Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 119 - Triumph Over Unbelievable Tragedy: Two Exceptional Tales!

Episode Date: December 24, 2018

Malvika Iyer had both her hands blown off by a grenade when she was thirteen years-old. The blast also turned her legs into a mangled mass of blood and bone. Alex Lewis lost both legs, both arms, and part of his face to a savage and rare infection. And both of them swear their lives are now better than they were before. What would you do if something that tragic happened to you? Would you give up? Would you want to die? How big would the problems and concerns you had before suddenly seem? I truly hope you are inspired by these exceptional examples of triumphing over tragedy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!!! Today's Timesuck is brought to you by: The Great Courses Plus! For a limited time only, you’ll get a FULL MONTH for FREE when you sign up atTheGreatCoursesPLUS.com/TIMESUCK NUGL! Save money and find the best customer service and best weed related products on NUGL. Download the app or check them out at www.nugl.com Want to try out Discord!?! Click HERE! Watch the Suck on Youtube: https://youtu.be/a_SHjXSe37w Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Want to try out Discord!?! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG, @timesuckpodcast on Twitter, and www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna be a Space Lizard? We're over 3500 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits!

Life is inherently hard. Best case, we witness numerous loved ones, friends, and acquaintances die. Best case, we also die ourselves. And before we die, we're going to struggle. For sure, only the amount varies. We're all going to suffer some through some days, weeks, months, or even years when it feels like the world is against us. When it feels like the world is out to get us.

Statistically, we're going to get real sick, break a bone or two, go through a brutal divorce, or bone or two, go through a brutal divorce or several have our parents go through a brutal divorce or several go bankrupt, get our hearts broken, have our fantastic life plan, all perfectly put together, completely fall apart or blow up in our faces. This is all part of the human condition. You can probably relate to one or several of those experiences. You should expect a fair amount of tragedy.

It's probably common. But most of us at least get to face the indignities of life with full use of our senses, with all four of our limbs. Most of us get to what seems to be a fighter's chance at victory. Most of us are equipped with the mental and physical tools to at least live life to the fullest when the chips aren't down. But what if that wasn't the case? What if best case turns to worst case? And you get dealt far more than your fair share of bullshit to overcome?

What if unimaginable tragedy strikes you? Something so terrible you never even considered it as a possibility of some shit you would ever have to deal with. One day you're fine and then the next you've lost an arm. Maybe lost a leg. Maybe both. Maybe more. One of today's two tales of triumph over tragedy involves a woman who lost both her hands, suffered severe crippling wounds to both her legs when a bomb she held exploded. The other story involves a man who lost both arms, both legs and a significant part of his face when an initially seemingly harmless infection brutally ravishes body

and nearly killed him. What would you do if this happened to you? Would you give up? Would you want to die? How big with the problems and concerns you had before suddenly seem now. Today we dig into two tails of horrific tragedy and then the inspiring part. How both of today's victims chose not to remain victims and instead overcane their misfortune to live lives more fulfilling than the ones they'd lived before. Sometimes we need to hear about someone who has gone through more than we have in order to put our problems into perspective. If Malveque Iyer and Alex Lewis can overcome what they've been through, odds are you can't too.

The human spirit is strong, meat sack, so fucking strong. Be reminded of that in a special and Christmas Celebrating Suckers. Happy Hanagat Jewish Suckers. Happy Yule to those who worship the Norse gods may ode and smile upon you. Happy Kwanzaa, African-American suckers who choose to celebrate that tradition and greetings to everyone I've missed. Merry Christmas Eve if you're listening to this when it drops. I'm Dan Cummins, the master's sucker and you are listening to Time Suck. Welcome to the Cultivant Curious, you sweet, beautiful, and quizzier of knowledge.

May Nimrod, Lucifina Ambo-Jangles bless your end of 2018, may sweet, sweet, triple-in, serenade you with some holiday cheer. Michael motherfucking McDonald does have a new 2018 holiday album, by the way, called Season of Peace, the Christmas collection, maybe throw that on if you need a little extra cheer, you know? Has a couple little ditties like, have yourself a memory little Christmas makes you

that gay from now on our troubles will be far away. Have yourself a memory little Christmas makes you that gay from now on our troubles will be far away. Have yourself a merry little Christmas day. You're fucking welcome. Yes. I'll be thinking about that. When you're spending time with your families, I'll be like, God, I gotta get it out of my head.

Maybe I'll be like, I picture you in the bathroom, just kind of like for some reason, putting soap in both your, just, ah, get it out. And then suddenly, when you think you have it out, oh, Mary, little Christmas, oh, no. All right, that's over now.

Thanks again for the continued reviews. You suckers keep talking about time suck and more people keep listening. I love how that works. Very appreciative, very appreciative. Added a couple of Texas dates to the tour for next year. I wasn't worried I was gonna be able to fit Texas in. This is a happy murder tour of standard dates in 2019.

A lot of more people from Texas wrote in the NN other place, been like, dude, what the fuck? Yeah, I had a great time there in Dallas and Houston and San Antonio in 2018. Get to make it back to at least Dallas and Houston. Dallas and Houston looking real, we got dates now, April 26th, April 27th, gonna be back to the Texas theater in Dallas, back to the Seeker group in Houston. Hell, yes.

Those shows were fun. Let's make it even better. And the secret group, not a big venue. That one sold out last time a little bit in advance, so don't wait on that. Don't wait on either. Don't wait on either. Don't wait. But tons of dates up at Dancomas.tv. First show is going to be in Providence, Rhode Island, the comedy connection. Then it's a stress factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a funny bone in Albany, New York, back to another stress factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey, showing the East coast and love, showing some love back. You fucking dirty, dirty bastards.

Let's do it. Luciferin is presence, strong in the new material coming hard in 2019. A lot in the world to be angry about, but I'm not mad about you, meat sacks, not one bit. And I'm not bad about today's topic. It's very inspiring. Teared up, not gonna lie to you. Teared up a few times, researching this stuff. Told Lindsay about the episode, and she started crying in the kitchen.

So get your fucking tissues ready. It's time for some tragedy. Time for some triumph. It's time to suck. Four hundred and fifty kilometers, just over 300 miles from New Delhi, the capital of India, roughly 230 kilometers, 123 miles from the border of Pakistan, sits the northwest Indian city of Beaconer, roughly 700,000 people living in the middle of the tar desert, aka the great Indian desert, aka a big sandy shithole. Temperature ranges from hot in the winter,

with the record high of 99 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.2 degrees Celsius, February. Then it goes up to hottest fuck in the spring, as official terminology I believe, record high of 118.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 48.2 degrees Celsius in April. And then it kicks up again to O Lord, why have you forsaken us and sent us into the bowels of hell itself.

Begon lose to Fina in the summer with a record high of 126.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 52.4 degrees Celsius. That's just, that's not fun. That's not fun for anybody. Even if you're somebody like, I like heat, I don't think you like that heat. And it's mostly known internationally as the birthplace of Bougia, a popular Indian snack. It's a taste a little crunchy stick thing. It is the way I would describe it. Do you like the little tasty crunchy stick things?

Well, you might like this. Do you like it with some zest and some zing? It's something you'd find in some snack mix looking kind of like a deal. Made out of moth beans. Oh, sweet moth beans. Who doesn't like a mosbeen? I don't know the fuck that is. I made out of some flour, spices, and wizard magic. It's an industrial fairly non-escript desert city. It's where government and

employee and engineer B. Christian and his wife, hema Christian moved shortly after the birth of their second daughter Malveka in 1989. He worked at the Waterworks department, making that sweet water money. Handling his water biz-naths, keeping desert dwellers all hydrated and shit, keeping their skin moist, keeping their organs working, water work.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Melvika, an older sister, Katambari, had by Melvika's a kind of very normal, happy middle-class childhood. She loved playing outside. She kind of a tomboy, playing outside when the desert sun wasn't dangerous. She played kickball, fluke hides, roller skaters, loved all things crafty and creative. She even trained in a cathac. A type of a Hindi traditional dancing for over seven years.

She was an active, very physical kid and then her life changed dramatically on May 26, 2002. Malveca was 13, just started grade nine courses. Roughly the equivalent of being a freshman in high school here in the states. She just been allowed for summer vacation. Sunday afternoon, some guests had come over to hang out with her folks, some family friends. Her father sat in the drawing room with the friends, while her sister was in the kitchen for pairing tea, her mom was outside filling water

in the kitchen, just like a normal day. Aveka's wearing what she called a snazzy outfit. She was in really into fashion. She then she realized one of her pockets and her jeans was torn and hanging out. No worries, she's a crafty kid. She decided to grab some fevacall. It's like a brand of super glue, basically in India.

And I was gonna go glue her pocket back down to her jeans. She goes to the garage, she'll grab a heavy blunt object. She wanted to find to use, to push down on the pocket, like push that genie against the jeans, you know, with that glue on there, kind of hold it in place and get it working. And she ended up grabbing a hand grenade. Seriously, and if you're like me right now, you're thinking, why is grabbing a hand grenade. Seriously. And if you're like me,

right now, you're thinking, why is there a hand grenade in the family's garage? That's a very good question. Why would she decide that a grenade was the best object to use to fix a pants pocket? Well, she had no idea it was a grenade. This is such a random accident, a freak accident, put that grenade in her family's garage. Months months before there had been a fire and some explosions in a nearby military ammunition depot this munitions depot and it had blown bombs all over the area and apparently the Indian governments didn't think this was a new story worth giving over to the press and her parents had no idea this had happened nobody came knocking on the door uh... you know saying anything like, all right, we had an accident down at the bomb factory and there's a good chance your neighborhood

is riddled with explosives. And we just figured, you know, having kids at all, that, you know, and probably possess an inclination to not be blown to bits yourselves. Maybe it wants to peek around, make sure your house and or yard hasn't been turned into a minefield. Maybe let our bomb dog look around for bombs.

You know, do you mind if we peek around? No, none of that. This is unbelievable to me. Now, I guess they decided to go with the Cross Your Fingers and Hope Shit works out method. Should we carry us to blast radio for explosives, sir? There's no time for that soldier. Just hurry up and cross your goddamn fingers for all hell breaks loose. Titer, cross them tighter.

What do you want those bombs to go off? Well, Malveca can recall exactly when the grenade exploded. She said later, it was 115 pm in the afternoon. I remember the time exactly because the clock in my room stopped working at the time of the explosion. She said, I took the shell, I jabbed it into the pocket, right? She's pushing down that pocket, trying to press it into the jeans. When she repeated that action, boom, it explodes.

Her parents and their guests hear the sound of an explosion, come from room, but not thinking like, oh, our daughter prized a bomb upstairs. They think like it was just maybe the TV was turned up way too loud and the sounds come from the television. Inside the room, Malvika is initially knocked unconscious and then she comes back to consciousness pretty quickly and just is sitting there and shocked.

She's staring at her mangled, badly bleeding body. Her hands are gone. It's like a scene out of a horror movie. She doesn't feel any pain because she's gone into complete shock. But you know, she sees what's going on with her body. She sees her legs. She sits there and stuns silence. Her parents rush into the room and her mom immediately just starts screaming. My daughter's hands are blown off. Her dad and his friend pick up the tangled mass of

her body, carry her to the family's car, soon everybody's covered in blood. Everyone's so horrified by the side of her hands that no one even initially notices how damaged her legs are. Once she's all bundled up and placed in the back seat of her father's Jeep, Malveca herself was the one who noticed that her legs were literally hanging on by a thin scrap of skin. She yelled out to her father's friend, Uncle catch my legs. They are falling off of my body. The shocked dude grabs a handkerchief, tries to basically tie her legs together and they rush off to the hospital. Holy shit. Can you imagine? Can you really imagine like that, that level of tragedy, horrifying to think about this,

either happened to yourself or even worse happened to your kid. You know, I wasn't home years ago. My daughter in Rose, she slammed Kyler's finger into a door She cut the tip off his middle finger on his left hand. He lost Maybe a quarter an inch off the end of his middle finger stepdad You know was there took him to the yard he called me from the yard my knees went weak. I was nauseous My little man and so much pain. There's nothing I can do to fix it I hate not being able to fix things just in general and when your kid is hurt is the fucking worst All you want to do is make that pain go away. By the time I heard about Kyler, he was fine.

Just a nasty bandage, some gauze, a lot of gauze. Because of his age, how little was actually taken off, most of the tissue grew back. And today, if you're looking for it, you can be like, okay, that finger looks a little bit different than the other finger, but you'd probably never tell. But I was still worried about his finger for months.

And Ro broke her left arm two years ago, right near the growth plate above her elbow. I was worried for months that her growth would be stunted and that arm, there was a small chance that didn't happen luckily. She still feels pain in that arm from time to time. She can't bend her forearm back, you know, towards her shoulder as much as she can

with her right arm, but you'd never know looking at her than anything had happened. Well, Malveca's parents, when they see her daughter, like, are their daughter, you know, everybody has to know, including her, that life is gonna be very different now. I mean, her hands have literally disintegrated. From a grenade that had been launched in her garage,

from another explosion, what the fucking odds of that? What are the odds that A, the grenade itself didn't blow up in the initial explosion that B, the grenade makes its way into her parents' garage. C, she would go look in that garage for a blunt object to pound a piece of fabric with, and then D, she picks the grenade that didn't initially explode, but now explodes.

Woo, I think most of us, and definitely myself, we feel a lot oftentimes that we can control more of our world than we actually can. You can't. All you can do is decrease the odds that bad shit are gonna happen to you. But sometimes you still roll snake eyes, sometimes no matter what you do. You can eat right, you can work out. The odds of you dying at a heart attack of 45 are greatly reduced, but they're never entirely eliminated.

You can never smoke, still die of lung cancer. Sometimes, bad shit just happens to you. Nothing you did wrong. Just life, just mother fucks you. A good thing to remember when things are going well and you start getting a little judgy about people who maybe haven't had the same good fortune that you've had haven't had the same dice rolls Hard work, you know increases the odds dramatically to be financially successful, but it doesn't guarantee it You know, what does that phrase nothing in life is guaranteed not even keeping your hands not even

Not having them blown off in a freak exit so so once Melvicka makes it to the hospital, trauma surgeons are able to save her life barely. Uh, you know, fortunately it took her four days to start feeling the pain of her injuries. That's how deep the shock was. But then when she did feel it, she really felt it. She would later say, but what pain it was, red hot agony sliced through my charred body mercilessly. This is a 13 year old girl. A million tiny pieces of the grenade were lodged in there.

So those wounds were kept open for three months as they kept cleaning it vigorously. Three months of large open wounds being painfully cleaned. I'm guessing on a daily basis. Three months. And no hands, no hands to grab a book, no hands to push a button to call for the doctors to brush the hair out of your eyes, no hands not to be crew, but to wipe your ass with, no hands to, you know, once you're healed, a little more grown up, to ever touch a lover's face with, think what everything you use your hands for for me, just, you know, type in the notes, moving the notes along right now to do this podcast, adjusting the mic when I need to, pushing buttons to launch into different, you know, show segments, you know, intros and outros, the sound, driving myself to work

this morning, get out of my keys, don't lock the sucked dungeon door. All that shit, you're like, well, now how am I going to do this? Now how am I going to figure this out? Malveka spent 18 months in the hospital enduring countless surgeries to save her legs, keep all the shrapnel from causing infections. 18 months, skin grafts, bone reconstruction, nerve repair surgeries, etc., etc., etc., she was fitted with prosthetics to replace her hands. Her arms now stop, just past the elbows, you know, kind of on each side.

She can now stand, she can walk short distances. She has nerve paralysis on her right leg. She can't feel anything on her left leg. Nerve damage is severe as what she suffered, can be treated, but it can be cured. There seems to be a wide variety of results you can experience, but from what I've read, and I'll be crystal clear, I have no medical expertise, completely regaining nerve functionality

when you've had a wound as severe as she had, when your legs have been shattered, almost severed, is essentially impossible. Part of it can come back slowly through a lot of extremely painful physical rehabilitation. She was bedridden for an additional six months after her initial 18 month hospitalization. By the time she could do anything but just lie in bed, the now 15 year old had missed two years of school,

her former classmates were preparing to take their exams at Sentem on to grade 11. So a little different in India than here. Yeah, there's like you take exams to be put in the right schools for your final two years of Essentially high school before you go into college. The board exams were three months away. She was mostly bedridden No one expected her to even try and take these tests You know go back to school. She wasn't interested in staying at home and just watching her life pass her by She said it was not a love for academics that I wanted to take those exams.

Because before accident, she was an average student. More interested in playing outside the study. But now she felt like she had something to prove to herself and the rest of the world. She didn't want to be defined by her disability. Here comes the inspiring part, Medsaxx. For the next three months, this young lady, Malveka, this fucking inspiration said she worked harder

than she'd ever worked in her life said that her mom literally carried her picked her up and carried her to the coaching center know what she was your study she said she couldn't write she had to dictate her exams diagrams equations mass science all had to be verbally dictated when she was done she she felt she done well she felt she passed she did a lot more than that the results of those exams changed her life again. She scored a 483 at a 596.6% correct. She aced both the math and science portion of the exam, ASTEM. She received one of the highest scores on that exam in her entire state that

year. She crushed that shit. And I'm going to say, scoring in the top 3.5% of test takers in India, that's got to be like being the smartest person in the history of America. 18 of the last 22 winners of the script spelling bee, like the Super Bowl of Spelling Bees have been Indian American. 18 at 22. I don't stats for 2018, but in 2017, 13 of the final 15 Spellers were Indian American who won in 2018 14 year old Carthic Namanie Indian American boy hooney beat Nasa Modi 12 year old Indian American girl and And many of these kids are the children of immigrants were English not even the first language spoken in their home I have a college degree got a reason college. I bet a 10 year, I bet at the average 10 year old

Indian kid would mock the fucking floor with me to spelling me or math test or pronunciation challenge or geography quiz. Actually, my son Kyler, he goes to a gifted school where there's, you know, spoke hands pretty white. I think there's like maybe six Indian kids in his whole school. He took part in some geography challenge. I think all six were there. I think all of them advanced. I've shaped you not. What I'm saying is, you know, since my download numbers aren't huge in India, you know, there's a good chance that Malveka is smarter than anyone listening to the show. Anyone have anything to do the show. Incredible. Three months of studies, does that.

That's determination. So suddenly, there's a torn of media attention regarding how a severely disabled girl who just been an abomblast and missed two years of school. How could she have such a terrific score? She's invited to the Rush Trappity, Bovin, India's equivalent of the White House in New Delhi to meet the then president of India, the late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. This is India's president from 2002 to 2007. And that home boy, he knew more than a few things about studying.

This man was an intellectual heavyweight. He studied physics, aerospace engineering, kicked off his career, designing a hovercraft. No big whoops. Just gonna make the only thing I ever wanted, that I ever wanted for about three here, excuse me, of my childhood, on his way to becoming present. Anyone else really wanna hovercraft? I wanted to hovercraft so bad. I thought about it so much.

I would say fifth grade through seventh grade. I was thinking about hovercraft on a daily basis. I wanted one kinda like the one in the GI Joe cartoon. And by kinda, I mean, exactly. I wanted exactly that hovercraft. Go Joe! If I mean, exactly. I wanted exactly that hovercraft. Go Joe! If I was crazy Rick, I would have a hovercraft. And some dude or dude at, who knows how to repair

and operate a hovercraft. And I would have a fridge full of tasty sandwiches. I want you to hear this fantasy for a second. And I'd have a bathroom inside, just picture in your mind. And I'd have a bed, and my hovercraft, a little kind of room for taking hovercraft naps. And I had a PS4, I had a PS4, I have Red Dead Redemption 2. My family, I would let my family come along,

I would let Lindsey kind of know, come along, on a trial basis. If you start complaining, you're off of the fucking hovercraft, get out. I will not hesitate to throw anyone off of my hovercraft, that's important. If you can't have fun and be cool in a hovercraft, then you don't deserve to magically float across the swamp.

All right, rule number one of hovercraft riding. Stick in the mud, get thrown off of the fucking hovercraft. Rule number two, do not shit in the hovercraft bathroom. Smelling someone else's shit, greatly diminishes hovercraft enjoyment. Rule number three, get your dirty raccoon paws off my captain's hat. Doesn't matter if I'm driving or not, I'm the captain. And if you touch it, well, you're being real stick in the mud and you can refer back to rule number one

and you can see what happens to your salty ass. But enough about hovercraft. It's fun as that was for me. Let's talk more about Malveca. After kicking ass on her exams, Malveca, she kicks ass in grades 11 and 12, then she decides to try and get into the best college in India. She says, I made up my mind to go to the best college in the country for my undergrad, and she did. She got in. She got into St. Stevens, graduated in economics with honors.

And St. Stevens, constituent college of the University of Delhi, located in New Delhi, widely regarded as basically the most prestigious college for arts and sciences in India. St. Stevens along with the Hindu college and Ramjas college make up the University of Delhi. Former presidents of both India and Pakistan are among the alumni and Melvick who graduates from this place with honors and economics. While at his college, he said she started to feel sorry for herself, said, see my peers have a normal life and enjoy the things I couldn't do made me miserable. I was consumed, but what I could not be and could not do.

She's constantly seen others run, play sports, hold hands, all the other things. Most of us don't even think about. We take for granted when we have a work instead of legs, a work instead of hands. And then she had another life alternate experience. She studies for a master's in social work, from the deli school of social work. And as part of her field work, Melvika has to teach differently abled children. She sees firsthand the courage and strength

these kids have to face the challenges. They face having only like one arm, or no arms, or one leg, or no legs. And she says, I ended up learning so much from them instead. And then her life took yet another turn when she first picked up an air band gel and everything changed forever.

She realized, you don't need, you don't need hands to pluck air strings. You just need a voice, a passion for banjo and a musician's soul. Today's time suck is brought to you by the A whole air banjo academies worldwide winter concert series. Sign up two times today. You will learn the basics of traditional Hindustani air music originally written for the air sitar, but transcribed by our talented team of experts for the American banjo. Check out this little Hindu diddy. D-d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-dank, d-d-d body with dance-tumber. Or you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you don't think no, you What a fun world to live in if that was though. If that was a real sponsor. Time suck is brought to you by fun sponsor. Time suck is really brought to you by the Great Courses Plus. The Great Courses Plus lets you view the world

through different perspectives and surprise yourself with new discoveries. Get unlimited access to learn from people who are passionate about their areas of expertise and we love passion here on the suck. Whether it's history of ancient Egypt, astronomy, forensic history, even brain hacks, photography, there's a variety of topics to choose from and new courses are added all the time.

Watch or listen anytime you want on the great courses plus app. I've been sucking down the brand new course, the philosophy of humor. What makes us laugh? Why? What's the relationship between humor and tragedy? Very important for today's episode. I've been checking out lecture number five from this series, comedy and tragedy. Of course, I have a professor, Steven Gimble, PhD in philosophy from John Hopkins, professor

chair at Gettysburg College. Tragedy and comedy are related. He says, think about the classical symbol of the theater. Those two masks, right? One smiling, one's frowning, one's comedy, one's tragedy. Those symbols come from ancient Greece. Those masks originally represented two of Greece's nine muses. And the muses would visit artists and grant their inspiration. Melpum, Melpumini

was the goddess of tragedy and her younger sister, Talia, Arthalia, was the goddess of comedy. And Greek saw that these, you know, were distinct genres and Aristotle actually wrote a breakdown of how to write for tragedy, how to understand tragedy, and also wrote a separate book about, you know, how to understand and how to write for comedy, sadly, no, no, comedy of the comedy books revise. But based on later works that have survived referencing that book, we essentially understand that comedy's primary, primary value is encoping with tragedy. We make light of the horrible things that happen in our world so that we can deal with living in this world.

If we only focus on tragedy, what well deep dark depression, here we come. There's so much more to that. There's a better explanation in the lecture. So get in. Get into the Great Courses Plus. Now is the perfect time to get started. For a limited time only, you get a full month of for free. When you sign up at the great courses plus.com slash time suck. Start your free month today at the great courses plus.com slash time suck. That's great courses plus the

great courses plus, excuse me, the great courses plus.com slash time. Link in the episode description button on the app. I just link right over. All right, now back to someone who has overcome a tremendous amount of tragedy, Malveca Ayier. Malveca was feeling sorry for herself again. You were just talked about, and during her college education, then she started work with children of various disabilities while she get her masters,

or I guess she used better, more empowering, semantics, differently able children, and then she got inspired. And then she graduates, or graduates with the masters in social work, graduates first in her class, wins a prestigious academic award in India called the Rolling Cup for her doctoral thesis, a thesis dealing with a stigmatization of people with disabilities. That's how she got her PhD in social work. Goes on to become a recipient of the Nara Shakti Puraskar, the highest civilian honor for women.

The women can attain in India, given by the president of India, she now works internationally as a motivational speaker as a member of the United Nations illuminati new world order child sacrifice. That's what the United Nations is to some people, but she works as a member of the United Nations. Their interagency network on youth development's working group on youth and gender inequality. A lot of words, but good group. She's a model for accessible fashion. She's a beautiful woman. She's kick and ass. She still struggles with the public's perception of her. I mean, of course,

I mean, can you imagine just being cocked at looked at like some kind of circus side show curiosity everywhere you go? She said in 2013 interview, the other day I was in a market, it was sweltering hot. I was sweating profusely in my prosthetic hands fell off. She then describes a perplexion in somewhat horrified reactions to the people around her, adding they just didn't know what to make of me.

She also still fights to see if there's any new medical advancements, they can restore functionality in her legs. She says that her legs are a gnarled and tangled mess of bone. And then it used to bother me how ugly they are. She once went to a doctor to check out options of cosmetic surgery, but he told her that with her injuries, she would never even be able to walk again and just to forget about cosmetic surgery. She then blew his mind when she let him know that she walked to his clinic.

The doctor was impressed, but surgery, cosmetic surgery is still out of the question. 70 to 80% of the nerves in her legs have been destroyed. Surgery could jeopardize the tiny amount of function. She still has it allows her to walk for short distances. People constantly remind about the disability, but she says that she lives by Scott Hamilton's words, the only disability in life is a bad attitude. Scott Hamilton being a former US Olympic gold medal

winning figure skater who was suffered through numerous brain tumors and other forms of cancer for years and years. Malveka said, I've come to realize that I can be the president of India and people would still pity me. It's in their nature. Now I concentrate on my own abilities and not people's reactions towards me. That's very empowering shift in the life perspective, just kind of shift that paradigm. That's all it took to change my life. Malveka's also found romance. She's in a committed relationship with the loving partner.

She's a good chance to have hot sex. I think like really knock it out, rocking that G-spot kind of sex. It's not written anywhere, but she carries around that kind of I have hot sex, that kind of big dick energy when you watch her interviews. She ended one of the interviews I read about her with a fantastic quote, little advice for

the rest of us. She says, I sometimes feel grateful for the blast. I think of the average life I would have been leading and look around and see the amazing opportunities that I get to experience now. My disability is a shield against the life of mediocrity. Woo, that's beautiful. Shalester says, opportunities are there for every one of us. Don't give in, fight and you will survive.

Fight and you will survive. Hail Lucifina. Before we move on to the next inspirational tale, let's hear a few words directly from Malveka. This is from a YouTube video called a bilateral amputee offers a lesson on resilience. Disability lies in the eyes of the observer and not the observed. So it is up to you whether or not you want to be seen as a person with a disability. It's the choice that you make. Like the very famous quote,

the only disability in life is a bad attitude. I think the most critical barrier that each one of us face is the barrier of attitude, the discriminatory attitude. I believe that hope is very important in life. If I had lost hope on the day of my accident, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. Wow, and Chanzu with the beautiful smile. Wow, she's like one of those beauties that it's like,

it's part physical and just part like her energy. Just beautiful man, powerful shit. Disability lies in the eyes of the observer. And I believe that hope is important as well as a great message man, you lose hope, what do you have? You know, one of my favorite books, just of all the time, maybe my favorite book ever, Man's Search for Meaning. It's written by neurologist and psychiatrist, Victor Frankel. Victor Frankels was a Holocaust survivor who made it to the age of 92, became a

very noted influential psychiatrist. He developed a psychotherapeutic approach called Logo Therapy. That's always resonated very strongly with me. It's what works for me is kind of a psychological approach to life. The driving force behind logo therapy is the idea that human beings are mostly motivated by search for meaning and purpose in their life. Indicate like the meaning of their life is the biggest question we face, the biggest stressor on our psyches. Like basically if your life has meaning, if your life is full of hope, you know, we face the biggest stressor on our psyches, you know, like basically if

your life has meaning, if your life is full of hope, you'll be far less prone to depression, far less apt to be, you know, very happy and fulfilled. Now I know for some that depression is chemical, but I think for many others, including myself, it's largely a combination of perspective and attitude. Does my life have meaning? Do I feel fulfilled? Do I think that good times lie ahead? If I can answer yes to all those questions,

I'm a pretty happy fucking camper. If I answer no, and dark clouds start sailing my head, if I start dwelling on a future that I don't feel looks bright, it gets me real down. And I know a lot of that is just how you choose to kind of look at your life. And Franco develops this theory that hope corresponds to happiness in a very dramatic

way. He was, you know, he was a, again, a Holocaust survivor. He watched fellow concentration camp prisoners who gave up hope literally die over and over again. They gave up thinking they would ever escape. They would ever be rescued. You know, their family members, you know, died and they just, they lost any lost any will to live and then they did die. And this would just get happen over and over again. Others living in the exact same conditions who kept hope alive for a better tomorrow consistently lived much longer than those who gave up. Like he's he's his psychologist mind is very active in this concentration camp setting and he's basically studying his fellow captives. And so he had reason himself to give up.

You know, 1942, his wife and his parents were deported to a Nazi ghetto, along with himself. His father died soon there of pneumonia. Then in 1944, he was remaining families and to Auschwitz. The concentration camp, his mom and brother are murdered there. His wife is sent to his separate camps. She is murdered there by the end of the war. World War II, his sister Stella, the only remaining member of his immediate family to still be alive.

And then after enduring all of that and the suffering in these camps, he concludes that even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanized situation, life still has potential meaning. And therefore even suffering can be meaningful. He's liberated in 1945, and then he's running the Vienna Polyclinic of neurology by 1946. He's remarried by 1947. He was Jewish, his wife, his new wife, though, was Catholic, and then they would continue for the next,

almost 50 years, celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah every year. I think that's really beautiful. They have a daughter who goes on to become a child psychologist. By 1961, he was a visiting professor at Harvard. When he died at the age of 92, still married to that second wife, has two grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and he had all of that because he chose hope. He chose hope, just like Melvika. Nothing was given to either of them.

So much was taken. They chose not to wallow and self-pity. Instead they chose to work their fucking asses off and do something great with their lives. I love it. I love it so much, man. It gets my motor going. Makes me want to do so, so much more

before I shed this meat-sex skin and just bounce out to the next plane. Right, what can you get done before you die? How much good can you pump out into the world? Hail, I'm in, right? Be fired up, goddamn it. What are you doing with your life? How much better could you make it? Now for even more tragedy. This next one, in my opinion, substantially more brutal than what we just heard in a variety of ways. I may or may not have cried when I first read this one. Holy shit. Like worst nightmare kind of stuff.

So buckle up buttercops, get ready to hear about someone getting their ass kicked. Just ride in the nuts repeatedly by life. It's time to talk about Alex Lewis right after I pushed this little interlude button one more time. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ Back in October 2013, Alex Lewis had life by the balls. So I think he's moving along fantastically.

He'd met his living girlfriend, a life partner, Lucy five years earlier, and 2008, it'd come over to do some home repair work for her. And she thought he was handsome, funny, kind. She looked how laid back he was. They fell in love, had a son, get a pub where they both worked in Winchester, a small city of about 50,000 people, 60 miles or 97 kilometers southwest of London. They buy a second pub. Alex has run in one, loose. He's running the other. Alex describes himself prior to his infection as being quite vain.

That he spent a lot of time in the mirror, making sure his hair was just so, you know, clothes were looking good, making sure his jeans got just the right amount of tight, making sure he's got some good new shoes. He believed in that, that message of always judging man by his shoes. I've talked about that too, actually. He loved golf, drinking at the pub with his buddies, spending time with his, with his girl Lucy and their son Sam. And then in late October 2013, when he's 33 years old and son Sam is two, his throat starts feeling

a little scratchy, one night at the pub. Right, just knocking back some Guinness, throat gets a little scratchy, not a big deal, right? Who hasn't had a scratchy throat before? I get a scratchy throat several times a year. And then he figures he's coming down with a mild flu, maybe a cold, turns out he actually was coming down with a cold, common cold.

But he also was, you know, feeling the beginnings of something much, much, much more sinister. A terrible and rare infection. One morning in early November on Saturday morning when both Alex and Sam or Philanel, Alex suddenly takes a severe turn for the worse. Lucy finds Alex in an extreme state of terrible pain. His eyes are like popping out of his head, his eyes just wide open, his skin is hot to the touch, literally turning purple before her eyes all over the top half of his body, his torso, he's shivering, he's disorientated, he doesn't know exactly where he is, what's going on.

She calls an ambulance, tells them that her husband has a rash everywhere, has been complaining of a terrible headache for the past few days, tells them he'd been recently vomiting and experiencing blood and his urine. By the time the paramedics arrive, his bodies began to shut down. They struggled to insert a needle into one of his veins to get an IV drip going because his veins are just, you know, they're just, they're just shutting down everything's shutting down. They managed to get him into the ambulance. They gave him penicillin. Lucy hopes this is, you know, gonna knock things out that the worst is already behind him now. They're in good hands. She couldn't have known how wrong she was to think that

no one had any idea that Alex's flu-like symptoms were the result of a bacteria commonly found on the surface of skin. Normally harmless. Stryptococcus, strip, strip, strip to caucus. There we go. Stryptococcus strand day, AKA toxic shock syndrome. Also known as necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly flesh-eating

bacteria. Essentially, this is the worst type of infection you can possibly get. This shit is demonic. So what is toxic shock syndrome? If you've heard of it, you've probably heard of it in the context of tampons. Seriously, tampons have become very associated with toxic shock syndrome to the point that people, a lot of people think that's the only way you can get it from tampons. And they're associated with it because, you know, tampons are one of the few foreign objects that humans can shove inside themselves

or choose to shove inside themselves and then let sit for hour after hour. Probably a butt plug or two out there to get lost in there and the crevice, probably some Ben Wobballs. It's stuck in a moist tight human hole, maybe for a little too long. Anyway, you know, the tampons left in there too long and vaginas are already full of organisms. And I'm not talking about some dirty birds, fingers, or tongue, or someone who hasn't scrubbed down their dingingling, with enough of mama Ridgeway's clean-wing, which brings me to our final sponsor. Today's time suck is brought to you by Mama Ridgeway's clean-wing, special pine-centred toxic shock blend just in time for the holidays.

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Feel so good back now though, to your worst nightmare. We're talking about bacteria. We're talking about streptococcus, strandae, toxic shock syndrome. Viginas are full of organisms, bacteria. They're breeding ground for bacteria, that's not me just joking around. Most of these bacteria bacteria is either harmless,

or actually helpful. When you lady suckers introduce a tampon into that environment, they'll inadvertently give some of these little bacteria organisms another place to grow and thrive. It's already warm and moist, which bacteria and I love. Now they've got a new area to colonize. Our immune systems mostly fight off these little

burgeoning colonizations just like they fight off the many thousands of other almost infections that happen all over our bodies, all of the time, all of us meat sacks are constantly covered in bacteria inside and out. And our white blood cells have gotten pretty good at killing the ones that pose a threat. But sometimes you get perfect storm of conditions and staff or strep bacteria can build up momentum inside an object like a tampon before your body's natural defenses can detect and defeat them. And then once your body's found out what's going on, it's too strong.

It's built up an army. You know, it's fucking mongolored is in there. This is more likely if you left the tampon in for a long time, but it can also happen when you just have a localized infection in a wound or really any part of the body, which is why it can happen to anybody, not just,, not just women with tampons, I've been left in too long. Actually, one third of toxic shock syndrome cases are men, like Alex Lewis. I really shocked Lindsay actually. She assumed that it was just always women and always ready to tampons.

Nope. In general, I will say this type of bacterial outbreak is exceptionally rare, woman or man. In 2016, the CDC reported a grand total worldwide of 323 cases. Only 26 of those cases died. Compared to the overall population, very small, excuse me, I said worldwide, not true, nationwide, nationwide is on your side. I think it's their slogan, but we're not talking about insurance and I don't want them

as a sponsor. No. In 2016, the CDC reported yet, 323 cases in the US, 26 people died compared to the overall population, very small number. It's important to note, this bacteria, this streptococcus strand day doesn't do anything to the overwhelming number of people of slavery. And I don't know why I said that thing about nationwide. I have no idea what that company is about.

Maybe they're fine. That was getting to my head. I was like, why did I just say that? I don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about. This focused on bacteria. It's, this strand day is one of two bacteria, the other being a staphylocus, staphylococcus, there we go, these words,

I wanna find whoever invented them and I'll punch them in the throat. I wanna one punch in the throat for every unnecessary syllable. The other being a staphylococcus are areus and both can produce a toxin called TSS-T1, toxic shock syndrome, toxin-1. And this TSS-T1 is a superantigen, which means it prompts the immune system to massively overreact to an infection.

That's how this disease gets you or this, whatever you want to call it, this infection. The resulting storm of immune cells causes your body to go into shock as inflammation spreads, if fever rises, if left unchecked. It eventually causes a multi organ failure. The toxin can enter the bloodstream, even if the bacteria is isolated to one area. So an infection can start in one part of the body and then can end up spreading to the entire rest of your body. It can kill you.

There also is other toxins that can cause toxic shock syndrome, but TSS-T1 is the most common. And what's crazy is, again, these bacteria are super common, nearly one in three of us have this bacteria on our skin, or in our nose, or your sinus cavity. But for the overwhelming majority of us, it's just, it's never going to do anything bad. It's completely harmless. For those of us, it does cause problems. For the problems usually aren't that severe.

The most common type of staff infection caused by this type of bacteria is a boil, a pocket of pus that develops in a hair follicle or oil gland, the skin over the infected area usually becomes red and swollen, staff bacteria, also the most common cause of food poisoning. Also known as blood poisoning, septus semia occurs when staff bacteria

enter a person's bloodstream, and antibiotics can knock out these type of infections 99% of the time. If they're even needed, food poisoning and boils usually don't even require, and antibiotics. I mean, not to be gross, but I have had a boil,

the size of a walnut on my right ball for about a year. Never had it checked out. Never talked to a doctor about it, so it's a bit tender, you know, but overall I feel fine every month or so. I squeeze it really hard and try to, try to pop it, but no luck yet, you know, it hurts, hurts a lot when I do that.

I'm about passed out last time I did it, but you know, y'all try again. I was gonna put some more pressure on it, see what happens so far, you know, I haven't been able to crack it, but no big whoops, probably, probably harmless bit of staff. You know, eventually I'm just gonna heat up a needle and poke around and see if I can, I can't get it to go away, you know, I haven't been able to crack it, but no big whoops, probably harmless, but a staff. You know, eventually I'm just going to heat up a needle and poke around and see if I

can't get it to go away. You know, no sense, no sense wasting some doctor's time on some, you know, surprisingly hard taught bright red ball stuck to, stuck to on my balls. And I'm completely kidding. Thank you, never mind, I don't have that or anything close to that. And if I did, I'd be in a doctor's office, ASAP. I'd be there in a lobby, weeping. I'd be thinking about should I weep or should I vomit?

Maybe both. If you have something like that, please get it checked out. So why does this common bacteria sometimes lead to a severe, flesh-eating infection? No one really knows. That's a frustrating part of this. Episode Alex Lewis gets this infection. His son doesn't. His girl Lucy doesn't, you know.

None of his customers is at the pub. They don't get it. None of his friends or family get it. No one else at the hospital gets it. Others may have had this bacteria on them. Probably did, but it doesn't kick off a massive toxin buildup which then triggers a tragic overreaction from an immune system and anybody else.

Like Melvika, he was just very, very unlucky. Shit happens. You know, life got him. And late October to 213, shit happened in such a big way to Alex Lewis. When he enters the emergency room, the bacteria have already triggered this aggressive immune reaction.

Immunicist in reaction, his body is attacking itself. His body quickly starts to die as toes are dying, his fingertips are dying, his earlobes and nose are dying. He's given a massive dose of, you know, the most powerful antibiotics available to mankind. Basically continually giving antibiotics, the infection is still raging inside of him. His limbs become severely discolored. I've seen images hard to look at. Large brown splashes appear all over his skin, like on his legs, especially, you know,

his zifty living limbs are rotting while still attached to his body, which essentially they kind of are. He's laying in a hospital bed hooked up to amazing tubes. He's fallen into a comatose state from the infection. While he's in this comatose state, his doctors have to ask his mother because him and his lady are not married. So she has, you know, say over, you know, whether or not certain medical, you know, medical operations, I guess medical techniques can be can be administered on him medical treatment. Have you want to say it? The doctors ask his mom for permission to amputate his left arm where the infection was the most widespread at the time.

As soon as his mom gives this permission, the doctor then asks for permission to amputate both legs. So they make the decision to amputate both legs and his arm. Doctors later perform a number of surgeries on Alex remaining arm to keep at least one limb, but it's losing battle. It took 17 and a half hours in an operating room on Christmas Eve in 2013 to rebuild this remaining arm.

They stripped the arm, to scrape dead tissue away. Oh my God, to take a 16 and a half inches, 42 centimeters of his left shoulder blade along with skin, muscle, nerves and tissue to graft it onto his right remaining arm because he lost the left one. I think I said that correctly, but the damage proved to be too severe in one night while he's asleep, lose rolls over

and snaps his remaining arm in two. He says, my hand was dangling down by my elbow. His right arm then has to be amputated. Fuck! It's like he literally died and went to hell. This is the kind of thing where, like even if he was my worst enemy, even if he'd done something,

I can still be unforgivable. At this point, I'd be like, all right, all right. He is suffered enough. My God. But the infection's still not done with him. It's attacking his mouth, takes his lips, takes a lot of the skin around his lips, where his lips used to be, takes part of his nose,

takes enough of his face about time he wakes up to all four of his limbs being gone. He really can't speak. He's not able to speak. Doctors were that he's also suffered brain damage. They ask Lucy to ask him a question that he can shake his head, yes, or no, too, that only they would know the answer to. And they'd had a little run and joke for the last eight years. Every morning for the last eight years, Lucy, when she'd wake up, would ask, will you marry me? Because they weren't still weren't actually married. And he would

say, no. So she asked in the same question, he still says, no, they know his brain is not damaged. And then they spend the next nine months, or he spends the next nine months undergoing 11 more operation to stabilize what's left of his body, you know, just as a torso. He spends nearly all of his time in the hospital away from his family. Lucy and their son Sam visit as much as they can. Sam's reaction to his father's disfigurement was one of the hardest things Alex had to deal with during his recovery. Sam was afraid of his dad, afraid of the way he looked. He cried when Lucy would try to make him give his dad a hug.

So Alex tries to endure more surgeries to humanize his appearance and make him look more normal to his son. Initially, the surgeries make him look even more bizarre as his first lip surgery is 12 hours long to take a piece of skin from his shoulder, surgeryally attach it to his surgically attach to his mouth. It makes his face look extremely puffy, or makes it extremely puffy. And it also adds excess skin initially to the left side of his face.

He just has like a skin flap dangling there because they needed that in case the first skin didn't, didn't heal correctly. They want to be able to grab that extra piece, I mean, this poor bastard. After a year remaining in the hospital, he's finally able to come home, try to develop a sense of normalcy with his family. The lip surgery

does work. After the swelling goes down with his lips, his son still won't give him a kiss. It's just kind of a quick hug. His lips are kind of hard to describe. Like, I'll play some audio of Alex in a bit so you can hear how he sounds. Sounds great. Thanks to these lips. But they don't look, they just don't look like lips but they don't look they just don't look like lips they don't they look like the kind of lips you would see unlike I can I think of like a monkey doll or a monkey puppet I'm not trying to be a dick or funny there's no humor mockery on the sand just trying to describe it remember this is this is skin taken from his shoulder shoulder skin maybe a better description it looks like it looks like two pieces of skin colored play dough

have been rolled up and ones been put above, you know, where's upper lip would be and ones been put where's lower lip would be. So they're like way too big and puffy for lips, but they function the same way a lip would. It's a little bit hard to mentally process when you look at it. It just doesn't look real.

My mind struggles a little bit to categorize it when I'm looking at it. In addition to struggling with being denied the same amount of pre-infection affection from his son, he also struggles mentally with not being able to help his family. While he continues to recover at home, Lucy has to run the family business, run both those pubs and a guest house now. A lot of work for both Lucy and Alex before. Now it's just her. She also has to essentially do everything for the son, Sam. Luckily, Alex has a caregiver at the house,'s just her. She also has to do everything for the sun.

Sam, luckily Alex has a caregiver at the house, so she at least doesn't have to do everything for him. Their relationship becomes understandably tense. Lucy doesn't know how to make him feel better physically. She wants to give him physical affection and cuddle, but she worries she'll hurt him. He initially also worries about this. It's very tough originally for them to have sex. They would have sex. Thank God, the infection at least left him that limb. I'm not joking. Not that he wouldn't have been able to overcome that as well, but at least he can still have an orgasm. He can still get a direction. Feel that sense of vitality and manhood, you know, when nearly every other aspect of traditional

physical masculinity has been taken for. I know you don't need that stuff but come on let's be real it helps it helps you feel manly you know he's not going to be able to open up and he tightly seal jars anymore not going to lift heavy boxes but he can still sports some steel that's important yeah what is big deal oh so you have hard dick is that is that shot at Chico Tilo is that fucking fun against the great Russian Rassler? Just because he knocked Jerk's soft shamecock under sweatpants in back of school room. Or was standing above child bed.

Oh, he's some kind of saint now. Fuck yourself, Master Sucker. You know nothing of manhood, you soft. Alex Lewis, soft. I rassle him to ground. I know need rassle him. He already on ground. He already pinned. I stand above him. I jerk. That's not jack teo

I sorry. I Listen I embarrass myself. Are you apologies to you? Apologies to Mr Lewis Apologies to entire Tomsock community. Are you seriously? Are you actually sorry? Cicatillo? Get the fuck out of here!

I saw nothing! I jerk on you both! I russ you monodore! I russ you little wife! I jerk on everyone! Nimrod commands you to be gone! Cicatillo get out! Whoo!

Sorry about that everybody. Sorry about that. If you're new to the cult, Cicatillo, he's a real rascal. He's a real... He's a real scoundrel He's a filthy Ukrainian nightmare who thankfully is dead in real life, but his his spirit is trapped inside the suck It is the will of Nimrod. It's now for me to understand it. He's just here. He shouldn't bother sick head today

And if you and you're watching this on YouTube And you've never heard anything before and you're thinking this guy is out of his fucking mind. Maybe I'm having fun. Okay I've never heard a thing before and you're thinking this guy is out of his fucking mind. Maybe. But I'm having fun. Okay. Let's talk about Alex. Alex understandably struggling with his sexuality after his operations. He doesn't understand how Lucy can be attracted him anymore.

He feels terrible that she has to do so much, you know, work in their life. He just feels like a burden. Balucey's love wears him down. She is a good, good lady. This Lucy, hey, Lucy Fina. She is a good, good lady, this Lucy. Hey, a loose of Fina. She never considered leaving him. She loved him more than she loved anybody in her life. For months after getting back home,

Alex undergoes intense physical therapy to learn to fine tune with left of his body. The hardest loss to overcome for Alex is losing his arms. Everything that he used to love to do, like playing golf, cooking, reading, he can no longer do without arms. Dorn is rehab, he's given prosthetic arms, and then like a baby learning how to walk and

do everything, you know, for the first time, he has to learn how to do everything for the first time. He's also given prosthetic legs, he has to learn how to walk, he's like to learn how to like perform basic tasks, like how to pick up a spoon. Things don't, things you'll better with the prosthetic genres of legs. The rehab is physically and mentally exhausting. He doesn't give up an issue because you don't want to let loose your sand down. He wants to be a role model for his son, wants to exemplify the values of dedication and

hard work. Lucy notices that he's far more motivated than he ever was before the infection. Before Lucy's limbs, I guess he used to drink a ton, drink a vast amounts of alcohol in the family pubs. Enough that he thought he was becoming an alcoholic, he would just drink beers all day, kind of every day for too many days. Start thinking that he was getting lost within the alcohol and his effect in his life

from relationships and business. I felt like it was that was straining his marriage. Then after his surgery, even though he has more reason, you know, you would think to drink the never, barely drinks it all now, disloose his interest, becomes keenly aware of what really matters in life. After nearly two years of rehab, he's become adept enough with his arms that he's able to help Sam get ready

for his first day of kindergarten, still struggling with legs. After Sam goes back to school, he keeps trying with the legs, he wants to increase his mobility, wants to actually truly be able to walk with these new, more advanced prosthetic legs he's been given, but they still don't work.

He will walk, kind of start to walk and then just fall to the ground or in therapy. He figures out that basically he needs a even more advanced pair of legs to really have a chance at having these to, functional, but he can't afford them. He can't afford the correct knee joint that's just been invented to kind of make all this work. Doesn't see any point in staying with the therapy just to have it now work anyway.

Comes home in a dark place, and now he's been working for years. He can't get the legs he longed for. He worries he'll never be able to go for a walk with his son, starts throwing away a bunch of his old clothes, depressing it first, but then freeinging he realized he doesn't need his old clothes to be he doesn't need to be his old self again He realized his family loves him just the way he is whether he can walk or not He doesn't need prosthetics to feel complete a sense of peace falls over him He actually feels better about his life than he ever did before the infection. He appreciates what he has truly deeply Girlfriend is stood by him through all of this. A son who loves him.

He's not drunk, you know, not drinking all the time. 21 months after he falls ill, almost two years, his family then receives some really incredible news. After he's kind of made peace with his new situation, after he's realized he doesn't need legs to be whole, he gets him anyway. Friends and family find a private trust organizer who leads fundraising to get the legs he needed.

They raise enough money for the most advanced prosthetic legs available that do allow him to walk now. They also pay for a modified bicycle he can ride, biking ride with the family. Alex gives speeches to help raise money, sharing his story with others. Two years after first getting sick, he's able to walk from the kitchen to the living room, surprises his son Sam. He just gets better and better all the time now, continuing to become more independent. He takes on this, he has his mindset now, if you want something, get it.

In the past few years, he's now gone skydiving. He's kayaked hundreds of miles. He's hand-cycled, his new bike all over the place. He wants to cycle it up at Ethiopia's tallest mountain in the very near future. His back at work, he's now an interior designer. His son is no longer scared of his appearance. Earlier this year, he actually became the first person

to have a microchip embedded in their body. He has a microchip inside to the stump of his left arm. It's the same technology that pet microchips have. Actually, both our pets, Penny and Jinger both have microchips in them to find them in the lost. This chip enables Alex to open the front door, like the door senses the chip inside of him, knows it's him pops the door open.

His car door works the same, he can drive now with all his equipment. This chip also contains his medical records, cases ever rushed to a hospital, contains a passport inside of it that can be scanned, like through the right equipment. He hopes soon he'll be able to use it to buy the various items at stores, pay for meals, travel,

train tickets, all that stuff, be more independent. And in the most recent quote I could find about him, this is what he had to say about the state of his life. He says, I wouldn't go back to my old life. I was just coasty. Then I got ill, sure I lost my limbs, but I had reason to live, which is my wife Lucy and my son Sam.

All the amazing stuff that I do, like getting a microchip would have never happened. Very similar perspective that El Melvika has, you know? Remember she said what disability lies in the eyes of the observer? Alex is a fighter just like her, and I love that they both seem to genuinely enjoy their lives more now, after so much was taken from them

Does that inspire you? Also He does he is getting married. He finally said yes He and Lucy. I think they recently got married. There was no recent articles to say the last the most recent articles said they were engaged After all that I believe they they do get married Love it hail Nimrod. And now just like with Melvigil, let's hear a little bit from Alex himself before we move forward. This is from a video uploaded to YouTube on June 22nd, early this year. Alex also sometimes

works as a motivational speaker. And this is a little taste of one of the talks he gives. My bizarre story starts about three years ago now. I was a very easy-going, laid-back guy. I had been got stressed. I was living a very nice life. My partner and I, we had two pubs. I was in charge of one and she was in charge of the other. And I was also the state hand dad for my little boy. Once you work out the way, you will endure anyhow. Wow. And my way is my little boy, Sam and Lucy, my fiancee. That's why I do what I do. Why I want to push the limits for a quadam, why I want a kayak, why I want to break the boundaries of disability, to make people see that we

can do great, great stuff, achieve great things. The how is enduring my life as a quadamptee, but please it is not a bad life. I live an incredible life, a life that I'm incredibly happy to be living. Wow. Thank you for listening to me today. I live an incredible life. A life I'm incredibly happy to be living. How many of you listening can honestly say those words now? I hope all of you, if you can't, maybe reflect on the two stories we've shared today. You know, if they can make a happy life out of the hand they've been dealt, why can't you?

You know, what could you do that you haven't done already to find meaning, to find hope? Inspiring stuff. Now, let's see if the edit to the internet can take a big old dumb shit on all this inspiration. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is the internet. For today's video, I picked the extraordinary case of Alex Lewis, medical, medical, medical

miracle documentary, which is also one of the, you know, the episode sources for today. Published only back on June 14th by real stories. It already has over 11 million views, almost 30,000 comments, even 30,000, and I braced for the worst. But nope, so much love in this comment thread, so much good. I'm going to read the top 10 comments posted to give a true feel for the tone of the threat. First comment by Flair, user Flair says, if I went through this, I would just want to

die. This man is super strong. So many props to you. Mm-hmm. Not a common reaction. I mean, not an uncommon reaction. Excuse me. I think to think that, you know, like, oh my gosh, just kill me already.

But no, man, not only is he glad to be alive, he, he's happier with his life now. Incredible. Uh, user cheeky, cheeky, breakey, breakey, post God bless him and his family. User pixie post. Wow, his wife really loves him. This is true love. Uh, and a Montez post. Imagine waking up without legs, arms and lips.

He's so strong. God bless him. Brianna Dill's post, this man has a special spot in heaven waiting for him. Jen F. Post, God forgive me for ever complaining about my life, no shit. Diana B. Post, he's actually still looks incredibly handsome. Cowboy, Clorox Post, I'm just really glad he can still talk.

Rose Park Post, why do all, why do always such things happen to such nice people? Yeah, why do, why do things like that happen to people? And then the one TV post, God, all why do all we such things happen to such nice people? Yeah, why did why do things like that happen to people? Uh, and then the one TV post, God, please forgive me for complaining about my life. After I watch this, I feel that I'm the luckiest person in the entire world. Nothing but love is refreshing, isn't it? I've seen about scrolling down further to find some hate, but no, no, not today, not today. This is the holidays.

Gonna leave this one feeling good. On today's not idiotic at all, it is of the internet. It is an adventure that is of the internet. Well, I hope this suck has you feeling good, meat sacks. Hope you're enjoying a nice holiday week with your families, biological or chosen. If not, I hope you get has you feeling good, meat sacks. Hope you're enjoying a nice holiday week with your families, biological or chosen. If not, I hope you get some cheer out of this.

You know, if you need more, the more holiday spirit, if you're feeling lonely, hit up the code to the Curious Private Facebook group. And that's just not self-promotion, it's become, it's become a big family. I personally don't really get in there much, but Lindsay here, Queen, Queen of the Suck, Reverend Dr. Joe, they're checking out

to Harmony Valley Camp Blood Ours. And the stories I hear are just really, really inspire me to try to grow this community because a lot of love is becoming a big fan, a lot of people helping each other out, making sure they feel good. I hope like Alex and Malvea linked that in the episode description if you need to easily find it. I hope like Alex and Malvea, you're able to look at your life in a way that gives it a bunch of meaning. You know, so much life really I do think is find it. I hope like Alex and Malveca, you're able to look at your life in a way that gives it a bunch of meaning. So much life really I do think is attitude. And I know that's easier to have than done.

I have days where if someone was telling me this, I'd be like, shut the fuck up dude. But it is true. Now I used to live near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Montana have like from the beach to about 20th Avenue is little string of shops, cafes, Pilates, studios, you know, juu shops, you know,

yoga places, restaurants, nice restaurants, surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the United States. It's close to where OJ Simpson used to live in Brentwood, Manchin's galore, and if you go to a Starbucks or coffee bean on that little stretch and you sit outside, you're gonna watch millionaire after millionaire

walk by wealthy like extremely beautiful people. A list actress and actress producers, tech millionaires, lead has been people with new trainers, our trainers, nutritionists, life coaches, you know, this, this like, cremde la crem, you know, the upper crust, they're in great shape, they're leaders of industry, you know, they're wearing designer clothes, they're eating the best food, driving six figure cars, you know, you know, you know, living in seven, what is it? I'm trying to take an eight figure man mansions, balances, and 90% of the time, at least in my observation, these people looked completely fucking miserable,

miserable. They have everything. And, you know, I guess, except for satisfaction and happiness. What is the point of that? Why don't they happy? I bet in most cases, because they're always chasing more, that monster of more. They're always chasing that next thing. You know, and it's good to be ambitious. You know, it's fun to be ambitious,

but if that's where your happiness truly lies, I don't know. I don't know, you're never gonna be happy then. They always chase that next workout, next job, next spouse, next house, next car. They can't see what they already have. What if they lost all their limbs? Would it break them?

Or would it transform them? And there's something more, like Alex and Malveca, almost like a butterfly transformation. It's like those two went into a cocoon. And it's like a reverse butterfly. It's like they came out more like a larva, but a happy larva. What if you could appreciate the world though without having to lose your

limbs or your face, you know, it's a choice, I guess, how you see the world around us. You know, I used to live in a tiny apartment above a used bookstore, cafe in Millwood, Washington, and the building next door was an assisted living, you know, government housing building, people, people in government assistance, people trying to get back on their feet, or just to be honest, like I am on this show, you know, people on the outside for a bit in between jail stretches. People you wouldn't want to let your kids walk past alone if you have any common sense. Fair amount of cop cars, paying that building a lot of visits. I used to feel bad for whoever had to live there. If they were just, you know, struggling. There was just

one couple who did live there that didn't want my or anyone else's pity. They weren't trying to get back on their feet, they were happy as hell to live there. They were never in trouble. Joe and Mona, two 50-ish-year-old people had been married for years, both had down syndrome, and they needed a little help. They could have some government assistance,

they weren't able to work, but they could take care of each other beautifully. They got by without having to, to anybody, having to shop for them or anybody else having to make their meals. And they really, really love each other. And they would go to that little used bookstore kind of coffee shop, you know, all the time. Tease each other, always holding hands, always quick to laugh, smiling all the time. Joe, especially a doored Mona.

Talked about it whenever she wasn't there, stared at her the way that we all want someone to stare at us. The happiest people I'd ever seen. And they had what I, you know, and most of all considered to be so little, you know, they're getting by on, you know, paycheck to paycheck, you know, government assistance. Happiest people I've ever seen. They loved their lives, loved their lives, never heard either one of them ever complain about a single damn thing in the two years I was around them had nothing but they had everything. They loved their lives, loved their lives, never heard either one of them ever complain about

a single damn thing in the two years I was around them, had nothing but they had everything. They chose to be happy with what they had, so simple, so live transforming if you can pull it off. I mean, sadly, two years after I met him, somebody robbed him, they had a dog that somebody killed and then the building was set on fire and I guess that they were trapped inside. It's a tough way to go out. You know, they never caught who did it and that's not a fun ending to the story.

And, you know, I made up that last part. I made up the last part. I don't know what happened to them. I think they're fine. But you feel fucking sad for a second, you know, you felt a little angry, right? You're upset like, no, why these good people? They're so happy.

Exactly. You know, maybe I opened up your heart a little bit. Maybe if you were upset there, okay, I'm sure feel like I did my job this suck. Another great man. I hope you all can love someone like Joe Loved Mona. I hope you all have someone love you that way. Hope you can all laugh and play like Joe and Mona did this holiday season. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays, you beautiful bastards. It's time for today's Top 5 takeaways. Time, Chuck, Top 5 takeaway. Number one, on May 26, 2002, Malveca, Iyer, was a 13-year-old girl trying to fix a pocket on a pair of jeans.

And then the object she'd found in her garage to push glue on to those jeans was a live grenade. Live grenade dropped sent there by a random accident, a fire at a munitions depot, it launched it into the garage. And that grenade blew off both her hands, turned her legs into a mangled mass of blood and bone. And now she's a model, motivational speaker, has a PhD, all because she chose to fight, instead of give up.

Number two, Malvika was hospitalized for 18 months, following the explosion, bed ridden for another six months. She missed two full years of school, and then the former average student studied her ass off for three months, crushed some exams, put her back on track for college, letter to meeting the president of India, she got a PhD, phenomenal hail Nimrat.

November of 2003, number three, number three, November 2013, UK pub owner, Alex Lewis went to the hospital with a terrible bacterial infection That ended up taking both his arms and legs and part of his face He also decided to fight and figured out how to use prosthetic arms prosthetic legs had skin from his shoulder formed into lips And now works as a happy interior designer with the loving family works as a motivational speaker Number four Alex Lewis is the rare man who got toxic shock syndrome. Toxic shock syndrome can affect anyone, including men, children, you know, women whether they're

menstruating or not, it's not just women who have left in tampons for too long. Although that does increase the very, very, very small odds that you could get it. If you feel disorientated and you get a rash, resembling a bad sunburn, if you suddenly have terrible headache and bloodshot eyes and redness around your face and neck, get to the ER. If you do have it, the sooner you get there, the sooner the doctors can begin to treat it,

the better your odds of surviving with minimal tissue loss. And number five, new info, Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets. That man also died of toxic shock syndrome. The man who created like Kermit the Frog, Ms. Piggy, Sesame Street, the animal, the sweetest chef. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, the guy who won two enemies are two enemies.

Two enemies. He sold his company to Disney for $150 million and then he died at the age of 54 from a bacterial infection That led to toxic shock syndrome on May 4th 1990 Handsome made his last appearance with Kermit on the Arsenio Hall show told people who's tired had a sore throat that that day On May 13th, you know, he doesn't go to the doctor for those Those nine days he returns to New York cancels his work schedule

He's too sick to go to work on on May 15th 2 a.m for those nine days. He returns to New York, cancels his work schedule. He's too sick to go to work. On May 15th, 2am, it becomes very short of breath. Cops up some blood. Tells his wife, Jane, that he feels like dying. She tells him you go to the hospital. Still doesn't want to go. Doesn't want to bother people.

Changes his mind. A couple hours later, it's admitted to New York Hospital at 4am, soon after admission, he stops breathing and is placed on a ventilator. And then on May 16th, he dies from toxic shock syndrome. He was only 54 years old. You start feeling sick, don't fuck around, meet sacks, insurance or not. Get to urgent care, the very least. Big medical bill is better than a funeral bill. Don't let that ball boil, a boil. Go unchecked. Don't have a ball in your ball or anything else. Time, suck, tough, five takeaways.

Tragedy and triumph, the inspiring tales of Alex Lewis, Malphika, you're a bin sucked. You can't always dramatically change the circumstances of your life, but you can't choose how to view the circumstances of your life. Again, easier said than done I know, but they did it. You can do it. Big thanks is always the time-slug team. The high priestess of the Suck Harmony Vellicamp, Jesse Gardening of Grammar Dobner, Reverend Dr. Joe Paisley, time-slug high priest Alex Dogen, almost called him Dobr. That's weird. The guys at Bidelix are danger brains, space lizards, merch wizards, axes, apparel. We got so much fun stuff in the store, man. So many good things.

Can't prayer candles. Maybe that'll just increase your odds of success in life. Get some prayer candles. Get those little stockings stuff for scent. Challenge coins, beer glasses, coffee tumblers, an ammo pins, so many things. And huge thanks to Course to Queen of the Suck, Lindsey Cummins, huge thanks to the Lily Twins,

Reba Sarah, hammers of knowledge, would have never found out about Mal Cummins, huge thanks to the Lily twins, Reba Sarah, hammers of knowledge would have never found out about Malveka had a not been for them. If you haven't already got in there, give that cult of curious private Facebook and go over 5,000 kick ass members in the group. Also you can try out time sucks discord channel for even more interaction with cult members. Yeah, fellow cult members linked to both in the episode description. Next week, different kind of episode, a bit more tragedy in triumph, two more tales, two more tales of overcoming diversity, then also a recap, year end review.

What's going on behind the scenes with Time Sok in 2018? What are the plans for 2019? We've got big dreams. I hope you take a listen. I thank you so much for being part of this journey. And and then you know to kick off 2019 back to back to Mayhem history mystery murder that kind of stuff time now for some time-sucker updates Personal alphabet murder update from a time-sucker who did not ask to remain anonymous, but due to the personal nature of this message,

I'm gonna go with a first name only on this one. Time-sucker David, beautiful meat sack, writes, dear suck master, Daniel Cummins, the third S-quire. I just wanted to write to you to tell you that you did another great job in the Alpha Bet Killer episode. It was a little rough for me with the whole kids being molested and stuff,

mostly because when I was between three and four years old, I was molested by a guy my mom was dating at the time. I had nightmares about it for years, haunted me for a very long time. I'm now 32 years old, finally free of the grasp that event held on me. I wrote a paper in developmental psychology, might not be from Gonzaga, but I digress. The paper was about how traumatic events, such as molestation, can have the effect they can have on the brain of adults. We all know how this event can lead to those people

who are abused, becoming abusers themselves. However, money studies show that's not always the case. Kids who are abused do not tend to sexually abuse children when they get older. However, the abuse are far more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, which is almost always mentioned. What is not mentioned generally is that the abuse suffer greater self-image problems, the romantic relationship suffer.

I always thought I was only good for one thing, sex. I know now, that's not true. The girls ended up believing that's all I wanted them for and my relationships failed. The last failed relationship, I believed her to be the one and it crushed me when it ended. That's when I saw it counseling and I found out between counseling and this paper that as a child, you know, experienced a traumatic event, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's damaged your prefrontal cortex, which is where your impulse control is in your brain and

that, uh, that can give you, you know, the reason to seek drugs, alcohol or sex. If anyone has been sexually abused as a child, please seek help. Just know you are better than what has happened to you in the past. Do not lead down a destructive path because of it. There is hope. I am an example of that. I really hope you read this during a podcast update, Dan. I think many people try to tough it out.

And I think it doesn't bother them, but it does. PSI attached photos. I thought you might have found find industry. It was the day the mob barker gang robbed a bank in my hometown of Baloie, Wisconsin. We are literally right on the Wisconsin, Illinois border. It would have taken less than two minutes across the border from this bank. Also pictures of the women who were used as human shields. Please feel free to post on an Instagram and Facebook. Oh, okay. I'll try and remember my best to post that on social media. Love the pictures, David. And thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing that message.

Yeah, get help. If that's happened, if you've been molested or raped, truly know to the depth of your core, that's just not your fault. It doesn't define you. You're so, so much more than that. Your potential and beauty wrapped up in some skin. All right, remember that.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. Beautiful dad shout out from another beautiful bastard of a sucker. Mara Gwenter. Mara writes, dear as teacher officer, doctor, my name is Mara. Mara like the Star Wars character. If you don't mind, can you please give a shout out

to my dad, Mark Gwenter. He is an actual Superman. I would say he's the number one best father ever in the world, but I know you are a father, and I know I shouldn't call someone a number two when I ask for something. I'll take number two in this context. In all seriousness, my dad and I have been through a lot in the past two years. Not once has he complained. Even when both my dog and I moved in, even when I bought the wrong size of curtains three times. Most of all, he doesn't complain when I forget to pick up the mail. Also, every single day.

He puts down an extremely brave face no matter what and does his very best at everything. And he is honestly one of the hardest workers I know. Get this. He even helps his 18-year-old senior in high school daughter with her homework. He was literally my math teacher in middle school. When I rant, all he does is listen. He doesn't try to solve my problems or give me unsolicited advice. Honestly, I could go on and on and on,

but the bottom line is he is an amazing father. And I'm so grateful for him every damn day. Now, you may be asking, but Mara doesn't eat your yogurt without asking. Yeah, he does. And sometimes when I take naps, he leaves without telling me, and I decide that someone broke into the apartment

and abducted him almost every time he's actually the gym. Nonetheless, I do not have enough words to describe the love and appreciation I have for him. Please share this with the world. He deserves it. Your loyal minion, Mark went to man. Beautiful update. Yeah.

But way to be a great dad. Mark, appreciate it man. World needs more good dads. You know, I don't come across sounding like a sexist, but you know, you hear a lot more stories of dad abandon the family than you do mom abandon the family. I know they're out there, but I would bet my life statistically,

the world needs more good dads that are needs more good moms. So thanks for being a good dad. Thanks for teaching your daughter what a good man looks like. That's gonna help her so much later in life. Thanks for being a great sucker mom. Now, thanks for being great, Sucka Ma. Now, an intense as fuck update from New Sucker, Steve Queen. Steve writes,

I recently started listening after I heard you on the Riz show in St. Louis. And thank you again, Rizudo, Lister's from Poppin' Over here. I've been trying to catch up on episode of Time. Last night I got car jacked while listening to the BTK episode. I had just started my car, hit play on my phone, some guy knocked on my window with a gun. I refused to get out, we fought over the door and he fired a shot.

Fortunately, he missed and I surrendered the vehicle. Once I wrapped up with the cops and made it back to my family, I continued to listen to the episode. Your show is entertaining, I was bummed, some jerk tried to shoot me and interrupted finishing it. Keep up the good work. Holy shit. That's intense, man. And I believe that story absolutely.

I don't want to, I don't want to denigrate St. Louis, but St. Louis has some of the sketchiest fucking neighborhoods in our entire nation. Like for real. Like say Lewis has neighborhoods where like do not, I mean, like many people tell you, don't get out of your car. Don't go in the neighborhood. First up, but if you're in this neighborhood, don't get out of your car.

Don't stop at red lights. Don't look anyone in the eye. Yeah, man, glad you're safe. Glad you are safe. Wow. Now a beautiful, pay it forward message from SuperSucker, Coleman. Killer writes, hi, Dan. First of all, I want to say that I'm a huge fan of you and your comedy. I've been a hardcore sucker for over a year now. I'll never. This

morning on my commute, I was listening to your alphabet murder episode in which you mentioned the bystander effect. This is something I was previously familiar with, but it was nice to have a recap fast forward to my commute home today. I was actually not the highway. And on the corner was a middle age panhandler. I'm a person who always wants to give to have a recap. Fast forward to my commute home today. I was actually not off the highway and on the corner was a middle-aged panhandler. I'm a person who always wants to give to panhandlers. My heart just goes out to them.

Who knows what awful shit they had to go through in their lives? That's fair. But I rarely carry cash. I remember that I had an apple and my purse left over from lunch. I rolled down my window, held out and said, I'm sorry I don't have any cash. Would you like this apple?

He accepted, said, thank you, God bless, Merry Christmas. I rolled my window back and was waiting for the light to change, but I noticed the driver of the car behind me rolled down their window and offered the man some money. Made me choke up a little bit. I don't think, oh, and then the car behind that car did the same thing. Made me smile.

I don't think either of the other two drivers would have offered the man anything had I not done so first. Bystander effect broken. While it's easy to be apathetic to the panhandlers on your street corners, I want to encourage you and other time suckers to spare some changes in food to help them out whenever possible. Anyway, I wanted to share that story with you doing good in the name of the suck. Thank you for everything you do for this amazing podcast. If you're creating the culture, curious mother suckers sincerely, Kayla Bravo Bravo Kayla, I love it, I love it, I love it.

You guys are so fucking good. I was just on a phone call with Axis Apparel just yesterday and Kate. I'm gonna throw Kate under the bus in a good way right now. Kate started, you know, choking up on the call because she was just talking about how nice it is to work with so many caring people.

Like her and Logan are very invested in the show and I just, I'm in. I appreciate it so much. Thank you for doing some good. Thank you for making the little bit better place, Kayla. Okay. Little Harriet Motherfucking Tubman shout out. Now coming in from Meet Sacks to Prem, Jody Johns, Jody writes, Hey, master motherfucker.

Just listen to the Harriet Motherfucking Tub and suck and dude, you nailed it. God damn it, I know you could do it. I know you could suck some sweet freedom, love and chocolate. I know you're probably gonna get some dumb ass email central saying you're insensitive or you disrespect the touch of legendary figure for blacks, blah, blah, blah, but I am telling you as a hundred percent black woman that you did a fucking awesome ass job.

And if anyone else has something to say, they can suck my left nut on Monday and Wednesday between three and five PM, depending on traffic. Keep sucking motherfucker and air band show your heart out. You earned that shit. Ah, thank you, Jody. That is beautiful.

You know, I, I, I, I'm so glad I did that episode. It was so, so, so nice. Another inspiring one. So nice to learn so much about such an amazing Meat sack Wow, man some people it's just It's just leaves me in awe of just the strength of their spirit Just how much they're able to pump out in the world. It's incredible. How much good? woo And finally some corrections coming in from Southern Sucker, Jason from Atlanta Jason writes a couple corrections

That I have to send your way in Harriet, mother fucking tub and suck, you pointed out that no women, no women, excuse me, have been on US currency. That's actually not true on two counts. The US Silver Dollar Coins routinely featured lady, lady, liberty on them before Eisenhower. Okay, female figure, okay.

I don't know, lady liberty was a real woman, but yeah, okay, I see you saying. And the number two, the dollar coin had, okay, Susan Badass bitch, Anthony on it. That's true. That's true.

I have seen the Susan B. Anthony coins, my grand piece, collect coins, and she was changed out for Sacajawea. Okay. And there were $10 US Mint issued coins of some of the first some first spalses. All right. So historically, I have an example. Thank you. Yeah, I did not think of that.

Also, in the new world order, suck, you did a Hulk Hogan promo speech, but you got some things mixed up. Go fucking figure. Having grown up watching wrestling, pronounced wrestling, the trademark, whoo! Actually, belonged to Rick, mother fucking flair, very different than Hulk Hogan. Hope to see you in Atlanta this year. I had a kidney stone last time You're here. Hill Nimrod Jason Atlanta. Okay. All right now My my defense and my defense I did know that rate the the nature boy Rick flare I did know that he would I knew that I was a second I thought for sure that Hulk Hogan also wooed and And you sent me into a wormhole on the internet of looking at way too many Hulk Hogan videos

I just wanted I just wanted to hear one woo, but I stand corrected. He didn't woo, he didn't woo one time. But it is so fun to do, and I do like combining it with the Hulk Hogan voice, as if he did woo. So, I'm going to leave the updates with my impersonation of Hulk Hogan if he in fact wooed. What are you going to do brother, Hokomania comes for you? Thanks time suckers, I need a net.

We all did. Thanks for tuning in, even during the holidays suckers. Don't lose any limbs this week, but if you do know that life can be even better than it was before Hail Nimrod happy holidays, and you know what? How about you keep on sucking? Wow wow Wow