Hi friends, welcome to the Wabi Sabi podcast. This is episode number 169. So you will notice, yes,

the last few weeks I have been out and working hard for good reason. I have been volunteering

quite a bit with animal rescue. I went and testified

at City Hall here in New York for low and no cost, spay, neuter, and veterinary services for cats

and dogs in New York. Then we did a positive tales event this weekend where we helped 133 cats, dogs,

and their families get free veterinary care, spay, and neuter just this past Saturday.

It's also fair to say that a lot of us are feeling the melancholy and the fall changes of the weather

it is going to get a little colder and the leaves will start changing color and we will soon be in a time

of change i would prepare yourselves that we are going to fall back an hour soon.

So you may be feeling a little bit, you know, I suppose, more sad than normal and that's okay.

So I'm here to remind you, as usual, how to stay grounded when we are living in a society that has pretty much gone off the

rails, especially in wellness. And I typically speak from my heart on this podcast. And the

climate in New York these days has been really interesting. I've spent multiple years of my career focusing on true wellness, health,

and I add in tiny little dashes and sprinkles of Japanese wellness, beauty, and culture, and lifestyle.

I am from the culinary world. We are coming up on the 20th year

after Top Chef Season 1 came out. So there's a lot of mixed feelings that I'm having. It's true if you

see the show airing from 2006 that that would be 2026. But what you don't know from behind the scenes is I began the

casting process when I was 22, which was in 2004, 2005. And then I had to go through a vigorous

background check and even a psych exam and a cooking exam

and a cooking demo test and an interview and a long stack of paperwork for Top Chef.

And that began years before shooting.

So there was a vigorous process that we went through.

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