Do you have a friendship litmus test, the book or band or film you mention to someone you meet to figure out if you’re going to get along? Halsted has one. Keenan talks about a shift in their perspective, thanks to getting older. And they both discuss being reformed know-it-alls. Then Keenan’s deity status is revealed, and they make some decrees.

Keenan and Halsted don’t get excited about buying things anymore. What happened? Have their values changed? Was it some global event that massively disrupted everyone’s lives? But first they talk about houses exploding, running down the street after the UPS delivery person, Bigfoot, and fancy soap.

Crispy like broiled tomatillo husks: that’s how Keenan and Halsted feel right now. We’re past burned out, and self-care doesn’t fix broken systems. How do we know when to ask for help, and how do we accept help? And hey, have we leveled up? We talk about an evolution in our friendship.

How do two recovering perfectionists learn to be bad at things like learning a new language or playing a new videogame? And not just learn to be bad at them, but enjoy being bad at them?

Keenan and Halsted both search for meaning in perspectives, not answers. They share their experiences with organized religion, trying to find community, and how aging can make us less curious. And then our tangent boat carries us away on the currents of Caves of Qud and Game of Thrones and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

It’s time to talk about Station Eleven. Halsted just finished watching it for the first time, and Keenan just completed their fourth rewatch. Spoilers abound, so please don’t listen to this until you’ve seen it!

We talk about how why we sometimes feel lonely even when surrounded by wonderful people. Halsted doesn’t cry over a post-it note in a library book. Keenan edits The Note. And then we really piss off the scuba-diving community.

One of Halsted and Keenan’s first interactions was bonding over their shared personality types: INFJ and Enneagram 4. So they talk about them!

We warm up with some meta chat about podcast recording and editing, plus musings about our shared conversational style. Because our friendship is podcasted and our podcast is friendshipped. And then Keenan asks Halsted, “What’s the deal with your name?”

We’re creating a friendship, but we’re also creating Content. (Keenan really hates that word.) We definitely don’t talk about late-stage capitalism.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to reflect on the response to the recent launch of the show.

This is where it all began! We talk about how we were orbiting each other on Mastodon before Halsted jumped in and said, “Let’s record a podcast!”