From Tom Cruise and Jared Leto to Allison Mack and Gwyneth Paltrow, Celebrity Cult Expert Cassie Marie says celebrities have a long association with cults and cult-like behavior.
We talk why celebrities are drawn to cults, the biggest celebrity cults and the strangest celebrity cult stories.
Then, it’s raking the leaves and mowing the lawn vs, weeding and power washing as we countdown the Top 5 Worst Yard Chores.
00:00 Introducing Celebrity Cult Expert Cassie Marie
01:38 Why Celebrities are Drawn to Cults
03:58 How Cults Draw Celebrities In
07:04 Tom Cruise and Cults
11:26 The Biggest Celebrity Cult
12:55 Gwyneth Paltrow and Cults
16:04 Allison Mack and Cults
17:06 Miley Cyrus and Cults
20:59 Jared Leto and Cults
23:50 The Most Dangerous Cult
25:32 Justin Bieber and Cults
29:27 Pointless
51:07 The Five Worst Yard Chores
Interview with Celebrity Cult Expert Lisa Marie
Nick VinZant 0:12
Nick, welcome to profoundly pointless. My name is Nick VinZant, coming up in this episode, celebrities and cults and yard work.
Cassie Marie 0:22
Cults want celebrities. Scientology actually kind of pioneered that as a concept that a lot of other cults have followed. Being a seeker is one of the biggest things that attracts people to a cult. How can she possibly be in a cult while having played a main character that literally breaks out of a cult,
Nick VinZant 0:45
I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance subscribe, leave us a rating or review. We really appreciate it. It really helps us out. So I want to get right to our first guest, because she studies a topic that is just interesting, especially in a celebrity obsessed culture. This is celebrity cult expert Cassie Marie, what is it about celebrities and cults that interests you?
Cassie Marie 1:15
I have been in a couple of different cult like groups, so after watching Leah reminisce Scientology in the aftermath and the vow on HBO Max about the Nexium cult, I started making connections in between groups that I was a part of, and these like extreme cults that were like, really causing a lot of harm to people.
Nick VinZant 1:38
Do celebrities seem uniquely drawn to cults.
Cassie Marie 1:42
Cults want celebrities. Scientology actually kind of pioneered that as a concept that a lot of other cults have followed. The leader of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard, very specifically, was like celebrities have influence and that will legitimize Scientology and bring as many people in as possible. And I think lots of cult leaders and cult like groups agreed with that, and kind of saw that as something that works. So cults like you will uniquely seek out celebrities. And then I think there are a couple aspects of being a celebrity, especially being a child star, that celebrities could sometimes be uniquely drawn to cults. I think that child stars often don't get to form a real sense of identity, and something that draws anyone, not just celebrities, into a cult, is seeking an identity and seeking like just kind of a structure for their life and who they are. So I think child stars can be uniquely drawn to cults. I think that celebrities do often like being held above the rest, like they like the praise and admiration that celebrities uniquely get from cults that other cult members don't always get and I think that celebrities the entertainment industry is hard, right? Like the entertainment industry can be difficult and volatile, and you can have, you can be a one hit wonder and have success for one minute and be down the next. And so I think sometimes I've heard from celebrity cult members that have left, they feel lost once they've had some success, and then feel like they need to maintain it, or worry that they'll never be successful again. So I think that finding a structure that tells you that they have the answers to everything you need is going to be very appealing.
Nick VinZant 3:36
Are they drawn to specific kinds of cults, like are these usual, usually self help. Are they spiritual? Are they religious cults? Like, are there certain types of cults they're drawn to? Or is it just across the board?
Cassie Marie 3:49
I think it's across the board. I haven't seen any cults, except maybe very fundamentalist religious cults.
Nick VinZant 3:58
So you mentioned that you have a history with cults. What is like? How do they draw you in like?
Cassie Marie 4:04
So I joined a cult in my early 20s, and according to Daniela mest Nick Young, who is she has studied Organizational Psychology and has studied cults, and she was raised in the children of God cult. So she has kind of two unique views of cults, her and several other cult scholars will say that being a seeker is one of the biggest things that attracts people to a cult, seeking a specific worldview, seeking an identity, seeking something, seeking answers or comfort, is usually why people join. So when I was in my early 20s, I was very much seeking, like spiritual answers, like, what what is religion? What is God? Like? I was just very curious and very open to anything. And so I joined an evangelical. A religious cult where I learned how to be a Christian psychic kind of I they did not call it that. That word was not acceptable, but that's the easiest way I find to explain it so but yeah, I was just a curious and open person, and that's usually all it takes.
Nick VinZant 5:18
Did you know you were in a cult?
Cassie Marie 5:21
Oh no.
Nick VinZant 5:22
Like, when did you realize you were in a cult?
Speaker 1 5:24
Actually, the Christian, the church cult that I was a part of, I did not recognize as a cult until, well after I left it like, well after I was out and deconstructed, was I able to look back and go, Oh, that's like, very controlling. There are a lot of aspects of a cult that check this box. And then there were several scandals that came out about that particular church that I was like, oh yeah. There were really bad things going on behind the scenes that I didn't know about, also on top of my own experience, that I would definitely agree that this was cult like. And then I was part of a internet coaching, motivation type cult that was actually kind of a direct pipeline out of the church that I was a part of, it held very similar beliefs. And that one, I recognized I was more harmed. I would say, in that one, I had direct effects of, like, something bad happening to me. So it was a little bit easier when I was watching these cult documentaries to be like, Oh, that feels very similar to what is going on with me right now. That one I was a little bit more understanding of, like, this seems like a cult. And then I was able to look back on the other one and be like, oh, there seems to be a pattern here.
Nick VinZant 6:36
In general, when someone is in a cult, do they know they're in a cult at any time during it, or is it only after words that they seem to realize it?
Speaker 1 6:49
In my experience, from listening to cult survivors, nobody in a cult thinks that they're in a cult. Nobody that is currently in a cult would ever say, Yes, this is a cult or cult like group that I'm a part of, and that's fine. It's always after.
Nick VinZant 7:04
Let's kind of go through some of the big celebrities that have been in cults. So the one that jumps out right away is Tom Cruise. Is he the most famous celebrity associated with a quote, unquote cult,
Speaker 1 7:17
I would say. So I would say, when people think of celebrities and cults immediately. Tom Cruise is what comes to mind. He was not Scientology's first celebrity, by any means, but I think he just became Scientology's biggest celebrity. And then he had several instances where he publicly spoke about being a Scientologist, which actually made Scientology celebrities roll back doing that now you really have to pry information out of celebrity Scientologists because of how wild Tom Cruise appeared in interviews and the famous Oprah segment where he jumped up and down on The couch and declared his love to Katie Holmes. He he had some some public moments that people found a little crazy, and I think that's a big reason people could point to Scientology and be like, Oh, he talks about being a Scientologist. He's clearly in it. And this guy seems a little crazy, so Scientology must be why? But there are so many more, not only Scientology celebrities, but just celebrities that have been involved in one culture another.
Nick VinZant 8:30
Scientology seems to be the one that always jumps out, but it seems to have kind of faded from the public eye a little bit in that respect. Is that true, or is that just my perspective on things.
Speaker 1 8:41
I think after Tom Cruise, kind of made a fool of himself in a couple of different ways. In regards to Scientology, Scientology made a policy and a specific script that celebrity celebrities had to use if they ever talked about Scientology publicly, and a lot of them will not talk about it. So one person that people find fascinating is Elizabeth Moss being a second generation Scientologist, because she was the lead character in a Handmaid's Tale, which is a TV show about a cult. So people are like, how can she possibly be in a cult while having played a main character that literally breaks out of a cult. And I think I have several theories on why that is, but I would say now Elizabeth Moss is the other big celebrity Scientologist, and then all of the rest of them are kind of more quiet about it, and some of them don't talk about it at all. We just know from Scientologists that have left
Nick VinZant 9:45
kind of put you on the spot a little bit. But who are some of the other celebrity Scientologists?
Speaker 1 9:50
Chloe Fineman from SNL, is a celebrity Scientologist. Jason Doring is a big one. He was on Veronica. Ours, which had a huge like fan base and Vampire Diaries. Nancy Cartwright, who is the voice of Bart Simpson, is a Scientologist, and she actually used the voice of Bart Simpson to try to raise money for Scientology before, which was very interesting. Let's see, I'm John Travolta, and Kirsty alley were kind of the big celebrity Scientologists before Tom Cruise. And then there are, I mean, there's lots that people might not recognize their names right off the bat. Oh, Patrick Renna, who was on the sand lot. You're killing me. Smalls
Nick VinZant 10:40
was Will Smith or not.
Speaker 1 10:43
So Will and Jada Smith were a interesting case in Scientology. They firmly say that they were never Scientologists, but they were frequently at Scientology celebrity center, and for a time they ran a school based on Scientology principles, and they have donated large amounts of money to Scientology. So there was a short amount of time where I would say they absolutely were Scientologists, because I don't know how you start a Scientology school and give money to an organization without being part of the organization. Will and Jada say that they are just interested in spirituality. And so they've tried many different things. Scientology being one of those
Nick VinZant 11:26
things. Is there any other cult that you would say rivals Scientology in terms of its like width and scope in the celebrity world?
Speaker 1 11:35
Possibly different yoga cults. There was a time in like the mid to late 2000s I would say, where Kundalini yoga, or even like early 2010s where Kundalini yoga was a big trend in Hollywood, and there were tons of celebrities that joined a specific kundali Kundalini yoga studio that was run in a very cult like way. So it's not necessarily the yoga that's culty. It's the control and manipulation and coercion tactics of the leader that made it a cult, and that one harmed its employees and exploited a lot of people for their labor, and just lied a lot about what they did and what they would help you with. So those celebrities weren't I don't think as bought in as you have to be with Scientology, it's something that they could participate in more casually, and it was more the employees and the regular members that were in more of a closed system, if that makes sense. But there were tons that did participate in that for a while.
Nick VinZant 12:49
Is that Guru jugg it or something like that?
Speaker 1 12:53
Yeah, yeah.
Nick VinZant 12:55
Gwyneth Paltrow, is she in a cult? Because every time I see some of the goop stuff that she seems to be doing is like, that's a little something,
Speaker 1 13:06
yes. So I don't think, as far as I know, that Gwyneth Paltrow is in any specific cult. I would consider her a culty person, like a culty celebrity. I think she uses well intentioned or not, a lot of tactics of coercion to sell products that can be harmful. I think she uses a lot of false science and emotional marketing to sell goop things that have harmed people, that she either ignores or promotes as something that it's clearly not or has no scientific backing to do. She's more of like a snake oil salesman,
Nick VinZant 13:54
yeah, maybe not a cult, but it's like a little bit not a cult, but you're doing something over there,
Speaker 1 14:02
and it's still very cult like because it uses the same tactics that a cult leader would. And she's promote, she's promoted products that have been cult like startups or have been created by cult like leaders. So she, to me, like pushes cults on people, while not ever like committing to anything intense herself, like Scientology or even, well, she did. She did go to Rama Institute with guru jacket. She was part of that Kundalini yoga thing. So she's like a dabbler and a snake oil salesman.
Nick VinZant 14:36
Would any of them are kind of, I just use the word exposed for being in a cult, or it finds out. Does it seem to affect their public image? Does it affect their careers at all?
Speaker 1 14:47
I don't think so. Because cults are I think a relatively new trend for people to be interested in cult documentaries have really exploded over the last 10 years, and. People find them fascinating. But because of our culture in America, our freedom of religion just several things, I don't think it affects people the way that they think. It does like I don't think it affects celebrities. Obviously, several people have said Gwenyth Paltrow is promoting harmful products and she's doing great, like her company's doing well, she's not been canceled. She's not been, I don't think, affected majorly. And perhaps there's no way to say for sure, maybe she would be doing way better if people didn't say anything about it. But I think that most celebrity cult members do just fine, because people either don't know what it is, or don't fully understand it, or think that they have the right to believe whatever they want, which is I agree with I think beliefs and cults are two different things, so I think only for like the niche audience that understands what it means to be a celebrity cult member. Does it ever affect their career,
Nick VinZant 16:04
but a person who faced like, real life consequences in the sense that, like, oh, they ended up in jail. Allison Mack,
Speaker 1 16:12
Allison Mack faced real world consequences because I think she participated in the cult more so than most celebrities do. Celebrities inside of a cult are treated entirely differently than regular practicing cult members. They are given pass like they're given a pass to do basically whatever they want because they're important to the cult or the cult leader, so they're not held to the same standards, is what I'm getting at but Allison Mack participated so fully, and was so devoted and committed to it that she perpetuated harm on other people, way more than just being a celebrity that's promoting a thing or being a celebrity that's making a group look okay when it's actually causing harm behind The scenes. She partook in the harm behind the scenes, which is why she ended up going to jail for it.
Nick VinZant 17:06
Miley Cyrus.
Speaker 1 17:09
So Miley Cyrus was rumored to be in a self help cult for a while, and then did make a statement saying that she was not part of that cult again. Who knows how involved she was. She was photographed at events that the cult held, and then she was also photographed very often with a like, a group leader or a coach within the self help group. She was going out with her all the time, photographed doing all like, just anything with her, like they were great friends. So she was rumored to be part of, oh gosh, what was that one called? It slipped my mind. I'll have to look it up. But it was a self help cult that she later denied.
Nick VinZant 17:52
Modern Mystery School.
Speaker 1 17:54
Yes, that is it.
Nick VinZant 17:57
The name of it was modern Mystery School,
Speaker 1 17:59
yes. So she went to a seminar for modern Mystery School. Modern Mystery School jogged my memory. Is a metaphysical self help group. So they're very into manifestation and being like the driver of your own life, your own destiny, and the leader of that cult did some heinous things to people that were in it, and there are a couple of vice articles and vice podcasts about him. Specifically, people have done really intense deep dives into him as a cult leader, and the harms were pretty significant. But she once, people started saying, I think she's attending these seminars and is seen with this coach. She very quickly distanced herself from it, so we may never know to what extent she was involved, but hopefully not very much anymore.
Nick VinZant 18:53
Yeah, does it always seem to go bad, like in any of these times where celebrity is involved in a cult? Does it ultimately, always seem to go bad at some point, or sometimes they just in a cult. And like, they're just in a cult.
Speaker 1 19:07
I think this question can also be framed as, are there any good cults, like, there, are there any cults that just don't go bad? And I think cults exist on a spectrum of harm and coercion and control and influence. Some are worse than others, but I don't think coercing or manipulating people is ever a good thing. I do think celebrities could be part of cults that aren't as bad as other cults, but I do think that they always will follow a trajectory of some level of harm that I would not consider good.
Nick VinZant 19:44
You know, we always hear about both celebrities and regular people stories about how they were pretty involved in the cult, and then they realized that this was going negatively. Are there any celebrity stories where they were in it for a short time? And then. Got out somebody who noticed really early.
Speaker 1 20:05
I don't know if there ever is someone who has talked about that a lot, because I think that celebrities that do things like that often want to, like, brush it under the rug and not talk about the thing, the bad thing that they were involved in. I do think there are several Scientology celebrities that have left Scientology and either speak out against it or don't like Jason Begay, he's on like Chicago. PD, I think he joined Scientology like as an adult. Wasn't raised in it, joined and then left once he realized it was bad. But that was like a 10 year process.
Nick VinZant 20:45
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 20:47
Usually they, they participate to some extent, because you join a cult slowly over time. If you knew how bad it was from the jump, the cult wouldn't be very successful.
Nick VinZant 20:59
This is one that I'm interested in Jared Leto.
Speaker 1 21:03
That,
Nick VinZant 21:04
to me is that is like, what is going on there? Is he in a cult? Did? Is he the leader of a cult? There seems to be a lot.
Speaker 1 21:13
I ask myself that question all the time. He is a fascinating character, and I think a good, a better example of celebrity fandoms as cults. I think that celebrities themselves can intentionally or unintentionally be like cult leaders and Jared Leto did, like a whole fake experience where he had a concert like on a deserted island. Is it 30 Seconds to Mars, yeah, yeah. He they did, like, an experience on an island, and called it a cult. And, like, wore robes, made everybody wear white, and like, did this fake cult thing. But I think if you're coercing people and being weird about cultiness, how fake was it? Like, maybe it was just a cult for a time, and then it wasn't. And he's very weird, but I think he is. He has a cult like fandom, and just does wacky, kooky things. And it seems like one of those people that's up for anything, and I would liken him more to Gwyneth Paltrow, only somehow more extreme than her, and it's just someone that I always have my eyes on that I'm like, you're doing something unsavory, and I'm waiting for you to do a full blown cult.
Nick VinZant 22:31
Yeah. Like, how does somebody like that keep getting work when everybody is kind of like, there's something odd there?
Speaker 1 22:38
I don't know, some people, some especially, I think male actors get away with a lot and still somehow continue to have work. The entertainment industry as a whole can be considered a cult. I think a lot of the work environments and just a lot of the way that it's structured can be very coercive. I think there's a lot of things that have been exposed. People behind the scenes aren't always safe people or careful people, and a lot of times people don't care. There'll be someone who's probably just as bad, willing to give people work no matter what
Nick VinZant 23:16
that is the truth, as long as there's money involved, there will be somebody else involved.
Speaker 1 23:21
Russell Brand is another person that I think is similar to, like, Jared Leto. Like, he's odd and he's like, for a long time, people thought he was just odd, and now all of this stuff is coming out that he's like, a horribly abusive, like, aggressive, violent man. So that's kind of why I have my eye on Jared Leto because I'm like, I've seen some similarities there, and I just don't trust
Speaker 2 23:46
it.
Nick VinZant 23:46
Are you ready for some harder slash? Listener submitted questions,
Nick VinZant 23:49
yeah,
Nick VinZant 23:50
what do you think is the most dangerous cult,
Speaker 1 23:54
apocalyptic death cults that end and massacre probably would be the worst. There's been a few of them, and any apocalyptic cult can trend that way. There are a lot of extreme forms of Mormonism, like the LDS church, people that have branched off, not even just the FLDS, but there have been people that have branched off of those belief systems that have had even more intense apocalyptic views that have ended terribly. I think. Have you heard of like Lori valo and Chad daybell?
Nick VinZant 24:29
No
Speaker 1 24:30
Lori valo killed her own children and buried them in her backyard because she thought they were aliens, and had been like infiltrated by aliens in their bodies, and she thought she was saving them. But I don't know if you can quantify like, how dangerous cults are, because some cults don't end in death, but there's a lot of like, horrible sex crimes or horrible crimes against children that happen, and they exist on a spectrum, so like, not all of them are going to happen. Have those horrible, horrible things. But I would consider death cults and anything that harms children to be the worst of the worst. And there are so many, I don't even know where to start.
Nick VinZant 25:12
What celebrity cult experience are you most fascinated by?
Speaker 1 25:17
I think probably Elizabeth Moss and her being the main character that fights against a cult while having been raised as a second generation cult member that is quite committed to the cult that she is in.
Nick VinZant 25:32
Who are you kind of watching now?
Speaker 1 25:35
I'm watching Justin Bieber a little bit to see how his life and career goes from here being raised as a child star, and I think that he's been harmed a lot as a child star, and he currently is part of an evangelical cult, cult like church, very similar to the one that I left. And so I'm kind of watching him to see if he deconstructs and heals from that, or if he goes deeper and deeper in, and what kind of happens to him and the rest of his career, and if he ever comes out about some of the harms that have happened to him that people speculate
Nick VinZant 26:14
about, Does this seem to be getting worse or better? Like, are you hearing about more celebrities and cults, or is it kind of starting to fade.
Speaker 1 26:22
I would say it's getting worse, just because, in general, I think cults are so prevalent in America right now, and cults thrive in times of unrest and times of uncertainty. And I think we've been living through so many unprecedented times lately. And as a society, we are extremely divided politically and just with a lot of big topics that are happening in the world right now. So during times of unrest or uncertainty or extremism, either way or extreme division, cults thrive in that environment.
Nick VinZant 27:00
Do cults mainly seem to be associated with B and C list celebrities? Like, is it usually kind of the TV show actors, etc, etc, or are there A listers? We just don't know it.
Speaker 1 27:13
I think most A listers have participated in some cults before. I think that they hide it more because, from a PR standpoint, it's better to just not even address it like not talk about those things. So I think A listers are less likely to talk about it, whereas B listers and C listers, I think, are just more open about it, because it's not I they probably don't have the same team telling them, hey, yeah, don't talk about this. That might not be a good idea. Or they just don't care, or they're so they're more involved in their cult, because their career isn't as big. They feel like they need the cult to further the career, and so they'll be more dedicated. There's a there could be a lot of things, but I do think A listers have dabbled Sabrina carpenter. I have heard, I've heard this is a rumor. This is not, this is allegedly, but I have heard that Sabrina carpenter did try Scientology because her aunt is Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. So I heard from someone who left Scientology that Sabrina carpenter did come into Scientology celebrity center one day to try it, and ultimately decided it wasn't for her. So whether that was to appease familial connections or if it's even true or not, I don't know, but I do think that A listers participate try are just as attracted to them as anyone else, but I think they have teams that are much more wanting them to be much more careful with how they talk about it.
Nick VinZant 28:51
I want to thank Cassie so much for joining us. If you want to connect with her, we have linked to her on our social media accounts. We're profoundly pointless on Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube, and we've also included her information in the episode description. When it comes to celebrities and cults, we've really just scratched the surface. There are so many more celebrities that are involved in in cults. It's unbelievable. And if you want to hear all about them, check out her social media. Okay, now let's bring in John Shull and get to the pointless part of the show. Do you have to turn down the music when you get in your car?
John Shull 29:37
I am a volume to 10 all the time, kind of guy,
Nick VinZant 29:42
wow, oh, you're bumping it then, huh?
John Shull 29:46
Yes, you could say I enjoy to bump it.
Nick VinZant 29:50
I have to turn down the music immediately. As soon as I get in my car, the music comes on, and I'm like, Oh, God, that's way too loud. Like, that's deafening to me. Me every time I get in the car, I never learn the lesson. It's always way too loud.
John Shull 30:05
I find myself getting a little annoyed when I get my car and turn on the the car and the music's a little loud, and my daughters immediately start complaining. Like, give me a half a second to turn it down, and I will. I don't need you to complain about it,
Nick VinZant 30:20
see. But then, do you feel like that you should anticipate? Should you have anticipated that as soon as you get in the car, the music is going to be too loud? You should have turned it down before you got out. Or do you feel like that's the cost of doing business? You ride in my car, you're going to have to you're just going to go deaf
Speaker 2 30:35
for a little
John Shull 30:36
bit. Well, I feel like my art cars aren't our own cars. You know what I mean? Like they're just kid mobiles at this point, because that's all they're used for, is transport, transporting our children to everything that they're in.
Nick VinZant 30:48
Oh, speak for yourself, I don't do that. That's not what I'm using my car for. So please don't cast aspersions on my experiences just because it's your life with a minivan, if you and also you got a minivan, that's what you signed up for. Don't complain about having to cart your kids all over the place. When you bought a minivan, you basically said, I want to do this. You signed up for it.
John Shull 31:09
I don't know how this is turning into it a me problem. It's fine. I'm not complaining about it.
Nick VinZant 31:16
Well, it's like buying an ax and then complaining that you have to chop things. You bought a minivan. You can't complain about having to drive your kids all over the place. That's what you signed up for. That's why you bought it.
John Shull 31:26
I'm not complaining about that. I just said that, like my car isn't my car.
Nick VinZant 31:31
Oh, well, maybe you just need to put your foot down a little bit right make maybe you need to take some things back, because I think that you're over there, and there's been a general pattern in the last couple of weeks that we've been doing this where you're kind of complaining about your family and how they just run all over you and it seems like your fault, like you need to take a little bit more initiative there.
John Shull 31:50
Do you want to? You want me to give you the the perfect firepower that you can use against me forever,
Nick VinZant 31:57
more than all the other things? Like, what else? Yeah, I need, yeah, I'm sitting over here. I've got, like, a stockpile. What do you want me to bring up, the fact that you threw your back out, pick it up, a small piece of dog poop that you tore your calf off the bone taking two steps. The fact that you are not a champion, the fact that you live in Detroit, like, what else could you possibly give me
John Shull 32:19
that was emasculated in my own house during a child's birthday party on Saturday.
Nick VinZant 32:25
Okay, well, go on, go on. I'm sure
Speaker 2 32:30
it's
Nick VinZant 32:30
not the first time you've been emasculated in your own house. But do tell.
John Shull 32:35
I mean,
Nick VinZant 32:35
do tell.
John Shull 32:36
I mean, long, long story short, we were, it was about a half an hour before the party was to get going, I was doing some final cleaning. A pipe had burst, unknowingly under my sink, and it flooded some of my kitchen, but a lot of a lot of the water was picked up by like the bath mat and thing, or the the the mat that was up there in the kitchen. Okay? And I was just gonna wait till Sunday to do it right? I'm not, I'm not a plumber, but I think I could, I could have figured it out well, two of the guys that were here, their kids go to my kids school. One guy is pretty handy, and he's like, I can fix this an hour for you. So like, halfway through the party, he goes to Home Depot, gets the, gets what, what he needs, goes to his house, gets his own tools, doesn't want to use mine, and fixes it in like 45 minutes in front
Nick VinZant 33:31
of him. This was, this was on what day
John Shull 33:34
Saturday,
Nick VinZant 33:35
did your wife leave you that night? Or did she leave you on Sunday or Monday? When exactly did she file for divorce? Or did she even bother filing for divorce? Or she just take all your stuff and leave you can't have, you can't allow Did you? Did you at least try to help?
John Shull 33:50
No, I did. I did because he had another one of those school dads. Like they were, like, they became a team. I actually asked, Oh, man, I was like, Can I get can I make you guys drinks? That's what I did. I became the bartender for them.
Speaker 2 34:05
What?
Nick VinZant 34:06
Okay, yeah. I mean, did they definitely okay? Is one of them? Is that one of theirs full time employment? Like, is one of them a plumber or a handyman or work in construction?
John Shull 34:18
Yeah, he's, he's a high voltage electrician. He knows his way around. You know, a house, so to speak.
Nick VinZant 34:26
Okay, um, yeah,
John Shull 34:30
really, come on. Come on. I've been waiting for two days to tell you this story.
Nick VinZant 34:35
I don't think that I need to say anything
John Shull 34:37
that's
Speaker 2 34:38
I
Nick VinZant 34:38
don't think that I need to bring up anything. I think that everybody already knows. I don't need to make any comments about it. I mean, I am a believer that if somebody knows how to do a job and you don't let the person who knows how to do the job do it, but if you know how to do the job, and it's your own house, you, I mean, I don't really, yeah, I'm not
John Shull 34:59
sorry. I.
Nick VinZant 35:00
I don't have a big response for it, because I'm not, I'm just not surprised. I've seen this pattern building, and I just think it's only going to get worse and
Speaker 2 35:07
worse and
John Shull 35:08
worse. I mean, I'm, I'm okay with it. I would have taken me three hours. He did it in 45 minutes, and he did it right. Like, okay, and all I did was have to pay for parts and give him gin and tonic. Like, okay, fine.
Speaker 2 35:20
I
Nick VinZant 35:20
mean, it kind of sounds like a good deal, but like, would you let another man mow your law lawn?
John Shull 35:28
Not, not, not now. No, because I did. I'm surprised you forgot that I would.
Speaker 2 35:35
I'm setting
Nick VinZant 35:36
you up for it. I'm waiting for you. Yeah, I know I never would, and then remind you that you used to pay somebody to
John Shull 35:41
do it. No, as I've as I've gotten older, mowing the lawn is cathartic. It's therapeutic. Now I enjoy it every week.
Nick VinZant 35:50
No, I would say that that emasculated you, but I don't think that, like, Look zero minus zero is still zero.
John Shull 35:58
I listen. I knew what I was getting in for when I told you the story. So that's I'm okay with it. I'm it is what it is.
Nick VinZant 36:04
No, I think that those are very nice friends. It's good to
John Shull 36:08
have people
John Shull 36:09
who know we move on.
Nick VinZant 36:10
Oh, I did poll the audience. So 60% I polled the audience. 60% of people said yes, they have to turn the music down immediately when they get in. 40% say no, it does leave the question, do they not have to turn it down because they turned it down already, or they just not listen to music that loud in the first place?
John Shull 36:29
Do you, I mean, what do you do? Even listen to music? You seem like an NPR kind of guy.
Nick VinZant 36:36
No, I listen to music or silence, or I just drive in silence. And I don't really mind a nice silent drive every once in a while, just driving,
Speaker 2 36:47
yeah, I don't
Nick VinZant 36:48
feel like changing the radio stations that much because I'm not paying for anything, and I don't have any kind of device in my phone that can play anything like that, like I don't have, I have not yet. I have never evolved beyond the radio. I've never had CDs, I've never had tapes. I've never had it hooked up to, like an mp three. I've never had it connected to one of those satellite things. I have never evolved beyond the radio.
John Shull 37:16
Someone sent me a picture of a CD the other day, like they had found gold. And I was like, I mean, this is what I grew up with, cassettes and CDs. I don't know why you're so excited about it.
Nick VinZant 37:29
I mean, maybe they were. They know that you're an old soul. Did somebody send you a picture of a submarine? Hey,
Nick VinZant 37:38
Jordan, fill this submarine today. You want to read about it a book.
John Shull 37:43
First off, some we're not going to get into this, but submarines are awesome, and for
Nick VinZant 37:48
you, I'm sure they are, I'm sure that they are, but one book on submarines is enough. You don't need 15 to 20 books on submarines.
John Shull 37:56
The First off, it's book. It's different books about different submarines, different situations in life and historical events.
Nick VinZant 38:06
Were they all underwater in a war?
John Shull 38:12
95% probably were
Nick VinZant 38:14
okay. Mike, and we were underwater in a war. Here's the story of USF 62 man, I can't wait to read the story of USF 63
John Shull 38:28
I mean, I got, I have nothing. I disrespecting every veteran out there who's ever been in a submarine.
Speaker 2 38:33
No,
Nick VinZant 38:34
I'm not disrespecting any veterans who have been in submarines. I'm saying that one book on submarines is enough.
John Shull 38:42
That's like saying, like one anime book, because I know you're in anime, it's a completely
Nick VinZant 38:46
different story, not about the same thing.
John Shull 38:49
Well, so are submarine stories. They're all different just because you have the basis, which is still under one itself, whatever. I don't, I don't understand how this is even
Nick VinZant 38:58
a thing. We're all underwater,
Speaker 2 39:00
whatever.
John Shull 39:02
I don't
Nick VinZant 39:03
fired up about, I'm trying to reignite the passion in your life, because it doesn't seem like you have the passion in your life. You're letting people walk all over you.
John Shull 39:13
What is a walk all over or is it just being smart?
Nick VinZant 39:18
Well, I don't know. Really, that's Well, I mean, if you have to ask the question, I mean, I don't have the answer, you should already know the answer for you. Actually, that would you know honestly, the my real thing would be like, yeah, why wouldn't I let those other guys do the work that I don't want to
Speaker 2 39:31
do?
John Shull 39:32
I mean, it cost me 25 bucks if I would have had to call a plumber out here on Sunday or do it myself. It would have taken me all day. It would have taken me six hours to do it myself.
Nick VinZant 39:43
Well, if I'm ever faced with the choice between letting someone else do something and having me do something, I would let someone else do something
John Shull 39:50
like I know where my strengths and weaknesses are, and I that is not one of them. Unfortunately, I wish it was like if we were to do a top five on things. We wish we know or could do. My number one would probably be like, be a handyman, because some of those things are just like, they're so clutch and they can save so much money. But I just, I didn't grow up that way.
Nick VinZant 40:12
I did not either. So let's move on.
Speaker 2 40:14
No,
John Shull 40:16
you should have been a doctor. All right, let's give out some shout outs here, we'll start with, I got a good one to start off the list here.
Nick VinZant 40:23
All right.
John Shull 40:24
Gustavo Cantrell.
Nick VinZant 40:27
Oh, I like the name Cantrell. I like that. I haven't heard that one all the time.
John Shull 40:32
Ryan Sullivan, Annie bridges, Zach Kennedy, Becky, Ayers, Anderson, Daniels, Dexter, Schaefer, Irvin, Prince, Brian Blake and Zach Kennedy.
Nick VinZant 40:51
Always Are those all three? Is that three people? Is it Brian Blake and Zach Kennedy, like they're all it's Brian Kennedy Blake, Kennedy and Zach Kennedy, or is it Brian Blake comma, Zach Kennedy?
John Shull 41:07
Go fuck yourself. How about that Nick?
Speaker 2 41:08
I just
Nick VinZant 41:09
don't I'm not sure. I'm just trying to clarify exactly. Are we talking about three people or two people? Because I'm not entirely sure. By the way,
Nick VinZant 41:15
listen,
John Shull 41:15
they know who they are, and that's all that matters. All right,
Nick VinZant 41:18
so you don't have an answer. In other words, you're not entirely sure if it's so is it Brian Blake and Zach Brian Zach Kennedy. I'm just trying to get an answer. I just want to know which one it is. Is it
Speaker 2 41:32
Brian Blake?
Nick VinZant 41:34
Which one is it? Is it Brian Blake and Zach Kennedy? So are we talking about two people? Are we talking about Brian Blake and Zach Kennedy, like Chris John and Steve Johnson, or Chris Steve and John Johnson?
John Shull 41:51
It's, it's two separate people. Okay,
Nick VinZant 41:53
thank you. That's, I was just trying to clarify. I was just trying to clarify.
John Shull 41:56
Oh, you were just trying to be a douche. I just
Nick VinZant 41:59
didn't know which one it was.
John Shull 42:02
Do you think when you when you die, on your tombstone, do you think you're gonna say, like, Nick Well, you have a weird middle name. Isn't like, Cartier or something,
Nick VinZant 42:11
Kazmir, it's polish. Thanks for insulting my ancestry.
John Shull 42:15
There you go, VinZant. And then next to it, it's gonna be like, like, little shit or something or shit start, that would be a good one for you.
Nick VinZant 42:24
I've already decided what's going to be on my tombstone.
John Shull 42:28
Do you want to share?
Nick VinZant 42:29
It's going to say my wife never could play sports, because anytime that I'm paired up with her at any kind of athletic event, she always lets me down. And I want her to know that for the rest of eternity that my wife never could play sports.
John Shull 42:45
It's good to know that you're as it's good to know that you are as cutthroat with your own wife as you are with everybody else in your life.
Nick VinZant 42:52
She needs to step it up. Her athletic ability is not where it needs to be. And for the things that we're doing, we're going mountain biking, we're going snowboarding, playing skeeball, and she's just letting me down across the board. And I want her to know that,
John Shull 43:04
you know, God dang, skeeball gotta be an athletic prowess for that gotta be I don't
Nick VinZant 43:08
want to lose. I'm out there on Parents Night Out, spending time hanging out with the other parents, and she's not pulling her weight on skee ball. So what am I gonna say? This is the difference. You think it's douchey, you think it's stuck. I just don't let I don't tolerate people's crap. I expect better. I expect better of people. I'm sorry for just not doing what you do and just like, okay, whatever you do is fine. Just go ahead, whatever. Haha, no, I expect the more out of people, especially when like yourself and like my wife, I think that you can do better, and I'm sorry for having expectations.
John Shull 43:45
Feel like you just went left to right there. I think this all comes back to you. You are just having some anxiety because you clearly want to prove to the other dads that you are better at them, and clearly you are not.
Nick VinZant 43:58
Oh no, I've already proved to the other dads that I'm better at them by beating them at skeeball. I'm just expecting my wife to also show the same sort of domination that I am, and she's letting me down because I know that she's capable of it. She's better. She just needs to focus, maybe not drink so much before you play skeeball or drink more like you got to find the packing medium there
John Shull 44:20
are you sober when you play skeeball against the other dads?
Nick VinZant 44:24
No, because I'm playing skee ball,
John Shull 44:27
okay, good, I'm just
Nick VinZant 44:28
there's certain sports you don't have to ask if someone is sober. Are you sober playing golf? No. Are you sober playing softball? No. Are you sober playing skeeball or darts or billiards, or any of those kind of things. No, I don't know why you even asked that question.
John Shull 44:45
Feel like you should probably be somewhat sober playing darts.
Nick VinZant 44:50
I mean, yeah, but then that's not the tradition of the sport I love.
John Shull 44:57
Well, good. Well, when's your next night out? What? What are we going to have a follow up to this story?
Nick VinZant 45:01
I don't know. I don't keep the calendar
John Shull 45:06
that I don't believe you are on top of things. Well, no, that's not true. You didn't even know you were going on vacation to the morning of which I audibly gassed when I read your text message. I'm like, how does he not know these things?
Nick VinZant 45:19
Well, because I trust my wife, and we have a complete division of responsibilities. I handle the things that I handle, and she handles the things that she handles, and she plans the vacations and tell me when to go, and she'll just be like, Hey, you were going on vacation. You need to, like, take a couple of days off here and then go like, Okay, where
Speaker 2 45:37
are we going?
Nick VinZant 45:37
Doesn't
Nick VinZant 45:38
matter. Okay. I like, they're not low No, you know, just sometimes you got to live life with the
John Shull 45:44
flow. Sure,
Nick VinZant 45:44
not a guy who owns a minivan.
John Shull 45:47
There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with the minivan. There's nothing
Nick VinZant 45:51
wrong with owning a minivan. There's something wrong with you owning a mini. It's not related to the situation. It's related to you.
John Shull 45:59
I know that's been the story of this podcast since it started. Anyways, ah, you said your dog is barking.
Nick VinZant 46:13
Yep, is
John Shull 46:14
your dog a Barker?
Nick VinZant 46:16
Not really, not really. I don't want to
Speaker 2 46:20
talk. I always
Nick VinZant 46:21
my dog barking.
John Shull 46:23
I will say that one of the things that is still a little rattling to me is when you're out with your family, walking or jogging, whatever healthy people do, and there's that dog in the window that is just going nuts, and it's still, it still scares me to this day, because I'm like, that dog could easily break that window and tear my face off if it wanted to.
Nick VinZant 46:44
Yeah, I mean, I don't think too much about it, because then I realized that the dog is behind a window. Like, I can't really say that. I'm really super worried about it. Then, like, the dog, I hear a dog barking. I'm like, ooh, that dog sounds aggressive. Then I see it. It's like, oh, it's inside. I don't really have to worry about it too much. Now, if it runs up to a fence that does not look like it is the appropriate kind of construction, like, if the fence doesn't look great, or it looks like it could easily jump it, then I'm a little bit worried about it, but I'm not going to spend my day super paranoid about a dog barking me from at me, from inside. I
John Shull 47:18
usually have my i, this goes back to the first question you asked me. Actually, this at the beginning here, I usually have my volume all the way up at all times, so I don't a dog could attack me, and I probably wouldn't know it, to be honest, like, until it's biting my flesh.
Nick VinZant 47:35
Oh, you mean you read like, when you're walking around, you have the volume all the way up,
John Shull 47:39
all the way up. Like,
Nick VinZant 47:40
oh, you can't do that. I have a huge pet peeve. I don't think that people should be in public situations, whether they're like, walking on the sidewalk, or they're riding a bike or they're just doing whatever. I don't think that people should be out in public listening to things in their ears. I think that that's a big mistake, because you don't have situational awareness. And you need situational awareness when you're out in public. I think it's a bad idea for people to be listening to stuff in their ears while out in public. I
John Shull 48:13
haven't been hit by a car yet, so
Nick VinZant 48:16
you're gonna get hit by a car. This is probably why you're afraid of dogs, because you're not paying attention to the situation, and then finally, something raises to the level where it gets through the deafening music in your ear, and you're like, oh God, but if you just would have been kind of paying attention a little bit, then
Speaker 2 48:30
you
Nick VinZant 48:30
wouldn't have been scared in the first place.
John Shull 48:33
This all just goes back to the original thing. I just, I just, I can be better. I need to be better.
Speaker 2 48:38
You
Nick VinZant 48:39
need to be better, right? Like you're not taking the appropriate steps to be held accountable. How are you going to be a father? How are you going to be out there and say that you're a father, that you're somebody who is charged with the protection of your family, that you're supposed to be responsible for? You're out in public, and you're out there listening to blasting music, not being apprised of the situation. That's, you know,
John Shull 49:01
what? Half have half half the time. It's Shania Twain or something. It's not even good music. What am I doing?
Speaker 2 49:07
Is she the
John Shull 49:08
Backstreet Boys
Nick VinZant 49:09
are? I know you want to do someday, top five back boy bands. You want to do that? I mean, we can do that
John Shull 49:16
next
Nick VinZant 49:16
week.
John Shull 49:18
I could do that. No, because you would just frustrate the hell out of me on purpose.
Nick VinZant 49:21
Oh no, why? Because I would, because I have taste in music.
John Shull 49:28
What's, what's the last song you listened to? Who by who? What was it? Who was it by
Nick VinZant 49:33
now, backstreets, back by Backstreet Boys. That would be the last boy band song I would have listened to.
John Shull 49:38
No, what? What was the last song you remember listening to, like the last song,
Nick VinZant 49:45
I think I listened to sandstorm, by de rood because I was fucking raging on Saturday night.
John Shull 49:56
Wow. Well, I can tell you my last one was wide awake by Katy Perry, just. Was 45 minutes ago. So,
Nick VinZant 50:02
right, right? And you
Speaker 2 50:04
know,
John Shull 50:05
my daughter, what's good with my daughters? It was my daughters
Nick VinZant 50:09
because we were coming we know, I think we see the pattern. I don't know if we need to elaborate on this further. I think we see what's happening that's fair.
John Shull 50:18
Well, unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get any better. We've been doing this now what? Eight
Speaker 2 50:22
years?
Nick VinZant 50:22
No
John Shull 50:23
idea. I don't think anything is gonna change. I
Nick VinZant 50:26
look all i all i want to say is that as you head down this path and continue to head down this path, don't ever say you haven't been told. Okay,
John Shull 50:39
maybe, maybe when we do finally come to a close and we do like a reunion episode, we can revisit this and see if I've, you know, gotten better throughout the years or whatever. That would be fun.
Nick VinZant 50:52
Yeah, I think that eventually this is going to end in this situation in which you are sitting in a chair in a hotel room watching other people do what you used to do. And I don't need to elaborate on the details. We need to go into that, but that's, that's where you're going.
John Shull 51:07
Well, all right, can we just go into our top five? We've
Nick VinZant 51:11
already been that's just where you're going. Point that out. Look, if you want to go in that, look, if that's your thing, and that's ultimately the direction that you want to go, then that is fine. But I'm telling you that that is the direction that you are going.
John Shull 51:25
I just want to move on to her top five now. I don't I need, I need to process that. I'm gonna need a couple of days to think about that.
Nick VinZant 51:33
Needed a couple of days to think about it right now, right? You're gonna have to, I'm just saying, right? That's why on the tombstone I'm gonna have my wife never could play sports because people are not held accountable enough anymore, and I think that they need to be like you. Got to tell people what you really like. Look, if a real friend is going to tell you the truth, and I'm sorry for being a real friend,
John Shull 51:56
what does it feel to have been born in the 30s because you're acting like an old grumpy lump against right now.
Nick VinZant 52:02
Oh, I never heard the phrase grumpy lump against, but I'm gonna steal that. Did you just come up with it? Or is that like a thing that you say a lot?
John Shull 52:10
I mean, I say from time to time, it's out of one of the kids books.
Nick VinZant 52:13
Oh, you should have stole it. I like grumpa lumpigous, Hey, grumpa lumpic gas. I
John Shull 52:20
mean, it's okay. I don't know it's fine.
Nick VinZant 52:22
All right. Are you ready? This is going to be not a great segue from talking about us getting older to talking about the worst yard chores that we have to do.
John Shull 52:30
Yeah, it's a great segue because yard chores stink.
Nick VinZant 52:36
Yes, they do, yes they do. All right, so our top five is top five worst yard chores. What's your number five?
John Shull 52:46
So this list was actually quite easy to put together. I didn't think there'd be five that I truly despise, but there is. So here's my number five, and that's raking leaves.
Nick VinZant 52:56
Oh, I agree. I have raking leaves a little bit different, a little bit higher on the list, but I agree with raking leads. Why do you just test raking leads?
John Shull 53:06
It's just time consuming, and no matter what I do every year, so right? You do it usually in the spring and the fall, right? And every time I do it, I get these massive blisters on my hands. Oh, boy, here for those of you that that aren't that don't see this video, Nick just gave me the look like my dad gave me when he found out I was smoking pot in high school, like he was very disappointed in me. What? What's wrong with getting blisters on your hands from doing yard work?
Nick VinZant 53:37
If you're getting blisters on your hand from a little bit of yard work, then you better do something to fix your soft, little, delicate baby hands.
John Shull 53:44
But
John Shull 53:44
I get them like, not, I don't get them in the, like, the normal spot, because it's where I hold the rake. Like, I get them
Nick VinZant 53:53
like, what like, How are you holding the rake that you get them in? Like, on your elbow. What are you doing? Are you holding the rake like it's a javelin.
John Shull 54:03
All I can say is, you've seen me eat all right? Yeah, I I also hold things weirdly. So I don't know, I have, like, a system. I don't know how to describe it. I just, I get blisters and weird spots on my hand. Has nothing to do with me not having working man's hands. It's just where I hold the rake is not a normal spot where you use it a lot.
Nick VinZant 54:30
Do you hold other things, not other things in that sense, but like, do you hold other chore related things in the same way? Or did you just have no I just have a very unique way to hold the rake.
John Shull 54:43
Let's have a I have a system, and I have a way that I rake leaves, and that's why I rake leaves this way. That's just the way it is.
Nick VinZant 54:55
Your head hit the window. Oh,
Speaker 2 54:57
you.
Nick VinZant 55:03
Oh, I'm sorry, man, go get you like over there. Go get a chocolate chip. You'll feel better. Sun. Hit the window. Get
John Shull 55:11
your kids under control over there,
Nick VinZant 55:14
I believe that you know what, the best way to learn not to bang your head against the window is to bang your head against the window and find out how much it hurts. School of hard knocks over here. You're probably over there putting cellophane all over everything, trying to house proof the whole world, right? With your dainty little baby hand. I'm sorry you had to go outside and do some work. Get some calluses on there. I'd be ashamed.
John Shull 55:35
What's your number five?
Speaker 2 55:37
My
Nick VinZant 55:37
number five is edging. I am a firm believer that if you are not bleeding or injured, you did not edge properly.
John Shull 55:48
So my number four is weed whacking or weed whipping, because of the same reason, if you are not bleeding, if your ankles are not lacerated after a session of weed whacking or whipping. You're you're not doing it right, but God dang it, that sucks, and those wounds take at least a week to heal.
Nick VinZant 56:08
Oh yeah, I have some on my shins and ankle area right now for where I've been hit by rocks, children's toys, the whip part of the thing, if you are not bleeding, you have not edged or weed whacked properly. I firmly believe that, and I am See, this is what I'm talking about, John, this is what I'm talking about. You have the potential, but you're not using it. You understand the fundamentals, but you're not applying them right, like you understand that you got to get bloody weed whacking, but then you're over there and you do stuff like complaining about getting calluses on your little, soft, little baby hands, because you raking. You can't do that. You gotta continue in the bloody weed whacking direction, and go away from the complaining about my baby hands. Direction.
John Shull 56:50
For one, I never said I would. Never really complained about the calluses. I just said, you get blisters and they suck. I didn't like say it ruins my life, that I never do it again.
Nick VinZant 57:01
You're
John Shull 57:02
the one who took it to that extreme,
Nick VinZant 57:04
because I don't understand the difference, right? Like I wouldn't even breathe something. I wouldn't even bring something like that up. I don't complain about hard work. Just do the job. Get it done.
John Shull 57:14
What's your number four? Jethro toll.
Nick VinZant 57:17
I never can remember who Jethro toll is. What song did they sing?
John Shull 57:23
I don't even know. I do. You know what? I don't even know.
Nick VinZant 57:25
You don't know either you did. You
John Shull 57:26
don't think
Nick VinZant 57:27
you do. You feel like you used it appropriately, like, are you gonna look it up and be like, Ah, crap. I meant Jefferson Airplane.
John Shull 57:33
Let's see in a
Nick VinZant 57:37
little bit.
John Shull 57:42
Yeah. Let's see thick as a brick. Songs from the wood woods. Yeah, I don't know. Man, I
Nick VinZant 57:50
don't know you use them Aqua inappropriately, didn't
John Shull 57:53
you? Aqua lung is their most famous song,
Nick VinZant 57:57
okay,
John Shull 57:58
yeah, what makes sense?
Nick VinZant 58:00
My number four is raking, just because it feels like a total waste of time. Like, do I really need to rake any of this stuff up? It's just going to decompose on the ground. I don't feel like I just think like raking is a waste of time. Like, why am I doing this? I find like, kind of the pattern that you create to be rewarding and interesting, but I just think raking is a waste
John Shull 58:21
agree with you on that. My number three is cleaning gutters. But really, like any kind of, you know, seasonal roof gutter work in general, for two reasons. For me, one, I don't like heights, and two, like it's just I, I feel like I spent four hours cleaning out the gutters and like I didn't do anything very unrewarding work.
Nick VinZant 58:49
Why don't you put those little like the sieve on the top of it? Why don't you get the little mesh and put it on there so you don't have to clean the gutters?
John Shull 58:56
So we, we tried the mesh and birds ate.
Nick VinZant 58:59
You're gonna give me a real explanation, aren't you?
John Shull 59:04
What came through birds and stuff, birds and squirrels, like they would punch holes in it and yeah, so then, then they recommended us to use, like, an actual, like, covering, but we just haven't done that yet. So I'll sit here and complain. I'll sit here and complain about doing it instead.
Nick VinZant 59:22
Okay, I actually respect that. My number three is pressure washing.
John Shull 59:27
Oh, I almost put that on, but I left it off, but it's, yeah, it's not fun. Like, I think people feel like it's, you know, like, like, it's this grandiose thing. No, it kind of sucks.
Nick VinZant 59:39
Oh, I find it in I find pressure washing to me, I find it enjoyable for a little bit. There's something oddly satisfying about it, but then two hours later, like, oh my god, I'm still pressure washing. Like, it takes too long. If it took only, like 1520 minutes, I would love
John Shull 59:58
it. It's. Once again, it's one of those things that, to me, is not rewarding, because tomorrow it's like, when you dust and then the same spot the next day has more dust on it. It's like, pressure washing, pressure wash something, and the next day it dirts back. Like, what the f did I spend five hours doing? Then
Nick VinZant 1:00:16
that's just, this is just life. Man. I would love it if you could just do something one time, and then like, hey, look, you only got to mow the yard once. But, no, you have to mow it once a week or every 10 days for three or four months a year for the rest of your life.
John Shull 1:00:31
All right, my number, speaking of something that you have to do, it seems every friggin season, is weed.
Nick VinZant 1:00:39
Oh, it's
John Shull 1:00:40
my weeding, weeding. It's the worst.
Nick VinZant 1:00:43
I have nothing else to offer to that. Besides, that's also my number two.
John Shull 1:00:48
Oh, okay,
Nick VinZant 1:00:49
what's your number one gonna be? Then
John Shull 1:00:51
what's your number one gonna be? Go
Speaker 2 1:00:55
first.
John Shull 1:00:56
My number one is picking up dog crap.
Nick VinZant 1:01:00
Oh, yeah, well, yeah, I should have put I mean, yeah, it's just gross and disgusting, and not something you want to do. You have a bigger dog, don't you?
John Shull 1:01:09
Yeah, 100 pound dog. And I did something that I normally don't do this winter, and I recommend this to all pet owners, is even when it was frozen outside, I went outside, like, every month in the winter and did it because usually I wait, right? You wait from like, December to March, because it's too cold and the ground freezes. So like, you know, the poop freezes into the ground, essentially, because we get snow, blah, blah, blah. This year, I went out there and I didn't care if there was four inches of snow. I dug that up because I didn't. I didn't I didn't want the thought to come, and then you spend, I think it was two years ago, I had 14 bags of dog shit.
Nick VinZant 1:01:49
Why don't you just pick it up? When the dog goes like the dog poops, you pick it up. Whole problem,
John Shull 1:01:57
I mean, because then you, I mean that that sounds great in theory, right? But then you gotta, like, wait out there. You have to watch him, like, let him go. Like, let the dog go. You know, I don't want to stand by the door and wait for him to poop and then go out there and pick it up. I got things to do. You know what I mean, why
Nick VinZant 1:02:14
don't you just wait for the dog to come back inside and then go out where they poop? Like, this is not a huge amount of effort. I don't understand the idea that you once went what seems to be three, maybe four months without picking up 100 pound dog poop in your yard.
John Shull 1:02:30
I think, once again, I just think you are underestimating I mean, the Midwest, the northeast, we go into a deep freeze like people don't. I don't want to go outside at nine o'clock at night to pick up dog shit like I just don't want to do it.
Nick VinZant 1:02:47
Okay, so if you have 100 pound dog, would you say that 100 pound dog probably has a poop, might weigh a pound each poop,
John Shull 1:02:57
sure. I mean, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. I could tell you, it's they're big. I mean, he he's a Great Pyrenees. He shits like a Great Pyrenees does.
Nick VinZant 1:03:07
Okay, so let's just assume each poop is one pound. If you went four months without picking up dog poop, you're talking about 120 to 150 pounds of dog poop in your backyard. You just got let 100 point, but that's the math. That's the math. Even if you go three months, that's 90 to 100 pounds of dog poop sitting in your backyard, and you're gonna allow that to happen.
John Shull 1:03:34
I can I'm sure it was not four months. I can guarantee you it was between two and three months, though, so yes, we'll say between 6090 pounds of dog crap in my backyard. Yes, that's probably more and accurate
Nick VinZant 1:03:49
when you think about it like that. That sounds really disgusting. Your house sounds like a health nightmare. I am almost to the point where I need feel like I maybe I should tip off child protective services that you're living in a plague zone.
John Shull 1:04:05
That's really not that bad. He Yeah, it's not that bad.
Nick VinZant 1:04:08
It sounds pretty bad. Sounds like you have a lot of poop. Like, if I let the dog, if my wife lets the dog out and she doesn't pick up the poop, because sometimes she does that, I'm not going to let it go more than a day, maybe two days, and I'm like, wow, that's a lot of dog poop in the backyard. I should pick that up.
John Shull 1:04:28
I mean, now it's once a week, like, it's fine. I mean, dogs poop every other day, maybe every day, it's only seven piles of dog crap at the most. Like, it's not that bad.
Nick VinZant 1:04:38
Okay, I think that you need to reevaluate these decisions, but like, Look, I'm not living your life. If that's the way that you wanted to live your life surrounded by dog shit, then
Speaker 2 1:04:47
go
John Shull 1:04:49
ahead. What's your number one?
Nick VinZant 1:04:51
Gutters. Who had a voice? Crack.
John Shull 1:04:53
Gutters, good. Good
Nick VinZant 1:04:56
gutters. I. Live in Seattle, where it's rainy and the roofs are steep, and cleaning out your gutters is essentially risking your life. You are risking your life when you go up there to try to clean out the gutters like there's only a 5050, chance you're coming back alive. You have to say goodbye to your wife and kids when you go clean the gutters in Seattle, because you might not come
Speaker 2 1:05:17
back.
John Shull 1:05:19
Well, you've made it every year. So can't be that bad.
Speaker 2 1:05:21
I have
Nick VinZant 1:05:22
a system. It's the importance of having a system and sticking to the system. I'm not the kind of person that's going to let something linger for two to three months when the job needs to be done and get the job done.
John Shull 1:05:32
That was one time, and I've learned from
Speaker 2 1:05:35
it.
Nick VinZant 1:05:38
Jury's still out on that one, but I hope you have, that's I hope you have. Do you have anything in your honorable
John Shull 1:05:46
mention? Not really. I mean, no, not for power washing. I This one's just kind of me specific. But like, picking up, I have a crab apple tree, yeah? Picking up the crap the crab apples. Like, just sucks. Like, yeah, or I also have a pear tree, but the like, I've developed a system and have gotten that down pat, but, yeah, just picking up fruit like that is just nuts.
Nick VinZant 1:06:14
Do you eat the pears
John Shull 1:06:17
time at a time? I mean, of course, we moved in this house and there's a pear tree. Like, why couldn't there be, you know, an apple tree or anything,
Nick VinZant 1:06:27
you have an apple crab apple tree, why don't you eat the crab apples?
John Shull 1:06:31
Once again, no one eats crab apples or pears. Like,
Nick VinZant 1:06:34
oh, first of all, I eat pears. Now you look like a man who's been eating lots of crab apples. You're grumpy. Ass over there.
John Shull 1:06:42
Thank you. That's because I literally just eating crabapples right now. I don't
Nick VinZant 1:06:48
know if I've actually ever had a crab you know what? I'm not talking about, god. Oh my god, this is your dream episode. All we've done is talk about the crab apples and submarines and all these old man things. What's the weather? What's the weather in Monterey right now?
Speaker 2 1:07:07
I don't
John Shull 1:07:09
know, but I could tell you that this morning in Antarctica, it was minus 67 degrees. Was the temperature there? That's crazy cold.
Nick VinZant 1:07:17
I need the temperature. And what I mean, Antarctica is a big place. It's like, saying the temperature in Australia, right? I need, it needs to be more localized like that for me to be was it really negative 60?
John Shull 1:07:28
Yeah.
Nick VinZant 1:07:29
Wait, so you have Antarctica on your phone, and every time you're like, oh, wow, it's cold.
Speaker 2 1:07:35
Yeah,
Nick VinZant 1:07:35
it's gonna be cold tomorrow too. Oh, it's cold. Yeah, Antarctica,
John Shull 1:07:39
without getting into gory details. It's part of my morning routine where I look up, you know, weather other.
Nick VinZant 1:07:48
Do you look up the difference, though? Now, do you look at the weather in Antarctica and the Arctic? Do you compare the two? Are you just looking at one over the other? Wow.
John Shull 1:07:59
Yeah, just I we've we've gone over this. I have like, five or six places, and I just look them over, and I'm like, oh, it's gonna be nice and sunny in Berlin today, or it's gonna be cold in Brisbane, you know, like, it is what it is.
Nick VinZant 1:08:12
Yeah, I'm gonna go outside and play baseball with my kids. Sit there, look at the weather. I don't know. Like I would then be, I don't understand how you have Antarctica and not the Arctic, because then I would be curious as to what the difference is like. Why do you want one pole and not the other
John Shull 1:08:29
finger? Kids running into Windows again? You should go save them.
Nick VinZant 1:08:32
He did run into a window, right? Like, that's not really speaking very highly of my genetic stock. My son comes down here crying because he ran into a window. Okay, that's going to go ahead and do it for this. Episode of profoundly pointless. I want to thank you so much for joining us. If you get a chance, leave us a quick review. We love to hear from people really appreciate it helps out the show and let us know what you think is the worst yard chore. I think that's the incredible thing about math that when you actually start to add it up, what seems small can suddenly seem ridiculous, like, oh, John's not picking up the dog poop in the back of his yard. Oh, he's got 90 pounds of dog poop in the back of his yard. I hard math, it adds up.