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Transcript

The Future is Uncertain · Randy Unscripted

• 0:10
  Mikey Black: The experiences,
• 0:12
  what I've improved on as a person,
• 0:15
  what goals I've achieved.
• 0:20
  Randy Black: Randy Black.
• 0:22
  Mikey Black: Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy Black. Randy
• 0:25
  Black. Randy
• 0:26
  Randy Black: Black. He's a troublemaker.
• 0:30
  Welcome
• 0:31
  back to Randy Unscripted. I'm Randy Black, and this is the podcast where
• 0:36
  I just kinda talk about
• 0:38
  whatever happens to come across my brain
• 0:41
  whenever it just happens to come across it. In today's episode,
• 0:46
  I brought back my favorite podcast guest
• 0:50
  of all time.
• 0:51
  He was with us six months ago, he's the only guest that's ever been on this show,
• 0:56
  my son, Mikey. Mikey, welcome back to Randy Unscripted.
• 1:01
  Mikey Black: Hi. Yeah. It's great to be back. You sound so thrilled.
• 1:06
  Randy Black: So
• 1:07
  six months ago,
• 1:09
  we sat here in this room, and we talked about
• 1:12
  things for your senior year and what was going on. We talked about that you had joined the band and music had become a big important
• 1:20
  thing in your life. We talked about what you were planning to do after graduation,
• 1:24
  what you were gonna do next year with school.
• 1:28
  So we're six months out from that,
• 1:31
  and now we've got to talk about has anything changed?
• 1:35
  So let's start right here. Today is 06/05/2026,
• 1:41
  and six days ago,
• 1:44
  you walked across the stage. Yeah. I did. Yeah. And you graduated from high school. Yeah.
• 1:50
  Did graduation
• 1:51
  feel
• 1:53
  compared to what you expected?
• 1:55
  Mikey Black: I
• 1:56
  mean, it was
• 1:59
  it was kinda sad, like, seeing some of the band kids there Mhmm. That I've I've become close to over the year. Right. I mean, saying goodbye to them because that's I mean, that was pretty much the last time I'm gonna see them Mhmm. For a while. I mean, other than that, I was
• 2:13
  Randy Black: happy I finally finished. Yeah. So was was there a moment where it finally hit you? Holy crap. High school's over.
• 2:21
  It was when I was walking across the stage accepting my diploma. Yeah. Yeah. I I I know that feeling. When I I I I felt the same way. I was excited.
• 2:31
  I was scared.
• 2:33
  I had plans for the future.
• 2:36
  Didn't know what was gonna happen. So senior year's over. You're out of high school.
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  What was your favorite memory
• 2:44
  from this past year, from your senior year?
• 2:46
  Mikey Black: The marching band competitions.
• 2:49
  Easily.
• 2:50
  Just being able to go to all these different schools.
• 2:53
  I mean, going up to Ohio State for that competition.
• 2:56
  Yeah.
• 2:58
  Was easily my favorite. Those were my favorite moments throughout the whole year. So would you say it's something that you're
• 3:04
  Randy Black: you're genuinely going to miss? Oh, yeah. Definitely.
• 3:08
  And what what what specifically is it about it that it's
• 3:12
  it's it's gonna be what you miss?
• 3:14
  Mikey Black: The friends I've made. I mean, just all the friends through band I've made this year. That's I mean, that's the main thing I'm gonna miss the most. Yeah.
• 3:23
  Randy Black: Was there anything
• 3:24
  from this year
• 3:26
  that you're
• 3:27
  you're just glad to to leave behind and walk away from?
• 3:33
  Mikey Black: Classes I had.
• 3:34
  Randy Black: Okay. Okay. You don't have don't don't don't have to be specific just in case somebody might happen to hear this Yeah. That you might have had as a teacher or something. Yeah. But,
• 3:43
  you know, senior year is one of those where
• 3:46
  you have to take English,
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  you have to take math,
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  you have to take social studies, in this case civics.
• 3:54
  Those are the required classes.
• 3:56
  But other than that, it's kinda wide open other than what you might classes and credits you might need to graduate. Right. So, you know, it's it's one of those years where you're like, well, I know I gotta have this, but at the same time, you're thinking, well, what else could I have? So, like, I know that
• 4:10
  it got worked out for you to take
• 4:13
  one of the hardest classes it is to get into at Spring Valley High School just because it worked out into your schedule,
• 4:19
  and that was that you gotta spend time driving around at driver's ed. Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:24
  I like that because you got a certificate for it, I can get a discount on insurance.
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  So
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  that makes it that makes it all the better for not just you, but for me.
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  So senior year's over.
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  Back in November when we sat down here and recorded and talked,
• 4:41
  you had a pretty clear plan of what it was you wanted to do, what the goal was when you finished high school.
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  Is
• 4:49
  is that still the plan?
• 4:51
  Mikey Black: I mean, I think back in November, I said I wanted to that was when I was thinking of doing machining. Well, obviously,
• 4:58
  you know. I've I've changed my mind. I've decided to go into mechanical engineering. Cost to be money.
• 5:05
  Randy Black: Well, we don't know. I may be able to get some scholarship money. That's true. That's true. You did you know, we we we do have that change. We're shifting from going to the community and technical college program to to get that machinist certification, which would have only taken eighteen months. You'd have been out in the workforce. Yeah. To shift into Marshall University, my alma mater where I graduated from,
• 5:25
  where your mom graduated from, your your uncle, my brother,
• 5:28
  your stepmom. You know, we've all we all went to Marshall.
• 5:33
  So you you're going there. But in the process of of getting to that,
• 5:37
  you know, we also found that
• 5:39
  you earned something pretty good in the state of West Virginia. What was that? Oh, the promise scholarship. The promise scholarship. So promise scholarship West Virginia, for anybody who's listening who doesn't know, pays
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  about $5,500
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  a year
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  toward
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  college tuition in the state of West Virginia.
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  You have to go to a public university in the state of West Virginia. There are some other ways you can go to other schools and stuff, like if the program's not offered somewhere and all this. But
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  so that roughs out to about $27.50
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  a semester that goes towards your tuition, which helps because Marshall's, like, between 5 and
• 6:16
  $5,500
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  a semester. So that that helps a little bit on the tuition.
• 6:21
  So earning that, it's all merit based. So you had to get certain scores on the SAT, the ACT. In this case, it was the SAT for you, and you
• 6:31
  had that awesome chance, and it's it's it's helping out. It's gonna make things a little better for us. That machinist program would have been paid for by the state.
• 6:39
  So, you know, coulda coulda saved me some more money, but, you know, it's it's okay.
• 6:45
  Have you know, with with that and with everything,
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  have there been any new kind of
• 6:51
  opportunities that have kinda poked their head out with this with this change? Have you have you seen anything
• 6:57
  new come along that
• 6:59
  might might be beneficial or helpful or or help you on your way toward this goal of getting your degree in engineering?
• 7:06
  Mikey Black: I don't I mean,
• 7:08
  not that's been, like, very clearly evident to me. Okay.
• 7:12
  Randy Black: So what what is it about this shift, this change going into the engineering? What is it about that that excites you the most? I mean, it was the experience I had doing the Project Lead the Way program at at Spring Valley. Mhmm. It was just all the vast
• 7:29
  Mikey Black: different parts
• 7:30
  of engineering that we explored throughout that program.
• 7:33
  And just working with the machine side of it Okay. Was just what I liked, and I wanted to continue with that. Okay. So that's why you chose
• 7:42
  Randy Black: which which area of of of engineering as your as your area of Mechanical. Mechanical. Yeah. K. So that would be like you would be like designing
• 7:52
  Mikey Black: what?
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  Engines. I mean, it can be engines.
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  Just
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  Randy Black: Could it be just like anything that, like, would have to be put together in some way? Pretty much. Yeah. So, like, if they needed to make, say
• 8:05
  you know, they needed a a replacement gear
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  for
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  some type of device. Like, say it's a
• 8:14
  lifting device, something that, you know, you you have a hand crank to lift something and the gears they've used in the past are failing. Would that be something you might do is design new gears for that? Oh, yeah. Okay.
• 8:25
  So
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  is there anything
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  about this new path,
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  this new future
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  that
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  feels uncertain?
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  Mikey Black: How long it's gonna take me? Okay. I mean, usually it's four years, but my my math SAT score wasn't
• 8:43
  Randy Black: where it needed to be to fully get into the program at Marshall. Mhmm. So I I mean, I I don't know how long it's if it's gonna take a Right. Just because there's some classes you'll have to take that are not part of the program structure. You'll have to pick them up and take them and Yeah. And go that route. But, you know, if it if it adds some time, it that's okay. At least at least we're on the path. That's that's the key thing. Yeah. So in the last six months,
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  Mikey Black: since we sat here in November,
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  is there anything
• 9:12
  that you've learned about yourself?
• 9:16
  My my love for music. I mean Okay.
• 9:19
  With how much I got into the band this year, I've, I mean, relearned the alto sax. I mean, I've fully picked it back up. I do, like, do wanna continue playing it. I mean, I'm still gonna continue playing guitar.
• 9:32
  Randy Black: Right.
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  So, like, that that kinda leads into some stuff on my notes here. You know, the last time we talked, we talked about how music was such a big thing,
• 9:41
  and you just said that hasn't changed. It's still there. It's still prevalent. You're still playing guitar.
• 9:46
  But, you know, what did
• 9:48
  what did being in the band, both the marching band, the jazz band, the concert band, what did it teach you
• 9:54
  that extends outside of music?
• 9:56
  Mikey Black: Discipline.
• 9:57
  Discipline. K. Explain that. I mean, you gotta gotta the discipline for you practicing. You gotta have a good practice routine so you can play the music that we were playing. K.
• 10:10
  And just being able to progress and get better over the year. Yeah. I mean, that was I mean, that's the big thing with it.
• 10:18
  And a lot of the times, it's a lot of patience. Well,
• 10:22
  Randy Black: so, you know, for me, when I was back in the marching band, back in the day, because I'm I'm old now. Not that old. I'm 45 right now. For
• 10:33
  me, it was teamwork that I got most out of out of that because you're performing together as a group, and you all have to be in sync. You have to be together.
• 10:43
  You know, if one person in the marching drill turns and goes the wrong way, is it noticeable? Oh, yeah. Oh, heck yeah. And if somebody plays a wrong note and it's, like, you know,
• 10:55
  blatantly
• 10:56
  out of key or the wrong you know, you can hear that a lot of times. So you've gotta be able to to to handle that together. And, like, for me, I was in the March I was in the percussion section.
• 11:05
  So for us, we had to be exact. We had to work together as a unit to make sure those things were were in sync and working correctly.
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  And, you know, when I look at life in general,
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  aren't there so many places where you have to be part of a team? Yeah. Mean, the workforce. Yeah. You know, a marriage,
• 11:26
  your family situation,
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  all these different things. You know? For like for me, for church, we have a team of people at church who are trustees, and we work together to maintain things at the church and take care of stuff.
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  So, you know, teamwork for me was what I learned in band.
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  Is there
• 11:46
  right now
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  a song out there? It could be new. It could be old. It could be something from band. It could be something from anywhere.
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  But is there a song
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  right now that you think kinda
• 12:00
  represents
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  this season
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  in your life, this time in your life? Oh, goodness.
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  Mikey Black: I don't I mean, I would have one. That's a long
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  don't know. I would I would have to fully go through and
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  try to find stuff. I can't think of it off the top of my head. Okay.
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  Randy Black: You've only been out of high school for two weeks. Not very long. What's been your biggest adjustment right now?
• 12:28
  Not having to wake up as early. Okay. So you're you're are are you still finding yourself waking up, though? Yes. Yeah. Your body's just used to it. You're attuned to it. So, you know, that was that's always a big adjustment. Like, when I'm getting you know, I'll finish I'll finish a week after next for the year for a couple weeks,
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  and I still will probably get up at 06:30, 07:00
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  just because it's the way my body's tuned. It's what I do.
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  And for so many people, it's that way. Like, my my dad, your grandpa,
• 13:01
  every day is up without an alarm at 05:00.
• 13:05
  Yep. Because he's done it for so long. Yeah. It's what he's always done.
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  So
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  we do have another event that's coming up pretty quick.
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  It is a week from tomorrow as we record this,
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  and that day is
• 13:21
  My birthday.
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  Not just your birthday. My eighteenth birthday. Your eighteenth birthday. So you will officially be entering into adulthood. Yeah.
• 13:29
  At this point in time,
• 13:31
  heading that way,
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  is it what you've expected?
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  Or have things been different? Have things been nothing's changed yet? You're not really sure? I mean, I'm I'm not really sure.
• 13:44
  Mikey Black: Not really. Okay.
• 13:46
  Randy Black: Are there any responsibilities
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  that might be coming up
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  that you've already started to think about that you didn't even consider a year ago?
• 13:59
  I'm blinking. Sorry. That's when we think about what's, you know, what what's the biggest change it's gonna be? Like, you've gone to high school for four years, and you had to be there on time at a certain time every day. Every day was the same. Is college gonna be that way? No. Oh, heck no. Not at all. You've gotta be able to build your schedule and know when you need to be in these places. Yeah. So that's gonna be a huge shift and a huge change.
• 14:22
  I know you started lately
• 14:25
  making some some money on the side, mowing grass and stuff.
• 14:29
  Not something you've thought about I mean, you've talked about doing it a year ago, but didn't have the ability to go do it because you didn't have a vehicle yet. You weren't driving yet.
• 14:37
  So you've got that to think about with all this while you're going to school, helping to still take care of these people who you've committed to help them out. Yeah, that's a responsibility you gotta think about and consider. Yeah.
• 14:48
  Mikey Black: What is it about
• 14:50
  these next steps,
• 14:52
  be it college, be it entering adulthood?
• 14:55
  What are what is it that you're most excited about? Just all the new experiences I'm gonna have. The new friends I'm gonna be making through,
• 15:03
  the classes I'm gonna have at college. Mhmm. I mean, just
• 15:07
  all the new things that are gonna happen. Okay.
• 15:11
  Randy Black: What are you most
• 15:13
  nervous about?
• 15:14
  Mikey Black: The classes.
• 15:15
  Randy Black: Okay. I mean, engineering is a very math complex field. A lot of a lot of calculus and Yep. A lot of even in science, a lot of physics. Yeah. You haven't taken a physics course.
• 15:29
  You haven't taken a calculus course.
• 15:31
  So those are things you're gonna be learning as you go. Yeah. That'd scare the poop out of me. Yeah. It scares me a little bit.
• 15:40
  So if you could go back in time,
• 15:43
  go back to freshman year high school, Mikey.
• 15:48
  What's one piece of advice that you would give
• 15:52
  to yourself?
• 15:53
  What would that be?
• 15:55
  Mikey Black: Study more. Study more in classes. Okay. Sure.
• 16:00
  Any particular areas or just overall? Just overall. Okay. Mainly,
• 16:05
  once
• 16:06
  I mean, if
• 16:08
  with chemistry I took my junior year, definitely study more with that. That was a very complex class.
• 16:14
  Randy Black: Yeah. At times, I did struggle with it. I mean Mhmm. And he's a good and he's a really good teacher. He is. Yes. And he's he holds you guys to it. You have to you have to earn it. You don't just walk in and get it. Yeah. And he's a good guy. I I worked with him for just
• 16:28
  under a year when I was working out there at the school. So, you know, it's it's you you go into his classroom and you have to do well because you earn it by doing well. So that's, you know, something I would I would also, you know, consider as well, that
• 16:42
  kind of advice you give somebody. You gotta buckle down at times. Yeah.
• 16:46
  So
• 16:47
  just some some conversation starter questions here just to make things a little more interesting
• 16:52
  on different fronts, not necessarily the school front, what your future holds, what you're gonna do, but what's something
• 16:59
  you've changed your mind about recently?
• 17:03
  Anything.
• 17:04
  You had a you had a position, you held it, and now you've realized maybe I wasn't right on that. And you've changed your views or you've changed your thinking on it.
• 17:13
  Mikey Black: I
• 17:15
  I I don't know. Is
• 17:18
  Randy Black: there a lesson that you've learned
• 17:21
  in the last year or so that
• 17:23
  surprised you?
• 17:27
  Anything you've learned you've been like, oh, man.
• 17:30
  I totally get it now. I understand. Or I'm surprised. Oh, man. I didn't realize that.
• 17:35
  Mikey Black: Not that I can think of, to be honest. Oh, jeez. You didn't do a whole lot this year, did you? I mean, other than band stuff, I mean, I really didn't. I had I've pretty much I had a very easy year with glasses. That's true. So
• 17:47
  five years from now,
• 17:50
  what kind of person
• 17:52
  do you wanna become?
• 17:54
  Someone that is
• 17:56
  a lot more focused with work. Okay. That works
• 18:01
  great with others, can
• 18:03
  get tasks done efficiently.
• 18:05
  Okay. And maybe a little quickly
• 18:08
  than what the deadline is, but at a still good
• 18:13
  quality. Okay.
• 18:15
  Randy Black: That's cool. Just be a Be reliable. Yeah. Be a reliable person. Reliable. Do your job well. Be
• 18:21
  maybe even be respected. Yeah. Yeah. I I could see that. So now we're down to
• 18:27
  some rapid fire questions.
• 18:29
  I'm gonna throw the question. You're just gonna answer it. Okay. Don't stop and think. Just answer it. K?
• 18:35
  There are one, two, 345678
• 18:39
  of them.
• 18:40
  So you ready? Yep. Favorite class?
• 18:44
  Mikey Black: Jazz band. Favorite teacher?
• 18:46
  Mister Bullington. Your best high school memory?
• 18:49
  Jazz band. Your worst school lunch?
• 18:53
  Buffalo chicken pizza. The most useful thing you learned in school?
• 19:00
  Note taking.
• 19:01
  The least useful thing you learned in school?
• 19:09
  English.
• 19:10
  Randy Black: Okay. I I I don't know. One word to describe your senior year.
• 19:14
  Easy.
• 19:15
  One word to describe the future.
• 19:19
  Mikey Black: Unexpected.
• 19:21
  Like, kind of Uncertain? Uncertain. That's what it is. Yeah. So
• 19:26
  Randy Black: let's say a year from now,
• 19:28
  we sit down
• 19:30
  and we record another episode together like this.
• 19:33
  What do you hope you'll be able to tell anybody who's listening about where life has taken you?
• 19:40
  Mikey Black: Just
• 19:42
  the experiences.
• 19:43
  Okay. What I've improved on as a person. Okay.
• 19:48
  What goals I've achieved.
• 19:51
  Mean,
• 19:53
  Randy Black: mean, that's my Maybe just share the progress? Yeah. Sharing Awesome. My
• 19:57
  So, Mikey,
• 19:58
  thank you. You know, I love getting you to record with me. I've tried to get you to do a podcast. You don't really wanna do it.
• 20:06
  Right. You've got a Rodecaster yourself at home. We could remote record remotely at any time when you're not here at my house.
• 20:12
  But thank you. I appreciate it.
• 20:15
  Just you know, I've told you this, and I'll I'll state it here. I'm so proud of you.
• 20:20
  I'm so excited for what the future holds.
• 20:24
  Doesn't mean I don't worry about you,
• 20:26
  but
• 20:28
  watching you
• 20:30
  walk across that stage and graduate high school, watching you now moving into adulthood since you'll be 18 in just a few days,
• 20:41
  I'm proud to be your dad.
• 20:43
  And I know I don't say it enough, but I am. And
• 20:47
  Mikey Black: I love you, buddy. I love you too.
• 20:50
  Randy Black: So thank everybody thank you to everybody who's listening.
• 20:54
  If you wanna share your own graduation memories or advice you might have for Mikey on our website, randyunscripted.com,
• 21:03
  the comment section on this episode is open for I think they're set to stay open for twenty eight days after the show, comes out. Feel free to go there.
• 21:11
  I'll make sure that he has a a link to it. So if there's anything there, I'll send it over so he can take a look at it and see it. But
• 21:19
  I just you know, I'm I'm so thankful for him, and I'm so thankful for all of you who listen. And remember that this is Randy Unscripted.
• 21:27
  I'm Randy Black. This show is all about real talk,
• 21:31
  real life,
• 21:32
  and it is 100%
• 21:34
  unscripted.