Episode 71 🎪: Megladon Goldfish, Petty Tiktok Story Time, Buffy The Vampire Slayer Reboot, Hollywood Demons, BOOK REVIEW: Just Another Missing Person, Gillian McAllister

Hosts: Stefanie Navarro & Meredith Hill
Run Time: ~36 min
Theme: Parenting chaos, nostalgic TV, petty wins, and jaw-dropping family drama, book review, AITA

🎧 In This Episode:

Welcome back to the circus! In Episode 71, Stephanie and Meredith dive headfirst into the beautiful mess of life—from teen drivers and sentimental parenting moments to true crime docuseries and internet-level pettiness that deserves a standing ovation. Get ready for a mix of laughter, feels, and some shocking revelations.

💬 Topics Covered:

• 🚗 Teen Drivers & The End of an Era:
  Meredith reflects on Jackson starting Driver’s Ed while Stephanie shares the bittersweet milestone of her son heading into senior year. Cue the mom tears and heartfelt moments.
• 📺 TV Time – From Buffy to Hollywood Demons:
  • The Hollywood Demons docuseries on Max has the girls reeling.
  • Nostalgia hits hard with Seventh Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Angel (plus talk of a reboot!).
  • Meredith is watching 13 Reasons Why (and still recovering emotionally).
  • Gossip Girl + crime documentaries = the perfect chaotic binge balance.
• 🐠 Megalodon Goldfish?!
  People are tossing their fair-won goldfish into the Great Lakes, and now we’ve got six-pound monsters disrupting ecosystems. We have questions.
• 📚 Book Talk:
  They review Just Another Missing Person by Gillian McAllister (spoiler: it was a slog to get through), plus quick recs and what’s next in their reading slump.
• 🔥 Ultimate Petty Queen Story:
  A TikToker gets revenge on her husband (who ditched her for a Pacers game) by scoring courtside seats—with Flava Flav. Iconic.
• 🧠 Deep Dive – “Am I the A-hole?” Update:
  The latest update in the viral family inheritance drama. Who’s the real villain? Let’s just say Rachel better watch her back…

🧠 Quote of the Week:

“You spend 75% of the time you’ll have with your child by the time they’re 12.”
 — Meredith, fighting tears and existential dread

📢 Announcements:

• No new episode next week – break time!
• Coming up: A local true crime deep dive based on a missing persons case from the early 2000s. You won’t want to miss it.

💥 Don’t Forget:

• Subscribe to the podcast
• Leave a review (please and thank you!)
• Join the VIP Circus Crew (COMING SOON!) for exclusive content, full video episodes, and more

🎪 Until next time, keep the coffee hot, the books spicy, and the kids only mildly feral. This is our circus… and these are our monkeys. 🐒

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to, this is my circus, the podcast where we embrace the chaos and keep it real about parenting, pop culture, true crime, and the books we can't put down because let's be honest, life is one big circus and we're just trying to survive with caffeine, sarcasm, and a little true crime obsession. So if you love unfiltered conversation, questionable parenting hacks, and deep dives into the things that keep us up at night, you're in the right place. Buckle up, grab your popcorn, and let's get into the chaos. I'm Stephanie. I'm Meredith. And welcome to, this is my Circus. It's really a circus today. Lord have mercy. It's been a circus all week. It's, it has been a circus. Thank you for working with me with the whole, Hey, I can come early. Does that work? And you're like, yeah, come on whenever. And then I'm like, nevermind. Because life and. You're like, okay, no worries. And then message you back. Okay, I'm coming now before there's an explosion. All good. You know how kids, like, you're just, they hit like this level of what, and like they're just ready for the next thing. Like, I remember. The beginning of fifth grade being like, there's no way my baby can do middle school next year. And then by the time fifth grade was over, I was like, he needs away from these little kids. So I'm there with driving right now, like, I need Jackson to drive. I mean, he has his permanent stuff, but he's got so much going on and so many practices and friends and. Things that I just, I've really, I signed him up for driver's ed, so that's coming up. Mm-hmm. But, um, but is it through school or through No, we did a private thing. Yeah. That's what we did too. I didn't even try through school because I heard the wait list was really long and mm-hmm. I just wasn't even gonna deal with that. So he's got that coming up in May was their first availability. So only a month. Yeah. And then he'll be ready because. That was part of my hiccup today was do you have track practice, do you not? And then yeah, all the, all those pieces that go with that. So yeah, it's, it's just, but it's funny how like all of a sudden they're just like, ready for that next thing. Mm-hmm. And it's terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. Well, at least you're in the same town for school? Yeah. Whatever. When Dylan started driving mm-hmm. Was the first week of school going to the new school. Oh my gosh. And that's a 40 minute drive. Yeah. Every day back and forth. That's, that's, and so he got his license, I think like a day or two before school started. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So that totally freaked me out. So I totally know what you're Yeah. Saying. Oh my gosh, I didn't, and you know, it's when, when somebody else is going through it and you haven't experienced it yet, you're like, oh man, that's tough. Yeah. But now knowing what I know now mm-hmm. And. Retrospectively thinking about what you were going through. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. And I'm just, he, he makes like two turns and then he's at the school. Like, it's not even, it's, it's pretty much a straight stretch. Um, don't worry about him getting lost going there, or, you know, those kind of things. Mm-hmm. But yeah, retrospectively, yeah. You. Went through it for real. He is an awesome driver. But, um, yeah, it was just like, that's a long drive. Yeah. Every day. And a lot of those roads are very congested. Mm-hmm. And like going into Rock Hill. Mm-hmm. So, mm-hmm. But, you know, he, he did fine. He's good. Well, uh. It's early morning too. Mm-hmm. And, you know, that's rough for all of us to make that happen. Well, and he was also driving a friend, who was always late. Yeah. I'm like, do you not speed? Right. I'd rather you get like a late whatever. Absolutely tardy thing. Well, all good. Does he, carpool with anybody now? Um, I don't think so. Not that I'm aware of. Yeah. Hey, no, he only goes two days a week. That's right. Yeah. His schedule, he does the, on all the online virtual stuff, for his college things. Mm-hmm. Yeah, but that's the other part. I'm like, okay, I have one more month basically to, to hold him hostage in the car, like mm-hmm. To take him to school and to pick him up and. Oh, my heart is breaking stuff. I know. I know. I read something the other day and it was like, you spend 75% of the time you'll have with your child by the time they're 12. 12. That makes me so sad. So sad. Oh, that's awful. So, I, in my feelings a little bit mm-hmm. For good ways, living my feelings. Yeah. I'm such a crier. Uh, it's just like things hit you, you know, all at once. It's like they hit different milestones or different things, and it's just like all of a sudden just. Yeah. Well, Dylan and I were talking and I said, I have several friends, that had offered, whenever Dylan's ready to take on like a, a construction job mm-hmm. Because that's what he wants to get into. Mm-hmm. let them know and mm-hmm. They would make that happen. And I had asked him about it for this summer. I said, this is really your last summer to really just goof off and do what you wanna do.'cause he goes in his senior year next year. And so I said it's totally up to you, like where you're working now. They are super flexible. Yeah. You can kind of do what you wanna do. Right. that's not gonna be how it is at these kind of jobs. Mm-hmm. it's gonna be like a grownup job. Mm-hmm. So it's totally up to you how you wanna handle that. Yeah. I understand it's your last summer too. Yeah. Heck yeah. I want one last summer. Me too. It's so much fun in high school. I don't know. Well, and just to have it be your last summer knowing it's your last summer, you know what I mean? It's just like I. That last time you go and eat lunch with him at school, you don't realize it's the last time you're gonna eat lunch with him at school kind of thing. I know. Um, so has he decided what he's gonna do next this summer? Or is he still thinking about it? I think he's just gonna, I, I stay where he is. He's a goal. What would you do? I said, well, I mean, I wasn't very like, goal-oriented. I'll make good decisions. I'm just kidding. I did not at that, that age. I, I really, he makes way better decisions than I do. These are good. But, I said, you know, at that age. I would enjoy my, I said knowing what I know as a girl. Yes. I took my job way too serious as a teenager. Yeah. I did not need to be like, I can't call in, I can't do this. I teenagers, if you're listening, have fun. Yeah. Why you can't. Yeah. And that's what I told him. I said, knowing what I know now and after mm-hmm. You graduate and you, you get a real job and it just, once that starts, you can't really step away from it. Yeah. So I believe he's leaning towards just chilling this summer. Yeah. Which I don't blame him. I No, same a hundred percent. I'm, I, so I told him, I said, I'll support what ever is ever grade you decide to go. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Totally up to you. Yeah. Jackson started a little. Business. Mm-hmm. So last year he had cut a few lawns, I'm Southern, we say he cut the grass, and did the weed eating and the edging and all that kind of stuff. So he's got a couple more yards this year. Yeah. He's trying to get a couple more too. So all of you out there, local people? Mm-hmm. If you have teenage daughters, he'll give you a discount if they're, if they're sunbathing. Yeah. Yeah. so that has been, it's good for him and I'm proud of him for putting that in. But again, he can't drive. Mm-hmm. So we were trying to coordinate everything from last Saturday. He had a track meet. He wanted to hang out with a friend and then he had a yard to cut and Brian was like, you know, are we just gonna sit there while he does it? Or you know, just all the pieces. Um, so yeah, these kids, it's all good. It is. It could be so much worse. Oh yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Hi, it's me. Um, yeah, but. So in my feelings about that school year's wrapping up, we're in the last quarter of this. Oh God. I know. So I think we're both gonna be some basket cases for different reasons. Coming up with just different milestones and Yeah. Things you guys are gonna have to give us a lot of grace. So, have you been into anything fun? Not necessarily fun. did you watch. Yeah, a little bit. Okay. So I love that show. Yeah. I liked the food. I forgot early what? Well, late nineties. Yeah, early fifties. Who did, I think was so hot? Was there a guy named Jeremy on there? Yes. Was he hot? Yes. Okay. There was a lot of hot guys on there. Yeah. I feel like they were hot and was, yeah. Uh, Nick Campbell, Jessica was on there. Jessica Bill, no, no. That was, uh, party of five Nev Campbell. Yes. Jessica. Bill's on the, yeah, I'm with you. Yeah. Okay. So there is a, on HBO Max, or, well, I guess it's just Max now. Mm-hmm. a documentary that just got released Monday, and it's called Hollywood Demons. And it's, it's like the downfall of some of like the big Hollywood people. Mm-hmm. And the dad on seventh heaven. Well see. Uh. Steven Collins child. Yeah. I don't wanna say anything. Yes, yes. Ly Okay. Yeah. so I watched that last night. Okay. if you are into seventh Heaven, or I feel like that was your mm-hmm. Jam. Mm-hmm. Back then it was shocking. So was it just on seventh Heaven? No, it, it was a lot of actually, so they had interviewed a lot of the cast, well some of the cast. Mm-hmm. Um, and nobody knew, like, it wasn't like he was on set doing that stuff. Mm-hmm. And on set, he was actually like put on like even more of the protective persona. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. So nobody could believe it when it came out. Wow. Um. I like hearing the behind the scenes stuff though. Mm-hmm. Even when it's dark and twisted. Yeah. So definitely it, it'll be a six part series. That was just the first episode that dropped. Okay. Um, so I, I guess every Monday they're gonna put one out. Yeah. I don't really know. Did you watch, there was a documentary about the, Woodstock, not the original Woodstock. Mm-hmm. But the one that was in the nineties, I think. Mm-hmm. That was crazy too, because they were like, the planning was really poor with it. Mm-hmm. There was no water. Like different things like that, that was like, oh my God, I think they didn't like a lot of, several people die. Yeah. Yeah. And, and sick and injured and all the things. So yeah. That was fascinating to watch with just like a Oh my gosh. Yeah. People are terrible. Yeah. Well, if you're in two weird mm-hmm. Documentaries. That was one. So I'm watching something now that's dark'cause that seems to be what I gravitate towards and trigger warning for self-harm. Um, did you watch 13 Reasons Why? Yes. I'm, I'm on like episode seven or something of that. So before it became a show mm-hmm. I read the book. Okay. Um, the book was awesome. Okay. Very follows along. Okay. With the show, but they made the show into however many seasons. Yeah. When Dylan probably ninth grade or whatever mm-hmm. he's like, oh mom, I just started watching the show. And I'm like, no. Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, actually it gave a lot of good opportunities to talk on different things and mm-hmm. so yeah. The second c what's the, are you on? I'm on one. Okay. Yeah.'cause it gets not great other things happening. Okay. Well, I'm still in the what in the world? Why did she do this kind of phase? I'm still meeting all the characters, obviously. Yeah. So, it's been fascinating though. So that's been my little, it's intense. Yeah. Especially if a teenager is watching it. Yeah, I'm sure.'cause there's a lot of different, like I said, talking points or, things that they could possibly run into. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. Oh yeah. I just watched the episode last night where she was stood up for Valentine's Day. Mm-hmm. And I'm just like, dang it. Yeah. So, yeah, that'd be a, a great point. but that balances out my. Gossip girl. Really good. Are you still watching? Yeah. Every once in a while I I need something light like that, but then I need something that's heavier. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Uh, I'm weird. Yeah. Um, well, while we're talking about tv, did you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Yes. Angel. They're gonna do a reboot of Buffy. And they're taping this summer. The, or they're taping, like for mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. They're rolling the film. They're doing the production of the pilot this summer. It's the same characters or it's like a new version. Oh, okay. but they are trying, I believe that they have approached some of the older characters. Oh, they do. So, Sarah Michelle Geller had said mm-hmm. That they did approach her a while ago about the idea of a reboot. Mm-hmm. and so. I would Yeah. Shut it. Shut it down. She said that she was keeping the conversation open. Yeah. Yeah. And then, Cordelia, I forgot whatever her name is. Mm-hmm. Um, but she's also, um, they've also approached her. Okay. About coming back. Did you watch Angel also? I watched a little bit of it. Mm-hmm. I wasn't as, yeah. Invested. So when Jackson was born and I nursed him for several months and it was. Like four in the morning was the time that he would have to get up and eat. And from like four to six I would watch like a Buffy and an angel on like TBS or some, you know, it was reruns obviously. Yeah. Wake at night maybe. But that's like the only thing that was on kind of at that weird time. and yeah, I can remember watching that. Do you know what hurts my soul? What friends is on Nick at night. Oh my gosh. I know Nick at night used to be like, Mr. Ed, I know I love Lucy. I saw, right. I saw something yesterday. Do you remember? I had a baby. It's a boy Uhhuh. That baby is 24 years old now. Right?'cause that was so old. It is so crazy to me. Yeah. It is so crazy to me. Yeah. And then the whole thing, when they say you're closer to 1950 than to 20, whatever. I know. I just wanna kill all those people. Zip its, take that out. Zip. Its, I don't want to get in trouble for murder. Murder, murder. did you hear about the megalodon goldfish? Problem. No, no. It's, it's a giant goldfish. Yeah. Like how a giant, like the size of a chihuahua. Oh, like the little tiny goldfish? Yeah. At the fair. So tell me about it. well, people are throwing their goldfish into the Great Lakes. Okay. Yeah. Like Erie and wherever. And so the largest one that they have found so far was the size of like a chihuahua. Oh my gosh. It was like six or seven pounds or something like that. And so they're getting so big and they're eating all of the food and stuff in the mm-hmm. In the water. And I'm surprised they don't freeze. This kicks cold. I don't know. It gets cold. Are they a tropical fish? Like where did the goldfish come from? I feel like all fish are tropical fish. They've gotta be fish like'cause there's ice fishing. Yep. Those are fish that are in menopause that are hot. I don't know. I think of fish. I don't really think of cold fish. I dunno. Fish are warm. Yeah. Fish are warm and sunny. Yeah. I'm not sure if they're habitat. yeah. That's crazy. I know. So the wildlife and game people are concerned because mm-hmm. It is disrupting, obviously the natural ecosystem. Yeah. Um, and clogging up like the waterways and stuff. And then they're gonna have baby giant goldfish and they breed three times a year or two or three times a year. That is insane. There's gonna be like a takeover of megalodon goldfish. That's what they're calling a megalodon goldfish. I love the name. I was picturing a goldfish like as big as a bust though. So No, no. This is like, like a chore, but still, yeah. That's huge. Yeah. When things like that happen with animals, it messes up every, like, you wouldn't even think I, but I watched this video one time, I'm such a nerd, and it was about the wolves in somewhere out west, and the wolves were getting extinct, and so it was like just a trickle effect on whatever. So they introduced wolves back into the ecosystem mm-hmm. Of whatever place this was what's the place that starts with an n Nebraska or North Dakota maybe. Oh. Starts with the north, somewhere out there. I don't know. But yeah, they introduced'em back then, like the, the rivers and the grass was better again, just because of all the other animals. It's crazy. Mm-hmm. It's crazy how the world works. Yeah. But like, can we get rid of some of these creepy crawlies? Yeah. I mean, the world can do without like some assault. Did I send you the video of the alligator and the crocodile? Oh my gosh. I've been getting all kinds of alligator stuff on my feed. I wonder why. Did you see the video that I sent you of the job to weigh penguins? Yes. You just, I could do that. It's like the scales looks just like the little mouse pad. I love it so much. They waddle up there. Do Pringles have knees? I don't know what, what do their legs look like? I thought it was just feet. I know. I'm so, I want, I need to see a penguin skeleton. Oh, I don't wanna see that. No, but I feel like, or a x-ray. Okay. Penguin. X-ray better. I don't wanna see a skeleton. Sometimes things that just come outta my mouth are. Do you remember when Covid, um, hit and all of the zoos were doing, um, um, virtual? Yeah, but they would let the animals at the aquarium just wander. Wander around. Yes. I remember seeing penguins one night just wandering around, but like, my gosh, that was so great. I was like, this is the best thing ever. So you do know that this. Covid hit like this time last five years ago. Sorry, not last year. Yeah.'cause I got my reminders. it was like, um, I should buy my, my son's new teacher. A present Amazon. Do, do. Yeah. It is crazy that it's been five years. This is just a time when we're just talking about how old, how fast time goes. Not how old we are.'cause we are not five years ago. We were talking, the door fell. Dylan, I were, um, looking at his schoolwork last night. Mm-hmm. And when Covid hit him, and, Jonas got, got cheating on their virtual class. How? Because Jonas didn't. Even like, I guess he just submitted Dylan's paper, like Dylan had emailed him mm-hmm. Or whatever sent him mm-hmm. The, the document for him just to copy the answers. But he just submitted it with Dylan's paper. Oh my gosh. He just submitted the whole paper. I mean, we've all been there. So the teacher sends out an email. Mm-hmm. And. Doesn't say anybody's names, but I asked Dylan and he's like, yeah, that was me and Jonas. And I was like, oh my God, Dylan. How? How? Mm-hmm. I dunno. And he's like, he left my name on the paper. And I was like, oh my God. Right. Rookie. Seriously. So rookie mistake. Yeah. But that was our like laugh for the Oh yeah, for the covid times. It was so crazy though. Like I remember Jackson had a virtual soccer practice. I was like, you don't have to go, buddy. It was so crazy. No, I did enjoy like the freedom to go hiking and stuff for pe. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Like the two, well, you still do that anyway. Two, two a day dog walks. Yeah. I definitely still do that. Yeah. Yeah. well, you know, I love a petty story. Bring it on. So a lady on TikTok, her name is Tasha Nicole. Okay. Her husband had called her and asked her if she wanted to go to a Pacers game. Mm-hmm. And she was like, yeah, sure. And he goes, oh, I thought you were gonna say no. I already asked his best friend. Mm-hmm. If he wanted to go. And she was like, well, that's A jerk move. Why ask me? And so she went to TikTok, had him block and was like, y'all, I need help. I need front row tickets to the Pacers game for this date because my husband did this to me, Uhhuh. And I want to have better seats than him. Oh my gosh. And so please tell me that it, it blew up. Social media came through, it blew up. Okay. And the Pacers actually commented, message us. They hooked her up with the front row tickets and a. Suite, like a hotel suite. Oh my gosh. Freaking awesome. Right? So she is gonna take her husband's best friend's wife, so they're gonna be in the front row and the dudes will be in like the nosebleeds, right? That is amazing. Right? Comes Flava Flav, he enters the chat and he's like, yo, can I sit next to you? Yes, you can. Like how flipping. That's amazing. Would it be? That is amazing. And then they be the jumbo trying like, oh yeah, waving. Oh my gosh. That is kiss, right. Or flip them off. I'm assuming you have to keep it. Yeah. They probably won't put it on there if you don't. That is amazing. Right. I love that story. I do too. And so he was blocked from everything. The best friend was blocked from everything. Yeah. And hopefully they don't see it, but. That, that is great. Yeah. That is really, really great. I loved it. I loved that story. I have a story you're probably gonna love too. Okay. so, you know, we interviewed Posey, my sister. Mm-hmm. She had her ceremony last night to get her new award. Oh good. Um, so she got, it's a blue stone. What we were talking to her about what color the stone was gonna be. So it's blue. And she sent me pictures and. That's not, oh, yeah. There. So she's got those two on there now? Yep. We'll have to put it on her. I asked her if we could share it on our Facebook. She said, yeah. Or our socials. but she sent me this picture of her name tag. And it says, get in Loser. I thought that was hilarious. Congratulations, Posey. Proud of her. Yes. Very proud of her. Awesome. Yep. well we have our, last two updates from our, am I the A-hole? Yes. So would you like to get into that? Absolutely. Because I have been dying to know I have not, yeah. You haven't cheated. Mm-hmm. Good. And just as, as the prize as you are. Thank you for putting the font on 72. You are welcome. Okay, so this is update six. This is from January 23rd. And just the quick recap is that the, man and his Asian partner,, we're not gonna. Get any inheritance calls.,The sisters were saying they deserved it because they were the just the one sister. Just the one, the other one changed her mind. She flipped. But anyway, just to jog everybody's memory what we're talking about. Yes. Okay. All right. So here we go. Rachel took my bill for$26,000 straight to her kids and said, see, he was just using you for your money. Um, no. To use someone for your money, you actually have to be getting money. She talks to her children like they're still children though. They're in their late forties now. So clearly see my demand for what it was accusing their mother. Their mother, mother accusing their mother. Hello mother. Yeah, a little mother accusing their mother of literally doing the exact same thing. It did make teen feel bad though, and he rang me up and said, I'm so sorry I was having such a great time with my uncles. I never stopped and thought of the hardship. You were suffering. You were 16 kid, right? Gimme your bank account details and I'll pay you and Harry the money my B mother should have 30 years ago. No, no, absolutely not. That money was child support for you with it. We could have given you a better life, a nicer house with a bigger bedroom bought you a better computer, better school equipment, better shoes, bigger allowance. If anything, she should be paying you back for what she deprived you of as a child. The fact that you consider me an uncle and had a great time is all I ever needed. Well, this gives me hope that this, well, he's an adult now, but quote teen. Is decent. Oh, yeah. But like, I know. Mm-hmm. So wait, so mom didn't even supply like clothing? Apparently nothing. She just, she just literally dropped'em off. Oh my God. Maybe with like a book bag with something in it. I don't, maybe like a stick with the red bandana tied on the end. They were whistling walking down the road. Rachel sent Harry a copy of the bill too before I could give him a copy to send her first. Harry then felt guilty for and apologized profusely for imposing his family on me. Harry goes out of his way to find things to feel guilty. About two years ago, my PC died at a brunch. Two days later, he turned up with his spare laptop saying his work PC was all he needed at home. Six months later, he said he desperately needed it back because his PC had died. No problem. It was his, and he just lent it to me. He went home so riddled with guilt that three days later he turned up with a new PC as a present. After he left, I looked up how much it was worth. Twice as much as the laptop I just returned to him. Oh Harry, you don't have to buy people, buddy. So I had to assure him that his family has never been a problem. His parents were lovely. Mary is lovely. The nieces and nephews are great, and for 40 years I thought Rachel was a great person too. You can read what I said about her, her post. It was only now that she's demanding his money that I'm seeing the truth. She's been a lifelong manipulator and freeloader. He couldn't see it though, and it became obvious after a couple of sentences that he was going to defend her against everything I was going to accuse her of. Yeah. But yeah. But yeah, but I. After that, I fairly quickly dropped it because I didn't want to stress him out. How do I approach the subject again though? That his best friend for the first 25 years of his life is toxic and still manipulating his family for money. That her turning up, demanding his money shouldn't have been a surprise, a once off de move that she automatically expected him to hand it over because that's how she's lived her whole life. Wow. She's awful. It's like she's just making all kinds of issues. Like she's Dr. Up so much from the past'cause of the way she is. It's just, ugh. Hmm. Well, she's just trying to, now it's like a a character assassination against him. Okay, so this was the next day he wrote this. Okay, next, last update I had brunch with Harry, telling him in advance, we really need to talk about your sister while still furious at her for demanding his inheritance. I. He just hasn't been able to come to terms with the fact she's a toxic human being. He should be ol forever. I decided to approach it from a let's compare angle. My sister is a monster. Probably one of the reasons Rachel has triggered me so badly. The difference is that mine is very open and aggressive with her intent to destroy her own life and drag everyone else down with her. So. You hate my sister, right? Your sister is an absolute beep. Right here is a list of everything you hate about my sister, everything she's done to me, my mother and her daughter, and I handed him a long dot point list of all the things my sister has done and alongside each act, which of them constituted criminal behavior? At the end, I put. Consequences of her actions en listed the number of times she's been to court, the fine she's paid, and the amount of time she spent in detention with my mother and I caring for her daughter. By the end of the list, he was bright, red and raging, just with being reminded of it all. Then I said, and here's a two page list of everything that your sister has done to you and your family. It started with her at age 17, stealing her mother's car, getting D drunk, sideswiping a parts car before passing out behind the wheel and driving into a ditch. Then waking up and running away to hide out at a friend's house while she was pregnant. I. Oh, no bueno. When the police found the car the next morning, they discovered drugs in the glove compartment. You told me this is a story about funny things Rachel got up to when she was young, but this isn't funny. Your parents must have gone through hell because of this. Getting her into hospital, getting a lawyer, trying to keep her out of jail, paying the fines, paying for the damage, not funny. Then below that list was a very extensive, I paid a lot of time with points under child neglect, listing all the abandonment, abuse by neglect, abuse by neglect, social security fraud, theft of money from the father's exploitation at the guardians. I listed the time when she decided it would be great for the kids to spend a year and an alternative lifestyle commune, living in a shack way up in the mountains with no electricity or running water again. What was she spending all the money on? Alongside each, I listed the crimes she could have been charged with for every action. The final heading was consequences of her actions nil, because you, your family, and all her friends enabled her. She manipulated, manipulated. She manipulated a mother, she manipulated you into writing it off to her. Just being a bit kooky. You are all compliant, consistently compensating for her, cleaning up the damage she left in her wake. And in terms of her criminal actions, to an extent, you could even be considered co-conspirators. So reading the list, whose sister is worse? Mine are yours. He was pale and utterly speechless. And now Mary has just handed over her inheritance with this unbelievable audacity. She showed up at your door twice now trying to bully you out of yours. I finished with a, I think the reason you finally in furiously flipped on Rachel is not because the inheritance. It's because deep down you've been absolutely raging about having to put it up with this ship for the past 50 years. When he finally got his voice back, he started again with, I'm so sorry, I inflicted her on you. No, not at all. She's just an absolute genius at manipulation and for the past 40 years, I completely bought into it too. Let's burn her world to the ground together. Are you in? I asked. Yeah, he is. She's I feel so bad for them. I do too. You can see having somebody in your family like that would cause Harry's reaction. Oh yeah. Always feeling guilty of Always. Yeah, because that's, that's been his life. Yeah. He's been manipulated. Manipulated, and he's compensating for not only trying to compensate for what she's done, but she's always manipulated him into thinking he is always wrong and always, you know, you owe me this and yeah. Mm-hmm. Harry, Harry, Harry. I can't believe that's the last update though. Mm-hmm. They're probably in jail for doing something to Rachel. I just figured they're probably like, it's like legal now. Yeah. Mm-hmm. No, you're not the A-hole. I love your pettiness. Yeah. Keep it going. Same. Keep it going. What a freaking. Rod that was, right, so if you are not a bookie, you are free to leave. We will not be having an episode next week. and then the following week after that, we, we're. Told of a local person. Mm-hmm. by one of our listeners that, went missing quite some time ago. It was like early two thousands. Mm-hmm. so we are gonna look into that, do kind of like a deep dive, on that instead of doing our book review. I'm excited to look into this. I'm very, anxious to find it. Yeah. So, Not next week.'cause we won't have an episode next week, but the following week. Yep. so looking forward to that. Yep. if you are not going to listen to our book review, or if you have not read the book and you don't want any spoilers dismissed, now it's your time to leave. We love you. Goodbye. All right, so we read this week, just another missing person by Jillian McAllister. Mm-hmm. And the blurb above the blurb. When 22-year-old Olivia vanishes after entering a dead end alley, detective Julia is assigned to the case expecting the usual emotional toll and long hours, but the investigation takes a chilling turn. When Julia realizes a suspect holds a devastating secret tied to her own past, one that threatens her family's safety, if uncovered this gripping thriller explores the blurry lines between right and wrong, forcing Julia to choose between justice and protecting everything she loves. This book was hard for me to get through. Very hard for me to get through. and once I would get to the next section, I would almost forget what was in this section before. I didn't feel like this flowed very well at all. No, Uhuh. And we had like three different points of views, Uhhuh. yeah. It was a hard book for me to, and we liked Jill and McAllister. Mm-hmm. Like we enjoy what we've read of her and, but this one just felt really. Scattered all over the place. Not a lot of cohesiveness. Mm-hmm. Okay. I'm glad it was. I didn't wanna tell you because I felt like every book lately I've been like, I can't do it. I can't. And we've talked about it. Yeah. And that's why I said too, I'm just like having a hard time getting through books lately. Yeah. But this one I just. It was, it was rough. Yeah. until like the last third of the book. Right. And the last third of the book, it had me. Right, right. It took that long though, to, and maybe it was just so much backstory, but I, I don't know. It was too many backstories. Yeah. It was too many things that weren't relevant. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. Mm-hmm. I didn't, I mean, I liked the last third of the book. Yeah. So if you would give it a 3.3, were you surprised with some of the, I mean, we don't really probably have a lot to talk, do we have a lot to talk about with this one? Okay. Were you surprised with some of the, the, the plot twist though? I was, I did not expect, her partner mm-hmm. To be the super bad guy. Yeah. Super bad guy. His name was Jonathan, I think. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I didn't expect that. And then I did love that the, her narc, price Yeah. Came through at the end mm-hmm. And saved her. I thought that was pretty cool. the part that was interesting to me was like the moral aspect of it. Actually, I wrote that. Did you? What you do? Yeah. Yeah. It's, that's so, you know, protecting your child, basically. Mm-hmm. Or doing what's. Right. Our job. Yeah, doing your job. So my thought was though, right, so Genevieve,, was doing the act in self-defense. Mm-hmm. There was cameras mm-hmm. That showed that. Mm-hmm. As a police officer, I didn't understand why she took, I guess maybe the chance that. She'd be get in trouble. Yeah. The daughter would get in trouble, but to me I was like, it was self-defense. Mm-hmm. If he was trying to mug her and she was protecting herself. Right. Agreed. So that part just threw me off. It wasn't like I. It was a hit and run or she was drunk driving or whatever. Right. It was, she was protecting herself. Right. I agree. I I was a little, that didn't really jive. Yeah. That was kind of a loose end with that part. Yeah. It didn't make sense to me. Mm-hmm. And maybe, and this was like in England or wherever. Yeah. But, so maybe they have different laws, but. To me, I was just like, it was self defense. Same. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, it's like, sometimes I have to remind myself as a book, like they're just trying to get to the story, but I thought the, the premise of the story was really neat. Mm-hmm. It's so, like, so many of the others that we've read, it's like reading the jacket is really cool, but then you get into it, it's like, oh, come on. Yeah. did you read anything else you liked lately? Um, what did I just finish? I just got the new, there's a fifth book from the Hunger Games series and it's actually a prequel. Mm-hmm. it's about hamit. So I just got that book and I'm gonna reread it. The book. Book I'm gonna read, read The Bookbook. I'm not gonna listen and I'm not reading it on my Kindle. I'm gonna read, read the book, a hardcover Bookbook. We did nothing wrong. Oh, who was that by? Hannah Jane. Was it good? It was okay. Yeah. It kept my attention. Good. Okay. Well, you know, hopefully taking a little break right here will help too. Yeah. Alice Feeney? Yeah. she came out with a new book called Beautiful, ugly. And I love her book. I love her book Do too. She was the Rock Paper Scissors Girl, wasn't she this one? Like, it was the same thing. It just took forever to get through. But the last part of the book was like, oh, there it is. Okay. so I don't necessarily recommend that one. Oh, well I, after I just looked it up. who did you say we did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong. Okay. I'll look that up. Yeah, those, that book was the last book that I was like, okay. And again, I'm in a reading slump, I think I just can't get into anything. And I think that's just like my outside life. Yeah. I think I've got so much going on with other things, yeah. So hopefully we'll find something that'll tickle our fines. But documentary in two weeks. Nothing next week. Enjoy a week off everybody. You won't have to. Hear anything new from us? I don't know. What are we doing? I don't know. Okay. I'm gonna record a solo pod and I'm, one of my personalities is gonna be me. I'm gonna channel on my inner step for the second one. What do you think? We can do it. Zoom? Yep. We'll play it by ear. Yeah. We'll see how it's going. Okay. Or maybe we'll just do clips. Maybe that's fun too. Okay. Thank you guys for listening. Like follow, share, tell your friends and we love you. Okay, love you. Bye bye. Oh, we'll leave a review. Oh yeah. Bye. Alright, that wraps up another episode of, this is My Circus. If you survive this episode and somehow still like us, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, share it with your friends, or just send us caffeine. And don't forget, you can join our VIP circus crew for the full video version of each episode. Also exclusive bonus content, access to merch, and so much more Until next time, keep the drink strong. The book's coming, and the kids only mildly Ferrell because this is our circus and these are our monkeys. Love ya.