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Episode 249: Where Have We Been?
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Hello, Podwalkers! We've missed y'all and we are back! Well, we're here at least with a new episode. Today we talk a little bit about what has been going on with each of us and the struggles as well as the coping strategies we are using as best as we can. We cover the Translifeline event from this past weekend and look to the future with how to use our platform
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources
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As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
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Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:03
Alex
Hello, Podwalkers, and welcome to another episode of the Goblin Lore Podcast. um We are here, we have everybody here, and that, some days, is enough. And so that's what we're we're going with that today.
00:00:17
Alex
um so
00:00:18
Hobbes
I mean, I'm excited we have everybody here.
00:00:20
Alex
Yes.
00:00:20
Hobbes
It's like, it is enough.
00:00:21
Alex
It's it.
00:00:22
Hobbes
It is definitely enough.
00:00:22
Alex
Yes.
00:00:24
Hobbes
It's a good thing.
00:00:24
Alex
I'm sorry. i I did briefly forget we have an actual topic.
00:00:25
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:00:28
Alex
um So that's, it's more than enough. It's excellent. So there, there was a ah big event this weekend when we're recording this, when you're listening to it in the future, it it may have been a different weekend.
00:00:39
Alex
um That we'll, we'll talk about that.
00:00:43
Hobbes
yeah
00:00:43
Alex
and And also just kind of do a good check-in with the three of us and, and see where we're at because, yeah,
00:00:48
Hobbes
It's been a bit.
00:00:49
Alex
That's, it's been a bit, and that's important to just check in sometimes.
00:00:50
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:00:53
Hobbes
So who are you? are
00:00:55
Taya
Yeah.
00:00:55
Alex
I am Alex!
00:00:56
Hobbes
wait
00:00:56
Taya
I was just going to ask that. like the minute in and we're finally getting to names.
00:01:00
Alex
It's a appropriate question. I am Alex, uh, found, um on the Goblin Lord Discord at me. Um,
00:01:11
Alex
But pronouns are E-M. And for our opening question, which i guess I would as well answer and that before handing it off to someone else for introductions, um just what's something you're looking forward
Midwest Gaming Classic Highlights
00:01:22
Alex
to? so this is This is a good mindfulness thing. We we cover this as a topic sometimes when we're doing mental health episodes, or we'll use this as an opening question, talking about things you know you're grateful for, good things that have happened, and some something you're looking forward to.
00:01:38
Alex
And I proposed this because it was also an excuse for me to talk about the Midwest Gaming Classic, which is a retro game convention in Milwaukee in like three, about a month from now that I am going to for the first time this year and very excited about.
00:01:50
Hobbes
What? This sounds amazing!
00:01:54
Alex
So it is one of the biggest retro game conventions in the country. There's one in Portland, Oregon. that's That's pretty big. It might be bigger. And I think there's one in like New York because, of course, there's one in New York.
00:02:05
Alex
um but otherwise, like Milwaukee is the home of one of the biggest ones in the country. That is nice, convenient place. seven-hour Greyhound from the Twin Cities, which is what I plan to to be doing to get there because a flight to Milwaukee was way, way more expensive.
00:02:23
Alex
um Surprisingly for me, just for how brief that flight is, but I guess there's still, so you know, there's some sunk or some fixed costs for just getting a plane in the air, perhaps. Anyway, the whole point is this is a convention that there's a lot of vendors and a lot of other things just for for retro game things. I know at some of these cons, they set up like Little booths or like just like displays kind of like a, you know, so stereotypical basement room in the 80s or 90s for kids or I know at Portland they had because there's the last blockbuster out there they had like a fake little blockbuster on that the floor.
00:03:00
Alex
um You have just like historical things like people will just bring old things that are I mean, I was talking to a friend about it this weekend and it's like, it I think it's gonna feel like when I went to a magic event in Vegas for the first time, where the vendors will just have things like a sealed box of legends, you're like, Oh,
00:03:18
Alex
That's a thing that I'm standing a few feet away from that I could never afford, wouldn't want to spend the money if I somehow could find it because I have, you know, rent and food to to buy. But it's super cool to like see this weird artifact.
00:03:31
Hobbes
Yeah. Yeah.
00:03:33
Alex
And so, and not just in the Magic Term artifact. But so, it's that's happening. But this place also has like a ton of arcade machines that are set up for free play. There's a big like pinball thing.
00:03:46
Alex
like i have a couple friends who go every year who, unfortunately, for financial reasons, are not going this year. um But they're big pinball people. And so, that was a big thing for them. That's one of the reasons they've been going to it one of the ways that I kind of heard about this convention and so I'm really really looking forward to that I genuinely counting the week stone to to when I get to go do that in the the first weekend of April
00:04:12
Taya
Well, that sounds pretty great.
00:04:14
Hobbes
Yeah, I'm jealous. you're going to see so many CRTs.
00:04:17
Alex
Oh, yeah. There's going to be just walls of them set up for people. like Because then they also like bring and set up old game systems, too, from what I understand. That's a thing that I know they do at Oticon, the yeah the anime convention I go to in DC.
00:04:32
Alex
But I understand they do. I mean, there's things like, and here's ah if you're not like plugged into some of the retro game things, this may or may not blow your mind, but... There are, there's a whole homebrew scene where people not only make games that are kind of fit the old systems. Like there's a lot of indie games that are like, this looks like an n NES game, but it couldn't run on an NES.
00:04:51
Alex
There are people who make games that they put on n NES cartridges that you can run on an original hardware.
00:04:57
Taya
Yeah.
00:04:57
Hobbes
See, that's cool.
00:04:58
Alex
and And this con actually has like three or four games, I think, that are like the official games of that year's con. And they are available to buy only at the con that year.
00:05:12
Alex
And I know one of them is on the Switch. I think there's there's an NES, and I want to say like a Sega Genesis one this year. And so it's just like, that's a just a neat thing. And then there's people who do this, like that's their life. So who will go to these cons, maybe not their life, but that's a hobby or thing that they do. And they'll go to these cons and set up booths and just be like, here are the homebrew games that I have made and put on these cartridges.
00:05:36
Alex
You know, buy them, take them home and play them on your original hardware. In addition to all the vendors that will have, you know, the old stuff, that some of the new stuff, probably a little bit that you can peruse.
00:05:41
Hobbes
That's super fun. Yeah.
00:05:49
Taya
Well, great. Well, I guess we're six minutes in and I'll go ahead and introduce myself. I'm Taya, pronouns are she, her, they, them. I'm on Blue Sky at Taya Transcends and I'm looking forward to going home in three days. I've been recovering from surgery at my partner's house and I love them very much, but I'd like to see my cats and my other partners. And I got the clearance from the doctor today that I could head home. So I'm going to be leaving to head home on Thursday.
00:06:19
Hobbes
That's super cool.
00:06:20
Alex
Nice. That's awesome.
00:06:21
Hobbes
I'm really, I'm really excited.
00:06:23
Alex
Yeah.
00:06:25
Taya
Yeah, it's being away for three weeks is a long time for me.
00:06:29
Alex
Yeah.
00:06:31
Alex
Yep. understand that.
00:06:32
Taya
Hobbs, I guess, you know, it's just you left.
00:06:35
Hobbes
It is. i was just like, yeah, I was trying to think, too. um I'm actually looking forward to not having... Hi, I'm Hobbs. My pronouns are he, him.
00:06:46
Hobbes
it can be found anywhere on the internet at HobbsQ. ah I'm actually excited to not really have anything this weekend specifically planned.
00:06:56
Alex
Nice.
00:06:57
Hobbes
um Yeah, this past weekend was very, very busy, which we'll get into. But on top of just that, my parents moved in to their new place a couple of weeks ago and I helped helped them do all of that. So it's just been like one thing kind of after another for a couple of weeks and I'm ready for a little bit of a break.
00:07:18
Hobbes
As you can probably hear from my yachting already. Yeah.
00:07:21
Alex
Yeah, that's fair.
00:07:24
Taya
Yeah, for once I'm ahead of youtube two so it feels pretty late to me recording right now.
00:07:30
Alex
Yeah.
00:07:32
Hobbes
Oh, I did not realize. I forgot that you were not actually in in and in like your same time zone for this.
00:07:40
Taya
Yeah, i I'm on East Coast right now.
00:07:40
Alex
Yep.
00:07:41
Hobbes
Okay.
00:07:44
Hobbes
Okay. Wow.
00:07:45
Alex
Nice.
00:07:45
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:07:48
Hobbes
So, yeah.
00:07:50
Alex
Right. well
00:07:50
Hobbes
We wanted to talk about a few things. We were gonna talk about, um as Alex said, an event that happened this
Charity Event for Trans Lifeline
00:07:55
Hobbes
past weekend. So we could start kind of talking there. we um ah so I was involved in helping to run a a charity event for Trans Lifeline.
00:08:08
Hobbes
um This was an extension of our Sheldon Menry Memorial event, um which got delayed in the fall, if people remember, because of the whole, well, everything that happened with the Rules Committee.
00:08:21
Hobbes
um
00:08:21
Taya
Yeah...
00:08:22
Hobbes
And we had pushed it to to really going to be um but in February or March. That was kind of our goal. Except as things have gone on in the U.S., especially post-inauguration in particular, and the rapidity at which things have been torn down, and we had some good discussions about how it's easier to tear things down than it is to build them. And all they're really trying to do right now is just take matches and gasoline and Chainsaws, as Elon was nice enough to walk out on the stage with and just break everything.
00:08:56
Taya
I was so disappointed he didn't cut his own leg off with that chainsaw.
00:08:56
Hobbes
And...
00:08:56
Alex
yeah oh
00:08:59
Hobbes
God, it would have been nice, right? Like, I'm pretty sure he's never actually used one.
00:09:00
Alex
yeah
00:09:01
Taya
Yeah.
00:09:03
Hobbes
So...
00:09:04
Taya
Oh, yeah, I'm sure he hasn't, which would have been even you know funnier to watch him struggle with it.
00:09:04
Alex
oh yeah
00:09:07
Hobbes
Yes. And...
00:09:09
Taya
But of course, it was just a prop.
00:09:10
Hobbes
It was a prop, right? Because he's not... Yeah, this is like when Ben Shapiro was telling people to go buy stuff at Home Depot and and he like was carrying a 2x4 that was not even a size they would carry in the store.
00:09:22
Hobbes
He was carrying a single piece of wood. God, these...
00:09:25
Alex
me
00:09:26
Hobbes
these people who want to act like, yeah, anyway, um, we decided to move the event to be for trans lifeline, knowing that Sheldon would completely support this and tell us why would we be doing a memorial event for him and cancer research when our trans brethren and sisters and our envy folks out there, are literally having their rights stripped away at every turn.
00:09:52
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:09:52
Hobbes
Um,
00:09:52
Taya
Yeah, it's been ah it's been a fun month and a half, hasn't it?
00:09:52
Alex
Yeah.
00:09:56
Hobbes
Has it been? is it Yeah.
00:09:57
Taya
No, it's not.
00:09:57
Hobbes
well
00:09:58
Taya
No, no.
00:09:58
Hobbes
No.
00:09:59
Taya
I mean, i like if I travel internationally, there's a good chance I'll get my passport taken away from me.
00:10:04
Hobbes
Yeah. like you you You pretty much are are stuck staying here right now. I mean, unless you don't want to come back.
00:10:12
Taya
Yeah.
00:10:13
Hobbes
That's the reality, right? um I work with some folks who were in the process of of getting their passports that then had those passports completely changed because they had gotten their paperwork in.
00:10:26
Hobbes
prior to everything and then we're told nope you can't have that gender marker on your passport any longer um and it's become even more unsafe for trans folks in america which is a scary thing to say and so this past weekend trans lifeline is one of the organizations i think that
00:10:39
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:10:49
Hobbes
does amazing work. I mean, they are, they, they were the first kind of available line that was really targeted, uh, because it may not feel safe to call a helpline that you're not going to know who you're going to get in with what they're going to know about you or know about being trans. And so we really wanted to support that.
00:11:08
Hobbes
Um, we were bummed and happy that Taya could not participate in the sense of playing,
00:11:14
Taya
Yeah, yeah i was I was definitely bummed that I missed out this weekend. I didn't get to do any K&T shenanigans or anything.
00:11:22
Hobbes
I know. I know. And I was told we were supposed to be keeping it PG-13, so I didn't even get to start a swear jar for myself. ah I will say that I forgot to have that discussion with the panel, so we did do a panel, um and it was with Tappy.
00:11:40
Hobbes
And I think we... if Let's say it had been PG-13. We used up any potential quota, I think, during introductions. ah
00:11:50
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:11:50
Hobbes
Because it was...
00:11:51
Taya
I love taffy.
00:11:52
Alex
think
00:11:52
Hobbes
It was Tappy, Dark Pact, or so Dark Pact Cosplay, and then Carson, who is one of Tappy's mods. They are all enemies. They use they as at least one of their pronouns. And and myself, um we unfortunately, Ivy, ah Lady Foxglove, had gotten sick the morning. now We were hoping to have a little bit more representation. But we did a very nice, I thought, panel on basically...
00:12:17
Hobbes
um You know, Evan, our dark pact does a lot in the political sphere about how to fight back and what we can do. And, um you know, i kind of talked about the mental health piece and talked about our trans veterans and our trans service members. And, you know, I think we hopefully provide a lot of good information, but we definitely swore.
00:12:35
Hobbes
We definitely we swore. There was there was.
00:12:39
Taya
Thank you.
00:12:39
Hobbes
ah Yes, yes i mean, appropriately swearing, as I think most swearing can be. But, the you know, the the event, I think, went really well. We we had the Praetors for Change, um the Birds of Paradise folk, Onionbug does the Bug Bop, which is a fun show.
00:12:59
Hobbes
If you haven't seen her play, I got to play Pendragon on her show. was a ton of fun.
00:13:04
Taya
Yeah, and you all, you hit your fundraising goal. You got the $10,000.
00:13:10
Hobbes
We did. We did get to 10,000. So we we were ah lucky. and you know we um We knew we were coming off of the heels of the professor's event. And we just wanted to keep the kind of hype going and try to continue what doing what we do, set kind of a goal for 10,000.
00:13:28
Hobbes
we We hit that and we have not had the... So we we auctioned off a piece of original art. ah that actually belonged to Sheldon for tribal unity. And it went for $4,800 and Kibler Kibler was in bidding on it.
00:13:44
Hobbes
We were trying to, we were trying to goad him into like bidding more, you know, you' like go the magic hall of famer.
00:13:44
Taya
Yeah, I saw that.
00:13:51
Hobbes
And he's like, you're going to let yourself be out bid. Um,
00:13:53
Taya
kind of ah Put all that YouTube money to work.
00:13:55
Hobbes
Yeah, exactly. So, no, at the event went very well. I think all all told we're going to be around 14 or $15,000 raised.
00:14:08
Taya
That'll be great. yeah I mean, you know, that's fantastic.
00:14:12
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:14:13
Hobbes
So towards Trans Lifeline, I mean, its it was a very emotional event. um Taya got to at least watch some of it and ah threw in donations. And we had a little goblin lore bidding war going on last night.
00:14:29
Taya
Yeah, a little bit of one. you ah You snaked a Chandra out from underneath me.
00:14:34
Hobbes
A sketch, Chandra AP. um i mainly just upped the bid because I really didn't want to mail another piece of like stuff from my house.
00:14:44
Taya
To me, yeah. You upped the bits so you didn't have to mail it to me. Nice job, Hobbs.
00:14:47
Hobbes
too To my own co-host. if yeah he Could have been somebody else too. I really just didn't want to i but didn't want to like have to address another envelope.
00:14:53
Taya
and
00:14:57
Hobbes
but like Tell my wife that's the reason. I should have tried to say that was a reason for other stuff. Like, oh, I i had to bid it up, honey, so that I would have time to hang out with you.
00:15:08
Taya
Yeah.
00:15:12
Hobbes
But it was really fun. we ah We had some Jason Rainville donated some sketch proofs and some regular proofs. um And we're actually, it's it's still going in a sense of as we're recording, we're going to be doing a big like giveaway stream ah after this episode.
00:15:30
Hobbes
Well, before this episode comes out, unfortunately. But we're just going to be giving away the prizes and stuff from that. And it was just really, i think, I did a little bit of an update last week.
00:15:41
Hobbes
um and just a mini episode talking about, you know, ah how, how things have been, how the world's on fire, how we really are committing to what the causes we believe in and what we want to do and how we want the show to be,
00:15:59
Hobbes
well, to to what we want the show to be talking about. And it really reminded me that doing these type of events and being involved with them in any way i that I can is actually one of the, probably the biggest things keeping me tied to Magic the Gathering.
00:16:14
Hobbes
um Communities and gatherings and large groups like this that it come together have a great basis for organizing. I think it's something that we talked about with Spice.
00:16:27
Hobbes
And we can use that. And I, and I believe we hopefully will continue to use that for good. So yeah. So that's all it was a, it was a fantastic weekend and that's one reason I'm just absolutely exhausted between that and then just lots of family stuff.
00:16:45
Hobbes
So.
Community Reflections and Magic the Gathering
00:16:47
Alex
That's good. good to Good to hear. It's a good kind of exhausted. that That's nice.
00:16:53
Hobbes
And I want to point out, Taya did win another, not auction.
00:16:53
Alex
that's nice
00:16:56
Hobbes
So...
00:16:56
Taya
Yes, I did, but it wasn't a Shandra, a Sketch. yeah I don't actually have a Sketch Chandra in my collection.
00:17:04
Hobbes
Oh no! Well, uh oh, now i feel...
00:17:07
Taya
Yeah, no, i could have I could have kept bidding, but I'd already put in a big donation before my other auction win, too, so...
00:17:14
Hobbes
yeah You did. You did. You did. So, well, we'll figure, yeah, maybe I'll see what I, but I'm trying to think now if I have other Chandra's in my AP collection.
00:17:26
Hobbes
I'm being, I'm being bullied on air right now. did start this.
00:17:31
Alex
They warned us about peer pressure in high school.
00:17:32
Taya
I believe you started this.
00:17:33
Hobbes
i did i did start this
00:17:41
Hobbes
So i wanted we wanted to talk about the event, just kind of like do a little wrap up from it and talk about the fact that, you know, I think that is things that the Magic community does well.
00:17:42
Alex
right.
00:17:51
Hobbes
And ah they can come together. And and and i'm I'm thankful to see that. We also wanted to just talk a little bit because it's been a few weeks since we all were together about how we're doing.
00:18:04
Hobbes
And Alex, you kind of had a nice framework for her discussing this.
00:18:07
Alex
Yeah, yeah, I thought a good way to, to and and know we've we've talked about this a bit, and and something that I say a lot, especially when we're revisiting a thing, is it's important to revisit things. Sometimes it can be good, both for for folks who who have heard it and folks who haven't, because you know people, any given episode of a podcast can be someone's first.
00:18:27
Alex
ah So we wanted to just, I wanted to give a framework a little bit, like you say, to just talk about spoon theory. You kind of explain this just just briefly, because it's a good, it gives a good framework and actually um literally, like pulled up the Wikipedia and I think this has a good explanation here and we can kind of flesh it out from here, but it just says it's, it's a metaphor for describing the amount of physical or mental energy that a person has available for daily tasks and how it can become limited.
00:18:50
Alex
It was first coined in a 2003 essay by Christine Miserandino, I'm pronouncing their last name, right? um in this in In this essay, they're using it to talk about chronic illness that Christine has and using this as a metaphor, like a handful of spoons as a metaphor for units of energy that they that are available to perform everyday activities. And this was kind of, in this essay, it was Christine explaining this to a friend who did not have those same experiences, but it it has been used by a lot of groups for for a lot of different things. And I think it's it's a really good metaphor for
00:19:29
Alex
just the idea of for any various thing, even if you know you are not a person experiencing any various things, just in general, if you don't have enough energy, just the idea of you have so many spoons.
00:19:44
Alex
Or I know for for the nerds in the room, was it like, yeah, spell slots is a good one from from like D&D and those sorts of games.
00:19:47
Taya
Yeah, I use spell slots usually.
00:19:49
Hobbes
That's what i' was going say.
00:19:52
Hobbes
One of my favorites.
00:19:54
Alex
And so it's a similar similar concept that You only have so much energy. And so this, like just, it just gives a good framework and it's a good thing. If you're interested in that, you can kind of go read more into that.
00:20:06
Hobbes
and The the like original analogy, too, is like you you you can't just magically just add more spoons, right?
00:20:06
Alex
But it.
00:20:11
Alex
Yeah, exactly.
00:20:12
Hobbes
um
00:20:13
Alex
It's yeah. Part of it is like you wake up and you have say seven or whatever the number is. You have this many spoons to, to distribute in a given day. If you want to get up and.
00:20:23
Hobbes
And you've used four of them it to do X.
00:20:24
Alex
Get.
00:20:27
Hobbes
It means you have three left, right? Like it, you know, and and people would have to, when they talk about with chronic pain, and a lot of times it's thinking about, you know, you know that you're going to be limiting yourself based on that.
00:20:29
Alex
Yes, exactly. And, and.
00:20:36
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:20:38
Hobbes
Um,
00:20:38
Alex
Yeah. and And from what i remember, i don't know I'm not sure I've actually read the original essay, but part of it was, there and there are certain things, especially for for folks who have chronic illness or other circumstances, certain things that don't seem like they should take spoons for people can.
00:20:53
Hobbes
Yes.
00:20:54
Alex
And so like this this example, I believe one of the first things was, I believe the way that Christine set it up, it's handed spoons to a friend and said, okay, you you walked me through the day and I'll take a spoon away every time one would be expended for me.
00:20:54
Hobbes
Yes.
00:21:08
Alex
And one of the first things was like, okay, I get up, take a shower, take a spoon away.
00:21:12
Taya
Yeah.
00:21:12
Alex
It's like for some folks that isn't going to do that, and but for some folks it is.
00:21:16
Taya
Or, you know, for like me doing a phone call is that kind of draining.
00:21:21
Hobbes
Yep.
00:21:22
Alex
Yep.
00:21:23
Hobbes
um And I like the idea. It's like right you might be able to do things to replenish them, like rest, you know, like there's things that you can do. This is where I like the spell slot analogy better because ah you can even, you know this, we use this a lot for, well, I use this a lot when I'm working with people for that are gamers.
00:21:31
Alex
Yep.
00:21:34
Alex
Yep.
00:21:34
Taya
hmm.
00:21:41
Alex
Yeah.
00:21:41
Hobbes
I will generally introduce it this way, as Taya said, because you can also explain the concept of like a short rest and a long rest. And certain things may get replenished by just, you know, a short rest.
00:21:51
Hobbes
Some definitely require that full long rest that comes with its own, you know, other elements to it.
00:21:55
Alex
Yeah.
00:21:56
Hobbes
But ah yeah, I love the analogy and I love that it is a framework to kind of explain to people like your cognitive resources, because that's what we're talking about, really, is your resources that you have to devote.
00:21:58
Alex
Yeah.
00:22:05
Alex
yeah
00:22:08
Alex
Yeah, and and then it it also, I think it's ah it's a helpful framework because then, as we've talked about, there's we're we're in an environment and a situation now where there is a higher, there is a greater demand on energy at a baseline.
00:22:25
Taya
Yeah.
00:22:25
Alex
A normal day where nothing goes wrong is more exhausting and trying today than it was a year ago for various, for political reasons, at least. Maybe different people have different circumstances, but There are, i mean, and that extends beyond political things. there There are situations like when I ah broke my leg a number of years ago.
00:22:46
Alex
What constituted a spoon, what took a spoon or took a spell slot was different. Now just getting up and moving took a lot more energy than it normally would have.
00:22:58
Taya
Yeah, I've definitely been going through that the last couple of weeks.
00:23:01
Alex
Mm-hmm. So I think it's it's just a good it's a good framework for maybe the conversation we're going to have, but even more than that, just for folks to to to think about and keep in mind as you're as you're going forward in
Understanding Spoon Theory
00:23:15
Alex
life. If you're feeling more tired doing the same things, take a moment and think about, am i and so are there temporary or maybe less than temporary circumstances that are making things require more energy now than they used to?
00:23:29
Alex
might be helpful to evaluate what what you can do and how how you can do things, but it also might be helpful just to cut yourself some slack sometimes because things are hard enough as it is.
00:23:40
Alex
You don't need to beat yourself up for things that are outside of your control, whether you're doing it consciously or not.
00:23:47
Alex
So I don't know, maybe. I could segue that into my how I'm doing a little bit. So I'll say that obviously in the, in the opening, I talked a little bit about um Midwest gaming classic. I am, I'm really looking forward to that.
00:24:01
Alex
Having that to look forward to has been helpful. The last few weeks I've actually been feeling a little bit better place. Cause I'm kind of focusing on something that I'm excited about dealing with the day-to-day things and trying as best I can to, to reckon with and,
00:24:15
Alex
deal with the bigger than day-to-day things. um But something that I've been doing, kind of got back to a little bit recently is, I don't know how to just i don't know how to what to call this, but I struggle with cooking.
00:24:28
Alex
I struggle to find the time, which just in general, my commute is kind of sucks, so that limits my time. But especially when I have less energy, it's harder. And so I've been... kind of remembering that there's, I can do a sort of hybrid things where I take partially, you know, frozen or other sort of prepared foods and then actually cook some other elements to add to this, to make a full meal that is better than just microwaving something for two minutes.
00:24:56
Alex
And so that, that's been a big thing to, to feel better. Like I love cooking. um And this helps me to get in the kitchen, even if I'm not like cooking, big meals, I'm doing something and it also makes the food I'm eating better.
00:25:11
Alex
So that's been, that's been really nice though. The last few days that I'm kind of working on.
00:25:16
Hobbes
we've talked about this on some of our color pie of food episodes, right? Alex, like the hacks to just like get better than just like throwing something in the microwave that just, it makes you feel different, even if it's just a little something that you're doing right.
00:25:19
Alex
Yeah. Yep.
00:25:25
Alex
Yeah.
00:25:29
Alex
Yeah, or or just, yeah, or like i this weekend I threw a picture in the Discord because i was like, I had a couple of elements that weren't a full meal, um but I'm like, but if I put some more elements that are a full meal together, that'll be enough food to kind of be a full meal.
00:25:29
Hobbes
Like,
00:25:42
Alex
So I just had this this mess. I had like some sausage and some provolone in my fridge and some bread. I was like, well, if I buy an onion and the green pepper, I can fry those. Throw a little marinara sauce in that, throw some seasoning, throw the cheese on top and melt it, add the sausage meal.
00:25:58
Alex
And then I took two pieces of bread and just made homemade garlic toast, which is the thing I've been doing since I was five. you just put the bread in a toaster as soon as it comes out, a little bit of butter, little bit of garlic salt, you have garlic bread. ah That was one of the best meals I've had in a week because it was just like a bunch of good ingredients, not really a traditional meal, but it worked and I really liked it.
00:26:22
Hobbes
it's It's funny, Alex, that you you mentioned that because last night we made just tacos or quesadillas for dinner. And actually what we did is we we we we normally like make carnitas in a crock pot all day long, all of that.
00:26:39
Hobbes
We got microwavable pork, added some flavor to it, but we made tortillas by hand. We made corn tortillas fresh because I want to start doing that.
00:26:49
Alex
nice Nice.
00:26:51
Hobbes
And I was told basically you just need to practice it. And it honestly didn't take that long because like literally making corn tortillas besides it's it's a process to learn how to do it properly, which is this weirdest thing, like watching like Rick Bayless videos in it.
00:26:54
Alex
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:04
Hobbes
But it literally is cornmeal and water.
00:27:09
Alex
Yeah.
00:27:09
Hobbes
That's it. Like that's, that's, that's what's in a corn tortilla.
00:27:10
Alex
yeah
00:27:13
Hobbes
You mix it. And then it's like, but, but it's like this whole thing of like the consistency needs to be like this exact, I don't know. There's like, there's the science behind it, how hot the pan is.
00:27:23
Hobbes
It's like, it's the simplest thing. But like what I've been told is you just need to do it over and over.
00:27:27
Taya
Thank you.
00:27:27
Hobbes
And I was like, I'm going to do that, but I do not want to cook pork all day long in a crock pot and prepare and get it ready.
00:27:30
Alex
Yeah.
00:27:35
Hobbes
Like, no, just,
00:27:36
Alex
So you just, yeah,
00:27:38
Hobbes
We did that, and then we microwaved the pork. It worked.
00:27:41
Alex
you just, you focused on the thing you wanted to focus on and kind of let the, let the rest of it slip and it was, it was still good.
00:27:42
Hobbes
Yeah. yeah
00:27:48
Hobbes
Yeah. yeah Yeah. I was happy with it. i' I'm not going to complain about a quesadilla.
00:27:51
Alex
Yeah.
00:27:52
Hobbes
Yeah. like
00:27:55
Alex
Nice.
00:27:57
Taya
Alright, well, you know, that sounds good. Hobbs, you know, sounds like already talked a little bit about it being kind of just run over the last few weekends. How are you doing?
00:28:11
Hobbes
I am not doing great, Bob. Is that the meme where he's just like gets on the elevator? um I am not doing fantastic. And and part of that is because um on top of just, you know, like ah everything that's going on towards communities that I firmly want to support in any ways that I can, um i am under complete chaos because I am a federal employee.
00:28:41
Hobbes
And I don't know what's happening. And that's not something that ah even through any previous administration, including the first time, has been a question or a reality.
00:28:59
Hobbes
um You know, it's...
00:29:03
Hobbes
We saw in 2016, we were not happy. Those of us, I think that I can think of that, that are, that are like-minded that work in mental health, but our day to day never got impacted.
00:29:15
Taya
Mm-hmm.
00:29:15
Hobbes
Right. We had ah half-assed effort at the end of his first term where Trump tried to like stop DEI training or trainings on drugs.
00:29:28
Hobbes
like cultural things. And we just, it was, a we were able to ignore it. um Like we can't get accredited as a psychology program. If we can't teach those, it's like, it's a core aspect of being part of like the American psychological association.
00:29:45
Hobbes
Like any of the medical associations is like, you have to train people. The the VA is the largest training organization. like facility and, and especially in psychology and mental health, it is like the largest training thing in the world.
00:30:00
Hobbes
Most people have trained at a VA at some point in their mental health career. Like, you know, it's just, it's just to say that you wouldn't be able to teach like appropriate care with diversity.
00:30:16
Taya
Oh, I mean, you know, they've they've gone so far overboard with this is like they're deleting references to the Enola Gay in the Pentagon archives.
00:30:16
Hobbes
it just, what,
00:30:24
Hobbes
Yes.
00:30:24
Taya
You know, it's just like, it's so freaking stupid.
00:30:26
Hobbes
They.
00:30:29
Taya
it.
00:30:29
Hobbes
They.
00:30:29
Taya
all of it
00:30:30
Alex
Yeah.
00:30:30
Hobbes
Yeah, they they they they they they like removed a video initially, a training video that had the Tuskegee Airmen in it.
00:30:40
Hobbes
Which you people don't know, was a black like Air Force group that flew missions and is known for being one of like the most important for during, I believe, World War Two.
00:30:51
Hobbes
And they like the epitome of they just quit showing the video because it had black people basically.
00:30:57
Taya
Yeah.
00:30:57
Alex
yeah
00:30:59
Hobbes
Right. Like, oh, this is diversity.
00:31:00
Alex
Yeah. Wow.
00:31:02
Hobbes
Like what?
00:31:03
Alex
yeah
00:31:05
Hobbes
you're You're literally so they they have found ways to be cruel. And that is a sad way to say it. But it's like we're not taking away trans health care because we can't.
00:31:21
Hobbes
But you need to use the bathroom of your sex only even if you're a patient at this hospital.
00:31:30
Taya
Yeah.
00:31:30
Hobbes
Right. Because like you can't take away health care. It's really hard to do. It is. It actually is, which is a good thing. But you can make policies for a facility uncomfortable.
00:31:41
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:31:42
Hobbes
And I work with enough LGBT veteran, TQ veterans, that this is not trivial. Right. i I'm getting those emails saying, send us five bullet points weekly on what you're doing.
00:31:55
Hobbes
um i refuse to do it. So my life is kind of chaotic in this way. And i i it it makes it hard because it's just kind of like I'm trying to do my job that I've always done.
00:32:08
Hobbes
I've been there for 12 years. Yes.
00:32:11
Taya
Yeah. And then you just extrapolate that across the entire federal sector. You know, these people are just trying to do their jobs to, you know, make sure we're not eating glass in our ice cream or whatever.
00:32:15
Hobbes
Yes.
00:32:20
Alex
Yeah.
00:32:23
Hobbes
Right.
00:32:24
Alex
Yep.
00:32:24
Hobbes
Like, you know, that your planes land.
00:32:24
Taya
And yeah.
00:32:27
Hobbes
um
00:32:27
Alex
Yeah.
00:32:28
Hobbes
That you have water that's good to drink. um
00:32:32
Alex
yeah
00:32:33
Hobbes
That your're your doctor can make their best healthcare care decisions for you. And we don't have to worry about treating measles with home remedies.
00:32:45
Taya
Yeah, because according to RFK Jr., a measles outbreak is a totally normal thing.
00:32:45
Alex
yeah yeah yeah yeah as opposed to just treating it the way we have done for what multiple decades where it just hasn't happened yeah yeah
00:32:50
Hobbes
Yeah, and we we should just treat it Which... I don't know.
00:33:00
Hobbes
years. Going on 50 years for measles.
00:33:02
Taya
Yeah.
00:33:03
Hobbes
I mean, prior to prior to the um mmr there was deaths a year.
00:33:10
Alex
yeah
00:33:10
Hobbes
Right. This this we had a death of a child. It was the first time in like 25 years. Like these things were working, you know, once again, like you they didn't need to be broken.
00:33:16
Alex
Yeah.
00:33:18
Alex
Yeah.
00:33:19
Hobbes
um And so I think from that perspective, you know, this is demoralizing to me because we're we're we're not in the short term. It just sucks.
00:33:30
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:33:31
Hobbes
But in the long term, I don't know what federal service looks like. um I don't know how you attract strong candidates after this.
00:33:39
Taya
Which is really the, I mean, that's the whole goal is to make everything about it awful so that they can make as many people quit as possible.
00:33:48
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:33:49
Alex
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:33:50
Hobbes
and And assuming we get through this and i I'm trying to be happy and or I pray be hopeful about these things. I don't know what comes next. And that's not something I ever thought of. And and it's that sad thing of you see people saying, right, like, you know,
00:34:06
Hobbes
We'll be honest with you. most Most federal people did not go into it just for money. I'm not going to say I get paid poorly. and will never say that. I have privilege. I have a PhD.
00:34:16
Hobbes
I am in a well-paying job. I did not go into the federal government for that reason.
00:34:24
Taya
Mm-hmm.
00:34:25
Hobbes
you know If what I cared about was money, the federal government is not really where I probably would have gone.
00:34:33
Taya
Yeah.
00:34:33
Hobbes
ah I went for the opportunities that I had to work specifically with marginalized groups because veterans can fall under that group.
00:34:34
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:34:42
Hobbes
And um I was sharing the stat that something like 20% of all trans people have served, you know, like it's marginalized groups across the board are, are, are overrepresented within our armed forces compared to the population.
00:34:58
Taya
because of where we recruit from.
00:34:58
Hobbes
Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That's exactly it. And so like I and I work with people with schizophrenia for the most part. They ain't getting good care in the community. The VA is actually probably the best place to get care for that.
00:35:11
Hobbes
um And I went into that because that's what I believed in. And I went there because I'd be able to teach, because I'd be able to do training, because I would have opportunities to actually further the field by, you know, programming, designing things.
00:35:28
Hobbes
yeah Well, you know, like, look, our D&D group that that happens at the Minneapolis VA that that came about because a student said they wanted to do that. I'm not going to be that in the private sector.
00:35:38
Hobbes
And there's so much more to for me to being a psychologist. I mean, this show right here, talking about stigma, having a place to to have these conversations. There's a reason I went into the job that I did, and now I don't know what that looks like.
00:35:53
Hobbes
I just don't. I don't know what it means. And so I haven't been doing well, and I have not been taking the best care of myself. I'm doing what I can, right?
00:36:03
Alex
Yeah.
00:36:04
Hobbes
like I'm still focused on it. I am thinking about it. i'm i'm not i've been I've been lower in my life than I am right now, and I'm still not in a great place. Yeah.
00:36:17
Hobbes
Even just some of my typical coping stuff is is not working the way that it used to. And I'm having to, you know, it's funny. im it's It's funny, Alex. I'm trying to like cheat and buy more spoons in the middle of the day, right?
00:36:29
Hobbes
Like I'm trying to take them off of somebody else, right?
00:36:30
Alex
yeah
00:36:33
Hobbes
Like just put an arrow in their back, I guess.
00:36:34
Alex
Yeah.
00:36:36
Hobbes
I don't know. um Yeah.
00:36:38
Taya
energy vampirism.
00:36:40
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:36:42
Alex
Yeah. Introducing vampirism to the the spoon theory might be, might take some work.
00:36:46
Taya
Yeah.
00:36:48
Alex
I mean, there there was, from what I'm saying, like part of the thing was talking about like borrowing energy from yourself too, which is a thing where you you push yourself harder. You might be able to push yourself harder today, but then you're going to pay for it tomorrow, which
00:37:02
Hobbes
Well, so like, I mean, this has been every, like, not just, but almost every night we're coming home and my wife and I are feeling ready for bed.
00:37:13
Alex
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:37:15
Hobbes
um More so, right? It's just like, but just it just, it feels different. I don't know what else to say.
00:37:22
Alex
yeah
00:37:23
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:37:24
Taya
Hell, I guess that just leaves me. um i you know, well, basically since the inauguration, I've been living in a constant state of dread and
00:37:33
Hobbes
yeah yep.
Taya's Recovery and Political Reflections
00:37:34
Taya
you know, um, terror of just how rapidly things have gotten awful, uh, knowing full well, that was the plan ahead of time, which is why I've been kind of a wreck since November.
00:37:45
Hobbes
yep
00:37:45
Taya
Um, but, uh, specifically for the last two weeks, I've just been doing my best to recover. I'm, you know two weeks tomorrow out from a major surgery. So I've been mostly, um, laying down and watching TV and, um,
00:38:02
Taya
watching a lot of anime and reading and just trying to request, yeah you know, rest and recover from ah surgery. But, you know, beyond that, it's like I've had to significantly trim down my blue sky feet. So I'm only looking at a subset of people so I don't get inundated with bad news all day because just couldn't take it anymore after about two weeks from the inauguration out is because it was just one long stream of bad news.
00:38:36
Hobbes
Every day. it and by design.
00:38:37
Alex
Yeah.
00:38:39
Taya
Yeah, no, you know, it's, it's the approach to wear out any potential opposition and just keep dumping this shit out as quick as possible.
00:38:47
Taya
And so you know, I've been Dealing with that before I took my sick leave for my surgery, I was dealing with just getting through work on a day-to-day basis with how, you know, anxious and depressed I was about everything going on.
00:39:07
Taya
And it's definitely been affecting me on a day-to-day basis and, you know, not knowing, you know, if it's even safe for me to travel when it is like I was Um, you know, I've got to go through the airport again on Thursday and I'm not looking forward to that.
00:39:27
Taya
Uh, that's even just for a domestic flight. So it's, yeah, it's kind of, uh, and I, I really feel for, you know, um, everyone dealing with this crap in the federal sector too. he I was there for, you know, I did a decade of federal service and,
00:39:46
Hobbes
I remember.
00:39:46
Taya
You know, I've spent some time with some, some of my former coworkers came and saw me when i was in the hospital and I spent some time and talked to them about what they're going through. And one of them is an exec now and was having to go through reduction in force planning for, you know, laying a bunch of people off and, you know, for no, no particular reason at all, other than that,
00:40:03
Hobbes
Oh, God. Yeah.
00:40:11
Alex
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:40:13
Taya
you know, Musk doesn't like banking regulators, so he's going to get rid of a bunch of banking regulators.
00:40:21
Taya
And then we won't, you know, the ones that are remaining are going to be too, too overwhelmed to actually be able to review and audit those books to make sure, you know, banks aren't putting us in the same situation as, you know, 1929 or, not or two thousand and eight But, you know, we can't have regulations happen for reasons.
00:40:43
Taya
And, you know, the the current regime is like anything that blocks a business, especially a business Musk wants to get into has to go.
00:40:44
Alex
Yeah.
00:40:54
Taya
not he's talked a lot about wanting to turn X into a finance app and everything else. So he's. you know getting rid of banking regulators is right up his alley for something he'd want to do for his own private benefit.
00:41:08
Hobbes
I think you hit on Slane of the feeling like to to to know this. And that's why I'm also been having to decide how much like i I can look at the news or just keep informed like that, that, that line between wanting to be informed and also not wanting to just be completely paralyzed and demoralized.
00:41:28
Taya
Be paralyzed.
00:41:31
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:41:31
Taya
Yeah.
00:41:31
Alex
Yeah.
00:41:32
Hobbes
Because as you're saying, Taya, like I'm really hearing like the, the, The whole element of. um It felt like guardrails that were already tenuous or just off.
00:41:44
Taya
Yeah. And.
00:41:45
Alex
Yeah.
00:41:46
Hobbes
And like any semblance of checks and balances. Being a thing. is is gone.
00:41:54
Alex
Yeah. Mm-mm.
00:41:55
Taya
yeah
00:41:56
Taya
and For anyone who knows how federal government is supposed to work, this is not it. You know, this is, the executive branch does not get to do whatever they want, except when you've packed Congress and the Supreme Court with a bunch of spineless partisans that won't come and say no. Or even when you, you know, nominate the worst possible people in the world for a position or the least qualified like RFK Jr., you know,
00:42:28
Taya
in a functioning government, they would have said, no, yeah, I could do a better job than the head of the DOD right now.
00:42:28
Hobbes
Or Hexith is the Department of Defense, right? like yeah
00:42:37
Taya
He, he failed every like possible policy question in his Senate testimony.
00:42:43
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:42:44
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:42:45
Hobbes
Yeah. I mean, i mean he he failed with his ability to run nonprofits for veterans.
00:42:47
Taya
The guy knows nothing at all.
00:42:53
Taya
Yeah.
00:42:53
Hobbes
Yeah. um You know, like, and you can't even get enough people to break ranks to vote for not that guy.
00:43:03
Taya
Yeah.
00:43:04
Hobbes
Right? Like, you you get your typical couple of Republicans who say they're deeply concerned, and then, but then vote to, like, yeah.
00:43:10
Taya
Yeah, but they want to actually vote with those concerns. And what's silly is, and while it's silly to me at least, is that, you know, hearing inside stories or stuff that, you know, Republicans are like worried about that they're getting death threats from Trump supporters.
00:43:16
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:43:28
Taya
it's like, well, you know, buck up guys. That's just a day of being trans on the internet.
00:43:32
Hobbes
Right. Right. Like, it like, you aren't you the party that always said we don't negotiate with terrorists because then then they'll just keep doing that?
00:43:41
Taya
right
00:43:41
Hobbes
Right? Like if they're going to just keep doing it because now you've shown that it works.
00:43:42
Alex
Yeah.
00:43:47
Hobbes
Um. it We had this discussion in our panel about the fact that, like, that it's the continued thing of like, remember how upset they got when when Waltz called them weird
00:43:59
Taya
yeah
00:43:59
Alex
Yeah.
00:43:59
Hobbes
Right? Like, they have they like they they literally cannot handle
00:44:05
Hobbes
the most milquetoast-like lowest level feel uncomfortable.
00:44:07
Alex
Yeah.
00:44:12
Taya
Yeah.
00:44:12
Alex
Yeah.
00:44:13
Taya
Well, I mean, go back to the Clinton election when she called them a basket of deplorables. And that was that was national news for weeks.
00:44:21
Hobbes
Yep.
00:44:21
Taya
That was like, oh, this is like the worst thing she possibly could have called them.
00:44:25
Hobbes
Yes. Like, is it?
00:44:26
Taya
And no.
00:44:28
Hobbes
Like, it's really not.
00:44:29
Taya
Yeah.
00:44:30
Hobbes
Like, yeah this is probably one of the more boring things I've heard said.
00:44:30
Alex
Yeah.
00:44:34
Hobbes
Like, yeah.
00:44:35
Taya
Yeah.
00:44:36
Hobbes
And.
00:44:38
Hobbes
Wow.
00:44:38
Taya
But the media just jumped all over it.
00:44:39
Hobbes
You know.
00:44:41
Taya
And it's like, but you don't care anything about what comes out of Trump's mouth. You know, they they don't even cover the crazy that comes out of his mouth anymore because it's nothing but crazy.
00:44:49
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:44:52
Hobbes
Oh, yeah. I mean, like, he yeah, just it's it it it's nonsensical. they ah there's the whyco you know and they're just Whereas that should be hammering home the message every single day. It's just not happening.
00:45:07
Hobbes
um Because, like you said, doesn't matter at some level.
00:45:08
Taya
yeah
00:45:12
Hobbes
ah it It only matters if somebody... is willing to do something about it in, in terms of, you know, not vote for every, not vote for ah RFK.
00:45:23
Taya
yeah
00:45:23
Hobbes
Like that's the one that just, I keep coming back to because I just can't,
00:45:26
Taya
Yeah, I know.
00:45:26
Alex
Yeah.
00:45:26
Taya
is that That is, I might be the least qualified cabinet leader in the history of the United States.
00:45:37
Alex
Yeah.
00:45:39
Taya
And usually a lot of those are political appoint. They're just, you know, thank you notes for people that contributed to the campaign, but...
00:45:49
Alex
Yeah.
00:45:49
Taya
RFK Jr. is such a c quack and to put them in charge of our most important, you know, safety health and safety organization. science base, and, you know, of course, they've already announced they're going to do a study on whether vaccines cause autism, and I'm sure they haven't already picked out the results of that.
00:46:08
Alex
Yeah.
00:46:08
Hobbes
yeah Yeah, I was like, you mean the thing that has already been studied?
00:46:09
Taya
Relieving start.
00:46:12
Taya
Yeah, study, you know, to death.
00:46:12
Alex
Yes.
00:46:15
Hobbes
And the only study you can find to support you is the one where the person had to retract it and quit being a doctor?
00:46:16
Alex
Yeah.
00:46:25
Alex
Yep.
00:46:25
Hobbes
Like... we
00:46:29
Alex
Yep.
00:46:29
Hobbes
We talked a little bit about this. like I think you mentioned that like the doom scrolling or ways to limit limit
00:46:38
Hobbes
just what you're looking at and and what you're doing because we still have to live. um You know, we talked about ah not working, and this is a big one for me, working on allowing myself to feel joy and not feel guilty um because am not just focusing on it 24 seven and I can't, but then I can also, I feel guilt about that.
00:46:55
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:47:08
Hobbes
Um, if that makes any sense.
00:47:10
Taya
No, it makes perfect sense.
00:47:12
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:47:13
Hobbes
And like, we got to find ways to do that. Um, I mentioned that I I'm always about action. And that was one of the things that we, you know, the three of us have talked about is, you know, well, we have a platform.
Commitment to Discussing Magic and Real-World Issues
00:47:28
Alex
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:47:29
Hobbes
So I said this in our thing last, and in the thing last week that I, you know, the small one that i did, but you know, you two are here with me now. And I think we're all saying, this is one of the things that right now we we're all struggling.
00:47:44
Hobbes
The three of us are struggling. We, we want to do this. We want to keep having these conversations with you all. We want to keep talking about magic. And we also want to make sure that we're talking about magic under that lens of,
00:48:00
Hobbes
what is happening around us in the real world and is going on around us.
00:48:04
Alex
Yep. yep
00:48:06
Hobbes
I want to be able to escape and I also want us to use whatever voice we can to talk to you all that are listening to this.
00:48:16
Alex
Yeah, yeah. and And to talk about kind of what's going on and even even things that are disconnected from that. give you know There's going to be episodes like this that are more about what's going on or also talking about kind of mental health angle, talking spoon theory and maybe...
00:48:31
Alex
hopefully giving some context or some tools for things there. But then also sometimes we're probably going to do episodes where we don't talk about any of this stuff because sometimes that escapism is important to just having a thing to listen to for us, a time for to have this kind of have a fun conversation with friends can be important.
00:48:48
Hobbes
Yeah, we haven't done a color pie of food in a while, right? like
00:48:51
Alex
Yeah.
00:48:51
Hobbes
we need We're going need that interspersed with having Chris Cluey on, which we're going have happen, y'all.
00:48:51
Taya
no
00:48:56
Alex
Mm-hmm.
00:48:58
Hobbes
Anybody listening to this, it's we're we're going to get Chris Cluey on the show. um That literally was something that I don't know why it hasn't happened before now.
00:49:07
Alex
but
00:49:08
Hobbes
Yeah.
00:49:09
Alex
Yeah.
00:49:11
Hobbes
So if people don't know, I'm laughing because he is actually married to one of my friends. And it seems like our show and him would have been a perfect match. And it just doesn't. My brain doesn't work that way.
00:49:22
Hobbes
think
00:49:25
Hobbes
so
00:49:28
Alex
So we'll say anywhere will be continuing to do this and hopefully you all enjoy these episodes, one kind or the other or both, you continue to listen.
00:49:39
Taya
Yeah, we'll be back to talk about the Tarkir story real soon.
00:49:43
Hobbes
Yes, we will.
00:49:43
Alex
Yeah. Yes, we will.
00:49:46
Hobbes
Because we like furry goblins.
00:49:46
Taya
ye so
00:49:49
Taya
Have there been any goblins in the story yet, though?
00:49:52
Hobbes
Not in the story that I'm aware of.
00:49:53
Taya
No.
00:49:54
Alex
Yeah.
00:49:54
Hobbes
I'm not fully caught up. But there have been in the art.
00:49:56
Alex
Yeah.
00:49:56
Taya
Yeah, I caught up today, and I don't think there's been a goblin mentioned yet, and I'm very disappointed by this.
00:50:03
Alex
It's disappointing, but as Hobbes says, sometimes we just got to be hopeful.
00:50:08
Hobbes
I saw art of what looked like potential Jeskai monk goblins is all I'm saying.
00:50:12
Taya
Yes, they look badass too
00:50:13
Alex
Oh, see?
00:50:14
Taya
I am i'm definitely interested to see those.
00:50:15
Alex
And sometimes that hope can pay off. I had not seen that art, and now I'm looking forward to seeing it.
00:50:23
Hobbes
Go. Yes. And remember. As we're talking Tarkir. Goblins like snowflakes are only dangerous in numbers.
00:50:35
Hobbes
And we are. We have the numbers. We gotta be dangerous.