VIP LESSON 021 - Staying Modern

Dialog:

A: What are you still doing looking at a roadmap?

Get out of the dark ages and get a GPS system. It’ll save you a ton of time
and energy.

B: Road maps work just fine. I don’t need to hop on the bandwagon every
time a new device comes onto the market.

A: GPS is the real deal. In 5 years, not having one will be as ridiculous as not
having an email address today.

B: I don’t even have a clue how a GPS. It’ll probably end up taking me more
time to learn how to use one than just using a road map.

A: That sounds about as logical as listening to my grandparents talk about

computers. Don’t you want to keep up with the times anyway?

B: Not really. I’m perfectly happy living in my simple little bubble.

A: Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Phrases and Vocabulary Used:

Get out of the dark ages: The "dark ages" is a period in history that happened
several hundred years ago. It was a period of time when people learned and
accomplished very little for civilization.

GPS: This stands for "global positioning system". It is a device that can tell you
exactly where you on earth. GPS devices for cars tell you exactly how to get
from one place to another.

Hop on the bandwagon: This phrase means to get excited about every new
thing that becomes popular in society.

For example: Hopping on the bandwagon would be trying every new diet plan
that came on the market.

Real Deal: If something is "the real deal" it means its serious and is no joke.

Have you seen Michael Jordan play basketball? He's the real deal.

Listen to how good this new band is. These guys are the real deal.

Keep up with the times: Keeping up with the times is staying current. It is the

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opposite of staying in the dark ages. It means you are paying attention to new
things that are going on in the world.

The old people who choose to keep up with the times seem to be happier than
those who don't.

Living in a bubble: If you are living in a bubble it means that you are living a life
where you choose not to pay attention to certain things around you.

We should all feel lucky we have so much. Billions of people in the world don't
even have enough food to eat each day. We just live in our little bubble and don't
pay much attention to how the world really is.

Ignorance is bliss: Ignorance means to not know about something. Bliss is a

wonderful feeling. Sometimes not knowing something can be a great feeling.

Ignorance is bliss for young children. They don't worry about the future,
relationships, or money problems.

FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

We’re here in the VIP room for lesson number 21 again. Today's lesson Add,
we’re talking really about keeping up, staying afloat, looking into the future
instead of looking into the past and paying attention to what's new and cool and
whatever. Whatever's coming up and is new really in the world instead of
forgetting about it, just sitting on your couch and doing nothing. Yeah, you
definitely want to keep up with the times and not fall behind and become like a
really old person like your grandparents or something, not that there's anything
wrong with them, but often, you know, they don't keep up with the times do they?
One set of our grandparents does, the other set doesn't. We don't really need to
get into that in case they’re listening, but even I do that sometimes Add. You do
that…it’s easy to, you get kind of set in a certain way and you forget to improve
and pay attention to new things in the world. Anyway, that’s the topic basically; if
that makes any sense at all, which it will. Have a phenomenal dialogue about to
come, I say we just jump right into it.

A: What are you still doing looking at a roadmap?

Get out of the dark ages and get a GPS system. It’ll save you a ton of time
and energy.

B: Road maps work just fine. I don’t need to hop on the bandwagon every
time a new device comes onto the market.

A: GPS is the real deal. In 5 years, not having one will be as ridiculous as not

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having an email address today.

B: I don’t even have a clue how a GPS. It’ll probably end up taking me more
time to learn how to use one than just using a road map.

A: That sounds about as logical as listening to my grandparents talk about

computers. Don’t you want to keep up with the times anyway?

B: Not really. I’m perfectly happy living in my simple little bubble.

A: Ignorance is bliss I guess.

All right, great lesson Add, a lot of deep meanings in here and sort of talking
about what not to do. I don't have a GPS system. We’re going to talk about that
and…well we don't even have a car but this dialogue was inspired when we were
in Canada and our parents are still using roadmaps. Maybe some of our
listeners are using roadmaps and may want to consider switching to a GPS
system, because we saw how cool they were. Get to that momentarily Add, a lot
of good phrases though. First one, get out of the dark ages. And I'm not really a
history major…well I’m not a history major at all so I had to go online and look up
when the dark ages was, I kind of forgot, but anyway the point is, it's a period in
history that happened several hundred years ago and it’s this period of time, I
think after the fall of the Roman Empire, where people learned and contributed
basically nothing…and in English when someone just says, get out of the dark
ages, it means you don't want to really be living in the past and…and living in the
dark, you want to pay attention to what's going on now, it’s like not having an e-
mail address is living in the dark ages. Right, exactly, not keeping up with the
times, get out of the dark ages. I'm sure none of you are really in that time period
because you're listening to this lesson right now. Yeah, so obviously if you guys
are listening to this…this is a podcast. You obviously have an e-mail address so
we can kind of make fun of the people and ourselves who sometimes can be in
this situation depending on the kind of thing. Anyway Add, we talked about a
GPS. You probably know this one, what does it stand for? It stands for global
positioning system and it just means you can locate anywhere you are exactly in
the world with one of these systems. So one of these little tools, these devices
you can know exactly where you are anywhere on earth, but the ones they build
for cars. They tell you exactly how to get from one place to another. A friend of
ours had one in Canada. They’re like a hundred or two hundred bucks or
something and they’re really cool, you just punch in where you are now and
where you want to go and then it tells you exactly the route to take. Even if it's
really far across the country away, where the McDonald's are on the road if you
want to know where the nearest whatever is, and it’s just really convenient. You
don’t have to be looking at a map, planning your route, it just says turn right, turn
left and it’s…it’s a modern thing, easy to use Add and really makes looking at a
roadmap, pretty obsolete. Right, and it makes it so you don't even really have to

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pay attention in some ways because a GPS system often talks to you as well and
will even say things like turn left, go straight for 500 meters. It really tells you
where you are and where you need to go. Right, and then Add’s playing the role
in the dialogue of the guy who doesn't really want to accept this, he’s really sort
of clinging on to not using it and using the roadmaps like these old people, like
our parents and he says, I don’t need to hop on the bandwagon every time
something new comes on the market…and this is a really good phrase. If you…if
you hop on the bandwagon of something, it means that you get excited about
something every time a new popular thing comes along, that's hopping on the
bandwagon. Something new comes out, you need it, you’re really excited about
it. Usually whatever this new thing that you're excited about is not going to be
very popular in a few years and hopping on the bandwagon is always a negative
kind of thing. This does not mean, keeping current or paying attention to what's
new, it just means that you're following whatever's going on. So Add’s saying, he
doesn’t need to just, you know, drop everything and buy this new thing just
because someone’s selling it. Right, exactly I'm acting like the only reason I'd
want a GPS is because I'd be jumping on a bandwagon and copying everyone
else, there’s no real value to the GPS. Right, so for example, hopping on a
bandwagon could be a person who tries every new diet plan to lose weight every
time a new plan comes on the market, doesn't matter what it is. Right, and if it's
a new diet actually, I’ll teach you a new term right here, you would call that a fad
diet and that’s what it means. We actually already talked about that term Add so
they probably know it. Well, I taught you an old term or reminded you of it at
least. Very good, we’re talking about GPS, I'm saying here…I'm claiming that it
is the real deal. If something is the real deal, it means it's serious, and it's no
joke. Can you think of a couple examples Add of…when to say something is the
real deal, what are they talking about or how to use this? All right, well we could
talk about it in sports, I could say, have you seen Lebron James play basketball,
he's the real deal. Or you could say, listen to how good this new band is. These
guys are the real deal. This means, this is not a joke. This is…it’s not just
because they're new; this is a real serious thing. Or you could say, have you
listened to China232, these guys are the real deal, meaning we’re very
professional at the highest level. Yeah, there’s no kidding around here. This is
how you learn. This is pretty serious stuff. I like it Add, good example. Next
one, we’ve said it a bunch of times, haven’t explained it, you probably get it by
now, keeping up with the times. And this does mean stay current, it's the
opposite of staying in the dark ages. And if you’re a person who keeps up with
the times, it means that you pay attention to new things and what's going on in
the world today and you’re not living in the past. You know, you’re paying
attention to now and the future, your keeping up with what's going on, what's
modern. Could be in fashion, could be in the news, could be in a lot of areas.
You’re just paying attention to what's going on. Right, it just means you're aware
of everything new that's happening in the world and new technologies etc. etc.
but it doesn't mean you're hopping on every bandwagon and copying people.
No, it doesn't mean that at all. Next phrase Add, is probably the best one in the
entire dialogue. I love this one, living in a bubble. Before we talked about a

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stock market bubble, this is nothing like that. If you’re living in a bubble, Add
says, he's perfectly happy living in his little bubble. It means that you're living a
life where you choose not to pay attention to certain things around you. You're
sort of happy to be in your sheltered little life, nothing outside…you’re protected,
but you're not learning anything new. So nothing can harm you, but nothing can
get to you either. I could say, we should all feel lucky we have so much. Billions
of people in the world don't even have enough food to eat each day, imagine
that. We just live in our little bubble and don't pay much attention to how the
world really is. So when you think about how poor a lot of people are and how
they really have nothing, it really makes you think about how we’re all in a
bubble. If you have enough money to even buy a computer or even use a
computer, you're doing better than more than half the people in the world and
its…it's so easy to forget about this Add because we’re in our bubble. Exactly,
every place is different and everyone is really in their own bubble in some way.
Last phrase of the day Add is a good one, it’s ignorance is bliss. And ignorance
means to not know about something, and bliss is a wonderful feeling and
sometimes not knowing something depending on the situation can be a great
feeling. Can you think of any examples? Well, definitely, if you’re a child for
example, you have no cares in the world, and if you have no cares that can be a
great feeling, cuz you don’t have to worry about anything. Yeah, if you don't
know about it, you can't worry about it. So for example, children as Add said,
they don't worry about the future relationships or money problems because
they're ignorant. They don't even know these things happen and they’re just
happily playing along and laughing and having fun, and they’re in this state of
bliss, they’re enjoying their life because they’re so ignorant. Right, they might
actually think that money grows on trees as the phrase suggests. They…they
really think life is great. They’re not paying attention to a lot of stuff. Obviously
you can't be doing this as an adult, keep your head in the sand the whole time
because you know, there are responsibilities, you can’t do this all the time, but
sometimes Add, at least in the short-term, ignorance really is bliss. All right, so
another solid lesson in the VIP room. I've been noticing not so many comments
so I'd like you guys to say what you think about the lessons and if you have any
suggestions because you guys are the ones paying the big bucks now to be
enjoying the lessons so I think you should have quite a bit of say.

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