Welcome to “Ear Biscuits,” the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time, I’m Link. And I’m Rhett. This week at the round table of Dim Lighting, we’re going to be hearing from you, we’re going to be listening to some of your voicemails. Some, we have to prod you a little bit sometimes to get you to leave us voicemails, you know? We had to tweet out from the Mythical account. I retweeted it because I’m still, You scared to call us? Like I have a pulse on Twitter. Pults with a T. Link is dead, completely dead, I think he still can’t log in, that’s fine. I love it. And yes, I’m still calling it Twitter, I don’t plan to change. But what I’m getting at is that we want you to leave us voicemails because we like hearing your voices And then responding. So we’re gonna do some of that today. I will say I’m a little hangry right now. I gotta, I’m hungry. Well, but the funny thing that just happened right before this is that, ’cause I’m in the same boat, even though I did You hungry? Have a potato ball at the company-wide meeting, ’cause I saw ’em there from Porto’s and I was like, Oh crap, I didn’t see those. The whole kitchen was covered in Porto’s boxes. And I wasn’t planning on it, I had my smoothie this morning. I looked at the boxes, but I didn’t see potato balls. I would’ve gotten one of those If Porto’s is there, you know potato balls are there. And so I did get a potato ball. I don’t know if I regret it or not, but I’m a little less hungry because of that. We watch Survivor, we’re still watching Survivor religiously as a family. They did an update where they really cut down on what those people eat. They’re making ’em starve more? Every time I watch that show, I’m like, I am not, yes, I am not ever gonna go on that show because I don’t wanna sleep on some bamboo in the woods starving. I just wouldn’t do good with that. The longest that we’ve ever been without food, I mean, we’ve known people who’ve done 40-day fast and crap like that, that would not go over well with me. I mean, I went a week without eating for spiritual edification reasons. Was that the same week that I did it? I think maybe, I don’t know. I don’t, I mean it, I think it’s good to take something away that you can realize how much you’re dependent on it, but food is kind of something that I’m okay being dependent on ’cause I’m a human. Well, the funny thing is is I feel like I definitely like to eat more than you and I definitely eat a significantly higher amount of food than you do. But yet I feel like you handle fasting less than me and less well than me. And maybe it’s because you’ve got less body fat to feed you during the down times or something. I just like to, You like to eat often, but not a lot. Yeah, I like to, I’m a snacker. I’m like a, I went to get a little yogurt and they have these childlike squeezable yogurts in our fridge, which I’m pretty fond of. So I went to grab one of those, I was like, this will hold me over and I in my mouth and it was different than I expected. It was like a fruit sauce, not apples, but like an apple sauce of other fruits. And when you expected a yogurt and that’s what you get, as I’ve said before, But what did it say on it? It didn’t say yogurt, did it? No. It said fruit gushers. Yeah, but they’re all together. They’re all squishable things and it’s where the squishable yogurt is. So it’s like apple sauce. And that didn’t help at all. Which further, Did you spit it out? Helps me assert, no, I just adjusted my expectations. My stance that apples do not satisfy. Apple sauce and any kind of fruit sauce doesn’t do it either. Enough would. But a handful of nuts, that’s my jam right there. if I don’t have a 10:00 a.m. handful of almonds, I’m hurting now. And it is a good habit. ’cause I do think I eat less at, like now after this podcast, I’m gonna voraciously make bad decisions a little bit. No, you’re not, ’cause we don’t go to a buffet According to me. No, you’re gonna be given a lunch. Yeah, little baby gonna be given a lunch. The baby is gonna be, the two babies, Jenna will bring in a lunch, But I might go grab some chips or something. And we would just eat the lunch. I might grab some chips. Oh, so you being a bad boy is grabbing some chips. Man, you don’t even know half of what being a bad boy is all about. If you wanna be a bad boy, match me one to one when I’m being a bad boy. That’s an interesting challenge. You would die. You would die if you were a bad boy with me. Do I have to eat as fast as you? Because I’ve also seen that challenge on TikTok. You only have to eat as much as me. The guy eats at his speed and then usually the girl, I guess this is a trend. I’ve seen that, yeah. I’ve only seen it once. When he has to wait for his wife to eat. No, the girlfriend is trying to eat just as fast. Oh, I’ve only seen when the guy is trying to eat as slow as the girl. No. And he’s sitting there waiting. This would be, more fun to do the opposite. My wife eats just as fast as me almost. She’s right there with me. How is that even possible? Well, I think she’s adjusted. She’s not eating the same amount. No, ’cause we share food. Then how would she, no, she has to eat the same amount in the same amount of time. If you’re eating less in the same amount of time, then that’s not a test. Well if we’ve agreed to split something, She goes hard at it. Yeah. So she can keep her half because you will take it. You don’t have to eat as fast as me. As a matter of fact, well, I would say eating as fast as me is one of the keys to eating as much as me. Because your body actually tells you that you’re full if you just eat slow. That’s why it’s healthy to eat slow. But if you’re me, you just eat like it’s a contest, like you’re gonna be sniped at any moment, like you’ve gotta get this meal down. If you don’t eat it fast enough, you’ll be sniped? Or your last meal, you want to get it all down before you’re sniped? Yeah, I am saying that the advantages that I can foresee in eating as quickly as me are if I am potentially being sniped while eating, I’m going to eat fast and I’m out of there. But I’m just trying to justify it. The reason I eat that fast is because I don’t think about it. It’s just the natural response is to eat that fast and it’s not good. It’s bad for your digestion, you eat too much, there’s no good reason to do it, I’m just saying it’s what naturally happens to me. Yet you don’t bite your tongue or your mouth. I bite my own mouth all the time. ‘Cause you chew that many more times. That’s my limiting factor, we’ve established, We probably bite our tongues at the same rate per chew. But you’re chewing so much more and you’re chewing more aggressively. So when I do bite my tongue, it’s sort of like, ah, ah, ah, and then I’m over it. You bite your tongue and we’ve got 48 to 72 hours that you’ve got to adjust your lifestyle. Yeah, lots of bleeding. But just eat the same amount as me for a day. Mm. That’s gonna be, I’m not gonna feel good, but I’ll do it. I’ll do it, I’ll try it, that’s an experiment. Can I go back to the almonds for a second, though? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh man, I just, I love almonds. I don’t know what it is. Now, they’re not macadamia nuts, don’t get me wrong. Macadamias are the best nuts. What’s the best nut? Macadamia nut. It’s round, it’s got this pop to it when you bite it, and then it’s got this buttery after sensation. I think it depends on the circumstance. What nut makes the best, They’re Hawaiian. What makes the best butter, peanuts. Well, I’m not talking, I’m saying eating a raw nut. What’s the best raw nut to eat? Are you really, when you eat a macadamia, isn’t it cooked? It’s not completely raw. It’s not like pulled off of the tree or out of the ground, however nuts, Is it roasted? I think they’re roasted at least. Yeah, okay. So dry roasted. But the almonds that I eat are also dry roasted. I think some of those almonds might be raw. I like ’em raw, too. I like it raw! Almonds are my number two. I mean, peanuts are just too fatty. I love ’em, but I don’t eat ’em. And I’m factoring in health. Macadamias are less fatty than peanuts? Probably not, but they’re irresistible. It’s good fat though, right? We have a container in the house. It’s just, it’s every time I open that cabinet and I just look at those macadamia nuts, oh man. It’s the texture is perfect, the taste is perfect. Don’t even talk to me about cashews. If you like cashews, I don’t even want to talk to you. But almonds are fun ’cause, Yeah, it’s gonna make this podcast difficult. You can make a game. What’s wrong with cashews?> Cashews, they’re great, they’re great. They’re not great, they’re too mushy. You like walnuts and walnuts are the most bitter nut. If you like walnuts, don’t talk to me. I like walnuts in my cottage cheese. Walnuts ruin whatever they’re in. Walnuts are good for you. They are good for you, though. They’re good, I don’t eat ’em by themselves. Yeah, see. Now I will eat a pecan by itself and pecan is good, mm hm. But almonds are, they’re just like they’re the go-to, especially here at work. And the thing that I like to do is I like to put, almond’s got a skin, did you know that, Rhett? Yeah, are you gonna tell me that you take the skin off in your mouth? Yeah, you can do that, and it’s a fun little game. Who wins that game? Not us. Well, not the almond. Not us hearing about it. That’s for sure. I feel like we’re all losing. I’m skinning almonds like cats. I mean, they’re losing big time. You don’t have to see it, but if I put one of my, I was doing it yesterday, Yeah, I don’t wanna see, I don’t wanna see you recreate it either. You know, it’s like, mm. It’ll come off like, it’ll slough off like a skin. And then you can chew that skin a little bit. You should try it. All it takes is just a little mouth moisture to get that and then you just, you start gnawing on the side of it like a chipmunk and then it’ll just start peeling off. It’s kind of magical. If you’ve never skint an almond, I love that for you. I would love for you to come over to my neck of the woods. They got a good pop to ’em, too, when you bite ’em. The best nut, when you take into account all treatments that you can do to nuts, not including chocolate covering them, because that’s a cheat, Yeah, no, no, no. But if you include roasting and a little bit of honey, A honey roasted what? A honey roasted Planter’s peanut, there is, Yeah, that’s good. That container, That’s trouble. There is nothing like those. You can do whatever you want to to an almond, you will never make it as beautiful as a honey roasted peanut. There’s these almonds now, Never, you can’t do it. They’re trying all types of things, though. There is an infused almond that will have, they come in these white pouches and they’re like, there’s a garlic infused, there’s thyme infused. And they’re not, it’s not on the outside, it’s just the almond itself tastes like it and it’s doesn’t get off on your fingers or stain anything. Ah, now you got me thinking about those, what’s the brand that does the bold almonds in the little packs? Blue Diamond. So good. Those nuts, man, Those are nice. The bold ones. Yeah, they kill it. The spicy dill, the sriracha. Yes. But now you got me thinking, Those are almonds, baby. About wonderful pistachios, the chili ones in that pack that are pre-peeled, unshelled, whatever. Oh, oh, I’ve been such a bad boy with those. Why you grab, you’re grabbing your jaw. Oh gosh, oh, I’ve been such a bad boy with those. Is your jaw getting all tight? And then there’s salt and vinegar, those are so good, too. I don’t really like the barbecue ones as much. But boy, I eat a lot of nuts too. What are the ones that are smoke? Smokehouse, smokehouse Blue Diamond almonds. Those are good, too. They’re really good. They’re really good, I kind of feel like, what I’m realizing right now, We’re nut boys. There’s a lot of nuts that are just almost perfect. I would give 10 outta 10 to Planters honey roasted nuts, to the wonderful pistachio. Too much sugar, though. They gotta go down on the list. I’m telling you the taste. All right, bad boy. Some bold Blue Diamond nuts. I’m sorry, macadamias, they ain’t making it into a 10 outta 10 unless they got chocolate on ’em and that’s cheating. That’s the real bad stuff if you do that. For an unsugared, legitimate nut, just the nut of the nut, macadamia can’t be beat, man. But I got you going, see. You love almonds a lot more than you realize. And you need to skin ’em. Skin ’em in your mouth. The raw ones, I only eat that when I am, only in good boy mode. There’s no pleasure. There is no pleasure in a raw almond. It is total good boy mood. The texture is great. The taste is good. It’s like my smoothie. My smoothie is total good boy mode , like I don’t even talk, I don’t even look at it. Are you gonna skin an almond? No, I don’t, Why not?! Like just privately. I’ve told you something that means a lot to me that I get a lot of joy from. I’ll talk about it publicly. But why are you just all of a sudden just crapping on it? Why not try it? Why not say you’re gonna try it and lie? Why do that to me? I’m trying to give you a gift. I don’t want your gift. I’m not opening the present. I imagine, I was forced to imagine what it would be like by your demonstration. And it made me not want to do it. It’s like asking me, do you want to have someone cut off, like do you want someone to put bamboo under your nails? That’s how you made it seem in your demonstration. You made it seem torturous. You didn’t make it seem enticing. You did it in a way that made it seem like a bad thing. You’re afraid of what people will think of you. Nobody will know ’cause I’ll be in the privacy of my own car especially. I said it was great. You don’t want someone to drive by you in the car and see you going. I feel like I got a lot of experiences, I’m open to a lot of things, there’s some things that I don’t need to try. Did you know that it even had a skin? I’ve looked at one before and I’ve seen some in the box have sloughed it off a little bit. I don’t know, there’s just some things I don’t need to try. Well, that’s a way to be close minded. Like I don’t need to try when they make a pool table really small. Yeah, yeah. You know what I’m saying? When you’re like, oh I’m gonna put this on the table and play pool, I’m like, I can imagine what that is like, and it’s not as good as actual pool. That’s a lesser than. There’s just some things I don’t need to try to know that I won’t like it or that it won’t add anything to my life. And I’m sorry, even if it means something to you, skinning an almond in my mouth is one of those things. You know what I mean? Well, you’ve made a good example with the pool table. Right. But I’m still, I still feel sorry for you. And if little pool was your thing, You gotta try the smaller pool, I mean it’s, I’d play it with you if you needed a partner. Closer to the holes. But if you just left it out, I wouldn’t be like, man, I gotta try that. I just wouldn’t do it, I’d be like, yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, it doesn’t roll as good, whatever, you know. And just, I don’t know, I’m just gonna eat an almond and I want there to be stuff all over it when I eat it. Not just skin, I want it to have been dipped in some chemical, I want it to be tangy, I want it to be a little bit spicy, sweet, whatever they want it to be like to make me want to eat that nut. I wonder if you could get a skinless almond./ Pre-skinned almonds. Probably. They’d probably just put ’em in a rock tumbler for a while and it’ll do it. You could probably do it. You know what I’ll do? I’ll spit ’em out for you and dry ’em back out. I’m just gonna eat the skin. That reminds me of the time that your family at the beach, I wasn’t there, you told me about it, they bought boiled peanuts and they were somehow confused by them and they set them out to dry in the sun. I don’t remember that, that was my family? You told me this, and I was like. Because you used to have an issue with me eating boiled peanuts. You were like, boiled peanuts, that’s gross, they’re soggy or whatever. And they’re a southern thing, I guess they were more of a Georgia thing. And I just loved them and I loved putting that nut in my mouth, a boiled peanut, and then you’d bite on it and it pops out the two little peanuts and then you’ve got the shell in your mouth and then you spit the shell out. I like that process. But you told me that, There’s also a little skin in there. You told me that your granddad, Lincoln, got boiled peanuts. I do not remember it, but I’m not saying it didn’t happen. And he set them out in the sun to dry. We didn’t grow up eating the boiled peanuts. Christy and her family did and I do like them now. You definitely see ’em heading down to the east. They have a very specific taste. Yeah, a taste you can’t get anywhere else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I like earthy tastes like that. And they’re mushy and you like mushy things. It’s on my list now. It’s the most pudding-like nut that there is. Yeah, but I’m real big on the pop. I’m real big on that texture. Yeah. Of a macadamia, which doesn’t have a skin, at least not the ones that I eat. If you got a macadamia nut that was in a shell, what would it look like? It’d probably be really hard to get at, that’s why they do it for you. It must. “Ear Biscuits” is supported by Rosetta Stone. Do you wanna learn Japanese? My son Lando does because a lot of the shows that he’s into, he’s watching with subtitles. But maybe he can just learn Japanese and get right into it directly. So I’m gonna hook him up with Rosetta Stone, the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app that truly immerses you in the language you wanna learn. They’ve used trusted experts for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered, some of which includes Spanish, Italian, German, Korean, Chinese, and Polish. Rosetta Stone immerses you in many ways and is built for fast language acquisition. There are no English translations, so you really learn to speak, listen, and think in that language. 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For a limited time, Nutrafol offers $10 off your first month’s subscription and free shipping when you go to neutrafol.com. and enter the promo code ear. Nutrafol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O L.com, promo code ear, that’s nutrafol.com, promo code ear. Mm hm, yeah, my nephew won’t be able to listen to this ’cause he’s allergic to nuts. Ooh, I hate it for those people. Yeah, yeah. I don’t hate those people. He’s on a new, But I hate it for those people. There’s a new type of medicine that you could take a shot and it’ll lessen your allergic reaction to things, ’cause he’s highly allergic to peanuts. And yeah, he just started those treatments and it, yeah. Oh, it’s working? Well, we’re gonna see, like if it does, they’re gonna start being able to go to restaurants and he can eat cake at birthday parties and not be concerned that something may have been made with, He can’t eat peanuts, of course, but he can now not be at constant risk of death if having an exposure. They wouldn’t have to call every single company and ask about the packaging because they don’t put on packaging a lot about it. Oh yeah, it suck, man. So yeah, it’s been, he’s a sweet little angel, but yeah, it’s been a rough couple years as they’ve been figuring that out. Aren’t they doing a new thing where they, like they do this exposure thing where they do this infinitesimal amount of something and then they slowly, I thought they were treating people that with that now? For less severe ones. ‘Cause if it’s severe enough, even the little, little tiny bit could just be hell. Yeah. A little kid who had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch, like hours later ’cause he didn’t wash his hands with soap, it was hand sanitizer instead of soap, touched his face and he had hives break out on his face. Yeah, like that severe. ‘Cause I was gonna say that could be your thing, you like nuts so much. You’d be the nut guy. Curing everyone’s allergy to nuts. Yeah. By exposing myself to them? No, exposing children to nuts. You want me to expose myself to children. I want you to expose children to nuts. Yeah, yeah, well. I don’t want you to expose yourself to children. I don’t want to either. Yeah, I want you to, and I don’t even. I hate children. Expose nuts to them, not your nuts, nuts that, And I don’t even really want you to do it. I hate people with nut allergies. No, I don’t. No, that’s what I’m saying is that you could be the guy that you have a little, that you’ve got, I could see you doing that. ‘Cause it would be a little bit like a form of clown for kids’ birthday parties. And they’d be like, who here? Mr. Nut wants to know, maybe you go like Billy Nut or something like that. You got a name and then nut, work on that. You don’t have to wear makeup, I know you don’t like that. Primo Nut. No glitter. You just basically just be yourself. Maybe wear a different pair of glasses. But then you just say, I wanna paint my face. No, just a different pair of glasses. Billy Nut wants to know, you talk about yourself in third person, all clowns, the good clowns. Who’s allergic to nuts here? Who’s allergic to nuts? And then you turn to the parents and you’re like, how allergic, you gotta make sure. There could be a lawsuit real fast if you screw this up. But if they’re mildly allergic, okay, all the mildly allergic nut kids get over here. Come sit on my lap, tell me what you want for nut-nas. And you’ve got a little , just a little dust. Nut dust. Just a little bit, you gotta work this out with doctors. You gotta work this out with a lot of doctors. Dosage matters. And you know exactly what you’re doing and it’s like, oh, they might sneeze, there’s gonna be a little bit of a reaction, but it’s manageable. And then they have to keep bringing you back every year. You basically lock yourself in as the entertainment for as a kid grows up. Yep, and I’m blowing more nut in their face every year. By the 12th or 13th year, as they’re becoming a teenager, you give them a full nut. Right, in their face. You don’t blow it, you just take it and stick it in. Okay. And you’re like, you’re cured, thank you. And then you send the bill to the parents and it’s a big bill Big bill. That’s right, because of the insurance premiums that I’m paying. It’s 25 to 30 grand. Oh yeah. Per client. But it’s quite an investment. Can I have stickers? You can do what you want. That are scratch and nut? Yeah, yep, you can. I’m your agent. I wonder if that’s a website. I’m your manager. Don’t type in scratch and nut, no . Could have a song for it. Yeah. Weren’t we supposed to do voicemails? Play a voicemail, Yeah, yeah, get us out of this please. I thought the first one was about this. This is for Link. Hi Link, I’m currently eating your smoothie right now and I have it every morning. And I’m wondering, how you don’t have stuff in your teeth all the time. ‘Cause I do add the chia seeds, and the blueberries, and spinach, and everything, and then it takes me about five minutes to get it all out of my teeth in the mirror or else I look like the scariest person you’ve ever seen when I smile. So if you could let me know how to do that, or if you do that, or if it sticks to your teeth, please, let me know. ’cause that’s a daily challenge. All right, bye. I feel you. Of course, in the “Mythical Cookbook,” Josh published my smoothie recipe. I don’t use chia seeds because that is a problem. Chia seeds will stick in my teeth. I use a flax seed now. But chia seed is in the recipe. I know. Oh. But this is the reason why I took the chia seeds out but I added more flax seeds. We’re going to have to update all the copies. Yeah, you could do that. I’m not going to do that. I also, let’s see, a lot of times I’ll alternate eating my smoothie and then brushing my teeth. Oh, I brush my teeth after my smoothie. Sometimes I eat my smoothie last thing before I go out the door. But you gotta blend it hard, too. Long and hard. That’s the other thing. You blend it real aggressively and it gets it down to more of a puree, more of a paste. Yeah, almost drinkable, but no matter what, I still recommend using a spoon. Do you put the cacao nibs, do you cacao nib it? No. Hmm, mm. Nuh uh. Why? I feel like you’d really like those. Yeah. I thought about it. I have cacao powder. Ooh, the nibs. I know it’s a super food. I thought about adding it because now I’ve switched to the PB2 peanut butter powder, which is good stuff, not a sponsor, but good stuff. Much lower fat than just scooping in, Regular peanut butter, yeah. Or even almond butter. Here we are, we’re back on nuts. You know what, Billy Nut could be sponsored by PB2. That could be what you’re blowing , ’cause it’s already a peanut dust. Yeah, I’m blowing the PB2 nut. You start your job with a deal, with a sponsor, a brand deal. Mm hm, that’s what’s gonna get me going. But yeah, I feel, brush your teeth after you’re smoothie, You should put the nibs, well, the reason I’m asking about the nibs is I don’t put chia seed, I put flax seed, as well, but I do the nibs, two tablespoons. And it, boy, it just makes it taste, it’s the only thing that’s like, that and the PB2, are contributing to good taste in the smoothie, right. The thing that Josh, But they’re really good in your teeth. The thing that Josh did not specify was that the protein powder I use is actually Ka’Chava, also not a sponsor, should be a sponsor. I mean it’s a bit, What did he say in the book, just chocolate? Just vanilla protein powder. I use the vanilla Ka’Chava and it’s like a meal replacement powder, which is also pea protein is part of it. But there’s, Other stuff. It’s got everything in it, so much of everything you really don’t need to add anything else, but I really love the taste of it. It’s a bit earthy and it’s pricey ’cause it’s got all that crap in it. And I travel with that stuff. But then I’ll add the flax seed, and I’ll add the spinach, and I’ll add the PB2, because I like the peanut butter flavor. But there’s no chocolate. But I could add the cacao. I’m gonna try that, I’m gonna add a little bit of cacao. It’s good. And then I’m gonna brush my teeth. Nice texture. You brush your teeth after your smoothie. Not directly after, there’s probably, ’cause I workout, then smoothie, then shower, and then, ’cause you’re not really supposed to brush your teeth like right after you eat, you’re supposed to wait, I think, right? Gimme a break. Supposed to, don’t, you can should yourself and change your pants all day. 20 minutes, I mean, Mr. Optimization, Billy Nut should really optimize his morning routine. I can’t, I can’t wait. But I brush my teeth and then every single time I brush my teeth and then spit, there’s, oh, there’s some cacao. I mean, it’s in there, man, it’s in there. Yeah, chocolate flex. Cocoa Flex. Christy has started doing this thing. I was like, I saw a box for a juicer. I was like, hold on, what is this? We got another appliance? An actual juicer? A juicer. Oh, juicer is bad news. And I’m like, hold on, what are you doing? And she said, “Every morning when I get up, “I’m trying this thing where I just drink celery juice.” Have you heard about this? It’s supposed to do all types of things for your mood and your metabolism. She was excited about it, had people swearing about it. A lot of people are doing it, I was like, so every morning you’re gonna build this juicer contraption after you’ve washed it from the day before and you’re gonna juice just celery? It sounds like this is good boy stuff. This isn’t bad boy stuff. This is good boy stuff because she’s, and I was like, well, do you have to do it every morning? Can you just do a big thing of celery juice at the beginning of the week? Oh no, it’s gotta be fresh. And she said it has to be fresh. It’s gotta be alive almost. You don’t know, you’re just saying that facetiously. But she said it un-facetiously. I’m interpolating or extrapolating based on watching a lot of TikTok videos. But this is not just that, this is different than the juicing movement. The juicing movement is bad. This is not the juicing movement. This is just celery juice. You heard it here from Dr. McLaughlin. Just celery juice. I don’t know anything about celery juice. She’s having to start with just a little bit because it gives you the runs until you get used to it. Oh, I’m just saying the thing about my uninformed, slightly informed opinion about juicing is that it’s taking the fiber, which is what you need, out of the fruits and vegetables. And it’s giving you the juice, which is you’re getting all the sugars and you’re getting some nutrients, but you are spiking your glucose, right? Isn’t that what’s bad about juicing? Who are you asking, I don’t know. The internet, I’m asking to be corrected. Healthline.com, celery juice contains multiple nutrients that provide health benefits, including antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, rich in nutrients and drinking it may come with many health benefits. Some people think it can cure conditions like cancer, obesity, thyroid issues, and acne. Okay, red flags going up. But this article tells you all you need to know about celery juice. Okay, hydrating, low in sugar, anti-inflammatory properties, that’s the big one, the anti-inflammatory. Can it help the gut? It contains beneficial plant compounds. Unstrained juice provides fiber . It cleanses, false claims, undiscovered cluster salts that kill off harmful bacteria in your gut. That’s not true. Yeah. Alk right, downsides, contain sodium, low in fiber. Should you drink celery juice? How to make celery juice, using a juicer . I’m saying do you have to do it the same day? You can also buy celery juice from any grocery store, try to avoid those with added sugars. That’s gotta be expensive, though. It’s best to drink this juice with a meal full of fiber. That’s not what I’m hearing. Like the moment you wake up, the moment you wake up, you gotta go downstairs, grab a bunch of celery, and juice it, and drink it. I don’t know about this. I just don’t, I can’t commit to it. But she’s testing it for the anti-inflammatory properties. Let her be the guinea pig. Yeah, she’s the guinea in this situation. Let’s hear another voicemail. Hey, you asked for questions, so, well, it’s more of an advice question. I have a friend and he, basically, his dream career is becoming a photographer, a full-time photographer. He takes it really seriously. But the only problem is he is really bad at photography, like he is so bad. What should we do? How do we save him? Thanks, bye. It’s like it transferred into another person. Her voice, what should we do? It was almost like there might be a demon involved. What should we do with friend? Caller, you might need to worry about the demon. Yeah, yeah, let’s get rid of your demon first. You and your demon are concerned about your friend’s Ooh. Crappy photography. Do you wanna go specific response on this or do you wanna widen it out to any friend who wants to do something and you think that they’re not good at the thing that they dream to do? Let’s just start with photography. Okay. Why not? Why not go specific? Why not? This is tough. I mean, you can always get better at photography, right? If you’re the friend, do you tell him? Is that really the question? What do we do? Man, I got an idea. I think I’ve got a, I think I have what could be considered an ironclad strategy? Steal their camera. No. And don’t tell ’em who stole it. I think you, caller, and your demon, you tell your friend, hey, why don’t you do a little photo shoot with me? And now you come up with a really good idea for the photo shoot. There might be a purpose that you need it for, or it might just be like, I want to commemorate this moment in my life, maybe you and your partner, if you have one, you and your pet, if you have one, just a cool little photo shoot, right. And you let them do their thing. They take all the pictures that they want, they go through the process and be like, hey, if you want to do this, I would love to be the guinea pig. I would like you to do the photo shoot and let’s go through the process that you typically would go through with a regular client, including the feedback stage. Okay, and just go with me on this. This is outta thin air, but it feels like it, ’cause that’s part of it, right. If you’re working for a client, you gotta make ’em happy. ‘Cause what you do is you get back your, you get back everything that is potentially a select, right. And then you go through, also like, what software are you gonna use to edit your photos? And then what particular software are you gonna use or site are you gonna use to share your photos? And then you have that feedback stage where you go through, we have to do this a lot, where we go through these pictures and give feedback. And then you just say, hey, would you mind me being honest in my feedback as if I were just a client and not your friend? Are you open to feedback is a powerful question. And then you let the demon do the talking. There you go. And you just let the demon do the talking. And it’s done under the guise of, I hate this one! This is my bad side! And you give very specific feedback about, well, I, Need more blood from mouth! Whatever the actual feedback is. And then they will, A, be given the opportunity to learn, B, potentially be discouraged to the point that they decide that they don’t want to do it. Which if you really wanna do something and if it’s really your dream, you can’t really be discouraged out of it. That’s my theory. So it’s, I don’t know, it’s a little bit of a test. It’s dicey to put yourself as the friend in the position of I’m gonna give you the tough feedback. Maybe you encourage ’em to sign up for some, like a photography seminar. This is probably a better idea. Just not as fun. Where there’s an instructor that gives feedback. It could even be if you spend money on this friend, that would be a good gift. It’s like, I bought you a, I do think it needs that, you buy ’em something where feedback is part of it. Like if it’s a seminar, like a workshop, a photography workshop. I signed you up for this thing and you can get better, you can get some training, you can get some feedback. Because poo-pooing on somebody’s dreams is, you don’t really want to do that. If it was my kid, and they’re like, oh, I wanna be a photographer and then you look at the pictures and they all suck. It’s like you wanna put ’em in a position to where they can discover, and improve, as test their mettle as you’re saying. Honestly, if you don’t wanna let the demon do the talking, I think if somebody wants to do something, just be encouraging. If they ask you for feedback, give them honest feedback that doesn’t break their spirit. But if you want to do something, you’ll go do it, and then you’ll learn the lessons in doing Because you’ll go and you’ll do a photo shoot for somebody who’s paying you and they will have real feedback and you’ll learn all those things about how does this work and then what do I need to work on. And if it’s really your dream, you’ll just follow through with it. And if that process ends up being too daunting or kind of breaks your spirit, well, maybe you weren’t supposed to do it. I think one strong principle that is just a gem here, Rhett, is don’t give feedback unsolicited. And you need to be careful if you’re asking, are you open to feedback? But that is a good question, are you open to feedback? And this is something that we’re learning here. We’ve learned it and you continue to learn it in terms of leadership development, when you want to develop people’s skills, feedback is a gift. It’s hard to give. We were talking about last episode getting so nervous about these meetings where we give people feedback and that should precede decisions to, for example, let somebody go. You give them the gift of, hey, this isn’t good enough, you’re not meeting the expectations of this role or whatever. And then you give them a chance to improve, that type of thing. And then it also gives somebody an opportunity to say, yes, I’m open to feedback, but not right now. You gotta be in the right head space to process feedback in addition to actually wanting it. Yeah. And so that’s a powerful question and it is hard to say no to someone saying, are you open to feedback? It seems like the right answer is yes. So most likely they are gonna say yes. But you have given ’em an opportunity to say no. But you gotta know that unless you really are ready to give the feedback in a way that is caring, don’t ask the question. So, it puts a lot of responsibility on you, friend, possessed friend, so I just wanna highlight that. And if you are on the other side of this equation and you have something that you want to do, I would just say, yeah, learn to take feedback and be open to feedback and ask for feedback. I’ve got people in my life who are trying to do new things, who will, ’cause I’m not good at giving negative feedback, I don’t like to do it, I’m not great at giving feedback, period, positive or negative. Are you saying you got friends who are asking you for feedback? Yeah, and, Like what realms are we talking about here? Professional, is it creative, is it what? Creative. And when they send me something, they will say, be honest and critical. They’re like, don’t gimme the you’re my friend and so I’m going to just encourage you because my default is going to be like, hey, I’m gonna find the thing, Good for you. I’m gonna find the thing that I like about what you did and encourage you as an artist. That’s my default, right. Unless you really ask me, like if you send me something that you’ve written or something you’ve made and you’re literally looking for feedback and you’ve asked for thorough feedback, then I’ll give it. But it really takes somebody asking. Have you given negative feedback recently? Not like soul-crushing negative feedback. Like, this is what I liked about it, this is what I would change about it. So what I’m saying is that if you’re doing something, and I’m thinking about this in the creative realm, just because that’s the world that I live in and that’s the world that I exercise this particular thing in. I think I really appreciate it when somebody is like, hey, I would like feedback on this, and please, this is what I’m looking for. Sometimes people will say, I’ve had friends who have sent me screenplays and said, what I’m looking for is the following, And they’ll give me the parameters of what do you like about it, what’s your favorite thing about it, what’s your least favorite thing about it, what’s something that if I had to get rid of something, this is the first? And then it makes it easy to kind of fall into these parameters or whatever. And I think that’s a really healthy thing if you’re an artist, getting that feedback. Or if you’re doing anything, whatever it is. When you think about getting feedback, I mean, let’s not talk about comments. Let’s talk about, I think the way, like how do we get the most feedback. When we were in that traditional development, script writing era, we hired people to pick apart scripts that you had spent weeks on. It’s a tough position to be in. I remember that being difficult, right? I mean, it’s difficult on a number of levels. And I would say one is simply, damn, I don’t have enough time. So, there was one pilot, one show idea that we had that I wrote a pilot for that then was very much sort of picked apart by everybody, everybody, like our team, other people. And then I rewrote it and that was picked apart. And then I re, I wrote it, I think, a third time and it was like, it’s not that I disagree, I wouldn’t have rewritten it if I didn’t agree with it. I’m like, oh yeah, okay, you got a good point about this. But yeah, it’s I want feedback like that. But I think the thing that makes those particular, that exercise difficult is I think that we were already in a place where the very idea and the shape that the idea was taking was market-driven. And that’s a really discouraging way to make adjustments, right. So what I mean by that is you’ve got this product and then someone is telling you why it won’t sell and here’s what you can do to make it sell better. And that feedback is very difficult because it feels like it’s an invasion of the creative process. Whereas if somebody’s like, you know what, I love where this is headed, but I actually don’t think that you have dug deep enough into yourself, I don’t think that I’m getting your POV in the way. The way that my mind has changed about creativity over the past decade is very significant, and especially even in the past couple years of being like, oh, I’m not trying to make something that will sell, I’m not trying to make something that’s better than somebody else, I’m trying to make the thing that only I can make, or we’re trying to make the thing that only we can make. We bring very specific POV and set of talent That it’s not that it’s better or worse, it might be less sellable or more sellable, but it’s how much can you get yourself into the thing that you’re creating. And if somebody is helping you dig a little bit deeper and maybe they help you find a story problem or I don’t think this is gonna connect, like I can see what you’re trying to say. I think this would be a better way to say it so it will connect, so we can actually get to the heart of the thing that you wanted to say. That kind of feedback I love because it’s opening myself up a little bit more and getting closer to whatever source I’m getting these ideas from. But when somebody’s like, that’s not gonna work because people would think this, that feedback feels like product development, which is not fun for me. The type of feedback, where my mind goes for me is the personal type of feedback. I’ve found myself receiving personal feedback and that’s obviously tough. It’s like when you’re, okay, I want you to tell me what you think about me or my actions or how I come across in this way. It’s been very helpful. Sometimes it has happened on this podcast. But it’s not easy, but it’s a good thing at, if I’m in a place where I’m ready for it, when I’m open to it. It’s like you don’t want to, like I say, you don’t want to be critical. I’ve had to learn this ’cause I feel like I have an opinion about something and I feel like they really need to know, but then I realize from my own experience that unless I’m asking for it, I can’t take it. So it doesn’t matter if you think I really need to know something. If I’m not open to receiving it, it’s only gonna cause damage. Receiving feedback that I’ve asked for and been really difficult has helped me understand even more that I gotta be very calculated if I’m gonna give feedback or advice. I think that’s something that’s changed. Advice is a similar thing. You should do this. It’s more tempting because it seems it’s like, oh, you can take it or leave it, and it’s more action-oriented, it’s not picking something apart or being as critical, but it’s still, I think it’s the same in that if you’re not asking for advice, then it’s gonna hit you in the wrong place. I think about this in the context of parenthood because all parents do this. All parents have a difficult time not Biting their tongue. But believing that their role isn’t to be like a critic, right, to critique something of your kids. And I don’t mean that like, what I’m saying is that you feel like you need to give advice, you feel like you need to give correction when they come to you with a problem. And you as a parent can immediately understand, well, I know why you’re asking me this question, or I know why you’re having this problem. It’s because of the series of decisions that you made to get to this point. So the dad in me wants to begin pointing out like that. And I may even try to do it in an tactful way and be like, so why do you think you got to this point? And I’m still I’m going into being a parent. And what I’ve very reluctantly, begrudgingly learned and am trying to learn is that, especially at this point, having a 20-year-old and a 15-year-old, this doesn’t apply to a 5-year-old as much, is that, okay, I’m being told this thing, or now I see these things that are coming up in this conversation and I want to critique, I want to correct, but I should just want to connect, right, connect versus correct. And it’s really hard to do that. It’s really hard to do that as a dad. But what I have found is that the more I swing the pendulum towards connection versus correction, the more I get asked for advice versus becoming this gong, this cymbal that’s just gonging, A clanging cymbal. A clanging cymbal every single time they come to me, they know they’re gonna get corrections, so they stop coming to me or they stop putting these things out there or asking for something. If every conversation is ultimately a bid for connection, not a bid for correction, then when there is an actual bid for correction or advice, then it’s in the setting where somebody will actually listen ’cause they’re asking for it. All right, let’s break that down a little bit further. So if you’re going for connection, there’s some tools for that, there’s some tricks. ‘Cause connection is understanding somebody, that’s a big part of it. Like it could be relating, but you gotta really understand, like if somebody’s sharing something with you, my mind goes to okay, questions are always the best place to start. Yeah. Because then you’re like, and if you make up your mind, I’m only gonna be in a question mode to then seek to understand and get them talking even more. What about being a photo a photographer is exciting to you, to go back to that one. And why do you think it resonates? What about your work, And you have to make sure, Makes you think, That it’s not leading. Sometimes you’ll put things in the form of a question, but it still feels like a judgment. Like, do you think these pictures are good? You can’t do that. It has to be like, yeah, like you said, getting to the heart of it, getting to their heart. And then also, so it’s like, and also empathizing. Connecting is relating, thinking about the feelings associated with the thing that they’re talking about, if they’re not talking about their feelings, but that’s still a component. Like what is the experience that’s associated with this aspiration? I mean, tell me about that. You wanna be able to empathize with why they love taking pictures so much, especially if you’re fascinated by the fact they’re so bad at it. What’s resonating? You’re able to empathize, so get to their feelings so that you can relate to it or understand it. And then ask questions to get it. What do you really want here? And if you become that safe person, I guess is what I’m saying. Like if you become a safe person, then people start, then they start saying things like, I don’t know if I’m good at this. They don’t need to hear it from you. Most people will start talking to you about that stuff. And it’d be like, well, why would you say that? Well, because every time I show people a picture, they’re like, this sucks. Okay, well, do you have a plan for how you would get better? This doesn’t feel like a judgmental conversation. This feels like somebody trying to help. Yes, we sound like we’re, It’s much easier to talk about it on a podcast than it is because It’s so hard because you develop opinions immediately and sometimes when you really care about somebody, like your own child, you wanna fix it, you wanna solve it, you wanna plan it, you wanna protect and you don’t wanna, empowering is so difficult. It’s hard. It’s hard to say the right thing to connect and give people a path towards ownership. And, it’s like I was talking about how Shepherd plays music and Locke does a lot of, makes music, and takes pictures, and makes videos. My kids do a lot of creative things but I’m still their dad and even though I’m a professional creative person, I’m still their dad. And so they see me as dad. And so if they show me something, I have been trained to have a hundred opinions, a hundred probably pretty informed opinions. And you’ve been trained, we’ve both been trained to have them really fast because, Because that’s what we do for a living. Because you just gotta get it out so that you can move on. And so I have to be like, no, no, no, no. You’re not interacting with your child as a creative professional. They’re not your employee. And even with our employees, it’s like that, we also don’t wanna interact in that way, right. You wanna interact in an empowering way, but it’s tough ’cause it just doesn’t come natural because a lot of times it’s like, I can tell you what’s wrong with that and I can tell you what I would do to fix it. Yeah. And if I do, it’s not gonna, You’re not gonna learn anything. And you’re probably not gonna come back to me and ask something. Well, that was a good, see, that was a good voicemail. See, that voicemail led to something. We went from Let your demon do the talking to maybe some good advice. Yeah, I think we got to a little. Let’s end on a light one. A light one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let’s not get too deep. Okey dokey, let’s try this one then. Hi, this is Amara. I’m calling in from Atlanta, Georgia. And I don’t know if y’all have had a chance to listen to the latest “Cowboy Carter” album from Beyonce, but I would love to know your thoughts on it. Have y’all listened, do you like it? I feel like y’all would really enjoy it. And so I’d love to know what your guys’ thoughts are on it. All right, love you guys, bye. Wow, is this, I mean, you wanted this to be lighthearted. I love Beyonce. Boy, who doesn’t? I mean, is there anything negative that anybody could at any point think to then say about Beyonce? I mean, that would be wild. I don’t relate, I don’t understand to that. I don’t understand to that. I really like this album. And Jessie actually, I hadn’t listened to the whole thing, I had heard the singles, right. And Jessie was like, you need to listen to this whole album. This was when we were in North Carolina a couple weeks back. And over the course of, I think I ended up listening through it twice. I just think that there is, the thing I like about, the thing I’m looking for in this sea of art, like everybody makes music, even me, right, everybody makes stuff, everyone is constantly putting things out there and there’s so much of it that is good. There are a lot of talented people. People can sing, people can put together a song structure. You go on TikTok and one video after another, it’s just another really talented person doing something. But what ends up happening is people end up doing impersonations of one another, right. And so what you end up finding is that there are a few people who are doing something that is innovative, original, and the word I like to use is undeniable. There’s an undeniability to the things that they are doing, right. You can’t just put it into a box. You can’t just say, it’s just like this other thing. And I find that so much of what is made today, I immediately begin putting together all the references. And sometimes I’m like, well, that sounds a little bit too much like this other thing that I already know about and it doesn’t feel like you’ve iterated in a meaningful way. What I got from listening to Beyonce’s album is that there’s an undeniability to it. That’s what I thought because as somebody who makes, quote unquote, country music, and I don’t really, I make Americana, I guess, folk, whatever, it’s not what country is on the radio, I think that what Beyonce did is beyond country. I think that it is informed by country. And I think that there are some songs that you definitely would classify as country, but I think the album as a whole is like Beyond meat, beyond country, it’s Beyonce country. And it’s just something altogether different, and new, and undeniable. There’s some Queen vibes in there, and I don’t mean like, yeah, she’s a queen, I’m saying literally the band Queen vibes in there. And just the way that the stuff is put together, there’s a cinematic experience that happens when you listen to it. When you listen to music and you begin picturing things, it brings about a visual experience that there you know, you’re listening to something undeniable. I love the fact that it’s accomplishing so much positivity. I mean, it’s subverting expectations, it’s breaking down barriers, it’s paving a way. That being said, I’m not gonna go back to it that much because it’s not really for me, it’s not exactly my genre, it’s not where I’m at. So I’ll give Jenna the final word on this one. Oh, yay, I’m obsessed with the album. Besides the singles that everyone knows, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” I would say my favorites are “Dolly P,” “American Requiem,” “Blackbird,” oh, “Sweet Hone Buckiin’” Post Malone’s that he does, the “Levii’s Jeans” is a really good one, I feel like I’ve named half of the album. Yeah, you have. I love, al;l of those songs are constantly cycling in my head at any given time, along with Taylor Swift’s new album too. But Beyonce’s, I’m so obsessed, I’m so obsessed. And the thing about listening to it in the album form, what I notice is that it recontextualizes the singles in a way that, I don’t know, it changes my interpretation of the singles. Yeah, and then In the contest of the album. In the order, too, and then how they have the fun little Smoke hour message things with Willie Nelson, I think is a really fun and clever because it gives you, if you listen to it in its entirety in a sitting, you get that feel of you’re sitting down for an hour of listening to radio and listening to a whole thing put together just for you. I love it, I love it, I love Beyonce. I mean, Darius Rucker may have done some good work for black artists in the country genre, but I love what Beyonce’s doing here. I think it’s extremely powerful. Are we talking album of the year? I mean, clearly it’s gonna be nominated. It is her time. It ha been her time ’cause, what, she’s never won album of the year. Yeah, right. Right? So she’s due. And this album is phenomenal. I’m gonna let you finish, Jenna, You gonna let me finish? Yeah, okay. That was just a joke. Yeah, I know . Wouldn’t that be funny if someone goes up during her speech and does the, I’m gonna let you finish, anyway. No, it wouldn’t. If Taylor does that? Oh, if somebody, Somebody does it. I think Taylor would be, What if Kanye comes back and is like, I’m gonna let you finish, Beyonce. It’s a long time to February, let’s not worry about that. All right, that’ll be my recommendation. Yeah, Beyonce. Go through the whole album, have a cinematic experience. Yeah, it’s undeniable, I agree with that. All right, thanks for the voicemails. Leave us more. You can always call us, 1-888-EARPOD1. EARPOD1. And we wouldn’t complain if you left us a review wherever you listen to this. It helps. Talk to you next week. Hey, Rhett and Link, This is Oscar from South Carolina, a longtime viewer. This is my theory about why Rhett’s car was cursed. I think the old man that was peeing next to your car was a wizard and he was using his pee to mark his ritual circle. So, just something to think about.