00:11
Good morning, Len.
Good evening, Asami.
It's a very good freaking early morning for me.
So if I sound sleepy, that's why.
But okay, so today's installment of episode...
I'm already not making sense anyway.
You're okay. You're okay. All is good.
Well, it is the time of the month for 科学系ポッドキャスト.
Right.
And for the month of March, the host is 三十五歳右左さんのお二人。
Ah, no, I should probably say the full name.
It's 三十五歳右に行くか左に行くかっていうポッドキャストの番組をやっています。
通称三十五右左さんです。
Yay!
Yay! Also, is that the whole name?
I feel like I've never seen the whole name.
That's the whole title of the 三十五歳右に行くか左に行くか
is the title of the podcast.
Got it, right.
Because this duo of good friends started this podcast when they were 35.
They're currently not 35, but they started this podcast when they were 35,
when they were noticing career change, life stage changes, and stuff like that.
And they're college friends, and I've actually been to their podcast as a guest before.
And they're both lovely people.
And they are hosting a podcast this month with the theme of
性ですね。
No, 普通に漢字のあれね。
性って性格とか性質とかジェンダーとか差がとかいろんな
potential meaning all just kind of wrapped up in this one character.
When I was telling this to Len, I was trying to translate this kind of
multiple connotation that this character has.
And I was just like, wow, it's pretty expansive meaning that this word has.
Yeah.
Yeah, you sort of warned me.
But I did briefly sort of go on a rabbit hole in dictionaries and play around and go,
03:02
okay, it's one of those words that I cannot possibly understand in its entirety without
much, much more context, right?
It's one of those.
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, like, usually it like if it's standalone like this, it usually means like either sex,
gender, or 差が、差が、差が、差がかな。
Like blah, blah, no, 差が.
And it's like, it's like, it's the closest words I can think of is character, but it's
a little bit more, like, inevitable and fatalistic than just a character of a person.
Okay.
It's more, it's like, yeah, nah, that's too much.
That's going to be another podcast.
But anyway.
Yeah, but that's the theme.
That's the kanji.
Yeah, that's the theme.
That's the theme.
And they, they, as usual, they were generous with, you know, interpretations are up to
us how to do this.
So I figured we would take this month's theme as 性格, so like personality, characters,
like that kind of 性でやっていこうと思いますっていうのもね。
Um, somebody asked me, you never properly introduced Len.
Len just popped up one episode, and like, was like, hey, it's gonna be me.
And then like, you just kind of stuck around.
I was like, that's true.
I never actually properly introduced you other than we went to the same grad program.
And I somehow know you from South for some time, right?
And I figured, why not take this opportunity to reveal a little bit more about your personality
to the listeners?
Just kind of do that.
Just, just give us another rundown of my disposition, right?
Yeah, like, who the hell are you?
That is usually what people say when they see me wandering about.
Who the hell are you?
But yeah, sure.
Because I think the video, it's evening over here.
Apparently, I'm not awake either.
The podcast episode that I think had, you know, sort of brought me in was yeah, just
like a quick sort of hello.
And this is what I am.
And I've probably mentioned some things before.
But yeah, you mentioned maybe we could do a reintroduction from this comment.
And I'm happy to, happy to oblige, happy to play along.
06:00
So.
Very good.
So I have here random numbers of these kind of rapid fire style questions.
So don't think too hard.
Just say what comes to your mind.
And I need to choose.
But let's see.
Are you ready?
Yep, you've got, so you've got a selection of questions that you've procured from places
unknown.
And now I am ready for what could be super fascinating or I don't know.
It's just questions.
Well, we'll see how many we get through.
Oh my god.
Not every single one of these questions.
There are 20 of them, but not every one of them is like particularly interesting.
So yeah, let's go with number one.
Okay.
Goodest place to start.
If you have to relive one day of your life forever.
Groundhog Day style.
Which would it be?
Wow.
I, man, you hit me with like such a big question off the bat.
I thought we were starting small.
What is this?
All right.
If I had to relive a day of my life, which one would it be?
I would say.
Oh, I'm going to show you a piece of my disposition here.
Some people might call this greedy.
I mean, the whole point of this is that.
Some people might call this greedy.
I call it I hate to be reductive, which just means that if I were to pick a day,
it means that something in particular about that one day was important.
But I would pick more the sort of sensation or the feeling, the emotional time bubble
that we have in our minds.
Okay.
Okay.
So you don't want to like nail down a moment, but you need to enjoy the whole build up,
the aftertaste, like the whole experience.
Yeah, just the whole experience.
And like, because it's not, it doesn't feel like it's about the one thing that happened.
I'm actually, I kind of get sort of annoyed when people are like, it's this one specific
thing that's like really wonderful.
And I'm like, please don't reduce it to something like that.
I see.
So you are more of the process person.
You are more of the entire experience.
You are fond of time axis.
Yeah, I'm fond of the time axis, which does not mean that I look forward to the inevitable
death at the end of the time axis.
But I am, in fact, fond of the process along the time axis.
And yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Current me is like that.
So cannot decide on one day.
How about like one week, month, like year?
Yeah, okay.
Let's.
09:00
I'll let you choose the time unit.
We'll use the time unit.
Yeah.
I would say it would honestly, it would probably be like this.
It would probably be this last year or so, actually.
That's pretty recent, yeah?
Yeah.
Well, mostly because I think I'm very pleased with the way that I've approached things,
you know, sort of.
That's amazing.
So it's like, yeah, you know, if I could pick one, I would redo this year again without
really any regret, you know, of having like gone back to, you know, do it again or something.
Very good.
Yeah.
Okay.
Question number two.
Would you rather always have to whisper or always have to shout?
Always have to, I usually have to whisper because I'm usually seen as not shouting,
but usually just louder than everyone else in the room.
You just have like what a Japanese person would say, like yokutoru koe.
Yokutoru koe?
Yokutoru koe.
Like, toru, like walking past, but like your voice travels, like your projection is high.
Yep.
You're not necessarily speaking loudly or at high pitch by any means, but something about
the way you vocalize is very projecting.
Like, I can hear you from miles away.
And in that sense, you probably usually resort to whispering more than shouting more.
Yeah, I think for me, I both do that.
I tend to resort to whispering more and I don't necessarily like, I don't like the yelling,
right?
I can get very loud, but there doesn't seem to be much of a purpose to it.
Oh yeah, people, Len can get loud.
If he wants your attention, he can make it hurt.
Yeah.
Usually it's just when I get excited or like overly excited by something that I might start
shouting.
I don't know.
You're a great person to have if we're in a crowded place and to get an attention of
a waiter or something.
Yeah, there's a few times I've used it for good.
I don't think I've used it for evil more than once.
That's to be discussed or discovered later.
All right.
All right.
Next question.
If your brain had a theme song, what would it be?
It had a theme song?
Oh man.
Is there a tune or a tune, melody, something that comes to your brain in a recurrent fashion?
Yeah.
I'll share this bit and then it will probably walk my way over there.
I've described, and I have not coined this term, the sort of jukebox of the mind.
It's like my brain is running its jukebox today.
12:00
For anybody who isn't old enough to know what a jukebox is or just doesn't know about
that particular part of culture, this was a machine that worked a lot like Spotify with
a lot limited selection in terms of the music you could select.
About like 10 songs.
Some of them were pretty impressive, right?
They could have like 100 songs or something.
Anyway, I don't know much about them.
The point being, jukebox of the brain, a lot of words or phrases or things can trigger
memories of music or songs if I have heard them enough times.
So this is not relevant and I can't think of the full connection, but there's a song
that has like a lyrical cue of like, I'm a wanderer, something like that.
And all that somebody has to say is the word wanderer.
And like this song just starts going in my head, right?
And it's not all the time, but it's pretty close.
And that one's been a recent one for whatever reason.
So the unnamed song that has a lyric, I'm a wanderer in some way or shape or form that
gets triggered by the word wanderer.
Yep.
And I believe I have pinpointed at least one of the song origins of it, which is Dion,
The Wanderer.
And that is the, it's a 1961 song.
All right.
I cannot explain to you why I know that song.
I don't really know nor remember.
There are other examples of this.
It's not specifically that song, but that one recently.
Next one.
What's a tiny insignificant thing that irrationally annoys you?
Oh man, tiny insignificant thing that irrationally annoys me.
Oh, what do I get?
I don't think it's fair for me to use the example of useless, unnecessary acronyms
that we were discussing outside of this the other day.
Let's see if there's another one.
What's something that irrationally annoys you then?
Big or small.
I need to, I'm getting hung up on the irrationally bit.
There are things.
All right, we can pass this.
We can pass this, but I have one.
Yeah, I'll pass this one because I have some examples of irrational things other people
do that upset me, but that's a different version of that.
So go ahead.
Oh, I mean like this, my example I was about to share was also other people's action rather
than a thing.
Oh, cool.
All right.
I'll share mine after then.
You do yours.
But I get unnecessarily riled up when I see somebody who is on the escalator and then
stops at the exit of the escalator to like whip out their phone.
15:03
Oh, which way am I going?
Like, no, the whole way you, you know how escalator works.
There are people behind you.
Well, unless you want to be toppled over by them, you have to move the fuck out of the
way.
Do your searching in somewhere safe.
Literally step to the side.
When you stepped on the escalator, you knew presumably how it works.
Like there's only one exit and everyone has to get out of that.
And there are more people coming in unstoppable fashion.
The whole point of escalator is that it doesn't stop.
And I'm just like, yeah, no, I think I get annoyed by that in like the way that is unreasonable.
It's an annoying behavior, but the way I get annoyed is unreasonable.
And I know that.
Okay.
All right.
I mean, I'm, so far I'm not hearing anything too unreasonable because this is definitely,
I, I wouldn't have called it.
No, this is like me verbally swearing kind of annoyed.
And I'm like, oh, like you don't need that.
You like, you like openly actively call them out.
Like for nice.
I'll be like, I'll give them a glare or like something.
Oh, that's great.
And the thing is, many times they're like genuinely lost.
You know, they like don't know.
Like I think there's something else that's occupying their mind that they're not aware
of their surroundings.
But like, come on, you know how escalator works.
I don't want to have to push you.
But I will is what I'm saying.
I am this close.
This close.
And in fact, I'm getting closer because you've stopped in front of me.
It's a good thing you are a frail looking grandma, because if I did that, then I am
just an evil person.
That's true.
It pushes you into sort of like at least what one would probably define as evil territory.
If, if and only if it is an old sort of grandmotherly figure of some, you know, equivalent
range, right?
Because this happens with non, like, you know, those elders that we wish to have suspects.
There are people who like just does it out of habit or something.
I don't know.
But people just like are unaware of how to conduct themselves in crowds.
Yeah, yeah, people get overwhelmed if we want to be real kind about it, right?
Like people do just get completely overwhelmed and stop making decisions.
Get overwhelmed in somewhere safe.
Yeah, but see, that involves them getting to something.
This is all decision making, right?
Like, this is the same.
Don't get me wrong.
I'm not saying that I don't get upset, right?
I'm actually 100% behind the upset here.
And it made me think of what I say now, which I didn't pick up when I got to Japan.
18:03
I picked it up from Aikido back in the States, which is the sound, which I never really looked
up, which is the sound like oto, like ototototo.
And so when something happens, apparently I have taught myself by just using it and
getting stuck in my brain, you'll hear me go otto, like in response to like something.
I feel like I've heard you say this.
You've probably heard me say it.
And it just, I picked it up because, you know, here's a little tidbit, right?
My teacher's name rhymed and was this essentially in Aikido.
It was otto.
And the sort of head, like, you know, of the system, you know, Grandmaster, whatever you,
you know, the titling and whatnot is from Japan.
So he would come and he would visit and he would do this to him.
He would be like otto, otto, otto, otto, otto, otto.
And stuff like this drilled into my head throughout this time.
And then it just, I liked it.
I picked it up.
That's true.
you never yeah no okay just big shrug well we're already like a good length in
terms of episode that's because I can talk apparently but I I want like some
easier ones that I think is fun if your personality were a color what would it
be and why okay all right this is I wish I'd pulled up like some sort of like
color list of names I can see the whole point it's like a very like what do you
feel like it's the color that represents you well yeah I have a visual color in
my mind right but I don't have the words for the color right so I'm gonna I'm
gonna go as simple from the Roy G Biv I would put myself within the blue
category that is where I would get myself it's also one range of my favorite
category of colors so yeah yeah all right if emotions had flavors what would
happiness taste like to you what would happiness taste like to me Wow Wow what
uh it's really unfortunate that you don't like chocolate because I feel like
that's God chocolate is like chocolate is like the feeling of repulsion and it's
in its form like furious I don't need to but the happiness so I'll
first first thing I thought of it happens to be one of the things that's
definitely attached to this not the only is like okay for anybody that doesn't
know this because they are a little different it is in particular the
Western like say u.s. northeastern breakfast style pancakes those are like
21:04
the floppy like the floppy they're like soft and they can somehow sort of be
fluffy but like they just you know fall apart you've soaked them in like you
know a maple syrup or maybe some jams or something they're sweet they can be
fruity you could put that hell if you want to put whipped cream on them or
something you can right they're just they're a sugar bond of things but there
is like a sweet and also that underlying you know pancake II carb type thing that
just feels very warm and happy and full full of a giant meal you you leave
those breakfasts you know in the States being overstuffed at that point so yeah
it's a good example if people haven't figured out you like eating I do like
eating absolutely not chocolate is out there I tried I tried again with
something chocolate and I just could I could not eat it it was like a tiramisu
or something that they had like tried to you know it just it wasn't happening so
tell me soon it's hardly any chocolate yeah I can't do it we we talked briefly I
don't know if it was on the podcast or not about how you know our nasal
passages can pick up the the briefest whiff of some sort of you know single
molecule at the other side of the friggin room right like yeah taste taste
ain't far off so if you say so if you say so okay last question sure what's
one useless superpower you'd love to have useless superpower specifically I
guess you don't it doesn't have to be useless it can be useful but what's okay
let's just say what's what's one superpower you can you'd love to have I
could probably get I mean there's probably a bunch of useless ones that I
could think of that are like fun right and like useless might be hard to define
you might be able to think of a use for something let's say oddly specific to be
able to levitate any object that is you know of minor size let's say less than
like you know a few kilograms or something a few centimeters off a table
or its surface and then put it back down it's fun it's sort of quirky you can
definitely freak somebody out with it and it would be funny it was like I had
to I had to reduce that because right I can't just say I can't just say like
just say levitate myself yeah that would be too cool like levitate any object
right that would be wildly overpowered right so like never mind the brokenness
of those those particular claims the two superpowers that I've probably considered
the most in the past would either be in the ends of like sort of spider-man style
24:00
acrobatic stuff or it would go totally another direction on a different axis to
like you know dr. strange like sort of magic nonsense or something right it's
it's got to be these like weird ends of the spectrum I think now you know
there's probably other variants in there that are interesting teleportation is
fun but that exists in dr. strange the space too so you know whatever but much
more use true true teleportation I'd love to teleportation or super extreme
acrobatics I feel like both of those plenty useful I think I think yeah both
of those are fun and very useful one probably more so than the other probably
yeah that's me that's the that's the not 20 questions but sort of 20 questions of
me hello again yeah that's it for the show today thanks for listening and find
us on X at a goday science that is EIG ODE SCI ENC see you next time
