1394 – Frank 9 | Read With Me | SWM+ Sneak Peek

Episode 1394 – Frank 9 | Read With Me | SWM+ Sneak Peek

 

[START OF RECORDING]

 

SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, whether you're a StarKid or a kid who loves stars, or you're a star or you're a kid or you're neither or you're neither, if you're a little bit sleepy and you want a taste of a starry sky but a little bit more…you know, without the action…like a cloudy, starry sky, this podcast is coming to you across the deep, dark night. I’m the clouds and you're the stars. It’s time for Sleep With Me, the podcast that doesn't make any sense, to put you to sleep.

 

INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake, whether that’s thoughts, things on your mind that you're thinking about, so thoughts, feelings, anything emotionally coming up for you; maybe they're related to those thoughts, maybe they're just there. It could be physical sensations, changes in time or temperature or schedule, routine, maybe you work the second or the third shift, maybe it’s something else.

 

Whatever it is that’s keeping you awake, I’d like to take your mind off of that. What I’m gonna do is I’m gonna send my voice across the deep, dark night. I’m gonna use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, and I guess basically what that means is I’m gonna go off topic, I’m gonna get mixed up, I’m gonna repeat myself, I’m gonna use words that have bare…I’m gonna misuse words…yeah, I’m gonna mix words up, use them in the wrong places, all those things. It’s interesting when you think about sentience and words and sentience…it’s a sentient sentence. If there was a sentient sentence, I would be in my…I would be in big doo-doo because the sentences and the letters would say, Scooter, you're on our list.

 

You're not at the top of the list; we got a lot of other stuff to deal with, but you're in there. You're a bit of…you're a word vandal. I’d say, oh boy, can we use that in…isn't that…? I think I used this in a intro a while ago. I mean, I would say…what’s the lighter version of ‘vandal’? I wouldn't say I’m the Banksy of words; you're right about that. I guess I don't have the vocabulary to be more than…I’m just a word vandal, but not a big-time one; like a amateur one. Alls I do is kinda take a word…straightforward, and I say, what does that mean? I take a word like…I perplex perplexion. Oh, but if you're new…hello, regular listeners. When was the last time I talked about word vandals? Despite the connotations, ‘vandal’ is a nice word. It really is.

 

I mean, obviously it rhymes with candle and mandolin if you…if you're giving me some space to make up…you say, well, that’s…actually doesn't…it rhymes with the beginning of mandolin. What about mantle? Not really; you're right. Oh, so…sorry. Sorry. So, that’s…well, new listeners, hey, I’m glad you're here. Let me give you some information, because this podcast is a bit different than most other podcasts, even most sleep podcasts, as a matter of fact. The reason being is that…why is this different? Well, a couple things. One, this is not a podcast you really listen to or you really…you don’t need to listen. You could listen, but you really…clearly, I mean, if you've been listening for the past four or five minutes, you say, oh, okay, this person is not…he’s serious.

 

He’s about as serious as Yahoo Serious, and that’s a reference that even people that were around in the eighties wouldn't get. But he says things like ‘Yahoo Serious’, and they have meaning to him. But so, this is a podcast you kind of barely listen to. I’m here to keep you company while you fall asleep. So, this is kind of like a podcast you look at like clouds or, I don't know, you just kinda barely pay attention. I’m here to be soothing, not quite background noise, but you'll kinda see as you develop a regular habit of listening to Sleep With Me if you do. The other thing is this podcast is just not for everybody. It does take a few tries to get used to, so kinda see how it goes. But most regular listeners say, yeah, it took me two or three tries to realize I don't need to pay attention. It never really gets started.

 

So, just kinda give it a few tries and see how it goes. I think I said that already. Oh, he repeats himself a lot and then he gets mixed up. It’s all part of the process. So, it’s a podcast you don’t really listen to. It also doesn't really put you to sleep. I’m here to keep you company while you fall asleep, not so much…I’m here to take your mind off of stuff, but…and if you can't sleep, I’m here for a full hour, plus. So, I’m here to keep you company whether you're awake or asleep. I’m here to be your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-bud, your bore-bestie, your bore-bruh if you're between South LA, San Diego area, any coastal…any area where people say…bore-bruh; I could be that. But so, yeah, I’m just here to keep you company while you fall asleep. So, those are two things for new listeners.

 

If you're skeptical or doubtful, that is totally reasonable because why wouldn't you be if you've tried other stuff like most of us have to fall asleep? You say, well, that worked once or twice; it didn’t work again or it didn’t work at all. Yeah, you can be skeptical. This is a different…very different thing, and going…leaning into that skepticism…a few more things. Another thing that throws people off is the structure of the show, so I’m gonna kinda explain to you the structure of the show. The show starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, so you feel seen and welcome. Then there’s listener support for the listeners, then there’s support for the show so it can be free, then there’s the intro.

 

The intro goes from like minute six to minute eight…from minute six or eight to around minute ten to twenty to fifteen to eighteen to seventeen, six…somewhere between ten and twenty minutes long, usually on the twenty-minute side. The intro serves a purpose, 'cause a lot of people…and understandably, they get very…they have very strong feelings about the intro because they say, what are you doing? I’d say, yeah, I understand; you have strong feelings about the intro 'cause it’s very divergent from what you expect. You expect someone to get to the point and to put you to sleep, and that’s…our show eventually does that when you stop paying attention to me. So, that’s the part…the part the intro serves is so new people know…I don't know, so…I guess I can do an example. It’s a show within a show.

 

I say, well, I’m trying…gonna try to explain what the podcast is, but I’m not really good at that even though I’ve done it a thousand-plus times. Then I’m gonna get mixed up, I’m gonna go off topic, and eventually I’ll kinda try to wrap it up. But so, that’s for the new listener. You say, okay, I kinda get it but I don't really understand. I say, oh boy, you're on to something now. But as you become a regular listener, it becomes part of your bedtime routine. So, a lot of regular listeners, they're getting ready for bed or they're doing some sort of wind down, maybe drawing or sitting or, you know, they might be on the couch, they might be paging through a magazine or a picture book, some sort of gentle activity, or just sitting around or getting in bed and getting comfortable.

 

But what I’ve found is for the majority of listeners…not everybody…yeah, there are people that skip the intro or that fall asleep right away or that turn the show on in the middle of the night or listen all night. But for the majority of listeners, this part of the podcast gives you some distance between the day and the night and helps you wind down and slowly kinda get ready for bed, to start to unwind. I always use the analogy of a landing strip, 'cause it’s like you're coming in for a landing. Then, also…but the intro’s also the taxiing. Nobody appreciates the taxiing after landing. If planes only served to park so you could fall asleep, you'd say…even then it would be unappreciated 'cause you say, okay, I just want to get to my gate and get…they say, well, no, we're gonna wait a little while and then we're gonna drive over…oh, no, wrong one.

 

They said Z14. I’m at F14. Looks like somebody’s parked there. You say, didn’t we leave like, four and a half hours ago? They didn’t…what do you mean somebody’s parked there? I guess I’m…but this is true. This is the stuff that goes through my mind. But in this case you say, oh, but we're not going anywhere. You'd say, okay…I guess it’s hard to create an analogy out of something that would never happen or doesn't make…they say, okay, now we're at Gate Z14, everybody. I’m just gonna talk now and I’m gonna tell you about the air adjust…oh boy, and there’s only four of you. It’s such a roomy place. Unexpected Airline, the airline that puts you to sleep, because we don’t go anywhere except…when it’s time to wake up, we’ll go to another gate gently, and then you get a full breakfast and it’s great.

 

That’s the Imaginary Airline. So, that’s what the intro’s kinda like. It doesn't make any…you say, what? I say, exactamundo. It just goes on and on and on to ease you into bedtime and to give you a chance to slowly fall asleep. I guess…'cause some people say, what do you mean? You got the greeting, you got the sponsors, and then you got this long intro. How come you don’t just get to the story? I’d say, after doing the show for a long time and even before going…doing the podcast, it’s like, when you're supposed to fall asleep, it’s pretty tough. So, with Sleep With Me, sleep kinda sneaks up on you and you drift…the next thing you know, you're at breakfast tomorrow and you say, I got this great idea, hun. Oh yeah? Tell me about it. An airplane that doesn't go anywhere. It’s like a…or we could do a train.

 

You say, what do you mean? Well, you get on the plane and it’s got beds and stuff, then it goes to…it goes around. Maybe it goes a little bit faster, then it goes to a gate and parks, or maybe it just drives around all night, 'cause that might be a nice, rocking motion. Probably…we’ll figure out the…we’ll have a running solar…stored solar energy or something, or whatever. But I think Scooter was talking about that in the podcast, but not in a concise way like you're saying, hun. Oh yeah, maybe. I thought he was talking about paper biplanes or something. So, that’s what the intro does. Then there’s business between the intro and the show, and then…that’s what keeps the podcast free, again. Then there’s the story. Tonight it’ll be a StarKid Stan cast, believe it or not, written…or prepared by my daughter, who’s a fan of StarKid.

 

So, first you'll find out what’s StarKid, and then we’ll talk about the history of StarKid and how I became a StarKid fan, or Stan; that’s what the…well, by the time this comes out, I say, Scoots, that was so 20…whatever, 2020…‘19. I say, or 20…I say, well, yeah, now’s the time for me to adopt it. I’m a late adopter. Usually by the time I adopt something, it’s right before it comes back again, like a year or two after. So…once I’ve moved on again. So, then we’ll do that, then there’s some thank-yous at the end. So, that’s the structure of the show. The only other thing to know is the reason I make the show…one, I have trouble falling asleep, staying…last night it was staying asleep. I was tossing, turning…I was baffled, too, because even though I follow these routines and my own advice…I say, what do you mean?

 

It feels like I had forty pots of coffee, like right around 12:30, and I had…my mind was…so, I know how it feels in the deep, dark night and I know how it feels when you're tired or over-tired. If I can help with that, that would be great. But I also believe if you get a good night's sleep, our world’s gonna be a better place to live in, and that is cool for me to be a part of, too. If I can help you so you can live a bit fuller life 'cause you're rested, that makes the whole world better. At least, that’s what I believe. So, I’m here because you deserve a good night's sleep, and I know how it feels when you don’t get one. So, I just really want to help. I really appreciate you coming by, checking the show out if you're new. I yearn and I strive. I really want to help you fall asleep, and here’s a couple ways I’m able to do it for you free twice a week. Thanks.

 

Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…this is the second time you get to hear me say that welcome, because this episode is constructed from a intro from the past and our Read With Me episodes here. It’s a Frankie and Victor episode with our friend Frank and his…so, I’m reading from the book Victor and Frankie, also known as a famous Mary Shelley novel. This is a little bit different than episodes we’ve done with Sleep With Me, but we’ve tested this out on Sleep With Me+. It was so popular, we wanted to bring it to everyone. So, it’s me reading through a book, also paraphrasing, making stuff sleepy, but it’s not perfectly sleepy, just like everything else we make, you know? It exists within this world, but it’s pretty chill. So, I hope you enjoy it, and without further ado, more of Victor and Frankie. Thanks, everybody.

 

Chapter 17. The being finished speaking and fixed his look upon me in the expectation of a reply, but I was bewildered, perplexed, and unable to arrange my ideas sufficiently to understand the full extent of his proposition. He continued. You must create a partner for me with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do, and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede. The latter part of his tale had kindled anew in me…and the irritable…irritability that had kinda lowered while he was telling me about that peaceful life with those cottagers. I was kinda picturing myself in the cottage. I mean, a little bit…I said, well, could I be friends with those people in the cottage or would they be more friends with me?

 

It seemed a little cramped, the cottage, compared to what I’m used to, but…and I said, well, I would prefer to be the star of the cottage. But when I was…I wasn’t totally listening to my…to the leaf-based being, either, when I was thinking about that. I said, well, I think Sweet Sweetie would love me. Would I talk to Sweet Sweet Sweetie about my knowledge or just my natural charm? So, now that he was bringing…I thought it was about me, and now he’s bringing it back and making…I said, are you making requests of me? Tell me more relaxing stuff to relax me and help me fantasize. So, that really got on my…really got on my nerves, and I said, I do refuse it, and nothing, nothing you could do, even wagging your finger at me or thinking of me unkindly shall extort a consent from me.

 

You may render me the most frowny-faced of all people, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another leaf-based being like yourself who comes here and makes requests of me? That could be…I mean, think about that, two leaf-based…I mean, two heaps of compost wandering the world. Think about the dismay. Begone. I have answered you, and you could do whatever you wish, but I will never consent. You are in the wrong, replied the leaf-based being. I’m not demanding anything. I am content to reason with you. Like, I’m not a bad…whatever you want to call it, leaf-based guy? I don't know. A compost being. I’m just down and out, man. Am I not shunned by everybody, all human beings?

 

You, my creator, you said you'd spread my leafs around the ground, and I believe you even said you'd dance on them with glee as you spread them to and fro. So, remember that and tell me why I should pity a person more than they pity me. You wouldn't feel…don’t sound like you would feel too bad if you spread my leafs around and then the wind blew them all away, and then…I don't even…would I still be sentient if I was a billion different leafs, or…? I know I’m not a billion leaves, but I wouldn't be able to walk, I wouldn't be able to talk, and that would be by you…and know you danced me into nonexistence. Shall I respect a person that does that to me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness, and instead of not not-kind acts, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance.

 

But I’m getting the sense that cannot be. Human senses are insurmountable and they seem to be bare…maybe the odor of compost or just the idea of sentient…in your words, compost, are barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the submission. I can't just sit idly by, either. If I cannot inspire love and you turn a blind eye to me, my creator, I’ll have to…we’ll have to go from being…our relationship will change, and it won't be friends. It’ll be a non-frennies. Not frenny-poos at all. Rivals, even. Because, my creator, I do swear inextinguishable…I got strong feelings, too, just 'cause I’m a leaf-based being. Have a care. I’m not…I’m very persistent. I crossed…I found you, buddy, so I’ll put it to work. I’ll put this leaf-based being…by the way, I learned a language by sitting in a hovel and just listening in.

 

So, I won't…can't stop, won't stop, I think they say. I’ll make you wonder why you turned me away, and you'll…your frown will not turn upside-down. Victor back here…that’s what he closed with. He seemed to shake with a sense of non-happiness towards me. His leafy face, which, thinking back on it, could be considered cute at times, but at this time was wrinkled into contortions of irritation. His brow was furrowed. Oh boy, was that furrow deep. But then he took a breath and calmed himself and proceeded. Okay, Victor, I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental to me. You do not reflect that you are the cause of this excess. If any being felt emotions of benevolence towards me, I should return to them a hundred and a hundredfold kindness.

 

For that one being’s sake, I would make peace with the whole kind, one nice person in this entire globe. But now I indulge in dreams of bliss that cannot be realized. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate. I demand someone to spend time with, someone that’s like me, I guess, that could relate to me and know what it’s like to be made of leaves and, whatever, other stuff, a friend. Woody had Buzz and Buzz had Woody, and they also had their other friends. I’m just asking for a Wood…or, I don't know, Bo Peep, maybe, even. The gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It is true; we’ll be comp…walking heaps of compost, and I know Fraggle Rock hasn’t come…doesn't exist at this time, and even with its existence, it wasn’t exactly a glorification of walking, sentient compost heaps.

 

Even Oscar…but, you know, maybe we could be separated from the world. On that account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless and free from the misery I now feel. Oh, my creator, make me happy. Let me feel gratitude towards you for this one benefit. Let me see that I excite the sympathy of one existing thing. Do not deny me this request. Victor here. I was moved. I kinda shuddered when I thought about the consequences of my consent, but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale and the feelings he now expressed proved him to be a being of fine sensations, and I did not as his maker owe him…or didn’t I, as his maker, owe him all portion of happiness that was in my power to bestow?

 

He saw my change of feeling on my face and continued. If you consent, neither you nor anybody else will ever see us again. We're not trying to be on TV like Oscar or Fraggle Rock or anything else. We’ll go somewhere far, far away. We don’t eat the same things, anyway, so, not like I’m gonna mess with anybody’s stuff. Acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment, and my companion will be of the same nature as myself, and we’ll be content with the same fare. We’ll be cook…I mean, and we’ll leave some for the squirrels. Don’t you worry. We shall make our bed of dried leaves. The sun will shine on us as it does on every other human, and it will ripen our food.

 

The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and need to control things in your own judgement. Pitiless as you've been towards me, I can now see compassion in your eyes. Let me seize the favorable moment and persude you to promise what I so ardently desire. So, I said…you propose, said I, Victor, to fly, fly away from the habitations of humans, to dwell in places where only forest friends will be your companions, but I don't buy it. How can you, who long for the love and sympathy of humans, persevere in isolation? Talk about these pop-culture icons I’m not even familiar with.

 

I believe you will return again and seek kindness of human beings, and again, unfortunately, because you're a compost pile, you'll meet with their detestation and your passions will be renewed, and then you'll have a companion to aid you in the task of…I don't even know what you'd be up to. This may not be, but I cease to argue the point. I cannot consent. He came back at me. How incontinent are your feelings? But a moment ago you were moved by my representations, and why again do you harden yourself to my complaints? I swear to you by the earth in which I inhabit and by you that made me that with the companion you bestow, I will quit the neighborhood of humans and dwell, as it be, in the quietest and most distance…distant of places.

 

My passions will have fled, for I shall meet with sympathy. My life will flow quietly away, and I shall only have positive thoughts of my maker. Victor here. His words had a strange effect upon me. I compassionated him and sometimes felt a wish to console him. But when I looked upon him and I saw the filthy mass that moved and talked, I said, wait a second here, this is…I can't trust compost that’s sentient, and my feelings were altered, and I started to loathe him again. I tried to stifle these sensations, and I thought as not to sympathize with him. I mean, on one side I had no right to withhold from him the small portion of happiness which was yet in my power to bestow. You swear, I said, to be harmless, but haven't you already been round and about and talking to people and convincing them to cross to other realms?

 

Shouldn't that make me distrust you? May not even this be a feint in which you will increase your triumph by affording a wider scope for your…I don't know, whatever you're up to? He said back to me, what? How is this? I must not be trifled with, and I demand an answer. If I have no ties and no affectations…affectations, affections, whatever, then alls…then I’ll have nothing but…a sentient heap of compost can be quite irritable, for it gets very warm in here. The love of another will be replaced by something else, and I shall become a thing whose whole existence…no one will know about me if I go away. My vices are the children of a forced solitude that I abhor, and my virtues will be necessarily arised when I’m in communion with a partner.

 

I shall feel the affections of a sensitive being and become linked to the chain of existence and events from which I am now excluded. I paused some time to reflect on all he had related and the various arguments which he had employed. I thought of the promise of virtues which he had displayed on the opening of his existence and on the subsequent unpleasantness and loss of all kindly feeling from other people he had ran into, even his protect…so-called protectors had manifested towards him. But his…he was strong. Leaf-based beings were stronger than I had…and that was not omitted in my calculations. I mean, a being that could exist in ice caves and glaciers and hide and live in ridges and mountains and inaccessible precipices was…he also possessed faculties that could be tough to cope with.

 

I don’t want to have to…if I was going to spread his leaves around until his…he went to another realm, I didn't want to have to go climb around or be cold. So, after a moment of long pause and reflection, I concluded that the justice due to both him and my fellow humans demanded of me that I should comply with his request, I mean, if he was gone far, far away. Turning him, therefore I said, I consent to your demand on your solemn oath to quit Europe forever. I mean, as long as you're not…basically. Well, and every other place in the neighborhood of human beings as soon as I shall deliver into you a partner who will accompany you into exile. I swear, the being cried.

 

By the sun, by the blue sky of heaven, and by the fire of love that burns in my heart, unless it’s like a apple mixed with pea soup or whatever that’s in there, that if you grant my prayer, while they exist, you shall never behold me again. Depart to your home and commence your labors. I shall watch their progress with unutterable…I’ll be able to barely keep calm. But don't worry, but that when you are ready, I shall appear saying this. He suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in my sentiments. He must have known me well. I saw him descend the mountain with greater speed than the flight of an eagle, and he was quickly lost among the undulations of the sea of ice. His tale had occupied the whole day, and the sun was on the verge of the horizon when he departed.

 

I knew that I ought to hasten my descent towards the valley, as I soon would be encompassed in darkness, but my heart was heavy and my steps were slow. The labor of winding among the little paths of the mountain and fixing my feet firmly as I advanced perplexed me, occupied as I was by the emotions which the occurrences of the day had produced. Night was far advanced when I came to the halfway resting place and seated myself beside the fountain. The stars shone at intervals and the clouds passed over them, and the dark pines rose above me, and every here and there, a broken tree lay on the ground. It was a scene of wonderful solemnity and stirred strange thoughts within me. I wept and, clasping my hands, I exclaimed, oh stars and clouds and winds, you're all about to mock me.

 

If ye really pity me, wipe all sensation and memory. Let me become as naught. But if not, depart, depart, and leave me in darkness. I mean, man, I could get…I was feeling dramatic, I guess. These were wild and miserable thoughts, but I cannot describe to you how the internal twinkling of the stars weighed on me. Oh, stars, can you cut it out, man? I’m trying to think and feel here, and every blast of wind in my ears was like…ugh. Wind and stars…and eventually I was so…felt so…that I fell asleep and morning dawned. I headed out, and as the dawn came, I arrived in the village. I took no more rest but returned immediately to Geneva. I mean, maybe a rest for a little cafe action, but even in my own heart, I could give no expression to my sensations. They weighed on me with a mountain’s weight, and their excess just didn’t feel great.

 

Then I returned home, and entering my house, I presented myself to the family. My haggard and wild appearance awoke intense alarm. I answered no questions and scarcely did I speak. I felt as if I was being placed under a ban, as if I had no right to claim their sympathies, as if I more might enjoy companionship with them. Yet, thus, even I love them to adoration, and this was my mission. I had to dedicate myself to this task. The prospect of such an occupation made every other circumstance of existence pass before me like a dream, and that thought only had to me the reality of life. Chapter 18. Day after day, week after week passed on my return to Geneva, and I could not collect the courage to recommence my work.

 

I was thinking about the disappointed leaf-based being, yet I was unable to overcome my repugnance to the task which was enjoined to me. I found that I could not compose another leaf-based being again without devoting several months to profound study and laborious disquisition. A lot of work, a lot of work this leaf-based being was asking of me. I had heard of some discoveries having been made by an English philosopher, the knowledge of which was material to my success, and I sometimes thought of obtaining my father’s consent to visit England for this purpose. But I clung to every pretense of delay and shrank from taking the first step in an undertaking whose immediate necessity began to appear less and less absolute to me. Promises to a leaf-based being, you know?

 

A change indeed had taken place in me. My vim and vigor, which hitherto had declined, was now much restored, and my spirits, when unchecked by the memory of my unhappy promise, rose proportionally. The more I could forget about that being, the better. My father saw this change with pleasure, and he turned his thoughts towards the best method of eradicating the remains of my melancholy, which every now and then would return by fits with frowny faces and tears like an overcast, overcast over the sunshine. That’s most important; my sunshine, right? At these moments I took refuge in the most perfect solitude. I passed whole days on the lake alone in a little boat, watching the clouds and listening to the rippling of the waves, silent and listless.

 

A life…I mean, it’s not the life of leisure for me, but some could see it that way. But the fresh air and bright sun seldom failed to restore me to some degree of composure, and on my return I met the salutations of my friends with a readier smile and a more cheerful heart. It was after my return from one of these rambles that my father, calling me aside, thus addressed me. Son, I’m happy to remark, my dear son, that you've resumed your former pleasures; lake…laying in the lake, looking at the lake, lazing around the lake, and you seem to be returning to yourself. Yet, you are still unhappy and still avoid our society. For some time I was lost in conjecture as to the cause of this, but yesterday an idea struck me, and if it is well-founded, I conjure you to avow it.

 

Reserve on such a point would not only be useless but draw down treble frowns on us all. I kinda shook at his exordium, and my father continued. I confess, my son, that I’ve always looked forward to your marriage with our dear Elizabeth as the tie of our domestic comfort and the stay of my declining years. You were attached to each other from the earliest infancy. You studied together, appeared in dispositions and tastes entirely suited to one another, but so blind is the experience of man that what I conceived to be the best assistance to my plan have entirely made it go away. You, perhaps, regard her as your sister without any wish that she might become your wife.

 

Nay, you may have met with another whom you love, and considering yourself as bound in honor to Elizabeth, this struggle may occasion the poignant frowns which you appear to feel. My dear father, reassure yourself, I love my cousin tenderly and sincerely. I never saw a woman who excited as Elizabeth does my warmest admiration and affection. My future hopes and prospects are entirely bound up in the expectation of our union. The expectations of your sentiment of this subject, my dear Victor, gives me more pleasure than I have some time experienced. If you feel thus, we shall all be assuredly happy. However, present events may cast a gloom over us. But it is this gloom which appears to have taken so strong hold of your mind that I wish to dissipate.

 

Tell me, therefore, whether you object to an immediate solemnization of marriage. We’ve been down and out lately. Recent events have drawn us from that everyday tranquility befitting my years. You are younger, yet I do not suppose, possessed as you are of a competent fortune, that an early marriage would at all interfere with any future plans of honor and utility that you may have formed. Do not suppose, however, that I wish to dictate happiness on you or that a delay on your part would cause me any serious uneasiness. Interpret my words with candor and answer me. I conjure you with confidence and sincerity. I listened to my father in silence and I remained for some time incapable of offering any reply. I resolved rapidly in my mind in a multitude of thoughts and endeavored to arrive at the same conclusion.

 

Alas, to me, the idea of an immediate union with my Elizabeth was one of not…I was like, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. One, I was bound by a solemn promise which I had yet not fulfilled and I dare not break, but I wasn’t getting around to it, either. If I ever did get around to it, what manifold miseries might impend over me and my devoted family, and were those miseries…I mean, were…how much would they change my mind of procrastinating, anyway? Could I enter into a festival with this on my mind, bowing me to the ground? I must perform my engagement and let that leaf-based being depart with his partner before I allowed myself to enjoy the delight of a union from which I expected peace. Maybe this would help me get my act together. It seemed to me my father and I maybe were on the same page.

 

I remembered also the necessity opposed upon me…imposed upon me by science of either journeying to England or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers of that country whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensible use to me in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory, and besides, I had an insurmountable aversion to the idea of engaging myself in my loathsome task in my father’s house while inhabits of familiar intercourse with those I loved. I knew that a thousand things could happen when you're messing…when you're creating sentient, organic life. Who knew at the slightest it could disclose a tale to thrill all connected, but not in a good way.

 

I was aware also that I should often lose all self-command, all capacity of hiding the harrowing sensations that would possess me during my…the progress of my unearthly occupation, so unearthly and earthbound. I must absent myself from all I loved while thus employed. Once commenced, it would be quickly achieved, and I might be restored to my family in peace and happiness. My promise fulfilled, the leaf-based being would be gone forever. Or, so in my fond, fancied imagining, maybe I could do something…I could catch him in a big breeze and blow him away, and that would end him forever. These feelings dictated my answer to my father, where I expressed a wish to visit England but concealing the true reasons of my request.

 

I clothed my desires under a guise which excited no suspicion while I urged my desire with an earnestness that easily induced my father to comply. After so long a period of absorbing melancholy and with various intensity and effects, papa was glad to find I was capable of taking pleasure in the idea of such a journey, and he hoped that a change of scene and of varied amusement would, before my return, have restored me entirely to myself. Maybe this was all papa’s fault, having me…it’s rare I pause here to be like, who am I, really? But, whatever, the duration of my absence was left to my own choice. A few months or at most a year was a period contemplated.

 

One paternal, kind precaution he had taken to ensure my having a companion…without communicating with me, he had in concert with Elizabeth arranged that Clerval should join me in Strausberg. Ugh, Clerval. Oh, man. This in turn…I mean, I wanted to be alone. This interfered with the solitude I covered…coveted and had to cover now for enacting my tasks. But, I mean, a friend when I’m in need is a friend I could use, indeed. So, at the commencement of my journey, the presence of my friend could in no way be an impediment. I mean, somebody had to carry my stuff, and I truly rejoiced that I should be saved from many hours of lonely, maddening reflection. Clerval was a good listener to me when I was talking to him about me.

 

Nay, Henry might stand between me and the intrusion of the leaf-based being, too, right? He wouldn't want to bother me if I was not alone with his abhorrent presence and remind me of my task or to contemplate its progress. To England, therefore, I was bound, and it was understood that my union with Elizabeth should take place immediately upon my return. You know, my father, his age rendered him extremely averse to delay. He said, not…no more messing about again like always. How come everybody was focused on my delays and my procrastination, my malaise? For myself, there was one reward I promised myself from my detested toils, one consolation from my unparalleled sufferings.

 

It was a prospect of a day when, franchised from this awful woe…this awful result of my brilliance, I might claim Elizabeth and forget the past in my union with her. Maybe I’d even write a song about it. I now made arrangements for my journey, but one feeling kept with me which filled me with…agitated me, man. During my absence I should leave my friends unconscience of the existence of a leaf-based being that was up to no good. They’d have no cover. Exasperated, he may say, where did he go? He might be hot of temper. But he had promised to follow me wherever I might go, and would he not accompany me to England? This imagination was in itself but soothing in so much as it supposed the safety of my friends.

 

I was agonized with the idea that the possibility that the reverse of this might happen, but through the whole period during which I was thinking about that leaf-based being, compost heap, I allowed myself to be governed by the impulses of the moment, and my present sensations strongly intimated that the fiend would follow me and exempt my family from his machinations. I was, in the latter end of September, that I again quitted my hometown. My journey had been my own suggestion, and Elizabeth therefore acquiesced, but she was filled with disquiet at the idea of me never being satisfied and away from her, the inroads of misery and grief.

 

It had been her care which provided me a companion in Clerval, and yet a man as blind to a thousand minute circumstances with call force…with call force…call forth a woman’s sedulous attention. She longed to bid me hasten my return. A thousand conflicting motions rented…rendered…not rented; rended? Rented…rendered her mute as she bade me a tearful, silent farewell. I threw myself into the carriage that was to convey me away, hardly knowing wither I was going and careless of what was passing around. I remembered only — and it was with a bitter anguish that I reflected on it — to order that my…all my materials should be packed and go with me. Filled with my dreary imaginations, I passed through many beautiful and majestic scenes, but my eyes were fixed and unobserving.

 

I could only think of the borne of my travels and the work which was to occupy me whilst they endured. After some days spent in listless indolence during which I traversed many leagues, I arrived at Strausberg, where I waited two days for Clerval. I mean, come on, you're supposed to be there waiting for me, man. But he came. Alas, how great was the contrast between us? He was alive to every new scene, joyous when he saw the beauties of the setting sun, and more happy when he beheld it rise and recommence a new day. He pointed out to me the shifting colors of the landscape and the appearances of the sky. This is what it is to live, he cried. How I enjoy existence. But you, my dear Frankenstein, wherefor are you desponding and sorrowful?

 

In truth, I was occupied by gloomy thoughts and neither saw the descent of the evening star or the golden sunrise reflected in the Rhine. You, my friend, would be far more amused with the journey of Clerval, who observed the scenery with an eye of feeling and delight, that in listening to my reflections, I, a miserable wretch, worried about the…whatever, I had to shut up every avenue to enjoyment. We agreed to descend the Rhine in a boat from Strausberg to Rotterdam, whence we might take a shipping for London. During this voyage, we passed many willowy islands and saw several beautiful towns. We stayed a day in Mannheim, and on the fifth day our departure from Strausberg…we arrived at Mainz. The course of the Rhine below Mainz becomes much more picturesque.

 

The river descends rapidly and winds between hills not high but steep, of beautiful forms. We saw many ruined castles standing on the edges of precipices surrounded by woods high and inaccessible. This part of the Rhine indeed presents a singularly variegated landscape. In one spot you view rugged hills, ruined castles overlooking tremendous precipices with the dark Rhine rushing beneath, and on the sudden turn of a promontory, flourishing vineyards with green, sloping banks and a meandering river, and populous towns occupy the scene. We traveled at the time of the vintage and heard the song of the laborers as we glided down the stream. Even I, depressed in mind, my spirits continually agitated by gloomy feelings, even I was pleased.

 

I lay at the bottom of the boat, and as I gazed on the cloudless blue sky, I seemed to drink in a tranquility to which I had long been a stranger. If these were my sensations, who can describe those of Henry? He felt as he had been transported to a fairy land, and enjoyed a happiness seldom tasted by humans. I have seen, he said, the most beautiful scenes of my own country. I have visited the lakes of Lucerne and Uri, where the snowy mountains descend almost perpendicularly to the water, casting black and impenetrable shades which would cause a gloomy and mournful appearance were it not for the most verdant islands the…that relieve the eye by their gay appearance.

 

I have seen this lake agitated by a tempest, and when the wind tore up whirlwinds of water and gave you an idea of what the water spout must be on the great ocean, and the waves dash with fury the base of the mountain where the priest and his mistress were overwhelmed, where their voices were said to call and to be heard amid the pauses of the nightly wind. I have seen the mountains of La Valais, and the Pays de Vaud. But this country, Victor, pleases me more than all those wonders. The mountains of Switzerland are more majestic and strange, but there is a charm in the banks of this divine river that I never before saw equalled.

 

Look at that castle which overhangs yon precipice, and that also on that island almost concealed among the foliage of those lovely trees, and now that group of laborers coming up from amid the vines and the village half-hid in the recesses of the mountain. Oh, surely the spirit that inhabits and guards this place has a soul more in harmony with human than those who pile the glacier or retire the inaccessible peaks of the mountains of their own country. Clerval, beloved friend, even now it delights me to record your words and to dwell on the praise of which you are so eminently deserving. He was being formed in the very poetry of nature. His wild and enthusiastic imagination was chastened by the sensibility of his heart.

 

His soul overflowed with ardent affectations and his friendship of that devoted in wonderous nature that world-minded to teach us to look for only in the imagination. But even human sympathies were not sufficient to satisfy his eager mind. The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardor. The sounding cataract kept with him like a passion. The tall rock of the mountain, the deep and gloomy wood, their colors and their forms were then to him an appetite, a feeling in love that had no need of remoter charm, but by thought supplied or in any interest unborrowed from the eye. That was from Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey. Where does he now exist? Is this gentle and lovely being gone far, far away?

 

Has this mind so replete with ideas, imaginations fanciful and magnificent, which formed a world whose existence depended on its creator, is he still around? Where is he? Does it now only exist in my memory? No, it is not thus. Your form so divinely wrought and beaming with beauty, I don't know where that’s at, but your spirit still visits and consoles your unhappy friend. Pardon this gush of sorrow. These ineffectual words are but a slight tribute to the unexampled worth of Henry. He was also good at carrying bags and fetching me things — that’s not as poetic, you know — and listening to my tirades, drying my tears. But the words of Henry, they soothed my heart overflowing with the anguish. He was like…anytime I was down, he would work with me. But now it creates more anguish, the remembrance of him.

 

But I better proceed with my tale. Beyond Cologne we descended to the plains of Holland, and we resolved to post the remainder of our way, for the wind was contrary and the stream of the river was too gentle to aid us. Our journey here lost the arising from the beautiful scenery, but we arrived a few days at Rotterham. Whence, we proceeded by sea to England. It was on a clear morning in the latter days of December that I first saw the white cliffs of Britain. The banks of the Thames presented a new scene. They were flat but fertile, and almost every town was marked by the remembrance of some story.

 

We saw Tilbury Fort and remembered the Spanish armada. Gravesend, Woolwich, Grenwich, places which I had heard of even in my country. At length we saw the numerous steeples of London; Saint Power…St. Paul’s powerfully towering above all, and the tower famed in the English history. Then I lay for a rest again in the rocking of my boat. As I got closer and closer, I got sleepier and sleepier and drifted off. Goodnight.

 

[END OF RECORDING]

(Transcription performed by LeahTranscribes)

Read With Me

 

Term: “Stan”

https://www.yonder-ai.com/resources/blog/understanding-k-pop-stan-culture-and-what-makes-them-powerful/

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/07/767903704/the-2010s-social-media-and-the-birth-of-stan-culture

https://theoutline.com/post/2425/when-stan-became-a-verb

 

Wordsworth

https://exhibits.lib.byu.edu/wordsworth/

https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/2015/04/07/245-years-on-wordsworth-still-has-much-to-teach-us/

https://lithub.com/on-the-radical-afterlives-of-william-wordsworth/

 

Dover White Cliffs

https://kentdowns.org.uk/activities/white-cliffs-of-dover/

https://www.cliffsofdover.com/the-geology-of-the-cliffs-of-dover/

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/the-white-cliffs-of-dover/history-of-the-white-cliffs-of-dover

 

St Paul’s Cathedral

https://www.stpaulscathedral.uk/st-pauls-history

https://guidelinestobritain.com/churches-cathedrals/history-of-st-pauls-cathedral-in-london/

https://www.stpauls.co.uk/our-timeline

 

The Rhine

https://www.tauck.com/river-cruises/european-river-facts/rhine-river-facts

 

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/rhine-river-raging-with-history

 

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2006/07/taming-the-rhine-html

 

DOWN TO BUSINESS

A fan of fandom

 

PLUGS

Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed; Rusty Biscuit Links; Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline

 

SPONSORS

Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Progressive; Kindred; Odoo; Uncommon Goods; Everyday Dose

 

INTRO

1027

Mix some words up

Sentient Sentence

Scooter, you’re a work vandal

I perplex perplexion

He’s about as serious as Yahoo Serious

Shoutout to the Southern Californian Bruh

A show within a show

Nobody appreciates the taxiing after landing

Gate Z14

An airplane that doesn’t go anywhere

I thought he was talking about paper biplanes

A StarKid Stancast

Prepared by Scooter’s Daughter

Is Scoots a Stan?

 

STORY

Chapter 17

I don’t know how to respond to the being’s proposition

A partner for the being

This You Alone Can Do

He’s rekindled my irritability

I bet those people in the cottage would be friends with me

But I wouldn’t like to be in the cottage

I Do Refuse It

Two Heaps of Compost, wandering the world

The Leaf Based Being is content to reason with me

Why should I pity someone more than they pity me?

Dancing someone into nonexistence

Living in the Interchange of Kindness

If I can’t inspire love, then we’ll have to be non-friennies

He inspired non-happiness in me

That brow furrow was deep

This passion is detrimental to me

And he would return kindness 100 fold

Buzz had Woody – why can’t I have a friend?

Talking about Fraggle Rock before Fraggle Rock has come out

Make me happy, my creator!

We’ll disappear if you consent!

All I eat is acorn and berries – I won’t eat people’s food

This would be a human future

Why do you have to control things, Victor?

Vic believes Frank will return again to seek the kindness of beings

Why does Vic harden himself to these complaints??

Wait a second, I can’t trust compost that’s sentient!

But Frank hasn’t been harmless! He convinced people to travel to other realms

A sentient heap of compost can be quite irritable with all this inner warmth

Linked to the Chain of Existence

I finally agree to consent to his demand IF he quits Europe forever

The being agrees

I needed to hasten my descent of the valley to avoid darkness

But I descended slowly

I stayed the night at the halfway resting place

A Scene of Wonderful Solemnity

Why do the stars mock me??

The internal twinkling of the stars weighed on me

I returned immediately to Geneva (cafe action aside)

I returned home, haggard and unable to speak

Chapter 18

Weeks passed

I could not collect the courage to recommence my work

I needed to study up again before I could create another LBB

I heard of an English philosopher who had made advances in this study

My vim and vigor was now much restored

The more I forgot about the being, the better

My father aimed to eliminate the remains of my melancholy

I spent whole days on a little boat in the lake, silent and listless

My father speaks to me to check in

My father thinks it’s time I marry Elizabeth!

An Immediate Solemnization of Marriage

This might cheer everyone up!

But he won’t dictate happiness on me

But I was hesitant to do it immediately

I needed to fulfill my promise to LBB first

Otherwise manifest miseries would unfold on my family

I need to get this off my mind

I need to get this done quickly and get this LBB out of my happy family life!

I tell my father I need to visit England quickly (to get things started)

Papa is excited to see me excited about something

He tells me that Clerval will come with me

Ugh, Clerval

Fine, I guess he can carry my stuff

Clerval is a good listener when he’s listening to me talk about myself

My union with Elizabeth will take place immediately upon my return

Why is everyone concerned with my delays and procrastination?

Maybe I can forget the past through my union with Elizabeth

I worried that LBB would follow me to England

But then at least my family and friends would be safe

Governed by impulses of the moment

At the end of September, I left home

Elizabeth was disquieted

A tearful silent farewell

I arrive in Strasbourg and wait TWO DAYS for Clerval

Clerval loves to see the natural world, in contrast to me

This Is What It Is To Live!

I was occupied by gloomy thoughts

From Strasbourg to Rotterdam

Going down the Rhine

I finally drank in the tranquility

Henry felt like he had been transported to a fairyland

Henry really loves this river and this country

I do delight to record Clerval’s words

Formed in the Very Poetry of Nature

But even human sympathies could not satisfy his eager mind

Does Clerval only exist in my mind now?

Foreshadowing!!!

Soon we saw the White Cliffs of Britain

And then we got to London and I rested in the boat

 

SUMMARY:

Episode: 1394

Title: Frank 9 | Read With Me

Plugs: Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed; Rusty Biscuit Links; Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline

Sponsors: Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Progressive; Kindred; Odoo; Uncommon Goods; Everyday Dose

Notable Language:

• 1027
• Sentient Sentence
• Work Vandal
• I perplex perplexion
• Bruh
• Story
• This You Alone Can Do
• I Do Refuse It
• Leaf-Based Being
• Non-Friennies
• Linked to the Chain of Existence
• A Scene of Wonderful Solemnity
• Overcast over my Sunshine
• An Immediate Solemnization of Marriage
• Formed in the Very Poetry of Nature

 

Notable Culture:

• • 1027
  • Banksy
  • StarKid Productions
  • Yahoo Serious
  • Story

• Frankenstein

• • Mary Shelley

• Toy Story

• Fraggle Rock

• Oscar the Grouch / Sesame Street
• Wordsworth
• The Cliffs of Dover
• St Paul’s Cathedral

 

Notable Talking Points:

• 1027
• Mix some words up
• Sentient Sentence
• Scooter, you’re a work vandal
• I perplex perplexion
• He’s about as serious as Yahoo Serious
• Shoutout to the Southern Californian Bruh
• A show within a show
• Nobody appreciates the taxiing after landing
• Gate Z14
• An airplane that doesn’t go anywhere
• I thought he was talking about paper biplanes
• A StarKid Stancast
• Prepared by Scooter’s Daughter
• Is Scoots a Stan?
• Story
• Chapter 17
• I don’t know how to respond to the being’s proposition
• A partner for the being
• This You Alone Can Do
• He’s rekindled my irritability
• I bet those people in the cottage would be friends with me
• But I wouldn’t like to be in the cottage
• I Do Refuse It
• Two Heaps of Compost, wandering the world
• The Leaf Based Being is content to reason with me
• Why should I pity someone more than they pity me?
• Dancing someone into nonexistence
• Living in the Interchange of Kindness
• If I can’t inspire love, then we’ll have to be non-friennies
• He inspired non-happiness in me
• That brow furrow was deep
• This passion is detrimental to me
• And he would return kindness 100 fold
• Buzz had Woody – why can’t I have a friend?
• Talking about Fraggle Rock before Fraggle Rock has come out
• Make me happy, my creator!
• We’ll disappear if you consent!
• All I eat is acorn and berries – I won’t eat people’s food
• This would be a human future
• Why do you have to control things, Victor?
• Vic believes Frank will return again to seek the kindness of beings
• Why does Vic harden himself to these complaints??
• Wait a second, I can’t trust compost that’s sentient!
• But Frank hasn’t been harmless! He convinced people to travel to other realms
• A sentient heap of compost can be quite irritable with all this inner warmth
• Linked to the Chain of Existence
• I finally agree to consent to his demand IF he quits Europe forever
• The being agrees
• I needed to hasten my descent of the valley to avoid darkness
• But I descended slowly
• I stayed the night at the halfway resting place
• A Scene of Wonderful Solemnity
• Why do the stars mock me??
• The internal twinkling of the stars weighed on me
• I returned immediately to Geneva (cafe action aside)
• I returned home, haggard and unable to speak
• Chapter 18
• Weeks passed
• I could not collect the courage to recommence my work
• I needed to study up again before I could create another LBB
• I heard of an English philosopher who had made advances in this study
• My vim and vigor was now much restored
• The more I forgot about the being, the better
• My father aimed to eliminate the remains of my melancholy
• I spent whole days on a little boat in the lake, silent and listless
• My father speaks to me to check in
• My father thinks it’s time I marry Elizabeth!
• An Immediate Solemnization of Marriage
• This might cheer everyone up!
• But he won’t dictate happiness on me
• But I was hesitant to do it immediately
• I needed to fulfill my promise to LBB first
• Otherwise manifest miseries would unfold on my family
• I need to get this off my mind
• I need to get this done quickly and get this LBB out of my happy family life!
• I tell my father I need to visit England quickly (to get things started)
• Papa is excited to see me excited about something
• He tells me that Clerval will come with me
• Ugh, Clerval
• Fine, I guess he can carry my stuff
• Clerval is a good listener when he’s listening to me talk about myself
• My union with Elizabeth will take place immediately upon my return
• Why is everyone concerned with my delays and procrastination?
• Maybe I can forget the past through my union with Elizabeth
• I worried that LBB would follow me to England
• But then at least my family and friends would be safe
• Governed by impulses of the moment
• At the end of September, I left home
• Elizabeth was disquieted
• A tearful silent farewell
• I arrive in Strasbourg and wait TWO DAYS for Clerval
• Clerval loves to see the natural world, in contrast to me
• This Is What It Is To Live!
• I was occupied by gloomy thoughts
• From Strasbourg to Rotterdam
• Going down the Rhine
• I finally drank in the tranquility
• Henry felt like he had been transported to a fairyland
• Henry really loves this river and this country
• I do delight to record Clerval’s words
• Formed in the Very Poetry of Nature
• But even human sympathies could not satisfy his eager mind
• Does Clerval only exist in my mind now?
• Foreshadowing!!!
• Soon we saw the White Cliffs of Britain
• And then we got to London and I rested in the boat