Boomboxes, Books, and Avoiding the Mud: My Weekend Detox

TALK TO ME, TEXT IT

What happens when we intentionally disconnect from the digital world? This intimate morning reflection explores the transformative power of putting down our phones and engaging with life directly.

After becoming overwhelmed by online negativity and divisive discourse surrounding recent events, I made the decision to step away from social media for the weekend. What followed was a revelation in productivity and joy that many of us forget is possible in our hyper-connected lives. From quality family time at a newly discovered restaurant (The Flying Biscuit) to shopping excursions that took me slightly outside my comfort zone, the weekend became an exercise in rediscovering simple pleasures and accomplishment.

The episode weaves personal experiences with broader observations about our relationship with technology and media consumption. I share book recommendations for "The Thursday Murder Club" series (far superior to the film adaptation), reveal fascinating trivia about the iconic boombox scene in "Say Anything," and discuss concerning research about Ozempic users abandoning their treatment regimens prematurely. Throughout these seemingly disparate topics runs a common thread – the value of mindfulness and presence in a world constantly competing for our attention.

As we navigate increasingly complex and sometimes disturbing news cycles, including the recent incident in Utah where two men were arrested for planting an explosive device under a news van, perhaps the greatest self-care practice is knowing when to step back. Join me in exploring how periodic digital detoxes can help maintain our mental health while still staying informed about the world around us. What Bible verse brings you comfort during challenging times? Share your thoughts and join the conversation.

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Thanks for listening! 

Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to [e-mail] and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Support the show

Tip Jar for coffee $ - Thanks

Music by Alehandro Vodnik from Pixabay

Blog - AnAmericanist.com
X - @americanistblog

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello and good morning, Happy Monday.
I hope you had a good weekend.
I hope you took time to putdown your phone and go play and
take in all of what the worldhas to offer.
Most of you did so.

(00:28):
I just had to step away fromthe internet for a little while
and get away from all of theawfulness and the negativity and
just the horribleness of what'sgoing on out there in the
internet world, and I just don'tunderstand why people on the
right conservatives want tocontinuously pimp out and

(00:51):
promote the people that are eviland nasty and ugly, who are
celebrating a death, anassassination of Charlie Kirk.
I don't know why people like uson the right who want to
promote that.
I don't understand that, and soI just had to step away.

(01:14):
Every time I would pick up myphone and scroll like three
times, I would see all of thisawfulness and I'm like you know
I can't.
So I put my phone down.
I got a lot done yesterdayactually, we had the grand cam
on Saturday, which is alwaysbrings joy to my heart, always
and then yesterday we got up andhad breakfast with my husband's

(01:38):
brother and his wife.
We went to a new restaurant.
It was actually pretty good.
Not pretty good.
It was really good.
I would go again.
I didn't even know it was thereand I pass it every day when I
go home from work.
It's called the Flying Pig orthe Flying Biscuit.
I keep wanting to say pig.
I think it's the Flying Biscuit.

(01:58):
Yeah, that's it.
It was really good.
It was good and I would goagain.
Was really good, it was goodand I would go again.
And we talked about how far awayof a drive it is.
It was like 15 minutes.
I drive longer to get to workor 20 minutes.
Come on, it's not that far away.
But you know, we have ourlittle areas of the community

(02:18):
where we don't like to go out ofright I mean, I'm sure you do
too Like we live in what theycall the valley, because it's,
you know, in between thefoothills of the Appalachians,
whatever.
And so to go to another, I havea Target, I have everything I
need, I have a Kohl's, we have agrocery, everything we need,

(02:39):
drugstore, everything we need,right there where we are.
But if you want to go to TJMaxx, then oh my gosh, you have
to drive another five wholeminutes to go over Airport Road
to get to TJ Maxx and by golly,that's what I did yesterday.
I ventured out, went shopping.
I got my fall clothes.
I feel like a little kid on thefirst day of school with my new

(03:01):
clothes.
I got a whole new wardrobe.
I got all the same pairs ofpants, just different colors.
But I did branch out and get alittle bit different blouses and
tops and let me tell you, itwas all inspired by Helen
Mirren's wardrobe from theThursday Murder Club.
Now, if you want a good, clean,entertaining with older actors,

(03:27):
I suggest the Thursday MurderClub.
However, I would like for youto read the books first, or at
least listen to them.
Good, clean, fun.
The books are a lot better, andI found out he has another one
coming out in that series andI've already pre-ordered it.
Can't wait to get it.
I love the book series.
I like the book series waybetter than the movie.
The movie was good, but thebooks are way better.

(03:49):
I highly recommend them.
It's called the Thursday MurderClub and there's this whole
like four books in it, and nowhe's got a fifth one coming out.
Okay, I did not mean to go downthis rabbit hole, um, and I
wanted to finish telling youabout my weekend and so I went
shopping after that and then Icame home, cleaned out the car,
gave it a good wash, vacuumed itout, wiped it out.

(04:09):
So now I have a nice, clean car.
And then I cleaned out mycloset, donated a lot of my
older clothes, so got a lot done.
Amazing what happens when youput down the phone and go
actually do some things.
Get physical and go do somethings, be productive.
All right, but I did have somestories for you this morning
that hopefully would be okay foryou.

(04:32):
Apparently, jd Vance is goingto fill in on Charlie Kirk's
show today.
They're going to keep thatpodcast going.
I guess they're just going tohave people fill in for him.
So JD Vance will fill in forCharlie Kirk today.
Okay, so the Emmys were on lastnight.
I forgot about them.
I know Maureen Callahan did alive YouTube thing on it and I

(04:56):
wish I had remembered that, butI forgot it.
I had forgotten about it.
I wanted to watch the MaureenCallahan live YouTube making fun
of it, but I forgot.
I was watching the MarvelousMrs Maisel again.
Because again I have to get mymind off of what's going on.
I can't be, I can't get in themud with you guys.
I'm sorry, I can't do it.

(05:17):
All right, so Say Anything.
Director reveals how he trickedJohn Cusack into filming iconic
boom box scene.
If you are familiar, if you'rea Gen Xer, you know this movie
Say Anything.
At the very end there's a sceneand I don't know when it is,
it's been a long time since I'vewatched it John Cusack's

(05:37):
getting out of the car and heholds up this boom box in front
of our house playing a certainsong.
Well, cameron Crowe dropped amajor bombshell about the most
iconic scene in say anything.
The gist of the story is JohnCusack did not want to do that
scene at all.
And I'm thinking well, you'rean actor, not the director.

(06:00):
You're paid to act, you're paidto be directed, so you're
supposed to do what you're told.
You can't be a little primadonna like that.
You come to, you sign thecontract, you have the writers,
you have the directors.
If the director wants you to dothat, by God, that's what you
do, all right, but anyway.
So Cameron Crowe said he had totrick him and say well, this,
we're just going to film analternating scene in case this,

(06:21):
you know, this other scenedoesn't work out.
So just wanted to let you knowthat little, little little
trivia thing there.
All right, top concerns aboutozempic-like drugs has docs
worried.
All of the benefits are lost.
I'm going to tell you something.

(06:41):
If I wasn't such a wimpy,scaredy cat about this, I would
probably take Ozempic to help melose weight, because I'm tired
of eating healthy and workingout.
I'm not really tired of that,but oh, it's hard sometimes.
It's just hard and it'sfrustrating at times.
And if I wasn't such a fraidycat to get this shot, I probably

(07:03):
would do it, but I'm toochicken.
So surveys show that nearly 12%of Americans have turned to
Ozempic I would say it's a lotmore than that and Wegovy or
similar drugs to lose weightwith prescriptions more than
tripling since 2020.
But new research suggests thatmany users are unknowingly
sabotaging their progress withone simple mistake.

(07:23):
I wonder what that is.
In the study, scientists inDenmark analyzed data from
77,000 first-time users ofsemi-glutamate-based GLP-1s who
didn't have diabetes.
They found that more than halfhad stopped taking the drug
within a year of startingtreatment.
Nearly one in five quit bymonth three and 42% had

(07:47):
abandoned the regimen by monthnine.
I wonder why this level ofdrop-off is concerning?
Because these medicationsaren't meant to be temporary
quick fixes, so they lose theweight and then they quit taking
it, I guess, is what they'resaying, and they want you hooked
on these things forever andever and ever to get your money.

(08:08):
And I have noticed, though,that the people like I, where I
work people have lost weight andI can already see they're
starting to gain it back.
You can tell the ones thatdon't take it anymore because
you know why because they didn'tchange their lifestyles.
All right, I'm not going tofinish reading that because I'm
running out of time here.
Okay, so two men.

(08:29):
This is kind of related to theUtah the thing with Charlie Kirk
, the assassination, but it'snot about the case.
It's about something else,excuse me.
Two men arrested for allegedlyplanting a lighting bomb under
Utah news media vehicle nearcampus where Charlie Kirk was

(08:51):
assassinated.
So what in the world?
I don't understand what ishappening.
Two men allegedly planted abomb underneath a news van in
Utah on Friday and tried toignite it, sparking a massive
evacuation and federal probe.
Well, I would hope so.
Okay, get ready, get ready,ready for the names.

(09:12):
Here we go.
Adeeb Nasser, 58 years old, andAdil Justice, amey Nasser, 31,
were arrested Sunday night.
Well, at least they caught theguys arrested Sunday night when
authorities turned up at theirfront door in Magna, utah, less
than an hour away from thecollege where famed conservative

(09:34):
pundit Charlie Kirkut wasassassinated.
Last Wednesday, an incendiarydevice found underneath the news
media vehicle parked next to anoccupied building.
The explosive had been lit butapparently malfunctioned.
Thank God, the FBI assumedjurisdiction over the

(09:54):
investigation as soon as theincendiary device was confirmed
to be real, given its worryingplacement under a
media-affiliated vehicle in sucha public setting.
In the last two days, federalauthorities traced the threat
back to Nasir.
I wonder how they did that.
Squad members parsed throughtheir residence after obtaining

(10:18):
a federal search warrant anduncovered more hoax weapons of
mass destruction inside, alongwith illegal drugs and two
firearms which Adeeb and Adeelweren't permitted to own as
restricted persons with knownnarcotics use.

(10:38):
What in the world?
We need more on that storyright there, don we all right?
Well, I guess that's it for now.
I need to come up with aquestion of the day, which is I
think I have done this before,this question I have, but I want
to do it again because I thinkit's called for please share a
bible verse that will helppeople through this time and

(11:04):
that's all I've got.
Thanks for listening.
Love y'all.
Bye.