Deep Dives & Celebrating Miracle (Michelle Miracle That Is) | Calm Bedtime Listening

In Deep Dives & Diving Boards, Marco and Amanda return for the start of a new season with a softly spoken, gently wandering conversation about swimming pools, new hobbies, and celebrating creative friends. They share stories from their local aquatic adventures — from unexpected encounters in the lane swim to the search for the “perfect” pool — before drifting into thoughts on pickleball and whether it might become their next athletic chapter. The episode also touches lightly on social media curiosities and the question of joining TikTok, approached with their usual calm skepticism and mild amusement.
Along the way, they raise a warm tribute to their friend Michelle Miracle, celebrating her birthday and her distinctive artwork, weaving appreciation and creativity into the mix. As always, this calming podcast unfolds at an unhurried pace, offering a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. It’s perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up — just steady voices, light reflections, and a peaceful start to a new season.

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Marco: Welcome to the Insomnia Project, Season nine. Thank you all for joining us for the years that you have or to our loot new listeners, Lou Nisners.

Amanda: Loser Nisners.

Marco: No, all our listeners are not losers. They're wonderful. Hi, that's Amanda Barker. I'm Marco Timpano.

Amanda: I'm Amanda Barker, as established and I'm

Marco: Marco Timpano, as has been established for the last nine seasons of this particular podcast. Thank you for listening. Please tell your friends or anyone you know who might enjoy this podcast to listen. Tell your co workers, whomever, anyone who needs to chill. But if you're not familiar with our podcast, this podcast is 26 minutes of calm conversation to help you find your way to sleep. you do not have to catch us all the way to the end. As soon as you start drifting off, tune us out. We're the only podcast we hope you never get to the end of. and that's something we haven't said in a while. Feel free to rate and subscribe. Give us a five star review if you'd be so kind. And otherwise, just sit back and listen to episode one of season nine.


Michelle Miracle celebrates her milestone birthday today with a happy wish

I want to begin by wishing. By wishing our friend.

Amanda: A lot of N's showing up.

Marco: So many weird letters in my mouth. It's like Alphabet soup in my mouth.

Amanda: Nice.

Marco: Is that what you're gonna say?

Amanda: Yeah.

Marco: I want to wish our dear friend and friend of the show, Michelle Miracle, a happy birthday for a milestone birthday. And we hope you have a lot of fun in Palm Springs.

Amanda: We're thinking of her a lot today.

Marco: That's right. And Amanda, you are, getting ready to go to work. And before we went to work, I said, let's get in there.


Both of us have gotten a little bit sick during our little break

I want to mention that for our listeners during our little break here, both of us have gotten a little bit sick. And you're just recovering from a cough.

Amanda: Yeah, but it was a weird one. I didn't really have. I didn't think I was sick. I just, when I would lay down, I would have, a sort of rattle happening. And I think it's asthma in my aging state.

Marco: Is that what you think it is?

Amanda: Yeah, I think it's asthma. And then my hip got all wonky. Oh, my hip.

Marco: A wonky hip.

Amanda: Yeah.

Marco: So our patrons, our patrons were like, wondering where we were, but we were recovering. I think we also had that 30 day cough, or 100 day cough as they call it in the.

Amanda: Maybe that was the tail end of, my 100 day cough because I had a cough over. When Was it in January?

Marco: I believe so. Yeah.

Amanda: Yeah. Maybe that was the end of it.

Marco: Maybe. Maybe. There you go.


The first episode of Mishmash M Art stash airs on a Thursday

Well, we're back in the studio. Happy to be here every Wednesday, even though today is March 1st. So the first episode is airing on a Thursday. I hope that doesn't throw you for a loop. Speaking of loops, Amanda, when you doodle, do you.

Amanda: What do you mean? The first episode is there. When does this air?

Marco: This is gonna air today, which is a Thursday. Today's Friday, which is a Friday.

Amanda: That's why I was confused.

Marco: I hope it doesn't throw you for a loop, but usually our episodes air on Wednesdays.

Amanda: But we call them Thursdays.

Marco: But we call them Thursdays.

Amanda: If that isn't confusing, our Fridays are Thursdays.

Marco: Oh, my goodness. Where is my head today?

Amanda: It's early.

Marco: I'm gonna take a sip of coffee while you talk about your doodles and what you doodle on paper.

Amanda: My doodles?

Marco: Yeah. Loops. You do loops? Hearts.

Amanda: I do hearts. I was filming a short film, two weeks ago, and I was interrogating somebody in the film. It was meant to be a comedy. And I, was asking her all these questions in the interrogation room, and I was writing down notes, but, like, as an actor. And finally the other actress went, you're just writing hearts. Which was true. I was just making hearts.

Marco: And is that going to be in the film? Like, is that a line that was improvised?

Amanda: I don't know. I'm not sure. It was definitely a line that was improvised. I don't know if it'll make it in the film.

Marco: What did you respond to? You're just.

Amanda: I. I said. I said they're. They have meaning. And then I turned them around and showed. Show them to camera.

Marco: That's great.

Marco: That's great. Yeah. You're a doodler.

Amanda: I am a doodler. I've noticed in my, years on satellite, radio, when I worked there, I noticed that I was sharing microphones, with two other co hosts, and it was really their show. I just would come in and do support work, which I'm not used to doing. I'm used to running the show, or at least I was when I first jumped in. So it was always hard to know when to jump in and support and when to hold back. And I noticed that if I would doodle, I could kind of put my energy into the doodle and then really be more selective with when I jumped in to the conversation. So it didn't feel like I was interrupting or trying to steer it in a different direction.

Marco: Sure, sure. There you go.

Amanda: So that's where that habit evolved. I remember once I was getting notes as an actor in a theater show, and I was doodling the entire time during the note session. And then our dear friend Phil Luzzi looked at my notes and Then showed me his. And his doodles were exactly the same, and he and I have the exact same birthday. So there you go.

Marco: Maybe it's something when you're born on the first of the month.

Amanda: Because Michelle Miracle is a. I mean, I wouldn't call her a doodler. She's an artist.

Marco: But some of her art has.

Amanda: Has evolved from doodles or has,

Marco: a nod to doodling. Her art is traced. it's hard to describe, but if you have seen her artwork, which we've had on our Instagram, it's really, really impressive and really, really quite beautiful. And, it almost seems topographic. And I talked with Michelle about that, and you can catch that episode in our catalog.

Amanda: Mm. Yeah, she's, she's an amazing artist. If you go to Mishmash M Art stash, and it's spelled in a way

Marco: that I can't remember, it's okay. I'll put it in the show notes.

Amanda: Mishmash Art stash.

Marco: Mishmash Art stash.

Amanda: Her stuff is very reasonably priced. Or if you just want to look at it and enjoy it, you can go there.

Marco: for our patrons who, are at a certain tier, they get a mug with that artwork on it. So I arranged that with Michelle. That was quite fun.

Amanda: It's a nice part of the program, I think. I think her art really is a nice, accompaniment to the program because it's meant to be a form of therapy, I think, for her.

Marco: That's cool.

Amanda: Yeah, that's cool.


You're getting back into swimming at pools. Tell me about some of the unique experiences

Marco: And I wanted to ask you about. You're getting back into swimming at pools.

Amanda: Trying to. Yeah, that's a nice question. I, have realized in this city that if I Google. I used to Google pool near me or look for pools near me, and, I wouldn't always have a lot of luck trying to find a pool that I could just jump in and swim.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: But what I realized is if I put Toronto Leisure Swim. Leisure swim is what the publicly funded pools have for people like me to come in and do some laps. they have lane swim and other swims, but leisure, swim is usually the easiest one to find. So if I put that in Toronto Leisure Swim, I have a whole chart, and it tells me every single publicly funded pool. I'm trying so hard not to pop these things.

Marco: It's okay. Amanda's a pee popper.

Amanda: I'm a pea popper. I am. sorry. it'll kind of show you. So if you're like, oh, it's a Thursday afternoon. Where do I go, yeah, or Friday morning, which we call Thursday.

Marco: Yes.

Marco: And it's interesting because our city's pretty big. Toronto's pretty big. It stretches a wide swath or swatch of area. And the pools could be anywhere from North York to Scarborough to, you know, Etobicoke, like, in all points in between. So let me ask you this. Tell me about some of the pools you swam in and how different or what makes them unique to the other pools.

Amanda: Well, leisure lane swims are more common on the weekend. I've noticed.

Marco: Okay. so does that mean if you go during the week, you have the pool or pool to yourself?

Amanda: No, it just means it's not open for you.

Marco: Oh, I see.

Amanda: Yeah. But I mean, again, you can find one pretty much any day that you're looking. there's one by my work that's exceptional. It's so beautiful. I think it's an Olympic sized pool. it's new, it's beautiful. I couldn't believe it when I first went into it. I was like, this is insane. And really doing the laps in that pool, I get a workout when I go there. It's a lot.

Marco: What's the temperature like? Because, you know, that's always a factor for me.

Amanda: it's not super cold, but it's like, tepid at best.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: Not hot.

Marco: You couldn't make tea without water.

Amanda: So you're saying I don't want to tea.

Marco: Okay. No.

Amanda: and then I went into another one, which was in the basement of a school, kind of.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: And that one was really interesting because I was like, walking by the boiler room and the janitor's closet, and he was there on a Saturday, but it was really like going down, down, down into the depths. And then when I got there, I was the first one there, and it was a much smaller pool. No deep ends, all shallow, I guess, which makes sense for school districts. Yeah. And, clearly there had been some sort of mommy and me thing happening because there was toys all around the perimeter and it was still. The toys were still wet.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: So when I got there, they saw me and, they're like, oh, oh, are you here for leisure swim? And I was like, yeah. Cause I had seen it in the.

Marco: In the brochure.

Amanda: Yeah. In the grid. and then they, like, you know, gossiped, while I did my little laps.

Marco: Well. Cause they had to lifeguard you.

Amanda: Yeah, yeah. So it was kind of like, I'm sorry to make you work, but they were eating muffins and talking. I think they were fine.

Marco: Wow. I don't know how much faith I put in lifeguards who eat muffins and talk.

Amanda: Oh, come on. A, lifeguard can do many things. I mean, they're not allowed to be on their phones, right?

Marco: Okay, so they were. But you and I went to a pool in Etobicoke, which is in the west part of our city.

Amanda: We did.

Marco: And that was a fun experience because it was during the week, like at 11 o'. Clock. So, you know, it was, it was interesting. It was a really beautiful pool that had a beautiful mural of undersea life on one of the walls.

Amanda: I don't really remember that, but that's interesting.

Marco: Yeah, it was like, orca whale and an octopus and all kinds of things. Starfish and whatnot.


There were three older gentlemen talking in the pool while we swam

Marco: And when we went in the pool, there was a lot of adults, obviously, and there were three older gentlemen. And I would swim by them and just hear snippets of their conversation. They were incredible and it was fascinating. I. I just kept doing laps just to hear parts of their conversation. Conversation. And it was all like, you know, one, one older gentleman was criticizing the other older gentleman or telling them what kind of music he should be listening to and how Barry Manilow changed the face of music. And it was just wonderful. And it was wonderful to see the people who go there regularly.

Amanda: What country in Europe or, what city in Europe has the best synagogue was another thing they were arguing about.

Marco: It was just a lot of chat of older adults talking about things that might not be in your conversation style, but it was fun to watch. And then this woman came who I guess hadn't been there in a while and she put on bright lipstick and she was an older woman and everyone sort of clapped for her when she

Amanda: showed up at the pool. Yeah.

Marco: And so if you're not a frequent member of that pool, which we're not. Which we're not. We just discovered it. And you kind of watch these scenes unfold and you're like, oh, who is that woman who everyone seems to admire?

Amanda: Did you hear what those guys yelled to us? Do you remember?

Marco: No.

Amanda: They yelled at us to get a room. Did you know that?

Marco: Oh yeah, the older gentleman.

Amanda: We weren't really making out in the pool, but to be honest, there was a lot happening in that pool. So you couldn't always really make a lap happen because you had nine other people kind of in your way.

Marco: And I'm not the strongest swimmer, so when we're in the deep end, sometimes I hold on to Whatever's near me. Usually it's the side of the pool, but. Yeah.

Amanda: I don't know. There's another couple, making out. Maybe they thought we were them, I don't know. But I, thought it was funny that they told us to get a room.

Marco: And that was that pool.

Amanda: That was that pool.

Marco: And then we have. Don't we have a pool near our house? Or is that just summer?

Amanda: That's the summer there's even been. Well, there's the Kristie Fitts pool that's open in the summer. But there is, I'm noticing now, other pools near our house. So I'm trying to. Trying to break into those, you know, I don't mean break in. I mean find the leisure swim that I can leisurely swim at.


Speaking of leisurely activity, you had said that you want to join a pickleball club

Marco: Speaking of leisurely activity, you had said that you want to join a pickleball club.

Amanda: I do. Will you do that with me?

Marco: I will, but you know, I have a leg that doesn't like to cooperate so much.

Amanda: I know, but think about it. Pickleball is like big in Florida, and then half of Florida has a leg that doesn't want to cooperate so much.

Marco: Sorry to our listeners in Florida who are listening to this.

Amanda: I mean, I pay my taxes in Florida.

Marco: It's true.

Amanda: Like I can say that. But,

Marco: Just because you pay your taxes in Florida, no, you can criticize the whole state.

Amanda: And I don't pay much for taxes, which is why I pay them in Florida.

Marco: Fair enough.

Amanda: but, Well, yes, I don't want you to hurt yourself.

Marco: I will pickleball with you. I don't know if I'll love it, but watch me become the pickleball champ of this.

Amanda: I think you'll love it. You said you used to do squash.

Marco: I loved squash. Squash was such a fun.

Amanda: Well, if you love squash, isn't it

Marco: squash, but with people with pickles? No, I think pickleball is like the slow person's tennis.

Amanda: Yeah.

Marco: Isn't it?

Amanda: It's tennis and ping pong had a baby.

Marco: Okay.

Amanda: I think, I think it's like ping pong paddles. I mean, I think they're their own things. I think it's now pickleball battle. Sure, but is it a tennis ball that you're using? I think it is.

Marco: That. I don't know. Well, listen, listeners, if you play pickleball, let us know what pickleball is really like and if we should join a, pickleball team.

Amanda: It's the fastest growing sport in North America. Pickleball is it Yeah, I remember you and I were somewhere, and there was a pickleball tournament going on, and we were like, what is this pickleball thing? I had no idea. I don't know why they call it pickle.

Marco: I don't know. I don't know either. Maybe we'll investigate that for. For, an upcoming show after we've played it.

Amanda: Right. Oh, gosh. What a journey.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda: So would we say that's sort of our new season's resolution to learn to play pickleball?

Marco: I guess, if you'd like. Sure.

Amanda: Yeah. I mean, it would be nice if by the time we get to the Christmas season, we're like. And we did it. We were pickleball champions of, District 29.

Marco: And that's what our listeners are like, oh, no. They got on the pickleball train. And now five episodes are pickleball.

Amanda: All you hear about is pickleball.

Marco: That happened with Wingspan and other things we get into where it's like, all of a sudden, that's what you talk about for a while.


Amanda wants to get back into dancing. Is there a type of dance you haven't done

Amanda: Well, I mean, I'm trying to find things that are active.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: And one of my New Year's resolution sort of situations was I wanted to kind of refine the things that gave me joy as a child. And swimming is definitely one of them. I'd like to get back into dancing.

Marco: Oh, cool.

Amanda: Yeah, that's definitely one of them as well.

Marco: Is there a type of dance you would like to do that you haven't done? Or is there. Are you just want to get back to certain de.

Amanda: I mean, hip hop wasn't really a thing when I was in high school.

Marco: Sure.

Amanda: I mean, it was, but it wasn't a thing, I guess, where I was dancing.

Marco: Right, right.

Amanda: And so, that style of dancing, I haven't investigated enough, so I'd love to. Also, it would be nice to do a class where I don't have to have a lot of gear, where I can just wear sneakers.

Marco: What kind of gear do you need when you go to dance?

Amanda: Like dance shoes.

Marco: Oh, I see.

Amanda: Like tap. You need tap shoes. And, ballet. I mean, any kind of adult ballet class, you could probably do barefoot, but you. You'd want ballet slippers. Probably.

Marco: I see. What about you and I doing some ballroom dancing?

Amanda: That'd be fun. I'd enjoy that.

Marco: It doesn't seem like you'd enjoy it so much.

Amanda: That wasn't convincing.

Marco: Not really.

Amanda: Well, I don't know. You're pretty good at ballroom. I don't know what you have to learn.

Marco: Well, I'D like to, let's say, refinement my technique. That's Amanda's headphones coming off her head. But yeah, we drove by that class near our house and everybody was ballroom dancing.

Amanda: And that's the studio I want to start going to. I don't know why I haven't started yet because it's walking distance from here.

Marco: Although I do want to say that when we went to that, pool in Etobicoke.

Amanda: Hm.

Marco: There was some Scottish pairs dancing happening in one of the rec, rooms.

Amanda: We got very excited and we're like,

Marco: oh, look at that. That looks fascinating. That looks like so much, you know, fun. And it's, it is, it has a nod to, you know, when you watch films and you see these, like, old style dances and stuff. And that's Amanda. That's my Amanda with her teacup.

Amanda: I was trying to be so gentle with it when I put it back and then I whapped it.

Marco: Right.

Amanda: Sorry.

Marco: That's okay. Our listeners are like, we're used to it. Amanda, talk, about pickleball again. No. So, yeah, so that's okay.


If you have an idea or a topic you want us to explore, reach out

So those are the things that are on our agenda for this season. I also want to mention that our listeners gave us a whole list of topics. Did you see that I sent them to you.

Amanda: No.

Marco: That you and I will be talking about. And I want to invite our listeners. if you have an idea or a topic that you want us to explore, reach out to us on our social media. You can always email us@drumcast productionsmail.com which is a really long email. But feel free to go to our Instagram account, which I believe is the Insomnia Project. Our Twitter is Listen and Sleep.

Amanda: Our ex Listen and Sleep.

Marco: Oh, I still call it Twitter. I think I'll always call it Twitter.

Amanda: Yeah.

Marco: Yeah. So our Twitter is ListenAndSleep. And of course our Instagram is, the Insomnia Project.

Amanda: I dreamt last night that somebody was on Neighborhood or something. It was like a new social media platform.

Marco: Neighborhood?

Amanda: Yeah. And I was like, wait, what's that? And they're like, yeah, no, she keeps posting about it. And I was like, where? On Instagram? They're like, no, on Neighborhood. And I was like, what's Neighborhood?

Marco: Tell me the features of Neighborhood.

Amanda: I don't know. It was. I mean, I wasn't on it, so I was kind of like, oh, another social media platform that I'm not engaging in.

Marco: Right.

Amanda: these are the things I dream about.

Marco: I don't. We don't have a TikTok account.

Amanda: Should we do one?

Marco: I just, I can barely keep up with Instagram and Twitter and getting things on there. Imagine me having to dance or film myself jumping in the air for Twitter account, saying fall asleep with me as I jump. I don't know what else to do.

Amanda: I don't know. Should we start a TikTok?

Marco: I don't know.

Amanda: Let's see what our listeners think.

Marco: Let us know if you would they.

Amanda: Would you engage if we had a

Marco: TikTok filled with Marco jumping Marco jumping cats wandering the city, hurting.

Amanda: I don't know what else is on TikTok, you know. Okay, so this is people mouthing things to other audio, right? Isn't that TikTok?

Marco: Yeah, I guess there's a lot of that.

Amanda: I don't get it.

Marco: I don't get it either. It feels like a lot of work.

Amanda: Neighborhood's a lot of work. And I didn't. It doesn't even exist yet.

Marco: If you want to join neighborhood, please visit Amanda in her dreams. So this is my personal Instagram. This is what I. What I post, Amanda.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: I generally post photos of flowers.

Amanda: Okay.

Marco: Because I find people don't get upset if you have photos of flowers.

Amanda: Fair enough.

Marco: I post carpets. Interesting carpets in places we often work at.

Marco: You know, sometimes we'll go to like, not a convention center, but what do you call a conference hotel. They have fun carpets.

Amanda: Sometimes I'll take an old conference hotel. Yeah.

Marco: Every once in a while a photo of myself with an interesting backdrop.

Marco: Like, recently I had one that had all flamingos, so it was all pink behind me. the coffees I often drink.

Amanda: Yes.

Marco: And that's about it. That's my personal Instagram account. That's what you get from there. And that carries over into the Insomnia project. Instagram too. I'll often post pictures of flowers and whatnot because I really just enjoy it. Yeah. That's all I'm posting now. Because I can't be bothered with being ultra creative on that medium.

Amanda: No, exactly. I'm tired of all of it. And you know, my Instagram became very much about one project that I shot last year. I had to. I was told to post at certain times, in certain ways and so on. So it became kind of eaten up by that. So I don't know, I guess I need to reclaim it.

Marco: Or maybe you start a TikTok account.


TikTok people with pools of Toronto want to film Neighborhood pools

Amanda: Yeah. And do what though?

Marco: Jump around, film Neighborhood pools, you in the pool.

Amanda: Oh yeah. Neighborhood pool. TikTok people with pools of Toronto.

Marco: Pools of Toronto.

Amanda: that's not the worst idea.


Amanda Barker: Everyone should send Michelle Miracle fire hydrant photos

Marco: You know, we mentioned Michelle Miracle off the top in her birthday. And what I love about Michelle is she has a fascination with fire hydrants.

Amanda: Yes, she does.

Marco: So some of her social media will have fire hydrants, but it also kind of makes us, when we're in a different location or we see an interesting fire hydrant to take photos of fire hydrants and send it to her.

Amanda: I think everyone should send her fire hydrant photos. And she also likes mustaches.

Marco: Yeah.

Amanda: And I forgot you and I were gonna do a mustache situation.

Marco: Oh, that's right.

Amanda: And we didn't do it.

Marco: Well, we can do it today. I forgot I was supposed to be the one who find. Who found the mustache.

Amanda: I know you said you're gonna do it, and I totally said, great, go do that. And then that didn't happen.

Marco: Well, because, the reason that it didn't happen was I had to change into a suit for the little.

Amanda: I don't know that you had to. You chose to. But.

Marco: Well, that's. That's what I. What I did. So if you go to her Instagram account at Insta Miracle Instagur Gurgle. So it's like Instagram, but then you add Miracle to it. So it's a really easy one to find.

Amanda: She finds it's all, clever.

Marco: Yeah. So Michelle Miracle is her actual true name. You have an interesting photo of a mustache or a fire hydrant.

Marco: Send it to her.

Amanda: Or at Mishmash Art Stash. She'll get it there too.

Marco: Yeah, you can send her stuff. and that would be really lovely, wouldn't it?

Amanda: Yes. And I should say Mishmash Art Stash is again, not spelled the way it's M, M, I, C, H, E. I don't know.

Marco: You have to work a bit to find her. Once you find her, it's worth the reward is all I can say.

Amanda: She's worth the drive.

Marco: She's certainly worth the drive. And we love her dearly.

Amanda: We do.

Marco: She's a sweetheart of a person. She is one of the funniest people we know.

Amanda: And she's going to Palm Springs today. She's packing her bags and she lives in la and she's decided she wanted to rent a house actually in Coachella.

Marco: I didn't realize Coachella was in Palm Springs.

Amanda: It's near Palm Springs, apparently. I know. I didn't know any of this either. I thought Coachella was just a festival. I didn't know it was a town.

Marco: So it's an actual town.

Amanda: Yeah, I guess the festival is named for the town. I mean, it makes sense. I didn't know that, though.

Marco: What if you're just a normal person who lives in Coachella for most of the. For, you know, all your life, and then all of a sudden, I think

Amanda: you rent your air. Your house into an Airbnb and get out of Dodge. By Dodge, I mean Coachella, I guess.

Marco: I mean, that would be. That would be a lot. Yeah, I think is what would happen. Imagine they opened a festival around our house.

Amanda: I mean, we live in the city, so it's true. I think it's. This is out in the desert a little bit. But, yeah, they're. They're headed there. And, we've done our best to make her feel loved without being there physically. So.

Marco: Yeah. Well, if you're celebrating a birthday today or this month, we want to wish you all a happy birthday. Stay tuned and I'll tell you about the speed bumps that should be coming our way very soon, which have made us very excited. If you've been along for the speed bump journey on our street.

Amanda: I just yawned, so hopefully it's contagious and you're about to drift off into sleep.

Marco: Until next time, on behalf of myself and Amanda Barker, we hope you are able to listen and of course, sleep.