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Country Boys vs City Boys
57 Plays1 year ago
A whole episode dedicated to Chris' origin story...for the most part. Did you know he was valedictorian?
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Transcript
Barry's Non-Traditional Path to College
00:00:00
Speaker
Hold up, Barry the lead there. You said you weren't even thinking of applying at all to like anywhere? No. Wait, wait, wait. What were you doing in senior year that you were like, forget all this. Yeah, I was having a great time just like living at home, learning how to program websites on on my own. i I feel like I didn't need it. Would you consider yourself, at least at the time, a country boy? Yeah, more than a city boy. yeah
00:00:27
Speaker
Uh, you were just pro, okay. So you weren't, you were doing like just programming stuff, just like at home. on Yeah. I felt like I was learning so much. I, I don't know. It wasn't like that interested, but I, I, you know, I think many people that age, I definitely didn't understand the entire offering of, you know, going to a college or university. It's like, it's not just its work.
Adjusting to College Life and Housing Challenges
00:00:50
Speaker
you Yeah. You didn't realize how quickly you could stack bodies. yeah Exactly.
00:00:54
Speaker
Yeah, that was, <unk>s no but and that wasn't in the brochure for sure. Yeah. Well, not the brochure I got. You reluctantly went, did you did you have to talk to a, did you talk to somebody named? and she the one who convinced you No, it was a, well, I just applied. I don't even remember. Did we have to do an interview or something? I don't remember how anybody gets into prep. I just remember that I applied because my mom told me to. And then I remember, you know, after the first few days, like,
00:01:23
Speaker
loving it so much that I tried to talk to Amy Freeman to make sure I could live on campus. Because I applied so late to everything that I didn't have any on-campus housing for freshman year. I didn't even know that was a thing. Yeah. Oh, wait. That's why they put you in the closet. Yeah. Yeah. Supplemental housing. Supplemental housing. That's right. But I guess what I'm saying is every freshman, they will figure out a way to make it so they can't live in an apartment and save money. I guess. Oh, yeah. We're going to get money out of this person. All right.
00:01:52
Speaker
They don't they don't they don't realize they're allowed to live off canvas yet. they They haven't done the math. They haven't seen when the semester cost is broken down. Their their monthly rent is absurd. ah But yeah, like I did a real 180 and having no interest to, you know, just never never going home. Really. It was very rarely. I went home even those 30 minutes away. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I feel like that that turned into a city boy.
00:02:20
Speaker
I suppose, yeah, I guess you could say
From Country to Suburban Identity
00:02:23
Speaker
that. Wait, aren't you back to being a country boy now then? A suburban boy. so Nobody picks them on the team. And Horta, you consider yourself a suburban boy now? Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. You're you're the only city boy now. but yeah Yeah, you, Grog. That's directed at you.
00:02:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could feel that heat. ah Yeah. Yeah. I'm OK. I'm OK with that. I'm OK with that. I've suburban suburban boyhood has never been in the cards for me. Oh, that's they all say.
00:03:07
Speaker
I can't remember how I found out about Preff. it It actually might have been like, like, uh, you know, one of those savior stories where a teacher applied for me. Really? Something like that. Cause I remember talking to, uh, do you have like a teacher you hung out with in high school? Yeah. Yeah. He was like the computer tech guy. Um, yeah, I helped him fix computers and stuff, but, uh, it wasn't, it wasn't, what was the other one? george Yeah.
00:03:39
Speaker
ah What was her name? no it was not It was not because that was your friend from work. Yes. Well, regardless of her name, she called me and had to talk me into it because I was like, I got this job as a line cook. I'm trying to make some money to sell. Oh, yeah. What was that? was that The to place, the cars on the walls, right? Yeah, Quaker, Steak, and Lou. Quaker, Steak, and Lou. That's right. um And she was like, oh, you should think about your importance of what's going to be more important in the long run, which was true. Wait, didn't you end up working there eventually? No, I was working there. Oh, you were already working there. Yeah. i ah Because I remember like junior like junior year when we lived together, you and Horner had a like a wing off, and you kept bragging about your time at Quaker, Steak, and Lou.
00:04:31
Speaker
Oh yeah, we're frying them. Oh, here we go. You just gotta hear that pop, that pop, pop. Oh, yeah. That makes you feel good. You cook with your ears. Everybody does that. Makes you the right amount of sauce. Cook with my heart.
00:04:46
Speaker
Oh,
Balancing Work and School at Quaker Steak
00:04:47
Speaker
man. Oh, yeah. So I I had to be talked into it. And then I forget when we started June something um before 4th of July. So, yeah, June something. So, yeah, I effectively worked. I know I had to work the night before my prom or then the day after my prom. So I was working through May or something like. Oh, you were working while you were in high school. Yeah. It would have been nice to start that earlier than ah the very end and then out of there.
00:05:16
Speaker
And then I think once was prepped was over, I did another two weeks and then I was out. Yeah. Was there like ah was there like a reason you you were putting so much work in? log Was there something you were you absolutely wanted to like buy or needed like more no fear shirts or? No, I was just finally like it was just getting paychecks like I had never seen paychecks like that. Well, OK, but I mean, so like what's your first big paycheck? Well, you know, relatively big paycheck was there like, oh, I'm going to go get this thing. I was just having the money in your bank account.
00:05:45
Speaker
they just having the money. All right. I mean, you do. I went I went from working the job as a dishwasher when I was just maybe Friday and Saturday. So that was like no money. ah This was 40 hours a week. Oh, man, you were working 40 hours a week in high school. Yeah, that's surprising. It was the end. Oh, the and oh, you like you didn't like yeah I know for me, like I did a bunch of like AP classes in the last like month and a half were just nothing because the the AP test already happened. So it's just like goof off city.
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think for the majority of May, all I had to do was write the the valedictorian speech. Man, nobody humble brags quite like that. We got to ask the follow-ups. Yeah. You hear about this thing. so but if I forgot you were valedictorian. I didn't forget. He told me every chance he got. This one time when I was What were you doing? Because I was just writing my body, too.
00:06:49
Speaker
so In between frying, in between fry breaks, you were just writing this speech. ah All right. So you're I didn't I didn't even know where to to well, Tanchanoff there. No. Well, because he was what what what were you like, Doug, what were you doing the the summer leading in? Were you also working? um Yes, but not 40 hours. Yeah, that's crazy. I think I remember working for sure weekends and some nights. I worked at both Blockbuster and- Of course you did.
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah, man, best days of my life.
00:07:32
Speaker
You ain't getting all those movie recommendations. Oh, man, just, just yeah, just acting real snooty to people. I guess he could rent Deep Impact. More than Armageddon, man.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Michael Big Classic. Yeah, working in Blockbuster. I can't remember the order. I worked at both Blockbuster and Domino's Pizza. That's because I was already back from Germany at that point. In Germany, I worked at a bookstore. But never, yeah, never 40 hours. That seems for a while. But I was also not valedictorian, so I don't know. Because of the territory.
00:08:08
Speaker
Well, I mean, it was definitely the last like two weeks of school. We we were done like you didn't have that, too. ah Yeah, yeah, for sure. It was a lot of like, but I guess my mindset wasn't like, all right, well, let me go join the workforce. I think it was more like yeah let me go play. I'm trying to think what was like a ah game I was playing at that point. ah What was before World of Warcraft ever, ever?
00:08:34
Speaker
Not Everclear, that was after World of Warcraft. EverQuest, yeah, so I was probably just online playing some EverQuest, or some other nerdy thing. Actually, no, I was probably doing a ton of Counter-Strike. That's definitely what I was doing, so. Oh, this can add up the hours. Oh, just disappear. And then, Steve, your first job was like a white collar job, if I'm not mistaken, right? No, no, I was just thinking about that, because I'm trying to remember what I first did with the big paycheck, which might not have even been until like my, uh, my internship. Cause I didn't do, I always had like smaller, I worked at the library in my, uh, in my town, just reading comics and stuff like that. And your town being New York city in Queens. Like, yeah, when I was in high school and in that summer, I remember working, but it would never, it would be like a few days of the week. So I'd get like, you know, a couple hundred dollars. It was like never anything big where I could be like, Oh man, I'm just going to blow this whole, you know, check.
00:09:31
Speaker
Like it wasn't until- Did you spend that money on ah like WrestleMania pay-per-views or? That's a little back, folks. ah No, probably on on other comic books, probably on like graphic novels and stuff. I'm sure I do. Because I would go to Midtown Comics ah every other week and I would like grab by a bunch of like ah trades and you can only get some- That wrestling talk, I got something for that too. Listen here, brother.
00:10:00
Speaker
Uh, yeah, keep going. You said you were hitting the comic books for your money. Uh, well, I, I've never, I never put in 40 hour weeks. It wasn't until like, when I had an internship and where I had like, where I had that thought of like, Oh man, this is like more money than I've i've ever made. And that money, I remember but giving it to like my brother, Bobby, because he had given me quote unquote, given me his Honda civic. And I was like paying him off on that. Um, so I remember just like, I never had that, like, you know,
00:10:26
Speaker
trying to, probably anything else I had, I did put it into a bank account. but nothing you weren't to You weren't buying like ah like like scandalous anime busts from comic book stores? No, I never went that far. mean It would either be like just like $20 trades, things like that, or do or you know I would or like have treats for dinner or for some food or something like that. It was never enough that it would amount to to much in a paycheck. Really? Was there like a ah I would assume it would be like a pre-kids thing, but was there ever like a point where you're just like, I'm going to buy this crazy thing just because I can? um trying not not Not that I could think of. don I don't think so. Never anything. You had a PS3 at one point. I did. no No, I did not. I had ah i had i don't have the PS2, Xbox, I never got past that, I don't think. oh yeah Yeah, you were done. That was it. oh i want to die anybody else in dorms has one I thought you had one, ah the the apartment that you had with Betty where your your your TV was leaned against the wall, which just shook me to my core.
00:11:33
Speaker
never Uh, I thought, I thought you had a PS3 there. I used as like ah a DVD player. Oh, maybe, maybe, but I don't think I've ever, I ever played it. Like, I don't know whatever, whatever, what releases were um on the PS3, but I didn't, I didn't have any. As an aside, why was that TV leaned like that? I thought.
00:11:51
Speaker
Like I had one of those, the entertainment center that was like a glass was like a, was a, a hand me down and it was in bad shape. So maybe that's why I don't remember. But yeah, it's like, it's like the TV was not on like legs or like a standard. It's just like the bottom of the TV happened. No way. There's no way that way. That was the case. I always had, uh, we'll, we'll ask Betty, we'll check. She has a good memory.
00:12:14
Speaker
She'll tell me. All right. So back to back to Chris. OK, you're brother. Yeah, you're you're a wealthy valedictorian deciding whether you even need Preff. Is that right? Is that the case? Yeah, I'm thinking this this money, whatever amount of money I was getting from minimum wage, um I was like, i you know, I need this. And I was talking to doing pre-quickly, I guess. was then when i Did her name begin with an A? Like Anna or and Anita? anitaance I don't know. I remember exactly who you're talking about. I hate that. I can't remember her name. We said our name a lot, but... Todd sounds exactly right. yeah Yeah, let's say that was it.
00:12:53
Speaker
ah or you're really good at making up names. That was, um that was <unk> a second in command. Yeah, that's who we're talking about. Oh yeah, for sure. Super nice. So yeah, one conversation with her and she talked me into it and then I was in and I feel like I was like broke for most of the prize. Oh, cause yeah, cause they made us buy $300 calculus books. yeah that Yeah, that book, I had to wait to get ah Somehow, I forget how it worked out. That is kind of wild that they dropped that on us at like at pref. It's like, oh, yeah,
Scholarships and Financial Management in College
00:13:29
Speaker
this whole thing is paid for, except for this random, this random expensive book, the most expensive book in college. Exactly. That's what I was I was at them with there. I was like, how do I pay for this? And they're like, with money. Get yourself a part time job. A lot of restaurants in town.
00:13:48
Speaker
Uh, brutal. ah But yeah, that was, uh, that was, that was tough. Yeah. But yeah, that, that's how I got into it and then struggled thinking I can handle it. Wait, did you already have the matrix scholarship or no, wait, did you have the matrix? And you the Bill Gates scholarship. and still yeah Bill scholarship, but that didn't do anything for prep.
00:14:09
Speaker
No, no, no. I'm saying, did you have that already by the time you got to Preff? Yeah. Oh, so yeah you didn't care, right? What do you mean? It's like, eh, whatever. Uncle Gates has got me. but No, because it was real shaky on how much it was worse. didn't It didn't cover everything the first year. ah You had to get like a 3.0 or something to continue with it. there it was It was real weird.
00:14:35
Speaker
Oh, I think that's, but I think most scholarships have like a GPA threshold of some sort. Right. But it also didn't cover. Oh, like they, they wanted you to prove yourself first. Yeah. You just did the difference with like a, like a Perkins loan or something. grant or What was the grant? that Stafford loan. failedford Yeah. It was one of those loans. That's why I ended up with loans. But just the first year. Well then the summers,
00:15:02
Speaker
I went, I took out loans too. Summer's when you were at home working? No, I took, ah after freshman year, I took summer classes at Berry. Oh, I remember that. Did you only apply to to depend Penn State schools? No, I applied to Pitt and- This podcast is over.
00:15:26
Speaker
I forget, didn't get into MIT, then a ton of state schools like Slippery Rock and Edinburgh. But no like ah no other state schools like Ohio State or Michigan or anything? Out of state? No. To me, that didn't make sense, I guess. Oh, like the cost? Yeah, because during that time, I did not have the scholarships. So I was ah you know thinking, well, what what can I even do? So that's why I was, I mean, people were telling me that Penn State was a long shot.
00:15:56
Speaker
Really? But did these people actually know that? Or there's just like random people on the street? just No, no, no. Yeah, now I'm thinking they were not intelligent people. They're like, it's gonna be really hard to get to Penn State. that doesn't sha keep I'm wondering why they didn't say that.
00:16:12
Speaker
I think I understand my team. Yeah, I think Penn State, like like a lot of state schools, if you are in state and you are over a certain GPA threshold in the state, I think you're pretty much a lock, maybe not for a university for like main campus or whatever. But I think that's kind of how state schools work. Yeah, I think these people got a bunch of dummies, right? they They thought I was an idiot because like I was always wearing those no fear shirts. but yeah The FUBU stuff.
00:16:42
Speaker
Oh, the FUBU stuff.
Choosing Between Penn State and Pitt
00:16:44
Speaker
He's got no idea. He's wearing lugs. I was taking that in as far as like, I don't know how easy it is to get into schools or not. So I was like, oh, this is going to be tough. Pits so much closer, but then the tour pits up. What was on the tour?
00:17:02
Speaker
What turned you off? ah it was i mean Because it was like in the city, you're crossing like busy streets. yeah and Then for some reason, the ah demo dorm room and they had to show me was like busted up for some reason and under construction that day. A specific dorm room was under construction?
00:17:24
Speaker
The demo one, yeah though when they show people was not looking good at all. so I was like, hu this is going to be a tough goal of it if I go here. yeah I just went with, I mean, Penn State's tour was incredible. ah I never went on it. did you You said you went on it, right, Steve? um It sounds like it's different. like quote What was your your tour? Because mine was ah like a bunch of kids on a bus. Yeah, kids and their parents walking around. Oh, like ah like a city tour? Like you're sitting on top of the bus like tore right to your right. Like it was a day trip, right? Like you drove up and then ah everybody drove with their parents and you left with your parents same day? Yeah. Yeah. So that sounded different. How did that go? like you I mean, it was just like we walked around the campus. They showed us a bunch of stuff. They told us some lies about the the sidewalks being heated. oh
00:18:18
Speaker
and I never heard that one. you know was this it was just ah They could actually show an accurate dorm room and all that stuff, so it was just way better. Do you know what which dorms they brought you to? I definitely remember walking past these halls and seeing kids smiling and stuff like that as opposed to the grittiness of Pittsburgh. Zipping their jackets all the way up like freezing cold in the summer.
00:18:44
Speaker
That does have to be rough doing like, especially if you're not from like a particular city doing like people kids who go to like and NYU that aren't from New York that are like coming in from wherever it's now like you you're in lower Manhattan like just in the thick of it like yeah. everybody else Yeah, which I mean, I guess it ended up itself as a type of experience. But yeah, that feels feels a little rough. Steve, didn't you do um I feel like wasn't on your tour. Wasn't soda vaguely remembered this. I don't recall. I don't think so. But you remember this,
Struggles with College Academics
00:19:18
Speaker
right? Yeah. And, uh, yeah, the first time I met her would, would have been when we all met her. Was it, was it in and Penny Packer or was it this during the summer? Penny Packer. Okay. Yeah, that would be the first time. but Yeah. i feel That's great. Yeah. Cause I thought you hadn't known her from before, from like oh a tour es though knew the
00:19:38
Speaker
No, definitely not. true Maybe it was somebody, somebody else. I don't know. Cause like, where did the name come from? but Like every other name, it came from your, your brain. You came up with all these nicknames. We just took it. I don't know. What does that even mean? It was like in comparison to another person, you know, that, I don't know, but everybody everybody just, you know, just went with it. I think everybody knew her. is that Yeah. I guess.
00:20:07
Speaker
I guess so. All right. So, Chris, you're back. You're now you're at Previn. It was ah tougher than you expected. Oh, yeah, for sure. It it seemed like um like you and so factory and some other people had a had a way way better understanding that calculus than I did. um um I don't think my calculus class went nearly that far. so From high school, right? Yeah, I felt the same. I was was smart. I didn't remember that. I guess I assumed he was, but he at least played it off that he was. It's hard to tell through the anger. Yeah, he at least had time to take your shoes. So yeah. get had time to goof off so he must have been Yeah, I guess that's fair. I was like, I'm good. I'm getting roasted in this class. And I was, I was upset that my high school didn't go that far. And I was like, Oh yeah, my, my high school suck.
00:21:03
Speaker
Um, I can't compete with these guys. I can. What was the, was it like, uh, I can't remember what the content of that, that summer calc course was. I thought it was like a, a pre-calc, but it wasn't, it was like, yeah, I was like calc one and summer calc two, I think. And it just did it in six weeks. Yeah. Yeah. I remember it being pretty tough. Did did you, uh, was your impression, Chris, that, uh, did you feel like you were the only one struggling? Like it, I thought it was really obvious that a lot of us were like, I remember feeling the same way saying like, there's ah there's no way I'm going to last. This is.
00:21:33
Speaker
This is crazy. No, no, I thought, I thought that was the only one based on like, uh, here's every night. What are you talking about? no like so like based on That's cause that's cause how some people treated him.
00:21:49
Speaker
No, we started like you go into this New York technical school. I was like, Oh yeah, he must've killed it there. all Germany and Oklahoma and all that stuff.
00:22:00
Speaker
was cultural human um It just seemed like everybody had these way better high schools. and did you know They just knew way more coming out. man you You definitely hit it because I didn't think this thing. I thought the same. I was like, you know, you're the valedictorian of your school. but and But I thought the same thing of everybody, just like looking at what everybody's coming in with. And it's like, there's no way. It's like, oh, this this dude's wearing a leather jacket. He must be a big dog on campus. Like, no, I was just a big fish in a dirty, sweaty pool,
00:22:35
Speaker
pool I guess. Uh, but so I thought by that, by the end of pref, were you, were you still kind of certainly like, all right, well I'm coming back and I'm going to do this right. Or was it like, I don't know about this. Uh, I think when they told me this was significantly harder than, uh, it's really going to be, I was like, yeah, I'm coming back and I'm going to do this right.
00:22:56
Speaker
And i I think as it went on, normal classes, I didn't have that much trouble with, but still computer science classes were a stroke. and Unexpectedly or? Expected. but Wait, I thought you did you didn't do any in high school? None of, no. So once we got to like C and C++ plus plus and all that stuff.
00:23:15
Speaker
if I hadn't done any of that. And then like people were on the dorm, like ah Matt called this one guy Pete Sampras. The first time we talked to him about it, he was like, well, I'm like really, really good. So I don't know how I could have explained it to you guys. he's He literally he said that? Yeah. You kind of start here. He explained a couple things.
00:23:42
Speaker
I was like, wow, that's, uh, some people have like social issues. issues guess do Do you feel like at this point in your career, you're at his level or are you still trying to get there um or are you beyond it? No, I feel, I feel like I'm done. done Oh, as you've reached, you've reached like some plateau and that's kind of.
Career Plateau and Lack of Ambition
00:24:04
Speaker
I feel like I don't have it anymore at all. Like the the mental faculties or just the desire to do it. Like cognitively, I still haven't gotten it back. So i i yeah I don't know what the next step is. um but it sounds It sounds like Quaker steak is still still in the mix, right? I think they closed. ah i did caught causively I think cognitively I could do that. I think I could still drop wings.
00:24:30
Speaker
But I don't know if I can make sure somebody's stake is mid-well. Oh, but just by the sound of it? Yeah. like touch Yeah, that is ah that's rough. um besides ah Besides the like you academic the difficulties during Pref, how was the experience
Experiencing College Camaraderie
00:24:50
Speaker
in general? Just kind of like the being left to your own devices, and you know hanging hanging out with football players, doing elephant walks, all that stuff?
00:24:58
Speaker
ah Yeah, that was a bit a bit wild because there was a little bit of everything, right? Like if it wasn't, if there wasn't like football players in our same dorm, I got to experience like kind of what they're doing too. And they're going through these ah like impossible workouts. but Like three a days or whatever. Yeah, yeah so they're coming back exhausted from working out and they're coming back exhausted from- Mentally working out. Yeah. So you felt like ah like an equal to them is what you're saying? No.
00:25:30
Speaker
Nah, because it was it it just seemed so much more like ah I still had that football mentality. And like the last thing I had done before coming there was I threw shot put for track. And i I sucked at that. Oh, that was the last like physical activity.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah, that was the last sport I played. Not, not your last weekend while writing your speech for valedictorian. You were also shocked. This the door a couple of shots, but you're not going to make it kid.
00:26:02
Speaker
God, but I, so like I had done that as a sport. Um, and Joe had one state. And ah so I'm looking at this guy who threw maybe 30 more feet than I did or something.
00:26:17
Speaker
Either he was incredible or you were really bad. I can't, I don't know. I told you he won states. I guess my favorite record. Some of the people buy that much. That's so much. That's, well, okay. I guess Bluntly, were you any good at Shoppel? Or were you just doing it because you needed an off-season sport? I never figured out what I was missing. So yeah, it was just another sport to like lift weights, basically.
00:26:46
Speaker
Got it. Um, you didn't want to do like the, like 400 meter hurdles
Athletics and Outdoor Programs
00:26:50
Speaker
or anything like that. We did do, we did do the four with the hot, whatever the relay is 400 meter relay or whatever, where we all ran a hundred. Yeah. but All the stores did that.
00:27:04
Speaker
You didn't do the and do the steeple chase? No, we didn't do that. Nor do we do any of the other crazies. And and ah Steve, took to to reiterate, you did zero sports, right? Oh, yeah. not even Did you do PE? Yeah, we had PE. we had like um There was ah tennis, swimming. ah How wealthy was your school? Yeah, we had fencing. I did. I did fencing. Wow. Wow. Hold on a second. You can't just you just blaze through a. What do you mean you did fencing? Yeah. Well, for like you had to do that, they were serious about it was a technical school, but they you had to do so many credits and they had to you came to do the same thing.
00:27:47
Speaker
If a guy wanted to play basketball, you could only do it like once. Oh, interesting. Yeah, you can't. Oh, they they didn't have like a ah generic ah PE class. We were just doing like tag or. No, you had a choice, but that you had to do at least swimming um one of the years. You couldn't get you couldn't opt out of it. And then they made. Yeah, we so we we did ah like very there was no generic. There might have been maybe one year there was like generic.
00:28:13
Speaker
What if somebody in the school couldn't swim? They had to learn to swim? Yeah, because there's like shout like you, unless there's like a, I don't know what what reason you could opt out, but if you couldn't swim, you learned how to swim. but You had like the different caps, like the yellow cap, red cap, and I was never any very, very good or anything. You were no Aqua Dart, seriously. That's also another callback. Aqua Dart, yeah. All that stuff. So it was ah yeah a good amount of things, but nothing no um no no no team, nothing like that.
00:28:43
Speaker
Wait, what do you what ah physical activity did you guys do at Penn State? At Penn State. Because you had to do one, right? you had do one i I did that um ah freshman year summer freshman year Orion camping that counted towards like my PE stuff, so I didn't really have too much after that. Oh, you did what? Oh.
00:29:03
Speaker
It was, um, a summer program right after pref was done and everybody left. I, I was, um, I think I left for a week or something. And then I came back for a seven day, um, like, uh, summer. It was like right before freshman year. So what when, when was our last, like, when did we leave? Like how much time did you have before freshman year started? Two weeks, I think two weeks, maybe three. Yeah. So I think I stayed. And then I, um, no, I, what happened was I left for a week and then I came to week the week of.
00:29:28
Speaker
It was one of those. Either I kept stayed on or i I came back early. I forget which one it was now, but it was seven days. and i Was with camping it Yeah, it was like it was camping. It was like um hiking and um outdoor. Yeah, it was like an outdoor experience. I think it was seven days. Maybe it was like four days. so You went so he went home, came back to camp for a little bit, and then stayed till classes started? um I'm pretty sure. I'd have to go back. I can't really remember because I've had work, but I know It was the same time. It was like pref Ryan and then a freshman year. And I know I was home in in between there somehow. So that is at the time it it made sense. It was like, you know, I, it was all worked out and I was able to make it work. But now that I'm looking back, I can't remember exactly, but it does seem like a lot to do.
00:30:13
Speaker
Yeah. I don't remember this Orion camping thing at all. I know i i do remember in the name. Yeah. it was There was a completely lion. Yeah. And some of the people, so there were, there were like, uh, uh, 10 of us that were in my group and the people that were on that group, it was the same thing as like us in pref. Like this is their first Penn state experience. They went out, had this experience together in this adventure. I didn't really mesh like too, too well with that, that many, it was just like a cool experience and just more involvement. And then some of them didn't even. and They stayed for one semester and then they left, but the people that stayed out, they like, they became like, like friends throughout college. Like the girls, especially that were part of that group, they, I would say hi to them on campus and things like that, but they were like, they were lifelong friends. Like a lot of that group. Wow. then certainly that's That's aggressive, Matt.
00:31:02
Speaker
I was eating chips all afternoon. That's not gonna stop now. Unbelievable. ah and And then Chris, you did basketball, right? Basketball and a keto. A keto? Yeah. Did you ever do a keto before? It was like intro level, or they just put you right. oh whats Once in a while, or was it they saw your basketball skills and they're like, all right, get this guy in a keto. You might be interested in crafts.
00:31:31
Speaker
I think it was that I think they're like, oh, you got to take a key, though. what They mesh together so well. ah ah You just felt like you just I do remember, like, I feel like the semester that you did basketball, you were I don't even know how to describe it. It felt like you were the most you're the most leaned in. You're like, oh, yeah, starting the day with basketball and then going right into all these other classes. I think I had class to like almost six o'clock. Yeah, that was that was the one I got the most out. But there were a lot of psychology classes in there, too. to but Oh, you did you did love psychology. I mean, basketball is sort of a psychological game, though, don't you think, Chris? It was. It was. And they did a lot of ah city boys versus country but who who did that the the teacher one teacher yeah that's literally how he would say it's city boys versus country boys. Yeah. Man. It was just a back and forth battle. Who would win more often than I? Were you considered a city boy? Yeah. Get over here, city boy. You know what? It depended on you remember yeah for sending on if he showed up or not. Ace, right? Yeah. He was in my class. It depended on if he showed up or not if we would win. He was also a city boy.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah, oh yeah. Where was he from? Now I can't remember. but Didn't they call him, wasn't he ah like? ah Smooth or silk or something like that? was I thought it was love. Was it? I thought it was love, ladies love. He was a, he, ah Matt, this random person who you definitely don't remember at all. He was, ah he was on your ah bachelor party shirt for a while. What? He was one of the characters. No, there's no way that's me. Is that you? Yeah, I'll I'll dig up there like. all in Sure, you need some generic looking person, whatever. but Yeah, it was something like, but I mean, he made it far enough that like I started to like turn him into like one of the like Street Fighter characters or whatever. Like he got pretty far down the line. God, do I miss more ****? Is that more **** on the shirt? Wow. This is the best bachelor party ever.
00:33:39
Speaker
ah And ah that we were talking about, like, a bunch of different stuff. But like, did you what physical activity class did you do at Penn State? Snowboarding? No. um Ice skating for two semesters. Oh, that's right. You did you ice skate. And I think, uh, I don't know if I took racquetball or not. I can't remember. I might have. I certainly played racquetball, but I can't remember if I feel like I probably took a course. Yeah. Both of those were excellent. I was ice skating hard to get into. Like, did you do that like later, later, like saw senior year or something? Uh, no, I did it. Um, I think I did it either one. It was somewhere in junior. Like, I think it was like sophomore spring and junior fall, maybe. Uh, huh.
00:34:25
Speaker
i what did you get after come on of everybody what did i get out of this story from matt i mean dig yeah ever that for post to it I did ballroom dancing. ah that oh yeah you did Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. Everybody, everybody can sit down. Don't worry. You don't have to stand. the yeah the
00:34:46
Speaker
Uh, that, well, I mentioned that for like, I mentioned the, was it hard to get into because ballroom dance was really hard to get into. I think I had to, I had to wait till senior year. People love that. It was great. That was so much fun. Like I really enjoyed that class. Uh, and, uh, I'm pretty sure I killed it too. So I think they stopped offering afterwards. We've seen everything we can see at this point. What was the, uh, what was the final thing you had to do with that? Was there a a performance you had to do? Yeah. ah ah Well, it was like you had to kind of flow between like that, all these different dances that you learned, like the Foxtrot and the the Tango and I forgot what the one was called. Waltz. I don't think we actually did the Waltz. But anyway, but yes, you had a couple of them and you just had to like effectively show all of them off. It's like the evolution of dance thing. That's exactly what it was. It was literally. Oh, I think it was the wobble. Uh, no, now we're just now we're just. making my Two truths in the lines, this dance list. Uh, but yeah, so no, I, I, uh, I really did enjoy that. Didn't somebody do i that? Somebody did, um, ping pong, ping pong. Sounds like a math thing. That sounds like the most math. I would have. I don't, I don't, I definitely did not.
00:36:08
Speaker
Yeah, but man, don't you just take these classes just to wreck everybody else in there? Like you're way better than all. Spraying ice in people's faces. Oh, you knew him.
00:36:19
Speaker
Man, they really should have a sponsor for that. I don't know why you're spraying ice in people's faces. Uh, man. Um, okay. Uh, and then Matt, to further catch you up to speak, you were, uh, uh, were you valedictorian? Cause if you weren't just as a reminder, Chris was valedictorian. Oh yeah, he was for sure. Oh, in his high school. No, definitely not.