FH Mini 147 - Mental Health Day

[0:00] Hey, everyone, and welcome to the Flophouse. I'm Dan McCoy.

Elliott Kalan

[0:07] Well, I'm Stuart Wellington.

[0:08] I'm...

[0:09] Ellie, Kayla, I'm not quite ready for how goofy that Stuart Wellington name was.

Dan McCoy

[0:14] Oh, yuck.

[0:16] Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho.

[0:20] This, of course, is the Flophouse podcast.

[0:23] It sure is.

[0:25] Every other week, we, of course...

[0:27] I don't know why I keep saying of course, as if you all know...

[0:29] Probably.

[0:30] Probably you do if you're listening.

[0:33] We watch a bad movie and then we talk about it.

[0:35] But then in the alternate weeks, we have what we call the Flophouse Mini, which is a more freestyle thing led by one of us.

Elliott Kalan

[0:44] And there's an alternate universe where we host the Glophouse, where we're just glorifying the interstellar conqueror, Glopp, who has taken control of Earth.

[0:52] And we are just trying to stay on his good side so we don't get put into the Floriglyzer, of course, the worst punishment of all.

Dan McCoy

[0:59] Uh-huh.

[1:00] How are you aware of what's going on in this alternate universe?

[1:03] Did you...

[1:03] Oh, I have a pen pal there.

[1:05] Okay.

Stuart Wellington

[1:06] I don't know.

[1:07] I'm part of the cult that believes that being put inside the floor, Pfizer, is the ultimate form of worship of Glorp, but that's me.

Elliott Kalan

[1:14] Yeah, that's very popular.

[1:15] That's not how any of that is pronounced, but you did a great...

[1:18] But it's true that the perspective does exist.

[1:20] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:22] Hey, so this is my mini.

Elliott Kalan

[1:23] The thing I just made up.

[1:24] That's not how...

[1:25] That's not the correct way of saying it, but...

Dan McCoy

[1:27] This is my mini, and I'm...

[1:31] Well, I'll just roll right into it.

[1:33] I'll say this.

Elliott Kalan

[1:34] Dan, don't be apologetic about the mini we haven't even heard yet.

[1:37] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[1:38] Well, maybe when you hear it.

[1:39] Things have been pretty bad in the world recently.

Elliott Kalan

[1:42] You're like, maybe when you hear it.

[1:43] There's a lot of shit on...

[1:45] A lot of shitty movies.

[1:45] What about shit in movies?

[1:47] Let's talk about Deficit on screen.

[1:49] Mm-hmm.

[1:50] Dan, this is not a good idea.

[1:52] Anyway, you're saying, continue.

Dan McCoy

[1:54] Let's get fecal with it.

[1:56] No.

[1:59] Things have been pretty bad.

Elliott Kalan

[2:00] In this game entitled Girls on Filth, and then you play the Duran Duran song, Girls on Film,

[2:05] but you've added the word filth into it.

[2:07] Let's go filth.

Dan McCoy

[2:09] Things have been pretty bad in the world lately.

[2:12] I don't think I'm...

[2:12] Oh, how so?

[2:13] Yeah, name one thing.

[2:14] ...breaking new ground and pointing this out.

[2:16] So I wanted to take this mini to do a little mental health check-in with my friends.

[2:22] Now, before we start, I do want to say...

[2:24] Dangerous.

Dan McCoy

[2:24] Dangerous thing to suggest.

[2:25] I do want to say that while I'm being a little silly by making this the premise of our mini,

[2:30] and I hope that we will have some laughs like we always do,

[2:32] I'm in no way making fun of the idea of a mental health check-in or anyone struggling.

[2:37] I take mental health seriously.

[2:39] I hope that hearing us talk will be helpful and make people feel less alone.

[2:44] And if anyone, of course, is really wrestling with sadness about the world, reach out to loved ones.

[2:50] But just because I think it's easily misunderstood that I'm taking this lightly,

[2:57] but I'm not trying to do that.

[2:59] I've got a few questions here, and while there will be some comedy, I hope there'll be truth.

[3:05] It'll be nice to go through them together.

[3:06] I found these 10 suggested check-in questions online at Mental Health America.

[3:13] And so, number one...

Elliott Kalan

[3:14] Wait, Dan, I just want to double check.

[3:16] I suddenly surged with hope.

[3:19] These are check-in questions, or could they be chicken questions?

Dan McCoy

[3:23] Because I'd love to answer the questions about chicken.

[3:25] You could make them into a chicken question.

[3:26] I think that one of them probably might involve chicken.

Stuart Wellington

[3:30] Oh, that sounds great.

[3:31] What is Camilla?

[3:35] I know this one.

[3:36] I know this one.

[3:37] No, the first question is, how are you feeling today?

Elliott Kalan

[3:39] The queen consort of England, I think.

Stuart Wellington

[3:42] Yeah.

[3:42] She's a...

[3:43] Right?

[3:44] And Gonzo is the king consort, right?

[3:47] Something like that.

[3:48] I'm king consort.

[3:53] I'm going to rampage through New York.

[3:56] Or we could talk about the promised consort, Rodan, of course.

[3:59] But we'll talk about him.

[4:00] Rodan?

Elliott Kalan

[4:01] Don't even know what that is.

[4:02] Yeah, Rodan, I'm familiar with both the sculptor and the monster.

[4:05] Yeah.

[4:05] Mm-hmm.

Dan McCoy

[4:06] Question number one.

Elliott Kalan

[4:07] How are you...

[4:07] Well, it might have been the same, but how did he sculpt with those little claws on his wings?

[4:12] That's why he's so good.

[4:13] Yeah.

[4:14] I've told this story before, right, about when I was a kid, I loved that movie Rodan.

[4:17] And the one time I wanted my parents to get it for me from the video store, as they usually did,

[4:22] and it was not in stock.

[4:24] And so my dad brought me back instead, Condor Man, the movie about the guy who was trying to be a superhero,

[4:28] because he's like, well, it's about a flying thing.

[4:31] And it did not scratch the same itch as Rodan.

Dan McCoy

[4:33] How did you like Rodan to Perdition?

Elliott Kalan

[4:38] I thought it was a little too grim.

[4:40] Okay.

[4:40] A little too gray, need a little bit of bright colors, you know?

[4:43] There were very few characters in it were eaten by giant bugs.

[4:47] So, you know, that was a problem.

[4:48] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[4:48] With that Conrad Hall cinematography, moi, chef's kiss.

[4:52] Oh, beautiful.

[4:52] Oh, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[4:54] Question number one.

[4:56] Captain Cook.

[4:57] And I'll jump...

[4:59] I'll jump in on some of these.

[5:01] How are you feeling today, really, physically and mentally?

[5:05] How are you feeling today, really?

Stuart Wellington

[5:08] Well, physically, I twisted my ankle two days ago, stepping in a pothole,

[5:13] because I couldn't go directly to the street when I parked,

[5:17] because there was a wall of snow.

[5:20] And that I was on my way to the gym already, and I was doing an upper body day,

[5:24] so I'm like, I'm just going to do it anyway.

[5:25] But then I could feel the adrenaline wearing off,

[5:28] and my ankle started to swell on my high top, so I'm like, fuck this.

[5:32] And since it's my birthday month, I've been, like,

[5:34] working out a little bit more than normal, because, you know, I'm trying to find...

[5:38] That's your present to yourself?

[5:39] Yeah, I'm trying to find some way to stem the inevitable oncoming tide of time.

[5:46] And so, let's see.

[5:48] So, that makes me...

[5:49] So, I've had to skip some of my workouts this weekend, but I should be okay.

[5:52] It's starting to feel better.

[5:53] I took it easy.

[5:54] I listen to my body.

[5:56] But I don't know.

[5:57] So, I'm feeling a little depressed, probably a little more than normal.

[6:01] Also, yesterday was Valentine's Day, and I feel like that kind of a...

[6:05] Those holidays, I find always a little bit depressing.

[6:08] I think I associate them with a feeling that I should have.

[6:12] With a lot of big holidays, I feel like I've been sold a feeling that I should experience

[6:18] or aspire to that I don't quite reach,

[6:20] and I feel the holiday is somewhat alienating.

[6:23] Hmm.

[6:25] Elliot?

[6:26] Doing good.

[6:27] Can't complain.

Elliott Kalan

[6:29] Okay.

[6:29] No, just kidding.

[6:30] I have my ups and downs.

[6:32] Yeah.

[6:32] But this weekend when we're recording this,

[6:35] I happen to be in a better place than I have been at other times.

[6:39] So, yeah.

[6:40] So, it could be worse.

[6:41] I mean, my job requires me to sit in front of a computer for long periods of time,

[6:45] and so I can feel my body turning into like an amorphous blob.

[6:50] But at the same time, my younger son is forcing me to get on the trampoline with him a lot,

[6:54] and so that's been giving me some activity.

[6:56] So, that's good.

[6:57] Yeah.

[6:57] You should start doing some like tramp tricks.

[6:59] Well, I do tramp tricks.

[7:00] I trick tramps.

[7:01] Like hobos will come by.

[7:02] Oh, tone.

[7:03] Oh, I'll give you a pie if you paint my fence.

[7:05] Life's hurting us.

[7:06] And then when they come to get the pie, I'll just lock the door and I say,

[7:09] sorry, thanks for painting my fence.

[7:11] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[7:11] Yeah.

[7:12] But you give them a book of stamps, and you're like, here, here's some tramp stamps,

[7:19] and you go, ha, ha, ha, that's my little joke, and then you close the door.

[7:22] Then I close the door.

Elliott Kalan

[7:23] And so, they'll write, mean man lives here on the post, but it's just a chalk.

[7:27] You can erase that.

[7:27] Yeah, it's hobo code.

[7:29] Yeah.

[7:30] The hobo code.

[7:31] Actually, it's the hobo code, which is like the hobo code, but for bros.

[7:35] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[7:35] So, it's like Monster Energy Drink available here.

[7:38] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[7:39] But you got to, you got to, you got to, you got to bros before hobos.

[7:41] That's just the way it goes, you know?

[7:42] You got to.

Dan McCoy

[7:43] And me, my physical and mental, I think, are tied in together.

[7:48] I woke up very tired today and just had a hard time getting going, and I was not,

[7:54] for that reason, looking forward to doing the podcast, just because it was a thing to do.

[7:59] I was in the mood where, like, I don't want to do a thing.

[8:03] And, but now, as always, once I see you guys, it cheers me up.

[8:08] You know, I'm doing okay.

[8:10] On Friday, I had just, like, I had to go out to do a bunch of, like, I had to go to a doctor's appointment.

[8:17] I had to go write.

[8:19] I had to meet someone.

[8:20] And, like, just being out in the world filled me with rage, like, in a, like, senseless way where I was just, like, mad at people that, you know, were just living their lives.

Elliott Kalan

[8:27] Dan, you're going to make such a great elderly shut-in someday.

[8:31] Yeah.

[8:31] It's just going to, it's going to feel so natural.

[8:33] It's going to feel so good.

[8:34] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[8:36] Hey, number two, what's taking up most of your headspace right now?

Elliott Kalan

[8:40] Work on my part.

[8:42] And I feel conflicted by that because I am very busy with work.

[8:47] And I've been working a lot of late nights, and it means that I often have to figure out how to balance time with my family with time trying to get the work I have done.

[8:56] But at the same time, I feel guilty about feeling unhappy about that because so many of my friends and colleagues are out of work right now.

[9:04] And it certainly feels churlish to complain about having something that provides a regular income when so many people I know are not fortunate enough to be in that situation.

[9:13] So I have the worst of both worlds, which is the stress of one thing and the guilt of having that stress.

[9:19] But I'm trying to be less emotionally connected to my work in some ways.

[9:24] And I think that's been helping me somewhat.

[9:26] But it still takes up far more of my mental space than I'd like it to be.

[9:30] And then the rest is just assorted family things, fear of the world that we live in, that kind of stuff, you know, dread.

[9:36] And not the cool dread who's judge, jury, and executioner, like the bad dread, yeah.

[9:40] He is pretty cool.

[9:41] Yeah.

[9:42] The bad dread, which I guess would be Judge Death.

Stuart Wellington

[9:44] Yeah, Judge Death, yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[9:46] Not Judge Doom, though.

[9:47] He's cool.

[9:48] Oh, no, he's great.

[9:49] Yeah, he's finally, because, you know, he's finally getting rid of those damn toons so we can build that freeway.

[9:55] I hate to tell you guys.

Stuart Wellington

[9:56] But when you take the streetcar for a nickel.

[9:58] I hate to tell you guys, he's also a toon.

[10:00] Wait, what?

[10:01] What?

[10:01] I know, it's crazy, right?

[10:03] No, no, but he's one of the good ones.

[10:04] I thought he just had an eye infection.

[10:06] Yeah, turns his eyes into daggers.

[10:10] That represents the sharp pain of the infection, yeah.

[10:13] Yeah, so what's been taking up most of my headspace?

[10:17] Just Warhammer stuff.

[10:20] I'm like, which guy's the best battler guy?

[10:23] No, I would say one of the things is, one of the things as a small business owner, I don't really have a...

Elliott Kalan

[10:31] No, you're a business owner of normal size.

[10:34] You're not a small man.

Stuart Wellington

[10:35] Oh, thank you.

[10:36] Well, I've been trying to trim down LA for my birthday.

[10:41] No, but running a couple of businesses, I don't have a boss and I very rarely have...

[10:48] While I have a lot of things scheduled, I rarely have long periods of time.

[10:52] I don't usually work shifts places, so I'm usually not required to be in a space from one time to another time.

[10:59] So I have a lot of different things in my calendar that can all be shifted around, but they all still need to be done.

[11:06] And it takes a weird amount of time to keep all those balls in the air and to keep all those things in the forefront of my head.

[11:15] And I should be using a scheduling thing more often, but I find that that is a habit that I'm not very good at maintaining.

[11:22] Even though I've done it consistently in the past, just not kind of since I've had a much more loose life schedule.

[11:30] So I find that a lot of my time is spent coordinating and also doing a lot of maintenance and support for my wife,

[11:39] who has been working extra hard since she has an even newer, more complicated business to run with Jiggle Studio, her gym,

[11:48] which is a completely new business for her.

[11:51] And it is requiring more energy in different ways than we were expecting,

[11:58] because we are coming from a background of running bars.

Dan McCoy

[12:03] You know, you talk about the difficulty sometimes of being your own boss.

[12:08] It's like some of that goes into what's occupying my headspace.

[12:13] Like, because I look, I've had a boss and I've had no boss.

[12:18] And, you know, overall, I do think I would prefer no boss.

[12:22] But there's a beauty in having a boss who tells you what your priorities are,

[12:26] especially as someone who has a hard time organizing his priorities.

[12:30] And one thing that was occupying my headspace a lot was writing this comedy script I was trying to write.

[12:38] And in the absence of a boss, I actually asked Elliot to be my fake boss and to sign me a deadline.

[12:44] Which I did.

[12:45] And you met it just barely.

[12:46] It was a psychological process to trick myself into doing a thing I wanted to do.

[12:52] And now, like, that that's out of my head.

[12:55] I actually, I signed up for this Flash screenwriting competition where, like, you get,

[13:00] not to make the next Flash movie, Elliot.

[13:03] I can see the idea of formulating in your brain.

[13:06] No, it's like, you get, like, a week to write the first, like, script.

[13:13] And it's like a 10-page.

[13:14] It's, like, far short, you know, based on some randomized suggestions.

[13:19] And then if you, you know, are in the finalists or whatever,

[13:24] you go on to do scripts in a couple of shorter different spans of time.

[13:28] And it's just a thing.

[13:29] Like, I don't think anything will come of it, like, career-wise.

[13:33] It's a thing that Audrey saw that I signed up for, for, like, a challenge.

[13:39] Just a thing to, like, work a different muscle.

[13:42] Yeah.

[13:42] So that's what's going to come up.

[13:44] But right now, I'm just here with you guys.

[13:46] I'm present, man.

Elliott Kalan

[13:48] Yeah.

[13:48] Oh, that's nice.

[13:49] That's real nice.

[13:50] I wish I could be.

[13:51] I'm all about working muscles.

Dan McCoy

[13:53] Now, your cat muscles?

[13:54] Is that what you're?

Stuart Wellington

[13:55] Yeah, yeah, my cat muscles.

[13:57] I like working them.

[13:58] He doesn't always get along, and he doesn't take direction very well.

Dan McCoy

[14:02] Now, to call back, here's where Chicken may enter the chat.

[14:07] Who knows?

[14:09] The question is, what was your last full meal?

[14:11] Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck.

Elliott Kalan

[14:11] Oh, Chicken has entered the chat.

Dan McCoy

[14:13] What was your last full meal, and have you been drinking enough water?

Elliott Kalan

[14:17] I'm sure I have not been drinking enough water.

[14:19] I know this because I recently experienced a very painful kidney stone that I did not enjoy at all.

[14:26] I don't—

[14:26] Oh, I usually hear they're, like, super fun.

[14:28] This one in particular—yeah, usually they're pretty great.

[14:30] It's like a little rollercoaster ride, but this one I give zero stars to, so I need to drink more water.

[14:35] I've been trying to, but not enough.

[14:37] I can tell from the dryness of my lips as I speak that I have not had enough water today.

[14:41] My last full meal, though, we're reporting this the day after Valentine's Day, and, of course, my wife cooked one of our—my favorite thing for her to make, which is a roast chicken.

[14:53] And so that was my last full meal was roast chicken.

[14:55] She does it the best.

[14:56] My wife makes—she cooks—she roasts the best chicken that ever existed, and—

Dan McCoy

[15:00] Camilla's pointing to herself on the television right now.

[15:04] Because the chicken was mentioned.

Elliott Kalan

[15:06] Yeah, and that's great.

[15:09] That was the perfect thing, exactly what I wanted.

[15:11] Exactly how she—one of the ways that she shows her love for me is by taking a chicken's corpse and just—and it's subjecting it to intense heat.

Dan McCoy

[15:19] Risley love language.

Elliott Kalan

[15:21] Yeah, exactly.

Dan McCoy

[15:22] Stuart, what was your last meal, and have you been having enough water?

Stuart Wellington

[15:26] I think I drink enough water.

[15:29] I do drink a lot of water.

[15:31] I probably drink too much coffee, but that's something else entirely.

[15:35] I—let's see.

[15:36] I mean, we're recording this at, like—we start at noon, so my last full meal was breakfast.

[15:42] I had what I always have, what I make every day for myself, which is a big old mess of scrambled eggs with hot sauce, toast, sliced pineapple, and coffee with oat milk.

Elliott Kalan

[15:57] Now, unless—unless I'm getting my—unless I'm getting my guesses wrong, those eggs probably came from a chicken, am I right?

[16:05] That's true.

Dan McCoy

[16:06] Probably.

[16:07] Probably.

[16:08] Yeah, he wasn't having quail's eggs this morning.

Elliott Kalan

[16:10] No, you didn't go out to—

[16:12] Peacock eggs.

[16:12] And collect some platypus eggs and roast them up, yeah.

[16:16] Scrab them up.

Stuart Wellington

[16:17] Yeah.

[16:18] Well, I had—

[16:18] I wonder what those taste like, platypus eggs.

Elliott Kalan

[16:22] They're pretty small.

[16:23] I don't know that there's a lot in them.

[16:24] I'm going to look it up.

[16:25] While you talk, Dan, I'm going to look up platypus egg taste.

[16:28] Taste good, question mark?

[16:30] I had—

[16:31] They're described as having an oily, slightly salty taste, reminiscent of a mix between red herring and wild duck.

Dan McCoy

[16:38] Oh, okay.

[16:38] Couldn't be.

[16:39] Essentially, okay.

[16:40] Turned it around at the end there.

[16:42] Oh, they always contain an embryo.

[16:44] Oh, okay.

[16:45] That's a deal breaker, I think.

Elliott Kalan

[16:47] No, I'm down.

[16:48] I'll try it.

Dan McCoy

[16:50] I had some leftovers of this sort of a Middle Eastern spiced lentil sort of mush that got put into some pitas and fried.

[16:59] It's more tasty than it sounds.

[17:01] And as to the water question, I don't know.

[17:04] Like, my doctor actually told me that some of the small things that have been bothering me might be just dehydration, electrolyte imbalance.

[17:14] And so I've just started getting some low-sodium, like, electrolyte powder that I'm drinking with water.

[17:23] I hope that it might—

[17:23] Why don't you just drink a bunch of Gatorade?

[17:26] I think the answer to your question is embedded in the question.

[17:32] Here's a question.

[17:33] In fact, it's question number four.

[17:35] How have you been sleeping?

[17:37] How have you been sleeping?

[17:39] I'm guessing LA doesn't sleep at all.

Elliott Kalan

[17:41] I don't sleep as much as I would like.

[17:42] I don't sleep great.

[17:44] My children have a habit of—

[17:45] I live in a house of people who don't sleep well, and my children have a habit of getting up in the middle of the night just to tell us they're not sleeping well, and there's nothing we can do about it.

[17:53] But it does wake us up, so there's that.

[17:56] I usually get not enough sleep, and the sleep quality is not great.

[18:00] So I am constantly living on the edge of exhaustion, which is not wonderful, which is not a great way to live.

[18:07] No, it's not.

[18:09] I'll agree with you.

[18:09] I would say the only thing that really is making—

[18:12] Dan, is it time for me to segue into the ad for this mini?

Dan McCoy

[18:15] Or no?

[18:16] Well, I mean, you can, I guess, if you want to, but we haven't fully answered this question as we go around.

[18:21] I think we'll—

[18:21] Oh, but let's finish it.

Elliott Kalan

[18:22] Because the ad is sleep-related, and it is the one saving grace of my sleep.

[18:27] No, that's true.

[18:27] We'll get to that.

[18:28] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[18:29] Stuart, how have you been sleeping?

Stuart Wellington

[18:31] I've been sleeping okay.

[18:32] I pretty regularly have a low-dosage weed gummy before bed or a weed chocolate, and that helps me kind of drift off.

[18:44] And I guess the—it also helps that my wife has recently started muting her phone, turning notifications off or whatever, which is great.

[18:57] She has it set on do not disturb so that, like, if somebody calls twice, it'll actually go off.

[19:05] But otherwise, it won't go off.

[19:07] And all of our staff know to call twice.

[19:11] Because she was getting, like, our—the bar staff group chats would be, like, somebody would find a fucking butt plug or something, and then everybody would be making jokes about the butt plug they found.

[19:21] And then that would just keep us up all night.

[19:24] Because she'd stick the phone under her pillow because she's, like, listening to her book on tape while she drifts off to sleep.

[19:29] So the phone's right there.

[19:31] No, that answers that question.

[19:31] So it's, like, going bonkers and waking me up.

[19:33] And then the other thing is I've been getting stricter about locking my cap muscles out of the bedroom because starting at, like, 6 a.m., he climbs on my chest, and he hammers his face into my chin, and he meows until I get up to feed him.

[19:47] And then at 8 o'clock, if—and then if I go—after he's done eating, he'll do it again because I'm in the bed, and he wants me to get out of the bed so he can be in the bed.

[19:56] And it's just a real mess.

[19:58] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[19:59] I was having a really, really bad sleep for a while.

[20:04] But, like, I was getting these muscle aches from joint stress.

[20:09] But as I've had more yoga, you know, stretching and building muscle at the same time, and as I've dropped a few pounds recently, my sleep's been getting better.

[20:22] Although my sleep window is shifting to old-person window, like, going to bed earlier and then being awake, you know, often as early as 5.30.

Stuart Wellington

[20:34] That's crazy.

Dan McCoy

[20:36] You know, sometimes I'm—you know, I usually make it to, like, 7.

[20:40] But, like, I have taken to sort of enjoying being up and awake before the house is up and awake.

[20:46] I mean, it's just Audrey and the cats.

[20:49] But I get that time then to, like, go out and read for a while, which starts my day off on a more peaceful note than otherwise.

[20:56] Especially because I've, like, made it as hard as possible to read any social media.

[21:01] Because if I see anything online these days, it ruins my whole day.

[21:05] So—

Stuart Wellington

[21:05] Yeah.

[21:06] What I—first thing I do when I wake up, in addition to stretching, and I usually get up before Charlene does, I'll get up and I'll stretch and drink my green juice.

[21:14] And I'll do the New York Times crossword for the day.

[21:17] And then I'll share my score with the podcaster Puzz Club group chat that we got going for the podcast nerds who are also doing the New York Times crossword.

[21:26] I am not the fastest in that group.

Dan McCoy

[21:29] But as Elliot teased before, let's take a brief ad break because one of the things that helps my mental health is knowing that I can pay my bills.

[21:37] So, Elliot, I believe we have a sponsor.

Elliott Kalan

[21:40] We do have a sponsor.

[21:41] And I should mention, I mentioned that I have some sleep issues.

[21:45] My kids have trouble sleeping through the night often to wake me up.

[21:48] And I don't get enough sleep just because I don't go to bed early enough, you know, and I have to wake up early in the morning.

[21:53] But one thing that is not getting in the way of my sleep is my mattress.

[21:59] Why?

[22:00] Because I've got a Lisa mattress.

[22:02] That's right.

[22:02] I think I've told a little bit of the story of the Lisa mattress that we had before.

[22:05] It was brought.

[22:06] My kids both wanted on their beds.

[22:09] And I said, no, eventually.

[22:11] No, I'm going to use it.

[22:12] And I'll tell you what.

[22:13] It's a great mattress.

[22:14] And if I had the hours to actually sleep on it the way I should, I would be sleeping in sleepful bliss like floating on a cloud.

[22:22] Because sleeping on a Lisa mattress, it's like you're sleeping on a mattress that was designed exactly for you.

[22:28] It moves the way I move.

[22:30] It's like I have my own Jaeger partner or whatever they're called in Pacific Rim.

[22:36] That's what they call them.

[22:36] Yeah, yeah.

[22:37] It's like the mattress and I are merging and melting in a way that is not gross and Cronenberg-y, but instead really comfortable and really relaxing to sleep.

[22:45] Lisa is just a good mattress.

[22:47] It has a lineup of beautifully crafted mattresses tailored to how you sleep.

[22:51] If you roll one way, you roll another way.

[22:53] Sleep on your belly.

[22:54] Sleep on your side.

[22:55] Sleep on your back.

[22:56] Lisa knows how to do it.

[22:57] Each mattress is designed with specific sleep positions and feel preferences in mind.

[23:02] And shouldn't we all look for the feel preferences that we prefer?

[23:06] From night one, you'll feel the difference.

[23:07] Premium materials that deliver serious comfort and full body support no matter how you sleep.

[23:12] It isn't just about sleep.

[23:13] It's also about impact, though.

[23:14] Lisa donates thousands of mattresses each year to those in need while also partnering with organizations like CleanHub to help remove harmful plastic waste from our oceans.

[23:24] So it's not just about giving you the night you deserve.

[23:26] It's about giving us all the world we deserve.

[23:30] So I can't recommend this mattress enough.

[23:32] It's a really solid mattress.

[23:33] And I mean that not in the way of physically like it's too solid.

[23:36] What I mean is that solid in terms of like high quality, high class, good mattress.

[23:41] Go to Lisa.com.

[23:43] That's L-E-E-S-A.com for 20% off plus get an extra $50 off with promo code FLOP.

[23:50] That's exclusive for our listeners.

[23:52] If you don't listen to our podcast, you do not get that promo code.

[23:55] It's just not going to happen.

[23:56] That's L-E-E-S-A.com promo code FLOP for 20% off plus an extra $50 off.

[24:03] Support our show.

[24:04] Let them know we sent you after checkout.

[24:06] Lisa.com promo code FLOP.

[24:08] And I'll just tell you again, genuinely, it's a really good mattress.

[24:11] It's just like they aren't paying us to put this ad on, but it is a good mattress.

[24:16] I'm very happy with it.

S4

[24:21] Hi there.

[24:22] Sorry to interrupt your podcast listening time.

[24:24] I know you're doing the dishes right now.

[24:25] That's okay.

[24:26] Don't worry about it.

[24:27] You might not know me, but I'm Brenda, and I'm here to tell you about the podcast I host

[24:31] with my good friend Austin.

[24:32] It's called Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries, and we cover all kinds of pop culture topics.

[24:36] Like, did you know that there was a real-life replica of The Simpsons' house in Las Vegas,

[24:40] Nevada?

[24:41] Or that Flint, Michigan was once home to an indoor amusement park themed around the automobile?

[24:45] If those things sound interesting, you should definitely check us out every Tuesday on Maximum Fun,

[24:50] or wherever you get podcasts.

[24:52] Goodbye.

[24:52] You can get back to your dishes now.

[24:54] It's fine.

S5

[24:55] The wizards answer eight by eight.

[25:00] The cornclaves call to demonstrate their arcane gift, their single spell.

[25:08] They number 64 until a conflagration.

[25:14] 63 and 62 they soon shall be, as one by one the wizards die, till one remains to reign on high.

[25:31] Join us for Taz Royale, an Oops All Wizards Battle Royale season of The Adventure Zone, every other Thursday on MaximumFun.org, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Dan McCoy

[25:42] Now, back to the questions.

[25:44] Question five.

[25:45] This is, uh, Stuart will enjoy this.

[25:48] Uh-oh.

[25:49] What have you been doing for exercise?

Elliott Kalan

[25:50] Who's the strongest Warhammer battler?

Stuart Wellington

[25:52] No, that's a complicated question.

[25:56] It's probably, uh, Rabouté Gouliman.

[25:59] Robert Guillaume.

Elliott Kalan

[26:00] I never know when you're answering Warhammer stuff, I never know if you're just making it up off the top of your head or if it's real stuff.

Dan McCoy

[26:05] It might be Angron.

[26:08] Uh, no.

[26:09] The question is, what have you been doing for exercise?

[26:11] Oh.

Elliott Kalan

[26:12] Uh, in my case, unfortunately, very little.

[26:14] Again, like I said, I have very little time to do it.

[26:16] So if I, if there's a day where I can walk around the block twice, that is a, that's a solid day.

[26:21] And, uh, lately my, like I said, my younger son has been making me go on the trampoline with him.

[26:25] That's been better for me, but I really need to get more exercise in.

[26:29] I bought a stationary bicycle.

[26:31] I was using that for a while.

[26:32] Then one of the pedals fell off, and I have not been able to reattach it properly.

[26:35] And so that it really got in the way of my using it regularly.

[26:38] Uh, so I'm either going to have to cut off one of my own legs to make it a little easier.

[26:42] Or find something else to do.

[26:44] Stuart, you seem like a guy who works out.

[26:46] What do you do?

Stuart Wellington

[26:47] Oh, yeah.

[26:48] I do sometimes.

[26:49] Um, I, uh, so for exercise, I obviously stretch for at least 30 minutes every morning.

[26:56] And, uh, four days a week.

[26:57] 30 minutes of stretching?

[26:59] Yeah.

[27:00] That's a lot of stretching.

[27:01] Oh.

[27:02] Okay.

[27:02] I mean, you should, you should be doing that too.

[27:04] Um, and I do, uh, I go to the gym and do weight training four days a week.

[27:10] I do a upper lower split.

[27:13] So two, two days a week, I'm doing upper, uh, push pull upper body exercises.

[27:18] The other two days I do lower body with, uh, some like compound core strengthening stuff.

[27:24] And then I also try up until my recent ankle injury, I was doing 30 minutes a day on the treadmill as well.

[27:31] Which also doubles as a good time for me to watch some TV because we have a treadmill in the bedroom and I can get through my stories while, uh, on the treadmill.

[27:41] And you know what, what went well with, uh, treadmill time?

[27:45] Heated rivalry.

[27:46] Very propulsive.

Dan McCoy

[27:49] Uh, and, uh, you know, I mentioned yoga.

[27:51] I do that twice a week for an hour.

[27:54] Um, but I also just, uh, recently bought, I realized I needed some cardio exercise and I bought these, um, ropeless jump rope things.

Stuart Wellington

[28:04] Jump rope's fucking brutal.

Dan McCoy

[28:06] Well, like I, you know, I was, I'm very easily influenced when it comes to things that might improve my life, but would require me to have a lot of self discipline.

[28:15] So we'll see if I keep at it.

[28:17] But like, I think I, I read some article about how good jump roping was for you.

[28:22] But you know, like I live here in New York, like there's not room like within my house to jump rope really, uh, without hitting something.

[28:31] And, uh, if I went outside right now, I'd fall down on the ice.

[28:35] So what I got were these, uh, ropeless jump ropes that look like basically a morning star, like a Nerf morning star without spikes on it.

[28:43] That's pretty cool.

[28:43] Like there's one for each hand, uh, because the ball at the end of like the like short cord is to give it weight.

[28:51] So it will like swivel around in your hand like a jump rope.

[28:54] And so you use it like a jump rope, but you're not jumping anything.

[28:57] You're sort of just imagining where the rope would be as it, as it swings around.

[29:02] Um, I guess that makes like double dutch pretty easy.

[29:05] Yeah.

[29:06] I mean, it's all pretty easy.

[29:07] I did not fall over the rope once.

[29:09] You'd be proud of me.

Elliott Kalan

[29:10] I mean, that's the fact that there's no rope only slightly decreases my being impressed at that.

Stuart Wellington

[29:15] Years ago, I borrowed a jump rope from a friend and I was doing it in my, um, in my kitchen.

[29:21] Cause I had high ceilings.

[29:22] This was a much different apartment, but it also helped that I was on the ground floor.

[29:26] So I wasn't annoying the shit out of the person below me.

Dan McCoy

[29:30] Yeah.

[29:30] I, I specifically was like, okay, where can I do this where I am going to be quiet and I, uh, leap with the smallest amount of thumping.

[29:39] But, uh, anyway, what, so question six, what did you do today that made you feel good?

Elliott Kalan

[29:45] I recorded this podcast with you guys.

[29:47] Oh, fuck you, Storm on you bitch.

[29:50] Wow.

[29:52] In the game of friendship, I just won.

Stuart Wellington

[29:55] Uh, can I, I'm actually, I'm going to cheat slightly cause I'm going to do, uh, so on Friday I had, uh, I was having a rough day.

[30:04] I, you know, I twisted my ankle and that kind of made me reevaluate what I was going to be spending my week doing, my weekend doing.

[30:13] And I had to spend a lot of my time like icing it or, uh, seated or keeping it elevated.

[30:19] And I did do my hobby stream, which was nice.

[30:22] But the thing that I had to make a point to, uh, you know, not only take a shower later that day, but also to, you know, like make sure I shave, do a full skincare routine, put on a mud mask, do all the things that are self-care elements that I know.

[30:41] Uh, it, when, you know, I don't know about you guys, but when I'm feeling down, it's really easy to fall in, like fall into a state of disrepair so that your exterior matches your interior.

[30:51] Sure.

[30:52] And you're like scruffy and look like shit.

[30:54] And I'm like.

[30:54] I call that adulthood.

[30:56] Yeah.

[30:56] And I'm like, how can I, if I show myself the same level of care, maybe that will brighten my spirits a little bit.

[31:03] And I think it helped a little.

Dan McCoy

[31:04] I guess that, I guess I have that.

[31:06] Like, I don't, I don't do it to the same extent.

[31:09] For me, it's like, you know, during lockdown, I, I, I showered and I put on actual clothes rather than, uh, you know, wandering around the house in my bed clothes because I knew that would make me feel better.

[31:22] Uh, whereas what made Audrey feel better is like, cool, a chance to wander around my house in my bed clothes all the time.

[31:29] So, you know, everyone in life is different.

[31:32] Uh, what did I do today?

[31:33] I, you know, I feel like between ADHD and having a lot of internal shame, I often feel like if I'm not getting all of the things I could do in a day done, that might be like helpful.

[31:50] Or like, feel like work or chores or, you know, something that's, like, if I don't get to it all, I feel bad about myself for reasons that are entirely self-imposed.

[32:03] So this morning, what I did for myself was I was tired and I'm like, hey, you know what?

[32:08] Like, nothing I have to do before taping is particularly important.

[32:12] I don't have to get to it right now.

[32:14] What I feel like is sitting around.

[32:16] So I did that instead.

Stuart Wellington

[32:19] How do you feel about that, Elliot?

[32:21] Dan got to sit around.

Elliott Kalan

[32:22] I mean, I certainly have been, I've been trying to do that more myself, to be honest.

[32:25] Like, my go-to feeling in my head if I have any moment where I'm not actively doing something is to be like, well, what work can I be getting done right now?

[32:33] Yeah.

[32:33] And every now and then I go like, no, maybe I'll just read a couple pages of a book.

[32:37] That'll be good.

[32:38] I mean, I don't do what Dan does, which is literally just sit and stare into space.

Dan McCoy

[32:40] Yeah.

[32:41] Drool, falling out of my mouth.

[32:42] I mean, sit around was like, just kind of a, like a general blanket term for, you know.

[32:48] You're right.

[32:48] I'm sorry.

Elliott Kalan

[32:48] With Dan, it's more like, what Italian exploitation film can I watch right now?

[32:52] You know.

Dan McCoy

[32:53] Here's a question.

[32:54] What, what's something you could do today that would be good for you?

[32:59] Hmm.

[33:00] Hmm.

[33:00] Stump and these guys.

[33:02] Yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[33:03] Stump Central.

Dan McCoy

[33:04] I mean, I'll say, I'll give you a little time and say that, like, I keep thinking like, oh, I should get back to one of these books I'm reading.

[33:12] Because I've taken, you know, I've, I've returned to reading in a big way after like, I think lockdown kind of screwed my head for a while and I couldn't concentrate on it.

[33:23] And now I've been tearing through the books and it's making me feel better to have like a single thing to concentrate on rather than being distracted by all the millions of things in life.

Stuart Wellington

[33:35] I actually found that I started reading more when I accepted that I needed reading classes because I was like not enjoying reading because it hurt or I like had trouble focusing on the words.

[33:48] I'm like, maybe it's just too dark in here or something.

[33:50] And then I realized, oh no, I need reading classes.

[33:54] I feel like in a, what I would like to do is get, do a little bit of shoveling in the backyard of the bar because it's finally, snow's finally starting to melt.

[34:07] And, uh, on Friday, uh, somebody had just, the back, the back door of the bar had been kind of like frozen shut.

[34:15] There was like a big block of snow and ice that had kind of formed there.

[34:19] And some guy just kind of shoved the door open, which knocked the closing device loose.

[34:25] And, uh, I feel like it's kind of treacherous back there and it will make me feel better to know that it's less treacherous.

[34:33] A big part of owning a bar is knowing that you have a thing that people are going to be inside and getting drunk in.

[34:39] And that at any one time, somebody could do something, could do the dumbest possible thing.

[34:45] And, uh, you would have to worry about it.

[34:47] And that's a, so there's always this like low level stress simmering.

Elliott Kalan

[34:52] I think I should take a walk today.

[34:55] Yeah.

[34:56] Do it.

[34:56] Yeah.

[34:57] Let's do it.

[34:57] We'll see if I get to it.

Dan McCoy

[34:59] You know, you can give it a shot.

Elliott Kalan

[35:00] And I'm walking in Memphis.

Dan McCoy

[35:02] No, no, no.

[35:03] He lives in LA.

Elliott Kalan

[35:04] Yeah, yeah.

[35:05] But I could walk in Memphis if I needed to.

[35:06] You're saying I can't?

[35:07] Yeah.

[35:07] What, I'm not good enough to walk in Memphis?

Stuart Wellington

[35:09] Whatever you dream of.

[35:09] You should get one of those VR headsets so you can go walking in Memphis.

[35:14] Finally.

Dan McCoy

[35:18] Why did you, uh, create this, uh, realistic VR?

[35:21] What was your impetus?

Elliott Kalan

[35:25] Well, I really want to go walking in Memphis.

[35:27] I believe, Stuart, uh, could you say it the right way?

Dan McCoy

[35:29] And I'm walking in Memphis.

[35:33] What's something you're looking forward to in the next few days?

[35:38] You guys gotta have something.

[35:39] Come on.

[35:40] Yeah, I do.

[35:41] I'll look forward to in the next few days.

[35:42] You guys are making me sad.

[35:43] No, no, no.

Stuart Wellington

[35:43] I got this.

[35:44] What's going on in life?

[35:46] On Thursday night, I think I'm going to a screening of American Cyborg Steel Warrior.

[35:50] Uh-huh.

[35:51] At the Ridiculous Sublime.

[35:51] You got a ticket?

[35:53] I haven't gotten a ticket, but there were plenty of tickets left.

Dan McCoy

[35:55] Okay, cool.

[35:56] Because, like, that was actually one of the two things I was going to mention.

[35:59] That there's a new, uh, Ridiculous Sublime, the series that we've talked about a lot here,

[36:04] uh, that, uh, happens at Nighthawk.

[36:06] And, uh, yeah, it's always a good time.

[36:09] Yep.

[36:09] Doing that on Thursday.

[36:10] Going out to dinner with Audrey on Wednesday.

[36:13] That's what I got on the calendar.

Elliott Kalan

[36:15] I'm going to go, next weekend, I'm going out with my wife to the theater and to dinner.

[36:21] The theater?

[36:22] Not to a legitimate theater.

[36:24] Not to a movie.

[36:25] Oh, wow.

Dan McCoy

[36:26] To a play.

[36:27] Not the burlicue?

Elliott Kalan

[36:29] Burlesque.

[36:29] Not the what?

[36:30] Oh, yeah, yeah, we're going to the burly.

[36:32] Yeah, yeah, no.

Stuart Wellington

[36:32] We did have a burlesque.

[36:34] We had a burlesque show at our bar, Minnie's, a couple weeks ago to celebrate the end of Wet

[36:41] January, which was a promotion we did where we encouraged people to drink.

[36:47] And they would get these little punch cards and they would get stickers every time they

[36:50] attended somebody's shift and spent a minimum amount of money.

[36:54] Kind of like, uh, like the, the old book it.

[36:57] Yeah.

[36:57] Event where if you got enough stickers, you'd get like a personal pan pizza.

[37:01] If you read enough books, well, instead of reading books, you're getting drunk.

[37:03] Uh-huh.

[37:04] And the winner.

[37:05] Oh, this sounds dangerous.

[37:07] Just as good for you, right?

[37:08] Yeah.

[37:09] Um, and, uh, yeah.

[37:11] We, we, uh, we auctioned off a, uh, we raffled off a Nintendo Switch 2.

[37:16] Oh.

[37:17] It's pretty exciting.

[37:18] But to go along with the party, we were playing Guitar Hero at the bar while the Last Chance

[37:23] Dancers Burlesque Troupe would, uh, do burlesque dance and kind of mess with you trying to

[37:28] play, uh, Guitar Hero, which is pretty fun.

Dan McCoy

[37:31] It sounds fun.

[37:32] Uh, here's a question number nine.

[37:36] What's something we could do together this week, even if we're apart?

Elliott Kalan

[37:41] Uh, well, Dan, you and I have been meaning to talk on the telephone.

[37:44] Uh, so let me do.

[37:45] Also, Dan, uh, as mentioned, you sent me a script to read.

[37:50] Uh-huh.

[37:50] So I'll read that and I'll give you notes on it.

[37:52] It'll be like we're together.

[37:54] You know, feel like we're together and I'm telling you things that, uh...

Dan McCoy

[37:57] I won't like them initially, uh, but I will resist my knee-jerk, uh, defensive reaction,

[38:03] uh, because I'm aware of it and I will wait a while and I'll come around to the, like,

[38:10] oh, these notes make sense.

Elliott Kalan

[38:11] Well, and hopefully you'll look at the note behind the note.

[38:13] Yeah.

[38:13] Uh, because there's, because often in the past, and I'm saying this not only in the,

[38:16] in the, in the tone of gentle ribbing, not as a grievance.

[38:20] There have been times in the past where you've sent me something and I've given you notes and

[38:22] you're like, well, here's why I didn't do it that way.

[38:24] And I'm like, okay, cool.

[38:28] But, uh, but that'll feel like we're working together, which will be really nice.

Stuart Wellington

[38:31] Yeah.

[38:31] Like back in the old days.

[38:33] Exactly.

[38:34] When you were office buddies.

[38:34] Back in the old country.

Dan McCoy

[38:35] Yeah.

[38:36] Uh, we never had the same office.

[38:37] Where you guys would share, uh, you would accidentally eat each other's lunch.

Elliott Kalan

[38:41] We worked in the same office building on the same project.

[38:45] And I was your supervisor.

[38:47] Uh, boy, would you give me trouble.

[38:48] Oh, boy.

[38:49] But before that, you...

[38:50] Daniel, I'd say, you can't keep saying those things to the interns.

[38:53] That's not true.

[38:54] No, no.

[38:55] He was just, he was known as a real hell raiser around the office.

[38:57] Yeah, yeah.

[38:59] In that he would, in that he would, he would show people the thin line between pleasure

[39:02] and pain.

[39:03] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[39:04] And then I stuck pins in my head.

[39:06] I know.

Stuart Wellington

[39:08] First step.

[39:09] First step for, for that.

Elliott Kalan

[39:11] Uh, I don't know.

[39:12] That's, that's really the, the first step barrier that keeps a lot of people from becoming hell raisers

[39:16] is when they find out about the sticking the pins in your head.

[39:18] You're like, yeah, yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[39:19] Any chance I could swap out the pins for CDs?

[39:22] No, one guy did that.

[39:24] It was okay.

Dan McCoy

[39:25] There will, will certainly be, uh,

[39:27] you know, podcast maintenance work I will need to do during the week.

[39:30] That'll be sort of like being with you guys.

[39:33] Uh, might involve some texting.

[39:36] Uh, I might text you a picture that baffles you.

Elliott Kalan

[39:40] That baffles me where I'm like, what is this?

[39:41] I don't understand.

[39:41] It'll really throw me for a loop.

Dan McCoy

[39:43] I feel like might is, uh, is unfair.

Elliott Kalan

[39:46] Yeah.

[39:47] I think, I think this is a prophecy that's almost necessarily bound to come true.

Dan McCoy

[39:50] Especially since I'm in control of it.

Elliott Kalan

[39:52] Yeah.

[39:53] Uh, this is just continuing that hell razor talk.

[39:55] Has there ever been an online quiz called which Cenobite are you?

[39:58] Where you can find out if you're Chatterbox.

Stuart Wellington

[40:01] I'm a lady Cenobite.

[40:03] Yeah.

Dan McCoy

[40:04] Um, Stuart, I'm just giving you space in case you have an answer.

Stuart Wellington

[40:08] Oh, in case I, uh, one, uh, came up with something I could do with my boys.

[40:12] It's tough.

[40:13] It's Cenobite.

[40:14] I feel like a lot of our, our hangouts have been, uh, texting about movies.

[40:18] Uh, uh, or me saying how much Saturday Night Live sucks.

[40:23] And Dan being like, I think it sucks too.

[40:25] And then it's like, what's Saturday Night Live?

[40:27] Here's a Buzzfeed quiz.

[40:29] What Cenobite are you?

[40:29] Yeah, I'm not even aware that exists.

Elliott Kalan

[40:31] Oh, there is one?

[40:31] What Cenobite are you?

[40:32] All right.

[40:32] Which one are you, Dan?

Stuart Wellington

[40:33] Well, I haven't.

[40:34] You'd have to take the whole quiz.

[40:35] I haven't taken the quiz yet.

[40:36] Oh, oh.

[40:37] It'll take a while.

[40:37] The funny thing is, none of the questions are even pleasure or pain related.

[40:41] No.

[40:42] It's all like ice cream and, uh, other things.

[40:44] Yeah.

[40:45] Uh.

[40:46] No, he's taking it, he's taking it fast.

[40:48] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dan McCoy

[40:49] He's hammering it.

[40:50] You know, like the faster you do it, you know, the more it's like.

Stuart Wellington

[40:53] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[40:54] The more it's more true, more.

[40:55] Yeah.

[40:56] Certainly.

[40:56] Yeah, yeah.

[40:56] Yeah.

[40:57] You're, you're, you're flash answers.

[40:58] You're not trying to game the system.

[40:59] You're just going with what you're.

Elliott Kalan

[41:01] You can't overthink it, you know?

[41:02] You can't overthink it.

[41:03] Mm-hmm.

[41:03] Oh, if I answer this, is it going to make me seem like more of a, more of a CD-

[41:06] A butterball, yeah.

[41:07] You know, or a butterball or, yeah.

Stuart Wellington

[41:09] Or that doctor from part two.

[41:11] I got a butterball.

[41:12] You got a butterball.

Dan McCoy

[41:14] Well, you know I'm butterbox.

[41:15] Yeah, I mean, that's actually.

[41:17] You are gluttonous, not for simple pleasures such as food or drink, but for pain and punishment.

[41:23] There are no limits to the amount of suffering you can endure or inflict.

[41:26] Yeah, it's pretty, I don't know.

[41:27] That actually sounds pretty accurate.

[41:29] Yeah.

[41:31] Okay, and finally, the final question in my check-in mini, what are you grateful for right now?

[41:37] Chicken mini?

[41:38] Yeah, your chicken mini.

[41:40] Yeah.

Elliott Kalan

[41:41] Chicken minis are just nuggets.

[41:42] Yeah.

[41:43] What am I grateful for right now?

[41:45] Yeah.

[41:46] I've got a lot to be grateful for.

[41:47] I have a wonderful family.

[41:48] I love them very much.

[41:49] I am grateful that I have work that allows me to support them.

[41:54] I'm grateful that that work is doing the kind of craft that I want to be doing, which is writing and especially joke writing.

[42:02] I'm grateful that as terrible as modern times are, that I, by virtue of so many different advantages that I have from before my birth to now, and just the random choices and ways that life can go,

[42:18] that I live in a space that has a certain protective shell around it where I am not receiving the worst of the things that are happening in the world right now,

[42:28] although that makes me feel guilty for not, for being unaffected in a real physical reality sense and only an emotional sense by those things.

[42:38] But I have quite a lot to be grateful for.

[42:39] All the time I think to myself, I don't have to take it for granted that I will go to sleep under a roof tonight.

[42:45] I don't have to take it for granted that when I'm hungry I can eat something,

[42:48] that my children will be, you know, as healthy as modern science can make them, you know.

[42:53] So I have a lot to be grateful for, especially compared to so many others and to my ancestors who could not take those things necessarily for granted so much of the time.

[43:01] So I have a lot to be grateful for, pretty much everything, you know.

Stuart Wellington

[43:04] Well, Elliot went like crazy macro vision on that, crazy big picture.

[43:09] I'm going to go simpler.

[43:11] While there's many big picture things, obviously, that I'm grateful for, I think immediately,

[43:17] I'm grateful for comfortable sweatshirts and soup and a nice piece of bread.

Elliott Kalan

[43:25] So except for the sweatshirts, you would be pretty happy living in like 17th century France.

[43:29] Yes.

Dan McCoy

[43:32] Man, that's such a, I apologize.

[43:34] That's like an old man answer.

Stuart Wellington

[43:36] Yeah.

[43:37] Yeah, it's fine.

[43:37] Yeah, I'm turning 46 this month, guys.

[43:40] That's an old man answer time.

Dan McCoy

[43:42] Yeah, it is.

[43:43] I mean, I guess I'll go wide too.

[43:45] Like, you know, like for all the, any of these things could change at any moment because that's the uncertain world we live in.

[43:52] I have a roof over my head.

[43:54] I do not want for the basics of survival.

[43:59] I have a loving wife and two affectionate cats.

[44:03] And I get to work with my friends who mostly don't get mad at me.

[44:09] And when they do have an incentive to make up with me.

Elliott Kalan

[44:13] We do have an incentive, a financial incentive for making up with you.

[44:16] No, but that's, I've been, had a number of different occasions recently to be reached out to by people who feel that this podcast in particular does something for them that they need.

[44:31] You know, makes a difference in their existence and just in making it, even if it's just making it a little more bearable.

[44:36] And I feel very grateful that this thing that we do that is dumb and is fun to do, that it is at least slightly helpful for other people as well.

[44:46] You know, so I think that's a thing to be grateful to.

[44:48] We could easily be doing this in a way that is hurtful to other people or in a way that nobody gives a shit.

[44:52] See several other podcasts.

[44:54] Wow.

[44:55] See many, many other podcasts.

[44:56] Yeah.

[44:57] So that's a thing too.

[44:58] I'm grateful that we've been doing this for a long time.

[45:00] I mentioned to someone recently, they were like, oh yeah, you do a podcast, right?

[45:02] And I'm like, yeah, yeah, we've been doing it for about 18 years now.

[45:04] And they went, what?

Dan McCoy

[45:06] And it slipped out of the frame.

[45:08] Yeah, exactly.

[45:08] All I saw was the soles of their feet.

[45:10] Yeah.

[45:12] Well, that's the end of this mini, guys.

[45:14] Thank you for taking this trip.

Elliott Kalan

[45:16] I thought it was going to be real dumb and a real waste of my time.

[45:19] But it turned out to be really affirming and really wonderful.

[45:22] So thank you for doing it.

Dan McCoy

[45:23] Thank you for doing it.

[45:23] Thanks.

[45:24] No, I'm just kidding.

[45:24] I did not think that.

[45:27] Hey, it's a mini, so let's keep the end of the show mini-sized as well.

[45:32] Thank you to our network, Maximum Fun.

[45:34] Go to MaximumFun.org for other shows.

[45:36] Thank you to our producer, Alex Smith.

[45:39] He goes by the name Howell Doughty for his own creative enterprises.

[45:43] Look him up.

[45:44] I have been Dan McCoy.

Elliott Kalan

[45:46] Yeah, I'm Stuart Wellington.

[45:48] And I'm grateful to be Elliot Kalin.

[45:51] Or am I?

[45:51] Yeah, I guess so.

[45:52] Yeah.

[45:58] Maximum Fun.

[46:00] A worker-owned network.

Dan McCoy

[46:01] Of artist-owned shows.

[46:03] Supported.

[46:04] Directly.

[46:04] By you.

FH Mini 147 - Mental Health Day

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