Festive Escapades, Sentimental Gifts, and Charting the New Year: A Personal Journey

Have you ever raced through an airport, heart pounding, as you lugged gifts and dodged holiday travelers? That was me on the way to Tampa, and oh, the stories I have to tell! This episode is packed with the peaks and valleys of our festive season adventures, from my flight fiasco to Lexi's family shenanigans in Maryland. We unwrap the good, the bad, and the hilariously tragic, including the tale of a light-up sign that vanished into the ether. Buckle up for a firsthand account of airport brawls, the anticipation of luxury flying with Delta One, and how online shopping can sometimes lead you down a chimney of disappointment.

Nothing beats the warmth of exchanging gifts that resonate with personal history, much like the anime-inspired ponchos and cherished Bandai Namco figures we unwrapped this holiday. Lexi and I also dive into the sentimental journey of crafting necklaces bearing a piece of our grandmother's legacy, a tradition that tugs at the heartstrings. With mom's visit stirring up the kitchen and the generosity of friends and co-hosts adding to the festive spirit, we reflect on the thoughtful presents and how they've enriched our celebration. Amidst this, we honor cherished memories and share our intentions to keep our grandmother's spirit alive through the coming year.

As the confetti settles on the New Year's festivities, Lexi and I set our sights on the horizons that await. We chat about our ever-expanding travel itineraries and the pursuit of homeownership, all while peppering in our professional aspirations. Our dreams for the podcast flutter like a newly lit barbecue pit, as we muse over the smoky potential of a BBQ business amidst our community's dining dilemma. We also serve up our honest thoughts on the risks of entrepreneurship and the illusions of success painted by social media, underlining the value of experience and the courage to chase dreams—whether they lead to a bustling convention floor or the savory aroma of smoked jackfruit. Join us as we share the aspirations that fuel our fire for the year ahead.

https://www.carolinaotakus.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:01

We get to see more of the room.

Speaker 2 0:04

Yeah, I got a new tripod for my camera.

Speaker 1 0:07

Ooh, look at you. All right, all right. So do you want to do the podcast first and then do these ones? Got to go. What do you want to do before?

Speaker 2 0:21

Let's do the podcast first.

Speaker 1 0:23

All right, cool. All right, cool, all right. We already talked about what we're going to talk about. I don't think it's going to be a long one. You know, fresh air, all that shit. I don't know if you believe in the whole.

Speaker 2 0:49

Your resolution now.

Speaker 1 0:51

Yeah, all right. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Carolina with Taco podcast. I am Afro and I'm here with my cohost.

Speaker 2 1:02

Lexi.

Speaker 1 1:05

Hi, hope you guys had a great holiday, hope you got what you guys want. I hope you got what you wanted and I hope you guys were able to spend some good time with your families and everything no snow.

Speaker 2 1:26

No, no snow.

Speaker 1 1:28

Well, depending on where you are, I ain't get no damn snow. I ain't get none. None. It was like 67 degrees, like I think. Like Chris, today, yeah, I didn't get much of shit. So, um, yeah, so what?

Speaker 2 1:52

let's start you know what did you end up doing for the holidays For me, I ended up in Tampa for holidays, was there for a bit. It was definitely warmer in Tampa than it was here, but it did end up raining, so I didn't skip the bad weather or anything for Christmas. I did learn that I hate flying around that time of year because the Airpads report. Like Pat.

Speaker 1 2:18

Who do you find?

Speaker 2 2:18

Delta, and so let me tell you so late All right, I'm a Delta girl. Okay, got the Delta card and everything, but like I went to the Sky Lounge in Atlanta, I get like we just got off the elevator and there was already a fight.

Speaker 1 2:36

What A fight.

Speaker 2 2:40

Yes, two of us were fighting.

Speaker 1 2:42

Nothing. Look, I'm sorry, whoever's in Georgia, whatever, and then like that was even the like the bed.

Speaker 2 2:50

And then like so even before then trying to get on the plane, like Trying to go to TSA, there was a guy that was so drunk, like people were not taking beds, like he's going to make it to TSA to get on this flight. And like I was going to TSA at a free check so they gave me a paperwork so I didn't have to take my shoes off or anything. And the girl was there. She was like take everything out your pockets. To the guy and he was like I took everything out my pocket. She was like dude, I see all the shit that's still in your pocket, don't your fucking pocket.

Speaker 2 3:26

And like I didn't see if he like went through or not. But I was just like damn, very well, not for dollars. And then coming back, like I had an hour like delay Covered back, and then we get on the plane and the pilot wants to come on the intercom and be like oh, we're sorry, the idle engine is broke, so it was hot on the plane while I was sitting at it because he can't turn it on, and then all the lights went out when it was idle. So yeah, no.

Speaker 1 3:57

Where was this? Was this in Tampa?

Speaker 2 3:59

This is a Tampa.

Speaker 1 4:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:02

So going to, I was in Atlanta. I mean, that was a come back to Tampa.

Speaker 1 4:06

Yeah, Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Okay, I mean doesn't sound like the best of travels, but I mean at least you got to.

Speaker 2 4:17

And I have like two more tests of flights. I have a trip next week to Cincinnati for work and then I come back from that and I'm going to Hawaii for my birthday. So I had like have flights from that. I'm going out of Atlanta to LAX and then from LAX over to Hawaii. I will be there Friday's. I won't be there, but I will be there to enjoy it and come back and then, like I'm coming back one way, so like nonstop, that's eight hours. But I was like if I'm going to be on a flight that long, I'm going ahead and upgrading. So I did get Delta one on the way back. So when I do our next episode you guys can hear about the experience.

Speaker 1 4:56

So yeah, that's good shit. My side family came down. Well, I went back home to Maryland and got to see my father and, you know, my stepmom and everything. Dad's birthday.

Speaker 2 5:17

Okay.

Speaker 1 5:22

This is a story in itself too. So I got my father and my stepmother so I was my sister and I, and you know exchange gifts and everything. I got them the. I got my stepmom some slippers and the big ass like a hoodie, the big ass like comfy blanket, hoodie joints and I bought my dad. I bought them a smoker last year and they've been using that thing like crazy. It's not like smoke, no charcoal, but I bought them some like a man.

Speaker 1 5:57

What do you call those things? Like a spice palette from Spiceology and it's just like a whole bunch of different spices that you can use for like anything, but mostly for like smoking, meats and stuff like that. So what they got they got me. They got me a shirt with the movie giant blue giant on it. So that's what she got me a shirt like the characters from Blue Giant. Now, what my loving stepmother did was get in contact with my co-host, lexie, through Instagram. She showed me the messages and everything. And this is also a story of you know make sure wherever you're spending your money, like you know just make sure it's good yeah.

Speaker 1 6:54

Yeah. So my stepmother wanted to get me a basically I light up sign that I could put in my office of our logo that you see, and it would just light up, you know, in a certain color and everything. And she found it, she paid for it and then, once she paid for it, motherfucker, just like vanished. And this was through Etsy, by the way. So she was able to get her money back.

Speaker 2 7:25

Like if.

Speaker 2 7:26

I knew she was doing that because, like, you can't see it on this side of the wall, but on this side over here I have a neon cowboy bebop Sign and the guy that I had made it he is on Etsy, he does do custom one, so if I knew she was trying to do that I would told her to go to him. No, she was like she was trying to do a vinyl print and I'm like, okay, I don't know anybody that has vinyl print, but like, if she was doing like a neon sign, I would have told her to go to that guy because it's like it's really good quality, Gotcha.

Gifts, Memories, and New Year's Celebration

Speaker 1 8:02

Gotcha Okay, but yeah, it was cool. She said that you were very nice, but yeah, you know, if you guys buy anything from Etsy or anything like that, just make sure the person that is selling a product is reputable and you know, look at reviews and all that stuff just to make sure that everything is on and everything. But you know, I spent time with the family, got some pretty cool gifts from my sister. My sister got me this, this Jariah Naruto poncho, right here.

Speaker 1 8:40

Love it, love it, they got a hoodie on the back of that shit too. She got me this in the Dragon Ball Z one this shit is so fire, oh my gosh, and it's actually really warm.

Speaker 2 8:51

This poncho is so that means I'm still in, yet no, you next. Yeah, I'm still in it.

Speaker 1 8:56

There's somebody. There's somebody you know within the state that I live in that sells these joints and and I was like, oh my gosh, these things are so dope and he has like a whole bunch of other anime shit. So I got to check those out. But I got two of these and my month. Oh bless my mother. So my mom bought me a. I sent you the picture.

Speaker 2 9:25

Did you?

Speaker 1 9:25

have the figure.

Speaker 2 9:27

Yes, you did yeah.

Speaker 1 9:29

So it was a. She sent me, she got me a bandai Namco, a figuring of a goju right.

Speaker 2 9:39

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 9:41

And he's like doing his like signature move and it's like, you see, like the purple ball and everything that's like coming out of it and all that shit. It's actually really dope. It's really really dope, really well put together. It is sharp as fuck. Well, you can cut yourself on that type of plastic. That's shit, like damn. This shit is dangerous. But you know, I got the brand new switch for my moms and, um, my sister got me one of those like massage joints, like the machete, massage guns, the gun, yeah, yeah, those are pretty cool in a heating pad so I can put on a chair. But I haven't done that yet.

Speaker 2 10:21

You two old man gifts. I mean, you do act like an old man.

Speaker 1 10:26

Sister's whole thing was like Self-care shit this year it was all the self-care stuff, so I respect it and I fucks with it heavy. Another big thing that I got from my stepmother and my dad was so this is gonna be kind of off topic, but my grandmother passed away in October and my stepmom got her ashes and my stepmom bought my sister and I these necklaces so we can put the ashes in. Yeah we were able to put those ashes into this necklace and I Thought that.

Speaker 2 11:06

I thought that was pretty cool With my that's what I want to do with mines when I die. It's like I want to be cremated and like my ashes put in necklaces and give out people I care about. Yeah, I.

Speaker 1 11:18

Was because they're gonna take her to. What they told me was she wanted to be spread it, her ashes spread in California. So they're gonna make that trip to Cali.

Speaker 1 11:29

Oh she's city, because she I drove with my grandmother one day. I was watching my father stepmother's house and she came over and she was like, hey, let's go to Ocean City. So I drove the the whole way to Ocean City with her and she was like, alright, see ya, and I was just roaming like an ocean city, maryland, like I was just roaming right, and then we just met back up and then drove back. So, yeah, she wants to in Ocean City and everything like that. So it was, it was pretty cool. Other than that, it was um, pretty good holiday, did a lot of. I didn't do a lot of cooking, but I did a lot of cooking. My mom stayed here for about a week, you know, cooked for her and All that stuff. So it was, it wasn't bad at all.

Speaker 2 12:23

Um, what's your co-host get you. Say it again what's your co-host get you oh.

Speaker 1 12:30

Yes, oh, I have to ask you, I gotta ask you something. So Lexi Got me a Cup. The cup, the way that the cup is like, the shape of the cup, mm-hmm. It's a crazy shape because it's like it's really tall, but also, like I was like, oh, this is a crazy cup, but it has like a I want to say that looks like an overwatch character.

Speaker 2 13:05

It's not an overwatch characters kind of. It was an AI rendering of like like snake from Metal Gear Solid, as if he had dreads. Mmm and he was doing a podcast. So that's, and then you have you know your background.

Speaker 1 13:21

Yeah, it looked like Bishop from X-Men, but it was cool. It was dope, um, and I Haven't used a cup yet but I probably might use it for tomorrow for some tea, um, but yeah and I I what I wanted to get, like see, I couldn't get at home because the damn company moved the goddamn fucking Alexandria Virginia. So I, on the last episode she brought up I need you know, she brought up little things.

Speaker 1 13:55

Yeah yes, that's the reason. Stuff like that and with the steam deck, I know like one of the big things that if you're traveling and let's say, there's a TV in your room, you're gonna need, you're gonna need a oh my gosh, what is it?

Speaker 1 14:11

a docking station it's a weird and Having a docking station with a steam deck comes in handy. You can plug it up to the TV and you can just go, you know, with your controller and everything, and you're good to go, and then up on the steam deck it has, like, these touch pads on there, even though I don't know who uses those touch pads, I don't. But, um, I got her covers for the touch pads just for an aesthetic look. You know, it's just a good aesthetic look. You know what I mean. So, yeah, I think those are for accessory wise. I think those are pretty good ones, especially the the the dock, for sure, for sure. But since it is where we at, this is January 2nd 2004, like I said, you guys, happy new year and all that. What did you do for the new year? Did you tell you what I did? What did you do? You're asleep. I didn't do a goddamn thing.

Speaker 2 15:13

I slept. Yeah. Yeah, he, if you guys don't know, he seems like an old man, so he does mess super early and wakes up super early. Um, what did I do? So I didn't get off until like right as it turned into the new year and I think he was End up streaming and playing some games. I actually played fortnight, haven't played fortnight and God knows how long. Don't read. I know there's a reason, but the weekend's in there, so I play. Um, yes, the weekend is now in fortnight, like they have him in fortnight, so I play now, because they did a festival mode, so, like when they released that, it's basically they're taking Guitar hero and trying to bring it back in fortnight. He was a bit kickoff for it and so he's in there. Um, his skins are in there and everything. So I like Bought the gate, like not the game, but I bought, like his skin password and that's definitely 30 something dollars for all this shit that I needed.

Speaker 1 16:23

But, um, you don't play that shit like that. That's crazy, I don't even play it like that?

Speaker 2 16:27

No, like, but I did play it then and I did pretty good they're. The best I got was like Seventh place, but, like I said, I don't play like that. Um, I didn't end up drinking and that was pretty much my new year.

Speaker 1 16:46

No, yeah, I ain't do shit y'all. My sister was here and we were just chilling and I was like I'm gonna bed. I was in bed and I dozed off. I woke up like at. I woke up at 1 am To use the bathroom and I was like I guess it's 2024 Right back in bed and I said I'm gonna, I'm gonna right back to sleep.

Speaker 2 17:09

I'm in bed.

Speaker 1 17:10

Um, but back in the day when I went my my mom's mother was alive and we would stay with her. She used to do like these customs of like deviled eggs. Um, what does she make, fuck Deviled eggs? She made black eyed peas, yep, and um, she made she got better.

Speaker 2 17:36

Has some collard greens. We're your collard greens.

Speaker 1 17:39

I don't know, it wasn't collard greens. This might be something that we do in marilano, just I don't know. But she would get pickled herring In saltine crackers pickled herring and saltine crackers, and I'd love that shit. I don't know what it is.

Speaker 2 17:55

Such an old man, I swear.

Speaker 1 17:57

Nah yo man, it's just good, joe, like I don't know where I'm from, like when I'm from.

Speaker 1 18:02

Like people eat, like you get like a pickle onion In a clear bag and you peel that joint and you eat just the pickle onion Like a big, big-ass onion and you just peel that joint, you just eat that shit. Like it's amazing on a hot day, that pickle onion coming nice and cold man look, um, anyway. But yeah, didn't really do much in the years but sleep that shit, just slept in um. But when it comes to the whole new year and all that shit, we all know the gyms are going to be at capacity because people want to turn a new leaf, but they usually fade off after 90 days. Um, but I guess the big thing is, within Another year, older is coming and also it's just like all right. So what is it that you? I'm not the biggest fan of the whole new year's resolution and shit like that.

Speaker 2 19:02

My birthday is in a couple days.

Speaker 1 19:04

Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:08

Shut the hell up. Okay, I'm just thinking about that.

Speaker 1 19:15

But with with new year's resolutions I'm not a big fan of them, but you also do have to, as, as an adult, you do think about like, okay, what do I want to do in this year? Because I feel like if you go into the year and you don't have I don't know something to keep you level-minded or goal, it just feels like you're just doing the same shit every year. Yes, some things will happen in your life, some things will change in your life, but it has to be something that you want in your life to change, or you want something different or something that you want to try. So I don't know I mean this is kind of off the cuff, but I don't know if you thought about it but is there anything within 2024, which is crazy to say that which is 2024, crazy to just fuck to say, but is there anything within this year that you're just like okay, I want. I see that last year something was working or I was doing something and I want to do better at it like, is there something this year?

Speaker 2 20:38

Yes, good question. And, like, for me, 2020 was not a bad year at all. It was probably like my best year as an adult, because I accomplished so much that I didn't think I was going to be able to do, but I did it. So I think this year is like building upon that momentum, and I think a personal thing I want to do this year is try to travel more, like because I do like traveling and so, like I got a passport, I got that last year. I got my TSA pre-check, so I ain't standing in line waiting for TSA, I ain't taking off my shoes, I have clear, so I ain't got to wait. And I have my Dr Plattenhart, which you know. I could just charge my flights on the car and get those miles.

Speaker 1 21:32

But oh, hold on a minute, but before you know. Sorry to interrupt, but I was talking to my stepmother about this when it came to traveling, because they're retiring next year. My dad is retiring next year, well, this year. Excuse me, you know that if you go to like some European countries, you now have to get a visa. Yeah, so if you go to Germany and stuff like that like, they require you to get a visa now, which is crazy, but whatever Good thing you can go.

Speaker 2 22:02

Yeah, so that is a theory too. Yeah, germany is on my bucket list, so I guess I gotta get that visa so I can go. But yeah, so that's one thing for me. I wanna travel and I don't know I wanna. Last year I started working on, like, my credit and getting that situated so I can get a house. I think this year is when I tried to actually get my own house like purchase a house and not rent a house and start that particular process and put on my big girl panties and be an adult. Yeah, so I think that's pretty much what I want. Well, no, and then another thing I wanna accomplish is getting more certification at least three more this year. Yeah, cause you always gotta grow and expand your mind so that's for sure sure.

Speaker 1 23:00

Definitely Okay, very nice, very nice, I would probably say for me. I've been a homeowner for a year now.

Speaker 2 23:16

And he rubs it in.

Speaker 1 23:18

I'm about to see what being a homeowner comes with these damn taxes coming up though. See what this chat looking like when I found these taxes for real. You know what I mean. So we gonna check that out, see if that's looking good or that looking kinda shitty. But I guess for me one of the big things is kind of what we're doing now, the podcast. I will say when I brought this up to Lexi, you know, I was like I think this could work, like the whole podcast scene is already separated with a whole bunch of shit, right.

Speaker 1 24:04

It's already duplicates and all that stuff. But the one thing is who gives a fuck? And I guess that's the honestly, that's the shit you kinda have to go into when you're doing shit who gives a fuck? A whole bunch of shit is saturated, but it depends on I mean, it just depends on everybody has different opinions or every shit's not the same.

Speaker 2 24:29

Yeah, everybody doesn't think the same, you know. And then, even though it's saturated, you know, still do it anyways. Doesn't mean that, like, can bring something different to the table that you know that market hasn't seen before. And then the main thing for us is that we have fun doing it. If you're not doing it for fun, then why the fuck are you doing it?

Speaker 1 24:57

you know, right, that's a big thing. So the podcast is probably something that I wanna see. If we can build better, get it growing a little bit more.

Speaker 2 25:12

So you've got any tips and suggestions? We'll just know.

Speaker 1 25:15

Yeah, please. And a lot of that comes down to just putting more of our stuff out there and shit like that, which I mean honestly, like consistently. On TikTok we have been getting like 200 views and stuff like that. So I mean I say being consistent in seeing it same with, like the Instagram stuff, like we've gotten. This is very small, but it's actually really big for us, like having two or three videos going over like 500 views or like we had one that was like a thousand views.

Speaker 2 25:57

You know what? Let me try to say that I have a challenge.

Speaker 1 26:02

So, you know, having Nat was like oh shit, this is fucking amazing, this is great. So it's just staying consistent with it and all that shit. Another thing for me is I kind of want to, you know, have something. You know I had the podcast, but kind of have a business of my own doing something that I enjoy doing. And it took me a while to think about this because I was thinking about so many different ideas of what to fucking do, because I do so much shit, like Lexi will tell you, like the hobbies that I have.

Speaker 2 26:41

Chow. This may have got hobbies on top of hobbies on top of hobbies and hobbies and hobbies.

Speaker 1 26:46

But the thing is it's if I didn't have them I would feel like I would just I'm just, you know, like what the fuck. So one of the big things that I picked up I say maybe about a couple of years ago, was growing gourmet mushrooms, oyster shiitake, lion's mane, all that stuff, right. And I stopped because I moved into this place and now I have the space to do that and I need to start picking back, picking that back up, because I actually enjoyed the science behind mycology, right. So I guess one of the one of the big things I was also thinking about, I also got into smoking meat, so brisket, chicken, fish, lamb, all that stuff to the point where my first real smoker was made out of a file cabinet.

Speaker 1 27:47

I cleaned it up, got rid of all the paint, removed all that paint, all that toxic shit, everything, sprayed it with a food grade paint, put vents into it and everything like that and it was horrible. It was such shit, it was so bad. But my mom bought me a Smoky Mountain smoker because she knew I was like. She saw me putting this one together and was like, all right, I'll get you a role and it changed everything. Like I love charcoal and wood way better than this stupid fucking pellet grill. I got from this trigger shit. All right, and I know trigger ain't watching this damn video, but I can stand this shit. Oh, we can make you use trigger wood pellets, fuck you. So my goal right now, my goal right now and where I am like, where I live and everything we don't there is no barbecue around me and Everything's in town.

Speaker 2 29:00

You gotta go 45 minutes away. What are you talking about?

Starting a Barbecue Business and Exploring Options

Speaker 1 29:03

There's nothing in your tail. But the thing is it used to be. It was two of them, actually, actually really three, but they're all gone, right, so when? And I can talk about this, whatever. So I posted a question on Nextdoor and I was like what in the hell happened to the barbecue spots that used to be here? And People were like people responded to this like a barbecue spot would be really good here, because they're building apartments and stuff in this area too. Yeah, Can you look at his Starbucks? Huh.

Speaker 2 29:47

Can you look at his Starbucks?

Speaker 1 29:49

You know what's crazy? I was telling my family that I was like I think this area is going to grow faster than what a lot of people expect, Cause where I live it's a whole bunch of old money, Like old country money. Yeah, you know what I mean. So I think it's going to grow faster than what a lot of people expect. And I was like there's no barb, like what, if you want to wake up and you just want like a nice, you want like some brisket.

Speaker 2 30:19

You know one thing you do have that I don't have.

Speaker 1 30:22

What.

Speaker 2 30:23

You got. The McDonald's near you has steak egg cheese bagels and I can't get those here.

Speaker 1 30:29

You like those?

Speaker 2 30:30

Just talk to my sister about those kids. Hold up, wait a minute. I love those things. Okay, I mean, when they stopped selling them, I was like I think I just got out of the hospital for being sick or something and I wanted one, and a boyfriend and a tag company was like, oh, they stopped selling those. I was so mad, I was so hurt and I was so sad cause I love them. I've had one since then, until I went to Tampa.

Speaker 1 30:54

I didn't even know they they. I don't eat in McDonald's.

Speaker 2 30:57

I haven't eaten McDonald's since college, so my go to when I don't know what the fuck I want to eat. It's just I was going to McDonald's and give me a quarter pound or whatever.

Speaker 1 31:07

Okay, okay, yeah, I like let's say it's not a lot of stuff here. I think it's on the move, is going to grow and shit like that.

Speaker 2 31:16

But no barbecue.

Speaker 1 31:17

So you say, you all go to the Starbucks, maybe, who knows, who knows? I might move there if y'all go to Starbucks until I'm not going to be there but we have no barbecue and I was like dude, I think, and here's the thing I brought up to my family. I was like, I think.

Speaker 1 31:34

I want to start like selling barbecue Right. And I was telling this to my stepmother when I was up there and she was like Christopher, the product, the product that you make, is good. Barbecue is good, trust me. If it wasn't, I would tell you straight up. I would be like this is not good, this is disgusting Is this shit.

Speaker 1 31:55

Yeah, right. So she was like your barbecue is good, you make good shit, but it's just, how are you going to? And I had to talk to a friend of mine my friend of mine who works in digital marketing and stuff, and she kind of asked these questions like you're not from that area, so what reputation do you have? What makes you credible to these people that have been here for their whole lives? And you're somebody who just moved in and just bought a house, so what's your credibility? You don't like talking to people. How the fuck are you going to get that shit out there? Because this is my friend telling me this shit, because she knows me. She was like they were already two. Her boyfriend was there too. There were already two barbecue places there. Why did they close? You need to figure out why they closed. Back to that. So I asked that question the next door and I was like why did they close? And this guy was like I heard that motherfucker.

Speaker 1 33:00

He didn't say this, but he was like I heard that motherfucker split up from his wife and he had to close that restaurant down and I was like God damn, okay, I thought it was just bad advertisement. No, it's. Shit happens, life happens, right. So that just honestly, because I heard that it just gave me and them saying, like a good barbecue place would be good around here, it just gave me more encouragement to just be like, okay, this could be a thing. So, within these pads, the time I've been off and stuff, I've been looking for bigger smokers and looking for wholesalers of different cuts Like using my zip code to find sellers in my area.

Speaker 1 33:45

Yeah, you know what I mean. Just because it's not, I'm gonna tell you this it's North Carolina, barbecue is a thing, but it's not really a thing, right?

Speaker 2 34:03

You gotta come here for some good barbecue. Okay, Just say it.

Speaker 1 34:08

What to the place that don't have car inspections.

Speaker 2 34:13

A lot of stuff. But I mean, we have good barbecue, though, like we're no good barbecue, you can't give that to us and be like oh, you know the barbecue's ass. It's not ass, just saying.

Speaker 1 34:25

No, no, no. So it's just looking for a bigger smoker, looking for something that takes real pieces of wood. I've worked with charcoal for a long period of time and like wood chunks and stuff like that. I know how to control flames. I know how to, you know, like, control the flame to the point where it's not a crazy smoke, it's not a black smoke, it's a. You get the clear smoke going. The white smoke is okay, not really, but that nice clear smoke that you get is actually really smoking at me. But anyway, get too deep into that shit. But starting that business and also grooming my mushrooms into the point where I could smoke the mushrooms to give people that don't eat meat, that smoke flavor, you know.

Speaker 1 35:20

And then I also did research and saw that you can smoke jackfruit too and a lot of people substitute, you know, substitute jackfruit for, like, pulled pork. It's a thing, and they put barbecue. So it's a thing, it's a thing, I'm telling you. It's a thing, it's crazy, I know, but it's a thing.

Speaker 2 35:41

I'm not doing that, I'd rather have the mushrooms.

Speaker 1 35:43

To be honest with you.

Speaker 2 35:44

Right, good Portobello burger. Yes, I'm good.

Speaker 1 35:46

I'm all over that.

Speaker 2 35:47

Jackfruit.

Speaker 1 35:49

It's a thing. It's a thing. So you know it's a lot of stuff to go into, a lot of stuff that I've been kind of sitting and thinking and, like I said it's, I told my sister this when she was here and I was like I'm going to be really fucking selfish this year because I have shit that I want to do, and if I can't, you got to be selfish. If you got a plan and you want to do some shit, and that's what I'm going to do. And my sister gave me a high five and she was like God damn right.

Speaker 2 36:21

Got this.

Taking Risks and Setting Goals

Speaker 1 36:24

So that's kind of something that I want to do within this year. Not, this is going to sound crazy. Not a lot of cons and stuff like in my head right now, you know, not a lot at all.

Speaker 2 36:41

I don't really think I'm going to be at many cons this year, like that's not really in my travel plans. I know it's sad to say, but like I don't think so. Like there's a few I want to go to, like I actually want to try to go to Dreamy Hat this year I missed it last year and maybe DragonCon, because I haven't been to DragonCon since like 2018. But I think they may be the only two this year. I won't be at MoMoCon because I'll be on a cruise on MoMoCon. It comes, I don't know, from one of my local con, because it's small and ass.

Speaker 2 37:13

But so yeah, it's.

Speaker 1 37:19

I go to the Playthrough Convention every. I've been going to the Playthrough Convention every year. I might not go this year. There's a con actually this weekend here in and.

Speaker 2 37:28

I know, I know.

Speaker 1 37:30

It's a big new one. It's a. It's a new one. Yeah, I heard I wanted to go. I'm not a lot of cons because you know I'm kind of I have a plan and stuff.

Speaker 2 37:45

One of the man with a plan. Say it again I said you're a man with a plan.

Speaker 1 37:50

Got to be and then I also want to. I've been like thinking about studying like day trading. We'll see you know, I used to work at a brokerage bank, right.

Speaker 2 38:04

Yeah.

Speaker 1 38:05

Yeah. So we'll see how that goes. I don't fucking know. But um, yeah, like I said, I don't believe in whole New Year's resolution. Shit. If you do, hey, more power to you. Get your fucking big ass white your whiteboard and your little eraser marker and you make your what do they call it? Shit's your position for your vision.

Speaker 2 38:29

Your vision for it. Ok, that's what they are. I don't have one. That's not my thing. My thing is putting like positive things, like quotes, places like right now in the fridge, that's like in the corner over there. It says everything is always working out for me. So yeah, that's my positive mantra for me.

Speaker 1 38:53

The vision boards Nothing. If that's the shit, that's just shit. Don't they have like vision board parties and shit like that?

Speaker 2 39:01

Yes, they have those two. Wow, it's a thing.

Speaker 1 39:07

That's wild, wild. But hey, you know, whatever floats your boat, whatever floats your boat, um, but yeah, I'm trying to think if, if there was I mean just going into this new, going into this new year I would, I would say, just have something set for yourself.

Speaker 2 39:30

If you're good where you are, don't just, you know, live your life and I don't want to say don't, I would say Because you don't want to get complacent and consistent and just yeah. So like, even if you're good in life, think of ways to maybe tweak and approve something that's existing in your life.

Speaker 1 39:50

How do you look?

Speaker 2 39:50

better.

Speaker 1 39:52

You know, go for the certs. If there's something that you wanted to do, just do it. That's one of the big things that this is me being vulnerable right now. That's one of the biggest things that I second guess myself when it comes into my head, because I don't want to take that risk, because I don't want to fail. You don't want to fucking fail. And then you, you lose everything. You put so much into this shit and then you lose it. It could be the money, it could be all that shit, and you just lose that shit because of, I Don't know, lack of experience. But in order to gain experience, you have to go through the experience and to gain it, so right yeah, failure is a lesson We'd.

Speaker 2 40:37

Yeah, I don't like anything, but sometimes we have to go through it and, like You're smart, you're not gonna let yourself hit rock bottom. Like.

Speaker 1 40:45

I don't know.

Speaker 2 40:46

No. So like, Even if you did this business and it wasn't successful, you know when to stop. Okay. Or you know when to pivot and like let me try something else and see if I can turn this around. So, right, yeah, I don't. Yes, you're taking a risk, but you're not being one of those people to lay. I'm gonna take a risk, like whatever happens happens, that's. That's not you, not the Lulu, so you'll be fine.

Speaker 1 41:12

I saw this video. Have you seen this? This guy who, like, talks to people that are like in debt and stuff like that you talk about Caleb? Yeah right.

Speaker 2 41:23

Yes, I watch him religiously. Yes, and.

Speaker 1 41:27

Um, it wasn't him, but like it was another guy and Huh is it Ronan? No, it's a black dude.

Speaker 2 41:36

I don't know the black guy, but Caleb does it. He does financial audits, and so this Ronan, ronan's like, I think he's like French or something.

Speaker 1 41:43

He does Caudits too, so yeah but this, this latest dude was like so you um went into entrepreneurship full-time and you left your job. And he was like so how much money did you make? She was like a thousand dollars. Like Like.

Speaker 2 42:05

Okay, so I'm gonna give my little spill here. This is so off topic. It's on topic for this, but it's off topic for our podcast. But like that's not unusual if you can't believe it or not. Like I know people that like Wanted to be like they get into streaming, right, and they dump all this money into streaming. Or they want to be like Okay, I want to be a full-time streamer and have no backup plan and that it doesn't work. And I think one thing about social media it it Doesn't show. It doesn't show downfalls.

Speaker 2 42:46

Like everybody has this delusion that like, okay, I'm gonna quit my job and I'm gonna be a full-time influencer and I'm gonna make all this money and right and then like I don't look at a thousand dollars in my savings, but I'm quitting my job and I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna walk out on faith or whatever and like, okay, cool, that may be amazing for like 5% of the people out there, but what about the 95% out there? That dummy is that same thing. And then now they're back working because obviously that did not work for them. Like I think we need to talk about that more. Like, okay, this didn't work out, you know. So people have that Full picture before they make these kind of decisions. Anyways, getting off my soapbox, I'm shutting up now.

Speaker 1 43:37

No, you're right. You're right, and this is something that we talked about in a past episode when it came to getting your, getting the certs and Finding work and all that stuff. How, like, dude, if I, you, guys, if there's, there's also one thing in this new year what if you see some? If you see a job posting or like you know how, like an ad for like, oh yeah, delta is hiring for customer support engineers. That's not a real thing. Any air, there are no look, delta does not have remote jobs. They don't. And if they do, it's definitely not customer support.

Speaker 2 44:20

It's not a customer support.

Speaker 1 44:21

You have to be in an office for that in Georgia.

Speaker 2 44:25

You have to be in Atlanta. Yeah, like that's or one of the regional or like one of their regional airports. I know this because somebody close to me their mom did that for a hot minute and got the buddy pass. But whatever, cool I didn't get one is quite, you know.

Speaker 1 44:40

I'm so petty about that.

Speaker 2 44:41

But yeah, you have to be on site for those roles, so the ones are going to be remote. Yeah, there are some, but it's Very far in between.

Speaker 2 44:52

Yeah, if you're not in that area, then Sorry, like that's not, it's not a thing, it's not it's even with Southwest, they had like a Co-op like kind of where a lot of companies are doing these now, where they have like these like co-op Internships where you can go learn about the business and tech and whatever, and make money. Southwest is doing one. Well, they don't want last year and a friend of ours is trying to get in. So yeah, even then you can't work remote but you have to go back to the office. I think, like a week after, like a week out of the month, so you're flying to like, and I think this was in somewhere in Texas. So yeah, even if it is remote, you gotta, you gotta fly back. And even like my job, my job is remote but I have to go to Cincinnati next week and you know it happens sometimes. You know, remote work is nice, love it, but you are gonna have to go into the office sometimes, depending on what you do. So right.

Speaker 1 45:57

Sometimes, just because it says remote doesn't mean that you cannot be. I saw something about this recently. Just because it says remote doesn't mean that you can just be anywhere in the fucking world. Oh.

Speaker 2 46:10

No, don't think you can leave the US and work outside, cuz they gonna find out.

Speaker 1 46:17

Right, and they're gonna pay you as such too. Remember that.

Speaker 2 46:20

Yeah, true, right. So say you move, let's say you, you got, you live in New York and you moved to somewhere like Florida. Oh, you better get that for the pay now, because you work in Florida, you don't?

Speaker 1 46:34

Oh, fuck, fuck that. Let's say you live in like fucking New York and you think that you can live fucking three or six months and like fucking Guatemala or something Living. You are living large Because you get in these. You get checks that are Getting sent to you like you're getting paid in New York. That's not gonna happen. They gonna. They gonna find you If you got, if you got a work laptop. They definitely gonna find you because you're logging into a domain and they can track your ads really quick.

Speaker 2 47:11

As a manager, shit so.

Speaker 1 47:15

Just because it's a remote job doesn't mean that you, you can just be any and everywhere. You can't. You just you got to laptop with you. But you know my job, the job that I work, is Truly remote, like truly remote. I can be somewhere else in in work as long as I'm half my laptop. Right, that's that's. You know, that's it. Some jobs are like, yeah, it's remote, but you need to come in here at least two days out of the week. Hybrid, yeah, yeah, you know, at least two days out of the week. Um, um, if I Would also say another thing to share. If you're looking for something new, work wise 10 jobs a day, linkedin. 10 jobs a day. They have easy apply. Now, an easy apply is so nice. 10 jobs a day, every day, monday to Sunday that's 70 jobs a week.

Speaker 2 48:20

Yeah, I agree with you. And and not just that, take it one step further. Like, start networking with like people and those roles that you want to. To be in late, like I don't do it now because Whatever, but like when I was getting into like cyber security, I joined, like LinkedIn has like a bunch of cyber security groups. I joined there and they have like, hey, let's, you know networking posts. You know you post your, what you're working into or whatever, and you know people you know start following you because of what interest you have in that particular field and you know People will hit you up, you know offering, you know to help you along and in jobs and things of that nature. So that's one more thing you can do to start joining groups based on, like, where you want to be, start following people and having conversations and look for late networking posts, you know, and kind of put yourself out there. I hate networking. I hate it, but it is a useful tool.

Speaker 1 49:24

Yeah, it is, it, definitely I. So when my sister and my mama here we went to the, we went to the gun range and I have a shotgun that I have a shot before and I wanted to try it out, so Went to the range. We get, you know, sign up and everything. It's a free range. And Because it's owned by the state, so it's a free range, all you have to do is just sign up.

Speaker 1 49:55

And when we were sitting there watching the video, safety video and the rules and stuff like that, I saw a sign that said Hiring and I was like that's still valid and the color was like yeah, when he start? He said that shit, I swear to God. He was like yeah, when can you start? He's like shine, get you about in January. Damn, I was like for real. So he gave me an applicant. First of all, he gave me a paper application. I have not filled out a paper application and almost 10 years, about 10 years. So that was new. Um, for me that was it wasn't new, but it was just like, oh my gosh, like can I attach my resume and it just fills it in automatically If I don't want to write this shit. So so that was there's no spell check here Um yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 51:00

So you know, um, you never know when stuff will hit and you know I got to try and application and get that process going, but it would be something fun to do because I am into firearms, the safety of firearms and everything. Let me be clear so the firearms is important people. You know this isn't that type of podcast, but I'm talking about it. Let's just put that out there. Um, but, yeah, yeah, um. So, like I said, expect things to be coming from the podcast more posting and stuff like that, different types of, you know, shorts and reels and stuff like that being posted on the Tik Tok, instagram, youtube and also Facebook. Um, also follow those. Um, follow those. Yeah, for sure, for sure, spread the word and everything. Any suggestions that you guys can think of is always welcome. Bad criticism, good criticism, I mean, you know, if you can't take criticism, then what's the point?

Speaker 2 52:10

I don't handle any of that. He handles most of that. Um so keep that in mind when you send it these messages people. I don't, I don't read those messages. He reads those messages.

Speaker 1 52:21

So I'm going to tell you what the fuck it is. Okay, yeah, okay, um, but uh, is there anything else that you want to add?

Speaker 2 52:43

Um, so we'll have a delay in our next episode because I will be out of town that week, so it'll be probably three weeks in between the episode.

Speaker 1 52:53

If anything, um, I'll be just posting stuff, um, or just putting out an update video just as a reminder, like, hey, this is what's going on right now and this is what we have going on, so we'll be back, um. So, yeah, you guys stay tuned for that and thank you for listening and, um, hope you guys have a great 2024. And thank you for just joining us and being with us on this journey and, you know, keep listening.

Speaker 2 53:33

Bye guys. See you guys next time.