SPEAKER_03: 0:00

I grew up in gun culture. I I my family, they're not hunters.

SPEAKER_02: 0:04

Um they're gatherers.

SPEAKER_03: 0:07

Gatherers. We like berries and whatever we can get out of the tree.

SPEAKER_02: 0:21

You're listening to premeditated opinions. Because yes, we thought about it, and then we said it anyway. I'm Pamela.

SPEAKER_03: 0:28

And I'm Josh, and we are just two people who somehow share a brain and decided to weaponize our brains with microphones.

SPEAKER_02: 0:35

Each week we unpack the chaos from politics and religion to petty internet fights and existential dread, like it's our unpaid job.

SPEAKER_03: 0:43

We are not experts, we are just way too confident. So, with all that being said, let's get started. So you texted me this morning. Um in a group thread that we're a part of. And you had uh you had quite the experience um in the carpool line this morning. Why don't you share with the ladies and gentlemen what what what situation you were in specifically?

SPEAKER_02: 1:10

All right. Look, I try not to complain about carpool line. I try not to complain at all. I am failing at that wonderfully. Um, but carpool this year, I'm like, what has happened to y'all? I mean, I know some of y'all done this before.

SPEAKER_04: 1:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30

I I'm willing to give grace to the kindergarten moms and dads.

SPEAKER_04: 1:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 1:38

This was this year's on another level. I'm like, y'all even know how to drive. Like, have we just lost all hope?

SPEAKER_03: 1:48

Right. Well, and the the and you've heard me say this before. There's absolutely nothing that brings out the worst in me quite like a carpool line. I don't know. It just it seems to bring out the worst in everybody. And then it creates a situation where all of us are on a deadline. So we're all just trying to get our freaking kids to school, like responsible adults.

SPEAKER_02: 2:08

Well, and some people have deadlines, they gotta get to work.

SPEAKER_03: 2:10

Yeah, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:11

And they they don't have leisure time to wait for 40 minutes in the carpool line. And it should not like our kids have 30 minutes from the day the time that the doors open to the time the bell rings.

SPEAKER_03: 2:25

Same.

SPEAKER_02: 2:26

And I got my daughter in school right before. But if I had waited like I was supposed to, listen, I cut some corners because I was frustrated. But um if I had gotten her, if I had waited in that line, she'd have been late.

SPEAKER_04: 2:43

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 2:44

And I because when I pulled back out, there was still a line of cars, and I'm like, what are we doing? Right. What are we doing here? So what had happened was so I go to drop my son off first. So his school starts at like 7:50. My daughters doesn't start till 8.30. So uh we get there, we're in line, and it's let's see, we left at he we were running late because of course it's a week and a half. We've already lost our hoodie, our water bottle, and our lunch box.

SPEAKER_03: 3:15

The new Converse one. The new Converse hoodie. Oh man.

SPEAKER_02: 3:19

Yeah. Yeah. And I he's crying, and I have no mercy. I'm I'm like, listen, you've got to learn some responsibility. So we're already running behind.

unknown: 3:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:31

So it's raining. So that automatically just screws everything up. And so I expected a little bit of things were gonna be moving a little bit slower.

SPEAKER_04: 3:40

Sure.

SPEAKER_02: 3:40

This was ridiculous. So our school has two lanes to pull in, and everybody likes to pull into the right lane because I get you closer to the door. The left lane, though, will also get you close to the door. You just have to merge into the right lane.

SPEAKER_04: 3:58

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 3:59

And people just don't want to pull into this lane and have to merge and and all, and I'm like, I ain't got time. So I pull into the left lane and as I'm getting closer, I'm seeing people are only going, they're not even pulling all the way up. They're only pulling up like three car links. They are then like turning. There's a little bit of a like an emergency lane there.

SPEAKER_04: 4:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 4:23

And you've got like three people just kind of pulling off into this lane, getting out of their car, turn, getting around, take, you know, helping their kids out with umbrellas, walking them to the door. I'm like, we ain't got time for this.

SPEAKER_03: 4:35

Right. Yeah. So I and also they're 10. They'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02: 4:39

Well, yeah. You know, I'm like, yeah, it's raining. It's mostly covered.

SPEAKER_04: 4:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 4:44

Okay, come on. Your kids ain't that precious. So I, instead of merging into the lane, I just go straight because there is technically another lane. I just go straight and pull in where I'm supposed to go.

SPEAKER_04: 5:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 5:01

And tell my son, sorry about your luck.

unknown: 5:04

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 5:04

Maybe you'll remember your hoodie. Um, and he got out. And then finally, people behind me started following suit. Yeah. Because I'm like, I am not waiting for these three precious children to get out, and then the next three precious children to get out. Like, we ain't precious in this family. So um, so I had that. Well, by the time I finally got through that lane and back home, I was already late to pick up my daughter to take her to school, which I knew again, raining, right? All that, like we're gonna be dealing with something similar. And it was the same damn thing. Again, two lanes to pull in. Everybody's trying to get into the right lane. So I literally I'm in the turn lane to turn left into the school, and I look and just pull into oncoming traffic. Luckily, nobody's coming because I'm like, I ain't got time. I ain't got time, I ain't got patience. This is dumb.

SPEAKER_04: 6:00

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 6:00

So we finally get into the parking lot. I'm the first one in this lane.

SPEAKER_04: 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 6:07

No, I'm like, she had five extra steps to take from the second lane from the first lane. I and and I dropped her off and I was in and out both times. And I'm like, what are we doing here? Right. Why am I the only one doing this? Right. And I wasn't doing anything I wasn't supposed to be doing either.

SPEAKER_03: 6:27

It's just every I'm well and like for me in our with our setup, we do only have a single lane, and because of where the crosswalks happen, the the the whole carpool line ends up getting stopped.

SPEAKER_02: 6:41

Don't get me started on crosswalks.

SPEAKER_03: 6:43

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02: 6:43

But go ahead.

SPEAKER_03: 6:44

We so the crossing guard lady is sweet enough, and I know she's got a tough job, and she's trying to wrangle a lot of things. She is, and because of just the setup within the neighborhood and all this, she's kind of out there just doing her best to not get kids killed. And she's doing it well. Yeah. Um, and well, actually, one of my favorite things is when she is signaling stop and someone tries to pass her, she will go up and like bang on your car. She will hit your car with her stop sign. It's hilarious. When you're in the carpool line, it we're basically in a neighborhood, and it's an older neighborhood where the streets aren't very wide at all. And so if you're in the carpool line, you have to pull right up next to the curb and kind of inch along the curb until you get up to the area where you can sort of pull in the driveway and drop off. And there's only one lane to do all of this. We do not have a second lane option.

SPEAKER_02: 7:32

Well, that's that's fair.

SPEAKER_03: 7:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 7:34

That my thing is we have an unutilized second lane for no reason.

SPEAKER_03: 7:38

Yes. Well, I try and be a responsible, reasonable adult. And as we are making our way through the neighborhood, there's several houses and streets that you kind of pass as you're inching your way through the carpool line. And I try to not block people's driveways.

SPEAKER_04: 7:56

I try to not block streets because I'm not a jerk.

SPEAKER_03: 8:00

And so as a result, every now and again, there is a gap between me and the person in front of me. And I swear to God, 80% of the time, someone will just swoop in where I have left a gap, so I'm not blocking a street. Someone will just jump right in that gap. And so this was happening like the last two years constantly. Well, so our kids meet the teacher night was a couple weeks ago. It was a few days before school started. And so I get there plenty early, and I got a real parking spot. There's not a lot of them, but there are real parking spots at this elementary school. And so I managed to snag one, and this woman pulls in and literally parks right behind me. She blocks me in. And I don't know if it was the mood I was in. I don't know if it was just the repetitiveness of this kind of problem over the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_02: 8:54

The entitlement?

SPEAKER_03: 8:55

The entitlement. Like I walked up to this car and was just like, do you think you're more important than all the other people who are parked here? And she's like, Well, I don't want to park way back on the street. I couldn't get here any earlier. I was like, Well, sorry about your luck. Tough luck, man. Like all these people got here early, and now you're just jumping in to a space that is blocking in not just my truck, but like two other cars. And I was like, Why do you feel like this is something that you can do? Why why do you and so I have this whole like altercation with this woman who is still sitting in her car, and and so I I get pretty fussy, but also it's meeting the teacher, and it's hot outside, and I want to go inside. And so I just start walking away.

SPEAKER_02: 9:40

If you're like me, and I know you are, you don't even want to be in there in the first place.

SPEAKER_03: 9:43

I really don't. Um, but I'm trying to do the responsible grown-up parent thing. And so my kids are with me and are are witness to all of this.

SPEAKER_00: 9:52

So I get they just slowly start getting back in the car. They're just like, oh god.

SPEAKER_03: 9:57

Yeah, we don't know this man. But uh we we we get inside the school and you know, I'm doing the meet the teacher thing and walking around and finding their classes, blah, blah, blah. And honestly, it's going well. Like I'm meeting teachers, I'm actually I'm really enjoying these people I'm meeting, and it is it the vibes were good. Well, this parent pulls me aside uh as we're walking out of one of uh my son's classrooms, and he goes, Man, thank you so much for talking to that lady. He goes, I see that same lady doing that all the time, and she's always cutting in line and blah, blah, blah. And and I was like, I promise I'm a nice guy. But but I've just had enough of that garbage. And I don't know what it is about carpool lines, especially this season of the year. They're so bad right when school starts. And we have these 10 weeks of summer, and everyone forgets entirely how to do this.

SPEAKER_02: 10:51

And they all it's it's not just some, it's like all.

SPEAKER_03: 10:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 10:55

I'm like, there's only X percent of kindergartners or new students to this school. Like the rest of y'all done this before. Right. Like it ain't it ain't changed. I don't know what's going on. So funny enough that you say that.

SPEAKER_01: 11:09

So I have, and I try, I try.

SPEAKER_02: 11:13

We have a group of teachers or faculty that wait by the carpool line to kind of help facilitate. My problem with that is in my son's school, it's social hour for the teachers. And I'm like, look, I'm trying to keep in mind they got a million things that they're responsible for, that they shouldn't be responsible for, they're underpaid, yada yada yada.

SPEAKER_04: 11:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 11:38

But I'm like, don't be out there if you're not gonna help. Like, like we have students having trouble opening the doors or closing the doors or getting in, like if they would just focus on helping kids in and out of the car, like back home, teachers did that. Like they would open the doors for the kids, like that's and helped them, you know, get into the building and and keep the line moving. And these teachers, I'm like, this is not your social hour, like be out here or don't, because you're just pissing me off at this point, like just hanging out. Um, but you you mentioned uh altercation. I almost had one with the new um security officer.

SPEAKER_03: 12:21

Oh, fun. That's yes, let's hear about that.

SPEAKER_02: 12:26

So last week, let me think about this. Last week I was picking up my son. So the first week of school, I've gotten in this real bad habit. I drop both kids off in the morning and I pick both kids up in the afternoon. I will never do that again. So uh it was Friday, and uh we had split the responsibility. So I was picking up my son, and then my husband was supposed to be picking up my daughter. My my kids go to different schools, if I have if that hasn't been clear yet. Um and I had called my husband to make sure he was gonna be able to get off work and pick her up on time and all of that. He didn't answer. He was at work. Okay. It just so happens that when he called me back, I was pulling into the left lane of the entrance, doing things correctly. Um, actually, it's a little bit different in the afternoon, but I digress. So but he called me as I was pulling into the drive and I'm on speaker phone, holding, yeah, I'm holding it up, I'm on speakerphone, I'm paying attention, and the SEO officer like calls me out for being on my phone. Uh and I rolled my window down and I was like, Are you gonna go pick up my daughter? I said, Because I'm on the phone right now making sure she's gonna get picked up. And he's like, We need to be off our cell phones in the line. And I'm like, listen, yeah, I ain't sitting here scrolling social media, I ain't in here not paying attention. I ain't one of these parents that ain't paying a lick of attention and not doing what I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

SPEAKER_04: 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 14:05

Um, no, I wouldn't have been on my phone. I know you're not supposed to be on your phones in in the school zones or whatever, but I'm like, I'm literally just making sure because again, it's time sensitive. You know, I don't we only have so much time to pick her up. Um, and it's not my fault that he just happened to call at an inconvenient time.

SPEAKER_03: 14:26

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 14:27

I'm like, next time I'll text.

SPEAKER_03: 14:29

Right, exactly. I'll stare at my phone and not look up at all and take out a couple second graders. We have plenty of them.

SPEAKER_02: 14:37

Yeah, so pick your battles, sir. I'm like, it's been a week and a half, and I'm already probably on somebody's list.

SPEAKER_03: 14:43

I I have cars that I have memorized. Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 14:46

Yeah, that I have literally asked before. There was some some lady, I remember it was a Kia Telluride. I don't know what it is about Kia Tellurides. Y'all love just riding up people's butts every day. She would, and then I found out that she worked at the elementary school. Oh, and so one day I dropped my son off and I rolled the window down. I'm like, who drives that car? And they're like, uh, is everything okay? And I'm like, who drives that car? Yeah. And they would not tell me.

SPEAKER_04: 15:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:14

But later on, I managed to get it out of my son. I was like, hey, do you know who drive do you know who that lady is? Do you know? He's like, Oh yeah, I think she's the art teacher or something. I was like, mm. So the next um, the next whatever event we had to to be at the school, you best believe I walk past her door.

SPEAKER_03: 15:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 15:36

Like, ma'am.

SPEAKER_03: 15:38

Throw in shade.

SPEAKER_02: 15:39

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03: 15:39

My kids uh are in the same building. I don't have to deal with the multiple pickup and drop-off like Pamela does, but that's only for this year, and it's going to change after this year. Um, so I actually feel like their school right now does a pretty great job of managing all of the logistics of getting kids in and out of the building. Uh, I don't know that they have an opportunity to do it much better because of the location of the school and things like that. And the faculty is staff is actually helpful, which is good. But when you're dealing with other parents who are convinced of their own importance, there's just there's going to be anger and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Like it's it just it goes biblical every time because you we have gotten in our heads that uh our children are the most precious, that uh everything that they do is perfect and uh blessed. So I understand that the world ha has been very uh cruel to students with school violence and things like that. It it's just a different place than it was even when you and I were in school. And I'm I'm ready to acknowledge that. That's fine. My kids had their first scheduled lockdown drill a couple days ago. For this year or this year.

SPEAKER_02: 17:01

And the fact that I even have to ask that question is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_03: 17:05

Right, right. Well, and and the fact that lockdown drills have to exist at all is ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00: 17:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 17:11

But when I was hearing about it after they got in the car, I got an email from the school ahead of time and they told all the parents, like, just FYI, we had a scheduled lockdown drill today. If you're if your students talk about it, you know, it was not a real threat, you know, this was just a drill. And they were very clear in their communication, which I appreciated. Then we got in the car and my daughter starts talking about how fun she thought it was and how they kind of gamified a lot of it. And I'm I just can't decide where I stand on this, to be perfectly honest. Like, I I don't I don't want them to exist in the first place because we can't get our stuff together enough from a legislation standpoint to actually pass meaningful gun control. Instead of doing that and making this the grown-ups problem, we've decided to make it elementary school kids' problem. Like we're we're gonna we're gonna put the burden of response on my nine and eleven-year-old. Are you out of your mind?

SPEAKER_02: 18:09

Like Oh, we have so many opinions on this.

SPEAKER_03: 18:12

Yeah, yeah. Well, and and I'm not even I I grew up in gun culture. I I my family, they're not hunters.

SPEAKER_02: 18:19

Um they're gatherers. Right, right.

SPEAKER_03: 18:22

We're more gatherers. We like berries and you know, whatever we can get off of trees. But the um yeah, my family would have not made it in the hunter-gatherer scene, by the way. Like we it's really a good thing that we were born in the eras that we were born. Um my dad is a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant man, and I am I have zero confidence in his ability to feed himself. But um, so we I've grew up around gun culture. I grew up around, you know, the safe handling of firearms. I've been to gun ranges. I I like I get that culture, I get this Second Amendment appeal and all of this. But at the same time, we have just lost the plot entirely as far as how we're letting all these things trickle into our school systems, and now it's in the faces of our kids. So my daughter was talking about how she thought it was so fun and it was this game and blah, blah, blah. Whereas my son was way more aware of what was going on, took it really seriously, and um I found out actually that his sixth grade teacher uh had actually been on campus during a real lockdown a few years ago, not at the school that he currently attends. Um but he had been like actually on site when someone armed was in the building and and there were no casualties, but like it was a real situation. I have so much uh uh disappointment in how we have approached a lot of these school-centered problems. And at the same time, I feel like it's sort of fallen out of our conversations. Like it's not it's not a legislative priority anymore. We're too concerned about it.

SPEAKER_02: 20:08

Oh yeah, we're too distracted. Right. We're distracted by literally everything else.

SPEAKER_03: 20:12

Yeah. And I I've gotten this place where I just I really hate it. I I I hate that we're putting this burden of responsibility on you know, kids who haven't even hit puberty yet. And we've just lost so much of uh the plot around whose responsibility this is, and I'm just desperately ready for that to change. And so I I I'm not trying to take us on a dark turn or anything like that. I just I couldn't uh that that's actually been on my mind for a few days, and I really I just hate the existence of all of that, and I don't know exactly how to change it other than voting, but but even then in the state of Texas, that just feels like you know, it's not pointless, but it sure feels that way. It feels fruitless, yeah. It's just yeah, you know, but but in the meantime, we're doing a great job of of gerrymandering the crap out of our legislative districts and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02: 21:10

But well, now that you bring this up, I just realized that my daughter is now the age I was when I went through my first bomb threat.

SPEAKER_04: 21:19

Whoa.

SPEAKER_02: 21:20

Um, so I remember in middle school, so my daughter's in seventh grade, and this was prior to Columbine.

SPEAKER_03: 21:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 21:33

But we there were still like bomb threats being called in at that time. Because I remember my middle school received a bomb threat, and we started having drills where we they would actually evacuate the school and we would have to walk down the street to this nearby church. Now we got to a point, almost like with your daughter, where when we had these drills or even threats, we'd kind of get excited about it because that meant we got to go down to the church gym and that we played games.

SPEAKER_04: 22:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 22:09

Like originally they would they would like evacuate us into our own gym.

SPEAKER_03: 22:13

And then I guess they realized um we're still in the building.

SPEAKER_02: 22:19

Like, okay, the the bomb must be anywhere but the gym.

SPEAKER_03: 22:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 22:23

Um, so anyway, um, but yeah, we would go and like we'd spend hours, I mean, playing all kinds of games in the gym at the church, and yeah, now my daughter's that age. Um, and she has to deal with a lot more serious acute threat, I feel.

SPEAKER_03: 22:43

There's a lot of uh fear and mistrust around w what would happen legislatively, and I just I refuse to believe that we're incapable of finding some sort of solution. But anyhow. So I don't want to talk about that anymore because it's dark and it's weird. Um and and uh but I I but that's what we do best. Right, yeah. But I appreciate you allowing me to vent about back to school things and carpool lines, but you had an interesting week this week. You actually went back to Louisville for a few days, yeah, your hometown, but for a work thing. So, what took you out there?

SPEAKER_02: 23:16

I was thinking about this this morning. Um, I am a serial conference attendee. If there's a conference, I'm gonna be there. Yeah, um, particularly in the Salesforce space. So I've been attending, so Salesforce is is really known for like they've got very large corporate events, they have community events, they have community group events. Um, so this particular one was back home in Louisville. It's called Witness Success. It's a women in tech conference, Salesforce conference, and it was in my hometown. So I'm like, win-win, like a women, a conference, a women in tech conference, and it's back home. So um I had a great time. Great. Uh got to catch up with some of my my I call my call them my Salesforce fangirl squad.

SPEAKER_04: 24:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 24:08

So some of them were there. Um, some of them were speaking. It was a really good time. Uh it was a two-day conference. Um, and then I had some drama trying to get back home. But uh yeah, it was a good, it was, it was a really good time. I I attended one session um that I talked to you briefly about, um, called Laughter Yoga.

SPEAKER_03: 24:31

Yes. Which I've been so excited to hear more about and have on purpose not looked it up.

SPEAKER_02: 24:37

Yeah. So it is um, first of all, the lady that presented it, um Andrea Stratton, I believe it was her name, she was hilarious. So that just immediately I was like, okay, this is gonna be a good time.

SPEAKER_04: 24:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 24:51

Uh but And this was a session? It was a session. Okay, so this particular conference, while it is a technology conference, is is more soft skills, more kind of thought leadership and kind of motivating and ex and inspiring. Um, you know, has a lean toward women in tech and the struggles that we have um as females in the you know technical space. And uh, but we do also get into more technical conversations, um, particularly right now. The buzz is AI, even though we really tried to avoid a lot of the AI talk, which I have a whole Substack paper about. But this session was about laughter yoga. And so, you know, you have all kinds of yoga. You've got vinyasa, you've got hot yoga, you've got meditative yoga, you've got all these different kinds. And so I and listen, I don't know all the ins and outs. She talked through it. I didn't do a whole lot of research on it um just yet, but there is this thing called laughter yoga. And I knew going into it, I was like, this is gonna be awkward. Like, this is gonna be awkward. We're gonna have to participate. This is gonna be really uncomfortable. Um, but you basically she kind of goes into a little bit of the science of it. So you have two types of laughter. You have cognitive laughter and you have spontaneous laughter. I could be getting these terms wrong, but cognitive laughter is when you know you know you're laughing or you make yourself laugh, like something's uncomfortable, you know, or um, or you just, you know, just making yourself haha. That's cognitive laughter. Spontaneous laughter is when somebody says something funny that catches you off guard and you you laugh like it's involuntary, you know. So you start off with cognitive laughter, and and you have a couple of prompts and they're actually they're pretty cute. One of them was um imagine you got your uh your electric bill and it was some ridiculous amount. And so you okay, and all you can do is laugh.

SPEAKER_04: 27:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 27:06

Because it's so ridiculous. Like it's like an$800 electric bill. You're just like like like that, that almost uh, what do you call it? That um maniacal you know, or just like the anger laughter, yeah. You're like, ha ha, that's that's cute. Like this is this is cute, G E or L G N E that's back home. I don't know what it is here. Um but uh and you're just and then but once you start doing this in a group and everyone's then it turns into spontaneous laughter. And that's essentially what you're kind of going for. You're going for this cognitive to spontaneous laughter. And there were so many times that I was getting into spontaneous laughter, just hearing like the speaker was kind of being funny about it, you know, like so she would just have these like really outlandish laughs that would then just create spontaneous laughter.

SPEAKER_03: 28:00

And um well, there's so many people there's so many different laughs that make me laugh. Like just hearing, like even you, like you, yeah, kind of that one, that one, that's the one.

SPEAKER_02: 28:13

I'm not like cognitive slash spontaneous laughter. Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_03: 28:17

But I call it your hoot laugh because it starts off with sort of this outburst, but it's when I know I've really caught you off guard. And and that's that's always what I'm going for with humor with anybody. Is like I want to try and catch people off guard and get really organic laughs. But at the same time, there's times where you know you're just around other people whose laugh all by itself just makes you laugh. Like I'm not laughing at the thing they're laughing at. I'm just laughing at them laughing.

SPEAKER_02: 28:45

And so she did talk about she's like, you know, yawns are contagious. She's like, laughter's contagious.

SPEAKER_03: 28:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 28:49

And uh so in this session, it was very quick. It was like maybe 15 minutes. Um, and she had like five different prompts, and you know, everybody in the room is just laughing, and and I'm sure we were very loud. And I'm sure people like in the room next to us were like, the hell is going on over there? Um, which made us laugh even more. Sure. Um, but it at the end of the session, you know, we kind of sit down and she's just like debriefing, like, how are you feeling? What are you feeling? And like a lot of people were like, I feel reset.

SPEAKER_04: 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:21

I feel kind of like I feel like I just did a workout, you know, like my abs are hurting and my my cheeks, you know, and um they've but they experienced a very almost cathartic moment. And if you think about it, I know there are a lot of times when I turn to humor. Um, I used to do this a lot when I was younger. I used to watch horror films, and if I was freaked out, I would watch stand up.

SPEAKER_04: 29:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:47

Just to kind of like break that up and really like and just kind of laugh again. Um, or you know, if I'm really like just kind of moody or blah, like I'll watch some stand up comedy or I'll watch. A funny movie. One of my favorites is Stepbrothers or Bridesmaids, like, and I'll just perk right up. So there is a lot of there's been a lot of research done. I suggest you, you know, I think laughteryoga.org is the official website.

SPEAKER_04: 30:13

Cool.

SPEAKER_02: 30:14

Um, but there's been research done on it. And and at first I was like, okay, when I first saw the session, I was like, this is like it it can't at first it felt culty. It felt very culty. It was very, I'm like, I don't know about this. But there were benefits. There's benefits to laughter, there's benefits to humor. And and honestly, it kind of got me thinking about the fact that we need to get back to that. We need to get back to having a sense of humor. Um one of my favorite things, one thing I'm living for right now is the Gavin Newsom tweets.

SPEAKER_03: 30:50

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02: 30:51

And just that that is what I live for. I live for humor, I live for satire, parody, um, being able to laugh at yourself.

SPEAKER_00: 31:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02: 31:02

Um, to me, when you're able to like self-deprecate or laugh at yourself, or it's just it's a it's a great way to deal with a lot of stressful situations. Um, you know, it's for me, the Gavin Newsom tweets are just helping me deal with everything going on in the world. Sure. And realizing that there's still some people in power who have a sense of humor and a sense of humanity. Yeah. Um, you know, I feel like I've always kind of taught my kids. Um, sometimes my son likes to feel cool. And so if you tease him or make fun of him, he gets very much in his feels. And so I've tried to teach him to laugh at himself. Stop taking yourself so seriously. Like, have fun with life. Like, you don't have to be emo. You know, like, like, and it's a great way to honestly deal with bullies.

SPEAKER_03: 31:56

Oh, absolutely. Like, I feel like it really pulls our power.

SPEAKER_02: 31:58

It does. And so I think we do need to get back to it. It it was a very fun session. Uh, definitely had me thinking.

SPEAKER_03: 32:05

Sure, there's science to support all of that, and there's studies and all sorts of things that you can point to as to how medicinal laughter really is. But then there's really no substitute for like being in that kind of group environment and experiencing something that is sort of universally funny. And on a much smaller scale, like our families have spent a lot of time together this summer. And two things that have been very uh ubiquitous throughout the whole summer are Jackbox, which, if you don't know what that is, it's a Nintendo Switch game that's meant to be played in groups, and you actually the game is hosted by the Switch, but everyone plays on their own phones or iPads or whatever connected devices. And then we have played so much cards against humanity this summer. And it's fantastic. And and part of why we keep reaching for it is because of how funny it is. Like we that I don't know if it was the first night that we played. We there have been many cards against humanity nights between the grown-ups. Let me be very clear. Our children have not participated in in Cards Against Humanity. Um, we're better parents than that for now. I I don't remember if it's a first or second night, it might have been both for that matter. I remember literally going to bed that night and my stomach hurt. Like we had laughed so hard for so long that my muscles literally ached. And what a great freaking night. I mean, it was it's just impossible to be in a bad mood. It's impossible to um like not, it's impossible to continue to take things too seriously. It really is medicinal in a lot of really cool ways. And even the Gavin Newsom tweets that you brought up, it what he's really doing in that is he's making something that can feel really serious and even a little scary. He's he's making it silly. And I'm encouraged by the fact that something like Laughter Yoga wasn't an extracurricular, it was an available session. I love that because that's sort of centering like our own experience and you know, our own approach to hard things and our even to some degree an approach to community. Like you guys had a community experience within this session that I'm sure is getting talked about in other places other than this podcast. And what a brilliant move on the part of the organizers to be like, no, this is gonna be really helpful to the people who are here. And you know, maybe it's something that people will take home and benefit from and talk about more and think about more, and like all that's pretty powerful. Yeah, and so yeah, I I love that. So, any other highlights from from that few days? Um, other than getting delayed coming home, right?

SPEAKER_02: 34:48

Pretty crazy. Um, for sure. So a close friend of mine, Alison Roscoe, she presented for the first time. So that was exciting. Um, she has an organization called Data and Donuts.

SPEAKER_03: 35:00

Uh coined name.

SPEAKER_02: 35:02

Coined by her neurospicy son, who's 15. Um, when she wanted to kind of uh she was in a similar similar situation to me. She'd been laid off. She's a data enthusiast. She wanted to kind of branch out on her own. So um she created an organization, asked her son, hey, what do I call it? He's like, Well, you like data and you like donuts. So there you go. Um, she wore this really cute um donut shirt, and she had a presentation on um healthy, healthy mind, healthy data, essentially. Um so really excited for her, for her, you know, um journey into public speaking. Um, yeah, I mean, honestly, every session I went to was really great. We had we had guys there, so we have allies that go. Um, there was a a good number of of male allies there. Um, so that was encouraging.

SPEAKER_03: 35:55

Are you a hundred percent sure they're not just single guys looking for nerdy women?

SPEAKER_02: 36:02

So I mean, a hundred percent, I don't know, yeah, but no. Uh several of them were speakers. Um there were some vendors. Um most of the people, honestly, I love that when I go to these events, um, I know a good majority of the people. Yeah. Um it's kind of like it's almost like a reunion for me. It's almost like, hey, let's go hang out and like learn some cool stuff and nerd out on Salesforce.

SPEAKER_04: 36:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 36:26

Um, we had a really good, so one person I really looked up, really look up to in uh in the Salesforce community is Leah McGowan Hare. She is, I believe, the SVP of the Trailblazer community.

SPEAKER_04: 36:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 36:41

Um, so she's she's pretty high up there. I met her uh officially at Texas Streaming earlier this year. Okay. Um, we talked about I have my cowgirl boots on. So she was like, oh my gosh, I love those boots. Um and she actually remembered me this time. I I didn't expect it. I didn't have my boots on at the time, but um, it was so this the first night, which was Tuesday, uh, that evening they did a celebration. They always do so Salesforce always does um with these like uh conference events, have some sort of fun evening planned. And so this one, they planned a prom night. And it was it was very like you can go all out or you can wear what you wore that day, or you know, they wanted people to be comfortable, but it was it was prom themed. And um one of my favorite stories, Leah got up there. She's one of my favorite speakers. This woman, I think I said on my LinkedIn, like she needs a Nobel Peace Prize and and motivational speaking. Um, but she got up there and she told us the story of her prom dress.

SPEAKER_04: 37:50

Oh.

SPEAKER_02: 37:50

So she wore a prom dress, she had a tiara, she had her prom dress. I mean, she was dressed as the nines, and her dress was her original prom dress.

SPEAKER_04: 38:01

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02: 38:01

So kudos to fit back in that, first of all. Like, I don't even think I have mine anymore, and there ain't no way. Uh, but her brother had made her dress.

SPEAKER_03: 38:14

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02: 38:15

So she's like in typical Curtis fashion, he was still like sewing up like the final things as I'm walking out the door. And um she said that he ended up passing away nine years later from HIV. And so that dress really meant something to her and for her to be able to wear that dress again. I mean, it was just like I'm like, I'm done. Like I can go home now.

SPEAKER_03: 38:43

Like this, this is just no one's topping that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:46

But I went up to her after and just wanted to say hi and she remembered me. And I was like, oh, I was like, I didn't think you'd remember me because I didn't have my boots on. And she remembered my tattoo.

SPEAKER_04: 38:54

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 38:55

She's like, oh yeah, I remember, I remember you. She's like in those boots, and and she's just she's fabulous. So that was that was a really great experience. And then um, yeah, day two, more sessions, more great talks, met some really great people. Um, one lady there gave a talk. I felt really bad for her because there was only like four of us in the room because they had a another Salesforce um lady there, Gilda. Um, she was giving a talk at the same time. So I think a lot of people were in that session. But I had uh I talked to her name is Kalia. And um when I was going through the vendors, um, she and I met, um, she had just written a book.

SPEAKER_04: 39:43

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_02: 39:44

And so she had them available, and and she's like, Oh, yeah, I'm giving them away in my session. But she went ahead and gave me one. I was like, ma'am, I I need you to sign this. So it's called The Well Within. Um, and her talk was kind of the high level of her book, yeah, which was really great. Her session was basically how to thrive in crazy times and talking a lot about the current landscape and um I would like to hear her talk. Yes, yes. Um, maybe we can get her on the podcast. Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah, but definitely, you know, recommend the book. But uh her session was really great, and she's just a cool person to get to know. And what else? Um, oh, the so I was originally, I'm not gonna go into the whole story of like my flight delay, but I was originally supposed to leave early on the second day. My flight got delayed, um, which kind of was a little bit of a blessing in disguise because then I got to stay through the rest of the conference. Um, and so at the end of the conference, uh, we had a really great closing keynote by Stephanie Herrera. She is prominent in the Salesforce community. She started what are called Salesforce Saturdays. Uh Stephanie's based in Austin, Texas.

SPEAKER_03: 41:01

Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_02: 41:01

And so she started these Salesforce Saturdays. It's like a group event, and they these caught on and went international.

SPEAKER_03: 41:09

Oh, awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 41:09

Yeah. But she told her backstory of you know growing up in Texas and kind of moving around and some of the struggles that she dealt with. Um, it was very moving. Um, but it was also the end very motivating. Um, she she she did a really amazing job kind of closing out the conference. And then they did um another kind of celebration with karaoke.

SPEAKER_03: 41:32

Oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02: 41:34

Yeah. So um I kind of hung out uh with Gilda and Allison and Andrea, um, and the one of the CTOs of Salesforce was there doing karaoke of Sweet Caroline, which I managed to record and put on my LinkedIn as well. Um as you should. Yes.

SPEAKER_03: 41:55

Did you sing anything?

SPEAKER_02: 41:56

I sang along, but I did not go up with a mic. Uh why not? Listen. Listen. I couldn't even do listen. Okay, I'm gonna be honest. I was the only one in the room who couldn't do the laughter yoga. And I should have. But she gave us permission to opt out, and I was just like, I don't know. I don't know if I can do this. But I ended up kind of doing it anyway when I was sitting down because you can't not laugh in a room full of people laughing.

SPEAKER_03: 42:24

Right, very true.

SPEAKER_02: 42:25

So anyway, um, I don't know. I was just kind of feeling I don't know, some type of way.

SPEAKER_03: 42:32

Well, and the day had shifted on you, and and the you know, the plans that you had counted on that were changing in real time, and flight delays are a pain.

SPEAKER_02: 42:40

And you know, and it just and it created a stressful situation at home. So I was just my head just wasn't really in it. But we I still had a great time. Yeah, I got home, I got home late, which was fine, but I got home, yeah, and then um, yeah, and then just kind of reflected a lot. There's there there was a lot of good nuggets, a lot of good stuff I want to uh write some Substack posts about. Uh I got some stuff out on my LinkedIn, I got a lot of work done yesterday, which was which was good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 43:09

Um so if you if you had one chance to save the world and your only path to saving all of humanity was an epic karaoke performance. What are you picking?

SPEAKER_02: 43:25

Well, that's a good question. Um, I think because she's on my mind, I'm gonna have to go with Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_03: 43:32

Okay. Would there be choreography?

SPEAKER_02: 43:36

Not any that anybody would want to see. But there could be. There could be.

SPEAKER_03: 43:43

Mine, uh, I have a few, but if if I'm if I'm singing to save the world, I'm going with Creep by Radiohead.

SPEAKER_01: 43:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_03: 43:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 43:53

Because Well, that got dark.

SPEAKER_03: 43:55

Well, everyone knows the bridge, and it's impossible. I can usually get whatever room I'm in to scream sing the bridge with me. And it's it'll heal you. Like you're you'll never be the same. So just recently, you and I were talking about Taylor Swift being on Jason and Travis Kelsey's podcast, and I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I do intend to. Um, but one of the things that I've said about her for forever is I just think she's so much smarter than people give her credit for. I I think she's an incredible businesswoman. And and she has surrounded herself with other very intelligent people. And like she has done so many things, you know, basically from the start of the Eras tour, which is basically the start of her world takeover, up until now, where she's announced another album, like she's just kind of done brilliant move after brilliant move after brilliant move. And to be perfectly honest, there's plenty of her music that I'm kind of indifferent about. Like, it's fine. But and there's some of it that I actually think is good, and there's plenty that I think is not not for me. But you can't take away her business prowess from her. Like, she is brilliant at what she does, and for better or worse, she seems to actually be in a healthy, happy relationship with listen to the whole podcast, but she's just down to earth.

SPEAKER_02: 45:21

I mean, she probably goes on for about 10 minutes talking about how she makes sourdough bread. Like, I'm like, you are a billion-dollar superstar, but you're just like us, you know, and and she she talks about some family health struggles, and but then they banter and they're funny. And I I think the appeal of Taylor Swift is she's one of those people like you want to be friends with, like you want to hang out with her because she's just so authentic and down-to-earth. And yeah, I mean, she is this powerhouse, but she doesn't act like it.

SPEAKER_03: 45:58

She doesn't, and so I'm gonna tell a story that it's not my story. So I'm a huge Stephen Colbert fan, and um, we can get into him his contract not being renewed later, but he tells this story about the first time that he met Taylor Swift and he was there, uh he was at an event and his daughter was with him, and at the time his daughter was 15. And this is before the Eras tour by a handful of years. I uh, you know, this is I don't know, I'd guess eight to ten years ago. I'm not sure on the timeline, but but I know that Steven was at an event with his 15-year-old daughter and he literally passed Taylor Swift in a hallway. And uh he greeted Taylor as they were passing each other, and Taylor stops and looking at his daughter, she goes, You look so gorgeous in that dress. And he talks about how Taylor took his daughter's hand and like twirled her around and just was admonishing her with all of these compliments and calling out specific details and things. And Colbert was like, I'll be a fan of hers till the day I die. If you're gonna treat my daughter that way, then I'm a fan for life.

SPEAKER_00: 47:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 47:12

And to me, like, so there was that instance, and then there was a a huge article that came out. So I'm in the production industry, I've done a lot of uh live event work and and video audio work and um done some concert work and things like that. Nothing nowhere near uh on a stadium level, but I I understand how these things work. And there was an article that came out after the Eras tour was over where it came out that Taylor Swift basically provided bonuses for her entire staff from her truck drivers to her audio video lighting technicians to her assistants to her roadies to if you were on that tour consistently, you received a substantial bonus. And I don't know what all of them were, but what was published in the article was her truck drivers, there were six of them because when you have a tour that size, you have massive amounts of things to move around. Every single one of them got a check for a hundred thousand dollars. And I don't know how the rest of it broke down. It's life-changing. I don't know how the rest of it all broke down, but in that same article, the figure I read was she bonused out over a hundred million dollars to her staff that was with her that whole time.

SPEAKER_02: 48:29

That's so amazing.

SPEAKER_03: 48:30

And I'm sorry. You're gonna treat your people that well? Yeah, I'm I'm a fan. Uh there are all these reports um from when she went to the Super Bowl about how she um was she gave these wads of cash to her assistants and basically said every server, every security person, every usher, you're to tip them out because she knew that her presence at the Super Bowl was creating more work for all of these people. And so she wanted to make sure that those people were taken care of. That's awesome. And I just if that's how you're gonna move through life, then yeah, um that's that's just a quality move. Like you're I'm a fan of you as a human being, kind of regardless of your music, because you're treating people well. And look, there's plenty of people in my life who have no love for her at all, and that's fine. And if you're listening, I don't really care what you think. But I I I just I really respect that kind of approach and and it makes me want her to be successful. Will I listen to her new album that's coming out in October? Probably not. Yeah, you know, like I'm just I'm not that kind of fan, but I love kind of how she's moving through the world.

SPEAKER_02: 49:43

Exactly. Like I call myself a Swifty because I am a fan of hers. It doesn't mean I've heard every album, every song, every, you know, I've never I didn't go to the ears tour, I didn't go to the movies to watch it, like, but I'm still a fan. And I was just sitting here thinking, when you're telling these stories of these amazing things that she's done, and then we've got Dump over here tweeting, I hate Taylor Swift, right? To which Gavin Newsom says I hate kid rock, which yeah. So uh I feel like that just kind of tells you what kind of person we're dealing with. Um is the most powerful person in America. Right. Um why like why it's kind of like people who say they they don't like dogs.

SPEAKER_03: 50:35

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 50:35

They're or they're not dog people.

SPEAKER_03: 50:36

I'm like immediately skeptical.

SPEAKER_02: 50:38

Immediately, immediately. It's like, how do you like how do you not like I understand if like you're more of a cat person than a dog person, but like to say you're not a dog person, right?

SPEAKER_03: 50:51

So you you're not a fan of something that's gonna love you unconditionally every single day. Um you need therapy, like that's the only possible response. Yeah, but no, for for for the leader of the free world to have such big opinions on uh essentially capitalized opinions, right? Yes, yeah, not just big opinions, but shouty, all caps opinions. Like it's it's just a shocking waste of his time. Uh, but at the same time, like that's the pettiness that we're dealing with in uh in our Oval Office at this point. And to get into a lot of his uh pop culture hot takes would it requires many, many episodes of this podcast. But at the same time, the fact that he has any of those hot takes at all means that, you know, maybe you don't have your eye on the ball there, buddy. Um, like maybe maybe you're barking up all the wrong trees. Um, and also you're never gonna be more popular than Taylor Swift. Ever, ever, ever. Ever, ever.

SPEAKER_02: 51:48

Um oh, so fun fact uh I have been in a Taylor Swift music video.

SPEAKER_03: 51:54

Oh, that's right. All right, tell the ladies and gentlemen how this happened.

SPEAKER_02: 51:59

So uh, first of all, don't go look at the video because you're not gonna see me. Um, but I was there and I got picture-proof. I it was when her video for her song You Belong With Me was was out. Uh, so we're talking like 2020-ish. Um you know, she lived in Nashville, or she lived in Henderson, Tennessee, which is just north of Nashville. And her brother went to high school with my cousin, and they were filming her video for You Belong With Me. It was uh uh like a teenage concept, like high school concept, and it was at the end of the year, the school year, and their um gym was set up for prom. And so she basically went to the school and filmed a large portion of the video using their prom setup and uh their football field. So there's a scene in the video where she's dressed in a brunette wig, she's her alter ego, and she's she comes out on the football field. There's an actor there who's the quarterback. Listen, I cannot tell you how long we sat there waiting for this man to catch a ball and how many times they had to reset the set because this child, I'm like, can you go practice? Like, can we not figure this out for this this kid um to to catch this ball? But she was dressed like a cheerleader, and and I'm basically in the the bleachers uh as part of the crowd. And and it's so funny too because uh, and I know you know this, but we only took up like a section of the bleachers, but they made it look like a whole full stadium.

SPEAKER_04: 54:09

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02: 54:10

Um, but yeah, we basically just had to keep yelling and yelling and and all of this. But nope, I was there.

SPEAKER_04: 54:17

Nice.

SPEAKER_02: 54:18

So you are in the presence of greatness. I've been within 50 feet of Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_04: 54:23

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 54:24

Honestly, probably people in the front row of her concerts have been closer, but I was there. Yeah. Um, and so that was fun.

SPEAKER_03: 54:30

Yeah, that's a fun highlight. It's fun to be an extra.

SPEAKER_02: 54:33

Like there, there's because I'm so extra.

SPEAKER_03: 54:37

I mean, I'm just saying they recruited the right person, but the it's fun to be there and to kind of witness all of that and to see how long all that stuff takes. Because that wasn't even her entire video. Oh, that was a scene in a much longer video. Hours.

SPEAKER_02: 54:51

And then she had to change in because she was part of the band.

SPEAKER_03: 54:55

Oh, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 54:55

The marching band. There's a marching band scene. Well, it's it's in the bleachers, but um yeah, I mean, it was it was hours because they were filming the prom set first, and then she came out and did the cheerleader scene, and then she had to come back out and do the band scene. So it's a lot, it was a lot, and I almost didn't go because my cousin at the time was like, Oh, yeah, like we're we were all invited to be extras, but she wasn't really into Taylor Swift. And um, I was like, Well, I'm going, right? Like, like so I almost didn't go because she was kind of talking me out of it, and I was like, No, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna go. So that was uh that was pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 55:36

Well, I fully endorse it for anyone listening. If you have a chance to be an extra literally on anything, go do it. It's really interesting, it's really fun, and who knows, man? You know, you might wind up in something really cool. Um, so there's a lot of uh in the Fort Worth area, there's some new energy around the TV and the film scene. Yeah, when the stockyards have been a shoot location for uh a show called Landman, which is one of Tyler Sheridan shows. He's a guy who produced um Yellowstone and the prequel for Yellowstone, and now Landman, which stars Billy Bob Thornton. And so, yeah, I mean there's there's opportunities even in Texas now to kind of be involved in some cool things. But anyway, yeah, if you have a chance to go be an extra, go do it. It's a lot of fun. You'll see some really cool things. Don't try and talk to the major famous people. It's not gonna happen. But but go and just see, like go and learn and be a part of it because it's really fun. And so, yeah, we are uh we're excited to get this thing off the ground. Thank you for joining us on this journey. And uh yeah, we're gonna be right back in your ear holes uh around the same time next week.

SPEAKER_02: 56:37

Yep. Well, that's it for premeditated opinions where the thoughts were fully baked and only mildly regrettable.

SPEAKER_03: 56:43

And if you enjoyed today's episode, congrats on having truly excellent taste in podcasts and also opinions.

SPEAKER_02: 56:49

Send this to someone who needs to feel seen, dragged, or both. We'll be back next week with more unsolicited insight, an emotionally responsible spiral.

SPEAKER_03: 56:58

And until then, please stay hydrated and behave yourself in the comments.

SPEAKER_02: 57:04

But if you don't share the photo.