Classroom Breakthroughs and After School Reality Checks

High school is supposed to look like the movies, but ours didn't. Today, we break down what a Canadian high school experience actually felt like, from giant schools with surprisingly muted sports culture to the weird letdown of realizing Disney Channel expectations don’t survive first period.

We get specific about the stuff that shaped our days: summer school, the pressure and perks of the IB program, and how your schedule can quietly decide your social life. We also hit the “after school” side of teen life: malls as a third space, anime, party culture, and how quickly routines become identity.

Then it gets real. We open up about image anxiety, overcommitting to extracurriculars, secret side hustles like YouTube, and a relationship that ends in cheating.

Transcript

Movie Expectations Vs Real High School

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome back to Catch Up with Kai and Cohen. Here we are with our what is this now? School? School experiences?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Yeah, we're on the uh high school episode now of our, I guess, our early live school experiences uh miniseries.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Yeah, I think I mean initially we try to make it uh Canadian experiences, but thinking about it, there's nothing really Canadian about it.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah, the Canadian high school or I guess schooling experience seems like light version of you know a regular North American experience in high school. Like we're we're missing a lot of things that are iconic about the classic high school experience, or at least like from what I've seen in like movies and stuff. Yeah. Uh so I assume that's the regular high school experience in America and from conversations I've had with a couple American friends I have. A couple things missing in the Canadian high school experience, but still had a still had a good time.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

No, I don't I had a blast. I think, yeah, from the movies I've seen are are like uh what is this? Like culture surrounding sports, I don't think is as massive. Like, for example, you know, in those movies, you would see like the massive stadiums. Yeah. Everyone goes out there and they celebrate on everything. I mean, I'm not sure if that's that's actually what happens in in these states, but we definitely don't have any of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Yeah, a big thing for me was like Family Channel and Disney Channel, the movies that they would make. Yeah, like Cinderella story. Exactly, exactly like Cinderella story, that scene where it's like a super dramatic scene at the end of the movie. It's like raining and shit, and it's Hillary Duff and the handsome motherfucker, whoever that guy is.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah, and even even um high school musical, like the basketball game. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

Yeah, I was gonna bring up high school musical as well. You see like these experiences and these movies, and as as a kid, I genuinely thought like this was this is what high school is gonna be like. You know, I was like so pumped for it, so excited. Those were actually my expectations. And then when I got there, and it wasn't like that. I was kind of bummed out.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

I know, and and I was thinking about it, like maybe it was that, oh, maybe that's just where we live. But I don't think so because our schools are pretty massive. Like our high school. Yeah, they were, yeah. Like a huge. Yeah, like our high school was like 3,000 kids or something. Yeah, per grade we had like 900, 900 students, I think.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, and then even because I switched high schools halfway through, even the other high school I went to was like 2,000 kids or something like that. So huge schools. Yeah. But lacking culture, I guess. Just as an aside, I was thinking about this earlier. Canadian culture is kind of hard to define, in my opinion. But that's not the episode right now. Today we're talking about high school. So

Friends, Summer School, And First Impressions

SPEAKER_00 2:30

let's start at the at the start of high school. Brand new school, you're moving away from junior high. Yeah. Did you have a lot of friends? Did you have to make new friends?

SPEAKER_01 2:38

No, I I let's see. No, it wasn't too difficult. I would say uh most of my friends in junior high actually went the same high school. No, wait, let me correct that. All my friends from junior high actually went to high school. So I had no difficulty making friends. Yeah. Also at the end of grade nine, I I did summer school. You did summer school before high school. Like uh like gym, I think. Well, damn. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I met some people there.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Wait, why'd you do why'd you do gym in summer school? Because that's like, you know, I remember I did summer school as well, not in grade 10, not uh before high school started, but summer school was usually for the classes like you just wanted to get out of the way. Oh, I don't remember. I feel like I did it because that's what everyone was doing. Yeah, I remember that too. I remember everyone was doing summer school and gym, and I thought that was dumb as fuck. Like gym's like the most fun class in high school. Why are you why are you getting rid of it? I think it might have been because because I did full IB.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

Yeah, yeah. And then I I feel like it was because if I did full IB, I couldn't take gym as an extra course. And you need gym to graduate.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

No, it was that in full IB you only needed to take grade 10 gym. You didn't need to do any more gym after that. It was like the minimum requirement. Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of us IB kids were just taking gym like in the first year, or I guess like so many people took it in summer school just to get it out of the way and then no more gym for the rest of high school. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. And then I did that too, and I regret it. I really wish I took gym all 10 years actually of school. Yeah. Because you know, summer school, whatever you're doing in the summer, that's like the same thing you were you would have been doing in gym class, like going to the park with your friends, having fun, getting active, you know. No, I wouldn't say so.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I I remember my gym gym class, the course in summer school. Like we were. Okay, what was it like? We went to the pool.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Oh, yeah, because we had a pool right next to you.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Right, right, right. Uh not that pool, though. Oh, not that one. Like volleyball, basketball, soccer, holiday.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yeah, but you would do that in like regular gym class too, wouldn't you? Yeah, but it wasn't at the park or anything like that. Yeah, I guess. It wasn't anyway.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Yeah, I did I did gym, so I met people there. And then going into great actual grade 10, I had lots of friends. I would say like the first maybe half of grade 10, I was mainly hanging out with people from junior high because we went to the same high school. And then the second half, I've started to meet more people. I think I met you like second half, close to second half.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

No, I think we went in the first half of grade 10. First half? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

So then we just weren't like super tight, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Yeah, okay. Cause then, yeah. And then the other friends who are my current like lifelong friends right now, most of them I met in in grade 10.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember because if the other day you sent a picture to me of me and you at one of the school events. There was like a we had an event in school. I forget what you're doing. You dress up. Yeah, you dress in like formal clothing, everyone like looks nice. Not quite prompt, but but anyways, that event, I remember that happens early in the school year. It happens before Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

That was that was grade 10. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:21

Yeah, grade 10. It was before Christmas. So me and you met like September, October, November, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah. So socially in grade 10, it was even going into grade 10 straight off. It was it was good for me. I had a great time. No difficulty making friends at all. But yeah, how about you?

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Actually, I remember so I didn't do summer school, but I did some orientation event before school started. Did you go to that? Oh, I don't remember. I don't remember if it was like the I don't think it was the normal orientation. I think it was actually some kind of orientation for like like overachiever preppy kids. Because I remember I was in a yeah, I remember I was in like a group with these with the with these other kids, and everyone was like super into leadership and like extracurricular stuff. So maybe I was at like some special event thing. Interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

But once I got to high school, because it would have been different for you, because most of your friends are in like would have been to a different high school, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Pretty much all of my friends went to a different high school. Yeah. I I mentioned in another episode, right before I went to got to high school, I moved houses again, like I have so many times in my life. And because I moved, I got out of the district from the high school that I was originally going to go to, the high school that all my friends went to from junior high. So I had to make like a lot of new friends. A lot of people from my junior high did go to the high school that you and I went to, but a lot of it, uh but but like the people that I was close to, the people that I regularly hung out with, like every day, they all went to this other junior high. So yeah, I had to make a ton of new friends, basically start from scratch. And I was I guess I was kind of used to it at that point.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Who were you hanging out with in the very beginning then?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Um oh, okay. So I remember on the very first, I mean I can't mention names, but I remember on the very first day I was sitting next to a guy, uh like two two of our friends.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And how I became friends with them was actually they were talking about they were they were like my first actually this other guy, he was like, they were like talking about league. And I and I had like barely played league up until that point. So that's kind of how I made friends in uh in grade 10. Because League of Legends was like a really, really popular game at the time.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

And I actually have a funny story about the my first time like playing with these guys and trying to make trying to be friends with them. When I first started playing with with these like brand new people, totally new people, guys I've never met before. I know like one guy from my math class, he like introduces me to all these new friends, and I play with them, and I played only one game, and it went horrible. It went terrible. I like sucked ass. It was so bad that I was like, I was like we were in we were in a we used to use Skype back then.

SPEAKER_02 7:51

Yeah, I remember Skype.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

It was like after school, we were all on Skype together, and it went so bad that I was like getting soft bullied by by these new friends. They were like making jokes about how I like sucked at stuff and they were kind of beating jokes. And I remember after that, I felt so bad, I was so embarrassed that I like made it my mission to get good at this video game so that that would never happen again. And that that like kickstarted by like love for League of Legends, just like trying to get good at it so I could become friends with these guys. But yeah, that was like the first friend I made, and then after that, I don't know, I guess I just talked to people a lot. Yeah, yeah, because by that point I was I was a pretty talkative guy, pretty comfortable. Like weren't you always talkative?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Like weren't you always pretty confident?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, like in elementary school, I wasn't like really talkative, but but by the time I was in high school, I had done so many like you know, extracurricular things. I had I I was so comfortable talking to new people and stuff like that. So it was it wasn't too hard for me to make friends. I mean I became friends with you guys pretty easily too. Yeah, yeah. It was always just like I would meet someone in class, usually someone sitting like right next to me, become friends with them, and then they would like introduce me to everyone else. Like the I I know the how I got introduced to you guys was I had an option called sports performance, and that that was a sick class. And the guy sitting next to me, he was he was also in sports performance and he was friends with you guys, and that's how I got introduced to your friend group. Yeah. Do you

IB Classes, Options, And Easy Marks

SPEAKER_00 9:24

remember any fun classes that you took?

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Yeah, actually, well no, like classically, the classes I took weren't like what you wouldn't consider them fun, to be honest. Yeah, you would kind of consider them to be nerdy. Yeah. Because I the only thing I took was like the main courses, like math, science, English, that jazz, and then band. Yeah. And that was like that was it though.

SPEAKER_00 9:48

Since we were in IB, full IB, it it's like an a an advanced program in high school.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

So our our schedules were pretty packed, you know. Yeah. Not only did we have like the the basic classes that we had to take, they were the advanced version of those classes, but we also had a lot more, maybe not a lot more, but we did have more requirements for classes to stay in that program compared to kids that were in just like a regular program, and they just had to take like math up to a certain level, science up to a certain level, English up to a certain level, and then they were just the the rest they could just have like spare spare uh.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Yeah, I mean, not even that. And when when you're in full IB, you don't have much leeway to take options. Yeah. Like in our school, you could take food science, you could take like design, photography, like like mechanics, but not gonna do any of that because of because of full IB. But I enjoyed all my classes, to be honest. I probably will say I actually like chemistry quite a bit. Really? And then band as well. Yeah, I mean, I liked all of them in contrast to junior high because I think I was I mean, I was good at school now.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, that probably helped a lot. Yeah, having like a success all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_01 10:59

Yeah, like I felt super confident, I got good grades. I enjoyed the classes, like learning them as well. So I enjoyed all my classes, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Any any like memorable something that was like a like a favorite or like an option that you were like, oh, this is so sick. Like uh, for example, we had to take languages. What language do you take? I think Japanese. Oh, it was it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

I think. I mean, I I had to take it because I couldn't take French because my junior high grades were literally like failing grades.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

You didn't do well enough in French and junior high, so you were not eligible to take it in high school. Yeah, yeah. So you had to start fresh from Japanese.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah, and I yeah, I had the option of choosing between I think German, Spanish, and Japanese. And of course I chose Japanese because I'm I'm a weeb, basically. So yeah, I enjoyed it. I I thought it was pretty easy too because pretty it's I would say, yeah, it's it's like somewhat similar to Korean.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Well, Japanese, especially for you in high school, would have been like easier because it was like a complete intro Japanese class. Yeah. As opposed to like the French, we were expected to have been studying French. That's true, like that's true a couple of years at that point. Yeah. But by the time I got I started taking French in grade four. So by the time I was in high school, I had already taken it for five years.

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Oh, yeah, I didn't I didn't even think about that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

So it was like not not to like belittle at anything, but it was kind of like uh like a baby mode Japanese.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, so it was like easy marks for my average. I I actually like math law too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Um like all the way through, all the math classes in high school.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I fucking love math.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Really, dude. I started hating math after like once we got to pre-calculus, which is basically grade 10. Like, okay, I can't remember if it was grade 11 math or grade 12 math, but whenever we started pre-calc, I was like, this shit sucks. This is not fun anymore.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah, no, I I liked it. I was yeah, I don't know. I liked I liked everything in high school.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I I I bet a lot of or at least some of that had would have to do with uh your like sudden success.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, no, because like junior high, I was dead last. And I think in high school, I I actually I litimately, like legitimately think I was I think top five.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, I would say. With it within our grade or within our within your class?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Within my within my grade.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Oh damn, yeah. Well at a pretty high average. Damn, yeah. That's impressive, dude.

unknown 13:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

What did you think of the kids around us in our school?

SPEAKER_01 13:16

Oh, I would I I I liked it, yeah, and I'll expand on that because because it's such a big school that you get in like obligation, like like a mix of so many different people, true, and like cliques, um ethnicities, different upbringing, which I think really helped open my worldview. One thing I didn't like though, just because when you're in full IB, you're almost you're expected to be in the same classes with the same people, yeah. Which I thought was the shitty part. Yeah. But other than that, running into different meetups was pretty cool though.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Well, my experience as a I'm surprised you say that to be honest, because as a as you know, full IB student, I found myself not interacting with the non-IB students. Like I I I don't know if I ever really interacted with non-IB students in high school outside of like those like lunchtime or like after school events. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I would say those are the only times. Yeah. So like did you have like a lot of communication with those? Like, did you uh meet with them a lot? Because I I I guess I I didn't really.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

No, I mean, because I still had friends that were not in IB. And I and I meet I would meet other people through those friends. Gotcha. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yeah. I think I had like one friend that was not in IB. Oh, really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

I think yeah, I think it was just me and then two other friends that were in full IB and when everyone else was either just like regular or like partial IB and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Did a lot of people drop IB when they got to grade 12? Grade 11. Grade 11.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Huh. I remember most of my friends, if not like yeah, I remember pretty much everyone being in that I talked to being IB. Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

I mean, maybe I'm misremembering, but I mean, I I even even I say this, but then I feel still really enjoying IB. Like if I were to do high school again, I would do a full IB again. Really? Yeah, like because of full IB, I got so many credits for university that I had I got to skip like seven courses in my first year.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah, that's definitely a big perk.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

If I could go back, I would do a regular program for sure. Really? Yeah, dude, because bro, if we went into the regular program, like we would coast so far, it would be so I mean, kind of sounds like I'm bragging a little too much here, but I genuinely feel like it would it would have been like so fun. Like so much free time. The expectations are so much lower.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I spent lots of free time though, doing full IB.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Did you do summer school all three years? I did. Yeah. Okay, so that's that's two slots that are opening up for you. Three slots that are opening up for you from doing summer school.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

And but it's just like, I don't know, it's just regular school during the day, you know what I mean? Yeah, I guess so. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

But yeah, if I could go back, I would I would probably go into the regular program. Which which does have its disadvantages being like, you know, in university. Well, does it really? I mean, you got to skip classes thanks to IB, but yeah, past that, how much of how much of a benefit do you think it was going into university? Oh, I mean I can understand like m like being able to take calculus in high school. Yeah. I feel like that helps quite a lot in uh Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

Taking pre-colc in high school was very helpful for taking math in university. Yeah. I would say because I did uh because of because it I did English IB and it got credits for English. I was about to skip English university, which is it was a requirement for getting a degree. That was super nice. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I guess that's it, to be honest. Like maybe, maybe it helped me with my critical thinking, maybe. I don't know. Do you think so? I have

Routines, Malls, Anime, And Early Parties

SPEAKER_01 16:40

no idea, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

How how much attention were you playing in class? Like, okay, what was I like? I was dialed in, man. Oh, okay. What was your what was an average day for you like? It's say in grade 10.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Yeah. I wake up, yeah, get ready, go to school.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

How long was it taking you to get ready? I remember you were saying uh you were you were into fashion at this stage of your life.

SPEAKER_01 16:59

I still was quite a bit in high school. Oh yeah? Yeah, like a like a decent amount of time. Probably like probably like 20, 30 minutes. Okay. And then I go to school. And then mind you, I I probably skip two classes in my entire like three years. Oh, really? You like barely skip. I I would never skip. That's good. So I go to all my classes, unless I have a spare, then like sure I get that that free time granted. But yeah, I would never skip a class, go to school. At lunch, I would eat with you guys and just chill. No. And then when it's over, either I just chill with friends, or if I have to study for exam, I study. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what would you do like when you got home aside from study? Would you just like study all day? Did you play anything? Did you what'd you do for fun?

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Oh, yeah. Either chilling with friends. I watch a lot of anime.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Oh, dude, do you remember we used to I actually I don't know if I did this a lot with you, but I I remember going to the mall a ton after after high school.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

No, in high school, actually, I didn't go to the mall. Oh, okay. Yeah. Interesting. Because we have we had a mall pretty close to the super close.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Like we like school would end and half the school would stand at the bus stops, the other half would walk to the mall.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Yeah, I would rarely go there, actually. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

That was a regular occurrence for me. I would almost every day after school go into the mall.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

Yeah. Yeah. I guess I would say to do like absolutely nothing, by the way. No, you were there. You're chilling with people. Yeah, chilling with people, but that's what the point of a mall is. It's a third space. Like I guess it's designed to just chill out in it. Yeah, yeah. If anything, I I kind of want more of that right now because I think that there's been a shift away from people hanging out at malls and third spaces. But anyways, yeah, I didn't hang out on malls that often. I would just go home. I watch a lot of anime. Yeah. Yeah. I actually I think I like my my interest for anime and my watch time for anime increased significantly in high school. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Do you know what caused that?

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Uh maybe anime just. I mean 2012, there was a boom of really good anime. True. Like Sword On Online, Attack on Titan. Yeah, Attack on Titan. Blue Exorcist. I don't know if you know that one. I do know that one. Didn't watch it though. There were so many good ones. And then yeah, it just went up and up. So I watched a lot of anime, hang out and chill with friends. I would yeah, I would still say though, like studying was a big portion of my time. And then I wasn't gaming too much, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

We did play some phone games.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Phone games.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

Well, we all did. Like someone would get into some some phone game. Yeah. It would be like, oh, this is so fun. And then basically everyone else would like start trying it out.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

And eventually, like every now and then something would stick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, that's that was that was like my standard day. And then like I didn't really start partying until like end of grade 10. Yeah. And then partying as in like birthday parties. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean not even birthday. Yeah, actually mainly birthday parties.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Mainly birthday parties that would sometimes like have like sometimes would have alcohol somehow. Yeah. I don't I don't exactly know how, but I did not drink. Yeah, me either. Yeah. Yeah, I I legit. I think I actually I think I had like a beer, like one beer in grade 10. And I was like, oh, this is like not really for me. Yeah. And then I didn't drink again until my last year of high school.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

Yeah, I mean like after grade 10, there were more parties other than birthday parties, like people just hosting, like throwing house parties. Right. So I used to go to those too, like pretty often. Once again, not drinking alcohol.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

But why didn't you? You were just like you were just because of like your morals. You really wanted to wait until you were 18.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

That's right. Yeah. Yeah. I know I think that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

How about you?

Image Anxiety, Sickness, And Overcommitment

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Well, an average day for me was like I would wake up early, spend like an hour getting ready for school, doing like my hair and stuff. I would I would iron my clothes before going to school. Really? Yeah. I would literally I would iron my fucking clothes. Yeah. Which is wild for like a 15-year-old kid to do that. Yeah. But yeah, like I meant to be like, did you just want to look nice? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Dude, I think it was like I think it was like almost to the point of like mental illness. Yeah. Like I was like ups, like I felt obsessed with upholding like my image.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Is that was it because there was some sense of insecurity against like about your appearance or probably. Yeah. Yeah. Was it worse than junior high?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah. I mean, at that point it was like building and building and building. Like it started in junior high, and then by high school, it was like, yeah, probably like grade 10, grade 11 was like it's in like full effect.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Damn. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

And then I I remember it, I like finally stopped caring too much because in grade 12 I got chicken pox. So then it was like, you know, that's like unblockable. You know, I can't do anything about it. My whole face is like covered in like red dots. For for the and for the rest of the school year, it was like that. Like I had like dots on my face, like scars from chicken pox. And then I guess like at that point I started caring less and less about it what what do you think you care so much?

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Like did someone make a comment or did did someone like say something bad or make fun of you or something?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Hmm. No, I don't think it was from anyone like being mean to me. I think it was because of the the media I was consuming at the time. Oh yeah, I remember you saying that. Yeah. I think I think stuff like that was making me self-conscious about the about my looks. Yeah. I mean for example, uh I'm sure you remember when we were like in grade 10, there was like certain hairstyles that were super popular and like everyone did those hairstyles.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

And you know, I was always like on that wave having like whatever the fuck was like super preppy or whatever the new wave was. I was uh trying to do that. Um so yeah, I would take I would spend like a long ass time getting ready in the morning. I I actually I'm so you didn't skip anything. I skipped a little bit of classes, but I was I also missed a lot of classes because I would be sick. Oh, really? Yeah, in school, uh even in junior high, I would get sick like a decent amount. Yeah, but in high school I started getting sick a lot. Like I remember in throughout high school, I probably missed like 10 to 20 percent of my classes. From being sick? Yeah, sick what? Yeah, like so I would get if I would get like cut catch like the flu, yeah, or like get a fever, I would be sick for like a whole week. It wouldn't last like like a day or two. Yeah, I'd just be so sick like the whole time. Damn. And this has been pretty consistent in my entire life. Even today, when I get sick, even if it's like a very mild, mild sickness, to me, it won't be a mild sickness. I'll be sick for like at least a week, and it'll be like a horrible sickness.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

So I miss a couple days for from that too. But anyways, back to an average day. Yeah, I would uh then go to school, try to get as much work done at school as possible.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Like work as in my homework, like studying, yeah. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Like I wanted to make sure that I had like in school, I want to do school stuff. At home, I want to be able to play my games. Oh, yeah, this is around this time, is like when my all my interests started to change completely. Why? Why I don't know. I think uh because you know, before I had uh like leading up to up to high school, I had been so involved with so many extracurricular things, and I really liked doing those things. But I think once I got to high school, I don't know, for some reason my interest started to change a little bit. I wanted I wanted to do less of those things, I guess, and more have do more fun things, but even though I wanted to do like extracurricular curricular stuff as in like I was still in student council, like I had been all the way up until that point, but I was enjoying that stuff less. Same with like leadership. I was still doing leadership program and like extracurricular stuff like that. Even though I wasn't I didn't want to do it as much anymore, but I was still doing it because I felt like I don't know, for some reason I guess I felt like I had to. So you're burned out? No, not necessarily burned out, but kind of getting there, kind of pushing myself there. Oh, I see. Cause because I wanted to do these new things, but I still told myself I had to do these old things. So it was like conflict was starting to build up inside me. Average day. So yeah, I would do like the go to school, then after school, I would almost always have some extracurricular stuff, like student council stuff, or leadership stuff, or like some event is coming up, and then we have to like do planning for that. So then I would do that, and then if I'm not doing that, like go to the mall with friends, and then yeah, then like finish all my once I'm home, finish all my homework and stuff, get on Skype and play League of Legends with friends for like the rest of the day. Like every day? Almost every day, yeah. Pretty much every day. Yeah, that was like a main activity for me back then.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

Well, I guess I for I forgot to mention another one of my activities was I was I was doing my YouTube, which was my job.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Oh yeah, and you weren't telling anyone at this point, right? No, I didn't tell anyone until like university. Yeah, like no one at all, not even like one friend. Well, yeah, one my best friend. Right, right, right. Okay. But other than that, no one. How was it going at this time? Uh how'd you feel about it?

SPEAKER_01 25:39

What'd you what were your expectations? So then up until grade 10, I was still making Beyblade videos. I was still making money from it, which is good. It was like an income.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

And then I got the same amount, like a couple hundred a month.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Yeah. Yeah, which is good.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

That's that's fantastic. You're making more money. Like we weren't even working at each other at that point.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

You know?

SPEAKER_01 25:58

And then uh it got kind of boring, I'd say.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Really? Yeah. Suffering from success.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

I mean, I think that was the period of time where the Beyblade, the the popularity kind of kind of dipped down. Like Metal Fight, Metal Fusion was huge, right? And then the subsequent seasons were pretty big. Yeah. But then after that, like the Jenga, the the main character, like that arc kind of ended. It kind of went downhill. I think it was Bay Bay Shogun Steel or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yeah, did did you uh did you watch the anime? Like, how much of the anime did you watch?

SPEAKER_01 26:24

I watched all the metal fight, like metal fight, metal fusion ones.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Oh I I only watched the original, yeah. The Tyson Kai. I watched all that too.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

It's it's it's the best for like far.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Dude, do you do you remember that last like battle between Tyson and no, not Kai. The one right before that. The last like with the orange hair guy. With Zeus? Yes, yes, dude. They were like in the fucking sky and shit, the city's getting destroyed. Yeah, bro. That was so sick.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah, but anyways, yeah, it kind of got boring because the show and the the toys that were that were being pumped out were kind was kind of boring as well. So then I transitioned to making piano covers. And then I was in grade 10. And then I was I was really into it actually. I was doing that every single day. Yeah, and then that was like a big part of my time in high school. I kept on building and building and building it, which is also a nice income as well. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Dude, one thing I started to be on this Beyblade thing, but one thing I noticed is like when we were kids and we were watching anime, anime used to deal with like slightly more mature themes. But and back then? Yeah. Like if you look specifically at Beyblade, there's like there's like people getting like really hurt in that first season, you know? Like people getting hospitalized and stuff. But that's not mature, like, oh, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

I mean, yeah for kids, that's mature themes, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yeah, but then compared to you get to like the later seasons, and like I tried watching them, yeah, and I felt more like I mean, I was older, so it makes sense for me to feel like it's more for kids. Yeah, but it really felt like it was more for kids.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Dude, I don't I don't know. Like, I don't know if yeah, because you haven't watched Metal Fight, right? Yeah, yeah. Dude, on that show, they like bring out ops and like everything. They're like helicopters, like they're like trying to kill everyone, take over the world, right? Sounds like I'm off on this. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty well. Um but anyways, back to what we were talking about. You told me about your schedule. Did that change at all during subsequent years, like grade 11, grade 12?

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Yeah,

Switching Schools And Finding A New Vibe

SPEAKER_00 28:12

because so halfway through grade 11, I switched high schools.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

Yeah. Oh, wait, wait, was it halfway through through 11?

SPEAKER_00 28:19

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was halfway through 11. I swear I thought it was like after grade 10 immediately.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

But anyways, yeah, go on.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

No, yeah, it was half it was like a couple months into grade 11 that I was able to switch.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

So once I switched, so no longer in the IB program, in the regular classes, which you know, chill as fuck. Yeah. Classes were suddenly like super easy. I barely had to put any effort in. Yeah. And I was still I still tried to get involved in extracurricular stuff. So I couldn't be in student council anymore, but I could still be part. Why? I don't remember. Good question. I don't remember why, but I was no longer. But since I went to this new school, I wasn't eligible to be in student council for some reason. Because I remember I was interested in doing it, but it was like not possible. But I could still do like the leadership program, and I did that. And oh yeah, there was like a there was an option, a leadership option itself was offered at uh at my new school, which was like the greatest option ever. We basically just like fucked around the whole time. Really? Yeah, it was it was uh it was great. All the yeah, yeah. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_01 29:17

I I had something similar in in when in my high school. I mean, not it wasn't leadership, yeah, but it the after-school leadership program, wasn't it? No, no, no. I mean, I'm talking about like completely different, like something that you could use during like school years to bump up your average. Like correspondence? No, it was it was called work experience. Like yeah, if you have a part-time job, right, right. That your employer fills out this like form, yeah, you get a grade like mark, and that bumps up your average. And that was that was actually the only reason why I worked part-time once a week at Domino's pizza.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Right. You had a you worked at a pizza shop.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah, that's that was a sick gig too, man.

SPEAKER_00 29:52

Yeah, I bet. Dude, I never knew that about you. Did you tell people you had a job?

SPEAKER_01 29:56

Yeah, yeah. It was pretty, yeah. I I worked there on Sundays making the pizza, like getting the orders and everything. And each week I'd I would eat pizza and it was amazing. Did you it like make the pizza and then eat it yourself? The ones I bought, yeah. Like I buy it and then I make it and then I eat it or take it. Oh, so you want to get like free pizzas at work? Uh sometimes. Uh yeah, based on like what map manager you're working with.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

That's pretty funny. I can never like picture you working in a pizza shop. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Yeah, great experience. I'm doing it again.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Yeah, I bet it was.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

But anyways, yeah, you're grade 11 and 12. Um, how's it different? Like the the day-to-day.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Yeah, so I had much more free time. And you know what? How earlier I was saying like I watched like high school musical and stuff and wanted my high school experience to be like that.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

No lie, my this new high school, it was kind of kind of like that. Like, what do you mean? Like everyone was like super peppy, super like nice to each other.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Yeah, it wasn't like that in our high school.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

I don't think so. There was like a big there was like all a constant push for like anti-bullying, uh, tons of like uh a lot of pushes for inclusivity and things like that. Isn't that good? Yeah, yeah. It was awesome. It was great. No, I'm talking about my high school. Oh, at at your high school, I didn't feel that. I mean, did you feel that? I mean, there were like cases of like bullying in the high school that we went to. Do you remember there was like a like quite a bloody fist fight? I remember, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

Yeah, that was actually wild. I was like, Did you see that? I I witnessed it. Yeah, I was like, Jesus, like what the hell is going on?

SPEAKER_00 31:18

I didn't see it, but it happened right out there. Yeah, there's blood everywhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Actually, I remember because your lockers were around.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

Yes, yes, that's where the student council lockers are. And it happened like right in front of there, and like one time after like class or something, I'm walking back to my locker and there's like fucking blood on the ground. I'm like, what the fuck happened?

SPEAKER_01 31:36

So that none of that was going on in the middle of the city. No, not even close.

SPEAKER_00 31:39

Yeah, no, like there were if there were cases of bullying, I feel like a lot of kids really, really like act actually like tried to stop it. Really?

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Because the rep of what I know of your high school is like preppy privileged white kids.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

Yeah, kind of. Yeah. But they were nice, preppy, privileged white kids for the most part. Okay. I mean, at least at school, yeah.

unknown 32:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah. Interesting. So yeah, it was like, you know, we're all in this together at this new high school, and it was pretty preppy, pretty like fun. Everyone, everyone was like super nice. The teachers were like super chill. I think I yeah, it's not but yeah, an average day, go to classes, then after s after school, my one of my one of the guys in my friend group, my main friend group at the new high school, he had a car. So then we would just like get in his car and fucking like go chill, like drive around, hang out, go to a park or something. I remember I got really into ultimate frisbee at that time. And I don't even know why, because I don't think there was like a a big ultimate frisbee like senior group at my high school, but for some reason started playing Ultimate Frisbee. Yeah, huh?

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Yeah, I was I was in that too, actually. Um, because by grade 11, our friends had cars as well. So I was going around places, like restaurants, just chilling. Yeah. Yeah, it was fun.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Oh, but what'd you guys do? Yeah. Cause I still hung out with you guys like occasionally, not all the time, but I still hung out with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Actually, yeah, because one of our friends had a friend's parents have a restaurant. Right. So we'd always go there like late at night. Yes, and just talk and get free like food, to be honest. It was more than that. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Yeah, yeah, that was like our that was like our spot until unfortunately they like sold the place.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, we were we were doing that a lot. And then for me, grade eleven grade 11 and 12. I I definitely studied more. The demands of IB was higher. Like we had a lot more like mandatory stuff. Like I don't think, yeah, I don't think you would know, but it's like we have to do that. Yeah, I was free at that point. Yeah, I had to write a bunch of essays, like lots of volunteering extracurricular stuff I had to do.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

So a lot more Yeah, I remember there was like a minimum volunteer work requirement you had to fill down.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Yeah. So I was study I was studying more, but at the same time, my social life, like I was going out more as well. So it really my life was just going out and hanging out with friends, and then other half was studying. And then at night, like my secret life was just working on that YouTube channel.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Right. So you were you were you had the pizza shop job and the YouTube job. So you were making bank at that point.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Well, pizza, I wasn't really making money. It was like I'm I was only working four hours a week. What was minimum wage back then? It was like, I don't know, like 10 bucks. Yeah. So 40 bucks a week.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Yeah. Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

I mean it was it was a nice little plus income. But then my YouTube income was like way higher. Like I was making more than Beyblade like income back in grade nine, grade 10.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

Do you have you worked other jobs? No, that's that's the only one, right? Because yeah, because I I I only know you from like uh the rest of your like profession professional jobs.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

So so you've worked no other jobs aside from that pizza shop and then like what you do now.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Yeah, because my YouTube, I still do it now, and that's just been my biggest like thing, which I'm definitely like I don't take it for granted. I've been super privileged for that. But yeah, I haven't really worked anything else other than that.

SPEAKER_00 34:45

That's so funny if you put like your two jobs next to each other. In my resume. Oh yeah, your resume. Uh that'll be funny. I also got a job in, but I got a job in grade 12. You got in grade 10.

SPEAKER_01 34:57

Wait, that was your first job.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

No, my mine was in grade 11. Because my friend, like that best friend that I have, she was actually working at Dominals first. Yeah. And then she told me about this work experience. And because I was so obsessed with marks and grades, I was like, damn, there's this is another opportunity to bump my grades up. So that's why I got a job for the purpose of getting that work experience course completion.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Dude, why weren't you in like the the extracurricular, like try hard kids stuff, like student counsel and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 35:24

Uh I wasn't I wasn't really into that. Like I'm pretty timid, I'm pretty introverted. I just wanted to focus on my own thing.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

Yeah. But you know, there's still positions and like those kinds of things for like, you know, positions where you have to do a lot less interfacing with people and more just like yeah, more just like planning stuff.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Yeah. But anyways. Let's see what else. Oh,

Lunch Money, Cafeteria Food, And Skipped Meals

SPEAKER_00 35:46

what were you doing for lunches in high school?

SPEAKER_01 35:49

My mom actually packed me a lunch every single time. Yeah. Wow, like. Which I'm like very grateful for. But I mean, of course, back then, I mean, I don't actually I don't know if it was for your high school, but our high school, we had a cafeteria. Yeah, we did. And then because we had a course for uh food sciences, the students who made the food would sell the the school would sell the food.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Really? Yeah. I didn't know that. Or maybe I did, but they had bomb ass food.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Like their beef dip was like amazing. Yeah. Yeah. How much was it? It's like five bucks. Oh, okay, not bad. I mean, like, because my mom packed me lunch, I wouldn't get it. But then sometimes when my friend got it, like she she gave me a bite, and I was like, damn, this is this is hell good.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

So were you getting were you getting like traditional lunches, like Korean lunches at this point? Come back around.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

A bit of mix at this point, because I mentioned in the elementary school episode that I was pretty self-conscious about the food I was eating. Yeah, exactly. In high school, I didn't really care too much. Okay. That's good. Yeah. For you.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Yeah, for me. So at this point, my mom would sometimes frack me a lunch, but my parents would just give me like 20 bucks and be like, you can like use this at the cafeteria to get yourself lunch, which is like I was happy with. But I would I would never use that on food. I would just I would just save that money and then like go to the mall and then spend it on like games or like currency and like games. Like I would buy like for League, you can buy like these things called RP cards. Yeah, it was like cost like 20 bucks or 15 bucks or something.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

Which what were you eating?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

I wasn't. Damn, what the fuck? Yeah, it just felt that's horrible. Yeah, it was pretty bad. Yeah, I mean, I would I I yeah, not thinking about it, I wouldn't have breakfast and I also wouldn't have lunch at school. So I wouldn't eat until I actually got home. That's insane. What the fuck? All day I was like, no food. Which makes sense. Like I've always been like pr pretty skinny. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm not as skinny now, but back then I remember like I was in grade 12 and I was I weighed like 120 pounds or something.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

I think there were rare times where I did go to the mall during lunch and then we we'd eat in the cafeteria. Yeah. I think there's like maybe even rare times. No, actually no, like after school, I'd say we go to like a like a restaurant here and there. I mean there were a couple there were there were like a couple restaurants that we'd often visit.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

There was there was that pho place we would go to all the time.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

And then the wings place too. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

So I'd go that one pretty often as well. Yeah. Um Wings Place closed down, but the pho place still goes down.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

Dude, I feel like a lot of those places are probably like fronts.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Really?

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yeah, no way.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Actually, wait, I don't know. Yeah, like how much how many customers are they really getting though? And they're always like so nice. They got like crazy chandeliers and stuff. Yeah. How

Crushes, Cheating, And The Aftershock

SPEAKER_00 38:18

were you with girls? Do you have any girlfriends?

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Well, I mean, the only girlfriend I had was from grade nine, which I which I say in the junior high episode, and we broke up in like grade 10. That's pretty much it though. I mean, like I met my wife in grade 11, but we're just friends back then. Other than that, no, I think. But then I don't know. Like, I think. Yeah, no, I never didn't have a relationship at all in in in high school other than that.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Did you have like interest in girls?

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I mean, I I have had a crush on my wife in grade 12. Yeah. Well, in grade 10, I had the breakup thing. I guess in grade 11.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

No, not really. You just didn't really like anyone?

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Yeah, I guess not, yeah. Fair enough. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Um how about you? Yeah, so uh yeah, I I had one girlfriend in high school. It was in grade 12. She ended up cheating on me, unfortunately. Yeah. Which sucks.

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Like, how's that experience?

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Uh it was very confusing, very crushing. It was probably the the first time I really experienced like a really, really heavy loss. And then I was like, had to confront like so many things in my life.

SPEAKER_01 39:32

Because at this point, how long have you been together?

SPEAKER_00 39:35

We had been together for we started dating like by October, and then we broke up like I think it had it had been like seven or eight months, or six, seven, eight months, something like that. Yeah. That we had been dating, and then she and then and then we had to fucking break up.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Well, then how was that relationship compared to the ones you had in junior high? Like what how was the level of like maturity? What was like the content of you guys talked about? Because it probably probably must have been drastic.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Yeah, I mean in junior high, like the relationships were just like walking around school and compared to in high school, it was more like you know, yeah, I guess we like actually talked about stuff and went on like real dates.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Yeah. Were you driving at this point?

SPEAKER_00 40:23

No, no, I didn't I didn't have I don't remember if I had my license, but I didn't have a car. I got my car two years after high school. Yeah. Two years after high school. Cause I didn't really have money at this point. Yeah. In like grade 12. Because I had I had not started Elo Boost. Oh, wait, no, I had ELO boosted up until I had started Elo Boosting, but it was like very, very little. And it was more like I was helping other people instead of doing it myself. So I didn't have a ton of money in grade 12. And then I got a part-time job as well, but also that wasn't like a ton of money. And I was pretty much using like whatever money I had. I was like basically using it to whenever I would like hang out with friends or go on a date with my girlfriend.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, I guess no one would save in high school, really. I mean, at least back then when we were.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Yeah, I mean, it would have been nice to have saved, yeah. Uh, but I definitely didn't save. And uh, yeah, this relationship was like, it was okay. I liked her a lot. I thought she liked me a lot too, and I'm sure she did at that point. But then at some point, I started noticing this was like this this specifically fucked me up. I was like, why did you do this? Because I remember um I like felt like something was like very wrong in this relationship. I got like really, really bad vibes. Why? Just like felt like something was off.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Like she was being more distant, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Stuff like that. Okay, you know, I was like, okay, this is like not normal. This something's definitely happened or happening, and I'm uncomfortable. I don't want to like be in this situation. So like I wanted to like figure it out, you know.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Oh, you confronted her.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Yeah, I confronted her. Yeah. And I always do this. Like, if I feel like like I'm not one to sit down and like take getting my ass beat. I need to figure out what the fuck's going on, and like, you know, if this is like solvable, we'll solve it. If you need space, I'll give you space. But if there's like, you know, if there's a problem, I want to at least be aware of the problem.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

So I confronted her about this.

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Like, what did you say? Like you're where you're like kind of straight up like, like, I think I think something's been off. Like it's something going on. Yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

Well, not like it's something going on, but I was like, I feel like things have been like pretty off. Yeah. Like, if you're not into this anymore, like don't drag me along, you know, you don't need to do that. We can like I I basically straight up said, like, do you want to break up? Like, should we just call it? Like, if if if you're not enjoying this, there's no point, you know? Because I'm not really enjoying this if it's gonna be like this either.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Oh, so even you jumped the gun to that question right away instead of asking.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

Well, like if we had like a talk for a while. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

So this is this was like the end of the shrap, basically.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

Yeah, this was like the no, no, no. This was like, well, I had like been asking, like, oh, is everything okay? Yeah. And she would always like, you know, brush it off. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But then like this one day we were like on a walk together, talked for like 30 minutes, and then like at the end of like the 30-minute talk, I was like, I basically said, like, you know, if you're not into this, like breaking up is an option. Yeah, and what did she say? And then and she started crying. And she was like, No, I don't want to break up. And what was your reaction to that? I was like, Oh, okay, I'm sorry for bringing it up. Like, I was like, Oh, thought like this is like, you know, it didn't seem like you were having fun, and you know, I was also not having fun. But like, if you're if you you know, my bad, my bad for bringing it up. If you're like having a good time, I guess I misread the situation. We just need to talk more often, you know, yeah, better communication, whatever. We'll figure it out. And she's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll figure it out, whatever. Week later, she goes on a fucking school trip and then cheats on me. Damn, yeah, and and that specifically how'd you find out? How'd I found out? Oh, okay. So I was really close friends with two of her friends, yeah. And basically one of them told me, like, hey man, bad news is coming. And then like and then like that. Same night, she she was like, Oh, can we talk? And I was like, Yeah, we can talk. And then she like drove to my house, and we were like standing outside my house.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Were you suspecting something at this point? Oh yeah, totally. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

I was already like, like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, I could have could have just done this like last week, saved myself like all this fucking fuck up, you know, like my my my head's like a mess, yeah, right now, you know. But yeah, then she like comes to my house, we like talk, and it's like she told me she cheated on me, and then I was like, like, what the fuck?

unknown 44:34

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

What what did you say after?

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Well, I was like hysterical.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Oh, really? Yeah, and what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 44:40

I was hysterical, like I was I I was like not like I didn't believe it. I it was just like I was like, my mind is boggled. This is like an unbelievable situation for me. Because like a a fucking week ago, I I asked you if you wanted to do this, and you said no.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

So I was just thinking, like, what the f were you were you like were you pissed in the moment?

SPEAKER_00 45:02

No, I was just sad. Yeah. I wasn't like angry, I was just I was mostly just like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 45:08

Yeah, you know. So it was at that moment she told you, and then it was at that moment that you broke broke up.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

Pretty much, yeah. Okay, yeah. I mean, I didn't no, I was like so fucked up. I mean it was like we were broken up at that point, but I didn't stop talking to her.

SPEAKER_01 45:21

Oh, you were you were talking to her still?

SPEAKER_00 45:22

Yeah, we were still talking. Damn, because well, because I was just like so fucked up, man. I was like, I didn't I don't know what the hell was going on, I didn't know what to do. Yeah. All of a sudden it's it's like my my life was being was changing in like a hostile way, you know. Yeah, like I was like not open to this change at all. And all of a sudden, well, like I was open to it, but then I had like been sold a story where it's like, okay, this isn't real, you know? Like like a week ago, I was thinking like, okay, we might be breaking up, but then I was reassured that this is not happening. It basically got gaslit, you know, into thinking into thinking everything's okay, and then a week later, like the bad news comes. And I think that's like that's but like if we had just broken up beforehand, it would have been fine. But specifically because I was like, Okay, you want to break up? And she's like, No, and then a week later she cheats on me. That specifically fucked me. But then it it it got like it got real bad. Wow then I started asking myself, I I internalized like all of it. Yeah, I I wasn't thinking like she cheated on me because she's a shitty person. I I all of my thoughts were she cheated on me because I'm lacking something. Like I did I I did something wrong. There's something wrong about me, and that's what led to me being cheated on. So then like I like start asking myself all these questions like who am I, like what kind of person am I? Like what what do I represent? What represents me? What makes me? And then like I was like struggling to answer all these questions. So I got pretty depressed after that.

SPEAKER_01 46:53

That's fair, yeah. I bet, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

Yeah, and then that's how and then that is how I got like super into league. How how does that make sense? 'Cause because then I the big thing was like I felt like such a loser.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

Yeah. Like to specify like that word was like stuck in my head.

SPEAKER_01 47:09

Yeah, but like how does that make sense of how you got into week of league though?

SPEAKER_00 47:13

Because I wanted to feel like a winner, like I wanted to feel like I could like do something, you know. And then when I was playing League and I was like getting getting good at it, and that and that was like, you know, not only was it a distraction from because when I would be busy doing that, I wouldn't be thinking about you know all the other thoughts that are going around my head. Not only was it a distraction, it was like like felt very rewarding, you know? Like winning felt good, being good felt good.

SPEAKER_02 47:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

And then I also started really making money from boosting at that point. And that felt really good. So that like became like a core part of my identity at that point.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

You know. Did she did she get together with that guy that she cheated on? Do you know?

SPEAKER_00 47:56

No, she cheated on him too. Damn, what? Yeah. Oh, what the fuck? I mean, well, yeah, like they did get together.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

But then like I I like blocked her out of my life completely at that point. So like I I I never checked, like, you know, like the classic toxic things that people that exes do, like check social media and stuff like that. Yeah. I never did any of that. It was like instant block, instant delete everything, get rid of every picture ever, like delete all texts and just completely get them out of my life. So I I have no idea how I know they dated, I I have no idea how long for, but then like afterwards, like a couple years later, a friend told me, like, oh, that ex of yours ended up cheating about cheating on that guy too, with like another guy. And I mean, yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

Do you think I mean well how how long did it take you to get over that?

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Like the whole like being down on myself?

SPEAKER_01 48:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:47

I mean, I don't think I I think I was dealing with it for a really, really long time. I don't think I really got over it for like years.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Damn. Yeah. Do you resent her for that?

SPEAKER_00 48:59

It's hard not to. Like you know, of course, yeah. I definitely resent her for cheating on me.

SPEAKER_02 49:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:06

Yeah. I think it would be impossible not to resent someone for cheating on you. It's not like I like think about it ever anymore. And even if I saw her today, like I wouldn't like say anything. Yeah. Just because I like this was like what like 10 years ago now, or more than 10 years ago. 12 years ago. Yeah. So I don't give a shit anymore. But yeah, definitely think of her as like a shitty person because of this.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

Even if like you guys were still like young, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Yeah, I mean, this is like the I think this is like the worst thing you can do to someone. You know, and not not only is it the worst thing you can do to someone, I gave her an out, you know, like before that. Just let's break up, then you can fucking go go do whatever you want with anyone, you know. You and I won't be a thing anymore. I've like nothing tied, like it won't hurt me. But to specifically like not take that out, not break up, and then a week later go and cheat, that's what that's what made me think that that that's where like my animosity, I guess, comes from. Like that is like such a shitty thing to do, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

Yeah. Okay. Wow. Hmm.

Identity, Confidence, And Feeling Fake

SPEAKER_01 50:10

So then your high school experience, how how informative was it in developing your identity?

SPEAKER_00 50:22

Not very much nowadays. Really? Yeah. Damn. Like in for a long period of my life, like my early adult life, I would say definitely like so much. But who I am now, very little. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

Because I think my junior high and high school years were very formative in shaping who I am.

SPEAKER_00 50:41

Yeah, high school, I high school specifically not so much, but before high school, I would say a ton.

SPEAKER_01 50:47

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 50:48

Yeah. Like even very often in my ad adulthood, after a certain point, I started thinking back to the kind of person that I was in my very early life, the kind of kid that I was in elementary and in junior high. Because I really liked the kind of kid that I was then. And compared to high school, I didn't like myself as much then.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

Yeah, but isn't that important for growth though? That's what I mean by formative.

SPEAKER_00 51:15

You know, I mean like in that sense, then I would say yes, it was important. It made me, I guess, like refocus things. You know, maybe not exactly then, but at a certain point in my life, I realized like the I wasn't happy on the path that I want, and I wanted to be on a different path. But that but that's that that doesn't necessarily mean like my career path, just like how I felt on the inside, how I felt I I was as a person, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 51:41

Yeah. Does that make any sense? Well, I'm just um focusing in on like identity itself. Like it doesn't have to be career. I mean, I guess no, career, career can work as well. But um yeah, actually, no, that that does make sense, I think. Yeah, that's fair. How about you? For me, it's very interesting because in junior high, like we talked about, I was at the lowest of my low, like I was the most insecure, which I think was still very important to help me push who I am today. And then I go into high school and there's a complete 180 degrees change. I probably was like the most confident I've I felt like my grades were amazing.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

Even more than even more confident than you are now.

SPEAKER_01 52:20

Interestingly, yeah. Yeah, which is weird. I think like I mean, I think back then I was I I would like to think I was like like popular with girls.

SPEAKER_00 52:30

Yeah, I think so. And then I I remember a couple of girls had a crush about you. Oh, really? Yeah. Dude, I remember one girl wild story. I think I've told you this. There was like one girl that told me that she had a dream about you, and I was like, Yeah, how do I even answer this? Like, how do I continue this conversation? Not like a strange dream. It was just like you were in her dream and she had a crush on you.

SPEAKER_01 52:53

I mean, yeah, I maybe it's maybe it sounds bad to think because almost it's it's it's like me saying that I peaked at high school because I think like even appearance-wise, like yeah, I I felt like I was like attractive in high school. Really, but now I don't like completely not. Really?

SPEAKER_00 53:08

Yeah, what I don't know. I don't know. It's like it's weird. Dude, I mean how uh again, how much effort were you putting into your appearance back then compared to now?

SPEAKER_01 53:17

I think to be honest, the same. Really? Yeah. Fair enough. Actually, a bit more in high school.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

I feel like you were putting more more effort in high school because like we all uh like I said, we we dressed like preppy back then. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You don't dress that way anymore. Not to say that you dress poorly. Actually, yeah. Not to say you dress poorly now, but you dress like more comfortable, you know. Yeah, it's like more relaxed compared to back then. Like, dude, you were not just you, all of us were all wearing skinny jeans and like raw fucking raw denim.

SPEAKER_01 53:45

Yeah, raw denim.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Which is like, you know, let's be real, those are the most uncomfortable jeans you could possibly wear. It's raw denim.

SPEAKER_02 53:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:53

Almost always wearing like a nice sweater or like button-down shirt and shit like that, you know? Nice, nice clean shoes always. So I think you were probably putting in a little bit more effort back then.

SPEAKER_01 54:04

Yeah. I mean, um, I th but I I the reason why I say that is because I think high school gave me the confidence I needed to like succeed afterwards. I see. Like after high school, like meeting new people, talking to new people, still getting good grades in university. I think high school is what gave me that push, that pedestal to be more confident in myself as opposed to in junior high. I was always down on myself. So that's why I think high school is such a big important part in my life to shaping who I am. But not only not only that, even the friends I made who have also shaped me quite significantly, I made in high school as well.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:39

So for me, I guess it's a little bit opposite where I view high school as not not that I view it poorly, but in the context of all of my schooling, I view high school as a bit of a speed bump for myself. Speed bump, like a bad speed bump. Yes. I I I see it as like a stage of my life where I tripped up a little bit, which I did. And I look and when I think about like junior high and elementary, I see that as like a really important time in my life. And nowadays I try to strive to be the kind of person that I wanted to be back then. Which is which is like, you know, a nice guy, a helpful guy, a creative guy. Doing things specifically doing things that I want to do, you know, exploring the passions that I want to have. You know what I would say? I would say in high school, I was kind of a fake person.

SPEAKER_01 55:24

No, but then that's a little contradictory, though, isn't it? Because you're saying in high school your interests changed. You're saying that you're doing more things that you you want to do, which is league, but then but I was still doing things that I didn't want to do.

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Which is like I was still like doing student council stuff that I didn't really want to do anymore.

SPEAKER_01 55:40

Oh, like you, oh, you were still doing that in grade 11 and 12.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Yeah, like I was still doing extracurricular things because I told myself like I have to do them because that's who I am and this is like my my identity, even though internally I felt like I wanted to actually move on and do other things instead. Yeah. I see. So in that sense, I was I feel felt like I was a bit fake in high school.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

And now I'm a lot more true to myself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:05

What were your other interests in high school then?

SPEAKER_00 56:07

Dude,

Grad Weekend Chaos And A Sprained Ankle

SPEAKER_00 56:08

whatever interests I had, I pushed them away always. Wait, what in high school? Yeah. Like why? Like because I only gave myself time for like league and like the other other shit, you know.

SPEAKER_01 56:16

What's what's what's other shit?

SPEAKER_00 56:18

Like student counseling. Oh, C. Yeah, because that that actually took up a huge chunk of my time, student counseling.

SPEAKER_01 56:22

Like you weren't into like, I don't know, like watching anime, listening to music, hang out with friends.

SPEAKER_00 56:27

Yeah, I mean, I was into watching anime, but I watched what I even watched back then. I mean it was like I guess I had I I would watch it like when I'm like eating or something, you know. It's like one episode a day or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Damn. Yeah. Damn. Okay. Well, that makes okay, okay. So you were just doing league and then stuff that you didn't like, basically. That was your life in a while.

SPEAKER_00 56:48

Pretty much, yeah, like academic stuff and then and then like league. Yeah.

unknown 56:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

But but I really enjoyed league um at this point. Yeah. It wasn't like a job to me for now. But I was still like really trying hard because because I got made fun of that first time I like tried to make friends. And you know, that was like the first time I like almost ever got uh made fun of like that.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

Oh, so you took it took it to heart, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Yeah, I really took it hard. Dude, we were in like Skype call, yeah, a Skype call, and this guy's like fucking making fun of me.

SPEAKER_01 57:15

And I should you should tell her right now. Like Steam.

SPEAKER_00 57:18

Oh, yeah, I think I didn't say, yeah. I've told him like, you are the reason that I uh that I started playing so much league. Yeah, because you made so much fun of me. What is it? He's like a really close friend of mine now.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What did what did they say?

SPEAKER_00 57:29

Well, he's like he's like apologizing, like, oh sorry, but like, oh, it's all good. It's like it wasn't like that.

SPEAKER_01 57:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 57:35

But yeah, I remember I was even then, like, I wasn't like really into league, but I was still like silver rank, which is like higher, higher than everyone else at the time. And I just remember one specific comment this fucking asshole made in the sky call. Yeah. And I like die or something, yeah. And this guy says, like, oh, so this is what silver players are like. Yeah. I was like, okay, fuck you, man.

SPEAKER_01 58:00

Did you go to um did you have going to grad then? Like if you're because this is around the time that you you broke out with your girlfriend.

SPEAKER_00 58:06

Did you go to Oh yeah, I went to I went to my grad.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

Yeah, yeah. How was that?

SPEAKER_00 58:09

Oh, dude. I saw her mom at grad and she like she like came up and talked because I I was like really close to uh her mom. Yeah. Uh the girl I was dating. Like we had like a really good relationship.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Yeah, she was so like she like came up to me and like said hi to me, and she was like, Oh, miss having you around. Really, eh? Yeah, and like, yeah, I was like, I re I really liked her. She was like not not quite, but almost like a second mom to me. You know, yeah. Yeah, and was there was there a grad party that you went to? Dude, crazy grad parties. Went to Did you go to mine too? Yeah, I did. Like the crazy one? Yeah, yeah. I went to that one too. So I went to your guys' high school grad party. Yeah, yeah. But I also went to three grad parties of my own. Damn. Yeah. So our grad, so our grad weekend, we had a party Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 58:56

Uh hosted by the same person?

SPEAKER_00 58:57

No, different people. Damn. Yeah, no joke. And it it was fucking it was insane. Like, like good or bad? Like, I don't think I've ever had that much alcohol in my body. Were you ever? Were you yakking? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, dude. Dude, I I bought um I bought a 26. No, I bought a 40 of Malibu. Yeah. Like uh 40 ounces. Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_01 59:18

No, there should be all we like like more than more than a standard 70, 50 mil. Yes, yes. The one that's bigger than a 750 mil. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:24

So that's 40 ounces, right?

SPEAKER_01 59:25

I have no idea, but sure.

SPEAKER_00 59:26

Yeah, because the 26 is 26 ounces. Yeah, right. So yeah, the 40, the 40, whichever one is one size bigger than a 750 mil. I bought a I can't remember exactly what it was. I always think it's Malibu, but I don't think it was Malibu now that I think about it. It was some coconut. Oh, maybe it was Bacardi. Bacardi coconut rum or some shit like that.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Sure, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:44

So I bought the 40 at the start of the weekend, and I drank most of that 40 by myself.

SPEAKER_01 59:50

Dude, that's like that's that's dangerous. Yeah, that's alcohol poisoning.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Like, yeah, it was like crazy, man. I got like crazy injured too. On like the last injured. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:01

Was it like intense, like like crazy to a point that police were involved?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:06

Were police called? From your member. Yeah. I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think police were called. Were police called for the party that your guys got party? Uh I don't think so, right? Not that night, not that night. Yeah, not that night. Yeah, not that night. Yeah, yeah. Same, same here. No, no police were called, but the parties were actually like insane. I'm talking like like super bad movie parties. Like they were like actually insane parties.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:27

Yeah, no, I agree, because at this point I'm 18, so I'm like, I'm drinking too. I went to a lot of parties. Yeah, like it was it's actually kind of like appalling how much I could have drank. Like I was able to drink back then. We were shameless. Yeah, like it was insane. Like we're we're we would always just buy like two sixes off like like Smirnov vodka.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

Yeah, always. Uh it was always like never a size smaller than a two-six, that's for sure. Yeah. Oh, you know what? Uh in America, they probably don't call it two sixes. I'm pretty sure they don't call it two sixes. What do they call it? Oh, wait. Yeah. Isn't that that is imperial?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:58

It's a standard, it's a standard bottle, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:01

Yeah, but the two six, like Oh, I see what you mean. No, no, they would call it a two six in America because that's imperial, that's not metric. The milliliters are metric.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:09

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

Maybe they I guess they do call it a two-six.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:12

Yeah. But anyways, yeah. Yeah, I was actually partying a lot in grade 12, which is, I mean, I don't regret it at all, to be honest. It was a blast. Like, I wasn't doing I wasn't like committing crimes or anything. Like I wasn't doing anything illegal. So I was having fun. I was still getting good marks. I was studying. Yeah, like I remember our friends throwing birthday parties too, which were like really fun. But yeah, grad was pretty insane. Yeah, I I I guess I forgot. Like, I I guess you were there, hey.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:37

Yeah, I I I was there. It was a very memorable, very memorable party. Yeah. Super fun party.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:43

Um up until something happened, but yeah, probably won't get into it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

But but but parties like that, like those Do you miss it? Well, I don't know if I miss it, because like how how would it happen then?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:54

Do you regret it?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

Do I no, I don't regret it. I mean, it was like such a blow. I mean, like certain actions, yeah, I regret because I got I was like sloppy drunk.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:00

Yeah. But it's like No, but why would you regret that?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:03

Yeah, it's like it is what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:04

Yeah, you just gotta get it out of your body, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:06

Yeah, I I didn't hurt anyone, I didn't get myself hurt, I didn't do like anything too embarrassing.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

And at the end of the day, it's been 12 years since then, so like who gives a shit?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:15

Yeah, yeah, dude. Like, yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

But one funny thing is like for my grad weekend, so the first the first night, there was a really, really huge house party hosted by these two twins. Yeah. And you know, we went there, great party. Then the next night, these this other group of guys that were not invited to that first party. To that first party. Yeah, they do their own house party in another huge house and invite everyone but the twins.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:41

That's so petty.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:42

It was so petty. Yeah. And that's like also like a fucking sick ass party. And then the third night, we had we had like a smaller, smaller house party organized by like my friends in like a smaller house. But even I say smaller, it was still like 50 people.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

And you were drinking every day.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:58

Yeah, drinking every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:59

Were you getting hook like hangovers back then?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:03

Like I was getting hangovers, but I was like fucking powering through it.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:06

Dude, me too.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

I mean, like the hangovers weren't as bad as they are now.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:10

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:10

But uh, but I was still like like yakking the night before and then fucking go out again the the day after.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

Dude, I remember like like it was like the goal to outdrink everyone, you know what I mean? Like to see who can drink the most.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:22

It's so stupid, actually. Yeah, we were just trying to get like super, super fucked, like as fucked as possible. Yeah, and so I I I mentioned how I got injured on that last like night of the party. Yeah, we're like outside I'm like outside of my friends, and so we were into ultimate frisbee at the time, so we had like an ultimate frisbee and we're tossing it around, and I'm like super fucking drunk.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

In my friend's uh front yard, and they have like a hedge. I tell my friend, toss the frisbee to me. I'm gonna jump over this this hedge of bushes, click my heels midair, and catch the frisbee. He was like, okay. Yeah. So he tosses frisbee for me. I go, I jump the jump the hedge, click my heels, but then I land wrong on my foot and basically like sprain my ankle so so badly. Like the worst I've ever sprained in my life.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:07

Like I had a pretty bad sprain a couple like last year in volleyball and that was pretty bad. But this one that I got at the at this house party, it was like so, so terrible. I couldn't walk on the on the foot for like six months. I was on like crutches first, long ass time. Well, maybe not six months, like two months, two, three months I couldn't walk on it. And after that, it was still like so swollen. Yeah, stupid.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:33

Wait, do I remember that? Because did you come to the our grad party with like no your grad party happened before that? Oh, I see, I see.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:41

I think yeah, pretty sure. Yeah. Because I was wearing like not a cast, but a brace for half a year or two.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

And

Inclusivity, Popularity, And Getting Pulled Over

SPEAKER_01 1:04:49

um, you know, was there like a huge popularity thing in in in your high school? I mean it must have been, it's high school. There's no way that's that doesn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:58

Yeah, to be honest, like not really. Are you sure? Yeah, like I said, everyone was like so inclusive. So I mean there were like popular kids, yeah, but by popular, I just mean like I guess like everyone knows them. Yeah and there's like quote unquote unpopular kids that like don't have a ton of friends, but there was never like people that were like discluded or like excluded from stuff. And like, for example, like if we saw someone sitting by themselves alone at lunch, someone would like go and like sit with them and try to talk to them. And I saw this so many times that I actually did it myself, where like I saw a kid sitting alone outside the leadership room, yeah, eating his lunch, and I like sat next to him and like started talking to him because I was like, Oh, I didn't want this kid to be alone. Wow. Yeah. But actually, he didn't reply to me at all. He like kind of ignored me.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:45

And in the moment I was like, Oh man, why is this guy ignoring me? But like like as I got older, I realized he was probably dealing with something. And like maybe I wasn't helping by forcing myself into that situation.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:57

But yeah, like there truly was a big push for. inclusivity and anti bullying and stuff like that. Why though? I don't know. But I mean it's a great thing. Are you sure? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:06

Because I have a I have a friend who went to your high school.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:08

Really? Oh yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:09

He hated it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:11

He said he wouldn't have gone gone back.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:12

Interesting. Well he went for three years, only went one year. Yeah. Or year and a half. But I don't remember if he was in our leadership classes.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:20

He definitely wouldn't have.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:21

No? No. Maybe that's why. Oh maybe. But uh I I I I feel like I'm right about this one. But it but it's impossible for there not to be bullying. So there definitely was some bullying.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:32

Yeah no for sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:34

But my at least my view on that high school was quite positive. I mean that's good and it's kind of good experience. Yeah I had I had a pretty good time. Yeah. Oh dude I got have have you ever had any run-ins with the cops?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:49

I got pulled over for the one and only time in my life in high school. I thought you weren't driving at this point. No I wasn't driving. No my friend was driving. Yeah. And so this was also around grad time like a couple days after grad weekend and I could finally get high smoking weed at this point. So my friends and I Wait why why at this point? Because like before then I like I would like smoke weed wrong or something and I wasn't getting high.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:14

But like now I like learned how to do it I guess so I could get high. Yeah so I got high with my friends and it's like nighttime. And uh we're like driving around we're like near my school grounds and we're like driving around going to one of my friends' house and we got pulled over by cops.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:26

Oh yeah you said that in the weed episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

Oh okay but yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah basically they like start asking us like oh like what's going on they definitely smelled it because it wasn't like a vape it was it was like bongs and J's and stuff. So the the smell goes everywhere and it like sticks to you. So the cops definitely knew something was up I remember a cop like I was sitting in the back and a cop like flashed a flashlight and saw me and was like oh are your eyes are red damn and I was like but but I instantly had a response to what it up because you know my eyes do get red in the summer it's because I have a pollen allergy so I told I told the cop I was like oh got a pollen allergy it just makes my eyes really red. And then they asked I remember they asked us all for IDs and I didn't have like any kind of identification at that point. Yeah. So I gave them like my community membership which had like my picture. And which is fair if you don't have ID you don't have ID you know but turns out they they like went to our school as well the high school that we went to because they had the police officer we thought yeah yeah like we were like talking with them and they're like oh what are you guys doing? Yeah. So the driver like explained like or I guess like was talking to them and found out that yeah we just had our grad and they also went to our high school. So maybe they were like lenient on us because of that because I'm a hundred percent sure they knew we were high I mean I couldn't do shit though. Oh dude but not only was it that we were high but I was underage. Yeah exactly wait what do you mean they couldn't they can't do anything because you're underage no no no so I'm underage but I'm the only one underage in the car. Everyone else is over 18 yeah and they had bought alcohol yeah and I was the only one with my bag with me. Yeah. So all the drinks were in my bag and I'm the only underage kid in the car.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:06

So that that was like a little bit spooky for me. I mean that's fair yeah yeah because like when she asked for my ID I didn't have my wallet in my pocket to open my bag and all these bottles are like clanging against each other.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:18

Yeah. Actually never but I guess I guess they could do something like a charge as like a juvenile thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:23

But yeah I mean if they really wanted if they really wanted to they could have asked me to get out of the car and I probably would have failed like any sobriety testing. Yeah. Just because I was high.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:31

Yeah. I wonder if they would have actually charged you though like maybe like they would call your parents and everything.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:36

I mean yeah but I was like so scared of that.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:37

I mean that's fair I I'd be I'd be scared shitless too.

Mini Series Wrap And Next Week Tease

SPEAKER_00 1:09:40

Yeah like I like in my mind that's all that that's what was running through my mind like dude they're gonna call all our parents yeah yeah it's gonna find out I'm smoking weed which is illegal yeah it was uh almost a nightmare experience but turned out to be fine because yeah they were chill that's fair yeah that's fair okay I think that's all the time we've got for this week's episode these ones have been uh a little bit longer hey lots to talk about so I guess since we're not uh preaching as much makes it easier to talk about our our lives. Yeah but uh hope you guys are enjoying this new series and you know broadly enjoying the miniseries kind of format that we're doing as a whole but yeah we'll keep sticking with it see how it goes see where it goes from here but thank you guys so much for tuning in to this week's episode it was a long one but it was hopefully it was a good one and uh hope you guys have a good rest of your week tune in tune in for what is it yeah the last episode for for the series yes this time next week will be the final episode of this mini series and then we'll move on to something else so thank you once again for listening this was catch up with Kyen Cohen and we'll see you next week.

unknown 1:10:54

Peace