SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Blur Spectrum Podcast, ladies, gentlemen, thems, they'res, ours, us. We are here today, or I just say non-binary, that might be a little bit easier. We are here today to, of course, jump back in to our Blur Spectrum Podcast panelist uh review, if you will. This is uh this is when we take the time to uh dive a little bit deeper into each of our individual panelists. You've been listening to us for the past three, two, two or three years. Um, and you know, maybe you've met some of our panelists in person. You know, we've been at Blurcon, uh, some of us have been at OdaCon, some of us have been at, you know, MomoCon and Papsigon, all these different places. Uh, maybe songs in the street, who knows? Maybe you heard our voice, our melodic voices, and you instantly knew it was us. I don't know. But this is our series where we're trying to give a little bit more of a deeper dive into each of our individual panelists. And today, I have one of the most, and this is where I put a little shine, and this is when they always get embarrassed. So hold on, but I'm gonna fix my mic a little bit. So everyone, I would like to present to you one of our most intelligent panelists on the Blurred Spectrum Podcast. This individual has the ability to stop a Karen in her tracks. He has they he has the ability to verbally assault you, yet he doesn't. He has the ability to save your life, and he will. He has the ability to turn your way of thinking about your sexual misdeeds on its head. Why? That's because of the person that he has groomed himself to be. Did anybody else do it? No, they didn't. Why? Because this person has the ability to change your source. How does he do it? Only he knows. Is it sexual? I don't know, but I'm talking like it's love talk of slow jam, so maybe. Um it throws me off. Um no, but this this panelist, uh, I've known this panelist for a very long time. Decade plus. Um, he has truly the ability to warm a room, um, bring smiles to faces. Um, I don't think he kisses babies, but he does kiss dogs, so I guess that's still a positive.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Not on the mouth, though. Let's be able to do that. Not on the mouth. We don't do it on the mouth.

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Not on the mouth. We get a little like forehead tap. And a little flick of the nose with the finger. Um, no, but this this panelist uh has a variety of skills. Um from personal to professional, from gaming to anime, from creation and uh uh content creation. Uh whether he knows it or not, he's created a variety of different um content. Uh just might not have posted all of it, which uh I keep uh harboring on all the time. But at the end of the day, uh he is his person, he is a person I call friend, best friend actually. Um, and I would like to introduce him or reintroduce him to you, and that is the doctor, ladies and gentlemen. How are you doing today? How's everything going?

SPEAKER_02 3:15

You know, I'm doing alright. Uh things are good. So definitely funny enough, I actually worked on some music earlier. So that's you know, much of the I'm talking about content I create.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

So and where's that music going? So you store it on your hard drive. You know, probably, yeah. No, I'm a justice.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

So, you know, as I do with these interviews, um, I just try to give the listeners, give the individuals just a scoche, an iota of what a little bit more of who you are and how you get to the point where you are right now. Um, so I always like to, you know, just give the panelists the opportunity to almost like a uh what's that uh a 30-second elevator pitch, but just give the listeners a brief, how is that a brief dissertation? Those are um two different sides of a spectrum. Very long dissertations are never brief.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Even the brief ones are long.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

No, but give give the listeners um, you know, just give them your introduction. Who who is the doctor? And should we use your real name? It's up to you. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 4:24

Um yeah, you know, Rod.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Rod is fine. Right. Who is the doctor? Who is Rod? Give it to them a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Okay, so who am I? Um, well, as far as you know, the Blurred Special More, like being a blur, I'll say. Um, I've always loved gaming. So from the first time I got my very first console in game, which was the Super Nintendo with Super Mario World. And I got Super Mario Kart shortly thereafter. Um, and I just like fell in love with it, and that kind of you know got me into gaming culture more, and you know, it really became a big source of my joy. So, you know, I loved it. And you know, as I got to find more of these spaces where you know blurts can connect and whatnot and discuss, and um, it's been really good for me. So I think I've really enjoyed engaging in these spaces. Um, at least a little bit on my background, you know, outside of that. Uh, so I've lived in the DC um and Maryland area my entire life. Um you know, one of very few natives. So I'll see the area change for sure. But um, you know, I actually I did my undergrad in medical microbiology or medical laboratory science, especially in microbiology. So I think that ended up um shaping a lot of my career and whatnot going forward. Um, you know, I was in the medical lab for a while and then eventually got into academia following my master's and my um doctorate in epidemiology. So I and I really enjoyed that. Like I think I found out that I really love teaching, which I didn't know initially, you know, and working with students, you know, it's just something I was really, really passionate about. So, you know, there's that part of me, like that professional life, um, there's the gaming part of me, which is a lot of fun. And honestly, like I just I like to have a good time. Like, I'm super extroverted, so I love meeting new people. I love the outdoors, physical activity, biking, the gym, you know, kickboxing, all that good stuff. Um, and I love, you know, creating like music and creating art, uh, painting and all that. Um, so yeah, there's just you know, a lot of like little bits to me, I suppose.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Just you just listed off certain certain points of your life or points of your existence that people can't even fathom putting into a day. Like you just you just made music while on the other hand you just taught a class, you just did a little bit of research, you were just gaming the other day, and then over here and then over there. But like that that's I think no, that's what I know is one of the core reasons why I've grown to love you as a friend, is because you have all of these different facets, and because of all these different facets, you have just an understanding of so many different caveats in life. Like you, you have you have such a uh a healthy repertoire of experience where you can, you know, aid friends, you can, you know, kind of map out what to do, how to carry out certain scenarios based off of the experiences that you've had in life. And I think that's always important for people to really be able to do is because they have a healthy life, they've done many things, they know they have a better idea of what they can do, or they know whom they can rely on and whom they can talk to to figure out what to do next. So uh that's one thing I've always, you know, uh always seen in you and always been impressed by is just you know how much you can do, how much you decide to do, and because of all of that, how much you can still do and plan on doing in the future. Phenomenal. And that leads me into my next question. Well, or I guess my first question was the other one, just an introduction, but leads me to my first question, which is you know, based off of all these experiences, you know, you said, you know, your doctorate, your master's epidemiology, let's not fuck that up. Um your uh love of music, production of music, um, your you know, gaming, uh being a gamer, a blurred, gamer, blurter. No, let's not do that. Um blurred gamer. Um how do you what makes a way to word this? Who is Rod because of all of these different experiences? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Alright, that is a that's a broad question. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Okay, okay, more specific, more specific. Um okay, hmm, okay. So because of all of these different experiences, and because of what you do, let's I guess let's focus on your your study, your your academia. Okay. Because of your track in academia and your doctorate, master's doctorate, how does that influence your interactions with you know family, friends, loved ones, so on and so forth?

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Um I guess it's interesting. So there's in my early career more doing clinical work and more doing the um teaching in a clinical context and in a hospital setting. Um, of course, hospital ethics are really emphasized. So, you know, privacy, um, respect for you know autonomy, um, confidentiality, all of that. And I think that is something that I take in how I engage with, you know, people at large. So, you know, I take um I tend to take people's trust pretty seriously and their private information pretty seriously. So that's something where, you know, it's almost like how when you're working with patients, you know, I have to really be conscious of creating a inviting, destigmatizing space where you're able to talk to me, you don't feel judged, you're more willing to be honest, and I uphold that honesty by respecting and keeping your information safe and being, you know, and really maintaining that space for you. And then something I'm gonna do with my friends um and you know, my relationships and my family, where it's I try to be that positive space for people, you know, and I try to be someone who you know you walk away, you can walk away from without like feeling like, oh, I don't know if I should have told him that, or like you know, trust this person, or I don't know, like I want you to walk away from a conversation with me feeling as good, if not better, about yourself than when you started. I think that's something that is influenced by that type of um that clinical background. And you know, my professor background in research kind of like reinforces that too, because when I'm doing interviews for my studies or like my lab or whatnot, um it's the same idea. Like you gotta create a trusting space and you have to create a space where people are comfortable, and so that's something I do. I try to bring that to, you know, interestingly, um, gaming spaces as well, because I do think that it's interesting, like we never really talk about like stigma in the context of a gaming space that much, or like, you know, questions around trust and all that stuff. But you know, I think you know, like, especially online, um, uh shit can get rough sometimes. Sometimes the toxicity, you know, jumps up. And I certainly have not been immune to that. Um, you know, but it is something over the past, definitely the past decade, I'll say, like, I've been more conscious about trying to be like more or trying to create, make those spaces more kind, you know, and more accepting as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

You know, and that's again, I uh I've always felt leaving a conversation with you that that's exactly how I felt, where I I can trust that anything that was shared, anything that was talked about, and not even in a like, oh, we just talked about somebody. No, no, it's it's literally a it's like being in a safe space anytime I'm communicating with you. Granted, this is being recorded, so I can't say this particular one is a safe space. But no, it's it's it's just knowing that um because of your experience, because of what you just stated about you know, having that um patient doctor confidentiality, knowing that anything that I can discuss is going in, being processed and only being relayed back to me. Um which, you know, not that it's a question, but I I kind of wanted to know, and if you can't share it, because you know you are, you know, your patient uh doctor confidentiality, that's fine, but I didn't want you to get I wanna I wanted to give the opportunity for you to maybe share with the listeners um about a little bit of your research, or maybe, you know, one of something that you felt like you wanted to share that people may not know uh about your research.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Oh yeah, certainly. So right now, um, so I'm a professor and my air my main area right now is lack queer um social and mental and sexual health. And in particular related to um prevention of HIV and SDIs and uptake of prevention behavior. So my main big grant project right now is focused on uptake of prep or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which you know, you can take it once a day as a pill, or you can take it as um a semi-regular injection. Um, and it protects you from HIV about like 99% of the time or more. Very, very effective. Um and my work is to really focus on, or my work really focuses on promoting uptake of prep and understanding barriers to prep use in black queer communities and particularly through a social lens. So, you know, I think um, you know, being a black queer man, I have existed in these spaces for definitely my entire adult life. And you know, these spaces, black queer spaces are often loving spaces, they're often fun spaces, but there is some level of shade and negativity that can arise, just like any other community, yeah, simply. Um, but that creates a barrier to health engagement a lot of the time when those social venues or those social settings are where you get health information. So my goal is to, you know, in these settings, um, I really want us to treat each other better and treat each other as well as we can. Um, and to a lot of a large extent we do that, but there are definitely some gaps where sometimes the shade gets up, you know, rises, and sometimes there's some stigma that creeps in from, you know, um for a number of reasons. But um, no, ultimately I want us to really uplift and support each other because that has direct benefits for a lot of these health outcomes. And that's my number one research area right now.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Phenomenal. Um, and excuse me. And we've had, you know, some conversations about that stigma that, you know, about shade, about uh, you know, what's the best way to say this? Uh, about the colorful I'm gonna say colorful insults, uh, but the the the colorful critical uh observations of individuals within the community and within, you know, what they may call friends groups and social groups. There it is, within social groups, um, where they quote unquote get themselves together, get their friends together. Um I mean, I know you you we've talked about this. You have a very strong opinion uh on that particular topic, and it seems like you're you want to talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

I'm here to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Well, I mean, uh let's do a little bit. Uh just to Scoa Schwesh. What is what is what's your opinion?

SPEAKER_02 16:23

Yeah, so you know, I think that so you know, black queer people get a lot of shit from the outside. Um collectively, you're contending with white supremacy, you're contending with homophobia, biphobia, all of this. Um so essentially, like when contending both that it tends to make you more reactive, more on guard. But sometimes we do take that out on each other. Um, I mean, we've all heard the phrase hurt people, hurt people, you know. So, and I think that collectively we have been hurt a lot from the outside, and the way that and we sometimes take that out on each other. Um I think we've sometimes, you know, we have sometimes or in some ways really used shade as a way to kind of do that, but have it not like seem like it's as bad as it might actually be. Um, so I do, you know, I know we don't talk about or not uh sorry, not us specifically, but I know that as a community we talk about like shade as a part of our culture and all this. Um but I do think that most of the time, and there's you know both some science backing this up as well, um, most of the time it's not the lighthearted jabs that we like to say it is. Yeah. Most of the time, it's me as fuck. You know, and I have many participants in my own studies who will talk about these experiences and why they don't fuck with certain spaces of ours. Because they got shaded for their body type, for, you know, oh, they don't make enough money for a number of other reasons. Um then then, and of course that just like marginalizes us further. You know, I think um I think one other good thing that or thing that really illustrates this. So um, I know you're probably familiar with Paris'. Well, actually, I don't know, are you familiar with Paris's Burning? Or have you heard of it?

SPEAKER_01 18:13

I have heard many things about it, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:17

So huge black queer culture movie, you know, um, and definitely it highlights uh kind of the ballroom scene in New York, and shade comes up a lot. And the quote is probably one of the best known quotes about shade, where I'm gonna paraphrase a little bit, but one of um, you know, ladies says, Oh, you know, shade is not like me telling you you're ugly. Um, shade is me not having to say you're ugly because you already know. Yeah, it's rough. You know, and of course, like, yeah, you know, it's like you get some laughs out of it and whatnot. But um, in terms of actually interacting with a person, could you imagine saying that to any of your friends? No, you know, like a friend, not me a friend, no, exactly. Like, you know, so like this whole like, oh, we're just lightheart jabs of friends. Like, I'm just thinking of imagining myself telling a friend, like, well, I would never say you're ugly, but you already know, right? Like, it's like it'd be fucking horrible.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Like, it's 100% like an enemy, sure, especially if I was petty, but not uh not a friend, no.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

Yeah, and so I think we gotta be aware of that because you know we have had it tough, and in some way that's a part of how our resilience shows up. Um, but we don't want our resilience or the way we manage this external stressors and external issues to harm each other, right? I think that's a thing that just comes up so much in both my own work and in the science around this at large. So, you know, I think we it's something that we really have to rethink because again, it's we gotta uplift us because not too many people do, otherwise, we really need to.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

I mean, what do you and this this is this is I didn't expect it to go in this direction, but like I said, normal conversation. Um, but I was gonna ask, what do you when you when you because initially you started off by saying that you know black queer or the black queer community gets attacked all the time from the outside? What do you think is what do you I mean you can't really put yourself in their minds, but what do you think the the people on the outside think about how we treat each other on the inside?

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Um honestly, I don't think they particularly care. Because they don't have to. I mean, it's not that's an intra community issue, you know. So even though, you know, a lot of these external people are creating the conditions, you know, that make it hard for us, um, you know, they also feel like, well, you know, if we all are shitting on each other, then that's not my business.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Which is not entirely honest, but it's why, you know, they don't really have to, they don't feel incentivized to fix this, and I, you know, and only really we can, you know, that's something that we would have to work on. Right. And you know, that does not, to be clear, does not diminish the impact of like external racism and homophobia at all. In fact, that shit creates the conditions through which shade thrives. But, you know, it's ultimately we have the most control of how we treat us.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

100% agree. Uh, I think at the end of the day, no matter what, even though you may think shade is funny or you may think it's cute, because one thing I've always found interesting is like your your example of Shade was very um, like I said, I don't know if that movie at in terms of the the the the script. I don't know the the quotes and things like that, the dialogue. Um, but I've heard in Real time, very as they'll call it, poignant shade. And at times, you know, you'll see somebody who may actually just making be making a critical statement, not shade, but a critical statement, and they'll call it shade. And then it it kind of lumps any point of contention or any like topic where it's supposed to be uh a critique or a um almost a beneficial statement, like it's not harmful in any way, shape, or form, but it's almost like um I'll use an example. Um, oh hey, your pants are ripped, you should probably go and change them. Simple statement, I made an observation, I noticed something, but then to someone who someone else who's in the room who may be used to shade, they'll say, Oh, ooh, you just got them together. You rented them for filth. And now it's now altered what I said. It's made it even worse, all because they've lumped it in with the normal category of shade. And I'm like, I that's not what I was that's not that wasn't my intention. I wasn't, and now you look like the bad guy because you've been lumped together. What do you think about that kind of realm? Because that that's that's all that's I don't say unintentional shade, but that's almost like a like you you formed an attack and somebody buffed it and made it so much worse. Oh, wait, you were talking about poisons yesterday. It's like adding poison onto your attack, and I didn't even mean to. Go ahead, take that one.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Oh, and to clarify, I was talking about poison in the context of a video game. I'm not like a sociopath.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Sorry, sorry. Yes, clarity, clarity. That was a that was a video game buff.

SPEAKER_02 23:35

That one needed context.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Very important.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

No, but I mean, definitely the issue of um escalation for entertainment is a common thing that happens, you know, and really in many communities when it comes to this, but particularly with shade, where you know, one person says something, and they may not even always necessarily mean it to be shady, but it kind of gets ramped up by everyone around it, you know. Um, and that's yeah, of course, like that can make things somehow, you know, sometimes worse. Um, you know, and I will say it's not I'm not necessarily saying that, oh, we all need to be 100% like, you know, super duper nice and kind 100% of the time. Like, I don't think that's a realistic thing for anyone. But um I certainly like, you know, don't live up to that myself. I don't know if anyone does. But you know, I think we do need to be conscious about how we even needed this and what we're getting out of it. I mean, that's right. I mean, the other thing with Shade, a lot of it is, you know, well, if I can jab you down, I feel relatively higher.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

There it is.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

You know, and that's something to definitely be aware of. Because in the context of, you know, kind of bringing back to gaming a little bit, um, similar things happen like that in gaming circles as well. So like shitting on someone who's new so that you feel better about yourself. Yeah you know, and then that's something that you know you also want to be conscious of when you're trying to create a gaming space that both attracts and retains people.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Oh, one 100%. And and diving a little bit more into gaming, that's why most antagonists or anti-heroes are created. Like it's you know, a lot of them are in a situation where somebody tried or succeeded in making them feel lower, and they're like, and then that marginalized group that made them feel lower, they're like, oh, well, you need to go. You are the cancer on this earth, and we need to purge you. And then they become they become the villain.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

Yeah, no, it's it's so interesting how like when we think about the way stigma is portrayed and whatnot, um, gaming and anime actually does it really well a lot. Really well, really well, really well, and you know, they often use analogies that work really well, um, you know, and like a lot of analogs to racism that exist in various games. Yes. Um and some games that you know just hit like racism directly, for instance. Oh, 100%. You know, I think the favorite game for that was Bioshock Infinite. Um, I know that's that's your baby right there. Oh my god. And like I remember it just seems like this paradise. I mean, like, I guess spoilers, but it's also been out for long enough.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

At this point, you know Don't go play it after you explain it. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Yeah, no, like it just seems like, oh, this beautiful paradise in the sky, and like everyone's nice and fun, and then you know, you get towards the end, and it's like, you know, oh yeah, we're like gonna, you know, dunk a black person. You know, like it's like, oh, okay, there are there are issues here that need to be addressed, and that kind of like kicks off the rest of the plot. But um, yeah, no, that's that's one thing I think that also it's an interesting way in which my professional passions and my gaming passions kind of argue is that I love the way games tend to tell those stories in a very nuanced way. Um and stories just about many real-world large-scale issues that we, you know, face. Um, you know, I think Avatar did um The Last Airbender did a fantastic job when it came to, you know, their portrayal of things like propaganda when it comes to, you know, war and like, you know, this um I think I remember like there was an episode where, you know, Aang is in the he's in like he's posing as a Fire Nation student. Yeah, he's in the school and they're like, oh yeah, you know, and there's like this war between like, yeah, this attack from the Air Nation. And he's like, yeah, wait, the Air Nation didn't have a formal army, they were ambushed. He's like, oh well, you know, like, you know, how would you know that? Like, so the teacher. Rewriting history. Yeah, exactly. Like it hits a lot of these topics really well. So that's something I love about gaming and anime um in general.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Ah, see, that was my next question. See, you're already answering stuff. Okay. Um, so you know, we talked about your love of anime, we talked about your love of gaming, we talked about your passion and your and your tri in your in your craft rather. Um, now, where did this love and this production of music come from? Um, because that's you know, everybody, you know, in some way, shape, or form, loves some type of aspect of music, but you you're creating music. Where did where did that come from?

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Oh yeah, so my dad uh was a professional musician for a very long time. And you know, he played bass, and I was just listening to play bass. And you know, he him and my mom, but like really, I kind of like my mom, my dad did more in the music real. They really pushed me to uh you know explore my creative interests and all that, which I loved. Um early on, so I learned how to play a bunch of different instruments. Uh I think I tried like flute, trumpet. Um, I got pretty good with flute, trumpet, piano, uh, what else? I did a little clarinet, clarinet I never quite got there with.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

That's my boot right there. Clarinet and bass clarinet.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Oh, yeah, no, it has a beautiful tone for sure. Um, you know, um a little bit of Marimba, you know, which I really like as well. Um, but really, funny enough, my I kind of joke that like my favorite instrument ended up being the synthesizer, because you know, when I would get when I learned about some of these programs, like Reason was my first one for music production and composition, and then I um got into Logic. Um very similarly named, interestingly. Very, very interesting. You know, um, I think that's when I started really composing. Wow. I just I love what you can convey with music. Right. You know, the you can convey an emotion, you can convey a setting, you know, you can shift a move using like the right song, the right phone. So that's something I really, really enjoyed. And I've that was like a big hobby of mine for you know, probably a decade before. I think it dipped when I was in school. Um, because you know, doctorates are busy. Um I've picked it up the past few years again, and I really like it a lot. Yeah, I've always like really loved music and I've always admired musicians a lot. Um, Prince is probably one of the people I admire just the most, straight up.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Like you're pulling the questions out of my head because I was just about to ask you which artist.

SPEAKER_02 30:24

Like the fact that he was such an incredible musical genius. You think of just musical intelligence, like I can't think of anyone who compares, you know, to him on that level. Nah. But you know, but I like a lot of different artists, a lot of different music. Um, definitely love rap. Uh Kendrick, you know, it's probably Kendrick is getting close, you know, my favorite. But I think Prince might hold that the rest of my life. But like Kendrick, of course, is up there. Um, I also love J. Cole. Um, big on Tupac and Biggie, but I didn't want to choose back in the you know, um, but yeah, and there are definitely like some RB artists I really enjoy. Um, you know, I love a lot of like going back old school. Um, I love Janet. Like Janet.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Oh my number one, Janet, right there. Yeah, 100%. Full-on entertainment performer.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

I love it. Yeah, no, Janet's amazing, um, for sure. Janet has definitely my favorite RB album. I'm Velvet Rope. I love that album. Let me play that today. You know, it's I'm still not sure if I like that or to pimp a butterfly more, but that's I mean, they're very different albums. Oh, completely completely too different. Actually, choose between the two.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

You don't have to.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

No, for sure. Um, and definitely like really enjoy a lot of uh R Linux's stuff. Oh who else would be some of my favorites? Um oh Lil Nas X. So um yeah, we know you love some little Nas X. We know. No, that is my baby. I love you know, that is oh that is my son. Oh he's so sweet, you know, he's oh um, but yeah, like definitely uh yeah, there's a lot of music I enjoy for sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

Um, I mean, I I feel like somebody's gonna ask this question because I need to make sure I have to wrap up, but will we ever hear the doctor's music outside of your head?

SPEAKER_02 32:40

Oh my if you come over, yeah. You know, I can say so. I'm like, I'm probably because I guess the reason why I don't really upload music to something public or whatnot is I almost view it like writing in a diary. So the music is how I get my thoughts and feelings into, you know, not words, but you know, sounds that convey that. And so it's not something I'd probably like, really like promote super hard or whatnot, but yeah, it's just for me, but no, I like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Understood. No, no, that's important. I mean, everybody needs to have something that they can use as, like you said, like a diary, but almost like therapy, where they can release feelings, they can release emotions, they can process feelings and emotions and really have an understanding of how they feel. And they you can even go back to certain tracks that you've created and not necessarily relive, but kind of re-establish what your feelings were at that time. Because like I would imagine you you know, you made stuff back in college, you could go back to a track you made in college, like, wow, yeah, I remember that. That was that was that was summer 05. I remember that shit.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

I do it all the time, and I really love um man, guitars have a very special place in my heart, even though I never really got great with one. But like I love so many guitars. Um starting, I mean, Jimi Hendrix was like we introduced to, you know, of course, Prince. Um but also um, you know, I'm a huge fan of like Steve Lacey's work, like some beautiful, beautiful stuff, um, and many more. So, yeah, that's man, music is very special to me. I guess it's different because it's probably the most distant from my professional life, right? Right. But oh, I I really love it so much.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

The eclectic stylings of Rod the Doctor. I'm telling you, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Um okay, so uh when I wrap up, I did want to ask one final question, uh, just to give a kind of a roundabout uh circling back to the core of uh this conversation, this interview. Um what is one thing that oh shit, now I have two questions. Okay, I'll start with this one. What is one thing that you want to do? Like you're you're doing a lot, you're you have so many different points, but what is something that has been in your mind like, man, and I could just what is that thing?

SPEAKER_02 35:23

Huh. So honestly, it's interesting. Like, so I mean I've talked a little bit about the on the podcast about my experience in competitive fighting games, where I did a little bit with Blaze Blue, continuum shift, but um really Smash was where I Smash Ultimate specifically was where like I really started to grow, you know, and excel when it came to the competitive fighting game scenes and doing some you know, reaching like regional levels of play there, which was huge for me. Um but I guess with you know both just professional things picking up, um, as well as just general like bits of family stuff here and there. Yeah, I haven't had the same time or amount of time I've been able to dedicate to like pursuing competitive fighting games again. Right. Or even like really sitting down and practicing fighting. Right. Because, you know, I also like you know, Mortal Kombat 1, of course, is right around the board one way, and like I love the Mortal Kombat games too, so and it's one that I've always thought about really sitting down and practicing, you know, and I've done that before. I've definitely gotten good enough where like, oh, I could get into entry-level competitive stuff. And I'd love to have more time to do that. Like, I'd really love this next game to be a first Mortal Kombat that I really do more competitive stuff with. Because I mean with Ultimate, like that was really successful for me. It was something I really enjoyed, and I made I mean it was just a great experience. I really loved it, but um, yeah, I'd like to try that with you know a new fighting game.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Okay, well, um, not saying when this was being recorded, but this week the pre-orders, of course, come out, so you you could have early access, and that'll give you some time and not to plug anything. But there is a gaming tournament happening next week after the game comes out, so maybe that can actually transpire. Up to you if you pre-order it now. Uh, but that is something else we can talk about. But my final, final question um before we dive too deep into another topic, is um what is one thing that you would want our audience, our listeners, uh, to know about you that they wouldn't be able to perceive based off of all of the hours of your melodic voice being on the podcast? Um, what is if they haven't met you before, if they're in another country, another state, another region, um, and they haven't currently pulled it from an episode from before, what is something that they don't know about you that you may want to share with them?

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

That's a deep one. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

It is. I mean, honestly, the biggest one that I don't think I've ever talked about before this episode is probably the music. Like, that's yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that has to be the one. Like, definitely as far as things that are really important in my life that I probably haven't shared much of on the podcast. Right. That has to be like, yeah, that absolutely has to be the number one. I can agree. No, or even like just meaning to expand that to art in general, since I can also do painting and whatnot, too. That's my other like artistic copy. This guy.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

He also he also makes desserts, people. The artistic part, cooking and baking, and making all different types of desserts.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

That's a good one. Yeah, I didn't talk about that. So I love so I love making desserts. I I used to make ice cream for a lovely friend of mine, like shadow ice cream. I wasn't gonna break it up. It wasn't me. But um, yeah, that's um, I really do enjoy baking, like cakes, pies. Um oh god, I made like two weeks ago, right before I left for my trip, I made this really nice raspberry kiwi tart. Like, it came out so perfectly. So, yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_01 39:13

Now, just but before y'all get excited, he makes these for one person, and that is himself. I had none.

SPEAKER_02 39:20

My mama gave I give them to my mama too, because she loves them.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

Well, there we go. See, that's that when you make it for yourself, you make it for your mama. That's perfectly fine. I mean, I make I bake stuff for my mother all the time. So all right. Well, as long as your mama got some, that's what's important. Yes, she's very happy. Um but okay, so yes, of course, I want to wrap up this episode. Uh, want to uh definitely thank uh the the Dr. Rod uh for giving us the ability to learn a little bit more about him. Uh, learn a little bit more about you. I forgot I'm still talking to you, obviously. Um, but I do want to uh take a couple of seconds just to say that um there are countless people out there, whether they are people who you have interviewed, um, people who have been in your research before, friends that you have or have had, family members, um, strangers who I can honestly, I know for a fact can say that they are better because they have or do know you. Uh, you are an incredible human being. And the talent that you have in all of the different facets of you make people better because of how you present it to them. Um whether it's the desserts that you make, uh although I said I didn't get any desserts, I've had your ice cream before, I've had your lava cake before. It's amazing, tantalizing to the taste buds. Um, I'm sure whoever has been in your present presence while you've been playing your music that you've created, their ears have been touched and have been, you know, they felt the different emotions that you portrayed inside of the different songs. Um, I mean, if we really want to get into it, you're a doctor. So at the end of the day, your research, and most people don't know this, and I I'ma say it. When the pandemic hit, Dr. Rod was one of the first, I'm gonna say first responders, he was actually one of the first doctors to work on the coronavirus uh uh study when it took place, especially in the DMV area. He's one of the first doctors who did that, which means your work, a part of your work, has saved lives, has increased the survival rate in this area and in the country. The things that you have done, the skills that you have learned, um, the talents that you have nurtured and turned into kind of everyday radisms um that you just feel are, oh, I can do this. I like, oh yeah, I do that too. Every single one of the things that you do have helped have, I mean, I won't go spiritual, but have blessed um the people who have come across them, who have interacted with them, who have been have have been touched by them. And uh I definitely want you to know. I now I can physically talk personally, I I have, and I've said this to you before, but I'll say it again. I value, I cherish you, I feel that you deserve so much more than what you already get from people or already get from work or already get from you know different avenues. Um if I could give you some highfalutin award, I would. Um if I can give you a million-dollar paycheck, I would. If I could give you, I don't know, the house and carbia, well, actually, you're pretty satisfied where you live. So I'm not even gonna go there. But if I give you the carburetor or the trip of your dreams, I would. You deserve all of that and more. All of these things are materialistic that I'm talking about realistically. I would just want you to continue being happy. And I think you are a shining example of someone who has worked hard to get to where you are to have a certain level of happiness. Because there's many people who work and work and work and work and work, and they're still not happy. Um, and not saying you're, you know, a ball full of sunshine all the time, even though that's what I see, that's what you show me. Um, but I'm sure that because of all the work that you put in, you are happy and you have you have done things to make yourself happy. You take trips, you enjoy yourself, you bake, you cook, you make music, you you know, you are a phenomenal human being. Um I almost said your last name, my apologies, Rod. Uh and uh I wanted definitely this this of course, this episode is of course to give the listeners a deeper dive into you, but I also wanted to use this episode to give you your flowers uh virtually, um and you know, just let people know just how amazing that you are um in every shape or form. I mean, there's I'm sure there's stuff we didn't even tap into that you do. I'm probably forgetting some things um that we could definitely talk about, but um you are you are truly like when people say, Oh, he's a phenomenal human being. No, no, you are fun, you are a phenomenal human being. I'm not gonna not gonna hit you with the Maya Angelo phenomenally, but you are a phenomenal human being who in every aspect of your life you try to make sure you help someone, and there are not people, not many people who truly do that, even in their personal aspects. People keep their personal shit to themselves. In your personal aspects, you still help people, you still touch people, you still benefit people in some way, shape, or form.

SPEAKER_02 44:45

So um you know, I I really appreciate that, and you know, like you have been just the most amazing, kind, interested friend to me. And you brought me so much joy, especially in times where you know that we're not you know rays of sunshine, like you know, and you helped be that ray of sunshine for me, and like I really appreciate and love you so much, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 45:11

Don't you try to turn this on me. This is about loving and appreciating you. Don't you do that? Focus on you.

SPEAKER_02 45:18

Oh no, it's gonna be us.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

Well, I do appreciate that. I I really, I really, really appreciate that. So um, not to you know go off on a complete tangent. This is our cutoff time, so um I I will uh uh wrap up, but so of course, by doing that, I have to give um my panelists, uh, the doctor, uh, an ability to tell you all how he can be reached. So, how would you like uh people to shower you with appreciation, the doctor?

SPEAKER_02 45:48

Lightning RT777 on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Um, and also if you want to send anything special to him, you can also send it through the podcast, uh, which is the Blurred Spectrum Podcast. Uh, that's on Instagram, that's on Facebook, that's on YouTube, and that's also on Twitter, and I believe we're somewhere on Twitch, somewhere, somewhere on Twitch. Um, and of course, there's our mailbag, the blurred spectrum at umbrellastark.com. And if you want uh to whisper something to me so I can anonymously tell it to the doctor, you can also hit me up on Suchi No Shogun on Instagram, Suchi underscore no underscore shogun. Suchi is spelled T S U C H I. Um, but of course, that is our episode. Uh thank you again, the doctor, uh, for uh always being a willing participant. Um, and uh for all of you, as I always say, Sayonara.