Episode 21 - Jaywalking Bears

Come aboard and join your intrepid hosts, Matt and Karan, as they venture through winding corridors of unchained conversation, touching on topics such as, you guessed it, jaywalking bears, as well as the ancient Adventists of Loma Linda, and Matt's childhood, basement zoo. The BurnGatti train never stops. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

That wasn't bad at all. No. That was nice. Pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Yeah. It was it's cool because what I like about hearing the intro at the beginning is it sometimes when I go to do these, I'm like, wait, what are we doing again? And then when as soon as I hear the intro, I'm like, oh yeah, okay. That's what we're doing.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Yeah, she it sure does set it up, make it you know, makes it everything like, yeah, get get get your get your game face on Mofo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Yeah, it's coming like it or not, here she comes.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's yeah. I think every uh every great show has needs needs a good theme song. Don't mind me saying. I think our show is pretty great. Uh I pulled everybody in my house and they all agreed with me, considering I just have my wife and my kids. They all agreed that our show is great. I'd say their word is gold. I'd say take that critics. Take that uh New York Times who reviewed our show and said I don't know who these guys are. Take that.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

You just disappeared. I can't hear you.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Oh no, sorry, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

I just I just muted myself because like I heard a I had an ambulance go by. I just didn't want it to be.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Oh no, it's smart. I need to I need to learn not to always freak out when yours goes mute. I'm always like, I'm like a dog who thinks he'll never eat again.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

I gotta leave or leave the radio on or something when I meet. I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like my my dog brain can't understand what it means, and I freak out. I'm like, he's gone. He's gone. It's only me. It's all over. It's over, it's all over. There's no point anymore. I'm alone. And then you pop in, you're like, oh no, it's okay. Hey, you know what? It's okay, buddy. Just had to go to work. Yeah, and so then they're like, Oh, everything's great again. Um, yeah, so uh let's see. Yeah, Karen and I just worked through a couple of technical things. It was interesting.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Yes, yeah, always fun to do that. That's why many professional shows have producers and reasons ones that have budgets, yeah. The ones that have budgets, big budgets, big big budgets, yeah. Producers don't come free, neither should they. It's no, you know, like when it's crunch time um and you don't know what's going on, it's very good to have someone who knows what they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Uh yeah, yeah, well, and even when you do, the truth is those technical issues still pop up sometimes, but one way or another we we figured it out. Um so uh I guess I would start by just asking, like, uh, how's your week been, or like what kind of week have you had, you know, how how how does how's it going? How do you feel? How's how did the last week go for you?

SPEAKER_03 3:24

It's nice. I mean, you know, it's summer in Canada, and I'm sure you know this from being on the East Coast, but like when you live in a place which has seasons, um you know, unlike Los Angeles, which I love. But if when you when you have seasons and when it starts to get warm, everyone is just in a great mood, and um yeah, it's really nice. You get you get the smell barbecue outside, which I love personally. I love go love barbecue. Yeah, me too. Yeah, when I when all that's there, you definitely get um it's it's definitely pretty nice, and yeah, everyone uh is in a really good mood. Uh and it's Friday, so hey, it's gonna need better from here.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

People are it's good to hear people are in good spirits, they're they're welcoming in the spirit of springtime in in in good in uh good spirits.

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, the breweries are full, there's people sitting outside drinking. I always like seeing that. Like I, you know, there are definitely people. Um there's a community group out here, and when I go online, they're like, you know, why are there people drinking outside? I'm like, what the hell is your problem? Like, wait a minute. Let them do whatever. Wait a minute. Why would you complain about why would that be a problem for someone? Drinking? It's not like they're like throwing beer on kids in the park or something. They're like sitting inside. Yeah. That doesn't mean a drinking zone outside with it with the sun and just you know, drinking. It's fine.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

I mean, I feel like the same people who complained about that are these school moms who probably complained about the author of Harry Potter being in town.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Just looking for something to complain about.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeez. I think I think as you get older, you you know, when you're young, you're passionate. You're like every cause deserves deserves recognition. But you know, I think as you grow older, you're like, you know, some causes don't need don't need to be don't need them to be recognized or given any kind of uh attention because they're pointless.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah, and you can only spread yourself so thin you have to kind of choose the causes that matter the most to you. Um in my case, I've chosen none, which makes me a bad person. No, I'm just kidding. I haven't chosen none. I I have chosen causes. I just think causes come in so many different forms. And uh we all have our own ways of sort of battling the demons of the universe. And uh I guess I'm trying trying to find mine just like everyone else. Uh but you know, it's like uh I talked to my sister not too long ago and was like um she was going on about how um just the conspiracies within politics and you can't trust any of them and it doesn't matter doesn't even matter who you vote for. You know, you got some of these people who are like don't I I don't vote, you know, because it doesn't matter. So I throw it in the garbage. That's what I like to do. And I was it's kind of like a little depressing for me to totally embrace that view. Um it's like, oh, okay, so the one percent of power I did have, that's gone too. Now I'm down to zero.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I feel good. Yeah. It's like a warm jacuzzi of failure. Seeping into my pores with delight. Um but yeah, I'm apathy. I love it. Uh sweet apathy. Because what do you what do you fill that void with once you reach the apathy? What what uh what are you carrying on for? Um, I I love that.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

I just heard a train on your you know, I have my finger on the mute button like the cowboy with his gun. You never know who what's gonna turn up like John Wayne over here. All right, pilgrim.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

No, no, but you know what? Please don't ever mute that train. That's like the highlight of my day when I get to hear your train. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

When I when I used to get on like work calls, they would people would hear trains, they would hear like they would hear like fire engines sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Like probably worry about you at a certain point.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Is current alright? Yeah, they would hear stories from me about how I had to like, you know, I was delayed on the way back from the store because of a goddamn bear just ran across the store. Are you s are you serious? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I've I've been on my way back from the store, like driving, and like the a bear just like the size like he's gonna cross the street, Toby jaywalking, you know.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

So I'm gonna put it when I do the description for this episode. I'm gonna put hashtag Canadian life.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah.

unknown 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Hashtag Canada Man. Yeah, yeah. Is that what I'm saying? So you just you just have these, are they black bears or brown bears?

SPEAKER_03 8:24

They're they're mostly black bears that we see around here. I think if you go further north, you might see some more brown bears and I think even grizzlies if you go towards like um Alberta and stuff. But yeah, we we we have a lot of black bears around here. Um yeah, I live by um by a park and it's it's pretty nice. Like um now that my uh Zoe's uh exploring, like I go on um walks with her and I some we sometimes go off the trail just to like look at stuff. And sometimes I'll see bear's cat. Um how do you know it's bear's cat? It looks you can you can like it's huge? I yeah, when I was it you'll see it's kind of like hard to describe, but yeah, it's you can't.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Does it look like it has a lot of berries in it?

SPEAKER_03 9:06

Yeah, yeah, it does. It's it's too big to be a coyote, which is the only other thing we have here. Um and like it's yeah, when I was in upstate New York, I would see a lot of it. And a lot of my friends out there would be like, yeah, that's bear sky.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

Yeah, watch out, but they they can like uh identify how old the poop is most likely just by like put putting their finger in the air and feeling the wind.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

That bear's been there for years. That bear is 93 years old.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

You're like, bears live to 93, and they're like, in upstate New York they do.

SPEAKER_03 9:44

They do if only here.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, only only that's Oneanta. Yeah, Oneanta. It must be some kind of crazy American bear. Something in the water in Oneanta. Maybe do the people live uh really long in Oneanta, do you think? That's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 9:59

I don't know. I mean, I don't know. It's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

But the the the the the the the I think the place with you know they did a census where they look at where do people live the longest on earth. They looked at some of the some places statistically, and one of them was a place right near me, uh well, it's about an hour or maybe 45 minutes east of me. It's uh an area called Loma Linda.

SPEAKER_03 10:24

Oh, no way.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Loma Linda, Southern California. Okay, and it's um actually my parents at one time lived there because my dad went to school there, apparently. Oh, okay. Yeah, and I've been there a couple times, but Loma Linda is um there's a ton, and I mean a ton, of Seventh-day Adventists there. Okay. And in case anyone listening to this has missed this in our show, I don't know if I've said it before, but I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist. Okay, yeah. That was the religion I was raised in. And so my parents were both SDA, and they um they uh SDA. Yeah, there's a huge population of them, the uh density of Adventists there in Loma Linda and in Southern California in general, but especially Loma Linda, and like you know, you know what Adventists do? They start a lot of hospitals and they they are doctors and nurses. They work in the medical field because part of their religion teaches them that it's a noble it's like a calling that's like pure, you know, because you're helping people. It's not like you're you know working on Wall Street trying to scam some somebody out of their money, um, or or you know, you're not a boundary.

SPEAKER_03 11:38

That's a nice rule to have in a religion, I'd say. That's pretty nice.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Yeah, I mean, it's definitely logical. I mean, I I think probably where it falls a little short is that at the end of the day, because I've known tons of Seventh-day Adventists, having been one, um, the uh yeah, I mean, you know, like they're not all in it just to help people. I mean, they're like uh uh they're like anyone else who live in the people, they're people, yeah. And they live in this same society that we do where it's capitalism, so they have to survive, they have to, you know, they're probably a little bit family-oriented as well, so they want to be able to buy a home and have a family and provide for them. And I know that when my mom was sort of thinking about, you know, in her uh for her fur her first like you know, marriage, like to my dad, um, she was like, Oh, that makes it sound like she's been married married nine times. My mom, my mom's not like, you know, Jack Nicholson, she's not been married a bunch of times, she's only been married a couple times. But anyway, um Hi mom, hope you're listening.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Um mom is about as far from Jack Nicholson as you did.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So a hundred percent reality, yeah. But anyway, when she married my dad, she kind of wanted a guy who, you know, could provide for a family because she was from this kind of conservative Seventh-day Adventist background. She wanted um um she's not saying she was a gold digger, I'm just saying she was like she was like looking for, you know, she wanted to love the guy and be, but she wanted him to be able to provide so that she could be a mom and raise a family. I mean, there are some people who they just dream of being a mom or a dad.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

Perfectly natural thing, by the way. Not at all.

SPEAKER_01 13:29

No, there's nothing, nothing wrong with it at all. I mean, I and you know, oh obviously nothing wrong with the opposite of it either, but it's uh again, come bringing everyone to the middle so that we can allow multiple ways of life to exist is okay. But yeah, you know, my mom wanted to, you know, what's right for you does or for them, it doesn't have to be right for you or for me, and we can both do those things even if we're not hurting each other. So yeah, religion falls uh victim to that uh human flaw of uh the fear and insecurity and desire to project your beliefs onto everyone else and force them to agree and to think the same things as you. That's definitely a pitfall of religion. Um and I've seen a few members of the religion I was raised in do that for sure, some of them in my family. Um But um my mom's never really my mom, for one, has never really been that way. But anyway, to to finish the thought, I guess she married my dad because it's like this guy can provide for me. My dad, my dad was a doctor, and um, so you know, and I had a good childhood uh um all the way up until I pieced out and went to college and those things. But um uh and it's never been as plushy since that's for damn sure. Uh but uh I I had it then and it was quite it was nice in in that way, anyway. I I'm mumbling and rambling, but STA so Loma Linda in Southern California, um it's a high density of Seventh-day Adventists, and a lot of them are nurses and doctors, a lot of them work in the medical field. And um was talking about the statistic for where people live the longest. Loma Linda, where all the Seventh-day Adventists are, is top, it's in the very top, it's up towards the very top of spots on this earth where people live the longest.

SPEAKER_04 15:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, and and hold yeah, and hold records for length of life. Um, and in this world today, we're like, do I want that? No. Um is that a good thing? No. But they so yeah, Loma Linda is a hot spot for that. And and a big part of that is because Seventh-day Adventists are super into health. The body is the temple of God, and you know, don't eat unclean things, and they follow the same rules for what meats are considered clean versus unclean as uh the Jews, as Jewish people.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, and they're not Jewish, they're Christian. People really have a tough time understanding that. It's not that hard to understand, actually. It's pretty simple. They are Christian, but they happen to follow that one law of Levi in the book of Leviticus that the Jews also follow as far as unclean meats. They don't eat pork.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

Actually, even even Muslims follow that too. It's they don't they don't they don't like pork, they don't eat pork because it's considered unclean. So surprise, surprise. Surprising similarities for religions that are at usually at each other all the time. At each other's throats.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Um yeah, I mean, yeah, it was always funny because I would tell people that and they'd be like, Oh, so you're Jewish, and I'd be like, Um, no, I I I'm I'm not, I'm Christian, and they'd be like, No, you must be Jewish because you don't eat pork. And I was like, Well, that's one of those things is true. I don't eat pork, but I'm not Jewish.

SPEAKER_03 17:02

You don't eat pork, believe it or not.

SPEAKER_01 17:05

You can be both. You can be a non-pork eater and a non-Jew. Yeah, it's possible. Um that was tough for them to wrap their head around that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Confusing for them. I guess so. Yeah, it's like kind of brain isn't wired to accept that just yet. Just yet. Just yet. Maybe someday. Maybe someday. You know, you're asking questions, that's the important thing. Yeah, it's a start.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Oh man. And then once, but then once I tell them Seventh-day Adventists also worship on a Saturday, then they really could it's all over, game over. All right, yeah, you're Jewish. End of story. You're not helping your kids. There's only one kind of Christian, and that's Catholics. Mormons, everything.

SPEAKER_03 17:59

It's always um it's always so funny to me that that the whole Protestant thing happened because Henry VIII was like, listen, bro, I want to marry this other chick. Like, you can't do that. Henry VIII is like, what?

SPEAKER_00 18:15

What do you mean I couldn't do it?

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Wait, so was that was that like what actually can you tell can you explain that to me? Because there's I mean, I know there's the side of it that's sort of, you know, they talk about who's the guy who started the Protestant church or I forget his name, was it John something? I feel like they're all John.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

And you know, I I I don't want to talk about this too much because I don't want to like say something false about someone's faith. But at least I would say I would say like this, at least in popular culture, which is where I get a lot of my information from. The uh the whole the whole the the whole fracture between like uh the Church of England which came about versus the you know uh the the Vatican was because Henry the Eighth wanted to like divorce his wife um and marry somebody else and the Pope said no and Henry the Eighth was like uh okay, watch me, I'm gonna make my own religion with blackjack and hookers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know, it's there is there is like seems like there's this kind of like antagonism between like um Protestant and Christian and Cat and Catholicism. Um I re Again, popular culture, but I remember there's that scene in in Gangs of New York where like Bill the Butcher says like when the Irish are coming over to America and he's against it because he's like we don't need any more immigrants. He's like, you know, um one of his biggest complaints against him. He hated the Irish. Yeah, is that is that they're they'll always they'll always listen to what the Pope says. They'll never listen to you uh or me as Americans, they'll listen to the Pope, Pope and everyone else. He's like You're right. They'll do what their man says him in the funny hat or something.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I forget the line, but you know, oh yeah, Catholics, because they're all Catholic, and Bill the Butcher is a Protestant.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

Yes, exactly. Yeah. And he's I mean, he has a lot of gripes against them coming over, but that's one of them. And I was just like, yeah, I guess like which is true, like a lot of the uh lot of America in the beginning was rebellion, right? It was like we don't want people to tell us what to do. This is a new land, this is a new country, we don't want the the king of England telling us what to do.

SPEAKER_01 20:37

I mean, to be America is still that way. Like it hasn't changed one single bit, by the way.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

There's no difference. It's so true because there's there was like recently some shift between the Pope and and like Donald Trump, and people were so surprised about it. And now when I think about it like this, I'm like, yeah, you're right. Like it's always been that way in America. It's God, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Good luck telling an American what to do. You'll get your napkin stuffed down your throat. Dude, I was on a bus with my wife when we were on our honeymoon and we were in uh Munich, we were on this bus in Munich, Germany, yeah, München, and um dude, we were on this tourist this bus, and this big fat, like Texas American dude, he literally was wearing like a cowboy hat and he had his wife next to him, and they were like f 60 years old, probably. Yeah, and this dude, um everybody on the bus was wearing a mask. This was in the height of COVID, dude. This was like our honeymoon, we went to Europe. I bet you those for flight tickets were cheap. They must have been cheap as shit. Yes. Um yeah. I mean, actually it was frickin' amazing our timing when we went because Europe and everything was just starting to sort of open back up and there was a lot of excitement and activity and But but um people were still wearing masks in a lot of public places. And I think especially in Europe, there's more of a follow the rules mentality for sure than America. And guess what? As it turns out, there are actually some beautiful things about following the rules. For example, you notice that when you're in Germany, people actually do what the stoplights and the like the little walk man, the little man who lights up white and tells you it's okay to cross the street, they follow that shit. Yeah. And if you violate it or you're like, ah, screw it, I don't care, I'll jaywalk, like Americans do all the time. A German will yell at you. Like someone someone will police you. They they're literally like self-policing. It's crazy. Um, but it's kind of nice because man, their shit just functions tight, like it just everything's on time, trains are on time. Anyway, so we're on this bus in Germany and everybody's wearing a mask because we're all we're all crowded on this tight sweaty melee bus, and we're all smooshed together. So the bus was at capacity. You could easily get sick. I mean, let alone COVID, just sick in general. I mean, it was a kind of but especially with COVID, so everybody's got the masks on. This big Texan dude, he lit literally had like cowboy boots and a cowboy hat on type thing, um, denim shirt or whatever, with his wife there. And this this uh he was like uh he's just him and his wife, they weren't wearing masks, and I suddenly overhear this uh German guy, this redheaded, this red-headed, like angry German why redhead's always mad, but this red-headed German guy, he started kind of like chewing them out in German. Like he didn't speak one for whatever reason, he did not speak one word of English in his diatribe, like it was all in German. And it sounded like one of those World War II movies where the scary German guy is like yelling in German at somebody, and you're like, Jesus Christ, guy's shooting bullets out of his mouth. Sound what it sounds like. But so the guy's like getting uh he chews them out basically say and I understand enough German that I I knew what he was saying. He was complaining that they wouldn't wear their fucking mask, right? Yeah, and and so the yeah, he was kind of like Kine mask, Kind mask, which means no mask, yeah. You know, he was he was like mocking at like Kine masks, freaking idiots or whatever Americans, they just won't never will follow the rules. It has to be the you know, have to be a rebel. It was something like that, and um so the Texas guy starts to get mad at him, and he's like, You want me to wear a mask? He's like, I don't have to wear a mask, I don't have to do what you say, you know, something like that. And his wife was sort of like giggled a little bit, I don't know, giggling at the German guy being mad, and then that that made the German guy madder. And German guy started yelling at this motherfucking this Texas guy. And I um Zashi and I just watched the whole thing, and and then the Texas guy called him a Nazi. Oh my god, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

He went there and he was like, Ah, I don't have to listen to you, friggin' Nazi.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

And and then, man, that sent that German guy right over the top. I would imagine and honestly, it was borderline scary, it was slightly disturbing being in the presence of such a dispute. I mean, the German guy was right, like it was so stupid. Like, dude, you're not in your country. Welcome to Germany, you follow the rules here, right? Uh you and by the way, this Texas dude, probably the same type of Trumper thumper who over here in America will be like, Well, immigrants, they don't follow our rules, our our customs, they they don't know how to drive, they don't want to assimilate. And it's like, yeah, look at yourself, you hypocrite. You don't want to assimilate, you're in another country. So annoying.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

Yeah, give those those are the kind of tourists that give America a bad name abroad, I guess. Oh, yeah. Yeah, because you know, they're really pompous and you know, they they're just full of themselves, man. Yeah, the piggyback of the uh glory of World War II of that America harvested for itself, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

So they're like go go slinging insults around at people from other countries, uh you Nazi. It's like what what makes you yeah, what do what makes you think that your country, America, is this perfect shining star that's never done anything wrong? You ever hear of slavery? Okay, I mean that went on for a long time, and there were some if you read about it, it was there were a lot of atrocities. So if you're gonna point the finger at some German guy, call him a Nazi, uh you know, there's some fingers pointing back at you too. Your your country is not perfect. No country is perfect.

SPEAKER_03 27:12

No country is perfect. Yeah, that's what's that's the thing nowadays. It's you shouldn't be, you know. Let's all follow what Jesus says and not throw he who cast the first stone. Let's let's all follow that a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yeah, he who rips off the first mask.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

I love I love stories about Texas and Florida, guys. Those are the most entertaining of all because they're just so over the top. Oh yeah, I remember reading uh an article online about how um this Texas guy was in living in France, working abroad or something, and his his kid was gonna be born in France or something, and he he he imported soil from Texas and put it in the hospital delivery room so that his kid would be born on Texas soil. Oh my god. It sounds like this it could be a total like parody story that that eventually people started to believe. But it also might be real, it also might be real. Could totally be real too. It also might be real, yeah. Man, and then like you know, yeah, you hear a lot of stories about people from Florida doing all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

It's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Oh yeah, Florida's always in the press. There's always somebody up to something in Florida, whether it's lighting off a bottle rocket in a shopping mall or you know, rolling in peanut butter and dancing naked on the freeway. You never know. You know, just freaking releasing a thousand parrots into a church. I mean, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 28:48

I I remember when there was that whole thing with remember bath salls and people were doing baths. I do remember that oddly. There were a lot of stories coming out of Florida of people like almost acting like zombies when they were on bathsols. I was like, I think that was the closest we ever came to like a zombie apocalypse. Um of course, like it was probably it was also when the walking dead was huge, so a lot of people were like, you know, getting into it. But yeah, it was pretty wild.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yeah, I mean, I guess at least we're past the bath salts in our world today. We got that chapter is behind us.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

It sounds nice by the way, bath salts. Aren't they don't you like put them in the bath to relax or something?

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Yeah, exactly. Um, I don't know who decided to smoke them. People will smoke anything, right? Tree bark. I mean, you know, that's probably how they figured stuff out back in the day, but you know, yeah in the internet, you don't really need to do that anymore.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

You can yeah, you that's a hell of a way to figure stuff out. I I wish there would be an influencer today who was like, I'm gonna I'm going back to the original way of figuring things out. I'm gonna just try stuff.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Try it and test it, yeah. Like, you know, see what happens if I eat a bee. Like, what's that? Oh, well, anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

So, so yeah, um it was nice to hear about your wheat current. It sounds like you're the sun is shining, people are getting outside, they're they're drinking beers, they're celebrating, they're complaining about people who drink beer, they're doing it all. Yeah, uh, and and it's Vancouver is buzzing, buzzing like a beehive, speaking of bees. So that's that's nice to hear. Um, spring is sprung. Yeah, I felt kind of happy lately. Uh uh uh I don't know I don't know why. Um that's my update. It's I've I'm I'm glad that I I'm happy that I feel happy, but I'm also mildly concerned because I don't know why I feel like the anvil's about to drop, but I don't you don't know, I don't know where to look for it, and I just know I feel good. And uh sort of I'm cherishing it, I'm relishing it, but I I don't know how long it'll last, and I'm trying not to ruin it, but self-sabotage it by thinking about or worrying about how long it will last or overanalyzing what the source of it is. But I I do wish I knew the source of it, but I don't completely understand why I feel good these last week or two. I mean, I did go on a weekend trip this last weekend to Idlewild. Oh, what's that? It's down near Palm Springs. So, like Kern, where where you and I went for our little getaway before my wedding, uh that was basically that was Joshua Tree, which is we were only like 20 minutes north of Palm Springs. You and I went we went into Palm Springs. I got a date shake. I think did you get a date shake?

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Yeah, I remember those date shakes, they were pretty epic. They're good. Yeah, they're so good. I love that you got one, right? I yeah, I did. I had to try it. I mean, I'm not big on sweets, but you know, when you're in um uh when you're over there, like you gotta you gotta try that stuff. Yeah, you know, it's I'm pretty sure they grow dates out there, right? Like that's not so popular.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Big time, they do big time, yeah. They grow a lot of dates.

SPEAKER_03 32:16

That's where Coachella is for anybody that doesn't know.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

Yeah, good reference. That's right. And I sort of foolishly planned our getaway there around the time of Coachella. I don't know, that's just how things lined up. But it definitely newspaper, buddy. Yeah. Take your head out of the dust. I mean, it definitely made things more expensive. Um and but but it we had a freaking great time though, if I do say so myself. You you or I mean you and me when we went to Palm Springs, we had a great time, even though Coachella was going, you know.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Yeah, yeah. We I mean we um I I remember seeing a lot of funky dressed people walking around Palm Springs.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:56

I was enjoying it, but yeah, it was it was just a great vibe. And yeah, we were Matt and me, we were like um if we found this really great Airbnb that was kind of like in a we're in a secluded spot, like you know, desert around it. Yeah. We were and we were at night, we were just chilling and talking. Uh and remember when we heard those coyotes? Oh, that was so cool. It was so cool, but it was so spooky because they sometimes don't sound human, you know. Like I know I you know, like this is what makes me like well they're not human, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

But I know I do know what you mean though. Yeah, they usually usually don't sound human. It would be weirder if they sounded human. That's right, yeah, that would be weird. But I know exactly what you mean. They sounded like otherworldly, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

I know what you mean. I and I love I love mythological stuff and like legends and and supernatural tales, and and I know a lot about that. There's a lot of stories about skinwalkers and stuff in like Arizona, New Mexico, maybe parts of California too.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Skinwalkers? What the fuck is a skinwalker? That sounds terrifying.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

It is super terrifying because like uh you know uh it's it's something that originated with like Navajo culture. It was like people, it was like they I I don't really know what how they defined it, but it was essentially someone who was um basically like a like a like like like somebody who's almost like a shapeshifter shapeshifter. Like they can like turn into all kinds of different animals, different people, they can mimic voices. Um the mimic voices part is why I'm bringing it up here because like a lot of the if you go online you'll see you'll see a lot of videos of people who are like I I hear a skinwalker in the woods, and um in their videos you can hear something very weird in the woods. Um and for the thing is animals can make all kinds of strange sounds, and the coyotes, the sound they made that night, that was pretty wild.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

It's so wild because it was a chorus of like I mean, it sounded like 20 coyotes. I don't know how many it was. It might have been 20, but it uh it might have been less, but it certainly sounded like this giant group of them, and I don't know if they erupted into that noise because they had made a kill, like maybe one of them got a rabbit or something, or it was like they were out in like it was out in the darkness.

SPEAKER_03 35:17

We couldn't even see because this is this place was so secluded, like it was it was so dark.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

The stars were gorgeous, it was this black canvas of a night sky with bright, bright, bright stars.

SPEAKER_03 35:30

Yeah, and and full, and it was a it wasn't a it wasn't like a half moon, it was more than a half moon, maybe almost full, but still, like you could barely see beyond you know a s the radius of the fire. Oh, yeah. You know, it was like and from the darkness came that sound, and I was we were just like, what the hell is that?

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Wow, that's actually not a bad title for a book. From the darkness came that sound. Yeah, it's pretty scary.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

I'm I'm trademarking that nobody but steal that.

SPEAKER_01 35:57

Do it, do it. I'm good with it. You yeah, you said it. Uh but the the yeah, it was so cool, and because yeah, Karen and I, we were sitting by the fire, we were just laughing and like telling funny stories and stuff. How we do yeah, drinking whiskey, just drinking whiskey, eating steak, actually. We had we bought really good steaks from um well, I think it was from Whole Foods.

SPEAKER_03 36:23

Yeah, it was from Whole Foods because you said something about how grass-fed beef is where it's at, and I have to 100% agree with that. Yeah, it it kind of really is.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

You know, I mean, it's it's too, you know, it's expensive. I mean, but but but yeah if if you want to treat yourself, uh I I would honestly I would rather buy one of those steaks from Whole Foods and then make it myself than than go to a steak restaurant and pay$70 or or$50 for a steak that uh honestly is not gonna be yeah, it's not gonna be that much better. In my opinion, maybe my palate is uh unrefined, but that's my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

So yeah, I mean, you know, uh what what I'm trying to say, I think what Matt's trying to say is when you buy a steak like that, you don't need much to make it delicious, like yeah, you kind of don't some salt and pepper, cook it as you like, and it's gonna be great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

I think we also put some wild uh some wild rosemary on our steaks that that I had like picked because rosemary bushes grow all over the place in California, which in Southern California, which I love. Uh if if I'm on a hike, sometimes I'll reach out and grab a handful of some rosemary from a bush in in the Mali near Malibu or wherever we go. And um it's so nice to put it on a on a steak or something. Um not often not that often I eat steak, but when I do, I prefer dosekis.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

I was gonna say you link into a dosekis commercial. Yeah, those were great.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

But but but but yeah, so we heard those coyotes and it was like it stopped us in our tracks. We were just like, we just shut we just shut up and listened, and we were like, you know, our mouths just dropped open. We were like, this is wild. This is wild. It was a little scary, but also I mean, because you don't you know there, I mean it's coyotes, it's not like timber wolves, so they're not gonna come and like you know eat you or kill you, but uh it's still it's harrowing, it's a it's an eerie sound, but it was it was beautiful, it was awesome. Yeah, that's a great memory.

SPEAKER_03 38:37

I don't know if you feel this way. Maybe I think I feel like I do because I I um didn't grow up in America, but I grew up watching a lot of shows about America, but like whenever I go out west, I feel like uh, you know, I'm still exploring a frontier. Like I feel like a pioneer almost because I it's just such a wild landscape. Um it really makes me feel so rebellious and so like you know, adventurous when I go there because it's it's such a wild country. Um, can you get that in in Canada though? Yeah, for sure. Like, I mean, there are like parts of um Vancouver and Vancouver Island when I go there, or even like when I drive a little bit north, like it gets so wild, and you know, I mean, mountains and pine trees, you know, that's a different kind of wild for sure. But um I say I I guess like with America, it's just like yeah, the the whole Southwest, the uh the geography of the whole Southwest is really has always really interested me. Um like first time I went to the Grand Canyon, pretty much blew my socks off. Oh yeah. Like, what the hell is this place? Like, this is insane.

SPEAKER_01 39:48

Yeah, I went there for the first time, believe it or not, like uh uh on my wife's uh last birthday, like in I mean it was August, so it was a little hot, but it was I mean, but she wanted to go to the Grand Canyon for her birthday, and uh uh man, it was impressive as hell. It was great. Uh it was wow, the Grand Canyon, it was so uh expansive, so massive. Uh those those valleys are so deep and huge. Uh I had a great time. Um, but yeah, so I don't know. I think I was telling something about us going to the Idol Wild over the weekend, but whatever. Um anyway, I can't remember what I was gonna say. Uh I don't know. I don't know whose fault it is, but it was a while ago. I don't know where I was at. But yeah, we we yeah, we anyway, yeah. But Idle Wild, it's a little mountain town of its uh oh oh yeah, it's near yeah, because it's near Palm Springs where you and I went. Right. And and curren, Karen, do you remember when we took the tram in Palm Springs up to the top of the mountain? Yes, I remember that and it changes into a whole different uh kind of climate and and uh biome, whatever. Uh with s there's a little we saw a little bit of snow on the ground, even though literally you're just a relatively short tram ride away from Palm Springs where it was like you know, like a a hundred degrees or whatever. I mean, Palm Springs gets hot. I mean, it can be 120 sometimes, you know, it's so hot. But anyway, so yeah, you take that tram right up out of the desert, it takes you up the mountainside, you get up to the top, and it's pine trees, it's a coniferous forest of pine trees, and sometimes you see snow and super cool. But this town of Idlewild is a lot like that where you and I went. It's uh yeah, you know, it's just a little distance from Palm Springs, but it's basically in the mountains, and it's like pine forests, and uh you know, we got a room, got rented a uh sort of cabin y vibe uh hotel room, or you know, at this end it was nice. Got to make a fire in the fireplace there. I love making fires, um, collecting some wood for that, and they also gave us some wood uh as well. That was so yeah, we we had a really fun time. So, so to tie it back, maybe that's why the last week or two I've sort of been buzzing with a weird happiness that I'm I'm not completely used to, this energized feeling. Maybe it's because we took a little trip. I don't really, I don't really know. Um, but you know, like the other morning I woke up at like 4 a.m. Uh uh, which I never do, and I just could not go back to sleep. And I was like, I was like, why can't I sleep? And I was like, I feel excited, I feel driven. I I don't know why. Uh I feel happy or something. And and I I couldn't go back to sleep. And Zaj, I started, I just like made my breakfast, and Freddie, my little dog, was like, What the fuck are you doing awake? Why are you awake, dad? And um my wife was kind of like, Are you okay? And I'm like, Yeah, I think I'm fine. Uh just feel kind of happy and I I don't know why, but I'm awake, I'm excited to start my day and get to get to living. I don't know, yeah. But yeah, well, I let's I'll milk it as long as I can.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

So yeah. No, hey, it's great. You know, the thing about going on trips is it does exactly that. It kind of like I don't know, takes you out of your your little existence and it kind of reminds you that there's a lot more happening out there. Um but I we m uh we my wife, me and and Zoe, we haven't really taken a trip for a long time. So we're actually planning on going on a trip soon. Um really? Yeah. Where are you gonna go? We're gonna go to Mexico. Mexico What? Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah. It's um i by the way, if you you know, just FYI people, if you're looking for a good vacation, um, keep checking all inclusive deals on red tag because you can actually go to places in Mexico uh for quite cheap. Um especially during the off the off season, uh shoulder season, which is like semi not as busy as between May and uh and June. I think from June till October it's a little hurricane season, so stay away. But then from December till about April, it's really uh busy because a lot of people from Canada go to Mexico to vacation here. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 44:41

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 44:42

So for us is uh right now, May, we got a really good deal. Um, it's all inclusive. Like you they we pay a flat price and we go, we you get your plane tickets, you get hotel accommodation, and you get all your food comped inside the hotel, food and drinks comped outside the hotel. Like um, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So for us, it was like music to our ears because you know, we considered like going somewhere nearby, but just like you know, driving and going to the island, but then we're like, that's not really a vacation because it means we still have to make food for Zoe, we still gotta do this, we still gotta like it's doing the same things we do at home except somewhere else. But with something like this, like we don't have to worry about any of that, we just you know enjoy yourself. So, yeah, yeah. So I'm looking forward to it too, man. Because for those exact reasons that you described, which is like it's nice to just get away for some time and just refresh your you know mind a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

That's really beautiful. I love that. I also actually feel like I don't know how we're doing on time. I lost track, but you're okay. It's got like 10 more minutes, so okay, because I was gonna say that's kind of a nice, like positive send-off, too, what you were just talking about. Yeah. Um, it is so refreshing to go on a trip. It's amazing. You don't even realize how much it kind of shakes up your brain in a good way and gives you this, I don't know, peace or clarity that you don't even realize how much it'll hit you until you do it. So, yeah, that's awesome to hear. Um, uh how long are you gonna stay in Mexico?

SPEAKER_03 46:16

Uh so I we're leaving f next Friday, and we'll be back in a week. But so I'll be back on Thursday of the following week. Yeah, so it's just it's not for that long. It's like we're going for like five, six days, but it's you know, um it's perfect enough time to you know refresh and then come back. But it's more more than anything, it's our first like kind of trip with uh Zoe. So we kind of Family vacation. Family vacation. Yeah, and I'm I'm I hope I hope she likes it. Like I know kids in planes don't really mix well together, so yeah, really it's only a four-hour trip. So I'm really hoping she like enjoys it as you know as an adventure because I sure wouldn't mind going to more places. Um I haven't traveled as like I've traveled, you know. You know, you might think, Well, what do you mean you haven't traveled? Like I have traveled, come from like, you know, uh the east out to the west, but yeah, I haven't really explored much more much else of the world, so I'd really like to change that.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Yeah. Dude, I wish I could go to uh yeah, so you better have fun, Zoe. Let your dad travel. Lems rules. I'm sure, I'm sure she'll have fun. Um the the the you know, I I would love to there's a few places on my bucket list, dude. Okay I would love to go to Australia someday.

SPEAKER_03 47:37

Oh yeah, same here.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Have you never been there, right?

SPEAKER_03 47:40

No, no, never been. More than Australia, New Zealand, but yeah, Australia too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:49

What do you what did you what have you heard about New Zealand that piqued your interest or put it on your bucket list?

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Uh well, just the just the uh the end the nature of New Zealand, it seems really cool, like very unique, very different. Uh compared compared to like um Australia has also has very unique uh things, but Australia does scare me a little bit. Kind of like Florida. Kind of like Florida, yeah, just because there are some crazy animals out there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

That's exactly what attracts me to Australia. I know, I know.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

You would probably because they're so they do have a lot of weird lizards and spiders and snakes out there. So yeah, yeah. Matt's like, oh yeah, baby. I want to get in that. Matt Matt loves, by the way. I don't know if I don't think you've ever told anybody on the show, but you are uh you love uh reptiles and and and arachnids, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Like oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, when we were in Palm Springs, a big highlight for me was that I uh my wife spotted it. It's funny, my wife uh tends she's better at spotting things, she has much better vision than me. She's got like 2020 vision, and I'm kind of like paying attention to things. She's I don't know how she does it, but she sees things before I do. But she points it out, and I'm like, oh my god, and then I, you know, jump uh go towards the light. But she spotted, I mean, for one thing, she saw a snake. Oh cool, yeah. No, unfortunately not. And most people wouldn't use the word unfortunately, but for me that's a disappointment. But it was so great. She saw a snake, um, and she was like, Matt, look, there's a snake there. And it was a uh it was a gopher snake, which uh, if you just Google a gopher snake, it's just a um it's a nice snake. And you know, I uh uh of course, you know, I picked him up and caught him and stuff. But uh uh it's weird because I take that for granted, but other people are always like so aghast that I would grab a snake and they're like, What are you doing? Like, what who who is this guy? And I'm like, look, it's uh this is a non-venomous snake. To me, it's not a big deal, and I've been doing it like my whole life, catching snakes and stuff, but other people are amazed by it, and I don't understand it, but I guess it's just something that most people just don't want to do or just don't do. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

You know, it is I think um snakes feel weird, like they don't feel like a cat, they don't feel like a dog. When you touch them, they're definitely like scaly, they so I think maybe that freaks people out.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

But but they're not slimy. I want to clarify that.

SPEAKER_03 50:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Yeah, they are not, yeah. Yeah, yeah, they're dry, dry feeling, smooth and dry, scaly.

SPEAKER_03 50:43

Well, when you were in Boston, you Matt bought uh Blood Python. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And I before I met that her name was Priscilla. Before I met her, I was.

SPEAKER_01 50:56

You named her.

SPEAKER_03 50:57

Oh yeah, I didn't know. Team her and named her Priscilla.

SPEAKER_01 50:59

Yeah. It was a great name. Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_03 51:03

She she was a very cool snake. I before I I met her, I was like, oh my god, I don't want to be anywhere near snakes, but I was like, I just couldn't help myself knowing that there was a snake in because we were living in Haskell Street, which is we were living in a yep, you know, where it was like literally like a a floor with four different separate rooms, and there was somebody in each room, and uh you were in your room, I was in my room, and I I remember you told me that you were gonna get a snake, and I was like, Man, I I I can't believe there's a snake in the house. I I have to go check it out, even though I'm freaked out by it. But and I went and I checked it out, and you were like, You want to hold her? I was like, uh I was like, okay, come on, you can do this. And I I remember the first time I held her, I was like, Oh my god, this is not what I was expecting a snake to feel like, you know. Yeah, um, how was it for you? It was very interesting. Like, I was like, uh once I held her, I was like, This is actually really cool. Like they are such cool animals because she was calm and she wasn't like freaking out, slittering, like going crazy. She was just like flooring, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:07

Slow moving, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:09

It's like holding a really, really big muscle.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Yes. Um, and like especially because she was a especially because she's a constrictor, a python, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

Right, yeah. Yeah, and you could just even though she she wasn't that big, but even at that, she was she was young too, and even at that age, you could tell she was powerful. Like she was able, like I was I remember I would be holding with her with two hands, and then just on purpose, I would like let go a little bit with one hand, and then she would compensate by gripping tighter on the other hand.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

She would always do that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:42

And she her grip was, I was like, oh my goodness, this is this is this is a one tight grip, like you know. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

Yeah, I I I don't know what it is. I I gravitate somewhat towards dangerous animals. I don't know why. I guess I'm just amazed by them, but you know, it's yeah, I mean, like you know, it's funny because I had quite a menagerie in our basement as a kid growing up of you know, because on the east coast, people have basements. Right. Like everybody has a basement. Whereas on the west coast in Los Angeles, where I live now, nobody has a basement. Um, because they're worried about earthquakes, for one thing, collapsing in on them. And then I don't know why else. I guess there's other reasons too, but people don't have basements here. But on the east coast, everybody does. And in our basement, um, I had a menagerie of reptiles, amphibians, you know, some turtles, frogs, snakes, lizards. Uh quite a few. I was like a little zookeeper down there and or whatever, and uh I I was so into reptiles and stuff then and and and I I used to I was always there was always some new acquisition I was arguing with my parents about of what I was allowed to get. I had figured out a way that I could acquire a venomous snake, and I wanted to get an eyelash viper and I would read about people who had them, and I was like, I know it can be done. People have these, and I wanted one so bad because you can what's really fun about having a tropical reptile is that you can really spend time setting up their terrari their aquarium or terrarium to be um beautifully like plants, you know, so mimic their natural environment of like the Amazon or whatever. You can have beautiful ornate plants in there and kinda I just loved all the research behind setting up their living situation. And um I was like, Dad, you know, why can't I? And he's like, Matt, you know, this is a venomous snake. Like I'm you can't have it. So I just could not I mean I didn't give up easy. I'm sure it wasn't uh exactly a cakewalk dealing with me all the time, but I when I got my sights set on a certain reptile, I wanted it was tough to dissuade me. But uh looking back in hindsight as an adult looking back, I'm like, of course, why would my of course my dad wouldn't let me get a venomous snake? What?

SPEAKER_00 55:14

Why did I my dad didn't yeah?

SPEAKER_01 55:18

It's what made me what made my brain what made my 17-year-old brain think that that was in any way a good idea? It's pretty funny. Uh I totally agree with my dad's decision, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 55:32

It was a good good decision. It was a good mature decision. It was a great decision.

SPEAKER_03 55:39

You were lucky he was there at the time.

SPEAKER_01 55:41

Oh yeah. I have two hands today, and that's thanks to my dad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

I would like if if for if you, for example, I will say this if in college you had gotten a venomous snake instead of Priscilla, yeah, I would instead of a blood python, I would definitely be worried. I would probably have moved out because you know, venomous snakes do scare me because you know, you just because there were times when Priscilla did get out of her tank. There was once so strong.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

Yeah, well, it was at least once, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:14

It was at least once. And you know, like when she got out, it didn't worry me because I knew she wouldn't like sneak up and try to like strangle me. Like I would be able to see her coming. But with like a venomous snake, like you have no idea where they're hiding, where they can strike, like you know, like be able to see be able to see her coming makes it sound like you're friggin' camping in the friggin' Amazon or something, you know, Indonesia jungle. I know. I mean, well, I'm in like an apartment in like metropolitan Boston, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Like trying to study for an exam, and you're like, uh I gotta keep my machete by my side in case that blood python comes for me in the night.

SPEAKER_03 56:52

Yeah, or that or that tank that we you know called Raymond who like, you know, just like Oh man, we didn't even touch on Raymond.

SPEAKER_01 57:01

He's just like brooding, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

My snapping turtle. We need a we need a we need a whole episode for Raymond. I know, I know we need a whole next I declare next episode to be Raymond episode. We could totally do that. He is uh he he deserves at least 30 minutes of podcasting. What a gem. What a gem what a what a gimmer jam.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

That was my pet snapping turtle. Yeah, we'll have to talk about him. He was he was another ball game. Very different kind of energy from Priscilla.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

Oh, yeah, 100%. Like he yeah, Raymond was something else. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

Yeah, one thing he shared in common with Priscilla, he did escape at least once.

SPEAKER_03 57:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He almost got away, and I you womped him with a pillow. I did.

SPEAKER_01 57:47

I literally did, and thank you for reminding me. I forgot about that. So funny. No, no, no, yeah, literally, it was springtime, and I know we're gonna go talk about him another episode, but it was actually it was freaking terrifying, dude. And by the way, as we tell these stories about my reptiles and stuff, I'm it makes me sound like I don't know if you've seen the movie Jumanji.

SPEAKER_03 58:09

Oh no. Uh I mean long time ago, I don't remember it.

SPEAKER_01 58:13

Yeah, there's like this British in the movie, in the movie Jumanji, you know, they summon up these, I don't know, like uh uh animals from exotic animals from this board game, you know, that's like the premise. Right. Uh the kids playing the board game don't realize it's real and it summons these like you know, so there will be like a depending how they roll the dice, there might be a herd of wild elephants that appear suddenly in their urban in town, their you know, their suburban town, and suddenly elephants are trampling cars and people and then at one point they roll the dice in this um British, this British expl this like evil like British explorer from like the 1800s appears. Um, this guy with this giant mustache, and he's got like, you know, he's dressed like a one of those British explorer hunters who would like travel to other countries like India or Africa to like hunt for wild game, you know, in the 1800s and would have like one of these old-fashioned like elephant rifles. Right. And this guy is like wandering around in their suburban town, like shooting at stuff with this huge elephant rifle. And he's got that like that stereo that classic uh dome-shaped tan color British explorer cap on and stuff. And we tell these stories, it makes me sound like I'm that guy, like in the jungle, you know, like just uh amidst pi it just sounds like Jumanji, basically. My my apartment sounds like Jumanji. But um anyway, yeah, like I woke up one morning and my snapping turtle Raymond, who we'll talk more about another time. Uh Raymond was a good size, he was probably 15 or 20 pounds. He was freaking heavy, uh to be honest, and he grew really fast. Um, and so anyway, I woke up one morning and it was in like the springtime, and somehow his internal clock I think was telling him that it was like time to get out into the world and do stuff or like you know, basically go and find a mate or something. I think he somehow, because he would get really riled up around springtime. I eventually released him back into the wild in Maryland, and I I'm sure he did great. Uh um probably ate every living thing in uh within sight. But um anyway, he I woke up one morning in that in my apartment on Haskell Street and uh Raymond was halfway out of his tank and he had pushed the the whole lid and lighting apparatus off of the you know to the side and was clawing very loudly with his big giant claws. He had these big feet with these big claws for for for digging and for shredding his prey and everything. And he was just clawing and clamoring really loudly. He's a he was a big dude. And I woke up I woke up with a start and I swear to God, like I was disoriented and I just see this Tyrannosaurus Rex, like this huge he was again like breaching up out of his tank, clawing at the sides of it trying to get out, and he was halfway out and it scared the shit out of me. And um, in my just woken up stupor, uh my half asleep stupor, I just my instinct told me I followed my instinct. I just jumped out of bed with my pillow and swung it at him and knocked him back into his into the water. And I mean, smacking him with a pillow did absolutely nothing. I mean, that guy was built like a frickin' World War II tank. Yeah. Uh but uh yeah, I just swung that smacked him with the pillow, but yeah, so knocked him back into his tank. It was wild over there. I remember one of the other tenants in our apartment um in in the house we were renting rooms in. One of the other tenants, it was Musa, um one of the other tenants, it was either Musa or Lathe. They they uh must have complained to um to Charles, our landlord, um about the rats in the freezer because I would buy Yeah, I I didn't feed I didn't normally feed her live rats. Uh I would buy oh sorry, Priscilla, yeah, my snake. I I didn't feed her live rats, I would buy frozen rats. Um because there's no need to torment a rat if you don't have to. So I would buy these frozen ones and then you know, thaw them out and give it to her, and it was just as good. Uh, but I would keep them in the freezer, and um, I mean, to be honest, I again in hindsight, I don't blame whoever tattled on me. I don't blame them for these poor kids who had come to Boston from like Saudi Arabia or wherever they were from to to study, and this me this American kid sharing the space with them is putting r frozen rats in the freezer. I mean, they must have just been like, what is happening? So I don't blame them for being uh concerned about the sanitation of their yeah, but anyway, somebody told Charles and Charles was like, you know, you you got you can't do this, yeah. You can't you can't keep rats in there. Um I don't remember what I did, but I to be honest, I think I just kept doing it. Yeah. Um, but I don't know for sure. I don't remember, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:53

Yeah, it's it I mean, you know, you got when you have pets, you gotta feed them somehow. Yeah. So you don't have a bag of dog food and said you got throws and rats in the face. Yeah. But I mean, you know, I'm sure any reptile hobbyist would, you know, wouldn't take my side. Take your side on it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:15

Yeah, I mean, those those guys ate better than me. Like I fed, I fed them better than myself, to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:21

Yeah, I remember I remember they would they would Raymond by the time he left by the time we let him go, he was a giant. Like he was so much bigger than you know, than when you like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

Oh yeah, in in like two years, he at least tripled in size. Maybe quadruple, yeah. He grew so fast. Yeah, he fed him really well.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:42

He was a yeah, but we'll talk about him. We'll talk about him more.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:46

Yeah. Um, but real quick, just to give us a good send-off, I wanted to real quick just mention a song of the day, and we won't we don't have time to go into it, but I'll just say it, which I think is enough. Um, I uh uh revisited the doors recently, the band The Doors. Yeah, and I wanna my song of the day is Riders on the Storm.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:05

Oh amazing. What a what a great what a great song that is.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:10

Yeah, yeah. I heard it for the first time in a long time recently. It's a great song to listen to when especially when you're in your car just driving. Man, it was like okay, yeah, it is I do love this that much. Like I do love I do love this. This is exactly what it I love. And so uh and uh Snoop Dogg has a uh uh yeah. Oh, you knew that, yeah. Yes, yeah, it's called like uh it's called like Snoop Dogg Feet the Doors, and it's uh it's like a riders on the storm type.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:45

Yeah, yeah. I I um I definitely really enjoy that song. It's like it's one of those songs that uh the it's the intro that I love the most actually, because it's it comes in so cool. I feel like that's that that song shouldn't be It's a whole podcast episode too. But yeah, really. I love that. I love that song. That one and the end by the doors are two songs that almost like take me to like a different place in my head. 100%. And I always love songs that can that do that, you know. So me too. Yeah. Me too. Yeah, but I would like to talk more about that song for sure. Yeah. It's one of my favorite songs, writers on the storm. We should.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:23

Karen and I, yeah, current. Thank you. Karen and I uh we've always shared um a lot in common when it comes to music that that we can kind of get behind and appreciate. We really we we really do. It's it's always been great on that in that on that front. But anyway, so that's my song of the day. But then uh yeah, so that's about it. But do do we uh is there anything else you'd like to say to send everyone off on a positive note into their week to come?

SPEAKER_03 1:06:48

Well, yeah, I mean I think what we touched on earlier, which is like if you have a chance, you know, take a trip somewhere, or you know, it doesn't even have to be that far if you're if things are tight right now, you know, um like you can't spend too much. Take a day and and go outside and do something or go somewhere that you haven't been to in a while. Um your brain you'll do your brain a huge favor, you'll do your your your psyche and your spirit a good big favor by just stepping out of yourself a little bit. Yeah, it's so true.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:19

You when you get your you're so right, when you get your spirit when you get your spirit or your and your brain in the right place, uh there is no there is no limit to how much more everything else, uh all those other problems that we obsess over will just somehow naturally seem to fall into line when you are coming from a place where you're at more at peace uh internally. It's really uh amazing. So, yeah, great advice, thank you, Karen. And um, yeah, I guess that's about it for uh for us for now. Sorry It's still going. What's happening?

SPEAKER_02 1:08:09

Oh I was trying to play a different one.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:13

I don't know. That was kind of funny though, I like it.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:18

There we go. Oh nice. I was I was trying to play this one. If you play the other one, you're just gonna get into a new episode because it's just it's just gonna get you leveled up and ready to talk about more things.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:30

Yeah, it pretty much did. I have like 10 more ideas right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:35

I think our our problem might be we have too much to talk about, not too little.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:40

Oh god, yeah, that's the huge problem. I mean, dude, I I I had a little agenda ready to go for this episode. And let me tell you, I I hit almost none of the things I thought I was gonna say. So I don't know how one accomplishes that, but I'm I'm trying to get there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:01

We'll well, you know, we I hope I hope you all stick around because yeah, as you said, we have a lot to talk about. Uh that's uh that's for us for this week. Um and we'll see you all next time.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

See you all next time for for the next one will be episode 22. This will this will be 21, and the next one's 22. So we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:20

So our podcast can legally drink in the US right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:24

Yeah, yeah, and and we won't and we'll we'll keep it on the down low if if if ever we we were we did before. Yeah, with with those beer drinkers in Vancouver getting yelled at. Bye everybody, bye bye everybody. Have a great week.