Ep. 143: "Traffic Cones & Retirees"
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hello hi John hi Merlin how's it going
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haha i'm going hungry
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yeah jerbear worship air terminal and
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feed bear woman a bit the knee and
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shareholders prayer I gotta grab your
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son passed the truck on the way in here
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that had a Soundgarden louder than love
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bumper sticker and it wasn't it was a
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new bumper sticker on an old truck and
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it really really put me into a put me
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into a spin little when they get you
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thinking about
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well where you get a new soundgarden
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louder than love bumper sticker but you
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get that that store at the airport
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oh yeah well maybe yeah what doesn't add
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some pop uh they were on Sub Pop in the
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whoo-hoo yeah maybe maybe that's where
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they got it at the side of the airport
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ah he said you passed the truck was a
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little worried for you for a minute
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yeah I know right today we're having a
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lot of the way I've been treating early
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trucks now you sound sick
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oh my god John did you have a bad you
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could hang on hang on to your bird flu
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um-hm I'm gonna try so hard to ride the
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cock button em know you have a cough
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button i have a keyboard based hacky
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cough button i'm told that I could get a
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hardware cough button but you know i
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don't know if i'm going to be sticking
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with the podcast and stuff all that long
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so crazy I know I know don't don't make
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like any kind of big investment
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what how do you do this keyboard hack
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well there are a variety of these are
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you really interested in this but are
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you kidding this is what our podcast is
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all about and all the points we have not
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talked on our podcast and so on it's
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been so long we've done a lot with a lot
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to talk about
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let's start with a mute buttons actually
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called it's called mute my mic and no
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way this is a nap
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snap he had a button and add mutant want
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some backup app always got in at Mike
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purchases and mute
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yeah right now you can you level up can
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you get it so it doesn't have ads
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mhm what's that supported and then
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occasionally it pops up a pink noise
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uh-huh unless you pay oh that's just one
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more fucking real
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yeah yeah well you know I my computer is
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is an IBM 8086 ok let me double check
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check the availability of that
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oh yeah this is gonna be tricky I'm
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running machine language is it beige on
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it is baby I second it is Jane be he
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fucked up and I yeah if there's a
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shareware version of good
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oh yes one-on-one Linus yeah you need to
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get the the new the Linus world cd-rom
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you can get that over to barnes and
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noble and that you going to do a match /
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dot DX e dot no space spelled out spread
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somebody out here to burn my CD the
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other day our friend Adam pepper Annika
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said can you just burn me a CD and I was
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like what can I and then I was like I
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yeah but where do you get a CD anymore
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and then you then it was like oh wait i
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have a USB Drive on my keychain
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yeah I was like you know what that crazy
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fuck yeah I know I know yet you know
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it's funny this amazing really have a
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pretty old la by any standard except
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perhaps yours i have a very very old
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desktop computers from 2006 and and
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really true are you really running a
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2006 I'm so hard when I hate buying
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computers but but how does it have I
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mean Apple by design makes their
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upgrades kill old computer yes
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mm that's running some very old
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hacked-up software that I'm not proud of
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it but you've hacked a little got a hack
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but in a you know what's funny is when I
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bought this is even as recently took a
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year before my daughter was born about
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this computer in that age I had the
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presence of mind to buy i bought a mac
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pro with two DVD read-only drives
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excuse me to CD CD because you have
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these dvds to but it does it right i
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have two optical drives for reading
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discs because I don't know what I guess
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at some point I was thinking I might
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want to watch two movies at once haha
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it's so bizarre i don't know it's
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already feels like a million years away
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i've got a blu-ray burner and Ripper
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thing that's kind of janky but that
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works but I can't believe how rarely
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it's almost like a fax machine now how
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rarely i have to make you know DVD or CD
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dubs Yeah Yeah right why why would you
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because it's it was a mean it's funny
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because it used to be such I mean I can
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remember when you could first make cds
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on a Mac it seemed amazing because CD
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was the coin of the realm
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I mean that's how if you could make
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something that played like a CD that you
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dropped into a CD players like the most
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amazing thing in the world better but
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well absolutely of course you know
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you've given me stuff in the past on CDs
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that you know this unreleased and things
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like that but it's funny how now that
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feels like such an unnecessary middle
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step because what you gonna do as soon
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as you get the CD or into your dripping
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now you're gonna rip it and try to get
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it back it just seems it seems so
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it's like you know like I say it's like
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anybody wants you to fax some forms it
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feels so bizarre to me you're talking
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about my entire life now because every
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week somebody wants me to effects on the
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fucking form i know i am I remember the
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first mac i saw the the ones that look
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like cough drops
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oh yeah imac the imac the front windows
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first came out the first 1i saw did not
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have a seed be player have it all right
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oh no we didn't have to see didn't have
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a fighter I've had a CD reader but he
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couldn't write to it and it didn't have
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uh-oh one of those little mini disc
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fucking christ and I was like well how
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do you write stuff to it
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how do you how do you how do you like
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and they the owner of this particular
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machine said well they don't there isn't
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a method to do that I bet they very
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patiently roll their eyes to explain to
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poor John what it's like to be alive in
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the 20th century and I i was astonished
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that you would spend that much money to
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buy a thing that you could not you
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couldn't export from you are not alone
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that was a very controversial choice and
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over the years has been a number of
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things that Apple has done now that
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we're doing a technology pockets because
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number things apples as done that have
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been very controversial because if you
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know for most of us growing up that was
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that was one of the primary opiate
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getting a car without a steering wheel
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for a car without a without a what
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I mean trunk cup holder but just the
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ability I mean the whole point was we
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always did everything with disks and
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that seemed crazy and now today it's
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getting even crazier because with the
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laptops they make the one of the
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constraining factors to how thin the
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laptop can be is consistently those
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ports on the side all ports right you
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don't want ports because everything's
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included in the cloud but like you know
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but I mean like when they started the
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first time like now you do not get a
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optical drive the on a laptop and also
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it's a huge source of power consumption
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alright huh and then for example like an
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ethernet cable like a now youyou the
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they're too thin to have an ethernet
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port right so you have to have USB but
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even USB is kind of you know is is
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pretty thick right there
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I mean is I'm too thin for an ethernet
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cable give me look at you you look
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fantastic how we should get Gruber and
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siracusa to come on this podcast and we
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could talk about Apple don't give it
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got plans I'm not saying anything
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yeah we should because you know boy
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there's just not enough what about the
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Apple watch John are you excited about
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the Apple watch in
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I really am I saw a guy the other day uh
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where was I oh I was at the grocery
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store and the guy that was checking me
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out was wearing a giant gold crown on a
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chain and some behind like a regal crown
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well it wasn't like it wasn't like a
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three-dimensional crown it was a
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two-dimensional crown and there was a
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part of me that wanted to ask if it was
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about Ethiopia and the part of me that
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wanted to ask it was about reggae and
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then a paddle and then the George part
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of me that just realized that I was not
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meant to ask what the crown wasn't
00:09:34
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really well i will give you wear a crown
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on a change or you're really asking
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people your kind of throwing it out
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there that you want people to talk about
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the guy at the grocery store was sending
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a very palpable do not engage me in
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conversation vibe
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yeah so I was like this is you know it's
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unusual in the in the 21st century to
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have a customer service experience where
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the person on the other end is sending
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out a very capable but not engage about
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vibe all-too-rare if you ask me tender
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and so I was like I respect your
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capability and i'm going to just we're
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just going to share this time together
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as two men who are not making chitchat
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even though you are wearing a giant gold
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crown on a giant cold chain but then on
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closer inspection so I'm looking at the
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crowd and I'm like oh boy I really want
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to talk about this crime but he really
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doesn't want me to talk he might want to
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talk about it but he doesn't want to
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talk about it with me and so then i'm
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looking at i'm i'm scanning him like
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well let's see is there any other a way
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i can get engaged this person
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conversation and then he's wearing some
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giant technology watch I was like oh
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now i really want to talk to him about
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the watch and maybe that's the inroad
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into then afterward chatting about the
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watch then be like so the crown who but
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at that and at that point I kind of
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looked up hopefully at him like not
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something that isn't the ground to talk
00:11:03
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about its the watch and he continued to
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be very capable and very uninterested
00:11:13
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communicating and so I was like all
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right I'm gonna let the watch and the
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crown just be is private business
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I'm gonna be over here in my private
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business I should be thinking about
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something else anyway what am I trying
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to talk to this guy for I should be
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thinking about big deep thoughts
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yeah and so I just left the left the
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whole thing in my past I wouldn't even
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thought about it again haven't brought
00:11:35
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up the apple watch em and the band this
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guy's watch i don't i don't think it was
00:11:41
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an Apple watch but it was Ben what's
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called a pebble watch em pebble is a
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company that makes it
00:11:47
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I'm ungainly large silly watch i have
00:11:50
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noticed about nokia that whatever apple
00:11:53
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announces something nokia comes out with
00:11:55
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the slightly bigger maybe more capable
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and yet still less desirable version of
00:12:03
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it right away
00:12:03
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that's a core competency exam sounds
00:12:06
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pretty good at that too samsung right so
00:12:07
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it could have been one of those but it
00:12:09
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was like you know it was a watch where
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where it by its blankness but it's by
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like the empty screen it suggested an
00:12:20
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infinite capability right here's the
00:12:24
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it's infinitely capable perhaps he could
00:12:26
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be a good video conference with his you
00:12:29
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know with his handler he Kurds he could
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like a great real-time feedback on how
00:12:37
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well he's doing his grocery tasks
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mhm yeah I could that's right I could I
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could I could use the app bump you can't
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focus i wanna lose or possibly beans i
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could uh let's see i bet i bet he could
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hack into a mainframe if his if his team
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you know encounter a firewall that
00:12:57
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someone could like rewrite the
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encryption right now we gotta rewrite
00:13:01
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the encryption rewrite the encryption
00:13:02
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and hacking the mainframe right there
00:13:04
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from his watch
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I just I felt like wow its infinite
00:13:08
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possibilities and I'm sure if he touched
00:13:09
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it and showed me what it did it like he
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could scroll through his I photo
00:13:15
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and he can take it can either be a clock
00:13:17
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►
or can be message for you told someone
00:13:19
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he's at work right are you i am bored
00:13:22
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you can get those those bumps where it's
00:13:25
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like today at two o'clock
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you are scheduled to do a podcast oh my
00:13:30
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god you remind me of something is it um
00:13:34
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listen we're gonna put this out today
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because we need to put on a show
00:13:37
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so what we talked a little bit about
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what's what's been happening what we've
00:13:40
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third time's yeah let's talk about
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◼
►
exciting we're honored went on a cruise
00:13:43
◼
►
we have we talked we only talked about
00:13:45
◼
►
that have we ever talked about the
00:13:47
◼
►
yeah well I want to get to that but one
00:13:49
◼
►
thing was as is you know I'm in flying
00:13:52
◼
►
out of Fort Lauderdale for Fort
00:13:55
◼
►
Lauderdale first I learned very small
00:13:56
◼
►
airport not enough to do their smaller
00:13:58
◼
►
part there are live birds in New I'm not
00:14:01
◼
►
not tame birds but wild bird so tomorrow
00:14:04
◼
►
was there any seem nice did you meet Tom
00:14:07
◼
►
Arnold the for my lady my lady saw him
00:14:09
◼
►
at the place where you buy water and
00:14:10
◼
►
candy and he said he was up being very
00:14:12
◼
►
very nice with people it's nice to hear
00:14:13
◼
►
what matters is a nice well so we long
00:14:16
◼
►
story short where you know everybody's
00:14:18
◼
►
on this cruise was that arrived that day
00:14:20
◼
►
at the end of the cruise is gonna be
00:14:21
◼
►
flying out of FLL which is as I think I
00:14:24
◼
►
mentioned a very small airport lot of
00:14:27
◼
►
things could have been playing better on
00:14:28
◼
►
our part there was miscommunications
00:14:30
◼
►
long story short we ended up getting
00:14:31
◼
►
there at I think about ten in the
00:14:35
◼
►
now you can I raced off the boat and got
00:14:37
◼
►
immediately to the airport and then we
00:14:39
◼
►
flew out of eight o'clock that night so
00:14:41
◼
►
we had we had a nice long day to really
00:14:43
◼
►
take in the airport whoo-hoo and
00:14:46
◼
►
Atlantis you know it was it was kind of
00:14:49
◼
►
a trial but did you go to chilis to go
00:14:51
◼
►
to chilis to twice I've treated my
00:14:54
◼
►
family to chilis to twice each plate was
00:14:56
◼
►
more disappointing than the last at-bat
00:14:59
◼
►
Chili's too and i remember i remember i
00:15:01
◼
►
ordered something and it came with like
00:15:02
◼
►
a single kernel of corn on them at the
00:15:08
◼
►
edge of the crack corn planter
00:15:09
◼
►
look i don't care i think it was the
00:15:11
◼
►
salsa maybe uh huh yeah well it's you
00:15:14
◼
►
know they've got they've got about 850
00:15:16
◼
►
drinks in a microwave oven and that's
00:15:18
◼
►
the chilis to no place else is chilis
00:15:21
◼
►
literally well anyway let the funny part
00:15:23
◼
►
was stuck there and you know we're
00:15:25
◼
►
trying to you know
00:15:26
◼
►
like it was being considering everything
00:15:28
◼
►
was being very patient considering but
00:15:30
◼
►
you know we sit there and we found a
00:15:32
◼
►
little kind of like quiet area where
00:15:33
◼
►
there were too many people around but
00:15:35
◼
►
one of the things I don't know why
00:15:37
◼
►
mention this is you know people love to
00:15:39
◼
►
talk on the phone at the airport and I I
00:15:43
◼
►
just it's only in airports that I really
00:15:45
◼
►
realize I feel like how much most other
00:15:49
◼
►
people talk on their phone more than i
00:15:51
◼
►
do and that will by which i mean they
00:15:53
◼
►
make a lot more calls than i do but they
00:15:56
◼
►
talk on the phone for a very very very
00:16:00
◼
►
long time often very loudly much longer
00:16:04
◼
►
than i do and it's amazing because I'll
00:16:05
◼
►
do anything I can to try and get phone
00:16:08
◼
►
calls with people talk to you talk to
00:16:09
◼
►
clients but you know if you get off the
00:16:12
◼
►
that's what the goal of getting on the
00:16:13
◼
►
phone is to get off the phone call it a
00:16:16
◼
►
hundred percent
00:16:16
◼
►
I mean I i totally agree but there's
00:16:18
◼
►
this one conversation it was so uh it
00:16:23
◼
►
was so boring haha and so long and
00:16:28
◼
►
here's the conversation is a woman there
00:16:29
◼
►
is going to fly outs of course like
00:16:30
◼
►
everybody in an airport she has to
00:16:32
◼
►
explain everything about what she's
00:16:34
◼
►
doing and what she's going to be doing
00:16:35
◼
►
she's explaining that she's sitting at
00:16:37
◼
►
the airport calling you did was let you
00:16:40
◼
►
know what she's doing she's at the
00:16:41
◼
►
airport just gonna she's gonna fly out
00:16:43
◼
►
later but for right now you know she's
00:16:45
◼
►
going to call and check in
00:16:47
◼
►
oh and it became apparent inform some
00:16:49
◼
►
time that this woman was talking to her
00:16:51
◼
►
young daughter a daughter maybe high
00:16:54
◼
►
school age but around you know late high
00:16:56
◼
►
school age and the entire conversation
00:16:59
◼
►
you can tell it no matter what the girl
00:17:01
◼
►
said the mother had some really annoying
00:17:05
◼
►
karma suck response to everything that
00:17:08
◼
►
oh yes like and I'm so first forms that
00:17:11
◼
►
God please never let me be like this
00:17:13
◼
►
well you know if you bring the grades up
00:17:16
◼
►
and it goes on but then eventually once
00:17:20
◼
►
they've gotten through all the things
00:17:21
◼
►
that they knew they had to talk about
00:17:22
◼
►
that the girl had done wrong
00:17:24
◼
►
the mother started asking her these kind
00:17:25
◼
►
of elliptical questions about how she's
00:17:27
◼
►
been spending her time and it became
00:17:29
◼
►
apparent that before the call the mother
00:17:31
◼
►
had gone through every piece of social
00:17:33
◼
►
media that the girl was involved with em
00:17:36
◼
►
and was good was now basically examining
00:17:39
◼
►
our right checking up based on what you
00:17:41
◼
►
already knew
00:17:41
◼
►
yeah and she would only let out enough
00:17:43
◼
►
information about a certain thing and
00:17:45
◼
►
then wait for the daughter to kind of
00:17:46
◼
►
offer something up and it went on for an
00:17:50
◼
►
wow yeah so we're not let that look for
00:17:53
◼
►
now that's parenting right there that's
00:17:56
◼
►
oh my god it's you know that's it was
00:18:02
◼
►
I'm so sorry you're not it's alright you
00:18:04
◼
►
know it's it's what he can do
00:18:05
◼
►
it'sit's travel but you know at the end
00:18:07
◼
►
of the trip especially your kind of like
00:18:08
◼
►
okay I'm really ready to not be on a
00:18:11
◼
►
trip anymore
00:18:12
◼
►
yeah right get me home right and and
00:18:14
◼
►
instead you are you're learning about
00:18:16
◼
►
people you don't want to learn about oh
00:18:18
◼
►
don't ask me about the united lounge
00:18:20
◼
►
buddy whoa i heard you know I so full
00:18:24
◼
►
disclosure I showed up at this Airport
00:18:26
◼
►
this fort lauderdale airport several
00:18:31
◼
►
yeah for a flight that was scheduled to
00:18:33
◼
►
leave you know at what six a flight that
00:18:39
◼
►
will end and when I left this and so I
00:18:41
◼
►
show up the airport and Merlin is still
00:18:42
◼
►
there with his whole family and then my
00:18:45
◼
►
flight leaves on time and Merlin is
00:18:47
◼
►
still there when I by Merlin so it was
00:18:52
◼
►
it was there's tons of snow in Boston
00:18:53
◼
►
there's been huge delays and also it was
00:18:56
◼
►
a day that are the cruise ship defecates
00:18:58
◼
►
all the people out of its bowels and
00:19:00
◼
►
send them on their way through this tiny
00:19:01
◼
►
little airport
00:19:02
◼
►
plus there's been like some kind of
00:19:03
◼
►
crazy bike race that day and I just been
00:19:06
◼
►
kind of a clusterfuck all around for
00:19:08
◼
►
yeah the place was full of people from
00:19:10
◼
►
the cruise like standing around charging
00:19:12
◼
►
things and talking
00:19:13
◼
►
well this is the funny thing about now
00:19:14
◼
►
having been on i am i'm not sure whether
00:19:18
◼
►
i'm proud to say i guess i'm proud to
00:19:23
◼
►
uh-huh so there's an asterix and there
00:19:26
◼
►
but proud to say that I've done seven
00:19:28
◼
►
pleasure cruises now and and one of the
00:19:34
◼
►
insights i have gleaned is that the
00:19:37
◼
►
first time you get off a cruise and you
00:19:40
◼
►
try and make it through fort lauderdale
00:19:42
◼
►
or through orlando port whatever the
00:19:46
◼
►
freaking port up there is called try to
00:19:49
◼
►
make it through to the airport you have
00:19:51
◼
►
that feeling of like oh my god an entire
00:19:53
◼
►
cruise ship just emptied out and now
00:19:55
◼
►
this town is trying to deal with this
00:19:57
◼
►
like amazing like unprecedented influx
00:20:00
◼
►
of people it was it it's like that you
00:20:03
◼
►
know in the beginning of godfather to
00:20:04
◼
►
all the immigrants are like standing
00:20:06
◼
►
around you know we're going to move and
00:20:09
◼
►
it and the guys talking to you and you
00:20:11
◼
►
only speak Italian and many stamps you
00:20:13
◼
►
on the forehead and that's right let's
00:20:14
◼
►
see what I said was in the room and
00:20:16
◼
►
swing your legs and sing yourself yeah
00:20:17
◼
►
butBut what I have what I realized over
00:20:20
◼
►
time is that every single day in fort
00:20:23
◼
►
lauderdale five cruise ship stock and
00:20:25
◼
►
empty out which as in our case have
00:20:27
◼
►
something four thousand passengers
00:20:29
◼
►
yeah but this happens every single day
00:20:32
◼
►
and has four for 15 years so so the the
00:20:37
◼
►
the fact is that the all the whole
00:20:40
◼
►
purpose of the fort lauderdale airport
00:20:42
◼
►
is too is it is like the it's the lower
00:20:46
◼
►
intestine of this whole process and all
00:20:49
◼
►
the last piece of the bow for that and
00:20:51
◼
►
it's just squeezing these poops through
00:20:54
◼
►
like it here comes a cruise ship and
00:20:57
◼
►
bloor and it just like squeezes them out
00:21:00
◼
►
into their airplanes like there's no
00:21:02
◼
►
purpose like all the roads in fort
00:21:04
◼
►
lauderdale that whole container yard all
00:21:08
◼
►
those different people with with like
00:21:10
◼
►
different security badges that are
00:21:12
◼
►
yelling at you when you walk out of the
00:21:13
◼
►
cruise ship terminal the whole process
00:21:16
◼
►
that happens five times a day every day
00:21:19
◼
►
and so so the first time you do it
00:21:22
◼
►
you're like well I understand why these
00:21:23
◼
►
people seem incompetent and why this
00:21:25
◼
►
process so janky because how how would
00:21:28
◼
►
you process 4,000 people all at once
00:21:30
◼
►
mr. just a rotten gee I mean I felt it
00:21:32
◼
►
you know we did like the lifeboat drills
00:21:34
◼
►
on the first day we go out you learn
00:21:36
◼
►
your lifeboat is and it's just pretty
00:21:37
◼
►
perfunctory but it's enough to at least
00:21:38
◼
►
know where to go
00:21:39
◼
►
yeah and even that whole thing was
00:21:41
◼
►
pretty well-organized the all you gotta
00:21:43
◼
►
do is get people on a boat but on the
00:21:45
◼
►
morning the debarking whatever you call
00:21:47
◼
►
of pooping out the passengers it started
00:21:50
◼
►
at like my like seven in the morning and
00:21:52
◼
►
went on to like noon because there's so
00:21:55
◼
►
many people and so many bags so much
00:21:57
◼
►
custom so much to coordinate it takes
00:21:58
◼
►
hours and hours and hours to get people
00:22:00
◼
►
off in a peaceful fashion
00:22:02
◼
►
yeah it's crazy except if you did it
00:22:07
◼
►
every day in which case it would
00:22:10
◼
►
presumably overtime stop being crazy and
00:22:13
◼
►
start being a matter of course and yet
00:22:16
◼
►
it never ever is right what like we got
00:22:19
◼
►
off the boat and were there and that
00:22:20
◼
►
they're sending us through customs and
00:22:22
◼
►
it's like hey you guys know at a certain
00:22:25
◼
►
you can't miss the boat here it comes
00:22:27
◼
►
right here comes at a certain hour
00:22:29
◼
►
you're gonna have 4,000 people that want
00:22:31
◼
►
to get off this boat all the same time
00:22:32
◼
►
so how it is nobody there's nobody is
00:22:35
◼
►
happy about having to wait about any
00:22:37
◼
►
aspect of right i mean if you knew that
00:22:39
◼
►
this was going to happen
00:22:40
◼
►
how would you design a system to
00:22:42
◼
►
accommodate it and and yet every time
00:22:45
◼
►
ever and I'm sure this is true of every
00:22:47
◼
►
ship because it's been true for all
00:22:49
◼
►
seven boats that I've gotten off of
00:22:50
◼
►
every time it seems like the people in
00:22:53
◼
►
the people there that are running the
00:22:55
◼
►
system are like what
00:22:57
◼
►
oh shit is that boat here already oh
00:23:00
◼
►
fuck well we should open two lanes and I
00:23:05
◼
►
at least two lanes ever you're right
00:23:08
◼
►
then um there's a number of apertures
00:23:10
◼
►
that could have been a lot lawyer at
00:23:12
◼
►
every step away
00:23:13
◼
►
like for instance the global entry
00:23:17
◼
►
system which the customs and and TSA
00:23:22
◼
►
have spent millions and millions of
00:23:25
◼
►
dollars implementing this global entry
00:23:26
◼
►
system which allows passengers who are
00:23:30
◼
►
in the program including myself to speed
00:23:34
◼
►
through customs other re-entry into port
00:23:38
◼
►
or into a into the contract because
00:23:39
◼
►
you've been vetted and checked out
00:23:41
◼
►
internet you're not risky
00:23:43
◼
►
yeah and you're you you you you have
00:23:45
◼
►
assured the government that you do not
00:23:47
◼
►
intend to bring any any vermin-infested
00:23:51
◼
►
breadfruit back into the country and
00:23:54
◼
►
then immediately throw it on the ground
00:23:56
◼
►
like you you eat use you you have proved
00:24:00
◼
►
to them that you are just a normal
00:24:01
◼
►
person who is neither a drug smuggler
00:24:04
◼
►
nor an al-qaeda operatives and so you do
00:24:08
◼
►
not need to be retina scanned again by
00:24:13
◼
►
spino by some person who can pass the
00:24:16
◼
►
job interview in florida for the first
00:24:18
◼
►
security job and yet the first time that
00:24:21
◼
►
I i arrived at the terminal on my first
00:24:24
◼
►
cruise ever i was like where's your
00:24:25
◼
►
global entry system and they're like we
00:24:27
◼
►
don't have those and cruise terminals I
00:24:29
◼
►
was like really it's just the simplest
00:24:31
◼
►
thing you just put it's like a couple of
00:24:33
◼
►
atms over on the side and then ten
00:24:36
◼
►
percent of of this job would go away
00:24:39
◼
►
nope we just don't have them and so for
00:24:41
◼
►
seven years or five years I've been
00:24:43
◼
►
waiting for them to and they just just
00:24:45
◼
►
not a thing I mean they have been it
00:24:49
◼
►
would benefit them it's not something
00:24:50
◼
►
we're saying i want to be a fancy lad
00:24:51
◼
►
that it's something that would help the
00:24:53
◼
►
entire process it's part of the system
00:24:54
◼
►
that they've already built for exactly
00:24:57
◼
►
this job and they I'm sure they have
00:24:58
◼
►
global entry at the boise international
00:25:02
◼
►
airport for the 15 people that come from
00:25:05
◼
►
Calgary everyday on the but you know in
00:25:08
◼
►
a javelin beaver they probably have a
00:25:11
◼
►
global entry kiosk there but for the
00:25:14
◼
►
cruise ship terminal where five ships
00:25:16
◼
►
disgorge 4,000 passengers each day right
00:25:21
◼
►
they do not what they have there is like
00:25:23
◼
►
some traffic cones some retirees who
00:25:27
◼
►
liked who they've pinned you know some
00:25:30
◼
►
Western Airlines wings on their shirt
00:25:32
◼
►
and said you're out you're in charge of
00:25:34
◼
►
security and and then you know we're all
00:25:37
◼
►
just standing in line as though it's
00:25:39
◼
►
never happened before it's just
00:25:41
◼
►
fascinating is that is exactly right
00:25:42
◼
►
it's funny cuz you know and having gone
00:25:44
◼
►
through customs and coming in and out of
00:25:47
◼
►
other countries via plane you know if
00:25:50
◼
►
there's something about it
00:25:51
◼
►
it's very serious and we do that in an
00:25:55
◼
►
airport there's all kinds of like you
00:25:57
◼
►
know it's not really i want to say tense
00:26:00
◼
►
not just personally test but it's like
00:26:02
◼
►
you have to take this really seriously
00:26:03
◼
►
like I really want to feel your format
00:26:05
◼
►
right everybody here is very
00:26:06
◼
►
professional
00:26:08
◼
►
they're they're moving you know pace
00:26:09
◼
►
because the number one way that people
00:26:11
◼
►
bring AK forty-sevens into the United
00:26:14
◼
►
States is via a klm flight from
00:26:19
◼
►
amsterdam yeah for me coming from can
00:26:21
◼
►
now I'm gonna have some guns but the but
00:26:23
◼
►
the end of the line is obviously it's
00:26:25
◼
►
very long but it's sensible as it can be
00:26:29
◼
►
understood and i don't mean this is a
00:26:32
◼
►
complaint except to say this giant
00:26:34
◼
►
hanger that you go through when you get
00:26:37
◼
►
off the get the boat shuttle down and
00:26:39
◼
►
you go into the longest line you've ever
00:26:41
◼
►
been in your life but in part that's
00:26:43
◼
►
funny about it is it really seems like
00:26:45
◼
►
the regular building wasn't available
00:26:47
◼
►
that day yes that's exactly right and
00:26:49
◼
►
you know you know that that building was
00:26:52
◼
►
built for no other purpose
00:26:54
◼
►
yeah it yet it feels repurposed like you
00:26:57
◼
►
that they take you by making you walk
00:26:59
◼
►
through rows of chairs in a waiting room
00:27:01
◼
►
at first but Diana weird get any going
00:27:05
◼
►
to wait another line that it's not a
00:27:06
◼
►
complaint accept it is much just saying
00:27:08
◼
►
it's funny that that amount of pure
00:27:10
◼
►
infrastructure that has to be dealt with
00:27:11
◼
►
like at least once a week and I'm
00:27:13
◼
►
guessing a lot more it seems like it
00:27:15
◼
►
would be a little bit better thought out
00:27:17
◼
►
and then you get to the end eurozone
00:27:18
◼
►
this line is really long because there's
00:27:19
◼
►
like three people take care of this
00:27:22
◼
►
yeah and they're mad the whole system
00:27:24
◼
►
and then and then you do you get to the
00:27:26
◼
►
fort lauderdale airport it's like oh how
00:27:28
◼
►
how would this what would we
00:27:31
◼
►
how would we ever have imagined the
00:27:33
◼
►
4,000 people descend on this airport all
00:27:35
◼
►
at once and and that and there this is
00:27:37
◼
►
the crazy thing because the first couple
00:27:39
◼
►
of times I did it I really did I really
00:27:41
◼
►
was sympathetic to the whole I was
00:27:44
◼
►
sympathetic to Fort Lauderdale right
00:27:46
◼
►
like also you know fort lauderdale
00:27:48
◼
►
that's like the king of spring break
00:27:49
◼
►
like that their whole city is about true
00:27:51
◼
►
people moving through their city for
00:27:53
◼
►
just a little bit of time I 80,000
00:27:55
◼
►
people a day probably come there right
00:27:57
◼
►
now starting right
00:27:58
◼
►
now so I I end and the funny thing is i
00:28:02
◼
►
have found the town of Fort Lauderdale
00:28:05
◼
►
to be actually fairly charming in the
00:28:08
◼
►
sense that you know those art galleries
00:28:10
◼
►
that sell like like maybe half scale but
00:28:16
◼
►
like just big enough that you think like
00:28:18
◼
►
is that life size but it's not it's just
00:28:20
◼
►
slightly scaled-down maybe maybe maybe
00:28:23
◼
►
one half for one-third scale a bronze
00:28:27
◼
►
statues of an elf riding a dragon on
00:28:31
◼
►
slow kinda like the sort of thing you
00:28:34
◼
►
see kind your Union Square lots of
00:28:36
◼
►
things in bisque or lots of you know
00:28:39
◼
►
what I mean there's lots and lots of
00:28:39
◼
►
figurines not that could be magical
00:28:42
◼
►
creatures but that's it yeah that that
00:28:45
◼
►
people must really want to buy those
00:28:47
◼
►
when they travel well the thing is and
00:28:48
◼
►
then you look at it it's 75 thousand
00:28:50
◼
►
dollars and you're like this is an
00:28:52
◼
►
incredible this this this statue of this
00:28:56
◼
►
elf riding a dragon on top of the globe
00:28:58
◼
►
made out of the actual bronze that is
00:29:02
◼
►
that stands eight feet tall and cost
00:29:05
◼
►
seventy-five thousand dollars this is a
00:29:07
◼
►
thing that some guy I don't doubt that
00:29:11
◼
►
someone made it i don't doubt I I don't
00:29:13
◼
►
for a second question the impulse of
00:29:15
◼
►
someone making it right but then that
00:29:18
◼
►
that every other step of the way like it
00:29:20
◼
►
got transported here by someone and now
00:29:22
◼
►
at an art gallery owner thought to make
00:29:26
◼
►
it his centerpiece and people come by
00:29:29
◼
►
and look at it until one day somebody
00:29:31
◼
►
says I must have that doesn't like an
00:29:33
◼
►
oligarch maybe some students i must have
00:29:36
◼
►
yes right but an oligarchy comes through
00:29:38
◼
►
Fort Lauderdale on his way our to
00:29:40
◼
►
vacation and he's like this is amazing
00:29:42
◼
►
I've must have this in my mention dragon
00:29:45
◼
►
is exquisite
00:29:46
◼
►
I am the dragon or i am the else
00:29:49
◼
►
and-and-and-and Fort Lauderdale is full
00:29:52
◼
►
of that kind of art gallery not just
00:29:54
◼
►
Thomas Kinkade The Painter of Light but
00:29:57
◼
►
all of Thomas Kincaid spiritual and
00:30:00
◼
►
artistic you know like peers other
00:30:04
◼
►
painters of lights painters of dark
00:30:06
◼
►
painters of painters that use both light
00:30:10
◼
►
and dark in their paintings
00:30:11
◼
►
and and so the town there's there's not
00:30:15
◼
►
a lot to recommend the town you would
00:30:17
◼
►
think until you take the whole of Fort
00:30:19
◼
►
Lauderdale into your into your
00:30:21
◼
►
conscience conscious
00:30:24
◼
►
yeah and then I i found it remarkable
00:30:26
◼
►
and wonderful
00:30:27
◼
►
yeah it's a literacy what you're
00:30:29
◼
►
describing first of all I mean there is
00:30:31
◼
►
this certain kind of its you know this
00:30:35
◼
►
is what travel does it exposed us to
00:30:36
◼
►
things you never see your things you
00:30:37
◼
►
never think about and for me that is the
00:30:39
◼
►
partly the wide world of what people
00:30:43
◼
►
perceive of as high-end art the receipt
00:30:47
◼
►
I an art that was on display on this
00:30:49
◼
►
cruise for the big auction the big art
00:30:52
◼
►
auction was some of the most amazing
00:30:54
◼
►
stuff I've ever seen in my life because
00:30:56
◼
►
it was kind of like the baby had the
00:30:58
◼
►
aesthetic yeah that's what you're
00:30:59
◼
►
describing is this is common as you know
00:31:01
◼
►
in San Francisco there's gosh Las Vegas
00:31:03
◼
►
everywhere you go in Las Vegas you see
00:31:05
◼
►
this kind of epic like beyond kitschy
00:31:08
◼
►
art but that's meant to be very very
00:31:11
◼
►
high-end the painting is never just a
00:31:12
◼
►
painting it's got like inch thick
00:31:14
◼
►
impasto like you can practically feel it
00:31:16
◼
►
no that's you know here's here seven
00:31:19
◼
►
seven paintings of Muhammad Ali and
00:31:20
◼
►
garfield the cat or something but it
00:31:22
◼
►
takes it has this the aesthetic of like
00:31:26
◼
►
sky mall in some ways that kind of like
00:31:29
◼
►
you know you can have a zombie crawling
00:31:30
◼
►
out of the ground on in your backyard or
00:31:32
◼
►
something like that but it has that like
00:31:34
◼
►
the phrase on a tree face and yeah but
00:31:36
◼
►
that over real aesthetic but a little
00:31:40
◼
►
cartoony and much bigger than life and
00:31:43
◼
►
insanely expensive given how like
00:31:45
◼
►
ridiculously tacky it is but it's
00:31:47
◼
►
everywhere people must be buying it to
00:31:49
◼
►
remember when we were kids you know so
00:31:52
◼
►
much of so much of what we experienced
00:31:54
◼
►
when we were kids was the hangover of
00:31:58
◼
►
the sixties oh god yes it's like the
00:32:00
◼
►
Spencer Gifts kind of effect
00:32:02
◼
►
yeah yeah the the sort of all the stuff
00:32:04
◼
►
all the furniture in the waiting rooms
00:32:08
◼
►
of places all the art if you really was
00:32:10
◼
►
stuck in what felt like a five or eight
00:32:12
◼
►
year aesthetic of everything's kind of
00:32:15
◼
►
brown and orange segments are pretty and
00:32:20
◼
►
maybe the some weird dark wood remember
00:32:24
◼
►
for whatever reason and this may just be
00:32:25
◼
►
my experience but but I remember feeling
00:32:29
◼
►
like well first of all spanish spain had
00:32:35
◼
►
been had been very popular sometime in
00:32:36
◼
►
the fifties and so there was a lot of
00:32:39
◼
►
Tory adorar there was a lot of heavy
00:32:43
◼
►
Spanish likely neo Spanish looking
00:32:46
◼
►
furniture in places but but a kind of a
00:32:50
◼
►
lot of this like thick painted this is
00:32:57
◼
►
like super thick coatings of yeah I'm
00:33:01
◼
►
like.he like oversized wooden chairs
00:33:04
◼
►
right but the aesthetic was meant to be
00:33:06
◼
►
at once opulent and rustic like not nice
00:33:09
◼
►
that's been putting this poorly but but
00:33:11
◼
►
that feeling of like the word customized
00:33:13
◼
►
antiqued might even it was meant to feel
00:33:15
◼
►
very old and pretentious and rich
00:33:18
◼
►
ya like like a arm like maybe triggers
00:33:23
◼
►
were everywhere that story was really
00:33:25
◼
►
yeah but but also also uh it was
00:33:28
◼
►
supposed to be is it like hacienda or or
00:33:33
◼
►
Spanish it wasn't spanish colonial it
00:33:35
◼
►
was like it was Spain not not Spain in
00:33:39
◼
►
the in the New World Spain like in a
00:33:42
◼
►
zorro zorro thank you but it but sorrow
00:33:45
◼
►
was was was latin america was a zero
00:33:49
◼
►
most takes place in California but of
00:33:51
◼
►
course you know goes to school as a kid
00:33:52
◼
►
in in Spain and it's all that aesthetic
00:33:55
◼
►
is very much in place
00:33:56
◼
►
yes Ryan Zorro it's hard to put a finger
00:33:58
◼
►
on but I get I know exactly what you
00:34:00
◼
►
mean all kinds of Latin influence but
00:34:03
◼
►
also Italian like that italian
00:34:05
◼
►
restaurant kind of feeling but there's a
00:34:07
◼
►
few things like whether it was like an
00:34:09
◼
►
El Cid or a donkey OD oh yeah figure
00:34:13
◼
►
events but very but but like it should
00:34:16
◼
►
look old but it should also feel very
00:34:18
◼
►
luxe lady make locks
00:34:21
◼
►
yeah old luck Spanish Italian minutes so
00:34:24
◼
►
I feel like I feel like that when I was
00:34:27
◼
►
a kid I remember you know we thought we
00:34:30
◼
►
talked to everybody so fascinated and
00:34:32
◼
►
fixated on mid-century modern
00:34:34
◼
►
and imagining that they're all going to
00:34:37
◼
►
live in like in the glass house with no
00:34:40
◼
►
decoration and just these really minimal
00:34:43
◼
►
low-slung couches and chairs but they
00:34:46
◼
►
forget but i think i think my generation
00:34:48
◼
►
my parents thought that looked cheap I
00:34:50
◼
►
don't they thought it was that it would
00:34:51
◼
►
buy something very inexpensive that
00:34:53
◼
►
looked fake luxurious all of our
00:34:55
◼
►
furniture was way over sized for the
00:34:56
◼
►
room it was in a way too many borough
00:34:59
◼
►
key rococo curlicues I mean very few
00:35:03
◼
►
things had right angles it was it was
00:35:04
◼
►
all just bombastic right it was Liberace
00:35:08
◼
►
furniture and and people forget that
00:35:12
◼
►
mid-century the mid-century aesthetic
00:35:15
◼
►
was much more Liberace Liberace humping
00:35:19
◼
►
el cid that it was Don Draper like
00:35:24
◼
►
laying on a on a low-slung challenge yet
00:35:27
◼
►
I mean what-what people now think of as
00:35:29
◼
►
mid-century modern like super cheap
00:35:31
◼
►
versions of stuff like that what you
00:35:33
◼
►
would get from S&H Green Stamps it
00:35:34
◼
►
wasn't what you would use to appoint
00:35:36
◼
►
your house if you are now becoming lower
00:35:37
◼
►
middle-class person but so I feel like
00:35:39
◼
►
you want your I feel exactly your
00:35:42
◼
►
experience of cruise art which is that
00:35:45
◼
►
it is the spiritual descendant of that
00:35:49
◼
►
like opulent like fake opulent a some
00:35:54
◼
►
vaguely Mediterranean aesthetic that I
00:35:59
◼
►
look at a time just like this is one
00:36:01
◼
►
step away from doe eyed children
00:36:05
◼
►
you're absolutely right and he's funny
00:36:07
◼
►
shit and also think about how hot most
00:36:09
◼
►
of the colors are in these in these
00:36:10
◼
►
paintings they're always and again i
00:36:12
◼
►
can't get away from thinking about the
00:36:14
◼
►
skymall thinking about when I was a kid
00:36:17
◼
►
with Spencer's but also there's one
00:36:19
◼
►
store called Gallagher's they were
00:36:20
◼
►
basically like head shops you remember
00:36:22
◼
►
the stores in malls when we were kids
00:36:24
◼
►
right yeah we're kind of like it was a
00:36:26
◼
►
headshop head shop but started as a
00:36:29
◼
►
headshot mostly blacks whites regular
00:36:31
◼
►
store peaches sure but in these didn't
00:36:34
◼
►
you get your posters you get your you
00:36:36
◼
►
know slightly off color like you know
00:36:38
◼
►
bachelor party gifts there you can get
00:36:41
◼
►
the little balls the clock into each
00:36:42
◼
►
other and go back and forth you know
00:36:45
◼
►
what I bought one of those mmm
00:36:46
◼
►
one of my favorite of all time things
00:36:49
◼
►
and I got this in probably 78 it was I
00:36:54
◼
►
maybe three foot tall like punching
00:36:58
◼
►
dummy remember these the whatever that
00:37:01
◼
►
there was like a stress and admit to be
00:37:03
◼
►
a stress reducer yeah stress reducer was
00:37:05
◼
►
it was waiting on the bottom
00:37:07
◼
►
uh-huh it was blow up i'm sure look like
00:37:10
◼
►
a clown or something like that was in
00:37:11
◼
►
the shape of a it was in the shape of a
00:37:14
◼
►
schmoo except it was called qik Tricky
00:37:18
◼
►
Dick and it had it had Richard Nixon it
00:37:23
◼
►
was Richard Nixon a screen-printed on it
00:37:26
◼
►
goes running back like like his face was
00:37:29
◼
►
from facing you and then the back of his
00:37:32
◼
►
head was you know they had gone to the
00:37:34
◼
►
trouble of doing two designs and it was
00:37:36
◼
►
a bloody basically a three-foot-tall
00:37:38
◼
►
blow-up know maybe taller three
00:37:40
◼
►
three-and-a-half feet blow-up doll of
00:37:43
◼
►
Richard Nixon that you were meant to
00:37:45
◼
►
kick when you were mad wow and i got it
00:37:49
◼
►
at a head shop in the mall and I was so
00:37:51
◼
►
proud of it I got it had shopping mall
00:37:53
◼
►
in 1978 politically relevant though and
00:37:56
◼
►
I was so proud of this thing and I kept
00:37:59
◼
►
it i did it was displayed prominently in
00:38:00
◼
►
my room I haven't thought about that in
00:38:03
◼
►
years my god i I've got a lot of posters
00:38:05
◼
►
i would buy presents for like mothers
00:38:08
◼
►
day I would like world's greatest mom
00:38:10
◼
►
figurines from my mom there but there
00:38:13
◼
►
was a kind of over but you can
00:38:14
◼
►
understand the overriding aesthetic
00:38:15
◼
►
though was I mean tackies the wrong word
00:38:20
◼
►
it was it's so like insane you know you
00:38:22
◼
►
joke a lot about like the app class guys
00:38:24
◼
►
having a poster with a girl in a
00:38:26
◼
►
Lamborghini the only thing that got in
00:38:27
◼
►
there 15 million-dollar house it's not
00:38:30
◼
►
so far from that kind of aesthetic in
00:38:31
◼
►
some ways though where it's like I need
00:38:33
◼
►
to go buy some things to put in here to
00:38:35
◼
►
make this place classy
00:38:36
◼
►
Yeah right right right right like yeah I
00:38:39
◼
►
i can I know I i know enough i know just
00:38:42
◼
►
enough to know that my 14,000 square
00:38:45
◼
►
foot house looks unlived in with you
00:38:50
◼
►
because I only live in the kitchen in
00:38:52
◼
►
the TV room like III had a pretty good
00:38:55
◼
►
friend who made some rock and roll money
00:38:58
◼
►
and he had never you know he lived with
00:39:00
◼
►
his parents until he was in a rock band
00:39:02
◼
►
and then and then all the sudden had a
00:39:07
◼
►
bad at all son was rich and he bought a
00:39:09
◼
►
I bought a pretty big house for himself
00:39:12
◼
►
mid-century modern but he didn't know
00:39:16
◼
►
he hadn't he didn't he had fully
00:39:18
◼
►
domesticated himself and he was kind of
00:39:19
◼
►
waiting i think to get married you I
00:39:23
◼
►
lived in this freedom five-bedroom house
00:39:26
◼
►
and he had had one room he had a bed in
00:39:31
◼
►
his bedroom and then he had some kind of
00:39:35
◼
►
folding chairs in the in the living room
00:39:38
◼
►
a place for people to sit here that's
00:39:42
◼
►
and then he had a game room with the
00:39:46
◼
►
with the biggest TV you could buy at the
00:39:47
◼
►
time and all of his all the stuff that
00:39:49
◼
►
he cared about and I when we would go
00:39:52
◼
►
over there it was very difficult to have
00:39:54
◼
►
a party there because first of all
00:39:55
◼
►
there's no place to sit and second of
00:39:58
◼
►
all there's nothing to look at but but
00:40:00
◼
►
you know we would sometimes go there in
00:40:01
◼
►
for poker games where I would imagine
00:40:04
◼
►
him coming home on those days when he
00:40:07
◼
►
was just by himself like come in for his
00:40:09
◼
►
keys in the in the key jar stand in the
00:40:14
◼
►
entry a and look survey like the
00:40:19
◼
►
thousands of square feet at his disposal
00:40:21
◼
►
and then like right into the game room
00:40:23
◼
►
close the door and I couldn't I couldn't
00:40:26
◼
►
tell whether it was sad or wonderful i'm
00:40:29
◼
►
still not sure even now he lives in a
00:40:31
◼
►
beauty is married now and he lives in a
00:40:33
◼
►
beautiful home that is beautifully
00:40:34
◼
►
decorated let you know when you're
00:40:38
◼
►
trying to I mean again I i feel like i
00:40:42
◼
►
can speak with some Authority on this
00:40:46
◼
►
you know lower to middle class lower
00:40:48
◼
►
middle class and we weren't like you
00:40:50
◼
►
know impoverished but we didn't have a
00:40:52
◼
►
lot of dough and you know my parents
00:40:55
◼
►
born in the you know late twenties early
00:40:58
◼
►
thirties but like there was definitely
00:41:00
◼
►
this sense of like I don't know it's
00:41:03
◼
►
almost like the kind of thing you'd see
00:41:05
◼
►
like in a martin scorsese movie of where
00:41:07
◼
►
where people are trying to bring these
00:41:09
◼
►
things into their life
00:41:11
◼
►
that will the aisle I guess we all try
00:41:13
◼
►
to do this bring in something that says
00:41:14
◼
►
something about who you're becoming
00:41:16
◼
►
right not just like it isn't like you
00:41:19
◼
►
want you certainly don't want your your
00:41:21
◼
►
your parents furniture you want your own
00:41:23
◼
►
so you get this very very inexpensive
00:41:25
◼
►
furniture that is meant to be extremely
00:41:28
◼
►
fancy so in our case remember in 1976 we
00:41:31
◼
►
bought this French Rococo furniture for
00:41:34
◼
►
the house everything was French like
00:41:36
◼
►
rococo and it really kinda looked like
00:41:38
◼
►
something out of Goodfellas you know and
00:41:41
◼
►
but it was it was all so poorly made it
00:41:43
◼
►
was mostly hollow would you know what I
00:41:45
◼
►
mean yeah but it was supposed to add all
00:41:47
◼
►
those curly cues that you would hope
00:41:50
◼
►
would denote a certain kind of fanciness
00:41:52
◼
►
yeah did you guys have that what you
00:41:54
◼
►
would you have also when my mom uh left
00:41:57
◼
►
my dad we move down to Seattle and in
00:42:01
◼
►
the like perfect expression of who she
00:42:06
◼
►
was and what she what her aspirations
00:42:09
◼
►
were she outfitted our house like we had
00:42:14
◼
►
no money she outfit in our house with
00:42:18
◼
►
furniture that i cannot even begin to
00:42:22
◼
►
describe except i will now try was it
00:42:25
◼
►
was new or used for it was brand-new
00:42:27
◼
►
what you get you get really good credit
00:42:29
◼
►
this place is John you can basically
00:42:31
◼
►
vanilla room but now think about who my
00:42:34
◼
►
hm she's not going to is very practical
00:42:38
◼
►
she's not going to go in debt to some
00:42:40
◼
►
yuzuriha scred' 'it situation at a
00:42:44
◼
►
furniture store so our furniture and I'm
00:42:47
◼
►
talking about our entire house was red
00:42:51
◼
►
painted paper towel tubes that were
00:42:57
◼
►
connected with little plastic l-shaped
00:43:01
◼
►
connectors so you take a paper towel
00:43:03
◼
►
tube and stick a connector in it and
00:43:06
◼
►
then it would L and you'd stick another
00:43:09
◼
►
paper towel tube and not literally
00:43:12
◼
►
well no they were poster tubes so so I
00:43:16
◼
►
almost looks like pool furniture except
00:43:21
◼
►
casual-like lounge except literally made
00:43:25
◼
►
out of cardboard somehow my god so the
00:43:30
◼
►
l's and-and-and-and-and a lot of the
00:43:32
◼
►
joints were three-way right so you have
00:43:34
◼
►
one in the top tube and then to add a at
00:43:38
◼
►
a 90-degree angle or or yeah a 90 degree
00:43:42
◼
►
angle to one another to make the two
00:43:44
◼
►
sides of a table and you would just
00:43:46
◼
►
build these cubes out of poster tubes
00:43:51
◼
►
and they were the poster tubes were just
00:43:53
◼
►
big enough that like a child could stick
00:43:55
◼
►
their hand inside the tube
00:43:57
◼
►
yeah um literally like the poster tubes
00:44:03
◼
►
that had been painted red and then the
00:44:05
◼
►
the plastic parts were white and then
00:44:08
◼
►
over the top of you so you build a cube
00:44:11
◼
►
out of that and then there was a piece
00:44:12
◼
►
of plastic like um like whiteboard color
00:44:17
◼
►
that you would put over the top of it
00:44:20
◼
►
and that was your coffee table and then
00:44:22
◼
►
you would make another cube and are
00:44:24
◼
►
these were your end tables and then then
00:44:26
◼
►
there was a long cube which we call a
00:44:29
◼
►
rectangle a long low rectangle that you
00:44:33
◼
►
that was your that was your main coffee
00:44:34
◼
►
table and now there was actually
00:44:37
◼
►
furniture that you could sit on made out
00:44:40
◼
►
of these cardboard tubes that were you
00:44:44
◼
►
know assets by combining the right
00:44:46
◼
►
combination of these some you know these
00:44:49
◼
►
plastic adapters and whatnot that you
00:44:51
◼
►
could make a thing strong enough to hold
00:44:53
◼
►
an adult and this was our living room
00:44:57
◼
►
furniture and for a long time listen I
00:45:00
◼
►
mean what did you build them he was it
00:45:02
◼
►
modular where you buy the pieces and put
00:45:04
◼
►
it together yourself yeah yeah
00:45:06
◼
►
and-and-and just because of the nature
00:45:09
◼
►
of it you were building them and and
00:45:11
◼
►
rebuilding them every single day because
00:45:13
◼
►
because as a kid right you could take
00:45:17
◼
►
the furniture part it and as an adult I
00:45:20
◼
►
think people would sit down and be like
00:45:21
◼
►
this furniture is made out of cardboard
00:45:24
◼
►
tubes and they would like take it apart
00:45:26
◼
►
just out of fascination sure and then
00:45:30
◼
►
you gotta be like well that's really
00:45:31
◼
►
amazing and it was amazing and i can't
00:45:34
◼
►
believe that i mean because it couldn't
00:45:38
◼
►
have been cheaper to produce I can't
00:45:40
◼
►
believe that it's not still feature
00:45:42
◼
►
except that like it would be terrible
00:45:44
◼
►
dorm room furniture because the first
00:45:46
◼
►
time somebody got drunk and leaned on
00:45:48
◼
►
something like the whole witches would
00:45:51
◼
►
be destroyed like you had to be somewhat
00:45:55
◼
►
ginger like it's not like you could
00:45:57
◼
►
climb on the coffee table right i mean
00:45:59
◼
►
it would break in seven hundred ways so
00:46:02
◼
►
but this was her solution she needed
00:46:05
◼
►
furniture for our house and she found
00:46:08
◼
►
this there's a part of me at the time
00:46:10
◼
►
that thought maybe she had just gone to
00:46:12
◼
►
run to the drug store and bought a bunch
00:46:15
◼
►
of stuff and painted herself but it but
00:46:17
◼
►
it had it had a quality where somebody
00:46:21
◼
►
this was somebody's business plan
00:46:23
◼
►
somebody had that thought this up and
00:46:27
◼
►
this was a product they were selling I
00:46:29
◼
►
never had never seen it anywhere else
00:46:30
◼
►
and what's amazing is that a few of
00:46:32
◼
►
those few of those furniture items
00:46:35
◼
►
stayed with us all the way through to
00:46:40
◼
►
the mid-eighties right we still had a
00:46:42
◼
►
couple of those end tables and I is that
00:46:48
◼
►
they played another role in my life
00:46:51
◼
►
formative role you make a bong no they
00:46:55
◼
►
wouldn't have been a terrible bomb stuff
00:46:57
◼
►
but the coffee table was the first thing
00:47:02
◼
►
to to go because the big long coffee
00:47:07
◼
►
table right in front of the in front of
00:47:09
◼
►
the couch you want to put big books on
00:47:11
◼
►
it but more importantly you want to put
00:47:13
◼
►
your feet on it and this thing was just
00:47:16
◼
►
not strong enough to have a have
00:47:19
◼
►
somebody put their feet up on the coffee
00:47:21
◼
►
table and so the coffee table was the
00:47:23
◼
►
thing that seemed like the tubes were
00:47:27
◼
►
just too long to support like the first
00:47:30
◼
►
time some guy came over and through his
00:47:32
◼
►
feet up there just started to sag
00:47:34
◼
►
and so when I was learning my
00:47:36
◼
►
multiplication tables my mom decided
00:47:39
◼
►
that she was going to sacrifice the
00:47:43
◼
►
coffee table what remained of the coffee
00:47:44
◼
►
table she was going to sacrifice to this
00:47:46
◼
►
project and so she took the top off the
00:47:50
◼
►
coffee table ended up against the wall
00:47:52
◼
►
and made a giant and with a black marker
00:47:55
◼
►
made a giant times tables on it
00:47:58
◼
►
Wow and we would sit and study our times
00:48:02
◼
►
tables and she already knew them but we
00:48:05
◼
►
would sit and I would study my times
00:48:07
◼
►
tables on this giant coffee table a
00:48:11
◼
►
piece of plastic and then I think it
00:48:14
◼
►
went back on the coffee table the
00:48:17
◼
►
remaining another sort of end and life
00:48:21
◼
►
of the coffee table it would go you know
00:48:24
◼
►
facedown and we continue to use it as a
00:48:28
◼
►
table for a while and then we would flip
00:48:30
◼
►
it up and do our times tables
00:48:32
◼
►
um and then eventually like it all went
00:48:36
◼
►
to the landfill and your mom's a
00:48:39
◼
►
yeah well you know you gotta listen man
00:48:43
◼
►
waste not want not choose to use every
00:48:46
◼
►
part of the Buffalo this episode of rock
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on the line is sponsored by Squarespace
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◼
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always thank you so much to our friends
00:50:16
◼
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Squarespace build it beautiful oh my god
00:50:24
◼
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i found some my daughters getting to
00:50:28
◼
►
that age where she likes looking at old
00:50:29
◼
►
pictures like old family pictures and
00:50:31
◼
►
she found a bunch the other night
00:50:33
◼
►
actually the last night that confirmed
00:50:36
◼
►
something I thought I was misremembering
00:50:38
◼
►
but that we were actually one of those
00:50:42
◼
►
families that on on the nice furniture
00:50:46
◼
►
we would always put like plastic
00:50:49
◼
►
oh sure sure you did because you
00:50:51
◼
►
listened oh yeah this but like I goes is
00:50:53
◼
►
something everybody did like when once
00:50:55
◼
►
you arrive and i don't remember this is
00:50:57
◼
►
not super interesting but i do remember
00:50:58
◼
►
you know back then everybody would
00:51:00
◼
►
arrive at a point where like I get not
00:51:02
◼
►
everybody but it was not uncommon to
00:51:04
◼
►
arrive at a point where you had a place
00:51:06
◼
►
that you're renting and maybe you're
00:51:08
◼
►
making a little more money than before
00:51:09
◼
►
you're mostly making ends meet and I see
00:51:11
◼
►
my really feel like I remember the
00:51:12
◼
►
furniture companies being very
00:51:15
◼
►
aggressive about things like okay no
00:51:16
◼
►
money down or small money down and you
00:51:18
◼
►
can get this entire room this suite of
00:51:21
◼
►
course when we did arrive at that point
00:51:23
◼
►
by the mid seventies we have to really
00:51:26
◼
►
take care of everything
00:51:27
◼
►
so this this whole is some liquor
00:51:30
◼
►
appalling couch that we had to replace
00:51:33
◼
►
our old appalling couch i do remember my
00:51:35
◼
►
mom putting a plastic cover on it that
00:51:38
◼
►
that made it really really uncomfortable
00:51:41
◼
►
and and really quite ugly but you have
00:51:43
◼
►
to keep the couch nice that was just the
00:51:45
◼
►
kind of thing that that that we did is
00:51:47
◼
►
that our family was a cover the
00:51:48
◼
►
furniture family it's it's it's
00:51:51
◼
►
interesting because we definitely were
00:51:54
◼
►
not and i would go to people's houses
00:51:56
◼
►
that had covered the furniture
00:51:58
◼
►
and I you know was told that it was like
00:52:01
◼
►
my what I always assumed was that you
00:52:06
◼
►
left the covers on the furniture until
00:52:08
◼
►
guests came special guest and then you
00:52:10
◼
►
took the covers off stands to reason but
00:52:12
◼
►
no one ever took the covers off and then
00:52:14
◼
►
when when my mom got me my mom got a
00:52:16
◼
►
good job and moved to Alaska and I was
00:52:22
◼
►
already living in Alaska with my dad and
00:52:24
◼
►
all of a sudden my mom is living in
00:52:27
◼
►
Alaska to and has a nicer house than my
00:52:30
◼
►
dad and it was like whoa time
00:52:33
◼
►
times have changed fortunes have
00:52:34
◼
►
switched around and then my mom moved
00:52:39
◼
►
again into a much nicer house in the
00:52:43
◼
►
nice neighborhood no less and she had
00:52:46
◼
►
leverage herself pretty highly at that
00:52:49
◼
►
point in fig specifically to get her
00:52:52
◼
►
dream home in it in a nice neighborhood
00:52:55
◼
►
it was right before i was going into
00:52:57
◼
►
high school she timed it all very
00:52:59
◼
►
purposefully oh so that I was during the
00:53:05
◼
►
time that I was in high school we lived
00:53:07
◼
►
in the nice neighborhood and in a nice
00:53:12
◼
►
house in that neighborhood so she was
00:53:15
◼
►
fulfilling her own dream and also trying
00:53:19
◼
►
to facilitate my path through life
00:53:22
◼
►
did you I mean if I'm not being too much
00:53:24
◼
►
into this to like get into a good school
00:53:28
◼
►
well that the schools in Anchorage were
00:53:30
◼
►
sort of all about the same if it was it
00:53:33
◼
►
was that she didn't want me to go or
00:53:35
◼
►
rather she perceived that if she lived
00:53:40
◼
►
in a nice neighborhood and I went to the
00:53:41
◼
►
and I started high school from the nice
00:53:43
◼
►
neighborhood that i would have a social
00:53:45
◼
►
leg up right that I wouldn't be going
00:53:48
◼
►
home on the on the school bus to the
00:53:51
◼
►
poor neighborhood I would be living in
00:53:53
◼
►
the rich neighborhood with the other
00:53:55
◼
►
with the rich kids who were going to go
00:53:56
◼
►
to the good schools like it was a very
00:53:58
◼
►
it was it was it was a a move that was
00:54:01
◼
►
conscious of the social undercurrents
00:54:06
◼
►
and and she was playing up it was a part
00:54:09
◼
►
of her fantasy to both to have the nice
00:54:12
◼
►
and to be the mother of a kid who's you
00:54:14
◼
►
know she was the only single parent in
00:54:16
◼
►
that whole neighborhood
00:54:17
◼
►
Wow everybody else was you know married
00:54:21
◼
►
with kids and they ostracized her for
00:54:24
◼
►
being a single woman who was presumably
00:54:27
◼
►
they're into the women all that was a
00:54:29
◼
►
real thing yeah the women all presumed
00:54:31
◼
►
that she was there to steal their
00:54:32
◼
►
husbands and you know and the the
00:54:35
◼
►
neighbor the the local husband's the
00:54:37
◼
►
neighbor men would come by on Saturday
00:54:39
◼
►
afternoon stand there with their rake
00:54:41
◼
►
you know like it was standing with a
00:54:44
◼
►
rake like how's it going over here you
00:54:45
◼
►
need any help you know like it was it
00:54:47
◼
►
was there was a there was weirdness
00:54:49
◼
►
about being a single woman particularly
00:54:52
◼
►
a single mother and I heard from a lot
00:54:54
◼
►
of kids like that kind of the way kids
00:54:58
◼
►
repeat the things that they here at
00:55:00
◼
►
their dinner table just that all the
00:55:03
◼
►
suspicion and fear about a woman living
00:55:05
◼
►
on her own with two kids and a nice
00:55:07
◼
►
house in the name it was like you know
00:55:09
◼
►
my mom was was was very she's very
00:55:16
◼
►
definitely like standing with her head
00:55:19
◼
►
held high and her chin out like yeah
00:55:22
◼
►
that's right i bought that I bought the
00:55:24
◼
►
corner house on on stanford and
00:55:28
◼
►
princeton right like I i and i must then
00:55:31
◼
►
I'm a single mom and fuck you and of
00:55:34
◼
►
course like any other I loved being in
00:55:38
◼
►
the in the rich neighborhood right it
00:55:40
◼
►
was it was although I although I learned
00:55:43
◼
►
to hate it because rich kids are
00:55:47
◼
►
yeah but at the time it seemed like a
00:55:49
◼
►
real real positive it's not a one-time
00:55:51
◼
►
thing where once you're in a bad but we
00:55:52
◼
►
talked about at length I mean now you
00:55:54
◼
►
need the right alligator on your shirt
00:55:55
◼
►
oh yeah and I didn't and you know and so
00:55:57
◼
►
she was not willing having gotten a nice
00:55:59
◼
►
how she was not willing to put an
00:56:01
◼
►
alligator on one of my shirts that's not
00:56:03
◼
►
not in a million years she still
00:56:06
◼
►
maintained her like you know her farm
00:56:09
◼
►
ethics she was going to repurpose the
00:56:11
◼
►
coffee table multiple times but what she
00:56:14
◼
►
did do was buy a set of furniture for
00:56:17
◼
►
the living room that we were not allowed
00:56:19
◼
►
dawn and it was the first time it at
00:56:23
◼
►
anything like that had ever happened
00:56:24
◼
►
like all of a sudden we weren't allowed
00:56:27
◼
►
in the living room and I was like what
00:56:30
◼
►
am i a fucking cat I'm allowed in the
00:56:33
◼
►
goddamn room i am the son of this house
00:56:35
◼
►
i'm the scion of this legacy and I would
00:56:38
◼
►
go and sit in the living room and she
00:56:39
◼
►
would come in and say get off those
00:56:40
◼
►
couches and everything maybe with the
00:56:44
◼
►
spray bottle shoe and and so for several
00:56:48
◼
►
years there after we moved into that
00:56:51
◼
►
house we had a living room and the thing
00:56:52
◼
►
is that the shitt the furniture she
00:56:53
◼
►
bought was like light pink verging into
00:56:57
◼
►
white and I wasn't what we weren't
00:57:01
◼
►
allowed to go in there except christmas
00:57:02
◼
►
morning and if somebody came by which
00:57:05
◼
►
she made every attempt to prevent ever
00:57:08
◼
►
happening right no one ever came by she
00:57:11
◼
►
never had anybody over 240 she kept the
00:57:14
◼
►
blinds closed and she I think she would
00:57:16
◼
►
go in at night and stand in the doorway
00:57:18
◼
►
of her perfect living room and it gave
00:57:20
◼
►
her a tremendous satisfaction but she I
00:57:24
◼
►
guess she had finally she had fun she
00:57:26
◼
►
finally purchased a house that was big
00:57:28
◼
►
enough that there could be a room in the
00:57:29
◼
►
house that no one used and the American
00:57:32
◼
►
check that's right and then she set up
00:57:34
◼
►
this room in her perfect in a perfect
00:57:36
◼
►
vision of what that looked like and then
00:57:39
◼
►
she would be damned
00:57:41
◼
►
that's it that's kind of like the
00:57:42
◼
►
historical role of the parlor right
00:57:44
◼
►
it's not keeping it live very keeping
00:57:46
◼
►
that the rooms really just for Kennedy
00:57:47
◼
►
or the Pope yeah exactly and and she
00:57:50
◼
►
didn't put plastic over it but I think
00:57:52
◼
►
she later wish she had because when i
00:57:55
◼
►
first started drinking one of the first
00:58:00
◼
►
arm one of maybe in the first 20 times i
00:58:05
◼
►
drank because you know the first time I
00:58:07
◼
►
drink I got shit-faced and then every
00:58:09
◼
►
successive time i drank i got shit-faced
00:58:11
◼
►
there was never there was never a time
00:58:12
◼
►
when I had two beers not a single time
00:58:15
◼
►
for the beginning from the very
00:58:17
◼
►
beginning I was just how interesting
00:58:19
◼
►
this is this alcohol is amazing how much
00:58:22
◼
►
of this can I drink and I was just like
00:58:26
◼
►
and so it was it it was never explained
00:58:29
◼
►
to me and it never occurred to me that
00:58:31
◼
►
there was another way to drink beer or
00:58:35
◼
►
wine coolers or champagne or whatever
00:58:39
◼
►
was handed to me except as much as you
00:58:42
◼
►
can get like as much as you can get away
00:58:43
◼
►
with man and then it later on somebody
00:58:48
◼
►
suggested that we have a couple of beers
00:58:50
◼
►
and I remember just be like the point of
00:58:53
◼
►
that be a couple of beers with what it
00:58:56
◼
►
what are you talking about to start
00:58:58
◼
►
right a couple of beers but I mean but
00:59:01
◼
►
anyway one of the time one of those
00:59:03
◼
►
times I came home somebody drop me off
00:59:05
◼
►
got me to the front door and ran and I
00:59:10
◼
►
made it into the front room peed myself
00:59:13
◼
►
took off all my clothes and then fell
00:59:19
◼
►
asleep on her pink couch
00:59:20
◼
►
oh no John and I woke up in the morning
00:59:23
◼
►
to her sitting in the big chair
00:59:26
◼
►
oh god this and it was the first time
00:59:29
◼
►
she'd seen you drunk no she'd seen it
00:59:32
◼
►
before but what made this moment special
00:59:38
◼
►
was that my dad was also there my dad
00:59:41
◼
►
who was not often invited into my mom's
00:59:44
◼
►
house had been invited over and so there
00:59:47
◼
►
had been no she came downstairs
00:59:49
◼
►
obviously she wakes up at five in the
00:59:50
◼
►
morning she came downstairs
00:59:52
◼
►
sami Trump with my p close you know in a
00:59:56
◼
►
kind of fire sale a path
00:59:56
◼
►
kind of fire sale a path
01:00:00
◼
►
into her living room me naked on the
01:00:02
◼
►
couch and so she know what woke up at
01:00:05
◼
►
five in the morning had time to have
01:00:08
◼
►
breakfast herself all my father tell him
01:00:11
◼
►
to come over and then they woke me up at
01:00:14
◼
►
9i think woke me up by going and then I
01:00:20
◼
►
had to hear what was the first of many
01:00:22
◼
►
alcoholism lectures from my two parents
01:00:27
◼
►
combined working together as a team
01:00:29
◼
►
it was a it was an auspicious and
01:00:33
◼
►
inauspicious christening of those pic
01:00:36
◼
►
couches let me say did you did she have
01:00:39
◼
►
a way for you to make good
01:00:40
◼
►
well everybody was much more worried
01:00:44
◼
►
about the fact that i was recapitulating
01:00:47
◼
►
the family curse because my older
01:00:50
◼
►
brother and my father's father my father
01:00:54
◼
►
himself at all had all gone down this
01:00:56
◼
►
path and so they were I'm and I could
01:00:58
◼
►
only imagine if you know if you're
01:01:01
◼
►
fifteen-year-old kid I mean talk about
01:01:03
◼
►
calling them on the phone from the fort
01:01:04
◼
►
lauderdale airport and and checking
01:01:06
◼
►
their starting at their facebook post if
01:01:08
◼
►
you're fifteen-year-old kid is like not
01:01:10
◼
►
just coming home drunk but but but you
01:01:14
◼
►
but you know what the end game of the
01:01:17
◼
►
stories they were super super worried
01:01:20
◼
►
how do you feel well I feel like a I
01:01:28
◼
►
feel like two things it never occurred
01:01:33
◼
►
to me that I was anything but an
01:01:36
◼
►
alcoholic from the very beginning from
01:01:41
◼
►
the first time I had a great because my
01:01:42
◼
►
dad was a recovering alcoholic from
01:01:44
◼
►
before I was born
01:01:45
◼
►
so the only time that alcohol was ever
01:01:48
◼
►
referenced and and by that I mean all
01:01:51
◼
►
the fucking time because growing up in
01:01:54
◼
►
Alaska in the seventies it was like
01:01:57
◼
►
Dodge City right everybody was shitfaced
01:02:01
◼
►
all the time people would go out to
01:02:03
◼
►
lunch and come back to their job running
01:02:07
◼
►
the pipeline and be like six martinis in
01:02:11
◼
►
and their job was to sit there and
01:02:14
◼
►
control the the pressure of the oil
01:02:16
◼
►
running through the pipes got and
01:02:18
◼
►
they're just like I'm flying I got it
01:02:20
◼
►
absolutely you know like it was a it was
01:02:22
◼
►
a a culture of of abuse and so I'd heard
01:02:27
◼
►
about alcohol I'd seen it I had I'd seen
01:02:31
◼
►
it all around me and and with my dad's
01:02:34
◼
►
kind of like critique of it which was he
01:02:38
◼
►
never talked out of the side of his
01:02:39
◼
►
mouth my dad always spoke right out of
01:02:42
◼
►
the front of his mouth and we you know
01:02:44
◼
►
but but but like bars were the only
01:02:46
◼
►
place that you could socialize in Alaska
01:02:48
◼
►
so we would go into bars and sit there
01:02:49
◼
►
and be just people like getting in
01:02:51
◼
►
gunfights and my dad would be a little
01:02:55
◼
►
walking over to them and like you ever
01:02:57
◼
►
thought about going to Alcoholics
01:02:58
◼
►
Anonymous so so the first time I ever
01:03:03
◼
►
had a drink it I knew I was an alcoholic
01:03:06
◼
►
it never occurred to me that I wasn't
01:03:07
◼
►
and my performance as a young drinker
01:03:11
◼
►
reinforced than I was and so on my
01:03:14
◼
►
parents woke me up that morning we're
01:03:16
◼
►
like you are exhibiting the signs of
01:03:17
◼
►
being an alcoholic
01:03:19
◼
►
it's a very bad road to be on and you
01:03:22
◼
►
need to really take a hard look at it I
01:03:25
◼
►
was like asked and answered
01:03:27
◼
►
I've already taken a hard look at it I'm
01:03:29
◼
►
an alcoholic what's next where do I you
01:03:31
◼
►
know like where do I sign up for the
01:03:33
◼
►
alcoholic a adventure and I don't think
01:03:38
◼
►
anybody I don't think they have the I
01:03:40
◼
►
don't think they anticipated that and I
01:03:43
◼
►
and i'm not sure that i actually
01:03:45
◼
►
communicated that I think I probably did
01:03:49
◼
►
was look chastened and a and sort of
01:03:53
◼
►
nodded and SAT there you know head
01:03:55
◼
►
spinning it was like I'm sorry i'll try
01:03:57
◼
►
not to do it again and I I basically
01:03:59
◼
►
said I'm sorry i'll try not to do it
01:04:01
◼
►
again for 10 or 12 more years and no one
01:04:07
◼
►
in my life ever realized that I knew I
01:04:10
◼
►
was a fucking alcoholic and I was trying
01:04:13
◼
►
to plumb the depths of that are like I
01:04:16
◼
►
was trying to find what
01:04:18
◼
►
I knew I knew about the concept of a
01:04:19
◼
►
bottom I was like let's see if i can
01:04:21
◼
►
find mine really at 15
01:04:24
◼
►
yeah because because there's you know
01:04:28
◼
►
there's that other side of never knew I
01:04:30
◼
►
never knew that it was in your case that
01:04:34
◼
►
it that it was really like 0-200 kind of
01:04:38
◼
►
thing I figured it was you know typical
01:04:40
◼
►
kind of high school maybe escalating
01:04:42
◼
►
little more being on the weekends but
01:04:44
◼
►
from the from the beginning for you it
01:04:45
◼
►
was all or nothing
01:04:47
◼
►
yeah and-and-and it was it was always
01:04:51
◼
►
crazy to me I remember the first time I
01:04:53
◼
►
was sitting in a meeting and listening
01:04:56
◼
►
to everybody's going around and gets to
01:04:58
◼
►
this guy he's like you know I don't know
01:05:00
◼
►
why I'm here
01:05:01
◼
►
he's probably 30 i don't know why I'm
01:05:06
◼
►
I mean oh I know why I'm here because
01:05:10
◼
►
the cops are making me come here because
01:05:12
◼
►
I got five duis and the whole the whole
01:05:17
◼
►
meeting just breaks up everybody's
01:05:20
◼
►
laughing and the guys like what are you
01:05:21
◼
►
fucking laughing about
01:05:23
◼
►
and somebody's like dude if you got five
01:05:25
◼
►
duis and sometimes they caught him
01:05:28
◼
►
those are the times we caught it right
01:05:29
◼
►
five prosecuted duis where they've taken
01:05:33
◼
►
your license right um you have a
01:05:36
◼
►
drinking problem and the guys like what
01:05:38
◼
►
are you even talking about I just go
01:05:40
◼
►
drink like a normal person and it was
01:05:43
◼
►
this it was this like dawning
01:05:45
◼
►
realization you saw it on his face as
01:05:48
◼
►
people are like very gently kind of any
01:05:51
◼
►
you know most a meeting you there is not
01:05:53
◼
►
crosstalk but this guy was inviting it
01:05:55
◼
►
was like let's talk some other people
01:05:58
◼
►
comment about comment on what you're
01:05:59
◼
►
saying right and that's generally
01:06:00
◼
►
frowned on it's not part of the culture
01:06:02
◼
►
right he just you say your piece and
01:06:04
◼
►
then the next person says their piece
01:06:06
◼
►
and even if the next person like
01:06:07
◼
►
obliquely refers to what you just said
01:06:09
◼
►
it's American is crosstalk also where
01:06:12
◼
►
people could potentially say that sounds
01:06:15
◼
►
like bullshit you really supposed to do
01:06:18
◼
►
that we're not supposed to do that
01:06:19
◼
►
okay if the person is saying bullshit
01:06:21
◼
►
the presumption is that if they stick
01:06:24
◼
►
around in a meetings long enough there
01:06:26
◼
►
one day going to be like holy shit
01:06:28
◼
►
I have been full of shit all this time
01:06:29
◼
►
and that's because everybody else is
01:06:32
◼
►
probably tried the same route he hasn't
01:06:34
◼
►
worked there's nothing new in those
01:06:35
◼
►
meetings right so the end and what how
01:06:37
◼
►
often happens is the next person to talk
01:06:38
◼
►
or somewhere down the road some old old
01:06:42
◼
►
timer will be like will basically talk
01:06:44
◼
►
about themselves and say to the effect
01:06:48
◼
►
something like I remember when I was
01:06:51
◼
►
full of shit and it was a really hard
01:06:55
◼
►
experience when I realized it because
01:06:58
◼
►
I'd been in a 44 years before I realized
01:07:01
◼
►
that everything that had come out of my
01:07:03
◼
►
mouth was bullshit and everybody in the
01:07:05
◼
►
room nods and you just hope that you
01:07:10
◼
►
know that the person that it needs to
01:07:13
◼
►
hear that can hear it but of course they
01:07:15
◼
►
can't right that's what's amazing about
01:07:17
◼
►
those meetings is that everybody just
01:07:19
◼
►
says what's on their mind and you just
01:07:21
◼
►
go and sometimes somebody will open
01:07:23
◼
►
their mouth the first word they that
01:07:25
◼
►
comes out of Matthew just like this guy
01:07:26
◼
►
is going to give us 15 minutes of the
01:07:29
◼
►
worst self-justifying bullshit and
01:07:32
◼
►
there's nothing we can do its part of
01:07:34
◼
►
the meeting we didn't see anything you
01:07:35
◼
►
have after a few months or years of that
01:07:37
◼
►
they're there must be certain kinds of
01:07:40
◼
►
types like us you must see a certain
01:07:43
◼
►
kind of like well i can tell that person
01:07:44
◼
►
in this particular phase right now
01:07:46
◼
►
yeah it's the it's the five stages of
01:07:48
◼
►
grief or whatever it's the same same
01:07:50
◼
►
type of thing and you just at but
01:07:51
◼
►
somebody might go there for a really
01:07:53
◼
►
not really want to be there and it isn't
01:07:56
◼
►
like everybody gets there the first week
01:07:58
◼
►
they break down and go out you know I'm
01:08:00
◼
►
i see the light now
01:08:02
◼
►
no you can go to a four years i'm not
01:08:04
◼
►
and not do it must be so weird have so
01:08:07
◼
►
many people in different states of I
01:08:10
◼
►
mean you know me mr on it seems like
01:08:12
◼
►
there must be people incredibly
01:08:13
◼
►
different phases of all sorts of aspects
01:08:15
◼
►
of that process it must be very weird
01:08:17
◼
►
it's really weird
01:08:18
◼
►
particularly since one of the dominating
01:08:20
◼
►
for one of the dominant characteristics
01:08:22
◼
►
of alcoholics is that they want to tell
01:08:23
◼
►
everybody how to do it so that's baked
01:08:27
◼
►
into the concept right everybody in the
01:08:30
◼
►
room is sitting there quietly and in
01:08:34
◼
►
their own minds saying off
01:08:36
◼
►
fuck if I could just stand up right now
01:08:40
◼
►
and explain what why this person is
01:08:43
◼
►
doing it wrong and matter and so
01:08:44
◼
►
everybody I mean because that is an
01:08:46
◼
►
alcoholic trait 2a 2b the inner to be
01:08:50
◼
►
the expert and so its roots of I mean
01:08:53
◼
►
that's what makes it that's why I'm a
01:08:55
◼
►
supporter of that program it is a
01:08:56
◼
►
fascinating like multifaceted experiment
01:09:02
◼
►
in psychologist seems like you might
01:09:04
◼
►
have to find out like completely unknown
01:09:07
◼
►
and untapped levels new levels of
01:09:09
◼
►
humility for that to be something you
01:09:11
◼
►
stick with in progressive it seems like
01:09:14
◼
►
you've gotta constantly find a new level
01:09:16
◼
►
it's the core it's the core is it that's
01:09:18
◼
►
why it works right it's the because the
01:09:20
◼
►
people that manage to get there are
01:09:25
◼
►
basically experiencing the toughest the
01:09:32
◼
►
toughest Reuters n which is being
01:09:35
◼
►
confronted every day with people who are
01:09:38
◼
►
exhibiting all the things about yourself
01:09:40
◼
►
that you hate the most
01:09:41
◼
►
and not being able not not being able to
01:09:45
◼
►
do anything except listen you know every
01:09:49
◼
►
every single person in a MTG wants to
01:09:51
◼
►
take it over and be the chief different
01:09:53
◼
►
and no one can say somewhere they are
01:09:55
◼
►
right then yeah you know again it's
01:09:57
◼
►
based on and there's somebody that's got
01:09:59
◼
►
30 years of sobriety there's somebody
01:10:00
◼
►
because 40 years of sobriety and I you
01:10:05
◼
►
know and there's somebody that's got 60
01:10:07
◼
►
days of sobriety and they want to take
01:10:09
◼
►
the meeting over and tell everybody how
01:10:10
◼
►
to do it and it's just like yeah
01:10:12
◼
►
whatever they would they call that phase
01:10:15
◼
►
with the cloud pink cloud or something
01:10:19
◼
►
like that is in their face like when you
01:10:21
◼
►
first stop drinking and you start to
01:10:25
◼
►
feel a lot better and like you get this
01:10:27
◼
►
I i know that there's a lot of
01:10:29
◼
►
nomenclature be careful about I want to
01:10:31
◼
►
abuse it but was there something
01:10:32
◼
►
everybody goes through when you first
01:10:33
◼
►
get off it and then you start to feel
01:10:35
◼
►
like you're feeling better and you're
01:10:37
◼
►
feeling you know sober and then
01:10:39
◼
►
everybody goes through this phase of the
01:10:40
◼
►
tank haha now I've got it
01:10:42
◼
►
yeah right and for me it happened about
01:10:45
◼
►
between three and six months we're just
01:10:48
◼
►
like at six months you feel like fuck I
01:10:51
◼
►
had you been drinking for six months or
01:10:54
◼
►
six months in program uh I mean there
01:10:57
◼
►
were multiple times that I quit drinking
01:10:58
◼
►
for six months right but I never but the
01:11:02
◼
►
final time when I was really going to
01:11:05
◼
►
Alcoholics Anonymous all the time and
01:11:07
◼
►
was you know and and was trying to be
01:11:11
◼
►
sober instead of just like being forced
01:11:14
◼
►
to be sober or experimenting with being
01:11:17
◼
►
sober but I was like okay I'm gonna ice
01:11:20
◼
►
i have i have been to the edge I've
01:11:22
◼
►
stood and looked down I lost a lot of
01:11:24
◼
►
friends and so I hey I'm like I'm in
01:11:30
◼
►
this to win this or at least I'm trying
01:11:31
◼
►
to make it through and at six months I
01:11:33
◼
►
was just like I'm I feel amazing
01:11:36
◼
►
I've got this thing on lock and then
01:11:38
◼
►
invariably right you come to the next
01:11:42
◼
►
turtle which is that it's not a thing
01:11:44
◼
►
you can ever really have unlock you have
01:11:46
◼
►
to just do whatever you know everything
01:11:50
◼
►
even if you're not drinking again he
01:11:52
◼
►
still doesn't mean it seems like there's
01:11:54
◼
►
also obviously like backsliding or
01:11:55
◼
►
whatever but then there's that sense
01:11:58
◼
►
that it's not uncommon to have a sense
01:12:00
◼
►
to feel like you've turned the corner
01:12:01
◼
►
there's no way you could go back at this
01:12:03
◼
►
point that's a common thing right very
01:12:05
◼
►
common and the and the next thing that
01:12:07
◼
►
comes out of your mouth is and since
01:12:09
◼
►
it's impossible but I could ever go back
01:12:11
◼
►
there's no reason why I shouldn't have
01:12:12
◼
►
one drink one drink camp because it's
01:12:14
◼
►
fuckin new years eve or whatever and
01:12:16
◼
►
there's no way there's no way I'm going
01:12:18
◼
►
to ever be an alcoholic again
01:12:20
◼
►
so what's the harm in having one little
01:12:24
◼
►
tiny drink I that I've never thought
01:12:28
◼
►
about that the way here described such a
01:12:31
◼
►
fascinating organization to me and the
01:12:34
◼
►
work that they do is you know so
01:12:35
◼
►
incredible but so weird
01:12:37
◼
►
yeah because now and the reason i'm
01:12:39
◼
►
thinking of this is it's like you think
01:12:41
◼
►
about nothing this is not much change
01:12:43
◼
►
topic but if you're trying to like help
01:12:45
◼
►
somebody who you know is really fucking
01:12:47
◼
►
wrong and really stupid and the example
01:12:49
◼
►
here being like look at me or you and
01:12:51
◼
►
we're teenagers full stop right and
01:12:53
◼
►
there's there's it's a lot like
01:12:56
◼
►
jamac it because you feel like you
01:12:59
◼
►
first of all you know you better than
01:13:01
◼
►
anybody obviously you know your
01:13:04
◼
►
you-know-what you struggled with you
01:13:06
◼
►
know what you've gotten through and like
01:13:08
◼
►
and who is more fucking dangerous than
01:13:10
◼
►
like a 15 year old boy who thinks he's
01:13:12
◼
►
figured it out for now yeah and and you
01:13:14
◼
►
know there's on the one hand there's
01:13:16
◼
►
part of me that has an old guy look at
01:13:17
◼
►
that I think I remember being like that
01:13:19
◼
►
and still like that in many ways it's
01:13:21
◼
►
just the irony of course we always feel
01:13:22
◼
►
like we've got to figure it out but like
01:13:24
◼
►
it's so impossible sometimes to even
01:13:27
◼
►
know what level to try and help somebody
01:13:28
◼
►
at and if they even want to be helped
01:13:31
◼
►
like the amount and i say here why a
01:13:33
◼
►
teenager because there's no way for a
01:13:35
◼
►
teenager even know like how fucked up
01:13:37
◼
►
they are that their brain is not done
01:13:39
◼
►
you know being formed yet there's the
01:13:41
◼
►
big middle part of their brain that's
01:13:42
◼
►
still just a bunch of mush taking crazy
01:13:44
◼
►
risks they have you know what I mean
01:13:45
◼
►
they're not getting enough sleep there's
01:13:47
◼
►
all kinds of things that are making you
01:13:48
◼
►
a teenager and who are biologically
01:13:52
◼
►
incapable of being able to see these
01:13:54
◼
►
things that everybody else in the world
01:13:55
◼
►
can see like you know why why do you
01:13:57
◼
►
keep like hanging out with this group of
01:14:00
◼
►
people they're obviously not good for
01:14:02
◼
►
your why do you keep doing this
01:14:04
◼
►
self-destructive thing or why do you why
01:14:06
◼
►
are you being so negative about this
01:14:07
◼
►
because there's all these kinds of
01:14:08
◼
►
things but the recent survey is it
01:14:09
◼
►
sounds like you know an 18 year old me
01:14:12
◼
►
would want to counsel fifteen-year-old
01:14:14
◼
►
me a certain way because he thinks he's
01:14:16
◼
►
got to figure it out right because if
01:14:17
◼
►
you're always super-smart haha i can
01:14:19
◼
►
help those kids 20 22 year-old male will
01:14:21
◼
►
Jesus Christ we like it to 27 because
01:14:24
◼
►
that's what I'm really fucking smart
01:14:25
◼
►
I knew everything when I was 27 I could
01:14:27
◼
►
certainly council this poor bastard to
01:14:29
◼
►
be but you know it's really it's so
01:14:31
◼
►
interesting to think about everybody in
01:14:32
◼
►
the group is helping themselves and
01:14:34
◼
►
helping others partly when they threw
01:14:36
◼
►
the track of kids they're always
01:14:37
◼
►
stepping back onto is going like
01:14:39
◼
►
humility and like we've all got shit to
01:14:42
◼
►
learn and there's all things were even
01:14:44
◼
►
me who's been this program for 40 years
01:14:46
◼
►
or whatever they're still support to
01:14:48
◼
►
this adventure that I haven't seen yet
01:14:49
◼
►
and i still have a lot to learn and
01:14:51
◼
►
that's ultimately what gives me the
01:14:52
◼
►
humility to keep showing up and helping
01:14:54
◼
►
people the best I can without thinking
01:14:56
◼
►
anybody's got the fucking answer right
01:14:58
◼
►
music I mean I find it fascinating as an
01:15:01
◼
►
approach nowhere else in the world you
01:15:03
◼
►
actually see that kind of an approach to
01:15:05
◼
►
improvement of everybody going like look
01:15:07
◼
►
I'm only good at this
01:15:09
◼
►
I'm not trying to be the expert at this
01:15:10
◼
►
and that is why it is you
01:15:12
◼
►
it's a unique a thought experiment in
01:15:16
◼
►
the history of humankind right i mean I
01:15:19
◼
►
that's why AAA has been so bastardized
01:15:22
◼
►
and the recovery movements have swept
01:15:24
◼
►
Lincoln eighties and nineties when it
01:15:26
◼
►
will end and even now I mean there are
01:15:28
◼
►
people right now who are paying five
01:15:31
◼
►
thousand dollars a week to be in an AAA
01:15:33
◼
►
style a rehab where ultimately it isn't
01:15:39
◼
►
a a style because if you have someone in
01:15:42
◼
►
charge and if you have bars on the
01:15:45
◼
►
windows or if you have any kind of
01:15:48
◼
►
coercion then it's not a and and the
01:15:53
◼
►
courts routinely send people to
01:15:57
◼
►
Alcoholics Anonymous as part of her
01:15:58
◼
►
punishment and those people are there
01:16:00
◼
►
and they put their little you know what
01:16:02
◼
►
they're a basket goes around the room
01:16:04
◼
►
and everybody put a dollar in just to
01:16:09
◼
►
pay for coffee
01:16:10
◼
►
who but a basket goes around the room
01:16:13
◼
►
and people put in their little green and
01:16:14
◼
►
blue and yellow slips that they get from
01:16:17
◼
►
the court right so that somebody at the
01:16:20
◼
►
a meeting signs off on it and they can
01:16:21
◼
►
take it back to their parole officer and
01:16:23
◼
►
say yeah went to a but as soon as that
01:16:25
◼
►
element is there i don't think it's a
01:16:28
◼
►
banana just treating it like the way in
01:16:30
◼
►
an old movie you would treat the army or
01:16:34
◼
►
yeah right where you say well you're
01:16:35
◼
►
going to here's the thing you won't i
01:16:37
◼
►
won't find you guilty of this if you go
01:16:38
◼
►
join the army or I won't find you guilty
01:16:40
◼
►
of this if you start getting some church
01:16:42
◼
►
in you write that the idea that there is
01:16:44
◼
►
something that needs to be reformed
01:16:45
◼
►
about you that whether you're willing or
01:16:48
◼
►
proximity to this group and their
01:16:50
◼
►
practices will be something that can't
01:16:52
◼
►
help but make you better than you are
01:16:54
◼
►
right now sorry bastard
01:16:56
◼
►
it sounds like with a there's that's a
01:16:57
◼
►
completely inaccurate assumption to make
01:16:59
◼
►
well i don't know i mean it is entirely
01:17:01
◼
►
possible that somebody sits in a forced
01:17:04
◼
►
a a situation for six months and goes at
01:17:08
◼
►
you know somewhere along the line goes
01:17:10
◼
►
this actually is getting through to me
01:17:12
◼
►
but like two things when when you're
01:17:17
◼
►
about six months in getting sober at
01:17:20
◼
►
least in my experience I remember having
01:17:22
◼
►
but oh my god I'm so lucky because I
01:17:26
◼
►
wish everybody in the world had to hit
01:17:29
◼
►
this moment where they needed to be in a
01:17:35
◼
►
because it's such a it's such a
01:17:38
◼
►
fascinating and and you know humbling
01:17:43
◼
►
experience and I'm i have an insight now
01:17:46
◼
►
that I couldn't have had otherwise but I
01:17:48
◼
►
wish everybody shared it's like the
01:17:52
◼
►
first time you take LSD and you're like
01:17:53
◼
►
well I wish everybody in the world would
01:17:54
◼
►
take LSD one time and going to LA and
01:17:57
◼
►
going 2a is is very similar it's like
01:17:59
◼
►
fuck if everybody you know they're there
01:18:03
◼
►
are a lot of people out there laboring
01:18:04
◼
►
along and this knowledge is so useful
01:18:10
◼
►
mhm um that I wish everybody shared it
01:18:14
◼
►
but but the fundamental thing about a
01:18:16
◼
►
guy that's been sober for 40 years who
01:18:19
◼
►
keeps going 2a is that he keeps learning
01:18:22
◼
►
things about himself from listening to
01:18:26
◼
►
people who are you have been sober for
01:18:29
◼
►
wow wow wow that is not something you
01:18:34
◼
►
can duplicate it's not something you can
01:18:36
◼
►
package and put a price on and and and
01:18:43
◼
►
ultimately the reason that he is there
01:18:46
◼
►
and subjecting himself to that which is
01:18:49
◼
►
uncomfortable and which is like you know
01:18:52
◼
►
listen to somebody has been sober for 60
01:18:54
◼
►
days talk about how much they know if
01:18:57
◼
►
you've been sober for two years is just
01:18:59
◼
►
like here you just look so bad and yet
01:19:03
◼
►
you're there because you want to not
01:19:06
◼
►
because you want to what whatever that
01:19:09
◼
►
is and so last year I get a phone call
01:19:14
◼
►
from some manager
01:19:17
◼
►
and there and this happens this happens
01:19:20
◼
►
periodically manager says I know that
01:19:23
◼
►
you are sober and I go yeah and they say
01:19:27
◼
►
well I've got a one of my artists is
01:19:31
◼
►
struggling and I'd like you to talk to
01:19:34
◼
►
them if you would and i go of course and
01:19:38
◼
►
I get on the phone and in this
01:19:40
◼
►
particular case it's a it's an artist
01:19:43
◼
►
that never met but whose you know who
01:19:46
◼
►
was a big rock star but younger than me
01:19:49
◼
►
and getting in a lot of troubles drunken
01:19:53
◼
►
and and so forth and he's like yeah I
01:19:58
◼
►
manager soon as she call you
01:20:00
◼
►
you know I'm like what do you want to
01:20:02
◼
►
stop drinking and he's like well i mean
01:20:04
◼
►
i keep getting it you know i'm screwed
01:20:06
◼
►
up my life I'm like that doesn't mean
01:20:07
◼
►
you want to stop drinking right he's
01:20:10
◼
►
like well I mean you know I if I don't
01:20:13
◼
►
do something I'm gonna go ruin my career
01:20:15
◼
►
and I'm like that doesn't mean you want
01:20:17
◼
►
to stop drinking look people fucking
01:20:18
◼
►
ruin their families destroy their kids
01:20:22
◼
►
burn their house down like do you want
01:20:26
◼
►
to stop drinking and we talked six seven
01:20:30
◼
►
eight times late at night most of the
01:20:33
◼
►
time he was fucked up man
01:20:35
◼
►
and every time he wants to argue with me
01:20:38
◼
►
you know he's like well Jim Morrison is
01:20:41
◼
►
my hero and so's Bukowski and so's
01:20:45
◼
►
Hemingway he was looking to find a way
01:20:47
◼
►
to reframe the conversation while you
01:20:49
◼
►
are consistently asking exactly the same
01:20:52
◼
►
question exactly the same way
01:20:53
◼
►
yeah and I was just like well yeah Jim
01:20:55
◼
►
Morrison and Hemingway and Bukowski um
01:20:58
◼
►
what about you what do you want to stop
01:21:00
◼
►
drinking or do not like if you want to
01:21:03
◼
►
die like Bukowski go for it why are you
01:21:08
◼
►
calling me and he you know and he's a
01:21:12
◼
►
guy who had who everybody in his life is
01:21:15
◼
►
like ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod you've
01:21:17
◼
►
gotta stop drinking you've gotta stop
01:21:19
◼
►
and he you know they put him in touch
01:21:22
◼
►
with me and I'm like I don't listen I
01:21:23
◼
►
don't give a fuck if you stop drinking
01:21:25
◼
►
is like he's used to be in the beautiful
01:21:27
◼
►
yeah he's the Beautiful Losers like move
01:21:28
◼
►
fucking Bukowski band and I'm like a
01:21:31
◼
►
Bukowski yeah right
01:21:33
◼
►
makowsky right Hemingway right uh do you
01:21:38
◼
►
want to stop drinking or do you not if
01:21:39
◼
►
you do then I'll i got some
01:21:41
◼
►
recommendations and i'll talk to you on
01:21:43
◼
►
the phone as much as you want if you
01:21:46
◼
►
don't and you want to talk to me on the
01:21:49
◼
►
phone about it i'm happy to talk to you
01:21:51
◼
►
on the phone about it but I'm I'm not
01:21:54
◼
►
gonna argue with you about how Jim
01:21:57
◼
►
Morrison is your role model
01:21:59
◼
►
I you know like go for it like it
01:22:03
◼
►
seriously if you want to drink and ruin
01:22:06
◼
►
it is totally beautiful it's like
01:22:09
◼
►
unbelievable year like us shooting star
01:22:12
◼
►
man but if you want to stop drinking it
01:22:16
◼
►
sucks it's hard it's bullshit but it so
01:22:20
◼
►
it's a thing that you either want or you
01:22:22
◼
►
don't and if you don't don't waste
01:22:24
◼
►
everybody's time if you do like there's
01:22:29
◼
►
a they're like things you gotta do one
01:22:31
◼
►
of them as you stop drinking and then
01:22:33
◼
►
the next thing is you take a look around
01:22:35
◼
►
and start to think you start listening
01:22:39
◼
►
to people that have done it and you know
01:22:40
◼
►
it is not the enemy must be difficult
01:22:42
◼
►
because it's not really a negotiation
01:22:44
◼
►
like this is the way it goes right it's
01:22:46
◼
►
so difficult and what ended up happening
01:22:48
◼
►
with this guy is that that he you know
01:22:53
◼
►
some drunken night called me four
01:22:56
◼
►
o'clock in the morning and was time you
01:22:58
◼
►
know talking to me about Bukowski and I
01:23:02
◼
►
was like dude I've read every Bukowski
01:23:05
◼
►
everything and I and I saw Bukowski at
01:23:10
◼
►
75 years old or whatever in that
01:23:12
◼
►
documentary kick his girlfriend and
01:23:15
◼
►
Bukowski's an asshole and whatever I
01:23:17
◼
►
like if you want to be Bukowski why call
01:23:19
◼
►
me at four o'clock in the morning call
01:23:21
◼
►
your girlfriend and tell her how
01:23:23
◼
►
Bukowski you are
01:23:24
◼
►
and he you know and what our thing just
01:23:27
◼
►
like memory memory Charles Bukowski
01:23:29
◼
►
calling people in the middle of the
01:23:30
◼
►
night to talk about Charles Bukowski but
01:23:32
◼
►
what ended up happening was somebody got
01:23:35
◼
►
him into an expensive recovery program
01:23:39
◼
►
and now he pay my understanding is that
01:23:42
◼
►
he pays a chaperone to tour with him
01:23:48
◼
►
he's got like a den mother
01:23:49
◼
►
yeah well and then so his relationship
01:23:53
◼
►
to not drinking is that he's basically
01:23:56
◼
►
in that in that metallica situation
01:23:58
◼
►
where they're paying some guy all right
01:24:01
◼
►
to sit in the room with them and be like
01:24:03
◼
►
I'm hearing you say that you love the
01:24:07
◼
►
cows key and i'm getting paid fifteen
01:24:11
◼
►
thousand dollars a week to tell you why
01:24:16
◼
►
don't you have some hummus and you know
01:24:18
◼
►
just like a just over to something if
01:24:22
◼
►
you see from outside you just go wow
01:24:24
◼
►
this is not it's not tenable because as
01:24:29
◼
►
soon as he can sneak away
01:24:31
◼
►
he's going to take to oxycontin's and
01:24:33
◼
►
then he's going to come back and he's
01:24:35
◼
►
going to pretend to be sorry and he's
01:24:37
◼
►
gonna do burger and that and maybe you
01:24:39
◼
►
can keep that going you know maybe maybe
01:24:41
◼
►
he can keep that going through the
01:24:42
◼
►
through the life life of his bad there's
01:24:45
◼
►
no there's nothing in anything that he
01:24:46
◼
►
said to you that made it makes you think
01:24:48
◼
►
that he actually wanted anything to be
01:24:50
◼
►
that different know what he wanted was
01:24:53
◼
►
exactly not to bug him any one of the
01:24:55
◼
►
exact same thing I wanted which was to
01:24:58
◼
►
be able to drink like the people in the
01:25:02
◼
►
stories and to have all the to have all
01:25:07
◼
►
the glamorous problems of the people in
01:25:08
◼
►
the stories which is to say the
01:25:10
◼
►
fistfights and the broken bottles and
01:25:13
◼
►
look and the women who are so sad and
01:25:17
◼
►
weeping over you but that he also wanted
01:25:22
◼
►
it like in the stories to result in
01:25:25
◼
►
appealed surprise winning novel in a
01:25:28
◼
►
Grammy winning record
01:25:30
◼
►
ultimately will cause everyone to
01:25:31
◼
►
forgive him and he doesn't want to wake
01:25:34
◼
►
up with a broken nose he wants to wake
01:25:37
◼
►
up having given the other guy broken
01:25:39
◼
►
nose you know he has a fantasy just like
01:25:42
◼
►
I did of how it's going to play out and
01:25:44
◼
►
when it starts not playing out like your
01:25:46
◼
►
fantasy you feel like all you gotta do
01:25:49
◼
►
is make some minor adjustment maybe
01:25:51
◼
►
talked to some guy who's going to give
01:25:53
◼
►
you a couple of secrets about how you
01:25:55
◼
►
can you know a lot of people come in
01:25:57
◼
►
today and they're like what's the secret
01:25:58
◼
►
that will allow me to keep drinking and
01:26:01
◼
►
partying and raging but stop waking up
01:26:03
◼
►
with a broken nose
01:26:05
◼
►
it's like well if you if you've woken up
01:26:07
◼
►
with a broken nose
01:26:09
◼
►
you're already past the point where the
01:26:11
◼
►
secret is useful to you
01:26:14
◼
►
there isn't one and and this is but this
01:26:17
◼
►
is the problem in so much of life I and
01:26:19
◼
►
this is why i always felt like a a wood
01:26:21
◼
►
would help people and warned alcoholics
01:26:25
◼
►
is that there are so many people whose
01:26:26
◼
►
lives start to deviate from the fantasy
01:26:29
◼
►
they had in mind and what they do is
01:26:33
◼
►
cling to the fantasy harder and harder
01:26:35
◼
►
and their lives resemble that fantasy
01:26:39
◼
►
less and less and their reaction is to
01:26:43
◼
►
just be disappointed and increasingly
01:26:45
◼
►
bitter as they as they frantically grasp
01:26:50
◼
►
at the fantasy of what the what they
01:26:51
◼
►
thought it was going to be and and maybe
01:26:53
◼
►
find more and more similar valid reasons
01:26:57
◼
►
for why they've been denied that fantasy
01:26:59
◼
►
that they kind of deserve sure it's the
01:27:02
◼
►
man or its people could just be people
01:27:05
◼
►
misunderstanding you right or it could
01:27:08
◼
►
be it could you know i mean but I mean
01:27:09
◼
►
with you the way described like that was
01:27:12
◼
►
the idea of being that you want to be
01:27:14
◼
►
the one to punch somebody in the nose
01:27:15
◼
►
not the guy gets punched in the nose not
01:27:17
◼
►
either one of those a particularly
01:27:18
◼
►
glamorous thing to be but you know you
01:27:21
◼
►
could walk around thinking you're the
01:27:22
◼
►
guy that throws the punches like you're
01:27:24
◼
►
really you're really the guy who's just
01:27:25
◼
►
I mean how many more broken noses will
01:27:28
◼
►
yeah right and the thing is that for
01:27:29
◼
►
whatever character in your head that's
01:27:31
◼
►
not your character that's not your kid
01:27:33
◼
►
that's exactly right your character as a
01:27:35
◼
►
net you see this a lot you see this I
01:27:38
◼
►
mean this is what the whole wedding
01:27:40
◼
►
planner industry is based on
01:27:43
◼
►
that you know you have an idea that you
01:27:45
◼
►
are the bride and the bride looks like
01:27:49
◼
►
this on her wedding day and she feels
01:27:51
◼
►
like this on her wedding day and so you
01:27:56
◼
►
suddenly you're 26 years old and you
01:27:59
◼
►
don't feel like that and you and then
01:28:02
◼
►
you you meet somebody and you're like
01:28:04
◼
►
okay you are cast in the role of the
01:28:06
◼
►
prince and now you need to make me feel
01:28:08
◼
►
like I'm supposed to feel on my wedding
01:28:09
◼
►
day and the Prince character goes what
01:28:13
◼
►
I've just got I'm just a guy that you
01:28:15
◼
►
met in a bar and it's like no you're
01:28:18
◼
►
posing one of those old-timey photos at
01:28:19
◼
►
a amusement park like roaches put his
01:28:22
◼
►
hat on but this add-on and now you're
01:28:24
◼
►
the groom and what your job is to make
01:28:26
◼
►
me feel like I'm supposed to feel on my
01:28:28
◼
►
wedding day and so the beano like
01:28:30
◼
►
there's a huge industry of people who
01:28:34
◼
►
are there to make you look like you
01:28:35
◼
►
imagined you were going to look on your
01:28:37
◼
►
who but there's very little you can do
01:28:40
◼
►
about how you imagined you were going to
01:28:42
◼
►
feel on your wedding
01:28:43
◼
►
man that's good and so that is you know
01:28:47
◼
►
a lot of people go into their wedding
01:28:49
◼
►
with that already you know already
01:28:52
◼
►
disappointed that they don't feel like
01:28:53
◼
►
they thought they should feel and and
01:28:57
◼
►
that's true of so much of what we do and
01:29:00
◼
►
the hardest thing in the world to be
01:29:01
◼
►
like is to basically be here now be like
01:29:04
◼
►
right I am I am neither the guy that
01:29:07
◼
►
throws the punch nor the guy who was
01:29:09
◼
►
punched I am this guy who has been
01:29:12
◼
►
punched and doesn't want it and not
01:29:19
◼
►
and I mean I still at the problem with
01:29:22
◼
►
me i didn't sober for 20 years and the
01:29:27
◼
►
reason that anyone who's been sober 20
01:29:30
◼
►
years would go to a meeting is that it
01:29:33
◼
►
still is a present problem i wake up
01:29:37
◼
►
every day and I still go well I don't
01:29:40
◼
►
want to be the guy that gets punched I
01:29:42
◼
►
want to be the guy that throws the punch
01:29:43
◼
►
and it's like you know what guy
01:29:45
◼
►
ok what you should be as a guy sitting I
01:29:48
◼
►
guess right now listening to somebody
01:29:49
◼
►
who's 60 days sober saying that same
01:29:52
◼
►
thing and that will help you a little
01:29:55
◼
►
bit get you know like it's a it's a it's
01:30:00
◼
►
a it's a version of life it's a way of
01:30:02
◼
►
looking at life that is really
01:30:05
◼
►
unflinching um but it's the closest to
01:30:11
◼
►
reality that I've it's the closest
01:30:12
◼
►
philosophy of reality i've ever seen and
01:30:16
◼
►
that's notthat doesn't appeal to a lot
01:30:18
◼
►
of people myself included myself
01:30:21
◼
►
included but there you know but there it
01:30:24
◼
►
is you want you want reality i am
01:30:28
◼
►
reality but your dollar in the basket
01:30:32
◼
►
John that was good