Life is Weird

I sit down with Jared Avalos, the founder and creative mind behind Dreamer Data Entertainment, a media company based out of Chicago. We talk about how it all started, and Jared’s future plans for Dreamer Data, including upcoming music videos and concerts that are happening in Chicago. Do not sleep on this if youre in Chi-town!

While driving through Yellowstone in September, my brother Jon and I camped on a beach with an awesome family that lives in a giant blue school bus. This podcast is about how they came to live in the bus, how they sustain this amazing lifestyle, tips and tricks on how to frugally live your best life, favorite spots around the world, and their motives and intentions for the future. Thank you Derrick, Amy, Payson,Taylor and Brianne for being such cool “adults” and teaching my brother and I so much in such little time. See you on the road again soon

This episode was recording on September 20th, 2018 in Portland, Oregon. Paul Stamets is a mycologist and is one of the most important human beings currently alive on this planet. Consider visiting his website at Fungi.com and donating to his project to save the bees.

In this episode I read the entire book “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen. I hope you are planting good thought seeds in your mind garden and giving them lots of TLC.

I recorded this episode sometime in June while crashing with some homies in Asheville, North Carolina. Every morning I would practice yoga by the river and then dunk myself into the cold water, followed by a meditation session. Set aside 30 minutes today to practice meditation with me from the past.

On June 10th, I jumped on a freight train going through my small corn town in Illinois. Since that day, I’ve traveled over 3000 miles all over the country by hitchhiking, by foot, train, plane, and skateboard. I’ve seen many beautiful beaches and mountains, and met so many incredible people. In this episode I talk about what I’ve learned on this journey, lessons about riding freight trains, encountering cops, looking and feeling like a homeless person, and what it means to be an American. Thanks for listening, I hope you have a wonderful day and encourage you to take 10 minutes, right now, to contact the people you love and remind them you love them.

this rant is a foundation to my life and to future lives to come. it’s important and full of love and acceptance. 2018 is going to be awesome.

Today Justin and I woke up in Breck, got yolked and then I set off for a town to unsuccessfully trainhop from, and eventually got stuck in Glenwood springs.

Woke up and went for a run in crestone, said peace to my people and hotchhoked 4 hours to my friends in Breck. Life is good.

Wassup erbody today was a Fucking awesome day. This episode starts with 7 minutes of living room jamming with some freaking wizards. It also ends with good jams. This episode is full of wizards and weirdos.

Welcome back to my hitchhiking journey. I haven’t been updating daily because for the past 3 weeks I have been crashing with a friend in Asheville and haven’t really been up to much, but I am back in Colorado and back on the road. Love u :-*

On June 6th, after watching Tom perform with Wavy I.D. in Chicago, we go outside to sit in my car and record this wonderful interview. We talk about why Tom loves this city, how he began to cover concerts, his music taste, and more. Thanks for peepin, jah bless.

This episode begins with me taking 3 long deep breaths of burning dimethyltryptamine. In the 10 minutes that follows, I am breathing very deeply like a weirdo while periodically trying (and failing) to explain the experience. You can skip to 12:00 for a sober reflection I recorded the following day. Peaceably with love, Evan.

I travel with a handful of wonderful people 9 hours through the Pike Mountains and finally arrive at my new home in Crestone, Colorado.

The past 2 days have been incredibe. I’ve had time to relax at luke’s place (bless that man) get some reading done, truly experience Denver and all the great people in this city. Today I hitched to Colorado Springs with a kind man named Andy who has a son my age in Afghanistan. I got my back fixed in a grocery store, ate some mangoes and kale, walked 7 miles into town where I found a cool spot to hang and read for awhile, hung out with my good homie Yumiko and then landed at Hannah’s place and met even more good friends. Next, Crestone!

Today was a success. Woke up in a beautiful park, became a father to 30 moths, finally took a shower and worked out, talked to some spiritual teachers at a church, bought new skateboard wheels, fed a squirrel, got a library card, met some new friends at a concert where I saw Dr Dog, and I’m finally resting my eyes in the notorious bindle van. JAH BLESS.

Today was sooo weird. Woke up in the train in Missouri, hopped off and hiked into town, ate a breakfast burrito, Got asked by a 50 year old black dude to lick his nipples for $60, got a ride from a jugallo rapper, ate some ice cream, got picked up by two friendly cops, and then got a ride from a cool musician across the entire state of Kansas. Sleeping in a park in Denver now. Link in bio, night night :-)

What a good day. Woke up in a mini movie theatre at Iowa 80 Truckstop, made a sign, stood outside for an hour, gave up, went inside to read and get a back massage from a robot chair, went back outside, got scooped by @marta.thegiuli @hoffman.content and Alex, landed in Des Moines, got a free sandwich, met some weird hobos, went to the library, ate some peanut butter, took an Uber to a train yard and got some tips from a really nice man on which train to jump. Kansas, here I come.

My next adventure begins as I sit atop a freight train cruising through north central Illinois. Shoutout to the many good people that made this first day possible. Soren, Rich, my Mom, that waitress from TGI Friday’s. I love you guys. To support this podcast, tell all your friends about it, and if you’d like you can donate some shmeckles at https://www.patreon.com/user/lifeisweird

Sim is the creator and voice of UnstoppableRise.com, a website that helps young people learn how to gain confidence in themselves, become disciplined in their lives, and become more productive and social. He is an incredibly motivated man and it was a pleasure to speak to and learn from him.  Enjoy, and thanks for listening. Love, Evan. 

I drive up to chicago to bake and get baked with my former highschool economics teacher, Mr. Snyder. After whippin up some powerful rice krispie treats, we sit on his couch in his new apartment and talk about :  -aliens  -Teaching at CPS in the southside of Chicago -Having me as a student -How Snyder likes living in Chicago by himself  -Snyder's detailed screenplay ideas  -White Privelege  -Jazz -Highschool and growing up  -What happens when we die  - Good movies and albums Hope you enjoy. Love, Evan. 

A talk with SoReN KnUdSen!!! Soren is a good friend of mine that has been living in Flagstaff, Arizona for the past year. He is a wacky, loving and insiring goon that has the strongest human willpower I have ever encountered. He trains incredibly hard and is arguably the fastest 19 year old in Illinois, probably the entire US, probably the entire planet. He is very fast.  We discuss: - What motivates Soren to get up in the morning, what he thinks about while he runs 20 miles, stories of his most memorable runs, and what ingredients he uses to fill his crepes. - How to be a good friend  - How to tell how much water you should drink a day - How do you know who "you" are? What makes you an individual?  - And other stuff Thank you for tunin in, I love you, Peace. - Evan

We ask our students questions about their lives as monks and other various questions like "Why did you become a monk?" and  "What can people learn from buddhism that they can apply to their own lives to be happier?" and "What is your favorite type of music?" ( Shakira and Justin Beiber) and "What do you think about the U.S.A?" .  Thank you for everyone that participated by asking questions on Reddit and Instagram, this was fun to do with our students even though the language barrier made some questions difficult to ask and answer. Enjoy. Peace. Love. 

Megs and Suli are elephant researchers and professors in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We met in Mondulkiri, Cambodia while Macie and I were taking a vacation from Kratie. We speak about their careers, the elephants they're currently researching, what makes a species "sentient"?, the global conservation industry, and how young people can begin to change the world, one step at a time. Thanks for listening!!

I walk around the pool and ask interesting people interesting questions, such as:  What have you learned about the nature of human beings through traveling? and What are you most excited about doing in the next year?  and How does having a smartphone affect backpacking? Thanks for listening, I love you, and enjoy. 

For the last 3 weeks, I've been teaching English to Buddhist Monks in Kratie, Cambodia. After the first week of becoming comfortable with the students, I asked if my fellow teachers and I could join them in meditation, as I practice daily myself and wanted to experience it with them. This was easily one of the best decisions of my life so far. In this episode, you will hear the chants that monks begin their meditation or "Somati" with, follow by an explanation of the practice of meditation in general from myself.  Thank you, and enjoy

Adam is a fellow English Teacher with me in Kratie, Cambodia. He is an intelligent man that is very passionately opinionated, which is why i thought it’d be appropriate to record a podcast with him. We discuss: -how much money it really takes to be happy -free will -world politics -U.S. politics - religion -Stoicism and more.

Today was my 2nd day teaching english to kids in Kratie, Cambodia. In this episode I go over what Cambodia is like now that I have seen more of it, and what teaching english here is like so far. I’ve decided that every Tuesday I will make an episode about what Macie and I are doing, and every Friday I will interview someone that i find interesting. So depending on your reasons for listening, you may tune in accordingly. Thank you, and enjoy.

In this episode Macie and I sit down and talk about our last week. We traveled to the east coast of Koh Phangan to dwell in yet another bungalow, this one nestled on a hill overlooking a secluded beach. We left after 2 days and took a boat off the island, and then a bus back to bangkok, and then a train to cambodia, where we are currently staying in a police officer’s family run hotel, next to his crocodile farm. Enjoy.

An update to all my friends on the road and back home, and my family, the segura’s and the connors/cracraft’s. We have finally left Bangkok, and are now living in a bungalow on a tropical island. Life is Good.

In this (10th!!!!) episode, I interview some travelers from Argentina, Canada, New York, and England before we all departed on a big ass boat to an island of Thailand called Koh Phangan. Some talks with some nice people. Enjoy the knowledge.

In this short episode I talk about interivews with drunk travelers in Bangkok.  Enjoy, and i love u

In this episode of the Life is Weird Podcast,  I have landed in Thailand! I am safe and sound, and eating like a king. I have meditated in Temples, bowed to the Thais, floated down a river and zoomed the streets in a tuk-tuk. Bangkok is loud, hectic and beautiful.  I will be making more episodes updating you all on whats going on here soon. Enjoy!

In this episode of the Life is Weird Podcast, I walk around O'hare before my flight and ask people 2 questions:  What is a book that young people should read?  And  What is something you wished you knew when you were 18 years old?  Some interesting answers, some not so much. I recommend anyone try doing something like this when trying to kill some time in a public place instead of scrolling through social media searching for fulfillment you are not going to find.  Thank you, and enjoy. 

On May 22nd, one day after I graduated high school, I left for the West Coast with my buddy Matt and we lived in my Subaru Outback for 45 days. I returned to my hometown of Minooka in July, worked at my local dog shelter for one month while raising funds for my next adventure and also fell in love with my friend Macie, who accompanied me on my next trip. We left August 10th and were on the road for another 2 months traveling through Northern CA and Oregon.  This episode is a guide to living in your car and how to remain safe and sane while doing so. I apolgize if Macie and I tend to ramble when we reflect on our experience, as it was fucking awesome and it's difficult to not dwell on these memories, especially because we are currently living where its 20 degrees outside. 

Warning- may offend religous people.  This is a respectful conversation I had with two Jehova's Witnesses that came to my house to discuss the bible with me. I am a Buddhist, and a master debator ;). Just so you know where I'm coming from. 

Bianca is a vandweller and cinematographer who has recently traveled the East Coast in her van and is now traveling through New Mexico. We talk about all the awesome aspects of living in a van and all the not so awesome aspects, how to make money on the road, and a lot of other good van stuff.  You can follow Bianca's journey on Youtube and Instagram at dreamstateliving, or check out her website, Xtremeadvantures.com .    Enjoy!

Simon Goldstein is a musician, a farmer, and a vandweller.  We met in Arcata, California while I was traveling up the west coast with Macie. I heard him practicing his accordian while in a parking lot of a laundromat, and went up to him in admiration. This moment is captured in the beginning of the podcast .   Simon is an amazing person, who travels and loves and sings and plays his heart out wherever he is. I admire this man.    This episode also begins the series of episodes I will be recording with cool people I have met on the road. It feels so aweosome to touch base again with these peeps and learn more about them and what is going on in their lives. I encourage everyone, as does Simon, to get out into the world and experience it as much as you can. Life is short!  You can listen to Simon's tunes on Myspace and Youtube, at Instant Jubilation.    Enjoy

On January 27th, Macie and I joined our friends Matt and Ana en route to our friend Kathy's ( Girl K ) show in Chicago.  I love interviewing people at parties, but it turned out to be pretty hard at a party with live music. I tried my best!    Interview Questions:  1. If you could direct a documentary about anything in the world, what would it be about?  2. If time and money didn't matter, what would you be doing?  3. What is your spirit animal?   Enjoy.  The unanswered question composed by Charles Ives  Girly by Alexandria Soviar

An interview with a kind young poet from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

An introduction to this podcast, and to myself and what I intend to broadcast.