Jennipod
It's ya girl Jennifer, ya know, from Fairfield.
Jennipod
Jennipod Episode 21: My Eyes Can't Agree on Anything
• Missing a week of podcasting due to travel for my nephew's soccer tournament in Kentucky
• Observing the intense world of sports parents who scream at refs during youth games
• Experiencing the chaotic Memorial Day crowds at Buc-ee's for the first time
• Celebrating reaching episode 21, placing this podcast in the top 1% globally
• Discussing Mars colonization timelines and the challenges of living off-Earth
• Learning about Tesla's Optimus robot and contemplating future robotic assistance
• Discovering my lifelong motion sickness is caused by Binocular Vision Dysfunction
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What's up everyone. Welcome to episode 21 of JennaPod. May is over. Yes, I had to take a week off of the podcast because we traveled to Elizabethtown, kentucky, for my nephew's soccer tournament for the Memorial Day weekend. So three days away from the home equals no time to work on the podcast. So you can blame my 16-year-old nephew for that. Just kidding, he's a polite little sweetie pie.
Speaker 1:I didn't grow up playing soccer so I know nothing about the sport. When I was very, very young, my neighbor Amy hit me in the face with a soccer ball and I says to myself uh, this is not the sport for me. I'll just keep doing flips on a four-inch beam, not ever playing soccer. You can imagine how lost I am. For two 45-minute halves watching the parents scream at the refs about offsides and fouls and yellow cards. It felt like watching reality TV. But I didn't understand the drama. I just clapped and smiled. On the first day I burnt my ankles and it was overcast. The ref did get pissed at one point and yelled at my nephew's coach. You better get your parents under control. Sports parents be doing the most. Are you a calm sports parent just wearing your little picture button, or are you the parent who is cussing out the ref and getting ejected from the park.
Speaker 1:A couple years ago we traveled somewhere in western Kentucky to watch my nephew's high school team play in a tournament and there were parents cussing out the ref and other parents of the other team. I was looking around like what the fuck is going on? This isn't the World Cup, with millions of dollars on the line. This is high school soccer. The athletic director of the other school had to come over and be like Hello adults, please stop being redonkulous. I do have sympathy for the refs because once, for three weeks, I refed beach volleyball at the famous Back Porch Saloon off Princeton Glendale Road in Westchester, ohio back probably 2006, when I was 24. The Back Porch is still my favorite bar to this day. Shout out to Mike who is the owner-manager and has been there forever. I hope it's still a fun place. Back then it would sell more beer in a season than the actual Bengal Stadium did. True story, anyway.
Speaker 1:Did I ever play volleyball as a sport? No, ma'am, no sir. But my husband was one of those people who was like diving in the sand headfirst. Couldn't be me. I would fill in if it was really really needed, but it's like adult softball I'm the one you put in right field where the ball never goes. Oddly, as a minimalist, I still have my softball glove from my beer league days. It's in my closet next to my tornado helmet.
Speaker 1:Roughing beach volleyball was one of the top five most stressful activities I have ever done. Was it a beer league? Yes, but did we end up with teams who played in college? Yes, I have the attention span of a puppy, so that's why I sucked as a beach volleyball ref and that's also why I'll never get into playing golf. People would freak the fuck out on me, screaming like it was out. Sir, I'm getting paid $7 an hour to be here and I don't care. I had a whistle the little flip score card thingy and I got to dramatically climb the little judge's stand. Did I miss calls and pray? A nice person would be like it was in. Yes, I probably teared up when people were yelling at me because I'm a sensitive Pisces. Because I'm a sensitive Pisces, my girlfriend Allie played soccer at UK yes, a badass. And she was telling me there are shortages of refs for all sports because parents are being silly, mean gooses. So remember, even though you've invested thousands of dollars into your child's sport and didn't want to travel to nowhere. Insert random flyover state. Don't be a jerk-off to Gary, the 56-year-old volunteer ref. Now, if Gary is getting paid, have at it. Just kidding Gary, we love you. Have at it, just kidding Gary, we love you.
Speaker 1:On the way home Memorial Day Monday from Elizabethtown, kentucky, we stopped at the mothership Buc-ee's in Smith Grove, kentucky. If you don't know what Buc-ee's is, for my international listeners it's an American chain of country stores and gas stations founded in 1982 by Arch Beaver Alpine III. What a name. The Bucky's stores are found mostly in Kentucky, tennessee, alabama, also with some in Florida and the OG in Houston, texas. It's like taking the store at Cracker Barrel and combining it with a Dollar General and like a mall food court.
Speaker 1:Now I posted on my personal Instagram that it was my first time going and people were like no way, I don't believe you. A the one there in Kentucky is newer and I haven't traveled north really anywhere by car to go see one. My husband goes to the one on the way to Birmingham a couple times a month for work. B we don't have kids, which I think is a part of the lore. My husband needed a coffee and said you want to go to Bucky's? And I said sure, we're in no hurry to get home. Just kidding, I was because I wanted to see my animals. We get off the interstate and there was a line across the bridge but luckily we weren't needing gas so we pulled into another line to bypass it. Now the parking lot was pretty full, but again, I've never been there so I assume it's like that all of the time.
Speaker 1:As we were walking up, I'm thinking seems like a lot of people walking in and out. As soon as we stepped inside, I can only describe what I saw as it being 2002, it's Black Friday and we are at the best buy when the doors open. I was stressed Now, duh, not us walking into Buc-ee's on a top-tier travel driving holiday. First thing I see is a man with a black cat in one of those spaceship-looking backpacks you see on Instagram where the cat can look out the back and it's bobbing up and down. I wanted to get out of there as soon as we were in, that's what she said.
Speaker 1:We walked to the back of the store, husband got a coffee and went to the restroom. Thank God I didn't have to TT because the line was 40 ladies deep. That's what she said. I was just trying to stand still but I was next to the fudge stand so I had to change my placement constantly. There were some gentlemen standing around staring giving I'm about to be taken vibes. I didn't even walk around to peruse items. I wanted the fuck out of there. Luckily the checkout at the back side of the building was chill and we talked to employee Karen. No, not that kind of Karen. This Karen was black and she said it had been that busy since 4 am, 4 am. She said this will be their busiest day of the year besides, probably the 4th of July weekend. I saluted her and said Godspeed.
Speaker 1:We started walking towards the car and saw 11 Corvettes in a line driving in. I said are we at the Strip in Gatlinburg? Corvette gangs be like you know what boys? Where can we show off these Corvettes off to people, to severely underdressed people out in society? I had people DM me like what did you buy? Nothing, abso-fucking-lutely nothing. That place took a little bit of my soul.
Speaker 1:My IG buddy, julie, said there are two types of people in this world those who love Buc-ee's and those who loathe Buc-ee's. I do need to give it another chance. Julie also said she had it in her plans to drive to Cincy last weekend, but the plans fell through. And she said the kids and I took a road trip to Bucky's to kill part of the day. That's right. We drove three hours round trip to go to a gas station for fun. Mom of the year. Well done, julie. So Bucky's and I had a bad first date. If he calls, I'll contemplate going again, but this time I need a drink. Make it 151. We did it.
Speaker 1:I hit my goal of getting past 20 podcast episodes. If you have been listening since the beginning, you may remember me telling you. One of my favorite podcasters posted a poster from a podcast studio back in January and it said 90% of podcasts don't get past episode 3. That's 1.8 million who quit. Of the 200,000 left, 90% will quit after 20 episodes. That's another 180,000 gone To be in the top 1% of podcasts in the world. You need to only publish 21 episodes of your podcast. So yay, as always. Thank you for listening and reaching out about episodes, because it keeps me motivated to do this for free. If you recall, while Apple hosts 2.8 million podcasts as of April 2025, there are only 436,000 that are actively posting. So I'm like in the 15% 36,000 that are actively posting. So I'm like in the 15%. So I am just going to keep at this and see if it turns into anything. And if you know anyone looking for a voice for their podcast, holla at your girl. Also, I have had people download this podcast recently in Germany and the Netherlands. Now is that legit? Or y'all got some high-tech VPNs that confuse the stats? Or is someone, an international business person and stopping at an airport? Either way, konnichiwa, guess what? You guys and you may have been way ahead of me on this Humans cannot breathe on Mars.
Speaker 1:Plot twist because its atmosphere is over 95% carbon dioxide and only contains trace amounts of oxygen, making it impossible to breathe without assistance. Astronauts would need to use spacesuits with oxygen supplies to survive on the Martian surface, so now I really don't want to go there. First of all, a spacesuit seems claustrophobic. Katy Perry didn't have one on, so you can't go outside. I'm good. I don't need to live in a fake building that resembles Earth, so robots will have to be building that best. Western Hilton Waldorf, astoria. Situation.
Speaker 1:On Twitter, the account Mossimo asked how long a commercial airplane would take to reach each planet and Elon responded Starship can reach Mars in six months, every 26 months when the planets are aligned Dang, not a time to forget your earbuds or your Kindle. And this starship is the rocket capable of establishing a permanent base on Mars. As some of you know, grok is a free AI assist designed by ex-Twitter and someone asked it when are we going to Mars? And Grok tweeted predicting Mars population timeline is speculative.
Speaker 1:Elon Musk suggests uncrewed mission by 2026 and crew landings by 2028 to 2030, aiming for a self-sustaining city by 2044 to 2054. Spacex Starship Progress supports this ambition, but technical challenges like life support and radiation protection remain unresolved. Regulatory hurdles, environmental concerns and potential legal conflicts with the Outer Space Treaty could delay plans. Experts propose 2031 to 2033 for crewed missions and critics question prioritizing Mars over Earth's issues. A permanent population likely depends on overcoming these obstacles, making timelines very uncertain.
Speaker 1:How do I get on the board of the Outer Space Treaty? According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 is an international agreement that establishes the framework for the exploration and use of outer space, of outer space, emphasizing that space should be used for peaceful purposes and is not the subject to national appropriation. It prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons in space and ensures that outer space is accessible for exploration by all countries. Okay, no, nuclear weapons is good. Ain't nobody got time for that? So, anyway, I will chill on Mars information for a while. I think we should be focusing on making dinosaurs more than Mars. But, as we have learned on this podcast, I will not be taking a Southwest flight to Isla Nubar because, allegedly, dino DNA technology doesn't exist.
Speaker 1:Whatever, did you see the video on the internet the week before last of the Tesla Optimus robot doing simple chores? Pretty wild. I definitely didn't think in my lifetime I would see a robot doing tasks and dancing. I thought it was just a Hollywood movie thing. I'm impressed with the technology but freaked out by the thought of having a robot in my home Now doing things outside my home cutting the grass, cutting down trees, cleaning out the gutters, scooping doggy doo-doo, finding every single tick in my backyard and annihilating them. These are the tasks I need. I am good with a low-class robot in my home like a Roomba. The Tesla Optimus robot is 5'8". I am also 5'8". I don't like that.
Speaker 1:Now, when I am 80 and in my assisted living with all my besties, I may want a robot. I can be like yo robot. Make me a martini and a charcuterie board and, by the way, go to Kroger for me when we were gone in Kentucky for the soccer tournament. I have a house sitter. Stay at our home to watch the puppers and baby goblin elder cat. We've used this house sitter for nine years. She spends the night because my animals are post-pandemic, needy little turds. But would I allow a robot to watch my animals? Hmm, maybe. If the robot is giving Mrs Doubtfire vibes, I bet we see robots in the home sooner than later. What in the world will that cost? Okay, I need to Google that. When I am at my assisted living, though, I will take a little robot kitten or puppy to snuggle with Hashtag doesn't poop.
Speaker 1:I went to the eye doctor last week. I was a year and a half behind going and I'm about two to three prescription changes behind. Shwoops. I love my doc. She's young, cute, she's from Jersey, lots of badass new technology. I pay extra for that shit because they say eye tissue can be a predictor of a lot of troublesome things, or at least that's what they tell me in charge my credit card. She had something brand new this time and that was placing a virtual reality headset on my head to test my eye alignment. It was so cool. Now I want a VR set.
Speaker 1:The little AI machine was talking to me as I moved my head around to answer questions and there was some typical like stare at the little dot test per usual. At the end of the test it asked if I had any of the following problems and when it got to motion sickness, I pointed toward the most extreme answer because your girl be carsick her entire life. I carry Dramamine in my purse 24-7, 365 for all planes, trains and automobiles. When the dog came back in she said no wonder you have awful motion sickness. She said your eyes aren't working together. They are fighting each other Y'all. I had never felt so vindicated in my life. I had an ex-boyfriend that thought I was faking, being nauseated in the backseat of a car. Like Botany at Miami University, he can suck a dick. Like Botany at Miami University, he can suck a dick.
Speaker 1:I have a form of binocular vision dysfunction, aka BVD. Bvd sounds like an STD. I got from Gary, the volunteer soccer ref. Here are two definitions of BVD.
Speaker 1:According to Neurovision Austin and CouldItBeMyEyescom, poor eye alignment, known as binocular vision dysfunction, can lead to motion sickness by causing conflicting signals between the eyes and the inner ear, resulting in symptoms like nausea and dizziness. Treatment often involves specialized glasses with prisms to help align the visual input and reduce the symptoms. According to Healthline and VisionSpecialistscom, binocular vision dysfunction occurs when the eyes are misaligned, making it difficult for them to work together and send clear images to the brain. It difficult for them to work together and send clear images to the brain. This can lead to symptoms like double vision, headaches and difficulty focusing. My favorite part of the article that I read from the Cleveland Clinic on the non-visual sensory effects of this are coordination issues, especially hand-eye coordination. Well, what do you know? I've talked about that a lot Dizziness, lightheadedness, motion sickness or nausea, vomiting, trouble throwing or catching objects like a ball or car keys.
Speaker 1:This bullet point is for everyone at my gym who randomly throws things to me to watch me just clap my hands, all together missing it. They are big bullies. Another one was trouble walking in a straight line or frequent collision with objects like furniture or doorways. I have been doing that shit my entire life. There's also vertigo feeling like you're spinning, even when holding. Still, I had a bad case of vertigo like eight years ago I was at an all staff meeting for work. The room started spinning and I thought I was having a stroke. It lasted a couple weeks. It wasn't fun.
Speaker 1:So I could add some corrective lenses and prisms to my glasses. No idea what that costs. There is vision therapy. I don't know what that is. It says Botox can be used to block nerve signals to muscles that control your eye movement. This can help if your muscles pull more strongly in one direction. But where does the Botox go? Into my eyeball? That doesn't seem right.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'm starting a binocular vision dysfunction support group. We will meet every Friday at Bucky's Just kidding, because one of the symptoms of BVD is difficulty seeing and being in brightly lit or vividly colored environments like supermarkets, shopping malls and retail stores. And I feel vindicated again because you may remember my stories of the stress of me changing Kroger stores. Anyway, catch me researching more about BVD. And if you are a fellow BVD-er, high five. Or I hope we can. High five because we probably can't figure it out because our eyes are, they're just not working. We have a new, oldest cat alive.
Speaker 1:For those of you keeping tabs, flossie was born December 29th 1995, making her 29 years old as of May 2025. This has been acknowledged by the Guinness World Book of Records. I used to ask for that book every Christmas. Shout out to Santa for always pulling through. Congrats to Flossie from all of us here at the Jenna Pod podcast. My mom texted me a pork tenderloin air fryer recipe and it was very, very dense with steps and ingredients. And she texted you don't have to use all those spices, any rub will do. And I texted back that's what she said Hashtag, any rub will do. Thank you all for listening to episode 21 of Jenna Pod. Your support is appreciated. Have a great week. Jenna Pod is directed, produced and edited by me, your girl, jennifer. Please rate, review and subscribe to this on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you are listening to my lovely voice Laters.
