I’m Going to Do It This Time.

Good day, People!

I'm on my way to Australia. I want to thank the people with tickets ahead of time. If you don’t have your tickets and this is the first time you're hearing that I will be in Sydney on Thursday, Oct. 14, Melbourne on the 16th and Brisbane on the 17th, please grab your tickets. Links to all shows are available at wtfpod.com/calendar. No matter what happens, we will have some interesting shows. Looking forward to being there.

God, I hate flying. It is part of the gig but the energy it takes to sublimate my fear of take off is exhausting. I literally pass out just before the plane takes off. I used to assume it had something to do with the depressurization of the cabin but I’m starting to think it’s the nap of the neurotically exhausted. I’m usually okay after that, barring extreme turbulence. Shit, I don’t want to go now.

A therapist I used to see back in the early nineties in San Francisco recently contacted me. I had mentioned something he said to me back then on the podcast and I guess someone told him. So, he DMed me on Twitter, we exchanged emails and we met for dinner when he was down here in LA on business. It was wild to see someone I saw in that context more than twenty years later. I was excited to talk to him.

Sometimes it’s hard to see events that happen as part of a momentum that transcends coincidence. I have been very stressed out lately. I know that comes as no surprise if you know me but I shouldn’t be. Things are going good. I earn an honest living and I’m doing what I want to be doing. So, why the stress and insanity? I’m sure being back on the nicotine and coffee cycle does nothing to help anything. That and a lack of exercise routine is enough to cause insanity. Add a lapse of secret society meetings and you’ve got a perfect shit storm of escalating insanity. I have a brain that works in a specifically faulty way no matter what the externals are. It’s a drag. I am aware of it. Intensely aware. I need to take that next step to finding peace of mind and opening my heart more regularly. I know this.

But what has to happen? Well, after talking to my old therapist about his life and where it has taken him I had to heed the signs. He gave up private practice, did a lot of work in building family therapy centers and consulting in creating therapeutic environments and processes for effective family counseling and then went into private counseling for corporate workplaces. It was an impressive story and the one element that changed his life was MEDITATION. Now, I’ve been hearing about meditation from a few people whose work I respect and who are intelligent folks. Kismet! I tried it back in the day, kinda. I’ve thought about doing it. I don’t do a lot of things that would improve my inner life. WHY? Because it’s what I know. Insanity and chaos is my comfort zone. When I don’t have it in my external life I make it in my mind. I’m tired of it. I’m going to meditate. I’m going to do it this time. I downloaded an app so I’m more than halfway there. I keep you in the loop.

I am thrilled to have my first playwright on the show today. I talked to Annie Baker about her work and being awarded the Pulitzer last year. I saw two of her plays in NYC over the last few months. I was excited to talk to her. On Thursday I talk to Mike Epps about playing Richard Pryor in an upcoming biopic and about how he got to where he is. Good talks.

Enjoy!

Boomer lives!

Love,
Maron