with the bagpipes

with the bagpipes
Brandon & Collin

Brandon’s experiencing a lot of weather. Collin survived a boat ride. Ender survives a battle.

Check out our other episodes: ohbrotherpodcast.com

Follow us on Instagram

Check us out on Youtube

A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

Collin Funkhouser 0:00

Hey, welcome to Oh Brother, a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts Brandon and Collin on this week's show with the bagpipes. Ahoy, ahoy! How's it going?

Brandon 0:21

Pretty good. How are you?

Collin Funkhouser 0:22

I am well. I am to my brand. Do I sound wave sound sound crisp?

Brandon 0:28

They sound different.

Collin Funkhouser 0:30

They sound newer.

Brandon 0:32

Oh, do they? Was wondering,

Collin Funkhouser 0:37

no, nothing about my microphone has changed, but I was, I did have to buy a new computer recently, so I was wondering if the bits sounded more crisp, and to do

Brandon 0:50

that one of these days, that would be pretty useful, I think.

Collin Funkhouser 0:54

I am also recording on my mobile rig, so I probably sound a little bit different, because

Brandon 0:57

that's fair.

Collin Funkhouser 0:58

Unfortunately, I've changed two variables at once. Go me! Oh no, we never know which one it was. Science

Brandon 1:04

101 column.

Collin Funkhouser 1:06

Yeah, oh man, yeah. I don't know. How's your, how's your summer humming along?

Brandon 1:18

That's pretty good. It's been just so stinking weathery, right? Just love the sound of

Collin Funkhouser 1:22

so much

Brandon 1:23

tornado sirens. It's so soothing, right? So calming. No, that's the opposite. So, yeah, there was some shenanigans, pretty close south, but still in the vicinity. I saw that. Yeah, wonderful, and So, yeah, I got to hear lots and lots of tornado sirens, right? I bet this is very exciting for all of our, our world neighbors who have come for the World Cup, right? They get to experience all the exciting weather in the US. They have been..

Collin Funkhouser 2:00

have you seen the videos of their reactions to, like, life in America? Have you watched any of these? This is my

Brandon 2:05

favorite thing about the World Cup. I don't even really care about the games anymore at this point. I just care about the Scottish fans, really. Like,

Collin Funkhouser 2:12

I was watching videos of people, like they were shocked that our school busses were actually yellow, and they were shocked at, like, what was in a Walmart, and they were shocked. I was like, "There we go, it's just us over here being the freaks the world.

Brandon 2:31

TSA had to release a statement saying that Rance dressing has to go in your checked luggage, because right,

Collin Funkhouser 2:44

and I've cracked it. This is how we actually take over the world. It's ranch dresses. The

Brandon 2:48

responses have been kind of shocking, right? I saw somebody who was like, bro, why did you not tell me this was basically crack? What have you been hiding from me this whole time? Oh, it's not going over with everybody, I did see another person be like, hey, this really, they put on some chicken, and they're like, man, this really tastes like it should be on a salad. Was like, funny, you should mention you're you're never going to believe this, believe what I'm about to tell you, but also the eating the biscuits and gravy, right, because the English always poo poo it, right? They're like scones and gravy, so lame. And now they're like, okay, guys, I'm sorry. Actually,

Collin Funkhouser 3:30

I'm really happy about this, and also

Brandon 3:34

all those poor English dudes that had to go to Texas, right? And they're like, okay, I get it now. Sorry, when we complain about how hot it is in England, there was one person who was like, there's like an English guy who's been living in the US for a long time. Guys, guys, who's gonna tell him it's not even hot yet? Like,

Collin Funkhouser 4:00

I, my favorite,

Brandon 4:03

who's gonna break it to him? This is,

Collin Funkhouser 4:05

we're just getting started here. Yeah. Oh, there was a video of some guy who had come over and then went back and was laying in bed, he's just recording himself because he has no AC, and he was just like, I hate this so much. Oh no, get it now.

Brandon 4:25

Why we have it everywhere, we make a big deal about it. Yeah, it's amazing. I have enjoyed watching Scotland like invade Boston. Oh, super hilarious, right? Yeah, have you seen these things? No, right? Like, okay. Collin, Boston is running out of beer. Wow, because the Scots are here. There was one bar, several bars that were like, we have done triple the business of St. Patrick's Day weekend in like one day, like. Wow, okay, they ordered, they had like a big thing where they like they bought a bunch of stuff for like their little party deal, they bought 20,000 beers in approximately 2000 bottles of water, and they were like that might be too much water, actually too much. There were some people in a gas station, and some lady came in and bought water, and they booed her. Like, it was really..

Collin Funkhouser 5:30

there you go. We don't need that.

Brandon 5:33

But, importantly, here's the important thing, right? Like, I think all I want now from all World Cups going forward in the future is fans doing like normal everyday things in whatever city they're in, because like a whole entire giant delegation of Scottish people just like went to Fenway Park to watch a baseball game. Oh yeah, just like drank obsessively and sang the whole time, right? And I think all the people playing baseball were like, what is happening? There's a bunch of people in England, or from England, that were in Texas, and they all just like went to a rodeo.

Collin Funkhouser 6:11

Yes,

Brandon 6:12

right. This is, this is what this is all I care about, really. At this point, it's like watching, watching this, yeah. Also, also, we'll say big shout out to Scotland, because they've also been like donating tons of money to like local charities, and like they went and like to like a.. I can't remember what it was.. there was like a for like homeless children or whatever, and they like hung out with them and like play the bagpipes to them because they play the bagpipes literally everywhere they go, that's the

Collin Funkhouser 6:43

dude, yeah,

Brandon 6:44

they went to like a local children's hospital in like Rhode Island that does like every like Wednesday night, they do like a people stand outside and shine lights in the window and wave at all the kids, they went to that with the bagpipes, right with the bagpipes,

Collin Funkhouser 6:59

yep, okay, yeah,

Brandon 7:01

so so also I think this is important. This is exposing something important, right? The all these Europeans and stuff, they're they're getting exposed to like American, like cuisine, right? Also, the videos of like all the Japanese dudes eating Texas barbecue ribs, super hilarious. I watched

Collin Funkhouser 7:20

the reaction video of, I forget where she was from, but to the size of her nacho plate that was put in front of her, she was just like, this is mine, or the

Brandon 7:33

German dude who was like, Waffle House is pretty sick, guys, like, come on,

Collin Funkhouser 7:39

it's actually

Brandon 7:41

like, this is great, but, but also the gap that we're exposing here is the quality of, like, what fans do before the game, like the parading through the streets, right? The like massively loud crowd chants, right? Like, yeah, the US chants are pretty, they're blacking,

Speaker 1 8:02

yeah, it's not us,

Brandon 8:04

and whenever, like, the US fans are like, 'Woo hoo, go, and then the Scottish contingent shows up with bagpipes and are marching in formation down the street,

Speaker 1 8:13

yeah, we

Brandon 8:13

really, we've exposed a gap here,

Collin Funkhouser 8:16

yeah. So,

Brandon 8:17

Collin, I have a solution,

Collin Funkhouser 8:18

okay?

Brandon 8:19

I would like to present to the US fans going forward. Right, what do we really.. what Collin, Collin, there.. there needs to be a revival, all right, of like the most Americana thing of all time that would go perfectly with like parading through the streets to matches, all right. So, when in four years, if we qualify for the next one, we go to like Spain, Portugal, whatever. Like, what should the US fans be doing? Collin, I'm calling for the revival of the American brass band.

Collin Funkhouser 9:00

Oh, okay. I am. I am on board with this. We

Brandon 9:06

need, we need a contingent of American fans marching places, playing like stars and stripes forever in just like a brass band setting, right? Like that's right. This like all you know, Souza, right? We can write new America. This is what needs to really happen, right? This is if they're going to come with their bagpipes and they're cheering and they're like super awesome stuff. We've got to meet them on their level, right. We are not doing enough to be like on the international soccer fan stage, all right. So, like, we.. I think I think the revival of the American brass band is really.. well, how this.. how this goes down,

Collin Funkhouser 9:58

and I think that we can lead. Off a lot of this stuff with like, okay, so it's gonna, we're gonna have to bridge some divides here, but imagine if the blue and gold marching machine came together and had their brass section playing, you know, like this is what I'm thinking the Sonic Boom. What is it, Sonic Boom of the South, or whatever? Like, this is, you can have, yes, yes, this is so it's like, okay, so I may be talking more like marching bands, but yes, I think there's a way that we could make this. I

Brandon 10:32

was just thinking the Brett, because, like, traditional, like, brass bands are smaller and they travel more efficiently than, like,

Collin Funkhouser 10:39

an entire marching, a

Brandon 10:40

200 piece marching band, but also I wouldn't be upset about this, but like it's just more logistically plausible.

Speaker 1 10:49

Yes, to

Brandon 10:50

do that, you know what I mean? Like, no, yeah, is it like it's like an independent entity, right? Like, it would be much traveling would be much more like efficient, you know? Yes, yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 11:01

to trumpets, what, trombone, sousaphone, yeah,

Brandon 11:04

you know, I mean, if sousaphone is, Susan's kind of hard to travel with, so we could go with, like, euphonium,

Collin Funkhouser 11:09

a few phonia,

Brandon 11:10

right, we can handle euphonium, right, like these are, like, you know, these are what we're looking for here, and you know, drum, you have some drum too, like,

Speaker 1 11:19

yes,

Brandon 11:19

so I feel like this is that we can even sneak in some woodwinds, if you guys want, it's fine, because like all the old school ones, they had woodwinds and stuff too, but there's woodwind parts in Stars and Trash River, allegedly they're

Collin Funkhouser 11:32

they're present, oh, they do

Brandon 11:35

the trill that data, right, but the flute, there's flute trills all over that thing, so like this is my solution to really stepping up the fan game of the United States, right? So when it's time to travel, if we can qualify for the next one, right, this big, there's a lot of asks, but like we could start with, we could start with all the home friendlies, right? This is a thing that happens, like, just in, like, in Europe. Anytime there's a soccer match, there's like fans just like marching through the streets, like yelling chants and things, right? Like, literally club games, they do, and not even just like ATO clubs, like random other things, lots of

Collin Funkhouser 12:22

enthusiasm.

Brandon 12:23

Yeah, yeah. So, my solution is, is brass band. Yeah, that's what I've been thinking about this week, as I've watched World Cup coverage, right? Have seen a lot of people being very excited about, like, American food, but then also then being like, your soccer chants are weak sauce, bro.

Collin Funkhouser 12:40

That's fair. Yeah, that's fair. How have you, speaking of things that we need to change, what have you thought about the quote unquote water break that's been introduced for these?

Brandon 12:54

So,

Collin Funkhouser 12:57

as you got, I think,

Brandon 12:59

yeah, sorry, as I was drinking some tea, yeah. So, like, I do agree with a lot of the hardcore people that, like, it really screws up the flow of the match, right? Like, it really is rough on there, like strategically, and like game flow, and everything I do, like I'm not against, like hydrating, right? I feel like that it's, I think it's good idea, especially because they are playing in places like Miami and Dallas, right? Like, these are not cool climates, you know. So, like, yeah, I think it's okay. I do think that I am upset about the contract breach that occurred right when they're like they said, oh, honest, we won't show any commercials during the water break. Oh, right, and then they had to like pause the game because the commercial was still playing, they didn't start the game because they waited too long for the commercial, because the commercial ran long, because it was, it's like three minutes, bang bang,

Speaker 1 14:06

like

Brandon 14:08

I do also find it annoying that like that means that at the end of the halves there's like stupid amounts of like stoppage time, right? They'll be like, ah, yes, I don't think it's been all the.. I haven't watched like tons of games this time. It's like a better than it was the last time, but sometimes they're still like, oh yes, we're gonna add eight minutes to that, bro. Like,

Speaker 1 14:36

if

Brandon 14:37

you're gonna.. if like the whole point is to like do a break to, like, do whatever, like, they keep, because they keep the clock going right, and, like, because that's it's part of the clock management thing, they have, they just, they just put that three minutes at the end, so, like, what's the, like, you're just not, you're not. Really accomplishing anything, yeah. You know what I mean. So, like, I understand we need the players to like be hydrated, and because we're playing in like super hot humid places, right? And it's the last one they did in Qatar, like it makes sense, because like a billion degrees outside, right? But like I think it really messes up the stuff, and then adding just like dumb amounts of stoppage time at the end is like not it, like that's not you're kind of like defeating the whole purpose of everything, so I don't know,

Collin Funkhouser 15:32

yeah, I know that people have gone back and forth on you, right, the flow versus the well, everybody stays fresher longer and so it's more intense, right up to the end, and all this stuff, but I don't know, I don't know, I don't know if it's made any, the latest England, I know it made an England game pretty, pretty close, or closer than people thought it would have been. Well, yeah,

Brandon 15:55

because, like, a lot of, there's a lot of goals that have been scored, like four or five minutes into the stoppage time, right, that have been like either equalizers or like the it's been tied, and then it's like the go-ahead goal, right. And so, like, on the one hand it's like exciting, but on the other hand, like, that game should have been over,

Collin Funkhouser 16:15

right?

Brandon 16:16

You know what I mean. And so, like, the other teams probably like, "Dude, what? Like, come on,

Collin Funkhouser 16:22

where is the whistle?

Brandon 16:23

Right, not the game. Like,

Collin Funkhouser 16:26

can we not be great? Yeah,

Brandon 16:28

I think it's silly. So, like, I know you don't want to stop the clock because you don't want to have like four quarters of soccer, because that's not how it works, right? The halves are definitely.. I like it better, and I think everybody likes it better. I think that's kind of not arguable that it's better that way, but if you're gonna put a break in there and then just tack a ton of time at the end, like it's kind of dumb, so I don't know, whatever, like it doesn't usually matter, but I think in the World Cup it's kind of like rough, I got

Collin Funkhouser 17:00

well, and it's also not what people are used to, because this is the first time they've ever done this, right?

Brandon 17:05

I think so. So, I'm not sure. They've been doing.. they did some at the Olympics, I think. Okay, that's right.

Collin Funkhouser 17:12

Well, that was.. I

Brandon 17:12

think this is the first World Cup that they've done it. I could be wrong about that. I don't really remember. Well, because that was.

Collin Funkhouser 17:20

that was kind of what I was curious about, of how much this would have changed a lot of the strategy going into this.

Brandon 17:28

Yeah, I think it definitely does. So, I don't know about for good or bad, but I just think it's kind of weird. And showing commercials during the live, it's really dumb, like I don't come on, like, stop. I don't know, so.. oh, well, I don't know. It's okay, but I haven't been watching too many games, because, again, I don't know. I just hasn't been into it that much. I watched some here and there, mostly just random fans doing things is the best part so far.

Collin Funkhouser 18:00

Love it. Yes, yes.

Brandon 18:12

What have you been on to?

Collin Funkhouser 18:14

Oh, my. Spoke, I went to North Carolina, and came back home. Oh, yeah, that was a thing that happened for a little like business retreat thingy. First off, I left Missouri, which was not all that hot, and I flew North Carolina. It was 93 and it felt like 102 and I didn't go outside the house. No, it was there. We had some sessions where it was like, okay, now like we're gonna discuss inside now, like everyone just like dispersed and go find a corner or go sit on a table outside. I was like, why would I go do that? That's the most terrible, terrible idea you've had. Come on, I'm not going to stay inside this whole time, but no, the person who organized it had rented this, like rented a house on Airbnb. And if you just want to know, like, what's the status of Airbnbs in the United States, I think I found a pretty darn good exam. example of what's going on, so this house had what was it, like eight bedrooms, seven baths. It was huge. It was at the very back of this subdivision, you walked, you drove over a bridge onto an island in the middle of this lake, and there were like 12 other houses there. Okay, it was, and this is the first house, right as you cross the bridge, you come over, there's this house, and it's the first one. Uh, on the right, and it's everything else, everything else is private. This is there, and we had a group that was out walking one day, and in the morning, and one of the neighbors stopped them, and she said, you know, they're fined every day for this, and we were like, what, that person rents this house, and they're fine every day, it's rented out, and I don't care. Okay, thanks. Bye. What I really should have said was, sounds like you need to increase your fee, because they're still getting people to pay the cost to be at this home, find

Brandon 20:43

them more, find them

Collin Funkhouser 20:44

more like this home. Is what was it? Was it a.. I think it was a $3.4 million home, and

Brandon 20:54

probably finding like $50 a day, probably right, because the

Collin Funkhouser 20:57

hoa was those. those were written back in 1987 for whenever you were going to be renting out and who would possibly pay $50 a day, that's insane. Why would you do that? But this was a very nice house. Our, I don't know, you could tell this was a vacation home built for this family, because there was no like master bedroom, every bedroom was a master bedroom, and like our bedroom, you walked in and had the bed, and then on the back side of this house it overlooked the lake, and there was a wraparound porch on the second story, which is where we were, that started on the east side of the house and ran all the way around to the west side of the house. It was one continuous thing, and so everyone could step out onto the balcony, but when you walked into our bedroom, if you turned to your right, you'd be like, okay, here's the door that goes to the bedroom, and then we had a ladder that went up, and the ladder went up to the second story, which is technically the third story, to a landing where there were built-in bunk beds, and so every room, but two, three of the rooms had this, where it was like the main bed, and then bunk beds built in, so you could definitely tell this was somebody who built this for like their kids and grandkids in mind to come to the lake and enjoy, so every family, so to speak, would get their own little like

Brandon 22:37

section, or whatever section

Collin Funkhouser 22:39

of the house, so that was wild. They also, because we were on a man-made lake, the just like in the Ozarks, you know? Sometimes the hills are a wee bit steep, and of the Carolinas, it's also wee bit steep, and so you couldn't possibly have a walking path to get down, because that's too much, and you'd have to like zig and zag, and it'd take forever, and like, oh, could you imagine, like, oh, he'd be so hot. So, what if we just like had a little lift that you sat in, and you pushed a button, and the little gondola thing took you down seriously to the dock.

Brandon 23:30

Shenanigans, who could enjoy that? And

Collin Funkhouser 23:33

then, and then, whenever you got off, you know, the lights would automatically turn on at the dock as he walks down, and you could go enjoy that, and then you came back up, you'd push up, and it would lift you, like, what the heck. Yeah, so that was fun. Oh man, but we did take a boat ride on the last day where they rented a boat, and basically had one of the attendees have their boating licenses, and Brandon, I've learned something about myself.

Brandon 24:10

You don't like it when other people drive the boat.

Collin Funkhouser 24:13

I don't like it when other people drive the boat. Collin never would have guessed that you have

Brandon 24:18

like control things. I never would have seen any of that.

Collin Funkhouser 24:22

So, sorry to the person driving this boat, I really tried. Megan, I don't care, like next

Brandon 24:28

week, because I hate driving anything. So, go ahead.

Collin Funkhouser 24:35

I was literally sitting there with my backpack in my lap, clutching it as hard as I could, and like staring at Megan to not just like it's okay, it's okay, look, she's, she's, they're really close to the shore, and it says keep 50 yards away, it's, we, you know, it's okay, and that technically is a no wake zone, and we're just going over here, and I'm. We're just gonna go, and I'm just having to enjoy my time. You should hit reverse. Plus, we didn't have - we didn't have a map. Okay, there were 11 people on this pontoon, which is too many people for a pontoon. I mean,

Brandon 25:26

some pontoons, not really, but like

Collin Funkhouser 25:28

I felt uncomfortable with the love, because like people were sitting on like a cooler and sounds like, oh, this is not okay. And we, like, of course, we come in, we anchor, I throw the anchor off, we're good. Then everybody gets in the thing, but then the water, because the wind spins around, so the boat's kind of like going in circles around the anchor, because of where we are, and I'm starting to get a little anxious, and also I look over and everybody jumped in, grabbed an alcoholic beverage and is sitting in like an inner tube or floaty and they're just talking there they're just talking and floating which means that they are talking and floating away from the boat because the wind is gently pushing they're all completely oblivious just like do I do, I say something, or like, they probably know that they're like really far away at this point, and obviously they don't care, and so I'm just gonna like, I'm just gonna go, like, I'm gonna sit, stay in between them in the boat to be like an anchor for them to be like, oh, hey, we're over here, oh my goodness, but the worst part, we have to get gas before we return the boat, and we're coming in. It was a little choppy, it was, and but it was a full service gas pump, and so you're supposed to pull in the middle, and they would get you tied in, they'd fill you up and be on your way. Well, we're coming in, and admittedly later it turned out that the captain of our boat has a boating license that is only good for Anne Lake in Illinois, and their boat was like half as much horsepower, but had a button to let the anchor down, and then back up, like they had an automatic, and so she comes in, and she, not realizing how heavy the boat is, or how, like aggressively we are going towards the dock, they have now just been like, okay, and then we just like gently float in, bang, like we slammed, and the both of the guys on the dock stop what they're doing, and we apparently hit them so hard they were concerned we had dislodged something because they are going and like checking the peers and the systems and like all this other stuff and Ed I captain I was like a little bit more reverse because but basically what they had done was we were coming in pretty hot, and I did.. I was like, I think we should throw some reverse here. So, she was, oh yeah, you're right, and she just like clicks it back into reverse, basically it's idling backwards. Oh, not like.. so, would we had to go back to the dock to the boat ramp to get let out, we had to meet them back there, and it was insane. Like, I have never seen a boat, and there were four lanes of boats backing in and out of the water. There was.. it was no.. people were going around in between, like I was, I was like, you know what, I'm glad this isn't me. However, if I die here, I'm so mad, like, it was so angry. So we had another discussion about using reverse aggressively as we approached, as we approached the doc, because we were again coming in with gusto, like, like, I think now would be a good time to sit here to

Brandon 29:29

jump off, like,

Collin Funkhouser 29:32

turn around,

Brandon 29:36

tuck and roll,

Collin Funkhouser 29:38

but we made it there and back. I survived plane rides, we're fine. It is a.. we took.. we just drove from the here.. from sorry, we flew from Springfield to Charlotte. It's just a direct flight. It was nice. Oh, nice. It was an hour and a half in the air. Oh yeah, we. Just like, oh, like, I could, I could do this more. That was really nice. No. And so now, of course, I'm like, where else does Springfield have a direct flight to that I would like to go and spend time at? Because that was pretty, pretty good day, you know. That's true.

Brandon 30:19

I know they go to Dallas and Atlanta.

Collin Funkhouser 30:22

Yeah, yeah, I don't really want to go in there, but I know

Brandon 30:26

I've been there before, but like I'm just like I've been to those two places.

Collin Funkhouser 30:29

Yeah, yeah, so I got to figure out what the direct flight list is from Springfield, so I can go put some of these on there, because now I'm like, that would be a lot more fun of a vacation. Oh, I found them. Okay,

Brandon 30:45

they go

Speaker 1 30:45

bang. I will read these off.

Collin Funkhouser 30:48

All right, Chicago. Okay, Charlotte, Charlotte, clearly Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Punta Gorda, Tampa, so many things in Florida.

Brandon 31:00

Yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 31:01

Destin and Gulf Shores, 123466, Florida Gulf

Brandon 31:07

shores, Alabama.

Collin Funkhouser 31:08

Oh, right, right, right, right. Sorry, sorry, Gulf Shores. Basically, New Year's makes

Brandon 31:13

no difference, right? Absolutely.

Collin Funkhouser 31:14

Sorry, Alabama, you and your little carve out of a coastline that nobody remembers. Yeah, Houston, although how much of Alabama's marketing is based on that 20 feet of coastline, anyway? All of it, all of it just had a flash of like what I think Alabama. What do I.. why do I think coast? Yeah,

Brandon 31:35

they have eight feet of coast. Yes, I know that's all their marketing. Come

Collin Funkhouser 31:40

to the coast, okay? Gulf Shores, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, okay, Phoenix. Sorry,

Brandon 31:47

really. Oh, interesting.

Collin Funkhouser 31:48

No, yeah, Phoenix and Mesa, those are two different ones. So, two Arizonans, Las Vegas, that was a new one, I know. And then Denver. Oh,

Brandon 31:57

yeah, the two of Denver, we've flown to Denver before.

Collin Funkhouser 31:59

Oh, yeah, you and

Brandon 32:00

me, we were there.

Collin Funkhouser 32:02

That was ice. Yeah,

Brandon 32:04

yeah. Oh, several times, actually. Now, I think I don't know if it was still there, but like, yeah. Do

Collin Funkhouser 32:10

they still go to Minneapolis? They do not know Minneapolis. No, they.. this is all their, their, uh, non-stop destinations. I just listed,

Brandon 32:21

interesting,

Collin Funkhouser 32:22

that's actually okay. I don't want to go to Chicago, but I will go to Denver and Destin, so maybe Punta Gorda, maybe. Oh, that's a seasonal one. That's right, that's.. I just try to remember one of these is like, uh, they only do it during certain times, but I will definitely have to look into taking a trip to Denver. Now this is great. Okay, anyway, so that was.. I survived my trip to North Carolina and back. I had no mishaps, and it's great

Brandon 32:55

news,

Collin Funkhouser 32:55

great, great news. And I am even more.. and I just. I don't. I'm now more of a believer of the more I've been traveling recently, the more I don't know if I could ever check a bag, like you would have to hold me, I think, at like I would have to, you'd have to hold something of mine against ransom, yeah,

Brandon 33:14

yeah, I am

Collin Funkhouser 33:16

full on like no check bag, I think just for the convenience of arrival, and more importantly, departure from said airport, I think I will just pack like a shirt, and I'll buy two more whenever I get there, and just leave those behind, like I will. I think this is what I must do. It's just so fair. It's so nice to just, oh yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 33:42

get in, and whatever, but I know sometimes people leave longer, they have to take different stuff, but I'm going.. I don't know if I'd take those jobs, what

Brandon 33:50

I've done the last two times I've been anywhere,

Speaker 1 33:52

yeah, yeah,

Brandon 33:54

one of them was international, so that's.. and it wasn't a problem, I didn't have any, so the problem was like I was getting ready, be like, like the only problem is like, oh, maybe I should, like, I don't want, I can't buy this because I can't get it back home, yeah, but then I was like, I don't need this shirt, I can just like,

Collin Funkhouser 34:14

yeah, we, we packed our bags, and then they had like swag that we were getting, and I was like, do

Brandon 34:23

I not?

Collin Funkhouser 34:24

I don't need another Tumblr. This is

Brandon 34:26

not making the cut,

Collin Funkhouser 34:27

actually. Just like

Brandon 34:29

low key, leave it in the room. Oh no, I forgot I

Collin Funkhouser 34:33

did in a pillow case. No, yeah. So, anyway, yeah, that was a.. it was fun. I enjoyed it, and ready to go back to things and stuff, and ready for our trip this coming week. So, I would say

Brandon 34:48

great, good news, you have different things and stuff to get ready. I have different things and stuff,

Collin Funkhouser 34:53

and that's in like two days, so I'm a little

Brandon 34:56

true, that is quite soon, so I.

Collin Funkhouser 35:00

Oh,

Brandon 35:01

yeah, I try to do some laundry, that might be useful for everyone else involved.

Collin Funkhouser 35:08

They may perhaps find that good. Yes. Oh man,

Brandon 35:21

Collin, you know who's not having a good time.

Collin Funkhouser 35:23

You know what, this was interesting.

Brandon 35:28

Definitely was interesting.

Collin Funkhouser 35:29

Definitely right. It was

Brandon 35:31

definitely

Collin Funkhouser 35:33

mr. Ender. I got a try. I got a page back to here. We were supposed to read what we were, 10 this week,

Brandon 35:39

10 and 11, I think 10

Collin Funkhouser 35:41

and 11, for some reason I remember a lot more of 10 than I do 11.

Brandon 35:48

That's all right, it's they blend together. If I can't, I have again probably feel like, which one was also..

Collin Funkhouser 35:55

also the description of flightless battles is a little, it's a little, a

Brandon 36:03

lot, a lot. Yeah, we can kind of just skip through that yada yada section. There is a lot of yada yada in here, like I mean, it, like I felt that way about a lot of this book. Like, there's been a lot of sections where it's like, it's like, okay to read, like it's not really that annoying to read, but like, if you're telling somebody else about what's happening, you're gonna leave it all out, because it's like, not super truthful, right? Like, it's like, oh, yes, here, let me tell you all about my strategy for this pretend thing that it's not real, for like 50 million words, like I mean, I get it, because, like, he's dealing with stuff, but, like, also cool, like, I don't know, I mean, it's important to the plot in 11, I guess, because they battle for, like, 7 billion times its whole thing, but anyway, Ender is being given command of his new, of his own army.

Collin Funkhouser 37:10

After, sorry, Graph has, they have like a weird, like conscious battle, battle of morals here in the beginning of chapter 10, there's this weird, like, it actually occurred to me to wonder what kind of a man would heal a broken child of some kind of his hurt just so he could throw him back into battle again. Okay,

Brandon 37:34

you know,

Collin Funkhouser 37:36

thought that was the whole point of what you people were doing, but

Brandon 37:38

yeah, but I don't know, whatever. So, like, we get like he has been giving his own like whole thing, like his whole new unit, or whatever, and he's very confused because he's like, 'Wait, everybody's full. How did you do that? And he's like, 'No, no, we have revived they, so they've revived the dragon army, right? The dragon army is defunct, and there has not been a dragon army for four years. Apparently, they sucked so hard,

Collin Funkhouser 38:10

so bad, that they

Brandon 38:11

discontinued the entire UK,

Collin Funkhouser 38:15

which is an interesting thing to do,

Brandon 38:17

is funny and weird, but plot device, so we have resurrected the dragon, because it was probably totally not, totally not foreshadowing, by the way. Oh, and so they've given Ender this army, and they've given him like a ton of, like, basically new recruits, right, and he can't figure out, like, are they doing this to help him or to hurt him, because he's like, on the one hand, they're new recruits and they don't know how to do anything, he's like, but on the other hand, they're new recruits, so I can teach them anything, right? So, like, they don't have to unlearn stuff, so he's trying to figure out how that is. There's also a rule he's been hit with, the rule no tradesies,

Collin Funkhouser 39:12

aha,

Brandon 39:13

because apparently there's a weird, like, free agent situation that happens with the rest of the armies, and they can trade off people who they think would be good for people who are weak for their, like, plan or whatever. Ender is not allowed tradesies, so he's got to do this with only these people, and that's done right. And so he's like, dude, what the heck, and it's lame. The big conflict here, though, is because, like, Ender doesn't really know, like, it's his first command, and so he's like, really, he kind of has a tough first day. With like knowing how to be like what, because he served under several different commanders, he knows like what he likes or dislikes about how they do things, right, but then like all of a sudden when he's the commander he's like, like he there's a point where he's like interacting with this one kid, this bean kid, and he's just like crap, I'm doing the thing that I don't like what they do to me. Dang it, like, yeah, he does have

Collin Funkhouser 40:30

this weird interaction, and I don't know, like, this is him going, okay, here's me just basically acting out a script now, right? And I like, here's him doing what he's seen others doing, yeah, but then also trying to rectify that with his own feelings of having been in that position,

Brandon 40:53

yeah, like he, like, about halfway through, he realizes, like, ah, I'm just doing the thing that I've seen other people do, but I know that they don't do good, right? So he's like, I can't go back now, so I just have to like subtly shift this for later, right? Like, he's like, I can't go back, and I can't undo it, and I can't be like, hey, JK, I can't like go back in there and apologize and like start over. So he's like, I'm just gonna leave it, and then next time I'm gonna do these things differently, right, which does make sense a bit, right? They did throw him in there, I know this is part of their like messing with his brain and how rude they are, but like that is the thing, and then then we get like just a big super long training sequence about like Ender's battle philosophy that he goes and talks to, he'd like that the whole rest of the chain,

Collin Funkhouser 41:56

forget about gravity, fly in this way, use this kind of thing,

Brandon 42:01

down is up, and then whatever, like, don't orient yourself to the hallway, or yourself to the room. We just get, we just get tons and tons of that, right? Like, that's kind of this. They also have barred him from extra bonus practice, right?

Collin Funkhouser 42:22

Oh, right,

Brandon 42:22

that's the other thing. There, there's like no.. so he can't be with his old buddies, Ali and Shin, right? He can't be with them anymore. They're basically pitting him against them now. They're trying to take away his other little friendship time, right? So the commander guy came in, like they were showing up to practice, and he's like, "nope, no more, no more free evening practice, sorry, not allowed, and so they shut that down. So he was planning on going to talk to them about what to do, and he was like, "Well, that's the other part. So he's he also has this like feeling of loneliness about how he's like alone and sad, but like they've done this to him, but like they're not, he's like can't figure out like like the social ramifications of this, he's like we're technically now all competing against each other, but like they're so my friends, like, we can't, like, act like friends, but, like, I still, like, trust them.

Collin Funkhouser 43:27

Well, and he's got that's

Brandon 43:29

kind of the, yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 43:30

he has an interaction with Ali, all right, in the game room towards the end of the chapter, is that what that is, that when that is, that's what I was talking

Brandon 43:37

about, yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 43:38

yeah, yeah, yeah, and but the thing is, is that Ender also doesn't know it throws in the self doubt of Ender starts going, well, I feel this way, and I hope Ali feels this way, but maybe Ali is finally happy to no longer be like working with me, and he's actually really excited to, yeah, break

Brandon 44:03

free of that,

Collin Funkhouser 44:04

break free, and you know, there are, because also they can't talk about feelings, and which is, you know, listeners, if you have to take a lesson from this, talking about feelings resolves all of these things immediately, and so that's why we have this tension is because we've always said it already set up, you can't talk about feelings or appear to be weak, so you can't talk about insecurities, and so you're just left to assume and question and second guess what's going on, which leads to us, right, like, and in a, in a what I assume is also maybe I don't know, weirdly I'm also trying to view this from a, is this what, how much of a coming of age story is this going to be? Yes, or all of it is right, like there is very much that of I don't know how to talk about these feelings and emotions. And I don't know what is or is not appropriate to say to other people or or these things that I'm struggling with, so I'll just keep it inside and I just won't bring this up, and we'll just hope that everything's okay, and that's 100% what's going on here,

Brandon 45:18

yeah, and again that's like it's weird, because that's just like a, like a norm, right? Nobody really, I mean, maybe they met, you know, they kind of like hinted like that, it's not a thing that's it's just a thing that's, it's not done right, but like you could do it if you wanted to, which is weird, because like with every other thing that there is, right, and there's like, well, they didn't tell me I couldn't do this, so I'm gonna do it, right? Right, but with this, though, he's like, they didn't tell me that I can't do it, but I'm not going to, like, it's so, it's such a strong, like, so social norm, right? That again, this is in the 80s, too, right? When this book was written, so like even worse, right? Like, you don't like the social norms are such an extreme, like you can't talk about your feelings,

Speaker 1 46:19

yeah?

Brandon 46:20

Right, which is like, so dumb, like now, through, especially through like a 2026 lens, we're like, oh, hey, did you know that it's okay to have feelings, right? Like, I don't know, like it's okay to do that, right? mr. Rogers has been trying to tell us for a long time, right, like

Collin Funkhouser 46:39

for sure,

Brandon 46:40

like, hey, it's fine, like this is, but this is like this book, it's not doing it egregiously bad, like some other books do, or like other media, right? Where it's like literally every problem would be solved if someone just like said two sentences to somebody else,

Collin Funkhouser 47:00

yeah, they're like,

Brandon 47:01

right, hey, that level, yeah, we're not quite at that level, right, but it's like that's the environment that everybody's in, right. Well, and of course, the environment is being controlled by the adults, right, like really screwing with everything, not helping, right, so like that's the problem, but that is like a weird thing that this chapter kind of highlights again, is just like the such a strong social norm of like, yeah, feelings are lame, right? Like feelings are your weakness, like yes, no, that's not nope, no, didn't we, did we learn nothing from Frodo. Okay, that's like what have we

Collin Funkhouser 47:44

exactly? You

Brandon 47:45

guys would do it exactly

Collin Funkhouser 47:47

what happened. The

Brandon 47:48

Aragorn teacher died,

Collin Funkhouser 47:49

nothing. Unfortunately, no, they haven't. They haven't gotten back together in this. Yeah,

Brandon 47:59

so then chapter 11 we have like the battle montage of like insanity and it's because

Collin Funkhouser 48:05

right like we are going to test him now by

Brandon 48:13

changing every single rule there is

Collin Funkhouser 48:15

every single rule

Brandon 48:18

yes so like they're they're get normally, there's like a set period of time where a person has an army before they battle, right, and after like a very short amount of time, they're like, oh, your first battle tomorrow, and then there's like, what, what,

Collin Funkhouser 48:37

he was also kind of expecting this to some extent, like, yeah,

Brandon 48:41

because he really did some like it, like training. Well, I can't.. there's a term I'm trying to think of right now, my brain won't turn it on, but like, like some crash course, right? He did a lot of like crash course, like fundamental stuff with all the people, right? Because,

Collin Funkhouser 48:58

yeah, basically he assumed he's like, well, nobody's ever done nobody's dragons, new, they've never done no trades before, they've never had this kind of team, so I don't know, well, they've never had

Brandon 49:08

no veterans, no veterans,

Collin Funkhouser 49:10

yes, I don't know what they're going to throw at me, so I guess I just need to be ready as much as I can, as fast as I can,

Brandon 49:17

yeah,

Speaker 1 49:17

yes,

Brandon 49:18

so but he does like the crux of all of these things, right? The will kind of get, we won't go over the specific battles here, but like he, he's his major innovation, right, is the like the tune leader autonomy,

Collin Funkhouser 49:39

yes, right,

Brandon 49:42

and he's actually broken down, like I can't remember where this is at in here, but like he has done some like insane things, like he's given them like there's five liters instead of just four.

Collin Funkhouser 49:53

Yes,

Brandon 49:54

right, and then like those can also split into like halves. Right, yeah, she's got like his

Collin Funkhouser 50:02

10 operating units,

Brandon 50:04

yeah, so like I don't remember how many people he has altogether, anyway, but like it basically is like he's instead of four groups he split them into five and then those groups can then split in half to operate independently if the need arises, right.

Speaker 1 50:24

Yes,

Brandon 50:24

so he's got these like half-tune things going on, and basically he goes over like major strategic ideas with the leaders, but how those things are executed and what is all up to them, like even like certain strategies that they have, like they're they're like five independent arms, right?

Collin Funkhouser 50:49

Yeah,

Brandon 50:49

and he just kind of like helps out and goes insert, like we see in the battle, like he'll, he's like I'm gonna go with them, and then you guys blow the law, and then they just go, right,

Collin Funkhouser 50:57

basically, and and it comes into the what is he trying to do, he's having to have them be unsupported, alone, and on their own initiative, is this whole thing, and sure, is could this be pulling from Andrew's own experience in his own life, but basically that's what he's doing, he's going, okay, I need to, like you said, everybody needs to have the same goals, but they can attack and communicate and work together in their own ways, instead of the because he saw that in his first unit, where it was everybody did the same rigid, yeah, too rigid grinding assault, there was no autonomy, and then the second unit, there was like, well, there was the off group that was, they were kind of their own freewheeling thing, but then there was the rest of everybody, and so he's kind of, again, picking a middle way, or a third way, so to speak, between those, yeah, but I

Brandon 51:58

think also, like, he's also thinking about, like, well, we're trying to, like, there's no iteration happening, right? Everybody is just doing the same, like, five things, and, like, just seeing who comes out on top of that, right? So he's like, well, we need to, like, we can't just do, like, the same, like, five strategies, like, if, if

Collin Funkhouser 52:21

this was, he

Brandon 52:22

starts thinking about, like, real life, like, he's thinking about, like, okay, what if this wasn't a game, right? What if there actually are buggers, right? We're still questioning, are they even real? We don't know. Spoilers for in a minute, I have a thought, but, like, like, he is like, okay, well, we can't, we have to disrupt, right? We have to do things different. We have to try these other things, right? So he does this, he comes up with this idea for different units, and it really like messes with people, because at first they like they don't even realize that there's five tunes of the opponents, right? Because the first battle, like he just steamrolls like they were not even expecting that, you know, and then, like, the next day they're like, "Hey, we're doing again. He's like, "Right, and he's good at, he goes against Petra, and whatever, just when she's in now, like, but but the other teams, like, don't even really understand that there's five sections, right? Like, it's rough, like they're the way that they operate is like so different, and they're they're really struggling, right? They're and they are able to overcome like all kinds of obstacles, like basically every battle that happens here, there's like a different scenario where did they have to overcome a thing, right? He's like, okay, well, this worked when we did that, like they split up and go this way, and then they have to like overcome the petrol was like the most difficult one for them, because he regards that she's smart and she's really good at her job, so like he expected that, and then like the super surprise battle when they had like two in one day, he like the enemy tried to surprise attack them and he took advantage of the fact that they were hiding, and he just, they did this like crazy thing, where he just like obliterated, because they were just, they're hiding, so they were all standing still, and he knew exactly where they were, so he was like, all right, got it, but that one is worth talking about, because it was hilarious, because they used each other as human shields, like, yes, and they just, they already know that, like, the legs are, they freeze their legs so that they can, like, make their legs a shield. They're like, all right, you, your job is shield,

Collin Funkhouser 54:36

shield. And so they

Brandon 54:36

put, like, that being kid behind him, and so, like,

Collin Funkhouser 54:41

yeah,

Brandon 54:41

yeah, and so they just started doing that. They were like hiding behind, like, poking his arms through, basically. And the kid was frozen. They gave Bean two guns, and we're like, all right, hold on. And then two other kids just zipped him out the door, yeah, so that he was.. he went. Out, he went out the door backwards, because everybody was like flushed against the wall, where the door is right, like around the corner. So, instead of all coming out slowly and trying to round the corner, they dashed out, hid behind each other, and then were just like double firing, like increased firepower, because every shield gave their gun to the other person, so everybody fly that had

Collin Funkhouser 55:24

two, yeah,

Brandon 55:26

that was pretty nuts. That was the only one that's really worth mentioning, like that's almost like holy cow, what the heck. And they did that with like two minutes warning, right, because he was like basically they were trying to mess him up and say like hey, he's got this, you know, we're gonna mess him up and make him late and do this, and so he knew they were there, and he was like, all right, well, we're just really gonna go for it, because there's only one option, and that's full steam ahead, yes,

Collin Funkhouser 55:55

yeah, well, and that, that this is the brilliance of getting the small nimble forces and groups, because you do have that fast iteration, you have multiple experiences that then all feed up into the main unit, you know, main dragon force that everybody can learn from, and allows them to quickly kind of go through these these things, and it has multiple people thinking about them instead of just one person at the top, but it is interesting to see how they work. I love, yeah, I love when they flashed everybody, frozen, so you're my shield now, let's go,

Brandon 56:34

yeah. And so, like, there is also another interaction somewhere where the majors come, the adults come, and they're talking to him about like, oh, it's because he goes to, he starts watching all the old archival, he starts going to the library, and he's, he's watching archival footage of the last war, because he's like already, like, I can't stagnate, and I have to keep iterating on my ideas, because I cannot just keep doing the same things over and over again, so he goes to watch them, and he's like, these are weird, and all this stuff has been edited out, and like, it's all just a bunch of propaganda videos, so the only thing that he can watch is the bugger army, so he starts watching them, and he's like, well, if our army has been like so heavily redacted, like I'll watch them instead. So he kind of is getting inspiration from their tactics, like he's trying to watch, he's trying to watch actual battles and footage of actual battles, so that he can get a better understanding of like things that are actually needed for situations like this. And so they come and talk to him, and they're like, What are you doing? He's like, I'm watching. They're like, don't you know it's been edited. He's like, yeah, yeah, I don't care. I'm doing this. And they start talking about, like, you don't play the game anymore. He's like, the fantasy game, the stupid into the world thing. They're like, you don't play that anymore. He was like, yeah, because there's nothing to do. He's like, you can't win. There's nothing more, and he's like, he's like, there's always something else. He's like, I don't see anything, not for me, right? There's nothing there, right? Like, blah. And that's when they give him more stuff, right? And so it's just like insane. It's all this weird stuff. And then that's the last thing is he has like more conversation, he has one last conversation with Bean. Right, we get the final strat here, where he's like, all right, look, I want to explain myself to you, right? I just want to tell you, like, this. This last conversation was interesting. Where he's like, you know, look, you asked me to make you a tune leader. I've made five tune leaders, and none of them are you. Yeah, and he's like, you know, tell me he's talking to him about stuff, and he's like, look, here's what I need from you, I need you to be like the super secret reserve guy, right? He's like, I'm gonna basically.. what he does is he makes him like the shadow leader, right, because he's saying like I need you to be the guy that tries just crazy stuff sometimes, because I can't. He's like, I don't trust myself to be continually being the one that comes up with all the ideas. Yeah, right. I need, like, I part of this, I think, comes from he's been cut off from Ali and Shin,

Collin Funkhouser 59:41

yes,

Brandon 59:41

right, and so he doesn't have anybody to like bounce his ideas off of, you know, and so he's like, I'm, he's scared about screwing up because he said he tells this kid, like, look, if even one loss for us. It's over, right? Like, we have to be the best, like, because that's what the adults are doing to us, and if we fail, even once it's over.

Speaker 1 1:00:15

Yep,

Brandon 1:00:15

so we have to do these things. So he, like, puts him in charge of, like, a secret unit, right. He's like, I'm going to give you some like other members, like one member from each other group, right. And so if there's like a weird situation, like something crazy is going on, you take control of your people, and your job is to do like the most insane thing, whether or not you think it'll work. It'll be basically, it's going to be disruptive, right? And Ender doesn't really care if it works or not, he wants the disruption, right? It's going to cause chaos in the situation, is kind of how I'm reading this, like it's going to be chaotic and bizarre, and so that's what he wants, right? Either number one, it will help out everybody else, because it will catch the other teams so off guard, like, what the heck, or it might give him like an idea for like a larger picture thing, right?

Collin Funkhouser 1:01:19

Yeah,

Brandon 1:01:20

so, so this is the end part of this. He's, he's, we've created the Shadow Sixth Tune, made up of certain members of other ones, and Bean Bean, the commander. So, in certain situations, he will take control of the Shadow Group and do some what he says, just do whatever you can think of. He's like, I don't care how crazy it is, do something nuts, right? He's like, do something, he's like, it could just do the stupidest thing you can think of.

Collin Funkhouser 1:01:53

Yep,

Brandon 1:01:54

and we'll see if it works.

Collin Funkhouser 1:01:56

And it's, he's like, okay, okay, I love how it ends, because it's like, you know, he got off up from the floor and did likewise. He thought of a half dozen ideas before he went to sleep. Ender would be pleased, every one of them was stupid. Yeah, but it's.. I like this, because in this.. this is what the teachers, adults have been talking about a lot of keeping Ender isolated and keeping him alone and away from things, and Ender is recognizing that, I think, a little bit they're doing, yeah, and he's like, so this is what he's doing to get out of that, and of, well, I don't have any new information coming in, I don't know, I'm selling at everything. Yes, but how do you stay ahead when

Brandon 1:02:49

did nobody's tell you no

Collin Funkhouser 1:02:50

one's telling you, and you don't have any new information to do, learn, or study. And obviously this is where my thought goes, of okay, well, Ender was watching the buggers to try and figure out what the platoons were doing to make the buggers respond that way. Yeah, you can figure out those moves, and he's kind of reverse engineering, but even then he's like, I really don't know, and my, I don't, I'm kind of reaching my capacity to do anything here, and he says that, he says, you know, I, I don't, only you can only be so creative for so long and come up with so many ideas. So this is where I need help with this. Yeah,

Brandon 1:03:28

there's also, again, the seed of doubt for me was still planted there, slightly, whenever he's like watching the bugger army, and they're just doing like one, they have like one thing that they do the most, like really good, and they just do it all the time. Yeah, and then the people army is like responding to it in weird ways, but the people army is all like redacted out, and it's just been like super propagandized. So I was thinking back to the conversations that he had with those people earlier, like, are there even really buggers? Are they were they ever real to begin with, or is this war just manufactured for like control and power and stuff, right.

Speaker 1 1:04:06

We'll see. Yeah,

Brandon 1:04:09

also we did. I just give over the other part where we did get the where Ender is growing as a bit of a commander, right, where they talk about it's it's basically a well-known fact now that like when Ender is speaking to the group, like he's pretty harsh, and he's pretty like gruff, right, but when he's doing like small group, like one on one things, like he's like super patient, and he's really friendly, and he's like really nice, like he'll like show people like as many times as he has to to get him to understand it, he's like really patient and nice, and so that was interesting. That's kind of how he's evolving as a leader, like whenever he's like in a whole group, when he's addressing the whole army, he's just very like to the point, very brusque, like, but then when he's like talking with one on. One with the troops, he's very like patient and very like kind of, so they're like, oh, okay, like he's not, he's not all bad, we, they respect him because of that, that's kind of his method that he's gravitating towards about how to be a leader,

Collin Funkhouser 1:05:15

right, yeah, yep, and handling, especially in those certain situations of he's recognizing, okay, yeah, I don't have to act like this, like it's a battle all the time, all the time, yeah, yeah, like firm with the

Brandon 1:05:29

group, but like softer, more hands on with individual people to give them what they need, to give them the actual assistance they need to be better, right, not just be like you can't do it bad, right, like Bonzo would have, right, like no, here I'll show you. I'll teach you how to do it. It's fine, get it right. Like, so that was very interesting. So, yeah, just, just lots of battles this time, just like seven. They had, like, seven battles in the week, right? Like, it was like it was a

Collin Funkhouser 1:05:58

lot, the most ever. Right,

Brandon 1:05:59

the most ever, yeah. At the end, too, being like they couldn't possibly be giving us another battle tomorrow, and he's like, I have no idea this point, man. So, like,

Collin Funkhouser 1:06:08

yeah, Delta said at

Brandon 1:06:10

one point he was like, we are, he was like, everybody on my squad is a veteran now. He's like, all because he's like, we don't have any veterans, and he's like, dude, we're all veterans, we've had more battles this week than half the other tunes ever, so right, we're good. Yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 1:06:26

what are you talking about? Yeah, for sure,

Brandon 1:06:30

yeah. So, yeah, there we go, boom. Who knows?

Collin Funkhouser 1:06:36

Oh, what's gonna

Brandon 1:06:37

happen now? Probably more battles, right? I do. It does look like we have a rematch time, because Chapter 12 is entitled Bonzo,

Collin Funkhouser 1:06:48

Bonzo,

Brandon 1:06:49

so we may be going back with our against our former homie here, probably. Who knows? Who knows? Offline question, are we going to read for this week, or are we just gonna like take a break and just do like lake live things? I think

Collin Funkhouser 1:07:09

we'll do lake live things. Okay. All right, okay, good. So, I

Brandon 1:07:11

won't read for.. okay, I won't read tomorrow, basically, is what I say. Okay, yes, yeah, I seem to know. All right,

Collin Funkhouser 1:07:18

yeah. And I just need to remember to do that, so that would be that'd be good. Okay, sweet, beautiful

Brandon 1:07:29

fall. There we go. Oh, before we stop, I meant to do this at the beginning, right? I don't want to steal your thunder here, home time, but I was thinking about the Scottish fans.

Collin Funkhouser 1:07:44

Oh, okay,

Brandon 1:07:45

right. And I was thinking that was, I was like, doing, I was like reciting this thing in my head, and I couldn't remember where it was from. And then all of a sudden it clicked, right? And I was like, bro, this is the most perfect thing. So, in honor of the Scottish fans, Collin, I would like to just read you a poem that I know that you know,

Collin Funkhouser 1:08:04

okay? Oh, okay, oh no,

Brandon 1:08:06

right?

Collin Funkhouser 1:08:06

Okay,

Brandon 1:08:07

you do,

Collin Funkhouser 1:08:08

okay? Oh,

Brandon 1:08:08

you do, and I think it perfectly encapsulates the situation in Boston, right? Some say it's a poem, but others might say you could sing this. I won't sing it, though. Collin, oh, you can search far and wide. You can drink the whole town dry, but you'll never find a beer so brown as the one we drink in our hometown. You can drink your fancy ales, you can drink them by the flagon, but the only brew for the brave and true comes from the green dragon.

Collin Funkhouser 1:08:50

Ah, there we go.

Brandon 1:08:57

I've been singing that to myself all week, oh. whole bike. Oh, that's amazing. Listeners, this is, of course, from Lord of the Rings. This is the song Mary and Pippin are singing in the movie. They're singing it at the thing, so that's that's

Collin Funkhouser 1:09:20

the

Brandon 1:09:21

green dragon song, it's good,

Collin Funkhouser 1:09:24

it's good stuff

Brandon 1:09:25

when they realize it comes in pints, so they go, "Oh

Collin Funkhouser 1:09:30

my, I didn't mean to steal thunder like that. No, no, so well they're going to steal thunder, that's good. It

Brandon 1:09:39

could be token, it's

Collin Funkhouser 1:09:40

pretty token. Yeah, you know what, I'll let him, I'll let him speak. It's fine, I'll allow it. Just one of the, the greatest literary mind of our time. Yeah, it's fine, fine. Let him go, let him, let him cook. Oh man, no, I actually realized that my haiku is about to. Experience that I was supposed, I wanted to tell you about earlier, but completely forgot about. And then I looked at all right, looked at my haiku, and I was like, "Oh, I should probably tell a background story on that first. That's okay, I

Brandon 1:10:12

love background stories. Yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 1:10:14

we went to a restaurant this week, it's called, I think I've talked about last year, went to Lavender Falls. Have you heard of this place?

Brandon 1:10:23

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes,

Collin Funkhouser 1:10:24

yes, yes. We went again this year, and last year we went in May, just the beginning of the season, because we were like, oh, it'd be cooler, it'd be nicer. Also,

Brandon 1:10:35

this year, wetter.

Collin Funkhouser 1:10:37

Also, we went in June, and it was also cold, like we were a little.. it was 78 degrees. Yeah, this has not

Brandon 1:10:46

been a hot June. This is no,

Collin Funkhouser 1:10:47

no, but I'm okay with

Brandon 1:10:51

that, though.

Collin Funkhouser 1:10:51

Two things going later in the season, we went with.. we went like 10 days before they're gonna close for the season, so it's like the very end, which means two things: one, lavender was actually in bloom, so that was double plus good to go walk amongst the lavender rose, and two very few people, which I was actually shocked by.

Brandon 1:11:12

Yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 1:11:12

yeah, when we were there in May last year, it was

Brandon 1:11:16

packed,

Collin Funkhouser 1:11:16

packed, like you could not walk around, like it was, so it was throngs of

Brandon 1:11:22

holy,

Collin Funkhouser 1:11:23

and this year we showed up for our reservation at six. We got in 15 minutes early, so we got receded by 547 And then I think like four other people showed up over the next little bit, and by the time we had left, there, I mean, it was wasn't even half full, which completely changes the feel of that restaurant. It suddenly became like really quaint and like really relaxing and really peaceful, instead of the like there's kind of a thrum coming up on here when it's so full and people are running around and the waiters and waitresses are insane, and this was just very much like a everyone's just going at the pace of a season, basically way chill. It was so wonderful. We ordered all the same things from last year, so that's fine. And it was good. It felt like this weird time warp of by the time we had looked up, it was one of those things of like an hour and a half had passed it, and that felt both like an insanely long amount of time and way too short to have happened. It was one of those things where it's like, man, yeah, like I was like, man, it felt like we had just gotten in and then eaten and then left, but it's like an hour and a half at a place that's a pretty good like time, like it's not a forever thing. Sure, I think the

Brandon 1:12:54

Italians would disagree, but sure, I

Collin Funkhouser 1:12:57

did, I did rushed dining for an Italian, right,

Brandon 1:13:02

little quick little quick

Collin Funkhouser 1:13:03

side, there. That was for your first course, right? Yeah, it was for everything, but no, it's just very nice. So I continued to give two thumbs up to that place and enjoyed it very much. So I have a haiku about my experience.

Brandon 1:13:22

Oh, yeah, let's go.

Collin Funkhouser 1:13:23

Okay, cool June evening. Lavender drifts through the dusk. Cheesecake steals the show. I learned she goes through. Just

Brandon 1:13:39

love cheese. I know Collin, so like

Collin Funkhouser 1:13:43

I talked, I talked to Katherine, the owner, and hitchf there, and she makes name

Brandon 1:13:49

drop in the owner, she makes eight,

Collin Funkhouser 1:13:51

she was literally like standing at her table talking to us for a long great, she makes a good

Brandon 1:13:57

thing about not being busy, right? Yeah, you get the

Collin Funkhouser 1:14:00

person that could stop by shuck and jive, and one of the waitresses was even like, 'Did you guys come here last year? And I was like, 'Yeah, I remember you guys. They make, she makes, she hand makes eight cheesecakes every two days.

Brandon 1:14:19

Yo, yeah,

Collin Funkhouser 1:14:21

nice as a lot of cheesecake, and we had two of those pieces, so I was like, well, yeah, hopefully we're helping you finish this off. So, anyway, yes, it was good time. I enjoyed it. Just my little, little, little, little tiny restaurant review there. Go, yay! Yes, anyway, so with that we will enrap and boy, howdy, we'll be in person next time, I guess. Oh, yeah,

Brandon 1:14:51

go, maybe we can convince Aaron to come,

Collin Funkhouser 1:14:54

bring your, bring your microphone, so we can have a little bit, but back that. I will remember to bring mine in my tripod this year, which I would say every year, and I forget. So, anyway, it's more

Brandon 1:15:10

exciting,

Collin Funkhouser 1:15:12

something I guess. Yeah, okay. Well, we have that, and much to look forward to, indeed, you're good. Okay. Love you,

Brandon 1:15:23

love you too.

Collin Funkhouser 1:15:24

Bye, bye.

Brandon 1:15:25

See you soon. Aha. Yes.

Collin Funkhouser 1:15:27

Counting down.