799 – High School Home | Adventures of Dr. Triangle and Isosceles Ep3

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and friends beyond the binary, and all my patron peeps. I see you out there, patrons, and I'm here to help. You help me, I help you. It can't get any better than that. Holy cow am I lucky. It's time for Sleep With Me, patrons. The podcast that helps you put to sleep, yeah. 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. What we do is a bedtime story. All you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press play. I'm going to do the rest.

What I'm going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever is keeping you awake, whether it's thoughts, feelings, physical sensations, changes in time, or temperature, or routine, whatever is keeping you awake. Thinking, feeling, experiencing. It could be travel or changes in routine. Whatever is keeping you awake I'd like to take your mind off of that. What I'm going to do is I have this nice safe place here. It's a joint safe place. If you're new, you're going to have to see how it goes. There's plenty of room. There's no shoulds. There's just a could on my mind. Could I help put you to sleep? I'm going to send my voice across the deep dark night. I'm going to use lulling, soothing, creaky dulcet tones, pointless meanders, superfluous tangents. Oh, creaky dulcet tones. That's C-R-E-E-K-Y I think. It could be I-E. Dulcet is D-U-L-C-E-T, tones. I think it's been a while since I thought about creaky dulcet tones, which is a collection of books one day I'll be selling. It's a collection of books that we call it the Creaky Dulcet Tones.

When you want someone to know you're reading an ancient book open up a Creaky Dulcet Tone. It makes that sound, like you're opening a book of the ages, because it has a thick cover and it makes a sound like an old door opening. You know it's a sweet, sweet book full of analog, maybe. If I'm in charge of it, it might be full of nonsense. That's Creaky Dulcet Tones. The books, you say, somewhere in the world of librarians saying, “Did someone just open up an unabridged dictionary? That sounded like Creaky Dulcet Tone to me, being opened.” This will be available for purchase probably 2075, I would say. Maybe I could work with one of those other companies that sells … They don't do that anymore. When they say, “When did we …” whatever that whole mass consumption, or whatever people call it, “When did that happen. When did the commoditization of knowledge, because Scoots is selling Creaky Dulcet Tones.” They say, “Scoots was born in a time when you bought your encyclopedias at the grocery store. You had to buy physical encyclopedias, instead of being able to just search it.”

They say, “Oh, that was the time.” Or they say, “What's up with Generation X?” When they wanted knowledge they went to the grocery store. Just so everybody knows, that's not in that age range, wherever you are in the age range. When I was a kid, you would go to the grocery store, the same grocery stores are very similar. Not that different. For a while there was different companies. My favorite Funk and Wagnalls. Who doesn't like saying Funk and Wagnalls? That could be a good restaurant, I think. Come on down to Funk and Wagnalls. When I was a kid you could buy really expensive dictionaries … or what are those things called, encyclopedias, or you could go to the library, which we used to do a lot. I think there was two options for a high end encyclopedias. Again, I don't know. I'll have to reach out to 99 PI and see if this is interesting or not. It's interesting to me. There was two expensive … What's an encyclopedia? Great question. It's basically Wikipedia in a book. I think you know. It's like a dictionary for stuff.

It's a [foreign language 00:05:27] that's a great example. You'd say, “Okay, maybe that wasn't even in the encyclopedia.” That would be a good test, to say, Is [foreign language 00:05:36] in this encyclopedia.” It would probably say, “See catapult,” and say, “Okay, good enough.” Encyclopedias were not … they were expensive. This other company, Funk and Wagnalls, according to my history, which is just based on going to the grocery store with my mom, at some point at the grocery store, the big one … In Syracuse, it was Wegmans, or Price Shopper and PNC. Those are two different places, believe it or not. Maybe it's Penny Saver? No, Penny Saver is something else. Those were in Syracuse your options. Wegmans, Price Shopper, those were our options.

We didn't go to PNC. Nothing against it. I think we do now, but it might be called something else. Just because that's the only grocery store where my parents life. Oh yeah, I think it's called Topps now. Anyway, so at the grocery store they would have an encyclopedia. I think it was over 12 months you could buy volume one, A-C. It would be super cheap like $199 with the purchase of $50 worth of groceries. How did I get this far off field? I don't know how I did get this far off field. It's just a part of my history. I guess, if you're new, that was a built in auto tangent. I honestly didn't see that one coming. I don't know how to link it back, because I forgot why I went off topic. Was I talking about … I don't think it was Funk and Wagnalls. Usually something like Funk and Wagnalls will bring me off. Pointless meanders, superfluous tangents, creaky dulcet tones. There, we found our way back. Creaky dulcet tones.

What I'm going to do here is try to take your mind off of whatever keeps you awake and help you fall asleep. You don't need to listen to this podcast. You can barely listen. You just kind of listen. You could totally listen. Just see how it works for you. Don't try to figure it out though, especially the intros, which you've already seen. You say, “What is he talking about?” If you're young, or you're before the Funk and Wag … why do they call us Generation X? I'd prefer to be a Funk and Wagnalls generation. It's just a marketing term anyway, I think. Can somebody get me the census bureau? Maybe another country that uses the metric system. You could name us the Funk and Wagnalls Generation. Sponsored by Funk and Wagnalls, making a comeback, via creaky dulcet tones. I don't know if that was spread across the United States, worldwide. Let me know. If you're Funk and Wagnalls adjacent and you say, “Scoots, that was actually not the one.” I'll say, “Really?”

I don't know how many school reports were made possible by that. When I first learned how to … whatever it is ALA, or MBA, Harvard notation thingamajig, my first footnote was a Funk and Wagnalls footnote. Funk and Wagnalls. Not sponsoring this podcast, probably because they don't exist anymore. Maybe I'll here from one of the third generation Funks though, or Wagnalls. Here's another; Laura Ingalls Wilder. What if the Ingalls and the Wagnalls, if we could have connected them at the time. Laura Wagnalls Ingalls, or Laura Ingalls Wagnalls. That way I guess you could say, “Would it have worked?” I don't know. Probably not. It would be hard to say. Wagnalls Ingalls, it's hard to say. Ingalls Wagnalls. That's another thing that comes free with these intros is tongue twisters. You don't need to listen to this podcast. There's also, paradoxically, no pressure to fall asleep. I'm going to be here for about an hour, and I'm here to keep you company as you drift off at your leisure. If you can't sleep, I'm here the whole time for you.

I just want you to know that I make the show because I've been there. I know how it feels. Also, if you're new, structurally what to expect, a little bit late for the structure, but the show starts off with business. The business is really only three to five minutes. That's what keeps the show free for everybody. Maybe sometimes I think people here that and they think the whole intro … There's a few minutes of business, and then there's the intro. Those are two separate things. I just got an email about this yesterday, that's why I'm thinking about it. The intro's really here for you, if you want to, or you could skip it. It's not an ad or anything. It's part of a lot of listeners wind down routine. It's just kind of fun. When else are you going to here about my history with Funk and Wagnalls? Maybe we could make it into some sort of slang like Funk and Wagnalls. It's probably too late to get ahold of The Good Place writing team, but I would love to hear Elanor say, “What in the Funk and Wagnalls is going on?”

This is what the intro really is; Something a little bit silly and fun, familiar, but ideally makes you feel welcome. Whether you're new or you're coming back for the 10,000 time, that's the intro. Then tonight will be our episodically modular, barely serial story; Adventure of Dr. Triangle and Isosceles. That's just the bedtime story portion. Then there's some thank yous at the end. There is, again, business between the intro and the show. That's just how podcast structure works. Again, that's what enables us to put the podcast out, instead of having to have it behind a paywall. I have everybody that takes that and acts on that stuff to thank, for keeping the podcast out there for everybody. I really do appreciate that. This podcast is just a friendly goofing around with a lot of surprises. Even for me I say, “Well, that's surprising.”

It's been about two or three years since I talked about … Who knows what I'll be talking about next? Will it be Strunk and White or will I be trying to make other jokes? Are those the publishers? I think Strunk and White is … that's the author of The Elements of Style. I think this joke, the last time this came up, I did make this joke, but I would think The Elements of Style would be an album by the hip hop duo Funk and Wagnalls. Maybe Funk and Strunk. I think that's just what you say when you're listening to Mother Ship or something. You're saying, funk and strunk, man. You drop some funkadelic, funk and strunk. Funk and strunkadelic. Anyway, I'm glad you're here. If you're new checking out the show it is a little bit different. It is strange and goofy, but friendly. I'm here to help, because I know how it feels. I really truly believe you deserve a good night's sleep and I'd like to help if I can.

Give the show a few tries. That's what every listener says with a 5% variance of people that they liked it right away. Then a much higher variance of people that didn't like it. If it doesn't work for you, you can go to Sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou, for some other options too. Yeah, that's it. I'm glad you're here. I work very hard and I yearn and I strive to help you fall asleep. Here's a couple of ways we keep the show going. All right, hey everybody, it's Scoots here. It's time for another episode of our ongoing, working titled series, The Adventures of Dr. Triangle and Isosceles. I'll just catch you up on this series really quick. You can listen to it in any order. It's a tale of two traveling performers, Dr. Triangle and Isosceles, in a world not like ours, but not that far in the possible future, in a post math world, where two goddesses are battling for … Well, not math supremacy, because there's one goddess, the goddess of math and of order.

Then of course there's another God. It's a little bit like, you've seen Marvel movies, right? I guess you could say, “Is Thanos a demigod or a God, or just some super powered?” Then you say, “Well, it's a gemstone, Scoots.” I'll say, “Okay, well then it's probably the wrong analogy.” In a world like ours, and like ours in movies, anything is possible. In this world a goddess came. She didn't have the power to remove all math, and all math principles from earth. She did do enough that it set us back to the middle ages. She's slowing trying to remove all math from human existence. If you're really swift on the uptake you'd say, “Well, that's paradoxical. Could we exist in a world without math?” I'd say, “Don't worry. That's what our heroes are for.” Seshot, is a goddess. She's not just a goddess of math, but for simplicity's sake, she is. You know all praise your name, and all math principles of course.

Seshot had found that Dr. Triangle and Isosceles … you might say, “Aren't they the perfect?” Actually they were characters. They were doing a traveling math parody show in the post math world at the expense of Seshot and math principles, to make people feel good about living in a world without math. Who could be more perfect than two traveling performers that are … I wouldn't say they're math skeptics. We don't really know. We're learning these characters, getting to know them. I guess that's about it. They're traveling, the former United States, I believe, and finding ways to restore math where they can. You'd say, is this a belief in math, or the actual underlying principles of math? I'd say, “Both, of course.” It's a sleep story. Holy cow. We'll take math and make it more interesting, but in a way that still puts me to sleep. I'd say, “Good job done. That's what I'm doing here.” The narrator is Aida, a mule. I think that's it. It's episodically modular, meaning it's procedural in a greater world.

When I say that; They go to a town. They try to figure out what the math principle is that's missing, and restore it. Pretty straight forward, right? Also, we have our world famous, beloved … You know how popular you are on the Reddit for Sleep With Me? It's the beloved, the handsome, the charismatic, the talented, and a person that just makes me feel warm and smiley, Antonio Banderas. I like how, my friend, we rolled our thank yous into one another. Thank you. It was the lady's decisions. The boys, the girls, the friends beyond the binary. It's time for another episode. My friend, I want to say nonsense space. I think it's just it's time for another episode of The Adventure of … My friend, I think I need to set that up in a different way. Are you ready? Are you principle? I'll work on it next week, my friend. The Adventure of Dr. Triangle and Isosceles. Yeah. Calculation. Yeah.

Thanks Antonio, you can go ahead now. We have our thing where we lie in bed and you listen to the podcast with your shoes off, on top of the comforter, with a hairnet on. That's the new thing. It's confusing for me to find it. Did my imagination put that hair there? Oh, no Antonio, say it like … How did this hair get in my bed? Was it stuck to my head from earlier today? It's certainly not mine. Your hair is long and luxurious. Yeah, that's why we're using a hairnet, to keep my hopes in the world of reality. A lot of people would say, “You got Antonio Banderas in your bed, Scoots. What could you be hoping for more?” I say, “Well, it's great on business side.” Thanks to our good friend, one of the great podcast producers out there, Julie Shapiro recommended color Sudoku. Antonio and I are going to be sitting down to a game of color Sudoku soon.

Oh, my friend, I'm a huge also fan my friend. I know you are Antonio. We talk about those things off the mic, because we do have to have … yeah, we do like listening to that. The Game and podcast listening may go together. We'll be trying that later. Thank you. Okay, why don't you go get in my bed then. It's time for Adventure of Dr. Triangle and Isosceles. Hello everyone, this is Aida the mule. You may or may not know me. I am mule, but you could figure it out. I'm the mule that pulls the wagon, that holds the stage and personal property, and professional property of Isosceles and Dr. Triangle. I also took over narration role on this store, because I'm there. I'm observing it all. I'm Aida the mule. This one, we're actually traveling, we've just left the suburbs of a town. Actually, I've been listening in to them. It feels like Dr. Triangle and Isosceles are just about to talk about something somewhat interesting. I think their conversation, I won't even have to set it up, but if I do feel the need I will do it later. Here you go.

Was that strange for you at all? I wonder. It's just the look on your face. You mean when the cat ran by? No, no, no. We saw the high school you went to and then we were in your childhood home. We slept in your childhood home for a few days, because we thought that storm was going to pass. No, it's not my childhood home. It's just my high school home. It's a little different. I just loved everyone when I was in high school, not my childhood home. It was actually only for three years of high school, not my freshman year. Okay, I just mean is everything okay? I guess that's what I'm saying. What do you mean? Well, this is the first time we've spoken in five days. I think it's five days. I guess that means that I'm on the upswing. I just needed to rest. Right, you slept for three days, or you were lying in that bed for three days. It was your childhood bed, your high school hood bed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was there and the past is behind me now.

I guess I was there to put the past behind me. I didn't think we didn't come across … I know we have whatever you want to call it, like a professional friendship, and we're partners, but in a professional … Right, we all keep things to ourselves. I understand. No, I just wanted to check in, just because your face, it's like your eyes are burrowing into something that's millions of miles away. Well, thanks for indulging me. It's memories. Yeah, so what memories were you leaving behind? Look, that's more my own business, I feel like. Okay, no. I'm just here to listen. It's not like I have an agenda other than figuring out these … You think we're here for a reason. We told Aida to go. That's our new thing, is just follow the mule. We ended up here and this town, that your high school hood was on the edge of suburbs. There's these two weird storms on either side of the town. I don't know, they're more like vortexes or something. It's just high school stuff I was leaving behind, I guess. Right, that's the end of childhood. It's not an easy time.

When was the last time you were here? A long time ago. It was a while. It's strange too, because it's strange how time passes. It was right heading towards the decline, but it was still the digital golden age or whatever they're going to call it. I don't know if it was the digital … the pre-decline, I prefer. Yeah, I guess we left a lot behind, so it's an extra thing. It's the regular pre-decline people, high school stuff. You know what I mean? I guess I do. I guess I'm even saying leaving behind the idea that it's … Does this have to do with why you seem so … that you prefer the company of you? I think we should start thinking about what the show is going to be tonight and how we're going to prepare talking about that. Okay, we're just going to ask a couple more questions. Just so it helps me understand. Is that preferring the company of yourself just about … is it in general or was it a romantic part that you were leaving behind? Was it something else, because you're closed off? We don't have to debate that.

Why does it matter? We've moved away from the suburbs. We're headed into the city and we have work to do. Part of that period there at the house was I put my … it was part of me leaving that behind, yeah. Right, but you seem like it's simple. Is it really that simple like flicking a switch? That could be analog or digital, I guess. I guess it is that simple for me. We've worked together a while now. You know being on the road makes it tough to have longterm relationships. I've tried some letters and things, but you've been independent I'd say, the whole time. You've been 100% independent. Right, right. That's what I prefer. It's a simple thing. Uncomplicated, straight forward, and it keeps me here. I was working on my plan. Now we've gotten roped into this, which will help me get to my plan. Yeah, it's pretty simple and straight forward. Okay, well I have a couple ideas for tonight's show.

Here's the thing, I'm not saying … You're a unique individual, but I don't think that dissuades people from possibly connecting with you. I think you're almost interesting. Your designed in an interesting way. Okay, well thanks. I don't know if that was an attempt to be a compliment, but I do know what you're talking about. Yeah, back then it was a reality and I adjusted to it. Oh man. I'm talking more about your … My personality is not a … I'm just saying your behavior is, as far as a theater event and parody, you're great at writing. You're much better at coming up with jokes around math than me, because you understand it. We think much differently. I just didn't know, was it someone you … is there anyone … When we've been out on the road, there isn't any times you're like, “Well, I like that person.” You even play it out, like what would happen. No, because I don't really need to know what would happen, or what's possible.

If you really want to get into it reality is I'm not sure. I'd probably either … it would become un-simple. I would either jump into it in full bore. That's what happened. That's what I was leaving behind. I'd jump in or pull a heist. I'd say, “Get in my boat,” or I'd get in their boat without checking the weather, without checking supplies. At some point I'd be at sea. You know what I mean? I think you do know what I mean. It's just easier. I don't know why we keep talking through this. Okay, so it's like you're taking care of yourself by being by yourself. That's what you're saying. I guess that makes sense to me. Yeah, yeah. You do get me in a way that … Yeah, that's it. I'm glad you're seeing it in a neutral way. Right now I'm seeing it more like for tonight's show, just thinking if we could lean into this. I think we could really make something of this. Just more as parody, just with the math stuff. What do you mean? Okay, we'll see. Aida is already here at the town square.

We're going to be doing our show this evening. Very exciting. We're going to be doing a few nights of experimental theater. We'll see you folks all tonight. Wow, those two vortexes or vortexes are really … is that a storm? Can a storm be a vortexes? Is that just a fancy word? They're swirling. Do we know they're storms? They're probably some sort of anomaly. We should find out more about those with the show. What you're saying is part of the mission we should lean into me. All right, we'll gather information. I'm thinking of a play where I have an idea for a story, but it's synchronicity. You would be the central character, and we'll doing our jobs. You could just roll with it. Because it's theater you could just roll with it. It's a chance for you to experiment where you are right now. If you start to not like it we could just change the narrative. We'll be doing audience members, so it won't be 100% in our thing. You could say, “Hey Aida,” and then I'll know. Then Aida will know that it's time to change things up.

If you're meaning you're going to fix me up with some sort of connection thing with the audience members, in a story sense. What do you think? I don't know. I guess I'm both drawn in and repulsed by the idea of him being serious. I think it will work for getting information and taking the town's temperature. I guess yeah. Well, that's the spirit. Let's get ready for the show. Hey it's Aida here. Hey Aida, it's the secret thing and they're getting ready for the show. I just wanted to be in here and in depth a little bit more. There's these two swirling gray clouds. Not super where you'd be on [hankles 00:35:09] and all the people seem to not care, but really dominating in the sky like that. If you were in the pre-decline world, when you had full math, and you saw something like that, you'd say “Is that pretend? Is there a big storm coming?” Out in the suburbs there was a bit of a storm. Rain and showers and wind.

It's just out of sorts, but no one seems to care, and as I've been listening these two swirling storms have been growing and they've been there for years. I guess we will see how it goes. Oh, and the reason, this town is a big cross roads for travel and what is left of the easy passable roads in the United States; North, South, East and West. It's not in the exact middle, but in the cross roads, and near some passes where you'd stop. The idea of these swirling things could be a major inconvenience, as we try to reestablish, give math a foothold here, so that it can spread. Dr. Triangle is on stage just sitting there. Isosceles is going out and introducing the show, which you know they say, “Hello everyone.” That kind of thing. The show is getting ready to start, so I'll turn you over there. Thank you. Thank you again everyone. Tonight we're telling the new tale, a very new story we're doing here, the tale of the lonely magnet. What?

Yes, a lonely magnet sitting there. Mags, lonely magnet. This is real subtle. It likes to talk. There lonely Mags sat, the lonely magnet. Some of you may not be familiar with magnet. One second ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to need you to go backstage. Get the hockey puck outfit and come back on stage, please. No. Yeah. You need to show … how about a round of applause for our performer tonight, Dr. Triangle, who will return to stage as the lonely magnet in just a second. Now, a lot of you may be familiar, some you may not be, because you know my knowledge of Isosceles' do declare. A magnet could come in a disk form or other forms, a round, flat disc. If only I could find something. Oh, just like this giant round disk here. It would be attracted to metal. One day, many years ago, the magnet lived in world where it was attracted to metal and did magnet things and worked in magnet stuff.

Then the magnet lied down and took a deep long sleep. So long did magnet lie down. I know it will be hard to get back up, but I'll help you. With a grouchy furrowed brow, magnet lied dow, and went to sleep. Magnet Mags dreamed of a world where Mags had, had a life of being pushed and pulled, and pushing and pulling of where it didn't have to push or pull any longer. When Mags awoke Mags heard a twinkling sound just like this wind chime I'm ringing here. Twinkly, twinkly, twinkle. Mags awoke in a world of wood, a wood world. That's the world we're in right now. With an audience and people full of trees, made only from wood. Soft wood, hard wood, fresh wood, rotten wood, smooth and rough. It was a wood world. Mags started to check out the world. Mags did not feel any push and did not feel any pull. Then Mags said, “Huh.” Mags started to spend time being Mags. Not thinking about the fact that Mags was a magnet.

Is this going anywhere? Yes, it is. Mags really started to [inaudible 00:40:53], but I'm not wood. Mags got uncomfortable meeting pieces of wood. Mags had tried. That's a good part of the story. Mags didn't feel like wood. Mags put Mags' head down. Then one day a goddess came. Let me get a mop head. Hold on. The kids love it when I put mop heads. Yes, this is my hair. One day a goddess named Boggy came. She heard about Mags crying and said, “Oh, what's wrong my little round friend, flat and round disk-like. What seems to be the matter?” Oh, well I don't know. I've fallen asleep. I was a lonely magnet and now I've woken up in a world of wood. I'm not wood and I'm not sure I remember what it means to be a magnet either. Who are you? I'm the goddess Boggy, the goddess of the wood world, the great Bog, where all wood would be hatched from it would be hatched from a wooden womb of Boggy's. Oh, thank you Boggy.

Yes, Boggy, I could use your help or guidance, because I have no idea what's happening. Plus I'm in this strange area and there's swirling in the sky. I'm actually more interested in what that is and how it's impacting the wood world than anything else. Ah yes, my child. It is so good to hear your thoughts. Yes, I'm Boggy. Did I get your name and forgot it? Yeah, I'm Mags, the magnet. Oh yes, well Boggy's seen many things and Boggy knows that the journey to solutions runs through your heart. We just need to find yours, little Mags. Have a seat and I will call upon … I look out at this audience of trees and I know I can see myself in many of you, because of the beauty I see shining from within. I wonder if there's any trees that have wondered, that are in a growth situation where they're ready to meet a magnet and see if they're drawn in. If you need Boggy to explain it to you more clearly would you date a magnet and are you available to date a magnet? Would you raise your hand as a volunteer?

Yes, you. Hello. Hey, it's Aida here. I just wanted to interrupt a little, because this part of the play went on for about two more hours that evening. It was basically, I could just give you a shorter version, and much more interesting. Isosceles was experimenting with the story and would bring people on stage. Eventually they set up a table, like it was a pretend restaurant. Boggy pretended to be the waitress as well as the narrator of this story, and the matchmaker. It was a series of first dates with Mags and people. Boggy kept making it … just be yourselves. In a quiet thing off to the … the audience couldn't hear. Just get to know each other just like this is a real date. I want you to imagine that. This wasn't totally uninteresting. Isosceles was pretty good at spurring it on. It did start to feel like, for the audience at least, that they were watching these dates. Not always particularly interesting, but with Boggy's slapstick, when needed.

It did also feel like first dates, which I think we'll get a bit broader message soon. Especially for Dr. Triangle, who hadn't been on any dates in a while. It was just a lot of awkward conversation having to be spurred on by Boggy, and a little bit of overthinking on both sides. Now the audience, for the most part, was into it and even got the idea that; Oh, this is matchmaking for real. It was, again, the vibe that Dr. Triangle was putting off, was a little bit neutral to not comfortable. It wasn't like any matches were made. Now it's the next day. They're going to do another show, I guess. I see why you're not pleased. Could you just let me explain a little something about this? No, I don't think there's a need to go on. We could go on for the theater portion. I think it was clear that if that was for me, as a person, that didn't really go well. Even if those were real dates they didn't … Right, but here's the thing, new first dates don't go well. Yeah, they do. Right, in commercials they do and movies.

They're usually … it's not the different testing the water or something. Sure, there's conceptual that there's going to be … but if you're waiting for the best first date it is going to be far in the past or far in the future. Oh. Right, like first dates are much more gray. I keep trying to push you in that direction, is that first dates are … I think I did have a couple of people that came to me after the show. I'm going to have you have a pre-show dinner with these two guests, I guess we refer to them as. Then we'll do one final show with whichever date I feel like works out best for the drama portion. Remember, on these two dates that you just have to be yourself. It doesn't have to go great. It just has to … I don't want to say how you're seeing things, but I realize that we're in this … we're trying to … Right. Also, can we figure out this swirling stuff?

No, no. We'll get to that. It's not all one thing or the other thing. You're really seeing this dating stuff in a very switch based context. In my experience, I get on a lot of people's nerves, initially. Then they like me or they like me and then I get on their nerves. If I worried about one or the other I would have … Here's the other thing I've been thinking a lot about. This is your plan, right? You want to just be Dr. Triangle and Dr. Triangle only, right? You've been building towards that. You have everything set up. You have a place to go, that you don't tell me where it is, you have a secondary backup place to go, and a third backup place with food and adult beverages. You're just going to go there. I think about what if that's not what you want. You know I am your friend. Would you want a friend there, or family there, or friend, someone for you, like a companion.

Which one would it be? It could be both or it could be a companion, a romantic companion and a friend, in a community. Just a friend. Oh, so multiple people to eat all my supplies. I have this space that I've set aside for myself. Well, right. More as a choice though. More as an option to be open for … just think about that. Anyway, I'm going to get these dates setup. Believe me, I'm here working on our plan too. Don't worry, everything's going to come to light. Okay, so Aida here, Dr. Triangle had done some pre-interviews. It set up a second round of dates. I guess I'll just tell you right now, both of the dates.

Well, the first date was very clearly, but not to Dr. Triangle, working for the forces of anti mass. A plant, we'll say, and taking a really encouraging Dr. Triangle's all or nothing views and saying, “Well, why would you work for someone that is saying, ‘Work for me. The world [inaudible 00:51:48] math.'” That really seems extreme. Dr. Triangle said, “Okay, I'm not sure about this date.” Then the second date, which again I think it's pretty obvious, or maybe it was working together, was a little bit softer sell, like, “Hey, tell me what you dream about Dr. Triangle.” Dr. Triangle started to let their guard down and talked about dreams that Isosceles was talking about, of being on their own, having a place set aside. Again, the status said, “What if we spent time together? You didn't have to worry about that. If you go on your journey, maybe we could keep in touch. Maybe you could stay here. Then go off on your own.” Dr. Triangle was taken aback.

Then they said, “Why do you have to choose? Your goddess that you work for, your boss, is making you choose between doing all this work or going to do what you want to do? What would you do if you didn't have to choose one of those choices, or if there was another choice?” Dr. Triangle said, “Huh, interesting. I don't know.” Then the date said, “Would you trust a person that said, ‘I don't care what you choose. I'd support you either way.'” Dr. Triangle said, “Yeah, yeah. Yeah.” Then said, “What if you could get what you wanted? What if someone was there to help you get what you wanted instead of what they wanted, whoever the other people with the agendas are? Isosceles, Seshot.” Isosceles was watching this whole thing with audio and saw, “Okay, this is it.” Then they moved into the stage show, after some more talk about it. This all seems like great common sense. Isosceles made a big to do for the audience of this is a game we're going to play. It's a really exciting thing.

It's called Newly Date Feud. Isosceles went for everyone there. Some people were from the pre-decline and some people were from the post decline. Some people were familiar with game shows: Family Feud, or The Dating Game, Newly Wed game type shows. They said, “This is a combination of both of those,” and set up the rules. It was Dr. Triangle versus Dr. Triangle's date, who is just from the tree world. I guess, yeah. Isosceles is dressed as Boggy. Really deep into a convoluted story here. I'll just turn. Okay. It's the two of you, whoever buzzes in first answer this question on the big board. We surveyed 100 residents of this town with this question. The best things in life are … Yes, yes, yes. What's your answer? Paid in full. No, sorry. Paid in full is not on the board. Dr. Triangle, do you have an answer? Yes, the best things in life are … Yes, the best things in life are free, number one answer on the board. Dr. Triangle, are you going to play or pass? I'll play.

Okay, so the way the rules work, you're going to have to guess and fill out the rest of the board. I don't know if I exactly know the rules. Okay, you'll just figure it out. It's fine. We're looking for … There's three more answers on the board. We surveyed 100 people. The best things in life are, Dr. Triangle. Friends and family. I think people here would … Yup, we have the number two answer, friends and family. Very good job. We would have taken friends or family, either. Okay, Dr. Triangle, very good. Two more answers on the board. We surveyed 100 residents to complete this statement. The best things in life are, or is? Love or loving related activities is something I think people here would answer. Correct. That's the number four answer on the board. We have one more answer on the board. Let's see, nine people answered this way, if my math is correct. The best things in life is/are … What's your answer Dr. Triangle? Being alone. That's an X. I'm sorry.

Okay, what happens next? Okay, it's pretty easy now. Your competitor over here, we are from the world of trees, so low. Multi trees, multi forms. Instead of stealing, by guessing the last answer on the board, because this is Newly Date Feud, you have to guess the answer Dr. Triangle gave to this question. Then you'll capture all the love points that Dr. Triangle has accumulated. We asked Dr. Triangle to answer this question. The best things in life are/is? I could ask a rules based question? Sure, you may. Could it be one of the answers already on the board? Yes, it could be. That's not a hint though. Okay. The best things in life are savored alone, would be how Dr. Triangle would answer that question. No, I'm sorry. The answer Dr. Triangle gave to the question; the best things in life are a mystery to me … is how Dr. Triangle. Dr. Triangle, you get 91 points. Oh wow. You seem pleased that you didn't win those 91 points and also the storms seem to be getting worse. That's interesting.

Okay, well we asked 100 people to complete a phrase using this word. A little bit different, we asked 100 people to complete a phrase using this word. Are you ready for the word? Yes, yes. Nothing. Okay. Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz. Nothing plus nothing is nothing. Yes, that is the number one answer. Would you like to play or pass? I'll play. Okay, we asked 100 people to complete a phrase using this word, nothing. There's three more answers on the board. What do you have to say? Nothing else matters. That's correct. That's the number four answer. Okay. Wow, it is really getting windy here with these storms up there. We asked 100 people to complete the phrase using this word, nothing. Nothing. I feel nothing. Yes, correct. Correct. Dr. Triangle, these storms are pretty bad. You should be ready to steal at any time, Dr. Triangle. Okay, we asked 100 people to complete this sentence using the word nothing. What do you have to say? Nothing is the absence of something. Oh, I'm sorry. No one answered that way. Dr. Triangle, we're going to need you to guess your date's answer to the question.

We asked your date here, from the world of trees, to complete a sentence using the term, nothing. Dr. Triangle, this would be for the win, because the wind is really picking up. We're going to have to close down everything. Complete a phrase using the word nothing. Okay, well I'm struck by something you said, the absence of nothing is nothing. Dr. Triangle, I got to ask you. No, no, no, no. I think we need to take this show in a different direction. Something in not nothing. Okay, but Dr. Triangle I need you to guess your date's answer to the question. I think I've got an answer, because I think I've been distracted this whole time we've been in this town. I didn't realize this swirling was going on, trying to get my attention the whole time. I guess if I would have answered I would have said making love out of nothing at all. That's how I answered the question. That was a lyric from a song I used to sing in my high school bedroom.

That started to make me think about math and math principles. Something I've learned while I'm here, I've learned from you Boggina. Okay, thank you. You could go now. You could leave the stage now. Everyone, some applause for our dates. Oh, no. Wait a second. Your date is turning into a storm. Okay, Dr. Triangle, we're in a bit of a pickle here. Yeah, here's the thing, that's the forces of anti-math. That's why my date turned into a storm. Then there's my other date, the first date from this evening just turned into the other storm. Both of these storms on either side of the town, gray and swirling, one counter clockwise, one clockwise I noticed. I guess I got to keep my speeches short, but I've learned the ways of math aren't always hard numbers, aren't always all or nothing, aren't always as simple as ones and zeroes. Math isn't all just a hard and fast rule. Someone taught me that.

They were trying to teach me about the ways of love and really they taught me about the ways of math. Okay, Dr. Triangle, pick it up, because we got to figure out what principle is missing so we can stop these storms that are combining into one. Yeah, that made me think. I was thinking about what math principle could be missing in this town. I was so distracted and so thinking about my own situation that I was within something that became a vortex said. It made me think about negative exponents and zero exponents. Okay, I don't know. Okay, so negative exponents and zero exponents would be X to the 0 power. But X, I don't understand. Okay, so three to the first power would be three, right? Three to the first power is three. Okay. Three to the second power is six, and three to the third power is nine. Correct.

Three to the negative one is one third. Okay, three to the negative first power is one third, okay. I understand those concepts. Three to the zero power is one. Okay. That makes sense, because mine is three. Okay, I think I understand. Three to the first power is three, but three to the zero power is one. Okay, I kind of understand, but I don't understand the pattern. Exactly. The pattern relies on the fact that zero to the zero power is defined to be one. Okay, I don't understand. Is this going to get us out of the situation? Well, okay zero to the zero power, when it equals one it makes all of those negative and positive exponents work. We're talking about monomials. We could get into reciprocals, like flipping fractions to solve. That's rules for negative exponents. I don't get anything you're saying.

Okay, so A to the negative N is like a reciprocal of A to the negative Nth power is a reciprocal of A to the Nth power. Any number, except for zero, to the zero power, is equal to one. The zero power, it's a zero power rule. Zero to the zero power is actually a gray area. It's a simple gray area in math. Some say it's undefined. Some say it's one and some say it's zero. In the case we say it's one, there's arguments to be made in its favor, but it's also a rule when you define it that way. That just makes the other formulas and numbers work. It's still a gray area. It makes sense and doesn't make sense at the same time. Okay, I trust that you have a charm on your charm bracelet that you could stop these storms that are about to … I think your high school hood home just got … Oh yeah, it's great. Okay, I do have this one. It's a heart charm.

I know that part of this journey today, these past few days, has been me learning more about attraction and how little I understand about it, about how it's not hard or fast, and how first dates don't always go good. They're like big gray areas. Relating to other people is like that too. Zero to the zero power, the zero power rule, it also is a shot if you can hear me, restore the gray areas of math to this crossroads, to this area. Take away the power that would make it an all or nothing place. Help us, in your name, to restore math to this world. Seshot, we call upon you, as I hold this heart charm in my hand, to restore. The fact that someone would disagree with me that zero to the zero power equals one, and they would say it equals zero, or they would say it's undefined, and just give me a boggling look. The storms are gone. Great job Triangle. Thank you. I'm exhausted. You don't want to try to … No. Thank the audience on my behalf.

I'm going to go lie down and I'm going to spend some time alone, because I want to lie down and spend some time alone, because that's what I want right now. It totally makes sense. Actually, could I be alone near you? As soon as I excuse the audience I'm going to lie down. I'm just going to sleep anyway. Yeah. If you respect my space I can respect yours. Thank you. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending tonight's show. Great news, both of those storms are gone. That's the power of math slowly being restored. I know not all of you are math believers. We're here. It was an interesting experiment in theater two. Thanks. The audience already left during that part. Okay, well those of you that are still listening, good night.