Quick Question with Soren and Daniel - Mango Means Leave Me Alone | Ep. 346

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Daniel spends a peaceful morning fishing while two strangers loudly debate California infrastructure and the WNBA, leaving him to wonder whether it’s worth arguing when everyone is trapped on the same boat. Soren has confrontation problems of his own — including apologizing for something he didn’t do at Whole Foods and accidentally discovering that shouting “mango” at strangers does not always mean “leave me alone.”Thanks so much to Larine for sponsoring this episode! Get up to 50% off at http://BUYLARINE.com/QQFollow the guys on Bluesky!https://bsky.app/profile/danielobrien.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/sorenbowie.bsky.socialBonus episodes 2x/month at patreon.com/quickquestion OR Apple Podcasts

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See Draftkings.com slash sportsbook for details. Please play responsibly. Number one sports book for live betting based on available live market data. Oh, we're back. It's the podcast. It's a quick question with Soren and Daniel, the podcast. And it's the podcast and it is the podcast. Soren, we are. That's riveting content. We are in opposite places right now. You are breaking an episode, which takes all of your time and attention and energy and makes it impossible to not just focus on anything else. Well, I mean, sometimes it makes you hyper-focus on everything else.

But it certainly, it makes it breaking an episode of television or writing an outline makes it, I think, I think impossible to enjoy your life at all. Is that fair to say? Yeah. And for people who don't understand what breaking is, breaking an episode is much like breaking a horse. I think the terminology comes from the same place. You just have something wild and chaotic in front of you, and you got to wrestle it down and make it do what you want. Yeah.

It's your mate. You're writing the episode. You're basically, you're going scene by scene, and you're like, well, what's going to happen? What's the theme? What's the overarching, like, character story here? What are we doing? And it's a nightmare. It's like, it's, you're just, I don't even know how to describe it.

You're digging toward what you know is a good tunnel. Or like whittling, I think. Maybe that's what it is. Like when you, some people say, oh, I already. saw that in the wood. You can kind of get a sense of it, but you're just like, you're trying the entire time. And at any point, you're going to hit a knot or whatever where you're just like, well, fuck, this doesn't work anymore.

Yeah. But yeah, breaking. It's what separates writers from people who want to be writers. And it's not that people in that second camp can't ever transition into the first camp, but I have found a lot of people who don't write, but would like to write and think they could write a great. story or a great movie or a great episode of television if they just had the time it's not really the time that's that's that's that's the difference maker it's the it's the the willingness to do the tedious work of outlining the breaking because because the other stuff is fun the the the characters in a room talking to each other is fun and the coming up with jokes is fun and that's like the easy parts that's

the the reward of all the other writing that you do I forget who's said it. But, and I'm going to butcher the quote. So I shouldn't even start. But something about how what separates Olympic athletes from regular, even elite athletes is a tolerance for the tedium of practice, which is, I think, true of writing as well. You just need to be okay. Everything. Yeah. You just need to be okay with like a lot of the not fun part. parts of the thing. Boy, oh boy, dear. But we're in opposite places right now, Soren, because I am on a two-week work hiatus.

Oh, hell yeah. Just, you know what vacation means? It means I ran a race. It means I went fishing one day. And then it's been a lot of chores and a lot of picking up my son early from daycare and hanging out with him and putting him in naps and swaddling him and feeding him. This is vacation, baby. Yeah. Are you supposed to be writing on this vacation?

I mean, for yourself. For myself? Oh, my God. Yeah, of course. There's always like the, there's nothing more panicking. The dream that I'm going to write for myself because two weeks seems like such a lot of time. And it's already Thursday of the first week. So I'm, it's pretty much shot because soon it'll be the weekend. And the weekend is family time, baby time, first. sure. And, and, uh, then it'll be Monday again. Uh, you know how time works. Our listeners.

I get it. Yeah, I'm familiar with the weeks. The days of the week. Our listeners are pretty sharp, too. They know which direction time goes as well. So this week's a shot and next week is already Monday. And Monday is basically Tuesday. So I don't think I'm getting any writing done. There's still so much house stuff. There's like all of the stuff that, uh, has been neglected that needed to get done. and then all of the like big projects that I wanted to tackle that can only get done when all of the like very basic maintenance gets done. And I'm just about through with the basic maintenance. And it is again Thursday slash Monday. Yes.

I know that feeling. I was just on a hiatus. And the nice thing about it is that obviously you have time. That's generally when your house chooses to betray you is during hiatus, which is very polite of your house. or maybe you're just noticing the things more when you're on hiatus, and you can start fixing the things. But like I broke it down in terms of when I would be writing. And I was like, well, let's see.

Let's start with the morning where I'm dropping my kids off at school. I'm going to have to work out at some point. I need lunch. I need, like, these are the things that I absolutely need to do. And then there are the house things that, like, I can get to as many as I can in a day. But if I just space them out, I do it. It's not a sprint marathon. I maybe do like one a day.

then I had to pick kids up from school. I was like breaking down, well, when would I write? And I was like, okay, I found a solid 45 minutes in there where I would be writing. And I'm like, well, it's just not going to happen. I'm going to have to sacrifice one of these other things that I want to do on my hiatus if I want to write. I'm not watching anything.

I'm like, there's just not time. And so every single hiatus comes on, I just can't write. That's what really shocked me about me is how I didn't, I didn't watch anything. Like time was I could I could see days go by and I could pinpoint you know, the reason I didn't get anything done

is I wasted too much fucking time back of the day on Twitter or I just decided to watch an episode of a show that became four episodes of a show or rewatching some movie and damn it Daniel you should have done that. This week I'm not doing any of those things and I just I'm just like truly

it's going to sound impossible but I'm just only folding laundry. I'm just folding tiny pairs of pajamas all day. Yes. I find folding little like burp cloth that I'm like, why am I doing this?

I'm going to fold them and put them neatly in a drawer and then panic, ripped them out six of the time by the fistful. I should just throw them on the floor. That's where I'm going to need them the most. Yeah, yeah

And I'll tell you now, it doesn't get better. Yeah. I'm still like, I still don't, I'm not working on my own stuff because also that's not never the priority. Well, I've found, maybe this isn't true of all writers, but when I really want to sit down and write, it's when I'm sick of everything else. It's when I'm sick of, I've watched too much TV that day

or I'm not proud of what I've been doing and I'm like, I'm just like sick of myself. I'm sick of everything around me. There's nothing I, I don't want. fast food. I don't want any of these like I don't want in these impulse stimulations. I'm like and then I sit down and I write and I can write

for hours when I do that. But man, you don't ever get to that point. You don't ever find that and you can't ramp into it because you can't switch it on. Yeah. And you can't even if you know the way in. You know the on ramp to being like in the writing zone. When you have a child, there's just interruptions left and right. There's nothing that you can do about it.

Yeah. Anyway. But I want to talk about children or writing soren. Oh, okay, great. I wanted to talk about something that's been on my mind because I didn't, it hasn't been all pajamas and chores. I did, I mentioned up top that I did a race. I did a race. And I went fishing, two of my favorite things in the world to do.

And the race was fine. I wasn't trying to be competitive. I ran. I felt good. There were some people that I wanted to pass and I passed them. and it felt good the entire time of the race. Wait. Strangers, you spotted that morning.

You clocked and you were like, well, I got to fucking beat that guy. It's not that I was hunting them in the morning. They were these guys definitely younger than me that I had at, you know, like comfortably 10 yards away from me, maybe. And they were running with each other. And they looked like fit. guys who run and race a lot. And it wasn't bumping me that I

had this gap behind us. And then we get to a part of this course where there's a turn. There's a left turn. And they have like cones set up for where you make the turn. You go

outside the cones to make your turn. But there are still plenty of land before the cones. And these guys shortcut it cut the corner they literally cut the corner and i i could have just intuited that as like not my business and not my problem because because you're truly there's like there are few things sadder to me than like cheating a physical activity that's just that you signed up for.

That's just for you. Like, going to the gym and you want to do 15 reps of something, and you're looking around and you do 12, and it's like, yeah, you could probably get away with 10 if you wanted. None. Yeah. But I saw those guys cut that corner, and I wanted to beat them,

and I did beat them on a hill, which is, oh, yeah. An incline is typically where I can, where I will, like push myself because it's where other people aren't going to push themselves. I feel like if I push myself up the hill, then I'm going to make up the ground that I probably couldn't make up in an all-out sprint or something like that. And then there was some like 19 year old girl that I had to beat just at the finish line just

because I, I, because she came out of nowhere at the last second and was running ahead of me. And I thought, well, well, fuck this noise. No, that's not going to happen. So I, I spit up at the end. That's fine. But I want to talk about fishing. Another favorite thing to do. Well, sorry, one more thing.

How long was the race? This was a 10K. It's not my favorite distance. Oh, six-mile or? Yeah. That's a tough one. Did you get to train for that? No, that's just a distance I can kind of pull out every once in a while.

And it's a little, I'm, here I am cheating myself on this, where it's like, I sign up for a race that is not my preferred distance. And I'm not going to go crazy training for it because it was like an impulse. I signed up like a month and a half in advance. So I was giving myself a pass to not be super competitive. And I know that younger Daniel would be like, you know, you can you could also not do a race if you're not going to be competitive. But younger Daniel didn't have kids. I'm pretty confident that at your age, like athletic splits for that or athletic finishing time for that is around 40 to 45 minutes. God bless you. No way, man. You're well under that? No. Oh.

Wait, well, let me see if I can guess what you were. You were 50. I don't want 52. 54. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. That's, yeah, okay. It's, you're worse than, my dad also came to the race to support me because he's, he's a runner from way back. And right before, and I was telling him, like, I'm not going to be. competitive in this race. I'm just going to do it. And he goes, 44 minutes. I'm like, no. No, please. Don't put a number. He's like, the weather's not that bad. I'm like, no, the weather's perfect. Like a lot of people use nicotine pouches.

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restrictions apply. See draft kings.com slash sportsbook for details. Please play responsibly. Number one sports book for live betting based on available live market data. Sorry. All right. You want to talk about fishing. I do want to talk about fishing.

I think you're actually good at. This is real, real bad stuff. It's tangentially related to fishing. It's just something that I've been, it's stuff that I've been thinking about since Monday when I fished and I was thinking about how you would react in this situation because you are I don't want to say more confrontational than I am. That's fair. But you do often get in fights at gyms and on public transportation.

Yeah. So maybe you are more confident. Like maybe there's not a better word for it. It's possible you're more confrontational. Just not like an aggressive fighty sort of way. You will talk to people. you will engage with people. And I'm sure I've mentioned before

that there is a greater population in the fishing community of conservative to far-right conservative people. I mean, it's a mixed bag. There's all kinds of folks. There's a lot of overlap with people interested in sustainability and environmental stuff, and that they tend to lean pretty left.

But there's also like a whole lot of pretty, far right people. It's an older... I would say the hunting and fishing community is pretty much... Yeah, yeah. It's the majority of them are right-leaning. And you're taking a boat in the, in the middle of the week, you know, a Tuesday morning or whatever I'm going out. You're getting older, retired people. There's a lot of conservative people in that demographic. There's a lot of conservative people in where I live. And so I had to listen to some old timers talking, and I didn't jump in, but I really wanted to, but it was like the second I got on the boat in the morning, these guys were just talking loudly.

And like they don't, they don't really know each other. They just bond over, over being the same kind of guy. And the two big talking points that they had was, did you see what Newsom is doing in California with asking for all this money for this, this bridge or this, this rail line to nowhere, Can you believe it? $110 billion. Who could even live there? And then meanwhile, they don't know how to take care of their people.

All this stuff in California. It's crazy. Who could live there? California, Newsom. And they produce tires, but you can't even use the tires. And meanwhile, this bridge to nowhere, Newsom, can you believe it? And then they pivoted from that with no segue whatsoever to have you seen this man trying to play in the WNBA. it's crazy what they're doing over there.

These men trying to play basketball in the WNBA. Bop, pop, bop. Liberals don't know how to say what a woman is. It's crazy. And there's great. I thought about all the things that I wanted to say. And I didn't, I was even boiling it down. Like, I didn't want to, I didn't want to get into how I really feel about the trans athletes in sports issues.

I didn't even want to do the talking points of like, well, there are no men playing in the WNBA. And the issue of trans athletes in college sports, like that is also, you are not allowed, trans women are not allowed to play in college sports. They're not allowed to compete in the Olympics. That is, that is settled right now. So I don't know what you're upset about there. Second of all, no, forget all that. All of my talking points of like, and you're going to have to like,

like, it's settled. They can't, they can't compete. I personally think they should. I think this is like as a nuanced conversation that like people who are much smarter than I am are trying to figure out like what exactly are the physical advantages to going through puberty as a man and then transitioning after that.

These are thorny issues that, that I agree, require a lot of thought. And that's why people are doing that. But that's not the thing that you're mad about. mad at women in sports, I think, or men in women's sports, I think. And I also want to, like, there's a talking point of like, this is not that the number of trans athletes should matter to this conversation, but for the record, it is like vanishingly small. It's so small. It's an

insane thing to think about at all. But I didn't even want to do any of those talking points. I think that the only thing that I wanted to get into after hearing. these two things was I wanted to just say like man you you guys sure know a lot about California infrastructure projects and the WNBA do you think it's possible that you've been tricked by the news to talk about the things they want you to talk about completely separate from all the stuff like I disagree with you and you're going to disagree with me part of me just I'd be like, hey man, I would like to gently point out, it's 7.30 in the morning. And you're asking people, did they hear about this bridge bill, this zoning permits and whatever

infrastructure stuff they're trying to get in California? And did you hear about this guy trying to play in the WNBA? And I want to, like, sir, really, really think about yourself. two years ago, could you have named five players in the WNBA? I'm not sure you could do it now, but there have just been more names that have gotten big in the last two years. And I think,

and like maybe you would really prove me wrong. And he would be like, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese. Sophie Cunningham. Number four, number five, number six. The others. List them all off. Maybe he's like a super fan.

He's like, no, actually my daughter plays in this. WNBA and this is why I'm I'm very invested in this I think he would not be able to name me five players I don't know that he could name me three well he's ever watched the game certainly I don't think he could tell me I think I'd give him a piece of paper and be like write down the name of every basketball team in the WNBA and I'm not positive he could do that and I would just posit to him like why do why is it do you think it's what you're talking about now to strangers at 7.30 in the morning on a boat on this beautiful day, on a Tuesday, I think you need to be open to the possibility, and I know I've talked about this on the show before,

that you have been tricked and no one likes to admit that they've been tricked. Everyone wants to be a little bit smarter. They watch the correct media and they read the right things and they're so discerning. But sir, you're, you are a couple of complaining about taxpayer money in California for what you are calling a bridge to nowhere. Is it possible that a bunch of billionaires have tricked you into delivering their talking points for them? You are the street team for news nation. Boots on the ground. Do you feel good about that?

Do you feel good about being tricked? But I don't say any of these things, Soren. I don't say anything. Well, another guy eventually says, I think all he was talking is scaring the fish away. There's a lot of liberal fish down there. Hell yeah. All right, this guy.

Hooray. Great. Now, you didn't say anything, but I'm in agreement with you. You shouldn't have said anything. That's not a situation that calls for an argument on your part. Because, boy, you're not going to change any minds. And then it's just going to be a fight. and then it's going to be

but a fight that's like that no one can win just this Puric fight that has no solutions to it because he's not going to say something that it's going to make you go oh fuck yeah you're right I should look in Newsom a little bit more and you're certainly not going to convince him of anything

so you're right you were absolutely right to do nothing I was close because they talk so much about younger generations they don't want to work and they just want a piece of what everyone else gets. Like, like, part of me is, is genuinely impressed at the, the success of the right wing propaganda machine. Yeah.

Just how, like, deeply these talking points have taken root. And the younger generation, you know, all they just, they just need to work. You know, these kids, they, they, they come out and they, you know, just get a job instead. stick to the job and and then you'll buy a house. I'm like, a house, a house on my street. And I live fucking nowhere. A house on my street is going for a million dollars right now in the suburbs of New Jersey and not one of the big fancy places.

A million dollars. The average cost of a home is $712,000. You bought your house for $3,800 or something fucking insane in the past. And I were saying, how the kids, you know, these kids, no work ethic, they just need to go to school. Just got to go to school and get a degree and you'll get a job and then you'll get your house, then you'll get all that stuff. Got to get a real, got to get a degree in something.

Can't get, you're not going to get, oh, what exactly did you say? You're not going to get a job if you study what, advanced reading books. No, you need to do a real thing. And I, like, I majored in advanced reading books. I majored in advanced reading books. I love these guys, by the way. Yeah. It does seem like there's, the misinformation is, it does seem like it.

I mean, not to get too political in this podcast, but like the misinformation really does skew in one direction a lot. Yeah. Topics like hot button topics like immigration. and transgender. And like these things, they're all fighting these strong man arguments that's like, if Democrats had their way, every, all the players in sports would actually be boys and dresses. And immigration, the Democrats just want to open the border and let anybody in. And it's like, no one on earth is saying these things.

No one is saying these things. Not even the most extreme people on the left are saying these things. They're saying, no, they're just, they, he, I just don't like what you're doing. I think that what you're doing is dehumanizing and awful and that you're, there's, you're intentionally cruel towards groups of people and it doesn't have to be that way. Um, and that's never going to be, they're never going to understand that. Whereas I think, I mean, these guys are not the, these guys don't represent this, though, broad array of the right.

but policy says what they want because the policy is what they're making right now and the policy sucks and the policy's violent and cruel. And so it's like, no, I don't want that. I think there's a better way to do it. Football is back. Every game, every weekend,

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Call Connects, Ontario. 1866-531-260-19 and over physically present in Ontario. Eligibility and restrictions apply. See draft kings.com slash sportsbook for details. Please play responsibly. Number one sportsbook for live betting based on available live market data. I'm fighting this war on your behalf with these guys who aren't even in the room. So I guess I don't know what I'm doing.

But I think you were right not to broach the issue with them. I think so too. I mean, there will always be a part of me. that is like start, start local with everything. Use your platform, even if your platform is like, you're stuck on a boat for six hours with someone. Use that meaningfully to try to change your mind. And like, don't come at it.

I'm not going to, don't, don't ask for the moon. Don't come out there with numbers of trans athletes in sports right now. Just like, what is a, what? how can I get through to this person in the tiniest way? How can I try to change your mind today? That's me being all talk. That's what I'd like to think I am, but here in a moment, trapped on a boat with a guy.

I was like, just let him be wrong. I mean, yep, he'll be dead. Right. Soon. soon he'll stop voting he's going to eat some fucking expired Argentinian steak and he's not going to be here much longer

no I understand that I'm glad though that you didn't get in a fight Dan that's great I continue to get in fights but it's always it's much smaller than that there's a victory I could take from it soren

on that boat on that day, you'd think I was dropping my bait into a bucket of fucking fish. I could not, I could not take a breath. I couldn't take a second to sip my beer or text my dad that things were going well or text my wife that I miss her and I hate the guy next to me because every time I was dropping something down there, I'm getting bites. And this guy next to me was not catching shit. It's mother nature favoring you.

She was like, I'll give up a few fish for this guy. Yeah. You can't look at it. Look, you're doing a good job, buddy. You're doing great. I'm just so good at, uh, it's because I, I was an A student studying advanced reading that I could just read the tides and I could read the lines. And I know when a fish is on the hook, then I can set them. You just, they, the line speaks to you.

Mm-hmm. That's beautiful. Two creatures. tied by a single thread of monofilament. Sure. Gorgeous. Look at you. Look at you.

You're breaking a story today, so we're in. Well, I wanted to talk to you actually about the amount of fishing. I'm arguing that I do with strangers. I, as you know, one of my favorite past times is yelling at people on my street who are going too fast. We were walking home from the park last night. It was getting dark. And we were crossing the cross at the crosswalk, and a car just blew through the stop sign blew past us, but had their window open. So I was like, perfect.

So I have my daughter's hand, and I start yelling at this car. And I'm like, hey, hey, let me get away from the mic. I'm like, hey, hey, hey, slow down. Stop sign, stop sign. Like that kind of thing. As soon as I yell the first, hey, I feel my daughter flinch in my hand. And I was like, oh. I think this probably isn't neurologically good for my children to hear me yelling so regularly.

Because they don't know what it is at first, but I'm using that dad voice. So they don't know if it's done something they've done, which is even more heartbreaking because it means that frequently I've probably yelled at them when they didn't know they were doing something wrong. It was like I got mad at them for their own ignorance, which was like not a fair, not a fair thing to get mad at your child for. and so as soon as I did it I was like oh shit I can't do this in front of them I think it and I was like are you okay I was asking her and she's like I'm fine at first I thought you were mad at me and I was like but she wasn't crying or anything she was like laughing about it and I was like I'm not I'm going to try not to do that anymore and uh I don't want to be in a situation where they think that that's like they don't because they're not going to know they don't have the same

set of like ethics built in from 44 years that I do. So a child, somebody else does something that they perceive as being wrong, that they're wronged, but they're wrong. And they start yelling at somebody, oh, that's a bad look. That's a real bad look. But my daughter did say, I want to, she's like, next time we do it, I want to do it with you. She's like, wants to like clap and yell at a car. And I was like, I don't think we should do this anymore. I think I'm done yelling at cars. It's occurring to me that there's not a ton of consistency and training that I'm doing with my five-month-old son, but he might start gesturing for cars to slow down because he sees me do that every single day. I'm not always there for tummy time. I don't get to read every

book over and over again as I'd like to, but I'm always holding him in my arms and telling cars to slow down. That might be the only thing he knows. He's just how to look at a phone and you tell cars to slow it up. What a joy fatherhood is. Yeah, it just didn't feel right. I've also been in a car with my son before where somebody made a bad decision on the road. And then... And what did you tell that driver to do, Soren?

I think you've mentioned this before. But just in case I'm listeners. I think I told him to suck my dick. I think you did. But like I'm arguing with this guy and he's outside my car and I have to be loud because we're shouting through. I go, I got to reach all the way through his passenger window to him and explain the situation. And the guy realized in that moment that he was wrong and did one of these like hands up like, okay, all right. And then I looked back into a tree.

And I was like, hey, hey, was that scary? And he was like, yes. And I was like, would you rather I don't do that? And he was like, yes. And I was like, 100%. I won't ever do that again. I'm so sorry. It's not good for your children to see you super angry, I don't think.

No. Fights, fine. Even when you're justified, though. I know. I know. Righteous indignation should be something that we should all have. But I don't mind them seeing me argue with calling. That's, I think, actually, super health.

healthy for kids to see parents argue and then come to some sort of conclusion together and resolution and like mending bridges is so important so like teaching telling everyone so nobody wants to apologize to their kids because they feel like they shouldn't have to but kids embrace an apology super well they bounce back from it like if you do something you you flip out on them because you're overstimulated or you're hungry or whatever and like they've done one little thing that you didn't like and you're like what you cannot just stand in the middle of sidewalk like that you're dancing into people like you get over here get over the like you're yelling at them to afterwards be like hey i'm really sorry i overreacted there and like walk it back kids are like yeah thank you that's and like

they're they're they're open to that and it's it's a really helpful display of what to do to solve a problem when somebody is angry at you for a justified reason yeah it's one of those interesting thing is that like we we we train children to say i'm sorry when they make a mistake stake and we tell them that makes everything better. And then they do that. They intuit that lesson, even though once they get older, they'll learn. It's not true. There are times where, because saying you're sorry is fucking hard.

It's really hard to do. As a kid, I think it's much easier because you're supposed to be messing up. And I think that they know that. I think they at least understand like, oh, I wasn't supposed to do that. I'm sorry. Yeah. And they will say sorry. But for an adult, it's really tough, especially when you mess up around another adult.

So when I'm shouting at cars, I'm not expecting them to be immediately like, oh, I didn't even realize I was going that fast. I'm so sorry. I want them. They're going to get angry. I know they're going to get angry. I know that they might even stop and yell for a little bit. But I know that when they cool off and they have time to think. think back, they can be like, oh, you know what, I was wrong there. Because that's what I do

all the time. I'm going to replay the argument in my head over and over again. I'm going to be like, oh shit, I was wrong there. Football is back. Every game, every weekend, draft king's sportsbook has you covered. Every snap matters. Every comeback can shift the game. And every fourth quarter moment can change everything. Follow the action with draft Kings, the number one sports book for live betting. Built to keep up with the speed of sports. built with Canadian sports fans in mind. Draft Kings brings the action together in one easy-to-use app. Follow the biggest matchups,

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I do want to tell you one specific story that happened to get at Whole Foods. Maybe I don't think I told you this. Having to get at Whole Foods. They got to just ban you from that place, man. I don't think it's good for anyone that you can go in and out of there whenever you want. I stopped a fight at Whole Foods. I know. Remember I kept somebody from getting hit by an electric guitar at Whole Foods and no one bought me a salad.

This is a circumstance where maybe my own body awareness was just off that day or something. But I went into Whole Foods, got my salad. I was leaving and got pretty far away. got, I was like a block or two away and I'm crossing the street and this woman comes running up and she's like, excuse me, sir, excuse me. And I was like, yeah. And she's like, I don't know if you're having a bad day or whatever or if you were trying to intimidate me, but that was completely inappropriate. And I was like, oh, oh my God, what? Can you tell me what you're talking about? And she was like, um, the what you just did there, where you stepped right in front of me and stopped.

were you trying to intimidate me? Is that what you're trying to do? And I was like, I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize I did that in the Whole Foods. And she was like, yeah, in the champagne aisle. And I was like, wait. I'm holding this is salad. And I'm like, do you mean the salad aisle?

She was like, no. And she was like, if it was a mistake, maybe it's a mistake. But you need to be more aware. And I was like, you're absolutely right. I'm so sorry. can you just so it doesn't happen in the future can you like lay out for me what happened because at this point I'm like oh fuck she's got the wrong guy yeah and she tells the story about somebody in the aisle standing next to her they're looking at stuff and then he and then as

she goes to reach for something he steps in front of her and like moves her hand out of the way with his body and I was like that sounds terrible I'm so sorry that that happened thank you for letting me know and then she walked away And I was so fucking good, Dan, that I wasn't like, you got the wrong dude. You suck. God, that's crazy that you. I just let her have the moment, which is what I want. I mean, ultimately, if I'm angry at somebody, I don't think I've got the wrong person generally, but sure, it's possible.

And I start, I'm hot. And I'm coming at them and I'm like, you can't do that. You can't do that in a society. And if they did that, if they were like, oh, shit, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I won't do that again. I would cool off. I'd go from 100 to zero immediately.

I would be like, I'm sorry too. I'd be like, no, I owe you something because that was amazing. That would a complete lack of ego. I love that. So I was trying to embody what I wanted to hear and she needed to hear it from somebody. And she wasn't going to go find that guy because she had no idea what he looked like. This poor fucking dope. And so I was like, I'll give her what she needs.

I'll give her exactly what she wants from that. and it went good because afterwards she was like, okay, just be more aware next time and walked away and that was the end of it. What I wouldn't have stood for is if she would have said, she would have just kept going. She would have stayed hot. Yeah. Because even in my relationship, if I apologize to my wife, which I feel like I'm being a very big boy when I do it, when I'm like, hey, I came in too hot there. That was inappropriate and it was in front of the kids. I'm sorry. if she would continue to drill down on it and like and pull out different instances of also that were wrong I would be like we're not no no no no I was a big boy right I came to you as a big

boy and in fact I've got bad news for you I'm not sorry I was never sorry so if she would have continued to be angry at me for something that I didn't do I would have been like I would I told her that it wasn't me. And that seems tougher to dig out of because she's because then she'd be like, why did you say thank you for letting me know? And then you got to be like, because.

I was trying to give you a gift. Because I thought you were dumb. I thought it was some little dummy dope moron. I still think that. Don't even know what guys look like. Yeah. I was like, first of all, it's like 11 in the morning.

What are you doing buying champagne right now? What are we celebrating? Ma'am, no, you didn't run into me in the champagne aisle. Have a salad. I don't know what the circumstances were. Maybe somebody was being truly cruel to her, and that's totally possible, but I think what she really, I gave her what she needed.

That's 100% possible. Yeah. She needed to have an apology, and she needed somebody who was just like, hey, you were right to follow me these two blocks and get this. I hope that feels good. And so I gave it to her.

I belong at the Whole Foods, Dan. I'm a hero there. I'm a fucking hero at the whole Foods. I don't know. I think... Well, the iced tea thing was a debacle. I think a case is being built against you. I think there's a lot of...

In the season-long arc of your life, a lot of... seeds are being planted for the season finale to have a whole lot of Whole Foods people real mad at you converging at once as the guy who was involved in everything that happened at Whole Foods this year all the iced tea stuff and uh he was party to a fight and he was intimidating this dumb moron woman in the champagne aisle at 11 in the in the morning and whatever other things that I've forgotten about. Like all these little like unrelated bits and pieces that the writers have been like sneaking

in in the background of the A story. There are ones I don't even tell you about. There's like there's people with clipboards outside of there for the nature conservancy. And I have, I'm a member of the nature conservancies. Like I'm donating there monthly. But so when I get pestered by them, I'm like, let's not do this. I'm already like a member of the nature conservancy. I like, we're good.

We're good. At one point, one of them was like, oh, if that's the case. Oh, first of all, the first thing they always say is like, oh, you're already a hero? And I'm like, well, don't be fucking pedantic with me. I don't want to hear that. But they're like, oh, if that's the case, you just say mango to us. That's like a code word, which just means leave us alone. Leave me alone.

I'm a member already or I've already given you money. And I was like, great. That's wonderful. That's great advice. I don't think you're allowed to say that on the podcast. I think a lot of people, a lot of the wrong people are going to learn this lesson. Yeah, but it's not a good lesson. then a completely different person later on nature conservancy again was like calling me over

and I went mango and she went what and I went oh mango hell yeah hell yeah and then I kept saying it louder and louder and the person thought I was a lunatic and they're like she was like sir I don't know what that means I was like oh it means you're supposed to leave me alone it works it works in other contexts and then and then I kept explaining uh what what the situation was. And I was like, isn't that true? Isn't that true that you say, Mango? And she's like, I've never heard that in my life.

And I was like, that person completely set me up. And I'm good to them, good on them. That's a hero. For setting me up. But yeah, that would be in the rest. When I get confronted at the pearly gates of Whole Foods and I go through all the sins that I've committed there, that's in there. Yeah.

Me outside the restaurant with sushi in my hand, shouting Mango at another human being. For sure. I have an interaction that I don't feel great about me, who never says anything to anyone. Yeah. I was out front with my boy, as we do. We look at the cars, and there's a lot of, like, slow down. There's also a lot of, like, red truck, white car, you know, just, like, saying the things that we see. And in addition to cars, often going down my street way too fast.

It's also a popular street. among bicyclists. And I don't, this is a community. I have my conflicts with the fishing community, obviously, because there's like some ideological gaps there. And we just happen to share this one thing that we love. Biking community, of which I was a part in when I lived in Los Angeles, and I was only biking.

And I would go to like meetings about bike lanes and how we can get more money for bike lanes and more support and what we needed to do to get bikes going, bike lanes going, because bikes are good. I have so much ideological love for bicyclists, and I still have a bike and bike from time to time. I don't like them. I don't like the people who, most of the people who ride bikes, even though part of me is like, how do you not like someone who is, A, exercising and B, saving the environment with their travel? like it's easy it's because because they're they're unsafe and they're assholes and they make

every driver nervous everywhere and they take up so much space so i have my conflicts with with bicyclists and part of that is uh the ones that go down my street uh i don't think anyone riding a bike is aware when they're talking to the other people on bikes that they're shouting And their voices carry, they're just shouting down my street. And I'm sitting on the porch either trying to read a book or work on my porch or just sit with my boy and get him to nap in our rocking chair. And then the bikers are screaming to each other about whatever. It's like every conversation, no matter how boring, just becomes a yell because they're trying to hear each other over the sounds of their stupid bikes. and the 10-yard gap between the bikes.

So I'm with my son, and I'm narrating what's going on, and I hear some bikers coming around, because of course I do. And I'm doing it like, ooh, big red truck. Ooh, garbage truck. Ooh, here come to loud bikers. Oh, they're taking up the whole street. And they all stop talking and look at me as they ride by. I just thought, oh, I guess my voice carries two.

And they didn't speak again, and I'm sure they felt self-conscious about it, and I'm sure I seemed very brazen to be holding a baby and say, here come the loud bikers taking up the whole street. And I'd be like, oh, I couldn't hear you. I was just teaching him about how terrible you are. About assholes. I'm teaching him to be bigoted towards bikers. Yeah, I'm not with you on that one. No, I feel great about it. Football is back.

Every game, every weekend, Draft King's Sportsbook has you covered. Every snap matters. Every comeback can shift the game. And every fourth quarter moment can change everything. Follow the action with Draft Kings, the number one sports book for live betting. Built to keep up with the speed of sports. Built with Canadian sports fans in mind. Draft Kings brings the action together in one easy-to-use app.

Follow the biggest matchups, build your parlays, and explore live betting markets as the game develops. so you can focus on the football and enjoy the action with confidence. Download the Draft Kings app today and see what everyone is talking about. Draft Kings, the number one sportsbook for live betting. In partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call connects Ontario. 1866-531-260-19 and over.

Physically present in Ontario. Eligibility and restrictions apply. See draft kings.com slash sportsbook for details. Please play responsibly. Number one sports book for live betting based on a good. Available live market data. I bike a lot. So I bike every single day, pretty much.

And when I do it, I am, I'm trying to just be as small and out of the way as possible. Yeah. So when bikers are not that, when bikers are, for all intents and purposes, riding safer than I do. Because I'm like hogging the curb. When they're riding and they're actually taking up a quarter of the lane or whatever, and it's, you, all the cars are backed up behind them. I'm like, ride like me. Yeah.

Ride like me. Don't do it this way. I know that it's legal. I know that this is the way you're all supposed to share these lanes. But that includes you sharing the lane too. You have to do your part. It's tough. You are the platonic ideal of bike rider.

And there are many like you, but there are so many more that are, are, there's a lot of people who aren't on bikes often especially in in the city, in New York. I don't know how big like city bike rentals are in Los Angeles, but in New York, there's

plenty of people on city bikes. And you can tell it's their first time and a long time on a bike. So that's a lot of people in bike lanes and a lot of other people are like, I don't know, like probably deliver professionals or messengers and they're some of the most reckless riders I've ever seen because they're just going so fast and they're weaving in and out of things and every time you see

them and the novices and you see people without helmets I saw bikers going down my street it was a father in the front and two or three kids in the middle and in the back a woman who was on the phone on her bike and not like, not that there's a good way to be on the phone, but she didn't, she definitely wasn't doing the AirPods thing and she wasn't even doing like,

I'm holding the phone with one hand. I don't know if that would be safer. She's doing that. I'm going to pin the phone to my shoulder with my head and talk like this while writing the book. Yeah, riding the bike. And I just feel like there's,

those are the, those are the most visible. bikers are these ones that that seem and are unsafe and always make every driver behind them like fuck now I'm stuck behind this biker and I never know what they're going to do and almost every driver has had multiple experiences where a biker has screwed up in front of them and made traffic made driving scary for a little bit that's true and it's and that's why it always seems cosmically unfair and you need to educate drivers. It's like now, now, before you protest this new bike lane that is going to get paid for

with your tax dollars, just know this is not a reward for good biker behavior. This is not, we know they're bad and it's not like they earned this, but this is just going to make us safer and it's going to ease traffic congestion theoretically. I mean, as much as I agree with you that I think there are some very entitled bikers out there. I am more on the team of the most entitled biker than I am on the team of the driver. Because I've seen videos and stuff of like bikers out and they've got cameras on their bikes for now it turns out good reason. We're like a car will just come up behind him and just be like honk, honk, honk, honk. And then just clip the bike.

Or cars just turning into the bike lane for no reason. can these people just like eating shit constantly and for every i know that every driver has dealt with a bad biker but every biker same thing every bike i mean i'm absolutely terrible look at you my my broken wrist is from a bad driver when i was biking in the bike lane on my way to church famously yeah so it's the the the bikers are also there's a real antagonistic relationship growing between the two and i as much as i also am angry at some bikers for the decisions that they're making I am still going to choose

to be on their team over the opposite, which is the people who are like, well, I'm just going to run them over. Right. If those are the teams, then sure, I'm team biker. I've seen, you know, flip it through my channels on Facebook. I see videos of like a trucker

who almost all he does is get video of bikers going up to a red light and then looking both ways and not coming to a complete stop and going right through. He's angry about that. And the law is as a biker, you are supposed to act like a car. You're not supposed to be up on sidewalks and shit like that. You are supposed to get to a stop sign, you or a red light, you fully stop for the three seconds, then you go. First of all, no car is doing that either. But on a bike, it's particularly hard because you're not triggering the lights. So you're not in any, if it's just you, you're not going to be able to make a leg go. But also, coming all the way down off your pedals is very different than just stopping in a car.

And so if a biker is being safe about it and they're coming to an intersection and they slow way down and they're looking in each direction and they clearly have nobody to worry about and they're making that decision to go, I'm all four of that. I think there should be allowed to do that. And this guy's getting more and more angry to that way he's working himself up to the point where occasionally in these compilation you'll see a biker get a clipped by an extended mirror or something like that. And he's just laughing in his car. And I was like, oh, see, you're just building up in your mind. Yeah, like you're now seething at these people for doing this perceived light of yours. And now you love to see them punished.

I would still prefer, like, more bikers in general. I mean, I think, like, a better version of the world is, like, maybe the bike lane will attract more bikers and wouldn't that be great if we were all bikers then then be like let's be fucking Amsterdam let's hit pedestrians let's be assholes let's we're all bikers we're all allowed to be like different kinds of bikers some of us can be jerks because there's no cars and that's okay yeah yeah yeah there was a woman who I saw riding her bike in the bike lane but going the wrong direction. And a car obviously didn't look that direction that she was coming as it started to make a move.

And she had to veer off in these bushes and she was screaming at the car. The person even stopped. I was like, are you okay? And she was still not going to, not ready for someone to check on her. She was just angry. And she was like, you have to look both ways. Bikers go both ways. And I wanted to be like, no, they don't.

As I'm riding my bike away. You were wrong. I did. I yelled after someone when I was biking in Los Angeles because there are between the ocean and West L.A., between this like three-mile strip, you somehow travel through like three different towns. You're in Santa Monica and you're in West L.A. and you're in Los Angeles proper. It's like a crazy fucking thing. and in some of those towns you are allowed to ride on the sidewalk and in some of them you are not and I've done this I had it memorized then because I was doing that commute every day for work and I was on the sidewalk in one of those towns where I'm allowed to be on the sidewalk and a guy yelled at me you're not allowed to be on the sidewalk and I just over my shoulders like yes I am in Santa Monica just like I can't stop to have this proper

argument but like yeah check your loss going don't no no no no i'll knock off what that guy just shouted at me yeah that's true there are places where it's just too tight and they allow bikers to use a sidewalk but again i'm actually very accommodating to bike if i'm on a phone for pedestrian and a biker is up on the sidewalk i'm like there's a reason like i get it i get it i've been there before and like you make way for them pedestrians even though they I think bikers get a bad rap because they are fast enough to be in the way a lot. Pedestrians are some of the worst people in the planet. Yeah, I guess I've been them too.

I watch pedestrians wander into the street without looking all the time. But bikers are just so fast and could cause so much more damage, I think. I think that's right. And it's always, it's not, and to be clear, the damage is theirs. The damage that you could cause is like you would end up hurting somebody. And then that's a lot of psychological damage on you. you, which is terrifying. It's a terrifying thought that, like, the biker would jump in front of you.

It's not your fault at all. You do something that you break a leg or something like that. And now you're like, I really hurt somebody. Yeah, how awful that feels. Yeah, I get it. All right, well, we didn't solve this one either. Shout out to the person who broke my wrist and didn't stop or do anything or know that it happened, probably. What an awesome moment that was for you.

Great day in an L.A. history. All right. Thank you, everybody, for joining this podcast. This has been quick question with Soren and Daniel. You knew that. If you liked our theme song, that's by Me Rex. If you want to watch a video version of this, it's on YouTube. If you want more of this podcast, you become a Patreon subscriber.

We do a Patreon episode every other week. And thank you to Mackenzie Mazzel. She's the one who puts this whole podcast together. She is the glue. If you would like to see her podcast, I'm not actually sure if it's on YouTube. But if you want to listen to her podcast, it's don't make it worse. Thank you. Goodbye.

Bye. football is your best friend if there's best friends and comedy rocks if there's an answer they're gonna find it i think you'll have a great time yeah i think you'll have a great time Football is back. Every game, every weekend, Draft King's Sportsbook has you covered. Every snap matters.

Every comeback can shift the game, and every fourth quarter moment can change everything. Follow the action with Draft Kings, the number one sports book for live betting. Built to keep up with the speed of sports, built with Canadian sports fans in mind. Draft Kings brings the action together in one easy-to-use app. Follow the biggest matchups,

build your parlays, and explore live betting markets as the game develops. So you can focus on a, football and enjoy the action with confidence. Download the Draft Kings app today and see what everyone is talking about. Draft Kings, the number one sports book for live betting. In partnership with Draft Kings, the crown is yours. Gambling problem?

Call Connects Ontario. 1866-531-260-19 and over. Physically present in Ontario. Eligibility and restrictions apply. See Draft Kings.com slash sportsbook for details. Please play responsibly. Number one sports book for live betting based on available live market data. Thank you.