Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 257: Our Next Isolated Getaways | Ear Biscuits Ep.257

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

From bears to aliens to wildfires, there’s a lot to prepare for R&L’s next outdoor adventure. Listen to R&L discuss their plans for their isolated getaways into nature that have taken an unexpected twist from recent events 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. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.

Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Link. And I'm Rhett.

This week at the round table of dim lighting, we're going to be talking about our preparations for some upcoming trips. Now that may sound like, why are we gonna talk about preparations? Well, these wait. Because these trips are special trips. These trips are special.

Well, I mean, we should say you're going on a solo trip. Yeah. And I'm going on a trip that I've visualized a lot in my mind and that may be a problem. Hmm. But you're not going solo, but not to make me look bad. We'll talk about that. Right.

We'll talk about that. Yeah. A little bit. We'll talk about the in a little bit. We'll talk about the fact that I've planned my entire trip to make you look bad. Really? That's a sign of disrespect. But I chose to go on this trip first at this time and then you were like, well,

we usually travel at the same time, but you were like, well, I'm gonna take my wife. And I was like, you're trying to make me look bad? And by my wife, I mean your wife. You're not taking my wife. Well, have you talked to her lately? I mean, we're leaving, like tomorrow's the big prep day. And then, so 48 hours from right now,

we will both be on the road. There's hopefully, but there's a lot of question marks associated with that. Enough to talk about for an entire podcast. Another question mark is, where'd you get that shirt you're wearing? I know this was your shirt. That is my shirt.

There's no was about it. You gave me this shirt. No, I have given you some shirts that were too small for me. That one fits me perfectly. Well, I feel given you some shirts that were too small for me. That one fits me perfectly. Well, I feel like this shirt is a little too big for me. Yeah, yeah. But there's an orange one and this one,

and they're the same, and you said, "'These don't work for me,' and I'm like, "'Okay, well, I'll take these.'" They're not the same, so not a sponsor. That's an Elwood shirt, which I like and I wear and I- It's got a big neck. It's got a bigger neck, but it also, it's a little bit longer fit.

It's a little longer. And those work and they haven't shrunk. The orange one was like a $6 one, like a blank that I got off of Amazon. What I'll tend to do is I'll buy blank shirts that are the same kind of shirts that we print on here at Mythical. I don't even know what brand it is,

Next Level or something like that. I'll find blanks because I like to wear plain t-shirts. But sometimes, you know, not everything's, they're not always the same size, depends on the color. And that orange one got a little bit too small. There was another one with the orange one. It was this one. That was, I wasn't, I didn't-

What am I gonna do, go into your rack and take it? I didn't mean to give you that shirt. Can I get it back? What's in it for me? There doesn't have to be the orange shirt. You can keep the orange one. I don't like orange on me. Well.

I gave it to you because it didn't fit me. Will you change the color of the orange shirt? I'll dye it for you, yeah. Like tie dye it, bleach it. I'll tie dye it, yeah. Just stain it thoroughly to where it looks like a different hue. And then I'll give you this.

I mean, do you want it right now? You want me to do this shirtless? Nope, I do not want that. Some people might, but I do not. We also need to catch up. Well, first of all, we need a cat update because the presentation. It was quite a buildup there.

Yeah, because theoretically we could have a kitten right now but the plan was when we get, Christy and I get back from our trip, then we will get the cat because the cat- Oh, so it's happening. The kitten will be old enough. We decided that we're gonna get this kitten and of course, in the presentation,

it was Yeti, the white cat. And then that cat, turns out that cat was adopted. That's what happens usually. And then she was like, well, I'll just take the black cat, which she's calling Opal. But then, and it may have been right after we recorded, I went home or a few days later and there was this whole kerfuffle.

That cat was adopted out from underneath her too. You gotta act fast with cats. Well, we were, they were, Lily and Chrissy were upset because they did the paperwork, the adoption paperwork, like the application that said, this is the cat that we want. We've been in contact with the cat just to kind of clarify the whole thing.

And the application was approved. And then the next day is when they found out that the cat, oh, somebody else came in and adopted another cat. But then because they were willing to adopt two cats, they were given preference and they were given your cat. Of course she didn't say your cat. And that just doesn't seem right to me. It didn't seem right to any of us.

But ultimately after the person at the adoption agency ended up saying, listen, you know what? This is my fault. It seems like if she had to do it again, she would have given Lily the cat, but she was not gonna take the cat back from the people who adopted two kittens. So the long and short of it is,

we did not secure this cat. The cat has been unsecured. It has been adopted by another family. Just get another black cat. Along with a sibling. Just get another cat. I was like, there's plenty. You already settled for the second cat.

Yeah, that's what I told Lily. Settle for the third. Either that or let's just not get a cat. So, I mean, so are you saying that when you get back from your trip, you're gonna go and you're gonna pick the cat? A new cat? Lily was so mad.

Well, I understand that. That there's been no other plans made. I think the assumption is that there's some cooling off period where it's like, whenever we talk about it, she's just so hot under the collar about it that we can't get to, well, let's actually look for another cat. And I'm not pushing the issue.

Maybe this is part of the system. It was not me not pushing the issue. Maybe this is part of the system. It was not me that wanted a cat. Maybe this is part of the system. Maybe they do this with everyone. It's a test. Let's tell them we gave their cat away and see if they're a reasonable person. Gotta think about that.

Gotta think about everything. Lily let them have it. And then- She talked to them directly? Yeah, Christy, Lily got on the phone with the woman. Good for her. You know what, that's what, listen. I was really proud of her. That's what these kids should be doing. Yeah, she talked to her on the phone. It wasn't a text. I know I what, that's what, listen. I was really proud of her. That's what these kids should be doing.

Yeah, she talked to her on the phone. It wasn't a text. I know I sound like an old man a lot. Well, I am, I'm 42, I'm gonna be 43, probably, I'll be 43 about, you know, a couple weeks after this comes out. Listen, you young folks, you can't handle life's issues

either via text or via your parents. You just gotta get on that phone. Do something. I was surprised, I was- Take control of your own issues. I was very proud of her for getting on the phone. Of course, it didn't help. The moral of the story is,

yeah, you shouldn't have said that. You should have said it worked and convinced her. Well, it didn't work. I mean, so now it's been like a week of not really talking about it. Cooling off, cat cooling off period. So we'll see what happens. Okay, I'm waiting anxiously.

Now, another thing that we have to update you on, again, I don't know exactly when this is coming out, but I do know that it will have been a few weeks since this happened, but I, well, no, you tweeted. You tweeted something. Oh, oh, okay. The boot tweet. Yeah.

Well, okay, yeah, I tweeted, this was Saturday night after I did my listening party with Brittain, and let's see, where is this? Where's the text? Scroll, scroll, scroll. after I did like my listening party with Britain and let's see, where is this? Where's the text? Scroll, scroll, scroll. Well, it'd probably be under your Twitter. It's another way to do it.

But you're just- Yeah, and 9.30 at night, well, what I tweeted out was just got a text from Rhett that said, come to living room to discuss boot. That's it, no period, no follow up, no nothing. And I'm just staring at that. No, please don't share the follow up text yet. We'll get to that. Well, so that's what I tweet.

I tweeted that and then. Well, you also tweeted back at me. You texted back to me, you're like, can I tweet this? And I was like, sure, tweet it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You tweeted it, I responded to you. The Mythical Beasts who are, you know, tuned in to our Twitter conversations,

it's a certain set. You guys were very concerned. There was a lot of conjecture about what may have been meant whether or not I was at Link's house, were we gonna discuss boot? So right now we're about to clear up the discussing boot controversy. And let me tell you, every single possible idea

that you have about it is more interesting than the actual explanation. And that's why I've let it sit for a while. I have not heard the actual explanation, except that's why I've let it sit for a while. I have not heard the actual explanation, except the follow-up text. Except the follow-up text. But I mean, my follow-up tweet, when you did not tweet anything back,

and my original tweet just got a text from Rhett MC that said, come to living room to discuss boot. And then, you know, people are like, seems very urgent. Just go meet, just go meet up with him. He's waiting for you. You sure it's Rhett this time? And then I wrote back, I tweeted, replied to myself just to give an update.

And I was like, we are not in the same house. I'm scared. Which just seemed to like send people into a tizzy. But I mean, the text that you sent back to me privately, after come to living room to discuss boot was, whoops. Sorry, that was meant for Locke. And then I said, can't imagine how that text would not be strange for anyone to receive.

Right. So it was a, you sent it to me, you meant to send it to Locke, I still have no clue what you want to discuss boot with Locke. Come to the living room to discuss boot. Let me tell you that the Link Locke mix up has happened before. I can't, this is definitely the funniest example of it,

but I go to my phone to text someone, my son in this case, and I just see, you know, it's like, I think I'm about to, you know, press lock, but I press link and then, you know, next thing you know, I've sent a text. Anyway, so the, I'm gonna make this short cause it's uninteresting. Locke sprained his ankle on like Thursday.

Okay. And he's like me, he's a hypochondriac and he has catastrophized how bad the ankle sprain is and what it's gonna mean and all this stuff. He's had some issues with his ankles, high arches. And so he's like talking about, "'Dad, you gotta get me one of those boots. You gotta get me one of those immobilizing boots.

We gotta go tomorrow and get it. And I was like, look, there's no place that you can pick this up. I can order you one like on Amazon, it'll get here on Monday. Well, I needed to discuss that with him because he was like, figure out where we're gonna go. I bet you were in the living room. And I was in the living him because he was like, figure out where we're gonna go. I bet you were in living room.

And I was in the living room and he was somewhere else. And I texted him, come to living room to discuss boot. So you don't yell through the house, you just text as a form of intercom. You know, we have Google Home so we will sometimes broadcast. You can do that. But he was,

I had some reason to believe that he was not next to a speaker, I can't remember. I thought, you know, I think- I've never used that feature, by the way. Oh, it's constantly happening. You don't use the dinnertime feature? If you say HG, because I'm not gonna say it because I don't want your Google devices to go off.

That's cool, consider it. If you say HG, because I'm not gonna say it because I don't want your Google devices to go off. That's considerate. If you say HG, it's dinner time, she rings a bell. Come and get it, ding, ding, ding. Really? And it rings everywhere on all your Google Homes. Oh, I didn't know about that. We use it, in fact, this morning, as I was leaving, I heard Jessie say,

HG, broadcast, Shepard, get up now. Because she doesn't know where he could be anywhere in the house asleep. Well, you can actually broadcast directly to a person's room now, that's a new feature. Like in the past month, you can say, broadcast to Shepard's room, get up now, Shepard. So Locke has a sprained ankle.

So you're making him come all the way down all the stairs on a sprained ankle. So you're making him come all the way down all the stairs on his sprained ankle. There's other stairs even into the living room. No, the living room is the farthest point. He was outside and also, again, I was handling all this for him. He's a 16 year old kid. Let him discuss his own boot.

He should discuss boot in his own mind and buy boot. Because listen, we bought boot. Yeah. And yesterday boot arrived. Yeah. And he tried to put boot on and I could tell he could not figure boot out. And he was like- How does it figure out boot?

Well, it's a complex boot. It's just a bunch of Velcro straps, right? No, but there's a valve and it inflates and there's things that you stick in. Yeah, it's very- It's an inflatable boot? $75. Oh God. And so- probably not all of them. So I said, I knew this was gonna happen.

I was like, I saw him up there fumbling when I was like, you figuring it out? He's like, not really. I was like, well, I believe in you. And I just walked away because I'm just, I don't wanna, they gotta do things on their own, man. Yeah. Because one of these days it's just gonna be you and Boot.

Did that count as discuss Boot? Like what you just talked about? What did that, does that count? Yeah, I believe in you, yeah. No, just that part was discuss Boot as well. Anytime we talk about Boot is discussing Boot. But people thought so many different things like, oh, lots of people were like, is it book?

Are they writing another book? Discuss book. I would text you, come to the living room. Some people said that you left the Y off. Booty. Yeah. Come to the living room now. Discuss booty.

I'm not gonna be showing up for that appointment. Yeah, so it's much less interesting than you all thought. It's just, and's just an actual boot. But I did go into my living room. You weren't there. Yeah. You know, which I tweeted, I believe. Well, we just called everybody up on everything.

We're so caught up. Now we can move into the future and talk about our big plans. I have this sense that we're gonna talk about these plans and then something's gonna happen to one of us and this is going to be, I don't know, it's just, you know. I hope it's you. I have a sense of impending doom

and I almost wish I didn't say it. And there's good reason for that, which we'll get into. Yeah. 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. All right, so as you said, this is a solo trip for me and this is something that I have been planning for, I've been planning for, I've been intending for a long time, right? So ever since I started going to therapy a couple of years ago, one of the things that my therapist does on a regular basis is take solo trips.

Like, you know, he'll go take like a, you know, he can do like twice a year, he'll do like over a week long trip. Well, that's a sabbatical. If you go over a week, you're talking sabbatical. He's always talked about, and you know, I've known, you know, I had some friends who, like they kind of got into a rhythm where each year,

both the husband and the wife would take like a week long solo trip. And people have talked about this being, he's been encouraging it for a really long time, both for me and for Jesse. And Jesse is heading off on a solo trip like a few weeks from now. And again, he's just like,

it's just a different, it's a different vibe. It's especially when you are when you've never done it before and each person has their own reasons why they would want to do it and what might be the benefits of it. But he's just talking about, he's just like, you unplug and you kind of have an intention and you just get out there

and you don't really know exactly what's gonna happen. But he's just like, at this point, I couldn't do without them. Like they are like my reset button, right? And you hear people talk about this, like, you know, I don't know if it's an urban legend, but like Rivers Cuomo goes off for a month every year into a silent, he does like a silent retreat.

So he doesn't speak for a month every year. There's places you can go. Yeah. Like monasteries, I think? And do like a- That would be an option. Silent retreat. A yoga retreat would also be a place. Especially out here in Cali, there's plenty of stuff.

I mean, it is a tenant of mythicality. I mean, in the book of mythicality, we devoted a whole chapter to isolate yourself with yourself. And so on this very podcast, we talked about the first solo trips that we each took years ago. So if you're interested in our first solo trips, you can look that up.

I went to Slab City, which is like out in the desert below Joshua Tree and you went. Joshua Tree. Because we didn't go at the same time. I don't think so, yeah. Yeah, you went off into some BLM land, which Bureau of Land Management. Yeah, you have to clarify that now.

I noticed that the other day cause I was looking for some BLM information about- You can camp anywhere on Black Lives Matter land. I was looking for some BLM, Bureau of Land Management information for dispersed camping and it's just like, oh yeah, yeah, okay, yes. The hashtag has been taken over.

You have to spell it out now. Which is great. And that's good. That's good. That's good. That's really good. So yeah, and that trip was only a night or two? I think it was, mine was three nights. You went longer than I did. But I wasn't alone.

I went to Slab City and interacted with people. To clarify, I'm not necessarily gonna be out of human contact. But okay, but let me just- I thought you were. Well, no, I am gonna be out of human contact for most of the time, but I'm not like, I'm going to places where there is likely

to be other people at times. So it's not like I'm not gonna speak to people. I'm not going off into the wilderness, completely isolated in one area for like six days. I think that's what it is. I think it's five nights, six days. But you could certainly go two days. Oh easily.

Without seeing or talking to anybody based on what I've heard of your. Yeah, well, that's kind of, I mean, we'll get into like why that might be the case. Well, so one of the things that my therapist has talked about, and this is, I mean, this is not exclusive like, you know, knowledge that he has, this is just common knowledge,

I think at this point, but most people who go off and spend time alone are like, you don't really experience the benefit, like anybody I've ever heard talk about like a meditation retreat, they're like, you really don't experience much of the benefit unless you get past like day three, right? A lot of times right around day three,

some people say day five, which is like almost the total time that I'm gonna be out there, is when like something clicks and you're like, you know. When you really start to go crazy. Right. That's what some people may be thinking right now. It's like, I've never been alone that long.

Are we talking about a breaking point or a breakthrough point? They might be one of the same. But this trip for me represents- But that's something your therapist, it tells you, is that, hey, it doesn't need to be a short trip. It needs to be as long as you can make it so you can get past that turning point.

Well, and specifically, and this is for me, but it probably applies to a lot of people. It takes a couple of days. I mean, I noticed this and this is for me, but it probably applies to a lot of people. It takes a couple of days. I mean, I noticed this when I travel on vacation, just with the family. It takes a couple of days for me to finally adjust to the pace of a vacation. I think about so many things.

I am constantly, have a low level of anxiety about like 28 different things that are related to us professionally, right? I was thinking about this the other day that, you know, you guys know a lot of the things that we do, you see a lot of the things that we do publicly that sort of the ongoing things that we do, but we don't talk about what it's like to run a company

and to grow a company and to deal with all the issues that come with that. We don't talk about all the other projects that we're trying to get off the ground. There's a whole lot of things that we don't talk about just because we keep some things to ourselves. We talk about a lot, but sometimes it hits me, even when I'm sitting down trying to meditate

and the point of the meditation is to just focus on my breath and not think about anything else. Yeah. Monkey brain, right? I have monkey brain just like most everybody and I can't just stop thinking about a million different things. So what I've been told by people who've tried to unplug

is that listen, it takes a few days just to grab all the knobs and turn them off. You know, you're just finding another knob and turning it off. And for me you're just finding another knob and turning it off. And for me, the whole point of the trip is, you know, I've been on this quest to try to connect with myself more. And I don't say, I'm not saying that in a self-absorbed way,

I'm saying that in a, I tend to be very much in my head, don't spend a lot of time in my heart. Don't spend a lot of time in my heart. Don't spend a lot of time understanding what, knowing what I'm feeling, really getting into my feelings and understand what that means. Just knowing myself, right? And every step I've taken towards that has been beneficial,

not only for me, but for all the people in my life who I love, right? And I've been doing, you know, one sort of outward manifestation of what I'm trying to do internally has been me growing my beard and my hair out. I talked about that on an episode of Ear Biscuits. And I've been kind of intending to do this solo trip

for a really long time. I was thinking that it was gonna be 2020. Of course, COVID happened and so things, a lot of people's plans got turned upside down. But I finally got it on the books, right? You know, we said, let's just carve the time out and then we'll start figuring out what we're gonna do. So this was a couple months ago that we were like,

okay, this is when the time's gonna be. It was before COVID hit, I think. Maybe not. It wasn't for me. I am going north from Los Angeles. One of the things that my therapist has done many times and is kind of into is going throughout through the Western United States and going to hot springs. And I'm a huge hot springs guy.

I love hot springs, I love hot water. And I'm, you know, I don't believe a lot of woo stuff. So I'm not like, I don't necessarily think that there's some like spiritual thing that's gonna happen to me at these hot springs. Maybe I'm open to it, but woo stuff. So I'm not like, I don't necessarily think that there's some like spiritual thing that's gonna happen to me at these hot springs. Maybe I'm open to it, but that's not why I'm going. I just love hot springs. And I love the idea, he sent me these pictures

of like places he's gone where like, he drives his four wheel drive vehicle through these mountains and comes to this hot spring. And then he's got this hot spring to himself basically. I mean, it is really cool. It's mesmerizing to think about it. You look on a map and you can see, I mean, when we've gone off-roading,

like our first experience with hot springs was when we went on that overlanding trip to Death Valley and then you get to this one little oasis in the middle of this valley that has nothing but way down there in the bottom of the valley, you see there's some palm trees. I mean, just what you would think of an oasis. And there's a hot spring there.

And there was some naked people. Right. We talked about that on a GMM episode when we came back. And those are more, that's like on a road that most cars can get to, there might be an RV. Like some of the ones that he showed me that I may or may not be able to get to are more isolated than that.

Yeah, you'll just see on the map, say Hot Springs, but it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere. And some of them aren't even on the map. So, okay, so anyway, this is where, and I don't wanna get too in the weeds on this, but the thing that is very, the sort of the key struggle that I'm dealing with at this point, two days out from departure,

is what I've been dealing with for the past two months, which is the balance of being prepared versus having unrealistic or even specific expectations, right? Because for me, the whole exercise, the whole point of the trip is to not want to accomplish anything, right? My life and my brain is sort of completely centered

around accomplishing things, right? And I can't vacation without thinking that I need to learn how to do, I need to learn how to surf or I need to learn how to surf. I have these things that I get in my mind that I feel like I have to accomplish in order to make it worth it. And when you go on the solo trip,

there is this like, well, I've gotta come back with some wisdom. I've gotta come back with something. But also, what if I can't find these places? Or what if I get there and there's people there? What if I get there and the big, huge question mark that has suddenly sprung up in these plants is the freaking wildfires that are consuming our state.

And I'm not driving, I am driving directly towards one of them, but it's one that's not as big as some of the other ones. But if you look at satellite imagery of the state of California, there's smoke everywhere. I mean, wherever I go, I'm going to be covered in smoke to some degree. And not only that, but just last night,

because of this latest fire, like there's a bunch of fires that just happened, having just started recording this. I mean, there's been multiple fires, but there's a couple more that just started like over the weekend. And now the Santa Ana winds are coming in. They've closed all the national forests.

So like Sequoia is closed, Inyo is closed, and both Sequoia and Inyo, especially Inyo, are ones that I would have been like camping in, right? That's right, yeah. And so I don't know what that means for all the BLM land, so you've got the Bureau of Land Management, which is usually crappier land that wasn't good enough to be designated as a national park or a forest,

but you can do dispersed camping, and I've got this rooftop tent on the FJ Cruiser. Basically, if I can find a place to park, I can camp, but there are no fires allowed, and not just no fires, no stoves, no gas stoves. Like so you can't even get hot water, as of last night, you cannot have a gas stove fire anywhere in a national forest in California.

But what does that mean about BLM? I've got like my little bullet water boiler that I'm just like to make like quick meals and stuff. I won't do that on US, you know, in a forest, in a national forest, but I'm gonna do it on BLM land because I gotta eat. But I mean, there's no fire risk in that. What you don't need to do is you don't need to fire off

one of those gender reveal rockets. Basically, that's no fire risk in that. What you don't need to do is you don't need to fire off one of those gender reveal rockets. Basically, that's what this is all about. I'm gonna go into the desert and do a gender reveal of myself. That's why, I mean, that's what set the fire south of us started by a freaking gender reveal party. I know. What are they doing having a gender reveal party?

It was over a hundred degrees and they're outside firing off a pink or blue smoke that caught fire, they tried to put it out, it goes over the hill and then they're evacuating thousands of people. And did you hear what they're saying? They're going to- Nightmare. They're going to make that family be responsible

to pay for the damage of the fire. What do you mean? Are they billionaires? Because otherwise, no. I mean, they should obviously be held accountable, but like I saw an article like family has to pay. I was like, out of what? They're sorry.

That's all you can, I mean, they learn, you know, they've been made an example of. So that's complicating things because- The fires are- I don't have a- So sad. I have a, I've got all these apps and all these maps downloaded, right?

And I've got like, and like my family laughs at me because every single weekend I'm out there like putting stuff into the truck and I've got like these drawers in the back of the FJ now with all my stuff in it. I am so prepared and I'm really excited about the rooftop tent. Oh yeah, that's nice.

My route takes me up into, like basically like heading up towards Mammoth and that whole like valley all the way up on the 395 has got, there's hot springs and stuff. And then my options after that, depending on how I feel, or I could go all the way up to Northern Nevada. I could go all the way to Idaho if it hits me, but I think I'm gonna get too far away at that point

and it would be too tough to come back. But there's wildfires all along this route. And so I just don't know, every single night, I'm gonna have an intention on the general area in which I would like to sleep and kind of bed down. But it's so up in the air, I'm not doing any formal campgrounds. I have a portable toilet with a privacy pop-up thing.

Okay. I have a solar shower. Like I am gonna be completely self-sufficient. I don't have to stop anywhere except for gas. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime!

Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore.

So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. So let me share my plans a little bit. And then I want to come back to, to like, what is gonna be your practice? You know, cause I'm interested in that, but just to kind of skip over to my thing. Yeah, once you carved out those dates, it's so much easier to say, I'm gonna do the same dates, I'm gonna plan my own trip.

And I really liked the idea of doing another solo trip. And I definitely have this feeling that like I could really benefit from that and I definitely wanna do it. But I've had this thing that, I've told you about the vans, you know, this hashtag van life stuff, I've started following all these people who live out of these Mercedes about the vans. You know, I started this hashtag van life stuff. I've started following all these people

who live out of these Mercedes Sprinter vans that have been modded out with a bed and a kitchen. And some of them have a bathroom inside and then you can have four wheel drive. Oh, it just looks so good on Instagram. Oh, just look at those pictures of that person. Just a van in the middle of nowhere. And I'm like, I can see this in my future.

And I start talking to you about, hi Matt. You can see it in your future. I'm gonna get one of these vans. And you see it in Christy's future because it's in her future at this point. Yes, I'm like really romanticizing this idea of not selling my house and living in a van, but having this van,

it's basically the cool hipster version of an RV. You know, we had our RV trip to Grand Canyon a few years back and Lando was excited to do it again, but, and Christy had a good time, but the older kids, it just didn't resonate that much with them. And I'm like, well, I can see in retirement, me and Christy are gonna like-

Be that couple. It's like once Lando is like out of the house. So like, you know. Yeah, he's 14. You're gonna send him off early. Well, like let's just say eight years from now, it's like, I could see that we could do something like that. Me and Christy could just have these like van excursions.

And she can see this as well? I started to show her pictures on Instagram. I was like, isn't that cool? Look at where they are. There's this specific one that floats around and it's a point of view shot of someone getting up out of the bed in their Sprinter van, going over to the burner and taking the hot coffee

in a mug off, opening the door to the Sprinter van, and then- I've seen this. Then walking out of the Sprinter van, walking onto this little dock, and then jumping into this beautiful mountain lake with the coffee. Are you gonna make those kinds of videos on your trip? And I'm like, I'm showing this to her,

and I'm like, we're gonna make these type of videos on your trip? And I'm like, I'm showing this to her. And I'm like, we're gonna make these types of videos like in our retirement years. And then I'm like, you know what? Screw retirement. I wanna know now if this is even viable. So I bought one. No, you can rent these Sprinter vans. It's like, just like there's a site called Outdoorsy,

which is like the Airbnb for RVs. Is the one you're renting having a bathroom? The first one I was gonna rent didn't have a bathroom, but then I was like, you know what? This is so much about, so much hinges on us having a good experience, me and Christy. And again, it's just the two of us,

we're not taking the kids. It's like, if she hates this, I see no way forward. Is this a bathroom you can take a shit in? So I'm like, I'm renting one with the bathroom. So it's a toilet that, yeah, you can crap in there. And the toilet is in the shower. So it's a toilet in a shower.

Well, I shit in the shower already. So it's just a shower with a, with a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, already. It's just a shower with a, with a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a a container. Yeah, and then you take that container around with you and it makes the whole van smell. No, well, I don't know. Maybe the technology's gotten better, you have to test it out. I can test it out for you.

There's a seal, you know, there's definitely, There's a seal down there that eats it. Oh, oh, oh! That's why it costs so much, because you have to have an environment for a seal. That poor seal, man. That's what you costs so much, because you have to have an environment for a seal. That poor seal, man. That's what you should feel bad about, that you got a seal that's eating you and your wife's crap

all the whole trip. You thought C-roll was bad. When we did the RV, it was like, there was no crap in the RV toilet. That was our rule. Just like when we were on tour. And that was based on our experience in 2008, being on an RV and somebody saying, nobody crapping this thing.

We're gonna crap in this thing and we're gonna figure it out. That's part of the test. Otherwise, these other Sprinter vans that don't wanna dedicate the internal space to like a shower, they'll have a shower hanging off the back and then they have a portable toilet like what you have and you'll just do it in the middle of the van

or you'll do it with a curtain around you, what you're talking about. Mine is a, it is a, it folds up to like a briefcase but then the legs come out. You do your business. And then you sit on it and there's a bag that basically, and I've got like 12 bags or something. It's like a diaper genie.

It's basically like a diaper kind of bag. And so, and like, I was reading the reviews and this one mom was like, our family of five used one bag for the three day trip. And I'm like, what? But see, I think what it is, is you take that bag and you seal it up and then you put it, so I've got the Trasharoo,

which is the trash on the outside of the truck that's on the back spare. And then I think you just take that bag and you put it out there so it's outside and so it's not in your car. You can't do that in bear country, but I don't think you're going to bear country. You're going to-

Well, I would be going and I do have bear spray, by the way, I've got two cans of bear spray. If I go to the west of 395, which is where you're getting up closer to Sequoia and everything, that's bear country if I were to go hiking or whatever. Well, you're not going there anymore. But the problem is, is that's where all the fires are.

So I'm probably gonna go on the east side. There might be bears out there. You're saying the bears, you're talking about just the trash being on the outside. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If I'm in a place that I think that there's bears and I'll put everything inside the car.

So you can boondock, which is basically, you can car camp anywhere that is X amount of feet off of a road on either National Forest or BLM land. Yeah. And you can't start fires everywhere or really anywhere right now. But you have this, there's a sense of freedom that you don't have to reserve a campsite.

I mean, with COVID, you can't really reserve campsites anywhere that's the best destinations anyway. They were already reserved and the capacity was severely taken down. But my plan was we were gonna go up the coast to Big Sur and we were going to camp there one night and then we're gonna keep going up to Monterey and then we're gonna go across to Yosemite.

I mean, when I made these plans, the state was not burning, but then all of a sudden, Big Sur caught on fire. Yeah, it's all burning. Well, that's going off of the list. I'm just gonna go to Yosemite and we can stay outside of the park. There's places you can stay, spots you can stay at, I should say.

But now the air quality there is so bad. The fires, at least right now, aren't in Yosemite, but there's so much smoke coming in that it's not gonna be a good experience. There's still a chance we may go, but I'm pretty much have decided that we're not going to Yosemite. So now I'm like, I was literally just looking

at the fire map of the Western United States and trying to figure out where we could go that wasn't on fire. And I was like, I think Utah is hard to burn. You know, because if you look at, I'm just based on the fire maps. Now I think I'm going to Utah. Now Zion is very restricted. Yeah, you gotta get a shuttle to go in there.

So I don't think we're going to Zion National Park. My understanding, because I may end up in Utah, right? So my route, if one of my routes takes me all the way to Utah and then down through Zion, and I would still just be on BLM, you know, National Forest Land and stuff, not going into the actual national parks. If you get too far into Utah,

there's just not a lot to burn. I mean, I'm speaking out of turn here, but that's just the impression I get. Like it's a bunch of rock formation. Well, that's why all the fires are west of the 395, because even on the eastern side of the, so I guess that's the eastern Sierras, you just look at a satellite map,

it's like, there's just not a lot of vegetation there. So I'm trying to find a place that's not wicked hot. It's not gonna be that hot at elevation. I think we're going to Bryce Canyon or we're going around that area. But again, we're just gonna, we can find places to, we're doing the same thing you're doing. I'm just doing it in like a really nice van.

Right. So I'm glamping and you're just roughing. I mean, mine's gonna be, it's not really roughing. And I mean, it's not glamping, but it's easier than regular camping. Yeah, yeah. The whole idea for me is to be like, I don't know exactly where I'm gonna park tonight

and then roll this tent out. Yeah. I want to be alone, right? And so my philosophy going into this is I'm driving north, kinda feel it out and I'm doing as much as I can to literally follow my instincts. Follow my heart wherever it might go. It's an embodiment practice, right?

It's like I'm physically going somewhere, I don't have specific plans, and I'm gonna take it as it comes, and I'm gonna try to have an attitude, correct me if I'm wrong, of embracing whatever, whatever situation presents itself. And that is a very difficult thing for me to do because I'm thinking about, like, I've been looking

at this, looking at these maps and like thinking, I could go to this one, or am I gonna be in the mood to drive that far if I wanna go to this one? What if I get there and like it's closed because of the fires or it's closed for some other reason or there's just a bunch of people there and I can't like, or in many of these places, there's a bunch of naked people there.

I don't mind that. But what if I wanted to get naked? Am I gonna get naked with a bunch of people that I don't know? Anything's on the table. So the whole, the exercise is to let go. If you show up at a play, a spring, and there's naked people there, what are you gonna do?

I'm just gonna get in with my bathing suit on probably. If they're naked? Yeah, I don't, I mean. Just be naked. I haven't thought about it. You know what, I'm gonna wait and I'm gonna follow my heart in the moment. My heart says, let it all hang out.

It is gonna be hard. It will be hard for me, I'll put it this way, to not be thinking about the, okay, the report that I would come back and give to you. I mean, the last solo trip, there was meaningful things that happened, but I do remember constantly thinking about how it was going to,

you know, what kind of stories I was gonna be able to tell that would like make it more valuable, but that's not the value you see here. So I talked about this aspect. I actually, I hesitated even talking about this trip for this very reason, right? And I talked about this whole process with my therapist because I said, you said, I have a tendency

for a couple of things to happen. Number one, I can be so focused on not accomplishing something that that becomes something I'm trying to accomplish. I'm so focused on letting go that if I feel like I can't let go, then I feel like I haven't met the expectation of letting go of expectations. So you really get inside your own head, right?

But the other thing is, is I think that I have to have something to bring back. And that can be, this is what happened in my mind and my heart while I was on this trip. This is the epiphany that I had. This is the realization that I had at the third day in the middle of a meditation while I was tracking the sun.

Or something funny has gotta happen. So I've got the story of whether or not I got naked at the spring so I can come back on Ear Biscuits and tell it. And so my mission, and again, there's really no way to let go of this seeming like a mission, is to not have a mission. And to literally be like, I'm not trying to get myself into situation,

I'm not trying to take a risk. A lot of times we'll do something or take a risk. Like the time that I went to that yoga class on my solo, we've taken a couple of solo, I went to Joshua Tree one time, but another solo trip is when I went to the beach and I took that yoga class and I was the only guy in there and it was a hilarious story.

You know, there's a part of me that went to that yoga class knowing that something funny might happen that I could talk about on Ear Biscuits. Yeah. And I like living life like that in some ways because I feel like it leads me into better experiences. But for this trip, I can't even promise that I'm gonna even tell you how it went.

Because it may be that I get something that I feel like is just for me and to share it would ruin it. So it may be that like, I'll wait and share it later. Because I honestly, I'm just trying to be open. I am gonna try to make contact with aliens. That is one of the things that is gonna happen. Well, okay.

You talking about after that Netflix wreck? No, I know we've talked, there's been a number of documentaries that we've watched. Well, there's another, okay, so again. That seems like, this seems like a totally different path. Yeah, we'll talk about this more later, but you, and here's the thing, I don't believe that any of this is real,

but I'm just trying to be a person who doesn't just conclude things before being open to them. And the whole Dr. Steven Greer thing, he's got a couple of documentaries on Netflix. He's the guy that had some access. He worked at Area 51 or whatever, and he swears that there's extraterrestrials

and people are in contact with them. And then he has this whole app where the idea is that through meditation, usually group meditation, you can make contact with these aliens, right? Now, do I believe that this is what's actually happening? I would be so surprised if that's what's actually happening, but if it was what was actually happening, it wouldn't be cool.

You know what I mean? And so I'm just, again, coming from, and a lot of this is sort of continuing to peel back the layers of spending my entire life, up until about 10 years ago or so, really entrenched in an evangelical worldview. And one of the things that comes along for me personally with the evangelical worldview is just the belief

that you have arrived at the ultimate truth, right? I specifically remember, even as a college student, thinking, man, it's so cool that I believe the correct thing. It's so cool that I know that Jesus is the only way to have a connection with the creator of the universe and that I have a relationship with him and that I have arrived at this truth that is the ultimate truth.

Like I remember thinking that as a college student, you know, and you know, 20 years later, I'm at this place where it's just like, the only thing I know is that I don't know anything. And it's a completely different place to be. But when you have this worldview, that is all about having this, you know, systematic theology, all this stuff kind of

wrapped up together and it's kind of impenetrable, right? And you're not really supposed to poke it. And if you do poke it, you're supposed to do it for the sake of just building it up, making it even stronger. To me, it's a good exercise for me to be like, now, I have absolutely no reason to believe that I'm going to have contact with aliens.

But what does it feel like to sit down in the middle of the desert? And I actually bought, because they suggested that you buy this chair that is one of those chairs, the anti-gravity chair, basically, that you can kind of- You float? You can kind of lean back.

Okay, a recliner. It's basically a recliner for the desert or the beach. An alien recliner. And stare at the sky. Does it, like, it points your butthole in the right place for a probe? Right, yeah, he opens you straight up to it. Okay.

Like there's gonna be a moment where I am. Just relax, let it in. In a place where I'm out there, it's just me and nature, and I'm gonna be open to extraterrestrial interaction. Now Rhett. And if that happens, I will talk about it. We remember what happened when you got scared

on your solo trip and you ran into your tent and watched Superbad. I certainly expect. On your laptop. That that is gonna be a struggle. I certainly expect. You're gonna get scared. That being scared, and the funny thing about that

is that I actually could like hear the highway and see cars like a couple of miles away. I'm gonna be in some places if I can get to the places that I wanna go where, like I have a satellite phone, FYI. Because I'm gonna be by myself and I'm gonna be well outside of any sort of cell service. I've got a satellite phone that sends, oh, and by the way,

you're listed as the second emergency contact behind my wife, so. Okay. Which may not be great because you're gonna be like on your own trip, but I will have the ability to do an SOS. I have the ability to text and basically text my location and I can get somebody to come rescue me for a lot of money if things get real bad.

Okay. But I plan, I'm definitely gonna get scared. I definitely relate to the expectation thing. I mean, in general, in my life, I'm trying to deal with, you know, how I place expectations on things and how I seek to control things and perfect things. And one of the questions that I'm learning to ask is,

what is my desired outcome? Because I've started, and through that, I noticed that a lot of the things that I do and actions that I take to assert control that make me feel good, actually don't have, don't move me towards the desired outcome if I were to state what that is. Now that's actually different than,

I think you're describing an exercise that is let go of desire for an outcome. Knowing what my desired outcome is for me and stating that is just an exercise to help me know if I'm fixating on things for the wrong reason, just for the sake of control. I think it's just a different exercise what you're doing. But I do think there's an element of that for me in this trip as well that I'm trying to,

okay, my desired outcome is to have, you know, have a quality experience with Christy, for us to have a good time together, for us to come back and have a good time, just period. You know, we had to cancel our 20 year anniversary trip. We were gonna go to Big Sur and like stay in this cabin. It was gonna be really cool. We had to cancel all that because of COVID.

And instead of trying to rebook something like that, I'm going with this van dream test type thing. But yeah, I could very easily put so much pressure on her to have a good time and to like this thing and to embrace my dream and fantasy for us, like living the van life or and put so much pressure on myself to create an experience that would win her over

versus this may be the only experience we have in a van. You know, it may suck, it may be great, but we're gonna be together and it's, you know, I just wanna set it up for quality. And it's not about going to a certain destination and then saying, okay, well, if we go here, these are the pictures all these people take on Instagram. These are the things we gotta see.

Okay, that means we gotta do this trail. We gotta hike this trail. Well, that means we've gotta get on this shuttle. That means we've gotta park here. That means we've gotta see. Okay, that means we gotta do this trail. We gotta hike this trail. Well, that means we've gotta get on this shuttle. That means we've gotta park here. That means we've gotta, you know, all of these things that are about, well, my desired outcome is not to have Instagramable moments or be able to say that I did,

when I say I went to Bryce Canyon and someone says, oh, did you do the so-and-so? It doesn't matter if my answer is yes or no to them. Right. It's interesting how I can fall into that trap so easily. It's like, unless I meet someone who knows more than me about something that I'm doing, if I don't meet their expectations,

then I failed because I haven't, I haven't had a perfect trip. Well, and there's a fear. Oh, you didn't see the so and so. And there's a fear of missing out too. I mean, I remember the first time we went to Disney World with my wife's family, right? So this is a big trip.

Her parents, I guess at that point, we may or may not have had any kids, I can't remember, but my brother and sister-in-law had at least a kid and we had Gaga and Papa with us. May they both rest in peace, but they were both alive at the time. Okay, that makes it easier. And the idea, so what I did,

when I found out we were going to Disney World. Itinerary man. And here's the funny thing is I talk about it like, you know, when somebody, when your best friend is as efficiency driven as you are, you begin to think that you're not, you begin to think that you're this like happy go lucky guy until you interact with normal people

or people who are on the opposite end of the spectrum. And then you realize that, I realized that I am so much more concerned about planning and efficiency than my wife's family and also probably than the average person, right? Or I'm probably somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. But for this trip, I bought the book. And I was like, okay, we've got five days here.

These are the parks we need to visit. We need to literally go around the park in this direction. We need to get fast passes for this ride. We need to skip this ride. And I was like, if you, cause we wanna hit all the hotspots. So I remember- But that wasn't-

Breaking that plan out for them. And it was almost like, okay, Mr. Ruin Everyone's Fun. You know what I'm saying? Because their philosophy- That was their take on it. Their philosophy was, let's just go in. Why do we have to get up so early and have breakfast and get there before people and make sure you do this?

Can't we just go in there? Now, there is a balance. Let me just say there is a balance because if you could take the complete opposite, no planning, no foresight, you might go and be like, we didn't do anything fun. All I did was wait in two lines all day because I didn't think about this.

But when you get in my, that's what I'm trying to, I'm trying to strike the balance, the balance between being prepared and having a plan, but having no expectation that that plan will be met and not thinking that success is the plan being accomplished. Right. These certain expectations.

So being prepared, but having no expectations. It's like those are two very different, I think we're saying the same thing. Maybe we're saying the same thing because I'm like, if I say my desired outcome is to enjoy Christy's company and for her to enjoy mine, and that means I have to stay in a certain mind frame that's enjoyable.

I can't fall for my own traps, which make me someone who's not fun to be around because I get in my head about, oh, this isn't working out. But also you stop having fun. Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. So if that's my desired outcome, then it's, oh, it's not about going on the right trail

or getting to the certain place or camping at the place with the most perfect view. And then if it happens, you're like, wow, bonus. Is that the same, is that similar to what you're saying in terms of like letting go of expectations? Yeah, it's the same thing. I mean, for you, again, I think this is that whole Enneagram one, Enneagram three

presenting in a very similar way in the way that they approach things. For you, it might be about controlling it and doing it perfectly. And for me, it might be a slightly different twist on that of just like accomplishing a certain number of things. In its effect, it's kind of the same thing. It's like, I'm going into this trip,

I'm thinking that, now I don't have an, because I am not trying to go to anything other than there's a couple of like hot springs that I definitely wanna see. So if I didn't see those, if I didn't make it to those or something about that aspect of it was screwed up, that's gonna present itself as a disappointment. But it's not really like a sightseeing trip.

It may be the case that I drive into the wilderness on day one and then I'm just like, I'm gonna stay here for six days. Are you gonna- I'm gonna keep my truck right here and I'm just gonna stay here. Yeah. And be okay with that. Cause being alone and driving and being alone in one place is a different thing.

I do expect at least one of the places to be a place that I would be like, okay. Cause it's not like every morning I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna eat some breakfast really quickly and then I'm gonna fold my tent up and just get back on the road. Yeah. I fully expect that like,

well today I'm just gonna stay here. I'm gonna sleep in the same exact place. At what point do you think you're gonna start speaking audibly to yourself? Early on. Early on, huh? Yeah. Yeah, I wonder.

I wonder if I would speak. I'm not even gonna, there's not gonna be a time, I would do that anyway. Yeah, I think it would take me a good number of days before I start speaking out loud to myself. But then once I did it would take me a good number of days before I start speaking out loud to myself. But then once I did it, maybe that would open up a whole stream of self-realization. Well, the thing is I'm trying to figure out

what is the best way to document it. Again, I often will journal something and I'll journal it in a way as if it will be read in the future. Yeah. Because well, case in point, when we did the deconstruction, the last years, I read from my journal, right?

And I am narcissistic enough to have this idea that someone will be interested in reading my journal. Right? And the idea that for this be interested in reading my journal, right? And the idea that for this thing, it's like, okay, well, what am I gonna do? Like, am I gonna- You haven't decided what you're gonna do? Well, I've got multiple options.

I've got, I mean, I'm gonna have my computer with me. I'm gonna take my computer for typing things. But I was also, there was a part of me that was like, what if I just take a pen and a notebook? I don't write well, I get some like carpal tunnel situations when I try to write and I have writer's fatigue with my hand and much better at typing. But then I was like, should I just do voice memos?

Should I do a video? Oh, don't do a video because then you'll be tempted to film it in a way that it can be turned into something. And then I'm like, well, I've got my drone and it would be really interesting to get a drone shot of everywhere I stayed for my own sake. But you know when I'm doing that, I'm gonna be thinking about, well, one day,

not anytime soon, but years from now, I'll be like, I went on this trip and here's all the drone footage. Maybe next week. And so that's what I'm struggling with right now. Cause also I've got lots of tech, right? So I've got my 360 camera. So I'm like, okay, I could do a 360 shot of every campsite.

And again, I've done that in the past because it's cool to be able to like put VR on and like be there again. I think you should do the 360 camera thing. That's nice to be able to, I mean, if you're spending time at a spot and you're like, you should, I mean, obviously you're gonna journal. I think that's a good idea. Yeah.

Cause then you can, you know, at certain moments of insight in my past, it's like, it's nice, like if I was listening to certain music, it's nice to put that music back on and it's a way to go back there. So the VR thing is another way. Like literally you could go back to that spot. If you're listening to music

and like you're on VR in the spot again, like it could really magically bring you back to a spot where that could be special for you. I think so. You know, like a happy place. Or maybe it's a sad place. It's a poignant place. So I think that's a cool idea.

Yeah, the video thing is, that would be difficult. But like pictures? I mean, again, we've talked about this on a whole episode. You gotta take some pictures. Just do it for you. Yeah, and again, that's the thing. It's like, how can I be in the, and this is just a microcosm of what I want my life to be.

And this is a whole nother can of worms, but how can I be in the world in a way that isn't about look at me and look at what I can do, right? And that's a very difficult thing for someone who makes a living saying, look at what I can do, or saying, if you don't look at what I can do and enjoy it,

then I don't make a living, I don't have a company. The hair thing is an easy place to point for that quandary, right? The hair thing is an easy place to point for that quandary, right? Because as we discussed, you have your reasons for doing it, yet you knew at the time, and you definitely seen it pointed out that like people have to comment on how big your hair is. Like, you know, how big your beard is.

So you knew that it was gonna present some sort of tension, right? And I think that there's- So what's the update? I'm curious on an update there. Update on my hair? Well, I mean, it was, you did it as a form of embodiment. It's related to all of these things.

It's like, it's a physical representation of something. It's related to all of these things. It's like a physical representation of something that is going on within you and your mindset. But you knew that like you would, you have to deal with people's reaction to it, response to it, discussion of it. Well, I think I'm kind of past the point of, I'm not past it, in other words. Yeah, I'm fully aware of that dynamic and that struggle

of it being like, oh, well, people are saying they really like my hair. How do I not gravitate towards that type of commentary about it and actually get something from it? Like it's rewarding to have people talk about how they like your hair, right? For me, it's more about this idea that when I look at pictures before I grew my hair out,

it feels less like me. Now, I'm not saying I'm not gonna go back to short hair or whatever. I'm not saying I'm gonna have long hair forever, but I do think that part of the exercise was you have this, I think that life is about, to use a meme, becoming your final form, right? Like, you know,

and I think this is what every religion teaches ultimately is like you are trying to continue to move closer to something. If it's an Eastern philosophy, it might be enlightenment. Christianity is like you're trying to become more and more Christ-like. We're kind of talking about very similar things of trying, like having some sort of trajectory

in your life, right? And for me, this idea of kind of getting more in touch with myself, not just being in my head all the time, following my heart, I have begun to sort of feel a cohesiveness with that when it comes to having a big beard and big hair, right? So that aspect of it is like not mission accomplished, but sensing that yes, there is something to that.

Like I feel that I look more, I think I look more like I feel about the world now. So that's the update is that that has happened to some degree. I don't know where it's gonna go from here. So next week, next time we record, it will be after the trip because we're about to go on these trips.

Who knows if we'll even decide to talk about it at all. Seems like I've got a lot more leeway to talk about it than you do, but maybe not. Well, you know, that was the last thing I was gonna say was- It's not a desired outcome of mine. I think I have to get to a place where I can't expect the environment and the way that the world works to change

in order for me to be okay, right? I can't expect people to stop talking about a change that I make physically, right? That's gonna continue to happen. Whether I'm on camera on people's computers or not, right? But I do believe I could get to a place where it really doesn't matter. And it's not about accolades

or getting some sort of feedback outside of myself, right? It's this idea that what I need is not some external thing. It's not some validation. It's not my environment being what it should be. I shouldn't have to curate a solo trip in order to get to the place that I wanna get to emotionally, spiritually, right? Now, it may be helpful to do that,

but ultimately, wouldn't we all like to get to a place where regardless of the circumstances, you have this equanimity that you can access, right? And so I think that that's the challenge for me is like go and like don't overthink it. Like do you want a drone? You wanna break the drone out? Yeah.

Just break the drone out, do it for yourself. If you don't do anything so that you can talk about it or share it and then you come back and you wanna talk about it or share it, secondarily, go for it. Right, getting to a place where you can just be motivated by this, I just wanna do this. Because the only person that's gonna miss out is you.

Right. Or me, if that wanna do this. Because the only person who's gonna miss out is you. Right. Or me, if that's our mentality. I mean, like, Christy may miss out on some of me and I may miss out on some of myself and you might miss out on some of yourself if you're doing things for the effect or the story, right? So maybe you can tell me about it. Because I'm gonna wanna know.

But don't think about me. Don't think about these people listening while you're out there. I don't think about you at all. And let's not get close to any fires. I'm committed to that. That's one thing we didn't talk about. I'm not getting close to any fires.

It's not necessarily just staying away from the fires that are already happening. You go into the wrong place in the forest and a fire starts and there's one way out, that could be a whole different kind of story. I mean, I didn't- Neither one of us are going to forests. I think it is.

I'm not going to forests. Well, I mean, there's gonna be some foresty areas that I'm gonna be going in. Be careful. But I have thought about this. And here's my take on this. You tell me if you think this is a good plan. If I find myself in a situation where like,

I wake up in the middle of the night, I'm like, oh crap, there's a fire coming towards me. And there's just one dirt road that came in here and I can look down this mountain and see that the fire is coming towards me and I got no way out. Okay. My theory is you just drive right through it. Gosh, I didn't want you to say that

at the end of this podcast. Well, everything I just said was for the effect of anyone listening wouldn't be worried about us. Oh my God, I can't wait until the next Ear Biscuit to see if they live. But hold on, fire burns in a line. Here, can I say this? I'm saying this as not, I'm not an expert on this.

Let me say this. Just to put you at ease, listener, if something would have happened to either one of us, you would have heard about it before this episode even came out. This one, this conversation we're having right now. So we'll cut this out if I die in a fire. Is that what you're saying?

Yeah. Okay. But if I lived through it, this would be pretty awesome. If you're listening to this, you know that this didn't happen. Okay. So now you can cut the fool all you want about driving through a fire. Cause it's like, you're not even supposed to drive through like a flooded street.

Hold on, but this seems worse. No, okay, if I feel like there's a way that I can get to a place. I wouldn't, by the way, I wouldn't camp anywhere that there's only one way out. Well, that's the only kinds of places I'm gonna be, man. I mean, like if the road kept going and there was a second way down the mountain or whatever.

That's my advice. All I'm saying is that fire burns in a line. So there's this fire burning the perimeter of the fire and on the inside of the perimeter of the fire, it's not like the whole thing's ablaze, it's black. It's just burning, went through. And I mean, the fire burning zone is probably no more than a hundred yards.

I'm not gonna respond to this. If you get fast enough, sure, both your tires will probably pop. I'm not gonna respond to this. If you get fast enough, sure, both your tires will probably pop. I'm not gonna be the reason. You may almost cook, but I'm saying if there's no other way out, I'm driving right through the fire. I think you should do some more research.

And I will film that. Do some more research. Okay. If that's what you're thinking you're gonna do, do some more research before. I'm sure, do you think you're gonna go on some site and it says, if you find yourself in this situation, drive into the fire.

No one in any survival book is gonna say or suggest. So you're joking. No, I'm saying that they would never suggest that, but I'm saying that there's gotta be circumstances where that is the thing that you should do. Read about it. No, don't take my advice and do your own research. He is not giving advice.

I'm not giving advice. This is just my personal philosophy that I'm conjecturing about. See, I knew there was an impending doom feeling that I had for a reason. I have a wreck. Wreck, baby wreck, get your week. As we do with mini wrecks,

we tend to recommend things like movies that have been out for a while because we just slowly get to things. So no one's talking about this anymore, but that's why you should go watch it. That Andy Samberg movie, Palm Springs. I mean, I heard people say, you know what, it's a good movie.

It's a really good movie. It's just a, you know, it's obviously a comedy, It's just a, you know, it's obviously a comedy, but it is a, you probably already know this because this is how all the trailers and everything that it's been about, it's basically an update on the Groundhog Day idea. And it is so well done. And it's like they sat down and thought,

oh man, let's revisit this concept of somebody being stuck in a time loop, but really just think about it in a way that any conversations that people have had over the past 30 years about Groundhog Day, let's put some of those things into a movie. And you'll understand when you watch it. But also it really asks some interesting questions.

Like not real directly, they're pretty subtle. The idea of the meaning of life and how you find purpose and where that comes from. I just really enjoyed it. Palm Springs. How long is it? It's not too long, is it? An hour and a it. Huh. Palm Springs. How long is it? It's not too long. An hour and a half. Okay. Again, all the good movies

are an hour and a half now. Maybe even 85 minutes. You gotta get them. You don't have to watch the credits. You can't tell the story in 90 minutes in 2020, then you probably shouldn't make the movie. I mean, that's my new philosophy. Unless you're Zack Snyder.

Yeah, okay. What, is he making three hour movies? I think the Snyder cut was like, it's like four hours or something, the way that they're releasing it. Okay, you know what, I might check that out. Palm Springs, Andy Samberg. I have a problem watching Andy Samberg

because I have this weird thing where it's like, he was, he's in Lonely Island. We used to have all these comparisons. You guys are like Lonely Island, but not as funny. He'll be like, you're right. Yeah, I mean, just embrace it, man. I know, and then it's like, it makes me not like to enjoy him.

That's my own problem. I will enjoy him. That's my own problem. I will enjoy him. He's really good at it. He's definitely better than we would be. Yeah. Okay, I'll check it out. Hashtag Ear Biscuits. Wish us luck, even though again,

I'm not gonna drive. I'm not gonna drive through. We're already back and we're still alive. And maybe we'll talk about it next episode. Maybe we'll talk about why we're not gonna talk about it, but you'll get an update. We'll talk about something. Hashtag Ear Biscuits.