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You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoChip Seamans, President of Windham Mountain Club, New YorkRecorded onAugust 12, 2024About Windham Mountain ClubClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Majority owned by Beall Investment Partners and Kemmons Wilson Hospitality Partners, majority led by Sandy BeallLocated in: Windham, New YorkYear founded: 1960Pass affiliations:* Ikon Pass: 7 days* Ikon Base Pass: 5 days, holiday blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Hunter (:17), Belleayre (:35), Plattekill (:48)Base elevation: 1,500 feetSummit elevation: 3,100 feetVertical drop: 1,600 feetSkiable Acres: 285Average annual snowfall: 100 inchesLift count: 11 (1 six-pack, 3 high-speed quads, 1 triple, 1 double, 5 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Windham's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himThe Catskills are the closest thing to big-mountain skiing in my immediate orbit. Meaning the ski areas deliver respectable vertical drops, reasonably consistent snowfall, and an address reachable for first chair with a 6 to 7 a.m. departure time. The four big ski areas off I-87 – Belleayre, Plattekill, Hunter, and Windham – are a bit farther from my launchpad than the Poconos, than Mountain Creek, than Catamount or Butternut or the smaller ski areas in Connecticut. But on the right day, the Catskills mountains ski like a proto-Vermont, a sampler that settles more like a main course than an appetizer.I'm tremendously fond of the Catskills, is my point here. And I'm not the only one. As the best skiing within three hours of New York City, this relatively small region slings outsized influence over North American ski culture. Money drives skiing, and there's a lot of it flowing north from the five boroughs (OK maybe two of the boroughs and the suburbs, but whatever). There's a reason that three Catskills ski areas (Belleayre, Hunter, and Windham), rock nearly as many high-speed chairlifts (nine) as the other 40-some ski areas in New York combined (12). These ski areas are cash magnets that prime the 20-million-ish metro region for adventures north to New England, west to the West, and east to Europe.I set this particular podcast up this way because it's too easy for Colorad-Bro or Lake Ta-Bro or Canyon Bro to look east and scoff. Of course I could focus this whole enterprise on the West, as every ski publication since the invention of snow has done. I know the skiing is better out there. Everyone does. But that doesn't mean it's the only skiing that matters. The Storm is plenty immersed in the West, but I can also acknowledge this reality: the West needs the East more than the East needs the West. After all, there's plenty of good skiing out here, with a lot more options, and without the traffic hassles (not to mention the far smaller Brobot:Not Brobot ratio). And while it's true that New England ski areas have lately benefitted from capital airdrops launched by their western overlords, a lot of that western money is just bouncing back east after being dropped off by tourists from Boston, New York, Philly, and D.C. Could Colorado have skiing without eastern tourism? Yes, but would Summit and Eagle counties be dripping with high-speed lifts and glimmering base villages without that cash funnel, or would you just have a bunch of really big Monarch Mountains?None of which tells you much about Windham Mountain Windham Mountain Club, which I've featured on the podcast before. But if you want to understand, rather than simply scoff at, the New Yorkers sharing a chair with you at Deer Valley or Snowmass or Jackson, that journey starts here, in the Catskills, a waystation on many skiers' pathway to higher altitudes.What we talked aboutChip is the new board chairman of the National Ski Areas Association; searching for a new NSAA head; the difference between state and national ski organizations; the biggest challenge of running a ski area in New York; could New York State do more to help independent ski areas?; how the ski area's rebrand to Windham Mountain Club “created some confusion in the market, no doubt”; the two-day weekend lift ticket minimum is dead; “our plan has always been to stay open to the public and to sell passes and tickets”; defining “premium”; what should a long liftline look like at WMC?; lift ticket and Ikon Pass redemption limits for 2024-25; the future of Windham on the Ikon Pass; rising lift ticket prices; free season passes for local students; who owns WMC, and what do they want to do with it?; defining the “club” in WMC; what club membership will cost you and whether just having the cash is enough to get you in; is Windham for NYC or for everyone?; how about a locals' pass?; a target number of skiers on a busy day at Windham; comparing Windham to Vermont's all-private Hermitage Club; how about the Holimont private-on-weekends-only model?; some people just want to be angry; the new owners have already plowed $70 million into the bump; snowmaking updates; a badass Cat fleet; a more or less complete lift fleet; the story behind K lift; the Windham village and changes to parking; and the dreaded gatehouse.   Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewRather than right now, maybe the best time for this interview would have been a year ago, or six months ago, or maybe all three. It's been a confusing time at Windham, for skiers, for employees, for the people running the place. No one seems to understand exactly what the bump is, what it plans to be, and what it wants to be.Which doesn't stop anyone from having an opinion, most of them wildly misinformed. Over the past year, I've been told, definitively, by a Saturday liftline's worth of casual skiers that Windham had “gone private.” The notion is pervasive, stubborn, immune to explanations or evidence to the contrary. So, very on brand for our cultural moment.Which doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I'm more than willing to bang on ski areas for their faults. In Windham's case, I've always thought that they groom too much, that the season is too short, that the season pass price (currently $2,000!), is beyond insane. But it's not really fair to invent a problem and then harangue the operators about it. Windham is not a private ski area, it is not shut off from locals, it does not require a $200,000 handshake to pass through the RFID gates. Inventing a non-existent problem and then taking offense to it is a starter kit for social media virtue signaling, but it's a poor way to conduct real life.But honestly, what the hell is going on up there? How can Windham Mountain Club justify a larger initiation fee than Vermont's truly private Hermitage Club for a ski experience that still involves half of Manhattan? Why is it so hard to make a weekend Ikon Pass reservation? Does anyone really go to the Catskills in search of the “rarified reality” that WMC insists it is somehow providing? What is the long-term vision here?All fair questions, all spun from WMC's self-inflicted PR tornado. But the answers are crystalizing, and we have them here.What I got wrong* I said that “Gore's triple chair,” which was only a “12, 13-year-old lift” was going to McCauley. I was referring to the Hudson triple, a 2010 Partek (so 14 years old), which will replace nearby but much smaller McCauley's 1973 Hall double, known as “Big Chair,” for the coming ski season.  * I said that the club fees for Windham were roughly the same as Hermitage Club. This is drastically untrue. WMC's $200,000 initiation fee is double Hermitage Club's $100,000 number. Windham's annual dues, however, are much lower than HC's $18,500.* I said that Windham was automating its first snowmaking trail this year. That is incorrect, as Seamans points out in our conversation. Windham is installing its first automated snowmaking on the east side of the mountain this year, meaning that 40 percent of the mountain's snowmaking system will now be automated.* I said that Windham had a water-supply-challenge, which is not accurate. I was confusing water supply (adequate), with snowmaking system pumping capacity (room for improvement). I think I am covering too many mountains and sometimes the narratives cross. Sorry about that.Why you should ski Windham Mountain ClubIf you really want an uncrowded Catskills ski experience, you have exactly one option: go to family-owned Plattekill, 40 minutes down the road. It has less vert (1,100 feet), and half Windham's acreage on paper, but when the glades fill in (which they often do), the place feels enormous, and you can more or less walk onto either of the mountain's two chairlifts any day of the season.But Plattekill doesn't have high-speed lifts, it's not on the Ikon Pass, and it's not basically one turn off the thruway. Windham has and is all of those things. And so that's where more skiers will go.Not as many, of course, as will go to Hunter, Windham's Vail-owned archnemesis 15 minutes away, with its unlimited Epic Pass access, Sahara-sized parking lots, and liftlines that disappear over the curvature of the Earth. And that has been Windham's unspoken selling point for decades: Hey, at least we're not Hunter. That's true not only in relative crowd size, but in attitude and aesthetic; Hunter carries at least a 10:1 ratio* over Windham in number of LongIsland Bros straightlining its double-blacks in baseball caps and Jets jerseys.In that context, Windham's rebrand is perfectly logical – as Hunter grows ever more populist, with a bargain season pass price and no mechanism to limit visitors outside of parking lot capacity (they ski area does limit lift ticket sales, but not Epic Pass visits), the appeal of a slightly less-chaotic, more or less equally scaled option grows. That's Windham. Or, hey, the much more exclusive sounding “Windham Mountain Club.”And Windham is a good ski area. It's one of the better ones in New York, actually, with two peaks and nice fall line skiing and an excellent lift system. It doesn't sprawl like Gore or tower like Whiteface, and those fall lines do level off a bit too abruptly from the summit, but it feels big, especially when that Catskills snowbelt fires. On a weekday, it really can feel like a private ski area. And you can probably score an Ikon Pass slot without issue. So go now, before WMC jumps off that mainstream pass, and the only way in the door is a triple-digit lift ticket.*Not an actual statistic^^Probably though it's accurate.Podcast NotesOn New York having more ski areas than any other state in the countryIt's true. New York has 51. The next closest state is Michigan, with 44 (only 40 of which operated last winter). Here's a list:On the three New York state-owned ski areas that “have been generously funded by the state”It's basically impossible to have any honest conversation about any New York ski area without acknowledging the Godzilla-stomping presence of the state's three owned ski areas: Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface. These are all terrific ski areas, in large part because they benefit from a firehose of taxpayer money that no privately owned, for-profit ski area could ever justify. As the Adirondack Explorer reported in July:The public authority in charge of the state's skiing, sliding and skating facilities saw expenses and losses jump in the past year, its annual financial report shows.The Lake Placid-based Olympic Regional Development Authority [ORDA], whose big-ticket sites are the Belleayre Mountain, Gore Mountain and Whiteface Mountain alpine centers, disclosed operating losses of $47.3 million for the last fiscal year. That compared with losses of $29.3 million for the same period a year earlier.It's important to acknowledge that this budget also covers a fun park's worth of skating rinks, ski jumps, luge chutes (or whatever), and a bunch of other expensive, unprofitable crap that you need if you ever want to host an Olympics (which New York State has done twice and hopes to do again). Still, the amount of cash funneled into ORDA in recent years is incredible. As the Adirondack Explorer reported last year:“The last six years, the total capital investment in the Olympic Authority was $552 million,” [now-fomer ORDA President and CEO Mike] Pratt told me proudly. “These are unprecedented investments in our facilities, no question about it. But the return on investment is immediate.”Half a billion dollars is a hell of a lot of money. The vast majority of it, more than $400 million, went to projects in the Lake Placid region, home to some 20,000 year-round residents—and it turns out, that breathtaking sum is only part of the story.Adirondack Life found New York State has actually pumped far more taxpayer dollars into ORDA since Pratt took the helm than previously reported, including a separate infusion of subsidies needed to cover the Olympic Authority's annual operating losses. Total public spending during Pratt's six-year tenure now tops $620 million.… Taken together that's more money than New York spent hosting the 1980 Winter Olympics. It's also more money than the state committed, amid growing controversy, to help build a new NFL stadium in Buffalo, a city with a population more than 10 times that of the Lake Placid region.There's also no sign ORDA's hunger for taxpayer cash will shrink anytime soon. In fact, it appears to be growing. The Olympic Authority is already slated to receive operating subsidies and capital investments next year that total another $119 million.To put that amount in context, the entire Jay Peak Resort in Vermont sold last year for $76 million. Which means New York State's spending on the Olympic Authority in 2024 would be enough to buy an entire new ski mountain, with tens of millions of dollars left over.It now appears certain the total price tag for Pratt's vision of a new, revitalized ORDA will top $1 billion. He said that's exactly what the organization needed to finally fulfill its mission as keeper of New York's Olympic flame.More context: Vail resorts, which owns and operates 42 ski areas – more than a dozen of which are several times larger than Belleayre, Gore, and Whiteface combined – is allocating between $189 and $194 million for 2024 capital improvements. You can see why New York is one of the few states where Vail isn't the Big Bad Guy. The state's tax-paying, largely family-owned ski areas funnels 95 percent of their resentment toward ORDA, and it's easy enough to understand why.On New York's “increasingly antiquated chairlift fleet”Despite the glimmer-glammer of the lift fleets at ORDA resorts, around the Catskills, and at Holiday Valley, New York is mostly a state of family-owned ski areas whose mountains are likely worth less than the cost of even a new fixed-grip chairlift. Greek Peak's longest chairlift is a Carlevaro-Savio double chair installed in 1963. Snow Ridge runs lifts dating to 1964, '60, and '58(!). Woods Valley installed its three lifts in 1964, '73, and '75 (owner Tim Woods told me last year that the ski area has purchased at least two used chairlifts, and hopes to install them at some future point). Intermittently open (and currently non-operational) Cockaigne's two double chairs and T-bar date to 1965. These lifts are, of course, maintained and annually inspected, and I have no fear of riding any of them, but in the war for customers, lifts that predate human space travel do make your story a bit trickier to tell.On Holiday Valley selling a chairlift to CatamountI noted that a lift had moved from Holiday Valley to Catamount – that is the Catamount quad, Holiday Valley's old Yodeler quad. Catamount installed the new lift in 2022, the year after Holiday Valley pulled out the 20-year-old, 500-vertical-foot fixed-grip lift to replace it with a new high-speed quad.On Windham's pass price in comparison to othersWindham's season pass price is the eighth most expensive in America, and the most expensive in the East by an enormous amount (Windham also offers a Monday through Friday, non-holiday season pass for $750, and a Sunday through Friday, non-holiday pass for $1,300). Here's how WMC compares nationally:And here's how it stacks up in the East:On WMC's ownershipWe talk a bit about Windham's ownership in the pod. I dug into that a bit more last year, when they bought the place in April and again when the mountain rebranded in October.On Blackberry Farms Lodged between Windham and New York City is a hilltop resort called Mohonk Mountain House. In its aesthetic and upscale cuisine, it resembles Blackberry Farm, the Tennessee resort owned by Windham majority owner Sandy Beall, which The New York Times describes as “built on a foundation of simple Tennessee country life as reinterpreted for guests willing to pay a premium to taste its pleasures without any of its hardships.” In other words, an incredibly expensive step into a version of nature that resembles but sidesteps its wild form. I think this is what WMC is going for, but on snow.On the location of Windham's tubing hillI frankly never even realized that Windham had a tubing hill until Seamans mentioned it. Even though it's marked on the trailmap, the complex sits across the access road, well removed from the actual ski area. Tubing is not really something I give a damn about (sorry #TubeNation), other than to acknowledge that it's probably the reason many small ski areas can continue to exist, but I usually at least notice it if it's there. Circled in red below:On Hermitage ClubWe talk a bit about how Hermitage Club is similar in size to Windham. The southern Vermont ski area sports a slightly smaller vertical drop (1,400 feet to Windham's 1,600), and skiable acreage (200 to Windham's 285). Here's the trailmap:On Holimont, Buffalo Ski Club, and Hunt HollowNew York is home to three private, chairlift-served ski areas that all follow a similar business model: the general public is welcome on weekdays, but weekends and holidays are reserved for members. Holimont, right next door to Holiday Valley, is the largest and most well-known:Hunt Hollow is smaller and less-renowned, but it's a nice little bump (my favorite fact about HH is that the double chair – the farthest looker's left – is Snowbird's old Little Cloud lift):Buffalo Ski Center is the agglomeration of three side-by-side, formerly separate ski areas: Sitzmarker Ski Club, Ski Tamarack and Buffalo Ski Club. The trail network is dense and super interesting:On Windham in The New York TimesI referred to a feature story that The Times ran on Windham last December. Read that here.On Vail's pay bumpWhen Vail Resorts raised its minimum wage to $20 an hour in 2022, that presented a direct challenge to every competing resort, including Windham, just down the road from Vail-owned Hunter.On Windham's village expansionWindham will build a new condominium village over some portion of its current parking lots. Here's a concept drawing:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 57/100 in 2024, and number 557 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

On this Living to 100 Club program, our guest is Joe Simonetta, a multi-dimensional humanist and widely respected author and speaker. He has written ten books, many about the mix of crises our world faces today and about solutions that implore us to understand and align with the reality in which we exist and its behavioral demands. Rather than always playing catch up with our health, finances, and education, Joe writes and speaks about the basic steps needed to be and remain healthy, be kind to one another, and respect the environment — the sum of our ecosystems — out of which we evolved and require for our existence. How to stay ahead of the 8-ball, so to speak. We also discuss his first-place, gold medal finish in the sprint triathlon in the 80-84 age division in the U.S. National Senior Games held in July 2023 in Pittsburgh, PA. Because of the level of fitness he maintained through his life and continues to maintain, he was able to accomplish this — despite the fact that it was the first race in which he ever competed and that he used a rented bicycle. Tune in to this compelling and thought-provoking conversation. Mini Bio Joseph R. Simonetta holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School where he studied ethics, global environmental problems, world religions, cosmology, and evolutionary biology. He also studied at Yale Divinity School. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado. Joe also studied architecture at the University of Southern California. He holds a B.S. in Business Logistics from Penn State University. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he is the second of three sons of an immigrant blue-collar steelworker and his wife. He was raised in the shadows of the blast furnaces of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He has since lived for significant amounts of time in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Greece, New Zealand, and Ecuador. As a young man, disturbed at the extraordinary amount of unrelenting suffering in the world, he vowed to himself to do something to alleviate it. He went on to live a very unusual life. He has been an Army officer, professional athlete, entrepreneur and businessman, architectural designer, real estate developer, home builder, environmental activist, author, senior editor of the World Business Academy, and twice a nominee for the U.S. Congress. Intermittently, he wrote a mix of fiction and nonfiction books about humanity and the state of the world. He serves on the board of directors of The Secular Community. At the 2023 U.S. National Senior Games held in Pittsburgh, PA in July 2023, he won the gold medal in the Sprint Triathlon in his age division, 80-84. He is married to Susana Rojas Simonetta. They have a son, Russell, born April 22, 2013 (Earth Day) and a daughter, Fiorella, born October 12, 2015. For Our Listeners Our Guest's Website and Books: Joe Simonetta

On this Living to 100 Club program, our guest is Joe Simonetta, a multi-dimensional humanist and widely respected author and speaker. He has written ten books, many about the mix of crises our world faces today and about solutions that implore us to understand and align with the reality in which we exist and its behavioral demands. Rather than always playing catch up with our health, finances, and education, Joe writes and speaks about the basic steps needed to be and remain healthy, be kind to one another, and respect the environment — the sum of our ecosystems — out of which we evolved and require for our existence. How to stay ahead of the 8-ball, so to speak. We also discuss his first-place, gold medal finish in the sprint triathlon in the 80-84 age division in the U.S. National Senior Games held in July 2023 in Pittsburgh, PA. Because of the level of fitness he maintained through his life and continues to maintain, he was able to accomplish this — despite the fact that it was the first race in which he ever competed and that he used a rented bicycle. Tune in to this compelling and thought-provoking conversation. Mini Bio Joseph R. Simonetta holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School where he studied ethics, global environmental problems, world religions, cosmology, and evolutionary biology. He also studied at Yale Divinity School. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado. Joe also studied architecture at the University of Southern California. He holds a B.S. in Business Logistics from Penn State University. Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, he is the second of three sons of an immigrant blue-collar steelworker and his wife. He was raised in the shadows of the blast furnaces of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. He has since lived for significant amounts of time in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Florida, Greece, New Zealand, and Ecuador. As a young man, disturbed at the extraordinary amount of unrelenting suffering in the world, he vowed to himself to do something to alleviate it. He went on to live a very unusual life. He has been an Army officer, professional athlete, entrepreneur and businessman, architectural designer, real estate developer, home builder, environmental activist, author, senior editor of the World Business Academy, and twice a nominee for the U.S. Congress. Intermittently, he wrote a mix of fiction and nonfiction books about humanity and the state of the world. He serves on the board of directors of The Secular Community. At the 2023 U.S. National Senior Games held in Pittsburgh, PA in July 2023, he won the gold medal in the Sprint Triathlon in his age division, 80-84. He is married to Susana Rojas Simonetta. They have a son, Russell, born April 22, 2013 (Earth Day) and a daughter, Fiorella, born October 12, 2015. For Our Listeners Our Guest's Website and Books: Joe Simonetta

The sleepoverBy NavyRigger - Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.“Oh my God, Riza,” I moaned.“What! What's wrong,” she freaked."Nothing. Nothing at all. You taste absolutely amazing. So much so, I'm making another rule. Your pussy will be my dessert every night.”“Really?”, she said, blushing a light shade of pink.“Oh yeah. I'm serious, I've never tasted a woman as sweet as you. I am in pure bliss right now,” I said as I brought up my fingers and spread her vulva apart.As her vulva split, and I pulled back her clitoral hood, a swollen pink bean appeared in front of me. I leaned in and kissed her bare exposed clit and heard Riza gasp as her whole body jerked. I kissed it again and she moaned loudly. My tongue slid across it and her fingers gripped my hair as she moaned again. I placed my lips around her clit, and sucked a little, before flicking her pink bean with my tongue. Her hands tugged at my hair as I felt her thighs press into my cheeks. I finally stopped teasing her and flicked my tongue across her clit rapidly. She moaned with each breath as I relentlessly worked my tongue and mouth on her clit. I felt her legs shake and her body quiver as her sweet moans turned into screams of pleasure. Her legs locked around my head as her hips began to heave up and down, but I stayed glued to her clit, determined to make her orgasm. I hummed and she screamed out, hands leaving my head to claw at the bedsheets for some kind of purchase to stabilize her to the earth. Her thighs squeezed my head as her heels pushed into my upper back. I look up and watch as she arches her back and the look of pure ecstasy takes her over. After a few moments, she lets out a quivering breath and comes back down to earth.“Holy, fuck, Kurt,” she said between breaths, “Please promise to do that every night."I promise, baby. It'd be my pleasure,” I tell her as I climb on top of her on the bed.I lean in close to her, careful not to rest my weight on top of her, but I hold her as close to me as I can. My hand holds the back of her neck while my other hand grips her thigh as her legs wrap around my waist.“You ready,” I whisper in her ear as my tip presses against her opening.Her hands reach up and rest on the back of my head, and she nods permission. Gently, I push forward with my hips and slip inside of her. She closes her eyes and lets out a breathy moan as I start to fill her. When she opens her eyes again, I am staring directly into her eyes as I make long, slow thrusts in and out of her. With each thrust into her, she gasps and squeezes the back of my head with her hands. I dare not look away, as I am entranced by her green eyes as I make love to Riza for the first time. Quietly she mouths ‘I love you so much' as she brushes my cheek with her thumb. I mouth 'I love you more', and press my lips to her before she can respond. She begins to moan into my mouth, and I speed up my thrust a little to bring her to climax again. Her moans become constant as her hands grip my back and fingers claw at my ribs. I feel her walls tighten around me as she nears climax.My climax starts to heighten as she grips my cock tighter inside of her and I squeeze her tighter to me. As she begins to orgasm again, her nails dig into my side and she screams into my mouth. I don't fight my urge to cum this time and welcome my climax. As we climax together, our bodies tangled together, a flash of lightning illuminates the bedroom and thunder crashes as I release my seed inside of Riza. Thunder continues to roll as I bury myself deep inside of her and fill her with my seed. Riza gyrates her hips, squeezing every last drop I have to offer inside of her. My legs and arms give out and I collapse on top of her. Softly, we kiss, as my cock softly twitches inside of her, long after my climax subsides.I roll to my side, exhausted, and look over at her. Her green eyes look upon me with wonder and love as I reach across the bed and pull her to me. She places her head on my chest and her arm across my stomach. We tangle our legs together as I pull the comforter over top of us. As I close my eyes, I realize that when I wake up in the morning, Riza will be there, and my wish will have finally come true.I awoke slowly, consciousness replacing the grogginess of my slumber at a snail's pace. I didn't want to open my eyes for the fear that last night could have been just a dream. I didn't want to open my eyes because the warmth of the bed was so inviting, and the soft sheets and comforter hugged my body like a glove. I took in a deep breath through my nose and smelled him on the pillow, with a faint hint of freshly brewed coffee. Greedily, I pushed my face deeper into the pillow, his scent intoxicating me as I breathed him in. The scent of him made my mind flashback to last night, the way he held me as we made love, the look of pure, unadulterated love in his eyes as he filled me with his seed. As I rolled over under the sheets, I could feel soreness in my lady parts, but also the residual wetness of his seed still inside of me. Finally, with much reluctance, I stretched my arms and legs out and enjoyed the feeling as sleepy muscles woke up.I opened my eyes and looked over to an empty bed. Longingly, I ran my hand over the wrinkles in the sheets where he had laid last night, holding me and tugging my hair until I drifted off to sleep. Slipping my feet out from under the covers, I put my feet on the floor and gathered the willpower to rise from the bed. My legs protested as my weight shifted to them as I pushed myself off the bed. The carpet was soft and pleasant on my feet as I shuffled towards the bedroom door. I could hear the soft tune of music playing when I reached the steps and smelled the scent of freshly brewed coffee and bacon cooking. When I reached the bottom of the stairs and turned the corner into the kitchen, I almost died due to an overload of cuteness.Kurt, dressed in a black pair of slacks, a grey long sleeve button-up, polished leather shoes, and an untied blue tie draped around his neck, was dancing and swaying to the tune of Love of a Lifetime by Firehouse. Eggs, bacon, and bagels were cooking as steam seeped from a fresh pot of coffee. I leaned against the fridge, completely naked from my head to my toes, and just enjoyed watching Kurt being Kurt. It was adorable and it made me love him even more for it. I must have stood there leaning against the fridge for a good two minutes before he noticed me. A soon as he did, I expected him to be embarrassed and stop, but instead, he started swaying and vibing to the music as he approached me. Lip syncing to the lyrics, he reached for my hand and slipped his other hand behind the small of my back, and danced with me through the final chorus of the song. As the song ended, he spun me around, and then dipped me, kissing me long, and passionately. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl at her first dance, and on the verge of bursting with love for him."Morning my love,” he said as he lifted me back up, his hips still swaying to the fading music, “Hungry? I made you breakfast.”“It smells so good,” I said as I looked at the plate filled with scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, and plain bagels with cream cheese, “Kurt, baby, you didn't have to do this.”“I wanted to,” he said as he took a big bite out of his bagel, “It's our first morning together and I wanted to make it special.”“Well, you certainly did that,” I said as I took a mug from above the coffee maker and filled it with the freshly brewed goodness.A strong hand slapped and squeezed my ass as I leaned over to grab a coffee creamer from the fridge, and I jumped in surprise. I hadn't been awake ten minutes and my pussy was already craving more of Kurt.“Hey now, don't be starting anything you can't finish before work,” I teased.“Says the naked and exotically beautiful Goddess bent over in front of me!” he quipped, “Seriously, do you have clothes to change into?”“Nope,” I said as I peered over the top of the mug before taking a sip of the coffee.I noticed Kurt was already stiff as the bugle in his pants became quite obvious.“Why didn't you bring some clothes with you?”Setting the mug of coffee on the counter, I sauntered over to him, grabbed his cock, and squeezed softly, “I didn't think I would need them. I wanted you to have easy access whenever you wanted it. Clothes get in the way of that.”Kurt placed his hands on the counter and moaned softly as I slowly and gently stroked his hard cock through his pants. I could feel his cock twitch with excitement in my palm.“Riza, damn that feels good,” he moaned into my ear.I took my hand off his cock, buttoned his top button, and tied his tie for him. Forcefully, I pulled on the tie and brought his face to mine as I kissed him aggressively while stroking his cock some more.“I'll make it feel even better when you get home,” I teased.“About that, I think I might have to call in today,” he said as he started to make fake coughing sounds, “Sorry boss, I think I came down with something and won't be able to make it in today.”I giggled and turned around, grinding my bare ass on his hard cock through his pants. I could feel the firmness and heat of his erection between my ass cheeks as he placed a hand on my belly, and gently around my neck."That's a shame," I said as I turned my head up to look at him, "I can't tease you with naughty, sexy photos and sexts if you don't go to work."He let out a disappointed and protracted sigh, "Fine, you drive a hard bargain, Baby. I'll go to work, but I'm going to complain the whole time.""Have fun! Love you!" I told him as I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him, slapping him on the ass to hurry him out the door before he was late."Love you too. And for goodness sake, at least put on one of my shirts or something so you don't freeze to death. My air conditioner is practically brand new and works better than you'd expect," Kurt said before he stepped into the garage.I sat on a barstool and smiled as I enjoyed the breakfast Kurt had prepared for me as I heard the garage door opener hum. I desperately wanted to run to the windows and wave goodbye to him, but I was scared one of the neighbors would see. All it would take is old Mrs. Ruckers walking her dogs like she did every morning, and a simple glance to see me naked and in another man's house to ruin everything. I finished my breakfast and gulped down the rest of my coffee. I took a moment to wash the dishes from breakfast. No sooner did I step away from the sink, the air conditioner kicked on and blasted me with a rush of cold air. Goosebumps instantly pricked up on my skin and I had second thoughts about remaining naked the whole time I was at Kurt's. I headed upstairs and opened his closet. There was a plethora of button-up shirts, some cotton, some polyester, and even some silk. I selected a white silk shirt and laid it on the bed. I shivered as the AC started to chill me to my core. A hot shower was in order.Walking into Kurt's bathroom, I was surprised by how clean it was. Everything was organized, neat, and in its place. I turned on the water to the shower and snapped a few pictures in the mirror for Kurt to enjoy later while I waited for the water to heat up. This morning in the kitchen had me incredibly horny and I looked down as I felt a mix of Kurt's cum and my juices start to drip down my thigh. On a whim, I took the phone in the shower with me, propping it up in the corner of the shower. I took my time showering, enjoying the hot, steamy water as it warmed me up. Once I was all cleaned up, I pulled up the camera and hit record. My pussy ached terribly, partly because I was still sore from last night, and partly because I was craving Kurt's cock again. I had to settle for my fingers as I played with myself, recording the whole thing for Kurt to enjoy. For several minutes I let my fingers delve in and out of my pussy and asshole, shamelessly moaning and screaming out in pleasure without impunity. Finally, I got myself off, and the ache in my pussy subsided... for now.I brought the phone up to my face and blew a kiss, "Miss you baby. Have a good day at work."Stepping out of the shower, I dried off and slipped on the silk button-up. Looking in the mirror, my nipples pressed against the fabric and you could make out my dark areolas through the fabric. I left the shirt unbuttoned, letting it expose one of my breasts, and I posed on the bed for a few photos. I got a little carried away with the photos and even took a few of me grinding my pussy on his pillow. Unintentionally, I found myself enjoying the feeling so much I ended up grinding his pillow to climax. Satisfied with my work, I selected the video and my favorite of the pictures and clicked send. Despite the cup of coffee, I had that morning, I all of the sudden felt exhausted. Time for a nap.--Six hours later I woke up and glanced at the alarm clock on Kurt's nightstand. It was already three in the afternoon. I honestly can't remember the last time I napped that long, and I climbed out of the bed feeling rejuvenated and rested for the first time in a while. *A girl could get used to this,* I thought to myself. I decided to head downstairs and explore a little. Like the bathroom, Kurt kept a clean and organized house. Even the silverware was stacked neatly in the kitchen drawers. Cast iron pans draped from the walls as decoration, and practical storage. My phone dinged and I pulled it up, realizing it was a Kurt. Apparently, he had spent most of the morning in a meeting and returned to his office to a wonderful and joyous surprise on his phone. He apologized for being out of touch and told me he can't wait to get home tonight.I sat at Kurt's computer and turned it on. It was a basic computer, and there were a few older-looking games on it, including a space pinball game I grew up playing. Then a naughty thought filled my head, and I pulled up his search history. Intermittently throughout his search history, there were PornHub entries every couple of days or so."Okay Baby, let's see what you're into when no one is looking," I said out loud to myself.As I clicked on the first video and watched and listened as a small Asian woman like myself filled the screen. The guy in the video was pulling her ponytail and ramming her hard and fast. I watched in amazement as her body shook from the forces of his thrusts. The last-minute of the video was the guy planting a deep creampie inside of her small frame, and recording the cum leaking out of her. I checked the other videos and it was more of the same, small, petite Asian heritage women like myself, getting fucked and filled with cum. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Kurt had a type. Knowing that he was fantasizing about me for years, it was downright flattering to know that even when he wasn't fantasizing about me, he was watching porn with women like me to get off. Then I found a search history of pages from Reddit. Some of them were silly animal videos, historical videos, and goofy pictures. And then I found something that wasn't. Apparently, Kurt was something of a writer and wrote erotic stories of his fantasies about me, in vivid detail. So vivid, my pussy was growing wet and starting to ache again as I read through them. By the time I read through his fifth story, I was playing with myself again and looked down to see a puddle of my juices soaking his computer chair.I jumped as the garage door opener came to life. I glanced at my phone and freaked for a moment as I realized it was already 5:30 pm. Two hours had gone by in the blink of an eye. Quickly I unbuttoned my shirt and closed out of his search history. I rushed to the garage door and leaned against the wall, in the sexiest pose I could think of in the heat of the moment. As the door swung open and Kurt stepped through, a huge smile stretched across his face."Damn you're gorgeous," he gushed, "Missed you today.""I missed you too, now come kiss me already," I begged.His warm hands slid along my hips as he leaned down to kiss me. I instinctually wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt his hands glide along my waist to the small of my back, down to my buttocks. Embarrassingly, I squeaked as his strong hands gripped my ass cheeks and he lifted me up the wall, pinning me between him and the wall as his lips pressed deeper into mine and I lost myself in the passion of the moment. My hands felt up and down his body as my heart pounded and my breath caught in my chest. I've never been kissed with this much passion before, not even by Ronny, and I realized my toes were curled up in the pleasure of the moment when we finally separated to get some air."Wow, you really missed me," I said breathlessly as my lungs burned from lack of oxygen, and my pussy burned from lack of cock."You have no idea. I got practically nothing done at work today because I couldn't put my phone down," he said as his voice quivered while he gently lowered me to the floor. "Three times I had to fight back the urge to go to the bathroom and run one out, just to get me through the day."I said nothing and smiled at him."So Babe, what do you want for dinner?" he asked as he held my hand and escorted me to the bedroom to change out of his work clothes.I watched him strip down, putting his clothes into the hamper, and practically started drooling at the sight of his soft cock, "I don't know, you are looking pretty tasty right now."He laughed and slipped on a pair of grey sweat pants, no underwear, "As great of a source of protein that might be, it's hardly filling.""My throat and pussy beg to differ."An amused chuckle bellowed from his belly as he took my hand in his, "I hear ya Riza, but I am starving. Tell me what you want to eat, and I'll make it happen."I thought about it for several moments. I was hungry for his cock, hungry for his cum, hungry for his touch and his love. All I wanted right now was his strong arms wrapped around me as he ravaged my insides and to feel his hot cum filling my womb again. If only there was a way to get what I wanted, without having to wait for him to cook. I snapped my head up and looked at Kurt with a moment of realization."A large meat lover's stuffed crust pizza and breadsticks," I blurted out."Pizza? I was thinking something fancier, but if that's what my Goddess demands, then that I shall give her what she desires," he said as he pulled out his phone and opened the Pizza Hut app on his phone.What is wrong with me? What about Kurt has me so, uncontrollably horny? I wanted to come over here and spend quality, uninterrupted time with the man I love, but all I can think about is his cock and taking another load of his cum inside of me. It's like my body is having withdrawals and his cum is the drug I get high on. I mean, I'm not even this desperate for cock when I'm ovulating. Geeze, what if he thinks I'm just some sexed crazed slut? Not that he's complaining or anything, but still...After ordering the pizza we headed back downstairs. Kurt handed me the remote, laid on his side on the couch with his back to the cushions, and patted the space next to him. My heart fluttered with joy as I laid next to him, and his strong arms pulled me into him, tucking my curves into his as I just melted into him. He tucked us in tight with the blanket that laid on the back of the couch and kissed the back of my neck as he snuggled in tighter to me."What are we watching tonight?" he asked with a legitimate interest."So," I began, "Something you should know about me before we get too far into this.""Oh no, please tell me you aren't one of those reality TV types of women. You know, Jersey Shores, Real Housewives, stuff like that."I laughed at his implication, "God no! But, I am a sucker for zombie flicks and shows. iZombie, The Walking Dead, Z-Nation, along those lines.""Z-Nation?" I heard him taste the name in his mouth behind me, curiosity yet unfamiliarity in his voice.I stopped, "You've never seen Z-Nation?""Nope, never even heard of it until now.""Oh... Babe, you're in for a treat," I said as I pulled up Netflix and searched for it.We got halfway through the first episode and he was already hooked, I could tell just by looking at him. As if the universe granted us a break, just as the first episode finished, our pizza arrived. I realized I was much hungrier than I thought after I washed down my fourth slice of pizza with a beer and nuzzled back into Kurt on the couch. We were almost through the whole first season before I looked to see what time it was. 11:03pm. I was comforted and relished in the feeling of Kurt holding me so close, and despite a stiff cock pressing through the fabric of his sweat pants pushing into my ass cheek, he had otherwise not attempted to push any kind of sexual agenda on me. It was nice to just lay and snuggle with him. The increasingly rarer times that Ronny snuggled with me like this, he would always demand sex before snuggling, and I would always feel used and worthless afterward, like I was trading my body for some kind of positive attention from my husband. Kurt demanded nothing of me, other than I just be there, with him.Problem is, the less he demanded of me, the more I craved him. Feeling the bulge in his pants pressing against me, I struggled to concentrate on the show. I closed my eyes and imagined him pulling down his pants and slipping inside of me. I was just wearing his shirt and nothing below. No panties or any form of clothing to get in the way. My legs were up near my chest so I was in the perfect position for him to penetrate me. The only thing between my cock-hungry pussy and Kurt's cock was his sweatpants. I desperately wanted him to

  It's easy to fall into a rut. What could taking up a new pursuit or a new challenge do for you? Today's guest, Joe Simonetta is living a diverse, interesting and fulfilling life. Last year he decided to take on a new challenge at 80. He decided to compete in a triathlon. Not only was it his first triathlon, it was his first race - of any kind. And he won the gold medal in his 80-84 age division at the U.S. National Senior Games. His story may inspire you to take on a new pursuit or challenge. Joe Simonetta joins us from Sarasota, Florida. ___________________ Bio Joseph R. Simonetta holds a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School where he studied ethics, global environmental problems, world religions, cosmology, and evolutionary biology. He also studied at Yale Divinity School. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado. He also studied architecture at the University of Southern California. He holds a B.S. in Business Logistics from Penn State University. As a young man, disturbed at the extraordinary amount of unrelenting suffering in the world, he vowed to himself to do something to alleviate it. He went on to live a very unusual life. He has been an Army officer, professional athlete, entrepreneur and businessman, architectural designer, real estate developer, home builder, environmental activist, author, TEDx speaker, senior editor of the World Business Academy, and twice a nominee for the U.S. Congress. Intermittently, he wrote a mix of fiction and nonfiction books about humanity and the state of the world. He is married to Susana Rojas Simonetta. They have a son, Russell, born on Earth Day, and a daughter, Fiorella. He enjoys spending time with his family and training for and competing in triathlons. In the 2023 U.S. National Senior Games triathlon in Pittsburgh, he won the gold medal in his 80-84 age division. __________________________ For More on Joseph R. Simonetta Website  Be Healthy. Be Kind. Respect the Environment.: What We Do to Others, We Do to Ourselves Gingerbread Horse Rocket and The Melon Ball Express: A Story About a Little Boy Who Changed the World Tedx Talk __________________________ Podcast Episodes You May Like Live Life in Crescendo – Cynthia Covey Haller The Fourth Quarter – Allen Hunt Will You Flourish or Languish? – Corey Keyes The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer ___________________________ Wise Quotes On Seven Words to Live By "The three simple rules for living: be healthy, be kind, respect the environment. I have to put in context, and Arthur Schopenhauer observed that all truth passes through three levels. First, it's ridicule, second, it's violently opposed, third, it's accepted as being self -evident. Such a truth has emerged in our lifetime. It informs us that we exist as a tiny fragment of an immensely larger interlocking pole, which all the parts are interconnected and depend upon each other for survival. Simply put, everything's connected to everything else. We exist not separately, but in communion with all other living things. Life's an interrelated, interdependent phenomenon. Everything's in relationship. It's the nature of universe, it's the nature of the reality in which we exist. Like it or not, reality has behavioral demands. That is, if you want to stick around, if you want to live, if you want to continue on the journey, those behavioral demands can be summarized in seven words. Be healthy, be kind, respect the environment. Each one of us is like a cell in the body of humanity. The health of all of us taken together in terms of the health of humanity and the health of our civilization." On Updating Beliefs "The question is, how do we reduce ignorance and suffering, expand knowledge and justice? Einstein observed that we can't solve our problems from the same level of thinking which they originated.So it begs the question, what level of thinking are we at?

Comedian Alonzo Bodden joins Adam as they relate and debate oldie's music, and Adam annihilates anyone who likes a certain rock song. They commiserate about road rage experiences and the joys of driving Los Angeles freeways. Next, in true July 4th traditions, we learn all about professional eating champion, Joey Chestnut, who acquired his 16th “Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest” title, eating 62 hot dogs for the win. Adam & Alonzo are then joined by legendary producer, George Schlatter who recounts a colorful career with a variety of stories working with such consummate stars as Goldie Hawn, Lily Tomlin, Cher and even our previous President, Richard Nixon. Intermittently, Chris reports the news where they discuss recent trends where many cities are utilizing drone shows to replace fireworks displays. Another controversial topic; the creators of ‘South Park' recently acquired Denver's famed 'Casa Bonita', and have recently implemented a higher minimum wage while eliminating tipping. Also, more Joe and Hunter Biden inconsistencies. PLUGS: See Alonzo Bodden live: BURBANK, CA - FLAPPERS COMEDY CLUB - Tomorrow HERMOSA BEACH, CA - THE COMEDY AND MAGIC CLUB - Saturday CHARLESTON, SC - CHARLESTON MUSIC HALL - July 14th And for more dates, visit AlonzoBodden.com Listen to Alonzo Bodden's podcast ‘Who's Paying Attention?' wherever you find podcasts And follow Alonzo on Twitter, @AlonzoBodden Check out George Schlatter's new book, ‘Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy' wherever you find books when it releases on Tuesday And attend George Schlatter's book signing at the Los Angeles Barnes & Noble at The Grove on Sunday THANKS FOR SUPPORTING TODAY'S SPONSORS: Turo.com SimpliSafe.com/ADAM Meater.com OReillyAuto.com

Welcome back to Analyze Scripts, where a psychiatrist and a therapist analyze what Hollywood gets right and wrong about mental health. Today, we analyze the final season of "Succession" with a focus on the (lack of) psychological development of the adult siblings (initially we wrote "children" - Freudian slip!). We also discuss the masterful portrayals of grief related to Logan's death, as well as the expert depiction of ecalating attachment issues and maladaptive externalizing behaviors in the face of such significant loss. We pay homage to some of our favorite supporting characters, including Greg, Caroline, and Willa, and the amazing music. We hope you enjoy! Instagram TikTok Website [00:10] Dr. Katrina Furey: Hi, I'm Dr. Katrina Fury, a psychiatrist. [00:12] Portia Pendleton: And I'm Portia Pendleton, a licensed clinical social worker. [00:16] Dr. Katrina Furey: And this is Analyze Scripts, a podcast where two shrinks analyze the depiction of mental health in movies and TV shows. [00:23] Portia Pendleton: Our hope is that you learn some legit info about mental health while feeling like you're chatting with your girlfriend. [00:28] Dr. Katrina Furey: There is so much misinformation out there, and it drives us nuts. [00:31] Portia Pendleton: And if someday we pay off our student loans or land a sponsorship, like. [00:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: With a lay flat airline or a major beauty brand, even better. [00:39] Portia Pendleton: So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn. [00:42] Dr. Katrina Furey: And your DSM Five and enjoy. Gosh, Portia. I don't know about you, but I'm really going to miss this song. [01:26] Portia Pendleton: I know. [01:27] Dr. Katrina Furey: I really want to make it my ringtone for When You Call me. But then, like, what will other people. [01:33] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, they'll be like, who's calling you sociopath? [01:38] Dr. Katrina Furey: I know, but it's such a good. [01:39] Portia Pendleton: Song, a raging narcissist. [01:41] Dr. Katrina Furey: And I don't know if you noticed, but somewhere, like, halfway through season four, when Kendall's, like, amping himself up to go into the office, the intro song was a little different. It had more of, like, a rap undertone. And I just thought that was so fascinating. I just think the music in this show is so good. And even, like, near the end with the Meal Fit for the King, they're sort of playing it, but in a more playful, childish way. It's just so good, and I'm really going to miss the song. [02:09] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, you hear it, like, softer, more sad, more exciting throughout, especially season four. I don't recall hearing it differently prior. [02:18] Dr. Katrina Furey: To and the other season, it's just so, so good. But we have a lot to talk about with season four. I don't even know exactly how to get started because so much happened. [02:28] Portia Pendleton: I know. Yeah. At the end of season three, right. We talked about Tom and kind of the whoa. Like wolf and sheep's. [02:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: Well, for you, not for me. I knew it. I knew it. [02:40] Portia Pendleton: Tom just still feels like I don't even know. Like, I'm still not mad by him. I don't know why. [02:47] Dr. Katrina Furey: I think because he's charismatic. Like a true sociopath would be. [02:51] Portia Pendleton: He could be, like, a cult leader. [02:52] Dr. Katrina Furey: And I'd be like I'd be, like, 100%. He reminds me of Tom Sandoval in the whole Vanderpump Rules scandal. Another Tom. Oh, my God. You're right. Never name your child Tom. If there's anything we can warn you against from this podcast, do not name them Tom. That's so funny. But yeah, I think he's such a snake. He is so slimy. He is so narcissistic. However, he's also charming, and he's definitely, like, more of a covert flavor where you might not pick it up as much as, like, Kendall, like, throwing himself a big party, just being ridiculous l to the OG. Stuff like that is way more obvious. But I think that's what makes Tom so freaking dangerous. And the fact that he can really just plow over anyone to get what he wants at the end of the. [03:46] Portia Pendleton: Day, and why he's successful 100%, and why the kids, which we will continue to call them, are not the children. [03:54] Dr. Katrina Furey: The adult, fully grown, forty s. Thirty. [03:58] Portia Pendleton: S, like fully adults. [04:00] Dr. Katrina Furey: But they are children. The kids ultimately aren't successful. It's so funny, right? Because I feel like everyone in the world has been waiting for the season finale of succession to see who finally gets waste arm Royko, who gets it, and then it's Tom. And of course it is, right? [04:19] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [04:20] Dr. Katrina Furey: But we all thought one of these. [04:21] Portia Pendleton: Kids would finally or no one at all, right? [04:27] Dr. Katrina Furey: That all of them. It would just be Matson or something like that. But of course it's Tom. And it's so, I think, scary because I bet this is how it really works in politics and in the world. I bet people who are like the figurehead of power probably have these underlings that report to them and do their dirty work, right? [04:51] Portia Pendleton: Like Hugo. [04:52] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. Hugo carl. Frank. Right. We saw them all kind of unravel a little bit with the threat of losing their job or with Matson taking over, like, again, trying to play the field, to hold on to their own power. But then we really see it with Tom and Matson and, like, that dinner conversation they had. [05:12] Portia Pendleton: And it seemed so, like, crazy to me when Tom was talking to Carl Frank and Jerry in the pantry, right, at the small funeral, after part, after party party, after reception at Logan's residence, where Tom's like, well, I'd like to throw my hat in. And I'm like, yeah, whatever, you sound crazy. [05:37] Dr. Katrina Furey: And then there you go. [05:39] Portia Pendleton: And they're all bowing down to him in the last but he can do that. I was thinking if Kendall got it, I think they all know that Kendall. [05:48] Dr. Katrina Furey: Is a little tapped. [05:50] Portia Pendleton: Like, he's unwell, he's unstable and impulsive. [05:55] Dr. Katrina Furey: Risky, and he's not smart. What business savvy does he have to be in charge? Like, none. Right. Again. And even, like, earlier on, wondering with Kendall's name underlined or crossed out? Underlined or crossed out. [06:09] Portia Pendleton: I saw some people got, like, tattoos of that. Yes. [06:13] Dr. Katrina Furey: What? [06:13] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, I saw it online. Like, couple people got, like, tattoos of because I didn't know what the line because I was like, oh, the line's off. [06:20] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. And I was like, that's a bad tattoo. [06:22] Portia Pendleton: But it was not. [06:23] Dr. Katrina Furey: It was a perfect tattoo, I guess. Wow. [06:26] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [06:26] Dr. Katrina Furey: Gosh. Wow. [06:27] Portia Pendleton: Getting tattooed committed, really session. [06:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: That's also, I think, what just fascinates me about the writing of this show, because they get it so right. I think we've talked about some other shows like you, where they get it really good, really right. They can really nail down these dynamics. But this show is, like, in a different stratosphere of accuracy, and not just with the dialogue, but the body language, the interactions. Every time those kids are around their mom, it's just perfectly acted and written, and it's like, I feel so bad for whoever on this team has a mother like this, because that's the only way, you know, I think, honestly, how to get it so spot on, and it just translates so well. You just feel it through your screen. And I think that's why we end up rooting for these kids, even though they're also awful. Yeah, it's wild to me, you're on. [07:23] Portia Pendleton: This ride where it's just like, I don't know, the highs and the lows. You hate, and then I'm rooting and then I hate, and then I'm rooting for them over and over and over. [07:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: And over and over. And also, the show is so intense and hilarious. It's so good with the wasabi in the eye on election night, and then. [07:41] Portia Pendleton: The lemon salts are burning. [07:46] Dr. Katrina Furey: And was this the season where Tom and Greg were the disgusting brothers? Is that starting at the end of season three? [07:52] Portia Pendleton: I don't remember. [07:53] Dr. Katrina Furey: But it's just so good. [07:56] Portia Pendleton: It is. [07:57] Dr. Katrina Furey: It's just so good. And I think, again, we end succession, and I feel like every single character is still exactly who they were at the beginning of season one. There's been no psychological growth, personal growth. If anything, they're all like a more externalized, ickier version of themselves, all the way down to, like, Jerry, Frank, Carl. I feel like the only ones who grew a little is, like, Jess, the assistant who quit, rava, who left, and maybe the girl with the bangs who was like, Logan's girlfriend. [08:35] Portia Pendleton: Carrie. [08:35] Dr. Katrina Furey: Carrie, yeah. [08:36] Portia Pendleton: Maybe she's doing well. Maybe she's in therapy and, like, doing some work. [08:40] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. I could see that she was the like, what? I know we're jumping around a lot, but at Logan's funeral with the four women in the front, like, what did you think of? [08:49] Portia Pendleton: I thought that was so unexpected and just, like, such a fabulous scene. I love that. Obviously, Marcia was so cruel to Carrie, and you get it. And then Caroline being like, this was. [09:06] Dr. Katrina Furey: My Carrie, and then they all kind of bond over it, and they're sitting in the front row altogether again. All those spectators can see all of those women together, and they can figure out what's going on. But then Marsh just like, lucy's not going to snort. Right. And they can all bond over it. It was just, like, so icky, but perfect and so humanizing and just like, wow, really interesting that they could all bond in that way. Yeah. [09:34] Portia Pendleton: So I think we should start with Kendall. [09:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: Okay. [09:37] Portia Pendleton: He and the other two siblings are kind of working together post betrayal with Tom with their $3 billion and just trying to come up with all these companies and these ideas. The 100. [09:51] Dr. Katrina Furey: Oh, my God, what a lame idea. [09:52] Portia Pendleton: It was kind of comical to me. [09:54] Dr. Katrina Furey: Because I was just like, just take. [09:57] Portia Pendleton: The money and go live on board, start a little business. Why do you guys have to work together? [10:05] Dr. Katrina Furey: Don't just go live your life. Right? [10:08] Portia Pendleton: And they still want so desperately to get back at their dad at this point. They're going to somehow kind of come in the back door and make the offer. They're working with that family to buy that other news station, and they're kind of going back and forth about it. Kendall seems to be trying to sabotage that deal. So Kendall's already starting to backstab Sharon and Shiv so they can't work together. And it's like, really? [10:32] Dr. Katrina Furey: Again, it's like they always get in their own way. Yeah, right. But again, that is exactly what happens with people with these personality traits. Like no, Kendall is a raging narcissist. He can't be on a team of three, even if it's his siblings, even if it's in his best interest, even if that's what will lead to further generational for his children. He cannot he has to be number one. He is the eldest boy, after all, right? That is who he is through and through. So even here again, and it's notable that the only time the three siblings are like the Three Musketeers is when. [11:06] Portia Pendleton: They are totally. [11:09] Dr. Katrina Furey: Ousted by their dad or totally exiled on the outside. That's the only time. [11:14] Portia Pendleton: And even with that, I would say they're only really on the same page when it's an intense emotion that they can all share. Right, so it's like betrayal. They are all betrayed by their dad, who sold is selling their company and their mom, and then they are all together in grief when dad dies. [11:35] Dr. Katrina Furey: That's such a good point, Portia. [11:36] Portia Pendleton: But it's like these little moments they're all together for when at the end, Shiv finds out that Matson is betraying her. And then they are like, no, we're going to vote. We're going to take it back. We're team Kendall. They're all together in that moment, but it's like such short lived. And then one of them can't do that, can't tolerate for whatever reason, but it's like something always happens. They can never be on the same page, actually. [11:58] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right, Portia? And what a good observation that they can only align when they're each feeling the exact same emotion almost in the exact same way. But once sort of like that wave of an emotion starts to crash down or subside, and maybe other emotions start to bubble up or it becomes less black or white, and they're not totally seeing it and feeling it the exact same way, that now they can't be aligned, and it's very extreme. That's a really good point because it's. [12:31] Portia Pendleton: Like someone always sabotages it for whatever reason. And it's just like you guys can't ever just get it together. You can't ever get it. They can never either be empathetic towards the other one and do something without personal gain involved, which we know why, but there's no empathy. [12:50] Dr. Katrina Furey: No, it's so extreme. They are all such extreme. They have such extreme flavors of narcissism that you're right. They really can't like, Roman and Shiv cannot tolerate Kendall being the leader. They've never been able to from the beginning. That has been their downfall. You got to just pick one, right? And they just can't it has to be even like, when they were at the moms and Shiv was like, quote unquote, joking about murdering Kendall, I thought they might I would not have been surprised if they had. I really was like, they're going to do it. And I don't think she was joking. I think that's, like one of those. [13:26] Portia Pendleton: Times where she's already in slip in. [13:29] Dr. Katrina Furey: The waters to see, like, will Roman go along with that? I bet if he was going to go along with it, they would have done. [13:36] Portia Pendleton: Or if it would look good for the board, it would do something for Shiv and Roman, like, and maybe they, in that moment, were like, no, that would be like, another crisis and that would be bad. [13:46] Dr. Katrina Furey: Well, I think, like, what they realized was it'd be really it's really hard to clean up a dead body. So unlike Goldberg, they did have that forethought. Right? [13:54] Portia Pendleton: So let's think about Kendall's reaction to grief. [13:57] Dr. Katrina Furey: That episode, I think it was episode three, where Logan dies on the plane, like, of all places, with Tom, of course. [14:06] Portia Pendleton: I know. So he gets to be there, right? Like, he gets to be a part of that. The chaos which all of his siblings, I think, would die to be a part of. [14:14] Dr. Katrina Furey: I have to say that was the only time in this whole show where I thought, maybe Tom is a good guy. The way he called them and was being so calm and telling them, I'm going to cry thinking about it, telling them to come to the phone. And I thought, like, wow, does he have any shred of I think he. [14:35] Portia Pendleton: Does, because I don't think he's like, sociopathic psychopathic. I think that he can understand those emotions. I think he does love Shiv. I think he just loves himself more, you know what I mean? So it's like he can produce empathy and care, but in that moment, that was also the right thing to do. You know what I mean? It looked good. And I think it aligned with this is the right thing to do and it benefits me. [15:06] Dr. Katrina Furey: But also yeah, I did feel, though, like there was more of this is the right thing to do than just, it benefits me. Yeah. Yes, totally. You know, until I think it was in the last episode, he he like, really threw it in Shiv's face when he said something about, well, I did say goodbye to Logan, and they were arguing about something and it was like a smaller comment. It wasn't as big as their explosive fight on the balcony before the election, but I thought, like, what a dagger to throw. Like, what a dagger. Remember? Because they didn't get Shiven time. Oh, God. It was just heartbreaking. But the portrayal of all three siblings, like, the shock of getting the news and trying to figure out how do you say goodbye to a parent you love because it's your father, but you hate because he's been a terribly abusive, awful parent to you. Like, how do you say goodbye? And I was actually so glad that they depicted how hard it was for them to figure out what to say and that they didn't all just kind of, like, let Logan off the hook. Right. [16:10] Portia Pendleton: So Kendall was, like, upset and then I'm not remembering, which I wonder if this is interesting, his actual reaction. Reaction. Because I'm remembering Roman very clearly. [16:23] Dr. Katrina Furey: I remember **** really clearly. I think Kendall was, like, kind of stunned and shocked, but then knew he had to take care of business. Right. I think he was the first one who heard. Right. Like, I think Tom called him and so he got to say something to Logan first. And then he was like, we need to get Roman. We need to get ship. This is Connor's wedding. How are we going to tell him? His wheels started going and again, that's where you're like, so he should take over the company because he can do that. Stay cool under pressure and kind of dissociate from your own feelings in order to there's some people who are really good under pressure like that. But yeah, I don't remember him having he was tearful, but not in the same way. Roman just was so raw. [17:11] Portia Pendleton: Right. Kendall kind of jumped into action and was already thinking about what the voting wanted him to stay up in the air. No. Kendall was like, can we maybe? And Shiv were thinking about, can we have the plane circle for a while? Right. So that the end of day would come so that they didn't have to tell the markets and they would have the weekend. And Roman was like, no, absolutely not. He needs to come down and receive medical care. Roman had the hardest time admitting what was happening. Kendall, I think, was first, too, and then Shiv was second. But Roman had struggled a lot. [17:43] Dr. Katrina Furey: Oh, my God. Kieran Culkin's whole acting, like, in this whole series, especially season four, was just astounding. I also find myself so attracted to him, which we talked about last time, and like, why? This is a terrible character. [18:00] Portia Pendleton: I'm more attracted to Tom. Why? [18:05] Dr. Katrina Furey: We got that interesting. Analyze that about yourself. What does that say? [18:11] Portia Pendleton: Definitely not Kendall or Connor. [18:13] Dr. Katrina Furey: No. Right. [18:14] Portia Pendleton: Logan. [18:14] Dr. Katrina Furey: No. Maybe Greg. Intermittently. Just I think Greg's so tall. I find that fascinating. Well, I'm attracted to Roman, so that is true. Makes sense. But no Roman's reaction. So raw. [18:32] Portia Pendleton: I cried. [18:33] Dr. Katrina Furey: I did too. With all of them. Oh, my God. And then when Shiv came and was like, I just can't like so shocked and was like, why didn't you come get me? And they're like, we try. Oh, my God. Just so heartbreaking. And the fact that Logan died when they were in such a big fight, I feel like that's almost everyone's biggest. [18:52] Portia Pendleton: Fear in the world. [18:53] Dr. Katrina Furey: Like, when you fight with your parents, and it's a really big one that they're going to die before you can make up. [18:58] Portia Pendleton: And that's why I think so many people do have different ways of handling it. So it's like you don't ever confront, you know what I mean? Some people never confront because of that. Other people, it's almost, like, easier to have it be constantly conflictual because we can't tolerate the thought of being on. [19:17] Dr. Katrina Furey: Bad terms or like, oh, it's just heartbreaking. And then sort of rewinding and thinking about that final scene with them all together at the random karaoke place for Connor's bachelor party when Willa's like, maybe cheating on him unclear. And like, the stuff Logan was saying to them that was so despicable and disgusting, and then he dies. [19:40] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [19:41] Dr. Katrina Furey: And like, oh, I'm just like, are they mad at him? Because I I could also see and I have, you know, seen patients who have parents like this and then they die in the middle of a conflict. A lot of times the children are so mad at their parent, they're like, okay, and now you die on me when this is happening. This is just like this is track. I don't know. It was so intense. I thought medically, their depiction of I think it was a pulmonary embolism that he died from makes sense. That happens so quickly, it can be fatal so fast. So that depiction made sense. I can't even imagine. I kept thinking of, like, the flight attendants doing CPR for hours and hours and hours right. Because I think that you have to until you land, and that's so traumatizing for them. And then like, the team, Carolina, Hugo, all in the back room, like, let's just start the press release. [20:38] Portia Pendleton: But it's like, that's who should be doing that, you know what I mean? Yes, they have a relationship, they have a friendship, whatever you want to call it, with Logan. But I think that feels appropriate. Carl and Frank, they're all taken off guard and upset and they kind of can pivot because they're not his kids. Right. [20:58] Dr. Katrina Furey: And in some ways, that is the best way to honor Logan is to get your ducks in a row, you know what I mean? As you were saying that, I just had a flashback, too. Was it that flight or another flight where Carl and Frank were putting on their compression stockings? [21:15] Portia Pendleton: Oh, I don't remember that at all. [21:17] Dr. Katrina Furey: That's like a really interesting now you think about, like, foreshadowing, because that's often how you get a pulmonary embolism is you have a clot in one of your deep leg veins and it travels up, unfortunately. And a pulmonary embolism is basically a blood clot in your lung vasculature that leads you to stop breathing. Just wish Logan would have put on some compression socks, especially with his history of stroke and all these things, but just interesting. I bet they'll all wear them now. Yeah, I will. [21:43] Portia Pendleton: I know. Now I'm like another thing to be anxious about while I fly. [21:48] Dr. Katrina Furey: When I was an intern, like on my medicine rotations, I was always so anxious about a PE. That is like, the thing that can happen when you're really sick and all this. I was always so anxious that people were going to have PE's, and one time I caught one, so that's good for me. Yeah, but like, God, I lived, like, in such a state of hyper vigilance, like checking people's pressures, checking people's heart rates, checking their breathing, check at this, making a move and squeeze your leg muscles if you can't walk around. Like, it's just so scary. [22:20] Portia Pendleton: So then we see him at the funeral. So we see him and, you know, we're going to talk about Roman more, but, like, we see him taking over for Roman because Roman cannot go through with the speech. [22:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: Of course he cannot. [22:33] Portia Pendleton: Right. [22:33] Dr. Katrina Furey: He should. You should. [22:34] Portia Pendleton: Like, he pregrieved. He pregrieved. So he's fine. Roman's fine. [22:37] Dr. Katrina Furey: And also, I get that people try to pre grieve. You wish you could grieve before it happens so it won't hurt so bad. It just does. Yeah, I see that a lot. Especially when people have family members with, like, a neurodegenerative illness or something like that. Yeah. I feel like Roman just displayed, like, all five classic stages of grief. Denial, anger, sadness, bargaining, acceptance. So well, yeah, he really went through the different ones. And again, it's not like a linear thing. You can bounce around and feel things at the same time. But he really displayed that so well. And again, it was like he was really hoping this was going to be his moment to shine. He's going to give the eulogy and then he just can't. And did it break your heart? [23:22] Portia Pendleton: Yes. [23:23] Dr. Katrina Furey: When no one went to comfort him? Yeah. Those four women in the freaking front row. Your own mother does not go up to Jerry, doesn't go to give him a hug. [23:33] Portia Pendleton: I think he was really feeling the loss of Jerry, not being comforting, but he had just I was going to. [23:41] Dr. Katrina Furey: Say this fired her. But still, I mean, again, it's like, that's who Jerry is, who she is. Right. [23:51] Portia Pendleton: But also, like a lesson in some way. If we look at it really black and white, if you do something horrible to me, we're done. It's a really clear boundary. Like, you just fired me and we had an inappropriate relationship, but I'm not going to do that. And his expectation, I think all of their expectations because they haven't had solid, secure attachments are so skewed. But it's like if you hurt someone and if that person is healthy, they will put up a boundary, right? So you can't hurt them again. [24:21] Dr. Katrina Furey: I mean, that's normal, right? And again, it's like, the mom really should have been the one to 100%, right? And she just sits there. Just sits there. And then you think is like, maybe quote unquote, comforting them by inviting them to her Caribbean villa or whatever. And then it's like a sales pitch, of course, for her husband. [24:43] Portia Pendleton: Don't eat his cheese. [24:45] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah, don't eat his cheese. We have no food in this house. Here's the frozen knobbies I keep. And I was like, this track. This woman doesn't eat despite all of her money and access. Of course she doesn't. And even you know that Shiv's pregnant and you still don't have any food. [25:03] Portia Pendleton: You have your knobby ends. [25:05] Dr. Katrina Furey: Knobby ends that freezer. And it's like, you know what? That's what she's done to these kids their whole life. Just tossed her frozen knobby ends at them and said, that's all you get. That's good. Yeah, that's a good picture. [25:17] Portia Pendleton: Even there in this silly little moment is so deep. We could analyze that for a while, right? [25:24] Dr. Katrina Furey: And again, they all bond and are aligned because they're feeling something toward their mom in that moment. Right? And like, that scene with them making the meal fit for a king and just how silly and playful. I loved it so much, and I did really feel like this might be it. They might get it together. And then I was like, why did I think that? Why was I optimistic? [25:49] Portia Pendleton: They just can't. [25:50] Dr. Katrina Furey: They can't. [25:51] Portia Pendleton: So then we see, ironically, at the funeral. So Kendall then takes over. He does, I thought, a well job on the fly, and he responds to Ewan information. Ewan, I thought, was interesting because some of the things that he was saying really humanized Logan. [26:09] Dr. Katrina Furey: His whole backstory. It was like, finally we learned about Rose and this oppressive guilt that Logan carried with him that it was, like, his fault. Even though finally we got some backstory. And even you and going up to the podium was like, I can't believe my own family would prevent me from speaking at my brother's funeral. Because you're worried about the stock price or whatever. And it's like they would yeah, they're trying. [26:34] Portia Pendleton: And you could see them all. They're like, motioning to Greg to try to pull him back. And it's like, also, what are you tackle you and Logan's brother as he's going up? First of all, in front of, like, press. [26:44] Dr. Katrina Furey: That's what I'm going to say. As if no one can see you guys, like, finagling, and you just look like idiots. [26:51] Portia Pendleton: It's like, oh, my gosh. And then I thought Shiv's words were pretty sweet. That was nice that she was able to do it. I don't have a strong memory of it, but what I do remember is that Connor didn't say anything. And I was like, how fitting. [27:03] Dr. Katrina Furey: That is really fitting. I feel like again, though, he had a speech prepared. I didn't remember that. I just forget everything about Connor. And I think that's like, that's how you're supposed to, right? But also, it was so heartbreaking at the karaoke thing, his little bachelor party, when he was able to say to the siblings after Logan storms out, like, well, my superpower is I don't need love. That's your problem, guys, is you want dad's love and approval, and I just don't need it. And I was like, oh, but yeah, that's how he has survived. And we learn about his mom going to a mental institution. And my thoughts are like, did she really need to go? Or did Logan have so much power that he was able to pull those strings? And we see Connor's trauma reaction to the wedding cake, reminding him of the cake he ate when they told him his mom went to the fight, which. [27:54] Portia Pendleton: They all are joking about. [27:55] Dr. Katrina Furey: It's not funny. [27:56] Portia Pendleton: I mean, they joke about Roman being in the cage. They joke about I mean, it's like these horrible, really, really abusive things that weren't just like, oh, one time I locked my brother in the dog crate, like lol, and then I opened the door. No, he was in there for hours. This happened multiple times. [28:12] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah, that's disgusting. But also, humor is a more mature defense mechanism right, than a lot of. [28:19] Portia Pendleton: The naming how horrible everything was. It's like they can't even go there. [28:24] Dr. Katrina Furey: No, they can't. Right? They would just be psychologically annihilated. How can you it's totally not safe, right? Totally not safe. I hope that they eventually could if they get into some good quality therapy. I think the only one who maybe ever would would maybe be Roman. And I hope Carrie I hope Carrie, the latest mistress, is able to get into some good quality therapy and heal again. She had a very humanistic, normal reaction to being on the plane with Logan and then trying to grieve. [28:57] Portia Pendleton: Right, I forgot she was on the plane. [28:59] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah, and trying to grieve and also deal with the shame and sort of like public view of her as the mistress. And they threw her out of his apartment when she came to get some of her stuff. And it's just sick. Super sick. [29:14] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. So we see kind of Kendall Shiv and Roman bond again, I'd say, like immediately after the funeral, at the funeral, and then we see them all kind of starting to have their wheels turning about what we're doing. They go on that trip to see Matson at that retreat, and again, they. [29:35] Dr. Katrina Furey: Screw themselves, right, because Roman loses his cool and lets it out that they're not going to actually sell to him. Again, if they could have just kept it in, right, maybe they could have gotten the right amount of votes or whatever to thwart the deal. But again, it's like, I think he said what it was, like, three days after died. I feel like season four took place in, like, a seven to ten day period. And of course, they're not functioning at their best. They have so many raw emotions that and maybe Matson could sniff that out, because he is a total narcissist in his own raging way. [30:13] Portia Pendleton: And I think he's very eccentric, very egotistical, but also, like, that woman blood. And she was like, maybe just don't do that. [30:24] Dr. Katrina Furey: Don't send, like, your biological fluid. That's also just so weird. Porsche, what did you make of that? What is the point? What do you think she wants with your blood? [30:34] Portia Pendleton: Maybe he was like, I don't know. It's like a part of him. It was a process to give he's so rich, he can give her whatever, but it's like, no, I'm going to give you my blood. That's so much more intense than, like, oh, I'm giving you a bracelet. But it's like, I'd rather have the bracelet. And it seems like Ebba Too would rather have the bracelet. [30:54] Dr. Katrina Furey: Maybe she could make a bracelet out of his blood. [30:56] Portia Pendleton: She could make a little necklace. [30:58] Dr. Katrina Furey: She can also hold onto it for a major lawsuit in the future, which maybe you should have thought about. But creepy. That's like serial killer level creepy, right? You call the police when someone's, like, sending you their blood. [31:13] Portia Pendleton: That is wild to me. Matson is, like, so smart. He's too smart where it's like he is detached from the real world reality, what it's like to be a human. I think he's just brilliant. He created this code. [31:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: I thought at some point in there, they said he actually didn't. It was these other people, and he's taking the credit. [31:36] Portia Pendleton: Well, maybe he's smart enough to do that. [31:38] Dr. Katrina Furey: Maybe smart enough to do that. [31:39] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [31:39] Dr. Katrina Furey: So we see Matson Alexander Scarsgard again. I always love to see him, and he's great, even if he's sending people his own blood, which tracks he is. [31:49] Portia Pendleton: A vampire and true blood. [31:50] Dr. Katrina Furey: There you go. Totally tracks. And I always imagined it as, like, a huge IV bag full of blood, but maybe it's like a vial. [31:58] Portia Pendleton: I think it was frozen, and I think I don't know why. [32:01] Dr. Katrina Furey: Multiple times. Just so bizarre, so weird, and also so dumb. Okay, we don't have to keep talking about the blood. So we see again, Roman, and really, Roman get in his own way by revealing their evil plot to Matson, who now knows the evil plot and can take steps to continue to win in the situation. I feel like Matson probably was getting a sense of something going awry and was like, knows what to say to sort of provoke people to figure out their real motives. Like, we see that with him and Tom Too. [32:41] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [32:42] Dr. Katrina Furey: And what a creepy superpower to have. [32:46] Portia Pendleton: And I think he poked Roman in a way that he saw roman being impulsive unstable again. I mean, your dad just died three days ago. [32:54] Dr. Katrina Furey: But of the two, Roman 100%. [32:57] Portia Pendleton: And Kendall is, like, backdooring still. Everything at that time. He's talking to Hugo, he's trying to put out some numbers that then Shiv and everyone's really ****** about how that got out. And then he says whatever matson says whatever makes sense to Shiv to get Shiv on his side. [33:13] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. And she takes that bit because she always does. Again, she gets in her way. Oh, and it drives me nuts. It drives me so nuts again, because I feel like at the beginning of the show, I thought she was the smart one who just wasn't getting her comeuppance because she's a girl. And then the more we've seen of her, I feel like she's just so annoying. I love the character, don't get me. [33:37] Portia Pendleton: Wrong, but I think they had to have written that because there were points in the last episode of season four that when she's talking to Matson that I was like, you are so annoying right now. And Matson was annoyed and I think we were supposed to feel that. [33:51] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right? And that's why, again, this is how Shiv gets in her own way. [33:55] Portia Pendleton: She was annoying with her dad in that episode when he yells at her before the big board meeting or shareholder meeting. He yelled at her and was like, you're stop. And again, she was, to me, like, grating in my ear. [34:11] Dr. Katrina Furey: She has this obsessive reassurance seeking, which of course, she has that based on her life and how you can't trust anyone and people always screw you over. But she hasn't figured out that by continuing to do that, you push these people away at your own detriment. Right. So she just thinks that she's so suave and such a good communicator that she'll be the one to go in and smooth things over and figure it out, even when she was in the company now and sitting in on the meetings. And it's just like everyone thinks you're a joke. And it's so sad that she can't see that. Right? [34:50] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. And I think her reaction on the phone to her and Tom are not speaking. They're actively trying to get divorced. [34:58] Dr. Katrina Furey: He gets all the lawyers based on Logan's advice. [35:02] Portia Pendleton: And then he's the one who's, like, telling her to say goodbye to her dad, even. That was really, I'm sure, obviously hard for her, besides the fact that she had to say goodbye to her dad. But it's like, Tom is the one who's telling you. I mean, maybe on one hand it was, like, comforting because there's still maybe a little bit of feelings there. I don't know, I just can't imagine that. And then she kind of went a little bit childlike, like, Daddy, please don't die. Same with Roman. Roman became more childlike. [35:30] Dr. Katrina Furey: That is what happens. Like, you regress in times of such intense emotional trauma. Right. And I think she was like, that's him there in the coffin. But all that is so true. Grief is just such a mindfuck that a lot of times you are in such extreme denial. Yeah. What did you think about the scene between Shiv and Tom at their fancy apartment the night before the election? [35:55] Portia Pendleton: That was a big fight, I think. It was like they had so much hurt at that point, in pain, and had hurt each other so specifically, wildly up until that moment. And it was like, this has to happen. When is it going to happen? I thought Tom again, just because I still like Tom, he's, like, telling everyone how bad he needs sleep. [36:19] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. [36:19] Portia Pendleton: He's, like, preparing. His face has to be up. He's, like, so obsessed with I loved. [36:24] Dr. Katrina Furey: When he came in and he was like, all right, party's over, everyone go home. And I'm like, that's always how I want to end the party. Just be like, okay, please leave. I don't know if you ever see it online. Like, those memes with party decorations. That's like a big banner that's like, welcome to the party. Please leave by eight. Yes, that's true. [36:42] Portia Pendleton: And if you don't, I will ask you to ask you, and then it's awkward and weird. Yeah. So some of the things that they said were obviously so horrible and hurtful, but, like, true. Like, really? I don't know hard truths because it's finally horrible, people. But, like, you guys needed to say. [36:59] Dr. Katrina Furey: That, and this is how you really feel about each other. It was so big and explosive and disgusting, but also authentic and true. And they were both so angry and betrayed by each other. And that's when she told him that she's pregnant. Right. [37:15] Portia Pendleton: And he was like, Is that even true? [37:16] Dr. Katrina Furey: Which I could see why action. Also, like, the way she brought it up, it does seem provocative and manipulative. And at that point, I wasn't sure if she still was, because we saw earlier on. I will make a note that Shiv calls the doctor by her first name. [37:31] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. Which I'm not surprised about. [37:33] Dr. Katrina Furey: Exactly. [37:34] Portia Pendleton: It was probably a personal doctor. [37:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: But also, I feel like people with narcissistic traits don't respect sort of professional boundaries or I can't imagine Shiv giving that professional deference to someone else. Right. They don't. They just call you first name. [37:53] Portia Pendleton: That tracks. Even when they were trying to get Logan into better care earlier, earlier when he did not die, they were all just like, we need the best of the best. And I think even if they still. [38:04] Dr. Katrina Furey: Would have, even when he was dying on the plane, they were like, we need to get this one on the line. He needs to go here. And it's like, guys, but so we learned she's pregnant, that there was some sort of testing to be done that showed everything was okay. But then we see her drinking throughout the season, and I wasn't sure if she was still pregnant and drinking, which, again, I could see her doing, or if she'd had an abortion. And I wasn't sure how it was all going to shake out. And then I mean, my God. What do you think about Shiv being a mom? [38:36] Portia Pendleton: Well, having watched all of the season, I think she is the new Caroline and she's going to do exactly what Caroline did to her. I think she's going to be cold and kind of detached. [38:48] Dr. Katrina Furey: She already is. She's already talked about all the nannies and she's never going to see the kid. And on the one hand, I was like, is she just saying that to Matson? So she gets to be the American CEO, but I don't think so. I think that's all she knows. [39:01] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [39:02] Dr. Katrina Furey: Awful. And I kind of like that we didn't find out if she's having a girl or a boy. What do you think? [39:08] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, I think both are screwed. Yeah, I think girl, that would be worse in my. [39:19] Dr. Katrina Furey: Again, now, by sort of maneuvering the way she did at the very end, she has sort of maintained the closest tie to the power right. By staying with Tom and that flaccid handshake. [39:34] Portia Pendleton: I know that was like iconic. [39:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: So iconic and uncomfortable and perfect. But she's staying with him. It seems they're going to have the baby, but I still feel like it's going to be a girl. And so still not really quite the heir, as you would think, right? Like, if she had the son who was like the bloodline, as Roman was saying. This all starts to remind me of. [39:59] Portia Pendleton: The British royal family, too. [40:01] Dr. Katrina Furey: I was kind of like as I watched the show, I also read Prince Harry's memoir, sort of at the same time, and I was like, is this what their life is like? [40:10] Portia Pendleton: There's definitely parallels, right? [40:11] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. [40:13] Portia Pendleton: Rules, expectations, pressure, public eye out for yourself. [40:18] Dr. Katrina Furey: It's just so weird. [40:20] Portia Pendleton: Distrust, probably betrayals along the lines. So, yeah, no, that makes sense. But I felt sorry for Shiv and really kind of aligned with her when she was at that board meeting, finally kind of giving the vote because I think she's so on the one hand, she knew that Tom was going to get it and I think knew that she would be closer to power if Tom did. But I think really, on the other hand, she doesn't think like, she said that Kendall can do it, right? Yes, 100%. Like, even his reaction, I mean, that just then proved and that's what she left and then just did the vote. [41:02] Dr. Katrina Furey: Even when they were like, you killed someone and he was like, well, no. [41:06] Portia Pendleton: It sounded like he had killed more than one. [41:08] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah, right. It did. It left their room open, like with. [41:11] Portia Pendleton: And that's what Roman was like, what do you mean? Multiples or others or plural when you said that? [41:18] Dr. Katrina Furey: And then when he is like, well, no, that's a misunderstanding. That didn't actually happen. It was like, dude, again, two seasons ago, or whatever, that was when you all bonded again over this. [41:30] Portia Pendleton: And so both would have been hurtful. [41:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. [41:32] Portia Pendleton: Like, on the one hand, if that was a move and you lied, which they were like, which one is it? Or that you have killed someone and potentially others. I think he kind of drove himself. [41:44] Dr. Katrina Furey: Into the and he did make the decision about menken in the election. [41:49] Portia Pendleton: Right. [41:49] Dr. Katrina Furey: So, again, there's just these character, like, this is him, this is who he is. And he makes these bad decisions impulsively based on really intense emotions. Which totally makes sense, right? Because we know that people with different personality disorders under stress. That gets bigger, as it does for all of us. Like, if you have an anxiety disorder and you're under stress, your anxiety goes up. If you struggle with depression and you're under stress, that can be a timeous trigger. This tracks. But you see that with Kendall in such a destructive way, like also Roman, but with Roman it's more masochistic, where it's like self destructive. Like when he goes into the protesting or he gets hit by someone, or he seeks out love from Jerry only to be rejected, it's always he's the one getting hurt, but Kendall hurts. Like, people have died and then the whole country is now at risk. Your own children are at risk. Right. [42:48] Portia Pendleton: He seems the least self aware. Yes, I think they all have self awareness issues, but I think he seems like the most he has no responsibility. [43:03] Dr. Katrina Furey: I have no awareness he has any self awareness. I feel like zero. [43:07] Portia Pendleton: Right. [43:07] Dr. Katrina Furey: I don't think he does even like his whole big birthday party. [43:11] Portia Pendleton: No, 100%. [43:12] Dr. Katrina Furey: But I think Roman, interestingly, has the most self awareness of the kids. Maybe Connor. Maybe Connor wins that. Then Roman, then Shiv, then Kendall. Right? Is how I would rank them. [43:33] Portia Pendleton: So we see Kendall, though, like, he's just not self aware about anything. He he gets so wounded so quickly, and then he reacts. And it's just like that impulsiveness to have this huge reaction and change everything with Rava. [43:46] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. The kids. And as you were saying that, it reminded me of like back in season one or two, where he stole the batteries. That's like a perfect example of like in the vapes. Yeah. He's just having such big feelings. I think he'd felt really rejected by his dad and was angry. And so he's like, I'm going to steal this. He doesn't need to, but he does. So that's like a little way. And then there's these huge ways, and we really do see that with the way he abuses Rava and his assistant Jess, and then his new assistant he calls new Jess. But that scene with Rava trying to leave with the kids was so chilling to me, and also, again, just like spot on. And it really shows you, like, I bet there's been a lot of domestic violence like this in their relationship. And it's a miracle that she's able to leave him at all, right? Because, like, someone with his power and money and access to lawyers and blah, blah, blah. That's so freaking scary. [44:45] Portia Pendleton: Self awareness. Like, should my kids be with Nannies 24/7, or maybe with their mom and me sometime? [44:52] Dr. Katrina Furey: You know what I mean? What's best for your kids? [44:55] Portia Pendleton: It doesn't matter because it's not about them, it's about him. [44:57] Dr. Katrina Furey: And even hearing about like in season three, right, where the daughter was scared, so he hires someone to track them. [45:02] Portia Pendleton: That's not how you and then doesn't tell them that. And that's what they're being followed. [45:06] Dr. Katrina Furey: That's not how you handle it. And then even all of that happening, we come to learn. Maybe some people picked this up earlier. I did, until Roman really says it at the end in that big fight that his daughter's adopted and then that his son maybe isn't biologically his, we're not really sure. But then the whole thing with the election just really, to me, epitomized his character. Again, Roman doesn't care about anything, so of course he's like, let's do Minkin, because then we can squash this Gojo deal. And again, none of them are smart enough to see that Minkin is also out for himself and using you. You can't trust that he's going to come through. Why would you? But they always do. They have this thread of trust that. [45:49] Portia Pendleton: Always similar with Jerry. I see Jerry and Roman and then Roman and Menken is connecting with Roman on some level that makes Roman feel attached and into him and blind, can see nothing wrong. [46:04] Dr. Katrina Furey: And again, Menken probably knows that. Just like Matson. [46:08] Portia Pendleton: Yes. [46:09] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. That this is the weak link. That's why he goes for that rather than Kendall. It's just so classic. But and again, it's just like I think it also just speaks to how it's just human nature to want to be able to trust and to try to attach to something anyone around you, I think, especially when you've had such disrupted early attachments like they've had, that you don't know how to tease apart. What are early characteristics of a trustworthy person? [46:41] Portia Pendleton: They have no idea because they don't have really anyone in their life. [46:45] Dr. Katrina Furey: No idea. And so the people that they feel most comfortable with are going to be people who are just like their parents, who are going to screw them over. And it happened again. But also, I wasn't surprised with Roman in the election. I was with Kendall. I really thought he might not do it. And then I really thought Greg might pause long enough to keep it from happening. And they all did it. They just went for it. [47:10] Portia Pendleton: Porsche and so that that scene or that episode about the election was so chilling. Well, I guess this does affect people's mental health, but, like, I thought it was just such a testament to, you know, what many I wouldn't call them conspiracy theorists, but people believe like, does happen. Like, I do think it kind of there's powerful people who control, you know, who gets elected, so on and so forth. These news people calling it the news stations, though I was and maybe this is true or not. I feel like that is something that I never thought of, how important networks are in calling states for different right. Politicians. Exactly. [47:55] Dr. Katrina Furey: And I was like, wow, this is. [47:57] Portia Pendleton: Interesting, just on, like, a factual side. But I thought it was so chilling. I think there were absolute parallels right. To reality and people's fears with the. [48:09] Dr. Katrina Furey: Balances catching on fire. And they're like, well, there's nothing precedented for this. Let's call it for mango. Oh, my God. [48:17] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [48:18] Dr. Katrina Furey: It was eerily. I'm afraid to say accurate because I don't know if that's actually true. Right. I'd like to think this doesn't really happen, but it definitely made you go, yeah. [48:28] Portia Pendleton: And Romans just like he said, to shift something like, well, it doesn't matter. Nothing's going to happen. And she was like, Things do happen, Roman. [48:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: Roman, things do matter. [48:38] Portia Pendleton: And then you see kind of the next episodes with all the protest, right? That's why Rava is afraid to take the kids to the funeral, because there's a lot of protesters and a lot of people don't like the Roys because of ATN and so on and so forth. So it's like, that all kind of came to be because of the election. And then Roman running in the streets, which is so interesting. He seeks them out. He's fighting with them. He's egging them on. [49:04] Dr. Katrina Furey: And he was I also pushed that as like, he's so angry that his dad died and then this happened, and he's just so full of rage, and he just climbs over the hurdle and gets in it. And I was like, Are they famous enough in society for those protesters to know that's Roman Roy and ATN just called it? Would they know that? Or is it like, if I saw a Murdoch on the street, I wouldn't. [49:29] Portia Pendleton: Know who they were? [49:30] Dr. Katrina Furey: You know what I mean? [49:31] Portia Pendleton: His suit, right? It was perfect. [49:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: And then how he's getting totally pummeled and then trampled over, and I was like, this is Roman. This is him. And then again with Kendall. This is Kendall. This is who Kendall is. And his character, his authentic character with not being able to I just can't fathom it, Portia, that this election is already affecting his family, his children. And even knowing that he still can't put that in front of sticking it to **** after he hears what she's doing in order to get what he needs, he still can't appreciate how terrified his family is, where they wouldn't go, the funeral, where he's only thinking, what's the world going to think if my family's not there? And I'm about to ascend to power. It's just so sick. [50:28] Portia Pendleton: Right. And another reason why he can't he is trying so hard to be Logan, and he is not. [50:37] Dr. Katrina Furey: That that's a good thing. [50:38] Portia Pendleton: Right. If he could go to therapy and. [50:42] Dr. Katrina Furey: Realize that's a good thing, let's harness those parts of you that aren't like him and just stop trying, Kendall, and take your bazillion dollars. Take, like, two years off. Get really good therapy, get sober, and then get into music. Do what you want, Randall. [50:59] Portia Pendleton: Be a rapper. [51:00] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. [51:01] Portia Pendleton: It was really hard to watch. I think at the end, I felt sorry for Kendall, but I was kind of, like, done with him until he. [51:09] Dr. Katrina Furey: Again is, like, walking toward the water. And once again, we're thinking, will he or won't he? [51:14] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. [51:15] Dr. Katrina Furey: Will he or won't he? And then the bodyguards, like, lurking in the back, because I think he knows what's about to happen. I think a lot of people think he did. I mean, I kind of think he did. Like, after it cut to black, it remind me of kind of like The Sopranos, where it cuts to black, but if not, then I feel like. [51:34] Portia Pendleton: Without help or without some shift, we see kind of like an overdose. Accidental, maybe more intentional or something with water, which he seems to really like. [51:44] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah, he's like the theme of water in Kendall throughout the whole show has been so interesting. Right. And I'm sure that's intentional. [51:55] Portia Pendleton: Yeah. The pool and then him kind of walking out, even when they were at. [52:01] Dr. Katrina Furey: The Mom's Island, and he's, like, swimming out to the raft, and they're thinking about murdering him. It's in the middle of water. Drowning with the waiter at his wedding within water. Then he takes that bath. Like, there's something about water. It's like, maybe Kendall, take some time off, get some therapy, and then become a swim instructor. [52:21] Portia Pendleton: Do something with water. [52:22] Dr. Katrina Furey: Do something with water. Like aqua therapy or help other people in the water. But he's not he can't possibly. [52:32] Portia Pendleton: And then so we wanted to briefly talk a little bit about Tom and Greg. [52:36] Dr. Katrina Furey: And then I decided I also want to give Willa a little do, because, God, I love Willa. But yeah. Tom and Greg, the disgusting brothers. How did you feel when Tom put that purple sticker? [52:49] Portia Pendleton: Oh, my gosh. [52:50] Dr. Katrina Furey: Forehead. [52:51] Portia Pendleton: I really liked it. [52:53] Dr. Katrina Furey: I almost cried. [52:55] Portia Pendleton: I want you first of all, that he kept the stickers right from he just happened to have it, and then he put it right on his head. And I really like Tom in Tom and Greg. Me too. Greg is like greg was just, like, bothersome to me. I thought he was so irritating within the funeral. Like, he was dynamic and the grief and being sorry and trying to hug them, and they were like, Greg, get out. Like, you're so annoying. Like, you don't care. It's so clear that you're trying to attach yourself to someone. [53:29] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. But again, it's like, that tracks for him. Oh, yeah. I kept hoping that Greg was going to be kind of normal and might save the day, especially with the election, when he was like, It's my job. He was talking to that girl that I think he was kind of seeing, but, no, he just falls right in line. He wants the power, too. And again, it was like that sticker scene with Tom and Greg was so endearing, but also not right, because I think Tom is like, I need Greg. [53:57] Portia Pendleton: Right. [53:58] Dr. Katrina Furey: And Tom needs someone to beat up on the way he's beat up on metaphorically by everyone around him. He needs someone to quite physically beat up on when he gets upset. Right. And that's the purpose Greg serves. So then it's kind of icky. [54:12] Portia Pendleton: I felt like Greg evened the power dynamic a little bit by slapping Tom back in the bathroom. I think if Tom had just done it, it would have felt like obviously, but worse. But by Greg kind of coming back, it was then more just like a slap fight. And maybe Tom likes I think so he's proud of him, right, when he backstabs someone or when he's, like, blackmailing people. So I think he was happy to see that reaction. [54:41] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. And that way it's weird because you might think that Tom wants someone below him who's just like Tom, who he can just totally abuse and manipulate and. [54:52] Portia Pendleton: Will do whatever he says. [54:53] Dr. Katrina Furey: And Greg isn't quite like that. Like, Greg held onto the documents. He slaps him back. He has backstabbed him and stuff. And Tom kind of likes that. Just like in Shiv, actually, if you think about it, tom's, like, attracted to that. And in that way, Tom kind of reminds me of Roman and being attracted to these people who serve a purpose and hurt you. Yeah. [55:16] Portia Pendleton: He gave an interview, Matthew, and he was talking about some of just the voice tones. And when he is talking to Greg, there's like a lot of pauses. It's more blunted or loud. [55:30] Dr. Katrina Furey: And then when he's talking to Shiv, he gets a little bit of a high pitched voice. And he said that was out of, like, fear. Oh, this is so interesting. I want to watch that interview. That is so fascinating. Because Shiv has the power until now, right? Yeah. God, what a fascinating character. I want to see what happens with Tom and Greg. I would like a snap of them. Also, I just thought it was so interesting to me how Greg was so tall. I think I looked it up and he's 6ft, seven inches, so he's way tall. And just the whole dynamic of him being this random cousin with no power, he's trying to warm his way in, but he has this height and this stature and how that just lends him to having this power in the room that other people blow him. Don't have. It's just fascinating. [56:16] Portia Pendleton: It's like he's hard to miss. [56:17] Dr. Katrina Furey: Exactly. [56:18] Portia Pendleton: Always kind of notice. [56:19] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right? Exactly. And then Willa, God bless Willa, she's going to live in Logan's big house with her cow print couch all by herself because she's found a way for Connor to be some ambassador somewhere or something. [56:36] Portia Pendleton: Slovenia. [56:38] Dr. Katrina Furey: Or even if that doesn't pan out, which it probably won't, let's be honest, she'll find a way for him to go back to Montana or something, and she's just going to live it up. [56:48] Portia Pendleton: Willa and Greg are clever and in different ways. [56:55] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yes. [56:56] Portia Pendleton: I think they're both good at getting their needs met. I think they have different personalities and stuff like that. But I think they know how to play the game, know how to ultimately get what they want. I think I see Willa as a little bit more likable than Greg. Maybe some people feel the other way around, but I just think it's interesting. [57:16] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. This show, man, what a great show. I'm really going to miss it. I'm really sad it's over, but I also feel like this is the ending. Yeah. This feels like, okay, this is the ending. [57:29] Portia Pendleton: Roman we both have the most hope. [57:31] Dr. Katrina Furey: For getting into therapy. [57:33] Portia Pendleton: He's having a martini, which we think could be related to as a cheers to Jerry or Shiv. [57:40] Dr. Katrina Furey: Right. [57:41] Portia Pendleton: And he's out. [57:42] Dr. Katrina Furey: He looked like, peaceful and content. I don't think he'll get therapy. I don't think he'll get DBT or anything. [57:51] Portia Pendleton: But maybe he'll stumble across on his world journeys. [57:55] Dr. Katrina Furey: Or sucked into a cult. [57:58] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, I was going to say, which is funny. Or joined some wellness center, which is also known as sometimes they're a little culty. [58:08] Dr. Katrina Furey: Yeah. [58:09] Portia Pendleton: But I could see that him kind of accidentally stumbling into something that's actually helpful. Shiv, she is. I have attached to ATN and Royco. [58:22] Dr. Katrina Furey: I feel like she is just going to live such an empty, sad life and she doesn't have to. Right? Like, she could make different decisions and really learn to heal and do some attachment parenting with her child. The wealth, you know what I mean? But it's not about the money. Exactly. The money is not the thing for them. It's the power. And like, the getting one over. [58:46] Portia Pendleton: And then Jeremy Strong talked about an alternative ending where he felt compelled because he's a method actor, as we've talked about, to almost act a scene where he kills himself. So he's, like, climbing over the edge and he gets stopped by someone else on set. [59:04] Dr. Katrina Furey: I think it was the bodyguard. Yeah, I could totally see that happening. Or, like we said, an overdose in the next year or two, whether intentional or not. I don't know if he'll ever see his kids again after that whole thing. I kind of hope not. That scene made me so uncomfortable. Or he's, like literally getting in the way of the car and the kids are watching all of this. You're just. Like, if this is what you're doing in broad daylight in front of people, what did you do to this family in the privacy of your home? Makes me scared. Yeah. And Connor, I think he'll be okay. Yeah. [59:40] Portia Pendleton: He'll either be a diplomat somewhere no, that will happen. [59:44] Dr. Katrina Furey: He will be go back to his. [59:45] Portia Pendleton: Little ranch in the middle of nowhere, conserving water and having a little empire. I think Carl and Frank, as they kind of giggled to each other, what do you think? Do you want to stick around? And they were both like, maybe so I don't know if they can detach themselves. [01:00:02] Dr. Katrina Furey: I don't know if Tom will keep him around, though. [01:00:05] Portia Pendleton: He said that? No, he said goodbye, but I thought that was funny how it's like you guys have been trying to get this golden parachute forever and yet you're thinking. [01:00:13] Dr. Katrina Furey: About staying for till I all of you just like, go on your merry way. It's wild. [01:00:20] Portia Pendleton: The power of power. So stick around. We will be covering more Max shows, hopefully that have also good intro music as well. [01:00:30] Dr. Katrina Furey: White Lotus is coming. Exactly. [01:00:32] Portia Pendleton: Euphoria. [01:00:33] Dr. Katrina Furey: Speaking of cults, we're going to be talking about Yellow Jacket season two in the next couple of weeks. Yeah. And find us on Instagram at Analyze scripts. We're on TikTok now at Analyze Scripts podcast, and please don't forget to rate, review, subscribe and share with your friends near and far. [01:00:50] Portia Pendleton: Yeah, thanks for listening. [01:00:52] Dr. Katrina Furey: All right, see you next Monday. [01:00:53] Portia Pendleton: Bye. [01:00:59] Dr. Katrina Furey: This podcast and its contents are a copyright of analyzed scripts. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited. Unless you want to share it with your friends and rate, review and subscribe, that's fine. All stories and characters discussed are fictional in nature. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, buildings or products is intended or should be inferred. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. The podcast and its contents do not constitute professional mental health or medical advice. Listeners might consider consulting a mental health provider if they need assistance with any mental health problems or concerns. As always, please call 911 or go directly to your nea

New Zealand's largest privately-owned healthcare group is having to intermittently close its urgent care and general practice clinics in Auckland, due to staff shortages. Tāmaki Health runs the White Cross clinics seven days a week - but the New Lynn, Glenfield and Mt Wellington clinics have been hardest hit - cutting back opening hours and days. [picture id="4LA7XAH_White_Cross_Clinic_Glenfield_jpg" crop="16x10" layout="full"] As Sam Olley reports it's putting health workers under extra pressure as vaccination drives ramp up and winter illnesses spread.

VikingsWildTwins

Topics: -Sam finds some Monterey changes difficult on his quest to be more efficient. -Jerry uses Daylite exclusively for Reminders. -Joe likes the Things app -Intermittently. Sam's reminders would stop appearing on his Mac. A setting in Notifications & Focus -Back in his teens, Sam recalls the time he started up his own “reminder service”. -Joe was using Terminal tools like ioreg to detect things like if a Mac is in clamshell mode. -Poor care for laptops leads to screen or hinge breaks. -Troubleshooting Magic Keyboard issues led to a simple upgrade being required. -Sam is learning a lot more about Google Workspace and its MDM restrictions. -Jerry poses the question about what cloud services to recommend to small clients. -During a 1Password migration for his family, Sam moved a little too fast and deleted his wife's private vault. -Safari is causing Sam some greif and Jerry has advice. -Private Relay and Addigy Live Desktop don't play nice together in Joe's experiment. -confusion ensues for how and where to disable these privacy features. -One of Jerry's clients compares him to their “technical guys” at work.

Okay listeners, by now you know that Mr. Sloth possesses a certain vocabulary when it comes to investing. These words play a key role in the way that I think about the realm of investment.  In the second edition of this particular mini-series, we continue to dive into Mr. Sloth's investing dictionary by exploring the letters E-I. Intermittently, we'll touch upon the remaining letters that comprise my investing dictionary in future episodes.  For now, though, my co-host Jay and I hope you enjoy our second foray into the Sloth Investors investing lexicon. Mr. Sloth Twitter: https://twitter.com/sloth_investor Substack: https://theslothinvestor.substack.com/

This week we circle back on the big question: does celery juice break your fast?  Kalene gives book recommendations for Highly Sensitive People, and Blair encourages Kalene to be mindful of ‘fixing' others. Meanwhile,  do divorced women play by a different set of wardrobe rules? Get ready to be schooled on Leaky Sexual Energy. 

The boys sit down today to do a non-spoiler discussion in the first half of the episode, giving their vague thoughts on the newest film adaptation of the Caped Crusader directed by Matt Reeves. In the second half, they delve into a deep dive of the discussion of themes and characters in a spoiler filled talk. The boys also discuss the film landscape as a whole and try to answer the question, which is more pathetic: going to the movies completely alone or being the fifth wheel on a double date. Intermittently, our video production teacher Mr Jay Morris and religion teacher Mrs Riedel chime in with their thoughts on how Batman has evolved through the years. PARENTAL WARNING: Mild mentions of fictional violence or controversial characters. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/xhour/message

The Sloth Investor possesses a certain vocabulary when it comes to investing. These are words that play a decisive role in the way that I think about the realm of investment. In episode 19 we begin to explore Mr. Sloth's investing dictionary by diving into the letters A-D. Intermittently, in future episodes, we'll touch upon the remaining letters that comprise Mr. Sloth's investing dictionary. For now, though, we hope you enjoy our first foray into the Sloth Investor's investing lexicon. Mr. Sloth Twitter: https://twitter.com/sloth_investor Substack: https://theslothinvestor.substack.com/

Ron starts this episode with a call on a 97 Dodge Maxivan 2500 with a hard start when warm : takes a call on a 14 F150 that will intermittently either skip gears or hang on a particular gear : talks about a $5 Billion plan to put electric car chargers on the highways – this from the White House : takes a call on an 03 Chevy Pickup with electrical issues : answers an email on a Chrysler 6000 and a problem with the oil filter adapter : talks about the GMC Super Cruise hands free car. Visit us at http://www.cardoctorshow.com! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

That titles long in the tooth, and, inexplicably enough, creepy.

Cross James Merrill, H. P. Lovecraft, and Carlos Castaneda -each imbued with a twenty-first-century aptitude for quantum theory and existential psychology-and you get the voice of Daniel Pinchbeck. And yet, nothing quite prepares us for the lucidity, rationale, and informed audacity of this seeker, skeptic, and cartographer of hidden realms.Throughout the 1990s, Pinchbeck had been a member of New York's literary select. He wrote for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Harper's Bazaar. His first book, Breaking Open the Head, was heralded as the most significant on psychedelic experimentation since the work of Terence McKenna.But slowly something happened: Rather than writing from a journalistic remove, Pinchbeck-his literary powers at their peak-began to participate in the shamanic and metaphysical belief systems he was encountering. As his psyche and body opened to new experience, disparate threads and occurrences made sense like never before: Humanity, every sign pointed, is precariously balanced between greater self-potential and environmental disaster. The Mayan calendar's "end date" of 2012 seems to define our present age: It heralds the end of one way of existence and the return of another, in which the serpent god Quetzalcoatl reigns anew, bringing with him an unimaginably ancient-yet, to us, wholly new-way of living.A result not just of study but also of participation, 2012 tells the tale of a single man in whose trials we ultimately recognize our own hopes and anxieties about modern life.Pinchbeck, journalist and author of the drug-riddled psychonaut investigation Breaking Open the Head, has set out to create an "extravagant thought experiment" centering around the Mayan prophecy that 2012 will bring about the end of the world as we know it, "the conclusion of a vast evolutionary cycle, and the potential gateway to a higher level of manifestation." More specifically, Pinchbeck's claim is that we are in the final stages of a fundamental global shift from a society based on materiality to one based on spirituality. Intermittently fascinating, especially in his autobiographical interludes, Pinchbeck tackles Stonehenge and the Burning Man festival, crop circles and globalization, modern hallucinogens and the ancient prophesy of the Plumed Serpent featured in his subtitle.

Fasting is not just a modern weight loss trend. Fasting unlocks the power of God not only in our lives, but in the lives of others. Jesus calls us all to fast, but what does proper fasting look like? Join us for our final talk in the series, "Old Time Religion." This series is focused on tearing down the walls that prevent us from seeing and understanding Jesus. In the sermon by Pastor Eric, he talks about the way to properly fast and how, when done correctly, it can heal and deliver.

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.  Revelation 21:8, KJVIn Day 99, Apostle ID leads us to a day of sober reflection as we seek deliverance, asking ourselves, does our lifestyle mirror our faith?  The way we live our lives after repentance shows us who we live for.  Our lifestyle moves God.  Scripture is clear that a Believer is known by their fruits, and so if we engage in certain practices, there is a second death.  To win a war, soldiers must take time to reflect and so in day 99, we too are called to search our hearts, examine our hearts and ourselves and make any necessary adjustments to please and obey the Commander of our lives, that our lifestyles will mirror who we follow. In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.  Proverbs 4:23, KJVIn Day 98, Apostle ID, counsels us to guard our hearts that without proper care, we can lose all that we gained and forfeit our deliverance.  Guarding our hearts entails keeping our minds and hearts set on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy as well as being careful about what we let into our spirits via what we listen to, what we watch, the company we keep, and how we treat our bodies.  When our hearts are defiled, we open doors for satanic agents to take territory.  In this podcast, you will gain wisdom on how to defend your heart against the onslaught of the enemy whilst strengthening your inner man.    In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.  Jude 5, KJVIn Day 97, Apostle ID brings us to Jude 5 to look at the cost of unbelief.  Jude 5 is a lesson for all Believers.  Even though Israel got their deliverance out of Egypt by faith, they took their deliverance for granted opening doors for unbelief in the wilderness.  Their unbelief cost them their blessings, their very lives, and even their covenant blessings.   Israel who was miraculously taken out of Egypt could not be delivered in the desert.  We are called to believe and Trust God to the very end.  Our victory comes by faith.  Join us today, walk in the faith, maintain your deliverance, believe that the world does not overcome the church, the church overcomes the world in Jesus Name.      In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.  3 John 2, KJVIn Day 96, Apostle ID lays out Biblical principals that help us attain and receive Kingdom prosperity and righteousness, and good health.  Apostle ID differentiates worldly prosperity from Kingdom prosperity.  If we are to prosper according to the Word of God, we must follow Biblical wisdom.  We are warned that wealth attained from mammon will dictate our spiritual life.  This podcast is full of Biblical Truths that help us walk in the principals of God in order to attain and maintain the blessings of God.  Learn how blessing destroyers operate, and join us to pray against every devourer of our health and wealth in Jesus Mighty name.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.  And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.  Judges 4:7-8, KJVIn Day 95, Apostle ID continues to guide us to place our Trust in Christ and Christ alone.  We look at the story of Barak in Judges 4 whose faith depended on that of another person instead of the Words spoken to him by God.  Barak demonstrated someone who trusted in human strength over God.  We must have faith in the Word of God, and that the Word of God is sufficient for our deliverance.  A deliverance absent of Trust in Christ, runs great risk.  Join us to claim your deliverance on the basis of God's Word, have assurance that God will honor His Word.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  James 4:7, KJVIn Day 94, Apostle ID continues to open our understanding of scripture and spiritual warfare.  God makes His power available to us when we are submitted to Him.  Until we are submitted to God, we are not in the position to resist Satan.  Submission requires obedience to God's Word and God appointed authorities over our lives.  The opposite of submission is rebellion, and through rebellion, Believers can be taken advantage of by rulers, authorities, powers of darkness and spiritual forces of evil.  Tune in today for deeper spiritual insight that will help you continue to fight the good fight of faith on this journey towards Real Deliverance in Jesus Mighty Name.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  Galatians 5:24, KJVIn Day 93, Apostle ID admonishes us to examine our walks in light of God's Word.  The Bible is clear that those who belong to Christ have crucified their flesh.  The flesh stands in the way of our deliverance.  Until the battle with the flesh is won, it will be hard to win the battle against powers of darkness.  Apostle ID points out that there are three enemies we need to conquer in warfare: the flesh, love of the world, Satan and his demons.  In this podcast, Apostle ID also examines what it means to crucify the flesh, and how we can overcome the desires of the flesh, join us today for more understanding.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;   1 Peter 2:11, KJVIn Day 92, Apostle ID brings us to 1 Peter 2:11 to warn us against giving into the lusts of the flesh, and to exhort us to crucify the flesh.  Lust is a compelling desire to dwell outside of the will of God.  It is a sin that leads to more sins.  Scripture commands us to abstain, avoid, get away from fleshly lusts as it wages war against the soul.  Romans 8:13 tells us, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."  The urge to satisfy the lust of the flesh will result in different forms of perversion.  What we do with our flesh, will determine what happens with our lust.  Join us on this journey, crucify the flesh, believe for deliverance from lust and live in the power and the fullness of the Holy Spirit  in Jesus Mighty name.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Matthew 18:18, KJVIn Day 91, come boldly with the authority Jesus gives to every Believer to bind and loose on earth as it is in heaven.  This assurance is given to us from the Lord Jesus Christ.  Tune in to join Apostle ID and Overcomers in Christ as we engage in a powerful session of prayer, binding spirits that are on the loose and hindering our deliverance.   Take authority over every contrary spirit in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.  Psalm 55:22, KJVIn Day 90, Apostle ID reveals divine strategies in warfare while looking at the subject of Divine Support.  The Bible recognizes that we will have burdens.  Jesus said that we will have trouble in this world, but in spite of the troubles and burdens, we are admonished to cast that burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain us.  Sustain is different from deliverance in that we remain in the battle, but in the battle, God will keep us, uphold us, and preserve us.  When  we attempt to take up our own burdens, we are limiting God.  Satan also exploits the pride of our flesh so that we cannot fight effectively.  Have you given your burdens to the Lord and left them there?  If you are carrying burdens and you want to exchange them for divine support, tune in and be encouraged to take action.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  Revelations 12:11, KJVIn Day 89 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID brings us to Revelations 12:11 to demonstrate how we overcome Satan by the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Jesus had to die so that Satan could be defeated.  The Word in Revelations is Jesus and the testimony is our lives.  We must ask ourselves, is Jesus the Lord of our lives, and does our testimony reflect Jesus?  If we can honestly say yes to both questions, then we are on our way to defeating Satan as our testimonies must be in alignment with the blood of Jesus that we are pleading.  Tune in to find out more about how we share in the victory that Jesus won through our faith in Him, and receive powerful prayers that help us maintain our victory through the finished work of Jesus Christ.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.   2 Corinthians 5:17, KJVIn Day 88 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID gives us deeper insight on what it means to be born again and to live a new life.  We come to a new life, not by saying a prayer or through our own will, but through repentance that is given to us by the grace of God, and by putting our faith in Christ.  There are many benefits to our new life and in this brief message, Apostle ID urges us to put on Christ daily if we want to be victorious on the 100 day journey towards real deliverance.  Join us for deeper wisdom and insight on what it means to be a new creature in Christ and the privileges of thereof, and how we can shed the old life, and deal with the things of our past that might be slowing us down towards our God given destinies.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.  And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.  2 Kings 6:16-17, KJVIn Day 86 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID shares wisdom and insight on having spiritual vision.  In this spiritual battle, the first thing we must know is who is opening our eyes.  The one who opens our eyes, will determine how far we can see.  In deliverance, we are warned to be careful of where we go to for revelation.  When God opens our eyes, He will give us revelation, understanding as the eyes of our heart will be enlightened.  We must have spiritual vision and all that comes with having spiritual vision in order to fight spiritual warfare and deliverance as our adversary, Satan wants us to fight him when we have no spiritual vision.  Join us today to pray for revelation, and for God to open the eyes of your heart in Jesus Mighty name.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.   Romans 8:1-4, KJVIn Day 87 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID brings us to Romans 8:1-4 to encourage us to walk in the Spirit in order to remain free from condemnation.  What frees us from the law of sin and death is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.  As we seek the face of God for our deliverance, how we walk is important.  We must not only walk in the Spirit, but we must also be in compliance with the Word of God as the Spirit will not go where the Word of God is not going.  To walk after the Spirit, we must walk in love and in faith.  We are also warned that if we are not walking in the Spirit, we give legal right for the enemy to condemn us.  Join us today for more wisdom, knowledge and understanding of how the Spirit of God and the Word of God frees us and keeps us from the snare of condemnation.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.  1 John 4:4, KJVIn Day 85, Apostle ID encourages us with earnest faith to step into the confidence that in God, we are more than conquerors, we are overcomers in Christ.  The reason we are able to overcome is because the Word of God tells us that the one who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world.  This Truth applies to all who are of God regardless of the size of faith, righteousness, or experience.  The one who is in the children of God is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's primary ministry is power.  If we have the Holy Spirit in us, then we have the power that cannot be overcome by other powers.  Tune in today and let the Word of God minister to you and strengthen you in the truth that in Christ, you are an overcomer!In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.  Judges 20:26, KJVIn Day 84, we are called to examine how we approach our relationship with the Lord.  Apostle ID admonishes us to be broken for our deliverance just as the children of Israel were broken for the Lord after twice being slaughtered by the tribe of Benjamin.  We can no longer have a drive thru relationship with the Lord and expect to receive the blessings and rewards of God.  Israel's brokenness was evident in their weeping, their sitting before the Lord, fasting until evening and in their offerings to the Lord.  Our offering is also a tool of warfare.  Join us today to transform how we approach the Lord, and to renew and strengthen our relationship with Him in Jesus Mighty name.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.  Hebrews 7:25, KJVIn Day 83 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID assures us through the Word of God that there is no limitation to the salvation that Jesus Christ offers.  No matter how deep we have fallen into sin, Jesus can save us and reach us.  Jesus will save anyone who puts their trust in Him.   So as long as Jesus is interceding and advocating for us and our victory, Satan will never prevail against us.  Therefore it is important for us to please our intercessor in Heaven who pleads our case before the Father, and do all in our power to avoid compromise.  Knowing the benefits and rewards of Christ's death and resurrection, will we put our total trust in Jesus Christ and Christ alone? In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.  Mark 3:27, KJVIn Day 81, Apostle ID helps us to understand the principals of spiritual warfare in order to effectively walk as we are called.  We must first understand that we are called to be a house of righteousness.  If there is sin in us, our house is divided and will cause difficulties in our warfare against the strongman.  In order to enter the home of a strongman to spoil his house, we will need to bind the strongman first and to do this effectively, we must walk in holiness, and we will need faith and the righteousness of Christ.  In order to defeat the strongman, we must be stronger than Him, and our strength is in Jesus Christ.  Join us to learn more about the principals of deliverance and spiritual warfare and remove anything that would compromise our ability to fight with maximum strength.  For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.  Acts 19:6, KJVIn Day 82, Apostle ID exhorts us to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to be lead and influenced by the Spirit of God.  We are told that it is possible to be filled with the Spirit of God and disregard His counsel because of our free will.  We are reminded that we cannot afford to disregard the Holy Spirit as we need His counsel, His comfort and His guidance for our journey.  Join us to get to know the Holy Spirit, be influenced and lead by Him as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.  Psalm 27:1-3, KJVIn Day 80 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID looks at the example of David to remind us that there is no need to entertain fear.  David's confidence was in God and God alone who was His light and salvation.  His heart did not fail no matter who or what surrounded him.   We too must take up the heart of David in order to gain full victory.  We have the light of Christ and His salvation.  Full time confidence produces full victory.  Join us today to build your confidence in God, begin seeing situations in your life through God's perspective, and be on your way to full time victory in Jesus name.   For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.  Song of Solomon 2:15, KJVIn Day 79 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID leads us to consider how procrastination can negatively impact our deliverance.  When God asks us to tend to the little foxes that spoil the vines, we should take care of the matter immediately.  The little foxes are often the small things we choose to put off to later.  These things can be unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, jealousy, malice, envy, compromise they capture the heart and if not tended to will cause the heart to harden.  When these small offenses settle in our hearts and are left unattended, it can become a stronghold that takes root in our minds and hinder our deliverance.   If there are heart matters which the Lord has pointed out, do not delay, join us in fervent prayer to take care of the foxes that attempt to eat away the harvest of our testimonies.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.  And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.  Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.  Matthew 25:5-7, KJVIn Day 78 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID discusses an important matter concerning spiritual preparedness.  Spiritual preparedness is not merely a matter of going through the motions of religion or pursuing deliverance, but it entails taking time to nurture our salvation and discipline our spirits by the Word of God.  Apostle ID points out that it is possible to run after deliverance and miss out on salvation.  As we seek God's deliverance, we must live as though Christ is coming today, ensuring that we are in Christ and Christ is in us.  Don't miss out on this valuable lesson on spiritual preparedness and pursue our Deliverer, Jesus Christ.  For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.  Jeremiah 1:12, KJVIn Day 77 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID poses an important question that we must ask of ourselves, what is the condition of our spiritual vision?  If we see well, we can wait expectantly on the Lord as God will expedite the performance of His Word.  He will bring it to pass speedily as we put our wholehearted Trust in Him.  We are reminded that we cannot put our trust in man or rulers, for our answer is with the Lord, who is the one who watches over His Word to perform it.  We must honor God's Word and be on the same side with the Word of God as His Word will assuredly come to pass.  Join us today for a powerful encounter with the Word of God and be strengthened in the faith. For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.  Habakkuk 2:3, KJVIn Day 76, Apostle ID encourages us to have the right attitude and approach as we wait on the manifestation of God.  Many times the Lord will speak and it will take a period of time for His Word to manifest since the appointed time is hardly known.   We can be assured that so as long as it is the vision of the Lord, it will speak.  In our moments of waiting, God wants us to trust Him and lean not on our own understanding.  Tune in for guidance on how to wait with a Godly attitude, understand how Satan can exploit the wrong attitude, and pray with us for the grace to patiently wait upon the Lord.   For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety.  Proverbs 24:6, KJVIn Day 75, apply wisdom to warfare by seeking counsel in the Word of God, and by being lead and directed by the Holy Spirit.  Without wisdom, it is possible to fight aimlessly.  In today's podcast, Apostle ID provides four principals for wisdom for warfare:Know which battles to fightKnow how much intensity to apply into the battles we have been called to fight Know how to conserve our strength Go and fight where God leads, refrain from fights where God's grace is not availableTune in for more insight on the benefits of fighting spiritual battles with wisdom, gain wisdom and understanding as you join us for Day 75, Wisdom for Warfare.   In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.  Deuteronomy 28:12, KJVIn Day 73, be prepared to join Apostle ID and Overcomers in Christ as we fight and contend for the manifestation of God's promises of prosperity over our lives.  It is God's desire that Believers in Christ prosper and be in good health.   Although it is God's desire, if God does not bless the work of our hands, we cannot prosper.  We are also warned that there is an enemy that will keep our hands idle or fruitless, but in spite of the work of the enemy, there is one major obstacle to our prosperity.  Join us to find out what that is, and fight for the manifestation of God's promise of prosperity in your life in Jesus name.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.  1 Corinthians 6:12, KJVApostle ID continues to share with us Biblical Truths of how to be effective in our Christian walks, and in Day 74 of Real Deliverance, we look at sanctification.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Apostle Paul shared that he would not be mastered by anything even if it is lawful.   It is possible that something lawful can enslave us and come in the way of our relationship with Christ and our God given task.  In this podcast, we look at how deliverance and sanctification work to bring us to godliness, and we also look at the  difference between salvation and sanctification.   We are admonished to live with wisdom so that something lawful may not enslave or ensnare us, taking away valuable time and attention from God.  The Deeper we are in the things of God, the more difficult it will be for the devil to penetrate.In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  Hebrews 12:1, KJV In Day 72 of Real Deliverance, Apostle ID exhorts us to remove the  weights and sins that weigh us down from running the race that is set before us.  Apostle ID also encourages us to know that God desires for us to run  with patience, and God along with a cloud of witnesses desire to see us win.  We are also reminded that our adversary does not want us to complete our race, and will employ various tactics to keep us from finishing.  Tune in to learn more about what these tactics are, how to resist them in order to remain focused and encouraged to cross the finish line in the name of Jesus. In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.  Mark 16:17-18, KJV In Day 71, Apostle ID looks at Mark 16:17-18 to help us understand evidence by faith.  It is important that we understand that signs follow those who believe, and that those who believe do not follow signs.  If we have yet to experience the signs that follow those who believe, we can have faith in the Word of God, and we can ask the Holy Spirit to destroy manifestations of any barriers from signs following us.  Join us to fight against any contrary powers against the signs laid out in Mark 16:17-18, and receive the strength and power of the Holy Spirit.  In this series of 100 Midnights, we approach God's throne of grace with repentance and with faith to overcome every demonic and non-demonic obstacle. This is a series of warfare teachings and prayers designed to facilitate real and enduring deliverance.For each midnight, I will be sharing one day of Biblical principles and strategies from my new book: 100-DAY PLAN TOWARDS REAL DELIVERANCE. You are strongly encouraged to take the time during this 100-day midnight (EST) series to embark on some days of fasting and prayer. Intermittently, do a 3-day or a 7-day fast as you are led by the Spirit of God.And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force - Matthew 11:12​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.I am looking forward to great testimonies!Apostle Idemudia Guobadiawww.overcomersusa.org

This week the bois dive into Pikes 34-36 (Pikes, Thank You Ohlinger's, and The Pit) Cock & Ball Torture, Buckethead's history of headwear, Raphael “Ted” Cruz and Machiavelli as Ninja Turtles, State-distributed Cowabunga, never watching Babalyon 5, Robert Zombie's Dragu-mind, BMX XXX (2002), new information on Motley Crue's syphilitic [breakfast] burrito cocks, eating in the shower, Jimmy Buffet's children's book, Sega CD infomercial, The Queen's Gambit, Charlie Kaufman's novel Antkind, Spenser's hate for Bridge to Terabithia, The Duke of Margaritaville, fuck you 2020, handing ovations, and other assorted bullshit. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/abucketcast)

It was on this particular day, in an Airbnb near to the Johannesburg airport, it occurred to me that I might be a strong contender for the title of world's preeminent dumbass. I woke up, bags packed, ready to head out when I was struck by a realization: I had failed to secure a visa for Vietnam, my intended destination. Without that visa, I wouldn't be able to enter the country.As an American, I'm somewhat accustomed to presenting myself at the gates of a country and announcing, "I'm ready to come in now." A boy is then sent to collect my baggage, and I'm received in celebration as a hero of capitalist tourist bucks. I can show up pretty much anywhere on the globe and expect this sort of treatment. Vietnam is not one of those places. And while some countries will process an online visa application in a matter of minutes -- I once obtained an Australian visa between the time of my arrival at my airport of embarkation, having only then discovered one would be required, and the departure of my plane -- the one for Vietnam takes a least a couple days to process. Between the breathtaking heights of my smugness and my profound inability to accomplish even very simple tasks, I think my girlfriend, Haily, was pretty impressed.Working within the available parameters, a plan was formulated posthaste. I would go to the airport, as originally intended, and smile real big at the airport attendant checking my papers. Perhaps I'd be able to pull off the subterfuge of slipping onto the plane without proper documentation. If I made it that far, I'd be able to deviate from my stated itinerary by stealing away during my layover into a country that would allow me in sans visa.Owing both to the ingenuity of the strategy as well as my aptitude for covert action, the plan worked. I was on my way to Hong Kong.And what a truly delightful thing it was to find myself on a flight to Asia. For in performance of my usual ritual at the outset of a flight of any significant length -- to scroll though every available in-flight movie, consider the potential merits of each at length, and mark the ones with promise for potential viewing over the next twelve hours -- I discovered a cinematic work that aroused in me a great deal of interest. It was a Chinese movie -- clearly a rip off of the lucrative Todd Phillips flick, the Hangover -- called "Girls versus Gangsters."The film details the initiatives of three protagonists -- Xiwen, Jialan, and Kimmy -- young women from northern China of approximately marrying age, whom, having between intimates of long-standing though not always amicable relation, set off together to celebrate the impending nuptials of their friend, Jinjin. As is the standard motif in the genre, the action begins when, after a night of especially vigorous carousing, the trio awaken to discover that they have failed to maintain an account of the whereabouts of their compatriot. This sets (as they say in the script-writing business) a clock. For their misplaced friend is to be married in a matter of hours. The objective of the trio is to set off into the Vietnamese jungle -- the treacherous environs in which our heroes now find themselves -- in order to locate Jinjin and ensure her safe and timely return for the ceremony.In the scene of crucial plot-thickening, the trio wake up on a beach. They are naked, though they remain semi-modestly buried under the sand. "Semi-modestly" because the sand around each of them has been sculpted to resemble a nude and voluptuous female form. Jialan and Kimmy -- whom we've learned are, if not quite full-on nemeses then engaged in rivalry -- are hand-cuffed to a heavy box, one on each handle. A familiar train of dialogue (though with the novelty of transpiring in Mandarin Chinese) follows."What happened last night?" asks Jialan."Where's Jinjin?" asks Xiwen. Having failed to provide an answer, she exclaims, "I lost Jinjin!""Xiwen," says Kimmys, "When did you get a tattoo?"Covering themselves in banana leaves, à la Adam and Eve, the trio teeter through the jungle. At length, they come upon what is evidently a Korean café. Why there is a Korean café in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle is a question no one poses."Maybe there's a handsome Korean guy inside," says Kimmy, optimistically.Then the audience is treated to a moment of pure movie magic. The girls hear a series of thunderous stomps. The camera pans from the ground up in slow motion. There are Jurassic Park style rumbles with each step. A nearby glass of water trembles. Eventually the camera reveals who has emerged in such dramatic flair from the Korean café. It's Mike Tyson. Shirtless.Romantic music plays. Jialan stares at Mike, mouth agape. Mike bites his finger provocatively. He bites his lower lip. The jungle gets even steamier.Abruptly, Kimmy interrupts the fantasy. In English, she says, "Excuse me, do you have any clothes you can lend?" In a clever turn of conversational redirection, Mike Tyson responds, "What happened to you?""We just woke up on the beach like this," says Kimmy."Listen," Mike relates sagely, "trust me. S**t Happens. And I know too well. Man, alcohol's hard to resist, right?"Right, Mike."Hey, just come to my room with me," he offers. "I'll see what I can find for you girls to wear."They enter Mike's room-slash-hut-slash-café. On the wall are pictures of Mike slugging people in the face. Also his belts.Jialan: "You have got so many championships."MT: "You like watching boxing? I'm half American, half Korean, and I won most of my fights in the US and Korea."Jialan: "You are mixed?!"MT: "Yes." (He isn't.)"Do you speak Korean?" Jialan asks.Mike replies, in Korean, "My name is Dragon. You're so cute.""Thank you Dragon oppa," says Jialan, also in Korean.Mike goes to peruse what sartorial options he might be able to offer the girls. There is, of course, a tiger in Mike Tyson's closet. The tiger's name, also of course, is Tony. MT dismisses Tony and the jungle cat never makes a reappearance.As it turns out, Mike Tyson only stocks boxing trunks. No tops of any kind. Which he elucidates in the deft line "Nowhere. There's no top. I'm the topless king." The girls, having no other recourse, each hike up a pair of trunks to their chest, in a kind of MMA-fantasy romper."Wow, good looking ladies," remarks Mike, conveying a sentiment that is semantically, if not syntactically, clear. "Looking really good."Then Mike turns to the problem of the box and chain. He can't break the chains, because his hands are weak after so much fighting. He mentions a friend who is a locksmith. We never meet this friend.Remembering their mission, the girls take leave of Mike Tyson.Jialan: "I'll be back soon."MT: "Please. Please come back. Come back. I love you so."At this point the movie begins to lose the thread of the plot. Or at least I didn't have the exegetic tools to keep up with what was going on. What I can tell you is, at length, and for reasons I failed to ascertain, Mike reenters the plot. While Jialan is otherwise occupied, he engages in a heartfelt conversation with Xiwen."You find your friend yet?" asks Mike. The answer is obviously no, as she isn't with them. Xiwen points this out. "Ah," he offers in consolation, "don't worry she'll be fine."Mike hands her a bottle of green tea."Want a soda?" he asks. Mike evidently doesn't know what green tea is, despite being the proprietor of a Korean café in the middle of the Vietnamese jungle. Xiwen nods assent.Mike tries to open it. He can't. Weak hands.Then in a bid of romantic endeavor, Mike asks Xiwen about Jialan's interests. The main thing is Korean dramas. A show called "Descendants of the Sun," in particular."She watched it four times," says Xiwen."I watched it five times," he says."Wow," says Xiwen. "Why?"Then Mike Tyson spots Xiwen's tattoo and on that basis makes a diagnosis: "Vietnamese fiancé?" Xiwen is surprised at Mike's powers of inference, to have derived this fact on the basis of such scant evidence. He indicates toward the tattoo. "Now, though I'm not that good at my Vietnamese" -- why in Vietnam then, Mike? -- "it does appear to be Vietnamese."Later on, the climax of the film begins when the girls find themselves critically imperiled, yet on the verge of reuniting with Jinjin. Heroically, MT emerges onto the scene. He is wearing military fatigues, in what is evidently an homage to a Korean drama, probably, I imagine, Descendants. There is a car chase scene. Then a Mike-Tyson-bursts-out-of-his-clothes-like-the-Hulk scene. Then a boat chase scene. Ultimately, Mike proves victorious over the nefarious forces that be (the "Gangsters" of the title, as it were). He sees the girls off as they make their way back for Jinjin's ceremony."Oh!" calls Mike to Jialan at the last second. "Can I have your WeChat number?"In the denouement, we learn that (spoiler alert) Jialan breaks up with her boyfriend -- whom no one really liked anyway -- and ends up with Mike Tyson. It was with this perplexing and strangely enticing series of images seared into my mind that I found myself arriving on a new continent.I would soon be landing in glorious, glorious Asia.To arrive somewhere with fresh eyes is a special thing. It is enthralling to find oneself in a place one has never been. A sort of virginity, it is a moment that cannot be reclaimed. But there is also something about having been somewhere, left it, and finding oneself returning to the place one has been. It is to be received as an old friend. A recognition that, yes, some things are just as I left them. Yet some have changed, and I am unlikely to encounter them restored to their previous state in any medium save for memory. To return is to have an established relationship with a place, and to feel that relationship -- as is the nature of every relationship -- evolve with time's restless shifting.It was this sense of returning that I felt upon landing in Hong Kong. It is a place I have found myself drawn back to over the years. The city -- the island, the culture, the harbor, the Chinese Special Administrative Region, whatever it may most accurately be called -- holds special meaning for me. In my first trip as a solo traveler to Asia, as a fresh college graduate, this was my first port of call. To me it will always symbolize a sort of gateway to this continent, which for the rest of my life will call me back to savor experiences new and old, to unexpected enlightenments and familiar joys. Not entirely unlike Istanbul on the opposite end, it is a juncture of East and West. It is a place I knew. It is also a place that, impressed somewhere deep within its eternal memory, knew me.My first call was at my hostel. I had booked a single night there, confirming the transaction and shutting my laptop just as I was about to hop on the plane. Hostels in Hong Kong aren't as appealing as they tend to be elsewhere in Asia. In most Asian cities, hostels are a kind of minor resort for tourists, with ample room for beer pong, late night dance parties, and then, for the professionals, another round of beer pong. In Hong Kong, they are essentially just apartments with decently large square footage. A couple barracks rooms and a couple bathrooms. Several stories up. A check in counter maybe.I had gotten into the airport around seven in the morning. I arrived at my hostel well before check-in. I made it nonetheless into my building, and when I finagled my way into the apartment door of the hostel I spied on the desk a number provided for early or late arrivals. I texted it, and a few minutes later a sleepy figure emerged through the doorway and reluctantly but mercifully set me up with a bed. The place seemed good enough, spare though it was. I liked the location, in the heart of Kowloon. Most crucially of all, it had solid air conditioning. I booked a spot there for my remaining nights.Coated in the grime of long distance travel, I was eager to take a shower. This provided another reminder that I was now in Asia, though a slightly less welcomed one. Germane to these tightly packed Hong Kong hostels are the cramped showers. They are undifferentiated from the bathroom area as a whole. In space of about three skinny Chinese chaps, there is a toilet, a shower head, and a sink. Whatever business you intended to do, it can be done here -- though not always with an overabundance of grace. Almost immediately, I succeeded in getting myself wet, along with everything else in the restroom. I tried to spare the toilet paper, but to no avail.Freshly laundered and eager to engage the city, I took leave of the hostel. It had been winter when I left Africa, having come from the southern hemisphere. Now I found myself in the sweltering Asian summer. It took me all of about thirty seconds after leaving the hostel to become comprehensively sticky in a coat of sweat. It took me another thirty seconds to become thoroughly confused by the sights and sounds of Hong Kong. (Actually not even that: a delivery guy had to help me negotiate the building's exit, as it required I pressed a button before leaving; it'd been a while since I'd been confronted with that technology.) Kowloon is intensely Chinese, in the overwhelming way that all Chinese things are intense to one unaccustomed to encountering them. Many of the city's façades are covered in bamboo labyrinths, which act as scaffolding for the not insignificant number of buildings under construction. Piled high, story upon story, are signs, banners, and advertisements, contending for attention. The mass of them are so aggressively seeking one's notice as to be almost indecipherable -- presumably, even if you speak the language -- like so many beggars hassling tourists in an urban corridor. I had become acclimated to the mellow pace of Africa. Being in Asia made me feel like Will Ferrell's elf in Time Square.Time to get down to business. 10:30 in the morning. Five different breakfast establishments on my street. Each one of them full of patrons. All with pictures in the window of dishes I wouldn't normally associate with breakfast. The furthest one had a small queue, only one couple, and I took the wait to be a good sign. I saw they had pineapple buns, which is what I'd been hoping for. Then I spied an attractive dim sum stall across the street, where I could get my food for takeaway. I took a moment to contemplate the tantalizing prospect of dim sum. But then when I took another look at the queue for the other place I saw it had grown to a half dozen parties of Hong Kongers. I wasn't about to give up my spot.At length I earned a seat in the restaurant. With Hong Kongers always having one eye on efficiency, I was seated at an otherwise full table top with three other mostly silent eaters. My first round was a p-bun and a cup of coffee. Contrary to its name, the traditional Hong Konger pineapple bun has no pineapple in it, but is basically just crusty white bread sprinkled with sugar. The top is dimpled in a manner resembling a pineapple, if one is willing to look at it with a certain level of generous imagination. It comes with a pat of butter, several times overgenerous. The coffee is what we typically think of in the West as Vietnamese coffee, which is basically coffee-flavored condensed milk. My serving was delivered to me approximately three and a half seconds after I ordered it. Promptly, I drank my coffee -- which proceeds from the cup at the rate of molasses -- and distributed p-bun detritus on my lap and the table before me. I ordered another round, and enjoyed my bun and coffee as the morning transitioned to midday. The restaurant was a flurry of constant activity. People waving over waiters. Parties coming and going. The bussing of plates. Even the lobsters seemed industrious. My colleagues-in-consumption stared fixedly at their phones. I stared at them. I was officially in Hong Kong.As I had only really ingested sugar so far, I did go across the street for dim sum. I looked up at the cashier and contemplated my options. The cashier gave me a look that said, "For f**k's actual sake, please order something so we can get on with it." I picked something, then handed the cashier a fifty. I reached down to jingle around in my pocket for coins, but she had already produced my change before I could even retrieve the currency from my pocket. I took a seat on a nearby stoop to dive into my steam-emitting box of treats. It was only while biting into the first pan-friend dumpling of scalding broth and meaty goodness that I seriously injured myself. I consumed the second one unharmed, which I think implies that I'm something of a quick learner. As I enjoyed my dim sum, several questions occurred to me. How, for instance, did I manage to cover myself in sticky dumpling residue so quickly? The observation that I had somehow contrived to spread it all the way down to my ankle aroused in me a certain scientific curiosity. And why put the soup in the dumpling? Why not just put it in the bottom of the box where it invariably ends up anyway? Biting into one of those little suckers is like biting into an over-inflated balloon: it requires a level of pressure slightly beyond what you'd like to give, which you must achieve experimentally. Eventually, and always unexpectedly, it explodes in your face in dramatic fashion. It's lack gnawing on a frag grenade, but tastier.I sat on the steps of a bank on Kowloon's main drag, Nathan Street, and watched Hong Kong go by. It occurred to me that I was the only person in the city who didn't have an urgent need to be somewhere. So when I finished my dumplings, I strided off, pretending that an important person in a high-up office somewhere was tapping their watch and expecting to receive the quarterly Wellington financials from me, like, yesterday. My striding, blessedly, took me to that beloved old haunt of mine. Nowhere in particular.One of the enigmatic thrills of Hong Kong is that is one is dripped on by innumerable urban waterfalls fed by unseen tributaries. In a city of high rises rarely outfitted with central air conditioning, there are a practically infinite number of AC units to rain condensation on the heads of passersby. Chinese banyans line the urban thoroughfare of Nathan Street. These trees consist of many constituent tines, which seem to vie democratically for the direction in which the tree as a whole will grow. Further down past the banyans, the sidewalk is dotted with Indian gentlemen, who, upon identifying a white guy in their midst, thrust a business card in his direction, promising bespoke suits and shirts at a "very good price for you, my friend." An industrious segment of them quietly offer intelligence about where to purchase weed -- more likely oregano -- from undisclosed suppliers. The jewelry shops are innumerable. Every single person seems to be wheeling around a suitcase. Where they're all going, I have no idea. I thought about making my way down to the waterfront to the harbor, which is the best part of urban Hong Kong, maybe the best part of the urban world. But I decided to wait to savor it until sundown. It is after nightfall that one see's the true glory of the fragrant harbor from which Hong Kong takes its name.Given that my circadian rhythm was still on Africa time, I was ready for a respite in the AC. Maybe also to grab my suitcase before I head out again. I retired to my hostel and settled in for a world class Africa-Asia nap.In the evening, I entered the metro station at Tsim Sha Tsui. Of a sudden, I was engulfed in a squall of Hong Kongers, more being pushed and pulled by human current than coherently moving in any direction. (One doesn't necessarily walk the streets of Hong Kong so much as negotiate them.) I was fortunate to find a break in the current long enough to swim my way over to an "Add Value Machine," so I could re-up on transport funds. Experimentally, I put my Octopus card in the slot and began to work my way through the labyrinth of available options. Though I had been the only one at the machine moments ago, I was now the lead of a queue. Then a voice came from behind me."What are you doing?" said the woman.Oh, I wondered, am I not doing it right? I retrieved my card from the machine and inquired as to what course of action I might otherwise take. She grabbed my card, shoved it back in the slot, and tapped away on the screen."See?" she said.Having elucidated this gambit, she proceeded to snatch a fifty from my money clip and feed it into the machine. That wasn't necessarily what I had intended to do. It wasn't necessarily against my wishes either. I just hadn't planned that far ahead yet. I withdrew my money clip before she could donate more of my cash to my Octopus fund."That's great," I said. "Thanks." She handed me my card back, and I immersed myself once again in the convective swirl of human activity, praying that it swept me toward the appropriate subway line. Whereas Kowloon is a world built on the capital of traditional China, Hong Kong Island is devoted to the monetary capital of the Chinese nouveau riche. On opposite sides of the harbor, these are the two main hustle-and-bustle areas of Hong Kong. They provide a compelling juxtaposition. It's not that one is devoid of tradition and the other is not. But while Kowloon holds up its aging buildings with massive latticeworks of bamboo, the Island side's central district has no need for such erections, with its rows of Gucci, Patek, Hublot, and their ilk. This is the part of the city designed to satisfy the seemingly infinite capacity for Chinese consumption of the gaudiest and most expensive trimmings of Western culture.My first call of the night was at a cocktail venue, The Quinary, notable for a drink they call the Earl Grey caviar martini. On the menu, it's described as vodka, elderflower, "Earl Grey caviar and air." What the "air" refers to is essentially Earl Grey bubble bath piled high atop the martini glass. It's a non-standard ingredient, and so it wasn't immediately apparent to me how such an ingredient was intended to be consumed. I sucked in a breath-full (as one is wont to do with air), which was so aggressively flavorful as to inspire a brief but enthusiastic coughing fit that all but blew off the top of my martini in the manner of the Big Bad Wolf. The "caviar," I was delighted to find, consisted in a small deposit of Earl Grey mini popping boba at the bottom of the glass. Popping boba -- which are marbled-sized saccharine capsules of flavor that can usually be ordered as accoutrement in one's bubble tea -- are, in my opinion, a most underutilized cocktail ingredient. Taking a look through the rest of the menu, I inquired about the nature of their wasabi-infused vodka. The barkeep embarked on a lengthy discourse on its origins and constitution, then offered me a taste. I believe she was under the impression that I was a cocktail critic of some note, because I was there early in the evening, making technical inquiries, sitting on my own, and jotting down my reflections. I was then treated to a sample of their marshmallow vodka. It came in a miniature Coke bottle, filled with what is pretty much an alcoholic version of the marshmallow fluff that one can buy in a jar. It was delightful. The good news for The Quinary is that my review is two thumbs up; the bad news is that I'm not actually a cocktail critic.The bartender who had offered me the gratis drinks introduced herself as Shao Li. It being too early in the evening for the crowds to roll in, she occupied her time by chatting with me and engaging in the repetitive activity of relocating a tincture from a large glass to a smaller one with an eye dropper. She performed this activity for about thirty minutes, conveniently located at a station adjacent to where I sat. In my mind, I knew it was a ploy to be in my presence in order to drum up conversation with me. Not to mention that it was a thinly veiled metaphor for coitus. Alas, I was too poor to afford another drink at this bar, even a free one. Our dialogue winding down, I agreed to come see her when I next visited HK. She waved as I walked out. As soon as I did I realized I was still wearing the jeans I had changed into so as not to look like a schmuck at a cool bar. I considered whether I should go back in, change in the restroom, and reveal myself to be not only a schmuck but an absent minded one at that. Not at chance. I chose to remain sticky and uncomfortable. Sometimes the moral victories are the hardest to endure. Fortified by the heady assurance that a sizable number of our planet's women have an undisclosed desire to sleep with me, I made my way to a spot of familiar joy. An alleyway carved into the crowded hillside of the Island's commercial zone. There one can find kind all the artifacts necessary for happiness. Steaming woks of amalgamated flavors and spices. Tiny red plastic stools. Sweating bottles of cold everyman's lager. Making my way through, I inspected the dishes of each patron until I found one I liked, and put in an order for "that one" at the appropriate stall. The lady indicated that it was "pork rib in salt and pepper." Which wasn't my interpretation of what I saw, but I was willing to go with it. Much to my chagrin, I could not afford a Tsingtao ("Ching Bao") beer to go with it since I only had enough cash for the meal. Soon enough, the dish came, which presented me with an occasion to consider the conventions for anglicization of Chinese cuisine. "Pork rib in salt and pepper" neglects to disclose, at the very least, the presence of chilis. At any rate, I was happy. Next I called at 7/11 for reunion with my old friend, Pocari Sweat. Pocari Sweat is a glorious beverage, a milky white electrolyte drink with a crisp, Columbia blue label. The stated marketing pitch of the company is that it "resembles" the body's "natural fluids." I don't know if the company's executive board has ever seen sweat before, but it isn't the bodily fluid that is most directly imitated by a milky white solution. Setting aside any discussion of its actual merits, the drink reminds me of my first time in Asia.At this point in the evening, I was overcome with a desire to go back to the Quinary to see if Shao Li was still there. It was nice evening. I wished I had someone to share it with. Perhaps she was about to get off from work and wanted to go out for a beer. Alas, just because one is inclined toward creepy and deranged thoughts does not mean one is required to act on them. So I didn't. Instead I took the Central-Mid-Levels -- which has the distinction of being the world's longest outdoor escalator promenade -- up until the hillside of Hong Kong Island becomes residential and sleepy rather than bustling and studded with hip restaurants. Then I descended further until it was again commercial and posh. I was quite lonely by the time I got to the bottom of the hill. I thought of the insight Chris McCandless jotted down before perishing, alone and unkempt, in the Alaskan wilderness. "Happiness only real when shared." Hoping to inspire a rebound in my spirits, I headed toward the Hong Kong harbor ferry. This is what I'd most been looking forward to since stepping foot in Hong Kong. The harbor is truly a magnificent sight. Viewed from the Kowloon side looking toward Hong Kong Island, the commercial high rises put on an epic display of urban lights against the backdrop of the world's most delicious hillside. Beholding this sight is like conducting an orchestra. It is the feeling of watching something so splendid and so tremendous unfold before your eyes. Each section performs its own part, while inexplicably remaining concerted with the rest. Taking the ferry across, I squished into a corner of the boat, on the upper deck with about 100,000 Hong Kongers. They were all carrying on in conversation and not, I couldn't help but feel, at a whisper, either. Disembarking from the ship, I covered the waterfront. My hope at this point was to repair to a dreary pub where I'd sit alone at the bar and the man behind the counter would tersely serve me an ice cold Tsingtao. I searched for a while in the streets of Kowloon. No dice. So I settled for a bubble tea and retired for the evening. Before doing so I was presented with the evening's final joy. I went to the ATM to withdraw some currency. The transaction ended with the directive, "Please take advice." It means 'receipt.'As our double-decker bus made the bend, the top of it seemed to lean into the oncoming lane. It put me in mind of the bus scene in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which darts through the road with such belligerent haste as to imperil the story's hero. Or at least it would have, if I wasn't scared for my life. Sitting on the upper deck, I was confident in my assessment that the bus was actually tipping across the other lane of traffic and over the sheer cliff on the other side. I swear I could see down to the bottom of the gulley below. It was a hot day. The air was solid with humidity. Not entirely unlike trying to breathe Earl Grey air, actually. It was the kind of hot that would be of interest to scientists hoping to induce a chemical reaction or a breakfast-enthusiast attempting to fry an egg. I was going hiking. That is, if I didn't succumb to the driver's psychopathology first.Hong Kong is actually famous for having some of the world's greatest hiking trails. Or at least they're good ones. I'd heard they were world-class. But it's not immediately clear to me what would so distinguish one hiking trial from another in any objective sense like that. At any rate, I was to tackle the fabled trail known as the Dragon's Back.That was my plan. It was also the plan of a non-negligible number of Chinese tourists. The bus screeched to a halt at a nondescript location where there appeared to be an opening in the otherwise impenetrable thicket of brush lining the roadside. The driver called for Dragon's Back. I alighted along with a good deal of the rest of the bus. I was eager to get out ahead of them, so as not to be caught in a traffic jam. Mercifully the open stretches of the trail were partially covered. I followed the rascally meandering dirt road lined with brush. Slight uphill. Even with a healthy shade, I was drenched in sweat by minute fifteen.Shortly, I came to the kind of staircase one climbs in a movie to reach an ancient master of an esoteric martial art. Thin wooden steps, rising approximately forever into a thin cloud cover. The top of the hill became apparent only at the culmination of the steps. Or at least the local maximum. The ridge fell and rose with a consistent periodicity, rather like a dragon's back, as it were, or at least the scrawny, undulatory Chinese conception of the creature. I emerged into a cleared hill top, which became a punishing landscape without recourse to the cover of flora. It did, however, unveil a spectacular view. Before me was a glittering sea of Hong Kong's islands. Situated on a peninsula was a scattering of urban settlements. My sweat was thick and dense. I took a polaroid.As a consequence of my dillydallying, I became intermingled with pack of young Asian women. One had on a miniature Marc Jacobs backpack and a flannel, like it was the first day of 8th grade and not a death march through HK jungle mountains. I felt that demonstrated a lack of respect. From the apex of the ridge I felt that I could reach up and touch the sun, hot as it was. I was perspiring about a liter per minute by now. In the distance the sea continued to sparkle and the ridge to undulate. The islands gave the appearance of an old Chinese painting, depicted in geometric rather than linear projection. The lot of them proceed towards heaven rather than into the distance. I jetted past the Asian girls. Reaching the crest of another notch in the dragon's back, I could see freight headed for Hong Kong harbor. Azure water. Gum-drop islands. Glimpses of far-off settlements. Other islands could never be so verdant, or have such perfectly sculpted mounds or sit in such a blessed, glittering sea, or periodically expose the brilliant high-rises off in the distance. I was in a watercolor painting. It was unfairly beautiful.Taking creative measures to deal with the heat situation, I took off my synthetic shirt and put it under my baseball cap so it draped over the back of my neck. I put on a tank top in order to retain a semblance of decency. I looked like an a*****e. But I didn't care. The shirt was cool and damp and protected my delicate skin from the sun. Relinquishing into mercy, the trail dove into a cover of eucalyptus trees. Using this respite into coolness to reapply my eighteenth round of sunscreen for the morning, I was overtaken by a white man forty years my senior. I heard him pass the Western couple behind me. He greeted them, "Pretty warm, eh?" The man was tan and spry, obviously a retiree. Also obviously a hiking enthusiast, the kind that having a job doesn't allow for. As he zoomed past me he gave me his signature "Pretty warm, eh?" I nodded. I looked like a sea monster, one who required constant moisture or will otherwise shrivel and expire. He looked prepared to take the trail. He didn't have a shirt draped over shoulders like a jackass.Dragon's Back Log, 11:00 AM. Supplies check: Water, two-thirds gone. Sunscreen, running on empty. Position, maybe a third of the way through the trail. Only one party member remains alive.I passed a couple going the other way. I greeted them with a "Pretty warm, eh?" They agreed, then shot one another a look to suggest that they may have missed a key memo on standard greetings while hiking in Hong Kong.Soon enough I came upon a creek, which ran through the trail. A Chinese couple had stopped to dip towels in the water for placement under their hats. They didn't look like dumbasses. They looked like geniuses. It occurred to me that this was probably an obvious thing to do for anyone who had ever been on a hike before. I scurried by, not wanting them to think that it was their ingenuity which gave me the idea. Fortunately, I soon came to another creek. I removed my head dress to douse it. I wanted to remove all of my clothes and submerse myself in the fresh, clear water. But I thought better of it, given that my retiree friend was also refreshing himself in the running water.I decided not to linger, so I could get a head start on him. Alarmed by my sudden progress, he put his cap back on and gave chase. To his credit, I doubt he had come all the way to Hong Kong to be bested by some punk kid with a shirt on his head. He soon overtook me without a word. There was nothing I could do about it. It was evident that he had no intention of taking names. He was only here to kick ass.The trail swung onto the backside of the mountain, under the merciful cover of foliage, safe from the sizzle of the open sky. I was happy to trade temporarily the glories of the sea and islands for protection from being broiled alive by what at this point seemed the unnecessarily proximal star at the center of our solar system. Now rather acquainted with the trail's flora, I started the notice the fauna. There was a spider the size of Papua New Guinea. Its legs were longer than mine. It looked like it could snatch a bird from the sky, like a baseball player straining to catch a ball at the top of an outfield fence. Only instead of a baseball, it would be a robin or a small eagle. Eminently creeped out, I scuttled onward. I added this spider to my list of concerns, which at that point contained looking like a foolishly novice hiker, sunburn, dehydration, and tigers. If you were on this trial, I think you'd be concerned with each of these as well.At length, I reached a juncture at the bottom of a slope. I saw the retired man inspecting a map. When he noticed my approach he took off. I followed his course. There were signs for "big wave beach." Periodically, he checked behind him to make sure I was in his wake. We were on a paved road now. I dodged back and forth in the lane to remain under shade cast by surrounding foliage. I stopped at another look-out point. I could see several communities of high-rises, erected in uniform pylons. They were so tightly packed and similarly constructed that they looked like the spiky erections of iron dust when a magnet coaxes it skyward. As we made our way closer to the beach, I saw the retiree split off on a more direct route. Neither wanting to deliver the blow of whooping his ass in the final stretch nor to let him have the satisfaction of whooping mine, I continued on my present path which would descend with unhurried leisure toward the bottom.Then the beach came into sight. In a flash of sudden insight, I understood the objective measure of a world-class hiking trail. To have all that previous wandering be rewarded with this? Just perfect. The hill from which I was descending swaddled the beach in a lush wrapping of vegetation. In some mirror image of the circles of hell, it formed a concentric ring of utopian vision. At the heart was the bay, ensconced in the Platonic ideal of white-sand beach, opening up into the luxuriant hillside. The name "big wave" less described the largeness of the surf at this particular beach as much as the smallness of surf in these parts generally. I took off my hood so as not to gave myself away as a schlub, in case I ran into Shao Li on the beach. Only having breached noon, the beach was still uncrowded. Maybe a dozen or so families. It felt like my own little share of real estate in Hong Kong heaven. When I turned the corner from path to beach, the sea was spread out before me as it faded from cloudy and sandy to idyllic cerulean. It was spangled with the same intensity as the view above, though now I could reach out and touch it. The water was warm, like a tepid bath. I waded in and immersed myself in the the strip of infinite blue. As the beach began to fill up, I noticed there were, in my estimation, entirely too many families and not enough bikini-clad women. I did not, for the record, encounter Shao Li.In the water I roamed like a wild animal, with no pattern to govern my behavior. Sometimes floating, sometimes swimming; sometimes shallow, sometimes deep. Never with any particular destination in mind. The only sounds were those of the happy children and the waves languishing along the shore. Intermittently, there was the gentle awk and splonk of the neophyte standup paddle boarder capsizing.After about an hour of grazing in knee deep water, I reemerged from the water and repaired, still wet, to the beach café where I acquired a well-earned Dragon's Back pale ale. While enjoying my beer I spotted a couple long-sought bikini girls from afar. I finished my beer and reequipped myself to go back in the water. Upon entering I realized it was a false alarm -- a mirage of sorts -- and dripped out of the water, this time to enjoy a Big Wave IPA. As soon as I did, the girls came back. I swear.Satisfied with my experience in the out-of-doors, I headed toward the nearby lot where a van waited to take beach patrons back to civilization. On my way I acquired a mango popsicle. Then I spotted a sign that promised "Ancient rock carvings - 330 m." I debated momentarily whether this was worth extending my time in nature. I decided to go back home. Who gives a s**t about rock carvings anyway? I boarded the van to take me back. Waiting for the vehicle to fill up, I saw another sign. "Ancient rock carving - 500 m." I pretended not to notice, failing to fool anyone involved in the situation. It was then I remembered who gives a s**t about rock carvings. I do. F**k it. I got off the bus, put on my headdress, and went back toward the beach in search of rock carvings.Eventually, I found them. Doubling back on my previous recollection, I now remembered why no one else gives a s**t about rock carvings. The delta between rocks and rocks with ancient carvings in them is not, as it turns out, that great. The saving grace of the endeavor was that I did, on my way back to the van, acquire another mango popsicle.Taxi hour. The time in the middle of the night when the streets are devoid of all vehicles save for a trickle of black and yellow cabs. Some zip by on their way to the airport. Some return a pair of lovers to wherever it is they plan to spend the remaining hours of the night. Some just idle on the side of the road, killing time until called into action. One night I couldn't sleep and so found myself on the streets of Hong Kong, the lone soul wandering the streets in human form.My time in Hong Kong was coming to a close. Visa issues sorted, I would soon be reunited with Haily. I had loved my excursion to Hong Kong. But I had also missed Haily. In case you couldn't tell, a part of me longed for a companion to enjoy it with. Happiness only real when shared.And so we would be together again soon -- elsewhere in Asia. We continued as we had before, in our summer devoted to going places and seeing things. Her family in Vietnam. Taking the train though Java. Bali. Friends and family in Singapore. There are stories to tell from those adventures, too. But I will leave them out of this collection, to allow them to remain as stories that belong only to us.The final episodes in the season take place at another time, in another season of the year and another season of life. They skip sideways along the Asian continent, to a portion of South East Asia on the same latitude as Hong Kong. The Buddhist stronghold of dark political history, still processing its own militant reaction to a colonial past. South East Asia's largest country by land area, but one of its smallest in terms of tourist figures. A place that I fell in love with from the moment I first stepped a dusty sandal on its soil. The final destination of the first season of Notes from the Field: Myanmar.Next Episode:Thanks for checking out Season 1 of Notes from the Field. If you’ve enjoyed it, please consider becoming a premium subscriber. I’m trying to do more of this kind of travel writing in the future. But as you can imagine, it’s hard to have these kinds of experiences while also holding down a job. Your subscription goes a long way toward helping me to do that. Use the link below, and you’ll get 50% off an annual subscription. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit codykommers.substack.com/subscribe

Luke Walton is no longer coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Forum discusses Luke's departure from the team and his future in Sacramento before they talk about the man who let him go, and Rob Pelinka's growing power in the Lakers' front office. Intermittently, the guys touch on the great debate of ketchup's place in the culinary hierarchy and end on the #ForumWireWatch continuing with a week-long hiatus.