Hello. How's it going, Lyle?
It's going good? Man? How are you?
I'm doing good. I'm I'm at work right now and it's pretty slow. We're just back here cleaning party equipment.
Uh, you're cleaning party equipment.
Yes, I work for a rental company. H I mean we usually do. I'm usually on the equipment side, but things definitely slow down in the winter. So I thought you were taking calls and looks like I got through. I'm pretty I'm pretty shooking up right now.
Honestly, what is the party equipment that you are cleaning? Are you cleaning like a mechanical bull? Are you cleaning a DJ boot set? What are you cleaning?
Right?
Are you cleaning a birthday cake? What are you cleaning?
It's resin chairs that people sit on. It's it's pretty handy, Honestly, I like them.
Do you ever just sit in the chairs because you can because they're in front of you.
Yeah, all the time. I'll eat lunch on them, and fucking rad that's badass.
What's your name, Zachary, Zachary, Zachary, Zachary, Zachary. What brings you to call the Gecko Show today? Zachary?
So I've been listening for a couple of years now, and in my time listening, I got I struggled with addiction for a couple of years. I'm a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, and I wanted to see if I can kind of share my struggles and share my story with you and ponder with you on some things and how far I've came, because I kind of came from some dark areas in my life as of very recently, and I went to rehab eight months ago and things have changed.
I'll let you have the floor. Man, it sounds like you have a particular arc you want to share.
Yeah, So, I mean sorry, I'm headed to the break room. My boss was giving me the green light there. But so when I was I grew up and I kind of troubled home. Both of my parents are drug addicts. Their primary drug of choice is meth, and uh, I grew up in a pretty abusive home and I didn't realize how much that kind of fucked with me, you know,
until I got a bit older. When I was in treatment, I actually got diagnosed with PTSD, which shook me up quite a bit when I was in there, because I mean, there's definitely a stigma around that that I thought of that. I mean, you know, I didn't. I didn't think of voibeling myself that way. And as I sorry, man, I'm just a little nervous.
You're doing You're doing fine.
Man.
As I got older, I think I was twelve when I had my first drink, and I got really wrapped up in the crowd was like skateboarding, and the exposed me to a lot of other things. Stuff started escalating, and for a while it was just alcohol and cannabis and weed actually was my primary drug a choice. I was finishing a teach see cartridge within a few hours. I could finish two a day by the time I was like sixteen, and that started creating some pretty scary
health issues in my life. Even at that age, my time perception and like my thought processes started changing.
It felt like.
It was pretty extreme, Like my IQ had a significant drop after Like some vendors you were, you.
Were ripping an entire cart a.
Day, Yeah, yeah, sometimes sometimes two. Once I got a little bit, you have.
To how much do you have to smoke to rip an entire cart a day?
It was, I mean I would just go until I passed out. There's a certain point I would get to where like I just wouldn't feel any any more high, I guess, but it was like it it was pretty bad, man.
I mean I got myself when you're sixteen.
I'm nineteen now, oh you're.
Nineteen that well okay, yeah yeah, so this is when you were sixteen.
Yeah yeah.
And then uh, I mean it just kept getting worse.
Man.
I started going to trap houses and got wrapped up in a party crowd. And I would go to raise and so I started getting wrapped up in harder drugs, and I was I got wrapped up felling drugs and making money that way. And I was constantly driving around drunk or high. And my dad started catching on like I would. I shared a room with my younger brother and he saw me passed out all the time, you know.
And I stopped showing up to school because this was my senior year that I'm talking about now, before I graduated. That's when it was probably at its worse, and I was just I did not really care for my life anymore. I was just kind of throwing things away. And it got to a point where I brought myself. I was getting so fucked up that every after every bender, there was like a very very noticeable, like cognitive decline, and
I started getting pretty pretty extreme withdrawal. I would wake up thrown up every morning and they're I mean, I'd.
Just fucking horrible.
It was.
I'd wake up shitting myself and like, there's it's shit. I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Really, Like it's it's a really scary point to be in where instead of just like getting high, it's getting yourself normal. You know, just to be able to function, you gotta put some chemicals in your body.
It's like it's a scary place to be.
And at a certain point I ran out of money and I was just about to graduate.
This was.
Just in June, and I I couldn't finish a sentence. It was just like I knew at that point I wasn't gonna be able to finish school. My grades were still fine, my attendance was bad, but I was able to I had a pretty solid GPA. It was like three point five. I just got my schoolwork in and I knew I was going to make a past finals.
And there was some other things that were going on were really fucking with me and the withdrawals and everything, and I was I was at the point where I was so fed up with myself and some other shit I was dealing with at the time, along with addiction, that it was either going to be I get sober or you know, I kicked the bucket, and then I with having that thought like that I was planning on killing myself.
I was just.
I knew I had to talk to somebody. So I'm very very fortunate that my grandparents. I mean, my parents are not really somebody I would want to go to because they're not really they're they're not very functional people. But I got them to send me to rehab about eight months ago. I went through. I went through treatment, and honestly, it was it was definitely the best decision
I've ever made. I've made some of I mean, there's there's a lot of hard things that happened in there, but some of the best memories I've had were in there. I was eighteen then, and they put me in leadership towards the end of I stayed there, so the last two weeks, I was running all the meetings like an a meetings, get up in the morning and do the little morning routines, get everybody ready and do the AA readings and whatnot. Yeah, I graduated rehab and got back
to work. I got really lucky. My my boss sent me to school to go to CDL.
Did that.
Now I have a damn good job security. Now I'm living out on my own with my roommate. It's one of my best friends, Jamie. He's helped me a lot through a lot of things too. And yeah, man, I now at the point I am in my life. It's probably the most fulfilling I've ever had it be. And it's I was doing kind of a quick summary. There's a lot more I can talk about, but that I think that's kind of where I can let you put in some input if you want to go any further into anything.
My man, goddamn, So you're nineteen, yeah man, And so you're you're sober now?
Yeah?
Yeah, eight months cool.
Very cool. Congratulations man, Congratulations, you're a you're a hardened You're you're a you're a real hardened veteran of this crazy world we live in.
Yeah, man, I could tell you some stories that I'm sure I grew up. My parents were. My mom had some mental health issues that I kind of had to step up while growing up, and I did a good part of reasing my little brothers seven years younger than me. So I matured a lot in that.
Yeah yeah, so yeah, I mean I got a lot of things. So you got a CDL. Can you say what that stands for?
A commercial driver's license?
Though?
I got a Class B. So I drive a rollback truck. I uh, it's it's kind of like a tot I think it is a tow truck. But I deliver excavation equipment, like for construction excavators, telehandler's worklifts, et cetera. It's a fun job. I actually I really enjoy it. In the future, I have aspirations of giving a firefighter eventually, but I gotta I gotta fulfill three years here. They paid for my school and everything, so m hm.
And what's your relationship like with your grandparents?
Very good, especially since I got sober before I went to treatment. They, I mean, they knew I was struggling. I think they thought it was more mental health stuff along with other things, because they knew how crazy my mom was. They she's done a number on sucking up a lot of my family's lives and she abandoned me and my brother when we were a lot younger, so I got closer to them then, and so towards the end of my reign in the aiction, they saw me
more and more fucked up. And I think that they my dad when he was fourteen, he started using maths, so they've been through it before. But I think they were kind of wanting I was still living with my dad at the time. They were still wanting my dad to kind of be able to handle things or let him do things because he's sober off of myth. Now he's an alcoholic but functioning, So they they trusted him
to do what he wanted to do with it. They wanted to allow him to keep his boundaries and let him parent me, but he just kind of I mean, I was, I was out of control. So eventually I had to I mean, that's really what it takes to get so over. You got to really fucking want it, man, no matter what anybody tells you, it's just denial and destruction. H Do you do you have friends acquaintances?
I have?
I have, I have a couple close friends.
Yeah. And where are they from? Like not like like where are they from? In your life.
So Jamie my roommate. I met him when I started working at the place I'm at now. I've actually been working with this rental company for coming on four years. But I mean it was when I was in high school and then when I they took me back after I got back from treatment. So I've known him for about four years now. And then I have my buddy Leonard very close with him. He's he's kind of always been by my side through a lot. I always have him to talk to. He's I got close with him.
I did powerlifting in high school. I've always been really into well. When I was in middle school, I was I was obese, and uh, I lost a ship ton of weight. I got, I mean pretty underweight. I developed an eating disorder and then I from there eventually tried to work on it. There's a lot of struggles with that, but I got really into fitness. And he's kind of the Jim Bro.
Cool Yeah you need that. This is like getting Yeah, doing all that ship alone is just sucks compared to I mean, it's it is what it is. I'm not gonna say it sucks, but doing all that ship with a bro is uh, you know, is a lead. It makes it so much better to have someone else trying to, you know, be on the same journey as you.
It is yeah, yeah, I mean I go to I go to meetings and stuff I don't I don't do a regularly. I go to a place called I'm not I don't think this is gonna be docs in myself. It's it's in Washington. It's called the Recovery Cafe. I don't know if they have, I say've expanded outside of Washington, but it's a city funded area where we all just go and do our shares and it's a good community there. Do that once a week and then that's kind of
the main meeting I go to for now. That's a good place for keeping in my recovery.
How's how's your sort of relationship with your health now? Because it sounds like you like kind of did a lot of flip flopping and had it kind of on a roller coaster vibe. How is it now?
I have been fucking locked in with I mean, I'm losing I'm losing weight right now. I got I put on a good amount of weight when I got first got sober. I mean in the last two months, I'm down thirty pounds and I've been really working on getting my lists up and sweet. I've been eating clean. Man, this is the cleanness I've ever eaten in my life. I'm actually pretty proud of myself.
What's a clean eating day look like for you?
I kinda, I mean I eat the same things every day. Really, I likely eat chicken and fish and freak yogurt and rice and rice cakes. That's usually That's usually my my daily feed.
And do you have friends where you work?
Oh?
Yeah, yeah, I was just I mean my coworker, Quileab I was talking to while I was trying to get on get on with you, right. I got a lot of good guys here. I like all of them.
That's that's the one of the most important things in life. I'm I'm sorry to hear that. Uh, things are a little crazy with your parents, but it sounds like you do have a good community of other people to interface with on a day to day basis. So I'm glad to hear that.
You ran.
You ran through it a little bit like finishing school and whatnot. What are you what are your aspirations for the future.
I'd want to stay sober for the rest of my life. I mean, I'm kind of still trying to figure that out. Man. I do the things I like to do, and I kind of just let things go as I think they should as long as I stay doing the right thing. I just try to keep myself occupied and not fucking just dopamine max if you will.
Try to.
I don't know, man, I, like I said, I have I eventually want to become firefighter one day, but that could change. I'd like to get super jacked and ripped one day, which I am in the progress of doing, in the process of doing. And shit, I don't know. I mean, I have a family one day. I don't know.
All good stuff, all good stuff. That's a lot. That's honestly, that's a full plate of aspirations. Considering where you're at. That's pretty good man. Mmm, so so you you not only correct me if I heard this wrong, but you not only attend the meetings, you help run them.
I did when I was in rehab. They I mean, when I was in there, I was kind of one of the more responsible people, if you will. There's there's a pretty crazy, crazy jumble of guys and girls that they put in there. But when I was in there too. There was some like fuck up they had where they weren't This place I went to was for profit. It
wasn't a nonprofit. I don't know if rehabs are always like that, but they weren't getting revenue for about like six months before I got in there, and they had just found that out right when I got admitted to getting in there. So they started letting people in and it was pretty overfilled. So there's a lot of shit that was going on that was going under the radar that shouldn't have been happening. But that honestly made it
for a pretty fun experience in some regards. Some regard it made it a little scary, which I'm sure you can understand why. I mean, now, I just I just go and listen and talk and do that for an hour once a week, and then I go home and ponder on my life.
So what is home like? Not the location, but are you dealer alone? Do you live with grandparents? Your roommates?
So I have an apartment. It's a one bedroom apartment that I have with a roommate. I just live in the living room and we actually we just started. We have we have a good amount of space in there and we made it work pretty well. We got a storage container to put a bunch of shit in because it was getting kind of difficult with all the stuff that we have and what we're trying to do now. But we just started a like retro gaming collection me and my roommate that we're putting together.
Dude, forget about dude, forget about all the rehab and drug stuff you buried the lead. This is what I want to talk about for the next entire duration of this podcast. No, that's fucking awesome, dude, what what?
Uh?
What? What kind of retro games? Are you a Nintendo guy?
So I am?
I am a Nintender guy. We don't have any the fucking retro and Nintendo consoles. The games are expensive as fuck, man, They're like all the games I want majorities of mask It's like one hundred and fifty. I mean I've spent I spent a good money amount of money on some of these, Like I have a we have a PlayStation one. That's the collection I'm only working on right now. Probably the coolest thing I have on that. I don't know if you're familiar with Salmon Hill, but that that's pretty rare.
The one that I have. I bought it for I think it was around two fifty and if I were to resell it it goes around, I could get I could make some good money off of it. I'm never selling any of this ship, dude. It's priceless to me.
Yeah, fucking I'm not a I'm not a big PlayStation guy, but uh so I don't know, Summitt Hill, but I'm a big Nintendo dude.
What's your uh, what's your favorite Nintendo game of all time? Out of any out of any era?
Super Smash Brothers Melee for the Nintendo GameCube? Easy call?
That makes sense from what you used to compete, right.
Yeah, yeah, I still I haven't. I haven't played in like a tournament in a long time, but I still I have like a deep love for that game and that uh tournament community. But wait, what year were you born?
Two thousand and six?
Two thousand and six, So your first console, well, you were born right around the time the Wei came out, and then you had to you had to develop a little bit as a human being before you could hold a thing. What was so, what was the first video game console you played?
The the Wi?
That was?
That was I had we sports Twilight Princess.
All of them, dude. I mean I was I was really young when I played Twilet Princess. But I think my favorite favorite games on the Wii was Super Mario Yalax two. Yeah and yeah, I got to replay Twilight Princess. I've revisited all the big Zelda titles, all the big Mario titles. I'm a huge as all the fan there's I got to get started on a Nintendo collection, dude. That's it's just expensive.
I yeah, yeah, Nintenda shit is expensive. I've been ripping it on the switch. They re really I don't know if this is interesting to anyone at all, but I'm still going to talk about it. They re released Mario Galaxy one and two on the switch, so I've just
been ripping them on the subway. It's so awesome. Uh yeah, dude, I like, I don't know, I don't know if I've talked about this before, but like I'm at a point in life right now where, fuck man, like the whole thing of like discovering your inner like not discovering like like being in contact with your inner child. Dude, all the shit in the universe. I mean I like life.
I'm actually feeling like pretty good and gentle man. I have problems like everyone else does, but like I'm not you know, in uh some crazy existential depression modes that I've been in the past. Life's pretty good. But still but still, I have a thing where just when I see Mario, I'm just like, I feel so safe. I just feel so safe when I look at his face. He's just it's just the most pure I remember being like it just brings me back to being a kid.
And you don't, you don't know all the crazy things you know, And I'm I'm I'm happy to I don't. You don't you don't want to stay that way. You I think it's good to know all the crazy things. But you just when Mario's around and you're jumping through colorful lands, I'm just like, fuck, man, this is forget about anything else, you know what I mean?
For real, dude, he's a beautiful man.
He's a beautiful man. He's really he's a he's a real hero. What's your favorite video game of all time?
The legend is Elda Majora's Mask never played the made In my opinion, you have to, dude, it's a fucking incredible, incredible game.
So you have one roommate, yes, sir, And how do you know him? Again?
Through work? He kind of got me my job actually is through I met him through his brother because we were friends in school, and then he his brother told me to get him my job I have now, And then that worked out very well because it supports my life and I could go to the gym and eat a lot of food and live and buy video games.
Cool.
Man, I'm glad you didn't kill yourself. Man, You've got a good life.
I am.
I think myself every day for the path I'm on now because it's it's incredible. Man. It's it's scary where I have brought myself, and it's scary where a lot of people can just go wrong and things can kind of get disastrous. I am very grateful for the life I have today.
Well yeah, man, I mean shit, you're your folks uh being addicts like is uh that's a tough thing. It's like, uh, it's like a handicap on life. You know who so much? Dude, It's you know, it's crazy as I'm always thinking about this shit about like uh I think, dude, I'm very this is like a whole uh determinism versus agency thing.
It's always better, it's always better to believe in agency, right, But even agency that you could go and there's a there's like an infinite mirror thing where you're like, well, how much of agency is deterministic? Blah blah blah. But it is interesting how much of your life is influenced by where you are born and who you are born to, and yet people are able to make it so far
in their own direction regardless of those things. I always find that very amazing because it's so impactful who you're born to and where you where you're born.
You know.
So yeah, so I I continue from making your own path in life. I think you're doing great.
Thank you.
Yeah, there was there was a lot of troubles that happened.
Man.
I mean my mom, she she, I mean my dad. I'm very grateful for him because he was still able to take care for me, care of me. But my mom growing up, she was just like a fucking villain.
Man.
She stole my first couple of paychecks. She like, it was very I mean just very abusive and growing up and then now now now ever, since I got into treatment, I have blocked a number. I mean, she's homeless now and it's a lot harder for her to get to me. But when she still had a car and like I was able to get to places, it was just she was everything behind her path would fucking fall apart.
Man.
It was a are grown up with that, And now that I'm kind of free of that and addiction, it's been able to allow myself to grow so much and to build the path where I really feel fulfilled and kind of that same thing. It's just that you were saying earlier, it's I'm happy that you are out of that, you know, depression and what was it?
How do you say? Existentialism?
Something like that, something like that, something like that.
Yeah, it's just being the best that you can be every day and showing up.
Man.
It's it's not fucking easy, but if you do it for long enough, even if you just pretend to it for a little bit, eventually it gets easier and things just start falling into the place that they should.
Let me ask you this, and I just to throw it out there before we go, because I'm invested in your story and I know that you're uh an evolving thing in process. But you know, I'm glad you told us your whole story is there, Like, m are you. Are you in any conflict right now moving forward that that you want to talk through or do you feel pretty confident about the uh road ahead and just where your brain is at.
I mean, there's some things here and there.
I tried. Uh, I had a little bit of trouble with.
Dating when I first got sober, which I don't know because that was the best idea to get into. But it seems like things are going all right right now. Like I kind of gave up on it because I wanted to go just all all into fitness and fully focused on that. And I did that for a while and then, uh, this this girl that I was talking to for a bit just hit me up recently and I never even really had done anything with her weoever, but I'm planning on seeing her this weekend, so we'll
see if that will happen. I mean, yeah, no, right now in my life, everything's going as it should.
There's no.
Nothing I can think about.
I don't see you having any problems with dating.
Man.
You gotta you have a very year I mean, uh, regardless of the tragic circumstances under which it was forged. You have a very mature demeanor. Thank you, and you know you're getting ripped, so you'll you'll be you'll be fine in that department. Zachary. You said your name is.
Yes, sir, you remembered it. That's that's awesome. MM.
Good for you, well, Zachary. This is a pleasure talking to you.
Man.
I appreciate you sharing your story. I'm I'm looking forward to see what you do in your life. I have a deep, deep respect for it, deep deep respect. I really mean this for anyone. I had this weird moment. I'll talk. I'll talk for a second. I had this yeah, like I said, like things are I'm feeling pretty chill.
I mean not everything's perfect, but like the I was just walking around today and I was like, oh shit, I like thought many times I was gonna like die and I didn't die and we're still just life kept going and so you know these goods to take a second to be like, okay, all right this you know things have been worse. So I commend you. I commend you for doing all that, and I appreciate you coming on here and talking about it. Giving other people some hope that they can continue to thrive.
For sure.
Thank you for giving me the chance. Man, I'm I'm sot fucking happy I got on here. I've been listening to you for many years.
Is there anything else you want to say to the folks of the computer before we go?
Don't drink and drive, don't get high and drives. It's not worth it. It's never worth it. Yeah, that's it. I love you, Lyle, Thank you, thank you for giving me this chance.
Wait real quick, what's the most valuable thing in your collection?
Uh?
Probably that? Probably that Sound Hill coffee. I got a figure for it. It looks so fucking badass.
Dude said, did you say Summit Hill Silent Hill?
It's oh?
I thought, Oh, I know fucking Silent Hill. I thought you said Summit Hill.
No, No, it's uh I really I really enjoy Sounding Hill.
Is that is that the Is it the pyramid? Like?
Wait?
I'm sorry, okay, okay, now that I know what it is? What what is it a video game? Is it a figure? What did you say it was?
So?
I got I have a figure of the super Sexy Nurse that's like covered in blood and it says welcome and welcome to Silent Hill. Find it.
I got it from ETS.
Some guy three D printed it for me and painted it looks great and I.
Got Silent Hill blood is it? Wait? Hold? Oh oh? This is the sexy nurse with the crazy that looks like she has no she has no uh face?
Yes?
Yeah, yeah, I think we're called bubbleheads. I think I think her head popped or something. The pyramid head dude, he's from Silent Hill two. It's a great game. Yeah, and then Silent Hill won. Yeah. I don't I don't want to give too much away if anybody hasn't played it.
Well, all right, Well, thank you Zachary. Good luck to you, brother, and I appreciate you calling.
Man.
I hope you have a good rest of the day.
You too, Man, you too, Thank you very much.
See Zachary deus that gut rocks think got rocks. Good dude, Jesus christ Man. I I dude, that's crazy. That guy's nineteen. You could tell that all that shit aged him up like fucking ten years. Dude. Respect, mad respect, mad fucking respect. Also is interest like is I love? I love? Like you know, younger generation getting into retro video games and ship like it just always keeps that stuff is timeless. I could I I spared you guys, but I could
have talked about retro video games. Uh with that guy for a full hour. Shout out Zachary, big respect? Hello, Hey, what's up man? What's your name?
Oh?
A J. I didn't think I was really gonna get home?
What's up, a brother? How are you doing? My friends?
I'm doing good? How about you? Man?
How am I doing? I'm doing all right. I'm in a room with no windows that I don't know if I'm allowed to be in. But that's that just happens to you sometimes in life. Sometimes you find yourself in a room with no windows in the script that you don't know if you're allowed to be in?
What room?
What room are you in?
A J? I'm in. I'm actually eating right now. I'm in my donner room. I guess you would call it the way my house is set up. It's kind of like the kitchen in the dining room is almost like in the same almost in the same spot. So yeah, I guess my dining.
Room Adrian did anything in particular? A J. Why say Adrian AJ? Sorry?
A J.
I think I think AJ is the name of one of Timmy Turner's friends, Chester and A J.
Yeah, hell yeah.
Are you named after that kid?
No, it's my nickname.
AJ. Is there a particular thing that you wanted to call in to talk about today?
You know, I just always because I've been I've been watching for like two and a half years now, and I always thought like it's crazy, because I always felt like when I would call, I would actually get on. But then like it happened, and now I'm here and I want to talk about like just life. You know what I'm saying. They do a lot of changes recently.
Well what kind of changes.
I actually just got out the military in March and from there ended up picking up to a whole new city and now I'm here and now I'm just trying to figure out like this whole new place I've never been in before, and now I'm betting ready to be a firefighter in a fire academy.
Get the fuck out of here. The guy we just talked to, the guy we just talked to before you, it's so funny. He said his goal is to be a firefighter, and now we're talking to a firefighter.
Well, I'm not actually a firefighter. I'm getting ready to go to a fire academy.
Guy, a gentleman becoming a firefighter. You're you're in the process of becoming a firefighter, right. Cool?
Cool?
Yeah, here, well let's get into a bunch of stuff. What what branch of the military were you in?
I was in an Air Force?
Cool? What did you do?
I did well, they called it a for a functional code was foury oh x one. But it's really just like I worked with insurance that I could do. Uh well, this is all medical, anything medical. So I work with experience, and then i'd be like check in at the front dance, like if you got to the hospital, if you have to check inn somewhere, like any type of clinic or anything like that. I'm a front desk person. I'm a front desk person.
So you were this was at a military health clinic.
Yeah, I was actually up in Alaska. I just came from Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska.
No ship.
Wait, what's it like in Anchorage, Alaska? Dude, I'm trying to go there. I'm actually I have I'm doing a show there in October.
Oh yeah, that's cool, man. I always wanted to catch a show, like when you went on tour but I never got around to like it's fit in the perfect timing of my schedule, you know what I mean.
M hm, So what's so what's it like an uh when you come to d oh Well.
I'm sorry, no, I was saying, I'm up in uh North Carolina now, so I haven't got a chance to look at your list yet. But when you come to North Carolina, I'm not trying to shoot that show.
I'll be in Charlotte. I don't know exactly when, but I will be in Charlotte this year.
Okay. Cool? Yeah, man, me and my husband we watch you We watch you man where we get done smoking and stuff.
Yeah, So what is the vibe in in Anchorage?
It's cool. I grew up in the city, like I'm from originally from the Church, Michigan. But it really forces you to be an outdoors person. Like when I was there, I wasn't used to doing like snowboarding or anything like that. It's not really a whole lot that's really going on in the city. Like I'm used to like going out, like going to clubs and things like that, and it's only like a few this meant to like two, but it's not a lot of options mm, but it's more so like out for an outdoorsy person.
Was your husband with you while you were there or were you guys a long distance?
Yeah? No, we met there.
We met there.
Oh no ship.
Yeah, we've been married for two years now. And we met in Alaska.
No ship. And he was he also in the military.
No, no, no, no, no, no. I met him Actually he was just living there. His dad was in the military and actually just got out, and so they were up there living there from where his dad had just got it out, and I ended up meeting him there. We met at the club.
Interesting, what like what how how did that encounter go?
Like?
What was the initiation?
We It was no, we just kind of like I was a little loose, you know, I was drinking at that point, and I assume he was too, and we just kind of made eye contact and then we ended up dancing together and stuff because I'm a big dancer. You know, when I get some tequila in my system that I can dance a little bit, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, So we just kind of started dancing together, and from that night we met, we just kind of
never stopped talking. And we had actually been together for that long before we got married.
How long were yougether for?
Like five and a half months?
Wow? What was it that made it so much like, oh shit, let's just let's get married.
So I was just leaving Texas like I had just came there from Texas because I was there doing my my tech school there, and we it was a big thing to talk about, like if I had to get stationed anywhere else, to go ahead and get him on my orders and stuff like that. And also it was just like a good time, like we weren't it was nothing. We were really waiting on per se and I just
always felt like he was my person. So I didn't really have the take when he actually asked me to marry him, which I never thought i'd have somebody like, you know, proposed to me, but it happened, and I made the decision to say yes. At the time, there were no it was nothing that was like telling me to say no at that point, so I just kind of like, you know, I went with it, and we've been together ever since. So mhm.
Hm hm.
Mm hmm. And so what where did you Where did you move to from Alaska? You said, moved to North Carolina.
I'm in a small.
North Carolina, North Carolina. And what are you doing in North Carolina?
I actually, when I got here, I was a manager at chick fil A.
All Right, the plot thickens, The plot thickens, dude. I just came up with ten more questions to ask.
You, because because because being because being the manager at Chick fil A is not like, at least from my perspective, it is not like you know, any old retail management job.
Because the Chick fil A, I I don't know how they do it, dude, I don't know how they fucking do it, but they manage to standard the Chick fil A experience across the nation. So you go into any like cause you know, like there's shitty Wendy's, right, and then there's good Wendy's, and there's shitty McDonald's. There's good McDonald's, but all chick fil as a. No, I've never been to a shitty chick fil A in my life and I've been to Why is that? Why have I never been to a shitty chick Fila?
Through that? Look? So, when I first started working there, they pretty much preached about quality. It's more so and if not even leaning towards more quality than anything goes. It's both they lean into quality and how fast you do it, so like they really like put it on you, especially for a manager. They put it on you to make sure that the quality of the food is always right and that we getting it out fast enough, because I bet you've never been out of Chick fil A for long either.
No, I don't know how they fucking do do do? Let me here's the real question is, like do they pay well? Like how do they get people to give a fuck? Because because like pretty okay, because I like, you know, you go into a Wendy's and it's like this person doesn't give a ship about anything. But then it's also like, well, why the hell would they you know mm hm, I mean like, yeah, what are they putting that sauce?
You know? I mean they pretty they paid pretty okay. I was making like because they don't Rocky because I stay in the city called Rocky Mount, and they don't really pay a whole lot here, so it's not really a lot of it's it's very cheap here, and so the pay at the Chick fil A was more so I think it was like I talked them up to nineteen fifteen, just because I had experience and stuff in the military, you know, leader and all that. But yeah,
I talked about the nineteen stafty. I don't I never really asked I mentioned anybody else is going to pay. But they take me a lot to give a fuck.
So pretty good, pretty good. I love it today. It's that's so fun. There's something funny to me about like, uh, like you're bringing your military experience to managing because that is really what it takes.
Yeah, honestly, because the way that it was like runs, it's like a fucking it reminds me so much to the military, Like you have to keep a clean shave, you have to like have your shirt took t if you work in the France, and it's all different types of stuff that relates to the military. Chick fil A, honestly, did.
You encounter more assholes? Uh, civilians or people working with you? Either one is to slump them all in. Did you encounter more assholes working in the military or at Chick fil a?
H that's a good I asked question. Uh, I say Chick fil A. My military experience wasn't great, but I definitely net more assholes at Chick fil A, especially like the people that they just bring in, you know what I'm saying, like to work. Like they're not really the smartest people, but I don't like they're they're they're fine, but some of them are just working. Did what about the uh?
Like, I feel like there's something about Chick fil A where like, uh, I sorry for Dick writing Chick fil A so much. It's just I'm just it's it's not even Dick writing. I'm just like genuinely amazed. Like it seems like it's the kind of place where like, uh, like people at Wendy's are going up to the cashier and like screaming at them and stuff. Do you do you? Chick fil A? Seems like you don't have a lot of angry, yelling customers. Is that wrong?
No, that's not wrong. I mean I've never really encountered a whole lot of like angry customers. But there are a lot of Karens that come.
To chicks Karen's what I Karen is what I mean? Okay, so I was wrong. Karen's what I'm referring to.
Yeah, yeah, there are a lot of Karens that come to here.
What is what are their main what are their main complaints?
What was that?
What was the nastiest Karen that you encountered?
So I worked in the back, I ran in the kitchen, m M. I didn't really like encounter a whole lot with the guests. So there wasn't really nothing too easy that I can really like pinpoint right now. But we have somebody come in here and not even a Karen, like we have the only or we work because I don't wait there anymore. And I and I start Fire Academy the day after tomorrow because it's snow here in
North Carolina. So but we're the only chicks fil a. So everybody from around the city comes here, no matter who for like who they are, and sometimes we get like just people that come in and they just like stay there, just to stay there, and they try to sell stuff in there, and then like they grab one of the managers from the back to be like, hey, I'm gonna easy to get out, and I've had to do that before.
But they try to have people come out here probably right.
Yeah, like some guy was trying to promote his car washing business, but I'm like right home, I'm not right home. But you can't do that in here.
Mm hmmm, did you get any like people making tiktoks in there and ship like that?
Our fucking are Unfortunately, we do somethings on our whoever controls our like page, you know the not entertainment but not promotional, but you know whatever, like make videos for the for the stuff like that. Yeah, so sometimes we do TikTok, but I never like mate anybody in or see anybody in there do TikTok. It's a lot of kids, they're coming there. It's a lot of like babies. I always hear a baby crying at chickil.
Me fuck another chick fil A thing because oh yeah, because I'll see uh dude, I'll see videos like that. Like I saw a video of a guy who brought a horse into Target. And I'm very conflicted about these videos because on one hand, I'm like, that's so undeniably funny to bring a horse in this funny. Some of those videos are not funny. Some of those videos are
just people. Some of those videos are just people going in and making a mess and being assholes, which and I mean bringing the horse in there, you are making a mess and being an asshole. But but there's you have to really put in a lot of effort to get that horse into target. So I'm not gonna say I respect the content necessarily, but it's but the content is undeniable. I can't be like, oh, that's you shouldn't
do that because it's just it's just an undeniable thing. Yeah, it's probably more work for the people working there, but it's it's just an undeniable thing. Bring on, you know, I get what I'm saying, Like, what do you think about that? What do you think about the horse and the target?
I feel like I don't know, man, I just I don't really like look at it on that whole deeper level like.
You do.
Okay, but no, no, no for real.
But I just I just kind of look at it and I don't know.
I mean, if you if you if you were okay, I'll ask you this and and then uh, I'll let you go a j If you were working in the back at the Chick fil A, right and someone came into the Chick fil A with a horse, would you be pissed off? Or would you be like this guy brought a horse into the Chick fil A? How would you feel?
I would be like, what the fuck. I mean, because like, what the fuck just brings a horse in the in the fucking Chick fil A. It was just I don't know. I wouldn't do anything about it. I wouldn't be mad about it. It would be funny as hell, and I'm sure they'll get a lot of use for it.
But did everyone everyone's search guy brings horse into Chick fil A and not everyone's he. Maybe he's he, maybe he maybe has done Chick fil A. His whole thing is bringing a horse to places he shouldn't do it.
Yeah, but I don't. I don't. I don't work at Chick fil A anymore.
I just actually I know you, I know you. I know you don't. I was just if you have having had the experience, where did you say you work now again?
I actually don't. So I just this whole time I've been in North Carolina, I've been working on getting like my benefits from the military because I ended up getting out like earlier than my contract. So I've been working on getting my benefits and I've just got one hundred percent disability. So I am I get paid like I don't have to work again if I don't want to. But I want to be a firefighter?
Cool? Are you going to be like a wait, so wait interesting? So are and I assume are you able to still like, how are you able to qualify for disability but also able to be a firefighter when you become a firefighter or you not? Are you no longer able to get their disability?
No? No, no, no no no. And I thought about that too, But they call it like permenading totaled or something like that where they can't they can't touch it at all. So but it doesn't prevent you from working either, like sometimes they put you on they put people on the disability where they can't like where they can't work, or they have to get it reviewed every like for after a certain amount of time. But I got the good one, So I'm good.
Sweet sweet mm hmm, hey ja, I hope you are successful. I hope everyone on the podcast today is is greatly successful in any and all fighter firefighter becoming endeavors.
I appreciate that and my birthdays just.
Pad oh shit, happy birthday, brother.
Appreciate it. It was on the twenty seven.
What'd you do for it? Anything fun? Uh?
Nothing too crazy? No, I just kind of went out to dinner you just went out to dinner and I had some tequila.
Not too bad, nothing to anything take much for me.
I'm sorry.
No, you go ahead.
No, I'm just saying it doesn't It doesn't take a whole lot for me to know I'm one of those people. It doesn't take a whole lot for me to have fun. I'm saying, like, it doesn't take a whole lot for me to be happy.
Did you get Did you get sucked up on your birthday?
I did.
He's saying it like it's an admission to something.
I did. No, I did. I did because I told myself I would stop drinking because I'm trying to, you know, be locked in for this whole process. But I ended up getting blasted on my birthday, and then I went out to dinner, and then I came home and went to sleep. You know, it was it was cool. It is.
It is pretty fun to get blasted.
Hell yeah, mhm.
Is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?
Uh? You can do anything you want if you want to do it.
Swag. Thank you.
I appreciate it talking to me.
Man, have a good rest of your day, dude.
Appreciate it Man, you too.
AJ Forever. That was aj Man. That's crazy. If you got two firefighter becoming people, that's what I call someone who wants to become a firefighter. Is a firefighter becoming person? Two firefighters, one podcast. I hope they both become successful, and I hope that they get to take a ride around in the truck because it looks fun and you can spray people with the hose. I don't think you can just spray whoever you want with the hose. I think you get fired. If you do that, you'd be
a fired firefighter. All right, Sorry, hello everyone, It's Lyle and this is a segment that I do on the podcast. It's called gek Mail and get this. It's when I read emails that people have wrote me to the email therapy Gecko mail at gmail dot com. We have a lot of emails, and I'm gonna read a couple of them just to sue this out as we end the program today, we're gonna read some emails. All right, this is from Tiffany subject line They're turning my workplace into
a casino. Hey, Gek, I hope this email finds you well and full of taco bell or something you enjoy. I work at a live entertainment venue full time in marketing, and I can honestly say I have my dream job. I've always wanted to work in live music slash entertainment, So when I got the opportunity three years ago, I was stoked and planning on staying here and climbing the ladder to be a general manager. One day, my dreams all came crash ushing down recently when the city that
this venue is in that owns the venue. Wait, the city that this venue is in and owns the venue. The city owns the venue. Hold on? Okay, whatever the city is in owns the venue is talking about getting rid of the music venue's entire campus and turning the complex into a casino. Okay, now I'm I don't I the idea of a city owning a music venue. Is that a thing? That's got to be a thing, right anyway? Yeah's that's a thing? Hold on? Is thatther thing? I'm
an idiot? Are there city owned music venues? Uh? Okay, yeah,
there's plenty, all right, there's several of them. There's cultural institutions. Okay, I'm assuming this is like a cultural institution or something like that they're turning the complex into a casino, which means I would no longer have this job and would potentially have to move and start over in a different music venue hours away, which would be tough because my entire life is here, my family, my serious boyfriend who can't move with me because of his job in this
small city that this music venue is in. The city has major money problems and is grasping its straws to recoup this money that was mismanaged years before. I love this city, but there are no opportunities for what I
want to do here. I'm pretty torn up about it since it was announced, and although it's something out of my control and not one hundred percent done yet, I can't help but worry and feel like what I do at my job now no longer has any impact, and finding an opportunity somewhere else is going to be extremely competitive.
Any advice, Tiffany, hm hmm. I wish I knew what city this was, but I'm just gonna assume it's like I'm just gonna say, if it's some city in buck asss Wyoming or something like that, no offense if you live in buck Ass, Wyoming is that a real city. No, it's not.
Hmm.
This is a tough one. I mean I think, first of all, as I would, I would figure out why you like this job that's going away. I'm sorry this job is going away. Why did you like it? Why do you like working in live music and entertainment? Why do you like working at this venue?
Like?
Really, if I were Tiffany, I would like a journal about the answers to those questions, because rarely is there just one thing that tickles our fancy. And if we and if there is just one thing in our brains that tickles our fancy, it tickles our fancy for certain reasons that could very well be applied to a different thing, should this thing no longer be a viable option for us?
And so if you are like, well, I like being in a working in a music venue because I like seeing a show get put together, or I like working in music because I like I fucking like music, or whatever it is, if you boil down the reasons why this job was important to you, I don't know what time you live in, and I don't know what opportunities are or are or aren't there. But if you reframe why you like this job, and then you ask yourself again, hey, are there any opportunities in this town that I might
be able to to to do. If the answer to that is still no, then I'm like, well, okay, what's the who's this boyfriend? What's his job? Is he so great? Who's your your family? Are they so awesome? You know? How old are you? Are you forty seven? And you really are like, I'm not going to fucking start over. I mean, you can you start over when you're forty seven? Who gives a shit? You can start over. You can do whatever, you can do whatever you want at any time, Tiffany,
you whatever you want at any time. So that's my pondering of this is, see if if there are any opportunities in your town, once you boil down the actual reasons why you like the job and and not needing those those inner kind of core desires to have such a rigid four And then also if your family is that great that you can't move, Nothing wrong with starting over, nothing wrong at all with starting over life. It's good when you start over, you know, life should be. It's
fun to live multiple lives. I think. Okay. This is from crash subject line porn parodies. Oh shit, this person's email, I don't want to fight out whatever. There's like numbers and whatever in it. But this person's email is a crash bandicouci, which they spelled it differently, so you're not gonna be able to end. There's numbers and letters and symbols and shit, but crash bandicoucci is a great email. Okay, Hey, Gag, I've been listening to your podcast since two thousand and
one and I love the show. I'm noticing an uptick and talk about porn parodies, and I was wondering if you've seen this one enjoy and there's a link. There's a link here to e Porner dot com. Should I click on it? Fuck it? Okay?
This is.
What is this? Princess Leah sucks a dick and then is fucked by a spaceman and then two brunettes have lesbian sex. Okay, Oh holy wait, this one's kind of cool. Oh shit, what the fuck they have? Great dude, Greedo is in this. He Greto is in this and he's just like a CGI Greedo. Well, does Greto have sex? No, Greedo gets shot? Yeah, okay, Grido got shot, So he's not having sex with anyone. But this is real, this is produced really well, what is it's called? If search
up Wicked Pictures porn parody? They have like actual CGI going on here, Wicked Pictures, Star Wars porn parody. You know what, I don't get what like, dude, I don't know about you guys, but like my like sex horny brain and my like sitting down to watch a movie brain are very different brains. I never understood what the appeal is of porn parodies, right, Like, it's like I
don't like. I guess they're supposed to be kind of funny, but like, my sex isn't like I don't know, like when you're and I'm not talking about like sex as a con sex as a concept is funny, but like when you're really into it, it's not like I don't feel like it's humorous. You know, it's like a very not humorous part of the brain. So why is there all these like sex parodies? I guess I get it if it's it's like okay, you like people have a crush on Princess Leia or Marge Simpson or whatever, and
they want to see her have sex. But a lot of these, a lot of these parodies seem like they're unnecessary. Okay, thanks for sharing that. Crash BANDICOOCI. Now crash BANDICOOCI. That is a porn parody that I would watch.
All right?
Uh okay, this is from Ken subject line come to the Nassau Reptile Expo. Yo, what the fuck? Hold on? Hello, Gek, my name is Kevin. We spoke a few months ago. I discovered there was a reptile expo going on in Nassau County on Long Island, not too far from New York City, and my friends and I are going to go hang out with reptile enthusiasts. I love reptiles, but I can't afford to own one since I'm still in school. So I'm getting a fix from this. I'm getting my
fix from this. You should totally pull up. It seems like a cool vibe. Tickets are six teen bucks. That's honest. Sixteen dollars is a great value ticket for anything, and you can get them here. Oh crap, all right, it's this weekend the Nasau Reptile Expo. I'm gonna be totally honest. I don't think I'm gonna go all the way to Nassau to attend this. It would be kind of cute to do a video. It would be cute to do a video there. It would be cute to do a reptile You know what it is is it would be
cute to do a video at a reptile expo. And I also, just as a human being, would enjoy going to a reptile expo. That sounds fun, But I such so little of my gecko existence is like, actually about geckos. That's all the way in Nassau on a Saturday. I don't want to.
I don't know.
Actually, I mean the days of the week. I guess, who gives a fuck? Hosted by Uncle Tony's Reptile Show. Let me read the schedule. What's on the schedule. Okay, wait a minute, wait wait wait, Okay, there's another. Okay, there's another rep Nasau Reptile Expo. They do it three times a year. Okay, I'll go to the next one, June thirteenth, twenty twenty six. I'll try to go to that one. There's no frequently asked questions. Let's see, Uh,
what the heck is a reptile expo? A reptile Expo is a one stop experience for anyone with an interest in reptiles, amphibians, plants, or invertebrates. It's an exciting experience for families and seasoned reptile hobbyists alike. Dude, this is the kind of shit where I wish I had a kid, because I was like, like, I would take I would take like a five year old to the Nasau Reptile Expo.
That's that sounds pretty awesome. Or I'd go myself. I don't know anyway, Thanks for sharing that, Ken, I appreciate you. I appreciate all of you guys. Thanks for listening to this podca Yes, thanks for uh, thanks for being a friend. Thanks for listening to the show. My name is Lyle I dressed. I dress up as a gecko and I talk to people on the phone about life and I make documentaries. I'm working on the Ukraine one. I think it should be done hopefully in the next month or so.
We shall see. I'm going on tour soon Therapy Gecko Tour at gmail dot com. Some of the dates have tickets available right now. Some I don't have the ticket links for just yet, but you can rs VP and I will text you when I do, and I will never text you ever again. I just for that one thing. I will not spam you or know you. I don't
do that. So yeah, go to therapy, Gecko tour dot com, eat a piece of salmon, try not to kill yourself, play a play a game on your phone, watch a YouTube video, rink a diet coke, and live your life. Try your best. Everything's gonna be fine, probably for someone at least. Ghak bless you guys, have a good day until next time goes on the line taking your phone calls.
Every night.
Deacon goes to Ye's teaching you aloud in the mind of your life, but he's not really an expert.