“I LEFT MY GF TO PLAY FORTNITE”

Oh my god, is this a Gek Logan twenty seven?

Male?

That's what you texted me. You said, what's up, Gek, I'm sitting on the toilet right now fighting for my life and would love to chat.

Yeah, no, dude, I.

Was fucking I was struggling, but I just got up. I'm gonna go get some water and rehydrate.

Okay. You also said I might lose my relationship over boulders Gate three. What's going on there?

Yeah?

Yeah, no, have you? Are you familiar with the game.

I'm not into like a high fantasy shit, but I know what it is.

Yeah, for sure.

Well it's like I didn't think I was, but I started playing it, and I have an extremely addictive personality and it is just completely taken over my life.

So how did you almost lose your relationship where you spending too much time on it and kind of neglecting it?

Oh?

I mean yeah, I mean I wouldn't. I may have been being a tad bit dramatic whenever I said that, but she was very upset that I would go on like a nice like eight hour bender and just absolutely lose myself.

But yes, it's it's it's absolutely incredible like I said, like, I'm not really that big into like the D and D stuff, but I was like, you know what, in one game of the year for a reason, so I might as well try it.

But it's it's nuts. I'm actually warming up. I'm sorry, go ahead, go ahead. Well, it's just saying like, I'm probably gonna warm up the PS five and see if I can get in a little success right now, because she's.

I was going to ask, what's it on? Because I had a Steam Deck and it broke and now I just have the little switch.

Oh that's killer. Well I mean, well I have a switch too, but I think it released PlayStation Xbox PC.

Ah fuck, I gotta get my stea. I went to one of those like repair shops to get the Steam deck fixed, and they told me it was going to cost four hundred bucks to fix it. And the fucking the damn thing cost four hundred bucks.

But oh yeah, but that that's not even worth it.

Yeah, maybe I'll send it back to Steam. Uh So, by the way, I'm familiar with the idea of a video game that's so good that it'll ruin your life because I played Red Dead Redemption last year, Like The Fall of last year, and I'm telling you the second one, yeah, red Redemption two. Anytime I was out of my house while I was playing that game, I was thinking about how I would so much rather be in my house

Yes, and I'm familiar with that. But also, did you go into Red Dead? I'm quite the Red Dead guy myself. I was extremely disappointed that they didn't put an undead nightmare in the second one.

Yeah.

Well that's because fucking rock Star is, like, hey, you know what would make a lot more money than creating compelling single player DLC is releasing fucking skins on whatever, all nine version of the game we have for ten years. But anyway, do you say that you would or you would include Bowlersgate three on the list of video games we're ruining your life for.

I would put it on that list, man, I really would.

All right, maybe I'll maybe instead of ever doing this podcast or going on tour or talking to anyone, all.

Well, yeah, I need you actually, have you ever I'm kind of new to your podcast that I'm absolutely like loving every second of it. Have you ever come to the Louisiana because that's where.

I'm at Louisiana. Where the hell is that? I actually that's why that's one of the states I don't think I've ever been to, whether either as a get go.

Yeah, the closest one. I think if I wanted to go see you live, I would have to go to Texas or go to Huntsville, Alabama.

Yeah.

I mean you can come to Huntsville, Alabama, dude, join Uh whatever, Okay, Well, I don't want to get off subject here. So how long you've been dating this girl that you're neglecting to play boulders Gate?

Uh?

Two years? Man? And I love her. I mean I truly see myself like being with her long term and even like getting married in the near future. And she's just not She's not a big gamer girl, and I just I don't I just don't know if she completely understands like how big like gaming is, and so she's like she she'll play like animal crossing on the switch, but that's like basically it for her. But like I go hard on the pain like I But yeah, no,

Man, how did you guys meet?

We actually met in grad school. We both work in the in the medical field. We actually both work in sports medicine, and we met. She was a year ahead of me. I thought she was cute. I was like, you know what, I might try dating a coworker. And two years later we moved away and we're living together and living life.

Manacon, So did she straight up tell you, hey, you got to stop playing so much? Like like, okay, well you said you you said you exaggerated it right when you told me that you almost ruined your relationship. Yeah, what happened? Tell me, like realistically what happened?

Well, I mean like she like she came home, she was like, hey, like we both had the afternoon off, like what to be doing. I'm like, dude, like, I'm elbow deep in a quest right now, I'm like exploring. I'm exploring and forrest with some elves here. And she was like, you're seriously not going to stop playing? I'm like, well, like I can't. Like I was in one of those things where you can't like I couldn't save at the time, and so if I would have quit, I would have

That's super funny. Okay, here's bro okay on a these days. Look these days, right, I mean, you're an adult. You have your own PC. It's not like, Okay, so back when you were a kid and you were playing on your PlayStation on the family TV, and like somebody else wanted to come use the TV and you were at a point where you had to so you had to quit. It was a little bit difficult because like you couldn't uh, I mean even then you could still leave it running, right,

Well I mean, well it's bad. But then also like my personal like things of that is like I'm not we're around the same age, I think, but like my first gaming thing was like the GameCube. Yeah, and like that was that wasn't it issue? But then when I started getting into like the PlayStations and the Xbox, is like I'd be playing like cod Zombies or something, I'd be playing online.

But okay, Ballerskates Balder Skates a single player.

Game, right, it is. But you can play online if you do so, choose you could, but like like you can run the you can do the campaign with other people online, you can, but it's mainly like geared towards single player.

So okay, so why didn't okay, but why don't you just fucking pause it and then come back?

Oh, because I one time I had when when I was actually playing my Xbox three sixty, I did that and it actually caught on fire. And so now I'm no longer too keen on leaving stuff on.

Okay, you your girlfriend came home, she said, we have the afternoon off. What are we going to do? You said, yeah, bitch, get out of here. I'm playing Bowler Skate three. She got, oh no, no, no, no.

I didn't say it in a rude way, but I was like, hey, like we can go do these things like once I finished this quest like.

Right right, no, no, no, that's that's not what right of course that's not what you said, but that is what she heard.

And then oh yeah, so she basically heard it as like, oh, like you love the game more than me.

I was like, yeah, so did you talk to her afterwards? Like did you ever resolve this? Oh?

Yeah, one hundred percent. So now basically I have to be really strategic because now, like I said, she's actually back home in Ohio visiting family for like the next two days. I'm just gonna order some pizzas, get some mountain dew, and just grind it out.

How would you feel if she left you? Would you be like, would would you be sad? Or would you be like more time to play boulders Gate three?

I mean the the initial answer would definitely be oh yeah, Boulder's Gate all the way. But then once I probably beat it, or once I actually like the reality sets in, I would be extremely distraught.

Yes, That's how these fucking things work, I think is like something bad happens and you're like, oh, great, if I'm finally free, you know, everything's gonna be awesome, and then you give it a little bit and then it sets in like oh, I'm gonna dialone this.

Oh yeah, but it's like to the point to where like I can't even imagine, like I can barely imagine like going through my daily routine without having her like, like, we're at that point.

It's cool, man, that's cool. Well all right, I mean if that's the case, then what did you do to resolve this? Like all right, all right? She comes now, she comes home and she says, hey, babe, we have the afternoon off. What are we going to do? What do you say? And you're in the middle of a quest.

I'm gonna say, Hey, I'm gonna put this controller down and we're gonna do whatever you want to do.

There you go, here's a guy who's not going to die alone.

Amen to that.

Brother, Well you're an inspiration. Do you have any advice for anyone else who's uh thinking about neglecting their social, financial, or otherwise obligations in favor of playing video games for eight hours?

It might sound good in the presence, but in the long haul it probably isn't. So just just budget your time, budget your money, and if you if you have someone that has a problem with it, new person. I mean that's pretty much it.

But well, all right, I'm going to look into it. Because again, I'm not into high fantasy ship. But people keep talking about Bowler's Gate three. Although I've made a mistake I've made a mistake of There's been a lot of critically acclaimed video games that I've sat down to play and been like and like this.

Well yeah, well that that See that's the way I saw it too. I'm not trying to keep you on, but that's the way I felt as well. But I remember like reading in this article, like one of my coworkers is a more of a gamer than me, and he said like, hey, this is like the first video game ever to win like every single major awards studios game.

Yeah, sure, sure, sure sure sure. You know what else what? Uh A few games the people have dick ridden that I'm not a big fan of. Uh Oh, I played this game recently. I just downloaded this game. It's called Hades. Hades Fuck was it? You know what I'm talking about. I did not like it at all. Okay, I thought it was repetitive. I thought the main character was kind of a douche. Yeah about it. On the switch, I thought I was repetitive. I thought the main character was

What are you? Are you looking?

Are you actually looking forward to an upcoming release?

Uh? I mean the biggest one that I'm really looking forward to is Grand Theft Auto six. But you know what, Grand Theft Ato six actually has been really helpful for me because I live my life in such a way that like, I really don't know what my life is. I don't know what my life is going to be A year from now. I don't know what my life is going to be like you know, two months from now,

Yeah, well, I mean I'm playing. I mean, let me see. I got my my s fives up. I got just to kind of fill that nostalgia thing in my head. I found an old copy of like Black Ops three for the zombies, but.

Let me Black Ops three, well yeah.

Just for just for the god zombies. That's pretty much all I use it for. Let me see what I have pulled up here and have cued. I've been playing a lot more of like those games that have like really good like storytellings. I've been playing like I played Red Dead two and then I'm playing the new God of Wars the Last of Us.

No, no, no, my my switch is my thing is broken. Man, I'm just playing on the switch. I'm probably gonna play the new the remastered paper Mario uh that I've heard.

Good things about that, And I don't know. How did you have a Wii in your youth?

Yeah, I played on the GameCube a while ago. That's kind of one of the reasons I don't want to play it is I've played it so many times.

But well, the switch the switch sports games are actually really fun.

Man, I really might just I really might just abandon my life and play video games. That actually sounds pretty cool. You've inspired me.

Well, I mean, I, like I said, I haven't abandoned my life. I mean that hasn't like effected like my work or anything. But if I'm not doing anything, I honestly feel like it's a hobby that a lot of people that may be a little bit older that don't have a hobby, they should really get into it, but they're just kind of too like what's the word that video games still have that stigma?

What's your name again, Logan? Logan? Logan? Is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go?

No, I hope you have a blast night and that one on the computer. Just keep gacking. That's all I got.

Later, on brother later on, Man, this is therapy Gecko for IGN reviews. That sends for Internet Gecking Network. And then I give that call an eight out of ten.

All from hey, my name's Florida, at least.

Except Press one.

Say hello, hey man, what's your name?

My name's Connor, but all my buddies call me Florida. It's just I'm from there, but I moved out of state, and yeah, it's just a nickname.

I go by Connor. What kind of phone are you on? You sound like you're on a megaphone.

It's a Pixel seven pro So I don understand why it sounds so bad.

So I got a I'll go ahead, you tell me what you got.

So I kind of just got out of a. It was a healthy relationship, but it was for an odd reason why I got out of it. Lately, like ever since they dropped it, I've been addicted way too much to Fortnite Festival. Like it's it's super unhealthy. I'm putting like like I work a full time job. I love my job. I spent a lot of time off the road, you know, going to work coming back home, like an hour each way.

It's ridiculous.

But like all My free time is strictly just Fortnight Festival. And I mean, like I've gotten good, I've gotten cracked at it?

Ine, what is okay? I know what Fortnite is. What's Fortnite Festival?

So you remember rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Dude, they made a musical instrument game. That's Fortnite, baby, dude.

It's it's fucking insane, I'm telling you, is it is insane?

Is it? Do they have like the fake plastic instruments.

They just introduced to guitar there's there's two versions and if you have the rock Band four or five I think controller, you can use it in the game. Right now. It's crazy.

So wait, is it a rhythm game? What is it?

Yeah?

Completely, so it's basically it's a Guitar Hero ripoff, but it's Fortnite, not.

Even no no, no, no no, So get this. The people that run Epic, I'm pretty sure that they got all your original development team of rock Band and hired them to Epic and said, y'all are gonna make rock Band, but put it in Fortnite because they got songs from rock Band and the chart, like the thing that you play on the instrument is directly taken from rock band.

Dude, what I've never ever heard of this.

It's crazy, I'm telling.

You, And this is what you're doing with your life every day.

I mean yeah, yeah, for the most part. Unfortunately, I've I mean I've never touched Fortnite before in my life at all. Okay, but the moment they dropped this, I do, I'm already like it's been I think it's been like six months they've had it out, and I'm already at three thousand hours. Man, all right, so much?

Well, well, well, I don't know. Man, I play a lot of video games too. I love video games. Do you have a problem with your Fortnite festival usage? Do you think it's too much?

I mean, that's what she said. But at the same time, like I you know, all day Saturday, I go out and do stuff with her, and it's like, you know, on my weekdays, that's the that's the time that I get to you know, chill, like I'm working, you know, nine hours maybe ten hours and an hour each way on the road, Like like what the fuck, let me do my thing. Whether you play my stupid little game on the computer, man, you know.

Yeah, you do? You shoot people? In Fortnite Festival.

No no, no, no, no, no, no no no.

It's just just clicking on the computer. It's just simple, dumb little songs. Man Like.

Isn't that what Fortnite's about, isn't it. It's like if they made like Guitar Hero Call of Duty or something like that. It's doesn't make sense.

Now, that'd be crazy.

So why, how in what way is it Fortnite? I thought, I've never played Fortnite, but it's isn't it about like shooting?

Nuh? It's so like the normal game. I think is I don't even play the normal game at all. I have no reason to. It just doesn't interest me. But I think it is. I just all I care about is playing little johnnyast sideboys get low on the dumb little keyboard. That's all I do.

Yeah, and your girlfriend told you that she has a problem with it. What did she say exactly?

Oh?

Ex dude, Ax.

She broke up over it. Dude. She was screaming at me and everything, And I'm like, what the fuck?

That was a little the.

Long relationship too, And I'm like, I'm trying to understand that I'm not the bad guy here. I'm like Hey again.

You know, this is super funny because last night I got a phone call from a guy and I'm actually, I'll probably gonna put these two in the same podcast. I got a phone call from a guy who his girlfriend told him that he was playing too much boulders Gate three and and he he I asked him. I was like, so, what did you do? And he said, I stopped playing. He basically said, he stopped playing as

Like That's how I'm feeling. Because again, you know, like I said, that's just my weekdays. I spend all day Saturday, or I used to spend all day Saturday with her, and it's like, all right, you want to go do something. Let's go for a drive, you know, Like I got a nice little newer car that I run around in, little manual, you know, stick shift car. I enjoyed. I have fun, go at the mountains, you know, go hike.

You know, like, what's your what's your name? Again?

So again i just go by Florida, Florida, that's my Yeah.

Are you afraid of dying alone?

No? No, God, No, No.

I am a man. I am a man of God. I'm chilling me and God are cool. The day I die, I'm gonna be like, I'm right up there with you, homie.

So, how long ago did you break up with your girlfriend over a fortnite festival?

This was like about a month and a half ago. I'm still just kind of pondering on before I get back on some dating apps and get back in its dating cool.

Interesting. See, It's so funny because and I've been talking about this a lot that, like, I feel like a lot of life is perspective, right because the guy beforehand, he told me, he was like, if my girlfriend left me, you know, I can't I couldn't imagine life without her, And so he just knew it was the right decision. But for you, you were like I can't imagine my life

I mean again, you know, like like I'm just some twenty five year old dude that's just enjoying life, you know, just chilling. I mean, I have a good job that pays me really well, and I mean, you know, I'm doing fine. It's just I won't lie. I've dumped a lot of money into songs on this gune because they're not geez.

How much you tell me how much money you've spent on Fortnite Festival?

I think over five hundred dollars.

Man, what's your favorite song? And Fortnite Festival?

Oh, one hundred percent of Little Johnny Sibelways get low and then second right onto that is it's lousy for techto tour life right there?

What else? So okay, so you used to spend saturdays driving your girlfriend around in your car. What do you do on saturdays?

Now?

What else is going on in your life?

I mean?

And now it's just you know, going hiking by myself and then whenever I'm you know, just home or whatnot. I pretty much kick back a couple of beers, maybe maybe open up a bottle of whiskey, and you know, get right back on the grind man. You know, I got to get a full complete on all the songs. I gotta get them perfect. It's it's a grind set.

What did you say you did for work?

So my job actually work in automotive industry. I paint cars.

Oh cool man?

Yeah?

How long you been doing that?

Uh for a minute. I've been doing it for about like maybe four or five years.

Are you Are you enjoying it?

Oh? Dude, I love it. I love it. It's great. I mean it's a pain in the ass because you get some crazy people coming in with stupid things. But yeah, I'm just like tell me, you know, you're just paying me to do that. I'm like, I'm gonna do my job.

You you say you you live in Florida, right? Is that why people call you Florida?

So I'm from Florida, but I no longer reside there. It's just like, you know my character and who I am. I'm very much Florida man energy. So yeah, people just run with thinks. The nickname Florida and I'm.

Like, all right, where where are you now?

Right now? I'm currently in New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Oh cool, man, I funck with Albuquerque. It's a nice place. It's got a very like old Western kind of energy.

Oh one percent, it does. But at the same time, it's it's a bit of a shit hold. Don't let anyone tell you any other way. But you know it works. It works.

So tell me who the craziest person you have encountered in your line of work is.

Oh, man, honestly, craziest wouldn't really do it, but more so craziest encounter. We were working on a vehicle that you know, got into an accident, and we were replacing some panels and whatnot. And as we were taking apart the panels, the previous people that worked on it just caked on all this you know, all this filler, bondo

You really do seem like a joyful man. That's why. That's why I'm go go ahead and go ahead.

I'm a very happy person. I don't really have much to complain about.

You do you sound like you? You sound like a very happy person. That's why I'm fascinated by you. I want to know more about you. I want to know more about why you're so happy.

I again, I mean that's something of where I got to give it all right back to my man JC up above, you know really, I mean, yeah, dude, yeah, yeah, I've been chill with him. I've been chill with him for a while. You know. Once I found my face, I I really haven't been able to look back. And I've just been happy since, you know, if I get mad, I give it all to God. And I'm like, all right, what have I got to do? When you told me? And I'm like, all right, got it.

That's kind of nice. That's kind of nice having a guy tell you what to do and being like, I mean, this guy's fucking God. Of course I'm gonna listen to this guy.

Yeah, what does he.

Tell you to do?

I mean, it's all dependent on what's happening at that moment. I mean, like with the recent breakup, it's a matter of it. You know, you're telling me, like you just need to move on, you need to let it go, and I'm like I have a hard time letting you go. But at the same time, I'm more so, what did I do wrong? Did I do anything wrong? Is it bad that I you know, prioritize it on the weekdays just because that's my you know, cool down from life

You know.

Okay, you're killing Yeah, no, sure, you're looking for sober party buddies.

Yeah. Yeah, it's like that's.

No more man, whatddy hold on? Hold on, hold on, I want to stop here with there. I am. I feel very confident that that exists in places that you could find really yeah where hold on? What makes you so sure that doesn't exist?

I mean a lot of techno events and like EDM festivals and whatnot. I see that stuff just flow around, and I'm like I have to kind of go in there, assuming that you know everyone.

I've there's I've I've talked to like plenty of people who are who are sober ravers. That is absolutely is absolutely you are not the There is definitely a sober raver archetype who's like just there for the scene and the music.

Dang. I mean, I guess we just I guess like this community or very small community just needs a way to get in touch with each other because it's it's crazy, man, Like it's such a small world and it's so hard to find anything.

Do you go to Do you go to church?

Of course? Of course?

Tell me about church. Do you have a lot of friends in the in the church? I?

Yes? And no. I mean so like like I said, I'm from Florida, all right, and like the part that I'm from Florida AD is like super super super deep in religion, you know, in Christianity, and where I moved to like out out here in Albuquerque there just really isn't like I've jumped around here trying to find something that's you know, the similar kind of vibe and nothing's really been able to match it. So I mean I'm

Mm hmmm. When did you first like get into into God. Was it something that was like part of your life for your whole life or did you kind of get into it later?

So something that like born and raised, you know, this part of Florida, and then I left and moved, you know, to a different state and then came back to Florida. And my someone I now see as a very close friend, someone I borderline called family. Uh, he's the one that brought me to faith. And that was like when I was maybe rick twenty. So yeah, yeah, it's not necessarily been recent, but you know, as like actual I guess you'd say story arc wise like self story arc wise.

Cool man. As far as finding friends, I mean, I always dude, like, bro, just gone. If if you don't see that community already existing, you can just go create it, man. Go on Instagram, go on Facebook, go on TikTok, be like, hey, I'm looking for other people who enjoy going to raves and being sober and people one hundred percent, people will, people will will join Dude. There's all these websites, there's meet up fucking Facebook groups, there's you just have to

Yeah, I mean that's definitely a solid idea. I for a minute I was living out in Phoenix. That was just like I said, that was a short minute, and I you know, found some people out there that I clicked with, you know, that seemed to be really cool. And next thing, you know, I found out that they didn't necessarily like some things and did some other things, and I was like, yeah, no, I need to separate

So well, hey, you said you're gonna get back on.

The apps, right, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, have you.

Have you ever actually done Christian Mingle because everyone like makes jokes about Christian mingle, but I've never talked to anyone who's actually been on that.

So that's for as much as I hate saying it, that how I feel that's more for the older demographics. And I'm not talking like, you know, millennials. I'm talking more like, you know, a little bit older, maybe someone in there, you know, mid thirties, which I understand is still millennial, but someone in their mid thirties or later.

Can can I hear some of the interactions that you had on there that you felt fed into that idea that that people were judgmental?

So like again, you know that that's that's funny enough. That's how I actually met my ex, and you know, right off of the bat we clicked it really really well. You know, she was someone that was willing to go to you know, those kind of raves and whatnot, and we would go do that. That was a Saturday thing as well. But then it's like, oh hey again, apparently that's the toxic trait of saying I just want to play, you know, a game with the boys. You know, got

You know, that's not me.

I don't wear Target clothes. That shit's not comfortable.

Mm hmmm hm. Upwards, what's the craziest message you've gotten on Upwards? Because I I do wonder because I guess like a hinge and tender and stuff. There's there's crazy stuff, but I do kind of want to run on upwards, go ahead.

Some of them are fair, like I mean, like really feral. It's uh, you'd think that with them being Christians, that they're on, you know, a nicer side of you know, not necessarily celibacy, but being tame. I guess can say, like in a more self desire kind of way. Nah, there are some of them that just they just want another guy and they want kids right out the bat. And I just look at them. I'm like, hey, no.

No, that is not.

So.

When you say feral, you don't mean like trying to have like a bunch of casual sex like they're they're they're like feral in the way of like put a baby in me right now, Let's have tons and tons of sex specifically for procreation, as God would intend.

Absolutely, It's uh, it's it's a bit terrible fine.

Has anyone ever like first line out of the gate, like first message to you, Hey, would you like to have sex and have a child?

Not right out the bat? No that nah, that hasn't happened yet. And I'm zigful. It hasn't, but definitely on a first date some of them have, you know, said that they want to be married and potentially I have a kid within like the next two months.

That's a very interesting it's a very interesting specific kind of horny where you're specifically so horny for the purposes of breeding a child. That's very different from the tender horny, but still a different a variation of horny.

Yeah, yeah, at one hundred percent is I mean, I've tried to be on Tender and Bumble and I mean, out of all the crowds on dating apps that seem the most tame, I'm gonna say it's probably the Bumble crowd because at least there, you know, you can see, oh, are they there just for a hookup? Or are there for there for a potential you know, long run or what's happening?

So are you are you?

Are you?

Are you celibate?

Uh? No, no, no.

That's.

But you don't cut.

Oh I have I already have a bunch of times on this.

I mean you I heard I you know what, You're right? You did let a few fricks slip out.

The fricks. No, I've said ship and fuck a couple of times, I'm not afraid to slayer.

Yeah no, maybe you did. Maybe you did. I wouldn't say I'm not afraid to slur, but no, you did. You let a few uh a few rip.

I I understand how you know, you have a you have a face and a business. You need to you know, keep straight. So I understand your side of it.

I mean, what's your dream in life?

Man?

Did we talk about that already? Uh?

No? My dream is I really have a passion for just old cars, and like not so much American cars. I worked on those before, but more so just old foreign cars from anywhere, and I just want to be able to like rebuild them and restore them all while having my own plot of land and you know, just have like a you know, little farmhouse with a shop, and you know, just do my thing, make what I want to make, and then sell it. I mean, it's

Sounds like you got you got the business all in your brain, sir.

Yeah. Yeah, it's just it's not cheap.

It is not a cheap, cheap endeavor.

Maybe you need to do some kind of Christian GoFundMe.

Ah nah nah, no, shot, that wouldn't work, not a million years.

Uh. Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida. Well, Florida. This was a good I enjoyed having this, this conversation. Uh, it is very funny the contrast between all right, your call and the previous call. But yet you you both seem very happy with your lives, and I think that that's uh, it's pretty cool.

Yeah, man, I I do appreciate you hearing me out. You know, I didn't realize, but getting another I guess to say aspect on this subject.

Is there anything else you want to say to the people of the computer before we go Florida?

Can I say something about side chat?

About side chat like the twitch chat? Yeah, sure, sure, sure. I'm gonna just give some weight before you say anything. I'm gonna give some context because a lot of people are listening to this on the audio version, and I think I don't know if they have ever thought about where these calls come from. But I stream on Twitch. If you've never, if you've just listened to this on the podcast, I stream on Twitch kind of. I used to do it on a schedule. Now I just kind

I just gotta say that like a lot of people there actually know what's really going on. I mean, some of them under Dan. I saw a couple of guys talk about rave, a raving environment being a little toxic, and it's definitely true. And you know, someone was trying to compare Christian being Christian and being a Catholic, and you know, Christians stay on top. Man, We're just built different, you know, that's all. You know. I gotta gotta give it all up to g man up there. You know.

That's cool. I thought you were gonna when you said, can I say something about the side chat? I thought you were gonna say there were all a bunch of bastards. So I'm glad I some are.

But you know what, this is the tamous side st I've ever seen on a twitch.

I'm happy to hear that, man, I'm happy to hear that. Well, God bless you, sir, have a the rest of the night. Hey, then I'm going I'm gonna try to visit. Uh. I wish synagogue was was cool like churches. Well they don't. We don't know. We sing, we sing a little bit.

I mean it's honestly, ma'am. Like like I've studied and you know, all the Abrahamic religions, just you know, out of boredom trying to understand it. And I have so much respect for you know, Jewish people, man, I really do. Like it's there's a lot, a lot of respect to be had there in every way.

Hey, lie am to you, sir, have a good rest of the night.

Hey may you as well.

But Florida, Florida, Florida. A man so of the state that he has decided to adopt it as his moniker. What is your name, sir?

My name is Ron.

Ron. How's life It's going pretty good?

Man?

Just living life? Just h yeah, do you want me to like tell you what I told you over text or yeah. So I got put into foster care when I was ten, and basically what happened was I got taken from my dad when I was younger, and I got put into foster care, and I had this opportunity to get like a make a Wish And it's kind of funny. It was like all these kids who got taken away in all these bad situations, and you know, these people come over and they're like, hey, what do

They must have been, honestly, like I gotta imagine the Make a Wish people when they get something easy, are pretty stoked, you know. No, so like you did them a favor by asking for colored pencils instead of being like, oh fuck, now we got because you know, it's way easier to get colored pencils than to get like John Cena on the phone.

No no, so no so so it was really funny. So they're like, okay, coloring pencils, right, and I'm and they're like, okay, we're gonna get you some coloring pencils. So, like, you know, like a month goes by and these people pick me up and they bring me to this like convention center and it's all these kids who are going through foster care kind of like going through a bad

For, you know, honestly, bro honestly, even an Xbox. It's like if they like, how old were you ten?

Yeah?

I was ten at the time.

They asked to literally, I mean to promise a kid literally anything. There's no way that's a dangerous thing to say literally anything, because what if they want something crazy? What if they what if you had said I want a ten million dollars cash and they say, well we can't do that, you could be like you was fucking said literally anything, Like don't say literally do they even I actually I'm very curious about how this process works.

Well, I'm not really sure, but like when I when I should so, like I said, there was like this convention center. There's like maybe fifty kids there that are kind of like going through a bad situation, maybe like not the greatest situation. They're either the parents did or like like yeah, just not a great situation. And I mean,

What did you do with the coloring pencils?

I think I bought some some coloring sheets and I did some some coloring sheets. I think they were like bugs life at the time.

Maybe oh man, yeah, you could have been partying with hookers and your coloring.

And I was coloring books at ten years old. Yeah, it was pretty pretty rough. But I'm just like, I don't know, if I had opportunity to go back, what would I ask for?

But that's a good question. That's a good question. What would you ask for if you had the opportunity to go back.

I don't know, probably Xbox or something cooler than coloring pencils. Like you said, maybe ask for an ungodly amount of money.

But so how old are you now?

I'm twenty three.

And how's your life going after being out of the out of the foster care system?

Now, I would say it's pretty complicated, man, Like, so like I got taken away at ten, I think, And it's sad because I think a lot of kids go through this, Like I think like living like this, you see, like the world, at least the United States, a lot of kids are put through that. But I was luckily adopted when I was eleven, and uh, and I got into a good situation and it was pretty nice, like getting out of fastic care because you see all the kids that didn't and I had like a pretty good

Tell me about your stable life. Do you have a Do you have a job.

Yeah, so right now I'm doing plumbing and I've been doing it for like two years.

So yeah, your friends, Yeah, no, I've got a pretty good social circle, like just like three or four good friends that I chill with, and yeah, I mean like I feel like they're a good support system because like most people in my life, you know, not really used to chaos life.

You know, kids have gone through foster care. I think they need a lot of a lot of support and a lot of different helps and so like having your good community has helped me out, like I don't know, stay balanced and.

Are you still cool with anyone in your family?

That's funny that you ask about that. So like my family, Like I don't really talk to my family a whole lot, but recently I talked to my mom, who I hadn't talked to for thirteen years. I recently called her and when visitor, she was like a few times away, and it was a it was an interesting experience. It's kind of like, I don't know, you lose touch with those people and they're like, you know, you grow up and you have these memories of who they are and now

Way is your mom different from when you knew her.

It's like you grow up looking up to your parents and like they like at least this was for me. This was for me. You look up to them and they're like these like amazing people and everything that they did in your life was like the right thing, right. But for me, like after I got adopted, it is like revealed, like you know, she's doing all these like things that like maybe a good parent wouldn't be doing, and you start like unveiling that in and you start

And so what her today? How do you view her? Like when you guys, when you guys met, did you have a good impression of her? Did you get along? How is that meeting?

I guess it was kind of uncomfortable, you know, Like it's like, like I said, it's like a stranger someone you haven't talked to in twelve years, and it's not anybody you don't I guess I didn't have any expectations. Maybe someone you want in your life, you know you're missing something, and then you meet them and it's just like, I don't know. It's like that piece is still missing because this person's a stranger to you. You don't know anything about them.

I don't know.

That's so interesting. It's like, Okay, maybe this familial connection is missing from my life, but even though you do reconnect with your mom, the connection's still missing because she's like a stranger.

Yeah.

Interesting. So, uh, do you have siblings?

Yeah?

So I have five siblings and I'm the middle sibling.

And so are you cool with them?

Man?

Like? Kind of they're all very they live different lives, you know, like they've taken different life courses they've I don't know, Like I feel like like I got adopted with two of my other siblings, the two middle siblings and my youngest siblings she lived got adopted by someone else, and my oldest at the time, she was old enough

Maybe they need some colored pencils.

Ye, that's what I That's what I'm saying because I'm I don't know if I don't remember what they asked for, because I assume it was something similar because they were probably because the two siblings that I got adopted with were invited to this, and I think they basically asked for something similar, and they probably think back to that moment and like, why did I ask just for coloring pencils?

I you know what you should really they should do a study and they should take all the kids who did the make a wish and you know, take the colored pencil kids and compare them with the PlayStation kids and see whose life ended up better. I feel like the colored pencil kids ended up being more stable than the PlayStation kids. If I had to make a hypothesis based off of that, nothing.

I mean that that's an interesting theory. Maybe yeah, maybe they're like, you know, they were more like grateful at the time. I don't know.

Do you still color? Do you still have the colored pencils?

I don't have those coloring pencils, but I do on occasion color not coloring books. I prefer to, you know, due to my own things. But yeah, yeah, I guess it has inspired me to be more of an artist.

Uh, but do you have what are your aspirations for your for your life?

Man?

Now that now that you're in a stable place, where do you where do you want to go from here?

Man, it's a big question. I was not prepared for this call at all. I wasn't thinking about it when you called it camp. But now my aspirations I think, like maybe just like traveling more in seeing the world. You know, I've traveled a little bit here and there, but I feel like being stuck in the States. It's like, you know, you only get one view of the world world, and so traveling you can you know, it opens up the world to you. Seeing the world from a different perspective.

That's cool. If you're if you're in a if you're a Make a Wish kid and you're ten years old and you say that your wishes to go to North Korea, do you think they'll do it? That'd be kind I feel like Kim Jong UN's probably not very like if he got a call and they were like, this, a very sick boy who wants to see your great nation. I bet I bet he'd take that. I bet I bet he could. That might tug at his heartstrings a

No, that'd be pretty cool. We could go see the Rocket Man and see that giant hotel that they built that's empty.

Yeah, you could spend the night there. Now, that didn't even give you a poster to take home, so you don't have to rip one off the walls and get sentenced to death.

But that would be kind of an experience, you know.

It would be. And yet you chose colored pencils, and you know what, looking back on it, honestly, honestly, can I say something to you? Yeah, I don't think you should be so regretful of the colored pencils, because here's the thing. Regret all right, it's kind of useless because you made the decision that you could with however dumb your brain was at the time. Whether you're ten and you make a dumn decision or you're thirty five and you make a dumb decision, you're only working with what

That's true. That's true.

Like what else could I ask where that would have been any better?

That would you could have? Damned maybe you could have colored a little picture of yourself and Kim Jong un holding hands and then showed it to the make a Wish people and been like, can I get two wishes? Wait? What if you can you wish for us? There's gotta be some smart ass cancer kid who at one point wished for unlimited wishes.

No, I'm sure that happened. I feel like I didn't know, man, if I had thought about it. Maybe they're like a genie. You know, you can't just wish for more wishes.

They did this on South Park already, But I wonder if it's happened in real life. Do you think any of the kids have ever wished to not die?

No, I'm sure.

I'm sure that's happened. I don't know how you would answer a child. I'm like, well that sucks. Yeah, I don't know, man, that's a good thinking.

I don't know.

What's your name again?

My name is Ron, Ron.

Ron.

You have such a you speak so softly.

You caught me like, right as soon as I was crawling in a bed, that's what I was like. I answer it. Damn it, dude, I don't know. I don't know. I didn't preap for this properly.

But well, well all right, well, before we end the call, I'll say this to you, Ron, as part of my Gecko Wish program, you can have anything you want within reason. How can I how can I get you a wish before we go, Oh, man.

I don't have a dad. Geko, will you be my dad?

Like?

How would that work?

I don't know. I can, I'll be your dad. I'll be your dad. Okay, can that be my wish?

Yeah?

Sure, okay, I'm gonna look at you as a father figure.

Now that's cool. Do you how how can I be the best father to you?

Shoot that that's a mm hmm. I just bring back the milk, I guess.

And uh yeah, do you want to sing you a song while you go into bed at night? You're about to go out?

You right? Yeah? Now I'll call him in bed when you called me.

Okay, I'll come over to your house. I'll tuck you in.

Sounds good man?

Well all right, I'll see you soon.

Awesome, Thanks Greg, take care brother.

And I'm gonna fuck your mom goes on the line every night, teach