Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the SoulPod. Hello. And very specifically, welcome back to you, Christina. It's been a hot minute.
Speaker: Has it? here And the read the fact that you have to ask that just tells me all I need to know about how busy you really have been. Yeah.
Speaker: shit is just constantly going on let me tell you i know it's true no we haven't you and i haven't recorded since before my birthday and as such you were not uh you didn't get to be present for the last two episodes young so yeah Yeah, I know. Life is lifing. Yeah.
Speaker: I know I requested not to have to record last week with you. And that was just because there was so many things happening last week. yeah And this week, it's not that much different. Like, I'm totally in a mode right now where I have to get a new routine established. And so yeah that's not easy for an ADHD brain. Yeah.
Speaker: I have a lot of things. Especially not two ADHD brains. right yeah i'm just juggling i get it juggling a lot of things in my brain at once but it's good changes and it's going to be a good like honestly much better routine in my opinion yeah i think so yeah once it gets you know established Yeah, it was really funny because so today was the first day of my new job where I'm actually working, doing the job that i you know, yeah hired for. it Like last week there was two two days of trainings and it was just totally different than what I'm actually, you know, doing. Yeah. um So.
Speaker: Yeah, like not your day to day Yeah. yeah And I got to leave at two o'clock today and it felt wonderful. And you didn't have to start at 5 a.m. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: i got up, I think, at 6.15, but I actually woke up earlier than that and I'm about to yawn. I'm sorry. oh no. Oh, dear. Here we go.
Speaker: ah Yep, it starts. You woke up earlier than that, do you think, just because your body's used to it? or No, there was noises in my room. Things that were waking me up. up Actually, I think it started with a skunk because there's oh there's a resident skunk somewhere around my house.
Speaker: Right. not like we haven't i haven't been smelling them every single day lately but this morning it was like 5 30 ish in the morning deep and i smelled it and fucking smells wake me up and light wakes me up and yeah and so like and noises obviously but like i smelled that shit and it woke me up and um I sprayed, like I have an old ah Bath and Body Works spray.
Speaker: Yeah. That like a body spray or whatever that I keep near my bed. and like anytime I smell that shit, I just spray that because it masks it pretty well. And usually by the time the scent fades, the skunk's scent has also faded. um That's good.
Speaker: But not this morning.
Speaker: Do you think at any point you may end up deciding to... ah officially evict the skunk? I don't know how to do that. um I did try calling the city, the city's animal control department one time and I left them a message and i don't believe they've ever gotten back to me. So I'll have to try and call them again or something, I guess. Because I think that my husband keeps saying that he's gonna get a trap from the guy across the street. Apparently they they have like a
Speaker: a live trap or something. Okay. And he's keeps saying he's going to go over there and borrow it and trap. Like, I mean, we have not just a skunk, but we also have a groundhog that's digging giant holes and, in the yards tunneling underneath the house and shit so it's just so annoying it's so annoying i don't know what to do about anything i swear to god i just want to move but yeah but you know there there are options so but yeah i just figured that you know there's definitely got to be animal control or some other organization that can help
Speaker: yeah I don't know where to start or who to talk to. It's just, I mean, I guess I'll have to start with the police department because animal controls under them, but with the which department police department. Oh, because it was very quiet. That's okay.
Speaker: Um, yeah. Animal control is part of them like under them. Got you. Okay. But I don't know yeah on that. I don't know what to do. Yeah.
Speaker: Anyway. And I think you were talking about this morning. um that you woke up earlier than oh yes yes so yeah i wanted to sleep till 6 15 but alas that was not you know not gonna happen with the steel skunk skunkalicious um and then and then my husband was in bed and he came to bed you know whatever and when he first puts on his cpap machine he starts coughing and
Speaker: making all this noise and bullshit and woke me like kept me awake you know yeah so yeah I'm tired um yeah I definitely didn't go to sleep as early as I should have last night so I need to like get more disciplined about that but yeah yeah um yeah I was gonna say because like you sent me something I feel if I remember correctly like really late yeah Was it like midnight or something? Yeah.
Speaker: Or a little after. Yeah. um And I was I saw that this morning and i was just like, oh, no. I think I'm excited that I don't have to get up as early as I used to. So I'm just yeah really like. taking too much advantage of that, but... Yeah, because was going to say, like, it's your it's, like, by default, you know, more sleep on the front end of the day? and Would you call it the front end of the morning, or
Speaker: the front end of the of the sleep cycle would be the front the beginning i would the yes so the back end you're getting more sleep on the back end by default but uh you do have to be more deliberate about the front end exactly yes oh but i'm so excited for you dude Yeah. So like I was going to say, i got out at two and like it felt so awesome.
Speaker: And then I just like I had to go to the bathroom, which I could have done before I left the building. But I had already got my all my crap. And like I had like I didn't want to set it all down somewhere. But like I live two minutes away. So right it wasn't hard for me to just like decide to go to my car and come home to go to the bathroom. Hell yeah.
Speaker: But, um, excuse me, I'm hiccuping now. and then I had to turn around and go pick up kiddo because he has a whole new schedule now too. Right. and um Yeah. So it was really cool. It was like, this is what a normal working mom feels like.
Speaker: It was awesome. Yeah. Like going to sit and pick up the kid, sit in the car in the parking lot of his school, waiting for him to come out. It was awesome. yeah and then we were home i did have one other errand i ran and then think i got home like two or three thirty ish and it was like amazing hell yeah but then again my stomach didn't feel great so i was laying on the bed for a bit oh right that's true it's much better that's good i'm glad yeah i'm quite relieved
Speaker: And now I might have the toots because I had chili cheese fries as part of my dinner. Oh, no Not really. Not really very much because i really i mean, I've said it before. I'll say it again.
Speaker: My stomach is like a furnace. It just like completely demolishes everything that it receives. But, you know, you really can't escape the chili If there's beans in it, you can't. i know Yeah. It's, I mean, like, it was so, like, emulsified that it was like, there could be beans in here, I'd have no idea. It could just be straight meat. Or it could be straight beans. Who knows? That's hilarious. I mean, you know what I mean. You've probably seen that kind of chili on fries and stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. But regardless, they were good. You know, National Coney Island that's out here? oh yeah. So they have their own chili they make. They have like, i don't know, factory where they make their own chili. You could actually buy it frozen in a brick. um But like, yeah, but it is like basically what you just described. You would not know what's in it because it just looks like thick sauce.
Speaker: new gru that's what i picture gruel i'm very that word that's what i picture i'm pretty sure there's no beans in it but honest to god i don't know i mean it would make it cheaper to make yeah you know rather than it just be pure meat true but it's the kind of stuff that you could like very easily use as like a prop food in a medieval film Really? Of just like slopping it into a bowl. This is peasant food. Yep. It's gruel. Yep.
Speaker: It's all tasty. It's almost like just like boiling in a cauldron. Like in a out of a can. Right. Exactly.
Speaker: you just have like, you know, you take like 20 bricks of that and, you know, melt it all down in a cauldron. Right. And you have your medieval stew.
Speaker: yep live like the peasants bitch this oh yeah so fun oh so fun guess of the fuck what oh boy i don't know it is fall up in this bitch No, it's not.
Speaker: Yes, it is. What are you talking about? It's only September 8th. I know. That's what I mean mean. It's crazy. There are so many trees that are already turning.
Speaker: Oh, so many trees. It's blowing my mind. I'll need to take a look harder next time I'm out. And well, I don't know. I mean, I don't know what it's like out where you are, but it is out here. Yeah. New England. They're getting the jump on everybody else in the country.
Speaker: um But it's like making me nervous because it's like if they all just die, if the leaves all died like too early in the season and it's still fucking hot, they're all just going to turn brown.
Speaker: ah So I worry. i want my golds and my reds and my oranges. Have you guys had a lot of rain? not lately but like a bit over the summer obviously like and we had a fair bit through the spring okay and i feel like the spring is when it really counts for getting some good color in your fall leaves um i um I could be wrong about that, but it's just my intuition after living here for fucking 13 years now
Speaker: I've noticed that when it rains more, the leaves stay on the trees longer. And so, yeah they even after they turn, they're still on the trees longer.
Speaker: you know? Yeah. I just like what I mean is more so that like I worry about them getting scorched. Yeah. If it's too hot. then hot there could be a problem for sure yeah because it's like been in the 80s still for multiple days um which i mean it is early september that's like not too out of the ordinary Um, and what I will say for sure that I've noticed is that I have needed, is it was a little warmer today, but like, cause I still have the air conditioning going right now. But over the last few days, I've like turned the air conditioning on in the living room in the like late afternoon.
Speaker: Cause that's when um the living room is on the Western side of the house. So like the sun is at that point beating down. Yeah. Um, through, through the windows even with the blinds ah ah on.
Speaker: But, a you know, so I turn on the AC for that. But then like after a few hours, like literally just two or three hours tops, it's like too cold and I have to turn it off.
Speaker: And I'm like, okay, yeah. it's definitely there's like a shift there's like a barometric shift going on because uh yeah usually it's i mean my last fucking electric bill was over 300 so yeah yep it was hot this summer for sure but yeah so but it is it's fall and like kind of thank god i'm like so i like i i've loved this summer but i'm also just like so ready so ready for fall jim is furious that i bought a pumpkin spice creamer oh no birthday he was like it's not fall yet
Speaker: he could buy his own creamer he did actually through he shouldn't yesterday making any noise about you buying something for yourself like come on well the thing is that we buy we you historically have bought the creamer for the both of us i understand i opted for that one and he was like meh but then we needed creamer yesterday so I sent him into the store because thank goodness he feels like doing that. And I don't.
Speaker: So he ran in and grabbed creamer, but he came out with two different creamers. One for himself, one for me. and he and he was like, because he he loves cookie butter and I just could not care less.
Speaker: i I really am underwhelmed by cookie butter and I don't know why it's so popular. ah So he got himself Chobani cookie butter creamer.
Speaker: okay And then he pulled mine out and he's like, and basic bitch. And I was like, yes. Dude, I've never had cookie butter, but I'll tell you which creamer like is underwhelming to me, which I don't understand why it's so popular.
Speaker: okay Sweet cream. I love sweet cream. I don't get it. and ah Like the Italian sweet cream specifically. but he um So you've never had cookie butter in any form?
Speaker: I don't know. and It doesn't sound familiar. Have you ever had those like European, I can't even remember what the brand is. Those cookies that they give you on airplanes sometimes that are like rectangles.
Speaker: Biscop. Yeah. That's cookie butter. That's what that flavor is. Well, I like that. Yeah, so, and that's the thing, like, it comes in the form that, like, you know, kind of looks like peanut butter, and, like, I guess it's fine. It's it's fine. Like, it's not anything special to me. Okay. Everybody's like, I love cookie butter, and I'm just like, eh.
Speaker: e Yeah, to me, sweet cream just does doesn't have any flavor at all, and it's like, I don't get it that's the thing. Like, it's not, it's not, it is like a, just like a sweet cream.
Speaker: That's what it is. And I like it. i I think what I like the most of sweet cream, like of any form, is Cold Stone Creamery, their sweet cream ice cream is so much better than vanilla. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: I think I've had that, to be honest. Yeah. What I have gotten, i haven't been to Cold Stone in so long. Me neither. when I was a teenager, it was like kind of like one of the places to go ah with my friends and family sometimes.
Speaker: My default order every single time was the ah sweet cream ice cream with Kit Kat bars mashed in it. Ooh, that sounds good.
Speaker: It was. Let me tell you something. Tell me something. This is crazy. So this ah this ah this episode might turn into an ice cream episode. Oh no. Yeah.
Speaker: So. Here we go um There's this place that I discovered on my, like during my last route of driving bus. um So they have like this insane,
Speaker: menu okay they have a biscoff recipe that's what made me think of it um and i'm trying to remember what recipe yeah i'll tell you i'll tell you what i mean by that in a minute okay so now i lost my train of thought stuff yeah but it's like they have multiple different things recipes to choose from it's basically a concoction of various things in an ice cream in a cup like mixed with ice cream and so like the way cold stone does where you can add stuff yeah but they don't they have like do that be said they don't do that folding in thing on a cold stone at all like okay so they just layer stuff in a cup in a like plastic cup that's clear so you can see all the stuff
Speaker: It's almost like a Sunday on steroids, I guess. um But they have a Biscoff one and I can't think of the name of the f freaking thing right now, the name that they call it.
Speaker: Okay. I cannot think of the name that they call it, but it is ah amazing. It is ah amazing. It is. Oh my God. I never had anything like this before. And it's so fucking good. um and they have like a peanut butter and chocolatey kind of one um they have all these different ones and i've only tried a couple so far but like it that place is so effing good man i took so i took my kid there after um baseball one night and i think he was impressed i'm pretty sure he was impressed um
Speaker: Oh, my God. so next time you come out, dude, if you are at all interested in trying some ice cream, this place is to die for. And they're open late, too. They're open to like 10. Hmm.
Speaker: ah See, this is the thing is that, like, when it comes down to it, I don't actually care that much about ice cream. Yeah. I can take it or leave it because most of the time if I'm hungry of any kind, I don't want anything sweet. Mm hmm.
Speaker: So it's like it has to hit me in the right mood. Yeah. Well, I ate it for, I made one of those my lunch one day.
Speaker: Well, that works. Yeah, it's crazy. I was like so full. I was like, yeah, I think I'm good. i don't think i don't think I need any food now. It's pretty big. Amazing. man So yummy.
Speaker: I remember back before I lived in Boston, ah I had a couple of friends who worked at this one frozen yogurt place in my hometown.
Speaker: um And they worked there at different times. So like one friend worked there before I moved to Boston. Then another one worked there while I was in Boston, but he was, you know, still working there when I came home on my breaks and stuff.
Speaker: And so like, and probably a couple other people that I can't even remember that also worked there, but um' those are the main two. But every single time they were working, i would go like see them, go hang out at the Froyo shop to hang out with them.
Speaker: And I got like free fro-yo all the time. Yummy. Like but just not because they could like give me a discount or give me like any sort of official, like they just gave it away to me. That's awesome. Yeah. It was great.
Speaker: Oh, my God. i have a I have a similar story and you're going to. I even remember real quick. i even remember one time ah while I was in school and home on break and my friend was working there. ah He was working alone and he needed to cut up some fresh fruit. But there were people like to like consistently coming in to the place. And so he asked if I would go in the back and cut up some kiwi.
Speaker: but then So I did. like It was like really quick. It was like, you know, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. i don't know. Yeah. um But it was fun. it was just sort of like, hey, you got free labor out of me. But, you know, at the same time, I keep getting free fro-yo out of you. So yeah, fair trade.
Speaker: That's awesome. But yeah, after that's the tough thing is that after you start getting it for free, like it becomes impossible to like want to pay the full price later on. Right.
Speaker: That makes sense like to me. It is a big old drag. Anyway, what's your story? um So when I was in high school, the guy that I dated right after you were born, he used to work at a bulk food store. Now,
Speaker: You may not know what a bulk food store is, but I can tell you. okay um They used to have them a lot where like, um gosh,
Speaker: sorry. You could go in there and you could buy like however much of any anything they have by the weight. So you could go in and like get a bag and you like measure out how much you want and just like they weigh it on a scale and you pay for it like by the weight. That's fascinating.
Speaker: Yeah. So it's called bulk food. And then they used to have a section that was like all candy and stuff. And so my boyfriend worked at this place and he used to literally just take a bunch of blow pops.
Speaker: They sold blow pops there by the, by the pound. Blow pops. You know what they are? Yes. It's just a very silly name. Yes. Yes, it is.
Speaker: It's always been a joke. So, okay. Here's actually, hang on. Because for a second, I was picturing push pops. Oh, no. Are you? Do you just mean like, do you know what a blow pop is? Like dum-dums?
Speaker: No. Blow pops their own specific thing. And what that is, is a sucker, like a large sucker that has gum in the middle.
Speaker: So you, it's like a Tootsie Roll Pop, but times two the size like times two of the size of a Tootsie Roll Pop. But you suck on it until you get to the middle where there's gum.
Speaker: See, I've had that and I don't remember what I've called it, but I don't think. The wrapper actually says Blow Pop on it. Okay. Okay. Okay. I guess I've just not come across them in so long that I just forgot.
Speaker: Again, because I don't gravitate to sweet things. So it's like, if I ever had the opportunity to have one in the last, like, 15 years, I didn't take it. Right? So he would just take them?
Speaker: Yes. Just like your friends would give you free frozen yogurt and probably not pay for it, too. So that's what I'm saying. But so what would happen was I used to take them school.
Speaker: school and sell them for a quarter a piece hustling dude i hope to god i don't get in trouble for this oh my god it was like 35 years ago like or 34 34 because it was right after i was born something like that yes so yeah there's there is a statute of limitations 34 oh my god
Speaker: um yeah I guess there I guess there is a statute of limitations let's hope there usually like 12 years or something yeah or even less sometimes crazy but yeah that's fucking yeah fun times though fun times yeah I don't know I uh I'm just so fucking pumped for fall Yeah. It's like that meme ah that I think I've shown you before. It's like, I'm so pumped for fall, I'm going to fill my ass with leaves. Ew! I've heard of that one. you
Speaker: I'll send it to you, don't worry. oh my Walmart pickup order is ready! yeah Anyway.
Speaker: yeah I'm so pumped, dude. Like, if there's anything, any sweet thing that I wish that I could have. God, I think I even talked about this recently. I want fucking, I want a Sammy's pie shake.
Speaker: And I can't have one because they're in Provo and also they closed a long time ago. oh wow. I've never heard of that. Provo, Utah. i I think I told you about it um because it was the place that I used to go to when I was in college ah at BYU specifically who they were famous it was like a classic diner but they were famous for their pie shakes where they took a slice of pie and ice cream and put it in a blender gave it to you like that yeah and I would always get the pumpkin pie shakes yeah phenomenal
Speaker: you Love me pumpkin pie. suppose can make my own. Probably. yeah All I need is pumpkin pie, which I think I have. I think I've got one in there from like two years ago when I got two pies for our Thanksgiving when you were here. and then we only made one of them.
Speaker: I think the one we made was the chocolate pie. chocolate something cream pie i don't know I don't remember anymore but I like the other one I have still in my freezer and I was going to like I think I had it like on I was reserving it for possibly making it sometime last fall and then I never did o mainly because i was not here for Thanksgiving and so it's still in there sweet
Speaker: So if it's not freezer burnt, ah ah maybe I'll do that. Because I do have a blender too, so I just need some vanilla fucking ice cream.
Speaker: o Let me know how it is if you do it. Or even better, if I can get some get my hands on some sweet cream ice cream. That'd even better.
Speaker: and I bet I fucking could. even I don't know if there's anywhere that sells sweet cream ice cream specifically, like that flavor at a grocery store, but a cold stone is not too far away from where I live.
Speaker: So worst comes to worst, I go and be like, give me a quart of sweet cream. yeah Be like, this is a stick up. yeah oh Okay.
Speaker: Hold on. Interesting. So you see the one that says Biscoff Supreme? yeah that fucking thing was so good wow the other thing was the pb overload is the other one i that i had wow these things look disgusting frankly they look pretty gross but they're so fucking good well that's the that's the thing is that like it's they look so overly sweet and rich that they make they they look unappealing to me oh my god that's just me no but it's the truth though they like they are so rich they really really are yeah that it blew my mind like what i was eating i was like holy fuck and so it was hard to finish it because by the end you were just like ah yeah and that's why i say like i have to be in the right mindset for it right
Speaker: Because if I am, if I'm not craving it specifically, like, like that was like fixing to induce my gag reflex. Like, I'm not kidding. Yeah, It's like I couldn't even, i wouldn't even want to like look at one. Gotcha. Like right now specifically, but another time when I was, you know, hankering for when I could feel differently. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah yeah and they're big enough i said yes i had that brownie sundae that i sent you a picture of like a month or two ago um i had a hankering that night but they're big enough for what to share were you at a restaurant which i was yeah yeah yeah Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, i was going to was a way bigger Sunday than I was expecting. yeah Yeah, the next time I go there and get anything like that, I probably will share it with somebody. Yeah.
Speaker: I would have to. Like, if if we do get to go next time I'm there, even if I'm hankering for one, I'll probably just be like, let's pick one that we can share. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Because it's like, it'll it's the kind of thing where Even if I'm in the mood, like something so rich and so big and dense is like, I'm going to run out of steam before I finish. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. For sure. That's one of the nice things about having a sweets consumer that I live with. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's easier. bought off my ah my leftovers on him all the time.
Speaker: so it's helpful but yeah man life has just been lifing for sure the place that i work in it now they have like yeah really kind of strict rules about what you can eat it's kind of annoying weird Yeah, because it's a place where... You mean like for your packed lunch or something? Yeah, even employees. They don't want us to drink pop, like, you know, soda. Weird. Yeah, it's like if you're going to bring anything like that, you have to have it in a container that nobody can see through so they don't know what you're drinking. Do you think it's like because the students would be like asking for some or? No, it's it's like because they're trying to teach them how to eat healthy. You want us to kind of be a good example. That makes sense. So, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. you can't Well, that's like good for you because you need to drink more water anyway. or that's not, you know. Yeah, that's not. I mean, I drink a lot of water. But like, I think even with, if I have coffee, I probably need to put it in like a, you know, thing they can't, like today I had stopped.
Speaker: I went through McDonald's and I had oh yeah coffee from there because I didn't. prepare to make any to take with me. So, you know, they're plastic clear cups. It was an iced coffee.
Speaker: yeah so i everyone could see I was like, oh well. Well, at least when you do usually prepare and make your coffee in the morning, you just have it in a to-go cup or a traveler cup. Usually.
Speaker: So no huge change to your routine there right but yeah dude so it was like okay where we left off the last time that we recorded um or rather last time that both last time we recorded and last time you appeared on this episode on the show jesus christ where are my words you had officially finished work at the bus driving mm-hmm and
Speaker: you had a few days or a few weeks, two weeks, three weeks off. Yeah, it was like technically three. Yeah. hmm.
Speaker: Because if you had been restarting this school year for bus driving again, your break would have ended a little earlier. Yeah, it would have. um Yeah. Last week. Because you didn't have to.
Speaker: you got off scot-free. Yeah, I mean, I did actually do the two days of training. Let me check you check my calendar really quick because I'm i'm trying to remember how everything went.
Speaker: So August 13th was my last day driving. Right. And then if I had bid on a route, it would have been August 31st. So I had two solid weeks completely off.
Speaker: h And then... um Yeah. If I had gone back to the bus driving, I would have done the bidding on the 31st, which is a Monday.
Speaker: yeah but the next day, I think I might have had to go in to pick the rest of my work sites, special assignments or whatever.
Speaker: And then Wednesday, the second, they would have had a which they did actually have because I had friends that went. um Mandatory in-service, which I know that name, that word confuses everybody.
Speaker: and in-service is just like a meeting. just Right. okay Educators call meetings. Yeah. And sometimes they call them professional development days. That's another word they use. In-service the old school word for yeah that. Yeah. Um, but it's funny because this year, like, cause normally for the Wednesday before school starts in service, um, usually it's just sitting in this one fucking humongous room. listening to people drone on and on for like five, six hours. And it's, no it's like, yeah just kill me, please. ah But this time around, they loaded everybody up into buses and they went on a fucking field trip. Oh my God. They we were like, we got rid of Christina. Now we can go have fun.
Speaker: but and they all just built a new school in our district. Cause one of them is really, one of the schools is really old and they were like, closing the building down so they built a new school and it's really really close to where my son goes to school actually it's hilarious how close it is um and they loaded everybody up and drove them down to that new school just so they could see it i don't think they got out and went in i don't think but oh gotcha they just drove by it so everyone could see it and like know where it was and stuff
Speaker: um Yeah, I don't know what else happened the rest of the day that day, but I know my one friend sent me a picture from in the bus because it was my old bus they were on. Oh, my God. i was like Is it disgusting? I was like, I tried so hard to clean as much as I could on my last day.
Speaker: Oh my god. She's like, i go I go, is it smelly? She's like, it's totally smelly because it's hot in here and there's like 40 people in here. I was like, yeah! Yeah, that would do my god.
Speaker: But that was a fun, like, yeah. I was in training that day too, so I was like low-key messaging you know her and another friend of mine at work and they were like, yeah, we're in a bus. Yeah.
Speaker: But yeah, like basically since you stopped work your last day of work for bus driving, you interviewed and were hired at the at your current place. Yeah. And you started. yeah And I know it was only one day, but you said it was really good.
Speaker: Like, it's like, i I don't want you to give specifics, obviously, like there needs to be certain levels of privacy. Yeah. yeah um But like, if you want to talk, I want to hear a little bit about like, you know, how it went and what sort of stuff you got to do and everything.
Speaker: Yeah. So um it's special needs, but they're all adults. And yes, a school. Yeah. Yeah. specifically and so i'm like an aide in the classroom and today really didn't do much i just mean the teacher got up and did a lot of the talking because she's trying to like teach the kids or the students the um expectations in the classroom the rules and like also the kind of things that she wants to do every every day is going to have a different like theme they like every day of the week has a different theme yeah And just stuff like that. So it it took a while, but, you know, yeah she went through everything that she wanted to talk to them about. But like, in the meantime, you know, there's kids, there's kids. I keep saying kids. I'm used to saying kids and a lot of them refer to them as kids, but they're all 18 and older. So yeah students, um you know, would need to take a bathroom break. And sometimes they need to be escorted because sometimes you have like one who, likes to wander too much and and not come back to the classroom or whatever. yeah
Speaker: But they're you know they're teenagers and up, so like they have a mind of their own. And it's not just they're wandering around because they don't know where they're supposed to go. It's like they literally are wandering around because they're being like sneaky, trying to be sneaky. So you have to shadow them sometimes. you mentioned that the teacher you're working with ah at least for the first few weeks, is also brand new to the school, right? Yes. Yes. Cool. Yeah. yeah So she was in the trainings that I was in, and yeah it was her first day teaching there. So we're both learning the ropes as we go today.
Speaker: we were awesome. Yeah. And there's another aide in the classroom who has been there. Like she was there for a year. So she kind of knew how everything was supposed to, you know, go down. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: But basically, i I'm just sitting there and observing and trying to, like, get to know the kids' names, like, remember their names and, like, you know, remember certain things that I might be told about them, but you know, based on the previous person's experience. But the other lady in our room, if she knows them, she'll, you know, she could say, hey, watch out for so-and-so because that's one that will go sneaking off or whatever, you know? That kind of thing.
Speaker: But... Like, I just tried to be helpful when I could be helpful. And there wasn't really any need. Like, there wasn't a lot of instances where I needed to be helpful. So I just tried to pay attention, make sure, like, if, if you know, things that I could, like, learn or remember or whatever, I was just, like, trying really hard to, like, integrate all that crap into my head. Right. Right. Yeah.
Speaker: But, um yeah. and Like, I liked that... i liked that When we had like a little quick stretch break when where everybody stood up and did ah did some stretches stuff. There's one student who I believe he's autistic. There's probably quite a few that have autism, but, um but his main, I think that's his main disability is autism potentially. Um, but he kept walking in, in a diagonal line between me and like the sink where you can wash your hands. i kept walking back where where And at one point when we were doing the stretching, he was standing near me. And so we were doing like hands on the hips and twisting our upper bodies like that. And I go, could you do this? And he started doing it. I was like, cool. So i was like, you know, trying to be interactive with with the students.
Speaker: And then another one went over to the sink to wash his hands. And I followed him over there because I think he was not sure what he was doing. And I didn't want him to like start doing some crazy stuff, like pull all the like paper towels or something, you know, who knows? Because I don't know these guys yet. But I just walked over and I turned on the or he took the soap and he started going like poop, poop, poop.
Speaker: He's like five pumps. I go, that's enough soap. You only need one pump. was like, take that away from you now. And then I turned on the knob the faucet knob for him. And he's like, and I want to make sure you rinse all that off now. Cause there's a lot on your hands. Yeah. Just being a mom basically.
Speaker: yeah But I think it's going to be yeah, You know, it just it seems like the days are going to go by quickly. and I mean, compared to what I'm used to, they will. Right.
Speaker: But, you know, I'm sure things will come up as the year go year goes by, you know, as the days go by during the school year that I'll be like, yeah you know. there There will be challenges off and on, I'm sure. I mean, I've had them myself over the years with bus driving. So i right i i don't know. i Like, really, anything can happen.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. but Yeah, it was it was a nice, easy day. And i was glad to know that I didn't need to stand the entire time because at first I was standing a lot. And luckily, my back never started freaking out on me today. I don't know why. Oh, good. I don't know how or why, but like, literally, yeah, it's like, thank God. um Yeah.
Speaker: But at one point, the other the other classroom aid lady sat down And I was like, okay, I guess that's my cue. I can sit. It was about an hour, an and half. you have like a little desk or do you just sort of have like a seat in the corner or? No. off to the side or something? There's like long tables set up um in a U like shape-ish. Okay. Okay. And there are chairs all the way around. And that's where the students were sitting. And then there's two round tables that are like a larger, like larger of round with chairs. And the students could sit there if they wanted to, but most of them went to that right rectangular, you know, table set up.
Speaker: So where I had just been kind of leaning against the air conditioner thing for the most most of the morning, um the other lady went and sat down at one of the round tables like there.
Speaker: They had chairs all the way around. So we just take took the chairs that were closer to the rest of the kids and turned them around. So like we were sort of close, you know, pretty close to that still.
Speaker: um So it wasn't like we were in a corner or anything like that. And we don't have our own, you know, personal seats, know, just grabbing a chair at one of the tables and flipping it around so we can see the teacher and see the rest of the classroom and stuff.
Speaker: That's good. Nice. Yeah. I'm i'm excited. i just, the only thing that freaks me out a little bit is the having to pack my own lunch. Cause they don't give you a lunch hour. We work through the lunch cause we will eat lunch with them In the cafeteria.
Speaker: And so it's paid and we just can't leave to go get food. They discourage ordering food. So yeah I have to basically pack a lunch every night now. And that's like totally not normal for me.
Speaker: Yeah. So I've just got it. That's why i was saying like, I need a whole new routine. I've got to establish this routine for myself. Right. I mean, like, yeah, I get it. i For a long time, I was really good about packing my lunch to go to work.
Speaker: And I was even like getting up early and like cooking chicken. Yeah, I remember that. guy Yeah, like those days. Those were the golden days of my packing lunch because I was cooking chicken and slicing it up to make myself like chicken, like really premium chicken sandwiches. um um They were so good.
Speaker: But ah ah sometimes, I mean, sometimes sandwiches are high maintenance, like really high maintenance. and so like it's important to remember or be reminded that like dinner leftovers work perfect for for packed lunch, especially if you like making yourself like a you know, the stew that you love, those like that, like vegetable soup that you were making.
Speaker: Mm hmm. Because you can like microwave stuff, I assume. Yep. Yeah. Like, oh, that'd be perfect. and know Yeah. Had a leftover glass jar from like a spaghetti sauce or something. And I opened up um a chunky soup last night and dumped it into the glass jar, put the cap on it, stuck it in the fridge. And so today I took the cap off, stuck that glass jar in the microwave, and I just ate out of that with my with a spoon. Nice. I love it. worked pretty well. That's perfect. Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, I love it. Yeah. I'm so happy for you. it's It's like in a very literal sense, but also such like a existential, like esoteric sense. That first day of school energy.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It really feels that way. Even for me, who's not doing it, like, you know, not working in a school like you are. Right. um But that's, I think, why i just got so excited about the fact that it's fall. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah it's not fall but it's fall yeah it is yeah I didn't even think about it like that yeah it really feels like it I don't know I just uh got them vibes
Speaker: yay yeah and now I'm hoping that that will translate over into finally like cleaning up and organizing like my desk space and like certain areas of my room
Speaker: I've been feeling that too. i yeah like just my kitchen. i need to overhaul my kitchen because I really need to be able to like be efficient with getting food ready for the next day there and stuff like that.
Speaker: Yeah. Question. Could you hear the chair that was being dragged around directly above me? I couldn't, but I think I was talking at the same time, I don't think I could hear that while I was talking. It was the most obnoxious. Just like constant dragging for like several seconds in a row. What the actual hell?
Speaker: I don't even know. don't understand why people... need to drag a chair around in their house like that every night. don't know, dude. It's every night, isn't it? It's like, I feel like it's in the kitchen, but also like it sounds like it's right above me, so I don't know.
Speaker: i just don't know. So weird. Anyway. Yeah, i've I've got that bug real bad. man. Whew. man
Speaker: Yeah. so And life goes on Fingers crossed that they like me. After my 90 or 120 days, I saw two different references like the...
Speaker: who do you when you're um probation probationary period thank you oh yeah i saw two different references to the probationary period and one was 90 and one was 120 and i'm like okay well which one is it it might be 90 in regards to one thing and 120 in regards to another thing i don't know for sure but okay it was kind of strange So yeah, I mean, I'm just hoping that I do a good enough job that they like me and don't want to get rid of me. i have no doubts that they will adore you and hope that you never leave ever.
Speaker: whoa Aww. Because it's just like, youre it's so the perfect thing for you to be doing. Truly. I'm so excited about it. It feels like everything in your life has like culminated in the ability to do this.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. It's not a hard job. And that's what's nice about it for me. Yeah. You know, I mean, I've i've done enough stressful shit for the last 30 years, you know. True. True.
Speaker: You you've earned the right to ah not phone it in, but like to get a respite. And this is like, even though it's not like necessarily easy work, it's certainly a respite.
Speaker: Yeah. Compared to what you're used to. Yes. Yeah. I'm happy for you. Thanks. It's so good. Thanks for letting me talk about it.
Speaker: Of course. i was so glad you were like happy to, because I wanted, I was like, I need to know. need to know what you're doing. i got like, I was so, i was just thinking about it. I was like, man, it's been 10 years of me knowing, like learning and then knowing what you're like,
Speaker: day-to-day work life is like and now it's just like all brand new and i'm just like ah what are you doing tell me everything oh and the phone thing i'll explain that real quick okay so like the students that have phones are not allowed to use them during the day and they literally have lock boxes for their phones oh they have this big old like metal box that has slots in it And like in a clear plexiglass like front. um So like they slide out, they put all their phones in there and then they lock that thing and it sits there like that all day. And so they don't want us looking at our phones all day because like, again, we are supposed to be an example to them. Yeah.
Speaker: Okay. That makes sense. So I pulled it out and peeked at it a few times and I like, really quickly would respond like if i saw a message from you but i just could not keep my phone out and i couldn't be yeah rolling on it and all that crap so no it uh like believe me when i say like i fully did not expect that you would be able to just message whenever yeah um so like i i get it like really you technically haven't been able to do that anyway before when you were working because you were driving so much yeah
Speaker: um and i know that you could like when you were parked or like on your brakes and stuff but like you know i uh i i did not expect and it it if goes without saying probably but like fully do not feel like unless i'm telling you like you know red alert emergency sending you the siren emoji like a hundred times oh my lord unless i'm doing that like it's very not urgent and you can just, you know, respond whenever. Yeah. And actually, you know that i have that Pixel watch
Speaker: Yeah. Pardon. Sorry. um I need to get that bitch charged up and relinked up with my phone. I haven't used it for so long. oh yeah but I will wear that because a lot of times I was pulling out my phone just to look at the time because there is a clock in the room, but it was a couple minutes slow and there was a glare on it from where I was sitting a lot of the time. So I couldn't really tell where the hands were. on yeah so I was checking checking my phone a lot of a lot just for the time just to see the time yeah if I have my watch on my wrist that I can just boop you know true it doesn't show you messages if you uh yes yeah that would be perfect let me get up to my phone I can I can see if somebody's calling like if it's an emergency like the school my so my kids right was calling me um right I'll know that or if somebody has an urgent like
Speaker: yeah situation or question or something I can like tell and they said that if we do need to make a phone call it's fine if we have to step outside to in the hallway to like do that so right yeah as long as you're not out there for like 20 minutes or something you know yeah but I promise I won't abuse the siren emoji i'll only do it if it's super urgent yeah but uh yeah that's good that's good or i need to go find my my watch and my charger i mean they're yeah i know where they are basically but i have to dig through a bunch of crap because like
Speaker: That room where I used to sit on the other end of that couch right is so buried in stuff right now because I don't go in there anymore, so I don't have to clean the couch off to like sit there.
Speaker: it gets buried and nobody ever... like goes through it goes through it cleans up shit nothing i i just was like so pissed off earlier when i went there looking for something i was just like what the fuck because my husband goes there every single night do you think he ever could pick up crap that my my kid leaves no no hardly hardly ever so ah ah plate or two here and there but that's it and like For the listeners, it's the couch. That's all she's referring to. couch that I used to sit on the end of, yes. And ever since I got my own television in my room, I don't go in there anymore because I was subjected to YouTube like...
Speaker: 18 hours a day right right you know that's like a horrible thing to admit but honest to god it's like it's that or video games it's like oh i don't want to be in here anymore i just want to watch something i want to watch because i'd be watching i'd put my earplug ear earbuds in and watch crap on my phone all the time when i'm sitting in there and it was just i'm sick of this you know so sick of it yep but anyhow um Yeah, so it's it's in that area.
Speaker: my phone and my and the charge my phone my watch and that charger is over there because there's a plug on that wall. You'll find it. oh my god. Please say a prayer for me.
Speaker: I will. Please say a prayer for me. so Anyway, that's just like us catching up a little bit. Yeah. And now I feel like we're caught up.
Speaker: I think so too. Hell yeah. So welcome back to the show, Christina. ah I'm not sure you've ever taken two weeks off in a row. Aside from the fact from the time last year when we took two weeks off in a row when we were going Anahata's. But I don't think that I've ever had a two guests in a row right while you were while you were not...
Speaker: here so welcome back I'm happy and let me ask you i cannot keep straight in my head when Anahadis is this year so like what day are you leaving it's the last weekend of September so I'm gonna leave here i'm driving down on the twenty third i think look the calendar just real quick Yes, I'm going to drive down on the 23rd. I'm going to stay at Tom's parents' house that night and then check in on the 24th.
Speaker: And then I'll check out and leave on the 27th. Stay at Tom's parents' house again that night and then probably drive back Monday the 28th.
Speaker: Oh my goodness. And yeah, I guess you haven't really announced that you're not going to be there this year. um Yeah. Which, you know, with considering everything that you're currently dealing with, all the life changes that you're, you know, trying to navigate, very makes total sense.
Speaker: Yeah. With a new job, it's not exactly awesome to be like, Hey, by the way, i need like five days right off or whatever. Yeah. it wouldn't be quite that many, but you know what I mean?
Speaker: Yeah, and unpaid as well. Yeah, be less than ideal when especially when you're already like dealing with a period of not getting paid during between like the transition. So exactly. I get it.
Speaker: It makes sense. But you know. tis what it is and it'll be there next year oh i'm definitely planning for next year he yeah oh yes i'll put in for those days off as soon as they're announced whatever yeah as long as i'm already past my probationary period yeah that i but which i would imagine it'll be that by that point for sure yeah ah yeah anyho but think that's our episode
Speaker: Yay! How exciting! Thanks for joining us. I know it's been a little bit of a lackadaisical week this week. But, you know, we have fun with it. And we just we're just vibing. Yay!
Speaker: ye he Anyway, thank you so much for listening, you guys. We are so, so grateful that you're still here with us after two whole years of doing this.
Speaker: And we'll be back again next week. Yay!
