Transcript
Mishke (0:00)
Hey, Garage Logic fans. I do a podcast on the Garage Logic Network that comes out every Wednesday and Friday. Now twice a week. But here's an important caveat. There is zero logic available in my show. In the formal definition of logic, of course, life is a yin and yang kind of thing. There's the logic side, and then there's the what the hell? Side, which needs to get its exercise. So come for the what the hell? And stay for the. You've got to be kidding me. Mishki. Now, Wednesdays and Fridays, twice a week. What can 160 years of experience teach you about the future? When it comes to protecting what matters, Pacific Life provides life insurance, retirement income, and employee benefits for people and businesses building a more confident tomorrow. Strategies rooted in strength and backed by experience. Ask a financial professional how Pacific Life can help you today. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska. And in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona. Well, I am absolutely ready to do another show. I am fired up and I'm geared up. I'm psyched up and I'm pumped up to do another show. Can you feel it? My name's Mishke. I'm a podcaster. I remember when I was a little kid, my dad saying to me, you're probably going to be a podcaster when you get older. I said, dad, you have no idea what a podcaster is. And he hit me pretty hard that afternoon. It left a mark, but it didn't change the fact that dad had no idea what he was talking about. I said, look up the word podcast in a dictionary, dad. See if you find anything. There's nothing there. Well, he hit me again, harder this time. I was in an induced coma for over a month. Well, well, welly, Willy. Well, well, well, Christmas will be here soon, won't it? It's that time of year. It's called the most wonderful time of the year. That's what they call it. I've heard it in song. It's the most wonderful time of the year. That's what they say. But anytime I bring this up, there will be some killjoy in the room who will say to me, well, Mishki, it's also when suicide rates are at their highest. So it ain't that great a time of year for everyone. While you're smiling around those glowing embers with your hot toddy, looking at the falling snow outside the window, sipping in the lovely glow of your little Christmas tree, people out there are leaping off buildings, tying a rope to ceiling pipes in their basements, or starting Their cars inside their garages and breathing their last in the driver's seat next to a goodbye note. Boy, I hate it when people respond to my most wonderful time of the year pitch with that stuff. Just brings me down. It's the most wonderful time of the year when those killjoys do that to me. I fantasize about attending their wedding and giving a toast at the reception where I say, while all you yahoos are smiling and dancing, people are starving in Botswana. Hope you're proud of yourselves, you sick, callous bastards. Oh, and all the happiness in the world. To the newlyweds. You two look great. Here's something I want you people to know and to remember. The next time someone jumps on you for saying this is the most wonderful time of the year, you tell them. Contrary to popular opinion, suicide rates are actually at their lowest point in in the United States during the holidays. From Thanksgiving through New Year's, suicide rates are at the lowest point of the year in this country. The lowest point. Hello, you tell these people the average daily suicide rate peaks in late spring and summer. May, June, July and August are the rough months for suicides. That's when the rates skyrocket. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. You summer people think that others should be so happy in the warm months. They're not, no more than I am. I'm happy now. I'm a northerner. I'm a winter person. I'm from the land of snow and I'm happy. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Many experts believe the reason this is the time of year with the lowest suicide rates is the increased social support and connectedness with family and friends. Well, doesn't that make sense? I also think it's the snow. Snow makes you happy so people don't kick yourself for being joyful and feeling serenity and peace this time of year. Know that this time of year helps others feel that way as well. My favorite Christmas carol is Silver Bells because it captures my life growing up in the city. There's country Christmas songs and city Christmas songs and I grew up in the city. And when they say in silver bells City sidewalks, busy sidewalks dressed in holiday style in the air there's a feeling of Christmas Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile and on every street corner you hear silver bells Silver bells It's Christmas time in the city Ring a ling, hear em sing soon it will be Christmas day that captures life in the city when I was growing up. Life in December in the city. That's what it Felt like the sidewalks were busy. They were dressed in holiday style. In the air there was that feeling. Children were laughing, people were passing, smiling, wishing each other well. And on the street corners you could hear the sounds of Christmas. Silver Bells captures it perfectly. Like so many songs, they just nailed the first verse. How many times in life do you find that the first verse really gets it? But the guys writing the song say, I gotta come up with a second verse. What am I gonna do? Well, in the case of Silver Bells, they phoned it in. They phoned it in. Strings of street lights, even stoplights blink a bright red and green as the shoppers rush home with their treasures. Hear the snow crunch, see the kids bunch. This is Santa's big scene. Yeah, they struggled there. You don't have to go to the stop and go lights to find the Christmas feeling. I don't think people are looking at those stop and go lights and saying, hey, I kind of get the feeling looking at them. Don't you look at those things? It's kinda like Christmas when we're stopping here. Wow, it's green. Let's go. And as we go, let's feel it. Christmas time. Wait, that guy's running a red light. No, you could have removed the utilities from the song. Hear the snow crunch, see the kids bunch. Brutal. Brutal line. How many people come Christmas time, wake up in the morning and say, I think the kids are going to be bunching today. This is a kid bunching day. Hey honey, look outside. It's kid bunch city, isn't it? Why, it sure is. Look at them. Bunch of. No, that was a bad verse. But again, it's a second verse. People often struggle with those. I don't know if you people are aware of the second verse curse. It's a real thing. You see this phenomenon all over and people talk about the second verse curse. You can find people who try to help you get away from the second verse curse. As a songwriter, there are people out there who actually get hired. They come to your house, they help you with the second verse.