Episode 3: Parking lot probs

traffic pattern changes give me anxiety, i'll just stay in my lane.  

Alex Cooper is pregnant! does that mean she's the baby mommy and the baby daddy daddy? 

Be back soon

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hey everyone, happy Monday. Welcome to the Blonde Baddies Podcast. It's yours, truly Joy Akama, and I'm here today to take you through a little recap of the week, so to speak. Hope everybody's doing great. It's a really nice warm Monday out there, thank goodness, because it's been freezing here in Syracuse flashback. So as I was driving, I had a flashback from the early 90s, no, maybe the late 80s, about Spiegel magazine. Does everybody anybody ever remember getting the Spiegel magazine? Spiegel was like a high-end catalog, and they had a credit card that came with it. And my girlfriend, when we were in eighth grade, she got the credit card. Yeah, I don't know how she did it. She must have forgotten her mom's like social security cover or something, but she had a credit card for this magazine. And she bought like a stereo, and she bought all kinds of rare clothes, like really high-end designer couture. Her parents didn't speak the language, so she was sort of taking advantage of the fact that her parents were not native to the United States and they really didn't know. Like she would just say, sign this, and they would sign it. And I don't know what brought me to think about that, but in any event, I thought it thought about her the other day. Another person I was thinking about is the girl that hosts the podcast, Call Her Daddy. Her name is Alex Cooper, and she is Preggers. So we just found that out this week. I think that's really cool. And it made me think about podcasters going on maternity leave. I don't think you really even have to go on maternity leave if you're a podcaster. I mean, you might want to, but I don't know if she will. I think she'll bring her baby. And we will talk and learn all things about baby Cooper. So congratulations to Alex Cooper on the birth of your well, the inception, conception. Of your new little one. We'll be looking forward to hearing about that. She was a really good athlete. And then she became a podcaster. I'm sure she did other things in between. But she became a podcaster, and there's another Alex, Alex Earl, maybe it is. Or is it a former athlete of mine? Yeah, I think that is. But in any event, there's another Alex. Alex Cooper is with an E, I think. And Alex, the other Alex has an I. A-L-E. No, A L I X. That's how you spell that Alex. Anyways. They're probably both short for different forms of Alexandria or Alexandra. If I had to do the math in my head. And it's so funny when you're pregnant, if you are a teacher or were a teacher, because every name that you come up with, you remember a student that had that name. Unless it's like some really weird name. And the and and us teachers, we sort of know better because it's just such a pain in the ass. Don't name your kids with weird Don't use this as you're trying to be the creative person who spells a name in a funky way. This is not about you. Don't name them weird things like, I don't know, nature or they just name their kids all these weird things. That is doing your child a disservice. Imagine having to spell your name every single time you say it. Like, no, it just can't be John. It's J A W H N. No, John is J-O-N. And the poor kids, I know parents are just trying to be creative and different, and I get that. I totally do. You want something unique about yourself. I guess there are worse battles you could fight, right? Other than saying your name and spelling it every single time the teacher says your name. So do me a solid and drop in the comments what are the craziest names you've ever seen in the spellings? I've seen some really, really wild ones in my years of education. So that's your homework. Go home and do your homework and drop it in the comments. I want to hear your wildest, craziest names and the reasons why you couldn't name your kids after these people. Yeah. I tell this a lot because I have my own griffin. A lot of people spell Griffin within E-N. And then I saw one that was G-R-Y-P-H. O N. Griffon. Griffon. Griffon. Griffon. Oh, I kind of like that name too. Griffon. Oh, maybe Griffon. Maybe it's French. Maybe they were so supposed to be doing it like that. I don't know. I call them Griffin. Anyways. That wasn't a unique spelling. But maybe that's cultural. I shouldn't be so judgy. You know, maybe it's like Gaelic or something, and I don't even know. See? I'm being judgy. Name your kids whatever you want. Don't listen to me. What the hell do I know? Name your kids whatever you want. Spell it however you want. That's on you. Okay, moving on on a Monday here. There's a whole new parking stitch at work. And I would be lying if I said it's not a complete and total cluster fog. So we knew about this. You ever know? Okay, so you know how like you get an email. Maybe you maybe not everybody's like this, but I this is how I am. I got an email back in like mid-April about the fact that this parking stitch was gonna be changing temporarily while they paved the regular employee parking lot. Okay, fine. Well, that was like a month ago, and so they were like, oh, it's gonna be happening on May, whatever today is or yesterday is. And you're like, oh my god, it's like way far in advance. Tell me like the day before. Why do I need to know this in mid-April? Alright, so now here we are. We come upon the day. Well, do you think I can remember what's in the email? No. So I go back to my recollection of my own brain. I'm like, what? What was that memo about? Okay, I can see that we can't get into the employee perfect lot. So I'm driving around the airport, mind you. I'm early as hell, like I'm always early. And I'm just driving around the old airport, like looking for where to go. Finally, I'm just like, well, I'm just gonna follow the traffic because at 3 30 in the morning, there is not a whole lot of traffic that isn't employees. So I get behind this like line of cars, and like they know where they're going. So the one person ahead of me, I see them, they like badge into the lot, and I'm like, okay, well, all of this like badging into the lot, first of all, I've never had to badge into the lot. The bar of the door, like the gate, is always up. So you just drive into the employee parking lot. So this guy in the car ahead of me, like rolls his window down, swipes his badge. Like, he it didn't seem like he was there for very long, maybe like 10 seconds, if that, okay, and boom, he's in the lot. So now I pull up, I'm all nerved up because what is this? Okay, I I'm swiping my badge, nothing, nothing. It's still like red. I didn't even like read the screen. The screen just had a big circle on it with like a black dot. So I suppose if I did not work there, I would have just pulled up and be like, oh, duh, press the dot. But me, I'm like, no, no, I got a badge, I got a badge. So I'm like swiping my badge all over this thing, every which way, up to upside down, backwards, side to side, you know. At one point, like I think I was at like the money spot, like swiping my badge over the where the dollar bills go in. It was lit up. I don't know. I was just all stressed out about this. Anyways, I this guy comes on the radio and is like, what did he say to me? Purple lot. It's the purple lot. I'm like, what? I'm in the purple, where where am I? I I I'm like, where am I? I thought I was in like the economy lot. Anyways, turns out that's where we were supposed to park was this economy lot. Well, I didn't know. So I thought he was telling me I needed to go to the purple lot. So I the bar goes up, I pull in, I make a circle of the parking lot, and I see other people like badging in, pulling in, but I'm like, oh, they all have to leave too. He told us we have to go to the purple lot. So I exit out, which I don't know how I did that. Oh, I had to put my ticket in. Oh, there was a there was also a ticket involved. Like, you got a ticket. I had to find my ticket, which yes, I did lose it between then and then. No, it was in my cup holder. So I put my ticket in, you know, it's zero dollars. I just drove around the thing, and then I leave. I'm like, where's the purple lot? So now I'm driving around the parking lot again. I'm like, or the airport again. I'm like, where's the purple lot? And then I guess come to find out, we were in the purple lot. But I just drove into the parking garage. I'm like, screw this, I'm just parking in the garage because I'm not sticking around finding the purple lot. I'm gonna be late. And then I was like, I'm pretty sure this was not in the email. So anywho, I'm on my way back in to work and I gotta concentrate on getting to my lot. I digress. Yeah, this is gonna be a short one. I don't have too much for you, which is why I need a partner. I need a, what do you call it? A partner, like a co-host. I need a co-host. Alright? We can just it ain't that deep. Life's problems, most of them could be solved by saying it ain't that deep. It's not that big of a deal. Like, really, you're just talking. You don't uh everything is editable. It's not like you can't, you know, it's not like you can't redact anything you're saying. You can say whatever you want, it can always be erased.

unknown 11:06

It ain't that deep.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

I just don't erase because I don't have enough content. I can't afford to erase. Alright, wish me luck. I'm entering the purple lot. Have a great Monday. Bye peep this. Well, you can't peep because you're um a podcast, but hold on.

unknown 11:31

Come on, don't like your phone.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Dude, I don't know what I'm doing. Where does this go? Right here. And then hit what? Just say I'm an employee. Hi, I'm an employee. Can I get through? Hi, can I get through? I'm an employee. Thank you. Thanks. Oh my god. It's such a debacle. Alright, that was my first time. It wasn't too terrible. You guys, it's 79 degrees at 8 a.m. For us New Yorkers, you have no earthly idea how good this is. Because we've had the worst spring and more like the longest winter. The winter was way too freaking long. Okay, I just ended my shift. I am heading home and on the docket today is my other job. I have to work. Um, but that is remote, so I can do that. And then I might go to the pool if the pool is open because it is gonna be a nice day. And I want a real tan instead of my spray tan. Which, speaking of spray tans, apparently Zoom tan is now open 24 hours. Like you can let yourself in to go tan. I don't know how that works. There must be an app or something. I have not researched it, but my girlfriend, Kelly, she was raving about it, about how she goes in not in the middle of the night, but she can go after hours or before hours. And I have to admit, that is a pretty cool feature. Of course, I'll probably screw it up because I'll get in there and I'll be all nerved up. I won't know what I'm doing. Anywho, today is Monday. We already established that. What has everybody else got going on for their Monday? Tomorrow is school board election day and school budget election day. And I was going to run for the school board for the district that I used to work with for, the district that I used to work for. But I got cold feet because, well, in no uncertain terms, a few things happened to me that were strongly worded quietly that made me decide not to run because I was projecting three years of similar. Let's not call them threats, but strongly worded suggestions, let's put it that way. So I had to renake because I did not want to endure that for the next three years. And I did not see, I mean, there are people that when they don't want something to happen, they are just unstoppable. So that's all I'm gonna say about that. But I think it was the right sign the right decision because I am now I'm gonna I'm gonna probably look into relocating at some point soon here. I I just think it's time, you know? And um yeah. What else? We just had senior prom this weekend. It was really pretty, really nicely done. My kid got elected to be on the homecoming court, which I think was very surprising to him. I don't think he knew that he was gonna get it, but he did, so that was pretty cool. I think he was shocked. And I also think that he felt a little badly because he, you know, like you typically get matched up with somebody. I mean, it doesn't have to be your boyfriend or your girlfriend, like it's a voting thing, like they vote for people. So I think he got matched up with a girl that he's grown up with for a long time. And it was kind of cute, they were cute, but I think he felt badly for his girlfriend because she's not from their school, and so like there was a supposed to be like a dance, I think. They're supposed to dance together, but I don't know how it went, anyways. That was right when I was leaving, so it was kind of cute, and then what else? You know, it's not like how it was for us, they go to their prom or their ball, and then I don't know what they go to afterwards. I'm not really sure what they did afterwards, but I saw on the like 360 that he was home and it showed me the time. I thought it was very pretty decent hour. And he drove, and he just drove himself and his date, so that wasn't too bad. I felt good about that, that he wasn't driving like a bunch of kids around. And I don't know, I think I feel like their level of partying and stuff is nowhere near as what ours was. Like we were trying to finagle all the ways to sneak the alcohol and stuff into our dances and not get caught. But it was different back then, and I don't know what the difference is, but these kids definitely do not try to get away with things like we did. I guess because their whole life has pretty much been monitored. So, along with the freedom of having the internet at your fingertips while you're in school and all of the things that come along with the technology that we have now versus what we had when I was a kid, it's easy to see why they are not as thrill-seeking or attention-seeking, or you know, they know they can't get away with things because everything is online and they can be watched everywhere they go. So I don't know if that's the case or what the deal is, but I just remember we were a lot worse than they are. So I feel lucky. And Griffin went to his state competition for FFA, the state convention, which is a blast every year. And both of my in-laws children, they were there, so their cousins were at the convention with them. And my niece, Annaline, was voted as next year's president. So we're really proud of her. It's pretty cool. And Griffin, I'm sure, will start to go in that direction too. Probably trying to run for an office. So I'm really proud of the things that my kids have done and how they have turned out, considering there's been some major changes in their life from their young adulthood. Well, really, elementary school to their teens. So I'm really proud of them.