¶ Lottery Dreams and Possibilities
Hey everybody , welcome to the private lounge . And all about the joy in the house is Cynthia , rick , mario and Alma . Hi everyone . So today's topic . Now I wanted to give you guys just a little bit of information as to why I'm into this topic about winning the lottery . You won it . What ? Oh , you thought I was going to tell you that I won it .
We're getting my day off .
Wait , wait , wait . You think I would have sent you an email being like here is the link to the private lounge . Well , you would have been a nice little gimme , I would have been like , first of all , all I would have had like my assistant that you guys would all of a sudden be introduced to like who ?
is that a new assistant like shows canceled for today ?
forever . Carmen is on an island . I went and bought a lottery ticket the other day , because every once in a while I'll buy one , and the woman behind the counter she's very nice and she was just like just don't forget me if you win . And I was like , okay , I said it's a deal , girl , you know what I mean ? Like I don't know .
And so I got in my car and I went to work . I was feeling happy , because that's what happens when you play the lottery at least for me , because I don't play it all the time I start dreaming about the possibilities . Now , just for the record , I looked this up . I can't believe it's true .
You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you do winning the lottery . I'm not proposing that people should play the lottery . I know people who spend like lots of money all the time . No , that's ridiculous . I play like one . And the new thing with mega bucks , here in California it's $5 .
I said I don't need the mega bucks one , I'll take the $2 one . I didn't know that .
Yeah , that's super yeah , mega millions is $5 . Super lotto here in California is still two .
What's mega ?
bucks , then Mega millions . That's the nationwide one . That's why I sold , yeah , yeah .
Anyway . So part of so do you win more with the $5 one .
Do you win more ? You do Well , because the mega millions is a multi-state lottery . It's not just for your state , it's across the country .
I love that Mario knows all about this , absolutely .
So you know , making millions is multi-state . All the participating states across the country , they all put their pots in it , If you notice . That's why it goes up so quickly versus the California lottery , California state lottery , which still can be very high because of our population , and we can go up pretty fast too .
I don't even pay attention to it that deeply .
Listen , when you come from a who had an uncle who played the lottery faithfully every week for 40 years , you know these things .
My uncle played a lot , did he ?
ever win . Yes , he did . He never hit the mega number , but he hit five numbers multiple times , four numbers he would always hit , and then he'd turn around and reinvest it . You know my aunt was a gambler . Rest her soul , you know . But yeah , so that's why I know this stuff .
Well , the show isn't about the lottery . That's not what the show's about . The show is about if we did win , what would we do ? But it is after you've done what we all dream about , which would pay your bills , buy your homes , take care of your family , set up your trust funds , do your nonprofit work blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah .
Right , what would you want to do ? What is there left to do ? You've done everything
¶ Building Schools and Community Centers
. You've traveled the world already .
So the whole idea of this conversation I wanted to get to is trying to find what our actual passion is , because so many people's passion is tied up on not having enough money to do what they want to do .
Right , yeah , no , I think we , elma and I , talked about this once before where we said one thing we were going to do is open up a school for , you know , for kids in the community and develop more community centers . We want to bring in fine arts for these kids , we want to make it .
Is that missing in the schools now ?
Yeah , we go back to definitely being creating a STEAM school versus a STEM school , and I don't know for people who don't know , I don't know what the difference is . A STEM is science , technology , engineering and math . The difference is a STEM is science , technology , engineering and math . Steam is science , technology , engineering , arts and math .
So you put , you integrate all those things back into the schools and these are like schools that are really driven for those things , whereas a STEAM school , I think , is better only because it's more well-rounded .
Are all the arts out of the school ?
system . No , not Okay . So no , they're not completely out , but it's not something that they do daily . So if the school can afford to , if they have it in their budget to , let's say , get a teacher for drama or for music or for something like that , the teacher will budget .
To , let's say , get a teacher for drama or for music or for something like that , the teacher will come , let's say , once a week , yeah , once a week , and then the classes are kind of rotate , to like every semester we'll split the semester in two . Well , that's horrible .
I didn't even okay , so I'm changing . I'm changing my lottery plan right now . I'm going to add to my list .
So then it's like that and they did like the , they did give the schools like this extra money to promote taking the kids to art driven field trips . So that's how our school , like , took the kids to the Pantages . We took the kids to , you know , to go see .
That should be part of the whole program . That shouldn't be an extra . It's a sad situation .
It's a sad situation exactly . So , then , that's what I'm saying . So not all the schools have that .
There are some magnet schools that are geared to be art schools , but not there are private schools that do that , because not I , but through their clients or whatever we pay ridiculous amounts of money for children in the seventh grade , you know , like forty thousand dollars a year yes for crossroads ?
yeah , he's talking about like crossroads and yeah , so yeah but so that would be our thing .
I think my other thing too is , um , like you said , like doing the school thing , but also me , my big thing is building a community center geared towards the older kids . Our older kids really don't have a lot to do unless they have a lot of money to go do things .
So gearing it towards that , but also building in financial literacy , because I think that's one of the things that our community lacks . You know , things like that .
Rick thoughts on what you would want to do after you've done all the big important stuff that you have to do to be now settled . What would you ?
have to do to be now settled . What would you want to do ?
I would love to find , like a secret way , anonymous way to like help homeless people , people that are in need homeless people like carmen your best friend , like I heard I think was in canada , where like a guy like bought land and made all these little houses and he's like this is all what y'all just lived there and I'm like that's so cool , like that got
me excited , like stuff like that , as long as I could do it anonymously , like why would it be so important ?
I mean , I'm just curious , why would it be so important to do it anonymously ?
I don't need any glory or pat on the back . I don't need that , nor
¶ Helping the Homeless Anonymously
do I want that .
To be honest with you so yeah , I'm gonna hold you all to it .
I gave you money I won the lottery I shared it .
Every outfit you wear should be I love on the back . All about the joy . I love Carmen .
Another thing too . I always had a dream . So many people that have done it have said they've come back afterward and they're just changed Is go like on a missionary trip , maybe several oh yeah , I totally see that . Yeah , they say when you come back from that and you realize , child , you ain't got nothing to complain about . Look at how they're living .
It's like oof . Yeah , that too , that too .
I think that would be beautiful . I think the idea of giving homes to the homeless , I mean , of course , there's so much more involved in that , right , because of the bureaucracy that we're in . I mean , every state has their issues . I know California tries . They've tried the turnkey thing , they've tried so many things . But it's not just one problem .
Right , homeless people are all different people . They're not all the same , they're not all alcoholics , they're not all this or all that . So everybody needs something else . And so what I would say is my just to piggyback on what you're saying . I thought about the same thing . I didn't even think about the anonymous thing , because I don't care .
I would do a trust , so you wouldn't know my name . Anyways , you'd know what the trust name is and I would do the same thing . But what I would do that would be different is I would want to hire one person for each family or each person .
So , for example , I'd hire another person and I'd pay them whatever 70 , 80 or a hundred thousand dollars a year , depending on what part of the country you're in and that person would be like their sponsor , not as an alcoholic or whatever , but somebody that they can go to and say you know what , I don't know how to do this .
Or , oh , yeah , I'm supposed to go in , uh , to go to the doctors this week , because I think one of the one of the things that people don't understand about homeless people is you lose your way because you lose a sense of self and time and understanding because you're in survival mode . Does that make sense ?
So this is one thing like like when I'm sad or I'm tired , I just come home and I'm like you know what ? I'm not going to go out with my friends tonight , I'm going to go lay down on my bed , whatever . Homeless people aren't doing that . Homeless people are like this all the time Angst . You know what I mean .
And so for me , what I would add to what you're doing , rick , is I would want one person for at least one year . Is I would want one person for at least one year . Once we set up that person with that home , they would have someone to go to , no matter what , for whatever question , so that that person can then delegate oh , you need a lawyer .
Okay , oh , you need a . You know an AA group , or you need to go to the doctors , or you know It'd be their resource person yeah , yeah , so that's you need your identification documents Exactly .
Get all of your stuff together , yeah , and even if that person doesn't know it .
they are resourceful enough because they they know where to go , and maybe we add that into the loop too right , We'd get all those people as part of that community , so that that sponsor person knows who to go to .
You know so , and then probably , like after a year , the person that they help can now turn around and do it for somebody else . That's right , yeah .
Yeah , that's right , but it but it's about lifting people up , giving them the protection , giving them everything that they need to walk on . We all need somebody . We all need somebody to walk on through .
You know , when you're homeless and you have no money , no job , no nothing , and you have issues like everyone else does , that you would be able to do that alone , and that's why so many of the programs that people try , especially in the state of California , fail every time . You can't just give somebody a home . Who's homeless I ?
completely agree with that , because then you know , piggybacking off of that , it's like when you do do that , like if you do you go and you buy the land and you build these homes , also build a medical clinic . You know also , you know what I'm saying , because they're going to need a community A community . They're going to need a community .
And it takes time to build that . It takes time to build that stuff up .
Yeah .
Cynthia , what you got for us girl , she's going to stretch .
She's going to stretch .
Because , I live in Boston . What are you ?
doing ? You're building Disney in Boston . Is that what you just said ?
Yeah , yeah , I'm going to miss this . Sign me up , I'll visit that one me up , I'll visit that one .
Uh , no , I said , since I live in boston and there's such like homeless and a drug problem here , especially near the main hospitals and stuff like that , probably build more rehab centers , because that's one big thing that we're lacking here is rehab centers , and you know you have a lot of homeless who do drugs right out on the street next to these hotels .
Like they built so many hotels . It's like why we don't need more hotels just to make it look like new york . Well , yeah , to make it look all congested like new york .
You know we need more places to get , for people to get help we need places for people not to get in trouble to the point that they need to go on drugs and alcohol or whatever . I mean there's so many systemic issues in what you're talking about .
Like you know , the idea that you would fall that far is that's a far place to go , and I think because we just throw out the word unhoused or homeless or whatever we've now put them in this category category we don't realize what each individual person has gone through , their story , yeah , their whole story you know , uh , oh , I love this , we're gonna .
So we solved hollywood and now we're like solving the homeless problem this week and children and and fixing our children .
They are the future .
Teach them well .
Exactly . This is the new White House cabinet right here .
Come on .
Come on Let me start it , because you know we are all much more qualified than the people and you know what I wish . I was joking . Sorry , I wish I was joking . I keep thinking about Pete Hegseff , the Secretary of Defense . It's just , we don't talk about politics , we just talk about incompetence .
At the moment , I'm just saying I have never in all my life turned around and been like you know what ? I think I think I could run that department better than he is Like . I've never done that , ever . I've never seen a president and been like I could run it better than you . And that's how I know we're in trouble .
You know , what I like too about what we all just talked about is and I think Cynthia brought it up that you help the person fully as much as you can and then , when they're good , they're going to help the next person Like they don't have to , let's so I don't know , they don't have to no .
I think that's important . I think I talked about this in one of our other episodes .
When I came out to Los Angeles , the first place I went to was Compton not for any other reason , except that I had a light connection there and I started doing volunteer work at a place called Blazer House , and it was an afterschool program like what you were talking about for older kids , teenagers , and this man , benny Davenport , established this place out of
his own home . He ended up getting some funding . I think it was Paul Mitchell it is Paul Mitchell who was helping him , whatever . And these kids and I was like you know what ? This ? These are my people . This is me . I grew up like this whatever , and after I don't know , I was there for maybe seven months .
I couldn't do it anymore , and the reason why I couldn't do it anymore is because it was too close to me , it was still too like I . I , I was not effective , I was not helpful , because I would come home and cry all the time , or I'd remember , or I'd have my own little triggers , or you know what I mean . And I wasn't .
I was destroying my own spirit and it's yes , it's about healing or whatever . But that's why I say I want to be careful on that too , because if they want to , that would be a great thing . But maybe their way of helping is becoming the people they're supposed to be .
Maybe somebody is a great librarian or a teacher or an actress or whatever it is , you know what I mean . Or a construction person , whatever it is , you know . Or an engineer or a lawyer , because it's not just poor people who are homeless . So you know , I just want to be careful .
That's what I meant , though , like about turning around and them helping the next person , like they could be a resource for someone , like if they , you know , used to be a lawyer . Like you said , you know they can help somebody
¶ Education Systems and Parental Support
else with legal issues , not necessarily be the resource person . Yeah .
I think the only reason I bring it up is because most people that I work for don't know my past , unless it's years later . Then they're like you have a book , you know what I mean ? Like someday , do a Google search and they'll be like let me see who my right-hand person has been for the past five years . Let's do a Google search .
Carmen , you have a book .
What's the name of your book , Carmen .
But it's so funny because I mean , this just happened this past year .
Okay , but seriously , what's the name of your book so people can know ?
Canela .
Okay .
C-A-N-E-L-A . Are you asking me for real ? Oh , because you want yeah .
No , because this is all about the joy we are cross . We are cross , uh referencing our product .
There we go . Okay , thank you , mario . Yeah , if you go to Carmen Suarezcom , you can find all of our links , and even if you go to all about the joy , you can find all our links there . And yes , I wrote a book . It's a book about all the people that helped walk me through during that time period in my life , and it was really .
It started off as letters , individual letters to mentors , and then I put it together in a book form , but thank you , so pick it up , check it out .
Now back to our show .
Thank you , mario . But that's kind of my point is , like people , because you know how Joy was talking about the other day , that that's just one small part of her . You know that that's not all of who she is . It's like if I meet people and that's the first thing they know about me , that colors all the other parts of who I am right .
I'm not saying it's a bad thing , but for other people it could be right . It could be that I love that , what we that somehow we got to this place of helping children and helping homeless people , because that's really good , decent , awesome people . You know what I mean . Like you're good , you know you're my people you're my people .
You're my people , you know . And I think , maybe probably because that's stuff we longed for , even though God bless my mom , because my mother struggled and put me through private school .
So I was afforded a lot of that stuff and she worked two and a half jobs , literally most of my young life , to put me in private school and I was like I want to go to public school . She's like hell . No , she's like I will . She's like I will . I will miss a meal , I will struggle , I will drive the raggediest car , do whatever it takes .
I'm pushing private school . That's not everybody can't do that , right , but I wish everyone could have that same experience . And then when I got older and had my own kid and put my own child through public school , she was still in a pretty good school . They still gave her a lot of those things . I'd say she's well-rounded .
She is a well-rounded child , but that's because of us , with the help of public school . But all the schools don't have what she got , but we went to private school .
Cynthia and I went to private , we went to Catholic school .
I think it was the worst thing we ever did .
I thought it was the worst . When I look back on how bad our curriculum was . Going to catholic school did nothing for me . Actually . It put me behind to the point that when I did go to college I had to go to a summer program . Thank god they had that available because I was not up to par with my english and mathematics .
But ask me anything about the Bible . I'm there , you know what I mean . That's all we did Religion and English , that was it .
True . Now I went to Catholic school for high school . I did not have that same experience .
No , no , I'm just saying . I already experienced it . Didn't you go to Blessed Sacrament too , I ?
went all 12 years . Yeah , I said not . Catholic schools are built the same , you know .
So , even though you know they're all catholic schools , they all set their own curriculum yeah yeah , and our school was in the uh , it was the sisters of poverty and they were not kidding they were poor as hell like , and we were poor that was it .
Yeah , but yeah and we just looked at the archdiocese , so we could go . What rick I said I had the , the parents of poverty because we didn't go to we didn't go to public . We went to public school , private school . What's that ? I didn't even know . There was such a thing for years as a kid . What's a private school ? I didn't even know , yeah .
I mean , I think , the schools in the neighborhood when I grew up . It's not that they were bad , it's that the Latinos in our neighborhood thought that the better school was the Catholic school . Because , I have to tell you , I remember knowing that Boston , latin , all them schools were better than our school . We knew it , that Boston .
Latin all them schools were better than our school . We knew it .
But our parents , because they were all very religious religious , I'm doing quotes because I don't know how religious they were , but they were religious they were like no , no , no , you're going to go to the caucus school , even if we have to pay and I know we couldn't really afford it , but they had sliding scales or whatever .
And that's how I was able to go afford it .
but they had like sliding scales or whatever , or that's , and that's how I was able to go . Yeah , and I'd like , because you lived in the archdiocese and if you went to church 19 times a week or whatever it was , whatever the requirements were no , I wasn't catholic at all , still not .
But you know , and we have to pay , we have to pay more . My mother had to pay more because we weren't .
Catholic . That's horrible .
Yeah , we had to pay more because I was not Catholic .
Huh , and we had to Wow , we would have just lied .
Even though we were , even though I was , on a sliding scale , my scale was higher and there was a lot of my friends who were higher , whose scales were higher .
Look at him taking out the Bible . Yes , I'm not in the Bible , I'm taking out the Bible .
Yes , I'm taking out the Bible , yes , yes . Oh no , it's , let's Take your Money .
Chapter 3 , verse 2 . Yeah , and this is not . Look , I'm not saying all Catholic schools are bad . I'm not saying all private schools are bad , that's not what anybody here is saying we're just talking about our own experiences and that is unfortunate and I hope it is not allowed anymore to discriminate tuition-wise based on your religion . It's still going on .
Right now , yeah , wow .
Because it's private . You can't say it's illegal , because they can't go to a Catholic school Exactly . Still messed up .
My brother was the only one that got out of going to Catholic school for all 12 years . Where did he go so , from sixth ?
and seventh grade . Which brother is this ? Sean , my brother .
Sean . Okay , he's older than me , okay . So he went to Boston Latin for sixth and seventh grade and I guess it was too hard for him , and then he went to regular public school and then high school . No-transcript .
But the rest of us Fierce yeah .
Yeah , the rest of us went to Catholic school for 12 years and my high school was an all-girl high school . What high school did you go to , really ? St Clair's ?
Oh , I'm so sorry I did not know that I went to Mission .
Mission Church .
Oh , right it was like a joke . I'm not trying to be rude Again . We did nothing .
But you know the Bible , my wife she's a Valley girl , yeah , I was .
So my public school I love my schools , all of my schools . But when it came to going to , you know , junior high school and high high school , my dad was trying to put me in a catholic school and I was like no way , no . And he was like well .
So then I talked to my teachers and I was like well , how can I get around going to the neighborhood schools ? So at that point was when they started this uh , permits with transportation programs in the public schools , in the LA public schools .
So basically you signed up and they would pick a school that was at least however many miles away from your neighborhood and they would bus you . So then I ended up going all the way to chatsworth for middle school and high school .
So I would be , I would be on the bus at six , six , that's far just for for people who are not in la chatsworth is in the valley and and we are all the way yeah , we're it's far , it's a good hour drive every morning , yeah , so .
I would be up every morning , you know , on the bus by 6 , 615 . And I did that from seventh grade all the way through 12th grade . So I did junior high and high school out in the Valley . I got a great education . Yeah , I really did . I got a great education .
So I'll say this about education and don't get mad at me , alma , but we need a little fireworks anyway . So some of the people that we went to grammar school with that , we went to Blessed Sacrament with right , which was our grammar school , catholic school , whatever , they ended up not going to the same high school we went to and they went to Boston Latin .
They went to all the other great schools Milton Academy , right , all the big time schools that you could get into . And these people I hate to say it , but the ones I'm talking about were all white and all had money .
Now , they didn't really have money because they grew up kind of in the same area we did , but they had a car , you know what I mean they were wealthy or whatever it was . I'm being sarcastic , but we all thought they were richer than we were .
But I know three people who had a better education , who and again , this isn't in deck , it's not indicative of education , but have failed miserably as it goes everywhere , for sure it's amazing , like because you would think I had the worst education right and I turned out pretty amazing , no matter what happened .
And then there are people who and even the clients I have with their children and all the money they pay and their kids , end up becoming drug addicts or having issues . It's not the schools , but you see what I'm saying .
It doesn't matter , it's the choices .
It is choices , right , it's work ethic . It is choices . It's work ethic . It's choices . It's parenting . Yes , most definitely .
It's the nuns .
Even though I was all the way out there in the Valley . Guess who was there for the open houses and the future conferences and the hopping conferences and the popping in and checking in on me , even though it was all the way in Timbuktu ? Trust me , they would be popping up and I'd be like , oh you know , checking in that .
I was . It is about parenting and the people you have around you .
That's it .
When I was involved in sports . They never missed a game . On the flip side , my mother never went to anything .
I was , you know . I mean she was working , so she never saw me dance . She never saw me in color garden , nothing . She never , and neither did any of the other adults , even after she passed away , or whatever .
But look at you now .
I don't mean it that way . I'm making a really good point because I think education is important , but it's about the adults you do have around you that care , that support you . My seventh grade teacher everybody knows Alice McIntyre because I talk about her all the time . Miss Theopolis , mr Bernanzani these teachers , they came to my performances , they supported me .
¶ What Stays the Same After Millions
Mr Bernanzani would come and pick me up and make sure I would go . He would pick me up at my house and he would take me to school , even though he wasn't my teacher and I know today people would freak out about that .
That's a big no-no now .
I know , but that man did nothing so he cared about the kids , you know what I mean . So I wasn't the only one . He was like it's on my way and this way I'll make sure these kids don't fall through the cracks .
And what it meant was for me was that someone cared and I had to be there because he was going to be there , you know , and it's kind of that thing . You know , who do you have around you ? I wish we were more community driven . That's why I hope we win the lottery and I hope you do build your school , because it is about the community .
I would not be here today if it wasn't for the community that made sure I didn't fall through the cracks .
Yeah , the other thing is , people are building schools , especially charter schools .
I'm sorry , but you got to talk louder or none of us are going to let you talk . Go ahead .
Go ahead . I'll just say , and for more information on that , Canela is available on Amazoncom . There you go .
Okay .
Yeah , here I am trying to make sure you are in Now . I'm going to let you . You're never going to talk . It's going to be a show with me , omar and Mario , and then sometimes Cynthia , sometimes .
What I was going to say was like my mom was always there when fear of my mother in my soul , even after she passed that . I didn't ever skip school . I made sure I did my homework and I did all my extracurricular activities , everything like that , because I was like I still had that fear of God behind me , of God behind me . You know what I'm saying .
Like I had my mom there with me that discipline because the rest of my family never came to my any of my shows or games or any of that stuff when I was in high school . But I still went and did everything .
I'm sorry , cynthia , I why wasn't I in touch with you then ? So , for people who don't know , cynthia is my cousin . I am , I'm not going to say much older , but I am , although I'm cuter . No , I'm just kidding . I feel so bad because I I was going through my thing , cause the reason why Cynthia and I connected .
It's going to be a therapy show , though , because Cynthia and I have a similar situation in that , at the same age of 12 , even though I think we're 10 years apart , maybe a little bit more , a little bit more we both lost our mother and both did not have fathers .
Now she ended up knowing who her father was later , right , um , but we have a similar situation where the people that you thought would come and take care of you comfort you , walk you through console , you take care of you at 12 . You know what I mean Did not do that .
So that's how we are so connected now is because we realize but I , I will always say this and I know I'm laughing , but it's because I want to cry but I hate that I wasn't there for you . I mean , I couldn't be . I think you were already in California though at that time . No , I was in college . God damn it . I'm not that fucking old .
What is wrong . Jesus Christ . No , I wow Jesus , not that old . No , I was in college . I think I was in college because your mother died . What year ?
91 .
I had just started my summer . Actually , I wasn't even in college . It was I was doing my applications for college , yeah , so because I , oh , no , no , no , that's a lie . I was going into my freshman year of college . That's true .
But you were still in another state . I was in Vermont .
Allegedly I graduated in 1994 .
I have no problemedly , I graduated in 1994 . I have no problem telling people I graduated in 1994 . But I'm laughing because she's like I think you were already in California .
She's trying to be kind .
She's trying to be kind , okay .
I am 74 years old . Everyone , thank you . You look damn good for 74 . Right , I am 74 years old .
Everyone , thank you .
You look damn good for 74 right thanks to Nilou see her , so you guys can see it right now . See it , it's gonna get . Oh my god , it's gonna get really deep it gets this long for those of you who can't see me here's my problem Like right now . I know my financial situation's about to get what everyone's is , so people are there , sorry .
What's happening right now in our country . But so I'm trying to prepare and in my head I'm like you know what ? I'm okay with the hair doing what I got to do , cause I don't give a shit . It looks like shit , but I don't think I can deal with this , but I'm not going to , I'm not going to do it , I'm not Again .
If I had the lottery , you wouldn't even know , we wouldn't even know . Okay , let me ask you this , and I'm going to rick first so rick can get in there . Okay , rick , you know I love you , right of course , okay , all right .
I was thinking , though , when you said your mom . You know she was busy working so she couldn't be there , but if it was today , she could have seen it from people taking videos , but we didn't have that yeah , you know what look it .
I'll be honest , and this is no disrespect to my mother I I mean , I don't remember her that much and I know she was a powerful , brilliant woman based on what everyone's told me , and I hope I'm a little bit like her , but I don't think my mother , my mother , didn't take that stuff seriously .
Like it was babysitting , like the like the fact that I liked going to do batutera you know it's like baton twirling I'm just saying it in spanish for people who don't know , but like I was like really into doing uh and dancing con doña felita and like we would all like I thought I was puerto rican for like the first , I don't know eight years of my life
because we would always sing . You know we can't do and do the thing and do this . You know the whole thing .
For context , Doña Felita , she was the lady who choreographed all the girls for the Puerto Rican parade to do all the baton twirling and all that . Yeah , yeah .
And I was addicted to it . I mean , I loved it because all of a sudden I loved like just performing and stuff and then . So then we moved up to Forbes street , which was , like you know , the white side of town .
I don't know why , but we and so St Thomas Aquinas , the church was like across the street from us , and so my mother went over there and they were , you know , she was looking for activities for me to do and there was like color guard drum corps band and I was like can I ? And of course my mom was like , yeah , it became . And I was like can I ?
And of course my mom was like yeah , it became like I was obsessed with it , but I don't think my mother ever . It's not that she didn't care about it , but she didn't care about it . That was not her priority . She was trying to make money for the fans a different time .
You know , and the reason why I know this to be true is not to disrespect my mother , but my mother's other children also didn't care about it , Even after she died , like that was part of the problem is , you know , I was this Americana , I was this , I was a different kid , I wasn't like them , you know . And , um , I don't know if she .
What I'm saying is , although I love what you said , Rick , I don't think my mother would have ever been like , oh , with this , let me look at the video I don't think it was that important to her because culturally it wasn't . Does that make sense ?
You don't think she realized how much it meant to you .
No , it's a , it's a cultural thing . It was more like a big . I'm not trying to disrespect my mother , I just I don't want to believe things that are not factual for me .
You know what I mean , because then it actually takes away what I do remember of my mom . Okay , what I'm gonna yell , I think I will , I'll , I wanna , yes . Second , what you're saying , that it's definitely cultural . Yeah , definitely cultural .
Um , and I guess , because I my mom says I came out of the womb fighting , I was always very vocal , very , always very vocal , like this day is my performance . This day is my performance and you have to be there . Like you have to be there . My teacher says you have to be there .
And so , since my parents always made it such a thing of the teachers are the authority figure , well , my teacher said you have to be there . And so , since my parents always made it such a thing of the teachers are the authority figure , well , my teacher said you have to be there . So here's the information .
It's on the fridge , it's on like I'm reminding you , like a month before , a week before , the day before that morning , like , so somebody is going to be there . Like I was always that kid .
Yeah , I was , was not when I told you I was shy and you guys all laughed at me . Cynthia , could you imagine me ? You remember your mother , even if you don't remember my mother .
Could you imagine telling your mother okay , I need you to go to my show , because the teacher said no , and , and I , and the thing is that , if you know my dad , my dad , my dad is this hard . Hard . I respected my father . I still respect him . It was that fear . I was like , whatever Look fear .
But it was that fear and I was like whatever look and so it was .
You know , I mean , I think that's why my father and I always went toe to toe , but at the same time my father also encouraged that in me because I was so , I was very from the time that I was born . So he always , he always instilled that in me Be strong , you're . You know God loves you . It was all of these things that he just poured into me .
So then I was a result of all the things that he poured into me . So then it was kind of like , well , you made me like this , and that's what I would tell him . I was like you , you did it . So you know , now you got it .
I'm jealous and you're brave . Yeah , I think for me it was more about it . This was I look at , I remember certain things when I was really little .
I do remember certain interactions with my mom again in the book Don't say the name of it again Canela , canela , right , but it's just one of those things where it's like it's what I remember about me and dancing , especially especially when I would especially the break dancing and all that stuff , cause that was my time period .
Right , you're talking about flash dance , fame . You're talking about that time . Man , I was fucking so good too . Yeah , I was fucking . Yeah , I was so good .
You could have done the Olympics .
I should have Well yes you could have .
because of that Australian woman I'm saying that was the Australian .
because of that australian right . That was a disgrace . Yeah , that was a disgrace I could have done it now and done it better okay that's a clarifying question go ahead go back to what you were saying . You were great I think , because it was such , I knew that my mother , first of it , was more like she's busy .
I always knew that you don't bother her or whatever If she wants to talk to you . And my mother wasn't mean or anything , it was like a respect thing , it was a culture thing .
But I think I also knew for me it was a private thing that if I tried to share it with her because she wasn't really interested in it or it wasn't that important to her , it would somehow take away from it . You know what I mean ? Cynthia , you were really quiet as a kid too . You would have never , nobody would have told your mother that .
Diane would have been the only one , my older sister , she would have been the only one to talk back to my mom and those two would have been at mom and then get kicked out of her . Yep , and then get kicked out , taking her keys away . Oh yeah , no , the rest of us forget it . You look at my mother , wrong ? Oh no , no , no , my father for me yeah .
Yeah , and I'll tell you , my dad was super strict . He was super strict but all of my older siblings did whatever the heck they wanted and then when it came down to me , I was on lockdown . And I think that because I was on lockdown and I couldn't do stuff with my friends that wasn't school involved .
That's why I was so adamant Okay , I'm doing all the school stuff , you better be at my school stuff , rick what about you , I mean .
I know you that's the one she went to prom with , oh god why are you ?
doing this to me who'd you go to ? Prom with I don't know her brother her marine brother .
That's wrong dirty low downdown . Shameful , Just shameful .
I mean , I love my brother . You know , he did that for me .
No , no , it's not about your brother , because I'm sure he didn't want to go with me either .
Well , he didn't .
You know what I'm saying .
Exactly , but he did it for me because if he didn't go with me I wouldn't have gone Right , wouldn't have gone right , so you know . So he did that for me . So you know , yeah , it was a bummer , but I still got to go .
I still got to go and dance with my friends and do the pictures and I got a pretty dress made and of course it had to be white because he was wearing his dress blues . But anyways I digress I still got to do it . So I'm grateful to my brother because he still went ahead and went with but that's his name his name . Let's give him a shout out .
Yeah , david , love you , david .
David Love you .
David .
My father said to us if you want to go anywhere , you got to be home by 10 . I was like by 10 is when they're starting to gather . What are you talking about ? I didn't go nowhere , I didn't
¶ Giving Back and Final Reflections
do nothing . I did nothing .
I'd be home by the time the streetlights come on .
That's even early .
Let me ask you this question After you win all this money right , you have all this money , we're in that space , or whatever Is there something that you will keep exactly the same that you do today , whether it's in your daily life or if it's like maybe you'll get rid of Juan Cynthia , I'm just kidding , I'm going to get rid of wine when it's over .
I was just wondering is there something that you would do that you still do today , that you would not be able to even let go of Interesting ?
I would still go to our favorite restaurant , our little coffee shop , stuff like that , because everyday people wouldn't know . I would make sure they wouldn't know .
I would stay in our neighborhood . Actually Lies , Lies .
In .
California , just here . But I'm saying I would stay in the vicinity ?
Yeah , true , in the vicinity , because I do love our neighborhood .
Yeah , I think people would know because you'd have to divulge in California . You can't stay Not .
everybody doesn't have to know If I'm going to my regular cafe and you know . If they don't know my name , you don't know .
Right , right , right , you would buy the cafe . No , I'm just kidding .
I was going to say you don't know , right , right , right , you would buy the cafe . No , I'm just kidding .
I was gonna say , warner , probably still go to dunkin donuts , but he'll probably own one by then right , right invest invest right , right right yeah , I just remembered .
I saw a video the other day . I can't believe . I just remembered it . Now they said say you're a millionaire and tell me you are a marvel fan without saying you're a marvel fan . And this guy literally had life-size statues all around his house of all the Marvel characters Thor , hulk , blah , blah , blah Life-size statues all around his house .
That's a little creepy , though , right no ?
not . If you're a fan , you're the Rick Syken .
That's what I would do . All right , rick , I don't know if I would do that .
I don't know if I would do that . I don't know if I would do that Okay .
What would you do , cause I feel like it's soon .
As far as what I would still do , I would probably still broadcast , but I'd have like a decked out studio like really cool looking oh yeah , yeah , see . And I would probably like , as long as mom was still here , I'd probably still still keep checking her constantly . She'd have her own wing , though , with her own private people .
You can get your day off .
And get my day off . Maybe I'll get Carmen a day off .
We will never live that down . I made a mistake . Learn that children Never make one mistake . It will haunt you forever .
And then in my awesome , amazing studio we could have all y'all join me all the time . Fly you in and everything yeah .
There you go . I'm here for it .
Yeah , all right , cynthia .
I would have a game room , but a game room with all the old school like Sac man arcade yeah , all of those . That's what I want . That's my dream .
I'm coming to your house .
That would be fun that would be fun , you have pinball machines too . Yes , can we also have like a bowling alley ? Can we have like a ? Not that I love bowling , but I want the aura of that . Can we have that like maybe a couple of ?
well , you know , now they make the miniature bowling alley , so they have .
You don't have to have a full one she's a millionaire , she's a hundred million dollars you can get like a regular one could be like a whole other , not a wing like a whole other . She could just build a whole building on her estate . It would be a game room , a game building .
That's too much space .
Do you ?
have an outdoor bowling or indoor bowling . I'm going to have a movie theater . I'm going to have one of them fly movie theaters .
You know what I mean .
In my house . Elevator Got to make sure I have an elevator for all the food I would have to have my craft room .
There will be no craft room in my home .
No craft room , they'll go back to each other Go back and forth , she and I .
If you had to live in one location forever you have many homes where would it be ? You guys would stay here in California , I would . I would . Mario seems like he's thinking .
Switzerland . Oh well , yeah , that would be our other place .
Yes , that would be our other place , switzerland . Zurich , zurich yeah for sure .
You see how I felt that . I felt it , I was like I feel like he's thinking , he's like oh , we could do half and half .
It would be here and there , it would be half and half for sure .
Rick , your mom is taking care of nurses around the clock .
blah , blah it's hard for me to say . I've been around a whole lot of places to say like , oh yeah , that would be a good spot because I've just been here all the time . I'm not saying I'm never going to go anywhere .
You wouldn't have a house in Portugal .
Maybe Then I could just rent it out when I'm not there . That's what I'm saying . There you go .
See how I'm helping you all . I just want you to remember I'm here to assist you when you make your millions . You know what I mean . Help me , help you and pay my ass is what I'm thinking .
I want a villa in .
Italy . I think that what we would do is all of us would be go in together on all of these properties so that we could all house jump . That would be really cool . We can come to Zurich , we can go to Portugal , go to Italy .
There would be investment properties but we can come to Zurich , we can go to Portugal , go to Italy , there would be investment properties , but we would also go stay there and then rent them out when we're not there , right , yeah ?
I would actually . I love California so much I would stay in California for sure . I don't know if I would stay in Santa Monica or the Palisades . Well , you know , god bless the Palisades . I just feel . Although Santa Monica or the Palisades , Well you know , God bless the Palisades . I just feel , uh , although one of my clients is rebuilding , which is amazing .
Uh , it's going to take a year . So many people are rebuilding . Of course they are .
Um but .
I think I would probably move to Santa Barbara Huh . Three years Wow .
Uh , I think it's only because , well , they're saying when everything is completely done , but now they're applying for permits and you know they're still taking out debris . So every time , I go to work .
You can only go on this part of the Pacific Coast Highway if you live in the area , and so I have to loop around because that's where I go to get on the freeway and the trucks , it's all the dumpster trucks are the ones that are going in as we're trying to go out and they're . It's huge and that's every day , every day going and coming .
So when I come home I see them . So that's a lot of debris to get rid of . You know what I mean . So they're still working on that . So I think that's why they're saying like three years and that it'll be all said and done .
But yeah , they redesigned the house and they're looking at the houses that didn't experience any fire because of their modern way in which they were built .
There are homes that every home around them burnt , and then these modern ass beautiful homes that have , like fire retardant , blah , blah , blah and the way in which the wind of the fire will flow and all this .
I mean I've never respected so much the whole idea of design and architecture when it comes to learn so much with this fire stuff , because it's not just designing a house , it's designing it so that it can withstand so many engineering to the materials . Yeah , so it's been interesting .
but yeah , one of them is rebuilding , the other one's not , which is interesting yeah , but I would stay here , huh the one that's not as moving somewhere else , or oh , they have other homes , yeah , yeah , the , the , the two they're two clients of . So these are people who have a lot of money . So the other one they're just choosing not to .
They have another home up north in California . So I problem with it , not necessarily these clients . People buy all this stuff and then these homes sit empty and they're paying staff to take care of the landscaping and take care of the whatever and blah , blah , blah and for what I don't understand .
And some of them don't visit , like you would think , oh , but maybe they go there in the summer . You can't go to 10 homes in a year and use them no , you can't and you don't want to do airbnb with the I mean some of them do um , then they get upset because people break stuff or whatever and you don't want people in your homes , you know .
But it's to me that's a weird luxury that I will never understand . I will never understand the need to have 10 huge mansions or three huge mansions for myself . I don't get it .
I'd buy apartments , I'd buy true investment property . To me that's different . Make it make sense . If you're going to buy property , get a return from it . You know what I'm saying , that I would do .
I think they think that someday they'll sell it . So the idea is I agree with you , but again , so we think one way and then the people I work for think another way . They buy it because it will increase in value and when they die , when they leave it to their children , their children will now have this valuable piece of property .
So they're thinking the same thing , like you are . It's an investment , it's just a bigger investment and you don't have to deal with renters or a management company or all the crap that comes with people living in your property . I think it's wasteful .
I think it's part of the American dream , part that's ridiculous and I don't know when it became have as much material crap as possible , but don't use it . I don't get it .
But you know , as my kid says , if you love it , go off .
All right , well , what else ? Last thoughts on the issue of winning millions of dollars .
Don't call me , I'll call you .
Right , oh , I don't know , man , just don't be greedy with money . Money's not everything . Yeah , just do what makes you happy , and that's it .
Rick .
I think it's in the Bible . It says naked I came into the world and naked I will leave . So for me it's very temporary . If you have the ability to help , there's nothing more fulfilling than helping people , in my opinion . Maybe some people are different , but to me helping people is very fulfilling .
Are different , but to me helping people is very fulfilling because you know why all this money and you're just sitting there doing what ? When people are in desperate need of help and you can help them .
Not even in desperate need of help . I mean , I agree with you , but you could also just help people who'd like a shot . Like I wish I didn't have to work 50 hours a week and focus more on something like this , on all about the joy .
You know , our Friday night show is growing so rapidly because you know what People need community People need a place to go and hang out . Why couldn't somebody who has millions of dollars be like you know what ? Let's drop a few hundred thousand dollars on this show and see where it could go . Maybe it could pop up in other avenues other days .
Maybe there's a way in which this could build .
I mean , look , we got viewers from England and Italy chiming in on Fridays . We don't even know , right . And it's like three o'clock in the morning for them . But that's kind of the thing .
Go ahead Jumping off for them . But that's kind of the thing go ahead like jumping off of what rick is saying yeah , you can't take it with you . I love hearing when people go in and they just like pay all the layaways off yes and you know those type of things . Like you know what I'm saying , but it's like I love hearing that type of stuff .
Like , okay , I'm , I'm going to go into the supermarket and I'm just going to drop this money . All the people who come in today , all of their groceries are free . Don't tell them as they're ringing now , it's paid for . You know what I'm saying .
Like that type of stuff , it's like those are the type of things that I would love to be able to do in a bigger way , because I know you do them anyways .
I know I do them . I think I already mentioned this before , but I always put $20 in my little bag of recycling cans that I leave out there and I just walk away . You know what I mean . No one's out there , but I know that they're going to go through them because they crush them so they can fit more , and I know they're going to find that $20 .
I'm like you know , like I just feel happy now when you drop off your kids .
What's your address again , what time do you drop them off ? Simple things like that . But I know what you mean . I'm like if I could do more , I would do more , no matter what your financial situation is .
You can always do good and you can always help , even if it's just you see someone outside of the store , go in , buy , buy some snacks , buy some water and , just you know , give it to them , you know give a blessing . I mean , it would be nasty , exactly be like , exactly Exactly . And it's like .
You know , I've never um , because I was that way when I was a child . I would see someone and I would just like I couldn't eat because they were outside and I knew that they were hungry . That's right , and so I would .
Literally I would take my food and I would take it to them and then my mom would look at me and then she'd go order me some more food and then I'd be able to eat .
But we've lost that . You know that for some reason we've lost that instinct of taking . That's why I was talking about my mentors earlier , like I wish people now cared as much about the neighbor's kids as they do about their dogs . Like it's hard for me to think I'm doing so well , and there's a homeless person who can't eat .
Can I say something real quick , Shout out to my wife , Because of my wife ? My daughter for a long time made packs , little Ziploc packs with face towels , toothpaste , little care packages . That's so cool . I'm going to keep them in the trunk of the car . If she saw somebody who needed it , she's like Mommy , pull over . She'd run and get it out .
the trunk , we'd put not a lot like you . Five , ten sometimes a twenty and we would put a Bible verse in there . God bless you .
We're not trying to preach to you , just hand it to you .
Yeah , exactly , I think I think giving a blessing is a kindness . It doesn't have to , it doesn't have to be justified in any way . I look at , I appreciate the conversation . It's not where I thought it was going to go , but that's what I love about these private lounges it's just so much fun and we just get on a roll . So , thank you so much .
Thank you for being here and , yeah , I hope people learned a little something At the very least . I know I learned a lot about the character of who all the people are on this show , so I am just so grateful . I know right . So , thank you everyone . Remember , join us on Friday nights , 6 pm Pacific , 9 pm Eastern .
That's 3 am in England .
And , yes , and always on Sundays , our private lounges will air , always at 12 o'clock Pacific , 3 pm Eastern , and I don't know what time in England , but you can look it up and yeah , that's it . Thank you everyone
¶ Show Closing and Weekly Schedule
. We'll see you next time and remember , at the end of the day , it really is all about the joy . Bye , everyone , Bye . Thanks for stopping by . All About the Joy Be better and stay beautiful folks . Have a sweet day .