Natalie Audelo

Most of the time, bad habits are simply a way of dealing with stress and boredom.

We value creative people and funny people so highly in society because creativity and being funny are two things that cannot be faked. You can fake smart, you can fake rich, you can fake confident, you can fake nice, but you can’t fake creativity and you can't fake funny

When I was younger, I was skateboarding a lot. I was listening to music and skateboarding. There were two songs, that are widely different: DJ Shadow’s “Building Steam With a Grain of Salt,” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.” And I remember skateboarding to them and they made me just stop. And the world felt so cool. I would look a... See more

The cost of convenience is vitality. You can have a lot of things done for you in the modern world — and many of them are great time savers! — but the feeling of being alive comes from being fully engaged in the right task, not free from all tasks.

Sure, you can automate and delegate all sorts of things, but the more interesting question is, "What ... See more

I could sense the difference between authentic effortless (actually not giving a damn and being comfortable in my skin) and this manufactured effortless I had known before (aka people with a whole lot of money and a whole lot of time who get to look like they rolled out of bed) It really begs the question: who actually gets to be cool anyway?

Life has gotten very chaotic incredibly quickly. It has become increasingly difficult to parse anything from the static. People started coping with this lack of meaning through a kind of ironic detachment (which is very much still around), but it has matured into a pervasive cultural apathy, a permeating numbness. This isn’t nihilism per se. (Even ... See more

In Iran, Pistachios are known as the “smiling nut.” In China, the “happy nut.” And in some cultures, cracking Pistachios is considered a good omen — possibly due to their aphrodisiac properties. Legends tell that the Queen of Sheba (present day Yemen) loved Pistachos so much, she demanded all of her kingdom’s Pistachios be reserved for her and her ... See more