Latest / Heavyweight / 2026 Update: Brandon

Transcript

2026 Update: Brandon · Heavyweight

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hello, Hello, welcome to the studio.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Are you going to tell people who I am? Before that?
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Even I was going to apologize for the smell of
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: egg salad. I don't know why it smells like egg
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: salad in here. It's not like I was eating an
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: egg salad sandwich or anything.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: But what's those little pieces of yolk that are stuck
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: all over your beard?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Nothing?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: That's total circumstantial evidence. You can't hang someone for circumstantial evidence.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I did see Malcolm Gladwell exiting the studio strutting around
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: with an egg salad sandwich pocon add of his fanny
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: pack like he owned the joint. So there's some circumstantial evidence.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: You might want to investigate, you intrepid reporter. You so hello,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Stevie Lane, producer, Yes, of.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: The of the episode that we're about to listen to Brandon. Yeah, Brandon,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I will say, And he doesn't even know this. He's
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: not even gonna know this till he listens to this. Yeah,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: one of my all time favorite guests. I think, really, yeah,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I don't know. He just had such a nice attitude,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and I feel like I feel like the two of
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: you had a really lovely rapport.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was like an example of how sometimes
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: a small question can have like a lot of emotional
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: impact and can just really echo through the years. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: you know, with these updates, a lot of times I
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: start off by saying that the subject of the episode
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: has gone through a lot of changes. But in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: case with Brandon, I will say that change seems like
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: too slight a word. I would say that Brandon has
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: gone through some transformations.
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: Hmm.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So here's Brandon.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fun one.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: It is a fun one. And after the episode, if
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: you stick around, I'm going to catch up with Brandon
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna see who Brandon has become since we
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: last spoke, Jackie, I have some good news. Well, it
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: seems like there's some interest in turning the Heavyweight podcast
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: into a TV show. So I was just calling to
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: see who maybe you know who you want to play, Jackie.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I was thinking, you know, maybe Rita Marino, Don John
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: No one's gonna watch your show.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Baby, what did you just say? You heard this?
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Wait, I'm confused on two counts. A that you would
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: say something so cruel and that b you would punctuate
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: it with babe. You know a lot of people believe
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: in this project. Why would you laugh at that?
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: A lot of people believe in this project.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: From Gimblet Media. I'm Jonathan Goldstein and this is Heavyweight.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Today's episode Brandon right after the break.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll just roll in there and see what's going on.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: This is Brandon. He's thirty three years old in wearing
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: a suit and string tie. His wife, Megan is in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: a sun dress, and together they're about to enter the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: New Palestine High School prom. Megan is the school's our teacher,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: but tonight she's chaperoning with Brandon as her date. She
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: introduces him to the other teachers. At a certain point,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: they're interrupted by the announcement of prompt King and Queens.
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: A students.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: While Megan congratulates her students and makes small talk with
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: her colleagues, Brandon wanders off and observes the kids. Some
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: are dancing, some are lined up for the photo booth.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: There are kids talking to teachers and others gossiping among themselves.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: But then Brandon's gaze lands on another subset, those aimless
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: kids wandering along the margins alone. They remind Brandon of
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: himself when he was a teenager and his own prom
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Brandon thinks about his prom a lot and the improbable
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: path that led him to it, which began when he
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: was just a little kid.
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: Through middle school and junior high I had a lot
• 5:22
  Speaker 7: of bullying problems.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: That was kind of an easy target.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: There were a number of things that made him run.
• 5:29
  Speaker 7: First, I'm like still a big guy now, but I was.
• 5:32
  Speaker 7: I was at my biggest in high school, heaviest.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Second, Brandon tried too hard to fit in, Like the
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: time he shaved a Nike swoosh into the back of
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: his head.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: I just thought, like sports, that's that's cool.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: So it made your head look like a running shoe exactly.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:50
  Speaker 7: I sat in front of this kid named Cyril, and
• 5:53
  Speaker 7: he said it looked like a hockey stick, and that
• 5:56
  Speaker 7: was enough that everyone was like, that's a hockey stick,
• 5:58
  Speaker 7: that is not a Nike swoosh.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Finally, Brandon was a Coda, a child of deaf adults.
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: His family attended a deaf church and spends a lot
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: of time in the deaf community. He says he was
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: brought up with different social.
• 6:11
  Speaker 7: Norms like volume, like volume is not a concern around
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: deaf people and in a deaf environment, and then of
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: course it is around hearing people, So.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: What does that mean?
• 6:24
  Speaker 7: Like any examples, Yeah, like school, where it's like time
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: to be quiet. I was just constantly talking to myself
• 6:33
  Speaker 7: or just vocalizing my thoughts, you know.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Then in middle school, Brandon's parents divorced. There was less
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: space for him, less attention paid to him. He drew inward.
• 6:46
  Speaker 7: I think I wanted to put off a harder like
• 6:48
  Speaker 7: you can't hurt me exterior than I really had on
• 6:52
  Speaker 7: the inside. So wearing hot topic clothes, spiky things, black clothes,
• 6:59
  Speaker 7: and trying to just like keep your hoodie on and
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: get through the day.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: And for the most part, Randon succeeded in going unnoticed
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: until the spring of his senior year. Brandon was sitting
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: at the back of a classroom during a free period,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: eavesdropping on a conversation from across the room. Some classmates
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: were talking about a prom, and among the group was
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a girl named Ali. She was going on about what
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: a great night it was going to be, how excited
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: she was.
• 7:28
  Speaker 7: She had like long blonde hair with highlights, big features,
• 7:32
  Speaker 7: like big eyes, She had a big smile.
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: Hmm.
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Like when she smiled, she looked really happy, hmm.
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: And I think she kind of pulled me into the
• 7:41
  Speaker 7: conversation by directing some of those questions at me, like
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: are you going to prom?
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Who are you going to prom with?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Brandon had no intention of going. He hadn't a girlfriend
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: nor any prospects for a date, and he was confused
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: about why Ali was talking to him. Brandon says they'd
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: barely ever spoken. They were from totally different social worlds.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Ali was in student government. She was popular and beautiful.
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: She was just really well put together, clean and you hmm, No,
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: that's not a word I've used to describe myself in
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: high school. I mean like I would like smell my
• 8:17
  Speaker 7: clothes before I before I put them on in the morning,
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: you know, like I.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Got dressed from the floor, okay, in my bedroom?
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: No, I mean yeah. And yet Ali kept throwing questions
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: at him. Why wasn't he going? If he did go,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: who would he take? Brandon answered in monosyllables, hoping she
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: turned back to her friends and leave him alone, but
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: instead she rose from her seat and began striding towards him.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Inside, I was like, uh, like inflamed, do you know
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: what an?
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: I mean?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Like my heart my heart rate was rising.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: With each question, Ali moved closer and closer until she
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: was sitting at the desk in front of him, facing him.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Then she did something that still flummixes Brandon fifteen years later.
• 9:02
  Speaker 7: She just kind of outright said, take me to prom, Like,
• 9:05
  Speaker 7: go to prom, take me, Let's go together. I immediately
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: had questions, questions like, why, why me?
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 9:18
  Speaker 7: I guess I was skeptical, this is some kind of trick. Hmm,
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: you know, why would you be asking me this other
• 9:24
  Speaker 7: than to setting me up for a punchline or something
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: like that.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: But no punchline really came, so I just agreed.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: On the big night, Brandon met up with Ali and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: her friends for a pre dance dinner at her friend
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Jen's house. He was in the fancier part of town.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Brandon showed up wearing his rented suit with a corsage
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: and a bright blue necktie that matched Ali's stress. Before
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: leaving to the dance, everyone lined up for a group picture.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Did you like just feel like saying, why the heck
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: am I here right? What happened? Was this a mistake?
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 10:00
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I would have loved an answer to that question,
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: but I would never have thought, couldn't fathom saying it.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: You know, do you still have that prom photo that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: you guys took?
• 10:11
  Speaker 8: No?
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: To be honest, I'm not even sure I ever got it,
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: So I don't think I ever even saw that picture.
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: Hmm.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: What do you think you would see in that photo?
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: I mean, just imagining it makes me laugh?
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, why.
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: It would be a line of like beautiful high schoolers,
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: you know, and like me. There just feels like if
• 10:35
  Speaker 7: your eyes set on me for a little too long,
• 10:38
  Speaker 7: that maybe you'd be able to see that it didn't
• 10:40
  Speaker 7: fit in.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Ali and her friends looked like the girls in those
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: movies about prom, and those girls always had guys who
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: gave them the time of their lives. For Brandon, a
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: sense of duty kicked in.
• 10:52
  Speaker 7: It felt like a huge responsibility. It was like, this
• 10:55
  Speaker 7: is going to be a big deal in Ali's life forever,
• 10:58
  Speaker 7: and I have a big responsibility as her date to
• 11:00
  Speaker 7: make sure that I live up to this position.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Hmm.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I was really really nervous.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Did you guys did you nally slow dance? I pretty
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: feel like I feel like when I asked these questions,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I feel like Hannibal Lecter, Yeah, like I'm asking these
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: questions from a straight jacket in a cell. Did you
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: slow dance? Did you slow dance?
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: I do remember slow dancing because I remember thinking, like,
• 11:28
  Speaker 7: it's funny that in TV shows and in movies this
• 11:31
  Speaker 7: is such a big deal. But it's just standing like
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: you're kind of just like stepping slightly. Yeah, Like that's
• 11:37
  Speaker 7: not hard. Like I was in like a hip hop
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: dance crew and youth group. You know that was hard.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Wait, you were in a sorry repeat that you were
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: in a hip hop dance youth group.
• 11:48
  Speaker 7: What Yeah, So the church I went to was just
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: like through a lot of performances and.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Hip hop dance that happened.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Did you ever at any point break out any of
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: your Christian youth group hip hop move on the dance floor?
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Do you do anything like on the floor like where
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: you spin on your back or you didn't You didn't
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: want to ruin the rental, wanted to get your deposit
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: At the prom, Brandon popped for the Lord and locked
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: for the Lord. He made Ali's friends laugh, And it
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: was right there on the dance floor, the place one
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: might expect a high school boy to feel the most
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: self conscious that Brandon felt most the ease he was
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: a part of the group of a group that.
• 12:36
  Speaker 7: Kind of felt like a resolution of what all of
• 12:39
  Speaker 7: grade school was like for me. You know, I never
• 12:41
  Speaker 7: felt safe enough to bring my true self into that space.
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: But like, dancing around at prom with your peers is
• 12:49
  Speaker 7: like one of the most vulnerable things you can do,
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: and it came out on the other end of it, Okay.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: At the end of the prom, Ali and all her
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: friends headed to one of their classmates houses for the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: after party, but having never been to a house party,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Brandon decided not to go. Do you remember saying goodbye
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: to Ali?
• 13:11
  Speaker 9: No?
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: And then what happened after that? Do you recall speaking
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: with her singer in school after that night.
• 13:18
  Speaker 7: I had to have because we both went back to school,
• 13:21
  Speaker 7: But I don't have any specific memories of talking to
• 13:25
  Speaker 7: her again.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Prom is supposed to stay with you for the rest
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: of your life, and for Brandon it has, but eclipsing
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: the dancing, the music, the last night out with his
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: peers is a lingering question.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Which was like, whind me out of all the people
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: that you could be going with.
• 13:43
  Speaker 7: Maybe it was one of those situations where all of
• 13:45
  Speaker 7: these people out there are thinking, well, Ali's taken, She's
• 13:48
  Speaker 7: totally going to problem with somebody already, I'll have to
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: ask somebody else, you know, and then leaves her without
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: a prom date. If that was what was going on,
• 13:55
  Speaker 7: maybe maybe she just had a breakup. Maybe I was
• 14:02
  Speaker 7: part of a charity case.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: So you want to ask her why why did she
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: pick you?
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, I want to know that. Yeah.
• 14:12
  Speaker 7: Without her, I wouldn't have gone to problem. It would
• 14:15
  Speaker 7: have just been another thing on my list of things
• 14:17
  Speaker 7: I regret from high school, you know, But it's not
• 14:20
  Speaker 7: on that list. It's on the shorter list of things
• 14:21
  Speaker 7: that I feel. Okay, Yeah, I'd like to think her.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: I'm just nervous, which is why Brandon has reached out
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to me. If you get nervous, I mean, I can
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: always jump in.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I've just assumed I'm going to be coming along to
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: chaperone after the break I chaperonn Brandon back to high school.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Before Brandon can ask Ali the question that's been on
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: his mind since senior year, we first need to track
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: her down. Her last name is Schmotz, Schmutz. I'm just
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: making that up. Brandon's part of a Facebook group for
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: his high school graduating class, and Ali's a member of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: the group as well. Does that mean that you can
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: have a better chance of messaging or through that group?
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: I mean, like, if I were going to use the group,
• 15:35
  Speaker 7: it would be making a post for my whole graduating classes.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Might as well go big, like say, hey, I'm just
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: going to put this out there to everybody.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're not Ali, please don't read this.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But Ali, I just want to say, hey, hit me up.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Here are my digits. Everybody else, just lose this number.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Maybe Facebook friend her.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I could do that.
• 15:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I'd have to change my name on Facebook. My
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: name hasn't been my real name for a long time.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: What's what's the name that you operate under? Oak Tree?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Just oak Tree, just oak Tree. I can't even find
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you as brand. I'd have to look up oak Tree.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: That's right. I was kind of playing with what kinds
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: of words it lets me have as a name.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Can you change your name from oak Tree to Brandon?
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: Probably a good idea.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Then you don't have to start with a whole rigmarole
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: about how like my name's not really oak Tree. This
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: is Brandon, by the way, you remember from high school.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And so the mighty oak Tree sheds his leaves and
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: his name and the mighty Brandon sends Ali a friend request.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: A week later, Brandon texts with an update. Ali has
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: accepted his friendship. Now he just needs to send her
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: a message. Okay, so you've crafted something already.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah you could you read it? Sure? Yeah?
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Hi Ali? Good so far casual?
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Okay? Cool? Go ahead?
• 17:09
  Speaker 7: Yeah, Hi Ali, maybe you'll remember me we were prompt dating.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: As Brandon reads me a draft, I focus my Keen
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: podcast producer's ear.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: By my recollection. It was your idea for us to
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: go to prom together.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Now let me pause, sorry, let me hit pause there. Yeah,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: like the way that you're underlining your idea, you're not
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: actually underlining that though I did italicize it. It was
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: your idea for us to go to prom together. Is
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: that what you're saying?
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah? It sounds accusatory out loud.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so me, Yeah, maybe we'll do italicize that part. Okay,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: keep going.
• 17:47
  Speaker 6: Uh.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Brandon tells Ali that he still thinks about their prom.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: He says he wants to talk to her about it.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Would you be up for that? Okay? Okay, let's take
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: a look at this here. Okay, so maybe you'll remember.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: As Brandon and I pour over the message, a worry
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: suddenly pops into my head. I wonder if there's a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: way to work in the fact that you're married, you know.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: How about just I'm married? But I'll just start with it. Hey, listen,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: I'm taking.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Speaking as a married man. Me and my wife were wondering.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: That is my wife and I. We were wondering the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: other night after making love.
• 18:20
  Speaker 7: Yeah's need to be doing good work, and I hope
• 18:26
  Speaker 7: you're well.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: All the best.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Once we've crafted the perfect message, Brandon readies himself to
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: hits end.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: Should I go ahead and do it?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do it. Go ahead, HiT's end.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: Enter, it's sent.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Congratulations, thank you. A week later, Allie writes back, she's
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: willing to talk, So that's good.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: It's a positive response.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I look at you. You're you're you're giddy, You're giddy
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: with expectation.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Can you tell us to keep wiping my face
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: and touching my eyes?
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Would it be fun to do it on a video call? Sure?
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: Sure? Yeah?
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Do you still have the suit that you wore to
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: your prom I'll be like I never took it off.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Any things that you want me to bring up, just
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: kind of like conversationally, awards or any upcoming projects, that
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: you want to promote or.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: No, keep it organic whatever cool cool.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I can keep it organic cool.
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Hello, Hello, I'm getting a little bit of static on
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: your end.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Hello better.
• 19:58
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: On the day of the video call with Ali, Brandon
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: and I get on early and wait.
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: It feels like I'm getting back into the psyche of
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: my high school self. Like I'm hey, hi, Allie, Hi,
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: how are you good?
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Allie smiles a big smile full of big white teeth.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: She's wearing a blue patterned blouse that matches the blue
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of her nails.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: I'll just tell you what I've seen on your profile.
• 20:26
  Speaker 7: You live in Carmel, and you have a baby.
• 20:28
  Speaker 6: I have two daughters, a three year old and a
• 20:30
  Speaker 6: two year old.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Awesome, they're right here.
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: On my wall.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Brandon and Alley catch up.
• 20:35
  Speaker 9: The Midwest is just such a nice place to raise
• 20:37
  Speaker 9: a feat. It's recruiting, but there's like a sales element.
• 20:40
  Speaker 9: And then of course the grandparents are here.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I figured that was part of it. Just a family.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: It's a huge reason they're.
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: Always willing to.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Brandon's question hasn't gotten any easier to ask since high school.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: In fact, it's gotten harder. After a pause, of a
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: few minutes or even a few days, one can feign casualness.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: By the way, why do you choose me? But to
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: ask after fifteen years, there's no way to buy the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: way your way through it. But eventually, so.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Can I ask you some questions?
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: Absolutely?
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: I guess first, like, what are your memories of me
• 21:19
  Speaker 7: in high school?
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: Yeah? So I was trying to think of this. Did
• 21:22
  Speaker 6: we ever have any classes together?
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Probably not?
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: Yeah, so we met senior year, right.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: I think so.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Allie doesn't remember much, but one thing she does remember
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: is that day in the back of the classroom.
• 21:37
  Speaker 9: We were talking about prom, you know, as seniors do,
• 21:39
  Speaker 9: and I think you had you were like not into
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: going to prom?
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: Right, You're like, no, I'm not going to go.
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I remember like you had to really spell it out.
• 21:47
  Speaker 7: You were like are you going to prom?
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: You're not?
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: Okay? Like if you were, would you be going with someone?
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: No?
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: And then eventually you were like you and me can
• 21:57
  Speaker 7: go to prom? Like why don't we go to prom?
• 22:00
  Speaker 8: You know?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: And then Brandon asks this question sort of.
• 22:07
  Speaker 7: Like at any point did you consider having having someone
• 22:11
  Speaker 7: else as a date?
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: Well, I would have been totally comfortable going by myself,
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: so I don't have any memories of thinking like I'm
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: gonna ask Brandon and then if that doesn't work, I'm
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: gonna ask so and so they're just kinda like I'm
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: asked Brandon.
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: That is surprising, I guess because I thought like that
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: it was like spur of the moment, like your friends
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: were hearing this for the first time too.
• 22:34
  Speaker 6: No. No, I was very obsessed with my friends, so
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: I'm sure that I ran it by them. So you
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: passed the friends test.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Brandon grows quiet. It wasn't a prank. It wasn't pity.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Ali planned to ask him. What's more, she wasn't going
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: to take no for an answer.
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: I do remember, like you did say no. I remember
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: you saying no, and I'm like, oh, yeah, but give
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: him a day. I'm gonna make him go. He's gonna
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: go with me. But yeah, you were just surprised by
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: the fact that I asked you.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, definitely. Hmm.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Alie pauses trying to find the right words.
• 23:20
  Speaker 9: You made me laugh a lot, and I remember that
• 23:22
  Speaker 9: you were just, you know, fun to be around and goofy,
• 23:25
  Speaker 9: and you smiled at me a lot. I remember that,
• 23:27
  Speaker 9: you know, like I liked being around you, and if.
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: I made a joke, you would laugh at it.
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: You know.
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: It made me feel like I was funny, which is
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: a great quality.
• 23:45
  Speaker 6: You got me a corsage.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I remember that.
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: I remember not expecting you to get me a porsage.
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: I'm thinking that was really nice. I do remember that.
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: Isn't that silly? But like, I don't remember a lot,
• 23:54
  Speaker 6: but I remember that.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: So you know, I'm going to be a little blunt
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: here because uh, sure was there anything else to it?
• 24:05
  Speaker 9: Like?
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: What was there an element of something romantic?
• 24:09
  Speaker 6: So we probably flirted, right, But I don't know.
• 24:14
  Speaker 9: I mean, friendship is really just the main feeling that
• 24:18
  Speaker 9: I can recall.
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: I'm not saying that there wasn't you know. I mean,
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: I don't know. You're a teenager, You're feeling all kinds
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: of things. I'm sure there were moments where I was like, oh,
• 24:31
  Speaker 6: is this a thing?
• 24:33
  Speaker 8: You know?
• 24:33
  Speaker 6: Is this turning into this.
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: That I think that I would have found that really
• 24:40
  Speaker 7: hard to believe as a kid, you know, that would
• 24:44
  Speaker 7: have gone against the narrative of school and what people
• 24:47
  Speaker 7: thought of me that I had.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: I don't know. I guess to some extent I knew
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: that we were.
• 24:55
  Speaker 9: I want to be honest, I knew that there was
• 24:58
  Speaker 9: some people were surprised by the fact that we were
• 25:01
  Speaker 9: going together, right. I do remember one time when I
• 25:04
  Speaker 9: told some dude in my physics class, I can't remember
• 25:08
  Speaker 9: that is going with and they're like, wait, what And
• 25:11
  Speaker 9: I was like yeah, and they're like that's weird, and
• 25:13
  Speaker 9: I'm like, you're weird.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Well. Brandon remembers himself as a misfit. Ali remembers someone
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: who is different than a lot of the other guys.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: In high school. Brandon made rye jokes, he was sweet
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and self deprecating. She remembers things that Brandon doesn't. She
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: says there was one time Brandon did a whole monologue
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: about how he found it hard to drive because of
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: his fear of hitting birds. In other words, Ali asked
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: him to prom for the one reason Brandon never considered.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: She just wanted to go with him.
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: Did you have a good time, eproum, Because I really
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: wanted that for you. I spent a lot of time
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: thinking like, that's my role on the date?
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: Here I go.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: You know, yeah, Ali grows thoughtful.
• 25:58
  Speaker 9: I guess I didn't even think that, because I mean
• 26:00
  Speaker 9: I talked you into it, right, So then here you
• 26:04
  Speaker 9: are kind of not stuck, but like, yeah, feeling like
• 26:08
  Speaker 9: you wanted to make it special for me because I
• 26:11
  Speaker 9: was the one that was all about it. Yeah, I
• 26:13
  Speaker 9: guess I never even thought about that. I just think, Brandon,
• 26:18
  Speaker 9: you're just so much more thoughtful, you know, just thoughtful
• 26:22
  Speaker 9: about the whole experience. And I do want to thank
• 26:25
  Speaker 9: you because that's so nice that you were thinking it
• 26:28
  Speaker 9: was your duty to try to make sure I had
• 26:29
  Speaker 9: the problem I wanted to have.
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I honestly didn't even expect to be thanked from
• 26:37
  Speaker 7: you for anything. I feel like I have to thank
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: you because there's something really simple and superficial about this.
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: But it felt really real that I finished high school
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: as a person who went to prom. I got to go,
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: I got to have a fun time and forget the
• 26:55
  Speaker 7: misfit feelings I was having.
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: That's awesome. That's so awesome to hear you say that.
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: That's really nice.
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: My life started to really just like blossom and grow.
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: I guess from like the moment high school was over.
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: And I guess, I guess I can't say for certain
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: what that part of my life would have looked like
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: had I not had the prom experience, but I can't
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: say it was totally irrelevant.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Was it out of that and kind of like into
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: that period that you ended up meeting your wife Megan.
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it was like that phase of life when Megan
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: I met her.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Dress is so cute. She looks beautiful. This is Megan
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Brandon's wife looking at a photo of Valley from prom night.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: She looks amazing, she looks great. After getting off the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: video call, Ali sent the group photo from prom, Megan
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: studies it while seated beside Brandon.
• 27:58
  Speaker 5: It's also like, so cute to see you flanked by
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: these Like I mean, I'm sorry, they're in high school,
• 28:02
  Speaker 5: so I don't real feel like I should be calling
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: them hot babes. But you know what I mean, Like
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: from the high school perspective, you lucky looking man.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: But as Brandon looks at the photo, I imagine it
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: isn't his day to the other kids that he's focused
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: on so much as he's focused on the big guy
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: in the middle and all the baggage that guy was carrying.
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: There's a lot of weird stuff about like my weight
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: and growing up, like dieting, and like my mom like
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: putting me out of scale, and it was like, you're
• 28:31
  Speaker 7: over this line. You know you're unattractive, and.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: What does it make you to feel like Megan to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: hear that, it makes.
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: Me feel very protective for sure.
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: I think if we don't, we really really get into squabbles.
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: But if ever we do, what really disarms me is
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: like thinking about that like little like young Brandon. I
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: feel like that it happened not even that long ago.
• 28:59
  Speaker 5: Do you remember we were like standing at the kitchen
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: and I started crying, and I was just like I
• 29:02
  Speaker 5: had been so resentful and mad at you for a minute,
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: and then I just like was imagining you being like
• 29:06
  Speaker 5: a little kid and having other like adults in his
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: life not really tend to like the difficulties of that
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: as well as they should have. I think about him
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: just having to like navigate those insecurities alone.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: But Brandon no longer has to navigate them alone. A
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: few weeks ago, before chaperoning the prom with Megan, Brandon
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: went to the tailor. He wanted to wear his wedding
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: suit and needed her to let it out.
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: She was like down on her knees, like looking at it,
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: pulling the pants in different ways, and then said, okay,
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: go ahead and open the pants up so I can
• 29:41
  Speaker 7: see how much we can let out. And I don't
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: know why, but I wasn't wearing underwear. I didn't wear
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: underwear to the tailor. I guess I didn't think that
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: she was going to Brandon be asking that. So yeah,
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: she asked me to open the pants and I was
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: like right now, and she's like, yep, go ahead, and
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: I just said, I can't do that right now. If
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: you know what I mean. Wow, I know, I know,
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: and I don't think. I'm honestly not sure if she
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: knew what I meant. But she dropped it and said, Okay,
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: I think we'll just light it out all the way
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: and that'll probably be enough.
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: It was awful. It was awful.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Brandon was spiraling, So as soon as he left, he
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: sent Megan a text at school asking her to call him.
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: And when she called me, I was fixing a flat.
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: I got a flat tire on the way home. It
• 30:43
  Speaker 7: was just like a shitty afternoon. So I was fixing
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: a flat and telling her what it was like at
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: the tailor, and then we hung up, and then she
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: texted me later and just said.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Like I love you and I love the way your
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: body looks, and I don't think it's weird that you
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: didn't wear underwear. I don't wear underwear either.
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: It was just like a you know what I mean?
• 31:09
  Speaker 7: She was supportive. That fixed it almost immediately for me.
• 31:15
  Speaker 5: Hmm, well, I taught him to go commando, so I
• 31:20
  Speaker 5: feel partially responsible.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: What did you make of Brandon's question that he's had
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: through the years, Why did Ali invite him to the
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: prom in the first place?
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: It didn't have to be a mystery. It makes perfect
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: sense to me that somebody who looks like Ali could
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: like the person who she's standing next to.
• 31:47
  Speaker 9: You.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Brandon says the biggest difference between his two proms was
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: that with Megan, he didn't spend the whole night wondering
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: why the person by his side had chosen him. He's
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: just happy she did.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: I was comfortable the whole time.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: How could you not be comfortable? I mean, you weren't
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: wearing underpants, He held it.
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: Now that the fern Atures returned into its goodwill home,
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: now that the last month's rant is scheming with the
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: damage to possibly take this.
• 33:06
  Speaker 10: Moment to decide, Brandon, Hey, Hello, Hi, I can't believe
• 33:29
  Speaker 10: it's been.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Over four years.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Last time I spoke to you, you were speaking to
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: me from what did you call it? Your man cave, your.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: I didn't remember telling you. But it's called the chill zone,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: the chill zone.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: That's right, it's right there. Wait, so you're not in
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: the chill zone. No, I'm in the office, okay, Because
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the chill zone is for chilling. It's not for recording.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: Well, it's changing its purpose now. It's for the bedtime
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: routine with the new baby.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Well, you really buried the lead on that one.
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: So you have a baby, Yeah, we have a baby.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so exciting. She's growing and learning so fast.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: She's noticing things.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Does she like pulling on your mustache?
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: She hasn't found my mustache in that way yet. But
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: she's really into containers, just putting containers in containers, taking
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: something out of a container, putting in a different one.
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: And she can do that for like an hour, and
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: I can just sit there and watch her and try
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: not to help if she's trying to put something too
• 34:31
  Speaker 7: big and too small container, you know, just watching her.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so exciting, wonderful. That's so nice to hear. Well,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: that's that's the headline. Are there have there been any
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: other changes since we last spoke?
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: Hm? I actually listened to the Brandon episode of Heavyweight
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: yesterday just to have it be fresh in my mind.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And what was that like?
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Uh? It's fun.
• 34:57
  Speaker 7: I feel like when I was first hearing it, I
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: cringe and I cringed a lot less yesterday.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Well, why do you think that is time? I think?
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: I mean I feel a lot different than I did
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: four years ago.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: How in what ways?
• 35:11
  Speaker 7: About a year before Robin was born, Meg and I
• 35:13
  Speaker 7: started going to this meeting. It's like we'd get together
• 35:17
  Speaker 7: with these people and do something called chigong. It's just
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: like breathing and moving. It's kind of like tai chi,
• 35:23
  Speaker 7: but kind of exercisey. And then there's a meditation portion.
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: And there's this concept called no pretending that we would
• 35:31
  Speaker 7: be like, are we pretending with ourselves in our minds?
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: Do we pretend when we talk to other people? And
• 35:39
  Speaker 7: I realized that I do pretend to other people. Thinking
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: about how I want to come across and drawing awareness
• 35:44
  Speaker 7: to that helped me to do it less.
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: Were there certain things that you feel like were that
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: you were pretending at.
• 35:51
  Speaker 7: I'm trying to think of a good way to explain
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: that or oh, you know, one day I realized I
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: was like, if I'm walking up to the door of
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: a gas station, we're going into the gas station, and
• 36:00
  Speaker 7: there's a stranger walking in at the same time, and
• 36:02
  Speaker 7: it seems like we might arrive at more or less
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: at the same time.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: I was fast to jump out of the way. You
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: know first, do you first? And I don't do that
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: sort of thing as much.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: You feel less apologetic for just being around existing, Yeah.
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: Yeah, less about finding a place where I can fit
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: to disturb other people as little as possible, and more
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: now feeling like I am of I'm actually here, I'm
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: a I'm not just smoke, you know. I exist here
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: and I'm moving around and I can do and say
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: what I want and other people will react, however, they
• 36:38
  Speaker 7: will react, and that doesn't mean I should have said
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: or done something different.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: So I feel more.
• 36:45
  Speaker 7: Confident, more, I guess, just in tune with what I
• 36:50
  Speaker 7: actually think and what I'm actually feeling. And I feel
• 36:56
  Speaker 7: like a much different person than I did four years ago,
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: in a good way.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Do you think the Brandon of today would have pursued
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: that story? I?
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I do. Think so. Yeah.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's the branden of today where underwear.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: I've got a couple pairs for special occasions.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: Is this a special occasion?
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: No, it isn't.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Okay, No, you have a twenty year high school reunion
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: coming up.
• 37:26
  Speaker 7: This is the year for my twentieth reunion. Yeah, if
• 37:29
  Speaker 7: it's happening, are you going to go? I would love
• 37:31
  Speaker 7: to go.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: Have you been in touch with Ali?
• 37:34
  Speaker 8: No?
• 37:34
  Speaker 7: I have not, but I wondered if I might see
• 37:37
  Speaker 7: her at this reunion. And you know, I wanted to
• 37:39
  Speaker 7: say before we go. When I was listening to the
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: episode yesterday, I felt grateful. It brought me kind of
• 37:45
  Speaker 7: an outside perspective on that period of my life, which
• 37:48
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't have had without that or you know, and
• 37:50
  Speaker 7: I don't think I would have reached out to Ali
• 37:52
  Speaker 7: on my own. And it was a good lesson to
• 37:55
  Speaker 7: learn that despite what I was going through as a teenager,
• 37:57
  Speaker 7: that I was still me. That's the big takeaway I
• 38:00
  Speaker 7: had from listening to it. You know, when she said
• 38:03
  Speaker 7: you were sweet, and you smiled at me and you
• 38:08
  Speaker 7: laughed at my jokes, that's a good quality. That's some
• 38:10
  Speaker 7: of the things I remember her saying from when I listened,
• 38:12
  Speaker 7: but I don't know how that hit me at the time.
• 38:15
  Speaker 7: I can't remember, but listening to it now, I thought
• 38:17
  Speaker 7: that sounds like me. The real me was still there,
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: I was, it was still coming out. Yeah, So thank you.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you, thank you for saying that and for
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: lending yourself to it so wholeheartedly. Will you say hi
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: to Meg for me? I will Brandon, it was really
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: nice to see you.
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Have a good day you too, you too, enjoy your baby,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: I will.
• 38:44
  Speaker 10: I will.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone who originally put this episode together. We'll
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: be back with another update in two weeks time. And
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• 39:15
  Speaker 1: slash Heavyweight Stevie. Yeah, what do we have in store
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: in the newsletter?
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: We got some recommendations, things that we've liked, and there's hyperlinks.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, parenthetically, I don't know that I've been hyperlinking properly
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: in the newsletter, like you can actually like hyperlink from
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: a word, right, Yeah, that I put the full r L.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: I'm old school, that's right. It's only recently that I've
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: started pronouncing at URL. I used to just pronounce it
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: as earle. Do you know what RL stands for? Ooh,
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  Speaker 1: you really love our newsletter? URL our newsletter.
• 39:53
  Speaker 6: I'm speaking of The URL for the newsletter is.
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: It's at patreon dot com. Slash Heavyweight