The Knot:

Though Crystal knew Persis would be the one to ask the question, she couldn’t have imagined just how grand that proposal would be. The groundwork for the actual moment was “a grand adventure that spanned years and continents.” Persis drew inspiration from a song she loves: “Girl in L.A.,” by a pop-folk act called Us the Duo. The song narrates a long-distance love story, much like Persis and Crystal’s. The lyrics mention various locations around the globe: “I’ll yell it out from Nashville, a little closer to your ear...I’ll scale the China Wall to have you closer here to me...I’m in love with a girl in L.A.” As part of her plan, Persis planned trips with Crystal to all the spots mentioned in the song. At each location, she captured footage to be compiled into a proposal video.

“Persis and I are a couple of travel bugs, so when she suggested hitting these spots, I was all in but had no idea why [we were going],” recalls Crystal. “Sure, China in the middle of winter seemed a bit out of left field, but hey, who am I to turn down an adventure? Little did I know, each destination was part of her grand plan. The big reveal happened at The Hummingbird Temple in Los Angeles. As soon as I saw Us the Duo set up with their instruments, I knew something was up.” The musicians began to sing “Girl in L.A.” while Persis’ proposal video lit up on a big screen. After the song, a few friends Persis had recruited led Crystal to the backyard. There, Persis was standing in front of towering letters spelling out “Marry Me Today.” Talk about a moment for the memory books.

So happy to have played a small role in Persis' grand master plan and watched this unfold in person!

August 19, 1969 — October 28, 2023

Thank you for all the smiles and laughter.

It blows my mind how many people preach this conspiracy theory. Marques Brownlee, the one tech reviewer who loves tech without being a fanboy in either direction, explains it best.

From Lifehacker:

Whenever Attia would catch himself having a negative self talk, he would have to immediately stop whatever activity he had just messed up. Then, he would have to pretend it was actually a dear friend who had just flunked the task, and replace the self talk by audibly speaking to that person as if they were there. He would record the “conversation” on his phone and send it to his therapist.

Naturally, he would speak in a much kinder way to this friend, rather than angrily to himself. After about several months of doing this activity four or five times a day, Attia claims he can’t remember how his inner critic even sounds anymore.

The trick has to do with the brain’s ability to changing, or as he talks about in his book and is known in the scientific community, its neuroplasticity—the ability of the neural networks in the brain to change and adapt throughout an individual’s life.

While people who have a toxic inner monologue lack empathy for themselves, most still have it for other people. Ultimately, he is hacking his brain into talking to himself in a much more loving way and undoing 47 years of toxic inner monologue.

My 2022 was about adjusting to the new normal and prioritizing my mental health.

For the 20th straight year — and perhaps the last time I publicly post my annual review — here is my annual run down of how I spent my year 2022.

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I take all information — especially in this political climate — with a grain of salt. So when people are hyping up or advocating against something like keto, the only thing you can do is try it for yourself and see what works for you.

With keto, not only did I lose 58 lbs, but I reversed my fatty liver and lowered my triglycerides from 169 to 69.

Sorry Jillian, I trust my blood test results — keto works.

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it. They just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while; that’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.