After waiting my turn in line at Omomo Tea Shoppe in Irvine today, I paid for a couple of milk tea beverages, and the cashier smiled and told me "You're #1". Following a momentary bliss that must've lasted less than a second, my dopamine levels crashed when she handed me this:
What's the purpose of life? If you subscribe to a major religion such as Christianity, the purpose of life is to know, love and serve God, and to prepare for an eternal life as His child. If you subscribe to philosophy, you live according to reason and virtue to achieve inner peace and freedom from suffering. And if you subscribe to science and evolution:
Who said there has to be a purpose to existence? Each of us is born not because of our choice. We simply landed on earth because someone else's egg dropped, and another person's sperm out of 20-200 million swimming upstream managed to penetrate and fertilize the egg. Then as we grew, four happy chemicals pretty much motivated everything we have done and will do. We live and act to pursue happiness or avoid pain. Happiness is a feeling we experience because of four chemicals in the brain, and they are, according to Google Gemini:
Serotonin (The Mood Stabilizer): Helps regulate mood, sleep, and appetite while promoting feelings of well being and emotional stability. Low levels are often linked to depression.
Oxytocin (The Love Hormone): Essential for social bonding, trust, and relationship building. It is released during physical affection, such as hugging or skin-skin contact, and acts of kindness.
Endorphins (The Natural Painkiller): Released in response to stress or physical discomfort to alleviate pain and create a sense of well-being.
The catch is, all these chemicals and their inducements must remain in balance. You cannot short circuit the system and attempt to generate excessive dopamine for extended periods, for example. The brain's natural defense mechanisms will kick in to reduce the number of dopamine receptors as you continue in activities that flood dopamine release, e.g. the use of heroine, cocaine, fentenyl. This is a process called homeostasis. Whatever good thing happens to you that makes you feel like you can touch the sky, your party pooper brain will fight to bring back your stable mental state because too much dopamine and its metabolic byproducts will kill your brain cells. This is why drug addicts develop a tolerance to their drug of choice, and why you constantly need new material things, and can't feel content from whatever material things you already own.
Of these four chemicals, dopamine is by far and away the leading hormone that motivates action. Serotonin is a distant second.
In the The Dopamine-Deficient (DD) Mouse Experiment, researchers, notably Richard Palmiter and his team at the University of Washington, conducted a series of studies (starting in the 1990s) using genetically engineered mice that could not produce dopamine.
Behavioral Observation: These "DD mice" appeared normal at birth but gradually stopped eating and drinking after about two weeks. Despite being surrounded by palatable food, they would literally starve to death because they lacked the motivation (or "wanting") to initiate eating.
The Key Discovery (Wanting vs. Liking): The mice still enjoyed the food if it was placed directly in their mouths—they would lick and swallow it with pleasure, a reaction known as "liking". This proved that dopamine is not required for the pleasure of food, but is essential for the drive to get it.
The Cure: When researchers injected the mice with L-Dopa (a chemical precursor to dopamine), the mice would immediately become active and eat voraciously until the chemical wore off.
There you have it folks. You exist because dopamine motivated a couple of people to produce you, and you continue to exist because of your own dopamine. Pure and simple. There's really nothing more to it.
Some time in early 2025, I finally tracked down this homeless dude near my house who is on a Forrest Gump-like mission. For those who watched the movie, you may recall Forrest begins running across the country for no particular reason for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours. Except, this homeless dude, whom I will refer to as HD hereinafter, shows no signs of slowing down after years of walking up and down Laguna Canyon road every day, all day, even in the rain.
For a while, I'd been looking for the opportunity to ask HD about his shoe size since his shoes were torn and in awful condition from all the mileage. I wanted to buy him a durable and comfortable pair of walking shoes, and maybe keep doing it, given that he'd likely go through any pair of shoes in a hurry from all the walking he does every day. I finally got my chance one day, and I parked my car a little past the Anneliese elementary school by Laguna Canyon Road and El Toro Road. If there was ever an example of no good deed goes unpunished, this fateful day would be the one. Where I stopped my car are multiple mogul-like bumps on the road asphalt that are not particularly visible to the eye. So when I stopped my car on top of one, the bottom of my car hit the bump. This caused damage to the undercarriage panel made of plastic composite called "aeroshield", and it cost me $400 to replace a couple of weeks later when the damaged part came loose and made loud machine gun-like sounds as it dragged on a freeway offramp.
Small price to pay for a good deed, but alas, I failed at obtaining HD's shoe size because he refused to give it to me. Instead, he asked that I give him the $100 cash and he'd purchase the shoes himself. And during this fruitless conversation, he barely made eye contact with me and kept walking on his pathless journey.
This picture of HD is from yesterday, on March 29th, 2025, when he walked past me as I was about to leave my condo. This time he turned his head and looked at me sideways for a good 2-3 seconds. He was wearing black sandals, which are also ill-suited for long walks.
A relevant Forrest Gump quote: "My mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they going, where they been."
November 5th 2024 election night was hardly over when it became painfully obvious Trump had won. Political pundits like to cite a plethora of reasons for this colossal democratic failure, but once again, as is always the case, it's the economy stupid, and in this case the runaway inflation. Since Biden took office in January 2020, prices are over 21% higher. Then to fight the inflation, the Federal Reserve added insult to injury by raising interest rates and made financing anything more difficult.
And here's the catch: There's nothing anyone in power could've done about this. The inflation was largely triggered by supply chain issues from the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump lost the election in 2020 because of the tectonic shock of the pandemic, and Harris lost yesterday because of the aftershock of the pandemic (inflation), and neither candidate was responsible for these events. This election result is not a verdict on immigration, abortion rights, Israel's war with Hamas, the funding of transgender inmate operations or other sideshows. Put anyone in office during these two election periods and they'd have been one-term administrations too. Jair Bolsonaro lost the Brazilian presidency in 2022 because of the pandemic, and the popular Jacinda Arden didn't even bother to re-run for the New Zealand presidency in 2023 because of the pandemic.
Now, let's turn to all the crazy shit that can happen in an unrestrained second Trump administration, because Trump will undoubtedly apply lessons learned during his first term to accomplish what he wasn't able to the first time around and then some. Below is a list of some of what he has said or is likely to enable. Let's revisit in four years to assess how close he came to fulfilling them. Before we get to the list, it's important to note Trump will push any agency or system that gets in the way of his agenda to its limit or breaking point. With the senate now in Republican control, and the House to follow, plus a sympathetic Supreme Court we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to observe the impacts of a few or more unprecedented and sometimes whacky - like two standard deviations from the mean - policy actions in what can only be described as a grand experiment.
And now, without further adue, what will or may happen in the next four years emanating from our unpredictable and impulsive 47th president:
o All DOJ cases against Trump will vanish, and he will not get a jail sentence for his Manhattan case hush money case convictions either
o The January 6th rioters/convicts will receive presidential pardons, and others too, as far and wide as Trump's pardoning power reaches
o Retribution against political enemies "from within"
o 13 million illegal immigrants shall be deported
o Ukraine war will come to an end with a peace treaty that cedes occupied territory to Russia
o Tariffs on all foreign imports, especially the ones from China and Mexico
o More abortion and/or abortion pill restrictions
o Resumption of cronyism and wholly unqualified and at times bat shit crazy people in top government jobs, e.g. RFK Jr. in charge of people's health
o Gutting of federal agencies and massive government spending cuts, aka cleansing the deep state
o More tax cuts and cuts in regulations that ultimately create bubbles and recessions again
o Control of federal reserve and other federal agencies under the executive branch. This could mean faster and steeper interest rate declines
o The presidency turned into a caliphate. The senate is already controlled by Republicans. If the house stays under Republican control, the magnitude of shit show multiplies by 10x. And this time around, Trump will have loyalist in his cabinet and as advisors. There will be no John Kellys to restrain him.
o More inflation and government debt
o A more empowered and unrestrained Israel - strikes against Iran's nuclear sites perhaps?
"And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God"
The last time I traveled to beautiful San Francisco was before the COVID-19 pandemic. All the popular areas in downtown were bustling then; Union Square, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square. This time around - August 2023 - it's sayonara to large crowds, businesses, and konichiwa to the homeless and smash and grab crimes.
While on the island, we bought souvenirs, a couple of which are pictured here, and a biography of one of the reformed inmates I'm reading now. The inmate's name was Jim Quillen. He was transferred to Alcatraz in 1942 at the age of 22 after his escape from San Quentin and capture. Surprisingly, he was not a violent criminal. He had served 2 years of his 3 year sentence at San Quentin for multiple stupid robberies, many at gunpoint, and became an officially categorized "incongerrible" (unreformable) inmate because of his escape. He never explained why he acted as such a dumbass for not finishing the last year of his 3 year sentence. I mean, how imbecilic can one be? But what's most surprising is one prison escape on a rap sheet that was otherwise relatively benign landed him in the most infamous maximum security prison with the likes of Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, James Whitey Bulger and the who's who of society's most violent scumbags and psychopaths.
The rest of the trip was to Union Square, the most delicious Gelato twice, a couple of okay restaurants and this funny haircut sign - click to enlarge:
Alaska, America's last frontier with a 737K population was purchased from Russia by then Secretary of State, William Seward, for $7.2 million in 1867. With its rugged landscape and climate, Seward's purchase was widely criticized at the time as junk until the gold rush of 1900s. Today, 25% of America's oil and 50% of its seafood comes from Alaska, but economic performance is ranked 49th (2nd last in the U.S.) Despite its vast surface area that is the equivalent of California, Texas and Montana combined, most of Alaska is uninhabited.
Day 1, July 14th and 15th: First day of travel and Johanna was teary eyed at LAX because she didn't want to go. I received complaint messages from her weeks prior to this trip and all the way leading up to. Chief among her complaints was lack of opportunity to spend time with her friends this summer because of her 3.5-week trip to Sweden and this 8-day trip. Highlights of her complaints that began in Sweden:
"It's just gonna be horrible for me [Alaska trip] which will make it horrible for everyone else.....I'll go to Alaska without complaining anymore only if I get money to go shopping when we get back.....Can I stay at Bita's or something because if I go I'll have way less time to spend with my friends and if I don't hang out with my friends anymore I won't have any so only take me if you hate me and want me to lose all my friends....Also I don't wanna sit next to a random smelly person on the flight....Wait if I go to Alaska instead can you pay for my fast pass if I go to knotts?.....Why the actual would I want to go to a random glacier and land where everything is cold like it's summer.... Everyone knows I hate vacation....I'll lose all my friends because of you....I hate planes....and vacations....and stupid Alaska...and I would rather die than go....I didn't even wanna go to Sweden...If you force me to go that's being a selfish and bad parent and that's not good for you...."
We arrived in Anchorage at 12 a.m. Saturday, picked up our $220/day (highway robbery) car rental and drove to our first room rental, Ingra house hotel, that ended up fitting the profile of a hostel with shared bathroom/shower. No way Jose, none of us are taking a shower here. Our room barely fit 3 small beds - I took the middle one. We must've been by a highway as the sound of cars driving by was at the limit of our tolerance. Expedia reviewers rated this junk 7.8 out of 10. Google rating was 2 stars out of 5. We rated it a generous 2 out of 10.
We woke up around 8 a.m., washed up, packed, checked out and left for breakfast in rain. Elin picked the #1 gluten free breakfast diner, Snow City Cafe, where they serve Alaskan reindeer sausage. The wait was 2 hours, so I'm guessing this place is #1 with or without gluten. We had an amazing breakfast and left for Girdwood, a resort town south of Anchorage and a 45 minute drive to our 2nd night stay at Alyeska North #400, next to a ski slope with chair lifts. These types of cabins are called ski-in, ski-out which means no transportation to the slopes are needed. The room was much nicer and larger than Ingra House, with it's own bathroom, shower and kitchen. There was a long bed connected to the wall and close to the ceiling that slept two people on opposite ends. That's where the kids slept. For an early dinner, Elin and I ate at a food truck called Girdwood Izikaya (Japanese food in case you haven't guessed it). Johanna elected for Subway (and the next day too). Back at the cabin, Elin and I watched Alone, which is a wilderness survival competition reality show. Since much of Alaska is wilderness, this show had special meaning. Then, lo and behold, at 10:48 p.m. a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit the Alaska Peninsula which was 460 miles southwest of us, triggering a tsunami warning. I learned later Alaska natives received the warning on their cell phones, but I guess tourists were left to enjoy all that Alaska has to offer. Luckily, the tsunami was only 0.5 feet.
Day 2, Sunday, July 16th: Elin and I ate breakfast at The Bake Shop across the parking lot to our cabin. This place was very popular and lotsa patrons walked in after us. Elin left first as I lined up to order grilled cheese for Johanna. We checked out of the cabin and left to the port town of Seward, population 2.6K, for our next 2-night stay - major cruiseliners dock here.
The 2-hour trip was on highway 1 that hugs the Gulf of Alaska, with gorgeous scenery of water, mountains, large trees and greenery.
More than half-way to our destination we stopped at a mini mart called Estes Bros. The vanilla and chai latte were surprisingly delicious. The girl behind the counter was a student at Seward High School. She drove one hour to school and back every week day. This high school has a total of 145 students and its two buildings are without windows (we took the picture below on our second day there).
After we arrived at our hotel, we visited the Alaska Sealife Center, built in 1998, largely from the Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement fund. The head honcho there was a 1,900 lb. Stellar Sea Lion who had a lot to get off his chest apparently:
Around 2:30 p.m. we ate at a highly rated hole-in-the-wall place called Firebrand Barbecue. The entire eatery fit in this picture. This place definitely lived up to its reputation. I had pork ribs and Elin had pork belly to the tune of country music the entire time.
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| Firebrand Barbecue - highly recommended |
Day 3, Monday, July 17th: Johanna stayed in the hotel while Elin and I visited the Exit Glacier, but not before we were devoured by mosquitos en route the hike up 3,000 feet elevation. I had all of my body covered with clothes except my head, and that's where I received multiple bites, mostly on the side and crown of my head where I thought my thinning hair provided adequate protection. I hope one day technology eradicates mosquitoes (and flies too) who contribute nothing useful to the ecosystem. Buttholes!!
On our way back, we saw a police car and ambulance racing up the road to, as I learned a couple of days later from the online version of Anchorage Daily News, rescue a collapsed Michigan teenager on the trail Elin and I had just traversed. Unfortunately, the teenage boy died of a cause yet unknown.
The rest of the day was spent dining at a local restaurant - I had a hamburger with gigantic onion rings - and later Gelato.
At a minimart down the adjacent street to our hotel worked a twenty-something chicagoan cash register clerk with a couple of nose rings. She had moved to Alaska 3 years prior, and held two jobs working 14-hour days "because there was nothing else to do there." This was her last summer in Alaska as she planned to move to Australia via a work program. Elin bought matcha on two consecutive days at that cute minimart.
Day 4 Tuesday, July 18th: We left Seward for Whittier, a tiny town 2 hours north of Seward and 60 miles south east of Anchorage with a whopping population of - wait for it - 200 and change. Almost the entire town lives in a single building, a former army barracks built in 1974. In the summer, the population adds out of state crews who run the glacier cruisers, precisely the reason for our visit. One such seasonal migrant was a woman named Hope who is a high school English teacher in North Dakota and on her first cruise duty.
To reach Whittier we had to drive through the longest combined vehicle-railroad tunnel in North America at 2.5 miles, the one-way, Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel with a $13 roundtrip toll.
The tunnel opens once every 30 minute for 15 minutes in one direction, which means if you miss your planned opportunity, you're up shit creek for an hour before your next opening. And that's almost what happened because our journey from Seward was interrupted by major roadwork of the dillhole kind and stoppages in what appeared to be a complete rebuilding of a section of highway 1. Two days prior as we traveled the opposite direction there was no evidence of this unwelcome major construction project. As a result of these delays, I hightailed it to the tunnel with plenty of time to spare.
Below is a picture I took from the Anchorage museum Elin and I visited on day 6 that chronicles the history of this tunnel built by American world war 2 soldiers during the war.
Once past the tunnel, we reached our cruise parking lot in a couple of minutes and checked in for our 6-hour cruise. The 3-hour version was booked when we made reservations the day before. The only reason why I agreed to this cruise is because on the promotional brochure, the first words were, "No seasickness guaranteed", but I still wore my scopolamine patch because even a little motion sickness is as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
The cruise ship was a high speed catamaran with speeds reaching 40 mph. Early after we set sail, I began questioning the wisdom of my decision to confine myself to a vessel for 6 hours. I mean, how different can a glacier look from another worth visiting 26 of them?? I experienced first-hand the oft used expression "that ship has sailed". Here's the best video I recorded from this excursion - a big chunk of ice around the opening of the waterfall broke off and fell to the water below with a thunderous sound a little after I shot the video:
We returned to Girdwood in a cabin with zero privacy. This was a studio turned into a one bedroom with no inside walls to the ceiling. The slightest unflattering sound out of any orifice would be easily detectable by any inhabitant anywhere in the cabin, even to those hard of hearing. The bathroom was separated from the rest of the cabin with a curtain, and the walls were 20 inches short of a connection to the ceiling. Talk about the need for highly covert operations there.
Day 5 Wednesday July 19th: Rainy Girdwood and more Subway for Johanna. Elin and I visited Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center where we met this anorexic moose:
And this black bear. All animals here were unphased by the rain pouring down.
We found it ironic that a rescue center that rehabilitates reindeer also sold reindeer dogs in a bun.
Every restaurant we ate breakfast or lunch at was surprisingly good given our limited options in such a small town; Basecamp, Hightower Pub.
Day 6 Thursday July 20th: Back to Anchorage with mostly bad or marginally acceptable food, and quite surprisingly unpicturesque downtown; a bit reminiscent of our trip through Santa Cruz a few years ago.
We torpedoed through the Anchorage museum, but not before the following painting with a peculiar title caught my attention:
Our Airbnb was the highlight of the finale of our trip, with the exception of a train and its obnoxious horn tooting every hour:
