them more colorful. The texturing looks neat and is surprisingly grippy. The Cinder's ergos are great! I can fit a very comfortable three-finger grip, which is hard to find in these keychain knives. I've got smaller hands and can even fit a full four-finger grip if I wanted to. The down swooping portion on the blade is a great spot to rest your thumb. The bottle opener is a nice touch, but not something I get a lot of use out of. It doesn't dig into my hand uncomfortably though, so I'm fine with its addition. It's nice to know this a multi-purpose knife. The liner lock looks really neat with all the cutouts. It functions exactly as it should and has solid lockup. The bigger lanyard hole is nice too, since you can attach it to your keychain easily or attach a lanyard to it.

All in all, this is a fantastic knife for the price. It's not completely perfect in my eyes, but it has still impressed me as another small knife option. There aren't many keychain-sized knives out there with comfortable three-finger grips. The bottle opener is a mere afterthought for me, but I know some people would get a lot of use out of it. Kershaw really killed it with this knife. I didn't think I'd like it that much, but it really blew me away. This is a knife I'd consider giving people just getting into EDC. It's a simple knife that just works well. I would recommend it for sure! You might as well give it a try considering how inexpensive it is. Thanks for looking!

Recent Podcast Discoveries

Hey everybody! If you saw one of my last few posts, I gave my thoughts on the podcast Serial. Since listening to that one, I wanted to find a few new podcasts to listen to. They're nice to listen to when you're doing chores or on your daily commute. I've found podcasts to be a great platform for interviews and random conversations. I figured I'd talk about a few ones I've tried out recently.

The first one that's probably my favorite is the The Creative Exchange. This one is done by a popular YouTuber, Sara Dietschy. I watch her videos every so often, but I've listened to all of the episodes in this podcast so far. She basically interviews various creative or business people. The conversations are always so great and genuine. They cover all sorts of topics, like how they got started doing their creative thing, general life advice, favorite things on Netflix, etc. I've loved most of the episodes, though my favorites would have to be the ones with Kara Goldin, John Hill, Akilah Hughes, and Timmy Ham. I definitely recommend you give it a try. The episodes range from 50ish minutes to a little over an hour. You can find it on YouTube (linked here), which is what I do so I can see the people talking face-to-face, as well as Spotify, Itunes, etc.

Another one I've listened to a few episodes of is Welcome to Night Vale. It's centered around reporting the strange events that happen in this fictional town called Night Vale. The guy that voices it has such a soothing voice. The episodes are so weird, but they're surprisingly entertaining. There's some interesting music segments in each episode as well. There's over a hundred episodes, so I've got quite a way to go. I like that episodes are so short, only about 25 minutes, because sometimes I don't have an hour or more to dedicate to listening to something. This is another one that I'd recommend you check out. You can listen to it on their website (linked here), Spotify, Soundcloud, and probably more places. It's very different from anything I've heard before.

These next few ones I'll mention are all celebrity podcasts. I'm not very deep into any of them, so they may end up getting ditched in the future. I found out about Anna Faris Is Unqualified after reading her book about relationship advice. I didn't realize the book was focused on that or that she ran a podcast based around it as well. I think I've listened to seven episodes thus far. They're pretty long, usually at least an hour. I like it, but I wouldn't say I love it. There's always some popular guest star with her. I was trying to listen to it sequentially, but I think I'm going to start only listening to the ones where I like the guest stars. It can get kind of obnoxious, because they usually all talk over each other or try too hard to be funny. The ones I've enjoyed so far were the episodes with Rosie O'Donnell, Aubrey Plaza, and Jenna Dewan Tatum. Anna Faris was able to get so many celebrities to appear with her. I don't really need the relationship advice, but it is nice to hear a deeper look at what goes on in Hollywood and more about each of the celebrities on the show. I probably wouldn't necessarily recommend it, unless you just want to go through the episodes that intrigue you. It's okay, but not as good as other things I've listened to. A comedian I love, Chelsea Peretti, had her own podcast called Call Chelsea Peretti, where people call in to her and she responds to what they say. It's kind of dumb, and again, I think she tries a little too hard to be funny. They're also usually at least an hour long. I'm mixed about it so far. I may have to try a few more episodes before I decide whether it's worth my time or not. Last but not least, I started Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard before I started writing this. I started listening to one of the later episodes before I started writing this, because one of my favorites actresses, Lauren Graham, is the guest. Dax Shepard is another actor, and in his podcast, he just talks with other famous people. The conversations have a nice flow, and I do like to hear more about these people's lives. One annoying part is that he puts several minute ads in his show. I've been skipping through them, but I don't see why a rich celebrity needs to have people sponsor his podcast so much. The length is also kinda crazy. The episode I'm listening to know is over an hour and a half long. I usually like to listen to things in one go, but I don't think I'd do that with this podcast. Kristen Bell, an actress who's married to Dax Shepard, is also in this episode. I'm assuming she's been in all the episodes. There's even one early on where she was the guest. I do like her, so I probably will end up sticking with this podcast. It's one of the top podcasts on Spotify. That's where I listen to all these podcasts, but you might be able to find them elsewhere on the internet. If you know any other good podcasts, feel free to throw any suggestions my way. Thanks for looking!