Latest / The Christian Reeve Podcast / Chris Tondevold | The Christian Reeve Podcast | #65 |
Transcript
- 0:00It's another episode of the Christian we've podcast, but
- 0:03before we get into it, are you subscribed?
- 0:06If not please make sure to subscribe.
- 0:09Like and share the video and spread the word because the
- 0:12Christian read podcast is here to stay.
- 0:15I love doing this and I love all of you that support me.
- 0:19So thank you. And yeah, let's get into this
- 0:22podcast, shall we? Boom.
- 0:24Hello and welcome to another episode of the Christian Reef
- 0:28podcast. Today's guest is Podcast are all
- 0:31the way from Baltimore. Maryland in the USA his name is
- 0:35Kristen devold. Welcome to the show.
- 0:37How you doing? I'm doing all right, man, how
- 0:39are you? I'm very good man.
- 0:40Oh man, I'm in a great mood. I'd yeah, it's this this is the
- 0:4465th episode of the podcast, you know, and it's not all about
- 0:48numbers, but I got to say, like, I didn't think we would get to
- 0:51this, but I didn't think we get past 10:00.
- 0:55Yeah, and I mean, it couldn't be more fitting to have a fellow
- 0:58podcaster on the show. To you know, the talk about this
- 1:02because yeah that's something I've had quite a few different
- 1:04podcasters on the show. I've had a range of different
- 1:06guests and it's always cool. Just finding out when I'm
- 1:12interviewing a podcast of because it's good to find out
- 1:14different peoples approaches like I never realized just how
- 1:17many different styles of podcasts there are and
- 1:20approaches, right? Everything is it's pretty
- 1:23incredible, and yeah, you're the host of the ambition radio.
- 1:30Podcast that I got the correct. That's right.
- 1:32Yeah excellent. So I mean I can kind of I had I
- 1:35always check out yeah cast before I do my when I'm doing my
- 1:39research or talking about and so I have a rough idea but please
- 1:44just let us know. What is the what is this podcast
- 1:47about fundamentally and what kind of topics do?
- 1:49You tend to just sort of cover on the show?
- 1:51Sure. So I searched for people that
- 1:55have found some kind of balance between their life family career
- 1:59and the pursuit of their Passions dreams or Hobbies.
- 2:02So a lot of them are creatives, right?
- 2:05So trying to balance a nine-to-five with trying to
- 2:08pursue what they're doing. Some of them have made it their
- 2:11own business, which is amazing because that usually doesn't
- 2:14happen, right? You're always on a grind
- 2:17somewhere. So that's, that's also been
- 2:19really cool. So, talking to everybody, I
- 2:23struggled a lot with motivation and staying on topic and
- 2:27executing on whatever ideas that I Have so part of it is also for
- 2:32me to kind of like steal any kind of motivational or any kind
- 2:37of tips or tricks that I can use for my own life.
- 2:41That's clever. So, try to try to better myself
- 2:44by, but stealing everybody's else's ideas that have already
- 2:48been done. I mean, that's, that's just
- 2:50human history and I'm not sure yet.
- 2:53Everyone goes. Wow.
- 2:55Like, if you take music as an example, everyone's like, oh my
- 2:57God, that's an amazing song. And then someone who's older is
- 3:00been around a while, but I fucking heard that song in the
- 3:03seventies, we didn't work right right.
- 3:05And I used to, so I used to book concerts locally around where
- 3:09I'm at. So a lot of a lot of the people
- 3:11that I talk to your musicians just because it's like an easy
- 3:14kind of bridge, but they're constantly working on something.
- 3:19So there's been a couple of them that are playing in like four or
- 3:23five bands actively and I just don't have an idea of how you
- 3:26even juggle anything with your life outside of that.
- 3:29You Yukon. Like I've been a musician since
- 3:33I was 11 years old and right. Doing I remember, one point
- 3:39where I was juggling a couple of projects and his, the reality,
- 3:43the situation you can do that. But it doesn't mean that you'll
- 3:47put the amount of effort and time that's required to act like
- 3:52make it worthwhile. Because, and here's the thing, I
- 3:55should make a distinction. If you're a session musician,
- 3:58that's different because Was in theory depending on how Opie you
- 4:03are and how practiced you are. You can potentially do that, you
- 4:06can manage several projects, you know, it will be tough but you
- 4:08can pull it off. But if you're a musician who is
- 4:11writing for bands, and being part of the creative process,
- 4:14you just can't you, I mean, two projects.
- 4:18Maybe. I mean you even the very best
- 4:21musicians, right? Rarely find the time for their
- 4:24side project. Do you know what I mean?
- 4:26It's like and it's like a joke among meet musicians, right?
- 4:29They have to quit their Their main act for the most part just
- 4:32to pursue what they want to do with the, the solo stuff.
- 4:36So it's a very, very difficult to also stretch yourself
- 4:40creatively and different ways to think about yourself and
- 4:43different ways to express yourself.
- 4:46It's cool that you can have all these different Avenues but
- 4:48you're legitimately like breaking yourself in shards at
- 4:52that point and you'll never be whole.
- 4:54So it's it's so true, it's wild. It's definitely Old.
- 5:00So it's been fun, learning a little bit more about
- 5:03everybody's approach to how to juggle all that stuff and to
- 5:09keep motivated despite anything else that's happening with their
- 5:12life. I gotta just add onto that music
- 5:15tangent for a second that, like, the amount of drummers I've met
- 5:19over the years. The say this.
- 5:21Oh yeah, I'm in, like, four different bands.
- 5:23I'm like, okay. Yeah.
- 5:24And you know, God's gonna come visit my house next week.
- 5:30Come on, what always amazes me is that there's so many drummers
- 5:36and I don't understand why, because it's the biggest
- 5:40instrument, the loudest instrument, who let you bang on
- 5:43things in the house. That's what I want to know.
- 5:49Yeah, well, I mean you got electric drums which is still
- 5:53shit but you can remember having an electric drum kit in one time
- 5:58and it kind of works. I mean it pissed off my mom to
- 6:00know him but it you know, it worked, right?
- 6:04I get what you mean, I get what you mean.
- 6:06And I remember all the drummers that I met over the years, there
- 6:10was always some sort of hang up with their parents like oh well
- 6:14you know they only let me drive it these times and right?
- 6:16Yeah. Like have to do X, Y and Z.
- 6:19Then there was always something. It was never just like I have my
- 6:23own place and that's it, you know?
- 6:25Yep yep. Clearly you need like those
- 6:28super liberal drug smoking parents.
- 6:30That are like like it's a party go.
- 6:34Right? Everyone.
- 6:35It's 3 a.m. great. Yeah, let's start.
- 6:40I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit harsh.
- 6:41But yeah, I mean you want your parents to Support you and your
- 6:47artistic in the Endeavors, right?
- 6:50You want that to happen, but as a parent, I know that if you're
- 6:53hitting some China symbols at any time in the morning, it's
- 6:58over, you're going to be kicked out.
- 6:59Like you're gonna go do that in the woods.
- 7:01I don't care anymore. So you say you're a father then,
- 7:06is that? Is that right?
- 7:06Oh no, no. But if I did have kids I would
- 7:09also abandoned them in the woods.
- 7:10So whatever I gotta say, I would be a very liberal parent just
- 7:19because of how how my childhood was.
- 7:22But at the same time, there are certain things you want to like,
- 7:25steal them away from your mistakes as much as possible.
- 7:29I think like, if you're a parent, I mean, it's difficult
- 7:31obviously, because we're not parents, it's right at the same
- 7:35time. I think it's fair.
- 7:38Like if you do anything to restrict your kids, then 9 times
- 7:43out of 10, they're going to rebel against that like you know
- 7:45because my mom was so liberal with me.
- 7:48I mean that's not to say that I didn't fuck around and do shit
- 7:50that shouldn't right, right. But I was a pretty good kid
- 7:53because, you know, she never restricted me and I always felt
- 7:57super bad when I lied to her. So I made sure to not do that as
- 8:00much as I possibly could. Yep.
- 8:02And that that kind of rebellious phase if you like didn't last
- 8:06very long, And for the most part, I was very good kid and I
- 8:10think that's, that's part of it. It's not like saying, like, hey
- 8:13yeah, great go out and do drugs. Go out late night, but if you
- 8:16kind of say, okay, I'm trusting you.
- 8:19That's a good example of you know, building proper trust and
- 8:23then if they break that trust you show them the consequences
- 8:27of breaking that trust. And you know I mean it certainly
- 8:30is a better model versus okay. You can't go ever go out and do
- 8:33anything. You're totally restricted.
- 8:35Yeah, Bubba black. I remember my mom telling me
- 8:38about her childhood and how Like when she was much younger, I
- 8:42think she was like early 1112, something like that.
- 8:48She would say like oh you know, I wouldn't want to go out my
- 8:50friends, go swimming or go play. I don't know whatever.
- 8:55And apparently my man, God bless you would say things like no no
- 9:01no, should she just say no? No you can't do that.
- 9:04And my mum would just basically. My mom told me that she
- 9:07essentially got bullied for that like as really?
- 9:10Yeah. Well, because the other kids
- 9:11would be like, haha, you can't go out.
- 9:13Huh? Like it?
- 9:14And because kids are like that. Everyone, every kid is an
- 9:17asshole, we all know that, but it's like Jimmy.
- 9:20It's and that's the reality. That's what happens.
- 9:23You restrict your kids. They're going to get bullied the
- 9:25shit out of right? Don't restrict them.
- 9:28Okay, it's a risk. You worry.
- 9:30But look we've all been kids at some point and we know how how
- 9:34it works. Yeah we're not dead, right?
- 9:36I'll be fine. Go experience life, it'll be all
- 9:39right. I do.
- 9:41I do always think about like if any parent is super super
- 9:45liberal like do their kids turn into like a hard right?
- 9:49Christian because I want to I want to see that that Rebellion
- 9:54period of them just being super Pious and going against all the
- 9:59hippies. Oh you mean they go?
- 10:02So liberal that this become conservative in the like so if
- 10:06the parents are letting them do whatever and supporting them
- 10:09with everything in there. So, Do the kids in rebellion, in
- 10:13an act of rebellion justo partition, right?
- 10:17Like you've subjected me to all this hellishness.
- 10:20I need God the same. Yeah, yeah.
- 10:25Your kids 5 and then just talking about how all this is
- 10:29Sodom and Gomorrah. And you're like, how did you
- 10:31even know about this 45? You don't know what those words
- 10:34are. Well, that's fucked.
- 10:35Yeah, that's fucked. I love these times as well.
- 10:40Okay, let's bring it back to your phone.
- 10:42So what are your goals and aspirations for your podcast?
- 10:47The the main goal for me is to always just connect with people
- 10:51and have good conversations that's the main goal so I don't
- 10:55have lofty aspirations as far as numbers success or anything like
- 10:59that. This is at the very base level a
- 11:03record for me personally for these connections that I'm
- 11:07developing right and the The other part about that for me is
- 11:12that if I can get traction audience was I want to bring
- 11:16everybody up around me. So one of the main goals for me
- 11:21is to actually do a better spot, light of all the businesses that
- 11:24are around here, all the different artists that are
- 11:27happening. And so, with, with my ability to
- 11:32try to talk to anybody from any kind of different Walk of Life
- 11:36and being able to let everybody else know that there's much more
- 11:40Happening Here than, like, crabs.
- 11:42And that's it, like, crabs and old days is the thing that
- 11:47Maryland is known for, and it's, there's a lot more in here.
- 11:50So that's the other part of it. For me is trying to shine a
- 11:54spotlight on those that don't, maybe have that, that actual
- 11:58exposure piece. What about more specifically for
- 12:022021 Javanese? Sort of particular goals are
- 12:05marked So my my goal for 2020. One was to release weekly
- 12:11episodes and that didn't happen so far.
- 12:15So we're gonna go, we're gonna we're gonna start that again
- 12:18this week. Well, spend the struggle.
- 12:20There was legitimately just balancing work and life and then
- 12:25the the podcast by itself. So I do all my own editing and
- 12:28all that good stuff. So it sucks and it's the least
- 12:32part or the least favorite part for me.
- 12:35I've learned a lot which is Rate.
- 12:37So that's definitely a skill that I've developed, but at the
- 12:40same time it's so much work here in your own dumb voice over and
- 12:44over and over again. And I just don't want to do it.
- 12:48So I have to have to like shut off from the whole world and try
- 12:51to focus on it as much as possible.
- 12:53You know, I find interesting, right?
- 12:55This is just me personally is I can listen to my own voice in
- 13:01the context of editing and stuff and here in stuff back just to
- 13:04make sure it's fine. But as soon as like, I don't
- 13:07know. Like for example, I have a
- 13:08housemate. Right?
- 13:09Who doesn't speak? Good English.
- 13:11He's from abroad. He's he's the guy is crazy, man.
- 13:14He's come over from Brazil and he doesn't speak a word of
- 13:17English and he's just throwing himself into it.
- 13:20And I'm a fair play like, that's amazing.
- 13:23Yeah, I mean he's really busting his ass.
- 13:26I could do a fucking podcast about Anyway, he's big music
- 13:31fan, right? That's all yeah, we get.
- 13:33We go on like a house on fire and one day I walk into the
- 13:38kitchen or dining room area and I see him watching videos of
- 13:44mine and I don't know why I ever since I was a kid, like, first
- 13:50playing with videos, I get really shy when people were
- 13:54watching stuff. Yeah, I know, I can't stand.
- 13:57It's for something, it's something.
- 13:59About the audience of that situation.
- 14:02And I know not a lot are turn that shit off.
- 14:03Let's that's right. Listen to something good.
- 14:05Like, you know, right, I hate hearing myself in around, other
- 14:11people. Yeah, fine.
- 14:12If it's just me sitting there editing or whatever because you
- 14:17have to do it, but like, yeah, it's you being in the audience
- 14:20of your own show and cringing at every Everything.
- 14:24Yes, the whole thing. Yeah, I don't know why I hate it
- 14:26so much like it's it's embarrassing.
- 14:29And people always away. His reaction is none of those
- 14:33good and I'm like no it's not and it off.
- 14:36Yeah yeah that that feel is very much real.
- 14:41It also so for me it also kind of hinders the whole production
- 14:46process to sometimes wear. Nothing that I'm doing is making
- 14:51this sound good. Nothing that I'm doing, is
- 14:54making this more meaningful and I you just get kind of into a
- 14:58rut a little bit with that because you're just like, what
- 15:02am I missing? I've done this 50 thousand times
- 15:06as far as the editing process. I know how to dial in the sound
- 15:09but for whatever reason, it's just not clicking.
- 15:11And then that, that is definitely like when you're
- 15:15playing that back. That's one of the other things
- 15:17that mess with your mind. But I cannot Imagine.
- 15:20Well, I can't imagine so the the intro episode of the show.
- 15:26I just threw that out there and I didn't even edit anything
- 15:29really for it. Just wanted to do that.
- 15:32So my friends decided to play that for me.
- 15:35Oh no at their house with a group of people and counted
- 15:41every single um, in that whole five-minute intro along with me,
- 15:47please tell me they turned it into a drinking game.
- 15:49Mmmmm. Yeah.
- 15:53Yeah. There was 47 of them, so they
- 15:57stopped after a little bit. Yeah, yeah.
- 16:01That was very, very embarrassing because it's just like, okay,
- 16:04that's me. Yes, because everyone fucking
- 16:09poses and stuff. I mean, you can't just speak
- 16:12like did it a dragon. Like, you know, people tell me
- 16:15that I'm good at cold in a conversation.
- 16:16You know what I do? I have fucking research and
- 16:20That's why there's no because I know that that would a suck and
- 16:24be, you know, you have to have some sort of flow but these are
- 16:27the things that you learn from doing this.
- 16:30Yeah, it's not. I also I also learned
- 16:33post-production and take a look take all those out.
- 16:36Yeah. That but that to your point, you
- 16:40know, if you're more prepared and you're more concise and you
- 16:42know how to flow with the conversation, you can keep it
- 16:45going without all these crazy pauses and even With that.
- 16:50You can actually just pause instead of saying those filler
- 16:54words sometimes. So and that makes it a little
- 16:57bit easier to it. So, it's all just part of the
- 17:00journey in the program that process.
- 17:01I mean, like you said, like it there's the cringe at the first
- 17:04episode. I'm sure if I look back at my
- 17:06original episodes. Yeah, I mean, I still stand by
- 17:09all of them but like at the same time, I noticed that there's
- 17:13been a degree of change over time because it's just it's
- 17:18natural, you know. You have find a flow, you find a
- 17:21rhythm you go. Okay, this is how we do it.
- 17:23This is what feels comfortable, or whatever the case may be.
- 17:28Yeah, it's all fine tuning and polishing, right?
- 17:30So and you just learn, you learn with experience.
- 17:33And I think the main thing with that, especially if it's an
- 17:37energy piece, you were just learning how to connect in
- 17:40different ways and also active listening.
- 17:42Like that, that is such a big thing to where you can even
- 17:46repeat what they say. You can write notes whatever you
- 17:48want to do. Do, but if you're actively
- 17:50listening and then being able to pinpoint where you want the
- 17:53conversation to go, that that is a skill that you have to
- 17:58develop. Yeah, I never knew that this was
- 18:01a thing. Like, okay, people think it's
- 18:03really easy podcast in buckets and I think I might set this on
- 18:06the podcast before one tire. I do this, sometimes I repeat
- 18:09myself but right so I try not to but since we're talking about
- 18:12podcasting, go figure right there.
- 18:14Yeah. There's this active listening
- 18:16thing. Yeah, you're spot-on with this.
- 18:19Is a skill. I think I learned in the first
- 18:22couple of episodes because there was this thing where you know,
- 18:24you have your research or what your questions you can ask,
- 18:27right? And you think, oh yeah, it will
- 18:29go in this order and perfect. No problem.
- 18:32And then they mention something which is like what three
- 18:34quarters of the way down and you're like, well, I could
- 18:37Circle back to this, but if we do, like, say 20 minutes on this
- 18:41thing and then I randomly go. Oh yeah, I remember you were
- 18:43talking about this thing. Like, five hours ago, let's talk
- 18:45about you can't, you got to kind of switch up and, and jump and
- 18:49learn to jump around and almost like, I guess, like, mold around
- 18:56your guests, if that's the right word or yeah.
- 18:58Yeah, no adapt adapt. That's the word I'm looking for
- 19:01not mold or the fucking myself, that, that it's the same kind of
- 19:05thing, right? So you want to be able to adapt
- 19:06on the Fly and kind of keep it going, but, you know, to your
- 19:10other analogy, if you are down a certain path as a tangent or
- 19:15anything like that, you want to keep that going because that's
- 19:18where a lot of Good stuff comes from, right.
- 19:21So you want to mold the conversation around that for
- 19:23sure. And then hopefully go through
- 19:28whatever other actual questions that you have.
- 19:30Now for me, I usually don't do a whole lot of research
- 19:35beforehand. Oh, so this is this is an
- 19:39interesting aspect of it and I think it so I've developed this
- 19:46conversational skill through my sales job for the most part.
- 19:50That's okay. So yeah, so you can you can kind
- 19:53of you can kind of see that where I can connect with random
- 19:56people all the time and and start talking and basically put
- 20:00on a show, right? Because it's it's almost like a
- 20:03different personality between being on a mic or being in front
- 20:07of a customer and falling into yourself and enjoying what you
- 20:11actually like, which is not talking to anybody.
- 20:13So is so true. So yeah, with With all of that.
- 20:20It's it's interesting to me always and I've seen where it
- 20:26can definitely benefit me. And it can actually be my
- 20:28detriment where, if I researched too much, then I overthink too
- 20:32much, I don't let the the flow of the conversation.
- 20:35Go sometimes, though, one of the conversations, I had recently
- 20:40that that'll come out and probably a couple months or a
- 20:44month or so whatever I found myself during the Conversation
- 20:50not knowing where to go until until we started going into more
- 20:55of the the passion and the motivation part of it.
- 21:00So with that like I could have definitely researched more and
- 21:05ask better questions for that instead of just getting like a
- 21:08broad history of it. So it was it was definitely a
- 21:13learning experience for me. And I knew like during the
- 21:16conversation that I'm going to have to chop some of the stuff
- 21:19up. And get in a better flow which
- 21:22some people think about most audience members, don't they
- 21:26just hear the final product and don't know any of the, the
- 21:30actual work that was put into it?
- 21:33So, I like the free form a lot and I try to like keep it as
- 21:37casual as possible and I'm always thinking of another
- 21:39question in my head but it is always interesting to me to hear
- 21:44about the, the other side of that.
- 21:45Where you are fully preparing all the way through.
- 21:48That's the thing. I mean, For me, personally, I do
- 21:50a mixture. So a lot of the questions, even
- 21:53some of the questions I've asked you already.
- 21:54It's ad-lib, it's based on, you know, he's like a rough idea.
- 21:59So that at no point am I lost and go?
- 22:01What do I do right there? This is to protect from that and
- 22:04also to have an idea. Okay.
- 22:06Who is the person I'm talking to?
- 22:07I'm going to learn more but what's a basic outline of this
- 22:10person? Yeah.
- 22:11And then, as you say the freeform, I mean ideally you
- 22:14want a big conversation to go to get going, and I found that
- 22:19About the course of doing this podcast, there's been times when
- 22:22I don't even ask certain questions, you know, I maybe
- 22:25maybe that'll be for return episode, maybe not, whatever.
- 22:28Right. But it's more about asking the
- 22:30questions that matter most, and the trigger things get that a
- 22:36certain line of thinking, or as you say, like a certain tangent
- 22:39to open up. And obviously, yeah, if you're
- 22:41talking about things that are passionate to either yourself or
- 22:43your guest, sky's the limit on weather station can go.
- 22:46So yeah, totally agree with you on that one.
- 22:51Yeah, bring the bad pod cut while we never stop talking
- 22:53about from custody. That's my usual thing that I
- 22:56say, is it like to bring it? Yeah, yeah.
- 22:59Black or whatever. And I'm like, dude, you're not
- 23:01paying attention. Wake up wake up.
- 23:03Well, I got a question for you. If that's all right.
- 23:06Yeah. Could you ever do you ever think
- 23:08about after your conversation is done?
- 23:10Your episode is done recorded. I could have asked a b and c
- 23:15maybe I should reach out again to maybe get those answers.
- 23:20No, the only thing I've ever encountered is we could do more.
- 23:26Yeah, I've had guests who've said, like there's been certain
- 23:29guests, I've had where it's like, this is, there's chemistry
- 23:32here and it's not to say that. Because the thing that I pride
- 23:35myself on most is, can I get my guests to feel comfortable?
- 23:40Because if I can, who knows? And I've had guests that really
- 23:44chatty. I've had guests that a bit more
- 23:46introverted and I'm really proud when I get them.
- 23:49Introverted ones to feel a bit more comfortable like that to me
- 23:51is like a real challenge every single time.
- 23:55And yeah when they're get stuck a long discussion or you know I
- 24:02have to kind of because yeah you do have to kind of limit your
- 24:05guests tangents to some extent because you can't go too far off
- 24:08the Beaten Track. You got to kind of keep it
- 24:11steered to some extent but then I just think in my head, okay,
- 24:13we can do more with this and I've got some people penciled in
- 24:17for the future like, you know, There's this one guy that I had,
- 24:20that said there's a business guy is like a CEO and he is straight
- 24:25after the podcast. He was like, yeah, let's do
- 24:27round two. And I'm like, yes, but when I
- 24:30give it some time, and I want to think about and I'm still
- 24:32thinking about I'm like, what can we do, what can we do?
- 24:34And then I'll when I've scoped it out, something an idea, then
- 24:38I'm going to hit him up with with round two.
- 24:41So that's probably as close as it gets for me.
- 24:45Yeah, luck. I'm luckily I don't have that.
- 24:47I think that I always Try to focus on the vibe and what's
- 24:51going down and think about like, well, what do I really want to
- 24:54know? What would the audience, really,
- 24:56where know and I try to look at it like that, like, that's why I
- 25:00like it's good to have a script, but I don't stick to it, like so
- 25:03rigidly that it's like the Bible or something.
- 25:05I try to kind of think, like, you know, this is a guide but
- 25:08what matters most is, what can I get out of the guest for sure.
- 25:12Yeah, so yeah, but what do you like about podcasting?
- 25:17But why are you doing this? Definitely the conversations, I
- 25:22mean, that the conversations and the connections.
- 25:24That's the what I like the most. So when I started listening to
- 25:28podcast the, the first thing that I really gravitated towards
- 25:33was a Pete, Holmes, you made it weird podcast and it is an
- 25:39incredibly long form, conversational interview
- 25:42podcast, I can go on for like three or four hours and I was
- 25:44like, I can probably do that, but I'm not going to do it that
- 25:47much. It was really just like me
- 25:51listening to a whole bunch of interview shows and being like
- 25:54okay I'm not booking gigs actively anymore.
- 25:58I stop doing that. How else can I kind of give back
- 26:02at all and do something for me, too, that gives me a little bit
- 26:06of a creative outlet. And so I kicked around this idea
- 26:10for probably like three or four years before I actually did it
- 26:13and then I recorded stuff and about six to nine months later.
- 26:20Actually released it. So it's doing it over and over
- 26:25and doing it. For those connections is has
- 26:27been really cool and that's the main thing that keeps me going
- 26:30for sure let's talk a little bit about the some of the guests
- 26:33that you've had on the show. Like obviously you mentioned
- 26:35you've had musicians predominantly and stuff but like
- 26:38are there any particular guests that stand out and you know was
- 26:42it because of who they are or maybe some of the things that
- 26:45you touched on maybe some thought-provoking stuff.
- 26:49Or deep stuff like yeah. Talk to us about some of the
- 26:52best moments on your podcast so far.
- 26:54So one that always comes to mind is a musician named Justin miles
- 27:01and he does tap as well as music and that time decision.
- 27:07Tap dancing. Yeah, so cool.
- 27:09We talked about how his time with Stomp.
- 27:13The I don't know if you remember the old school music, plays
- 27:18where? They would use rakes, brooms,
- 27:22big gallon drums to make all the music.
- 27:25So he did some of that. And then he tap-danced for this
- 27:30group called Tap Dogs and they played their from Australia, but
- 27:35they played all around the world and I saw him in, d.c. at the
- 27:39Kennedy Center, just blew me away.
- 27:41The whole production, everything in there, and I always think
- 27:44about tap dancing as like a very old school stuffy thing, but
- 27:49They made it amazing. So what are the things that he
- 27:52was doing to was, was Disney Cruises.
- 27:56So he would play on the Disney Cruises as an actor, and I think
- 28:05he didn't play Aladdin, but he played one of those close close
- 28:08to the the top stars in there, but he was talking about how you
- 28:11do it every night night after night after night, and you're
- 28:14trapped on that boat, like you have to, that's that's the The
- 28:19whole experience. Like it's it's such a like a
- 28:21harrowing experience in my mind because you're doing the same
- 28:24thing over and over again. And you can't break free from
- 28:27it. And that like, if you don't, if
- 28:30you don't actually like enjoy what you're doing, its such a
- 28:34grind. So you see like the life being
- 28:36taken out of them a little bit, it he was saying it was good
- 28:40money and all that stuff so that that blew me away as far as just
- 28:43that thought of it because I don't think anybody ever thinks
- 28:46about those cruises those Entertainer cruises, you know.
- 28:49That's such a. Grind in there to go through
- 28:55night after night and be perfect.
- 28:57You have to be perfect every single night, because it's a
- 28:59either, a new audience, or a repeat audience, where they've
- 29:02seen it before. And now, they want to expect
- 29:04that greatness every time. So that that stuck with me, for
- 29:10sure, one of the other things that always stuck out to me is
- 29:15when I interviewed Malcolm and Marie Andrews, they have a
- 29:19foundation called pan, Which is parents against Nick.
- 29:22Daycare and they lost their two year old son by drowning in a
- 29:29pool in there. What does a caretaker or
- 29:35daycare? That's what I was looking for,
- 29:37at their daycare. So not their day care, but the
- 29:41people that they put in charge, right?
- 29:43So now they're trying to go through everything so that would
- 29:48that was just a very like emotional Deep thing in there.
- 29:51So I think for me like being able to explore all the
- 29:56different pieces of that from either just like what you may or
- 30:00may not think about entertainers to even something.
- 30:03Like that where their whole mission is to make sure that
- 30:06these standards are everywhere for every day care Across the
- 30:10Nation. So that that to me is definitely
- 30:13like the coup de gras for it. As far as that goes it's one of
- 30:19us. You like one question about that
- 30:21situation? Like did that carer?
- 30:27Did they get like prison time for that?
- 30:28Or like what was the case there? The outcome.
- 30:32Yeah, I don't necessarily remember, but I know that they
- 30:34sued on a civil side of it for sure.
- 30:39I I think that there were some legal punishments to it, but
- 30:44this was a couple years ago. So I unfortunately forgot about
- 30:47it. What, what they've done so far
- 30:52though is is taken that because it's the liability access of it
- 30:57and making sure that everybody it who is in charge, is Hook for
- 31:01stuff like that. A lot of them has to go through
- 31:06like the different licenses and whether you're in DC versus
- 31:11Maryland where they were in DC. So there's a couple different
- 31:14things legally with it. That was all gray and murky and
- 31:18I'm not entirely sure what the full outcome of it was for that
- 31:21care but they've just taken it and tried to actually Lobby for
- 31:27more stricter laws for this and more coal.
- 31:31E in liability for the actual providers for it.
- 31:35Damn, it's just such a such a crazy thing to think about, like
- 31:39it's one thing if like and because, I mean, in fact, is it
- 31:42could just be a genuine accident but like just thinking about
- 31:46that, you pay these people to look after your kids.
- 31:49And then you know, your kid dies in their care and it's like
- 31:57damn, like Yeah. Sorry to bring it down.
- 32:02But no no dude. Dude like you can't bring me
- 32:07down honest I do I do volunteering at this place.
- 32:13Like every Monday dealing with like the homeless and destitute
- 32:16and said okay I see some some really like heavy shit.
- 32:21Yeah that would do. I actually this week I saw
- 32:24something. I even went and I went and made
- 32:28a video about it and then I deleted it and I was I'm still
- 32:31unsure if I'm going to talk about it or not like it's it
- 32:35just kind of, you know, likes every now and again you see
- 32:38something in life and It just like sticks with you.
- 32:43Yeah, it's like the worst side of humanity in the things that
- 32:46we tend not to think about that. It kind of just for the whole
- 32:50day. I just I just couldn't shake it.
- 32:52I just really Reinforce why I do volunteering and I was like,
- 32:58well at least we were able to do something for this person.
- 33:00Right. Right.
- 33:01But at the same time it was kind of like fuck man.
- 33:04Like this sort of sort of stuff. Shouldn't be happening, you
- 33:08know? Yeah, yeah.
- 33:12Life like that. It's like that dog.
- 33:15That dog meme where it, he has like these white eyes, and he's
- 33:20just so fucking shocked. So he looks like he's just gone
- 33:23through the roof. Oh yeah.
- 33:25You know what I'm talking about? Yes t mean thing.
- 33:27Yeah. Yeah so that I mean that like
- 33:31that dog just reflects so much of just the the face of
- 33:36everybody that's legitimately like, seen some shit in there
- 33:39and just like that experience in there because it's you don't
- 33:43really shake it completely. I don't think it's always part
- 33:47in the back of your mind and it can creep up in there, for sure.
- 33:51So it's tough and it's It's whether or not you like use that
- 33:56for inspiration to do something, right?
- 33:59So kind of like, what you're talking about with the
- 34:01volunteering stuff, or do you just say, man?
- 34:04The world fucking sucks, doesn't it?
- 34:07And just keep going. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing
- 34:12I'm learning about life because it's like, You know, when you're
- 34:17a kid, you already protected from from life, you know, your
- 34:20parents, it's not what I've been lied to you.
- 34:22But you slowly find out as you grow up like okay.
- 34:27Maybe it's not as great as what it looks like in the cartoons
- 34:32and then you know then you start doing history class then you
- 34:34start doing this and and you know unfortunately yeah for some
- 34:37of us that trauma I don't think any human being doesn't
- 34:41experienced some sort of trauma in their life.
- 34:44I think everyone does but the Stents to which they experience
- 34:47it. And in the way, what age all of
- 34:50these different things, varies. You know, I feel like I've been
- 34:53very lucky in my life, but there are some things that have
- 34:55happened where I look back on it now and I'm like, that's pretty
- 35:00fucked up. Yeah, I know.
- 35:01But that's, yeah. And I wonder like maybe there's
- 35:06something wrong with me. Like, I don't, I don't react to
- 35:10it. But then, it depends because we
- 35:14all deal with things in different ways.
- 35:16Like, right, I think for me, maybe there is a mo K is that,
- 35:20you know, I, I kind of go through the motions, I feel
- 35:23emotions like, you know, if I feel sad, I feel sad, I don't
- 35:27try and hide it if I'm happy. Fuck.
- 35:29Yeah, I'm happy. You know, I remember like I
- 35:31remember one time I've told this story before, but I remember
- 35:34sitting there with my dad and one of my younger brothers, I
- 35:37think it was like five at the time.
- 35:39He was just having like a bit of a tantrum he was stressed out.
- 35:44I was upset and I sort of turned to my dad and I was like, why
- 35:46didn't you say something? Why don't you, you know, try and
- 35:49discipline him and he's like, notice I'm going to let him
- 35:53experience that it's important that he feels that and then he
- 35:58just didn't say anything else. And I kind of sort of realized
- 36:02what he meant. It was like, you can't always go
- 36:06through life, like, trying to suppress everything you need to
- 36:09know, like, okay. This is how I feel when I feel
- 36:12sad. Or depressed.
- 36:13This is how I feel when I feel happy.
- 36:15You need to know the distinction so that you can kind of learn
- 36:20how to deal with each, you know, like for example, you know, when
- 36:22I'm depressed, I tend to kind of do the obvious things, like,
- 36:28each our color, what something funny, and I listen to some good
- 36:31music, but there's other things as well, like exercise with the
- 36:35endorphins and stuff. Or, you know, sometimes, one of
- 36:38the things I do is I work extra hard, which is there a bit
- 36:40dangerous? Because a little bit Workaholic.
- 36:43But it does kind of help it weirdly like that sense of
- 36:47purpose and organization and goals is so much healthier than
- 36:51saying, you know what? I'm going to sit here, get
- 36:52trashed, and fuck it. It's like that's great for like
- 36:56a day or two. And then before long you've got
- 36:59a bit of a problem on your hands you know.
- 37:01Yeah. Pouring yourself into work.
- 37:05Has helped definitely for me personally, for sure because it
- 37:11makes you focus. Is on something that's not
- 37:15bringing you down. And if you can really invest in
- 37:20what you're doing, then all those kind of thoughts of what
- 37:27else happened isn't quite there. So they might, they're just kind
- 37:31of at Bay for the most part because then, it can definitely
- 37:34creeped up, right? Right, when you're done with
- 37:37work, but if you never stop working, it's fine, right?
- 37:39So that's, that's how that works.
- 37:42So, it's like, I think the best way to explain it for people
- 37:44that don't quite understand. It's like, it's like heartbreak
- 37:47you like, if you love someone, you never truly get over them,
- 37:52you just learn to live without them.
- 37:54Same with death. When someone there who young and
- 37:57you're like, fuck, you know, it's like I have friends that
- 38:02have committed suicide over the years if I think about them.
- 38:06I get sad, I think fuck man. They should be here like this
- 38:10sucks when I think about people, I had relationships with in the
- 38:14past and I'm like, yeah, man, that sucked.
- 38:16It didn't work out. And, you know, and then the
- 38:18weird thing about about your mind is that, you know, like
- 38:21well, you know, we weren't right for each other.
- 38:23These are all the reasons why like, blah blah blah, like you
- 38:26can you can sit there and be logical about it but there's a
- 38:30difference between what the brain is saying and what the
- 38:32heart is saying the hearts. Like, yeah, but what about the
- 38:34good times and how Foul and this and that and it's like you got
- 38:39to try and have the right mix of the tube I think.
- 38:41Yeah the best way is like Genoa. If I if I reminisce and I feel,
- 38:47this is how I feel. I'll Embrace that sadness, you
- 38:50know, and I'll brace their happiness and I think it's all
- 38:53about embracing you know, people like I think and it's a
- 38:56generational thing. I think we're finally getting to
- 38:57a point now where it's okay to be sad.
- 39:01It's okay to be angry whatever like you can express that
- 39:04whereas like I'm in Berlin. I was growing up, like, no one
- 39:07ever came out. Exactly and said, you know, you
- 39:10can't do this but like I there was that match overall share and
- 39:13like yeah, crying is weak and men, don't do that room.
- 39:18There's always like you know showing that you're sad is a
- 39:21weakness which is bullshit. Like if anything I think it's if
- 39:25you can't show your emotions that's a weakness.
- 39:27Especially if you're trying to be in a relationship as well,
- 39:30like the other person needs you to be empathetic needs to you to
- 39:35be able to A show that you understand them.
- 39:38And if you don't, even if you can't even like understand
- 39:40yourself and and, you know, embrace your own emotions, how
- 39:43the hell you going to embrace their emotions?
- 39:46This is very, very true. It's something that I've dealt
- 39:48with, for, quite a long time because it's I always try to
- 39:54hide stuff, because that's, that's what I don't want out in
- 39:58the world, right? But it's, it's always a dual
- 40:00edged sword, where you want to make sure that whoever you're
- 40:03around, they know that you care about them and vice versa,
- 40:07right? But if you aren't a very outward
- 40:12person or forthcoming person with that, it's tough to
- 40:16continue to build those relationships and continue to
- 40:19have connections that actually grow and Bloom into Something.
- 40:24So being reserved doesn't help anyone because then your
- 40:29communication piece of what you're doing is just there isn't
- 40:34one. So then everything sucks because
- 40:37you're, you're upset that they don't talk to you and they're
- 40:40upset that you don't talk to them.
- 40:41And now you're just like, Well, I this is, this was all my
- 40:46doing. This is all my decisions.
- 40:47Why am I doing this? So that all that sorting
- 40:51through? Well, it's been like 10 years
- 40:53since I sorted through it but it's an ongoing process.
- 40:56I think you'll survive about that communication thing, man.
- 40:59Like the amount of times I've spoken to someone after the fact
- 41:03and been like, this is how I felt and they're like, I had no
- 41:07idea or worse. If like, you know, you you go,
- 41:14oh, you know, you were like this, you you ignore me.
- 41:17You would this, that, and the other and it's like, did you
- 41:19turn around to me and tell me this?
- 41:22No, I didn't. Well then, Yeah, you need to
- 41:26just literally and it's a good way of finding out if people are
- 41:30worth your time and should be in your life because if you come to
- 41:33someone you say, hey I have a problem, this is how I feel and
- 41:36they're like, whatever or go fuck yourself, then you know
- 41:40where you stand and, you know, don't don't bother with that
- 41:42person. But if you have someone who's
- 41:44like, okay, and they sit down and they listen and they're
- 41:48there for you. There you go.
- 41:49That's a friend. You know, it's so simple but I
- 41:52suppose like It was so preoccupied with fear and what
- 41:56if this happens? Or what about this?
- 41:58What about this? What about?
- 41:59Oh no. And it's like, fuck, the fear
- 42:02man. Just go for it.
- 42:04Yeah, just go for it. Well, and I have a tendency to
- 42:12get distracted in that talk to people.
- 42:14So that's always, that's always a problem.
- 42:17Where, like, I'll just be working and, you know, I don't
- 42:21want to talk to anybody when I'm and because I'm always talking
- 42:25to a customer right, so that right there and then coming home
- 42:30and just being like, OK, I've talked to enough humans today, I
- 42:33don't need to talk to anybody else.
- 42:34Yeah. Right.
- 42:36So when that happens there there can be like a block of time
- 42:41where I don't talk to a person and especially if if it was just
- 42:44like a fledgling, hey, we matched on whatever and now I
- 42:49quote unquote ghost on you. Now, I feel terrible and now All
- 42:54that fear that you were talking about, and then anxiety of just
- 42:56being like, should I reach out to them and like apologize.
- 43:00Should I just cut it off? Like, they haven't reached out
- 43:02to me. Should I reach out to them?
- 43:04I don't know what I'm doing with my hands now and yeah, it's all
- 43:08like a lost cause so that's happened to me over the years,
- 43:11like a bunch of times and I just get focused on work and then
- 43:14stop talking to people and then boom.
- 43:18Now, I don't know what I'm doing with anything, it's so important
- 43:22to understand that as Humans, like, I think so many of us
- 43:26missed that like, I remember, you know, when I was a kid and I
- 43:29had to go stay with my, with my dad, like he.
- 43:32He's a barber by profession. Yeah.
- 43:34And he's a business owner as well.
- 43:36So he's got like it's just like, super stressful plus he's got
- 43:40kids, you know, just like, I don't know time and I remember
- 43:42there was a point where it was kind of sad.
- 43:44I mean it's much better now, he's in a good place but back
- 43:47then he was just stressed the fuck out, you know, he's working
- 43:51Monday to Saturday sometimes Sundays Sometimes he sometimes
- 43:54he was just literally working every single day, plus three
- 43:58kids marriage, you name it. And when I was seeing him,
- 44:03obviously, I didn't see him often.
- 44:05We didn't live together so special and I kind of sucked.
- 44:08Like I'd be there in a Saturday and he come home from work and
- 44:12he just fall asleep on the sofa. He was naturally exhausted.
- 44:15And I remember feeling like, like, like feeling bad for
- 44:19myself, like I feel like such a prick now, like, you know, that
- 44:23was a kid. I was young, I didn't understand
- 44:25right now. I understand that he was
- 44:29exhausted, but you know what? It wasn't so much from The
- 44:32Cutting of the hair. That's easier.
- 44:34A haircut takes 20-30 minutes, whatever, you know.
- 44:36Yeah, it was the fact that he had to constantly talk and be a
- 44:41sales guy and be a therapist or whatever the fuck like he had to
- 44:44just, you know, it's, there's so many other professions out there
- 44:47that do this. I bartenders, or, you know,
- 44:49whatever, like yeah, you have to do that and it's exhausting
- 44:53People don't appreciate like just how much energy it takes to
- 44:56just talk to people. Yeah, yeah.
- 44:59And like I've had jobs where I can turn my brain off and just
- 45:05physically work. Yeah.
- 45:06And physical exhaustion is completely different from a
- 45:08mental exhaustion. Yes.
- 45:10And the job that I have now it's all mental nonsense and like
- 45:16what you're talking about playing shrink playing you know
- 45:19therapist trying to get all this stuff going and it's it's so
- 45:25different and it hits you to wear your body doesn't fail.
- 45:30It's still there. But mentally, you're just
- 45:33drained, emotionally, you're drained.
- 45:34And you just don't you fall into yourself at least I do and you
- 45:38just don't want to people at all for the next like 24 to 48
- 45:43hours, at least. And the unfortunate things that
- 45:46you had to get up and do it again and like keep pushing
- 45:48through and keep pushing through.
- 45:50So you can develop this kind of like I said, almost like split
- 45:54personality where you're putting on a show, right?
- 45:57And it's just exhausting putting on that show day in and day out.
- 46:02Yeah, I'm like and I've said this on the podcast before, so
- 46:05sorry for a Pian but like you know, it's something that comes
- 46:09up often. The fact of the matter is, if
- 46:12you're having a comments of conversation that you enjoy
- 46:14talking about things that you like talking about, it's fun.
- 46:18You know, after we're done after an hour or two hours, I'll feel
- 46:20fine afterwards. Yeah.
- 46:22You know what if I was working at sales job which I've worked
- 46:24in customer service is so I don't understand like yeah, you
- 46:28are having conversations you don't want to have.
- 46:30You're talking to people who Close minded who you try and
- 46:34tell them again. And they get, no, we can't do it
- 46:35this way. Well, this is our policy.
- 46:37Well, it's like this, right? And they're just, they're not
- 46:40reasonable normal people. They're like, oh, but this, oh,
- 46:44but that it's just a fucking nightmare, you know, it's a lot
- 46:48of it is dealing with stupidity and dealing with people who just
- 46:54don't understand like, yes, no, this is it, blah blah, blah.
- 46:58All right. And there's nothing you could do
- 47:01about it. That you, like, you say, you
- 47:02have to kind of use this split personality, you have to like,
- 47:06you know, but when I was working customer services, it wasn't me.
- 47:09It was, you know, Christian the, the bartender good, Christian,
- 47:15the, the fucking grocery boy, whatever.
- 47:18Like, you know, it's just a different person, you know, as
- 47:21sometimes I find that. Like, if I'm doing presenting
- 47:24for the show, like, you know, at the beginning of this year,
- 47:26okay, welcome to the pocket, like, it is still me.
- 47:29But it's like, as you say, you're putting on a show, You
- 47:32putting on a performance, but God is so bad.
- 47:36You know what? Since we're talking about your
- 47:37job, I want to own a quiz. You more about this serious.
- 47:40You're a Salesman. All right, all right.
- 47:42Can you specify like what industry or yeah?
- 47:45I cell phones for a living. So I'm a manager at a cell phone
- 47:49store. Okay.
- 47:50So I know a little bit about this.
- 47:53All right. This is one of the most
- 47:54stressful sales positions, probably to have its front line
- 47:58as well. So, you're like, yeah, in-store.
- 48:00Yeah, yeah. Okay.
- 48:02Whole life is on that phone, your whole life and when it
- 48:05doesn't work your whole life just crashes and you come into
- 48:08the store and you're just like fix it and we can try.
- 48:13But normally it's going to be something different that you see
- 48:17happy with. This is something I haven't
- 48:19thought about actually because yeah, back in the day, a sales
- 48:23position of yeah. Phone place was just our okay.
- 48:27Does it can it ring deserve minutes, okay.
- 48:28Great. Right.
- 48:30How many years have you been? In this how many 10?
- 48:33Okay, so you would have started around 2011 2010 so yeah okay
- 48:40and in that time has it I mean obviously it's changed but like
- 48:46I guess I'm asking the obvious here, but yeah, like has it just
- 48:50become more and more and more stressful because of the nature
- 48:53of what you just outlined or there.
- 48:55Was it easier back then? Or you know, has changed.
- 48:58Yeah. So when I first started
- 49:00blackberries were thing. Oh, yeah, yeah.
- 49:04And then the iPhone 4 had just came out is when I first
- 49:10started. So that kind of gives you an
- 49:12idea of the technology that was back then kind of compared to
- 49:16what it is. Now, so when I first started I
- 49:19was, I was a tech and all I did was fix phones and we physically
- 49:24fix them in the store for the most part or did a replacement
- 49:28device day and date for that, that we kept in the store, we
- 49:32don't do that anymore. Everything has shifted and a lot
- 49:39of it is just the technology whole aspect of it where there's
- 49:46Leaps and Bounds every three to six months.
- 49:51With, with all this new, it's insane.
- 49:54How much stuff is coming out. There's no way for anybody to
- 49:57keep up with repairs or anything like that.
- 50:00So, all of that is just insane and especially with the phones
- 50:06nowadays, you can't remove the batteries or anything like that.
- 50:09So there's a, there's a lot more to it.
- 50:11Where you have to look at replacing every single one,
- 50:14almost. So there's Takashi Process a
- 50:17little bit. So you know before.
- 50:19Yeah. You said that used to be on on
- 50:20store thing which that sounds like a fucking nightmare and to
- 50:23fix the phone in front of the customer like screw that.
- 50:26But so what do you like tell him to go away for a couple of hours
- 50:31and then go fix this? Oh no source.
- 50:34So a lot of them just get replacement devices if there.
- 50:38And that's where the whole culture shift has or the
- 50:42approach has changed where because these devices are our
- 50:47full body, you can't replace just the parts.
- 50:50You have to replace the whole device and there's a couple
- 50:53things that are happening in the world where they're trying to
- 50:56fight for a right to repair because that, that repair
- 51:01process for your normal consumer is incredibly difficult, they
- 51:07have to actually find someone that is licensed by whatever
- 51:11company to actually replace and these parts.
- 51:15So especially if Apple device does Apple devices are so
- 51:19restrictive and so small on the inside that it's you can't
- 51:24replace anything in there. So instead of having to just
- 51:27replace a couple parts and redo that, we're replacing the whole
- 51:31phone every single time, and then you have to transfer all of
- 51:35your life from one device to another device.
- 51:39And it is that's that stress right there of the importance of
- 51:43cell phones, and everyday is the The biggest thing that has
- 51:49impacted, I think the overall cellular industry where, you
- 51:55know, there was a time where all we cared about were phone calls.
- 52:00And then text message, just came and then emails came and now we
- 52:06have Tick Tock, we have Snapchat.
- 52:10So we have all this stuff so we're centrioles right, right?
- 52:14Essentially what Constantly engrossed in our phones.
- 52:19So if we're, if that is such like an ingrained part of our
- 52:22being, you have to think about just the exponential stress on
- 52:27those different companies that are trying to navigate while
- 52:31also producing more stuff for you to look at your phone with.
- 52:35So it's a, it's a dual edged sword with that where you have
- 52:39to as a full company. And I'm just talking in general
- 52:44where I think every cell phone Company is thinking about this,
- 52:48where they need to think about the consumer first, because
- 52:52we're not, we're not selling a product that you can just buy at
- 52:59a store for the most part. You're not going into Walmart
- 53:03for the most part and just picking up a phone off of rack,
- 53:07you know what I mean? A lot.
- 53:09There's there's a lot of setup process for that, there's
- 53:11everything for it. So it's much more of a personal
- 53:15consultant. Tied in with a therapist job
- 53:19tied into. Now this person's whole life is
- 53:24crashing before their eyes and now I have to try to reconcile
- 53:27with that and help them when nothing is going right?
- 53:31Because it's technology and Technology sucks.
- 53:34So it's very stressful for the frontlines and I think it's even
- 53:38more stressful to think about the overall shift in company
- 53:44mindset that everybody needs to have book.
- 53:46Consumers first, but also to be able to navigate all these
- 53:50different ways to bring content and what you can do to get it
- 53:54faster, more immediate more in their hands every second of
- 53:58every minute of every day. So it's it's a lot.
- 54:05Let's get to the fun bit. Tell us what sucks about this
- 54:09job. Have some fun with its worst
- 54:15story. Where its customers go for it.
- 54:20I think I think really the only thing that really, really
- 54:25irritates me now is especially in this day and age with the
- 54:32pandemic and all that is people still not caring about other
- 54:36people. So if you're trying to come into
- 54:39a retail store without a mask, that is not We roll like put a
- 54:45mask on protect your other people and just that, like
- 54:48blatant disregard, I think whether you believe it's
- 54:52happening or not, it's happening.
- 54:53Like people are dead. So like don't do that, please.
- 54:58That that idea and the idea of entitlement for four customers
- 55:04where you guys have trained me to come to you for everything.
- 55:10Now, I'm entitled because I pay my bill for you to help me with.
- 55:14Everything. So you need to fix it like kind
- 55:20of like, what you said earlier, these are my options.
- 55:23I can only give you a couple things, which one do you want
- 55:26and if you don't like any of them I'm sorry I still can't do
- 55:29anything for you. And that's that is very rough
- 55:33where you're when you're putting that situation and your hands
- 55:36are kind of tied with everything and between just like the
- 55:40blatant. Disregard that some people have
- 55:42And that sense of entitlement. Those are the really, the two
- 55:46worst things, because it's not just that, that worst experience
- 55:50or that worst interaction. It's such an overarching thing
- 55:54that we've done as a company to ourselves.
- 55:59Are there any particular, moments, customers experiences
- 56:04that like stand out for you? I was just like, I can't believe
- 56:07this is happening. Like this is surreal like, you
- 56:09know, I remember I remember helping a very order lady with
- 56:17her phone and trying to fix it for her and then next thing I
- 56:21know she's throwing it at me, that's high.
- 56:25She's mad because I couldn't fully fix it and she was like,
- 56:28you take it. I'm done and then walked out and
- 56:31I was like, all right, I guess that's cool.
- 56:35Yeah so that I think I think that 16 with me more because I
- 56:39was legitimately like, trying to help her That's the thing.
- 56:43The next thing I know. She's just so mad at me for no
- 56:45reason. And just like, this is
- 56:46ridiculous kind of nuts. Help.
- 56:49People switch sometimes, isn't it?
- 56:50Like you can let you just be just be talking normally like,
- 56:52Okay. So this would be the rate for
- 56:54this and then suddenly fuck you. Okay.
- 56:58Yeah, one of my other one of my other favorite moments is this
- 57:04was a few years back, not a few years, a little while ago.
- 57:09Because that was before I quit drinking.
- 57:11So without us, thank you. I was at a bar and the bartender
- 57:17was asking what I did for a living.
- 57:18And I told her you know, I work for the cell phones and I work
- 57:22at this company and the dude on the other side of the bar was
- 57:25like fuck your company and I was like, all right man, appreciate
- 57:30it like thanks. And then he left.
- 57:35Like I was talking to the bartender and he had left and I
- 57:38didn't even pay attention to it. I go to pay my tab and he paid
- 57:41it for me because he felt so bad and I was just like sorry that
- 57:46company did that to you. I'm just a dude.
- 57:48But uh, you know, that sucks. I got a free meal out of it, so
- 57:53that's cool. But that sucks.
- 57:56You mentioned in that that you'd quit drinking.
- 57:59Do you feel comfortable talking about that?
- 58:01Yeah, yeah. So I quit drinking about four or
- 58:03five years ago. Nice, congratulations.
- 58:06And that's awesome. Yeah.
- 58:08Time time is the contract. So I don't understand how long
- 58:11it's been. But that's a great analogy by
- 58:14the way, great really? But this is be more true.
- 58:19So, It got out of hand, pretty, pretty a lot.
- 58:24And what I noticed is, I would have a great time out with
- 58:30people and then when I get home, it was a completely different
- 58:34story. And I was just spending way too
- 58:37much money. So I think like the night before
- 58:40I fully quit quit, I spent like three hundred dollars at a bar
- 58:44and I was like I'm not fucking doing that again.
- 58:47But I had blacked out and then woke up in the middle of trying
- 58:51to commit suicide. And then oh, wow.
- 58:53Okay, yeah. Wait, were you I know how this
- 58:57was a where you kind of like consciously aware that you were
- 59:01trying to do is or was it kind of like a you wake up and you're
- 59:04kind of like what the fuck am I doing?
- 59:06Kind of situation that that right there?
- 59:08Like having having the whole like bit in my hand and going
- 59:12for the wrist was a enough to just like, holy shit.
- 59:18I don't need to do this and I threw everything away and I was
- 59:20just like, all right, well, Well, guess I'm not drinking
- 59:22again because that just scared the shit out of me.
- 59:25So yeah, that that because I always thought for me growing up
- 59:32that it's such a like a selfish thing and a silly thing to do
- 59:37that, like, take your own life and then I've drastically
- 59:42changed my view over over the years, right?
- 59:45You had mentioned losing friends.
- 59:47I've lost a few of them to and, and just, it really is kind of
- 59:51Kind of like what we touched on before that, that stoicism where
- 59:55you can't really talk about your feelings and you if you, if you
- 59:59can. Sometimes it's just like an echo
- 1:00:02chamber, and, you know, your you can't stop your own thoughts
- 1:00:06sometimes, and all that, you know, this year, I'm taking even
- 1:00:10more seriously and trying to seek a little bit of treatment
- 1:00:13for it. So, so like how did you actually
- 1:00:16have a comment? Because obviously, you know,
- 1:00:18it's a process and you know there's different ways to To
- 1:00:22sort of, tackle it and stuff. And the interesting thing that I
- 1:00:26found in what you were saying is that, you know, you you decided
- 1:00:30you like, I have a problem. I need to deal with this right
- 1:00:33now. Some people realize that later
- 1:00:36some people get told by others, hey, you got a problem and some
- 1:00:41people, you know, have other people kind of put them in the
- 1:00:45right direction. We have it, right?
- 1:00:46Whether that be like rehab or therapy or whatever, the case
- 1:00:49may be, but Kind of sounds like you were at least in the driver.
- 1:00:54See like, okay, I'm gonna steer this ship, I'm going to do take
- 1:00:58some steps. So like, what kind of steps did
- 1:01:00you take? And it took us through that
- 1:01:02journey of like, sure, getting through that and then coming out
- 1:01:05the other end. So the, the biggest thing for me
- 1:01:08is legitimately scaring the shit out of myself like that, right
- 1:01:12there. Was like, this is a major
- 1:01:16problem and I can't, I can't do this anymore and if I look back,
- 1:01:21I should have saw way more signs.
- 1:01:23We're like driving on the wrong side of the road should have
- 1:01:26stopped me before this and it didn't.
- 1:01:29So there's a there's a couple of things in there where I think I
- 1:01:33think Probably that year before I quit that I was getting.
- 1:01:40So out of control that if if I would have got like a DOI or
- 1:01:45something that probably would have shook me, but that didn't
- 1:01:49happen. So then it just spiraled more
- 1:01:51out of it. And so with me, the the first
- 1:01:56the first morning after that I was just like, fuck it.
- 1:01:59I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore.
- 1:02:02And I remember visiting my parents, I'm telling them and
- 1:02:07they're just like, fuck off your coming day, drinking with us and
- 1:02:10was like, all right, I guess I got my revenge because that they
- 1:02:17live in North Carolina in the mountains, where it can get
- 1:02:21pretty hot in there. And I like the darker beers.
- 1:02:24So for me I was drinking all the darker beer that they don't
- 1:02:28really sell that much of anyway and then just the heat got to
- 1:02:32me. So I just threw up all over
- 1:02:34their house. I said laughs for those kind of
- 1:02:39a weird sense of Revenge. Yeah, yeah, I mean, for me, so I
- 1:02:45threw up slept through up again, slept more.
- 1:02:48So it was a great vacation, sorry, that level of sarcasm,
- 1:02:55just hit me Noah. But uh, so I think the biggest
- 1:03:01thing for me is You know, making it known that, hey, I'm not
- 1:03:05doing this anymore. Outside of that little blip, you
- 1:03:09know, and after talking to them, and making sure that they
- 1:03:13understand how serious I am and all that stuff, because it was
- 1:03:17so fresh after that, and I never talked to them really about what
- 1:03:23happened and why until a little bit later.
- 1:03:26So for me, it was really that decision.
- 1:03:31But also everybody around me, You okay with it.
- 1:03:35So that kind of goes back to what we were talking about with
- 1:03:37connections and growing relationships to where you can
- 1:03:40trust the people that are around you and no matter what you're
- 1:03:43going through and your decision, you know, they'll support you
- 1:03:46for it. And for me to like concerts were
- 1:03:49always a big part of my life and being able to go to a concert
- 1:03:54and not have to have a drink was amazing because I was always
- 1:04:00there for the music and that just solidified me.
- 1:04:03To say, okay, if I can not drink in this environment, I cannot
- 1:04:06drink anywhere else. So I'm totally fine at that
- 1:04:10point where I had thought about doing a.
- 1:04:14A, and I thought about doing this other stuff.
- 1:04:17One, I'm not religious and it does like going through those
- 1:04:23different steps in the that program for me.
- 1:04:26Makes it feel disingenuine a little bit.
- 1:04:29Oh, so is the AA program really religious?
- 1:04:33Then always it just it started off in Christianity and a lot of
- 1:04:36the steps that you have to go through.
- 1:04:38That is very much a Christian set up.
- 1:04:42So you're looking at, you know, asking for forgiveness going
- 1:04:47through the steps of penance and stuff like that and and being
- 1:04:51humble and learning community and all this other nonsense
- 1:04:55which I have a I have a full grasp of it for myself.
- 1:04:58Like I know when I fucked up, I can say that.
- 1:05:01But fair play Man. yeah, but it's It was something where I
- 1:05:07was just super appreciative everybody around me and just
- 1:05:11their immediate acceptance of. Okay.
- 1:05:13This is what we're doing now. It's totally cool.
- 1:05:16Like we all know how much of a degenerate you were but that's
- 1:05:19fine. Well we got you you're going to
- 1:05:21try to clean up your act, that's great today.
- 1:05:23Kind of say that in such words like kind of like to sort of
- 1:05:27know they were nicer. These were just the thoughts
- 1:05:29that I had in my head. Oh okay.
- 1:05:31Well so like they might say something but he felt for you
- 1:05:34like a lot worse kind of thing. Yeah, yeah.
- 1:05:37Like that they were always very supportive and I always wanted
- 1:05:42to make sure that I made that known that.
- 1:05:45I appreciate it so much and have those conversations with the
- 1:05:49people that matter. But there is always that part of
- 1:05:51my headphones, like, this could spiral at any time.
- 1:05:56So if I don't like, keep my act together and keep leaning on
- 1:06:02these people, then I can turn into that person before and I
- 1:06:04don't want to do that. So this is an important thing.
- 1:06:07I think that we might missed before is that it's important to
- 1:06:11talk about the fact that you do become a different person.
- 1:06:13If you're on drugs, alcohol, whatever like I've experienced
- 1:06:17it, I remember one time at University.
- 1:06:21I drank a bunch of random stuff, you know, kissing ass.
- 1:06:23And I don't remember this but apparently I was running around
- 1:06:27my Halls shouting. The c word, everyone banging on
- 1:06:30people's doors screaming like I don't remember any of that.
- 1:06:34Yeah and it's kind of scary. It made me realize like hey you
- 1:06:37know, this It might be fun to have a drink every once in
- 1:06:42awhile, but like this can change you like so that you're not,
- 1:06:46you're not in the driver's seat anymore and that for me was I
- 1:06:48God. Oh, fuck that.
- 1:06:49I want to be in control. I don't want to have happen
- 1:06:51control me. Yeah, that that sense of control
- 1:06:56is a big thing that I try to not take for granted now, I've used
- 1:07:04pot a little bit this past year because I have a bulging disc in
- 1:07:08my back, that's pain all the time.
- 1:07:12So I'm trying different stuff to manage that but as soon as it
- 1:07:16like that first experience with it was just like this is
- 1:07:19probably not for me because that lack of control and if you've
- 1:07:24done it for like four or five years where you don't have any
- 1:07:27kind of substances in you at all and now you're just looking
- 1:07:31around me. Like, what am I putting into my
- 1:07:32body? Why does this not feel great?
- 1:07:35What is happening? It was.
- 1:07:38It's a very interesting process for me, knowing that I have, I
- 1:07:43have a sense of control. If I just don't do this and what
- 1:07:47do, what do I would like more? Do I like Clarity?
- 1:07:49Do I like being able to be productive?
- 1:07:52Can I just take Tylenol? Is that going to be okay for me
- 1:07:55at the moment? You know, there's a couple
- 1:07:58different things and you can use like topicals where it doesn't
- 1:08:01actually get you high or anything.
- 1:08:03Thing. So, that's what I've been using.
- 1:08:05I've been trying to use it way more as like a legit medicine
- 1:08:09rather than an escape that some people use.
- 1:08:12So immediately, once once I felt that again, I was like, I
- 1:08:17probably don't want to do this all the time, and it is
- 1:08:21definitely still a struggle for me though, because sometimes I
- 1:08:24like that feeling. So, I've seen myself where I
- 1:08:30have in spurts I've treated marijuana, as I treated the
- 1:08:34liquor that I had before where I can just do that all day, every
- 1:08:39day and become a vegetable. I guess if I want to, but there
- 1:08:46is always that that voice inside me and being like, you can do
- 1:08:50better, it's okay. Like you don't have to just do
- 1:08:53this all the time. You can you can actually do
- 1:08:55other shit because you've proven to yourself You can absolutely
- 1:08:58and just what you were saying with regards to the productivity
- 1:09:01thing I could. I totally agree with that.
- 1:09:03I filled this exactly the same, like I barely ever drink like,
- 1:09:08and I love to party have a good time.
- 1:09:11Like just like every other person but like, yeah, like I've
- 1:09:14noticed like, the especially the, I don't know if there's an
- 1:09:17age thing, but like these days if I drink, I got drunk, I lose
- 1:09:21the next day. Yeah, like and it's not just,
- 1:09:24it's not necessarily even a hangover Because I know what
- 1:09:27hangover is hangover hangover. Like I just have this like every
- 1:09:31time, every time like this body draining, it's like, I think
- 1:09:36it's just extreme dehydration or whatever, but it's like, you
- 1:09:40can't do anything that day is gone and that's a wasted day.
- 1:09:43And, like, you say, I mean, it's it's borrowed time, generally
- 1:09:47minutes, it's we're not gaining any time, we're losing it.
- 1:09:50So, do you want to spend your days finish are?
- 1:09:54Or do you want to kind of join? I mean, like, These days,
- 1:09:58especially since I've working a lot more doing a lot more stuff.
- 1:10:01You know, there's not really any room for that in my life and
- 1:10:05these days, you know, I go like once in a blue moon, okay, I'll
- 1:10:08have some drinks with some friends, whatever.
- 1:10:09But like this take it or leave it you know I'd rather sit and
- 1:10:14eat like cheese or something. Yeah that's way better.
- 1:10:18Jesus dangerous people, by the way, just saying, yeah, the
- 1:10:24issue is when you still like it but it doesn't Doesn't like you.
- 1:10:27So, yeah, that's true. As I've gotten older, it's hated
- 1:10:32me more and more, and I like it more and more and it makes me
- 1:10:35sad, but one of the things I think now too, is that people
- 1:10:41are way more open to talk about it.
- 1:10:43And, you know, I was talking to a few friends, a few weeks ago,
- 1:10:47where one of them had blacked out and did something that they
- 1:10:51didn't even know turned into a completely different person,
- 1:10:53right? And then the other person, you
- 1:10:55know, they can see. They're having a problem and the
- 1:11:00staying at home has compounded that problem, right?
- 1:11:05So they they're trying to figure out, you know, what, their next
- 1:11:08step is supposed to be right? So do they say?
- 1:11:12Yeah this is this is enough. Like I need to stop this or I
- 1:11:17still kind of have it under control, you know they have to
- 1:11:20figure that out for themselves. I think the other thing too,
- 1:11:24like the productivity part and like What you just talked about
- 1:11:27as far as like taking advantage of the day, right?
- 1:11:31So I've started waking up way earlier, like 7734 is for this
- 1:11:37year and trying to steal back my time.
- 1:11:40Because just like, what you were talking about, if I'm not
- 1:11:42working, I'm doing something usually podcast related.
- 1:11:46And if I'm not doing either of those, I'm usually sleeping.
- 1:11:49So that time for yourself isn't really there.
- 1:11:52And the time for others is definitely not there because
- 1:11:56your Parties are different so that kind of regresses you in
- 1:12:01any kind of social aspect of it. And then regresses, you a
- 1:12:04personal development part because you're not able to have
- 1:12:07those experiences to enhance those conversations either.
- 1:12:10So you can and this is what I think about like all the time is
- 1:12:16Am I stagnant? And if I'm stagnant, how am I
- 1:12:19contributing to these conversations based off my past?
- 1:12:22Because my past isn't going anywhere?
- 1:12:25But I can so if I can go experience this stuff and have D
- 1:12:29these different connections and all that, why aren't I to be
- 1:12:33able to help these overall connections?
- 1:12:36And, you know, just going out to Nature like enjoying yourself
- 1:12:40outside, maybe you should start doing that and so I've been
- 1:12:44trying, it hasn't worked out. Yeah, but I've been everyone has
- 1:12:47everyone has that thing. I think that's you know like for
- 1:12:50some people, it's box him. Some people it's exercising for
- 1:12:53other people, it's reading, I don't know, they'll always be
- 1:12:56something for you personally that works and I think that's
- 1:12:59kind of key in that. But in terms of that, when you
- 1:13:03were giving it up, did you do it, like cold turkey or did you
- 1:13:06do it in steps? Like, you know, sometimes that
- 1:13:08when people are quitting smoking, they'll cut down and
- 1:13:10stuff. Like what was your approach when
- 1:13:12I cut smoking? That's exactly what my Approach
- 1:13:15was. Cutting down over over time.
- 1:13:17Because at one point at one point, I was smoking like three
- 1:13:21or four cigarettes a week. And then my mom was just like,
- 1:13:24just quit. What are you doing?
- 1:13:26You're just your cigarettes are going stale.
- 1:13:29All of this stuff just quit. If you're not smoking a whole
- 1:13:32pack, you're not doing it right? So okay.
- 1:13:37The be an addict. So don't be in that.
- 1:13:39It just throw waste of my time, exactly.
- 1:13:42With the, with the, the alcohol. It was definitely, That culture
- 1:13:47key aspect of it and that cold turkey of, I can't do this
- 1:13:52anymore because I will die if I continue to do this, right?
- 1:13:56And again, immediately after that, like immediately, after I
- 1:14:01got that message out to everybody else, it was cool.
- 1:14:04So it was easy for me to be cold turkey for the most part and
- 1:14:09just like Miss Jameson and Miss Guinness.
- 1:14:13But it wasn't something that was such a A pulling Force.
- 1:14:20So I didn't feel the need to go back to it.
- 1:14:23Other people aren't as lucky, I think as me and and don't have
- 1:14:29that that same mentality, they can go through some of the stuff
- 1:14:33that I went through, but they can take it completely different
- 1:14:36and maybe use that stuff. More as a crutch where I found
- 1:14:40it as a huge detriment and that was one of the reasons why
- 1:14:46everything was going south for me when I was Alone drinking.
- 1:14:51Because all those thoughts that I would have normally where I
- 1:14:55can combat those with logic and brain and and different words,
- 1:14:59all those feelings are just let loose and just they're in your
- 1:15:04head and there's nothing stopping it.
- 1:15:06So, Being able to recognize that and know that I have to be in
- 1:15:12control because if I'm not in control it's going to be a bad
- 1:15:14time for me and everybody else around me and just that support
- 1:15:18system, help me, for sure. It's not, it's not easy for
- 1:15:21everybody else, and when I try to like, give any kind of advice
- 1:15:24to anybody, it's really just like, Find the people that
- 1:15:29support you the most and make it easy for you to keep doing your
- 1:15:34own path because if if you choose correctly then they're
- 1:15:39going to support you in any way possible and do what's better
- 1:15:43for you all the way through. So those are also the people
- 1:15:47that you care about and those are the ones that you want to
- 1:15:49invest in because they're investing so much in you.
- 1:15:52If it is someone that is like, oh dude now come on in.
- 1:15:56You can you can have a couple bruised, it's fine.
- 1:15:58And that's probably not the person that you want to.
- 1:16:00Yeah. So associate with anymore
- 1:16:02unfortunately and you can kind of see that that maturation and
- 1:16:06that that perspective change over time for sure.
- 1:16:10As I want to say a massive, thank you for sharing that.
- 1:16:13I know a lot of people, I know it's not easy to talk about.
- 1:16:17So I just want to say thank you for that and I think a lot of
- 1:16:19people in, you know, listening will even be able to relay or
- 1:16:24will find some sort of you'll Find it inspiring because, you
- 1:16:29know, I did and I think it's amazing to be able to kick its
- 1:16:34I've heard a lot of stories over the years, you know, I have
- 1:16:36personal experience from from family and friends so I know
- 1:16:40it's not something that you can just do it.
- 1:16:44It's a tough thing. It's a mental and physical
- 1:16:46battle. So I think.
- 1:16:49Yeah well done you man. Thank you sir.
- 1:16:50Thank you. I really I really think too that
- 1:16:53it's just a social acceptance of it and that that has changed.
- 1:16:59The generations that are out now, mmm-hmm, just like what
- 1:17:02we've kind of talked about with that, emotional acceptance and
- 1:17:05there and being able to articulate and talk about this
- 1:17:08stuff. You know, that that sense of
- 1:17:11safety there, to be able to, actually take care of yourself
- 1:17:16is very, very important. And that hasn't been a thing for
- 1:17:20so long. Where, you know, that stoicism
- 1:17:25quote-unquote, toxic masculinity and all that stuff.
- 1:17:28You know, that's that's where it is a long time ago, that's not
- 1:17:32where it is now. And if we can keep progressing
- 1:17:35towards that and having these conversations, then we can
- 1:17:39hopefully just use this stuff to be okay.
- 1:17:43And like with a commercial and say actually drink in moderation
- 1:17:46or use the stuff in moderation because it can get out of
- 1:17:50control quick. I actually think that the legal
- 1:17:54classification of alcohol is a big issue behind this because If
- 1:17:59you really think about it, like it should be illegal.
- 1:18:03Yeah, when you think about, when you look at the damage, that it
- 1:18:06does to the body, how it affects people in comparison to say like
- 1:18:09marijuana, right? Yeah.
- 1:18:11There's always been this argument that.
- 1:18:12Well, they should legalize marijuana and if anything get
- 1:18:15rid of alcohol, right? And I think that because it's
- 1:18:18legal, maybe people's perception of it.
- 1:18:21Over the years hasn't been taken seriously because I wasn't it's
- 1:18:24legal. And, you know, you just have to,
- 1:18:26you know, be careful and blah blah blah.
- 1:18:27But Now people realize damage and what it can do.
- 1:18:30And now that it's taken seriously in connection with
- 1:18:35everything else and life that is has negative things associated
- 1:18:40with it. Like you said, people do take it
- 1:18:42seriously and I think that, As long as long as that continues,
- 1:18:49then you know, we should be headed in the right direction
- 1:18:52and you know, hopefully people won't be addicted anymore.
- 1:18:55You know? Right.
- 1:18:56Well, it's that it's that taking mental illness, seriously.
- 1:18:59Yes. It's taking that depression,
- 1:19:01seriously. It's taking that anxiety.
- 1:19:02But also knowing the signs for that.
- 1:19:05Right. So, knowing okay, this person is
- 1:19:08drinking every night by themselves.
- 1:19:11They're battling something. What are they battling?
- 1:19:13We need to find that out, right? Or they're bingeing At the bar
- 1:19:18and getting kicked out every night or every week.
- 1:19:22What is going on? Is it something, you know,
- 1:19:26distinctly emotionally messed up with them?
- 1:19:30Are they using it as a coping mechanism?
- 1:19:31What's going on? We need to figure that out.
- 1:19:34So if we can get back to the source of it and the root of it
- 1:19:38and actually treat that stuff and just that acceptance of.
- 1:19:43Oh yeah, that's actually a thing.
- 1:19:44Let's figure this out rather than oh yeah, just be A man it's
- 1:19:48okay you don't have to cry or anything.
- 1:19:51Be man, it's fine, you know, walk it off.
- 1:19:53So if that mentality continues to shift like what you said,
- 1:19:58we're going to be good, absolutely moving it Forward.
- 1:20:03What are the best and worst things about living in
- 1:20:07Baltimore, Maryland. Well, the first thing is, I'm a
- 1:20:12little about about an hour and a half south of Baltimore.
- 1:20:16So Maryland is a dump. 8. So it's it's shaped like an l
- 1:20:21and like a upside down l so you can be when people think of
- 1:20:28Maryland they only think about like D.C Baltimore area but you
- 1:20:31can still be in Maryland and be way down south because it like
- 1:20:36has this really long strip of land.
- 1:20:39That is stupid because there's only like one or two ways in and
- 1:20:43out of the state. So, With that being said,
- 1:20:48Baltimore is cool. It's got some got some really
- 1:20:51good music, food, and all that good stuff up there.
- 1:20:56I don't care about baseball or really football, so that's lost
- 1:20:59on me. I try to go to d.c. for hockey
- 1:21:02games, that's, that's my bread and butter.
- 1:21:06But what what you'll see is Marilyn is really weird because
- 1:21:10the, the cities that are there are full cities but most of the
- 1:21:14stuff that's around here. A very rural and Suburban.
- 1:21:17So it's a complete back and forth between like what we have
- 1:21:24down, where I live is way more spread out, everything takes 15,
- 1:21:2920 minutes to get to Via car. Everybody has to have a car.
- 1:21:34You can't just like hop on the bus or anything because most of
- 1:21:38the buses are commuter buses to Baltimore DC.
- 1:21:41So that right there makes it to where you have to have to if
- 1:21:47you're an adult you have to be pulling in a decent amount of
- 1:21:50money to just live. And if you're not, then you have
- 1:21:53to share your space with a bunch of different people and you're
- 1:21:56not going to really like it. So I like it for the most part,
- 1:22:02it stuff down than where I'm at for creatives and artists and
- 1:22:07musicians because there's no real place for them to play
- 1:22:10other than those cities wherever an hour and away.
- 1:22:13You know, that's tough for them to be able to develop their own
- 1:22:17Regional stuff and then go up to a bigger market and try to make
- 1:22:21a stab at that. So when you look at bands that
- 1:22:24are maybe from this area, a lot of them will always talk about
- 1:22:27their from DC or Baltimore instead.
- 1:22:30Is that what anybody knows? Right.
- 1:22:33So and they try to hook onto the bigger cities in the regional
- 1:22:37part of it. There's a lot of mom-and-pop
- 1:22:40shops down here, but there's also tons of corporate chains
- 1:22:44and battling. Those two things is, you can see
- 1:22:50the Mom and Pops being eaten up by the bigger corporations, and
- 1:22:54like the chain mail or chain malls, and restaurants, and
- 1:22:58stuff. So that, That's been, that's
- 1:23:01been a little disconcerting for me.
- 1:23:04For me, I always try to shop local and stuff like that.
- 1:23:07So again, with even with the podcast, like, I've interviewed
- 1:23:12a few local businesses and that's what I still want to be
- 1:23:15able to do like China Light more on those.
- 1:23:18And I think the the the other biggest thing in this area is
- 1:23:22that there's so many people doing great things and so many
- 1:23:25people that are doing stuff, that isn't even in this, State.
- 1:23:30But they're from here, they live here and like I said, you know,
- 1:23:35Justin was on Disney Cruises and going all Shelly, and doing all
- 1:23:38this other stuff. You have people that are
- 1:23:40lobbying for real change in the day care system, and all this
- 1:23:48other stuff that we have going on.
- 1:23:49That we have MMA fighters that are around here that are trying
- 1:23:52to break through. Like all of that is here, but
- 1:23:55it's so quiet because people don't think about this area.
- 1:24:00At all, they think Baltimore and DC and there's Virginia but I
- 1:24:05don't know anything about Marilyn at also.
- 1:24:09It's a I think it's a little diamond in the rough for the
- 1:24:14most part but if it can develop correctly which hasn't yet?
- 1:24:22So they've been a this place has been around for way too long.
- 1:24:28Then we'll be fine. But if they keep doing more the,
- 1:24:33the big residential areas and more the chain malls and more
- 1:24:37the chain stores, all the All charm that we may or may not
- 1:24:40have down here is going to go and that's going to be a sad day
- 1:24:45for sure. We have a similar problem here
- 1:24:47in the UK kind of hoping that we'll be able to turn that
- 1:24:53around. I mean what for instance us
- 1:24:55being in lockdown, sort of perpetually throughout this last
- 1:24:59year has really affected like our pubs and yeah, local
- 1:25:03businesses and stuff. Many of them have had to just
- 1:25:05close down and the pubs in the UK it's like synonymous with
- 1:25:09With our culture. So it's yeah, it does make me
- 1:25:12concerned for the future. Yeah, I mean you just can't you
- 1:25:19can't feel that way about our fucking Starbucks, can you?
- 1:25:22But you can, you can feel a connection to a local business
- 1:25:25because it's like you know, you grow up with it and you maybe
- 1:25:28get to know the family that runs and right away.
- 1:25:31It's part of a community. It's really important.
- 1:25:34Yeah. You also know that your money is
- 1:25:36going back into the people that actually live here.
- 1:25:39Yes, and can invest like there's a music shop here that I
- 1:25:45interviewed the owner of where he does a concert, every October
- 1:25:51he wasn't able to do it last year obviously because of the
- 1:25:54the pandemic. But you know what he'll do with
- 1:25:57that. That concert is take that money
- 1:26:00that he might raise from that and donate it directly to the
- 1:26:03County School System. So having that that person in
- 1:26:08there that can make An actual bigger change is so important
- 1:26:11and for it to be a local business owner rather than a
- 1:26:14corporation, just writing a check and writing that off, you
- 1:26:17know, it means more. So that Community builds around
- 1:26:20it and If you don't have that, that sense of community is just
- 1:26:25another place to live. You know you can live anywhere.
- 1:26:28You don't have to be here. You can probably live somewhere
- 1:26:30cheaper. You can go to the Midwest and be
- 1:26:32just fine because there's fuck all over there.
- 1:26:35So that's that's the I mean that's that's the other part
- 1:26:39about it is that everything on the east coast of America is
- 1:26:45very scrunched up so you have to just find pockets of freedom in
- 1:26:51there Like these rural areas because if you go up and down
- 1:26:55the coast like there's there's Town upon Town upon Town.
- 1:26:58Yeah. So crazy man.
- 1:27:04Yeah, shifting It Forward. What's the biggest lesson that
- 1:27:08you've learned in life so far? For me and I'm still working on.
- 1:27:17It is being more confident in your own self.
- 1:27:22So I've reached out to people and landed interviews that I
- 1:27:31never thought I would land because of cold opens and there
- 1:27:36not being any kind of connection beforehand and what I'm trying
- 1:27:42to still work on is saying okay I am good enough to reach out to
- 1:27:46whoever I want to write I am good enough for whatever
- 1:27:50position that I'm going for. I am good enough to talk about
- 1:27:52this stuff. I am good enough to lead.
- 1:27:54I'm so combating those negative feelings and thoughts.
- 1:28:00Of never being good enough. Hmm, I've never having that.
- 1:28:06In there and actually talking to myself, logically.
- 1:28:09That's one of the biggest things that I've learned is that, if
- 1:28:12you can combat all this negativity, and all this
- 1:28:15anxiousness with you, if you can just think about all the good
- 1:28:17things that you've actually done.
- 1:28:19And if you think about that in your skill set for it, that will
- 1:28:22hopefully overcome everything else.
- 1:28:25Thanks for Sharon. And yeah, I just want to say a
- 1:28:29massive, thank you for agreeing to be on the podcast and as we
- 1:28:34sort of draw this all to a close.
- 1:28:36My last question for you is, do you have any upcoming projects
- 1:28:39or fun, or thoughts that you'd wish to share with us today?
- 1:28:44I think the the final thought that I'll share is that people
- 1:28:48are people and they're not these crazy Out Of Reach folks, you
- 1:28:55know especially nowadays where everybody is clamoring to do
- 1:28:58something, don't be afraid to reach out to anybody for
- 1:29:02anything. So if you want, if you want to
- 1:29:05do something creative and and you're afraid to reach out for
- 1:29:09help, don't be because there's going to be someone that will be
- 1:29:13Link to help you. And that just that anxiety, and
- 1:29:16that fear of yourself, shouldn't be there.
- 1:29:19And once you get a little bit of that, that reinforcement, you'll
- 1:29:22be fine as far as any other projects going up.
- 1:29:25It's just the the show. I'll be releasing an episode
- 1:29:31this week. I don't know when this comes
- 1:29:32out, but I'm going back to weekly episode.
- 1:29:35So usually every Thursday just as long as I can, keep up with,
- 1:29:41with a multitude of ones that I have recorded.
- 1:29:43Added that I haven't started editing yet so we'll see.
- 1:29:45Oh, no. He's got the fuck up.
- 1:29:48That's the worst. There's so much.
- 1:29:51What I found is that I can, like, I can be cool with a
- 1:29:54backlog because then I can like take time from not talking to
- 1:29:58anybody and like working on my own path.
- 1:30:00That's cool. But when I look at the fact that
- 1:30:03I have like six or seven of them like shit, I need to get to work
- 1:30:06and that's a daunting daunting task and the dancing feeling
- 1:30:10you'll have it done in no time. Yes, and yeah masses.
- 1:30:16Thank you for agreeing to be on the show.
- 1:30:17It's been an absolute pleasure. Having you and having me on yeah
- 1:30:21to my listeners of the question, we have podcast, make sure you
- 1:30:24go check out crushed under board and his podcast ambition Radio
- 1:30:28podcast. Go check that out.
- 1:30:30It's an excellent podcast and yeah wish you the best of luck
- 1:30:34with that I want to say a massive.
- 1:30:36Thank you to everyone listening on whether it's YouTube Facebook
- 1:30:42spot. Defy Apple podcast, Google
- 1:30:44podcast where ever you're listening to Christian, we've
- 1:30:46podcast, make sure that your liking and sharing the videos
- 1:30:51following giving us ratings, whatever the case may be all of
- 1:30:54that stuff. As I always say, at the end of
- 1:30:57every podcast episode is invaluable.
- 1:31:00So with your support, it's going to help me push things forward.
- 1:31:03And you know, I haven't said this in a couple of episodes, so
- 1:31:06I should say, you know, if there are any particular guests, you'd
- 1:31:09like to see on the podcast or particular topics, you'd like to
- 1:31:11hear Let me know. My DMs are open.
- 1:31:15I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to know who you'd like
- 1:31:17to see what you'd like to hear. Thank you very much for
- 1:31:21listening and until next time. Peace at one of us you in the
- 1:31:24next one.