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Hey folks, it s Lyle.
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Before we get into the episode, I wanted to talk to you guys about a new thing I m doing where you can help support my lizard endeavors by becoming a premium member of this podcast over at therapygecko.supercast.com
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Premium Members, or GECK Legends, as I call them, will be able to get every new and existing episode of Therapy Gecko completely ad-free.
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You ll also get a bonus podcast episode once a month, a bonus live show episode once a month from all of the live shows I ve been doing around the world, a members-only live stream once a month, plus, you ll also support my ability to continue, hopefully, doing this podcast for a long time, doing it around the world,
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and also supporting my ability to occasionally go eat a slice of pizza.
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Go to therapygecko.supercast.com or find the link in the episode description to become a GECK legend today.
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All right, let s get into the episode.
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Hello?
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Hello?
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Who is this?
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This is Abraham.
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Abraham, like from the fucking, like from the Torah.
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From where?
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The Torah, you know the Torah, the Jewish thing.
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Oh no, no, no, no.
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This is Abraham from the Bible.
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Not Jewish by any means.
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Abraham was in the, I think he s been in um... He s had a lot of roles.
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Right?
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He s in both.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, in the Bible.
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The Quran too.
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You sound offended that I insinuated that you are from the Torah.
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I am not.
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It s an honor.
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What s your deal, Abraham?
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I just bought your tickets.
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I just bought your tickets.
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Oh, shit.
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Thanks, dude.
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Where at?
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Oh, Virginia.
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Where in Virginia?
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Oh, you mean Alexandria?
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I think?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Mhm.
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Woah.
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Things are too good and too bad at the same time.
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I want to start with what s the good.
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Say that again.
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I want to start with what is the good.
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All right.
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Let s do that.
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Uh, yeah, sure.
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Sure.
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All right.
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All right.
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So I ve been here for a couple of years now, almost a year and a half.
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And the main motivation to coming to the US was like, I pretty much have everything that I dreamed and wished and
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appeared in my life.
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I basically worked for it, got it.
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And then all of the goals I set for myself were like, when I d be 28, I already did them.
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By the time I was like 21.
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And things got bummed over.
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I just got bummed over there.
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And then basically, you know what?
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It s time for a new challenge.
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And then I moved here.
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Where d you move from?
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Oh, I d rather not say.
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But in Africa, somewhere in Africa.
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Okay, so you 100%ed Africa.
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You completed all of your goals.
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You unlocked all the collectibles, all the alternative costumes.
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And you re like, you know what?
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Africa was too easy.
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for this guy.
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Let s go to America for a look for a challenge, huh?
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Yeah, I think I see what happened.
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All right.
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All right.
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What s the what was the challenge?
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What were you trying to do here?
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Well, back there, I wanted to be stable.
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So I had a job, I had a bunch of countries I wanted to visit, like five or six.
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I did those.
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and then basically I moved down to 11.
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Now you know what, it s time to move on.
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Then I came here, but when I did, I didn t have the proper paperwork.
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So basically I had to like start from the bottom bottom, which I kind of appreciated like after I passed.
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So the first time I got here was in 7-11.
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So your first job here was working at 7-Eleven?
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Mm-hmm.
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What was your job back in Africa?
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I was a software engineer.
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You went from software engineer to 7-Eleven?
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Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
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Interesting.
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So you really did just go, you know what, fuck this.
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Let s um, like you were at um,
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I don t know, you- you completed the game, and your character had all these- was- you maxed out all the stats, and you were like, fuck it, let s just start a new game.
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Yep, and it s even gonna get better.
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So... Yeah, uh... I worked there for a couple of months, around six months, until those- the paper issues got sorted out, and now, after all that has been basically
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got back in place, I also have a software job here now.
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Now I m working for some government contractors.
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Not contractors, but for the government itself.
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As a software engineer here.
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Tell me more about working at 7-Eleven, because I go into 7-Eleven all the time, and I rarely stop and chat with the guys working there.
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They always seem busy.
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It was fantastic.
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Tell me more.
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It is fantastic.
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So I had like two nights where I used to have like a graveyard shift.
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And I loved those.
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Because usually during the night, most people that come in are either really high, they re really hungry, or really like drunk out of their minds.
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So to be at that moment with them, trying to experience their whole life and watching them being as happily as humanly possible.
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And that sometimes ranges.
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Sometimes people come in like being as sad as possible, but they all have this one thing in common.
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They all want food.
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They re all hungry and they want something to drink, right?
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So at that time,
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Nobody wants cold food, so when I m staying the night, I don t make any kind of food.
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So, but what I did was, I would make them food.
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If they need it, if they request it, I would make them food.
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Now, just imagine being high out of your mind, going out of your mind, saying the guy at the 7-Eleven that just said, oh, there s no food for the night, but I can make you one.
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And being like,
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That kind of source of happiness for someone just made it so much fun.
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And you can see the glow in their eyes, too.
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It s amazing.
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You were really their hero in that moment.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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And they, I don t know, some of them give a lot of tips, some of them don t.
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But you know, it s one of, I really liked it.
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Were people generally nice to you?
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Oh yeah.
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Oh yeah.
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Like 99% of the time I never had any kind of altercations.
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Like I can count on one hand the time I had altercations with anyone.
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Hmm.
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Hmm.
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So you really enjoyed working at this 7-Eleven.
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It s so interesting to hear because, I mean, I ll just be honest, like I said, I am consistently at a 7-Eleven at two o clock in the morning and a lot of the times the people working there looked, kept pretty bummed out.
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Yeah, of course.
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We have to.
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It takes long hours, like extremely shaky wages, especially if you don t have papers.
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But thankfully,
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I had my uncle and aunt that live here, so I m crashing with them, and they don t make me pay rent or food, so I had less things to worry about.
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That kind of gets some of the stress out of my head, too.
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But, yeah, I didn t have to worry much about that.
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They also wanted me to get settled and just get my feet on the ground, so I was really, really lucky.
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What else did you enjoy about working at 7-Eleven?
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Well, we re gonna get coffee.
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I m a huge coffee physicist, so we ll drink as much coffee as possible.
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Now, when you make these people food, do you make a little something for yourself?
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I mean, I want to, but I wouldn t eat the food.
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It s a 7-Eleven food.
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It s too greasy.
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Everything is already, like, it comes unprepared.
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Like, I tried my best to do all the cleaning and all the grilling.
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I came up with it as clean as possible, but it can never be clean.
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So, I think, I believe when people are coming there, they know what they re getting themselves into.
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So, I wouldn t eat it myself.
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That s fair.
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So, okay, what were some of the bad parts of working at 7-Eleven?
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The money.
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It s shit.
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It s absolutely shit.
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You know what I should be speaking?
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No one can survive in that.
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It s like $11,000 an hour.
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So it s not livable.
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I was really lucky to have someone else here, but I was supposed to be like, by myself, by myself, by no one.
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I wouldn t be able to survive.
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I guess it s very funny to me that you, um, you gave a very, um,
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Uh, I don t know.
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I don t want to use... I don t know if I ll use the word.
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I don t know what the word is.
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Is it... It was impassioned.
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You gave a very impassioned speech about the honor that it is to help hungry people working at the 7-Eleven, but also that you would never eat that shit yourself.
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Yeah.
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You know, at that time, if you were that blind, if you were that high, and if you were that cracked up,
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You re not gonna choose over what you re gonna eat.
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You re hungry.
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That s it.
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You want water, you want food, so... Like, getting hot food at that time is just... I wish I could stay there, like, for, like, a couple of minutes, like, 30 minutes, and see people coming in and out.
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And then just... Almost feels like I made something, like, life-changing for them.
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Really nice.
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Makes me feel better about myself.
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So...
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You said it makes you feel better about yourself?
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Mm-hmm.
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That s great.
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That s great.
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So you moved on to be a software engineer from 7-Eleven.
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Was there any other in-between jobs or was it just 7-Eleven straight to software engineer?
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Straight to software engineer.
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Well, I had all of the experiences.
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I knew what I was doing, so.
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Interview process and all that wasn t that hard.
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It was just that papers that was a big issue And And is that what you still do?
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Yeah How long you been living in America for?
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About a year and a half Year and a half.
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How does it compare to Africa?
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What s what s better?
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What s worse?
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It is.
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We don t have a social life here.
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Everyone is a little bit disconnected.
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I don t know.
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Maybe it s because I haven t been here long enough, but back home, there was a lot of business.
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Like, people should just gather and talk and chill after work.
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But here, everybody s like from work to work.
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And then everyone s trying to get their bills paid, groceries, whatever.
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You re trying to live as much as possible without actually living.
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And that kind of makes you disconnected from whatever you have around you.
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So friendship don t last that long.
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Family members don t last that long.
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You need some kind of graduation, party, or funeral to get you all together.
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I really notice that a lot here.
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It s really sad.
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But back home, you don t need a reason.
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You can just say, like, oh yeah, I just made some coffee, come over.
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And then you can just hang out with your homies.
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That s usually the moms, what they do.
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It s like Saturday afternoons, or any kind of the day afternoons, basically.
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It s like, oh, your homies come over, just make coffee, you know?
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So you feel like you have a lot less social interaction here in the States than in Africa, like people are less willing to gather with one another because they re so stressed out and worried about taking care of all the problems that they have going on.
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Yeah, 100%.
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Yeah.
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Hmm.
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Hmm.
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You know, I don t want to ask you again, but is there a reason you don t want to tell me what country in Africa you came here from?
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No, it s just stereotypical, you know.
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It s from Ethiopia.
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Okay.
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From Ethiopia.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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East Africa.
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Known for their coffees.
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Now, um, um, how long were you in, were you born in Ethiopia?
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I ve been there.
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I was born there.
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Do you like, I guess, just like looking around and talking to people, do you, do you feel like the folks in Ethiopia are happier than the folks in wherever, whatever state you re in?
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Well, that s a trick question.
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Well, I don t have any friends here.
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I have like maybe one or two cousins, but friends, not really.
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Yeah.
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Do you have a lot of friends back in Ethiopia?
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Oh yeah.
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A whole bunch.
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Like I said, it was like almost like the whole city.
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city feels like a close community so I went to school there and then when we went to college basically everyone we know back in high school made friends in their college and we instantly became friends with their friends and that went along with like everything in school so you know basically everyone in the city because like one connection away from everyone
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How do you feel being here?
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Do you feel isolated at all?
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No.
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Not really, no.
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I m liking it, just spending time by myself.
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I get to do a lot of reading, so that s nice.
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I haven t been watching a lot of shows over the weekend, but I read heavily on the ebook, so that s pretty nice.
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But, you know.
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Hmm.
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Do you, do you miss Ethiopia at all?
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Do you miss your friends?
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I have a certain, like two or three friends that I miss.
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I mean, I m close friends, but nothing else.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So yeah, that s pretty much it.
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Now I m at the level of where I m also kind of like conquering the US also.
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Well, cause I feel like it.
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You feel like you re conquering the US?
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I m almost there.
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Right.
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SPEAKER_00
Okay.
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Yes.
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So back to the beginning, you, you a hundred percent at Africa, you a hundred percent of Ethiopia, you did everything.
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You, you literally became friends with the entire town.
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Uh, you, you won, you beat the level.
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Okay.
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And so now you re, you re onto greater things.
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What, what does you conquering the U S look like?
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Well,
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For starters, I want to move out for my own house and basically live by myself.
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So that is like the first step.
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So that s my immediate goal right now.
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So I got a good job now, just bought a car last week, bought a ridiculously expensive computer.
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So basically I m set for like my big purchase needs for the next maybe six, seven years, I m guessing.
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So the next thing
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is going to be moving out and, you know, living by yourself by yourself.
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What s your sort of like ultimate goal or, or dream?
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I want to have cows.
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Cows?
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Cows.
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Around 10 to 15.
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And I don t want them for milk.
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But then I said, I mean,
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I want to make cheese.
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Alright.
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That s a cool goal.
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You want to make cheese, like to sell it or just to like have a cow to make cheese just to eat?
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It depends on how much I make.
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It depends on how much I make.
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If I make too much of course I m going to sell it.
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I m not going to be eating by myself.
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I feel like you can get I feel like you can get a cow how hard is it to get a cow like if I wanted a cow how would I even Know what I would do.
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I feel like it s pretty same.
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I mean painting them just you can get them, but you have to feed them Yeah, I Feel I love them like we used to have this like a little bit of farm where we used to get milk so we basically go like around like two guys and then these people will have like
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cows in their house, and then they ll just let us milk.
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And I was like, huh, I wonder what we could do more with these cows.
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What s your love life like?
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It s not just about the cows.
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Abraham, what are you, do you have a girlfriend?
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That s the extremely, extremely terrible part.
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So apparently wherever I go, wherever I do, I cannot seem to be form any kind of
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intimate connection with anyone.
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Now what about back in Ethiopia?
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Did you ever have a girlfriend or go on dates or any of that?
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SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, but nothing lasted more than like three dates.
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SPEAKER_00
Three dates.
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Maybe maximum four months.
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That s kind of routine in my head, the character that you play, right?
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So
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I, depending on the girl, I would say, depending on her interest and who their friends are, I would have these things that I basically rehearse in my head and it will work every time.
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So like, first day, you make good impressions and whatnot, funny jokes.
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Second day, you know, a little bit more flirty, a little bit more intense.
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And then third day, usually like the same stuff, but you or Niki reproduce all that.
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But once after that, I kind of,
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get tired of playing that character.
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And the same character, but just different interests with all of them.
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SPEAKER_01
Have you tried, like, dating at all since you ve been in the States?
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SPEAKER_00
No, no.
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I just thought it was going to be a distraction because, you know, it didn t seem right.
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SPEAKER_01
You said it didn t seem right?
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_01
Why not?
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SPEAKER_00
I mean... Well, I barely know anything about this place.
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SPEAKER_00
I don t know anything, and I don t know anyone, so... I want to get my feet, like, on the land first before I start making any kind of decisions like that.
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SPEAKER_00
Now, uh, do you- Well, no!
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SPEAKER_00
It goes deeper than that, actually.
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Do you dream of, like, having, like, a wife and children and...
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SPEAKER_01
to accompany you with the cows, or will the cows be enough company for you?
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I do.
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SPEAKER_00
Of course.
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SPEAKER_00
You have to, otherwise who s gonna help you shovel the shit?
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SPEAKER_01
Do you have a good relationship with your aunt and uncle that you re staying with?
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SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
They adore me, and I really love them too.
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And their kids, their kids  kids, they really, really, really love me too.
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SPEAKER_00
We have a really good relationship.
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SPEAKER_01
I guess I m surprised that um you know you went from this place where like the whole town knew each other and I bet you had so many friends and you d probably go to the supermarket and run into five different people you knew and all that stuff at least from the way that you re describing your your community and like going from that yeah yeah
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, I mean, going from that to, like, literally saying that you have no friends in America and you ve been here for at least a year, like, that sounds... that sounds rough, but you seem like you are totally not bothered by it.
2
SPEAKER_00
No.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, no, of course not.
2
SPEAKER_00
In a sense, like, I kind of knew this was gonna happen in my heart, you know?
2
SPEAKER_00
Just like, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
It would be a time where like, okay, you re gonna have to be doing this stuff by yourself.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I was always mentally prepared for it.
2
SPEAKER_00
So it didn t really bother me that much.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t have to adjust as much.
2
SPEAKER_01
You were always prepared to have to go solo dolo.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well,
2
SPEAKER_01
What s what do you think you ll stay in America or do or once you conquer it?
2
SPEAKER_01
Are you gonna move to fucking I?
2
SPEAKER_01
Don t know Brazil or something It depends on how bad this place get What do you mean by that what does that mean how like how bad would it have to get and What would what would it getting bad look like?
2
SPEAKER_00
cool
2
SPEAKER_00
I feel like if I at least get shot at least once, no, once is like, it s bound to happen.
2
SPEAKER_00
Three times, I m moving away.
2
SPEAKER_01
Hold on, you said bound to happen?
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Can I ask, and I know I already got you to tell me what country you re, you came here from, but what state are you in if you don t mind me asking?
2
SPEAKER_00
I m in Maryland.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re in Maryland!
2
SPEAKER_01
That s my home state!
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I told you I m coming to you from Virginia, you know?
2
SPEAKER_01
Right, right, you did say that, you did say that.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Bro, wait, do you, you don t, okay, and again, you don t have to tell anyone, do you live in like Baltimore, Baltimore, do you like Baltimore City, Baltimore?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I m around like the College Park.
2
SPEAKER_01
Oh, oh, okay.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re not gonna, dude.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t, you re not gonna, it s, I, I m so, it s so crazy to me that you re like, the way you re talking about getting shot at, like it s some sort of like inevitability.
2
SPEAKER_00
Well, I mean, I would be sad if I didn t get shot at at least once.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I feel like that would, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s like, you know, that s for me to get like the whole American experience.
2
SPEAKER_00
At least I have to get shot at once.
2
SPEAKER_01
You said you would be sad if you didn t get shot at at least once because you would be missing out on the American experience.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
God, we have we have some horrible PR.
2
SPEAKER_00
You do.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s wild.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, it s I I feel like I talked about this on the podcast before but um And I definitely talked about it well on the streets of people while I was over there But I I talked to people on the streets of Australia, and they told me that like they felt the same way They were like if I they were genuinely afraid to go to America because they thought They would get shot as if you re just gonna get randomly shot walking on the streets and yes
2
SPEAKER_01
That happens, but it doesn t happen.
2
SPEAKER_01
It doesn t happen way more than it does happen.
2
SPEAKER_00
So a couple of times, uh, I was robbed when I was in a 7-Eleven.
2
SPEAKER_00
And thankfully, like they didn t put anything in the gun or anything on me, but like one of my coworkers, they put a gun at her and then she just robbed everything.
2
SPEAKER_00
But what did happen to me is a cop came and
2
SPEAKER_00
one came in like after the other like a couple of months apart but she was really distressed and she didn t have any car and she came in asked for some kind of cigarettes i gave it to her and then i saw her coming from the really dark side of the world so i asked her i was like are you are you okay like do you want me to call you a cab or anyone like where are you going by yourself like this night it was like 3 a.m in the morning and she said like no no no don t worry like
2
SPEAKER_00
I m good.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then she just pulled out like a gun.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then she just like went walking.
3
SPEAKER_01
And this happened twice.
3
SPEAKER_00
She pulled out a gun at you or she was just like, don t worry, I m okay.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, no, no.
3
SPEAKER_01
She just showed me the gun.
3
SPEAKER_01
She just showed me the gun.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh, she was like, don t worry about me.
3
SPEAKER_01
Like I m good.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then she just walked out.
3
SPEAKER_01
Now imagine like if some kind of, if I made contact with this woman, like during the daytime or like any other place, I would sort of love it.
3
SPEAKER_01
And maybe she was in the right mood or anything, and she just pulled out a gun just to scare me.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know?
3
SPEAKER_01
So, it is a real possibility, and I hope it is.
3
SPEAKER_00
How many times was the 7-Eleven robbed, only once?
3
SPEAKER_01
Uh... Like, a major robbery was... Well... Uh... So, the 7-Eleven I looked at,
3
SPEAKER_01
The owner had like three other 7-Eleven, so when there was like a missing shift, like I would cover for the other one.
3
SPEAKER_01
So one shift where I was supposed to be working, some other guy covered my shift and he got robbed.
3
SPEAKER_01
The same guy came to the store that I was working at, and that s like two months after that.
3
SPEAKER_01
He robbed it, he got robbed again.
3
SPEAKER_01
So...
3
SPEAKER_01
Technically, the only time I was robbed was like some people just took out all the things that they bought and they ran away without paying.
3
SPEAKER_01
That s as much as robbery counts, like in my case.
3
SPEAKER_01
But the other guy was robbed like multiple times, like they had him like with a gun.
3
SPEAKER_01
They were pointing at him and it was scary.
3
SPEAKER_01
For him.
3
SPEAKER_00
Man, you re a... First of all, I mean, that s such a bummer for the guy who took your shift.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Or like a day before Christmas too.
3
SPEAKER_01
Um...
3
SPEAKER_00
You know what Abe I don t I haven t been doing this a lot, but I m gonna try this out I m gonna see if the chat has any questions for you Chat do you have any questions for Abe?
3
SPEAKER_00
I do I ve been doing this at my Shows where I ask the crowd if they have any questions for the person at the end, so I m gonna try it out With you Gabe because you seem like you have a lot of interesting things to talk about that maybe I I am too dumb to have the questions for
3
SPEAKER_00
Somebody asked you, CheekspreaderX wants to know if you have the desire to ever own a gun yourself.
3
SPEAKER_00
No.
3
SPEAKER_00
No.
3
SPEAKER_01
That s too much responsibility.
3
SPEAKER_00
iPout08 says, would you ever actually date anybody in America?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know, why wouldn t I?
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t know, maybe because they would have a gun.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, as long as they re not pointing at me.
3
SPEAKER_00
Crying says, Abe, you seem mad chill.
3
SPEAKER_00
How do you find calmness in stressful situations?
3
SPEAKER_01
A crazy mom.
3
SPEAKER_01
A super, super crazy mom.
3
SPEAKER_01
If you grew up in a household that was demolished, like super crazy, you just, you ve seen everything.
3
SPEAKER_01
Nothing scares you after that.
3
SPEAKER_01
So, you know.
3
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
3
SPEAKER_00
Are you still close with your parents?
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
Very much so.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they, and your parents live in Ethiopia now, or they re in America with you?
3
SPEAKER_01
They re in Ethiopia, but they come and visit sometimes, I think.
3
SPEAKER_01
I hope so, at least.
3
SPEAKER_00
They can, I know they can come, but they haven t been here since I... Do you keep in pretty consistent contact with them over phone and text and stuff?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
We talk regularly, like, on weekends, but other times we just... Can I ask how old you are, Abe?
3
SPEAKER_00
I m curious.
3
24.
3
24? 24.
3
SPEAKER_00
Nice, bro.
3
SPEAKER_00
Nice, man.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you re younger than me.
3
SPEAKER_00
We re about the same age-ish.
3
SPEAKER_00
You got a real chill head on your shoulders, man.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, that s the thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
I m gonna need help with this thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
I ve stumbled upon the reason why it can outperform any kind of internet connection with anyone.
3
SPEAKER_01
And I think you might have given me some kind of perspective.
3
SPEAKER_00
M Shake Zula, shout out, that s an Aqua Teen Hunger Force reference.
3
SPEAKER_00
Master Shake Zula asks, is America like how you thought it would be?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, it s so much terrible, to be honest.
3
SPEAKER_00
Really, it s a lot worse.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, because one thing I hate the most is, like, why do you have to take a car anywhere?
3
SPEAKER_01
So, like, I work in, like, Virginia or Maryland, like, so I have to take a $10 Uber to the metro station, and then I have to commute, like, an hour or something, and then get back, and then I take another $10 Uber.
3
SPEAKER_01
really like I m wasting like 20 bucks just on Uber a day and that just seems pretty wasteful and you don t have any kind of public transport you can t go anywhere without maybe even like crippled if you don t have a car and that is just that s terrible
3
SPEAKER_00
Buddy, I am 100% with you.
3
SPEAKER_00
After going to places that have better public transport, fucking, that s the thing I think I hate about America the most.
3
SPEAKER_00
I tried to think about this the other day of like, what cities, how many cities in America can you really live in without a car?
3
SPEAKER_00
And there s what, New York, Chicago, San Fran, Seattle maybe?
3
SPEAKER_01
If you stay in the downtown areas, but nothing more than that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
In Ethiopia, is it easy to get around without a car?
3
SPEAKER_01
So much easier.
3
SPEAKER_01
So the range of transportation varies, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
So you have trains that go from end to end city.
3
SPEAKER_01
So like the one that goes from east to west and then north to south.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then you have like the usual buses and then the like buses, but also kind of smaller buses where they take these really, really big pickup trucks and they kind of make the body for them to carry like 20 to 30 people.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then after that, you have mini buses.
3
SPEAKER_01
Those usually carry like 12 people.
3
SPEAKER_01
So they are a little bit expensive, like maybe $1 or $2 like expensive, but they get around really fast so you can get around the city to go anywhere.
3
SPEAKER_01
And if you live like a really, really like outskirts of the city parts, you have like these things, like Bajaj.
3
SPEAKER_01
Bajaj, sorry.
3
SPEAKER_01
So there s like three legged motorcycles where you have like three people sit in the back and two in the front and one in the middle.
3
SPEAKER_01
So basically you can get anywhere at any time without having a car.
3
SPEAKER_00
But you have to ride a motorcycle?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, you don t have to.
3
SPEAKER_01
The guy does it for you and you can just sit in the back.
3
SPEAKER_00
Motorcycles scare me.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s not a motorcycle.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s like, it s like a tricycle where like, they re like, people sit at the back and then one guy drives in the front.
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh, Jukies.
3
SPEAKER_00
I, you know, I like doing this.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m going to start doing this more often.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is, this is fun.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m going to start doing this more often.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m not going to do it every time.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I m going to do it more often.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is the last one.
3
SPEAKER_00
Jukies wants to know, where did the ideas that you had about America before coming, where did they come from?
3
SPEAKER_00
Did they come from movies, the internet?
3
SPEAKER_00
Where did the ideas that you did have come from?
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, the internet.
3
SPEAKER_01
Movies, internet.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I m 24, so I m basically reading the internet, so yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
And the news, a lot of news.
3
SPEAKER_01
And the news is terrible, so.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, what s your name again?
3
SPEAKER_00
Abraham, right.
3
SPEAKER_00
Abraham, Abraham, Abraham.
3
SPEAKER_00
Abraham, how did you feel talking to a gecko on the phone for a half hour or however long this was?
3
SPEAKER_01
It s been a half an hour?
3
SPEAKER_01
Oh my God.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, we did talk a lot, but I still need your help sometimes.
3
SPEAKER_00
Wait we talked for a whole half hour, and we didn t even get to the thing that you You had a and this whole time you had a thing that you called in to want to talk about Yeah, yeah Well fuck yeah, and this has been a long call already.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m I m I m
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, shit, a lot of the calls on this podcast have been... It can come, yeah, it doesn t matter.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, no, let s... Maybe we can speedrun it.
4
SPEAKER_00
What is it?
4
SPEAKER_01
So, for some reason, I cannot seem to be able to accept, like, any kind of love and affection towards me as real and genuine.
4
SPEAKER_01
I just don t believe that.
4
SPEAKER_01
Whatever happens, no matter who says it or what, it s just like, you know,
4
SPEAKER_01
Like, what s the motive behind it?
4
SPEAKER_01
Like, what s next?
4
SPEAKER_01
So I always try to keep, like, a mental distance away from everything, especially when it comes to, like, intimate connections.
4
SPEAKER_01
And one of the main reasons is because, like I mentioned, like, you know, the crazy mom.
4
SPEAKER_01
So I never got to see, like, a real love and real affection towards anyone in the family.
4
SPEAKER_01
So that kind of, I don t know, propagated to me in a way.
4
SPEAKER_01
And now, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
No.
4
SPEAKER_00
Really burying the lead here, Abraham.
4
SPEAKER_00
Really burying the lead.
4
SPEAKER_01
I m not.
4
SPEAKER_01
I m just trying to get as much fun as possible.
4
SPEAKER_00
No, no, no.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m fucking with you.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, I have a thought about what you just said.
4
SPEAKER_00
Here s my thought about what you just said.
4
SPEAKER_00
Abraham, over the course of this conversation, I mean, talking about, like, all the friends and community that you have in Ethiopia, the way that you talked about your uncle and your aunt and, you know, loving them, the way that you talked about your parents and your mom, even though, you know, you said that she was a little bit crazy, you know, the fact that you keep in contact with her, you love her, she s in your life, even the way you talked about
4
SPEAKER_00
The fucking crackheads and... I guess I shouldn t call them crackheads.
4
SPEAKER_00
But even the way you talked about the tweakers at 7-Eleven who you went out of your way to make food for.
4
SPEAKER_00
You ve not really said an unkind...
4
SPEAKER_00
thing about any person that you ve, or group of people or anything that you ve brought up in the time that I have been talking to you.
4
SPEAKER_00
You ve been very gracious, very loving.
4
SPEAKER_00
Again, not just towards your family and friends and community, but towards motherfuckers that you don t know running into your 7-Eleven.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, um,
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, I hope you know, and again, this is what I m getting from just talking to you, that you have a lot of love in your heart.
4
SPEAKER_00
You have a really great, um,
4
SPEAKER_00
And you give it a lot.
4
SPEAKER_00
You give it a lot, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
So, I hope you understand that about yourself and that your understanding of that helps you to understand why you should be able to receive all of that back.
4
SPEAKER_01
Well, that s the thing.
4
SPEAKER_01
I cannot.
4
SPEAKER_01
The only one person I can genuinely believe is, okay, I can believe any kind of reflection of what she did to my sister, and then that s it.
4
SPEAKER_01
And that s mainly because we basically grew up, she knows me longer than anyone has ever been.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ve seen her grow from being a toddler to this one, but other than that, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m sorry, who did you say again?
4
SPEAKER_01
My sister, my sister.
4
SPEAKER_00
Your sister.
4
SPEAKER_00
So the only person you can believe could ever, are we talking about love you or just like, or any kind of affection, just like the only person that could show any amount of affection and care towards you is your sister.
4
SPEAKER_00
And you re saying that because she s known you for so long.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s not like no other person does give me like all those affection, but like, I just don t believe it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Or like,
4
SPEAKER_01
Subconsciously, I don t accept them in that way.
4
SPEAKER_00
Maybe that s why I get... Why don t you believe it?
4
SPEAKER_01
Like I said, I don t think this kind of affection and love transfers.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ve never witnessed this in any kind of scenario.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, but you ve given it.
4
SPEAKER_00
So you have, that s a lie.
4
SPEAKER_00
You ve witnessed it in a scenario.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, but like when I do, I don t think of it as giving.
4
SPEAKER_00
You ve witnessed it in scenario after scenario in which you ve given it to other people, so you know it s real.
4
SPEAKER_01
But like, when I do that, I don t think of, oh yeah, this is a fiction that I m giving, and keep a mental checklist.
4
SPEAKER_01
But I just do it because, you know, it s like at the moment, it seems like, you know, it s a thing to do.
4
SPEAKER_01
And just, there are people that need to be given something.
4
SPEAKER_01
some stuff to do, then you do it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, I ll say, I ll say this and I m not, and I m looking and I m peeking at the chat a little bit.
4
SPEAKER_01
Um, I don t, I don t want to read it now because I don t want it to get to my head too much.
4
SPEAKER_01
If it gets to my head, like, and then if it s bad, the same thing happens.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, I ll say this.
4
SPEAKER_00
Obviously, you and me are not going to be friends forever.
4
SPEAKER_00
And obviously, we re not, you know, I m not the same on any sort of level of, you know, like how your family and the people you know in your real life are.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I ll say that, and maybe if you can t accept some form of a, maybe it ll take you a while to be able to accept some form of a, you know, a deep, emotional, loving connection, but if we started a bit smaller, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
And let s just talk about you and me right now and the people that are listening to this.
4
SPEAKER_00
In this moment, again, without knowing you,
4
SPEAKER_00
Just you, as you ve presented yourself today, with the small depth of a relationship that people have formed with you from listening to you, that again is not some kind of long-lasting whatever thing, but like just the most basic unit of something
4
SPEAKER_00
The most basic unit of a something, okay?
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay, not- just to start small.
4
SPEAKER_00
Can you believe and accept that I ve enjoyed talking to you for the duration that we have been talking?
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve appreciated your perspective.
4
SPEAKER_00
I think you seem like a good dude, and that the people that are listening to this right now would agree.
4
SPEAKER_00
Is that a difficult thing for you to accept?
4
SPEAKER_01
No, no, I ve been listening to you for more than three years.
4
SPEAKER_01
So I do believe it when you say it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay, good.
4
SPEAKER_00
So
4
SPEAKER_00
That s, I think that s all I can, that s all I can give you right now.
4
SPEAKER_00
Is that if you can accept that little amount, then maybe that s the first step to be able to... Good, good.
4
SPEAKER_00
If you can accept that little amount, maybe you can, you know... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, double and give it to the next person, like MrBeast or whatever.
4
SPEAKER_00
Abraham, is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, no, just be blunt.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t be shy to people.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, make good food to drunk people.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know what, Abraham?
4
SPEAKER_00
I m going to, I m going to down four taquitos right after the stream in your honor.
4
SPEAKER_00
Thank you.
4
SPEAKER_00
Have a good night, Abraham.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, no, no, no.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t get the taquitos.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t get the taquitos.
4
SPEAKER_01
They stay on the grill for too long.
4
SPEAKER_00
What should I get?
4
SPEAKER_01
Get anything that s like cooked, like immediately.
4
SPEAKER_01
So either like the chicken, the tacos, or any kind of the pizza.
4
SPEAKER_00
I love having an inside guy at 7-Eleven.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
The ones on the grill, they usually stay like longer than they should.
4
SPEAKER_01
So don t get anything for those.
4
SPEAKER_01
Don t get anything else.
4
SPEAKER_00
Have a good rest of the night, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
You too.
4
SPEAKER_00
Love you, Geek.
4
SPEAKER_00
I liked that guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
He was cool.
4
SPEAKER_00
He was cool.
4
SPEAKER_00
Again, I don t want, I want to be real.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m not going to be like, um, so I don t, I don t, uh, I don t, um, like, obviously I think there s a,
4
SPEAKER_00
long stretchy road between I enjoyed having this synonymous conversation with you and I know you full-heartedly and deeply and love you on a spiritual level, but There s there s something
5
SPEAKER_01
there I think there s something there hopefully I did I meant what I meant what I said I enjoyed talking to Abe it was cool it makes me it s and also it s funny right it s it s fun I didn t want to say this but it s like I think the average Americans idea of what Ethiopia is like is is probably not great
5
SPEAKER_01
And the way that he described it... Is, um... It sounded fuckin  awesome.
5
SPEAKER_01
Um... Oh yeah, I d love to, I d love to... One day I ll do being a gecko... In Africa.
5
SPEAKER_01
Um... And, yeah, it s... No, I like talking to people from other places, because I agree with them on that, I agree with... The... The cars thing is a... Is a... Is a pain in the cunt.
5
SPEAKER_01
It really is.
5
SPEAKER_01
Having to Uber everywhere.
5
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I like the three-legged motorcycle thing better.
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Also, you know what s funny?
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Despite Abraham s suggestion, I m totally still going to get taquitos.
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Alright.
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SPEAKER_00
Hello?
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SPEAKER_00
Hi.
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SPEAKER_01
Hey, who s this?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, hi, I m Shell.
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SPEAKER_00
Well, I mean, that s the name I ll be giving for right now.
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SPEAKER_01
Shell.
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SPEAKER_01
What s up, Shell?
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SPEAKER_01
How s life going?
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SPEAKER_01
Have we ever spoken before?
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SPEAKER_00
No, we have not.
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SPEAKER_00
I am a fan from, I m, I m a, I ve been a fan for like a few years now, but, um, uh, this is the first time I ve actually tried calling in.
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SPEAKER_01
Hell yeah.
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SPEAKER_01
What s, uh,
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SPEAKER_01
What s up, Chelle?
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SPEAKER_01
What s life like?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, life has been good.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, I feel like life wasn t good, like, a month, two months ago, but it s a lot better now.
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SPEAKER_00
But I think everyone has been go- there s something going around in the air right now, honestly.
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SPEAKER_01
A good thing or a bad thing?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, I just think it s change.
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SPEAKER_00
I m not gonna say it s a bad thing, because I m gonna be honest with you, I feel like a lot of people in my life recently have just been going through, like, let s say, like, breakups.
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or like getting sick, stuff like that.
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So it s like every, like I have like five or six of my friends that were like all at the same time.
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I was like, yeah, me and this dude just broke up, which was the same thing that happened to me as well.
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So I think it was just something going around in the air, but a breakup isn t always a bad thing.
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SPEAKER_00
So I m going to say it s not a bad change.
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SPEAKER_01
Okay.
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SPEAKER_01
Uh, as far as the air, I don t know.
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SPEAKER_01
I think people s definitely,
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SPEAKER_01
I don t know I was gonna say this seems like there s problems, but there s if you compare 2023 to Like I don t know 2022 2020 Things life s better for sure.
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SPEAKER_00
Oh Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think there s shit going on, but it s just different.
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SPEAKER_00
You know what I mean cuz like I
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SPEAKER_00
I don t think anything s going to get as bad as 2020.
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SPEAKER_00
A whole pandemic hitting the world is as bad as it can get.
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SPEAKER_00
We thought the world was going to end in 2012, and I think it was way worse than even thinking the world was going to end.
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SPEAKER_01
Well, Chelle, enough about the world.
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SPEAKER_01
Is there anything in particular you wanted to talk about today?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, so I mean, there was like two topics.
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SPEAKER_00
There was one that was like kind of like a revelation that I ve come to that I kind of just want to like spring on you, but it doesn t have to be like a long convo because I also feel like I want to talk about the shit that went on.
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SPEAKER_00
Like, like I said, like two months ago and stuff like that.
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SPEAKER_00
It s more like about like trying to find myself again, but there is just something very weird I found out recently and like,
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SPEAKER_00
I ve been, like, researching stuff about, like, veganism, right?
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SPEAKER_00
Because, like, I don t want to be a vegan, but, like, it was- Okay, you re- hold on, hold on, hold on.
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SPEAKER_01
You- you re firing on all cylinders at me right now, Chell.
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SPEAKER_01
Okay, so thing one is a revelation.
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SPEAKER_00
Yes, yeah.
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SPEAKER_01
What s thing- what s- what s- what s top- what s topic two?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, so, the, uh, topic two would basically be, like,
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SPEAKER_00
I have like, I ve been going through like a breakup.
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SPEAKER_00
And so and I mean, it wasn t a breakup with someone I was dating for long, but for some reason, like, was very much affecting my life.
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SPEAKER_00
And I was like, I don t understand why.
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SPEAKER_00
Okay.
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SPEAKER_00
And the realization is that I think I needed to focus on myself.
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SPEAKER_00
And I ve been trying to wait.
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SPEAKER_01
So are these I guess I m confused.
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SPEAKER_01
Are these two different things?
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SPEAKER_00
Yes, there are two different things.
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SPEAKER_00
One of them is just kind of like a stupid, like fact.
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SPEAKER_00
that I wanted to spring on you and your thoughts on it.
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SPEAKER_00
And then the other one is more like that conversation.
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SPEAKER_01
Okay.
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SPEAKER_01
Um, what s the, what s the fact?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, so like I was saying before, uh, I started researching veganism a little bit and then I found out cause I m reading a book that like the topics are about cannibalism and I come to this weird realization that like, let s say like breast milk because it comes from a human being.
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SPEAKER_00
it s vegan.
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SPEAKER_00
So with that same thought process, supposedly, if cannibalism were allowed, it would be vegan.
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SPEAKER_01
Is it is it illegal to drink some of these breast milk?
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SPEAKER_00
Um, no, it s not people sell breast milk online, right?
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SPEAKER_00
Like, I 90% of the time, it s for mothers that can t breastfeed their kids and they want natural breast milk.
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SPEAKER_00
So
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SPEAKER_00
You can buy that online that people actually just like pump it and sell it.
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SPEAKER_00
But I think there s like a 5% of that that might be a weird fetish thing.
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SPEAKER_00
But 90% of the time, 95% of the time, I think it is for babies that need breast milk.
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SPEAKER_01
So you wanted my opinion on drinking breast milk.
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SPEAKER_00
No, I wanted your opinion on the idea of cannibalism being vegan.
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SPEAKER_00
I obviously wouldn t partake in that, but it s like the weird idea.
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SPEAKER_00
I just never had thought about it.
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SPEAKER_00
But the part of me that makes that happen is because animals can t consent, but a person can.
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SPEAKER_00
Like, we re sentient, and animals aren t sentient.
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SPEAKER_00
Like, that s a piece of veganism that I didn t know about.
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SPEAKER_00
You know what?
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SPEAKER_01
Alright, I ll tell you this.
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SPEAKER_01
You know, you re presenting something.
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SPEAKER_01
You know what, Chell?
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SPEAKER_01
It took me a little bit to wrap my head around everything you re saying right now.
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SPEAKER_01
But, you bring up a fascinating point.
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SPEAKER_01
You bring up a fascinating point.
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SPEAKER_01
Which is more fucked up?
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SPEAKER_01
eating a chicken sandwich, or eating a dude who said it was totally chill for you to eat him.
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SPEAKER_01
That s a, you know what, that s a legit, that s a legitimate point that you re making right now.
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SPEAKER_01
And let me mull that over because yes, because the chicken had no say in whether or not it was, it s, it s on paper, it s more fucked up to eat the chicken because the chicken had no say in whether or not you killed it and eat it.
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SPEAKER_01
But if a dude with full awareness and sentience.
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SPEAKER_01
of himself makes the informed decision that he wants you to eat him, that should theoretically be more ethical than eating the chicken.
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
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SPEAKER_00
That s why, like, I bring up this point because, like, it s also, like, weird if you think about, let s say, like, one day an animal decided to speak.
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SPEAKER_00
Then at that point, if the animal was like, here, I will let you eat my leg, it would be vegan.
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SPEAKER_00
It would be vegan and
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SPEAKER_00
It would be okay, but it s more fucked up because the animal literally can t consent, and I never thought veganism had anything to do with consent.
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SPEAKER_00
I thought it was literally just don t eat animals, but a big part of it is like, let s say like eggs.
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SPEAKER_00
The chicken didn t tell you, hey, come and eat my eggs, you know?
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SPEAKER_00
You re basically taking the chicken s babies away and then eating them.
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SPEAKER_01
So if a parrot says to chop its head off and make it into a soup,
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SPEAKER_01
that s vegan?
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SPEAKER_00
Yeah, so like, there s like certain rules coming to veganism.
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SPEAKER_00
But that s like the main point of veganism.
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SPEAKER_00
I don t know if a lot of vegans know this.
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SPEAKER_00
But like, when I started researching, like when I heard like the fact that I that I came down this rabbit hole was breast milk is vegan, right?
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SPEAKER_00
And I was like, how is breast milk vegan?
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SPEAKER_00
Like, I don t understand that.
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SPEAKER_00
How can that even be vegan?
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SPEAKER_00
And it turns out like when you look that up, it says, oh, because a mother can send to someone buying the milk and drinking it.
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SPEAKER_02
So like if someone wanted to drink milk, but they are vegan, they could easily be like, okay, I m just gonna go online and buy some breast milk right now.
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SPEAKER_01
Well, you know what I m gonna take away from this conversation, Chelle, is that if, you know, maybe I should give breast milk a try.
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SPEAKER_01
Put it in some apple jacks.
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SPEAKER_01
And then it makes a little sugary apple jack breast milk.
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SPEAKER_02
milk or fry dude wait cinnamon toast crunch with breast milk a guilty free delicacy i like that yeah yeah i guess so i mean i i wonder if breast milk even tastes different that s also something i m probably gonna have to sit down and research is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go um no i honestly hope that you guys gained a little bit of facts
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SPEAKER_02
from this, because if I had to learn this information, so do you.
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SPEAKER_01
I respect you putting that all on us.
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah, you re welcome.
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SPEAKER_01
She was cut off.
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SPEAKER_01
I didn t even hang up yet.
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SPEAKER_01
Are you still here?
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SPEAKER_02
Oh no, I m still here.
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SPEAKER_02
That was all I said.
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SPEAKER_02
Did you want me to keep talking?
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SPEAKER_01
Oh, well, you were about to finish a sentence.
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SPEAKER_02
Oh, you didn t hear it?
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SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah.
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SPEAKER_02
I said, now you can just spread the word to everybody.
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SPEAKER_02
Spread the milk!
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SPEAKER_01
We need to bring back the Got Milk campaign, but instead it s just adults breastfeeding.
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SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
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SPEAKER_02
That s what sounds beautiful.
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SPEAKER_01
You know what?
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SPEAKER_01
I m glad we had that little awkward phone moment so that we could get that in there.
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SPEAKER_02
Absolutely, absolutely.
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SPEAKER_02
If I am good at one thing, it s creating an awkward moment, so... Bye, Shel.
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SPEAKER_02
Bye.