0
SPEAKER_01
No way.
0
SPEAKER_00
Hi.
0
SPEAKER_01
Hi.
0
SPEAKER_00
What s your name?
0
SPEAKER_01
Aaron.
0
SPEAKER_00
Aaron.
0
SPEAKER_00
What s up, Aaron?
0
SPEAKER_01
A lot.
0
SPEAKER_01
A lot.
0
SPEAKER_01
I never thought I would actually ever talk to you, to be honest.
0
SPEAKER_00
Well, now we are talking.
0
SPEAKER_00
Now we are here.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I am I m curious to know what it is that you would like to talk about.
0
SPEAKER_01
Well, I don t really know where to begin, but
0
SPEAKER_01
Crap.
0
SPEAKER_01
I have three kids with, uh, well, the same woman.
0
SPEAKER_01
Uh, we ve been together for seven years.
0
SPEAKER_01
Uh, we broke up for a year and she lived in a separate state and, uh, we kind of, and that was when we had one son together.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now we have two sons and a daughter together since she moved to Texas with me.
0
SPEAKER_01
Um, and I had tutored on her quite a bit.
0
SPEAKER_01
Um,
0
SPEAKER_01
in the past through text, physically, and I kind of admitted all of that, and she, over the years, kind of used it against me, and obviously, fair enough, has been very hurt about all of that stuff.
0
SPEAKER_01
But on a daily basis, it just feels like I m constantly being judged for the little things that I forget to do, or, you know, the big things that I ve done in the past, and it weighs on me.
0
SPEAKER_01
And about, it was 2020,
0
SPEAKER_01
She had kicked me out of the house because I was messaging an ex on Instagram.
0
SPEAKER_01
And, um, I ended up hooking up with this girl that I knew when I first went to Texas.
0
SPEAKER_01
And, um, we ended up getting back together.
0
SPEAKER_01
My kids got really sick.
0
SPEAKER_01
I moved back into an apartment and, um, I get a message like, oh man, like three months later from the girl that I hooked up with when I got kicked out.
0
SPEAKER_01
And she was telling me she was pregnant.
0
SPEAKER_00
So, so this girl that you, I cheat cheated on your wife with is pregnant or what?
0
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t really.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I cheated to get kicked out on Instagram.
0
SPEAKER_01
I messaged him, right?
0
SPEAKER_01
Cause he kicks me out.
0
SPEAKER_01
We get in a huge fight.
0
SPEAKER_01
She makes me leave.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I leave respectfully, but she can have the house, you know?
0
SPEAKER_00
And, um,
0
SPEAKER_01
After that, I ended up hooking up with her.
0
SPEAKER_01
So we went together and I hooked up with this girl.
0
SPEAKER_01
And then we got back together and the girl met with me and said she was pregnant.
0
SPEAKER_00
OK, is she pregnant?
0
SPEAKER_01
No, she had the kid.
0
SPEAKER_01
This was like two years ago.
0
SPEAKER_01
But then she blocked me, dick, on everything.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like, I couldn t believe it.
0
SPEAKER_00
We re not married, but yes.
0
SPEAKER_00
Um, so she blocked me and that was like a year and a half almost.
0
SPEAKER_01
years and I didn t hear anything.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I was taking a trip from one part of Texas to another, away from the girl I ve been with for forever, away from my family.
0
SPEAKER_01
And it was the fact that I might have a child with someone else that I don t know if it s mine was really heating at me.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I kind of went about it the worst way possible, made a fake Facebook, found her, added her on Snapchat.
0
SPEAKER_01
But when I added her on Snapchat,
0
SPEAKER_01
I put my phone number in, and it sent a notification to my girlfriend.
0
SPEAKER_01
Like, why do you have a Snapchat?
0
SPEAKER_01
You never have a Snapchat.
0
SPEAKER_01
And I tried to lie for a minute, but then I just ended up telling her that I may have a child with somebody.
0
SPEAKER_01
So, we have a house together, and I got kicked out of there.
0
SPEAKER_01
I ve been staying in my car on and off.
0
SPEAKER_00
um Aaron you will it listen Aaron yeah everything you ve just told me is is is completely completely completely insane and I think you know that have you ever been to have you have you ever have you ever said you you you dab saluting it like I m happy to like chat with you man cuz you know I
0
SPEAKER_00
We re here, but you totally, absolutely need to go see a real therapist.
0
SPEAKER_00
I know.
0
SPEAKER_00
Have you ever done that?
0
SPEAKER_01
Wait a minute, you re not a real therapist?
0
SPEAKER_00
You know I m not a real therapist.
0
SPEAKER_01
I do, I do, I do.
0
SPEAKER_01
So, yeah, I do.
0
SPEAKER_01
I see a real therapist every two weeks.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, what does your real therapist tell you about the soap opera that is your life?
0
SPEAKER_01
Man!
0
SPEAKER_01
Therapists are kind of like, they kind of go inside.
0
SPEAKER_01
They re like, well, I can understand why you re doing that.
0
SPEAKER_01
You had a bad past, you re a parent.
0
SPEAKER_01
So it s kind of hard to actually feel any clarity from that sometimes.
0
SPEAKER_01
I just try to be as honest as possible with my therapist like I just was with you about why I think I m doing these things.
0
SPEAKER_01
I have a lot of things that I m not going to say on your
0
SPEAKER_01
on your stream but that happened to me in my past and that I ve been through that coincide with all these actions and I m 26 man I have to get it together I mean I just told you I have these kids and like I m I don t want to be a piece of shit Geck I really don t it s just I ve just made really bad mistakes I don t want them to define me mm-hmm mm-hmm well so I mean here s the thing this this this and I I don t know man I m not gonna tell you what to do um
0
SPEAKER_00
You have three kids?
0
SPEAKER_01
I do.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
0
SPEAKER_00
So look, here s the thing.
0
SPEAKER_00
You should totally talk to a real therapist about this and get their, you know, opinion and whatnot.
0
SPEAKER_00
But as far as I see it, if I were you and I just, and I just transported into your body on this day, having made whatever choices I, I had made and was you and whatnot.
0
SPEAKER_00
And I, and I came to a point of clarity and decided that I wanted to be better.
0
SPEAKER_00
I would start by going, um, I would start with the kids, right?
0
SPEAKER_00
Cause I mean, that s were these children accidents or did you make the decision to have them?
0
SPEAKER_01
The first one now, definitely all accidents.
0
SPEAKER_01
I m not going to lie, but not like we obviously we were having, we were,
0
SPEAKER_01
just doing what we were doing.
0
SPEAKER_01
We knew what we were doing.
0
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t like we were like, uh oh.
0
SPEAKER_00
And are you, what do you do currently to try to be a good dad to your kids?
0
SPEAKER_01
I m still going to the house every day, even though we re not together and I play with them.
0
SPEAKER_01
I also try to help her clean.
0
SPEAKER_01
The youngest is about to be one on the 31st.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I just like really help
0
SPEAKER_01
with him as much as I can with her.
0
SPEAKER_01
She s in college now.
0
SPEAKER_01
So I m just trying to help her at the same time, like play with my kids and make sure they re the first priority.
0
SPEAKER_01
But it gets mixed up because this all happened right before Christmas.
0
SPEAKER_01
So this is fresh.
0
SPEAKER_00
OK, and you re still and what s your deal?
0
SPEAKER_00
You re you re you re in a relationship with the woman that that that is with the mother.
0
SPEAKER_01
Now we re done.
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, and you re... You re not in a relation- Are you in a relationship with anyone right now?
0
SPEAKER_00
Okay, I think... You know what?
0
SPEAKER_00
I think that s probably good.
0
SPEAKER_00
Because it sounds like you got a lot of, uh... stuff to... to work through.
0
SPEAKER_00
What is- I don t know, what is- Give me a small sample of your preach.
0
SPEAKER_01
Tinder, dating apps.
0
SPEAKER_01
I just feel this, oh, compelling to just want to talk to somebody because I ve literally like been with somebody for seven years and I just don t like being alone.
0
SPEAKER_01
I get way more comfortable with myself.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
0
SPEAKER_00
I, buddy, buddy, I, I, I get you.
0
SPEAKER_00
Um, but, uh, I, I, I,
0
SPEAKER_00
I m not a real therapist, but as somebody talking to you on the phone right now who understands that, who I, and I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and I want to, um, try to be helpful to you in this conversation.
0
SPEAKER_00
And in doing that, I m going to tell you that, uh, Tinder is not going to help you right now.
0
SPEAKER_00
You, you ve, I, if I were you, I would say you have not yet unlearned.
1
SPEAKER_00
locked Tinder.
1
SPEAKER_00
That is a good way to put it.
1
SPEAKER_00
You have not yet unlocked Tinder.
1
SPEAKER_00
Tinder is another person entering your life is not going to be the thing that turns you around and makes everything awesome.
1
SPEAKER_00
I know it hurts that you feel lonely and you re used to having someone, but
1
SPEAKER_00
This is that you have you just have shit you got to take care of and I don t think that you re You know and you said you re 26.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m 26 too, and you know look one day.
1
SPEAKER_00
We re gonna be 40 one day We re gonna be 50 and we have a lot of time between now and then and in that time we can really make you know positive changes to like our behavior and our life
1
SPEAKER_00
So that s kind of what I think we want to focus on.
1
SPEAKER_00
And for you, since you have kids, I mean, the first thing is like, you know, how can I be a better father to my kids?
1
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I think this is why people call you, because although you re not a real therapist, you re our age and you understand
1
SPEAKER_01
the generation that we re living in and you understand the kind of shit that we think about and it really is really easy to talk to you about this stuff rather than somebody that I m uncomfortable around for some reason I feel like I know you because I ve just watched you so much so well so I really do appreciate what you do
1
SPEAKER_00
Thanks, man.
1
SPEAKER_00
I appreciate that.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, I mean, listen, so get into it with me here, okay?
1
SPEAKER_00
What do we want to do?
1
SPEAKER_00
We want to be a better dad to our kids.
1
SPEAKER_00
All right, we want to be a better dad to our kids.
1
SPEAKER_00
What else?
1
SPEAKER_01
No, no dating apps.
1
SPEAKER_01
No sex for a while.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s a good idea.
1
SPEAKER_01
No relationships, no flirting, no chatting.
1
SPEAKER_01
Just need to be, need to work on myself.
1
SPEAKER_01
And that s a good idea.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s a good idea.
1
SPEAKER_00
It sounds like it ll be healthy.
1
SPEAKER_00
All right.
1
SPEAKER_00
So we re going to chill out on the dating apps and we re going to chill out like looking for, and I, by the way, I do this too.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think, and I m not the only, everyone does this.
1
SPEAKER_00
We re going to chill out on the whole, like looking for a solution to our life s problems in another person, you know?
1
SPEAKER_00
Um,
1
SPEAKER_00
So, okay, there s that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then, what, what, and what, how, how else do you feel like you, you can, you can fuck up less?
1
SPEAKER_01
I need to have more space from the mother of my children.
1
SPEAKER_01
I need to give her space that she deserves.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
I think that s a good idea.
1
SPEAKER_00
Alright, so we re gonna give space to the mother of your children.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s- and that s the- I- I think that that s, um... That s wise.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s a wise observation.
1
SPEAKER_00
That you understand.
1
SPEAKER_01
Uh... Well, I know I fucked up really bad.
1
SPEAKER_01
Don t get me wrong.
1
SPEAKER_01
I didn t call for you to tell me that it s okay.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I know that I did a lot of things wrong.
1
SPEAKER_01
A lot of things I haven t said.
1
SPEAKER_01
But... I m just... The past couple days, I ve just been really torn up about it.
1
SPEAKER_00
Mm hmm.
1
SPEAKER_00
So, OK, we re going to do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
And then the kids live with your with the mom, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
OK.
1
SPEAKER_00
And what s your what s your schedule with them?
1
SPEAKER_00
What s the deal?
1
SPEAKER_01
I usually so Tuesday, Wednesday or Tuesday, Thursday, she has college, so I get them from six to 10.
1
SPEAKER_01
But then the rest of the week is kind of open for me to reach out and ask if I can come over.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Um, do you have a job?
1
SPEAKER_01
I do.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Do you, are you, you re financially supporting the kids?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_01
And the house.
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m not even living there.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay, great.
1
SPEAKER_00
All right, that s good.
1
SPEAKER_00
I mean, in my opinion, and I don t have kids, but just in my opinion, if you want it, is like the bare minimum to do if you have kids is like be present in the kid s life and financially support them.
1
SPEAKER_00
So do you feel as though you are doing those things?
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I really do.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Is your children important?
1
SPEAKER_00
Is having a good relationship with them important to you?
1
SPEAKER_01
Absolutely.
1
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
1
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
1
SPEAKER_00
Um... Alright, and then the rest of this stuff sounds... sounds personal.
1
SPEAKER_00
It sounds like you re trying to, like, uh... Like... Just learn how to be alone.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I think that s a big thing.
1
SPEAKER_01
Uh, I just...
1
SPEAKER_01
It s so easy to backtrack on that.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then all of a sudden I find myself talking to somebody or like, I don t know.
1
SPEAKER_00
What else do you feel like, uh, what else, what else, what else would you like to change?
1
SPEAKER_00
Like if like five years from now, what would you like to be have be different?
1
SPEAKER_01
Hmm.
1
SPEAKER_01
Um, maybe to be able to, and this is going to sound kind of dumb, but maybe to be able to say like, I m not smoking weed every single day or
1
SPEAKER_01
All right.
1
SPEAKER_01
You know, if I do do that.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t think that s dumb.
1
SPEAKER_00
And also, you know, the whole thing about like, you go to the therapist and they say, Oh, well, you re this way because your childhood was a certain way.
1
SPEAKER_00
I ve been thinking about I ve been I think I mentioned this on another podcast recently.
1
SPEAKER_00
Actually, actually, yeah, I did.
1
SPEAKER_00
There I like the whole idea of, um,
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, like, understanding why you are the way you are because of how you grew up, I think is helpful.
1
SPEAKER_00
Because you understand it, and then you go, alright, it s my responsibility to, like, deal with this shit.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know?
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
Like you can t just blame it and then you can t like, you can t like resign to it and go, Oh, I just had a fucked up, you know, childhood.
1
SPEAKER_00
And so I m fucked up forever.
1
SPEAKER_00
And I m just going to be miserable and, and, and sad all the time.
1
SPEAKER_00
You know, like you gotta, is there something even, there s even, even something I think like empowering about being like, uh, okay, I m going to fix this.
1
SPEAKER_00
Right.
1
SPEAKER_00
Um, so what, I mean, what else do you want to fix?
1
SPEAKER_01
Um, I guess my anger in some ways, uh, sometimes I can have a short fuse on certain things when there s a lot going on or the kids are all running around.
1
SPEAKER_01
I m like, Hey, I want to be like less jumpy sometimes, you know, I m severely ADHD.
1
SPEAKER_01
If you couldn t tell, I was prescribed Adderall in second grade until 12th grade.
1
SPEAKER_01
And then I haven t been medicated since.
1
SPEAKER_01
So I literally, bro, my head is everywhere at once.
1
SPEAKER_01
You were talking about you don t have any kids earlier.
1
SPEAKER_01
I d like to see some little gecks eventually, dude.
1
SPEAKER_00
Me having kids?
1
SPEAKER_00
No, well, because I don t want I am nowhere near and I am nowhere near having children at all.
1
SPEAKER_01
Dude, I hope one day when we re in our 30s, I turn on your podcast and there s little gecks with their face faces painted.
1
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I would, uh, I think, um, I think they would call CPS on me if I put any of this stuff on a child.
1
SPEAKER_00
Uh, anyway, um, so listen, man, I m gonna, I m just gonna leave you on with this, right?
1
SPEAKER_00
Which is, I m just gonna leave you with this.
1
SPEAKER_00
Um.
1
SPEAKER_00
next time you like you like the the the problem of search next time you feel this inkling to to get addicted to tinder and to find
1
SPEAKER_00
The solution to your problems in somebody else and by the way, I want you know, I ve had plenty of You know experiences in my own life where you know I was trying to find the solutions to my problems and somebody else and I think it s a very very very common Thing okay You need to understand is that you can t is that you have a lot of
1
SPEAKER_00
is that you have a lot of like shit going on with you right now that you can and should fix um internally and that even if you did find a new cool person on your tinder right it wouldn t it s not a long-term fix to any of these problems right okay so just think about that what s my stance on pornography
1
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I can t I feel like I ve heard you.
1
SPEAKER_00
How d you know I was watching it right now?
1
SPEAKER_00
I heard it s what I do.
1
SPEAKER_00
I just have it on I have multiple monitors and on one of them I m taking calls and on the other one I m
2
SPEAKER_00
I m watching a lot of porn.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think that s like a big root to my problem.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like, I forgot to say that.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s my opinion on pornography?
2
SPEAKER_00
It s cool that it s there, you know?
2
SPEAKER_01
It s just there.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, don t just start small.
2
SPEAKER_00
Start small, dude.
2
SPEAKER_00
Don t take away all your little pleasures immediately.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s your name again?
2
SPEAKER_00
Aaron.
2
SPEAKER_00
Aaron, is there anything else you want to say to the people at the computer before we go?
2
SPEAKER_01
Geck hard.
2
SPEAKER_01
Stay gecking.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know, keep calling Geck, dude.
2
SPEAKER_01
I love this show.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m going to watch it until the day I die.
2
SPEAKER_01
Well, hopefully you don t die before me.
2
SPEAKER_00
We ll see.
2
SPEAKER_00
We ll see.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m trying to not eat as much candy.
2
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, take care, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thank you very much.
2
SPEAKER_01
Thanks for talking to me, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
That would be funny if all the porn I was- I was just watching a ton of gecko porn.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t know what gecko porn would be, but... It sounds hot.
2
SPEAKER_02
Hello?
2
SPEAKER_00
Hello, what is your name?
2
SPEAKER_02
Serenity?
2
SPEAKER_00
Serenity.
2
SPEAKER_00
Lord, give- what s the- what s the- what s- you know the Serenity prayer?
2
SPEAKER_00
I think it s like an AA thing?
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, uh... Lord, give me the...
2
SPEAKER_00
Is that called the serenity prayer?
2
SPEAKER_00
Do you know what I m talking about?
2
SPEAKER_00
You don t even know what I m talking about.
2
SPEAKER_00
The one that s like... No, I don t.
2
SPEAKER_00
Lord, give me the strength to fucking do something and the wisdom to do that thing too.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s called the serenity prayer.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Okay, I think, yeah, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s like, Lord, give me the strength to accept
2
SPEAKER_00
Oh, okay, okay, I remember it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I remember it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I remember it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Lord, give me the strength to... The strength to accept the things that I can t control, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s the serenity prayer.
2
SPEAKER_00
I think it s the serenity prayer.
2
SPEAKER_00
Anyway, you wanted to talk about Super Smash Bros.
2
SPEAKER_00
Melee.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
So a couple years ago, my friend started working for one of the companies.
2
SPEAKER_02
So recently I ve just been spending a lot of time going to different like fighting game conventions.
2
SPEAKER_02
And mainly I go for like Smash Melee and Ultimate.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I happened to see a stream where you were talking about H-Box.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
And it was just funny because
2
SPEAKER_02
I don t know, he s nice and I ve just had the opportunity to meet him.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s been really fun going and getting to travel around the U.S.
2
SPEAKER_02
and go to different places and just hang out with everybody in the fighting game community.
2
SPEAKER_00
I love getting to talk about my extremely niche hobby of competitive Super Smash Bros.
2
SPEAKER_00
Melee.
2
SPEAKER_00
Competitive Smash in general is not very niche because like, I mean, Super Smash Bros.
2
SPEAKER_00
Ultimate, like everyone fucks with, but I hate Ultimate.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t care about it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t watch it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t play it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s specifically the one for the GameCube that I m into.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes, yes.
2
SPEAKER_00
So wait a minute, so you work for Nintendo?
2
SPEAKER_02
No, no, I don t.
2
SPEAKER_00
How do you unlock Luigi in Super Mario 64?
2
SPEAKER_00
Tell us.
2
SPEAKER_02
I have no idea.
2
SPEAKER_02
But yeah, I just got into it because my friend, she started working for a company.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was like a gaming company, but it dissolved.
2
SPEAKER_02
But yeah, while she was working for it, that s how I got introduced to it.
2
SPEAKER_02
And I always played Melee growing up, but
2
SPEAKER_02
It was really fun just going and seeing how competitive it was.
2
SPEAKER_02
Everybody in Melee is pretty nice.
2
SPEAKER_02
At least all the fans.
2
SPEAKER_00
How many different tournaments have you gone to?
2
SPEAKER_02
I think maybe five or six so far.
2
SPEAKER_02
This year I m planning to go to one.
2
SPEAKER_02
My next one is in Vegas.
2
SPEAKER_00
Wait, what s it called?
2
SPEAKER_02
I don t know if you say Evo or EVO.
2
SPEAKER_00
You re going to Evo?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
They don t do melee anymore, but Evo is like the Super Bowl of fighting game tournaments.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
I went to Genesis too recently.
2
SPEAKER_02
You went to Genesis?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like this year, like in February, back in February?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
It was really fun.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s sick.
2
SPEAKER_00
Who d you meet at Genesis?
2
SPEAKER_00
We re, you know what?
2
SPEAKER_00
Fuck it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s my podcast.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re talking about competitive Super Smash Brothers Melee.
2
SPEAKER_00
Who d you meet at Genesis?
2
SPEAKER_02
Um, well, I guess a bunch of different people, but like, I m very fortunate that my friend, she s dating someone who s like friends with some of the players.
2
SPEAKER_02
So I m not very cool myself, but I just like,
2
SPEAKER_02
By association, I m very fortunate to get to meet some of the players.
2
SPEAKER_02
Like Salt, Leffen, Hbox.
2
SPEAKER_02
You met Leffen?
2
SPEAKER_00
Well, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, kind of offhand.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had one interaction with Leffen.
2
SPEAKER_00
So Leffen is one of the best Super Smash Bros.
2
SPEAKER_00
Melee players in the world, who is known, this is his thing, he is known for being a dick.
2
SPEAKER_00
I sat, one time I was at a, I used to go to these tournaments and I went to play with him and I asked him if he would be down to play friendlies and he kind of like rolled his eyes and said sure.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then we play like one game and he four stocks me and then he just like unplugs my controller and like vaguely like throws the cord at me.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you know what s, here s the great thing about having a persona, like being known for being a dick.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t walk away from that interaction being, I wasn t disappointed.
2
SPEAKER_00
I wasn t like, oh man, I finally got to meet Leffen and he was a dick.
2
SPEAKER_00
I walked away being like, yeah, that s what, that was his, that s his thing.
2
SPEAKER_02
That s kind of an honor.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it was kind of an honor, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_00
I had one interaction, I had another interaction with Hungrybox.
2
SPEAKER_00
I thought this was pretty funny.
2
SPEAKER_00
I was playing him, I went to Pound 2016, and he was on a setup, and I plugged in to play friendlies with him, and we start playing, and I take the first stock.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I took the first stock and he looked at me and he was like, are you ranked?
2
SPEAKER_00
And I looked at him and I was like, I said, no, are you?
2
SPEAKER_00
And he did not think that was funny at all.
2
SPEAKER_02
He was pissed.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think that was pretty clever.
2
SPEAKER_02
Good job.
2
SPEAKER_00
Thanks, ma am.
2
SPEAKER_00
Um... Anyway... That s, uh... Yeah, I haven t been to a Smash major in a long time, but, um... That s...
2
SPEAKER_00
That s it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s kind of sad, man.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s kind of sad because I do wish that I was into like a Fortnite or Call of Duty or Street Fighter or Ultimate or something.
2
SPEAKER_00
Something that s like, because Melee is only going to go downhill.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s only, it s not going to get more popular.
2
SPEAKER_00
There s only every year going to be less and less people playing it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It came, it s like a 25, 26 year old game.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
So nobody s gonna, there s always gonna be less people playing it.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s a bummer, I wish I was into like a real game.
2
SPEAKER_02
Same, I know what you mean.
2
SPEAKER_02
Do you play?
2
SPEAKER_02
I do, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
Who do you play?
2
SPEAKER_02
I like playing Peach.
2
SPEAKER_02
And then my personal favorite character, who I don t play against anyone, is Kirby, even though he s like the shittiest.
2
SPEAKER_02
But he s just my personal favorite.
2
SPEAKER_00
Do you play any of the other, um, uh, what is it?
2
SPEAKER_00
Um, do you play any of the other, uh, fighting games?
2
SPEAKER_02
Um, I tried recently getting into street fighter, but as lame as it is, like my hands kept cramping up and I was like, maybe this isn t for me.
2
SPEAKER_02
And like all the combos and yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m going to take this opportunity to share something with my audience, people who are
3
SPEAKER_01
listening to this.
3
SPEAKER_01
If you ve gotten this far in this conversation and you haven t turned this off, and this is of any interest of you, you should check out and what s your name again?
3
SPEAKER_00
Serendi.
3
SPEAKER_01
Serenity, alright, we did the whole thing with the prayer.
3
SPEAKER_01
Serenity, and Serenity, I m sure you know about this, I m sure maybe you ve seen this.
3
SPEAKER_01
Um, there is a, and, and, and, let me, and, stay with me on this, folks, okay?
3
SPEAKER_01
This is, this is, you gotta stay with me on this.
3
SPEAKER_01
There is a four hour long documentary.
3
SPEAKER_01
About the competitive Super Smash Brothers scene.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s a fantastic documentary.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s for free on YouTube.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s called the smash brothers.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s by a guy named, uh, Samus or some Sam ox.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s called the smash.
3
SPEAKER_01
If you just go on YouTube and you search the smash brothers, um,
3
SPEAKER_01
I think it s like nine episodes or something, but you go watch the first episode.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s really sick.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s how, basically what happened was Super Smash Brothers, man, it s an old game, and the community kind of died out a little bit, especially like when Brawl happened.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then this guy makes this documentary about the competitive Super Smash Brothers scene, and he kind of like, this documentary comes out and everyone s like, oh, this is so sick.
3
SPEAKER_01
And then everyone gets in on it.
3
SPEAKER_01
And it kind of revitalized the scene.
3
SPEAKER_01
So, you know, a formal recommendation to go check out this four hour long Super Smash Brothers documentary on YouTube.
3
SPEAKER_01
Have you seen it?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s pretty cool.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, and especially it s just nice having like recognition for such like, as you said, like a niche group and yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
So do you, so you don t work in video, do you work in video games?
3
SPEAKER_00
No, I don t.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s just more of like, I don t know, a passion, I guess, like a really big hobby.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I like video games and yeah, once I went to like my first one, uh, and seeing like competitive gaming, I was like, Oh, this is addictive.
3
SPEAKER_00
And like, just especially sitting in the crowd and being there, I finally understand the hype for sports and other things.
3
SPEAKER_01
um what uh it s true it s funny i was never into like sports but um that was kind of like my version of sports was was like i got it at that point um
3
SPEAKER_00
Exactly.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, and it s funny because the like the biggest eSports in the world are Like MOBA games like League of Legends and Dota Yeah, and I don t get that because like you could be any random motherfucker.
3
SPEAKER_01
You could be like 60 year old boomer person and
3
SPEAKER_01
You could be looking at us, and it s why I don t get why like fighting games aren t the most popular because you could be like a boomer and watching a fighting game and be like okay the one the guy Getting hit a lot is losing like you understand the concept of a fight Right, but I look at a MOBA, and I have no idea what s going on Yeah, there s a lot going on definitely
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, especially in League.
3
SPEAKER_01
What do you work in, if not video games?
3
SPEAKER_00
I work for an online technology company that does online monitoring for... The best way I can describe it is I do monitoring for looking out for school shooters and other violence and other things.
3
SPEAKER_01
Do you see a lot of fucked up stuff all the time on the internet?
3
SPEAKER_00
I do.
3
SPEAKER_00
I do.
3
SPEAKER_00
How has that affected your mental health?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, actually, not too much, just because I was kind of already interested in it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s interesting.
3
SPEAKER_00
We get to sometimes train with the FBI.
3
SPEAKER_00
And sometimes through that, we ll see really graphic images of crime scenes.
3
SPEAKER_00
And actually, whenever I first went into it, I thought it was going to be kind of disappointing, or I was going to be like, oh no, the youth is so negative.
3
SPEAKER_00
But actually, a lot of things that I see, a lot of younger kids are really supportive of each other, and really against bullying.
3
SPEAKER_00
And surprisingly,
3
SPEAKER_00
A lot of times you don t hear about it, but they are stopping school shootings and other school violence, like bombing and things, pretty frequently.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, I guess that probably sounds negative, but... No, that s not... I feel like that s... Well, I guess you re right.
3
SPEAKER_01
I guess that s a double-edged sword, because it is positive that they re stopping it, but I guess negative that it s happening in the first place.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
But I mean, that s nice.
3
SPEAKER_01
So, okay, here s the thing.
3
SPEAKER_01
I worry for the children, you know what I mean?
3
SPEAKER_01
Because they re kind of fucked up.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
And so it s nice to hear that you re monitoring their chats.
3
SPEAKER_01
Wait, so the fucking government, do they actually monitor our shit like that?
3
SPEAKER_00
So I can t...
3
SPEAKER_01
Are you whistleblowing on the Therapy Gecko podcast right now?
3
SPEAKER_00
So the company I work for, I can t say their name, but we re kind of like, we try to be as non-invasive as possible.
3
SPEAKER_00
So you have to type something or do something on a computer that the school has like paid to sign up for monitoring.
3
SPEAKER_00
So a lot of times, you know, it ll have to be like, I m going to bring a gun or I have a gun or I m going to shoot up the school and then it kind of triggers something and then I review it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then if I have to call the school or if I have to call the police, we also do like suicide, uh, watching.
3
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes the funniest part is it will trigger for, I see a lot of porn.
3
SPEAKER_00
Um, and then I also see like a lot of fan fiction that the kids will write.
3
SPEAKER_00
And the fan fiction is always really funny.
3
SPEAKER_00
Uh, cause sometimes it ll be like, oh no, is this child talking to an adult like this, but it s just them writing like.
3
SPEAKER_00
a wolf fan fiction or Harry Potter or something.
3
SPEAKER_01
So these are like, um, oh, so this is like on, this is like on the school computer.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I mean, yeah, I feel like if you re watching porn and talking about bringing a gun in on the school computer, you kind of fuck around and find out.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
What about kids who are like, I feel like there s a lot of, um,
3
SPEAKER_01
the school shooter genre of joke is, um, is out there.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s like how many times is a kid like, I m going to bring a gun to school, but he s, he s just, uh, he s just, he s just trolling.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, so that definitely happens.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s kind of part of my job is I have to go and look and kind of make like the judgment or the call.
3
SPEAKER_00
We re always going to air like on the side of caution.
3
SPEAKER_00
Um,
3
SPEAKER_00
but there are some schools where they ve already had shootings in their school so they ll be like very serious about it and any type of like joke or comment they kind of want to know so you ll end up emailing the counselor or calling them to let them know and then they ll review it um yeah just because well obviously like a serious issue but a lot of kids will also make like you know like
3
SPEAKER_00
when you re having a shitty day, like, oh, I want to kill myself or, and they don t really mean that they literally want to die.
3
SPEAKER_00
But that s also part of my job is just making a determination of that and deciding what to do.
3
SPEAKER_01
Do you think the kids will be all right?
3
SPEAKER_00
I, I, I really do.
3
SPEAKER_00
Uh, I really do think the kids will be all right.
3
SPEAKER_00
I definitely do.
3
SPEAKER_01
Well, that s reassuring.
3
SPEAKER_01
Um... Well, what do you... Who do you main in Street Fighter?
3
SPEAKER_01
Is Street Fighter your main fighting game?
3
SPEAKER_00
No, I would definitely say it s Melee.
3
SPEAKER_01
Are you good?
3
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
3
SPEAKER_00
No.
3
SPEAKER_00
No.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, I wouldn t say I am.
3
SPEAKER_01
I gotta- you know what I should do?
3
SPEAKER_01
I wanna do a Twitch stream one day where I fuck, I slippy netplay people.
3
SPEAKER_01
I actually did that once.
3
SPEAKER_01
I actually, I remember a long time ago, I was streamed, like, as a gecko.
3
SPEAKER_01
then I like I was on the I was either on the phone with somebody or in the chat with somebody and they were like yo I play I m down to play you and I Just streamed myself like I was doing actual video game twitch streaming I streamed myself on slippy for those who don t know slippy is When you can play melee online with other people and I stream myself on slippy, and I just got my fucking ass whooped Yeah
4
SPEAKER_02
It gets pretty brutal on there.
4
SPEAKER_02
Some people are, well, I mean, yeah, a lot of people are really good.
4
SPEAKER_02
I was surprised.
4
SPEAKER_00
Do you play online?
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Are you good?
4
SPEAKER_00
No.
4
SPEAKER_02
It s mainly for fun.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, just mainly for fun, a hobby.
4
SPEAKER_02
I mean, some of my friends are really, really good, but
4
SPEAKER_02
I m just a casual player.
4
SPEAKER_02
I mean, I play Kirby, so that, if anyone knows, that kind of speaks for itself.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, Serenity, it was, I ll say this, I ll say it was serene.
4
SPEAKER_00
to talk to you.
4
SPEAKER_00
You probably get jokes about your name.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve realized every time I make a joke about someone s name, they look at me with such disgust because they ve heard that joke a hundred times.
4
SPEAKER_00
Serenity, it was serene to talk to you.
4
SPEAKER_00
Is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?
4
SPEAKER_01
I just want to say hi chat and give a shout out to the Gex girlies.
4
SPEAKER_00
Rock and roll.
4
SPEAKER_00
Have a good night, Serene- Ser- Ser- Ser- Ser- Serenity.
4
SPEAKER_01
Have a good night.
4
SPEAKER_01
Bye.
4
SPEAKER_00
Bye.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, dude.
4
SPEAKER_00
Send me- Fuck, send me some sli- Send me- Send me slippy codes.
4
SPEAKER_00
If you re- If you- If you re listening to this, and you play competitive Super Smash Bros.
4
SPEAKER_00
Melee, send me a fucking slippy code.
4
SPEAKER_00
And if I just completely run out of anything else to ever do with my life, maybe I ll play Strangers and Slippy.
4
SPEAKER_00
That could be fun.
4
SPEAKER_00
Actually, that would be a fun stream.
4
SPEAKER_00
Maybe I ll do that.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, send me Slippy codes.
4
SPEAKER_03
Call from Ripe Potato Man.
4
SPEAKER_02
To accept, press 1.
4
SPEAKER_02
To send a voicemail, press 2.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hey, man, what s your name?
4
SPEAKER_03
How you doing, Lyle?
4
SPEAKER_03
I m Ripe Potato Man.
4
SPEAKER_00
Alright.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, Ripe, how old are you?
4
SPEAKER_03
I m 23.
4
SPEAKER_00
Cool, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
Have we ever spoken before?
4
SPEAKER_03
Nope.
4
SPEAKER_03
Never spoken before.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, Ripe, what s going on with you, man?
4
SPEAKER_00
How s life?
4
SPEAKER_03
Honest to goodness, life should be going great.
4
SPEAKER_00
Life should be going great?
4
SPEAKER_00
Why the should?
4
SPEAKER_03
Well, I don t know.
4
SPEAKER_03
I got my dream job.
4
SPEAKER_03
Things have been going great for me.
4
SPEAKER_03
But I don t know.
4
SPEAKER_03
I lack the sense of community.
4
SPEAKER_03
I don t talk to anybody.
4
SPEAKER_03
And I don t know.
4
SPEAKER_03
Things have just been going great for me in every on-paper way, but I just feel like things just haven t been living up to their expectations, you know?
4
SPEAKER_00
Through most of my life.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve been a fairly.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean I ve always had friend.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve always had a lot of good friends I ve always had a lot of good friends, but I think in my mind.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve always I ve been Attached to like stoicism in this sense of there s what you can and what you can t control and one of the great Difficulties of life is that you cannot control other people unless if you re like a crazy
4
SPEAKER_00
person then you try then you like form a then you try really hard to like feed people um poison and control them and all that stuff but yeah if you re trying to manipulate people yeah but but normally but normally normally it s like you know i m i m i try to focus in the realm of what i can control and then not what i can t control and so community is a tricky one because it s really important you can t just be an isolationist you can t just fucking not talk to anybody or have no friends or uh you just can t do it
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m trying, I m in my head, I m like, I m responsible for solving all my problems, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
So, how do I solve a problem that has nothing to do with me, because it s about other people, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
It s like, you can t make somebody love you, you can t make somebody be your friend.
4
SPEAKER_00
But, and I ve been thinking about this a lot, because I ve been thinking about this my whole life, and I think you can, what is within your control is to put yourself in more situations where you are around other people.
4
SPEAKER_03
And... But that s the real problem.
4
SPEAKER_03
That s the real problem is that in this day and age, I can try to go and go to a bar or maybe go out and try more social exercises and do more athletic things that can
4
SPEAKER_03
bring friends to you.
4
SPEAKER_03
But the truth of the matter is, is that in this day and age, it s really hard to try to make friends.
4
SPEAKER_03
Like all of my friends at this point are seven hours away.
4
SPEAKER_03
I ve moved so far away from all the people that I ve grown, that I ve learned these things from, that I ve developed friendships with to try to take this dream job, that I can have a salary that can allow me to survive in this economy.
4
SPEAKER_03
But the truth is, is just that now that I finally have some level of affluence,
4
SPEAKER_03
I ve lost all of the social characteristics that give me the ability to be the person, to give those people the person that I want to be.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
That sounds, that sounds juicy.
4
SPEAKER_00
Uh, how, what, what, uh, where do you live?
4
SPEAKER_03
Right now I m living in North Carolina.
4
SPEAKER_03
I grew up in upstate New York, but I moved to Tennessee when I was a kid and I developed these friendships when I was a teenager that
4
SPEAKER_03
actually gave me friends that were real friends.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then as soon as I got a good job offer, I moved away to North Carolina to, you know, to have that sense to move on with my life and be a person and gain the job that I ve been working for for a long time to get.
4
SPEAKER_03
And then all of a sudden, once I had it, I ve lost everything.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Very tricky.
4
SPEAKER_00
Very tricky.
4
SPEAKER_00
Um,
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
What have you done?
4
SPEAKER_00
And you, do you live in like a big city in North Carolina?
4
SPEAKER_03
I am about an hour North of Charlotte.
4
SPEAKER_03
So I m in a smaller city area, but it s, and I, I mean, I can t afford gas to drive towards a larger city or even, I mean, truthfully, I just spent my last hour watching a football game and you know, just having some made in the oven pizza.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that was the best part of my week.
4
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, dude.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, dude.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m laughing.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m sorry.
4
SPEAKER_00
I said that s juicy and I laughed only I it s I resonate with you.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s why I m laughing.
4
SPEAKER_03
No, I get it.
4
SPEAKER_03
No, because you understand.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
So I feel like in a pickle.
4
SPEAKER_00
All right.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hmm.
4
SPEAKER_00
Tell me give me some other things.
4
SPEAKER_00
What else have you tried?
4
SPEAKER_00
Right.
4
SPEAKER_00
What else have you tried?
4
SPEAKER_03
Well, I mean, I m not a religious person.
4
SPEAKER_03
I m not a religious person, but I went to church this morning, you know, just to find a sense of community.
4
SPEAKER_03
Cause I just, I need to talk to a living person and outside of my work.
4
SPEAKER_03
Cause the people at my work, they, they talk to me, they like me.
4
SPEAKER_03
I feel like, and I feel like I ve gained a lot of community and a lot of friendship there.
4
SPEAKER_03
But at the end of the day, there are people I work with, you know?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
And it feels like I, sorry.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
What do you like to do?
4
SPEAKER_03
I like to build things.
4
SPEAKER_03
I like to do things.
4
SPEAKER_03
I like to just add a positive force to the universe.
4
SPEAKER_00
Build things.
4
SPEAKER_00
What things do you like to build?
4
SPEAKER_03
I build experimental vehicles.
4
SPEAKER_03
I build houses.
4
SPEAKER_03
I build whatever you name it.
4
SPEAKER_03
I try to build, you know, if there s a problem, I try to solve it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
So you re like a, uh, uh, what s the, I don t know if there s a word for what you are, but, uh, you build, you build vehicles.
4
SPEAKER_03
Not like cars, but more like I build one-wheel unicycle broomstick type things.
4
SPEAKER_03
I try to build the weirdest thing I can think of.
4
SPEAKER_03
I use 3D printers, I use whatever I can come up with to solve whatever problem I have in my head and make it work.
4
SPEAKER_03
I have hobbies to a degree.
4
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so what you- what you should do is take those hobbies, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, uh, 3D printing.
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SPEAKER_00
And, uh, building.
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SPEAKER_00
And, here- here- if I could- can I get- if I could give you some homework.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I ll do it too.
4
SPEAKER_00
If I could give you some homework, would it be to take that hobby that you have to build- cause that s- what you just described is really great, actually.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, like, the- the hobby of, um, you know, 3D printing, of building things,
4
SPEAKER_00
Charlotte s a... Yeah, okay.
4
SPEAKER_00
You live in somewhere that s big enough, I think, for you to do this.
4
SPEAKER_00
Think about different groups, different in-person social groups, like a robotics club.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like when you were in college, they had all these clubs, right?
4
SPEAKER_00
Those clubs?
4
SPEAKER_00
Clubs still exist.
4
SPEAKER_00
They still exist, even as an adult.
5
SPEAKER_01
I would think of some clubs that are related to building whether it s like a fucking architect meetup or a Hackathon or some shit like that, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so you scour the internet you scour Facebook and meetup and Google and Craigslist and well don t scour too much on Craigslist because then you ll end up sucking a guy s cock
5
SPEAKER_01
That wasn t funny.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know, I was like, that wasn t funny.
5
SPEAKER_00
I wish I didn t say that.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, it wasn t.
5
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t funny.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was hacky.
5
SPEAKER_01
That wasn t funny.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
So do that, right?
5
SPEAKER_01
And here s the key.
5
SPEAKER_01
Here s the truth.
5
SPEAKER_01
Here s where we take our fucking power back.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay, here s where we take our power back, Rype.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay, if we don t find any of this shit, what do we do, Rype?
5
SPEAKER_00
I don t know.
5
SPEAKER_01
You make it!
5
SPEAKER_01
You make it!
5
SPEAKER_01
You put yourself out there, okay?
5
SPEAKER_01
And you say, hey, at the Charlotte Public Rec Center, every first Tuesday of the month, we re doing a building event.
5
SPEAKER_01
And you go on Facebook and Craigslist and you make a little flyer.
5
SPEAKER_01
with or you hire somebody else with all your money that you have and you and you and you make a flyer and you fucking make the event right and even if it goes just and just doing this just to be like i tried just to be like i took my loneliness and my community problem into my own hands i didn t wait for somebody else to fucking
5
SPEAKER_01
Do it for me.
5
SPEAKER_01
It ll make you feel better and there s at least one other lonely motherfucker playing with Legos in your area that you guys can You know hang out so that s my that s my that s my that s my practical advice to you And while I just I m gonna ask this not just for me But for everybody who listens to you religiously because I do I listen to you all the time man, right?
5
SPEAKER_00
I I love all of your streams
5
SPEAKER_01
Thanks, man.
5
SPEAKER_00
I just want to ask you this question purely in this day and age.
5
SPEAKER_00
All right.
5
SPEAKER_00
We ve lost so much when it comes to social interaction.
5
SPEAKER_00
What would be your advice to somebody who s trying to make friends, who s trying to meet people, who s trying to get out of this horrible social bubble that we ve constructed over the last few years to meet people in person?
5
SPEAKER_00
What is your advice?
5
SPEAKER_01
Well, first of all, I just, I just gave, I just told you my advice.
5
SPEAKER_00
That s exactly my advice.
5
SPEAKER_00
For me personally.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, no, for me personally, but I genuinely need that.
5
SPEAKER_00
Like.
5
SPEAKER_00
for all the rest of the people who are listening, because a lot of people are listening right now.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, but it wasn t for you personally.
5
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t for you personally.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was a very practical thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was, what are your hobbies?
5
SPEAKER_01
What are your interests?
5
SPEAKER_01
What are you naturally attracted to?
5
SPEAKER_01
That s what I asked you.
5
SPEAKER_01
You said it was building, and so it s okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
Take all of your natural hobbies and things that you re into and attracted to, and you go out and you find in-person events related to them, and if those don t exist, you create them.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s the advice.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
And also, I m not
5
SPEAKER_00
100% convinced that I agree with you that we are in the least connected age ever It s we re in the most connected age ever But not the most socially connected age ever where people can see each other in person you want to meet someone online You can meet them in line in a second if you want to find someone who has the same interest as you you can meet them hands down way faster than you ever could before but the truth is that this this person-to-person connection that you can find from just
5
SPEAKER_00
meeting people in person, I feel like we ve lost.
5
SPEAKER_01
Well, how old are you, 23?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
Well, you and I don t really have a good sample size for that, because we re of the age where we grew up with... We don t remember a time where there wasn t an internet.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t know if you ve talked to people who do, but... But I m gonna...
5
SPEAKER_01
That whole question, are we lonelier now than we were before, is... I don t necessarily think I agree with that, because the internet holds so much power.
5
SPEAKER_01
Everything I just told you to do, find an interest, and then find an in-person group that relates to that interest, and then if it doesn t exist, create it.
5
SPEAKER_01
That whole process that I just told you is a thousand times easier with the internet.
5
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah, yeah, it definitely is because you can just go on whatever social media website you want to choose and find people and find a group.
5
SPEAKER_00
And you can try to do that.
5
SPEAKER_01
And it s never been easier to go suck a random guy s cock, which is a form of connection.
5
SPEAKER_00
God bless Craigslist.
5
SPEAKER_00
What s your name again?
5
SPEAKER_00
Right Potato Man.
5
SPEAKER_01
Right Potato Man.
5
SPEAKER_01
Be honest with me and it s fine if not.
5
SPEAKER_01
Are you going to do this?
5
SPEAKER_00
I... I m gonna try... I don t have to give a smile.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ll let you finish.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m sorry.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ll let you finish.
5
SPEAKER_01
Go ahead.
5
SPEAKER_00
No, I m gonna be honest with you.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ve thought of doing this before.
5
SPEAKER_00
I genuinely have.
5
SPEAKER_00
And to be honest with you, there s a lot of trepidation that comes from the fact of just, should I?
5
SPEAKER_00
Should I not?
5
SPEAKER_00
But the fact that I ve actually been able to get on the phone with you after all the streams I ve watched with you,
5
SPEAKER_00
I m going to try to do it because you motivate me to do it.
5
SPEAKER_01
Please, dear fucking God, if this works for you, let me send me like an Instagram DM.
5
SPEAKER_01
I would love to know if this worked for you.
5
SPEAKER_01
Um, what was I going to say?
5
SPEAKER_01
Um, well, what else are you going to do?
5
SPEAKER_01
Right.
5
SPEAKER_01
Are you just going to rot and die?
5
SPEAKER_00
No, to be honest with you, I, I, I, like I said,
5
SPEAKER_00
I have the job I ve wanted for a very long time.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ve been working towards mechatronics for a very long time.
5
SPEAKER_00
I have a job that s given me an internship in mechatronics I shouldn t have, truthfully.
5
SPEAKER_00
I shouldn t have gotten this job.
5
SPEAKER_00
If it wasn t for the lack of people in the market right now, I wouldn t have the job I have.
5
SPEAKER_00
They re pushing me to finish my mechatronics certification, right?
5
SPEAKER_00
And they re the ones who are helping me.
5
SPEAKER_00
They like me.
5
SPEAKER_00
The fact that I work as much as they want me to work.
5
SPEAKER_00
I will stay late.
5
SPEAKER_00
I will come in early.
5
SPEAKER_00
I will do whatever the hell they want me to do.
5
SPEAKER_00
I m getting motivated from the fact that the people that believe in me believe in me.
5
SPEAKER_00
So I m going to continue moving on in that path, but the fact is I don t have the social interactions.
5
SPEAKER_00
And you re helping me, helping motivate me, whether it s from this call alone, but from the streams I ve watched from you before, you ve helped me motivate myself to go and try.
5
SPEAKER_01
Good.
5
SPEAKER_01
Please let me know how it works for you.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m, I m, I m very excited to hear.
5
SPEAKER_00
I appreciate that, man.
5
SPEAKER_01
Right.
5
SPEAKER_01
Potatoes.
5
SPEAKER_01
Is there anything else you want to say to the people, the computer before we go?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Love, life, and happiness.
5
SPEAKER_00
Those are the three keys to everything.
5
SPEAKER_01
Thank you, Right Potato Man.
5
SPEAKER_01
I will talk to you soon.
5
SPEAKER_01
God bless you.
5
SPEAKER_00
All right.
5
SPEAKER_00
I ll keep watching the stream.
5
SPEAKER_00
Thanks, man.