Collin saw a band. Brandon saw a band. Pip gets off free…for now.

Classic christmas troll movie
Christmas season!!
Band concerts
A little something missing…with no tuba
Half a glass of water
Our aunt and uncle...are weird
Great expectations: Chapters 4-6

Collin Haiku:

Tiny stars flash on
Music dances with the lights
Festive winter night

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Christmas season, newsletters, kindness ornament, Christmas lights, Light Up Liberty, Jingle on the Green, community college, jazz bands, tuba Christmas concert, Handel's Messiah, property taxes, prison ship, Great Expectations, Pip, Joe.

SPEAKERS

Collin Funkhouser, Brandon

Speaker 1 00:05

Welcome to Oh brother, a podcast where we try to figure things all out with your hosts, Brandon and Collin on this week's show, no tuba, Ahoy, ahoy.

Collin 00:21

What's going on? Oh, not a lot. How are you I am? Well, I just just finished, right? I had to throw a bunch of things together right before I could jump on. I had like, three extra minutes, and I was like, I've got to get this thing done. Because every every week, I send out newsletters, several different ones, and every week I write them kind of last minute, same day, which is not good. This is not the best practice. Don't listen to me, people. This is not how you're supposed to don't do this. Do this. But I had an idea, had an epiphany, for a framing device for how I wanted to write this one newsletter for the other podcast. And I thought I've got to get this just I've got to get this out, because otherwise I'm going to lose my little my little thread here. That's fair your little spark will be gone. Yeah, my little spark.

Collin Funkhouser 01:17

And so I just sent it out. It's called rabbit rabbit, fair enough. But otherwise, I have been, we've been good. It is, it is, tis the Christmas season, all in full force. And it's true, I'm here for it. We had. We started December with the first day of December. What did we have? We had snow.

Speaker 2 01:46

We had a wee bit of snow up here,

01:51

dusting of snow.

Speaker 2 01:58

So yeah, we are. We start off with with that. And then my

Collin Funkhouser 02:05

favorite part was,

Speaker 2 02:11

then we start this. We have this. It's called a kindness ornament. And starting December one, every day you are supposed to scan it, and then it has, like, Santa come on the screen on your phone, and you have, like, a little, like, something kind you're supposed to do that day. And it's, you know, write a note to somebody who you appreciate, or, like, do this stuff. So we're that's part where, that's part of our Christmas season. Here we go through. We do it every day.

Collin Funkhouser 02:46

And, man, it's been and then we did our first official drive through of our parks Christmas lights. So with and in our park bought, I don't know if you remember this, I think I talked about this, they there was a private Christmas light display in a town in the town over, and those people were like, we've done this for 30 years. We are very late, tired and weird,

Speaker 2 03:22

and the Our Town was like, well, we'll buy it all from you. And so they bought all the things, and now they're trying to, each year they start, they're trying to roll out a little bit more of the display.

Collin Funkhouser 03:38

Oh, ours.

Speaker 2 03:41

So yeah, the whole thing's called light up liberty, and which is our park, and they really have been investing heavily into this. And so this year they added more. So now we have, like this, I don't know, this massive Christmas tree with lights. It's, it's made of lights. So it's not like an actual tree. It's one, oh, okay, imagine, imagine a big tower, metal tower up, and then from the top of that, they stream

Brandon 04:09

guidelines down, right? Yeah.

Speaker 2 04:11

And it's then it. And like all these accoutrement of of other ancillary trees and things, they're all set to music. So you can now pull and listen to music and have it go to the display and everything. And I'm, I may be a purist on this, but I I like these displays set to Christmas music.

Brandon 04:40

I mean, it is Christmas.

Speaker 2 04:44

They're like, playing the theme song and, like main song from the movie. Trolls there.

Brandon 04:53

Ah, that classic Christmas movie classic as as every trolls mean. Was like the Christmas gift of the 90s, early 90s, right? A troll and troll, right?

Speaker 2 05:07

And troll, that classic Christmas troll movie. No, no. That throws me off every time where it's like,

Collin Funkhouser 05:17

what, what? Huh, what? I don't understand this at all.

Brandon 05:21

It's kind of weird. I'm not gonna lie, that is confusing.

Speaker 2 05:26

So again, I'm not trying to be I understand that they are trying to appeal to a wide audience of things and

Collin Funkhouser 05:33

and so that's it's just just, it's a choice. It's a choice.

05:39

And so I

Brandon 05:41

will, is it a good choice?

Speaker 2 05:43

This is the problem. This is the this is the maybe not that

Collin Funkhouser 05:47

I look, I didn't want to

05:53

say it bad choice. This is

Speaker 2 05:56

just do the don't even have to do, like work, just like, some man height, look, look, base, base level. Here is just a Manheim steamroller, okay? Like, do that? Throw on some TSO, and then, like, just, like, that's, that's like, the whatever, like,

Tori L. 06:13

that is the, that is what,

06:15

yes, that's what you do.

Speaker 2 06:18

That is what you do, right? Like, they're meant to like, their their actiony, their Papaw, wow. Yeah, this year they set up a weird

Speaker 3 06:29

it's, it's, it's, it's big, it's, I

Speaker 2 06:33

don't know, gosh, this thing is like, eight feet wide, maybe nine feet wide, by six feet tall. So it's like, yeah, but it's rectangle. But then there's these. It's strips of this thin LED strips that go down very these from top to bottom, and they're really tightly spaced together, really like crammed in there. And during the day, you're like, This is weird. But at nighttime, when you park, they have it set. It looks like a TV. They light up the individual LEDs, and it becomes

07:03

like a little LED

Tori L. 07:05

monitor, okay, yeah, but it's

Speaker 2 07:09

really low resolution, and the things that they are trying to

Collin Funkhouser 07:14

show on there, it doesn't really come across like they did have some Mannheim steamroller stuff, and they were playing

Speaker 2 07:25

the music video that goes along with the music on this thing.

Tori L. 07:31

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. And you're like,

Speaker 2 07:37

it was hard, like, oh, it was hard on my eyes, because my brain was trying to fill in the gaps to make it more high resolution, like I was trying to force more lines on this.

07:49

Oh no, it's gonna break your head. It's

Speaker 2 07:57

like, I am not looking at that at all. And then they started to add these for some other songs where they had singers, and you could tell that they like. I don't know where this came from, but

Collin Funkhouser 08:08

they, they would display this yellow outlined head. It was, it was a black background with yellow circle for the face. And then,

Speaker 2 08:19

and then they would try to make the mouth animate, the mouth, which was just a line sing, move to the words that were being said

Speaker 3 08:29

on this. No, it was no, no. I did

Speaker 2 08:33

not want this in my camera roll, so I did not take a picture of this monster.

Brandon 08:37

Thank you. That's fine. I don't even see this, but it was very like, this is distressing to just have described to me so I don't

Speaker 2 08:46

a really low resolution smiley face that sings, and you're like,

Collin Funkhouser 08:51

No, I think I'd rather just not.

Speaker 2 08:58

So, yes, but then we so it's the Christmas season. So in December, we go to almost, almost nightly. We we go through light of liberty. Then we, we go find one or two other Christmas like displays in

Collin Funkhouser 09:14

town, and go and enjoy those.

Speaker 2 09:19

And today, our our local college does something called jingle on the green. I'm sure many other colleges do this, but they open up their campus, and each building posts a series of performances from local high school and from other towns too. And so it's like at six o'clock, you can see this town's choir, and then at 630 it's a different towns choir. And then at seven, it's another town's choir, and then, but over in this building, it's a different series of choirs. In this building, it's the jazz bands, and this building, it's yeah and so. And they also offer free food, so you can go there, and it's part of part. Of this, this, it's a community college. Part of what they have is they have a culinary program. And so what better way to have culinary students finish out their year than basically catering and giant theme for this giant thing? So you come in, it's all free. You can get whatever. And then they have different showcases, of like, oh, you can go to this building to see, like, the robotics, and this is the HVAC, and this is the nursing program, and this is the thing, and, and

Collin Funkhouser 10:30

so, but it's,

Speaker 2 10:32

it's so jam packed. There's so much to do that we have yet to hit more than two buildings.

Collin Funkhouser 10:38

You just like, it's impossible, because by the time you eat and you listen

Speaker 2 10:43

to like one choir, and you have to go do crafts, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh my gosh, we've been here in an hour and a half. Kind of, we kind of hurry this up. So it's always very nice, and it's very enjoyable. You had a wonderful time. Get to see some hear some songs and singing stuff. The kids both agreed that their favorite was the show choir. That's Oh, so there was, I said, why? They both answered because there was dancing, because they were singing

Brandon 11:12

and dancing because it's not just singing, not just singing, plus more fair,

Tori L. 11:17

that's good. Yeah, yep.

Speaker 2 11:20

So that was neat. The Jazz Band left some to be desired. It's fine. It's fine. Oh, no, sad face. I have high it may just be me. I have high expectations for trumpets. Maybe who I'm related? That's right, okay,

Collin Funkhouser 11:36

that's right, related to, I don't know.

Speaker 2 11:41

But when you get the section and you're supposed to have, like, the high screaming trumpets that are going on top of everything you and you don't have that, or it's like, really off key, it's like, oh no, you guys just need to stop playing right now. Just just, it's okay. It's okay. We'll try this again later.

Collin Funkhouser 12:01

Yeah, it's all right. It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, learning. Okay, yes, so, yep, that's fine.

Speaker 2 12:09

You can it's fine. They're they're getting there, they're still young and whatever, and they're trying, and they're outperforming, and it's fun, and everyone else had a good time.

Brandon 12:18

It was cold. Maybe it was cold, right? Chops get tired with cold outside. Yes, face gives up. Yes, exactly I'd be playing, and then just go like, nope, nope, no more.

Speaker 2 12:36

Gone. Your embouchure gets shot. Like, I remember that too. Like playing clarinet, and it's like, oh, I can easily hit this high note. It's just like, No, no, my lip is just completely jello right now. It's all gone. Have to turn it's why a lot of times I know, you know Trump, you know trumpets would do this too. You should find yourself more and more playing out for like, the side of your mouth. Yeah, actually, like biting onto the reed with my lips and my teeth. Like, get some sort of tension here. Sound like, do the thing. So I have empathy here, people

13:16

don't. I'm not cold

Tori L. 13:18

completely, so it's fine.

Collin Funkhouser 13:21

And then we, we, we came, came home. We needed to bed, and tomorrow, tomorrow. What's tomorrow? You ask? Yeah, what

Brandon 13:35

is tomorrow? Collin,

Collin Funkhouser 13:36

bro, I mean, it's big day for you. That is true. That is true. It's a big day for you, but

Speaker 2 13:45

one step like, just like, maybe like, half a step below that, be fair tomorrow. Tomorrow is the tuba Christmas concert. Let's go.

Collin Funkhouser 13:56

I am I am beyond ready for this.

Brandon 14:00

Are you? Have you been studying? Are you gonna be like kids? That's the E flat tuba, but that one is the double C, and that one is,

14:09

see how that one could eat someone. Yes,

Brandon 14:12

yes. For that still, how many more feet of tubing that one has?

Speaker 2 14:18

All of it, right? It's just every single foot is in that one. Yeah, so I'm, we're doing that tomorrow, so we'll be driving a

Collin Funkhouser 14:28

wee bit, but it'll be, it'll be good have lunch up in, up in the city, and

Speaker 2 14:35

then we'll keep trucking along. And then, yeah, again, tis the season, so it is easy for running everywhere, because then yeah, so tuba, Christmas tomorrow, city, Christmas City, Christmas parade on saturday the seventh is a time where our town. Collin has, I think we've discussed this the

Tori L. 15:03

second oldest

Speaker 2 15:06

continuous Symphony west of the Mississippi. Oh, yes, or maybe it's the old, longest morning. I don't remember. It's up there in the United States, and they host a full rendition of Handel's Messiah.

Collin Funkhouser 15:23

Oh, dang Yes. You go yes, yeah. And, and this is my favorite part, because they host it at because what's the best part of Handel's Messiah? Everyone? Everyone the pipe organ.

Speaker 2 15:37

Yeah. So, so there are exactly three churches in our town that have Anne pipe organ, and so every year they rotate between them to host this, and then you have the symphony, and they invite singers from all over the region to come and sing And and perform, and then they put on the entire thing. It's not just, not just not excerpts here, folks, not just, no, it's the entirety sweet that is

Brandon 16:22

pretty convenient, because I have also just returned from a band concert.

16:28

Let's do this. Yes, the

Brandon 16:34

band concert was tonight, so I went see the children's, right? So we did six through 12 band concert. So it's pretty good, right? They've been practicing their hearts out. I will not biased or anything. Okay, obviously, this is the best sixth grade band that has been in a very long time. So, quite exciting. Oh, okay, quite exciting, right? So, pretty good stuff. So they only played one song, because they only go, like, grade band and play two songs, and then high school, bland played a couple. They mostly played their like, the stuff they've been working on for their marching season, because they've been doing, like, marching stuff and some other stuff. And then they've been playing a Christmas they're playing songs for their Christmas parade. So they also haven't had like, tons of time to work on their, like, concert music pieces, but they just played their marching stuff, which is, like, way cool anyway, so nice, but it's fun. They played their marching song for the season. They played Stars and Stripes Forever because they've been they work that up for the Veterans Day assembly, right? And so they're like, well, we should get a place to play it again, right? And then they played their Christmas marching song that was pretty sweet, pretty good for a band. It's like, super tiny, right? But it's pretty good. They've got a bunch of good kids in there, so it's getting bigger. It's doing good job, right? It's pretty rad.

Tori L. 18:00

The only problem, the only negative I'm gonna say, is that the high school band

Brandon 18:09

doesn't really have a tuba player, and so when you play a John Phillips Souza song with no tuba, there's a little something missing that makes it hard, right? Stars of stress forever has a pretty epic, bombastic tube apart, right? Very, you know, you know, it's a classic Souza tube apart, but it like, you don't really think about it. But when it's not there,

Tori L. 18:40

you're like, oh, no,

18:49

I think I will, but it

Brandon 18:50

was good. Otherwise it was good, right? So it's not, not their fault. They don't have really a tuba player right now. So hopefully, hopefully, get one up here. So one of my sixth graders said that after Christmas, they might be they're gonna ask to switch to tuba, because they the sixth grade has like, 40 billion trombones, right? They need it. They need and so one of them was like, one of the kids was like, I'm gonna ask her about switching to tuba.

Tori L. 19:15

And I was like, I listen, if you ask, just wish to tuba. And there is no tuba. A band director will always say yes, yes,

Collin Funkhouser 19:31

yes, they

Speaker 2 19:33

and a band director that says no, needs to be fired immediately. This is, this is yeah, ours

Brandon 19:38

will not say no, because she also independently, was like, I think this person would be pretty good tuba player, because they're really good at playing all the note low notes on the trombone.

19:47

Guess what? Guess what.

Brandon 19:52

Well, do I have something to show you?

19:56

Yeah, I. Yeah, that's good, that they're kind of on the same

20:03

wavelength, yeah, yeah. So

Brandon 20:05

that's pretty exciting, right? They did a really good job. So I'm making sure to tell them that tomorrow, because I didn't see most of them after today. But they did a really good job. So it's fun, fan concerty thing, right? And they've been practicing really good jobs. So it was fun, right? Good times. That's pretty much the I haven't really done anything else exciting this week. I had an in service on Monday. It was like, super boring and not very exciting. So it

Tori L. 20:30

was just like, whatever. And so bad counselors way better than that. So that's yes.

Collin Funkhouser 20:39

Is that a comparison? No, no, not really. And also, I think

Brandon 20:49

Sunday, I think Sunday is also our regional festival orchestras performance, and we're going to try and go to that too. Look at that. Look at us being on the same page. This is try to go there the time. It's the time. Yeah, yeah, right number of where it is. Susan knows, so I think we're gonna go there Sunday to Saturday. The plan is to

Tori L. 21:16

not do anything quite

Brandon 21:21

busy, to do not a lot. And then Sunday, I think

Tori L. 21:24

we'll go do that, if she's feeling better, right? We're both a little bit like, right?

Brandon 21:29

So we'll see, we'll see. The plan is to go if we're so we'll see how we're feeling. But the

Tori L. 21:39

like, allergy

Brandon 21:42

smack in the face with all the cold weather, all of a sudden my nose is like, we're going to run now so and, like, off your face. So,

21:53

yeah, need to

Brandon 21:54

that hasn't been great this week. The just kind of feeling

Tori L. 21:59

blah the whole time,

Brandon 22:04

this tea is super useful right now,

Speaker 2 22:09

yep, I have tea, but I have a big glass of water because that's I'm needing that more and more. I don't have that, but I sort of forgot to fill it back up. So it's like, have like,

Brandon 22:19

half of a glass of water. So that should be fine, that's right. So, yeah, that's kind of plan. We're gonna do some stuff, probably not a lot of things on Saturday, but Sunday, we're gonna try to go to the orchestra thing. So band today,

Tori L. 22:35

and it may be banned again later, orchestrate things.

Brandon 22:41

Unfortunately, no jazz bands for us. That's kind of sad. Need some need more jazz band. But our school doesn't really have a jazz band, which is very sad. They have a pep band. They do like pep band things, but they don't have like a jazz band. Okay? Situation, probably because our band program is not like, super big, right? There's not like a ton of kids in there, so it'd be

Tori L. 23:00

kind of hard to, like, also have that,

Speaker 2 23:04

yeah, then you're getting, they're getting really committed, and it's hard to, like, catch them kids kind of thin with that, yeah.

Brandon 23:13

So it's, you know, it's understandable, right? Understandable, but also sad face.

Tori L. 23:18

Because, yeah, it was nice that they played the marching

Brandon 23:26

seventh of the concert, though, because they did play part of their drum cadence so the parents could hear, like, when it was kind of like everything, Oh, nice. That was good. That's always good. I do drum cadent, right? That's exciting. Yeah? That was a little fun. They fit through that the end. Yeah. Drummer is kind of drummer. So yeah, shelf a little bit.

Speaker 2 23:43

Don't get excited about a good drum cadence. You need to leave.

Brandon 23:49

Yeah, right. So it did really good. It sounds really good. So I was impressed. So

Collin Funkhouser 23:56

go, yeah, yeah. We've been kind of, I don't

Speaker 2 24:02

know, staring down at the just, kind of, just like, last month, as far as, like, our busyness, with our business, it's like, yes, the whole entire month is very quiet, very calm, until the last two weeks, until a couple have, like, the explosion

Brandon 24:17

of things, right?

Collin Funkhouser 24:19

Yes, yeah. So I'm

Speaker 2 24:21

hoping, like, I don't know, this is the kind where a lot of people are like, oh god, you're strong, you gotta duh.

Collin Funkhouser 24:29

And I'm like, I'm tired. I think I just rather in the year quietly, actually, because I don't want to

Speaker 2 24:42

be out doing too much. And with the this time of year two, I start to get more anxious about just the weather. And yeah, now I'm worried about the weather, and that's top of mind every day, like, is it going to

Collin Funkhouser 24:58

be horrible? I. Usually not, but you know, whatever, so you know, just in case, I make sure that it's not right, yes, yeah, we're

Tori L. 25:10

ending, ending quietly. I hope, hopefully, hopefully, yep, oh, oh, Aaron.

Collin Funkhouser 25:22

Not Aaron, oh my gosh.

25:23

This is my brain.

Collin Funkhouser 25:27

Noah, took a big step this this week. This is the other This are my last big news.

Tori L. 25:33

Okay, he got

Collin Funkhouser 25:36

an expander in his All right, yes, so we

Speaker 2 25:41

are doing twice a day turnkey, which is not my favorite,

Brandon 25:50

probably not his favorite, either. Out of the magic,

Tori L. 25:54

no, ah,

Speaker 2 25:56

it hurts. It's like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about this. And so we're trying to do more, like, soft foods and things like that, and trying to, you know, just keep Take it easy. And he's probably sick and tired of me.

Collin Funkhouser 26:14

Like, how does it hurt?

Speaker 4 26:17

Like, oh my gosh. How bad is it? Like, oh my God. Are you okay? Are you okay. Okay. This is just, you

Speaker 2 26:22

know, like, I want to make sure we stay on top of it, so we're talking about that. And he was a little confused about, like, how it worked. And so I was like, I had held my hand up the U shape with my fingers, and I did the motion with my other hand, like I was pretending to turn the key, and I took my fingers and I explained them out more. And I'm like, This is what it's doing. You're going to have a wider mouth

Collin Funkhouser 26:44

because of this. And he was like, Oh, weird.

Brandon 26:50

It's not a great visual, right? Think about like, My teeth are going to be ripping away from each other.

Speaker 2 26:57

Oh, no. Ah, sleep. Well, tonight, kid. Sweet dreams, yeah, dang,

Collin Funkhouser 27:07

yep, that's that he Yeah. So we're, we're ready, bring it on. Just like, like, 10 more days, more days should be good. That's all has to be in there for 10. Well, we turn the key for 10 days, oh, and then it just sits there. And they have to sit in there for, like, totally be in there for, like, eight weeks or something.

Brandon 27:30

Okay, that makes more sense. Yes. I was like, wait, what? That can't be right. Okay, yeah, okay, expand. And then, like, set, okay, got it, settle. Settle. Got it, yes,

Collin Funkhouser 27:43

there was this confusion at the at the orthodontist, because they had told me turn the key once a day for 14 days. Sorry, twice a day for 14 days. And then at the counter I was checking out, they were like, okay, and you know, do that twice a day for 10 days. And I'm like, Ah, hold on, those are different numbers, very different numbers. I said, Could you

Speaker 2 28:11

she was like, Oh, really they said, they said 14. I'm like, not me giving me confidence here.

Collin Funkhouser 28:16

I'm very concerned. She's like, I'm pretty sure it's 10, and I was like

Brandon 28:22

to go ask, can we find out for sure? Yeah?

Speaker 2 28:25

Like, affinitive Answer wing this, you

Brandon 28:29

know, like, yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 28:33

so it came back, it's 14, or, like, Ah, okay,

Brandon 28:38

yes, I was right, vindicated.

Collin Funkhouser 28:41

Is the word brain. There you go. New Era, yeah,

Brandon 28:49

I guess I did have, I do have an errand update. I guess there you go, following listeners. Oh, where do you go? Like we did make the long, arduous journey to middle of nowhere, Oklahoma for baby baptisms, right? So that was exciting, I guess, after that, well, I mean, the drive was not exciting, like it was fine. We were there, but so we did that. So that was, that was on Sunday. So we did long, arduous journey to the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. I've decided I text Collin on the way there listeners, and I've decided that there is no part of Oklahoma that is pleasant to look at. Absolutely zero. 0% of that state is like, Ah, this is nice. No, I've never once said that. The only time I've ever been happy to see Oklahoma is when I was coming back from Arizona,

Tori L. 29:40

right? And just so the

29:41

one time that a state was better than, than,

Brandon 29:44

I mean, yeah, is the first time I saw water in like days, I was like, Oh my

Collin Funkhouser 29:47

gosh, it's great. Wow, look at that.

Brandon 29:52

But anyway, anyway, we went down there for baptizing, and a little thing at their swing to their house, right? With all these, you. Random people. My uncle Gary was there, so that was nice. Your thoughts on them, him and Meredith. That was fun, slightly awkward, because, you know, Ari and uncle are a bit weird. Here's the best part of this, we're sitting there and right, doing the thing like before it started, right? And Meredith is over there. She's like, man, it's really a shame that priest is pretty attractive. I was like, Oh no, I know. Like, very solemn time. He's like, dang. That sucks. What a waste. Other than that, it went smoothly, other than our aunt uncle being bizarre, right? Also Gary going oscillating like wildly between, like, making weird jokes about, like, not wanting to be there, and then, like, rushing around be like, Oh,

31:08

wait, do that? Okay, let me get a picture like this.

Brandon 31:11

Like, extremely weird yo yoing between those two things, like, instantaneously, was very on brand, but also strange, like

31:24

it's like, the lightning click. Like, oh, River.

Speaker 5 31:28

Like, oh, my god, I gotta get

31:31

a picture of this. What

Brandon 31:32

are you doing? Okay, well, all right, and then, so, yeah, we did that. We came back, and then we went to Susan's family's Thanksgiving that evening. So we had to go do that as well. It was all, you know, the fun showed up when we got there, because when we got there, they were all just like, quietly,

Tori L. 31:49

sitting around eating.

Brandon 31:51

Then I came in and really just kicked right?

31:53

It's really how

Speaker 2 31:54

it works. We will not stand for this silence.

Tori L. 31:58

Can't stand sitting around talking, although his

Brandon 32:06

so again, like all a lot of them are, like, quite calm, right? And especially his wife's like parents are like the quietest people ever. And last year they had to sit with the table, at a table with me. I don't think, I don't think that they particularly enjoyed that experience, right? And so this time, I was sitting over at the other table, and I was talking to, like her, Susan's nephew's wife, and like the kids and some other people, and like Susan's brother and stuff. We're just having a ripper on good time. And I could hear that lady and Susan's mom being like, so glad we're at the quiet table. I was like, Hey, I wait a minute. I heard that. Wow, your Thanksgiving feast. Okay? Sorry, yeah, sorry. You don't like laughter and joy. I don't like joy, yeah, yeah. So it's okay. It's fine, but that's what I thought when they had their first kid, right with when we were over there for one of these a few years ago, I was being myself, and he started crying, and so like the her nephew's wife, like jokingly, was like, you're scaring the baby. You got to stop that. And I turned it around, looked her, I said, I'm sorry that your child doesn't know what laughter sounds like. That's unfortunate for you. She threw a pillow at me, just so, you know, it was fine, but, like, she knew I wasn't serious. But, like, Sure, joviality, right? Enjoying so I was drawing some time standing up from

33:58

my travels, right?

Brandon 34:02

I Yeah. Well, that is the other update. Listeners. Case you were curious about the Aaron update, right? A newly baptized baby, right? So he's not sleeping at all, Aaron, isn't I think the baby is fine, but, yeah, thought you clean it on on that too. Forgot to tell you about that stuff. Okay, very I was trying to remember, when did we last do this? This week has been, like, I very arduous. And like,

34:35

I'm right there with you.

Speaker 2 34:38

I keep adding stuff to my plate and like, I just telling Megan, I was like, we're not doing not doing any more interviews. We're not doing anything the rest of the year. We're just gonna take it slow. Then what we do? Okay, we may have hired another person, and I'm training them next week, and then go also. So I signed, signed up for a to become a pet first aid and CPR instructor. And I was like, oh, that's fine.

Collin Funkhouser 35:07

And then we realized, like, the only opening was next week,

Speaker 2 35:12

and it's an intensive, like, nine hour it's two nine hour days.

Brandon 35:18

Oh my gosh, what I

35:26

paid for the pleasure

Brandon 35:28

nine hours.

Speaker 2 35:31

Yeah, yeah. And they're like, No, it's fine, because you get a 15 minute break and then a 30 minute break for lunch and then another I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa,

35:38

whoa, whoa, I'm what I'm doing, what? So welcome

Brandon 35:42

to a factory life, by the way. That's how it works, right? Anything over eight hours, you're like, Yeah, you get an hour, not sequentially, no, it's not that's what we used to get for 12 hour shifts. We used to get 15, 3015, that's what we that was our break. That's what I'm doing. It's the legal requirement for, I think, over eight hours, right? Because I think eight under eight, you get 30, right over you need an hour, but they don't have to give it to you all at once.

36:13

And I'm like, Oh, what have I done?

Speaker 2 36:17

I'm locking myself away. Like, I have to be like, engaged that entire time. It's not like, I can just put it on mute or, like, you know, do other stuff.

Collin Funkhouser 36:28

It's no, like, no.

Speaker 2 36:30

When, when did I think I had that kind of time in my day to actually do this? So I am, I am immediately regret.

Brandon 36:37

I don't know, because you definitely don't

Speaker 2 36:40

I know, yeah, I just have two nine hour stretches where I'm not doing a single thing.

Brandon 36:50

Are they consecutive days? Yes, yes, oh no, stay and I know if it was like a Monday and then like the next Monday, sometimes it's like that, right?

36:58

Like Tuesday and then a Wednesday.

Collin Funkhouser 37:01

Oh, yuck, yes. Even worser, the double whammy, back to back, yep. So that's I'll be prepared, not for that

Speaker 2 37:14

and but, but then we'll be able I'm doing I'm excited, because then we'll do like, train my team in person instead of just online. Do more, like team bonding,

Tori L. 37:26

stuff, things, and then

Collin Funkhouser 37:31

do community outreach. So I'm, you know, again, when I have the time,

Brandon 37:38

yeah? I mean, these are great plans you have here, but, like,

Tori L. 37:42

but yeah, when

Brandon 37:44

are you going to shoehorn that into the

37:48

schedule? Right? Like, where does

Brandon 37:49

that come from? That's what I want to know.

37:53

Fine, somewhere.

Collin Funkhouser 37:58

Anyway, yeah, when I'm doing Oh. And my last update, I paid my property taxes for my other

38:06

service area. To tell you about this. Sorry, I just

Brandon 38:08

hooray. Wow, congratulations.

38:13

My Grant

Brandon 38:15

was the on during saga when they, like, didn't believe that you didn't have stuff, yeah, like, you have to pay tax on your stuff. You're like, I bought Oh, and then you were like, I didn't pay anything for it, like, well, how much would you have paid for it? Like, nothing because I didn't pay for it. Like, you can't charge me tax on imaginary things I didn't spend money on. Yep, get out of here.

Speaker 2 38:34

Then what happened was, is that then they thought that I was late paying it, so that they slapped me with a $15 fee. And I said, but you just notified me. I paid you within 24 hours of you notifying and yeah, like, Oh, oops. Well, we'll get you refunded. I was like, great. And then four and a half months later

Brandon 38:52

they're like, yeah, no refund yet, right?

Collin Funkhouser 38:56

So I got my property tax bill for my for my business, okay, my grand total, my property taxes, they can suck up $1.51

Tori L. 39:09

Yes, this is beautiful.

Brandon 39:15

Cost them more to process that than it. Yes,

39:20

government inefficiency because of me.

39:23

So you're still

Brandon 39:25

paying more tax than Warren Buffett, though

Speaker 2 39:30

has a proportion probably so angry. Oh, angry. Oh. So anyway,

Collin Funkhouser 39:41

that's, that's my finish that

Speaker 2 39:44

paid it was like, How much money can I spend this month on taxes and fees and licenses and all sorts of stuff? All of it actually is, yeah,

39:57

oh no. Oh no.

Speaker 2 40:00

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, because, then, because I had to pay my other property Anyway, whatever I was like, fine, fine.

Collin Funkhouser 40:07

Taxes. Help people and helping people,

Tori L. 40:11

well, they're supposed to. Are they?

Brandon 40:19

No, but they ought to be that

40:23

ought and should are

Brandon 40:24

very Yeah, if they actually did, I would be so cross about them. Right? Like that, right?

Brandon 40:42

Speed. Speaking of misappropriating tax dollars,

40:46

yeah, tell me more.

Brandon 40:48

Yeah, talking about Charlie right. Let's

40:52

talk about high quality of standards and

Brandon 41:01

living economic prison ship, right? So because, because your jails are so full of poor people, you have to build prison ships, or demission ships and put prison on them and then stick them in a harbor where prisoners can quite easily escape. Because time.

Tori L. 41:27

So we let's see what page ought I be on here? Yeah. Last we left Pip, he had just,

41:38

oh, this Okay, here. He had just

Speaker 2 41:39

left his friend in the mist with the file, yes. And we go straight to we go into Chapter Four with him getting back, yes.

Brandon 41:52

And he's feeling quite guilty, because the first line of Chapter Four is I fully expected to define a constable in the kitchen waiting to take me up the shortest sentence Dickinson's ever written so far, what we should? I know amazing. And of course, he's quite troubled because, you know, he was not doing what he's supposed to be doing, right? Where have you been? Right? Apparently this is like holiday time, right? Because he was down, I was down to hear the carols, obviously,

Tori L. 42:31

what? Okay,

Brandon 42:34

so there's, there's supposed to be, they're supposed to be getting me ready for some sort of get together, right? There are people coming for a dinner, yes, and there's just, again, there's really kind of no lean here. It's just like, hey, they're coming. And then these people are just dropped upon us, kind of, I imagine this is kind of how hip feels, because, like, he kind of knows who they are, but like, not really, but like, kind of, but not right.

43:08

So, like, well,

Speaker 2 43:10

and prior to this, they came off to church, and we get a hilarious description of their attire and how he and Joe look basically, like utterly ridiculous, where he says his his sister instructed the tailor to make it so he couldn't move his limbs.

Brandon 43:30

Yeah, Scarecrow

Collin Funkhouser 43:34

and Joe just did look in it comfortable at all, and nothing fit. And then he has this thing, because he's talking about, like his cautious conscious about this, where he keeps feeling

Speaker 2 43:45

ridiculous and an eyesore on the outside, and he says, Yet, when I suffered outside, was nothing to what I underwent within the terrors that assailed me whenever Mrs. Joe had gone on near the pantry, like he's he's feeling all this stuff now, like he's now feeling awkward outside and horrible inside, and

Tori L. 44:03

everything that's happening, yes?

Brandon 44:06

And so he's just, I mean, yeah, going to church is very like, it's wrecking his heels even more, right? So he's just like, like, he's just, he has this, like, terrible eternal struggle between what he did, and then he can't tell anybody what we did, because he's gonna get in trouble. But he also was trying to figure out how to not be found out what happened like otherwise it'll be No, right?

44:33

Yeah, oh, yes. So then they you

Brandon 44:43

he doesn't really like he feels out of place when they come over, these people from the church and whatever, because he does say, like among this good company, I should have felt myself, even if I had not run the pantry in the Falls position, right? Not because I was squeezed in at an acute angle. Of tablecloth, nor because I was not allowed to speak, but it was because, like, they wouldn't have let me alone, they seem to think the opportunity lost if they fail to point out the conversation at me every now and then and seek the point into me like they're just telling him how lucky he is to have a loving sister and tell him about how good he has it, how much worse it could be for him. Like they're very, like condescending, kind of like weird, grubby dudes just talking down into him at every possible opportunity.

Speaker 2 45:38

And their their names are even, like, awkward and annoying, like you have Minister wopsle,

Collin Funkhouser 45:44

which I just Yeah, every time I read that word, I just said it quietly, out loud, because I just wanted To say Mr. Wopsle

Brandon 46:00

and Mr. What is this humble truck, whatever, like

Speaker 2 46:04

humble, but he couldn't call him humble for some reason. But it was Uncle, but humble

Brandon 46:09

Chuck, yeah. Like, he doesn't want Yeah, yeah. And then there's a Mrs.

Tori L. 46:14

Humble, yes, uh, Hubble.

Brandon 46:17

Hubble, yeah, oh, there's there. It is. I was like, I can't remember there. And Mr. Hubble right there, Mr. Mrs. Hubble, humble job and Wassel. Yeah, I didn't know how like, real these names are at all like,

Speaker 2 46:31

or if this is like, because I don't mean I don't encounter waffles in my life. Oh yeah, I don't either. Sounds purely fantastical, but also like, but I don't know Victoria,

Brandon 46:43

England, and I like that Joe also is not really loving this, no, and there's this like, hilarious thing where like because Joe cannot, Like verbally comfort Him, because He will then be accosted, not least, by his wife. This is Joe. He like, just puts more gravy to cover him, like, make him it's like, it's like, to let him know. Like, yes, I get it, buddy. And so, like, is, he's like, every in here, I like the part, like, after every single while, it's just like me some more creepy.

Speaker 2 47:26

Yeah, they're being, they're being plenty of Brady today, Joe spooned into my plate at this point about half a pint, right?

Brandon 47:34

Yes. And then later down, and he was like, after they're talking about something like talking about how he should be grateful, because he was, like, you know, a scrawny little kid, and he was, he had to be brought up by hand so well they keep bringing that back too. I said, Sure. Offered me more gravy, which I was afraid to take, right? He had so much.

Tori L. 47:59

Oh, much, yes. And then

48:08

right after this, right? This is,

Brandon 48:12

I also did like a part where he's talking about his, was it Mr. Roman nose, right? He's like described him as his big Romanesque noses, very large. I think the Romans must have aggregated one another very much this. Perhaps they became the restless people they were. In consequence, Mr. Was Roman nose so aggravated me during the title of my distributors that I shouldn't have liked to pull it until he howled,

Speaker 2 48:42

getting little distracted here, but also this fantastical thinking and, you know, kind of focus on these things where yeah, he's

Tori L. 48:50

really Yes,

Brandon 48:53

and so he's in this life thinking when he's brought back to stark reality by Mrs. Joe is saying, Oh yes, uncle, would you care to have some brandy?

Speaker 4 49:10

Well, right?

Speaker 2 49:14

Like, Brandy? Oh no. And now he's just like, he's stuck in a corner and he's just watching this unfold before him.

Brandon 49:25

Yes, I couldn't take my eyes off him, holding tight by leg of the table with my hands and feet. I saw the miserable creature finger the glass playfully, take it up, smile, throw his head back and drink the Brady off instantly afterwards, the company received by an unspeakable consternation, is springing to his feet, turning around several times in an appalling spasmodic rooting, cough dance and running out the door, he then became visible through the window, violently plunging and exaggerating, making the most hideous faces apparently out of his mind.

Tori L. 49:59

Oh. Yeah. Also, that is

Brandon 50:03

two sentences by