Transcript
Speaker: Okay, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, ladies gentlemen, non-binary folks of... folks of Universal No-No-No-No, and this is, that's our QRTOQ for short, where we take your Qs, and we put them in the ground, and we take a big ol' fat dumpski on it, and we bury it under six or seven feet, so it really gets down to the earth, and we grow a core tree! That's right, a tree that grew from the earth's core. Hot as hell and sexy too, riddled with A's dropping from its branches. And if you don't know what mean, you take questions from Reddit and from listeners and answer them as if we're really experts at all. We're not in almost anything except just being in bros and being dudes. My name's Adam and I am joined as always by my buddy, Danny Guarantee. Hello, Danny.
Speaker: Tell me about the motorcycle. You want to start with the motorcycle? You sure you don't want to start with the question I have for you? So we can tease the motorcycle. ah but yeah But you're teasing me with the motorcycle. I mean, have to stick around on the show a little while long for context. Adam just sent me a picture one day of a pair of keys and said, I have a motorcycle now and that's all I got. I'll tell you that Adam is not a motorcycle type guy from what I know. I'll tell you this as a teaser.
Speaker: I bought it by accident. That just raises more questions. So stick around to find out how I accidentally sort of bought a motorcycle. All right, fine. We'll do the question first. All right. So this one's a whamper. This is a big one.
Speaker: I mean, I am being serious. There's a lot. So this one is from Kalen 114. And the title is five questions for voice actors.
Speaker: Oh, OK. So do you want me to read all the five questions out loud and then we can just recap them once you answer them? ah No, we'll do one at a time. Want to go one at a time? All right. Yeah. First question.
Speaker: How do you go about finding a voice, quote unquote, to where you know you aren't going to change it? but How do you go about finding a voice to where you know you aren't going to change it?
Speaker: So a lot of my practice was actually when I was a kid. and i was watching a lot of cartoons and stuff whenever i heard a line that for whatever reason just stuck with me i would repeat it and i would do my best to do their voice and over time you know it would kind of evolve into whatever but the biggest thing where i got i don't even want to call them voices where i got my own personas that i use has been playing D&D.
Speaker: Having to make characters for that. I always try to give them all a unique voice. And the voice becomes that. Like, the character for this voice, his name was Adarius.
Speaker: So like I don't even say, oh, you know, it's the the gruff voice or whatever. I just say, it's Adarius. And I know what that means.
Speaker: So do all my friends. But that is that's the biggest thing is I just mess around with different voices. I try and emulate what I hear and then add my own spin to it.
Speaker: And then I make them into characters in D&D, which gives me a lot of the things around the voice. What are their mannerisms? What's their cadence like?
Speaker: Are they smart? Are they dumb? How fast do they speak? Cadence. ah But, you know, that that kind of gives you a lot of the stuff around the actual voice sound, which is just as important, if not more important than having a unique sound. You have to actually become a different person.
Speaker: Otherwise, all of your characters just become the same. Yeah, I think something that ah from interviews I've watched and just from my own experience, just kind of like you said, doing tabletop games and other things of the ilk. Like, I think a lot of people think too much about what the voice is going to be and not so much about who the character is. Like, you know, if you're applying to be a voice actor and you're I shouldn't say applying to be a voice actor, like you're you're auditioning for a role.
Speaker: Right. They'll tell you who this character is. Who is this person? Like what? what is a little bit of their background or like what kind of mannerisms do they have or what is their energy like? And you typically want to use that, right? Instead of being like, oh, what voice should they have?
Speaker: And that's part of it. But like sometimes sometimes the voice comes after you're informed. But if you're making an original character, just like you were saying, sometimes it's just informed by a bunch of other. What what is their backstory? Who do they hang out with? Like, you know, the things I've learned over the years is I know my voice is best as well.
Speaker: Like if somebody says, oh, I want it to be this kind of person. They're, you know, serious. They're a large dude, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: But I want like this particular voice, this, you know, even if they post a link to YouTube and say like, here's a reference for what I want. You're better off.
Speaker: Just saying like, you know what? When I think this character, this is the voice I come up with. And doing that well. Then trying to emulate the example they give.
Speaker: And... not half-assing it, but but not doing as well because it's not a voice you're used to or not a voice you can do easily. You need to make sure that the voice you're doing is one that you can do for a long time without losing your voice. That's that's part of one of the other questions. So we'll get to that. Sorry, my mistake. yeah No, all good. all good why I wasn't sure if I should read you all of them ahead time or not.
Speaker: If you think you can do something close to their sample voice, by all means, But if you have to choose between one or the other, I prefer to use my own voice to better capture all of the context around it.
Speaker: A big burly guy you know with this attitude or whatever. And ah you know there's a chance that they look at it and say, well, he didn't even look at what... you know he He must not have even looked at the link and they throw it out.
Speaker: But there's also the chance they look at it and go, oh my God, I like that even better than what I had. Yeah. Or you can do both if you're able to do both. But yeah. Something I do if I'm like, if i if I'm strapped for voices during the podcast and like, I'm like, man, I've run out of like my hits and I have more people I still have to do.
Speaker: Like I often just go to what is my voice? But like if i were from a if I were from a different place or if I were born at a different time or if i were if I never left this area or something or if, I don't know, if I talked really slowly all of a sudden. you know Because like those little cadences by themselves, like your were you know which we'll get to, you don't shred yourself. But like you're you're finding a voice just by being like, oh, I often think of like Winnie the Pooh. Like Winnie the Pooh's cast of characters has such a fun...
Speaker: range of voices from like little from little piglet who kind of talks real fast, he's almost a little bit high pitched. And you have rabbit who's just like cantankerous all the time. And you have poo who's just like, oh, bother. Then you have Tigger who's just like hyperactive and just fucking bounces off literally everything.
Speaker: And then, you know, you have Owl and you have Rue and just there's a whole wide range of people in that. Or or my favorite, Eeyore, my favorite voice to Eeyore, favorite voice to emulate, I should say, because he's just like, I'm just happy to be here.
Speaker: Oh, I'm just happy to join, you know, and I'm just like, it's ah it's just me, but I'm tired. I'm just like, hey, how's it going? I suppose I'm okay. Like I like to do contrasting shit where like I sound sad, but I'm happy about everything. Like, oh boy, my birthday's coming up.
Speaker: I'm going to have so many balloons, you know? Like, so I don't know, but yeah, there's lot of good points. But before we go too far, the second question is, is it seen as rude or annoying when people meet you and just want to hear the voice?
Speaker: No questions. So like, I'm assuming this is coming from the perspective of like, they know you do this kind of stuff. Yeah. So maybe they just want to. This is probably a question for somebody of a higher pay grade than me.
Speaker: But um i mean, i met a lot of my friends, a lot of our friends ask me all the time to do voices and stuff, you know. um
Speaker: Or, theyll you know, I've gotten phone calls before from friends being like one of my favorites was, Somebody called me out of the blue and they said, Dan, I'm playing cards against humanity right now.
Speaker: And I put down. um oh my God, what the heck was his name? That super genius that had this next computer. Exter's laboratory. No, no, no. The guy that had to speak through a computer.
Speaker: Oh, Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking. He's like, I i played the Stephen Hawking card. And my friends. don't want me to win, and I told them I had a friend that can do the voice of his computer.
Speaker: And they said if it was true, I win. Can you please do the voice? And I said sure. I will do the voice for you. That pisses me off so bad. is i cannot I don't know how to do that yet.
Speaker: I am so sorry. That's one of the ones I wish I could do. That's the one you should really lean into, because most people have to like get computer generation to do that shit. Yeah, right. The only problem is I can't do S's in that voice. Otherwise, i would.
Speaker: oh man. I also can't do longer sentences because I'm breathing in. Yeah, yeah. um That's part of it. you know You don't have to do longer sentences. That's the character. No. Say that to the the book me and you were doing where I had to change a voice because I did that voice for some and they spoke a huge sentence.
Speaker: um But yeah, I've had friends call me up specifically and be like, hey, I need you to prove this or that or the other thing and do this voice right now. I love it. I feel honored because I like making goofy voices. It's what I do. I do it when I'm joking around with my friends without any provocation whatsoever.
Speaker: um So, yeah, if somebody were to come up to me who like heard something I did and was like, oh, my God, do the roar, do the roar. I'd be I'd be fine with that. I'd have no problem then like.
Speaker: Doing the rest of the conversation in that voice just for fun.
Speaker: Well, how about this question then, Danny? They, you know, which is a very valid question that I, too, have to take a step back and and think about every now and then. Okay.
Speaker: But not for, but for different reasons. But the question is, how do you rest or exercise your throat to stop getting tired or fried?
Speaker: Uh. And he was just wiggling his eyebrows at me for those you couldn't hear him wiggling him too hard. let You have to make noise for like...
Speaker: The biggest thing I do for my voice... Well, one, again, I've been trying to emulate different cartoon characters and things since I was a child. So I kind of got to skip that whole first getting my voice to be able to do weird things. I've been i've been talking up here since I was a little kid.
Speaker: Like I could just do it. But I did notice a big change in my vocal range for voice acting when I have a full time in office job and when I don't.
Speaker: Because i love to sing in the car a lot. You warm up. And it gets me warmed up. It strengthens your vocal cords and allows you to hit higher pitches.
Speaker: Don't sing so high it actually hurts your voice. Learn where your vocal tones are and kind of, you know, listen to songs and sing along that kind of stretch the boundary just a little bit.
Speaker: And you'll notice after a couple days or so, your voice will get hoarse less often. It'll recover faster. um and you'll be able to hit higher or lower notes, which can come in handy when you're voice acting.
Speaker: It's gotten to the point now where if I lose my voice, I'll have it back in a couple hours. It'll come back. It recovers pretty quickly, and it takes a lot to lose my voice at this point, much to my wife's dismay. Got him. Yeah.
Speaker: ah But yeah, ah just singing helped a lot. Even if you can't sing, just do it in the car alone when you're driving. You know, nobody's ever stopped me and said I'm a great singer. So yeah, is some it's more about the exercise than the actual singing.
Speaker: Yeah. And something I would like to highlight in addition to that, that you touched on earlier is like sometimes if you're frying yourself, it might be because you're stressing yourself too much, you know, or you might be like hanging out at a vocal range or a vocal stress that you're not used to yet. so you might have to do it for a shorter amount of time. Yeah.
Speaker: Until also you get used to it, but also warming up will help you to not fry yourself sooner when you do. You know, I think about the guy who does Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake.
Speaker: Well, all the snakes is Metal Gear and how like he's like when I go I went back and started playing a series and like especially when he's playing old snake and Metal Gear Solid for like is like The main character was injected with a serum that makes his body age much more rapidly. So at 35, he has the body of like a 60 year old.
Speaker: So like his vocal cords are all fried and he's like all his body's deteriorating. And so he's like, kind of tell me, kind of hard to understand sometimes. And just like, I'm just like, man, that must have fucking destroyed that dude. yeah If hadn't he worked his way from like younger snake to different like ages of snake up to that point. Cause like, God, going straight to that must've hurt so bad.
Speaker: But you know, that's years of practice to to get you there. But just doing that little bit hurt my fucking throat. As you expand the different ways you can use your voice, you learn what your limitations are.
Speaker: Like there are a bunch of voices I could do that I would never do in an actual voice acting scenario. Oh, same. Because they they completely shred my voice. Gomer Pyle does it for me. That one hurts. It doesn't sound like it but God, it hurts.
Speaker: Yeah, I had. Oh, God, what was it?
Speaker: The song Ace of Spades. The Ace of Speed. The Ace of Speed. Like, I can do that voice a bit, but if I do that for more than a line or two, it's threaded.
Speaker: Just gone. Yeah. There's a character in Roleplayers and Phony Express I play called Sheriff Jeff, who, like... He just talks down here the entire time. not I mean, like you can i always like you've got to be ready. His backstory is that he just drinks a lot of boiling coffee, like a pot of coffee as a bad habit. And he just fried his vocal cords literally by just not waiting until it cools.
Speaker: But man, I did it once as a joke and everybody liked it. So I had to work really hard to do that every time they wanted to. They're like, let's go talk to Jeff. I'm like, okay Yes, of course. We love Jeff. Let's talk to Sheriff Jeff.
Speaker: And like, I can't tell you in the beginning. Of course you ought to talk to him. How many times I've had to mute my mic. but Like, because we don't do role players on screen. So whenever I was done doing Jeff, I mute with my mic. Yeah. You know, and it got to the point where I just had to start doing it as part of the character.
Speaker: um But now I can kind of do it pretty okay. But but man, it takes that shit. That shit will work out. My God. I got... I don't think i've ever told anybody this story, but one of my favorite voices to do is the Adarius voice, which is this one that I did before.
Speaker: Right. Where I got this voice. can't believe I'm telling this. In high school, we had a our football coach.
Speaker: And he had lost his vocal cords due to smoking. He had them removed. And he learned to talk by basically burping the sounds.
Speaker: And that's kind of what that voice is. I love that. I'm not using my vocal cords. I'm just kind of letting kind almost burping the sounds. So i heard him do that. And I was like, how do you do that? And I just kind of like,
Speaker: worked on it for a bit. And you can hear my voice in it. I am still using my vocal cords. His had no voice to it. But I think it was he did similar to what I'm doing now. But that's where I got that voice from. OK.
Speaker: Let's shift gears to question four. Four. So this one, I don't know how much experience you have. But it's still an interesting question. i don't know if it's that serious though, but they say for anime voice actors, how do you feel...
Speaker: How do you feel about certain changes to the script and how they affect the story that's being told? Like in Japanese, a girl would say, i love you. But in English, it could be, I really like you. Do you feel small changes like that affect the tone differently? So like I guess not even so much like i don't even know if that's just a voice actor question, but just like ah a translation question.
Speaker: But curious of your thoughts. What do you feel about? What do you what do you feel about that? I have never gotten the opportunity to voice an anime yet. Would love to.
Speaker: ah But as a longtime anime watcher who has seen both subtitled in Japanese and dubbed in English, it's usually it does not bother me so long as the writers are good at Figuring out what was being said in Japanese and then copying the sentiment to English.
Speaker: It doesn't work as well if they try and do a one-to-one. Or um you could kind of tell they just kind of took whatever word means a similar thing without any deeper context around it.
Speaker: Like you said, like changing I love you to I like you a lot could make a big difference. There's also Japanese words for things that in English we don't have a word for.
Speaker: um
Speaker: I'm trying to remember. I had an example, but it's like a very specific feeling you get. where we would just say sad, but the Japanese actually have a specific word for sad, but you're sad because of this, and it's this exact feeling.
Speaker: I find that it's like in German, where that they have schadenfreude, Yes. Which is the, isn't that the, the, the but satisfaction you get knowing someone else is miserable or something like that yeah or knowing that they've something like that. Yeah. So I do think about those kinds of fun words that just most of them are just, Oh, it's a feeling, a very specific instance in which you have a feeling that we don't have them like, Hmm. Interesting.
Speaker: but yes, so that makes sense. It, it, It all depends. you know if If they were able to take that sentence and say, like okay, this is what the Japanese writer was trying to get across, even if the words are totally different in English, as long as the information gets across and the feeling gets across, it wouldn't make a big difference. But if they say, like literally, this sentence means I love you, and then we'll just comment, I love you.
Speaker: Yeah. There's definitely... like video games that have that too, where if they're made in in Japan and they come here, they just, once you learn some certain lore pieces, when you learn the other one, you're like, oh, well that could change. That one word changes like a whole entire story.
Speaker: um So, but if I were, I'm trying to think of this as a voice actor, I, If someone said, oh, hey, here's your script. We translated it from Japanese to English and I read the script and I still like if I read the script and I like I don't know if it's common practice to read the Japanese and learn what it is and then see how it's different. Like, I don't know if I would know that. I don't think you would. However, I think.
Speaker: I think you would have a list of all the different characters and then, you know, the the lines would be would tell you what emotional state to be in. Sure. But hopefully.
Speaker: Again, I don't know. I've never done it, but. You're doing it along with the show like they they show you a silent version of the show. To kind of give you that context of like who this character is talking to.
Speaker: What does the actual anime character look like in that scene? Are they crying? Are they laughing as they speak? Because just having a paper with lines, you know.
Speaker: There's a million different ways you can read it. A million different inflections you can have. Oh, for sure. And ah telling like your sister you love her in different inflections can have very different meanings.
Speaker: So you need to, you know, it helps to have as much context as possible, but whether or not they're given like the literal translations to also look at, I don't know. Yeah. I can't imagine that you would.
Speaker: I doubt you really, unless you really dove real deep to sort that out. They do, but they probably get like a a quick rundown of what the character should be feeling. And I'm sure they have like a ah director who's sitting there saying like, can you give it a little bit more of this?
Speaker: Yeah. You know, maybe say it without so much Tang or or so much anger. Yeah. Like I don't, I don't know what the turnaround is for English dubs for some more popular shows, but like, I think the only way that one would even know is if they, they know the show or the movie and then like they decided to dub it,
Speaker: you know, years later, then maybe you would, maybe you would have some point of reference, but I can't imagine that's common. I don't know. Yeah. Okay. Last question, which you've already kind of shared. They just say, can this, can you share any funny stories about being a voice actor? Do you have any, any, and you've already kind of shared a couple, but about the, the robot man and so the burps.
Speaker: Yep. There was those two. um I do audiobooks as my main voice acting thing. It's just kind of where I ended up. And ah some big advice for you if you want to get into doing audiobook narration.
Speaker: Be prepared to read smut. This has come up on the show before. You really pay attention, kids. Yeah, this is important. Be ready to read Smut. It's where all the work is.
Speaker: Most people that want to get into voice acting do not feel comfortable doing that stuff. So that's a great way to weed out a bunch of people and leave spots open for you. You got to help get people all sorts of jazzed up when they're on their car ride home from work.
Speaker: If there's one type of book people love... smut they love it there's so much they love it but that has led to me having to say a lot of things i never thought i would say into a microphone with my wife in the house next room over uh recently we did one project i won't bring it up because i don't think it's been announced yet but it was by far the dirtiest smut i've had to read
Speaker: And my character was scared at the time, so he was yelling a lot. So I had to yell very vulgar, dirty things.
Speaker: And I look, I'm not a prude, but I'm not. I'm not like super dirty either. and I was sitting there between days just being like, this is my life now. This is what have to do now.
Speaker: ah But i always thought I loved it. I had a great time. I was going to say, I imagine Beluga probably calling you being like, you got this, babe. You're doing great. You're so great. No, I came out and she was just like. Uh huh.
Speaker: Uh huh. Do I need to get you a boost? I also I have a friend that does. um He has experience in sound editing. And my, don't know, voice acting manager, I guess I'd call her.
Speaker: was talking about needing a sound editor. So i was like, yeah, I could talk to my friend. And I'm on the focus. So I talked to my friend. I'm like, hey, man, I got good news and bad news.
Speaker: The good news is I have a potential sound editing job for you if you want doing sound mastering for my voice acting stuff.
Speaker: And he's like, is it paid? I said, yeah. He's like, OK, then what's the bad news? I said, it's smart. And you're going to have to listen to me and edit me saying these things in my sexiest voices. and He was like, yes. And what's the bad news? He did not take the job. Oh, he didn't? What? Oh, man. She was like, I don't think I could look at you the same after that. I'm good.
Speaker: Oh, bummer. Come on. Oh, dang. Oh, God. Oh, well, that was still great. It was very funny.
Speaker: Well, yeah, that's that's most of my. Silly stuff, I mean, and then there's just, you know, all the jokes we like to make. Sure. um Working with our friend Cass and her.
Speaker: Her and our friend Kimmy stuff. All the different voices we've done for that. The jokes we've made for those. it's It's always been a freaking good time.
Speaker: It was a good time. When I do have those opportunities, I do very much relish them because much like when you get to play a tabletop game playing your favorite video game, it's nice just kind of somewhat disassociate and just be like another person and another creature on another world or in another universe.
Speaker: It is nice to just do that. It was those... ah those projects we've done with cast that made me realize I'm a much better voice actor when I am doing a less serious role.
Speaker: ah Cause I noticed like they ask for a specific voice. They'd say, Hey, I want you to play this character. They know what voices I can do. And they'll say like, Hey, can you do this voice for this character? I'm like, yeah, no problem.
Speaker: And then every once in a while, when we all would gather for it, We would all voice act, you know, together, make it easier to to bounce off each other.
Speaker: But sometimes somebody wouldn't make it. So they'd ask somebody like, hey, can you read their parts just so that we have somebody to bounce off of still. Right. And man, the voices I was able to pull out of my ass for those when I knew they weren't going to be used and I didn't care how it sounded.
Speaker: Yeah, there's something to that. I've I was able to i don't speak anything but English and I was able to sight read an entire paragraph in Italian because I was having so much fun and just going for it.
Speaker: Yeah. When there's there is there, there a certain bubble of stress that vanishes when you're like, oh, I could just like go fucking nuts. Yeah. OK, great. Like all of a sudden, no voice is too annoying. You got it.
Speaker: Laser focused. Sharp as attack. yeah Good stuff. I think that's all the questions for that, Danny. We had we did a five and one. There you go. All right. Good job. I paid your tithe. Now tell me, what is going on? How do you accidentally buy a motorcycle? Thank you all for listening. Make sure to share your friends. Don't you dare. No. It's a dream come true for Danny and me. It's This is a nightmare. It's not that bad, honestly. So it's I hope it's an interesting story, but it is it is funny how quickly it happened.
Speaker: but we have a friend um hitch and i have a friend who we met through work who is moving to well has since moved to virginia and she was on her way out and so we tried to we we booked a little bit more time with her before she left um and we went to this little hot dog joint that i think you would love um i love wieners it's called d's six packs and dogs and there's a lot of customizable hot dogs oh they're freaking good um And so when we were hanging out, were asking about how the move and preparation was going to to go. And she had said...
Speaker: you know, everything's going pretty well. We have most things packed. We're just eating off of like the same two plates and stuff, just getting ready to move. And um she said, but like her, her partner has a motorcycle and she's like, but we have, we've had it posted for weeks and no one's been buying it.
Speaker: We don't want to take it with us. It can't fit in the U-Haul and he doesn't want to drive it all the way down to Virginia. He's like, you know, he hasn't ridden it in some time. We just want to get rid of it And so they said, if you know anybody, and I had just funny enough done a job through Zencaster who we're recording on and they were they just they were doing a payout of $300 in a couple of days for the job I did for them.
Speaker: And so I offhandedly said, well, I got an extra 300 bucks coming up. I'll give you 300 bucks for the motorcycle. Tee hee hee. And then so everybody goes, oh, Adam, you're so funny. You know, everybody's like kind of giggling about it. But I was like, yeah, you know, send me some details. Send me the picture and like I'll i'll post it places of people who I know may ride or something. Maybe I can try to help.
Speaker: I even also offer from the store here. And I said, you know, we can keep the ad up and then I can try to facilitate the sale for you. um That way you don't got to worry about taking it to to Virginia.
Speaker: But then I was like a tee hee ha ha. You're so funny. But then that was on a Monday. By Thursday, by Thursday, like mid morning, I get a text. Hey, Adam, how serious were you about $300?
Speaker: And I was like, well, I wasn't, but if you need to get rid of it and that'll be, and if that'll help you, then sure, I'll, I'll give you $300. And so she said, hang on, let me talk to, you know, my partner. And so she reaches out and then within like 25 minutes, she's like, yeah, are you free tomorrow to come in? Like, you know, get the title and everything. And I was like, what? ah Yeah, I guess.
Speaker: And so I sent $300 on Venmo. I met up with her partner. We went to a notary and it costs like $180, $200 some dollars man to notarize it and change the title, which is such a crock.
Speaker: I don't understand why titles have so many lines on them where you can write more owners when you still have to get notarized and get a brand new title anyway. I don't know what all that is for. But anyway, I couldn't tell you.
Speaker: But with the amount of money that that man fronted to pay the notary for us to switch the title, they made like $60. Because I gave them $300 and it was $200 and some dollars to for taxes and fees plus the title change to do that.
Speaker: And so they made next to nothing. But I guess I had peace of mind. They to it with them. That's what I was going to say. It's not even about the money at that point. They just don't want to. Yeah, because she had said, I said, are you sure this feels criminally low? It's a 2009 Honda Shadow And ah it's got 12,000 miles on it, which for that old little bike, i don't I don't know if that's good or not, but 12,000 miles on any engine can't be that bad. um It's heavy. It's a medium-sized little cruiser bike. It looks like you know it's a motorcycle. It's not like one of those little crotch rockets. It's fucking heavy.
Speaker: trying to move that thing throughout my garage to turn it sideways so i could still fit my car in it. That took all the groin power that I had not to rip my, rip my foot. And I know you've got a powerful groin. Yeah. It hurt a lot. Yeah. It hurt to move that bad boy in like this little baby space to like back it up and try to walk it and then back it up again both ways. It's heavy.
Speaker: So Friday I went and I did all that. And then, you know, I got the key to the motorcycle and sitting here at my desk because I don't know what to do with it. And then Saturday I recruited a friend who rides motorcycles every day who works with us. or And I said, hey, can you come help me? And she said, yeah.
Speaker: So I drove her over to where the car was left with a cover on it. She drove it and followed me back to my house and I walked it into my garage. And that's where it lives now. I'm surprised it stays there.
Speaker: i don't have a license. I don't have a permit. I have no idea how to ride a fucking motorcycle. That's what's funny about it. It's like, it's one of the only vehicles I've ever fully owned in my life. No idea how to make it work, but I have one. And I have it.
Speaker: And so You know, i I'm torn because I don't know. Like I have people in my life are like, oh my God, you got them. That's so cool. Maybe we go riding together. I don't know a lot of other people who who ride. So like if you ride, we can do like via buddies and and and oh and they oh, here's how you get your license and here's a good place to get helmets and and here's gear that you'll need and stuff like that. They're so excited. And I was like kind of catching the bug. i was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let's do it. Yeah, go yeah, fuck the boat. like, let's go.
Speaker: Um, but, ah but there's a part of me, Danny, that's like, I want to learn because I think it's a good skill to learn how to ride them in case I ever need to, you know, I don't know, you know, in the movies, guys just can just jump on a motorcycle when they're being chased.
Speaker: I wouldn't, I wouldn't even, don't even how to start it. Um, it's little tougher than you think. to fiddle with something underneath it first before you can even have no idea. Um, I was on a motorcycle one time in my life.
Speaker: Yeah, I've only ever ridden in the back of one. yep i've never I've never driven one. um But they do make lighter bikes. This is a heavier bike. It's like, i don't know, it's like 700 pounds. um But apparently lighter bikes are easier to ride, but they're less stable. Heavier bikes are harder to ride, but they're more stable when you get the hang of them.
Speaker: So in one way, I have a very safe bike to learn on, but it is heavy. It's incredibly heavy. um And they – I was getting tips that they say like the slow turns and the slow movements are actually a lot harder than the fast movements. And it's that's where most people – I could imagine that. It's the same as a bike. like Right.
Speaker: Riding a bicycle. When you have momentum, easier. It's real tough. Yeah. And so I've had people from all directions telling me these things. And then I get a message from – Just I knew I I knew I was going to get some sort of funny reaction, but i sent a message to my sister and she's like, why the fuck do you have that? Like, you're kidding. Where where would you have gotten a motorcycle? oh You can't afford that. i was like, you're right. Ordinarily, I couldn't.
Speaker: But then my brother in law, who I don't hear a whole lot from, who has a motorcycle or at least used to ride a motorcycle. don't know if he still does anymore, but he used to a lot before he had kids. Yeah. text me, why do you have that? What are you going to do with that? What are your plans with that? You know, I was like... Was it your daughter I'm taking out? Yeah, yeah yeah exactly. What are your plans with this motorcycle?
Speaker: I'm like, I don't know. so So the conundrum I'm in is like, there's a part of me that wants to learn. I do think it would be fun. And I have a friend who lives across the neighborhood who I met recently, a couple years ago, who, like, we're trying to hang out a little bit more. i reached out to his girlfriend.
Speaker: And I was sharing like, hey, guys, oh, I was we' we're in a group chat. I said, hey, look what I got. And she messaged me. and She goes, hey, you know what? You know, my husband has been talking about wanting to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
Speaker: And I said, well, like we can go take the classes together. They actually give you a bike to learn on. You just have to have the gear. You have to have a helmet. you have to have boots and gloves and everything. Um, and the class is free. was like, we can go together. And if he wants, you can practice on my bike.
Speaker: And then he messaged me. He goes, Hey, I'll help you out to pay off the insurance. You know, like if we, if we take turns using your bike and everything, i was like, Oh yeah. Okay. Cause like, that's an expense is like, have to add insurance if I start driving it around.
Speaker: Um, so there's like that side where I have people at work, two people who are like, yes, please come ride with us. And then a guy who lives near me, who's like, yeah, dude, let's do this. So I'm like, oh, that's so cool. maybe Maybe I should do this. It would be a good skill to learn.
Speaker: But on the other hand, it's more money on insurance. Uh, I can only ride at certain times the year. Uh, you know, it's already get closing out or even if I happen to get, if I did everything right, learned everything on the permit, oh you don't be able to use it for like class I'd maybe get a couple of weeks out of it before it got too cold to ride.
Speaker: Um, and plus I don't know what maintenance on a bike looks like. So it's like, I probably wouldn't even be able to do anything with it till next year. And who knows when a bike sitting in my garage, not being used for how many months, um,
Speaker: what kind of maintenance that's going to be. You'd have to run it every once in a while just to like. Right. And I'm probably not gonna, I'm probably just not going to go and get in my garage and start the motorcycle that I don't know how to start.
Speaker: but run it wherever you put That was the most brutally honest. Yeah. And I'm not gonna, yeah, I'm just not going. I know I'm not going to do that, but I will say,
Speaker: Like when I spent $300 on this motorcycle, I don't know what it was brand new back in 2009 when they got it. But i will say that Kelly Blue Book values it between $22 $2,500.
Speaker: Right. Even if I get lowballed, if I try to sell it and someone says, I'll give you a thousand, I'm like, I'm making $700. Yeah. Sell it. Right. I got a motorcycle for 300 fucking bucks. um That was from money that I had earned it. You know, I otherwise would have had anyway. So it felt free to me almost. So.
Speaker: so I'm torn because i'm like, do I sell it? I might have people who might be interested in doing that. I even have some friends who have said like, well, Hey, you know, I might know somebody if you want to sell it. It's a good starter bike. It's a, you know, they're undervalued right now and are likely to go up in value later.
Speaker: Um, you know, cause they're just really good learner bikes, dirty bikes. Um, but I'm still kind of bitten by the bug too, where i'm like, I feel like I still want to learn.
Speaker: So I kind of want to get a helmet and I kind of, I might still go take the classes and stuff, but I'm like, Maybe is there anybody out there who's maybe if I sell this bike and put that money away, then maybe I can find somebody who's selling their bike for cheap because Craigslist has a few of people who are just trying to get rid of a motorcycle that maybe I can get one that's like smaller, that's easier to learn on or something like, you know, because this one is heavy and I don't know a lot about it.
Speaker: So I'm torn because I already have it so I can learn or I can sell it and have extra money because life is expensive and our president is only making things worse. We're never going to get that $5,000, you fuckwad. Shut up. Oh, my God. I laughed out loud when I saw that. We're not going to get your tariff money. We're not going to get your little dividends. We're not going get your Doge checks. We're not going to get this. Just eat shit and die already. Anyway, sorry. but But, you know, so that'd be nice extra money for me to have.
Speaker: Because gas is expensive. And I'm like, do I want to ride another vehicle? Although this thing gets 70 miles to the. to the and Oh, yeah. Mothercycles go pretty far. It gets a lot of fucking miles. Well, they're light compared to the car.
Speaker: And so I was like, you know, if I just need to go do some general shopping, it comes with little bags, saddlebags on it already. So like I could throw a few things in there. So I'm torn because I like the idea of learning, but I'm like, if I sell the bike, do I still want to go learn?
Speaker: Helmets are expensive, but I can probably find someone you you selling one used for like 50, 60 bucks. But a good helmet is like $200. So I'm torn, like, you know, get to all the accessories and the insurance and the, and the, and, and maintenance and everything.
Speaker: It might be a lot of extra money and time, but also it's exciting to learn something new. um But also like, is that the new thing I want to learn or do I want to try to sell it? And maybe in a few months I find a buyer and then I get a little bit of extra money to help me get through in case like i hit disaster or whatever down the road.
Speaker: So I don't know. I'm really torn. I've i've been flip-flopping back and forth. And I was just on Craigslist before we all got on our call, looking at what gloves would cost, like people getting rid of just accessories and motorcycle helmets. And I saw what other people are pricing similar bikes for, but with less miles or like a newer year.
Speaker: Um, I even saw some guy who was willing to swap bikes. Uh, but i don't know if he'd swap mine. Um, So I don't know. Hitch any ideas? Hitch hates it. Hitch hates that I have it.
Speaker: They don't want me to have it. They said, like they said, this is crazy. Why are you buying this? Are you sure? I don't like the idea of you riding a motorcycle, which is like most people who know me much more closely are like, that's stupid. Why are you doing that? You're not going to ride it. It's not safe for you.
Speaker: But also I'm like, but maybe I would. i don't know. It's cool. You know, I don't know.
Speaker: I mean, I can only give my honest input if you want it. If you don't, I will not say nothing. No, I mean, i don't I'm not im I'm still very much on the fence. And like there's neither side of that coin that would upset me if like I had to do either one. If someone said, Adam, you cannot sell it. You have to keep it and learn. I'd be like, OK, fine.
Speaker: If you said yeah you cannot keep it, you have to sell it. i'd be like, OK, fine. For your own safety.
Speaker: I don't think you would be ah reckless with it. I really don't. I think you understand how dangerous they can be. And you you're just you're not a reckless kind of person like that.
Speaker: However, i have a hard time believing you would have the ability to concentrate for long periods of time on the road and everything and keeping your balance.
Speaker: And, you know, you're sitting there feeling the wind under the helmet, hitting your body. You come to it. Oh, and he's gone. You come to a nice sunset or something, some cool trees. You start looking.
Speaker: And next thing you know, you lose your balance or hit a car ahead of you or something. And that's not a slight against you. Sure. I just know you are very beholden to the present.
Speaker: I'm very easily distracted by it. But I'd also be, you know, there might be some things as I learned to ride that I've become more innately attuned to be able to autopilot when you drive a little bit.
Speaker: I think, but I mean, you make a good point. And and's something else that like you have to be more present about when you drive is like, I don't think there's a such thing as an automatic motorcycle unless it's like an electric.
Speaker: you know, yeah the like um I have to shift, I have to shift up and have to shift down and I've never gotten proficient at driving the manual vehicle. So there's a plus side. I learned how to drive a manual vehicle, but it's a motorcycle.
Speaker: But the downside is like, that is, like you know, it is something that I have to learn and that like have to get proficient with and I've never done before. So it's another part of the learning curve that, which is what the classes cover. The classes do teach you that.
Speaker: Um, there, I think there are a couple of days long. Um, So like, I don't know. It sounds like, you know, the people who I work with were beginners just a couple of years ago. And then post pandemic, they got motorcycles and learned.
Speaker: So they were like, you know, we learned the classes are really good. They're really in depth. They teach you everything you need to know, how to practice, how to balance, how to, how to lift it up if it falls, uh, all those things. So you don't hurt yourself.
Speaker: And so like, yeah, that would be really cool. But also, yeah, you make good points. Like, you know, it takes me a lot. Like there's sometimes where i drive to work in my car and I'm like, how'd I get here?
Speaker: you know i've And I've had those moments too. And in a car, it's one thing. But on a motorcycle, even that that brief second of like zoning out, it could be a problem.
Speaker: But I will say I support you no matter what you decide. I do think you will handle it with the seriousness it needs. you know I'm not going to be like, sorry, Adam, we can't do TOQ anymore because you have a motorcycle that gets the... No.
Speaker: Uh... I won't get on it. Like I said, I was on a motorcycle one time. Just not. You wouldn't ride with me if I was proficient. If I rode it to Jersey, you wouldn't ride with me. I'm not like I went with my father-in-law one time just just to see. It's not for me. I didn't like it.
Speaker: Yeah, I think so. It's not a slight against you doing it. I wouldn't get on with anybody. Just not for me. Sure. ATVs, on the other hand, I've been all over those. I love those things. I'll do that any day of the week.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'll get myself one of those electric bikes or something in practice on that. There you go. Get any bike. Those are cool. There's ones that like when you have to go up a hill, you can just zoom up it instead of pedal up. Yeah, that's smart. You can you can break the speedometer so it lets you go over 20 miles an hour.
Speaker: and it's good stuff. I do like those. I do think they're cool looking, but we have some kids in our neighborhood that have them. Go up and down the street. They do seem fun. I would have used one as a kid, I'm sure.
Speaker: Oh, for sure. i absolutely would have. I don't know how much they cost. I imagine they must be at least like a thousand. Oh, they've got to be. Yeah, there's no way there. i don't know. then Hey, listeners, do you think I should get rid of the bike? do you think I should keep it Do you have any tips? Do you want to buy it? Let me up. Are you making an anime and you need voice actor? Yeah.
Speaker: Hit us up at funinstellersnetwork.biz and let us know if you're looking to hire or if you're looking to buy 2009 Honda Shadow 750 Aero. There you go. Also, mom, if you didn't know I was on a motorcycle once with Mike, surprise.
Speaker: My mom is very against Harry, you want to buy it for me? Invest in the future. Yeah, mom, buy a motorcycle. Yeah.
Speaker: That money will go directly to your son. I'll use it to hire him for all sorts of things. Say, come on, mom. It's for me. It's for your favorite son. It's for your boy. It's for your boy.
Speaker: Also, just as a quick little... um I don't want to call it a pitch exactly yet, but it is something I'm working on is For the voice actors out there, or the aspiring voice actors out there, either or, um I'm currently working on a dashboard on our website. It is not live as of this recording, but I'm looking to create a dashboard that inspires voice actors to help create their voice reels by having characters already lined up for them to choose voices for, then to send them to me to make a reel.
Speaker: However, I do have it up on my Ko-Fi as something you can purchase as just a preemptive thing to do while I'm figuring out how to make it tangible on the website. So if you know anybody who needs a quick little reel, then I can do it for real cheap and real easy and real fast. Quick turnaround time. Give me like two hours and it's done.
Speaker: Cheap, easy and fast, you say? Cheap, easy and fast. Yeah, just like my motorcycle. yeah um And then Danny, of course, can be hired on Fiverr and he can be hired on Upwork. Upwork is the big one.
Speaker: Fiverr probably better. I've been doing some research and Danny, I feel like that's the one you want to push for external links and you want to push upward for your internal relationships. ah I will try that. I am learning that Fiverr is more approachable for people who are looking to hire who do not like have bigger jobs to do, but they're like, you know, easier for like solo and Upwork. When people go on there to hire, you have to make a whole account to be someone who hires.
Speaker: And it's it's like it's a little bit more of a rigorous process to, um, have something to offer for others. And there's a lot more rules put in place or Fiverr. They can just go and say, Hey, can you do this? Like, cause there's people who make reels on there. There's people who do workout tips on there. There's people who do all sorts of shit, um, video edits on there. And just a little bit more user friendly for people who are not Upwork members to find, um,
Speaker: work or find people to hire. And the algorithm on there is better because like if you do well and someone searches for that service, you'll likely show up in the search results where Upwork isn't quite like as intuitive.
Speaker: Now, Upwork, I'm not a huge fan of how it works. You have to buy. you have to buy a currency and then you spend it to apply to positions. Right. You get so many free. I forget what they call them. Connects. Connects.
Speaker: So you get so many connects for free each month and you can pay to get more of them or whatever to keep the thing afloat. Plus, like they take a fee every time you you get a job where I don't believe Fiverr does. But I haven't looked at at Fiverr in a little bit. I should touch that up. But anyway, just as as somebody who is used both and as somebody who has both as a as a. Well, I've only used Upwork as someone who seeks work, but I've used Fiverr as both looking for someone to hire and to be hired and Fiverr works a little bit more user friendly for like more platforms.
Speaker: So if I were you, I would lean a little bit more into to pitching that one. I will absolutely take that into consideration. Yeah. um So what is your you um you are on Fiverr, right? I am on Fiverr. Yep.
Speaker: I think it's just any guarantee. Any guarantee on Fiverr. That's F I V E R R for those who are looking it up. It's two hours at the end of Fiverr. Yes. So, yeah, check that out. And then, um yeah, I think that's pretty.
Speaker: Pretty much it. And also just as a shameless plug, by the time you hear this, if you are somebody who likes my other work as Adam, and other people I hang out with.
Speaker: Roleplayers is back alive from the dead. First episode launched today. I decided to... Well, I say today. episode launched September 11, 2026. I decided to change our release date to, instead of Wednesdays for all my shows, Wednesdays for TOQ, Fridays for Roleplayers. But ah it'll be on a bi-weekly schedule, at least for the foreseeable future, until we kind of get some more episodes under our belts. But...
Speaker: Either way, if you like that, you want to hear more silly voices and maybe some ah previews from Dan. I know Danny has been in other projects of ours on the Roleplayer channel. His name is in all of those titles. He is.
Speaker: But yeah, if you're into that and you want to hear some more of my voice and other people telling stories, please come check out Roleplayers. Yeah, Fiverr is just Danny Guarantee. Danny Guarantee at Fiverr. Easy peasy. Lemon squeezy.
Speaker: Just like everywhere else. Just like everywhere else. um That's it. Danny, go ahead and say your final thoughts before wrap up. Yeah, I actually got something a little different I want to tell everybody today. Oh, fuck!
Speaker: I know, I know. Something want to tell you, and I have a request. ah First of all, I want you to know that doing this, this stream, talking to you every week, getting to answer these questions like people care, it's like a dream come true. it really I know I've never told you guys that, ah but i really do appreciate you. I appreciate you guys just being here in my life, even if it's not directly, just knowing you're out there brings a smile on my face.
Speaker: giving me an excuse to talk to my best friend, put the smile on my face. It really is a dream come true. And i just, I feel like i I haven't told you yet that I appreciate you.
Speaker: So I wanted to make sure you knew that. But I also have a request from you. And in this world where it feels like good is hard to come by,
Speaker: A lot of people are out for themselves, and there are valid reasons for that. you know There's not really a lot to go around right now. It's understandable that everybody's kind of looking out for number one.
Speaker: But in a world like that, I've noticed that there's not too much you know goodwill out there. So I do have one small request of everybody listening here, and that's just... Maybe don't be a piece of shit this year.
Speaker: Maybe don't. Maybe don't. Just maybe don't. Be the change you want to see in this world. It's true. go listen to um Go listen to Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror and then have the lyrics on your screen because I think there's a lot of lyrics on there that people don't remember that really strike home right about now.
Speaker: You know, we all remember if you if you what is it if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. yeah part of it But there's a lot more other real deep stuff in there.
Speaker: that people should pay attention to. um And yes, I know earlier I said someone should eat shit and die. And like, that's a whole other thing. Being good. That person has been, that is, that person has been a piece of shit for a really, really long time and has gone against all of our requests and, and, and, uh, life advice and ways of life. And just,
Speaker: While I don't wish direct death upon anybody, I won't cry when that person is gone either. That's all I'm going to say. But but that's why. Don't be a piece of shit. Care about people. Care about more than just people other than just yourself. you know It's not that hard to just be a decent person.
Speaker: Don't be a dick. Try to be better. You can control how you act and react. You can't control people. Try and look at yourself from the outside. If somebody else were acting as I am right now, would I want to be around them?
Speaker: And if the answer is no, don't do that thing. If your first instinct is to yell at somebody, the poor customer service rep, think to yourself, man, if I were a customer service rep and somebody called me up saying what I'm saying now, would I like that?
Speaker: No? Change your attitude, jackass. Is that piece of shit behavior? That's piece of shit behavior right there. Danny, you and I should make like ah like a calendar ah for like things to do to not be a piece of shit for every day of the year.
Speaker: Every day. Holy shit. 365 ways to not be a piece of shit this year. Would people buy that? If you'd buy that, let me know. if you if Listen, if I put in the work to come up with 365 ways to not be a piece of shit, people better buy that fucking can. All right. So here's what I need you to do.
Speaker: Message us, fundsellersnetwork.biz. If you have any questions you want us to answer, if you think you would buy a Don't be a piece of shit calendar. Once a day, how not to be a piece of shit calendar. And also, let us know if you get your $5,000 check. I wouldn't hold my breath for Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can spend it on our calendar. It'll be $4,999. Yeah, very worth it. Very good. Can you imagine one those little desk calendars you have at work that you just rip the page off and it says like the next thing? And it says like, you know, February 2nd.
Speaker: How not to be a piece of shit for Groundhog How not to be a piece of shit today. If nothing else, could be for the month. Like each month, you know, instead of like one of those hot girl calendars or fireman calendars. That's a lot more attainable.
Speaker: But... I don't know if it's worth it You know, like, or maybe each week, maybe on, maybe like i said, instead of like a car, a motorcycle, a hot girl, a fireman, the picture at the top of the calendar is like me and you naked four challengers for that. I mean, that's fine too. We can be on it. If somebody will, if somebody will buy it, I will put on July, the month of my birth.
Speaker: I will, I will rock a speedo in the, uh, in the background of the, don't be a piece shit calendar.
Speaker: We'll crowdfund it. None of you wanted them work. And we lost all of our listeners. don't know. All right. Well, this was fun while it lasted. Yeah, almost 100 episodes. Also, Mbeluga's trying to bail out. She's like, oh, it depends on what week you do. Episode 100. She better be free. she's i will make sure of it.
Speaker: We will do this a different day if we have to. We will, because she promised. She said we're at and this is episode 97, by the way. Okay, I'll make sure to let her know.
Speaker: So we have 98 and 99. So she has at least, unless we do a dub ski one of these weeks, she has maybe two, potentially three weeks to get her shit together, figure out what she wants to talk about.
Speaker: And she's going to come on camera if she wants to stream it. All those things we have to figure out because it's coming up and we made. um The big episode 100 extravaganza. We have promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep. And miles to go before we sleep.
Speaker: Everybody, please take care of your Take your heart. Most importantly, take care of each other. And as always, just don't. okay just Just maybe don't. Just don't. Just don't.
Speaker: You piece of shit. Yeah. that's me yeah
