Distractible - The Jerker Episode

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

The guys search for a happy ending to the sad times we're living in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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They make lots of stuff, and I've owned lots of things made by Ridge over the years. But this one thing that Mark is holding in a very threatening manner and moving very aggressively, oh, I don't like that. I have infinite power in the palm of my hand. This is the Ridge Power Bank. Five in one power bank with Inf- Can I say infinite? Am I legally allowed to say infinite? I don't know about that. Think an asterisk when you say the word infinite out loud,

and I think that pretty much covers you. And then it has exactly five ways that it can charge your devices. Wait, guess them. Wireless, wired, photosynthesis, Blu-ray. Did I get them right? Ah, that was only four. It can MagSafe charge.

It can wirelessly charge anything that's not MagSafe. Even your Apple Watch, it could charge that. It's got a USB cable. It's got a lightning cable for Legacy Sport. And then it's got an extra USB in and out at the bottom, which is also where the display is so you can see your battery. Like the Swiss Army knife of charging. For the longest time until this came out,

I was always like, man, why don't any of my power banks that I've had charge a watch? That was the big thing for me, right? Because you can plug your anything into a power bank and it'll charge your phone or whatever. It's fine. But this one literally is the only thing you need to bring, which is sick. You don't need to bring your little watch dongle charger. You don't need to bring this with you and like a thing to plug it into the wall. It'll charge all your shit.

Literally all of it. That is so compact. We still have one of those old chargers that like is actually like holding a brick and you have to bring your own cable. So this thing is that small and has two wires in it. Yeah, the reason it is, and this is getting into the technical parameters of it, is most every power bank that you can get off the shelf has those panasonic cylindrical cells, and they're made up at those. This actually has their own designed flat, like you see in phones and laptops. They have flat pack lithium batteries in here. That's why it's designed specifically to be, you know, compact and better.

I'm glad you two were in on this ad and I was not because I think it worked and I'm going to go buy one because that's so difficult as compared to what I use. What the heck? It's my favorite power bank I've ever owned. Mark and I are both huge tech guys and I, it's like the only thing you need. It's crazy. Oh, it's got a kickstand too. Yeah, so it attaches to the back of your phone

if your phone has mag safe. So it literally you can use it to like sit your phone up to watch a thing while it charge it. It does everything. That beats this thing I've been carrying around everywhere. I honestly even use mine around the house because like we have phone chargers

around but sometimes you're in that one spot on the couch where it's like well none of the phone chargers reach over here or whatever power bank don't matter and it's built by ridge which means that it comes with free shipping 99 day risk free trial and a lifetime warranty once last time you saw it lifetime warranty on anything who's lifetime like ours it's lifetime as long as it's alive you have a warranty on it Don't worry, everybody. It's definitely longer than Wade's lifetime. Oh. I'm going to ridge.com right now.

One thing to pack, five ways to power. You can find Ridge's Powerbank at Best Buy, or our listeners can get 10% off at Ridge.com by using code distractible at checkout. Just head to Ridge.com and use code distractible. That's D-I-S-T-I-B-L-E, and you're all set. After you purchase, they will ask you where you heard about them.

Please support our show and tell them that we say you. You're listening to Distractable in case you forgot. The code and the show are the same. Please tell them. Please. You have to tell them. Good evening, gentle listeners or watchers,

and welcome to Distractable. This episode, Wallowing Wade gets bumped from the book, then indulges in deep weepie's. Mysterious Mark refuses chit-chat. Forshadow's fear has an anniversary, remembers Henry, and brain boggles.

Bibliographic Bob translates for the hard of thinking, finds French clits, gores gambling, and maintains morale with hope. From Guam resets to missing zombie. Yes, it's time for The Jerker episode. Now sit back and prepare to be distracted and enjoy the show. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Distractable. I'm today's host again.

Yes, I'm part of this show. You might have forgotten because it's been so long between my hosting times. Oh, I didn't know we started. Sorry, I forgot Wade could host these. Yeah, I didn't know who we was telling you. But if you want to redo something, you got to go to Guam first, then come back and restart. I'm way too lazy to even ask to be sent to Guam. So I guess that won't happen to me.

We'll just keep it. As you all can see, I'm joined as always by my co-host. and today's competitors, Mark and Bob. Hello. Is it weird to have you two pitted against each other because it happens so infrequently? I mean, he and I are clearly on the same team here, so it's really not that. It can be really awkward for the score, then. Maybe I'll just host forever.

The last one I hosted, I think, was the Choose Your Own Adventure, right? Yes. In today's episode, we're going to start it the same way. We do all of these things, where I give these guys a platform to talk about their lives themselves, what's new, whatever they want, I guess. So what's up, guys? doing stuff and things, very important things, very big important things, the likes of which you wouldn't even believe what I'm doing. Always an interesting thing, Mark, coming in.

What craziness am I up to this week? What have I built in what room? Nobody knows. Whoa! I'm going to give you the gave us no details point. It was full of details. Yeah. Uh, um...

Is this a detail? Uh... Turned into his... zombie point to what's happening. Boom. Oh, this is an ad for the scary tapes episodes coming up soon. Yes, that's it. That's it.

That's it. The scary tapes are coming up. You finally got there. Wow, that was clever. Yeah, yeah, I'm very clever. But we got there eventually. Anyway, scary tapes, as we all know, something I'm Barry in charge of and responsible for and can take the credit for.

It's very scary. very scary times are ahead. Very, very, everyone should run. Start screaming now so that you, you know, you can get ahead of the other screams. Your screams will actually be heard now if you start screaming before everyone else screams, which they will.

That was such a high level, like, way to describe that, that was, like, kind of over our dumb heads. No, I don't have a dumb head. There's not an insult to you, Bob, but do you want to give us the dumber explanation of what the scary tapes are and what's upcoming?

Stories So scary Oh AI Oh well And that's confusing They're written by people Not written by

They're written about AI It's speculative horror about But they're all human So we're gonna be doing Is it five episodes Where we read one per episode Is that how it's going?

Yep We got five winners And there's five Fridays In October Leading up to the penultimate Friday Right Baffter

Halloween Buffter? Bufthar Oh it's right before. I knew that. It's right before. Oh, man. Thank God. I thought that was going to be buff after. But yeah, no, it should be cool. There's also going to be a book, Scary Tapes Anthology, because

there were so many good. We got so many more submissions than expected. There's going to be a hardcover book that's going to have the five winners plus additional stories that were also so good. We just can't make an infinite number of podcast episodes about them. My name was almost going to be in that book. It could

still be it. It just can't be in the good ones. I was within about five seconds of having my name in the good parts of that book. But, man, Bob and someone else, really. If you know, you know, I got beaten to the punch. There's a crazy time. So look forward to that. That's coming up in October, which is now almost.

I've been married for a year now. Oh, that's right. Congratulations. Thank you. Oh, yeah. When your anniversary came up. I remembered it. That's good.

I did. I did. I remembered it. No, I just know if that was you throwing shade. Like, at least I remembered it. I thought you were calling us out because I didn't, I didn't like send you a message or anything. Like traditionally people may send you a message. It's like, hey, happy anniversary?

I am the one who receives those messages, just to be clear. But you really should have gotten married on one of our birthdays. It makes it easier to remember each year. I mean, it's true. It's true. But then, you know, I would disappoint everyone of forgetting about everything. Hey, get it out of the way. Get it all that was.

Just one day. Yeah, it focuses it in. And you just tune it all out and then move on. It's fine. One bad day a year. And then you move on. What bad? I don't know if I'm starting this off correctly.

But congrats me. Honestly, it goes by fast. Yes, it does. It really did. It was kind of a shock of being like, oh, shit, well, all right. I feel that. And I think Bob and Mandy feel that even more than I do, because they've been married the longest here.

Forever. Oh, I actually do have a small talk. He wasn't even looking. He was looking at my cool device. Keeps it cold. Keeps cans cold. Wait, is that, is that like a frost buddy? I don't know.

What is it? Frost buddy. Yeah, I think it's a frost buddy. It's a thing keeps cans cold. I have one of those for, what, for energy drinks? Man, I don't even drink cold. water just room temp i i talked about this on the last one my foot is better which means i can do stuff again guys i'm gonna be a woodworker again now that i'm allowed to walk i definitely won't hurt

myself and i definitely won't hurt my foot i have a deck box to build and i have i have plans and ideas and i have there's a wall that needs to be framed in in the basement i can probably do that i think i can do everything i'm invincible now um but mostly i have a table saw now, which is possibly the most dangerous tool that I own, but I'm very excited about it. Not if you use your feet to solve things. Then you won't lose a finger. Well, if that is the explicit goal. I hear all the time about people losing fingers and stuff on table saws.

I never hear about people losing feet or toes. All right. I hate to admit it, but I guess he has a point. Okay. I have a table saw, and I solemnly oath I will use only my feet and lose no fingers. All right, my man. Who needs feet anyway? It's not like I just had a big wound on my foot or anything to worry about.

It'll be fine. Yeah, you've got extra strong feet now. You've healed. You have super feet. Do you have plans to make anything like specific or anything cool? Mostly little stuff. I have sketched out designed for a wall of French cleats, which is really good because it lets you do modular storage.

A French cleat is basically where you take like a one by four or one by or two by four and you cut a 45 degree angle on one edge of it. And then you put it on the wall so that the angle is up. And then you do the same thing on like a cabinet or something. But then when you slide it on the wall, they like angle into each other so that it attaches. Just a really firm way that you can attach a thing to a wall where it will be really solid. But also, you could just move them around. And I want to build a modular French cleat wall of storage and stuff for all my cool stuff to hang on the walls.

Also, because I haven't been like walking in stuff. The garage is just a huge pile of shit. So I have to start by kind of cleaning the things I haven't been taken care of. But then the sky's the limit. A birdhouse, who knows? Yeah, I usually hear people that start with woodworking Instead of making the birdhouse, they start with French cleating And then they go to birdhousing.

I mean, French cleating is like the easiest thing you could do Because all you have to do is cut one thing a couple times And then screw it on the wall. But I'm glad it sounds fancy. It does. It sounds very nice. It does sound fancy. Yeah, it does. Like, oh, nice boxes.

Actually, they're French cleats. Oh. I'm just really excited about it because I got this table saw right before I wasn't allowed to do anything. so I haven't actually used it yet. It makes we feel kind of bummed out, but I'm back. I'm so back. Bomed out. Bob, I'm so excited for you, Bob.

Bummed out. You get the segue point because we are in sad part six. Brought to you by B. Wrong and probably cut out. Yeah, I was just thinking, is that going to be words or beeps in the final cut? I would love to know. Well, as I was saying last week, we've got a less fun week ahead, and there's a lot of things weighing down. So I don't know what you guys do.

Whenever I get sad, I go and I like find sad clips on the internet, I'm like, you know what, I'm sad. Let's go find something to cry about. Like, not like necessarily sad, but like tear jerker stuff. Like, oh, this guy's seeing his dog for the first time in four years because he went to the war. I want to cry. Let's listen to sad songs. I want to cry. I don't know.

I seek out sad. So I've got sad on the mine, and there's a lot of, there's a lot of sad. So we're going to get some of the sad out. This is your, grab your Kleenex, not the lotion for this one unless, just the Kleenex, because this is the tear jerker episode. Don't say unless you're opening things up for people. Well, it still has Jerker. It could still be the Jerker episode, but it's supposed to be for tears.

It's not unless. No. Put the lube away, Tim. I know you're retired from Apple, but you got to put it away, ma'am. You got a lot of free time on your hands. you just can't do that. Gotta find new stuff to enjoy. Moved on.

So yeah, we're gonna get the sad out. You seek those out, though? I thought you were just gonna say like social media delivers because whether I wanted or not, I feel like all of my social media feeds

are just some amalgamation of different versions of sad things for me to cry about while I'm trying to go to the bathroom. No, there are just times where I'm like, I feel like I need to get it out of my system, so I seek out the stuff that I know

is going to get the wells flowing. Really? I don't know. saying that like, like I'm an investigator and you're a criminal and I'm interrogating you. Oh, really? Oh, really? It's not something I talk about. I don't really talk about it with anybody, but I do.

I'll have nights where I just go to my computer. I'm like, I'm just going to spend an hour looking through things that make me want to well up because I just want to get it out of my system. Does that work for you? That does not make it better for me. Not that night, but sometimes the next day I'll feel better. Like, I'll go to bed and like, they'll still be like tears flowing. It's like, oh, my pillow, I'll get tears of my pillow.

The next day I'll wake up. I'm usually feeling better. And are you controlling for, you know, not doing that and then waking up? Maybe it was just the night of sleep that got you better. If you do it every night, it doesn't count. It's not very frequent. This is like a maybe two to three times a year thing that I do. I'm just like, I don't know, I feel like getting the pent up emotion out.

I don't know. It's not even like sometimes it's like I plan to do. I just go to my computer. I'm like, maybe I'll see a recommended video. It's like, you know what? This is one of those nights. So I've not actually had one in a minute, even though this is all going on right now. It's been a while since I've done it.

but it's just on my month. Maybe today will be the day. You guys can bring up whatever you want to talk about. I've got some stuff here, and they're not necessarily like the saddest things in the world. They're just things that like I think about. And it's like, man,

kind of hate that. For example, one thing that we've always tried to avoid promoting, I think, as a group is like sports betting type stuff, right? We don't really do much with the betting. But like, I have seen so much betting advertisement everywhere.

And then like I think about gotcha games, which I have been, you know, a player of in the past. Even buying like Pokemon cards and stuff, right? There's a gambling aspect to it. You don't buy a pack of cards. It's basically gamble. Yeah, you buy the cards.

You don't know what you're getting unless you buy that specific card. You buy a pack of cards. It's like, man, I sure hope this has a full art. I sure hope this has a secret. Like, I sure hope this has what I want, but you're not guaranteed. And then like even through like social media and sports shows, right? Social media you see advertising for all kinds of stuff now. Sports betting is one of them.

There's a couple sports shows I like. And one of those sports shows I like watching is first things first. I enjoy the banter that those three. have on that show. But one of the things they often talk about are like betting lines or the over under or stuff like that. And it's like, man, I feel like whenever I was watching like ESPN and stuff maybe I was just too young to know what was going up. I don't remember betting lines and stuff being talked about on sports programming. Stuart Scott never gave his picks for your top five bets for the weekend. No. That didn't happen. Yeah. We're like here's a here's a parlay.

You pick these five things and you're more than likely going to get that. Like that's just such common stuff now. And I don't know, it diminishes my enjoyment. Like, I liked fantasy football when I had no money in the game. But everyone does fantasy football. There's a lot of money involved now. And players are getting like threatened and harassed. It's like, Jamar Chase, you only had two catches in the Bengals first game. How dare you? I lost my house. And it's like, he didn't do God damn thing in that game. But he doesn't deserve to be threatened about it or anything. But man, the whole time I was like, and throw it to Chase. And they didn't do it. But I think he's still recovering from the hyper extended knee in the preseason. But in any case, it's just like one of those things where I don't know, it just, I feel like all this betting and gambling. It used to be like go to a casino, I think, to do it. It's just so invasive and pervasive in our lives now that just betting and gambling on anything is anywhere and everywhere and slam down our throats. This is going to sound strange because it's going to seem like I'm glorifying gambling. But the juxtaposition of when people say went to Vegas and you go there and it was like, oh, the lights. Oh, the big bill.

is that a pyramid? Oh, it's a castle. Like, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on that is part of the gambling and go to someone on their phone sitting on their couch with 16 more chins than they usually do looking and scrolling, like picking bets on their phone. There's a lot less glam, you know? At the very least, when gambling was like localized just to Vegas for the most part and other places around the country, it was dressed up. You know, there was this illusion that, you know, it was, if you're going to lose money, at least you were going to enjoy it in this kind of... And you were going out of your way to go find it. It wasn't at your fingertips. Exactly. Yeah, it's like, I'm going here specifically to do this because it's the only

those I'm doing it. Now everyone does it in their own home. They're ruining their life in the most boring way possible. That's the thing is it's all ruining your life in one way or another, small or large, but it's like, it's so boring now. It's so not interesting. I will, I will, I'm not going to pretend like I don't bet on sports games, but like I literally I think last year, I think I deposited like 75 bucks or 100 bucks total. So I could bet on like Bengals games and Columbus Blue Jackets hockey games. Because just because I watch those games anyway, I do that for fun. For myself, I don't mind the gambling being everywhere because it's exactly what you're saying, Mark.

It's not like, it's not like Vegas. I don't like get my phone out and get the exhilaration of like, oh, I'm not, I do it because it's like, well, I'm watching the game. And I'm like, I think T. Higgins is going to get a touchdown today. like, and I can put like that five bucks on it, which is inconsequential, right? This is money I could have spent at Dave & Busters or on some other thing I enjoy. It's just for fun. The thing that's such a bummer about is how predatory the industry is, I think.

Because I think, I hope a lot of people, most people, I hope are more like me where it's like, yeah, I'll bet five bucks, ten bucks. Maybe if it's like the Super Bowl, maybe I'll bet 20 bucks on the Super Bowl because like it's two teams I don't really care about. but then maybe I'm invested in who wins because we're, you know, my family, we always watch a Super Bowl, even if it's two shitty teams you don't give shit about. And it's like,

then it's kind of fun. But there are, I think a lot of people, possibly a huge number of people, I don't know those statistics on gambling, where it's not just like a boring thing that they do as a part of a hobby they have or the thing they do with friends and family anyway.

It is crushing. I have had close, well, not close, but like family and acquaintances who've had trouble with, gambling in the past. And it's destructive. It's not, it's not just some innocuous thing, right? It is very dangerous. And so there is a reason it was regulated. And if we're talking about why that's a

bummer, it doesn't bother me on a personal level. When I see people talk about, you know, betting on sports shows or whatever, usually I just turn it off because I don't fucking care. But the industry is so, such a negative impact and the numbers on like people who are really into betting and especially I think people who go on to like the Colchee polymarket stuff also, right? It's not because it's good. Treating that like it's an investment is not healthy. It's a real, it's gross. If you do it casually, I don't think it's anything wrong with it.

Just like there's nothing wrong with going to Vegas. It's fun. If you like it, it's whatever. But like, that's not how those companies make money. They don't make money off of me, betting $100 a year on several sports games. I've not gotten myself into financial issues with it, thankfully. But I have had like days. playing a gotcha game, right?

Where you're just like, already annoyed. You're like, oh, well, at least this new unit I really wanted is coming out. And you go to summon, you got your whatever currency, and you pull, you don't get it. Okay, well, I'll do another one. Pull, don't get it. I just really want this unit. So fine. I'll buy the pack.

Got three summon, three 10 pulls in it. No, no, no. Okay, well, there's this worst value pack. Two more, two more, just two more. And you go down that line and then, like, I don't know, the exacerbation of like, now I'm pissed. I'm going to get my one copy. I'll show them.

And it's like, if I show them, you mean you're going to keep swiping your credit card, giving them the money, and you'll eventually get the thing and then feel worse about it later. Because like when you get something and like your first multi, right, it's like the dopamine hits there. But there's something about the not getting it and you keep going until you get it. And you're not even happy when you pull it. You're just like. Yeah, Simon rewarding.

I don't know. There's that like, it's right your fingertips. They make it easier than ever. You know, you double click your phone. It's like face recognition. Yep, there goes 30 bucks. And you can go down. I, you know, tens of dollars, hundreds of dollars, probably thousands, 10,000 dollars very quickly

doing this kind of stuff, especially, I've not gotten into like the sports betting and stuff where you can, I imagine, put down large sums. You know, at least the things I'm talking about are smaller amounts of tens of dollars rather than hundreds or thousands, but like it adds up quick. I have had days where I've spent upwards of a thousand bucks like very easily. Then afterward, I just, I feel like absolute shit. But then that sunk and cost fallacy keeps me going. I mean, I love playing docon, but for years, that sunk cost fallacy kept me going on that. And it was like, like, I don't want to miss out of the new meta unit for a game that had no PVP even compared to other ones where it's like you have to have the new thing to keep up. And this is just gotcha games. Again, this is still very different than like buying cards, which is worse than ever thanks to scalpers or like you guys said sports betting or whatever else. It's just, it's all everywhere at our fingertips, which is convenient for responsible betters. But I consider myself responsible and I've had a few days where I've slipped and just been like having a bad day. I'm going to get this thing no matter what. And then I regret it later because it's like, why did I do that? Why do? Why do? Why? I spend $300 getting this digital unit for a game I quit playing two months later.

And I imagine there's a lot of people that go through it a lot worse than me. Couldn't be me. Learn my lesson long ago. Would never happen again. How long ago? Long, long, long ago. Before I got married, you know. Oh, yeah, a year ago.

It's been year and year. Year plus. Could be one to ten, 2050. Who knows, really. So, like, you're talking about the gambling and got you stuff. For me, that's kind of like bad, sad, not in a judgey way, but like that, that sincerely makes me kind of feel bummed if I get drawn into that, you know, or whatever. But I do have things where it's like good, good sad for me, happy sad, I guess.

And I'm curious if you guys have any. And it's changed a lot for me since James was born. But the thing, the stupid thing that I get sucked into, what I feel, when I need reassurance, is there's so much like Dad Hope Corps. stuff on social media where it's just like guys out there posting videos of them whatever they're working out they're cooking food for the family they're doing whatever and just like giving some so corny it's like eye watering like it's cringy if i wasn't in the right mood i would look at it and be like geez get a life but there i get into that mood where i just go and i scroll through like hope core

dad tictox and i'm just like weeping and i feel better because I assume it's not just me, but one of my biggest issues with parenting, aside from hoping that James turns out good, is just generally feeling like I'm not doing the right things, generally feeling like a failure. Like, it's impossible, I think, to be a parent and have any self-awareness and not feel at some points like, ah, I'm such a fuck up. I'm doing something wrong. Something went poorly today.

It's all my fault. And the, like, pringy hope course stuff absolutely does it for me. It doesn't cheer me up, but it like gets me through that, right? It takes me from feeling super bad about myself, hating myself, to like turning that around and still feeling, you know, maybe it was a hard day, but hopeful. And it does. It's like sad, but in a good way. You guys have any stuff that's like that where you have to be in the right mood, but you go to it because it helps you like process and then turn the corner back towards, I'm going to, you know, I'm not going to just mope. I'm going to, I'm going to do something.

I'm going to make this, you know, turn this into productive feelings or whatever. Yeah, I think I do. It's kind of, kind of after Henry had passed. Henry, me and Amy's dog. So when he passed, it was very much like, why am I working so hard on this stupid movie, you know, taking up so much of my time doing all this, this work and not spending time with, you know, my dog. But we did spend a lot of time with him. And, you know, we were never not, you know, with him for the,

majority of that. And so, but still, there was a feeling of just like, my God. And so I wanted, it was kind of like when I was doing that, I was just in the final stages of it, as I've said a thousand times before. But it's very much like, I just got to get it. I just got to get it out. So then we put up the tickets for sale, but then it did so good. So I don't know what the lesson is. So it's like, hey, it worked. But so it's, it's kind of a conflicted feeling because coming out of that is very much just like, man, I either got to really focus and get things done in a timely manner or I need to be ambitious and chase things while I still can, but also not because I need to spend time with the ones I love, but I have opportunity. You know, it's kind of weird pulling

in different directions because there's a whole bunch of different lessons I could take from it. But at the end of the day, I just, you know, I still have pictures of him like right here. I've got pictures of him always. So I'm able to look at that and I'm always able. If I ever feel like, oh, I'm not on the right path, I'm like, ah, you know what? I'll do it for him, you know, do it for him kind of thing. It's just whatever it is, I'll use it to motivate me in one way or another. And yeah, of course, I get very sad thinking about him, but, you know, we gave him a good life from where he was, and now we got Sandy too to think about and Cheek is still, you know, doing well. So do it for them. I actually, this is really corny, but I recently decided to change

my phone lock screen to a picture of James and Mandy, which I only ever hadn't done because, like, I always have sort of aesthetic stuff. My phone is like a hobby, right? So it's not a sentimental thing. But I just had a night where I was like, I need to focus. I need to focus on what's important. And I put them on my phone screen. And every time I've looked at it since I did that, it seems feels silly, but I do have that flash of like, I should do it for them. I should, I should, whatever it is, I should do it. I always got this. There's a picture of Henry. There's a picture of Henry looking up at Amy. And I know that, know that about this picture. And so it's just like, it's a really pretty picture. And I always just think of it was like, well, always looking

up at Amy. Default starry night. Nice. Nice. Nice. Yeah. That's the stuff. Yeah. Oh, and my calendar of it is my dogs need ear medicine. So, you know, fun combo there. How many days you've been putting that off? No, they get it daily starting yesterday. Ear infections are fun. So, yeah, I don't do that with the pictures and stuff. I do just scroll through mine. One of the things I know, like, when Avengers first came out, I get emotional during movies.

Like, Molly is like statue during movies. Even like emotional scenes. I don't know if she just like tries to contain it or whatever, but like she holds it together. I'll have like tears streaming down my face at like big like hurrah moments and stuff. I feel like there was a lot of powerful moments between Infinity Wars and Endgame. Infinity War and game. So I went and I watched like reaction content and reaction compilations of people that like saw like Black Panther, you know, being like one of the first like black superheroes that was like really powerful and seeing people be like, Black Panther, that's so cool. Or there's like the female team up moment and in game and like seeing people be like, This is so, like, I don't know, just moments where like there's a big like triumphant like orchestra, like when the portal's open and stuff and like all the music swelling.

I'll watch like reactions to those moments. Like those are like the get the tears flowing, but I'm like, oh hell yeah, like feeling pumped. Like it's a it's a sad like tear moment, but it's like actually this is really positive and amazing. Like everyone's tearing up and I'm tearing up like yes. Like beauty of humanity kind of thing like, oh man, this is this is what we can really be. I don't know. It makes me feel good to see that kind of stuff. So meanwhile, other people are like, oh, gay women! You joke, but they absolutely are.

There are basements full of them. But for me, I think there's a really cool moments. And I'm not one that watches a lot of reaction content, but seeing the occasional, like, specific moments to react to them. I'm like, those are fun for me to watch. Do you guys have more before I delve into some? Yeah. How sad do you want to get? Go go as deep as you'd like, man.

the floor is open. There's a story that was on the Washington Post. It was a can of worms. But the thing is, ICE is quietly firing new hires. For one recruit, it was devastating because he got this job from being an unhirable person

and then ended up being fired. And then as a result, he took his own life. So it's one of those things where it's like, oh, that's sad. But also, you know, there's a lot of layers and it's a convoluted thing, yeah.

You know, just chucking. that out there in the complexity pool. Yeah, that's certainly a complex type of downer. I have to give you that. Yeah, I mean, you never want to see someone take their own life. Obviously, we can disagree with choices people make, and politics is a thing we always avoid on this show, just because it's not fun or funny and just causes more divisiveness, typically.

Yeah, ICE is a controversial thing, especially with how it's been executed in the last few years. The thing about that, too, is, and this is a broader statement on society, that sort of thing, it's honestly I feel a little bit like I've been numbed to crazy headlines like that like that's also true that as a story if that happened in my life that would be an unthinkable thing like depending on who that is how close that's that is a terrible sequence of events it would be devastating but seeing that in the news is like even as intense as that story is it barely holds up to the constant deluge of terrible things concerning things

shit that's happening that's unbelievable that it's happening and people are whatever but I think the thing about that specific story too is what I just know is out there because I haven't read that

or looked at it specifically if there's a comment section that is disheartening I'm sure and if there are people talking about that on social media it is disheartening I'm sure

because the complete lack of humanity And this is, again, kind of apolitical because it's not one side that has no humanity and the other side. Just generally the lack of humanity out on the internet in the discourse. I haven't looked at this one, but I could guess what it's like. And it's probably very disheartening in general and probably nothing redeeming to find in those comments or those social media arguments, right? That's a part of that because being numb to the news absolutely happens. I think anyone who reads a lot reads the news or follows the news just sort of happens because

the world is fucking crazy. But that is to me maybe more disheartening even than the headline because it's just it's just all the same. You know what that comment section looks like. You could guess exactly what that looks like. For sure. And the whole thing is fine. I don't know who this guy was.

I don't know what his history was. But it's like the biggest problem all this is like the military-esque drive. for recruitment offering, I don't know how many thousands they were offering people to. It's like huge bonuses and stuff, right? Huge bonuses of people. And of course, people are desperate because times are not good for a lot of people out there. I don't know who might disagree with that, but, you know, inflation is doing funny things and interest rates are on their eyes and tariffs.

Huh? What? No, those are, those are helping, right? Those are making a lot of money. We're going to get checks or something. Sam, please put in loud winking noises for listeners. Is there a such thing as a winking noise? It's just spark going, blunk, blon, blank, blank, blank.

When you have these desperate people that are, you know, they see a however many thousands of dollars bonus check that they could get for this, you know, even if it's a reprehensible thing to join up for or the reasons thereof are, you know, motivated purely by this, like building up this militaresque force to do horrible things, some people will take that out of desperation. And then to be fired of it, if the people are like, it's the last chance. And also all of my family and friends hate me for joining this. And then suddenly they're fired and they don't have the money or the, you know, or their friends and family. You know, because they all look down upon it.

It could happen. I don't know if that's what happened here, but it's like it could happen. Tangentially, like talking about the desensitization of all this stuff. Like headlines in general, man, that's one of the things I have on here is like news stories, always focusing on violence, war, controversy, death, just horrible things. things. So my mom's sister was killed in a car accident in like the 70s. I never got to meet her, my aunt. But it's a, it was a thing that happened that obviously was devastating for my mom. It was devastating for her parents and like their extended families and stuff because they lost,

you know, I think she was in like her early to mid 20s when she passed away in a car accident. And then like you see something on the news and it says like car crash one fatality. And like they'll give like a brief like so and so died in a car like every day we have those things on the news, right? Like accident, these people died. You look at the really big. events in like the world this year like we were talking a little bit about earlier in Nepal, right? The horrible floods in Nepal, Tibet and all that stuff that claimed I don't even know how many hundreds or thousands of lives at this point. I have no idea what the number's gotten to. But we hear those and we're like, oh, that's so terrible. That's awful. And we'll see like, you know, donation link pop up or something.

Hopefully people are donating and help support these causes. But like what's lost in all that is individuality. There's like each of these people lost. It affected them. They're gone. Parents, grandparents, children, spouses, cousins, like, you know, there's this radius of. of people affected by this around them. And that hundreds of times over, thousands of times over is happening. And we hear the event and we're so desensitized to it that it's like, tragic, tragic. What happened in sports today? And it's just like you kind of, you see that.

You're sad for a moment. You move on. Some people will give it more attention. It was in the news for a couple weeks, whatever it was. Then it's kind of like, oh, yeah, I forgot about that big horrible event. And there's just so much dwelling on these things that we are super desensitized to. We get war casualties. It's like, oh, that's tragic.

That's really sad. All right. So what's next? And I don't know. There's just something about that mindset that seems terrible to me where we get used to hearing accidents, casualties, victims. We get those things. It's like, what can you do?

Sad. I guess we move on to the next topic. What's next on the news? It's the unfortunate thing of normalization. Humans can become used to anything, which is a very scary thing because anything can become normalized. Good things can become normalized and bad things can become normalized. with the Nepal flood, it's like not saying like this was caused by someone, but there was a little bit of lack of information coming through about warning systems, monitoring, you know, these things.

Because I don't, I didn't read everything about it. I don't know the full scope of the situation. But I believe that there was at least, there should have been at least some kind of early monitoring of this that could have led to more, you know, evacuations, more preparedness. I don't know. but the death toll, as of an article this morning, I had no idea, it was this many. 1,395, and it's still rising, because there's still 5,130 people still missing. So it's like every single one of those could be dead.

Probably not. They have rescued a few people, but it's nowhere near the proportion of the amount of people that have died, and it's just like, it's crazy to think about it. Wiped out, like just didn't go on. There's the levity. There's the lady.

Oh, he's got on Bob with the Levity. That was perfectly timed on purpose. Yes, yes, that's it. That's what he's here for. But yeah, just like seeing the before and after pictures of some of those cities that they had, like, and towns that are very large.

Like, I mean, I grew up in Milford. We were Milford. It's not that big of a city, you know, in town just like getting wiped, half of it wiped off the map is crazy to think about.

Yeah, I saw, I wasn't going out of my way looking for it, but one of the videos crossed my feet of like, I don't know if it was like a checkpoint or what it was, but it was a structure with a bunch of people that were really small looking on the video, like running away. And then you just see,

I don't know how to describe the amount of like water and debris what it looked like compared to the, it's just such an enormously large amount of stuff coming through that within what a couple a second, half a second, two seconds, whatever the time frame is just so quickly envelopes that whole area. And like you said,

we've become desensitized to stuff like that. But to actually think about, actually think about it is crushing. It's devastating to think about. Because it's like, it's more than just like, imagine everyone you knew is gone. It's somehow more than that, you know? Imagine every single friend person you've become acquainted with good friends, even your co-workers, was just gone.

That's like the quantity. And it's, it boggles the mind. You know, it's something we can't really, really relate to. But also in human history, it's, that's a very common thing. They used to be much more common. But at the same time, you know, wars are still happening. Genocide's still happening. It's all boggles of mind.

One of the things that annoys and pisses me off the most. In the political spectrum, there's so much misdirect. We focus on such tiny, stupid issues when there's so many big concerning global human-facing things that we could be focusing on. And instead we find minute things that like, I don't like that. Well, why? That's a stupid thing to not like. Let's all fight each other.

While, meanwhile, overhead, all this other bullshit's happening that we're ignoring because we're so busy focused in the trenches on the world's dumbest, least important things. Instead of focusing on grouping together and like, what can we do to help in Nepal to bet? Like, can we, is there something? We don't focus on the positive aspects of what we can do to make the world a better place or what we can stop doing to keep it from getting worse. Instead, there's a lot of just focus on vitriol, hatred, and everyone pitting each other against each other so that we're all so busy holding our pitchforks that people making decisions

are doing basically whatever the fuck they want. And they're like, oh, you guys are done fighting about that? Here, the last chicken nugget, who wants it? Fight to death over this. I have a strong belief, actually, that the majority of people arguing online are arguing with robots. I think more than ever now, it's there are just bots that are specifically made to go into various comment sections that are tied into keywords and produce the opposite opinion. I don't even think that there's a core message they're trying to do. They just exist to be like antagonistic.

Yeah. And I think I think that that is, it may not be all. of it. I believe there are dumb and bad people out there. Of course, and that thing, dumb and stupid things, more and more as LLMs get better, and as these bots just, they take over the internet, I think a lot of these conversations come from just like nonsense, like you're arguing with a nobody. Well, in Twitter specifically, monetizing tweets to where if you get a viral tweet, you get more money if you're partnered or subscribed or whatever, also is added to the let's rage bait, whether it's bots or people. The whole point is post something that's going to get a lot

of controversy, a lot of clicks and a lot of typing things about because if 5,000 people have something to say about my opinion, that's a lot. That's a lot more money for me than if only three people responded. Yep, it's true. Sorry, I've got more things. Unless you guys have something else you want to, you got one time for one or two more, probably, quick things. I'm just spending, I guess I'm doing it wrong. I was spending, trying to think of stuff that's like the things I think of what I'm said, but it's all stuff that turns it around for me. Even if you do that, I feel like that's still, you were welcome to bring those things up. I would not mind us spinning this at the end.

You're welcome to spin it. I have a really small one that I just like that pops up for me a lot personally. My mom's mom, so my maternal grandmother, I feel like I get a lot of my, my like temperament and personality kind of from her. And I don't know if that's true or if it's just because I see it after the fact. but like, she is, she died years ago now. I mean, it would have been coming up on a decade ago. It's been a while, actually almost exactly a decade, just over.

But so, and she had Alzheimer's, which is like one of my biggest personal fears is. Yeah, same. Having seen that so up close and being afraid of getting that. But she was, I think, I think it's uncommon. She was always happy. She was always like the happiest. even when she was, the Alzheimer's was very advanced, and she was living in assisted care.

She was always just like, even keel, happy. Like, we would come and visit, and you know, the whole family would show up and visit her in her room. And she would just be like, she wouldn't say this, but she clearly, she would think like, okay, I don't understand what's happening. Everyone is here.

We're all hanging out. Must be a holiday. And her go-to is we would all walk in and be like, hey, I grab what? And she would just go, happy Easter probably like hey what's up everybody happy Easter welcome I'm hosting you for Easter now but like that's uncommon because a lot of people when they're disoriented they get angry scared pretty normal reactions but I think I get bummed out a lot when like Alzheimer's brought up

or if I'm thinking about her I miss her but there's one thing it's literally one word that she said that always like brings me back when I start thinking about her is we're playing Scattergories which if you don't know is a game where you pass a little thing around and it has a word, or I don't know if it's called Scatigories. Catchphrase, passphrase. Has a word on it and you're trying to get your team to guess the word, right? And then you push the button and hand it to the next player. And she was not good at that game.

We were all playing around the table at Christmas. And she got the thing handed to her and she liked to say the word that was on the screen. So she would just get it and be like, butterflies. Ah, Christmas tree. And one time she was getting really pissed off because she couldn't do it, right? And she like said the word three times in a row. And then she just went, oh shit. And handed it off.

And no one in that entire house had ever heard her like swear really, right? We were all kids. And that's like a quarterstone of who I try to be as a person. Because she wasn't angry. It was really funny. It is like she just was so in the moment that she swore. And she was really embarrassed about it. But it's just a thing when I get sad about like family members having health issues.

or my own health issues I've been dealing with, especially recently. It's just a thing that always comes back where I'm like, no matter what happens, like, be more like grandma. And I think about her just yelling, oh, shit, in the middle of the Christmas party. And it's such a random memory because it doesn't really accurately capture what I'm feeling or like her as a person in a big way. But it's just like a funny little thing that I, has been in my head since it happened, probably 16 years ago or whatever.

And I guess I was wondering if you guys have anything. like that where it's like, it could do something that's sad too, because I certainly have those, but that's like a defining thing for me that always recenters me and reminds me like, whatever's happening. You can choose how you react to it still, right? You can choose how you choose to move forward. I guess I didn't get a like a lesson from this, but a funny one I think back to a lot, even though we lost a zombie mold, I think five years ago now, he and I were becoming really close friends. We obviously met through doing drunk Minecraft with the three of us and then Molly and I kept playing on the Vox Popular Minecraft server and got to know him and Latin,

whenever they were together there for a while and stuff. And then finally he was coming out of his shell and he came to Cincinnati a couple of times and we went to L.A. and hung out. And we played Among Us, whenever Among Us was booming, I think in what, 2020. I don't know, just his brain worked differently than ours. And it was led to some funny encounters. But we did a match where I don't remember if somebody was getting killed a lot or felt they were being targeted, but we're like, okay, we're going to make all of our names,

just some simple colors. and that way no one knows who they're killing or who's the killer, whatever else. We're just going to be like, you know, whatever. So everyone just pick a color. And so we had like red, blue, black, green, white. Fucking zombie picked Chartreuse. And right away, we all knew it was him. And I don't know how, but we're all like, zombie, did you pick Chartreuse as your color?

He's like, yeah, it's a good green. We're like, Chartreuse green. Dude, the closest we have to Chartreuse is yellow because it's the only other color here with two symbols to it. Right. Chartreuse is the funny color that can both be described as green or yellow. It is basically exactly in between the two. So he picked that and I don't know. It just it's one of those moments where it makes me sad to remember that moment because

it's like he's gone. But it makes me laugh and happy because it was just such a funny moment where literally everyone was simple one syllable color. And then a color like half the people in the call have never even heard of that. I don't even know what Chartreuse is. I thought that was like a dessert. So again, no big lesson learned or anything, but just one of those moments. it's like a sad, happy.

Like, it makes you laugh and you're kind of sad because you miss the person, but then you're kind of like, you think of other silly things that happened with them. And it's like, okay, well, I feel like I'm in better spirits, but also like there's still that hollow part of me that feels hollow thinking

about it, which I think similar to this experience you're talking about, just I didn't get that lesson. Yeah, well, it doesn't have to have some. I think this only has gravity to me because, I mean,

I think very much because she had Alzheimer's, and that's a, that was a very formative, like, experience for me, knowing her, seeing how it affected her. But yeah, it doesn't have to be some huge thing.

That's pretty funny. I didn't know zombie nearly as well as you guys did, but that does fit pretty good. My grandma, that my mom's mom lived with us for a couple of years after my grandpa passed away. And toward the end, she had like an oxygen tank. So she had like the little tubes and stuff in her nose and stuff. She was starting to slip. She didn't really know where she was. It wasn't Alzheimer's, but it was like that last stages of life where your mind's going all over the place.

And there were moments of clarity where she knew who we all were. And there were moments where she thought it was one of her cousins or, you know, whatever from her childhood. And there was a night that, um, she was in her room and she was making all kinds of noise. We all went to go check on her. And she was like standing on her bed and holding up her, she took it, taking her oxygen was holding it up in the air and telling us we had to help collect the water dust. He's like the water dust. It's escaping. Get the water dust. And we're like, Graham, what are you talking about? Like, okay. All right. We're like, my head, we're like, get the water dust.

And we're like, okay. So we started doing something. And, you know, we were laughing about it. and we're like, I don't know what the hell was happening. That was really silly. My mom was a little bit more reserved about it all, which was, why aren't you laughing? And she's like, I think this is referencing a moment in her childhood where someone like drowned in a river and she was remembering that. But our experience not knowing that was like,

Grandma's completely lost it. Ha ha, this is so silly funny. We're collecting the water dust. She's hold their oxygen in the air and dancing on the bed. And I guess it was reliving a traumatic moment that my mom's interpretation was. But that was another one of those like, ha ha. But, uh, maybe I shouldn't have been laughing and enjoying it quite so much now that I know

what maybe was being represented. A laugh's a laugh, you know, you just got to take them when they come, you know. Funeral, you know, baby shower, other horrible event. Damn. I wasn't trying to say baby shower is a horrible event. I was like, I was trying to go horrible events. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good one.

Horrible event. I was trying to make a pattern. I wasn't saying, no, no, come on guys. Please. I work on patterns with James Alon. I see it. Truck car, truck car. Truck.

I see it. That might be the, maybe I should treat day. the title. Funeral, baby shower, other horrible events. A good title for it. That's a memoir. Well, thank you all for embarking. I know that this wasn't the most uplifting moments, but I just got sad on the mind, you know? I've got some stress in life and it's bringing out the sad.

So we went through it. So let me go through points. Mark, you have points for gave us no details. I don't remember about what, but gave us no details. The scary tapes ad. One year married, congrats on that. Cool drink, because I got distracted by your drink cup. dressing up for Vegas

no gambling since you've been married you brought up the work life balance you got a point from Bob complex layers whatever that means bots question mark and then funeral baby showers and other horrible events all right I'll dig it

pretty good amount one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven points I'm boned Bob you got points for stories scary AI you've been married for forever you can do stuff now fancy

ass French cleats. Uh, you got the bummed out segue point, predatory gambling versus responsible betting points, corny dad TikToks, you were consistently are uplifting sad, desensitizing news. You dropped the ball or dropped something at one point that shocked Mark and I so much. Oh, it's this huge brass thing that's, uh, really, really heavy and loud when you drop it accidentally. That's also very loud when it lands under your microphone. You got a point for sad becoming positivity and then grandma's first swear word. You have 13 points. What now? Told you. I never stood a chance. I think literally the segue point in dropping the ball is what broke the tie. But we'll find out. We got to do wheel spins. How many spins will there be? I want to say it'll be three. Damn. It'll be two.

Are you adding something to the wheel? We really got to add in better. points during the number of spins spin. I really want to get the wagers. I'll get some wagers. Had the happiest week, unless someone had a really awful week and it's just being rubbed in, but we'll take it as the positive side.

Had the least terrifying week. We got two spins coming. Two spins, two spins. There's a first one. It deserves most sympathy. Kind of thematic with the episode, but... Yeah, it kind of is.

I don't really feel like I deserve any particular sympathy. My foot's healed. I feel like that's good. I'm lower on points. That really deserves some sympathy guys. If you want to give me a chance at all, you would have to give it this to me. Come on, guys. Otherwise, if I lose this right up, we don't even get to do the seconds because it wouldn't matter, really, would it? It could be golf rules. It could be. What are the odds? It's not going to happen again. Oh, not good. Yeah, it wouldn't be good. I'm just going to say re-spin. I don't think either one of you deserve sympathy. No, I'm so pathetic right now.

Now. Hey, I thought you made a pretty strong case, Mark. I thought that was very pathetic. Spin number one, back in the spin. Half point for Bob. Okay. I feel like I should get this one. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I can't really argue that one. That one's pretty just straightforward. Now there's just not even a point. What is this? What is this world? It could be golf rules. Oh, no. There's no way. It won't happen. Oh, God. I'm so,

Pathetic. Spin number two. We wouldn't do golf rules. Honest. I could have any fun facts this episode? Oh, so many fun facts. I think that's a re-spin. No worry, Mark.

You're just increasing your chances of golf rules coming up. Off-offer-way. All right. I'm on the board. Oh, now we would really get the sympathy point. Look at this guy. You know what? I feel so bad. I'm going to let you go first with the loser's speech. Oh, man, guys, this is a sad day for me, especially. The saddest, actually the only way to make this the saddest possible episode was for me to lose.

So honestly, you know, it's as fitting as ever it could be. All of you were rooting for me. Everyone was pulling for me. Everyone was pulling everything for me. And yet, I couldn't pull it out. I lost because I just couldn't pull it out. I've been there. Very sadly and pathetically spoken. Well done. Bob, winner's speech. Is that thing again?

It's still loud. Guys, I can't give many more points. I want to. I want to spew them out right now, but I just can't spew all over your points. I win so much these days that honestly I'm getting kind of numb to it. I better start hunting for something that really scratches that itch. Better than just winning another episode does.

You know, I'm piling them up. Clearly the leader in total wins, and I don't see that change any time soon. So maybe I'll start trying to lose, and that way, you know, someone else will stand a chance. Wow. Well, I guess Mark and I would appreciate that because we could use some more wins, right? Me especially. I don't know if the wins point total says that, but, you know, in this particular time when I'm hosting, yes. Well, thank you guys.

Appreciate it. Good episode. For everybody out there watching, sorry if we made you sad, but you know, I think Bob winning, being as the only uplifting sad stuff whereas I think Mark and I were just kind of down in the real down in the dumps. Bob picked us up, he got the win, so stay tuned for the next one with Bob will host.

If you haven't already go follow these guys, Bob at MySkrim, Market MarketPlyer, me at Minion 777 or Lord Minion 777, whatever. We have merch at distractible dot shop. I'm at least 99.7% sure that's correct. And merch comes and goes, so make sure you check it out frequently because there's new stuff, there's old stuff, there's no stuff.

Who knows? The mystery every time you look. And I guess we'll see in the next one, We're Bob will hosts and we'll see what we get into. He won't win that one probably unless... Oh, you know what the next one's gonna be? It's gonna be a scary tapes. Get your big person pants buckled for some scary tapes.

That's what they say in the nowhere ever. Until then, podcast.