We came close a few times, but we managed to make it through one hundred episodes without ever losing an entire interview to any combination of technical difficulties and user error. Shane Schleger, the guest on our first and fifty-first shows, was kind enough to grace us with his time and his usual candidness for our one hundred and first.
It was a tough interview, for us and I imagine for Shane as well. He alluded in past interviews to mental health issues (that may not be the he way he put it, but it’s the best way I can think to put it right now), and he seemed depressed when we spoke to him this time around. Nonetheless, he was his usual forthright self, and we had a good conversation about the challenges of finding direction and meanin ing life, how poker affected him for better and for worse, and many other things. I say that it was a tough interview because, for me and I think for Nate as well, it was upsetting to hear our friend suffering and to feel powerless to help.
Recording the interviews is generally my responsibility. I use two programs for this, including one that is supposed to record my Skype calls automatically. It didn’t start as it was supposed to, and I failed to notice that it was not running.
I did remember to start the other program, but for some reason it recorded only my voice and not Nate’s or Shane’s. The same program failed during our previous interview as well, but I relied it on for this one nonetheless.
So there is no new episode this week, and it’s my fault. I’m sorry to our listeners but especially to Nate and Shane. I don’t consider the time wasted exactly, but I do feel bad that we won’t be able to share our conversation with the audience for whom it was intended. We’ll have a new episode next week, and hopefully it won’t be too long before you hear Shane’s voice on the show again.
I can only imagine how this might feel. Probably a good test of the tilt control you’ve learned from poker.
If nothing else, I can confirm that your words do a good job to convey how sorry you are about this. I think Nate and Shane will appreciate that.
*”of conveying” (If I’m ever gonna be like Gareth when I grow up, I’ve got to get a handle on this grammar thing.)
I think you’ll have to get a few more women to walk out the door, too.
I think he has the opposite problem. I’ve been in poker games where he has to step away from the table to take a call from a lady and explain to her how poker is more important to him at the moment. Kid is a grinder in every way.
Well sounds like he has at least one of the two groups of women I have in my life.
Shtick aside I am sorry to hear the interview was lost in the ether.
(Trembling) Damn you ether… damn you to hell!
Well, a real bummer all around. These rare glitches, and they are pretty rare, were kind of humorous in a way. I love the outtakes in the episodes now and then, and the lack of professional media training is part of the character of the show.
However, loss of a meaningful conversation isn’t funny. Bad beat. Move on. Chin up.
I wish I could talk to people going through this stage in life. We all have it in us. Depression is nothing to fear if we look at it as part of the growing process. There is the positive and the negative. Sometimes the negative gets the better of the equation. Like a bad run of cards. We just have to work at it. Making the right choices. Exercise. Eat healthy. Study.
It will get better than it is now in time. Give it time. Talk with a professional.
From someone who has been there.
“We all have it in us.”
This is part of what’s unsettling to me, I think. Thankfully I’ve never experienced any really serious mental health issue first-hand, and I know that there’s a lot of run-good involved there in terms of brain chemistry and also fading the sorts of life events that can trigger depression or other problems.
I remember reading about an American poker player, maybe a few years younger than me, who committed suicide shortly after Black Friday, and it was a real “there but for the grace of God go I…” sort of moment.
I rely on my brain a lot, and it’s very scary for me to think that it could just turn on me at some point.
Do not fear. It made me a better person. Realizing my weaknesses gave me strength. Made me compassionate and empathetic. I was such a strong minded person. But with me what triggered it was some medication that my doctor prescribed. It was a psychotropic drug which I had no idea about its effects. It was a mild dose and it didn’t help me at all except a couple months later it spiraled me down into a dark area of my mind.
With help from my partner and some doctors I fought it. It took me over a year and I wont get into details but through that journey I met many who suffered more than me. People from all walks of life that were suffering. Many who turned to self medication. Booze, drugs, gambling, etc.
With good friends, good insurance, and support from my union, I came out of it. I learned its just a normal process of living in modern world. Something I do not fear but now welcome.
On my very first job at the studio in ’67 it was for a tv series called Room 222. I was green and it took me 7 takes to shoot my close up. The set was quiet and as I walked back to my trailer no one spoke to me. I was never asked back in the several years the series ran. You see you get one error, the technicians get one. Anything above that and you’re done.
I was then resolved to train myself harder and better. I made it a point to do everything in one take.I would be first on set and last to leave. I knew all my lines and all my cues (others lines). I would come early to familiarize myself with the set. I learned lighting and camera to know how they were shooting the scene. Where the key light source was coming from. How big was the frame of the shot to know the parameters of the scene. Also listen closely to the other performers in the scene to hear their rhythms always conceding to the leads (stars) in a support position.
It is not enough to turn on a knob and go. A lot of preparation and detail is involved for a professional as in all things.
I love the show. It has one of the best contents in pokerdom. Keep working.
Sort of related to the depression, and I guess what friends can and cannot do to help – I saw this short cartoon recently and thought it very cool to have in mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
I’ve had this come up with Skype recorders a few times before. I’ve got around it by having my co-host use the same program: at least one recording should capture it all most of the time. Failing that, have you tried Google Hangouts? It tends to be more stable and is probably easier for some guests (though I imagine most poker players are used to Skype).
Damn, after Ben Sulsky episode thought you’d be on red alert! (not what you wanna hear right now)
Loving the podcast, keep it up
Yeah that’s why I feel so foolish about it, because I should have been. Thanks for the kind words.
This is most unfortunate. Shane is always interesting.
What I love most about this community is the we don’t even need the audio to have a conversation about it. That speaks volumes.
Some of you may know that my older brother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia a few years back and as the 25 year old man of the family, I had to deal with it. This included quitting my job at Walmart to handle it, calling the police because my mama was afraid of him, and helping them chase him down in the street. I caught and held him down while they handcuffed and took him to the hospital.
Never in a million years would I have expected that I would one day help the police cuff my brother. All I could do was break down and cry.
I was told that it was brought on by the stress of him losing a job. I’ve also had other relatives deal with mental illness so I sometimes wonder what that means for me. This is one of many reasons that I choose to live the way I do.
That mental illness shit aint no joke.
Wow, that’s rough. I’d heard parts of that story before, but what a thing to have to deal with. Sorry man.