I See You've Called In Dead | Ch. 17 - 32

How many funerals have you crashed? Would you ever crash one? What does it really mean to lose a dear friend? In this episode, we delve into the second half of the book, examining its most thought-provoking moments and exploring the themes of grief, mortality, friendship, and the lingering questions that persist long after the final page.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Thanks for calling Plotline Hotline. This call may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance purposes. If you're calling because you read.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

I see you've called in death.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Please stay on the line. I'm executive producer Paige Turner, and joining us are your hosts, Claire. Tiff. And Courtney. Please hold while we connect you to the hosts. And again, welcome to Plotline Hotline.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Good morning, fellas.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

It's been a minute. How's everyone doing?

SPEAKER_02 0:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

It's been so long that I got an email this morning threatening the Columbus Library is threatening me if I don't return this book. They said we're gonna come find you. Do you guys give it a bookbook?

SPEAKER_03 0:48

In Columbus?

SPEAKER_01 0:49

No. Oh, okay. I don't think so anyway.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Is that a find with a D or an E?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Find with an E. I said find with find with a D. Oh, oh, oh, oh. We're gonna come find you, but I understand now. No finds.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

The clarity that was needed. Fine. Yeah. It has been a minute. Um I hustled to finish this book. Um I did not cry. I know that I know that we'll get into the details. That's crazy. Maybe I was heartless, turns out.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

But before we get into those sauce and potatoes, um Tiff, you went to France. Courtney, you've been doing all these things that I don't know about and would love to hear about.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Tiff. Yours is more exciting.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Oh, France was France was great. You know, it was hot as hell. Honestly, I worked a lot. So it wasn't really like a vacation. It was mostly like working in a different place and then going out and eating dinner and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Uh, extra tired is what that sounds like. I'm sorry? Being extra tired is what that sounds like.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

I mean, I was getting up at 6 a.m. every day to work, and then honestly, you you go to dinner at 7 and then you're not done until 11. It's crazy. Every day. That's a lot of courses. Yeah. So but it was really fun to practice my French. I feel like I'm still a little shy about it, but I am like, if you threw me into a room with a French person and I needed to figure out what was going on, I could do it. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

Could that room be an escape room?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I yeah, Claire, I was thinking the exact same thing. That's the real test for Tiff's Tiff's French. Yeah, if I could do it in French.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

I don't know if I could do an escape room in French yet. I think you could get close. That's how we'll know. That's how we'll know. Numbers are universal, baby.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Um app. Yeah. But uh Duolingo, come call on me.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

It was fun. Oh, and everyone that I spoke French to spoke French back to me, which is a biggest complimentary. French is okay. Um, I would there were some interactions when I or when I was tired, I would just go up and be like, I'm so sorry, my French is not very good. And they'd be like, That's okay. And that would prime them for me to talk really bad to them. That safety net. So that was nice. Um, but yeah, it was pretty fun. I mean, we went to the Eiffel Tower one night for a little picnic, which was really fun. Cute. And then like being in Alsace was really cool. Like, there's we went to a couple little towns. We went to, I think it's like Ribovier was this town we went to, and it's like essentially where Beauty and the Beast takes place. All of the houses look, it was like straight out of Beauty and the Beast. It was crazy. What how do you say how do you how do you spell the uh R-I-B-E-A-U V-I-L-L E.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yep. That's exactly how I thought it would be spelled.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

That that's what I had typed. Oh my god, that does look like Beauty and the Beast. Isn't that crazy? Funny. Yeah. That was pretty cool. Wow, that's really it literally looks like a movie set. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Maybe we'll share your screen, Courtney. And is this the animated movie or the the live action?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

I've never seen live action.

SPEAKER_03 4:17

Oh, I guess I've never seen the live action. Oh, the live action with Emma Watson? Wasn't she in Beauty and the Beast? Paige, mind checking that out? Um Paige is checking.

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Okay. Um when you try to share your screen on a Mac the first time, you have to like allow it, and then you have to quit the app and come back. That's what I'm getting. So I'm gonna send a screenshot, Claire, to the group. I'm very sorry. No, I would love to share my screen on it. So great.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Yeah, Emma Watson was in the live action remake. Forgot about that. Um, but yeah, that was really cool. And then we, you know, got to just kind of eat some Alsacian fare. So one night Maxime's parents made us dinner, which was awesome. It's a lot, it was a lot of meat and potatoes. We had like the biggest steaks I've ever seen. I should send you guys a photo. Um my god. And we had some sausages, and we had like just some a big thing of potatoes, and then ever and oh, Maxime's dad made like homemade vanilla and strawberry ice cream, which was really good.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Um, that sounds so good.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

And then the next day, sorry, I'm trying to find you guys on my phone. Um, the next day we went to their friend's house and they made us like it was supposed to be a light lunch. It was meat pie. Meat pie? And it was 100 degrees out. We had meat pie and red wine for a while. Did you get the did you get the meat sweats? Oh my god, yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:56

I want a picture of a meat pie. I'm just my mind's.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

I can see if I got a picture of the meat pie. Honestly, that sounds so good right now.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

You gotta Google that then.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Share your screen going on.

SPEAKER_03 6:08

It was pretty close to like a um damn, where oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 6:16

So it's just like a pie filled with meat. Yeah. Mm-hmm. The name's pretty apropos. Was the the meat good at least? Like was it?

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Yeah, it was like veal and pork. It was just and it would have been like merit or like steeping in cognac for a couple days. It was really rich meal. It was really good. But it was rich.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

I love that that's what you had for lunch. Whoa, those are the biggest steaks I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Isn't that crazy? That's in the But it was really good. Everything was really tasty. And then oh man, had a really great meal the night of the wedding. The wedding was at a wine uh winery.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

Oh okay. I saw those wine glasses. I was like, that's a good time. That's a good time. So then was it just a meal? Did they do a ceremony?

SPEAKER_03 7:09

They did a ceremony, they did a meal, they had a little ice cream, a little ice cream cart that came by. They had a two, two, two-man band that was like wedding singing slash DJing. That was really good. Um yeah. It was fun overall, good time. I'll say there was no AC in the Airbnb, 96 degrees, didn't sleep a lot.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I think that the Europeans need to just like get hip to a window unit.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Like I get it, it's all old, and you don't want to like put in central air, and maybe you don't need it, but like it's time to do that. I think we definitely in that moment.

SPEAKER_03 7:54

I was sleeping with wet rag.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I have I've been there, sister.

SPEAKER_03 7:59

It is it was like a it was like a a hand towel, so it was big enough, and I got it wet, and I would just lay it on my legs and be like, okay. Maybe if maybe that'll help.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

It it does help, but I hate the feeling of being like a little bit damp.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

And the bed's a little bit wet, and you're like, oh just swapping problems over there.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

Yep. But that was good. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Well, who booked the Airbnb?

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I don't get that. I don't know. We stayed with the bride and group.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

They they had a fan. Oh. There was one fan. BYOF. BYOF. We let them have the fan. It was their wedding.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

That's so great. That is funny to know that there was one fan. Well, I'm glad you had fun. This was the second time in two days that I have heard a story about being really, really hot in France. Really? Um Yeah, the other one was uh not relevant to really talk about. It's like it just wouldn't have a good. But I guess I'm just imagining that um it's either really hot in France or it's the lack of AC, or it's the combo. But it seems like a big deal.

SPEAKER_03 9:17

Yeah, I think they're going through like a a major heat wave. That'll do it.

SPEAKER_02 9:24

Has happened a couple times, so because they're kind of north of the equator, right? They're pretty close though. All right, this is a funny thing.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

No, sorry, I was thinking they're further north than us because I looked. Because Amy's like, well, we must be closer to the equator. And no, it's further north than Chicago. The sun does not like the sun sets at 10 p.m. Like it's still light out at 10 30 p.m. That's amazing. That was crazy. I would be like, it was throwing me off so much. Um, I think I'm still jet lagged too. I keep waking up at 5 30 in the morning and being like, go back to sleep. So then I go back to sleep and then I wake up super tired at like that you know, whatever, 6 30 or 7.

SPEAKER_02 10:10

I hate that. Oh yeah. Okay, well, I'm glad you made it back and had fun. Court, how have you how are you doing over there?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Hanging out with your wife. She's painting my mom's basement. Oh, is she? Hell yeah. So I've been seeing her every day, but I won't see her today. But I'll see her tomorrow. Yes. Um, and then I um I played in that you know that women's hockey league on Wednesdays.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Oh yeah, you texted me about this last night. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

I I they I signed up to be on the sub list and they've texted me two times and I said no both times. One time because the game is at 1020, and I was like, I can't do it. But then they texted me again yesterday or about yesterday's game, also at 1020, and I didn't want to, but I was like, if I keep saying no, they're not gonna invite me again. Like I have to go. And it's also the lightest sun sets this week, so I'm like, if ever there's a time to go, it's like when the sun is out until 9:30. So I went last night and the game is at 1020, and I'm so tired. I feel a little bit hungover from like dehydration and like going to bed so late. How was the game? I had so much fun. I cannot thank you enough for getting me to sign up for hockey. It is, I feel like a kid again every time I play. Um, it's so much fun, and it's crazy how good they are at this league. Like, it is no joke. There's a first line and a second line, and then every 90 seconds you switch, and the first line is all the really good people, and then the second line is like the we're still getting there. Yeah. So you were in the first line, Courtney. Obviously. No.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

How's your rib doing?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

We're back.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:03

We're back. Like we never left. Okay. Um, no rib's good. Uh, and also same, same women, the Wednesday league is similar to the Friday League in that lot of older gals. It's amazing. So impressive. Two of the women on the first line were so good, and they were both out. If one of them said she was 54, and one of them was probably late 40s, early 50s, like, and they were excellent at hockey. And another woman just had twins. I love that. And was, I think, the best player on the team. And she was like, she, I think has two-year-old twins or something. She has like little tiny kids, and I'm like, damn, women are crazy. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

The female body is crazy.

SPEAKER_01 12:49

It's so crazy. And one woman was talking about her 14-year-old, or her, I don't know how old her like high school age son, who was like giving her a hard time about women's league, and she was like, Brother, don't you think it's badass that your 54-year-old mother is out here playing? And I was like, Yeah. And in my head, I was like, She's one of the best players on this, like on the ice right now.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Like, give that kid, give that kid 15 years, and he's gonna be like, Okay, wait a second. That was pretty cool that my mom did that. I was such an asshole. I feel like teenagers are just assholes. Ask for her autograph, and then she can tell her son, hey.

SPEAKER_02 13:30

That's awesome, dude. I know is it um is it like four quarters or two halves? How do they structure it?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

It's two halves. It's two halves, and every 90 seconds, it's really funny because like every 90 seconds there's like a little beep, it's not a full buzzer, but it's like a beep, beep, beep, and everybody on the ice just stops what they're doing and they go to the bench and then you swap. Yeah, literally, because it's like there's no referees, there we don't keep score. Like it's literally just like everybody like if there's an offsides, for example, the other team will be like, I was offsides, and like give the puck to the other team, but it's very like self-managed. And at first I was like, the 92nd thing is kind of weird, but then as the game went on and I got more tired, I was like, No, I need I need to get off the ice now. I'm so tired. So it was excellent. That's awesome. You'll have to come. You'll have to come sometime, Claire.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Oh, I'd love to support you. Um but I need to get my back my backwards skating finessed. I can't do any defense without this backwards skating. Um that's fair. Yeah, I plan on going tomorrow morning. That's the plan.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Okay, okay, then I'll try to go tomorrow as well.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Fun.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah, uh how was Pride? Pride was very fun. Yeah. Um, just like went to a couple house parties. Uh Jess Nata had people over, and then um Jesse and Kara had people over, and then went to Rumors, and rumors was like how slammers used to be. Like it was all of the old R-age people, which is kind of funny. I was like, I recognize so many of you, even though I don't actually know you, I just remember you in like the bars when I was 24. Um, and how did you end up on Mary Kate's party bus? Yeah, we just ran into Aileen and I was with a bunch of basketball people, and she was like, come get on the party. Like, we're leaving to go to my mom's house on the party bus, if you guys want to come. And walked outside. I was like, Meh, whatever, and just like I was pretty, it was the end of the night, it was like almost time to go home. Yeah. And I was like, okay. And I walked outside and immediately saw Michaela and I was like, oh my god, hello. And then I was like, Are you coming on the party bus? And she was like, I'm actually getting off the party bus. It's my sister's party bus. And I was like, Oh, I'm sad. And then we were warned about how bad the driver was. Oh. And we got on and he was like, Damn. Fun. Yep. Anyway, that was my pride. Claire, how was Nelsonville?

SPEAKER_02 16:16

That was um. It was awesome. So I typically with Al. Al and Mary Beth. Okay, gotcha. I typically hate scheduling logistics. It's like an injury to barrier for me. Um Al scheduled it all. All I had to do was show up at the tent. Which is my way to contribute. Um, if you guys were ever wondering. Did you guys camp? We camped. So we just went for like 24 hours. Um, did you take your big tent? We took my big tent, we took my my love seat lounger. Oh and uh we it was awesome because the vibes are good. Nobody's like overly drunk or annoying. It's all about like love, respect, no hate. And then you can just take your little lounge chairs anywhere you want, set them up, and then like see the musicians from there.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

Oh, this was for Nelsonville Music Fest. Nelsonville Music Festival.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

Oh, sweet. Yeah, it was cool. Um the act we saw Friday night was like all like bulky, banjoey, and then after that it was a drag show Grateful Dead cover. It was just good vibes. So I think we're gonna make it a tradition. Um, had never been, but definitely was very fun. Sweet. That rocks. Yeah, that sounds a good vibe.

unknown 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Did you get your car fixed?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Yeah, my car's fixed, dude. I've been driving it around. Um this is like the end of an era. It's been over a year.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

And one cost household in Marysville, Ohio. I've never been so impressed.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Heard it here first. We've survived it. And now I I filled up my first gas tank and I was like, oof, this is about to be another. This is gonna be another expense. Um, but yeah, no, it's been great. I've already driven her around, went golfing a couple times. Met this lovely um middle-aged couple. He's retired from nationwide, she's a real estate agent. We had a blast. Um I went from playing nine hole to the street.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So the three of you golf? Oh, fun. Wait, so you went golfing by yourself and met these people?

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Yeah, we got paired up.

SPEAKER_01 18:25

Uh-oh, Claire, you are such a such a good person. Like you're just, it's so impressive the way that you lose the world. Being a good I appreciate it. I'll take that compliment. Like, um like I would that would stress me out to go golfing with strangers, but I love that you do that. I think that's really cool. I think sometimes they just pair you up, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Yeah, sometimes they pair you up. And my love for golf in this moment outweighed my my angst.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

Well, it's kind of fun. I'm sure, like, do do you like learn something from people, or do you is it you could, if that was the vibe.

SPEAKER_02 18:59

Everybody has a different vibe on how much they're willing to engage. They were really engaging and they kept they kept giving me compliments. I don't know what has happened, but since we played Tiff for my birthday. Yeah. Um, and when I started playing The Week with Court, I played three tim four times. I have figured something out. I don't know what I figured something, but I have to do it. We unlocked something.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

Claire was so good. We went when we went, I don't know, last Monday, I think, and Claire was so good. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Hell yeah, brother. I'm I'm like hitting pens and I'm hitting within feet of the hole, and I'm driving over 200 yards, and I'm loving this season of life. Kind of like lottery or game gambling, like when you're hot, you gotta keep going. Like I gotta keep golfing. Because it's not always gonna be like this. Don't we know it?

SPEAKER_03 19:49

I'm itching to get back in there.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

Into the casino or the golf course? The casino, baby. I feel that, dude. I just paid for my France trip. Oh shit. Yeah, you did make a good job. So far. Yeah. Yeah, life's been good. Just chilling, back to normal. Sleepy. Um, you know, sleep is is nice because with the opportunity to get a good night's rest. Here we go. You're able to wake up in the morning. But some people, when they close their eyes, they close them for the final time.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

That was really good. I loved it. That was really good. Claire, I can I feel like I can see your gears turning when you start doing that. I know.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

You started going down that path, Courtney and I just sat back. We both knew. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

We both knew. Wow, great job, Claire.

unknown 20:42

Courtney.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

That's what we were what we were reading since it's been about a month. It's been about a month. I hope everybody caught up with where we were. We were reading I See You've Called In Dead by John Kenny. And we did the back half. Yep. And I do need to refresh of what happened. I mean, I know the big plot point, but when we left him, he was maybe about to get fired.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

Yeah, he was going back up to the building. Which plot twist, I think we all were kind of guessing if he was gonna get fired or not. And then plot twist is that he was dead in their system, so they couldn't fire him.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Which I gotta say, that plot point upset me. Really? There is no there is no fucking way that is a real. Like, there's just like that's just not how technology works. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Um can't be soft deleted.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

What?

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Yeah, you can't be soft-deleted.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Yeah. Not automatically, anyway. Yeah, I mean, I don't know, dude.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

I'm being like onboarded for a company right now that is like the steps that I've had to go through. I've had I've had to verify my identity like four times separately. Juliet had to like separately log on and verify my passport. Like there, I didn't know. Take a remote scan. I had to do a background scan. Check and and I had to you know put all my previous work in there or whatever. They emailed me being like, we can't verify that you don't work at Descript anymore. I was like, what? Yeah, I do not work there.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Is this for the company that bought out Yeah? I would just say I don't need you guys.

SPEAKER_03 22:21

I literally I responded after because I've been spending probably four or five hours on this stuff at this point. I responded and I said, if I was kind of mean. I was like, if this these documents and links I provided are not enough proof that I have done this job for 10 plus years and will be able to complete it adequately, I need to reconsider the position. And they were like, they were like, oh yeah, we appreciate, you know, we're just following procedures, and I'm like, yeah, use your brain. I'm not a I'm not an engineer. Like, I'm not gonna be touching anything sensitive. I'm doing education, like anyways, sorry for me to go off on that.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

But I just I love this type of tea. There's no way.

SPEAKER_03 23:03

But it's like that's just like big companies are so dumb. Like, yeah, that's I thought it was funny because I was like, oh my god, that would have like that would be some weird, stupid loophole that they like who knows? In the era of AI, like obviously this book wasn't written, but I just I feel like the thing doing a background check on me is AI, because it's like we can't verify that you because I'm like Yeah. Well, like, did you call anyone?

SPEAKER_02 23:31

And you're also like trusting all of the softwares that they're providing you to keep your information credential. So really you're assuming the risk, they're not assuming the risk.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

I'm like, so yeah, it's like everyone has my social security number. I'm like, can we just get rid of that?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

But like, yeah, remind me of the of the cop who emailed my social security number to the uh to the cop.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Claire, my head went there, my head went there too. That's crazy, dude. I was like, Claire got got recently. You can tell by this conversation. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

I'm thinking about seeing if a little if I could prosecute for anything. Um just because I'm so annoyed, and some people do that. They like all of they read the privacy links, and then when their information gets leaked, they do um they do it. Because it's like, how else are you gonna hold people accountable? Like this motherfucker sent my social security number to the guy and hit me.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

That's what you asked them not to. If you said, hey, yeah, you're not gonna do this, right? Like it's not like you don't you don't have to have a strong education to be a police officer in this country. No, you don't even a parent.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

Yeah, I mean, being a police officer would be easier than freelancing at this company I'm trying to work at.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Yeah, I would just be like, you're not worth it. Anyways, I can't wait till I can I could just turn down work because of pettiness.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Turn down for what?

SPEAKER_02 25:02

I love I love being petty. I think. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

I'm like so I had to hop on a Zoom call for 15 minutes with these people because they needed to watch me try to log in because I said I couldn't log in. And they're like, we need to see why it isn't working. And I'm like, it's exactly what's happening that I sent you in the email. And they were like, okay, well, we're gonna have to open a ticket for that. And I was like, mm-hmm. And then they were like, this is so funny. They were like trying to screen record me doing it through their Zoom, and they're like, wait a second, I'm not the host. I can't screen record. Oh, I'm not the host either. Uh we're gonna have to open a ticket for that. I was like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 25:35

My god.

SPEAKER_03 25:36

I was sitting on this call, just like, oh my god. What are we doing?

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Oh did you have like the dev console open or something? Why were they screen recording? It probably was a very generic invalid password.

SPEAKER_03 25:53

It was an invalid, it was that's all it was, dude. Take a fucking screenshot and call it a day. I sent them multiple emails what was going on, and they just were like, we don't quite get that. And I was like, okay, yeah, I think they wanted to me to show them to show that I wasn't being an idiot. It's just crazy. I've been I've been I've been this has been a couple days. If you can't tell, it's been boiling over in my brain.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Yeah, I mean, I feel it. This is why I'm trying to change teams, because being around enough energy vampires like this, you can't do your best work. And we are fulfilled by doing our best work. We sure are.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

I wonder, I wonder, like Courtney, I get what you're saying about it being such a stupid plot point. I wonder if in the like the next couple years, because of AI these days, if that's gonna start happening to people, where it's like, oh, we saw that, I don't know, we saw that you were dead. So you've been terminated. Sorry. Like, I wonder if that's actually ever happened to anyone.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Uh I can't imagine it. We if it did, we will be um deleting this podcast from the face of the earth. No egg on my face, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Oh I mean, but what about all that fraud, right? Like people die all the time and then they stay active in systems, and we need to. Well, yeah, that's just the government's fault. Units you didn't hear the sarcasm in my voice.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

The dead people are voting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

You gotta really watch out for them in the grave. Too many big opinions, if you know what I mean. Yeah, the dead have a lot of opinions.

SPEAKER_01 27:32

Mm-hmm. That's that's how you guys will know that I'm haunting you.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

Oh, yeah. Who do you think is gonna be?

SPEAKER_01 27:39

You'll just hear my opinions.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

Who do you think is gonna be the first one of us to leave this earth? Oh my god, it's gonna be me.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Well, I was gonna say, before we hit record this morning, Tiff said something to the effect of I used to eat Pop-Tards for dessert, and Claire went, You used to eat a lot of things for dessert.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Wait, Claire, what were you?

SPEAKER_02 28:01

Um, the dessert where you would put brownie mix in a bowl and put like what, half and half? Oh, hell yeah. That shit was just a mix it up and then eat it with like a spoon.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

It's just brownie batteries. So you made like chocolate milk but with brownie butter?

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Yeah, but it was thick, like it was just brownie batter. So I just would put some like pre-made brownie mix, whatever, in a cup and then add some half and half. Brownie batter for dessert. It was really good. I do like brownie batter more than I like brownies. Yeah. I feel like anytime I make brownies, I eat too much of the battery and then I don't want the brownies when they go out of the oven.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Incredible.

SPEAKER_02 28:42

Anyways, not the raw egg in it. That's where I would try to do it. Um I'd rather not say.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Oh. That means that she doesn't think it's her. She thinks it's one of us.

SPEAKER_02 28:55

I think if you say yourself, I think that it's just because of out of fear of having to live with other people. Like, like it sucks being like one of us is gonna be able to. One of us is gonna be able to attend everybody's funeral, one of us will only attend one of ours, and one of us will only attend two. None.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Oh, Jesus. God, that's really sad when you say it like that.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Yeah. Yeah. I I don't know. I just think, you know what? When my time comes, it comes. I've lived a lot of life.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

I feel like Tiff says this kind of shit, and she's gonna be 110. Absolutely, absolutely hunched, bag of bones. I'm gonna one eye shut.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

I'm gonna be in my hangover stance permanently. Exactly. I'm gonna feel perpetually hungover. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

You know, just subsisting off of pop darts. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 29:52

Well, once you're once you reach, I think, 90, you're allowed to just drink whatever the fuck you want. Might as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

Right.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

Right. You just gotta keep your grip strength going so you don't fall. Because that's why a lot of injuries happen. Because if you don't have strong grip strength, you will fall. Oh, but if you're gonna hold yourself. So keep your grip strength there.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

Um, too bad I'm not dating a man.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

Jesus Christ. That's enough podcast for the way ladies. Have a have a good one.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

Thank God it's not a video podcast. That would have been crazy.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Yeah, because she did just do the motion. Yeah, she did.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

That was the halada my week. Okay, so he didn't get fired because he was dead.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

But essentially they're like, you're gonna be fired. We just have to figure this out. Yep, and he he gets suspended.

SPEAKER_02 30:43

Yeah. I did like the scene where he goes back in there and the stupid intern is being stupid, and then his buddy stands up for him. Does that doesn't the intern get like fired because he was just No, that's towards the end. Oh. I it's been a minute.

SPEAKER_03 30:58

No, it's okay. It's been about two weeks since we finished this book. This was before we finished this book, Courtney was like, no, could we actually record, you know, because we had to push the first recording, and Courtney was like, Can we actually not push it too far? Because I forget what happens. And I was like, oh, good point. And now here we are two weeks after we've been. Two and a half, three weeks. Because I forgot that I was going to France. Sorry about that. Um, anyways, so we'll do our best, but um He goes to more funerals. Yeah, he goes to more funerals, he kind of does the same stuff that he's he was doing before.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

And I will our other predictions that we had were were were um Bud and that woman gonna get into a relationship.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

Yes, which they kind of no but yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:49

They say I love you at the end of the book, spoiler alert. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

But there's no kissy kissy smoochie smoochy, I don't think.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

They kissy kissy smoochie smoochy.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Oh okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:01

I don't know about anything further, but we didn't really get a ton of details. But I think they like slept together. Like sleeped together. Oh, like head on the pillow. I think a couple times, which to me insinuates because at one point doesn't he say like it's not when a man writes about sex, it's like doesn't he have a passage that's like I'm not gonna write about sex because when a man does it, it's not that interesting or something. I feel like he wrote something like that. It's probably true. Um but so to me, I kind of insinuated that they'd kind of hooked up.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Sure. Okay, so that did kind of happen. And then But then she was leaving for Bhutan?

SPEAKER_03 32:51

I was somewhere on the other side of the world. Yeah, to go teach or something. Like she was like For a year. Yeah. So they only had five days to kind of go crazy. And then another prediction came true.

SPEAKER_01 33:06

Oh god. Wait, was that before or after the kid's birthday party? I really kid's birthday party.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Yeah, the kid's birthday party was fun because Tim was at the birthday party.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Tim was at the birthday party, the woman was at the birthday party. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:20

We thought it was the night of the birthday party, maybe. You might be right. Yeah, I think it was the night of the birthday party. Um Go ahead, Tiff, tell us what happened. Night of the birthday party. Tim had a pulmonary embolism, maybe? Or something with a blood clot. Or was it when they went on the helicopter? They went on a helicopter. No. The helicopter was like a oh, it was the same day. I think they went birthday helicopter. Okay. I think they went birthday helicopter and then back to the apartment.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Bud did like a nice thing and was like trying to surprise his friends. He's trying to live more. And so he took Tim on a secret surprise adventure, and it was to like helicopter around New York City. Yeah. And it was like very good and nice. And then and then later keep going, Tiff, sorry.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

Oh, and then they were at the apartment and Tim had blood clot to the brain type situation or something, and had like a stroke or a seizure or something, and then they called the ambulance. Oh, Claire's Claire just did a sad face emoji, but did not cry during the book, apparently. Crazy. Um, and they had to take him to the hospital. Um, and he had to stay overnight, and he was like good in the morning. Bud texted him in the morning. He was like, Yeah, so um everything's good, come pick me up at noon. But Bud took a detour and got some some of Tim's favorite pizza.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Which what a great way to get picked up from the hospital. Yeah. Your favorite pizza, you think. Yeah, it was so sweet.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

But Tim died while he did that, so sorry, just had to rip the band-aid off. And he died. So that was pretty sad. That was pretty sad.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

That really affected the author.

SPEAKER_03 35:14

And can I say one thing? I will say, I liked the back half of the book. I do think I finally started getting what I wanted, which was like some some big revelations and I just think like nice ways of talking about death, you know. I wish he would have brought it back around to his mom somehow. I feel like I agree. I feel like there was like a link that could have been made, like about his mother's death and like how that affected him and Tim's death. And I just feel like he doesn't like they had that little fight about his mom's death, and then we never really talked about it again. And for me, I was like, that felt like a develop like a big developmental part of the character that just like never got touched again. So I'm like, why did you even bring it up in the first place? Because like they had this fight, but then they made up pretty quickly after. Like it would have been different if they had the fight about the mom, and then Tim died while he was mad at him or something, you know? Yeah. But like it just felt like that was kind of thrown in and then never really addressed again. But Tim's death felt like the perfect moment to like for him to have some revelations about that. Anyways, that was the one part about the end of the book that I felt like I was like, ugh, I wish this would have been tied back or something. But I did really like the back half. I feel like it was, I don't know, just really well written. And Tim Tim left Tim left Bud the house, the apartment, which was cool. And he was like, please, you know, give your apartment, like rent your apartment to someone who needs it. And he rents it to like this woman who single mom. Single mom for like 600 bucks a month, which is like just unheard of crazy in New York. So that was pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_02 37:02

But yeah, I feel like what happened to Tim's um wife or partner?

SPEAKER_03 37:10

Oh, um, that's a really good question. I don't know if she really lived with him whole full time. Wait, his housekeeper? The woman that was like taking care of him, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Or his caretaker and his housekeeper.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah, I don't think she lived with him full time, so I don't think like Bud moving in kicked her out.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 37:30

Yeah. But yeah, she was talked about more in the front half of the book and then kind of didn't really talk about her again until Tim died. I don't know. Parts of the book, I feel like there were some loose ends, I feel like, that just kind of people kind of came and went in a way that was kind of tough to follow at times, I think.

SPEAKER_02 37:50

But I agree. I think listening to it over reading it is why I was able to detach from the death in an emotional way. Okay, that's fair. That's fair. I did like the little boy though, um, the birthday boy. I felt like he was sharing meaning about death. And typically you don't get that from kids as the narrative.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

I know. I love when kids talk about death. I think it's so interesting because they can grasp the concept, but like not, it's not through an emotional lens at that age. It's more so just like logical. They're like, well, yeah, they're gone, but they live in my heart. I feel like the little kid was representative of Bud's inner child.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

I would agree with that. Yeah. And that's why they got along so well.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Yeah. Um but that feels like such an obvious metaphor. That saying it feels kind of silly. I didn't connect the dots, so thank you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

It is cra the thing that I spent a lot of time thinking about at the end of this book was like, you really do just die, and like it matters for a lot of people for like a second. And then it matters for like a very small amount of people for a little bit longer. Yep. And that's kind of it. Yeah. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 39:28

And the crazy thing is you don't even like it just nothing matters when you die, because it's like you don't you don't get to see that, so like who who's to say what happens? Maybe no one cares.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

I like to think I'll have at least two if I am the first to go.

SPEAKER_03 39:50

Maybe one.

SPEAKER_02 39:52

My sister's um her best friend passed away last year. And I have her I have her here and I have her little wildflowers, so you guys will matter to me. Okay. Assuming I outlove you guys. Outlove us. Outlove us? Never. Yeah, it is it is trippy, right? Because it's like a lot of the stressors that I put on myself on the day-to-day are like stressors that are so temporary and so like war culture driven, not so much like human connection driven, you know? I don't know. I felt like Bud and Tim had a really good connection of just like existing and showing up in the world and not really worrying about much else.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

Well, I feel like maybe Tim didn't have a job. And I will say, most of this book, Bud didn't have a job either. So I think that that kind of makes a difference. They're able to just kind of wake up and go do something.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

It's true.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

No, but I think Bud, I think Bud does a good job of showing up for people even before, even when he doesn't want to. Even when he had a job. They talked about how like his boss's wife died and his coworker went through something, I think. I don't know. I yeah, his co-workers, I agree, like they all kind of supported each other, it seems.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:19

But it is easier to show up for people when you're not bogged down by capitalism.

SPEAKER_03 41:25

The capitalist man. Sorry, it could be a woman. Uh man. I think it's a man.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

I think capitalism's a man. Capitalism's a man. Yeah. Or it's like the Hillary Clinton of women. There's no in between. It's like the worst. Don't get Claire started on the Clintons. Wait, side note, I just started reading a book about the Kennedy family. I might be in a I might be in a bit of a rabbit hole for a while on the Kennedys. It's they are so they are such bad people, and we just don't learn that. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

They're so bad.

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Courtney's being radicalized in real time.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

I used to really like the Democrats. No, I'm just kidding. I I'm not.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

It's such a shit show right now. It's just not even.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Um like Yeah, I really thought that we uh we down um we lowered our standards by putting Donald Trump in office, but it turns out we the American people have never had standards for our politicians, like ever. Like it was not it, it was everybody knew that John Kennedy was cheating on Jackie and nobody cared. It's crazy. With 19-year-old interns. Gross. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

Um before before we go too far off the gross lane, I do want to say No, you're good. I just I do want to say that you know, it the way that the world's developing, it can kind of feel like that human connection, the traditional ways of human connection, of like, oh, you know, your uh your neighbor's spouse died, let me bring over a pie, or like, oh um like I remember struggling with this when when my brother-in-law had a stroke. Um we had just gotten a vacation, and I like the the part of me was like, I should go back and just like sit with my sister and like go through this time with her as she's navigating it. But then there's this also part of the the logical part of like, well, I can't do anything. This is like a crazy time, you know, I'm 24 hours away. Um but I I I do I don't know, like there's like such something so sacred and just like having people show up and sit and like not ask for you to like ask for them to be there, you know? And I I don't want those values to completely die. And I I do wonder if if with just the convenience of The world and the direction we're going. Like, are those values gonna become less and less? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 44:04

Yeah, I think so. Well, it's tough. It's like it's a little bit of that, it's a little bit of I feel like there's so much emphasis on individuality and creating boundaries and like having like focusing on you and growing that you some people can kind of lose sight of the communities they're in, maybe, or like how to be a part of something bigger than you. Sometimes you have to be inconvenienced to like I was just gonna say that too. You know, to like go like show up for your friends. Sometimes like you don't want to, but like you have to. Like it's it's kind of friendship, I think. I don't think it's like always like gonna be the best time of your life, you know. Sometimes you're tired and they're having a birthday party, but you gotta go because it's their birthday, you know? Yeah. I don't know. I I agree with you, Claire. I think that that's like really important, but it is something that we're losing in a big way.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

And the ability to just do it without asking. Yeah, yeah, you know, which is hard sometimes. So let's make a pact, fellas. We always gotta read each other's mind, and if any of us go through something crazy, we just gotta show up on each other's doorstep. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

I love it. I love it. Um Tiff, what what are you doing, Tiff? Sorry, I'm just kind of doodling. I'm listening. Oh. Oh no, I I know you're listening. I just wasn't sure if you were painting your nails. You've been head down.

SPEAKER_03 45:51

No, I just kind of started doodling a little bit. Delightful. Brain, brain kind of mushy.

SPEAKER_01 45:57

Brain kind of mushy.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Brain mushy. Well, um, wrapping up this book, that means that we have another book on the horizon.

SPEAKER_03 46:04

Yes, I'm so excited about this. Did you bring the descriptions with you today, Claire?

SPEAKER_02 46:08

So we've three descriptions, and I will say that um they're kind of generic, but I thought they made me laugh.

SPEAKER_03 46:18

Yeah, I truly have no idea what these books are about.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Wait, did we already explain what we're doing this time? No, no, Claire, you can kind of explain it. Go ahead, Claire.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

Um so basically, Courtney came up with this phenomenal idea.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

Um, Courtney saw it on the internet. Thank you. Keep going.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

Okay, okay, okay. She came up with the phenomenal idea of telling us about it. Um and basically we choose three books that we want to read. And like I I choose three, and then I give um a one-star review description for each of the books. And so Tiff and Court, you guys are gonna pick based on one-star descriptions of these three books. They are different genres, and I think that after this time, if we wanna be more um, I guess, like explicit with the genres or like have more explicit descriptions, let me know. Because these are all kind of general.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

I liked them. They made it.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Alright, so book one. I only had to read it once. I never read it for or with pleasure. I prefer childbirth.

SPEAKER_03 47:25

Okay, well, that's interesting to me because they say I didn't read it for pleasure. Oof. That's tough.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

So there is a clue.

SPEAKER_01 47:35

Okay. Cordy, what were you gonna say? I think it's funny that people put this stuff on the internet. Like, I'm so upset that I'm like, don't get me wrong, I love to shit on a bad book, but I'm not gonna put it on the internet. I'm gonna talk to you, you guys about it.

SPEAKER_03 47:47

Right. Do you write ratings in Goodreads or story graphs?

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Uh no, I usually will just say, like, damn, I cried, or like, really enjoyed that. Or like, not for me. Like, I put I usually put like one sentence that explains, and it's mostly for myself when I go back and look at my reviews.

SPEAKER_03 48:06

I'm curious. Do you think Goodreads syncs the reviews in Goodreads to the reviews on Amazon? I've never looked at that. That's a good question. Because that would, in my opinion, be smart, but I don't know. Sorry, I was just thinking about that as you were saying that.

SPEAKER_02 48:24

No, you're good. You'd probably need like an API, and that could cost money. So I don't know. Number book two. Yeah, book two, sorry. Book two. I'm sorry. I can't. Fully reading this makes me want to vomit. Works with wish granting. Works with wish granting always left me feeling angry. An infinite possibility, and this is what you wish for.

SPEAKER_03 48:49

Is that the title of the book?

SPEAKER_02 48:51

Mm-mm. That'd be a long title. Are you Googling? I was Googling works with wish granting. I don't know. Yeah, that's fair. Okay. There's no rules. Alright, book three. I'm a second away from dousing myself in gasoline and lighting myself on fire just so I never have to look at this book again.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

Damn.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

Was that codependent no more?

SPEAKER_03 49:16

That was Chiff's review of Codependent No More. Ooh. Man, I'm kind of interested in the vomiting one.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

Alright, I also was curious about vomiting, but I dousing myself on gasoline is also so funny.

SPEAKER_03 49:31

That is funny.

SPEAKER_01 49:33

I love this concept. I think this is such a funny way to pick a book.

SPEAKER_02 49:41

Okay, well, give me your your book choice.

SPEAKER_01 49:47

Okay. Claire, count us down three, two, one, and then Tiff and I will hold up a finger for which one we want. So we're not influenced by each other. Okay. Wait, but let me think about it for just one more second. Sorry. Sorry to the sorry to the listeners.

SPEAKER_03 50:04

Wow. That was about to be the fastest decision Courtney ever made.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

No, no. Give me 45 to 60 minutes. And I'll I'll have narrated down by one. Okay. I think I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Okay. Three, two, one. Alright. The second one. The second one. So this is a comic book, and it's called Eight Billion Genies.

SPEAKER_01 50:38

Whoa. Okay, fun. Okay. Also, can you tell us what all the books were? Like book one?

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Yeah. So book one, the preferring child birth was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

SPEAKER_03 50:51

Oh. Damn, the Bell Jar would be so fun for us to read, I think.

SPEAKER_02 50:56

And then apparently there's a lot of racism and homophobia. I do not remember that, but I'm I would still read it. Because I'm curious. Because that was a book I did read in like as a freshman. Um and then book three other one. Was Thorn and Roses. So that was a series book.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

Is that a court of Thorns and Roses?

SPEAKER_02 51:17

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

That's the that's the big smut fantasy book.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:21

Oh, well, I had already I almost picked three, but I'm glad I didn't because I've already read I've already read Equator. Eight Billion Genies.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

This looks cool. Eight billion Genie.

SPEAKER_01 51:31

I've never read a comic book. Me either. Claire, you're really opening up our world. That's me. Opening up worlds.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

How'd you find this book, Claire? Um, I have read comic books before and I enjoy them. And so I looked for a list of like comic books on Reddit.

SPEAKER_03 51:51

Oh, sweet. This is also part of a series, it looks like. It looks like there's eight issues.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

Now, do you think they prefer the term graphic novel? Comic book or graphic novel, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

It's a graphic novel. It's a graphic novel. That's a good clarification. Huh. It's a I don't I'm not offended. I just didn't know if there was a difference, really. The um graphic novel I read was Mouse in college, and I really like that one. Oh, I've heard of that one. Mm-hmm. I'd recommend it. Okay. I'm excited. Cool. I'm glad you guys are excited.

SPEAKER_01 52:27

Wow, I like this. I'm excited. Sorry, I just said that.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

Wait, that's so apropos for me doodling during our Oh my god. It's like I knew what was coming.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

You did.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

Yeah. I thought you and Court were doodling.

SPEAKER_01 52:44

What was I doing? Trying to think I was eating. Oh, I was looking, I was looking down at my book a lot for a lot of this because I couldn't remember what happened.

SPEAKER_03 52:54

Well, we'll be back on track and keeping our brains fresh for these uh next episodes. So true.

SPEAKER_04 53:05

So true.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

Much love to you both.

SPEAKER_03 53:08

Much love.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

Much love. Bye bye.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Bye.