Latest / OK SO: Say More / Kristee Barlow

Transcript

Kristee Barlow · OK SO: Say More

0:14
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to OKSo Say More.
0:17
SPEAKER_05: This podcast is a production of the ongoing OKSo Tulsa live storytelling series.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: Each episode we talk to storytellers about what they do and how they do it.
0:26
SPEAKER_05: We also share recordings of our storytellers captured live on stage.
0:31
SPEAKER_05: I'm your co-host, Michelle Bias.
0:33
SPEAKER_05: I'm your other co-host, Matthew Weatherby.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: And today our guest is Christy Barlow.
0:38
SPEAKER_05: Welcome to the podcast, everybody.
0:40
SPEAKER_05: Michelle.
0:41
SPEAKER_05: Would you like to introduce our guest?
0:43
SPEAKER_00: I would.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: Christy Barlow is an awarded real estate agent, an awarded.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: Who wrote this, Matthew?
0:50
SPEAKER_00: This is some bullshit.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: An amazing storyteller, but I'll make you a bet that the title she's most proud of is Wife and Mother.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: So welcome, Christy.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Hello.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: I also heard you just won Tulsa's best real estate agent.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: I did.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
1:07
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of shocking because I'm always this gross.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: So I'm like, that wasn't shocking to me at all.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's such a professional field, and I'm just like the least professional.
1:18
SPEAKER_05: So how did you even get into the real estate business?
1:21
SPEAKER_02: I fell into it backwards.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: So my husband, uh, I worked at In the Raw and they had sales contests, and you would either win a bottle of wine or a filet mignon.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: I didn't drink, so I was bringing home steaks like every night.
1:33
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Why don't you try selling something with a higher price point?
1:36
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Well, what?
1:38
SPEAKER_02: He's like, What about houses?
1:39
SPEAKER_02: And I'd never, I'd always like lived in cities and rented, like I had no idea what escrow meant.
1:43
SPEAKER_02: Like when my brother and I would get off the phone with each other joking around, we'd be like, Well, put it in escrow, click.
1:48
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
1:49
SPEAKER_02: Like I knew nothing.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: And so he's like, I'll pay for you to take these classes.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: Worst thing that happens is we're out 450 bucks.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: And so um Megan Griffin, who you guys know, who won, um, her uncle, her and I were doing Zumba once upon a time.
2:04
SPEAKER_02: And uh her uncle was a team leader and one of the top realtors in town.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: So I went and interviewed with him, and I didn't have anything professional to wear.
2:11
SPEAKER_02: I wore like stripper heels and a pinstripe suit, and like got nervous and way overconfessed about my life, you know what I mean?
2:18
SPEAKER_02: And uh and he hired me.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: And I was yeah, as top agent like within a year.
2:22
SPEAKER_05: So coming up very soon in this podcast, we're going to play a story that uh Christy Barlow told on stage, one of my all-time favorites.
2:31
SPEAKER_05: That'll be coming up pretty quick.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Where she talks about what she's wearing quite a bit.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: So I love that this is a recurring theme.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:40
SPEAKER_05: You mentioned your you mentioned your wardrobe in this story a few times.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: I've toned it down over the years a little a little bit.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: Just a little.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: Just a little.
2:49
SPEAKER_05: How long have you been in Tulsa?
2:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh since 2012.
2:52
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
2:53
SPEAKER_05: I'm not gonna ask you what brought you here because that's kind of what is in the story, and I don't want to spoil anything.
2:59
SPEAKER_00: Aaron Powell So you have one child.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: I do.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: Murph.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: I do have Murph.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: You have Murph.
3:04
SPEAKER_00: Murph is really funny.
3:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've had some embarrassing moments with your child just because he's so funny and I don't know how to take him sometime.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's super quick.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: How old?
3:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh he's 10 years old.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: He's about to be 11.
3:16
SPEAKER_05: Christy publishes quotes from Murph on.
3:20
SPEAKER_05: I don't mean publish.
3:21
SPEAKER_05: I mean, Instagram's title.
3:23
SPEAKER_05: Some of my favorite posts are uh uh what Murph said today.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
3:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:28
SPEAKER_02: And Murph doesn't even know how funny he is, which is what makes it so fun.
3:30
SPEAKER_02: It's the same thing with my husband.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: He has no idea how funny he is.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: So does Murph know how public you are?
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, is he gonna come back when he's like 20 years old and say, I cannot believe you posted all of that?
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, he already thinks he's famous because people approach him like in grocery stores, he has no idea who they are, and they're like, It's Murph! And he's like, It's me.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: Here I am, check me out.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: What's his latest funny?
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, let's see.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: I had to bring him home from school sick today.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he makes fun of me a lot.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: He makes fun of me.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: I just had a birthday, so he's constantly making fun of me for being old and reminding me how old I look or how dumb my outfit looks.
4:03
SPEAKER_02: And now he's like, you know, getting to that age where I embarrass the crap out of him, which just fuels a fire.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: So I have so many plans to humiliate him.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh, of course.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: You're good at it by that.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: But he was born into a family that like our whole love language is roasting each other.
4:17
SPEAKER_02: So I have this child who just roasts us constantly, and you know, like game respects game.
4:22
SPEAKER_02: He's a hard child to kind of parent because even when he's sort of a smart ass and rude, I'm like, well done, son.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well played.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:29
SPEAKER_05: Of all the storytellers in our community, uh, as far as humor and wit, I don't think anybody tops Christy Barlow, which which I have to ask the next question, which is have you ever considered or tried stand-up comedy?
4:45
SPEAKER_05: Because I think you'd be wonderful at it.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: I have.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: I have.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: Like initially I did, okay, so full transparency.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: Like initially I was just coked out of my mind and in San Francisco and doing it.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: And I think it went well, but I think everything went well, like, you know, high on cocaine.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: But I did it uh at Bricktown a couple times not long ago, and it went really well.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: So it's just a matter of going back, and you know what I mean.
5:09
SPEAKER_02: I feel like a lot of the time, like I'm not just strictly funny.
5:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I like I love making making people laugh is my favorite thing in the whole world.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: But even like with the storytelling, like there's kind of a depth or like a sadness or a darkness to it that doesn't always translate so well to stand-up comedy.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: So it's just different to write it and hard like almost a little bit harder to write it.
5:29
SPEAKER_02: But the last one, I ended it talking about how eating my ass cures autism.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: Uh and that's I was kind of I I was almost like blacked out for the whole thing because it was I you know it was nervous and whatever, but I got a good response.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's true or not.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: But is it something you want to pursue?
5:48
SPEAKER_02: Eating my people eating my ass or stand-up.
5:50
SPEAKER_02: Stand-up, both, actually, Christy.
5:52
SPEAKER_02: I want the answer to both.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, kind of maybe.
5:55
SPEAKER_02: All my heroes are stand-up comedians.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: Like I grew up when I was a kid, my brother and I, so I have a younger brother, he's we're super close in age, he's my best friend.
6:03
SPEAKER_02: And we had a boom box, and we would listen to Eddie Murphy, Raw and Delirious, and Dennis Leary and George Carlin, you know, late at night, really quiet over and over until we just memorized them.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: Even like old school Bill Cosby was super funny before we knew, you know, about him.
6:19
SPEAKER_02: But those were my early heroes.
6:20
SPEAKER_02: And even today, like I rarely, I'm such a homebody, I rarely go out, but I'll drive to Dallas.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: I just went and saw Jordan Jensen in Dallas.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: So I'll go out to see comedians.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: I have a couple tickets at Bricktown for uh Josh Blue, and then I can't remember who what was it?
6:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh, oh, oh, um, Eric Andre.
6:37
SPEAKER_02: So I haven't heard Oh, he's the best, he's the best.
6:40
SPEAKER_02: So that's pretty much all I do.
6:41
SPEAKER_02: I go see comedians and I mean, you know, because we're we're friends.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: Like I barely leave, you guys will all be up past 10 p.m.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: and I'm like, oh god, oh god, you know.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like pulling teeth to get Christy out of the house with her husband Aaron.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: We'll be like, come over, we're having people over, and they'll be like, We're in bed.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: It's 10 o'clock.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: We're not all on bed.
6:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, how late are you staying up?
7:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: And we're the youngest, I think, too.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: Like it's pathetic.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: We're kind of pathetic, really.
7:05
SPEAKER_02: You are the youngest of the group.
7:06
SPEAKER_02: I know, I know.
7:08
SPEAKER_05: So I think now would be a great time to go ahead and play Christy's story.
7:12
SPEAKER_05: I don't really have a good introduction.
7:14
SPEAKER_05: I can tell you, just to kind of whet your appetite.
7:18
SPEAKER_05: At some point in the story, she's going to be invited to pray in a chicken coop.
7:23
SPEAKER_00: That's why I have my chicken necklace on today, in honor of Christy's prayer.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:28
SPEAKER_05: Anyway, uh Christy told this story at a monthly event at Living Arts.
7:34
SPEAKER_05: The theme that night was Tulsa time.
7:37
SPEAKER_05: I think this story was dead on as far as theme goes.
7:42
SPEAKER_05: I love the story.
7:43
SPEAKER_05: Enjoy, and we're going to talk about it when it's over.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: The day I moved to Tulsa, it was 113 degrees.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So I got online and Googled it, and it was 115 in Baghdad.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: Meaning that we were two degrees cooler than the Arabian desert.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: Which just kind of solidified my thought that I had entered the gates of hell.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: So I never wanted to come here.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: I didn't really had a choice.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: I had burned all the bridges back in San Francisco, and I really had nowhere else to go.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: And my mom had made the like reverse Dust Bowl pilgrimage from California out here to Oklahoma after she'd gotten out of another rehab to stay with my grandparents.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: And so the day came when I had to make that call and ask if I could come out here as well.
8:27
SPEAKER_01: And being like the good Christian people that they are, they said yes.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: So I got out here with the clothes on my back, the chip on my shoulder, and a suitcase full of gypsy scarves and a bunch of rocks that I'd collected over the years and dragged 2,000 miles across the country.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Dude, I was a mess.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: So I made two quick decisions when I got here.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: The first one was I called the local hotline number for Alcoholics Anonymous.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: And I asked them if somebody could please come pick me up and give me a ride, because I live with my grandma, I have no car, and I think I really need to go.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: And I was hoping they'd listen to me piss and moan about my life.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: But someone was there at 7 o'clock that night, and then 7 o'clock almost every other night after that for almost a year.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: My second decision was that I needed to get a job, and since I lived in Broken Arrow and had to find somewhere really close, I got a job at the now defunct Uncle Bucks in the Bass Pro.
9:22
SPEAKER_01: So I literally I I looked like the love child of a hobo and Stevie Nicks.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Like I wasn't really their vibe.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: But I had to wear a fly fishing shirt and cargo shorts.
9:34
SPEAKER_01: And I hated it.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Nevertheless, like despite my f ⁇ attitude, everyone there was like really nice to me.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: And my manager was this little like munchkin Kenny Rogers who bred exotic chickens and wanted to tell me about them all the time.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: And said he got up every morning and prayed for an hour with his chickens because he felt closer to God, and he suggested I try it too.
9:54
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, look, dude, I know I'm 32 and live with my grandparents and have half a front tooth and a 20-year fungal infection on my big toe, and I'm wearing six bells around my neck and a glittery turban with rocks in my cargo shorts, but I'm not gonna pray in a fing chicken coop.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Do I look crazy to you?
10:12
SPEAKER_01: So I got tired of that vibe.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: So I walked across the parking lot to Los Cabos, where I traded my fishing shirt for a golf shirt.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: And at that time I was spending all of my money on Afghani jewelry on eBay, and I was covered in it.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: So I just looked like this scowling, grouchy Christmas tree that would just stomp around there delivering margaritas to dudes dressed in head-to-toe camo and Looney Tune hats with queso in their beard who obviously didn't know who the f I thought I was.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: And nevertheless, people were really nice to me, and I started to kind of begrudgingly make some friends, and that whole time, those people from that 12-step program are still picking me up and taking me to meetings to listen to me complain about them and this place.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: So pretty soon I got fed up of smelling like fajita smoke and having to stand in a huddle before our dinner to get super pumped about enchiladas, and my self-pity reached a crescendo, and I did what I do, and I got fed up.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: So nothing will humble you faster than being brought to your knees in a place that you think that you hate, only to be brought to your feet by the people you look down your nose at.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: And so I realized that all these people that had been so kind to me this whole time saw clearly that I was just an insecure, terrified little girl in a woman's body who had no idea who she was.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: And I could see them clearly as these authentic, genuine, loving, real people.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: And I walked out of that building with a whole new set of eyes and a whole new heart for Tulsa.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: I met a guy from Arkansas who wore old Navy clothes, two things that would have been deal breakers like months ago.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: He was the first guy I'd ever dated that wasn't like a precious artist or musician who would actually admit that Forrest Gump is a really good movie.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: He saw me for who I really was, and he was one of the most authentic people I ever met.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: And I married him, and I had a kid, and we bought a house, and now I live in a cul-de-sac where I go cheer for kids in the football stands because I've joined that cult.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: And I absolut I absolutely love it.
12:18
SPEAKER_01: And I still love going to big cities, like I still love them, but it always serves to remind me what a warm and genuine place that I live in here.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And so I owe Tulsa an apology because I came here such a snob, and this place wrapped their arms around me, and I finally found my people and I finally found my home.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
12:47
SPEAKER_05: Of course, from all the stories, are you ready?
12:50
SPEAKER_05: Nothing will humble you faster than being brought to your knees in a place that you think that you hate, only to be brought to your feet by the people you look down your nose at.
13:01
SPEAKER_05: That was brilliant.
13:02
SPEAKER_00: It was.
13:03
SPEAKER_00: And you don't you don't say it in the story, but it is about sobriety.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: And those people brought you back up because after you relapse in the story, you obviously get sober.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: Right.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: And this is the recovery community in Tulsa, is like nowhere I've ever been.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I got sober originally in California, which is what brought me to Tulsa.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh I landed in a detox in the tenderloin, which if you know anything about San Francisco is pretty rugged.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: And uh and I was out there and I just had nowhere else to go.
13:30
SPEAKER_02: And I called my grandparents who lived out here and was like, hey guys, can I come out here?
13:34
SPEAKER_02: Because my mom had done it, you know, several times, and and they let me.
13:38
SPEAKER_02: And so that's how I got here.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: And I I hated it.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: I didn't want to come here.
13:42
SPEAKER_02: I just, you know, had painted myself into a corner with my own like crappy decisions and ended up loving it.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: And this is I've never felt more at home anywhere than I do here.
13:54
SPEAKER_05: An homage to Tulsa.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: Yes, it was.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: They've kept me here at times.
13:58
SPEAKER_02: Like there's times I wanted to move away, and you know, I just kind of have that sort of restless spirit.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: I like moving around anyway, but the community that I've developed here, like the recovery community, I just don't know that I could duplicate it elsewhere.
14:09
SPEAKER_02: And I've it's been so many years now that they're my family, you know what I mean?
14:13
SPEAKER_02: As much as anyone else, and so I just I love them to death.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: And even in the story, we hear where you get freedom, like in your persona, the way you dress, the way you present, you you take on these identities.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: I came here looking like a filthy gypsy, basically.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:31
SPEAKER_05: I like in the story where she refers to herself as looking like an was it a grumpy Christmas tree or an angry, a grouchy Christmas tree.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, just thinking I was so much better than everybody else, and that's just a wreck.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: Tell us about your upbringing in Alaska.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Um, let's see.
14:48
SPEAKER_02: So I grew my dad worked for an oil company, and that's kind of what got us there.
14:52
SPEAKER_02: And we lived in a teeny tiny town that nobody has ever heard of, um, called Soldatna.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: It does have a really famous strip club called Good Time Charlie's, and every once in a while someone will be like, Oh yeah, the place is amazing.
15:03
SPEAKER_02: Because Alaska's strip clubs are just off the chain.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: But uh so I lived there.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: My parents divorced when I was like five, and uh we ended up going back to California where my mom was from, where my parents are from.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Spent some years there, and then um, you know, my mom was also an addict, and so she just kind of got worse and worse and worse to the point where we were like literally homeless and had no rules to go.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: And so we ended up going to live with my dad, who at that point had sobered up in Anchorage, which is where I went to high school.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: So I kind of say that's where I'm from because nobody's heard of Soldana.
15:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: And you've told several stories on our stage about Alaska.
15:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's crazy because like I hated it, you know what I mean?
15:40
SPEAKER_02: It's always a great conversation starter, kind of, and people like, oh, you're so lucky, I took a cruise, da-da-da-da.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, no, dude, it sucked.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: Like it's dark all the time, it's cold all the time.
15:49
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you know, I'm I'm not an outdoorsy person at all.
15:52
SPEAKER_02: I would go outside to smoke cigarettes and that was it, you know what I mean?
15:55
SPEAKER_02: Like, it probably it helped me.
15:57
SPEAKER_02: I read a lot, so it probably encouraged that like hobby.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: But I remember thinking, like, what did I do in a past life to deserve this, to live here?
16:05
SPEAKER_02: This sucks so much.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, I knew that I was a city kid, you know what I mean?
16:08
SPEAKER_02: So as soon as I had a chance, I graduated like 17.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: I first moved to Hawaii.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: I had a friend whose parents had a vacation home there, and you know, we found an academic excuse to go there.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: We're like, there's a massage school.
16:19
SPEAKER_02: We're really, we're really interested in that.
16:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, we love physiology, let's go there.
16:23
SPEAKER_02: And stayed there a year, and then went to Seattle, was there for a while, and then was in San Francisco and definitely a city kid.
16:30
SPEAKER_02: So I was kind of trapped up there.
16:31
SPEAKER_02: And my dad and brother were super outdoorsy.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: Like my brother was a fly fishing guide, and I remember going.
16:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, all there is to do is camp.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, now I hate camping.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: It's my least favorite thing to do.
16:41
SPEAKER_02: I know I've tried to get you to go.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: Like, absolutely not.
16:44
SPEAKER_02: But uh yeah, we'd go and I would just sit in this motorhome and smoke camel non-filters and read books while my family was out, you know, doing whatever the hell they were doing in the water, being freezing, and I had no interest.
16:56
SPEAKER_02: What's your favorite book?
16:57
SPEAKER_02: Ever?
16:58
SPEAKER_02: Probably I was a huge Tom Robbins fan.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: That's what brought me to Washington State when I moved there.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: I was like pseudo-stalking him because he had a book coming out called Fierce and Blood's Home from Hot Climates.
17:08
SPEAKER_02: And I thought if I got there, I would be able to see him on his book tours, and I did.
17:12
SPEAKER_02: But I'm also rereading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, which I love, which I know is like mildly pretentious, I don't care.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: And it's also kind of about recovery, but so probably somewhere between an another roadside attraction and infinite jest are probably my favorite books.
17:27
SPEAKER_05: Christy's been in one Grand Slam, and I don't want that to sound like a slam.
17:33
SPEAKER_05: The reason she's never been in another one is because she won the first one she was ever in.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, she won her first monthly and then went straight to the Grand Slam and won it.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: She's one of our unicorns.
17:46
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
17:46
SPEAKER_05: A wonderful story, still one of my wife's favorite stories of all time.
17:51
SPEAKER_05: And I was on the stage that night, and my wife did not come down in my corner.
17:55
SPEAKER_05: She knows she wanted Christy to win the whole time.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: She did.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: She's told me several times there's no way Matthew was winning.
18:04
SPEAKER_05: Not with Christy's story.
18:06
SPEAKER_05: How do you deal with nervousness on stage?
18:09
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, like I get so I'm I was excited to come here because nobody's like really looking at us, but I have terrible stage fright.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: So I tried for a minute beta blockers, but they dried my mouth out.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: And so what I learned to do is I just take water up there with me.
18:24
SPEAKER_02: And my New Year's resolution, uh, the story that we just heard, like my New Year's resolution was that I was going to spend more time practicing and putting a little bit more effort into the story overall.
18:34
SPEAKER_02: Because a lot of times I'll just sort of freak out and then kind of write them last minute.
18:37
SPEAKER_02: And so they could be better, you know what I mean?
18:39
SPEAKER_02: Which is part of what makes me nervous.
18:41
SPEAKER_02: So this last one I really practiced, I really tried, and so I was less nervous to get up there because I knew I wasn't gonna, you know, just totally blank out and because I've done that.
18:49
SPEAKER_02: I've gotten up there and failed, and it was kind of those have actually been some of the best times for me because I'm like, okay, you got up there, you flopped, like get up there and do it again.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: Like show your kid that the the people that win are the ones that lose, you know what I mean?
19:02
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: You're the person that comes to the stage with the water bottle, touching shirt.
19:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh but I just sit there and rock back and forth and you know, cry inside, really.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: This is what I do.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Going back to the recovery program for a minute, you give talks there.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: Right?
19:19
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: And so uh what do you find as different?
19:22
SPEAKER_02: Well, one, they're not timed, really.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: And it's just super off the cuff.
19:26
SPEAKER_02: And like when you're telling your story in recovery, it's always better to almost not have it scripted.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
19:30
SPEAKER_02: Because you're just telling the truth.
19:31
SPEAKER_02: You just get up there, you know.
19:33
SPEAKER_02: See what flows through.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: To just kind of see what flows through because you're just hoping that somebody in the audience can like relate to it, and it's not there's not as much of an element of like, gosh, I hope this is entertaining.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: Right.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
19:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's always someone out there that perhaps is getting something from your story that maybe no one else gets, and if you help one person.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
19:50
SPEAKER_02: And then, you know, okay, so I really it's important to me to try to be entertaining because I'm so ADD and I get bored.
19:56
SPEAKER_02: So I know if I bore myself, you know what I mean?
19:59
SPEAKER_02: Like I know if I'm being boring.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how else to put it.
20:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that sounds boring, take that out.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's redundant, you don't need that.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, uh doing the recovery stuff is it's just a lot more natural.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: It's like a natural flow.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: So I know you're also part of our workshop coaching team.
20:15
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you coached uh Megan Griffin, if I'm not mistaken, uh Grand Slam Champion Story.
20:21
SPEAKER_05: That was a great story.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: The other unicorn.
20:24
SPEAKER_05: Oh, that's right.
20:24
SPEAKER_05: She was a unicorn.
20:25
SPEAKER_05: She won the first monthly she was ever in.
20:28
SPEAKER_05: She won the first Grand Slam she was ever in.
20:32
SPEAKER_05: Uh and coached by Christy.
20:34
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I bet she was thankful for your coaching.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: Well, she's one of my closest friends.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: And like, can I spoil her the punchline of her story?
20:40
SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
20:41
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I've known this woman for like, I mean, over a decade, and she does all these wonderful things for the community.
20:47
SPEAKER_02: She's like this completely upright, you know, incredible mom, incredible wife, but I'm always like, this is my friend Megan who robbed five banks.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's my favorite thing about her.
20:55
SPEAKER_02: So I love that whole story anyway.
20:57
SPEAKER_02: So it was really pretty easy.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: And it was easy.
21:00
SPEAKER_02: I mean, already being friends and stuff, it was easy to work with her, but it was a blast.
21:03
SPEAKER_02: I love the coaching part.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: I I love that.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: And getting to do that, like the workshops and stuff, I almost like it better, honestly.
21:09
SPEAKER_02: Really?
21:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I love hearing, I love hearing people's stories, and I love being able to like offer anything of value, you know, that makes them feel more confident about it.
21:18
SPEAKER_02: I've just I've really enjoyed that.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think you bring your wit to it, right?
21:22
SPEAKER_00: Right?
21:23
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, here's a dumb joke, add it.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, add this in.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: And I can always tell when you've worked with someone, or if I tell someone that comes off the stage like great story, they'll say, Christy gave me that line.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: Yay.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
21:34
SPEAKER_05: So I have a question for Tulsa's best real estate agent.
21:37
SPEAKER_05: By the way, congratulations again on that.
21:39
SPEAKER_05: Uh anything really strange happened in the real estate business?
21:44
SPEAKER_05: A strange thing that happened while showing a house or uh listing a home or dealing with an owner or a buyer?
21:53
SPEAKER_02: Aaron Powell So I had a buyer that was a stripper with Tourette's who called me and she had this like real happy.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: Pitch voice, and she was just like, I just need a safe place for me and my Chihuahua.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Oh, this is awesome.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: It's the only reason I do this job.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: And that's my favorite part about real estate.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: Like, I could honestly care less at the end of the day about houses, but I love meeting people and I like being able to like protect people and be a steward of that.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: It feels like an important job, but really it's like the relationships that you get to make along the way.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: You know, I've met people that have stayed friends, but this so this stripper with Tourette's her parents came along and they were very um supportive.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: And like I remember she showed up in like a sheer shirt with her nipples showing, and she's like, We're on our way to the bank.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: And her mom was like, Well, we gotta put our shirt on.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: Like she was just the best.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: And we found her a spot for her and her chihuahua.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, her parents were like, She just loves dancing.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: I love it.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: I love stuff like that.
22:51
SPEAKER_02: It's a lot of characters.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: I'm looking for characters all the time, you know what I mean?
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Christy sold me my house, actually.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: Really?
22:57
SPEAKER_00: In 2020.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Yes, she did.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: And it was the first night we met.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: Uh, she was showing some of our friends a house, and I just happened to say, Hey, if you have anything over in this area, I would love to know about it.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: She was like, I put something on the market today.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: And so we immediately went there.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh so that's how I ended up where I am.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: It's an awesome house, dude.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: It's a great house.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: I love my house.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: But um, one of my favorite, and of course I don't want to blast Murph again, but one time when she was showing me another house for something else, I walked in on Murph going to the bathroom.
23:29
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, he's oops.
23:30
SPEAKER_02: Pete on the side of houses.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: I've been like filming for out-of-state clients, and I'm like, oh, sorry, my son's pissing on your new house.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: I'm one of my favorite, okay.
23:37
SPEAKER_02: So here's a Murph story showing houses I thought was so cute.
23:40
SPEAKER_02: Because he's been, I've been doing it since he was an infant, right?
23:42
SPEAKER_02: He was like my ace in the hole because my I had a minivan that looked like an old can pipe that was so people, I think they felt sorry for it.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: Please buy from me.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like this poor girl with this baby strapped to her front.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: But when he was a little bit older, he uh, you know, he'd been he'd been going a bunch and it was really hot.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: And we walk into this house and he turns to these people and he's like, Can I take my shirt off?
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Yeah, go ahead.
24:03
SPEAKER_02: So he takes his shirt off and then he like lets out this big, you know, sigh of relief.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Should we all take our shirts off?
24:10
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Not if I'm gonna keep my license, we're gonna go ahead and keep our shirts on.
24:14
SPEAKER_02: But then he walked around the house as a little red, sweaty kid, and he'd run his hand along like the granite and be like, This is nice, you know, just such a little salesman.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: He was just too cute to resist.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: So he did probably help start my career because people loved him.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:29
SPEAKER_00: And if no one has listened to Christy's winning Grand Slam story, it's on YouTube on our website, okaysotalsa.com.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: But her story is about Murph, and we did not choose that story because it was a little inappropriate for me.
24:42
SPEAKER_05: No, but I I would encourage everybody to go look that one up.
24:45
SPEAKER_05: Uh Murph came across some things in a drugstore that let's call them adult items.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: And he had just learned to read.
24:53
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
24:54
SPEAKER_05: And so he was reading the labels of the adult items.
24:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, and now around town, people will be like, it's the butt plug lady.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Awesome.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: I always go the buzzy butt story, you know, the CVS or whatever it was.
25:08
SPEAKER_02: And that whole story was built around one line that made me laugh so hard because I, you know, I'd gone up to the manager and I asked him, like, dude, come on, like, can we out of the line of sight of like the first graders who are learning how to read or something?
25:20
SPEAKER_02: And he made it sound like a lot of people would ask him that.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: And so I was like, I asked him, I was like, Oh, have you heard this a whole lot?
25:26
SPEAKER_02: And he said, No, but I've sold a lot of butt plugs.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: And that's that line alone was like so gold to me that it was kind of like everything built around that.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: How do you work your stories?
25:37
SPEAKER_02: Do you write them out?
25:38
SPEAKER_02: I do.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: It kind of depends.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: I feel like part I kind of just think like that.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: Like I'm there's a narrator in the back of my head all the time telling me the best way to say whatever I'm seeing.
25:47
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
25:48
SPEAKER_02: But when it comes to writing stories, I usually have a couple of lines that make me laugh or I think sound good, and I can build sort of around that.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: And I do have to write them down because I mean otherwise it's just chaos in my head.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: Like once I start, and that's how I can memorize them too, is if I write them down and then reread them, and then I can go back and be like, that's boring, whatever.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: You know, I just I want I want everything to be punchy because again, like I just am so easily bored.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: And it's your personality to be punchy.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I want it to, I want people to laugh, but I you know, I've I know I've told some that are like sad and dark, and I think that's almost like part of that personality.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: Most comedians I've ever known had pretty there's a darkness to them.
26:26
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
26:26
SPEAKER_02: There's a contrast.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: So my favorite kinds of stories are the ones that kind of include both.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:32
SPEAKER_05: Back to your family for a little bit.
26:34
SPEAKER_05: Uh everybody loves Aaron.
26:36
SPEAKER_05: He I would describe him as maybe a little uh neurodivergent or more neurodivergent.
26:43
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
26:44
SPEAKER_05: Uh uh There are some great stories about how he approaches tasks.
26:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's crazy obsessive about everything.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: He uh he had never he got diagnosed uh being on the spectrum after we had been together because I would just watch his behavior and I'm like, he doesn't know.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: He's so funny because he's also in recovery.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: The very first story ever told is about meeting him in detox.
27:07
SPEAKER_02: He has no filter, and he's a boy scout when he's not drunk.
27:11
SPEAKER_02: But if he's drunk, he's gonna punch a cop.
27:13
SPEAKER_02: So he's been to jail like so many times, and he's like the most straight-laced, like follows every rule, you know what I mean, kind of guy.
27:21
SPEAKER_05: But he researches the hell out of years.
27:25
SPEAKER_02: We were in, I was in the Tulsa Reef Club, right?
27:29
SPEAKER_02: Which is like a fish tank crew around town for two years before we even owned a fish tank, because Aaron was researching coral.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: So I'd have to go to these meetings at people's houses, and I'm sitting with these like wives, like eating cheese cubes and melons, and they're like, What kind of tank do you have?
27:45
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, we don't.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: My husband's insane.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: That's why I'm here.
27:48
SPEAKER_02: And they would all stand around the tank, like forced gump with their hands like this and their cargo shorts.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, God, I married a nerd, but he's my he's my favorite.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: He's my favorite.
27:56
SPEAKER_02: He's so funny.
27:57
SPEAKER_02: He's the best.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:58
SPEAKER_02: We were just, we got I'm gonna share this story just because they're on here now.
28:01
SPEAKER_02: It's my most recent why Erin Rules story, but uh, it was both of our birthdays.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Mine was August 26th, his was August 27th, and we always take a trip to a different city.
28:09
SPEAKER_02: So we went to Seattle last weekend, and uh we're on the plane, and I turned, it was my we flew out on my birthday, and I turned to him and I was like, You're the only one that hasn't wished me a happy birthday.
28:19
SPEAKER_02: And just so smooth, he just pulled this card out of his backpack and then pulls this box out, and it was a diamond ring, and he's like, boom.
28:28
SPEAKER_02: So then the next day we're out to breakfast, and you know, we talked about earlier, like, so my mom just passed away like three weeks ago, which is kind of you know, threw a pall over the whole trip, but you know, we just rolled with it.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: So we're at breakfast, I'm bawling, and it's his birthday.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: And out of his, again, out of his bag, he pulls a card that says round two, bitch, and I open it up, and it's all in Japanese.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: I can't read any of it, but at the bottom of it, he just wrote, yeah, it is like we knew what it was talking about, and handed me another diamond ring.
28:58
SPEAKER_02: And then we went and uh had dinner with some of my friends from Seattle from back in the day, and we're at dinner, and I mean, just at the right exact perfect time, he pulls it out and then gave me another diamond ring.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: Like it was like one after the other after the and it was so perfectly timed, he put so much thought.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: I actually got to see his chat GPT like list because he pretty much is as close to chat GPT as he is to me.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: And like, because he is so autistic, it's like things to talk about with my wife when she gets sad about her mom.
29:25
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
29:26
SPEAKER_02: Stuff like that.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: I know he's like research me exhaustively.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is super sweet, it's super sweet.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: So I got so I tell everybody I'm like marrying an autistic dude.
29:35
SPEAKER_02: This might sound rude and I I don't mean for it to, but like they don't lie, it's like marrying a Labrador Retriever.
29:40
SPEAKER_02: Like it is the best person.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: They're so committed to you and you only, you know what I mean?
29:44
SPEAKER_02: They're they're not manipulative and emotionally manipulative, any of that.
29:47
SPEAKER_02: They're so sincere and so loving, and typically high earners as well, because they're very, very smart.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: Right.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite shows is Love on the Spectrum.
29:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the best.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: And when I watch that with David, we always say, if everyone could be that honest to just be like, hey, it's not working for me.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Goodbye.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Like after 10 minutes with them.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm going home now.
30:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've learned to stop asking him, like, how do I look?
30:09
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
30:10
SPEAKER_02: Because he's gonna be like brutally honest.
30:12
SPEAKER_02: Damn it, never mind.
30:14
SPEAKER_00: Well, I hope all everyone is listening on how to give gifts.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: This is our podcast on how to give good gifts.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
30:22
SPEAKER_05: Uh and maybe two.
30:24
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
30:24
SPEAKER_05: Or three.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: Or three.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm spoiled.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty spoiled.
30:28
SPEAKER_05: Okay, this is the part of the podcast we call Okay So Point Blank.
30:32
SPEAKER_05: Christy, they're just gonna be quick questions, and I w I want you to say the first thing that comes to the top of your head.
30:37
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
30:38
SPEAKER_05: Uh who's your favorite comedian and why?
30:40
SPEAKER_02: Dave Chappelle, hands down, full stop.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: Because he's like a social commentator, philosopher, and he is the funniest.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: He's like our Mark Twain.
30:47
SPEAKER_05: I love him too.
30:48
SPEAKER_05: He's got more of a storytelling style than just short joke, short joke, short joke.
30:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and a message to share.
30:54
SPEAKER_05: I think he's brilliant.
30:55
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
30:56
SPEAKER_05: We're not interviewing me.
30:57
unknown: Okay.
30:58
SPEAKER_05: Quick favorite favorite Tulsa restaurant.
31:00
SPEAKER_02: Favorite Tulsa restaurant.
31:02
SPEAKER_02: Uh I'll probably bowl in the alley, but I rarely go out, so it's a great two.
31:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
31:06
SPEAKER_05: Favorite song.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: Ever?
31:08
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Suzanne by Leonard Cohen.
31:10
SPEAKER_05: Favorite word.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: A favorite word?
31:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I don't know.
31:13
SPEAKER_02: I my least favorite word is apropos.
31:15
SPEAKER_05: That's fine.
31:16
SPEAKER_05: We'll we'll go with least favorite today.
31:18
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
31:18
SPEAKER_05: What profession might you pursue if you were not in real estate?
31:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'd want to be uh like a trainer for a perfume company, a high-end perfume company that travels around the country and teaches the department stores about new scents that come out from high-end perfumers.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: That's my dream.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: I was actually gonna ask you about that because what you don't know about Christy is that she travels everywhere to go search out perfumes.
31:39
SPEAKER_05: So like a perfume sommelier.
31:42
SPEAKER_05: Kind of, yes, yeah.
31:43
SPEAKER_05: I like it.
31:44
SPEAKER_05: All right.
31:44
SPEAKER_05: I think that's a a great place to end it.
31:46
SPEAKER_05: Christy, thank you so much for being there.
31:48
SPEAKER_05: So great to have you.
31:50
SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
31:51
SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
32:03
SPEAKER_03: It's been a long time watching.
32:06
SPEAKER_04: The OK So Stay More podcast is a co-creation of Public Radio Tulsa and OK So Tulsa.
32:12
SPEAKER_04: It's produced, recorded, and edited mainly at the Public Radio Tulsa studios in Kendall Hall on the University of Tulsa campus.
32:21
SPEAKER_04: The nonprofit long-running OKSo Tulsa Story Slam series was co-founded by Brenda Jean Pearsall and Michelle Baez.
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SPEAKER_04: For more on OKSO Tulsa, including how to attend and or participate in its many various storytelling competitions and events, please visit OKSoTulsa.com.
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SPEAKER_04: This OKSo Say More podcast is co-hosted by Michelle Baez and Matthew Weatherby, and it's recorded and edited by Matthew Weatherby with editorial and production help from me, Scott Gregory, at PublicRadio Tulsa.
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SPEAKER_04: You can contact this podcast by visiting OKSotulsa.com and then clicking on Connect with Us, and you can learn more about the station and find more episodes of this free on-demand podcast at publicradulsa.org.
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SPEAKER_04: We hope listening to this podcast has inspired you to attend an Okeso Tulsa event and maybe even tell a story yourself.
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SPEAKER_04: Again, to learn more about how to do that, it's OKSoTulsa.com.
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SPEAKER_04: Thank you for listening to OKSo Say More, Be Well, Be Heard, and Be Receptive.