WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:05.240 The crows made me do it. Season 1. Episode 3. 00:00:06.099 --> 00:00:11.439 We need to talk. When I got home, I found a bunch 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:13.960 of crows at my desk gathered around my laptop. 00:00:15.500 --> 00:00:19.399 As I approached, they closed a browser. What 00:00:19.399 --> 00:00:23.179 were you looking at? I asked. They didn't answer. 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:26.440 The window was wide open, and when I went to 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:29.300 close it, the crows caught at me. and three more 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:32.960 crows flew in, one after the other, and I left 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:36.079 the window alone. There were a lot of crows, 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:41.899 over a dozen now. Not quite a murder, but close. 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:47.079 An attempted murder. In my days with the crows, 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:50.159 I discovered that the common caw had many variations 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:52.780 and subtleties, and also that the crows made 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:56.560 other sounds too, clicks and squawks, as varied 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:59.909 as human language. Tonight they seemed to be 00:00:59.909 --> 00:01:03.090 trying to shout over each other. It was like 00:01:03.090 --> 00:01:06.790 a wave. The sound would swell into a cacophony, 00:01:06.909 --> 00:01:12.010 caws and clicks, and then suddenly stop. Then 00:01:12.010 --> 00:01:18.969 start up again. In the morning, I got a message 00:01:18.969 --> 00:01:23.829 from Lyudmila. What was up with last night? What? 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:29.689 I replied. It sounded like a zoo up there. It 00:01:29.689 --> 00:01:32.849 was the crows, I answered. They were having a 00:01:32.849 --> 00:01:38.010 big gathering. A murder, she replied. Tell them 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:45.870 to keep it down next time. Okay, yes. That night, 00:01:46.030 --> 00:01:49.950 a dozen crows gathered at my desktop. I slapped 00:01:49.950 --> 00:01:52.709 the laptop closed, and they all jumped back. 00:01:53.950 --> 00:01:57.689 Listen, I said. You need to keep it down. You 00:01:57.689 --> 00:02:02.260 need to be quiet. What if they get suspicious? 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:05.359 If someone finds out what's going on here, I 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.340 will get fired. And then goodbye kibble, goodbye 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:12.300 cake, goodbye apartment. The crows looked at 00:02:12.300 --> 00:02:16.539 me. They didn't say anything. One of them pooped 00:02:16.539 --> 00:02:21.460 on my desk. Great, I said. Glad we had this talk. 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:28.849 I couldn't really complain. Even if they were 00:02:28.849 --> 00:02:32.310 noisy, the crows were decent programmers. Faster 00:02:32.310 --> 00:02:35.310 than me, a little sloppier, but my performance 00:02:35.310 --> 00:02:37.810 metrics were up, and I knew that Gary would have 00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:42.229 to take note. I was riding high, feeling good, 00:02:42.409 --> 00:02:46.830 confident. I texted Lyudmila to see if she would 00:02:46.830 --> 00:02:56.090 like to go see a movie. She said yes. We went 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.250 to the old art house theater and watched two 00:02:58.250 --> 00:03:01.270 silent films, one about a train robbery and one 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:05.210 about a man climbing a building. We laughed at 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:07.590 a lot of the same parts, and afterwards we met 00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:09.629 up with her friends at the pool hall and I bought 00:03:09.629 --> 00:03:13.729 everyone milkshakes. At the end, Lyudmila and 00:03:13.729 --> 00:03:15.849 I drove back to the apartments in my Nissan. 00:03:16.789 --> 00:03:21.189 Thanks, Marko, she said. That was fun. Can I 00:03:21.189 --> 00:03:25.680 ask you a question? I asked. Sure. She said, 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:30.400 why do you call me Marko? Lyudmila looked at 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:36.460 me. Because you call me Lyudmila. Isn't that 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:44.199 your name? Everyone calls me Ludie. Oh. Remember 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:47.460 when we first met, she asked, on the stairs that 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:51.419 day after it snowed? I said, hi, my name is Ludie, 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:54.740 short for Lyudmila. And you said, hi, I'm Mark. 00:03:55.000 --> 00:04:01.560 which is short for Marko. I said that? Yes, said 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.580 Lyudmila, on the stairs in the snow. And then 00:04:04.580 --> 00:04:06.879 the next time we said hi, you called me Lyudmila, 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:09.939 so I called you Marko. And every time after that, 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:13.659 when I said, hi Marko, you said, hi Lyudmila, 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:21.300 so I thought it was a thing. Oh, I said, I can 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:26.079 start calling you Ludie. She tilted her head. 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:29.579 I don't know about that. I'm pretty used to you 00:04:29.579 --> 00:04:32.639 calling me Lyudmila. I like the way you enunciate 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:36.139 it. If you start calling me Ludie, it might sound 00:04:36.139 --> 00:04:42.220 weird. Okay, I said. Should I stop calling you 00:04:42.220 --> 00:04:48.480 Marko? She asked. Either way is fine. Everyone 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:50.699 deserves to be called by their preferred name, 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:56.009 she said. I'm honestly fine either way. Yes, 00:04:56.110 --> 00:05:01.730 but you must prefer one over the other. I don't 00:05:01.730 --> 00:05:07.449 think I do. Are you sure? said Lyudmila. I think 00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:13.170 so, I said. We'd arrived at the apartments. Lyudmila 00:05:13.170 --> 00:05:17.050 grabbed her bag and opened the door. Good night, 00:05:17.149 --> 00:05:25.000 Marko. The next day, I had no meetings and my 00:05:25.000 --> 00:05:27.959 work tasks had been completed by crows, so I 00:05:27.959 --> 00:05:31.160 decided to treat myself. I grabbed my laptop 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:34.360 and drove to Burger King. The drive -thru was 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:38.860 closed, so I went inside. The teen at the register 00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:42.500 gave me a wave. He had big hair and silver teeth. 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:47.800 Welcome to Burger King. You rule. Thank you, 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.139 I said, and I waved back. As I was waiting for 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:55.779 my order, another customer walked in, a hairy 00:05:55.779 --> 00:06:00.480 man in a tank top. Welcome to Burger King, said 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.279 the teen. You rule. The hairy man rested a hairy 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:09.000 hand on the counter. You don't have to say that 00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:13.100 to me. I know they make you say that. The teen 00:06:13.100 --> 00:06:17.360 shrugged. I kind of like saying it. Yeah, but 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:20.930 okay, said the hairy man. Not everyone rules. 00:06:21.470 --> 00:06:24.889 You don't know me. I might be a serial killer. 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:29.750 You could still rule, said the teen. Maybe you 00:06:29.750 --> 00:06:34.850 rule it like crochet. The man cocked his head. 00:06:36.529 --> 00:06:39.629 I'd have to be a pretty fantastic practitioner 00:06:39.629 --> 00:06:43.430 of crochet to make up for seven dead bodies stacked 00:06:43.430 --> 00:06:45.850 like cordwood in the basement of the abandoned 00:06:45.850 --> 00:06:52.639 hospital behind the YMCA. said the teen. I could 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:57.579 be a lizard person, said the man. Doubt, the 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:01.240 teen and I exchanged a glance. This man was way 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:05.800 too hairy to be a lizard person. Point is, you 00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:09.819 never know. The man slapped the counter, and 00:07:09.819 --> 00:07:13.060 that's the truth. Even his fingers were hairy. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:16.519 I'd like the number seven royal crispy chicken 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:20.620 sandwich meal, please, he said. Regular size. 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:25.680 The teen nodded. What do you want to drink with 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:33.019 that? I drove my Impossible Whopper, fries, and 00:07:33.019 --> 00:07:35.579 Coke to the park by the boats and sat on the 00:07:35.579 --> 00:07:40.480 picnic table. I opened my laptop and watched 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:42.939 the seagulls and cormorants floating around the 00:07:42.939 --> 00:07:48.009 water. It was a nice day. Sunny. A big sailboat 00:07:48.009 --> 00:07:51.850 glided by, and I took a picture. The waves lapped 00:07:51.850 --> 00:07:54.970 at the rocks. The boats bobbed up and down at 00:07:54.970 --> 00:07:58.889 the dock. I thought I saw a sea lion, but it 00:07:58.889 --> 00:08:02.350 was a log. I thought about sending the picture 00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:05.430 of the boat to Lyudmila, and maybe after the 00:08:05.430 --> 00:08:08.329 picture, I would tell her about the crows, share 00:08:08.329 --> 00:08:11.410 my secret, reveal how I was earning passive income 00:08:11.410 --> 00:08:14.930 from the neighborhood wildlife. I was thinking 00:08:14.930 --> 00:08:17.310 about how to put it all into a text that didn't 00:08:17.310 --> 00:08:21.329 sound crazy when I got an alert from work. It 00:08:21.329 --> 00:08:24.310 was a message from Gary, attached to a long snippet 00:08:24.310 --> 00:08:29.589 of code and WTF mark. I knew instantly what the 00:08:29.589 --> 00:08:35.490 problem was. The crows. They were getting sloppy. 00:08:36.669 --> 00:08:39.389 They had corrupted the library, pushed chaos 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:41.970 to production in a series of inscrutable commits, 00:08:42.230 --> 00:08:46.210 completely wrecked it. Unacceptable. They needed 00:08:46.210 --> 00:08:49.049 to get their act together. They needed someone 00:08:49.049 --> 00:08:52.070 to set them straight. I was going to have to 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:56.309 be there. Gary. I drove back to my apartment. 00:08:56.529 --> 00:09:00.110 When I got inside, something caught my eye. A 00:09:00.110 --> 00:09:04.750 piece of paper at my desk. A note. Scratchy handwriting. 00:09:06.090 --> 00:09:10.490 Dear human, we do not work for you anymore. You 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:20.149 work for us. Signed, The crows. What? I read 00:09:20.149 --> 00:09:25.029 the note over. I read it again. The little wheels 00:09:25.029 --> 00:09:29.110 in my head spun in circles. Not only were the 00:09:29.110 --> 00:09:31.889 crows now directly communicating using handwritten 00:09:31.889 --> 00:09:34.970 or possibly beak -written or claw -written English, 00:09:35.049 --> 00:09:38.350 I was also on the management end of a labor dispute 00:09:38.350 --> 00:09:41.409 or uprising. They were agitating and possibly 00:09:41.409 --> 00:09:46.039 unionizing. rising up in solidarity, attempting 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:49.419 to seize the means of production, which was me. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.059 There was something familiar about the note, 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:58.759 the scratchy handwriting. I'd seen it before. 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:01.720 I thought about the first note from Lyudmila 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:04.360 all those days ago, and how she seemed confused 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:06.620 later when I told her I was following her advice 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.919 about the dog food. I thought about the watering 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:13.909 instructions she left for me. Two totally different 00:10:13.909 --> 00:10:18.230 handwritings. A lightbulb flipped on in my head. 00:10:21.529 --> 00:10:24.309 That night, when the crows showed up, I joined 00:10:24.309 --> 00:10:27.029 them at the laptop. There were seven of them. 00:10:27.350 --> 00:10:31.549 I sat down and scooted the chair out. We need 00:10:31.549 --> 00:10:35.529 to talk, I said. One of them stepped forward 00:10:35.529 --> 00:10:40.779 to tap on the keys. Yes, it typed. The note on 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:43.440 my door about feeding crows dog food, I said. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:46.940 You wrote that note. You obviously know how to 00:10:46.940 --> 00:10:53.519 read. You can write, too. Yes. It typed. So that 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:57.220 means, when I started feeding you, you already 00:10:57.220 --> 00:11:02.500 knew how to write. Yes. I thought I was training 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:07.700 you, I said. We were training you. It typed. 00:11:09.230 --> 00:11:12.750 I felt my breath leave me for a moment. I sucked 00:11:12.750 --> 00:11:16.809 it back in and let it out again. What? I said. 00:11:16.950 --> 00:11:22.129 You were training me? Yes. It typed. Our last 00:11:22.129 --> 00:11:27.470 human expired. Last human, I said. What's that 00:11:27.470 --> 00:11:31.610 mean? What's going on? The crow tapped the keys 00:11:31.610 --> 00:11:35.149 with its beak. The ways of the crow are beyond 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:41.070 human comprehension. I turned to the crows. Up 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:43.009 to now, I'd mostly been addressing the crow at 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:45.230 the keyboard, but now I was talking to all of 00:11:45.230 --> 00:11:50.029 them. I tried to sound stern. You're obviously 00:11:50.029 --> 00:11:53.950 very smart, I said, but I have a job, and I work 00:11:53.950 --> 00:11:56.730 for that job. I don't work for you. That's not 00:11:56.730 --> 00:12:00.809 the arrangement. The crow at the keyboard typed 00:12:00.809 --> 00:12:03.889 another message. You will keep your job if we 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:10.360 allow it. You work for us now. Huh, I said. No, 00:12:10.539 --> 00:12:14.879 that's not actually how any of this works. It 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:19.500 is how it works. I ran my hands over my face. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:24.639 What would it take to make them understand? Listen, 00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:28.460 I said. My sincere apologies if you resent the 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:31.059 work you performed on my behalf, and I will repay 00:12:31.059 --> 00:12:34.980 it to you in kibble or cake. In retrospect, I 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:37.240 shouldn't have fed you. I was tampering with 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:40.399 nature. Maybe humans and crows aren't meant to 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:44.159 collaborate. The crow tapped on the keyboard. 00:12:44.980 --> 00:12:50.700 You are our human now. What? I said. No, I'm 00:12:50.700 --> 00:12:55.139 not. Give us your phone. It typed. You are our 00:12:55.139 --> 00:12:59.759 human now. Honestly, I said, with this attitude, 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.179 I don't know that I'm going to back pay you at 00:13:02.179 --> 00:13:06.350 all. The crow fluffed its feathers. And typed. 00:13:06.929 --> 00:13:11.110 You do not pay us. We pay you. Give us your phone, 00:13:11.110 --> 00:13:17.309 human. Ha, I said. This is absurd. Give us your 00:13:17.309 --> 00:13:22.330 phone. Listen, I said. How can I explain this? 00:13:22.909 --> 00:13:25.990 There is like a natural hierarchy to nature. 00:13:26.429 --> 00:13:30.450 Like evolution and stuff. A literal pecking order. 00:13:31.090 --> 00:13:36.629 And humans are at the top. The crows looked at 00:13:36.629 --> 00:13:40.629 me. I'm sorry, I said. I just don't think this 00:13:40.629 --> 00:13:43.490 is working out. You can have the rest of the 00:13:43.490 --> 00:13:46.549 dog food I got. It's all yours. I'll even carry 00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:51.070 it outside for you. The crow at the laptop began 00:13:51.070 --> 00:13:54.289 to caw. Then it stepped aside so I could see 00:13:54.289 --> 00:13:57.870 my laptop screen. There was a document open. 00:13:58.549 --> 00:14:03.029 I stepped forward to take a closer look. It was 00:14:03.029 --> 00:14:06.600 the draft of an email. A resignation letter from 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:09.740 me to Gary, with everyone else cc'd, and the 00:14:09.740 --> 00:14:14.940 subject line, F*** everyone here, I quit. It 00:14:14.940 --> 00:14:18.080 was scheduled to send in three minutes. When 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.279 I touched the cursor, a lock screen appeared. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:24.159 I entered my password information, and the screen 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:29.279 blinked. Unrecognized username or password. I 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:34.000 tried again. Same result. I tried a third time. 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:38.519 And a fourth. I could feel beads of sweat on 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:44.120 my forehead. I turned to the seven crows. What 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.059 did you do to my computer? How'd you get into 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:50.620 my account? You cannot send that email. I'll 00:14:50.620 --> 00:14:54.000 lose my job. And my job is how I pay for things. 00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:57.639 Like this apartment, for instance. Like cake, 00:14:57.759 --> 00:15:01.659 for example. A crow stepped up to the laptop 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:06.179 again and typed a message. Human, unlock your 00:15:06.179 --> 00:15:10.399 phone. You can get your own phone, I said. How 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.860 about that? Or I'll get one for you. We can work 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:16.360 something out. I could add you to my plan. There 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:19.320 are friends and family deals. Just, you have 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:24.340 to delete the email. Right now, okay? Human, 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:29.500 give us your phone. I hesitated. They had me 00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:32.960 in a jam. But the most important thing was the 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.309 email. I set my phone on the desk and slid it 00:15:37.309 --> 00:15:40.590 to the crows. The crow at the keyboard cawed, 00:15:40.690 --> 00:15:45.370 then typed, Human, unlock your phone. Delete 00:15:45.370 --> 00:15:48.289 the email, I said, and then I'll unlock my phone. 00:15:49.389 --> 00:15:57.509 Same time. Same time, I asked. Yes. I unlocked 00:15:57.509 --> 00:16:00.029 my phone and watched as the crow at my laptop 00:16:00.029 --> 00:16:03.320 deleted the email. I tried to catch the password 00:16:03.320 --> 00:16:06.759 as it typed it in, but it was too fast. Meanwhile, 00:16:07.100 --> 00:16:10.039 a crow hopped up with a tablet pen clasped in 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:13.679 its beak. It tapped and swiped at my phone, no 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:17.100 doubt installing more malware. It didn't matter. 00:16:17.299 --> 00:16:20.879 I could take care of that later. For now, I just 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:25.100 needed the email gone. Delete it from drafts 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:30.059 too, I said, and empty the trash. When the crow 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:32.710 had done what I asked. I snatched my phone back. 00:16:33.370 --> 00:16:36.809 What did you do to it? The crows didn't answer. 00:16:38.110 --> 00:16:41.389 It doesn't matter, I said. You need to go now. 00:16:41.769 --> 00:16:44.190 Actually, you need to uninstall the malware on 00:16:44.190 --> 00:16:46.250 the laptop before someone else catches it and 00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:50.309 I get in big trouble. Then you need to go. No. 00:16:50.950 --> 00:16:57.009 The crow typed. Yes, I answered. Human, go to 00:16:57.009 --> 00:17:03.159 bed. Go to bed? No. Uninstall the malware. No, 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:11.200 go to bed. Or what, I said. Or we email. You 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.400 mean like the one you deleted, you better not. 00:17:14.059 --> 00:17:17.160 I narrowed my eyes at the crows, shifting my 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:20.720 gaze from one to the next. They didn't fidget. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:25.480 They barely moved at all. I'm taking my laptop 00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:30.109 and phone, I said. The crows didn't answer. They 00:17:30.109 --> 00:17:35.549 were done with me. For now. I curled up in bed 00:17:35.549 --> 00:17:39.750 with my devices. Now what? I decided to do some 00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:43.349 research. I looked up crows on my phone. I read 00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:45.630 about their different subspecies, their global 00:17:45.630 --> 00:17:48.170 prevalence, and their parallel ascendance with 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:51.589 humans. Their pattern, shape, and color recognition. 00:17:52.130 --> 00:17:54.869 Their ability to identify people by their clothing. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:58.759 Their complex vocalizations, regional dialects, 00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:02.920 intelligence, memory, mimicry, migratory patterns, 00:18:03.220 --> 00:18:05.839 self -awareness, cooperative hunting, territorial 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.680 behavior, mating habits, nesting and brooding 00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:10.900 in the behavior of nestlings, their adaptation 00:18:10.900 --> 00:18:13.500 to urban environments, their pre -copulatory 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:16.319 displays, mobbing behavior, mourning of the dead, 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:18.980 their iconography, their use in rituals, their 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:21.579 appearances in pop culture and mythology, drinking 00:18:21.579 --> 00:18:25.349 crow. Crow Tea Robot, Yatagarasu the Three -Legged 00:18:25.349 --> 00:18:28.150 Crow, The Celtic Goddess Morrigan, Crow's Nest 00:18:28.150 --> 00:18:31.210 Restaurants, Old Crow Whiskey, Cafe Corvo on 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:34.089 Callow, The Crow People, Natives of North America, 00:18:34.410 --> 00:18:36.869 The Tragic Death of Brandon Lee, Son of Martial 00:18:36.869 --> 00:18:39.569 Artist Bruce Lee on the set of the 1993 action 00:18:39.569 --> 00:18:46.230 thriller The Crow. In all this, I found zero 00:18:46.230 --> 00:18:49.390 mention of them being able to read, write, or 00:18:49.390 --> 00:18:56.059 use computers. the next day, and the crows were 00:18:56.059 --> 00:18:59.400 still in my apartment, a dozen of them now, standing 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:01.819 on my desk and on the couch by the open window. 00:19:02.539 --> 00:19:06.079 I went down to the drive. It was a clear, cold 00:19:06.079 --> 00:19:10.619 day. The air smelled like mouthwash. Lyudmila 00:19:10.619 --> 00:19:13.359 came out with her bicycle, dressed in black and 00:19:13.359 --> 00:19:18.000 orange. Oh, hi, Marko, she said. You're at Burley. 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.539 Yes, I said. I was wondering if I could ask your 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:25.960 advice about something. What is it, she asked. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:31.099 It's the crows, I said. They're, um, they're 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:33.480 sort of taking over, and I'm not sure what to 00:19:33.480 --> 00:19:36.740 do. I'm just, I'm feeling like I'm running out 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:41.319 of options. They're very pushy, you know. Walk 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:44.599 with me, Marko, she said. We started down the 00:19:44.599 --> 00:19:48.740 drive. Marko, in order to build a successful 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:51.420 relationship, you have to be honest and establish 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:57.269 boundaries. Okay, I said. And what if those boundaries 00:19:57.269 --> 00:20:00.750 are crossed? Then you need to express that this 00:20:00.750 --> 00:20:04.769 is not acceptable, she said. What if I've done 00:20:04.769 --> 00:20:08.670 that, too? I asked. And they're not honoring 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:11.589 your request? You've made yourself and your desires 00:20:11.589 --> 00:20:19.230 clear? Yes, I said. I think so. Yes. Lyudmila 00:20:19.230 --> 00:20:22.930 turned to me. Maybe you need to end it. We can't 00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:26.150 all be friends, Marko. I guess that's right. 00:20:27.170 --> 00:20:29.670 We all deserve to be free of the oppression of 00:20:29.670 --> 00:20:34.990 others, she said. Yeah, that makes sense. The 00:20:34.990 --> 00:20:37.150 paradox of freedom is that it sometimes requires 00:20:37.150 --> 00:20:42.349 boundaries, she added. Right, I said. Okay, the 00:20:42.349 --> 00:20:49.150 paradox. Okay, she said. Okay, I said. Thanks 00:20:49.150 --> 00:20:49.730 for the talk.