1 00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Harrison starts the episode and I don't trust Robert today. 2 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:09,640 Speaker 1: You want me to start? I don't trust Robert today. 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: It's time, Garrison, it's time for you to learn. Wow, 4 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: my advice is a tonal shrieking. I am not doing that. 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,120 Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna be like, oh, Garrison's just copying Robert's tone 6 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: and cadence. You mean you mean they're making sounds with 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: my mouth. Yeah, that's that's how. That's how, that's how 8 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 1: communication works. Start the episode with that and trigger everybody 9 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: like me. You use a microphone, it's very real. Yeah, 10 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: you thieve we're recording. Let's let's do this. Hey, it's 11 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: time for stories. We love. We love stories here at 12 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: Etiquet Happen Here pod the podcast about how things are 13 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: kind of falling apart and too maybe some ways to 14 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: put them back together. Um, I'm Garrison. I'm starting this 15 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 1: episode today. I'm not sure why roberts here. I'm real hungover. 16 00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: Robert is real hung because I didn't trust Robert to 17 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: do his job today. But I trust you, Garrison. You 18 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,920 Speaker 1: didn't really not trust me to do my job. I know. 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 1: That's that's that's fun. We also we also have Christopher 20 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: here and and we have uh writer Rebecca Campbell. Hello, hey, 21 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: and uh, why don't you briefly explain who who you 22 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: are and what what's what's going on today? Okay, Well, 23 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: I'm a Canadian writer and sometimes I'm a teacher, but 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: mostly I just write really sad stories about climate change 25 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: and ghosts and aies and near future stuff like that. Um. 26 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,840 Speaker 1: This story I'm reading is called thank You for Your Patients. 27 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: It came out and Reckoning for I guess last year. 28 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: And uh, it's based on my partner's time when he 29 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: was working in a call center and the kind of 30 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: nightmares stories that I heard from them every time he 31 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:03,120 Speaker 1: home from work. But it's also about me being on 32 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: the other side of the country from the part of 33 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: the world that I love the most, which is the 34 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: Pacific Northwest. Um. And you know, watching Fukushima a few 35 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: years ago and watching wildfires a few weeks ago, and um, 36 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: being separated from the things that are important to you, um, 37 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: as they're all falling apart. Well, I'm just excited that 38 00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:27,639 Speaker 1: this podcast is now two fifths Canadian, so that's that's 39 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: the main thing I'm excited about. Uh. No, oh my god, 40 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,959 Speaker 1: I just a tim Horton's cup just appeared next to me. 41 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,079 Speaker 1: It's terrible donut home I have I do have a 42 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: Tim Hortons cupt in my kitchen. Um, anyway, let's uh, 43 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: let's let's let's start this, start this, start this reading, 44 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: Let's eat this popsicle stand as they say a thing, 45 00:02:51,800 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: Let's continue, Let's let's eat this. Okay, thank you for 46 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: your patience. I'm lucky because they replaced a bunch of 47 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: chairs last month and I got a new one. A 48 00:03:15,320 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: good chair is important when you spend ten hours a 49 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: day in a cubicle talking to strangers about their problems. 50 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: I've been here three years and worked on most of 51 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: Western Morgan's services, which means I can, with no thought, 52 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: help grandma set up her WiFi, or troubleshoot banking software, 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: or set up your cell phone plan, or help you 54 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: with some app designed to find your soulmate that nevertheless 55 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: feels you with hopelessness. I can't help you with the hopelessness. 56 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: It's nonstandard, but I'm Western Morgan's floater, and Jordi, your 57 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: Kirsty just dropped me. Where the calls are heavy or 58 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: turnover as high. On Twitter, I can answer questions within 59 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: five seconds of some asshole in Toronto saying, what the 60 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: fuck my TV doesn't see the house network, and I respond, 61 00:03:56,040 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: I'm sorry to hear that Toronto asshole. Let's see if 62 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: I can help. I'm at possible to rile because I've 63 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: heard everything, every possible stupid question, every strange request regarding 64 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: lapsed policies and mispayments, every paranoid rand, every sort of 65 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: impotent rage. The management is shitty and the customers are irritable, 66 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: but there's beauty and problem solving. The really bad stuff 67 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 1: started at the end of last month, when I had 68 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: to do on one on one majority team lead for 69 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: the floor. I've been fielding a bunch of questions regarding 70 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: a recent patch that had broken everything. I had this rhythm, 71 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: hitting my thirty second age T and typing without thinking, 72 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: Mark here, how can I help you? But one on 73 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: one is mandated interruptions, So I listened to Geordy brainstorm 74 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,360 Speaker 1: about improving morale. They stopped having barbecues because it was 75 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:47,119 Speaker 1: too expensive, even when the burgers were sawdust and soy. Also, 76 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: no one wanted to be outside because Detroit was still burning, 77 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: and the PPM up to something like Beijing. Listen to 78 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:59,279 Speaker 1: this Western Morgan idol. Jordy told me we judge three 79 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: of the top right calls, and we have a thing 80 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,840 Speaker 1: and someone walks away with a Timmy's gift card like 81 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,640 Speaker 1: fifty bucks. Jordi said that like it was a good thing. 82 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: What about a key fob? I asked, we can't get 83 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,160 Speaker 1: out with what without one? After hours? But only management 84 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:17,200 Speaker 1: could hold or the winner gets to wear Janes or 85 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: keep their phone for a shift. That didn't write an answer. 86 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: The most frustrating thing about Western Morrigan is that team 87 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: leads have to hold your phone like you're an untrusted 88 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: teenager who's been grounded. I feel like I'm lost in 89 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,680 Speaker 1: a cave or a space station. When I do a 90 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: lot of overtime. I arrived when it's dark, and I 91 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,240 Speaker 1: leave when it's dark. And while sometimes I go around 92 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: the corner for coffee or McNuggets, it always feels like 93 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: I'm just visiting the world. I don't know what's happened, 94 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: if a government's fall on, or if an ice shelf 95 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: has collapsed, if Detroit is burning again, or maybe California 96 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: or the Great Lakes are dying at a slightly faster 97 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: rate than they were before I left for work, never 98 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: knowing what's going on outside. I sit in my good 99 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: chair and say that sounds frustrating to everyone, no matter 100 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: who's talking or what they want. Let me see if 101 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: I understand your problem. You could judge, Geordie, Stead said, 102 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:15,279 Speaker 1: still talking about Morrel. You're impartial. You hate everyone. I 103 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:18,719 Speaker 1: don't hate everyone, Georgy, I said reflexively, though, to be fair, 104 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: I hate a lot of people here. After my mandated 105 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes with Jordy, I saw that Misty had a 106 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: problem with my documentation, which has been rough since they 107 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: changed policy on me. She's in the Philippines, where most 108 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: of the real work happens. Upper management is all in India. 109 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: They only have us because they need Canadian accents on 110 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: the phones, and they get tax breaks bringing jobs to 111 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: one of the more desolate parts of the country down 112 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 1: when from Detroit, rampant West Nile and of the province's 113 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: heavy metals processed at the plant out by the ball 114 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 1: of the baby's born. Here are girls something to do 115 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: with residual b p A. Misty is on the other 116 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: side of the Pacific in Lagaspi. But you think she 117 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: was right here considering how aggressively. She organizes us your 118 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: ship at filling out forms. Mark the rite up is 119 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: going to kill your rank. We're stack ranked. Every shift 120 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: it gets you points you can redeem. You can redeem, 121 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: which honestly is worth it for the grocery store gift cards. 122 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: Just tell me what I did wrong, Lagaspie. We were 123 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: in the middle of a rough month. The flu hit 124 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: everywhere at once, and no one could afford to lose 125 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: the work, so we had a bunch of people come in, 126 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,360 Speaker 1: sick coughs and juicy sneezes all over the floor, and 127 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: half the time you got on the elevator and everyone 128 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: was gray faced and weaving. I came in over the 129 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,760 Speaker 1: weekend to cover Mobile because they lost half their staff, 130 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: so I'd been on for eight days by Monday, when 131 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:45,360 Speaker 1: Jordy was manic trying to call people in so he 132 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: wouldn't have to go on the phones. He always says, 133 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: when we're smoking outside and he's pointedly not looking at 134 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: the place where the gam building used to be, It's 135 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: not the extra fifty cents an hour, it's the fact 136 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: I don't have to deal with people. He hated taking calls. 137 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: He offered me overtime so I started coming in at 138 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: six and leaving at ten, and I didn't even notice 139 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: the weekend. I do remember going home those nights and 140 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,840 Speaker 1: thinking how hollow my room felt with my roommates playing 141 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: Call of Duty in the living room, and how my 142 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,440 Speaker 1: body seemed to vibrate caffeine maybe your pseudophedan. I heard 143 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: phantom time warnings and chimes, and when I closed my eyes, 144 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: I could see the screen and call after call flooding 145 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: the queue. By Saturday, Western Morgan was a haunted house, 146 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: but I still wasn't sick. That sounds frustrating. Let me 147 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: see if I can help. I was dealing with this 148 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 1: woman on Vancouver Islands who couldn't generate invoices. We'd been 149 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 1: at it for two hours and I could feel her 150 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:44,839 Speaker 1: getting upset when I told her to wipe the whole 151 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: system and start again. I could help her with that, 152 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,320 Speaker 1: but she was like, no, we'll lose two weeks of work. 153 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: There's nothing I can say to that, so we keep 154 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 1: troubleshooting even though it's pointless. Okay, I said, you can 155 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:58,680 Speaker 1: go back to your route invoice and try. Oh, she 156 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: said what, And that was it. I didn't hear anything 157 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: but the line itself, which just went dead, that kind 158 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: of absence you get when someone hangs up on you. 159 00:09:08,160 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: Are you there, ma'am? I called back, but I got 160 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: a reorder tone, not voice mail or an old fashioned 161 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: busy signal, but the one that means the whole system 162 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,199 Speaker 1: is busier, blocked or down. I dropped out of the 163 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: queue then, which you're not supposed to do, obviously, and 164 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: went looking for Jordy, who was chatting with Kirsty about 165 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: Western Morgan idol. I asked if they knew anything, but 166 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: of course they didn't. And when I asked if I 167 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: could at least grab my phone to see what was happening, 168 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: Kirsty did a kind of elementary school teacher sigh. Documentation 169 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:42,599 Speaker 1: for three eight zero your overdue mark. Collar dropped. I 170 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: saw that explanation happening across the board. Looks like the 171 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: problems at their end. I didn't find out until Moe 172 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: came back from Brake Street to wet in the way 173 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: you are if you run out into that rain blowing 174 00:09:55,600 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: in from Detroit because you don't want it to touch 175 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 1: your skin, saying earthquake on the West coast, You know 176 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:03,719 Speaker 1: anyone out there? I thought about the woman trying to 177 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: get the invoice together for a tiny order of sea 178 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:09,640 Speaker 1: salts from some equally tiny place on Vancouver Island. Her 179 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:13,719 Speaker 1: business so miniscule it's still fit into our cheapest subscription. 180 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,079 Speaker 1: In my unsubmitted documentation for Misty, I had written that 181 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: her voice sounded like a hopeful but slightly overwhelmed great 182 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: aunt trying to make the remote control work. No one, 183 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 1: how bad like nine point six, the worst since forever, 184 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: like for hundreds of years, Jesus, I said, Jesus, Jesus, 185 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 1: I've had similar moments on calls. When the shooting happened 186 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,920 Speaker 1: in Montreal, not View ma Real, but the one with 187 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: the kids ran downtown from McGill and the photographer caught 188 00:10:42,880 --> 00:10:45,040 Speaker 1: the girl as the bullet tour at her right kneecap. 189 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,079 Speaker 1: I was on the line with this dick wad in 190 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: a coworking place on Maisonneuve, who was talking, who was 191 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: asking to talk to my supervisor? Then midwine, he stopped 192 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: talking like he suddenly didn't care about my attitude. I 193 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:02,719 Speaker 1: could hear his phone pinging, sir, are you there? Can 194 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: you hear that it's happening on the street. I can 195 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: see a faint popping, voice raised and doors slammed. Then 196 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:11,960 Speaker 1: he cut the call. I kept in the queue. I 197 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: helped someone update, I did a subscription renewal. The next person, though, 198 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: needed a backup, and that took forever. So we chatted 199 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: about hockey until she said, did you hear about Montreal? No, ma'am, 200 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:24,040 Speaker 1: I said, thinking about the sound I may be heard 201 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: before his phone cut. Firecrackers, backfires. Some guy shot up 202 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:31,680 Speaker 1: the whole downtown. I think it was terrorists, who knows, 203 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:34,640 Speaker 1: fl Q or Muslims, maybe Red Power fifty dead, but 204 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: it was going up every single time ever fresh the page. 205 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: She kept going on like this while we did a backup, 206 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: and then I made sure everything worked. And it had 207 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:45,680 Speaker 1: been like three hours at that point, and I kept 208 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 1: thinking of the guy in his silence and what was 209 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: going on in the streets while we talked about his 210 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: log in and how unprofessional I was. I don't have 211 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,280 Speaker 1: any friends in Montreal. I went there once to drink 212 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,719 Speaker 1: when I was eighteen, but that's it. I just had 213 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: that guy and the thump of footsteps fleeing the coworking space. 214 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: When I took my break, the rain was falling again, 215 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: the faintly gray kind that runs down the sidewalks and 216 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,520 Speaker 1: the gutters, and when it builds up enough you can 217 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: see it's a little milky because it's full of ash. 218 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: If you think too hard about what's running into your 219 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: eyes as you stand outside smoking until your pack is empty, 220 00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: you go eat a twenty four box of tim Bits 221 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: or six Big Max, or you stopped for one beer 222 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: on the way home, and only leave when they push 223 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: you out the door. Geordie was outside. I gave him 224 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: a cigarette, even though he doesn't smoke either, and he said, 225 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't seem to be getting cleaner. Wasn't it supposed 226 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: to get cleaner. He grew up in Detroit, though he 227 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: was already over here when it burned last year. Maybe 228 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: it's safer. The ham is worse. I thought the ham 229 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: was supposed to go away. When they sent in the 230 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: cleanup cruise. We watched the warm, ash colored water run 231 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: down the gutters until it was ankle deep. This city 232 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: is a wetland, and there isn't far for water to go, 233 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: so it ends up in people's basements. All that ashy, 234 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: bony water unning through foundations and drains, a constant trickle 235 00:13:03,080 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: in the background, sort of like the faint pop you 236 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: might hear while you're on the phone with a guy 237 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:12,199 Speaker 1: from Montreal wants to talk to your manager. Does it 238 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: feel Jordy said, and lit another cigarette. What Jordy I 239 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:22,719 Speaker 1: hate how often he doesn't finish his sentences. Does it 240 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:24,920 Speaker 1: feel like it's happening more? Now? The sort of thing. 241 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: I dropped my smoke into the rain water and I shrugged. 242 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,079 Speaker 1: Then I said I wish I knew what to tell you, 243 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 1: which wasn't a real answer, and I used my tech 244 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: support voice when I said it, because I didn't want 245 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: to have that conversation. On my first break after the earthquake, 246 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: I smoked and watched the rain and videos on my phone. 247 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: Someone live streaming the moment it hit bored talk about 248 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: food or weather, than a strange look on their face, 249 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:53,680 Speaker 1: their eyes dart upward. Then the phone falls overhead. Footage 250 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: from helicopters of downtown Vancouver, all those green towers swaying 251 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:02,080 Speaker 1: and falling, and the bridge swinging until the cable snap 252 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:06,120 Speaker 1: like rubber bands, the worst in recorded history, worse probably 253 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: than the last megathrust in seventeen hundred. I just kept 254 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,079 Speaker 1: thinking of that woman and the sort of quiet shock 255 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: in her voice her, Oh is that? And then nothing, 256 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: and I was standing out in the rain, still warm, 257 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: when it occurred to me that I might have heard 258 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: her last words. I kept thinking about the texture of 259 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,640 Speaker 1: the silence after the call dropped, and what had happened 260 00:14:26,640 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: the moment after that, if that had been the worst 261 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: of it, the shock of the whole world rumbling, or 262 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:33,920 Speaker 1: if it had been worse for her after that or 263 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 1: right now or tomorrow. I only had ten minutes because 264 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: call volume was increasing. My throat started to tickle in 265 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 1: the world just suddenly out of nowhere, started to look glassy. 266 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: The light thick from the ceiling squares, and my skin 267 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: prickled when I ran my hands over my arms, which 268 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: were covered with goose bumps. The floor was nearly empty 269 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: except for Jority running around supervising and not taking calls, 270 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: and the cue was packed. My first call was round 271 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: way north along the coast Prince Rupe heard a woman 272 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,840 Speaker 1: calling about a password reset. I want Mark, she said, 273 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: he helped me before. Can I talk to Mark? While 274 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: I was documenting, I thought, fuck it, I'm gonna tell 275 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: Misty what the old woman told me while we were 276 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: waiting for the password reset email about how when you're 277 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: that far north, you don't notice time passing, and you 278 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: feel good in an unimaginable way in summer, luminous and hopeful, 279 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: and how in winter all you want to do is 280 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: die and drink yourself into a coma. So you know 281 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: it balances out. After that, I reopened three zero. An 282 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,160 Speaker 1: elderly woman, I wrote on a phone, trying to print 283 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:39,360 Speaker 1: invoices for locally produced sea salt, looks over at the 284 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 1: rack of glass jars in which she keeps her stock 285 00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,520 Speaker 1: because she hears a rattle, then another. Then she says, oh, 286 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: is that and nothing else, because at that moment, the 287 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,400 Speaker 1: force of rashimas lit the Cascadius abduction zone, on which 288 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:57,080 Speaker 1: Vancouver Island rests like a cork in a bottle. Centuries 289 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: of continental tension released. I type that, then I hit send. 290 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: Then I added a secondary note on her file. At 291 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: eight thirty two p s t A nine point eight 292 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: hit the Cascadia subduction zone, and Misty was right there 293 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: on chad hive, not telling me it was inappropriate. She wrote, 294 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: rest their souls, and I was comforted by those temporary words, 295 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,960 Speaker 1: which surprised me. My grandparents were on minda now in 296 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventy six earthquake, You got anyone there? No, 297 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,920 Speaker 1: I heard the hum from Detroit. It was somehow a 298 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,560 Speaker 1: relief to know that across the world, Misty was in 299 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: a similar room among people evaluating documentation for apps and 300 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: I s p s and accounting software. People saying that 301 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: must be frustrating. Let's see if I can help. Something 302 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: occurred to me. Do you hear anything about tsunamis no 303 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: word so far? Do you have your phones? You can 304 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: get the alerts. They'll let us know we're so bad. 305 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: I'm taking calls, so I won't be fixing your dog 306 00:16:57,160 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: until tomorrow. I wondered if Kirsty would let us know, 307 00:17:01,240 --> 00:17:03,000 Speaker 1: or if she would dither about it until all we 308 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: could do was climbed to the top floor of the 309 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: building and watch a way consume what was left of 310 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: Detroit before it swamped us to five more calls, and 311 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,680 Speaker 1: I refilled my water bottle, the one with the slogan 312 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: on it fueling small business with the tools to succeed 313 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: that some now lost Western Morgan contract brought in. And 314 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,359 Speaker 1: I was looking at my skin reflected in the sink, 315 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: which was the color of those pale, lumpy smokers. You 316 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: see outside the entrance the color of a raw filet 317 00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: o fish. I felt adrenalized, like a moment before it'd 318 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: been terrified, but I could not remember how or why. 319 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: I wondered what it was doing to me inside. All 320 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,480 Speaker 1: those cells now remade into virus factories, turning to goog 321 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,520 Speaker 1: and wash and sloughing off while the virus proliferated through 322 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: my system, and I left traces of it on everything 323 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: I touched. The water ran over the top of the 324 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:51,120 Speaker 1: bottle clear. So far the ash hasn't worked its way 325 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 1: in through the city's water system, or maybe it has, 326 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,840 Speaker 1: and it was invisible like the microplastics in the lake. 327 00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: So you're gonna judge it, was Jordy. We're gonna do 328 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: it next week. I was thinking, we set a time limit, 329 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: like five minutes, you and me and Kirsty judge it. 330 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: I'll grab a fifty for the Timmy's card too, man, 331 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: I said. Georgie just stared at me. You're getting sick. 332 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:15,040 Speaker 1: You know what you need to do. He went on 333 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: about ekenesia and flu effects, and I thought about the 334 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,400 Speaker 1: tsunami that was or was not traveling across the Pacific, 335 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: or just hammer your system with antioxidants to take a 336 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: double dose of night quill. Without thinking, I pulled my 337 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: phone out of my pocket. You know you can't have 338 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:32,880 Speaker 1: that anywhere on the floor. I was already googling Pacific 339 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,280 Speaker 1: tsunami alert, and it was rolling rainbows, and I stared 340 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: at it so hard that it seemed to take over 341 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: the whole world. And then I shivered. But Jority was 342 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,200 Speaker 1: still talking, don't make me write you up. I don't 343 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: want to deal with it, okay, I said, It's about 344 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: privacy for our users. They need to know that they 345 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: can trust our integrity, our word, and our system. The 346 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: poster on the far side of the break room said integrity, 347 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: word and system. I saw that the alert had been 348 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,040 Speaker 1: issued for Japan. That's when he took my phone. You 349 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:01,879 Speaker 1: fucked the dog. I have to write you up. I 350 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: don't want to write you up Japan. And six hours, 351 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:08,479 Speaker 1: eight pm I'd still be on. Then, while very far away, 352 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: a wave crested on the sea coast, filling the river 353 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:20,199 Speaker 1: basins and the car parks. I know you don't have 354 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:22,639 Speaker 1: to surrender your phone, even if they can require you 355 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 1: to leave it at home. I know they're not supposed 356 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:26,920 Speaker 1: to lock you in either or let you smoke within 357 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 1: three ms of the door, even when the ashes falling. 358 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 1: They're not supposed to pay you in points. You can 359 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,840 Speaker 1: then exchange for grocery store gift cards, which you need 360 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: because the new minimum wage wasn't even covering rent. But 361 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: I needed a job. The next call I got was 362 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,439 Speaker 1: farther south, closer to the epicenter. The first thing I 363 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: did was asked about the earthquake. Oh, we felt it, 364 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: and there's a tsunami warning. But we're far enough inland 365 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: it shouldn't be tsunami warning. So when I go try 366 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,720 Speaker 1: to log in tsunami, I keep getting the same error. 367 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:58,199 Speaker 1: It says my accounts frozen. What does that mean? I 368 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: need to do some invoices And yeah, I just got 369 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: the text like half an hour ago. Landfall is like 370 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,000 Speaker 1: an hour. The account was frozen due to misspayments. So 371 00:20:06,040 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: I pointed that out and the guy insisted no. He 372 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: set up an automated transfer, and he kept me on 373 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: the line while he chatted with the banks tech support 374 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: on another line to sort out the direct deposit, and 375 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:18,480 Speaker 1: then I reactivated his account. All this time the tsunami 376 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: traveling towards the coast or the shallower bottom would raise 377 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: the waves height by narrowing its length. Because the last 378 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 1: time I'd been outside, I'd looked at a gift on 379 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: Wikipedia that demonstrated how tsunami's crest as they traveled through 380 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: shallow waters. The last thing he said wasn't thanks it 381 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: was there. It is. The tide's going way out. I 382 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: hope everyone's out of downtown. Then he was gone, and 383 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,600 Speaker 1: I can imagine it, the water running away from the 384 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: shore like a huge exhalation and then collecting into a 385 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: rising wave that would destroy them all the tsunami warning 386 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: I wrote in chat hive, hoping Misty was there. Kirsty 387 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,679 Speaker 1: responded instantly that is not appropriate. Chat hive is for 388 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: important work stuff. We haven't heard anything, but we were swamps, 389 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: so who knows what's going on outside. Chat Hi channel 390 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,360 Speaker 1: will only be used for appropriate business related business. Maybe 391 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,199 Speaker 1: you should get out. Chat hi channel will only be 392 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: used for appropriate business related business. I've been there for 393 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: sixteen hours and I couldn't remember the last time I 394 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: slept a full night at home when I hadn't been 395 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:20,359 Speaker 1: buzzed on cold pills in exhaustion and the sound of 396 00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 1: call of duty from the living room that week when 397 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: I did sleep, I kept saying, this is Mark from Magnicore, 398 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:30,120 Speaker 1: or this is Mark from wherever I am right now, 399 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 1: and heard explosions and the way voices carry over the 400 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,920 Speaker 1: river from Detroit, the screams and the crowds and the gunshots. 401 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:38,720 Speaker 1: Or maybe I was never actually asleep, Maybe I was 402 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: just off my head. I shouldn't have washed the pills 403 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:43,640 Speaker 1: down with beer. But there's that thing that happens when 404 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: you stop in for a beer after work, and the 405 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 1: inertia of the whole thing, the job, the shitty beer, 406 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,720 Speaker 1: and the fact that a person brings you food even 407 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:52,399 Speaker 1: if you can't afford it. It sticks you to your seat. 408 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 1: It was bad last summer when we couldn't afford to 409 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:56,640 Speaker 1: run the a C. But the bar on the way 410 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: home could, and it was full of familiar guys, broke 411 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: and lonely and trying to avoid looking at what was 412 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 1: left of the Detroit skyline, or the gray green clouds 413 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: boiling to the north, and the hail and the lightning 414 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: storms every afternoon like clockwork. The summers are definitely hotter, 415 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,439 Speaker 1: and the mosquitoes are definitely worse. And the last summer 416 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,840 Speaker 1: I noticed that the birds don't sing anymore, all their 417 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: whistles and like video game lasers. I stepped outside for 418 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,159 Speaker 1: another cigarette and realized the door had been locked. And 419 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:27,200 Speaker 1: I don't have a fall because I don't rate a fob. 420 00:22:27,880 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 1: Jordy was there too, setting up his stupid Western Morgan 421 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: idle piles a bright pink and green and blue post it. 422 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,160 Speaker 1: Now it's all over his desk. I need to go out. 423 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: The doors are locked for the night. I need to 424 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: go out. We lost another girl from online. You'll have 425 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,160 Speaker 1: to take over social media if we lose anyone else. 426 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,920 Speaker 1: Take your break here. I just kind of stared at him, 427 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: and my skin prickled, like all the suit of a 428 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,239 Speaker 1: phedron I had taken had rushed to the surface and 429 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: was blasting every single nerve ending in my body. I 430 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 1: need to go outside. You can't, like you physically can't. 431 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: I kind of stood there, and I'm ashamed to say 432 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: I wanted to cry, like a little kid who isn't 433 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,400 Speaker 1: allowed to use the bathroom, who just wants to sit 434 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,720 Speaker 1: with his dad but keeps getting dragged away by unfamiliar relatives. 435 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:13,679 Speaker 1: The kind of crying you see on the bus at 436 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: rush hour when some little kid coming back from the 437 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 1: mall loses it and lies in the aisle wailing, cramming 438 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: road salt in his mouth, and you just think you 439 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: and me both. I didn't actually cry. I hate myself 440 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,679 Speaker 1: because I just said, begging, can I please have my 441 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: phone back? Please? Jordy looked at me like I was 442 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:32,680 Speaker 1: an idiot him in the middle of all the post 443 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:35,520 Speaker 1: it notes that read congratulations, and You're a winner and 444 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: Western Morgan idol. I didn't say anything. I left at first. 445 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: I just sat in the lunch room, shivering and nauseated, 446 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: staring at the plastic solo cup left over from the 447 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:48,680 Speaker 1: barbecues they used to give before the ash. There will 448 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: be worse moments in my life, no doubt, more pain, 449 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,600 Speaker 1: more sadness, but I can't imagine anything so wide ranging 450 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: in its desolation as that moment. The only thing I 451 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: could focus on was telling Missy to get her phone 452 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,439 Speaker 1: back and watch the horizon and be ready to escape. 453 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: A girl from online staggered through, sweaty and pale, and 454 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:10,800 Speaker 1: I knew that Jordy would be there in a minute 455 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,479 Speaker 1: to ask for another eight hours overnight answering stranger's questions 456 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: so perfectly that they treat me like a shitty customer 457 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,639 Speaker 1: service AI built to serve. There aren't a lot of 458 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,520 Speaker 1: choices in life, are there. You can choose to have 459 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: kids or not, to leave your hometown or not, or 460 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: to stay in a terrible job you are, for some reason, 461 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: very good at. But other than that, what is there? 462 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: Just a lot of compliance and non compliance. This moment 463 00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: didn't feel like a choice. I said to the girl, 464 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: we need to get out of here, and she nodded. 465 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 1: Then we headed down to the lobby. The doors were 466 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:44,479 Speaker 1: locked and no one caring a key was in the building, 467 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: and the girl just looked bad. But when I went 468 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: to the fire escape, she still said, no, no, we're 469 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,919 Speaker 1: not supposed to. We need to get out. They'll fire us. 470 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: And I could hear the fear in her voice, and 471 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:58,480 Speaker 1: I wondered how badly she needed this job, that she 472 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: was here in the middle of the night. It's so 473 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 1: sick she could hardly stand. Tell them I did it, 474 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:06,920 Speaker 1: I said, and hit the bar, only it didn't move 475 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,440 Speaker 1: because the fire escape was locked too. The next thing 476 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: I did was stupid, but I don't know what else 477 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: I could have done. I walked back to the lobby 478 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: and picked up a garbage can and began slamming it 479 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: into the glass door behind me. She was coughing and 480 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,159 Speaker 1: coughing and said maybe stop, stop, but so faintly I 481 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:24,760 Speaker 1: could ignore it. Then we were out, and she was 482 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: staggering towards the emergency room on wilette and I was 483 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: alone in the rain water the same temperature as my blood. 484 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 1: Then I went looking for a pay phone, because the 485 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: only way to sort this out was to call in. 486 00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: But I couldn't remember which of Western Morgan's departments Misty 487 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: was assigned to. So when I finally found the city's 488 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: last pay phone in the bus depot, I called them all, 489 00:25:44,840 --> 00:25:47,399 Speaker 1: all the sad voices of men and women here and 490 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: on the other side of the world. Welcome to Kyphus 491 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:56,439 Speaker 1: Business Systems, Jane speaking, Can I help you? Welcome to 492 00:25:56,480 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 1: Tesla Mobility. Can I help you? Welcome to ross Am 493 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,879 Speaker 1: Account Services. Welcome the Lighthouse Mobility. I'm looking for Misty, 494 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: she helped me before. I'm sure I can help you. 495 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: What's your user number? Misty? Misty knows, I said, my voice, 496 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,320 Speaker 1: queer less and elderly. Put on Misty. I could hear 497 00:26:14,359 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: the exhaustion in his silence. Than the compliance one moment, 498 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,199 Speaker 1: I'll transfer you. Hey, Misty, I said, Misty, Misty, you 499 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 1: need to get to high ground. What who is this? 500 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: Just promise, Kay, there's no tsunami warning. It's on its way. 501 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: It's passing Japan and Hawaii. It hit the Allusians California. 502 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: I hope she didn't mistake me for what I felt 503 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: like right then, a crazy old man mad with loneliness, 504 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: longing to hear a voice in the void, even if 505 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: it was only to harangue them for the weakness of 506 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:49,160 Speaker 1: their service and the terrible nature of their product. Mark, 507 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,199 Speaker 1: another six hours to landfall. I know you'll still be 508 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 1: on shift, promise. I waited for her to disconnect, which 509 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,919 Speaker 1: was okay because at least I told her then. I 510 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: think maybe she said thank you, Mark, or maybe it 511 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: was just the noise in my head. I held the 512 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: line another moment that hung up. I felt okay because 513 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 1: I got through, because I wasn't in a cubicle anymore, 514 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: because I could walk home and enjoy the silence before 515 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,840 Speaker 1: call of duty marathons in the living room, enjoy the 516 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: ashy rain falling across my slowly cooking skin. I walked home. 517 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: Misty I walked home hoping. Misty said, thank you Mark. 518 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: It felt like I was slipping through a gap in 519 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 1: the world between noises, a kind of silent passage, the 520 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:39,520 Speaker 1: way kids slip along the abandoned rail easements in town 521 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: below grade, the corridors of grass and rats and squirrels 522 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,640 Speaker 1: and birds, between the noise of the phones and call 523 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 1: of duty, between heart beats, between crusting waves, the silence 524 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,400 Speaker 1: you hang on to for just a moment when someone 525 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 1: hangs up, before you go on to the next call, 526 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: because there is temporarily a respite from the tyranny of 527 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: the queue, The silence after a bullet connects or a 528 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: wave hits on the other side of the world. I 529 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: just hope harder and harder and harder that Misty would 530 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: insist they unlock the doors and break the windows, and 531 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,679 Speaker 1: they would escape before the wave arrived to wash the 532 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: rest of us away. I don't know how to add 533 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: a clapping sound effect without it just sounding horrible in 534 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: the audio. Airhorns, you know what, Daniel um already straight 535 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: seconds of air horns or or or not? Um? I 536 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: think the air horns are good. I was beautiful. Yeah, 537 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: that was wonderful. It's really incredible, Thank you so much, 538 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 1: and particularly relevant now Yeah yeah, unfortunately, Yeah yeah, it's 539 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: with what's happened. Yeah yeah, that is extra extras thinking 540 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:05,560 Speaker 1: about the whole town, what happened in the past week. Yeah, yeah, 541 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:13,240 Speaker 1: that is a it sucks. HM. If people want to 542 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: find more of your work, or if there's anything you'd 543 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: like to plug, now is the time, okay. UM. I 544 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,840 Speaker 1: have a website. It's called where is here dot c 545 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: a UM and I have jeez links to a bunch 546 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: of my different short stories there. I have a novella 547 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,480 Speaker 1: coming out next year. A few years ago I postulationed 548 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:42,240 Speaker 1: a novel UM. But if you're interested in the climate 549 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: change stuff, there's probably one I'd recommend called UM an 550 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: Important Failure that was in Clark's World. It's available to 551 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: read online. It's been translated into Polish. It's in a 552 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,840 Speaker 1: couple of different collections. UM. And if I'm allowed to brag, 553 00:29:55,960 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: which it won this the the Sturgeon Award last year, 554 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: which is a science fiction award handed out by UM, 555 00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: an academic organization in the US SO and it's about 556 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,400 Speaker 1: it's about climate change. It's all set on Vancouver Island 557 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: in Vancouver. I've heard you. I've heard you also have 558 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: stories about ghosts. Yes, I have a genre I'm trying 559 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,959 Speaker 1: to establish that I call obstetrical horror that I started 560 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,160 Speaker 1: writing when I was pregnant. Yeah, giving birth is just 561 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:37,960 Speaker 1: such body horror. So ghosts, childbirth, all that stuff. Yeah, 562 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: I read a lot about ghosts as well. You can find, 563 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,000 Speaker 1: like I say, a lot of that stuff on my 564 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: website and links to anything that's available for free online. 565 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: So yeah, where is here? Dot c A and I'm 566 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,880 Speaker 1: on Twitter a um at Canadianist, but I don't really 567 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 1: use it that much. So I am excited for the 568 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: combination of climate change fiction with horror fiction. Um, And 569 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: by excited, it's like half half actually excited, half dreading 570 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: because a lot of it's gonna probably be horrible in 571 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: terms of people being like, you know, what's scary climate 572 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: change and you're like, okay, but yeah, but oh sorry, 573 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: go on. I don't know, but I think there definitely 574 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: is a good way to combine the the exsential elements 575 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: of both of those things to something that actually is 576 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,960 Speaker 1: really impactful that plays on human fears and emotions and 577 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,720 Speaker 1: how we can get over those fears and move towards 578 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 1: something useful. Yeah. And it's also that horror going back 579 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 1: for well however long you want to we've been telling 580 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: stories has given us a series of structures to kind 581 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: of process that. UM. And I think that's really valuable, 582 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: that their patterns we can use to work through. And 583 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: I mean writing climate change fiction for me, I just 584 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: finished another novella UM that's specifically about like near future 585 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: stuff and about the wildfires a lot um. But you know, 586 00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: having a story to tell about it as a way 587 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 1: of process sing all the research I was doing UM 588 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: was really valued. It's super useful. Yeah, and just um, 589 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,360 Speaker 1: I mean, you can call it therapeutic if you want, 590 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: But I don't think it's that. I think it's organizing 591 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: information in your head that is just simply too large 592 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: for you to actually grasp. I mean I can't actually 593 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: grasp this stuff. But no you can't. It's it's too bad. Yeah, 594 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: exactly exactly trying to me. Yeah, horror does that probably 595 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: better than almost any other genre. Yeah, I mean, look 596 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: what it horror does with adolescent anxieties or um, you know, 597 00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:36,200 Speaker 1: all sorts of different the fear of dying, the fear 598 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: of aging, the film if your illness and stuff like that. 599 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: So yeah, I think we have structures in place with 600 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:45,360 Speaker 1: horror fiction, um and with sort of science fiction horror 601 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,320 Speaker 1: that kind of are gonna let us start to process 602 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: things that are otherwise just too intellectual or not intellectual. 603 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: But to abstract that's too it's too Yeah, abstractors, I 604 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,880 Speaker 1: think is the right term, because I mean, like, guess 605 00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,320 Speaker 1: my fear of that is that, like climate change fiction 606 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: is just gonna resort to like the disaster story and 607 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: it has very like glamorized, weird versions of like apocalypses 608 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:15,800 Speaker 1: and disasters and like collapse and very like big ways 609 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,040 Speaker 1: that impact everything around you. When in actuality, the effects 610 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: that they have are very localized and small and are 611 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: still horrifying, but the way that they're framed is always frustrating. 612 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: In films, and you look at like, you know, a 613 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 1: typical like you know, like apocalypse themed movie, I think 614 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: is I'm afraid that the bigger you know, if you 615 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,240 Speaker 1: turn turn talking about like big movies, how it's going 616 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: to frame in that way instead of these more kind 617 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 1: of personal stories of like the horror of being trapped 618 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,240 Speaker 1: inside a warehouse as a tornado comes and you're not 619 00:33:47,280 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: allowed to leave, which is a way more horrifying than Oh, look, 620 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:55,920 Speaker 1: all of New York City is crumbling because of this pseudami, 621 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: which is so big and like possible, I guess, but 622 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,920 Speaker 1: like that's so big you can't feel that. And what's 623 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,800 Speaker 1: more like gonna happen is people getting trapped in buildings 624 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:07,600 Speaker 1: and not being allowed to leave. And that's that's that's like, 625 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,560 Speaker 1: that's actual horner. Yeah, and it's intimate too, write like 626 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,719 Speaker 1: it's not it's not in distant idea. It's intimate. It's 627 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:18,280 Speaker 1: the particular consequence of something for a community, for an individual, 628 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,160 Speaker 1: for relationships. And if I can go on on this um, 629 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,600 Speaker 1: there's an entire genre of apocalyptic fiction that kind of 630 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: comes out of the early Cold War, and they're always 631 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:33,279 Speaker 1: these weirdly cozy apocalypse is where one white guy survives 632 00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: and in the new world he builds this kind of 633 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:40,640 Speaker 1: feudal fantasy. So I've actually this one filled the Last Babylon, 634 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:43,920 Speaker 1: where a character says, of these two spinster ladies that 635 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: were miserable before the nuclear war, after the nuclear war, 636 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,160 Speaker 1: they're really happy because their lives have meaning now, And 637 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 1: it's this it's those are the apocalyptic stories that we've 638 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,560 Speaker 1: had we need a new kind of story, a new 639 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,440 Speaker 1: kind of horror that I think, um that does exactly 640 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,200 Speaker 1: what you're talking about, that doesn't default to that weird 641 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: heroism and one guy surviving kind of thing. There's a 642 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:10,120 Speaker 1: wonderful Corey doctor short story that that I think pivots 643 00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:15,319 Speaker 1: off that idea nicely. Um In his his book What 644 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:21,560 Speaker 1: is Unauthorized Toast, I think Bread an authorized Bread is 645 00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: one of the stories in it, But the book is 646 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: has a different it's a collection of his short stories. 647 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,799 Speaker 1: But there's um a post apocalyptic story that kind of 648 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: follows a bunch of tech bros trying to do the 649 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 1: traditional like survive the the apocalypse makes everything you know 650 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:39,560 Speaker 1: better for me, I get to be a cool warlord thing. 651 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: It's it's good. It doesn't end well for them. Um, yeah, 652 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,320 Speaker 1: I I think the I think the thing that is 653 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:52,359 Speaker 1: important to do is like focus on the horror of 654 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,560 Speaker 1: the little things, like the little things on like a 655 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,800 Speaker 1: global scale, Like like the thing that is so frightening 656 00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: about climate change is that all of these the terrible 657 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 1: things it's bringing are going to hit the same way 658 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,319 Speaker 1: mass shootings do, where it is a calamity for a 659 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:12,640 Speaker 1: community and people fifty miles away, try to pretend it 660 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: didn't happen and get to doing like their their daily stuff. 661 00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,319 Speaker 1: Like that's what's that's what's so scary about it. It's 662 00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:22,759 Speaker 1: not like you said, it's not the buildings in New 663 00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,600 Speaker 1: York collapsing from a tidal wave. It's the birds stop 664 00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:27,759 Speaker 1: singing and you still have to go to work. I'm 665 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,719 Speaker 1: I'm I'm writing a script right now for probably the 666 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: show about how climate change is hard to think about 667 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,440 Speaker 1: because because how how big it is and one of 668 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,560 Speaker 1: like the models that I'm trying to draw a comparison 669 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: from this, Like it's almost like climate changes is like 670 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,959 Speaker 1: a type is like a type of Cathulhu in terms 671 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,839 Speaker 1: of the way it affects you, but you'll probably get 672 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:52,440 Speaker 1: by it's it can affect your neighbors, and you can 673 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: watch it and you can watch it have other people, 674 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,880 Speaker 1: but like it doesn't mean that your life is going 675 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,040 Speaker 1: to end this way because it's so it's so ma 676 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,920 Speaker 1: can uncaring, it can attack so many places at once, 677 00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:07,240 Speaker 1: but you don't know how like how big this effects 678 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:11,080 Speaker 1: are and how and what what what what the scale 679 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 1: of them will be on your local area. So it's 680 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: like this it's this thing that is way more existential 681 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: than anything else because it it does not, it does 682 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,879 Speaker 1: not care, it has it has no morality. It's it's 683 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,800 Speaker 1: not it's not out to get you specifically. It's this weird, 684 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,359 Speaker 1: this weird thing that's just getting imposed upon us now. 685 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: And that type of horror in fiction, I think is 686 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,400 Speaker 1: something that at least I want to explore in my 687 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 1: next few years of writing. And I'm excited to read 688 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: other people's work who kind of covered that similar side 689 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:44,560 Speaker 1: of horror and combining with like climate change and the 690 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: small ways it's going to start affecting us in places 691 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:54,040 Speaker 1: around the world. I think, um, that what you said 692 00:37:54,239 --> 00:37:56,840 Speaker 1: and isn't isn't there so many talks about the Catholic scene. 693 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:03,760 Speaker 1: I don't know. That's Donna Harroway, Donna Harroway, that's it. Yeah, Um, 694 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,720 Speaker 1: But but also just how weak some of our previous 695 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:11,359 Speaker 1: narratives like you can't you can't bring in you new 696 00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: Judeo Christian apocalypse is to this kind of thing because 697 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: we can't. There's not you can't. We can't have that 698 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 1: kind of moralizing in it, um that we need. And 699 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,960 Speaker 1: that's honestly, Cathulo is really handy for that cosmic horror 700 00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,920 Speaker 1: because it forces you to, as you say, face something 701 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: on an existential level. Um that how you feel and 702 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: who you are and your individual experience does not matter. 703 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 1: So it's like a lot of people, like you know us, 704 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: we're watching what's happening in Kansas right now, and like 705 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,280 Speaker 1: I'm not in Kansas. I don't know anyone in Kansas. 706 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 1: I'm looking at this calamity and it's so distant from me, 707 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: but yeah, it's also very close. And that's a weird 708 00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:53,000 Speaker 1: feeling to deal with. UM. And I can see oh yeah, 709 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:57,359 Speaker 1: corporations are contributing to this specifically, like climate change as 710 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,520 Speaker 1: in general, but like like Amazon trapping people inside inside 711 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: these warehouses. It's like, I can there's ways to fight 712 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: extensions of this, but you can't fight it. You can 713 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:11,359 Speaker 1: only fight its extensions. And that's and yeah, it's it's 714 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:13,839 Speaker 1: it's a super it's a super interesting thing that I'm 715 00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:17,880 Speaker 1: gonna I think, Yeah, we are going to see you know, this, 716 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: this idea get dealt with more and more as these 717 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:25,160 Speaker 1: things start happening more and more. Um and yeah, I 718 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: mean climate change, cosmic corps maybe maybe the way to go. Yeah, yeah, 719 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: I think that's I think that's a good line to 720 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:38,320 Speaker 1: end on, or at least a good thought to end on. Well, 721 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,080 Speaker 1: thank you so much, Rebecca for coming on and sharing 722 00:39:41,120 --> 00:39:44,200 Speaker 1: your story. Would you mind plugging your website one last 723 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:49,120 Speaker 1: time since we extra like fifteen minutes. No, no, no, no, 724 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:56,120 Speaker 1: that's that's people may not have noted it last time 725 00:39:56,160 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: before the conversation. We should give them another chance. Okay, 726 00:39:59,239 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 1: So the website it is, where is here? Dot c 727 00:40:02,160 --> 00:40:06,000 Speaker 1: A so w h E r I s h E 728 00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: r E dot c A excellent all right, Well, thank 729 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:16,160 Speaker 1: you very much, Rebecca. Um, until next time, everybody lose 730 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:20,960 Speaker 1: your mind with the cosmic horror something something anything, any 731 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,239 Speaker 1: kind of cosmic car that causes you to to your 732 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 1: your mind to scramble and you to begin worshiping in 733 00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,279 Speaker 1: the dark corners of the world. Any anything that does 734 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,640 Speaker 1: that is good. So well, thank you so much for 735 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:37,360 Speaker 1: having me. It's an absolute pleasure, very very happy to 736 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:42,440 Speaker 1: have you with you. It could happen. Here is a 737 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,319 Speaker 1: production of cool Zone Media. For more podcasts on cool 738 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,080 Speaker 1: Zone Media, visit our website cool zone media dot com, 739 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:49,919 Speaker 1: or check us out on the I Heart Radio app, 740 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts you can 741 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:56,000 Speaker 1: find sources for It could happen here. Updated monthly at 742 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,280 Speaker 1: cool Zone media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.