EB 363: Our Top 10 Moments of 2022

Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I’m Rhett. And I’m Link. This week at the round table of Dim Lighting. We’re wrapping up the year with one of my favorite episodes that we do at the end of every year. Our Top 10 moments this year, 2022. Now, I know that you’re having, you’re having a rough time today and it kind of, I mean, you look the part, I gotta– Really? I gotta admit. Like no, I’m just saying that like, when I came in this morning, you were already lying on the couch. When we’re recording this, you’re still pretty early on in your injury. You’re still, you’re adjusting to it. I do want you to know that your wife called me this morning, after you left. Oh yeah. Just– Okay, I know what she said. No, just to let me know that you’re having a difficult time. I did not tell her that I was taking a crap when she called me. I guess I’m telling her that now. But she may have noticed the echo in my voice. You didn’t like flush in the middle– No, I didn’t. In fact, I stopped. No actual defecation took place while I was talking to your wife, because I felt like that would be inappropriate. I’m just letting you know. But I was, I answered it, ’cause I was like, Christy doesn’t usually call me. Is everything okay? Like, I thought she was gonna say something like, Link broke his other shoulder or something like, you know, but she just said that you’re having a difficult time just getting ready, getting out of the house. And then when I came in, you’re lying down and you look, you look frazzled. Like you haven’t been able to shave, obviously. You’re growing your Kenny Rogers beard and your hair still looks like you started with your left hand. You’re in the early stages. You’re gonna figure this out. I’m here for you. I’m just acknowledging that you’re going through a difficult time. That’s sweet that Christy called you, which brings me to my number 10. You know, we each made our list. We didn’t share these with each other, so we’re gonna go in reverse order. Yeah, I decided to put breaking my collarbone as my number 10 moment of the year, because it’s very fresh on my mind. Only number 10? Well, one of my criteria for making my list was, you know, at our age it’s hard to make core memories, something that then sticks with you for the rest of your life. But I think easily making that one of the criteria, breaking my collarbone becomes one of my core memories. So it’s, I think it had to go on my list. Oh, easily. You know, for it to be, it could be six weeks of recovery here, maybe more, hopefully less. Still haven’t had my ortho follow up, so I don’t know exactly what’s going on, or started any PT, anything like that. But yeah, I will always remember that I broke my clavicle. Mm. Because I always remember breaking my pelvis and that’s the only thing that I’ve broken. Just your pelvis and your clavicle. Yeah, so, I mean this is kind of a big moment towards the end of the year here for me. And, yeah– And it remains to be seen how much of an impact it will continue to have. I was, I mean, I know for Good Mythical Morning, like yeah. ‘Cause I mean, through January, I’m gonna be in freaking sling for the episodes. Yeah. So, yeah, this morning was tough. I’m still making an adjustment. I’m… The worst part of my day is getting up and getting going. I mean it’s, everything has to change. And I’ve been like, you know what I’m gonna have, I’m gonna have a positive attitude about this. I’m gonna see this as an opportunity or a series of opportunities. But man, it just kind of beats you down when it’s, you just can’t get anything together. Like, so I finally got ready, I got everything done and like, I was about to leave. I was putting on my socks and shoes. And I don’t want to, I don’t wanna ask Christy and the kids to help me do everything, ’cause I want to figure out, if this is a many-weeks process, I don’t want it to be like, every time I put on socks, for a member of my family to come over and like hold half of the sock. Right, right. So I finally, I get on my socks and my shoes and I’m just like, Christy’s in the kitchen and I go over to her and I’m like, “I need a hug.” Because I’m like, okay, if you, I’m learning to, and this will be another point on my list today. But just learning to express my needs in a way that is appropriate, right? So it’s like, for me it’s like, I need a hug. So then Christy like, stops what she’s doing and she, I tried to, I had to tell her how to give me a hug. But no, don’t, not too tight. Don’t put the arm up here. Put the arm– I need a side hug. Down here. I needed a, I definitely needed a front hug. And then, I’m just hugging her for a prolonged period. Okay. And then with my head on her shoulder. And then she’s like, “Are you crying or are you laughing?” And I’m like, both. I would do both, man. It’s okay, man. It’s okay. Let it out, man. It’s just like this frustration and I’m still really grateful that I’m not really in any pain. So it’s really just this frustration of like trying to get together. Yep. And then the amount of, I don’t know, it’s just like, so I was laying on the couch when I got here, ’cause I was like, I told you, I’m just, it’s exhausting. It’s exhausting to figure this stuff out. You know how I think about things like, oh, my systems are broken. Yeah, it’s especially hard on you– It’s hard on me, but it’s– Because you do things exactly a certain way that you’ve perfected in each step. So when every single step has been compromised, that’s– It’s been cut in half. It’s like the dominant arm has been taken away. So I’m really, excuse me, I’m really trying to see it as an opportunity. It’s like, what can I learn from this? How can I, you know, it could be a lot worse. Christy was like, “Thank God you didn’t hit your head. You know, that could have, that could have altered your life for many years, if not forever.” And I was like, how do you know that? She was like, “I’ve done some reading.” Opportunity for your left arm. Once I get here, I’m… The worst part’s over. Like, that’s how I look at it. Well, if you need a hug, just let me know. So I’ll be laughing and crying on your shoulder. I mean it, I was legitimately thinking about afterward as I was driving in, I was like, you know the phrase a shoulder to cry on? It’s like, yes, I actually took advantage of a shoulder to cry on. And that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing. It did help. You know, you got– I’m sure your wife, you know, enjoyed it. I think she like, did she? So when she called you, did she go into that detail? She’s like, he was like crying and laughing at the same time. I think she said that he broke down a little bit. So I did not picture you just crying on her shoulder. But now I do. Well it was a beautiful moment. One of my top 10 moments– It’s all downhill from here, is that, it’s probably too soon to use that joke because that’s how you hurt yourself. Yeah. Going down hill. So I put that in my number 10, man. My number 10 is adopting Sean, our new dog. I love the look on your face. He made the list. Sean is really growing on me. I love that little guy. He, as a matter of fact, Jessie, you know, was recently, she was, when we went to North Carolina, she stayed a little bit longer working on some stuff. And so Shep and I came back and so I had some time with him and that’s good. He’s really connecting with me. And you saw the other day when we were having all those meetings at the creative house, just, you know, digital meetings. He’s coming up to me all the time. He came up to you and jumped right in your lap. Right when we came, when I came over. I was shocked, ’cause I had a hat on and– He’s afraid of hats. I thought he was jumping in my lap to like, to eat my crotch. I shouldn’t have said it that way. Yeah. To bite me. Like he did the last time, I came to work and he was there. Yeah, he bit you twice. But you said it was because he was on a leash, but he was like, yeah, he jumped up on my lap. I think he’s an accepted petting. He’s a learning to trust people. He’s a learning. He’s learning to trust people, whatever, wherever he came from, that he developed reasons to not trust people and to not trust strangers. Mm-hmm. And so I, you know, he’s still in the house, but it’s a little bit more, a little bit easier to deal with. He’s so cute. His hair’s growing in, he’s actually becoming like– He’s more attractive. He’s becoming the dog that I clicked on. Right. On the website to adopt him. He’s a lot more pettable. And so he, and you know what? He remains a challenge and an opportunity. Not quite like your clavicle. There you go. But it’s sort of like, he’s a little project in some ways for our family to be like, Barbara’s so easy, loves everybody. The only thing wrong with Barbara is she’ll steal the food out of your hand. And we cannot, somehow cannot stop her from doing that. But she’s great in every other way. Very well behaved, well trained, doesn’t crap, pee anywhere except outside. Sean is a little bit of a project, but I think it’s teaching us patience as a family. And it’s, you know, you gotta put ’em on the list because I mean, an addition to the family is absolutely a core memory. ‘Cause I’m right about that. You know, there’s certain things that for years to come, maybe the rest of your life, you’ll refer back to Sean now. Oh yeah. And this was the year of Sean. Well hopefully there’s more years of Sean. Yeah, the first year, you know. Yeah, right. You know, I completely agree. He’s changed the dynamic of our family in a positive way. In my number nine, I put our college friend trip. In my number nine, I put our college friends trip. We’re such in sync, man. This is great. That means that I, we didn’t steal it from each other. This is my favorite thing– We don’t look at each other’s lists. It looks like you’re looking at it now. I can’t read it from there. Okay. It was, I mean, the ones on our list that we’ve talked about in more detail in other episodes, we can gloss over a little bit. But you know, I will say that it was the culmination of reestablishing a relationship over the entire pandemic and with us meeting in person. And it now it leads to that being something that we’ve already planned. I’m gonna do it again. To go on another trip in June, I believe. We’re going to, we’re gonna take whitewater rafting to the next level. I’m a little nervous. I know, now that I’ve proven the fragility of my body to myself. ‘Cause we’re upping the ante. Significantly. So much so that, the upper animus, we’re doing a series of class five rapids, which was the most intense that we could find in Colorado at that time of year. Hey man, you gotta have fun. And they were like, well, you need to come the day before and do a swim test. And I’ve been on many whitewater rafting trips, including the upper gauley. Right. In West Virginia. This is comparable to that. I ain’t doing no swim test for that. I know they got me feeling nervous, man. But that was also the ’90s, or the early 2000’s, probably. You’re saying the standards have increased. I bet so yeah. Safety standards. The liability stuff, you know, all of that. So yeah, now we’re, we’re gonna have two trips under our belt. It may become an annual thing and you know, our girls trip. Is essentially what it is. I think it’s our girls trip. Yeah, I like that idea. And just kind of knowing that it’s gonna happen. Yeah, I think that there was something– Because otherwise I, I’m sorry, I cut you off. I think health. Turning over a new leaf. Now in my mind, I started talking before you. Is this what I have to look forward in 2023, that you’re not gonna cut me off? Hell, man. That you’re gonna realize that when you’ve done it and not do it? I am trying, but I don’t want to like, make it a resolution or anything. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It’s like, it was like a hug. Thanks for thanks for the feedback. But I mean, if you, I mean, don’t twist my titty about it, because… Well now I forgot what I was gonna say. I got so excited. No, I think that one of the things that made it so significant is the fact that, obviously we have a very unusual relationship in terms of– Me and you? The longevity that, of our friendship, and the fact that we were friends as kids and friends all throughout different pivotal times and we’re still friends and still working together. But the only other people really in our lives at this point that, I’m trying to think of a way to explain this. If you go back 20 years and, those friendships last, have been around for a long time and outside of family, those are some of the only people that we have connected with on that level after all this time. Which is just a really beautiful thing to be able to happen. I mean, I hope that that can happen for other people. Just be like, hey, you formed this friendship at a pivotal time. And it’s not always easy, especially when you’re in different parts of the country to maintain that, that relationship and those friendships. But the pandemic gave us that opportunity. Now we’re kind of cashing in on it by being able to create experiences together. And also it’s, you know, as we discussed when we talked about that trip on the episode, it’s a really, you know, we’re all in different places. We all met in a very particular context. We all met in a campus ministry context. And we’ve talked many times about where we’re at in regards to that. And they’re in a different, everybody’s in a different place in regards to that, but there’s still a real, a real closeness and honesty, authenticity in our relationship. And so I just think it’s really good thing for everybody. Soul nourishing to reconnect with people who, yeah. Our beliefs have drifted in various directions. And maybe, I don’t wanna insinuate that we’ve all drifted or whatever, you know what I’m trying to say. Well, everyone’s changed. Everybody’s evolving. But like, yeah. That our friendship can still be so strong and so supportive and that love can still be the center of it, is very, it ministers to my soul. Hmm. You know what I’m saying? Even though our video chats have kind of fallen off, at least we know that we have this trip coming up and that we kind of have that cadence now. Because to me, that’s how I see the video chats, were the beginning of a foundation that now we’re building on it with these trips that we can schedule. And there’s the text thread. Yeah. That continues. Just one note I wanna make, really just for us, it does give me an idea about something, like the ideas that we’ve been logging. I have one that like, is semi-related to this. Okay. Actually a couple. So I’m just gonna remember that by saying it out loud and you can help me remember, so we can put it on the list of stuff for the 2023 list. Okay. Is it, so it’s your go. So my number eight, I’m skipping ahead, because you just covered my number nine. I do know for a fact this is on your list, because we already discussed it and I’m assuming it’s higher on your list, but let’s go ahead. There’s a reason that it’s at this level on my list. Okay. We had a, I’m gonna call it our most, my most surreal, one of the most surreal experiences of my entire life in a lot of ways. And definitely the most loosely stated, Hollywood experience of my life, the most I’ve ever experienced anything because of the privilege that we have, because we have a successful internet show. And that is being invited to the studio with Post Malone, as he was– Oh yeah. As he was working on his most recent album. Now, you really stole my thunder here. You didn’t make a number one, did you? This is my number two. Okay. I knew it would be high on your list. Yeah. this is, it’s interesting. So– It’s tough to, it’s tough to order the list. Yeah, it is. And it’s a bit, you know, it’s a bit thrown together. But the rule is if you ranked it higher, you get to talk about it first, so. Oh, well the, this is one that, I mean, we had a conversation about this one. That’s why we knew that it was on both of our lists, because we were both trying to figure out if we wanted to put it out there publicly. You know, I think we’re very sensitive to like, the fact that, yeah you know, first of all, you don’t wanna sound like braggy. Like, oh, I know somebody who’s, like telling a story for clout. We’re not doing that. And you also don’t want, we don’t want Austin to feel like we are trying to take advantage of the fact that he’s been gracious towards us. For clout. For and to be like, oh, can we get a, let’s get a selfie together so we can show it on the internet, right now. So– Right, we don’t do that. We don’t do that. But this was, this was such a huge moment that, yeah, just to talk about that night I think is something that we agreed that it was like, kind of have to talk about it. So, we’ll, you know, we’re excited to let you in on it. Especially because it’s something that we haven’t shared. A lot of this stuff we’ve shared before. Yeah. This was, so, when he came on the show, then it was basically implied, hey, if you want, maybe we should hang out. And then he invited us, so it was like February, March. And I would say the first time he ever came on the show, the first time he came on the show, after we finished the show, he was like, what are you guys doing the rest of the day? Right. And we were like, well, we’re making more GMM. Like we’re doing, we’re doing what we do every day, that we’re shooting GMM. So we didn’t get, we never hung out after the first time, which is like a, I was like, man, that’s such a big regret. I was like, I’m not gonna make that mistake again. Yeah. If there’s an invitation. Right. So then, you know, we set the night we were gonna hang out and don’t make this my story. We’re both there, so, I mean, we just kind of like, fill in the gaps. But yeah, he was like, whatever you guys want to do, if you wanna come by the studio. And so when he, once he mentioned the stew, as he put it, I was like, yes, that’s what I want to do. I yeah, let’s hang out. So we go over there to the studio and we meet Lou, his producer, and there’s just a couple other friends of his hanging out, but it’s like, one room, very dark, with like the console and then back to the left, there’s like the booth with the window. So it’s a pretty intimate space. And we go in there and we’re just, you know, it’s, we had, you see how much fun we had on the show. You know, it’s, it always blew my mind about how much of a fan he was and is, of GMM. So it’s like, and you saw how it was in Good Mythical More, we were just like talking about the gas station pills and like, so when we were setting up, going to hang out, like we were making jokes about I don’t want to have any of those gas station pills. There was a lot of laughter the entire time. Yeah, we just kind of picked up– We making each other laugh the whole time. And then– Playing music. We were connecting over our love of music and specifically country music. So there was a lot of there. In fact, there was one time, there was a period of time where there was like a Hank Junior versus Hank Senior Battle, where we would pick a Hank Junior song and he would pick a Hank Senior song, and we would play them. Like a verses battle, which was hilarious. And that lasted, I mean– Hours. We were there a very long time. And just kind of getting the story of like– And we don’t stay, we don’t do that. Your bedtime is 9:30. I mean, I do stay up till midnight on a relatively regular basis, but this was, as we crept into the wee hours of the morning, I was like, I guess this is just how he rolls. Oh yeah. It’s like he goes to bed– He’s nocturnal. When the sun comes up. And yeah, I’m so fascinated about the creative process that I couldn’t help myself but just kind of dig into like his relationship with Lou and like how much, how they collaborate and, you know, they were playing, playing like preliminary tracks of things that then became like massive hits and I was just like, I was just like a kid in a candy store. Like I couldn’t sit down. It was pretty obvious. I couldn’t sit down. Like I’m not, yeah. And I’m like, you know what? I don’t… I am, if I’m gonna fanboy, I’m just gonna do it. You know, it’s like over, especially if it’s over the music, like I’m not, I think he understood that I was like fanboying over like the creative process and the music and not the fact that like, oh my God, it’s so cool to meet you. You know, it’s a, in my mind it’s a different thing. So it’s like, to like really connect with something that an artist is making to the point where it’s like, if they’re gonna play something for you, you’re going to get up and shake your ass. That’s just the decision I made. Like dance like nobody’s watching, right? And it’s not, it doesn’t have to be everybody’s decision. Well there’s a reason that there’s two of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I appreciate that. So yeah, I was, I mean, and at certain moments, yeah, I was kind of in like music journalism mode where it’s like, how, give me, I have to understand. And they were, you know, I think they were both very into the conversation because they were like, “Oh, play him this, play him that, play him this demo.” And then, you know, at the time we were talking about the neon moon cover that we made. Oh yeah. For the Mythical Society. ‘Cause we were playing so much country music. We were talking about that. And I think at one point I said, or one of us said like, well I’ll make a deal with you, we’ll play this song for you, under one condition. And he’s like, “What?” And I was like, that you play a song, like give us a sneak peek of a song off your album. ‘Cause I know it’s, I know it’s coming out soon, that you finished it. And he was like, well, I wanna play you the whole album. Like he was planning on doing it anyway. Yeah, he was like, I, yeah, I’m not gonna play a song. I’ll only play it if you listen to the whole thing. And I’ll never forget that moment, ’cause I was like, I was already like the kid in the candy store and then I’m like, we’re looking at each other and we’re like, “Yes, this is amazing.” So we just, we sat there and we just listened to the entire completed, pretty, it was, I mean, every song was sequenced, finished– All but one song. Fully baked. And– I remember sitting there and this is when it hit me and why it stands out. And I would say, if you’re talking about exact slices of time, like one moment, I do recognize why this is higher on your list. And it’s just, you’ll understand why, there’s other things that are higher on the list later, but this moment, this slice of life when we were a few tracks in and we were like listening with our eyes closed or I was listening with my eyes closed. This is Twelve Carat Toothache. So it’s like, if you’ve listened to it, you know that a number of places, it gets pretty moody. Like it’s not, it’s not all party anthem type stuff. And then I would open my eyes and realize that, Post Malone is sitting next to me. It’s great, it was wild. Listening to this album, and again, we just don’t have a lot of experiences like this because we’re not, like, we’re not part, we don’t try to be a part of a scene. We don’t like, we’re just, our lives are strikingly normal in almost every way, except for these little moments. And I was just like, this is a memory. I was like, this is a special moment. Yeah. So we, and we listened to the entire thing, incredible experience. Also, they play it so loud, I felt like it was like literally, like shaking my spleen, and then it’s like literally 3:30 AM. And he is like– Well, let me, okay. What did he say? He was like, “Oh, aren’t we supposed to record something?” Yeah. And earlier that night, when we were talking about, like our favorite artists and we were talking about Sturgill Simpson and all this stuff, we also started talking about the Fleet Foxes. Yeah. Which is, you know, from our top albums episode. Like we both, they’re like, they’re form, albums that are like very formative and like our musical lexicon, you know. And he’s a huge fan. And so then he was like, “Play ’em the track.” And then he was like, Robin, who is Fleet Fox’s, came in here a few weeks ago and we started working on something. And then he plays a track and it’s just, it’s just vocalizations. And then the beat drops and then it’s an instrumental. So there’s no vocals at all. And he plays that. And that was like before we listened to the whole album. And it was just like, “Oh, this is just something that we created together.” And so I’m flipping out, because it’s like two of my favorite artists working together and one of ’em in the room with me playing it, and it’s just a preliminary track, which they didn’t say it would be anything. So then fast forward to, at this point in the evening when it’s like, “Oh man, I forgot how I was supposed to work.” So he goes into the booth and then that’s the track that he plays. And he, so this, so this is the song that ended up being the love hate letter to alcohol, right? Yeah. So he, this is, we saw his process, which was essentially going into a booth and Lou starts playing this track and he just starts singing over it. Literally just kind of ad-libbing and making it up as he goes along. And it was like, he’s creating this situation where he’s at the bar– Yeah, like I woke up on the ground, it’s like I got my, he started singing about his teeth getting knocked out, and then at one point, like after about 10, 15 minutes of like riffing on stuff, he comes out and he’s like, “How many teeth?” “Google, how many teeth.” “How many teeth are in the human mouth?” And he had said 32. And we Googled it– And it was 32. And yeah, I didn’t, you Googled it and you were like, yes. I have 32 teeth in my mouth. The dentist told me, I’m like in like, a very low percentage of people that still has their wisdom teeth at my age. Oh. You don’t have 32 teeth. So if you have– I don’t know if he has his– If all of your teeth come in, you have 32? I think so. So then we told him that. So then he, you know, if you listen to the lyrics, it is like, I woke up on the ground. I guess I should have kept that to myself. Sometimes I’m too good at running my mouth, but not good enough. And then it’s… Well, yeah, last night I had 32 teeth in my mouth, but some went away. That’s the lyric. And then he starts– At the time we did not realize that he was, that this song was gonna be on the album, but because the way he presented the album was basically like, this is it. This is it. And he kind of, you know, he didn’t, he didn’t, he just implied like, “Oh, I’m still recording something.” He actually, this was pretty cool, just like, you know, a week later texted us like, here’s where the track ended up. Yeah, he was like, we finished it. And I was like, oh man, he’s finished this track. And then lo and behold it ends up being on the album and then come full circle. Oh, and then the next thing he goes, he performs on Saturday Night Live and he performs that song, with Fleet Foxes backing him up. Yeah. Like, on stage. It was like, dude, I was there when this happened. And then we had, we got to see him in concert when his tour came to LA– And the song was in the set. And of course, he performed the song. Which is amazing. That was, the only, one thing I’ll add to this story, which I is a moment I remember, is when I was sort of reluctantly, I think actually you said something about it. I didn’t wanna talk about it. Like, talk about the fact that I was working on my own music, because I didn’t want to be the internet comedian, who was like, “Well, I’m working on my music.” And so I was like, yeah, I’m doing like a country thing. And so he grabs his guitar, his famous acoustic guitar that’s got all the like, signatures on it and holds it out to me. He’s like, “Play a song.” And I was like, “No.” I was like, I don’t, I’m not ready for that. I don’t remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I remember it. That was pretty– That was pretty early in the evening. That was when we were doing the Brooks & Dunn– But it was early in your like, I had not heard any of these songs. I didn’t, no, at that point I didn’t have a, I was not prepared to like, I had written the songs, but I was like, I can’t, like I, it’s too, I can’t do it, you know, I’m glad I didn’t do it. What a surreal night. But it was a very surreal night. And then, so then we call an Uber and we like get in the Uber to come home at like 3:30. No, it was like four– Four in the morning. Four o’clock, 4:30 maybe, I dunno. It’s like we don’t, yeah, we’re not, we’re not used to this experience and this hour of the morning, and when we get in the Uber, the first song that’s playing is his new song with The Weeknd, It was just like– That he just played for us. It was just so… Yeah, it was wild, man. Surreal. Yeah. And you know, he’s a sweetheart. The dude is– Best guy ever. The dude… It’s not hype. It’s not hype. He’s unlike any celebrity of that, of that level of fame than, that we’ve ever met that, in terms of his authenticity. Yeah. A night to remember, my number two. Well I’m sorry, but we just, we spent a lot of time on it, so. Before we keep going on the list, we want to remind you about our end of year sale, at mythical.com. This is gonna be through the 26th, from the 26th of December through the 31st. So very end of the year. And basically the way this works is the more money you spend at mythical.com, the more you save. So 10% off orders of $50 or more, 20% off orders of $100 or more and 30% off orders of $150 or more. 10% off, 20% off, 30% off. And this is all items, if they’re a sale item, if they’re not a sale item. No code necessary. This is for everyone. Go to mythical.com, you’re gonna be surprised at what you find and what you want, spend that, spend that money that your grandma gave you, for the holidays. So this is my number eight. Number eight. My number eight, okay, so 2022 was the year of new therapist for me. I was looking back at my Google photos and January 1st, I had a photo of a business card that Christy gave me, you know, and she was, and I talked about this at some point early on in the year about like making, making the switch. And I think a lot of the process happened around this time last year on the podcast about thinking, talking about my therapy experience, getting your feedback, kind of hearing myself out loud, realizing that I needed to make a change, I needed to find a better fit. And I will say that two weeks ago, like my, one of my most recent therapy appointments, like right around Thanksgiving, it was, I, well, when I got home from that therapy appointment, Christy asked me what she always does, “How’s therapy?” And I said for the first time I was like, it was great. I, I really, I’m so glad that I met this guy and that he’s my therapist and this is working out so well. And ’cause I just told him in the session, it was one of those sessions that was, it ended up kind of being a celebration session. You know, we had, we had tackled a number of things and you know, therapy’s never done Rhett, but there’s certain points when it’s like, and yes, it was Thanksgiving, so it was kind of an appropriate time, but it just so happened, to time out that way that, you know, coming back from some of the other things on the list, like MythiCon related stuff. But just a culmination of things that we were working on, bringing me to a point mentally and emotionally, to be able to not only weather the trials and process things, but also to be more present for the highlights. Like the things on this list, I really was able to be grateful for how therapy brought me to that point where I was able to more fully experience the highs and the lows, I guess you would say. And that was something that we ended up talking about. And I was able to tell him, you know what, I’m thankful for all these things and I’m also thankful for you. This is really working out. And it took, you know, that was, that’s like 11 months in and it’s all along the way, it was mostly positive indications, but at a certain point you realize, okay, I think this is, I think this is my, I think this is my guy. Hmm. I think this is my person. This is important. And yeah, it made a, it just made a huge difference, difference in my year. So it’s like, 2022, the year of kind of kind of getting that in place, realizing that I’m no longer approaching a session with anxiety about the session, like that I’m, that I have, I’m at ease, there’s this level of trust and confidence that, it’ll be what it’ll be. And I’ve seen it go in so many different directions, that I’ve realized that I’ve loosened up and I’ve kind of, I’m able to let go of that particular hangup, which has been very difficult for me. I’m good at like, putting myself out there, and I still don’t know exactly what I would label it, like this sense of like control and relationship to anxiety and all that. But like, it was always a hurdle to overcome and just to realize that that had been like severely lowered to the point where it’s like basically not there anymore, is huge. Yeah, that it’s not something that, it’s not a homework assignment or like something that you have to have something prepared for– Or performative. Yeah. And you know, early on in, in starting our conversations, this was a topic of conversation. So I kind of invited that level of conversation that on occasion, not every session, but he would check in on that front. Like, how are you processing me? Like how, how is what I’m saying? Like, it was, it was helpful that like, I was able to set the table, you know, so I know when you, we gush about therapy and I just want to acknowledge that like, sometimes, you know, therapy is work, but then there’s a, for me and maybe for a lot of people, there’s like a whole other layer of work to be able to get to do that normal therapy work, you know? And, you know, so if my 22, 2022 story can like, give people hope that like, it’s worth it. And you know what? If that’s, if it’s, if the thing that’s keeping you from therapy is therapy, then it’s still worth it. It’s still worth it. And it may take going through a few people to find, to find that right fit, but don’t give up. Amen. Look at that. See how inspirational this can be. This is, I’m gonna, you know, I’m gonna move through some of these. Yeah, I got some quicker ones after this. Number seven is going to see movies with Shepherd. And I would say the specific moment is us going to see the horror movie Smile together. Obviously now that Locke is off at College, Shepherd and I spend a fair amount of time together, and our thing is going to see movies together and we both love horror movies, and we both have very similar taste in music and movies in general. And it’s kind of our little thing. And so much so that, you know, ever since the ArcLight closed, all these theaters in town are AMC theaters. That’s pretty much where you go is you, if you’re gonna go to a theater, you go to an AMC theater and they’re constantly selling this AMC Stubs membership, right? Oh, did you get that? So, every single time we show up at the theater, and we see the people in the yellow line getting to the concessions a little bit faster, Shepherd’s like, “Dad, we need to, why aren’t we Stubs members?” And then we go in and we, and they have, then they give, they do it the ad for the Stubs membership and then they do the Nicole Kidman. You know, that wonderful little thing that happens before AMC movies. I just, we just, and people clap every time, going to see a movie in LA, I know this probably happens elsewhere, but like in LA– I haven’t heard of claps for that Nicole Kidman part. Well you haven’t been to the AMC Theater lately. Yes, I have. Every single time– What? Nicole Kidman comes on, everybody claps and giggles and says, “Oh yeah.” And then, when she finishes, everybody claps. Because, ’cause there’s, the thing I was talking to Shepherd about, is that like being in the entertainment capital of the world, and watching these movies that are all pretty much, you know, like there’s a connection between every movie in Los Angeles, even if it was made somewhere else. And that so many people are in the industry. And so there’s this cynicism and sort of insider mentality to watching entertainment, so that when like a bad movie trailer comes up. Yeah. Like there, we just watched, there was a trailer for a new movie called Plane. Aha, yeah. Have you seen that? Yeah. And the whole place burst out laughing as soon as it said Plane, because it looks like the worst movie ever made. Gerard Butler. And then it says Plane, I just love kind watching movies in that atmosphere, and people stick around for the credits because they’re like, I might know somebody in those credits at the end, you know? Yeah. But anyway, so– Not a sponsor though, huh? Well, literally right before we went to our most recent movie, which we went to see Glass Onion on your recommendation and it was great. Woo yeah. We signed up for the membership, not the top level, where you get three movies a week. ‘Cause we can’t, I can’t see three movies a week. I just got the one where we get like the free upgrades on concessions, we get the shorter line and then we get points that we can use. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brian knows what’s up. This is a sponsor. Is this a sponsor? It’s not a sponsor. It could be. Anyway, it’s been a real, we have this, Shepherd and I have a great relationship. It’s tough to get Shepherd to talk, unlike Locke who will talk about everything, but going to see a movie with Shepherd, we talk about the movie all the way back home, like that gets him talking. He’s like, well, this and that and man, he’s got all these opinions about everything and he really opens up and starts talking, so that’s been– I love that. And specifically like Smile. We talked about how it was the perfect horror movie until it, they did what every horror movie does and they show you the monster in a way that ends up being like, this isn’t as good as I wanted it to be. Was there a point when you realized this is my, this is the opportunity, to stay with that buzzword? And I guess, was it Smile when you were like, when you’re like– To get the AMC Stubs? No, dude. No dude. This is the opportunity to finally bite the bullet. No, dude, when you’re like, this is, this is my, this is my connection or one of my connections. This is like, this is an easy card I can play to like get in with Shepherd and find something that it can be our thing. I don’t know if there was a moment, it’s more as I was thinking about it for this and realizing how many movies we had seen together, and how we’d really connected in that way and how I’ve been at the same time talking to Jessie about how, man, you know, I take shepherd to school sometimes and like we can go the whole, he just wants to listen to music and like, I’ll ask him a couple questions. He gives me one word answer. It’s typical 14-year-old. Yeah. And he’s not being a jackass, he’s just like, I’m going to school. I don’t wanna talk about things right now. Yeah. So, no, it’s just more like reflecting on it being like, ah, we really talk about a lot of things and it also, the tenor of our conversation moves from a dad trying to be a dad, which happens often with me. Right. Meaning like, okay, well you need to be doing this, you need to be doing this. Here’s some advice here. Here’s your talking about your schoolwork, moves us out– Common interest. Of that dynamic into just like two guys talking about movies. Right. Which is, which is great for us. That’s awesome. My number seven is my DJ Elkhound Snuggle Baby journey. Not that– Number seven? Not that DJ Elkhound Snuggle Baby is my name. It’s just Elkhound Snuggle Baby. But it, I’m just clarifying. My DJ journey. Maybe put it in, maybe in a second parenthesis after Snuggle Baby. It’s just DJ. ’cause you don’t want people to call you DJ Elkhound Snuggle Baby, It could be Elkhound Snuggle Baby, DJ. I have to, I was giving up the opportunity to DJ our Mythical Christmas party, because I only have one freaking arm. Yeah. It’s sad, really. I don’t, but I’m not going to, I’m still gonna do it. Yeah, right. Because I’ll just do it with one arm. I’ll have, I’ll have been in the, in the Baby Bjorn in front of me. Are you going full suit? I think I have to. I haven’t– You tried that arm with your– I haven’t thought about it. I haven’t thought about any of this yet, but big, I mean, it was the year of the genesis of Elkhound Snuggle Baby. So yeah, that’s it. I’ve already talked a lot about it. We dedicated a whole episode to it. So let’s keep going. Okay. Number six for me was getting COVID. I thought about putting that on the list, and I forgot. You know, so many people at this point, most people, have gotten it. And it has been, I was actually thinking, just the other day, about how we’re about to transition into 2023. And I remember at the very beginning of all this and, March, 2020, talking to our good friend Mike McCard, smartest guy I know. Thanks. And he was talking to us about COVID, at that time and you know, he’s smart. And so he was like, we’ll still be talking about and dealing with this directly in 2023. And I was like, Mike, you crazy man. Now first of all, you know, there’s been so much I, you know, I get on my soapbox about being frustrated about the COVID thing and COVID denial and that kind of thing. But one of the things that I’ve thought about recently is how everything that they said, everything that the, the epidemiologist said in 2020, essentially happened. They said that we’d still be talking about and dealing with this in 2023. They said that almost everyone was going to get it. They said that it was, this is the number of people that were gonna die within a certain range, go back and look at what they said. And every single thing that they said within those ranges, is what ended up happening. Because these things operate according to models. And it’s just interesting. It’s just an interesting thing to note. Not every– Noted. They didn’t get everything right, but it was just, but here we are transitioning into 2023. We are still dealing with it and talking about it, not nearly to the same degree. It’s not nearly as disruptive as it was. And you know, all indications are that it’s sort of dwindling. It’s becoming, every time we start talking about it, it’s a little bit less of an issue. And then eventually it’s just like, yeah, we don’t really talk about it, think about this very much. Unless you’re in a super high risk group, whatever. That’s great. But by the time you got it, which is also within a week of when I got it, totally separately. Yeah. It was, like mentally it felt totally different than like all the different iterations of how I thought I would respond to it beforehand. Well, I had gotten to this place, which I think a lot of people have got to, which was maybe I’m immune to it. I mean some people are, you know, some people just don’t get it, just because of some genetic predisposition. And of course that turned out to not be the case. But that ended up being, when I got it, I got it from my wife and then spent a week in a hotel room in Chapel Hill with her. And that was a very interesting experience for the both of us, literally being in a hotel room and not leaving the hotel room except to go out onto the balcony of the hotel room. Thank God there was one of those, for about five days. And it just was this, I, you know, I have my Oura ring, which is not a sponsor, but we are investors, so maybe they should be. But it gives you all your vitals and stuff and you know, I go back and I can, and you can look at all your data and I look at the data for that week and I see my temperature of like 103 and a half I think is what I got, two nights in a row. And my, like HRV, you know, heart rate variability was like super low. It was like my readiness score was like in the thirties. It was like the lowest it’s ever been. And it was like, that was a tough, that was a tough time. But it’s a time that almost everybody has had to experience on some level. And obviously it’s been devastating and continues to be devastating for a lot of people. Whether you, you know, you know somebody who lost their lives or you’re just somebody who’s dealing with long COVID. So it’s just my personal direct encounter with COVID, after having encountered all its effects as just a member of society. I think that would kind of crystallize in 2023. Thankfully I haven’t gotten it again and who knows if when or if I’ll get it again. But it was memorable. It was a moment. I’ve lost track of the number of boosters that I’ve gotten at this point. I think it’s three. Is it four? I don’t know. Yeah, all of them. Sign me up, man. Sign me up. I’m in the cult. I’d love to get boosted. Let’s see, my number six was the launch of Dispatchers from Myrtle Beach. Oh yeah. Because as my dad and I talk about many times on the podcast itself, it’s just, we’re just realizing like, wow, it just gives us this new touchpoint for our relationship to like, move. I would, it’s not, it’s to a new level in some ways because it’s like the, just the frequency and the depth of our connection are, are both like on another level. But it’s also expanded the nature of our relationship in a way that I don’t believe ever would’ve happened if it wasn’t for the podcast. I mean, to know that every week, I’m gonna have it, it ends up being like a 45, 50 minute conversation that then Logan cuts down to 30 minutes. Right. ‘Cause after all my dad is in charge of the episode. So there’s some things you just gotta tighten up or maybe remove, maybe she removes some of the stuff that I say too. I bet. Good. Two peas in a pod man. But yeah, it’s like we are interacting with each other on different terms. It’s about having fun, like high value and having fun and also just connecting with each other. So we find ourselves answering questions that people have emailed or asking, I’m asking him questions like, what, so what went into naming me? I mean, I know that I’m the third and you’re junior. It’s like, I didn’t, I had actually never heard like, his thoughts about that. Like how long was he thinking about there being a third before he was even, you know, thinking about having– Was it his idea? Having kids. Well yeah, he was a junior and it was just kind, it was kind of similar in how I thought about Lincoln, but the, it wasn’t, it wasn’t that it was a revolutionary answer, but that it was a conversation we had never had. You’d never talked about it. You know, and it’s, it’s one thing to talk about like, okay, you talk, you call, if I call my dad on the phone, he’d be like, “I had a prostate exam. They’re doing some tests. I decided not to tell you about it until I got the results and they’re fine.” You know, it’s like that’s how the conversation would’ve gone. Yep. But like on the podcast, it becomes this, like, all of that, the important part of the conversation still happens that like, oh, I care about you, I wanna make sure that your prostate’s good. But then it’s also the most fun version of the conversation that, that we’ll have. Yeah. You know, it’s like seeing him grow. And like, there’s, you’ve seen this from me many times. I’ll come out of this room and I’ll go back into our office and if you’re in there, I’m just like, I’m proud of my dad, because he is– Hmm. He’s actually, he’s developing, he’s really understanding the parts of this that he needs to understand, but then continuing to not develop in the ways that I don’t want him to develop so that it stays like, entertaining in that right way. So it’s like, like this, the way that he decides to prepare, like the things that he brings to the table, like he’s fully committing himself to this. And I, I am surprised at how much of him is in me, that has brought me to this point. It’s like, as much as I knew it, I’m still surprised by the extent. Now you’re getting to experience it. The yeah, the extent of it. So it’s like, I was, you know, I didn’t wanna get my hopes up when we decided to do it. I was very reticent to like, like fully commit to it mentally. It’s like, oh, it’s just something we’ll do for a little bit and, you know, all good things come to an end, but like there’s no end in sight for Dispatchers from Myrtle Beach. And I think it, it ultimately comes down to the experience that we have with each other. And then it’s up to the, it’s up to an audience to like know what they want to be a part of that. And like enough people are, in my opinion, the audience still needs to grow. I would love to, I’d love for more people to know about it and hear about it. And it’s challenging to know how to get a podcast out there, but absolutely on the list, you know it, it could probably be higher, but it’s my number six. He is, he has fully embraced his role and that wasn’t something that was guaranteed. No. My number five, is my trip with Locke from Maine to Miami, which we did a whole episode on. That’s a big one. The specific moment from that trip is our walk a around the the Washington Mall. Yeah. Around the, you know, the monuments at night. And, you know, because of the time that we recorded this episode last year, we always recorded before the end of the year, technically my other road trip with Locke, which was in December of 2021, when we had to drive back from North Carolina to California. Those two road trips with Locke, I think fundamentally changed the dynamic of our relationship, which fundamentally changed the dynamic of our relationship that exists now while he is at college, right? Yeah. So it’s funny how, and I think this, it makes me think about these moments in a different way. And ’cause a lot of the things that we will list, are things that are outside of the ordinary experience. A lot of the things will be in our trips that you went on, right? Yeah. And we talked about this before, but doing something, and this is why I tell Shepherd, you know, go to a summer camp, like, do these things, go on a trip, take advantage of this opportunity because shaking your life up and doing this short term thing. Yeah. When you look back on your life, it’ll be the things that took you out of your normal routine. That’s what you will remember. Those will be the formative experiences. Those will be the times in which you like, put your mouth up to a fire hydrant and basically ingested an experience at a much higher rate than you do in your normal life. And those two trips with Locke are a testament to it, just being in a car together, going across the country, just the two of us. And I think it was a five day trip and then maybe a five or six day trip. So we’re talking about 10 to 11 days of time that helped define our dynamic and I think helped us move in the same way that this, I’m talking about with Shepherd, it moved from so much of this dad and son dynamic, which for me ends up being the what is my role in giving them the best advice and guiding them, which is important. Yeah. But moving to that connection, which is as a kid becomes an adult, goes off to college, becomes independent, the dynamic that you want to continue. And the only dynamic that’s worth continuing is the connection dynamic, because the guidance dynamic, the parenting dynamic goes away and actually in many ways becomes a burden to them as they become adults, right? And I see a lot of relationships, a lot of parent and child relationships that as the child becomes an adult, doesn’t matter how old they get, it doesn’t matter how much experience they get under their belts, it doesn’t matter if they become parents or not. The dynamic remains a parent and a child. Yeah. You will always be my child and I will always need to guide you and I will always need to call you out. And that dynamic can be really detrimental to relationships. And I’m not saying that I engineered this or I read a book. I got lucky in a lot of ways by just, the first trip was circumstance. We needed to make a trip because the way the plans changed and then we, because that one went so well, we decided to do another one. And those two trips in short succession, I think is the reason that we talk on the phone all the time now in a way that we didn’t. Huh. In a way that we just, we didn’t communicate with that frequency and that depth. It’s actually, it’s increased. The timing of it was so crucial. And the funny thing is, is I don’t remember if it was this episode last year. No, it was when, it was when you did your episode about sending Lily off to college and I was kind of reflecting as you were talking, and at the end of that episode I remember saying something like, I really wanna focus on making this year a year of connection with Locke, because we had been at each other’s throats. Like he had a really difficult time with COVID, and basically not going to school, not being able to see his friends. And that created a lot of tension between us that really ran a risk of just carrying this sort of butting heads thing off into the rest of our, it can, even as you talk about your dad, it’s like these little decisions. Sometimes it’s these little decisions that can change the trajectory of a relationship. It’s kind of fascinating. So that’s my number five. That’s awesome, dude. I’m gonna refer to a lot of that with my number four, but I’ve gotta say my number three first, which is MythiCon. And I wanted to be specific about this, ’cause MythiCon was a, was an amazing experience. So I’m pinpointing our main stage performance. Like I’ve already said it, like the most fun we’ve ever had on stage. I just felt like it was a culmination of so many things that we had learned and this relationship we have with the Mythical Beast, that it was just like, I mean, Good Mythical Evening’s not on, not on my list, but like everything that we– ‘Cause we don’t remember it. Everything we did brought us to a point where it’s like we can, I don’t know, there’s just like, there was a level of trust there that certainly Good Mythical Evening was instrumental in kind of building, but everything was, so I just felt like it was, it was a great experience and I’ll never forget it, just how much fun that we had on stage. My dad was a part of it. Like, I’ll never forget like, the reaction that everybody had to Chase coming out. Like that particular moment for me was like really satisfying. You know? It’s like, it wasn’t just about us riding in on a bike, but it was about this world that we had created, that now these people were experiencing with us. It was just so much, it was so much fun. And like the level of unhinged creativity that we put into it, has given us even more confidence with how we are approaching 2023. And we got this twinkle in our eye, baby. And I think it’s really about, it’s those moments from this year that moment for me, from MythiCon, is something that like, just really gets me excited about what can we do next? What can we create? Well, don’t talk too much about that because I’ve captured that as a point in a different way, that isn’t related to MythiCon, but MythiCon is my number one. Oh snap. MythiCon, oh. And I actually, so when I obviously I agree with everything that you just said, in terms of– I was done. The stage show, being incredibly special and this incredible moment. I think for me, my performance with Jessie, that first night. Well if that’s your number one, save it. Is… Save it for your number one. I feel like that’s different. Well, but it was really MythiCon in total. But like, if I had to pick a point in which I was like, this moment is something I will absolutely never forget and don’t know how I could ever engineer it again. It would be that moment. Well, let’s come back to it. So, I’ll come back to that. Come back to it. That’s, I think that’s separate from– Well I’m like, I mean, but number four in general was you know, releasing Human Overboard. Okay. Which again, I’ve talked about extensively. I’m not gonna talk about it extensively here, but this was just for all the reasons that I’ve covered, a really significant moment for me. And I think that there’s so many things about it and the way that things have been received and the stories that people have told and that have been just very deeply enriching. I think that one element of it that stands out is being able to record the song with Jessie and the Where We’re Going song. She, you know, of course you’ve recorded a few of ’em with me, but that one in particular, because it’s about her. Recording it with her and then being able to make that music video with her, which involved me having to go and find this footage from our relationship and go into the archives of our honeymoon tapes. You know, we had like four hours of old VHS-C or digital eight tapes from our honeymoon. About an hour and a half of that was me literally just filming like the stage show at the resort we were at. I was such an idiot. Like anybody who does that, and I’m included in that, is an idiot. 90 seconds of it was sex tape. If you just, if you go, like, it’s one thing to go to a concert and like get footage of it. So you can say, I was there and post something on social media. It’s another thing to like say, I wanna re-experience this entire– To think that you were making the concert film, that you’re making the concert film on your freaking phone or your little ass stupid camera. Yeah, you were a dumbass. That’s a dumbass thing to do. And I’ve done it too many times. Okay, I just, I’ll just admit it, but especially– Young and in love. Especially when you’re at a not very nice, all inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico, that the only resort that you could afford at the time. Hey. You did, you enjoyed it. Let me just say the talent, the talent pool of this particular resort when it’s like this, people like these– I love how you’re turning your, one of your top moments of the year into , like “These performers, man.” These dudes are, they’re like doing Beat It. Like one of ’em dressed like Michael Jackson. Oh, wow. I’m, yeah, you gotta understand what I’m talking about, man. It was awful. Wow. And I filmed it. I have it. Anyway, going back and finding that footage in those photos, was this like, man, this ridiculous. Because what the James and the Shame Project and Human Overboard sort of represents is this sort of musical expression of the process of my deconstruction and thinking about this woman, my wife Jessie, who’s been there from the beginning and has gone through this on her own pace, at her own pace. And then looking back at our relationship and those early days when we were just like, man, look at those 20, look at that 23-year-old and that 20-year-old who got married, you know, and got married for, you know, and in a lot of ways because they wanted to have sex with each other, because that was the only way they could. ♪ Picked up on the first date ♪ And to see how we’ve met– We got out of a particular world that I’m very happy that we got out of. And we are sort of traversing through a brave new world together in a way that, you know, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. That’s sweet. But that, that moment with her is really the, the pinnacle of that for me. But in general, the whole music thing has been deeply rewarding. My number four is, I’ve said it’s my scuba diving. There’s like my scuba diving journey, but really that’s, it’s really about my relationship with Lincoln this year. And it’s so much of like what you described in terms of having a pivotal year and like these special moments with Locke, like deciding to get scuba certified. Lincoln saying he was totally on board and excited about that. So it became a thing that we were doing together, leading up to going to Maui and like swimming through these like volcanic caves and then, but the whole certification process, like having to take the class and having to take, you know, all of it. And it was, it was a huge project that had this big payoff, and then it has this long tail, I guess you would call it, of like adventures that we can have together. And it, it’s a special thing in a year that like, okay, now Lily’s outta the house and me realizing that, you know, it’s okay. So the things that Lily and I could connect with, like the things that we’d watch on television, the shows and the movies, like that was a big connection point for us. It was kind of like right there at the ready and Lincoln, Lincoln’s quiet, he like, he plays into like the middle child trope a lot and like, he’s such a peacemaker and like he doesn’t, he doesn’t seem to be needy, so it’s like me identifying that, oh, I need, I’ve gotta find my ways in. And so scuba diving and that whole journey really became that for us. I’ll also say– You’re using your right arm, just so you know, it’s out of the sling. It’s making me nervous. It’s like a snake approaching. You’re, now you’re beginning to gesture with it. It doesn’t hurt. Okay. I’m not a doctor. Because I’m leaving it on the table. It’s like there’s no weight on it. I’m just gonna push it. I’m, I can gesture with my hand. I need to gesture with my hand. And I also need to like air out my armpit. That’s why you took it out? Yeah. Okay. It’s just a little swampy in there. Thank you though. As long as I keep the right posture and then I gesture like this. I just want that thing to heal. I need two-armed Link. Me too. ASAP. Thank you for looking out for me. I’m good. I think this is actually a, a good place to be. So the scuba diving journey was that, and also we started going to more concerts together. Like we went to The Weeknd, which you may have seen me on TikTok… Went to the Kendrick show, we went to a Posty show and he got to meet him backstage, and like, and got to meet Ski Mask The Slump God. You gotta wear that, his medallion. Yeah. So, you know, Lincoln and I do really connect over music, but like going to shows has taken that to a new level. So then he’s bringing me shows like, “Hey, let’s go to this.” And then it’s, sometimes it’s like, well, “I’m going to this with my friends.” He is like, well, if I can go too Lincoln, I’ll buy your ticket. It’s kind of like the deal– Pretty good. But I’m like, I’m also like, now if you wanna do some of this stuff without me there or like if you, if you want to have, if you want to have a little bit of separation, I totally understand. So it’s like I’m trying to be sensitive that like of course I totally blend in. Well, I mean I, you kind of do. Have you seen the way you’ve been dressing? I mean, so the music thing is a big connection for us. And so we have a good time. Going to those events together. So between that and the scuba diving, I’m kind of lumping that in together as like the year of like finding those connection points, that and the time, there’s time associated with it. Like, so much happens within the context of just like, protecting time to be together. You know, it’s not about, just the saying the right things, having the right conversations. You gotta, you like set the table. You know what I’m saying? Which I definitely hear in your road trip, right? Those experiences. It’s like– With low pressure Where you can like exit dad mode and you can just like, enjoy each other’s company and have a common interest. So finding that has been, this was a defining year for us for that. And you know, I was talking at the dinner table last night and I was like, you know, we’re putting this episode together and I was really happy that Lincoln was like, our concerts, you know, like that’s what he said. ‘Cause I was just kind of curious what everybody would bring up. And the fact that that’s what he said, even above this, it’s been more recent than scuba. We’re not in scuba mode because it’s cold. I think he would’ve said that a few months ago. So like, it’s like, yeah, yeah. This is registering with him, as well. So it feels good, man. My number three, is, the way I would describe it is us deciding to make decisions from the soul. Okay, yes. And there’s a lot, there’s a lot to say here, but I don’t want to say a lot. So I essentially, we’ve hinted at this a number of times that in 2023, we are making some changes in terms of the way we think about the content that we make. Obviously we are gonna continue to make Good Mythical Morning, we’re gonna continue to make this podcast. Link’s gonna continue to make his podcast. We’re gonna continue to be the, founders and CEOs of Mythical Entertainment, which takes a lot of time. But what we have been doing over the past few years, has been taking some of our most ambitious, creative ideas, and I would say our most concentrated creative energy, and focusing it into other projects that we try to get off the ground in a more traditional way. Meaning a TV show, a film, putting together a pitch for a show. There’s been scripts that have been written. There’s been lots of worlds that have been built and developed. And these things take a lot of time and there’s things that we’ve been very passionate about, and there are still a few of those things that are at some point in a process that may eventually result in it being a reality. But there’s a series of things that happened this year. Some things, I’ll keep vague, just because we need to, but there are some that we don’t need to keep vague. You know, our Food Network show didn’t get picked up again, right? We did four episodes of it. Inside Eats. It didn’t, we didn’t get any more of it. There’s a number of reasons for that– Available on all things streaming. That are outside of our control. Maybe. But honestly, you know, if I am honest about that project. Be honest. While it did, it was our thing in some ways, because it was developed in the context of a network. It was like, make the show that Food Network wants us to make and then try to make it as Rhett and Linky as we possibly can, or as Mythical as we can. You know, the final product ends up being something that ostensibly can work on Food network, which isn’t necessarily something that we would’ve made from the get, right? It isn’t necessarily a product that looks like it came from our soul, is what I’m getting at. A number of things that were at certain points in development, we were told no. Finally, no, we’re no one’s interested in this. No, we don’t want to see this from you. No, we don’t want you guys to make this thing. And then at the same time, we said no to something, an opportunity that we had, a big opportunity, an opportunity that could have significantly changed things for us and our lives. And we said no. And there’s a lot of things that went into saying no. And I think that one of the things that I’ve been thinking about a lot this year, and especially lately and a lot of the things I’ve been reading and you know, I just finished Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search For Meaning, which is a very short and compelling read. I recommend every, it’s like four and a half hours if you wanna just listen to the audible, huh? I have read it. Yeah, and so, and I’m reading, and I’m starting on this new book where this guy’s kind of talking about the concept of dharma, which is kind of like your, like your life’s calling and purpose. And I realize that me and you have always had a really clear sense of who we are and what we are trying to do in the world. But many times in practice, we have executed things in a way that actually looked more like, this is what people want from us, rather than this is what we want to do and this is what we want to make. And I don’t wanna like overpromise and underdeliver, I’m not saying that we’re about to like create our magnum opus or something like that. But there’s been a significant shift in my mind to thinking about the way that we are uniquely Rhett and Link, and uniquely positioned to make things that only we can make, not in a qualitative or, or not in a make something better than everybody or see it in a competitive way. Like we’re on this competitive website and there’s these new creators who are really popping off on the platform and we’ve gotta get in the mix and we’ve gotta do something new and we’ve gotta innovate, which is the way that I’ve thought in the past a lot of times. But as I’ve gotten older, it’s less about that. And it’s recognizing the opportunity that we have, the fact that we have this incredible audience, this incredible support group, this incredible in many ways, friend group that are the Mythical Beasts that have decided that, I’m kind of into the idea that these guys just try things with us and for us and recognizing that those are the people that I want to be making things for. Because those are the people that are so supportive of us, digging deep and sort of coming from things coming from the soul like ideas and creative ideas and a creative expression, that comes from the soul that only, that is a, is a creative expression that only we can make. And I’m very excited about what that means for the future of the content that we’re gonna create. I love the fact that you decided to put this on the list. I, you know, I didn’t put it on the list because we’re trying to figure out how we talk about the decisions that we made. And I think you did a really good job, for the things that we have said no to and for like the big decision that we made. Ever since then, I have had this growing sense of excitement. And you know what, just to, just to go back to the way that we used to talk, just this peace about it, you know, just feeling very much like, yes, we made the right choice. It wasn’t, it wasn’t an easy choice, but when it had to be made, it was obvious. And yeah, I’m sorry to be vague, but like, I think the reason why I’m glad you mentioned it, even though we we’re deciding to keep it vague, is because this was the year that we made that, which in some ways could be, you know, it is definitely one of the weightiest decisions we’ve ever made. Oh yeah. Ever. And, yeah. And to, to not have, to not look back and to feel like very confident that I’m never gonna look back on that decision, feels really good. And because we have so much to look forward to, that is everything that you said, that we’re true to ourselves and realizing the amazing opportunity we have, that we’re, that we are currently living our dream. And that that’s, it’s such a privilege. And again, it’s that word opportunity. It’s like you say, you don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver. Well yeah, ’cause we don’t, we don’t have the specific plans, you know, we have lists and we have, we’re just starting this next phase of what we’re going after. And it’s not specific at this point, but it’s the right trajectory and it’s exciting, and I’m, and you know, so sorry for being vague, but hopefully even with the vagarity of it, that it’s not frustrating but exciting for you– Well, the thing, the thing we cannot, that we cannot be vague about is we’re going to be making internet videos. Like we’re going to be making content that we put on YouTube. Right? And I– As opposed to spending all this time developing all these things that go into a boardroom somewhere. So that begins in 2023. But I’m, it’s important that it’s on this list for us collectively, because it’s a 2022 decision. I mean it’s a, it’s in some ways, it’s a culmination of everything we’ve done, but definitely over the past two years, you know, bringing us to this point. And I also think it’s funny, there’s a lot of little things that can, a lot of it is just being at this stage in our career and our lives and circumstances, and that kind of thing. And you just start thinking like, what am I doing? Like, but just so you know, as this relates to Good Mythical Morning, you’ve probably have already noticed this a little bit like, but the way that we’ve been thinking about Good Mythical Morning more and more, is how it, Good Mythical Morning is our playground. Good Mythical Morning is a framework in which we are just ourselves. We don’t come up with, I mean, every once in a while we’ll come up with an idea for an episode, but the vast majority of the things that we do on Good Mythical Morning are ideas that our team generates. It’s a format. And orchestrates. And so, and then we more and more have seen ourselves as, this podcast is a place where we come and we talk about life for a long time. We’re experiencing life together. We’re having these conversations, we’re processing things. That’s what it’s gonna continue to be. If you wanna be around for it, you are welcome for it. You know, we welcome you along for the ride. But it’s not a gimmick. It’s not like, it’s not a gimmick thing, it’s just two guys who’ve known each other forever talking. That’s what it is, right? And we don’t want it to be something that it’s not. Good Mythical Morning isn’t this place for us to have this incredibly sophisticated, creative expression. It’s a place for us to be ourselves and bring joy and have an experience together, to invite you into that experience. But the thing that we’ve been doing is this other huge piece of ourselves, is this creative energy and passion, which ends up getting funneled into things. I mean, quite frankly, I think one of the reasons I ended up doing the James and the Shame thing, is not just because of all the like, like spiritual processing and angst that was sort of building up and needed to come out some way. But the reason it came out in a creative way is that sometimes I feel like this tank of creative energy, and it has to offload somehow. It’s gotta come out somewhere. It’s gotta pop, somebody’s gotta open a valve. And this year the valve opened a little bit and out came this album. And you know, and then when you think about these other projects that we’ve spent this time, hours upon hours developing these worlds and these ideas, it was letting some of that creative steam off, but it was sending it into the ether to be forgotten. And so I think it’s like, we’re taking that creative tank and we are hooking it up to a hose that ends on YouTube, on a screen that you can see the final product. And we don’t exactly know what it looks like, but it’s this sort of spiritual decision, soul decision that feels, that feels really exciting. And there are some ideas that we’re excited about, but that’s where the everything’s being funneled. You know. Springs me to mind number three. I think that, I think my number three, to couch it in everything that we just said is like the, the deeply personal and relational aspect between the two of us. You know, this podcast is a venue where we talk about our lives and like a nut, like the, arguably the deepest level of our friendship is on display, but there is a deeper level that is not on display, and that I’m not gonna talk about in this number. But I just want to, I wanted to memorialize the fact that there was some key conversations that you and I had this year, that everything that we just talked about in the previous point would not be possible without those conversations. That’s true. And it was, it was very formative, it was very special. And I just wanted to acknowledge that. So that’s, to be, talk about being vague. Like– I was gonna put that, I was gonna put that on my list as well, but I didn’t, but I didn’t know how to talk about it. Yeah. And I didn’t put the last one on our list. So like, that one-two punch. I’m glad that we covered it because, yeah, there’s a, there’s a part, we have a relationship that’s not for anybody else, you know, and I think that– You mean our sexual relationship? That’s what that you, that’s kind of what you make it, you’re making it sound like. Okay, no, it’s not a sexual relationship. Don’t give the Tumblr people anything they don’t already have. I mean you can, any way you want to try to interpret it. It’s just like, I’m not inviting you to do that. That’s kind of my point is– Well I think the way that I would characterize it, is that we have our friendship, which is the backbone of this whole thing. There are times when, in fact, I think I can say this because I think it speaks to it. One of the things we talked about is in the past, you know, I remember specifically there was a question that we would get asked when we were on our Bleak Creek tour. I don’t even know if it was part, it was a, I don’t, we ended up answering this question, maybe just ’cause we get this question, what’s the secret to a long, fruitful friendship? And the way that I would always answer this question was, I would say that think about like a marriage and then people have this baby that they’re raising together, and that baby, as long as that kid is at home and they’re, think about it like a career that you’re building together is like a baby that never leaves home. And so as long as that kid is home, you’re both committed to that. And I, and you pointed out that that analogy, while made sense on one level, so if we’ve always got something that we’re doing together, we got something that brings us together, both circumstantially. Like, well, we gotta show up at the same office every single day. Like, so there’s no outta sight, outta mind with our friendship, which could happen with old friends, right? But we’re always gonna see each other. And so you don’t get that. But then also there’s like, hey, we gotta, we have to get through our differences in order to work together on a common goal. So having a common goal was the way that I would characterize, I wouldn’t say it was the secret, but it was the one that I would bring up. And you made up, you made the point that like, well if you carry that analogy all the way through, well the moment that the kid goes off to college, like if you’ve got a marriage that’s just based on this common goal of raising a child and the kid goes off to college and you’re empty nesters, and then you look at each other and you’re like, well, who the hell are we? What, do we want to hang out? You made the point, which I very much appreciated. Which was, and not that our friendship didn’t, not that we haven’t had a friendship, but that by thinking about it in this way versus thinking about the fact that we have a friendship that we have to cultivate, that isn’t always cultivated by the entertainment properties that we make together. Even a podcast like this that is intensely personal and authentic and does serve a great friendship sort of bonding role, we have to have a friendship that exists outside of the common goals. And I think this year was a point, and this is something that we’ve talked about and we’ve had difficult, very great conversations over the years, but I think that there was a pivotal moment this year where we had a more poignant, pointed conversation about it, that I think was the most productive conversation that we’ve ever, like we’ve ever had about that specific thing. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. So there it is, super pivotal. I mean, yeah, I’ve already, I’ve already said my piece. So that’s, that’s my number three. And now that, I mean, it could be number one, now that, and it probably should at least be number two, now that I’m thinking about it. I mean, listen– Because I put like us hanging out with Post Malone and– I knew you were gonna put that super high. I knew you, ’cause I mean, listen, when you were there, I knew you were having the time of your life and it’s great. It’s a top 10. I mean, it’s definitely a top 10. Yeah, but I’m officially switching those two. I’m putting this one at number two. It’s tough to figure out the order. I’m putting this at number two. My number two– Thank you for saying that. Which again is a, I’ve done a full episode on it, is dropping Loche off at college. The specific moment I remember, which I don’t, I think I talked about this, but like we, we smoked a cigar together while walking around Miami, like a little park area and like had like a celebratory cigar. And this is not my idea, this is Locke’s idea. He’s a– Yeah, yeah, I was about to say. Just so you know. This is a Loche idea. He wants to have a cigar with me every time he sees me. He’s 18. I remember being this way. And I think that this has been, it’s just for all the reasons that I’ve talked about in the episode, this, you know, you got this kid, they’ve been a part of your family, a part of your household for 18 years, and then whew, they’re off living their own life and you’re talking to ’em on the phone on a regular basis And I have seen him multiple times since then, but that was a super substantial moment in my life and his life our family’s life. So it’s gonna stand out forever. That moment when I wanted to have my moment with him and Jessie was like, putting something in to trail– Don’t bring that part of it up. Don’t bring that part up again. And we didn’t have our moment, and we all yelled at her. That was your moment. Yeah, yeah. I’ll never forget that. I’ll never forget that, Jessie. Oh, that’s great. Okay, so I’m down to my number one, which I did talk about, so I don’t, I don’t have to like go through all of it again, but when mom’s husband Lewis passed away this year, I spent that whole week after his passing with my mom and it was like, I did not anticipate how formative to our relationship that would be. It just seemed like the right thing to do, you know, I wanted to be there for her. But then the quality of the time that we spent together, like, you know me, just me and her, every night, you know, basically having a sleepover at a point where she was, she was going through such a tremendous loss, our relationship, it just became like something that we will never forget. Like whenever we talk on the phone, even if it’s just, you know, once or twice a month, like whenever it comes, like usually it’ll still come up, you know, it’s like, it’s something that we both hang onto and I’ll, yeah, I know she’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget it. It was extremely special. And again, I don’t take the credit for it. I think it was just, you make a decision to, to just be there. You know, there’s like this time thing, you just kind of make yourself available and then sometimes the magical things can happen. And that’s what happened in my relationship with my mom. And it’s so, when I put everything in perspective this year, it’s like, it’s the moments that, and I, you know, I hear this in the things that you said too, and I know you’re not to your number one, but like, I’m just giving the summary, I guess my summary is that like, the moments that mean so much to us are so relational, you know, it’s like, it just all of a sudden you realize that you’ve opened up, it’s like you’re spelunking and you’ve opened up, you’ve come into a, you’re in this little tight area and then you’re in this huge beautiful cavern that you couldn’t have anticipated was there. And being able, this year was, I mean, I had that experience in so, in so many relationships with my dad, with my mom, with my son, with my therapist, you know, and it’s you know, you don’t have to have it with everybody that I love very deeply. You know, it’s like, maybe that’s not, like Chris and I had some amazing experiences this year and like, like we’re, I’m, we have such a rewarding relationship. Like I feel like, well shouldn’t there be something on my list there? It’s like, actually no, there doesn’t have to be, you know? I’m hedging a little bit, ’cause I know that you and Jessie, that your number one is Jessie, but like, I’ll leave it at that. Well, no, actually, you know what? I’ve changed it. My number one is the week I spent with your mom after you left. Oh, you, man. Damn. That was hilarious. That’s funny. My number one is, is MythiCon in general and then specifically, the James and the Shame performance. And then even within that is the moment that Jessie was with me on stage. And even with that, in that the moment where she sang the– Where she sang the high notes– The opera and , and we had to stop because people wouldn’t stop clapping. Okay, yeah. You know, I think that this in many ways ties back into, I mean, first of all it was like, I think one of the things that we’re kind of discovering is that there are these, to continue to choose more analogies. ‘Cause since we like to use those so much is just like, with each experience, you’re like laying a brick, you’re building something, right? What are you building? And sometimes you realize that, oh, I just finished the house. Like I, this thing, I didn’t even know what I was building by investing in something. It might be a skill, it might be a relationship, it might be an experience that you have. You’re, building something and then it, there’s a result and it’s not always good. Sometimes you’re building bad things, sometimes you’re investing in the wrong relationship, the wrong tendency, the wrong habit. And then you realize what, then you gotta get in that house and live in it. And I think that, not that we don’t do that, but that these are our highlights for the most part. So we’re talking about the good house that we’ve built, but to me that moment kind of represents this, all these investments that I’ve had the privilege of making. And I think it ties back into my number three, which is this, this decision to like do things more from the soul. Because that moment when I was performing, doing something that I really have no right to do. I mean, who has a right to do anything? But, you know– Especially you. Let’s just focus on you. I made some internet videos and right now I get to make country songs. Make country music. But the way that it was received and the fact is, is that it could totally suck and it would still be well received. I mean, to a certain degree, but there’s this freedom, and to see Jessie experience it, to have this, like, she was so nervous about getting up on stage, that’s like we talked about. And then to see the reception and the warmth and the support that comes from the Mythical Beasts, to me it was just this reminder that so often I get into a place where I think about how you do something in a way that makes it a success in the broadest way possible. That you impress the most people. And what are the, you know, what are the factors by which you judge something being a success to the most people? Well, numbers, we’re obsessed with numbers. How many followers do you have? How many views did that get? How much money did it make? And we’ve been pretty damn good at playing that game for a really long time, right? We know how to engineer things in such a way so that they get numbers and it generates money. But one of the things that has come about is this freedom. And I think that that moment of being up there, having written these songs and bringing Jessie and having her perform them with me and being so well received with this sort of giant check mark or endorsement on, you’re moving in the right direction, when you think about doing things more from an authentic place, of like who, the only thing you can be is yourself, right? You can try to be what you think other people want you to be. And I’ve spent a lot of time doing that as a three, as enneagram three. But to me, I think that, I don’t know, there’s a series of events and that one encapsulates it the most of like the kind of the riskiest thing that I did this year was decide to do this music and to do it in the context of this family that has sort of gathered around our content. And to see that, oh man, like, yeah, you can take a chance like that if you go, if you move into the heart and get outta the head a little bit and lean into it and create something from that place, what can happen? And that’s where I’m all my excitement is in that right now. Not specifically my music. I mean, I’m still writing songs and I’ll release more music, but like, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about everything as it relates to us creating things and what we’re gonna do next as it relates to me as an individual person and the way I show up in the world, the way that I show up in relationships. Thinking about how does that come more from a soul place and a place of authenticity rather than just a, I’m trying to fit somebody’s expectations and trying to appear a certain way. That’s a good number one. That’s my number one. Man, this has always been so rewarding. My rec is do the same. You know, we always say this in these episodes, it takes a little bit of work. Go through your, go through your photos for this whole year. Jog your memory, actually make a list of the things that were special to you. And then if you, talking about it or writing down something beside each thing, is kind of a next level of reward that like I think we just experienced. So that’s my recommendation for you to do the same thing. And if you wanna share anything with us that can show up at the end of another episode, as always, you can respond by leaving us a voicemail, 1-888-EARPOD1. Or use #EarBiscuits wherever hashtags are hashed. So have a good New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, ’cause this is the last episode of 2022. But we will be back with another episode of Ear Biscuits on January 9th, 2023. Love ya. This is Tyler from Kansas City, Missouri. I’m talking to you from my car. I just wanted to let you guys know how much I appreciate you and listening to you guys for about 10 years now, listening to your EarBiscuits calls every time I drive. Dad passed away in 2014 and the majority of what helped me, listening to you guys, love you. What’s up Rhett and Link, it’s your boy, Rick. I just finished my first day out alone on a job, that I used a whole bunch of tools, whole bunch of stuff you gotta know and do. And I didn’t grow up learning all that stuff, man. Let’s say I was shaking in my boots all day, man. Actually I wasn’t, because I just turned on some EarBiscuits, had my little ear pod in and man, I just listened the way you kept me calm all day, man. I appreciate it. Thank y’all, thank y’all. Hey Rhett, hey Link. Love you guys’ videos. This is so cool. I don’t know what I’m gonna be, can you put this on the internet? I’m really, I didn’t know what I was gonna say. I just called a number. I heard the episode. You just put this on the episode, or not. You guys are the boss. Love you, bye. To watch more EarBiscuits, click on the playlist on the right. [Rhett] To watch the previous episode of EarBiscuits, click on the playlist to the left. And don’t forget to click on the circular icon to subscribe. If you prefer to listen to this podcast, it’s available on all your favorite podcast platforms. Thanks for being your Mythical best.