Episode 75 - Why Not You

The launch of the video podcast on YouTube, a correction from a prospective podcast MVP, the first round of my COVID vaccine, raising my base state since exercising regularly, getting news of an old music acquaintance in the ICU with COVID, the "why me" mentality when tragedy strikes, the tendency to blame others for the fate that befalls them, Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," buying my firearm finally, feeling betwixt and between the anti-gunners and gun culture, being summoned for jury duty again, the expanded commitment vs. my previous experience, the lottery-like quality of jury selection, Chris D'Elia breaking his self-imposed silence, the recent death of Rush Limbaugh, celebrating the death of bad people, not growing up in a musical household, the value of David Goggin's self-talk vs. positivity, and a quote from George Eliot about the worship of chance.

Music by Disasterpeace.

Episode 20 - Scoff Sniper

The twentieth episode.

Discussed: Kobe Bryant's death, seeing Prince perform live shortly before his death, seeing Phoenix and Kings of Leon perform before they exploded in the U.S., people who say "fuck cancer" and wondering what they'd prefer killed people, infamous and Darwin Award-type deaths, Michael Jackson's death and molestation charges, the treatment of tragedy in the 24-hour news cycle, debate and discourse on social media, the burden of feeling accountable to everyone you've ever met on social media, the concept of "wu wei" (or, "no unnecessary action") in Taoism and trusting that all things will be completed of themselves.

Music: "Adventure" by Disasterpeace.

Episode 19 - Good Living in Dying

The last-teenth episode.

Discussed: My recent health symptoms, catastrophizing the implications, a co-worker's recent battle with a brain tumor, working as a crisis-line counselor, exploring ambivalence around the idea death and dying, Dr. Pimple Popper and the power of normalizing people's pain, death as a call to meaning-making in Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," confronting my own cantankerousness at a screening of the Mr. Rogers biopic "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," losing the bloom of youth, and starting a new semester of school.

Music: "Adventure" by Disasterpeace.

Episode 9 - Oh, Really?

The re-recorded ninth episode.

Discussed: Ancestry and adoption, the movies "Good Will Hunting" and "Searching for Bobby Fischer," heroism and human nature as depicted in the movie "Force Majeure," witnessing a traumatic car accident, being attacked by a dog, reports from suicide attempt survivors ("The Bridge"), the Oakland Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36 people in 2016, and the surreal experience of your eventual death.

Mentioned: Ned Buskirk (You're Going to Die), Stephen Jenkinson (author, "Die Wise").

Music: "Adventure" by Disasterpeace.