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 are going to be roasting someone, uh, a cat lover. They ask for it. They ask for it. Um, we’re going to be talking about midlife crises and whether or not we’re going through those. Oh, are we gonna get to that? Uh, yeah, we are now. Ha Yeah. I mean, are we gonna get to our midlife crisis? Oh, uh, I think we’re fully in it. I think I’m in it, man. Me too. I think I’m on the other end, I’m on the backside of it. Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. But first, I want to tell you about a futuristic experience that I had. Okay. Um, I like how you’re selling it not as a sports experience, but as a future experience. The elements, the elements of this that are interesting are not the sports parts. So, uh, our friend Mike from North Carolina, not our friend Mike from California, different Mike. Yeah. Um, was in town, and of course we hung out on Friday night, uh, but then on Saturday night just he and I went to the Clippers game at the new arena, the Intuit Dome. And where is that? Right next to SoFi. It’s in the same, like, Englewood, like, SoFi. The Forum. The Forum. SoFi, YouTube Theater, all that stuff. Yeah. All that just land down there that’s just giant entertainment venues now. Clippers got their own space. I’ve been a Clippers fan. They don’t have to share with the Lakers and you start to feel like you’re like going into enemy territory every time you go to a home game. Well, I think the reason I was originally drawn to the Clippers was I’ve always, you know, as a state fan, uh, felt like You just sort of gravitate towards the underdog, but then the weird thing that happened with the Clippers is that once I started pulling for them, they really became, like, L. A. ‘s best team. Eh, that’s kind of falling apart at this point, I believe, but Is that because you stopped pulling for them? No, I still pull for them. Oh, okay. In fact, me and you got to go to a Clippers game last year. We were given Clippers jerseys, and we threw t shirts into the crowd during halftime. Yeah. And that was the game that LeBron was, that was the Lakers Clippers game. Yeah. But LeBron didn’t play. He did play. I’ve never seen LeBron play. He did play. I did. I was no he didn’t He did not i’ve never seen him play. I remember sitting there thinking this is kind of cool We’re getting to see LeBron James play basketball This is probably this might be one of the only times I get to do this. Am I did I dream that? Well, one of us one of us dreamt something Well, maybe I dreamed it, um, but anyway, i’m still a clippers fan and I had not been to the new place, which this, you know, the arena opened up, like the first concert in there was like two months ago, you know, three months ago. Oh, so it is fresh. Very fresh. Okay, I didn’t realize that. And, okay, so the experience starts with the tickets, you know, being bought, and then me learning that I had to have the tickets on the Intuit Dome app. Own they got their own app. You can’t have ticket master app You can’t you can’t have you have to have the app in every single person over 13 I think has to have their ticket on their phone Now lots of people have been complaining about this like the rating on the intuit app The intuit dome app is like 1. 4 stars or whatever because people hate having to do this kind of stuff But they don’t make you like, Intuit owns QuickBooks and Quicken. So, do they make you like, do your, file your taxes through Quicken before you get a ticket? They might, they might, uh, be sending you, uh, those types of opportunities later, but no. But there are some hoops. That’s not a good start. There are, well, so, Hoops I to jump through, understand basketball. Now, first of all, a lot of the things that I’m gonna talk about are gonna make people who are like, there are some people who are just really concerned about privacy and uh, you’re probably right, you know, but I’m just a dumb sheep and I don’t care. I just go along with all of it, right? Because I just feel like if we’re all doing it, we’ve done it so much. Safety in numbers. Yeah, so if you’re one of those people that’s like you shouldn’t do this and you shouldn’t have your biometric information You know, listen, everybody’s got my stuff multiple companies have my dna Uh 23andme the company that we use two companies that we use for the show Like I can be cloned multiple times. I can be I can be framed for crimes You can do anything to me that you want. So I’m all there, already. So, I’m not, I’m not part of the resistance when it comes to this particular issue of security. This is a nice alibi though, whenever you get accused of something. Um, So I like that. And I gotta say, the convenience that comes along with what I ended up doing with the inconvenience of the app, I’m going to tell you some things, and I don’t know, You’re also a little country boy from Buies Creek, so I think you’re going to be impressed by this as much as I was. I think you’re going to tell me that you didn’t have to take your phone out of your pocket. Okay, I might say that. So, what I did on the phone is I had to create my Game Face ID, which is I had to take a picture of my face. Now, this was an option. You didn’t have to do this. Uh huh. Oh. But I was like, I’m doing everything. Everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m peeing into the app. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m whatever I can do, right? I’m peeing Licking it. I’m giving all of myself to it, because I want it to be as easy as possible. I mean, did it ask for it? I want to be the consummate consumer! Dick pic? Yeah, I got a picture of my dick on the app, and uh, because they put you in your seat based on dick length. And I was, I was on the second row. So, uh, something must be working. You did send me a picture, and you were pretty close. Very close. But your dick wasn’t visible. It was dick sorting, I’m telling you. That’s what it was. You don’t pay for a ticket, you just put your dick in the app. I’m sorry, you started that. I just went along with it. Okay. Dick sorting sounds a little too close to dick soaring. Okay. Which, if you’re gonna put soars on my dick We’ve taken it far enough. We’ve taken it far enough. I’m out. So First of all, I took a picture of your face. Here’s what I was expecting as a, and I think you as an industrial engineer would be impressed with this, but as a civil engineer that, you know, I’m also thinking about the construction, but I’m thinking about the efficiency of this entire, I’m like, this is a brand new arena. So I have to imagine that everything that we have learned about people flow and, you know, traffic and proximity to things and corridors, they’re going to have it perfected here. And I got to say. They did. Oh man. Starting with parking. So giant dome facility on the left side of the street as I’m coming up well so we like you know whatever east and and then on to the west of that across the street is a giant multi level parking deck. That’s where the parking that I got was. I think that’s where most of the parking is. You park and well first of all you have it you have a ticket on your uh your your app and you have your vehicle registered. On the app now, I will say that this did not work as it will because it was a little bit unclear I added my vehicle and technically i’m supposed to be able to pay for parking ahead of time And then just drive in and park and drive out. They’re scanning your license. They scanned my phone But it was very quick. It was just a person with a thing and they scanned my phone in an ideal world They wouldn’t even do that. Okay, so Little hiccup there, but that’s the only hiccup I get out of my car. I’m on the fifth floor I think or or so and Instead of walking down stairs or getting on an elevator. There are elevators for people who need them. But the vast majority of people are going down these long, gently sloped ramps to go down levels. That are very, very wide and sending throngs of people through. And you go down Is this, is this a spiral? No, no. It’s big, long Slants that go like the almost the length of the parking deck But you don’t think about the fact that you’re walking that much because you’re constantly moving and there’s no bottles So switchbacks and it’s it’s a conveyor belt like the moving floors in an airport Uh, yeah, you never stop. You never stop walking So then when you come down the final ramp and it was actually only one level for me You come to a bridge a very wide bridge that goes across the the street Mm hmm And then opens up into the pavilion and right in front of your eyes is a This giant pavilion like this big open area with a big like merch store and then this like giant basketball goal sculpture that’s got like 20 basketball goals and some of them are like 50 feet high and then in front of you There’s two basketball courts outside and then a giant digital art display that was showing this 3d thing that was just doing like we just sat there and looked at it for a long time It was very cool and then like honda is like sponsoring one of the courts and people are like shooting baskets for or whatever and doing little competitions. So we like stayed out there for like 10 or 15 minutes, like taking that in. It was very cool because you’re in the place. I like the Staples center where they kind of like, you’re still kind of, until you’re inside the arena, you’re kind of in the city here. It has its own spot. And then when you go in, It’s another sort of giant lobby with escalators going up to get to the upper level. Oh, you walk into the pavilion, but then in order to get into the arena, it says, It has a line and it says Game Face ID. Mike and I just walked in there. No one stops us. We just walked right into the arena. Facial recognition software. Did you see them stopping anybody? So there was a two guys with iPads. And like red jackets on and they were kind of standing at the end and we kind of looked at him, they were like, Like nodding like you you’ve made it. I saw your face. Basically like there’s somebody there because if there’s nobody there people are like, can I go? You know how people are. We’ve never had this kind of freedom. Freedom. Their job is to stand there and nod to make you feel. To feel like it’s okay. And also to keep people who are, you know, You gotta have somebody there. Oh, yeah. But I think half of their job, at least, is to let people know, Yeah, you can keep walking, you just keep going. Just never stop walking. The whole idea in this arena is you never stop walking! Until you seat, I hope. Then we walk in and If there’s a treadmill at the seat, I’m out. Cool, uh, lobby area. Like, lots, like Lots of cool lighting and fixtures and stuff. It’s very futuristic. Okay. And then we walk in and you get into now, I guess you can’t improve upon this, this idea, but you know, at every arena, you have this ring, this hallway that you’re walking around on, whatever level that you are and waiting to go to your, you know, looking at the numbers to get to your seats. Now we were like, we’re not going to eat until we get to the thing. Cause I was like, this is a good, this is a brand new place. Let’s eat is. Mike and I ate so much food. We ate so much food with you on Friday. Oh God, we can come back to that. But then I just kept eating all weekend. I ate so much food. I have no idea how many calories I consumed over the course of three days. But Well, you did right to wait until you got there because you want to experience the culinary treats of the new arena. But the thing that I noticed was that They had like a, a place called Fast Break or Pick and Roll, like the, the restaurants were named basketball terminology. Okay. Themes. It’s like, oh, that kind, and it would be just like, oh, there’s hot dogs and pizza and So it’s generic. And I was like, this is interesting. I was like, well let’s keep walking, we’ll get to like, a branded food, you know. Yeah. Every arena has like, this company has set up their stuff. We walk around like half the arena and I just keep seeing the same spots over and over again. Uh huh. So then we go up to one of the information people and we’re like, Is there like a spot with like a food court or like other food, like branded food? And they’re like, no. And All the food is the same in every single place. Hmm. And at first I was like, Feelings got hurt a little bit. I was like, I, I’ve been saving my appetite, man. You know? Yeah. You want the specialized chicken sandwich. When we used to go to the Clippers game at the Staples Center, we’d get that Ludo chicken. Now, let me just say, that was good. That was a good little fried chicken sandwich. Cause they use the thigh. If they don’t use the thigh in your fried chicken sandwich, you must move on. You could have said deny, but you must deny. Um, so if they don’t use the thigh in your fried chicken sandwich, you must deny. Yeah. Have a smammers. So at first I was a little disappointed. Then I, okay. So you had to eat anyway. Later I went and researched the, cause I knew that I was like, this is all part of some engineer. I know that this is intentional, right? Sure. And it is it turns out that first of all, they put a lot of time and intention into what’s offered Okay, so the philosophy is i’m suspicious. It sounds like ghost kitchen to me Well, yeah, but think about it like this. Is it good or not? It was very good. Very good. Yeah Yeah, so what did you get? So the first time I got so they obviously have uh, They had LA street dogs. Now, bacon wrapped, let me just, I don’t know what I should tell you first because I’m going to tell you what I got and then I’m going to tell you how I got it because that’s a lot more interesting than what I got. They have everything that you might want but it’s not like as much stuff as you get at like Dodger Stadium. So, because what they have is They have multiple types of hot dogs, including an L. A. Street Dog, which was, like, legitimately very good. They have, um, kind of a deep dish pizza, like a two squares of pizza, which I also got. Personal pan type thing. Um, but they’re all in these, like, cardboard boxes. I think the company’s called, like, 310 or something like that, that makes all this stuff. They have, um, A cheeseburger. It looked like a smash burger, but we had a smash burger on Friday night, so I didn’t get that. They have Korean fried chicken with waffle fries. Hmm. Um, they have, of course, like, pretzels, nachos, um, and they have a sushi dog, they call it, which is just basically a sushi roll that kind of looks like a hot dog. But it’s like a spicy tuna thing. It’s not in a bun though. No, it’s in like a seaweed wrap. Okay. Um, so that’s like the most like fancy thing that they have. So I’m not saying that there’s not a slight disappointment in that. But the thing is, is that the whole philosophy of the food system is that Any seat in the arena, you are two minutes from every food item that they offer. Mm hmm. Again, efficiency. So if you’re a stable center and you’re sitting in section 317 and you want Ludo chicken Right, you gotta walk up, you can walk And then you go there and how many people are in line? Yeah, you So they’re like, we’re trying to Make all of this more efficient, and so you’re always close to everything that we offer, and everything that we offer is really good, and I think that what they offer is really good. It may not be as good. But the branding is not fun. Exactly, so you have to work on the branding. You have to adjust to that. Mm hmm. And I think that having been Sounds communist. I think, uh, okay, I’m all for it. Here we go. Take, take my ID, take my dick pic. Alright. Comrade. Right. Put me on the farm. Okay, here’s the thing. Be enamored by the basketball and do whatever we say. But let me tell you How it worked at the, at these places. Was it face scan again? So you go up and there is now, first of all, there’s people in red jackets everywhere because people are, they got to adjust to this, right? So our robot overlords can fully just manipulate us. You have to have some people. There to make it seem like it’s okay. Okay. So there’s a straight from the Kremlin. So we walk up to the, uh, this little thing. Like, there’s no like, there’s like these little screens with cameras on them on both sides of all the store, every store, everything. You walk up and you look at the thing and it says, Hi, Rhett. And you just walk in. You walk in, and then you grab what you want, and you walk out, and it charges you automatically. You don’t talk to anyone. You just, you just take it? Because I have Apple Pay set up on my phone, in my thing. So I just go in, I grab a hot dog, I grab a pizza, I grab a beer. Were you, were you grabbing it like, were you gesticulating? Were you like really going big with it? I did. In fact, We picked up things, looked at them, and put them back. Not as a test of the system. Oh. Just to see, just, I, like, it wasn’t, I was opening things up, and I was like, I took the dog out and looked at it, because I was like, I want to get a good one, you know? Like, I’m like, just doing what I would do, and then I didn’t know yet that we could just walk out. Hey, they charge you for opening that thing. It was, it was a fee, but it was, And then we’d go to the exit, and then there’s another guy with a red coat, and he’s just like, You can walk right out. He knew that we didn’t know that we could do that. He’s like, you just walk on out. And then, and then on my phone it was like, you’ve been charged 44. You know, like my Apple Pay just comes up and says And it charged it correctly. And so within the app you connected all that. The merch stores work the same way. You just, you just go loot the place? You walk in, you grab a jersey, you walk out. You’re just looting. Now we didn’t do that. We didn’t buy any merch. Did you start to feel a little? I felt like the future is amazing! Looking around, like putting a jersey on, hey! The future’s amazing! You can do anything you want! Opening a box, a hot dog and closing it back? Man, you, you just, the future is great, huh? Everybody knows. How much do you want to go now? You want to be there. I can tell you want to be there. Oh, and I haven’t. Okay, now let’s talk about the basketball part. And I don’t mean the basketball sport part. I mean, the technology part. Okay, just to answer your question for a second. Yes, I want to be there, but I’m glad I wasn’t because I was on a romantic one night getaway. Okay. And I’m not going to tell you all the details of that. I’m sure it wouldn’t take long. Um, no. Well, you, you actually know, you know, more than I’m saying on my. On mic, M I C or mic, M I K E? What? On microphone. On mic, yep. Okay. Let me finish this. Yeah, finish it, please. Take your time. Uh, so, then we go and we did have really, really good seats. And, uh, it was a great game. You know, I’m not too confident about the Clippers this year, but they did win. And, uh, cause it feels like we’ve lost, we just lost every good, every great player. And we just have a lot of good players, but no new people that I can decipher. But maybe I’ll figure it out as the season goes on. I’m expecting a lot. Technologically, after everything you’ve said, because I want this to continue at the seat, like when you show up at your seat. Does the seat talk to you? No. Does it say, Hi, Rhett? You know how when you go to some basketball games, they give you like a little light up bracelet, and then it starts doing things, coordinated things in the crowd? Yeah, for the whole crowd. So, the way that this arena works, is every seat has a light on each, Uh, armrest and it also has buttons and stuff. And I couldn’t figure out the buttons. I didn’t know what the buttons did, but the lights are constantly doing things throughout the game and in concert. So it’s like your seat is contributing to the crowd light thing happening, but it’s not on you, which is kind of cool. Also, as a big man, uh, I can say significantly more leg room than any arena that I have been in. Like I’m sitting there. Somebody could walk in front of you without you having to say no, no one can walk in front of me, not you, but me. Uh, maybe. But there’s maybe three inches between my knee and the next seat, which is crazy. Any other arena I’ve ever been into, I have to sit with my leg sideways. Like, we went to the forum to watch uh, Casey Musgraves. Yeah. And I had to put my feet in the front row, the next row. Cause there was nobody there and I could do it. But like, I was just so uncomfortable the whole time. So they got the leg room thing, I like that. Okay. But the thing that is the most fun part of this is I’m gonna, I’m gonna predict. That it has something to do with trash removal. Because that’s the big problem. Is there a hole under there that you can throw trash in? No, there’s not a trash chute under every Can you imagine the infrastructure for a trash chute? What about conveyor belt? Nothing like that. Nothing like that. You just throw it under your seat like you do at any place. Uh, automatic shoe shiner? Um, the thing that’s awesome about the arena, inside, besides the leg room and the little lights, Which is, and I think they’ve done this at a couple of NFL stadiums, it’s a giant ring that is, for anyone in the upper deck, they’re looking on the outside of the ring that goes all the way around. And anyone on the lower deck is looking up at the interior of the ring. Okay, yeah. And it has like, okay, so the starting lineup is in and there are these, there is right there on your left side is a giant, I’m talking like a hundred feet wide, all five players, like on the screen, like in like a, like a stationary, like pose like this, like they’re bust. And then when they do something, they, like if, You know, Norman Powell scores all of a sudden on that screen. Norman Powell will like, go like, like he’ll kind of like move pretty good myself and then he’ll light up and then he’ll go back to being stationary. So, you know, exactly who did the thing. Then it’s like an animated GIF type, but the other thing that happens. Is when somebody scores or does something awesome So in the middle, of course, it’s you know Like in some arenas you don’t know where to look and like well if I want these stats I look over here and these stats and the score and the time and there’s like a hundred damn places you’re looking This is just all right there. Like everything that you want to know is very simple and right in front of you and giant Okay, it’s like an alien craft that knows everything you want And it’s landed right there in the middle of the venue. Yeah. In the ceiling. So like, Zubok dunked it, or something, right? Mm hmm. And then I look up at the scoreboard, and all of a sudden, Zubok, like, a giant, he’s already giant, a giant Zubok, like, comes up from behind the scoreboard, The score and he like reaches over the scoreboard and he’s like pointing like this and his, and it’s like, hand is going in front of the score. He looks like he’s coming out of the screen. He’s like, what? Yeah. And then like, uh, anytime a player did something, uh, uh, a different video of them coming up and like sticking their hands out, like Batum, the French guy was like acting like he was conducting something like it was awesome. I, I loved it. I was like, I’m just sitting there watching this the whole time. And then. Of course, any replay, any, anything you could imagine that you would want related to the stats, who’s playing, who did what, it’s up there, on the screen. Huh. And so, again, that’s probably not, like, the most groundbreaking thing, but I haven’t been to a place that has this technology. I’ve been to a place that has, like, the thing in the middle and the, you know, whatever they’ve got at Staples Center. What about the basketball rules? They’re still doing double dribble? Still got double dribble. Okay. Um, Oh, they also still, I mean, they’re doing this in a lot of places. Double dribble. They still have the fireworks where they have like the charges that come down. Yeah. And they’re like blowing up at the end of these little things, but it looks like a fire, literal fireworks things happening at certain times. I kind of need to go see this. Yeah. Think about getting some ongoing seats. No. No. Okay. Well, maybe I’ll go to, maybe I’ll go to one. Cause that time we got season tickets. And they told us we would be able to resell our tickets for a bunch of games that never worked. So i’m just gonna go i’m just gonna go When I want to go it’s also a long ways down there a single wood. Yeah, that’s true I don’t like driving takes a while to get down there Why do they call the video game double dribble because you could double dribble in the game, right? No Just because it sounds cool double dribble like double dragon Oh Oh, but you couldn’t double dribble here’s but I have one critique just one critique for the clippers So you know how they were the San Diego Clippers when they first started and the Clipper is like a sailboat of some kind. Yeah. They’re really leaning into the maritime imagery. And the new logo is, it looks like, it looks like the logo for a yacht club. Oh. It’s literally the front of a, of a boat coming at you. And you only kind of know that when you really think about it. Mm hmm. And then they’re leaning into the navy of it all. You know, like. Like, are they wearing naval uniforms? No, no. Literally the color navy. Okay. Cause you know how different teams have multiple Like, Clippers are one of those teams that they have multiple colors. Like, they’ve got like a royal blue, then there’s almost like a sky blue, and then there’s a navy, and then there’s the red. The red and the white. And sometimes black. And they decide what they’re going to lean into in their official color scheme. But it’s always the navy. All Navy this year. I just don’t know that I like the feeling of a ship coming straight at me. No! I hate it. Yeah. And then there’s all kinds of, a lot of the animations that are happening are very much like ocean stuff. Now if they were playing Yacht Rock in there. I think I’m okay with embracing the fact that we’re clippers, like we’re boats, but I don’t know, I don’t think, I mean, I just, I don’t like the new logo. I’m not a fan. Okay. So I got to get some negative. I didn’t buy a jersey. Um, well, crap. If you’re not into sports, maybe you’re into Dungeons and Dragons. Uh, you can be into both or you can not be in either, but over at the mythical society, we’ve been running this exclusive, um, deep, deep well of Dungeons and Dragons, boy, I can’t even say it. Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons experience. We, we, uh, TJ’s been running a campaign over there. Um, I played a character, which Was the same character you play. We’re in the rotating position. We got Emily. We got Lily. We got Trevor So the the finale happened this week on the mythical society And if you’re watching the YouTube version of this it’s the finale is already out So go over there and check it out. If you, if you or someone you know is into Dungeons and Dragons, check out that campaign. Season finale one is done. We’re going to do a second season, of course. And, uh, we’ll, we’ll get back in on that. Yeah. Mythicalsociety. it out. Check it out. Hello, Ear Biscuiteer. Etsy knows what kind of holiday gifting reactions you’re looking for this year. You want squeals of delight, happy tears, and spontaneously written songs of joy, right? Uh, well, yeah. And to get reactions like those, you need to make sure everyone on your list feels heard with handmade, handpicked, and designed gifts from small shops on Etsy. Etsy makes it so simple to find original items that will make whoever you’re shopping for feel extra special. When they open that box, it’ll be love at first gift. The kind of love you can only get when a gift is truly thoughtful and perfect for that person. Shop Etsy this holiday season for personalized jewelry, custom artwork, cozy style items, vintage pieces, and home decor to celebrate all of your favorite people and their specific kind of special. For original gifts that say, I get you, Etsy has it. Let’s hear voicemail. Hey Rhett and Link, Connor from Florida here. Uh, I’ve been watching you guys for a long time, maybe 11, 12 years now, and I need some advice. I have had a friend since second grade. Um, we’ve been, you know, basically lifelong friends since you, like you guys. I’m only 27, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be lifelong friends forever. Um, his sister recently moved down from Michigan. And I’ve known her for a couple years, you know, only hung out with her a few times before this, but we hung out a couple times recently, and we’ve been talking a lot, and, um, we’re getting to the point where I think that we’re going to be dating. And I want to know how to tell my buddy this. It’s a weird situation. Never thought this would happen, obviously. Um, but, yeah, I just want your good Um, how should I approach this subject with him in general? Um, I really like his sister, and I would hope that he’s happy. That she’s, you know, dating somebody that he really knows well, and, but, you know, um, just looking for some advice. I appreciate you guys. Love you. Bye. Okay, I think there’s, I, I’m sensing that there’s lots of pitfalls with this, you know, that there’s a, there’s a path forward that could be good for everybody, but I just feel like it’s fraught. So I’m a little nervous, you know. Yeah, I’m a big fan of Long term best friendships, you know working out for us. Of course, we didn’t date each other’s siblings because we didn’t have eligible siblings to date. Correct. I wasn’t going to, you know, you don’t have a sister. That’s what I’m trying to say. You had uh, you, your Emmy for a while. I had a step sister for a while, but yeah. But she liked music. She’s like four years older. So we didn’t like her. She’s four years older than you and uh, we were, we were too young. I wasn’t attracted to her in case you’re wondering. Okay, she wasn’t attracted to you either. Okay. Um, I just, if it doesn’t work out, what does it do for your friendship? Does it, you know, how do you deal with that? You haven’t told him about it. He’s probably picking up on more than you think, but I just think you got to let her do the dirty work. I mean, she’s his sister, you know, she knows him better than, better than you do. I don’t know about this. Let her, let her, let her break the news. And then you can be like, Oh, I didn’t. I didn’t know she was your sister. I just thought she was a good friend, an acquaintance. I thought she just was at your house a lot. Yeah. All those years that we grew up together, I just thought she was just a neighbor. I guess this is a younger sister. I mean, it’s like, yeah, if you’ve been friends since second grade, you’ve known the sister this whole time, which, but things tend to change at a certain point, which makes it a little bit weird. Right. Cause you tend to, you tend to see, you tend to see somebody in a different light. Well, of course that happens. Now. I think one of the things that you need to think about is that I don’t necessarily agree with link that you should get her to do the dirty work. I do tell Jenna didn’t either. Uh, I do think that a conversation with your friend is warranted, but here’s what I’ll say going into it because I agree. With you, Link, that this is fraught. I think, when you go, and I think this is a general rule for any time you are going to someone to let them know about, like, you have to know what your intentions are. Because if you’re going into the conversation, and you’re thinking to yourself, I’m kind of seeking his approval? Well, if that’s your intention, then if he’s like, no, I’m not comfortable with this. And I feel like this would mess our friendship up. You kind of have to be willing to deal with the repercussions. You have to, if like, if that’s where you’re going, but if you’re just going to inform him, Now, you’ve kind of made your decision. Is your decision about this dependent on his perspective? Because if it is, you have to take it into account. If his decision, if your decision about this is not dependent on his perspective, then you have to be prepared for how your relationship with him might change. Now, he might be totally cool. You might be right. A lot of guys are like, obviously, very worried about what dude their sister’s gonna be with. And they do want their sister to be with somebody who’s gonna respect them and love them. And so maybe he’s like, whatever awkwardness this brings into the situation is offset by the fact that I know that you’re a good guy. If you are a good guy. I’m assuming you’re a good guy. Yeah, he’s a good guy. You listen to this podcast. Yeah, he’s a great guy. So, in a best case scenario, it works out great. You’re saying that he needs to broach the issue in a way that represents what he’s actually Interested in getting from his friend. Is it approval or is it just knowledge? This reminds me, you got to know what you’re going in for principle of, um, well, as CEOs of this company, one of the things we’ve had to do in review meetings, we started to talk about inform versus ask. And so what you’re saying reminds me of this. It’s, it’s just a, it’s been a helpful principle to us when people tell us in the capacity of a boss. Um, sometimes it’s not clear if they’re asking for, if they’re asking a question, or if they’re requesting input, or if they’re just sharing information FYI. So it’s nice to know this is, we’ve actually organized some meetings where we’re just being brought at a speed on things as inform and ask separately. So we’ll know when it’s like, okay, I’m just listening to this to understand, but I’m not listening to this to interject or to change. Okay. Unless I really feel the need to. And as a person interested, coming, like, the person, uh, instigating the conversation, I just think it’s really important to know what your mission is in the conversation. Yeah, because if you’re going just being like, I’m just gonna see how it goes, and then you, in your heart of hearts, you actually are looking for his approval, and he doesn’t give it to you, Right. Then what do you do? Yeah. Then now you’re left with the choice of am I gonna reject his, you know, his input and just go for it. Now the whole relationship is starting off on this weird foot where you’re like, well I’m choosing your sister over you. This is like the worst case scenario of how these things can play out. But if you go in saying, hey, I’m doing this and I, I mean, I can imagine that kind of once you start really liking somebody and they’re really liking you, uh, a lot of times the circumstances that might complicate that kind of fade into the background. And so I, the way that you’re talking about this person, it sounds like you’re going to get together. And if that’s the way you’re feeling about it, then I think this is an inform. Delicate. And then maybe there’s a question that goes along with the informing, which is like. You know, how do you feel? Are you going to be okay with this How do you feel about this? And, and like, is there a way that you would ask that I go about this, that respects you? Is it like, I don’t want you to talk to me about my sister. Might be one of the requests. Yeah. I just wanna know, I don’t wanna know anything about your relationship with my sister. I want to know how you feel about it, but I’m not asking. I mean, you don’t have to say, but I’m not asking your permission. Just don’t ask permission if that’s what you’re going in with. Yeah. I have another thing and I think this is the clincher prenup. You need a relationship prenup, and I know for certain it’s a two way prenup, and my question is, should it be a three way prenup? You craft a document with your friend that it’s, uh, Sorry to be crass, bros before hoes. Now I’m not, I don’t know his sister and I’m not, I’m not using that term. I’m, I’m, I’m using it. I’m just referring to it. I’m not using it. Okay. That’s an interesting distinction. But it’s, um, I’m committed to our best friendship. And I’m not gonna let my romantic interests get in the way of it. But that’s a priority. I’m saying, if things go south with your sister, we’re still gonna, we’re committed to, like, to carry on. I just think you’re, I think you’re introducing the fraughtness. And then you tell her about it. I just think that this is Maybe she sees a different version. This is the risk that you’re taking, Link. Because the fact is, is that you By beginning this process, what you are doing is you are putting your friendship at risk. That is a That is an element of this. It really is. Because then if things go south, you may end up losing your friendship with both of them. Right? That can happen. That’s why we need You need to have You need to have something to enact. No. All right. No, because if you go into the relationship with her with that, and, and, and, and then it seems like you’ve got some allegiance to him that supersedes your allegiance to her. And now that’s what she’s thinking about. Yeah. She’s not going to like that. No. So I think it’s either. Why is your allegiance to the person you’re, you’re dating versus your friend from since second grade? Why, why does she automatically swoop in and get the allegiance? I’m not saying that there’s allegiance to one person. I’m just saying that practically. You really can’t there’s not like a, um, they’re different kinds of relationships. And then what ends up happening is ultimately like when, especially if a romantic relationship moves towards a partnership, at that point, I do think it’s appropriate for your partnership to have precedence over your friendship. Jenna, have you ever dated one of your. What? Siblings? No, that’s you. Uh huh. One of your brother’s friends. Have you ever done this? And if you have, explain to me how it works, because I’m confused. Uh, if you’re asking if I’ve ever dated any of my friend’s brothers. Or your brother’s friend. Or your brother’s friend. Your brother’s friend. Uh, well, my, my brother and I are twins, so both of us have dated each other’s friends at some point, yeah. Right. So this was something that was quite common. Well, we should have asked you earlier then. Yeah, yeah, you should have. Then keep talking. It’s alright. I was enjoying what you were just saying. And you and your brother are friends. You’re close. My brother and I are very close, yeah. Right, so like, you have a, you have a bond. Mm hmm. His wife, his wife was my friend first. His, yeah, my sister in law was my friend before they started dating. How close of a friend? Uh, pretty close, yeah. So it Sleepovers, and we were on the same softball team. Do you remember how that started? Yeah, how did that go, come about? Well, uh, okay. So, uh, junior year of high school. Okay. Um, uh, She, she was a year younger than us. She was a sophomore and my brother didn’t have a date for prom. I wasn’t sure who he was going to ask. And I suggested that he ask Suzanne. Oh, uh, so they went to prom together our junior year. They didn’t date. They were still just friends. But then they reconnected in college again and started dating. Um, so I like to think that I, by then you weren’t planted the seed. Yeah. This is, you’re doing, but you didn’t, um, you didn’t go to the same college as him? We did. Oh. But he and her, she did not go to the same college as us. She came back in town because Sean and I both went to Tennessee. So it was our, uh, hometown. So she came back to visit friends of hers who were at ut. Right. And while there, um, uh, she hung out with me, she hung out with some friends who end up being friends with my brother too. So, yeah, and that’s how they reconnected in college. But if she was your best friend, how would that have changed things? I don’t think it really would have. I think, I think I just have a different perspective because it was a normal conversation that my brother and my friends would have. Like I’d had, I had friends who would. Or be attracted to my brother and be like, Hey, I think your brother’s cute. Is it okay if maybe, like, I start talking and seeing if anything good? And I’d be like, yeah, that’s That’s totally fine. I’m not going to, my brother is an amazing, amazing person. So yeah, I think maybe what’s going on here is that when you’ve got like healthy, adjusted people, all three people in this scenario are like non toxic people. Then the conversation is a lot different. Not that there won’t be the potential for the relationship to end and then it gets a little bit awkward in some way, but not in a way that you can’t work through. I mean, when my brother and I first started, like, going down like, oh, we’re dating people. Yeah, the conversations were a little uncomfortable at first when it would be like, oh, I think your friend is really cute. Like, those conversations were uncomfortable, but they’re certainly not as we got older and had them. Uh, a number of times that it became less uncomfortable. Right. Well then you give me hope. I think this could be a good thing. Yeah. It’s a known entity all the way around. This could really work. Okay, it could work. I’m not I definitely don’t think you should not do it because you’re worried about hey I’m the one full of bad ideas. Now. I’m just having hope that’s my only idea. Okay, let’s um, good luck Thank you for that Jenna. Let’s let’s hear the cat question. Hi Rhett. Hi, Link This is Kennedy from Iowa So I recently made a decision that will put me in line for some ridicule, I think, and I kind of want to get ahead of it before it starts so that I know what to expect. Um, so I started leash training my cat so that I can take them on hikes with me. Um, I, I know that there’s a lot of judgment behind that. I totally get it. A lot of it’s warranted. But, my cats really do seem to enjoy it, and I love getting to spend some time outside with them. Could you guys, um, make fun of me for walking my cat so that I could just get used to it? Um, Rhett, I think you’ll especially be good in this exercise. So, I’d love to hear what you guys have to say. Um, love you guys for a long time. Multiple cats. Yeah, it sounds like she’s walking multiple cats. And I’m gonna let you lay into her first. And, uh, I got your back. Because this is what she’s asking for. To be completely roasted like a garlic clove. I think it starts, to be honest with you, I think it starts with annoying, Inquisitiveness from strangers. That is, that is the main thing you’re going to have to deal with, and we can ramp up to outright insults. Oh my god, is that a cat? Like that? Yeah, more like, are you serious? It’s just a skit. It’s just a skit. Hold on, where’s the camera? You can’t be serious. Oh, like that. You can’t be serious, right lady? You’re walking a cat. Two cats. Oh, there’s another cat. Oh my god, two cats? Man, where are you from? You’re not from around here, are you? Well, a cat lady coming in from out of town, bringing her cats. Hey, look at this lady. She’s walking cats. Can you believe that? You ain’t supposed to walk a cat. What if a dog comes up? She’s gone crazy. What’s this world coming to? I’d like to see a dog come up right now. You think they like it? You think they like it? You think they like it? They don’t look like they like it. Since when do they like anything? They’re cats, right? You ain’t walking them cats, them cats are walking you! That’s it. That’s the one. You ain’t walking them cats, them cats are walking you! You’re gonna get that. Well, if you go to where we’re from, that’s what you’re gonna get. I don’t know where you’re from. You ain’t walking them cats, them cats are walking you. Uh, so what are you gonna say when them cats are walking you? I would not engage. First of all, that’s my advice. Learn to take it with a smile. There’s nothing you’re going to say back to these type of people. Well, you know what you could do? Boys! Come over here! You could have a card. Let me show you what I don’t want to raise you to do when you grow up. You could have a card. Now there are, I had a tall guy once hand me a card. Uh, that said, I think it was at a meet and greet. A fan meet and greet, maybe. And the card said, Yes, I’m tall. 6’8 to be exact. No, I do not play basketball. It was like a card that just was like, these are the questions that tall people are asked. It was kind of like the R S T L N E on Wheel of Fortune. So, we know you, we know you want these letters, so here they are. You could have a little, maybe a brochure, if it requires more of an explanation. It could be a card. Yes, I’m walking cats. Yes, they do enjoy it. No, they are not walking me. That’s it. It could be a t shirt. Front and back. Or just back. Or if you’re wearing one of those backpacks that your cats can crawl into when they’re tired of walking. Because they’re not dogs. They’re going to get tired of walking. What kind of stamina do they have? Because dogs feel like they can go forever. Well, it depends on the dog, of course. Jade cannot go forever. Cats are more like quick, like fast, short distances, right? I mean, my cat, well, I’m not going to say it’s my cat. The cat that we live with, Sokka. He’s almost becoming our cat. Like, he’s really winning everybody over. I’m just going to be honest. He’s gotten a lot more affectionate. He’s gotten a lot more bold. He doesn’t put up with Jade’s shit much at all anymore. Like, when she barks and tries to be territorial, it just doesn’t, she’s giving up more, he’s coming around more, he will sit Does he ever pop her? Um, sometimes, he’ll get to high ground and give her a little bat. No, no claws though. Um, I’m starting to think about maybe taking him for a walk, I think he would like it out there. Now, we have to meticulously You could do it with the dogs though, probably. Keep him, no. I mean, I, I’ve seen some of these videos of people trying to, like, what it takes to train a cat to walk on a leash is not easy. Cause they probably are like, biting it and clawing it and like, what the hell are like to be, they don’t like to wear it and they, but then if you get them It’s like walking a chicken, which we’ve done. Train, yes, super hard. Um, they get these back, you’ve seen the backpacks where people take their cats into public and there’s like a big like window dome thing and like they can put their head in it and look around, but they usually like keep them zipped up in that. But there’s this one, at least one hiker, um, that I, I guess I’ve come across on Instagram where they will be on a hiking trail with their cat, like camping with their cat. And. When the cat gets tired, they just kinda, they put their elbow out, and the cat will jump up on the elbow of this person, climb up on the shoulder, and then get in the, um, backpack. Just, just freely. In and out. And I like the idea of that. I mean, I grew up as a fan of He Man. And, you know, He Man had, had, had the big battle cat, and he would ride the cat. But the cat wouldn’t ride him. The cat. That’s true. The cat, Cringer Cringer became, Cringer became Battle Cat. Battle Cat. He got very He wore a mask. Um, well it was like armor. Yeah, it made him look kind of badass, but he was a He had a lot of confidence. He was a green cat with a Orange accents. Yeah, I had I had him and then then when they realized that everybody was buying the battle cat They started selling they gave Skeletor a cat to ride like a white cat. No, it was a black panther and it was yeah It had a felt Yes on it. Uh covering. I had him and he was completely stationary like Non articulating, right? It was like that felt. I love it was felt he was black You And Skeletor wrote him. But I never felt like they had the bond that Adam and Cringer had. It seemed like it was a cat of convenience. Well, it was copying. It was a copycat. I’m just copying. It was a copycat. I’m just copying E Man. I too can have a cat. My cat is black. Because I am a skeleton. And I want him to be felt covered. He costs more to manufacture, and less children will buy him. Right. My plan is working! Ha ha ha ha ha. But anyway, I, I’m a fan of I don’t, I think, I think the most beautiful animal is a tiger. And that’s a cat, bro. I’m not gonna argue with that. And, and they’re so wild, and they’re out there just doing their thing. I like the idea of walking with a cat. And, you know, I’m, when I like the idea of something, part of it is, is uh, inciting the ire and the credulity of those around me. Oh, that’s, that’s insightful. So you can like that, you know. Kimberly, is that your name? Kenzie. Kenzie. Kenzie, you can like that, but I do like your technique here, is that you’re, you’re putting yourself out there to be pre roasted. So, that, I don’t know, like a peanut. By the time you get out there into the world, you’re ready to go. You taste good. A little salty. Mm hmm. You got, you’ve experienced some saltiness, now you can give it right back. It’s like, that’s right. This is the future. Cats are Um, you, and you can make it feminist, too. You can say, um, Fem, uh, what are those shirts that say, like, women are the future? You know? Go on. The future is female. That’s it. Okay. Yep. So you can also put that on your shirt, and then underneath it, and also catwalking is the future. What you think about that? Well, you could say the future is feline. Huh? Yeah, you’re catchy today, man. I mean, I mean. You’re my marketing genius. Yeah, that’s right. The future is female and feline. Yeah. And feline. And then you’re out there walking your, walking your cat. Yeah, yeah, that works. Let’s, let’s hear the, uh, I want them to get to the midlife crisis question. I told you we might not get to it. Hey Rhett and Link, uh, my name’s Jonathan, uh, from the D. C. area. I was curious if you guys have had any thoughts about where your midlife crisis would be. Um, I’m 26 and, uh, I feel like getting into motorcycles would be a cool, a cool midlife crisis, uh, hobby. But, uh, have you guys thought about that? And if so, what would your midlife crisis hobby be? Uh, love you guys stuff. Keep up the good work. Thank you. I would say, uh, a common criticism. Both of us that I’ve seen we get there’s lots of there’s lots of criticisms, but a common one is that we are in the midst of a midlife crisis and a lot of many different things are used as evidence of that. Like what? Well, deconstruction. I mean, people are like that. Oh, you’re you’re Spiritual shifts. That’s midlife crisis. Uh, Hair, hair changes. Yep. Tattoos. Oh, yeah. Tattoos is a big one. Like, who, who waits until they’re 40s to start getting tattoos on their arms? I mean, obviously we’re going through a midlife crisis. Men in crisis, too. So, I’m not, here’s the thing. I’m not even gonna defend myself or deny it. It’s, I kind of think I’m, I’ve kind of always been in a midlife crisis. Oh, you know what I’m saying? It’s like, I kind of feel like I live, I live in the midst of an existential crisis of like trying to figure myself out, trying to like, Try new things. I think one of the reasons I like new layers and stuff, I mean my arch, what am I gonna do with myself, my archery, my latest archery layer, which is evolving very quickly, by the way. Just once some people found out about it and now that’s taking off. So I mean, I just feel like, what do you mean? Some people found out about it and it’s taken off. I’ve told certain people about it and they’re like, well, I want you to do this when you come to North Carolina. Oh, I’m gonna give you this. So, I mean, it’s just, I’m going to take you to do this. Like, it’s just starting to happen, right? You start finding people who want to do things. Other midlife men in crisis. Yeah, other midlife crises. Shooting arrows. So, I think that, I think that everyone goes through a midlife crises, crisis. Meaning that there’s like a question of identity. Who am I? Why am I here? Etc. And then, there, whether you’re going to go through one or not. That’s not the question. The question is, how are you going to deal with it? Because it’s whether or not you make healthy or unhealthy choices. Right? To me that’s, that’s it. I’m trying to figure out from, I think I’m having an assessment of my midlife. I don’t like calling it a crisis, but a season. The midlife season. Why you don’t want to call it a crisis? Because I’m not wigging out about it. I’m not suffering because of it. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just. It’s a, it’s a shifting of the winds and the sands, and the sands are shifting downward through the hourglass, you know? So I, I’m becoming more palpably cognizant of the fact that I’m going to die. And, so, that’s just one thing I noticed. It’s on my mind a little bit more, increasing. But the other thing that I’m thinking You’re soft launching a midlife crisis. Oh, yeah, I don’t think that I I think that it’s a broad term that doesn’t necessarily mean a bad thing This i’m not okay because i’m talking there’s people who have like let’s not call it right down No, i’m saying let’s reclaim the crisis because people are going to keep saying a negative word Can we change it in the context of midlife crisis? I’m saying that people are going to keep using it. So I say reclaim it rather than try to redefine it Okay, it’s an easy. It’s much less of an uphill battle I think I’m faced with a decision to continue to get weird or to try to slow that down. Like, apparently I’ve gotten a lot more weird over the past few years. Over the past, even, I don’t think, decade, but maybe decade. I don’t know, do I need to slow that down? Do I need to counteract that? Or do I need to go full into it? I’m in a little mitigation period. You know? Where, You know, I don’t, I don’t like, I don’t like Christy scratching her head too much. Like, I don’t want to start planting fear in her brain. Right. So, I, I mean, just yourself, be as weird as you. Yes, that is a motto of mine. But I think that’s part of what’s going on with my, my midlife crisis right now is who do I, who do I want to be? I think is like the core question. And how do you answer that? And I think the way that I’ve been answering it is just, just, just go with the weird streak. Just go wild. Have fun. It’ll be over before you know it. And fun and weird to me go hand in hand. And I’m just, I’m assessing that. Is that, is there another facet to this for me? Should. Should I go into a bank and have a responsible conversation? Would that not be weird? I think that would, what? You’re saying because that wouldn’t be weird? It would be weird for me, but it would be, it would seem responsible. Like, like back half of life kind of thing. You know? I don’t know. I feel like I’m at a turning point. Do I need to mitigate Any of my, my wild streak. I think I’m, maybe I’m, uh, Maybe the framing of this sets it up so that there’s only one acceptable answer. Okay, maybe I did that. So I think that when you ask it like that, what you’re going to hear from everyone Just be yourself, man! Link, be as weird as you want to be, man, just do it! Yeah, yeah, but you don’t live with me every moment of every day. Uh, but I think that the reality is, is that, And I don’t think this is bad. We’ve talked about this before. So there are certain social norms and certain ways that we interact in the context of our community that I don’t think are unhealthy. So what I’m saying is that you can choose to be a person who is, quote unquote, I’m not against weird. I’m going to be as weird as I possibly can. Well, I think that the thing you have to understand about that is that for people who are close to you, You will become more isolated from them because that’s what happens naturally because people don’t always have time for Total unpredictability and total weirdness. They just don’t, they just, this is coming from Christy, right? And it doesn’t mean she doesn’t love you. It just means that And it’s not as much as this direct feedback, as much as it’s just like, it’s something that I’m thinking about. Because you are an individual, but you’re also A father, a husband, a co worker, a best friend, a boss, and so, responsibilities. I think that when you frame it in such a way so that it’s like, this isn’t, not about you not being yourself, it’s that you manifesting your true self happens in the context of relationship and community. If it happens in, if it happens in a healthy way, it happens in the, in reference to the communities that you are a part of with people who love you and respect you, not people who are trying to keep you from being a certain way, because it’s like, it’s just like, okay, if you think about it in the context of a team of people, whether it’s a sports team or whether it’s a band or whatever, if there’s one person who’s just like, I’m going to do my own thing, irrespective of anyone else in this situation, it’s Everyone is going to become annoyed by that person, and that person is going to be, be harder for that person to be a part of that team. Now that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be as weird as they can be, but there is a There is a metering effect that happens in the context of community. That’s all I’m saying. And so I think, so, so when you say my wife says this or that, or I don’t want her to be scratching her head, I think ultimately what you’re saying is you don’t want her to not like you. Do you know what I’m saying? You don’t want somebody to be annoyed by it. So. I think that, I don’t think that’s an unhealthy thing, and I think that too many people in our culture are like, Do exactly what you want to do without any reference to anyone else. It’s like, well, there’s a difference between being like, controlled by someone who’s manipulating you, or a system of oppression that try to keep you from being yourself. That’s a completely different conversation than being like, but I do what I do in the context of a healthy community, right? I’m not saying that like, okay, you’ve got parents who are like, telling you that you can’t be yourself, or you shouldn’t do this, or you shouldn’t be interested in this. That’s bullshit. Right. I’m not talking about that. I’m just saying when you’ve got people that love you Talk about navigating social constructs. Yeah, because social constructs exist for a reason, and I think that they can be healthy, especially when you’ve decided to tie yourself to other people. Do you know what I’m saying? When other people are impacted by it, then I think that that is something to take into account. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be weird. I think that, I don’t, that’s not my problem. Yeah. You’re not going to keep me from being weird. You’re not going to keep, you’re not going to, Keep it for anything, you’re just giving input. I appreciate it. I think, I think most people, like, I think my point in midlife now Is that I can, I can go out there and explore who I am. I don’t, I’m on the, I’m on the, the outer rim of that. Most people might need to have a little more inhibition, you know, that’s not me. So, but I think that’s how I interact with midlife is. Who am I and who do I want to be? I think that’s a question that a lot of people have in midlife, like, who do I want to be? Do I want to, I want to be a guy with long hair now. I want to be a guy with, in a convertible now. You know, that’s the only reason I bring it up. Um, and I think that there’s, it’s a good point in life to actualize. And I think, I think I’m pretty good at that. It’s the mitigation of actualization for me, self actualization, that I think is, uh, You know, I can go off the deep end of, uh, on the other side of midlife crisis. That’s what I’m, that’s what I’m identifying. And I think that I agree that it can go too far. It can be kind of isolated. I think what I’m saying is that there’s nothing wrong with, like, again, I think that the way this is often framed in our culture is that Anyone who would give you any kind of feedback about something is like trying to oppress you or hold you back It’s like okay, but like that dude that was in santa cruz and was like walking really slow Remember that guy? Yeah. Like, that’s a really weird thing to do, right? Now, do I find it cool and interesting? Yes. Am I glad that he exists in the world? Yes. Would I want to be his best friend? No. Because he spends every day walking really slowly. I think that’s my, that’s, that’s my realm of midlife crisis. It’s not as much about It’s like, how am I going to express myself and what parts of myself am I going to develop? But it’s not, it’s less about, I guess sometimes it’s about hobbies, but it’s not, I just don’t think of it as much that way. I think of a motorcycle. A motorcycle could be fun, but it’s a little too dangerous. But if you’re always riding with another motorcycle, that makes it a lot less dangerous. So if you’re in, I’m in, I don’t think we should do a motorcycle. I think that, I mean, hobbies is one element of this and I have lots of hobbies. Um, and then there are things like, I’m going to purchase this thing for myself. It’s like, that’s not, I mean, I do that from time to time. Like I have things like I have a cold plunge, right? I have, I have things that like scream midlife crisis in some ways, but it’s, it’s less about like. So I can appear in a certain way. I think, I think as I get older, how I appear to people, I’m trying to make, uh, less, take, put less emphasis on that. Does that make sense? You just want to live longer, healthier. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I’m saying that like, when I think about the time that I have, I just think to me, I’m like, okay, I’ve had these experiences and I have this perspective and I’ve been blessed with a, um, an opportunity to translate my experiences and my perspective into, you know, entertainment in some way that brings joy to people or maybe, you know, Occasionally, when we talk about something a little more serious, it illuminates something or would give some perspective or whatever. And I just think about, like, I think the main thing I think about is not squandering that, you know? And I feel like there are Opportunity with a ticking clock. Yeah, and like, I feel like I have Choices to make, you know, most people who do what we do. Well, most people who do what we do, don’t do what we do anymore at this age. Just, I mean, from a, like a internet person. Yeah. Right. Like we’re old, we’re old within the profession that we’re in, but even within the creative profession. When you get to be 47, you start really thinking is, is my best work in the past, especially if you’re you. Yeah. And, um, I don’t really, I don’t really believe that, but I just think I spend more time thinking about that. I spend more time thinking about, um, what is it that, And at the same time, you said that you’re trying to think, care less about, demote what others think of you. Well, I mean, I’ve said it before that like, If I wasn’t, if I wasn’t on camera, then I would have already done something to like, I’m not going full Steve Jobs like black turtleneck every day because I also think that’s weird. And I don’t want to see, like, a guy who dresses the same way every day is weird in a way that I don’t want to be weird. You know what I’m saying? Um. But that’s a public perception that maybe you need to shit. I think we’re, we’re on, we’re kind of on opposite, we’re, we’re on different, Close to different ends of the spectrum. I wouldn’t say we’re totally opposite. Yeah, because like, because you’re on this, you’re, there’s, if I heard you say that you’re trying to not take into account as much of what, how others perceive you, like, that’s not a problem of mine. So my thing is the awareness of that for my tendency and then say, all right, there are certain like knowing the certain times. Where I do take into account, you know, how I impact other people. So it’s, it’s kind of, it’s kind of an interesting conversation that we’re on different sides of it. Yeah. Cause I mean, obviously I’m still concerned about what people think, but it’s a kind of a different, what I’m trying to do in the, what I’m trying to work towards is like seeing the things that I do not as a series of accomplishments, service. Service to my fellow human. Because You know, it’s been pretty transformative to think about what we do as a service. Yeah. And that’s been pretty big for me. As someone who’s very goal oriented and is very ambitious and like, is it about doing something and having somebody perceive you in a certain way? I think that we’ve got, I’ve done this for long enough now, and I’ve been in enough circles where you’re so called accomplished, you know, where people, you know, See you as a good at something or whatever to know that there’s really no life in that, right? Sure, maybe there’s like another couple of levels of like traditional success that we could ascend to and like when You know traditional awards like emmys or whatever But we kind of already know What that would feel like do you know not we know that winning some award or getting some opportunity? That’s bigger than what we’ve already won and opportunities that we’ve had isn’t going to make us any happier. It’s You might be able to get into a slightly cooler party But it’s still just a bunch of people who are trying to justify their own existence And once you start kind of seeing through that And realizing that all these people are just trying to put on a front to appear a certain way like I’m much less concerned about those people and much more concerned about the people who watch what we do and listen to what we do and like how What we do can be a service to them, right? So then I’m like, okay. Well, how many more how many more years do I have of like good service? Where I can actually, you know, so now that I don’t want to like, I want to do things that are fun because I actually think that doing things that are fun and like amusing myself is, uh, helps me be better at the service. But I, but ultimately I think that that’s where the, um, that’s kind of what motivates me to think about it. It’s like, what, like, what are we, what are we doing next and how is it going to. Bring joy. Illuminate a subject. Something like that, you know? Yeah, I don’t really And as long as I have to do that, I kind of have to dress like I’m I can’t be a dork , you know what I’m saying? It’s just like I would probably be a dork if I could, if it would, but not being a dork enhances my ability to serve people in the context that we serve people. But that is, honestly, I think about it in a very utilitarian way. It’s just, that’s just how that’s, you know, that’s how, yeah. I don’t think I process it. Um, I just think about, I mean, I like the service thing, but I also like to have fun. I’m not saying I don’t like that fun. I like to have more fun than you do though. Oh, yeah, you do. I don’t know fun is just more fun for me than it is for you. Well, is that I know I think it’s so like when I the most fun I have your did your fun is a little different than mine. Yeah, that’s really most fun I cuz fun all you’re really saying when you say fun is that like you are getting Um, a reinforcing sort of experience that is pleasing to you as, as you, you, it’s pleasing to you, right? Yeah. So, Uh, but I would say communally. Like I like eating more than you because eating is more pleasing to me than it is to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have more fun eating than I do. Right. So I have a lot of fun all the time, but I’m saying that, like, I feel like when I’m in a flow and I am actually bringing something about that is in line with my potential, like how my experience, my life experience, and my skills come together into something I’m passionate about that actually serves the greater community, that’s the most fun that I have. When I’m doing that, it is, it is better to me than when I’m doing an activity that I like. But I still like to do activities. But it’s not as good for, it’s not as good, I don’t have as good of a time. Which is why you’re not gonna buy a motorcycle. I’m not gonna buy a motorcycle because I have no desire to and my wife wouldn’t let me. But you did buy a bow and arrow to cultivate your personal happiness. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And I want to keep doing that kind of thing for sure. Alright. I think that was I don’t think it’s a crisis. I don’t, I don’t think I’m internally in a midlife crisis. I think externally it might seem that way. And we’re taking it back. And I’m saying it’s fine. It’s fine. If you skip your midlife crisis. Yeah, you’re accelerating your death. What happened? You missed out. Okay, thank you for your questions. We didn’t get to do as many today because we spent more time talking about it. We had so much fun though. You can call us when we hear your voice. It’s the voicemail 188 EAR. You didn’t, you didn’t say all the eights. One, eight, eight, eight. One, eight, eight, eight. Earpod One! I thought, I think I did say all the eights, but, I heard three eights. There’s three eights. Talk at you next week. Aaron Link, I work as a food courier, and you keep me company on the bike every day. It’s nice to listen to familiar voices when I’m on my own, so, thank you for all the Ear Biscuits. Love you guys. Bye.