Mental Health Matters - Let's read a book!

Just like that. All right, so we're starting the night off with— hi everybody, welcome to Cyberpunk Saturday. Uh, DJ, DJ and I were in the back just now and we're having a little bit of technical problems, so that's why I'm like, what am I hearing? Um, we're gonna have DJ pop on here for a sec, and I need you all to tell me if you hear him, because I see his little thing go like so, but I hear me. If you all can hear him, because I can't. So DJ, say hello to people.

Hello people! Like Gunpowder Beauty Woods is in the room, so is SorryAFan93. Chasing Ghost is out there, good to see you. 2 Live Moo is in the room. Let's see who else is in here. You were in here, so was Gun Websites. I'm scrolling up and I'm hoping to see that pink hand waving, and there it is. The Crabby Turtle is also in the room. And that's— wait, Hillbilly Up is in here now, so that's an updated roll call. Can you hear a word?

I can hear you is if I listen. All of them.

Well then, Take it away, it's all you.

And the worst part of that is it's only like a, you know, 10-second— yeah, all right. Um, yeah, so I'm not— I gotta turn off. So yeah, so I can hear you on the YouTube channel, I just can't hear you here in the studio. So, um, so we're gonna mime for the rest of the show. All right, um, welcome everybody. I'm glad, uh, you all can hear DJ, and at some point I am hoping I will get to hear him through this, but if not, we, we've got our little private chat window and that sort of stuff. So, uh, happy Saturday before Christmas! Hello y'all, are you ready? Uh, oh my gosh, I did wrap presents today and my mom came over to help me wrap presents and she's like, what are you doing? It's not Christmas Eve. Normally you wait till the end, the Christmas Eve, before you start wrapping. And she's like, yeah, I don't have to put together toys anymore. The kids are older now. So now that we know that I'm really having audio problems, but you all can hear DJ, that's all that matters. All right, where are we? We are December 20th, just like that. Sorry for the late notice as far as putting this up here. Thank you everybody for popping in and saying hi. It looks like we've got about 13 people out there watching right now. Me. Oh my goodness, so sorry. Um, all right, so where are we? Oh, I said let's read a book because one of the advantages of having the broken toe is that I'm spending a lot more time on the couch, and the couch is helpful in that it calms me down and I have time to read, or it makes me have time to read. And this is one of those things, someone on some stream somewhere said, you gotta get this book, it's great. And so what did I do? I didn't buy one. I bought two. No, I bought three. And why did I buy three? Because somebody said it's a great book and it could change your life. And I probably had these three books for a couple months I never once looked at it. However, it's one of those books that has not 5 million pages per page or 5 million words per page, and it's easy to read. And, and can you see because there's a lot of glare here, but it is called The Ultimate Gift and it's by Jim Stovall, and it's kind of just a nice quick read because it's not heavy um, and it just talks about the gift of life and the things and appreciation that it helps to have in life. The Short Reader's Digest version, because as I was discussing with G23 in the YouTube chat earlier, this is only a 20 to 30 minute show this week. Uh, excited that next week will be the, I think, the longest show ever because it's going to be like an hour and a half with Mike Sedini. But, uh, for today, um, this one's only gonna go the normal time. But The Ultimate Gift talks about the gift of work, the gift of money, the gift of friends, learning, problems, family, laughter, dreams, giving, gratitude, The Gift of a Day, The Gift of Love, and then The Ultimate Gift. So I read this, uh, I don't know, a couple hours, I guess. I read probably about half of it in the morning, and then I read the other half at night before I went to bed. It was probably a little bit further, maybe, maybe to chapter 11 before I went to bed. Um, And like I said, it's not that— not that— it's not wicked thick. So what is the ultimate gift? Well, I'm not going to tell you that because then why would you read it? But let's be real. All right, ready? Show of hands. We've already got one pink hand waving, so I'm not sure if that's going to count for Mr. Crabby Turtle. But how many of you ever just sit down and read a book? I used to do it all the time as a kid. And C.S. Lewis and The Chronicles of Narnia— I was in 4th grade when I read those, and I would come home. I remember one time, now 4th grade, so I'm 9 years old, came home, pulled out one of the books, and I think it was Prince Caspian, and it was came home at 3 o'clock, 3:30, when I got home from school, sat down with the book, and by 9 o'clock that night I was done with the book. Now, did I have dinner? No. Did I do any homework? Also no. We didn't have homework back then. That's just silly. Um, and so from time to time I do that. When my son was brand new and my daughter was in my belly still. I was tired because he was a baby, baby, little baby, and she was in my belly growing. And so that was a lot of work. But then there was nap time, and I would sit and I would read. So reading for me is a lovely gift, and it's enjoyable when I find something like this. Now, that being said, I know y'all are being very chatty, so I'm gonna go look real quick. DJ. Oh, reading through For Whom the Bell Tolls. After that, I'll start on Heart of Iron, trying to get back into reading. Yeah, I definitely find that it definitely ebbs and flows, right? Oh, and happy almost solstice because that's tomorrow. DM Foss, I just want you to notice, I'm gonna hide this for a second. See what that says? Brooke the Great. I figured I should take— steal that from you. For those who don't know or were here last week for Christmas cards. Um, Foss sent me a Christmas card and it said something like Brooke the Great. I forget what it said, the Great Brooke or something. I don't see— I don't— I'm not looking at— I don't know. Okay. Um, all right, DJ, I will let you star things if there is stuff that I am missing. Um, because, you know, oh, Woods. Woods, you know what I love about Woods? Hold on. Not that Woods says moo, but I always love the picture of the dog and the big nose. I just think that's the best icon ever. So there is that. All right, um, on to the ultimate gift. So for those of you who don't do a lot of reading, um, what is it that you do do that makes you happy that you wish you did more of? Cuts. Just like tonight, how I barely got this. It's like, I think, what was it? It's like 6 o'clock and I texted DJ. I'm like, yeah, I didn't put a link up yet. And I'm pretty sure TJ had talked to me Wednesday, Thursday, said, hey Brooke, what are you doing? Love me now. Um, it is that busy season, right? However, getting into stuff that you like to do getting into stuff that makes you happy. Not reading is not for everybody. My brother, for example, he's, he's got dyslexia, so it's super crazy hard. But what is your thing? What do you do that, like, you don't do enough of now that you need to do more of in order to make yourself happy? All right, let's talk about this because I said let's read a book. I'm not going to make you read the book. I'm going to tell you about the book. I'm just trying to get the chapter. So, so I have this. This is my outline tonight, right? Okay, so in the beginning, what's the book about? Dude dies. Yeah, that's what we start with, someone's death. But, uh, it is the reading of a will, and one of the characters has a year-long, uh, quest to go on, basically. And what happens is the gentleman who dies has left behind videos for the person who's inheriting the ultimate gift. And the number one thing, the first one that he talks about that the dude has to learn is the gift of work. Now, most of us here have worked. Uh, I don't know what everybody does, but I know that I've worked a hay truck. And worked in barns and worked with animals and that sort of stuff. And I know GT3's done factory work, and I don't remember what else. And Tara is here, um, and she does truck driving. Sorry, and then I looked at Hillbilly up and I'm like, wait, what does Hillbilly do? I think construction. I don't know. Um, so anyway, work, actual hard work. There are people who have never done anything other than sit behind a desk, and I feel for them. I feel as though they've missed out on real hard work. So the gift of work that's in this story is that person gets to go out and work as a ranch hand and talks about the happiness of a job well done. And so being able to look back and actually see your work, right? Actually creating something with your hands. And that is the gift of work. And I think most all of you have some form of that or another. Oh, and I'm looking, I'm like, TJ's got like 3 things starred for me already. Am I paying attention? Uh-oh. Yeah. Oh, cannot sit and read, learning disabilities. I have to listen to audiobooks. Well, dude, you're constantly on the move all the time anyway, so I can see you just not sitting just because. You're either hiking or making things or all of that. Then Hillbilly Up reading, I read the captions sometimes while watching the movie of the book. So yeah, I gotcha. See, I can't, I have the worst time reading captions while trying to watch a movie. I'm just like, I don't know. See, I actually can't do that so well. And then Foss, listen to audiobooks so I can listen while doing other stuff. Yeah, I know I put in the other, right? He says while listening— words are hard. So I will listen to audiobooks so I can listen while doing stuff. And yeah, that can be the way to go as well. And like, ooh, long car drives. I know. Oh, Tara, pick on you. My thought is, yeah, when you're driving all over the place, that's also that's my favorite time to listen to music usually because for those of you who like The Art of War, if you look up The Art of War on YouTube, you can get it there for free, and I have listened to The Art of War many, many times. However, to be fair, I'm listening to it usually because I want to go to sleep, and Sun Tzu says lots and lots of things, and if you haven't read The Art of War, not the War of Art, but The Art of War, it will, uh, you'll understand that Sun Tzu says a lot of things. I've never read the book. I've seen the book, but I've never read the book. All right, so gift of work is one of those things that getting to do something with your hand, hands, and seeing the results. Um, in this one, it's setting a fence post and setting a line of fences, or, you know what I mean, a post line, and if you've never had the opportunity to work and create something, right? You know, back to the broken toe from 2 weeks ago. It's— I wrote about it. I created something. Now, EJ— DJ's like, you used AI. I'm like, I know I used AI for editing. It's true. But I hadn't gotten to write in such a long time, and it was so much fun because I created something. And the gift of work is such a mental health need, because if you're not out there creating something, if you're not making something that you can take pride in, it's hard. Um, so like, there's just so many things. The next gift he was given in his journey was the gift of money, and the gift of money was not about him receiving money. The gift of money was really about being aware that there are people that take for granted— well, how do I explain this? Um, your normal is not somebody else's normal. Like, I know in my world I have a hard time sometimes because my, uh, my, my values can be skewed. I'll just say that. And I was surprised when someone had a hard time coming up with $100. And I've worked all my life. I've had 2, 3 jobs at a time. I'm used to having money in my pocket. And when I found out a friend had the inability to rent a car because their car was broken down and they couldn't afford the $100 for the week, Obviously this is a while ago, not like yesterday. Um, and it's like your normal is not everybody else's. So the gift of money and being able to look from somebody else's position. The gift of friends. What does that mean? Well, I would say all of you in this room are my friend, even if I wouldn't recognize you walking into a room because we talk here every week and I get to see your comments and all of that sort of stuff. But, um, and yeah, so in here it talks about we are lucky to have someone who is our true friend, right? And yes, I call lots of you guys for my friends, but then who are the ones in this room that I will actually call? Well, you know who that is, don't you, right? It's the ones whose phone numbers I have. So that's how that works. But most of us have acquaintances. Now, the beauty of those of us here in the gun world, honestly, is we will happily give you the jacket off of our back if you so need it. If we can find you to give it to you, we will do that. So just how important it is to have that friend. Well, like, Hillbilly is here. And there was one day I was having a bad day and I literally just picked up the phone I said, hey, we need to pray. And we did. And I'm just like, okay, thanks, bye.

Click.

Um, it wasn't quite that fast, but sort of. And to me, that's the friend, is just someone you can call no matter what. Like DJ and I have called— oh my gosh, DJ, you're gonna share? Um, because I won't get to listen to you, so hold on, hold that thought for a second because I'll just shut up and I'll wait till the screen goes away and then I'll turn on the video and listen to you talk. But if you want, DJ, say hi to everybody. Tell everybody what's up with you this week though. I think that's super important that you share that while we're talking about the gift of friends. All right, I'll be quiet.

You talk. Right on. Well, I wanna give you an updated roll call. We have a Gear Buyer's Guide out there, rarely seen. Glad to have you in. Jamie, JH586 is here, so is DM Foss. Viejo has entered the room. Abigail Sorcha Finnegan is out there, so is Hillbilly Up. Fiona, rawr, Gunpowder Beauty, it's been a while. Woods is out there. Sorryfan93 is in the room, so is 2livemoo, Chasing Ghosts, Gun Websites, The Crabby Turtle, and G23. I said G23, I say G23. That's to make up for apparently missing G23 reviews in the initial one. So yeah, talking on the phone, um, I've called you at some odd hours. Uh, I don't know that you've really called me at crazy hours because I kind of keep crazy hours, so there's no such thing, uh, when somebody dials me. But as for my week, I'm reminded of this. So without giving you a lot of long, boring details, my mother fell. My mom's 80, and she was hospitalized because of fracturing some bones. And this is her first time as a patient in a hospital not related to giving birth. So she's been in the hospital like 4 times total, and I've never been put in a position where my mother wasn't at a minimum up to her best sort of thing. I rarely have seen her have a bad day. She is always pulling through and always seems to have energy reserves that even I, you know, 30 years younger, don't seem to be able to drum up. And I'll tell you this, she was released today and she is mending. But I was reminded of the importance of recognizing those in our lives that we don't recognize as being special, especially to them themselves, often enough. I mean, I tell my mom that I love her every time we conclude a phone conversation. I say something like, have a great day, and I love you, Mom. And she repeats that. Then I say good night or good afternoon. And I can't remember the last time where I specifically said, you know, Mom, I love you. I have an appreciation for everything that you've done and that you continue to do for me. You're one of my favorite people. And What do you say to somebody who's perhaps the most important person in your world and in your life? So I've decided, because she values the written word, to write something extra special this year for Christmas, and that, and hope that she stays with, you know, her bottom firmly planted in a chair or lying down and just letting the time that it will take for the remainder of the healing to take place. And that kind of has thrown my week for a couple of loops, including that, uh, which was looping in and out of the hospital and back and forth doing all sorts of errands that couldn't have been run while she was in the hospital. And so I got to spend a different kind of quality time with my mom. And if I gotta say, it feels really good to be of use to to someone who has been more than useful my entire life. There's no way that I can pay it back, but I'm glad to be able to at least address some of it. And that's what I— Brooke, you can come on back. I want to let you know that Vanessa Kitty has also entered the room. You're back. But I cannot hear you.

It's better if I unmute the mic. It works. There you are. All right, so yeah, sorry for the audio thing, guys. Um, all right, DJ, that was awesome. Thank you so much. And no, not awesome that his mom fell, obviously, but it's awesome that, um I know that feeling of, you know, to be able to serve someone who takes care of you on a regular basis. So with that, I am going to jump to chapter 13, which is The Gift of a Day. And to riff off of what DJ was saying about that appreciation and chapter 13 and the gift of the day, of a day is imagine that this was your last day and what would you really and truly want to do. And so on each one of these chapters, the person has 30 days to figure out what they would do for whichever challenge they're currently on. And the gift of the day was that if this was my last day on earth, what would I want that to look like? And now Jamie's in here, I know, um, and you know, no day is promised. I'm pretty sure that's in the Bible there somewhere. I couldn't tell you what chapter or verse, but I'm pretty sure no day is promised is in there. If not, I quote it all the time thinking it is. So imagine today is your last day, or tomorrow is your last day, and you get to pretend that you've got the Black American Express card, you can do whatever you want. And now you got 30 days actually to figure out what you're gonna do on that last day. And pretty much it's sort of what DJ's story was just now, is like how often do we pay attention to each day and telling each person in our life that matters, that they matter because, spoiler alert, In this, in this chapter, it just talks about how he had a full month to think about what would he do if it was the last day. And the reality of it, it was just normal stuff, like sitting there and having breakfast with friends and then going for a walk in the woods and then having lunch with some other friends and, you know, telling family what they mean to them. Some family you don't want to tell them what they mean to you. But yeah, all joking aside, it is the holidays. So we're reminded of how much we love our family. Because here's the thing. Pretty sure Ten Commandments said, thou shalt love thy neighbor. Did not say that you had to like everything about them. So I look at that when I talk to my family too. It's like, I can love on them. I do not have to like everything though. So, um, The Gift of a Day. So I gave you a sneak peek into this. Oh, I don't even know how to do this exactly. However, here's the deal. Remember in the beginning? Well, for those of you who've been here for— since the beginning, those of you that came in late, uh, I got this book. I have 3 copies of it. And here's the deal right now, this book says from Brooke Cheney. The question is, who am I sending the book to? So if you would like this book, if you would like me to send you this book that I have in my hot little hand and I can put in the mail, probably after Christmas at this point, um, let me know in the chat. Or send me an email, uh, because I would need somewhere to send it to. Now, of all the people that are out there, I know one person who took me up on this last time that I, uh, tried to give something away, and I haven't heard Mr. Ballinger's name out there yet because he did get his set of cards on the last one. But if anybody would like this, by all means. And like I said, today's only gonna be half an hour. Um, that's kind of it for tonight. And I realized that I did not say why are we here every week, because 2 out of every 3 gun deaths we talk about are suicides. So mental health, paying attention to things that matter in life, that's how we make our mental health better. Also, for those who weren't here in the beginning, just to verify, next weekend, the 27th of December, is going to be an hour and a half long interview that I did with Mike Sardini from Walk the Talk America. And so Hillbilly, I'm just going to apologize now that it's going to go into your show a little bit. I'm going to start like 5 or 10 minutes early so it doesn't go all the way into the beginning of your show. But just to let you know, I'm not quarking on purpose and I'm giving you a heads up. So there's that. So I will be with my family next Saturday. So it seems like it's a great interview. Super excited about it. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I had doing it. And I think that's going to be it. So Mr. DJ, I— haha, yeah, it's— oh wait, where is it? Sorry, I— hold on. First, I missed— I'm not even in order. Ready? Gear Buyer Guide. AI will read for you. That is awesome. Then Hillbilly. Thank the Lord for mamas and grandmas. Goodness knows that is true. And then G-Webs. I know you were told by GT3 it was going to be a 3-hour show, but I did say that that's at least you get 50% of that next week.. But I am excited because it will be the longest show I think I've ever done, in an hour and a half. So like I said, I hope y'all enjoy that. It's been fun catching up with Mike and Jake from Walk and Talk America this past couple weeks. And then Proverbs 27: Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what that day may bring. Well, yeah, there is that. So, um, do not boast about tomorrow if you do not know what that day would bring. Yeah, I think there's also a No Day Is Promised thing as well. So anyway, all right, well, you all have a very Merry Christmas, and I will let DJ say au revoir to everybody else if there is not anything. Oh wait, hold on, I see Jamie doing something. Um, okay. Hold on there. Sorry, I— DJ did it and then I missed it. All right, come now, today or tomorrow we will do such a— in such a city, spend a year there, but buy and sell, make profit. And you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Yeah, there you go. The Lord wills it, we shall live. Do you deserve that, but now you boast in your arrogance. Such as boasting is evil. All right, so yeah, we got all sorts of things with that. Um, I will get better, DJ. I'm really going to be quiet. I'm going to throw you up on the screen and then I'm going to listen to you over there and I'm gonna, you know, let you do your thing. Oh, and by all means, DJ's always going to tell you all this, but to subscribe and all of that, double check, because Tara I gotta tell you, I went— I was on Chasing Ghosts and I hadn't subscribed. I was so embarrassed, I couldn't believe it. So folks, check your subscriptions when you're somewhere, verify. So, and Gunpowder Beauty, you are absolutely welcome. And yeah, somebody else gave me the thing, I loved it. I hope you enjoy it as well. And, uh, all right, I'll be quiet.

Ready? Ta-da! Right on. Well, thanks everyone for coming out tonight. I know that the holiday is drawing nigh and there are lots of things that could have taken your attention and your time, so thank you very much for giving some of your time and attention to the show tonight. Next week, it's gonna be a long one. I will be here and hanging out in the text chat, so come and join me, and who knows, maybe Brooke will pop in at some point as well. As well. Everybody, think about someone that you haven't spoken to in a long time, or someones whom you haven't spoken to in a long time. The holiday is a great time to get a hold of somebody. It might be too late to get a card there on the day, but if you have that phone number, dial it. If you have that email address, write something. And if you really do want to commit it with pen and paper, that seems to speak to a lot of people more profoundly than a phone call or a text message or an email. Write something out longhand, send it to them. None of us get enough first-class mail anymore that is something other than a bill or some other call to our attention. You— that it will have a positive impact on people if you do that. So that's my hope. It's not quite a Christmas wish, but I guess we could call it that. And I wish all of you a Merry Christmas. Until we see each other again, be safe, have fun, take care of yourself and your crew, and rock!

We're out.