Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 213: A Lost Artifact From Our Childhood | Ear Biscuits Ep. 213

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

Rhett finds a lost artifact from Ms. Locklear's first grade class and brings it into the podcast to share. Listen to how the guys decide whether to toss or keep items of sentimental value as they recount some of their mementos they have kept over the years on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, I'm Rhett. And I'm Link. This week at the round table of dim lighting, we're asking the question, how do you know if you should throw something away or keep it because it has some sort of sentimental value. And I may or may not, well let's just say I may

be breaking out something of sentimental value, value. Value. Value that I kept or at least my mother kept. And I would say it may or may not, let's say may. May. Be an artifact. From our our friendship in first grade. What, first grade?

In the first math. Who are you kidding? I know what it is, but yeah, we're gonna break that out. But you know what else we're gonna break out? We don't even have to break it out because it has broken out. Look at this, Link. Oh my gosh.

Here it is. The release of our novel, The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek is upon us. October 29th is when it comes out and if you pre-order it or have pre-ordered it, you'll be the first to get it and read it and then share in the joy of us crafting this story by experiencing this story.

Now when we're recording this, we actually just received the final version of the book in the mail. And something we were very, very excited about was the publisher asked us, they were like, "'Do you guys wanna do, "'cause there's like water on the cover, "'do you wanna do like the water

"'and kind of a sheen gloss finish "'and then above the water and like a matte finish?' And we were like, do we ever? Yeah, it's 2019, baby. It's funny because that's not what we said. I mean. That's what I thought. That's like you're in marketing.

No, I thought that. And I'm very glad. I thought that because I had seen it on another book and so as soon as, there was lots of questions, like you and Stevie were like, well what does that look like? This is the point. Can we get some samples?

And I was like, I've seen it and it's gonna be awesome. Y'all can get your samples if you want, but check it out. This is my point, Rhett. My point is that, bam, anything that we get excited about, we also like, at the same time, there's this like yin and yang of it that's like, well before we actually all get excited along with Rhett, well I wanna see samples, can you send us,

you know it's like, I'm sure we, everybody we work with, I mean we're very collaborative and we, when we get, we love to get great ideas from people but it's also like prove it because you know, that's why they have things called proofs. I live a sample free lifestyle. Not at the food court. No, I only eat samples as an appetizer.

You know what I'm saying? It's like you want a free sample? Yes, not so I can figure out if I'm gonna eat it, so I can eat more of it. Sometimes I bet where people get frustrated working with us because we're like we can't just be excited about an idea. We have to be like, but also, let's have a proof of concept and let's tweak it.

We are now excited about it. But yeah, now we're fully excited. We got the endorsements on the back and we've got pictures of us and on the inside. I'm just so excited when something becomes real. Hold a piece of our hearts by buying this book. And if you've already ordered one, order one for a friend.

If they like to read books, or if they've never read a book, either way, they're gonna love this book. And on an upcoming episode. Bleakcreek.com. Will it be the next episode, Kiko? Which we're actually gonna do more in-depth explanation. Well, we're gonna explore the book

by kinda talking through some passages and we're gonna get more into the book as a whole podcast. But not only should you buy the book because we think it's a great story that you will enjoy, but you can also enter your proof of purchase at BleakCreek.com through November 2nd to have a chance to win. Coming out to LA, all expense paid trip with you and a guest

to come and be a part of our Bleak Creek barbecue bonanza where we're gonna have a North Carolina style pig picking which incidentally is featured in the first chapter of the book. We're gonna recreate that right here in Los Angeles. Driving in on my way this morning. Avoid where prohibited. I brought Jade.

No purchase necessary. Full details at the website. I brought Jade in to work with me, but the circumstances with which, here, send her over, Jenna. Jade, come here. I'm talking about you. Come here.

Brought in my doggie. Brought in my doggie. Brought in my doggie this morning. Oh, give me a little kiss, a little make out sesh. As you can see, she's just as happy or really hard to tell as usual. She's docile, she's cool, she's calm, she's collected. But her motor transport was different this morning. My hand was kinda forced, you know this story,

but I just wanted to bring you guys up to speed. Christy comes home, this is a little ways back, or maybe I came home from work and she's like, well, listen, something happened I gotta tell you about. I got pulled over. I'm like, oh gosh, okay. And then immediately when Christy's like, I got pulled over, I'm just thinking, okay, don't react.

Just be chill, man. It's probably all over your face though. Just be chill. It's like- That internal conflict. Like what, why should I react? Like what is it about me that makes me want to have like a lecturist or type of response I guess is what it is. It's like, well you shoulda, shoulda, shoulda,

shoulda, shoulda, shoulda. And I'm like, I just gotta be cool, be supportive. And it's not a big, no matter what happened, it's not a big deal. Obviously she's fine. She's like, it's actually kind of embarrassing. And I'm like, oh, okay, now I'm intrigued. Now I might have an Ear Biscuit story.

Getting a little happier. That's what life is about. And she said, you know I dropped Lincoln and his friends off at the mall, or actually another parent dropped him off at the mall so it was one of our jobs to go pick him up. She was like, so you know, I went to pick him up and I'm driving there and I'm getting to the mall

and I get pulled over, got the blue lights behind me and the cop comes up to the window. I roll the window down, Jade sticks her head out, cause she was sitting in my lap, and the officer says, ma'am, I pulled you over because your dog's in your lap. Dun dun dun. Ooh, how embarrassing.

Now show of hands in our small group that's in here, how many of you knew that it was illegal to have a dog in your lap while you're driving? That it was a pull-overable offense? A ticketable offense? Okay. I didn't know. Three people didn't know? If you had told me that it was a law,

I'd be like, okay, I guess that makes sense, but I would've just thought it was something that wasn't on the books. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so I would've just thought it was something that wasn't on the books. Yeah. You know what I mean? And so Christy, that was her response. But it is on the books. I didn't know, he was like, yeah, this is not safe for you, and you know what?

It's also not safe for your dog. I guess if you're in some sort of an accident. Airbag. You're ping ponging that dog. Ooh, yeah, actually, yes. No, it's not, because by that rationale, you would need to put your dog in a seatbelt all the time, which I don't think is the law. But I think it's probably safest for the dog.

Obviously the safest. But if your dog is in your lap, that airbag, which can do damage to, even kill a small child, is gonna do worse to it. I mean, Jade is just gonna boom. Which is why sometimes there'll be a sign that comes on in most modern cars that says passenger airbag off, turn off.

Because the weight isn't enough in the seat. So if a kid's there. Right. Or if nobody's there you don't need to waste an airbag. Maybe that's also what they're thinking. I gotta keep my airbag for later. Yeah. Probably not, that's just how I think. Because you can't repack an airbag like a that's also what they're thinking. I gotta keep my airbag for later. Yeah. It's probably not. That's just how I think.

Because you can't repack an airbag like a parachute. I've tried. Christy was like, I didn't know. And then he goes back with her license and there's the sweated out period. And at this point, I was like, and were Lincoln and his friends in the car? Please tell me they were in the car.

She was like, no, I hadn't picked them up. I was actually just around the corner from them being able to see this whole thing take place, which would have been glorious for Lincoln's friends to have to witness his mom get a ticket because there was a dog in her lap. But I believe that the reason that he believed her, that he believed that she didn't know.

That's because it was the truth. Well, no, because the dog was in her lap when he rolled the window, when she rolled the window down. Because otherwise she would have been like, get into the passenger seat. Right, right. So she played it perfectly and she wasn't playing, she was just being honest. Ma'am, do you know why I pulled you over?

I don't know, but you should ask the dog. She's driving, she's in charge here because that's the thing. He came back and he said ma'am I'm not gonna, I believe you, I'm not gonna give you a ticket. So he didn't give her a ticket, picked up Lincoln, spared him the embarrassment. Of course I'm not right now. I hope all of his friends are listening.

What up fam? Lincoln's dad in the house talking at ya. You know I know how to connect with the kids. Yeah you just demonstrated that. Come over to my house, you can swim in my pool. You can hang out, you can play music as loud as you want. It can have profanity in it because Lincoln's dad likes the hip hop.

He's lit. Can you imagine being my son? Imagine it a second Rhett. Oh you're getting a call from Spam Risk. Yeah Spam, yeah. Spam Risk is calling you too? I'm getting a Spam Risk phone call. What if your name was Spam Risk?

That would really suck. I've noticed that my phone is just. Mr. Spam Risk, please put me in your caller ID or something different. Here's the thing, Jade is in control. I mean, let's be real. When I'm driving the car and I'm seeing other people with their poodles in their lap

and hanging out the driver window, I see it all the time. You know, every other day I'm driving, you see some poodle hanging out a driver window. I've always judged them, like that's stupid, you're putting me in danger, you're putting yourself in danger, actually you're putting your dog in danger. Didn't even know that. But then you know what?

I've been bringing Jada, I've been driving around. She loves me so much, I just can't deny her being in my lap. She climbs on over and she nestles down. But then after a while of that, she started perking up, like perching up on my left thigh and looking out the window and I became that guy and she started doing it with Christy and it's partially my fault. Hold on, so she's been riding in your lap while you drive?

She's been steering, practically. Yeah, she's like perched up on my left thigh which like my knee's kind of up beside the steering wheel. She's like right beside the steering wheel. And I'm like I became that guy. Yeah you did. So when Christy told me that I'm like, you know what, I know it's embarrassing

but I'm glad it happened. Especially with you not getting a ticket because this is a freaking wake up call girl for both of us. Because I haven't felt right about it. I've just felt like, I shouldn't let my dog control me and rationalize, oh she's so scared over there in the passenger seat.

But you know the reason that the system has completely changed in the way that you're about to tell everyone is because your wife told the story while the McLaughlins were with you. Yeah, we were on a double date. And the McLaughlins were with you. Yeah, we were on a double date. And the McLaughlins buy things. The Neils don't buy things. Yeah, so Christy tells this story

and we're in the backseat and all of a sudden, Jessie's on her phone, I'm like, well that's a little rude, we're kinda talking to you guys, why are you on your phone in the middle of the conversation? I didn't say that, I was just like, before I could say anything, and I'm sorry for not giving her the benefit of the doubt, she was like, well I'm on Amazon right now,

I'm buying one because Barbara runs all around the car. Well buying a harness for the dog while they're in the. Yeah, I didn't say what one was. A seat harness for the dog. But yes, Barbara has been in my lap while I'm driving, but Barbara has so gotta be everywhere at all times that she goes around the car and then she usually ends up laying in the passenger seat with me, but.

Not with you, by yourself. While I'm driving, she's in the passenger seat. But it's still not safe because she could fly all over the car in the event of a wreck or whatever. So Jessie bought a booster and so all the way home, I'm asking her, I was like, read me some reviews. You know, I don't like to look on my phone in the car in the event of a wreck or whatever. So Jessie bought a booster and so all the way home, I'm asking her, I was like, read me some reviews. You know, I don't like to look on my phone in the car and like helping her find the best one.

And then we found it and then she's like, do you want me to get you one? I'm like, no, I saw another one that like is higher up that instead of being a booster seat, it hangs from the top and since Jade's smaller, this would allow her to look out and I did run across that ad so I might do that and then she's like, oh, I found it.

I was like, well, send me the link. So then later that night, I bought one and it came in the mail and this morning. Wasn't it like what, 30 bucks or something? They're not pricey. That's right and so this morning, was the first morning we had it, I took a picture to send to Christy.

Look at her, look at her perched up there in a box. This little carrier box looks like something, like a basket you'd have on the front of a car, I mean a bike if you needed to transport ET somewhere. Now can she just, is she secured to this? She is not secured yet. She can just hop out. There's a, well if you look at this picture,

you can see that pink thing down there's her harness. She's not wearing it. But ultimately, she's gonna wear her harness and then it attaches inside of this box. But you see how she's looking out? She loves it. She loves to look out. But I'm trying. Did she whine at you?

No. She didn't whine like she wanted to be in your lap. Her ears went down a little bit at first, but then once she realized she could see everything she wanted to see, she was pretty happy, which made me happy. The plan is to put the harness on her and then attach her to it eventually,

but I wanted to do it one step at a time to get her more comfortable with it. Look at her, she's like, I might just give her her own fake steering wheel so she feels like she's actually driving. That might be excessive. Yeah, well Jessie got one for Barbara, so as soon as Barbara takes a ride in style,

I'll take a pick. Well I know something you don't know. Jessie's already given us that booster seat because she tested it out with Barbara and it was too small. So now the other one Jessie bought is now in Christy's car. And y'all ain't got nothing.

So you back to the drawing board. Guess we gotta start over. But yeah, listen, don't rationalize having the dog in your lap when you're driving. Listen, I understand how difficult it is, but let's not be stupid, okay? I've been stupid and my, well, I'm not gonna say my wife's been stupid.

Let's just say- That would be stupid. You didn't know. You did things in ignorance. It's okay, it happens. Now you know and now you're adjusting. Okay. We're going to answer some of your questions. We like carrying on the conversation,

keeping the conversation going with the mythical beast. And so we're going to do that again. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. I know we're going to unearth this, the thing that you got from our first grade year with a subsequent question, but let's start somewhere else here. This first question comes from Rayan. Let's start somewhere else here. This first question comes from Rayan.

Should I pursue my dream and take a program I like in college knowing that in the future it might not exist anymore as a job or go to a more guaranteed option that I dislike hoping that I'll take it later? Did she say? That I'll like it later. College starts say? That I'll like it later. College starts in a month and I don't know what to do.

Okay, it's a little late because I think college has started now. We were kind of sitting on this question. Yes. But, whoops. I don't know what decision you did make. Maybe she's undeclared. I mean, if you're just starting.

You definitely can still change courses. Even if you've been in college a while. And maybe it'll be applicable for other people because the reason we wanted to answer this question is because we're actually exploring this with our kids. I mean, you've got a junior in high school, even closer to the point of decision. I've got a sophomore in high school.

And so I think one of the things that I've done as a parent is I try to think back to what my life was like and the things that were going through my mind and what I was thinking about life, short term, long term, when I was their age and then I'm like, okay, well, what would I have liked to have heard from my parents at this stage? And again, it was a very different time.

Again, the generations are very different and I think that the amount of sort of, and this may ultimately be to our kids' detriment, but a lot of times the amount of input and level of discussion that we have about all kinds of life decisions, I think tend to be more involved in detail than it was with our parents.

I think as a cultural thing, it's also an internet age thing. There's so much information out there that I think so much more gets to us as parents that impacts our children and vice versa. There's a culture of more conversation that we have with our kids than I think our parents had with us in that generation.

Yeah, because the nature of the decision that we made, and I think it was very similar, it was very, very simply, we both took physics our senior year with Mr. Bryant, and we, I didn't even do that well in that class. I mean, it was an AP class, so it ended up being an A, whatever it was, but I think it was probably like a C is what it technically was but because it was like weighted

by two points it ended up being an A. But I didn't really understand it, I had to go to Michael Juby's house for him to help me do homework. Uh-huh, yeah. But because I liked Mr. Bryant and I liked the concepts that we were talking about and the experiments that he would do in class, I was like,

I should be an engineer and I was good at math but it was that simple but it was. My recollection is that our guidance counselor put that all together for both of us. Oh you're good at math, you're good in science, you should be in engineering. I'm like my dad has always been a fan of the Wolf Pack. That's where you go to get an engineering degree at NC State.

But it wasn't this like have you been cultivating or even exploring what your passions are and what it is that you're good at and what kind of gets your motor running. That wasn't at all what the process was. Because if we had have explored what got the motor running, we would have known that, well something creative. Well and we, but we were doing that.

I mean we were talking about, you know, we were writing screenplays, we were talking about being filmmakers and we've oversimplified, your dad kind of exposed, and when we went back to Buies Creek for the Bleak Creek documentary series that we did. Well it was actually, so we did. Your dad kind of exposed.

We did an interview at NC State. What really happened was we did an interview at NC State that they put into the NC State Engineering Magazine. And we told a greatly simplified story that we've told many times, which is, we wanted to be filmmakers, we wanted to major in film. When I told my dad that, he said, well, I'm not paying for that,

and so I ended up going to engineering school. Now when I talked to my, and I truly believe that that was the memory, that was how I remembered it. Now, when I talked to my dad after that article came out, even though we've told the story many times, he said, now, you know, I was kinda misrepresented in that article. That, even though we've told the story many times, he said, now, you know, I was kind of misrepresented in that article. That isn't what happened.

And we didn't then explore exactly what happened. And maybe it was the 16 or 17 year old Rhett interpreting something, concluding something on behalf of my father that he didn't actually say, which is, I'm not too excited about that particular aspiration, why don't you do something that makes more sense? And it could have been something that just emanated from him

without him actually vocalizing that. And now that I'm a father, I very regularly recognize that I do the same thing. There's all kinds of messages that I'm giving to my sons that I'm not saying directly. But suffice it to say, the message that I sort of understood was that you need to do something that makes some kind of sense.

And that scared us away from the very open-ended, insecure, not guaranteed future that was filmmaking. Now, thankfully, we've made our way back into using a very circuitous, what is it, circuitous path? Circuitous. Circuitous path to being in a creative industry and no longer doing engineering. But if we could go back and talk to those high school

juniors, high school seniors who are trying to figure out what they're gonna do, what would we say in terms of how you make a decision? In Rand's question, it wasn't made, it wasn't specified what the passion was and then what the sensible option was. There's a false dichotomy in her question, I will say though, because it's should I do something that

Won't exist in the future. That won't exist anymore. It's like you wanna be a bus driver? Or should I do something that I- Because they're gonna be autonomous in the future. Or should I do something that's guaranteed that I dislike? And I'm not really saying that that's the false dichotomy. I'm saying the false dichotomy is that you're choosing

between something that you like and something that you dislike. I don't think it's that simple. But yeah, you're also right that you can't predict what's going to be around and what jobs are gonna be replaced by the robots. You wanna be able to support yourself. You know, the nursing field, it's funny, I always hear,

well the nursing field, there's lots of opportunity there. But you better be into helping people and getting your hands dirty to help people if you wanna go into nursing. I mean, you have to find a way for ultimate fulfillment to believe that your passions can be engaged in what you're doing. That's the challenge is, well I think the first challenge

is really understanding your passions, but then figuring out the way to then find the intersection between that and there being sensible components to your action plan. It's like okay, I can support myself someday in something related to this field but I mean like. Well I think you're actually looking for, I think you're looking for, there's three sort of circles

that come together, right? There's the passion. And I think I read a book at one point that outlined this. I read this book too. But you've got your passion, and then you've got the sort of the practical, like what opportunities do exist in the real world, and then you've got your actual ability, right?

Because there are some people who are very passionate about something. I wanna be Bob Ross, but you can't grow an afro. Exactly. You know, hang it up. So you might be very passionate about something, but you're actually not good enough at it.

You're not, so let's just go with another P. You've got passion, you've got practical, and you've got proficiency. I'm just making this up, and that's not what the book said at all, and I'm probably wrong. But I think you've gotta have some proficiency. I'm just making this up and that's not what the book said at all and I'm probably wrong. But I think you've gotta have some proficiency of this. You've gotta have some reason to believe that, oh, I actually, there's a reason that I believe

that I would be good at this. And not better than everyone else, but just, you don't wanna go into something that you're just gonna naturally be bad at. Like, I wouldn't, there's a number of things that I wouldn't go into. Like I wouldn't go into like hospice counseling as an example, right?

Because when people are going through really hard stuff, I'm not the guy you want in the room. You know, I'm hopefully getting better at that as I get older, but I don't have a natural disposition for knowing what to say when someone's having a hard time. And so. But there's a lot of money in it, so you might wanna think about it.

You know, that's the sad thing, there's probably not a lot of money in it. So I think you gotta think about your proficiency, your passion, and then what are the practical opportunities that you have. And then you know what you gotta do? You gotta develop a plan. Plan, keep the peace going.

You know, I really, this is one of those instances where I really find myself wishing that you, that I wouldn't have been blazing the trail between the two of us. That you, you know, I got married a year before you, which meant I had a kid a year before you. Like that's how the plan works, right? Lily's a year older than Locke.

I really wish that you know, that you guys could be the guinea pig. I mean, there's lots of things that like, you get really engaged and you're like, thinking about the way future and saying, I gotta figure this crap out. And then I'm like, yeah, man, I'm watching closely. You like talking about when I get a TV

and then you get the same TV? Yep, yep. It works differently with children, I believe. That silver television that we both had for years. Right, because we are. We both went Circuit City. I was like, yeah man. Circuit City, yeah. If you're gonna do all that research,

I'm just gonna swoop in and get one too. I binged every episode of Alias on DVD on that television. It was old school tube television. And then you got rid of it which takes us to the other question later but let's stay on topic for now. So you are in the midst of answering this question because Lily's like, she's like taking the SAT. She's taking the SAT.

Like this week or something, right? She's taking the versions of the SAT and the ACT for practice. The last two weekends in a row, she spent three hours taking both tests. You know, I felt for her. It's like, hey, you know what your Saturday's gonna be? Three hours of taking the SAT

and then the next week the ACT. And then figuring out, I mean, we're fortunate enough to have the means to have somebody that helps us navigate how you go about this, and it's not just like the counselor at the school, it's the people who will help you take the practice test and all that stuff. Yeah.

And there's so much, there's so much rigmarole to go through, and there's so much pressure. Oh my gosh, it's stressing me out to think about it. The way the system works right now and how things are rewarded and the competitiveness and how hard it is, let's just set that aside because that could be a whole podcast in and of itself is the way the system works

and how you have to navigate the system. But what am I telling Lily, I think is the question, right? And what are you telling Locke? Lily's at a point where she's still trying to figure out what is she most passionate about? And it's like, I don't expect her to have a simple answer. You know, it's like, honestly, I mean, I don't, I guess I haven't told her this specifically,

but I think my underlying thing, and I may have said this before is that it just seems like it's a crap shoot. You know, it's like you do your best, especially if you try to figure out, you know, apply as much of what we've talked about with the peas and then you're just rolling the dice, man. You're seeing what happens and then you roll with it.

Roll with the dice and then roll with the punches. She's like, I'm really into biology. I think I'd wanna be, go in the medical field and be a surgeon. You know, she had the spinal fusion surgery, had a huge impact on her life. That was a big life experience that then I think is at least part of that and then enjoying those classes.

So we're like, yeah, and then we figure out what would be the path and what are the things that she could do now in order to position herself to get there. Even things like, okay, you can get involved in this club at school, which then leads to an invitation to this thing over the summer that is by invitation only that then when college is who,

you know, if you wanna do the pre-med thing ultimately. So, and again, you get back to those details of the planning, but then she comes home the next day and she's like, I wanna, I'm really good at pottery. You know, like. That's a P. That's good, that's good. Yeah, it is a P.

Pre-med and pottery are both Ps. Right, and that's really. So as long as it's a P, that's good, that's good. Yeah it is a P. Pre-med and pottery are both P's. Right and that's really. So as long as it's a P. Our only requirement. She's good. And I find, you know, she's engaging her passion for piano. She doesn't talk about piano as much but it is a P. But she comes home and she's talking about making pottery

and like how much she enjoys it. And you may say, well that's a good pastime. You see what I'm doing here? But is it a passion? And is it a perere? And how peractical is it? Is it something you should pursue? It's impossible to figure out

by the time she's gotta go to college and patriculate. I don't think. To get all this stuff straight. You're violating the rules, man. I mean it's like do the best you can and be willing to change at any moment. Or not at any moment but maybe at certain intervals like six months down the road or something like that.

But I don't know, I just try to remove the pressure. Let me. There's so much, my thing in summary is I'm just trying to help Lily understand herself, have as many opportunities as she can, and then develop a plan, but then remove pressure. I think is my main role at this point to say, you know what, look at me.

Look at how I got to where I'm at. I can't make a prescription based on that, you know? Well, yes. So I think that even more so for them, that will be the case, right? As time has passed, people have changed their careers or more likely to change their careers even more times over the span of their working life than our parents were

and then our kids are probably gonna be even more likely to change careers. So the fact that we took this crazy path to get where we're at does really inform the way that we think about this in a lot of ways. Oh yeah. I also think that me and you as, you know, pioneering as people might think that we have been,

we are, and we've discussed this before, but we're actually pretty reactive and we're very practical and reactive and we find ourselves in situations and we're like, oh, there's an opportunity, there's some white space there. Let's, and we can win at that game. Let's go play that game.

And that's kind of what we've done. And it's kind of indicates why we've done a bunch of different things in the path that we've taken. And I do agree that, you know, they're gonna go to college and even if they end up majoring in something that is the career path that they ultimately choose, they're not gonna really use any of the things that they learn, very little of it at least.

Even going to school for engineering and then doing it. And even with you, you were doing the co-op program where you were working and then going back and learning. You still learned your job on the job. You learned how to learn, you grew up a little bit in college, but you didn't learn, like you're not learning the skills, what I'm getting at is that the college education thing is really just a step in the process

and it isn't, again, like you said, you can't put so much pressure on yourself, but I think the real thing that we're trying to do is just position them for a, the most opportunity that they can have, right? And just be like, don't commit to something because of one thing that somebody says to you. Like really just learn to understand what it is that you enjoy and what you're good at.

And just know that there's probably like a whole category of jobs that might work for you. And that's the thing that I've been talking with Locke about, I'm like, so not what do you think you're gonna do, but what are you passionate about? Like, who do you think you are? Is it working with people? Ask it that way. Is it working with people?

Is it working with things? Is it working with animals? Is it thinking about ideas? Is it executing things? Is it a combination of those things? Working with people dressed as animals. Yes, and I think that if you can just ask yourself those questions, it'll naturally sort of push you in a direction where there's a sort of a field of jobs.

And I think sometimes it's like, okay, some people are just like, I'm super into programming. Like it's my passion, it's what I wanna do. Now, obviously there's ample opportunity for that skill. You can get a job doing that. So that question is answered. And also you kind of know the different kinds of jobs that are gonna require that skill

and if that's the kind of thing that you're into, you kinda have a general path. And some things are a little bit less obvious like pottery is a little less obvious, right? Now, what are the different opportunities you can do with pottery? Well, you can be a person who makes pottery. You can be a person who teaches people to make pottery.

Right and that's kind of it. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea but it just- Maybe there's other things but we don't know. You just, yeah and who teaches people to make pottery. Right, and that's kind of it. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea, but it do. Maybe there's other things, but we don't know. You just, yeah, and you kind of have to know like, okay, well, or I'm gonna go into this, basically what I'm really saying is that I like to do things with my hands. I like to do physical things.

I don't wanna be sitting at a computer typing. I don't wanna be doing a bunch of math and processing a bunch of information, but I wanna be bringing something to life with my hands. I wanna be taking a raw material and doing something creative and artistic. Okay, you're kinda pushing yourself in a certain direction and then there'll be all kinds of fields, some practical, more practical than others,

that you can kind of then look at. And that's all I'm trying to do with Locke is just don't get too worried about how, I mean, I want you to do well, but I don't want you to be totally freaking out and trying to get into some Ivy League situation. Let's just take it easy, enjoy life, do your best, but learn who you are and then see how you can direct that

in a general direction and then it'll start getting pared down as the opportunities line up, you know? And as you come to know your passions, be very attentive to that. Don't check that at the door when you're then going in to make these practical decisions. Yeah.

It makes it more difficult but the alternative is an even more difficult life of frustration. Rayanne, good luck with that. Veda asks, what color should I dye my hair next? Done blue and purple so far. Well I see in her profile image, her hair looks like red but I think that may be purple. Green. That must be the purple.

Green, another primary color you haven't done yet, green. Green and white ombre. It's kinda like slime or vomit. That unfolds over time. Let's go with another one. Okay, let's get to this one. Molly asks, I'm working, this is at Livik underscore 0620. I can see that she came to an event

and got a picture with us because her profile picture has us in it. That's right. I'm working on an epic purge of old stuff. Notes slash books from college and grad school, childhood mementos, et cetera, et cetera. How do I decide what to keep and what to let go when I'm on the items that all seem sentimentally important

but intellectually frivolous? Hashtag Ear Biscuits. Okay, first of all, girl, you're speaking my language and you're talking about an epic purge. I woke up this morning, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I try to take just an hour to sit, drink my coffee, try to meditate a little bit. Boy, I'll talk about that later.

I'm just, it's not easy. And then last 15 minutes, Christy comes down and like, you know what, we're having some moments where we have our coffee together and it's nice. We're having an old couple. A couple of moments together. And I was like, what does your day look like? And amongst other things she told me, she was like,

I need to give Katie a call. And I was like, when you do, you need to take that mirror to her. And she's like, what's wrong with you? I'm glad somebody else is asking that question. She's like, she wasn't mean about it. She's like, I think something's wrong with you. I was talking about this big honking box in our garage.

Let's face it, my garage. That's how I look at it. I look at the garage as my domain. Yes, also the laundry room, but hey, it's not a, my garage. That's how I look at it. I look at the garage as my domain. Yes, also the laundry room, but hey, it's not a woman's job. My domain. We both do laundry in there, but for some reason, I consider it like mine and my goal,

and I'm sure I've spoken about it many times is to keep it clean and like, I'll take a picture and then I'll spend three hours purging stuff out of the garage and then take another picture, just to have a before and after to make, and I'll flip back. You do before and afters in your plane?

And I'll flip back and forth between the two of them just to make myself feel better. And I'll show it to people if they come over. Well I'm glad you'd never shown that to me. Well I'll show it to the people in the video farm. And I just flip back and forth and it makes me feel good. And I got this big box that has this mirror that they sent us to and didn't want to return one of them

because we only ordered one. For some reason they said keep it, okay? So I mean, it's like five foot by four foot box, five inches thick, that's a lot of real estate in my garage. Right, right. And Katie's, you know, Christy told me two months ago, Katie wants this mirror, don't get rid of it.

Yeah, I get this. So then this morning, I think I'm calling Katie and I'm like, you should take that mirror to her. I didn't even say we were getting together, I just said I was gonna call her. I was like, well, tell her to come pick it up. It's like it won't fit in her car. And I'm like, well, I'll take it out of the box

and then she can just have the mirror because I bet the mirror alone will fit in the car. It's a big box, it's too much padding. She's not shipping it. She's gonna tote it. And at that point, she said again, she was like, what, are you okay? I mean, that's not really what this conversation was about.

So I actually feel like I purge to a dysfunctional level, yet I'm also an archivist of things that matter to me. And I feel like, so I feel like, I don't feel like I'm healthy, but I feel like maybe I can help. Well, you know, there's a whole. That's where I'm coming from. The minimalism movement and what's her name?

Marie Kondo. Marie Kondo, right. Marie Kondo. So every little shop you go into in Los Angeles, there's a book by this woman. She had a Netflix thing that I did not watch. Have you watched it? No, I understand and I appreciate the approach and of course, all I know about it

is that you're supposed to hold something up and then ask if it gives you joy and if it doesn't, you get rid of it, but you say thank you to it before you give it away. I don't need to read the books. I think I got the main message, right? Okay. You sound a little condescending in your tone, but.

Well, because my personal opinion on minimalism is that I actually, I kinda like a lot of, like you go into one of those houses and somebody has put a bunch of stuff on the wall and there's stuff everywhere. Now not disorganized, not hoarder stuff. I'm not a hoarder and I don't like, I actually don't have real hoarding tendencies

and I get anxiety when I see things pile up even though my wife might say, well you haven't demonstrated that at home. You're like art de cohoarder. tendencies and I get anxiety when I see things pile up even though my wife might say, well, you haven't demonstrated that at home. You're like art de cohorter. I wouldn't say I like TGI Fridays and like what they've done in there. Because that's just a corporate thing.

But you go into somebody's house and they just- It's like straw back chairs hanging from the wall. There's just something comforting about like, man, they just got all this stuff and they did it for a reason. Even this right here, like we've got all these little things now this is just something that Cassie put together and then painted gray.

I've never really even studied it. There's texture. But it just adds something. Whereas when I think about like a super modern minimalist house that doesn't have any place to sit and there's nothing on the wall. I'm just like, it feels cold and sterile and so I feel like minimalism can,

at least aesthetically, can lead to that place. But I do understand the whole idea about like, if you got something in your life that's kind of just creating unnecessary clutter and like, it's a waste of time and it's a waste of time and it's a waste of your energy and your focus, then get rid of it. And I do feel good about the process

of getting rid of stuff. But what is the connection between that? Because you're describing an aesthetic to I think what's behind the question is more of like kind of more of a storage, more in the garage than the living room mantelpiece type sitch. By the way, this is, you and Jessie must be on the same page because I think that does describe

how your house is decorated. I know she does a lot of work on that and it's amazing. There's so much stuff but it's all purposeful. You got a whole wall. Yeah. You got a whole wall. Yeah. You got a freaking wall that's. It's a shelf. It's 30 foot tall, there's not that much shelves.

We designed it together. Stuff on it. We designed that entire shelf together. But I think we're talking more in a storage capacity here. Yeah, how does what you're saying apply to that? If you're getting rid of stuff, how do you know what to hold on to? This feels like a very organic process to me,

like when I am getting rid of something. It's like I don't, okay, for instance, if I'm getting rid of clothes, well, sometimes you've had a shirt for so long that it feels like it's passed into some sort of memento quality. Oh, I got a couple of those. You know what I'm saying?

And then I'm like, Math Olympiad shirt. And I'm not even talking about like, obviously stuff that you have from childhood. You know, and like, okay, I found a wax paper dogs T-shirt that Trent had designed the front of. Oh yeah. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna,

then I found a T-shirt. You're talking like first year out of college. Well, I found a T-shirt that said, Merle rules the world that we had. Spray painted? Spray painted. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, with stencil that we wore to a concert, I think. I can't remember.

But I'm definitely not letting go of that. We wore that to school on twin day. Okay, well I've got it. And we both spray painted Merle rules the world so we could be wearing the same exact shirt. There you go, see? I'm glad I told you because you remembered it. But I have it.

Surprised you have it. Now, you're always surprised when I have something because you think that I don't hold onto stuff. And actually I do, I just don't do it in a, I don't do it as much or as intensely as you do. Do you have a place? Because my answer has to do with place. Yeah. Like storage place.

Most of the stuff that is, most of this stuff like T-shirts and old documents, you can really get it small and flat. And so what I found is that I just have a place in my garage, I actually thought about moving it and began to move all this to my attic recently, but then I was like, in the case of a wildfire coming through our neighborhood and burning up our house.

You can get that stuff out. Well, I think that the garage would actually survive because it's below ground. Well I think that the garage would actually survive because it's below ground and I think that this stuff would just, the top of the house would burn and all this memento stuff would, so I don't have to take it all out. That's my theory at least. So I have it all there and it collapses down

and as long as it's not a big bulky thing, I will get rid of something that's bulky. But if it's something that can be kind of folded up and put into a box and then I can put a label on it and set it somewhere in my garage and I don't have to worry about it. Yeah, that's exactly me. I don't go through this process of like,

does this bring me joy? It's like, no, I might want this later. I can make it, I can get it out of the way, let's keep it. I mean, there's mementos, but then there's things like the thing that your mom found that we need to look at here in a second. That are irreplaceable, I mean, especially if it's like creations or something that's,

if it's irreplaceable and it takes you back, and also, second criteria, it can be stored, especially in like a reasonable amount of space. Like I got a filing cabinet and I've got a couple of boxes. I got an area where like I'm willing to devote this much storage space to keeping stuff so that when I go through it, it's a journey back in time. Or if I'm gonna write a book,

like when we wrote the book of mythicality, if you wanna write a book about yourself one day or share stuff with your kids or grandkids, all that stuff you should keep and you should be real controlled on how you store it and just keep it within certain bounds, like physical bounds. But stuff that's like, if you start getting into things

like well, so and so gave me this or, well first of all, the easy stuff, like I might have a use for this one day. well, so and so gave me this or, well, first of all, the easy stuff, like I might have a use for this one day. I think if it's been X number of months, if it's been a year and you haven't used it, I say get rid of it. But if it's something that's like, so and so gave me this vase,

it's breakable, it's not easily storable, but it does have some sentimental value. They've passed away or whatever. I think you keep it if you can incorporate it into your life. If it's gonna be in storage, then I don't think. I agree. I think you either find a way to bring it into your life

or you get rid of it. If it's a piece of furniture or something like that and the purpose of it is to utilize it as a piece of furniture or a piece of decor. If you're not gonna utilize it for that purpose, unless you just have tons of storage room, yeah, I say get rid of that. And that's a point of contention with my wife

because we do have some things that we've received from people. There's like a lamp. Never keep anything out of guilt. There's a lamp that her parents gave us that's a really nice lamp that they gave it to us a long time ago and it's very ornate and it doesn't go with anything that we have.

She's just like we have to hold on to that. And I'm like but it's, I don't, it's just two parts and I just, I would get rid of that. Yeah, you gotta get rid of it. I would Craigslist that. You gotta get rid of it. Now, give me the story of this thing. Because this is a good example of something

that should have been kept, your mom kept it, and I'm so glad she did. My mom gave me a bunch of stuff years ago that she had kept in my closet, in the house where I grew up, in my personal closet, and then she gave it all to me, and it was pictures, and it was schoolwork, and some of that stuff, a good amount of that made it into the book of mythicality as well.

But then there was an additional folder that I had somehow separated from everything else and it was in a closet that then Jessie recently cleaned out and then she found a folder that has multiple things in it, but I'm just only gonna focus on the one, we can get into the other later. But she found from first grade in Ms. Locklear's class, which of course is the class that we met in,

a Thanksgiving recipe book, and I'm gonna go ahead and warn you that we all had to design our own cover for this. And again, just keep in mind, I was six years old and it was 1984, so do with that what you will. It was a Thanksgiving book and so as you can see, I put a Thanksgiving themed picture on the front of it.

So on the left you've got a pilgrim and on the right you've got a Native American with his arms outstretched. Yep. He's much bigger, he's got a egg for a head. I don't have any explanation as to any of the choices that I made and I'm not going to defend them. Why is that, the posture, clearly unintentional posture

of the pilgrim and this, like the snicker on his mouth. Like he's snickering. Yeah, I mean, don't read anything into it. I know you wanna read things into it, but don't because there's nothing to be read into it. But what there is to be read inside of this book, Link, is that every single member of Ms. Locklear's class had to submit a recipe that they would enjoy

for Thanksgiving. And then she Xeroxed them and put them in everybody's book. So for instance, you know, you got David Rogers who incidentally made it into the book of mythicality as well, he put Nana's turkey dressing on there, but let's see, if you get to, you got Mari's Cameron, did oyster dressing for turkey. Christy's aunt makes that and I hate it.

Somebody did cornbread stuffing but they didn't put their name on there, loser. Anya, remember Anya? No. Neither do I. It's a recipe from Scotland though. Oh, Rhett McLaughlin, Rhett McLaughlin. Rhett McLaughlin.

Blue cheese broccoli. This is classic. I wish you would have, well, when you first told me about this, you were like, you told me the premise, but you didn't tell me the recipe, and you were like, you have to guess what it was, and. Now again, this wasn't necessarily like,

what is, it was like, I mean, I'd really like this, of course. Blue cheese is a strong thing, and it's like, you love blue cheese now. Yeah, dude. So it's like, it was very easily guessable knowing you now, but it was, it just seemed very surprising because it's like, at that age you also like blue cheese

on your broccoli? And it was also, you know, I'm asking my mom, I'm like, mom, I need a recipe for this book and then she tells me, you know, and so. But you must have really liked it. I'm sure I did. You chose that one. No, I did, I specifically remember her blue cheese broccoli

but I don't think she makes it anymore. They tell you how to, you tell them how to make the, prepare the broccoli and then put the blue cheese. It's got margarine in it. Margarine very 1984. And then sprinkle with what? Cracker crumbs.

At the end, oh yeah, you got to get that cracker crumb game kicking. Bake it at 325 for 20 to 25 minutes. It serves six to eight, which means it serves four McLaughlins. All right, so I'm in here, right? So yours is classic Rhett, it's blue cheese. The question is, is mine classic me?

Well, yes it is. Is the me now the me then? Link Neal, chocolate peanut butter balls. Yes. I mean, I don't know why I'm surprised, but it's strangely validating that like, the things that matter most about me haven't changed. I love peanut butter.

Now I hate to do this to you, but I will say that Adam Nicholson just did peanut butter balls. That bastard. So he had actually a- He's the page before me. Yeah well because yeah, I mean it's a pure recipe. And you had to add chocolate to yours

which is a little off brand might I add. I like chocolate. I love chocolate and peanut butter together but yeah he- The other thing that's a little bit off brand is- Makes 150 balls. Is, that's a lot of off brand is. Makes 150 balls. That's a lot of balls. What is that that I drew at the bottom? It looks like salt and pepper shakers.

I feel like I'm surprised that our recipes, they're pretty similar in their presentation. I would have thought that mine would be really difficult to read and hard to follow and not well organized, but they're basically very similar, like we both. Well our moms wrote them and then we just copied them. No, no, but if you look at these other recipes, like we both made a very specific choice

that no one else made. We put a line at the top, we put the recipe name at the top, and then we put a line and we put all the recipe ingredients on each side of the line, and then we put the instructions below it, like a cookbook. We have similar formatting instincts.

No, but you put Link Neal at the top and at the bottom. You wanted to make real sure that everybody knew that this was your recipe, which that's on brand as well. 150 balls. And then we drew it at the bottom. I don't know why, I mean, that doesn't look like broccoli at all. It looks like a bunch of people on a.

A boat. A sausage. It's shaped like a bunch of people on a boat. A sausage. It's shaped like a piece of bread. Now so to go back to the question, I'm very grateful that you have this. This is evidence of like what our palates were. I mean we make a living, someone could argue, just by eating. I mean if we weren't able to eat, our careers may be over.

I hope that's not true, but some people might could argue that. Eating food is a huge part of what we do and the success of where we are. Now, but without this artifact, I wouldn't have been able to definitively tell you, especially for you because of blue cheese, that there was something there all along. Yeah, you might would have told me,

but there would have been a doubt in my mind. That I like blue cheese? Yeah, there would have been a little bit of doubt. It's like, I don't know, at that age, first grade, you like blue cheese, I don't know. It would have been a little doubt. Yeah, I liked that. The first time they ever let me taste it.

But there's no doubt because there's the artifact because your mom kept it. now you're gonna keep it in that place in your garage and that's important. So Molly, to answer your question, I think that these things will, I don't think it's about looking at them and asking if it brings you joy or even saying thank you to it.

I just think that you know in your soul, when you, you know in your soul if you need to hold on to something. Unless you're a hoarder and then you think you gotta hold on to everything, and that's a problem you need to have addressed. But I'm just saying if you don't have that problem, if you can practically find a way to store it

that's not an inconvenience to you or the people you live with, I say hold on to it. Because you might need it. Especially if it's got some sort of sentimental value. If it has no sentimental value and then you're simply asking the utilitarian question, I might need to use this at some point, follow Link's rule and if you haven't used it in a year,

definitely get rid of it. And if you need a mirror, I got one for you. Like, if you get it, you'll know I got the same one in my house, because I had two of them. So hit me up, hashtag EarBiscuits, if you get it, you'll know I got the same one in my house, because I had two of them. So hit me up, hashtag EarBiscuits if you want my mirror. Actually don't, I'm just being facetious. Do you wanna hit? Katie's gonna get it.

You wanna hit this question quickly? No, I think you wanna save this question. I wanna save this question, it opens up too much. Instead, I'll just give a rec. Okay. Cause it's time to check baby check baby rec two three four. My recommendation, it would have been better to go with last week's but it was your turn

to give the recommendation and we have rules here. You know, without rules we descend into chaos. We alternate who gives the recommendation. Now if I would have mentioned it, cause this is a camping related. Now if I would have mentioned it, because this is a camping related recommendation, if I would have mentioned it in my story, then you would have had the ability to steal my recommendation.

But I didn't mention it because I wanted to protect it from being stolen by you. Well I'll just let you know, I'm not ever gonna steal your recommendation. And you know what, I would never do that to you either. Okay, all right. My recommendation on the heels of last week's camping and VR conversation was and is,

if you're gonna go camping, buy yourself a camping hammock. Having gone camping a whole lot and then got fallen out of it, like I said, I was like, the kids are going there excited. I really want this to pay off, I wanna validate their decision to go camping and I need a little something extra this time, a little something to get them more excited.

And so I bought a camping hammock, one of these hammocks that you string up between two trees and it's like very lightweight and packable. I'll recommend the Eno is the brand, E-N-O. Let's see, I wrote down, it'll hold two people. It's called the Double Nest. You can get one that's called the Single Nest, just holds one person.

This one holds up to 400 pounds. Did you sleep overnight in it? No, I took it out there. The kids loved it. They could get in it. It's kinda like a swing, it was something to play in. If you don't find two trees that are far enough apart, like I drove the FJ over far enough from one tree

and then I, you gotta buy the straps too and I recommend buying the straps that have like multiple places that you can hook up carabiner instead of one. So for about 110 bucks you can get the hammock and the two straps with multiple carabiner locations. I hooked it up to the top of the FJ and a tree and they were swinging from that

and having a grand old time, man. I was validated. And then you know what? And aesthetically, this isn't working. Christy doesn't love it, but out there on the pergola, I string that puppy up and I've been swinging in a hammock back there in my backyard like I'm camping.

Have you taken a nap in it? Yeah. It kinda bends you up a little bit. All the blood pools in your butt cheeks. I read about these because I was gonna get one for a camping trip and for like a solo camping trip. And you're supposed to, on some of the designs, in order to prevent that from happening,

you're supposed to sleep at an angle that prevents, and I don't know if this happens with that design, sleep at an angle so that you're not bending like that and so that you're straight. Yeah and this one will hold two people. That's really interesting. It's like Lando and I get in together at the house and it's fun.

You can read a book, take your laptop out there and watch some stuff. But yeah, if you sit kind of sideways, that does help with that. And as it's getting cooler, it has a real cooling effect because it's so thin. Or you put your sleeping bag in it. So you would have to put your sleeping bag in it

and you would still get cold. You gotta watch yourself. Because you got nothing under you. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know about sleeping in it overnight in a cold environment, but boy, it just breathes new life into your camping experience. And so I highly recommend getting yourself a hammock.

String it up at home. But if you get yourself a hammock and you don't use it for a year, get rid of it. It's stuffable, it gets down to be this small. Okay, put it with your other lovable trinkets. Yeah, well. Put it up on a shelf in your garage. Well, put it with your camping gear.

Maybe we'll use it again. I allot a certain amount of space in the garage for my camping gear. I got some Tupperware associated with that and you shove it in there. Until next time, may all your hammocks be in use and all your trinkets be stored in a place that won't burn up in a fire.

And your passions engaged. Hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know if you agree or disagree or if you can sprinkle some more light on what we discussed today. We would appreciate it. Well I'm glad that you listened. That's a relief.