17 thoughts on “#78: “Jellyfish” (Tiradeus Interruptus, Part Two)

  1. Hi Dan,

    I love the show. A friend and I have a podcast called The Rules where we discuss what might be called modern manners. It’s about questions like whether it’s okay to talk to a guy you know at the urinal or to take your bottle of wine home from the party if it’s unopened. Your story about the father turning on his heel at the birthday party is exactly the sort of thing we’d discuss.

    We have a guest every week and it’d be a treat if you’d consider joining us by Skype. Do let me know if you’d be interested in joining another bitter man – although I like to think of myself more as a disappointed optimist – and a slightly more hopeful woman.

    Cheers from Sydney,

    Steven

  2. Dan,

    Great show, I really enjoy your stories. I think the point you made of asking the question now instead of 20 years later is dead on. I look back at high school and laugh about how serious we took it.

    Also I think you might be surprised how well you would fit in Austin TX, although I can not vouch for the film industries presence there.

    Keep up the great work.

  3. Austin, TX? Too hot. Portland, OR? Too wet.

    I have no love for high school. I never really fit in between the jocks and the surfers. The yearbook had a picture of me in a “computer club”. There was no computer club, just a bunch of geeks who hung around the computer room at lunch. That’s how badly we didn’t fit in. High school, bla. I didn’t start having fun until college.

    I think everyone has made a “mistake” with someone who could have been IT for them. Me included. But I don’t worry too much about that because I have a wonderful wife and a daughter I wouldn’t trade for anything.

    But I agree with your general premise. If there is something out there you think you want, you had better get going and go after it.

  4. Dan:

    Wow. Your high school years were far more exciting than mine. I feel as if I am hearing about life and society on another planet. Not only did I fail to go to the prom, I didn’t even know it was happening on the date that it occurred.

    Another thingโ€ฆit’s funny that one of the reasons your show is so compelling is that it uniquely expresses the regret one has in middle age about lack of success and popularity.

    But of course, your show is one of the more popular podcasts in the nation (mentioned in the Times, USA Today) and it is only your success as a podcaster that allows you to express your feelings about being unpopular to a wide audience.

    I think everyone else got this already.

    Always a fan,

    Henry

  5. Enjoying the show.
    Downloaded the last two, and now subscribed.
    We didn’t have proms in England when I was that age, don’t think that has changed.
    (Class reunions are another thing we didn’t have.)
    It is interesting to hear you talk about it.
    Especially remembering details from a distant time.
    Is this the age when we start to look back a lot?
    I have been looking back to 1988, the year I came to America (they released a movie about that subject that year, http://imdb.com/title/tt0094898/, but it is nothing like my experience). ๐Ÿ™‚
    From one stay-at-home-dad to another….thanks for sharing.

  6. Dan, if your show was the only show I ever listened to, then it would still be worth listening to podcasts.
    shows like “Jellyfish” make me glad to be the same kind of wierdo as you.

    Stay safe

  7. Dan, I cracked up when you got to the part about falling asleep while your poor trapped date watched TV in the family room. I’ve been both the one that fell asleep and the trapped date. ๐Ÿ™‚

    We’ve all got a prom story buried somewhere within us. And we’ve all got a “Jellyfish” story lurking in our background. It’s a part of growing up.

    Kids, listen to Uncle Dan. Ask her out. Try out for the school play. Start that band. Enroll in that class that might not be a cakewalk. Take that chance. A “never went there” is worse than failure.

  8. Dan
    I am shocked! I listened to the April Fools show and quit listening until now. I was looking you up as I am now developing a for fee based podcast! I was looking for ways to do it. Dude, so sorry! I wonder how many others quit and came back?

  9. HAHA!

    I fell for the April Fool’s joke…. But I have an excuse! I listened several days after the show downloaded to my computer, and the thought never occured to me that it was an April fools joke, being almost a week later.

    Nice episode. It makes me think about the prom and cringe.

  10. Dan,

    This was read at a funeral that I attended recently.

    Note sure who the author is, but I liked it.

    The Dash

    I read of a reverend who stood to speak
    at the funeral of his friend.
    He referred to the dates on her tombstone
    from the beginning to the end.

    He noted that first came the date of her birth
    and spoke of the following date with tears,
    but he said what mattered most of all
    was the dash between those years.

    For that dash represents all the time
    that she spent alive upon this earth,
    and now only those who loved her
    know what that little line is worth.

    For it matters not, how much we own;
    the cars, the house, the cash.
    What matters is how we live and love
    and how we spend our dash.

    So think about this long and hard,
    are there things you’d like to change?
    For you never know how much time is left.
    (You could be at dash mid-range.)

    If we could just slow down enough
    to consider what’s true and real,
    and always try to understand
    the way other people feel.

    And be less quick to anger,
    and show appreciation more
    and love the people in our lives
    like we’ve never loved before.

    If we treat each other with respect,
    and more often wear a smile,
    remembering that this special dash
    might only last a little while.

    So, when your eulogy is being read
    with your life’s actions to rehash…
    would you be pleased with the things they say
    about how you spent your dash?

  11. Dan, as one of those “females” who knew you back then, may I speak for all of us when I say that you have managed to crush – absolutely obliterate – the image I had of you then. I don’t know if I can forgive you. You’ve destroyed a precious memory I held dear. Honestly … your *MOTHER* feathered that hair???!!

    devastated,

    ~ honeybee33 ~

  12. is ‘hyper-heterosexual’ a synonym for ‘lecherous’? ๐Ÿ˜‰

    I joke!

    But would love to hear about how Melissa was stunned into submission by the “James Bond of ladies”….

    xx

  13. First time I’ve ever listened to a podcast… I then went back and listened to part one. Your delivery is amazing and the subject so heartfelt. Thanks. If I were capable of changing.. this would have had a good chance in triggering that mechanism.

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