Parasocial Listener II

Just quickly before this week's episode kicks off, Flightless Bird has been nominated for a Webby Award. The Webbys are kind of a big deal for us and we'd love you to vote. If you like our show and you have a moment, this is a really key way you can help us. Here's what you do. Go to webbyawards.com, that's w-e-b-b-y awards.com, click the go vote button, hit search and type in Flightless Bird, click on Flightless Bird when it turns up and go and vote. Also if you're on our Instagram at flightlessbirdpod, there's a link in our bio as well. Thanks for listening to this very self-involved monologue. On to the show. Hello there Dave. Hi my little, oh god I haven't thought of one, my little titmouse. How are you doing? You have one job in this phone conversation. I carry you through the entire rest of it. All you have to do is think of a baked good. My little warm loaf of fresh baked bread, my little cornhole, little donut. That's delicious. I love that. Cornhole? What's a cornhole? Mousetrap? Mousetrap would be a good New Zealand one. Hot pocket. That's very American. My little hot pocket, my little steamy hot pocket. What about lamington? Do you guys have that? Hey don't flip the premise of this podcast on me. Well let me tell you about lamingtons guys. I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Do you know what a lamington is? Nope. If you come to New Zealand one day you'll find out. Now at the end of last year we did an episode called the Parasocial Listener which was all about Nick, a flightless bird listener who wrote in with a pretty intense story. Nick had been diagnosed with a rare kind of brain tumor, rare in that you can remove it but it keeps coming back. Nick has had multiple surgeries, each one seeing part of his brain removed, which has had some pretty interesting side effects as new parts of his brain take on the extra load. His emotions are way closer to the surface for one thing. He feels more in a way. And yet conversely the parts of him that used to be scared are less prominent. Not in a therapy speak kind of way but in that his brain doesn't process fear like it used to. He's less scared of things. That was one of my favorite episodes of this podcast and towards the end you may recall that Nick was finally going to take a break from his brain. He was going to take a break from his dream trip to the best place in the world, New Zealand. So of course we had to catch up with him and see how that trip went. So prepare to pack your bags and go to New Zealand because this is the Parasocial Listener part two episode. Hey Rob, how are you feeling? Good, good. How about you? I'm good. Making this episode I kept thinking I really want to get you to New Zealand at some point. And I'm curious actually after this episode how you feel about my country because I feel you have had it purely through my lens. Yeah, which if we've learned anything from our New Zealand listeners, your lens is a little skewed. And I think becoming increasingly skewed. Yeah. As time goes on. Yeah. I mean, the further you are from having lived there. Yeah. I would argue potentially excusable. But I. Yeah, but I mean, stuff like food trucks. Yeah, I did sort of blazingly say in a recent episode, I pretty much said there are no food trucks in New Zealand. There are hundreds of food trucks in New Zealand. Yeah, I saw. And I, you know, heard about it. And so at times, I mean, I think I probably need to get back just to correct some of my thinking about the country I'm from. Yeah, I mean, it's just part of your personality to speak in and sweeping general general. Yeah, generalization. Yeah. Oh, I absolutely do. I used to do a thing, which I probably still do, which annoyed my friend, Dan, where after every movie, I'd often just go, this is the best thing I've ever seen. Was it sincere? No. A lot of the time, it wasn't sincere. A lot of the time, it was. Like the one that the one that steps out is Lord of the Rings. No, not Lord of the Rings. It was the Spike Jonze. It was a live action film of Where the Wild Things Are. Oh, yeah, yeah. Which is a magical film. Best movie you've ever seen, though. So I came out of that. And I turned to Dan, and I said, Dan, and I was genuine. I was like, eyes were welling. I said, this is, I think, the best film I've ever seen. And then I noticed that that would often repeat with things. And then Dan said, no, this is the best thing I've ever seen. And then Dan would bring up these films years later and go, was it the best film you've ever seen? I find that surprising. I used to be a more positive person. Yeah, I was gonna say that is not the trait I would put on you that you were like, over enthusiastic about things you consume. No, now I say things are the worst. There are no food trucks in New Zealand. The worst thing you've ever seen. Yeah, awful. Biggest pile of trash. Yeah, all of that. Yeah, okay. But no, point being, I'm kind of curious. I don't know. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of curious. What's the worst thing you've ever seen? I'm kind of curious up to this what you make of New Zealand because this is New Zealand through an American's eyes. Yes. And not just any American. An American that's listens to this podcast. One of the good ones. Cornhole was brought up in Hayden's Call. Do you know about cornhole? Cornhole, I kind of just riffed on that. But cornhole I think is a game where you throw something through a hole. Yeah. Is that correct? That's correct. Is that American or British? I feel like it's British. It's pretty American. It's done here a lot. Yeah. Right? It's in bars. It's like a pretty Midwest thing, I think too, where there's like cornhole tournaments. Yeah. It feels like a very lazy, relaxed kind of backyard thing. Yeah. I mean, we called it bags sometimes too in Chicago. Just bags? You like set up, it's a board with a hole in it, and you're throwing beanbags. You're right. So exactly. And you get points for getting in the hole and points for it landing on the board. And you're competing with the person you're throwing and trying to get to 21 points. Are you good at the game? Do you think? Cause you're a pretty, you're a sporty guy. I get competitive. Of course you're competitive. So. So were you getting the corn in that hole? Yeah, often. Often. It's good. Really? Does it have some connotations around a cornhole? No. I would imagine. I'm, I'm fully mixed up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know what that's like. I wouldn't know. I would guess that they were filling the beanbags with corn at some point. Ah. Dry corn. I'd say fact. Throwing it. Is that a fact? To try to get in the hole. Let us know. [email protected]. I mean, cause it's like Iowa, Chicago, like a lot of corn in that area. There's so much corn there. Yeah. So. Could be its own Flightless Bird topic. In fact, corn. Certainly could. Um, let's see. Um, let's find out the origins of cornhole really quick. Okay. As you also know, I'm wearing a, um, a Wisconsin, uh, t-shirt. I was in Wisconsin recently working on an episode about cheese, which I'm deeply excited to bring you very soon. Got very, um, into Wisconsin in a big way to the point where I now wear their name on my top. Okay. So the origins of cornhole are debated. Mm-hmm. Theories ranging from 14th century German invention. Mm-hmm. To Native American traditions. Okay. But it's modern form solidified in the American Midwest. So kind. During the mid-20th century. American. Is it corn? I feel like they're very heavy bags. It feels like they're like thudding. Yeah. They've got weight. Yeah. And they definitely, you're meant. Mm-hmm. How do you eat your corn on a cob? Do you chew or, um, slice it off with a fork and then spoon it into your mouth? I, I don't like it getting stuck in my teeth. It's the worst. It's the worst. Yeah. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. Mm-hmm. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. It's the worst. Yeah. So I normally just don't eat corn on the cob. Did your mom used to take it off the cob for you as a small boy? No, we would eat it on the cob. Okay. But just get it in your teeth. But I didn't, I didn't enjoy it. It would get in my teeth and it wasn't my favorite. I like, I like it in a bowl now. No, I'm the same. Calvin will mow down it on the cob. Oh, as a kid, you don't give a shit. Yeah. I think, yeah, I have very, um, a lot of gaps in my teeth and so corn, it gets right in there. Horrible. And then the entire day is just spent like tonguing it out of your teeth. Yeah. That'll happen with popcorn too. You get like a kernel stuck in the back. Yeah, no, the worst. The worst. The worst. Tonguing it all day. Yeah, no, horrible. There's nothing worse than a little thing like something in your tooth. I've got a chipped tooth at the moment and I'm tonguing that all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think if I had any other thoughts about New Zealand before we get into this. I've been working on this episode for pretty much since end of last year. Yeah. Um, Nick is amazing and we've kept in touch, um, about a whole lot of things. Um, and it just felt like when he got to New Zealand, which as you'll find out was, A, not a guaranteed thing that was going to happen. Yeah. And B. Deeply disappointed? Not, no, not deeply disappointed. But, um, nice try. But I feel like almost didn't leave. Oh. Um, which is, sounds like a cliffhanger. I guess it kind of is. And so maybe we should just play what happened and we can talk about it after. Yeah, let's just, let's dive right in. So just as a quick refresher on the paranormal listening episode from last year, Nick had found out he had a rare type of brain tumor. It took almost three months to get a diagnosis of the specific tumor. type because it's so rare and tricky and whatever and uh you know i have brain tissue samples at like three different places around the country kind of cool one sample ended up in maryland at the national institute of health and they figured it out yeah i'll say it's a it's called an anaplastic pleomorphic xantho astrocytone that's apxa for the rest of us it's uh 15 syllables um but yeah i did a lot of like googling and research and not they're like there's less than one case per year he's right the national library of medicine says apxas are rare gliomas affecting just one percent of astrocytic tumors the other thing about this type of tumor it's rare and it's aggressive and he realized his journey wasn't over they told me this tumor type we see less than one per year like it's going to be a lot of tumors and it's going to be a lot of tumors and it's going to come back that's what it does and it's terminal towards the end of that episode we also learned that nick a surfer had been chosen for the friendship paddle a group made up of surfers and people who love the water who every year rally behind someone with a terminal or life-threatening illness with the funds they raised nick decided he'd go to new zealand do some surfing eat some extreme of his and so i booked a flight i was like screw it i'm gonna do it so now i have a camper van for two weeks in new zealand fuck that's cool we're doing it i honestly have no idea why i picked new zealand i just it kind of was like it was a subconscious thing listening to you since that episode aired i've been keeping in touch with nick and of course when he ended up in new zealand i facetimed him he was sitting in his camper van two surfboards in the back in a freedom camping spot last night um kind of outside of auckland um it's good morning's good i went to a cafe and had a flat white uh start off the day he tells me he's been enjoying some of the subtle differences to what he's used to back home in the united states i was waiting for the screen like at a cafe for the add a tip button and i remember like the first day and the woman at the right she's like no you're good that's it i was like that's it really you know that's it too and then oh filling up gas or um you know filling up the gas in the car at a couple places you fill up first and then you walk in to pay and i was like oh that's interesting they're so friendly so trusting so he's having a good time but the thing is nick almost didn't get to new zealand it had nothing to do with the brain tumor situation by the way he told me about this ago he'd sent me an email from the departures lounge at lax i just had the most humbling experience checking in for my flight he started with before going on you probably know this but naively i didn't apparently u.s travelers need a visa to visit new zealand oops i had no idea that i needed one of these until i walked up to the counter to check in my surfboard i just about fell over desperately googling how to apply for one i clicked the first link that came up and about one minute later my bank called me to flag a suspicious transaction and I realized the hard way that there are a lot of scam websites out there that are happy to take your information and issue a fake visa trying my best to recover from this devastating realization I slowed things down enough to find the correct website one with the actual New Zealand government address having finally submitted the correct application at the airport I then realized that it's not an instantaneous process yikes after about 30 minutes sitting there hoping it would just go through I managed to find the phone number to the immigration office in Auckland New Zealand another 30 minutes of being on hold I got through to a very nice man he found my application and even though he couldn't push it through he very calmly explained what to do he said I would need to be very assertive and walk me through exactly what to say to the gate agent in America to get a temporary approval to check my bags and boards the flight it worked like a charm now with Nick safely in New Zealand he feels somewhat sheepish about what happened I thought I was going to miss the flight but I luckily got there super early because I'm already anxious about traveling so I want to get extra time I felt stupid I felt like I should have known that I needed to get a visa and apply for one I've never had to do that anywhere else I've traveled so luckily for him he lucked out on a helpful New Zealand immigration person and it all worked out Nick tells me that to celebrate on the plane he watched the fellowship of the ring 12 hours later he landed in New Zealand picked up a camper van and then went to meet up with Graham a flightless bird listener from Auckland New Zealand Graham had heard the original episode and wanted to give Nick a really good start to his trip I truly just got off the plane like I got off the plane and I didn't know where I was going to go so Graham my new friend who is awesome really cool guy he was one of the guys that the listener the podcast that's how I met him you know we exchanged some emails and he's like yeah come meet me here's my address so I meet him at his house and his kids are there and it's you know it's really sweet oh do you need anything and we're chatting and we get along super well and he's like yeah let's drive out to the beach which is you know off to these cliffs out in the middle super cool and oh by the way here's my friend Joe he's a tandem pilot for paragliding he's you're going to strap in with him and jump off a cliff stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors support for flightless bird is brought to you by Bombas now the springtime Thor is finally here flowers are blooming days are longer we're saying yes to more plans and finally getting outside we're running we're walking 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at mcdonald's like the new red bull frosted cranberry energizer it's red bull meets cranberry flavors topped with cold foam and sprinkles made to charge so basically a few hours after Nick had touched down in New Zealand he found himself standing on a cliff a bunch of flightless bird listeners strapping him into a device that would give him flight just like old trust like right off the bat like all right let's do it and I saw some of the guys you know jumping and flying that looks cool and I strap in with Joe and he's like oh my god he's like oh my god make sure you do it and he says Nick whatever I say make sure you do it and we're gonna run as fast as we can right to the ledge of a cliff and you're gonna trust that you're gonna fly because it's up there it's like okay we're going for it and i fell running and then we just get shot up into the air and it was incredible incredible like i didn't really feel scared until after the fact i was like huh you know looking back on that i could have been it could have been bad but it was really really cool and we're in the air for at least a good half hour just like swooping over the beach and looking down and it was he let me steer he said here take the handles and pull nick sent me a video of his flight it's insane another kiwi ryan filmed and edited the whole thing i'll put a link to that video in the show notes it was amazing and grant was super cool and he like kind of welcomed me into this whole community there was like half a dozen of his friends at all paraglide they have the auckland paragliding club and they all show it up and we all and then once we were in the air other people launched so there was like three or four of us like swooping around each other yeah cool it was i forgot that i was doing something scary immediately scary is a subject we'll come back to because it turns out that pretty soon things would get much scarier for nick before we get to the scary nick went and did some very new zealand things relying entirely on other flightless bird listeners who'd also gotten in touch along with some random locals along the way first up he experienced some intense new zealand surf we had to scramble down the cliff on a rope to get to the surf spot so it was kind of fun a little treacherous and then we see there's some legit surf like overhead waves and you gotta paddle a good 15 minutes out to this reef to get there i got my ass kicked that was hard so i'll be honest yeah that day palling out and we were the only two people in sight for miles like no one was around i got humbled tumbled and humbled that's what i got which is uh yeah super fun you know and i had a redemption surf the next day and i've been out a few times since and that's been really good so it was you know you're out here in the pacific it's an island and there's real surf out here which is super cool and we're kind of we're kind of uh spoiled a little bit over on the mainland with us with uh you know easy paddle outs and points and out here it's like you gotta work for it so i'm learning that there were mellow at times too still fuels by the lord of the rings propaganda from the plane nick ended up going to hobbiton claiming he had a good time i happened to be there on the day of the hobbit summer harvest festival so they had a party with live music and a feast and you could get a a beer at the green dragon the pub everybody was dressed up like it was a thing which i missed the memo on so i felt kind of lame i was like oh i didn't know but it was really fun you know i loved the book the hobbit that was really my favorite and so going walking through a hobbit hole and like standing in the doorway and seeing the little kitchens like it's a full-on real place it's cool and most of his time was spent in the pub and he was like oh i'm gonna go to the pub and i'm gonna and new zealand has been pretty great except for that one thing that happened i found out about what had happened about a week earlier i'd been driving and noticed a voice memo had turned up from nick over whatsapp it was 10 minutes long i was stuck in alley traffic so i just played the whole thing and i was riveted so i'm just going to play that voice memo for you now holy shit wow i don't know what just happened but i am i'm alive that's a start so i go to a place called furitoa which is a nice little beach town it seems like so i pull up on the cliff i look down and sure enough there's a nice beach i pull out the binoculars and i start walking up um there's a little park with like a lifeguard section and so i'm walking around trying to see if i can see any waves nothing really but there's this beautiful cliff down the way and as i got the binoculars out this guy walks up to me two guys and a lady they're kind of hanging out by the barbecues and he's he's got no shirt on he's got some tattoos he comes over to me he goes hey let me have a look puts his hand out for the binoculars i go sure what the hell hand him the binos he takes a look and he goes oh yeah so what i was like there's no waves he goes no check it out and he starts pointing to the girls just laying on the beach okay i'm kind of laughing he's like that's what these are for i go sure man sure his girlfriend is like oh stop being a perv whatever so i'm laughing he goes well anyway where are you from and i said oh i'm from california you know he goes oh you seen those caves yet i said caves what caves he goes yeah there's caves down there he's pointing out to the big cliff i go no i i didn't know there were caves i just got into town and uh okay so he was like oh let's go you know i'm like he's like what are you doing today i said uh i'm meeting some friends i kind of blurred out and he goes oh yeah you're good here here let me see your phone he's like oh no it's okay he goes well give us your number sure whatever give him my number he starts talking about where am i gonna go next and i said i'm going to taranaki and he goes oh you just met the prince of taranaki that's me and i was what and he starts saying how it's his spot anyway long story short he insists that i follow him down to the caves and i'm thinking oh nice guy you know i met a friend this is cool so i start walking with him and he's like you know bouncing around he's like starts talking about yeah dude i just got out i was like got out where he goes well i did a year did a year in jail i go okay why is he telling me this whatever and he goes anyway we're camping down there and i go okay cool he goes we're not supposed to but you know anybody points their gun at me i'll shoot him first and i'm like what what the fuck is this guy talking about so i'm starting to like get a vibe but i'm halfway there and i'm kind of remote sure enough we walk through like some person's property around the corner and we're out into this like marsh area and there's nobody around and i'm thinking what the fuck did i just get myself into and this guy and this girl are walking me out there he goes yeah my buddy's down here let's see where he's at oh shit what kind of setup is this and so i'm following him when we come up upon this broken down truck with some tents and he's like yep there's a campsite i was like squatting here like he's got a giant fucking machete just sitting there like with a bunch of random crap like hiking boots and i'm like uh and some like fishing poles and i see the machete and i'm looking at him and his buddy's sitting there and i think the girl goes oh you're scaring him you're scaring him curtis like i was like no she goes yeah don't worry and i was like worry about what she's like laughing around he goes well anyway let's go to the caves and i'm like you know 20 minutes away from my car at this point thinking shit why did i do this and uh we started walking and there's a little like a little estuary that goes out through the cliffs and it looks like it shoots out into the ocean which is really cool but to get there there's an like a truly a cave you got to walk through a cave and he goes let's go in and i'm thinking what the fuck he goes oh you're scared he starts making chicken noises like oh okay like that's gonna scare me sure and um he's he jumps through the cave and he starts and it's wet you gotta wade through like waist deep water and i put my feet in and thank god we see some kids out there like a group of five or six kids and they're out there and curtis and his girl they look out the kids and they go ah and they say hi to him and i'm like okay well that's a good sign and they kind of look at each other like they realized oh shit you know there's people here so i'm thinking thank god anyway i get into the water and we walk through the cave and we pop out on the other side of the beach and uh he starts going yeah man oh check check that spot out here give me your phone i'll take a picture of you i'm like what and i'm in like waist deep water at this point surrounded by just like cave almost 360 degrees of wall and he's like yeah give me your phone i'll take a picture of you i go no i'm okay he's like come on come on give it to me he starts walking towards me i'm like no no i'm good dude i'm good and like i just think i'm gonna die i'm gonna die what the fuck he wants to take my phone he's like here hand me your keys too i'll make sure they're safe i'm like safe we're both in water like so i'm just like kind of like okay what do i do here and he's like coming towards me so i just kind of like grasp my head and i go oh and then the girl walks she's like what i was like fuck and they're looking at each other like huh what's going on i go yeah i i'm okay and they're like what's wrong with you and i was like well you know i get dizzy you're like what do you mean you get dizzy and i like point at the like scar in my face and i'm like what's wrong with you and i was like well you know i get dizzy yeah i had brain surgery and they kind of look at each other like what the fuck oh yeah dude so being in like surrounded by the cave space can like make me dizzy and they kind of like back off a second they're like huh he goes shit man my brother had a brain tumor and i just go what the fuck and i didn't say tumor he said and i just said surgery and i go yeah and he starts looking like he's gonna cry and he's like all right yeah all right and i'm thinking i just kind of like made that up you know the dizziness i obviously i've had brain surgery but i was like yeah dude i gotta get back man i gotta just be careful with this shit and i had my break that says I have epilepsy and I showed it to him and he just looks like he's about to cry he goes yeah let's take you back dude and he stopped asking for my phone we pop out onto the other side of the cave into the beach and he's just like well if you want to come back later tonight we'll be here and I was just like okay yeah for sure I'll come find you I was like I think that I did that thinking they would have a little sympathy and they totally did it was weird as fuck but shit like that happens sometimes and it was really interesting and I'm glad I got out of there I'm incredibly glad he got out of there too imagine if Nick had gone to New Zealand because of this podcast and been macheted in a cave in some weird kind of twist I wonder if the whole brain tumor thing saved him it's kind of mad to think about whether it's the parts of his brain that have been removed or the parts of his brain that have been removed or the parts of his brain that have been removed or just a really good personality or a combination of both Nick didn't let that very scary experience color his view of New Zealand it's almost comical how positive he can be and otherwise super friendly everywhere I go very friendly I've been welcomed in almost every town I've been in and I just feel safe here like the other thing that I noticed is they're really set up well for the freedom camping experience like the camp is really good and I'm nice they're everywhere they have showers kitchens and Wi-Fi which is kind of shocking yeah like you know camping in the U.S. it's like all right there's a hole in the ground uh good luck yeah give us fifty dollars it's like half the price for twice as much it's cool he pulls out a map of New Zealand's North Island that he's been scrolling all over mapping out his trip he's driven a lot I feel like he's seen more of New Zealand than I have I ask him how he's feeling about this trip overall it's been like it's a good question I was gonna say successful I don't know if there was really a goal but what's been good about it is I'm forgetting stuff like I'm not thinking about the shit at home that I have to deal with as soon as I get back it's been nice to sort of unplug like you know I'm not I don't know I haven't really had service so it's like I gotta go entertain myself which is why I wanted to be here so I've been in the water a lot I went on some hikes I've seen a lot of waterfalls kind of cool like little ones little things like that and it's felt like I feel normal again here like I'm just a guy traveling on my own like I don't have to worry about like the health crap and all that it just feels like I'm a normal person I don't know I missed that yeah this is a trip that has reminded me that like my time like being able to choose how I can spend my time and do something like this that's that's a gift that's an opportunity I've never had as this episode goes to air Nick is back in the U.S. he got back safely no more machetes and there's something I didn't mention earlier in the two months leading up to his New Zealand trip the MRIs and scans have been looking good no new tumor growth but the morning of his flight back to New Zealand his doctor had wanted to do a zoom call turns out the tumor was growing bigger again not a lot bigger but enough to warrant discussion of abandoning the treatment he was on and jumping to alternative care or maybe another surgery so that news is fresh in his mind as he dealt with the visa strain and he was able to get back to work and he was able to get back to work at the airport at the time he sent me a message saying if I'm not out there experiencing a fulfilling life then what's the point of trying to extend that life in the first place I've been told all along that the tumor will come back if anything it's just a timely reminder that I'm doing the right thing I keep telling myself if not now then when so it's a perfect opportunity to embrace that mantra and so yeah Nick carried on with his trip to New Zealand and I'm constantly amazed by his outlook on everything it's subtly shifted the way I view my own life I met up with him for coffee recently back in the US the first time we'd met in person I didn't record anything I realized I just wanted to hang out with him he gave me some t-shirts of his band Pookie he's just what I expected he's smart funny thoughtful reflective and after that I wondered how I'd wind up this episode like so many things in life it's also open-ended and unknown then I came across another of his videos the voice notes he'd left from New Zealand further reflecting on that incident in the cave and I thought this was the perfect thing to end on I think I realized something you know like I was really scared and I think it had almost a traumatic effect on me coming out of it the next day I'm realizing how scared I was seeing the full-on machete and realizing these guys were squatters and just kind of the vibe that I picked up I think that I really did dodge a dodgy situation but I also reflecting on it I think something else happened there and this is where I'm trying to tap into the magic of my experience and the magic of this place and it's that this guy whatever his intentions were you know maybe he's ripping people off maybe he's not even if he is I think he's just out there trying to have fun now there's maybe more wholesome ways to have fun I don't know I'm not gonna judge but I think he truly is just trying to live and that's where we connected and I'm realizing that's what got me out of that situation there's this really intense mutual understanding we saw each other we looked at each other and I think we both saw somebody who was trying to survive he's just going about his business running from his parole officer or whatever he's doing which he said and I'm out there trying to experience life while I can and there is that moment where I kind of leaned into the brain cancer stuff where he looked at me and he saw me and it's like and we were like two animals in a situation who are like yeah I see you I see you too all right we're good like we were both just trying to live both just trying to have a laugh like maybe he was just some guy who wanted to take people to these cool caves you know he scared me a little bit but I said yes and I think what he realized is that I am just some guy who says yes to stuff and wants to go live and I think that fueled him and we kind of fueled each other and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here and I'm looking back at it and I'm saying both of us were out there yesterday looking for something something to feel alive and something along the way while we're surviving realizing that surviving isn't just staying alive surviving is finding new opportunities new ways to experience exciting things and feeling alive and I'll tell you what as scared as I was and as fun as it was in the moment or scary afterwards I'm not going to lie to you I'm not going to lie to you words I sure as hell felt alive and maybe that's the whole point stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors support for flightless bird comes from pesty now I don't know if you're a DIY person but if you are you know that incredibly satisfied feeling you get when you complete a task and here in Los Angeles I've been DIYing pest control for a while now because Los Angeles and apartments here are 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Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit samsclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club. Annual plan only. Auto renews. TNC apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for one plus year versus non-member or club member pricing slash fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info. Yeah, Nick. Nick. Nick did it. He did it. He survived. Blows me away with how he muses about every situation he's in and just comes out with something I would never, ever expect in the first place. His takes on things. Kind of remarkable. And the kindness he extends to other people as well. Yeah. I think if I came out of that situation, I would just be terrified and angry probably and like want some kind of like, I don't know. Like, not vengeance, like justice or something. But he's just like, no, this guy, me hurt him. I'm not going to be able to paraphrase it better than he did. So is that New Zealand as you remember it? I know when we go to New Zealand, I know there's a cave that I really want to take you to. I think I would just let you go there on your own. Okay. But it's just a spot you could. No, the other thing is like the listeners that like after that original episode aired, the number of people in New Zealand that contacted us saying, you're like Nick, sir. I serve. Come to this place. Come to this place. Obviously, there was the paragliding situation, but there are a bunch of people, surfers who reached out with like spots and places. And when he had that map book of where he'd been across the North Island, it was just zigzagging to some amazing places. Yeah. I was like, holy shit. You were there for like a couple of weeks and he did so much. I mean, he's probably done more than you in New Zealand. Oh, no. Yeah. No, he definitely has. In these two weeks. No, I hear he even ate at some food trucks along the way, which I was very skeptical of. I was like, really? We don't have food trucks. What? We don't have any of those. How are you eating? Yeah. I mean, I imagine his trip is very different one than we will have in New Zealand. Well, there's a guy that likes making people jump off cliffs paragliding. So I don't know if that's something you're interested in. That's something you're interested in? I think it's something that I've heard you are maybe into. Something else that I was thinking about, and it's kind of off topic, but thinking of him being led into that cave reminded me a lot of that movie. Was it Speak No Evil or Hear No Evil? Speak No Evil? Speak No Evil. Which is basically, it's a horror about a family that they meet on holiday. Yeah, yeah. One family is invited to stay at this other family's house. And this other family who is. James McAvoy. Yeah. And the other family is like, spoiler alert, psychopaths. And they just slowly start bending the social rules of what's appropriate, encroaching on their personal space. Like she's vegetarian. And the other. The other family starts like just feeding them meat all the time. And it's this kind of case study in how far you will kind of push it along a certain path. For social norms. Yeah. When you know that things are very bad, but you don't want to be impolite. Yeah, yeah. No, that's a very fun movie that feels very real. Like both of those people. Yeah. And it's a remake, right? It's like the original is more. But my point is. I like being led down that path. Yeah. I would kind of be similar in that you don't. I've been in those situations. Yeah. You don't want to be rude, right? And you don't want to be the one that is thinking that someone is awful if they're not. Because that will be deeply embarrassing. But you have red flags that keep going off. But. Everywhere. Your codependence is not allowing you to be like, no, no, no. I'm going to push back. And now I just got to go. Completely. Yeah. And I think Nick's story is. It's a perfect example where you are isolated with people on a path heading towards a cave in New Zealand, this place you've never been before, and just going along with it. You know, because you listen to a story and you're like, oh, this sounds awful. Say, I'm not going to go down that path. I think I'm going to do something else. But of course you don't. Yeah. Anyway, it just made me think of that a lot. Something I also want to just clear up, in the episode, we repeated the original episode segment where I was. Recapping what had happened to him. Yeah. And I noticed your face do something. I don't know what you're talking about. When I said the word, Maryland. Yeah. Which is. How do you say that properly? I say Maryland. Maryland. Yeah. Maryland. Yeah. Okay. Maryland sounds like a theme park. Which, in America, it kind of fits. I'm sure there is a Maryland. Yeah. Oh, my God. Spell that M-E-R-R-Y. Okay. Land. All right. Nick bought you a t-shirt. He has a band, Pookie, which is a math rock band that he is in. And also, he's got a cassette tape of his EP, which I'm going to pass on. Awesome. Pookie, great band. Again, in the show notes, that is Nick's band. And yeah, look, Nick, his attitude is. As positive as it possibly could be. There's options for him to keep beating this thing back. There's the option, this tumor keeps growing back. There's the option to do surgery again. There's some other non-surgical ways to push it back. But he's kind of. He's got the best attitude I could ever imagine. Yeah, it's kind of unbelievable how positive of an attitude he has while dealing with something as unimaginable as what he is. It's insane. And again, I mean, I'm someone that complains a lot, and I'm just trying to put things in perspective a little bit. Nick's the man. Do you want to hear some feedback? Yeah, let's hear some feedback. We've already talked about my food truck. Misinformation? Disinformation? Lucky. Over on our Patreon, commented, loved the episode. I ate from a food truck in the car park of a pharmacy in LA, and it was life-changing. But also came here to say, David, it is misinformation. Misrepresenting Auckland and New Zealand in general. While we definitely don't have the food truck culture of LA, there is more than just one food truck in Auckland. You could have talked about the White Lady, which is an institution, David. It is White Lady. It's a food truck. Have you been? I've been. Oh, so you've actually been to food trucks in New Zealand. To be fair, in the interview, you said there wasn't. But in the conversation, you said there was. You were all over the place. Sometimes reality, for me, slips in and out. Yeah, it seems like. So thank you, Lucky, over on Patreon. Caitlin, over on Patreon, also said, "I feel like I would be remiss if I did not bring up halal carts and their role in Mamdani's campaign. It's interesting to juxtapose the LA scene and that of New York City. Having spent a lot of time in Austin as well, during what I view as the height of food trucks, it definitely has always felt more similar to LA. Being from Houston, though, we share a more community-based taco truck approach. Can't wait to see what food trucks you visit while you're in Austin for your live show." Yeah, I guess that's a good point. The food trucks are probably pretty influenced on the ethnic groups that are in the cities. Totally, completely. We were very LA-focused in that particular episode. Madison said, "Can't wait for the Patreon episodes with Matteo. And Alastair, a few." So, yes, I am going to talk to my father, Alastair, about his testicle incident. Yep. And Matteo, more hesitant. He's the guy brewing matcha on the side of the street. I don't know if he's doing a time lapse or what, but he's always got a phone on a tripod as well. Oh, God, he's fucking streaming or something. He might be. He's probably a streamer. So. Oh, you're going to have fun. You did send me a photo of another matcha corner pop-up. In Los Angeles, our neighbor, there's multiple stream matcha brewers popping up. And they all look very similar. It's very funny to me. Lindsay wrote in, "I live in the Columbus, Ohio area, and food trucks are huge. There's even a food truck festival downtown every summer." Wesley wrote in, "Hey, Dave and Rob. Currently listening to the Food Truck episode and Roy is talking about growing up in restaurants hits home. When my family didn't own a restaurant, I grew up in the food industry. My first job was a dishwasher at a busy pasta shop in college when I was 16. I would get out of school and go to the dish pit from around 6:00 PM an hour after close. Roy's description of being around all of these adults and kind of growing up in a pirate ship is dead on. We smoked, we drank, we blasted music, and people found their future spouses or their weekend hookup. I was also taking guitar lessons from a local musician at the time. And I would describe him to my working environment. Years later, when I was finally old enough to go see his weekly Sunday night show at the local dive, my old manager requested a song, Dish Monkey. He had written a song about being in the dish pit. I thought that was pretty cool. Two more. One about food trucks. One about Hot Garbage Guy, actually adjacent to Hot Garbage Guy. Don't get too excited. Hannah said, "I live in upstate New York outside of Syracuse." Am I saying that right? Syracuse. I got it right. Yeah. Sometimes I get it right. Sometimes you can read. Mary, Mary. Newfoundland is reading, you son of a bitch. We have a Syracuse Food Truck Association. They help with advertising for food trucks and have an app to show where the food trucks are going to be at different times. They hold an annual food truck battle in the spring at the New York State Fairgrounds. I would say in New Zealand, we don't have a food truck battle. Yeah, it doesn't seem like you guys battle, other than orcs. No, apart from orcs, no battling. No battle. That's a fact. At the battles, around 40 to 50 food trucks post up around the fairgrounds and offer an inexpensive sample of their product, usually anywhere from $1 to $5. Give out prizes, best dessert, best overall item. I love all this. This is great. It's a fun event. You should go. And Hannah, I tend to agree. Finally, subject line, hot garbage guy and muscles. I had talked about the hot garbage guy that plagues our neighborhood. Topless. He has the muscles that are in a V-shape. Is he topless? I don't think he's shirtless. He's shirtless. Is he? I'm just imagining it. Single? You're just imagining him. Maybe I am. I think like tank top. I'm sure he's topless. All right. I mean, it probably depends on the weather. I was referring to the muscles on some people around the abs, this sort of a V-shape. Cover your ears if there are children. I just like this email. It's so simple. Ari, hot garbage guy. And muscles from Otto. He just says they're called cum gutters from Otto. And that seemed like a good way to end the episode. If you have any feedback, as always, we have [email protected]. I'm sorry, Nick, for bringing this episode down by talking about cum gutters. But I also think you'd giggle at that as well. And also if you're not watching on YouTube, we're at youtube.com/apps. @FlightlessBirdPodcast and David is going to show his cum gutters before we leave. I will not be doing that because I don't have them, you son of a bitch. Um, we are on Patreon where we do bonus episodes every week. Uh, we are on YouTube. We have video on Spotify as well. And if you want to get in contact again, we have [email protected]. We love hearing from you every week. Um, cum gutters. Feedback, all the things. Thank you. Thank you for listening.