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18: Top 3 Distractions I'm Thankful For
48 Plays1 year ago
Mara is on hiatus but don't worry, we've brought twice the fun to make up for it! Guest BFFs, Lucas and Grayson (formerly known as our producer), join us for our Thanksgiving-themed episode to talk about the distrations we're most thankful for this year. Broached subjects: Grace isn't that bad, "real" dating shows like Love Is Blind, America's Greatest Airplane Pasttime, Are Hobbies Distractions?, The Power of Weed, Uncomfortable Silences, and pets, pets, PETS.
Follow us at @MyTopEverything on Insta for updates! Email us at mytopeverythingpodcast@gmail.com with topic suggestions, comments, or questions.
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Transcript
Podcast Setup and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
So it's the don't you wish you lived with your partner, Lucas? Yes, it doesn't. It seems like such a joy. It seems like such a joy. Grayson, there's a cable on the right side and then there's a big knob and there's a small knob between those above. Is it that one?
00:00:18
Speaker
Now, there's two cables running into the front. One is running to your headphones. The other is running to your microphone. Turn the dial by the one running to your microphone. Oh, OK.
00:00:46
Speaker
Welcome to my top everything. We are four best friends tonight that argue about anything and everything. And tonight our topic is top three distractions. I'm thankful for in honor of the great American holiday that has no issues whatsoever politically or in society Thanksgiving, which is coming up soon.
Meet the Hosts
00:01:11
Speaker
I'm Marion. I'm Kara.
00:01:15
Speaker
I'm Lucas. Last time, Grayson. It's always a fun. Yes, Lucas and Grayson are subbing in for Mara this week. She's got such a big personality that we needed two people to cover her.
00:01:32
Speaker
So, any updates? Kara, what about your big city's conspiracy theory? Are you ever going to enlighten us? I would love to. But not tonight. I'm tired. I'm a little tired.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yes, I'm a Toyo girl, but I will say that the conspiracy theory has come up with two different clients now, because I have to kind of guide them away from the language that's used in the conspiracy theory. Wow, a little teaser. Every time that I write my notes, I have just one giant long list in my notes on my Apple phone.
00:02:10
Speaker
And it's always, I move it down every time. So I always see it when I'm prepping my list and then I never do it. So if that tells you about my personality.
TV Discussions: 'Will and Grace'
00:02:19
Speaker
Well, my update is I, a month ago, finally watched some Will and Grace episodes.
00:02:26
Speaker
everybody on this podcast. Yes. Yes. But I will say so. This goes back to what top three most annoying TV leads. Kara said, what's her face from Will and Grace Grace? And I was going to say Grace and Frankie, but I was like, that's a different grace and that's a fun character. And we love her. Yeah. Yes. Totally on board for that. I have to say after watching, you know, maybe five episodes
00:02:54
Speaker
I don't see it. I don't see what's.
00:02:58
Speaker
And you had your chance to shoot your shot and find the most annoying... Yeah, I searched. I didn't know it was happening. We searched. No, you were there. I searched. We just put it on and then we were like, maybe season six, maybe episode eight? And I think I checked in with you and I was like, did that portray what you were... What I should have done is like sat down with my little phone and looked up like worst grace moments and then put that episode on. If those even exist, if that list exists...
00:03:26
Speaker
She's pretty bratty. In the episode that we watched with them dating, she was pretty bratty. I guess, but I don't know. I feel like
00:03:38
Speaker
the writers just use her, like they're making fun of her all the time, you know, in a way that I don't find her annoying, but I find the character kind of sad. Cause clearly the show should have been Will and Jack, not Will and Grace. And like, I think the writers realized that probably the studio wouldn't agree to that at the time. They're like, you have to have a straight female like on this as the main character. But I just get the feeling that it's the writers themselves who are annoyed
00:04:06
Speaker
with having to find things for Grace to do. And perhaps that annoyance, annoyance, like, protrudes onto us because her storylines aren't very interesting, in my opinion. Like, she's just kind of like there and it's not very funny. But I don't know if the character herself is annoying. I think that she mistreats the other four main characters. And also, I think you watched an interesting couple of episodes because it really pairs off into Will and Grace. And then what's her name? Karen.
00:04:36
Speaker
Karen and Jack and they liked the two of them. Oh God, their arc is amazing, but they, they really pair off and do their own thing. So I think you saw like a lot of Jack in your episodes, but yeah, I did.
00:04:50
Speaker
Jack, the stand-up comedian, that's the one I saw. I will say that if I just look up like worst grace episodes, there's a whole Reddit thread that's called, I can't stand grace. There's a thread that's called, I don't remember grace being the selfish. Does grace get better? Is grace really a bad dresser? There's a lot of hate for grace.
00:05:14
Speaker
I guess the update is I would have to watch more. I don't know that I'm not interested in watching more, but maybe, maybe in the future.
Top Distractions: Reality TV
00:05:24
Speaker
OK, let's get started because there's four of us and it's 9 p.m. for some of us, not all of us, but some of us who would like to go first. OK, so my number three top distraction. That you're thankful for, I would say.
00:05:43
Speaker
that I'm thankful for, thank you, thank you. That's important. I know it is, you're right, is reality TV shows. So I, yeah, I know. I knew this would be on your list.
00:05:57
Speaker
Um, I, I formatted my list with the idea that I'm trying to distract myself from something mentally. So I needed like something that was going to make my mind not think about whatever the other thing was. And when Grayson and I were moving away from Mara and Marion and we were moving in with each other across the country after dating for
00:06:17
Speaker
a year. Um, I was really stressed and I started watching, uh, the bachelor, I think because Jen and I watch like, Jen was like, you should watch the bachelor. I think you'd like it. And I was like, huh, yeah, right. And then we watched it. I was like, Oh, maybe I do like this. And then I watched it real quick. I reached out. I'm stressed. Have you been watching golden bachelor? Yeah, I watched the first episode. Yeah. The old one. Have you been watching it? Lucas?
00:06:43
Speaker
No, I just know about it because I see it on like Instagram or Reddit, someplace on the Internet. Me and my friends here in L.A. are super into it and have been watching it like every episode that comes out. Yeah, I think you'll like it a lot. It's got all your favorite things. The bachelor drama, old people. I know for the record. Sweet old people. Sweet old people.
00:07:07
Speaker
Oh, minimal drama cried so much on the first episode. Um, I will say that I don't like the bachelor bachelorette. That's not my thing. I watch cheesy love stories that are real, um, or portrayed to be very real. And so I just don't like that. What are cheesy love stories that are portrayed to be real? I really love is born at first sight, married at first sight. Okay. Those are not real.
00:07:36
Speaker
Married at first sight is real. Do you think that love is blind? There are seriously seven couples that are like, I'm in love with you out seeing you. And none of them have lasted. None of them have lasted except for one. That's why I added the caveat or pretend to be real. It's a completely undiagnosed complex she has because we moved away together after about a year of dating. And so she puts herself in that place of, oh, I've only known you for 90 days, but let's get married.
00:08:07
Speaker
And she said that when we first moved in together, she started watching them because she was so stressed. She still watches them. This isn't going on. And I only watch them when I'm stressed. Also, I don't know that that's true because you watched Back with the Ex with me, which I will say was the most real love reality TV show I've ever seen. I would love more seasons of that. It's tragic. It's only ever gone one season, maybe because they can only find five people that want to get back with their ex. But nobody ended up
00:08:35
Speaker
like together long-term, but that was very interesting because the connections were real. There was history and you got to see that history get rehashed before your eyes. Okay, I could get on board with that, but I feel like this, for the most part, reality TV is not my thing.
00:08:52
Speaker
No. It really wasn't. I'm very surprised. And I would say that it's not something that I like to flaunt to the world. But here I am talking about on the podcast. That's because it's your secret. It's your guilty pleasure, dude. You do like it. It is. I don't think it's always when you're stressed. Yeah, going back to when we watched it, I'm not going to say no if somebody puts it on. But I also don't seek it. When I needed a show recently, I put on Gilmore Girls or Avatar, or I don't put on
00:09:18
Speaker
reality TV unless like it's a dark period of time and then I'll finish it. Usually I'll like leave my dark period. Usually it's like a day I had a bad day and I started a season and then I have to finish it, of course. So that's usually what happens.
TikTok and Daily Distractions
00:09:30
Speaker
Hmm.
00:09:31
Speaker
All right. Lucas, do you want to go or you want me to go? You can go. My number three is at number three because it is a double-edged sword for me. It's probably pretty predictable. I'm sure it would have been on Mara's list too. Let me paint a picture for you.
00:09:54
Speaker
It's betty by time. You're going to have to do the most annoying thing possible, which is stand in front of a mirror and brush your little teethies. Not too hard, not too soft for two minutes. In a circle. You got a floss. You got to put on your nighttime moisturizer so you don't get wrinkles because the Kardashian's have given you a complex about it.
00:10:20
Speaker
And you are bored out of your ever-living mind.
00:10:26
Speaker
except for TikTok. TikTok is there to entertain you while you do the most boring things in your life and distract you from the mundane. And that is when I love TikTok the most. It has never made, like, I feel like my bedtime routine is so much better. My regimen is actually a regimen because of TikTok, because I'm, before I wouldn't do the things
00:10:53
Speaker
As thoroughly or as well I would never like okay let me wash my face let me put lotion on like whatever because like I just found it so incredibly tedious and now I do it because I'm like well I can spend five minutes like listening to or watching tiktoks while I do this that's no problem so that's a good part of it.
00:11:14
Speaker
The bad part of it is, let me paint you a picture. You've been in P all day. You need a P, you need a P, you need a P. Like, you haven't been able to go. You're stuck in traffic, LA traffic. She looks at the audience meaningfully. Yes. LA traffic. You've drink in the liter of water that the Kardashians have made you feel like you've had to drink. They really inspire a lot in your life. Yeah. Wow. You both took a drink while I said that. That's crazy.
00:11:43
Speaker
Maybe we were already going to. You've been brainwashed by the Kardashians already to keeping hydrated. And you get home. You are about to have that sweet, sweet release. A sweet release that only can come from, you know, releasing the pee after you needed to pee for a really long time. I don't know if you've ever felt that, where it's like, ah. Yes, of course. You sit on the table, the table.
00:12:12
Speaker
TikTok has already destroyed her life. You sit on the table, you realize you should be sitting on the toilet, you go to the toilet, you sit down, you open your TikTok app automatically, and you miss that amazing pee moment because you were looking at your TikTok. I will say TikTok has ruined
00:12:31
Speaker
good bathroom time. Also, because then sometimes if I'm having like a bad poo poo or whatever, I'm on my TikTok and then suddenly I've been there for 20 minutes and my butt is numb. So that is the double edged sword of this distraction. Have you never had that? Or even sitting on the toilet so long? I guess you want to really understand.
00:12:50
Speaker
What do you mean I wouldn't understand? What does that mean? I just think number one, you're better with TikTok than a lot of people because you don't have a lot of like brain issues. And you're like so normie. It's crazy. Such a neurotypical individual.
00:13:08
Speaker
You can just like get off TikTok. Congratulations on your brain chemistry. And then two, I think like your Crohn's functions in a different way than like IBS where like you don't necessarily have, I don't know, but like you might have frequent toilet visits, but perhaps yours aren't like in these long waves that are very, very uncomfortable.
00:13:32
Speaker
I think I had them recently, actually. So I totally understand the problem. And also, I will say on the TikTok front that I do have a problem and that's why I have a 30 minute limit and I don't let myself watch it unless I'm in bed going to sleep. I won't watch it during the day. So nighttime routine, that's almost bedtime. So sometimes the reason is not around invading my space in the bathroom. I will watch TikTok while doing my flossing and stuff. And it also improves my ability to do things like flossing and
00:14:03
Speaker
moisturizer and stuff. That's actually very helpful. Thank you. Yes, it is. It is. It's oddly. It's nice for me because I've grown accustomed to falling asleep to the sound of TikToks. I don't myself.
00:14:14
Speaker
participate, but there's just something soothing about some Zoomer screaming about the 40-hour work week or the next Great Life hack or Spooky Lake Month. Anybody just ended? Spooky Lake Month? Every time in October that a spooky, hello, it's Spooky Lake Month. Grace, I would feel the bed slightly shift because he would get excited and he would turn to listen. He'd be like, oh, it's Spooky Lake. Right back awake.
00:14:41
Speaker
Yeah, Spooky Lake Month. You don't love Spooky Lake Month? I've never heard of this before. Are you on TikTok?
00:14:52
Speaker
I'm not on TikTok. Well, there it is. Yeah, y'all just shook your heads. I mean, I both envy and pity you, you know? It's just how it is. I just feel like it's a wormhole I don't need to go down. I already have an Instagram addiction, which has enough TikTok things on it. I don't need to go to the source material. Yeah, you just get it like three weeks later than everyone else. Yeah, which is fine.
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah, I wouldn't care. You just have to wait six years like Vine until it shuts down and then you just go watch all the juicy compilations on YouTube and then you can feel like you were there. Yeah, Grayson boycotts TikTok because of Vine.
00:15:36
Speaker
He doesn't believe both can exist and pleasure him at the same time. I think his mind has changed and he refuses to admit it. He's a monogamist. I like Spooky Lake month, but that's it. All right, Lucas. Okay, so my number three distraction I'm grateful for is
00:15:56
Speaker
my sense of style or eye for design, whatever you want to call it, because I think it's similar to Marion's in that it's a double-edged sword, because I think it's helped me get to where I am in my career as a landscape designer. But at the same time, if shit doesn't look right, it bucks the crap out of me. I can't just chill. I'll sit there and fixate on differently spaced paintings or
00:16:22
Speaker
like random other stuff like or bad font choices like Papyrus being used inappropriately or Comic Sans. I can't I don't know.
Style as a Distraction
00:16:33
Speaker
I can't look at that shit. So when when is the time that it's distracted you in a good way? Distracted me in a good way. I mean, I think it's like a useful tool. I don't know that it's been like. That it's distracted you.
00:16:49
Speaker
I mean, it has definitely distracted me. No, it has distracted me. It's just like when it's bad. But you have to be thankful for it. Yeah, because it's the tool. The reason why I'm distracted by bad design is because I know what good design looks like or I can understand what good design looks like. And that's like the same skill or like thing that we're talking about. This is like the biggest humbrag I've ever heard. You're like, I know true beauty when I see it. I do, I do. Because I have the perfect eye for beauty.
00:17:18
Speaker
No, I think it was something that we talked about in design school though. Hold on, I just turned on the faucet and this is like my eternal battle. This should have made my list, motherfucker. You know the distractions are supposed to be good, right? You're supposed to be thankful for those distractions. I mean, this is your first time, so I understand that the format might be a little confusing.
00:17:41
Speaker
I think what other ones will make more sense. We'll just talk this one up to Amara moment. Before we move on, is there an acceptable use for papyrus?
00:17:59
Speaker
Yeah, you can use it as a title case for something very specific that is related to it. But I don't want to see it in the body paragraph. I want to read it for a long period of time. But what do you mean by title case something related to it specifically? What do those words mean as somebody who doesn't have an eye for design? I saw both of their faces drop when you said title case. But I was like, oh, this is going to be good. So a title on a poster, there's the title of a movie.
00:18:30
Speaker
Okay, that's like the title. You can put that in Papyrus. Coming to a theater near you. Right. Avatar. Exactly, Avatar used Papyrus or Papyrus like fought. And that was appropriate because it's like Papyrus is supposed to look like the first form of writing, right? Yeah. What would not be appropriate would be like Papyrus on like Cyberpunk 2083. Sorry? Or whatever.
00:19:00
Speaker
What is that? You don't know that movie? What? That's a movie? Oh no, that's a game. I'm getting that like stuck in my head. Can you give something a little bit, I don't know, more mainstream? Matrix. The Matrix. OK. The Matrix in Papyrus is hilarious. But you couldn't use it in like, it shouldn't be like the font for a novel. Right. Or like, you know, the Star Wars text that the Skrulls pass, it can't be that. Right, right, right. It shouldn't be long things, only short things. Right.
00:19:29
Speaker
I think we need a shirt that says The Matrix, but in Papyrus. I was just thinking someday I'm going to mail Lucas a letter and it's just going to be on Papyrus. Yeah, he gets $100 or something. But you all know, you'll never know. All right, Grayson.
00:19:50
Speaker
All right. Well, I am very excited to be sharing one of my top three is for the first time on this podcast.
Crossword Puzzles: Travel Companions
00:20:00
Speaker
And I think I'm going to have to go with my number three top distraction I'm thankful for is crossword puzzles.
00:20:08
Speaker
Anyone who's ever traveled with me, AKA everyone in this call, on a train in Italy, knows that I will sit and just do crosswords happily for hours, hours. Nothing else in the world is more important. Ooh, what's that? The Tuscan countryside flying by outside this train going 200 miles an hour? Fuck it. No, 39 down, Amalfi Coast. Nice.
00:20:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. We've sat on flights for like five, six hours next to each other and he'll literally just do that. And then whatever beverage goes by, it's like, that's all he does. I'll watch like three movies. I know. My full Stanley Hudson comes out all at once. Don't look at me. Don't talk to me unless I ask you for help with it. That's interesting, because I feel like I'm not
00:21:05
Speaker
I don't know the right adjective. I really struggle with crossword puzzles and they just make me angry and then I stop. I don't complete them because the clues, you have to have a certain set of knowledge to complete a crossword puzzle that I think
00:21:23
Speaker
In general, I have a lot of feelings about like how inclusive or not inclusive it is, how it's geared towards a certain person, type of person, like who's making the crossword, is it elitist, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's interesting that you are into it, not to call you any of those things.
00:21:40
Speaker
There is a broad, first of all, it's so like if you get a crossword puzzled book, if you like go, if you get the New York Times or you get like the LA Times or something, and you're doing that crossword week after week, that crossword is authored by the same dude. And that dude has patterns. And eventually it becomes less a game of wits between you and the clues, but
00:22:09
Speaker
a battle of will between you and that author. So you start to figure out like, okay, I understand how this guy thinks.
00:22:17
Speaker
So I've also seen kind of a diverse spectrum of crossword puzzles. Like I picked up a Penny Dell crossword puzzle at the airport the last time I was there. And I knew conspiracy theory. I can't find anything about it online. Pretty sure Penny Dell is run by a Christian fundamentalist cult, just based on the clues and the answers that I was getting in there. Every single one. Very easy crossword puzzles.
00:22:49
Speaker
Some alarming content. I like that conspiracy theory. I will say that Grayson is probably the ideal person to do crosswords because his base knowledge on everything. He has knowledge on everything. We'll go to trivia, and he'll do the most fucking random shit, and no one else will have any idea. Yeah, I feel like crosswords appeal to the same people who like trivia. It's that group of people, in my mind. I don't know if Marion's making a face, but I know. I mean, I love trivia.
00:23:16
Speaker
I'm not good at trivia, not good at crossword puzzles. I'm always like, I understand these pop culture references. Same. Yeah. I think, though, maybe my love for trivia has to come in with the competition side of it, unless with the knowledge side of it is probably why I like trivia. When I'm doing a crossword, I'm like, why would I do this? What's the point? Who am I competing against? Who am I going to win against? Why?
00:23:45
Speaker
I do feel like my shortlist also had like, well, I guess I shouldn't say it in case in case it's on somebody else's. Oh, yeah, wait till the end. OK, OK. All right. My number two distraction that I'm thankful for is Harry Potter audiobooks and ceramics. It became so I did ceramics in the fall of last year. So what would that been? Twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three.
00:24:11
Speaker
Uh, and you know, you're sitting there for hours on a, and usually like a four hour block and you're either trimming or throwing or doing glazing or whatever. And it's pretty like hand intensive. So you have the like hand side down of it, but if you're not listening to something, it is very, you can really spin off into some weird thought trajectories. And so I put on the Harry Potter audio books. I think I went through them twice during ceramics.
00:24:36
Speaker
And it was amazing. Cause I could like, you know, if I really needed to focus on a poll or something, like I could turn off my brain and really focus and then just like dive right in and be like, Oh my God, Harry almost fell again. You know, it was amazing. Harry's always falling. Yeah. I still haven't read those books. Oh my God.
00:24:57
Speaker
Do we call audiobook, listening, reading? I know a lot of people do, and I don't know why, maybe because I'm a purist, but that bothers me. It bothers me when they say I read a book, and they mean I listen to a book. Librarians everywhere beg to differ with you. Librarians do it. If that's how you end up reading, then please do it. But it's not reading. It's literally not reading.
00:25:21
Speaker
If I listen to a podcast, are our listeners reading right now? Thank you. No, they are not reading us. They are listening to us. They could, but in a different sense. Nope. You guys didn't get that joke. It's too gay. It's fine.
00:25:43
Speaker
Wait, can you explain it? Like reading, like you read someone, like you, oh God, I feel like I have to explain a lot to you right now. Have you guys watched RuPaul? Yes. Okay. You know when the girls are like giving each other shit? Yes. That's reading each other. Oh. It's like verbal sparring. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay. Yeah, they could be. They could be reading us in that way, our fans.
Hobbies and Mental Escapes
00:26:11
Speaker
You'd hope not, but they could be. I have to say, Cara, I hate to be the bearer of, well, I hate to be the antagonist. I just hate it. Oh, do you? It's my least favorite name. On this podcast scene for folks to do. I don't think that what you've described as a distraction, you've described a hobby. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. No. Yes.
00:26:35
Speaker
We both agree minus one. No, no. No, because I, Grayson, what did I tell you? Listen, when I- Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did Grayson help you with this list? No, I didn't talk to him at all. Then why did you say Grayson? What did I tell you? Because he wrote down his list and he was like, this is going to be fun. I'm so excited. I was like, yeah, are you prepared to defend it against Marion? Yeah.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah, of course he is. And then and then that comes up. I got nine on my list. I'm ready to I'm ready to defend all of them. I didn't have that many, but I have three over to our Patreon and you can hear me defend all nine of my choices.
00:27:11
Speaker
Yeah, but Karen, then defend it. I started off by saying that when I made this list, I was thinking about if I had a sad thought or an anxious thought or whatever, and I'm trying to distract myself from whatever the sad, angry, whatever thought is, these are my distractions. So if I'm like, say a parent is in the hospital or whatever, that would be something that I would do to try to not be thinking about it, to distract myself from the thoughts.
00:27:38
Speaker
See, but when I googled distraction. Yes. You listened to our early episodes. I did, I did, I did. It says it's a thing that prevents from giving full attention to something else. Yeah. Hmm. I don't know. It just, it, it goes beyond, it's not really a distraction. It's a hobby. It might be self care. It might be a release. But why can't it, I guess it could be both though.
00:28:08
Speaker
I guess, but it's like, don't you have like specific times you have to go to? You had specific times you had to go to class or pottery. That's not a distraction. It's scheduled. It's like it's supposed to happen. Like that's not the answer. That's not the that's not what the definition of it is to prevent you from focusing on your pottery.
00:28:29
Speaker
No, what I'm saying is that the combo, because I, if I do something with my hands, right, what I've learned, I was just telling Lucas before the podcast started, I've learned that I'm a big fidgeter and I need to do stuff with my hands. Hence I picked up knitting recently. Like I know that I need to do stuff with my hands. And then if I'm also thinking about the audio book or the podcast or whatever, then I am fully distracted mentally and physically from the rest of life, from everything, sad, angry, stressful, anxiety, written, whatever.
00:28:58
Speaker
I'll give it to her. I guess it's it feels like I think it stays strong. I think it's both. I think it's both. It can be both. This is not this is not a either or situation. Well, my number two.
00:29:15
Speaker
I feel so good. I don't know that I agree. I would give you at least a minus half for this. You haven't given a proper reason just because it's my program. I think it's more of a hobby is an activity. It might be a stress release activity. I don't know that qualifies as like a distraction, especially when a lot of times you are doing those things. These are planned like I have not every Thursday night at seven. It's not a distraction.
00:29:46
Speaker
Well, define distraction. You have to say that it's not a distraction because of something just because it's planned doesn't mean it's also not distracting. I'm always a little stressed. That is not up for debate. I'm always stressed. And when I'm doing pottery and listening to Harry Potter, guess what? Not stressed. OK. OK. All right. So my number two. Let me paint you a picture. Oh, my God. You're big into this.
00:30:15
Speaker
You're at a party of somebody that you don't know very well. You don't know how you got here, what made you decide that this was gonna be a good idea, but now you're here. You're at this party and you're kind of feeling like, do I even really wanna be at this party? I don't really know or care about many people. What do you do to distract yourself from the conversation and the party? Pets.
00:30:40
Speaker
Pets. Pets are an amazing distraction at any type of event or anything. When I am feeling uncomfortable, or when I am feeling like I need to talk to somebody, like if I'm struggling for conversation with somebody, I always go to the dog, the cat, whatever is available. It always brings people together. I went to a party recently that like I realized that maybe I was too sober for because I'm California sober.
00:31:10
Speaker
And I was having trouble feeling like really into the party or like entertaining myself. But one of the people hosting had a dog that came on a leash. So I spent a very large portion of that party hanging out with a dog and every once in a while talking to somebody else about the dog. Big dogs, pets, they're great buffers.
00:31:33
Speaker
They're great conversation starters. They're great distractions all around. You can always go to a pet and no way is going to be like, why are you focusing on that pet? You know, no way is going to ask that question. It seems natural. It's a natural distraction. I like this one. I very, very much approve of this one. This is my M.O. and has been my M.O. at every party since I started going to parties when I was like 17, because that's when my nerd ass started going to parties.
00:32:05
Speaker
And even when all 12 of you guys came and stayed at our house like three weeks ago, every once in a while, where's Grayson? I was over petting my dog. Just kind of hanging out on the edge of the conversation, waiting to see if I heard my name or something. It's perfect. Yeah, whenever you're feeling awkward, you can always go to the pet. This is also on my list because I was like, you know,
00:32:34
Speaker
pets are like such a big part of our lives and like if something's wrong with them like that's like the biggest right if something's wrong with one of my cats like I think about that constantly and it's like good luck trying to get like other shit done when you're like I just want to make sure I just want to make sure that you the list you made is talking to distractions you're thankful for it's not like you've only mentioned bad distractions
00:33:09
Speaker
We'll find out together. What you're saying, though, is that your cats are so all-encompassing that they distract you from everything negative, and therefore they can also have a negative impact. Right. On the same note, I look forward to... I get excited on the drive home thinking about getting to see the cats, right? Or giving them a good huff. I love a good huff of my cats.
00:33:27
Speaker
I think it makes sense at an archive when I wrote it.
00:33:34
Speaker
Yes, I think, yeah, I mean, there's been countless times where a cat has distracted me from like what I'm feeling or like I remember I used to say when Kara Mara and I were living together in 2017, I had uprooted my whole life, I was very depressed. I remember saying even though I was living with my best friends at the time, like the thing that was giving
00:33:53
Speaker
me like purpose and was keeping me like I knew that I could come home every day. This cat was depending on me and this cat would never fail to make me laugh. He would always manage to find a way to like make me feel good for a minute like during my day and distract me from every single thought is having like they they are like the ultimate distract and you're right like it is
00:34:17
Speaker
a double-edged sword where when something's wrong, it is so hard to focus on anything else. It's impossible. Yeah, that's a good one. Lucas? Okay. Well, let's find out if I did this right.
00:34:34
Speaker
Okay, my number two distraction that I'm thankful for is video games. Yes, video games. I mean, like I can get so hyper fixated on them. Like I'll get into like
00:34:51
Speaker
you know, what's the best build or what build will be fun to play? What's the lore of the game? How did the mechanics work? Like if I really like it, I'll like look into the studio that developed it and like, you know, I don't know. So I think there's a lot like there. Plus like you get to like experience like all of like the storytelling that comes along with it. It totally just texts you out of reality, which I appreciate. Yeah.
00:35:16
Speaker
Definitely. This is this was on my short list in a kind of way, which is phone video games. It kind of goes it blends like Grayson's crossword fixation with what you're talking about, which is like I have a lot of planning anxiety from like, you know, being in DC from 9-11 and like all of that traumatic experience that came from that day.
00:35:37
Speaker
And I have a lot of trouble getting on planes and being on planes and any type of turbulence. And the number one distraction that has helped me is a good video game either on my Switch or on my phone. I had been on nine hour flights that have just gone by that I basically only looked up for a drink for a snacky, a little snacky wacky, and a little pee pee break. And that's it.
00:36:06
Speaker
changed my experience on planes like so fundamentally because it does it takes you into this whole other world and there's like a challenge to it and you're just trying to like
00:36:18
Speaker
fit all of your surroundings. Same on all accounts. I will say that I wouldn't have identified with this until we were coming back from Vietnam and I was trying to stay awake on the 14 hour flight or whatever it was. And I was like, Grayson, do you have any video games that I can play that I would like? And I played Portal and my God.
00:36:40
Speaker
I think it was eight hours. Oh, God. Yes, I loved it. Yeah, that's so funny. Yeah. Next time you go on your airplane, you just should always play Portal until you finish it. It's a good idea. Grayson. Number two for me is this is actually a good segue. Shitty phone games. The shittier, the better. Crossy Road.
00:37:08
Speaker
When Kara and I were first going out, my family dog died. It was very sad. And I only got through that because of hole.io. When we were moving back, we were moving from Seattle to here, I only survived because of home scapes. So, honestly. Oh my God. Is that with the butler? Yeah.
00:37:40
Speaker
Ask me. Ask me what level I'm on. What level are you on? 1212. That's better than my candy crush. My candy crush is like in the 900 somewhere. That is so funny.
00:37:54
Speaker
It's been a stressful year. It is. It honestly is like there's something so mindless about it that is so perfect. I'm doing this really shitty deck building one right now, and it's so good. Like when I just do it for an hour and it's I'm basically just like swiping cards places, but it really hits the spot. Is it Hearthstone? No, it's Rogue Adventure. OK.
00:38:20
Speaker
I don't get the... No, you wouldn't because you got all your neurons firing normally. I think most people like those though. Not the Candy Crush. I get the puzzles. I definitely am on the puzzle game, but the ones where you're...
00:38:36
Speaker
What's that one? That's not what Home Scapes is. Home Scapes is not really... Home Scapes is not difficult. It's very... Or like... That's what I'm saying. Or like the one where you were running a cat cafe. Like I am just never gonna be... The cat cafe was a particularly dark time in my life. I will say that. The cat cafe is not good. I mean, that is one of the worst... Like I don't even know how that happened to me that I was into that.
00:39:00
Speaker
But every day when we were in Italy, you'd be like, I got to check my cat cafe. Because it was a 24-hour thing or something. Yeah, they make money for you. They're like little, I mean, they're like little servants. They're indentured servants, honestly, somebody pointed out to me. They're slaves. Yes, they are. And that's why I stopped, because I had to boycott. It was just not right when I was doing cartoon cats. It was immoral, yeah.
00:39:27
Speaker
Actually, I stopped because when I got my new phone, it reset all my progress and I thought I can't go through with this. It's too much. But it is a quite boring game. Like even for me, that was like on the cusp of like too boring and too simple. But I've really graduated from that.
00:39:45
Speaker
When your mind needs numbing the most, you go for the most mind numbing. It's opening in baths that you can possibly shove your brain into. Yes, I was. Yes. I mean, I think video games, I don't I don't agree with this shitty phone one personally, because that's just never appealed to me. But like, yeah, I think like video games overall, like when I've been like in dark places, they've been like such a solid distraction. Right. Because you can just I don't know. They're so immersive. Some of them like, especially the well done ones like I don't know.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. OK, should we go to our our sponsors? Oh, yes. Here we go. Off we go. Choo. Choo. Bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. Our number three sponsor this week.
00:40:39
Speaker
is me. I want to retroactively say that a lot of the episodes we've heard is actually me. Because every time I've edited one, it's always Grayson. I'm like, where's the shout out to me? I'm doing all the editing right now.
00:40:54
Speaker
So I'm going to retroactively say this for me. You've already gotten your thanks, Grayson, for the next few you're going to edit. I assume you'll be editing this one, but I'm going back to me.
Podcast Reflections and Gratitude
00:41:04
Speaker
Grayson and Kara were moving and everything. I did a lot of that editing. I've had a lot of false starts and a lot of really bad technical things that have happened to me that I've been crushing. So thank you, me. Thank you.
00:41:20
Speaker
And Grayson, I'm so happy to have you back. I hope you're excited to do some editing. Oh yeah, yeah. Refreshed after a long break. He says five minutes after it's done the longest year of his life. So refreshed. I love 2023.
00:41:41
Speaker
Uh, our number two sponsor could be you. Yes, you text somebody right now who hasn't heard about this podcast yet. Give them the name of the podcast. Some people have been saying, I'm listening to my friend's podcast and then they give no information. It's not that helpful. So make sure you're telling people the name of the podcast, maybe link them to wherever you're getting your podcast.
00:42:04
Speaker
And just take five seconds if you love us personally or if you've never met us and you still somehow managed to love us.
00:42:14
Speaker
and just let somebody know, thank you so much, and text us, email us, your comments, we'll read them. I have not thought about checking Gmail in like three months. My top podcast. What is it? My top podcast at everything.gmail.com. What is it? No, don't listen to that. Nobody listen to that.
00:42:37
Speaker
You're going to get confused. It's my top everything podcast at Gmail dot com. Yep. She's right, folks. I am right, folks. Let me see real quick. Anybody. So if you do share it, if you do share it, you have to tell us because then you will be the sponsor. My dad pointed out that that is the flaw in the system is that even if somebody shared it, we keep saying it could be you. But yes. Yeah. Well, Lucas, I was going to say, I told my coworkers today about this podcast.
00:43:07
Speaker
Our number one sponsor is Lucas. Lucas, thank you for being a wonderful sponsor and telling them about it. Now make sure to give them the link when this episode comes out. We can all listen to you. Our number one sponsor this week has got to be the king of all Distraction Kings social media. It's
00:43:34
Speaker
is bad distraction, good distraction will make you feel horrible about your life and euphoric at the same time. Congratulations, social media on ruining my life. You won. And on that subject, head on over to X and tweet about us. Oh my gosh, today my...
00:43:53
Speaker
My boss needed help and she needed help with X and I went to type it in. I'm like, well, what's the URL now? She didn't really know what I meant by that. It's still twitter.com, right? Can you, can you type in X.com and get to Twitter? You can think so. I don't know. That'd be pretty scared to do it in case I get a virus. I'll do it.
00:44:17
Speaker
No, it does. It takes you to Twitter.com. He paid for X.com. That is so weird. I wonder how much you paid for X.com, because somebody... Not a lot. He's owned it since the 90s. Really? How do you know this? There's a whole history of his weird obsession with building X, the everything website. Oh. Goes back to his first foray into financial fraud when he opened one of the first online banks.
00:44:41
Speaker
Wow. Who knew? I'm excited that we haven't said his name and I hope we continue that trend. I'm not actually saying the name. It's like, he must not be named as long as, as long as we don't say, as long as you don't say his name, he can't sue us. Come at me, bro. Let that sink in. All right. Let's get back to it.
00:45:08
Speaker
All right, my top distraction that I'm thankful for is competitive sports that I play in. So if it's a basketball game. This is a hobby. This is a hobby. This is literally a hobby. You're talking about a hobby. I'm sorry. No, I draw the line. That is a hobby. That is a hobby. If somebody, listen, this is for you because you love me, you three,
00:45:32
Speaker
If I am sad or am super stressed or whatever, I want to go play a competitive game like pool or ping pong or tennis or basketball or something. Make I need to do something where I'm really competitive and thinking about that competition. That's a great distraction for me. Yeah, that's right. No arguments. It's like, what do we even say? There's just nothing left to say. I'm way the person. Yeah, huh.
00:46:05
Speaker
It's a distraction. Things can be multiple things. When did that start happening? They can fill multiple voids. That's silence. I'm not going to edit any of the silence. I'm going to keep it in so people can really sit in it.
00:46:28
Speaker
I mean, you could have gone with fantasy sports. That's a distraction. When you're sitting at work and you get the little jingle on your phone, it's like, fuck, it's Thursday. I need to set my lineups. That's a distraction. I get invested. Listen, I am not in it for the serotonin boost or whatever it is that other people get from fantasy. I'm in it for the competition. I want to beat people. That's the only reason I do fantasy. And you're not distracted by that endeavor?
00:46:56
Speaker
No, you've seen me. I don't care. I don't research anything. You watch hours of videos and podcasts and you research shit. I don't do crap. I just want to beat someone. That's the only goal. Maybe it's because I'm neurotypical. Who knows? I'm just going to throw that out there again. She's trying so hard to carry the silence. Oh, I know. I'm not uncomfortable. I don't care. I'm very solid in this choice.
Imagination and Unique Experiences
00:47:25
Speaker
This is a distracting silence that I'm not thankful for. All right. Well, now that Kara's done listing her hobbies, I'll go with my number one top distraction that I'm thankful for. Let me paint you a picture. Oh my God. It's 2018. I keep getting this infection in my eye.
00:47:50
Speaker
The infection comes, it goes, but I'm not able to wear contacts while I have this infection. I go to the eye doctor. I've been having to wear glasses, like a geek, no offense, for like a year. And I have really bad prescription, okay?
00:48:08
Speaker
five in one eye and 6.25 in another eye. So like my lenses make me look like little bug eyes when I have them in. It's not a pretty sight and I don't like wearing them in public and especially not at work every day. So I go to my eye doctor. I'm like, doctor, what can I do? I want to go back to contacts. He says, you can't go back to contacts. There's too much infection going on. You need to be without them for a full consecutive year or get lazy.
00:48:39
Speaker
I am very scared of LASIK, but I do go through the process. Before my surgery, they popped me a clonie or a Xanax or something. They're like, don't worry, this is gonna calm you down. Spoiler alert, it did not calm me down. When I got in that chair and the laser started buzzing, and my doctor started describing every single move that he was doing to my eye, including cutting into the flap.
00:49:03
Speaker
pulling back the flap. The world went jelly. He said it's totally normal, the jelly world that you are now seeing as I flip back part of your eye and your cornea.
00:49:14
Speaker
to burn off. He's like, that smell you're smelling right now, that's your eye burning. He's telling me all of this. I am about to go into a full panic. They should have given me like three Clonys. I don't know what they were thinking. I should have said, hey, I have anxiety. You're going to need to give me the good stuff. I'm about to get out of this chair.
00:49:34
Speaker
And then I realized, wait, he's just telling me this stuff because maybe he thinks that it helps me to know it, but I actually don't have to pay attention to this. All I have to do is keep my eyes open. That's my one job. I can do that and I can completely zone out. So what I did is I thought, so he did my right eye and then when he went to my left eye, I zoned out and I thought of my stories. These are my number one distractions is thinking about what I'm gonna write next
00:50:02
Speaker
and just coming up with conversations that characters are going to have in my head. This completely distracted me so much in this eye that he checked in a couple times and said, you still with us? And then at the end, he said, Marianne, I've never had as good a patient as you. Like what happened? He attributed it to the Connie.
00:50:21
Speaker
It wasn't the clowny. It was my imagination and my stories. And this is why I'm putting it at number one, because it literally like stopped me from having a full blown panic attack and like leaving the chair and not getting my other eye done in LASIK, which like I was very close to do because of like all of the gross stuff he was telling me and me like having to focus on what was happening to my eyesight. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. The power, the power of creativity. Our fearless leader, everyone.
00:50:53
Speaker
Do you remember the story? At the time, I was trying to work out an issue in my novel manuscript. I was trying to figure out what the next scene I was going to write was. I can't remember exactly the issue, but I was sitting there thinking about, OK, well, what am I going to have happen next? And like thinking of the conversation she would have and like, like, should she be in the closet when this is happening? So, yeah, that's that's what I was thinking about to get me through. That's a good, yeah. Full brain. Damn.
00:51:23
Speaker
I don't think that would ever work for me. No way that my imagination is still that, like. Ready to go, that it would distract you. Yeah. What would be your actual distraction? Would you go get some pottery during your Lasik and just do that or? Listen to Harry Potter while she does it. I think I would listen to Harry Potter. That's exactly what I would do. I would have Harry Potter. And then I'm literally playing with a fucking
00:51:49
Speaker
I don't see that would have been a good distraction if you had said fidget toys, but I'm not distracted by it. It's just a nervous tick that I'm doing. I'm not distracted. For me, the distraction has to be mental and physical. That is like has to be. Christ is shaking his head. Stop it. Because he agrees with you. I know. Yeah, I think most people are in agreement here anyway.
00:52:19
Speaker
What our listeners, yeah, what our listeners say. There's always like one person that's like, leave Cara alone. You literally have like that one fan like Brittany had that's like got the crying mascara under him like, it's like, Cara alone, please leave her alone. I've lived with this my whole life, folks. I'm used to it. Got to defend everything. Lucas?
00:52:46
Speaker
Um, well, you took my number one, frankly. So yeah, it is going to be pets.
Pets and the Internet: Ultimate Distractions
00:52:52
Speaker
It's going to be pets.
00:52:54
Speaker
Oh, well, that's a very good number one. Yeah. So as my backup, I guess I'll say weed is my number one distraction. Yeah, it's always there for me when I need it. So. Yeah, I think that's that is.
00:53:17
Speaker
The friend that never flakes. Yeah, need to check out, light up, you know? You don't still think, like, do you still think about the things that are stressing you out when you spoke?
00:53:27
Speaker
Um, I mean, I feel like it's like kind of a gamble and it also like I've really learned that there's for me there's a really big difference between indica and sativa so like indica's will really like chill me out and I'm just like down to hang and like sativas can be fun sometimes but they if I'm not they're like I need to be doing something active and like engaging with other people but like if I take if I smoke sativa by myself and I'm just like
00:53:52
Speaker
Then I get like real anxious and that's a recipe for a panic attack. That's how I got all my panic attacks was like from sativa sativa sativa sativa. Yeah. I almost always want to say Stevia. I don't know. Stevia gives me panic attacks, but equal number of calories.
00:54:13
Speaker
Yeah, indica, it's a good distraction. Yeah, I mean, that's my number one. Yeah. Do some pot, everyone. Run away from your problems and do some pot. Escapism is in. Yeah, these are good number ones. It's hard to argue. Well, most of them are good number ones. It's hard to argue. Shut your trap.
00:54:34
Speaker
Gray, I am so excited. I am so excited that I get to close it out and I am not going to be creative. And I am just going to go ahead and say that my number one most all encompassing every day, most pervasive, irritating, beautiful, awful and amazing distraction is
00:54:54
Speaker
The internet. I thought you were going to say Cara. Or like love. That's what I always say. My partner. Hell no. She's not even on the list. Bandy's on the list. She was number seven. Pets, man. Pets. Yeah, no. Since I got my first laptop for college back in 2010, and I discovered that there was more to the internet than going out to
00:55:23
Speaker
herpetology forums to learn about why your lizard is sick. And you could go and you could go look at, create and share this amazing new thing called memes. It was over. It was all over for me. And the second I got my hands on an iPod touch and I could take that with me and I could look at memes while I was pooping.
00:55:49
Speaker
That's big. Game changer, life changer. How many things have you done 10 to 15 times a day every day for the last 13 years? Not many things I can imagine.
00:56:04
Speaker
But accessing the internet for all of its scrumptious bounty has been one of the most consistent things in my entire life. And yes, it does cause me to forget to do things, miss things. But hey, what would life be without it? So true. So true. It is an all-encompassing distraction. Yes.
00:56:28
Speaker
Well, that was tight. That was a tight one. That was tight. Any last comments? I don't know. I don't know. That was pretty good. I don't have any qualms with it. I have an honorary mention. My honorary mention is making a huge meal or cooking well high. That would have been good. You should have put that on your actual list. I also have an honorary one. Yes. Men.
00:57:00
Speaker
Amen. I just had butts on my list. That's a good one too. Butts are a pretty big distraction, yeah. Or boobs.
00:57:14
Speaker
Boobs and boobs. Oh, I just seen regular boobs. They can be distracting if they are like of a certain like shape or size. Yes, especially if they are unnatural boobs. I'm not saying unnatural boobs are bad. I like me a good unnatural boob, but they are distracting. If you tell the difference.
00:57:35
Speaker
Oh, you're so gay. Do you remember being at Six Flags in LA and seeing that woman in that teeny tiny tank top with the like size double H titties? And I was like, I can't even walk. I need to go backwards to go watch them more.
00:57:58
Speaker
There's nothing like a good pair of fake boobs. They are something to behold, especially when the choices some people make like that, like where it's like, why'd we go for that? Yeah. Oh God, they were so, it was like so egregious, but it was so fake. And they were like, they were like balloons, like a soccer ball shoved into a tin. Yeah, minus one to everyone for nobody saying boobs.
00:58:31
Speaker
Oh my God. I think that makes Lucas our winner, by the way. I was going to say Lucas and Grayson, because I would give Lucas a minus five, minus point five for his first one, not a minus five. That's a lot. A minus half point for his first one, but then one point for his honorable mention, which if you move around his cat one, then
00:58:52
Speaker
and then I would definitely give Grayson points because all of his were flawless. So I think it's a joint win between Lucas and Grayson or a tiebreaker. What would you prefer, boys? Did anyone prepare a tiebreaker? Yeah, what do we do for the tiebreaker? What about Battle Royale? Let me look real quick. I have an idea. Okay, what's your idea? It's on, Lucas. Is it gonna be complicated? No. I assume it will be simple and painful. Lovely.
00:59:25
Speaker
OK, Marion, I'm going to send you my idea in. OK. OK, yeah, we'll do this. OK. Cara, do you want to give the prompt? No, I don't. What was the first video game? Oh. Oh, oh. And if you don't get it right, we will go with oldest, like whichever one of your guesses.
00:59:52
Speaker
But if I don't know the name of it, but I can describe it. Do we text someone? You have to put it into the chat, but I think for Lucas, Grayson presses go and Lucas usually close your eyes and describe it. Yes. Yeah, we'll do that. So Grayson, when you're ready to hit, Lucas will close his eyes. OK, I'm ready. Close your eyes. OK. OK, Grayson hit. OK, now describe it, Lucas.
01:00:18
Speaker
Uh, it's like, it's like ping pong, but like just two boards and it's a ball bouncing between them on either side. Like tennis. You both said, okay. You both said pong. It's called tennis for two.
01:00:35
Speaker
I don't know what to do about that. I'm going to say you're both winners. I'm going to say congratulations. The boys are the most distracted. Boys rule, girls drool. All right. Be careful.
01:00:55
Speaker
All right. This has been My Top Everything. Please email us at mytopeverythingpodcast.gmail.com. Mention us on social media, Instagram, lada-dada-dada, the other ones. I think we have the other ones. X. I don't know. Yeah. Get Fenty. I think that's something people say. We do have X. We also have a Reddit, a subreddit I'm in.
01:01:17
Speaker
go on the subreddit and tell us your top three distractions and anything we missed and whether you agree with Kara or not, unless you agree with Kara, then keep it to yourself.
01:01:27
Speaker
First subscriber on the subreddit wins a prize. Yes. Oh, yes. First subscriber wins a prize. I love that. And we will keep this surprise a secret because we definitely know what it is. We should put that on Instagram once this post goes. Yes, we will do that. OK. All right. I'm I'm I'm just your host this week. I'm Marion. And I am the neurotypical on Kara.
01:01:51
Speaker
I don't know how to follow that, but I'm Lucas. You're the winner. You're the winner. I'm the winner. Exactly. Say your name, though. Say it in a full sentence. I'm Lucas the winner. And I am the winner's other half, Grayson, formerly the producer of the podcast My Top Everything. This has been My Top Everything. Thank you for listening. See you next week.
01:02:16
Speaker
Bye! Thank you! Bye! I've always wanted to be a part of that. You could always be a part of it! You can always have you for that! I'm always on the other side of the room holding socks! Lucas, how do you think it went? I think it went good for the most part, minus the first one.
01:02:43
Speaker
I think they did great. Do you think being high for this podcast would enhance it or make it harder? I think you would probably get more like funny moments because it would be like disjointed thinking, right? I'd be like jumping from one thing to the next. At least for me. I'd be like there would be big leaps in connections, I suspect.
01:03:05
Speaker
Maybe we should do a 420 episode where Akira, Mara, and Lucas and I get high for it. Yes, please. Yes, please. Yes, yes. I'll be an All Shepherd. I will be an All Shepherd.