This is “Dispatches from Myrtle Beach” with Charles Neal and my son, Link, from Good Mythical Morning. Woo, woo, woo, woo! How you doing, son? I’m doing good. Woo! Let’s do some high fives, some high tens. 20, 10, whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the new year. It’s the big 2024. Yeah, 2024. I’m getting closer to my birthday and yours and me getting another year older . So the first thing you think about at the top of the year is your birthday in May. You’re already looking forward to that halfway through the year. Well, did you just need to enjoy what’s in front of you, Dad? Which, if we’re being totally real is still the new year, because we’re recording this right before we go on break, so we’re not technically, but we’re releasing this so we’re manifesting our future selves, ’cause this is being released at the top of the year. But I don’t have an update on my New Zealand trip. And you don’t have an update on your Aruba trip. We gotta wait until next episode for that, right? Yeah, yeah. But I can tell you that we’re gonna have a big time on New Year’s, ’cause there’s all kind of stuff going on at North Myrtle Beach, at Fat Harold’s and all the clubs where we go dancing and everything. So we going to bring in 2024 with a blast, with a blast. So, well, I look forward to hear hearing all about it on the next one, but you know, every year this happens. It’s like, well, now I gotta get used to saying 2024. I gotta get used to it being a new year. And it usually takes until about your birthday, which is just a few days before my birthday. Your birthday’s on my wedding anniversary, May 27th, if anybody wants to send my father a gift, it can be an attachment to his email for his birthday. Wouldn’t be, yep. But I mean, especially when 2020 came around and now every year, I still think about, remember back in the day, I mean, you tell me, back in the sixties, what did you think about 2024 being? It just seemed like without doing the math, that’s so far in the future. It’s kinda like, how’d you think about it? I probably won’t think in a whole, I was just, hey, let’s see, in the sixties, the late sixties when I was going into high school- And raising hell and racing cars. Raising hell and racing cars, that was it. You weren’t thinking about your 70, how old are you? 71, 72. 71. 71-year-old self living your best life on a thing called the internet in 2024. No. Well, you think about like the movie “Space Odyssey: 2001”, that came out, I mean that was in the sixties, early seventies maybe. I think early seventies, yeah. So it kind of got you thinking. It gave you an idea of what people thought the future was gonna be. Do you remember seeing that movie, in the theater? I don’t remember that, but I remember watching some stuff with Jacques Cousteau that did all the stuff with the- With the ocean. Ocean and the submarines and all the stuff. You wouldn’t think that. And about it, he would talk about Atlantis and all these things that you’re going to be able to do, even if you wanted to under the water or different things. Of course, and then that was when in the sixties when they were talking about going to the moon and all that stuff too, and you went to, and it happened. I think that happened in the late sixties, didn’t it? Yeah. So you really, you had to think about maybe things are really changing what you can do and- You never could have anticipated it. Yeah. Did you watch the lunar landing along with the rest of the world? Do you remember that? I think we watched that in our history class. But you don’t remember it specifically? No, no. Come on Dad. That’s a big one, I mean- That’s been a long time ago, Link. Yeah, okay. 50 years ago. What about when JFK got shot, you remember that? I remember that. Hey, I was in the seventh grade. So you were even younger then. Oh yeah, that was in 63. I remember when the Challenger exploded ’cause they wheeled in the cart, because there was a teacher on the space shuttle. All on the plane. We all watched that. And I was in grade school, I remember that. But the lunar landing, you remember, we remember the bad stuff, but you’re saying you don’t remember the good stuff. Like, “Just one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” You don’t even know where you were. But JFK gets his brains blown out, you gonna remember that? I mean, you should remember both. What year will it be when I’m your age? I’m so bad. I’m doing this math wrong. How do I figure out when I’m 71, yeah- How old are you now? 26 years from now will be- How old are you now? 45. It’ll be 2050. Yes. It will be the year 2050 when I’m 71 and I’m doing whatever version of a podcast with Lincoln or Lando- With whoever, ’cause it probably won’t be, yeah, it be Lando, it won’t be me, ’cause you’d be done putting me in the grave somewhere. You could be 97, you might not be dead. But if you are in the grave, I’m not visiting, we’ve already established that. We established that last year. So the year 2050, that sounds crazy too. And that’s a nice even number. I wanna remember this then. Back when I was 45 and I did a podcast with my dad and he was 71 and now I’m 71 and I sound older than my dad does when he was 71, ’cause I don’t know why, but I just do. This is what my voice sounds like now. And I don’t know why. I don’t know why my voice has changed so much. I guess I would just talk like you. By the time I’m 71, it’s the year 2050, Lincoln. Correct. “Lincoln, you remember me and your granddaddy used to do a podcast, then one day he died and then you took over and I took over for him. I became him and you became me, ’cause you’re the fourth and you have a son who’s the fifth and he can take over, when I die, you won’t visit my grave and he can take over.” And that’s what we’re doing, Dad. This is generational, 2050. What’s it gonna be like in damn 2050? It’s crazy to think about. Well, we probably won’t be driving cars and stuff. We’d be flying through the air and getting in something and going back and forth and- See it ain’t gonna be that much different, Dad. It’s just gonna be hotter. Be hotter. Don’t make the “Space Odyssey: 2001” error or the “Back to the Future” part 2, error. It’s not, we ain’t gonna be flying around. It ain’t gonna be that much different except it’s gonna be hotter. Why is it gonna be hotter? The climate change, Dad. Hey. Dad. I’m just like that comedian that me and Nancy went to see that he’s about my age right now. And he says, “You know, in August it’s hot and it’s been hot since the fifties, the thirties, the seventies, in 2024 in August, it’s going to be hot as hot as summertime and then it’s going to cool off, because it’s fall, then it’s going to get cold.” Dad. It’s always hot. I love you dad. It’s always hot in the summertime. It’s always hot. You’ve heard it here, people, climate change- And it’s going to be hot. Logan’s over here thinking about, is this the type of thing we can cut out so that people don’t hate your ass? Oh boy. Listen, we’re not cutting it out. He’s made this bed, he is gonna have to lie in it. Yep. Listen Dad, listen Dad. I can handle it, I can handle it. Listen, I’m just gonna point out that your retort about what you believe about climate change started with the phrase, “It’s like this old comedian said,” I’m just gonna point that out. That’s where you are getting your information. Oh yeah. You should be an old comedian. You definitely have a future in that, but you do not have a future in science. No, I don’t. I think here’s a good way to kind of just to wrap this up, just put a blanket statement out there about your relationship with science and you as a source for science. Let’s just put it all in perspective. I know that you know, E equal MC2 is a thing that you have to figure equations out with and different stuff. There you go. But I know that I didn’t get a college education to know what a greenhouse effect is, and all that stuff that’s going on that people say that’s going on. And so, I’m just going to leave it at that. I don’t have a four-year degree in what science does for me or what it does for anybody else. Okay, E equals MC2. This episode is sponsored by Rosetta Stone. Have you ever thought about wanting to learn a new language? I’m sure you have just like me, ’cause you know, this is where Rosetta Stone can help. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app. It truly immerses you in the language you want to learn. Now, you may have a little problem if you speak as much Southern as I do, so they go probably gonna be tickled to death, Rosetta Stone, me trying to learn a new language. But anyways, y’all know that even though I’m old, I’m still traveling all around. So learning a new language to make international travel easier and more enjoyable would be amazing. I would really like to try this and see, maybe I can learn some stuff better than I did when I tried to learn French in high school. So Rosetta Stone has been a trusted expert for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered. With fast language acquisition, Rosetta Stone immerses you in many ways and is designed for longterm retention. They also have speech recognition software that gives you feedback on your pronunciation. Boy, Rosetta Stone’s in Trouble with me, Lord, it’s like having a personal trainer for your accent. With our code, you can get the 399 program for just $199. So don’t put off learning this language, there’s no better time than right now to get started. For a very limited time, our listeners can get Rosetta Stone’s lifetime membership for 50% off. That’s 50% off, unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your life. Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com/dispatchers today. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, all around New Year’s, we get obsessed with how to change ourselves instead of just expanding on what we’re already doing right. Maybe you’re taking your supplements every morning and now you want to actually eat breakfast too. Therapy helps you find your strengths so you can ditch the extreme resolutions and make changes that really stick. And I couldn’t agree with this more because you know I talked about that. I didn’t like to make resolutions, because most people don’t follow through on them, but now we’re talking about BetterHelp helping people, because you don’t need to just make resolutions. You need to try to just keep doing what you’ve been doing all along. Maybe if you’ve been doing this a year or six months, or ever how long you’ve been working with BetterHelp, you just need to keep progressing and doing what you’re doing. You don’t need to make a lot of resolutions. And what I really like about What BetterHelp does, if you’re working with a therapist and you don’t think that one’s working as well as you would like, you can switch therapists and it don’t cost any more money and you can try new ones. So it’s really a good thing that when you trying to work and do things a lot better and to go on with your life and get the help that you need, that better help can help you. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It’s entirely online designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for new additional charge. Celebrate the progress you’ve already made, visit betterhelp.com/dispatches today to get 10% off your first month. That’s betterhelp H-E-L-P .com/dispatches. This episode is sponsored by Hello Fresh. Whether your resolution is to save money, eat better, or stress less, Hello Fresh is here to help you do all three. Say hello to your most delicious year yet with fresh ingredients and chef-crafted recipes at a price you’d like delivered right to your door. And enough talked about, I don’t really do resolutions, but I am doing some resolutions because Hello Fresh is helping me eat better, me and Nancy both and y’all need to try these breakfast items, ’cause man, they’re good and quick. And when you get up in the morning and don’t take a lot of time. And they’re really delicious. Just like all the other stuff that we do and get from Hello Fresh. So you need to try those breakfast items that they’ve got, because I think you’ll really like ’em and just try ’em out, ’cause they’re good and everybody needs to eat a good breakfast. That’s why I’m breaking my resolution, ’cause I do try to eat a good breakfast every day. So go to hellofresh.com/myrtle-free and use code myrtle-free for free breakfast for life. One breakfast item per box while subscription is active. That’s free breakfast for life at hellofresh.com/myrtle-free with code myrtle-free Hello Fresh, America’s number one meal kit. Myrtle Beach, we’re excited to announce the Good Mythical Tour. We’re taking this show on the road for the first time ever and doing it live on stage this summer. Pre-sale for second and third degree Mythical Society members begins on Wednesday, January the 10th at 10:00 a.m. local time for each city. So if you want the best chance at the best seats or the limited VIP packages, including meet and greets with Rhett and Link, or some of your favorite members of the Mythical crew, you still got time to join. General sale begins on Friday at 10:00 a.m. local time, visit goodmythicaltour.com for tickets and more information. They can’t wait to see you at the show. It is time for another edition of Myrtle Beach Mailbag. Okay, I got a email from Kira, Kira. Yep. Kira or Kira? I ain’t sure how you pronounce your name, but I put Southern on it both ways. And she wants to know, said, “What are some New Year’s resolutions you set for yourself in the past that you totally failed at achieving? Oh, gosh. Well, the majority is how I feel, first of all. Tell me about it, Dad, maybe start, I’m curious, what’s your philosophy on New Year’s resolutions in general? Most of the time I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, ’cause most of the time you don’t, and this is just me, but if I try to change the way I’m living and what I’m doing, I probably ain’t gonna follow it. I mean, it’s just like working out or losing a little bit of weight or being nicer to people sometimes. And like Nancy tells me about changing the tone of my voice and how maybe sometimes speak to somebody that it’s a little on the rough side. Well, that sounds like she’s giving you input on a potential resolution to take the rough outta some of your talk. And which ain’t probably ain’t a bad idea . But you don’t do anything. You don’t actually make resolutions is what you’re saying. I just don’t make ’em. Okay. But there is one thing when I got this question, I was thinking about, there’s something I really ought to make a resolution about, because it’s 2024. Okay. I could be a lot better at sometimes listening to my wife instead of watching TV and cutting the TV off and listening to what she’s saying. And then I sometimes I get a little agitated when she’s talking to me about stuff. And then I- When you’re watching TV? Whenever. No, just stuff going on. And just I don’t know how you are, but I mean, sometimes when I talking back to her, and my voice kind of gets elevated, like I’m upset or, and it upsets her that I’m kind of hollering at her myself. So you escalate, you agitate and escalate. Hey, that’s good to know. I mean, the first step is admitting that you agitate and escalate. So that’s a good, all right. So, how are we gonna do this? Let’s dig into this a little bit, because I think this is a good resolution. What are the times when you feel agitated? First you said you’re watching TV and you need to listen to her more. Now, do you have the function? You said, “I need to turn the TV off.” Or either mute it one. Do you have a pause? No, I mean, most of the time I’m either watching a football game and you can’t. Yes, you can. It can mute it. If you’ve got the right to kind of TV, it’ll pause, Dad. I don’t know how to do that. My TV, I don’t know. Hey, it’s better if I’m going to do what I’m talking about making a resolution about it, it’s better just to turn the damn thing off. Okay, I was just saying there might be a middle ground where it’s like everybody wins. If you can pause it, then you say, “As much time as you need, I’m here to give you my full attention and then I’m gonna go back to my game when you don’t have any need of or want of me anymore and I’m gonna unpause it.” That’s what I think you need. Oh, okay. Because if you just mute it or turn it off, then you’re thinking, “What am I missing? Oh, it’s the end of the game. I’m missing something, trying to keep my resolution.” Oh, either mute it while I try to talk to and watch it at the same time. Which probably isn’t a good idea. That’s not a good idea, see, no, you can’t be muting it. The thing is, whenever you get agitated and then you start escalating, you gotta think about what are your triggers. And then you gotta be ready with something to kinda remind you. When you get agitated, something that’ll remind you, oh yeah, I’m not gonna raise my voice, because I tend to escalate things too. If there’s certain things that at work or at home, if there’s something that, I’m sensitive about, if it’s criticism, that’s the thing that gets me is if there’s anything that I interpret as criticism, then I immediately escalate. I get defensive and I’m like, “Now all of a sudden I’m talking a lot louder. But I try to tell myself if I can know it’s about to happen or that it is happening, I’ll be like, I’m just not gonna, I’m gonna, I don’t know, count to 10 or realize I’m just gonna make sure that I keep my voice down here. Well, that’s the same, hey- What do you think? Whether it’s Nancy or whether it’s anybody else, sometimes when somebody says something, the way they’re saying it is not the same way that I’m interpreting what they’re saying. It don’t mean to them what it meant to me. And then it’s kinda like what you said, I’m not trying to take that away from me or not understanding. And then I do kind of do, just like you do go off on a, my voice escalates and gets louder and like it’s personal, and really with what they’re doing, it ain’t nothing personal about it. It’s just something they’re trying to bring up with you and just talk to you about and I just take it the wrong way. I think counting to 10 is a good one. If you are young, if you’re old, I mean, taking a beat and saying, you know what? Try not to react. Say everything that I’m thinking and feeling right now, I could 10 beats from now, I already feel a little bit different about it. Oh yeah. And analyze what’s going on. Take a step back from being in that moment where you’re just reacting. And I’m really talking to myself here, Dad, and saying, if I can say, “Oh yeah, she really pushed my button here. She probably didn’t know she was trying to push my buttons.” Maybe like you said, maybe she didn’t mean it that way. I can ask a question or say, “This is what I’m hearing. Is this what you’re actually saying?” Or just say, “I don’t have to respond, but I don’t need to react.” Hey, sometimes she does, Nancy tells me something and she ain’t doing nothing but picking at me. And she said, then she says, “I was just picking at you about that,” didn’t want nothing serious. So I took it and got upset about it, because she was trying to make fun of something and then I didn’t take it that way. So I think we both deal with this, we got these genes in us, we got these reactive genes that we like to, I get snappy. I’m gonna say that you probably got it from me. I don’t think he got it from your mama. Well, but then you got it from, we both have it, whatever it is. So I think, let me tell you, I made Christie as mad as I’ve made her in a long time recently. And I’ll tell you, ’cause it’s kinda, well, it’s kind of funny now, because it is completely resolved. And let’s see, I’m gonna try to tell this story in a way that doesn’t make me look like a dunce, but I really don’t wanna make her seem like the bad guy. But I don’t know if it happens, it happens. No, I don’t wanna… So, it was late one night and this had been over Thanksgiving. She was doing a lot of cooking and she was doing a lot of work at home with all kids being back home and everything we were doing. And so I said, I’m not great in the kitchen and she’s in there and I’m gonna give her her space. But instead of me just going over here and taking a nap, you know what I’m gonna do, my part? I’m gonna do some stuff around the house to help out. And I did some laundry. And then by that night, I realized I had forgotten about the laundry. And it was our laundry from our closet. And it gets a little squirrely, when you got dark outfits and I don’t know, it’s like, well, I knew when in doubt, wash everything on cold. And then I went back and I put it in the dryer and I was like, when in doubt put it on low heat in the dryer, if there’s something delicate in there. And I just threw everything in there. And then, it was like a 45-minute cycle, but then it had been three hours and I’d forgotten about it. I remembered at the end of the night, we were both, we were sitting down just hanging out, talking and then I was like, you know what? I need to go back. I remembered the stuff in the dryer and I went back to get it and it was completely dry and I put it in the basket and I didn’t think anything of it. And I brought it out there and I was thinking, here I come with the basket and she’s gonna think, “Oh wow, thank you so much. You took care of the laundry. I didn’t hear anything about it and I was doing all this other stuff and here you were doing this and I didn’t… And I appreciate it so much.” And I’m thinking this. And I put the basket down and she’s talking about something, talking to Lily and Lando and I start folding the stuff. I’m just waiting, just waiting for her to notice. And I fold one T-shirt and then I grabbed this her denim duster. She loves this thing. She wears it all the time. And so, I took it and I take it out and I’m and I’m trying to get it, she’s not complimenting me. So I’m like trying to get her attention, look at what I’ve done over here . And then, she looks over, I was like, this is it, this is when I get my brownie points. And she goes, “Is that my duster? You washed it and dried it. You have shrunk!” And then she just, I knew and then at that moment I was like, I have done it. I have shrunken- Screwed up. … her most, probably her most prized piece of article of clothing. This is her go-to jacket, she’s had it for years, but she’s told me every time I wear it, people compliment me on it. And I’ve had it for seven years and it’s still in style and everybody loves it and it goes with everything. And she’s told me this before and all this comes back. And the thing that didn’t come back until she told me was, “Wow, we have an agreement, I told you don’t do my laundry. You always screw up something. I put these in the top of the laundry so that I could bring it down and send it to dry cleaning.” And then I’m reacting. And I’m like, “Well, you put it in the top of the laundry basket. I don’t put stuff in the laundry basket. If I want it to be dry cleaned, I put it in a separate pile so that something happened.” She’s like, “Well, this is my system.” And then I’m like, “And I washed it on cold and I took extra care.” And she’s like, “We had a specific multiple conversations where the conclusion, in the agreement was that you would not voluntarily or involuntarily do my laundry. You can do the towels, you can do your laundry…” And I was like, it all came back. I was like, yeah, I remembered committing to that. I remember agreeing to it. I remembered that I had shrunk a number of her prized clothing possessions in the past that led to the conclusion that, and I was just like, but I was so caught up in being helpful that I forgot about how unhelpful I am. And to her credit, she walked out of the room. Well, I’ll use the verb walk, but whatever it was a more aggressive version of walk. Stomped. Yeah, and I will say that her language got colorful, like squint your eyes and look away colorful, because it meant so much to her and we had talked about it. So I do understand and but you know what? At first I was like, “But this, but this and my heart’s in the right place.” And then at I just realized, you know what? Just be quiet. Let the explosion, let the eruption happen. I mean, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. And you know what? I actually think it’s justified, but I didn’t even get to that point. I just gotta the point where there’s nothing I can do to stop this lava flow except seek cover. And then, as she was traversing away, I was like, you know what? and then, I just kinda, I just kind of gave a sheepish like, “Ah,” look to the kids. I was like, “Ah,” I was trying, I tried my best. I really screwed this one up. Trying to do the right thing, did the wrong thing, but I didn’t say more. And that was the key, I didn’t say more. When she escalated, I was just like, “Weather it, weather it.” You understood that you didn’t need to be the last word in, leave it alone. And then, and then immediately I’m on my phone, I’m on eBay. I was like, does this thing, I know they don’t sell it anymore. And I found one on eBay and hers was a small, and I bought a large, but it was the only one on the internet that existed. But it said it’s the size large, it was the exact same one. And I was like, $200, okay, whatever, I’m buying it. And it’s like, yes, it’s a large, not a small, but I can probably just wash it and shrink it. Shrink, shrink . And so, I’m like, okay, tomorrow I’ll tell her I bought it and that’ll make it better. And at the same time, Lily’s on her phone, I didn’t know what she was doing. And then, she takes the jacket and she goes out and she puts it under the sink and she’s like, “I found a technique online when you shrink denim, and she took conditioner, hair conditioner, shampoo and conditioner and she soaked the jacket and then she did a mixture of conditioner and put it all over the jacket. And then she and Lincoln took the jacket and kinda rung it out with the conditioner still in it. And then they started to strategically stretch it back out. And then they hung it up on a thing to dry. And I was like, well, we’re all trying stuff and every little bit will count. And I know that she’s up in the bedroom reading a book or trying to get into a zen place. And it was late enough at night that I was like, I will not be seeing or talking to her the rest of the night. I was like, and I just have to be okay with that. And it’s really hard for me to be okay with that, to not try to go up there and say, “Well, I’ve been on eBay and we’ve got this conditioner and we’re trying to make it better.” I was like, I got to just… Another count to 10, I want to fix it, but this is just how this has got to play out. The lava’s gotta flow down the mountain. So by the time I went to bed, she was asleep. And then the next morning I got up and went for, I walked the dogs and stuff before she got up. So when I got back home from walking the dog, she was downstairs drinking her coffee and I’m opening the door and I’m literally just trying to get her to laugh and see if okay, she’s in a better head space. And she was. And I told her what I had done. And then of course it took three more hours for Lily to wake up and I didn’t look at the jacket or anything that she had done. I pretty much knew it wouldn’t work. And then Lily gets up, she goes up to the jacket and then next thing I do, I walk in the room, Christie’s trying on the jacket and it worked. It worked, it worked. And she’s still getting a large one in the mail. So, I don’t feel like Christie had anything to apologize for. She had an emotional response to something she was really attached to and I respect that. She didn’t say anything that she should have regretted. I think a colorful language to express your anguish is appropriate in my opinion. But I did have a big smile on my face when we found out that that thing was stretched back out and then I think that she was, it’s up to her to see how she takes that into account moving forward. But I was just glad that I wasn’t the one who reacted in that moment, because I could have had all types of arguments. So I was like, “You made me feel so bad,” and you this, that and the other. And it’s like, well try to spread out some of the blame, but sometimes you just zip it, zip it. Yeah, so kinda I reckon you might have learned a lot about me and I don’t make resolutions, but I am going to try to make one about keeping my voice down and me and him- Me too. … trying to learn how to- Keep zipping it. Either count 10, zip it or take a deep breath before you respond to sometimes to make sure. And most of the time it ain’t even personal with what you’re doing. And don’t do her laundry. What’s so hard about not doing somebody’s laundry, is am I that compulsive that I have to do somebody’s laundry after I’m committed to not doing it? It’s not like, “Oh, my New Year’s resolution is to do your laundry.” My New Year’s resolution is to not do her laundry. As hard as that sounds, I’m gonna try my best to never do her laundry. Seems like a win-win. I wash some of my clothes sometime and washed the towels and stuff, but most of the time I don’t mess with Nancy’s clothes. Don’t mess with her clothes. I don’t mess with ’em. I ain’t touching that duster. Well, it sure was fun having y’all here with us today and we are so excited to be back for 2024. Don’t forget to tune-in next week for another mini-dispatch and please click those Follow and Subscribe buttons wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube and while you’re at it, rate and review us on Apple Podcast. And if you got a joke or question, comment you’d like to share with me, email me at ratherbshaggin53@aol.com. But we can’t wait to spin your wheel again the next time we’re together. So y’all come on and we’ll see you at Myrtle Beach the next time. Love you son. Love you too, Dad.