The Hogbae Holler 01: Slithering World
Hi :+)
Welcome to the first issue of The Hogbae Holler! It must be feeling so good to be part of something so historic. Imagine telling your grandchildren about this very moment. They will say “Okay Grandthey, sure, you had an ‘email account’ and a ‘real life friend’. Let’s get you to gravitybed. Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe👍!”
Now I am going to tell you some things you may like and some things you may not like, okay? These are things that I have been thinking about a lot lately in my tiny little donkey brain. I am going to organize them into subjects for accessibility. Also there will be images scattered throughout my newsletters, many of them made by myself.
Why Sandwiches Are Perfect
Sandwiches are perfect because they are:
So good
Pretty good for you, or at least not really bad for you
Quick to prepare
Easy to hold
Easy to clean up
Ingredients are affordable
Someone 👏 had 👏 to 👏 say 👏 it 👏
Here is what my sandwiches look like, in order from top to bottom:
A bread
A sauce
A vegetarian protein, like Tofurkey slices or similar
A sauce
Several cheese
Fruit/vegetables (often tomato and avocado, both technically fruit in fact)
A sauce
A bread
In conclusion, sandwiches are great and a really good invention.
Thoughts on Being Sober
I will be a month without alcohol on September 2nd! It feels cool and nice to be free after struggling with it for so long, most intensely after my best friend and spirit animal Torta had to be put to sleep last year. Here are the 3 most important things I have learned in my journey:
I am simply a smarter and better person than I was when I was drinking a lot
I benefited greatly from switching my mindset from like “without drinking, I’m missing out on fun” to something more like “I’m looking forward to being content and having fun without alcohol, and I have so much to look forward to”
When one feels like cutting back or quitting drinking, the pain of the alcohol addiction or dependency comes from the conflict between the conscious desire to cut back or quit drinking and the subconscious desire to drink. The subconscious desire to drink is programmed in all of us by like every commercial, billboard, movie, song, and experience that reinforces the idea that alcohol is somehow beneficial or cool, when in reality it is literally just poison. Marketing is crazy
Also, kinda weird that alcohol is the only drug that you have to justify not doing ??
I am never gonna be a guy who judges other people for drinking, and luckily I have no problem hanging out with people who are drinking (I had cravings in the first couple weeks but I don’t anymore). But if you are thinking of cutting down or quitting and are having a hard time, I’d be happy to talk more with you about it! I just want everyone to have fun and do great in whatever way works for them. For myself, though, it wasn’t working.
2 Things I Haven’t Been Able to Stop Thinking About for Years Now
“Soapened water” instead of “soap and water”
“Weakened” instead of “weekend”
Soapened water
Soapened water
Soapened water
The Job Search
I am in the process of getting a job in the field of UX (User eXperience) design (essentially human-centered web and app design), and it is next to impossible. Basically what happened is that there are a bunch of UX bootcamp programs that are churning out students, and there are not enough entry-level jobs for all of the new graduates of these programs. Here is what I’m dealing with: many of the “entry-level” jobs that do exist require at least 2 years of experience. Even an internship will say it requires previous internship or work experience in the field.
??? This is real ???
Real bad if you ask me!
I have applied to over 200 jobs and have 64 confirmed rejections, the rest are either reviewing me or ghosted me. Each job I’ve applied to has 100-500 other applicants.
When on the job search, it is so important to preserve your self-worth and confidence yourself, because this process isn’t gonna do it for you. I am keeping at it, but I’ll probably get a lil short-term thing in the meantime while I search for a long-term thing.
Please let me know if you know anyone who’s hiring for a UX/Product Designer role lol :)
Is “Treatment-Resistant Depression” a Misnomer?
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is defined as “inadequate response to at least one antidepressant trial of adequate doses and duration”. This means you may be diagnosed with TRD if you try 2 or more antidepressants for long enough and none make a substantial difference.
I’ve always felt that this was a pretty low threshold for labeling someone “treatment-resistant”. There are many treatment options out there for major depressive disorder (MDD) and, as we’re learning with many medications and treatments, one size does not fit all. The danger here is that a doctor will write off a patient as untreatable, or refer them to something more drastic like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) without exploring more options. (A good doctor will not do these things without trying more options.)
This article put a lot of the same thoughts I’ve had into smart-people sentences and furthered my understanding of it from a physician’s perspective. The author’s main point is that just because a couple drugs don’t work, we shouldn’t label someone as “treatment-resistant” because there are other brain mechanisms and treatments that may provide relief for the patient.
The author uses ketamine as an example. Ketamine has shattered expectations and is making us rethink the brain-chemical-imbalance way of thinking about depression. Ketamine is not a fix-all solution for MDD or similar disorders, but it’s incredible and fascinating that an old drug is providing relief to many thousands of people who have been severely depressed for decades.
I’m also excited to see where the current studies in psilocybin will get us in the next few years, it’s already proving to be effective for a handful of disorders. I’ll save that for another time though.
In short, we are starting to understand depression in new ways and this leads to new hope for millions of depressed patients, which is worth being excited about!
The Existential Question
And One More Thing
I’m gonna include a short lil playlist with each newsletter, containing music I have been into recently :+) It will generally include some crazy rock ‘n’ roll, shoegaze, rap, punk, metal, and/or chiller stuff, from vintage to contemporary. It will always be composed of tracks that I think people should know about.
BUT WAIT - a bonus playlist this time! This one is all songs about rock ‘n’ roll doctors. It’s a thing.
Cleo’s Corner
Ok one more thing. Cleo is my insane cat and she is very loud and silly. She has 4 tiny stuffed sloths that she likes to carry around the house and leave on the bed and in my shoes. She likes the fish wet food more than the chicken even though it smells so bad.
Have a good weakened! 🎭
excellent