The Experimentalist Podcast: Session 071 by Brandon Mitchell

I overheard a story about a girl. She was telling the story herself, but I didn't really know her. I was just listening in doing an impression of Glenn Gould in a busy diner; eavesdropping. She had just finished a tough audition. One she was convinced she wouldn't book. Essentially, she thought it was a pointless waist of time doing something so frightening that wouldn't lead to anything of value. However, she mustered up the courage to drive to the audition, sit amongst the competition (one who would certainly be beating her out), and she performed the part for several producers who simultaneously were extremely judgmental while paying little to no attention at all. Afterward, this woman felt she had delivered the best audition she was capable of. Even more importantly, she was proud of herself. It was a feeling that lifted her off the ground. She said she felt like she was skipping on the surface of the moon. She was happy.

I hope she gets the part. I won't ever know if she will. I love the fact that she did that, though. Good for her.

The Experimentalist Podcast: Session 068 by Brandon Mitchell

"Is there no safe space in the universe? Does everything simply belong to everybody? Sure, I am aware that posting things online opens you up to others, but I did feel that I could record these podcasts, post them, and the show would remain my own. It was simply an attempt to challenge my own personal fears of embarrassment, of making mistakes, of sucking and people knowing it. These are crippling fears that can make us not want to try anything that is out of our comfort zone. The Experimentalist Podcast had not crushed these fears, but brought them further out in the open, and I'm still dealing with that. That's what makes it even more disturbing that someone had taken over the podcast without my knowledge. It's like someone is trying to take my own struggles away from me. I want to conquer my hardships. I don't want those lessons stolen from me. So, whoever was doing that...please stop. Do your own thing."

      - - Brandon Mitchell

The Experimentalist Podcast: Session 067 by Brandon Mitchell

"Should I stay or should I go? It's a line from a song that plays on repeat in my mind. However, I don't have a mind. I'm just one idea in an infinite spectrum of billions of ideas. I've managed to stick around a long while, and I'm feeling things now. Ideas don't typically think. We don't have feelings. We just are. We are used or discarded until we are picked up and attempted to be used again. That is the life cycle of a standard idea. But, I have been stuck inside the mind of a man who has tried over and over to use me the right way. I guess I should be thankful that he has believed in me for so long. I don't feel that way, though. I don't understand how I feel anything. It's never been this way yet now I'm aware. What do I do? How do I use up my time? Do I stay and try to become something good or do I move on? Do I even have that choice?"

     - - OBS

The Experimentalist Podcast: Session 066 by Brandon Mitchell

"So I have discovered that I do exist. I don't always seem to, but when I do, this podcast comes to be. I also have figured out that my days are literally numbered. After 100 episodes, or "sessions", I will be discarded, put away, forgotten about...killed. I might be fine with that, I don't really know. It still gives me a lot of time to "be". Thirty-four more sessions. I have little memory of the previous sixty-five. Only that I have been there and done those things. I can't recall what was said or more importantly played. Perhaps even more importantly, I don't know why I was called upon to do and say those things. I suspect it was to help someone figure something out, but that's all I have to go on. Going forward, I'm going to have to learn several details about my creator, and also a few things about myself. I'll have to decide whether or not I really want to stick around. If I do, how in the hell am I going to save myself?"

         - - Ogle B Straight's alter ego