Quick Question with Soren and Daniel - The Flash Returns!

Episode Date: May 13, 2022

One of our FASTEST episodes (wink wink). Also Soren finally has someone tell him that he is in fact a white male, and from an actual primary source! And as always big thanks to our sponsors. Thanks  Avast.com! Thanks, BetterHelp.  Get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com/QQ

I've got a quick, quick question for you, alright? I wanna hear your thoughts, I wanna know what's on your mind I've got a quick, quick question for you, alright? The answer's not important, I'm just glad that we could talk tonight So what's your favourite? Who did you get? When do I be remembered? What's it all about? Where did all the good things go? Oh, forget it.

Saw a movie, Daniel O'Brien. Two best friends and comedy writers. If there's an answer, they're gonna find it. I think you'll have a great time here. I think you'll have a great time here. So hello again and welcome to another episode of Quick Question with Soren and Daniel, the podcast where our two best friends and comedy writers ask each other questions and give each other answers. I am one half of that podcast, senior writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and

YouTube fan Daniel O'Brien, joined as always by my co-host, Mr. Soren Bui. Soren, say hi. Hi, I'm Soren Bui. I write for American Dad. I also like YouTube. I think it's not bad. I like watching The Moment People Die. There's a lot of those. God. Space Cow puts those out.

No, no, no. Sorry. Like, they die inside. Oh, okay. Jesus. I'm not watching snuff films on YouTube. no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Watching that emotional turmoil for someone is always, I have an insatiable appetite for. Thanks to Avast for supporting Quick Question. Avast's new all-in-one solution, Avast One, helps you take control of your safety and privacy online through a range of features. Learn more about Avast One at avast.com. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. For 10% off your first month, go to betterhelp.com slash QQ.

Start living a better life today. from just watching random YouTube videos, because every video, no matter what it is, there's also the implied story of the person who decided to make that video, which is very exciting to me. Yeah. You can find anything. And like I was recently looking up, I wanted to know the best way to clean my specific vacuum. And I watched a 35 minute video of this guy

from somewhere in Illinois who felt compelled to make this vacuum cleaning video because he watched a bunch of the other videos in this space and he was like all these people people who are making these videos about cleaning their vacuums no offense they're a bunch of wussies they're a bunch of Instagram models wussies who don't really use this vacuum for like industrial purposes so i'm gonna do like for grown-ups how to clean this vacuum yeah this is he found a hole yeah and like first of all i'm gonna i'm gonna learn how to clean my vacuum from an expert and that is the thing that i wanted but b there's this whole new world that opened up of this guy who was like this fucking 40-something-year-old man who was watching a bunch of videos about cleaning vacuums on YouTube and was like, no, none of these people are tackling the real shit. I got to get in.

I have a responsibility to make a vacuum cleaning video for adults and I'm going to do it. I do. I guess watching YouTube is really the way that I would ordinarily consume television when I was younger, which is like, I'm letting it take me where it wants to go. I'm following the rails. I'm letting videos insta-play. I will watch a bunch of videos on dry aging beef and I haven't eaten beef in over a decade. I would be great at it now, I think. And just watching how they do it, I'm like, oh, and then I see you got to sous vide it afterwards. That's the way. And then you just do like a quick sear on each side. Okay. Oh, you're not going to season it. Oh, you are seasoning it, but you wait till the end. I see. So the salt actually gets in like there's I can't. I am deeply invested in something I will never, ever, ever, ever use. I watch so many cooking videos and I love everyone who makes these videos.

I was watching one. This guy was making a different mushroom pasta recipe than that is different from the ones that I normally make every single night. And at one point in the video, he was like, now I know a lot of people are saying, a lot of people are going to comment, why aren't you using garlic? You should use more garlic.

You never use garlic. I've probably used more garlic than any one of you, than all of you combined. I was like, this is so, this is such a fucking rich, dense text. There's so much built into this simple cooking video there's a conversation clearly happening between him and the people yeah um i also use it all the time for home projects like i've solved so many things in my house because i don't know how people did it

in the olden days when i say olden days i, I mean like 1996. But when my hot water heater stops working or I've got a light that all of a sudden, even if the bulb's not loose, but there's something wrong with the circuit itself that the light is flickering a little bit. I just go in there and I'm like, all right, well, let's see what this issue is. And then I'll watch four or five videos on it and be like, I know how to solve this now. Yeah. I do it with cleaning videos too, which is not just cleaning my vacuum, but to just

go down the rabbit hole of searching on YouTube how to clean a bathroom. It's the kind of thing that I feel like I know already because I've been cleaning bathrooms for most of my life at this point. But it's still like, I'm open to getting some I'm open to, to getting some tips and there's a whole universe of people who just make videos about how to clean things. Yeah. And they're delightful.

Um, I, I also, I use it and this is the only one that frustrates me is if I have some sort of internet problem. I'm like, all right, well, let's figure out how to solve this. I'm not good at following just directions when they're in text, but like somebody is doing the video and I can like follow along. I'm like, okay, great. I got this. But my wife will come up to me and she now, because now I'm like a guy who gets these things, but I don't, I just, I'm stealing it from online. So when she's like, Hey, I lost this word document. Can you get it back? I'm like, I'm going to try and do this like in the most non-patronizing way, but all I'm going to go do is look it up. You could do the same thing. Just put on a whole show of Googling right in front of her.

Yeah. Hold on. Don't go anywhere. Don't go. I want you to see this. You see this little bar up here? Reading articles out loud to her. Yeah. Hold up. Don't go anywhere. Don't go. I want you to see this. You can see this little bar up here. Reading articles out loud to her. It's also helped as a dad too, because there are, my son will be like, I saw a kid in my class make an origami, a crane. He doesn't know the word origami. He's like, I saw a kid in my class make a bird out of paper. And

I'm like, okay, I think you're talking about an origami crane. I can help you do that. All we got to do is watch a video or we make the very best paper airplane there is. And he's way into it. And it's just watch a step, pause, watch a step, pause. And suddenly I can make something incredible for him. Avast is a global leader in cybersecurity for more than 30 years and trusted by over 435, wait for it, million users. That's so many. Avast empowers you with digital safety and privacy, no matter who you are, where you are, or how you connect. Enjoy the opportunities that come with being connected on your terms. Avast has a new all-in-one solution, Avast One, that helps you take control of your safety and privacy online through a range of features.

Learn more about Avast One at avast.com. I am quite famously in front of a computer all the time. I work in the computer. I mail in the computer. I order my food in the computer. So I need it to be safe. I need to feel like my privacy is secure. So I love Avast.

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Avast prevents over 1.5 billion attacks every month. And with Avast One, you can confidently take control of your online world without worrying about viruses, phishing attacks, ransomware, hacking attempts, and other cyber crimes. Learn more about Avast One at Avast.com. Should we do the show? Yeah, I think we should. In fact,

you know, it's actually helpful, Daniel, because you mentioned that this... What possessed this middle-aged man to do this. I had another run-in with a middle-aged man. What could that mean? I had another run-in while I was running. And I guess, I've talked about multiple altercations I've had while running on this podcast. And at this point, I have to assume that the problem is me. Like maybe the middle-aged man I really met was myself.

Really had to come to terms with the fact that I'm doing something wrong out there because there shouldn't be this many. But I want to describe this one to you and you can tell me what you think of the circumstance. I was running. I got to an intersection, had a light and it's a big intersection. There's two lanes going in each direction and I don't wait for the light. I take a look at, I assess the traffic situation. I see that there's no cars. I see that on my left, situation. I see that there's no cars. I see that on my left, there is a car, but it's about 200 yards away. And I think I can beat that. And it's on my left. So it's like, it's the closest that I'm going to be to that car is when I first step out into the street. And then about 10 steps

later, I'm out of its way. So I crossed the street on my run and I hear this car start honking, just like a beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. I'm like, okay, what is going on? And I kind of like look at this car as it goes by. And it comes and it makes a left turn. So it's kind of like following me. As I'm crossing the street, it's also going to start going the same direction as me. And as he's making the turn, it's like an old beat up a suzu trooper and the guy in it is

probably like 55 and he rolls down his window and he says to me three words special white man. And then as he's driving away, he puts his middle finger out the window forever. Like it's, as far as I can see him in the distance, it's still out the window with this middle finger. And I'm like,

I'm blown away, first of all, because I'm like, is he talking to me? Oh, the other detail of the story that you need, this is a white guy. This is a white. Oh, that's a twist. Yes. So that's where I really got hung up on it because this is also a white guy and I would say pushing 60, if not over 60. And for that demographic to be using that pejorative, I thought, this is like weirdly inspirational. Like that he chose that because he could have chose a lot of

things to call me that would have been a little more problematic. He could have used a hard F, hard F bomb. And I don't mean fuck, he could could have used he could have called me a crass name for the female genitalia like there's a lot of words that I won't even really use anymore what do you what is his what have you projected his intention to be

because I was thinking yeah special white guy was the rules don't apply to you yes you don't have to wait for a light yes Yes. I think that's absolutely true. I think that that's where he, what he was angry about was that I didn't wait for the light, even though it didn't affect him in any way

and it didn't affect anyone else in any way. He was mad that I made the decision instead of following the law, which he was looking for a reason to be mad. And I get that. I can relate to that man on that level because I'm always looking for reasons to be mad. Sure.

And he- I mean, the world's so great for you. You're a special white guy. You really have to search to find reasons to be mad. Again, like shots fired, but they're fair shots. So the fact that that was even in his lexicon, that this man who was not of my generation at all, that was, I highly doubt perpetually online. I guess it's possible.

But that he was like aware of that as a pejorative. I was like, this is impressive. It is made mainstream now. This isn't just an online interaction. This is like in the real world. And here's to somebody who by all means could have had a Trump sticker and I wouldn't have batted an eye on that a scissor trooper. Right. It's, it's, it's a couple of surprising things. It's the fact that he,

he's, he's mad at you in such a new and modern way. It's, it's, you know, special white man is something that one of his grandkids accused him of being. And you would think, I'm projecting on this guy as much as anyone else, but I would think if he sees you breaking the laws and he recognizes in you another special white man, he should be, I assume he'd be happy to see you. Like, yeah, the laws don't apply to us, buddy. Keep it up. Yeah.

But he knows enough to be ashamed of himself and you yeah which is and like yeah that he's calling out somebody else well within his group and being like you're it up for us yeah oh and i'm sure if he had more time to yell at you he'd be like i don't fully understand the nuances either but i know what you're doing is wrong You'd be like, I don't fully understand the nuances either, but I know what you're doing is wrong. It reminds me of the time when you and I were walking to like subway and we saw a guy like roll down his window and start whistling at a woman or start calling a woman. Yeah. And we said something along the lines of, hey, we don't do that anymore.

You're being generous when you say we i was was frozen in shock and you said we don't do that anymore you're very matter of fact they're like no we're not allowed to be cartoon wolves at women anymore it was like he like circled the block to yell indistinguishably at you yeah yeah he continued to scream at us. Yeah. So yeah, I thought about the entire time that I was at the gym after that and like going through these different waves where like part of me was like, he wasn't, obviously wasn't satisfied because he then stuck his finger out the window for eons. It's still out for as far as I know. So he wasn't satisfied with the way it had gone or maybe my reaction. Cause I was still pretty bewildered and didn't have a reaction.

And I was like, part of me was like, oh, I wish he would have circled back. I would have loved to have had an altercation with this guy and figured out what really was going on. And then I like, it did like just these, this like, this wave of euphoria too, where I was like, we're doing it, man. Like the

world's getting better. I do like, even though I do think this guy is now on the right side of history, I sense so much conflict in him and I want to be in the car with him after that because I feel like he sees you and he's like, this ubermensch looking white guy breaking the rules. I know I'm supposed to be mad about that. My grandkids yelled at me for that. I'm going to say something to this fucking prick

because that's not how we do things anymore. Special white man. Special white man. Special, fuck, that wasn't it. Special. I was in real panic. Special white, okay. Well, I only had three words.

What else was I supposed to? I needed to get white and man in there. I wanted him to feel bad special white man you think he's still there? I'm gonna pull back you know what I'm gonna workshop it maybe I'll come back the next time tomorrow

people generally run around the same time maybe I could catch him again or like being like I'm gonna chalk this one up as a learning opportunity and I'll be better the next time. He gets home and talks to his, his partner or whatever. Like, oh, you should have seen me. I call him a special white.

You call him a special white man. Are you certain he knew what you meant by that? He seems real bummed. And then I flipped him off for like 14 minutes. I, yeah, I sort of wonder like when his retelling of the story, how it actually went. Cause I gave you what I feel is a pretty unbiased and true telling of the story.

But I think like in order for the story to make sense to anyone else is he can't be like, so this guy, he's like three blocks away and I can see he's crossing the street up there. So I start honking. I just start going at it. I lay on my horn. Obviously by the time I get there, I forgot the prologue of the honking. By the time I get there, he's off the street. No, the way he has to tell the story is this man ran out in front of me. Didn't even look in my direction. Like that's,

that story has to be that because otherwise it's just as you can't get into it without with somebody still being like i'm sorry i need to stop you why why did you honk at this man um but yeah anyway if there's these things keep happening to me on my runs i don't know what i'm what i'm doing i'm obviously i broke the law there that's fair but not he didn't he was not at risk of hitting you he didn't have to change his his there was no chance and not only that so like he and i were essentially kind of becoming parallel at one point you know because i'm running across the street he's coming on my left he has to get into that middle lane by the time he reaches me like by the time the horn is like actually like within range where I'm like, oh, this is for me.

I am across the street. I am running like I'm like 15 steps onto the sidewalk by the time he actually reaches the intersection. Yeah. But he did not like the fact that he could see the light was green for him and there was somebody crossing the street. Man. Fine. That's fine. I get it, man. I get it.

That's not how the rules go, and I love the rules, man. Yeah. I just want to tell him that. I had a really positive running weekend, opposite of your experience. I had a race this weekend. I impulsively signed up for another race i signed up for a 10k uh which is not a distance that i do that's six miles 6.2 it's not one that i that i do often like i'll i leave the house i'm doing a 5k no matter what and that's like the the flavor of race that i've been doing recently, or I will do five miles or I'll do 10 miles.

I'm never doing 6.2 as like my distance. So I really, I picked a rate, picked it just because I wanted a race to do, and it was local, uh, and it's a fun distance, but, uh, it's not again, because I don't do it very frequently. I wasn't going in there thinking I was going to be very competitive or anything like that. I don't have a track record of personal bests at this distance. So I was like, I'm just going to run for the sake of running. And it was great. And I made friends at the race. What was the vibe of it?

Did it feel more like a race this time? Yes, it did. This was 1,100 people signed up for this race. And it was, there's there's there's no there's really no it's super corny there's there's not a substitute for like race day vibes it's everyone is so excited and it's it's early ish and we've all got like this nervous energy and we're all there you know 20 to 30 minutes before the race starts. Just not on our phones. Just like bouncing up and down.

All of us warming up and stretching and getting ready and meeting each other. You're tailgating. Yeah. Everybody's drinking, having their hot dogs. Of course, yeah. You down a couple of pre-race hot dogs. But it's great and i made i uh i made a friend and then like it's one of those things that happens on race day where where any port in a storm really so i make my one friend and then when i see her

on the course i'm like fucking ride or die for this bitch i see her and i'm like i'm pointing to her and i'm screaming like we're doing it you know yeah of course how would she feel about you calling her a bitch she would about you calling her a she would feel great barbara she would feel great that's what i figured i figured you wouldn't do that unless it was already a comfort level between you two that's what i'm trying to to get across here is the immediate camaraderie and intimacy that you you form with these race day buddies camaraderie and intimacy that you've you form with these race day buddies um now do you think that that's like with those friendships carry over like the way i could equate it is that when i go camping i there i'll eat like a sorry i'll eat sardines out like a mustard and

i'm like these are these fucking rule how come nobody eats these like i should eat these in my everyday life i should these stone wheat crackers with some, with some sardines and in a mustard sauce, like right out of the can. And they're the most delicious things I've ever had. And then when I get home, I can't fathom it. It's disgusting. So when the lights are finally on at the end of the night, what I mean, like the magic is over of the race. Do you think that that's a relationship with Barbara that you could actually carry over or would you find out like, oh no, wait, Barbara sucks. I am not interested in seeing her in any other context, but after the race, she was like, when are you, when's your next race? And I was like, I don't know. I'm looking at one in June

in this town near me. And she was like, that's a great one. There's another one in spring lake. There's this one. And she was like listing all of the races coming up in near me. And she's like, that's a great one. There's another one in Spring Lake. There's this one. And she's like listing all of the races coming up in the summer. And like, yeah, I hope to sign up for another race and see her somewhere. And, you know, it's a camp friend. Yeah. I feel like the gym is a lot like that too,

where like the people I know at the gym, I'm like like i love this i love you in this environment yeah like we are the we couldn't be better friends here we're thick as thieves uh on leg day but let but the minute you're like they're like oh i'm also having this party at my apartment and you go you're like oh i don't like any of these people they're all calling me brother all the time still that's something we only say in the gym yeah um but that's exciting i'm glad that the race went well and i got a couple questions i do think uh i need to i think i did a a coward's thing by booking this race i think one of the the themes that has popped up for me talking about races on this

podcast is like oh i'm doing a 10k which is not a distance that i do often so it's whatever it's low stakes or that 2.2 mile race that i did the last time that we talked about races where it's like yeah it's just for fun it's not competitive i think i'm subconsciously booking myself for races with a built-in excuse to make it low stakes and i think i need to start getting serious it's it's it's becoming more and more apparent to me that being fast is important to me which seems like a very silly thing for an adult man to care about but like i want to be fast the way that like little kids want to be very fast uh it's it's becoming important to me and uh i think i need to start like actually i'm gonna sign up for a race and i'm gonna say i want to be my i want to

set records for myself i want to place somewhere competitively and like actually go for it, which is a scarier thing to do than just like doing these casual random races. Well, yeah. I mean, trying in earnest and failing is way scarier. Hey, everybody. You know as well as I do that life can be overwhelming. David Sedaris described it as like a stove that you've got all these different burners and not every burner can be on full blast at the same time. So in order to be present with

your family or your career or whatever you determine as your personal success, you have to turn down one of the other burners and you can't concentrate on it as much. And what happens when you do try to burn all those burners at the same time? You burn out, right? We associate burnout with work generally, but that's not always the case any of the roles in our life can lead us to feeling burned out and better help online therapy wants to remind you to prioritize yourself talking with someone can help you figure out what's causing the stress in your life i feel burnt out a lot i used to feel out even more so i think i've found now ways that i can kind of deal with it in my life but for a long time i was trying to do just too much and that doesn't mean too much to be as successful in

my career it means that i was like i was just trying to do too much across the board it just wasn't working and i did never prioritize taking time for myself well better help can help you figure out how to better balance your life. BetterHelp is customized online therapy that offers videos, phone, and even live chat sessions with your therapist so that you don't have to see anyone on camera if you don't want to. It's much more affordable than in-person therapy, and you can be matched with a therapist in under 48 hours. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp, and quick question listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash qq. And quick question listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash QQ. That's B-E-T-T-T-E-R-H-E-L-P dot com slash QQ.

I think that's exciting, though. I think there's no, you should not feel bad about wanting to be fast. I mean, bro, try to talk to someone in your life about being fast, though. I was telling coworkers, I was like, I had a race this Sunday. And they're like, oh, how was it? I was like, good, I'm really fast. Oh, you're fast? I'm faster this year than I was last year.

And I feel good about it. It's so dorky. But like to test your measure against other people, test your mettle against other people, it's like, that's a natural instinct to be like, I've been working on this thing for a very long time. I wonder if I'm comparatively good at it now. Yeah. I was 11th in my age group this year, which is just a fucking death sentence for me.

Because if I was, I don't know, 14th or 25th or something like that or any other number uh then i just feel like yeah this is this is roughly the speed i'm at but like 11th is very close to like a serious contender speed for me and i'm like well shit now i feel like it's within my sights and striking distance not first i don't think i'm ever gonna be first i'm watching the guy who was the leader of this entire race and i just i don't i don't have that but like crack at the top 10 crack at the top five that might be a possibility and that's like exciting but also as soon as as soon as i see those results i'm like oh this is gonna be a lot of work isn't it

so give me a sense of how big is the age range? Are you in a group that's like three years apart, or are you in a group that's like a decade? It's like a decade, yeah. And you were, what, 13th? 11th. Do you know how many people there were? In the race, there were 1,00 people in my age range uh i

don't know god i gotta assume that you it feels like the wheelhouse a six uh a six mile race feels like the wheelhouse for people your age so i have to assume that a majority of them were and you got 11th yeah that's really good daniel thank you i had 10 in my sights and i didn't know it was 10 and i let him beat me yeah but that was that was the etiquette that i was just being a gentleman and then i saw the results and i was like no no no no never mind i had that fucking guy well oh man i you're fucked you have to now race um no now that was a race that you hadn't trained for at all you don't ever run six miles and you came in 11th that means that without even trying you could come in better than that next time yeah are you gonna stick with these or are you gonna

like are you gonna find your wheelhouse are you gonna be to be like, I'm a 5K runner or something like that? That's a really good question. What do you think I should do? Because I do feel like 5K is my best shot to get faster quickly. Like if I wanted to make that my goal this year within like literally 12 months. But I do think just anecdotally 5ks are more competitive than 10ks yeah i think that you're going to have a lot more people who think that exact same thing about 5ks they're like that that's going to be a group that's much bigger and

much more competitive i mean a s a 10k is not a race a lot of people want to do there feels like that's like a little window that gets wiped over because 5k very very popular then like the 10 mile race so the like the 11 mile races are also very very popular but like in between nobody really touches that area i think that could be it what's uh what goal should we set for me i'm never gonna be first tell me what your splits were um i don't have my phone no which has that information but i was ever all sub eight miles really yeah fuck that is fast dan you are fast are fast. Can I talk to your coworkers? I'm really fast. Here's the thing.

I don't think that they know. Maybe they don't run right. They don't know that just like if they were to just go run a mile as fast as they could, they would not do a sub eight by itself. And you're running it stacked on top of six or five other ones. Yeah. by itself and you're running it stacked on top of six or five other ones yeah i mean a lot of that is is race atmosphere you're always faster on race day was it cloudy it was so cloudy and it was the coldest it has been in new jersey in

weeks perfect it dipped out and it got so windy there were like wind warnings this weekend like even when I'm driving my phone is saying like hey there's a wind advisory so just be careful driving so it was super cold the morning of the race and gray did you so yeah I have another question at any point when you guys like like in a headwind, did you like flirt with the idea of drafting? No. Okay. That's like strategically positioning yourself behind someone.

Yes. To block the wind. Yeah. Yeah. Just like catch their wake and like their wake carries you. Right. Did you have headwinds during it? Yeah.

Oh, Dan, you're're gonna be so much faster i know but i have to put my my ass on the line then and i have to say i'm gonna try to be very fast and i i can't do my stupid coward move of just like oh it's whatever i'm just doing it for fun it doesn't count well yes but the nice thing is that when you specify which type of race racer you're gonna be a lot of other stuff falls away like the the right now you're just like hunting you're just like i'll do i'll do any race like i'll just try a bunch of different races see what i like and now that you get to like close a bunch of those doors you get to really just focus on this one thing and be like okay i this this is now what, this is now what I do. I'm going to race. I'm going to run, uh, five miles, seven miles. And then like between there, I'm going to figure out exactly how I'm going to get my six mile to be

faster than my five or like whatever it is. Um, and that's exciting. I think that's exciting for you. You have something to set your sights on. Yeah. I don't have that. Well, you've got a family to raise. Yeah. My wife is, she's coming up good. I think my wife is going to be a good person someday, just because of all the work I put in.

I do have a question. I had a random quick question for you yeah go ahead uh have you have you still not gotten covet yet i haven't gotten covet that's like low-key very embarrassing i cannot believe you haven't gotten COVID yet. Everyone's getting COVID. It is. It has been like the hit of the summer. Yeah. Already. And I haven't, I just haven't like buckled down and done it. Yeah. Do you remember how humiliated you were when you got it? Yeah. But you know, I felt that way after i lost my virginity too you still gotta do it it's just something very dark thick text just appearing before my eyes like what is this story what happened to daniel um yeah so our CFO got it, and you got it, and Gabe has gotten it, and everyone at my work at this point and their families have all gotten it.

I am one of the last holdouts of people who haven't gotten it. And I'm not, I mean, I have. It's genuinely remarkable. Like, I've had coworkers who've gotten it twice. I've had family members who've gotten it. And I don't mean to make light of this very serious thing but it does seem like more and more people who are vaxxed and boosted have gotten it and had like like i did a very mild covet and it just seemed like uh normalized enough that this was going to be like a regular thing for human beings going forward.

It's like, oh yeah, remember that crazy thing COVID? Yeah, I got COVID this time. It took me out of work for five days. Like everyone's getting it and you just still haven't. We were particularly careful for a very long time because of our daughter. In fact, she is still breastfeeding specifically for that reason. Ordinarily, we would not have taken her all the way to two years old breastfeeding. We would have stopped at probably one. But it's so helpful for, especially if Colleen gets it first, then you have the chance of giving giving some antibodies to her yeah as she contracts it but uh we were very careful about everything that we did for a very long time and that was i would like to think that's part of it but i have been way more reckless lately like i go to the gym now

and that's a very small space in which maybe 10 of the people are wearing masks and i've gone to work events and things like that colleen has too and they're indoor they're in clothes there's a lot of people sitting around or like a lot of glad handing too and we've just gotten really lucky and i am fully anything in your life that you don't do because of covet still yeah there are a few things like we won't go to a movie uh i certainly wouldn't take my kids i won't go to a movie. I certainly wouldn't take my kids. I won't go to a movie. I wouldn't take my kids to a movie.

We don't do bowling. We don't do indoor. Kids museums and things like that, we just don't do. If we're going to go do activities with the kids, it's outdoors with a very few exceptions. There have been some birthday parties that we've gone to in which some of it is indoors but for the most part we've done

you know it doesn't even feel like we're we're doing it on purpose anymore it's just like the lifestyle changed and we just fell into stride with it but now that you mention it yeah i mean the majority of the stuff that we do when we take the kids places is exclusively outdoors majority of the stuff that we do when we take the kids places is exclusively outdoors um yeah we've just been careful and that doesn't mean like the people who've gotten it are not being careful we've just gotten very very lucky and i fully i expect that we will at some point get it uh right that's the the biggest change i've noticed is that the people who are getting covid were also being incredibly careful. It wasn't reckless people. It wasn't people going out and partying.

It was like, to use an imperfect word, normal people doing every basic precaution you'd expect. And then suddenly it's like, oh shit, I got COVID from just like being a person who exists in the world. That's why it's so surprising you didn't get it. Well, we are doing a trip this weekend, and we will be on a plane. And so I'm going to have lots of good opportunities coming up. Where are you going?

A wedding. So lots of really great opportunities. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have been to other weddings. I mean, it's crazy. I remember last summer, last summer when it felt like the door had closed on COVID, when everyone was celebrating its death, and it was like a mission accomplished situation.

Yeah. And I went to, we flew to Minnesota, which is like a long flight, lots of people on the planes, lots of people in the airports. We went to two weddings while we were in Minnesota. Over the course of three weeks, it's been just like a ton of time with other people. And you realize when you go to other states that aren't New York or California, nobody gives a shit about COVID anymore. Yeah. Like they're, everyone is over it.

Nobody's wearing masks. There's no signs on windows or anything. Businesses don't give a shit if you come in or if you're vaccinated. And we did what we did that. And we just sort of like, well, if we get it, we get it. And we didn't. Man. Well, I hope you, you, you go a perfect game and you never get it we get it and we didn't man well i i hope you you you go a perfect

game and you never get it no you don't you call me what did you let's see what did you say to me it's embarrassed lucky embarrassing you call me embarrassing replaying it now uh that's fine it's fine it's fine it's not embarrassing it's fine dan i have a quick question for you shoot um in your apartments that you've lived in i mean you gradually you upgrade over time you like you'll knock certain achievements where you realize there's different ways to live and you don't have to you don't have to continue living the way you first did when you got an apartment we're just kind of like well i guess i guess i'll figure it out uh along that way

are you still having moments where you think well i don't have to live like this and like moving on to something bigger and better i'll give you an example of like one that just came up for me was that i you know that i do this podcast out of the back of my garage, which if you see the space, it's not a livable space. It's like there's paint cans, paint thinner in one corner, tiles for the back splat, like all the supplemental stuff for inside the house in case things ever break.

And then on the other side is just piles of loose wood and shelves that I took down and thought, well, I'll save this in case I ever need it again. It's like sawdust silverfish, I'm sure swarming through it all. And like some tools and stuff. It's, it's bad space. And I've been, while I was in here writing my script, I thought to myself, I don't fucking have to live like this. I could just make this a better space. I've got the rest of the garage is virtually empty because we cleaned it out for Colleen's

40th birthday. And in doing so, we realized that there was stuff for all this. I mean, there's space for all of the stuff that we had in just the regular garage. stuff for all this. I mean, there's space for all of the stuff that we had in just the regular garage. And so now I'm just living back here in these piles of squalor, sitting in a supplemental dining room chair, not even like a real office chair on a desk that we wanted to throw away. But we were like, well, we'll wait until we can actually do like a bulk throwaway and then we will get rid of it. And then we just never did. And now it's my podcasting and writing desk. And like, I, I work out of here most days on my Zooms

and I just like, we're coming up on the season where it starts to get very sweaty in here because there's no air conditioning or anything. And I'm like looking around and when I get on Zooms, I always have to explain it away. i think i could just for not even that much money just like take everything out of here and and put a couch in and put some shelves up and just live like a human being this is like this last vestige of me after college where i was just like anything give me a closet with a mattress in it and it smells like cat piss and I will live there for four years. I don't care. Yeah, it takes me... One of my many faults is

recognizing when I am allowing myself to be treated poorly and doing something to change that. I'm very bad about it. I had a place for a while that had ants and the we got the ants as as under control as we could get them but it still meant i would clean up like the ants were were not uh an infestation but a few ants would show up in the bathroom and die every day there'd be anywhere between four and like 15 dead ants and i would just clean them up and like vacuum them up and throw them out and like i thought that was an acceptable way to live, for me to be treated. Like, oh, this is the part of my day where I clean dead ants every single day. Could be worse.

They could be live ants. So this is better. And then it takes like months and months and months of doing that and introspection to be like, hey, you know, I wonder, this will be a fun thought experiment. Do we think there's anyone in the world who doesn't have to clean up dead ants every day? And if so, should we, do we think we deserve to be one of those people? It really takes a lot for me to like, look at my surroundings and be like, hey, perhaps you don't need to be uncomfortable.

Yes. And the reason I ask you in particular is that i think that like for me the outside influences that have always assured me that no there is a better way to be have always come from two places one going to somebody else's house and like go and being like oh this is way better i see so the world can be different every day could be different uh and you can't do that during covet and then the other one is from my significant others so like girlfriends and my wife they've always been the ones who are like you gotta fucking change i'm like no okay i'll do it oh yeah you're right this is way better um and i so like colleen has already said on multiple occasions she's like why

don't we just why don't we do something back there? Like, why don't we make it better? And for whatever dumb fucking reason, I was like, I'm fine. It's fine back there. Don't change a thing. Like getting almost argumentative about it. Like, no, it's, don't worry. That's my space. It's my space. If I spill stuff on the floor, I like to be able to just have it on the floor. I like to be able to have sticky syrup from a Dr. Pepper I spilled four months ago on the floor. And for no reason, just fighting it to fight it and realizing, no, she's absolutely right. She's been right for months and I should just change. And you don't, I mean, not to belabor the point, you are famously single. You don't have that angle as well. Publicly single for branding purposes. famously single. You don't have that angle as well. Publicly single for branding purposes. Publicly single. And so is it just, you're just having these realizations on your own where you're just like, I think the world could be different. It's every once in a while. Yes, it's mostly me on my own, but I recently had my brother and sister-in-law over for board games games and to see the house and i was realizing

the amount of things as i was doing the tour i was like here is this chair i hate it here is this thing in the kitchen it it disgusts me this thing over here is awful and it's been here and i look at it every day and i was like making a mental list of like you know you can just get rid of those things you can hide the things that you hate you can change this tour so that like everything is a thing you like i i was thinking about that while i was like writing in this chair being like god this chair is so uncomfortable i guess this is just how life will be forever i'm thinking no it's a dining room chair it's meant to be sat in for one meal it's not even like i don't think dining room chairs expect you to sit on them for like breakfast and

lunch dinner is all you do in a dining room chair and so it's got this kind of like wooden back that's very decorative but terrible i mean it's terrible for your spine not conducive to it at all and i've just been living in it every single day yeah it's wild pointing out like the recliner that i have in this house i'm like oh yeah this is the recliner it kind of smells a little bit weird and i spend i don't know 90 of my day there what do you think my dog won't even go on it anymore clearly has a bad energy to it i would say the vast majority of me the vast majority of my life is spent in this one spot and i kind of hate it uh i i realized it also as soon as i started thinking about this one maybe this is the

reason i'm so resistant to it is that as soon as I started thinking about this one, maybe this is the reason I'm so resistant to it is that as soon as I started thinking about this room, I was like, but Soren, there are all kinds of aspects in your life. Just like this. You could go upstairs to your dresser drawers and you wear about 10% of the shirts that are in there. And the other ones are problems for whatever reason. Like, I don't like the way this collar is. I don't like how long these sleeves are. I don't like the way this one makes my stomach look like. There's all these places in my life that I could just be doing better and I'm not. Man, clothing is a real Marie Kondo goldmine for me. If I just went into the closet that is like specifically the closet of clothes that I don't wear.

Like there's the dresser with all the clothes that I wear. And then there's all my other clothes in this closet that like, sometimes I open it and I'm like, no, none of these today. Obviously none of these, not going to get rid of them. Of course, they still need to be here. Where would I, I can't get rid of these. What if this comes back around? I have, I'm in the same situation where i went to a work event the other night and as i was getting ready for it i was like all right well i can't

wear a short sleeve i need something long sleeve maybe a long sleeve button up and i went looked at them all and i was like i think that we are four cycles of fashion removed from these they're like a bunch of pearl snap button shirts with plaid all over them and i they they have like that western kind of v on the breasts and i was like i don't i think it would be a problem if i went out in public like this i think people would be like would that mean step out of a bunker somewhere yeah like they're so old nobody is wearing those anymore and yet they're still just lying my closets and i'm like i guess i gotta start over yeah i disagree with marie kondo though i don't think all your clothes should bring you joy i think that it's silly to only feel one emotion

i think from your clothes i think that you should have at least six shirts that terrify you maybe a couple that make you feel like jealous and some that are just like sad like some sad shirts i do need to put on unflattering clothes often because sometimes my ego gets too out of control and i need to like force myself to be humble and i have like a big important work meeting i'm like no no no no no no you can't you can't wear pink that's way too powerful you can't you're going in you're talking to your boss today you cannot do that you're going to the one like that's got a pizza grease stain on the shoulder yeah that has clearly been through six different washes so it's

like a little faded but clearly still there yeah you're gonna go and rep ring this i think michael swain when he first got divorced had like a stand-up bit about that where he went on uh you oh you guys went on a cruise together and michael insisted that he walk around the cruise deck with his shirt off even though he made him deeply uncomfortable but he was just like i would like to wallow in this shame for a while like i don't want i want to i want to feel terrible really steered into it I think that could be it for us I think so too it's not a bad episode

no I think it's funny well that about wraps it up the show is quick question but you knew that already we are recorded edited and produced by the irreplaceable Gabe Harder

our theme song is by the incredible Merex their digital album is available at merex.bandcamp.com you want to reach out you can find us all on Twitter.

I'm DLB underscore INC. Soren is Soren underscore LTD. The show is QQ underscore Soren and Dan. You can email us at QQ with Soren and Daniel at Gmail, and you can find us on Patreon and support us that way. We answer questions from you, the listeners, once a month, and it's our favorite thing to do. That is all.

Bye. Bye. The answer's not important, I'm just glad that we could talk tonight So what's your favourite? Who did you get? When do I be remembered? What's it over? Where did all the bad weeks end? Oh forget it I saw a movie, Daniel O'Brien Two best friends and comedy writers If there's an answer they're gonna find it

I think you'll have a great time here I think you'll have a great time here