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Don't Hang Up on Steven Spielberg! · The Aligned Actor

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Aligned Actor Podcast.
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  I'm Amy Schloerb,
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  your friendly fellow actor and mindfulness and mindset coach.
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  And this is the podcast where I share practical mindfulness
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  tools and mindset
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  SPEAKER_00: shifts designed to help us all thrive in our full actor lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because as we all know, actor life is really rough.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is not easy to be an actor.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is so much that gets thrown at us all the time.
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  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes there are periods of just complete silence and we're like,
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  SPEAKER_00: What?
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  SPEAKER_00: Hello?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is the industry still there?
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a roller coaster.
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  There's ups,
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  there's downs,
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  there's twists,
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  there's turns,
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  there's full-on loop-de-loops.
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  And the only way that we will survive in this profession
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  long-term is if we are
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  SPEAKER_00: taking care of ourselves,
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  SPEAKER_00: fortifying and strengthening our nervous systems,
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  SPEAKER_00: Soothing our nervous systems,
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  handling all of the stress that the entertainment industry
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  throws our way.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is what we do here on the Aligned Actor Podcast.
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  And right now we're doing a deep dive series on mindfulness so
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  that we can all learn
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  SPEAKER_00: this tool that is really,
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  SPEAKER_00: really effective and a really effective balm against all or balm,
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  soothing balm for the actor nervous system to help us handle
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  all of that stress and
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  all the stuff that the entertainment industry is just really
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  good at making us
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  SPEAKER_00: feel.
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  SPEAKER_00: All the feels.
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  SPEAKER_00: All the actor feels.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in this episode,
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  I'm going to share a story-based metaphor for formal
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  mindfulness meditation.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as actors, we love stories.
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  And humans in general tend to understand and remember ideas
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  more easily when we
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  SPEAKER_00: associate them with a story because then we relate to the stories.
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  SPEAKER_00: Stories help us relate to things.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it just helps in a lot of ways.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if mindfulness meditation is something that's new for you,
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  SPEAKER_00: maybe you're having some trouble relating to it.
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  and there's still parts of it that feel really foreign or
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  complicated or unfamiliar
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  SPEAKER_00: and you're like,
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  SPEAKER_00: am I doing this right?
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  Chances are you're doing it right if you've been following
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  along in this series.
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  But I think that turning our mindfulness meditation practice
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  into a story is going
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  SPEAKER_00: to help sort of click some things even better for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're going to do.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this story
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  SPEAKER_00: is entitled The Call of Your Career.
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  SPEAKER_00: You have been cast in a lead role in a Steven Spielberg film.
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  SPEAKER_00: Congratulations!
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  SPEAKER_00: Everybody is so happy for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're so excited for you.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be amazing.
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  SPEAKER_00: You're going to love it.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful and yay you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Brilliant director that he is.
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  Steven Spielberg has called you to discuss your character and
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  the project as a whole.
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  SPEAKER_00: and you're having a great conversation.
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  It is fun and collaborative and you're really connecting and
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  you're just so excited
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  SPEAKER_00: to be working together.
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  Suddenly your roommate barges in and whines,
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  oh,
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  I've had the worst day ever.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you quickly cover up your phone microphone and you whisper,
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  SPEAKER_00: hey,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm on the phone with Steven Spielberg.
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  and your roommate's eyes bug out and they give you a big thumbs
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  up and they mouth
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  an apology and they duck out quietly you and Spielberg continue
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  your conversation
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  but then you hear that familiar boop boop of call waiting and
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  you notice that your
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  scene partner from acting class is calling you probably calling
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  to arrange a time
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  to rehearse but of course you can't talk now you're talking to
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  Steven Spielberg so
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  SPEAKER_00: you let the call go to voicemail
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  SPEAKER_00: Finally,
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  Spielberg is sharing his vision of the big climactic moment for
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  your character when
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  you start to hear that obnoxious whir of a leaf blower in your
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  neighborhood.
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  SPEAKER_00: To make sure you don't miss any of his genius,
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  you of course close your window and you put in your
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  noise-canceling headphones.
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  SPEAKER_00: So you and Steven,
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  because you can call him Steven now because he's your director
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  and you're just
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  SPEAKER_00: vibing on all the levels,
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  SPEAKER_00: you finish up your call.
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  and you hang up and you are feeling so excited to be a part of
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  this production.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this story, obviously, is a metaphor for mindfulness meditation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Like I said in the opening,
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  SPEAKER_00: we are using story to simplify our understanding of mindfulness practice.
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  SPEAKER_00: So Steven Spielberg is your breath.
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  You're staying focused on that conversation no matter what
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  tries to distract you.
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  SPEAKER_00: The roommate,
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  SPEAKER_00: the other phone call,
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  and the leaf blower are all things that can cause your mind to
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  wander away from
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  SPEAKER_00: focusing on your breath.
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  And in both cases,
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  phone calls and mindfulness sessions,
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  distractions are going to happen.
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  And when they do,
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  we just gently guide our focus back to where we need it to be.
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  SPEAKER_00: We don't yell at our roommate.
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  SPEAKER_00: We don't smash our phone to get rid of the other caller.
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  SPEAKER_00: We don't scream at the leaf blower to stop.
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  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we would never hang up on Steven Spielberg.
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  And this is the big difference between our phone call metaphor
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  and an actual formal
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  SPEAKER_00: mindfulness session.
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  Because sometimes when we're practicing mindfulness,
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  we will completely hang up on our breath.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's just gonna happen.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our mind is gonna wander completely away.
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  The beautiful thing is that while Steven Spielberg would
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  probably get pretty
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  annoyed if we kept just randomly putting our phone down
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  mid-conversation to have
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  like a side chat with our roommate or to take another call can
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  you imagine being
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  like hey Steven can you just hang on a second because like my
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  mom's calling me and
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  I just I'm going to talk to her for a second and be like um I'm
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  kind of in the
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  SPEAKER_00: we're in the middle of something here like hello our breath though
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  SPEAKER_00: is never upset when our mind wanders.
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  Our breath is like a best friend who is always ready to welcome
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  us back to the
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  SPEAKER_00: present moment with kind,
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  SPEAKER_00: open arms.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if you drop the call, just pick it back up again.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is no judgment.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is no shame.
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  SPEAKER_00: There is no need to beat yourself up.
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  SPEAKER_00: So to recap,
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  SPEAKER_00: and sum up our mindfulness session.
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  SPEAKER_00: You begin a kind,
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  SPEAKER_00: curious conversation with your breath,
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  SPEAKER_00: noticing those inhales and exhales,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then when distractions come up,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they will come up,
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  SPEAKER_00: you just acknowledge them.
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  SPEAKER_00: You say, hey, yeah, well, thank you thought for popping into my brain,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm having an important conversation with my breath right now.
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  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk later.
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  SPEAKER_00: And you continue the conversation with your breath.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's simple.
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  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for joining me today.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you found this content helpful and inspiring,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'd be so honored if you would leave a comment,
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  SPEAKER_00: share it with your actor pals,
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: check out my offerings below on my sub stack.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're linked up in my sub stack.
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  Some are free,
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  some are very low cost,
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  and I'd be honored if you checked those out.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I will see you next time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Bye!