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00:00:01
The one where the gang gets lost in Steve's lush head of hair
41 Plays1 year ago
The gang tries to go full meta this episode, but Matt reels them back in to finally settle the age-old debate: Is NYC just a big State College?
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Transcript
Humor and Confessions
00:00:00
Speaker
I mean, my dirty little secret is I haven't listened to a single episode. Oh, man.
00:00:08
Speaker
That is I don't know if it's because I'm there. Do I need to go relit? I don't know. I'm sure it sounds different. No way. You definitely did listen. Oh, wow. These the lies never stop. But there was an early there was an early episode that the following episode you commented on. Oh, was my audio over process because it was like super choppy, like your your audio. So either lies upon lies.
00:00:34
Speaker
You just made that that very accurate assumption or just another classic Matt lie. Yeah, I do. I do tend to lie a lot. I did.
The Art of Editing and Storytelling
00:00:42
Speaker
I did record myself and tried to listen to the audio whenever we were talking about the. Well, hold on a second. So you won't listen to audio when it's recorded with all of us. But if it's just if it's just the the match. Well, you record one and then you're having a conversation.
00:01:03
Speaker
I'll play all the characters. Radio gold. I've thought about doing that. My favorite thing that Doug said the other time was he says something to Paco. He's like, check the tapes. There's a record of it now. He's like, go ahead. He's like, check the tape. Check the tape. Run it back. What were we talking about? I was just listening back to that too.
00:01:28
Speaker
his standing record. Man, I had to listen to some of this audio so much. It's disgusting. Yeah, I would think of anybody, you would be the most sick of, you wouldn't want to even hear it once it gets, you know, the condenser of your card in editing it so much, it just must, you must be sick of it. Yeah, but the finished product is always- Well, you wouldn't know what the finished product is, man, apparently. If nothing else, like I'll make sure that I listen to it just so that
00:01:56
Speaker
Because Doug does put a lot of effort, like at the end, you did one where it was like, when you have like the two-parter, you'll do like the continue thing. There was one that you were wrapping some story up about the travel and then it started going to an instrumental piano. It's like you were, I forget what it was. It was a choice though that you made. I feel like I'd have to bring it up just so you know that I've listened to it.
00:02:20
Speaker
I was going to I was actually I was literally just about to tell a story about that. Because, yeah, we were talking about is like, we were talking about camp. And I had a story about some girl I tried to impress at camp. And it just whatever it was just like us kind of riffing and going back and forth about like the tracksuit and stuff. But at the I noticed at the end of it, I kind of had this like trailing thought of like, oh, I never never went back to camp, never saw her again, never whatever. And it was just kind of
00:02:47
Speaker
just to throw it out. It was like, Oh, that actually would be kind of fun. And like, I slowed it down and I cut it up. And so it ended up what took like five seconds initially ended up taking like I spread it out. So it took like 20 seconds. And then I put that classical piano music effectively just to make it sound a lot sadder than it was. Yeah, it was suddenly it moved. You moved me, bro.
Listening and Saving Episodes
00:03:07
Speaker
Well, but I was gonna bring it up because as as I did that cuz that took a little while and when I wrapped it up I was I was like laughing I was I was doing it but as I wrapped it up and I was like I like closed my laptop I was like, what am I doing with my life right now? Like just You're just like man, you know who really appreciate this Matt man just another one Meanwhile Matt's sipping his my ties laughing it up all this time that he has on his hands
00:03:41
Speaker
You've probably seen this in like movies or like TV shows or something where like a character will drown on about something and they kind of to like show the other characters perspective how they're like getting like bored or getting lost in the thought or whatever they'll just like they put the person they like stack the person's audio so it like compresses all of it. There's been a couple stories that I've thought about doing that because I thought it'd be kind of funny but I've just never
00:04:05
Speaker
haven't gotten around to it, but I might, I might. I know what you're talking about. They'll like zoom in and then you'll zoom into the person speaking, his mouth moving. It drowns it out even further. Yeah. Yeah. We'll play around. But you know, again, whatever. If Matt's not going to listen, then I don't even know.
00:04:25
Speaker
Don't make them feel bad about it. I should clarify. It's not that I won't ever listen to it. I just don't. I feel like I'm saving it, you know? Yeah, just like for one long weekend. Or at this point, weeks.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah, like with movies, I love when enough time has passed that I can rewatch a movie that I've already seen because I've forgotten enough of it that I can enjoy it again. What the hell do I need to listen to this stuff we recorded two days ago? You know what I mean? I'm going to wait, really savor it. At least that's what I'm telling you.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's fair. That is fair. I have found that I mean, I've got no, I didn't think it would ever happen, but I definitely got to the point where I get half way. My memory. And then I'll finish it because I also don't remember how to pass. Oh, yeah. Well, it kind of makes it seem like getting old. It's not that bad. All right. What would 2004 Doug say about that? He'd be disgusting. All right. Well, it's fine. I can cut all this out. So it doesn't really matter. But
00:05:30
Speaker
Or maybe I'll leave it in, that way Matt's surprised by it in a few years. Yeah, exactly. I will say, you know who's also, I won't let, I laughed at something else
Podcast Story Reflections
00:05:42
Speaker
that was in the show. It was a traveling with Paco and he ended up talking. And I thought it was funny, but I restated it for Betty and the kids. And it was the part where we were talking about the
00:05:56
Speaker
my upcoming trip and said how I'm booking a spa. Then you said, are you going to put cucumbers on your eyes? And I was like, oh, well, maybe I said, I'm getting a hot stone massage. And you said, on your eyes? And then Charlie thought that was so funny. I didn't put it, but I only want, just in case there was a slip up or something I missed, I forgot the audio. I didn't want to play it for him. I just wanted him to hear me say it. Cause if he hears all this other stuff, he's going to like, you know,
00:06:25
Speaker
It's not all on YouTube or anything, but he could probably find it, so I just leave it alone. I like the idea of you told a story about a story that you told on a podcast. It's not even telephone, I guess, because you're the only person that's involved there, but the fact that that's how
00:06:50
Speaker
It gets, it gets communicated down as pretty good. I've actually, I've, this is like my worst nightmare. Like we just did this. Now we're talking about, we just did it. And you're telling the story of us doing, come on. What a time to be alive. As Chris would say.
00:07:10
Speaker
Yeah, something I have been thinking about was like, oh, it might be fun to do like, some sort of something around like high school or something. Because I know we've talked about some of that stuff long time ago, obviously, like, real early on. But one, I don't know if Matt remembers anything prior to, you know, last few weeks, that might be out the window. And then two, that also feels like one that would probably be fun to have Chris on the call for.
00:07:35
Speaker
Yeah, I would think so. Yeah. So although actually Chris was on the call for this and something that we never revisited. And I think yeah, it definitely got cut out of one of the really early episodes is you would you had left the call. So we obviously started to talk about you. And one of the things that I brought up, which I was I was flabbergasted by by Matt and Chris's take on it was
00:07:59
Speaker
My assumption was, oh, I
College Culture Shock
00:08:01
Speaker
think there's something there's probably an interesting story or dynamic about if Horna felt like a like a fish out of water or felt some sort of way when he came to Penn State versus like growing up and living in New York City. And immediately, both Chris and Matt were like, no, no, no, it was way worse for Matt, because even though Matt lived down the street, somehow that was much more of a culture shock than than it was for you. So.
00:08:29
Speaker
I don't have to. I stand by that. Right. Yeah. Oh, look who look who might have listened to the episode, but. Yeah, so you don't have to answer that, but know that that would be that would be one of the questions. But was so this was I had dropped off the call. And so is Matt talking about talking about stuff? I knew it.
00:08:51
Speaker
Yeah, I would say it was a culture shock. Yeah, for sure. I mean, because that's why well, but it's not even the question is not is it was it a culture shock? Is it was your culture shock more than Matt's culture shock? Oh, I can't speak. That would be a third party, third and fourth party. Oh, I'll speak for Steve. Yeah, it was definitely more of a culture shock for me. Yeah. No debate there on that. He's just like, no, like this is this was Steve's bread and butter. I was like, how is it his bread and butter?
00:09:21
Speaker
But, uh, but yeah, I, I felt, yeah, I felt differently, but yeah, both of them, they, they, uh, they, you don't normally see like a Chris and Matt tag team situation, but that they were very much. Yeah. The whole crowd went wild. Let me see objectively. Uh, I, I think maybe we've had conversations about it, but, um, I, I s by myself, I would say it was close shot for me, but then comparing, I feel like we've had conversations about it somehow. And Matt had.
00:09:52
Speaker
It was, uh, I, I, I'm on the, I'm on board with what, with Matt and Chris, I'm thinking it's like, Oh, here we go. I think we had conversations about it. Um, yeah, they got in your head. What was, um, what did feel like a culture shock for you when you, when you got there? Well, the, even though I was, uh, in, you know, in Queens and I would go to, and I went to high school in Brooklyn, I didn't have, it was a very sheltered scenario because I,
00:10:22
Speaker
spent so much time traveling from my house to school and then back. I never participated in any social events, any sporting event, any football games, any of the stuff that Chris would talk about that he was really involved in his whole high school life that he was going on. When I went to Penn State, that whole part of being more independent and
00:10:45
Speaker
having the exposure of everybody around all the time and it being, I feel like everybody goes through that, but if I was going to compare, I don't know, I think, I know for me, it was a lot that was involved. Even though I had a lot of different people around, it wasn't like I, my whole high school, I was with what I did and come back to the house.
00:11:06
Speaker
related and do a lot more than that. Yeah, Matt. Yeah, Matt, Matt complete opposite, right? The captain of the football team, right? Yeah. You know, Matt, Matt would look over at the kids down the hall and he's like nerds. My high school, though, was I know was like much larger. And I think that was the, you know, well, not speaker
00:11:32
Speaker
You had a small high school, right? Yeah, I mean, you might have a big wave format, but we're going high school to high school. Yeah, it doesn't compare. Yeah, I was trying to remember how many kids were in the class, but I think it was I think part of it was like I just felt like the like in comparison, the world felt just unbelievably narrow before Penn State, just in terms of like, I don't know, like types of people and types of experiences and types of food and
00:12:00
Speaker
I don't know. It's just like and I guess that part that's that's part of what makes it seem so crazy is that it was so close, even like geographically. But yeah, I don't know. Did you feel like it was a culture shock? Yeah, I probably. Yeah, no, I don't think so. For like a number of different reasons. Probably one of the biggest ones was like spending so much of my life in college towns that it
00:12:27
Speaker
that all that kind of felt similar and then having spent a lot of time overseas, like international and stuff, a lot of that felt similar. I guess the part that was different and weird and it's probably true for just about everybody is to like, you know, just this idea of like being away from home and making all of my decisions at all times. That was definitely like
00:12:48
Speaker
Well, but, uh, otherwise, no, it didn't feel too, too crazy. I don't think so. That was my impression of it. That, uh, that was exposed to so, so much. Were you saying the, um, different college sounds?
00:13:00
Speaker
Oh yeah, like a lot of places I grew up as like as a kid were like very like so Davis Davis is home to UC Davis is very much Davis feels absurdly similar to State College. Maybe even well, maybe the part that's a little different is it's a and maybe this is kind of what Matt is alluding to is the like surrounding areas of Davis is like Sacramento is like
00:13:29
Speaker
I don't know, 10 minutes away in San Francisco is like 90 ish minutes depending on traffic. So like the surrounding areas are not that culturally different than the college are always a little bit different, but they're not that different. But state college is weird in that it is so different than even, you know,
00:13:50
Speaker
Even the edges of state college are different than where the university is. You get into those surrounding towns and it's like, I don't know. It's like you've gone very, very far away. Maybe that's what, and again, I am going to speak for you, Matt, but where you grew up in, even though it was only a few miles away, is so different than state college. Yeah, I think I was definitely surprised.
00:14:12
Speaker
It was almost hard to reconcile because when we would do stuff in state college, like, oh, we're going to go out to eat, or we're going to go shopping, or we're going to do whatever, while we were in college, it was like I was back in, oh, my mom and I going to state college.
00:14:29
Speaker
see a movie or to go shopping. But then at the same time, it's like, alongside this completely different world. And I guess I was surprised how like house how clear that dividing line was of on campus versus off campus. Did it? Did it start to feel normal for either of you? Like during pref? Or was it like much later on that it's just kind of acclimated?
00:14:52
Speaker
I mean, I knew, I knew for me, uh, something had flipped in my brain. Once I started pref around, I literally thought, you know, uh, even a week, probably a few days into pref, like from that point. And before I'm like, I'm going to live at home at the, for the rest of my life with my mom and my sister, like that was like, remember something along those lines. Yeah. That was the plan. I'm like, why would I ever want to leave my mom and I, you know,
00:15:20
Speaker
We get along, we have great relationship, great friendship. Secret handshake. Secret handshakes, all this stuff. I had no intention of ever leaving. And to go from that to missing thanksgivings at my house, even those 30 minutes away, because I'm like, I don't need to go home. It was such a polar switch. That's true. Did that happen?
00:15:45
Speaker
I, I did miss it. I did miss the Thanksgiving ones. Yeah. Did you get like, I'll be home for Christmas. You get like a call from, uh, from grandma. No, I think part of what aided that was, um, that my, my, my mom's side of the family was never, you know, Hallmark family type of, of stuff. So I don't think they really cared that much. Isn't there someone else normally here? I don't know what you're talking about. All right. You said that.
00:16:14
Speaker
That, that switch flipped, uh, during pref, like you went from that mindset and you went, uh, complete, uh, 180 during that time. Or was it later on? I missed that. Yeah. It was a few days into pref. I was like, this life is way better. Right. Yeah. Just the, uh, the autonomy and like, I, I just had no, I had no sense of what it was like to be myself, uh, away from, you know, like the,
00:16:40
Speaker
not even the shield of my, but like the influence of my parents. And I think I was like even more like non individuated from my mom. I don't know if it's because she was a single mom and I felt like, you know, it was the last parent I had. And so I was like more tightly
00:16:56
Speaker
Um, I don't know what the opposite of individuated is, but you know, just more tightly coupled. Um, so I, it just was, uh, I don't
Building Connections in College
00:17:03
Speaker
know. It was, it was honestly like meeting a new person for the first time, which happened to be myself, which is probably why I like to listen to, you know, audio of my stuff. Cool, sir. Brought it back around. Nice. Uh, end this one early, I guess.
00:17:19
Speaker
Do you think a part of it was the fact that you got to do all this at West Halls? Was it like the actual, not necessarily the location, but there is something to how Preff was, I do think, what I remember, a very gentle way to enter the university.
00:17:41
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. I think, I think I would have struggled a lot. Not, not even, I mean the academics, you know, certainly to some degree, but just that, that overwhelming slap in the face of social inundation or whatever I think, I think would have been a challenge. So to be able to like meet cool and interesting people and feel like I'm creating a connection with these people of this like new individuated person. I mean, yeah, I think, I think that was just like, uh,
00:18:11
Speaker
a real milestone experience. I think it could have happened anywhere on campus. I'm not sure West Hall's made that much of a difference. But yeah, the pizza is delicious at West Hall. Ooh. Hard pass, but yeah. That entire awakening, this entire phenomena that happened, would you say... I mean, that could have been any campus, right? That whole...
00:18:37
Speaker
time that happened, whether you would have been at State College or any other college abroad that's you think it being at Penn State being eased into it just because it was so close it that
00:18:46
Speaker
it be that this is a unique scenario. If you would have been accepted or went to another college off-campus, you'd be put off. This would not have occurred. In fact, it was so close when you went to Penn State. I think it still would have occurred because a majority of it had to do with just living outside of my, again, my mom's influence and having to make those decisions like a lot of kids go through. I think the unique aspects about Penn State was that because it was so geographically close, it probably lowered what maybe felt like
00:19:16
Speaker
fear although I don't know once I was away I never had a fear of being far from home like I moved to San Francisco like no problem but um I think the so the geographic closeness helps to some degree but how how big and
00:19:32
Speaker
Like the the size of it and the diversity of experience I think it was a big thing That's why the easing in was really helpful with pref if I'd gone to like a smaller Like shittier school somewhere. It may have been a similar experience if I didn't have the intro because it wasn't it wasn't as much input as Penn State has so I I've always thought Penn State was a great place for me because it is
00:19:59
Speaker
It had like just enough academic challenge like it's not a Stanford or an MIT where I'm gonna like feel like shit the whole time because I'm not as smart as everyone else. But it's not, you know, some super easy phone it in passive college experience, we don't have to apply yourself at all. So I think it was a good it was a good mix of
00:20:18
Speaker
the right level of academic difficulty with enough diversity of experience where you could like pick what you wanted to do and there would be your sort of your, you could find your people, your group in and amongst that. Like just to meet anyone who knew what web design was or to meet anyone who knew how to operate a video camera or it just, I couldn't believe these people existed. It was, uh, yeah, it was just, it was awesome. But I don't, I'm just taking in what you said. Yeah.
00:20:45
Speaker
Did anybody do the overnight stay while you were in senior year of high school? Like that initial, like going into your spring semester in high school? I don't know what the program was called, but- Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I feel like you did, right? I did, yeah. I had- So maybe Matt and Chris are right. You already done all this.
00:21:12
Speaker
No, well, if anything, like just how you said, pref, I had the same feelings that that Matt had where I would, I think I would have really struggled if, if I didn't have, uh, pref, but even more so, like I, that, that initial, like one, one day. Overnighter that I did, they brought us over to, I want to say it wasn't East halls. It was, uh, I think South and they brought in kids from, um, from, I want to say, um, I don't know what the, it wasn't specific to MEP because I know they, uh, but they had several weekends in a row. And then, uh, I had a group and I was with like, I don't know, 25.
00:21:42
Speaker
30 people we had, we sat through and it was just an intro. It's like, um, I don't think I had, I don't know if I'd accepted yet, but, uh, I remember that it was the whole college experience, you know, and we went through the, a, some type of an orientation and we just toured all week. It was an extended tour, but it was on my own, not, not with a parent. And it was, they drove us over there on, um, you showed up to a bus and they brushed in a group. And I just met all these different people. And it was my first.
00:22:07
Speaker
taste of that independence going around. And I was still in high school. And I remember that was, that was when the, when it turned for me, the Swish, it was like all the things that Matt just said, it's exactly what I had. And I had that, I couldn't wait after that. And then it became like, I was so glad that I had that, that easing into.
00:22:23
Speaker
pref and then from pref easing into fall semester. Did you have the same thing though, when you went where it was like, you were gonna, you know, once you were done there, like initially, like when you went in, like you were like, Oh, once I'm done here, I'm just, just going back to live with Matt's mom and sister. You know, my brother, my brother Rich went away to Hofstra University, which is Long Island.
00:22:48
Speaker
And that was, I think, 35, 40 minutes away. And I watched him every weekend come back home. It was close enough, geographically, where my dad or one of my brothers would pick him up and bring him back and he'd do laundry home. And I remember thinking like, man, I don't want that. I don't want to do that. I intentionally picked a school. I got accepted to New York State University, SUNY and CUNY, city of New York colleges. I remember I had those.
00:23:15
Speaker
Penn State and then one other one, but I wanted to be further away to have that. It was, you know, scary and it was going to be the first time. And so, but it was intentional. And especially after that weekend, that overnight that I was like, yeah, this is, this is it. This is it for me. I'm going to make sure I don't want to be, I want it to be far enough away, close enough that I could go home for the holidays. Never miss the Thanksgiving. Not once you put that on the record, but it was far enough away that it would be.
00:23:41
Speaker
it'd be impossible to come back. I just want to make sure I remove that, that safety net. Cause it was so important. Like that. I liked that feeling. I liked all of it. It was, um, he was all new. So, um, if that answers it, uh, well, no, I don't think that answered my question at all, but that was still very good. I'm still very good. Thanks. Such a gracious host.
00:24:02
Speaker
Was the plan always, no matter what happened, even posts like, oh, you wanted to be there and all worked out really well, and it all made sense. Was the plan to always go back to New York? Yeah, I think so. It was, when I got my, I had an internship where, and I got a job offer to DC and then in New York. And I knew it was like, the debt at the time was so crushing. I never thought I was going to get from underneath that debt that I could see coming my way.
00:24:33
Speaker
that I knew I was gonna have to stay at home for a little bit. So I moved back in at the house and I did not like it. That whole bringing it back to the house with my parents and my brothers, it sucked. It's like, you got all that independence, all that, that went, and then just went right back to it. I remember not being happy that, or, you know, I missed that feeling. How long did you live the house after?
Financial Challenges Post-College
00:24:58
Speaker
It was, I must say like four years because I was a Turner. Yeah, it was a while. It was, it felt like it was way too long. I, I think initially it was like, you know, I'll do it for two years and then something like that. And I'll start, you have all, I have all these ideas of how making enough and I'll get my promotions, all that. And it just wasn't happening quick enough. I would have murdered my family if I.
00:25:20
Speaker
For sure. The same guy who four years earlier was like, I want nothing more than to move back into my family. Yeah. I told you a polar opposite. Yeah. My gosh. I think if I had the means, it just, I did not have the means to do it. I mean, I'm sure I could have done something and I, at the time I was dating Betty also, but even combined incomes, we couldn't make it happen. We couldn't, like we, the next place I did move, I moved into an apartment together in Woodside. That was my,
00:25:48
Speaker
I went from yeah, I really liked it. I think it was like 1200 a month. It was awesome. And they did not raise the rent on us. It was like perfect. It was a one bedroom. And I thought I would have been so happy if we lived there those four years. But at the time I, man, I could not.
00:26:06
Speaker
I could not afford it. I feel like you were the, of most people, of anybody I know, I feel like you were the most deliberate and diligent about getting out from under your school loan debt immediately.
00:26:21
Speaker
I don't know if I talked about it, but I was so stressed about it. I think you mentioned at some point how much you were paying towards it or something. It was a couple of fronts. Oh my God, it was so bad. And I knew in freshman year, there was some part of PREF where they were like, okay, you go to the FAFSA and you go to the financial aid office.
00:26:51
Speaker
get go, you know, you go walking through it. And I remember that being some part of that program during that summer. I remember speaking to whoever was in the office and going through the next years and the program and what my debt was gonna be. And she said, she's like, I don't know if you want to do this. Because she because we were going over like out of state. And I said, Well, I have all the I have these the scholarship. And you know, I didn't get the
00:27:14
Speaker
fellowship, but I got the little nugget that I got. No, no, no, no. It's like I, I, um, I went in with that and I said, well, I might be able to get this other like little scholarship and I got financial aid coming in and I went and I got my promissory, all this stuff with the parent plus loan. So I was covered and I got accepted obviously, but you know, it's, it was such a cold water in the face where he said, here's, here's the number you're going to have when you get out. And it just, it was just so bad. And then
00:27:45
Speaker
It got intensified in my freshman year in architectural engineering. They matched you up with a mentor. And this is somebody in their senior year and everything else. And I remember I was at this crossroads where I had just done so bad in some of the first classes that I had, which were my intro into my eventual major. And I was not doing that great. And I remember saying, I got no backup plan. Now I'm in. And I have my first year under my belt.
00:28:14
Speaker
I'm already having, if I quit now, I'll have this crushing debt just from the first year. And my only way out is to go through all these five years so I can have a high paying job or at least the promise of a high paying job. And it was so, so stressful. And I was talking to my mentor at the time and she had no idea what to say. She's like, yeah, that's really bad. It's a solid mentor.
00:28:37
Speaker
It's going to get better. I never spoke to her. I never saw her again after that. She's like one class of me. And I remember consciously thinking, I said, I have to be smart about it. And I don't want to put this on my parents, my mother. She was the one who signed my Parent Plus loan. So it's like the debts in her name. I'm on the hook for the federal loans, but the Parent Plus loan, what is my mother? She doesn't even have an income. It's all for my dad.
00:29:03
Speaker
but she co-signed on it or she signed for it. And that was the motivation. I was like, okay, I'll go through this. I gotta make sure I have a high paying job or the promise of a high paying job to get underneath this debt. But it was so, so stressful. Do you remember that thick head of hair I had? Oh my God, it was lush. Jeez. Yeah, that's true. It was- You had candy in there somewhere. That couldn't have helped.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yeah, all those expensive haircuts in the tree. Yeah, keep cutting the candy out of it. I remember I had a I would go back to to Queens. And I would get I got a haircut at some point during the summer like this is gonna be about a haircut. When I was 18, and they my barber was the first one was like age 19. It was like sophomore year. And he was, he was like, just kept on looking and looking at different light putting light he said, Oh, you better. He's like, you better look at this. Like you're losing hair. And I was just
00:30:01
Speaker
You know, I'm in the barber seat just doing my calculations of all the money I'm going to be losing. I was stressed out that freshman sophomore year.
00:30:13
Speaker
just like being either I'm all in or I'm all out. I remember that was the case. Wow. I feel like a lot of freshmen had no idea about even the financial implications of what they were doing. Yeah, that's a lot to take on that young, to have that much awareness of what's going on. That sounds like that would add a lot. I feel like it didn't show at all. It was happy-go-lucky full head of hair Steve.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, I do remember the all the experiences and all that it really helped me and I tried to I remember I passed I I was a senior force, you know, my my fifth year whatever it was and I I had that conversation exactly what I just was saying and I remember freshman year engineering students in like in like Shep. They were having similar things and they were being stressed out. I remember reiterating that to at least two people and it's it's it does help a lot when when I don't know how
00:31:12
Speaker
I don't remember anybody having that conversation with me. And I just remember it was important that I, if I see somebody in that same situation to bring that up, I've had that conversation with a couple of ship. And then I remember my cousin went to Penn state as an architecture student and his, his mom, my aunt was, was really stressed out for him. And he was just not verbal about it. He didn't bring it up, but he was like silently suffering and thinking and overthinking it. And I just have that same conversation saying like, well, you know, it's all, as long as you stick with it, if that's what you want, it's.
00:31:40
Speaker
It's going to be fine, you know, because I can, for, on my, on being on the other end, but it took, it took a while. I think I paid all of it back. While I remember clearly when I was, I got my, the loan, you know, whatever promise, like it was all paid off. I think like right, right before we got married. So that was like, yeah, that was like in, I was in Portugal already. So it was after we had moved from Queens.
00:32:02
Speaker
to, uh, Westchester. And I remember seeing it and it was like such a weight, such a relief. It's like, it's all, no matter what happens, like that's, I felt like it was. Yeah, but that's like at the end of like the horror movie when it's like, Oh, it's finally, they're dead. They're finally dead. Michael Myers is finally dead. Yeah. Yeah. And then the, and then the loan jumps up and then it cuts to credits.
00:32:23
Speaker
Just the hand reaches out with a promissory note. That's, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. You stuck in there that your cousin, your cousin went to Penn State after the, I assume after we, wait, so, so wait, so was there, there was another horn on at Penn State? No, he was, he was a Conway. His mom was, was a Palomino. So he was on my dad's side and he, yeah, he was their, their only child from my island. But this was way after we'd, like, we'd already been all graduated for a while.
00:32:53
Speaker
So if he messed up, like he wasn't, he wasn't going to tarnish your legacy because different last name. My legacy. Because they'll take down, they'll take down the, yeah, the plaque. Right. Yeah. Do you think you go to Penn say
Legacy and Opportunities
00:33:06
Speaker
which one? I don't know. Um, I want to say, uh, Oh, should I say kid one, kid two? It doesn't matter. All right. Yeah. I mean, such like a social person and like, I would think as they are right now, I would say like,
00:33:23
Speaker
on face value, but I would push and want have a similar experience to me where like he's so introverted and I want him to come out like he's so comfortable at home, but he he doesn't either he still he's still trying to, you know, come out of his shell. And that's even that's just like an elementary school level, you know, and I just wanted to have experiences and to be to have to have that. So I, I think something like a Penn State, you know, great, but that's, we'll see how, you know, middle school and high school comes because
00:33:53
Speaker
I think if I can, um, seeing what, how I was seeing how he is right now, I, I know that he can, I guess, blossom out of that earlier. I think it would only be towards it. So, you know, we're trying to get him extracurriculars, uh, you know, when he soccer, he's doing that kind of stuff. So when he gets like a little gold, you know, we, we celebrate him and make sure that he's doing, but he is so shy, shy. Would you, is your, uh, is your preference for him in high school to be like the opposite, to be like football captain.
00:34:24
Speaker
Give me that money only Doug. I mean, you know, whatever the kid's name is. No, unfortunately, sadly, the horners don't possess that sports team. I think, I think, uh, captain of the football team. But here's the thing. Uh, e-sports is huge right now. College scholarship for e-sports.
00:34:47
Speaker
That's right. Oh, really? Get out of here. That's the last laugh now. When you're in the Korean military, you have a lot of different options of what you can do. And one of them is you can, if you're good enough, you can join the Korean military has representation in the esports league, like in DOTA. Oh, man. So you can just- That's crazy. DOTA for two years. DOTA. I don't have- Everybody knows what that means. I don't have the energy to fact check this, so I'm going to take this. Dead or the alive, I think is what it stands for.
00:35:16
Speaker
Yeah, but that might be worth because you've seen at least both of you seen a firsthand how he once he gets comfortable in that gaming situation, he's just talks all kinds of shit. You know, it's crazy. It's just the the the the uber confidence. He's like he's like a four drink in Matt. That's the that's the level of confidence for drinks in Matt. Yeah. The rage comes. You just got to find your forum, you know. And yeah, that's true.
00:36:19
Speaker
But anyway, that's my sweet podcast.