Speaker 1: Hi, is this Katie?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: My god?
Speaker 1: Is this low it is? How are you? Katie?
Speaker 3: I'm about to ship my pants because so it's not it.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm excited to talk to you too. What's going
Speaker 1: on with you? Man?
Speaker 3: I was actually just eating some ramen and watching your stream.
Speaker 1: You were eating some ramen and watching my stream? That
Speaker 1: sounds nice. I haven't eaten ramen in a while. I
Speaker 1: know it's high in salt contents, but I'm not going
Speaker 1: to sit here and pretend like I give any half
Speaker 1: of a shit about what I put into my body. Uh, Katie,
Speaker 1: how can I get you today?
Speaker 3: My father in law thinks that the family runs a
Speaker 3: prostitution ring, which is not true at all.
Speaker 1: Your father in law believes that your family runs a
Speaker 1: prostitution ring.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah.
Speaker 1: Why does he think that?
Speaker 3: Well, he has been well. I don't know if he's
Speaker 3: currently on drugs, but he's been on drugs since my
Speaker 3: husband was an infant, and I think mentally he's not
Speaker 3: very well.
Speaker 1: So you think that he is there any sort of
Speaker 1: maybe a misunderstanding of things that he's observing within your
Speaker 1: family that is causing him to believe this.
Speaker 3: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: Because he thinks that we have millions of dollars, but currently,
Speaker 4: like I live in a trailer, so there's no way
Speaker 4: that we're consuming that much money.
Speaker 1: So what is your relationship like with your father in law?
Speaker 3: Otherwise we don't talk to him. I haven't talked to
Speaker 3: him since we got married.
Speaker 1: Actually, really, what was it like when you were talking
Speaker 1: about Yeah.
Speaker 3: That was very interesting.
Speaker 4: He is just very hard to talk to.
Speaker 3: He likes to make up stories in his mind about
Speaker 3: things that aren't true at all, And I honestly believe
Speaker 3: he's a narcissist because he doesn't take any other person
Speaker 3: to concern.
Speaker 1: So this whole thing about your family running a prostitution
Speaker 1: ring is not the only thing that he has made
Speaker 1: up in his mind.
Speaker 3: No, definitely not.
Speaker 1: Other stories and whatnot has he fabricated.
Speaker 4: Well, he said that my husband's friends when my husband
Speaker 4: was a teenager, so he was sixteen, seventeen years old,
Speaker 4: his friends were sleeping with his own mother, and which
Speaker 4: wasn't true at all, and his little brother, who was
Speaker 4: fourteen at the time, was actively watching them sleep with
Speaker 4: his mother, and.
Speaker 3: That that's what began the prostitution ring.
Speaker 1: So your father in law believes that about himself that
Speaker 1: when he was younger, his friends used to sleep with
Speaker 1: his mother.
Speaker 3: No, no, no, no no. My father in law believes
Speaker 3: that his own son's friends were sleep being with my
Speaker 3: current husband.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, you're okay, guys, I'm getting the family tree down.
Speaker 1: So your father in law believes that your husband, his son,
Speaker 1: that his friends slept with his mother, your father in
Speaker 1: law's wife.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: Interesting, And he believes that this was happening a while ago,
Speaker 1: or that this is happening currently.
Speaker 4: This happened a while ago, but now he thinks that
Speaker 4: it has progressed to a whole prostitution ring across two
Speaker 4: different states because we live right on the North Carolina
Speaker 4: and Tennessee state line. He's actually went to the state
Speaker 4: Bureau of States and they told him that he needed
Speaker 4: to get off drugs and there was no proof whatsoever.
Speaker 4: He's actually taken laptops, uh, cell phones and other things
Speaker 4: to the police stations and they've investigated and found no
Speaker 4: proof whatsoever and just told him that he needed to
Speaker 4: seek help.
Speaker 1: What kinds of things is he presenting his evidence on
Speaker 1: these laptops? Like, what is he saying is evidence that
Speaker 1: really is nothing?
Speaker 4: He says that they have been hacked, which I believe
Speaker 4: he's just locked himself out of the account and can't
Speaker 4: get back in, so he thinks that.
Speaker 3: He's hacked, but I don't actually know. He's just not
Speaker 3: mentally well at all.
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so these accounts like, so your father in
Speaker 1: law goes to the police station, shows them that he
Speaker 1: can't log into his Facebook and goes this is evidence
Speaker 1: of a prostitution ring.
Speaker 3: Exactly.
Speaker 1: I would also respond with, sir, you need to lay
Speaker 1: off the drugs. That's how I would respond, exactly. What Okay,
Speaker 1: what is it? What about the mother in law? What's
Speaker 1: going on with her?
Speaker 4: Well, she's currently trying to get a divorce from him.
Speaker 4: I'm not really sure because he has been back currently
Speaker 4: and tried to steal things from our previous property that
Speaker 4: we were renting from. We don't live there currently, but
Speaker 4: he tried to steal things from the people that live
Speaker 4: there currently.
Speaker 1: Divorce your father in law? Okay, I'm sorry, I interrupted.
Speaker 1: She tries to defend.
Speaker 4: Him, She is trying to divorce him, but she also
Speaker 4: defends him at the same time.
Speaker 1: What does she say in her defense of.
Speaker 4: Him that he's not mentally well and that he doesn't
Speaker 4: mean any harm?
Speaker 1: Mm and uh, what about your mother? And I she
Speaker 1: sort of mentally okay.
Speaker 4: I think she's just been abused a little bit by him.
Speaker 3: I think she's okay, she just needs some time.
Speaker 1: Oh you think that she's been abused by him.
Speaker 3: Not physically but mentally.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, And she's okay. She doesn't feed into or
Speaker 1: or agree with any of these sort of wild things
Speaker 1: that your father in law is putting out there.
Speaker 3: Oh no, definitely not.
Speaker 1: So tell me about your husband. What's his whole relationship
Speaker 1: like with his family, because it sounds like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of drama going on there.
Speaker 3: Oh, there is plenty of drama. He he loves.
Speaker 4: His mom but tries not to get too involved, and
Speaker 4: he has no content with his dad whatsoever. But I
Speaker 4: actually I can get him to talk to you.
Speaker 1: If you want sure. Is he cool with that?
Speaker 3: Let me make sure real fast. But I think he
Speaker 3: should be.
Speaker 1: Is he in the room with you?
Speaker 5: He is?
Speaker 3: Do you want to talk to him?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I'd love to talk to him.
Speaker 3: Okay, here he is.
Speaker 5: There's no way.
Speaker 6: This is the third right now?
Speaker 1: Who what's up?
Speaker 5: Man?
Speaker 1: What's your name? My name is Chris, Chris.
Speaker 7: How you doing.
Speaker 1: Chris, I'm doing good man, Chris, I'm sorry, I forgot
Speaker 1: you guys. Relationship right, is she your fiance or your wife?
Speaker 7: Shoes my wife?
Speaker 1: Your wife? Okay, right, I guess I guess if it's
Speaker 1: an in law, you guys are made well your wife.
Speaker 1: You picked a great person to be your wife because
Speaker 1: she's clearly very invested in you and in your family
Speaker 1: and cares a lot. I'll say that off the bat.
Speaker 1: She was telling me that your father and that your
Speaker 1: father has been sort of losing it.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 5: I am one lucky guy to have her in my life.
Speaker 6: But then and again.
Speaker 5: Yeah, my dad's taking a toll. I don't I don't
Speaker 5: know exactly what got doing, but I think it's something
Speaker 5: he's had and it's got worse because of drug abuse.
Speaker 5: But yeah, he's a he's a showcase, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: And I mean, how do you feel about all this
Speaker 1: because you haven't talked to him in a while, but
Speaker 1: you know, you're clearly, like I guess, connected with him
Speaker 1: enough or you're thinking about him enough for you guys
Speaker 1: to bring him up to me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely. We thought it just be a really good story,
Speaker 5: I mean for me, it's not really like an emotional
Speaker 5: thing because it's been going on since I mean, like
Speaker 5: I was I mean basically born, I guess, And I
Speaker 5: mean I can remember little kid being involved in some
Speaker 5: stuff and just it being absolutely wild. I mean, he
Speaker 5: has a couple of different personalities and that's sure.
Speaker 1: Do you ever think that that affected you at all
Speaker 1: when you were growing up?
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, definitely without a doubt, Like being you know,
Speaker 5: five six years old and knowing what crack was and
Speaker 5: knowing what all these different I guess, different kinds of people,
Speaker 5: that's for sure. I mean, you know, bouncing around trailer
Speaker 5: parts and whatnot, you come across some interesting characters.
Speaker 1: What about your mom, Do you still keep in contact
Speaker 1: with her?
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: My mom.
Speaker 5: She was a lot different when she.
Speaker 6: Was with my dad.
Speaker 5: My mom, she's kind of like she had been with
Speaker 5: him so long that she didn't know anything different. But
Speaker 5: once she got away from him, actually she got a
Speaker 5: lot better. The last time she talked to him, and
Speaker 5: it was actually the last day I talked to him
Speaker 5: as well, and it was on my wedding day.
Speaker 6: Of all things.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 5: Actually, no, my mom has had to keep up a
Speaker 5: little bit with him. Here and there because she's told
Speaker 5: us some stuff that recently he's been been doing, and
Speaker 5: it's anything like it was when we were younger, because
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Mom could hide it pretty well,
Speaker 5: but me and mom saying really good contact. I mean,
Speaker 5: I try to help her when I can, but you know,
Speaker 5: getting my life started and then being able to be
Speaker 5: with her a lot, it's changed, that's for sure. But
Speaker 5: she definitely is a lot more in my life than my.
Speaker 1: Dad and has your relationship. So your relationship with your
Speaker 1: mom has gotten better, it sounds once she got away
Speaker 1: from your dad.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, because she opened up and I knew that
Speaker 5: side of my mom because you know, like when dad
Speaker 5: would be away or we would go do things without him,
Speaker 5: which was basically I mean all the time he was there,
Speaker 5: not really in family events because he would start drama,
Speaker 5: and she was a completely different person even when we
Speaker 5: were younger when he wasn't around.
Speaker 1: You said she was opening up to you. What kinds
Speaker 1: of things would she open up to you about?
Speaker 5: Uh, just kind of like I guess her relationships and
Speaker 5: what she does day to day now instead of being
Speaker 5: you know, kind of just like I'm with your dad
Speaker 5: type situation or whatever they were doing at the time.
Speaker 5: She's definitely showed more of her personality simply being away
Speaker 5: from him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's forming a bit more of her own identity
Speaker 1: in her own life.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because they got married, well, they actually was in
Speaker 5: a they both had kids with. I have two sets
Speaker 5: of stepbrothers, one from my mom's side and one from
Speaker 5: my dad's side. But I mean that was you know,
Speaker 5: they were probably nineteen twenty when they had their first kid,
Speaker 5: and then they got together after that.
Speaker 1: Do you are you in good touch with the brothers
Speaker 1: and the sisters.
Speaker 6: Oh, yeah, definitely. I have an older brother.
Speaker 5: I actually have two older brothers, and they are both
Speaker 5: the stepbrothers obviously, and I have a full blood young brother.
Speaker 5: And we adopted she's technically my first cousin, but her
Speaker 5: third cousin. Excuse me, but we adopted her because her parents,
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, we're pretty close to the same
Speaker 5: as ours. I mean, you know, they didn't have a
Speaker 5: stable support system, so we took her in basically right
Speaker 5: around the time she was born.
Speaker 6: Into high school.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like a lot like you and your
Speaker 1: step siblings. It sounds like a lot of you guys
Speaker 1: didn't have like super stable support systems. Is that accurate?
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like, you know, I remember being twelve thirteen years
Speaker 5: old and dad going out basically on crack binges or
Speaker 5: drug binges, and you know, us kind of fending for ourselves.
Speaker 5: But luckily the community we moved to after we bounced
Speaker 5: around North Carolina a lot and moved into Tennessee, the
Speaker 5: town and the community was kind of helped us a lot.
Speaker 5: You know, me gaining friends and things like that helped
Speaker 5: us a lot. But I mean, we spend for ourselves,
Speaker 5: but mom, for us, tried to be there no matter what.
Speaker 5: And but a lot of the times it came down
Speaker 5: to you know, her dads even and my dad going
Speaker 5: and doing you know, back to North Carolina and doing
Speaker 5: partying and then would come back, you know to three
Speaker 5: weeks maybe even a month at a time.
Speaker 6: So it was a support system tour.
Speaker 1: So when did you When did you meet your wife?
Speaker 5: Well, I actually where the community we.
Speaker 6: Live in at a.
Speaker 5: Smaller town, and I actually knew were probably when I
Speaker 5: was around like fifth sixth grade. I knew of her
Speaker 5: and her family and knew her most of my life
Speaker 5: and we actually started talking whenever I got out of
Speaker 5: technical school or right around the end of it, so
Speaker 5: that would have been I was I was about twenty
Speaker 5: years old and I'm twenty four.
Speaker 6: Now, so.
Speaker 1: You know, this is this is I'm very impressed with
Speaker 1: both of you guys because both of you guys, who
Speaker 1: are are you know, seemed to me to be very smart,
Speaker 1: stable people, even coming out of what sounds like a
Speaker 1: pretty crazy environments.
Speaker 5: Oh definitely, And we appreciate you saying that. I mean,
Speaker 5: we try our best, but I mean we are you know,
Speaker 5: small town living cup or married couple, and you know,
Speaker 5: we're simple, but we try to do our best on
Speaker 5: you know, anything we can because we came from nothing
Speaker 5: and you know, when me and her Matt, it was
Speaker 5: it was a pretty close connection and we helped each other,
Speaker 5: so it was good.
Speaker 1: So you two continue to be the greatest source of
Speaker 1: support in each other's lives. How do you two support
Speaker 1: each other these days?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean we, you know, we do the basics.
Speaker 5: We try to talk every day, make sure that you know,
Speaker 5: we know what's going on in each other's lives, and
Speaker 5: being there for each other, you know, no matter what circumstance,
Speaker 5: and kind of just living off of that that motto,
Speaker 5: you know, be there for each other, and that's kind
Speaker 5: of what we oh by.
Speaker 1: What is in the future for you too? Are we
Speaker 1: are we having a kid?
Speaker 5: We've definitely talked about it, and it's something you know
Speaker 5: that I'm not gonna deny, and you know, if it happens,
Speaker 5: it happens, I would not mind having children, and she
Speaker 5: wouldn't either. You know, she gets baby fever sometimes and
Speaker 5: we you know, we not said no to it, so
Speaker 5: eventually there's definitely a good chance.
Speaker 1: Well, guys, thank you very much for sharing your story
Speaker 1: with us. Is there anything else that either you or
Speaker 1: Katie would like to say to the people at the
Speaker 1: computer before we go?
Speaker 4: Not necessarily the people of the computer, but thank you
Speaker 4: so much for taking my call.
Speaker 3: It may not not, Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Of course, of course. Thank you guys very much for
Speaker 1: sharing with us. You guys have a good name.
Speaker 5: You too, you too, see it?
Speaker 1: See you guys? Ah oh. I love to those guys.
Speaker 1: They were so nice. They were so nice, and they
Speaker 1: really were describing like crazy shit. It's very interesting to me.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm losing track of all the calls
Speaker 1: that we've taken on this show, but I feel like
Speaker 1: this has been a common theme of like people going
Speaker 1: into a retrospective about some crazy family situation they were
Speaker 1: in or whatever, and like, you know, they were doing
Speaker 1: it with a like a smile on their face and
Speaker 1: a very positive attitude. And I'm glad to hear that
Speaker 1: they were talking about how the community was supportive of
Speaker 1: them even when their dad was going on crazy crack
Speaker 1: binges and shit. And yeah, just a nice group of folks.
Speaker 1: It's always a pleasure to have a phone call with
Speaker 1: a couple of nice folks from a small town in Tennessee. Hello. Hello,
Speaker 1: is this David?
Speaker 7: Is this the Gecko?
Speaker 1: This is the Gecko? What's going on with you? David?
Speaker 7: Hey man? How's it going?
Speaker 4: Little?
Speaker 1: No, not much, man, I'm just going pretty good. How
Speaker 1: are you?
Speaker 7: You know, I can't complain. I'll find a way, but
Speaker 7: I can't. You know, I'm just chilling man, enjoying the stream.
Speaker 1: Well, David, how can I get you this evening?
Speaker 7: You know that's a good question. So right now I'm
Speaker 7: on campus doing a three D sculpt of a friend
Speaker 7: who gave me her three D head scan And it's
Speaker 7: at that point in the I'm a digital sculpture, by
Speaker 7: the way, is at that point in the sculpt where, well,
Speaker 7: she's naked and I'm trying to find a good way
Speaker 7: to poser so I can put clothes on her. And uh,
Speaker 7: this is a bit awkward, you know, just trying to
Speaker 7: pose a friend, you know.
Speaker 1: Okay, you are three D sculpting your friend. Uh, well,
Speaker 1: it says here, I'm gonna say what says here. It
Speaker 1: says here that you're making a sculpture of your friend.
Speaker 1: And this is nothing, this is physical. This is all
Speaker 1: on the computer. Yeah, okay, so your friend gave you
Speaker 1: her head, and so you have her head a digital
Speaker 1: naked body. And it says here that you are falling
Speaker 1: in love with this three D model that you have
Speaker 1: your friend's head.
Speaker 7: I don't know if that's accurate. I think your your guide,
Speaker 7: Tim might have been a little bit over exaggerating.
Speaker 1: But is he ever exaggerating.
Speaker 7: It's difficult. No, I think he's over exaggering a little bit.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 7: I don't think I'm calling alone with the three D
Speaker 7: model for sure, But it is kind of weird just
Speaker 7: constantly staring at this this girl's face. I don't think
Speaker 7: I'm growing feelings. I mean, well, she's attractive first off,
Speaker 7: and I don't know, man, it's just it's just weird.
Speaker 7: I'm staring at her, her naked body of digital equivalent
Speaker 7: and figure out what.
Speaker 1: The post has David, are you? Are you? This is
Speaker 1: your your friend? Are you? Do you like her? Do
Speaker 1: you like like her?
Speaker 2: While?
Speaker 7: I mean she has a boyfriend, and I don't want
Speaker 7: to be I see, I have a habit. I'm going
Speaker 7: to get off topic for a second while I have
Speaker 7: a habit of falling for girls who are emotionally unavailable.
Speaker 1: So you are attractive to this.
Speaker 7: Person, yeah, but I think it's better off as friends
Speaker 7: because she has a boyfriend.
Speaker 1: Okay, so why are we having trouble with this three
Speaker 1: D model thing?
Speaker 7: Well, I don't know, man, it's getting weird. Like I'm
Speaker 7: finding pictures of her to try to get like a
Speaker 7: decent reference, and I'm just staring at pictures of her
Speaker 7: like hours at a time, trying to sculpt it, and
Speaker 7: it part of it feels weird And I don't know
Speaker 7: if I'm setting myself up for another failure of I
Speaker 7: don't know how to put it, like just getting attached
Speaker 7: to someone who I know is not emotionally available again,
Speaker 7: if that makes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't make sense. And Here's what I would
Speaker 1: say to you. I'm David. You have your life and
Speaker 1: you have your work, your three D sculptor. You're professional
Speaker 1: three D sculptor. You work? What do you work in? Blender?
Speaker 1: What's the part? What's the program?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 7: Z brush?
Speaker 1: You work in Z brush?
Speaker 7: Dame, I did not know you were in the program.
Speaker 1: I don't I know Blender and now I know Z Brush.
Speaker 7: Okay, man, that's two.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're working in Blender. So listen, David. If you're
Speaker 1: a professional sculptor and you also have your own personal life,
Speaker 1: separate those two things. So if you're gonna make up
Speaker 1: three D model friends, make a three D model of
Speaker 1: your friends. And if you're going to this whole thing,
Speaker 1: it doesn't need to be as complicated as you're making
Speaker 1: it out to be. Do you agree with me on that?
Speaker 1: Or do you disagree with me on that?
Speaker 7: Oh? Absolutely, okay, you're making I agree with you.
Speaker 1: You're making this too complicated for yourself, David. If you
Speaker 1: are attracted as someone and they are in a relationship
Speaker 1: or they're not attracted to you, just move on, David.
Speaker 1: Find and you're you're you're a hopeless romantic boy. Go
Speaker 1: find another person to be hopelessly romantic about hopefully somebody
Speaker 1: who will uh be hopelessly romantic about you as well.
Speaker 1: But don't waste your what do you do? What are
Speaker 1: you doing wasting your time? Like engulfing yourself in this
Speaker 1: fantasy with the three D model thing, like, and stop it,
Speaker 1: get out of this, get your head out of this,
Speaker 1: like weird three D because you just like, it's great
Speaker 1: that you have a passion that you're pursuing. It's three
Speaker 1: D modeling thing. Go do that, Go pursue that. And
Speaker 1: then it's great that you have the emotional capacity to
Speaker 1: be attracted to other human beings that you see in
Speaker 1: this world. This is a wonderful part of the human
Speaker 1: exp sperience. Go enjoy that part of the human experience.
Speaker 1: But don't engage in these fantasies that you're having because
Speaker 1: they're they're not serving you in any way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: So don't engage with them. I don't tell you what,
Speaker 1: don't don't don't don't romanticize them. I'm hearing you, like,
Speaker 1: romanticize them. Just don't.
Speaker 7: Hmm. I'm trying not to, that's the thing, Okay, But
Speaker 7: like I'm at this point where I would like to
Speaker 7: keep going with the sculpture because I think it's a
Speaker 7: good concept. I don't know if I should just start
Speaker 7: from scratch and follow the concept and just leave her
Speaker 7: out of it or what I've already put a good
Speaker 7: chunk of time into it.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 7: I don't know. The trouble is trying to not romanticize
Speaker 7: it because it's because we I don't know. Uh, I
Speaker 7: feel like we click decently well.
Speaker 1: David, you're just David. You're in charge. Yeah, you're in charge.
Speaker 1: Day you get to decide what which of your fantasies
Speaker 1: you're gonna indulge in. Okay, so your brain is gonna
Speaker 1: try to get you to have this weird fantasy where
Speaker 1: like you're in a movie and it's about this three
Speaker 1: D sculptor guy and he's sculpting this girl, but she's
Speaker 1: a boy don't don't engage with that fantasy, David. I
Speaker 1: want I want so much more terrible, I want so
Speaker 1: much more fun than sitting in this fantasy because this
Speaker 1: girl's got don't wait, you got a boyfriend, she's your friends. Like, dude,
Speaker 1: there is so much more for you outside of this fantasy.
Speaker 1: Go pursue that and and don't be wasting time here
Speaker 1: in in this, in this strange daydream that you're having.
Speaker 1: Can you do that for I really want you to
Speaker 1: see outside of this.
Speaker 7: Absolutely for you, Lyle.
Speaker 1: Anything, No, don't do it. I don't want you to
Speaker 1: do it for me. I want you to do it
Speaker 1: for yourself.
Speaker 7: That was okay, I'll do it for me now.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 7: If this is not for you at all anymore, Lyle.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like fucking with you here a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I want to hear what you actually have to
Speaker 1: think about what the conversation that we're having, because I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm not letting you talk as much.
Speaker 7: I mean, okay, I agree with a lot of your points,
Speaker 7: but I don't feel like I'm I'm I don't feel
Speaker 7: like I'm romanticizing this as much as it may seem
Speaker 7: over the call. It's just something that I'm having trouble with,
Speaker 7: just even as just a platonic thing. It's weird, like
Speaker 7: even if it was like a friend, like a dude
Speaker 7: friend of mine and they gave me their head sculpt
Speaker 7: and just having to pose them and deal with something. Dude,
Speaker 7: I've had a conversation with this person about milk duds.
Speaker 7: I've never skull in someone's face or just I don't know,
Speaker 7: it feels weird to have a digital version of a
Speaker 7: friend just there.
Speaker 1: You What are you talking about with milk duds?
Speaker 7: It's just like we've had an actual, real human conversation before.
Speaker 7: I've never sculpted somebody that I've you know, have weird
Speaker 7: conversations with.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, different David. I'm gonna David, listen. Are
Speaker 1: you you're like switching up your story on me here.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you're like, don't want to admit something.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you are like feel like you
Speaker 1: gave the wrong impression. But you're telling me here that
Speaker 1: you you're telling me all these telling like five hundred
Speaker 1: different things. You're telling me that you have this like
Speaker 1: thing where you fall in love with people who are
Speaker 1: emotionally available. You're telling me this thing where you're romanticized, Like,
Speaker 1: where where are we with this? Be honest with me,
Speaker 1: Tell me where we are honestly with this, and then
Speaker 1: what you ever you tell tell me next is the
Speaker 1: angle that we're going to go with and that we're
Speaker 1: gonna end on. Okay, tell me the honest thing.
Speaker 7: The honest angle is that I'm trying to not romanticize
Speaker 7: the situation. Okay, great, and I do feel like I
Speaker 7: am in control and I am a professional and I
Speaker 7: can do that.
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think that too.
Speaker 7: I just I don't know, man, I appreciate you talking
Speaker 7: to me.
Speaker 1: While of course, of course I'm sorry if if I
Speaker 1: seemed like I was like getting mad at you, I'm not, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to get us on like a page,
Speaker 1: because we're going all over the place. Here.
Speaker 7: No, I don't. Here's why I didn't get that.
Speaker 1: Here's the here's the final thing I'll tell you if
Speaker 1: you're having trouble with this. First of all, if you
Speaker 1: have a platonic uh friend of the opposite gender or
Speaker 1: of the same, the gender doesn't matter. But if you
Speaker 1: have a platonic friend who you are romantically attracted to,
Speaker 1: and you feel as though that romantic attraction is getting
Speaker 1: in the way of your friendship, I do believe it
Speaker 1: is okay to, for the sake of yourself, limit exposure
Speaker 1: and interaction to that person. That's one and then two.
Speaker 1: If you feel as though these romanticizations are persistent, you
Speaker 1: can ignore them, or you can go and sculpt something else.
Speaker 1: But it is within your power to ignore them. It
Speaker 1: is within your power. That's what mindfulness is. When you
Speaker 1: observe your thoughts and go, oh, I'm in this thought
Speaker 1: pattern that's not good for me. I'm going to steer
Speaker 1: away from That is within your control as a human being.
Speaker 1: So let's tell you those things. Is there anything else
Speaker 1: you want to say to the people of the computer
Speaker 1: before we go?
Speaker 7: Shout out Tim, Shout out the guy who set me up.
Speaker 6: Tim.
Speaker 7: I appreciate him.
Speaker 1: He's a good man. David, thank you very much for
Speaker 1: calling and sharing, and I wish you good luck.
Speaker 7: Hey you two while I have a good one, you.
Speaker 1: Too, man. There is also another thing about falling in
Speaker 1: love with the idea of a person, which I think
Speaker 1: we all do, especially now, Like if you have a
Speaker 1: crush on someone and you're like looking at their Instagram
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, or if you have a crush
Speaker 1: on someone and it's someone you've been texting and you know,
Speaker 1: keeping in contact with over social media, you almost start
Speaker 1: doing exactly what David is doing, where you're forming this
Speaker 1: idea of a person based on some digital persona. I've
Speaker 1: done this, you know, everyone does that. It's a weird thing,
Speaker 1: but we all kind of do it. Let's talk to Juan. Hello, Wan,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: Uh Wan? What's going on with you today? Uh? Nothing.
Speaker 2: I just kind of wanted to tell the story. Just
Speaker 2: get some of my chest, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Okay, what's the story?
Speaker 2: Well, I guess I just like the round it up,
Speaker 2: like sum it up. It's just like back of the day.
Speaker 2: I was hanging out around a lot with my cousin,
Speaker 2: like he was an older cousin, and we ended up
Speaker 2: robbing the liquor store. I was like around like nine
Speaker 2: ten when everything went down. It's kind of like a
Speaker 2: long story to take a two part story and how
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know what I mean, like keep you
Speaker 2: on the line too long, give everyone a chance and all.
Speaker 1: You know, Well, okay, so you were nine years old,
Speaker 1: hang out with your older cousin. Old was your cousin?
Speaker 2: He was probably like seventeen eighteen really.
Speaker 1: And yeah, how did he get you involved in robbing
Speaker 1: a liquor store with him?
Speaker 2: Well, we were kind of you know, we're kind of
Speaker 2: breaking in the homes already. All this happened like back
Speaker 2: in like two thousand and nine ten. Yeah, it all
Speaker 2: just started just kind of like just like after school activities.
Speaker 2: I guess, you know, I'm just getting into shit. We
Speaker 2: weren't even supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but.
Speaker 2: We actually ended up breaking into a home and I
Speaker 2: guess the owner was a gun fanatic and he had
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of weapons, and you know,
Speaker 2: that was like I guess like the main target that
Speaker 2: we took. It just it was mostly me and him
Speaker 2: kind of everyone else kind of just kind of did
Speaker 2: their own things, but it was just it's always just
Speaker 2: me and him, just you know, we go like literally
Speaker 2: right after school because we knew, like you know, white
Speaker 2: houses didn't have you know, kids, like you know, usually
Speaker 2: everyone's like still at work during like the days, so
Speaker 2: you know, it's just like it's prime time. You know.
Speaker 1: So what is like your thought process about what you're
Speaker 1: doing when you're nine, Are you like, oh this is
Speaker 1: fucked up or oh this is kind of cool, or
Speaker 1: what's your head about you're doing?
Speaker 2: It definitely was like a I guess like older looking back,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, It just like it felt
Speaker 2: like I idolized that lifestyle. I felt like, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, It was cool, Like you know, no
Speaker 2: one could tell you nothing, you know, like I don't know,
Speaker 2: it was just dumb, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: Looking back?
Speaker 1: Did you did you when you were nine? Did you
Speaker 1: did you handle any weapons? Did you have any guns
Speaker 1: or anything like that?
Speaker 2: Well, not personally, just because I feel like I hang
Speaker 2: around with a lot of oglaholmies, so they kind of
Speaker 2: showed me how to like do things like like you said,
Speaker 2: not having weapons on you.
Speaker 6: And it's just like we.
Speaker 2: Had stash spots like around the neighborhood. It's like, you know,
Speaker 2: something would happen and you need to grab something, you
Speaker 2: know where to go to hold it.
Speaker 1: You never held it, so you so you would stash
Speaker 1: weapons around the neighborhood where you knew where they were
Speaker 1: in case if you needed them just see okay, And
Speaker 1: so you were nine when you robed this bicker store
Speaker 1: And how did that go down? Exactly? It was just
Speaker 1: you and your cousin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was mostly me and him. Like he had
Speaker 2: like you know, his friends and you know, my message
Speaker 2: on their own end. But it was just you know,
Speaker 2: when you know, stuff had to go down, it was
Speaker 2: usually he would call me to go with him and
Speaker 2: then yeah, I remember literally just like so vague. If
Speaker 2: I close my eyes, I could remember like the sun
Speaker 2: in my face, Like I remember it was hot, and like, yeah,
Speaker 2: like we all had like a meat up spot, like
Speaker 2: because we stayed in some apartments and like you always
Speaker 2: had like a meet up spot near like the garbage, Like.
Speaker 6: What did those freshures?
Speaker 2: And like we all met up back there, and you know,
Speaker 2: you let out the plan and we had eyes looking
Speaker 2: out those But I was going to be me and
Speaker 2: him stepped into the store.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what was your sort of job in all of this?
Speaker 2: So you know, me being really young, he you know,
Speaker 2: he was going to be like the front of the
Speaker 2: house basically like you know, getting everything, be kind the register,
Speaker 2: and like I was going to be basically securing goods.
Speaker 2: I was walking with them on the side of the road,
Speaker 2: down the side of the road, but like on the
Speaker 2: sidewalk and stuff, and like, yeah, I was walking with him,
Speaker 2: and I remember he took off his hoodie and like
Speaker 2: it was hot, and he told me to put it on,
Speaker 2: and I put it on, and I mean I already
Speaker 2: knew what I was gonna go, do you know, it
Speaker 2: was already premeditated and everything. Yeah, so your.
Speaker 1: Job was to was to protect him. Is that what
Speaker 1: you're saying.
Speaker 2: Nah, It was just like because all this shit was
Speaker 2: like laid out, it was like four people in play,
Speaker 2: but it was like someone went in made sure the
Speaker 2: store was clear about a little something. Then they left,
Speaker 2: and they gave us the queue to like you know,
Speaker 2: walk in when the store was empty, and I tucked
Speaker 2: in the hoodie he gave me into my waistline to
Speaker 2: make it into like little pockets, and as soon as
Speaker 2: he hit the fucking door, it was like green light,
Speaker 2: and like I already knew what I had to go do,
Speaker 2: which was like go to the fucking beer section and
Speaker 2: start stuffing beer into like the hoodie, and like because
Speaker 2: I took it into my waistband, it just made like
Speaker 2: a big old backpack. So I just started grabbing just
Speaker 2: like beer and like liquor, and literally I feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, even back then, just thinking about it, I
Speaker 2: was just like, you know, the little rugrats. So like,
Speaker 2: of course I went for like chips and like you know, snacks,
Speaker 2: and I was thinking about like you know, sew the
Speaker 2: pops and stuff, you know, So that was like my thing.
Speaker 1: He was so so what was going on with your
Speaker 1: like parents at the time, Like, did they or your
Speaker 1: your cousin's parents have any idea what you guys were doing.
Speaker 2: I felt like, you know, he was definitely older, so
Speaker 2: he took a lot of the heat and he you know,
Speaker 2: it was mostly like him. And I feel.
Speaker 1: Like they found out what you guys were doing, were
Speaker 1: they yeah? And what what what? What sort of went
Speaker 1: down when they found out that you guys were doing
Speaker 1: all this ship?
Speaker 2: Uh the cops came to the door and like they
Speaker 2: knew exactly who they were running for, and like so,
Speaker 2: uh so I guess like one of the houses we
Speaker 2: ended up breaking into. One of the neighbors ended up
Speaker 2: watching the ship go down, and like they saw this,
Speaker 2: like bust the window and walk in and like yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean we got everything and we left before the
Speaker 2: cops of it, right, but we didn't know there was
Speaker 2: a witness and like they were able to like identify,
Speaker 2: you know, us and stuff like that, and then yeah,
Speaker 2: yeah and ended up just like pointing the finger like
Speaker 2: oh yeah that, well.
Speaker 1: Tell me, tell me tell me less, tell me less
Speaker 1: about the how, and tell me less about how you
Speaker 1: guys got caught, because I'm not as interested in how
Speaker 1: you guys got caught as I am, and how your
Speaker 1: parents reacted when you did.
Speaker 2: I feel like I felt like no one really knew
Speaker 2: I was kind of like super involved because they knew
Speaker 2: I would hang out with him and stuff like that,
Speaker 2: but it was never like I don't know, I felt
Speaker 2: like everyone just kind of saw me like it was
Speaker 2: a good kid, you know what I mean. So I
Speaker 2: would just kind of like really try to play that role.
Speaker 2: And it was like whenever the cops showed up to
Speaker 2: the house, it was during a family event. We were
Speaker 2: at a party my gas house, which is like you know,
Speaker 2: my cousin's mom, and like we were all right there
Speaker 2: and like there was a banging on the door, you know,
Speaker 2: and we turned on the music and like they opened
Speaker 2: up and they were like, yeah, we're looking for Julano,
Speaker 2: and like they were like, you know, we have re poured,
Speaker 2: so we just want to ask them some questions. And
Speaker 2: like you know, when they opened the door, they saw
Speaker 2: him like literally right there, like standing right there, so
Speaker 2: that just gave him like green light to like step
Speaker 2: in and like arrest them run from everybody, and like
Speaker 2: they were saying that the witness go ahead and continue.
Speaker 1: So tell me about like now, like, do you still
Speaker 1: keep in contact with your cousin?
Speaker 2: Nah, because all this happened like a long time ago,
Speaker 2: and it happened in California, and like a little I
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, just my parents, I felt like
Speaker 2: they started hearing all the static that was kind of
Speaker 2: going around and they kind of just packed their bags
Speaker 2: and we just kind of drove out here to Texas,
Speaker 2: and like I've been stationed out here since then, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Okay, So, so part of your parents' reaction, So part
Speaker 1: of your parents' reaction was to move away from from
Speaker 1: your cousin and his family.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, it was just just my less influencias, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean that influences.
Speaker 1: Okay, So I mean that's a pretty that's pretty wild,
Speaker 1: wild stuff for you to be doing at nine. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like and you are also saying that you
Speaker 1: looked up to your cousin and you sort of idolized
Speaker 1: this kind of lifestyle. So even after you stopped hanging
Speaker 1: out with your cousin, were you still like getting into
Speaker 1: trouble at like, you know, in middle school and high school?
Speaker 2: For sure? I feel like, you know, like you know,
Speaker 2: fresh face on the block. I felt like I had
Speaker 2: something to prove, so I was just wilding out.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: Eventually I did end up getting picked up, and it
Speaker 2: was like a whole thing.
Speaker 7: But I feel like, you mean, what do you mean
Speaker 7: by it?
Speaker 1: What is picked up?
Speaker 7: Man?
Speaker 2: Like picked up by the law? Like I was eventually
Speaker 2: like you know, apprehended, like arrested and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: And when you arrested, how long were you were?
Speaker 3: You were?
Speaker 1: You were you putting jail for.
Speaker 2: Like a day or two? It was like real quick.
Speaker 2: I got picked up for like having half ounds of
Speaker 2: butt on me, but they were trying to put a
Speaker 2: lot of stuff on me because it was individually packaged,
Speaker 2: and they were trying to say I was like distributing
Speaker 2: on school property.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 1: So tell me about what do you do now?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 2: Well, right now, I'm working at a warehouse, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, as a forklift operator. I got my
Speaker 2: own little corner of the world right here with my fiance.
Speaker 2: We're planning on getting married in August, you know, Lord Willing.
Speaker 2: And yeah, no, I mean she helped me out to
Speaker 2: a lot. I feel like she really done straightened me out,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Really really happen like that she strained you out.
Speaker 2: I just started taking it stopped taking like a lot
Speaker 2: of zands, and like, you know what I mean, I
Speaker 2: feel like, you know, having someone you know that cares
Speaker 2: about you that much, you know, you hate doing stuff
Speaker 2: that would hurt on I guess, and you know, I
Speaker 2: feel like I would try to take care of myself
Speaker 2: a little bit better, just like, you know, for her sake.
Speaker 2: And it was just like overall, it's like, yeah, it
Speaker 2: was rough, you know.
Speaker 1: M hm, Well, I'm glad. It sounds like it sounds
Speaker 1: like you're on an upward trajectory. It sounds like you've
Speaker 1: you've had this.
Speaker 2: Man, right, I'm trying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, So you say you're trying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about out the like the
Speaker 1: transition between you know, because it doesn't sound you do
Speaker 1: you do do any sort of like like wild ship now?
Speaker 6: Uh nah?
Speaker 2: I feel like now why I think like the wildest
Speaker 2: thing we do now is just like go out to
Speaker 2: eat and like drink.
Speaker 1: A little bit and come, yeah, I think you're going
Speaker 1: out to drink is not exactly what I mean by
Speaker 1: wild ship, but that's a good thing. So tell me
Speaker 1: when you sort of transitioned because you kind of seemed
Speaker 1: like you were on like a trajectory to like either
Speaker 1: really get fucked up in a fight, you know, if
Speaker 1: you're running around using using guns and having you know,
Speaker 1: doing all this ship with a stash box, or you know,
Speaker 1: accidentally doing something really fucked up and winding up in
Speaker 1: jail for a long time. But you didn't, and now
Speaker 1: you got a nice little thing going on. As you said,
Speaker 1: you're on the corner of the universe with your fiance
Speaker 1: and you know, hoping to have a child and you
Speaker 1: know all this all this great stuff. What made you
Speaker 1: kind of transition away because you're still pretty young it
Speaker 1: since you're twenty two, So what kind of made you
Speaker 1: transition away from you know, doing all this all this
Speaker 1: stuff to where you are now?
Speaker 2: I think definitely just like a really taking a step
Speaker 2: back and really looking at like I guess, like my
Speaker 2: atmosphere in my environment, just because you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: they're my cousins, so they're family. And like even my
Speaker 2: mom now to this day, she keeps track of them,
Speaker 2: like through the Facebook and stuff like that, and like
Speaker 2: sometimes she'd be like, oh, look, you remember you know Julano,
Speaker 2: and like she shows me a picture and like just
Speaker 2: seeing him like covered in Tad's like he doesn't even
Speaker 2: look like the person I remember, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And it's just like a it's kind of sad, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, just because like I'm like, I know,
Speaker 2: he wasn't that much older than me, and it was like,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, like I was, Damn. It's
Speaker 2: just and then you know, seeing you know, the friends
Speaker 2: that I've made here, like struggle with like addiction and
Speaker 2: shit like that, it's just kind of you know, I
Speaker 2: don't want that for myself, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, I got my siblings, and it's just you
Speaker 2: know when.
Speaker 1: You look at your brother, not your brother, your cousin
Speaker 1: and you're like, oh, I don't even recognize him anymore.
Speaker 1: Did you sort of uh see yourself in that and go, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't want to end up you know, not recognizing
Speaker 1: an older picture of myself or anything like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, stuff like that. And it was just like I
Speaker 2: feel like, especially like you know, as I got older,
Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, my eyes widened a little more,
Speaker 2: and like, you know, seeing my siblings, like I just
Speaker 2: don't want them to repeat what I've done, and like
Speaker 2: and I see that now with my little brother like
Speaker 2: that he just turned eighteen, and like no, I went
Speaker 2: over and like, you know, chat it up with him
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, and it was like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: guess like seeing his point of view, like he was
Speaker 2: idolizing that life too, and I was just like, yo,
Speaker 2: that ain't it, you know what I mean? Because when
Speaker 2: my cousin got arrested and like you know, they said
Speaker 2: there was a second person with you entering a home,
Speaker 2: he took the rap for everything. He looked at me
Speaker 2: straight in the eye and like you didn't say nothing,
Speaker 2: Like he was just like nah, it was just me.
Speaker 2: And like later on, you know, I feel like I
Speaker 2: just took like an oe of silence and it was
Speaker 2: just I carried that with me like forever, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, Like the only person that I've ever
Speaker 2: told is like really my fiance and it's just like,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know, I just don't like thinking
Speaker 2: about that stuff. It makes me.
Speaker 6: Feel past.
Speaker 1: Well, Juan, I'm I'm glad to hear that you're being
Speaker 1: a good role model for your brother. I'm glad to
Speaker 1: hear that you found a person in your life who
Speaker 1: seems to be a great source of stability for you.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad to hear that you have things going
Speaker 1: on in the future that you're excited about.
Speaker 2: Man, definitely for sure. Oh my god, I didn't ever
Speaker 2: thought I was gonna get.
Speaker 1: The as Wow one. Is there anything else you want
Speaker 1: to start to the people of the computer before we go?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Man, don't let the wrong style destroy your dreams.
Speaker 2: You know, believe in yourself. And uh, I want to
Speaker 2: just give a big shout out to the Boys and
Speaker 2: Girls Club. You know, I feel like they really didn't
Speaker 2: help me out a lot in my youth. And you know,
Speaker 2: one day, when I'm reaching famous, I'll be able to
Speaker 2: give back, you know. But yeah, hey.
Speaker 1: When you're rich and famous, can I have thirty dollars?
Speaker 2: My guy? I would take you out to eat and
Speaker 2: I'll pay for the tab and you could keep the
Speaker 2: thirty dollars, you know.
Speaker 1: Okay, good, I'm gonna hold you to that, all.
Speaker 2: Right, mister k I really appreciate you and what you do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thank you for Hong one. Thanks for sharing me.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you John, Yes, sir, all right. Likewise, Hello, Hi,
Speaker 1: what's up?
Speaker 3: Not a whole lot. I'm stick. I'm checking out my
Speaker 3: goldfish right now? How are you?
Speaker 1: You are checking out your goldfish right now? What? What
Speaker 1: does uh? What does that mean?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm sitting in front of I'm sitting in front
Speaker 3: of her tank, and you know, she's just like doing
Speaker 3: her things and I'm just checking it out. You know,
Speaker 3: she's very silly. She'll like like she'll like react to
Speaker 3: my finger if I put it in front of her,
Speaker 3: and it's really funny. And sometimes she'll splash water on
Speaker 3: me because she's a little bit of a bitch. But
Speaker 3: you know what, I love her.
Speaker 1: What made you want to get a goldfish?
Speaker 3: Well, I had at one point I had like six
Speaker 3: tanks set up, and I had like different kinds of
Speaker 3: fish in all of them, but I hadn't had a
Speaker 3: goldfish yet, mostly because it's kind of like not well known.
Speaker 3: But goldfish actually live a really long time and they
Speaker 3: can get up like big, like like coyfish big, like.
Speaker 7: A foot long.
Speaker 3: So I knew that it was going to require like
Speaker 3: a bigger tank, and at the time I would like
Speaker 3: didn't have the space for it, but I made some
Speaker 3: like rearrangements. I got a nice table for it, and
Speaker 3: she's up there. She's it's right next to our bed.
Speaker 3: She's got a couple of little playkos in there with her.
Speaker 3: Those are the little sucker fish, and then she's also
Speaker 3: got a beta in there with her and some snails.
Speaker 7: She's a happy girl.
Speaker 1: Uh So, Maddie, what is it that you would like
Speaker 1: to talk about today?
Speaker 3: Well, I called you to talk about my current unhealthy
Speaker 3: obsession that has kind of put me in a weird
Speaker 3: position that I kind of feel like trapped in now
Speaker 3: just because of the results that I've seen. So I'm
Speaker 3: not exactly sure how the calls werena worded it. Do
Speaker 3: you want to read it or should I just go
Speaker 3: ahead and start.
Speaker 1: I go ahead and go ahead and tell me.
Speaker 3: Okay, okay. So I collect this brand of stuffed animal.
Speaker 7: It's called Squishable.
Speaker 3: They make really really like high quality stuffed animals. They
Speaker 3: don't they're not specifically animals, like. They have a whole
Speaker 3: line of food food style ones. They're called the comfort Foods,
Speaker 3: and they're so cool, like they have anything you could
Speaker 3: think of, like broccoli, lemons, watermelon.
Speaker 1: Oh this is uh, this is yes. It says here
Speaker 1: you're addicted to Squishables. I've heard of trying to make
Speaker 1: a gecko squishable at some point, I would love to
Speaker 1: make a therapy gecko squishable. See, I don't know.
Speaker 3: If they have a gecko actually, now that you said that,
Speaker 3: they might like maybe an older version.
Speaker 1: But no, no, no, not not just any gecko. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about me. I want my face on it.
Speaker 3: Oh you want it to be you? Okay, Like they
Speaker 3: do collaborations with people sometimes, you know, maybe it's in
Speaker 3: the cards.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, so anyway, it says that it says here
Speaker 1: that you have an addicted wait hoy, hello, year of
Speaker 1: over three hundred of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do.
Speaker 1: You have three hundred of them?
Speaker 3: I haven't counted recently, but the last time that I
Speaker 3: did count, I was bordering on two hundred and it's
Speaker 3: been a few months now, so I'm I feel like
Speaker 3: that's a pretty healthy.
Speaker 1: Guess what is it that is driving your obsession?
Speaker 3: They are cute little faces and the fact that they
Speaker 3: are just like the most huggable things in the world,
Speaker 3: and they're so soft, like they're the softest thing you've
Speaker 3: ever felt. And it's like I feel like every time
Speaker 3: I touch it, like I'm taking a hit of like drug,
Speaker 3: you know, Like it's just like gives me, that feel
Speaker 3: good in my brain and there's there's nothing.
Speaker 7: Else like it.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you have hundreds of these and how much
Speaker 1: do they cost per unit?
Speaker 3: Well, it depends because they're kind of they're pretty popular.
Speaker 3: So something that they do is they cycle through designs.
Speaker 3: So they have a whole, like huge list of retired designs,
Speaker 3: so they don't make them anymore, so they're more range.
Speaker 1: Give me a range, like twenty to two hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: twenty to two hundred dollars. Tell me what is the
Speaker 1: most expensive one that you've purchased? About two fifty okay,
Speaker 1: so minimum the floor is twenty dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah about you know, I mean if you get like
Speaker 3: if you get lucky and somebody is just trying to
Speaker 3: get rid of like a little tiny one that they have,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe you get it for like five ten bucks.
Speaker 3: But if you're trying to get one that's in you know,
Speaker 3: it's in good condition, you know you're going to be
Speaker 3: spent at least twenty dollars for shipping.
Speaker 1: And approximately how much money have you spent on these
Speaker 1: squish mellows?
Speaker 3: So I have been I have done the math before.
Speaker 3: It's been at least like a month since I've done
Speaker 3: the math. If I okay, it's gonna be so bad,
Speaker 3: it's prob gonna be more than like eight thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Okay, And how are you funding your squish mellow addiction?
Speaker 3: So all right, So it started last year like December
Speaker 3: ish because where I work at, we have a huge
Speaker 3: like holiday season where you know, we're putting out all
Speaker 3: these specialty holiday merchandise. You know, we got the holiday
Speaker 3: like the flavors and stuff, you know, because I work
Speaker 3: at a like a retail like a fast food type deal.
Speaker 3: So we're serving you know, the holidays drinks for serving
Speaker 3: the holiday food, you know, all that stuff. Yeah and yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3: So at the end of it, at the end of
Speaker 3: the season, we throw all this shit away that we
Speaker 3: don't use, Like they give us like a like a
Speaker 3: date and then when that date comes, they gotta go.
Speaker 3: So I have happened to weasel my way into handling
Speaker 3: the marking out and disposing of the product. And usually
Speaker 3: like I'm there like closing at night. So I just
Speaker 3: took I was like, you know, okay, yeah, I'll take
Speaker 3: the trash out, guys. And then I took it all
Speaker 3: all that stuff and just put it behind the dumpster
Speaker 3: because it's not like a locked thing at all. So
Speaker 3: I just drove off their grabbed hit and it too
Speaker 3: go home. And once that, you know, I started selling
Speaker 3: it like on eBay, and once that stuff was listed,
Speaker 3: it's sold fast. So I was like, I kind of
Speaker 3: was like, oh shit, like it kind of got me hooked.
Speaker 3: So I after I was done with all the holidays,
Speaker 3: have I just started doing regular stuff?
Speaker 1: And how much money have you made from selling these
Speaker 1: holiday items.
Speaker 3: A good week? Like a good week, I can get
Speaker 3: towards like a thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: Do you make more money selling the merchandise than you
Speaker 1: do actually working at your job?
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, My average paycheck is like five.
Speaker 7: Hundred bucks.
Speaker 3: Versus a thousand, so yeah, versus one thousand a week.
Speaker 3: It's you know, it's like it's really tough because not
Speaker 3: only have I been able to like feed this bit
Speaker 3: of an addiction, but I am actually putting money towards
Speaker 3: things that matter in my life. You know, Like we
Speaker 3: needed a new bed really bad, so I replaced the mattress,
Speaker 3: the frame. You know, I got everything new. So that's
Speaker 3: really really nice and great, like you know, like on
Speaker 3: a subconscious level for the health. You know, I helped
Speaker 3: fix our car.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, I've put money towards a lot of other
Speaker 3: things in our lives besides the stuffed animals, you know.
Speaker 7: So it's it's usually.
Speaker 1: Hard toward the squish mellows.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. Any kind of a kind of a bind.
Speaker 1: Now, is any part of you afraid that you will
Speaker 1: get caught for doing this?
Speaker 3: I mean there's always like, okay, let me back up there. Yes,
Speaker 3: only because I have been caught stealing. Outside of this situation,
Speaker 3: I unfortunately am kind of ecliptomaniac. There is a reason
Speaker 3: for that, but I have not gotten the proper hold
Speaker 3: on it. So I did have an incident where I
Speaker 3: was caught feeling something at a different establishment and I
Speaker 3: didn't get arrested because I had never done anything before.
Speaker 3: So and I was really nice and just honest with them,
Speaker 3: and they were like, okay, all right, yeah that's cool, dude.
Speaker 3: You know, I had to go to court and like,
Speaker 3: no contest, so I think it is on my record,
Speaker 3: but I just had to pay a fine, which I
Speaker 3: just got done pan off actually, so it wasn't the
Speaker 3: worst thing in the world. But I do, you know,
Speaker 3: have that lingering fear. But I also don't because it's
Speaker 3: extremely easy to do this in my work. I've been
Speaker 3: there for many years now, so I have a really
Speaker 3: good rapport.
Speaker 7: People trust me. I put away the weekly.
Speaker 3: Order of our shipments anyway, so I know how much
Speaker 3: we get every week and how fast we go through
Speaker 3: it normally.
Speaker 1: So I kind of you said that by the like
Speaker 1: I got an acdrupt you. You said that you're you know
Speaker 1: the reason as to why you're a clepto maniac?
Speaker 7: Yes?
Speaker 1: What what is that reason? So?
Speaker 3: I didn't have a super great family situation growing up,
Speaker 3: and my mom kind of fed into that habit of mine.
Speaker 3: It it, I know, like exactly the day that it
Speaker 3: really clicked, me and her went to a big this
Speaker 3: crystal shop in the Slea Market and I took like
Speaker 3: four hundred dollars for the crystals and I stuffed them
Speaker 3: in my bra So when we got to the car,
Speaker 3: I started pulling shit out and she was just laughing
Speaker 3: her ass off, and she was like, Yeah, that's so
Speaker 3: fucking awesome. That's badass, you know. And I just kind
Speaker 3: of kept doing that stuff, and she never said that
Speaker 3: that was bad or not good, So it just kind
Speaker 3: of solidified in my head and now I have a problem.
Speaker 1: M Interesting. Uh have you talked to your mom about that?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, she knows that I got arrested, and she regret.
Speaker 1: Not telling you that. Does she regret not telling you
Speaker 1: that stealing was was wrong when you were younger?
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't really think so.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 3: Uh, that's most certainly not the worst of the things
Speaker 3: that she has allowed to happen to, you know, her
Speaker 3: children growing up under her supervision. So no, she she
Speaker 3: kind of was just like, you know, I get it.
Speaker 3: I'm not judging you. You know, she's She's also had
Speaker 3: a habit of grand theft throughout the years. So no,
Speaker 3: I don't think she cared that much.
Speaker 1: So before we go, Maddie, in the future, do you
Speaker 1: see yourself slowing down on stealing things? Or did? Does
Speaker 1: any part of you want to stop stealing stuff? Or
Speaker 1: you know, what's what's your own sort of personal take
Speaker 1: on your habits. If you were to get on a
Speaker 1: little step ladder and look at yourself from above, what
Speaker 1: are you observing? What are you hoping for the future.
Speaker 3: I definitely would like to slow down, you know, like
Speaker 3: my my husband has definitely expressed his concerns, and you know,
Speaker 3: I definitely know myself to kind of have a little
Speaker 3: bit of hubrious in this department. So ideally, yes, it's hard.
Speaker 3: You know, it's really hard to be battling this kind
Speaker 3: of thing for a while. It's hard because it's so easy.
Speaker 3: You know, like I have access to all the cameras
Speaker 3: in the back room, so I know exactly where they're,
Speaker 3: Like I can look at them while I'm taking this
Speaker 3: stuff off the shelf and show that I'm not on
Speaker 3: this camera. So like, it's just so hard because it's
Speaker 3: so easy. But I would ideally, yes, like to like
Speaker 3: to not do it as much anymore, which I did
Speaker 3: better at the past couple day that worked, So you know, yeah, something.
Speaker 1: Well, good luck to you in trying to beat your habit.
Speaker 1: And you know, I hope that with Squish mellows. I
Speaker 1: wonder if it'll be like Beanie babies where they go
Speaker 1: up in value. Actually I think the b babies go
Speaker 1: up at value or down in value, like in ten years.
Speaker 3: I think they I think they had like a spike
Speaker 3: and then they crashed real hard if I'm an understanding, right,
Speaker 3: But I mean that's kind of what's happening now. Like
Speaker 3: I said, people are selling these things for like three
Speaker 3: hundred bucks some of them, so.
Speaker 1: Maybe, well I look and I hope you make a
Speaker 1: profit or if if you lose it all, I hope
Speaker 1: you enjoyed the ride getting there.
Speaker 3: Oh, I will thank you much for your time.
Speaker 1: Low, of course, thank you for calling Maddie.
Speaker 3: Yep, have a good one.
Speaker 4: Goes on the line.
Speaker 1: Taking your phone calls every nine goes to teaching you
Speaker 1: in the life