This episode is not for the faint of heart! Alique's feeling hot and it bubbles over into some political territory. Maybe a show that's a musical self-help comedy shouldn't tackle so many heave subjects in one episode!In the past 5 summers, four have had prolonged droughts, and this one is relentless. As if wearing masks wasn’t bad enough, we hot, sweaty, sticky, and should you wish to get tested for Covid you get to enjoy a few hours roasting in your car in the hot summer sun while you wait your turn. Gosh, I’m so happy to be alive during these times.I know we’re not alone in this. Listeners in Australia, India, California, or probably anywhere around the world knows what a hot drought looks like. And they’re becoming more frequent. Here, our growing season is so short this absolutely impacts any agriculture which does not have irrigation systems in place. My own garden I was watering daily back in June but now I’ve thrown in the towel. I hope the trees, shrubs, and perennials will survive the baking hot sun and the dusty soil long enough for some rain to come. I expect many will not make it that long.I’ve always tried to make good, environmentally friendly choices. I buy almost everything second hand- even home renovation materials. I salvage junk to make something new out of it. I’ve occasionally rescued a piece of furniture from the curbside only to clean it up and sell it a few months later.I try to eat a mostly vegetarian diet because cutting out meat is the single biggest thing an individual can do to reduce their impact on the environment. I always bring my own bags and for a good year and a half I really gave zero waste a try. I only use environmentallly friendly cleaning supplies and supported local artisan soap makers even though it turns out their soaps were the reason I still have a face full of acne at 28 years old. Switching to dove made me realise how much all these millions of sacrifices I was making to be a good environmentalist were not making any bloody difference, and only making my own life more complicated.Has the fact that 8 billion people have reduced how much they travel because of covid made any difference? People continue to consume so many products and create so much waste, but how is an individual supposed to turn the tide? We can’t do it on an individual scale!Plastic straws disappeared almost immediately when a turtle got one stuck up its nose. Why haven’t we banned plastic bags yet? Styrofoam containers? Why is Justin Trudeau investing so much money in pipelines instead of green energy?I’m tired of being hot. I’m tired of looking at my lupins wilting in the beating sun. I’m tired of everything I own being old and used and nothing I do makes any difference. Individuals don’t have the kind of money or power to make real changes. We’ve been trying! Look at the black lives matter movement. Individuals, like me and you, have never discriminated against POC, we’ve welcomed POC into our communities, families, Christmas dinners, workplaces and haven’t let other whities talk shit about POC. We see all people as individuals each worthy of value, life, and freedom. Has individual action been enough? Clearly not!I have uncomfortable conversations with people who say bigoted things to get them to realise we are more than where we are born, or who we are born to. I’ve threatened to leave a job because a coworker was being openly homophobic and made a situation that the business owner couldn’t ignore. But without the backing of the business owner, I would have walked out of that job and nothing would have changed, do you see? My power as an individual was zero. It was only with the authority of someone in charge telling the racist homophobe to shut his mouth that any actual change could take place. So what? Do us good people who want to live good, kind, open...

After a few quick announcements about a new YouTube channel, an album release on Spotify and iTunes, and an update about writing songs and episode topics for season two, Alique presents a playlist.This is a playlist of the top songs from season one of the podcast. Now you can listen to these songs as you work, drive, have sex, do your chores, garden, or fall asleep. Some of them have been re-recorded since the first release, and some of the Alique egotistically loved too much to even try to improve upon them.Alique Presents Podcast! The Musical is typically a show that begins with a monologue and ends with an original song based on the day's topic. Alique is the songwriter, and many producers and volunteer singers have contributed to the show during season one.If you want to get in touch, follow on Instagram @aliquepresentspodcastmusicalEmail [email protected] listening!I wanted to call this episode Alique's Greatest Tits, but a lot of my family listen to this show. I don't think they read the descriptions, though.

It’s hard to land a good ending. Look at Game of Thrones. They ended a show that millions of people were invested in in such a hurry that a petition was put into motion to rewrite the ending. There was nothing wrong with where the characters ended up, but the show runners didn’t take the time to bring that ending about in a satisfying way. The Twillight series ended the whole thing building up to an epic vampire battle that didn’t happen. This season has been amazing for me, and mostly because of how this episode will end. I’m a massive Harry Potter fan, and those books ended the series so perfectly that the ending enriches the story for re-reading. There was an extraordinary amount of pressure for J.K. Rowling do deliver a satisfactory end, I remember spending hours on the internet reading fan theories of how all the clues from the season would become massively important in the last book. The most incredible part of the whole thing is that she pulled it off. She ended the story for all the characters in ways that made us feel, hope, sadness, justice, loss. Exactly what a good ending ought to do. She is an incredible writer. Since I read the chapter entitled The Forest Again from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I have wanted there to be a song for Harry’s lament as he walks through the woods toward his own death. I waited for someone else to write the song. StarKid put on three hilarious Harry Potter musicals, but when they reached the part where this song should have been they skipped it. Harry walked to Voldemort in silence. How could there not be a song for the emotional crux of this story? When I decided to start this show, I wanted my season finale to be the Harry Potter song. The Forest Again. I tried 5 times to write this song and the words just couldn’t come out right. Thanks to all my practice in doing this show, and developing a method for song writing through writing 19 original songs, I finally was able to unlock this part of my brain and write a song that I think would make J.K. proud. If you know how to get in touch with her, please let her know that I am the best candidate for writing the official Harry Potter musical! I will write those songs so faithfully, and if we get Mallory Rubin in to write the script, even better.Thank you for sticking with me through the last 19 episodes. Please stay subscribed as I will be releasing monthly episodes until I get the budget in place to do a full second season. I trust anyone who has gone back and listened to the whole catalogue knows that this show will just continue improving in quality, I love doing this, I love writing songs, and I’m so happy that you’ve invited me into your routines. So, to end my season one I am doing a super indulgent Harry Heavy episode. I’m going to say goodbye to all you non Potterheads now and play the song that I’ve been dying to hear since Deathly Hallows came out, and anyone who wants to stick around, I’ll be reading the entire chapter The Forest Again after the song whose music was produced by Caspar Simonsen (find his YouTube channel here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2si9WZ6HUqUyS3MwtqSO0A), and sung by Dakota Morgan an actor and singer from Juneau, Alaska. Rate, review, subscribe.

In all the best stories, characters grow and evolve. You will do the same.Stories give meaning to otherwise meaningless series of events. A racist murdering a family is a horrible senseless act, but if you package it up with magic and boarding school, it becomes a story that captivates millions of people.You write the story of your own life, and you can change the narrative as often as you want. You're not stuck in one place just because that's the story you tell yourself. Rewrite it as much as you want. Lyrics and the rest by Alique

What are you risking when you put things off? This podcast ends every episode with an original song based on the day's topic.This episode has an upbeat folky song about procrastinating big life events! Catchy, right?!Music by: Rob KennedyThe Rest by AliqueFollow the show on Instagram @aliquepresentspodcastmusicalEmail the show [email protected]

Having a harmonious relatipnship starts with you. You have to know what you want, what you like, and be willing to stand for your standards.This week's episode we had an amazing performance by Crouton CannonFind them by searching Crouton Cannon on Instagram or YouTubeTheir YouTube channel has lots of great videos, songs, and interviews.Follow the show on Instagram @aliquepresentspodcastmusicalEmail [email protected] for more great content, every episode ends with original songs!

If there’s anything millennials love doing more than eating avocado on toast, it’s canceling. In days gone by canceling meant telling your friend in advance by calling them to tell them why it was you wouldn’t make it to whatever it is you were doing. And if they weren’t home to answer the landline, you’d know that not going meant standing up your friend so you’d force yourself to go.Music by Oleksandr LevchukVocals by Danielle Wright Follow on Instagram @nymeriasongThe rest by AliqueFollow the show @aliquepresentspodcastmusical on Instagram or email [email protected] was probably less likely you’d cancel anyway because you were bored at home with nothing but Simpsons reruns and the new episode of Friends and Survivor wasn’t released tonight anyway. So you’d go out. Now we have all the entertainment in the world available at home, home is where the chips are, the pants with the comfy elastic band, the beautiful comfy sofa. Why would I leave all that to go catch up with a friend who posts 25 times a day on instagram? I already know what they’ve been up to. Or go to a party where there’s people I don’t know and they’ll all be talking about things I know nothing about. Sports. Computer programming. A tv show I’ve never watched. Ugh, it’s snowing out, so if I want to go out I have to shovel the driveway, de-ice my car, wear winter clothes that are warm enough for the -15C weather and somehow look effortlessly cute. It’s easier just to post a selfie in my slippers with my cat on my lap. And I’ll probably have just as much fun.Fun. That’s something other people struggle with, fear of missing out. I don’t have that fear. I have a fear of being included. But I’m not always on the giving end of excuses. I’m just as often on the receiving end. I wanted to go to a musical with a friend that played every Saturday for a couple months. I said “let me know which Saturday you are free, and I’ll buy the tickets.” She replied “okay I’ll check my Saturdays and let you know”. That was 17 months ago.My dad said he wanted to maintain an email relationship with his brother, but his brother explained that it couldn’t work because he has unreliable internet. My dad rather obviously pointed out that emails didn’t need to be replied to straight away and that his brother could simply save the draft and send whenever the internet was better. The brother floundered and came up with another excuse. This dude lives in England, it’s not exactly the far North of Quebec where there is no phone or internet.My friend wanted to go to Cuba but felt awkward asking her boss for a week off, so she just called in sick five days in a row while hung over in her hotel room 50 meters from a sandy beach.I use the excuse that I’m happy being the size and shape I am in order to not have to work out or eat less. As long as I avoid looking at mirrors and only wear baggy clothes I can fairly well convince myself of this reality.Texting is so impersonal and you don’t even need to try that hard. We’ve all done the last minute bail in order to stay home, and we all recognize the text. When technology was still new we put in a bit more effort. But now, we all recognize the thinly veiled excuses. We don’t need to insult the intelligence of our friends by lying. “Sorry, I can’t make it tonight” is all that’s required and then it’s season 4 of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend for the rest of the night.

This episode starts with a list of funny episode topics that did not make it into season one, followed by a serious chat about abusive relationships. This episode ends with an original song "Just Leave" which was originally released in a previous episode about choices. Alique's been dying to re-record it since her skills have improved. It turns out this singing stuff is hard! Subscribed for more episodes every Monday, tell a friend!Music this episode still by Luciano AndresThe Rest by Alique

This episode talks about the ups and downs of that most sexy topic; Motivation.Music By Mustafa Mohamed Vocals by Hadiyyah Noelle Smith (follow on Instagram @hadiyyahnoelle)The rest by AliqueIt may not come as a surprise to the discerning podcast listener that I am a fan of self help and motivational work. I even wrote a short Motivational ebook myself. The fact is that even people born with lots of privilege have trouble getting off their ass.Some people can find meaning and satisfaction from their jobs, and I certainly have done, but the messaging we get from childhood is “what do you want to be when you grow up?” from age 4 or earlier. We’re so afraid that chasing something that feels good right now will somehow sabotage our future. The only things worth doing are those that will walk us closer to a fulfilling career. We only have one life but societal pressures like conforming, and paying bills keeps us from living the way that’ll make us happy today. I can hear pessimists saying people are lazy and won’t want to work if they aren’t obligated, and to them I’d say look at the number of podcasts, youtube channels, painters, campers, football teams, gyms, and the million other activities people do with their free time. People work full time AND find time to work in their time off, biking, exercising, creating art, creating entertainment, raising children, and have you met a single millenial lately who doesn’t have a sidehustle under their belt despite having a job? We’re intelligent animals who enjoy having our brains challenged. If we were inherently lazy hobbies wouldn’t exist!I’ve been accused of a lot in my life, and one of the main things has been my tendency to settle. My boyfriend often tells me I settle for too little for myself. I don’t see why I should amass more wealth and possessions than I need when we should all be sharing our resources (I also wrote an ebook on minimalism where I discuss this in greater detail). I once dated a guy who called me mediocre. It was an amazing gift, I felt like I had been released from this pressure that I didn`t even know was on my shoulders. I was used to being called intelligent and accused of “having lots of potential”. I hated that potential because it meant people expected me to do something with my life. What if I just want to garden, have a house, and work when I feel like it doing jobs I like that don’t necessarily have an impressive job title? Is it so wrong that my idea of a good life is sitting with a cup of tea and my faithful cat by my side? Obviously I did not continue to date the guy who called me mediocre, but he released me from something with that insult and I’ve felt much more sure and confident in my choices ever since. I’m mediocre. It’s like he gave me permission to be what I wanted to be with that word. I don’t have to be the best, I don’t have to work my ass off to be rich, I don’t have to bend over backwards to impress people. I’m mediocre. People won’t expect great things from me if I’m mediocre. Mediocre is now my badge, my shield. Yeah, my job doesn’t pay six figures but I’m mediocre and I’m happy living a mediocre life. Being mediocre has given me so much freedom. I’m applying for jobs I will like, rather than jobs with nice titles. And I’m still living a bad-ass life in my own eyes, even if it won’t impress anyone else. I have what I need to be happy and I live my life on my terms and I’m not chained to anything that doesn’t bring me joy. Sure, I could be an astronaut.But I lack the motivationI could be Steve JobsBut I lack the motivationI could be Jennifer Lawrence. But I lack the motivation.