SPEAKER_03 0:00

And the last thing that they did was they went to Mexico, because they were always going to Mexico, and they brought back some horse steaks.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Wait, what? Did you say horse steaks? Like steaks made of horse?

SPEAKER_03 0:18

You know, they just didn't look like regular steaks to me. Welcome to another episode of Smells Like Humans. This is the podcast where we explore the curious things that people do, the very human things that grab our attention and cause us to wonder, what and why. I'm Ross, your host, and today, my guest is a friend and a comedian who can make me laugh just by walking out on the stage, Amy. Hello, Amy.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Hello, Ross. That was probably the most polite way to say I am a funny-looking person. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Uh, that is not what I meant, but I want you to interpret it as you will. And welcome everyone to the show. Uh, we'll ask you to please share the show. We're trying to grow our community, and it is growing, so thank you. But please help us by sharing the show with anyone you think may like it, even strangers. Also, there are some other things you can do for us, but I'll mention those at the end. Let's get started. Amy, I need to know: are you socially dehydrated?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Oh, does it mean that I'm not doing things socially and I want more social stuff? Is that yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:34

Yeah. I was reading an article and it was talking about people being socially thirsty because for obvious reasons, a lot of people have been isolated during the pandemic, so they're feeling lonely and isolated. Um, I also think the world right now just seems very sort of divided, bitter, and frightening.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

And I think that could be isolating. So a lot of people feel lonely or socially thirsty.

unknown 2:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Is that how are you doing? Are you socially thirsty or are you socially hydrated?

SPEAKER_00 2:12

I am probably like just under uh being fully hydrated socially. I would probably say. Yeah, pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

That's good. That's probably a good level to be at.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I think so.

SPEAKER_03 2:24

Um the the article I read suggested that lonely people want love and connection like a thirsty person wants water. And uh when you're thirsty, you don't feel guilty about that. Usually people sometimes feel guilty when they're socially thirsty. Or they blame themselves, or they the fact that they feel lonely makes it more difficult to approach people and get some social interaction.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So it's this vicious so are people having trouble making the so if people are not reaching out, if I was socially thirsty, let me put it this way if I was socially thirsty and I really wanted to hang out with people, but I wasn't hanging out with people, I would allow the idea that, well, nobody's hanging out with me, so I can't probably people don't even want to, so I'm not gonna ask anybody. Right.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

That's that's part of the cognitive gymnastics that some people go through where they they reason that, you know, they blame themselves for being lonely in the first place, and then they start doubting their social value, and then they start having um feeling that it's risky to reach out, like they have there's a lot more at stake to trying to reach out socially, so it just gets worse and worse. So they become more and more isolated.

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yeah, I guess that's the negative side effect of only hanging out with yourself. You are not a very good, you're not very good company for you. You're kind of rude to yourself.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Yeah, yeah. And even if you are content with a solitary lifestyle, like you're okay. Yeah, like you don't mind going to the movie by yourself or eating by yourself or just not having a partner or all the things, like you're good with it. We are constantly bombarded with messages about needing to be with people. You know, you need to be with people. Why aren't you with people? And if you're not with people, then what's wrong with you?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah, humans are generally speaking pretty social creatures, right? We like to be in little packs, little groups, little doors.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

We do, and but some people are okay being sort of the lone wolf type.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Oh, sure. Yeah, they usually make bombs in their basement. So not everyone is a hermit. A loose handful. You're you're absolutely correct.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

It can be challenging because that's the message you get. You keep you're constantly being told you should be with people, you should be with somebody, you shouldn't just be happy by yourself. There's something wrong with that. Now, I am when I'm talking about that a lot of us are socially thirsty these days. I'm not talking about thirst traps.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

You know, I'm gonna be totally honest. At first, that's what I thought you meant.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

But I figured that's what you'd be thinking.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

No, I'm because I'm so hip. That's why. You are hip.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

You are the hippist. That's why you're on this show. That's why we're both doing this show because we're expressing our hipness all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

So um, yeah, I actually had heard this term thirst trap for years without really thinking about it, uh-huh. What it means, but basically, in a nutshell, I'm sure there's a million definitions that people ascribe to this term, but it basically means that it in particular means that when you're on social media, you post pictures that attract attention, attract likes, attract commentary, maybe present you in a certain way, maybe a sexy way or a cute way or whatever kind of way.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

That's that's it.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

I think that if you're on social media, and I was at one point in a in a big way, I pretty much think that you're uh you're thirsty. You're doing thirst trap stuff no matter who you are. Um, for the most part. I mean, because what what are you posting pictures for?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Right.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

Well, you might don't you want people to like your pictures? Sure, they are.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

I think thirst trap does imply, I think there's a certain sexual connotation to thirst trap as I understand it, though.

SPEAKER_03 6:49

It's like I wanted people to think I was sexy. Well, that's why I was posting pictures of me and my dog.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Well, you nailed it.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Yeah, look at those sexy guys. I bet they smell like dogs.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

I am thirst trapped by them.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

But oh, so you think it's more because I think that in the broadest sense, I mean, that's the whole point of social media is that we can curate an experience for our viewer friends. Yeah, and they will then like that thing that we have presented to them. Getting those likes is external validation for you know ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

Yeah, no doubt.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

You know, if if there was no way for people to like a picture that you post or comment on it, do you think people would post as much stuff as they do?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

No, that would just be a photo album, I think.

SPEAKER_03 7:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

So that's an important part of it. A podcast, by the way, is not a thirst trap. Because you we we put this out there and we've been doing the show now for just over a year, believe it or not. So happy anniversary to you.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Oh, it's fantastic. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

You were on the very first show, and you've been on probably at least half of them. You know, you put a podcast out there and you get nothing. I mean, you have no idea. I mean, you see the downloads, but you don't know if people like it, don't like it, you know, unless they happen to reach out, which by the way, somebody did recently reach out on Instagram and said they like the show, and it's like so gratifying.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Yeah, because it's so rare. And so if you're listening to this, reaching out to us is like it has a hundred times more effect than you think it ever might. By the way, this is a tangent to the tangent. But I've noticed that when you when I say that I make a podcast, I get weirdo reactions.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Like what kind of reactions? What does that mean? Do people throw something at you?

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Well, that would be better than what happens. What usually happens is I say, Oh, I'm doing a podcast, and they say nothing. They just awkward, they awkwardly look around like for an exit.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Oh, is it like when you say, I'm selling candy bars, and they think you're no, it's worse.

SPEAKER_03 9:13

It's worse because people like candy. No, it's like this is I thought about it. I knew you would ask me, is it like? And I was like, What? Yeah, what is it like the simile? And it's like you say to somebody when they say, What's your hobby? and you say, taxidermy.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

And they're like, Oh, wait, you're stuffing animals, you're stuffing squirrels in your basement? Okay. They know it's not illegal, but it's weird.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

I once dated a guy who was a taxidermist. Now, when I say taxidermist, what I mean is he had taken a single taxidermy class and was well, he said that animals were just dying of natural causes, but there were a lot of animals that were dying of natural causes. So he would take like a squirrel from his yard, which he claims just fell out of the tree and died just in a totally normal way, and then he would taxidermy it, and he lived with his, he wasn't very good at it, which I don't know. You know, there's only one thing worse than taxidermy, and that's moderately good taxidermy.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

And so he would taxidermy squirrels. Now, the thing that is also part of taxidermy, and I didn't know this until I met him, is you have to make the eyeballs because the eyeballs, of course, they don't they don't last, I guess. You gotta make the eyeballs, you gotta make eyeballs, so you have to make these glass eyeballs.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

And um oh yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Yeah, so he would make these goggly-eyed squirrels that he would then put in his cabinet and scare his sister who he lived with, and that's what he did. We only went on the one date, and it wasn't necessarily because of that, but that did not help.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Yeah. Well, well, you know, it's good to know people's hobbies, though. What was interesting about this article is they say the best way, if you think someone's socially dehydrated in your life, the best way to help them is to ask them to either do something with you, or if you don't want to hang out with them, but you do want to help them, tell them one of your problems and ask for their advice.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Ooh, I like that.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

It's great. Yeah, I thought it was a brilliant idea because it gets them to it gets them into interaction mode and gets them out of lonely mode.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

And you get sage advice.

SPEAKER_03 11:46

And it makes them feel good about themselves because you're asking them for advice. So they must they must have something to say because you want to know what their opinion is. And it could just be their opinion. What's your opinion about this?

SPEAKER_00 12:00

I love it when people ask my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 12:02

Yeah, everybody does, right? Yeah, so we need to stay hydrated. Um, and I like that metaphor for social loneliness.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Um, but but the whole hydration thing, this is just another tangent on the tangent. The whole real hydration thing about staying hydrated, we got out of control on that.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

The water, like carrying the water bottles with us all the time. I was leaving the gym tonight, and there was uh someone had a water bottle. It had to be a two-gallon water, like it was the largest, it was like what you would take if you were going camping for a week. Like it was huge, but it had a handle, so it was uh uh it was crazy. So, yes, it's out of control. What happened?

SPEAKER_03 12:46

It got out of control in 1965.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

65, that long ago.

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Some scientists in Florida invented Gatorade for the football team. Bastards. It was uh sports drinks first got invented, and then over time, it didn't happen right away, but over time, there was this increasing emphasis on the need to be hydrated.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And people thought they were thirsty.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

Yeah, in the 80s and 90s, that's when you started seeing the water bottles and the sports drink bottles and the personal bottles. And and now if you see somebody out, like they're saying I'm going on a walk, they take, they always have like drinks with them.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Um, they have to have and if they're at the gym, they have to have their drink. If uh, I mean, it's everywhere. People are like, I have to have uh I you know, I can't go outside without my bottle. And not only has it created a huge like environmental catastrophe with plastic everywhere, but it's just kind of dumb because if you think about it, you know when you're supposed to drink.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

When you're pregnant.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

You drink when you're thirsty. That's when you need a drink.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

I drink once a week and that's it. Wednesday, Wednesday morning, I have a big gulp of water, and then I'm good for the for another week.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

You are a freaking camel, but um, but I like that. Um so like I just think this whole like carry your bottle around with you has just gotten way out of control. It's just like you can go on your walk or your run and you're okay. You'll be okay. You won't turn into a pile of sawdust because you don't have your bottle. Um but uh that's a thing now, and people are all about it. And I think the parallel I'm stretching to make is that when you're a single person, there's a lot of emphasis directly and indirectly to get some love in your life, get a person in your life, because people just think you need to have somebody or some buddies, you need to have something going on, just like you need to have your water bottle if you don't have your water bottle. And how many people stay in relationships, you know, or carrying around a bottle with nothing in it? Oh, and it's like, man, is it?

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yeah, that's that's a great metaphor. I know that's a metaphor and not a simile because I graduated college.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

You did graduate college, and I just I want to just shift to something else for a minute. Okay, it may not be exactly related, but you know when people eat out, you know, they go to a restaurant or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

I've seen that on television a couple of times. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 15:50

I've I've argued that the most fun thing about doing anything, but let's just focus on going out to eat. The most fun thing is anticipating the experience rather than the actual.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Yeah, this is a this is a trait that you and I share. I I we've talked about this before. Yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's why Thursday is my favorite day of the week because it's almost the weekend. Yeah, but by Friday, I'm already dreading that Monday is coming up. So there's no I thought I was the only one.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

I used to always say Thursday's my favorite day.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Thursday is my favorite day because it's almost the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Yeah, and Sunday is a drag.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Oh, Sunday is my least favorite day of the whole week.

SPEAKER_03 16:33

So anyway, you go out to eat. Yep, and people kind of get into the ordering process. I think that's really part of the fun. People really like to spend some time working through the actual selection of their meal. Do you like to really kind of go through the order and make adjustments and ask questions?

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Oh no, no. I really, you know, I've been a server um for a number of years throughout my life. I haven't been, I haven't done it for a long time now, but yeah, I that kind of adjustment and the questions I don't mind, because people don't know. And some of the places that I've worked, there were things on the menu that weren't super common. So that was fine. But yeah, I the substitutions drive me insane. So I almost never modify my order.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Some people though really enjoy doing that. Like that's part of the experience for them. Like I know some people have dietary issues, so you know, right on, no judgment. But I can also, I know I've been around people who were just really like the process of ordering and finding out what else they can get and asking questions. And I had a partner once who would break down an order like a champ. What does that mean? Oh, they were just, oh, all of the questions, and and they would have tons of ideas for substitutions on the sides, and then would break the side, like try to break the sides down. Like, can I have okay, can I have the mac and cheese, but no cheese, just the macaroni? And can it just be cooked for 22 seconds? Oh, they were a champ.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

That sounds like a nightmare.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Yeah, well, yeah, I mean, it was good for me because I have a problem with patience. That is my biggest flaw. I go to a lot of coffee shops. I'm in Portland, Oregon making this show. People ordering coffee here, it's pretty can get pretty involved.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

What I notice is people will get up there, they've been waiting in line, they've been online for like five minutes. But they during that time, that five minutes in line, they haven't done any work, no homework. Even though they could have, of course, thought about what they wanted, they could have looked at menus that are hanging up, they could have scanned the pastry case. It's all a brand new experience. It's like, oh, pastries, wow, what do you have? And they want to know what everything is. They want to know what everything is, even the stuff that they're never gonna eat. Yeah, just want to know what it is.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Do you have anything vegan? I'm not a vegan. I just want to know what's available. Like, what are my choices?

SPEAKER_03 19:24

What are all the milks I can get? Soy milk, oat milk, almond milk, pig milk, all the milk. Any kind of milk. Yeah. Was there milk? Is there milk that isn't milk? What is the thing? Is it chocolate milk?

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Could I have a chocolate?

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Someone give me a light shoulder massage. What can I get here? So, so there's all of that going on. And there's a huge line. So it's not like, and then they finally make a choice, and then it's like fiddling with the payment. But even then they're not done because they want conversation. And in Portland, uh, you know, those the the the baristas don't help anything because they will ask questions like, so what's your day look like?

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

So that's it. Oh yeah. Or you get asked questions and and they are expecting an answer. And it doesn't the size of the line doesn't matter. Nobody feels pressured by it. It's like being at an Italian DMV, like nobody comes and it could take for years.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

That's a second great metaphor. That's an excellent metaphor. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

Okay, I'm gonna make can check the box on that one.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Two metaphors.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

Um, and so I'm back there and I'm like uh, you know, I'm dealing with that challenge of my patience when I'm watching this. I will say something like, hello, it's time to cut the cord.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

Would you really say that?

SPEAKER_03 20:44

Oh, I've said many things like that. I once was uh waiting for a at a smoothie place. And there was only one guy in front of me, so how bad could it be? But the guy wanted to know about every ingredient. It was one of those places where you say, I want this and I want this mix in and this thing and this special vitamin, like you could get all these cool, so-called healthy things.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:07

And you got a a you got to select it. It's like going to a subway, but it's a smoothie.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Oh, yeah. That sounds funny.

SPEAKER_03 21:15

So he gets hung up on something called lecithin. Do you know what lecithin is?

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah, I mean, I've heard of it before. I don't know that I could uh if I could identify it in a lineup, but I am aware It's a nutrient similar to B vitamins.

SPEAKER_03 21:31

It's in different kinds of foods like eggs and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 21:34

Oh, excellent.

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Soybeans. It's in a lot of stuff. And it's supposed to be good for you. This dude didn't had never heard of it, and frankly, neither had I. Okay, fair. So he's like, lecithin, what's lecithin? And he's like, I've never heard of that. So the person kindly explains to him a lot of details about what lecithin is. He's like, I don't know. So he hems and haws about everything. Ingredient, he finally says, Okay, I'll take the lecithin. I'm like breathing a sigh of relief, like, okay, this is over now.

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Finally.

SPEAKER_03 22:08

So she starts mixing, doing whatever, putting this and putting that, and he sits there and he's after spending all that time wondering, he didn't know what lecithin was, and if he even wanted it, then he sees her scoop, make a scoop of it and put it in. He goes, Well, you didn't put in very much lecithin.

SPEAKER_05 22:24

And I'm sitting there going, Man, you didn't even know what five minutes ago you'd never heard of it. How do you know how much you need? More.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

So here's what I want.

SPEAKER_05 22:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:36

I want I here's what I want. I want two lines. Okay. I just want two lines for everything in life. Yeah. I just want two lines. One line is, I want an experience. I want to walk up. I want to look at everything. I want to talk about it. I want to talk about my day. I want this to me is the most exciting part of the whole thing, and I want it to last. And I get that, especially at the coffee shop. Like a lot of people don't even want the coffee. Like they don't even like it. And that's why they're all sugared up and loaded with all kinds of alcohol or whatever they stick in there and all the shells things, the lecithin. It's like they just want the experience. So there ought to be a line for those people, and they ought to have that greatest time they can have. And then there should be another line for people who just want to hit it and quit it.

SPEAKER_00 23:28

I want to be the cashier in the second line. I do not want to be the cashier in the first line.

SPEAKER_03 23:33

Right. And that's you could hire to that because there are people who are great at handling experiences.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 23:39

So that's those people exist and they would be great. And then the people who would work in the no nonsense, hit it and quit it line, you know, they're just more like getting it done. They're not going to ask you about your day. No. They just want to know what you want and get you out of there. And that works for me. And I want that everywhere, not just coffee shops. I want weddings like that.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

What? What's a wedding like that?

SPEAKER_03 24:05

I want weddings like that. I want to, I want op, I want that option somehow to be built in. Like you can have a wedding and it's um you can go to a wedding and you just get to the good parts, which in my case is the buffet.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

I was gonna say, is it the food or the drink?

SPEAKER_03 24:21

I I put the food first, you know. That's the most important thing to me in the world is food. Yeah and then a drink would be after that. Uh how about school? Could we j could we have school, two different kinds of schools? So school for kids that want an experience and all that jazz, and then school for kids are just like, hey, can I just do the slight the least amount?

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Just the facts.

SPEAKER_03 24:46

Yeah, just can we cut to the chase already? By the way, have you do you know that expression, cut to the chase?

SPEAKER_00 24:55

I have heard that expression. I'm aware of that.

SPEAKER_03 24:57

And you know what it means, right? Like get to the point.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Which I haven't been doing, but I never really knew, I never really thought about what what that meant or where it came from. It comes from the movies.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Oh, like go to the chase scene.

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Yeah, cut to the chase scene.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Oh, because that's the action. That's the good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

Cut to the good part. Yeah, skip all this romance, blah, blah, blah. Let's see some stuff blow up. So, um, so yeah, I think um school, funerals, two lines. You want to have an experience, you want to cry, you want to throw yourself on the coffin, you want to do the whole thing, you want to drag yourself through the mud, great, there's a spot for you. If you just want to do a c a drum beat on the coffin and take off, there's a line for those people too. Like, see you later, Uncle Joe, but dump bump, and you're out. You were there, you did the thing, you wore a suit, and you're gone. How about uh jobs? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

How do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 25:58

Well, some people like want the whole thing. They want office parties, they want the drama, they want the ass kissing, they want the ladder climbing, they want the whole thing. And some people just want to come in, drop their eight, and beat it.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:12

With no nothing else. Like, no nothing. Don't involve me in anything. Don't bring your stories, don't bring your crazy drama around me. Just I want to, I'm just here to work and I don't get penalized for that. I don't want to hang out with people, I don't want to play golf with the boss, I don't want to have to do anything other than whatever I'm supposed to be doing here, answering phones, whatever it is, and then stuff and squirrels, whatever your thing is, and then I want to get out and I don't want to be penalized for it.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

So, do you across the board want the fast lane option? Or there's a I want it across the board.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

I can't think of anything. I I what where does it not apply? I want the option, man. Sometimes I want the experience, but you know when I don't want it at the movies?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Really? Because I feel like the movie is an experience.

SPEAKER_03 27:04

Yeah, I just want to see the movie. I don't want a half an hour of trailers.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Oh, that's that's fair.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

And everybody'll see I know everybody almost everybody I know says, oh, I like the trailers. I want to sit there for 45 minutes. That's like I'm here to see a movie, man.

unknown 27:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

Like it's no fair to the experienced people to have this the people like you know of the world set up for somebody like me. That's why you need two-line option everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

I think that's fair.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Now, something happened. I don't know. Do you remember like TV dinners?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Oh my gosh. When my parents would go out, and I could have a babysitter when I was a kid, we would get TV dinners. It was my favorite meal.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

Why was it your favorite meal?

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Well, oh, well, I mean, the little cherry cobbler was of course the the best. But partially, we didn't eat a lot of like that kind of food in my house, like I don't know, processed food, I guess. My my mom had the audacity to make a lot of like food from scratch. But you got I got to choose, so there was some choice involved. I loved a meatloaf and a mashed potato and the little cobbler, but I love the tray that it came into, the little metal tray. And it took an hour. This was back before you popped them in the microwave. These were right like aluminum trays that you had to put in the real oven, and you had to plan ahead because they were like rocks. They were frozen like a rock.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Yeah, they came, they were totally frozen, and you didn't have a microwave. And so they had to be put in, so the oven had to be warmed, and then it usually took about 40 minutes for the typical it was a very long time as a child. Yeah, especially when you're, you know, you're hungry and you're in line number, you know, one. Uh no nonsense. I want my food. What uh brand did you do you remember the brand that your parents got?

SPEAKER_00 28:54

Yeah, so like a Swanson TV dinner is my guess.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

That was the brand. So yeah, Swanson. So we there was a time when uh parents, normally mother, made all of our food.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:08

And she made everything.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

If there was a a pie, she would bake it. If there was a dish, she would make it.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

We rarely went out, I've said that many times. We rarely went out for anything, and we didn't have any convenience food.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Same.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

No, very few snacks, nothing processed. And it wasn't a health thing, it was just more of a, you know, that's how it was done.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

I I think it was a budget thing at my house. I mean, it the real things were cheaper to make.

SPEAKER_03 29:39

That's true.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

So but then uh things happened. They this that they kind of like left us to our own devices. And one of the things that be came into my life was Swanson's TV dinners.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:56

And my favorite was fried chicken, mashed potatoes.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 30:01

And it was bad fried chicken.

SPEAKER_00 30:03

It was terrible. It was soggy.

SPEAKER_03 30:05

Yeah, soggy, soggy ass fried chicken, man.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

Very, very salty.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

And my mother was made the best fried chicken I've ever eaten. But when she well, after she blew her hair piece, then it was the only fried chicken I was getting was uh Swanson's. And then the other one that I would eat was the loin of pork. And that was pretty bad, the meat, but it came with uh also mashed potatoes, some kind of green thing, and then but it had an apple cobbler.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Which I like. So that was sort of the the highlight.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:42

And I ate a couple thousand pounds of those bad boys because that was and and it was so funny because you know, when I was younger, like all this food was made for me, and then at some point it was like you're on your own. So I just started eating the weirdest things, not TV dinners so much, although that was one of the things, but then we got into this powdered milk thing. Okay, it was gross.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Yeah, that sounds weird.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah, it was weird, and it was just a freak show. Um nobody knew why. And then um, you know, I was thinking about this the other day. It's like um, because we were just making wood, we would just eat whatever was around, we would eat like cold hot dogs. Oh, you just grab a hot dog and eat it, you wouldn't even heat it up or anything.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 31:29

Balogna.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

Yeah, I ate a lot of baloney.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Uh cinnamon toast was a big thing for me. I ate a lot of cinnamon toast.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

We ate a lot of cinnamon toast too, actually.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

Like an enormous amount, like an unusual like a Guinness book record kind of amount. Okay. Oh, and the other thing that I learned that I liked was potato chip sandwiches.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Oh, I knew people who ate those. We didn't no to no chip sandwiches in my house, but yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

Yeah, that's pretty bad.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Is it just chips on bread?

SPEAKER_05 32:03

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

See you put mayonnaise on it?

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Nothing.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

That's the see that's the best way to do it. Now, later on in life, like if I'm by myself and I make a sandwich, I sneak a few chips in there, but it's mixed in. But when I was a kid, all I wanted were the chips on bread, and I was good to go. Oh, I love that. Oh my god, it was so good. This all of this was a horrible diet. And the last thing that they did was they went to Mexico because they were always going to Mexico, and they brought back some horse steaks.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

Wait, what? Did you say horse steaks? Like steaks made of horse.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

You know, they just didn't look like regular steaks to me.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Okay. So they were just large steaks. Were they horses? I gotta know. Were you eating horses?

SPEAKER_03 33:00

Hey, no one, the jury's out okay on what these were, but I think it was horse meat and it was Mexican horse meat.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:08

They dragged it over the border, but they bought like a freezer full of this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Well, it's a whole horse, it's a big animal.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Yeah, it's a lot of horse. And I mean, a horse, there's a lot of steaks in a horse.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

No doubt. That's one of the joys of horse meat. And I don't want to be judgy because I know people eat horse.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

No, I'm not judging. And in fact, I was pretty much eating a horse. So we learned how to broil a steak. Oh. So I'm like 11 years old broiling a horse steak every night. That was another thing I did for food. So there was a there was some there was uh some random dieting going on in my house. And I tried to get to the bottom of this. My mother died fairly young, so I never got a chance to ask her, but my dad lived a long time. So I said, Hey, we know what was going on with this this rando kind of food we were like, what was going on? Like I don't I don't know. It was never explained to me why suddenly I'm eating cold hot dogs and potato chip sandwiches.

SPEAKER_04 34:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

And Swanson TV dinners and horse meat. Like, why is this happening?

SPEAKER_04 34:16

What was the answer?

SPEAKER_03 34:18

He got mad.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Oh. He said, I don't know what was going on. I don't want you, it sounds like you're blaming me for it, and that I wasn't a good father. And I'm like, no, no, I'm just asking, I want to know.

SPEAKER_03 34:32

It's a mystery. It was never explained. It was just one day my mother said, I'm not cooking anymore. Here's a horse.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

And it's funny because now I don't eat like that. I rarely eat fast food or anything, although I fantasize about Taco Bell. But I I eat fairly healthfully, healthfully or healthily anyway, healthy.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Healthfully.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

And so I um, you know, sometimes we'll be sitting there in a boutique market reading these organic ingredients to decide if I if it's right for me, and then I'll flash back to like this kid with like five hot dogs in his hand and a potato chip sandwich in the other. And it's like, uh yeah, what are you worrying about here? What are you what are you doing here, Junior? I mean, really, who are you fooling?

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Just eat your oat milk and move on with the day. At least it's not a horse steak sandwich. So um the topic we were talking about was I remember that.

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Isolation and social dehydration. Most of us need something, some kind of love, and don't do well in isolation. So if you're able, if you notice someone you think may be suffering, reach out and ask them to do something with you. Or the best thing you can do is say, I've got a problem. Will you listen to it and help me? So reach out to people. Reach out. Um, and if you are feeling lonely and isolated and you feel like it's becoming a thing, consider getting some professional help too. Uh reaching out, yeah, asking for help. There are many people in your life, a professional or just socially, who will help you.

SPEAKER_00 36:23

And don't be afraid, don't be afraid to ask somebody because some the other person might be having that terrible self-talk that you're having to, and they just think you don't want to go out with them.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

So we're all struggling in this thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

We're all struggling. So ask somebody.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

We're just a bunch of horse steak eaters. We don't know what to do about it. And I'm glad you feel socially hydrated. That's good. I want you to be socially hydrated.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Thank you. I I I don't know that you did you say, are you feeling socially hydrated?

SPEAKER_03 36:53

I feel pretty hydrated. I'm um I'm very content. I I'm very socially available and active, but I don't have a partner right now, and I'm content with that. I don't feel like I'm missing that. Great. And because, as I've said on other podcasts, where I'm not I'm not engaged in social media, so I'm more interested in actually spending time with people.

SPEAKER_04 37:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:19

So I do that, and that's really cool. So I'm feeling okay. You know, we'll just check in every week if you would.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

I will.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

And we'll see how it's going. And thank everyone for listening to this episode. If you like what we're doing, share the show. You can also follow the show on Instagram. I think we're on Twitter too, but I don't know if we're being that active on it. Um, we don't know how to do the Twitter. I don't I don't know how to Twitter. But we're on Instagram, and you can follow us there and even like one person did a couple weeks ago, reach out and share their enjoyment of the show. Man, that made my day. Did a little dance, ate a horse steak, felt good.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

That's a big day. I bet that was a Thursday.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

I don't know what day it was, but yes, Thursday is the best day. And uh you can help us on Patreon. That's another thing you can do, is support us. We're totally independent, and we're broke. Uh so but thanks mainly for being here every week and listening to us. It really is a pleasure to share this moment with you. And we hope you will tune in to another episode because whether you are breaking down your food order so you can get just the right amount of leciphin, or you're putting goggly eyes on a squirrel, it's important to remember that we all smell like humans. Goodbye, everybody.