Welcome back to Dont get this Twisted

In this conversation, Robb and Tina reflect on their experiences during the recent holiday season, discussing the stress and challenges that come with it. They share personal anecdotes about gift-giving, the impact of small gestures, and their New Year celebrations. The conversation highlights the importance of connections and the emotional weight of the holidays, as well as the relief of returning to normalcy after the festivities. In this conversation, Robb and Tina explore themes of change, loss, and resilience. They discuss personal experiences with grief, the importance of embracing life's ups and downs, and the necessity of maintaining a positive outlook despite challenges. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of self-reflection and the strength found in adversity, ultimately encouraging listeners to live day by day and appreciate the journey of life.

Explicit

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This podcast and website represent the opinions of Robb Courtney and Tina Garcia and their guests to the show and website. The content here should not be interpreted as medical advice or any other type of advice from any other type of licensed professional. The content here is for informational purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare or other applicable licensed professional with any medical or other related questions. Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and website are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information, we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors. Privacy is of the utmost importance to us. All people, places, and scenarios mentioned in the podcast have been changed to protect confidentiality. This website or podcast should not be used in any legal capacity whatsoever, including but not limited to establishing “standard of care” in a legal sense or as a basis for expert witness testimony related to the medical profession or any other licensed profession. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on the podcast or website. In no way does listening, reading, emailing, or interacting on social media with our content establish a doctor-patient relationship or relationship with any other type of licensed professional. Robb Courtney and Tina Garcia do not receive any money from any pharmaceutical industry for topics covered pertaining to medicine or medical in nature. If you find any errors in any of the content of this podcast, website, or blogs, please send a message through the “contact” page or email DGTTwisted@gmail.com. This podcast is owned by "Don’t Get This Twisted,” Robb Courtney.

All that kinds of fun stuff. Hey, thanks for going. Thanks for checking in with don't get this twisted. I am Rob along with Tina. How you doing, Tina? Yeah, yeah, I discussed. Yeah. Hit start discussing stuff, you know, as we do before we get on here, it's always interesting to. Hit the button and then just wing it, but hey, we're back. We haven't been on here in two weeks because.

you

I'm good. He caught us in the middle of a conversation when you hit send or hit a start.

Obviously holidays and I thought this year since the show generally drops on Wednesday and both Christmas and New Year's were on Wednesday and I didn't think we'd get a lot of listeners. said. Screw it. I was sick. Exactly. Yeah, that's. That's kind of what I mean, we really didn't know what we were going to talk about today, but.

Well, you were sick. I've had construction. Life is crazy. Weather has been different. All the holidays have come and gone.

I think that just in general, I thought we'd talk about, we'll say holiday hangover, but I just like coming back from the holidays. I think as we get older, it's, I hate to say that it's harder, but it's, you really realize like how stressful the holidays can be. And then when you come back out of them, like,

Mm-hmm.

I drive to work and I have to get on the freeway every day. And I will tell you, a lot of people took time off this year. Lots of people. Because it was... Maybe, but I just think that a lot of people took the Thursday, Friday. And I think the week of New Year's, people just took the whole week. Because my traffic to work was...

yeah.

I think a lot of people were made to take time off too.

Mm-hmm.

Dead. And better coming home. it takes me about give or take 30 minutes to get to work. 31 minutes. It's been taking me after the time change almost an hour to get home. Yeah, about 55 minutes. During these lovely two weeks, I've been getting back home in about 39 minutes to 40 minutes. So I'm saving.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

And again, people that are out there, they go, oh, it's only 10 minutes. 10 minutes in the car is. Trust me, I. It's better. It's when you get out, you go. Yeah.

in traffic and we don't have nor people talk about traffic our traffic is way different we have six lanes of freeway bumper to bumper people trying to jump in lanes they're everybody's angry i saw a man the other day i i happened to hit there was a somebody died on the freeway and i don't know what it was it was a wrong way driver on the 210

And so they took all the late they took all the lanes down to one lane and off the freeway. That's how bad it was. And I was stuck in traffic and this man was literally like screaming and pulling his hair and banging on his his his steering wheel. He was acting a fool. And I was watching him like, what the hell is this guy's problem? But people were angry being in traffic on a Saturday.

Oh wow. Stairwell. Wow.

The 210 where? Selmar? by the five. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's that's generally shitty over there.

The 210, oh no, no, The 210 that splits, it goes from the 210 to the 210 or the 134 right there, the, in Pasadena, in Pasadena. Yeah, so it was.

No, but it was like it was like 45 minutes shitty of just in two off-ramps three off-ramps time you were there for 45 minutes. That's bad. And, you know, people were just acting like fools and I was sitting there going, damn, like in the off-ramps to get off the freeway were crazy. Also, they were backed up like it was Christmas, Christmas Eve at the mall.

Wow, yeah, that is. Really? Interesting. Hmm. Yeah, I mean, I drive that.

Yeah. So once once we got to the other part, it was fine. It was easy breezy. Mm hmm. Yeah, you drive that to come here, excuse me.

Because I drive that often. Correct. Yeah, I do. Yeah, it's just, you know, like I started feeling it. Christmas Day. And I knew that it was coming like you just I felt it and.

And we're both getting over being sick.

Once once that happened, I was like, this is not going to be good. Thankfully. I didn't get anybody else sick, which is kind of nice. And. It was just a it was just a time like the holidays were and again for me, I I really can't complain because I really don't have family here.

Yeah.

Well, that's reason enough to complain.

No, but I mean, I didn't have to like, I really didn't have to go anywhere. Like I didn't. The only thing we did is for my kid's birthday. His mom came out and we all went to dinner and I took a friend with me and that was kind of an interesting, an interesting time. But it was, yeah, I took the girl down the street and my

Mm-hmm.

I'd imagine that would be a little bit awkward.

my ex-wife had never really seen me with anybody else. So that was kind of an interesting... even though me and my friend are like not together, but it was fun. It a good time. But besides that, it was not much going on if we're being perfectly honest. So like...

Mm-hmm.

you

It was interesting. was, but it was easy. It was, I found it more, everyone around me seemed to be, you know, just either tense or broke. This year, I saw a lot more people either saying they weren't buying a lot of gifts this year. Really just.

Yeah.

I tighten in their belt. It was it was a different a different time and I really didn't go out and about. For. For. Shopping. Because I didn't have to really shop for much. I really just shop for my kid. I shopped for my friends, grandkids, and that was pretty simple. So it was like gift cards and little toys because they're young.

Mm-hmm.

So that was kind of nice, if we're being honest. I was just kind of like, it was easy.

Mm-hmm.

I did really easy this year and I put, you know, we always make that gift ball and the gift ball, I just wrap it in saran wrap and tin foil and rubber bands and packing tape, electrical tape, whatever I can. And each layer has either a gift card or like a stocking stuffer in it. And the ball was a lot more expensive this year because I guess I upped the ante on the, on the, like my nephew started driving.

Yes.

So I bought a bunch of gas cards, you know, and they can't be just like $10 go to subway type of things You know, he needs gas money. So they were more like 25 and then I put a $100 one in there that was for bass pro shop and you know, so I upped the ante on those but Then I didn't really buy them a bunch of things they just loved that game trying to get that ball undone and see what gifts they get and

They really enjoyed that so I keep up with that, but I also got them one of those little

What are those things got like a little Alexa so that they could say hey Alexa wake me up at six o'clock in the morning and hopefully that wakes them up, know, so they have I bought them each one of those but those were kind of cheap things but this year I just didn't give a shit like we made we made tamales we did our thing again. I don't have a kitchen like we're still in construction. So I had to do them at my friend's house and thank God she's like the sweet as she basically takes over and we you know, I just have to help assemble them.

Sure.

She does a really good job at that, I don't know. just did more in the ball. More was in the ball. And then my friends, got my core group on Christmas gift because, you know, they do a lot for me. My friends are pretty cool. Like they're not perfect. They're some of them are hot messes, but they're they're good people. And I just wanted to do something, you know, for them. So I did that. But other than that, I didn't I did no shopping. I was so

You

I got everything I needed online and I'm gonna do that again next year. And then I bought stuff that didn't come in on time and I'm just gonna wait till everybody's birthdays. Cause everybody's birthday that I got stuff for my um, I still exchange gifts with my ex. His birthday is in February. You know, the kids are in March. So everybody, my brother's in May but there's no gifts. I don't have any extra gifts for him but like everybody else I have stuff for their birthdays already. I'm like, hey!

Right.

Thank you, Amazon. They didn't notice that they didn't get the gift and now I'm ahead one for their birthdays. So I was kind of happy about that.

Right. Yeah, it was again, the holidays are kind of, I mean, I like the holidays, but this year I mean,

Yeah.

It was a hard year.

Yeah.

Yeah, one of one of my friends that doesn't like me saying anything about him on the podcast I'm gonna totally piss him off right now, but He came over to my house when I wasn't there and my dad wasn't there and he decorated our mantle he put stockings for for me and my dad and my cousin Val that lives with me and then My my nephew my niece and my brother

Mm-hmm.

And he put like little gifts in the stockings. He hung them up. He put thought into the stockings that he bought and why he bought them, which I thought was super sweet because I hadn't decorated my house nor had my dad decorated his house in 13 years since my mom had passed. And seeing those little gifts on the mantle and seeing all the stockings hung, it...

Wow.

Almost made me cry. I gotta say like I sat there and I god. I miss this like why have we not done that and Just the gesture of him doing that for us was so It was heartwarming, you know and I Really appreciated it. I don't want to take my stocking off the off the mantle because I kind of like it there but we're gonna have to take them off anyway because

Off the mouth. It's gonna be time.

we're getting to the part of the house where it all, yeah, it's all got to come down. I had forgotten that small gestures like really make a big impact. And I was so grateful that that he did that. I and I comment on commented on it several times, because I think that when people do something that's really, really nice for you, you got to like

For sure.

just build it up, you know, tell them how much it's so it was so appreciated, like how much it was appreciated and everything, because I don't think people really put much effort into each other anymore. And that was something that I don't think I'll ever forget it. I was kind of digging that. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that. I think this year for me. Was more. Like I kind of agree with you. Here's the thing.

Money is always tight. I don't care what anybody says, but I did all right and I got some bonuses and whatever. So I did, you know, I did the kids well. I did my friend down the street well. You know, I did some things that and my whole part of that was it is nice to be able to give to somebody. And I really realized this year that

Like to me, I don't care about getting gifts. I'm not really good at it anyway. Like people giving me gifts is not I don't do well. But it's not about that. It's really not about getting gifts. It's about being able to help somebody out or give something to somebody. Even when times are tough and for me, I felt really good. I got. Not that I'm hard to shop for, but I'm sure my poor friend down the street just doesn't know sometimes what to give me. She got me a super duper cool.

You

like a med kit because she's in the medical industry. But it's like a real med kit. has like an axe in it and it has like tons of things. It's like a it's more like a bug out med kit. Like if you it has like fishing line in it. So if like shit hit the fan, you could take that with you with all your guns in your car. So it was like really bitching and like I'm sure that she thinks that it wasn't.

Mmm.

Mmm.

that great and I thought it was like the coolest thing in the world because I'm into that kind of thing and I and I do have a bug out bag I have a bag that's just in case something ever really went crazy I can throw a bunch of shit in this bag and throw it in my trunk and we could be gone and be okay and then it was just fun to like watch because I got the I call them the babies but they're not they're like

Mm-hmm.

six six five and almost three but um i got him like you know hot wheels and gift cards and then i got her grandbaby that's a girl i got her this cool little purse um no hmm oh weird i don't know what happened but i got it was cool little purse i thought it was kind of interesting

There you go.

And I got it on my own first. And then I sent her a picture of it I go, how's this? You know, is this going to be OK? And she's like, that's perfect. So, you know, I mean, but to me, I think it's really about giving. I got that from this Christmas because I could. And. I think part of that was. Like she kind of she always gets mad at me if I buy her anything or get or something. But.

I told her I was like, look, I could do it this year. I might not be able to next year. You know what I mean? Like, I'm to do it while I can. And even my kid, I got him like my dad sends me a check for me and him and it's nothing. It's like 50 bucks a piece. That I appreciate is great, but I just gave it to him. Like you have it all. I don't need it. I, you know.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And I wasn't trying to flex. I was just like, look, I don't need it. I got we got a pretty good bonus at the end of the year from sales. Like a good one. Matter of fact, it was so good. I actually saw what I grossed and it made me upset. Like I saw it today. Yeah, they took with everything that's insurance and

Nice.

Hmm.

Everything taxes my 401k. They took $1,500 out of my check Yeah, one check for one two-week period Yeah, it puckered my asshole And again, that's because like I had and to be fair I had a lot of overtime on it, but we also got a really good bonus

Just one check for one month? Or for two weeks?

From we had a really good month of November so I get paid the following month right for But anyway, you know for me it was like I it was It was good that I could give I made me feel good. So But I think that's kind of the thing that I got out of it And now that we're past all that right here. We are we're in January. Yay. the thing about now is

Good.

Good.

Okay, now it's back to real life. Right? I was crazy. I put my tree away literally the day after Christmas. Yeah, I was just like. Yeah, I mean, and again, like you can put it away when it goes in a box. You know what I mean? Like you don't have worry about taking it out to the trash can or. Any of that nonsense. So for me, it was just like I had nothing to do. Excuse me.

Mm-hmm.

Wow. We didn't have one, so I shouldn't even say anything.

Mm-hmm.

I had nothing to do. was already starting to get the sickies, right? So I was like, ugh, was like, oh shit. I was like, screw it, I'll just put it away. Literally, my Christmas tree, and it's kind of funny, it's four pieces. It's the base, the bottom, the middle, and the top. That's it. And it's held together.

Nice.

By the plugins for the lights if there's not even like clamps in the middle so you can turn it and whenever you want to It's a cool little tree and we got it at I got it at big lots a couple years ago That are now out of business, which is kind of but it's it so I I Believe almost all of them and I think this year they're supposed to all go out of business But you know like for me I so I got my Christmas was literally over the next day. I was like, all right, we're done

Are they all out of business?

Took down the took down the stockings everything so And then you know and then for New Year's I Really I mean I was okay feeling but I didn't do anything. I stayed at home Mm-hmm

Wow, I had I had my best friends over and I called I called all of them but only a few showed up and we just ate a bunch of foods that I had made and sat there and shot the shit and At midnight the ones that were single we all got underneath the table because somehow on tik tok If you sit and if you're single and you sit under a table at midnight and you eat 12 grapes one for each each month

Close enough.

That you would find like whatever so I I my friend's daughter was gonna do it and everything and I couldn't find grapes anywhere So we we did raisins And we sat under the table and did raisins and I sat there and I'm like Why are we doing this and I ate 12 really quick and then we got we were laughing at each other for laying under there doing it and then Got up and continued with our night. I think it stopped about 2 2 30 in the morning. Everybody went home and

It was a good night. wasn't anything special, but I just like everybody to be around and that's what happened and I know, it was good.

Yeah, I generally don't travel that day.

Unless I have a place where I can I don't travel that day Unless I unless I have a place that I can go and stay Just because it's It's just dangerous for one I was hope I was gonna try to hang out with the girl down the street But she ended up going out with some friends so I think she had a night because I talked to her the next day and she was like I Didn't talk to her until way later in the day. So I was like, oh, yeah, she musta musta had a night and got in

What's that?

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mmm.

was hungover or whatever. Yeah. But I was up. I was like in and out again. I wasn't feeling well. So I was kind of laid on the couch and and was in and out of sleep. And I woke up right before midnight and was like, yeah, New Year. Yay. Turned all the lights off went to bed. Yeah, I mean.

tied one on.

What's funny? We didn't have a... We didn't have a...

like all the fanfare and stuff, but people started shooting off fireworks. Like you would not believe in the area. So at 12 o'clock, I was like, it must be 12 o'clock because it sounded like a raid or something.

yeah, here too. no, it sounded like a war zone here. Like people were shooting off mortars. Like big booms. yeah, like big, big, big booms. Yeah, and it's funny because in the city I live in, they're very, very illegal. Like

Really?

Really?

Oh yeah, like very like come July 4th. There's signs everywhere that says you'll be prosecuted and it's like a $1500 fine. Yeah, yeah, they're really serious where I live. So so for me, it was like I knew it was midnight too, because the bombs were going off. And you know, I was more worried about my dog. My dog gave two shits. Didn't didn't even care. I mean, I had the windows closed, so it wasn't.

Really?

That's crazy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

You know, super loud, but. Right. Yeah, the first the first year I had him, though here was rough on 4th of July. Because I just don't think he. Understood.

You know what I know about animals? It depends on their parents as to what type of animal they're gonna be. If you're chill, the dogs are gonna be chill. If you're neurotic, the dog's gonna be neurotic. It's just what happens in life, it makes sense that your dog would be mellow.

He got it.

Yeah, and then I ended up taking him outside when they were going off because I wanted him to kind of. Understand so. But yeah, he was he was pretty chill. It was it was a good night. It was definitely you know I would I have rather been somewhere else. Absolutely, but. You know, like beggars can't be choosers. Gotta do what you gotta do. But yeah, at the end of the day, it's like it was nice to just the next morning kind of wake up and go.

Okay, it's a new year. Let's kind of you know Made it and I think that you know, we were talking about a couple weeks ago, you know new year new you And I think there is something to that, you know, do I believe that? You know, you can just change everything no way that's just not realistic But I definitely

Made it.

You know, my cousin did though. She did. She got a place and she moved in. I was helping her today, move her, not move her things, we were lining cabinets. And then tomorrow she says she goes into work and they're going into a different building. So she's going to be in a different place. And I was like, that's right. know, completely change your life. But she's been needing change for a while and she's been working on it. So was like, look what you did. You got

you you got your life completely different now. She's like, I'm so excited, but I don't, I didn't do that. So I'm glad she won.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, look, think there's, change is good, right? And I think that if you can find a way to change things, become a new you, whatever that means, I think that means different things to different people, right? Yeah, a new you can be, you know,

Mm-hmm.

Yes, completely.

You know going to the gym every day or I knew you can be Cutting people off there could be it could be a lot of different things I just think that there's something to if you had a bad year and like I said last year was a interesting year it really was I think not horrible for me, but you know my friends around me the girl down the street had a hell of a year and

since I see her a lot, I think it was me just kind of going, and then kind of realizing about yourself sometimes that, yeah, maybe I'm in a position like this, or I'm doing this. Look, I would have told you 10 years ago that I had zero depression. I was like, nah, was never depressed. just, ugh. I think that these days, depression, anxiety,

There's definitely a little more that I see of myself. So I think last year I had more of that than I thought. I think this year it's for me it's just look I'm living day by day. If you because when you start thinking about in two years

Mm-hmm.

Has it been a year since your mom had passed?

years. You know it's amazing how how that that changes who you are drastically and even if you don't realize it's happening how much it does happen you know you look at life so different I think you're still in that process of going through it.

Yeah, two years. Matter of fact, the date's Mm-hmm. Yeah, matter of fact, the ninth will be two years. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

No way. So three days from now.

Yeah. Actually that day, if you can believe this, was the only day I could do training for something. So I'll be in a classroom all day long. Yeah. I may do something on the weekend because my mom, she was really big on Redondo Beach. So.

And what are you doing to honor her on her?

Tina (27:17.195)

Are you going to do anything after?

Uh-huh.

matter of fact the first year that's where I went for Dondo Beach the first year we'll see I mean for me it's I

It's really, it's really important though, Rob, to do something to, to keep your, your brain right, you know, to honor what went on, to honor her, think about her, you know, put yourself in a place where, where you're, you're dealing with the problem or you're not dealing with a problem, you're dealing with her loss, but that you do it in a way where you're still going to function every day, you know, it's important.

Sure. Yeah, I look, I think I think I have a different a different thing with death. mean. Look, I still talk about my mom all the time. My friend down the street lost her dad. Several years ago and she again, she's in the medical, so she was there. She took care of him.

Mm-hmm.

like hospice like until he passed away which is a whole other the medal you deserve. I think that's very very crazy. And it's funny because like not funny but we'll be talking sometimes and she would just she'll tell me like I really miss my dad. I wish my dad was here. And I think that because of the relationship you have with your parent.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Whether it was good or bad, like in her case, I just think that she likes to know like that. That that that figure was there, and sometimes that's how I feel still like with my mom like. You know, I mean, I talked mostly the last couple of years. I talked to my mom about all kinds of things. And feelings I had and whatever. So yeah, I miss that, but I also realize like.

I honor my mom all the time. talk to her. I talk about her all the time. So I think for me it's like the day of her death doesn't have to be this this thing at least for me because I'll say things like yeah like my mom did this or like I've said before like my friend down the street reminds me a lot of her and her quirks. My mom had a lot of quirks and she was a OCD cleaner and my friend down the street's an OCD cleaner so she does things and

Yeah.

Yeah.

I see my mom and her sometimes and I've told her that and I'm sure I don't know if she wants to hear that or not because I know that's kind of a weird thing. But so for me it's like, yeah, and like I said, my mom was kind of a comedian and got a good sense of humor. So like I told you what I did last year on Mother's Day when people in my work were talking about, oh, what are you doing this week? You know, what are you doing on Mother's Day? Well, I was like, I'm not doing anything. She's dead.

And it got really quiet at my work and like guys didn't know what to say. And I was like, it's okay. She's dead. Like it's, it's okay. Like I understand that she's not here anymore. And, but yeah, it's, it goes by quick. Like two years have just been a blink, you know, and I can't imagine like, you know, you and my friend down the street, you know, it's been many years.

You

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

many many years and you know we were talking about I was over her house one day and we were talking about like remembering things and I didn't realize because her son is the same age as mine he's 22 and I was like yeah you know how much time did your dad get to spend you know with your with your boy and he she was like not much at all like he was months old when he passed and

you

That's kind of how I remember my ex-wife's my father-in-law. Same thing. Like my boy was literally like days old. Like it was I think he passed away in like early early February. And so he was like yeah like a month and a half old. And the I have a picture of him holding him in a Santa costume because my son was born on the 22nd. And.

Mm-hmm.

Wow.

You know everything goes by so quick. I think that That's why these days. I'm just trying to like live day by day There's gonna be bad days there just is and there's gonna be good days and I'm gonna try to The ones that are good. I'm gonna emphasize and the ones that are bad I'm gonna do my best to you know, throw them to the wayside and say screw it

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's all you can do. mean, you just got to keep a positive outlook. You have to do what you got to do and you know, feelings thankfully change. So if you're feeling shitty about something or losing someone or whatever, you can have that feeling, but then feelings will change. You'll be able to laugh. You'll be able to cry. You'll be able to do anything because nothing

Nothing you feel is going to stay the same consistently forever. It's just not that way. Even loving your spouse, like one day you may love him, the next day you may hate him. That's just, that's just life. That's just feelings. That's just the wave that of emotions and you just have to go with it and try not to be so hard on yourself.

You

Yeah, for me, yeah. And like I said, I think with as many friends that I've had pass away and young at a young age, like no one's promised tomorrow, nobody, none of us. So live for today and.

No. No.

Whatever that is, if you're, you know, reach for the stars or, or sit in a corner. But the next day, I think you have to get up and go, okay, it's a new day. Let's see what's on tap and start over. And, and then remember that, that, that day is also a day to change things. You want to change something in your life, change it. You want to go and do this. Awesome. You want to ask the person out.

Mm-hmm.

Start over.

Ask them out. Like it's okay. Like you can do certain things like that. And then you're going to have a day that shits on you. And it's okay to go home and block out the world. It's okay to do that. As long as you're not doing anything harmful, it's okay to block the world out. I have, I don't, and I know a lot of people will say don't do that, but I think sometimes you have to. It's okay to disappear. As long as you don't.

Mm-hmm.

You know, as long you're answering, like, hey, I'm not having a good day. I like that myself. If I text you and you're like, I'm just not having a good day, I really don't feel like talking, I'd go, okay, cool, I'll talk to tomorrow. And I have no problem with that. And I know a lot of people don't like that. That's just being real. I'd rather you be super real with me because it saves everyone lots of time.

And then I know where you're at and I know what to do the next time You know the next morning. I'm gonna be right there. Hey good morning. You doing all right where you at like? Just keep me in the loop and I think that Mostly as we get older. I think you you realize that Like the you know, the truth is just easier It's easier to handle easier to take Sometimes you're gonna you know, you're gonna get your heart broken. You're gonna get

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

You're going to lose a job. You're going to say something to the wrong person. That's just life. Life isn't easy. It's just not. And I saw here, I'm going to fact, I'm going to read something to you that I thought was very interesting. I saw a post from somebody today. And they posted this like a meme. But let's see if I can play it without it. Without it going.

Mm-hmm, that's for sure.

because I don't want it to be loud. Okay, it says it's a picture that it has like where a person used to be and it's an outline and inside that it says I wish you met me before all these bad things happened to me. And I found that to be pretty poignant for a lot of people around me. And this is somebody that I know that I know is not going through

a good time. And I text them and I must have sounded like a retard because he even said, you know, you wrote like you were having a stroke and I probably did. But I said, you know, bad bad things happen to us to make us stronger. Just need to come out of the other end. OK, life isn't easy for sure. You just have to keep going on. I said, I'm glad I met you when I did, dude.

Because the bad things is what make us sometimes do like. Yeah, and I think that. I think you try to make better choices as you go forward. Like, yeah, you're right, the bad things may give us armor.

Well, and you don't learn anything from doing it right. You learn from really fucking life up sometimes, and that's part of who you are. You just try to make better choices. That's it.

Mm-hmm.

And it'll make you. It'll make you do things that you shouldn't or that you wouldn't or make you feel that you're not good enough anymore, whatever, whatever these things are. And I think that's where he's at. He's just in a bad place. And, you know, I wish you would have met me before these bad things. And I told him I said, When I met you is the best place because.

You've already gone through some shit. Right. And and I think that once you realize that you've gone through a bunch of shit. The people that are around you that are staying there are there for a reason. They like you for who you are. They want you for who they are. I want you in my life because you're like this. And that's kind of what I told him. Like. That's the best part, dude. I know who you are. I know you've been through some dog shit and you came out.

smelling good on the other end. And that's how I feel about a couple of friends in my life. Like, again, people think they're broken. We're all broken. But I like you for being broken. I don't want you to change. I want you to stay the same. That's kind what I was telling him. Like, you're all right, dude. You'll be fine. You'll get through it. You're young. It's just a speed bump to get to the next thing.

Mm-hmm.

That is for sure.

Yeah, I mean look at us, you know marriage and divorce Can cripple people? No, but it'll it cripple some people That's what I mean No, I said no no, but that's what I meant by us like me and you I've seen it. I've seen it cripple people like to the point where they're

So fun.

I think it crippled me or my ex. I think it set us both free. But I don't feel crippled.

But it could, it definitely could.

Mm-hmm.

Either they feel insignificant. They don't feel that there'll ever be with somebody else. They aren't good enough for anybody. There's so many things that I've seen and look, I came out clean. mean, better than most people, right? I, I didn't have any financial issues with the exception of losing a house and not having a car, which years later, I'm, I'm more pissed off at it now that

The shitty.

She kind of fucked me on the way out, but look I'm still okay and I think that this coming new year That's how I'm looking at things Everyone you're gonna be fine and and we're all gonna be fine, you know life always goes on but within that life you still got to take some chances and you still got to do things because I only got

25 years left maybe right maybe. Right.

Look at life could be so much harder. I look at people in other countries and things that they're going through and you know the war in Gaza and and everything in Jerusalem and all that stuff that goes on on a day to day like People are going to work and they're and they're hearing You know bombs going off and all kinds of stuff and I think we're complaining about this shit. We have no right We have no right to complain. We don't so we have traffic. Ooh You know

Right. mean, if you look at, if you look at the reality of us as Americans, the poor in this country are still in like the 80 percent, a percentile of being okay in the world, the poor in this country. So, you know, the homeless in this country are better off than the homeless in almost any other country. So.

Life could be so much worse.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's just a lot more of them here.

Yeah, and look, I don't want to diminish that look, we're all hurting. You know, I went to the store the other day and I got five small bags of food, five small ones and it was $97. My friend down the street she went yesterday. She got five bags of food. was $175 because she got eggs. So

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm You know eggs my friend who has four kids didn't want to buy eggs because She couldn't find them for under 17 18 dollars an 18 pack. I was like what? So my dad went to He went to Walmart and found him for eight dollars for two dozen so I had him get her two dozen eggs so that she could have eggs just because life is so expensive right now, you just gotta

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Again, we just got to.

I don't know, we'll make it, we just gotta go through it and hopefully things will start to change.

Ticker through Get get past we're past the hangover now the holidays are done You know, we really don't have much going on until Next year, right? I mean a couple of holidays, but they're all pretty simple with the exception of Valentine's Day Yeah so I mean for me I think that It was a rough year, but I'm gonna do my best this year to

They're all fun ones. Yeah.

Look at things differently. Look at everyone else's situation differently. Kind of step back and go look. We're all going through some shit. know, be kind. Be a little more kind to everybody. uh, and again, just keep on moving. Keep on grooving. I think that, uh, you know, we're, we're going to get back on track here. And we've talked about it earlier today about

Mm-hmm.

That's all you can do.

We're gonna get back and make sure we're we're doing them every week but I definitely think that the two weeks off were We're good for everybody. I Mostly just trying to get better. Yeah, there was yeah, there was some there were a couple of days where I was bad. Yeah, this is good. I actually feel Okay, I still have some some yellow snot which

Well, especially because we sounded like shit too.

He sounded horrible. Yeah.

My friend down the street has some antibiotics and I told her today matter of fact I texted her this morning. I was like look, you know, I don't mean to ask but you do you have anything she's oh, yeah, I have this She goes here's the thing though If it's viral, not gonna do anything for you. I was like, okay So in my head, I'm like, well, I'm gonna wait a couple of days a couple more days because it's not gonna hurt me I don't take them right away And see

pretty.

Mm-hmm.

Before because I don't want to waste antibiotics. I feel bad like you know that that's not waste them but Yeah, we'll see it's gonna be an interesting year. I Have a doctor's appointment. I my shoulder's been really bad team like really bad like keeping me up at night So I'm going see hopefully they'll Send me to either physical therapy or an orthopedic doctor. We can kind of see what's going on

you

Let's see what happens next. Yeah.

Life is interesting, my dear. Yes, I think with everything we're going to see what happens next in our life. Our, our, our personal life is always fun. People can hear off air. What, what we talk about would be. No, I think they they'd enjoy it, but we'd, it would be a lot. Maybe we'll see what happens in the next couple of months. We'll see where our lives go to, but it's always something with us.

Yes.

Nobody wants to hear that.

I like to tell the story after it's written, not during the time it's written.

I kind of agree. think that, you know, if things go a certain way, it's easier to tell the story when it's great. Like, hey, we went through all this shit and look where we're at. make sure you check out the show, share it with everybody. We've been getting a lot of shares. We had somebody in one day download like 150 episodes. I know I don't remember. It was like the Philippines.

Mm-hmm.

Where was that?

That's crazy. Well, thank you, Philippines.

Yeah, I mean, some of these things, though, like I like I told you, I wonder if it's just a VPN. It's somebody, you know, somebody in the States. So who knows? But please share, because I think a lot of people have been sharing lately and they can check us out pretty much any format where on every podcast you can think of. But definitely Apple and Spotify, because those are the biggies.

Check us out on social media like I've been talking as long as I'm not getting kicked off. I have a couple of times. And yeah, you know, any last words our teenager. I'm going to say let's make this year the best we can take chances. It's a painting show. I'm going to twist it. Keep coming back every Wednesday for Teener. I'm Rob and we'll see you in a week. Bye.

Keep your head up, it's not that bad.

Absolutely.

See ya.