Sleep

Do you struggle with sleep? You are not alone! Up to 80% of people with intellectual disabilities have difficulty sleeping. We wanted to know why, so Niki did some digging and this is what we found out!

Sources

Sleep: What It Is, Why It’s Important, Stages, REM & NREM

A literature review of sleep problems and neurodevelopment disorders - PMC

Autism, ADHD, and Sleep: An Expert Guide on Neurodivergent Sleep

Circadian Rhythm

Where to find us…

Gaming Channel- Thanks for Lookin

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Disclaimer

Don't listen to a word we say. We are not doctors, we don't even play one on TV. These are just our experiences and opinions. Opinions are like assholes everybody has one. The topics discussed here are not meant to treat, diagnose, or cure medical conditions.

Episode Transcript

(00:16):
Well, how there, Amanda? Well, hello, it's been a minute.
Hello there. Hello there.
We need that. We need that one.
Hello there. We do.
I have it. Actually, I can add it.
I have it, yeah. We, we need it.
There's we, we keep saying there's a lot of like different
sound bites we need in the in the episodes and then we never
like add them because we're us and we're not consistent at all.

(00:40):
Yeah, that's fine. I will add it for next time.
Combined, we have one brain cellbetween US.
So that's that's what we got going on.
I have it in our files for the gaming channel but I don't have
it like when my. I guess I could plug my thing in
and do it now, but. It's whatever.
It's whatever, we'll do it later.

(01:01):
But anyway, yes, I have it. I I will add it.
Yeah, we're back. We took a little week off
because we needed it, but we areback in your ear holes once
again, invading them like brain worms.
If you know, you know, it's all going to say about that right

(01:23):
now. Hi, we're podcast.
I'm Nikki, That's Amanda. Say hi, Amanda.
Hi, Amanda. And we're just two
neurodivergent best friends travelling the neuroverse
together because we're living ina neurotypical world and we are
not neurotypical girls. This week it's my turn to hit
you with some factoids and shit.So I'm going to, I'm going to

(01:48):
throw it at you here in just a second.
And, and, and like, and like youguys, this is the first time
hearing it. Like I'm, yeah, we, she
originally we have like an Excelspreadsheet that we like a
Google Sheet that we share. And she originally had it on
there. But we decided that even though
when it's the person's turn, we'll fill it in after the

(02:11):
episode because we kind of wanted to be a surprise sort of
thing. So they don't know.
It's kind of like a I'm learningwhen I'm with you type of thing.
Yeah. Yep, but before we do, we
started off this thing using theword like comorbidity, which
I've heard a lot in the medical space.
But I'm actually finding the more that I've done like
research on topics and things that the word that I'm seeing

(02:33):
used more often and I feel like it's one, easier to say and two,
just sounds better overall is Cooccurring condition.
And that might be much easier for someone to understand
anyway. So we're going to start using
that term because I feel like it's probably the one that is
best used and it's probably the one that's most correct at the
moment. So Co occurring condition

(02:54):
episode for you. We are going to talk today about
sleep. She's like, rude.
Which is very time, which is very timely because I did not
get any last night. And so Nikki texted me earlier,
like I texted her like it was like before 7:00 AM and.

(03:14):
My thought was when I saw the time stamp, either you had a
good day where you properly fellasleep at a decent hour for you,
which is probably like 1:00 AM, but between like 1:00 and 2:00
AM, and woke up around 8:00-ish eight something ish like 7:00 AM
and we had like a decent few hours of sleep.

(03:35):
Or you just didn't sleep at all.Exactly.
Yeah, the the latter which I. Figured.
Yep, there there's I'm. I'm fine.
I'm fine. You're not, but it's OK.
Yeah, and so she, I, I need the password to one of, to one of
our accounts or her account technically.
And she messaged it to me. I literally saw it and just went

(03:56):
promptly went, I just went, justwent right, right to sleep and
then then woke up about like 2 like an hour and a half later
and she was like, oh, when do you want to record?
I'm like, oh shit, oops. Yeah, and half an hour's fine.
I feel fine now. I just like I've been trying to.

(04:16):
I I needed to reset my sleep schedule which is.
We're going to talk about that. Yeah, I, I had to reset it,
which I know, like I, I don't know if that's really a thing
like reset 'cause it is OK, 'cause I don't know why this as,
as a, before we get into, like this is a really weird thing.
Like I like little trivia bits, which I mean, obviously like you

(04:39):
might, if you listen long enough, you might know that.
But like I like little trivia bits and like as a kid, like a
kid up until like maybe mid teenager age, every year my mom
would get me a Guinness Booker World Records.
And I remember one in particularwhere the world record for
longest, like someone staying upfor the longest time was 10 days

(05:01):
and all he needed was 14 hours of sleep to reset his like be
fine. But now the world, the Guinness
Booker World Record does not acknowledge any.
If they, if you're basically trying to go for that, trying to
break the record, they will not acknowledge it because it's
obviously that can kill you to not go.
So I think if the record was 1010 days, but then all they

(05:21):
need was 14 hours of sleep to get back to normal and then he
was fine. But probably way easier for a
dude to do than a girl because this does have a lot to do with
the hormones and the things and theirs are just not as finicky
as ours are. Some time.
Folks with higher testosterone levels than anything I should
say, don't have as hard of a of a time sometimes with these

(05:45):
things than us. I mean it might explain.
Me with estrogens could have. Because I do have like a higher
than like, you know, PCOS and everything.
Like I do have a higher than normal testosterone.
So like for like for a cisgendered woman, Seinfeld at
birth. Is that what I that that that is
what I am. So I that's why I like the

(06:08):
deeper voice, the stupid hair that doesn't belong anywhere.
But yeah, Yep. So before I'll stop interrupting
you if you want to get into intoit.
Yeah, it's gonna be a lot. Yeah, 'cause obviously this,
this, like I said, this is very timely for me.
I mean, like this is timely for my life all the time.

(06:29):
So this is just the thing I've been dealing with since probably
high school. Yeah, yeah.
All right. Well, let's talk about it.
OK, let's get into it and then we can do some catch up and
stuff on the other side of this when we get there.
All right. So I wanted to kind of start out
by like taking it down to like the fucking foundation here and

(06:52):
getting some like proper sleep information, like specifically
around like the stages of sleep.Like you hear a lot about R.E.M.
and non R.E.M. and like I feel like that shit gets thrown
around a lot. But like, do we actually
understand what those cycles are?
What do they mean? How do they work?
How do they present in our bodies?
What are they for? So I kind of wanted to start

(07:12):
with like the basics of what a sleep cycle looks like, what
sleep patterns are and go from there.
So I will always we will have sources cited in the show notes
if you would like to find this information.
This first bit is going to come from the Cleveland Clinic.
So we're going to start with letting y'all know and I need to
move my microphone. So I'm going to be reading over

(07:33):
here so that I'm not speaking away from it.
What is non REM sleep? So there's there's two kinds of
stages, right? I'm going to use the word stages
a lot so I don't get you confused.
There's R.E.M. and non REM sleep.
OK, I'm going to talk about non R.E.M. first because it's the
one that occurs. This is this.

(07:54):
Is the one that they haven't lost their religion yet?
Yes. Right.
Yeah, that's good. That was good.
I'm I'm kind of tired myself, sothis is going to be interesting.
And also if this shit makes legitimately no sense and it
seems well, a little out of order.
I realized up until a certain point in my notes, which was me

(08:16):
being almost done, that I did all of these unmedicated because
I forgot to take my meds this morning.
And I compiled all of this this morning.
And there was a particular sentence in there.
It was like Tokyo stimulants or drugs, but two hours before bed
when I saw drugs, I was like, shit, I forgot to take them.
OK, anyway, non REM sleep, here we go.

(08:38):
There are actually 3 stages of non R.E.M.
So stage 1 is the lightest stageof sleep, and you enter this
right after you fall asleep. Usually lasts only a few minutes
and it makes up about 5% of yoursleep time.
So stage 2 is still light sleep,but it's deeper than stage 1.

(08:58):
And during this stage, your brain waves slow down and have
noticeable pauses between short,powerful bursts of electrical
activity. Experts think those bursts are
your brain organizing memories and information from the time
you spent awake. It accounts for about 45% of
your sleep time, the most of anystage.
And you'll go through multiple rounds of stage 2 non REM sleep

(09:21):
and usually each one is longer than the last.
And then there are hold on stage3 mouse.
Excuse me, I'm trying to be a professional.
And the mouse is a sling. It's a, it's a, it's a Oh.
My God, my mouse was dead out. No, it's probably in stage 3 non
R.E.M. Here we go.
You ready? The stage 3 non R.E.M. is the

(09:42):
deepest stage of non REM sleep and takes up about 25% of your
sleep time in adults. But babies and children need
more of this. You The older you get, the less
stage 3 non R.E.M. you will need.
Pause. And for anyone that is
wondering, like R.E.M., R.E.M. It is rapid eye movement.
I'm gonna get. There, Yeah.

(10:03):
I'm just saying like, 'cause like we're saying the acronym a
lot. So I'm like just just R.E.M.
Is rapid eye movement just that's what that means.
Yeah, it it's in the notes. I swear I was gonna explain it.
It's what did I say? The older you get, the older you
get, the less stage 3 non REM sleep you need.

(10:25):
This is very important because if you don't get enough of stage
3, you cannot wake up feeling rested.
You could sleep for hours and hours and hours and it won't
matter. You're not going to feel like
you got any sleep at all. That's why your body
automatically tries to get as much stage 3 into your sleep

(10:45):
period as early as possible. During this stage.
Your brain waves are slow. Mouse, sorry but strong.
Your body takes advantage of this very deep sleep stage to
repair injuries and reinforce your immune system.
Because stage 3 non REM sleep isso deep it's hard to wake

(11:08):
someone someone up from it. If they do not wake up or I'm
sorry, hold on. If they do wake up, they'll
probably have sleep inertia, a state of confusion or mental
fog. After stage 3 non R.E.M, your
body moves into stage 2, which is the gatekeeper of REM sleep.
So here we go. R.E.M., or rapid Eye Movement

(11:30):
sleep, is the stage of sleep where most dreams happen.
Its name comes from how your eyes move behind your eyelids
while you're dreaming. During REM sleep, your brain
activity looks very similar to brain activity when you're
awake. REM sleep makes up about 25% of
your total time asleep and your first R.E.M.
Cycle is usually the shortest. It lasts about 10 minutes and

(11:54):
each one that follows is longer than the last one, up to an
hour. When you fall asleep, you
typically enter non R.E.M. stage1 and then cycle between non
R.E.M. stages 2 and three. After that you go into REM sleep
and start dreaming. After the first R.E.M.
Cycle. You start a new sleep cycle and
go back into stage 1 or two and the cycle starts over.

(12:18):
One cycle normally lasts about 90 to 120 minutes before another
one begins. Most people go through four or
five cycles, assuming they get afull 8 hours of sleep.
So how many cycles you do depends on how many hours of
sleep you get. Makes sense.
Questions, concerns, thoughts? Are you frozen?

(12:44):
Hello. Hello.
Can you hear me? I couldn't.
First he was frozen. He was.
Frozen Oh, oops. Anyway, so, so I always thought
that like REM sleep, like, I mean, I, I, I knew about this
because I found out about it like probably within the past

(13:05):
couple years, but like up until I got the past couple years, I
always like every time like I, Ihear like I would hear like REM
sleep. It would seem like that was like
your deepest sleep, like whatever, because like whenever
you like, obviously it's like when you see in movies or TV
shows when someone's like eye, like eyeballs are moving like
underneath their eyelids and it's like, oh, they're dreaming.
It's kind of like when a dog is like kicking their leg or

(13:27):
something. Like, Oh, you can tell that
person's dreaming. And to me, like dreaming is the
deepest sleep. Like in my mind, like I know
it's not, but like, like I know now, but like in my mind it's
like, Oh, well, obviously that'slike your brain obviously the
most relaxed, the most like obviously it's not relaxed
because it's going through the motions of dreaming and your,

(13:47):
your activity is your brain activity, like you said, is as
if it's your awake. But I wonder if like, that's
also why I don't feel I've always wanted to do like a sleep
study just to see like what my brain activity is.
Because I've done like those things where I wore like a smart
watch, like a Fitbit and had it to where and saw like the cycle

(14:08):
of, Oh, this is where you're probably your deepest sleep
because based on your breathing and your heart rate and stuff.
But I've always like been kind of curious like what my brain
activity is 'cause I feel like Ihave dreams that last the entire
night. And I know like time is
different in dreams. What, what feels like 8 hours
could be like maybe an hour in real time type of thing.

(14:30):
But like I will wake up and likestill be like like half
cautiously in the dream and I'lljust roll back over and go right
back into the dream. Like I maybe it's like that way
that's why I don't feel rested because they say like a lot of
people don't dream. A lot of people don't dream in
color. A lot of people don't like the

(14:50):
like the average dream is like aminute long or something like
that. And it's, but I feel like mine
last. Yeah.
I feel like mine last for hours.So it's almost like an inception
type of moment. But yeah, yeah.
So maybe that's why like I don'tfeel very well rested all the
time because I feel like my mostof my night time like sleep

(15:11):
schedule is, but with REM sleep instead of the non REM deep
sleep where you get the most rest.
Yeah. That's possible.
It's possibly. I did not dig that far.
Again, this is even though this is a bigger episode, this is not
all there is to possibly know about this.

(15:32):
Like there's people, there's little scientists that talk like
just sleep. And we even even they are like,
well, we don't know why we dream.
We don't really understand, likesleep cycles, what the point is.
Biologically, yeah. Of the dream, yeah.
OK, so let's bring it on back toour people.
What does this have to do with neurodivergent folk?
I asked the old Google question.I said How common are sleep

(15:56):
disorders in neurodivergent people?
And you know what? It's a whole ass problem over
here. It's a whole ass problem.
Sleep problems in autistic patients range from about 32 to
71 point. 5%, it's a big range. That's a big old range,
especially when you're talking about insomnia, and an estimated

(16:20):
25 to 50% of people with ADHD report having sleep issues.
In general, sleep issues affect about 86% of people with
intellectual abilities, disabilities of all kinds.
So if you have some sort of intellectual disability, you

(16:40):
fall under that umbrella, which could be a myriad of things.
You are potentially 86% more likely to have sleep issues than
people who have neurotypical brains.
We were wired to not sleep, right?
So like that's an issue, right? And we're going to get into why,

(17:04):
why does this happen for us? Why is that an issue?
Are you, are you shocked by thatstatistic Before I move on?
No, because every time, like my,the, the person that prescribes
my ADHD medication, like I, I dolike a every three months, like
I'm, I'm a check up with her andevery time.
And I granted, this is probably just like her battery of

(17:26):
questions. She asks everybody, but she
always asks and how are you asleep?
And so I know she's asking because like I'm assuming has to
do with the medication that I'm taking.
But it's also like, and so I told her I'm like, well, I mean,
my sleep has always been off even before taking medication.
And then she's always, and she always offers like, well, I can

(17:46):
prescribe something. I'm like, I don't want to take
something that like like if basically if I get tired enough,
like if I get to the point whereI absolutely need to be like a
fall asleep and I can't, but I feel like I can't, I will take
something like an allergy pill or dramine or something, which I
know is like, I'm just basicallyusing the side effect of those
two things to, to fall asleep. But I, I just, I don't know why.

(18:10):
I just don't want to take like aprescribed sleeping pill.
And I've tried melatonin. Melatonin does not work.
It gives me crazier dreams. It gives me restless leg
syndrome. It does not work on me.
And so it's like it's almost like it's not like it's like I'm
scared about being like habit forming.
It's just I don't, I don't, I can't really explain my
reasoning of like, no, I don't want to take a prescribed

(18:32):
prescribed like a night, night time pill.
I just, I just don't because normally most of the time I
forget to take it on time anyway.
And then I would just wake up groggy and just pissed off.
So which I get, but you said something important there, which
is timing and we will get into it and the fact that melatonin
doesn't work for everyone and there is going to be a list of

(18:54):
things of like what we can do about this later on.
It is one of those where it's like, take what you want, fuck
off with the rest, right? Because some of this shit just
won't work for you. And that's just how this is.
But let's get into why do we struggle so much?
Like why are we so much more likely to experience sleep

(19:14):
problems? So this next bit comes from
neurodivergentinsights.com, one of our favorite sources.
It will be in there. They have specific options for
like just ADHD and sleep, just autism and sleep.
This is like a synopsis of both.So we can struggle with sleep
for a multiple multitude of reasons.

(19:37):
Co occurring conditions like anxiety, depression and GI
issues. Sensory sensitivities that keep
the body agitated and prevent relaxation.
Less REM sleep for ADHD and autistic people in general.
So like in general we just get less REM sleep for some reason
so I don't know why we do. Again, that would be a whole

(19:58):
episode in itself, but it it is scientifically studied and seems
to be. Well known that and well
repeatable that most ADHD autistic people actually
experience less REM sleep. So I think it's more about not
necessarily more about having more of one cycle than another,
but it's important to have a completion of a cycle in

(20:20):
general. And I don't know that we get
through the 1st stages quick enough or in the proper way to
be able to get to REM sleep in general.
So if like we don't get through to get to sleep to to like stage
2 and three and then cycle back,we can't get to R.E.M.
So like it's harder to get there, therefore there's less of

(20:41):
it. Avoidance of sunlight during the
day due to light sensitivity, which can lead to disruption of
security and rhythm. Also, some people just don't
like fucking going outside. OK, like I'm one of those
people. I have heat intolerance issues
in the summer. You won't catch me outside.
How about that? You just won't.
You can catch me in the house minding my own goddamn business

(21:04):
because I will be blown up like a damn balloon.
Iron deficiencies and dopamine abnormalities are the presumed
cause of restless leg syndrome, which can be a reason for not
sleeping very well. Co occurring breathing related
sleep disorders like sleep apneacan cause this issue.
If this mouse don't stop fuckingme up we're going to have I'm

(21:27):
going to throw it through the window anyway.
Small freak out over genetic mutations impacting melatonin
secretion and regulation, circadian rhythm issues and then
harmful associations with bedtime, which was interesting
and I didn't get too far into itin this because again, that
could be an entire episode in itself.
But there was an interesting tidbit on this site.

(21:51):
So just click this link you wantto read further about that, that
basically the longer you lay there in bed and you struggle to
fall asleep, you can start to like overtime associate going to
sleep or going to your bed with anxiety, knowing that you're not
going to get any sleep when you go lay down.
And then just starts to create like a cycle and a pattern.
And eventually, like you've subconsciously started to relate

(22:14):
your bed or bedtime with this negative thing, which means
like, I'm not going to fall asleep.
So why even try, right? And then it just becomes part of
an issue. And then I wanted to dive into
like circadian rhythm for a minute because what the fuck is
that, right? Like we've heard, I've heard it
before. I feel like it's something that

(22:34):
is probably more widely known. But let's define it anyway.
So this is going to come from Cleveland Clinic.
So if you want to click that link and do some clicking around
in there, you can. Your circadian rhythm makes sure
that your body's processes perform optimally at different
points during a 24 hour period. Scott, like this part, we're

(22:55):
learning Latin. Circadian in Latin means a round
or approximately, AKA circa and then a day or diem.
So circadian is where we got that which yay Latin.
Your circadian rhythm coordinates the physical and

(23:17):
mental systems throughout your body.
For instance, your endocrine system controls your hormones
like cortisol for energy expenditure, and your digestive
system creates proteins to matchthe timing of your meals.
Your circadian rhythm connects to an internal clock in your
brain. This internal clock is located
in a tiny cluster of cells knownas the suprachysmatic nucleus,

(23:39):
or SCN for short. The SCN in a part is in a part
of your brain called the hypothalamus.
Throughout the day, internal clock genes in the SCN send
signals to control the activity throughout your body.
The SCN is sensitive to light, and light influences the signals
that the SCN uses to coordinate circadian rhythms in your body.

(24:01):
That's why circadian rhythms closely relate to day and night.
So get your ass in the sunlight,even if it's through your
winter, OK? Like you need it.
Your body needs to learn. Or if it's gloomy outside,
right? Like even just stepping outside
when it's gloomy is still good. But if you can't turn on all

(24:22):
your lights, right? Like turn on every light in
your. Fucking head 'cause even.
Get bright in there. Like there's a reason why they
say like don't use like cell phone, like don't watch like a
don't use a screen before falling asleep.
It's like not only because obviously like your brain, it's,
it stimulates your brain activity, but also because like
it's the light, the light source.
It's it's because especially like, I feel like back in the

(24:45):
day before, like the invention of electricity, they probably
like you ever see like those movies where I never understood
like besides people like on farms, I'm talking about people
like in cities and stuff like how did they just wake the fuck
up without lights, without like electricity, without alarm
clocks? And but it's also like they
probably just slept better back then.
Like not obviously not not everybody.

(25:05):
They probably, you know, they still have neurological
disorders back then too, but it's also like they just there
wasn't. As much light pollution and
yeah, they they'll be. They just were.
Able to wake up like, oh, the sun's up, I'm up, the Sky's
awake, so I'm awake, you know, and so so it's like, and
obviously, you know, that's why it's like I always like kind of

(25:27):
joke that like, well, I've just ascended from, from the hunt,
like the, the whoever the huntergatherer was of the tribe, of
the group of the clan, whatever that was like the night watch
person, that was me. OK, that was my job.
I took third shift so that that's that's my ancestors.
Now we could get into an entire conversation and probably a

(25:47):
whole other episode about like day people versus night people,
right? And like, maybe your circadian
rhythm is just set differently. But that doesn't make it wrong,
right? Like it just for our society.
Maybe it's not ideal, but like you said, back in the day, you
would have been relied upon heavily, right?
Like because you could stay up all night and then sleep during

(26:09):
the day and be fine. But I think that is again, a
whole nother episode itself, butvery interesting and I would
love to actually learn more about that.
OK, so that's just some of the reasons.
OK, this not an exhaustive list,as we've said.
So why is this? Why do we need good sleep,

(26:30):
especially as neurodivergent people?
OK, what is the what's the difference?
Why is it so much more importantfor us than it might be for
neurotypicals? It's important for everyone, no
matter who you are, it is important to get good sleep,
period, end of story. But it seems to have.
A. Larger effect on us because we

(26:51):
aren't wired to get good sleep, therefore we're going to have
consequences for that. So let's let's talk about it.
During sleep, we release chemicals called
neurotransmitters. These chemicals help regulate
our mood, aid in learning and growth, and control our sleep
wake cycle. For example, when we're
sleeping, our brains release serotonin, which helps regulate

(27:13):
our mood and makes us feel good.Acetylcholine, which is
important for memory consolidation, learning, and
attention. Melatonin, which regulates the
sleep wake cycle and helps us feel sleepy.
Growth hormone, which helps the body grow and repair.
When we don't get enough sleep, our brains don't get the chance
to release these chemicals. When we're sleep deprived, we're

(27:34):
more likely to feel grumpy, anxious, and irritable.
Duh. Plus it's harder for us to focus
and learn new things, probably because all of these
neurotransmitters were not released properly.
Lack of sleep can lead to an increase in levels of cortisol
throughout the day, which is a stress hormone that can
contribute to feelings of anxiety and difficulty relaxing,
and it also disrupts our circadian rhythm.

(27:56):
So there's that circadian rhythmagain, all right?
So what? What the fuck, right?
Like what do we do about this? What the fuck is going?
On what the fuck is going on? So what do we do about it,
right? Or first of all, we, we have
thoughts. Do you have thoughts about any
of this? Like about all the the hormones
of it all. I mean, it makes sense because

(28:22):
like, I don't know, body chemistry is just fucking weird,
right? It's just, yeah, it the fact
that these little like, not microscopic, but little, just
tiny little things, you just have some like the 1% of you
could be off, some like off and it's your entire day or life or
whatever is ruined. Like it just, to me, it's just,

(28:42):
it's just fascinating about how the tiniest thing can just
completely change everything. Like your personality, your
like, like you said, your sleep schedule, your how, how, how
will you act? I will say in my personal
experience, I don't feel like I get particularly irritable when
I don't get sleep. Like I don't feel like I'm

(29:05):
because I know people that if they're tired, they're pissy.
I won't name. Yeah, well, I wasn't.
It's actually not you that I wasthinking of.
And I doubt he'll listen to this, but Scott.
Scott, I love you, but like God does.
Listen to our show. I know, but it's also like he he
won't. I feel like he, he'll probably
agree because like, like when wewere like when we were in Spain,

(29:28):
like he would be the one to wakeme up.
Like I was set an alarm too. But like, because he's more,
he's way more of a morning person.
Like he'll, you know, 100% say that.
And that's obviously that's justa fact.
But it's also like if he did notget enough sleep, he was pretty
irritable where I was. Like, if I was irritable, it's
not because of the lack of sleep, it's just for other
reasons, if that makes sense. Where it's just, I feel like,

(29:52):
yeah, I feel like, like, like when and you know, we can talk
more about this on the other side, but it's like, like
whenever I was, we were driving,you know, I didn't get any sleep
when we were driving down to Florida.
And you could be like I said, you not only could you not tell
based on like how I was driving or how I was acting, but it's

(30:13):
also like I didn't seem irritable at all.
So it's like I don't get, I don't get irritable for lack of
sleep. I just get irritable for other
reasons. Very, very minute, small reasons
sometimes, but it's it's like like I don't really get so, but
I get it like when like my mom'sthe same way, like she doesn't
get irritable with black asleep because she has like the similar
like sleeping pattern than I do where, you know, we stay up

(30:35):
late. We could, we could thrive off
very little sleep, that sort of thing.
Like I wish I was one of those people that could sleep
normally. Like I feel like I would feel a
lot better just in general. Cause like lack, like sleeping
problems can obviously lead to depression and everything.
Because that's why they said like you need a good mattress,

(30:56):
you need to have a good environment to sleep in and all
this stuff. And because sleep is so
important, so vital, it's probably one of the most
important things, like, besides like diet and like activity, you
know, like, not like exercise, but you know what I mean?
Like some people can't. Physical activity.
Yeah, physical activity and likediet, like sleep is probably

(31:17):
like, you know #3 in that. Yeah.
Whale, whale. Hi again.
Technical difficulties abound. This is incredibly late now,
yeah. We're about a week or like

(31:38):
almost a week after recording whatever you heard before that
transition, because if you didn't hear like last week when
we when we were actually recording was the day that
Google cloud services went down.So that being which is also part
of the service that we use. And so it went down like as we

(32:00):
were recording and we were like,what the hell is going on?
We were shitting bricks because we were done.
We were done, we were done. Go to fun and fuckery.
And then she just disappeared from the call.
And then it wouldn't let me savethe IT wouldn't let me end the
recording, wouldn't let me do anything and I was shitting
bricks. I'm like, we just did an entire

(32:20):
episode. I'm going to completely fucking
record this. But Amanda and all her genius
was like, let me e-mail the company and see if they can
figure out how to save what we already had.
And by some fucking grace of whatever deity you believe in,
they did. They saved it, and they saved
most of it. They saved about 45 minutes of
it. So which is fine.

(32:40):
And we did. So it's like it's it's saving US
45 minutes of time. Yeah.
It saved the meat and potatoes. OK.
That's what we needed. It saved the meat and potatoes.
The gravy was what's missing. And that's totally fine.
We can add the gravy back. And that's what we're about to
do. We're about to add the gravy
back, so the portion that I am going to start off with that is
going to be cut from the last episode because even though it's

(33:02):
there, you can't really hear it.It sounds like I'm not
completing my sentences. We're going to start with what
what can we do about trying to get better sleep?
OK, I want to just kind of end it with this and then we'll hit
you with the fun and fuckery andpray to Jesus that this places
together properly in editing andit should be fine.
If I know anything about audio editing in my, I think combined

(33:25):
total like 4 1/2 years of podcasting, I should be able to
get this done. I have the faith.
Let's figure this out, let's getgoing.
OK, So what can we do about trying to get better sleep?
We can possibly start tracking our sleep cycles and identify

(33:46):
the things that might be keepingus up at night.
So if you are a person who likesto track your patterns and
you're very analytical person, this might be a good help, you
know, helpful thing for you kindof keep a little maybe a little
journal or like a notes app thing on your phone that just
says like, you know, maybe when you fell asleep, when you woke
up, how you felt when you woke up.

(34:08):
What do you think might have kept you up at night?
Like was it a little bit warm inyour room?
Did your pajamas not feel right while you were sleeping or
whatever? Right.
If you're a person like Amanda who goes long, long sense of
time without getting any sleep, you could try doing a sleep
reset. So all of this with the caveat

(34:30):
to say, please don't do this thing.
If you work a job where you operate heavy machinery, drive a
vehicle, or responsible for people's lives in in any
capacity, OK, please don't do this.
But you could try a sleep reset,which is just kind of getting
through the day without a nap, without caffeine, and then at a

(34:50):
good time for you to be going tosleep, like get as far as you
possibly can in your day. Like if you can get to like 738
o'clock, whatever, like a decenttime of night to go to sleep.
Take a melatonin or some sort ofsleep aid or something like
right before, about 30 minutes to an hour before you're ready
to fall asleep and let that helpkind of reset your clock.
OK? That's what those sleep aids are

(35:11):
for. They're not to like just knock
you out and make you sleep. It's meant to be used again,
consult your doctor, but like they're meant to be used to help
reset your cycle. Some people literally can't
sleep without them. My children, almost every single
night, unless they have like literally ran themselves ragged
all day long, will most likely need them.
They just don't. I don't think they produce the

(35:32):
level of melatonin they need to just turn their little brains
off and go to bed. So they use one almost every
night. I used to, I do not anymore.
My body's clock kind of figured itself out 'cause I started
waking up about the same time every day, going to bed about
the same time every night. I also take meds that make me
just a certain medication I takemakes me a little bit sleepy.
So it helps, but it's not like asleep aid, but you get it.

(35:56):
You get the whole thing. Establish like a bedtime
routine. So things that you only do
before you're going to go to bedor like in preparation to go to
bed. So if you're a skin care girly
like me, make this your night time skin care routine.
Keep a couple of products that are like strictly for night time
use that you only use at night. For me, it's my actives.

(36:18):
I use an adapalene gel, which isa retinoid.
It helps with, you know, the acne and the scarring and the
the very fine lines and the wrinkles.
It's like the gateway drug to like treadnolin and like bigger
actives that really do a lot more to your skin.
So I've started active. So that's what I do at night and
I can only use those at night because I don't like to use that

(36:40):
and then put sunscreen on because when you use an active
it makes you much more, you know, susceptible to burning and
shit. And we are in the summer, so
that's a night time only thing. Something like that.
Do something that you only do atnight.
Kind of start to teach your mindand body that when I do
something. Relaxing too, so.
Yeah, something relaxing too 'cause also for me skin care is

(37:01):
relaxing, for other people mightbe stressful as fuck.
Yeah, 'cause, and, and we're saying this to people who are
probably not good at routines. Like I am not good at routine.
Like I am a very routine person.But it's also like, like like
she said earlier, I'm one of those people that has a hard
time getting to sleep. I just, no matter what kind of

(37:21):
routine I have, I just have a hard time getting to sleep.
But try to avoid screens, stuff like that.
Yeah. So something else is like
limiting your sensory disturbances.
So like if you know that, like you don't like a certain kind of
like feeling of fabric, like don't sleep with that.

(37:42):
Like if you need to sleep naked one night, dude that tried
sleeping naked. Some people do really well doing
it OK, sometimes you just the way your clothes and your sheets
and your blankets are reacting to each other might be pissing
your body off enough to be like,we can't do this, so try that.
Some nights I have to because myI'm just having a sensory
problem and everything doesn't feel right.

(38:03):
So I do. Makes my husband happy.
But you know. But keep your room cool as well.
My polar bear ass is always, my house is always set to like 66
or 67. I know the shock, the horror,
the awe, the electric bill. I don't really care.
I can't function or sleep if it's fucking hot in here.

(38:25):
So that is one of the things I it's a sacrifice I am willing to
make to be able to sleep well and not blow up like a balloon.
Even Amanda, Amanda's lizard ass.
Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, please. Even Amanda's lizard ass might
benefit from keeping her house alittle colder at night to get a

(38:47):
little bit better sleep. Because when it's cold, you're
like, I want to cuddle up into blankies and then before you
know it, you're nice and cozy and then you're going to the 99,
OK? Like, it's tricks.
We got a trick, this brain of ours, it, it's a beast.
We got to get it. We got to be smarter than it
sometimes, OK, make your room asdark as you possibly can within
your comfort level. This is something that I've

(39:09):
struggled with for years. Used to sleep with like blaring
bright ass television because I need the light and the noise.
Now we've sort of made a compromise where the noise is
quite low and the TV is set to like the darkest possible
settings at night. We have like a custom setting
for it. So we just turn it on that
custom setting every night and it makes the TV damn near black.

(39:31):
So I get a tiny, tiny bit of glow, but it's basically dark in
our room. It's something I've worked on
for a very long time. But just don't, don't push too
hard because if you're someone who's genuinely scared of the
dark then you're not going to fucking sleep anyway.
But just maybe work on getting your room a little darker and
darker. Even our squirrel ass brains who
most of the time have an opposite reaction to stimulants,

(39:53):
therefore they chill us out. They don't make us speed because
of how it affects our bodies, even us.
It's good to avoid those about 2:00-ish hours before bed.
If you're someone like me, wherethat shit will just linger in my
fucking system for even longer than that, avoid it even before
that. I try to quit caffeine around

(40:16):
like 5-6 o'clock if I can. Sometimes I don't.
That's fine. But I'm also a sleepy bitch.
I don't really struggle anymore with getting sleep.
It's pretty rare. I'm fucking tired all the time
thanks to chronic illness. But again, if you're not, try
this. Like Amanda said earlier, try to

(40:37):
avoid the electronics and the screens.
The bright ass light tells your brain that it's time to not be
asleep. You know we got to trick that
brain. No exercise within two hours of
sleeping. My husband is a fucking culprit
of this. He loves to exercise at night
and then bitches that he can't. He didn't get no rest and I'm
like that's because you're waiting till fuck at 8/30, 9:00

(40:58):
at night to go do your workout and then you are up which wakes.
Your body up which wakes. Your body up and so like even if
you're tired when you do your workout, I always feel more
energized after a workout. I could be dead ass tired and do
a workout and have more energy and then some dolphins can get
to his head, right? It just won't sink in.

(41:20):
But I can't tell him. Nothing.
But then he takes a nap. It's like, it's like if you
didn't take a nap. Then maybe that's what I'm
saying. If you replace your workout with
the nap then we'd be fine. Not me shitting on my husband on
my fucking podcast. Sorry babe, just kidding we love
you. He really is a St. though.
Like for real He, I, he I don't deserve him.
Keep going. Don't watch the clock when

(41:41):
you're laying there, OK? Don't watch the clock.
If you like, get in into bed andyou're not falling asleep and
you're like, I know I've been laying here forever.
How long have I been laying here?
Like don't, don't do all that. Don't watch the clock.
Don't watch the time kick down. If you're not tired, get up and
get out of bed. OK, Get up and get out of bed.
Don't lay there for too long. Don't watch the clock.

(42:02):
You could do a sound machine. You don't even have to purchase
one. Get on the good.
Old tubes. There's also apps like I, I use
sleep, I use a sleeping app where not all the time, but you
can like make certain settings on it to make your own sleeping
sounds. Like I use like heavy rain and
like distant Thunder. And you can adjust this, the

(42:23):
volume of each individual sound.And you can like there's traffic
noises, there's like jungle noises like crickets and stuff
like that. There's, there's, there's and
they're free. So there's tons of things you
could do and you can send them to be for like an hour, 4 hours,
8 hours. So look at look at the App Store
or the Play Store. You can find something like
that. And then the last few things is

(42:45):
you could maybe try a weighted blanket if you like that, like
light pressure on you, blackout curtains.
That's not something I can do. I need the light to come in
through my curtains in the morning to like tell my brain
it's time to wake up or I will fucking I will pull in Amanda
and sleep for 48 straight hours.I will.
I have to have those cues of light and dark.

(43:08):
My brain needs it or I will justdecide.
That's why when it's fucking gloomy out for days, I I'm
tired. I will be tired.
I will be tired like my brain needs the the cues it it really
does. Whereas for whereas for me, like
rainy days make me want to sleep'cause like I if I use a
sleeping like a sound machine, Ialways use rain 'cause it's just

(43:29):
so serious. It rains.
It's like, well, it's nap time. It's like, damn it, we've
tricked our brains too much. No, anytime it actually like
brains, it's time for bed. Have lockers pause so.
Yes, yes, earplugs, if you're one of those people that needs
dead ass silence. Could not be me, could not be

(43:49):
me, but it might help you. Sleep mask again, could not be
me. Can't have that shit on my face.
Even the nice ones that like they're made with the little
thing that like makes it sit offyour face.
Can't have it on my face, but itmight help you.
And then finally, if this is like a serious, serious issue
and you've literally tried everything and there's nothing
that helps you fucking sleep. And it doesn't seem to matter

(44:11):
how much melatonin or if you've tried all of the cycles and the
getting the light and the wakingup and all the fucking things,
right? You've talked to a doctor and
everything's not working still. There is actually cognitive
behavioral therapy for insomnia.And I did not know this.
And I think that's cool shit because you know me.
I've been in therapy for like the last, I don't know, eight
and a half, nine years. I still go all the time.

(44:32):
Sometimes I have to go weekly like right now cuz trauma is a
bitch. But it's important.
It's important if you've if you've lasted longer than 10
years on this planet, you need therapy.
OK, you need therapy. I'm, I'm a firm believer you
don't get, no one gets out of this life untraumatized.
That could be causing you to have insomnia problems.

(44:54):
And maybe you don't even realizethat that's what the issue is.
So working with the cognitive behavioral therapist can maybe
help you work through those things.
Ask your healthcare team, your medical professionals.
If you currently have a therapist, ask them if they know
how to do this, if this is something that they are trained
in. If not, ask them to refer you to
somebody who is. You can do a sleep study type of

(45:18):
thing, like if maybe it's not necessarily that you're have a
hard time falling asleep, but that you have a hard time
staying asleep, they can see whyso.
My God, talk to your doctor. Like for real.
If this is a serious issue, liketalk to your doctor, let them
know. Like I literally can't sleep.
I never sleep. You might have some sort of
chemical imbalance that needs tobe checked or something going

(45:39):
on. Like maybe you have severe sleep
apnea and you don't know and that's what's keeping you up at
night and you just don't realizeit.
Like there could be things goingon.
That's what sleep studies are for.
There are whole ass doctors thatthis is their whole job is to
study sleep, right? Researchers, It's their whole
job to study sleep. So there are people out there,
there's things out there. Go and get some help for it, OK?

(46:01):
We are big advocates of the science, OK, the science.
And yes, I'm a woo woo bitch, all right?
But I'm not going to sit here and tell you that if you have
severe insomnia that you should go put a crystal on your pillow
and it'll make you go night, night.
I'm not going to tell you that. I'm not going to tell you that
as woo woo as I am, I'm never going to sit here and tell you

(46:23):
that the crystal going to fix your problems.
Go to the fucking doctor, OK? Please go to the fucking doctor.
Please. If you want to add woo woo stuff
on top of going to medical professionals, fine, do you Boo,
But go to the goddamn doctor. That is our disclaimer, OK?
Go to the goddamn doctor. Are you ready for fun and
fuckery? Because I sure AM.
Yep, let's let's get to it and hopefully you know it doesn't

(46:45):
break this time. So hopefully it stays this time,
probably doesn't die when I go to hit the fucking button like
it did last time. Oh, it's a trauma.
OK, here we go. Ready.

(47:09):
All right, it worked. Which is what happened last time
she went to click the button andI was still here.
And then she's like, we're like,hello, why isn't the button not
working? And then I disappeared.
And then so I messaged her. I'm like, did did Stream Yard
crash for you? And then every time we reload,
it would be like no healthy upstream.
I'm like, what the fuck does that mean?
And then we found out that the whole website was down.

(47:32):
So we thought it was just streamYard.
But then I saw articles that it was like all of Google cloud
services. So I'm like just.
Took a shit. Just noped out of fucking
existence for a little while. All right, well, you know what?
Let's talk about something fun. Let's talk about Binky today.
Yeah. You ready to talk about Binky
today? This is the Sensational

(47:53):
Adventures of Jeremy of of Sensational Adventures of the
Chronicles of Jeremy. You're of The Fellowship of
Jeremy. I'm sorry.
The Fellowship of Jeremy. Well, I'm gonna get that right
one of these days. Sensational Adventures of
Fellowship of Jeremy. OK, so we've if if you haven't
been following along, I'll give you a tiny, tiny preface.
We have taken our old like season 1 into season 2 thing.

(48:18):
We were doing The Chronicles of Jeremy, which was an AI story
that turned into its own. And basically basically one of
our AI stories like mentioned like a cat and we're like what
it's. So we kind of just built upon
that and just made this whole world and made a whole cast of

(48:39):
characters. And so, and then Nikki decided
she's like, I want to make thesepeople in The Sims.
And so I was like, you go for it.
And so I made her like an Excel spreadsheet so she can like make
her own little character sheets and everything.
And so that's what we've been doing.
And so she we're trying to do like a character, like an update
of a character each time. So.
Yeah, probably. Well, I think what's probably

(49:02):
going to work out best so that you guys aren't getting bored of
everything and that like every week is not Jeremy and every
week is not a mad Lib and every week is not whatever.
I think we've decided on like our weeks that we don't have a
mad Lib or like a question to chat about.
We're going to do a Jeremy update and talk about where they
where they are now. Right.

(49:22):
So this week is Binky, and if you guys don't remember or you
weren't around in the story, Binky was another character's
cat who's actually his pet. OK, even though this character
was. Jeremy's cat, wasn't it?
No, it was Finnegan's cat. It was Finnegan's.
I keep Finnegan's, yeah, Finnegan's cat and Finnegan the

(49:44):
Finnegan's cat. And so had a cat named Binky the
Hardy. So.
Yep, Binky the Hardy and he got the Hardy later on in the story.
But yes, he started out as Finnegan's like companion friend
and pet cat thing. Then they sort of evolved into
his own character and kind of separated from Finnegan a little
bit. And Finnegan fucked off and did

(50:05):
his own thing. And Binky kind of, you know, ran
with Jeremy a little more so now.
And in the the where we are now of it all, Binky has a little
family now. Because you know what, in the
story, he was just the sweetest.He was the Hardy for a reason,
right? Like he was the sweetest little
thing. He always wanted to help

(50:25):
everybody. He was just there to have a good
old time, you know, And he was big old sweetheart, big old
softie and. He's a.
He's a helper, you know. He's a helper.
Yeah, he's. The that's what he started out
was, wasn't it? Like he was like a person that
went out for quest, like got quest items and stuff for him.
He would go ahead, he would go ahead of everyone and go ahead
of fitting in and like go collect important things for the

(50:46):
quest that they would go on later.
So he was like the companion person.
So he is just a big old sweetheart.
And he moved to Ravenwood with the rest of the gang, OK, That's
where they live in The Sims world's.
Ravenwood moved there with the rest of the gang, bought him a
nice plot of land, OK. And he said he's done.

(51:11):
He's done with the adventure life, OK, He was done with it.
He's like, I want to buy my plotof land, I want to get married,
I want to have a family. I want to be, I want to have
horses, right? Like he wants to live that the,
the nice simple life and just take care of animals and take
care of his, his farm and his family and just live his life,

(51:35):
right? And just enjoy it and be so
fucking happy everyday. Because like, I don't think he
could be sad. I don't think it's in within him
to just be a sad panda. He is just a happy, happy guy,
Pinky. Happy guy.
He's a happy, happy, happy guy. Have you ever seen that video?
The little, little little dogs bouncing around you?
You know that's a theme song. That's a theme song.

(51:59):
Yes, so he met Asia, his partnerat the gym because he still be
staying in a gym rat. OK, He do like to be working out
and they met at the gym he. Said he's Hardy, you know, Bobby
Hardy, I think, like Buff, you know?
Yeah, he's a big old boy, OK, He's a big old boy, but he's not
a big old boy in like a fluffy like bear kind of way.

(52:23):
He's a big old boy in like a large American kind of way, OK?
Like he's just built like a brick shit house, OK.
He's think like, think defensive.
Lineman, defensive lineman type of thing.
Yes, he's like the wall. You can't get through in the
best fucking defensive lineman. They they have he's the tank big
mother fucker. He's the he's the tank.

(52:44):
Yeah, he's the tank. He's huge.
OK, is large American, so he meets her at the gym.
She is AI don't have her character like fully fleshed
out. So I'll give you a not enough to
have her own character sheet. I don't think so.
I'll give you like a small synopsis of her.
Maybe I will do a character sheet later, but she is a child

(53:06):
care provider. She runs daycares.
That's her thing. OK, so she loves kids, but she's
never been married. She's never had her own.
They hit it off and I mean fast fast.
This was like they met. It was love at first sight.
They're like, fuck the rest of the world, I only want you.

(53:27):
And I mean, they were living together within like 3 months of
dating and married by a year. OK, quick, quick as shit, all
right? They wasted zero time.
Then, like within three months of being married, she's knocked
up. All right?
She's pregnant. They're having baby number one,
and they can't be fucking happier about it.

(53:50):
And then comes baby Gretchen. She's so cute.
She's so cute. She looks just like her mother,
just like her mother. It's I don't know what they did,
but they did well on the genetics on that kid.
She's so pretty, She's so cute and she is the fucking happiest,

(54:11):
most Roly Poly, sweetest little shit.
I've never seen it cry. I've never seen it be mad.
It's just a happy little thing. As long as you're feeding it,
holding it or you know, like playing with, it's happy, OK.
It's happy, happy little thing. And she is a daddy's girl.

(54:33):
He's obsessed with her, absolutely obsessed with her.
He will go and like deal with her more than Asia will.
Not that like Asia isn't a loving, devoted mom because she
totally is. But he would like rather do
everything he wants to take careof her.
That's his baby, OK. He's like the best dad.
And if you're wondering where Gretchen came from, it's because
I got the idea from when we weretrying to figure out what,

(54:56):
because we could remember, like at least I could remember
exactly what Pinky's back story was like when he's exactly
showed up in the Chronicles of Jeremy.
And so then I found out like, hestarted out fetching stuff for,
for, for Finnegan King. And I was like, oh, she cuz she
was like, Nikki was like, what should I name the child?
I was like, OK, fetch as in fromMean Girls and it's Gretchen

(55:18):
that says that's so fetch. And so it makes it also makes
sense that she's a daddy's girl because like I think in me, I
haven't seen Mean Girls in a very long time.
So I'm sorry, I get this wrong. But Gretchen's character is the
one that it like her dad had like some like empire.
I forgot what kind of like it was some food, I think where so

(55:39):
she was a daddy's girl because her dad was rich and everything.
And so she loved her dad a lot. And so this makes sense.
Yeah, so we're we're trying to find, like, good reasons to give
these kids a name that makes sense with the story, even if we
have to really fucking reach forit.
OK, this was a reach. It was a big reach, but it's
fine. So they're obviously got their

(56:02):
little family. And he does have three horses
now. I do not remember their names,
so the next time we do an updateI named them, but I don't
remember what I named them. Maybe put on your little pair.
Maybe put maybe on your character sheet.
Put like like What are horse names like?

(56:22):
Put like get horse names so you don't forget.
Yeah, I'm doing it right now. Get horse names.
Because horse names I've been watching like I've never been
like a horse girl. It's not one of the things I've
like was into and I never reallygot a bunch of horse stuff or
anything, but I do, I have been watching like Katie Van Slyke on
Facebook. She owns like a horse farm in

(56:43):
Tennessee. And so I almost thought like I
was like, well, we passed her like farm and everything.
But I think she doesn't, she doesn't live on the because like
from her videos, it looks like she lives off like a highway but
not like the Interstate. So anyway, like so she'll
explain they have a barn name and then like a show name.
So and like the rules for a showname, like they have to be like

(57:04):
a like a limit of like 11 characters or something like
that. And they have to be unique.
So like so you could always havelike a bar name, like what they
what they would call them in everyday life and then like a
show name. Yeah.
So like I named them somewhere in between the two.
So like something that you couldcall them out of their show

(57:25):
name, right. So like one of them is like,
like, think of it like like Binky's American Pride or some
shit like that, right? And we would call it pride or
call it America. Call it America something.
Do you know what? I mean something like that like
one of her horses is like and sometimes like the like the show
name and the bar name do not have to like match it all.
Like she has like 1 horse, like one of her horses, like hot

(57:48):
pistol Annie at the show name and then it's her they call her
Annie but then they have like other names that have nothing to
do with their show name. So it's whatever you can do
whatever the fuck you want. There's no rules.
It's. I did name them, but to be very
honest with you, I I made this character sheet and then decided
later on he was gonna have horses and then forgot to add
the horses horses when I did it.So, so like I said, he's

(58:10):
definitely retired, right? He's no longer questing.
He's no longer interested in whatever the fuck.
He took the payout. Yeah, he took, he took the
payout from from everything. Yes, and he's done.
Like he took his cut at the end of everything when it was all
said and done, The money and thestory.

(58:32):
There's like a big thing that happens with Velvet's brother
Vaughn, and he's a big snake in the grass.
There was money that was paid out to be able to kill Jeremy.
It was a fucking giant amount ofmoney.
They all split it. They're all living happily every
after. None of them ever have to worry
about money ever again, right? And plus, Velvet's Mama is
still. The Queen.

(58:53):
The Queen so Jeremy's family's good, right?
She's she's still, she's still loaded.
But the rest of them, like they didn't really take as much
because they got family money. They don't need it, right?
So they gave most of it to everybody else.
So they're good. Ain't nobody, ain't nobody
hurting for cash here whether they want to work or they don't.

(59:14):
OK, Ain't nobody hurting for cash.
So he's retired country caretaker.
His traits are rancher, cheerful, love, bug, and
collector. So he does love to.
He still loves to collect shit. OK.
He still be loving a good collection.
He's got a lot of shit from his question.
He, he, he got a bit out of autism, you know, He just love
his collection, you know? Yeah, and most of it is like

(59:36):
old, like artifacts and things he does like history and shit
like that. So like artifacts from his quest
and then anything of course to do with like horses and shit.
His skills that he's maxed out on right now, of course is
parenting because again, obsessed with that baby fitness
again, gym rat. And actually before he met Asia,

(01:00:00):
he was actually like working at the gym for a little while, but
it didn't last very long becausehe's like, fuck this.
I don't have to do this no more.I'm just going to be obsessed
with her, right? And just, you know, whatever.
Cooking, fishing, loves to fish guitar.
And handiness. So he like there's this function

(01:00:23):
in the game where you can actually get a tree house, but
you have to build it like The Sims have to build it, so you
have to put them on a task to build it.
And I just thought it was the cutest thing ever because as
much excuse you dog, what are you?
What are you? Doing talking, she sneezed or
shook her she. She stepped on something and,
like, knocked it. Are you?
Well, what's going on over here?You just got to make an

(01:00:45):
appearance, don't you, ma'am? Yeah, I'm sorry, nobody never
paying attention to you. Sorry, doggo interruption.
So they had to actually like build this tree house.
So I had to Max his handiness out.
But I thought it was like a cutelittle thing to like, put the
tree house on his property for Gretchen, even though she's a
baby because like. She's going to grow up.

(01:01:06):
You know, yeah, she's going to grow up.
And like, he's building it for her with his own hands, right?
So like, he's a handy guy, and he built this with his own
hands. Like quite literally in the game
they had to build it with their own hands for the baby.
So I think it's the cutest shit ever.
This is probably the happiest. Like not that Jeremy and Velvet
aren't happy, but they're stressed.

(01:01:28):
The fuck? Out they have like.
What? 6 kids?
Thousand children? Yeah, yeah.
They have like. 6 billion children.
And so it's like, and so while they're capable of taking care
of them because like, you know, but it's also, it's also like 6
kids is a fucking lot, you know?Oh my God, it's I don't even
like playing it to be honest with.
You I know that's anytime I playSims, like I might give them

(01:01:49):
one, like I might make a child, but you can like make it in The
Sims. Like you can age a child up.
Like if I, I never have played The Sims with like the babies in
it because like last time I really like fully played The
Sims like babies weren't in it. I don't think like you just had
children that you made like in the character creation screen,

(01:02:09):
but I cuz like, I don't want my own children.
I don't want to take care of virtual children.
So because there's always like acheat, you can always like do
like this. Like it's like a kind of like a
master cheat code thing where you can age the child up to like
I'd probably age it to like a child and then like, and then
you can like set it to where they don't age up like

(01:02:31):
naturally, because I feel like Sims Sims times go goes by
really quickly, really quickly. So you suddenly have to like,
stop. It and I was like, Oh no, we're
not doing that. She's not going to be an old
lady. Like that ain't happening.
Yeah, you can like control theirage up because it's like I know
I want to like because like it almost seems like it last a
year. It's like your sin like goes

(01:02:51):
like a year in The Sims time. Basically.
It's like they last like a year.It's so crazy.
It's weird, but yeah. So he's like my most happy,
joyous, fun like character set to play with.
Finnegan is still going to be the most like like when I'm

(01:03:14):
feeling. Saucy.
He's the reality show. He's the reality show character.
Yes, for sure. Especially with the drama
between him and Freya. The like, the unspoken love,
right? Like between him and Freya, it's
the whole thing, right? We're going to get into it when
we get into Freya's character sheet too.
But it this is just my the happywhen I'm just like, I just want

(01:03:39):
to be happy today and like pet some horses and like.
They're your chill, they're likeyour chill like chill one.
They're like, they're like the when you put like a lo fi like.
Video. Like when you want to listen to
Lo Fi versus when you want to listen to Keeping Up with the
Kardashians, you know? Yes, yeah.

(01:04:02):
So this is really fun to play. I don't know y'all.
Like there are plenty of people who listen to the show At this
point. I don't know how many of you
give a fuck about The Sims, but if you guys like wanna see us do
Sims content, we do have a gaming channel.
I feel like we don't really evertalk about it on here, but we

(01:04:22):
do. The gaming channel is live it.
It does take a little bit for usto like get new videos and shit
out. We do have a lot of shit planned
for it, but if. You had issues at first?
Yeah, 'cause we had issues like the like my computer, 'cause I
play on like my PC and I didn't realize that it made the files
so large that like Nikki's PC, like Nikki's laptop could not

(01:04:45):
handle rendering them because I didn't real.
It was like, I didn't realize because I built my PC.
It's like a gaming PC and granted it's not like extremely
high end, it's probably like middle of the road PC.
But your graphics. Card's obviously.
Better. Yeah.
My graphics card is a lot stronger than Nikki's and it was
recording at like 2500 versus Nikki's like 1600 or whatever.

(01:05:06):
So. Whatever the specs are, it was
recording like 2 times stronger than Nikki's computer and I
didn't realize it, so I had to. What I had to do is I had to
compress it down myself before Isaid it to her and I, I didn't
think about doing that until wayafter we started the the
channel. I'm like, oh, I cried.
So we were literally done recording Halo one like we were

(01:05:27):
done we we had done all of Reach, but we used my gameplay
for Reach, but we used hers for Halo 1 because I don't want to
always use my gameplay for everything.
And like I think there would have it was more visually
interesting to use her gameplay for Halo one literally recorded
the entirety of the game and then I couldn't edit it.
And I tried using like a beefierediting software and it was just

(01:05:52):
outside of my depth. Honestly, like I am not I'm.
Not too many bells and whistles,Editor.
Us, yeah. It was too many bells and
whistles like it would. It would render them but and
then I had issues exporting themand I didn't know how to
troubleshoot it. No matter how many videos I
watched, it didn't seem to like work out.
So I said fuck it and went back to the editing software that I
could use and I was like, we gotta figure something out and

(01:06:14):
that's. When she was like, let me
compress it. So yeah.
And So what I did is I used it. I used my own Clip champ, which
is just the program that comes with Microsoft, like, you know,
on PC. So what I did is I uploaded my
own videos into clip champ and then exported them into like the
1920 by 1080 or whatever that you know, whatever that
resolution is. And so then said it to her.

(01:06:36):
So basically it turned like for me, like what a 20 gig file into
like that's what my computer would recorded as a 20 gig file
until no even to like four or five.
It's so like that made it so then when upload, I would upload
it to my Google Drive and Nikki would then download it and then
that she's like it worked it worked.
I'm like, OK, thank God, which Iwas worried because it would

(01:06:58):
take like 6 hours to upload to Google Drive because I don't
have like the fastest Internet, but I just have AI just have a
beefy computer. I just don't have good Internet
like I have decent Internet. It's it's fine, it's workable,
but I don't have like the beefiest Internet where Nikki is
the opposite. She is like the high speed
Internet, like the Super high speed Internet, but not the not
not the custom built PC that I have so.

(01:07:19):
Maybe 1? Day, maybe one day we can.
With our powers combined, we make a fully functioning YouTube
slash podcaster you know. Yeah, but I'm having fun editing
it now that like it's working ona on a software that I'm
comfortable with. I think that's really like what
matters. It's like find a software you're
comfortable with. Because now I'm like, I'm able
to add different cute little edits and funny things that like

(01:07:40):
I couldn't, I couldn't even begin to figure out how to
fucking do on the other one. So it's much more visually
interesting now with a program that I can actually use.
So we have a game. All that to say, we have a
gaming channel. It is slowly getting up and
running. But if you guys want to see Sims
content, can you let us know? Like can you either leave a

(01:08:01):
comment, leave a comment like onthe post on Spotify when or on
the episode on Spotify when it comes out, go to our Facebook
page and leave it. I am trying to or actually
Instagram is probably better. I'm going to try to start
getting out more content on Instagram.
It just seems to be the platformthat I'm able to like utilize

(01:08:21):
the easiest. It will end up going to both
Facebook and. Yeah, whereas Instagram, but
Instagram, so I know Nikki's theme, Nikki's more the social
media person where I know how they've been.
Instagram on this, yeah. So I feel like it's easiest for
me to use Instagram right now, so that's probably where I will
be most active. So if you want to find one of
our posts on Instagram or DM us on Instagram, you can totally do

(01:08:42):
that. Let us know that you what you
want to see and also if you guyshave episode suggestions please
DM us on Instagram. Let us know what you want to
see. So and our and our our and this
will be in the show notes, but our YouTube or our gaming
channel is thanks for looking. So Yep.
I actually haven't been put in the show notes.
I will do it this time though. I will add it.
Yeah, it'll our gaming channel will be in the show notes too if

(01:09:03):
you want to go check it out. So with all that being said, I
think we've yapped enough. It's actually starting to storm
here and I have to drive in about an hour, but yeah, so
about 1/2 an hour actually. Yay.
Fucking wonderful. But all right, we love you guys.
All the podcasty things are in the show notes.

(01:09:23):
We got to hit it at least. At least as Julie, Julie do the
thing, I'm afraid there are no more things to do.
Gotta hit it. Double tap, double tap.
Julie and Tinson. All right, guys, we love you.
All the podcasting things are inthe show notes.
Like I said, check out the gaming channel.

(01:09:44):
It's also in the show notes. And we will catch you next week.
We promise. All right.
Bye bye. Goodbye.