The Storytellers' Court
Stories
Stories told in conversation, from Budapest internet cafes to lucid dreams. 169 entries.
A
- A book club pulled him back to fiction
Tamir, a software entrepreneur with a shelf of non-fiction, joined a book club in 2020 to read fiction. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World made him feel transported, with…
- A British book for a British reader
Grant's Patreon lottery winner was an Englishwoman, so he sent her Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont, a forgotten British novel she'd never heard of. Her whole book club decided to read it…
- A closeted kid in 1980s rural Alberta
Tyler had a great childhood, with a huge extended family and great parents, but was in the closet with no role models, living a dark double life and feeling locked into a bad fate. Frankl…
- A hundred copies of his collection
Grant planned his story collection as a paid Patreon reward but printed 100 copies, far too many, so he mails one to anyone who joins his Patreon.
- A mother's 'no, that's dangerous'
Nev remembers her mother's intense fear response, a constant 'No, no, no, that's dangerous'. She uses it to show how childhood curiosity gets punished and dulled as we grow older.
- Abandoning the cat at the beach
Salih relates Murakami's memoir of his father: the family left their cat at the beach, drove home, and found the cat already waiting there, inexplicably. Salih takes this as Murakami's real…
- Abraham-Hicks conference
Samantha attended an Abraham-Hicks event in 2022. Measuring it by 'vibrational resonance', she found everything said came from love and acceptance, but she stays one foot in, one foot out…
- Alan Watts: the devil is also you
Tamir's paraphrase of Watts: you privately declare 90 days free of a bad habit to keep the devil away, then wonder why resistance peaks the next day. Who do you think the devil is? You are…
- Angry teen chasing rejection
In high school Mia was furious at her mother for 'giving up' and being 'weak'. Raised by an emotionally shut-down father, she did eight school plays, modeled and went to constant auditions…
- 'Anything with a dragon is stupid'
Grant told an English student named Attila, who called Game of Thrones the best television ever made, that anything with a dragon is stupid. The student was insulted; Grant asked what kind…
- Arguing a dying man into love
Sheela's first husband, Chinmaya, had Hodgkin's disease and a year and a half to live, so he refused to get involved with her because it would be unfair to her. Both loved logic, so she…
B
- Barry Sonnenfeld sat in that chair
Tamir tells Grant that director Barry Sonnenfeld, the Coen Brothers' longtime cinematographer, recently sat in the same studio chair, and jokes that some Hollywood luck may rub off.
- Blindfolded Rubik's Cube kid
Noticing a Rubik's Cube in Tamir's studio, Colin recalls a kid in London who solves the cube blindfolded after studying it for about 30 seconds. Colin didn't ask about his background, only…
- Book club hated his generous scores
In a pandemic book club scoring out of nine, Tamir gave high scores to books he disliked because the author had done a good job. Members hated it as a 'good effort ribbon'; he argued a book…
- Book club turned Tamir to fiction
About four and a half years earlier, during COVID, Tamir joined a book club and set his non-fiction aside. Most of the novels were 'pretty cool' but changed nothing; Murakami was the one…
- Borrowing death salons from Brooklyn
Mia didn't coin 'death salon': she hit it off with a Brooklyn therapist who co-hosts them, gathering strangers to share grief, book excerpts and poetry. Mia has since moved to Boston to…
- Boxing gym with no steroids
Colin boxed as a young man in London. The man who ran his gym banned anyone on juice or steroids because they were there for vanity, not health, and told them to go to Playboy magazine…
- Building a channel from old hard drives
Drawings online weren't enough for Salih, a visual person frustrated that so few Murakami novels have been filmed. He went through years of his own footage on his hard drives, combined it…
- Bullied without a dad
Colin was bullied mercilessly as a child, picked on, beaten up, and mocked even for not having a father. That pushed him into boxing. He says it made him stronger, not weaker.
- Bureaucracy in British Columbia
In BC the drinking age is 19, yet signs demand ID if you look under 35, nearly twice the legal age. Grant uses this to explain why it's hard to love Canada with all its bureaucracy.
C
- Called a black cat
Before about 2019, people close to Mia called her defensive and on guard, and a 'black cat'; she hugged in a distant, cold way. She worked deliberately to become the open, safe person…
- Calling her partner twenty times
Mia's relationship is securely attached, but if her partner doesn't say goodbye in his usual way and something feels hidden, she might call him 20 times: 'me going from investigator before…
- Car music on dates
In his twenties Tamir always switched the car music to whatever the woman he was driving liked. An article made him ask why he was bending over backwards, and whether she might want to know…
- Childhood control as coping
From seven to about thirteen, Mia coped with her mother's death by becoming 'incredibly OCD', planning every minute and acting as 'the woman of the house' and master of her domain. Later…
- Conor McGregor lost the fire
Tamir recounts McGregor's masterful win over Eddie Alvarez at Madison Square Garden and his monk-like early interviews, then money from the Mayweather fight, whiskey and loss after loss…
- Cried for months over her fear
At the end Samantha recalls crying for months, afraid of being committed. Now she says 'bring it, if it happens it happens', and notes it is the fear itself that creates the dysfunctional…
- Cringing at old Facebook posts
Tamir describes the mind's aperture widening between 16 and 19, like stepping out of a cold plunge, then cringing at old Facebook posts he once thought were great. Mia's response: give…
- Custom-bound Hear the Wind Sing
Tamir shows a one-of-a-kind copy of Murakami's Hear the Wind Sing, custom bound from an old book by a bookbinder he found through his Murakami book club.
D
- Dad already knew Marcus Aurelius
Tamir gave his father a Hebrew translation of the Meditations. After a couple of chapters his dad said, 'I already know all of this', and when asked if he liked it, 'I don't know, it's…
- Dad meditating with his son
Ian has seen videos of a dad meditating with his eight-year-old son and predicts the boy will grow up successful because he is learning to calm his breath and nervous system.
- Discovering Murakami in a pandemic book club
In early 2020, still reading heavy classics like the Odyssey, the Ramayana and Siddhartha, Tamir joined a book club so he wouldn't control the picks. When Murakami came up, he chose…
- Divorcing couple at grief group
The quietest attendees shock Mia most. People going through divorce have brought their ex-spouse to discuss it together in the group, with tears, screaming and yelling.
- Dreaming of a house by the water
Tamir describes his own picture of the future: a house by the water within walking distance of the beach, opening the curtains each morning to sunlight on his face. He uses it to show that…
- Dreams that come true
Tamir has dreamt events that happened 'pixel for pixel' up to three months later. Samantha often wakes knowing a specific person will reach out, and when they do, they say they just 'got…
- Drop both lovers if they're jealous
Sheela told her lovers plainly that none of them could compare with Bhagwan, 'a category of its own', and they loved him too, so they understood. If her lovers grew jealous of one another…
E
- Eight years of aikido in Budapest
Grant trained aikido for eight years in Budapest, plus other arts. Even a forward roll is clumsy at 24; a basic boxing jab turns out complicated. Seeing beginners after a year, and advanced…
- Escaping into books during hard times
In tough periods Tyler escaped into books instead of 16 hours of TV. A great story woke up his slowed-down thoughts and energy, and he came back with ideas he hadn't had the day before.
- Everything is negotiable
At an entrepreneur wellness meetup in Squamish, everyone shared morning routines and 'non-negotiables': river dips, runs, special drinks. When his turn came, Tamir said 'everything is…
F
- Facing the mental hospital in a dream
Samantha shares, for the first time anywhere, her deepest fear: being committed to a psychiatric hospital and disbelieved. She deliberately dreamt being taken there against her will and…
- Falling asleep at morning discourses
Asked what besides her parents shaped her, Sheela says Bhagwan's teachings added a lot, though she went to his discourses every morning and often fell asleep on the floor. Tamir jokes she…
- Falling asleep in 30 seconds
Samantha can fall asleep in any position or place within 30 seconds, her 'superpower', which she credits to genuinely trusting life and not experiencing the world as hostile. She notes she…
- Ferris wheel and pan flute in Greece
Sputnik Sweetheart's images stick with both men. Salih sees Miu whenever he sees a Ferris wheel and recently reread the passage in Greece; Tamir thinks of the novel's mysterious pan flute…
- Film scripts in a Word document
Grant's film scripts were his most purely imaginative work. He entered them in a screenwriting competition, accepted all the feedback when they didn't win, and they now sit in a Word…
- Five self-help books experiment
A salesman who was doing badly kept telling Colin that Tony Robbins had changed his life. So Colin bought five random self-help books, Robbins's among them, and had his staff read and swap…
- Four days without Instagram
A couple of weeks earlier Ian deleted Instagram from his phone for about four days and felt his brain 'hunting' for it every day, an internal battle that showed him how habitual the pull…
- Four hours defending RoboCop
Grant's friend Zoltán, a bartender at an arty cinema-pub in Budapest, spent an entire evening off arguing for four hours with another man that RoboCop is the best film ever made, which…
- From dirtbag climber to men's work
Five or six years earlier Ian was moving across the country as a 'dirtbag climber' trying to make money as a photographer. His life had to collapse into chaos before he joined a men's…
- From Lisbon to Budapest at 26
At 26 Grant left Canada and travelled by car and train from Lisbon, which he expected to be his home, all the way to Budapest, where he stayed. He returned at 42 and plans two…
- From turbulent reactivity to neutrality
Nev says she began her journey very turbulent and reactive in romantic relationships and friendships, set off 'at the drop of a dime' by comments. After years of shadow work, conflicts now…
G
- Ghosted by three close friends
About three years earlier, three of Tyler's nearest and dearest friends cut him off. He was bewildered and feared something about him was 'too much'. What finally smoothed him out was…
- Gibran on papa's lap, stars in the garden
At five, Sheela sat on her father's lap while he read her Kahlil Gibran, which she didn't understand but felt as affection. In summer the family slept outside in the garden, and every night…
- Giving up an art apprenticeship for love
At 21, Sheela was accepted by the well-known Michigan artist Ed Harding to apprentice in lithography and watercolor. Before the semester began she flew to India to see her mother after an…
- Grandfather's two pieces of advice
Colin's father died when he was two, and his grandfather looked after him until he was about nine. On a walk shortly before he died, his grandfather stopped and told him: don't ever grow…
- Grandmother the dream interpreter
Samantha's grandmother interpreted dreams for the family, and her mother still knows the symbols ('Mom, I dreamt about an egg, what does that mean?'). Samantha's evidence that discounting…
- Growing up Serbian Orthodox and strict
Nev grew up in a strict Balkan family in the Serbian Orthodox faith, which gave her a lot of shame. She notes that her clients from strict religious homes now mostly call themselves…
- Guard rails in lucid dreams
Both have noticed that when they become lucid and start controlling a dream, something in the dream becomes aware of it and signals 'you're not supposed to be doing that.' Tamir notes the…
- Gym influencer in London
At a London gym a man filming his muscles yelled at Colin for walking past his camera. Colin told him the gym is for everybody and he should film at home. Colin reads it as people feeling…
H
- Hair-pull trigger
Colin's one trigger is having his hair pulled. A friend joking around got him in a headlock and pulled his hair; Colin hit him with an uppercut and broke his jaw, and felt terrible…
- How can we be against marriage unmarried?
Every evening Sheela and Chinmaya ate sitting back to back on the floor of her little room, talking and philosophizing, as long as it was logical. One night they agreed they couldn't be…
I
- Ian launches his first men's group
After four years in men's groups as a private part of his own growth, Ian felt called this summer to launch his own in Squamish, driven by seeing men struggle in silence with work, money…
- Ian's Gollum shadow at a retreat
A year and a half earlier Ian noticed a grasping, needy energy with clients (over-following-up, feeling owed). At a retreat he traced it to an unmet childhood need, shaped it into a…
- Ian's Tourette's, OCD and collapse
Ian grew up with a 'very dysfunctional nervous system', severe Tourette's and OCD, and a lot of shame. In his mid-twenties his life crumbled, and he realized he had no tools to regulate…
- Ian's wife's 'If' tattoo
When Tamir brings up Kipling's 'If—', Ian shares that his wife has an 'If' tattoo and has the whole poem memorized.
- Illness that broke Tamir's ego
Tamir had ill health for a while and had to drop out of university; looking in the mirror he realized he wasn't 'all that' and didn't like that person. Something died in him through…
- Immigrant child discovering her roots
Nev's parents moved to Toronto in 1996, when she was nine months old, and she grew up Canadian with only brief summer trips to the Balkans. Living there, she came to understand her father's…
- Internet cafe twice a week in Budapest
In 16 years in Budapest Grant never had home internet; he checked email at a cafe for an hour twice a week. Back in Canada he binged YouTube book reviews, thought 'I can do that', and only…
- Irish American
Colin is puzzled by Americans who call themselves 'Irish American' without being born in Ireland. He reads it as people looking for something to make them feel a bit more authentic and…
- Isaac's ironed shirt
A young employee who always had the worst luck came to work one day in a crisp, ironed shirt and tie. When Colin, his boss, complimented him, he snapped, 'I didn't do it for you, did I?'…
- "It's just a dream"
As a child Samantha felt her dreams were deeply important and would tell her mother about them, sometimes overcome with emotion, only to hear 'it's just a dream, don't worry about it.'…
J
- Jazz cassettes in 1993
Spending a summer in the city at 21, Tyler walked into a secondhand CD and cassette shop and bought Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday tapes, thrilled to realize they had dozens of albums…
K
- Kingsley Amis couldn't read his son
Kingsley Amis refused to read Martin Amis's books. Many said he was jealous of his son's sales, but Kingsley said reading Martin felt like having him in the room ringing a bell and kicking…
- Krishnamurti: the devil and the truth
Tamir retells Krishnamurti's parable: the devil drops the truth from his pocket and a passerby picks it up. His companion asks if he's worried; the devil says no, 'he's going to organize…
L
- Learning Jewish culture through Singer
Growing up in rural Alberta, not raised in any church, Tyler learned about traditional Jewish life from Isaac Bashevis Singer's translated Yiddish stories. When he met Tamir and his Jewish…
- Learning to talk to himself
As he gets older, Colin is admitting things about his character that he always knew but never owned, and he is accepting and even embracing them. He has started talking to himself and…
- Leaving Bhagwan with tears in her eyes
When Sheela decided to leave Bhagwan, members of her commune 'family' begged her to stay, reminding her of everything she had and all the work she had put in. Tears ran down her face as she…
- Leaving Canada on a full-body impulse
Soon after meeting Tamir, Nev had a 'full-body knowing' that she could no longer live in Canada, though she had few logical reasons. With no expectations, she packed up and went to the…
- Logan's first attempts at meditation
Raised online with a 'partially fried' brain, Logan couldn't sit in silence for more than a couple of minutes when he started meditating a few years ago before getting restless and edgy. It…
- Losing her mother at seven
Mia lost her mother at seven. She doesn't remember her voice, laugh or favorite color and barely knew her, yet still feels a strong, 'spooky' connection to her, which is why she won't tell…
- Lucid dream in the grocery store
Seeing a broken clock, Samantha realized she was dreaming and began knocking things off the shelves. Someone hooded her and drove her in a van to a Dumbledore-like figure, who said 'you…
M
- Making a famous person out of nothing
For the film 'I Know You', Colin's team invented a character, walked him through the streets of Italy and made him famous, and were amazed by what they got away with. The idea came from a…
- 'Man, you complain a lot'
When Grant came back from Hungary, a colleague at his first job told him everything he said was negative. Hungarians had told him 100% of the time that they were Europe's most pessimistic…
- Married over a lost bet, and mid-flight
Of her two later marriages, Sheela says she married once because she lost a bet, and once because she fell in love again, with the wedding performed by the pilot on a flight to India.
- Master Key wall-staring exercises
At 21, Tamir followed The Master Key System's weekly exercises: week one, sit and stare at a wall; week two, imagine a square on it; week three, identify every thought; week four, isolate a…
- Meeting at a Squamish day retreat
Tamir and Nev met at a day retreat in Squamish, British Columbia. A few weeks later she left on her own for the Balkans, a solo move into the depths that Tamir frames as walking through a…
- Meeting Bhagwan through her father
Sheela wasn't looking for spirituality and 'didn't even know what it meant'. Her father asked her to come with him to Bhagwan's discourse because he believed that if this man lived long…
- Meeting entrepreneurs in Indigo's non-fiction aisle
In the first half of his 20s, Tamir was addicted to non-fiction and kept running into his entrepreneur friends in the non-fiction section at Indigo, and never in any other section.
- Meeting Ian at a forest retreat
Tamir drove to a day retreat Ian facilitated, a cold plunge, sauna, and meditation facility 30 minutes into a valley outside Squamish with no cell service, realizing too late he hadn't told…
- Mentor laughs at 'one trough of sorrow'
In his early twenties, after surviving a gut disease, a hospital stay, and a breakup, Tamir told a business mentor in his 50s he'd come through the trough of sorrow. The mentor laughed…
- Met in a high-school play
Tamir and Mia first met in high school while acting in the same play, the root of their shared love of fiction and storytelling.
- Million-dollar number one single
Colin overheard two men at Soho House in Los Angeles: 'Give me a million bucks, I'll give you a number one single.' He thinks they're right and that the music industry is about money, which…
- Mint sauce in Holland
Driving in Holland past fields of baby lambs, Colin cooed at how sweet they were. His companion answered 'and nice with mint sauce'. Colin uses it as an example of someone cutting in on…
- Mishima dismissed Dazai
Tamir describes Dazai and Mishima as UFC-like rivals; Grant recalls reading that Mishima was dismissive of Dazai as a person, saying there was nothing to get from him. Both admit they may…
- Mistaking the shadow for intuition
Nev, who calls herself extremely intuitive, says that early in her journey she often acted on 'intuitive hits' that turned out to be her shadow speaking. She only realized afterward, after…
- Mother of six monsters, never serious
Sheela's mother raised six children ('all monsters, one is talking to you'), yet Sheela never saw her with a serious face. Sheela's eye doctor used to say that when her mother walked in…
- Mother's clothes left for ten years
Mia's family left her mother's clothes hanging untouched in the closet for at least ten years: 'a physical depiction of grief', honoring her despite knowing she would never come home.
- Mother's message: let me go
On her first ayahuasca ceremony, Mia felt her mother tell her 'let me go': stop thinking about what I want and live your life. It was hard because she didn't know who she was outside 'the…
- Motivating people by knowing them
Colin says daily 'sell, sell, sell' meetings are the worst thing you can do, because you don't know what motivates each person. Some of his staff did brilliantly after he screamed at them…
- Muay Thai, soccer and tennis
Tamir did Muay Thai for years and played soccer, where you can blame the ref, the pass or the ball. Now in tennis and especially fighting, there is no one else to blame, which keeps the ego…
- Murakami helped Salih cope with threatening people
Salih says certain people in his life felt like threats, and turning them into Murakami-style metaphors made them much easier to cope with. Reading Murakami also changed his habits: he now…
- Murakami shrugs at Kawakami's questions
In a long conversation, Mieko Kawakami asked Murakami pointed questions about his female characters. Salih recalls his breezy reply ('Oh, I never thought about this... I just write it…
- Murakami story as homework
Within hours of meeting Samantha at his studio, Tamir gave her Murakami's 'Sleep' from Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman as homework due the next week. She took it as a sign from the universe…
- Murakami wrote at the kitchen table
Tamir recounts that Murakami, at 30, ran a bar and after getting home late at night would sit at his kitchen table for two hours writing by hand, producing Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball…
- Murakami's epiphany at the ballpark
Tamir retells how Murakami, who ran a jazz bar with his wife, had a flash of inspiration at 30 while watching his favorite (and long-losing) baseball team, which went on to win the league…
- Museums drained her enthusiasm for art
As a fine art student Sheela painted, made pottery and sculpted, but it grew heavy on her. Museums felt so sterile that she lost her enthusiasm, and after a while she stopped, and then had…
N
- Naps that feel like months
Tamir describes a deep three-hour nap that felt like living three months, Samantha a 30-minute nap that felt like three days, and Tamir notes surgery patients feeling hours pass as a minute…
- Narrator switch in 1Q84 Book 3
Listening to 1Q84 on audiobook without realizing it was three volumes, Tamir was stunned when Book 3 opened with Ushikawa chapters read by a new narrator, a perspective shift that 'blew my…
- Nervous before men's night
Before his last men's group in Squamish, Ian felt nervous and noticed the countless ways he could avoid the feeling (Instagram, YouTube, food, Netflix, podcasts, music) when what was needed…
- Newly orphaned adult: want to dance?
When someone arrives saying both parents died tragically and they are now an adult orphan, Mia meets whatever energy they want ('do you want to dance? let's do this') or stays solemn…
O
- On the Road sent him to Toronto
At 19, at university in Ottawa, On the Road filled Grant with such a wild spirit that he jumped on a bus to Toronto to look up an old high-school acquaintance, which he now finds…
P
- Packaging costlier than the product
When Colin sourced products in China, some ended up with packaging that cost more than the product itself. He says nice curtains are fine, but with no structure behind them you're building…
- Petrol's origin in Logan's own fear
Peter Riley's starting point, the terror of an ordinary nine-to-five life and the sense of being destined for more, came from Logan at 19. He now calls that view naive, though it felt very…
- Planning 75 Hard around a cross-country flight
Ian plans to keep 75 Hard going on a Squamish-to-Halifax trip via Montreal: an airport hotel, a 5:30am outdoor walk, a 45-minute session in the airport, and packed healthy sandwiches. Early…
R
- Rejected agent pitch for psychedelic memoir
Many literary agents resist a book about psychedelics. Mia tells every agent she will never stop, so it's up to them whether to represent her, echoing Paulo Coelho's persistence.
- Resistance while cooking dinner
The day before, frustrated in his kitchen that his content wasn't reaching enough people, Ian recognized it as his 'mat': he closed his eyes and said aloud that he was in resistance and…
- Rise of Rajneeshpuram (intro)
Tamir's cold-open history: in 1972 in India, 22-year-old Sheela fell in love with Bhagwan and devoted every waking moment to him. 'Whatever he willed, Sheela made it happen.' When they had…
- Ryan Holiday on the Oracle
Tamir happened to be studying the Oracle of Delphi when Ryan Holiday spoke in Vancouver and told how a philosopher asked the Oracle for the best source of wisdom and was told 'the dead'…
S
- Sad goodbye to the shadow
Salih read Hard-Boiled Wonderland in winter and was left sad and melancholic by the shadow's hard goodbye at the end. Tamir reads the passage aloud and Salih recalls the narrator staring at…
- Salih finds Killing Commendatore at 30
In April 2018, stressed and just past 30 after years of rushed business travel, Salih used a birthday bookstore voucher from his family. On a bright spring day he opened the prominently…
- SAS soldiers wearing American flags
Colin recounts an interview with a Navy SEAL who, as a newcomer, saw British SAS soldiers in the chow line wearing American flags. Asked why, they said, 'You've got to blame it on somebody…
- Satisfied Customer excerpt from Troll
Tamir reads an undated page-15 excerpt from Troll by a user called 'Satisfied Customer'. It is a stream of a young person's online mind: irony pulled over the eyes, Mario speedruns, vanilla…
- Seeing Ryan Holiday in Vancouver
The week before, Tamir saw Ryan Holiday speak in Vancouver, contrasting religion's focus on avoiding hell after death with the Stoics' daily practice for avoiding the hell created on earth.
- Seeing Vonnegut speak in Toronto
In the 1990s Grant saw Kurt Vonnegut speak in Toronto: animated and full of warmth. Vonnegut said when his wife and daughter took up meditation he replied that he reads, which is his…
- Seneca's consolations amid tragedy
Tamir recounts that Seneca lost family members, was exiled and eventually killed by Nero, yet made consolation his role, writing to the bereaved and telling his mother from exile not to…
- Sheela doesn't meditate, leave her alone
Sheela was bored by the meditation exercises and found her work more fun than 'jumping up and down'. Commune members complained to Bhagwan that Sheela didn't meditate, and he told them to…
- Six and a half hours under hypnosis
Samantha joined Marilyn's QHHT waiting list in 2020 and saw her in 2021 for a whole-day session. She thought she was under 45 minutes to an hour; the recording shows about five and a half…
- Sleep paralysis in the living room
Recently Samantha fell asleep in her living room and half-woke unable to move, with her limbs, face and neck crackling as if her cells were popping and renewing. She heard voices of beings…
- Small-town loyalty that slaughtered him
In a small community you can't cut anyone off; they'll be at your cousin's wedding and at school the next day. Tyler entered the wider world extremely loyal and sentimental, unwilling to…
- Stepfather's Apple shares
Colin's late stepfather joked that Apple would 'come knock on my coffin' to tell him the stock was finally up. Colin uses it to show that small investors trust what they invest in, and lose…
- Synagogue as a social club
Tamir grew up going to synagogue with his father, where many people just chatted, and religion felt like a social activity. He finds more spirituality climbing a mountain, on a hike, or 'at…
T
- Tamir can't answer 'die complete'
Asked what he'd need to do today to die complete tonight, Tamir says his brain 'produces an error code'. So much of his life is spent on future business goals and visions that today feels…
- Tamir opens up to therapy
Tamir sees a therapist every couple of weeks. His hardcore Ironman and ultramarathon friends find it crazy that someone else could give you answers about yourself. It took him a while to…
- Tamir's 'little bit of a cult' program
Tamir says he is currently in a program he calls 'a little bit of a cult' and plans a separate episode on it. Its claim that the mind isn't real reality and only the body in the present…
- Tamir's 75 Hard and lat injury
Tamir did 75 Hard the previous year, doing both workouts in the evening when flying to New York and New Jersey; by the end it was so habitual it felt weird not to do it. He stopped only…
- Tamir's bare startup studio
In his startup's early days Tamir lived in a bachelor studio with no bathroom (shared with three units), no full kitchen, no art or family photos, just IKEA desks and a mattress on the…
- Tamir's ever-positive 77-year-old father
Tamir sees Sheela's optimism in his father, about to turn 78, who had a very difficult childhood and life but was always positive and having fun, never depressed or dwelling on the past…
- Tamir's first Murakami on a long walk
During COVID in 2020, Tamir, then reading only business and self-help, joined a book club. After Neil Strauss's online club chose Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Tamir proposed it to his group. He…
- Tamir's first-edition collection
Tamir owns every US first edition of Murakami's books, in paperback and hardcover, and buys first printings when he can.
- Tamir's Nosferatu night and dark tastes
Tamir recalls seeing Nosferatu in a theater and finding its possession and madness strangely appealing. He jokes that he is a masochist because he loves the discomfort of endurance sports…
- Tamir's story read by Samantha
Samantha read a story Tamir wrote and says it left her deeply confused and comfortable at once. It wasn't unsettling but gave her the feeling that there is more than what she knows herself…
- Tamir's superpower: summoning anyone
Asked what superpower he'd want, Tamir skips invisibility, flight and infinite money: he wants an emperor's power to summon anyone in the kingdom, so he could end the enigma of why people…
- Ten Timbits
On his first visit to Canada, Colin tried Timbits (10 for $3.19) and ate all ten before reaching his brother's house: 'ashamed of myself, but also quite pleased'. It leads into banter about…
- The 1,000-page German Wind-Up Bird
Salih shows Tamir the blue German edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, retranslated from Japanese in 2020 at over 1,000 pages vs. the 607-page Jay Rubin English text, with whole chapters…
- The contrarian lawyer visitor
A Hungarian lawyer friend visiting Canada contradicted everything Grant said, even about teaching English as a second language, his own field. It made him angry until he recognized the…
- The drama teacher lifted from life
A minor character in Troll, Peter's drama teacher, is a one-to-one copy of Logan's own drama teacher, Wesley, whose style Logan lifted wholesale. Logan gives him a shout-out on air.
- The fake rocket scientist
At a motivational event the speaker claimed he had once been a rocket scientist, and the crowd was in awe. Colin looked him up and found he was 'so full of crap'. His lesson: the people…
- The fishing interlude grew on him
When young, Grant was bothered by the slow trout-fishing section between the Paris carousing and the Pamplona bull-running in The Sun Also Rises. Years later it is his favourite part…
- The ghostly blue stallion
At his isolated Alberta cabin, a huge blue roan stallion with no markings appeared on his fenced property, emerging from a fog bank and challenging the neighbor's horses. After his friends…
- The handmade anthology
When Tyler loves a short story, he cuts it from the spine of its book with a carpenter's knife and rebinds his favorites with Bible onion-skin paper, which acts like book glue. He built a…
- The lion in the dream
In the cold-open clip, a teacher asks where a lion chasing you in a dream came from. The true answer is that there is no lion: wake up. If you insist on an answer inside the dream, you get…
- The Literarisches Quartett blowup
On the German TV show Das Literarische Quartett, one host called the intimate passages in South of the Border, West of the Sun 'fast food' writing. The others shouted that she was prudish…
- The London Drugs confession booth
Tamir found a gag mini confession booth at London Drugs, with curtains and seats. Press the button, it says 'tell me your sins', then 'you are forgiven'. Its booklet on confessing got him…
- The noble builder
A builder friend of Colin's in the UK thinks building a house is a great thing, because it will be someone's forever home and a family will live in it. Colin respects him enormously and…
- The painful run after leg day
The day after heavy squats, Ian dreaded his run, and his calves and legs felt horrible. Mid-run he reminded himself that the days he flies only feel great because of runs like this one. If…
- The Rock and Kevin Hart on Ellen
On Ellen, Kevin Hart kept needling Dwayne Johnson. When it came up that Johnson had just had another baby girl, Hart joked about him not producing boys. A visibly annoyed Johnson replied…
- The salesman who didn't want to be manager
In one of Colin's offices in Belgium, during a struggling telecoms campaign, one salesman was the only one hitting numbers. Colin pulled him aside and praised him lavishly as his next…
- The six-foot housefly dream
While washing dishes, Tamir will suddenly recall, with no trigger, a dream from 20+ years ago, such as a childhood dream of a six-foot housefly chasing him around Yaletown. It happens with…
- The unplanned podcast studio
Ian points out that Tamir never planned the studio they're sitting in. He followed an impulse to set up an office and studio, and it became the most booked-out studio in the city. Tamir…
- Tom Holland manifests Spider-Man
Tamir recalls that Tom Holland declared he'd play Spider-Man and marry Zendaya, and it came true. He sets this against survivor bias: others manifest the same things and get hit by a truck…
- Too honest in creative writing class
In university workshops where everyone must start with what they liked, Grant has clashed with teachers and students by calling work weak, cliché-ridden, 'awful' or 'immature', words…
- Turning the questions inward at 18
Working with a psychiatrist she finally connected with, Mia stopped trying to figure out why other people were 'stupid and weak' and began asking why she was so angry and controlling, at…
- Tyler's first impression of Tamir
Seven years ago, after Tamir's first haircut, where he talked about a new Odyssey translation and his plans, Tyler told coworker Roland that Tamir was in that sweet, brief period when you…
- Tyler's mock BetterHelp ad
Asked to improvise an ad for BetterHelp while Tamir refilled the tea, Tyler pitched himself instead: farm kids have great work ethic and he can pull a calf, so if civilization collapses he…
V
- Vancouver bookstore owners love Dance Dance Dance
Hunting first editions in Vancouver's used bookstores, where Murakami books 'fly off the shelf', Tamir asked four owners (older, seemingly unmarried men who resemble Murakami characters)…
W
- Women who call in avoidant partners
Nev describes a pattern she often sees in clients. A woman says she is fully open to love but keeps attracting emotionally avoidant partners. Underneath, unresolved trauma has closed her…
- Writing the stallion story in one sitting
Tyler walked straight from the forest where he lost the horse's trail back to the cabin and wrote for three hours, something he had never done before. He barely revised it, and everything…
Y
- Yann Martel on carrying the reader
Grant recalls Yann Martel explaining that in Life of Pi he wanted to coax readers along: are you willing to come this far? Good, now how about further?
- "You love to make excuses"
A manager called Colin in and said, 'You know what I like about you, Colin? You love to make excuses.' Colin knew it was a deliberate provocation and fell for it anyway. Being told he can't…
- Your father's age in the classroom
Grant feels it's unfair to be at university at his age, reading Dracula and Absalom, Absalom! with 20-year-olds. Teachers like having him there, which makes it worse, so he sits at the back…
Z
- Zoe's two-moon mural
Tamir's artist friend Zoe painted a mural in his studio while listening to all 40 hours of 1Q84, adding glow-in-the-dark twin moons. She almost wanted to hate the book but found it too…