Parasocial Listener II

Summary

Flightless Bird: Parasocial Listener II (April 7, 2026)
Host: David Farrier | Cohost: Rob
Guest: Nick

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Flightless Bird, David Farrier continues the deeply personal story of Nick, a listener with a rare and aggressive brain tumor. The episode revisits Nick’s previous appearance (“Parasocial Listener”) and follows up on a promised trip: Nick’s dream journey to New Zealand. Through Nick’s experiences—ranging from accidentally dangerous to profoundly uplifting—the team explores not only what makes New Zealand unique, but also themes of fear, trust, living in the moment, and the incredible bonds formed between strangers. The story is rich with humor, wisdom, and a remarkable sense of gratitude.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Revisiting Nick and His Diagnosis

• Background (10:00–11:04):
  Nick was previously diagnosed with a rare malignant brain tumor, called an “anaplastic pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma (APXA).”
  Nick (10:18): “It took almost three months to get a diagnosis...[this type of tumor], there’s less than one case per year.”
• Aggressiveness and Outlook:
  The tumor is terminal, grows back, and demands major changes to Nick’s life and outlook.

Nick’s New Zealand Dream

• The Friendship Paddle (11:04–11:29):
  Nick was supported by his surfing community, raising funds so he could travel to New Zealand—a lifelong dream for surfing, sightseeing, and meat pies.
  Nick (11:29): “So I booked a flight. I was like, screw it, I’m going to do it now.”
• Inspiration:
  Nick attributes some of his motivation to Farrier’s storytelling:
  Nick (11:41): “It kind of was like it was a subconscious thing listening to you.”

Visa Mishaps and Struggles to Get to New Zealand

• Near-Miss at the Airport (12:45–14:51):
  Nick nearly misses his flight due to not knowing about an essential New Zealand visa (NZeTA), accidentally attempts it through a scam website, and is ultimately saved by a calm and helpful New Zealand immigration officer.
  Nick (14:33): “Luckily got there super early … I felt stupid. I’ve never had to do that anywhere else I’ve traveled.”
• Celebratory Movie:
  On the plane, he watches The Fellowship of the Ring to get into a New Zealand state of mind.

Immediate Community and Kiwi Hospitality

• Warm Welcome and Paragliding (15:19–21:19):
  Immediately after landing, Nick is embraced by Graham (a Flightless Bird listener) and others who take him straight from the airport to paragliding on the coast.
  Nick (16:06): “Here’s my friend Joe. He’s a tandem pilot for paragliding. You’re going to strap in with him and jump off a cliff.”
  Nick (19:54): “Just like full trust, like, right off the bat... And I fell running, and then we just get shot up into the air. And it was incredible.”
• Surfing and Adventure:
  Nick experiences real New Zealand surf conditions—more challenging than back home—and even when humbled and tumbled by waves, finds the experience exhilarating.
  Nick (21:49): “I got my ass kicked. That was hard. So I’ll be honest. … Tumbled and humbled. That’s what I got.”

Everyday Differences and Observations

• Cafe Life and Tipping (12:10):
  Nick notes subtle differences in daily life, like no tipping at cafes and trusting systems (paying for gas after pumping).
• Camping:
  Nick enjoys freedom camping:
  Nick (31:23): “The campsites are nice. ... It’s cool.”

The Scary Cave Incident

• Unexpected Peril (24:00–31:23):
  Nick unwittingly finds himself in a potentially dangerous situation: following new acquaintances (including a man with a machete) to a remote cave.
  Nick (voice memo, 24:00–30:30):
  • Describes increasing unease as the group leads him deeper into isolation and tries to take his phone/keys.
  • Diffuses the situation by drawing attention to his brain surgery and medical bracelet, triggering unexpected empathy from the group.
  • Nick (voice memo, 29:57): “He starts looking like he's gonna cry ... [and says] my brother had a brain tumor ... He just looks like he's about to cry. He goes, yeah, let’s take you back, dude.”
• Reflection (35:13–38:12):
  Nick processes the event philosophically, noting a deep mutual understanding between people simply trying to survive and feel alive.
  Nick (voice memo, 35:13): “We both saw somebody who was trying to survive ... Surviving isn’t just staying alive. Surviving is finding new opportunities, new ways to experience exciting things and feeling alive. ... I sure as hell felt alive. And maybe that’s the whole point.”

Travel as Healing and Escape

• Relief and Renewal (32:15–33:27):
  Nick finds healing in being away from constant reminders of illness; the trip lets him “forget stuff” and “feel normal again.”
  Nick (32:15): “...it’s felt like I feel normal again here. Like I’m just a guy traveling on my own ... I don’t have to worry about, like, the health crap and all that. It just feels like I’m a normal person.”
  • On appreciating time: “...my time, like, being able to choose how I can spend my time … that's a gift.”

News Just Before Departure

• Tumor Growth (33:27–35:13):
  Right before leaving for New Zealand, Nick learns his tumor is growing again, but he uses the mantra:
  Nick (34:04, via text): “If I’m not out there experiencing a fulfilling life, then what’s the point of trying to extend that life in the first place? ... If not now, then when?”

Listener Responses & Food Truck Corrections

• Food Truck Debate (46:30–47:59):
  Continuing running joke about Farrier’s claim that NZ has no food trucks—listeners correct him.
  • Listener Lucky: “While we definitely don’t have the food truck culture of LA, there is more than just one food truck in Auckland. You could have talked about the White Lady, which is an institution.”
  • [47:59] Discussion of different regional food truck cultures in the US (NY, Austin, Houston, Columbus).

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Notable & Memorable Quotes

• David Farrier (01:35):
  “If you come to New Zealand one day, you’ll find out [what a lamington is]. Now, at the end of last year, we did an episode called the Parasocial Listener, which was all about Nick, a flightless bird listener who wrote in with a pretty intense story.”
• Nick (14:33):
  “I felt stupid. I felt like I should have known that I needed to get a visa and apply for one. I’ve never had to do that anywhere else I’ve traveled.”
• Nick (16:06):
  “You’re gonna strap in with him and jump off a cliff.”
• Nick (voice memo, 24:00):
  “Holy shit. Wow. I don’t know what just happened, but I am, I’m alive. That’s a start.”
• Nick (32:15):
  “It’s felt like I feel normal again here. ... It just feels like I’m a normal person.”
• Nick (voice memo, 35:13):
  “Surviving isn’t just staying alive. Surviving is finding new opportunities, new ways to experience exciting things and feeling alive. … I sure as hell felt alive. And maybe that’s the whole point.”
• David Farrier (30:50):
  “Imagine if Nick had gone to New Zealand because of this podcast and been macheted in a cave in some weird kind of twist.”

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Timelines & Timestamps of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Event | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 10:00 | Nick recounts rare tumor diagnosis | | 14:33 | Visa drama at LAX, nearly missing his flight | | 15:19 | Listener Graham greets Nick; paragliding adventure | | 19:54 | Nick describes the paragliding experience | | 21:49 | Surfing with Kiwis, humbled by “real” NZ surf | | 24:00 | “The Cave Incident” – Nick’s harrowing storytelling | | 31:23 | Nick describes how safe and welcomed he feels otherwise | | 32:15 | Nick discusses psychological healing and feeling ‘normal’| | 35:13 | Profound reflection on the cave and shared survival | | 45:25 | Nick’s gifts for Dave (band T-shirt, cassette tape) | | 46:30 | Listener corrections on NZ food trucks |

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Tone & Original Language

• The episode retains the signature affectionate ribbing, dry Kiwi-American contrast, and deep empathy.
• Nick is matter-of-fact and philosophical about his health; David and Rob combine humor with earnestness and deep curiosity.
• Notable for Nick’s open-hearted reflections and David’s willingness to be self-deprecating and corrected by listeners.

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Takeaways for New Listeners

• Nick’s journey is both a literal travelogue and a profound meditation on life while facing mortality.
• The friendly, communal power of podcast audiences and Kiwi culture is beautifully evident.
• Humor, vulnerability, and philosophical reflection are seamlessly intertwined.

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Endnotes

• Link to Nick’s paragliding video and Pookie (his math rock band) to be found in show notes.
• Listeners can write in with feedback, corrections, and cultural anecdotes, and see David eating his words about NZ food trucks.
• The episode ends reflecting on empathy, courage, and the drive to keep seeking aliveness—whether by surfing, paragliding, or simply saying yes.

Transcript

[David Farrier]

Just quickly, before this week's episode kicks off, Flightless Bird has been nominated for a Webby Award. The Webbies are kind of a big deal for us and we'd love you to vote. If you like our show and you have a moment, this is a really key way you can help us. Here's what you do. Go to webbyawards.com that's W E B B yawards.com, click the go vote button, hit search and type in Flightless Bird. Click on Flightless Bird when it turns up and and go and vote. Also, if you're on our Instagram Lightless Bird pod, there's a link in our bio as well. Thanks for listening to this very self involved monologue onto the show. Hello there, Dave. Hi, my little. Oh God, I haven't thought of one. My little titmouse, how are you doing? You have one job in this phone conversation. I carry you through the entire rest of it. All you have to do is think of a baked good. My little warm loaf of fresh baked bread. My little little cornhole little donut. That's delicious. I love that cornhole. What's a cornhole? Mousetrap. Mousetrap would be a good New Zealand one. Hot pocket. That's very American. My little hot pocket. My little steamy hot pocket. What about lamington? Do you guys have that? Hey, don't flip the premise of this podcast on me. Well, let me tell you about lamingtons, guys. I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Do you know what a lamington is?

[Nick]

Nope.

[David Farrier]

If you come to New Zealand one day, you'll find out. Now, at the end of last year, we did an episode called the Parasocial Listener, which was all about Nick, a flightless bird listener who wrote in with a pretty intense story. Nick had been diagnosed with a rare kind of brain tumour. Rare in that you can remove it, but it keeps coming back. Nick has had multiple surgeries, each one seeing part of his brain removed, which has had some pretty interesting side effects. As new parts of his brain take on the extra load, his emotions are way closer to the surface. For one thing, he feels more in a way. And yet, conversely, the parts of him that used to be scared are less prominent. Not in a therapy speak kind of way, but in that his brain doesn't process fear like it used to. He's less scared of things. That was one of my favourite episodes of this podcast. And towards the end, you may Recall that Nick was finally going to take his dream trip to the best place in the world, New Zealand. So of course, we had to catch up with him and see how that trip went. So prepare to pack your bags and go to New Zealand, because this is the parasocial listener, part 2 episode. Fly this flightless,

[Rob]

flightless bird Touchdown in America. I'm a flightless bird Touchdown in America.

[David Farrier]

Hey, Rob, how are you feeling?

[Rob]

Good, good.

[Dave]

How about you?

[David Farrier]

I'm good. Making this episode, I kept thinking, I really want to get you to New Zealand at some point. And I'm curious, actually, after this episode, how you feel about my country, because I feel you've had it purely through my lens.

[Dave]

Yeah. Which if we've learned anything from our New Zealand listeners, your lens is a

[David Farrier]

little skewed and I think becoming increasingly skewed as time goes on.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I mean, the further you are from having lived there.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Nick]

The.

[David Farrier]

I would argue, potentially excusable.

[Dave]

But I. Yeah, but I mean, stuff like food trucks.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. I did sort of blazingly say in a recent episode, there are. I pretty much said, there are no food trucks in New Zealand. Yeah, there are hundreds of food trucks in New Zealand.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

I saw and, you know, I heard about it. And so at times, I mean, I think I probably need to get back just to correct some of my thinking about the country I'm from.

[Dave]

Yeah. I mean, it's just part of your personality to speak and sweeping. General. General.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Generalizations.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Oh, I absolutely do. I used to do a thing, which I probably still do, which annoyed my friend Dan, where after every movie I'd often just go, this is the best thing I've ever seen.

[Dave]

Was it sincere?

[David Farrier]

No. A lot of the time it was like, the one that steps out is

[Dave]

Lord of the Rings.

[David Farrier]

No, not Lord of the Rings. It was the Spike Jones. It was a live action film of where the Wild Things Are.

[Dave]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[David Farrier]

Which is a magical film.

[Dave]

Best movie you've ever seen, though.

[David Farrier]

So I came out of that and I turned to Dan and I said, dan. And I was genuine. I was like. Eyes were welling. I said, this is, I think, the best film I've ever seen. And then I noticed that that would often repeat with things. And then Dan would bring up these films years later and go, was it the best film you've ever seen?

[Dave]

I find that surprising.

[David Farrier]

I used to be a more positive person.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I was gonna say that is not the trait I would put on you, that you were over enthusiastic about things you consume.

[David Farrier]

No. Now I say Things the worst, there are no food trucks in New Zealand.

[Dave]

Biggest pile of trash.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Nick]

All of that.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Nick]

Okay.

[David Farrier]

But no point being, I'm kind of curious after this what you make of New Zealand, because this is New Zealand through an American's eyes.

[Dave]

Yes.

[David Farrier]

And not just any American. An American that listens to this podcast.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Dave]

One of the good ones, Cornhole, was brought up.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Dave]

In Hayden's called. Do you know about cornhole?

[David Farrier]

Cornhole, I kind of just riffed on that. Yeah. But cornhole, I think, is a game where you throw something through a hole.

[Dave]

Yeah. Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Is that correct?

[Dave]

That's correct.

[David Farrier]

Is that American or British? I feel like it's British.

[Dave]

It's pretty American. It's.

[David Farrier]

It's done here a lot.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Right.

[Dave]

Like, it's like a pretty Midwest thing, I think, too, where there's, like, cornhole tournaments.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. It's a very. It feels like a very lazy, relaxed kind of backyard thing.

[Dave]

Yeah. I mean, we called it bags sometimes, too, in Chicago. You, like, set up a. It's a board with a hole in it, and you're throwing beanbags.

[David Farrier]

You're right, so. Exactly.

[Dave]

Points for getting in the hole and points for it landing on the board and you're competing with the person you're throwing and trying to get to 21 points.

[David Farrier]

Are you good at the game, do you think? Because you're a pretty. You're a sporty guy.

[Dave]

Competitive.

[David Farrier]

Of course you're competitive. But were you getting the corn in that hole?

[Dave]

Yeah, often.

[David Farrier]

Often.

[Dave]

It's good.

[David Farrier]

Does it have some connotations around it? Cornhole?

[Dave]

No. I would imagine I'm fully making this up.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know what that's like.

[Dave]

I wouldn't know. I would guess that they were filling the beanbags with corn at some point. Ah, dry corn.

[David Farrier]

I'd say fact. Throw it to try to get us know, flightless corn. Chat gmail.com.

[Dave]

because it's like Iowa, Chicago, like a lot of corn in that area.

[David Farrier]

There's so much corn there.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

So could be its own flightless bird topic, in fact.

[Dave]

Certainly could. Let's find out the origins of cornhole real quick.

[David Farrier]

I should say no, I'm wearing a Wisconsin T shirt. I was in Wisconsin recently working on an episode about cheese, which I'm deeply excited to bring you very soon. Got very into Wisconsin in a big way to the point where I now wear their name on my top.

[Dave]

Okay. So the origins of cornhole are debated. Theories ranging from 14th century German invention to Native American traditions.

[David Farrier]

Okay.

[Dave]

But its modern form solidified in the American Midwest during the mid 20th century.

[David Farrier]

Is it corn? I feel like they're very heavy bags. It feels like they're like studding.

[Dave]

They've got weight.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And they definitely. You're meant.

[David Farrier]

How do you eat your corn on a cob? Do you chew or slice it off with a fork and then spoon it into your mouth?

[Dave]

I. I don't like it getting stuck in my teeth.

[David Farrier]

It's the worst, right?

[Dave]

Yeah. So I normally just don't eat corn on the cob.

[David Farrier]

Did your mum used to take it off the cob for you as a small boy?

[Sponsor Voice 2]

No.

[Dave]

We would eat it on the cob.

[David Farrier]

Okay.

[Dave]

I didn't enjoy it. It get in my teeth and I wasn't my favorite. I like. I like it in a bowl now.

[David Farrier]

I'm the same.

[Dave]

Calvin will mow down it on the cob.

[Nick]

Oh.

[David Farrier]

As a kid, you don't give a. You're just in there, I think. Yeah. I have very. A lot of gaps in my teeth. And so corn, it gets right in there. Horrible. And then the entire day is just spent, like, tonguing it out of your teeth.

[Dave]

Yeah, that'll have popcorn too.

[David Farrier]

Oh.

[Dave]

You get like a kernel stuck in.

[David Farrier]

The worst. The worst.

[Dave]

The worst tongue in it all day.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. No, horrible. There's nothing worse than a little thing like something in tooth. I've got a chip tooth at the moment and I'm tonguing that all the time.

[Nick]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[David Farrier]

I'm trying to think if I had any other thoughts about New Zealand before we get into this? I've been working on this episode for pretty much since end of last year.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Nick is amazing. And we've kept in touch about a whole lot of things. And it just felt like when he got to New Zealand, which, as you'll find out, was A, not a guaranteed thing that was going to happen.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And B, deeply disappointed.

[David Farrier]

No, no, not deeply disappointed. But nice try, but I feel I almost didn't leave. Which sounds like a cliffhanger. I guess it kind of is. And so maybe we should just play what happened and we can talk about it after.

[Dave]

Yeah, let's just dive right in.

[David Farrier]

So just as a quick refresher on the paranormal. Listen. Episode from last year. Nick had found out he had a rare type of brain tumor.

[Nick]

It took almost three months to get a diagnosis of the specific tumor type because it's so rare and tricky and whatever. And, you know, I have brain tissue samples at, like, three different places around the country. Kind of cool.

[David Farrier]

One Sample ended up in Maryland at the National Institute of Health. And they figured it out.

[Nick]

Yeah, I'll say it. It's called an anaplastic pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma.

[David Farrier]

That's apxa.

[Rob]

For the rest of us it's 15 syllables. But yeah, I did a lot of

[Nick]

Googling and research and they're like, there's less than one case per year.

[David Farrier]

He's right. The National Library of Medicine says apxas are rare gliomas affecting just 1% of astrocytic tumors. The other thing about this type of tumor, it's rare and it's aggressive. And he realized his journey wasn't over.

[Nick]

They told me this tumor type we see less than one per year. Like it's gonna come back. That's what it does. And it's terminal.

[David Farrier]

Towards the end of that episode, we also learned that Nick, a surfer, had been chosen for the Friendship Paddle. A group made up of surfers and people who love the water, who every year rally behind someone with a terminal or life threatening illness. With the funds they raised, Nick decided he'd go to New Zealand, do some surfing, eat some meat pies, see some sights. Was a dream of his.

[Nick]

And so I booked a flight. I was like, screw it, I'm going to do it now.

[Rob]

I have a camper van for two

[Nick]

weeks in New Zealand.

[David Farrier]

Fuck, that's cool.

[Nick]

We're doing it. I honestly have no idea why I picked New Zealand.

[Nick (voice memo)]

I just.

[Nick]

It kind of was like it was a subconscious thing listening to you.

[David Farrier]

Since that episode aired, I've been keeping in touch with Nick. And of course, when he ended up in New Zealand, I FaceTimed him. He was sitting in his camper van, two surfboards in the back.

[Nick]

I slept in a freedom camping spot last night kind of outside of Auckland. It's good. Morning's good. I went to a cafe and had a flat white start off the day.

[David Farrier]

He tells me he's been enjoying some of the subtle differences to what he's used to back home in the United States.

[Nick]

I was waiting for the screen, like at a cafe for the added tip button and the first day. And the woman at the right, she's like, no, you're good. That's it. I was like, that's it? Really? That's it too? And then, oh, filling up gas, or filling up the gas in the car at a couple places. You fill up first and then you walk in to pay. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. They're so friendly, so trusting.

[David Farrier]

So he's having a good time. But the thing is, Nick almost didn't get to New Zealand. It had nothing to do with the brain tumor situation, by the way. He told me about this a few weeks ago. He'd sent me an email from the departures lounge at lax. I just had the most humbling experience checking in for my flight. He started with, before going on, you probably know this, but naively, I didn't. Apparently, US Travelers need a visa to visit New Zealand. Oops. I had no idea that I needed one of these until I walked up to the counter to check in my surfboard. I just about fell over, desperately googling how to apply for one. I clicked the first link that came up and scrambled to submit my credit card information. About one minute later, my bank called me to flag a suspicious transaction. And I realized the hard way that there are a lot of scam websites out there that are happy to take your information and issue a fake visa. Trying my best to recover from this devastating realization, I slowed things down enough to find the correct website. The one with the actual New Zealand government address. Having finally submitted the correct application at the airport, I then realized that it's not an instantaneous process. Yikes. After about 30 minutes sitting there hoping it would just go through, I managed to find the phone number to the immigration office in Auckland, New Zealand. Another 30 minutes of being on hold, I got through to a very nice man. He found my application, and even though he couldn't push it through, he very calmly explained what to do. He said I would need to be very assertive and walk me through exactly what to say to the gate agent in America to get a temporary approval to check my bags and board the flight. It worked like a charm. Now, with Nick safely in New Zealand, he feels somewhat sheepish about what happened.

[Nick]

I thought I was going to miss the flight, but I luckily got there super early because I'm already anxious about traveling, so I want to get extra time. I felt stupid. I felt like I should have known that I needed to get a visa and apply for one. I've never had to do that anywhere else I've traveled.

[David Farrier]

So luckily for him, he lucked out on a helpful New Zealand immigration person. And it all worked out. Nick tells me that to celebrate on the plane, he watched the Fellowship of the Ring. Twelve hours later, he landed in New Zealand, picked up a campervan, and then went to meet up with Graham, a flightless bird listener from Auckland, New Zealand. Graham had heard the original episode and wanted to give Nick a really good start to his trip, I truly just

[Nick]

got off the plane. Like I got off the plane and didn't know where I was going to go. So Graham, my new friend, who is awesome, really cool guy, he was one of the guys that the listener the podcast, that's how I met him. You know, we exchanged some emails and he's like, yeah, come meet me, here's my address. So I meet him at his house and his kids are there and it's, you know, it's really sweet. Oh, do you need anything? We're chatting and we get along super well and he's like, yeah, let's drive out to the beach, which is, you know, off to these cliffs out in the middle of nowhere. Super cool. And oh, by the way, here's my friend Joe. He's a tandem pilot for paragliding. You're going to strap in with him and jump off a cliff.

[David Farrier]

Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor Answers. Support for Flightless Bird is brought to you by Bombus. Now, the springtime Thor is finally here. Flowers are blooming, days are longer. We're saying yes to more plans. And finally getting outside. We're running, we're walking, we're moving again. And it's the perfect time to upgrade your everyday go to's with Bombas.

[Dave]

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[David Farrier]

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[Dave]

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[Dave]

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[David Farrier]

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[Dave]

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[David Farrier]

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[Dave]

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[David Farrier]

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[Nick (voice memo)]

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[David Farrier]

So basically a few hours after Nick had touched down in New Zealand, he found himself standing on a cliff. A bunch of flightless bird listeners strapping him into a device that would give

[Nick]

him flight just like Full trust. Like, right off the bat, like, all right, let's do it. And I saw some of the guys, you know, jumping and flying. That looks cool. And I strap in with Joe, and he says, nick, whatever I say, make sure you do it. And we're gonna run as fast as we can right to the ledge of a cliff, and you're gonna trust that you're gonna fly because it's up there. It's like, okay, we're going for it. And I fell running, and then we just get shot up into the air. And it was incredible. Incredible. Like, I didn't really feel scared until after the fact. I was like, huh. You know, looking back on that, I could have been. Could have been bad, but it was really, really cool. And we were in the air for at least a good half hour, just, like, swooping over the beach and looking down. And it was. He let me steer. He said, here, take the handles and pull.

[David Farrier]

Nick sent me a video of his flight. It's insane. Another Kiwi. Ryan filmed and edited the whole thing. I'll put a link to that video in the show notes.

[Nick]

It was amazing. And Grant was super cool, and he kind of welcomed me into this whole community. There was, like, half a dozen of his friends at all paraglide. They have the Auckland Paragliding Club. And they all showed up, and we all. And then once we were in the air, other people launched. So there was like three or four of us, like, swooping around each other.

[David Farrier]

Yeah, cool.

[Nick]

It was. I forgot that I was doing something scary immediately.

[David Farrier]

Scary is a subject we'll come back to, because it turns out that pretty soon things would get much scarier for Nick. Before we get to the scary, Nick went and did some very New Zealand things, relying entirely on other flightless bird listeners who'd also gotten in touch, along with some random locals along the way. First up, he experienced some intense New Zealand surf.

[Nick]

We had to scramble down the cliff on a rope to get to the surf spot. So it was kind of fun, a little treacherous. And then we see there's some legit surf, like, overhead waves, and you gotta paddle a good 15 minutes out to this reef to get there. I got my ass kicked. That was hard. So I'll be honest. Yeah. That day, palling out, and we were the only two people in sight for miles. Like, no one was around. I got humbled, tumbled and humbled. That's what I got, which is super fun, you know? And I had a redemption surf the next day. And I've been out a few times Since. And that's been really good. So it was, you know, you're out here in the Pacific, it's an island and there's real surf out here, which is super cool. And we're kind of. We're kind of spoiled over on the mainland of us with, you know, easy paddle out and points. And out here it's like, you gotta work for it.

[David Farrier]

So I'm learning that there were mellower times too. Still fuelled by the Lord of the Rings propaganda from the plane. Nick ended up going to Hobbiton, claiming he had a good time.

[Nick]

I happened to be there on the day of the Hobbit Summer Harvest Festival. So they had a party with live music and a feast and you could get a beer at the Green Dragon, the pub. Everybody was dressed up like it was a thing, which I missed the memo on. So I felt kind of lame. I was like, oh, I didn't know. But it was really fun, you know, I loved the book, the Hobbit, that was really my favorite. And so going walking through a hobbit hole and like standing in the doorway and seeing the little kitchens, like it's a full on real place. It's cool.

[David Farrier]

And most of his time in New Zealand has been pretty great, except for that one thing that happened. I'd found out about what had happened about a week earlier. I'd been driving and noticed a voice memo had turned up from Nick over WhatsApp. It was 10 minutes long, I was stuck in LA traffic. So I just played the whole thing and I was riveted. So I'm just gonna play that voice memo for you now.

[Nick (voice memo)]

Holy shit. Wow. I don't know what just happened, but I am, I'm alive. That's a start. So I go to a place called Furitoa, which is nice little beach town, it seems like. So I pull up on the cliff, I look down and sure enough, there's a nice beach. I pull out the binoculars and I start walking up. There's a little park with like a lifeguard section. And so I'm walking around trying to see if I can see any waves. Nothing really, but there's this beautiful cliff down the way. And as I got the binoculars out, this guy walks up to me. Two guys and a lady, they're kind of hanging out by the barbecues. And he's. He's got no shirt on, he's got some tattoos. He comes over to me, he goes, hey, let me have a look. Puts his hand out for the binocular. They go, sure. What the hell? Hand him the binos. He takes a look and he goes, oh, yeah.

[Rob]

So what?

[Nick (voice memo)]

I was like, there's no waves. He goes, no, check it out. And he starts pointing to the girls just laying on the beach. Okay? I'm kind of laughing. He's like, that's what these are for. I go, sure, man, sure. His girlfriend is like, oh, stop being a perv. Whatever. So I'm laughing, and he goes, well, anyway, where are you from? And I said, oh, I'm from California, you know. He goes, oh, you seen those caves yet?

[Rob]

I said, caves?

[Nick (voice memo)]

What caves? He goes, yeah, there's caves down there. He's pointing out to the big cliff. I go, no, I. I didn't know there were caves. I just got into town and.

[Rob]

Okay.

[Nick (voice memo)]

So he was like, oh, let's go. Ah. You know. He's like, what are you doing today? I said, I'm meeting some friends. I kind of blurt out. And he goes, oh, yeah, you're good here. Here, let me see your phone. I'm like, no, it's okay. Well, give us your number. Sure, whatever. Give him my number. He starts talking about, where am I gonna go next? And I said, I'm going to Taranaki. And he goes, oh, you just met the Prince of Taranaki. That's me. And I was, what? And he starts saying how it's his spot. Anyway, long story short, he insists that I follow him down to the caves. And I'm thinking, oh, nice guy. You know, I met a friend. This is cool. So I start walking with him, and he's like, you know, bouncing around. He's like. Starts talking about, yeah, dude, I just got out. I was like, got out where? He goes, well, I did a year. Did a year in jail. I go, okay, why is he telling me this? Whatever. And he goes, anyway, we're camping down there. And I go, okay, cool. We're not supposed to, but, you know, anybody points their gun at me, I'll shoot him first. And I'm like, what? What the fuck is this guy talking about? So I'm starting to, like, get a vibe, but I'm halfway there, and I'm like, well, where are we going?

[Rob]

This is kind of remote.

[Nick (voice memo)]

Sure enough, we walk through, like, some person's property around the corner. We're out into this, like, marsh area, and there's nobody around. And I'm thinking, what the fuck did I just get myself into? And this guy and this girl are walking me out there, and he goes, yeah, my buddy's down here. Let's see where he's at. And I go, shit, what kind of setup up is this? And so I'm following him when we come up upon this broken down truck with some tents. And he was like, yep, there's a campsite. I was like, oh, he's squatting here like he's got a giant machete just sitting there like with a bunch of random crap, like hiking boots. And I'm like, and some like fishing poles. And I see the machete and I'm looking at him and his buddy's sitting there and I think the guy girl goes, oh, you're scaring him. You're scaring him, Curtis. Like I was like, no. She goes, yeah, don't worry. And I was like, worry about what? She's like laughing around. He goes, well, anyway, let's go to the caves. And I'm like, you know, 20 minutes away from my car at this point thinking, shit, why did I do this? And we started walking and there's a little like a little estuary that goes out through the cliffs and it looks like it shoots out into the ocean,

[Nick]

which is really cool.

[Nick (voice memo)]

But to get there there's an, like a truly a cave. You gotta walk through a cave. And he goes, let's go in. And I'm thinking, what the fuck? He goes, oh, you're scared. He starts making chicken noises like, okay, like that's gonna scare me. Sure. And he jumps through the cave and he starts. And it's wet. You gotta wade through like waist deep water. And I put my feet in and thank God. We see some kids out there, like a group of five or six kids and they're out there and Curtis and his girl, they look out, the kids, and they go, ah. And they say hi to him. And I'm like, okay, well that's a good sign. And they kind of look at each other like they realize, oh shit, you know, there's people here. So I'm thinking, thank God. Anyway, I get into the water and we walk through the cave and we pop out on the other side of the beach.

[Rob]

And he starts going, yeah man.

[Nick (voice memo)]

Oh check, check that spot out here.

[Rob]

Give me your phone, I'll take a picture of you. I'm like, what? And I'm in like waist deep water at this point, surrounded by just like cage, almost 360 degrees of wall. And he's like, yeah, give me your phone, I'll take a picture of you. I go, no, I'm okay. He's like, come on, come on, give it to me. Starts walking towards me. I'm like, no, no, I'm good, dude, I'm good. And like, I just think, what the. He wants to take my phone. He's like, here, hand me your keys too. I'll make sure they're safe. I'm like, safe? We're both in water, like, so I'm just like, kind of like, okay, what do I do here? And he's like coming towards me. So I just kind of like grasp my head and I go, ah.

[David Farrier]

And.

[Rob]

And then the girl walks.

[Nick (voice memo)]

She's like, what?

[Rob]

I was like. And they're looking at each other like, huh, what's going on? Yeah, I'm okay. And they're like, what's wrong with you? And I was like, well, you know, I get dizzy. They're like, what do you mean you get dizzy? And I like, point at the, like, the scar in my head. I was like, yeah, I had brain surgery. And they kind of look at each other like, what the fuck? Yeah, dude. So being in, like, surrounded by the cave space can, like, make me dizzy? And they kind of like, back off a second. They're like, huh? He goes, shit, man, my brother had a brain tumor. And I just go, what the fuck?

[Nick]

And I didn't say tumor.

[Rob]

He said.

[Nick]

I just said surgery. And I go, yeah.

[Rob]

And he starts looking like he's gonna cry and he's like, alright, yeah, all right. And I'm thinking I just kind of like made that up, you know, the dizziness. I. Obviously I've had brain surgery, but I was like, yeah, dude, I gotta get back, man. I gotta just be careful with this shit. And I had my bracelet on that says I have epilepsy. And I showed it to him and he just looks like he's about to cry. He goes, yeah, let's take you back, dude. And he stopped asking for my phone.

[Nick]

We pop out onto the other side of the cave into the beach, and

[Rob]

he's just like, well, if you want

[Nick (voice memo)]

to come back later tonight, we'll be here.

[Rob]

And I was just like, okay, yeah, for sure. I'll come find you. I was like, I think that I did that, thinking they would have a little sympathy. And they totally did. It was weird as fuck, but shit like that happened and it was really interesting and I'm glad I got out of there.

[David Farrier]

I'm incredibly glad he got out of there too. Imagine if Nick had gone to New Zealand because of this podcast and been macheted in a cave in some weird kind of twist. I wonder if the whole brain tumor thing saved him. It's kind of mad to think about. Whether it's the parts of his brain that have been removed or just a really good personality or a combination of both. Nick didn't let that very scary experience color his view of New Zealand. It's almost comical how positive he can be.

[Nick]

And otherwise super friendly everywhere I go, Very friendly. I've been welcomed in almost every town I've been in, and I just feel safe here. Like, the other thing that I noticed is they're really set up well for the freedom camping experience. Like, the campsites are nice. They're everywhere. They have showers, kitchens, and wi fi, which is kind of shocking. Like, you know, camping in the U.S. it's like, all right, there's a hole in the ground. Good luck. Give us $50 here. It's like, half the price for twice as much. It's cool.

[David Farrier]

He pulls out a map of New Zealand's north island that he's been scrolling all over, mapping out his trip. He's driven a lot. I feel like he's seen more of New Zealand than I have. I asked him how he's feeling about this trip. Overall.

[Nick]

It's been like. It's a good question. I was going to say successful. I don't know if there was really a goal, but what's been good about it is I'm forgetting stuff. Like, I'm not thinking about the at home that I have to deal with as soon as I get back. It's been nice to sort of unplug. Like, you know, I'm not. I don't know. I haven't really had service, so it's like I gotta go entertain myself, which is why I wanted to be here. So I've been in the water a lot. I went on some hikes. I've seen a lot of waterfalls. Kind of cool. Like, little ones, little things like that. And it's felt like I feel normal again here. Like I'm just a guy traveling on my own. Like, I don't have to worry about, like, the health crap and all that. It just feels like I'm a normal person.

[Rob]

I don't know.

[Nick]

I miss that. Yeah. This is a trip that has reminded me that, like, my time, like, being able to choose how I can spend my time and do something like this, that's a gift. That's an opportunity I've never had.

[David Farrier]

As this episode goes to air, Nick is back in the US he got back safely. No more machetes. And there's something I didn't mention earlier. In the two months leading up to his New Zealand trip, the MRIs and scans had been looking good. No new tumor growth. But the morning of his flight back to New Zealand, his doctor had wanted to do a zoom call. Turns out the tumour was growing bigger again. Not a lot bigger, but enough to warrant discussion of abandoning the treatment he was on and jumping to alternative care or maybe another surgery. So that news was fresh in his mind as he dealt with the visa stress at the airport. At the time, he sent me a message saying, if I'm not out there experiencing a fulfilling life, then what's the point of trying to extend that life in the first place? I've been told all along that the tumor will come back. If anything, it's just a timely reminder that I'm doing the right thing. I keep telling myself, if not now, then when? So it's a perfect opportunity to embrace that mantra. And so, yeah, Nick carried on with his trip to New Zealand. And I'm constantly amazed by his outlook on everything. It subtly shifted the way I view my own life. I met up with him for coffee recently back in the us. The first time we had met in person, I didn't record anything. I realized I just wanted to hang out with him. He gave me some T shirts of his band Pookie. He's just what I expected. He's smart, funny, thoughtful, reflective. And after that, I wondered how I'd wind up this episode. Like so many things in life, it's also open ended and unknown. Then I came across another of his voice notes he'd left from New Zealand, further reflecting on that incident in the cave. And I thought this was the perfect thing to end on.

[Rob]

I think I realized something, you know, like I was really scared. And I think it had almost a traumatic effect on me coming out of it. The next day I'm realizing how scared I was seeing the full on Machete and realizing these guys were squatters and just kind of the vibe that I picked up. I think that I really did dodge a dodgy situation. But I also reflecting on it, I think something else happened there. And this is where I'm trying to tap into the magic of my experience and the magic of this place. And it's that this guy, whatever his intentions were, you know, maybe he's ripping people off, maybe he's not. Maybe. And even if he is, I think he's just out there trying to have fun now. There's maybe more wholesome ways to have fun. I don't know, I'm not gonna judge, but I think he Truly is just trying to live. And that's where we connected. And I'm realizing that's what got me out of that situation. There's this really intense mutual understanding. We saw each other, we looked at each other, and I think we both saw somebody who was trying to survive. He's just going about his business, running from his parole officer or whatever he's doing, which he said. And I'm out there trying to experience life while I can. And there is that moment where I kind of lean into the brain cancer stuff where he looked at me and he saw me. And it's like we were like two animals in a situation who are like, yeah, I see you. I see you too. All right, we're good. Like we were both just trying to live, both just trying to have a laugh. Like maybe he was just some guy who wanted to take people to these cool caves, you know? He scared me a little bit, but I said yes. And I think what he realized is that I am just some guy who says yes to stuff and wants to go live. And I think that fueled him and we kind of fueled each other. And I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt here. And I'm looking back at it and I'm saying both of us were out there yesterday looking for something, something to feel alive and something along the way while we're surviving, realizing that surviving isn't just staying alive. Surviving is finding new opportunities, new ways to experience exciting things and feeling alive. And I'll tell you what, as scared as I was and as fun as it was in the moment or scary afterwards, I sure as hell felt alive. And maybe that's the whole point.

[David Farrier]

Stay tuned for more Flight the Spirit. We'll be right back up. A word from our sponsors. Support for flightless bird comes from pesty. Now, I don't know if you're a DIY person, but if you are, you know that incredibly satisfied feeling you get when you complete a task. And here in Los Angeles, I've been diying pest control for a while now because Los Angeles and apartments here are full of pests. I've never had a great deal of luck with pest control companies when it comes to dealing with things. And pesti allows you to do things yourself. And it feels really good knowing that your home is protected from bugs all year round. Now, when you order pesti, you get an entire kit that turns up. It's a pro grade pesticide. That's the same stuff the pros use. A sprayer, mixing bag, gloves and instructions. You can complete in less than 10 minutes. It's really effective, it's easy, and best of all, it's affordable. It's also really fast and Pesti can customize treatment based to the season, your location and the weather. Other pest control companies charge hundreds of dollars, but with Pesti you can get started at just $35 per treatment with a customized plan based on your location, what bugs you have and the climate. Pesti gets rid of over 100 types of bugs, including the worst ones. Ones I really don't like, cockroaches. It also offers 100% bug free guarantee or your money back. If the bugs don't go away, you'll get a full refund, so keep the bugs away with Pesti. Go to pesti.combird for an extra 10% off your order. That's P-E-S-T-I-E.combird for an extra 10 percent

[Rob]

off

[Sponsor Voice]

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[David Farrier]

Yeah. Nick.

[Dave]

Nick. Nick did it.

[David Farrier]

He did it. He survived. Blows me away with how he muses about every situation he's in and just comes out with something I would never ever expect.

[Dave]

Yeah. In the first place, his takes on

[David Farrier]

things kind of remarkable and the kindness he extends to other people as well. Yeah.

[Rob]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

I think if I come out of that situation I would just be terrified and angry probably and like want some kind of like, I don't know, like not vengeance, like justice or something. But he's just like, no, this guy me hurt him. I'm not going to be able to paraphrase it better than he did.

[Dave]

So is that New Zealand as you remember it?

[David Farrier]

I know when we go to New Zealand, I know there's A cave that I really want to take you to. I think. I just think you go there on your own. Okay, but it's just a spot. You could. No, the other thing is, like, the listeners that, like, after that original episode aired, the number of people in New Zealand that contacted us saying, you're like, nick surfs. I surf. Like, come to this place. Come to this place. Obviously, there was the paragliding situation, but there were a bunch of people, surfers, who reached out with, like, spots and places. And when he held up that map book of where he'd been across the north island, it was just zigzagging to some amazing places. I was like, holy shit. You were there for, like, a couple of weeks, and he did so much.

[Dave]

I mean, he's probably done more than you in New Zealand.

[Nick (voice memo)]

Oh, no.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Dave]

No, you definitely in the last two weeks.

[David Farrier]

No. I hear he even ate at some food trucks along the way, which I was very skeptical of. I was like, really?

[Dave]

We don't have food trucks. What?

[David Farrier]

We don't have any of those. How are you eating? Yeah.

[Dave]

I mean, I imagine his trip is very different one than we will have in New Zealand.

[David Farrier]

Well, there's a guy that likes making people jump off cliffs paragliding, so I don't know if that's something you're interested in.

[Dave]

That's something you're interested in.

[David Farrier]

I think it's something that I've heard you are maybe into something else that I was thinking about. It's kind of off topic, but thinking of him being led into that cave reminded me a lot of that movie. Was it Speak no Evil or Hear no Evil? Speak no Evil, Speak no Evil. Which is basically. It's a horror about a family that they meet on holiday. One fab's invited to stay at this other family's house. And this other family who is James McAvoy. Yeah. And the other family is like, spoiler alert psychopaths. And they just slowly start bending, like, the social rules of what's appropriate, encroaching on their personal space. She's vegetarian. And the other family starts just feeding them meat all the time. And it's this kind of case study in how far you will kind of push along. Yeah. When you know that things are very bad, but you don't want to be impolite.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah. No, that's a. That's a very fun movie that.

[David Farrier]

It's so fun.

[Dave]

Feels very real. Like both. Both of the. Those people.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. And it's a remake, Right. It's like the original is More. But my point is Nick being led down that path.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

I would kind of be similar in that. You don't. I know.

[Dave]

I've been in those situations.

[David Farrier]

Yeah. You don't want to be rude. Right. And you don't want to be the one that is thinking that someone is awful if they're not. Because that will deeply embarrassing.

[Dave]

But you have red flags that are. Keep going off, but everywhere. Codependence is not allowing you to be like, no, no, no, I'm going to push back. And now I just got to go completely.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

And I think. I think next story is a perfect example where you are isolated with people on a path heading towards a cave in New Zealand, this place you've never been before, and just going along with it, you know, because you listen to his story and you're like, oh, this sounds awful. Say, I'm not going to go down that path. I think I'm going to do something else. But of course you don't. Anyway, it just made me think of that a lot. Something I also want to just clear up. In the episode, we repeated the original episode segment where I was recapping what had happened to him and I noticed your face. Do something.

[Dave]

I don't know what you're talking about

[David Farrier]

when I said the word the. Maryland.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Which is a city. How do you say that?

[Dave]

Probably I. I say Maryland.

[David Farrier]

Maryland.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Maryland.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

Okay.

[Dave]

Maryland sounds like a theme park maybe.

[Sponsor Voice]

Which.

[David Farrier]

We're in America. Yeah.

[Dave]

I'm sure there is a merry land.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I would spell that. M E R R Y.

[David Farrier]

Okay.

[Dave]

Land.

[Rob]

All right.

[David Farrier]

Nick bought you a T shirt. He has a band, Pookie, which is math rock band that he is in. And also he's got a cassette tape of his EP which I'm going to pass on.

[Dave]

Awesome.

[David Farrier]

Pookie. Great band. Again in the show notes. That is Nick's band. And yeah. I. Look, Nick is. His attitude is as positive as it possibly could be. There's options for him to keep beating this thing back. There's the option this tumor keeps growing back. There's the option to do surgery again. There's some other non surgical ways to push it back, but he's kind of. He's got the best attitude I could ever imagine.

[Dave]

Yeah. It's kind of unbelievable how positive.

[David Farrier]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Of an attitude he has while dealing with something as unimaginable as what he is.

[David Farrier]

It's insane. And again, I mean, I'm someone that complains a lot and I'm just trying to put things in perspective a Little bit next to the man. Do you want to hear some feedback?

[Dave]

Yeah, let's hear some feedback.

[David Farrier]

We've already talked about my food truck misinformation. Disinformation. Lucky over on our Patreon commented, loved the episode. I ate from a food truck in the car park of a pharmacy in la and it was life changing. But also came here to say David is misrepresenting Auckland and New Zealand in general. While we definitely don't have the food truck culture of la, there is more than just one, one food truck in Auckland. You could have talked about the white lady, which is an institution. David, it is white lady. It's a food truck.

[Dave]

Have you been?

[David Farrier]

I've been.

[Dave]

You've actually been to food trucks in New Zealand. To be fair, in the interview you said there wasn't, but in the conversation you said there was. You were all over the place.

[David Farrier]

Sometimes reality for me slips in and out.

[Dave]

Yeah. You know, it seems like so thank you.

[David Farrier]

Lucky over on Patreon. Caitlin over on Patreon also said, I feel like I would be remiss if I did not bring up halal carts and their role in Mamdani's campaign. It's interesting to juxtapose the LA scene and that of New York City. Having spent a lot of time in Austin as well during what I view as the height of food trucks. It definitely has always felt more similar to la being from Houston, though we share a more community based taco truck approach. Can't wait to see what food trucks you visit while you're in Austin for your live show.

[Dave]

Yeah, I guess that's a good point. The food trucks are probably pretty influenced on the ethnic groups that are in cities.

[David Farrier]

Completely. We were very LA focused.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[David Farrier]

In that particular episode, Madison said, can't wait for the Patreon episodes with Mateo and Alistair. If you. So yes, I am going to talk to my father Alistair about his testicle incident.

[Dave]

Yep.

[David Farrier]

And Dayo more hesitant. He's the guy brewing matcha on the side of the street.

[Dave]

He. I don't know if he's doing like a time lapse or what, but he's always got a phone on a tripod as well.

[David Farrier]

God, he's fucking streaming or something.

[Dave]

He might be.

[David Farrier]

He's probably a streamer.

[Dave]

So you're gonna have fun. You did send me a photo of another.

[David Farrier]

That's another one. Matcha corner Los Angeles neighborhood. This multiple street matcha brew is popping up and they all look very similar. That's very funny to me. Lindsay wrote in I live in the Columbus, Ohio area. And food trucks are huge. There's the unit Food Truck festival downtown every summer. Wesley wrote in hey, Dave and Rob. Hey, Dave and Rob. Currently listening to the food truck episode and Roy is talking about growing up in restaurants. Hits home. While my family didn't own a restaurant, I grew up in the food industry. My first job was a dishwasher at a busy pasta shop in college. When I was 16, I would get out of school and go to the dish pit from around 6pm an hour after close. Roy's description of being around all of these adults and kind of growing up in a pirate ship is dead on. We smoked, we drank, we busted music and people found their future spouses or their weekend hookup. I was also taking guitar lessons from a local musician at the time, and I would describe him to my working environment. Years later, when I was finally old enough to go see his weekly Sunday night show at the local dive, my old manager requested a song, Dish Monkey. He had written a song about being in the dishbed. I thought that was pretty cool. Two more. One about food trucks, one about hot garbage guy. Actually adjacent to hot garbage guy. Don't get too excited. Hannah said. I live in upstate New York outside of Syracuse. Am I saying that right?

[Dave]

Yep. Syracuse. I got it right.

[David Farrier]

Yeah, sometimes I get it right.

[Dave]

Sometimes you can read.

[David Farrier]

Mary, Maryland is reading. You son of a bitch. We have a Syracuse Food Truck Association. They help with advertising for food trucks and have an app to show where the food trucks are going to be at different times. They hold an annual food truck battle in the spring at the New York State Fairgrounds. I would say in New Zealand we don't have a food truck battle.

[Nick]

Yeah.

[Dave]

It doesn't seem like you guys bad other than orcs. And apart from orcs.

[David Farrier]

No battling.

[Dave]

No battling.

[David Farrier]

That's a fact. At the battles, around 40 to 50 food trucks post up around the fairgrounds and offer an inexpensive sample of their product. Usually anywhere from a dollar to five dollars. Give out prizes. Best dessert, best overall item. I love all this. This is great. It's fun event. You should go. And Hannah, I tend to agree. Finally, subject line. Hot garbage guy and muscles. I talked about the hot garbage guy that plagues our neighborhood. Topless. He has the muscles that are in a V shape.

[Nick]

Near.

[David Farrier]

Is he topless?

[Dave]

I don't think he's shirtless.

[David Farrier]

He's shirtless.

[Rob]

Is he?

[David Farrier]

I'm just imagining it singly.

[Dave]

You're just imagining him. I think like tank top.

[David Farrier]

I'm sure he's topless.

[Nick]

All right.

[Dave]

I mean, it probably depends on the weather.

[David Farrier]

I was referring to the muscles on some people around the abs. There's sort of a V shape around. Cover your ears if there are children. I just like this email. It's so simple. Ari, hot garbage guy and muscles. It's from Otto. He just says they're called cum gutters from Otto. That seemed like a good way to end the episode. If you have any feedback, as always, we have flightthisbread chatmail.com I'm sorry, Nick, for bringing this episode down by talking about cum gutters, but I also think you'd giggle at that as well.

[Dave]

And also, if you're not watching on YouTube, we'[e-mail] lightless bird podcast.

[Nick]

Yes.

[Dave]

And David is going to show his cum gutters before we leave.

[David Farrier]

I will not be doing that because I don't have them. You son of a bitch. We are on Patreon where we do bonus episodes every week. We are on YouTube. We have video on Spotify as well. And if you want to get in contact Again, we have FlightThisPerichatmail.com we love hearing from you. Every week come gutters, feedback, all the things.

[Rob]

Thank you.

[David Farrier]

Thank you for listening.