New Year, New Dilemma...What to Do?

Whether you spent New Year's Eve planning out the perfect New Year, drinking  your friends under the table, or watching your kids turn into mini monsters as they struggled to stay up to midnight, chances are you woke up with a feeling of "now what."

With so many options, I thought we could chat a little about what those options are and the impact that they have.

Music by Mound City by Coleman Hawkins (recorded 1929)

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This podcast is recorded in a style that pays homage to talents like Miss Monitor (Tedi Thurman) and explores topics designed to stimulate conversations. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Binge with the bang. Mmm. Sounds fun, doesn't it? I'm the lovely Ray, and I'm delighted to spend a little time with you today. I was born and raised in the US, but over the past few years, I've been fortunate enough to spend some time chatting online with people from all over the world. Thanks to a little website called Cambly. I don't have any strong opinions about the Cambly English Learning Platform. But my conversations with folks from other countries have left me with a lot to think about. So, in this podcast, I thought I'd share a little with you and maybe we can keep the conversation going. Morning. This podcast is about stripping down and having real conversations. So, if you're looking for someone to dress things up, well, as the old saying goes, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. I save my lipstick for the stage, dearest, and dressing up for the bedroom. I do not dress up my conversations with friends. So I'd love to have a chat. Happy New Year! Welcome back, darlings. It is the first day of the new year, at least at the time I'm recording this. We are settled into 2026. And I found myself waking up this morning to a sweet little headline. A headline that read What's open today? Retail What's close? Government And lovely, before you go into a little rant internally about well that's capitalism for you, I'd like to remind you that even in a communist society or a socialist society, it can be determined that businesses will be open or closed on the holiday. Now, with that being said, let's put that little thought of capitalism versus socialism versus communism versus whatever fucking ism. Let's just put that aside because that is not what this conversation is about today. Today we are gonna zero in and focus and press forward on a little thought. A little thought being what would you do if everything was close?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Now you might be saying lovely where I live, everything does close down on a national holiday.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

But stay with me for just a minute, let's think about the fact that, at least in the US, presently, there are businesses that are closed and businesses that are open. And if you are someone who has to work on a day where many other people have the day off, you may have the feeling of envy, feeling that you're being robbed, feeling that this is unfair. However, if you are someone who was paid by the hour, you might have a feeling of joy right now. A feeling of yes, double pay is on the way. And you may feel more than happy to reap the financial benefits. However, if you are not working by choice, or you are working by choice, but you wish you had made a different decision, or it's gonna be too crazy today. Well, you might wish that tomorrow comes as soon as possible and that the day is done and over with. But stay focused, stay with me. I must confess I found myself thinking Oh is the gym closed today? Surely they must be. They closed early yesterday, but wouldn't there be a lot of people looking to get their workouts started as soon as possible in this new year? Healthy habits on the first day and then I uh felt a little bad for hoping that the gym would be open. I mean after all, don't those employees deserve a break? And if they're hourly, which most of them are, double pay, most of them would receive, and so they might not care. Maybe they're expecting it to be slow. Most people will be hung over and won't make it to the gym. Maybe they're expecting it to be busy. Lots of new people coming in to take advantage of their holiday sale membership they purchased and are ready to start the new year right. I wonder. I don't know, you see, what the result is because I haven't made it out to the gym as of yet. But the thought of whether or not I'd be helping those employees did cross my mind. Because you see, if no one goes to the gym, then management would say, ooh, we made a bad decision by keeping the gym open on a day when no one wants to come out and play. And so next year we'll close on this holiday or insert whatever holiday you choose, darlings. However, if you're that person who doesn't celebrate whatever holiday you choose, and you actually like receiving double pay, you don't mind working, or maybe you do celebrate, but you can celebrate in a different way or later on or however you choose, and you prefer to work and get that money, then is it unfair to not allow you the opportunity to get paid in the way you choose? Hmm. I don't know. I don't know. I mean, if everyone floods the gym, management uses that as a confirmation that the gym should be open, and maybe next year they choose to open just a little earlier. And if no one goes, then maybe the gym says, hmm, we don't know if we can keep it open next year on this day. That's not a problem. But we don't know if we can pay everyone for having the day off. Hmm, let's look at that schedule again. How many people do we need? Decisions, decisions. Now, let's apply this theory to some other areas. If you are someone who does not get paid hourly, then yes, you might be feeling pretty pissed off about having to work on a day when other people are making more money for doing less work or the same amount of work, and here you are working. Either doing less work or the same amount of work or maybe even more work. Oh no. That would definitely feel unfair to do more work for the same pay. Though I have to say, as someone who's run multiple businesses, there is the thought that there are days when business is very slow and days when business is very busy, and so ultimately things should balance out. But I think it also depends on your industry now, doesn't it? And so, darlings, let's say that you are not someone who has to work on insert holiday. And on this day you're saying, Hey, lovely Ray, I'll do what I always do. I'm gonna take care of things that I need to take care of. I'm gonna do things that I wanna do, and this sounds absolutely delightful. Oh, so what are you gonna do with a full day off? All this extra free time. Are you going to use this time to travel? Maybe you stay a little longer on your vacation and decide to fly back on a day when you knew that many businesses would be closed because you didn't have to go to work today after all. So perfect day for flying. Oh wait, my love. Don't the airline workers deserve time off? Let's close the airlines. And the train station, the bus station, and um those Uber drivers, taxi drivers, they all need time off too. Okay, so not gonna be a travel day for you, no problem. It's a wonderful opportunity to go out and catch that new movie. Maybe take the kids to a museum, go explore a new gallery, go try that new little shop. Let's go shopping. Let's walk around the mall, but wait, darling, we're closing those two. No retail today, no shopping for you, no galleries, no movies. No, no, no. Let's close them all because those workers need a break too. Fine you say. It's a lovely opportunity to get out, stretch your legs, grab a bite to eat, and then maybe go walk around the park, stroll over to the beach, explore the forests. Well, darling, restaurants close. Fast food closed, coffee shop close. No, you cannot grab a coffee on your way to here or there because closed, closed, closed. Sorry, baby. They're all closed. Now, if you are someone who doesn't like to cook or doesn't cook or just think cooking is boring, hard, difficult, something you prefer that someone else do for you, like so many people seem to believe nowadays, then eating will be a bit of a struggle for you. Unless, of course, you've bothered to plan ahead and purchase whatever it is you need to survive the one day where all eateries are closed. Hmm okay. So you've managed to fill up and you've gone out and explored nature. Now if you're someone who doesn't even like nature, then going out exploring might not even happen for you. But remember, you cannot visit any establishment that requires someone else to work. Sorry. Not allowed Okay, so you might say you'll stay home, you'll call up some friends, have them over, you'll get the kids to draw some pictures, you'll do something around the house, just like you used to do. It's not a big deal. And yet if you are having others over, or if you're not having guests over, but you have a family in which you choose to spend time with, it sounds like a really, really good way to spend your time. Of course, you do have to plan ahead just a little, don't you? After all, if people are coming over, we're gonna need to know how they're getting there. Driving themselves? Go ahead and fill up the tank because the gas stations will be closed. Riding your bike no problem. Make sure there's a place to secure your bike when you reach that destination. Mm-hmm. And don't forget to have something for everyone to eat or drink. After all, it would be a little rude to invite guest over simply to suck up oxygen in your home for several hours without at least at the very least having enough toilet paper on hand should they need to relieve themselves despite being starved and thirsty.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

You would not be a very good host if you didn't plan ahead. And maybe your friends are bringing goodies over as well. You bring toilet paper, you bring something to drink, and you my friend, bring something to eat. We will all convene at my place. Everyone brings something and merry making shall commence. It shall as long as you plan ahead. Yeah. Oh my. But you may be saying, Ray, I've got another plan in mind. Maybe your plan is to just chill. Watch some Netflix or YouTube and binge, binge, binge. Binge with a bang. Mmm sounds fun, doesn't it? To just watch all of your favorite show or your favorite creator over and over and over again. So instead of going out into the world and being a consumer, consuming through purchasing or ensuring that another business has to use workers to expend energy and henceforth making that business consume. After all, if one were to go to a national park that require local workers to be on hand, then even though it doesn't cost you money per se, those workers do need to get paid for their work. Hence, businesses that have to expend energy for consumption. Now, national parks actually might be closed today, but just to give you an example, darling. Okay, so you have decided to stay home. Yay! Watch Netflix, yay! Oh uh problem. There's a little bit of a problem. Okay, so if you're having any issues with your Netflix account, we will not have any customer support or tech support to assist you, which you might say, well, the last time I tried to get customer service or tech support from any major company, I got shoved into an AI system. And so I'm not getting helped by a human anyway. Fair enough. But my love, you're still consuming. I get it, I get it, I get it, I know, I know. You planned ahead. You've got your food. You're not gonna starve. You've got a frozen pizza or popcorn or whatever it is that you purchase. Maybe you even cooked a nice meal yourself. Maybe you just scrambled some eggs, grabbed some rum, and whatever. You're being fed. You planned ahead. Your Netflix subscription is fine. Paid, the TV works, the electricity runs.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

You're all set to spend hours consuming. Consuming what?

SPEAKER_02 19:26

Isn't it interesting that here we are in 2026? And for years now, we've all become accustomed to using the phrase binge watching. To watch a lot of something. And to binge watch a show was kind of a guilty pleasure. It's kind of cool. What did you do over the weekend? Uh I binge watched Breaking Bad. I binge watched Game of Thrones. I binge watched Love is Blind. The Great British Bake Off. You binged. And you sat there. And you watched. Those are hours you can't get back, darling. I'm sorry. I I hate to break it to you, but it is true. You can't get those hours back. But when we talk about food, what did you do this weekend? I binged potato chips and popcorn and candy. I binged pizza and noodles and pasta. I binged, I ate everything I could find. Yeah. When it comes to eating, binging, the idea is just less gleeful. There's more shame in it. I feel so bad.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I just binged on cookies the other day.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Interesting. This idea that binging could be good or bad.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Should it be that way? Is all binging bad?

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Is all binging good? Is the state of binging being good or bad completely irrelevant? But the more relevant thing is that both states of watching, of eating, they are states of consumption, bringing you back to the role of consumer.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

And so, can you handle it? The world being closed for your convenience.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

For twenty-four hours, forty-eight hours. What about a week? Back in twenty twenty, when we were all at home, forced to stay indoors, and to spend our time and energy in different ways. How many of us were itching to get outside the first day or two? Hmm, this isn't so bad. There's things to do around here.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

I can get to know my family.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

And then as time goes by, people are literally screaming off their balconies, screaming out their windows, protesting in the streets.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

People are fucking losing their minds. Curious, isn't it? Interesting. So welcome to the new year, baby.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I encourage you, and I want the very best for you. I want you to be pleased, and I'm looking to please. I want for you to have a year filled with love and laughter and thoughts that stimulate. Thoughts that stimulate conversations with friends and family. And when others shy away, oh no, we don't talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

I want you to be confident enough, to be brave enough to proceed with curiosity, an open mind, open ears, and an open heart. After all, if someone's angry and shuts down, no need to push. But you can push forward this one question.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

Um I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. You see, I'm someone who is curious about how we as humans interact and touch each other's lives, and you being someone that I respect and adore. I wanted to know just a little bit more about your thoughts and what motivates them as I felt it would help me to just understand you in a different way.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

But I respect you don't talk about this. And do you find it interesting that a lot of people don't talk about this or have certain things that they don't talk about? I certainly find it interesting. Just let that sit. Yeah. Just let that sit. And maybe, just maybe, you can turn them on to this podcast and help stimulate them.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Okay, my friends. Well, until next time, it's been lovely to chat.