Testing, testing, one, two, three.

Okay, it's 9 a.m. on December 18th. Stuck in traffic here at... I think it's... I forgot the exit to St Vincent, whatever it's called. Yeah, passing St Vincent's school now. And trying to listen to the silent patient, I think that's what's called. But... And getting distracted. Relief for Egypt tomorrow. Constantly thinking about... Flight of Horace. And... Yeah. What it really... There's new ways to tell it. It's trying to think of the... The journey... paradigm. What was that movie we were just watching? We were watching that peanut butter falcon. That was a nice movie. The best thing about it is that you're... In order to... You run away and in the process of running away, you almost destroy yourself. But then you... You recover and heal from it and our new person. So it's a rebirth. And a nice story along the way. Is that... I think so. I think... I mean, at least... Yeah, so... I always want to... Tell stories. I mean, if I'm telling stories, or dictating them on the road, does that make me a storyteller? I mean, I'm always thinking about stories. Sometimes I feel like... I have to be like a writer where I'm constantly thinking about grammar. Or do I just like telling stories? I think I love framing everything in terms of a story. Everything, whether it's a technical problem or the weather. But framing everything in terms of the dramatic elements of stories. It's not just a cloud, it's an ominous cloud. Or, you know, it's a cloud that's cloud with vengeance. Clearly that cloud is meant to get us. So, in this sense, I'm trying to make sense of... literally make sense of the story of my parents. By telling a story that fits... one's attempt to make sense of something. So, yeah, I was... I was thinking, okay, well, if the protagonist is trying to figure out... No. If he's tracing the steps, how does he get to the start? Starting. If you grow up in Houston, but you know... You just land in the oil business. But it doesn't feel right. Something's got to change. And... I mean, for the obvious reasons, right? On the surface, you think, oh, you know, he feels guilty that he's not doing his part or the environment. He's just another, you know, one who wants to just rape the earth and make money for himself. Or... Is it that he's really not happy with... Who he is. And so, I was trying to, you know, give some context around him. Maybe he's a... You know, he's a partner in an oil company. And they're literally on their second well. And... He is having trouble with his investors because they would like to change... They would like for him to use other, you know, services that are cheaper. But those services are run by like, you know, all white companies. And he doesn't want that he's asking for minority representation. And so, he would like to have this other services company... To use them. And, you know, in the beginning, the investors didn't really pay attention to what they wanted. They gave him money, he struck oil, paid them off. Now it's taking a little bit longer on the second well. And they're feeling their dollars stretched or not so elastic anymore. And so, yeah. But there are ways to tell this without, you know, in the dialogue. The dialogue can give you the context. And, yeah. So, like the dialogue that was in peanut butter, falcon, that was, you know, obviously for... Shia, Psyllipop, and the food pot in the eyes, I don't know how you say it. But, you know, quick talker and not a stupid person. But why the hell is he in a bad situation? You know, and the dialogue is, yeah, you know, it's deceptive. He says kind of, you know, soft morsh things, but then pulls out a zinger in the middle of it all. So, yeah. But yeah, like, I mean, maybe he runs away from his career, something pulls him away from his career. And then suddenly he realizes he's completely... He has to do this at this point. Maybe it's the discovery of the letters. You know. You know, maybe he has to... oh, he has to post something in the newspaper. It's right in the town of Lameza. And they're not answering his calls or something and he has to go in. And there's something that pulls him in. You know, because they're such a small town that probably... There's stories about their, you know, residents. And I think he learns something. Like, the lady working there is clearly, you know, been working in Lameza parents. And he's been working in a couple generations in Lameza. And, you know, the protagonist absolutely forgot where he was, how close he was to Lameza. He was just so used to flying in the Midland in a jet or taking, you know, the flights, you know, staying in his apartment. And then going to the site and talking to investors, you know, never really thought about where he was. And this great context for who he is, he literally is out in the middle of nowhere. He's conscious, not his conscience, but his sense of self is in the middle of nowhere. And he needs to find it again. And so I think when he goes in and he gives her his name, his legal name for the entry in the paper. And by the way, it's either his turn to go or his partner isn't available. And so it's one of those things. Like, either one of them wants to do it because it's stupid busy work and it keeps it off of the oil business or something like that. Or the lady in Lameza is annoying, like, you know, something like that. We've got to think about it. Or maybe, you know, there's a... Something interesting. And so... Why is he hesitant, you know, out of circumstance? What is the... just the plane all every day recently that you would not want to make the drive to Lameza, you know, pick up some brisket on your way back? Yeah. So... He goes there. And... So... So the hard part is that he had to be like my age. And... And that's fine. But he'd have to have a distinctive last name, something that when the local war... The local war remembers it all too well. So, like, you know, I would think it would have definitely had to be the daughter of someone who married actually one. Yeah. Like, I don't want to stay here, you bet. Well, I mean, it could be the daughter of a man who had a crush on his mother, you know, with a lot of absolute respect. But she could also be responsible for the archives of the newspaper. And... Could be a writer herself, you know? And... And want to know the story. Like, what when she can't, you know, maybe if she was the archivist or what do you call it? You know, responsible for the story from all the back issues of the newspaper. And she, you know, was... You know, there was one story that caught her eye and she could never let it go. That would be pretty cool. I think she would be the one who would be like, you know, because, I mean, he's sensible, but he needs to be broken out of his routine. And the... The non... I don't know. I'm not going to say the one who is a real man. He's money-driven, but the absolutely, you know, is super sentimental. He has no time for this sentence. I'm going to pause here for a while, so...

Okay, starting up again, passing Marina Bay Park right now, continuing on this story line where the protagonist, the oil man, goes into the county paper, well those limesa paper and to put in a notice that they're drilling and or that they're using water, I forget what it is and meets the archivist slash receptionist slash everything and his name absolutely strikes her, you know when he gives her he fills it out with his last name and he has such an unusual last name there's the there's only one other time that she's heard that name before and that was when she was doing research on on one of her you know she's a romance novelist and she failed at it and that was it I mean she she gave up and she settled in the town you know in limesa where she grew up and you know that was that sorry we're trying to exit here and avoid the traffic but yeah so what was interesting I guess is that I think one thing that that we could kind of play with here is that she's trying to convince him that his mother is you know from limesa like maybe maybe he's related to this person and he's telling her he yes that's his father but his mother never never made any kind of claim about limesa or or anything that's yeah and so possible I mean this is one aspect of it I don't know it's I'm not so sure I want this level of deception in you know the character who represents my mother but I mean but then again parents to see all the time they to see out of good reason maybe she wanted you know her son to know just that that was that her grandparents were these two old happy people who died in the home and that was it there was nothing more to be said about it but yeah it's a that's a think about that some more have to decide if if he actually wants to tell her maybe he plays it off maybe he's not interested in you know doing this story you know but she is in fact maybe in some way she's the two of them together are a good pair you know because she is the romantic and once you know how it all worked and he's not and so but yeah either the either she becomes the inquisitive party and he retails the story or she is that spark that leads him on his journey or even better he gets a letter from his uncle that says he has to go to Egypt and yeah but then what would be funny yes is she's a bit of comic relief and she she buys a ticket and just joins him and he has to explain to her it's not that simple that would actually be kind of funny a little Gonzo aspect of the story a little hitchhiker she hitches a ride and he has to then kind of and maybe he has to tell them she's his wife so that everybody accepts it in the family and then you got a little what do you call it romcom going on at my work actually and you know he is the one who's just trying to take care of business all day and and she's the one reading the letters and discovering things and telling him yeah and and it will have to be in her parents apartment and they'll relive she'll relive that experience and tell him about it and even funnier is that like I mean because she has like Mexican American aspect he could either tell everyone she's Mexican American you know and that what I'm doing just like my dad or he could pass her off as an Egyptian maybe there would be one moment where he does pass her off as an Egyptian but everyone knows that she's really a Mexican American or he tries to pass her off as an Egyptian and then one of his relatives finds her passport and it says what are you telling us this is not her name oh even better and you know starts a little and maybe they can say they met a nine you know something like that that would be funny too I think it has the makings of like seriousness in you know the main male protagonist and you've got a funny character who's kind of like a sidekick but female and you know maybe she's a feminist maybe she's got you know other stuff going on I don't know but yeah and uh yeah I mean she sees this local woman from lamisa as her hero and so she she wants to walk in her footsteps there's you know there's a bipolar aspect of this whole story and yeah that's really how it has to work and you know she will have already had a passport because she's been you know trying to do this for so long you know or maybe she already has a passport because she visits her family in Mexico you know and uh yeah something like that um so uh yeah and and she just throws it on her card and throws uh caution into the wind and just takes a chance and uh you know perhaps an even funnier scene is you know with every one of her crazy moments he has a flashback of when his mother would tell him these things and he just never paid attention you know um and we can either make this overt or we can make it a flashback you know if he's serious maybe he doesn't tell her and because he doesn't want to give her any more like justification for her actions she's think she's absolutely crazy for doing what she's doing and so um it's uh you know it's a very interesting situation um and so like on the plane for example uh maybe yeah they're not sitting together there's no way you can just have these pre-arranged seats on an international flight together um but uh and how does she find out he's going to uh Egypt uh that's how we have to figure that out she kind of does some sleuthing and figures it out but um you know she uh she doesn't end up sitting next to him but you know she has a moment where she's freaking out because she can't believe what she just did and maybe this is when he discovers for the first time that she's on the flight with him and uh yeah and and because he's seated in the back or yeah because um if he's seated you know up front or or the person you know she's you know she's obviously getting a last seat on the plane and it's a middle seat in the back and maybe he has an aisle seat um in the front the person who has an aisle seat in the back he uh is offering to trade trade seats yeah because i mean the idea that um she uh she just volunteers to go to Egypt with him that's kind of weird um but yeah that first moment where she has to like she x she i mean this is this is what literally lights a spark under her like everything comes back to that that day when she uh reads the story of how his mother you know when when she hears his name and that name it's literally like creates a flashback in her head and so you have to have the stream of consciousness going both ways and time changing and so when when he fills out the form and she sees the last name she just literally stares at the wall she like stares off in the space where stairs down at the form and is silent for you know and he finally you know taps the uh oh he says hello hello and then she realizes that she had sent this you know this this was uh this moment where she you know wasn't uh paying attention she was daydreaming she was having the flashback and she was literally flustered and speechless she couldn't do anything she didn't know what to do um and that was when you know she but before it's all over it's too late and she didn't you know she didn't know what else to do and so um that's when she tries to find him okay i'm parking so i'm pausing