#13 TNT in NYC: Dennis E. Sarkozy and Joshua Keay Ever wonder what it would be like to live in NYC for 6 months? 🏙 In this episode of THE NOMAD THEORY, I sat down with Dennis Sarkozy and Joshua Keay, two cool characters living in the Big Apple, to answer that question.🍎 Follow this link to hear the episode and read the show notes: https://simplecast.com/s/774cca8d The contents of this interview should help in-the-closet-Nomads from suburban bubbles across the country get a from-the-sidewalk picture of that fast-paced city slicker life we only see in movies. 🏁 Our meeting happened in a truly New York fashion; A friend of a friend's friend linked me up with Dennis, who invited me to meet Josh at their swanky downtown tech incubator. 💻 I was strolling through the city without any recording gear, wearing ripped jeans and a sweaty Grateful Dead shirt when Dennis messaged me asking if I could meet him in an hour: ⏱ "Don't worry about the gear," he said, "I reserved us a spot in the Podcast recording studio." 🎙 No wonder Josh likes to say New York is a "plus one city". These guys center their lives around social interaction, literally creating mantras and habit systems that make it impossible for them to sit at home alone at night. 🎉 Dennis is a productivity-coach and mindfulness consultant working with BestMe to help commercial businesses integrate meditation, healthy mindsets, and yoga into the lives of their employees. Think of him as a freelance yogi working for the general equanimity of corporate America. 🎎 Josh is a self-taught product designer, boot-strapper, and technological guide who works as a sort of entrepreneurial mercenary when companies need an experienced, artistic eye. He has lived in New York for over ten years since taking a guilt-free gap year of his own after graduating high-school.📚 This interview is Part 1 of 3 in the TNT in NYC series, so stay tuned for the follow-up episodes where I sit down with Dennis and Josh separately to talk about Gap Years and some genuine Hippy Hooha 😜 As always, thanks for listening to THE NOMAD THEORY!🌎 I'm A.C. 🍌 Stay Wild Folks! ✌🏼️ You can find THE NOMAD THEORY on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and GooglePlay P.s. Thanks a bazillion to my fellow NYC Nomads David Nebinski, Derek Coleman, and Blynn Shideler for making this interview possible. 👋🏼
For the Show Notes and Quotes this time, I am including a batch of short writings I produced during my time in NYC...
Enjoy!
On my way again, zooming at top-rate speeds beneath a stained glass skylight.
A drip of foggy condensation grows and shrinks from the window's frontward edge.
It was 9:15 when the Megabus picked me up from 10th and Penn; en route for New York City.
Tomorrow is my Birthday.
Today is my "last day as a 22 year old."
And for once, I actually have a decent idea where I'm headed.
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” - Jesus
I guess I better learn some gardening skills.
But first, I have to pee, because that coffee runs right through me.
A.C. Ridenour
September 27th, 2018
New York, New York
Happy Birthday Aodhán!
You made it to 23, congrats kid!
"How does it feel?"
I try to answer that question on a daily basis. Much more often than "what do I think?"
Perhaps, seemingly less applicable while analyzing data at a finance firm, than while planting pineapples; feeling always brings a different perspective to the present moment. It's another tool in the toolbox.
Of course, I'll think, I think? I'm human - it's basically our only claim to fame.
I already think too much, so why not focus on the feeling? But how do I do that, really?
Take a deep breath. Better yet, take 10. Hopefully not of toxic air.
Listen. Let the sounds come to you, not the other way around.
And that should be it. No need to over complicate things.
By God I Love Coffee.
Thank you everybody for the Birthday wishes, it's nice to know the clan cares.
A.C. 🍌
In Hamilton Heights, people speak more Spanish than English, and the Spanish billboards take prominence over their English counterparts.
Yet when the deli salad boy hears an English tongue, he echoes back, "So you want a pound a' that?"
It's a bilingual haven sharp with statements unheard elsewhere:
"You wanna come down here con esa mierda y talk to tu mama así? En que piensas you are boy! No puedo believe this kid."
"Ay yay yay yay, son locos"
Manhatten is like an ethnic parfait, and public policy is the spoon; stirring up trendy economics with Rap Caviar.
I don't want to forget it: the sauces tasted; ego punches taken; words learned in conversation; dreams coming true beneath my nose; and of course, the really funny jokes.
A.C. 🍌
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 29th, 2018
Sugar Hill
It's a slippery slope, this city; and the stakes are higher here.
But with all the competition, helpful acts still happen.
It was a helpful conversation, generously shared on mic while dripping nitro cold brew coffee through cheery smiles.
Thank you invisible Facebook cyborg for rearranging my life in a more exciting manner.
Could it have been more exciting without the digital nudge from Señor Zuck? Maybe.
But when all the stakes are higher, better to stay wired.
A.C. 🍌