 Welcome, Weirdos. I'm Darren Marlar, and this is Weird Darkness. This is a Chamber of Comments episode where I enter emails that I've been sent recently. I'm here in a hotel in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and I'm here for the Transcendental Paranormal Convention, and I've got some hours to kill before I have to go to bed and get up early for tomorrow, so I thought I'd go ahead and step into the Chamber of Comments and see what's in there. This first one comes from Richard. He says, Hey, Darren, I've been listening to your podcast every night without fail for the past few years. I wanted to thank you for the content you produce. You're an amazing storyteller and extremely captivating. It's clear you put so much effort into what you do, and I want to tell you that's appreciated. I enjoy listening to you so much. Thank you, Richard. I appreciate the very kind comments, and the reason that I shared Richard's email isn't because it has an ego stroke to it, although it does, but I had somebody yesterday mention some of the same things, and then actually ask me how long it takes me to put together an episode. Specifically, how long does it take for me to narrate an episode? Of course, each episode is going to be different. Some of my episodes are 30 minutes long, some are hour long, some are two hours long. It just depends on the content of the stories that I'm doing, but as an average, I would say it probably takes me eight to 10 hours per episode. That's not just the recording. That includes looking for the stories, putting them together, narrating, editing the narration, then going back in and putting music in, and then sound effects, and then uploading it to the podcast, and setting up all of the stuff there, and then making sure it goes into YouTube, and then the social media after that. So all of that, I think, probably takes me between, on average, eight to 10 hours in regards to how long it takes me specifically to voice a podcast. That is pretty standard. It usually takes me 25 to 50 percent more time to narrate something than what you actually hear, because of the mistakes that I might make, and I need to go back and remove them. So as an example, if you're listening to an hour-long episode, it probably took me between an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half in order to actually voice that episode. And then, of course, put it all together, edit out the errors, that kind of thing. So thank you very much for the email, Richard. I appreciate that. Let's see here. Ray said, firstly, thank you for all of your hard work. Even though I didn't use any of the services that you've been promoting, listening to your channel, especially the part where you promoted one to seek help against their depression and your frequent repetition of the Suicide Prevention Center's info, it made me choose life and seek help during some of the darkest chapters of my life's date. I reached out to my locally available services here in Toronto, and with the help of caring loved ones, I've been taking therapy from my depression. I also have been on the wagon since February of 2020. So not only your word and your efforts have been reaching me here, but also your infectious positivity took away from my cynicism. Thanks for all that you do. Sincerely, Ray. Wow, Ray. Thank you very much. You know what? I don't really care if you use the actual links on the Hope in the Darkness page. So long as you're getting help, that is the important thing. And I'm so glad that just listening to the podcast allowed you to take that step. I greatly appreciate that. I think maybe Ray was emailing me specifically because right now I'm asking for emails from people who have used some of the resources on the Hope in the Darkness page. What I'm trying to do is gather up enough of those emails that I can use them during October for our Depression Awareness Fundraiser. And maybe I think some of those personal notes from you will have more of an impact when it comes to people wanting to give. So thank you, Ray, for that. Even though you did not use that page specifically, I'm still very happy that you were able to get the help that you needed. And congratulations about being on the wagon since February 2020. That is awesome. So you're already more than two years into it. Coming up on three, that's great. So way to go. This next one comes from Jet. They said, just want you to know how much your podcast means to me. Although I am a Wiccan. I was raised Christian and look forward to your podcast every day at work here in Boise, Idaho. I suffer from severe depression and anxiety, but your beautiful spirit brightens every day for me. I've learned so much from you and appreciate your open mind. You have a compassionate heart and I'd just like to thank you. I have some true stories I'll stand in about my life that defy science and reason. I've been inspired by your show to share them with you, some creepy and some miraculous. Anyway, thank you for your time and making the universe a better place. Just one more thing. You cringed when mentioning Yoko Ono in one of my favorite episodes. I have no problem with that, but research the beautiful tragic love story of John, Yoko and their son. Listen to double fantasy if you get a chance. It might soften your heart to her a bit. Blessed be. Well, thank you, Jet. I appreciate that. I don't know if I'll get around to listening to that. I just don't care. More than anything else. No disrespect. I've never been a Beatles fan and even less a John Lennon fan. It just was not my thing. So I do hear that they have a beautiful love story with them. And I guess yes, their son, I guess as well. But it's not something I'll probably look into. It's just the Yoko Ono is low hanging fruit. It's easy to punch at it. That's I think that's the stand up comedian in me. I did stand up comedy for about 10 years. And it's just it's an easy punchline to go after. I think it's probably what I did. So sometimes I say stuff like that. I don't even realize what I'm saying. It just pops out because the comedy side in my brain says go for it. And then later on, I wonder, did I say the right thing? Or am I going to get canceled like the rest of culture? Anyway, this next one comes from Amber. She says, Darren, love the show. I listen to at least one episode every day. I also tell everyone I know who listens to podcasts to listen to Weird Darkness. I had to write because I'm listening to the podcast about Lizzie Halliday. I just want to want to say that Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the charges. And I don't think it's fair to act as if she was guilty. Keep the weird and wonderful stories coming. Thanks, Amber. Thank you, Amber. I had heard that Lizzie Borden had been, I guess, not necessarily acquitted, but the evidence is found that maybe she was not the one who did it. I'll have to look into that a bit more. So and I don't remember the Lizzie Halliday episode. I do episodes so often off to go back and listen to that or look into it. But thank you very much for the email. I appreciate it. And I'm always open to being corrected. If something comes up and it turns out that the stories that I'm sharing are not... I don't write the stories, but you know I'm always open to hearing other opinions. So thank you. And this next one comes from Tee. And I saved it for last because it's a bit longer one. Hello, patriarch of the Weirdo family. Or maybe should I say head or leader of the Weirdo family? I apologize for the bad joke. I'm just trying to make myself smile a bit and maybe you too. And if you read this aloud on the podcast, others as well. I wanted to say that my partner and I discovered your podcast on Spotify and have been trying to listen to it from the oldest to the newest on. Though I am not sure that they have all the podcasts as it seems to randomly change the list whenever we get on to it to listen. I'm not the best with words, but I'll try to express what I want to say. We enjoy the podcast a lot. It makes us relax when we're driving down the road. Some of the stories make us say we aren't really surprised about certain things and some just don't sound believable even if they are true. Though they do say reality is stranger than fiction. And I know how all true can that and I know let me say that again. I'm sorry. And I know how all true that can be at times. Your podcast has brought a lot of joy to us. Though we've not listened to it since we began one of the podcasts from Creepypasta Thursday, I think it was the one about cleaning up the government mistakes. We were close to the end, I believe, but we received some news that struck us both a bit hard. So I've been mainly playing music when he and I drive together in the car. But on our next trip in the car, I'm going to be playing the podcasts again as they bring us joy and help us to focus on other things. I'm very grateful to you for speaking of mental health and even offering a number to call. I have a mental disorder and may very well have, at the very least, two others. I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type. I also have panic and anxiety disorders. I may also have PTSD and what was once known as multiple personality disorder. I believe the name was changed to be Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID for short. I also suffer from depression. But that's part of my first disorder I mentioned. On to the news we found out. My partner has kidney cancer. Only on the one kidney, I think it's his left kidney, my mind is still a bit of a jumble. We were told it's a very slow moving cancer and very curable. But the thing is, it's still a concern. He'd like to speak to the doctor we're going to see about removing the entire kidney instead of just scooping out the cancer. For what we are told, it's about the size of a nickel right now, but we do not know much else. The doctor we're going to see is going to tell us everything we need to know. There's a rare chance that when they do go to scoop the tumor out they could accidentally split the cell and it gets in the blood and spread rapidly. I only know this because my uncle's SO had lung cancer that when they went to remove it they split the cell and it got in her blood. It spread rapidly and it's now stage 4, incurable. So though I know it's truly rare and that kidney cancer is very simple, I'm honestly still worried about it. Most of the people that we've told were like, that sucks, what's going to happen now? And I had a cousin often offer my partner his kidney if he needed one. I'm honestly writing all of this to just vent, I suppose, but also to let you know how much your podcast has brought us joy and that even in this dark time we want to listen to it and it helps us focus on more happier things. Though a lot of the stories on there are not exactly happy, they're still fun to listen to. I'm sorry this is so long and I apologize for that. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Your podcasts have honestly given me strength to smile a real smile and to keep going and not give up. So thank you. Weirdo member T. Wow T, I'm so very sorry about your partner's cancer diagnosis, but you know what? Yeah, it's actually good news that they caught it early. That it's a small tumor, it's slow growing. That all sounds encouraging. Now I don't know much about cancer, it hasn't really been much of a monster in my family, but your idea of removing an entire kidney instead of just removing the cancerous tissue, I see where you're going there with that, especially if there is a danger, however slight of a cell being split and then traveling to other parts of the body. If removing the entire kidney guarantees that won't happen, well I can see why you might lean that direction, especially since you can survive perfectly fine with just one kidney. So that cousin of yours wouldn't really necessarily have to donate a kidney, you can live just one, just fine. Some people in fact are even born with only a single kidney, they live long healthy normal lives. I'm really glad you and your partner found weird darkness, it's something that you can share and enjoy together as a couple. I hear that often and it is so cool to hear. I don't normally picture people listening to podcasts together, unless they're in the car or something like that, but don't feel bad about stepping away for a while. You're dealing with a lot of stress and darkness in your real life. I have to step away from weird darkness once in a while myself when obstacles to my sanity and mental health get in the way. I don't know where you are when it comes to your faith, but I'll be praying for your partner, you and the doctors who are treating your partner that God will have his hands all over this and that your partner will come out healthier than expected or even imagined. Thank you very much, T. I really appreciate the email and I appreciate you being part of this weirdo family. If you'd like to send me an email and have it in the chamber of comments, all you need to do is well drop me an email. The email address is daron at weirddarkness.com. Thanks, weirdos.