K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about how the podcast – our podcast, this podcast, the Musicks in Japan – is nothing like I thought it was going to be. Like, when we first set out, at all.

C: When we first set out, you were like “it’s going to be that movie Dark City but in podcast form.”

K: (laughs)

C: You know the one with the people who move time.

K: Yes. One of your favorite movies.

C: One of your favorites. You’re always talking

K: One of your favorite movies. I am not always talking about it. Do not perpetrate that fraud, Chad.

C: I’m always talking about how you’re always talking about it.

K: Yes. So, Chad and I have this thing where we accuse each other of being obsessed with our own obsessions.

C: J’Accuse.

K: (laughs) So, when we first started out, we thought that this podcast would be just pure sunshine and light. And I was thinking of it as being pure sunshine and light, like we laugh a lot. We have a few serious – and I thought we have a few really serious topics… smattered about throughout the – over 80 episodes now. And I got feedback that, like, someone – like one of our listeners, very lovely person and supporter – tweeted out. They tweeted out a promotion for our podcast, and they said, “they’re not afraid to get into it.”

C: Mhm.

K: And I was like, “what are we getting into?”

C: Trouble.

K: Right? So, I was like okay I guess we get into it. I know we have, like, a couple of episodes – like our Black Lives Matter episode is… very painful for me

C: Yeah.

K: And I’m very visi- aurally upset. But, for me, so much of my hearing is done with my eyes that I’m “visibly” upset.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, you can see my voice. (laughs) and… then… I realize that I don’t think of it as sunshine and light, either because one of our tweeps was… tweeted out “I’d love a podcast suggestion, but I want it to be light and I mean I want to think about nothing as I listen to it” and I thought “that’s not us.” And I thought that was going to be.

C: Well, I think to be that we’d have to be escapists, or we’d have to be not real. And I think that’s because our lives are… real.

K: Mhm.

C: I mean, that’s going to be surprising to everybody listening. “Whoa you have a real life?”

K: (laughs) “Y’all are humans?”

C: “You are actual people?” Okay.

K: What?

C: I just thought this was

K: But what had happened was

C: I just thought this was really good AI.

K: Yeah.

C: But we – you know – we’ve got different things going on that we talk about that I think, for us and our… small community of close friends are not a big deal. But if somebody is not in that group – like for example if somebody doesn’t have any experience with disability – it can come across as really heavy, I think.

K: Yeah.

C: When we talk about it. And, for us, like… you know, you saying “well I have to take 10 or 12 or 20 pills a day”

K: Yeah.

C: Depending on what you’ve got going on. Isn’t… catastrophic.

K: No.

C: It’s just daily life.

K: Yeah.

C: But I think that prevents it from being light because it’s… it’s not light. It’s not heavy, most of the time. It’s just kind of

K: But it could possibly be triggering. Like, everything we talk about could possibly be upsetting to someone who’s like – if you have a disability, and you’re coming here to just not hear anything about being disabled, there’s no guarantee that any particular episode.

C: Yeah, that it won’t come up.

K: Yeah.

C: Because it’s not a separate thing that we take off. I think that’s the… reason that the podcast is not… consistently light is that we don’t take off parts of our life and just leave them out of the podcast.

K: Mm. Yes. And we are really current – because we don’t record them so far in advance that they’re not, like, our current… daily life.

C: Right.

K: Like the fact that it’s still hot. Like, we’re having a couple of cool days every now and then. I’m seeing hints and whispers of all.

C: Yeah.

K: But it’s definitely still hot.

C: Yes.

K: There are still days where it’s like 80 degrees out in October. Which, being from California, that shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it is to me. But it is a huge deal.

C: But you always told me when I said stuff like that – because I was from Alaska and October is much cooler – you’d be like “it’s northern California. Southern California, now if you want to talk about heat, LA”

K: Yeah. I’d be like “no because like when you roll down the windows and you’re driving, the air coming in feels cool.”

(laughter)

C: Yup.

K: That was my big thing I would tell you in California. I would always judge the temperature on how it felt when you were driving with your windows down. Whether or not that air felt cool or warm.

C: Yes.

K: (laughs) And then on our street, too, I caught it almost every year, and I do not know how. Maybe because I left my house every day. Left our house every day. But there was this street that the leaves would just like – massive – the wind would blow. Massive leaves would be coming down, like it would be raining leaves. It would be so pretty, and the leaves would be yellow. I miss that.

C: Yeah, I think we did leave our house every day. Pretty much.

K: Yeah.

C: For work

K: Versus now. We leave twice a month because we’re still on lockdown.

C: And will be for ever and ever.

K: Yeah. We’re (laughs)

C: Japan has said they’re going to have a vaccine to everybody in Japan in the first six months of 2021.

K: Okay.

C: And then they said – and somebody asked them “does that include foreign residents” – and they’re like, “huh… probably. Probably it should from a public health perspective, huh?”

K: Yeah. But they’re only guaranteeing that it’ll work on Japanese nationals because they’re not testing it on foreign nationals.

C: That is a whole weird thing that is

K: We have to explain it. Do you want to explain it?

C: Okay. Yeah, I’ll explain it. So, I encountered this when I was an editor a few years ago. That… under the Japanese Medicines Law, you can’t sell a prescription medicine in Japan unless it’s been tested on the Japanese population because they think Japanese people will react to things differently than people from other parts of the world.

K: Yeah. I think we might’ve mentioned it before.

C: I think so. And, while there is some evidence that some drugs react differently in different… populations broadly, it’s difficult to predict any particular individual’s going to do, and it’s mostly – I think – a way to increase profits for Japanese testing labs.

K: Yes. So, I kind of want to bring it back to the podcast not being… what I imagined it to be.

C: Okay.

K: So, I knew that there are podcasts in Japan. There are several podcasters in Japan that I know personally.

C: Yup.

K: One of the – so… four of the podcasts that I know of in Japan… one of them is all about Japanese – so, there’s Japanese restaurants that have these massive orders of food.

C: Yeah.

K: And if you finish the whole thing, you get it for free.

C: Right. Similar to some restaurants in the U.S.

K: Yeah, so it’s like… it’s massive amounts of food, though. So, how much is the ramen one? I know there’s like… tons of ramen ones, and then there’s udon ones – which is a different type of no – so, ramen and udon are different types of noodles. There’s a tempura one, and there is a short-rib one in Tokyo, which I think that’s weird. But short ribs are hugely popular in Japan.

C: I think the ramen one’s like 4 kilos of ramen.

K: Yeah, and there’s a curry one.

C: Yeah.

K: So, curry rice in Japan is huge and – and an omurice one. Omuraisu is… it’s not really an omelet.

C: Yeah. It’s a Japanese omelet.

K: Okay, so… you have to go on YouTube and look at it because it really is a beautiful thing to see. It’s this… a lot of egg cooked only on the outside with – so, they scramble the egg first. They put a big ol’ pile of rice. They don’t season the rice. They put all kinds of stuff in this battered egg concoction, and then they pour it into the pan and they only cook that outside. And then they fold it in half, they put it on top of the rice, and they cut it. And it just falls away perfectly and soaks the rice with all of the stuff that’s inside and the raw egg.

C: And then they just douse it in ketchup. Which just…

K: Yeah. Which you were just like “that is disgusting.”

C: It is.

K: But I think you can get it without ketchup. Would you like it without ketchup?

C: You can get it with… ketchup, or you can get it with like braised oxtail sauce.

K: Yeah, you can get it with different

C: It’s always got some kind of vinegar sauce on it.

K: Yeah.

C: Ordinarily, I’m a big fan of that, but I’ve tried omurice several times, and it’s not for me.

K: Yeah, and then they have the okonomiyaki one – which is a squid pancake, but you make yourself.

C: Yes.

K: So, it’s squid and fixings and you usually grill it yourself. So, basically like every city has their specialty, and usually every city has some restaurant that does this massive, like… you’re going to die after you eat it portion of food.

C: Yeah.

K: That, if you can finish it – and there’s a podcast dedicated to… that. Which I think is interesting.

C: and rock on.

K: Yeah, and they also have a YouTube channel, so I think we’re one of the few podcasts in Japan that doesn’t also have a YouTube channel.

C: Well, I think we’re one of the few podcasts by foreigners – by non-Japanese people – that doesn’t focus on… a particular thing about Japan. There are some that focus on “oh how weird Japan is” or… “otaku Japan” or “Japanese

K: What’s otaku Japan?

C: Just like super nerding out on everything Japanese.

K: Yeah. Japanophile.

C: Yeah. Japanophile Japan. Or Japanese language or Japanese food or Japanese travel.

K: Or how to get a Japanese wife or.

C: Right. So, I think we’re one of the few that is just focusing on our own lives. Because our lives are splendid.

K: (laughs)

C: And just talks about our

K: I think because we’re obsessed with each other.

C: I think so.

K: (laughs)

C: So, I think, you know, it talks about our daily life without talking about… without always tying it back to Japan. So, sometimes what we talk about… it’s like what I said earlier about disability; it’s just part of our life. Japan is just part of our life.

K: Yeah. It is. And we compare it to the United States because I’m culturally still very American. I can culture switch.

C: Yeah.

K: But, in my mind, I have to – I know that I’m culture switching.

C: Yes.

K: It doesn’t feel auth- it doesn’t feel inauthentic. It feels authentic, and it feels like, you know, I’m being culturally appropriate.

C: But it’s a choice.

K: Yeah. It – some things are reflective now like the bow. I can’t stop myself from bowing now.

C: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

K: So, like, the bow is reflective, and the “onegaishimasu” at the – just at random times I will just “onegaishimasu.”

C: (laughs)

K: Which, like… it’s kind of like thank you, it’s kind of like – it’s kind of an all-purpose word.

C: Yeah, I mean the literal meaning is “I request.”

K: Yeah, but it’s like – I’ll leave the store and I’ll be like, “onegaishimasu” or I’ll leave the elevator and I’ll say “onegaishimasu.” Just randomly. I don’t know how I’ll know when to say it, but there are certain situations where you say either “shitsureishimasu” or “onegaishimasu.”

C: Yeah. “Shitsureishimasu” is “pardon me.”

K: Yeah. So… and they don’t quite transfer. And I… Un. Un.

C: Yeah.

K: Un. To indicate I’m listening.

C: Un is yes.

K: Yes.

C: So, because Japanese is an easy language, un is yes and uun is no.

K: Yeah. (laughs) But, for me, I find that… I spend my entire day being American for work.

C: Yeah.

K: And then when I’m not working, I’m doing my PhD, which is an American PhD. So, I don’t – and now with quarantine, I go out to my doctor. That’s it. And I find that being American rather behaving like I’m Japanese or like I speak any Japanese, I get way more done because I can just go in, tell my doctor what I want, and get that. Because I need a specific blood panel, and it took me like… going to see him once a month for six months to get him to include everything in the blood panel that I need.

C: Yeah.

K: And… for him not to ask, “are you sure you want this?” I’m like, “dude, you’re drawing the blood. It’s one more test. You have all the equipment for it. It costs you nothing.”

C: Well, they’d be very happy for you to go see six specialists all in one day. Like, why have me do all this stuff even though I can when you can just go see somebody else who can do part of it, and somebody else who could do part of it, and somebody else could do part of it because we’re all within three blocks of each other.

K: Yeah. So, I have two doctors, and I have them both trained to where I’ve got them right where I want them.

C: Yes. Not overlapping but both doing something complete.

K: Yeah, and I get that by being… American and not culture switching.

C: Yeah.

K: I was culture switching with doctors, and I didn’t like the outcome.

C: Mhm.

K: I don’t like the paternal relationship. I’ve talked about my doctors before.

C: Yeah.

K: So… I really thought that this podcast was going to be more kitschy and, like, cute and… and bubbly. But that’s not my personality at all. Like

C: Well, and that’s certainly not your personality when talking with me.

K: It’s never my personality. Like, not even with kids. I talk to kids like they are reasonable adults. I don’t… I talk to kids just like I’m talking right now.

C: But do you talk to adults like they’re reasonable adults? That’s the question.

K: Yes, I do. I talk to everybody like they’re reasonable adults.

C: Okay.

K: You know. Because I’ll tell a 4-year-old, “come on? What are you doing?”

C: (laughs)

K: And I’ll be dead serious, and they’ll look at me, and they’ll be like, in slow motion, doing whatever they were going to do. And I’ll be like, “come on. Really?”

C: Mhm.

K: And they act reasonable. So, I find that people aspire to my expectations, and I enjoy that.

C: Yeah, I enjoy that, too.

K: (laughs)

C: I enjoy aspiring to your expectations.

K: (laughs) You know you do.

C: Yes.

K: You know you do. Well, there’s one expectation you always let me down on because I’d love i- well, with Rasta living with us you can’t, but I’d love it if you were just naked all the time. Just nekkid.

C: Which I am not.

K: Yeah. You’re not.

C: Nope.

K: And I feel like the whole world is weeping with me. Big, fat, salty tears. So, I didn’t think that the podcast was going to be us getting on here and rambling about stuff.

C: Well, I think the name kind of gives it away in retrospect.

K: The Musicks in Japan?

C: Yeah.

K: (laughs)

C: Because it’s not like “The Musicks Enjoy Japan” or “The Musicks Conquer Japan” or “The Musicks Explore Japan” or “The Musicks Eat Japan” or anything like that. It’s just in. It’s just that nice preposition.

K: What are all those podcasts doing for content now?

C: A lot of podcasts that rely on that kind of stuff are struggling or are…

K: On hiatus?

C: On hiatus. Some of them tried to fake it, like when things first started, but after a couple of months it just became too… obvious.

K: Well, there was the Travel Japan Initiative.

C: Yeah, and you know the other day I saw people out in baseball jerseys, so I think they’re playing baseball here.

K: Yeah, they are. At the dome.

C: Yeah, so that’s like

K: So, Japan put up partitions.

C: Yeah.

K: And put plastic things in between clerks and customers and called it a day and kept it going. Japan did not shut down.

C: Yeah. Everybody started wearing masks. I think we’ve talked about some of this. I have to call for an appointment with my doctor rather than just going at any time so they can shuffle people to keep distancing, but yeah. It just pretty much kept going.

K: Yeah.

C: Canceled the Olympics, but it took them a while to decide they were going to do that.

K: And now they’re getting ready to open back up to international travel, which I’m dreading.

C: Mhm.

K: But whatever on that. When I look at these other podcasts that are Japan-specific, it seems like every podcast is super specific. So, I’m obsessed with all of the Forever Dog podcasts except for the anchoring podcast, so I feel bad. So… I’m obsessed – I’m a huge drag fan, and I enjoy all the iterations of drag race. And I’ve always enjoyed drag queens. I don’t talk about it a lot, and I don’t tweet about it a lot because I don’t enjoy the communities. The fanbases for – the drag race fanbase – for me is way racist and way toxic. I don’t want to engage in that. And I don’t feel the need to, like, shout out a lot of queens. There is one queen that – like, every now and then I’ll get obsessed with one queen, but my obsession only lasts for about six months.

C: Mhm.

K: And then I’m over it. So, I’m a crappy fan to have.

C: Well, and too I think

K: Because I’m not going to follow everyone’s socials and consume everything they do.

C: And I think you’re a person of a certain age. Because I remember, when we met, you had been doing drag – like very recently.

K: Yeah.

C: So, it’s something you personally have done, and you had a lot of friends in the drag community when we met.

K: Yeah.

C: But I feel like you don’t know the new people.

K: Yeah.

C: We’ve been in Japan for 15 years. You’ve been not doing drag for more than 20.

K: Yeah. And I find, too, that, like… drag has changed so much – the culture of drag – in terms of what popular – like, what drag race puts out

C: Yeah.

K: Is a very, very specific kind of drag and a very, very specific portion of the community.

C: Yeah.

K: And it’s not represented. And, so, I think that’s why I enjoy – so, on Forever Dog, there are all these different podcasts. One of them is Very That, and it has… Raja and Delta Work. And I love Delta Work because we have a lot of the same personalities, and I love the…. I’ve just always enjoyed Delta, and I like that it’s low-maintenance fandom. I’m like, once a week I watch this show for an hour.

C: Mhm.

K: So, I find the one thing I’m consistently consuming is YouTube.

C: Yeah.

K: I consume like copious amounts of YouTube.

C: You do.

K: And that’s why I know about the podcasts on Japan. And I don’t think any of them are doing what we’re doing. And… I look at like – people are either talking about their history, and this isn’t about our history at all.

C: No. I mean, we’ve talked about it a couple of times, but… I think there are a few things that make us different and not light, easy listening. I think we don’t ever sit down and say, “okay, what could we talk about that everybody would enjoy that’s just bubblegummy” and outline something.

K: (laughs) Yeah because I (laughs) because, today – today we were like “what are we going to talk about?” Because we had a topic yesterday that we were going to talk about.

C: Yup.

K: Neither one of us wrote it down.

C: Yeah.

K: And so

C: We discussed it for like 5 minutes. We were like, “okay, yup. We’ve got enough to talk about.”

K: Yeah, and anyone who knows me knows that I tell everybody “if I say I’m going to do something, and I don’t write it down, I’m lying to you.” Because I will forget about it. And everybody’s like, “oh your memory’s so good.” I’m like “no, my notetaking is so good.” (laughs) I have amazing notetaking skills. Which help me remember everything because my brain is a very busy place. So… basically, we’re talking about what the podcast is because we do have a notebook with suggested stuff in it, but I think we’ve talked about all of it. I can’t remember for sure because our numbering system got out of wack because… when COVID hit, we had to change a lot of our things that we were talking about doing. Because a lot of the activities that we were going to do that the things would be based on we couldn’t do.

C: Yeah, we had an episode about international travel.

K: Yeah.

C: We had an episode about

K: (laughs) Because we were planning on going to Australia.

C: Yeah.

K: And then – so, we were going to do an episode on Australia. And then we were going to do an episode on Takayama, which we have been to once. And we were going to go back to.

C: Right.

K: So, we had like a lot of travel stuff that we were going to do.

C: We had an episode planned about coughing on people.

K: (laughs)

C: It just seemed in poor taste after

K: Yeah, no, we do not cough on people.

C: (chuckles)

K: And… so, I feel like… we get on the  mic, and we talk about what’s interesting to us, and then we invite people to be interested and take part because we love all of our Musick Notes.

C: Yes.

K: We love, love, love you guys. And, for me, it’s very interactive because… we do get tweets, and we do get comments, and we do get comments in – you know, via Patreon and via the website because, yes, we have a website, y’all. If you don’t know, now you know. We used to have blogs that we were doing, but we stopped doing the blogs because I’m in the thick of it with my PhD.

C: You really are.

K: I’m in the lit review section, and it is a mother. It is – I’m condensing and consolidating all of the known literature on my topic from 2017 to right this minute.

C: Yes. And it’ll be like, “I just dashed off a little something. Can you edit that?”

K: (laughs)

C: It’s not a little something. This is 30 pages.

K: And I was like, “are you sure? That did not feel like 30 pages. It took me two weeks to write, but it did not feel like 30 pages.”

C: Mhm.

K: Like, what are you talking about? So, yeah, every section is taking me about a month to write.

C: Yeah.

K: So, I find that our life is really… dull, but I like talking to you, and apparently people like listening to us.

C: Apparently so, yeah. Yeah, our life I feel like is quotidian. It’s just kind of day to day.

K: Yeah.

C: And, so, we have interesting things that we do that are interesting for us, like jigsaw puzzling and that kind of thing.

K: Yeah. Well, the jigsaw puzzling has fallen off because we had to reconfigure the house.

C: Yes.

K: For all t here of us to have unique and individual working stations, and then my workstation has to be… no one can hear it.

C: Yes.

K: so, I actually… which has interestingly resulted in me having the largest portion of the house because the bathroom is located in the smaller portion of the house that has two rooms.

C: Yeah.

K: But there’s two rooms. So, I’ve taken over the kitchen table because

C: You have, yeah.

K: My office – I worry about someone going to the bathroom if I’m in session.

C: Right. Well, and you can

K: Because I don’t think you could hear my clients, but I do think you’d be able to hear me.

C: Well, and we could buy a cone of silence, but they’re really expensive.

K: Yeah. And I don’t want to do my noise maker like I do in the office.

C: Yeah.

K: Because it would be obnoxious for everyone else in the house. And I think having the noise maker in my office isn’t as obnoxious because it’s just me and the client.

C: Right.

K: It’s obnoxious for the clients, but they get used to it. And when the ocean sounds stop, it’s the ten-minute warning.

C: Yeah.

K: Wrap it up.

C: You’ve got ten minutes to get – to get wrapped up.

K: Yeah. So… for me, the podcast is a labor of love.

C: Mhm.

K: and it’s something I enjoy doing because it guarantees that you and I sit down across from each other, looking at each other, talking to each other.

C: For a set amount of time.

K: (laughs)

C: Because we talk to each other every day.

K: Yes. But you don’t make me laugh. Yeah, you do make me laugh every day. I was going to say you don’t make me laugh every day.

C: Okay, I was going to be like

K: Then I tried to remember the last day you didn’t make me laugh.

C: Right?

K: Because you do make me laugh every day.

C: You were trying to commit blasphemy.

K: I was. Because you are hella funny.

C: Thank you.

K: Yeah.

C: I have a heavenly sense of humor.

K: (laughs)

C: It is divine.

K: Yeah. And then… so, like, random things pop into my head – like my broken toe’s almost healed.

C: Right.

K: If you follow us on Twitter, you know that was the bane of my existence for the longest, and it’s not anymore.

C: And then you jammed it once again when it was almost healed, so.

K: Yeah, that was tough.

C: Who knows. I hope the answer is zero, but who knows how many more times you will jam it before it is fully healed?

K: No. I’ve been – ever since that second time of casually jamming it – I’ve been super careful. Because I want it to heal because it’s been really horrific. So, what did you want the podcast to be? Is this what you wanted it to be?

C: Yeah. I think this is what I wanted it to be. So, I write. I talk to people. I like people. People don’t always like me.

K: People always like you. I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t like you.

C: I think people like me in social situations. We’ve talked about this before.

K: Yeah.

C: That I’m a social pleaser. But in terms of just being able to talk… I think that you are my favorite person to just talk at.

K: Oh, thank you.

C: And other people either feel like I don’t talk enough or that I talk too much. I feel like you just let me find the balance that I’m comfortable with.

K: Nice.

C: So, yeah, this is what I wanted to be doing in terms of just talking about our… daily life. Because I think that we have a relatively interesting life with some boring days and some exciting days like everybody else. I think anybody who curates… their social media to only be the highlights – like rock on. Good for you for only curating it only show like… when you’re at the beach, but… if somebody lives at the beach, we usually call them homeless. Not an influencer.

K: Homeless or owners of oceanfront property.

C: But people who own oceanfront property live near the beach in a house.

K: No, there are some people that live on the beach in a house, babe.

C: But in a house.

K: Yeah. Oh, you’re saying if someone’s just sleeping out in the open like Survivor-style with sand fleas?

C: No. I’m saying the people who just post like sand yoga. Beach yoga. That’s all they ever post.

K: Mhm.

C: I don’t believe they spend all of their time only doing beach yoga and eating special supplements for which you can get a 65% discount by putting in a code.

K: (laughs) You’re talking about that influencer lifestyle.

C: Right.

K: Yeah.

C: I think that we’re not doing that. I don’t think the – it’s not a criticism of the other podcasts. Most of the podcasts aren’t doing that.

K: But podcasts aren’t doing yoga poses on the beach.

C: No, they’re not, but I’m saying it’s not a

K: They’re talking about that yoga lifestyle.

C: But I’m saying that I think some podcasts – and I am not calling anybody out in specific

K: Yeah, we’re not sub-whatever.

C: Yeah. Yeah. We’re not sub-casting.

K: (laughs) I like that. We’re not sub – we’re not sub-casting at you right now. We’re not doing a subtle read. Yeah, I’m messing with my chord. I don’t care. I know you think it’s dangerous.

C: I do.

K: I’m sorry. Am I putting you on edge?

C: It’s putting me a little on edge.

K: Oh my god. I’ll stop. But you’re drama.

C: See, and I’m like this. I am drama.

K: Yeah. And so, they’re getting to see, like – because it’s really bugging me. You want me to stop, but it’s bugging me.

C: Okay, so now you’re the drama.

K: (laughs) No, I’m way more important. It’s my chord, and it’s bugging me.

C: You’re way more important?

K: Like, why do you hand me a tangled chord?

C: I didn’t hand you a tangled chord. I handed you a microphone. Why can’t you just

K: You handled me a microphone with a tangle chord.

C: Why can’t you just ignore the chord?

K: Oh my gosh. I’m sorry, I hit the mic. Oh, speaking of mics. Yeah. Still not getting anything from the mail. They’ve not sent us forms. They’ve sent us aggressive emails, and there’s been phone calls. Maybe one day we will get our mail. Who knows.

C: It’s a whole thing, but we recently went through a thing where we ordered a package from the United States, and… it had something with UPS… gave to customs

K: Gas-X. It’s not a big mystery.

C: Yeah.

K: The thing that’s holding up all of the orders is because I ordered Gas-X.

C: And customs decided we had too much Gas-X.

K: (laughs) Yeah.

C: It’s a heavy-duty medication.

K: Yeah. Heavily regulated, man.

C: You’re only allowed to import two months’ worth of medication.

K: Yeah, and we’re like “we did.” But they had counted the dosage wrong.

C: Yeah.

K: And, so, they think we have more than two months.

C: Yes.

K: And, so, that’s holding up everything. It’s been holding up everything for a couple months, now.

C: Yes.

K: And, you know, more upsetting than the microphone stuff for us personally – it’s a tragedy for Chad because he has new jammies in there.

C: I do.

K: And you need new jammies.

C: I do. The jammies I have now are like 18 years old.

K: (laughs)

C: Literally. They would be adults.

K: Yes. (laughs)

C: They are falling apart.

K: So, you need new jammies, but you were talking about other podcasts before… I distracted you with my chord foolery.

C: I think other podcasts – they pick some touch points that are highlights.

K: Mhm.

C: That are a curated experience to their life or whatever thing they’re focusing on. And they stick with that.

K: Yeah.

C: And so, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. And with us, you pretty much know what you’re going to get. Which is

K: Randomness (laughs)

C: Randomness. Right. We’re going to talk about what we’re going to talk about.

K: Yeah. (laughs)

C: So, if you like the way we think, and you’re just interested in hearing people talk, I think that we probably

K: mm. And they have to like my laugh. If they don’t like my laugh, I think this would be really painful for anyone to listen to.

C: If they don’t like your laugh, they are probably some kind of terrible person.

K: (laughs) Because we do get a lot of comments on my laugh. That’s the thing people comment about the most

C: Yeah.

K: Which I think is weird. I thought that people would comment on your voice the most because I think one of the most pleasing sounds on earth is the sound of your voice.

C: Why, thank you. I have frequently been told I have a voice and a face made for radio.

K: What are you doing right now?

C: I don’t know.

K: Okay. Do I make you feel self-conscious?

C: No, you don’t.

K: Okay. Because you know I love your voice. I used to call up your voicemail

C: Yes.

K: Our Musick Notes know this. I call up your voicemail to listen to.

C: Yes.

K: And sometimes I have you just do it. Can you do it so they can hear it? Can you say, “hello, this is my voicemail” can you do the thing?

C: You want me to do the voicemail?

K: Yeah. So, okay. You guys are in for a treat. Everybody get ready. Okay, Chad’s going to do it now.

C: Hello, this is my voicemail. Please leave a message.

K: (laughs) I love that. I still love it.

C: Well, and it’s direct. I don’t promise to call you back because I might not like you.

K: (laughs)

C: I might not call you back.

K: I love it. I love the sound of that. It makes me feel so happy.

C: (laughs)

K: It does. It feels – it’s so centering. And the first time I heard it, I was like “you have the best voicemail message ever in life.” You were like “what are you talking about?” I’m like, “you say ‘hello this is my voicemail leave a message’ that is awesome.”

C: Well, I think voicemail messages are weird when people are like – if I did a typical one, it’d be like “Hello. This is Chad Musick. I’m not available right now.” Like, if they don’t know who they’re calling

K: Yeah.

C: They have no business leaving a message. I’m sorry. They don’t.

K: Do you have a voice message set on your current phone? I don’t think so.

C: I don’t know. I’ve only had my current phone for 4 years, so it’s still in the middle of being set up.

K: (laughs) Well, and who calls you? Me and Rasta, right?

C: Yeah. I think that the last

K: You don’t have a voicemail set up.

C: No, I don’t think I do. Because you and Rasta call me. And I think other than that, I occasionally get calls from UPS or the post office or things to schedule delivers.

K: And I think you still have the automated Japanese thing set up.

C: Yeah, I think I do.

K: Most people do.

C: Yeah. So, yeah, I don’t remember the last call that I got that wasn’t… a confirmation of some kind. Like, confirming a doctor’s appointment. Confirming a delivery. Social calls. It’s been a few years.

K: Yeah.

C: People tend to message or email.

K: Yeah. Text message.

C: Yeah.

K: Yeah. Because it’s a texting world now rather than a talking world.

C: It is, and I have very mixed feelings about that.

K: Really?

C: Yeah.

K: Why?

C: Because I like text more than I like talking.

K: Mhm.

C: But I’m not quite sure about the texts thing.

K: What?

C: Like texting.

K: So, you like text more than talking, but you’re not sure about texting?

C: Yeah.

K: I don’t understand what that means. Like you confuse me.

C: I spent a lot of years… figuring out how to end conversations in away that was satisfactory to the other person.

K: What do you mean?

C: I mean that, as an autistic person, it doesn’t… come naturally to me to end a conversation with a person who’s not autistic in a way that leaves them feeling satisfied.

K: How can you know? Like, I’m a therapist, and I don’t go for that. I go for ending as close to on time as possible.

C: Yeah. But… I paid a lot of attention for like what would make people recall a conversation fondly the next time that we talked.

K: mmm.

C: And, so, I feel like I’ve gotten pretty good in person. To the point where people are like, “wow, you’re autistic? I wouldn’t have known at all.” It’s like, thank you for the non-compliment.

K: Yeah, that’s rude.

C: But with texting, I don’t know.

K: Yeah. And you haven’t come out – had to come out – to anybody.

C: No.

K: (yawns) I’m super yawny today. I think I’m tired.

C: But are you hungry?

K: No. I’m not hungry. I ate earlier. I ate before the podcast.

C: See? That’s just thrown everything off. If Kisstopher’s not hungry on a podcast, is it really an episode?

K: Right? That is so weird. That is – is that your stomach?

C: That was my stomach.

(laughter)

K: So, Chad’s hungry this podcast.

C: Yes.

K: So, we’ve totally switched roles because you’re usually sleepy, and I’m usually hungry.

C: Yup.

K: So, I think that I’m sleepy because my brain has finally shut off because I’ve been working and working this section of my PhD now for three days.

C: Yeah.

K: and I’ve been brain-fevered about it, and I’m done with it.

C: Yeah.

K: And I know I’ve got everything organized, and I’m ready to just write. And it took me like two weeks to get to that place, and I’ve done other stuff in the interim to get to that place. Like worked on other sections so that I’m not… just wasting time.

C: Well and sometimes there can be interruptions. I don’t know – the microphones might not be sensitive enough to pick it up but in the background there’s all kinds of sirens because we live near a fire station.

K: Yeah.

C: Which isn’t that unusual because we live near a fire station, and then two blocks away there’s another fire station.

K: Yup.

C: So, they’re pretty densely packed within Nagoya.

K: Are you saying that’s impacting my ability to write?

C: I’m saying that there’s… sirens, there’s earthquakes, there’s… random things that go on.

K: (laughs) He is such an enabler. We talk about this all the time. I have to tell him “babe, I seriously need to write today. You cannot enable me with any of your convincing excuses as to why I shouldn’t be writing.” – “But you’re cogitating. You take a lot of time to think.” I’m like, “no. If I don’t put words on the page today, I’m not going to meet any of my goals.”

C: “You’re cogitating.” You are – ughh.

K: What?

C: Revealing the language that I use.

K: (laughs) Everybody knows you’re a wordsmith. All of our Musick Notes, I think, follow us on Twitter. That’s my fantasy.

C: I think so.

K: Is that they all follow us on Twitter.

C: That, yes, this is really how I talk all of the time. (laughs)

K: Yeah.

C: I do say things like “you’re cogitating.”

K: I think if anybody has an autistic person in their life, they know that they have their language set that they prefer.

C: I think so, yeah.

K: And I would go so far to say that if you have a person in your life, they have their language set that they prefer. Because I have my set of things that I prefer to say.

C: You do.

K: I cycle through different sayings. Like, I’ll pick – I’ll hit on a saying every once in a while and use that.

C: Yeah. I think you drift a lot faster than I do. I think my drift is very slow.

K: Yeah.

C: Like, when we met, I liked to say indeed.

K: Did you?

C: Yeah.

K: I don’t remember that.

C: But at the time we met, that wasn’t a totally weird thing to say.

K: What are you talking about?

C: I’m talking about now. If you said something

K: (laughs)

C: If you were like, “it’s nice weather out today” and I said, “indeed.”

K: (laughs)

C: It’d make you laugh.

K: (laughs) No, now you give me “ah.”

C: Yeah.

K: Now that you like “Mm.” I’m like, “kay. Are you agreeing?” So, lately you have thing where if I make a request of you that you’re doing that I really don’t like – you say, “I will do that now.” And I’m like, “I don’t like that.” – “I’m doing it as we speak.” “I will do it immediately.”

C: I want you to know a timeline.

K: (laughs) But it doesn’t stop me from repeating the request. Or, you know, as we talked about on other podcasts, just holding up an empty glass at you until you get me water. (laughs)

C: I think that “I will do that now” came about from work because whenever somebody makes a request, either it’s something I can do right then or it’s something that has to be scheduled and goes to my schedule. And I might not be able to get to it for 6 weeks.

K: Mmm.

C: So, I think I’ve gotten in the habit of telling people the moment at which I can do something.

K: Mmm.

C: And for you, that’s usually “I can do that right now” or “I have a meeting, but I can do it immediately after.” See, I can’t even say that without after because, unless I’m doing it before the meeting, everything is after the meeting. That’s why the immediately is necessary.

K: So, one thing we are changing – and that is the Patreon. We are going to hold things and not talk about them anywhere but on the Patreon as bonus added for our patrons, so like we do have other projects going on, and other exciting news that I guess you guys will eventually hear about.

C: Yes. I hope so.

K: So, I there’s going to be like a 4-month lag on things that we talk about on the Patreon versus things that we talk about on the podcast. So, like, if we have something up and coming, we’ll forecast it on the Patreon so that we will get that exclusive content and exclusive knowledge. Something that we’re not – details we’re not sharing on Twitter, details we’re not sharing on the main cast, to… as a way to show our appreciation. And we also have merch, and if you’re a patron, you get… access to the podcast early, you get access to the take two, and you get discount on our merch. And I think some of our merch is pretty cool. Because we don’t have just Musicks in Japan merch. We also have, like, different designs by our very talented artist Touré.

C: Yes.

K: What’s his – Touré’s – last name? I know his official insta is SunKing Designs.

C: His last name is Grantham.

K: Okay. I’m like, “it’s not Touré Graham”

C: It’s Grantham.

K: Oh, I don’t know if he wants all his names out there like that. I think they’re on his social media.

C: they’re on his social media.

K: Yeah. Super professional. Really great artist and doesn’t give us a discount or anything. I’m not sure he even knows that we plug him because he does not listen to the podcast.

C: I don’t think he knows. Yeah.

K: Yeah. He does not lis – can you be – oh my goodness. He needs to be listening to the podcast.

C: He’s too busy making art. Don’t interrupt the man.

K: Okay. That’s true. Because we need our art (laughs) So, we’re going to go talk about something really exclusive.

C: Yup.

K: On the Patreon. (laughs)

C: We don’t mean to make you feel bad.

K: Yeah. But you can join us for just like 2 bucks a month.

C: Yup. That’s it.

K: Yeah. So… hope you follow us on over, and thanks for listening to another episode of Kisstopher’s Thoughts Randomness. Kisstopher and Chad’s Randomness.

C: Thank you for including me in that.

K: Yeah because I – I deliberately didn’t include you the first time because I thought you would say something.

C:  Oh, okay.

K: And then you didn’t. You were giving me the look like “you better say Chad because I’m not going to.”

C: I was just hurt.

K: (laughs) So, yeah. Follow us on over to Patreon, and if not, we’ll catch you next week or both.

C: Bye.

K: Bye.