upon the release of hybrid in the united states, the decision was made to continue better luck next time as a 4 piece again without the keyboards being present in the line-up. at the beginning of 2009, the band started writing their third album a lifetime of learning. instead of doing it entirely by themselves as they've done in the past, the band hired steve kravac (blink-182, less than jake, mxpx) to record, engineer, produce, and mix. the album was tracked and mixed at gourmet sound in encino, ca (which is owned by both steve kravac and guitarist greg hetson of bad religion). a summer tour with the vandals and the voodoo glow skulls was scheduled in japan supporting the release of the album, however brian fell ill to a rare occurrence known as meckel's diverticulum and better luck next time was forced to cancel. a lifetime of learning was released in japan in december 2009 with a rescheduled tour in january 2010.