DJ OmegaTelik

Asha Omega, Therapist and DJ, discusses the overlap between those, the role of DJs, the importance of music, expression, authenticity, and plants. Extended cut available to Void Signal Patrons at Patreon.com/VoidSignal.

Visit https://linktr.ee/OmegaTelik for more Asha Omega.

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Transcript

Prime: [00:00:00] Welcome to Void Signal. tonight I am joined by , my co host, , AJ, , Applejack, and , my guest tonight is Asha Omega, , DJ, and, a bunch of things, a person. Thank you for coming on the show. And, you do a lot of things and involve are involved in much.

And, I don't want to blow you up too much before, like you have a chance to speak for yourself, but yeah, thank you for coming on. And, how is your evening? 

Asha: Thank you for having me. It's been, it's great just finishing up with my day job, which can be a little bit of stress, but also pretty rewarding.

I'm a therapist by day, so just getting off of that. But that being said, it's been going pretty well. 

Prime: let me ask this question. It's like the first thing that leaps to mind. , DJ of gothic, industrially stuff. , and that's like the passion. And that's what you're, what you think you'd love.

Not that you don't love your day job or anything, but how much sort of overlap [00:01:00] does does working in therapy overlap? How much overlap is there with deejaying? 

AJ: Ooh, that's a 

Asha: great question. 

Prime: Is it? Oh my god, thank you. 

Asha: It is an excellent question. I can try to give a little fast anecdote about the background with my DJ name.

My DJ name is OmegaTallic, and it actually comes from the term autotallic, which is a phrase that we find in positive psychology. And it's about the concept of flow. I don't know if you're familiar with that. But basically a flow state is when like everything in the world is just working for you and you feel yourself transcend space and time.

So thinking about people talk about runner's high or you're like killing it in a video game or you're performing and just lose track of space and time. And it's something that is just. A little bit challenging, but within your wheelhouse and it's a thing that you do [00:02:00] just to do for you.

And so that type of activity is called auto telec. To me, and so I was already using the name Omega, which has its own. Backstory, so I end up going with Omega telec. Change the. The C to a K just for to hopefully help emphasize that sound at the end, but the idea of what Megatelic was to show that dancing and music for me is one of the biggest and best and strongest ways that I.

do transcend space and time and find that sense of flow. And so I wanted to reflect my passion and I also wanted to reflect what I wanted to provide the dance for, which is ecstasy or catharsis or that type of flow. Having already used the name Omega, I had that, and then thinking of Asha Omega is a play on Alpha Omega, so the ultimate means to an end, and playing with all of that.

Basically my DJ [00:03:00] name does come from psychology, and some of the things that are, I find really important when talking to clients from a science based perspective of what brings them a sense of purpose and meaning in life and what feeds them. So I think there's just some underlying passions there that draw me to all sorts of parts of these fields.

I think When people listen to my music, they tend to know it's me DJing pretty fast based on the angsty, sexy, or angry, or salty music I'm playing. It's usually very full of emotions or energy. And for me, it's just, I used to strategically try to weave of narrative and nowadays it just comes out.

I listen to it afterwards and I'm like, Whoa. Yeah, I was feeling that way that day. The story just writes itself. And thinking about how music is its own form of therapy or expression of therapy throughout the mental health world, it seems [00:04:00] to correspond that way and as well as with being a DJ and a promoter who believes and like embracing, sorry for the noise, Hartford's being Hartford The diversity and inclusivity and trying to make things feel safe is like paradigm shift that like we're people and we wanna be people.

I also do that in the therapy world as someone who specializes with queer folks, pinky folks, polyamorous folks, and I myself being a part of those communities, it's like, how do we. Interact in the communities in which we serve and still find. Appropriate boundaries while also being as authentic to ourselves as we can and encouraging my clients to seek out. Community spaces in which they feel safe scene and. Some passion, so there's a lot. Of overlap and weird sort of ways and maybe some more over things too. 

Prime: Sure. It sounds [00:05:00] very much like the, your world is a cohesive experience from start to finish.

Like your, it feels like your day job and your passion job and Everything else that you're involved in allows you to just be yourself almost all of the time. As what it sounds like. As, it's not 

AJ: And be authentic, yeah. Yeah. That was probably one of my favorite responses I've ever heard from anybody.

Yeah. That was great. I also really like how there's this Very small handful of people who do name their either their DJ name or their band name after something related to psychology, I get a little excited when I hear what they're inspired by Vanessa's band Ratio Strain that comes from psychology, so listening to her and her motivation behind that and all that and listening to you just now Explain, why that piece of positive psychology stuck with you.

Ah, [00:06:00] just. Yeah, it's my heart a little, it's like 

Asha: low, so 

AJ: you can learn so much from other people like that resonates so much with me. I'm not even kidding. I pulled up a Google tab and typed in autotelic right away because that's very much a thing that I am. Yeah, I resonate with that very much. 

Asha: It's the closest thing to spirituality.

For me is that's why like I think of transcendence. I even use the term transcendence in my private practice like it's Spirituality, it's science. It's magic. It's all about intention and then letting the universe take you where it's going to take you and believing in the authentic self.

So I tend to say that I need to be as authentic as possible within appropriate boundaries in all areas. 

AJ: I like that. 

Prime: With 

AJ: appropriate boundaries. I love that. That's something that I need to add on to mine as well. I [00:07:00] just get excited. It's not anything like problematic or terrible or anything. I just want to share my life with people sometimes.

Yeah. I'm a big hugger. I had to teach myself. Ask first. 

Asha: Feeling seen is a very human response. Yes. 

Prime: Yeah one thing I wanted to touch on really quick is that you that I very much and enjoy is the idea, and it's something I've endeavored to do myself, like I'm going to finally purchase a DJ controller and start trying to DJ as well.

But it's a thing that I've become started to think of it differently. And you, your words activated that in me again of the thought of my music, like not produced by me, but I'm taking it and choosing it. And I am, it is a color palette that I am dipping from and I am crafting a thing, a, I'm weaving these things together to form something new that others get to experience.

[00:08:00] Yeah, that's an exciting aspect of it, I think. 

Asha: Yeah. When I first started DJing, I just wanted to tell a story and hopefully press buttons at the right time and basically thought a lot of it as found poetry or when people write stories and they're inspired by greatness that came before them.

And yeah, that's what I did. It's just such a way to communicate primal thoughts, even when you have music that doesn't necessarily have a whole lot of lyrics to it, like you can take what the author gave you and also make it something more for yourself personally. But I definitely love the idea of reading something that is mine while also and this is maybe from just grad school too, but like proper citations, right?

So that's why I'm really big on writing up my set list. All the time, and I tag and post as many artists as I can that I played from and I do not [00:09:00] play music that I did not purchase. So it's proper citations and references for this, 

Story. What would my ethics professor say about this? Yeah.

But definitely it's so I actually was a little hesitant to say that first until someone I think over the last year and a half was like no you're an artist too I was like fuck off and they're like oh really 

AJ: no you really are everything you're saying right now is exactly how I feel about drawing I just started figure drawing today again for the first time in a decade.

Decade because I want to start telling stories by doing these quick little gesture drawings in my silly little notebook that I keep in my purse for when I'm having anxiety in the moment on a bus or whatever. I just want to do these little like storytelling doodles. Like it's like you're talking about this stuff and I'm literally thinking about act like drawing.

So you are absolutely an artist. Thank you. Music's just your medium. Yeah. 

Prime: [00:10:00] Agreed. Because it's, songs are already, music is already a translation of emotion in some way, or a translation of the 

Asha: ethereal. 

Prime: It makes sense to use that to try and construct something new. I'm a big fan of multimodal art of Yeah.

Here's a, like a music video with text and here's the lyrics and like the full sort of sensory representation of the thing and I think that's a great part of the nightclub experience and being out having a DJ who has Just giving some thought to what is going to be played and the lights and crafting.

You're paying to go have a good time and maybe whatever that person is going through, maybe you'll hear a song that speaks to you and a moment that you needed it to and you happen to be there. It's, I'm a big fan of going out and supporting DJs and stuff. Yeah, I agree. I'm 

Asha: It definitely can become this very vulnerable, almost like [00:11:00] exhibitionist, voyeuristic kind of experience where especially when I go in with here's my headspace and I just am going to fucking spill all of my emotional guts on this fan's floor right now.

And I think sometimes folks. really resonate with that and appreciate the rawness. And it's probably the only area of my life that I can be that raw. And it's can be a really powerful thing to have someone be able to, in the therapy world, we say, sit with those feelings, right? But we have these people like in a cathartic movement with you.

In these emotions and back in, good days with dancing stomping around industrial rave days, one of our favorite things we would say back in Albany was dancing with your friends, in quotes some of the most powerful moments when the dance floor has this level of synchronicity, and everyone's just moving right in time with each other, and it's just this very, what's the word I'm looking for, collective, [00:12:00] conscious kind of feel, 

AJ: I love watching those moments so I can only imagine how you must feel as a DJ getting to see it even from the angles that you guys are at sometimes like you guys like you sometimes DJs get that little platform a bit oh my god like seeing it in the crowd is cool but oh I can't Ooh, that's gotta be so cool.

Asha: And I think that's like a thing of wanting to see the crowd while DJing. I have some folks tease me about being like a diva and I'm like, industrial diva, thank you very much. I'm sorry I actually danced behind the deck, but also to see the people and interact with them is so much more powerful.

I hate being in a box where I can't see people. Like having this weird experience is what kept me DJing. I was actually very hesitant to do it because. Dancing was so incredibly important to me, but it definitely is its own beautiful story.

Prime: [00:13:00] Excellent discussion. I agree. On to I wanted to ask you the, I saw recently on the socials that you were, it was your, you were retiring from doing being resident DJ. Is that right? Am I understanding? Oh, 

Asha: yeah. Yeah. I am stepping down as a resident DJ from Resist in Albany. And a number of things went into that decision and the very bittersweet right, grew up in Albany.

I've been at the heart of the Albany go scene since I started doing the whole golf thing. I was a promoter for. Next to humanity, which was the goth night that came out of other goth nights right before the pandemic hit that was got really big. That's when I started DJing and, just with kind of healing from what I like to refer to as the great goth wars of 2020, out of that developing resist with a team that felt really good and still fully believe in our [00:14:00] message.

I think that Twitch was a great way to connect with other people that share this message of. Encouraging and pushing that paradigm shift of safety, inclusivity, diversity. And, we actually named the club resist because some of their folks in the area were saying that we were a political movement hiding behind a golf club.

So he said, fuck it. Just leaned right into it. Cause we're also trolls. All of my epithets and DJ tags are all insults. I fucking love it. Please keep telling my mythology. But that being said Albany has a complicated place in my heart and I. I moved to Hartford, Connecticut about a year and a half ago, and I'm a resident DJ at Sanctuary CT down in New Haven, Connecticut.

I helped these kids. A startup, a goth night in Hartford called Psycholo. And it is a, it's the first goth night in Hartford in [00:15:00] like over 10 years. Wow. Excellent. And like it I wanted to do that when I got here. Didn't have the spoons. The first event was amazing. Talk about that community collective unconscious.

queer magic. It was diverse, old, young folks from all sorts of ethnicities, backgrounds new to the scene, old to the scene queer. Like it was beautiful. And it was like, I need to put my energy into this and I don't live in Albany anymore. So I wanted to create some space and also focus on being omegatelic and not show omega versus I wanted to separate that connection, but it seemed to be misleading to stay on as a resident when I wanted to pull back from that and focus on other things.

So stepping down was a gesture to that. I'd already stepped down from being a promoter a bit ago because immediately that was like, I can't [00:16:00] do that. I live in Albany, but it's still my community too. So I think. We get really focused on cities when we talk about scenes and that's so changed through Twitch and even before that like I've been clubbing and traveling for years like across North America, I've been, to England for resistance and know so many people that I don't feel like I'm part of just a city scene anymore.

And with Twitch that really blew those borders up, like people who come to resist are from all over like New England and the Northeast. Anyone who comes to Hartford is going to be so successful because we're getting people from Western Mass Eastern New York, or, Southern Connecticut people from everywhere is coming, maybe.

No, for sure, I 

AJ: went! Yep. 

Asha: No, I'm talking about Hartford. But yes, but also resist, right? Yeah. 

Prime: People from 

Asha: everywhere. Sorry, I [00:17:00] misunderstood. No, it's okay, I was saying from both, basically. Yeah, so it was like Like we want to be more, I think resist is in a bit of a transitional period. And so when that settles into the new year, I really want to go back as at least a frequent guest DJ right now, basically pulling back to focus on.

Connecticut and fostering like guest DJ spots that I'm doing. So

Prime: that makes sense. I'm glad that there are, and thank you for helping grow new goth nights and stuff. Cause I I'm all for people like forming a thing that is not there. There recently here in Sacramento, there was a goth night that somebody just I'm going to start this thing and it's going to be me.

And this Mexican restaurant after it closes and cool, fucking let's do it. It sounds great. Let's just fucking take over a place and have a fucking party and get [00:18:00] together. Cool. That sounds great. 

Asha: Yeah. 

Prime: Because you get to Have community and that's what so many of us need and that kind of ties back around to your main field of study and everything of like therapy and the feeling of belonging and everything I just I do feel like there is a lot of just overlap for you in that respect of like community and building and bringing people together.

Do you find that there, do you find yourself after doing a DJing event or having a DJ night going back to doing therapy the next day? Do you what are your sort of feelings in that moment? 

Asha: So after doing. DJ gig and then going back to the day job. Yeah. Like those feelings.

Yeah. Despite what it may look like on the internet, I am actually quite into that and tend to be quite drained after after a gig. And so I try. Really hard not to see clients [00:19:00] immediately the day after because I've just expended like a lot of energy and people spoons and being a therapist while being more introverted and therapy is helpful because I'm interacting with one person at a time, but even then I want to make sure I have some energy.

And so I usually try to have some time just from a physical build some spoons up But I really noticed when I have a gig that I thought went really And I felt really connected with my music that I was playing with my own body Like, being in my body is super important, so I didn't have a lot of pains, I felt like I got to dance a little bit, I felt like people really enjoyed it, or people were really excited for me, and then I feel empowered, right?

I, it as my therapist says, we gotta fight that imposter syndrome by accepting compliments, accepting the positive feedback and that when we [00:20:00] talk about trauma y type stuff, we want to rewire it. And a lot of people just talk about sitting in distress and overcoming a negative thing to help rewire our brain and nervous system.

But when we accept positive experiences, also rewire it. And so sometimes in stronger ways, if I'm explaining that okay. Yes. So if I have a positive DJ gig, people compliment me or are really excited about me and I can sit with that. Without shunning away from it or going, Oh no. I was awful.

Or Oh no, these people actually don't like me. But actually sit with that gratitude and appreciation and love. It definitely have a surge of energy to go into. I think therapy space is because I feel more secure in myself so I can better provide a safe space for other people to be vulnerable.

Maybe I feel safer to poke at something of theirs or challenge them a little bit more that day or maybe my presentation is just a little different. Like, All [00:21:00] of us are quite hyper vigilant, observant creatures, and so we can read shifts in humans. But I definitely see that positive overflow too. 

AJ: Yeah.

Prime: Excellent. Fantastic answer. Okay shifting gears a little bit, what do you think the role of the DJ is in regards to the, our dark music community? 

Asha: Oh, that's a cool question. 

AJ: It is a cool question. I feel like there's so many different perspectives that can be brought on to that. 

Prime: Yeah. And I asked that as somebody who I've had my I'll just preface this a little bit.

I say that I asked that as somebody who's had my opinion changed because I wanted to be a DJ when I was younger, but then I was like I've met a lot of people who were like, I'm a DJ and they push placebo buttons or twist placebo noms. And I'm what are you actually doing?

And [00:22:00] I didn't have an appreciation for it until. Maybe the last couple of years and when I've actually taken the time to be like, this is what you know See good ones and be around people who take it seriously and who are not Attaching a label to themselves and that maybe they don't deserve right?

They are pretending a thing So after gaining that appreciation, I'm curious to hear what role within this kind of greater strata of like You where do you think DJs rest in the current sort of playing field, if you will? 

Asha: That is difficult to say one role. I think it's really multifaceted.

I can say that I think it's really important for people to keep their ego in check. And especially I think in small communities, like they can't really feed like this unhealthy sense of. Importance and I say that because then I tend to [00:23:00] see people acting out in ways that aren't good because they can then hide behind that like social currency and image.

With that being said once you're in a space that people see and respect. Someone sees a person on stage, you're dressed up, you're moving, you're bringing the music, like you're perceived to be like in charge of the night, like you're going to have an inherent sense of responsibility.

And you be, like, mindful of that when you're interacting with folks. So try not to get yourself on pedestal. I don't know if I'm explaining that correctly. I can come back to those thoughts. But I see DJs as someone who is providing.

A [00:24:00] bass and soundtrack to facilitate a emotional, connective experience. So people go out to dance to be around their friends, maybe to escape everyday life. I know, I say, I know dancers when I see dancers, people who just come out and just need to dance the entire time they're out there. I think that there's a balance with DJs bringing new music.

to the dance floor, as well as bringing music that folks are requesting and love, but there has to be a balance. I think DJs have the classic 

AJ: favorites. 

Asha: Yeah. And, but also learning the night. So when I start, now I can do it through a lot of even my guest DJ gigs because of the crossover, but I know people and I know what they dance to, like I will recognize people and I will understand what genres they tend to prefer or if [00:25:00] they have specific requests, even if it's something.

I might not play all the time, but if they come and they ask me and and it depends I want to be able to do that for the person and that, there's a sense of joy you get out of someone being so excited to see, The song that they like requested get played.

And so I feel like I can do that, especially, and then I get extra joy if it fits in what I'm actually doing. I'm like, universe has spoken. It has to happen. Sometimes it feels like maybe almost being like some sort of like preacher priest to hire gods, right? Like you're bringing the music from the larger stratosphere of artists into people's.

Ears and they're feeling it in their body and then they can find the music afterwards where they come up to me and be like, what did you play? This, when did you do that? So it's like this. role of being mindful. You don't necessarily have to [00:26:00] be a community leader, but being mindful that you can be seen as one.

So there's a sense of responsibility there and boundary setting, but you can be like educating, but maybe one of those like fun professors that make it a collaborative experience, maybe some sort of, like I said preacher type, bringing this type of new like lessons or ideas. You're also wanting to facilitate.

The energy, the dance floor I think some folks would maybe say entertainer, but I also don't want to be a jukebox, too it's I think a DJ's role. You put that on a shirt, 

AJ: didn't you? 

Asha: Yeah, that was Kool Aid Kim's, that was Kim's. Okay. She's so terrific, we wanted that. Alright, she's face back, DJ face back.

Yes, it was definitely on a shirt. Amazing. Yeah. 

AJ: I 

Asha: remember 

AJ: that shirt. 

Asha: I used to be very uncomfy with requests because my various learning difficulties make it difficult. used to make it very [00:27:00] hard to do music in the moment. I had to do a lot of planned DJ sets and now I don't have to do that at all.

But real, like it was really seeing the appreciation that somebody had in the connections that they got with you with the request. And again, I but then I get frustrated with folks who get really angry when I don't play the request. I really appreciate someone who's you could do this.

It'd be awesome. Or can we try to work it in? I had somebody request a thing this past weekend and. I had one track by the artist and there was no way I was fitting it in. And later in the night she came up to me and she's like, all right, are you going to play any of the blah, blah, blah? And I'm like, I'm not DJing anymore.

I'm really sorry. I tried. And she's no, it's totally okay. It's okay. Everything was great. I had a really fun time. Thank you so much. And I'm like, okay, cool. Sorry. We just had that weird interaction, but I'm glad we're all good. Yeah. But there was just this human. aspect of it. I feel like I'm using a lot of kind of [00:28:00] spiritual terms here around music, but like gods versus like people who are in your presence and just respecting them and understanding your power that you have in the room with a power differential, literally, like you're above them most of the time, right?

And I think there is a duty to bring newer music to the ground in a way that's not pretentious. And there's a way to bring favorites to the crowd without 

AJ: being pretentious. There's definitely a way to integrate them together without being a quad about it. Yeah. Is the TLDR 

Asha: really? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Facilitator, facilitator, professor, priest performer. I know definitely. It's going to take some teamwork, but we can do it. Yeah. Yeah. People come out to see me for [00:29:00] different. Reasons, whether it's my music or the way that I DJ so I definitely feel a bit like that performance facilitating educator and Maybe a caretaker almost?

Prime: Sure, that makes sense. You're the, I would almost say the host of the evening. A everybody's having a good time sort of a thing. But I understand what you mean when you use a lot of the religious terms. language because it's I am not this thing. I am a herald of this thing.

I, it is a thing that has affected me and I love so much that I am here to share it 

Asha: with you. 

Prime: Yes, 

Asha: 100%. 

Prime: So yeah, that makes sense. I have two questions I'm going to get to. Before we are out of, not out of time, I can do this as long as I want, but. This is the 

AJ: wild best. We do whatever we want.

We go as long as we want to go. We do respect Aja's time. 

Prime: Yes, I am going to be respectful of your time. 

Or whatever. So the I did want to put this question to you as well. So as a [00:30:00] DJ, do you feel respected by artists in our scene? 

Asha: Good question. I think so. I don't think I've experienced someone who was disrespectful towards me as a DJ.

I think most of my experiences with artists have been one of like gratitude and excited if like I played their music or, you know their music or for friends who are just starting to like, actually write music and perform. I like to, throw their songs out there, maybe take a video of the crowd enjoying it and send it to them or whatnot.

I Yeah, I think I've definitely felt not only respected, but people being grateful. And I think some of the biggest compliments though is when someone actually listens to one of my mixes and they're like, wow, that was a really cool thing you did with my song. And [00:31:00] then I'm like 

AJ: Because they could just as easily be like, wow, you butchered my song.

How dare you don't you ever touch my music ever again. So yeah. 

Asha: Yeah, no, I love when folks are just, I think I, one of the things I love about our scene is how personable a lot of people are and like the artists and there's definitely musicians the bigger wigs out there who can standoffish and not approachable, but so many folks I have met.

I've been so approachable and I can call a friend in some sort of capacity. So most of my experiences have been one of respect and gratitude, for sure. 

Prime: That's a relief to hear. I wasn't, to be candid, I wasn't sure what the answer was going to be because who knows okay that's a relief.

I, so I will go ahead and unless Applejack, do you have any questions? Otherwise, I'm gonna just go ahead and hit the last question of the show. 

AJ: Hit that last question. 

Prime: Okay, let's do it. Last [00:32:00] question of the show is just, what is something that you have been enjoying recently? And your answer can be anything.

A book, TV show, movie. Just what something that you are jazzed about. Something fucking unhinged. 

AJ: Something benign. 

Prime: And, yeah. Anything. Anything. And if you need a second to, we're all gonna answer this question. So if you need a moment, you do not have to go first. 

Asha: Yeah, I definitely need a 

Prime: moment, okay.

Alright, Applejack, you got something? 

AJ: Oh, the two headed skeleton I found at the store that I told you about. 

Prime: Cool. Yeah, I'm glad we came back to this. Yeah, and your weird multi headed animal taxidermy. 

AJ: Oh my God, 

Prime: this 

AJ: guy came to visit in Salem and I, we were walking around and I go, Oh my God, no, I don't like these.

I don't like single headed animals or something completely unhinged. Like in the middle of Salem, you've been there before. [00:33:00] Yes. Yes. People everywhere. That's great. I meant, taxidermy, but 

Asha: yeah, 

AJ: I didn't really say that didn't make that clear. And then we were at the vintage shop or whatever.

And this guy comes over and he's Oh, I knew I'd see you here with all this old shit. 

Prime: I got you so good. It was great. You 

AJ: got me so good. It was a good time. 

Prime: Even if your chicken taxidermy preoccupation is unsettling or whatever, oh, Asha is a therapist. Ah, you can talk after.

Yeah. Asha, 

AJ: what exactly has to break in someone's brain to give them an obsession with multi headed chicken ball 

Asha: taxidermies? I don't know there might be something there with modern dinosaurs, like I'm pretty obsessed with dinosaurs, yes! I like where this is going. Talking about some childhood trauma there for family.

AJ: It's actually just that I watched The Land Before Time way too many times and it just [00:34:00] eviscerated my heart. Yeah, there we go. 

Prime: Fucking Littlefoot, that movie eviscerated me too. 

AJ: Yeah, to give a little bit more of a serious answer, I have been moving more into fall decor. Home decor is something that I have not really dabbled much into.

I never just I either could never afford it, I never knew what I was doing. Doing or I just didn't have time to sit down and think about these things. So move to the new place in March. So I got this new bedroom all to myself. So I'm like, all right, we're going to figure this out. So I'm having a blast, but so moving over into doing some fall things.

I have these couple of midsummer shirts that I don't wear anymore that I cut the design out and I framed nice and they're like yellow, orange and red. So it's very fall. So moving into that and just planning. What I want to do and what I want to [00:35:00] create with my space and how I want to make it mine but fall.

Prime: I feel like I should definitely do something like that because I just, my sheets and my comforter and everything, it's all just fucking mental. Who are 

Asha: you but fall? It's just 

Prime: mental health gray all the time. I feel like I need to 

Asha: change. Right now it's home decor 

Prime: season where everything 

Asha: becomes spooky in the stores and that's when I start buying 

AJ: home decor, yeah. 

Asha: Okay. I think. Home Decor. Have my Navy Ants. Yeah, and you 

AJ: can frame almost anything. If you just go to the store and get some magazines, you can rip out cool pages. That you find cool and just pop them in some cheap frames that you get at Michael's like you can get five packs of them or like you can buy zines from local creators or you can go to local art shops or art fests or flea markets or things like that, but like you can do so many cool DIY stuff too.

I'm learning. I'm having a great time. 

Prime: Yeah, I was going to say, it is a good thing because you're like exercising some control of your [00:36:00] environment. And creativity. 

AJ: Yeah, 

Prime: I'm going to do this thing for me that I get to enjoy every day. Yeah. 

AJ: Sometimes I don't enjoy it. I'm like, okay, AJ, this sucks. Do better next time.

Prime: Yeah. Yeah. Asha, what do you got your answer? 

Asha: Yeah. So a few things. I am pretty involved in the rope or Shibari community around here. So I've been doing more with helping build some community around that. And that's been exciting to be doing that much more often. And I've also gone full on plant daddy.

And I'm, like, obsessed with plants now, so my apartment is covered in them. Real 

AJ: ones or fake ones? 

Asha: Real both actually, but Okay, I only do 

AJ: fake, I can't do real, not yet, I only do fake. Which real ones do you have? 

Asha: I have A lot. And some I don't even [00:37:00] really know the names of, to be honest with you. You were just like, you're cute, you're coming home with me.

When I first moved in, I decided to brave and bought a few plants. And I have, I think, one, two, maybe three that are still alive from my original ones. And my one that I call my monster is a, I think it's a pop folks, it's called. It's like one of those very viney ones with the big green.

leaves and it is huge now. I actually read a little article before coming into this interview about someone having to cut theirs back because they were moving and mine is all intertwined with like my windowsills and my cabinets and I'm like, Oh my God, I'm never moving. I can't ever remove this plant.

I can't cut it. I won't. So it's just like this funny moment of how connected I have become with this weird little hobby. I don't really know exactly what I'm doing, but getting a lot of it pretty cool. 

Prime: [00:38:00] Gotcha. That's a good answer. I, see, I'm, I don't, I'm not going to try and grow a thing.

I, and it's funny too, because that's your answer, and I'll, yes. That's 

AJ: exactly why I can only do fake ones. I don't ask me to grow. I really thought I 

Asha: couldn't do it. It was, amazing and this summer I did what I called my morning glory training project. I have a huge porch and so I planted a bunch of morning glories and made them these weird fences and was trying to train them and do all these things and it's worked.

I think bugs got some and it got cold overnight a few times so there some of them were dying but some of them are actually starting to bloom and it's very exciting as well as what I've been calling a Gorilla planting and putting seeds around the apartment to be like, Gorilla 

AJ: planting? How they're flowers.

Asha: Ha. It's a weird little thing that I thought I would never get into, because I was convinced I'd kill everything. 

Prime: Yeah it's funny that you, that's your answer too, because like yesterday morning I interviewed Mobius and Zfu and Bijon. Who's Zfu? He was, that was his answer.

He was like, oh, I've been growing my plants, and I'm like, ah, okay. Hat's [00:39:00] off, man. I can't grow a fucking plants. It's being a tiny 

AJ: dog.

Yeah, man. 

Prime: Yeah. Too much pressure. Sorry. Too much pressure. I got a dog. I'm keeping alive. I don't like being a disappointment. . 

Asha: Yeah. My, my dog goes. It's easier because she told me very loudly that she's my little gremlin princess, but 

Prime: Yeah, I need a thing that will move around and complain and remind me of its existence.

Asha: Someone told me of this wonderful plant called planta that was also a game changer and now many of my plants and one of my new friends is a plant granddaddy. I don't know. They're incredibly good at it. There are ways to have technology help you if you forget. 

Prime: Okay, good to know. I will tuck that into my back pocket if I decide to try and grow something and keep it alive.

Okay what the hell is my answer? Mad Max, honestly. I've been, I re watched the movies cause I was spurred on by watching Furiosa. Replaying. the game [00:40:00] and just void signal is going to Wasteland Weekend so I'll be there. So like it's the one thing happened after the other, like tumbled together and it has come about and my hype and excitement is through the roof.

I've been wanting to do this. For years and I've never been camping and we're about to go on a very extreme first one but that's fine. Fun, excitement new experiences. Yeah, I'm like it's gonna be 

AJ: a blast. 

Prime: Yeah, I'm in full like Wasteland Mad Max mode like just Consuming it in all forms.

Yeah, I it's pretty I'm pretty excited void signal bottle caps are on their way So I'll be giving those out at the thing But yeah, I'm just like Beside myself, excited to not only have my first camping experience, but go to this fucking thing. It's gonna be, I'm so beside myself. Yeah, and I'm doing a 

Asha: camping event this weekend that I'm DJing at, which it's interesting [00:41:00] to be at like camping events.

There's a lot more freedom in some ways than when you're in like a hotel or venue base. But it's Feels more community oriented. Maybe we can get to that, like primal, like we're all trying to survive around a fire and pretend that we don't have like food trucks right behind us. . 

Prime: Yeah. I 

Asha: hope it's good.

Prime: Yeah. Yeah. I That sounds like a blast too. I'm I can't, I'm excited to experience I, there's something about like also hear experiencing like a DJ and hearing music and being outside dancing. Yes. Like with the stars above you and stuff like there's Yeah. It is an experience. Yeah. If, it's anybody listening, if you've never done, I try and go to a thing that is outside.

So you can do that. It's interesting and fun. You'll have a good time. That is it. I don't want to keep you too long. Thank you so much for coming and having a chat. 

AJ: Really appreciate it. 

Prime: Yeah, thank you so much. Yeah, it was great 

AJ: to talk to you. 

Prime: Yeah thank you for the insightful answers.

Yeah, the 

AJ: [00:42:00] very insightful, I was, oh my god, I was gonna, I, man. Yeah, very insightful answers. Always get a good thing to think about. I always have good takeaways when like I reads up the new writer. Oh, thank you. 

Asha: Yeah. 

AJ: Yeah. When I just casually listen to you all the 

Asha: time. No, yeah it's either this like giant philosophical essay or one line, like scrolling shitposts.

No in between with me, but Oh, yeah. 

AJ: And 

Asha: that's what makes it great. Yeah, 

Prime: as a fellow trolly shitposter, I can absolutely appreciate that. It's 

Asha: in my fine print when someone becomes my friend or starts dating me, I'm like, I am a full on Darth Omega meme lord here. You gotta appreciate that, or it ain't gonna work.

AJ: So just an FYI. 

Prime: Yeah. Yeah. I 

AJ: waiting. Yeah, 

Prime: no, I appreciate that as well. It's, I, sorry, here's my humor. I, it's gonna be in everything and all the time. Yeah. 

AJ: K 24 7. 

Prime: Yeah. It's what makes people [00:43:00] characters, right? Y Yeah. . All right. Thank you so much for coming and having a chat with us.

I will let you go and enjoy the rest of your reading. I am stuck.