Category: Podcast Episodes

Smoking and other disturbing thoughts.

Rich Pav 18 Comments

OK, here’s what I’ve learned so far from this exercise.

  • Before hitting the record button, I need to blow my nose so I don’t punctuate every sentence with a sniffle.
  • When the record light goes on, my brain passes gas. Just call me Rich Pavlov, why don’cha.
  • My inner chickenshit weasel wishes I had said “five” instead of “fifty.”

I think the highlight of this show was the Adam Curry MomentTM when I wasted about 500 man minutes of our collective time by rummaging though my pockets for my subway pass.

I talked about quitting smoking by associating the thought of lighting up with other really disturbing acts you could just as easily do. It’s probably mild compared to other podcasts, but I hope I don’t traumatize anyone unnecessarily.

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Little mistakes, huge consequences.

Rich Pav 11 Comments

Here’s episode two of our recently launched babble-a-thon. A couple of months ago I made a huge mistake at work. The worst I’ve ever made on the job. Funny thing is, it was caused by a very minor error. And I can’t elaborate. But recently, someone else in Japan made just as small of an error that had enormous repercussions.

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New Strategy: Shittin’ ’em Out, Part 1 of 50

Rich Pav 13 Comments

Right. So I’ve come to the conclusion that the anxiety I’m feeling over podcasting isn’t going to disappear. In fact, it’s putting up quite a fight. It’s as if I’m shadow boxing and taking a severe beating. Is that the most embarrassing way to lose or what?

Anxiety won the last match hands down, so I’m taking a different strategy. Self-help gurus would call it, “Feel the fear, but do it anyway,” but I prefer the mantra, “Hey anxiety: Eat shit.”

Like it or not, I’m going to shit out the next 50 podcasts in 50 days. Short ones, about 10-15 minutes each. They might or might not have anything to do with Japan. If they stink, they stink, but over time they’ll improve. I have get over the idea that every performance has to be spectacular, otherwise I’ll continue to accomplish nothing and drive myself even more nuts.

Oh, how I envy people who can drivel, babble and spew their way through episode after episode and not feel the least self-conscious. For me, this is a real challenge, like someone who’s deathly afraid of getting into an airplane deciding to take flying lessons. But it’s our neuroses flaws as much as our strengths that make us interesting and unique, right?

It’s time to start kickin’ fear in the nuts.

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A Musical Interlude

Rich Pav 2 Comments

Show notes, photos and links later. I’m goin’ to bed.

Street Performers

Now, I know someone out there is going to be tempted to post something negative about them because they didn’t sing and play every single note perfectly. The way I see it, they’re simply amateurs enjoying themselves–just like me.

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Soundseeing in Akasaka

Rich Pav 8 Comments

Warning: This episode is neither work safe nor podsafe. It will corrupt your children and jeopardize your career. And if that weren’t bad enough, it’ll probably hurt your eardrums too.

Last night I had fish & chips with cider at an English pub in Akasaka, took a stroll, talked with a few kyakubiki (customer pullers), and finished up the evening with karaoke. Recently I showed off some photos of me when I was younger, and a friend told me I looked like Freddy Mercury when I was in college, so I chose a song from Queen to sing.


Rich “Freddy Mercury” Pav

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Back Behind The Wheel

Rich Pav 7 Comments

This will either be interesting or it will be the podcasting equivalent of sitting through a slide show of vacation photos. We’ll see. I’m still figuring this stuff out.

Someone mentioned that my podcast reminded them of the weekly public radio program This American Life, so I decided to check it out. For the past two weeks I’ve been listening to it eight hours a day at work. So for this episode I decided to try to take a lesson from them. No way is it anywhere near as good as This American Life, but then again they have a team of 10 professional producers working full-time on every episode. And there’s no background music in mine. Too much trouble.

Update: I fixed the broken link to the MP3 file.
Update: The last minute or so of the file didn’t get uploaded. That’s been fixed too.

Show notes:

  • There are accompanying photos in the gallery.
  • Calpis (Not “cow piss”)

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