Author Archives: A1A

The blue light from your phone is basically digital cocaine. It tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime, blocking melatonin production and keeping you wired when you should be knocked out. This artificial daylight confuses your body’s natural rhythm, making it physically impossible to wind down naturally. Your circadian clock gets completely thrown off, leaving you staring at the ceiling at 2 AM despite being exhausted. It’s like your phone is holding your sleep hostage—the blue wavelengths literally suppress the hormones that should be helping you to drift off, while simultaneously increasing alertness signals in your brain.

Enter Red Light:

Red light, on the other hand, is your friend. It doesn’t disrupt your sleep cycle or mess with your brain chemistry. Unlike blue light, which suppresses melatonin, red light has little to no impact on melatonin levels, meaning your body can still prepare for sleep as it should. Studies have shown that red wavelengths can even help promote relaxation and improve sleep quality, making it the perfect way to signal to your brain that it’s time to wind down.

Red Shift mode changes your screen from that harsh blue light to a red tone that doesn’t mess with your brain chemistry. It’s literally the difference between your phone screaming “WAKE UP BITCH” and whispering “shhh, it’s bedtime soon.”

When to enable Red Shift Mode:

The best time to turn on red shift mode is about 30 minutes to an hour before bed. This gives your body time to adjust, helping you naturally wind down and prepare for sleep.

If you’d like to actually fall asleep before midnight like some kind of functional adult, do this rn.

How to enable Red Shift Mode

Step 1: Select Settings > Accessibility > Display and Text Size > Color Filters.

Step 2: Turn Color Filters on.

Step 3: Select Color Tint, and tap the red crayon. Increase Intensity and Hue all the way.

How to Enable the 3-Click Accessibility Shortcut for Quick Access:

Step 1: Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut

Step 2: Select Color Filters

Step 3: Press Button on Right side of iPhone 3 times & enjoy!

thank you XX

LIZZY

Night in the everglades by JOEY DEAN

I’m sitting in my tent with two owls howling away in the tree directly above me.

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Today I found out I will probably be losing my job in 2 months. Jobs and I just don’t get along. When I left work at 11, I found myself craving that feeling I get when I’m out in the middle of nowhere, on a big adventure. Instead of sitting in pity about this job, I packed my gear and got in my truck, headed for the everglades. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a monk. I was angry as hell this morning when I first heard the news, but when I got through that initial wave of anger and took a second to zoom out, I remembered that 6 months ago I didn’t even know this job existed so is it really the end of my world?

Driving the 3 hours it takes to get there, I felt myself going back and forth on whether I should even be going. Im exhausted. I have to work monday. I didnt prepare enough. All these excuses were swirling around until I threw on some King Gizzard and turned on cruise control. I was spending the night in the everglades for the first time in my life, and nothing else mattered.

If you’ve never driven on US 41 across the Everglades, it’s pretty surreal. You don’t see so much other than mangrove islands among the river of grass at first, but its vastness really trips you out. It’s just miles upon miles of endless land that will remain undeveloped with a 2 lane highway cutting through. So special. Halfway to Miami, things start to shift when you pass the Welcome to Big Cypress National Preserve sign. Suddenly I’m in an entirely different world, the most beautiful swamp I’ve ever seen.

I had to open my windows the urge to just smell those cypress trees was taking over. The swamp may give you an impression of smelly, spooky, where monsters live. It couldn’t be further from the truth. The level of beauty was just indescribable. Suddenly all those worries from earlier faded and not because I was playing music over them.

As I got closer still to my destination, Mitchell Landing campground (just totally nuts how it looks on the map), I began driving past numerous signs that read “Indian Village” followed by fences that contained houses and huts with thatched roofs. I couldn’t help but wonder what its like on the other side of that fence. But as I passed them, I realized that if I were an Indigenous American whose entire ancestry suffered such egregious crimes, I would probably want my privacy too.

The moment I pulled into the campground, I just knew I had made the right choice in coming. Cypress trees lined the gravel road that led to the site, and I was met with a quirky couple of camp caretakers that brought the true positive light to the term “Florida Man”. Right as I stepped out of my truck, I began to hear the call of the barred owl. Quite the foreshadowing of how my trip would go.

Going to sleep outside brings me a sense of peace that washes over my body like taking a dip into a stream of serenity. I feel my heart rate slowing and get a warm dose of goosebumps that reminds of my mushroom days. The owls seemed to have moved on for the night and I’m gonna call it.

How lucky am I. The owls chose the tree right above my tent to serenade the campground and remind us that we are visitors to their home. Below are some shots I got the following morning before truckin’ back home.

Catch me over on Instagram if you’d like to see more photos from my adventures – Joey

AKA B3 is Oriana’s Bootcamp, it’s a burnout class, a middle ground between HIIT and Pilates

How we got here

Ive had an active lifestyle for most of my life, starting soccer at 4 years old and playing through college. After graduation, no longer having a coach planning my training for me made me realize I had to come up with my own way to stay fit the way I was always used to, but that wouldn’t get boring.

I started by going to gyms, not having a single clue what I was doing, just watching and learning from anyone who inspired me, and eventually learning my way around weights and machines. Then came yoga and pilates, which taught me the importance of having core body strength.

Over the years i’ve taken bits and pieces from everything I have learned along the way. Endurance from many years of intense pre-season soccer conditioning (if you know, you know), strength from my love for weights, and balance and control from yoga/pilates. Now 7 years down the line, I get to create workouts that blend the elements I love most from all these practices to help others find their strength too.

Breaking down the bootcamp

My goal with B3 is to combine the intensity of HIIT classes with the core-strengthening benefits of pilates, using mainly body weight.

The class is broken down into 4 parts:

1. A high intensity warm up
2. Upper and lower body toning exercises
3. Abs/core training
4. Cool down and stretch

I love dancing and having fun while I workout, so you’ll definitely hear some switch ups. From old-school reggaeton to jersey mixes and everything in between. My friends clown me for still blasting songs from 2003 like they dropped yesterday, but I stand by my playlist :)!

30% Exercise, 70% Diet

You cant out-train a bad diet. Nutrition plays a huge role in your performance and recovery, so I always make sure to fuel up before class.

Simple carbs like fruit and toast give you energy, and protein in foods like greek yogurt and eggs help with muscle repair.

These are some of my go-to snacks you can have 30-60min before my B3 class:

• Plain non-fat greek yogurt with chia pudding and berries
• Rice cake with almond butter and blueberries
• Ezekiel toast with boiled eggs and cottage cheese

Nothing makes me happier than creating a space where my community can have fun, move their bodies, and look and feel better than ever.

Follow me on instagram to stay updated on future classes and events. Hope to see you at the next B3!

@ori.barbellbunny

Thank You !

South of 5th Street convo

In Stranger Than Paradise, there’s a shot in front of the “Welcome to Florida” sign. What does that have to do with anything? Well, when they’re in New York, just knocking around, living a kind of meaningless existence, they get into trouble at a gambling spot and feel like they have to leave town.

Or at least, one of them says they gotta leave town because of that. But the other wants to go see his cousin—Eszter Balint’s character, who I think plays a version of herself—since she had stayed with him before. So they head to Cleveland.

But life there isn’t much different. If anything, it’s even more bleak—buried in snow, not much happening. At some point, they get the idea to go to Florida, as if things will really be popping off there. But when they finally get down to Florida, they just end up in some drab, nowhere motel. It looks just as dull as everywhere else they’ve been. It’s kind of a joke on that idea—”wherever you go, there you are.”

That scene when they first arrive is great. John Lurie’s character goes to check into the motel, and when he comes back, he’s wearing some cool sunglasses. He gives a pair to his cousin, Eszter, and Richard Edson’s character watches them both, clearly thinking, Oh, that’s cool—but also obviously wishing he had a pair too, in this almost childish way. Then John Lurie, who had a stash of them, casually hands him a pair. Of course, he was going to give him one. But you can see how much Edson’s character wants that approval—like, the eagerness in how he puts them on.

The film features an original soundtrack written by John Lurie, who also stars in the film. It is performed by The Paradise Quartet, consisting of Jill B. Jaffe (viola), Mary L. Rowell (violin), Kay Stern (violin), and Eugene Moye (cello). The recording engineer was Ollie Cotton.

Thank YOU

How to Get Your PADI Certification: My Journey to Shark Diving

Why I Decided to Get PADI Certified

“I discovered that Jupiter, Florida, offers an incredible opportunity to dive with seven different types of sharks. The catch? Emerald Charters requires divers to have an Advanced Open Water certification and at least 50 dives of experience. That became my motivation—I wanted to swim with sharks, and getting my PADI certification was the first step to making it happen.”

My Certification Journey

Over spring break, I traveled to Santa Marta, Colombia, to visit my friend David. It turned out to be the perfect opportunity to get certified, so I signed up for my Open Water course at Poseidon Dive Center.

My certification process included:

1. Completing the PADI online course and tests before my trip

2. Three days at Poseidon Dive Center that included:

– Classroom instruction time

– Pool sessions to practice basic skills

– Ocean dives for final testing and certification

How You Can Get Your PADI Certification

If you’re in Miami like me, here are your best options:

Option 1: Go to Santa Marta, Colombia – fun get away with beautiful diving.

Fly Cartagena 2 hour drive from Santa Marta. A true Colombian Gem.

poseidondivecenter.com/…

Option 2: Florida Keys Weekend Trip

– Drive down to the Keys for a weekend

– Complete your certification over 2-3 days

– Enjoy crystal-clear waters for your training dives and beautiful corals

Option 3: Tarpon Lagoon

– Stay local in South Beach with people who have been in the business for more than 70 years.

– tarpoonlagoon.com

– Complete the online course portion at home

– Schedule your in-person training days (Jason Sims can teach you if you are lucky!

Step-by-Step PADI Certification Process

1. Sign up on padi.com and register for the Open Water Diver course

2. Complete the online learning modules and tests (do this before your in-person training)

3. Schedule your in-person training at your chosen dive center

4. Complete pool training to learn essential diving skills

5. Perform your open water checkout dives to demonstrate your skills

6. Receive your certification and start logging dives!

Remember, if your goal is shark diving like mine, you’ll need to:

– Get your Open Water certification first

– Continue diving to build experience

– Earn your Advanced Open Water certification

– Log at least 50 dives before those Jupiter shark dives

Getting PADI certified opened up an amazing underwater world for me, and the path from my certification in Santa Marta to shark diving in Jupiter has been an incredible journey. Follow these steps, and you’ll be on your way to underwater adventures too!

thank you

by Juliana Velez

Florida’s nature is more than just white sand beaches.

Swallow-Tailed Kites travel thousands of miles from South America to nesting grounds here in Florida

Growing up, I spent most of my outdoors time at the beach or paddling in the mangroves and intracoastal waterways of Little Sarasota bay. Mostly because of accessibility, my perception of Florida was limited to the belief that the best parts of it were on the coastline. After 5 years living outside the state, I returned home with a newfound passion for wildlife photography and a desire to explore places that were off the radar to me growing up.

Florida’s wild lands extend in every direction of the state, and are filled with a seemingly endless multitude of landscapes. From the ancient sandhill ridges in the center of the state to the strand swamp forests in the everglades, there is little truth in Florida being only beaches.

Fueled with a desire to not take my home state’s wilderness for granted, I have spent a significant portion of my time exploring the state, traveling hundreds of miles to take day trips on the Lake Wales Ridge, facing the wild bison of Paynes Prairie, venturing through the Fakahatchee Strand swamp, and paddling beneath cypress trees on creeks I never knew existed.

As much awe and excitement as I feel on my trips out to the countless ‘middle of nowheres’, I also am hit with the sense that what I’m seeing likely won’t be there in the future. Florida’s wilderness faces a ceaseless onslaught of development and the only way that things will change is with a grassroots effort that starts with myself and all of us as individuals joining together.

It’s my hope that in sharing my photos and stories of time in the wilderness that we can all recognize the privilege we have to experience this beauty and build a desire to fight to save what we still can. Stick with me as I document my efforts to photograph Florida’s rarest species including the Florida Panther, Florida Black Bear, and other endangered creatures.

– Joey

The Sound of A1A PREsents : 74.97

74.97

There is more to 74.97 than the mystic of his name lets on. A Broward County Native, he has been immersed in all South Florida has to offer sonically. 74.97 established himself early on controlling crowds with tantalizing sets, serving up B sides from his favorite albums. He has since evolved into a powerhouse producing pulsating tracks that reflect his love for UK Garage. He is also the face behind Blind Records, which is indicative of not only his skill set but his passion and vision. 74.97 is not a producer. 74.97 is not a DJ. He is a true artist that flirts between the two worlds seamlessly to bring forth what can only be considered as nothing short of pure art.

episode 1 by Danny “Kokomo” Gonzalez

We cruising 95 South, windows down … you get stuck in traffic at the drawbridge on the Venetian … “What’s up with this 5 mph on Collins bumper to bumper?!?” – All set … let’s hit the playlist … you good? then we are good! Danny Kokomo Gonzalez of the band Jacuzzi Boys. got us with the sounds to keep us sane on the Miami Beach traffic.

All Photos by the artist to go along with the sounds.

Thank you!