Thank you for reading A LIFE BASED LOOSELY ON REALITY! Right now all of my posts are free, so any paid subscriptions will go towards helping to support my work and develop this project. Liking the post or sharing it with a friend is also deeply appreciated.
JON M. - INTERVIEW #5
HOW TO ENGAGE: WATCH by clicking the video up top, LISTEN by clicking the audio link below, or READ the interview by clicking here.
THE BREAKDOWN:
0:00 - Jon is an old friend and beautiful human.
0:57 - His earliest memories are NINTENDO.
4:30 - Jon is a writer (narrative designer) for video games. What does that mean?
13:30 - The Air Bud principle.
18:00 - The “culture fit” of it all. Also, just apply for the job.
21:40 - Fast food expert.
30:00 - Making hard and lasting changes. (aka. prank weight loss)
37:00 - I, a fat kid.
41:30 - You are worthy.
DEBRIEF:
As you either already know, because you know me, or you have surmised it from my newsletter so far, but it is not a secret that I struggle quite intensely with the question of who I am. I’m not sure that this is an especially unique struggle but generally speaking if you are someone that struggles in this department then you also know the feeling of meeting people - throughout your life - who have, even in the smallest of ways, eased that particular pain or tension for you. Maybe they eased it because they saw you or maybe when you were around them you could stop worrying about being seen entirely and could instead just be.
Jon is one of those people for me.
This feels cheesy. Maybe it is cheesy. That is who I am. But I do think it’s important to recognize the people who have come through your life, even for the shortest of times, who can do that for you. The covert helpers, peppered along the journey, who sorta keep you on track or get you on track or show you that you can in fact build tracks, something like that.
Apparently I have been one of those people for him as well, that’s cool, very reciprocal, I like that.
We weren’t especially close growing up. We aren’t especially close now. But it appears that we have always been there at the right time with the right words (or maybe a drunken slap? Me? Never!) to give each other the permission to be who we wanted to be.
It is interesting to note that my interview with Jon is not particularly funny which is odd considering 99% of our interactions in the past have been heavily joke based. Most of my time spent with him I have been laughing. Maybe that says something. Now we talk of serious things, sort of, and that’s also nice, both of us being just a little more comfortable in our skin I suppose.
Quick story.
In 2018 I went to a wedding on a very small island in Ontario. This island was made of stone. It was essentially a big rock in the middle of a huge river. Big enough to fit a house and that was pretty much it. It was amazing. At this wedding, on this rock, were all of my oldest and bestest friends. Needless to say, this kind of gathering did not happen very often so I was excited. I was also prepared (ie. I brought mushrooms for everyone).
Post ceremony, post somebody maybe almost falling off the rock island (?!), we were all having a really good time. As I remember it, the sun was setting, causing everything and everyone around us to glisten. We were gathered in a semi circle around Jon at the edge of the island, looking out into the rushing (and very dangerous) river that surrounded us. There, he began to regale us of…Guy Fieri. Yeah, Guy Fieri. In my mind it was a solid 3 hours of material, but it might have been 15 minutes. Regardless, I don’t think I have laughed so hard in my entire life and in that moment Jon became the funniest man in the world to me.
As such, my initial goal when interviewing him was to have him recount the story so that you could all experience the comedic joy that I experienced on that large rock. Unfortunately, as it turns out, he stole most of the bit - minus the part where he was on a plane with Fieri that was forced to have an emergency landing and directly upon arrival Fieri started a prayer circle with his entire crew at the gate, which was heart warming. But unfortunately, that’s not actually a funny story.
Guess you had to be there. Guess you had to be on mushrooms. And I guess now Jon’s funny AND wise. Very proud and happy for you buddy. You’re the best.
LIST OF THINGS & THOUGHTS:
ALL FOURS: Finished it in a month. As someone who doesn’t make a habit of finishing books (doesn’t seem necessary to me most of the time/adhd?) that's a huge deal. Excellent interview with Miranda July and Esther Perel here (sent to me by Rache :p ).
Holiday Movie Suggestion: Moonstruck
Somewhere in the middle Holiday Movie Suggestion: Secrets & Lies
Anti-Holiday Movie Suggestion: Dogville
Later Daters: I love it. I want to sit and watch old(er) rich people (or just people with large homes in the South?!) date forever.
Note: last newsletter/interview of the year is coming NEXT WEEK! The over explainer OCD creature in me could not handle springing that on you without warning you that my usual bi-weekly schedule would be altering. I live for a tight schedule.
How Christmas (and a tight schedule) make me feel. (MGM / Moonstruck)
TO CONCLUDE:
Another thing you may have surmised from this newsletter is that I like people, I really do care for humans. Not always, oh NOT ALWAYS, obviously. But I think the thing my heart is most curious about is people - beautiful horrific real people. Connecting with a person in a way that does not feel full of shit or crushing to my soul - that’s what I live for. So in honor of that, I propose that you go hang out with your friends. And if that’s not possible for any real and sensible reason - that’s fine. You can always text/email/zoom/call someone who makes you feel worthy just for being the uncomfortable sexy monster that you are. ‘Tis the season.
P.S. You can also message someone through whatever online video game you happen to be playing. I recently met someone (a grown man) at a wedding who was only there because he had befriended the groom (another grown man) during covid while they were playing some video game I do not for the life of me know the name of. That guy was very cool and that friendship story is absolutely lovely.
Thank you for reading A LIFE BASED LOOSELY ON REALITY! Please LIKE or comment on this post below and share it with a friend who you think would enjoy it. Right now all of my posts are free, so any paid subscriptions will go towards helping to support my work and develop this project. More about me here.
Share this post