A Journey of Music, Family, Travel, Love, and Culinary Adventures with Jesse Hudak

A Journey of Music, Family, Travel, Love, and Culinary Adventures with Jesse Hudak

Join us on a captivating journey as we explore the extraordinary life of Jesse Hudak, a multifaceted individual with a passion for music, history, cars, and all things nerdy. With a big beard, an even bigger heart, and insatiable curiosity, Jesse brings his unique perspective to our podcast. From the Portuguese Holy Ghost Festival to the world of Fado music, from his adventurous culinary endeavors to his love for pizza, Jesse's stories will captivate and entertain. Tune in for an unforgettable experience with a curious and inquisitive wanderer. Get ready to be inspired and entertained in this episode of our podcast!

Bio

Jesse Hudak is a multifaceted individual who wears many hats. From being one of the earliest customers of our Energy Pods to being a self-proclaimed music nerd, history nerd, car nerd, and all-around nerd extraordinaire, Jesse's diverse interests make him a captivating guest. With his big beard, even bigger heart, and insatiable curiosity, he navigates through life as a foodie, friend, and hunger slayer. Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of Jesse, a curious and inquisitive wonderer who brings his unique perspective to our podcast.

Time Stamps 

0:27 Guest intro

0:50 Sponsor message

1:32 Jesse's back story

2:40 What is the Portuguese Holy Ghost Festival?

6:19 Is there a cultural or religious significance to the Holy Ghost Festival?

7:35 How is the Portuguese community different?

10:32 What was schooling like for you?

12:33 What is Fado music?

16:00 The growth of Portuguese immigrants in United States

17:45 What is limerick music?

19:16 When did you get your own guitar?

23:37 What got you into metal guitar?

25:58 What were your first few jobs out of school?

30:23 A Deja Vu story about getting fired!

35:20 Finding the perfect job and lifestyle as an insomniac

39:21 How did you get first introduced to Energy Pods?

41:48 Sponsor message

42:44 How did you get into the culinary world?

47:33 Making a date crust pizza and evolving pizza itself!

48:59 A tale of love and the craziest cross-country trip!

56:53 Final message

58:19 Final plugs

Plugs

Jesse Instagram: jesse (@jessecooksdatflavor) • Instagram photos and videos

KG Food Company: KetoGeek | Official Site – KG Food Company

Shop Energy Pods(Our sponsors): Energy Pods – KG Food Company

Transcript

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Welcome to the Energize Explorer Enjoy Podcast where we bring you inspiring conversations

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about food, fitness and adventure fueled by the power of the energy pods.

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Let's do this!

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Get ready to dive into a fascinating conversation with our guest, Jesse.

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He's not only one of the earliest customers of our energy pods, but also a self-proclaimed

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music nerd, history nerd, car nerd and overall a nerd god.

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With a big beard and even bigger heart and a curious spirit, Jesse takes us on a journey

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of wonder and discovery.

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I've lived in Napa for most of my life.

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I spent a short tent, a tent in American Canyon when I was in my early teens.

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I moved back to Napa, so I've been here for my whole life.

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I grew up on a family farm.

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My dad's parents had a nice big property too.

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So where was it?

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The farm is in Napa.

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It's off of Silverado Trail.

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It's one of the only houses that isn't covered in vineyards out there.

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We had, it was kind of like a ranch.

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It used to be a large horse ranch originally.

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Some famous actor owned it and then my grandpa bought it in 1986 or something like that I think.

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So he kept sheep and goats still do pigs.

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But you know, it was just, it's a nice big property.

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It was a great place to grow up as a kid and then you know, being Portuguese, I have a million

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cousins and family members.

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So we would have these big fesh does.

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The Holy Ghost Festival, basically which is in, I think it was like the last weekend of

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August, kind of like a Portuguese Catholic sort of thing.

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What happens in it?

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So you get there early, you get all these people out and they have some kind of like just religious

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you know, ceremonies like my grandpa would build this little kind of like a small chapel.

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It was like a little modular chapel that he made.

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It was great.

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Every couple years he'd repain it.

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But it was basically a floor with some linoleum on top.

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Just a real basic like two by four for plywood.

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Just a couple of walls of windows and then like a front fascia that had windows and a little

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door and then the back.

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And then a little roof that you drop on it and he would just screw the whole thing together

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and then you'd put, you'd cover the foreign pine needles.

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You know, so it was just like a, like you couldn't see the four at all just covered in pine

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needles like inches thick.

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So you walk in, you walk on that and it smells really like fresh piney and then inside

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there they would have, if I remember correctly, they would have the like a little statue

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representing the father of the son of the Holy Spirit and each, oh you know those crowns.

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They were crowns.

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That's right.

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So yeah, this crown with this kind of like a wand that had, I think I could dove on the

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end of it.

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And so you would kiss the dove and then you'd put it on your forehead and then the priest

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would put one of each crown on your head.

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And that was just like the father of son of the Holy Spirit and then they would have

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these Portuguese bands that would come out and play like photo music which is like Portuguese

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folk.

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And you have the big food section so you'd start everybody go out and handing out sweet

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bread which is kind of like a, the Portuguese bread, kind of like a brioche, sweet eggie,

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you know, really, really good and then glasses of milk on a hot summer day, you know, which

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I love and then you have crackers and stuff and cookies and you know, like, and we have

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this big oak tree, this huge oak tree that's in the property and they would build on hay

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bails and then put like table tops on them and you just have just food like everybody would

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come out.

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You know, we'd have like a hundred something people there.

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Everybody.

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That's crazy.

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Yeah, it was, yeah, just farm is just packed.

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Like we have all these cars, my, you know, in the front of the property, there's a big,

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like a big field.

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And so that's normally where, you know, everything will roam around.

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But then they would put all the goats in the sheep back and stuff like, because like they'd

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never clean up the poop.

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Like everybody would be rolling in, parking and there'd just be like little goat turns

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over the place.

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So people would be walking in from the field, you know, but you carry, you know, everybody

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would be carrying in like large baskets of food and like all this stuff and we'd have like,

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you know, fried sprouts and I had just tons and tons of double eggs and like just all

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the kinds of like great, you know, great Portuguese foods like, you know, really nice potatoes

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and, you know, and like they'd have this like beef.

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It wasn't like quite like corn beef, but sort of, you know, it was delicious.

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There'd be so much random stuff.

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And then you could eat for days and then they would make showpas and that's like the crown

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jewel is this soup and it's beef and cabbage and some spices and it's like a really simple

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thing and then you soak bread in it too.

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So you have this bread that's just soft cooked in and you can just eat just bowls and bowls

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of that stuff.

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You know, my cousins, I would all hang out, play like ghost in the graveyard at night

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time, which is like, you know, you have a couple of teams split up and you've got, you know,

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30 kids run around this farm at night and, you know, some of them would be ghosts and you

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run any tag people and then just like that army gets bigger and bigger until you find

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the last cousin.

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And then there's just great times, you know.

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So I have a question.

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What, like this holiday celebration, like was there like a religious significance to

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like, my knowledge on Christian holidays and all of that stuff is just, I'm a, I'm a

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ducky.

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Yeah, I mean, to be fair, I was never like really super religious.

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I would just go because it was, you know, a family thing when you have everybody there together.

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But, um, I mean, the Holy Ghost festival, it's, I guess it symbolizes something.

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What, what, what is it?

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What does it, what day does it happen?

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Uh, it would routinely happen, I think, on the last Saturday of August, which would usually

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be like the 29th, 30th, you know, somewhere in there, depending on how the day fell in the

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rotation of the seasons.

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Um, yeah, always like the last, last Saturday or Sunday of August, you guys don't do it.

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We have it in a while.

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Um, I am trying to get my, you know, we've all been talking about it because the kids, like

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my mom and my aunt and my uncle, um, we always wanted to get back together to do the X-Milalicle

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is the farm now.

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And so we got to get all the recipes from the grandpa and like get everybody together.

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But there's so many of those folks now are so old.

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I think it would be hard to get some of the newer generation to come out, but everybody

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misses it, you know?

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So like, I don't know, I think it'd be great to keep doing that.

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Were there any influences from the Portuguese culture while you were being raised, were there

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influences as well?

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Was there anything different from like a traditional American family, per se?

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Like the Portuguese community that, that's here in California, especially the older generation

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is very, very tight knit.

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It's like everybody's immigrants, like I'm a first generation Portuguese American, you know?

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And my family would come over, you know, from, from Portugal, we're from the Azores, which

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are the small, the small islands, like in the archipelago, just like in the middle of the,

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of the Atlantic, you know, like lots of hours away from the mainland.

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But, um, everybody is very close, like we used to do the Portuguese organizational stuff,

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like Dan and San Jose, they have a large Portuguese community there and they put on a lot of

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fundraisers and things, but, you know, I think like, like a lot of immigrant culture, everything's

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very tight knit, you know?

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We, the Portuguese are known to be quite good farmers, you know, and hard workers, so there's

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just, there's a lot of that hard working generation.

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I will say there's a lot of wool, everybody wears wool, and, uh, I don't know, exactly the

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significance of that is aside from it being warm, and I guess having an abundance of sheep

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around, I suppose that would make sense.

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But, you know, everybody's very generous, very loving, you know, we, we, you know, spent

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a lot of time, you know, cooking in the kitchen together and making large quantities of food

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because Portuguese families usually tend to run, run deep.

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A lot of Portuguese people, especially, you know, some of the older generation above me,

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are very, like, kind of conservative in manner.

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Everybody, like, so party, everybody has a good time, but, you know, like, the men are usually

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just dressed very formal at the time, like, always wearing suits, or like, buttoned up,

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flannel, button up, wool shirts, like, button up, you know, linen shirts, and like, pressed

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dockers and, like, you know, loafers and stuff like that.

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So it's just kind of like a very, you know, like, I can only spot a Portuguese guy when I

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see him.

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You know, um, yeah, the culture is very interesting.

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There's a lot of influence because, like, you know, the people who originally were in,

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like, the Portuguese land were kind of like, Celtic, like, Highlanders, like, sort of, like,

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kind of, Viking-ish, but not, not really.

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You know, and then there was a lot of trade at the Middle East and, like, with Spain and

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Africa.

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And so, there's a lot of adaptation from other cultures there.

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You know, the Portuguese empire was so big at one point that, you know, it's like, just,

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you know, amassed a lot.

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Kind of the family stuff and, like, always trying to help friends when you can.

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That was always a big, a big thing, like, you know, to quote letter-cending when a friend

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asked for help, you know, and I just, I went and visited my grandparents today and it was,

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it was really nice.

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I then needed some matches and some napkins.

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So my grandma lights lots of candles, so I got her 900.

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I told her she'll ask you a couple of days.

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So moving on from your, sort of, childhood, like, how was your schooling like for you?

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You know, I loved elementary school.

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I went to Vischee Elementary.

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It was great.

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Some of my most formative teachers were there.

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Mr. Savani, my sixth grade teacher.

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Guys, fantastic.

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Tell me so much.

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What stood out about him?

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He really listened and, like, paid attention to the students.

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And, you know, like, I remember some days, I wasn't really at TA, but some days I just,

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I didn't really feel like being outside so much.

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But I'd want to just hang out in his room on my lunch break and, like, we'd talk about

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music.

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He showed me Queen for the first...

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Oh, the band.

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The band Queen?

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Yeah.

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Yeah, we will rock you.

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You know, I remember you played that for me in class.

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Remember being so, like, I was cleaning desks and, like, the rhythm, whatever rhythm I created,

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like, cleaning the desk.

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The ones that had the lids that flip up in your container.

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Yeah, yeah.

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You know, I'm just, I guess, in whatever method I was shutting them.

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And he was like, that sounds like Queen.

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You know, and I was like, what's that?

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And so, yeah, he showed me them.

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Historically, he was great.

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Like, he taught stuff that was outside some of, you know, the normative school crapper.

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They, you know, they teach a bunch of BS.

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Like, it seemed like he was teaching more of, like, the real, you know, kind of true historian

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knowledge.

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So it was a history teacher.

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Well, so, you know, like, in sixth grade, you still have one teacher that taught you everything,

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right?

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So, like, a little bit of English, a little bit of math, you know, some science, geography,

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history, like that.

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And, you know, like that kind of stuff.

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So he was like a all in one sort of teacher.

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But yeah, his history knowledge was great.

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And like, when we were studying Egypt, like, he got some papyrus, like actual papyrus material

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so that we could practice writing higher glyphics on, like, legit papyrus, which I, that's

210
00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,000
crazy, dude.

211
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,000
Yeah, I love that.

212
00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,000
That was, I, yeah.

213
00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,600
Do you know, do you still know how I wrote, like, hieroglyphics to some extent?

214
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,840
No, I haven't practiced that in a long time.

215
00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:28,760
But I mean, I love runes and I love higher glyphs and like, you know, that kind of stuff,

216
00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:33,520
like one of my guitars, when I got really into just viking mythology and all that, I have

217
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,520
runes carved into, how do you double the guitars?

218
00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:37,800
How did you get into music?

219
00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,760
Was that to, to the teachers inspiration or something else?

220
00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:42,160
Um, no, I'd always been into music.

221
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:48,760
And my grandfather, he, you know, he played guitar and he was a photo musician, which was

222
00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:49,760
that mean?

223
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:54,800
Uh, so he, he played guitar in a Portuguese photo band and it's, um, it's like Portuguese

224
00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:55,800
folk.

225
00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:56,800
It's, uh, it's really interesting.

226
00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:01,080
There's a lot of aspects to photo music, but like, a lot of it is, is very kind of like,

227
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:02,080
solemn.

228
00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,800
Like, it's like the heartbreak of the Portuguese people, you know, a lot of, like, it's from

229
00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,160
the mainland and, and the islands.

230
00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,280
Um, but it's funny because like, the photo musicians then used to be like the bad boys,

231
00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:18,400
like, you know, my grandpa, he was trying to get my, my grandmother to go out with them

232
00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:21,880
for the longest time and her parents just like, we're like, no, like, he's a photo guy.

233
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:22,880
He's a bad boy, you know?

234
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,960
Like, don't go out with him, but he's, you know, like, he's super sweet.

235
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:29,920
He did have a bit of a temper growing up, but, so, so give me an example.

236
00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,360
Like, what's it like to, what kind of instruments do you guys play in that kind of music?

237
00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:38,520
Um, so each island has its own version of a guitar of my, the island that my family's

238
00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,040
from Tosheda, they have a 15 string guitar.

239
00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:42,040
Like, normally, it's Christ.

240
00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:43,040
Jesus Christ.

241
00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:44,760
A lot of times you'll see like a 12 string.

242
00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:45,760
Yeah.

243
00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,120
Where you have the normal six strings, but then you have the sympathetic strings that

244
00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:57,240
go with it, um, but on the 15 string, you have, on, I think it was like the four low strings

245
00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:01,720
and I have, I think I have one of his 15, I do have one of his 15 string guitars.

246
00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:07,760
Um, you have three strings for, I think, three of the top strings and then two for the

247
00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,480
high, the high strings.

248
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,480
And so that was like for the lead instrument when you play the 15 string and you get this

249
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:20,120
really full rich, you know, kind of like drony sort of sound for the big chords and he would

250
00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:23,920
pluck, you know, very fast and almost kind of do solos and things like that.

251
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:26,960
And then you have the rhythm players who play like a regular six stringer.

252
00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:32,400
Um, there's mandalins and then like normal eight string mandalins and then they have this

253
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:37,520
other instrument that I, I think it's a mandolin, but I don't remember what the name of it

254
00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:43,280
specifically, but it has, I think 10 or 12 strings, but it has these really weird little

255
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:48,440
tuners that are kind of like little straight knobs that attach to this really, really crazy

256
00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,640
curly headstock, like way more than like a, a, how a violin is curved.

257
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:57,680
This is, they're super trippy looking and it's, it kind of has like a really deep gourd

258
00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,880
shape to it, I suppose.

259
00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:05,520
Um, but yeah, they're really cool and then you have the singers usually male or, you know,

260
00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:07,720
female, depending.

261
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:08,720
And percussions.

262
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,920
Yeah, there's some percussion, not as much though.

263
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,360
Um, it's mostly stringed instruments.

264
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:20,720
Sometimes you have a bass, but, uh, yeah, I can't, I can't think of much fato that has percussion

265
00:15:20,720 --> 00:15:22,200
in it, to be honest with you.

266
00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:24,640
And what kind of music do they kind of like focus on?

267
00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:27,440
What kind of vocals or lyrics do they focus on?

268
00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:35,360
So a lot of the lyrics kind of focus on like beauty, love, you know, that kind of stuff.

269
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:40,440
And then there's a lot of like heartbreak or like feeling homesick, you know, a lot of

270
00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:44,760
the sailors would sing like the kind of like the homesick, fottos and things of that sort.

271
00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:49,000
Um, and then, you know, like the photo for the people in the mainland, like in the 50s and

272
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,840
60s that moved to the US, like the, you know, they talked about reminiscent because they

273
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:57,480
left a dictatorship that was just, you know, terrible at the time.

274
00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:03,960
Kennedy allowed the Portuguese people, like almost like a free pass to come over here to

275
00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:08,880
escape the dictatorship, you know, like a refugee acceptance type thing.

276
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:13,400
And then I think in the 90s, the dictatorship fell and it's much better now.

277
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,720
There was after the dictatorship fell was very, very rough over there.

278
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:22,240
You know, all of a sudden you have like this huge explosion of like drug problems and things

279
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:28,440
like that because like you couldn't even accidentally litter or like, you know, speed or or

280
00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:29,920
J walk or anything like that.

281
00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,080
Like the government was so strict.

282
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,160
My grandpa was telling me about that.

283
00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:35,160
That's crazy.

284
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,880
Um, yeah, he came here in the 60s.

285
00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,640
A lot of Portuguese immigrants came in the 60s.

286
00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:42,000
Came in the right time.

287
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:43,000
Yeah.

288
00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:44,000
Yeah.

289
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:48,000
Yeah, so many of them were farmers and stuff too and like, you know, a lot of the dairy farms

290
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,760
in the, in the Central Valley in California are a lot of them are Portuguese.

291
00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:56,760
Unlike you'd have, you'd have a sponsorship where someone would vouch for you to come over

292
00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,760
and then they would basically get you a work placement program.

293
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:04,000
And a lot of these dairies, they would have like little trailers or something like that

294
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,320
for the people to live in and you would still get one to two meals a day and you'd still

295
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:09,720
get paid.

296
00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,880
So like a lot of these early farmers, they'd be stacking money, working and not having to

297
00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:15,880
spend that much.

298
00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,920
And then you could take that money and you could send it back to Portugal to get somebody

299
00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,720
else to come back over here, you know, and do that.

300
00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:23,720
That's what my grandpa did.

301
00:17:23,720 --> 00:17:30,800
He can and work for some, uh, I think it was a German family making church pews and was

302
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:35,760
just sending money back to Portugal every week and then eventually got my grandma, my mom,

303
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:41,840
her twin brother and my younger aunt with us to come over.

304
00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:44,920
But, uh, yeah, like it's just, it's a lot of love, Lauren.

305
00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:50,600
And then you have the Limericks, which are kind of like the Jokey kind of Portuguese songs

306
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,200
and a lot of really dirty stuff like that, you know, like it's funny.

307
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:59,360
It's like, my every time we have a little family, uh, get together, we get my grandparents

308
00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:05,400
to sing some of the old songs and then sometimes they'll do the Limericks and, you know, they'll

309
00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:08,560
be translating them and, you know, some of them are pretty filthy.

310
00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:09,560
It's really funny.

311
00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:14,760
It can't, is it as sort of like, sort of like dirty rap music or something like that?

312
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:20,000
Uh, yeah, I mean, there was, there was, my aunt was trying to translate one of the, uh, one

313
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:21,000
of the songs.

314
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,960
It came out to be something about squirting or something like that.

315
00:18:23,960 --> 00:18:26,840
It was just like, hey, my grandma is singing it.

316
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:28,240
You know, it's just the sweetest thing.

317
00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:29,240
It's so funny.

318
00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:34,560
But yeah, and she's, she's singing some lyrics about squirting or something.

319
00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:36,480
It's hilarious.

320
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:41,560
My girlfriend was, she was laughing so hard when that finally made it around the table.

321
00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:43,080
That's what that song is about.

322
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:44,080
Damn.

323
00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,280
Is it singing like the Portuguese language or was it?

324
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:47,280
Yeah.

325
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:48,280
Yeah, yeah, saying the Portuguese language.

326
00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:51,280
So you guys had to literally translate that to understand it was a dirty song?

327
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:52,280
Yeah.

328
00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:53,280
Yeah.

329
00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:54,760
Like, there's, you know, I understand a little bit of it.

330
00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:59,320
I wish that I knew more, but yeah, a lot of that more advanced stuff or slang and, yeah,

331
00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,280
I don't know all that stuff these days, but I'm, I'm working on trying to learn it again.

332
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:04,280
Sounds great.

333
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:09,760
So that's how you got first introduced into like hardcore music per se.

334
00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,280
Was that when you purchased your first guitar when you, uh, were sort of, uh, with your

335
00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:15,280
grandparents and stuff like that?

336
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:16,800
Yeah, I was 11.

337
00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:20,400
Uh, you know, I always kind of fooled around on his guitars when I was younger and then

338
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,800
I finally wanted one of my own.

339
00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:26,560
I remember when I was a kid, I used to, my grandpa's a carpenter and so we always have like

340
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:27,680
wooden stuff for him.

341
00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:32,160
So I'd make little instruments like with rubber bands and nails and, you know, like make

342
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,040
a little three-string playing, like music, you know?

343
00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,240
And, uh, yeah, my dad bought me my first guitar.

344
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:43,640
It was a blue Johnson acoustic off eBay for like 70 bucks back in the day.

345
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,960
How old were you when you bought that?

346
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,760
I was, I was, I was either 10 or 11.

347
00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:51,560
I don't remember exactly, but around that age, it's seventh grade.

348
00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:54,800
And, uh, yeah, I learned, I learned some music.

349
00:19:54,800 --> 00:20:00,360
My dad made recording of my sister and I playing, like some Elvis songs and like some other

350
00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:02,520
just like jangles and stuff like that.

351
00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:04,920
And my dad got a little microphone and recorded it.

352
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:09,560
And then I think a year later, I got an acoustic guitar, also an eBay for like 100 bucks.

353
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:10,880
I still have that guitar.

354
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:13,400
My mom has the, the, the Johnson.

355
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,720
Yeah, and then I got my BC Rich after that in eighth grade.

356
00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:18,360
It was a metal master's pack.

357
00:20:18,360 --> 00:20:19,360
Shit.

358
00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:20,360
Yeah.

359
00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:21,360
And that's, that's a legit guitar.

360
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:22,360
Yeah.

361
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:23,360
That's the one I carved all the roots at.

362
00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:26,000
At age grade, you're able to get a BC Rich.

363
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:27,000
That's insane.

364
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:28,000
Yeah.

365
00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,200
Can you explain to people like tell, like explain to people what BC Rich is, by the way?

366
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:32,200
Yeah.

367
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:37,600
So BC Rich, they, they make a lot of extreme, you know, styled guitars.

368
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:42,120
And I mean, they have some, they have some regular looking ones, but they're very notorious

369
00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:45,160
for their extreme pointy, you know, crazy guitars.

370
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:50,120
And I remember being like, you know, a little 10 year old, 11 year old metalhead and seeing

371
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:51,120
that.

372
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:53,000
That's my jam right there.

373
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,440
And yeah, it was, it was like a $150 metal master pack.

374
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,080
It came with a little amplifier.

375
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,040
I got it at guitar center.

376
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:02,760
And to this day, I still play a thing a bunch.

377
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:06,400
And it's funny because the neck that's on there should not have been on my guitar.

378
00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:11,200
That neck is way nicer than which it have ever been on a little cheapo starter kit guitar.

379
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:16,160
But, yeah, the Warlock, you know, it's funny because it's, it's all pointy, but it is still

380
00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,360
one of the most comfortable, comfortable guitars that I've ever played.

381
00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:24,960
And then, sitting down, you've got the two like big spikes that come off the bottom.

382
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,320
And that part just like cradles your thigh perfectly.

383
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,360
And then the other spike sits in your lap, like just right.

384
00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:35,360
And it's such a good playing angle for sitting down without having to worry about holding it

385
00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:38,400
up or, you know, always adjusting your strap and stuff.

386
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:39,400
It's great.

387
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,600
And you started to upgrade your rig from that point onward.

388
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:46,240
Dude, I remember when I got my first guitar, I was racing Pakistan.

389
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:47,240
Yeah.

390
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:48,240
I'd just fight for my guitar.

391
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:49,240
Oh, yeah.

392
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,360
It's not a thing that people really liked.

393
00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:53,440
And I couldn't play it super loud either.

394
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:54,440
Yeah.

395
00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,720
So, man, I remember my first electric guitar was something that was totally unbranded.

396
00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,480
I don't even remember what it was.

397
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:05,840
But the first guitar I got was also an unbranded acoustic guitar.

398
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,320
Probably something that was like, I don't know, 30, 40 bucks tops, the best case in area.

399
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:16,240
But, man, I think that there's a solid connection you form when you first play your guitar and

400
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,240
then you're like, wow, I can do that.

401
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:19,240
That's awesome.

402
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,640
But then you before you know it, you're spending like a full day just playing that thing for

403
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:24,640
eight hours straight.

404
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:25,640
Was that what happened with you?

405
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:26,640
Oh, yeah.

406
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:33,360
Yeah, like it, I didn't get super serious with it until I was maybe like late eighth grade,

407
00:22:33,360 --> 00:22:36,840
early ninth grade, you know, before I would just kind of like putts around and do like some

408
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:38,360
chords here and there.

409
00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:42,200
But yeah, like I remember that feeling of like getting your first couple of chords down

410
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,440
and you're just like, I can make some decent sound right now, you know?

411
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:47,440
This is great.

412
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:52,040
Yeah, like I didn't, like I was like, I know I wanted to play metal when I was in like seventh

413
00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:56,720
grade, but my guitars that I had are my amps, like I didn't have a distortion pedal.

414
00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:00,360
I didn't have like anything like that made that metal sound.

415
00:23:00,360 --> 00:23:07,000
I remember that Johnson, I had this, I had like a, with a canteen and the canteen had these

416
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:08,840
metal clips on it.

417
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,760
And I would put the metal clips on the strings like down by the bridge and you'd play it

418
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:15,000
and it would sound all distorted and I was like, all right, cool.

419
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:20,600
Like, I know this isn't quite it, but like to me, like this is like kind of a distorted

420
00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,080
metal sound and then I remember trying to play like some pantera on it or something like

421
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,720
that, you know, I was like, all right, we're getting there.

422
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:32,000
What were some of the bands that really influenced your early play style and got you kickstarted

423
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:33,560
into metal?

424
00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:40,880
Um, Rush and Metallica were huge, even though I could like at that time playing that stuff

425
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:42,960
was like unfathomable to me.

426
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:49,280
But, uh, yeah, I remember like listening to 2112 and like master puppets when I was in

427
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:55,320
seventh grade and eighth grade and then like pantera came out and I remember my friend JT,

428
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:58,960
I had like, I had been listening to like Lincoln Park and like disturbed and like, you know,

429
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:03,120
system of down and corn and like that kind of stuff and I was into like that kind of heavy,

430
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:08,240
like, you know, new metal sound but not like Limpus getting that kind of crap.

431
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:10,680
Limpus getting what's not metal, man.

432
00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:14,760
Yeah, no, no, the hard rock, the rock, whatever.

433
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:18,440
Yeah, but, you know, and then like static X is interesting.

434
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:22,640
I was like, never, there's never super into static X, but I was like, all right, this is kind

435
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:24,520
of like, I kind of like this.

436
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,680
And then I remember my friend JT comes running up to me and he had some headphones, he's

437
00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:28,680
like, dude, check this out.

438
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:33,960
And then I just feel the headphones like close on my ears and I hear the, no, no, no, no,

439
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:39,320
no, no, no, like the entry riff to walk by pantera and like, I know, I know there's a lot

440
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:43,480
of controversy with that right now, whatever, because they're all douchebags, but time

441
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,160
eggs don't.

442
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:52,920
But I get hearing that at that time, I was just like, that is, that's what's up.

443
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,240
And then he just, and then he like, rips the headphones off my head and just like dips out

444
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,720
and like, so the next day at school, I come back and like, what was that?

445
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:00,720
And he's like, oh, that was pantera.

446
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:01,720
And I was like, that's six.

447
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,920
I went and I got a pantera album.

448
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:05,520
And Allison Chains, too.

449
00:25:05,520 --> 00:25:11,080
Allison Chains is huge and they're still, still such a big part of what I like now in music.

450
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,120
Yeah, I love Allison Chains.

451
00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:17,760
Yeah, just delving into metal from there like ninth grade, tenth grade.

452
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:22,760
I started getting it more into like death metal, black metal, getting into some, you know,

453
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:27,280
some of the extreme stuff and like, I, the metal encyclopedia website, like I remember

454
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:33,640
when I found that in maybe junior year, I'd be up all night on the metal encyclopedia

455
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:37,680
website and just like finding bands from all these different countries and like, you know,

456
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,200
really getting into some rabbit holes with that kind of stuff.

457
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:46,240
And, you know, my buddy Cody and Corey, too, we would be sending each other music.

458
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,440
And I'd do check this out or check this out.

459
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,240
Just finding all this awesome shit.

460
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,560
So let's move away from school.

461
00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:53,560
What happened after schooling?

462
00:25:53,560 --> 00:25:59,960
Well, so when I was in New Tech, I started working and I started working for Minimand Press,

463
00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:01,360
which those my internship.

464
00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:03,000
What, what, what, what was that again?

465
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:04,000
Minimand Press.

466
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,880
They're like, it's like a franchise print store.

467
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:07,880
Okay.

468
00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:14,000
But my dad was friends with Don Krieger, the owner of the one that was here in Napa and I

469
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,000
needed an internship.

470
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:20,320
So I started going there and then shortly after, they're like, you know, we like you.

471
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:21,320
Let's hire you.

472
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:26,200
I've been doing graphic design in class and I always thought the kind of stuff was fun.

473
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:35,000
So I would do graphic design with them and help design, you know, menus for restaurants and

474
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,280
stuff like that, business cards and things.

475
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,520
And I would do a lot of the production work, too.

476
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:41,320
And there's Gallagolora that worked there.

477
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,920
So it's like 50 year old lady and here I have like 17 year old.

478
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,560
We just be chatted up, excuse me, kind of like my little office friend.

479
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:52,200
And we do production like we had this giant paper slicer dude that had like an eight inch

480
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:53,700
razor on it.

481
00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:58,860
And you could put maybe like 2000 sheets of paper and it would just slice your like butter,

482
00:26:58,860 --> 00:27:00,180
you know, and just do all this good.

483
00:27:00,180 --> 00:27:03,620
And all these lasers and stuff on it to keep you from putting your hands in there.

484
00:27:03,620 --> 00:27:06,980
But Laura and I would fuck around with that thing and like try to figure out ways to get past

485
00:27:06,980 --> 00:27:07,980
the lasers.

486
00:27:07,980 --> 00:27:11,940
But you have to have like, there's two buttons on either side and you have to press both

487
00:27:11,940 --> 00:27:12,940
buttons with each hand.

488
00:27:12,940 --> 00:27:13,940
So it's like, all right, cool.

489
00:27:13,940 --> 00:27:17,500
So we know your hands are here and then you had to put your feet on these pedals and

490
00:27:17,500 --> 00:27:20,980
then if one thing lost connection, then it would stop immediately.

491
00:27:20,980 --> 00:27:23,580
But we'd fuck around try to do shit with that.

492
00:27:23,580 --> 00:27:31,020
And then yeah, went from working there to, I think I was like working at Cucco like selling

493
00:27:31,020 --> 00:27:36,180
knives or something like that for like a little summer after high school job.

494
00:27:36,180 --> 00:27:42,140
And then I started working for Stenson Engineers.

495
00:27:42,140 --> 00:27:44,940
That was a water resource firm in Santa Fell.

496
00:27:44,940 --> 00:27:48,340
And one of my buddies his mom hired me out.

497
00:27:48,340 --> 00:27:51,620
I was like an accountant administrator, assistant or something like that.

498
00:27:51,620 --> 00:27:58,040
I would basically just fold giant water table maps and like file paperwork and just do goofy

499
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:59,040
stuff.

500
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:04,560
I would, there was a couple people in that office that were just like, such the biggest

501
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,960
deal does to you.

502
00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:11,960
This guy that would come in and he would complain about going over budget and like yelling

503
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:13,760
at the Accounting Administrator Department.

504
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,300
But he had like a clear budget and he would always go over it and then come back and yell

505
00:28:18,300 --> 00:28:19,620
at the Accounting Department.

506
00:28:19,620 --> 00:28:23,460
So like, you know, and the administrator, the manager, she was like my friend.

507
00:28:23,460 --> 00:28:26,460
And I was like, you know, screw this guy for the Jackass.

508
00:28:26,460 --> 00:28:28,300
And it happened like every week.

509
00:28:28,300 --> 00:28:34,580
So occasionally I would be tasked with earthquake proofing like bookcases and stuff like that.

510
00:28:34,580 --> 00:28:37,740
And they're like, oh, you have to put these new, you know, supports up because these are

511
00:28:37,740 --> 00:28:40,060
the new code ones or whatever.

512
00:28:40,060 --> 00:28:45,700
And so I would go into this guy's office and maybe we should black out with company

513
00:28:45,700 --> 00:28:46,700
and analysis.

514
00:28:46,700 --> 00:28:52,200
They've got this guy's office and I would, hey, I got to put these new, you know, these

515
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:53,200
new things up.

516
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,180
And they'd be like, okay, I think they did that last week.

517
00:28:56,180 --> 00:28:57,900
I'm like, yeah, they changed it again.

518
00:28:57,900 --> 00:29:02,820
And then I'd like put like sheets of cheese like behind his bookcase and then bolt them back

519
00:29:02,820 --> 00:29:03,820
up.

520
00:29:03,820 --> 00:29:06,340
So it would start to think anything.

521
00:29:06,340 --> 00:29:08,940
And just be like, what the hell is going on here?

522
00:29:08,940 --> 00:29:11,580
Can you check find the bookcase for like whatever you look to see?

523
00:29:11,580 --> 00:29:12,580
I was nothing back here.

524
00:29:12,580 --> 00:29:17,540
I just have like, I don't know, just give you a little prank stuff around the office and

525
00:29:17,540 --> 00:29:20,820
then put like little posts and notes that have arrows pointing to stuff.

526
00:29:20,820 --> 00:29:24,900
But then there'd, you know, be nothing there and people would follow the arrows like just

527
00:29:24,900 --> 00:29:26,700
mindlessly around the office for a little while.

528
00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:27,700
That was pretty funny.

529
00:29:27,700 --> 00:29:31,820
I remember getting like, listening to a lot of hip hop when I was working there too.

530
00:29:31,820 --> 00:29:35,860
Like, there's always listen to a tribe called Quest, the far side.

531
00:29:35,860 --> 00:29:39,820
Because it was just like good music to like move around and just do kind of like mindless

532
00:29:39,820 --> 00:29:40,820
stuff too, you know?

533
00:29:40,820 --> 00:29:46,900
Yeah, digging really deep into like early East Coast and like some early Southern stuff and

534
00:29:46,900 --> 00:29:49,060
then of course all like the California classics too.

535
00:29:49,060 --> 00:29:50,460
Yeah, I always think of that.

536
00:29:50,460 --> 00:29:55,020
Like whenever I don't know, I just have so many memories of being in this far room listening

537
00:29:55,020 --> 00:29:59,860
to the low end theory by tribe called Quest and like that always brings me memories of being

538
00:29:59,860 --> 00:30:00,860
back there.

539
00:30:00,860 --> 00:30:03,860
You're gonna be one of those people who lives by music and dies by music?

540
00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:07,420
Oh yeah, it's always been a huge part of my life.

541
00:30:07,420 --> 00:30:12,380
So after that job, what happened after that?

542
00:30:12,380 --> 00:30:17,500
So I got laid off from that job and it was a crazy thing about that and I know we were kind

543
00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:23,940
of talking a little bit earlier about like prior to the podcast but like deja vu and dreams

544
00:30:23,940 --> 00:30:26,660
and like kind of like psychic stuff.

545
00:30:26,660 --> 00:30:29,020
I'm gonna take a quick detour here.

546
00:30:29,020 --> 00:30:31,340
This is related to this story.

547
00:30:31,340 --> 00:30:37,780
But when I was like just when I wasn't sleeping a lot and I'd be on this kind of like other

548
00:30:37,780 --> 00:30:42,100
plane and like dreams and like deja vu or such a powerful thing and they still are for

549
00:30:42,100 --> 00:30:43,100
me.

550
00:30:43,100 --> 00:30:50,180
But I had a dream that I was packing up my desk at that office and then I wake up the next

551
00:30:50,180 --> 00:30:54,060
day and I used to carpool with my boss because she lived here in Napa too.

552
00:30:54,060 --> 00:30:57,380
And I remember just like kind of like waking up and like I was just like was that?

553
00:30:57,380 --> 00:31:02,180
I was like packing up my stuff and I didn't even have stuff at my desk but just like metaphorically

554
00:31:02,180 --> 00:31:03,180
in my head.

555
00:31:03,180 --> 00:31:07,420
I'm putting everything in this little container, you know and like my friend's mom's like

556
00:31:07,420 --> 00:31:10,660
upset, you know and everybody's like kind of waving by to me.

557
00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:16,740
So I walked to her house and like we would leave at like 7.35 like on the dot.

558
00:31:16,740 --> 00:31:21,460
I get to her house around like 7.15 7.20 because I'd get in there and make coffee while she's

559
00:31:21,460 --> 00:31:24,460
finishing getting ready and we have a little bit of coffee and just say you know good morning

560
00:31:24,460 --> 00:31:30,340
and whatnot and then hop in the car and go and it's like 7.35 she's still kind of like

561
00:31:30,340 --> 00:31:35,300
in her PJs and like I'm just like what's going on and she's like oh you know we're not

562
00:31:35,300 --> 00:31:36,300
rushing today.

563
00:31:36,300 --> 00:31:37,300
That's it.

564
00:31:37,300 --> 00:31:38,300
Okay.

565
00:31:38,300 --> 00:31:44,100
Start feeling kind of weird and it's like now it's 8.15 she's sort of kind of getting ready

566
00:31:44,100 --> 00:31:45,100
but not really.

567
00:31:45,100 --> 00:31:50,180
I'm like is there something but she's no no and then she sits down and she's like right

568
00:31:50,180 --> 00:31:51,180
I gotta talk to you.

569
00:31:51,180 --> 00:31:54,980
It's like okay she's like we we had to lay you off yesterday.

570
00:31:54,980 --> 00:32:00,940
I was at work the day before you know and like nobody said anything I had no inkling though

571
00:32:00,940 --> 00:32:01,940
this is going to happen.

572
00:32:01,940 --> 00:32:02,940
Nobody said nothing.

573
00:32:02,940 --> 00:32:05,740
Nobody is acting weird they all keep it very under wraps.

574
00:32:05,740 --> 00:32:07,940
Like we have to lay you off.

575
00:32:07,940 --> 00:32:12,040
And I was like that's crazy because I had a dream about that last night that was like packing

576
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:13,320
my desk up you know.

577
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:14,320
She's like what?

578
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:15,820
She's like did you hear something?

579
00:32:15,820 --> 00:32:19,140
I was like no I didn't hear shit but yeah and then I just started like noticing stuff

580
00:32:19,140 --> 00:32:22,860
like that a lot more like I'd be dreaming about things and like you know I'd see stuff

581
00:32:22,860 --> 00:32:23,860
a little bit later on.

582
00:32:23,860 --> 00:32:28,100
I know it sounds kind of crazy but it's just it's just an interesting thing.

583
00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:32,500
So no segue I got laid off of that.

584
00:32:32,500 --> 00:32:37,940
And yeah and then after that I see after that I remember having a really hard time finding

585
00:32:37,940 --> 00:32:42,700
a job for a while and I was sharing an apartment with my buddy my mom has helped me pay rent

586
00:32:42,700 --> 00:32:47,420
and I felt garbage about it but like you know I don't know just the job market of that

587
00:32:47,420 --> 00:32:50,700
time was tough I couldn't even get a job with McDonald's and I was just like what years

588
00:32:50,700 --> 00:32:51,700
was this?

589
00:32:51,700 --> 00:32:53,700
This is like oh wait oh nine.

590
00:32:53,700 --> 00:32:57,740
Oh yeah our country wasn't in the cans at that time.

591
00:32:57,740 --> 00:33:01,260
Yeah maybe maybe maybe between 2009 and 2010.

592
00:33:01,260 --> 00:33:05,020
Yeah that wasn't 20 yet so yeah it was between oh wait no nine.

593
00:33:05,020 --> 00:33:07,220
Yeah dude I couldn't even get a job with McDonald's.

594
00:33:07,220 --> 00:33:13,180
Yeah I'm like I remember that just being like rough like I remember going to interview and

595
00:33:13,180 --> 00:33:19,860
where I wore a blood enough shirt and a tie and some decent pants and McDonald's and couldn't

596
00:33:19,860 --> 00:33:20,860
get the job.

597
00:33:20,860 --> 00:33:24,700
I remember they called me like a couple days later and like yeah sorry we're not gonna hire

598
00:33:24,700 --> 00:33:25,700
you.

599
00:33:25,700 --> 00:33:30,060
You know I'm like I'm a decent smart dude I'm a hard worker like why couldn't I get a job

600
00:33:30,060 --> 00:33:34,660
flipping burgers and like or you know taking out the trash or whatever and that I'm

601
00:33:34,660 --> 00:33:41,020
ever being rough and then shortly after that I had a temporary job at a farm up on Mount

602
00:33:41,020 --> 00:33:43,940
Vieter and that was pretty crazy.

603
00:33:43,940 --> 00:33:49,020
We'd go up there and it was yeah it was nice it was this little lady she was like a caretaker

604
00:33:49,020 --> 00:33:53,020
and then there was this other older guy that was a caretaker and it was like some families

605
00:33:53,020 --> 00:33:58,020
house and then they had a farm on it and so we'd go up there we tend to the garden and

606
00:33:58,020 --> 00:34:02,780
we do stuff around the property like we had to build like some chicken fence because

607
00:34:02,780 --> 00:34:07,100
the mountains were getting in and snaps and the chickens and that happened on a lunch break

608
00:34:07,100 --> 00:34:08,100
too.

609
00:34:08,100 --> 00:34:12,620
And so just about how to done we stopped for lunch break we walk up and all of a sudden

610
00:34:12,620 --> 00:34:17,300
we hear this huge like herfuffle and then run back down there and sure enough there's

611
00:34:17,300 --> 00:34:22,740
chicken just got ripped shreds like some online hopped like that one little gap that we

612
00:34:22,740 --> 00:34:27,100
had left up top you know and hindsight we should have finished it but they're like this

613
00:34:27,100 --> 00:34:32,380
lady was like strict about like one chip 12 you know like we don't go a minute over yeah

614
00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:36,300
like I'm oh do there's this long that I had to mo and it was like after it rained and

615
00:34:36,300 --> 00:34:43,660
there's huge slope like big giant lawn and it was all sloped and you know I'm sitting

616
00:34:43,660 --> 00:34:48,780
there well not sitting and I was like pushing the lawnmower up and then coming back down

617
00:34:48,780 --> 00:34:53,860
the hill with sketch balls because like you got this mower in front of me that's self-powered

618
00:34:53,860 --> 00:35:01,180
and I'm trying not to slide down this hill while I'm holding this mower back and it's

619
00:35:01,180 --> 00:35:05,060
like slick and all I could think of was like sliding forward my foot going under the

620
00:35:05,060 --> 00:35:09,060
bottom back half of the mower and just like getting mulled by that blade and I was like but

621
00:35:09,060 --> 00:35:12,660
then if you spread your feet out too wide to avoid the mower then it's just like you can't

622
00:35:12,660 --> 00:35:18,140
walk like that and I was I don't know it was that that was crazy so then that was just a

623
00:35:18,140 --> 00:35:22,940
temp job on my way back and I spent all my last like paycheck on groceries to last me a

624
00:35:22,940 --> 00:35:28,260
little bit my buddy Allen was next to me in traffic and he's like hey come check on my

625
00:35:28,260 --> 00:35:32,060
new apartment so I go over there hang out with him for a few minutes okay you're looking

626
00:35:32,060 --> 00:35:37,180
for a job I'm like yeah actually I am he's like well I've been working nice shift in the bakery

627
00:35:37,180 --> 00:35:41,740
but I'm about to become a baker and my Jolute my delivery positions open and I actually

628
00:35:41,740 --> 00:35:45,420
kind of recommended you for the job ready so why don't you go check that out and so I

629
00:35:45,420 --> 00:35:53,140
walk in and I'm like my the old boss Ann who is Tom Severs daughter Tom Severs was a famous

630
00:35:53,140 --> 00:35:57,860
baseball player at some point I'm not a big sports guy but I thought that was pretty good

631
00:35:57,860 --> 00:36:06,020
I know I know this our product our energy pods what's her name Ann Severs yeah so yeah as a

632
00:36:06,020 --> 00:36:11,460
studio right right yeah so yeah so they shall of our energy pods over there so we just

633
00:36:11,460 --> 00:36:17,020
kind of awesome oh that's cool yeah she used to be my boss at the bakery what a small world

634
00:36:17,020 --> 00:36:22,700
man yeah she hired me she's she's cool yeah she's very cool lady yeah I like her a lot so

635
00:36:22,700 --> 00:36:28,060
yeah I walk in there I'm like hi I'd like to apply for a job and she's like oh we don't have any

636
00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:32,500
positions open I was like oh I was my buddy Allen just told me to come down here she's like oh

637
00:36:32,500 --> 00:36:37,660
your Allen's friend come on it and yeah they're like do you have a driver's license I'm like yeah

638
00:36:37,660 --> 00:36:41,460
she's like do you have a clean record it's like yeah I have like maybe a speeding ticket or two she's

639
00:36:41,460 --> 00:36:47,500
like okay you want to start tonight I like 2 a.m. I was like okay and I had plans with my buddy

640
00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:54,700
that day too afterwards my friend Aaron that I used to play music with he signed us up for like this

641
00:36:54,700 --> 00:37:03,100
mushroom foraging class in Mill Valley and so yeah oh sorry I wasn't that and I was the day afterwards

642
00:37:03,100 --> 00:37:07,380
see I Aaron my buddy Aaron picks me up with drive out to Mill Valley and we come back in the evening

643
00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:12,340
and I think I took a quick little map and then got up and went to the bakery and started my first

644
00:37:12,340 --> 00:37:17,220
shift and it's funny the guy that was working that night and he was supposed to train me it was

645
00:37:17,220 --> 00:37:21,860
dude that I went to middle school with an American canyon and I'm like looking through the window I'm

646
00:37:21,860 --> 00:37:25,300
like knocking on the door and he's like who the hell is this guy and they never told him that he was

647
00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:32,900
training to do that night so I'm not knocking on the door and he's looking at me and like hey yeah

648
00:37:32,900 --> 00:37:39,060
let me in starting tonight is ago all right I didn't know it was training anybody would whatever I

649
00:37:39,060 --> 00:37:45,540
worked there for a long time to do in graveyard and yeah there was crazy because like I already had

650
00:37:45,540 --> 00:37:50,020
insomnia really bad and that job kind of seemed perfect because I was working late nights and I was

651
00:37:50,020 --> 00:37:55,940
living in a little apartment with my my best buddy Josh and I just get so tired of like having to be quiet

652
00:37:55,940 --> 00:38:00,340
because it's like thin walls and an apartment complex like it couldn't play guitar or loud I couldn't

653
00:38:00,340 --> 00:38:05,060
play video games I couldn't be creative and like make things you know which is all the stuff I wanted

654
00:38:05,060 --> 00:38:10,740
to do while you're up late at night and your brain is just spiraling out on whatever because that is

655
00:38:10,740 --> 00:38:15,380
why I ended up spending so much time researching stuff and people is saying like you know so much

656
00:38:15,380 --> 00:38:19,860
about so many things like you know how'd you learn all this stuff and I just like not sleep

657
00:38:19,860 --> 00:38:24,260
don't sleep and you just read and you learn things and you research stuff and you know and then a

658
00:38:24,260 --> 00:38:29,140
couple weeks later you get hooked on something else you think is cool and you start reading about that

659
00:38:29,140 --> 00:38:32,660
you know or painting warhammer figurines I would do a lot of that while I couldn't sleep

660
00:38:32,660 --> 00:38:39,140
you know playing video games and stuff too but yeah it was uh it was an interesting time so I was like well

661
00:38:39,140 --> 00:38:44,740
getting kind of tired of being in here and having to be quiet so might as well make some money and

662
00:38:44,740 --> 00:38:51,380
deliver a bunch of bread and pastries what happened after that job uh after that job that's when I

663
00:38:51,380 --> 00:38:57,460
managed retail store for a while and then uh now I left that and I'm kind of just working on a new

664
00:38:57,460 --> 00:39:04,580
journey now coding yeah coding traveling so I have to remember to just be a human again and not be

665
00:39:04,580 --> 00:39:10,340
such a work slave so I have a first I have a question over here that I've wanted to ask you for a very

666
00:39:10,340 --> 00:39:16,660
long time and that's pertaining to our business like you were one of the first customers for our

667
00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:24,020
business as well tell me how did you even hear about us uh well so Corey started promoting the

668
00:39:24,020 --> 00:39:30,260
energy pod stuff a long time ago was this like 2018 or something like that yeah somewhere like that

669
00:39:30,260 --> 00:39:36,820
so I was yeah I uh had seen some posts that you guys have made and and Corey was talking about it

670
00:39:36,820 --> 00:39:42,580
and you know anything Corey does I support Holy and so I was like yes I'll try that out because I was

671
00:39:42,580 --> 00:39:48,180
on my feet all the time and you know I was getting pretty heavy set at that job and so I wanted to

672
00:39:48,180 --> 00:39:53,060
try something though you know it's like how can you turn down chocolate right and uh as I

673
00:39:53,060 --> 00:39:59,540
this is low calorie and you know pretty pretty low calorie I think for the in terms of the nutrition

674
00:39:59,540 --> 00:40:04,020
that you get out of it you know all the protein and everything too and yeah that concept of

675
00:40:04,020 --> 00:40:10,420
being satiated you know like when you're bored or hungry and you want to just eat a bunch of crunchy

676
00:40:10,420 --> 00:40:14,740
stuff then you you know pound through an entire bag of potato chips and like you know you're just like

677
00:40:14,740 --> 00:40:19,380
oh still doesn't feel like I eat much or are you or are you overcompensate and you need a giant sandwich

678
00:40:19,380 --> 00:40:22,580
you know because you think you're still going to be hungry so you might as well take a sledge hammer

679
00:40:22,580 --> 00:40:29,140
to it you know the job for a you know a ball pin hammer right you know you eat way too much nice

680
00:40:29,140 --> 00:40:35,380
to do that all the time and but you know like getting some of those first energy pods and

681
00:40:35,380 --> 00:40:40,900
and eating those I'm like yeah I mean you know you got something here because it's it's instant

682
00:40:40,900 --> 00:40:45,380
because you yeah because you guys blend everything down and make this you know kind of like putting

683
00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:51,060
that's packed with protein and MCTs and all these things that make you not hungry and also feel like

684
00:40:51,060 --> 00:40:57,140
you've got something that's great for being on your feet I hate having to be on my feet and feeling

685
00:40:57,140 --> 00:41:03,780
full like to this day I still I still don't like eating a large lunch and even that I don't like having

686
00:41:03,780 --> 00:41:08,500
that big of a breakfast and that's still unless it's like a weekend you know and I just want to kind of

687
00:41:08,500 --> 00:41:13,620
chill like you know get like a nice pile pancakes and bacon or you know eggs whatever if I just want

688
00:41:13,620 --> 00:41:19,460
to have like a lazy weekend morning but uh yeah I really like the concept behind it and I started

689
00:41:19,460 --> 00:41:25,220
getting some energy pods for you guys and yeah they just they've been fantastic yeah just just

690
00:41:25,220 --> 00:41:30,820
the other day I had one of the new chocolate ones in the freezer and it was kind of a hot morning

691
00:41:30,820 --> 00:41:34,260
and it didn't really want to eat too much and I remember it was oh I've got one of the freezer hell

692
00:41:34,260 --> 00:41:40,420
yet so I grabbed that and took it to work with me and had a little bit of coffee and ate a pod

693
00:41:40,420 --> 00:41:46,980
that was perfect which brings me to the next question actually as we're gonna getting closer

694
00:41:46,980 --> 00:41:53,620
and closer to wrapping things up as well hey listeners before we jump back into our fascinating

695
00:41:53,620 --> 00:41:59,300
conversation let's take a moment to appreciate the delicious goodness of pagey food companies

696
00:41:59,300 --> 00:42:05,940
energy pods these delightful pods come in a variety of amazing flavors like white chocolate strawberry

697
00:42:05,940 --> 00:42:11,940
breakfast mokanooar and the ever popular chocolate snowba and they're not just tasty they're also packed

698
00:42:11,940 --> 00:42:17,940
with protein healthy fats and minimal sugar to keep you fueled throughout the day perfect for when

699
00:42:17,940 --> 00:42:23,460
you're on the go these energy pods even come with a built-in spoon for your convenience so

700
00:42:23,700 --> 00:42:31,140
go ahead and treat yourself to these mouthwatering pods and make your taste buds dance visit kgfoodco.com

701
00:42:31,140 --> 00:42:38,820
kgfodc.com to grab your favorite flavors and now let's get back to our inspiring guest

702
00:42:38,820 --> 00:42:47,140
how did you get into cooking and the culinary world you know I didn't cook much until I was

703
00:42:47,780 --> 00:42:55,540
maybe like 14 my grandpa always helped me prep like I remember like peeling just like garbage bags full

704
00:42:55,540 --> 00:43:01,620
of potatoes for whenever whenever whenever we were making like a big potato soup for like the parties

705
00:43:01,620 --> 00:43:11,460
and stuff but when I was 14 or 15 I became vegetarian just like I think I was just eating like too

706
00:43:11,460 --> 00:43:19,700
much cheap garbage food and I just felt sick all the time and some part of me decided that it was

707
00:43:19,700 --> 00:43:25,860
time to give it me for a while and and kind of get back into eating good and then those for that first

708
00:43:25,860 --> 00:43:29,220
month or two of being a vegetarian is rough because like I didn't know what to do and I was just

709
00:43:29,220 --> 00:43:37,460
eating like cheese pizza and mac and cheese and like you know garbage food um then my mom started

710
00:43:37,460 --> 00:43:43,860
bringing me Indian food all the time and uh because most of it's vegetarian and she's like well I know

711
00:43:43,860 --> 00:43:50,180
you like spinach to try you know the sog paneer and you like go cheese like this is perfect and you know

712
00:43:50,180 --> 00:43:55,620
stuff like that and so I got really into that and then that's when I started cooking for myself because

713
00:43:55,620 --> 00:43:59,540
I was like well what do I want to eat you know my mom didn't really know what to do she taught me

714
00:43:59,540 --> 00:44:03,780
how to like make a plant parmesan and then we started cooking more vegetarian stuff together but

715
00:44:03,780 --> 00:44:09,140
yeah it was uh those first couple years of cooking were we're we're rough I think that's some of

716
00:44:09,140 --> 00:44:15,540
the stuff I'm having like I was like 90 percent all the while like just crap but yeah I moved out

717
00:44:15,540 --> 00:44:21,060
lived with my buddy Josh I started cooking a lot more so he was just cheap and I survived off of like

718
00:44:21,060 --> 00:44:26,420
couscous and like quinoa and stuff like that for a long time but yeah I mean I you know when

719
00:44:26,420 --> 00:44:31,220
you're cooking like at least two meals a day you get a lot of time to practice and then Cory and I

720
00:44:31,220 --> 00:44:36,420
would cook together a lot too we'd make these giant Scooby-Doo sandwiches was the guys at the bakery

721
00:44:36,420 --> 00:44:42,340
always make me like a giant like three-foot baguette you know Jesus Christ yeah yeah that was great like

722
00:44:42,340 --> 00:44:47,460
you had to flip it in the oven because whenever we try to boil it to toast it or like you know melt the

723
00:44:47,460 --> 00:44:53,860
cheese it would stick halfway out of the oven so we boil it turn it flip it put it back in there

724
00:44:53,860 --> 00:44:59,380
boil the other half stack it full like mushrooms and whatever we wanted to cook that night

725
00:44:59,380 --> 00:45:06,180
yeah and then I just you know I just I love cooking I love experimenting with stuff making new things

726
00:45:06,180 --> 00:45:11,620
I don't follow a lot of recipes but I do like them for theory but I just I kind of like to just

727
00:45:11,620 --> 00:45:16,020
wing it like if I have a couple ingredients in the fridge I'll see what I can make with that

728
00:45:16,020 --> 00:45:20,660
or like if I'm just running through the store sometimes I'll have no idea what it is I want to make

729
00:45:20,660 --> 00:45:24,900
and I'll find like one ingredient that okay I want to do something with this tonight and then

730
00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:30,180
my brand will just start calculating like different things that I could do and then I usually just take

731
00:45:30,180 --> 00:45:36,660
it and go from there you know like this morning my girlfriend and I we had breakfast together and I

732
00:45:36,660 --> 00:45:40,820
I haven't been able to cook as breakfast together in a while but I got I got some of those

733
00:45:40,820 --> 00:45:47,300
presents like the grand the grand rolls and I had some cream cheese and that I was gonna cook those

734
00:45:47,300 --> 00:45:53,140
up but I was like oh no I know I can do something with this and uh yeah I put cream cheese on the inside

735
00:45:53,140 --> 00:45:58,740
of the roll with some of that black garlic from trader Joe's and they're like some freeze-dried basil

736
00:45:58,740 --> 00:46:02,260
and then just rolled those up and brushed them a little bit of butter and and cooked it and then

737
00:46:02,260 --> 00:46:06,900
curl friend takes a bite she's like oh what's in here you know and then there's like cream cheese

738
00:46:06,900 --> 00:46:12,900
with black garlic and basil she's like oh you made this yeah there's like yeah she started like

739
00:46:12,900 --> 00:46:18,020
tearing up a little bit she's like oh I wanted it was like hot cheese yeah that's so cute I love

740
00:46:18,020 --> 00:46:26,900
cooking for her too like she's kind of like my food muse um our second date first day we ate a bunch

741
00:46:26,900 --> 00:46:34,580
of sushi which I love I love sushi she was her second date comes over I made ravioli from scratch

742
00:46:34,580 --> 00:46:39,780
like made the dough I did everything in front of her such new I was full and around made the dough

743
00:46:39,780 --> 00:46:45,780
made like a wild mushroom ricotta stuff I think I think I I think I even made the ricotta from scratch

744
00:46:46,500 --> 00:46:50,980
and then made the sauce shaped them all up by this cool little ravioli press that

745
00:46:50,980 --> 00:46:55,780
thing you can just put a sheet and stuff it roll it over throw it in there cook that off and

746
00:46:55,780 --> 00:46:59,700
that pretty much the other deal I think that was I think that was a good move on my part to make

747
00:46:59,700 --> 00:47:06,580
that night but uh yeah it's cooking for her is great so enthusiastic yeah I love it it's definitely one of

748
00:47:06,580 --> 00:47:13,380
my love languages cooking I remember that about a week ago we created some crazy pizzas with our

749
00:47:13,380 --> 00:47:20,660
product as well as like holy moly I never thought that date uh was like date crust pizza that we made

750
00:47:20,660 --> 00:47:26,020
yeah it was christ that was really good yeah with the vanilla cream fresh yeah yeah that's exactly

751
00:47:26,020 --> 00:47:30,500
that was a memorable one yeah thank you yeah that's exactly like you know when you were when we were

752
00:47:30,500 --> 00:47:34,180
talking about collaborating on that I went into the store that day is all right we're making

753
00:47:34,180 --> 00:47:40,420
just pizzas and I was like I know I want lemons and and pizza and something something creamy to

754
00:47:40,420 --> 00:47:44,980
compliment the energy pot and I just started walking around in the stores again I'm gonna take that I'm

755
00:47:44,980 --> 00:47:50,420
gonna take that I'm gonna take that yeah the uh and then yeah the date stuff cream fresh crusty that

756
00:47:50,420 --> 00:47:55,940
thing that was literally on the spot I had no intentions of doing that prior I was gonna put like

757
00:47:55,940 --> 00:48:00,580
the dates or the figs I I wanted to do figs but I couldn't find any so I grabbed the thing at dates

758
00:48:00,580 --> 00:48:05,060
instead and those were gonna be on top and then when you and Cori and I were hanging out in the

759
00:48:05,620 --> 00:48:11,300
in the kitchen I was like oh you know what why don't I just stuff the crust with dates and that

760
00:48:11,300 --> 00:48:16,740
was so good that was that was a like that needs to that could that's like a million dollar idea

761
00:48:16,740 --> 00:48:23,620
right there or any food business to just create like a date crust sort of pizza yeah really I got

762
00:48:23,620 --> 00:48:28,260
I mean you could do it with a savory pizza too like instead of using like the vanilla cream

763
00:48:28,260 --> 00:48:32,740
fresh you could use regular cream fresh from maybe like a marscopone or a cream cheese and then

764
00:48:32,740 --> 00:48:40,260
stuff that and then you can do like you know some like kind of funky like ham on you bear

765
00:48:40,260 --> 00:48:46,900
co me like some you know some good stuff you know you can make a interesting funky pizza with that

766
00:48:46,900 --> 00:48:54,740
for sure awesome man so I'm gonna have one last question for you uh what is one of the craziest

767
00:48:54,740 --> 00:48:59,780
experiences you've had in your life that you can think on top of your head I'd never done a cross

768
00:48:59,780 --> 00:49:06,180
country trip and to do that with Rosie moving her from Atlanta to California it was great um

769
00:49:06,180 --> 00:49:10,820
you know I had a little bit of a rough time like I was really tired and I'd gotten a really

770
00:49:10,820 --> 00:49:17,620
nasty cold somewhere along the way it hit bad in New Mexico but I still had a great time with her

771
00:49:17,620 --> 00:49:24,100
and seeing the Grand Canyon in person was breathtaking like I so could just just sort of backtrack

772
00:49:24,100 --> 00:49:29,540
a little bit so you guys moved from Atlanta all the way to California I moved her from Atlanta to

773
00:49:29,540 --> 00:49:35,860
California yeah so she we had met all line when she moved to Napa to work in the wine industry

774
00:49:35,860 --> 00:49:40,420
and then she stayed with me for a couple months moved back to Atlanta and then she decided that she

775
00:49:40,420 --> 00:49:46,580
wanted to move back to California so I flew out there helped her pack up her stuff and then we drove

776
00:49:46,580 --> 00:49:54,100
in her car across the United States and uh yeah we went we drove from Atlanta to Tennessee

777
00:49:54,100 --> 00:50:01,300
move that first day and we went to the country music hall of fame and then that was really cool that was

778
00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:07,460
awesome museum and then we went to some restaurant try to get like some hot chicken natural hot chicken

779
00:50:07,460 --> 00:50:12,500
those the day after fourth of July so everybody was hungover a lot of places were closed

780
00:50:12,500 --> 00:50:16,660
but we ended up finding a restaurant that was pretty cool then we drove to Little Rock

781
00:50:16,660 --> 00:50:20,980
Arkansas that night I think we drove through Memphis to get to there and then in Memphis we

782
00:50:20,980 --> 00:50:26,100
went to this gas station that was like in the cuts and get out there's like some

783
00:50:26,100 --> 00:50:33,380
fight that was breaking out with some some pretty interesting characters made it to Little Rock at like

784
00:50:33,380 --> 00:50:40,020
midnight stay the night there and then we drove from Little Rock to Santa Fe New Mexico the next day

785
00:50:40,020 --> 00:50:45,540
that was insane dude but such a long drive we should have stopped in Texas somewhere but when we

786
00:50:45,540 --> 00:50:52,500
finally we finally got to Texas I think it like six or seven pm Oklahoma we spent so long

787
00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:56,900
driving through Oklahoma it was like bumper to bumper the entire way which is insane because

788
00:50:56,900 --> 00:51:01,300
I think we were going through Oklahoma City probably but it was like an eight lane highway and it was

789
00:51:01,300 --> 00:51:05,860
backed up completely backed up and I was like how is there that many people to do this that makes

790
00:51:05,860 --> 00:51:14,100
no sense no sense no sense I mean LA maybe right but over there yeah it makes no yeah it was crazy

791
00:51:14,100 --> 00:51:20,260
we took 40 we yeah we drove we drove 40 the whole way across and finally get to Texas

792
00:51:20,260 --> 00:51:28,340
driving through Texas and all of a sudden we went through the pan handle we didn't go we didn't go

793
00:51:28,340 --> 00:51:36,260
down through ten but about halfway across was huge thunderstorm hail storm just hit us and the

794
00:51:36,260 --> 00:51:43,700
driving through some of that was so sketch because there's all this road work on 40 through Texas

795
00:51:43,700 --> 00:51:49,540
and you're driving down a single lane highway with those barriers the barricades on both sides and

796
00:51:49,540 --> 00:51:56,660
it's like can't see nothing cars not gripping that well like I got people on my ass doing 70

797
00:51:56,660 --> 00:52:02,180
through these little barricades like this is crazy and finally get through there we make it to

798
00:52:02,180 --> 00:52:08,340
Santa Fe New Mexico at like two of the morning and then crash we went to Malwulf the next day

799
00:52:09,380 --> 00:52:14,420
which is really cool art installation in Santa Fe then we cruised around Santa Fe downtown for a

800
00:52:14,420 --> 00:52:20,020
little while and then drove to the Grand Canyon that night stayed in a school bus on the stewed's

801
00:52:20,020 --> 00:52:26,420
property what yeah hey what what was that about all right so this this dude had all this land

802
00:52:26,420 --> 00:52:33,460
like out in the desert not far from the Grand Canyon and we rented this converted school bus like

803
00:52:33,460 --> 00:52:37,780
the dude put a little bed in there there's a little sand like an Airbnb yeah it's like a little

804
00:52:37,780 --> 00:52:43,220
Airbnb but it was a school bus and then it was but it was on his ranch and so like he had a little

805
00:52:43,220 --> 00:52:50,500
communal center there's a little kitchen that was all well water and then he had like a shower system

806
00:52:50,500 --> 00:52:54,740
where you you basically you start a little fire worms with the water and then you get a hot shower

807
00:52:54,740 --> 00:53:03,220
there is a outhouse that was underground that was crazy that that sound really crazy yeah

808
00:53:03,220 --> 00:53:10,500
and it was all like the the septic thing was part of I can't remember if you used it for compost or

809
00:53:10,500 --> 00:53:16,260
whatever but it was all like wood shavings that you'd throw on it and then the toilet paper got

810
00:53:16,260 --> 00:53:21,060
a separate receptacle for that but that was really cool to do the super chill he had a bunch of chickens

811
00:53:21,060 --> 00:53:27,540
there's llamas it was just down the middle of nowhere and no cell phone reception and so we had

812
00:53:27,540 --> 00:53:31,700
a little directions printed out because you're driving down an actual highway and then all of a sudden

813
00:53:31,700 --> 00:53:36,260
you cut off on this little dirt road and you're driving through the desert trying to follow some

814
00:53:36,260 --> 00:53:42,020
tire tracks from earlier in the day basically to get to the studio will calm you guys find him

815
00:53:42,020 --> 00:53:48,660
find that guy I think we found it on we found him online okay let's start something no it was like

816
00:53:48,660 --> 00:53:55,140
I don't think it was booking.com or speedier or something like that it was some uh oh um was it

817
00:53:55,140 --> 00:54:00,820
hot hot camp hot I think it was like hot oh hipcaps.com or something like that

818
00:54:00,820 --> 00:54:06,420
Rosie found that one I think it was hip camp yeah he also had like some air streams and he had some

819
00:54:06,420 --> 00:54:12,340
like a larger RV type thing that was you know that was kind of just parked so there's a few different

820
00:54:12,340 --> 00:54:17,540
options for you know people but it was cool there's a little fire pit in the back we bought some pizza

821
00:54:17,540 --> 00:54:24,260
in Scottsdale and then drove to that school bus we ate the pizza and the salad on the little

822
00:54:24,260 --> 00:54:29,220
backseat of the school bus and the next day we drove to the Grand Canyon uh hiked around the

823
00:54:29,220 --> 00:54:36,420
Grand Canyon for a while and then from there we drove to LA to see her mom stay the night in LA with her

824
00:54:36,420 --> 00:54:42,420
and then we drove up to Paso to see my mom and hung out with my odd and her partner and my mom

825
00:54:42,420 --> 00:54:48,980
downtown Paso stay the night and then from there we drove back to Napa but it was like six days I think

826
00:54:48,980 --> 00:54:56,260
of driving but uh yeah the Santa Fe to New Mexico one was over the little rock to Santa Fe

827
00:54:56,260 --> 00:55:02,420
drivers brutal it was like 16 hours that's crazy man but it was yeah we had a lot of fun we stopped at

828
00:55:02,420 --> 00:55:07,860
all those loves truck stops was and uh you know they had nice clean bathrooms they're big truck stops

829
00:55:07,860 --> 00:55:14,020
it was the place to go and they all had like little chicken stands in them do you need to sleep in

830
00:55:14,020 --> 00:55:19,140
those overnight or something like that you if you had a trailer or something like that probably

831
00:55:19,140 --> 00:55:24,900
I don't think you just sleep in your car at those places you guys probably slept or in hotels yeah

832
00:55:24,900 --> 00:55:31,780
we stayed we got a we got a room in the Marriott in in uh little rock what for 60 bucks or something

833
00:55:31,780 --> 00:55:38,980
like that like that big room it was a king size bed like 60 bucks 60 bucks yeah I heard off yeah

834
00:55:38,980 --> 00:55:45,140
yeah that was great uh I found that out I think on expedia and then Santa Fe we stayed in this

835
00:55:45,140 --> 00:55:51,860
really cool little motel there's like a little roadside motel vines route 66 type place and that

836
00:55:51,860 --> 00:55:57,460
was a really cute little spot we it was a nice room that was a cool spot wasn't that far from

837
00:55:57,460 --> 00:56:02,500
the outwolf I then we got some tamales from this little mexican joint around the corner of me

838
00:56:02,500 --> 00:56:07,700
outwolf for breakfast and those were really good and then uh yeah I think we got some food after me

839
00:56:07,700 --> 00:56:13,140
outwolf and then we left but yeah it was a good time it was a good time it drive us great it was

840
00:56:13,140 --> 00:56:19,940
I hadn't spent a bunch of time in the south so it was cool to drive through Tennessee and uh

841
00:56:20,660 --> 00:56:27,540
you know and Arkansas Oklahoma you know seeing that I had it's been a long time since I've been in

842
00:56:27,540 --> 00:56:32,180
Texas I think last time I was everyone I was eight visiting one of my grandparents yeah I don't

843
00:56:32,180 --> 00:56:36,980
know it was cool and I mean he was his mom was nice very sweet Armenian lady she lives in

844
00:56:36,980 --> 00:56:43,620
little Armenia in uh in West Hollywood sounds good man it looks like uh he's been quite a bit you

845
00:56:43,620 --> 00:56:51,700
seen quite a bit of life in your life yeah um do you have some final message or any pearls of wisdom

846
00:56:51,700 --> 00:56:59,620
that you'd like to share with people um I think this is something that is kind of I'm trying to find

847
00:56:59,620 --> 00:57:12,580
more again um just like don't don't get sucked into the the BS of life um you know obviously

848
00:57:12,580 --> 00:57:17,540
grinding for what you want is important especially if you have goals and stuff in mind but you got to

849
00:57:17,540 --> 00:57:27,380
remember to stop and relax and try to do what makes you happy you know like make sure to exercise and

850
00:57:27,380 --> 00:57:31,780
like you know I've been sedentary for a long time like I've been you know I've been working like

851
00:57:31,780 --> 00:57:37,380
being on my feet and like that kind of stuff but in terms of like actual physical exercise I have

852
00:57:37,380 --> 00:57:44,260
neglected myself heavily with that so getting back into that and I'm really enjoying lifting weights

853
00:57:44,260 --> 00:57:50,100
and really pushing myself you know pushing my boundaries of what I can do yeah human body is an

854
00:57:50,100 --> 00:57:56,100
incredible thing so you got to make sure to treat it right don't burn yourself out and uh take time

855
00:57:56,100 --> 00:58:02,180
to cherish the people you love I think that's that's a really really key part of life you're just

856
00:58:02,180 --> 00:58:09,220
basically named the uh basically said the theme of the podcast which is energize explore enjoy

857
00:58:09,220 --> 00:58:18,420
in just a very more elaborate and deep way I think that's awesome so how can people find you?

858
00:58:18,420 --> 00:58:26,980
I've got an Instagram page it's called Jesse Cook's Dad Flavor with the DAT um I'm on there

859
00:58:29,220 --> 00:58:35,700
want to read it um maybe they just post food pics and stuff on there too that's about it

860
00:58:35,700 --> 00:58:41,140
sounds great yeah I'll put put all the links in the show notes and thanks for being on the show man

861
00:58:41,140 --> 00:58:43,620
yeah thank you appreciate it thanks for having me

862
00:58:43,620 --> 00:58:51,940
next week we're exploring a tasty topic that will satisfy your appetite for knowledge

863
00:58:51,940 --> 00:58:57,460
join us as we delve into the world of food attitudes uncovering the intriguing history and

864
00:58:57,460 --> 00:59:01,380
fascinating science behind them get ready to have your taste buds

865
00:59:01,380 --> 00:59:05,300
handleized and your curiosity sparked stay tuned

866
00:59:05,300 --> 00:59:14,580
thank you for listening to our podcast if you enjoyed today's episode please rate

867
00:59:14,580 --> 00:59:20,660
review and subscribe to our energize explore enjoy podcast on your favorite podcasting platform

868
00:59:20,660 --> 00:59:22,340
see you next week

869
00:59:22,500 --> 00:59:32,340
[Music]

870
00:59:32,340 --> 00:59:39,240
[MUSIC]