Hello, Hi, can you hear me?
Yes? Who is it?
Oh?
This is a gecko guy.
Oh my god, Oh my god. Sorry, I'm so loud.
Oh my god, how you doing?
I thought it was damn. I'm good. Wow, this is crazy man. I've been listening to you for years and everyone's right too. It's so weird to like actually talk to you. Oh my god, whoa how are you?
I'm good? I am uh yeah, I'm good. I feel ready to talk about life and about stuff and about things. I I just got back from Iraq yesterday. That was pretty crazy, and now I'm now I'm back here in America hanging out, living life.
Yeah, it's it's really sick that you're I watched your break dancing video, but I didn't see your one talking to the Juggalos. It was a little shaky. Everybody. That's cool, but no, that's that's sick that you were in Iraq. It's really cool that you're able to like travel and make your make your job part of that too. It's been cool to hear you with your uh with your podcast, like seeing how it's growing and seeing you kind of follow your passion. It's really cool.
Thank you man, Thank you, thank you. You know, I wanted, I want to talk about the all the iraction on the podcast, but I'm I'm going to do that at another point because I want to talk to you because, uh, you texted me something that I thought was super interesting and I have questions. I am curious. You told me that you did a strong man show today, yeah, and that, uh you want to talk about like you want to talk about these are your words, being a muscle mommy
and competing in a strong Man as a woman. I'm very curious about that. Please please tell me how it went.
Yeah. So, I don't know how much other people or how much you know about strength sports necessarily. I know you've kind of talked about fitness on the podcast, and I've always thought it would be kind of interesting if I called in to provide my perspective on being in strength sports too and having that kind of be my passion. But yeah, so, I I am twenty eight. Now. I know you never like remember people's names, but it doesn't
really matter too much. But I'm twenty eight. I started lifting, like doing up powerlifting, which is like squat, bench press
and bedlift. I started training that in my freshman year of college in twenty fifteen, and then I did a lot of power lifting meets between twenty fifteen and about twenty twenty one when I started freshman year of college, like I said, and then I graduated college and I went to a gym where they had strong Man stuff, and so strong Man it kind of like the the thing that people think of with strong Man is like if you've ever seen the guy in a circus uniform
with just the mustache and no hair and the big dumbbell and like the stripey shorts. You know, if you could picture that, that's they call that, Like the giant tell bell is called a circus bill, and that's sometimes an event. It's strong Man was kind of just bringing about bringing a weight that's as heavy as you can from point A to point B. So sometimes it's that. Sometimes I've pulled a truck before the competition, which is cool. Yeah, my profile picture on Instagram is me pulling a truck
with like a flag on the back. In school. Sometimes it's well known for like Atlas stones what they're called, and they're just big round stones and you pick it up and you either put it over a bar or put it up to a platform. You carry a lot
of stuff you do, deadlifts, reps. Sometimes it's kind of just nowadays I've noticed and I'm like, I go on Reddit a lot, and there's a subreddit for strongmans and the sub for everything, and I saw somebody's hot take a strong man has gotten kind of it used to be more exciting and now it's kind of like it's not as exciting, like they used to do sumo wrestling and they used to like flip cars, and now it's kind of more it's it's it's a way I think
nowadays it's more like dead lifts and more standardized stuff as I think to get more people into it. But it's it's not it's not like creamy stuff now.
I mean you pull, you know, is there like a what was the other I guess is the idea that like it should have been more crazy thing like picking up a like like they put a child under a car and you got to save them type of stuff.
I do actually know one of the people at the gym that I go to there's a show where one of the events is running through drywall, and he was like, man, I wish I could have done that one. But I mean the show I did today. I wish I could. I'm hoping when I explained stuff, if like it's not clear what I'm saying, I could try to elaborate, but like I think the coolest one that I did today, or like, there's one event. It's a yoke and so it's like think of a barbell and it's welded to
two posts on the side. It's like if you've ever seen the stuff that like cows will pull that, that's literally a yoke and it's strong man. You'll you'll kind of get under it and you'll walk with it, sometimes fifty feet sometimes and in this particular case, it was carry the yolks fifty feet and then grab farmer handles, which is kind of like if you can carry two bags of groceries, then you can do farmer carry, but then picking that up and carrying that fifty feet back.
And the yolk that I carried was four hundred and twenty pounds and I'm I'm five to two and I weigh about one forty five pounds, So wow, it's yeah, it's it's cool to be able to because I've been doing string sports, like I said, for almost ten years at this point, so to be a female athlete in like where my focus isn't like trying to be small and lose weight, it's trying to build muscle and take care of myself to like lift as much weight as I can. I'm actually too, I'm more excited because in
January too, I'm doing so for context too. With strong Man, it's very common for people to take steroids, like the big guys at the tippy top, if you know, like half thorb Jordson for instance, he was the Mountain and Game of Thrones, or like Eddie Hall is a popular name to those guys. It's like pretty understood in the community that they take steroids like the top guys typically do. And so there's a federation in strong Man where it's
for people who don't take steroids. And since I've been doing it long enough, like not a lot of women do strength sports. So because I've been doing that long enough, like I'm pretty good at it now, and the show in January that I'm doing would be a qualifier to go to Worlds for the federation in like August next year probably. So I've never I've only traveled to South America once I went to the Amazon Rainforest, it's funny enough. That's the only time I've left the country, but for
the show. It would be cool. I would like be able to qualify and compete and go to Europe hopefully, and I think it was in the UK this year, but it'd be cool if it were there Ireland. I think I'd love to go there next year and like do a strength competition and stuff. You know, it'd be so cool.
That's awesome, that's so cool. So the so thet when you say so the steroids thing, it seems to me that it's like, uh, everyone kind of is it kind of like a thing where it's like you're not supposed to do it, but everyone just fucking does it anyway.
Yeah, And so in strong Man and honestly kind of an Olympic sports to my understanding, there's ways to if you get blood work done regularly and you eat healthy and try to like get good sleep. There's there's always risks, but there's ways to do it and kind of mitigate those risks. Like they say cycling on and off, Like cycling on is like taking some sterized and then cycling off. That's kind of what you're supposed to do to help like reset your body, and so I've met different people
who talk openly about it. There's a lot of channels on YouTube or people talk openly about it, and I follow athletes on Instagram that's talks openly about it. So I'm actually funny enough too. I would have considered taking it if there was a point, because like, I'm a good athlete, but I don't know if I could ever like be the best. And I thought about it. But the reason I don't do is my boyfriend, who he
is a powerlifter. He's like, if I took it, you know it, it would make me have a deeper voice, and it would give you more masculine features and probably like lose my hair and stuff. And if the roles were reversed, I probably wouldn't be happy if he took
steroids either. So it's it's I'm not gonna like it's I don't know how common it is necessarily because like people aren't all talking openly about it, but I know that it is a thing where they're like people might you know, take like a little bit of home to them, you know.
So I'm curious. So your boyfriend is also a powerlifter.
He's a powerlifter. I'm a strong an athlete.
Who would win in a fight.
He would, So I'm curious.
I'm curious about this, Like was it important to you? Because I'm sure that like because listen, here's like the average even though you're five to two. But the fact that like you could probably like the average guy, right like you could beat the ship out of me, you know what I mean, Like you could beat the ship
out of probably most average guys, right Like? Was that when you were like dating, was that important to you to find like like I I was that the thing where you're like, you know, I accept that I could
beat the ship out of most average guys? Or was it important to you, like find someone who is also like you know, who was like like I guess above your level, not like above your level, you know, but like you know can like uh like physically like like you know, you know what I'm saying, Like, is that important to you that you're you know you know what I'm saying is wrong? I do.
No, I never thought about it necessarily as like someone I could be in a site versus couldn't. But I did, like it's hard to be a woman doing strength sports and accept that like have like I don't have a small waist, I'm kind of blocky, and I I feel like I have like kind of more masculine features because I'm more muscular, so I was I've dated at this point. Now I think it's like the fourth guy that I've dated and after the last one, I guess the last
one was this one. Now, I did want somebody who uh like a beefcake, you know, like a huge size.
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah. And look, you got to where you and you deserve that. You know what I'm saying, thank you, thank you, because like in the in the dating universe, in the dating universe, it's you really you really can't ask for anything that you don't have, you know what I mean. Like you if you wanted, like if you wanted like a like a hot muscular guy, you're like, you know, you've earned it, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, that's it's nice. You do kind of get your pick of the letter if you are a girl who does shrink sports, because it's like, you know, there's not a lot of us, so it's kind of nice in that regard.
To pass three guys. Do you think you could have beaten them up?
No, so my my last boyfriend, Oh that's kind of funny. Uh, my last boyfriend he was six foot three and at one point almost four hundred pounds, and he was a strong man too. He actually when we were going through our breakup, he didn't he wanted to talk things through, and so he sat in front the door for like three hours because he didn't want me to leave, and I couldn't have moved him, Like I like try to nudge it a little bit. That whole thing is kind
of funny too. But I think my second one probably and well because it's funny enough. Like my original type was like skinny white dude like I was. I'm also an engineer, so like I was surrounded by like skinny white guy, right, and that you stalls be my type. But then you know, you do strength sports, so it's like you're at the gym four to five days a week, two to three hours at a time, so you're kind of surrounded five yeah. Yeah, I'm just you're surrounded by
these giant, muscly guys. So you know, you see that for like five six years, and that's kind of like how your type transitions. That's what I noticed for myself.
I guess, mm hmmmmmm.
Interesting. Okay, so you go to the gym do you used to sell for how how many years have you been going to the gym five times a week, four to five times a week, two to three hours.
I don't remember what I was doing in college. I do know honestly that I was a bit more anal when I was in college. Honestly, up until I dated my last boyfriend, I was like way more anal about it. And I think I started lifting and competing in twenty seventeen, so it was probably from like twenty seventeen up until now. You know I'm going to the gym. Well, right now, I go to the gym to do strength training four days a week, and then I rock climb once a week.
I actually too as a side note, because I've been listening to your podcast so long. You talk a lot about just like you know, going out and doing shit, and I talk about your podcast with people a lot. I don't think I've gotten anyone to listen to your books.
It's a tough pi, no, but it's so good.
And on Monday nights at the rock climbing gym I go to they have a ladies' night at six o'clock, different women can go and there's a form of rock climbing it's called blaying. I don't know if you know what that means, but that's like when you have to
harness and you're hooked up to someone. And so I kind of did that and was like trying to go regularly because like I listen to the podcasts and people talk about like I remember the girl who went to Pinball Club, like a older episode, and it was just inspiring me where it's like I'll go and I'll go regularly, Like I listen. I think one of the episodes, maybe a week or two ago, there was a kid who was like his first year of college and he was two weeks in. He's like, I'm not making any friends.
I don't understand, and I stand by it that you have to be regularly at a space for a year to really get comfortable. Yeah, totally had the community, but I moved. I've been in the same state for my whole life, but I left my last job and moved to the area that I'm at now in October of last year. So it's been almost a year living here and I'm rock climbing regularly. And I have like some friends from it. Now I'm actually going to Warp Tour with two of my rock climbing friends cool November.
So climbing friends also like super Ripped.
No, I'm actually because I have the strength background, I'm naturally stronger than a lot of them, which does feel pretty cool. I will say, uh, it has. It's very helpful to be a lifter in a lot of aspects of life, to be honest.
That other what other aspects?
I mean.
One interesting thing is that at the gym I go to, there are a lot of it's a big gym, and there's this one woman that I met. She's a mother, she's probably in her fifties. She's like in perimenopause and menopause, and she taught. She posts things openly about that on Instagram. She talks about it. And I know. The biggest thing is that because I have this like s fitness habit that I've built, I eat really healthy too. I actually got a nutrition coach recently. Uh so I eat really healthy.
I prioritize my sleep and it helps being with someone who prioritizes their sleep. But I feel good pretty much most of the days, aside from when I'm super sore from training. I sleep pretty good. I don't drink either. I haven't actually had any alcohol since New Year's two years ago now, And I just it's cool to be able to have a habit where I feel pretty good
a lot of the time. And I feel like, only not all the time, because I'm kind of an anxious person too, but I feel like having this fitness habit allows me to like think pretty clearly, to be able to have good control of like how I'm feeling. And I know my anxious thoughts get worse when I'm more tired or I'm not being mindful of my ChIL to the point of the menipausting to the thing that women who actually study that say, and you're older is yeah, I'm talking to the gecko.
Who is that?
That's my boyfriend?
Oh yeah, what's that is it?
Wait?
Did he just walk in?
She just walked in? He just went on a walk. We went to a restaurant after my show, and we each ate nachos and boff wings and our own respective meals, and we each got a dessert.
Are those all? Are those all the foods that you like can't have while you're like leading up to this.
It's funny, actually is you can kind of eat stuff like that. Like there's if you're ever in a diet. In my opinion, if you ever a diet where you have to cut out food, then it's not sustainable. I'm not really putent free and you can't.
Have wait, hold on, hold on, hold on. That doesn't make any don't all diets involve cutting out food.
It's it's it's moderation. So I, for instance, the girl that's my nutrition coach, one of the snacks that I'll get on my rock climbing day before I go to bed, my last meal is and Okay, it sounds kind of lame, but it's really good rice cakes with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips. That sounds oh my god, dude, it's so good. But I just to tie up the last way too, Like when women get older, they like their estrogen levels just like shoot down and their hormones get
all out of whack. And the best thing you can do when you're older and like in that stage your life is lift weight, eat proteins, leap, drink water like all that stuff that I'm kind of doing now. So
I feel like because I have this happen now. I know it's gonna help in the long run, but also I feel like it helps me manage my emotions and I I haven't talked to people a lot of I don't really know how to phrase it, but I feel like I have a pretty good head on my shoulders and it helps a lot because I strength train regularly. And also too, I have a community. I think that's a big thing that a lot of people miss in
in like the modern day. Is like when you go to a place regularly, like we were just saying, go to the gym regularly, you see the same people and you kind of build a community there. And gym people are kind of like people who do strength sports. They're kind of very similar people. So it's easy to say hi to people and chat about it. And I can be like an awkward person, but to be able to ask someone like, oh, are you like training for a show?
Like what events are you doing? And like we're all kind of in similar boats, so y'all kind of get it.
So you did the show today, Let me ask you this. You say that a lot of people in the strong man community feel as though it's gone downhill because they're not as, Uh, my understanding of what you said is that the kind of like there's less showmanship, right, Can I ask you?
Oh so sorry?
Go ahead go aheah ahead.
I was gonna say, I think I misrepresented it. I don't think that's a common sentiment among all people. That's just my perspective.
Okay, wait, so okues, So that's a perfect, perfect perfect. So if that's your perspective, what do you think, like, what give me some good like challenges that that you think they should add, like fucking like picking up big barrels of water and throwing them down, Like what do you think they should they should add to the strong man competition if you could add any kind of challenge.
So the first thing that comes to mind is that I follow I follow a lot of athletes on Instagram, and there was somebody post to show where most of the events were in water. So it's like one event was picking up a log and pressing it overhead for rest in water, and then another was tearing like a tub. It's kind of like a big a drum filled with water and carrying that around. I think it's just like it's stupid, you know, actually too. The last show I
did it was a kilted show. Everybody wore a kilt and it was a rent fare and so we were in kind of like the horse trough, kind of where they do the jeffs, same kind of area. And so there was one event, and this one you might have to look up to kind of see. It's hard to explain, but it's called a single finger something that's such weird names.
But the single finger is you kind of pick up this I think of a stick that is stuck to a pivot point, really big stick, and so you pick up from one end and you kind of get it up to your chest and then push it above your head and you kind of walk your hands under it to push the stick to fall on the other side. That's the That's the way I can explain it. You might just have to look it up, but that's a
cool event to watch people do. There was one where it was the the wagon of pain they called it, where you pick up a sandbag and load in a wagon, pick them another loaded the wagon that picks another load in and then you carry the wagon down at distance. And that one doesn't look cool too. Those are the ones I remember, but I thought that one was cool. And that's why I signed up for it, was because it was at a rent there and like it's kind of a spectacle.
Yeah, m.
Oh yeah. I wanted to ask your what are the so what are the numbers for you? Like, what's your what's your I would love to hear a rundown of the stats, like what's your bench?
So I actually don't really bench anymore, but I did a power listing meat last year and I benched one hundred and sixty five pounds the enough that I've deadlifted. That one's cooler. The most I've deadlifted is three hundred eighty pounds.
WHOA, that's great.
Yeah yeah. And then squat too. I don't really do that one as much, but when I did it last year, I squatted to sixty so they yeah, the numbers for it's hard to say numbers for strong man stuff because it's you're never really going for like a heavy single. But like I did an event today that was cool too. It was I picked up a sandbag that weighs as much as me, like one hundred and fifty pounds, and then you know, like keg, like you put beer in it.
I picked up that one and that weighed one hundred and fifty five pounds and I carried it, and then I picked up an Atlas stone which also it was one hundred and forty five pounds and tried to carry that one. But it was cool though, because they like split up the group everybody was competing today into two groups to make it go with it faster, and I picked up I was like the second, the last person
to go for that event. So like all these guys, you know, some of them were like in their fifties and stuff, and like they were carrying less than meet like hot shit, but yeah, thank you. But as far as specific weights to give, I guess the last show I did, there was an event where it was you know, like a beer cake. Literally one of them is like
carrying a keg. It was a two hundred pound keg and I put it over a bar that was at like forty five inches tall like I'm five but two, so it was maybe like forty two inches high, I think, And I did that I think four times. So I don't know, it's hard to like explain these numbers and like know if other people like know what that feels like, but it's it's I think the coolest part of it for me is that the stuff that I'm doing next year is stuff that I never thought I would be doing.
You know, like I now my voice is shaky. I feel like it's so surreal, but it's just I think I've been really excited because, Yeah, the stuff that I'm doing next year is the stuff that I've been standing since twenty seventeen, like working.
Towards you know, interesting what you never thought that you would make it into what is it called federation?
Well, there's different federations. It's more I never thought that I would be doing a qualifier to go to World for a strong Man and like I'm going to have you ever heard of the Arnold?
Uh?
No? Is that based off of chart?
Uh?
Sorry? Is that based off the Schwarzenegger.
Yeah, it's it's a fitness expo and in Columbus, Ohio. I don't know what else there is in Ohio, but there's a fit It's a fitness expo. So it's like all the strength sports that kind of come together and it's like it's one of the top sport strong man shows for people that besides the super heavyweight men. And I'm going to that too. In March. That's a plan anyway, unless the events kind of stinker. If it's too expensive, then I probably won't. But I think I'm been saving
my money. I think I can go, And the fact that I'm going to it is like I never thought I'd be able to go, you know what I mean?
Mmmmm, what's the what is the demographic? Like who's in the audience for these shows? I'm curious, like, who are the what's the demographic of people that attend?
So the one that I did, it's mostly friends and family. It's the people who compete, it's the people who help out, and then it's friends and family. So my mom and my stepdad actually came to watch, very nice and my mom she's, oh my god, she's weighs as much as me, but she's like six inches taller than me. She's skin and bone, she's sixty. She's sixty years old, literally osteoporotic. And she's like, she said, she felt so out of place because you know, we're doing this stuff when we're
like all shouting and rah rah. But you know she was there too, and there are other like parents and stuff there, and that's typically who it is, even at a bigger show, it's comprised of the athletes, the couple people who help out, and then maybe some other athletes who go to that gym and are interested in it.
But then in other ways it's friends and family. So if you ever watch a high level strong man show like the audience, I mean, for like World's Strongest Man, that's like one of the biggest ones, and Matt has other people, but for ones that aren't as well known but are still big, it's usually friends and family.
Who's the like World's Strongest woman? Right now? Do we have a do we have eyes on that?
The name that comes to mind for me, there's this woman named Nnez I am easy. I think she might be the strongest in her weight class. There is this woman whose name I can't think of her name, but she's she's I think.
From Oh is it para Kara Squill.
Yeah, she's definitely one of the top strongest athletes. The strongest people. It's mass move mass, so the strongest people are gonna be the heavyweights and the super heavyweights. Like I can name the strongest people like in my weight class. But I guess to give you some perspective too, I am a typically one hundred and forty five pound woman.
When I do a weight cut into like a competitive weight class, I'm about one hundred and forty one pounds, and at one hundred and forty one pounds, there are women who are deadlifting four hundred and five hundred pounds. It's absolutely insane. So people are just nutty strong nowadays.
I got a fitness question for you. It's not really a fitness question. We're just like, okay, when people do like squats. There's this thing that gives me tons of anxiety when I see it at the gym where people do squats and they're carrying all of the fucking weight of the thing, not like with their They're not like grabbing it with their shoulders, like they're on their fingertips, you know, like they carry it all on their finger to you know, what I'm talking about is like, is.
The bar on their collar bone?
I may possibly possibly maybe I think it's like on their yeah, like on their back, on their neck maybe, and they're just carrying it all with their fingertips, I don't know. And their hand their fucking hands are like curled all the way back.
Is that just like a regular squat? But people have their hands bent really far back. I might know what you're talking.
About, I think, so, I mean I might just be stupid, but.
Yeah, no, no, no, if I'm picturing the right, some people just have really good wrist flexibility. Some people, how do I say, Yeah, I mean that's just the way some people squat. Some people squat with their legs super wide out and have their hands bent really really far back. Oh yeah, because it allows them to have the bar sit lower on their on their upper back. So I'm
not this is kind of out of my wheelhouse. But I, for instance, for my body shape, I have like longer thighs, and so when I squat, I kind of will bend over versus some people, like you can squat really upright if they have like shorter thighs, and so there are people if you squat, if you lean over more forward as you're squatting, and the bar bell is further down on your back, like on your upper back, and your
hands are bed further, then that's little engineering. It's it's a smaller lever arm, so it's a little bit easier to move versus if it were higher up on your upper back. I don't know if what I'm saying makes sense, But it's like it's the distance between the bar and your hips is a little bit closer, so it's a little bit easier to lift. I don't know if that's exactly the way to explain it.
That makes sense. I just as long as I thought you were gonna, as long as you didn't say because they're crazy and why then No.
We'stening regularly. We're not crazy and wild. They go to bed at nine thirty pm. They don't drink beer or like once a month. You know they're not crazy.
So well, let me think here, what's next for you?
Well?
Do you tell me your name?
Oh, it's Rochelle, Rochelle.
What's next for you? Rochelle? I guess so you're gonna You're you're going out for Worlds. That'll be cool. When is that again?
So the qualifying show I'm doing, it's in Jersey in mid January, and if I do well in that, then Worlds would be in August of next year. Presumably it was in August of this year, so I think it would be in August next year. And then I'm doing the Arnold two, which is in March, and after that, I don't really know. I'll kind of figure it out after, but those are plans right now. M.
That's awesome, that's really cool. I'm excited for you. I'm trying to think if H, well, I guess before we go, is there anything else you want the people to know about women's strong men strong man competitions, those conceptions you want to clear up.
I guess maybe it's a misconception, but I don't even think it is. The people who go to the gym regularly, or the guys, especially who looks big and scary, they're typically the nicest people. And if you see someone like in there all the time and lifting heavy, and you ever have a question about like oh I don't I don't know how to squat, or like I need help with ben, you give me a spot, like they would
be more than happy too. They'd be more than happy to talk about it and give tips because it's all we do. You know, it's our only hobby. So people who are like that, they're super nice and they would
love to help you. You never have to like worry people are watching you at the gym, because they're really unless you're like in their cocky and like telling people like, oh this is whatever if you're like trying, Like I always have respect for the people who are like clearly trying and a guy who's lifting like the bar bell because he's new to it, or like someone who's overweight and like clearly like is uncomfortable being there. Like, I
think that's great. And most people who do fitness to the level that I do, they feel the same with.
Oh my other question, but what's the what's the like like the other women who participate in the competitions? Do you become friends with them? Are they the kinds of people you you would want to hang out with?
I honestly, it's interesting. I don't really hang out with a lot of like the gym people outside of the gym, but I would. I don't know. I guess I just kind of I don't hang up. I don't I guess I would simple question, simple answer your question as I would. It's hard to break that barrier with like gym going people. But actually the people that I hung out with after my competition today were people that I met in the gym.
So I think it's just I don't know. Sometime real think about I guess trying to like ask them more like if they want to hang outside of the gym.
Rochelle, is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?
No, I just it's so cool that have finally got on and were listening to you so long. Your podcast is great. It's it's really I guess for you. It's just I know people tell you like what you're doing is it's it's good. I'm trying to find my words, but it really is. It's really helpful to hear perspectives of a variety of people. I loved that guys story. I know I'm talking a lot mo Yeah, no, don't know. Just the train Hopper guys fascinating you is so nice.
I don't know if he's listening to this too, but I hope he knows. Like I agree with the Spotify Covins too, like, yeah, he clearly loves his daughter and he's I just love hearing different people's stories and makes the world feel a lot smaller and it really does help me know that. Like like you say too, I don't know anything. I don't know anything about people, but I love learning about their experiences. I love It's just it's cool that I got to get on, especially too.
When I see like your personal hobbies of like traveling and making that part of your work and interviewing people, it seems like that strange to take off. So I'm excited to see how that goes for you. I will be whatever is like, we'll be watching your career whatever.
Like, thank you, Rochelle, No, thank you.
Know.
I'm touched that so many people have been felt connected to that particular episode, because yeah, it really touched me too. It's cool to see. I'm very happy that that got the kind of response that I think that that guy's story warranted. And thank you for talking about this. This was This was a very fun one and a sea of this was cool. I feel like, in a cee of a lot of you know, heavy stuff, it's nice to just like chat about a fun, cool, interesting thing
that someone does as part of their life. So I appreciate you coming on and talking about this.
Thank you appreciate it. Oh I guess too, if people I can throw out my Instagram.
Yeah, oh yeah, sure please.
I'm not trying to become a big name instrum man. I'm not trying to be an influencer, but I love that people have questions about fitness and want to like for me my Instagram handle, Well, yeah, my Instagram handle is Roe Shambau nine five like r O s h a m b oh ro Shambo. I'm Rochelle, Yeah, Rochelle.
Yes, trust me, I'm an engineer. Oh this is you. This is you with your ripped boyfriend.
Yes, he he. When I make my next post, I got him a shirt that says a super hot cougar stole my heart anywhere? Is that? Because I think it's cute.
Sorry, I hope this isn't weird considering the context. But you guys have crazy calves.
Thank you. No, I love that.
I love them.
People like like I've had girls at the gym sy like, oh my god, like you your quads are huge, and like.
Thank you.
Oh this is I see this is what the I'm looking at through a little carousel and I see the little the post the oh, holy shoe way is that you? Oh holy fuck, dude, you're you look like you're about to Oh my god, this is you deadlifting? Uh damn. That's Cray with the guy in the beard in the background.
Yeah, that's three forty five.
Holy shit, that looks that looks terrifying. Honestly, that looks like like I look at this and I'm like, you look it looks like I mean, and you're professionals obviously know what you're doing, but I'm like, damn, if I tried to do this shit, my back would just fucking go be destroyed.
Yeah, your your reaction is the same as my mom. She gets very scared to see me left. But you know, you do it for long enough, and you stay open to feedback from people, and anybody can do stuff like that.
You know.
Yeah, if anyone has questions ever about fitness or anything, you can just like message me and I can do my best to answer. I feel like sometimes that's what people need.
You know.
I'm looking at you where on your profile picture with pulling this truck with an American flag in the background. It's pretty epic.
My dad recorded that video too, and it's just funny because he didn't get the truck until like at the very end, I think.
Oh, he just was like he just recorded you holding the rope.
Yeah, but it was great. My dad moved, but he came to every single show I had before and every power every single one before you moved. So I appreciated that a lot.
Well, thank you for calling. Rochelle. I wish you good luck in qualifying for worlds.
Thank you, and good luck in all your trips too.
See you around the universe. Dude. M hm, take care bybershell. Ye, that was a fun one that felt like a very classic therapy Gecko phone call.
Yeah.
I'm looking through this this woman's instagram. This is this like strong Man. She has all these photos of her strong Man shit row Chambeau one n. Yeah, this looks crazy. This looks like I feel myself in pain just watching her do this stuff. Yeah, with look at this with the drum, the big fucking oh holy fuck, dude, she's picking up this giant like bean bag and like bending herself all the that's crazy. She's like, that's crazy. Holy shit.
She's like bending herself all the way backwards to hold up this barrel and then just like powers back forward. That's insane. Damn. Shout out, shout out to Rochelle. Hey, what's up?
Man?
What's your name?
Oh?
I'm sorry, just the get Yeah, who is this?
Oh? This is Elias Elias.
Elias Elias. You texted me and you said I want to talk about my root beer collection.
Yeah, I just text you right now. I just got a place with no connection. But I tried calling you tricking after I got off of work. But then I went to this place with no connection, and then I think I might have lost you.
But none of that matters now, Elios, none of that matters. Now. I want to hear about this root beer collection.
Okay, So I've been building a root beer collection. I'm only twenty one, so I've been building a re sellection for like three years, four years now. I mean I tried everywhere I go, I try to find a bottle of root beer. I went to Well, so far, I've only went to places in California, but I went to Hawaii. I tried to find one there, and I don't think they sell the right type of the ingredients to make
a good root beer there, or so I heard. But yeah, I mean I have a picture of my collection, but I would just have to show you.
Yeah, can you text that to me?
Tractice? Uh, Now I need to find it.
What's the most prized aspect of your collection?
My most tried aspect? It's just that, I mean I only have.
Like or I'm sorry I said that wrong. The most prized item.
Oh, I had, Well, I think my favorite. My favorite is the Dad's The Dad's root beer. You ever tried that one?
It's like, bro, So I've never had I've never had Dad's root beer. But when I was in high school on Amazon, I once ordered like a hundred Dads root Beer barrel candies and so I've had like tons, Like I would just find loose root beer barrel candies in my backpack all the time because of how many of them. I just like took me to school and ship. I've never had actual Dad's root beer, though, Is it any good? Oh?
Dude? Every time there's I mean, we haven't had a Dad's great, but every time I.
Go there, Sorry you cut out for a second. Would you say?
Every time I go to the Little Sandwich.
I always get it and oh, we're losing you.
Refrigerator with Dad's root beer. I'm grabbing it. That's how good it is.
Okay, every time you go to a sandwich shop you get it. That's how good it is. Okay, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Okay, what's the root what's the what's the worst. What's the worst root beer that you've had?
Okay? So I went to this candy shop my local mall, and there was one called Rats root beer. It is like Rats and I tried it. It tastes it tasted like like super watery. Uh you had like when you drink from a water fountain. It's just it's just straight up syrup. Yeah, that's what. That's what that one's chased like.
Okay, sounds good.
I'm trying to find this.
Yeah, what about Okay, rank these one to three, A and W, barks, mug.
Okay, now we're talking about the real the roof. So if you have bark in between those three, if you have barks in two or one the spirit, then that's the worst stigion of your life.
Because okay, so bars barks is the worst.
Barks is definitely the worst for sure. And then I go A and W. But me and my brother dude, we every every time we go to like a soda falon and they don't mug. Dude, I mean, I still drink the root beer, but if they don't have mug, I mean I give it like a.
Okay, you're a mug guy. Automatically, you're a mug guy.
I'm definitely I'm definitely a mug guy.
For I'm with you. I'm also a mug guy. I just like the dog. I don't know why, but something about looking at the dog while I'm drinking the root beer makes the root beer taste different. I don't know that much about mug like. I don't know if it, if it. I know that A and W. I think A and W is like A what's it? What is A and W under? I think they're under.
Oh?
Okay, all right, So there's the three. There's the three big challengers in the soda beverage industry. There's Pepsi of course to Pepsi and mug BrX is owned by Coke. Yeah, and then uh, A and W is hold on, I think a NWS by like Snapple. Let me let me look at this an W. Yeah, A n W is under doctor Pepper, doctor Pepper. I think doctor Yeah, Curig, Curig Curig doctor Pepper is a publicly traded Oh I didn't know that they merged. Okay, Curig doctor Pepper. Okay, yeah,
there we go. Okay, it used to be the doctor Pepper Snapple group, and now it is the Curig doctor Pepper group. So the doctor Pepper people, the Pepsi people, and the Cola and the Coca Cola people are the main competitors in the space, and they all have their own root beer and I agree that I think mug is the best of those. Oh I got I have. I have a question for you. What are what's your opinion on root beer floats? How do you like a little bit of a vanilla ice cream in your root beer?
Honestly, that's like saying, like putting a cherry on top, you know, No, you always put like cherries on top of like a like a cat take or something.
Oh, I just got the photo. I just got the photo. Oh ship, there's so many people in here that I'm not okay, hold on, wait let me sorry, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Sorry, it's got kind of.
So this is this is not my full root beer collection I put it. I haven't taken a picture of my my fullest one, Like the Rats one is not on there. But this is like maybe a year ago, but I added maybe another stack on top of that.
This is awesome. Okay, I've had I'm gonna go through the ones I've had. Okay, you've got IBC. That one's pretty good. I don't know if I've had the IBC root beer. But I've definitely had the IBC cream Soda. That ship's really good. Henry Wine Hard's, I've never had that. Stuarts. That's a that's a sleeper pick. Yes, Stuart's. Stuarts has an amazing orange creamsicle flavor. Have you ever had?
I had that? I had that one.
Okay, Balls root beer?
Okay, that one's my favorite one. Actually, yeah, that was my favorite one because I brought it home one day and then my brother was like, you're really drinking balls right now? And I was like, no, root beer?
Wait, balls is a Where have I seen this? Yeah? Okay, I've seen Balls before as like, uh uh yeah, I've seen it in like a classy blue soda before. But I didn't know they had a root beer. So that's interesting. I don't know. I don't know river City. I don't know river City. Oh look at this dang butterscotch root beer. What was that?
Like?
Tell me about did they have how was.
The So that one is a little That one's a little more on the sweeter side.
Right, it's got butterscotch.
Yeah.
Good.
That one's like probably the most seest one.
Jackson hole Buckin' root Beer virgils. I've had this one. Okay, the Spreker fire brewed root beer.
They have, They have a couple of different types of those. I have like maybe two more of those in that new collection.
Okay, this one the root beer main roots. Where's that one from? That looks familiar?
I got that? Do you know what Lake Lake Tahoe in the in the Nevada? Sure, that's where I got that one. And it's like, gave me like a forest you feel, because I feel because Lake Child was kind of like foresty and like I don't know, it's it was just like the all the aesthetic around it. And I was like, it just like called my name in this little little tiny bakery I went too, and I was like, hey, grab me.
I want to backtrack real quick. The dang butterscotch root beer. How heavy was the butterscotch? Could you taste the notes?
It was?
It was kind of like it was kind of like a root beer float, honestly, not like but it had like that it had that vanilla e like, oh, you know if you there's like this root beer, Oh it's it's it's like mug too where you make it like kind of like cream it's like root beer. It's like the cream style cream soda.
And what's it called?
Okay, actually it's just cream soda. So that's kind of what it tastes like if you had.
Oh, okay, it just tastes like a regular cream soda. All right, we have all right, here's the dads, which, as you say, is your favorite. I've never seen Dad's root Beer as just like sold in like a play. I've just never seen it out and about.
Yeah. I had a spot by my house down town, and uh, honestly it's pretty good. It's a gig sandwich spot, so I like it.
Oh shit, Dad, I'm on the Dad's root Beer website, a website I never thought I would ever be on, but it seems like they have a butt. Dad's has all these whoa dude, holy tits? Have you ever seen this before? Dad's old fashioned blue cream Soda? Have you ever seen that? I'm not actually Dad's Blue cream Soda, it says, it says Dad's Blue Cream Soda is almost liquid with cotton candy with very heavy vanilla notes. That sounds fucking insane. I'm dude. You can sign up for
a They have an email list. I'm signing up for that they have Yeah, dude, you can write to them. Nine to fifty South Saint Charles Street, Jasper, Indiana, four seven five four six.
I'll miss it out.
They have merch. What do they have on? What's their merch situation? You can buy a ooh ooh you see this. They have a Dad's root beer mug. Imagine drinking Imagine drinking a Dad's root beer out of a Dad's root beer mug. That sounds awesome. They have lip bomb. It tastes like root beer. That's I don't I don't know. If this mug you can sell, you can become a real itter. Look at this. You can sell dads. Use the contact form to reach out to be able to
sell dads at your location. Okay name, No, I'm not gonna fill that out. I don't have anything funny to say while I fill that out. But uh, okay, I could read the history of Dad's Rutier, but I won't. I'm gonna finish your collection. Okay, you have dog and what is this one? Say? Dog? And us dog and SuDS dog and what dog? And SuDS Dog and SuDS Rutier. Okay, how was that that one?
It was all right, just this is a regular root beer, maybe like A and W type. So like all these all these root beers bottles I based off my those top three that you mentioned earlier, the mug A and W and then barks. I rarely, I rarely rate them as the bark style. It's usually A and W. But like what the wing do the mugs those are like like the dads maybe yeah, yeah, I like this.
Yeah, you've developed your own you've developed your own ranking style system where a BARX is a C an, a n W is a B and a mug is an A.
Yeah. But then the last one is Sioux City.
Sioux City. I saw that. I saw Sioux City. Okay, well, I'm where do you rank Sioux City?
That one's an abbie. Actually I had this one when I was super drunk one night, and uh so, maybe maybe it was a mug back then, but it's probably an a wie mm hmm. Yeah.
You sober up and you really yeah, you sober up and you realize that what you thought was a mug is really a Sometimes it can be a box.
Yeah.
I see that you have lego flowers coming out of a few of these bottles. I like that.
Yeah, Mike Jruffer bought them for me, and then I had no place to put them, so I chose the three bottles that were probably I think I chose these because there were mugs. They were the mug rating like the virgils, and.
Then oh, okay you gave you gave literal flowers to the mugs. Ranking okay, so Henry all right. So for the people who can't see this image, the Henry wine Hearts has a flower in it, so that's a mug rating. The Virgil has a flower in it, that's a mug grating. And then the Dads has a flower in it. So those are are those are? Those are three mugs out of the whole collection.
Yeah, I think I have a cup. I don't put flowers in the I think I have one more mugs, but I'm blanking on the name of it. Dude, I need to send you that updated picture because they have like another stack on top of this one picture.
Can can you send me that? Can you send me that other picture? How far? How so this is from a year ago?
Yeah, and I I'm actually coming home from work right now, so I don't I'm not in access of my rootbeer collection right now, But next time you're live, I'll just send you a picture or something.
So okay, let me count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Okay, right now, there's thirteen bottles in this picture. How many bottles do you think you have? Now?
Probably twenty six? Only?
Shit? Okay?
Yeah.
How far away are you from your house right now?
I about forty minutes?
Okay?
All right, Well, yeah, I'll have to send you it later.
All right, you'll have to send me it later. What's the give? What? What's the root beer that you've heard of in passing that you have not yet tasted but would like to taste one day?
Uh, that's a good question because it's usually like because I'm more of a of a fake type of guy, like all my my pet animals I've gotten like from like them coming to me. You know. It's like like I said earlier about that main room beer, like it just called my name. Like as soon as I walk to a store, I look in like the soda section just to see if they have one. But you know, I'm not just not a lot of my friends are a root beer type of guy. Actually, my brother is
is more. I'm a doctor pepper guy, and uh so we don't really see eye to eye. But I mean, it's just whenever I see it, I just grab it. I don't I haven't had any hurt or I haven't heard any I traveled yet.
So I like that you. I like that you. I like that you let fate bring the right routiers to you.
And that's just a good, uh good lifestyle for me at least. I can't speak for everyone, but I like that lifestyle as just a person.
Is there anything that you feel somebody? If someone out there wants to start collecting rupier bottles, what advice would you give to them?
Just some I mean, just amongst your travels. Just go to the local corner store and just look in the soda section. If they don't have any, just you just gotta move on. Not much, not so much to it. Also, restaurants have them too, sometimes if you ask a routier and then you can sometimes ask them for the bottle.
Do you feel like collecting root beer has given you a good perspective on the idea of just moving on in general? You know, has it let you be better at that? What do you mean, like you know you said, if they don't have root beer, then you just move on, you know, like I'm I guess I'm trying to take your root beer collecting and apply it to your broader life in some sense. No, actually not really, well then never mind.
What's your name, ages, It's Elias with a.
Z, Elias, Elias, thank you for sharing this. This has been an incredibly enjoyable twenty minutes for me.
Me toon therapy, get go.
Is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?
Keep drinking root beer?
Beautiful? Thank you, Elias.
Thank you.
That was That was incredibly enjoyable for me, folks. I think I'm going to end the podcast today by reading a few emails. I like that I've gotten a little drip in of of GEK mails and I figured I would read a few of them. I'll also talk a little bit about my trip to Iraq. I don't know if I'm going to do a whole thing about it, but it was really it was amazing. I mean, it was so un like what my expectations were of what it would be like. That's the main thing I want
to say. I'll say everything that I really want to say when the video is out, because that's it's gonna take me a full month to edit it, at least a month at least, So I'm aiming for like, no, I'm aiming for like the very beginning of November to get the full video out there. But yeah, it was. It was great. People were so fucking nice to us. Like the very first day we were there, these like two police officers holding like big ass AK forty seven's just like came up to us and they were like,
where are you guys from, how you guys doing? Welcome to Iraq, and then they gave us some SIGs and then one of them like invited us to get lunch with him and his mom. We had we just had interactions like that all the time, where like I don't know, people would just be really chill and really respectful and really uh really really nice. I wish I could. I'm glad that I went and I and I took a bunch of video because I'm kind of shit about explaining it with my words, but yeah, it was a great time.
Please please go somebscribe to YouTube dot com slash lyle forever so that when I post the video in a month you can see it because it's it's it's one of my favorite things I've I've done in my gecko career. Anyway, let's read a few emails and then we'll get the fuck out of here, all right. This is from Ali subject line af af fantasia. Am I saying this correctly?
Afantasia fanta Okay? Hi Lyle. I wanted to email because I recently learned I have something called afantasia and inability to form mental images, and it's been a crazy revelation for me. I never realized I was missing something until now. When I imagine things, I don't see them, I feel their presence or I know certain facts about them. If I picture a forest, I can tell you how quiet or loud it might be, how tall the trees are, how the evening sun paints an orange. But none of that
is an image. It's more like a list of facts that my mind creates. Interestingly, I do see things in my dreams, sometimes very clearly, and sometimes when I'm between being awake and asleep, I'll catch moments of imagery and what I assume is the way other people see their thoughts all the time. Interesting, I've been thinking about this a lot lately, I feel spiteful that others have this skill and I don't. I'm really tired at the time of writing this, so I'm sorry if I sound insane.
Afantasia isn't something I like to talk about to people in real life, but I'd love to hear your perspective. How do you see in your head? Thanks for reading this. That's interesting. That part about like how I part about, Like, oh, I can almost catch a glimpse of what a thought might feel like when I dream, but it's like elusive. That's so interesting. How do I see in my head? I'm imagining boobs right now, but they they're like cartoon. I'm imagining that. It's like when I try to imagine
boobs is like a painting of it. Okay, I just did it. I just imagined like a normal, like human boobs, but it felt like a wickied. It felt like I was looking at like the Wikipedia page for boobs. It was a very non sexual image. Anything I could tell you about how I see in my head would be it would be fake because I'd be trying, like right, like if I try to, like not like when I like naturally imagine things, because I'm like trying to imagine something.
Right now, I'm trying to imagine like a gecko. I'm imagining the gecko lizard emojive. I can see it. This is a weird exercise to do right now. This feels kind of achadelic. I feel like I'm like entering and exiting my head because yeah, I can see it. I know what it feels like to imagine something. I guess I can't explain it. Is this a real condition?
Now?
I'm not saying you're lying, but I'm JUSTO, you know what I mean? Yeah, Okay, I'm googling it. Affantasia is the inability to form or access mental images in one's mind, often referred to as lacking a mind's eye. The phenomenon was first described by Francis Galton in eighteen eighty. Who the hell was this guy? Francis Galton? He's dead now, I don't know why. That's the only thing I have to say about him. I mean, it's not the only thing.
He invented fanta and he's dead. He died in nineteen eleven. That's one hundred years ago. At least. He's known for regression towards the mean. Okay, we can stop reading about this guy. Thank you for sharing this. Ali. Okay, this is from Let's see. This is from Cherry. Subject line the void made me send this. Hi, Lyle, my name is Cherry, and I don't really know how to start this without sounding either incredibly self important or totally unhinged.
Maybe both. I've listened to your show for a few years now, mostly at work, but also sometimes on long drives when I want to hear someone else speak fluently to the void. I know this is strange. I know I am strange, but I also know myself well enough to trust when I feel something important. And this feels important in the way weird things often do. I think we might be the same kind of person, whatever that means.
I'm not trying to be dramatic. It's just the way you talk, the way your thoughts loop and land and reach sideways into the absurd and intimate at the same time. That is how I think. That's how I feel and navigate. Like we both tuned into the same haunted radio station and decided to keep listening. That's very poetic. This is let's keep going anyway. I'm rambling, I'm nervous, I definitely smoked a bowler two. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong. I'm not asking for anything, not trying to get on
the show. I just don't often find my flavor of weird reflected in other people, and I guess I wanted to let you know that I exist somewhere out here, not expecting a reply, but also kind of hoping for one. Not a fan of talking on the phone, but maybe in the next life we can talk on the phone for approximately seven to thirty minutes. It's nice that she clocked exactly how much time most people here spend on
the show talking. It's approximately seven to thirty minutes. Thanks for being one of the few people who makes you feel like less of an anomaly. PS. So sorry, I just reread that email. But fuck, are we ball Cherry? How do I respond to this? I don't know. I don't think it's that weird of an email. I don't think I don't think it's that particularly star. I don't think you would listen to the show. I think it's a legitimate reason to want to like to listen to like.
When I think about like podcasts I listen to, or comedians I like, and things like that, I guess I do. I appreciate them because they have a similar I feel like, I'm like, oh, I can see myself in this person's brain, So I don't think that's this is weird. You know this makes sense. I don't know if I have a good response to it, although I guess I just did respond. I hope you're doing all right, Cherry. It was very pigh like this. I like, I know that you feel
weird about this email, but it's poetic. I like it. We both tuned into the same haunted radio station and decided to keep listening. It's it makes me think about how I'm being perceived when I talk on this fucking thing and I get I'm, I'm, I'm I'm this email. It makes me feel like it's a good perception. This email makes me feel like I exist. So okay, I'm good. I'm glad. This makes me feel like I also exist
in a way. So thank you. Thank you for making me also feel as though I exist by reflecting that my existence somehow makes sense to you. You know what I mean? That was a mutually beneficial email. Okay, let's do one more, all right. This is from someone subject line I cut open dead people for a day and now I can't get over it. Hey Gek, I'm a pre med student working through my undergrad degree and recently shadowed a forensic pathologist, the type of doctor who does autopsies.
It was an insanely eye opening experience, and though I've never had a fear of death, autopsying approximately ten people has really changed my perspective on a lot of things, mainly that we are all just bags of flesh and are way more fragile than we think we are. During the autopsies, you have to go through all the organs, plus cut the skull open and gross the brain, which is a very inhumane experience. Obviously, I know it's necessary to determine the cause of death, and I literally work
with organs and tissues every day. Just something about the physical dismemberment of a human is mentally jarring, and every instinct you have is screaming at you to see stop and run, kind of like the whole Uncanny Valley thing, which comes from our recognition of decaying humans and subsequent flight response. Halfway through the workday, I went to grab lunch and it all hit me. At the same time I was trying to eat a spam musubi, which apparently
has the same fleshy sponginess as livers do. I couldn't eat meat for weeks, and I couldn't stop thinking about how everyone in that morgue were people I could have had classes with or passed on the street. I think about those patients and their families every day, and the experience has made me so much more passionate about medicine, because half of those deaths were completely medically avoidable if
those people received the correct care. I don't regret the experience at all, but I don't think I'll ever really be the same. Do you have any thoughts. Well, I'm gonna have a billion thoughts. It's all shit I've been talking about on here before. But yeah, I think a lot about our own fragility. I try not to. I try not to, because, like bro coming to terms with your own fragility as a human being and the fragility of the universe and the transient nature of time and
all this existential stuff. It's a crazy ride, I think, if you're alive, I think it's a good ride to take, but it becomes at at some point just like incompatible with like normal ass life and I got to that. I got to that point and I thought I would never be able to leave it, and I and I did, and that not you know, I don't know if I ever left it whatever, but I thought I would never be able to just like live normal fucking human being life after having really felt like I went there mentally.
But now I have, and it's it's good. It's good to know. I think you should take the ride if you'd never taken the ride. But yeah, I try not to think about this stuff as much as I I try to know, I don't try not to think about the stuff. I try to think about the stuff optimally, try to think about the stuff just enough to keep my ass in shape and ignore it just enough to keep my ass sane. You know, I'm glad it's made you more passionate. And the fact that you say you
won't ever be the same, I don't think. I don't think I'm the same after having my crazy, fucking existential crisis. But that's good, but you but I feel. But I also I think in order to go there, I had to lose touch with certain parts of myself, and that felt scary. The idea that I would uh that in order to gain this kind of clarity, I had to give give away certain things, but I got I got all that stuff back. I feel so I feel like
I'm not. I feel like i'm not. I feel like I've been come more whole as a result of kind of facing my own fragility. I haven't fucking faid. I don't think I would want to face it in the way that you have faced it. I'm sorry. That's a lot. That's a lot, but uh, you know you're you're in medicine. It's what you do. Uh, And it's a noble thing to do what you do. I mean, I don't want to That's that's why it's noble. I don't want to fucking do it. So, but someone has to do. Someone
has to cut open dead guys. Someone has to do it, bro, someone has to cut open dead guys. And I'm glad, and I am glad that it's you and it's not me, And it's noble of it to be you. So you should be proud of yourself for cutting open dead folks. It's not an easy thing to do, and I'm glad that it's made you more passionate. Let that be Look, because that's the thing, right is like you you you face it and you're fucking terrifying, but you're using it
to actually like do work. And that's when you're the least terrified, I think, is when you're in the flow state and when you're working, and when you're like have some kind of mission, right, Because you could easily open look at all these dead people and have it drag you into nihilism. But it didn't. It dragged you quite the opposite, into into being passionate about keeping people alive.
You know, that's awesome. I think that's great. So that's my thoughts on this email is that you know, what you experienced sounds like it was really jarring and crazy and life altering in terms of your perception of life. But it didn't fucking take you into nihilism. It didn't make you go, we're all bags of flesh and we don't fucking matter. It took you deeper into your own fucking humanity. That's what I love about this email is
it took you deeper into your own humanity. Humanity being a thing that you know is kind of beyond us that we don't understand. That's like getting us away from our own nihilism and into let's fucking do something, you know, let's let's keep being more passionate about medicine and fucking making it so less people die. It's cool. I like it. I think I think I think you took a good direction with it. I saw it. I saw a dead chicken, like it's a raw dead chicken, and I was like, yo,
it's crazy. How like you go to chick fil a and like everything's like white and nice and polished and like that, Like there's marketing and they have like Instagram, you know, and it's like a like the capital the capitalistic guysation whatever of like killing a bunch of chickens to make it like a nice, fun, happy, cool thing, even though it's like killing a bunch of fucking living things. It's kind of crazy. I don't say that. I'm totally I love Chick fil A. I'm gonna keep eating there
and enjoying it and loving loving it. I might go there right after this. I'm not. This isn't like a peta rant, but it is. You gotta think about it is kind of crazy. All right. That's the podcast. That's it. Thank you all for listening, Thanks for being here. My name is Lyle. I'm a gecko. I don't know. If I don't have anything else to say, uh, follow me on YouTube YouTube dot com slash Lyle forever. That's what
I'm gonna post all of my Iraq stuff. I'll i'll talk about it more if someone calls in and asks me about it. I can't really just I'm not gonna rant about it, but I'll also talk about it on that video when I put it out in a month. Anyway, whatever, I'm Lyle, I'm crazy. I'm a gecko. Thanks for listening. See you again Wednesday. Gek bless everythin goes on the line, thanking your phone calls every night. Everything goes, And I'm teaching you a loud mean of your line expert