Road Rage – Chicago Driving Etiquette

Road Rage – Chicago Driving Etiquette

An Observation of Chicago Driving Etiquette and Best Practices

DJ and Rachel recount tales of adapting to driving in Chicago. Is there a Chicago driving etiquette or rather, a different set of rules for driving in Chicago? It seems like from an outsider’s perspective that driving in Chicago has its own set of rules, street rules if you will. In the second half of the show DJ steers the conversation towards a companion subject, Distracted driving.

Everyone’s guilty

Road Rage, the mysterious shape shifting goblin that takes total control and makes you see red. The unwritten rule of Chicago Drivers Etiquette states that you must experience this no fewer than 1.5 times per every hour spent on the road. It should be noted that an hour car trip in Chicago may only get you about 4 miles down the road. Other important notes about Chicago Driver Etiquette: if someone appears to be from out of town, definitely cut them off. That is to say, wherever you’re going is by default more important than someone coming out of town. The last main rule of Chicago Driving Etiquette that must be mentioned is the following: One must pass drivers on the right if they aren’t going at least 15 mph over the speed limit. It follows that if one hesitates at all, they deserve to be cut off.

DJ admittedly has road rage from time to time. He attributes this to his training as a pilot. It is known that when operating an airplane, one can’t be distracted or hesitate. Driving for Uber has given DJ a front row seat to all sorts of ridiculous driving habits that are commonplace in Chicago.

Wait, what did you say?

Rachel and DJ spend the second half of the show discussing distraction. Chicago driving etiquette, the unwritten rule of the land, dictates that one must look at their phone at least once every 7-10 minutes while operating a vehicle. DJ explains how his aggressive driving habits are actually a proactive measure against the distracted drivers of Chicago. 


If you enjoyed this episode consider taking a listen to our past episodes and subscribing to our show wherever you get podcasts from.

Road Rage Transcription

You’re listening to the DJ Doran Show, a Doran Omni Media production. Warning: The DJ Doran Show contains adult language, mature content, cerebral debate and thought-provoking conversation. Listener discretion is advised. Call 312-235-2281 to be a part of the discussion; that’s 312-235-2281. And now, Chicago’s perspicacious host of your sane radio obsession, DJ Doran.

DJ  0:47  

Thank you, thank you to our virtual live studio. It is another day in the life of a podcaster so welcome to another edition of the DJ Doran show. I’m here with my My co host, Rachel v. And man Oh, man, do we have a lot to cover today? I don’t even know. I don’t even I don’t even know if an hour is enough to talk about everything. 

Rachel

Lots of stuff, man.

DJ

So first thing is, I have to say. I read somewhere that someone was mentioning that if there was any time for Hillary Clinton to jump into the race and steal the nomination, now is the time. That’s it. 

*scream sound effect*

DJ

That’s the United States collectively. Can you imagine? I can’t even imagine.

Rachel  1:42  

I don’t think it would work.

DJ  1:45  

I don’t know. The thing is, is the democratic field is so weak. 

Rachel

I agree.

DJ

Even after the debate the other day, I was thinking, First of all, I can tell you this right now. I’m going to predict this. Biden is out.

Rachel

I hope so. 

DJ

No, he’s out, his son, have you ever read the history of his son, hunter Biden? He was a drug addict, smoked crack. He dated his dead brother’s wife. Okay. Um, I mean, he’s done a lot of, he’s been a drunk,

Rachel  2:18  

I don’t see those as inherently bad things.

DJ  2:20  

Well, it’s still a liability for sure. For Joe. I like Joe Biden, don’t get me wrong. I think he’s a great guy. I don’t think he has it to go up against Trump. And I didn’t think he had it to begin with in the best of scenarios with this other baggage. I don’t think so. So basically, what it appears is that, hey, my son’s a fuck up, but here, put him on a board of this Ukrainian gas company and pay him you know, $500,000 and ssshhh.

Rachel  2:53  

I feel like they had a similar conversation about George W. Bush.

DJ  2:56  

Yes. Oh, most definitely. This is, the thing this is the thing that I, I hate this is these rich, entitled, people, you know, feather their own nest, you know, so they’re not doing our business, they’re doing their business 

Rachel

and what’s good for them.

DJ

Yeah, what’s good for them. I had somebody in the, my Uber today, we’re talking a little bit about politics. And he said, You should watch this documentary about John Adams, you know, our, one of our founding fathers. And he said, he talked about how Congress was supposed to be a four to six year stint, and that’s it, one term. And then you go back to your job, not this. I’m a 20, 30 year Congressman.

Rachel

that’s fascinating. 

DJ

So, you know, that’s part of the problem, too. So they, these people get in there, they get into this bubble of Washington, they get disconnected from from, you know, from what real people do and then they start saying, Oh, well, I’m gonna get healthcare for life. And I’m going to get myself a raise. And I’m going to get used to all, of all of the trappings of being a, being a congressman or a senator. And then they forget that they’re there to do a job. Now, you can say whatever you want about AOC and all those other people and I’m telling you right now on the record, I vehemently, vehemently disagree with their ideology. However, having said that, I will say that that is what they have. They have one thing right one thing that I think is missing, they have the passion to make change now they’re making wrong change in my opinion, but they have the passion to make change and that’s what’s missing. You have these career politicians, you know, they get reelected they don’t do anything you know, they make a few hundred thousand dollars a year they get another few hundred thousand dollars a year and perks and you know, health care and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and all of that and, and they’re set for life. Yeah. Do you know that if you run for congress, you know, you only have to be there a certain amount of time and then you get healthcare for life. You don’t have to be there. 20 years.

Rachel  5:06  

I didn’t know that, that’s wild.

DJ  5:08  

So I’m not 100% certain that that’s true. True, but I heard that today from this guy in Uber. And, and I said, You know, I need to find out if that is true, because that if that’s the case, I’m running for Congress, because if I run for Congress, I get healthcare for life. I get all these sort of perks and whatever. Yeah, man. I don’t know. Today, when I was driving, I drove this morning for Uber. There’s a teacher’s strike. That’s right here in Chicago. So there’s protests all over the city. 

Rachel

I heard about that. 

DJ

Yeah. So there’s always something going on. But anyway, so that that was the one thing that I read today about Hillary Clinton. That was, kind of a that was kind of odd. Now, apparently, Syria has agreed to a ceasefire, right, so that’s good. But I read this letter, that Trump wrote, supposedly wrote to the Syrian president, have you seen this? Oh, no, no. Okay, let me see. I’m going to see I’m going to segue off here and see if I can find it. Because even I think it’s kind of odd. Right, now Good for him. Because, you know, it’s sort of like a letter you would write to a rival. Right. Okay. So let me see.

Rachel  6:22  

I don’t know. I haven’t been keeping up with politics whatsoever for quite a bit now.

DJ  6:30  

I, have I told you today. I mean, at least once a day, I have to tell somebody how much I loathe and despise technology. And, and especially my arch nemesis, Apple. You know, everyone’s like, Oh, I love Apple. Apple is so great. I literally want to take a knife and stab at an apple in that in the fruit dish in our kitchen. Every time I think about it,

Rachel  6:53  

oh my god. That’s funny. When it comes to technology for me, I always try to stay away from the from the really, really super gigantic tech companies because sometimes I just I don’t know I got annoyed. Stuff that’s made for for generally like, like a certain type of people that appeals to a mass audience I never really liked I always liked kind of going against the grain.

DJ  7:14  

Yeah, well Apple is not even a technology it’s a cult. I truly believe that it is an absolute cult they, that once you join the cult, you can no longer I mean you have to have an iPhone iPad, a MacBook.

Rachel  7:26  

It’s not it’s Hey, it’s good advertising. I mean they they did their job well, and I did have an Apple phone for a little bit. And, oh my God, I hated, I hated it. I hate iTunes with a passion.

DJ  7:40  

Oh, don’t even get me started. Don’t even get me started. That’s a whole other. You know what my pass-? Oh, I can’t even say I was gonna say no, my password,

Rachel

Don’t say your password!

DJ  7:49  

It’s like a swear word. Okay, so listen to this.

DJ (reading Trump’s letter) 7:53  

Dear Mr. President, this is to the Turkish president from Donald Trump, right? Sure. Dear Mr. President. Let’s work out a good deal. You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy. And I will. I’ve already given you a little sample with respect to pastor Bronson, Brunson or whatever. I have worked hard to solve some of your problems, don’t let the world down. You can make a great deal. General Mazloum is willing to negotiate with you and he is willing to make concessions that they would never have made in the past. I am confidentially enclosing a copy of his letter to me, just received. History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool. I will call you later.

Rachel  8:53  

It’s a good ending to a letter right there.

DJ  8:55  

I know but I mean, it doesn’t seem very presidential does it?

Rachel  8:59  

Definitely does not. But then again, though I don’t know what passes for presidential in  other places.

DJ  9:04  

Well, the thing that this I’m going to give you a couple of things. One is, it’s not very eloquent. 

Rachel

No, it is not. 

DJ

Right? But at the same time, it’s like, I’m kind of proud of him for saying, Don’t fuck with us and do what needs to be done or the consequences will be dire. And I do like that part. 

Rachel

It’s straight to the point, man. 

DJ

Straight to the point. And I, and the thing is, I think the Turkish president realizes that he will do just that. And it’s about time we had a president like that. So, you know, I think this is part of why Trump is hated so much, he is literally just up ending the way things are done so crazily,

Rachel  9:41  

well, I don’t actually understand the entire context of the letter and what he meant.

DJ  9:46  

Well, because he gave Turkey authorization to invade Syria to take out the Kurds and, and so now he’s saying listen, you took out your the people that needed to be taken out. Now you need to pull back and not go any further. That’s kind of the context. But, uh, but anyway, uh, I just thought that was when I first read that I thought “was that real?”, but it is because I’ve seen it on several, several locations. But the, the thing that, the thing that I really admire about what’s happening is who knows what’s going on behind the scenes? Now, I was telling you the other day that that whole episode where Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer went to the White House. What do we talk about that a little bit? Yeah, so they went to the White House, they’re talking about the Syria policy and, and apparently Donald Trump called Nancy Pelosi, third grade right, uh, politician. All the media sites are quoting it to be as third rate but really what he said was third grade, and basically saying, you guys are immature. You’re acting like children, and this is what they do. They went there, they storm out of the meeting and then immediately run to the podium and have a press conference. 

Rachel

Yeah, you mentioned that. 

DJ

I mean, come on, for Christ’s sake. Doesn’t that, that just pissed me off? You know, and both of them, you know, whistlers, whistlers whatever, you know, the guy with a pitchfork and the old lady the famous, yeah, that’s what they remind me of when they stand, they’re all sour and their downturn scowl and whatever. It’s just unbelievable. Horrible. So, um, so I, you know, what would really excite me is I’d like to have like a, somebody in the White House that could really say what happened without them being an idealogue. You know what I mean? Like just someone say, Hey, I don’t want to hear from the press secretary or the press person. I don’t want to hear from the democrats and their crazies. Crazy fest. I would like to see a regular guy that says I was sitting on the couch watching this whole thing. That’s not what happened. This is what happened. Right? I mean, wouldn’t that be the absolute fucking best? I mean, just think about it. We actually have somebody that says, This is exactly what happened. Yeah. This is what happened. This is not spinning on the either side on the Trump side or on the democrat side, this is what happened. Right. And now granted, I think that he probably didn’t have the decorum to, to speak to the office of the Speaker of the House. You know, I did get that. That’s a little bit coarse. Right. But he’s probably pissed off. Right. Yeah. And I, I, so what I’m saying is I understand it. I don’t agree with it, because he should be able to rise above it. He is the president. Yeah. You know what I mean? So I don’t want to give them a free pass on it. I would say to him, I say Hey, take it down a notch, Donald.

DJ  12:58  

Go about it a different way.

DJ  12:58  

Yeah. Take down a notch. You know, get your point across but take it down a notch. No need to insult anyone.

Rachel  13:04  

I feel like I find myself saying that about Donald Trump quite a bit the entire time he’s been in office

DJ  13:08  

I feel like I’ve been saying that about Donald Trump’s since his inauguration. Take it down a notch, right?

Rachel  13:14  

rTake it down a notch. You ain’t gotta you gotta, you ain’t got to insult people. You ain’t gotta piss people. 

DJ  13:19  

Right, but that’s that. I’m gonna coin that, take it down a notch, right? Take it down a notch, and let them make a fool of themselves. You know, you don’t always have to beat them down. And so that’s kind of what I was, you know what I was, was thinking about and then I don’t know, there’s so much going on in the world, Syria and the debate, the debate. I have to tell you, I watched it. I didn’t watch it live, but I watched it after the fact. There were some winners in my mind. I think Elizabeth Warren won because she, you could tell she was very prepared, right? She had, excuse me, done her homework. I think buttigieg did a good job. He was a lot more forceful than he has been in the past. And I think that’s exactly what they need to do. Beto O’Rourke needs to go away. He just needs to go away. Right Beto, you’re not even, you’re not even Mexican, Beto, get out. I mean, seriously, he’s just taking up space. Um, some of the others Andrew Yang. You know, some friends of mine early on said oh my god, you need to check out Andrew Yang, he’s like doing this and he’s all these great things, I checked him out. I’m like, eh.

Rachel  14:33  

Yeah, that’s, that’s my usual reaction to him. Just Yeah.

DJ  14:36  

Kamala Harris. Um, you know, I, I’m on the fence where I kind of like her, but I don’t like like, you know what I mean, I wish she would, I wish she had some other elements in her, in her, in her repertoire. If you, if you will. She doesn’t have a chance in hell. Just let you know right now. But possible VP material if any one of those get elected, but we all know that that’s not happening. Right? So I want to predict here and now that Trump’s gonna be reelected in a landslide, not just a reelection but in a landslide

Rachel  15:17  

I don’t know.

DJ  15:18  

Yeah, I can tell you

Rachel  15:19  

I can like I I wish I could understand the politics at that level but I truly can’t.

DJ  15:25  

That’s what I’m here for. Don’t worry it, you don’t worry. But, but yeah, he’s, I predict he’s gonna be he’s gonna be reelected in a landslide. And on top of that, I think that it’s going to be revealed that the, that the impeachment is a farce. The Russia investigations were a farce and that there was a misuse of the FISA warrant. And I think that the investigation that is being done by the Justice Department, which is going to come out in the spring, is going to reveal how deep and corrupt the intelligence community and the and the Justice Department was in getting, trying to get Trump out of office. Unbelievable. And here’s the thing is, if that’s it, even if part of that is true, think how incredible that is that these organizations could overturn the election of the American people. I mean, again, it’s not even really, I’m sorry.

Rachel  16:33  

Yeah, I mean, like it’s, it’s just possible especially in everybody else’s mind.

DJ  16:37  

Yep. So anyway, it’ll be interesting. The next few months are going to be super, you know, super interesting, but I thought that, I thought today’s news was really, really crazy. And then of course, you know, the Acting Chief of Staff. Mulvaney, his name is Mulvaney, you know, said some comment that the mainstream media is jumping al over that, oh, it, see it was quid pro quo, he said to, to the Ukrainians. We’re not giving you any more financial aid until you do an investigation of the Democrats, right. That’s what was said. However, I listened to the transcript today. Very fascinating, right? So first of all, we’re only talking about a few seconds of recording where they’re holding on. Yeah. And what they’re honing in on and what they’re saying today is completely not accurate, nor is it factual. So the recording basically says, I’m going to paraphrase a little bit here, but basically says, Hey, it is apparent that Ukraine is trying to meddle in US elections. I want an investigation and to resolve that, or we’re going to withhold any further financial aid. What about that? has anything to do with the democrats? No, no, nothing. It’s not like it’s a general term. Yeah. So I read the news. And I think to myself, What the hell are they talking about? Right? You know, so this is, this is unprecedented, and in my mind, in my mind is, is a fight for the soul of this country and how things are done. I think after all of this is done with, this country’s going to be fundamentally changed. And these politicians are going to be put on notice that they will no longer have free reign to do what they want, how they want, when they want. Yeah, you know, that, that somewhere, someone is going to come out from left field and disrupt, and I don’t know, I it’s still too early to see, to tell if Trump is going to survive this. But I don’t know how he’s surviving it now.

Rachel  18:53  

I don’t know how many survived a lot of things for the many mistakes and the many things that pissed people off in his time in office. I don’t know how he’s made it this far.

DJ  19:03  

I don’t know either. It’s been it’s been fascinating so so anyway so we’re going to there’s so much to cover like I said earlier I don’t even know where to where to begin so I am now I just heard something in the news that uh, Rick Perry who is the energy sector, Energy Secretary for the Department of Energy is right is probably gonna, probably going to resign you know, rats fleeing was sinking ship if you will. But hey, uh, to segue off of on it to a different thing I saw this story today that just was you know, I love to bash on Millennial influencers.

Rachel  19:47  

Yeah, I do know that. Millennials in general

DJ  19:48  

Millennials in general. There was this cruise passenger right. She was on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and someone took a picture of her standing on the outside. of the railing of her cabin. Okay, for an Instagram photo

Rachel  20:04  

As in like, oh, let me see. Oh, she’s she’s she’s over the water.

DJ  20:09  

Yeah, she’s standing on the ledge.

Rachel  20:12  

That’s dangerous as shit.

DJ  20:14  

Yeah. So, so anyway, one of the passengers took a picture of it and sent it to the, to the crew. Right. And, and then the captain called her an absolute idiot. Yeah. As anyone should first of all, I would have taken her off there. I would have taken her into a secret room in the crew, in the ship. I would have slapped the shit out of her. I would have slapped the shit out of her. And then I would have spanked her because that’s what you do with children. And then I would have sent her to her room and grounded her for the for the you know, for the duration of the cruise. Well, I mean, they didn’t do that. That’s what I would have done but they didn’t do that. 

Rachel

If you were straight, that would have taken on a completely weird context. 

DJ

True. There’s probably some porn video that is like that.

Rachel  21:04  

There are probably 200 porn videos like that. 

DJ  21:07  

Exactly, but uh, but the point of it is, is like, really? Yeah, four people just fell off a cliff and killed themselves because they were getting an Instagram photo. Right? Well, it’s thinning the herd. That’s, I call that natural selection. Right? But she got this. This had to be horrific for her. First of all, they pulled into the port in Jamaica and they kicked her off the ship. So she got stranded in Jamaica. Yeah, that’s, and then they banned her from ever going on a Norwegian, I’m sorry Royal Caribbean ship for the rest of her life. 

Rachel

That’s not surprising. 

DJ

Unbelievable. But I mean, come on. Really? What? What are you thinking?

Rachel

Who does that?

DJ  21:51  

on Instagram? I am so sick to death of it. You know, with their trout pout and, their stupid stances and their fake boat. And their doctored photos. I mean, when are people going to wise up and say, you know, I’m not interested in your fake life here. I want to see real things. You know, that’s what my Instagram is about. My Instagram is about walking around the lake trying to shed 20 pounds and feeling miserable about doing it.

Rachel  22:19  

Well, to be fair, you’re not like these people.

DJ  22:21  

And I do I take that as a compliment.

Rachel  22:23  

And more importantly, that’s, this is what people want. And I could, like it’s proof of it because it keeps working.

DJ  22:30  

I know, I don’t get it. 

Rachel

I don’t get it either. I don’t get it. 

DJ

But you know, I don’t really care. I don’t really want to be an influencer or anything like that. I have no interest in that whatever. I have enough jobs. But I do post on social media because I think it’s fun and I like to, you know, interact with people and I really want people to listen to my show. But, but, you know, if I, if, if nobody really liked my stuff, I wouldn’t care.

Rachel  22:56  

You know, insane like I you know, I post stuff and I mean, my friends pay attention. That’s kind of nice. I like showing them you know how I’m doing. And I like showing myself off because I’m, you know, very confident about myself. But that’s the thing though. I mean, it’s just I’m only ever interested in that. I like scrolling through Instagram and seeing, you know, other trans people and you know, pictures of people in relationships and my friends doing things. I don’t need it. Like, I truly don’t care where you are. It’s cool that you’re going traveling and taking a picture in front of like big banners and shit.

DJ  23:28  

Well, you gotta like my Instagram posts from Mexico.

Rachel  23:31  

I mean, I actually

DJ  23:32  

You don’t even follow me on Instagram. 

Rachel

I don’t.

DJ  23:36  

I don’t even know why I have you come to my house. Seriously. That apple you ate earlier? I expect you to leave it here when you leave.

Rachel  23:43  

Okay, I’ll give it back to you. I’ll give it back to you. You want it?

DJ  23:49  

The, but you know what the thing is? I’m on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter because that’s my business. Yeah, this is my business. But from a personal standpoint, I, I could care less whether you follow anything that I do. And truthfully? I mean, I hate to say it this way, but I don’t care whether you follow me or not on anything.

Rachel  24:07  

Yeah. But that’s the funny thing, though, because it’s it’s, not it didn’t hit your generation. I mean, there’s obviously some people like you, or in your

DJ  24:15  

Are there really people like me? 

Rachel  24:18  

I don’t know. That’s a good question. Let me rephrase that. People in your age group or in your generation that did have, that do care about how what people think of them, but at the same time, it just barely scratched mine.

DJ  24:30  

I care about the people that, I care about what people say, strike this. How do I Why do I I feel senile here. I care. The people that I care about, I care about what they think about me?

Rachel  24:44  

Yeah, I know exactly. But I’m not, we’re not talking about ourselves. We’re talking about people around us, like in my age group, even, even there a lot of my friends, a lot of the people that I know, don’t use Instagram and Facebook to this extent. This is pretty extreme, but then again, you know, I have a lot of friends who just don’t care about this kind of stuff.

DJ  25:00  

Oh, you should have seen last night when we were at the, the thing, the presentation for Guanajuato in Mexico. How do you say that? 

Rachel

Guanajuato

DJ  25:13  

Guanajuato. And when we were there for that presentation, you should have seen everybody instagramming, hashtagging, including me. And, and that’s the way of the world, that’s what we do for business.

Rachel  25:23  

Right? It’s an event. Yeah,

DJ  25:24  

That’s an event. But you know, like the Kardashians, I could care two shits what they do. And people, people have made them billionaires or millionaires at the very least, and I’m like, What have they done to deserve that?

Rachel  25:39  

Some of them started businesses eventually.

DJ  25:42  

I don’t know. But regardless, they start businesses, but I mean, did they really start a business or were they already rich? And someone just said, Hey, we’ll do a makeup line. You know, whatever.

Rachel  25:54  

Kind of both wasn’t, I mean, their people, you know, their parents and stuff. They were, they were pretty famous in their own right? Yeah. And so kids of famous people have money. And when they have money and when they have attention, they use it and it makes them more money,

DJ  26:08  

I would like, can you send me some of your money? Kim Kardashian or whatever. But no, I get it. I totally understand that. But I guess the thing is, I’m not against social media, and I’m not against all that sort of stuff. But what I am against is risking your life and other people’s lives for something as stupid as an Instagram photo. You know, those four people are dead. So their Instagram followers are now zero. Yeah. You know, so it was that photo worth it? Exactly. And this woman on the cruise ship that I just showed you. She’s lucky she didn’t fall off or get hurt or killed. You know, but is it worth it?

Rachel  26:49  

I don’t know. I don’t think like these people, man. I don’t know what’s in their head to do that. 

DJ  26:54  

Well you’re in the minority because, because that seems to be the thing anymore. 

Rachel

I just don’t get it. 

DJ

Know what have you, I scroll through Instagram sometimes and you see all these people with their, I call it a trout pout, you know where they go like this?

Rachel  27:07  

Oh, yeah, I know, I know exactly what you mean.

DJ  27:09  

You know, purse their lips, or they have a certain stance or this or that. And I am just I, as soon as I see that I just delete them. I have no interest in that, in that sort of stuff. But what doesn’t interest me is real people doing real stuff and sharing their experiences. So I do follow people like that or things that are, you know, that have feel to have something to say that I think is interesting, which is a great segue. We’re going to take a break here in a couple of seconds, and we’re going to hear from our, one of our sponsors, Joe Eats World, and Joe Morales is a chef that is eating and drinking his way around the world. And, but when we come back, we’re going to talk about an article that was sent to me that talks about the power of thought. So don’t go anywhere. You’re listening to the DJ Doran show We’ll be right back. 

*sponsor break*

This episode of the DJ Doran show is brought to you by our friends at Joe Eats World featuring chef Joe Morales as he eats and drinks his way through life sharing recipes, dining experiences and cooking tips. Be sure to follow him at joeeatsworld.com and on his Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

DJ  28:42  

Alright, well we’re back. You’re listening to the DJ Doran show. And I’m here with my co host, Rachel v. And we’re talking about current events today and believe me, there’s so many, there’s so much going on in the world right now. It’s hard to keep up. But I want to talk a little bit about an article that my husband sent to me today that I thought was really interesting. And I’m hoping that you guys will think it’s interesting as well. It’s called “What does a thought have in common with a lion?” And, you know, in the headline, I was sort of thinking, what does that mean? So I’m just going to read it to you, and, and then we can talk about it afterwards. Okay, so here goes. This is what is thought, What does a thought have in common with a lion and it was posted on a website called fit for joy. Anyway, here goes. “The myriad of different personal spiritual growth books and self help programs available today all concur on at least one primary tenet, that our thoughts are far more powerful than we realize. thoughts do indeed have the ability to create form and if one doubts this to be true, they simply need to look around them and acknowledge, and acknowledge that literally Any man made thing and existence had to first begin with a thought. That’s kind of profound, you know and thought coupled with strong emotion leads to an even faster manifestation. So the power of thoughts to create form also applies to our bodies, through our thoughts and the emotions that, that emerged from them we can either create healthy bodies or we can develop illnesses and diseases. Anyone who has read the alternative healing information that was shared on this blog is aware that this, this author is totally convinced that negative thinking emotions are the foundation of all physical problems.” I can sort of understand that a little bit.

Rachel  30:45  

I don’t know if it’s a foundation for all but

DJ  30:51  

no, but that he’s talking about physical ailments, you know, like health wise, not like negative things, right. The fact is, That our amazing bodies were expertly designed to protect us from legitimate physical threats. As you probably know, wherever, or sorry whenever we are presented with one, with one such threat, such as an impending attack from a lion or other wild animal, the hypothalamus area of our brain initiates a sequence of nerve cell firing and chemical release that prepares our body for running or fighting, i.e. the infamous fight or flight reaction with this accompanying rush of adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol, as well as other physical reactions, such as the temporary suppression of the immune, of the immune system. This hardwired reaction has obviously been a key to the survival of our species. However, these days, the vast majority of us rarely have to face such life threatening situations. And yet our bodies continue to generate such aggressive responses to far less alarming circumstances including traffic jams, disagreements with others, yes, exactly. disagreements with others. I, you know, financial stresses, that’s my that’s my daily life, right work pressures, etc, etc etc. In the end the events themselves don’t actually cause our body to generate stress hormones. It is our thoughts about them that do so, as such just a thought held in our consciousness for more than a passing moment is enough to cause physical reactions within our bodies. And these reactions, if repeated frequently often lead to the manifestation of illnesses and diseases due to the immune system suppression referenced earlier. Now I see how it’s connecting. Yep. The reality is we unconsciously create our physical dysfunctions by thinking thoughts that automatically trigger fight or flight reactions. It is therefore clearly in our best interest to develop the ability to remain truly conscious in all circumstances by swiftly assuming the perspective of a witness to our life rather than solely being a participant in my book, in the book Spirituality Simplified, Doctor, the father Anthony de Mello who described this as the ability to step outside of yourself and literally observe whatever is going on in you and around you as if it were happening to someone else. And this is, this means the higher part of you.

That was interesting, now I’m trying to read it.

DJ  33:34  

Okay. But anyway, the thing is, is the thing that really caught my attention about this, this whole article and I never really thought about it before, was that thing, the that part where I said to you, everything ever created by mankind had to begin with a thought. And if you think about that, that’s a that’s pretty powerful.

Rachel  34:00  

To me, it’s just it’s, it’s stating a pretty obvious fact, in the sense that, you know, we we are homo sapiens that’s how we learned to get there in the first place. So, yeah, that’s that’s our, you know, one of the things we’re built with. So we only can do things once we’ve thought about them. 

DJ  34:29  

I don’t know. I don’t know, maybe I was having a stroke. I don’t know.

DJ  34:36  

Thank God for editing. That’s all I can, all I can say is No, I mean, if you think about that, yes, it’s the only way we can do things. But the, but if you think about it, you know, people say, Oh, I built this with my hands, right? And they completely forget that all of that was predicated on first having a thought about building it with your hands, or designing it with your, you know, eyes or whatever. And so that’s, you know, to me, that’s, that was pretty profound. And if you think about that, if you take yourself out of your experience, then you look at it from a third person, so to speak. It is, I can totally see how, how that can reduce your stress. And when you reduce your stress, you reduce cortisol, your reduce adrenaline and all of that, and therefore you’d be healthier because now you’re not suppressing your immune system. So the suppression of the immune system is the thing that fascinated me too. Because if you think about if you’re stressed all the time, and you’re, you’re, you’re in that fight or flight mode, because of external forces, then you’re suppressing your immune system and therefore it’s like lowering the wall of you know, in a battle and now you’re vulnerable to attack, whether it’s disease or other things.

DJ  36:03  

Well, that means I should die tomorrow then.

DJ  36:07  

But all kidding aside, I thought that was an interesting article. I’m going to try that exercise I’m going to try and now when I’m in that moment where I’m like, Where the hell are my keys? And I’m like, you know, going crazy. I’m just going to try and step on the outside of it and say, okay, you know, my keys are lost and, and do it.

Rachel 

I just have one point I disagree with the author of the article on is when you think about it, especially even for people in our community, it wasn’t that long ago where we did 

*unintelligible*

Something where we do have to fear for our actual lives because of violence against us. It’s just something to think about. So yeah, sure, we’re not facing other vicious animals, we’re facing something worse.

DJ  37:01  

you know, we’re facing other gay people over 30 that are trying to connect with you on Grindr. That’s, that’s like being attacked. Let me just tell you, but, um, but no, I totally get. I don’t know why, but I just, I totally agree with that. But either way it’s something to, something to think about, you know, speaking of going off on another different subject. Speaking of over 30 I read today that Suzanne Somers, you know from Three’s Company. Oh, God. Anyway, she’s 73 years old and she posed nude. Like, I don’t want to see that. Ew, David.

Rachel 

Although, to be fair, again, you’re not straight, so it was never gonna work for you.

DJ  37:55  

It doesn’t work. I was like, Well, first of all, I’m gay. So it doesn’t work. There. And Second wall, you’re wrinkly. I don’t want to see that. I guess not. You know, and, and then here’s something else I saw on the news today that this was really disturbing and this really broke my heart. It really did. This girl in Garden Grove, California, right. 10 years old, committed suicide.

DJ  38:22  

because she was being bullied.

DJ  38:26  

And look how cute she is. I mean, I’m showing a picture to, to Rachel, you guys can’t see. No, but I mean, like, why would you? What would cause a 10 year old to kill themselves? No, I wouldn’t know. I wouldn’t know. But I’m just saying is, 10 years old. Something’s wrong.

Rachel  38:55  

Something I can tell you from personal experience. Soemthing like that, especially when suicide is in the back of your mind. For some people, it comes out as stress or self deprecation, but for others, it’s just there. It’s the most ever present thing that doesn’t really go away. It’s kind of with you, even when you’re when your life is doing okay, it’s just it’s still kind of there. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that can, can attest to that, that it’s just weird. Like, sometimes, you know, as far back as you can think you thought a certain way and you describe it as suicidal thoughts, and then you really like it. You think it wouldn’t even matter when you’re 10 years old or something, but you realize, Oh, shit, that’s the thing I’ve been thinking about my entire life, it’s just kind of there. 

DJ  39:39  

I just, I mean, I just was like, What 10 year old they should be thinking about..

Rachel

I just explained it.

DJ

I know that but I’m just saying is like, I just don’t understand. I don’t understand that. But heartbreaking, you know, and first of all, what 10 year olds know, knows how killed themselves when I was 10 years old. I didn’t know how to do any of that stuff.

Rachel

When I was 10 years old, I did.

DJ  40:05  

Well, you had the internet I didn’t

DJ  40:09  

You can build a nuclear bomb today just google it on the internet.

Rachel

I don’t think you understand what suicide (can make you do?)

DJ  40:17  

Well, no, because I’m still here.

Rachel

Well yeah, no, I didn’t mean it like that, just, of course a ten year old would know how to kill themselves, it’s like drawing or riding a bike.

DJ  40:26  

Well, they don’t. I will say, tell you another thing. They don’t tell you how she did it. So who knows?

Rachel

Well again, it’s as simple as fight or flight, it’s as simple as knowing that if I step in front of this bus, I will die, you don’t have to be that old to understand that. 

DJ  40:42  

I know but I guess when I was 10 years old, I never thought like, about stuff like that. I was just thinking like, when is the ice cream truck gonna show up?

Rachel

Well that’s, yeah, that’s why you don’t understand because it’s not something you had to think, especially when you were young. 

DJ  40:57  

No. And that’s what kind of breaks my Heart is like, Where’s the innocence of her of her life? You know, at that age, you know, like, you should be worrying about the ice cream truck and, and, you know, your birthday presents and going on vacation and Disneyland and all that you shouldn’t be worrying about, you know?

Rachel

What does happen and what should happen.

DJ

 Oh, I know. It’s a horrible, horrible world sometimes and cruel. That’s why we, you know, I think that’s why I like to take stock of my life and appreciate what I have. I don’t really worry about what other people have. I appreciate what I have. And I appreciate the little things like the sunrise this morning was so beautiful. And I took it, I took some time early in the morning to appreciate it. Because there’s so many people that don’t even have that option. And, and, you know, the parent in me just, you know, was heartbroken by that like, where are her parents, didn’t she have any signs? Like are there any like signs or something? Didn’t they know she was being bullied at school or don’t they, like when with our daughter, we, we, we, when she was young, we would look at her social media and you know, see what’s going on.

Rachel

You’d be surprised, im telling you, you should read up parents of suicides because (????)

DJ

I think we need to do a show on, on, on youth suicide because it it is. It’s something that I just would love to understand more about, but I don’t, I don’t understand enough because I don’t I don’t relate to it. You know, because to me a 10 year old, I think suicide is like a higher level thought process. You know, like, Oh, I need to get a gun. I need to get bullets or I need to create a rope to hang myself and and then what happens when you’re that young and you’re not jaded by the world like I am, at my age but you let’s say you you do something like that and then at the last minute you change your mind, you know because you your will to live overcomes your desire to commit suicide.

Rachel

I mean it happens, there’s the stories of people who survive the fall who were gonna commit suicide and end up falling when the actually didn’t want it, and when they wake up, they (??realize they never want to go down as far as they did?)

DJ  43:33  

Yeah, I can, I think it’s easier for me to understand adult committing suicide because you’re you have the maturity to make a decision but at 10 years old, you don’t even have the maturity to make those decisions.

DJ

I’m telling you, it is like second nature type of thing that could happen right now. It’s exactly like that.

DJ  43:52  

How come I don’t have that?

Rachel

Because you don’t, that’s just how it is. 

DJ  43:57  

Then how can it be second nature second nature, means everyone should have it.

Rachel

The second nature is knowing how to kill yourself. 

DJ  44:02  

I never knew how to kill myself when I was 10 years old.

Rachel 

Well you never thought about it.

DJ

No. So how can it be second nature then?

Rachel 

Because you eventually do think about it, some people do, and like i said, I mean I did, there’s a lot of people I know that age that did, obviously this person did

DJ  44:16  

Well, she did it.

Rachel  44:19  

Exactly, and it doesn’t take a lot of big jumps to understand how to do it. That’s what I meant by second nature, is that even when you’re 10 years old, you understand I feel this amount of pain right now, how do I make it stop? And then you, that connection isn’t, isn’t a giant jump. It’s like, Hey, I’m hungry right now, how do I make this stop? 

DJ  44:38  

Hmm. We need to I want to do a show about, I want to really understand about that. Because to me, there’s nothing in the world in my mind that justifies a 10 year old girl killing herself.

Rachel

And because you lived a different type of life, you definitely won’t. It’s a hard thing to understand, but it’s (?scary?) that I would understand it more than you do right now. It just goes to show, I’m much younger than you, and yet I understand it. 

DJ  45:12  

No matter how you slice it. Very sad. That is extremely sad. So now I just totally depressed our show. Like, Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, let’s talk about something cheerful like impeachment. I swear to God, sometimes I just, I think I want to just do stand up comedy. I do, because that’s just the world. I am trying. I don’t think I’m going to see the Joker or IT before we go to Mexico.

Rachel

You should.

DJ  45:46  

I know, and it made me think about it because you know, I want to see those uplifting movies that make me feel good about life.

DJ  45:58  

Oh my goodness.

DJ  46:02  

I know I forgot to shut it off. But I stopped the ringer off but I didn’t shut didn’t shut up. So this show is, has been all over the map today. But now I’m kind of like I think I’ve learned something. I think I learned that, that I don’t, as much as I want to talk about everything I read about in the news. I think what we should do is hone in on one subject, one topic. And, and then pick it out from the news, but I want to hone in on one topic, and I don’t want to I don’t want to stress, I don’t want to go back and forth because maybe because I’m tired, you know, because we we stayed out late last night and so today I’m tired because I get up at 4am every morning. So mentally, I’m tired. I feel like I’m bouncing all over the place and not in a good way. So that’s, lesson learned. But we’re, we’re, we still talked about nothing for an hour. 

Rachel

I wouldn’t say nothing, we did current events.

DJ

It is current events. So let’s look, I want to see there’s a couple other things I wanted to talk about that I thought were super funny.

DJ  47:16  

Where is it? I got it.

DJ  47:22  

Oh, Halloween is coming up. Are you gonna do anything for Halloween?

Rachel

Uh, no, I’m gonna be in Jersey.

DJ  47:28  

Well, you could do something in Jersey.

Rachel

I don’t know what the fuck I’d do in Jersey. During Halloween? Nothing happens in Jersey.

DJ  47:34  

That’s true. Nothing happens in Jersey period.

Rachel

Yeah, true.

DJ  47:37  

But do you do you typically do anything following?

Rachel

Uh, I mean sometimes my friends will throw parties or something like that, so I mean there’s that but I, you know, I’ve only ever spent Halloween outside of Jersey or in Ohio.

DJ  47:50  

I love Halloween. I used to love when I was a kid. Again, I grew up in a different era where we would Trick or Treat in our neighborhood You know? And and I look dressing up, as an adult I, it’s sort of I haven’t really done anything I’m more of a voyeur, is that how you say it? Voyeur, voyeur? Of Halloween. Like I would like to watch other people’s costumes and all of that, but I don’t like to dress up.

Rachel

I personally love festivities, I just love the festiveness of Halloween.

DJ  48:22  

It is the gay high whole a high holy holiday.

Rachel

Yeah I didn’t realize that until I became part of the community. 

DJ  48:29  

Oh, I know. I think I’m going to do the show on Monday. We’re going to do our Halloween show. Let’s do a Halloween show.

Rachel

I’m down for that, yeah.

DJ  48:36  

Okay, get away from,

Rachel

Yeah we did the horror movies one, why not Halloween? 

DJ  48:39  

Yeah, let’s do a Halloween show and get away from politics for a day. I was, I yes, I was gonna do it the following week, but we will be gone. So the last show that will do before that we’re pre recording before I go to Mexico for two weeks. We’ll do about Halloween? How about that? Okay, and I already have it because wrote a story about the origins of Halloween, and why it’s a gay high holy holiday. And, and then we could talk about our Halloween experiences and like, what’s your favorite candy? Oh, and I’m gonna, I’ll make sure we have samples. 

Rachel

Oh God, are you actually gonna like bring a bag of candy?

DJ

Yeah, I know you don’t eat too much candy, so it’ll be good for me. So, um, what’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Rachel

I love Almond Joys.

DJ  49:26  

I love Almond Joys.

Rachel

Almond Joys and Reese’s are the best. 

DJ  49:29  

I like, I’m enjoying the peanut butter cups or the pieces. You know, I had one of those thick Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. You know, like the big ones it’s too much. Way overkill No, I like those small like the regular ones. And, and I like to, I like to peel the paper off and then I eat around the edges and all that so I like Almond Joy. I like Mounds, too. I know. I like Snickers but they always leave my throat sore for some reason.

Rachel

Really? They always stick to my teeth (??????)

DJ  50:11  

I can, nothing can beat m&ms though. m&ms are awesome. So that’s what we’re gonna do. I’m now having said that I’m going to be gone for two weeks. So but all of our shows are going to be recorded now, and then I’ll schedule them and so you’ll always be able to listen to the DJ Doran show on Monday, or somewhere around there, because we have them all pre-recorded for the next two or three. Right. And, and then we’ll be back on November 11. And then we’ll be live.

Rachel

Are we recording twice next week? 

DJ

 Uh, I just think Monday because I think the ones that we have in the can will cover us.

Rachel

Ok, yeah that’s, I wanted to know whether or not you’d have time, because you’re gonna be gone.

DJ  50:58  

No, I won’t next week. I will not have time in between getting ready for the, for that and but I, I may do something like mini podcasts from Mexico, you know I might do something like about you know by the pool or swim up pool bar and try and do a, try and do a podcast in there. But I don’t know. Let, every time I go on, well first the first part of our trip to Mexico is, oh, this is so perfect. The first part of our trip to Mexico is for the National Equality media Association Conference. So that’s going to happen until the 30th but you know, Mexico has the Dia de los Muertos celebration, Day of the Dead. So that’s how we normally kick off Halloween. So if we do our Halloween show next week, we can talk about the origins of Halloween and we can talk about los Dia de los Muertos.

Rachel

Sure!

DJ  51:49  

So you’re His-, you’re

Rachel

Mexican

DJ  51:51  

Mexican, I thought you were Dominican.

Rachel

I’m both.

DJ  51:56  

Oh. So why don’t you come prepared to talk about Dia de los Muertos and you could bring like one of the breads

Rachel

I don’t, I don’t know how comfortable I would be with that.

DJ  52:09  

You could totally do it. I mean, for God’s sake

Rachel

Just because I’m Mexican doesn’t mean I know anything about that, I wish.

DJ  52:17  

You could I don’t know research about it. I do research but you read, you’re the Mexican, Mexican-Dominican.

Rachel

I didn’t grow up there, I am told on a daily basis that I am not Mexican enough to call myself Mexican.

DJ  52:30  

You look more Mexican than me.

Rachel

Yeah, just because I look it doesn’t mean (?????) That’s just how it is. I’m just a (????) Listen, I would know, I would know.

DJ  52:43  

I’m not trying to be stereo-, although, you know if you saw Joe on the street would you think he was Mexican?

DJ  52:51  

Yeah, cuz he has thick Mexican hair.

Rachel

My dad kind of looked it.

DJ  52:59  

I’m telling him, as soon as this show is over, I’m gonna go in the other room and tell Joe that Rachel thinks you look like his dad, her dad.

DJ  53:10  

You can call him Papi.

Rachel

No, my dad had some like Mexican color. 

DJ  53:20  

Alright, I told Joe he’s the whitest Mexican I’ve ever seen, you know? Unbelievable. But, uh, but uh, and when he goes to Mexico he tans, you know, so he looks a little bit more Mexican then. I actually go, I burn a little bit in the beginning and then I just get darker and darker and darker and darker. But yes, some people just burn but, but yeah, I’m excited about that. So we’re going to be in Mexico. Actually, we’re going to be in Guadalajara for Dia de los Muertos this year. I’ve never been there and I’ve never seen the celebrations there. So that’ll be fun. So I’m looking forward to that. So yeah, so next week we’re going to do a show on Halloween, the traditions of Halloween, why it’s a big holiday for the LGBT q community and then we’ll talk about Dia de los Muertos since we’re going to be there the following week. That would be fun. So, you’re listening to the DJ Doran show and this has been like sort of one of those rambling shows, I swear to God, I never can do a show when I’m tired again, because I just really, there’s so many things going through my mind that I’m like blathering about it all but I don’t really have a coherent thought tonight, it seems. But we still hodgepodge the show together. So give me a break, get off my back. Every once in a while, but you know, I can’t go to bed at 11, 11 at night and get up at four in the morning and not, you know, feel the impact of it. So this is why there are these pauses which I’m going to edit out after the fact, thank God we’re not doing a live show. But once again say oh yeah, I was gonna say you can you can listen to the DJ Doran show on all of the major podcasting platforms, podomatic, Stitcher, Apple podcast, Google podcast, SoundCloud and Spotify and quite frankly I should be hearing from iHeartRadio any day now to see if we get on there i don’t, i don’t know if we will, but I I’m hoping we do. We have a new sound editor but he sort of disappeared. So now we have several shows in the can that need to be edited and uploaded. I’m hoping that we can get that done pretty quick but we’ll see. But either way, if we don’t get on iHeartRadio this time. We’re going to, we’ll try again you know a little bit down the road but eventually I think we’re going to, get on, get on iHeartRadio, which is going to expand our audience. I think pretty much. So I think I figured something out tonight that that I wasn’t really thinking about, about the format of the show that I think is going to be better. And that is, is picking one topic, talking about that. Instead of being a general topic show. Now those shows we can have occasionally, but I think I just want to pick. See, that’s the problem is when I read the news, I’m interested in everything. And so I want to talk about everything. And I’m like, oh, that oh my god, oh my god, it’s too much. And for people that are listening, it might be kind of like watching a ping pong ball. Not a ping pong ball, a pinball machine, you know, like, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, pew, pew, pew, pew pew. And so I think I want to sharpen that a little bit. And again, these are just our practice shows, really where we’re just honing it. As we’re getting back into it. We’re only what six, seven shows into it. So I figured it was gonna take 10 or 15 shows Before we finally found our, finally found our rhythm. Plus, I just realized that we need to date and upgrade some of our sound bites, you know, our  show promos, and so forth. And I, I just haven’t had the time to do that. But I will do that. So I’m going to say this. Between now and the end of the year, we’re just going to figure it out. But by the end of the year in the beginning of 2020, the DJ Doran show will be a fine tuned, well running, well oiled machine. That’s what we’re hoping. And, and so for those of you that are just listening in, I hope you enjoyed our little conversations I was telling Rachel today is what my goal is, is we have a big leather, we have a big leather chair in the studio. And my goal is that everyone that listens to the show feels like they’re sitting in that chair and we’re just bullshitting over coffee, about the things that are happening in the world and, everybody has an opinion and we’re trying to talk through it and what have you. So I hope you continue to listen, and keep checking back. We’re going to keep trying to improve our shows. And eventually we’re going to start soliciting input and feedback about what we can do better, what we’re doing right and so forth and so on. But until then, have a terrific evening. We look forward to, to connecting with you on our next show. You’ve been listening to the DJ Doran Show.


Leave a Reply