Booth Of Love: Mission Trips & Bee Stings

What do booth seating preferences reveal about a marriage? More than you might think.

In this episode of Hey, Are You Still There?, Mike and Beth explore a surprisingly heated relationship debate: should couples sit across from each other or on the same side of the booth? What begins as a funny conversation about marriage quickly becomes a deeper discussion about communication, connection, and what it means to truly be present with the people you love in the middle of busy careers, family life, ministry, and endless distractions.

Mike also takes listeners behind the scenes of Round 3 of the Ultimate Comic Challenge, sharing lessons learned from the world of stand-up comedy, performing for unfamiliar audiences, handling expectations, and figuring out whether a set really worked when the laughs don’t land where you expected. Along the way, we talk about podcast growth, building a loyal audience, whether podcasters should delete their early episodes, and the controversial practice of paying to be a guest on someone else’s show.

In the second half of the episode, we reflect on our week at Love Out Loud Student Camp in Winston-Salem. After leading mission trips and student ministry experiences for decades, we decided to try a local missions model focused on serving our own community. The results challenged, encouraged, and humbled us. We unpack the week’s themes of housing, education, food security, healthcare, mental health, and economic mobility while sharing stories of students discovering that ministry and service opportunities often exist right in their own backyard.

We also discuss what made this smaller camp experience so impactful, the powerful history of Winston-Salem’s Happy Hills neighborhood, and the joy of watching students grow in compassion, leadership, and faith.

Plus: a wasp sting that derailed a video meeting, the unique misery of attending an upcoming outdoor North Carolina wedding in July, and a few other stories that prove life rarely goes according to plan.

If you enjoy podcasts about marriage, family, faith, parenting, church leadership, Christian living, ministry, missions, community engagement, personal growth, careers, and relationships, you’ll feel right at home here.

Subscribe to Hey, Are You Still There? wherever you listen to podcasts, leave a review, and share this episode with a friend. Your support helps us continue having honest conversations at the intersection of marriage, family, careers, and ministry.

Transcript

Booth Seating And Real Conversation

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome back to another edition of the Hate Are You Still There podcast, episode 98. This is a podcast where we examine life at the intersection of marriage, family, careers, and ministry. I am Mike.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

I'm Beth.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Beth, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Irritated with you.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Of course. I I have a uh a hot question for you.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

What?

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Hot take.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

What?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

As they say on the internet. What? Unpopular opinion, hot take, whatever they want to call it.

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Uh, you and I went out for a coffee this morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

We sat down in a booth and had our coffee.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Did you notice what was going on in the booth behind us?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

They were on the same side. Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

There was a couple that was sitting on the same side.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

They were young. I'm rolling my eyes as I say.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

What was your what was your take on that? What do you think? Should couples sit on the same side of a booth if it's just them or should they sit across from one another?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

It feels really weird because didn't we do it one time because we had to or we were waiting for somebody and it just felt weird. I don't like it. Why?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

I don't know because You don't like to be that close to me?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

No, but I think you need to be across from somebody to have better eye-to-eye contact, you know?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Like, unless I don't know, it just They say life happens shoulder to shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Do they? Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's only applies to like talking to teenagers in the car or something that they're more likely to talk to you when they're not making eye contact. But like I would prefer to like see you because I feel like so much of communication is like all your body language and stuff, like me visibly rolling my eyes at you at times and stuff. How are you gonna see that if I'm beside you?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Well, I think the big problem for you is like this morning, you brought half your office with you. And so you had the entire side, you had laptops, you had iPads, you had multiple phones, you had your coffee, you had your whatever.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

It was just like my Bible and my highlight, I had all these things just in case.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

I was just sitting there with a coffee on the other side. I think if you just came in and would just have coffee with me, we could pull that off.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

And let me tell you why we can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

But you treat it like as an office.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Because I talked to you about this before we left, because when you're like, hey, who wants to go with me to get coffee? And I was like, I will. But then I was like, I specifically asked you, is this gonna be one of those times where I can't talk to you because your brain has it warmed up? Because if it is, I'll bring some stuff to work on. And then you said that I could talk to you, but I couldn't ask any hard questions or talk about anything in the future. I don't know what else there is to talk about. Like, what are we gonna talk about? Like you asked me impossible questions about the future. Like, I don't know what we would, I mean, it's like plants, the garden. Is that what we'd be talking about? Like, I mean, I don't know. Anyway, so that's why I was like, I brought all that stuff because your brain, you said, doesn't warm up. I don't know how many hours you gotta be into the day. But like, I wake up and I'm ready to like, you know, solve world hunger.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Listen, I am much like my friend Ross. We are at our peak between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

So you've got that small window. It takes that long to get warmed up in life, and then at five, we shut down.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Oh, we start to land the plane.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And from that time. Okay, got it.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Prepare for landing. That's what happens at 5 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

So you got me from one to five, I am your man.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Oh, okay. Well, soft everybody. I tend to be really busy working and stuff from one to five, so that's why I don't get to see you at your peak most of the time.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Well, but then also I usually take a nap around three.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

I was gonna say, so this is like a ridiculous statement because there's so many times I walk in and I'm like, wait, but what day was it too when I'm hung down? Something had happened, and I walked in and I was like, Did you go back to bed? Like you'd gotten up and eaten breakfast and stuff, and then it was like 9:30 or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

It was 11. And I'm I'm on sabbatical bed.

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I was just like, what is wrong with you? I thought maybe you had like some type of sleep disorder or something. Like it was just so you exhaust me. I probably do, but you know, whatever.

Comedy Contest Pressure And Crowd Vibes

SPEAKER_00 4:10

You exhaust me.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah. So so last night I had round three, the ultimate comic challenge.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

Uh I didn't get to go. This is the first one I didn't go to.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

And it may be the first one time I don't progress.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Because I wasn't there.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

You weren't there to support me and give me your vote.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

And to laugh.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

I needed you to laugh. I needed some laughs last night.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I'm not feeling too good about it. Uh I didn't. I the stuff I did has gotten lots of laughs before. Lots of laughs. But last night, it was a weird crowd. I think I talked on the last episode about how in the second round it was predominantly not white. You know, there's people most of them were people of color, and they were younger, single, but I killed. Like they all loved it.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Right. Which you wouldn't think they would because you wouldn't think single people would be able to relate to all the family type humor.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

Last night, it was essentially a sold-out show at the Idiot Box, if not sold out. There were maybe two people of color in the entire place that weren't comedians. It was crazy. The whitest crowd I've ever seen, right? Even one of the black comics got up and was like, What's going on? 98% white comedians. He was like, Y'all feel safe here now? Um but I uh but Jenny, the owner of the Idiot Box, you know, she got up and was greeting everybody and she was like, Hey, who, this is your first time ever coming. I bet 90% of the people clapped and cheered. I mean, she was like, holy cow! Like it was an all-white crowd. Most had never been to the Idia Box. I don't know if they'd ever even been to a comedy club before. So we just had a had a weird vibe all night. Like, I don't, I can't describe it. It was it was just weird. And so my set, I thought I did pretty well. I thought I had a good tight set, but they just weren't laughing at the parts that people normally laugh at. And I even made a comment to my teacher, Steve, afterwards. I was like, he was like, hey, great job. I'm like, I don't know, man. I was like, I didn't feel great about it. And he was like, you know, he was like, they didn't laugh where you usually get laughs. He was like, but I looked at the people's faces, they were enjoying it. He was like, you know, it was an enjoyable set to them.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Can he tell the difference in the enjoyable smile versus that smile that I do when I'm so uncomfortable I want to die because the person's bombing? Yes. Yeah, okay. Just yeah, because those people had their teeth together.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, that's the way I look. Yeah, you I wish people could see the demonstration. But when it's really bad and I'm so uncomfortable, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

So I'm not expecting to move on. I'm just not. I don't think I was I what first of all, out of the 10 comics, I was by far the least experienced. And I would say the majority of them have been doing this forever, it seems like. And a good chunk of them are trying to make some type of career out of this. You know, like this is a source of them.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Like they travel, they do things, and so Which is mind-blowing to me, because not to be mean, but like I wonder what their other source of income is and how they make that work with like whatever job they have to have to support themselves. Because gosh knows, you're not gonna make money in this. It doesn't feel like for a long, long time. Not real money that you could do to support, you know, like you're barely gonna cover your expenses, it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know how they do that.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

I don't either.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

But I don't I don't know. But so I I was the only clean comic again. Mm-hmm. I was the only one that did not cuss the entire time or do any kind of off-humor jokes. So I don't know. That maybe that helped me, maybe that hurt me. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 7:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

But it was just kind of a a weird night.

A Loyal Listener Shows Up

SPEAKER_01 8:00

It was just kind of a a different night. But we did, it was really cool. We had a, I didn't even know, a loyal listener show up last night, Matt. Matt showed up. He's a I didn't even know he was a fan of the podcast. He told me that he listens to our podcast every week, which I was stunned by. And so he had heard about the show, wanted to come last night. So it was great to have somebody there that was listening. I found out Matt has a twin brother.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Um you didn't I knew oh, sorry, yeah, okay, yeah. Uh-huh. And so I I'm I'm How do you know it was really Matt and not his twin?

SPEAKER_01 8:34

Well, I I could tell. I I think this guy, Matt, he's definitely, I can just tell, the most handsome of the two, the smartest of the two, the most twins? The most successful of the two. I mean, I can just tell that. I mean, anybody that's gonna show up at a comedy club to support me has a lot of people. Oh, it's definitely the best of the best.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Who I draw, like, so it was like a biblical time if there were twins, you know how the firstborn got the and you had to tie like a ribbon, like there's that story where they tie uh something around one of the ankles to know which baby was really the first one out or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Matt's a superior, he's a superior twin.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

He's like, oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, he's already my favorite twin.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

What if you find out though that his twin listens to you and then his twin shows up?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Uh well, I think his twin would have been there.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Oh, okay. Don't you think? Well, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

I mean, his twin he said was local. His twin lives in Greensboro.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Oh, so yeah, so Matt wins because he also made more to get there. Yes, yeah, I can see that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Matt's my favorite twin of that family. So it's cool to have a loyal listener. You have a loyal listener that's been chiming in with you.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

Wow, it was so exciting. I don't think I have ever felt as famous as I did when I saw my friend Sue. So Sue and I worked together at my previous job for years and years and years. And I met Sue before we even worked together because I used to be in for Safe Kidding women attorneys, but also I spoke at something one time and she was there. And then we ended up working together, and she left our job like, I don't know, I can't remember. It's been like a month or so ago. So she has more time, you know? And so she decided that she was going to listen to our podcast.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

And by the time Why has she not been listening to our podcast until now? That's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

She was very busy.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

She was traveling to listen to a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

She was running, she was working. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

If she's traveling, you got all the time in the world to listen to a podcast. Well, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I don't find this as impressive as you has made up for it with her enthusiasm about our podcast because she was quoting things that I forgot that we had talked about. Like, and and she talked about how professional we sounded. I was like, yes, this is what I'm wanting to hear. And then, like at one point, like, so we were having a conversation with our friend Kristen, and I said something, I don't know, something came up about jobs or different generations in the workplace. And Sue's like, well, according to the podcast, most people stay three years, and in the first year this happens, and the second year this happens. And then there was something else I said, and she said, I learned on the podcast that, you know, and she started quoting all these facts.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

And I was just like a lot of people say we have one of the most informative podcasts out there. That's what happens when you have life at the intersection of marriage, family, careers, and ministry.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

One of the most informative podcasts that, like, what was that? Katrina's son said, This podcast is ridiculous but kind of funny. Yes. So I think that's what really drew Sue in the ridiculousness, but kind of funny.

Should Podcasts Charge Guests

SPEAKER_00 11:40

But yeah, so she was quoting it. I felt like I should have been giving out autographs. She was asking us about bringing someone as a guest speaker because she thinks we have that kind of like influence and stuff. But she did tell me something interesting. She said, so her friend's written a book and stuff, that I guess the publisher found some podcasts for her friend to be on, and they charged $700 to have this guest on this on the podcast. This is what we're doing wrong. We need to start charging people like $500. We'll still be a bargain at that.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

I see this a lot. I'm on some podcast forums on the Reddit and also on the Facebook. And this comes up quite a bit. Uh-huh. People ask the question how much do you charge guests for being on your podcast? Right. 99% of the responses are extreme backlash. Right. They're like, you don't charge people for being on your podcast. Like they're giving you content. Like the idea is this is cross-promotion. Yes. I scratch my, you I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Like Which is what I've noticed. And the author, like I read a lot. So like I see that like there's this like group of authors that like they're always like one will have this guest on their podcast, then a few months later it's flip-flopped, and then they're both tagging each other and advertising.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Everybody, I'm telling you, is they that is so taboo in the word, but it's the it's it's they just consider it vulgar. It's a big no-day. Yeah, it's like you don't charge people to be on your podcast. Like you know, somebody wants you on their podcast, you don't charge, like you're not, okay, I'll do it for whatever. You know, it's like, you know, obviously if there's travel involved. Yeah, but a lot of these are hey, I'm gonna be in the same city as you, let's get together and do a podcast. There's nothing, or they do it over Zoom, phone call. Like there's some other way now to link up everything. Yeah. And so the idea, I mean, that's they they think it's a scam. Yeah. They really do. They're like, if you pay to be on somebody's podcast, you're getting scammed.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Well, the other thing we talked about was writing books, you know, because I was just talking about like that and just how you know, when we talked about this a little bit before, but how these industries are so difficult to organically make a go at it. Even if we were making this podcast our full-time career, like and and really putting that into it, or

Book Publishing Hype And Preorders

SPEAKER_00 14:10

like you talk about comedy or any of these things, so I mean, I don't want to say it's not about talent, because of course you well, I would like to say you have to have some talent, but that's like book writing now. Like I read some of these books and I am just like, this is trash. It's not original ideas, it's not good writing, it's not, you know, beautiful writing. But like, it's because there's all these things you have to do in the industry. Like you have to get a big Instagram or Facebook following so that you can have an email list. And then if you can show you have so many people on your email list, you know, then that somehow gives you credibility in the book publishing world. And then they do all these things like, you know, of course, we didn't do this with our books, we just released our books. But people who are doing it like to move up on the New York Times bestseller list, that's why you'll see them for like three months before their books release. They're asking you to pre-order and they'll entice you by like, you'll get a free t-shirt if you pre-order my book or something like that. But it's so the day the book comes out, all these pre-orders are there. And it then they'll be like, I number whatever on the New York Times bestseller list. Well, no one's even read the book yet to know if it's any good, as my as my family would say, in account, you know, but like no one would know if it's any good. Yeah. But cut, but it's so it's all like this numbers-driven crazy thing. And so I just find it, I don't know, it's just such a world, like with the internet and all this stuff. In some ways, like anybody could be a celebrity and make it big any day, you know, just film a YouTube and it takes off, or have a podcast, but at the same time, people do signed copies of books.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

They're like, hey, if you if you pre-order, you get a signed copy.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I've only done that one time. Uh-huh. Like that was, and it because it's often it's the same price as the book would be. They're just trying to entice you to get the pre-sale. And it don't cost them anything to sign something. Yes. And so I did that for I have a Jim Gaffigan book.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Who's a great comedian? Yeah. It was a book he had written, and it's autographed by Jim Gaffigan. But that's the only time I've ever pre-ordered a book. Right. And that came. Right now, Dusty Slate's doing that. I think if you order his book, I think it may come in signed. I think if you do something like that, I think he's doing a special.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

Which speaking of books, Sue said she had ordered your books, and I didn't ask her if she had ordered my book. But it's not Christmas. Why would she order it? Well, she m I don't know to be ready for Christmas. It's Christmas in July coming up. Like lots of people have had Christmas in July, which I fully don't understand.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

But retailers, you know, wanting to make more money in the summer when it's a slow month.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Well, I'm just saying. So that, but yeah, so that was fun though. That was fun talking to Sue and having all these things. The other problem is, you know, she was saying some things, and I was like, yeah, I just show up and I talk. So I literally do not remember things that we talk about, particularly if people are going backwards or if they start at the beginning or people

Keep Early Episodes Or Delete Them

SPEAKER_00 17:05

are behind. Sometimes people bring up stuff, and I'm like, how did you know I did that? Or when did I say that?

SPEAKER_01 17:11

You know, and that's another topic that's also in the podcast forums is you know, you start out, your first at least dozen podcasts are rough. Yeah. Ours is bad. Yeah. We didn't really have a good mic system. We didn't have a flow or format. You go back and listen, they're horrible. They're terrible. So that so the question is do you take those down? Right. You know, like do you do you just delete them and force people to start when you think the podcast got really took off and was good? Or do you just leave it so people can like organically just see your improvement?

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Like most most improved player, most improved podcasters, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

So I leave ours up because I I relate it to like well, I mean, it's like mad dog. A loyal listener, Mad Dog says. You know, like he's a you know, he said our our podcast was like Seinfeld, you know, it's it's it's a show about nothing, but sometimes something.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

That's ridiculous, but funny. And we need to put all this on the shirt. A really long time.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

It's a miracle of the show Seinfeld even made it past the first season. Right. Because that first season is rough.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yeah, it's not great. It is not good.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

The second season really is okay, but not great. It really did not start getting good till the third season. So I feel like but you want to go back and watch those early seasons occasionally just to see the progression, right? To see how it went from season one when most people thought it would be canceled, yeah, to now the greatest TV show comedy of all time.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

And that's what's gonna happen with that when we have the greatest podcast of all time. People will go back and be like, Yeah, let's see how they got their fresh start.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

I mean, there's scripture that backs that up. It says, you know, do not be ashamed of humble beginnings. And so I'm not, I'm not ashamed of our humble beginnings. And still it's up there. You can go, episode one, meet meth. Remember, I wanted to call our podcast meth.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

I think that was a good call. By the way, we might have more listeners. Just so you know, Sue and Kristen also talked about you being funny and how funny you are, and that they want to come hear you be funny.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

And plus, they they like the idea that most of my comedy is making fun of you. They do like the comedy. And so they want to come hear me make fun of you.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Yes, and because they know me, they can envision.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

I needed them there last night.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Yeah, I know. I know. I'll have to I need them all. Yeah. But I will say about the podcast, the one thing I will say though, too, I just don't know that most people go back, because I'm thinking about my podcast listening. What usually happens to me is I will be looking for something specific and or somebody will recommend a certain episode of a podcast. I find that, and then I probably listen to everything going forward after that. And if I'm going back, I don't go back to number one and start. I usually then scan like the descriptions and stuff and see and see what like might be appealing. So I don't know, because I would think if human nature was somebody's like, oh, I must go back to number one and start. I can see why people might be concerned and take down the first podcast, but I just don't think that is human nature. Like, at least not based on you and me. And obviously, we're a good sampling of what humans do. Yeah. Yeah. This is great science too. The two of us do.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

I do want to encourage anyone who's interested in listening, or if Sue has not done this yet, just go ahead and download them all.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Go ahead and just download. I don't care if you listen to them, download them because then that ups our downloads. Yes. So you don't

Clean Comedy Gigs And A Blueberry Tooth

SPEAKER_01 20:40

have to listen to them. You either listen or download.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

Just and it's funny because And also, Sue, if you could give us five stars. Now, if you don't want to give us like a five star, just don't review us. Maybe that's why we don't have more reviews. Maybe people are like, well, that's it. If you're not gonna give us five stars, don't do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

I mean, I don't I've never reviewed We're Having a Good Time podcast with Dusty Slay. I've never reviewed the Nate Land, which is now whatever it's called, public figures. And I listen to them every week.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

So, you know, it's yeah, I think people just don't take the time. You know, I mean, Dusty talks about this. The people who don't like you will take the time to write stuff, right? But the people who like you will not.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Like that one time somebody wrote something about our church, like that we didn't return a phone call and we never had evidence the person ever made a phone call or something, you know, like that's the kind of thing that somebody will go and do. And yeah, it's kind of that part's a little disheartening and difficult. But yeah. So yeah, but that was exciting having Sue do that. That was that was very exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:43

One last thing on the comedy thing I just thought about and we'll move on from this discussion. I knew there was a lot of comics that have signed up and competed in the Ultimate Comic Challenge that came from all over the Southeast. But last night, Jenny said there was 108.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

108 comics entered the Ultimate Comic. Challenge and now we're down to 30. So I made the top 30. I mean, I feel like that's that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

I'm proud of that. I feel like we should do something like that. Maybe that needs to be a fundraiser for one of our mission trips. We'll host some kind of comedy thing now that you're breaking into this world and have it and like have all these people come, our own comedy challenge. I mean, we're gonna allow any comic, clean or unclean. Well, that's a good point. I don't know. I mean, our church doors tend to be open to anybody, but you're right, that would be okay. If we did the clean comic challenge, we'd have five people from across the United States that would come that would beat you because there just aren't that many. You know?

SPEAKER_01 22:38

There's another comic, Jay Stradler, I think is his name. Jay is the guy you've seen him perform. He wore the big red shirt that said, vote for Joe.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

I've actually been on a couple of shows with him, but super nice guy. He was telling me last night. He was like, I'm trying to get a video of five clean minutes. He was like, I don't have it. He was like, I'll finish a set, and I'm like, all right, that's five clean minutes. Like I didn't cuss. He's like, I go back and watch it, and I said the F word like six times. He's like, I don't even realize it now. That you've done it, yeah. He's like, there's this friend of mine named Blair, I don't know, whatever name is, and he was like, she's a booker. And he was like, she wants, she was like, Oh, I can book you in like corporate gigs or other stuff. She was like, I need five, like, they don't want like you can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yeah, because then we'll have as the employment lawyer, I'd be like, I can just see the hostile work environment claims and discrimination claims and all that would come from like some of that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

So he was like, Yeah, I gotta get five minutes on video so I can give her so she can get me booked. But but I was thinking, it's you haven't been able to do this yet. Let's say they you do it, they get the five minutes. Yeah, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna be able to do that again?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

And for 45 minutes or something, because most of the time, if you get booked for something like that, they're gonna want something a little longer. They're not gonna want five, they're not gonna pay you to come in. Let's have this five-minute like, you know, talk or whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

So that's so I did say I was like, who's this girl's name? Because I'd like to get in touch with her.

unknown 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

I told him that. He told me her name. He's like, Yeah, just look her up on my Facebook. She's so I'm gonna reach out to her. I think you should, yeah. I'm a clean comic.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Because I'm ready. I mean, again, I know people may think joking, because right now Sue is a lady who lunches. That's what she says she is, but I am ready to be a kept woman. So, and I'm not ashamed to say it, like I'd be good with it. So I'm ready for your career to take off, or for us to get like bougie things. It was funny, Maria is I know it will shock everybody, but she's at Disney with friends, like, and they're celebrating her birthday. And they went to some place to eat, and she, because you know, there's always new stuff opening and stuff. So she texted me and she was like, Oh, and it was very bougie. You would like it. And I was like, I do like bougie places. So anyway, that's what I'm ready. I'm ready for you to get some bougie gigs, you know, like that kind of thing where I can be treated like in a bougie way. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

No, this is not gonna be riveting podcast, but I'm gonna take a picture of you right now. No, no, no, no, no, no. On your camera, you're gonna delete it. Oh I smile big. Smile big for me. Uh-huh. It's something in our teeth. I'm gonna see here. This is what I've been looking at the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Oh, I've got like, how did I what is it in my teeth?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I don't know, but I've been staring at it the whole time and I'm like, has it?

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Oh, it's a blueberry. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

I've been is she uh I've been looking at you thinking, has Beth been dipping and she hadn't told me?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

It looks like it looks like that time when you didn't have a tooth and you went around toothless. It looks like part of my tooth is moving.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Let's see, is it out now? Yes, it's out now.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

I have blueberries in my face.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Sorry, I kept staring at your tooth the whole time. I couldn't even concentrate.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Why did you not tell me? So I've been at Panera talking to you that to your friend Jacob and stuff. I didn't notice until just now. Thanks. I know it's been in there. Oh, this is so embarrassing. Please text him and tell him I don't usually have to be able to get away. I'm sorry, my wife didn't brush your teeth. Yeah. I did brush my teeth. Then how'd you miss it? I don't know. I mean, I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

You get so many cavities. You don't have to brush your teeth.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

You walk around with blueberries crammed in the crevices. Okay. Well, anyway, one time, you know, that would have helped your comedy routine if you'd had your toothless act. That time you didn't have a front tooth. Which, by the way, just as an aside for dental insurance, they consider replacing a tooth with an implant cosmetic. That's what's wrong with the I mean, you know, the insurance.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

We could have bought a car for what it cost me to fix that too.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Yes, we could have, because it was so expensive. And the reason it's not just cosmetic, even though it was your front tooth, is because your teeth will shift. If you don't do that, your teeth will move. So that just makes me furious with dental insurance. Just like I am blind without glasses or contacts. Who out there in the world decided that being able to see was not something that health insurance should cover? That you would have to have either separate vision insurance or pay that out of your own pocket.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

You, Stevie, and Ray have been fighting this battle for your whole life.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Just saying no. But like for real. Like I was thinking about like, I have, you know, I had this like spend account or whatever, and it will show like what you've spent your money on, and you can put some pre-tax dollars in it and stuff. And it's like this pie graph, and there's this thin little sliver that is like copays and prescriptions. And then there's this massive part of the pie chart that's vision and another big massive part that's dental. And I'm just like, this is ridiculous. Anyway, sorry, I don't know how we got on that. But yeah, I thought what because you had food in your teeth. I thought you were gonna look at my phone because you always pick the content for this podcast in this

Why Video Podcasts Change The Show

SPEAKER_00 27:55

morning. You were like, what should we talk about? And I was like, oh, we got all kinds of things to talk about. And I was like, oh, we could talk about like looking at a condo for Maria, and you're like, oh, that's just riveting stuff. You think the audience is gonna be like, oh, Maria looked at a condo. Let's talk about that more. What other nonsense do we talk about on here all the time?

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Like I think food in your teeth is much more riveting than Maria's condo.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

The food in my teeth would have been more riveting if people were watching it and seeing it.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

But like I have become fundamentally opposed to video podcast. Why? I just don't I, you know, like there, and that's a source of debate also online. Is a podcast still a podcast when you go to video?

SPEAKER_02 28:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

To me, a video podcast, especially when you have more than one person, especially when there's more than one person, is someone's attempt to be a talk show host. You know, like, hey, I can have my own talk show and I don't have to worry about being canceled by the network, you know, like I can do as much as I want, whenever I want, that kind of thing. It's like if you're on video on YouTube, that's fine. Just say you're a you're a video caster. I don't know what, but you're not a podcast.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

The other thing that I don't like about it is I feel like once they start moving to video, then they start to do things that revolve around video. So for example, I was listening to a podcast, it's like a wellness podcast, and there was this nutrition person on there, doctor or something, talking about like, you know, five things to do to stay healthy and some exercise tips. But then they were like, no, we're gonna go into the kitchen and video you making the smoothie. And they're trying to describe as they're making the smoothie, like how much spinach she's putting in the blender and stuff. Well, the people who are looking at it can see that and can see like the products they hold up. So anyway, it it does interfere, I think, with the listening experience because if you know you've got stuff on video and some people are watching it, I think there's a tendency to start doing video like things that you wouldn't do if you knew no one can see anything that you're doing. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

Yeah, like sometimes you just sit in here in your underwear and do it.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

No, I don't ever sit in my underwear. I do not ever do that. So the listeners No, I have not. I do walk in here with your nightgown on and I don't. I have on my like today is a Saturday, by the way. So I've got on my Re Three t-shirt, which is really good.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

You look like you're going golf. You got black pants, black shirts.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

I have black leggings, and I have my black re three t-shirt. Which, by the way, at the camp that Josh and them were at, it it was a flashback to the some of the OG Re Three shirts. The tree that they have with the roots. I was like, did they take our logo, or was that one of those like things that you know ever anybody could get? Anybody could do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

I kind of but Danielle was so happy because Danielle, that tree shirt we had from the original, the very original 13 years ago re three shirt that had a tree on it. That is her favorite shirt of all time.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

And Danielle was so happy to see that she got another tree shirt.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

But I wish I would have gotten a tree shirt.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Well, maybe if you'd come and participate, then well, I had started

Switching From Group To Local Camp

SPEAKER_01 31:00

a new job.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

It was my second week at a new job. I didn't think that I could be like, oh, I'm sorry, I need to step out for multiple hours a day or take these days off to go be at work camp, you know, so at a camp.

SPEAKER_01 31:12

So we broke away for the first time in, well, for me, since really like 1998.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

That was our first, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

I mean, you think about that, it's almost 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

So we took our first youth group to a group mission trip back in 1998.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Everts, Kentucky, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 31:28

Yep. And and and we had a great experience with that. We've been with group ever since. I've been speaking with as a camp speaker since I think 2001, maybe 2002.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

And then I don't remember when I started doing the program team, but I was the program team backup and photographer for years ago.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Well, I mean, I think you were with me out in Montana.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

But I was a camper. I was an adult camper in Montana. I think it was a year or two after that that I did started the photography instead of actually doing the physical labor piece, being on stuff.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

You know, I had nothing but fond memories with group. But felt like my time at group was coming to an end, and because of a bowed out in January of all my group responsibilities. I have a good friend, Chris Dolan, who is a contractor by trade, owns his own business, his own building company, does custom home builds. He volunteers with the organization Love Out Loud, who we've worked with.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

We've worked with a lot.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

A lot. Chris before the city, Chuck's Bong, Sarah's Bong, you know, great friends of ours. Love, Love Out Loud.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

They do great things in our in our city and community.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

And so many people like at our Hope Center, like Mark and people like that, work with Love Out Loud. So we have a lot of connections to Love Out Loud. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

They, as Chuck would say, we cross-pollinate.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Ooh, Chuck has some good Chuck just says stuff stone soup or whatever. Chuck has some good. I love that the cross-pollination.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

I hope he comes back from sabbatical with even more good imagery like that and words.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

And I don't think Chuck listens to us, but I know Sarah used to be, I don't know if she still is. I haven't talked to her in a bit, so I need to reach out. A loyal listener. So I hope she goes back and lets Chuck know that we are waiting with bated breath. Just to next Chuck ism. Yes. Like, what is he going to say that we were like, ooh, I'm going to hold on to that. So anyway, you you're cross-pollinating.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

We cross-pollinate a lot at Love Out Loo. Re3 does. And so Chris, for the last, this is his ninth year, has put on what he calls the Love Out Lao student camp, which is a mission trip right here in Winston-Salem.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

You know, right in our backyard. We're in Kernersville, but we're in the same county as Winston-Salem. And so Chris has asked in the past about us coming, and but we've been loyal and, you know, to group.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

And can I interject one thing too? And I don't mean this to be mean, but like I was kind of like, why would we want to do that right here in our backyard? Not because I don't love serving our community, but because we run the Hope Center. We have all these things that we already do in our community. So it's not like we're people who aren't involved in our community. And I was kind of concerned that our kids would be like, well, why would I want to go to something kind of like, okay, our Maria didn't necessarily she she's at a great college, but she wasn't thrilled about going to college in the same city she went to high school.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

And even if she's a good thing, USA School of the Arts is a top 10 film school in the nation.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Yes. In the United States.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

But Maria was like, oh, I guess I'll go. But it's 20 minutes away from our house. So to her, it doesn't feel exotic enough.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Right. It wasn't like going and living at the beach or in a big city. And so that was my concern initially when I heard about the camp because I was like, is this really going to appeal to not just the kids at the church, but even my own child, Josh, went, you know, who went to school. Well, still goes to school and went, you know, has spent his whole life in school in Winston-Salem. So like, is this really gonna be something that he's gonna be excited about?

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Yeah, and I think it kind of gets in your mind, too, at least in mine. We could do this camp 51 other weeks on the week. Right. Yeah, we could there's any time we can go volunteer with this service or do this. So we've always gone away.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

But a spoiler, I stand corrected. So I've I've changed, you know, like this was a uh, I will say I will go ahead and foreshadow that like that those assumptions I can admit when I was wrong about something. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

Like Chris had to admit he was wrong about Danielle.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Yes. We won't go into detail on that.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

But neither would I listen to podcasts, so it don't matter. But yeah, so so we decided this year to team up and partner with Love Out Loud Student Camp. We sent our youth that we sent one of our adults, Danielle, went and stayed the whole week with our youth. Laura popped in every night when she got off work. I was there all week long.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

I only got to pop in very briefly during my lunch break at one work site, which I'll talk about in a minute. Tuesday or something. And then I got to go Friday night to the closing stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

I had a blast. Like I I absolutely had a blast. They invited me this year to do the

How The Student Camp Actually Works

SPEAKER_01 36:15

morning devotions every day. And I did that and loved it. And I think there's, you know, uh being with Group for as long as I have, Group is the premier youth ministry mission trip mission organization in the country. The premier. They've been doing it a long time. They've been doing it almost 50 years. They've done hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of camps. We've done a bunch of those camps. They've got it, it's a well-oiled machine.

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

And so I think there's some things I can bring from that experience to the student camp that would help a little bit, you know, tighten some things up and bring some fresh perspective. The group that puts it on, um, it's about, I don't know, we'll say 10 adults. They've been putting it on since day one. So for nine years, this same group of adults have done this camp and they volunteer their time, they don't get paid to do it. You know, I essentially I think Chris shuts down his company for a week. And a lot of those folks, well, all those folks that work for him at that company come and work on this dude at camp for the week. And so it's it's pretty cool. And but when you do that, I think sometimes you develop some some blind spots or you get into routine. So I felt like that's what I was able to add.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Because you're the outsider coming in, almost like in my new job, you know, like there's been people there forever, and I'm the outsider coming in and saying, and not in a bad way, but just wait a minute, what is happening? What are we doing? Yeah, why are we doing it this way? Yeah, yeah. And you're just asking, but just by asking the question, somebody's like, oh, well, we didn't know that wasn't self-explanatory, or we didn't, you know, it makes you think about things. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Uh yeah. So I was so Chris early on when we committed to this camp, invited me to start being part of the leadership team. So I just started coming and sitting in, meeting some of the other adults, kind of learning a little bit of what they were doing. But I was still a complete loss when we got there on Sunday. Like I didn't have a clue what I was doing. But one of the things I think they used to do, they would do these morning devotionals, but they would have a different person do a devotional every day. And so I just suggested, I'm like, let's I'll do the I'll do the morning devos every day because that way there's some continuity.

SPEAKER_03 38:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

You know, and they have a different speaker every night, which is fine. And I think the way that we worked it out, I think that it was a nice rhythm. I'm curious when we have our debrief what they thought. Yeah. I liked having, even though it was me, having the same person start off every day because I there was that continuity. And then at lunch every day, all the students, even though they went to like five or six different work sites, would all meet back up together for lunch. And every day they had a different theme. Like Monday was housing, uh, Tuesday was education.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

There was like health and mental health. Mental health was yesterday, um, economic mobility, that was Thursday, and Wednesday was food and security. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

So they have like the five greatest needs of our area. And so they had experts come in and talk to the kids about it and and answer questions and things like that. I thought that was phenomenal. And most of them were amazing speakers, like really engaging. I mean, really good stuff. And I was proud of these students. They asked a lot of good questions and and it was good. And then at night during the worship time, they had different speakers. Every night there was a different speaker. So that's just the way they did things.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

And a full band of amusement, which was impressive. That was unexpected. Yeah, that was really impressive.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

That was really cool. So it was that's kind of the day, you know, and then the kids work at sites in the mornings and the afternoons. But I loved it. Like I and the our youth loved it. Our youth were like, this is where we want to come back to next year. And so I'm hoping.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

And the other thing that was cool about it is that you can make a choice to be like a day camper or to stay. And so for like Josh is older now, he can even drive himself, and he's our more introverted kid. And so for him, he even said he didn't mind getting up early and leaving late. And it's not like he's never been away and stayed at camp, but for him to get to come home and shower and sleep in his own bed, that gives him enough time to kind of like, you know, decompress and get ready to keep it. Yeah, and then go back. But then some of our other kids wanted to stay because they loved like being there at night. But also the reason I stand corrected, and I think one of the things, first of all, Josh said he got to see a lot of things that he had not seen before. So as involved and invested as we are in our community, you know, there was stuff he had not seen,

History Lessons At Happy Hills

SPEAKER_00 40:55

organizations he had not worked with. And the other thing is one of the places, I think it was where he said he was Friday. It was one of the community gardens. He was like, I'm I may see if I can go back and volunteer there. And I think I had underestimated that as well. Like a student who lives here being able to find something that they love and then continue volunteering there. So I thought that was really neat. The other thing is the day that I got to visit, so I went to college at Salem College. And when I was in college in the 90s, there was this neighborhood, Happy Hills, that was back right by college. And a lot of people at Happy Hills used to like work at the college and stuff over the years and stuff, but it was a very dangerous area. And we didn't have back in the 1900s, we didn't have air conditioning in these like dorms, you know, that were older and you didn't have central air. So you would sleep with your windows open and you might hear gunshots, you might hear stuff. I mean, it was it was crazy because again, it was just an unsafe area. And I had not been in that area in a while. And Josh worked on Tuesday. Well, he worked two days at a community garden and doing a bunch of stuff. And I went over and got to meet very briefly the two ladies that were there, and they've made, they call them shotgun houses. They had two. One is still one of the older ones that needs that they're raising money and working to revitalize, and the other one has been made into like a museum. So you walk in, and when you walk into the house, there's like all this information up there, sort of about the Happy Hills community, but also about the house and what they've done with the house. So the gardens outside where the kids were working, but they have like a whole leg they have a thing about shotgun houses, a legacy of African design and American resilience. And so they talk about how these houses were designed. And then it had like a piano that was my grandma's piano. They had this great sign that showed all the residents of that house and had some pictures. So it showed the people who had actually lived in that shotgun house, and they had the story of Happy Hills, which was really cool. And then they had like a little bedroom with an antique bed made to look like it would look, or stove, like people would have done things. One of the really cool things is they had an education timeline that had historically black schools, and they have the year that they open and the school listed, and then they have these pens, and you can put the pen in to the school if you went there. And so the late I wasn't there when this happened, but the lady that was doing it said, you know, like because my son Josh went to Atkins High School, he was able to put a pen in there because he actually attends one of the schools. And so that was really neat. So they just and then they had what was called the green. stamps in the green book because before what back when things were segregated, there was like a green book and it would tell people like safe places that that it you know that you could stop and eat or or do things like that. So they had like a sample of that and they had a book that showed the restaurants and places in Winston-Salem that would have been safe for them to go. So it was like they and they had like a 25th anniversary edition of the green book that you could look at. It was a guide for vacation and stuff. It was just really, really neat. And it was just really cool. I was super excited to see what they're doing there. And I was super excited for Josh to meet these ladies and just see that work and to see the pride in that community. Another thing Josh got to do he said it was a little stressful but he and Danielle worked on a roof putting shingles on. So you know and they take safety seriously so Micah told me because I asked about this but like you said Chris and some of the other guys had shown them like how to sit on the roof.

SPEAKER_01 45:05

And it was cool because way I've done roofing but only at work camps. And I remember early on it may have been one of the first or second work camps I ever did. So late 90s the crew I was an adult chaperon with we we did roofing. And then every year after that you know you fill out this form with group like what is your skill like what do you what have you done what do you know how to do and I would mark I've done roofing and so I was on roofing sites every year for like five years. But I had not roofed since early 2000s. And so to see Josh up there now getting to roof and group got rid of roofing a long time ago. It was just insurance they just didn't feel like they felt like it was too much of a liability so I was I was it was a little like wow they still let kids on roofs and and do roofing. And this house was tall I mean it was a split level. So there was part of it that was two stories and it was quite a ways off the ground. Yeah it looks like you know Josh and the other students were you know putting on that first row of shingles right across the Eve or right across you know the where the gutter system is. And so it's it was cool. It was I was glad he got to experience that and he had a good time doing it.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

The other thing just one super quick proud moment well one thing too that they did that was neat is y'all would go to different churches and stuff to eat. And so I think having different churches host like feeding the kids and stuff.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Yeah every day a different church would host for lunch and a different church would host for dinner.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Yeah so that was cool. And some restaurants donated food I guess or something they said. So it truly is like a community like investment which is one of the things love out loud that we've been very involved in the past Christmas for the city for years. But that was part of what Chuck Spotting and Sarah who we talked about envisioned was like having this thing where the community's giving and the community comes together. And in a lot of ways that's what you know this camp felt like these different places being invested and having these kids come. I think the other thing I liked is like it was this nice little it was a little smaller than some of the other camps but not too small. So there was still good energy but I could see on Friday I was like oh if I'd have been here I'd have probably been able to get to know every kid here just a little bit you know and I think it just had their their more relaxed vibe to the the people who are putting it on Chris and them and they did this nice thing too every kid gets this little thing like a silver or gold thing and you can work up to getting a gold hammer but they do a thing where you get something each year. So every kid gets at the end their name recognized and stuff and that would be really hard to do if the camp was too large but this camp too because most of our group mission trip work camps were two 200 feet.

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Yes and so you can this camp was 70 yeah you know so it's it's very manageable.

SPEAKER_00 47:57

But Josh really enjoyed it and one of my other favorite things was just at the worship I I call it the softer side of Danielle and then seeing Josh do it. But there was one kid there that was a lot of kids would kind of storm the front during the music and like you know jump and dance and sing. And this one kid would sit by himself and so Danielle was like oh that's my best friend I'm gonna go sit with him and Danielle is not like anybody that you think about having a best friend that they'll go sit with. You know, it was out of character for her. But I caught the softer side of Danielle. So she went and sat with this kid but then she had gone stepped out and was talking to one of our adult parents at the back for the very last song and Josh said oh he said I'm gonna go sit with him and later Josh said why some I'm looking around and it looked like he was looking for Danielle he'd look sad. And so Josh was like I'm gonna go sit with him or stand with him during this song. So anyway it was just neat seeing like your kids you know because Josh was always the youngest kid at everything. You know, everything we've ever done he's been kind of the younger one tagging along with the older brother and sister to youth things and stuff, you know? And so it was just kind of interesting and different for me to see him as like one of the oldest kids, you know, kind of recognizing somebody younger and going and standing with them. So that was just kind of a really sweet sweet moment. But yeah it was fun it was different. I'm excited about I hope I can figure out some ways to help and be involved next year with it. So yeah I think it was great.

SPEAKER_01 49:32

Yeah I loved it. I thought we had a good time and as far as I know we'll be back again. And yeah looking forward to that.

Sweet Youth Group Moments At Worship

SPEAKER_00 49:40

The last story I was going to tell what she thought but I'll make it really short. But I had like I've had like an I'm week two I've had two weeks on my first job and the first week my computer crashed I won't go through the whole saga of everything that happened with it but anyway so that was a little stressful. On Monday so I have I my office is on our glass stand back porch and it's perfect because it allows me I I love to be outside but obviously I can't be outside because it's a thousand degrees and by the way shout out to all these people out roofing and gardening when I say I know I said a thousand degrees but truly it was 95 and felt bad. Every day it was brutal heat and the boys showered outside in makeshift showers like this was brutal brutal heat this week anyway but I like my glassed in porch because I can you know every once in a while look over and see a bird or whatever and it just feels there's lots of light and so it's just a great place to work. Except somehow Monday sitting there video on sound on in a meeting like only three of us so I can't you know do much and I

Wasp Sting Drama During New Job

SPEAKER_00 50:50

put my arm down and this awful pain like on the underside of my right arm a wasp I guess it was a wasp had gotten in somehow and landed on me and when I put my arm down it stung me but I was on video and the salmazon so I just I know I probably like jumped a little but I was like I can't react I don't know these people I mean if it had been my old employer where I knew everybody I'd have been like yo I believe what just happened and I would have probably been very reactive but I like just held it together and sat and did the entire rest of the meeting just like nothing had happened. And you know it hurt and burned a little bit and I was like okay well you know hopefully I'll put some cream on it wash it off whatever and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 51:38

You act very nonchalant about that right now.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

You were sending the family chat a pen that was the next day.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

No it was that day you said I just got stung by a bee blah blah blah blah blah blah like going on and I said this is what you need to do. Yes and I laid out for you what you need to do.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

So anyway I got off of that but I did everything and I thought well I'm gonna survive it's gonna be okay. I went to bed was itching and stuff some at night but woke up the next morning I am not exaggerating when I say from my armpit to below my elbow on the underside of my arm was bright red hot to touch like it was a murder hornet. It itched that's what you started saying I was like you are not helping this scenario. I cannot describe how badly it itched and nothing helped and I took all this medicine and stuff the only thing that helped was keeping an ice pack on it and then they're like you're not supposed to directly have it in contact with your skin I didn't care. That was the only thing that helped but anyway that happened Monday and I still it's some better but I still have some residual stuff and when I get hot or sweaty it gets even itchier. But anyway that was part of my other drama so I was just like is anything else going to happen to me in this like first you know few weeks of this job like well it's about to

Outdoor July Wedding And Suit Regrets

SPEAKER_00 53:00

get hot and sweaty in just a couple of hours. Yeah because we're going to an outdoor wedding in July.

SPEAKER_01 53:05

Yes so I have a we have great f great friends of ours their daughter's getting married she asked me to do the wedding uh which is great very very honored to do Danielle's wedding and not the other Danielle we've been talking about a different Danielle younger Danielle so yeah I'll do it Rawl asked me this past week he said I hope it's inside I'm like surely it's inside I'm like who would get married outdoors in the in North Carolina in the middle of July well Danielle's getting married outdoors in the middle of July. Also is it at 2 o'clock at 2 o'clock the hottest time of the day fortunately uh it we're having a cold front today so it's only gonna be 91 yeah it's crazy I got there last night for the rehearsal so my day yesterday was crazy I was at the work camp until say three o'clock came up came home had to shower because I was just nasty drove 45 minutes to where this wedding's gonna be got there and it's like what we're outdoors like she never told me this and and so went to the rehearsal went had a little dinner I was dripping wet again I was just like oh my God then I had to drive back 30 minutes to Greensboro to go to the Idiot Box and so I also don't think I was at my sharpest last night. Yeah which could affect the way I perceived things last night too I was tired. I mean that was just a lot in one day but yeah two o'clock this afternoon we're gonna be standing in the woods because it's in the woods where it's at so but in the heat just doing a wedding so and I was and I asked her I was like what what do I need to wear and she's like well whatever you want I'm like nah we ain't playing that game like what do you want me to wear she kept saying whatever you want whatever you want I was like I'll just go ask your mom so I went and asked the mom and the mom was like said the same thing whatever you want I was like just tell I was like what is everybody else wearing she was like suits I was like then okay then I need to wear a suit like you can't tell me to wear whatever you want and I show up in khakis and a golf shirt and everybody else is in suits so I'm gonna be in a suit at two o'clock this afternoon dying sweating profusely I'm sure at this wedding so well one other thing loyal podcast

Condo Hunting Awkwardness And Free Furniture

SPEAKER_01 55:35

listeners if you have furniture or anything laying around that Marie might be able to use for a condo let me know maybe that's another way we get free cool stuff.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Maybe yeah I mean we want good stuff we don't want I don't want yeah I want nice stuff yeah definitely super nice we don't want your cat stained like you know been in a basement for 40 years you know grandma died on it rusted or like falling apart or you know yeah so Maria and her one of her good friends we the condo we went for her to look to rent is possible she's probably gonna be moving on yeah thank goodness and out of the house. I don't agree with that I'm gonna miss her and I don't want her to leave yeah because you don't go upstairs and see all her junk laying all over the place. Well just don't go upstairs and then it won't be like an issue. Then let's sell our house and buy a ranch no I am saying Maria does have a lot of stuff so we're gonna try the method that we tried when she moved to school of the arts from because she'd moved home from Disney and didn't have to unpack. And so now we have just like storage bins in our garage upstairs we have random stuff and so you know it's like we're gonna take all that with us to wherever she moves. She's gonna look through and anything she doesn't want you know unless we have a reason that we have to keep it like sentimental value or something but like you know like she was so much she has like this bin full of all these plastic dishes or something you know like from Target that she had when she was at Disney working there. She may end up getting rid of that if they get better dishes, you know, or maybe she'll keep them there. But they don't need to be in a bin in our garage or upstairs you know so we are going to get rid of hopefully a lot of stuff. Hopefully I hope yeah well I'm gonna end on this story.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

This was the only I thought embarrassing part of condo hunting or apartment hunting was you and Maria got there first. I was coming from work camp so I got there a little bit later the morning we took a tour of the place I walk in and like the owner is looking at your arm. I was like what is going on? You found out he was a PA yeah he's this is a condo he bought to rent, you know like investment property. Yeah and you you found out he was a PA. It came up organically and you were like oh well why I got you can you look at my arm and I'm like we don't you just met this dude five minutes ago like he's gonna charge you a copay.

SPEAKER_00 58:01

Like this is No I wasn't telling him to diagnose me. Yes you did no you were like do I need to go to the doctor because I was trying to figure out do I keep waiting it out or do I go to the doctor? Because this is like it's getting redder it was getting bigger anyway it was any loyal listener when you see Beth out feel free to ask her legal advice just ask her any legal advice you want and she will help you for free because that's what she expects out of OpenSever's asking me about child support or or or wheels and I'm like I haven't done anything about with any of that area since uh I in 2000 I took a class I mean you know it's like I knew nothing in that space but yeah that's usually the questions I get sorry to oh more embarrassing than Maria saying is there a swing set and then going to Both of you I was just like why does this guy even want to rent us his place now? I don't know either.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

I turn and walked out yes exactly all right well I think that about wraps it up for today.

Send Questions For Episode 100

SPEAKER_01 59:05

So this was episode 98. I think 99 can be another travel episode we can do the Czech Republic. Yes and then 100's got to be big like 100's gotta be something yeah I don't know what but send your suggestions listeners tell us what you want to know do you have questions for us do you have deep burning questions that you want to know from Beth if you could ask Mike and Beth Mike or Beth any question at all what do you want to ask them and we will answer it on episode 100.

SPEAKER_00 59:34

That would be fun. Yeah now do you think anybody's gonna do it probably not but we can throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01 59:39

But spread the word you know yes if you have questions send them to us go to the website yes heyareyustillar.com there is a way to text us and email us from that page do that we will get your questions we will answer the questions no matter how ridiculous no matter how ridiculous because you can ask me about like I I have a book from my coworkers that is like the cryptids in all the national parks I mean so I can I can talk about some Bigfoot stuff or you know I'm all into conspiracy just screaming I can do that and she was one of them yeah I mean so we can talk about some really deep stuffhairystillthere.com message us and you can listen to us on Apple Spotify so the podcast Apple Naple Spotify everywhere podcasts are we site yes you can even listen to us on YouTube because we are that professional right Sue very professional that's us very professional I was told I'm a very professional comedian a couple of times people said that.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:40

Really? Yeah from the ballpark the other week oh in what way makes you so professional they just were like you are very professional and I was like well thank you somebody wrote that on Facebook too they wrote he Mike is a very professional comedian I'm like all right okay well that'll be that'll be you just like one time our friend Wendy said that I was a trusted speaker. So now I like to go around and tell people I'm a trusted speaker. Like I can come speak at your church I can speak about legal things or HR things whatever you want me but I'm trusted. You are a professional comedian I'm professional whatever I need we need to put this all over like our LinkedIn and stuff professional comedian professionally trusted trusted speaker yes I mean you know you need us and want us.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:22

Yeah yeah yeah go go give us your questions we'll we'll we'll save those for episode 100. Yes sound up in two weeks or so yep all right Beth well let's go sweat it out at a wedding so until next time this is Mike and Beth and this has been another episode of Hey Are You Still There