Agent Palmer

Episode 52 features the return of Christopher J Hughes, aka Agent Parker, aka TriforceDad1984.

We talk about anniversaries and celebrations, sentimentalities, traditions, attempt to understand how we got here, and much much more.

Throughout the conversation, we discuss: 

• Anniversaries
• Celebrations
• Sentimentality
• Longevity
• Being creative
• “when you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.”
• “create a little chaos…”
• Finding value in yourself
• The importance of publish
• Steal like an artist
• Being an artist
• Creative hobbies
• And much more

Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode

TriforceDad.com

Twitch.tv/triforcedad1984

TriforceDad1984 on YouTube

Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.

–End Show Notes Transmission–

–Begin Transcription–

00:00:00:01 – 00:00:31:28
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com Amazon Prime’s Val explores the true heart of an artist. Crichton’s The Lost World is espionage, extinction and evolution. And since my conversation with Tristan, I’ve been digging through my unfinished projects. This is The Palmer Files, episode 52 with one of my best friends, Christopher Hughes, aka Agent Parker, aka TriforceDad 1984. We talk about anniversaries and celebrations, sentimentality, traditions, attempt to understand how we got here, and much, much more.

00:00:31:31 – 00:01:04:59
Agent Palmer
Are you ready? Let’s do the show.

00:01:05:03 – 00:01:28:39
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic. Also known as Agent Palmer. And on this 52nd episode is another returning guest, Chris Hughes, formerly known as Peter Parker PA, now known as Triforce Dad, 1984 and always a friend of the show and this host now. I’m not one for sentimentality, anniversaries or celebrations, but I know someone who is.

00:01:28:39 – 00:02:00:00
Agent Palmer
And that’s exactly why Chris is here. As a confluence of numbers has occurred. Episode 52. This episode marks the end of two years of The Palmer Files. This November, this podcast’s namesake blog page agent palmer.com turns ten. And Chris recently had a birthday and also recently celebrated one year of affiliate status on Twitch. There are other numbers that will come up, but how Chris and I approach these anniversaries with tradition, and sometimes celebration is a part of what you’re about to listen to.

00:02:00:12 – 00:02:25:35
Agent Palmer
You’ll also hear our story about founding businesses and working together, achieving longevity, moving on to the next thing, finding value in ourselves and our time. A quote from Taika Waititi and a quote from Futurama. And of course, much, much more. Now, before we get going, remember that if you want to discuss the episode as you listen or afterwards, you can tweet me at Agent Palmer, my friend Chris at Triforce D&D 1984.

00:02:25:35 – 00:02:50:07
Agent Palmer
That’s tree FARC dad 1984. And this show at the Palmer Files. For all things Chris, you can visit Triforce D&D dot com, and you can watch him stream on Twitch at Twitch.tv. Triforce D&D 1984 email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com. And remember, you’re home for all things Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.

00:02:50:11 – 00:03:05:47
Agent Palmer
So without further ado, remember, it’s 37 bells for Chris, one bell for affiliate status. Two bells for this podcast and ten for the blog.

00:03:05:52 – 00:03:18:54
Agent Palmer
Chris, we’ve known each other a very long time. I have never been one for celebrations personally. Me? I don’t really do the birthday thing. You do my birthday almost more excited than I do my birthday.

00:03:19:07 – 00:03:21:11
Christopher J. Hughes
I at least I at least call you.

00:03:21:13 – 00:03:42:22
Agent Palmer
No, no, I know, but I just do to me again. To me, it’s not a big. I’m the guy who realized I was at blog post 296 and went, maybe, maybe I should do something for 300 because clearly I’ve missed 102 hundred. And this, this right here finishes the second year of this particular podcast.

00:03:42:33 – 00:04:01:47
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. But now we have to keep in mind I do have the best birthday tradition with you because I will send you the hunger for spirit journey information anniversary and updated with the number of bells that have to chime for your years every year. That’s how much I celebrate your birthday. But. But like that’s more than you do for you.

00:04:01:58 – 00:04:26:26
Agent Palmer
But yeah yeah, yeah. So I’m not I’m not a I understand the meaning of the passage of time. And hey, I’ve done 52 episodes now or I’m, I mean, I’m doing 52. Let’s hope we get through this one. But but it’s so weird because it’s it’s a very weird, like, right now, this period of time is a very weird confluence, right?

00:04:26:31 – 00:04:36:09
Agent Palmer
This fall, a few weeks after this episode will air my blog, the Namesake Agent palmer.com turns ten.

00:04:36:14 – 00:04:37:53
Christopher J. Hughes
When is that? When is that?

00:04:37:58 – 00:04:44:58
Agent Palmer
November. First week in November. Okay. I don’t know what I’m doing. Again. I only just realized that that was a thing, right?

00:04:45:00 – 00:04:49:10
Christopher J. Hughes
A couple weeks before that, I will have an 18 year old.

00:04:49:19 – 00:04:58:55
Agent Palmer
You will have an 18 year old, but you just. Yeah. Not too long ago celebrated a year of streaming as an official.

00:04:58:55 – 00:05:00:29
Christopher J. Hughes
As an affiliate on Twitch.

00:05:00:32 – 00:05:02:40
Agent Palmer
Yeah, your birthday just happened, and we can.

00:05:02:47 – 00:05:03:36
Christopher J. Hughes
See what.

00:05:03:41 – 00:05:07:13
Agent Palmer
What what did you make me do for your birthday, by the.

00:05:07:13 – 00:05:24:21
Christopher J. Hughes
Way? I made you drive your ass to my house and play songs live on the internet for a level 37 birthday concert live on Twitch. It didn’t even occur on my birthday. It occurred on the day before my birthday, so I can spend my actual birthday with my family, and most of them slept in.

00:05:24:32 – 00:05:34:44
Agent Palmer
So there’s, and link available in the show notes. I have no shame for that. Like, let’s get you some views. But if anybody wants to see me, see me. I mean.

00:05:34:53 – 00:05:39:49
Christopher J. Hughes
We’re we’re currently on the road to 300 followers on Twitch. Believe it or not.

00:05:39:51 – 00:05:41:25
Agent Palmer
Triforce, that 1984.

00:05:41:26 – 00:05:42:05
Christopher J. Hughes
Driver.

00:05:42:10 – 00:05:54:32
Agent Palmer
For So Twisted TV. So, so this is this is very much a audio medium. But if you want to see me play guitar for longer than I have played in forever.

00:05:54:32 – 00:05:56:56
Christopher J. Hughes
In succession, yeah, in one chunk.

00:05:56:56 – 00:06:05:05
Agent Palmer
In one chunk. And and for that matter, the first time I’ve played guitar for an audience.

00:06:05:05 – 00:06:09:03
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. Since probably since you graduated from college, I would guess.

00:06:09:03 – 00:06:14:01
Agent Palmer
I think that’s probably well before I graduated from college.

00:06:14:01 – 00:06:21:24
Christopher J. Hughes
Thank you. We’ve come a long way from the grill. We’ve. But have we have we?

00:06:21:29 – 00:06:34:58
Agent Palmer
So I want to ask you, because I’ve been thinking about the anniversary thing and the birthday thing, and I, I’ve narrowed it down for myself to one thing. Okay? I don’t take compliments.

00:06:34:58 – 00:06:37:13
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, yeah.

00:06:37:18 – 00:06:53:06
Agent Palmer
And I don’t receive gifts. Well, I’m just I just I don’t know how, like, I can, I can, I can fake it as best as I can, but even if you give me what I want, I’m like, thanks. Like, I’m not like I’m never going to be like, oh my God, thank you so much. Like, that’s not me.

00:06:53:06 – 00:07:20:01
Christopher J. Hughes
And and then there’s me. And like, my wife will get me the like it’ll be the silliest little thing and it’ll be jam packed with the most fucking meaning on the planet. So, my wife and I have been together almost 19 years. We will be, by by the time this year we’ll have been married 13 years.

00:07:20:06 – 00:07:47:42
Christopher J. Hughes
Eight, 808. Also the start of the, Beijing Olympics. My friend Joe will never let me forget that. And, so, since we’ve been married, there’s there’s been all kinds of cutesy Disney, Pixar, all these, you know, emotional, romantic couples that have have come into the the cultural ethos, as it were. And Carl and Ellie, are the saddest part of the movie up from Pixar, but they’re also the cutest goddamn part.

00:07:47:42 – 00:08:06:05
Christopher J. Hughes
When you’ve been married to somebody for a long time and the one year I kid you not, it’s it’s probably about it. I’m holding up. Well, what’s now been turned into an unfortunate symbol for for some people, but about the size of the, the the negative space you make when you put your, your thumb together like a half.

00:08:06:06 – 00:08:18:21
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. Like I have to maybe need a little smarter, maybe, like quarter size. But she bought me at the end of the movie up. Spoiler. Carl the befriends a little boy. I can’t remember the kid’s name. What the hell’s the kid’s name?

00:08:18:25 – 00:08:26:48
Agent Palmer
I don’t know, I don’t know what is the kid’s name from? No. Let let let let the listeners shout it, randomly as they’re listening.

00:08:26:52 – 00:08:52:20
Christopher J. Hughes
Everybody, 3 to 1, tell me the kid’s name. Go. Okay, now that we’ve cleared that up, Carl befriends the kid. Yep. The. He’s a Boy Scout of sorts, and he gives them what’s called the the Carl badge. But it was a it was something that his wife had made for them as a kid. They were adventurers together and all this stuff, and it’s literally just a grape soda bottle top, with, with a safety pin through it.

00:08:52:25 – 00:09:15:13
Christopher J. Hughes
And he gives it, he gives him the Ellie badge. We call that the only badge for his wife. And my wife. Lindsay gave me a pin of the Ellie badge, and he cried like a baby because I was like, oh, this is beautiful. This is such a wonderful thing. I have. I’m looking at it right now. It’s underneath my my original Earthbound Player’s Guide right now, because I have to protect it from the sun and I have to add more pictures to it.

00:09:15:13 – 00:09:32:45
Christopher J. Hughes
But she got me there. There adventure is out there. Book is a photo album with all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I I’m definitely the sort of person who gets emotional over a good gift. You know, for a couple and it’s funny, I’m not wearing it now, but like for the last two days in all my meetings, you brought me, and it’s silly shit.

00:09:32:47 – 00:09:50:21
Christopher J. Hughes
You brought me a wristband for my birthday with the Hylian Shield on it, because I’m a Zelda nut, and I was wearing it for, like, four days. Like, I don’t want to. I don’t do the dishes with it, but because you got to draw the line, but, like, yeah, I’m. I’m totally a sentimental sap. And I think, I think I take compliments better than you.

00:09:50:26 – 00:09:55:55
Agent Palmer
I know you do. Like the kind of.

00:09:55:56 – 00:09:58:35
Christopher J. Hughes
Guys like, I think I like compliments more than you do.

00:09:58:35 – 00:10:02:00
Agent Palmer
Yeah, well that’s that, but I but I think most people.

00:10:02:00 – 00:10:07:48
Christopher J. Hughes
Who are always like, what do you want? Nobody compliments me.

00:10:07:52 – 00:10:13:04
Agent Palmer
Yeah, I, I literally pushed you away when you tried to be sincere at the end of the concert.

00:10:13:09 – 00:10:15:05
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. You did? Yeah.

00:10:15:09 – 00:10:16:48
Agent Palmer
But that’s me. And I feel like I feel.

00:10:16:48 – 00:10:18:43
Christopher J. Hughes
Bad, but that’s our yin and yang, though, you and.

00:10:18:43 – 00:10:19:37
Agent Palmer
I. I feel we’ve.

00:10:19:37 – 00:10:21:34
Christopher J. Hughes
Known each other almost 20 years at this.

00:10:21:34 – 00:10:27:41
Agent Palmer
Point. Well, I’m just saying, I think that’s why is that. Is that why, like, I don’t like.

00:10:27:43 – 00:10:30:32
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh, because there’s so much why to. Why you and I.

00:10:30:44 – 00:10:49:24
Agent Palmer
No, no, no, I was I was going back to the topic of like anniversaries and, and milestones and stuff because I just, I go on to the next thing which you like. We, we don’t have to get into that, unless you really want to, but like, I’m always on to the next thing, so, like, that thing’s done.

00:10:49:28 – 00:10:51:01
Agent Palmer
Let’s move on.

00:10:51:05 – 00:11:13:16
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. And I don’t I don’t say I’m, I’m stuck. But like, I think I’ve had, like I’ve had a couple events that have definitely put like what I’ll refer to as like rolled road miles on my soul. You know, a little bit of heartbreak, a little bit of lessons learned. And not like heartbreak in the traditional sense.

00:11:13:16 – 00:11:36:26
Christopher J. Hughes
You know, I’ve, I’ve, through no fault of my own. I’ve seen some shit, and you know that, you know, my dad died when I was 12, you know? So, you know, growing up through that and and, you know, navigating that and, a couple of years ago, I had, a cousin, commit suicide very unexpectedly, three days after I had seen him.

00:11:36:26 – 00:11:54:23
Christopher J. Hughes
And he was helping us with, stuff for, you know, some, some, local arts things that my wife was involved in. And, you know, I’m going through some things now that I’m trying to navigate and do the right thing and, and some of that comes with the whole parenting bag and all that, but.

00:11:54:24 – 00:12:03:46
Agent Palmer
But do some of these things give you the impetus for the celebration? Like, I’m not going to say I have had it easy I because I don’t want.

00:12:03:46 – 00:12:05:21
Christopher J. Hughes
People to have. But but none of us.

00:12:05:21 – 00:12:18:49
Agent Palmer
But but I, I don’t know if I’ve, I don’t know what is missing for me. It’s just never been a part of the thing where I’m like, I got to celebrate that. Like, it’s just never occurs to me.

00:12:19:00 – 00:12:28:32
Christopher J. Hughes
I think for me, there’s always an underlying fear that it’s going to be the last one.

00:12:28:37 – 00:12:28:58
Agent Palmer
Okay.

00:12:29:07 – 00:12:31:12
Christopher J. Hughes
I mean, and maybe, maybe that’s it.

00:12:31:17 – 00:12:38:58
Agent Palmer
Yeah. That’s that’s fair. I mean, look, we we can only psychoanalyze so much, right? Like you and I.

00:12:39:03 – 00:12:40:13
Christopher J. Hughes
You meet someone like.

00:12:40:18 – 00:12:45:14
Agent Palmer
You and you because you and you, you and I talk on a daily basis, right?

00:12:45:18 – 00:12:55:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Like, I just daily, multiple times a day. I might have more conversations with you than I do my wife. Much to both of, both she and my chagrin.

00:12:55:41 – 00:13:08:32
Agent Palmer
So that’s fair. That’s fair. I look, have you been listening since episode one? You are aware that I. I am a phone parasite like, I. I will just keep calling.

00:13:08:43 – 00:13:32:20
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. You you are the Ferris Bueller to my Cameron Fry. He’ll keep calling me. He’ll keep calling me. He’ll make me feel guilty. Iko iko iko iko iko I’ll go. That is just me looking at my phone. God. Good dinner.

00:13:32:25 – 00:13:37:12
Agent Palmer
In fairness. In fairness, yeah, some of those things are like. Hey, how you doing?

00:13:37:16 – 00:13:43:52
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah, good. But we’re done in all other things except for, the phone. I am the Ferris Bueller to your Cameron for.

00:13:44:05 – 00:13:49:36
Agent Palmer

100. While you’re the reason I left my house for the first time. And what? Actually, you know what?

00:13:49:37 – 00:13:53:11
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, but let’s let’s also say there’s been a pandemic.

00:13:53:11 – 00:14:08:11
Agent Palmer
There has been a pandemic, and, and, and the last time I really left for an extended period of time was to see you right about two years ago, right after I launched the first episode of this show.

00:14:08:16 – 00:14:11:10
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. Was that the time I cut your hair in my kitchen?

00:14:11:10 – 00:14:14:36
Agent Palmer
That was 100% the time you cut my hair.

00:14:14:41 – 00:14:15:08
Christopher J. Hughes
There we go.

00:14:15:13 – 00:14:15:45
Agent Palmer
In your kitchen?

00:14:15:45 – 00:14:20:47
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. I gave you a straight, not a not a full, straight razor. Shit. But I trimmed you up straight. Razor.

00:14:20:47 – 00:14:24:51
Agent Palmer
I trusted you with a blade around my neck.

00:14:24:56 – 00:14:31:10
Christopher J. Hughes
Because I can. That is, if if nothing else, after 20 years of friendship, that is just.

00:14:31:10 – 00:14:33:35
Agent Palmer
I’m just saying, if you ever wanted to silence me for.

00:14:33:35 – 00:14:35:03
Christopher J. Hughes
Good, I had. I had the chance.

00:14:35:03 – 00:14:37:26
Agent Palmer
You had the chance.

00:14:37:31 – 00:14:47:40
Christopher J. Hughes
You’re like. You started the pod before you came up. That was. That would have been too, too much guilt. Oh, I silenced a a beautiful voice and a wonderful conversation.

00:14:47:40 – 00:15:01:23
Agent Palmer
Oh, no no no no. There’s a reason I barely sang vocals backup during that thing. I don’t sing anymore. Come on. I barely play anymore. This was. I still don’t understand what happened.

00:15:01:28 – 00:15:03:24
Christopher J. Hughes
Neither do I, and that’s what’s beautiful about it.

00:15:03:26 – 00:15:06:19
Agent Palmer
Okay, well, you and I have done that before. This is not.

00:15:06:28 – 00:15:09:30
Christopher J. Hughes
Not understood what’s happened around us. Yeah, of course we were fair.

00:15:09:30 – 00:15:27:52
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I look we’re going to talk about longevity for a second because the podcast is turning to. But the blog is turning ten and you’ve been, you’ve been the not the main editor, but you’ve been the consistent editor behind.

00:15:27:52 – 00:15:33:19
Christopher J. Hughes
And yeah, I’ve been Oz. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Behind the getting big head jokes.

00:15:33:19 – 00:15:33:45
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah.

00:15:33:54 – 00:15:34:54
Christopher J. Hughes
This is not the time.

00:15:35:05 – 00:15:38:07
Agent Palmer
Okay. But you’ve been behind the curtain.

00:15:38:12 – 00:15:56:06
Christopher J. Hughes
I sure have. Yeah. And I’ve, I’ve, I’ve stepped out rarely. You know, I, I have written, I would say very sporadically at this point, like if you, if you took the volume and gave me a percentage, it’s very minuscule at this point. But yeah, there’s been times where like, I’ll, I’ll definitely jump out of the shadows and rights and stuff, but.

00:15:56:20 – 00:15:58:23
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. I,

00:15:58:28 – 00:16:10:28
Agent Palmer
Are you surprised I made it? Because. Because, look, you and I have started and stopped many, many things, right? Like the show. So I guess the question, though, the real question is, are you.

00:16:10:28 – 00:16:12:02
Christopher J. Hughes
Serves longevity? No.

00:16:12:02 – 00:16:22:40
Agent Palmer
Are you more amazed that I’ve done this podcast consistently for two years, or that the blog is turning ten?

00:16:22:44 – 00:17:02:41
Christopher J. Hughes
I know I am not more amazed at the podcasting. Because you could not shut the fuck up about other people’s shows for the longest time and how this could be better, or this guest could have gotten better, or they didn’t prep, or they didn’t this or they didn’t that you you had such a piece of your interest base just swallowed by podcasting for a while that I I’m more surprised that the pod didn’t overtake the blog, just based on your sheer enthusiasm for the pod before you even had your own show.

00:17:02:47 – 00:17:04:59
Agent Palmer
All right, I look.

00:17:05:03 – 00:17:24:43
Christopher J. Hughes
Because you you. The thing about you is, and the people who know you personally or have listened to this and heard some of us riff on, you know, that you’re you’re always ten steps ahead. Except for this week where it’s, we’re recording on a Tuesday and this will be released on a Tuesday. So that’s kismet. And you didn’t have a blog for Thursday?

00:17:24:43 – 00:17:27:15
Christopher J. Hughes
I don’t think that’s happened for years.

00:17:27:19 – 00:17:32:29
Agent Palmer
Yeah. No, I mean, once, once every couple months. I hit that. Right. Well, it’s because of you.

00:17:32:41 – 00:18:00:17
Christopher J. Hughes
I know, because I made you. You read so many goddamn books that I’m tired of reading your book reviews before. I’m tired of the director’s cut of Palmer book reviews that I made. You only put up a book review every other week this year, and you’ve been consistent somehow. So, yeah, in the midst of all of this, where I can’t even read my own thoughts, you have read and will read by the end of this calendar year.

00:18:00:17 – 00:18:06:21
Christopher J. Hughes
26 other people’s books. Sure, I can’t even get through my email in a day.

00:18:06:21 – 00:18:10:27
Agent Palmer
Most people can’t get through. I can’t even get through my own email. I read the book. Look, let’s be.

00:18:10:27 – 00:18:15:47
Christopher J. Hughes
Fair, I also work with demanding adult sized toddlers, so.

00:18:15:51 – 00:18:20:55
Agent Palmer
My books are always more engaging than my email. Come on.

00:18:20:55 – 00:18:32:55
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, yeah, because the the conclusions right there. If, if if your emails are filled with cliffhangers, there’s a problem.

00:18:32:59 – 00:18:35:38
Agent Palmer
What are your.

00:18:35:47 – 00:18:50:34
Christopher J. Hughes
Hours and and let’s the subject line is not a climax like it’s. Yeah like get to the point. Don’t bury the lead. Email’s important. And if it could have been if a meeting could have been an email. An email shouldn’t be a novel.

00:18:50:38 – 00:19:07:27
Agent Palmer
I’m, you know, I, I, I want to let you know that during my networking this year, I literally used this subject line. I couldn’t think of a good subject line. So this is what I put here.

00:19:07:40 – 00:19:09:37
Christopher J. Hughes
What the hell is the matter with you?

00:19:09:40 – 00:19:13:57
Agent Palmer
Because I because the the idea of networking, that’s.

00:19:13:57 – 00:19:18:26
Christopher J. Hughes
Like writing to a pen pal and saying, I’m not sure how to start this letter.

00:19:18:31 – 00:19:19:12
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah.

00:19:19:12 – 00:19:21:49
Christopher J. Hughes
Pretty much put it that’s bad. Well.

00:19:21:54 – 00:19:22:39
Agent Palmer
You know what? You do.

00:19:22:39 – 00:19:23:01
Christopher J. Hughes
That.

00:19:23:01 – 00:19:28:28
Agent Palmer
But I’ve gotten better response than when I subject line it networking.

00:19:28:33 – 00:19:31:40
Christopher J. Hughes
I mean okay, the proof is in the pudding. I don’t I’m not gonna.

00:19:31:40 – 00:19:33:41
Agent Palmer
I just so and I feel like it’s because.

00:19:33:41 – 00:20:03:28
Christopher J. Hughes
It’s funny though. Because you’re like you’re networking and I’m finding ways to, like, shelter myself away from people. Like, I’ve built this office, you know, and within the last 16 months, partially out of necessity because, there’s been, this wonderful, generational occurrence around us. But, like, I was elated when my, my full time employer put a remote work policy in their employee handbook and then dish it out.

00:20:03:30 – 00:20:25:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Everybody was like, hey, you need to sign up for this. I was like, yes, please. So I’m I’m like the I’m getting to the point where, at least professionally, definitely not personally, because I, I ran into a situation last night where I checked in on a person that’s gone through some stuff and, normalize being there for your, your male friends at all times.

00:20:25:46 – 00:20:26:40
Agent Palmer
100%.

00:20:26:45 – 00:20:35:42
Christopher J. Hughes
And, but like, professionally, I’m definitely done with other people’s. Procrastination is becoming my problem.

00:20:35:47 – 00:21:03:14
Agent Palmer
So I want to ask you this because you, when you say the word professionally for someone who, like I am, knows you, I think of two things for other people they might think of, like your day job. Yeah, but it’s not just that, because. And what you do as Triforce dad 1984 on stream is one thing, but the graphic design moonlighting you do.

00:21:03:28 – 00:21:09:28
Agent Palmer
I consider another function of your professional career.

00:21:09:35 – 00:21:19:19
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh yeah. Definitely and definitely. Over over the last year, like I’ve, I’ve, And I think you and I have both run into this.

00:21:19:19 – 00:21:23:26
Agent Palmer
So can we, can we do the story? Like, I don’t know if we did the story last time we.

00:21:23:27 – 00:21:37:01
Christopher J. Hughes
Did the story, but let me, let me, let me, let me front end the story because I don’t want to bury the lead. I think it took a long time for both of us. And I think for one of us, Jason, it’s continues to do what what.

00:21:37:01 – 00:21:37:49
Agent Palmer
What what what what?

00:21:37:58 – 00:21:59:18
Christopher J. Hughes
Give me a second. I’m getting a point, to to be confident enough in our abilities to charge a fair rate for ourselves to get paid. Right. And it comes down to those those things that you see that, you know, it’s it’s the Facebook meme that your amp puts up, but it’s like, oh, an engineer gets called to a, train yard and they have to fix a problem with the engine.

00:21:59:33 – 00:22:16:23
Christopher J. Hughes
And he’s he’s gone around and he’s knocking on the engine. Right. And, and within about 30 seconds he got. Yeah, he, he’s not gone. And he lets it echo and he knocks again. And then he punches the side of the engine and the whole thing kicks back to life. And they’re like, oh my God, that was amazing you guys.

00:22:16:23 – 00:22:49:24
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. Here’s the bill. And the bills like it has all been an amount of money. And they’re like, you were here for like 45 seconds. He’s like, yeah, but I spent 30 years figuring out how to make how to make my visits 45 seconds like you owe me for the years, not the minutes. Yeah. And I think that’s, I think for me, for graphic design and for even the things that graphic design has led to, like the, the, the, ancillary or secondary areas of graphic design, and even, like, production type stuff.

00:22:49:28 – 00:23:12:05
Christopher J. Hughes
I think it took me a long time to convince myself that just because I knew how to do it, and it wasn’t for a 9 to 5, I shouldn’t charge people fair rate because my time wasn’t valuable. It took me a long time. And maybe, you know, we’re talking about anniversaries and other stuff. I think it comes down to valuing your own time when you’re good at something.

00:23:12:10 – 00:23:23:11
Christopher J. Hughes
And I think I do a little better than you. We had a conversation recently, and I won’t get too into the the weeds with it, but you’re starting to come to that point with a project that you’re working on, and I think that’s important.

00:23:23:11 – 00:23:49:09
Agent Palmer
I just started to get to a point where my networking has led me to people I can consider mentors, and I’ve started asking them, right, because, yeah, you know, that episode 50 had a fairly big response because my mother pushed it, more than anything else. And a lot of people talk about the mission driven conversation, the, the, the internal marketing, but the mission driven work.

00:23:49:09 – 00:24:15:11
Agent Palmer
We talked about and I feel like, and this is what I’ve been telling the people that I when I can get to a point where I trust them enough, is like I say yes to things that are mission driven or that I believe in before I even talk about the money. Because while I do need to feed myself and have a roof over my head and clothes, for me the work is like I’ve never.

00:24:15:12 – 00:24:19:43
Christopher J. Hughes
You need to find value in the work as much as you do and the amount you’re paid.

00:24:19:43 – 00:24:33:26
Agent Palmer
For the work and not but I but but that’s a such a mindset change, right? Because like for you and me, right? I go back to Lucky John. We took on whatever we literally took on whatever we could do.

00:24:33:27 – 00:24:36:14
Christopher J. Hughes
Didn’t matter what it was, as long as it was a client, we were happy. Yep.

00:24:36:15 – 00:24:48:27
Agent Palmer
And then I did the same thing for for the the original part of specter. I, you know, somebody who needed a thing referral done. Let’s do it right. Like. Yeah. And it’s and.

00:24:48:27 – 00:25:07:13
Christopher J. Hughes
It’s so for context but we didn’t we didn’t back then. So lucky John Media was was a graphic design company that I had founded in college and that, many times you would help me run shit, with it. You know, I had technically, on paper, a business partner, but, like, I ended up doing more favors than I did.

00:25:07:18 – 00:25:26:52
Christopher J. Hughes
Honest to God work, you know what I mean? Yeah. So. But you. I mean, you were there for that, and I was behind the scenes for specter as much as I was for, which, by the way, I saw we’re talking about anniversaries. The specter, is, was founded a week before my wedding.

00:25:26:52 – 00:25:29:11
Agent Palmer
Yeah, yeah. So I know 13 and.

00:25:29:11 – 00:25:29:51
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:25:29:52 – 00:25:34:23
Agent Palmer
So it’s that’s an anniversary I don’t have to worry about.

00:25:34:27 – 00:25:35:18
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah, I.

00:25:35:23 – 00:25:35:56
Agent Palmer
Got that, and.

00:25:36:06 – 00:25:39:37
Christopher J. Hughes
I didn’t. You didn’t even acknowledge or or maybe you were going.

00:25:39:37 – 00:25:49:01
Agent Palmer
No, no, because that’s a that’s a separate conversation because I still haven’t figured out like what to do with that. Because the Palmer brand.

00:25:49:01 – 00:25:49:43
Christopher J. Hughes
Overtook.

00:25:49:50 – 00:25:55:44
Agent Palmer
Overtook it like. No, that’s that’s what people know me by. I, I don’t know, I, I.

00:25:55:49 – 00:26:05:39
Christopher J. Hughes
I think you’ve invested more into into Palmer at least as far as like that’s true. Yeah. And it’s not that it’s a better brand, it’s that you made it the more successful brand.

00:26:05:41 – 00:26:24:17
Agent Palmer
That’s fair. I mean, the I will say, as much as I love the logo, Ryan did the original specter logo, that is my it’s you mean literally. It’s literally me that’s still of a favorite logo that I don’t use enough. I’ll use it to promote this episode. Why not?

00:26:24:21 – 00:26:24:48
Christopher J. Hughes
There you go.

00:26:24:50 – 00:26:27:37
Agent Palmer
I haven’t used it in a while. And what’s funny.

00:26:27:37 – 00:26:29:37
Christopher J. Hughes
And we we took that photo.

00:26:29:42 – 00:26:34:31
Agent Palmer
We took that photo you and I both did like. That was the one of the few times like we posed it.

00:26:34:31 – 00:26:55:26
Christopher J. Hughes
You were at my my old house. My oldest was younger than my youngest is now. And like, we and like we. Okay. Secret baseball because I don’t I don’t think they can do anything about it now. But like we were using maybe not so legal versions of Adobe Photoshop for special effects.

00:26:55:26 – 00:27:17:22
Agent Palmer
Well, that’s that’s fair. But we also it’s one of the few I think it might be one of the first times we collaborated on a digital graphic design project, like you and I had done menus and stuff and passed it back and forth to share the work. But this one, it was like because it was not just a picture of me, it was a picture.

00:27:17:22 – 00:27:18:18
Christopher J. Hughes
Of me stylized.

00:27:18:18 – 00:27:38:57
Agent Palmer
Stylized. And we went back and forth on like layer after layer. Yeah, like I have stubble on my face. And we went through so many variations. I remember that there was like, okay, now it looks like I have a full beard. Let’s see if we can do it with the stubble later. We got into the weeds. I mean, do.

00:27:38:57 – 00:27:51:54
Christopher J. Hughes
You want to talk about how, how a brand can be personal? You know, make it your face? You were like your own Gerber baby. It was. It was ridiculous. So. Yeah. Well. But. Yeah.

00:27:52:07 – 00:27:54:56
Agent Palmer
And you’ve you’ve rebranded a few times since then.

00:27:55:01 – 00:28:16:34
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh, certainly. Yeah. I mean, I used to run around, as Peter Parker PA, which worked better when I was a journalist. But now the I think the Triforce dad vibe fits. I kind of, you know, I kind of like where I’m at. And branding is different now, too, right? Like, branding is is, you know, it was it was a business card logo or a letterhead or whatever.

00:28:16:34 – 00:28:17:08
Christopher J. Hughes
It might be 100.

00:28:17:08 – 00:28:18:04
Agent Palmer
Percent, I don’t.

00:28:18:06 – 00:28:34:18
Christopher J. Hughes
Know, it’s it’s, like, how good can can this thing, look, when all the edges are rounded off by every single platform I’m going to upload it to? And how do I make it look right and all this kind of stuff. So there’s, there’s a lot more technical considerations.

00:28:34:20 – 00:28:44:05
Agent Palmer
Zoom out. How’s it how’s it look on on Twitter as an example. How does it look at 25 by 25 when you’re just looking at a is it just an icon? Next to the tweet. Right.

00:28:44:05 – 00:29:03:05
Christopher J. Hughes
Like yeah it’s or even I even on Twitter, you know we talked about Twitch. How does it look on the on the profile versus on the sidebar. How does it look on mobile. How does it, you know, like even I’ve even got like on my twitch now. It’s terrible because I haven’t I haven’t built it. But I’m trying to build a template because depending on the, the device that you’re viewing things on now.

00:29:03:05 – 00:29:16:48
Christopher J. Hughes
Sure. The the header image, the hero image is different. So you have to compensate for all these things. People don’t realize the the nightmare that graphic designers and social media managers go through to make everything precise.

00:29:16:57 – 00:29:17:55
Agent Palmer
Yeah, if you don’t.

00:29:17:55 – 00:29:42:15
Christopher J. Hughes
Such a lost art. I and I experienced it firsthand. The other day. I got a document from the president of the organization that I work for and literally my instructions from the president. Right. It was forwarded from their secretary. It was like, so-and-so needs this word document, you know, made to look nice. See their instructions below. And literally the instructions for the president of my organization, who I know personally, like I’m, you know, I can go walk into their office.

00:29:42:15 – 00:29:49:58
Christopher J. Hughes
They know who I am. And literally the instructions where this needs to go to Chris for artistic stuff.

00:29:50:02 – 00:29:52:14
Agent Palmer
I mean, I send stuff to you for artistic stuff.

00:29:52:16 – 00:29:59:25
Christopher J. Hughes
Verbatim. Yeah. But I you’re, you know, we’re we’re not in a contractual relationship.

00:29:59:34 – 00:30:05:11
Agent Palmer
I mean, I feel like we probably are sometimes. Good luck getting out.

00:30:05:16 – 00:30:07:12
Christopher J. Hughes
Where’s that paper? Yeah.

00:30:07:16 – 00:30:09:18
Agent Palmer
There’s no paper.

00:30:09:22 – 00:30:09:44
Christopher J. Hughes
No, I.

00:30:09:44 – 00:30:10:09
Agent Palmer
Mean, it’s look.

00:30:10:09 – 00:30:11:08
Christopher J. Hughes
Paper for our hearts.

00:30:11:08 – 00:30:28:54
Agent Palmer
But but but honestly, when you, when you talk about that stuff, when you talk about graphic design, social media, even website stuff, when you talk about podcast, when when you talk about creating anything, it’s always 100% goes to your favorite Futurama quote.

00:30:28:58 – 00:30:35:09
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh my God. Like if you if you’ve done things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

00:30:35:09 – 00:30:36:48
Agent Palmer
100%. I mean, like an.

00:30:36:48 – 00:30:41:17
Christopher J. Hughes
Electrical fire or, if you said a building on fire for the insurance money.

00:30:41:28 – 00:30:42:47
Agent Palmer
Yes. If you make it, make it look.

00:30:42:47 – 00:31:07:18
Christopher J. Hughes
Like an electrical thing, I was God once for a minute. Yes. You were doing well until everyone died. Yeah. No, I, I live like people. Get, you know, like veni, vidi, vici and all this kind of stuff tattooed. If I were going to get, like, a quote tattooed, it would probably be if you’ve done things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all.

00:31:07:18 – 00:31:25:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Because, and it comes down to you’ve experienced this professionally and personally. So have I. If you’re if you’re on your shit, right, if you’re on your shit, you make it look easy. And because you make it look easy, people think it’s easy. And then all of a sudden you go away. People go, how did you do all this stuff?

00:31:25:44 – 00:31:47:10
Christopher J. Hughes
I was like, because I spent I put the time and I put the hours in to be good at the thing. Yeah. You know, and like, it’s I’m doing silly stuff now. Right. So like, this is just, this is some real, like, inside baseball stuff. But like, before we were getting on the call. Right. I have a free plug in for After Effects and I follow, I follow a bunch of e-sports people because I have to for work and try and keep up on trends and all this stuff.

00:31:47:24 – 00:32:05:20
Christopher J. Hughes
But one guy literally put up a video of, like, him spinning like a pool cue around. And because I’m an idiot and an OG internet guy, my brain immediately went to Star Wars kid. And so I said, well, I’m going to download this video from Twitter and see if I can make the effects with this free plugin, and then I’m going to send it back to the guy for shits and giggles.

00:32:05:25 – 00:32:13:47
Christopher J. Hughes
But like, I’m just, I’m, I’m screwing around and After effects like one frame at a time, 30 frames a second for 60 seconds, and I’m going to send this back.

00:32:13:59 – 00:32:33:26
Agent Palmer
But you have to learn by doing. I mean, this is but again, and this goes back to what you said 20 minutes ago when you talk about my addiction, I feel like it was more of an addiction to other people’s shows. It was all of that work. It was all of that legwork. And it it’s it’s this.

00:32:33:26 – 00:33:00:50
Christopher J. Hughes
Extremism of it. It’s it’s it’s always wanting the product to be and are. What are we talking about anniversary. I don’t know what the hell we’re talking about anymore. But it’s it’s the it’s the process of perfection. Because if the product is good, no matter if it’s a friend’s side project, something that I’m doing for for fun or something that I’m, I’m developing that has to go out to represent an organization.

00:33:00:50 – 00:33:17:26
Christopher J. Hughes
If the product is good, I can be proud of it. I have to be proud of the product at the end of the day. Yeah, because there’s like, I don’t know how you feel about like your family legacy, but like, I’m, you know, my my mom always used to joke when I was a kid like, oh, you’re Hughes, but it’s not Howard Hughes.

00:33:17:26 – 00:33:38:16
Christopher J. Hughes
You know, like there’s no money in, in, in our family. You know, and some tales will tell you that we were swindled out of some of it, but, you know, so. So all I’ve got is, you know, my my family and my work and my reputation, and that’s enough. I’d like to make a little more money, for crying out loud.

00:33:38:16 – 00:33:39:24
Christopher J. Hughes
But we would.

00:33:39:24 – 00:34:17:59
Agent Palmer
But I but I think I think I’m with you there because I, I look at where I’ve been for the last two years and and not knowing what’s next and and not knowing where to go. Or what direction to turn. And it is I think it’s, you know, at the end of the day, right now, I want to be able to sleep at night because my last real job ended with me having six months of sleepless nights.

00:34:18:04 – 00:34:21:26
Agent Palmer
It’s just the way things worked out.

00:34:21:31 – 00:34:21:49
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:34:21:50 – 00:34:23:35
Agent Palmer
And I’ve gone to it again.

00:34:23:35 – 00:34:25:24
Christopher J. Hughes
And a lot of people are going to relate to no.

00:34:25:24 – 00:34:38:18
Agent Palmer
100%. And right now, even as someone who’s unemployed, no benefits, just unemployed, living off my savings like I can right now, I can sleep at night.

00:34:38:23 – 00:34:38:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:34:38:46 – 00:35:00:43
Agent Palmer
The last thing I want to do is take a job where I won’t be able to sleep like, and, and it’s such a simple thing to it. Don’t do it. No. It’s like it’s such a simple thing, right? Like people don’t like. Oh, you you need a job. Go make money. But how do like this is like. And I understand that there’s a there’s a but I get it.

00:35:00:48 – 00:35:31:16
Christopher J. Hughes
There has to be a piece that means something more. Especially now where, like, you and I are coming up on this, this precipice of what others would, would deem like the death Noel of 40. Right. You know, you and I creep steadily towards this, this next decade of, of whatever is going to happen. And but there comes a point where just doing for somebody else day after day no longer is enough.

00:35:31:20 – 00:35:57:28
Agent Palmer
Yeah. It well, it’s it’s not only that it’s no longer enough. But what happens is if you’re not at a certain level, you don’t even get to take a, an even an iota of ownership over that kind of stuff. Yeah. So if, if you were working for someone else and you still got to take ownership. Yeah. Meaning the blame and the reward, right, then maybe that would be different.

00:35:57:28 – 00:35:59:36
Agent Palmer
Right. But mate.

00:35:59:36 – 00:36:12:28
Christopher J. Hughes
Maybe. Well, that’s the thing. No, but like to a certain point, like there comes a level where nobody wants ownership, right. Like everybody wants the credit. But nobody wants to put the ball in where nobody wants to admit they were wrong.

00:36:12:28 – 00:36:32:16
Agent Palmer
Well, but here’s the thing. And here’s where this it becomes about what we do in our spare time, right? Like I, I’ve put out Agent Palmer for ten years, and I don’t apologize for any of those posts. Whether you wrote it for me or, you know, whoever wrote it for me, or if there’s a.

00:36:32:16 – 00:36:37:35
Christopher J. Hughes
Couple that I might make you apologize for because they weren’t so great until I got my hands on. Well, I’m just.

00:36:37:40 – 00:37:07:34
Agent Palmer
But nobody’s seen them but you. I know, I know, but but. So I’ve been taking ownership of putting something out there that’s publicly for ten years and and everything else, you know, getting into Twitter and getting on podcasts, other people’s. And this one I’ve, I take I completely take ownership over all of it 100% like, I don’t I don’t hold you.

00:37:07:34 – 00:37:09:58
Christopher J. Hughes
Back from able to build it to like you’ve.

00:37:10:04 – 00:37:19:42
Agent Palmer
But but it’s also like I’ve, I my TweetDeck has 13 accounts right.

00:37:19:46 – 00:37:20:08
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:37:20:17 – 00:37:21:08
Agent Palmer
I.

00:37:21:13 – 00:37:23:55
Christopher J. Hughes
I think maybe mine included.

00:37:24:00 – 00:37:25:12
Agent Palmer
I think yours is on there.

00:37:25:12 – 00:37:26:32
Christopher J. Hughes
It might be in there. Yeah.

00:37:26:36 – 00:37:45:46
Agent Palmer
But but I also take ownership over that like and I know so Bill Sweeney I still have his right and and and when Bill was still putting out the Wicked Theory podcast on a regular basis, I would tweet for him. Sure. And there were times when he would call me, he’d be like, what would you do?

00:37:45:51 – 00:38:03:26
Agent Palmer
So sorry, like but but like but I like, but I knew I was doing it right, like I’ve had experience. And it’s one of the things where I tell you I have no problem taking ownership over that stuff anymore, because I’ve been doing it for. So, like, I just I just expect that I’m going to put this out there.

00:38:03:28 – 00:38:38:01
Agent Palmer
Blog post, podcast tweet. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to put this out there and whatever happens, happens. But I put it out there and I understand whether I schedule it to go out or I hit publish myself. Like I understand what the implications for that are. And there’s yeah, there’s a part of me that fears not enough. People understand that there is a like there is an it’s like, okay, so on blogging it’s usually the word publish, right.

00:38:38:01 – 00:38:51:05
Agent Palmer
In podcasting it’s the word publish. In YouTube, it’s the word publish right on Twitch. It’s go live right on on Twitter it’s tweet. But it means the same thing.

00:38:51:05 – 00:38:52:39
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah, it’s it’s produce.

00:38:52:39 – 00:38:53:10
Agent Palmer
You know.

00:38:53:10 – 00:38:55:30
Christopher J. Hughes
So it’s make. Yeah.

00:38:55:32 – 00:38:57:38
Agent Palmer
You know and and people need.

00:38:57:43 – 00:39:05:50
Christopher J. Hughes
It for it. You know if you’re if you’re a graphic designer or a video producer or doing VFX, it’s export. You know what I mean? Like that’s the.

00:39:05:50 – 00:39:10:20
Agent Palmer
100% because it doesn’t even have to be public, right? Like, I know that when I know you’re.

00:39:10:20 – 00:39:17:35
Christopher J. Hughes
You’re committing to I made this thing and I’m not going to make this particular thing anymore because it’s done.

00:39:17:35 – 00:39:26:14
Agent Palmer
Or even if it’s draft one, like I’m committing my responsibility of sending you this.

00:39:26:18 – 00:39:26:38
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:39:26:52 – 00:39:41:16
Agent Palmer
And whatever happens, happens. And first of all, there’s a beautiful beauty to all things that can happen when you just create your own stuff. And even if it’s shit at the beginning.

00:39:41:21 – 00:39:43:11
Christopher J. Hughes
You learn how to not. You learn how to look.

00:39:43:11 – 00:39:58:21
Agent Palmer
I my first post, my first posts are still there if you want to go through however many pages, that is right. Like they exist. Yeah, and I still know what those early ones are.

00:39:58:33 – 00:39:59:10
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:39:59:15 – 00:40:01:35
Agent Palmer
And but I.

00:40:01:40 – 00:40:16:34
Christopher J. Hughes
They’re this start you you don’t you don’t become an oil painter overnight especially because they don’t dry that fast but so maybe bad example but yeah like no no. And it’s like and it’s for me like I I don’t.

00:40:16:44 – 00:40:19:49
Agent Palmer
Like I don’t know when that it’s like that’s where it comes from.

00:40:19:54 – 00:40:49:01
Christopher J. Hughes
Right. But like when, so when you make, you know, and I’m sure you, you encounter this as a writer who reads. Right. I’m, I’m a designer who tries to to soak in everything, you know, whether it’s reference material or, you know, being able to pull a Futurama quote out of my ass at a moment’s notice, like, the one of the best books that I’ve ever read to fight that imposter syndrome is okay.

00:40:49:01 – 00:41:11:30
Christopher J. Hughes
Am I making my own thing or am I making somebody else’s thing in my image? Is still like an artist? And so that you know, that is when I get down on myself about the things that I’m making if I don’t believe in them anymore, like, for whatever reason, if it’s personal, professional side job, whatever, that’s a great like, bring me back from the from the brink kind of a thing.

00:41:11:30 – 00:41:16:14
Christopher J. Hughes
But where, you’re going to be influenced, you know, and, and you can’t.

00:41:16:14 – 00:41:17:09
Agent Palmer
Help it, you know.

00:41:17:12 – 00:41:17:37
Christopher J. Hughes
Look at how.

00:41:17:37 – 00:41:40:14
Agent Palmer
You really can’t. And my favorite thing is my, my favorite idea of this is West Wing, where Toby says, as a speech writer, talking about people like good writers borrow, great writers steal. And that Sorkin stole from someone that, like, that’s not even from Sorkin, right? Like that. That’s the impetus is in that moment. It worked, but it worked for somebody else before then.

00:41:40:14 – 00:41:45:59
Agent Palmer
And Sorkin pulled it from that. Right. Like, and now I get to steal that again. Right.

00:41:46:03 – 00:42:19:51
Christopher J. Hughes
So like and it’s weird, you know, you’ve you’ve built this whole kind of a thing, where, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re making every single day and like, I, you and I have talked I have the, I have this little pet project in my head, and I keep finding more people who are doing pieces of it and doing it well and, and, and so like, I’m, I’m working on what could potentially be a huge shift in what I would do day to day.

00:42:19:55 – 00:42:22:37
Christopher J. Hughes
But hopefully for the, for the greater good, you know what I mean?

00:42:22:37 – 00:42:41:38
Agent Palmer
So but it’s not just about that because it is about creating. And it’s also it also goes back to being close because I’ll occasionally and I’ll, I’ll put you on the spot right now. Like I still have the notes from the book you were going to write. Like like there are pieces. He’s shaking his head.

00:42:41:43 – 00:42:43:38
Christopher J. Hughes
I’m shaking my head at you.

00:42:43:43 – 00:42:46:38
Agent Palmer
But there are pieces of projects from our past.

00:42:46:39 – 00:42:49:11
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh my God, so many pieces.

00:42:49:16 – 00:43:09:53
Agent Palmer
I have them too. Like, it’s it’s not just one sided here, right? But, like, there are things we know, but we we always tend to find a way to hold ourselves accountable to the ones that rise. Right? Like the ones that make the most sense to put the energy in always ends up being where we are.

00:43:09:55 – 00:43:16:11
Agent Palmer
And not by like any like there are tons of things like we could also be doing.

00:43:16:25 – 00:43:17:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah.

00:43:17:46 – 00:43:23:01
Agent Palmer
But you’re streaming and I’m like this, this is what we’re doing right now.

00:43:23:01 – 00:43:25:37
Christopher J. Hughes
This is this is the thing that we’re making presently.

00:43:25:37 – 00:43:32:33
Agent Palmer
But, but and presently is the key word because you and I are not sedentary.

00:43:32:38 – 00:43:33:08
Christopher J. Hughes
Oh my God.

00:43:33:08 – 00:43:34:27
Agent Palmer
No. Like, well, no.

00:43:34:27 – 00:43:36:45
Christopher J. Hughes
Maybe. Maybe me more so.

00:43:36:49 – 00:43:41:40
Agent Palmer
But but but I. Yeah, but you know what you could I.

00:43:41:44 – 00:43:59:06
Christopher J. Hughes
I, I’ve spent my life as a parent playing things safe and I’ve had a I’ve had a couple of things that have, you know, that have happened recently that have kind of made me go, well, was it worth it playing it safe. And so that’s where this kind of squirrely idea that I have in my head comes from.

00:43:59:06 – 00:44:15:47
Christopher J. Hughes
And that’s where, you know, putting myself out on the internet to act like a goober in three hour chunks, you know, multiple times a weekend and stuff like that. Like, you know, I don’t know if it’s midlife crisis worthy. I don’t know if it’s worthy of that title, but I’m I’m tired of playing it safe.

00:44:15:54 – 00:44:42:48
Agent Palmer
No, but at the same time. Right. And I can hear it from certain people. What do you mean, you’re not sedentary? You just said your blog’s turning ten. Well, sure, but go read that first post. Go read a post. Go read one random post from every year of those ten years I I as a writer, I have changed my perspectives, have changed the things I write about.

00:44:42:53 – 00:44:45:10
Agent Palmer
Like, I look, I’m.

00:44:45:15 – 00:45:03:33
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, that’s that’s part of why I challenge you to, you know, like, we we we’ve been busting each other’s chops ever since January. That I would only let you write a book review every other week, but, like, yeah, you needed to stretch and and I needed to be the one to stretch you. I and I could as the guy who edits many.

00:45:03:37 – 00:45:13:22
Christopher J. Hughes
Yep. I would say borderline. Most most. No. It’s posts. I think I have the ability to do that because I didn’t want you to get stale.

00:45:13:27 – 00:45:38:25
Agent Palmer
Yeah. I mean, it’s also look, I’ve, I’ve done some challenging things for myself, too. Like, I, I started the blog, I, I chose the brand name based on a movie and never and read the book after read the book, read one book and when I’m going to read all this stuff, this guy does. And now behind me is every book led and you sure.

00:45:38:25 – 00:45:57:19
Agent Palmer
And and I still have like 6 or 7 to go, but none of that, none of that exists in the first few years. Right. Like that. No. That’s something that started, later. And actually, I’ve turned myself into a reader. Over those ten years, there was not many books saying really.

00:45:57:19 – 00:46:13:56
Christopher J. Hughes
Same thing with my brand evolution, right? You know, the the Peter Parker pay brand started because I used to be a journalist, and I showed up to a high school softball game with a camera around my neck, and some kid looked at me, hey, Peter Parker and I, yep, that’s going to work. And then when that when that brand had flipped.

00:46:13:56 – 00:46:45:12
Christopher J. Hughes
Yep. Absolutely. So and when that brand had kind of run its course, you know, the, the it’s I laugh because the Triforce dad moniker came up when, I couldn’t use my old username for everything on the PlayStation network. And so Triforce dad was was born out of necessity. But like you and your dating inspirations, like, I had played several Zelda games, I had not played all the Zelda games.

00:46:45:17 – 00:46:47:30
Christopher J. Hughes
I’m slowly playing all of the Zelda game.

00:46:47:30 – 00:46:48:27
Agent Palmer
That’s happening now.

00:46:48:29 – 00:47:09:14
Christopher J. Hughes
That’s happening now. And so I think and it comes again, it goes back to that, that still like an artist, like we I think you have to find ways to continue to be inspired by the things around you and just go instead of just like, like most people go through the, there’s a thing, it’s a, it’s a fucking bird.

00:47:09:19 – 00:47:29:24
Christopher J. Hughes
It’s that one’s red. Like. No, like you gotta you gotta stop and you gotta take a moment. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta watch the red bird. Right? And you gotta, you gotta see where they go. And you gotta watch them find the nest. And you gotta. You gotta see him find the brown mate. And take an appreciation for how two creatures of the same.

00:47:29:29 – 00:47:53:26
Christopher J. Hughes
Hold that kink. Kingdom, phylum, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. This species are those species. I think it’s just species. But, like, the same type, like cardinals, the males are bright red. The the the females are brown. And and for some people, I would say like almost dingy and underappreciated. But like until you put those two together, you don’t get more caught.

00:47:53:31 – 00:47:54:54
Christopher J. Hughes
Like those little things.

00:47:55:08 – 00:48:19:50
Agent Palmer
And, and everything you and I. So last episode, Tristan and I talked about having unfinished projects. Right. And you and I both have our fair share, and I’m not going to go there, but I will bucket. But what we do also have in, in, in various different ways is the notebooks and the digital detritus of like, that looks cool.

00:48:19:50 – 00:48:30:44
Agent Palmer
I’m going to save that. Now. We may never go back to that one image we downloaded from that one tweet five years ago, but but it’s there. It’s somewhere on the.

00:48:30:44 – 00:48:31:50
Christopher J. Hughes
Mental note blog.

00:48:31:56 – 00:48:47:15
Agent Palmer
You know, and or we wrote down a lyric or something came to us and we wrote it like there are pieces of inspiration that are just there. Yeah. And the you don’t have to write. We’re like.

00:48:47:15 – 00:49:00:03
Christopher J. Hughes
We’re like, we’re like crows. Like we we try and find shiny things and we bring them back. We put them in a little fucking pouch and we keep them for later. And if we’re lucky, we’re like. And if we trust people, we’ll give them a shiny thing.

00:49:00:05 – 00:49:18:46
Agent Palmer
Well, this is the thing, right? No, you don’t have to. You don’t have to take the quote and write a book. You just just just writing down the quote as something that inspired you to do something is enough for now, right? If there’s building blocks I like.

00:49:18:51 – 00:49:44:02
Christopher J. Hughes
I’m looking at one right now. I’ve got one right? I’ve got these DIY sound panels in my office. And I, I wrote it down. Taika Waititi was one of the keynote speakers at the Adobe Max conference in 2020, and at one point during his little video presentation, he said, create a bit of chaos. Yeah, that’s a terrible Taika Waititi impersonation, but, my Korg is better.

00:49:44:06 – 00:49:45:03
Christopher J. Hughes
But like.

00:49:45:08 – 00:49:46:29
Agent Palmer
But I didn’t say that.

00:49:46:29 – 00:50:08:07
Christopher J. Hughes
Did he know? Piss off ghost. It’s fucking gone. But that that it’s. And it’s always right here up to my right. And so like, okay. Like what? What can I, what can I do to to throw a new, you know, how do you, how do you iron man to it and create a new element?

00:50:08:09 – 00:50:17:12
Christopher J. Hughes
You know what I mean? Like, what do you what do you do to change shit up and to to use all your skills to challenge status quo and shit like that?

00:50:17:19 – 00:50:45:13
Agent Palmer
See, and it’s funny too, because, like, we’ve we’ve both kept doing things right. Like we, we, we’ve maintained, a foot in the pool. Maybe we weren’t swimming, but like, we never left. And as such, we we’ve continued to create, even if it’s just a little bit of chaos, like, like the pool has never been like glass. There’s always been a ripple.

00:50:45:26 – 00:50:48:19
Agent Palmer
There’s always there’s splashing. There’s always some.

00:50:48:24 – 00:50:50:26
Christopher J. Hughes
Layer on top of the pond for you. And I.

00:50:50:28 – 00:50:51:29
Agent Palmer
Know.

00:50:51:34 – 00:51:05:21
Christopher J. Hughes
You know, and even if there are like, it’s that video where the guy chucks a rock and it makes a cool fucking noise, right? It’s like thing. And you’re like, how do we how did that do that? I need to do it again and see if it does it again. I wonder if I could take this and make things out of it and all this kind of stuff.

00:51:05:21 – 00:51:28:03
Christopher J. Hughes
So it’s and it’s everything like it. And we just did we just did a logo for for your significant other. Right. And, and all of those things, like all of those inspirations have to come together and you throw them in a blender and you come out with this, this, this weird amalgamation smoothie of all of these little things that like, you know, and we just, you know, you pepper ideas with each other.

00:51:28:03 – 00:51:56:35
Christopher J. Hughes
One of my favorite things, especially when I’m creating stuff, is having a conversation with somebody who’s who’s just excited to to make stuff and, and having a person who’s, who’s passionate enough to go, well, I think this might work. And what do you think about this and that? And, and, you know, part of it is also improv. It’s rolling with what happens during the process, you know, because some of the design jobs that I’ve had, like the clients have had better ideas than I have.

00:51:56:49 – 00:52:09:01
Christopher J. Hughes
That’s been a rare but treat repetitive. Yeah, a rare treat. But it’s happened with my last three, which I’m like, I’m I’m like all out of, I’m all out of mana now. Like I don’t know what to do.

00:52:09:03 – 00:52:34:06
Agent Palmer
Like, so I want to tell you right. In the early days of the blog, in the early days of the podcast, I got the same thing, right? It’s it’s you making any money at it yet? Like it’s a different thing, right? Like it’s a thing. Especially when you tell someone this is something I’m passionate about. I’m doing. And the first thing most people want to know is you can make any money at that.

00:52:34:06 – 00:52:49:46
Agent Palmer
And and look, I have said before on this podcast, I could easily change the blog to be more successful in terms of other people’s standards, numbers, traffic, this, that and the other thing. And I could easily.

00:52:49:48 – 00:52:50:51
Christopher J. Hughes
Google ad revenue.

00:52:50:51 – 00:53:07:47
Agent Palmer
Yep. And I could change this podcast to get more listeners and do certain things. Yeah, but then I wouldn’t want to keep like like I wouldn’t be approaching ten years with the blog and two years with this podcast if I was trying to make them for money.

00:53:07:47 – 00:53:08:56
Christopher J. Hughes
Sanitize. Yeah.

00:53:09:01 – 00:53:11:57
Agent Palmer
No, I want to do this because it’s fun.

00:53:12:11 – 00:53:34:51
Christopher J. Hughes
And well, that and that’s the funny thing about like the last year, you know, to go back to our original discussion, like I’ve been a Twitch affiliate for a year, right? But when I started I was taking it so non seriously because I was just trying to prove to to people at work that our, our esports team was, was chasing white rabbits on the wrong platform.

00:53:34:51 – 00:53:53:53
Christopher J. Hughes
We were trying to gain this following on YouTube. Right. And within a matter of three months I had reached affiliate status. I, you know, and there’s metrics. It’s like 50 followers, certain number of hours a week, certain number of average viewers. I can’t remember what the fourth one is. I think it’s a number of certain number of days.

00:53:53:58 – 00:54:17:01
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. You have to stream out of 30 days, right? I think those are the four. And I had achieved that and opened up the opportunity to make money at a thing I was legitimately goofing with, by accident. And it was almost like this beautiful accident. And then, like, we turned around and we went, okay, I just proved it can happen.

00:54:17:06 – 00:54:46:07
Christopher J. Hughes
The our team already has affiliate status based on its followers and it’s, you know, all this kind of stuff and we’ve already applied for it. Let’s go. And the first time we hit live for that organization, playing a game that we don’t play competitively off season, we had a sub. And just by receiving a sub, we had effectively made more money in 15 minutes than we had in 15 months trying to chase the same level of success on YouTube.

00:54:46:07 – 00:54:50:35
Agent Palmer
But to you, right now you are making some money.

00:54:50:40 – 00:54:53:40
Christopher J. Hughes
I am, but it’s it’s residual.

00:54:53:40 – 00:55:06:21
Agent Palmer
It’s residual. But you’re having hopes but you’re having fun, right? Like and if you’re not the change everything is not going to change at all. Just to be like well you know, Chris, if you do this you can make an extra $5.

00:55:06:26 – 00:55:09:12
Christopher J. Hughes
I would do a lot of things for an extra five to.

00:55:09:17 – 00:55:10:27
Agent Palmer
But he’s got to be fun, right?

00:55:10:27 – 00:55:37:21
Christopher J. Hughes
Like, no, no, it has to be fun. And listen, I and I by accident came up with the best breakdown of Twitch. I will turn on a camera in an office that I built for myself. And if a teenager who I’ve never met face to face pushes a button to spend imaginary currency, I will do push ups live on the internet.

00:55:37:25 – 00:55:54:20
Christopher J. Hughes
What? What part of this is an entertainment? You know, like what part of this isn’t, you know, it’s. I’m not making people. Now, granted, when we did, when we did the the, concert, the 37th birthday concert, we said, if you will play a song, if you drop 100 bits, which is a dollar, we’ll play a song.

00:55:54:20 – 00:55:58:03
Christopher J. Hughes
We were like, digitally busking. Basic. Sure, sure. Right.

00:55:58:08 – 00:56:00:45
Agent Palmer
So the most money I’ve ever made play.

00:56:00:50 – 00:56:31:06
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah, right. Which. But like. And like. Yeah. And like, if you want to, you can game the system. Listen, nobody’s going to turn on Twitch.tv slash Triforce that night for shameless. Plug and watch me lick a fake ear on an Asmr stream. Nobody wants this 37 year old, poorly taken care of body in a hot tub stream. I know who my audience is.

00:56:31:06 – 00:56:40:49
Christopher J. Hughes
I know what they show up for. And I’m I think they show up because I’m genuine. I think that’s the other thing that’s that’s happened.

00:56:40:50 – 00:56:44:20
Agent Palmer
But you and I. But you and I have that, like.

00:56:44:24 – 00:56:46:00
Christopher J. Hughes
We are genuine to a fault.

00:56:46:02 – 00:56:46:25
Agent Palmer
Yeah.

00:56:46:25 – 00:56:49:00
Christopher J. Hughes
And and we are us. Take it or leave it.

00:56:49:00 – 00:56:51:56
Agent Palmer
That’s. Yeah. 100%. And and.

00:56:52:01 – 00:57:09:44
Christopher J. Hughes
They’re lesser. Lesser men have failed. You know what I mean? Like it’s just. No it is. Wait and listen. I know there are some things that I do that I am an acquired taste. But I think being able to roll with the punches and being able to laugh at myself, I think that’s probably one of the most important things that I’ve learned over the last year.

00:57:09:44 – 00:57:11:28
Agent Palmer
It works with everything it.

00:57:11:42 – 00:57:12:40
Christopher J. Hughes
Works with every.

00:57:12:41 – 00:57:26:51
Agent Palmer
Works with hitting that publish button or whatever the equivalent. And it’s like it does. You have you you have to roll with it like there are times when you don’t edit my stuff, when you’re like, there’s a the misspelling.

00:57:26:56 – 00:57:48:34
Christopher J. Hughes
Like, oh or or or like you’ll, you’ll come to me with a, with a blog post that will be very well-written and will require very little, grammatical or spelling input from me and you, you won’t have a title. Right. And I’ll just I’ll just drop one and you go. How? Like, because I know your style. It’s. Yeah, you’re the other.

00:57:48:34 – 00:58:03:30
Christopher J. Hughes
The other part of it is I wrote headlines for almost eight years this journalist. So like, I know, I know how to game the system a little bit, but like, it’s it’s all wordplay. You know, a lot of what I do is just goofball wordplay, but.

00:58:03:32 – 00:58:08:07
Agent Palmer
Well, thank you. And and congratulations on your stuff.

00:58:08:12 – 00:58:27:57
Christopher J. Hughes
You know what I, I think Twitch was initially kind of a blessing because it was a it reconnected me with a lot of folks that I lost contact with. You know, one of our mutual friends from college has really come back into the fold, and that’s been good. He’s, you know, he’s he’s he’s had a couple things where he’s he’s definitely needed a network.

00:58:27:57 – 00:58:50:53
Christopher J. Hughes
And I, we were right there to, to be like, what do you need. You know and I think going on Twitch and being myself gave me even more comfort and confidence in being myself. And that gave me the comfort and confidence to charge people, even if it was a friend rate, to charge people actual money for the things that I like to do.

00:58:50:53 – 00:59:01:54
Christopher J. Hughes
And and I wasn’t just I wasn’t just handing stuff out to people anymore because I knew how to do things, like, I, I, I finally came to a point that I could live.

00:59:02:00 – 00:59:06:55
Agent Palmer
You already, but, you know, and that was part of it, too. Like, I think we lied to ourselves a bit.

00:59:07:00 – 00:59:09:13
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, in time, as time is a trick, right?

00:59:09:13 – 00:59:25:26
Agent Palmer
Well, it’s a trick, but it’s also like, okay, I’ll do this one for free because I need to build my portfolio. But, you know, the blog’s ten years old, which means you and I have been doing this for longer than that. Yeah. And it’s like, well, we’ve got our portfolio like take it or leave it at this point, it’s it’s.

00:59:25:27 – 00:59:27:21
Agent Palmer
And look, the money for me.

00:59:27:21 – 00:59:54:41
Christopher J. Hughes
Like one of, one of the first things that we did was we, we built a logo for somebody I’ve never personally met live on the internet. Yeah. You know, and and live and you’ll if you go back on any of those projects, like if you were to watch a full VOD, you would at some point somewhere watch me zoom all the way out, take a look and go, I hate it, and start back over like I’ve, I’ve, I’ve let people watch how the donuts are made.

00:59:54:41 – 01:00:16:13
Christopher J. Hughes
And there’s there’s a beauty in that chaos and in that, that sort of self-loathing that comes with making stuff for other people. Where you go, I hate it. They’re going to hate it. Like the One Logo project that we did for a TikToker who’s got more followers than I’ll ever understand, I don’t get a God bless him, but he’s doing great.

01:00:16:18 – 01:00:45:51
Christopher J. Hughes
But like we we made a logo for him and I had I used like a more traditional color palette because I was trying to play it safe. And then I went, now I hate it. And we, we changed the whole thing and it and it’s dynamite. It’s it’s a great logo. And so, you know, I think also not designing in a vacuum has been nice, you know, over the last year, you know, we’ll make stuff and, and, you know, people will people have ideas.

01:00:45:51 – 01:01:00:13
Christopher J. Hughes
I think one of the things that we built, you know, courageously, slash foolishly was an entire 19 by 20, or 1920 by 1080, pixel art be right back screen where.

01:01:00:17 – 01:01:02:41
Agent Palmer
But you’d been doing. Yeah, but but we did it.

01:01:02:41 – 01:01:06:23
Christopher J. Hughes
But like, then my chat took over like the wall of stone.

01:01:06:23 – 01:01:06:37
Agent Palmer
No.

01:01:06:37 – 01:01:08:46
Christopher J. Hughes
That’s there. And it became like this community thing.

01:01:08:46 – 01:01:14:26
Agent Palmer
But ironically, I had seen you build something similar before or attempt to build something similar.

01:01:14:29 – 01:01:18:01
Christopher J. Hughes
Before and never finished it. The other thing with Twitch is like.

01:01:18:06 – 01:01:18:33
Agent Palmer
Well, if.

01:01:18:42 – 01:01:19:41
Christopher J. Hughes
It’s public, it’s.

01:01:19:41 – 01:01:22:32
Agent Palmer
Being public, period, right? Because that’s the other thing, right?

01:01:22:32 – 01:01:24:09
Christopher J. Hughes
Like there’s an onus to finish it.

01:01:24:12 – 01:01:52:55
Agent Palmer
Well, there’s a well when you’re doing it live. Yes. But here’s the thing. If you stop streaming, somebody’s going to ask a question. If I stop hitting publish on this podcast or I don’t put out a blog for a while, that somebody’s going to ask, like, there’s going to be a question that there is, we have now put it out and put it out at such a regular basis that there is now someone, even if it’s not like hundreds of thousands of people, there are now tens of people.

01:01:52:59 – 01:01:54:33
Agent Palmer
Yeah, that are going to be like.

01:01:54:38 – 01:02:21:37
Christopher J. Hughes
Where is it? That’s the that’s the new hard part, right? Is the is the, I think when you, when you build an expectation over the course of a year or, or, 8 or 10 or or two or whatever it is when you build an expectation, if you’re like you were, I, you don’t like letting people down.

01:02:21:41 – 01:02:22:52
Christopher J. Hughes
You want to say, well.

01:02:22:57 – 01:02:23:38
Agent Palmer
But you know what.

01:02:23:44 – 01:02:41:48
Christopher J. Hughes
You want to you want to feel an expectation like you if if you’ve made and people like the thing you made sometimes, whether it brings you financial benefit or not, there is just benefit in making other people happy by continuing to make the thing.

01:02:41:55 – 01:02:49:15
Agent Palmer
And you and I would feel bad if we didn’t do it for ourselves. And that’s something unique to us.

01:02:49:16 – 01:02:49:54
Christopher J. Hughes
Some weeks.

01:02:49:54 – 01:02:55:23
Agent Palmer
Yes. Not not everybody. Not everybody is that not every creator is doing it for themselves.

01:02:55:30 – 01:03:17:19
Christopher J. Hughes
But some weeks I like I need I’m trying to think of when it was I get. But I took a break like an entire weekend break recently and I genuinely needed it like I was. I was exhausted, I was temperamental, and and you have to. As much as you love making the thing, you have to be smart enough to step back and say, okay, I’m I’m not going to make the best thing.

01:03:17:24 – 01:03:26:06
Christopher J. Hughes
Because I’m, I’m not at my best right now, so I need to I need to get myself better, not just for me, but so I can continue to make good things.

01:03:26:06 – 01:03:33:30
Agent Palmer
And this is why I always maintain some backlog. Some. Yeah, some work ahead.

01:03:33:30 – 01:03:40:47
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, you give yourself wiggle room just to not make a thing for a couple of days where I’m just like, oh shit, the thing is coming up.

01:03:40:58 – 01:03:44:36
Agent Palmer
And that’s, hey, sometimes you need it, but look, I look.

01:03:44:41 – 01:03:45:29
Christopher J. Hughes
It in that mode.

01:03:45:31 – 01:03:55:20
Agent Palmer
It may seem like I always have something right. This week I, I wrote it with two days to spare, but like I have thing.

01:03:55:24 – 01:04:03:36
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah, but you’ve also got five. I almost call them book reports. You’ve got five book reviews. Waiting.

01:04:03:41 – 01:04:04:35
Agent Palmer
Just waiting.

01:04:04:40 – 01:04:14:04
Christopher J. Hughes
Yeah. So you do. We have a backup? I do, and we’re just so busy reading you couldn’t figure out what you were writing. That’s.

01:04:14:05 – 01:04:19:05
Agent Palmer
Yeah. Fair enough. Anyway, I’m. I’m just saying congrats on a year and another year.

01:04:19:05 – 01:04:41:07
Christopher J. Hughes
But it’s been fun. I think the, you know, doing it was kind of a blessing to have the year happen at around the same time as my birthday, because it gave me a excuse to do something completely different. You know, we made something completely different the other day that I don’t think we ever thought we might do.

01:04:41:17 – 01:04:42:31
Agent Palmer
Not even on my radar.

01:04:42:46 – 01:05:01:08
Christopher J. Hughes
No. And I think that was the that there was there was, there was magic in that level of chaos of it though, wasn’t there? Like, it was just like we didn’t know what we were playing next. We didn’t know who was saying what. I for a half the size, I couldn’t play and sing at the same time. So we let our friend Rob saying like it was just like it was wacky.

01:05:01:08 – 01:05:18:04
Christopher J. Hughes
And that was the other beautiful thing, right? Wait, you guys got to meet somebody that’s part of our little family that we’ve built over the, you know, we got the Triforce family, and there’s some truth in that. There is an extended family feeling for a lot of these folks that we, we tend to hang out with for hours at a time on the internet.

01:05:18:04 – 01:05:40:33
Christopher J. Hughes
Now, I’m starting to understand my kids friendships more. But, like, you guys got to meet Rob for the first time, you know, like, so. So those those things don’t happen if you’re not making something new at that moment either. So.

01:05:40:38 – 01:06:08:00
Agent Palmer
You. Two years. Two years. I’ve now been making my own podcast after it took me more than two years because I got comfortable on other people’s shows. I have some ideas for year three, and already I have something special planned for year four, which might not surprise any of you who’ve listened to this podcast episode or some of the previous ones, but for the moment, let’s stay in the present.

01:06:08:05 – 01:06:28:52
Agent Palmer
I wanted to make my own show to prove to myself that I could, and I make sure that I’m at my best each time I hit publish and try to get better with each episode. My goal remains the same to educate and inform you, dear listener. Hopefully each episode gives you something to take away from it, whether that’s a good laugh, a life lesson, or anything of value.

01:06:28:57 – 01:06:51:01
Agent Palmer
I appreciate all of my guests, but I might appreciate my listeners even more for coming along for the ride. If this is your first episode, your 52nd, or somewhere even greater than that among the Palmer Files, thanks. If you’ve discovered me last week or two years ago, I’m glad you pressed play. Hopefully you’ll continue along the journey with me.

01:06:51:05 – 01:07:11:59
Agent Palmer
And while we’re at it, why did you press play on this podcast? What is it that you are searching for or celebrating? Let me know. Thanks for listening to The Palmer Files episode 52. As a reminder, all links are available in the show notes. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays.

01:07:12:04 – 01:07:38:26
Agent Palmer
If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can tweet me at Agent Palmer. Chris at Triforce Dad 1984. That’s tri Phone RCA dad 1984. And this show at The Palmer Files for all things Chris, you can visit Triforce dad.com and you can watch him stream on Twitch at Twitch.tv. Slash Triforce dad 1984 email can be sent to this show at the Palmer Files at gmail.com.

01:07:38:27 – 01:07:48:04
Agent Palmer
And remember, you’re home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent palmer.com.

01:07:48:09 – 01:08:01:41
Unknown
You.

01:08:01:46 – 01:08:14:27
Unknown
Need.

01:08:14:32 – 01:08:19:40
Unknown
Me.

01:08:19:45 – 01:08:24:22
Unknown
Me.

01:08:24:27 – 01:08:28:07
Unknown
Me.

01:08:28:12 – 01:08:31:06
Agent Palmer
All right. Chris, do you have one final question for me, I do.

01:08:31:06 – 01:08:52:17
Christopher J. Hughes
So we we we went on a wide tangent. But we started this discussion talking about, celebrations and, specifically anniversaries. Your b, your your pod, my affiliate status, your blog. So I’m going to, I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit, but I feel like I could do this because I’ve known you for almost 20 years.

01:08:52:17 – 01:09:09:16
Christopher J. Hughes
Right. Do you think if when you get married ever, you will feel differently about anniversaries or those, those sorts of celebrations?

01:09:09:21 – 01:09:17:00
Agent Palmer
No, no, because because I well, here’s the thing. So I know what my anniversary is now for my relationship.

01:09:17:04 – 01:09:17:43
Christopher J. Hughes
Okay.

01:09:17:48 – 01:09:20:19
Agent Palmer
And I will and I know you do.

01:09:20:19 – 01:09:21:40
Christopher J. Hughes
Like a thing. Do you do a thing?

01:09:21:40 – 01:09:30:52
Agent Palmer
I try to do a thing, but not for me. Right. Like so I and I know that this is this is the thing I, I.

01:09:30:56 – 01:09:32:11
Christopher J. Hughes
I it’s not for you.

01:09:32:11 – 01:09:37:01
Agent Palmer
Okay. Yeah. Well, it’s same with birthdays, right? Like the what a birthday.

01:09:37:01 – 01:09:38:39
Christopher J. Hughes
That’s your birthday.

01:09:38:39 – 01:09:39:51
Agent Palmer
I but but you.

01:09:39:51 – 01:09:42:01
Christopher J. Hughes
Give your mom flowers like that’s a thing.

01:09:42:01 – 01:10:01:17
Agent Palmer
But here’s that’s a thing. But here’s the thing. But that’s for my mom on like I, I, I can get I understand the the people who it means something to me like to me it’s a waste like I don’t I’m not getting up for my own birthday. I don’t even get up for other people’s. But I understand what it means to them.

01:10:01:22 – 01:10:19:09
Agent Palmer
Right? Like I understand what it means to you. So I call you and I check in, and there are other dates in the calendar where I call you and I check in. I know what it means to you. Right. So that’s why it it’s not about me. Do you know what I mean? Like I’m doing it now. I’m not doing it for myself.

01:10:19:09 – 01:10:25:03
Agent Palmer
Like I’m not. I’m never throwing myself a party. I’m. It’ll be for someone else, right?

01:10:25:05 – 01:10:42:19
Christopher J. Hughes
Like that. There’s there’s a part of that that I guess. Yes. Is is selfish. Right. But like but then there’s me like like, like I had to. I’m the only driver in my house, so, like, I had to drive to the store on Saturday so that we could have a birthday cake. It wasn’t like I want to have a birthday cake.

01:10:42:20 – 01:10:45:27
Christopher J. Hughes
So though, we’re going to get a birthday cake, it’s my birthday.

01:10:45:40 – 01:10:59:36
Agent Palmer
And meanwhile, if if my mother isn’t hanging out with me on my birthday, I don’t have cake. I will get a cake for my birthday just so my mother can have cake on my birthday.

01:10:59:47 – 01:11:01:06
Christopher J. Hughes
You’re such an altruist.

01:11:01:06 – 01:11:06:29
Agent Palmer
That’s it. Yeah. Otherwise, no. No, thanks. It’s fine. Save the icing.

01:11:06:33 – 01:11:10:56
Christopher J. Hughes
Well, I’ll. I’ll, I’ll send Steph a card of condolences then. I guess.

–End Transcription–

This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).