You know how it is. Someone asks how you’re doing—in a casual setting, or at the top of the podcast you do every week—and in that moment you must decide just how honest an answer is appropriate, or kind, or just reasonably in keeping with the intention behind the question. If it seemed like I was stuck for an answer this week, it’s because I truly was. There’s a lot of bad stuff happening, enough that the usual “I’m good” kind of stuck in my throat. This is not the only reason why we have guests, but it is a good one. I was determined not to get up there and filibuster and fret in front of Justin Halpern, returning champion Distraction guest, on-call Padres magus, and executive producer of Abbott Elementary and Harley Quinn. Not right away, anyway.