On December 29, 2024, my day 4,960 on YouTube, I'm doing my little diary vlog. The highlight of the last 24 hours was playing basketball yesterday. I love that, being born 40 years ago, I can go play basketball and my play is as good as ever.
I remember as a kid, I worked really hard at it. I shot so much, I played so much basketball. I didn't play with a team, though. In college I played intramurals and our teams always sucked and we got stomped, because for some reason my group of friends couldn't work very well together in a basketball game. But I played lots of basketball just for fun. I shot hours and hours and hours in my driveway with a basketball hoop on the garage, just shooting baskets when I was a preteen and in my early teens. Then in college, I played a lot with my friends.
Why I started practicing three-pointers alone
I hadn't played basketball as much in the last 20 years. But I've recently been getting into shooting three-pointers. I thought about how I could practice by myself in a way that's actually useful if I play a game. A lot of when I played basketball before, I didn't have any certain skill. My defense was pretty good, but when it came to offense, I didn't have any real skill. I often felt like I didn't really know where I fit on the basketball court. So I realized that if I practice shooting three-pointers, that's something I can do by myself, and then it becomes a very useful skill whenever I do play with other people.
So the last few months, whenever I've gone to play basketball, I haven't actually played with anybody. I just shoot three-pointers. One time I hit something like 60 or 70 three-pointers in an hour. Another time I hit over 80 in an hour. I've practiced a few times for shorter stretches recently too. One day I hit 50 three-pointers in 30 minutes, which was amazing. And yesterday I hit over 100 three-pointers in a little over an hour.
I'm sore today. Some people are like, oh, it's your age. No, I am just not used to jumping as much anymore. I jumped four or five hundred times yesterday. I love how strong my body is, and I love that my body can handle that.
Easing back into a full court of strangers
Usually when I go to the local Y, it's a new Y, and there aren't as many people there playing basketball. But yesterday there was a whole full-court game running on one side, and then just a few of us shooting, and people playing one-on-one. There are six baskets on the court. On the shorter side they were playing a full-court game, and then there was a rim lowered down where some of the kids were playing.
It was a little intimidating when I first got there. There was a lot of hollering. It was a very loud full-court game going on, and I just wanted to shoot. I didn't want to try and get into the full-court game unless they needed someone. I just wanted to practice and ease back into it.
Whooping up in two-on-two
I used to care so much about dunking, but I don't care that much about dunking anymore. I shot a whole bunch of three-pointers, and then this kid, it's hard to tell the exact age, but he's maybe 15 or so, asked me and another guy if we wanted to play two-on-two. What's funny is this kid saw me hit probably 50 three-pointers while he was practicing, and I'm the tallest one there, at least out of this 2v2 game, and he asked the other guy to be on his team. So I got partnered with the skinny teenager against the other two, and we whooped up on them.
I'm of the mindset that I want to win. We played make-it-take-it, and you had to pass it in, ones and twos. I'd been practicing, so I was going to play the ones and twos, because two points versus three points is only 50 percent higher, but hitting a two-point shot is so nice in a 2v2 game. So the first game, I put down at least six, maybe seven points out of the 15 we played to. I put in at least half the points myself, banging down two-pointers. Then they had to play out against my two-point shots, so my teammate kept driving, and it worked great.
The next game they put up a little more competition, but I banged down a couple of two-pointers, my teammate did also, and he kept driving to the basket whenever they played out on me. So we whooped up two games in a row, and I felt really good about that. I hadn't played 2v2 or anything in at least a year, and it felt good. I was the tallest out of everybody too, which definitely makes it easier, but I'm 5'11", so basketball is definitely a sport that's more for me.
Over 100 three-pointers for the first time in my life
By then I'd hit something like 70 three-pointers by myself. I wanted to finish that off and get to over 100 for the first time in my whole life, so I shot a whole bunch more. I was making 30 to 40 percent of my three-pointers at various points. Sometimes I'd make two or three in a row, which is amazing. This is the best I've ever shot three-pointers in my entire life, and I hit over 100.
One-on-one with the kid who carried the team
Then I was getting ready to leave. I'd been there about an hour and a half. But the kid who played on my team, who scored most of the points and tried so hard and really helped us win, I figured he could probably whoop me one-on-one. I just wanted to see how badly this kid beats me. He was a little shorter than me, maybe half a head, but he was fast and energetic. He stole the ball from the other team, drove in and made shots. He carried our team while I just passed the ball a lot and hit some two-pointers.
So I played one-on-one with him to 15, and I whooped up on him. I was surprised how badly I beat him. I won 15 to 5, with my basic strategy being: do not let him drive in, and do not let him shoot two-pointers. I play a more measured defense. I'm not going to get up in your face slapping or pushing, so it's hard to drive all the way past me, but I'm also not going to let you sit there and shoot two-pointers without sticking my hand in your face.
So this kid didn't seem to know what to do, because my defense seemed to be screwing up everything he did. I started off leading something like 7 to 0. I just kept shooting two-pointers on him because he didn't want to come out and guard me. He'd check me the ball, and I'd shoot a two-pointer. He wanted make-it-take-it, so I'd shoot another two-pointer, and if it bounced off, I'd run grab the rebound and shoot another one. If he tried to shoot a two and missed, I'd grab it and shoot one myself. So I got probably 12 of my 15 points on six two-pointers.
I felt like, man, I really practiced for this. I shot a hundred two-pointers in practice, in the ones and twos, and now of course I'm hitting them in the game too. It was really satisfying. I thanked him for the game. He seemed a little demoralized, but I left feeling great.
Age isn't the story; what you do with your body is
I love that I can still play basketball, and I want to keep my body in shape so it can always play. Most of the people playing basketball were in their teens and twenties, and I love that. It's not anything to do with age. It's what you do with your body. If your body's used to doing something, it'll keep being able to do that. But then you stop doing something, and your body lets go of that muscle, so you have to build it back up. I love that with yoga too, my muscles are more well-balanced than they've ever been in their life, and I have less extra fat to carry around. So it was a pure joy to go play basketball yesterday. I keep more of these everyday moments going in my Life playlist, and if you enjoy this kind of thing, it's a lot of what I share with the Jerry Banfield Family day to day.
The Whole Foods run-in I dodged
Then I went to Whole Foods afterwards and got some hummus, some butternut squash, and a thing of the guacamole they make there. I bought some of the flour tortilla chips they make at the bakery and knocked that down too. There was a girl who I believe used to live in my neighborhood. I'd seen her and her husband and kids at Home Depot or Lowe's the other day, but I didn't say hi. I was with my mother-in-law and my kids, and I just walked by her. I think it was her again at Whole Foods.
Here's the thing: I had just farted, because I'd had a whole can of beans for lunch, just beans with some Frank's RedHot and tahini in it. So I was farting like crazy, and I'd just played basketball for an hour and a half, so I'm hella sweaty and smelly. Then this girl I think I know walks over, and I'm like, I just need to get out of here. So I walked off and left that nasty fart smell behind me.
Reading the room, and knowing your audience
Laura told me she sat right next to some guy she used to know at the mall yesterday while the kids were ice skating, and she didn't even say anything to him. I asked how she does that, how she sits right next to somebody she knows and says nothing. She's like, well, I never talked to him in law school, so why am I going to start 12 years later? I guess that makes sense.
So at Whole Foods, I walked by this girl a couple more times and decided to just play it like Laura and not say anything. I try to read people's energy. Sometimes people are awkward and weird, and you know what, we'll just not say hi, and sometimes that actually makes it better. Other times you try to read the room.
I was walking the dogs with the kids last night. My mom's dog Madeline, well, Jack walked our dog Bo, and I walked Melanie, our new dog. We were talking about curse words, and I told them you've got to read the room, you've got to know your audience. I think swearing's funny. I think it's hilarious, and the kids are out there cursing, but Laura doesn't think it's funny. You've got to know your audience.
I've learned to pay attention and try to communicate effectively in the language that will most reach people. At various points in my life I've just constantly practiced swearing, like, if you didn't like it, too bad, I'm going to swear constantly. At other points I've been this kind of pretentious spiritual person who doesn't curse at all. Now I just try to communicate. If I can communicate better by swearing, I'll do that. If I can communicate better without swearing, I'll do that. It doesn't matter to me, and my mind certainly thinks curse words. I also figure it's better to save curse words for when you need them and not just throw them out there all the time, and there are so many other words you can use too.
I told the kids that one reason I prefer not to curse that often is because I prefer to communicate that way in my videos. It lets me reach a more general audience than I could cursing. If I talked the way my head thinks sometimes, that definitely wouldn't work on video.
An evening at home, and Deadmau5
So I got home last night, washed up the dishes as usual, and was there to put the kids to bed. I listened to some more of Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, dropped my mom's dog off at his house, and went to bed with Laura. I watched some of Deadmau5 making Imaginary Friends on a live stream somebody recorded seven years ago, and it's just so cool. I've listened to that song, and it's so cool to see how he made it, because I make music too. It leaves me thinking that music is an area where I'm really exploring right now. I'm learning something new.
What's next beyond crypto
I'm thinking about what I'm going to do beyond crypto, because I don't know if crypto is going to be a forever thing. I enjoy doing crypto, and I like being good at it. I'm a professional at crypto. But I love learning things, and I'm learning and playing around with music right now.
I'm enjoying making music that's the opposite of junk food. Most of the music you listen to is kind of like junk food. It gives you a quick fix. I've still got these Tupac songs stuck in my head lately. It's been "Ambitionz Az a Ridah," and today it was "All Eyez on Me." I don't want to listen to new music that gets stuff stuck in my head, though. I like having my mind clear. To me, having a song stuck in your head is like catching a virus. You've got this thing rolling around in your head, and a lot of times, if you listen to the words, those aren't things you'd want playing as affirmations.
Some of the Taylor Swift songs are so toxic if you listen to the words: "I'm the problem, it's me." Some of these Disney kids' songs, if you listen, it's "I'm all stressed out and the world's against me." Even some of the Frozen songs: "Can't hold it back anymore. Let it go. Turn my back and slam the door. I don't care what they're going to say. Let the storm rage on." Are these the affirmations we want in our life? Not for me, anyway.
So I've been enjoying making some music that's the opposite of that, music that leaves you feeling better after you listen to it. Truly, just about anything can nourish your body, but a lot of music is like junk food. You take it in, it gives you a little dopamine hit while you're listening, but then it kind of fouls up the rest of your day, whether it gets stuck in your head or makes the rest of life less interesting. Everybody's trying to make these dopamine-hit viral songs, but then what about the rest of the day?
What really inspires my creativity is to hear a bunch of different sounds and just play around. According to my channel, people only spend about a minute watching my 20-minute song videos, which is fine. This is good for me to do, and it's music that's not like anything else. I am so burnt out on anything popular, even dance music. It's the same old crap. Most all the music I listen to that has any real volume of listens is the same old crap. I swear I could write the rest of the song now, not technically maybe, but I know what's coming. I want music where you don't know what's coming next, where it's unpredictable. To me that really opens my mind. It doesn't even feel good to listen to sometimes, but it sets me up to have a better day and gets my mind going. I don't know what's coming next out of the box, and that's the point.
This morning, and Laura's marathon
So I got up today, had a couple of Lara Bars, and I'm filming this vlog pretty early in the morning. Blockchain Pill wants me to pop on his X Space, so maybe I'll do that, and maybe I'll see if I can record it too. I'd love to get some more innovative YouTube video types going and get more of the community and other creators involved, so I'll see about that.
The kids went with Laura to the dog park, and she went for a run this morning. She's doing her marathon weekend in a few weeks, and she's talking about wanting to go by herself to drive to Orlando for it. No way. We are all going to go with her. But I know what's really bothering her: she doesn't want to inconvenience us, and she doesn't want us to see her at her most vulnerable and weak after a 26-mile run. But to me, that's love, seeing the people you love at their most vulnerable and weak, as well as the opposite. So it's really nice when I don't have anything else to say.