Everybody forced here with being 2023 update series update chrome baseball delight 10 box case number 11 pick your team style Grandmaster flashes the Pirates Andreas has the Giants Arthur Y. Mariners Brad and Jay's Chase P. Royals Daiki with the Padres Edward P. Nationals Eric C. Cubs Gary a White Sox Gavin K. Angels Giovanni with the Rockies Jeff W. Orioles and Yankees Jeffrey G. Diamondback Jeffrey H. Braves Red Sox Jerry B. With the Mets Jesse T. Astros Jonathan H. Phillies Joshua B. A's Order note Sam as a bot Kurt D. With the Reds Matthew B. Dodgers and Rangers Matthew L. Cardinals Michael L. Marlins Michael D. Tigers Nate S. Has the Rays Rory D. Twins Tim W. Brewers and Zach Oh with the Guardians Star Wars has one to go now and you know all teams on sale and flawless and Origins Divisions is on sale as well Recently marked down. All right. Good luck everybody. That is true Shane. That did happen. That is true Got refractors of Michael Harris debut for the Braves Giorna a Panigar Bachman for the Angels rookie Conor Wong and Langley's debut Purple rookie Caballero to 250 for the Mariners Aqua blue lava lamp to 175 rookie Nolan Jones Rockies nice card Rockies Purple to 250 rich Hill Pirates youth quake Coloss White Sox Marlins rookie refractor auto to 499 you are in connoisseur and Aqua wave Pablo Lopez auto to 199 for the Twins Three breaks left. Well Star Wars is probably almost sold out. Star Wars has one to go But flawless teams are on sales halfway full All the big big teams are taken so some pretty affordable spots left in there all just recently reduced as well Let's get it going y'all and Origins Divisions on sale also Fractures of bird Rockies arise Irving for the Nats McGuire Riley Greene debut Tigers and Devin Williams Blue refractor to 150 for the Brewers Jesse Winker Magenta rookie to 399 Brito for the Yanks Green rookie future stars Riley Greene the 99 Tigers Logan Allen, Newt quake Guardians Blue Ray wave rookie auto Franklin Armando 150 Red Sox Red Sox and a refractor rookie out of Bryce Miller to 499 Mariners Go Seattle. All right box number three here fractures of Matt strumb Brita Williamson rookie refractor for the Reds gold youth quake Ryan. No, da A's Let us do see a Steve Weimer debut refractor Brewers debut Coloss White Sox and Dylan Dodd rookie refractor for the Braves Zack netto photo negative rookie for the Angels Magenta purple lava lamp rookie jerk or not rookie but Jerickson pro fard to 299 Rockies Orioles Gunnar Henderson debut Green and blue lava lamp to 125 O's followed by a youth quake of Almond for the Dodgers rookie auto Leblanc for the Marlins and purple rookie auto Graham Ashcraft Reds the 250 fractures of Casey Schmidt Soto Amaya Paxton Casa's debut and a Lamont way jr. Photo negative rookie debut is nervous for the Cubs Magenta Miguel cash or the 399 Diamondbacks Aqua rookie debut to 199 terrain Brewers youth quake Valdes for the Red Sox Was a beautiful rookie refractor auto Mets to 499 And purple rookie auto Mason Miller to 250 for the A's Like a grab the Braves in some definitive it looked like Well Monday Refractors of Kyle Lewis. There's Kabietto for the Mariners Albus Andrews. I'll do rookie Nats Tosca and Randy Vasquez rookie Yankees Purple debut Julianne twins out of 250 Said we're Julianne aqua blue V8 lava lamp is Duval Red Sox to 175 Which at the purple Lopez the 299 twins You quake Brandon thought Diamondbacks purple speckle rookie auto Garrett Mitchell to 299 going out to the Brewers nice Mitchell And true blue rookie auto Manuel Valdes the 150 Red Sox Halfway through our fractures of debut Parazza for the inks Ryu Terrain debut for the Brewers. How we doing Vaughan? yellow mini diamond Moreno Diamondbacks to 75 Very nice one D-backs Velasquez action rookie refractor A's Kiermeyer Purple rookie Rays Kevin Kelly to 250 magenta purple rookie Amaya to 299 Cubs youth quake of Coloss base rookie auto Brewers of Joey Weimer And a blue ray wave rookie auto Cubs Matt Mervis out of 150 with that color match, too sup on Okay Guys still six to go on origins divisions Six to go teams on sale spots are on sale What a NBA games you watching live on fractures of a lead Miss Diaz Gorman debut for the Cardinals Joey Wendell Blede for the A's Julian debut twins and JP Franz Astros. Ah, yeah, Steve couldn't resist. He couldn't resist 399 rookie Ortiz Orioles Negative Dylan Dodd rookie for the Braves Radiating rookies is Matt McClain since he Big one for the Rads going to Kurt D Let's go since he congrats Kurt get that one in a mag youth quake of Senga for the Mets base rookie auto Levi stout for the Reds and Blue rookie auto masatake Yoshida red Sox 24 of 150 Going to Jeffrey H. Boston big couple of cards there Love to see it. Oh, both of those are going into mags or fractures of Cinder guard Logan Allen Solano Vargas debut and Dylan Moore Watch season King Kingsbury's Nugs pals magic bowls Magics to open up the bowls or no Gold youth quake is Schuster for Atlanta out of 50 on the rookie card there Orange rookie JP France nice card color match and all good rookie there Houston Two of 25 Magenta to 399 Reynolds Reds aqua to 199 rookie Garrett action A's Weimar youth quake purple rookie Otto is Soriano Marlins out of 250 And rookie refractor Otto Manuel Valdez Red Sox the 499 fractures Perez for the Marlins Lugo Ortiz Orioles Allard Sable Giants and Mervis debut for the Cubs Imagine only up five. Come on man. Magenta to 399 Rosario, Atlanta Magenta purple Walker debut to 299 for the Cardinals Aqua Ryu to 199 Jays youth quake of Altman Dodgers The overpick widow rookie Aqua wave auto to 199 for the Pirates Rookie auto refractor is equal tow bar to 499 for Colorado Nice tow bar there Done for the night. What do you mean now? We're gonna go till 2 a.m. Eastern Got some breaks to fill still our fractures of rookie Johnny Brito for the Yankees Schmidt debut Giants Mason Miller Ben Joyce Rev Snyder and Gonzales debut for the Guardians We did delight number 10. That was that was the last break. We did Delight case break number 10. Yeah, that was the last one You're gonna rewind the stream and we also have it uploaded Blue refractor of Urshela to 150 for the Yankees or not the Yankees with the angels. He was the Yankee one point angels Urshela What is that dude that's a that's an SP rookie magenta to 399 Irvin for the Nationals Yeah, this is number 11. We did we did 10 before this one That is a let's go chrome rookie your Perez Marlins nice SP Grats fish. That's really cool, man Rockio youth quake for the Guardians rookie auto bladay for the A's and Extractor extractor is gonna be an all-star game auto Pete Alonzo Mets. Good hit Mets 65 of 125 Polar bear Sec will do a recap right you got magenta Irvin Rosario We had Walker Reynolds or tease Brito That's Castro Profar a Maya Lopez Julian Hill Kelly Caballero for you action to rang Duval Gunner Henderson Nolan Jones, Gio Urshela Jesse winker Gabriel Moreno Golds of Noda Shuster and Orange of JP France. Oh, that's that's not that's not good Vaughan. That's not good Bad for business auto's a bladay Toebar refractor Valdez refractor Stout Weimer Leblanc Miller the Ron Carrasio, and that was a Bryce Miller there Inconnacion Jose Buto George Soriano Garrett Mitchell Mason Miller Graham Ashcraft Lever Poguero Pablo Lopez Franklin Hermann Emmanuel Valdez Matt Mervis and Peter Lonzo to 125 on the X factor Lever Fractor rookie auto Masataki Yoshida for Boston and a Radiating rookies of Matt McClain for the Reds Grads to the Reds. Thanks again everybody moving on now to football


It was approximately 12.15 when I entered the Johnson County Community Health Clinic. I was there for an appointment I had set up weeks ago, just a routine checkup. It wasn't a new place for me, I had been there a couple times before. However, the place had a not nostalgic feel to it, as if it were a location from my childhood or something, and I could never pinpoint exactly what this feeling was or where it came from. As I walked in, an overwhelming feeling of deja vu swept over me. The hum of the flickering fluorescent lights, the white tile flooring, the muted beige paint that colored the walls. I noticed that there was a TV mounted in the corner, a smaller flat screen, that was playing a short PowerPoint slideshow on a loop of ads and events that were being held by the clinic. I passed the empty waiting area, a small area of the main room with magazines, children's playthings and blue cushioned chairs, and approached the woman at the front desk. She was sitting in her Lewish gray office chair, looking at a spreadsheet on the same Windows XP desktop they've had since 2008. There was a sign-in sheet on the counter in front of me. I have an appointment with Dr. Pedins. I asked. What time? 12.30, I replied. She began typing something into her keyboard. Ah, yes. She responded. Gary Johnston. Um. Yes, I'll tell the doctor. Please fill this out. She handed me a clipboard which held a simple fill out form. I walked back to the waiting area, took a seat, and began to fill out the form. I was about halfway done with filling in my information when I slumped back in my chair. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night prior, and I was exhausted. As I slumped back, I noticed something very peculiar. My head never hit the wall. In fact, it felt like it went in. I got up, quite frightened, and looked at the wall. Nothing. Not a single hole, or dent, had been made in the wall by my head. So, I reached to touch the wall. And my fingers went through it. I recoiled in shock.  I thought, as I reached to touch the wall again, only to find my fingers clipped through once more. Then, suddenly, I lost my balance, tripped, and fell directly through the wall.  Upon getting back up, I realized that I was in a completely different room. Well, not really a room, per se, more so a set of rooms, all of which connected by openings. The walls were covered in gross tan patterned wallpaper. There was also an overwhelming stench of moist carpet. I turned back around and tried to put my hand back through the wall, and it wouldn't go through. Okay, what the fudge? I muttered. I looked back into the room.  Of course, it was completely empty, aside from a singular plastic blue school chair. At this point, the only thing going through my mind was fear, and the repeating thought of, I need to leave, on a loop in my head. I started running through the rooms, desperately trying to find an exit, but to no avail. There was no exit. Was this my permanent location until I died? No, there had to be a way out. I wasn't just going to be left here, right? Eventually someone would notice that I was gone. But, nobody did. Then, in the distance, I heard footsteps, but not those of the humans, at least not a normal human. Alongside the footsteps was a girdling snarl, like that of an angry animal. I began to run. I ran as fast as I could from whatever the hell was approaching me. I didn't want anything to do with it. I ran for what seemed like forever, but I was always back in the same room I started in. At least, it looked like the same room. Not that I could tell them apart. So, I sat down, defeated. A feeling of dread filled my body, as I started to cry. I was going to die here. I'm still there. I haven't left. I've accepted my fate. In fact, I can actually hear footsteps. I wonder who that is?


We're back, we're live, we're talking to Machica and talking tax, and we are going to talk about something you probably have not heard about yet, the vacant home tax. This is a really interesting approach, creative if you will, not completely unpreferenced, I mean unprecedented, but creative nevertheless, and the question is whether it can work, whether it can be enforced, and Tom, President Tax Foundation of Hawaii is going to tell us about it. Good morning, Tom. Morning, Dick. Glad to be on the show. So what we're talking about today is an idea that doesn't originate with the city government, but it's in a city bill. It's called Bill 76. It started off last year, was referred to the Council Budget Committee, and was postponed by the committee in November after a couple of public hearings with lukewarm, if any, public support. That's what it does. The basic idea is this. You walk around Kakaako at night, or somewhere where there's a lot of concentration of foreign ownership, by foreign I mean people who don't live here. You see all these condo units, they're dark, and the conclusion that you get from it is, well, geez, a lot of these are vacant. They're owned by people who don't live here. Maybe they come once in a while or something like that, as a vacation home or wherever it is, but a lot of the year, the unit is just vacant. As a social policy matter, it's kind of appealing to say, well, look, we have a housing crisis here in Honolulu or in Hawaii or wherever you want to look. Why are we letting these people keep their units vacant if we need those units so desperately? At least let them pay something for it. The idea actually was in a bill in the 2020 legislative session introduced by our great housing, Senate housing chair Stanley Chang. He's very interested in housing. This is his primary subject, isn't it? And his idea was to impose a conveyance tax at 5% of the assessed value of the unit per year. Okay, so to give you an idea of what that is in comparison to the regular tax rate. The regular tax rate is $3.50 per 1,000. Okay, that's your house, my house. Any residential house in the city in Honolulu is at $3.50 per 1,000. A 5% tax is $50 per 1,000, so it's expensive from the get-go. That's 16 times the regular rate. That's right. And what he wanted to do was say on or before the 20th day of each calendar month, every person shall finally sworn return with the director of taxation together with the remittance if you don't live in the house. So every month you have to send in a return saying either you lived in the house or you didn't, and if you didn't, you pay up. And we said, that's not a conveyance tax. And while the social policy may be attractive, the the manner of execution just was just terrible. Who's who's gonna so that that failed? It failed. It passed the Senate. It didn't get a hearing in the house. Now Bill 76 in the city council or as was we didn't get to the end of the legislative history here, but Bill 76 is different than what Stanley Chang proposed. What does Bill 76 say about taxing a vacant housing unit? Well, Bill 76 is basically adding another property classification for vacant homes. Okay, so you have residential, you have residential for people who don't qualify for the home exemption. There would be another real property classification with a rate to be determined, because that happens in the budget ordinance every year, for vacant homes. So it's not specified how much? Right. It's not specified, but when the KHON2 asked the city officials, like Tommy Waters, for example, what they had in mind, there was there was there was some hesitation. Well, we're not really sure, but it's probably going to be like between 1% and 70%. Okay, it's a pretty widespread time. It is. Now 70%, I mean, I'm sorry, 7% would be $70 per thousand, 7-0, okay, which is 20 times the current real property tax rate. So that is going to be an eye-opener number one. And then you get to the next interesting question about how you ever enforce this. Now, let's kind of go back for a second to transient homes, the Airbnb's. Okay, it's been a situation that's plagued the city and the counties and the state for a very long time. Okay, the Department of Planning and Permitting has gone to the legislature and testified more than once that, you know, Jesus, it's really hard to prove that you have a transient rental in there. I mean, what are you going to do? You have to, you know, stake out the property and see who comes and goes. And, you know, does it match the physical description of the person who owns the property on their driver's license or whatever? I mean, I think that's what they do now. So a lot of times, they can get around that and catch the guys if they see the ad. Well, let me just digress for a moment. You know, a year ago, I went and had my license renewed. And of course, they over bureaucrat ties it in the license division there. But what they said was we have to establish that you live at the address you say you live at. And we have to establish, you know, that for your license so they can put the right license down. We need to confirm your residence. So you have to bring with you utility bills, tax bills, some kind of other bills indicating that you live at this address. And I did. And they were satisfied. They do that for everybody. Everybody wants a renewer's license. Everybody has to show that. So, you know, that was that's pretty reliable proof, I would say, that I live there. They asked for more than one source, man. The other thing I'm thinking of and I'd like you to comment on is back in the day I remember that. But does that really prove you live there? Okay, no, no, I could be it really doesn't. No, but but it is a certain percentage of credibility you have. I mean, it's not perfect, certainly. But because one of the points that that that that I'm, you know, was thinking of when I suggested this topic for our show is, well, okay, if it's that tough to prove that a transient rentals in the place, how do you prove that somebody lives there?   And you can't you can't.  Okay, all right. So I present an insurance card with the address on it. So what? I mean, I could have lived in lived in that house, you know, two years ago or four years ago or 10 years ago. Or you could you could have your utility bill delivered there in your name and pay it. But you're not there. I just his ways to fraud it. There's certainly ways to fraud it. But I submit that not everybody's going to be into fraud. I think the percentage of fraud grows. When you go from 1% to 7%.  A lot more people are going to try to escape that tax at 1% maybe not so many. The other thing I'm remembering, I don't know if you remember, but maybe it's not even a memory. Maybe it's still happening is you have a different rate, say in a condo, which you it's a resident rate versus a non resident rate. Or am I thinking rather of a bank mortgage loan? Maybe I'm thinking of a bank mortgage loan. No, I mean, we have that. We have that right now. I mean, if you if you own and occupy your home, right, you fill in this form called a home exemption. And if you don't have a home exemption and you're a residence and your residence is over a million dollars, you get kicked over into residential A, which is a different rate class and it's much higher. Yeah. Okay. So how do they show that they're resident and non resident? How is the government satisfied? How do you limit fraud? Well, in that case, basically, you, you know, you file the home exemption application and then they just take it. That's what they've been doing for the last 60 years or so that I'm remembering. Yeah. And it stays that way stays that way until it changes. I don't know. You have to repeat the filing. I don't I don't think so. You may have to repeat it after a certain number of years, but not usually. I mean, I've I've I guess whenever the property is sold, you would have to do it again. So doesn't that work though? Couldn't you do the same thing here? Possibly. But that's but that's not again, that's not conclusive proof.  And I guess the question is whether the tax officer or the city is ever going to go after anybody and do they have the resources to investigate? Do they have the data? You know, it's a cross check data. I'll never forget one guy who was on our neighborhood board was not living in the district and somebody took him to task on it. And he said, no, no, I'm living in the district and come to find he really wasn't but his boss verified or authenticated that he was living in the district and the city left it right there. And they accepted that. So, you know, I think there's ways that you can raise the issue, but it's not clear how it's going to be resolved. And the question is whether you have the whether the government has the resources to investigate, whether it has the data to investigate, and whether it has the prosecutors to prosecute. And if the penalty of fraud is low, you're going to have more fraud. Yeah. I mean, some of the things that they were talking about include, okay, let's look at the utility bill. We know how much water this this person's consuming because what a water supply is part of the city.  If it is, you write them up. Sure, like the chalk mark on the tire, like the chalk mark on the tire, exactly. Well, you know, I mean, I think ultimately it's a question of resources and the part of the enforcing governmental entity. And in the city and county, I don't think we have the resources. So it's really a paper tiger. And the question I put to you, regardless of the ultimate, you know, outcome for Bill 76 is how do we avoid huge condo buildings where you can see no lights, where you know that although we have this critical housing shortage, but there are people who buy these condos sometimes for millions, multiple millions, they don't rent them out. And so this is this kind of disparity between housing that exists and people on the street. This is a serious problem. And I think it's getting worse, you know, people from overseas and the mainland, they invest in these valuable condos. They don't want strangers living there. They don't want anybody living there.  And I think that's the natural human reaction. I spent a lot of money for this thing. I don't want to have a stranger in there. I prefer to leave it vacant while I'm not here. I'm sorry. How do you discourage that or rather encourage renting because we have a critical housing shortage? What do you do? There's got to be a way to do something on it. Right.  So here's what you do. If you really want to go after it, enact a mandate on the associations.  Like, I live in an association house where we have a prohibition against transient vacant rentals. And that gives anything less or rather less than 60 days or 30 days. Is that what it is? Something like that. And that that incentivizes the resident manager to go and like scar the the TAT as to see if there's anything in our building. And if there is, you know, up before the board, it goes. Well, the incentive to the association is that it can keep the penalty, right? That's right. So they impose fines and they can keep them. And of course, the the state imposes GT on the fines. So they get that part of it. Yeah. Well, but is that is that doable? I mean, can the legislature or even more of a reach the city council force the condominium association to change its bylaws? Or could it enact a bill to simply create that provision external to the bylaws and just make it happen? In other words, if somebody has a vacant apartment, then then that person has to pay a fine to the condo association. Now, I guess it has to be it has to it has to be within the the articles and bylaws of the condo association. Well, you know, if the if the association already exists, it's kind of hard because you have settled property rights. But if it's if it's an association that doesn't exist yet, then then you can certainly provide for what that what the bylaws have to contain in order to get approved. Yeah, but you're right. I mean, if the bylaws exist and all that. And then the homeowner says, wait a minute, I bought into a unit under these articles and bylaws, you're changing the government is changing my legal entitlement here. And that that's a kind of taking it's a taking. Yeah, I would fight with you on that, you know, take it to court kind of thing. Yeah, that's interesting. But you know, there are lots of condos that that say in the articles, we have the right to change these anytime. Well, but that's that's true. But it requires a vote of the members. Yeah. And sometimes it's almost impossible to get. And the other the other is two other issues that hit me is that one, you're you're saying to the condo association, well, you got to go check. You got to, you know, knock on his door. I don't know what you do. Go see who's living in the unit. And make a determination, the operative term, as to whether this provision of bylaws is being violated. Well, a, do they have the resources or the will to do that, especially when they didn't think of the provision in the first place. And B, this goes to the Texas Roe v Wade statutes. It's you're deputizing, you're deputizing the condo association to make a legal determination of the rights of a citizen. And I don't know what the Supreme Court is going to do when it hits that one substantively. But, but there is the there is the case involving the bar. Did you read about this? The bar in Cambridge, which wanted to get a license and there was a church next door. And the city of Cambridge had a an ordinance allowing the church all by itself to stop the liquor license. And the Supreme Court back 30, 40 years ago, found that that was a violation of the constitutional rights of the bar, because a private citizen, in this case, a church was being delegated and legal control, legal determination, power is delegated to it as a vigilante. And this is Lawrence tribes answer. Well, I mean, we have we have something like that now. We have something like that now. I mean, when you when you apply for or renew a liquor license, they do inquire as to your, you know, your neighbors and their, your neighbor's input is considered in the determination of whether they continue or deny liquor license. The difference there in this in the case of this bar was that all the church had to say was no, and that was it. It was not a matter of considering with the church thought that the church's rule was final. Anyway, I mean, there are issues about enforcing, aren't there, no matter which way you go. It's a factual determination of legal determination and enforceability determination and a resort determination. And I'm still asking you, is there a way to do this to achieve more housing in the marketplace and to avoid this dilemma of a shortage in housing?  That may not sit well with some people, but that's that's kind of what government is sometimes, and that is, you know, to what extent do we want social policy to override individual rights? That's the tension. It's always the tension, isn't it? Always the tensions and different ideologies have different, you know, different places where the line is set. So, so that that kind of factors in as well. I mean, if I gave you a city in county where the number of homeless, the number of people looking for housing, you know, the working poor, if you will, doubled or tripled or quadrupled, and then I gave you a city where the number of vacant, you know, units and condos doubled or tripled or quadrupled, I think we could conclude that we have a real problem. And I mean, we may have a real problem right now, but then it would be more exacerbated. And the question is what you do about it, because, you know, we're Yeah, we, like in any, like in any society, you got to make trade-offs. The reason why you have your, you know, your aldermen or your city council people or your legislators or whatever is to attempt to strike that balance. The courts are there so that, you know, people don't get into extremes that are protected by the constitution. But, you know, if it's not something so extreme as to violate the constitution, then government should be able to, you know, make that kind of decision. Yeah. So I'm thinking, the other thing I'm thinking about looking at it from the other end, you were talking about the marketplace and looking at the marketplace triggers the thought that, and people talk about this from time to time, that we ought to have a much steeper capital gain or call it sale of real estate tax, because some people have made extraordinary amounts of money just sitting waiting for their property to appreciate. And Hawaii is a series of appreciations, you know, I mean, from state to and on, everybody sits and watches property, get to be a multimillion dollar property, they sell out of the move to Las Vegas and lead the sweet life. I don't know how many people I know did exactly that. So the question is, why do we let the, essentially the free market govern on appreciation and let people make so much money on the sale of these not only condo units, but single family homes. Why don't we tax them heavier, steeper, with a state capital gain tax on the sale of real property, and thereby trying to avoid some of this spin we have seen since state to it? Well, I mean, what you're talking about kind of reflects the debate that's gone with the conveyance tax. It doesn't have to be capital gains. It can just be like the gross value of the property, which is what the conveyance tax hits. And, you know, between then and now, the conveyance tax has gone from like five cents per thousand dollars of actual value to, you know, $1.50, which is a huge increase in both absolutely and in percentage terms. Now, the problem is that if you raise the conveyance tax way high, you're not taking into account what the owner paid. You know, it's not a net out. He just pays on value. He doesn't get a credit for what it costs him or anything like the capital gain calculation. And you think that's better? Well, where I would get into it is you can't make a million billion on a residence here, because that what that does is it raises appreciation all over town. It raises values all over town. And the average if you're well, if you're if you're complaint is with the value, then it's not with the gain. So so if you're complaining with the value tax, the value, that's what the conveyance tax does. Okay. And that it doesn't you don't have to do you have to sell it to be subject to the conveyance tax, right? I would look for I would look for a way to, you know, avoid this appreciation scenario, appreciation and and leave town scenario. And I would have I would look for a way to avoid, you know, praise values getting so high that the average working staff can never afford a house. Just you know, how many people leave town because they can't afford a house.  Well, I mean, that's that's that's partially a market problem. It doesn't it doesn't really necessarily have to do with whether a given person is making or losing money. It's just it's just a function of supply and demand sometimes. Yeah. So the government doesn't really step in on that. The government's not doing anything to avoid the spin problem. Yeah.  One, as you properly identified is the notion that there are vacant vacancies and and the problem of lots of homeless, lots of vacancies. And the second houseless, whatever. And the second one, which I identified is the notion that property values are praised values. It's all the entire real estate community is looking to push values up. I mean, it's in their interest to do that. And meanwhile, the average person can't afford a house. Anyway, I mean, I think we're going to solve those right away, because from a political point of view, the people who, you know, could speak on those subjects are interested in maintaining this status quo. But let's let's look at the bill 76. You said in your write up that it may be coming back. It didn't do very well in the city council, but it may be now still under consideration. What's the status of it? That's that's what it is. It was previously deferred by the the city council budget committee, but there's been a push to to bring it back, you know, center stage. So it may get unpostponed. And and the city council may be taking it up again. So that's that's what the KHON2 write up was all about. And that's, we're probably going to be taking a look at this issue again, you know, probably not only in the city council, but also in the state legislature, because I don't think I don't think our legislators are through with the concept of a vacant home's tax yet. No, but your point is well taken to say that the practical problem of enforcing it, however you structure it, could be a showstop and create problems for government. And you want whatever the bill is, you want it to work. It's nothing so discouraging as a bill that doesn't work. Right. So one thing just so I can get my head clear on this. So the bill comes up in the city council or a similar in the state legislature, who's going to be testifying? What I mean is what are the interest groups that would want to speak to this bill? How strong are they? What would they say? Can you can you imagine a hearing room? Who would be there? What would they be saying? Well, if you if you have people interested in the social policy, you know, people advocating that that particular social policy would be there. The realtors would probably want to weigh in because their livelihood is going to be impacted by this. Of course, the government agency would weigh in in terms of what they can implement and what they can't. Those I think are your primary participants in this type of hearing. Yeah. What position has the governor taken? What position has the mayor taken? In the hearings on the bill so far, there really hasn't been a whole lot of testimony. And I think the department of planning and permitting when on record is saying that it would be tough to enforce.  One last question, Tom. And I'll tell you, this is not my world, but suppose I owned a condo and it was empty right now. Whatever the tax was, I would be concerned that if I rented it to a stranger, I could easily easily get a tenant who would bust the place up. Right. What comfort can we, the community or anyone, a private organization, I don't know, maybe an insurance company, somebody give to me to assure me, make me comfortable that if that happens, my place will be repaired. Either it will not be busted up or it will be repaired. There are several property management organizations that claim to do just that. So use the services of one of them. They'll take a cut of your rent, but I think they are there to at least help with the cleanup if something goes wrong. Yeah. I think you're right. The better the property management company, the better the coverage. And of course, the better the property management company, the more expensive the property management fees. And that's all appropriate in the marketplace. I think one interesting point is that the property manager would want some comfort from the tenant. And there's two ways to get that comfort. One is he could vet the tenant very carefully and say, I'm going to look at your background. If I find that you busted any other place up here or anywhere in the world, you're not getting it. Or be theoretically, he could say, I want a great big security deposit to cover any damage. But I think both of those devices are employed now. That's limited. The amount of security deposit you can get is limited by law. And that's a weakness in the law. It means that you can't get the comfort from the tenant, except by investigating the tenant's background. And there's a limit on that. But if you ask for more than I think it's a month or two, you're violating the law. So what happens where the burden, the economic burden would fall is it's on the owner. And he could soften that by getting a property manager who would be really careful. And maybe he could write a contract with the property manager that would make the manager indemnify or cover him in the case of a wayward tenant and get insurance to cover claims against the property manager for that. But that's pretty complicated. And that may not give you the kind of comfort you want. So in the marketplace, if the owner of the property wants to feel comfortable, his best bet really is to leave the place vacant. And pay the tax. And pay the tax. There you have it. All an economic decision. In the end of the day. Well, thank you very much. Tom Yamachika, president and tax foundation of Hawaii. Really appreciate this discussion as always. We'll see you next time. See you in two weeks.


We've been doing the show for 11 years and we work together and then we talk with you about your work and your creative process. That's so lovely and I'm glad to be here with you. And if you have a question after the work period about your work or your creative process, Audrey's going to tell you how to get in touch with Audrey. Because that's healthy. I love that version. If you have a question and you are inside of the Zoom, all you need to do is click on the participant tab. Likely at the bottom of your screen on a laptop or the top of your on an iPad or a tablet. Inside of the participant tab, there is a little button that says raise your hand.  If you're watching on HowlRound.tv, you can tweet at us at Watch Me Work SLP with the hashtag HowlRound, H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. Or you can tweet at the Public Theater, which is at Public Theater NY. Or you can write to the Public Theater's Instagram and we get those questions as well. And that's it. All right. Okay. So here we go. We're going to work together for 20 minutes. And then we're going to talk. All right. All right. Okay. You got a question. Oh, all right. Cool, cool. All right. I'm very sorry if I pronounced your name wrong. I'm going to read it out. You got it. Oh, yes. Yeah. Okay. I think we have reached it. I believe is up next. What a beautiful name. Yeah. We got it. Click in. Oh, there you go. Yes. Thank you, Audrey. You said it right. This is the second time I'm asking question. And I'm, I've been on Zoom calls all day, all week, all summer. And I'm, I still want to show up so I'm really grateful for. You all. Thank you. of this residency program with a performing arts presenter in town, and it was supposed to last a year starting in January, but then there's six of us, and there's some of the projects are kind of, well, they're going to extend a bit longer because of the pandemic, like maybe people will present the finished work in the spring or who knows. So we're developing new projects for the organization and in return, the organization offers a stipend and a physical space of kind of like small black box theater. I mean, maybe what they actually wanted to do was support our process and a kind of conversation amongst us, but in the end, we do present something. So but now because of the pandemic conditions, the organization is asking us like, what do you want? Well, how do you, what do you need? And I'm really having trouble knowing what I can expect or what I can ask for because well, when I usually don't work in a theater context, like my experience is from visual arts where everyone's like always doing everything on their own, or at least in my, my world. That is the case. And then so it's like, I don't have that kind, I don't have like a, an understanding of, of that. And yeah, I want support because I do think like this is not a good time to be thriving as an artist, even though I'm trying really hard, but I don't know what that looks like in this context. Like maybe it could just be like, give me more money. But I also think that's not the really the only, like what I'm, what I'm, maybe there are other material things that could be offered or support systems. But I don't know what, what I do. I don't have any ideas. I just know that I'm, I'm struggling. Wow, that's a great question. Did you like their offer of, of a stipend and a space? I mean, did that seem like it was going to be helpful to you? The stipend is useful. The space, I think, because that everyone's doing work around ecological issues, a lot of, and a lot of people were planning to do something maybe in another location, like they were considering it. And I was going to start in the, in the theater and then take people on a procession out in downtown. So I, I was never so attached to the space. Like I don't need it, I guess, because I'm not, but I thought it would like part of what I liked about doing the residency was I thought, oh, I've never, I've never worked in this way. Maybe I'll really be challenged to work in this like kind of this space that has no, they're there. Like I'm used to working in places where they already have like a history or context, but the box is like you can put any, you can do anything in there. Right. So I'm, it's fine. I don't, I don't, I don't care about the space, I guess. Money is more interesting to me, but, but I, I don't think that's really what I'm, I don't know what I want. And then, yeah. Or do you, I mean, if they could give you anything? Like, because maybe you do know what you want. Maybe you just don't think you're going to get it. So do you know, you see what I mean? I mean, yeah, maybe if they could give you anything, if they could give you I mean, more money deferring the project for another year, you know, making it last for two years instead of one year, you know? Yeah, making this year like just to give me. And then, you know, right? I consider, I think that, that there is a part of it where I think, like, maybe like the idea of going into the second year doesn't like doesn't appeal to me because it feels like it's dragging out this thing that is actually a lot of work to go to all these meetings and stuff. And so part of me is like, maybe the acknowledgement would be, hey, pandemic was really weird and hard. And we're not going to. They're already like planning to have a call for the next cohort.  So like, what are you doing? And I try, we tried to ask about that, but I don't think that they're like trying to bring us into their programming process or be like, hey, we're going to tell you everything we're doing. Like it's sort of, they're still figuring it out and they don't want to tell us. And I'm thinking like, well, we're, we're right here. Like we are here. Like let's talk about what we can do. And they're kind of thinking like, what's next? What's next? And so I kind of feel like, yeah, maybe one of the things I did think about is why don't you just ask us all to be on for the second year. And then, but that's not really, they're like, we're moving on to the next cohorts. Yeah, but if they're asking you, if they're asking you, what do you need? Right? It sounds to me very clearly that it would be helpful while it is a drag to have to go to all the meetings and it is time consuming. Yeah, it sounds like it would be helpful if they kept you guys on for another year, not just you, but the group. Right.  I mean, we have to acknowledge that. I mean, what they're doing is pretending that it's kind of isn't really happening, you know, like, and so I think it would help spiritually, if they acknowledge the difficulty you guys are having. I think that's it. Extended your residency. I think they should extend your residency and include you in the wonderful things that are going to be happening next year when things get back to normal. Whatever that's going to look like. Yeah. And if you need that, ask for it, whether or not you get it, you know, who knows, but at least you're going to put it out there and maybe you could contact the other members. Do you know them? Are you in contact with the other folks who have the residency? Yes, part of it is that the that we we are meant to be in conversation with each other and and critiquing each other's work that we do know each other. Yeah, I think it's not it's not that that, like, obviously, that the pandemic has been mentioned and talked about and and Black Lives Matter has been has been come up. But it's not like it feels like it's not really an acknowledgement. I don't I guess that's what I don't know what why. It's like, what is it that I want? Like, what is it that needs to happen? And it needs to be something that I can hold on to and not just like, hey, we know we know it's hard. OK, now, right, right. And what I mean is I'm not. I'm not minimizing their acknowledgement or maybe I am. It's one thing to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know there's racism. Anyway, can we can we? OK, let's just keep going for, you know, or yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a pandemic. OK, now we better go back to school.  Put this way again, if it would help you and your your compatriots. Your colleagues to be included in the next year's festivities and activities. Ask for that. I it sounds like it would help. It sounds like you guys are being kind of groomed away, you know. Well, I'm afraid some people just want to stick around. And then, like, I feel like. It's that they're OK to do it without acknowledging that. Oh, like, it's almost indefinite. Some people are just like, oh, yeah, I'll just keep doing this for another six months. But it won't feel official to me. I feel like I need it to be like this is happening. Not like, oh, it just like we just kept going until you were done. Like I need deadlines, too, I guess. But so that's that's that's another thing. I mean, you need it to be official. You need to be officially included. I think they can do that. Maybe they won't be able to offer you the same kind of money or whatever, you know, whatever, but if your project could be officially included and you as an artist could be officially included, whether maybe you don't have to involve your colleagues or whatever, you know, maybe you just do it alone and say, this is what I need to feel like to feel acknowledged as an artist. This is what I need. Yeah. And to have the deadlines and to just be part of the program. I mean, they can include you guys. It's it's not that difficult. Yeah, it's really not. Yeah. Um, you can ask for that and see what they say. I mean, it's great when they say, what do you need? Yeah, sometimes I think, oh, am I just like I I'm waiting for them to like it's not fair for me to expect that they know what I need. Right. But it's almost like I kind of want a little bit of something to go on. Like, oh, maybe we're going to shoot a video of this thing you're doing or like we have money to to do a guess lecture series or something like there's there's no like I need ideas to play off of to or but then maybe that's an opportunity for me to propose things. And I don't know if I I just want to focus on my project. I don't want to do new things. Yeah. But I think you could just focus on asking for specifically what you need. And then if they say, well, you need to come up with some ideas or whatever. What would that look like? Then that's another conversation. But I think it's OK. I think it's great to ask specifically for what you need. Thank you. OK, thank you. Thank you. All right, we've got Marta up next. Why? I just wanted to very briefly thank you, Susan and everyone, because this is my first draft and I finished it today. Thank you. Today you finished it. Fantastic. This afternoon. Yeah. Oh, wow. I didn't. Yeah, thank you. It's I mean, I keep touching it because I don't believe I did this. But but like it exists. So yeah, I'm so great. But thank you so much. A week ago, if this helps anyone like a week ago, I was in a pretty dark place with it and I'd been missing my own deadline, deadlines since March. Like every month, you know, I just wasn't getting there and I was in a rut. Yeah, I talked about it and I asked about it. And like I did miss the July deadline and all this. But but I actually made a calendar for the first time ever a week ago. And somehow I don't know what it was like, but that helped. And yeah, I'm anyway. I'm just trying to live in this moment because it's hard to believe. And like, you know, I don't know what will come of it. I feel like I'm jinxing it by saying it, but it's fine. Like I just, you know, just doing this, I feel is, you know, is something. So thank you, everyone. It's really great, Marta. It's really, really great. I mean, that's right. I remember a week or so ago it was it was in a you were in a very difficult place. You didn't know how to get it done.  Yeah, it's huge. It's huge. And again, like I said to some of the other day, if you jinx it, you'll develop the tools to get out of that problem. You know what I'm saying? If talking about if congratulating yourself after doing hard work is jinxing something, then, uh-oh, you know, we're all in trouble. You know what I'm saying? It's not it's called congratulating yourself for doing hard work. It's great. It's so great. It's I know you say we would like that we would have done it without you anyway, but I would not have done it now. I would not be here now without Watch Me Work. So thanks to everyone. Thank you. That's what that's exactly why we're here. It's exactly why we're here. And what happens, Marta and other folks who have finished projects and started new projects or found ways to keep working when they didn't think they were working. What happens is you're developing a muscle, a skill to keep going. And the next time you're in a difficult place, you might not find the skill quickly, but you have to remember that you have it.  You know what I'm saying? So just know that you do have that skill. You can keep going. And the easiest thing to do and the most important thing to do is just keep showing up for yourself, which is what you did. Yeah, it's really a skeleton. Yeah, I was like, there's so much work ahead. But yeah, I mean, yeah, thank you. It's so it's so great. It's so great, Marta.  Yeah, thank you so much. We should have a like a dancing, you know, like we should have some music when people finish it. This is good. Oh, look, yeah, I'm a lot of these dancing. Oh, and the rest of you are like, yeah, OK, I don't really dance. I'm just going to sit here with my hands folded. That's OK. Myra, you're up next. I'm sorry, you have to follow our dancing. You know, it's OK. Hi, I'm not I am a writing for pleasure kind of a person. And I am I write a lot of music, but not. And not much else. Well, generally, I'm doing a lot of journal. And I have had an extremely interesting life and and all my friends keep saying, you need to write a book, you need to write a book, you know, it's over and over and over.  And I'm wondering, you know, because I do it on an awful lot of reading, I'm wondering if that is something that could could be done like to just to write.  But in the only book that I think I've ever read like that was the Time Traveler's Wife, you know, oh, yeah, you're in there, you know. So I'm just wondering if that's very doable if that sounds like a great idea. That sounds like a great idea, Mara. It sounds like a great idea.  But it can you can just have fun with it and just write what moves you. OK, well, that's exactly what I thought I'd start trying to do, because it and that's the way I think about my life, too. Really, just like, you know, I I don't feel like everything has been dependent on some chronological. Uh-huh. I mean, if you want to make a game of it. Because of it, I mean, if you want to make a game of it. So you take like three by five index cards, I don't have any with me right now, but you three by five index cards, right? And you can like cut them in half like the thick way.   So you probably Yellowstone is probably a boring part. You know, I was in a blizzard in Yellowstone one time in July. So OK, OK. So yellow being in Yellowstone during July in a blizzard in July, right?   Uh-huh. And then if you have a like an empty tote bag that you're particularly fond of, I would not suggest like a plastic bag or a paper bag, but something a little more sturdy that might have to be a fun color or something, right? And you put all these tiles into the tote bag. And then you harness the power of randomness. And when you want to write, you just put your hand in the tote bag and pull one out. Oh, what that might be something for me to do on a daily basis. It could be fun like that. And so then you don't really have to think about what am I going to write?  And then you can just write on it for 20 minutes. And I just wanted to bring up one little thing. I found this great book. One of the things that I do is I buy cartons and I mean, cases and cases of books to give to kids because libraries are closed and, you know, I found this book and it's a by one of my favorite children's authors, Roald Dahl, and it's called Be Outrageous. Big ideas from a small girl is all about writing. And if anybody's having, you know, once a little boost of positive energy, of feeling great and confident about putting yourself in print, this is just a terrific little. I get I sent it to a couple people, a couple young people that had young girls just for like a greeting card. So it's just so great. Anyway, thank you for that. That's really great. If you want to put it in the chat, that would be really cool. So everybody can see the title. OK, I will. OK, that'd be cool. Thanks, Myra. All right, Rebecca, you're next. Hey, Rebecca. Hey, Susan, Laurie, how are you? This is how you doing today? I'm good. I'm good today. How's your beautiful project? It's it's moving along. I am trying to figure out my agent pitch letter. The I was I was advised that I needed to suggest who might endorse my work. So that's, you know, and that's. So but I I'm actually calling about. I love advice on that, actually. But I was also calling about a different piece. And I was hoping you could sort of help me understand. I'm writing a piece about. Diversity practices and businesses. And I'm trying to. So I'm doing an analysis. And in part of my analysis, I use minstrel C and blackface. And I, you know, I listened to Rianna Giddens lecture Carnegie Hall lecture on minstrel C and blackface and realize I'm not a musician. So I'm wondering sort of when you think about. Minstrel C. As a musical form or theatrical form and. Kind of where it sits in. In how you when you're thinking about writing or it comes up as an idea. I don't want to insult musicians. And when I'm I'm just wanting to insult people doing D.E.I. work. Right, right, right, right. And you want to examine.  Do you have something in mind or I'm trying to think. I'm on my medium side. Yeah. And I'm I'm I'm riffing off of, you know, Audrey's master's tools. And another book of the period called The Feminist Case Against Bureaucracy, which are two books that I love, you know, I love the title of that book. I've read neither one of those books and it just. OK, I'm not a no, but I'm not a the tricky thing. I'm not like a scholar, a literary or art scholar. So I don't really have a formulated opinion on Minstrel C. I mean, I know that when I see it, it always depends on the context. You know, like. Oh, dear, I'm thinking of that Spike Lee movie.  What how I'm going to receive it, you know, and I haven't I also I'm a big fan of Rihanna Giddens, but I haven't heard that lecture. So I'm not really like as prepped or primed or woke or informed as I could be to answer your question. I guess the larger context is and I hear this from musicians all the time, how no musical form belongs to anyone. But I feel like there are ways that musical forms have evolved to be insulting to the original culture and some of that is appropriation. And some of it is, you know, co-optation and commodification, all those things. And that that's the perspective I'm trying to work from is. So the black musician of the period had to wear a black face to get a job, right? Right.  Right.  Right. Right.   No, no, no, that's I just I think that one thing that is such a conversation is the harvesting of other cultures. And like I was talking to a friend the other day about, you know, bebop and contra-facts and how bebop musicians took some of the standards and made them into these incredible songs of the bebop canon. But the original predominately white composers were not being harvested from in the same way that they harvested from black culture.   But a black musician to get a job had to put on blackface. So that's a huge difference. And we can't just gloss over it and say, everybody borrows from everybody. And no music belongs to one group or what's that? A well-known TV writer. It's America. We all borrow from each other. Sure, we do. But for some reason, there are some groups who continually get harvested from and stolen from. And that needs to be discussed, you know, just on the table, you know what I'm saying? So but I'm not I'm not as up on up up on these these works as as you are. So I wish I could have a more substantive conversation with you about it. That's not that's helpful. Because the point I'm trying to make is diversity and inclusion is not anti-racist organizing. But you can say it is right. Tended is to make money off of it. Right. The person of color doing DEI work is essentially and the white person doing DEI work is that it's like minstrelsy. It can be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, definitely. We just have to be super mindful about what it is we're doing because. We're awake now and vocal.  So 80 years ago, 15 years ago. No, I think my work has been so immersed in 19 the 1930s that sort of to be to be writing about like the current time, my friends just say I live in the past and and it's not a very pretty past, but there I am.   Well, you can do both. Yeah, and that's kind of fun, but and maybe next week I'll after I work on my my agent pitch a little more this week, I'll have some questions about the whole thing, because it's just a little unnerving. So OK, OK, we'll be here. Thank you. Thank you, Rebecca. All right, we've got Jaden up next. Hey, Jaden. It's Crystal. I'm looking at you like, thank you.  Why? It's my son. Oh, your son's doing a twist. All right. I had to try a different computer. So, yeah, that's why. So like. So it's a partial it's a partial vent. I'm not sure where the question is going to come in. Exactly. OK. So I've been, you know, with this demigod piece, I have to present it tomorrow. I've done lots of drafts on it. And like I I honestly don't think I can do anything else with it. I don't think there's any more I can do with it. I think I've reached a place of like, this is what I have. You know, take it or leave it and it kind of is that tomorrow. It is a take it or leave it. But I've also been asked to consider writing someone else instead of who I had been working on. Mainly because the person I picked was not a black person. So they want me to pick a black person to write about to. To give the production more more color. And I kind of I. I don't know, I kind of feel limited. I kind of feel kind of pressed against the wall because I'm not really sure that this this particular work that I've put invested in is going to be given the time of day because of the bigger concern of of writing for a person of color and and doing that work, that process all over again. So I'm really nervous. I'm very, very nervous about tomorrow because I didn't know if it was a handout. I didn't know if it was a just a dilemma that was kind of put in my place. I don't know if because my piece didn't meet the meet meet the structure before that, like, I don't know. I feel like maybe I'm the weakest link. So maybe this is your next your chance. Another chance at something else. I just kind of. I kind of feel I don't know how I feel. I kind of feel like I'm supposed to solve a problem when when I came in. I thought I I could just choose anybody I wanted. But maybe it was just assumed that I would pick somebody black because I'm black. So I don't know. I don't know. I kind of I don't I don't know.  But I know for sure I was picked on picked because I was a black person. And so now I'm like, all right, I thought it was good enough that I was black. I didn't have to pick somebody black, too. I really chose this person because I wanted to to delve into a place where I had to challenge myself as a writer. I had to challenge myself as a Christian. I had to challenge myself as a woman.  No no other reason than that. And they gave me a name of the other person they would like me to consider.  But I've kind of lost my zeal. I kind of lost my passion. I kind of feel like deflated, like, you know, I kind of feel like this this skill that I was trying to work on to to write for someone else's structure and design. Now I kind of feel like, well, now who cares like I don't care anymore. And I don't know. I don't know. I don't know what my attitude should be going in tomorrow. And you as a professional who has been in rooms where people have told you things that you've not liked and have had to put the smile on your face.  Well, I got to say, Crystal, you know, I've known you through this show for a good long while and I'm I'm sorry that you're going through this. And well, none of it's like my fault or our fault. Somebody has to say I'm sorry. And I'll say it because you're a really hardworking person, really hardworking artist and I'm sorry that you're having to go through this.  I mean, picked tells me a lot about what's going on. So it's trick it's tricky.  We're invited into places and we think I'm invited in because I'm me.  It's very confusing also that you've done all these rewrites and nowhere along the way, even at the beginning, when you chose who you chose, there wasn't a suggestion. Well, well, you know, you know what? We'd really like you, Crystal, to do this person or pick from these four people who are of African descent because we really would like one of those people included, you know what I'm saying?  I don't think that's the right. I mean, they're they're producers, you said, right? And giving you what you called, I remember because it stuck out a golden opportunity. Remember, you said it that night went OK. So here's here's an opportunity. I mean, so here it is, Crystal. Here's an opportunity that you'd really you really do you still want to be part of it? Does it still feel like this could be fun? This could be cool to get my work included with these this producer and stuff? I don't know. I don't know. I've been wrestling with it all week and even wrestling with it. I don't know if I should say anything to you and and yeah, because it was kind of like all the work, all the all the checking in, the daily checking in and all that, you know, like, and then I kind of thought, well, maybe I'm being silly, like maybe. But I'm like, I don't think I'm pulling the race card here. Girl, that's what I'm here for. You can talk about your work.  That's what we're here for. That's why we come together because there's a lot of this kind of stuff going on in the world and your creative life. It's not the race card. It's not the race card when they're telling you at the 11th hour that you should choose a black person, you're not pulling the race card. They are.  Now. I have I have a friend who was a student who is from Iran, I think her parents immigrated here, so she's first gen. And she said one day she said, well, I am I only ever going to be writing about Iranian people? She was exhausted by the prospect. And I said, maybe, yeah, maybe, maybe that's all you're going to get hired for, maybe. But you know what? It's OK. It's OK. If you really want this opportunity, right? And it means that you're going to have to choose. Do you like the other person? I mean, that the character. He's he's OK. He's OK. OK, do you have to choose that one? It was strongly suggested because it was it's for an act and a specific actor of color. It gets even crazier, doesn't it? They want to write for a specific actor now. Yeah. And they only know that they only knew that like last week. Yeah, on Saturday. So I'm like, OK, well, let's turn it around. Like, oh, I can write for this actor. And he's he's an excellent actor. He's a well known actor. I'm like, all right, well, maybe this is another opportunity to write for. But in the meanwhile, I kind of feel I kind of feel a little icky. I feel real icky. I felt real icky like last two weeks ago when you told me about it first time. I didn't like how the producer talked to you. I was getting upset for you, but I kept it to myself because you called it a quote golden opportunity. I didn't like how the producer was talking to you. If it still feels like a golden opportunity, this is what I mean about being a pro and getting into the business of creating creating stuff, you know, if it still feels good, then think about whether or not you can do it, you know, with the icky feeling. Because works for hire often feel icky. I'm in the middle of an icky one right now. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I told my friend, I told a friend of mine.  And that is what I'm going through on the project that I'm working on. So, you know, you have to think of, you know, if you can think, well, this character might be interesting, this actor, this opportunity might be interesting. I mean, because the alternative is simple. You can walk away. Right. You can walk away. You can. Yeah. And you're going to have to like talk to God, talk to the spirit and say, what should I do?    Right.  Sorry to use that language if anybody's offended. You know what I'm saying? Right.  And who knows? Are you going to own this work that you write? Oh, I don't even know. You know what I'm saying? Are you going to own it or are they going to own it? I don't. I don't know. Because that's what I want to know. Because if you can write the piece and own it and it belongs to you, you have copyright to it. Then I say it's worth it.  If they're going to own it, then, you know, you got to talk to God about it. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. OK. OK. But when you decide it's going to be the right decision. Whatever I decide. OK, that is going to be the right decision. OK. OK. Yeah. And you can say and you know what?  You can say yes tomorrow and no on Tuesday. You know what I'm saying, Crystal? Yeah. Sure. I'll do it. Sure. Here I'm into it and you can change your mind on Tuesday and say, you know what I've changed my mind? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  Yeah. Yeah.  No, man, I'm into it. Yeah. OK. I'll do it and then say yes. Then think about it a little bit longer. You'll buy yourself some time and check back in next week and see how you're feeling about it. OK. And if you decide, you know what? I actually don't want to do this. Then you can let it go. OK. You see what I mean? Yeah, I do. I do. I do. I also have to trust that if something like this, this opportunity, golden opportunity came that another one will come. And if it's an historical character, is this new person an historical character? Oh, you know what? You can write about them if you want on your own. Oh. If I'm interested, yeah. You know, on your own, you can write about them. Right. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. OK. OK, thank you. OK, sister. Great question. That was a heavy one. Lord, I must make you want to slap somebody.  Thanks for the question. Thank you, Crystal. I didn't want to interrupt. You're amazing. No, no. Thank you. Thank you. So this is our final session of the week. We'll be back Tuesday to Thursday next week. OK. Yeah. Love you guys. Have a good weekend. I hope you're the best. OK, you guys are. Thanks, Audrey. Muah, muah, bye.