Out The Trunk with Jordan and Darius
The Out The Trunk Podcast with Jordan and Darius is about fun and authenticity. Just two friends who wanted to make something cool for you to enjoy. We love movies, music, sports and pop culture and wanted to create a space where we could talk about those things unapologetically and we hope you do too!
Out The Trunk with Jordan and Darius
Censorship and Setting Goals - Ep.64
The Out The Trunk Pod is back with another What’s On Our Mind segment. Jordan recaps how he spent his birthday (1:30), Darius and Jordan talk about the weekend celebration (5:00), drinking games (8:35), Drug testing for new jobs (19:00), Jimmy Kimmel and censorship/cancel culture (24:00), 4th quarter goals (39:00), and more!
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Welcome to Out the Trunk with Jordan and Darius. We'd like to start these things off uh letting you guys know what's on our mind, musings, observings throughout the week. Uh, last week was my co-host Jordan's birthday. Uh, he had a uh a whole weekend extravaganza. Would you like to tell the people what you did that you're willing to share, starting with the day, which is Wednesday? Um, I won't I well, I guess I just dated the podcast, but it was last Wednesday. Yeah. And so what'd you do starting with Wednesday?
SPEAKER_00:Uh so as we talked about on the previous episode, which has will be coming out soon, or will be out by the time they see this. Um, I had to work the day, work on my birthday. So I did that. So that was you know less than positive.
SPEAKER_01:Um by the way, your friends gave you some terrible advice. Do not call in sick after you tried to take the PTO and it was declined. Like, no one's gonna believe anything you have to say. Yeah. Um, that is don't do that.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, no, you should have started faking sick through this. I'm like, well, here's first of all, we work remote, so like I can't fake sick on a computer. Right.
SPEAKER_01:How sick do you have to be to where you can't work from home? Like you have to be right, you have to be completely incapacitated. I've called in sick working from home one time, and that was because I uh her needed a disc in my back and couldn't get out of bed, literally, physically couldn't get out of bed. So um sorry for interrupting, but that was all I didn't say anything because I, you know, uh it was your night and I didn't want to go on a tangent, but that was terrible advice. Uh don't call in sick after you've tried to request the PTO and it was declined. Right on your birthday, like no one's gonna know what that means. Um carry on.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yes, I worked uh worked till five. Um, and then what did I do? Uh I was I was fucking tired as fuck. I was up late night before talking to everybody and shit. So uh I took a nap, woke up, went to dinner with the family. Where'd you go to eat? Uh if you we don't have to name the restaurant, but what kind of food was it? It was Mexican. It was uh the spot near uh the mall. Um went there, went back home. We did like gifts and cards and stuff with the family, um, chill with them for a little bit. Um there they were had to work the next day, so that obviously they went you know want to go to bed early. Um so then I just went and stopped by uh open mic because a friend of mine had hit me up and uh was like, yeah, hey, um performing tonight if you want to catch me on the mic, whatever. Um so I popped up through to see her perform. Um then I went to it was kind of a chill night at Open Mike, it wasn't super, super crazy or like duper super duper lit or anything. So I just kind of went out there for about 30, 45 minutes, said hello to some old faces. Um and then I went to uh a cigar lounge that I like to go to. Hadn't been in a while, so I just uh bought a lot of one we went to on St.
SPEAKER_01:Patty's Day?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Gotcha. Uh so uh just bought a mild cigar, puffed on that, had a little bit of whiskey, um, pretty much called it a night. Um, kept it pretty pretty chill. So that was Wednesday. Thursday, you know, another day at work. Uh hung out with some coworkers for a little while, got a haircut, watched the game. That sucked. Um Friday, I was out with you guys. Uh and the game was good Thursday. It was Buffalo, Miami, right? Buffalo, Miami, yeah. I mean, it was a good game. I guess I it was it just got ruined by the that shitty interception that Tua threw. So it was just like, damn, y'all. We had a chance for a nail biter and you blew it. Um fair. Yeah, but most Thursday games aren't great anyway. I was gonna say by Thursday game standards, though. Like, uh, you know, yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Yeah, it was more than a total of 20 points, so that makes it a pretty crazy game considering Thursday night standards. Um CS of Friday, I got with you guys all night, pretty much.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, um Friday, the night got away from us uh a little bit. Yeah, it did. Um a lot of it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, when yep. At one point I proposed we go to went to a uh gentleman's establishment. My friends were like, no, we are not doing that.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, you you're definitely the homie that doesn't quite know the party's over. Like it's like 12 45. We're going home, and you're like, nah, let's do this. Like, dude, you didn't catch the last three times I yawned. Um we are not 25 anymore.
SPEAKER_00:The night was true, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but Friday was a good night. It was a chill precursor to uh you know the following night. Um Saturday, what did I do Saturday? Yard work, got ready, went to the mall, met up with you guys at uh a place we like to go to.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so like logistically, what why did we start downtown, come back to the suburbs, and then go back downtown?
SPEAKER_00:Well, honestly, I just want to do something during the day. Okay, and there wasn't there, like I'm not gonna go to where we hang out at like during the day. That's just not that's just not the move.
SPEAKER_01:You do realize there are other places on earth.
SPEAKER_00:No, I know, but no, that's what I'm saying. But it was just like the only one in Raleigh. I know, I know, that's my point. But it was just like, okay, we're well, all the cool all the cool spots are like not near where I live. So, you know, it was like, all right, we gotta go to your downtown anyway. So I was just like, well, fuck it. And also I had to go to the mall, so I was like, it's on the not on the way there, but it's you know, only 10 minutes out, so I was like, well, it's not a a huge inconvenience or or trek uh based on like my schedule for the day. And I had to run errands and shit and pick up stuff for the party. So it was just like, well, fuck it, why not?
SPEAKER_01:Let me just say uh the spread at the party was banging. Um appreciated. Um I will let the family know. I reached out to your sister. Um I I'm not I think I would mispronounce her name. I don't want to do that, but um, for the meatball recipe, I'm stealing it. It was good, great meatballs. Uh the pasta salad was amazing. Um Chick-fil-A nuggets I've ever seen in my life. Yeah. Um had some wings. Um it was uh some some Rotel dip was down there. We uh there was more liquor than I there was more bottles of liquor than people. Uh which all right. Um I was like, who is drinking all this? Um and that's not even accounting for the stuff people brought themselves. Um right, I forgot about that. So um, you know, you are you are well stocked for the future of the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_00:Pretty much. I literally I have two uh unopened 12 packs just in the kitchen, and then I have still have the cooler full of all the all the beer insiders. So uh gotta find somewhere to store those.
SPEAKER_01:I mean that's that's that's part of the benefit of hosting is you get all the liquor people, all the liquor and beer that people leave because right. Uh, you know, party rule number one do not leave with what like if you bring a 12 pack or you bring a bottle, you leave that there. You don't bring it home, man. That's tacky. That is the host. The benefit of being the host is you get all of the leftover liquor and beer and whatever gets left behind.
SPEAKER_00:Correct. Yeah. Um, so yeah, we have all that stuff left over. We still have a uh a gallon, like a gallon and a half of the rum punch. Um so we'll we'll be able to uh have some children nights at home for the next couple weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Fire up the grill football Sunday. You know, yeah, I'm about to say, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, I was off Monday and Tuesday or Monday, yesterday and today. Um yesterday I just had a couple beers at lunch because why not? Uh yeah. Um, so yeah, so Saturday hung out with you guys at uh downtown.
SPEAKER_01:Um we went downtown for a couple of spots. Uh we started at what six o'clock? Yeah. And then we did uh one spot, I walked to the next spot, had some drinks down there, and then we went back to your spot for the the formal birthday gathering, and that's where yeah most of uh your out-of-town friends showed up, right? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They all uh met me there. Um played. Great turnout, by the way. It was like 20 G. If I recall correctly, yeah, it was a good turnout, and that was a lot of people couldn't make it, so I it would have been super packed if uh if everybody would have made it come through. But um actually kind of worked out perfectly because it wasn't it was intimate enough where everybody got to email and get to know each other, and it wasn't just like people who didn't know each other not talking to people that they didn't know, you know. Yeah um good blend of people, so that was that was dope. Um, yeah, so you played uh most likely two. I ended up with all the cards.
SPEAKER_01:Well, so there's a structural disadvantage there, right? You're the only one everyone knows. So you're the default when like there were three people there who knew me, right? And so by definition, they don't know which cards apply to me, but everyone knows which cards apply to you, so you were at a structural disadvantage. Um so but the cards did apply to you, nigga. Like it was not, they did, they definitely did. It was no default, no one else just gives it to Jordan because it's his birthday. All of them applied very directly.
SPEAKER_00:All right, and it's funny because I've played that game with people who know me really well, and I played that game with people who don't know me really well, and every time I play that game, I still end up with lots of cards.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you have a gregarious personality, to say the least. Which card do you feel landed a hundred percent?
SPEAKER_00:A hundred percent? Uh let me see. Because I I took a like a video of all the cards spread out. Um let me see here. I would probably say where's the video at I don't have it here somewhere. Uh fuck it. Uh I think probably I mean the misinterprets everything as flirting. It's pretty accurate. Yeah, that was pretty accurate. That one's accurate. Um, what was it? Um turns into a philosopher after a couple of drinks. Um but I genuinely am big into philosop in philosophies. Like, so it's I would talk about that sober too. I just get more uh more open, like more loquacious about it when I'm uh when I'm faded. Um liquid. Yeah, when I'm uh when I have a little bit of liquid fun. Um yeah, that I said that those two are probably the ones that stood out the most. So I took a I took a video of all the cards spread out of the ones that I got. Yeah, and I posted it to my story, and like three people were like, it's all accurate though. Like, yeah, who weren't there, who weren't even there. They were like, Yep, that's that's pretty much you.
SPEAKER_01:Uh no, I mean even seeing through the structural disadvantages, I didn't see a card that all the way didn't apply. The honestly, the one I would think was the biggest reach was gets philosophical when you're drinking, but yeah, I mean it still applies. Like, I don't know. Right, right, right. Still landed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah um I remember uh so we were uh treat celebrities like you know them.
SPEAKER_01:Did you get that one?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I got that one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I did prepared social relationship with LeBron.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah, to be fair, we are in a picture together, so I do have that. I have that advantage over most bronze sexuals. I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_01:Uh no one's ever taken a picture with the most famous athlete of the last 30 years. Uh one of the most recognizable people on planet Earth.
SPEAKER_00:Um touche, touche. Um no, it's funny because it that game can actually like there are certain cards in that game that can really start like a fight, like a real problem with people.
SPEAKER_01:We skipped over a few that were like, nah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, we we skipped over a few. Um I was at the beach uh a few months ago for Will's birthday, and we were playing it, and there was a group of girls that met up with us the next day, and we're like, let's play it again. It was a fun time. And they're like, Yeah, no, we agreed to like never play that game again. And I was like, we all were like, What could you have possibly what car could it possibly have been? And it was like I think the car was um most likely to be like a shitty mom, and they actually name someone.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I mean you have to like if I pulled that card, I might I would instantly be like, nah, I'm not even gonna like reading it. No, yeah, no, no. Um I just don't even see a scenario where that would where you know, where are your like social skills? So like why would you even? I would just throw that face, like, no, let's throw that one to the back.
SPEAKER_00:Like, I'd read that and I'd be like, that's gonna get me punched in the face. I'm gonna go ahead and uh pass on that.
SPEAKER_01:There was one I skipped, I forget what it was, but it was just like, nah, nah, I'm not feeling it.
SPEAKER_00:Was it was it the one it was uh was it like last would keep the last parachute or something like that? Was it nah, you know what it was?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, okay, okay. It's like something about skipping out a check or something like that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, you know, uh, this is a vibe kill question. Yeah, that's crazy. Um, it's just you know, you just have to you have to read the room, and some jokes fly in other ones, but in a room where you know, of the 20 people there, I've only met five of them, and half of the time I was the night before. So it's like right, nah, I'm not gonna I don't read this one, like you know, it's just yeah, there's other the deck is this thick, let me just find something that's a bit more uh palatable, you know, for the room. Yep, yeah, I feel you on that. Um, yeah, well downtown. So for this point, I left because I was not going back downtown. Uh right. But in the night I would have game if I'd have known that y'all weren't really going downtown like that. I had it in my head that you were far hopping. So how did you go down to Watson Board? And then what happens?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we're at Watson Ward. Uh we're chilling there hanging out. We got we found like some a bunch of open chairs um outside on the patio. So we hung out there, we're all chilling, everybody's getting to know each other. Um, I mean, some people knew some people, uh, but you know, um, we just hung out most, it was a vibe most of the time, pretty much the whole time. Um, we were making plans for homecoming because they all went to school together, and my brother went to school with them too, but he's younger than them. Um, but Ryan like works on campus, so he knew he's known him for like a couple years. Um, so we're all just kind of figuring out what we're gonna do for homecoming. Um, at one point my sister like disappears and then she comes back and she's like, Yeah, I went inside to get a drink, go to the bathroom, and some dude like hit on me, and I was like, No, thanks, I'm not interested. And she's like, Yeah, the guy, and then he he was like, Okay, whatever, like you ugly bitch, or something like that. And so I was like, Was this outside or inside? And she's like, It was inside. I'm like, Okay, all right, I'll be back. So I just walk inside and just I figured my plan was just to look for anyone who looked like they would say something like that to a girl. And my cousin goes with me, and he's like, if you throw it, I'm throwing, I'm like, all right, cool. And so we're we're going in there, and my sisters like they they catch us where we go inside, and they're like, No, no, no, stop, stop, stop. So they they stop us from going in there, and then um, so I was just like gonna lie. I was like, No, I gotta go pee real bad. And then they were like, You don't have to pee. Um, but other than that, yeah, it was a great night at the at Watson Ward, it was really fun. Um drinks were a little pricey, obviously, but you know, um went in in Rome. Um swing out there, and then we were like, let's go somewhere to like dance. So we were planning to go to Houseyon. Um, and so we took two separate Ubers, it was like 12 or 13 of us. Um, and they're like they call us from the other car, and they're like, Yeah, no, the line's like around the wall, like around the building. Like, we're there's no way we're gonna get any time. I was like, all right, cool. So a few of us we were like, well, fuck it, let's just stop by five years ago, too. Yeah, yeah. So a few of us go there, um, the other car goes straight to the house, and then we hang out at the spot for like 10-15 minutes. Uh, say what's up to um our buddy bouncing. Um and then uh we go back to the crib and we all just hang out until like four in the morning, basically. Just hanging out, shooting the shit, talking. I mean, some people were asleep, uh, but yeah, everybody else we just hung out and talked and and uh did a couple more shots, ate some more food uh before everybody got got on the road.
SPEAKER_01:Fair enough. Good birthday weekend.
SPEAKER_00:That was Saturday. Yeah, it was a really good weekend. It was a lot of fun. Wait, we're still going?
SPEAKER_01:Wait, what? You said that was Saturday. I was like, we still got more days going?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, well, um what did I do Sunday? Sunday. I just uh met up with Luis and um and his lady out. We uh went to Devolve, hung out there, watched the games, um, watched one o'clock games, and then we left at around five or six, so like halftime of the four o'clock games, and um she was like, Oh, I'm cooking, I'm you know, making some um the chicken pot pie or whatever, and like Apple Christmas stuff like for dessert, whatever. If you want to come hang out with us, I was like, all right, cool. So I hung out with them, uh, watched the Cowboys game, and then uh um a friend from uh Spot hit me up and was like, Hey, we're all here hanging out. So I was okay, I'll stop by, say what's up. It's on the way home anyway, so and I'm off tomorrow, so I was like, fucking weep off. So I go there, meet up with them. Uh Keller and Smurf are there, so we're all hanging out and uh just watching the game, shooting the breeze. Um, nothing too crazy. It kept it chill. I didn't you know get faded or anything. Um, and then um went home, and that was the official end of the weekend. Man, I got tired just listening to that.
SPEAKER_01:Uh well, happy 33rd birthday. Uh appreciate it. You know, um I was there for 75% of that, so no need to get back into it. But yeah, happy birthday, man. Um, it was a good week. I hope 33rd, your Jesus year is a good year. Jesus died at 33rd, right? Yeah, yeah. Your Jesus year, hope it's a good one.
SPEAKER_00:Um, yeah, I hope I don't die too.
SPEAKER_01:You know, he's he's kind of famous, you know. Not a bad one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he's pretty, he's he's he's a big deal, you know. You know, um apparently December we commemorate him in some way, shape, or form.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a federal holiday, so big deal. Multi billions of people uh follow the religion he invented. So correct. Shout out to him, shout out to Jesus, Jesus Christ, and all the above. Okay, anyways, congratulations, man. Happy birthday. Um wanna move on? You done with the recap? Yeah, yeah. All right, so I saw a um uh uh it was a Twitter video, but I think it was originally posted on TikTok. And this guy he had gotten a job. It was like he got a verbal offer for a job, and he's like stunned because he's like, when they offer me the job, I was like, Can I start in six weeks? Because I want to travel. They're like they're like that's some nigga shit. My nigga, like six weeks. Where are you going? Six weeks' last time you traveled for six weeks. Are you studying abroad? Like, I don't This nigga asked for a gap year, yeah. And so they they was cool with it. They like cool. Wow, shit. And he's like, so I'm like, all right, bet lady calls me two days later, three days later, and she's like, Did you see the email for the drug screen in the background test? And he's like, No, I didn't see it. She's like, Well, you have to have it done in 72 hours. And he's like, Okay, well, I'm free today, I can do it today. And she's like, Okay, well, let me talk to this is the HR lady. She's like, Let me talk to the team or whatever. She calls him back and she's like, the team actually decided to just rescind the offer uh to go, you know, we're gonna go with somewhere else. And uh people were I would I it was about 50-50. People were like, they tripping, whatever, whatever. And I just want to like, do you understand? First of all, if you're missing deadlines during the onboarding process, yeah, that's pretty crazy. Because you ain't even starting a job yet, and you're already you ain't seeing emails, you like yeah, and they send you an email like every day for shit you have to do with when it's done.
SPEAKER_00:Thorough of an onboarding, yeah. That's yeah, that's true. And if you got people with no job, don't check their email every three days, right?
SPEAKER_01:And okay, if you got Gmail, the filters do move shit around, but like you're not on the eyeball. Every time I've ever had uh a job offer, I was like, okay, so what are the next steps? Okay, I'm looking okay. This email is coming. All right, let me just make sure that I'm checking my filters or whatever. If if I know it's in 72 hours and I ain't got it in 24, I'm calling, like, hey, did you send it out? And then you got the email, right? Buddy, first of all, six weeks. Um I'm kind of willing to stall him out on that because he's not an employee yet, right? Right. And the worst thing they can do is say is no.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but it's still a real trip already planned, I guess. Uh it's still a crazy I'm sorry, that that's a little crazy.
SPEAKER_01:That's six weeks. That's three times the normal uh process, uh normal two weeks.
SPEAKER_00:Basically, yeah. And then I hope his savings are straight.
SPEAKER_01:And then they you you you didn't see the email. First of all, it looks suspicious. Like it looks like you're ducking the drug test. Uh like that you know uh what do you mean see the email?
SPEAKER_00:Like that doesn't make any sense. And you know what? Maybe that's why he said he needs the six weeks.
SPEAKER_01:Like I always tell people, drug tests for like a hiring screen, they're not actually drug tests, they're IQ tests. Because the only people who can who will fail a drug test that they know is coming is an idiot, idiots or fiends. And I need to know if you are a moron or a drug addict. Like yeah, they don't actually care if you smoke weed, they just need to know if you can if you can pass this IQ test, because the only people who will fail it are morons and drug addicts. And so if you can pass that test and you want to get high on the weekends, no one cares. Uh you know, we just need to know, they just need to know if we can like get through uh a basic if you can go six weeks clean to make to pass a drug test. So right.
SPEAKER_00:Um damn, that's crazy. So yeah, I and honestly, in any job that gives you that much leeway in the onboarding process, the pay had to be pretty good, I'm assuming.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and the thing is, man, like sorry, this is fucking with my ear now you're good. Unless you have like some insane technical skill, you're a surgeon, or you're like some computer science or something like that, or some AI researcher. Right. Most white-collar professional work is actually not that difficult and doesn't require some exceptional talent. Like you're what's gonna differentiate you is if you're reliable and if you're easy to work with. And off the bat, you look you clearly you're not you're annoying. Like, why are you six weeks and then you're missing this? And just it you're already annoying and you haven't even started yet.
SPEAKER_00:Like, by the way, why are you planning a trip like in between looking for a job? Like, if you're looking for like if I'm gonna look if I'm gonna look for a new job, I'm not planning any trips because I'm like any job, you got the 90-day probation period anyway. Like, what do you what do you mean? What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:I almost don't even believe it's where are you going for six who vacations for six weeks? Six weeks, yeah. That's crazy. Who I can have you I've never vacationed longer than two weeks. Like, where are you going for the five years?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that that's some uh that's some eat pray love shit right there.
SPEAKER_01:I've known people who have went to South Korea and weren't gone for more than two weeks. Like, so where are you going that you need six weeks to hang out?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like in the UK when they like go they go on holiday after like high school graduation and shit, like it's like a week, maybe two weeks. Like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01:Anyways, uh, you want to move on to talking about Mr. Fallon and cancel culture?
SPEAKER_00:Kimmel, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You want to leave that one?
SPEAKER_00:Uh sure. So uh they free Jimmy and uh freed him. He out on parole.
SPEAKER_01:Uh please he had a week off of his$15 million a year job. True for telling a joke that look, I if you had asked me a week or two before, I would have thought that joke was in the normal balance of late night hawk show. Yeah, it was he did lead with a lie. It wasn't crazy. He led with a lie saying that uh the guy who who committed the murder was MAGA, and that's just not true. And like we we're becoming as conspiratorial as like people sound like January Sixthers when they're like, well, it had to have been a MA like it's very clear that this person was on the left wing of the political spectrum. That is just verifiably true. So we don't do conspiracy theories, like that's not a thing, anyways. So he led with a false premise. But the joke, I thought the the monologue, the joke was yeah, it was pretty harmless of late night no pun intended. Um, and it wasn't appropriate for um a government regulator to weigh in on you know a talent um correct, you know, that's just granted the network TV. That's some 1984 shit. Right, and granted, network TV is on um public airways, ABC, MBC, you know, that's that's but normally that's just normal presidential administrations see that as just the kind of it's like the it's like the Fed chair. You don't you don't mess with the Fed, even though they report up through the executive branch. You don't you want the independence of the Fed as bedrock of the American economy, the world's economy. And so that is unusual, and I thought that he got a raw end of that of that as well. Um but I'll be honest with you, um, I do not watch late night TV.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I wasn't really I I was more up in arms about the precedent than the actual correct yeah, it's a very slippery slope, and like you know, we we watch all these countries that are you know under these dictatorships and fascist states. Well, we're not totally dissimilar from them now.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I mean this podcast wouldn't exist if we lived in uh trending or Beijing in that direction, or Pyongyang. Uh, I promise you, with this like you can't. Um if you went to someone who was in Pyongyang and was like America's a fascist country, they would be like, hang out with me for a week. Let me let me show you what fascism is. Uh like you literally in North Korea, they literally like have to pray to a statue of the leader. Like that's like it, like in you know, it's just people words mean things.
SPEAKER_00:Um fair, that's true. But I do think it's important to state that this none of this shit is right normal or uh or okay, or like this is not like people could like like I watched, I was watching the button pot, and they were like, Oh, I'm not surprised that they and it's like that's not the point. Like, yeah, it should be surprising, it should be shocking, it should be jarring to you. This is not normal behavior, this is not the shit that the founding fathers uh quote unquote uh you know wrote about in all those documents. You know what I'm saying? Like it this is not something that we need to be we can afford to be jaded on, and this slippery slope between Jimmy Kimmel and whoever else, and you know, it starts it, it starts with it starts with, you know, one and then you know the example I would use is Victor Orban in Hungary.
SPEAKER_01:Um that is very much like they still have elections in Hungary. Um it's it's what most scholars say is like a competitive um authoritarian state, uh not authoritarian, where it's like he he literally started this way where he would like yeah he got judges fired that he didn't like, and he would um get papers dismantled that he didn't like, and now like all of the news that the citizens hear is very slanted toward the Victor Orban's party and he gerrymanders the the districts to where right you know, even if he's 55-45, he can win 90% of the seats and different things like that. So I would say it's much you know the words mean things, but I I would say it's alarming, and it's a lot you know, if you went to Citizens of Hungary 15 years ago, a lot of what Victor Orban was doing was it's kind of like what's starting here, and so I'm not I don't want to say that I'm not concerned, but I for sure I I do uh I do think um it's important to note the dis the differences between the two. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, um because like literally in parts of China there's Uyghurs, uh Muslim Uyghurs in Western China had to do the W never use our watermelon, never Western China that are literally living under a surveillance state where they have to like have papers in their pocket at all times, and so you know, so there are levels to it, it is alarming.
SPEAKER_00:That's how this that's how this shit starts. Like, I mean, I think and I I think I've talked about this with a couple friends. Like, what's crazy to me is we live in this generation where we we grew up with like immersive immersed in pop culture, right? So we grew up watching Star Wars and Harry Potter and Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings and uh you know, whatever else, Dune, so on and so forth, reading these books, watching these movies, and they all have these, you know, these leaders who are corrupt and so on and so forth. And it it starts with simple shit, like you know, uh you know, the press, the manipulating the press, and then it leaks to you know the reality TV or the the content that people consume on a daily basis, like the Hunger Games or um, you know, Harry Potter with the with the with the uh the newspapers and shit. Like this is how it starts. I we and we're literally seeing it and we've studied it in history our entire lives. And you know, history books are written on this for forever. And it's just crazy that we're just watching it and people are just so like, okay, la da da, like it's just him being crazy or whatever. It's like, no, guys, like that's not how you're supposed to take this shit because you give away an inch and they're gonna take a mile. They have no reason to stop. Like, we really need to be you know on our P's and Q's with making sure that we uh uh hold people accountable.
SPEAKER_01:That is true. Um, I also think because it's so important, we have to be judicious with which things we jump out the window for and become the boy who cried wolf when you throw a tantrum every time Trump says something racist on TV. Yeah, yeah. Like people just people just tuned out because Trump bad is just okay, we've known that right. Um like you have to, you know, you can't swing at every pitch. Um but in the words of the great Benjamin Franklin, you know, it's a it's a what do we have? It's a democracy if you can keep it. Democracy is not that's a fact evergreen, you know. You have to keep you have to fight for it. And um it's not guaranteed. Uh this experiment in the United States is very young, it's less than 300 years old. And it's the first, yep, it's the first experiment done like this ever, a multi-ethnic democracy. Um, this has never been done before. And um we we held it strong for honestly, 300 years is strong because until the Civil Rights Act of 64, we really weren't a full democracy. Um I was gonna say, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you're talking about seven years.
SPEAKER_01:Like that didn't happen. Which in the on the chain of as long as people have had governments, that's like yesterday on an evolutionary. So, you know, like I tell people all the time, like the Civil Rights Act is younger than my mom. My mom was born in 61. That's one generation. Like yeah, yeah, it's literally one generation, it's younger than my mother.
SPEAKER_00:Like people really forget that, you know. So we we let the black and white images fool us, but that shit was not long, a long time ago. Ruby Bridges is still alive. Martin Luther King's kids are live and on Twitter, like you know what I'm saying? Like the shit.
SPEAKER_01:My great grandmother picked cotton 100 years ago. I met my great-grandmother. She passed in '99, but I met her. And so that's like someone I met picked cotton. It feels like forever to day ago, but in the evolutionary chain, it's not. So um, just one quick bit about the cancel culture. Um there's a reason why people said you have to be careful with this thing because you're not going to be in power forever, and you're you know, you're not gonna be culturally um dominant forever, right? And it's not fun when the rabbit has the gun. Because I was there, I remember people getting fired for or some guy would get drafted, some you know, and then they'd pull up his tweets from when he was 14, and like oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or every draft night, every draft night, yep. You know, some some some white lady says something wild at a Starbucks and you record her, and then they reach out at her job and she gets fired for that, and it's like, okay, but you're not always gonna be on top, and you're gonna hate it when it happens to you. Because you know, when you record someone throwing a tantrum at a Starbucks, you're seeing the worst 30 seconds of their day, of their week, maybe. And I promise you, if someone recorded the worst 30 seconds of your day, you would not come off looking great, you know. So, you know, I I I a whole time I was like, you know, obviously at the hot in the most extreme, and you know, Louis C.K. Bill Cotton, that's different, right? Right, yeah, that's a totally different thing. When you're talking about, you know, someone told an off-color joke that you overheard, or um, you know, so you had a you were at the dog park, and so it was like the lady who like was yelling at the guy taking pictures of the birds at the park.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And they got her fired for that. And it's like, this really the world you want to live in, because I promise you it's not gonna work out well for you in the end if it if the shoe ever gets on the other foot. Yeah. And we fucking told people, like, you think because Democrats are up now, because you're culture culturally relevant now, but because progressivism is popular now, you think that's gonna be forever. And you know, I just remembered sitting there, like, we're gonna get this lady fired because she tried to tell him not to take pictures of the birds at the party, like really, like, and maybe she said something a bit off color, and maybe she was being a Karen or whatever, maybe racist. But like, okay, all right. Because what's considered out of the bounds of social norms now isn't going to be forever. And now we got a college kid, I think it was at Texas AM, who made I mean, let's be real, that joke was in poor taste. Like, he was mocking the actual, like, I mean, he was caught on the mocking the murder. That was in poor taste, and he got expelled from school, and people are like, Well, it's a kid making a joke at college, and I'm like, Do you understand that's that's what people said when you tried to kid some lady who threw a tantrum uh at the park? Like, it's just everyone's surveilled all the time, and you know, I just the this feeling you people feel right now where they're like, it just doesn't feel right that we're just capturing bad jokes and imposing lifetime consequences on them. Just remember that when you're up. That's all I got, you know. That's a good point. Um, yeah, because you know, I'm just glad I didn't grow up where my all my thoughts were just sprayed on the internet before when I was a teenager, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I I wish like Japan has a rule where like you can't sell a cell phone where that allows for like the silencing of the flash. So like if you take a picture with your cell phone, it has to flash, it has to make a noise. And like I will vote for any politician that's willing to pass that law because you should not be able to film and record people um in in secret in without their consent in public. Um like there was like I think we talked about this in the pod the other day, like this guy sitting down having dinner um at a fucking oh yeah, the couple at the mall, yeah, yeah, yeah. And someone takes a picture of them and he's like, I hate when girls are dressed up and boys, like you don't fucking know these people. These people are minding their business having lunch in a fucking mall food court, and now they have now they're on the summer dram screen and people are judging what he wore. He might have got he might he might have been asleep off a night shift, and this girl called him, like, hey, you want to run to you know, I gotta grab, I gotta make this exchange. And he was like, Fine, let me throw on these sweats real quick because I'm half asleep. I just work 12 hours in a fucking overnight. Yeah, you don't know anything, like right.
SPEAKER_00:She could have left an event and was just overdressed because she was overdressed, like you know. Um, yeah, I agree. I I mean the cancer culture is crazy. I mean, I think also I think the thing too is we support to say, like, there's a difference between like actual, you know, deplorable behavior and just like saying some stupid shit. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01:Like, there's that's in the eye of the beholder, though.
SPEAKER_00:Fair.
SPEAKER_01:Like, there's no standard for what's deplorable and what's stupid. Like that that's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not talking about no, yeah. I'm I'm I'm referring to like actually doing shit to people, not like just saying something. You know what I mean? Like like the the shit where they dig up old people's people's old tweets, like that's uh that's kind of fucked up to me because if you go look at anybody's Facebook posts or they could have gotten an argument with somebody and called them a name and and by the letter of the law, you could fire them or cancel them for that because that that'd be making your company look bad or whatever, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Like I always say, you're gonna sit up here and stand before me and say you've never rapped the F-word that's a derogatory slurm slur for people to a rap song. You've never done that because I I mean, and so let's say you had Twitter when you were 14 and you were just tweeting rap lyrics. You're telling me you never said that word, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, don't believe it. Exactly. Also, I think don't believe that's the thing, too, is like a lot of people get canceled for like just tweeting rap lyrics with like the people don't know the context that it's a rap lyric or that it's a song, like they don't put the quotation marks or whatever. And it's like maybe just like Google a little bit just to make sure like they're not just saying some off-the-wall shit for no reason. I think that's also uh pretty simple to do.
SPEAKER_01:Um also there's a difference between public figures and people just tweeting, you know. Um true. My thing is though, like would you say like the reason why you you denounce it in general is because there's no consistent, concrete, forever standard of what's considered out of the bounds of social norms and what's considered a joke and what's considered that it evolves over time, and you're not gonna always be up. Like I tell people all the time, it's a two-party country, sometimes you're going to lose, and you have to think about what standards I'm setting when the other side wins. That's all. Correct. That's true. Fourth quarter goals, man. What you got? You wanted to you wanna you wanna put something on wax?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's time for uh it's almost time for the the great uh locking of the Burr months, yeah. Uh slash fourth quarter. Um I mean my goals for for the fourth quarter, I haven't really sat down and written had time to sit and like really write them out yet. Um I still got like what I got four or five days before I really have to put it in stone. Um definitely get back in the gym on a consistent basis for sure. Um I need to get back to writing more on a regular basis as well and and performing. Um but also really want to focus on finding new spots to perform at specifically. Um I've not been challenging myself, like just being in the same creative bubbles. So I just I really need to give myself some uh some creative uh obstacles, so to speak, you know. Um I think what else do I want to accomplish? Uh yeah, I do need to get back more into reading on a regular basis as well. I've I've I've kind of putting that on the back burner. I've picked up some new books and some audibles and stuff, but I haven't really immersed myself in them as much as I wanted to. Honestly, it's just hard because work I just read and type all day.
SPEAKER_01:If I may. Um the way you're setting these goals, you're you're they're not defined enough, so you're bound to fail them. So when you say okay, I want to write more, what does that mean? You'd have to say, I want to write two paragraphs a week, I want to write 50 words a day. I want to because if you just say write more, you're gonna write two sentences like that's more than zero. That's more than yesterday. And so you have to goals have to be specific, or they're just that's you know they're just dreams.
SPEAKER_00:Facts. That's true. You're right. Um, so I'd say I probably want to write, I'd probably want to write at least three poems a week. I'd say I would. At your peak, what were you writing?
SPEAKER_01:When you were deepest in your poetry vibe bag vibe, whatever kids say, uh, what were you writing?
SPEAKER_00:Um it's hard to say because like sometimes you're just editing old shit or you're like finishing shit, and then sometimes you like get an idea you're writing something new. Like it's really hard to say. I'd probably say probably between uh between one and four a week, it really depends on the week or like the the subject matter, how long the poems were, because that also can dictate you know how much time you have to edit and stuff like that, or how much time is required to edit.
SPEAKER_01:So if one to four a week was during the height of it, and you're just trying to get into it, do you think three is realistic? So I'm saying maybe like so. The thing about goals is if you're gonna attain them, you just stop. You have to that's true, feel it like the accomplishing them is part of the fun. So if you make it one, you're gonna do one, and you're gonna be like, it feels good, I can put that off until next week, and then next week you do the one, and it starts feeling less good, and then you start doing the two.
SPEAKER_00:I think that's my problem, is I burn myself out when I start right away. Um, yes, I mean I guess probably one or two a week would be more uh better starting point. So I'd say yeah, I'll just say one a week to start off. One a week?
SPEAKER_01:Uh what we got one point a week. How many books a month are we reading as part of your goals?
SPEAKER_00:Uh so the books I've gotten are like long as fuck.
SPEAKER_01:So um so I'm gonna be interesting to you though. Yeah. Okay, because like I tell people all the time if you start out with some prehistoric text about Thomas Jefferson, and you're not even interested in that because you saw on some bestseller list, you're like I don't care if you start with uh you know a cookbook or a fucking cookbook, the first Harry Potter, whatever gets you those muscles moving again is what's important. Um, and don't get me wrong, you should always challenge yourself. Um you know, in in weightlifting, there's a term called time under tension, and it's like when you lift the weights, how long is your muscle stretched, how long is your muscle in the tightest tension, and that's gets you the most growth. So I you shouldn't always read easy things, but you know, you should have goal books and things that test you that are strenuous, but you also should have something lighter to feel good, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's kind of how I do it too. Like I I treat I view a lot of art almost like a playlist in it, so to speak. Like I have like so of the books I have, like I've I'm I've been doing uh Dreams from My Father by Obama. Um I just started doing yeah. Um I started doing uh Dorian Gray, the picture of Dorian Gray. I don't know if you've I mean I'm sure you've heard of it. Um uh I got like some serious count of Monte Cristo, and then I got like a memoir from one of the Harry Potter kids, and I got, you know, um from this dope uh Greek mythology like fictitious book um called Son of Achilles. Uh I haven't started that yet. That's kind of I might start that tomorrow during work. Um so yeah, I got I got you know got shit to kind of in every every genre and something so just something to you know pique my interest whenever I'm in the mood for something of a different uh flavor.
SPEAKER_01:How many days a week is the gym you want to do?
SPEAKER_00:That I'm trying to figure out um I'm trying to figure out like a work schedule that works for a workout schedule that works for me that I'll actually be able to adhere to even on days where like I'm doing pod shit. So I think what I'm gonna do is like cardio in the morning or cardio in the day or maybe at lunch and then like waits at night.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um so I'm probably I'll say to start out, I'd say probably I think I need to do four days a week because if I do three, it'll be too easy for me to like not go back for a couple days. So I'll say four days a week so I can get back in the habit of like planning um like just planning my workouts and my routine and and not being so focused on getting everything done in you know one workout.
SPEAKER_01:Fair enough. Um trick that I've been doing is like for the Sunday dinner album, I just save that for a workout, and that you know, an hour makes it go back quick. But it's a good list, man. It's good to get them on wax, good to get them specific. Yeah, um at least as my experience with goals is like write them down, get them in writing, tell people so that they can know that these are goals. Because if it's just you, it's easy to no one knows them. It's easy to press them off, yeah. Who cares? Yeah, I'm not accountable to it and make them specific so that specific and attainable.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, honestly, that's the reason I post when I'm doing certain shit. Is it's more so just so like I can because if you post it and then you just stop posting it, and like people will ask you about it when you when they see you like, oh, what about your that way you have to you have to keep yourself accountable, not so much that they're pressuring you, but just you know, you want to have an answer.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh people are curious, you know, they follow you because they're curious about what you got going on, and just out of natural curiosity, they ask.
SPEAKER_00:So it makes sense, yeah. And I will say I think the good thing about this podcast is it's given me something to do consistently. So, like, I know I struggle with consistency as someone who has like ADHD and also just I'm very scatter brained in general, but um it it's it's been good to like okay, I can do something consistently, like for a long period of time and stick with it and not get bored and not quit. And you know what I mean? Yeah, um, it's a it's a nice kind of mental exercise so that way you have we literally have proof and documentation of work ethic that we can just go back to, you know, whenever we're feeling discouraged or whatever.
SPEAKER_01:And it's time under tension. It's like this doing this helps me with uh like I'm trying to like I just my I feel like my brain has just become mush because everything is short video, everything is you know, you know, Twitter. So this like watching the movie, and like I don't like all the movies that we watch, but I have to watch it because I'm on here, and it's just it's easy when I'm just watching a movie that sucks to cut it off. Like, I'm king, like I I'll walk out of a movie theater if a movie sucks because it's just a sunk off. Like, you know, like our the ticket is bought. Do I want my night back or do I want to sit here for another hour watching a movie I'm not enjoying? So yeah, um that's true. So it again, time under tension, like it's I think uh you know, like our brains are so used to everything, all entertainment being great, yeah, because YouTube algorithm gives us a next 30-second video. TikTok, Instagram, Twitter. But like it honestly, I need to relearn how to be bored. Like it's like that's really what it is, and I'm I'm slowly but surely getting there. Um I'm not reading as much as I used to, but I'm getting back to it. My goal this year was 40 books. I'm not gonna hit that. I'm at like 28 right now, and I have two and a half months, so maybe I don't know. But with football, it gets tough. Um, because like Sunday afternoon, I would just do a lot of reading, but yeah, so I'm just I'm relearning how to be bored. Um you know, and that's interesting. Sometimes like that's just writing, that's watching the movies, that's you know, when I listen to an album, like the my instinct, not for the pod, because I you have to listen to all those tracks, but like my instinct is this song is whack, turn it off. But like, no, just listen to it. Just listen to it. Like it's three minutes, it's three minutes. You can be not 100% satisfied for three minutes. Like it's fine, and like this is how we lived for yeah, I just how we lived for millions of years, where like you know, like I remember buying albums that I didn't like, but I fucking bit the$16 and I only had three of them, so I just played it over and over and over and over again. Yep, and you learned something about it. And did all the albums grow on me? No, I remember dragons opposite the HGO that's it was trash, but I listened to it like fucking 30 times because I've spent my hard earth money on it, and you know, it's just like interesting, just relearning how to be bored, man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I wanted to ask because I've been kind of dealing with this too, like, or struggle. Oh, I struggle with this. I'm like a very like uh ambitious person, but I'm also very impatient. Yeah, and so I'll be like, fuck, I don't get the results I want like in X amount of time, and I'll be like, fuck and I'll just quit. Like I, you know, I'll like rage quit or whatever, you know. And um, so like with this, I'll be like, I've had to like really learn how to like relearn how to like just okay, it's about the process, just like consistency doing it the same thing over and over and over again, every week, every day, every month, uh, for this whole year. And um, I remember I made a TikTok about it, and it was I said like um like I had to teach myself like fuck the pro fuck the process, sorry, fuck the results, make love to the process, right? Like it's about like just like doing the thing and not worrying about what the thing is doing for you, because eventually the thing will do the thing for you in due time. And so I wanted to ask you have you found that this process or this project slash podcast has taught you anything about uh like resilience or just um consistency?
SPEAKER_01:Consistency, yes. Um it helps that I enjoy the process though, like you know, um I've always wanted a space to talk into a microphone you know and speak extemporaneously into a microphone. I just didn't never want to do a solo podcast, so right. Um so no, I mean it helps that I don't ever look at the numbers, you know, um that you see your door made. Um no, I just I enjoy it. It gives me um attack, like I I never want to stop learning, right? I think people one thing as an adult we do is we get our jobs, and our jobs are sometimes hard, sometimes not, but they're stressful. And then we get off work and we just want our brains to turn into much. And I'm trying to correct resist that temptation to just turn on house MD reruns or Martin reruns, and just like, no, you're not supposed to stop learning as an adult. So with this podcast, you know, I'm watching sports differently, you know, like I'm watching it to have something to say. Uh I have to watch the movies to have something to say. I have to listen to the album to have something to say. It's just flexing a different muscle. And I I'm a voracious learner, like I just really like learning new things, and so I never get frustrated with the pod because I'm just learning, you know. Um the results will come, but in the meantime, I get to learn a bunch of new stuff. Learning video editing, learning audio editing, learning how to take a deeper thought and make it concise, learning how to, you know, yeah, write a rundown, learning learning what's interesting to people, what's not interesting, what jokes will work, what jokes won't, how to time these things. Um, that's all good skills, and they apply to different spots in life as well. So um I think I said it when we were at Yacht Yacht Club, Yacht, whatever it's called, um bar downtown, you know, I think people I see why they do it, I don't fault them for doing it, but like to me, education is not just job training, like you're learning problem solving, you're learning thinking, critical thinking, you're learning how to be you know resilient, and all of those are part of the process. And it may not, yeah, you know, you went to college or whatever and you got a degree and you don't work in that field, but like the math you learn might be useful in another place, and I just never want to be the person that's just yeah, you know, not learning. I never want to stop learning. So, no, I don't I don't ever get frustrated with the pod. I I enjoy the process and I enjoy what this thing is teaching me. So to answer your question.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, nice. That's good to hear. Um anything else before we get on. So do you have go ahead. Yes. Do you see do you have any fourth quarter goals or anything you want to finish, finish out or finish, use like okay? So, what would have to happen for you to feel like you finished this year the way you'd want to when you thought about it, your plans in January?
SPEAKER_01:Uh I would like to rep out 405 on a deadlift again. Have not I've hit it a handful of times since I injured my back December 2024, but I would like to get back to that. Um, I want to break my own personal bench record of 285, but I want to get up to 315. Um, you know, benching more at 37 than I did at 27 would be pretty cool. Uh one I would like to outside goal actually hit the 40 books. Um, there's uh there's a couple there's a couple of uh good books um that that like I think will re-spark the energy. I read a couple of there's a a fan fiction uh website and I read a couple of uh Game of Thrones fan fictions and a like a couple Madden fan fictions that kind of j kind of got me back in the mood of reading that I because kind of in a funk. And so go back to two of my favorite shows and read, you know, you know what fanfiction is, it's just people taking characters. Um did a little world building on some writing projects. Um, I'd like to start getting some chapters again, maybe average 50 pages a week, but I won't start that in 2025, so I'll probably be more like a 2026 goal. Um, I want to eventually publish a fiction spy novel. Uh, I got about 150 pages of it. But this still needs some more world building, it still needs it still needs some work. So um, you know, they say everyone has one novel in them, and I'd like to one day get that one published. So yeah. So that's yeah, so to answer your question about 2024, I'd like to hit my own personal bench record. I'd like to clear my 40 books, and uh I don't have any goals for the pod, man. I just want to keep recording and uh keep getting it out. I feel like we we've recently turned a a a corner a little bit at our one year. Um when people ask me about the pod in public, it's not just hey, you got a pod. It's like asking me about things they heard on the show, which it's a sign that they're actually listening to it. Um you can tell when someone's just like a pod, huh? It's like yeah. Good job.
SPEAKER_00:I see your posts.
SPEAKER_01:And when they actually have something to say that you know they saw is like a that's a good sign. That's a that's a corn, you know, it's subtle, but it's a it's a corner that's being turned.
SPEAKER_00:So no, that's real shit. I uh I got a funny story about that. I was hanging out um with Keller and I was wearing uh we were watching football, and I was wearing a commander's hat, and he's like, uh, do you actually like like the team or are you just just wearing the hat? And I was like, Oh no, I'm I'm actually a commander's fan. He's like, okay, he was like, I know he goes, and he literally quoted that something I said on the pod, and he's like, I know sometimes you just do it for the drip. There you go. I was like, I was like, oh yeah, no, I fit. And he was like, So would you literally wear like any hat? And I was like, No, I was like, There's two hats I will never wear or touch in my fucking life. I was like, I'll never touch or wear any ounce of Duke clothing or cowboys clothing ever in the history of time or the world. God himself could be like, Hey, here's the keys to heaven if you just wear that sweater. And I'd be like, You sure?
SPEAKER_01:Y'all even got uh the heat on here, so we're good to go. Um, no, that's good. That's good that people are actually listening. Um, yeah, we're turning a corner. So oh, we finally.