346. Minecraft Holmes

This is Do by Friday, a weekly challenge podcast with Alex Cox and Merlin Mann. This week's challenge create something with three dimensions. Hello? Hello, good uh late morning, Merlin Man. How are you? I think I'm very well, I owe you an amends. I gotta get it all the way to the top of this show. Uh o okay, careful now, because you do have a life debt, but I'll allow it. Uh I mean i I I I'm sorry, I don't understand the rules of this. I I don't have a so the see the thing is when you say life debt, you you act like it's a life debt that you owe, but by giving that to me it kinda turns into my problem And it doesn't go away. It's inexhaustible. I could just make you do anything. That's the risk that you take when you're going to be able to do that.

And what do I do to run a life debt? I mean just being me? Yeah, just be just being you. See? Well what if I give you a few. What if I give you a life death? How'd you feel about that? Well, first I want to know what my amends are. I m I missed your birthday and I apologize. Oh my God in heaven, no. And I apologize sincerely for that. It's uh my only my it's not a birthday. It's not a I don't. I don't it's not a defense, it's not an excuse, but I'm not really a a days person. But it it was shitty of me because I knew your birthday was coming up and I blew it and I never look at the slack so I didn't see all of our suck up friends telling you happy birthday. Happy birthday, Alexandra. I'm so happy you were born.

I'm I'm so happy to be alive. And I feel like a real piece of shit. Oh my god. I'm gonna get you a special I've told you I'm gonna get you a special cake. It's got it's it's got mostly white baseball players on it. I have just I I just I I okay, look, I'm not gonna lie. I I had an idea and I haven't looked I was thinking about trying to find a James Morrison impersonator to, you know. Or I could have a broken cake delivered to your house, I guess. He's the only other person I think who's allowed to call me sweetheart. Um there's a few people, but m James Marsden, I think, would get it a page. Oh, I I I think so. Uh-huh. Because when I heard him say sweetheart in jury duty, like so he called some bitch sweetheart, I'm like, Yeah, I mean there's worse stuff to be called by people.

I know. I've I've been called a lot worse things by a lot worse people. You know, maybe maybe if he and Sarah Paulson ran me over in a car. Would that make me feel better? Maybe if they stole my clothes. I don't know. I need to be taught a lesson by Cyclops and Sarah Paulson. Coming soon to Freevie. He's just accepting every offer now. And we fooled Sarah Polston into thinking it's something Brian Murphy. Anyway, I apologize and I I do wish you a happy birthday. I hope you had a good did you do anything fun? Did you did you were you good to yourself? Yes I think so. Okay, great. Well we'll drop it there. No. Yeah. Ew. Ew. What? I don't know, but you made it sound unwholesome. Oh, it sounded like I was saying did you diddle yourself, kinda, huh?

I did not Did you go downtown? I I uh diddled so I diddled some balls. I went indoor golfing. Wasn't pick wasn't pickleball, was it? We playing pickleball? Everybody's playing pickleball now. Everybody's mad about pickleball. So you you played uh did you play uh miniature golf? Was it was it like 'Cause you know, like when I was a kid we would say puttputt, but puttputt is a brand name for a I I'm sorry to sound like, you know, basic, but puttputt is a brand name for a specific kind of golf course. It's almost like science golf. They don't have windmills and Abraham Lincoln's and shit. It's just courses. Courses courses courses. Cour courses, courses, courses. That's that's kind of a reference to Meg Ryan and um When Harry met Sally, but it's not a very good one.

I know Horses, horses, horses. Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry. When I tick you out in a surre. I don't like musicals. What are you talking about? What? Who is this? How'd you get this number? Well so you did them yourself and you played with balls. Yeah. And uh did you use any new men's rooms? No. Men's rooms? Did I? Did Men's see I Oh, w I did have some mencies, but not in the Oh shit, I'm sorry. On your birthday? On your birthday you had a mences? Oh I yeah I know. That um they they There's gotta be some science. I mean there is some science. At least that's what I'm saying. I think I asked you this before, but I'm asking you again. Do you do you because I've had I've had a lot of lady friends that had this one situ like where every other month is we talked about this, right?

one month is harder than the other, alternately? Like one ovary's a piece of shit title? Yep. Oh, like are you aware are you aware of like I've heard like I one of my lady friends who was my my my my my my my life partner. But boy, she would get she would get slammed hard every other month. Yes and no, because sometimes I just don't have months. Sometimes my bot my body's also confused about the sex and gender things. Like, oh no, no, no. It's all those energy drinks. Yeah. Excuse me, right now it's the energy drink that tasted like a fruit. What are you doing? Uh Right now I'm taking Viter Energy Spearmint Flavor Caffeine Nintendo dietary supplement. Boosts energy and freshens breath. Alex, please, you're kidding me.

All of your insides are turning to to fruit liquids. Well, hello. Hello. I'm here to give you some advice from the library. You've got to quit putting it in your body. It liquefies your organs. Matropol organ failure is not cool. No, no, no. I didn't know what that was. I don't want Mursa. Mursa's one I don't want. There's all this all this shit that happens when you go to the hospital. You don't go to the hospital, sick people. That's what the nuts say. You ever gone to the hospital, Ox? Uh-uh. On occasion, just uh It's like when I when I errantly I wanted to tell John Roderick an anecdote involving an emergency room and I don't know what the fuck I was thinking. And I said, John, do you have any experience with emergency rooms?

And he just started howling with laughter. Because John Roderick has has probably slept for a while. He's probably spent more time in emergency rooms than he did in a house that he rented. I was going to say a van for a while. Yeah, I I'm wondering over the hmm hmm. I wonder if at 33 Roderick had spent as much time in hospitals as I have because I think I could give him a run for his money. So there's there's a visit less let's Take out the visiting people part, but like times in a hospital as the subject of some kind of potential treatment. Yes. I bet you got him beat. I think I do. I think I do because I i if you can I don't think you ever met a cute girl there. I didn't meet uh are you kidding me?

I dated. I thought you guys met didn't you guys meet in the thing? No, we did not Matthew and I did not meet in a psych ward, but we no no no no. We were cellmates in the most boring gay history class in the world. school together, pool. No, it was a much more wholesome and normal meeting. Honestly exactly. Did you go to see the Doctor of Divinity? Did you do that? Was a portrait of rescued in a beard down to his knees? Did you do that? Did you? No way. Did you run a U-Haul? Oh I see what you're doing. I love that song. It's got that classic G-A-C-D pattern that I love. Yeah, I you know what, we're gonna hold on. Let's let's do uh G A C D chord Pattern. I don't think I have a working guitar here or I would do it myself.

So one measure each of G, A, C, and D. And it's gonna be really cool you do the little twiddle on the D side. D sus four, which is what gives you that jangle. I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains. I know to the children, I drank from the fountains. There's more than one answer to these. Uh look at your messages. I promise I promise it's not unwholesome. I don't know what this is, Alex. It looks like it's a living photograph. It is a living photograph. Three what is that three dots online? What are you sending me? Uh I don't know. That is my monitor that you're looking at. Yeah, I see you holding what looks like a three camera with uh with a with a a popfuck on the back. Yeah my popfucker is on the back.

There's new pop fuckers now. They're not long. They're just circular. They're very with a jigglypuff I okay, maybe if for my birthday I got one with a bulbasaur! We watched three different videos of Pokemon parades last night. They're so weird and so beautiful. There's there was but there's one point where we both started shrieking because it had gone from I was like, Why is your two Pikachu's? And he goes, Well he's the most popular one. I'm like, Oh of course. You have to pika have a Pikachu on this side of the parade performing for this side and then on the other. Maybe you've seen this one video. And then they all come along with Stuoky this is a purple guy who's in like a suit where you obviously can't walk.

So he just stands there and kind of moves his arms like this. And then and then suddenly there's nothing but Pikachu's for as far as the eye can see. And This is gone away. Well Ash Ketchup after a yes, Ash Ketchup has w become a Pokemon master for the second time. The dubbed anime is now on Netflix, everyone. Um the they didn't break strike laws. Uh dub dubbed some Um duh but well there was already the sub, but if you're a dove person, it is on Netflix. Because I need the my problem is I need the subtitles. Well the thing kills me is I need the subtitles and I've been reading many articles about how you have What's wrong with us? Well I mean there's the one small piece of that pie. I'll make this quick.

One small piece of that pie is yeah, there's all kinds of things involving the way things are mixed and how TVs sound. We're like it don't think we started on fucking tenant. But um but also I mean yeah I mean my my ears are not great but also you're doing other stuff you want to be able to but like it drives me crazy when the subs and the dub don't match It drives both of us crazy. Yes. So we went we had a big Satoshi cone. I'm sorry, my watch keeps going off and I thought I told it That's weird. I told it I told her I don't want to be disturbed, but it's still telling me about my wife's flight, which is weird. Um upset. I assume she'll be fine. Um D D D D D D Pokemon. What was it talking about?

Oh, we were watching. Satoshi Khan. And we did So we did one night we did paprika, the next night we did Millennium Actress, and we got Perfect Blue on standby. Now now Syracuse says pre-paprika is his least favorite of those. I fucking it's my favorite. Well Tokyo Godfathers is up there, but isn't it brilliant? The per speaking of parades That the parades of the dream characters and and so my is my theory on this right that each time each one of those wackadoo looking people in the parade is what somebody looks like in their own dream to themselves. I mean that's always how I have sort of interpreted it. Okay, good. Good I wasn't sure if I was interpreting it wrong. But like the scenes of those that dream parade, that's a top five.

Yeah, that's what a dream feels like. Most dream stuff, you know, is like sitcom bullshit with but that really felt like the way they moved. Oh my god What an amazing. So are all of your dreams like that? Because I do have dreams like that. No, most of them are on planes or airports. A dream to my spouse. He loved that. You can't tell how it feels though. It's hard to describe how it's not a few years. Exactly. Yeah, well he'll ask and I'm like, it was a pack paprika dream because that kind of like it's like okay it was like me trying to describe the airport that has a museum and then the museum there's a smaller airport and inside that airport is a smaller museum Like I can't that sounds you know that doesn't make a ton of sense, Marilyn.

Oh really? Honestly in twenty twenty three I'm like that sounds like what it would be in the world. I don't trust people whose dreams make sense. When people tell their dreams like a story, it makes me a little frustrated. Mm-hmm. Um and I like having the subs on. And you know, and the neat thing is, uh so we're watching it on Plex. And the neat thing is like p if it has subtitles, Plex is pretty good about it. If it doesn't have subtitles, if you're doing it on Apple TV, it's a little bit of a pain because you probably need to retype If you have weird scene naming like I do, you have to give it like a regular it'll find it. Um i I-I I-N-A, which I never know how to pronounce, does that. Um, and then, you know, Plex will do its best, but you know, those are separate, I mean, right?

Those are separate things. Like there are the people who recorded it, and then there's the way that that got translated. And it it just is off just uh it's not like the Netflix thing where one word is shortened, like a sentence is shortened so it fits. Mm-hmm. It's it's like different. And it the cause of the case of the case of the case of the case. You're actually describing this in the like very Alex way. What Merlin is saying is if you have the English dub of an anime on Sometimes the English subtitles are so much. Let's let's start. If you get start with it, you so you get a movie, here you get a movie that's not in English, how do you watch it, right? You get a movie that's not in English, how do you watch it?

You generally have two choices, right? Mm-hmm. Yes. Dubbed means that actors often like in the case of like Drive Syracuse disagrees, I love the dub of Totoro. Yes. He he likes to point out that what a stupid bucket. It's not the translation. I don't care. It has to match their giant mouths. Okay, John, sit down. Calm down. Sit down, John. That's a musical joke. Um but uh and then and then the the the subs are at me on the subtitles. Wait, did you think I date your Hamilton reference? I'm sorry, proceed. Proceeding. Oh, when he goes, he calls him a mother effer. Yes, and yes, it is an ill allusion to 1776 or an homage, depending on how you interpreted it. It makes me so happy that his that he mentions Mabim Bam in the Hamilton tome.

Right? That that makes me very happy. That's fucking cool. Like this is my favorite podcast and this is something they say. And it's not a big deal in the musical, but it makes me so fucking it's not. hubris, I suppose. Well it doesn't read like one of those things like like the the Superman booklet I bought in nineteen seventy eight. It doesn't feel like an adulatory like explanation of what's happening with photos for dummies. Like it's it's a it's an exegesis. It's almost like a Norton. Mmm. It's in the Norton edition it is. Because I'm Yoda apparently. But it's all annotated, you know, like a like a book. And it's very well done because I enjoyed it. The pages feel good. Oh yeah, they're it's very good.

Oh I love Front of My Fingers. Oh that's that's a book worth uh fingering Yeah, happy birthday, by the way. Oh my god. Don't get your mencies on the tome. Remember that song from We were little? Don't get your Mencies on the Tome. You can go out and roam. You can open some drafts and cut it in half, but never get your Minsies on the tone. You didn't look at the document yet, did you? I haven't. I was biddy a busy Martha ing. Okay. I uh just so you know I updated the document and I made it a working document again. Oh I'm opening it up. Did I tell you that I um hmm. I'll save it for the uh gives your fucking money. com. We could really use the money, cause we are bleeding patrons left and right.

Although you should you you shouldn't feel as bad about it as I do recently because of the um stupid credit card fucking thing. That sounds like a really Dumb error that affected a lot of people. I had to re-subscribe to half of my Because there's some kind of weird fraud thing that had nothing to do with your actual our actual cards. Is that right? Yep. Because like when you're card, like if you're if you're you're you know Jane Doe and you have a Patreon account and you have follow or you know people who give you money and then you have like ten people you give money to, right? If your credit card didn't go through, it fucks up your the the the top level of the account, right? No. No. It fucks up.

I thought it fucked up your own account also. Oh it S yes and no. Like, so it doesn't affect your patrons. It it yes, it does. Their credit cards don't go through. So like you it It says like, oh, I think mystery birthday or something, right? Wasn't it like an oversight? Yeah. Yeah, but they were like, hey creators. Sorry, the whole reason you're here and give us like what fucking nine percent or whatever it is. Yeah. So you know, you know, I think that's a good idea. You've just subscribed to the video. Oh god, that's so frustrating. I got uh messages from uh another my my personal dumb stuff that Merlin's never allowed to see, like, hey, where's the thing? And normally, you know, I I do finish things su sometimes.

I'm like, huh, I don't know. And no, it's not uh an i it well credit card just right now. It's it It's probably not our fault. If you w if you w want to give us money, you can do that. And if you don't, that's fine too. We're grateful that you're listening. I'm I'm angry because I also know a lot of listeners use uh Patreon for their own thing. Stuff and so I am angry upon uh upon all of it. Uh anger upon this is my challenge idea this week involves anger. Oh, good. I I exhibited a lot of anger and fear this morning, and I decided to stop being angry and try to stop being fearful. Um so please give us your fucking money. I love this Alex. I love hearing this. That you're not gonna believe you know what this week's challenge is.

Can I just give a give a tickle? Oh yes. Yes. So you haven't read the document yet, have you? Should I not? I'm read the fucking document. Okay. Yes. Um Oh, Merlin quit Twitter. Well that's different than quitting your job, but this I mean spoilers for So the Rectiffs, oh boy, the rectifs that we record Well, I I quit Twitter, dude. Oh, I quit. Let's sorry. So let's talk about Snyder. The main topic uh was a question I wrote down a few weeks ago, which is something like, I could look it up, but how should we be supporting social uh what do you call it? Social media, social networks? How should we be s what are the ways that we should be supporting? And he even yelled at me about my wording, of course.

But how should we be supporting Social what what was the word I'm looking for? Social media sites? Social m m media, like I I hate calling it social, but you were creating social media. for a uh you you were creating some of the best stuff still on Twitter. Mass content for people. And and and um and I was just talking about how I don't know. And and honestly, we we could I would love if you want to be the one that talks about Merlin quitting Twitter, you can have that. Um because I would talk about it. I don't want that. Okay. Never mind. I'll pass it to somebody else. So anyway, the um I want to hear about you quitting Twitter. Then we're talking about we're talking about I was just saying how there's so much anger.

Oh my god, Madeline's in Philadelphia and she's wondering if she should get a cheese stick. Oh man. I don't want her to make diarrhea all the way up and down the plane. Oh well, I mean you haven't you're not using Twitter, so you won't see the viral clips of Well, did you see did you read the document, Alex? Uh I uh uh do you want me to read it out loud? I've okay so I'm reading series. Okay, number one is Merlin Clint First. I thought that would get you more excited than it has. Because you've been brabeating me about this and I finally get it. Okay, listen, listen. Okay. My internet was loading and you said you quit Twitter. I thought you were being sarcastic. Okay. Then the doc loaded and I see, oh Merlin quit Twitter and I was like holds up.

Please read uh the the the black bullet line uh begins with the word reading. Uh reading series. Delta Flight experiences uh paint job Absolutely paint job. Paint job, and that's that's our reading series. So I was talking to Siracusa and I says to him, I says, you know, there's so much anger. in all this stuff and I was just I've been really turning an idea around in my head this is apropos of what I'd like to do for a challenge, even though it's somewhat inchoate, is that I um You know, yeah, I you know, I was describing how like I feel like especially for men, but honestly for a lot of people, a lot of emotions that you're not sure what to deal with turn into anger. And I described it as being like on Prices Right where they drop the big chip down the Plinko machine and it's like you're hoping it lands in, you know, one thousand or whatever, but like most men's Plinko machine, every one of those discs will end in anger because that that's the place that and it's true for I think a lot of people.

So the challenge I wanted to propose for this week, and there's a this is I'm borrowing a phrase from myself. Um consider conducting yourself in the absence of anger. What would your what would your emotions and activities look like if you decoupled anger from them? This i I I like I like this Sean. Because it is an on uh it it yeah, you know, our our uh friends over at Relay do the the the whole thing theme um system type thing and my and my theme of this year was to not confuse anger and fear and I th I I mean I hope that um I'm doing that, but that's wait, talk talk more. I'm sorry, I'm telling my wife that I don't want her to make a paint job on the plane. I said maybe get one and see how one bite goes.

But you don't want to make a paint job on the plane. Okay, continue. No. No no no. Oh, um just Uh this past year I've been l l living in a complex. They both become such a habit. Yeah. It's like it's like you don't know when to stop doing anything until you're angry, sad, or anxious. Not not you, but one, myself. I don't I like I know I'm not done until I'm anxious, sad, or angry. And it's a condition it's such a condition of the last Psh seven years, eight years. It's difficult though, because y's some are conditioned to run f from anger, which is always my immediate instinct. Run from it in the sense of like I need to stop feeling this feeling. I need to like I need to uh it I I the anger is not is not good.

Anger is caused stress. When it comes up more than two or three times about the same thing I I mean I I I I this is not a law or a rule, but like I think it's rarely as productive or especially necessary as it feels. Mm-hmm. I mean you can just look at your track record. How often has anger led to something that's made you really happy or that you're really proud of? Once. Sometimes. Sometimes I get so fired up I gotta fucking write something. And a lot of times that's my own like emotions that that maybe I do end up in anger, but like anger at myself about the book is why I wrote, you know, the the cranking thing. Like Anyways, but it's like I I really think it's kind of the exception that proves the rule.

I like that theme. That's a good theme. Do you have that book? Do you get their book? The thing oh yeah, the the little theme system journal. Yeah, yeah. Uh everyone go to cortexmerch. com. I hear they need the money. I think everybody needs the money at this point. Sorry Oh, no, I uh so uh you you know that uh this year for me has been filled with both uh ventures into uh freelancing very different weird things as well as uh let's say uh uh dissociative uh derealization But trying a lot of things out. Um, well I try uh it I can talk about this Because I've talked to all the people who are talking about the people who are talking about. No, I just um was having uh I I was doing the sort of work that I typically in enjoy and work that I'm good at.

But because I never uh Really expressed anger because, like you say, it rarely leads to anything productive, but Oh what people don't tell you, or rather what you don't want to believe, is that when you're freelancing, often Sure, they're late to pay you, but uh sometimes they just don't pay you. Sometimes they just disappear. Yeah, they they happen it happens with sponsors, it happens with and uh I underestimated just how many people would just go away. Would w it just w s some of the things that you're talking about. Oh yeah, I this year I've done t twenty thousand dollars worth of work for various companies that just disappeared and uh that I got uh well Uh well, when a friend r who you trust and who you've worked for a and who has like paid you well in the past recommends somebody, you feel an obligation sometimes to take on that work and it's like, Oh, it's this little startup and they clearly don't know what they're doing, but they said yes to my number and uh s and they they would just disappear.

And did you get sniffs of it being a little I mean, uh d in retrospect, or I I'm not trying to make this a lesson, but like in in retrospect do you see like were there red flags that you maybe missed? Or w were they just totally just sort of dishonest? No, they were red flags I tried to address with a sense wait I I I tried to address and failed because their should have been anger there, but but all of my anxiety and fear prevented the uh and um I I finished uh the last I is actually recording um Automators with our friends. And I was really excited. Yeah, that's Rose and S and Sparky. It's one of my uh favorite nerdy shows. They get so much. Uh uh David asked me to guest for Mike. months ago and there's no way I could have known that I would be on there on the Thursday after the Apple event.

Luckily they're not a news show, so hopefully I'll dodge a bullet. Well I gotta I gotta tell you, David. I gotta tell you, David, I follow this stuff real carefully. And I'm super interested in how I'll plug in a phone that isn't out there. Oh, I'm super excited. Oh man. And well I'm like, I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get a little more at home golf field, I can just tell. This this episode will come uh come out in in two weeks, but I was really ic excited and I It i it's much better than my MacPower users appearance I did before and much better than my automators appearance I did before. And I was like, oh man, I'm really proud of this because I'd like to. It can, but I f uh uh not fought uh back again.

Like we talked we talk about it. Um the it's it's really good. Go go listen to it. I don't get money for it. They do, so don't worry if you hate listening. Um and then after I After and you know, I got all the do not disturbs on and after uh I got off that recording I just got I s saw that all of these calls and all of these messages from this guy who the most uh uh I was working and consulting for him on a an event. he was making. Like I was consulting for hi the uh the hi his event and his I'm not sure what you're doing. Yeah, initially the job was just IT consultant, which is the wor which that first red flag. So, you know, I was like, okay, when you mean IT consultant, it's this stuff, this, this, this, right?

And it's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Like not just like trying to define in limbscope. Yeah. Not just it it was a job not being on retainer, which is a very, very different, very, very different thing. Um and like The past year I have basically been just the a bitch for so many people who Bitches in a cup. They don't pay for my I I've just been so cucked by so many uh men who claim to have money. And so many men who try to veil their incompetence in hiring diversity, like literally that's like their their uh thing. And for all uh it's funny, like for all of the rumors about the job I used to have at Cards of like all of the like mistreatment and and horror s And I'm like, no, no, that's that that's the other I'm like, no, that's other real jobs.

And so yeah, that's like the past year, which but the uh W uh I I I just am shocked by the entitlement people have when someone isn't actually their an employee. Like wait, you're not paying for my health insurance. You're not you're not even my only client. You're also uh b bad at at your job. Well like you don't go to a d you don't go to a dentist to get your teeth cleaned and then be checking in with them constantly with questions. Like, you know, there's like, and it's one reason, for example, why I've been so well so reluctant for so long to do things like Patreon. It's like, I'll sell you a shirt because that's a relationship I understand. What I can't do is like I I will not lease you my friendship.

In your case, you you you're not gonna just lend them your time. Oh and access. Access is part of it though, because stop what you're doing and pay attention to me. Well that's not really how we do this. Like we need to project manage this a little bit. uh extra time. It it it became a uh uh every single one uh of these jobs and the the p the great people I worked for, like, we uh uh addressed this like with their other employees. Like I it takes balls for a boss to be like, okay, if you wanted to work for us again, what would you change? Um and then to actually want an a like a real answer. Yeah, yeah. And and I work for someone who who uh did that and the second time was fucking amazing. And and because I said you are uh hiring people w for one thing and they're fulfilling that but they are also doing so much emotional labor for you like they're they're being your mom Right.

Like the like you don't realize again, there are there are dear friends we share who are not aware of like it's in the document, if you don't know who's doing your emotional labor, it's probably everyone you know. There are people who just wander around a reference you wouldn't know, like Hong Kong Fui, whose dog is actually doing all the work and Hong Kong Fui takes all the credit. Uh yeah, yeah, and and well uh sorry that was stupid. I didn't say that's true though. Some people some people just like and like and then like their their answer to that is like that the world doesn't understand them. Is usually the response and they're all butt her. Uh yeah, and I have I I do think that I I don't know.

I've sort of have renewed faith in the world because a number of people I think respond to that in a good way. in in a way that they take action uh upon it. And the reason I'm making that distinction is a good thing. Yes. That takes a pretty cool person, a pretty big person to actually do that. Well and also I I have to say that like if someone hires you and is like okay what would it look like if I basically did want you to hire you to be my mom? And like if if they want to pay you moms are expensive Uh yes, yeah. No and and and then with costly moms. Yes. y you want someone to be your mommy, uh this this is w what you want and uh that this was actually probably my favorite job this year was um it it was an a an awesome uh event and it actually was really good and like Um my my also friend who I was looking working for like, all right, for next year, how can we make this better?

And like I said, I'm like, you uh uh uh y less people need to be your mom or you need an assistant who is basically like going to be your mom and you need to make the hiring somebody again back to the diarrhea on the plane which I cannot wait to talk about. But like if you keep going like I don't understand I keep taking shits everywhere and I can't find people Who who clean it up in a way that makes me happy. And it's like, well, why don't you use a bathroom? Like I hate to I hate to cramp your style. I know you like to move fast and break things, but maybe you should consider solving Solving the the the the stu the so that's a problem, like the way you are, taking a dump on the plane and and being mad nobody cleans it up.

That that's a problem. You see it as a problem of not getting the right staff, we see it as a problem that goes to like a a deeper level in the stack, which is like you just need you need to understand where people do their business responsibly. Mm-hmm. And and well and you don't want to wait until i there's a potential for an absolute paint job. Like even if there's just a few turds on the floor, you still don't want that. That's that's when you start right That's when like there uh there there weren't there were like some some little piddles and poops and it's like okay you're not an incontinent dog, but like Cool. You want to potty train yourself. I like you this week. And you're sharp this week.

I'm having fun with this. Uh well. Uh well that that's I mean, um the I did this uh consulting like at the beginning of last year. It was again, like w wonderful. Um but Uh, then he hired an assistant and then I got paid to like just do um this I was completely out of here. Remember when Max would make us do everything? Yeah, and then he would go through assistance like every uh every week. Well that's the same thing. When you have an assistant, you're like, I don't know how to go talk to Susan. It's like, well, yeah, but like, does Susan have the power to tell you what you need to be doing and make you do it? Because you're you're you're a big strong man and like you need to like you need to set your own alarm clock for that shit and not depend on other people for that.

Like so odd. Just myth of like the great man and the genius. Again, I'm not talking about any specific person here, but Do you ever get that? Like with the folks you're working with? And like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. And it's like, no, no, no, it doesn't sound good because I stand if as soon as we commit to this It's almost like saving yourself, you know. Yeah, nobody buys the cow if they get the milk for free. If you agree to something on terms that are ultimately I'm not telling you anything here, but I this took me a long time to learn. If you if you have one of those, yeah, that's fine. Like keep going, keep going, let's do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That sounds great.

Sounds great. One of those people, like you're gonna re again from the document, if you s talk to people who do not resp if you're dealing with people who do not respect your boundaries, do not work with them. You must not work with people who don't understand boundaries. Boundaries are not bad. That's a word a lot of people shy away from because it sounds like you're mean or withholding. No, it's more a way of saying like I I don't have unlimited everything to give you when it suits you. And I if even if I did, I I would want to be compensated for it. But you're I this is the kind of job that I do. This is what you can expect from me. And then what I what I anticipate happening from you is that we keep checking in to make sure that the scope of this project and the budget, deadlines, all that stuff, you know uh You can't just wave it all away.

Or, you know, like like our old uh uh you know, achievement of the development guy at our company used to say when we'd asked him to prioritize, he'd say He says shit man, they're all number one. And you're like, Jay, they can't all be number one. He goes, Well they are. Fucking monster. Fucking monster. Sounds good. Sounds good. Sounds good. Let's keep going. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sounds good. Good Lord. Yeah, I didn't think I was qualified to give this man any advice on like how he should choose an assistant, but then it I was like, how about our alright Let's for one month you pay um me just like pay my my rent and you can ha have me basically on what? No, it's it sounds like I don't know. I mean it sounds like um Like you do like I don't know, like you're in some kind of desolate version of the road where you're just bartering with people.

No, pay my pay my rent and I will be your cuck. No, it well it was like okay you you pay my rent this month and uh they won it every month no matter what right no but I was like I'm going to cosplay I I was like, I'm going to we're we're gonna do it. So I will basically cosplay as your assistant. And uh because I know how to like work with you and it me and this other person with you to learn what they might need. Yeah, and that helped him figure out, oh I actually need uh yes, I do need a full-time assistant and uh This is handful of occasions where I would work personally with somebody on kind of just getting their shit together. And like trying to cut through the morass of like all the well, honestly, a lot of what I did was try to talk to people in a ki in a kind and hopefully positive way about cutting through all the bullshit that prevents them from doing anything.

This That th th all of which they are certain is based on the outside world and its demands of them. It's like, well, no, actually, like they're not, they're not all number one, but they're also not all number 1,000. Like you gotta finish one thing at a time. Bird by bird, buddy. Yeah, yeah. And uh and anyway, I was I was quite I was really Hmm. I was really uh proud of myself because it worked out uh really well and uh but my friend that I w worked for started recommending me to folks. Oh and I uh Uh uh and so yeah, uh just the past year has been like na no one does easy freelancing or anything. But I have to stop, man. I've done it since 1995, up through I mean, except for the time when I briefly had a real job in the late 90s.

Dude, since 1995 up through 2001, 12, whatever, whenever I sort of got out the biz. It was absolutely I mean I'm sorry, I don't mean to be piss and pissing and moaning because like sometimes it paid okay, but if you looked at the amount of hours I spent dealing with fucking idiots who had absolutely no interest in actually doing anything. Like if they're super reluctant to give you a deposit, Jesus Christ, run. If they're not willing to give you like a something to like so uh in my case was speaking to like hold the date to like block the event if they won't give you a deposit, walk away. You could have told me that before, bro. No, no, no, no. I I mean just my that's no I'm I no it's just that it's just that like I and I told you this story I think about like around the time the book was due And I I'll say it was Genentech.

It was a big ass company who wanted me to come out there for like a whole day. And the scope of the thing kept changing. And then they wanted workbooks and they wanted me to have one million dollars in liability insurance. They basically gave me the Boeing contract. For this, I could really use the money at the time because I had hadn't been working for a year. I was just working on the book. And they gave me the Boeing contract, basically. That's what I call it. You know what I mean? Like the giant fucking and I said, you're telling me I need to come in and do a one-hour talk and have lunch, I need to have one million dollars in liability insurance. Well, I don't have that and that's not a thing I'm gonna have.

Oh no, don't worry, we'll work it out. Okay. And it keeps going, it keeps going. And I'm like, I can't finish this goddamn book because my brain's broken. And I'm the cycles that I do have are now being expended on these people. who are like clowns. I blew so much. Some days cost more than others. And each day that I spent hours on those, you know, pretty nice folks, but like, they're in a big company They got they they they you got everything has to go through departments and I was like look if you want me for a whole day like that's you need to like you know, sign on the line that is dotted, cross my palm. Because I hate being in that situation of having to dun people for nine months about something you said you'd pay nine months ago.

It's fucking crazy. It's it's ludicrous. I I also didn't know that it's pretty uh unusual slash not okay for them to be uh to be like, all right, you're giving the uh this talk, um and You uh need to sign over the rights. I've gotten that one. Not sign over the rights, but to s to sign and non-compete so that you can't uh talk anywhere else. I uh yeah, um I uh uh that's what happened. Um I I liked the I like that talk. So I wasn't uh allowed to give that for six months, which I thought that was a normal thing. Which I guess it is normal, but not for the amount of money that I asked for. It's so like a John Mullaney thing. I'm sorry. I didn't know I wasn't allowed to work anymore after working for you and not getting paid.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I had a little talk about a mental health and and uh productivity. I think we should talk about Twitter in the after show, if you want to. But can I tell can do you know about the paint job? Have you heard about it? I didn't please. Tell me about the paint job because I just have this page open and I just we haven't had a reading series in a while and this one felt like our literal shit. No one's been masturbating. Like people are freaking out on planes, but they're not masturbating or shitting on planes. But now we got something golden. I think a lot they're saying like they're taking the pledge You know, you probably had this, like they get those rings or whatever. Didn't you have to promise not to not to diddle your uh pure pork rinds?

Didn't you have to do that when you were little? Uh uh-huh. Well, the ceremony and the guys with the pointy hats are all Dominy Domini, promise you won't won't do hand stuff. Uh no, no, that's not a big thing. about it. We we did. Oh yeah, pet your dog, not your date. Um it was yeah, I know. I know. Yeah, yeah. This is From um this is from the Guardian, the the English paper. Delta flight returns after passenger has diarrhea, quote, all the way through the plane. Okay. Okay. Delta flight returns after passenger has diarrhea all the way through, unquote, plane. Are you are you going to comment on the ambiguity of that sentence or are you just gonna read straight through? Because the ambiguity of that sentence is Oh, I I've I've oh I I've read worse headlines while you were talking.

Passengers reboard flight to Spain after eight-hour delay while social media posts describe flight crew mopping up mess. Oh this is by Richard uh Luscombe. Um and listen, I I I can't tell y'all what to do. Personally, I'm not gonna pursue this footage. If you want to do that on your own and not tell me about it, that's fine. Footage has emerged of the quote, onboard medical emergency that forced a US airliner back to Atlanta only two hours into its flight to Spain, a m messy trail of diarrhea left by a struggling passenger. Because this this this really this not only could be me, but it kinda has been me. Um because of my condition. Maintenance crew spent five hours cleaning the Delta Airlines Airbus A three fifty.

That's that's a That's a nice bird. After its enforced early landing, including replacing an aisle carpet ruined in the incident. Absolute paint job. Passengers reportedly including the one suffering diarrhea. We're allowed to reboard after an eight hour delay. So you going to Pap Bartellona on Saturday. So so so somebody who you just saw doing an absolute pay job on the pain plane, they're they're back on the plane and it's all the same group. Passengers, uh let's see, uh uh accounts from some on board, some on board, posted to social media describe flight crew doing their best to mop up the mess with paper towels and scented disinfectant. But that only had the effect of making the plane smell, quote, smell of vanilla shit, unquote, one passenger said.

Another described so so you can smell it. You ever you know when somebody does a paint job on a plane usually have you ever seen this? Have you ever seen it when somebody does a paint job and then back by the bathroom, have you ever seen this? They uh one of the flight attendants will take a used like a wet coffee filter and rub it all over the compartments. I have I I'm lucky enough that I have not seen that. Well good God. You know, I remember one time asking, like, whoa, that's inter if I can ask, that's so interesting. Can I ask why you're doing that? And they're like, oh the paint job. Another described cabin crew uh placing an absorbent paper quote runner over the aisle and passengers having to climb over seats to avo To avo To avoid it.

Well, well, well, if it isn't the the Delta captain that said I'm not allowed to use the bathroom. Well, well, well. And then we picked up George Lopez. You know the bit I'm talking about, right? Yeah well. Um an audio recording I'm almost done. An audio recording of a conversation between the pilot and the air traffic control revealed the reason for the jet's sudden turnaround. Oh yeah, absolute paint job and you come up. Neither land this bar, people climb over the seats. Well, again, ladies and gentlemen, someone has made an absolute pet jump up and down the length of the plant you're probably aware of. If you want to get away from the vanilla shake, you'd climb over a chair. It's just a biohazard issue issue, the pilot said.

We had a passenger who had diarrhea all the way through. Sorry, this is not funny. It's just a biohazard issue I can't believe he said that an image of the FAA flight strip confirming the reason why we're going to be able to do that. Delta Airlines blamed a quote onboard medical medical issue. Our teams worked as quickly and safely as possible to get our customers to their final destination. We sincerely apologize to our customers for the delay and the convenience uh inconvenience to their travel plans. So you know you could have a worse day I mean I I don't want to think about what about the paper towels? How how would you like to have that be your job? Is you zoo you just grab a bunch of paper towels and and start wiping everything down.

I mean how much was it? It sounds copious. Keep thinking is I'm thinking of like a literal like did it trickle? Like I don't uh I'm thinking like the elevator opens in the shining or something. something. Yeah, that's what I'm I'm wondering. And I have to imagine did anyone come sit with us Danny forever and ever. No, Challenge this week is to tick it ticket ticket ticket the challenge this week is to make something involving make something 3D is what I wrote down. What it what You had your own funny wording for this. What's the challenge for you this week? I d I d just make something with three dimensions. Yes. And when we say make, you know, what is make? You know, you you were interested in the Is Blender costly?

No, it's open source. It's free. You're shitting me. Yeah. No, not not. We're not gonna talk about poop that much. If you you think I'm gonna promise you not to talk about poop. Oh the the the torrential Nile of diarrhea And in some in some some of the articles in the UK they spell it the English way, which just makes it worse. Like thaetis or diuria. Uh-oh. Thaetis. Paedophile See, after literature. After reading the story, you've read the wait, so you have read the story before. I would not advise your lady friend to have like I uh oh I'm not I said try try one bite and then I sent her the link. Here's exactly what I said. I said to my lady friend who was in in Philadelphia on her way home, thank God.

Uh she said, Should I get an airport cheesesteak or would that be deadly? And I said, maybe get one and see how one bike goes, but you don't want to make an absolute paint job on the plane. I sent that link and and she uh she tagged back ha ha. It's not gonna be so funny when you're the reason for the Nile. It's not just a shit river in Egypt. Make make stuff in three dimensions. Splendor. I'm gonna write that down. I didn't know that was open source. That's cool. Right. That kind of software used to be really costly. Well and most I don't want to say good, but oh I mean a lot of the like even basic Mac apps for this are like I you know, you know me, I'll buy stuff, like especially if it does what I want.

But there's tons of them where you can't even even on the app store where you can't even see what it does until you subscribe. And it's like all I want to do is have a better way to print. I don't I don't need to s I mean they call it a slicer or whatever, but like I don't need to divine I don't need to like design a summer home. I just need a way to print my little guys. Yeah i exactly and that's m kind of my uh my my my journey right now is to figure out the best and easiest way to quickly make objects that can be used or not and not well maybe potentially used but viewed and manipulated in VR and especially AR. And C th the way you could say see what this IKEA Or like one of those uh Wayfair cabinets with a child in it.

Like what would this look like in my room and will the child be inside? Yes. I got just what you need. Hello? Thank you for calling me out of trouble. How can I help you today? I ordered a mark. My my mark is missing something in the cabinet. I'm sorry, sir. Okay, and were there any problems with the sh well I was led to believe that this would contain a child. Is he a good boy? Or is he a dirty boy? You're making me want to see the sound of freedom. No, no, no, no, no. Dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, no, no. You know, you know, that There's some s problems around that production I I that's the thing. By oopsie I mean a a a little pedophilia. I mean, you know, what does it even mean?

What is it? This is what those people not like Tim Poole, but whatever those idiots with beards that are actually bald. Those guys who are always barking about, well actually, you know, and the guys where really it just sounds like they're straight up saying I want to fuck a kid. Oh that's different. I realized it was a First Amendment issue. These blue haired teen words can uh stay out of my bathroom aid. Yeah. They're clearly fucking children. So why don't ah okay. Uh I made um my favorite thing I made was some 3D uh They are 3D. I made some megablocks of the Paldea Pokemon starters. Oh, did you go to that? Um Yeah, I just made some I I I did I I made some l uh little guys that had been uh Is that that game where we're where children have to have to pay to work?

Is that Roblox? What am I thinking of? Is it called Roblox? That's ro no Roblox. It's not Minecraft. Yes. Uh mega megablocks are just the Lego ripoff. Not ripoff, but when a kid was little and we were watching Sherlock, he would refer to um Sherlock's brother as Minecraft. Minecraft Holmes. Title. Remember the one where he gains all the weight? Oh god, that was a good show. Such last season's kind of a but Jesus Christ, I love that show. Minecraft Holmes. Hi, welcome to Minecraft Homes. Everything here is a block. What do you mean everything here is a block? Oh, whatever you want. You like to play basketball? That's a block. They snap together like and don't don't drown your potatoes because you're gonna need to s get a square shovel.

Why would I get a square shovel? Everybody's hungry in my crops. Minecraft won't Show me your link guys. This is I I can't find no I can't find a a uh a picture. These will be in um I guess Patreon show notes. Oh look at that. Oh I also put it on the phone. Oh, I also watched we've also watched I watched my first uh Metinahiku concert. Hatsune Mika you watched the Hatsune Miku concert? Yes, I was compelled to. There's photos of it on my on my on my Mastodon, which is where I post now. Oh, oh yeah. I've been having a day over there. It's like my first day. It's like it's like I've been I've been let out of out of prison and I'm just I'm just stuffing McDonald's in my face. Getting emotional. I've had a very emotional 24 hours.

Oh, tell me about it. It's harder than I will go read what I wrote. It's fucking hard. It's really uh in a way I didn't expect. I just decided we'll talk about this in the after show if you want. But I just fucking if I flipped the switch and I was like, uh I think I just want cold turkey. And yeah, it was when you read the thing, you'll see it was very emotional. Yeah, yeah, it's weird. Or like I I posted a photo of uh of Faye From that thing you do and that wonderful line of hers, I've wasted thousands and thousands of kisses on you. That's how I feel about Twitter right now. Oh, save it for the sh sh save save it for the show. Save it for the show. Well thank you all for being here anyhow.

I sent you my little guys. You sent me yours. And what are these? These are I don't understand. This looks like toys. Yeah, no, that's well they're in three dimensions. I put uh I also put together a Tyranitar. I don't understand. No, no, they I th I they are just physical objects that I put together. But also uh Oh so you didn't know what's going on. I kind of almond buttered. Okay, hold on, hold on. No, no. I was affirmed uh You could be asking to read this shit. You you built something in three dimensions, it's just that it was visible. Exactly, exactly. I no, I did some other stuff. These are adorable Ah, what the fuck is this? Uh that would be a giant that's a giant display of don't worry, it's a screenshot of it.

It's not the R It's uh well it's AR. There's this um app I it might be it it might be in uh I yeah. I my blender stuff is is on my laptop that uh I I sent you that photo with those three dots. That's my display and I don't know what my laptop is. I don't understand what this is. See, see it's it's just a little bit more. Oh I see. You took a photo of your screen and the reflection that I see. Why is there just three dots? I don't know. What the fuck am I looking at here? What is this? That I love that. That is a photo of the display. Okay. I have a really good haircut too. I I I love my haircut right now. I uh the uh the Matthew did this one. Um yeah, yeah. Um so what are the three dots? What are the what am I looking at?

That's on my uh studio display, whatever the Apple display is called. I don't know. I don't know. I don't I don't know. Oh and this you're saying this is why you were delayed in starting not having to do with three D thing No, I was delayed in starty starting because I was talking to a man that I had previously worked for and he wanted to hire me again and I said no Yeah. No, no. And I got angry and I got uh angry. So yeah, yeah. When I'm when well, did you go did you go off this is a man Did you go off a little bit? I di I did. This is a man who has yet to pay me and doesn't want to take some gall to do that. Uh I what Yeah, and and I I I went off on him and I was like, I could I could barely make rent.

And that is because You d y I had to wait three months for you to pay me. Oh, you're not sure. You turned away other work to work on his stuff. I I turned on other work. I've been doing fucking DoorDash I can't I have been late to the podcast that I care about. I have you are not my boss. You are my client. And this is not what I signed a contract to do. And uh until you pay me, I do not want to hear from you again. I am done with this professional relationship. I wish you the best. Fuck you, Paby. I did literally say fuck you. I got really really Really bad. And I should uh clarify also, this is not the first man who has done this. This is the first man who has come back. They're practically like a franchise.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and this is uh but this is the first one who who has been like, oh I'll pay you s I'll put God damn it. Anyway, um So uh yeah, yeah, it's like listen, I have all these new startups that I'm gonna recommend to you. Like I l I'm so excited to work for some jugs of salt water, num num num nominal group. Yeah. Um oh, but uh anyway, I will have my blender stuff in in notes. I made a Porygon that I'm really proud of. You got me excited, I'm gonna try the blender. I see a lot about it. Yeah. Yeah. But what I sent y n not that a horrifying picture of my probably not broken uh computer, but I don't know. That is no, that is my still my my still sick, but still alive cat in a I made a three D Apple display in this app called Bento.

Yeah, yeah. It's it's an Apple store. Mmm there there might be one. Let me uh Mentos, the freshmaker. Nothing gets to you. Staying fresh, staying cool. With Mentos fresh and full of life. Fresh goes better. Remember that Food Fighters video where they made the Mentos commercial? That was funny. I uh I do not fake nineties boy. I I I was born in ninety. I could I wasn't sentient for a few more. I love f listen, I fuck don't don't I love Foo fighters, but I have these viter energy spearmint flavor caffeine mints dietary supplements with boosts and energy. So I'm good. Really get them in there. Because you need more energy. The uh uh m wait, where I have I had one more thing and then you can go off tank, but I'll put links into um I'll you you can do ha you've never made a nerf.

I never made a made a nerf? It's okay. Oh, yeah. Is that those English ladies who don't like trans people? Not one. That's extra. We're having a parade. You're not invited. There's only one kind of bathroom and no one's allowed to use it. This is the Pokemon parade. No. No one's gonna no one's allowed to have fun. No. Your hair seems a little bit blue to be in London right now. Oh no. Yeah, it is wild. Especially because yeah, uh yeah, we're fine over here. England in general. Oh right. Oh God. I can't I mean I can't imagine. I've heard Oh it's strange. I I can't imagine and I hate doing it. In North Florida, yeah. Oh God, that's I mean he's you know from the town I used to live in. Um I love this, and you had a third one, you think?

Uh yeah, it'll it's a little bit more. You sent me a monitor, you sent me Pokemon and Poki Poke's Day, and you sent me Cat in a Frame, which is wooden Bento. me is it? Um write it down, Bento. I wrote down Blender twice because I'm so excited about it. I'm gonna make some fun. You're gonna have some fun. Especially because you've got a lot of decisions about my 3D printing that I'm very Excited about. I I I'm having a big week, I think. Huge week. I I it's I decided I don't really need a one thousand dollar three D printer. I really want it, but I don't need it. This thing does F uh I'm kind of proud is the wrong word for it. Proud of the fact that I bought this thing for a fucking do by Friday challenge.

At the time it seemed nuts to spend what three hundred and fifty bucks on? But like this thing doesn't owe me a nickel. Like it's it's so fun. And coming back to it, like for the dumbest, like ephemeral reasons, has been such a joy and it's It's helping with my journey. It's it's helping me calm down. I think getting off Twitter is gonna help too. I am curious. Yes. how it helps you calm down. Because I feel like there's an obvious answer that people would think, but you probably have like I would assume It helps you calm down because it has you focusing on one thing. It's a thing that happens very slowly. Yeah. Yeah. But like I have health issues and um the last year it's I have health issues And um I've been trying to make some changes that I haven't shared with anybody uh at all, but there's things I'm trying to do to improve my health.

And let's just say like having activities that do I mean the ADHD part, sure. Like it gives me something to focus on, but like the idea of like choosing a a little guy And then having it print for six hours and checking in on it. And it's like, like if you knew somebody who had like heart problems, you might recommend gardening. Right? Because you can go out and you dig around and it's pretty manageable and you do it as long as you feel like, and it is less likely to cause the kinds of problems that you're facing kinds of danger that you're facing if you're finding a way to dial that down. So think of this as my plastic gardening. That I made some little guys. I got some new um I got some new uh filament that I'm excited about.

Um I sent you my uh so you'd you get the little trunk guy? Yes. You showed me him last week. Well, these are two different trunkas. Yes. Is is this second one uh the new trunk guy? That's made with my new filament I got yesterday, which is infuse Well, it's it's carbon fiber. I mean I could make January 6th hockey pads out of this if I wanted to. You you could make a submergible out of this. You might want to go not go into it. It's experimental, you need to sign this. Wait a minute. How do I fit in the trunk? You can use your phone but there's no connection. The r the the only reason I w uh started actually sorry looking into carbon fiber this uh w week for th 3D printing because I couldn't get any filament on uh at time, but I was like, oh, oh, wait, wait, wait.

I could print my own iPhone case with this. Holy shit. You sure c and just ca if I could say one thing quick. So you got little guy. I want to hear more about it. No, a real paint shop. Nope, nope. He he you are painting him. He is middle. Uh and you can't really tell, but he's like jet black. I had to pump up the color a little bit or the brightness a little bit for you to see it. But but if you zoom in on that, which I assume you already have, you'll see the lines. That's just because like if I let this thing print at full size, at the quality I normally do, it would take 24 hours. So that was, believe it or not, that's I did that this morning. That's why you can see the lines. Because I did it at lower quality because I just wanted to see if it would work.

You know, I mean that's the thing about this, can I say one thing and then we go? G say as many things. No, I I don't want to do a long show. I I They're too long they're too long. But and this is a good this has been a good episode, so I don't want to fuck it up. But like I said something probably on Twitter, but like I said it to somebody anyway, that Maybe I said in the document that sometimes this is so fucking corny and dumb, but like sometimes you do an experiment with the full knowledge that Success for having started the experiment is learning which other experiment you should be working on. To me, this is a lot about what a kind of a liberal arts approach to life is like. It doesn't mean don't finish projects, but what it does mean is, you know, you can even think about in terms of project management.

Like if you don't know You don't know the terrain and you don't have a map. Well, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna just walk the whole way and then walk back and then decide like what you should do on the trip? No, you take it in little steps and you iterate. And this is kind of a classic, I don't know if it's agile exactly, but it's a classic sort of way to make things, which is you you do a thing, you see how it goes, you have an idea in mind about what you're trying to accomplish. I think I described it this way to you, um, which is like, yeah, I was joking a little bit, but I've been thinking about what I said about like, you know, oh, are you making 3D stuff? Well, I'm making 3D stuff in the same sense that I am taking other people's PDFs and learning how to make the HP printer print them.

Mm-hmm. Which sound which is probably as dumb as it sounds, except insofar as, yeah, but it's a lot more complicated to print this stuff than it is to print somebody's PDF. And that's part of the fun. There's a journey. And I won't get into it because who fucking cares? But like to get the thing that you want, you need I need this thing is not that fast. I need to start with small things at low quality, see how it went. Now the thing is I spent three hours on that. So what am I gonna throw it away? No, that brown guy? he was my first experiment with this particular s thing and I'm still playing with him. I'm s he's got three different stains and a tongue oil finish and also a detail painting has just started and you'll get more tongue oil after that T U N G tongue oil.

It's like you know, like what you put on your deck. Um not your slide deck, but your deck you sit at I was gonna ask you because it's you gotta milk somebody's tongue. Are you gonna pay me for this? I can't pay rules. Uh but that this the the the the the the deep thing that I'd like you all to think about is that at least for me sometimes Again, following your nose, right? Like I'm not gonna go straight into trying to look it would be bananas for me to go try and make something in a fucking 3D app. I don't know how to make any of that. And then when it comes time to make it into a thing, guess what? Nothing works. It's now the printer's the printer's jammed, which happens a lot, especially when you're using wood filament.

But like the maybe your extruder is goofy. Maybe the line has, you know, gotten clogged up. Maybe the bed, maybe you need to put glue stick on the bed. Do you want to really do this at hyper quality at the original size? That's why I print so many little guys who that are little. Is because then I get to see how that turned out and make a decision about what to do next. And that iteration is very involving, very satisfying, and utterly unnecessary, which makes it an ideal hobby for me and my heart. Unnecessary Is not a generous way to describe any experiment, I think, especially one as wholesome as this. Like you're not going to be able to do that. I'm just goofing around with fucking. Chicken problem.

Why can't you let me enjoy your 3D little guys? I don't want I'm not giving you a pep talk. I'm saying I like your three D little guys. Which is that and yet I somehow still do it and share it with people, so it must not be that bad, right? I mean it's o I'm gonna be okay I'm telling you that it's the unnecessariness that's important when you follow your nose. When you're like me, you guys ever notice how many screenshots I do? I I'm not I'm feeling kind of butthurt about Twitter right now, but I don't know if you guys ever notice. I post a lot of screenshots and uh s something's something I'm watching right now. Well Merlin, wh how or why whatever would you do a screenshot of something you're watching on Netflix?

Well if I'm watching on Netflix I don't can't screenshot it. I download it at the best quality I can find. I open it up in Affinity Designer 2 and I do a custom San Francisco display bold. subtitle for it. I've chosen a color that I'm happy with with that. I do that, and that's part of the things that I do. Like I I can confess to my kid last week, I need to make things And I I hope it's wholesome, but like this desire to make something and then sometimes to share it is is fun for me. So it's but it's the unnecessariness that lowers the stakes. and allows us to participate fully in something that we're doing perhaps because it's unnecessary. Most of the writing I most enjoy doing was not necessary.

Except in retrospect, and you go, well, of course you read that. Or of course you did this. And who who knows where it ends up? But if you're following your nose and doing the unnecessary things in a way that brings you joy, you don't need to worry so much about the chicken problem. Poor heart. raw transcript