Here is a contributing writer to my blog. Francis Lee Carlson, an employee at my restaurant has a very big imagination and decided to create a fictionalized cartoon version of myself. After I read it, I thought it would be okay to honor his request to keep this post on my blog. If anyone wants to write an article on my blog, feel free to contact me. 

Remember, these are Francis’ words and not mine. I hope you enjoy the next 192 words of pure gloriousness. 

Hey, have you guys ever jump onto zoo tycoon and realize what a train wreck your life has become? That was my last night when I came back from my last day at my family’s wine bar. We were all set up to have a huge night. But alas and alack, nobody showed up. Just kidding, it was crazy AF. I proceeded to shout “closing time” at the top of my lungs as I zoomed in my full sized Hylander going 95 down 35W. After I got out of my car, I pounded seven four locos, and my best friend Seamoan went out for some late troll hunting. We hit up some badminton on the quad after waking up from yet another mushroom pass out. The next part is hazy but I’m almost positive that I met up with a Flash Gordon knockoff and the two hottest of the Berstein Bears and went on an absolute grind collecting all the overdue change from the Uptown parking meters. The moral of the story is, love yourself. Be the best David Zosel you can be. Be on the lookout for King’s Part 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Remember, I know everything.

-Francis Lee Carlson.

What beautiful words. I am still trying to process this fictionalized version of myself and it seems a lot more crazy than my life actually is. But, I am a writer which means my life is crazier than yours. If you would like to post a short article about a fictionalized version of me, feel free to contact me. 

This may be the first of many articles written about my family’s restaurant, Kings Wine Bar. It may be the last as well, as I am pouring my heart out before I have to leave my house for my third to last shift at Kings. The news struck town on Tuesday on social media that my family sold our restaurant a few days ago to an outside corporate buyer. With our final day approaching very soon this Saturday (3/24/18). I just wanted to tell a quick anecdote about this crazy little thing called owning a family restaurant.

 

 

 

When my Father moved me out to Los Angeles to attend film school, we visited my second cousin who owned a chain of pizza restaurants in Pasadena. She told us about the business and offered to franchise the company out in Minneapolis. As business goes, things fell through. My Mother suddenly was all in for owning a restaurant. The concept still remained to own a pizza restaurant.

Despite that my dream didn’t come true of becoming a filmmaker, the silver lining was that my Mother’s dream was going to come true.

After hunting for spaces, investors, and talking to many consultants we found a charming little neighborhood spot called Kings Wine Bar. My parents knew it had a lot of potential in the historic neighborhood of Kingfield in South Minneapolis.

It happened so fast. I was stunned. My family and I had no previous experience in the industry. It was crazy bloody bedlam from purchasing a restaurant, then having to bartend during the first two weeks of my parents buying Kings with zero experience being a bartender before. But, all we had was a remarkable Mother with a dream to share her food with the entire world, and we wanted to support and protect her dream.

My family was in a whirlwind, and so was the Kingfield neighborhood. The possibilities were endless. We had a restaurant in South Minneapolis, it was badass, romantic, and life was all but a dream. As I have written before on my blog, achieving your dreams are amazing but living them out is the greatest challenge. My parents had many plans for the restaurant and they executed it very effectively. They became the first Pan-Asian wine bar in South Minneapolis, or maybe in the Twin Cities. The first thing that we did was that we rolled out what Jim Walsh proclaimed as “The Best Pho in Town”.

I am proud that we sold thousands upon thousands of bowls of pho and over 400,000 thousand egg roll’s in the last three years, my Mother’s specialties.

My family pioneered many new precedents. Of the many, the most notable to mention the great events that have never been done before such as “Pho/Streetfood/Asian Tacos Your Way.” We consistently had the musicians Billy Johnson and El Vikingo perform at our restaurant. We created “Souper Bowl” week to celebrate the Super Bowl with new soups that we put on special.

The last thing that we will set a precedent for is to come out with a craft sake bomb entitled, “The Minnesota Sake Bomb”. Mixologist Ryan Martinez-Garcia developed this craft cocktail to celebrate our final weekend. He is a known craft cocktail artist that I consulted with for Kings to become the first craft sake cocktail bar in South Minneapolis. But, due to the abrupt selling of Kings, this pioneering vision of mine will be held to a halt. But, that will not stop me from selling his amazing sake bomb which will consist or Loon Juice Cider, and a bay leaf spiced infused sake shot that will be dropped and pounded by our loving customers. It will be unforgettable.

 

 

We have created many new precedents in this industry but I am the proudest of one thing. My Father and I created an unofficial program of hiring all student’s from Washburn Highschool to learn the ins and outs of the business. Together we created a system of training and development that cross-trained these kids how to perform tasks from everything as wait assisting, dishwashing, prep cook, cold side cook, and hot side cook. The next phase of this program that we had was to teach all of them to become servers when they turned 18 years old. I am devastated that this did not happen as we only have two 18-year-olds on staff. But, I was able to train one of these remarkable kids on how to do barbacking duties.

 

 

With that, all of the 15 kids who work for us are now able to get a job at any restaurant as they leave for college next year due to this amazing experience. I think that is pretty incredible that we were able to do that.

 

 

Never will they be able to have an experience of going to work with all of their best friends from school, having a blast at work, and doing incredibly crucial duties to make a business run. They will never have a boss that will be as cool as I am as well. Let’s not forget about that.

 

 

I will miss my staff the most. As the assistant general manager, they weren’t even my employees, they were a part of my family. Along with my family, I now have three older sisters, two uncles, nine little brothers, and one baby sister named Annie.

I’ve enjoyed every second of attempting to be a good role model for all of our Washburn kids. I will miss them the most. These are kids who had the responsibility for their education, extra-curricular activities with sports and musicals, their co-curricular activities at Kings, and their own individual passionate pursuits in life. When I was their age, all I did was play hockey and that was my focus. This gave me a great life-changing perspective now as I look back at my youth.

They came to work every day with crucial responsibilities that ran a multi-million dollar establishment, and they stepped up to the challenge every single day.

I am so proud of my family and what we have been able to give to the past kids and especially the current ten of them, “The Badboys and the Supergirl” of Kings Wine Bar.

The list goes on and on towards all of the things that we did differently for a restaurant, and for all of the amazing events that we did. But, the best part was that I got to see my entire family on a daily basis. Not many adults get to have that.

I am going to miss seeing my Mom every day, and I’d never thought I was going to say that again. The last time I said that was on my first day of pre-school as she left for work. But, what I can’t handle is how much everyone loved my Mom and how they sacrificed their sweat, blood, and tears for her. Every time I think about that it brings me to tears. Especially the Washburn kids, they loved my Mom like she was their own mother. It wasn’t a job to them, it was and always will be their family.

I will never have a greater honor or achievement in my life than to have worked for my family and to support my Mother’s dream.

It has been an honor for my family and me to have provided a wonderful place to have a great experience in the Kingfield neighborhood.

Kings Wine Bar was not only my Family’s restaurant, it was a restaurant that was disguised as our living room. Thank you to everyone who came to hang out with my family and eat our food in my living room.

 

 

In the big picture, I am so proud of my Mother, and I am so set at ease that she will not be working 100 hours a week anymore, which included many hours of her corporate job at Medtronic. I can finally start to not worry about her health. Every night after work I would walk her to her car and kiss her goodbye and say a little prayer to God that she wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel.

We never “called it quits”, this was all about her health and for her to relax for the first time in three and a half years, which is the reason why we sold it.

We never quit, because all of us will move on and pursue other passions and dreams with the positive preserving perspective that Kings Wine Bar stowed upon us. 

As I raise this imaginary glass of Trapiche Broquel Malbec, here is to all of you. To my new friends and family. You all made this wild rollercoaster of a ride for my Mother, a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam, with a dream of sharing food to Kingfield one of the greatest experiences of her life.

From the Kings family to yours, we love all of you so much.

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

 

 

Depression is a waste of time. It is just a period where we feel hopeless and sorry for ourselves. This is how I find justice when I am depressed. These are a few things that I do in order to bounce back and defeat depression.

Defeating depression is like playing in an NHL or NBA playoff series. But, only in the championship form. Here are very effective techniques, which I discovered are best used to neutralize depression in a week or two.

One week is a seven-day playoff series. If you win four days (games) that means you win the week. In a perfect world you would win on Monday through Thursday in a 4-0 sweep. But, all you need to is win 4 out of 7 days a week. How easy is that?

The key is to “win the day”.

This concept should help you get out of depression immediately. Seriously, do it. You can’t sit inside and feel sorry for yourself.

Get out and face the storm!

First, I want you to do something different this week. If it is successful, then keep doing it. If it isn’t, well then stop that shit. Depression is a state of grey monotony, and if you live life without color, then things will only get worse. Add color to your life by doing new things.

Next, we should all count all of our small win’s and build off of the momentum of winning. For instance, washing your hands, and making your bed. Brushing your teeth is always a huge victory for me before I go to bed. This is because it is the best way to cap off your day and solidify the victory.

Build on the success of your small victories to set yourself up to “win the day”.

Third, do one damn thing at a time! Seriously, stop trying to be Superman. It is okay to be Clark Kent every now and then. Did you know how Clark Kent was a famous and successful journalist because he did one thing at a time and was thorough about it? Depression is a gift due to its ability to harness being thorough.

Fourth of all, treat yourself. But don’t use this card very often as it will create an addiction to depression. When I was severely heartbroken, I bought myself a pair of Air Jordan’s then suddenly, I got over it. But, it still took me a full week.

People feel sorry for themselves and buy things. This creates an addiction to purchasing many unnecessary goods. Only treat yourself once in a blue moon. Use this card wisely.

Next, number five, we will proceed on to the physical activity method. Do I need to explain why exercise is good for you? Do something active two to three times a week when you’re depression kicks in. If you don’t like going to the gym then join a softball league or something along those lines. It will give you something to look forward to once or twice a week.

Six. Well, I need you to take this one seriously. Be goofy. If you’re scared to do that then jump up and down on your bed so no one will see you. Don’t they say, “Dance like nobody is watching”, or something like that? Seriously, I need you to be goofy for me.

Number seven, drink a lot of water. I cannot emphasize this enough! We are made of water, if we are dehydrated then we will always feel like a cactus; dried up.

Buy a water bottle with a bright color, and always have it filled at all times. Whenever you see your water bottle please make sure that you take a sip out of it.

Moving forward to number eight, when you are depressed, make sure you close whatever chapter that you are going through and move on. This is because you have written one chapter. Can you go and rewrite your past? No, so move on.

Being depressed is a waste of time, yet we all have it. We all do it. I’m not perfect. Hell, I was depressed last week. Now, I am happy because I told meadowlarks that I am not depressed.

You gotta tell the birds off.

Number nine, number nine. Create a strategic winning routine to propel yourself to a successful happier day.

Last, do your duty. If you can wake up, do the small things, and stick to your winning routine then you can beat depression fairly quick. If you do your duty of taking care of your responsibilities then you will feel better. This requires major mental toughness and will. So, if you are depressed and it keeps you from going to school, work, or to an engagement then that is no excuse. Do your duty.

These things are ways that I beat depression in two weeks or less. Sometimes it will beat it in a day.

Don’t be depressed. Life is short. It is really just a waste of time.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

He is the poster boy for Bipolar Disorder, a severe mental illness that affects 5.7 million of Americans. Kurt Cobain, one of music’s all-time greats, may have defined this mental illness and at the same time may have given it the worst stigma possible. Bipolar disorder is a scary thing. A fine example of this is the life and career of Kurt Cobain.

We all know about Kurt Cobain and his crazy life and tragic death. But, I wanted to highlight the fact that his success could be attributed to his Bipolar disorder because it is a gifted curse. Yes, it is terrible but it is amazing at the same time. Without knowing that he was diagnosed for a long time, he was tortured by demons in his head. It would ease his pain by creating all types of mediums of art, not just music. By doing so, this would channel those demons. Bipolar disorder was never an excuse for him to pursue his dreams of playing music. He took his oblivious mental illness and serendipitously used it to his advantage, becoming one of music’s biggest icons.

Kurt addresses his Bipolar disorder and usage of the drug Lithium in his song entitled, “Lithium”. This song is all about the process of having a mental breakdown and what it is like to have and be treated for bipolar disorder. I don’t want to interpret the entire song is but, here are three major points that highlight this mental illness.

When on Lithium, it puts you in a state of mind that is altered away from your chemical imbalance. It will shift your mood in order to balance it out. “I’m so happy because today I found my friends. There in my head…”, is the opening line of the song which means that he feels fine because he is not okay while he is not on the drug because he feels unsafe and crazy without his friend, medication. When he is not on the drug, demons fill his head, but while medicated, his friends fill his head.

Being bipolar is rough right out of the gate, but after you’ve been put on Lithium specifically, nothing seems to matter at all. It makes you feel content. Not too high or low, and that is what Lithium hazily does. That is the flipside of that coin. Every day will suddenly feel the same due to the power of this drug. Before taking Lithium, every day for a bipolar person feels the same, but you feel like a different person. This is a major theme for people with bipolar disorder. The line, “Sunday morning is every day for all I care…”, reflects well on this statement because while on the drug, every day feels the same, and you will feel the same every day, like a happy-go-lucky zombie.

This is a major reason why this drug and prescription medications are feared with also having a bad stigma.

Along with his other best songs, his lyrics can be interpreted in many different ways. The song is all about the flashes of emotions that Kurt has to deal with. We all can relate to this to some certain extent. Even without the lyrics, you can feel the music shifting between two states of mind, which is symbolic of this gifted curse.

With the bridge of the song, he talks about not cracking or breaking down, and he then proceeds to splurge on an array of emotional changes that he deals with without the drug. He flashes all of his emotions that torture him; like, miss, love, kill.

People with bipolar disorder generally do very cool things, having very inspiring professions. With that, if channeled correctly, victims can find success in life because a major cure for this disease is to use it to your advantage through pursuing what you are passionate about. Yes, it is that torturing and the only way to make life a little more bearable, for anyone, is to pursue your passion.

Kurt Cobain is one of many people in the world who has a mental illness which is a common thing amongst many. If we could learn anything from him, is that it is possible to channel your inner demon to become your best possible self.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

There he is, Mr. Sunshine, here to melt all of our Minnesota winter blues all away. Be careful though, because you may slip on the icy sidewalks of Minneapolis’ slippery spring, due to all of Old Man Winter’s snow that is melting away. Yes, it is March and the birds are singing and ringing in. This is the opening act of spring, a time where our aura begins to change.

 

 

The season of new life has a pattern of changing the Minnesotan culture every year at around this time. People are smiling more, spending more time outside, and overall we are in a better mood because of the excitement that was contained during the long cold crisp winter. Primitively speaking, this is due to the changes in nature that inspire hope, happiness, and the positive changes that spring brings.

Beside the point, as the weather gets warmer, we go crazier.

Yes, that is right. Crime rates are going to go up, clearance sales are beginning at malls, rose (wine) sales are beginning to take off, and baseball season is right around the corner. As we transition to the summer, many of us will be hitting the gym more diligently to achieve that nice beach body physique for the summer. This is so that us millennials can be confident about non-narcissistically posting all of our partying pictures on Instagram of us acting like we live the T-Pain and Kanye West, “Good Life”, on Lake Minnetonka from our parent’s boats.

Yes, we have survived the dark stumbling months of winter from October till now. It is time to party, and fiesta season starts on St. Patrick’s day and the holidays will ensue until Labor Day, the day where the summertime partying mania will end for us Minnesotans.

Be careful, slow down, because it will all end in a blink of an eye, and then we will begin to burrow our way back to winter. Girls will be breaking out their sundresses that have been hanging in their closets for the past nine months, and all the boys can finally wear bro-tanks, snapbacks, Ray-bans and all of that basic jazz. The beer will be cold, the summertime bars will open their rooftops and windows, and last we will all be wound up into our idiosyncratic summertime romances.

What we look forward to with summer around the corner is unfolding like a Shakespearian opening act, spring. With that, there comes tragedy, such as days that devastate us with snowstorms in March and April that deflates all of our hope for the new season. But, there will be many more days that inspire hope, with glorious sunshine, and furious lust that the sun will thresh upon us that will lead into the climax of the summertime mania that Minnesota is stumbling into.

On this snowy day, let us step outside and not be afraid, power through this storm and go down to your local pub, raise our glasses to the opening act of spring. Straighten our backs and break the ole winter barricades, and celebrate our spring with a Minnesotan parade.

Let’s stay inspired on this snowy day because it will all go away. So, remember that it is the opening act of spring because the birds are ringing in.

Welcome, springtime. It is about time you showed up and opened the act for the main headliner, called “Summertime Mania”.

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon

Many rock stars, celebrities, and significant influential people of whom despite their successes are severely tortured by the swaying array of emotions of mental health. Not many people know that over 450 million people suffer from these chemical imbalances in their brain. One very notable musician, Bruce Springsteen, suffers majorly from depression.

Like many musicians, Bruce majorly struggled before he became “The Boss”. For entrepreneurs, artists, and strong individuals who try to pave their own path individually, there comes major highs and lows. So, imagine for a second that you can feel the lowest of hopelessness. Then, suddenly when something good or promising happens to you that you feel like you are going to take over the world, becoming one of the greatest touring acts of all time. The Boss is 68 years old and he uses his greatest struggle of depression to his advantage, being able to channel it to become his greatest power.

But this is never an easy task for anyone, even for The Boss.

Growing up, his father struggled with severe alcoholism and it created a major impact on his life. There it is, he is more relatable than what is on his exterior, and many people realize that. This is why with his ability to use his adversity with his father and his depressive weakness, he has overcome to use it as a superhuman ability to be able to touch audiences from all over the world.

A great example of him being able to connect with people are the songs, “Thunder Road”, and the follow-up song, “The Promise”, which was basically his part II. Thunder Road is about taking chances with relationships, individuality, changes, and life itself. It’s about running away and being free, happiness, love, and joy. This song is about being a dreamer, which we all can relate to.

Then his come down happens due to his experiences with depression and how he had to deal with adversity in his life. “The Promise” is all about facing your dreams becoming a reality or for them to fall apart. The let down from your dreams hits Bruce hard in the gut, that spirals his depressive episodes. This is why he is so relatable to many people. “The Promise” teaches us that we need to be dreamers in order to come to face with reality and that depression is a good thing because when we as humans face the excitement of experiences that he talks about in “Thunder Road”, we can learn to appreciate them even more so.

Sure, he is a big rock star, and it seems like all of his dreams have come true. But, this lesson of this two-part song that touches on the issues of mania and depression teaches us a lot about false and true realities which make him admired by many. Bruce is the epitome of a person whose dreams have come true, but he teaches us that as much as he wanted that to happen, he realizes the reality of it wasn’t as easy and glorifying as it seemed to be.

This is why he has been able to overcome his struggles of depression and prolonging his dreams by turning it into one of his greatest strengths.

Mental health is not a disease if you let it be. He was presented with this adversity, and he used it to his advantage and that is why he is the icon that he is today.

With the subject of mental health, I wrote a book called “Gray Poopon”. If you would like to purchase a copy of my mental health (bipolar) memoir on Amazon, here is the link to get your paperback copy.

Also, if you prefer the Kindle version, here is the link to purchase your ebook. 

 

 

 

Remember,

“The Zos Knows”

-David Zosel 

If you want to support my writing and for me to be able to create more content you can make a donation to either of these links:

Venmo or Patreon