Speaker 1: My name is Alex, and I cannot imagine how shitty
Speaker 1: it is to date in the pandemic. No, no, it
Speaker 1: will be alright forever nor forever alright. So yeah, like
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know. I don't even know what
Speaker 1: would it would be like to be single right now.
Speaker 1: I'm very, very fortunate that I have an incredible girlfriend
Speaker 1: that I've dated for quite a bit before the pandemic started.
Speaker 1: But when the pandemic started, uh, not to give too
Speaker 1: much personal information, she went home to her parents house,
Speaker 1: about like an hour and a half away from where
Speaker 1: I live, and her parents did not want her to
Speaker 1: leave the house at all. So for the first month
Speaker 1: and a half of the pandemic, I did not get
Speaker 1: to see my girlfriend, which for me, uh. My therapist
Speaker 1: says that I have something called mental health issues, and
Speaker 1: for me at least, I'm a pretty dependent person, so
Speaker 1: I love being with other people. I don't really like
Speaker 1: being alone. So it was not a great time, especially
Speaker 1: for me and and Madison. We fought, sorry, Babe, but
Speaker 1: we didn't. We would fight about stupid things, and I
Speaker 1: would make all this fuss about not getting to see her,
Speaker 1: But eventually I got to see her and it was.
Speaker 1: It was awesome. I also, since the pandemic started, moved
Speaker 1: to a new house, which doesn't seem like it makes
Speaker 1: sense right now, but with that new house came new roommates.
Speaker 1: And both of my roommates, one of them has been
Speaker 1: single the whole pandemic and the other was in a
Speaker 1: relationship and that relationship ended during the pandemic, so now
Speaker 1: is also single. So I got two single roommates, ladies.
Speaker 1: But if you are single and you live in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: actually no, I can't say that. Damn it, We're in
Speaker 1: the pandemic. That's what this whole episode is about. That's
Speaker 1: exactly why we're having this episode is because through all
Speaker 1: of this madness of being single and having to quarantine.
Speaker 1: But also I think one of the biggest things is
Speaker 1: the angry therapist that we have on on one the
Speaker 1: episodes of this podcast said, you're you know, we're not
Speaker 1: meant to live life alone. And if you're single and
Speaker 1: you live away from your family and some people don't
Speaker 1: even have a roommate, and we're supposed to be locked
Speaker 1: away in our houses and staying home, it's kind of
Speaker 1: like the opposite of that, Like we're not meant to
Speaker 1: live life alone, but at the same time, don't leave
Speaker 1: your house. And if you live by yourself, tough luck.
Speaker 1: So what got me thinking? How do you date during
Speaker 1: a pandemic? And more importantly and more dramatically for Catherine
Speaker 1: Law who wrote this out herself, I think we need
Speaker 1: this how do you fall in love when the world
Speaker 1: falls apart? No? What is up everybody? This is let's
Speaker 1: get into it. This is my podcast where we talk
Speaker 1: about everything, things that I go through for the most part,
Speaker 1: but a lot of the times we also talk about
Speaker 1: things that I don't go through, things that I have
Speaker 1: to kind of hear other people's stories about. And so
Speaker 1: today we have an awesome episode that is going to
Speaker 1: get three different views of what it's like to date
Speaker 1: during a pandemic. Myself, like I had mentioned, I've been
Speaker 1: in a relationship since before the pandemic, and my two
Speaker 1: guests both have unique stories themselves as well. First up,
Speaker 1: I have a DJ podcast engineer, podcast producer, podcast editor
Speaker 1: occasional on my personality for I heart radio, longtime music
Speaker 1: lover with the history and dance music. As a part
Speaker 1: of the DJ duo Gladiator. He's been recognized at Sweet
Speaker 1: Green ones, Daniel, Daniel DJ Daniel good Man, what's up
Speaker 1: for having me? I'm honored to be here. How you doing, man,
Speaker 1: I'm doing really well. I'm starting to think after that
Speaker 1: that might have been my best intro I've ever done.
Speaker 1: And I'm starting to Catherine, we need to we need
Speaker 1: to add some like some pump up music, like like
Speaker 1: as if we're yeah, like some basketball coming out of
Speaker 1: basketball intro music. Um, Daniel, we're gonna be hearing about
Speaker 1: your dating life and your dating his story of being
Speaker 1: in a pandemic and still finding love. I'm so excited
Speaker 1: and with you. We have another story, and this one's
Speaker 1: very interesting. We're gonna keep her last name out of
Speaker 1: it because we want the juiciest of the juicy details.
Speaker 1: She is, she lives in a place ken I'm not
Speaker 1: even gonna say we're gonna keep it anonymous because I
Speaker 1: want I want the juicy details that I have been
Speaker 1: told are going to come on this episode. So Aside
Speaker 1: from emulating Carrie Bradshaw's dating mishaps, she spends much of
Speaker 1: her free time producing stand up comedy, most recently producing
Speaker 1: outdoor shows to raise money for a local nonprofit in
Speaker 1: her own neighborhood. How sweet is it? Ali? Last name?
Speaker 1: How are you? Ali? Last name? I'm good, Thanks for
Speaker 1: having me, Alex. I'm so excited to hear these stories.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have some cool topics. We're talking about love
Speaker 1: during the lockdown. That is going to be you and me,
Speaker 1: big big, big d Big Daniel. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: call you big d. I felt I was going to
Speaker 1: let it slide, but it felt a little it felt
Speaker 1: a little bit weird with both of our girlfriends. Um uh.
Speaker 1: Then after that, Ali, you and I are gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about a fresh hell of first date. I cannot
Speaker 1: wait for that. Um. And then lastly, we have Netflix
Speaker 1: and absolutely zero chill. But before we get into those topics,
Speaker 1: I have a question that I ask all of my guests,
Speaker 1: and that question is what are you doing this week
Speaker 1: to improve yourself? Um? I'll go first. I've had a
Speaker 1: craziest stressful week. If we're dating or time stamping, where
Speaker 1: this recording is happening, I just finished my virtual tour
Speaker 1: for the Gospel of twenty three. I worked with two
Speaker 1: different brands, I sent in two different auditions, and it
Speaker 1: was literally it felt like for Monday through Thursday from
Speaker 1: from actually probably Sunday till Thursday, I spent maybe ten
Speaker 1: minutes in total not working, like not even a lie.
Speaker 1: I'm either sleeping or I was working. And I had
Speaker 1: ten minutes of of a break and uh, and I
Speaker 1: was getting super super stressed and I was being super
Speaker 1: super hard on myself. And in the middle of that,
Speaker 1: I spoke with one of my really really good friends
Speaker 1: and also my girlfriend, who both of them said this
Speaker 1: mantra that I tell everybody, and I'm very bad at
Speaker 1: taking my own advice, but it was one thing at
Speaker 1: a time. You just gotta focus on one thing at
Speaker 1: a time, don't focus on the big picture of everything
Speaker 1: that has to get done, just you know, like Jude Weang,
Speaker 1: the director of our movie Finding All Hanna said when
Speaker 1: we were filming Bird by Bird, one thing at a time,
Speaker 1: we just gotta just gotta get it done. So that's
Speaker 1: something that I've been trying to really implement, taking my
Speaker 1: own advice and doing that. That being said, Danield, you
Speaker 1: got something for me, um sure, you know. Very recently,
Speaker 1: this is also a bit of a side note personal story,
Speaker 1: but a third roommate just moved into our apartment and
Speaker 1: with that came kind of a whole new energy around uh,
Speaker 1: personal health. We've all been getting into working out, so
Speaker 1: there's three people in the house total. We've been getting
Speaker 1: into working out as a trio and being each other's
Speaker 1: biggest cheerleaders and spotters when it comes to stuff like
Speaker 1: you know, bench pressent whatever, but like just having a
Speaker 1: third person in the house to really kick up the
Speaker 1: notch on better physical health, mental health, just a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything. And so having having that third person
Speaker 1: in here has been a really really good opportunity to
Speaker 1: kick the working out part in the high gear. We
Speaker 1: We've gotten the self low out during the pandemic, and
Speaker 1: now it's the all right, let's kick that back up
Speaker 1: into building up some muscle strength there. Oh, that is huge.
Speaker 1: That is huge, especially with Dylan and Sam in my house,
Speaker 1: that they're the only reason that I haven't eaten myself
Speaker 1: into oblivion, like I I very much. That's an incredible
Speaker 1: thing to get al. Al, you've got to you got
Speaker 1: two examples. Give us something. What are you doing this
Speaker 1: week to improve yourself? Well, it ties back to dating,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to make it seem like dating
Speaker 1: is my whole world and I'm not gonna lie it
Speaker 1: seems like it. I'm just kidding. I know it's definitely true.
Speaker 1: Like I make a joke that dating is my hobby,
Speaker 1: but it's more like a part time job. But really
Speaker 1: I'm trying to reel back on that and not spend
Speaker 1: so much time on dating apps because right now there's
Speaker 1: really no way to meet other people in person, so
Speaker 1: dating apps can be like all consuming like any other
Speaker 1: form of technology. So I'm trying to like put limits
Speaker 1: on how much swiping I do. Like fortunately some of
Speaker 1: the apps limited for you, but other ones you can
Speaker 1: swipe for like I'm working from home, so like no,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying to be more mindful about like
Speaker 1: how much time I'm spending. So I'm trying to invest
Speaker 1: myself into some other projects that are like taking my
Speaker 1: mind off of dating apps and dating because it can
Speaker 1: be very gamy. You know. That is that is the
Speaker 1: perfect answer. That is a perfect answer for this episode
Speaker 1: because it is at the end of the day. I
Speaker 1: think one of the takeaways is like you gotta still
Speaker 1: focus on the love part because I think digitally it
Speaker 1: can become, like you said, very gamy, and so I
Speaker 1: love that that was your answer, and it was the
Speaker 1: perfect segue for us to get going. So we'll be
Speaker 1: talking with you in just a bit, Ali, but Daniel's
Speaker 1: time for us to go one on one. All Let's
Speaker 1: do it, baby, alright. So Daniel, you have quite the story.
Speaker 1: So I've heard um. What before we get into the
Speaker 1: actual pandemic part of it, what was your pre quarantine,
Speaker 1: your pre pandemic dating life like, Well, I would say
Speaker 1: pretty average. I was really heavy on the apps, just
Speaker 1: participating in your traditional kind of like going to bars
Speaker 1: with friends kind of stuff, and you know, trying to
Speaker 1: do big dinner dates and big friend gatherings, just like
Speaker 1: getting as many people into the mix as possible to
Speaker 1: make it fun. I I love, you know, a standard
Speaker 1: one on one date, but sometimes just like playing it
Speaker 1: up with friends of friends and people you've never met
Speaker 1: before like that always just like a great way to
Speaker 1: you know, just meet new people and hopefully somebody really
Speaker 1: like UM. And that was fun. It wasn't really working
Speaker 1: for me. I will also say that, you know, while
Speaker 1: I was on the road for the past like ten years,
Speaker 1: I wasn't dating a whole lot. I was very busy.
Speaker 1: We were gone every weekend, so it just wasn't offering
Speaker 1: a lot of opportunities for me to like I wanted
Speaker 1: to be with someone who I wasn't being like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well you know, i'll see you in like two weeks by.
Speaker 1: This didn't seem fair to me. So yeah, my pre
Speaker 1: pandemic dating life was filled with a lot of those
Speaker 1: kinds of like the occasional one on one really standard date,
Speaker 1: but a lot of these kind of like group to
Speaker 1: get together as Korean barbecue kind of gatherings. I actually
Speaker 1: like those though, because even in a relationship, I like,
Speaker 1: but even when you're single, I think they're really good
Speaker 1: because if you're with your friends, I feel like you
Speaker 1: get a little bit more comfortable, You're you're more natural
Speaker 1: old self, whereas on the date, you're kind of like
Speaker 1: playing chess with each other, like Okay, what's gonna impress this?
Speaker 1: You know, Whereas with your friends, you kind of forget
Speaker 1: that you need to impress somebody, or you forget that
Speaker 1: that's a thing, and so you get to just kind
Speaker 1: of be yourself. And I feel like that's the most
Speaker 1: important thing I would want someone to the person i'm
Speaker 1: with to see me in my most natural self. There's
Speaker 1: nothing worse than when you date somebody and then like
Speaker 1: you go on the first few dates with them and
Speaker 1: you're like awesome, nice, and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: that that is something and you're just like, oh, I
Speaker 1: did not know that was you. Well, luckily for for you,
Speaker 1: you get to join me in in the being in
Speaker 1: a relationship during a pandemic thing. But you're very lucky
Speaker 1: yours didn't start necessarily before, you know, a long time
Speaker 1: before the pandemic went crazy. So tell us about that.
Speaker 1: Our first date was February one. We all went into lockdown.
Speaker 1: Belie was March, so we had about three weeks of
Speaker 1: dating before everything was shut down. So I will say
Speaker 1: those first couple of dates, we even talked about do
Speaker 1: you hear about this thing going on in China? Like
Speaker 1: you hear they shut down the country pretty much, and
Speaker 1: just those kinds of like very light conversations while going
Speaker 1: to restaurants and standing at line at kasun Ori and
Speaker 1: just being like, yeah, crazy stuff, huh. And then the
Speaker 1: pandemic hit and we were both a little nervous, we
Speaker 1: were both you know, worried, and we basically took three
Speaker 1: weeks off of seeing each other or two weeks off
Speaker 1: of seeing each other. Because we were like, neither of
Speaker 1: us knew what to do, neither of us. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it's a pretty common feeling. At
Speaker 1: the very beginning of all this, we were like what
Speaker 1: what what is actually happening right now? And we took
Speaker 1: basically two weeks apart where we talked every day and
Speaker 1: just about how much we were like, wait, we were
Speaker 1: really going. We had such a good first three dates
Speaker 1: and then just like shut down completely. It was it
Speaker 1: was weird, but there was definitely something about it that
Speaker 1: drew us so much closer right at the start. So
Speaker 1: how did you know, though, Like, how did like I
Speaker 1: obviously because this is the thing is is we would
Speaker 1: like you have to remember because it feels like it's
Speaker 1: been forever, but remember that rush of the pan when
Speaker 1: it first started, you were like I can't, I gotta
Speaker 1: people were like stalking toilet paper because they thought they
Speaker 1: were never gonna have to like we could never leave
Speaker 1: our houses again. So it's not just that like, oh,
Speaker 1: I like you, we should keep talking, but it's also
Speaker 1: like I'm willing to like brave the final days with you,
Speaker 1: you know, like it was a serious thing. It was,
Speaker 1: it was very serious and it's funny that you mentioned
Speaker 1: that in particular because one of our and and you know,
Speaker 1: my girlfriend might not not kill me, but she she
Speaker 1: might laugh at the fact that I'm telling one of
Speaker 1: our inside jokes to the podcast nation. But I just
Speaker 1: think the story is so funny and it's so emblematic
Speaker 1: of like what made us fall in love really was.
Speaker 1: After that two weeks I had picked up. I picked
Speaker 1: her up, by the way, her name is Stephanie. I
Speaker 1: have forgot to mention that at the start, and as
Speaker 1: to meet you virtually podcast wise, Stephanie exactly perfect. So
Speaker 1: after we had taken our two weeks off from seeing
Speaker 1: each other, I picked her up because we were going
Speaker 1: to she needed, you know, she had a prescription to
Speaker 1: pick up. We're going to pick it up going back
Speaker 1: to her place, and we were kind of really mulling
Speaker 1: over the potential of what's going on now. A little
Speaker 1: backstory is as a podcast producer on this network, I
Speaker 1: worked with one of one of the people in the
Speaker 1: network named Robert Evans, and Robert Evans is like a
Speaker 1: war journalist. He does a show call behind the Bastards.
Speaker 1: We're not here to plug that. But that's just a
Speaker 1: bit of context, give it, give it some love. I
Speaker 1: heart Radial family goes behind the bastards. But as a
Speaker 1: gift for working on this show, you know, I think
Speaker 1: a lot of podcast people you get like a you know,
Speaker 1: basket of cookies, some you know, a nice personal self
Speaker 1: care gift, Robert gave me a knife. Robert gave me
Speaker 1: a knife for working on his show. He said, Damn,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you. Protect yourself. Here's a knife. Here's
Speaker 1: a knife. Yes, here's a knife. I need you to
Speaker 1: explain this knife. Like what kind of knife is this?
Speaker 1: We gotta we gotta figure out what kind of NiFe
Speaker 1: we're going. We're talking it is this CRC KAT CRKT
Speaker 1: Like three here damage you got? You could you could
Speaker 1: do some damage with that knife. I mean he really
Speaker 1: he really get I found it. I was like, this
Speaker 1: is this is a real knife. You gave me a
Speaker 1: real knife. He was like, yes, it is for you
Speaker 1: for protection. I like, Robert, Now I'm scared. Anyway, So
Speaker 1: we're talking, We're talking about these um talking about the
Speaker 1: potential of like you know, where we're going, what we're doing.
Speaker 1: She's like, what, like what if the city is overrun?
Speaker 1: Like what if? What if things really go wild, and
Speaker 1: I was like, look, I will be here to protect you,
Speaker 1: like we're in this together now, I'm not going anywhere.
Speaker 1: We are in this together and I will be here
Speaker 1: to protect you. And almost like in a tear eyed moment,
Speaker 1: she goes and she says, is it because of your knife?
Speaker 1: And we both both just burst out laughing. We were
Speaker 1: having this supertense serious moment. She's just like, is it
Speaker 1: because of your knife? Man? And I gotta tell you
Speaker 1: something as a boyfriend who knows exactly how that feels
Speaker 1: when you're really trying to pour it out to like
Speaker 1: I'm really trying to show you, and they come through
Speaker 1: and it wasn't even meant like like you're just like, ah,
Speaker 1: what a hilarious moment. We just died in the car.
Speaker 1: It was great. That is classic. That is classic. So
Speaker 1: how long was the time then from pandemic starts to like, okay,
Speaker 1: I want to see you, like I want to physically
Speaker 1: be in your presence, not just like we should talking. Sure,
Speaker 1: it was probably I would say it was two weeks.
Speaker 1: We took the quarantine idea seriously like we have been
Speaker 1: We have been seeing each other pretty much like every
Speaker 1: couple of days up until March thirteenth, when we both
Speaker 1: got the we're out of the office working from home order,
Speaker 1: and we just tearfully admitted that we probably shouldn't see
Speaker 1: each other for two weeks just to be safe. Wow,
Speaker 1: And it was the right, science e thing to do.
Speaker 1: We were like, Okay, two weeks off entirely, let's just
Speaker 1: not you know, no contact, both of us, stay at home, no,
Speaker 1: no grocery store, no nothing, no whatever. But honestly, those
Speaker 1: two weeks of like just talking to each other and
Speaker 1: being our main point of contact, being like our rock
Speaker 1: for each other in those moments, was so it just
Speaker 1: built such a foundation of us, like basically going through
Speaker 1: the trauma together in the first month of our relationship,
Speaker 1: like going through all of like the you say, it's
Speaker 1: those big, scary global events that really define how you
Speaker 1: each see each other. And I feel like we went
Speaker 1: through that global defining moment three weeks into our relationship,
Speaker 1: and yeah, we really got to see our true colors
Speaker 1: and our true selves in that moment, and I think
Speaker 1: it really helped us, you know, kind of pick up
Speaker 1: the Okay, well we're really we're really talking about all
Speaker 1: the serious ship, right here straight off the bat, right right. Well,
Speaker 1: you talked about earlier, UM with the with the exercising bit,
Speaker 1: that you have roommates, and I think the biggest thing
Speaker 1: for me before I got to see my girlfriend. If
Speaker 1: you've listened to my Found Family episode, UM, this the
Speaker 1: same time frame, I was living with my best friend's parents,
Speaker 1: and on top of my girlfriend having to convince her parents,
Speaker 1: I had to convince my found parents. My Found Family
Speaker 1: parents too. Are not convince them, but make sure that
Speaker 1: they were okay with it. And luckily they said, you know,
Speaker 1: make sure she gets tested, make sure she's been quarantined
Speaker 1: for you know, for a long time, nobody that she's
Speaker 1: been with has it. And then they're okay with her
Speaker 1: coming over. She's still even when the first few times
Speaker 1: she came over, she would come over, go straight to
Speaker 1: my room, jump in the shower. I would take her clothes,
Speaker 1: put them in a plastic bag, go downstairs, throw them
Speaker 1: in the Washington like we were. We were real deal
Speaker 1: about it. So I want to ask you about your
Speaker 1: roommates because especially with uh now having roommates who aren't
Speaker 1: kind of parental, you know, I looked at Mickey and
Speaker 1: Sandy has like staring. I had to go ask for permission.
Speaker 1: You know, you're paying your rent, you are free to
Speaker 1: do in your space whatever. In my own opinion, when
Speaker 1: you pay rent, if you have roommates, it's like the
Speaker 1: common areas. I think it's always a good move to
Speaker 1: ask permission or ask like, hey, are you guys cool
Speaker 1: with this? But your own space, like you should be
Speaker 1: allowed to do whatever you want. How did your roommates
Speaker 1: go about about you being in a relationship and having
Speaker 1: this girlfriend eventually over to your house? Great question, you know,
Speaker 1: I think in all things in life, it's about communication.
Speaker 1: We're all very open and honest with each other. They
Speaker 1: knew that I was in a new relationship. They knew
Speaker 1: it was something that was fresh, and that was something
Speaker 1: that was feeling good, and we all just came to
Speaker 1: the similar consensus that like, look, we have to get
Speaker 1: tested on a semi regular basis just as a good
Speaker 1: health thing. Yes, we'll mostly stay in my areas of
Speaker 1: the house. But everybody just had a kind of common
Speaker 1: understanding that as long as we're all obeying the rules
Speaker 1: and our pod is as small as possible, then it
Speaker 1: can be safe. Thankfully, my girlfriend Stephanie doesn't live with anybody.
Speaker 1: She has no roommates, So basically our life was me
Speaker 1: either going there or picking her up and bringing her
Speaker 1: to our place, and just going back and forth between
Speaker 1: those two places. And that's pretty much. That was like
Speaker 1: our entire physical contact. And so I mean, I will
Speaker 1: say for you know, for her, I have to imagine
Speaker 1: that like living alone during this time, it's gonna be tough.
Speaker 1: And she was very thankful to be able to come
Speaker 1: to the house and just be around people right now
Speaker 1: when you know that is at this point a luxury. Yeah, what,
Speaker 1: So what surprised you the most about? Luckily of cool roommates?
Speaker 1: So you guys got to spend time together, But what
Speaker 1: surprised you the most? You mentioned that in big world
Speaker 1: events you find out a lot about your significant others.
Speaker 1: But what surprised you about it? I think for me,
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is like to keep my girlfriend happy
Speaker 1: and excited and keep myself excited and us engaged really
Speaker 1: like full throttle almost honeymoon phase esque for longer than
Speaker 1: the honeymoon phase. Is to like we would go out
Speaker 1: on dates and surprises and go on adventures and do this,
Speaker 1: that and the other. Luckily, me and my girlfriend were
Speaker 1: at a place where we loved. We prefer just being
Speaker 1: at home laying in bed watching Netflix. So when we
Speaker 1: had when we were forced to do that, we weren't.
Speaker 1: You know, it wasn't as big of an issue. But
Speaker 1: I also know that early in the dating stages, if
Speaker 1: that was a situation, UM, we would have felt a
Speaker 1: lot differently about it. So what else surprised you about
Speaker 1: this moment where you're in the early dating stage is
Speaker 1: still you're not even necessarily and maybe you are, but um,
Speaker 1: for for for most people, like you're not like fully
Speaker 1: in love, You're not like this is the one totally,
Speaker 1: but you're forced to do the kind of old married
Speaker 1: couple routine. You know. So what surprised to you the
Speaker 1: most in that time? UM, I will say, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the things was definitely how easy it was.
Speaker 1: Stephanie is someone that is so easy to get along with,
Speaker 1: so easy to talk to, so smart. Is someone who
Speaker 1: comes from a different side of life than I'm familiar with. Um,
Speaker 1: I've been a I've been a so cal surfer dude
Speaker 1: my whole life. And Stephanie was raised in the Bronx
Speaker 1: and Manhattan and a little bit in Westchester, and so
Speaker 1: we just come from different sides of the country and
Speaker 1: slightly different perspectives, and so just being able to learn
Speaker 1: about each other's lives and really dig into each other
Speaker 1: as human beings and have all of our various deep
Speaker 1: conversations truly in that window of like what we're stuck
Speaker 1: at home doing nothing, what do you want talk about?
Speaker 1: You want to talk about life, the universe and everything, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's do that, Let's go off. How do you feel
Speaker 1: about aliens? Let's do it. And just being able to
Speaker 1: like really you know, open up to this side of
Speaker 1: stuff that wasn't basically being forced to stay home and
Speaker 1: people saying like, okay, you want to go to bars. No,
Speaker 1: no bars, bars are closed. It's not even I don't
Speaker 1: want to or you don't want to, it's a we can't,
Speaker 1: so we can just take that out. I was, I was,
Speaker 1: you know, really thrilled with how easy it was to
Speaker 1: just dive into the rest of what a relationship will
Speaker 1: be and could be and stuff like that. I'm just
Speaker 1: really really getting to know each other. I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: in love with your relationship, Like I just love I
Speaker 1: just love that. Uh, because like like you said, it
Speaker 1: can be a it can be a bad thing. I
Speaker 1: think it's just a quick thing. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: you and Stephanie, you are going to know pretty quickly
Speaker 1: if it was gonna work or not work when you're
Speaker 1: forced to be with each other, just with each other,
Speaker 1: nobody else, by yourselves, with very little to do and
Speaker 1: just no room to uh not, Like you had mentioned,
Speaker 1: not learn about each other at a rapid rate. But
Speaker 1: it also works out. And if it works out, then
Speaker 1: you get to know that pretty quickly. You've now been
Speaker 1: dating for what is it touching ten months? Then if
Speaker 1: you said February, very good, you're touching ten months for
Speaker 1: me and my relationship at ten months, like obviously we're
Speaker 1: saying I love you to each other. We had met
Speaker 1: each other's families, we'd had full blown, like deep conversations,
Speaker 1: meeting each other's friends, going to each other's hometowns. All
Speaker 1: of these things. You don't get to do so many
Speaker 1: of those things. That's that's affected all those things. How
Speaker 1: have you guys managed to jump through those milestone hoops?
Speaker 1: If you will an excellent question, I would say, extremely delicately.
Speaker 1: Um so for you know, for example, one of the
Speaker 1: things about dating when you're thirty, is that every every
Speaker 1: time you feel a connection is like, Okay, I really
Speaker 1: got to like plow through all of the little things
Speaker 1: to make sure that this is tight, because I really
Speaker 1: like this person and I don't want to dance carefully
Speaker 1: around the things that I really want to get to.
Speaker 1: So Stephanie met my parents on our fifth date. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm like, that's how I was. That's how I wasn't
Speaker 1: every girl I ever dated until Madison, and it didn't
Speaker 1: work as well for me, But that that's the kind
Speaker 1: of that's the kind of energy that we need in
Speaker 1: this life. And you know, I appreciate her for being
Speaker 1: so bold and willing to go along with it and say,
Speaker 1: I mean like sure, okay, yeah, fair. And you know,
Speaker 1: our fifth date was within that three week window before
Speaker 1: the lockdown really started, So she got to meet my
Speaker 1: family in a in theory infection safe space where it
Speaker 1: wasn't something I mean, obviously, it was something that was
Speaker 1: traveling around the country and at the time was probably
Speaker 1: still president in l A. But you know, at that moment,
Speaker 1: we hadn't gotten into lockdown yet, And so she got
Speaker 1: to meet my family and a fair small group of
Speaker 1: my friends beforehand, So it was kind of like getting
Speaker 1: to meet these people, getting that first connection, and then okay, peace,
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys in like, you know, several months.
Speaker 1: Like that was kind of how it started at first,
Speaker 1: um and then later later in the year in this
Speaker 1: in September, as a matter of fact, when we were
Speaker 1: experiencing a dip, we decided to break the seal and
Speaker 1: go to the East Coast and meet her side of
Speaker 1: the family. So we quarantined in New York City and
Speaker 1: then spent a weekend and a half with her side
Speaker 1: of the family. Got to meet her brothers or mob grandma,
Speaker 1: got to meet the whole gang, and we really just
Speaker 1: found our very small window we're as safe as possible,
Speaker 1: and made it back and forth with no issue. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, it was something that I admittedly
Speaker 1: didn't want to do. Like I am a baby when
Speaker 1: it comes to this kind of stuff. I am perfectly
Speaker 1: okay being like, we can't go out for a year.
Speaker 1: It's fine by me, baby, I'm sitting on my desk.
Speaker 1: It works. But at the same time, I also understand
Speaker 1: that I'm so lucky that I lived ten minutes away
Speaker 1: from my parents that they too are in our own
Speaker 1: bubble that we have a backyard space that I can
Speaker 1: sit on the other side of a ten foot table
Speaker 1: or something and just you know, be there to see
Speaker 1: them and and and still experienced life. And that was
Speaker 1: something that for Stephanie, with her family on the other
Speaker 1: side of the country, she was not able to do.
Speaker 1: And so I was very lucky in that way, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to let go of my inhibitions in terms
Speaker 1: of like, this isn't something that's necessarily safe. We took
Speaker 1: every precaution that was necessary, We quarantined we were able
Speaker 1: to see her family have a great time and make
Speaker 1: it home safely, unscathed, and and I was very I
Speaker 1: was really really happy to do that. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: I was really happy to see her so happy because
Speaker 1: I could tell that, you know, especially right now, having
Speaker 1: that connection is so important. Being able to see your family,
Speaker 1: just being able to like, you know, see the people
Speaker 1: you love and be connected to them is is so
Speaker 1: crucial right now, And especially when like it was getting
Speaker 1: to the winter time and cases were spiking, Like going
Speaker 1: in September felt like the opportunity to see everybody before
Speaker 1: we got like really locked out again. And so I'm
Speaker 1: really glad we got to do what we did because
Speaker 1: your knife, right, that's all I could fit. I was
Speaker 1: about to cry. I'm not gonna lie to you, Daniel.
Speaker 1: I was about to cry at how just absolutely sweet
Speaker 1: that was. And then what came to my mind was
Speaker 1: because you're nice with a tear, with one crocodile tear
Speaker 1: running down my face, I've thought to myself, because you're not,
Speaker 1: I really do like your story just makes my heart.
Speaker 1: It makes me honestly, it makes me miss my girlfriend.
Speaker 1: I just want to give her a big hug and kiss. Um,
Speaker 1: you've only known kind of this full blown relationship now
Speaker 1: in in the quarantine in a pandemic. I'm really really
Speaker 1: cautious about being optimistic about this vaccine situation, but let's
Speaker 1: say it all in a in a in an optimistic mindset,
Speaker 1: everything works and six months from now we are getting
Speaker 1: to go out, getting to the regular human beings as
Speaker 1: we as we've all own. Is there anything that specifically
Speaker 1: excites you or or worries you if maybe or make
Speaker 1: it makes you nervous about going back to like a
Speaker 1: full throat like being in this relationship not locked away, right, Um,
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, overall, my concerns are less
Speaker 1: with the security of mine and Stephanie's relationship and more
Speaker 1: about how just the things that we would want to
Speaker 1: do are going to be different in those six months. Um.
Speaker 1: But but you know, if we're talking an example where
Speaker 1: the world is truly like as back to normal as
Speaker 1: it can be, like you know, everybody has taken the
Speaker 1: vaccine and it works and everything is you know, hunky
Speaker 1: Dorry right right. I'm just I I hope she can
Speaker 1: hold her own at CA barbecue. That's what I'm real
Speaker 1: That's that's what I'm worried about. Oh my gosh, can
Speaker 1: we please double date atk Barbecue? Because once once we
Speaker 1: can cook. Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. Have you
Speaker 1: ever been to Genoa? Wait? Have you been to Genoa? Genera? Oh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought you a job. I was like, did you say, Ben, Yes,
Speaker 1: I've been to gen Wa. Okay, we got okay, gen Wa.
Speaker 1: When we're done, General done, Katherine's invited Ali, if you
Speaker 1: come over here to the West Coast, you're invited as well. Well. Daniel,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm so in love with your relationship. It's
Speaker 1: so exciting and fun and it's and it's very hopeful
Speaker 1: for for the listeners out there who are nervous about this,
Speaker 1: the you know, the um, the seriousness of a relationship
Speaker 1: that could start in the pandemic. So thank you for
Speaker 1: being an incredible example that love can still exist in
Speaker 1: this pandemic. We're gonna take a quick break and we
Speaker 1: come back. We'll be talking with our good friend Ali.
Speaker 1: Last name, and we're back. That is an old SNL nod.
Speaker 1: If you don't know this is, let's get into it.
Speaker 1: I'm alex Ion no UM, and we are talking now
Speaker 1: with our favorite anonymous human being Ali from a certain
Speaker 1: place with a certain last name. Ali. How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm doing well? How are you, Alex? I'm doing well.
Speaker 1: I want to shout out our friend. I'm just going
Speaker 1: to give her an initial because we want to keep
Speaker 1: the anonymous nous alive. We're gonna give her just L.
Speaker 1: We'll talk, We'll call her L. She's one of my
Speaker 1: really good friends. She's one of your best friends, as
Speaker 1: she likes to claim. Uh. And she wanted me, she
Speaker 1: really just wanted me to get straight to the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty with you. So we gotta ask, can you give
Speaker 1: us a ballpark about how many dates? You've been on
Speaker 1: in the last nine months. I can't believe that these
Speaker 1: are These are her questions, by the way, So you
Speaker 1: can't get don't get mad at Catherine, don't get mad
Speaker 1: at me. This is this is l she She basically
Speaker 1: told me that there would be no pressure and that
Speaker 1: would be free form, and then she told me full pressure.
Speaker 1: So I just want you to know that that's where
Speaker 1: the miscommunication happened. Okay um, ballpark number, Like I don't
Speaker 1: want I can be honest, right, Like, you'll be honest. Hey,
Speaker 1: we we just we're open to honesty here, we we
Speaker 1: we absolutely encourage it. Yeah, like I won't have like
Speaker 1: employers listening to us, hopefully not. They don't even know,
Speaker 1: they don't even know it's you. Yeah, don't even know.
Speaker 1: Okay Um, I would say, can I preface by saying
Speaker 1: I was in a three and a half year relationship
Speaker 1: and pandemic dating is basically all I've known and I
Speaker 1: think you know, and unfortunately it's been all apps, Like
Speaker 1: there's been very few real I'm imagining most of these
Speaker 1: dates are zoom dates or other stories. Virtual dates were, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they definitely were. But yeah, I would say that if
Speaker 1: you asked my roommate. She would say something else, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say, like twenty twenty dates. And I don't
Speaker 1: want to do the math on like how many weeks
Speaker 1: a date like a date it's a week or anything
Speaker 1: like that. But I was I went on there was
Speaker 1: a period when I was going on at least a
Speaker 1: date a week. Wow, that's nice for a pandemic. That's
Speaker 1: a high number. That's like when things were opening, like
Speaker 1: virtual dating. I'll get to that. There was one person.
Speaker 1: It was just one. There's just only one. You never
Speaker 1: did any We'll get into it. Let's get into it.
Speaker 1: But I want you to say how many dates, both
Speaker 1: in person and virtually anything that you would consider more
Speaker 1: than just messaging back and forth, like an actual like encounter.
Speaker 1: How what what do you got for me? Nine months?
Speaker 1: Still twenty? Or is it is a little more? Five? Okay?
Speaker 1: Five virginals. We're trying to get into it through my
Speaker 1: matches and like my pictures and like everything and really count.
Speaker 1: But like, let's go with that number. I'm gonna text
Speaker 1: hold on, I'm gonna just for fun, I'm texting l
Speaker 1: and asking her how many she thinks you've been on? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there's been definitely more significant than others, like
Speaker 1: some more significant individuals. But like I was, there was
Speaker 1: a period when I was just like cycling through dance.
Speaker 1: I got her on FaceTime right now, hold on, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna ask her right here, right now. She better answer. Y. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm on our podcast right now, and uh and I'm
Speaker 1: talking to you to our friend Ali, and I need you.
Speaker 1: She just gave me a number of how many dates
Speaker 1: she says she's been on since the pandemic started. I
Speaker 1: want to know how many you think she's been on
Speaker 1: since the pandemic started. All Right, I'm gonna like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna low ballet here for her, and I'm gonna say nine. Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, give us some more juicy number. She said,
Speaker 1: you're about it her next guest. Okay, that's a little
Speaker 1: bit closer. All right, we'll listen to the rest of
Speaker 1: the podcast and and you'll you'll find out all right, okay, bye, alright,
Speaker 1: Well he might have been high, but there was just
Speaker 1: a period where I was going on a lot of dates,
Speaker 1: and it feels like, right like how much emotion it
Speaker 1: was involved in that. So well, this is the Internet.
Speaker 1: You can't take anything back. Is the number. Um, let's
Speaker 1: let's crack into what these are. I'm speaking not from
Speaker 1: any form of experience, but I would imagine that the
Speaker 1: weirdest thing about dating during this pandemic is unless things
Speaker 1: were fully open, you're basically on a dating app eternally.
Speaker 1: How do you survive? How do you survive like the
Speaker 1: rate like a first date or or a getting to
Speaker 1: know somebody? Have you had any success? Yeah, So let's go.
Speaker 1: This is wild. So many stories. I'm so excited, let's go.
Speaker 1: I want them all. Okay, So let's start from the beginning,
Speaker 1: Like I'm gonna look at this like where from where
Speaker 1: it started, where we are now, like a timeline, because
Speaker 1: I feel like that's the easiest way to explain it.
Speaker 1: So when things were getting bad, like Danton Rule saying,
Speaker 1: like really bad those two weeks, everyone's got a panicking
Speaker 1: and people were on the apps, like there was definitely
Speaker 1: a surgeon in the apps, and people were kind of like, hey, like,
Speaker 1: what do you think is going on right now? It
Speaker 1: was less of it was less of dating is just
Speaker 1: trying to find people's opinions on what's happening in the world.
Speaker 1: So I met this one guy and he was funny
Speaker 1: and we're chatting, and my roommate had left. At this point,
Speaker 1: I was alone in my apartment and I saw a
Speaker 1: lot of people go on Instagram lives and I thought
Speaker 1: that was funny, and I was like, wait, why don't I,
Speaker 1: like entergain my friend and take do a live date.
Speaker 1: And I asked this guy and I was like, what
Speaker 1: are your thoughts? And like meeting each other in person
Speaker 1: over Instagram? Like who would do that? First of all?
Speaker 1: Like I would not agree to that, but he did,
Speaker 1: and um, yeah, I know, I'm I'm speaking. I need
Speaker 1: you to continue because I'm speechless. So basically I was
Speaker 1: using the Instagram live comments as like prompts to ask
Speaker 1: this guy. So we're like, hey, like how's it going.
Speaker 1: Like we didn't even we did like a little pre
Speaker 1: in like intro, like you know, what is what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do? And it wasn't scripted at all. We just
Speaker 1: like went on a real date, like got to know
Speaker 1: each other, like where did you go to school? And
Speaker 1: our friend my friends were dying like this guy was
Speaker 1: actually hilarious and to the point I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: this guy has like a sense of humor. He's kind
Speaker 1: of cute. Like why not take this off one I
Speaker 1: was like, guys, I'm ending this right now out like
Speaker 1: I'm going to go on a real date with this guy.
Speaker 1: At this point, quarantine felt like it was not ending
Speaker 1: for a long time, we were you know. So I
Speaker 1: actually ended up virtually dating this guy for about a month,
Speaker 1: and I would would go out like a date like
Speaker 1: a week or every other week. We just like catch
Speaker 1: up and I would played games sometimes, like I remember,
Speaker 1: like to the point of like I went home in
Speaker 1: the suburbs and we were still virtually dating. So then
Speaker 1: I came back to the city and things are starting
Speaker 1: to like lighten up, and there were like phase one
Speaker 1: or something, and enough for a socially distance date where
Speaker 1: you can walk with each other, and that was very
Speaker 1: common at the time. People were wearing masks and parks
Speaker 1: you would see people on dates and it was a
Speaker 1: thing anyways, so cool. We got to take out cocktail
Speaker 1: because take out cocktails were such a thing in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: and the date it was terrible. It was about the
Speaker 1: personal dating and we did not like click in person,
Speaker 1: like I guess there was no like physical attraction, like
Speaker 1: I didn't see it with him, but both of us
Speaker 1: did not feel it. So we never talked to each
Speaker 1: other again after that. Like there's no that was it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you gotta imagine, like there's so many things
Speaker 1: that you have to like go. Well, first off, I
Speaker 1: have a really hilarious question that I wanted to ask you.
Speaker 1: Did you guys ever virtually kiss like you pull like camera.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna like discuss even though this is anonymous,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not gonna say there wasn't like any talk
Speaker 1: of like what we would like, but like there was
Speaker 1: Well I wasn't even going there. I was just imagining
Speaker 1: how funny would be you both are like I know, well,
Speaker 1: I feel like it needed to be acknowledged at some point,
Speaker 1: like in a PG form. Yeah, okay, I get it.
Speaker 1: I mean, and that doesn't And by the way, anonymous
Speaker 1: or not, that's nothing to discredit. I think that you
Speaker 1: were having you were talking to somebody for weeks, and
Speaker 1: I think and you, like Daniel said, you have to
Speaker 1: cut off the fat. You don't dance around anything. You
Speaker 1: gotta get you gotta get straight into it. The world
Speaker 1: might end. We gotta get straight to it. That's insane,
Speaker 1: aim though, because the thing is is like we're all
Speaker 1: on zoom. And as much as I'd like to think
Speaker 1: I can imagine what all three of your legs look like,
Speaker 1: I don't know you like all you like. I don't
Speaker 1: know what what any the three of you guys look
Speaker 1: like under your like your what is this called solar plex?
Speaker 1: And so like getting to see somebody in proNT but
Speaker 1: and I mean that not only in like the literal way,
Speaker 1: but also like figuratively, like I don't know, you don't
Speaker 1: know much about somebody the way that they like their
Speaker 1: body language. There's like a spark in person to everything everything.
Speaker 1: So okay, So was that the first pandemic date situation
Speaker 1: that you had, well, I would say that was like
Speaker 1: the first virtual situation, right, okay, And so where did
Speaker 1: you go from there? Okay? So and you're if you're
Speaker 1: in Manhattan, like there's a lot of at this point,
Speaker 1: like it's getting a little bit warmer, you know. I
Speaker 1: was going on, I've met this one guy and we
Speaker 1: went on a couple of dates like virtually not virtual.
Speaker 1: We and we met on like hinge and then we
Speaker 1: would go for all in the park and I think
Speaker 1: he got to the point of like should we kiss?
Speaker 1: Should we not kiss? And I didn't like at this point,
Speaker 1: it was like still serious, you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: we didn't really know what's going testing, and I was like, um,
Speaker 1: I don't even want you up in my apartment like
Speaker 1: helping me carry up something. I didn't like him enough
Speaker 1: to kiss him. So then it's like almost like that
Speaker 1: with the pandemic dating was like I just don't think
Speaker 1: I'm comfortable with it yet, and then we just basically
Speaker 1: like got ended too so here so so past the
Speaker 1: virtual kiss. You ever done a mask kiss? It's that
Speaker 1: you keep your masks on, but then you can you touch,
Speaker 1: you touch what would be your lips together. No, I
Speaker 1: didn't like that guy enough to mask kiss him, not
Speaker 1: even a masks no, no, no. And I think with
Speaker 1: the apps definitely, like after being in a long term
Speaker 1: relationship and being in my twenties, I wanted to start exploring,
Speaker 1: like meeting different types of people, like seeing out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, by now I kind of know that I
Speaker 1: definitely have a type and like I'm just gonna stick
Speaker 1: to that type. But um, I was exploring, like I'm
Speaker 1: still young, like I'm still going to explore. But I
Speaker 1: was doing a lot of park dates and just going
Speaker 1: out to get a drink and like walking by the river.
Speaker 1: I feel like we need to give these guys not name,
Speaker 1: like not like their real names, but like let's get
Speaker 1: to it. So so we have these first two, let's
Speaker 1: start identifying these guys because we gotta go. We gotta
Speaker 1: be able to draw back to somebody, all right. So
Speaker 1: I went on one of these park dates. We actually
Speaker 1: end up going to a live out of comedy show
Speaker 1: because there was a ton of those going on in Manhattan.
Speaker 1: I had a great time. It was like a great date.
Speaker 1: Like I felt I was going super well, and I
Speaker 1: think he did too. He texted me the next day.
Speaker 1: We were texting all day and I was at a
Speaker 1: friends in the West Village and I was walking home
Speaker 1: and as I was walking home, I like, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of nuts were dyning going on, like there's no
Speaker 1: you know, there's really no hiding. So I see this
Speaker 1: guy and I'm like, wait, is this him? Is that
Speaker 1: is that? And I was like, wait, he's not a date?
Speaker 1: Was another girl an outdoor dining? You can't hide a
Speaker 1: My radius set on these apps is super small because
Speaker 1: I like people who like get it in my neighborhood,
Speaker 1: like get like what's going on here? But honestly, so
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I did my makeup,
Speaker 1: like thank god, I was wearing this beautiful dress. But
Speaker 1: I was like, did you see me? Like I thought
Speaker 1: him in to see me? So I faced on my
Speaker 1: friend at the corner. I'm like, oh my god, Like
Speaker 1: that's let's call him. He two times, me two times.
Speaker 1: We're calling him two times, all right. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I just thought the two timer on another date, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go. I'm gonna don't go back, don't go back.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh god, to see me. So I back,
Speaker 1: he sees me, I like do a little like like
Speaker 1: a little wave, you know. And I went home and
Speaker 1: I was like, oh god, So that was that? Wait,
Speaker 1: hold on, so had you in two time discussed anything
Speaker 1: about being like about not like it was? It was
Speaker 1: there something that gave you the kind of inclination that
Speaker 1: you guys were supposed to only be talking to each other.
Speaker 1: But the thing is like it went, I know what
Speaker 1: you're saying, and you're allowed to date back to back
Speaker 1: like I was doing it. Kind of there's unwritten rules though,
Speaker 1: Like there's unwritten rules of like okay, if if things
Speaker 1: are going well, then like maybe let me know or
Speaker 1: like or just give me the decent you know, be
Speaker 1: a decent human and not do anything. So I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that if you don't have the talk. We've had
Speaker 1: a whole episode about dtrs. But if you don't have
Speaker 1: the talk, it doesn't mean necessarily that you're free to
Speaker 1: do whatever. Like there's still a point of like I
Speaker 1: should still be a good person, and like it seems
Speaker 1: like this is going in a nice direction, and I
Speaker 1: like to think, like you don't really want to imagine
Speaker 1: them actually seeing each other, like you want seeing other
Speaker 1: people in your head. You're kind of like, oh, they
Speaker 1: really like me and they're not gonna want to see
Speaker 1: other people, So to see them on another day, it's
Speaker 1: like what ruins the whole romanticizing real part of it?
Speaker 1: You know, it makes it real. But you know I
Speaker 1: had I definitely had a lot of bad ap dates,
Speaker 1: like way more bad than good. I think that's a
Speaker 1: general thing though, right, like what would we like it's
Speaker 1: the dating apps, though they've been proven people find success
Speaker 1: in them. There's also like you gotta it's like playing
Speaker 1: black jack. You know, some people of people win, but
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't win. Yeah, but I want
Speaker 1: to make this really about like not as much about
Speaker 1: the apps as about pandemic dating, because I think it's
Speaker 1: just like it's been a wild ride, honestly. Like, so
Speaker 1: we'd go out to eat, you know, like outdoor gianting
Speaker 1: had opened. My friends and I were starting to see
Speaker 1: each other again safely, you know, in a smart environment,
Speaker 1: I guess. So we'd be at outdoor and outdoor restaurant
Speaker 1: and there'd be a cute guy and we can't talk
Speaker 1: to them. We're wearing masks, Like if you're at a bar, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe you'd go up to them, but these days, like
Speaker 1: how are you going to break that barrier? So my
Speaker 1: friends and I thought it'd be fun to like make
Speaker 1: business cards with our phone number on them and like
Speaker 1: it just said hey and like our phone number. But
Speaker 1: the thing that's tricky is, like you said, like I
Speaker 1: saw a TikTok about it about you don't know what
Speaker 1: somebody looks like in person under their eyes. Well, if
Speaker 1: you're at a restaurant, your mask is as you can
Speaker 1: see them, but like, ok, I weren't asked what so
Speaker 1: all he sees is like it's a blind date. Honestly
Speaker 1: is what they're getting into, like an actual blind date.
Speaker 1: So I gave him my card and she was like
Speaker 1: pretty like buff looking, like he was really like he
Speaker 1: was attractive, but I didn't really know. Anyways, he texted
Speaker 1: me and it's like, hey, it's he He ends up
Speaker 1: being a firefighter. So firefighter guy is obviously and firefighter
Speaker 1: guy and I we text backwards. We're trying to make
Speaker 1: plans and finally were he's like, let's grab a drink,
Speaker 1: you know, in the corner I can say that I
Speaker 1: live in Manhattan. It's okay, I think, who kind of
Speaker 1: colored to this? So we meet at a bar. You know,
Speaker 1: there's awkward like do you hug? Do you bump arms?
Speaker 1: And like in that like a lot of people were
Speaker 1: like New Yorkers, but like everyone's kind of feeling feelings
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of hugging and you're kind of
Speaker 1: like you start hugging and you're like with masks on
Speaker 1: and you're like okay, and I'm always like okay, And
Speaker 1: now we're hugging and there's a pandemic and we sit
Speaker 1: down and he ends up being incredible, like like really
Speaker 1: funny sat nilot accent, like really beautiful, like the most
Speaker 1: beautiful man. I like, one of the most people man
Speaker 1: I've ever seen. And we hit it off. He loves comedy,
Speaker 1: I love comedy, and he's a firefighter. Like how fun. Anyways,
Speaker 1: it went well, but I don't really hear from him,
Speaker 1: like back and forth. He said I was going out
Speaker 1: of town, and then I got the text like my
Speaker 1: classic line which I usually use, like I'm getting back
Speaker 1: to my ex. So he used that on me, um,
Speaker 1: and I can see right through it, honestly, But I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, I'm going through this like pandemic
Speaker 1: version of dating in my twenties, and like it's totally bizarre.
Speaker 1: It's it's putting a different lens on things, right, but
Speaker 1: it's it feels real, like it doesn't feel that different.
Speaker 1: It's just like kind of like dating in our generation
Speaker 1: during these times is pretty much all in the apps.
Speaker 1: Like I'm the kind of person who prefers to meet
Speaker 1: in person, but I don't know, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: feel like it still feels like I'm doing it. The thing,
Speaker 1: the thing that I think we all need to remember
Speaker 1: as we go through all of these stories is that
Speaker 1: you did an Instagram live with a guy as your
Speaker 1: first date. And I don't think that we can forget
Speaker 1: about that. I know that, I know that we've we've
Speaker 1: gone through so many stories and they're all incredible. What
Speaker 1: made you say this is an incredible idea? Because it
Speaker 1: is an incredible idea, And that's what I'm frustra I'm
Speaker 1: frustrated at the fact that you came up with it
Speaker 1: before I did know what to do with my roommates.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's home looking for entertainment, and I was,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I love bringing people together and if
Speaker 1: that's on social media, you know, like I love stand
Speaker 1: up comedy. I'm not a comedian, Like I think that
Speaker 1: there's forms of entertainment that are just funny because of
Speaker 1: what they are, which is a live date. It's hilarious
Speaker 1: no matter what we're saying. It's just I actually want
Speaker 1: to take a side note on that because you you
Speaker 1: had mentioned stand up comedy, you've actually been doing putting
Speaker 1: on comedy shows. I want to I want to like
Speaker 1: just highlight you as like a good person. You've been
Speaker 1: putting on comedy shows. Um to help out a community
Speaker 1: center that's in your area. Tell me, tell me, tell
Speaker 1: us what what brought you to do that. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: for the pandemic, I was like putting to other comedy
Speaker 1: benefit like I've always loved of that production and stand
Speaker 1: up and when everything closed down, I like lost my opportunity.
Speaker 1: But then in New York, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: know about there, there was like this whole underground comedy
Speaker 1: scene that's been going on with part shows and everything.
Speaker 1: And the Community Center actually has an alley, like a
Speaker 1: side alley perfect for like chairs and a little bit
Speaker 1: of a stage and a speaker set up. And I
Speaker 1: just started reaching out to comedians on Instagram and comedians
Speaker 1: that I had met previously, and they were all super excited.
Speaker 1: They were looking for stage time. They wanted to like
Speaker 1: have a platform to finally get out there and to
Speaker 1: stand up again in a safe way. Everyone was in
Speaker 1: masks like they're definitely um ever was spaced out. It
Speaker 1: was really fun. It was It definitely wasn't totally kosher,
Speaker 1: like I would say, like I don't think it was
Speaker 1: totally legal to sell tickets to these kinds of things,
Speaker 1: but everyone is kind of doing it. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: shows were amazing, Like I had Mark Normand on this
Speaker 1: show Joe List Rachel finds that like so many seller comedians,
Speaker 1: I like who else David's Hell came by once, which
Speaker 1: is really fun. We had a lot of big medians
Speaker 1: that I'm very excited about, Like that is so cool,
Speaker 1: and it's also you know, I think, like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: comedians are artists and they and artists need to express
Speaker 1: their art. And so not only are helping comedians who
Speaker 1: are expressing their art, people still need entertainment, and so
Speaker 1: you're you're creating this kind of everybody wins situation. So
Speaker 1: I did as much as we're going to talk about, um,
Speaker 1: what dating is, like, I had to. I had to
Speaker 1: highlight that as I'm not only a dator, not a
Speaker 1: serial dater, Like, oh my god, another dating story. You
Speaker 1: do other things, you expand outside of just dating. Um,
Speaker 1: So we've talked about we have four stories now. So
Speaker 1: we have Instagram Live Guy, we have No Kiss Guy,
Speaker 1: we have we have the two timer, and we have
Speaker 1: the Firefighter, and they all kind of ended with a
Speaker 1: little bit of not as good, not as good ending.
Speaker 1: We need something what about what about the pandemic? Dating
Speaker 1: is a positive? Give us something like yeah, the great question. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I think I've touched on it earlier, But you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's a lot about not only finding myself,
Speaker 1: but also figuring out what I like and what I
Speaker 1: don't like in a person. And I think about I
Speaker 1: think dating is so important, you know, because it allows
Speaker 1: you to not only grow individually, like being in a
Speaker 1: relationships grade Like I was in a really long term
Speaker 1: relationship since college and he was a wonderful person. I
Speaker 1: still think he's wonderful, but that long term relationship kind
Speaker 1: of was at a point in my life where I'm
Speaker 1: finding myself and bringing up with him allowed me to
Speaker 1: find stand up comedy and produce shows and grow and
Speaker 1: really like figure it out on my own. So through
Speaker 1: stand up which has given me a huge passion, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I feel like I found my passion, which
Speaker 1: is producing comedy. It's also been giving me the opportunity
Speaker 1: to date and just explore the different types of people.
Speaker 1: And what I said earlier, like I have a type,
Speaker 1: Like I think it's kind of like all leading me
Speaker 1: towards like this is the kind of person you want
Speaker 1: to see yourself. Yeah, that's super cool. And also on
Speaker 1: top of that, you know, when you don't have all
Speaker 1: of the time to like get to actually go out
Speaker 1: and meet people the way that you used to. You
Speaker 1: also get to use a lot of that time, um
Speaker 1: that you're not on the apps to think about what
Speaker 1: you do want, but you also get to learn about
Speaker 1: who you are and what you might need more so,
Speaker 1: like things that you might not necessarily want out of somebody,
Speaker 1: but you like that's also really it is really good
Speaker 1: for me to have in a relationship totally. Well, look
Speaker 1: at you just grow in look at you just growing
Speaker 1: out there. I think it's you know, hopefully, you know,
Speaker 1: we all kind of like I hope that will meet
Speaker 1: that person, and I have faith like that there will
Speaker 1: be someone. You know, I'm not. I just think it's
Speaker 1: like it takes time to get there. You know. Well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break when we come back,
Speaker 1: got Daniel and Ali. We are going rapid fire questions.
Speaker 1: We're calling it Netflix and absolutely no chill. Welcome back.
Speaker 1: This is let's get into it. I'm Alex Ciono, and
Speaker 1: we are now talking with Daniel and Ali about dating
Speaker 1: in the pandemic. We're gonna call it this section Netflix
Speaker 1: and absolutely no chill. Uh So, my first question is
Speaker 1: going to be usually we in these. In these third segments,
Speaker 1: all three of myself and the two guests have like
Speaker 1: kind of like a common a common you know, theme,
Speaker 1: but for this one, all three of us are different.
Speaker 1: So I have direct questions for both of you. Um.
Speaker 1: The first one ali, what is chivalry like in like,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't open doors, you can't, um, you know,
Speaker 1: pull the chair out, and and and you can't you know,
Speaker 1: all of these things walk to your door? So what
Speaker 1: what gives you the sign of like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: a good dude. He would if we were out, he
Speaker 1: would open he would open the door for me. Um.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of the same things do apply,
Speaker 1: but the news things like how someone wears their mask
Speaker 1: and when they wear it. So if we're really at
Speaker 1: a restaurant and the waiter comes over, like it's even
Speaker 1: better when someone puts their mask and when they're engaging
Speaker 1: with the waiter, so you know, or we're walking around
Speaker 1: like in New York everyone has their mask on all
Speaker 1: the time. Like if we're sitting down, maybe it's another story.
Speaker 1: But like if we're walking and they'll have it on,
Speaker 1: I'm like, are they safe? You know? So that's does
Speaker 1: anybody does anybody do you have a problem if somebody
Speaker 1: like dangles their mask from their ear. I've always I
Speaker 1: don't know why, I'm like that looks silly. Don't do
Speaker 1: if you're not wearing your mask, take it off. And
Speaker 1: if you're wearing your mask, put it on, wear it
Speaker 1: properly or don't wear it at all. If they're hanging
Speaker 1: their mask from their ears, that a red flag for you,
Speaker 1: I think so, I think that I don't know. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll let it fly. We'll let it fly. Um. I
Speaker 1: have a question also, Daniel, for you, what do you do?
Speaker 1: And my girlfriend is going to absolutely kill me for this,
Speaker 1: but like sometimes you know, sometimes you're like I love
Speaker 1: you more than life itself, but I need a little
Speaker 1: bit of me time and I need some alone time
Speaker 1: asking for a friend, of course, what do you do? Um?
Speaker 1: I make sure well before I ask for me time
Speaker 1: and make sure that we had a good amount of
Speaker 1: us time and always have to always have to earn
Speaker 1: that me time. But then afterwards it's it's just about honesty,
Speaker 1: you know. I will say my girlfriend and I are
Speaker 1: very or Stephanie and I are both very honest with
Speaker 1: each other about the things we like and the things
Speaker 1: that we like to do. And uh, I happened to
Speaker 1: be a big fan of the old video games, and
Speaker 1: so sometimes there you go. And so sometimes we play
Speaker 1: games together. Sometimes we know, play some fall guys or
Speaker 1: play a little animal crossing together. And then I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, babe, i gotta get in with the boys.
Speaker 1: We're we're about to we're about to say some mean
Speaker 1: things to some small children on the internet. And she guys,
Speaker 1: you do you that's great. I'm not even gonna lie though.
Speaker 1: I I my girlfriend's gonna be mad when I say that.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is is that she
Speaker 1: probably onto the alone time more than me, because, like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, I love being with her like I
Speaker 1: love I love being with people in general, but specifically her.
Speaker 1: Um So I actually take it back, Babe. If you're
Speaker 1: listening to this, this is you. I'm I'm asking questions
Speaker 1: for you on how to tell me that you want
Speaker 1: to be alone. Um this is one for everybody that
Speaker 1: I think is just a discussion point sex. I know
Speaker 1: that it's like sex. So it used to be, um
Speaker 1: like STDs were like the thing right, Like you're like, oh, man, like,
Speaker 1: don't get an STD. And there's still a thing by
Speaker 1: but it's actually there's something now that you have to
Speaker 1: worry about even more because there is virtually no protection
Speaker 1: from it if you go into that realm, and that
Speaker 1: is like COVID. So Ali, you we've talked about kissing,
Speaker 1: and I don't want you to get too graphic. Um,
Speaker 1: but like, how do you if you get to that
Speaker 1: place hypothetically, where do you? Like, where do you ask
Speaker 1: each other? Like, Hey, I'd love to to go there,
Speaker 1: but I need to make sure, like you've been tested,
Speaker 1: and how does that even work? I think you have
Speaker 1: to be in a place with that person where you
Speaker 1: can have a conversation about being I hate it's exclusive
Speaker 1: because you need to make sure that they're being careful
Speaker 1: and that's like heavy, it's a real one because it's
Speaker 1: a d t R too early, honestly because the thing.
Speaker 1: The thing is that like you usually like like if
Speaker 1: you're single, you your decision on like should I hook
Speaker 1: up with this person? Should not hook up with this person?
Speaker 1: Is allowed to sometimes be like you're cute, let's do it,
Speaker 1: Like you're allowed to like do you know what I mean? Like,
Speaker 1: but when you're but now you have to have this
Speaker 1: whole DTR essentially before you're even allowed to get there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it definitely can like ruin things, you know. It's just
Speaker 1: it's a really really tricky subject these days. I would say,
Speaker 1: but the good news is it makes you, It makes
Speaker 1: it like, it makes it matter, you know what I
Speaker 1: mean that I'm gonna get a red hat that just
Speaker 1: says makes sex matter again. And then so you got
Speaker 1: you got it's got you gotta just vetted out. You
Speaker 1: gotta vet it yea, Yeah, someone really worth it, you know,
Speaker 1: for you know, totally on a similar topic, though not
Speaker 1: everybody's super into monogamy, what kind of conversations Let's say
Speaker 1: that you had kissed two timer, right, and then he's
Speaker 1: out and about with these other people? How do you
Speaker 1: have a DTR without it being like this, like this,
Speaker 1: like what are we? You know what I mean? Like?
Speaker 1: How do you just be like, hey, are you kissing
Speaker 1: somebody else? Because I want to kiss you, but I
Speaker 1: can't have their lips on my lips. Ah, it's like
Speaker 1: really uncomfortable. It's exactly what you're describing is exactly how
Speaker 1: it goes. I think early on, like I spoke about
Speaker 1: it earlier, when I wouldn't even want to kiss that
Speaker 1: guy I was kind of it was such an uncomfortable conversation.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you know, I had to, like
Speaker 1: you always constant to make up something. I feel like
Speaker 1: there's a lot of like excuses these days, and I
Speaker 1: think what happens is like updating also makes people really disposable.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying for me, but like it allows you
Speaker 1: not to really know someone super well, so you can
Speaker 1: kind of just like say things or that's what ghosting
Speaker 1: is super easy. And I don't go on off topic now,
Speaker 1: but no, I mean I think ghosting is easier than
Speaker 1: ever these days. Is you're allowed to just be like hey, sorry,
Speaker 1: by yeah. I don't know. I think the apupdating makes
Speaker 1: it easier to just kind of be like make that.
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a really tough question now, Like
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think, like it's just awkward when you're
Speaker 1: you're at that point. Luckily, Daniel, you and I don't
Speaker 1: have to have these these these conversations, but it's like,
Speaker 1: what would you say, Daniel, what do you think? What
Speaker 1: do you think is the right way to figure out
Speaker 1: if that person's kissing or hooking up with anybody else
Speaker 1: so that you can in turn get to kiss and
Speaker 1: hook up with them. You know this is gonna this
Speaker 1: is gonna sound lame, broken recording. But again, I just
Speaker 1: gotta go back to communication. I just gotta go back
Speaker 1: to You have to be upfront about every single thing.
Speaker 1: You've got to be like, I am not kissing anybody else,
Speaker 1: and I would like that to be the case with
Speaker 1: the person that I'm kissing. And if that's not the case, yeah,
Speaker 1: And the thing is, I think if that's not the case,
Speaker 1: the the the other goal, the other side of the
Speaker 1: goal is not to be dismissed. If it's not to
Speaker 1: be rude, and it's not to be condescending or anything.
Speaker 1: It's to be understanding and say, I see that, we
Speaker 1: see this differently. You know, I'll respect to you do
Speaker 1: what you gotta do. I'm sorry, I just have to
Speaker 1: remove myself from the situation. Wow, you're so you're just
Speaker 1: such a married couple guy already. That's the thing. But
Speaker 1: I was I was gonna say again, going to dating
Speaker 1: in your thirties, Like, at this point, I just have
Speaker 1: to like you. You can't do any of that ship anymore.
Speaker 1: You can't like pretend anything. You have to be completely
Speaker 1: on the surface about everything about who you are, no
Speaker 1: hiding none of that, and so like your honesty about
Speaker 1: like what you believe in, you know, science wise, politically,
Speaker 1: you know, sexually, all that stuff. You just gotta be
Speaker 1: upfront because the more of that stuff kind of just
Speaker 1: like hangs out in the back, the more those problems
Speaker 1: become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. So it's
Speaker 1: just like up front that everything. So here's the thing though,
Speaker 1: So now that now that we're talking about it, if
Speaker 1: you're single and a girl's like, oh, hey, are you
Speaker 1: hooking up with anybody else? You know, you could kind
Speaker 1: of just like dance around it. You used to be
Speaker 1: able to. You could be like, oh, listen, I really
Speaker 1: like you and like moving forward, I want to be
Speaker 1: exclusive with you. And that was like, in my mind,
Speaker 1: a very respectable answer, like I look, you know, if
Speaker 1: you feel like it's like this, I've I'm down to
Speaker 1: get like this. But Ali, how would you react if
Speaker 1: a guys like, listen, I kissed a girl eight days
Speaker 1: ago and it's not full fourteen days of quarantine away.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine that doesn't at least make you go
Speaker 1: like like now I'm now I'm a little turned off
Speaker 1: by that. Yeah, because because if you because if he says, hey, like, look,
Speaker 1: I kissed a girl eight days ago, I have felt
Speaker 1: no symptoms. I tested negative, and in six days from
Speaker 1: in six days from now, I'll be okay, Like I'll
Speaker 1: be clean. It sounds like talk what if it was
Speaker 1: after the first date that like what if you had
Speaker 1: one date with him and you were like, yo, this
Speaker 1: is going really well, and he's like, listen, I was
Speaker 1: on a date with another girl and like and and
Speaker 1: she wanted to kiss and I thought it was a
Speaker 1: cool date. But then she ended up being crazy or
Speaker 1: she ended up like she ended up ghosting me. And
Speaker 1: so I want you to know, like, I like you, like,
Speaker 1: so let's really get into it, because there's some there's
Speaker 1: some ways that it can He could be a good
Speaker 1: person and he just happens to be. The situation is
Speaker 1: he kissed somebody eight days ago, and if it wasn't
Speaker 1: in the pandemic most of the time, he wouldn't even
Speaker 1: have to tell you that, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because we're here, you have to disclose this type of information.
Speaker 1: Do you allow yourself a buffer of like I need
Speaker 1: to be understanding because most of this ship actually happens
Speaker 1: and we just never talked about it. I think with
Speaker 1: the COVID lens, like I can't say, like, you know,
Speaker 1: of course I'm very not I'm not black and white,
Speaker 1: So I would in real times, like before COVID, I
Speaker 1: would say, like, well, you're you're technically incriminating me. You're
Speaker 1: saying would I kiss her? Kiss? No? No, No, I'm
Speaker 1: saying would you would it not? Not? Would you kiss him?
Speaker 1: Then I'm saying would you kiss him after that fourteen days?
Speaker 1: Or would you be so turned off at the fact
Speaker 1: that you know now that he had just kissed somebody else?
Speaker 1: Because for me, like, I'm crazy if I had known,
Speaker 1: like if if if a girl was like listen, I
Speaker 1: kissed somebody or I hooked up or even worse, I
Speaker 1: hooked up with somebody, they were clean, they had tested negative.
Speaker 1: I obviously test negative. Let's wait the full fourteen days.
Speaker 1: But I'd really like to kiss you. I'd really like
Speaker 1: to like further this. But that turned that to me.
Speaker 1: That turns me off. Yeah, I agree, but I feel
Speaker 1: like living in New York, everyone's constantly dating and like
Speaker 1: meeting people. Y'all are a walking gossip Girl Up York
Speaker 1: is wild. Honestly, I'm living in it's crazy, um, and
Speaker 1: I think men and women were all kind of dating
Speaker 1: all the time, and I think I wouldn't phase me. Really,
Speaker 1: that's mature, that's very mature. That's a very mature way
Speaker 1: to answer it. I think I'm more so just still
Speaker 1: in my young twenties where I'm like you, you had
Speaker 1: sex before me. Ever, that's not fair. So I'm glad.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that you have a mature answer for it. Um, Daniell,
Speaker 1: I got a question for you, and that question is,
Speaker 1: like I said earlier, I think going out on adventures,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta keep it spicy. We had an
Speaker 1: episode on this podcast about love and lust, and the
Speaker 1: biggest thing was, like, you have to keep everything exciting.
Speaker 1: You gotta be you gotta do crazy things and like
Speaker 1: be spontaneous and all of that that gets dumbed down.
Speaker 1: And we talked about that a little bit. But how
Speaker 1: do you keep your relationship now that you're almost ten
Speaker 1: months in your You're almost you're pushing towards that year
Speaker 1: mark where the honeymoon phase can start to kind of
Speaker 1: slow down and you become more of a like, babe,
Speaker 1: you pete on you left the toilet seat up, or babe,
Speaker 1: like stop, you know, you know things like that. How
Speaker 1: do you keep things hot and fun and and not
Speaker 1: even in essential sense, but just even in a like
Speaker 1: man I love this girl, or man I love this
Speaker 1: man to death totally totally. So when we first started dating,
Speaker 1: we and we accepted that we were going to be
Speaker 1: in quarantine, we wrote down a big list of things
Speaker 1: we wanted to do when we were done with quarantine,
Speaker 1: things we wanted to do when we were out. And
Speaker 1: so little things I like to do are like look
Speaker 1: at that list and start planning ahead, start like thinking
Speaker 1: about what that is going to be. Like one of
Speaker 1: the things we want to do is throw murder mystery
Speaker 1: dinner parties, and so I started thinking about, like you know,
Speaker 1: what a character is going to be from that, or
Speaker 1: like start putting together the plot for something, and just
Speaker 1: start like thinking about like these like kind of future plans.
Speaker 1: We want to take archery classes together. So just like
Speaker 1: I like to put stories together. I love storytelling, and
Speaker 1: I just like you know, love love creating stories together.
Speaker 1: So I kind of try to try to think of
Speaker 1: these scenarios that we can do in the future and
Speaker 1: start planning for that time. I'm I'm I'm going from
Speaker 1: being like, oh, you guys are cute to having like
Speaker 1: schaden freud and and being like jealous and envious of
Speaker 1: the fact that like archery, are you hidding me? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, are you like just dumb cute ship? We
Speaker 1: have a big I'm calling Madison right after this and
Speaker 1: I'm planning, Oh my gosh, what's the name of the list.
Speaker 1: What's the name of the list. It's called future super
Speaker 1: Cute couple Plants. I'm over both of you. That's a
Speaker 1: pretty good, pretty good list, Pretty good, Ali, Ali, You
Speaker 1: need to find you a man that treats you the
Speaker 1: way that Daniel treats Stephanie. That's what we need to get. Hey, fellas,
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this and you want to be
Speaker 1: and you want to be Ali's Daniel, who's going to
Speaker 1: we're just getting people ideas. There's also there's always still,
Speaker 1: you know, more that we could do. There's always, like
Speaker 1: I appreciate the pray, honestly, you are honoring me so
Speaker 1: much with this praise, But there's always more that everyone
Speaker 1: can do to just be a better partner, but also
Speaker 1: just a better human to everybody, Like, you know, that's
Speaker 1: exactly what I thought she'd That's exactly what I thought
Speaker 1: you'd say, Daniel. So this is the thing, guys, I
Speaker 1: don't love going out. And this is my last question
Speaker 1: for both of you. I don't love going out. I
Speaker 1: love being home. I love being with my people in
Speaker 1: a private space. So this isn't his ideal for me.
Speaker 1: Like had mentioned, Daniel, I actually think that having my
Speaker 1: being in my exact situation, having my girlfriend and having
Speaker 1: a room that I love, a bed that's cozy, a
Speaker 1: big TV and Netflix and movies and and all of that.
Speaker 1: I think it's awesome. I think that's in my own opinion,
Speaker 1: it's better for me. I think that's better this pandemic
Speaker 1: dating for me is better in that one specific sense.
Speaker 1: Is there anything for either of you that you actually
Speaker 1: are like, Well, I actually prefer this. This is great.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a big like going out party girl,
Speaker 1: So like this has been really challenging for me. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm such an extrovert and love meeting people in person.
Speaker 1: You said something that I don't wish would change. I
Speaker 1: kind of like, I don't know, I feel like getting
Speaker 1: to know meeting guys and having to have those conversations
Speaker 1: about like are you seeing other people up front, and
Speaker 1: like the no games kind of element of it because
Speaker 1: of the pandemic and being transparent, it's kind of nice.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to try and like emulate the transparency
Speaker 1: the honesty that the pandemic has given me, has has
Speaker 1: enabled me to do after I hopefully when things get better,
Speaker 1: when things about it, I'm going to continue to do this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think no games, as you said, Daniel, it's like
Speaker 1: it's everything. And I learned that's the biggest part about
Speaker 1: dating is just don't play them. That's perfect. It's amazing, Daniel,
Speaker 1: anything great answer, Like you were saying, there are certain
Speaker 1: things about the pandemic that have been totally okay by me.
Speaker 1: I have to stay inside and play video games. Oh god. Um.
Speaker 1: But one thing surrounding that, it's not necessarily the games themselves.
Speaker 1: And this is gonna sound like a plug for this application,
Speaker 1: but it's not really. But there's a thing called Discord.
Speaker 1: The Discord is like it's like Skype, it's like Slack,
Speaker 1: but it's a voice app, a tech stapp, but it's
Speaker 1: also a video app and a screen sharing app. It's
Speaker 1: like it's like zoom, but you know, anyway, you get
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And since we went into lockdown, the
Speaker 1: amount of people who have come, who have we've invited
Speaker 1: to the private Discord, who have been like, Hey, I
Speaker 1: play games, but I haven't played with anybody in a while.
Speaker 1: Boom invite him to the discord. Hey I I don't
Speaker 1: even play games, but like I use this apple lot,
Speaker 1: Boom invite him to the discord. And just the way
Speaker 1: that our nightly group of people has gone from like
Speaker 1: five to six to fifteen to twenty to twenty to
Speaker 1: thirty every single night of just community conversation and discussion
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's games. Sometimes we turn on the Fresh
Speaker 1: Prince of bel Air documentary and I'll watch it together
Speaker 1: and laugh. Just the community that it created has been
Speaker 1: such a warm, safe haven during this pandemic where yeah,
Speaker 1: we all got to be stuck at home, but we're
Speaker 1: stuck at home together, truly, all together in the same spot.
Speaker 1: And so I'm very thankful that people have taken to
Speaker 1: the discord and to the idea of like, you know,
Speaker 1: getting into just a chat room with a bunch of
Speaker 1: the friends and talking about life or again watching movies
Speaker 1: or watching sports or actually playing games. Just like having
Speaker 1: a nice open form where a bunch of people are
Speaker 1: that are just talking hang out. Has been wonderful and
Speaker 1: I'm very thankful. Love. What a way to end the show.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, and that's the way to good
Speaker 1: great way to double date if you're in a relationship,
Speaker 1: great way to double date. If you're not a relationship.
Speaker 1: Maybe you do your own little bachelor speed dating or
Speaker 1: something in that discord of you. It would be amazing. Um,
Speaker 1: this is such a fun episode, guys. I just want
Speaker 1: to thank you both for coming on, and it is
Speaker 1: time for us to do what we call not so
Speaker 1: shameless promo is where you just get you can just
Speaker 1: get to shout out everything and and it's going to
Speaker 1: be a challenge for you anonymous Ali. Um, but but Daniel,
Speaker 1: give us, give us some not so shameless for promo.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, I work on a bunch of shows here
Speaker 1: on my heart, so obviously if you're not already, please
Speaker 1: subscribe to alex Iono show here. This is such a
Speaker 1: pleasure and thank you for having us. I work on
Speaker 1: Fake Doctor's Real Friends, which is a scrub's rewatch podcast.
Speaker 1: I work on the daily Zeitgeist. I work on the
Speaker 1: Worst Year Ever, which is slowly kind of petering back
Speaker 1: into not so much the worst year ever. But like,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, I want to want to hold up entirely.
Speaker 1: You can follow me on Instagram DJ Daniel, follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter DJ Underscore Daniel, and I'm on twitch at
Speaker 1: the same place twitch dot tv slash DJ underscored danil.
Speaker 1: That's a real pro just killed but not so shameless promo.
Speaker 1: All right, Ali, you're anonymous. We're not going to shout
Speaker 1: out your social medias, but is there anything about your
Speaker 1: life that you do want to shout out? I know
Speaker 1: you're doing these comedy shows. What do you so? I
Speaker 1: can't say anything too specific, of course, but I just
Speaker 1: want to say I feel like live stand up comedy
Speaker 1: isn't necessarily happening right now, but your comedians are all
Speaker 1: on Instagram and doing virtual shows live shows. Support virtual comedy,
Speaker 1: That's what I would saying. Support stand up comedians because
Speaker 1: they're looking for laughter, like that's how they make a living.
Speaker 1: So you know, I love all the comedians that I've
Speaker 1: met along the way, and I just want to support them.
Speaker 1: I love that I challenge every listener, Everybody who listens
Speaker 1: to this episode right now, I want you to go
Speaker 1: and follow one stand up comedian that you like. That's
Speaker 1: your challenge. At least one, follow as many as you want,
Speaker 1: but fall at least one. Right now, You guys know
Speaker 1: you can always find me at alex ion O A
Speaker 1: I O n oh. It's the best part about having
Speaker 1: a weird last name but more friendly. Please make sure
Speaker 1: you rate our podcast and subscribe. You can leave a
Speaker 1: review if you'd like to. That's some bonus extra credit.
Speaker 1: That is how we grow though. But I want to
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. Good luck dating out there.
Speaker 1: Please stay safe where your masks, stay home, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you guys next time. We really want you to
Speaker 1: get the help you need, so if you need help,
Speaker 1: please seek independent advice from a competent healthcare or mental
Speaker 1: health professional. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
Speaker 1: are solely those of the podcast author or individuals participating
Speaker 1: in the podcast, and do not represent the opinions of
Speaker 1: I Heart Media or its employees. This podcast should not
Speaker 1: be used as medical advice, mental health advice, counseling, or therapy.
Speaker 1: Listening to the podcast does not established dr patient relationship
Speaker 1: with hosts or guests of alex IONO Let's get into It,
Speaker 1: or I Heart Media. No guarantee is given regarding the
Speaker 1: accuracy of any statements or opinions made on this podcast. Well,
Speaker 1: if that's a doozy