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Episode 22: Managing Your Life Balance
13 Plays3 days ago
On this episode, we discuss managing your life balance, including work, family, relationships, and personal time. We bring on a special guest, Blake!
Good Morning, Gents! This is a podcast hosted by four Marine Corps veterans with the goal of uplifting men to be the best version of ourselves. In an age of high rates of suicide and depression, especially in the male population, we are taking a stand. This is a place that will cover all of the challenges and realities that we face in the current world, and how we can break down barriers to betterment for ourselves, our families, and the world.
A tragic suicide of our friend sparked an idea and experiment for us as we rekindled our friendship: A group text where we say "Good Morning" to each other every single day, and continue the conversation about what is going on in our lives, be there for one another, and spread positivity and reassurance. Men bear so much weight of responsibility in society that it is hard for men to have an outlet to express themselves. This has attributed to the vast number of suicides in the male population. We aim to cut those numbers down with this podcast. Between the discussions our hosts will talk about, and the guests we bring onto the show, we invite you to join us on this journey towards self-betterment for all.
Email: Goodmorninggentspd@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
Good morning, gents. Welcome to episode. What is this episode 2223? We we're it. Yeah, we're up in the lower 20s now. So if you've been with us the whole time, thank you for sticking with us.
00:00:15
Speaker
Your loyalty is appreciated. Very much so. we are we are down the swamp boat today, but we do have a special guest today. he has been with us since the very beginning.
00:00:26
Speaker
He's an old friend of mine, friend of mine from a past life. I sent him the link just the one we after we recorded the first two. I sent him the link just to see...
Weekly Recap and Personal Challenges
00:00:37
Speaker
what we could improve on and get his uh feedback on it and he has listened to every episode since then so we're doing it right for someone i guess um i'll introduce blake here in just a minute but how was everybody else's week how we doing guys i've been sick it's been hot as fuck i'm tired not getting sleep at work somebody died at my other job oh shit I guess you could say it's been kind of shit.
00:01:09
Speaker
From the heat? No. Just some health issues. What's the sickness? Are you over being sick? So... there's There's this person at the firehouse who we all suspect got everyone sick, and it's just been rolling around. It's the way it goes, baby.
00:01:25
Speaker
Just a never-ending, constant rotation of somebody getting sick from it, and we all just blame this one person. but We're all bitter about it. oh Slammin', what's new this week, man?
00:01:37
Speaker
ah This week, I got my physical done for my CDL, my DOT physical. I passed my permit last week, so I got my permit ready to go to class here starting in July.
00:01:49
Speaker
It's been hot in northern Michigan. Today, I think where our high was like 63, 70, something like that. So it's getting normal. That was your high? Fuck all. Bro, my heart my high this past three days has been like 109. Yeah. 104 Sunday. And Oh, jeez. Motherfucker.
00:02:09
Speaker
ah hundred and four on sunday and i think's that's a record for okay where we're at man
00:02:17
Speaker
I can't even that 67. I get to say this because I deal with four feet of snow for 90% of the year anyway. So you do you do, but i will say I do thoroughly love my tan right now. I look at like a beach whore to which I, I, I strive for.
00:02:38
Speaker
I'd show you how white my dick is, but, you know, we don't need the viewers to see that. You already send us enough half-naked photos that I just pull up at the absolute worst times. I know you do. That's why i send them this time, because I know about what time you go to the gym most days now. You literally do. Every time I'm at the gym, a fucking shirtless photo, you
Meet Blake: Listener and Attorney
00:02:56
Speaker
pops up a link. Somebody here thinks I'm gay.
00:02:58
Speaker
Just for the fun of it. I'm like, I hope he's at the gym right now. at least it's not – I mean – That's probably more impressive than a dick pic, let's be honest. that's not that that Everyone would be like, who sent you a joke?
00:03:13
Speaker
Alright, let me introduce to everybody here and then we'll get into the topic. So joining us from a guy, I said, an old friend of mine who has been listening to us from the beginning. yeah He likes to shoot me a text on Monday morning and go, hey asshole, where's the recording this week?
00:03:29
Speaker
And it's like, hey motherfucker, calm down, we're we're busy, we can't get us all together. We'll get it to you. So he's usually the first one notified when Tyler gets the episode out.
00:03:40
Speaker
I will let him introduce as much about himself as he wants, but I will give you as much as he goes by the name of Blake. That is his God given name. And he has grown up in Arkansas his whole life.
00:03:55
Speaker
Blake, you take it from there, my guy. All right. So I was lucky enough to live across the street from Mac for what? Two years, I guess. Something like that. Yeah. that a So interesting story about meeting him. I'm in my garage one day, just kind of shuffling some stuff around, moved in like two weeks prior in this. You keep running back and forth past my job and just staring me down.
00:04:20
Speaker
I walk outside to grab the water hose and wash something off or whatever. He walks up to just sticks his hand out to shake my hand. I'm like, all right, well, like I guess you live by me or something. And I think we had few beers within an hour of that.
00:04:33
Speaker
And rest of the story kind goes the same. And I was shirtless. So, yes, you were. were very shirtless in your little shorty shorts, running shorts. was kind of impressive. I'll give you that.
00:04:48
Speaker
So um I'm an attorney, ah married with three girls, and love an episode.
00:04:59
Speaker
It's a good podcast for good chance to. Thank you. So fun fun story about Blake and I is when we were neighbors, he lived catty corner to me, they're um that The corner that completed the L was the pastor, and we would sit on his front porch on Friday nights and get drunk as shit.
00:05:18
Speaker
Not the pastor. He would sit there just entertain us and put up with us, but we would we would sit on the patio with him, Mr. Gary, and just drink beer after beer after beer after beer while the kids tore the neighborhood apart.
00:05:32
Speaker
That's funny. That was a good time. Yes, it
Podcasting Challenges and Authenticity
00:05:35
Speaker
was. It was a lot of drinks thrown down there. okay Probably too many at some points. oh We'll get into tonight. ah Everyone, if you if you haven't noticed, and you've been listening, we have not been on schedule weekly. a lot of chaos at the summertime. Everybody's got kids out of school.
00:05:55
Speaker
Summertime means overtime work. Mendelsohn has been busting his ass at work. And we have just had a chaotic lifestyles. All our schedules are thrown for loops.
00:06:06
Speaker
We're all dealing with different things. Brandon's kind of dealing with a change of careers and life. um My job is just taking a whole right turn. I'm overly busy with it, plus the kids are out of school.
00:06:20
Speaker
And so i text Blake last week and I asked him if he wanted to join us on the show this week, he, of course, said yes, and he said, I said, what do you want talk about, man? like Give me something that we haven't really gotten into depth depths about that you think just as a listener ah would be awesome to talk about and just bullshit about for a little while.
00:06:42
Speaker
And he shot me over. He's like, well, first thing that comes to mind is work-life balance. I couldn't agree more kind of with the way everything is played out the last month or two with and all of us trying to get squeeze a one hour episode into our hectic lifestyle seems to be the hardest part of my week.
00:06:59
Speaker
ah It doesn't even feel like I have a an hour to squeeze those nights. And before this, I was shoving food down my throat because I hadn't even eaten yet. ah And that's just kind of part of the course on how we how we do things, ah which is why.
00:07:15
Speaker
I think make maybe, Blake, you can elaborate on this if you want, but maybe why our why this podcast seems so real most of the time is we are real people, not sponsored by anything, just trying to make it work and maybe trying to get out to somebody that's going through the same shit and just needs to feel like they're talking to somebody about it. ah Yeah, I absolutely agree with that.
00:07:37
Speaker
I was just going to say, I mean, like our conversation last week, the reason why I love this podcast is it's just real and raw that, you know, can listen to, I won't name them just to not give them any advertisement, but countless very popular million follower podcast. And, you know, they may talk about something hits at home, but then it's followed by commercial or, know, it leads into a commercial or whatever, right. They're all doing it for money and you guys are just out here just shooting it straight. And, um, you know, just being real lives and real humans and it just connects with me. Um, you know, I, I listen to it, try to do it on more of a good work and way home, things like that. Uh,
00:08:19
Speaker
You know, just keep my mind off of, you know, idiots on the roadways here in Arkansas because it's the money to drive. But, ah you know, just it's just something to to sit back and like man.
00:08:29
Speaker
Yeah. OK. You know, and coming into it, knowing what y'all were kind of set up to be like in a larger initial direction with the depression and things of military. I wasn't sure how much I'd connect just cause I don't have that background.
00:08:42
Speaker
And i mean, just from episode one, it was like, Oh, this is awesome. You know, these are just real dudes just hanging out, shooting the shit and telling people what's going on with their lives and struggles there.
00:08:54
Speaker
ah You know, deep down secrets, whatever you want to say. And that's just awesome. You know, most men are uncomfortable sharing their raw emotions or, or sharing things they struggle with or problems in their lives or their marriage or their parenthood or whatever you want to say.
Men's Conversations and Societal Expectations
00:09:12
Speaker
And I'm not saying that y'all hit on all those, but most of those, um, you know, you just don't see a lot of men that are willing to do that.
00:09:17
Speaker
And ah ill live for that. Um, I try to do that in my personal life. Um, I've really grown and that in the last five year and a half or so. And I won't get into all of that reasoning. Uh, just like I'll stay away from that a little bit.
00:09:30
Speaker
Uh, but it's just, man, it's just awesome. It's very connecting drawing me in and hooked me from day one. Uh, that's, that's been our goal the whole time. Uh, with with it being the end of men's mental health month.
00:09:43
Speaker
I think we started this almost of the our conversation our morning conversations almost a year ago was I think with all the pressures and the social media and everything that ah the view on a man in this day and age has changed so much. you One person says one thing and the other person says the other.
00:10:01
Speaker
And it's like, do you be this stoic, quiet guy or do you share your emotions or do you put off all these boundaries and walls? or who do you have to be? and and the real truth is just be you just be you.
00:10:12
Speaker
Don't hide behind who you truly are. if you If you're an emotional guy, be an emotional guy. If you're an asshole, don't be an asshole. You can keep your mouth shut. Um, but it's, it's, it's okay to just say what you feel.
00:10:26
Speaker
It's cool to tell your buddies what you feel. And if your buddies can't handle your your feelings, then they're not your buddy. Um, everybody here i can talk to one another and doesn't face judgment uh blake and i have these conversations sometimes too so it's that's kind of why we rolled into this encourage more guys to find another group of guys and find a friend at least one friend that'll share your baggage and let you let you empty it as many times as you need to until you can fold it and get your baggage correct so
00:10:59
Speaker
um with that going on let's let's we'll roll in we squirrel in real quick rolling our topic yeah so we'll get into work-life balance let's do it um um we broke them down work-life balance what do you guys want to start with work first personal life or do you guys kind of want to like intertwine them and we'll just go well we can start with personal as the main one and then we'll how do you function work into that or do you guys want to do real quick dude personal is fine with me man but rolling into personal time there's There's not a lot being a family man, growing a family, having a wife, having an 11 year old daughter right now, one on the way, be here in October. so I mean, there's a 10 year gap there.
00:11:39
Speaker
i might be looking to you, Mac, for a little guidance in that. I'm making it up as I go, bro. That's about what I'm at right now. My wife's always always sleeping, kids always outside with their friends. So, I mean, my personal time is a lot I look forward to is just spending it with you guys sometimes, you know?
00:11:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. i do I do take an hour out of my day. i try to do every morning. ah ah do some ah prayer and scripture reading, you know, just to meditate on on God's word.
00:12:07
Speaker
Some days is easier than others, but I just try to carve out time for myself in that aspect. I feel it helps my day. It helps my life. um Yeah. That's my my personal time is that hour in the morning, and then I do a little light workout, some breakfast, get the kid around.
00:12:26
Speaker
mean, I'll elaborate on that. And, you know, I'm not a church, you guys. I have found that in personal time a little. So I do my prayer, but I write it down. I don't just sit there and talk.
00:12:36
Speaker
I have felt I like writing and journaling, and it's kind of like mixing the two together because I do believe there is power power in prayer. um And i have learned that that yeah your own I buy I buy a notebook.
00:12:54
Speaker
I buy it. That's hand. I got a pen, a notebook. So every morning I do. I give myself five, ten minutes, whatever I can squeeze in there and get get my little prayer written down.
00:13:04
Speaker
um If I write it down, it's slower. So I can't just say it. And I'm like, it's kind of forcing me to to write what I mean. And then at night, du it's it's the last thing I do at night. I lay in bed. I'm in bed. I turn my little flashlight on and I write it out. And that one's usually a full page. It's things i'm grateful that for, things I'm praying for.
00:13:24
Speaker
And I have found that that like there's scientific studies done that there is power and prayer just on your mental health. Getting that clarity and finding that thankfulness. Man, you can't see it. Yeah.
00:13:36
Speaker
I'm going to show you guys your names. I have an odd to update it, though. I got you for safety. i think, Tyler, your leg was bothering you a few days ago. I got that in there. Thank you. And then Caleb with his rest, you know, just get his sleep. listen to you guys when you're talking.
00:13:51
Speaker
Thanks, man. What about you, Blake? What do you do personal time? I'm not going to talk too much. I'm trying to stay off. But what about personal time? What do you yeah what are you get into when you have your own few minutes?
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, so um I'll put our toddler down about seven-ish every night, um help the wife with the newborn, make sure the teenager's gotten school work done whatever that looks like or needs you know if she needs anything um and that's usually when i get my lawn so i'm probably eight eight thirty um i'll start off i'm doing a bible in a year right now the emotional plan so i'll do at least one day i've actually been trying to read ahead just because i got behind for the newborn so um anyways trying to do at least a day or two of that and then um
00:14:38
Speaker
you know, do a little prayer time. And then, um, honestly from there, it's usually fun. Some kind of stupid show I've seen a hundred times over just to try to shut my brain off for the night and see if I can't relax little bit and go to sleep before one or two in the morning. Hell yeah.
00:14:53
Speaker
I'm doing that. Uh, my wife for our family
Personal Time and Work-Life Balance
00:14:56
Speaker
time, we're doing that, uh, three 65 Bible in a year or two. I've enjoyed it. I've never read the Bible front to back and, it's pretty cool.
00:15:05
Speaker
Yeah. Tyler hit me with it. Well, mine's kind of changed a little bit since my second job. i aa I mean, I quit, but now I'm just there as like a volunteer.
00:15:19
Speaker
So it was, you know, I still want to. Which is awesome, dude. Yeah. And everybody respected it. And it worked out really well. I think it was the best decision I could have made because. I'm able to still do the work and feel like I have a purpose there.
00:15:33
Speaker
Um, but not feel like I'm just filling fucking hours. You know, I had to fill 22 hours a week on top of my normal, uh, 48 hours at the firehouse plus whatever overtime I took.
00:15:45
Speaker
So, you know, I actually have some time off for myself now. So now it's like those days when I get off of 24 hour shift, I'm, You know, I'm hanging out with the dog. i'm relaxing.
00:15:56
Speaker
I've been finding a little bit more time to write, which is good. Mainly just working on my screenplay, which, you know, the creative stuff is what makes me going. So just getting a little bit of time, eat you know, each week, getting to work on that is motivating. And then but getting a little bit more gym time, not too much just because of the heat.
00:16:15
Speaker
Ever since my heat stroke, like I'm very careful about it. Um, and you know, with work, it's been so exhausting putting on the turnout gear in this frigging weather. But, um, I mean, lately it's, it's been a lot, a lot better. I've been, I've actually been playing more Xbox.
00:16:30
Speaker
Like I used to back. I i used to like just religiously, religiously play Xbox. And then ever since I started, once I started dating Leona, like that just kind of went to shit and I didn't, didn't get to play anymore.
00:16:42
Speaker
But awesome now I'm just kind of like taking that back for myself. Like when, you know, if I have some downtime, like, it's okay to play. Yeah, absolutely. It is. absolutely feels good, man. I, i feel, ah feel like I'm blessed and I'm not blessed all in the same, right?
00:17:00
Speaker
Being divorced and having my kids half the time, like I have more downtime than a grown ass man should. Um, I fork a lot of day like when I don't have my kids, I fork a lot of time into work.
00:17:11
Speaker
But work is work. Like you can only do so much work in an hour. You can stay at the office. But like what do you really get done? Right. You're not you're no longer productive. You're just there to be social. ah So but like all days that are my kids, I volunteer for extra work and stuff like that. That's that take up my personal time because once I'm home, I'm not dating.
00:17:29
Speaker
ah i don't I'm not a heavy dater, so i'm not I know some guys that that's how they fill a personal time. It's like, let me go on a date, let me do this. That's just not me. Nothing against dating. It's just exhausting. and I don't want to be exhausted by other humans. It's ah it's kind of a personal thing for me.
00:17:45
Speaker
it's expensive uh the the idea of like having to get to know like all these other people just just to get to know them to be like let me buy you one or two meals like when like from the first couple conversations you have with them you're probably like you're not going to be more than you already know like Yeah, you know that.
00:18:06
Speaker
It's been a career of mine to read people pretty quick, too. So I haven't really been wrong on those guesses yet. ah But so I have more free time than I think.
00:18:18
Speaker
And i mean, i do a lot of follow up. Told Ole Gunny that I'd run the marathon with him. So that has taken up a lot of free time now. I was telling Tyler ah since Sunday I'm at 32 miles on the week.
00:18:31
Speaker
So half those miles are outside and in this heat. So it's not long. el It's slow going. It's taken up a lot of my time. But I'm okay with it. I'm i'm choosing to do it.
00:18:43
Speaker
ah I go for a lot of walks to get those miles in, so that takes up a lot of time. But I have learned that i if I get comfortable in, and this is just a personality trait I think of mine, I think it has a lot to do with my anxiety and stuff like that, and I don't sit still well.
00:19:01
Speaker
So a freedom of time and not sitting still well, if I get comfortable, I get relaxed, and if I get relaxed, i i I'm just not happy.
00:19:13
Speaker
i I don't feel as happy. Like I said, don't have a huge social circle. When I lived next to Blake, that was I was married. So even then, like I had a small social circle that was Blake.
00:19:24
Speaker
But I still maintain a super small social circle. But everybody, all my friends have family. So with the free time I do have, and I'm sure a lot of dads out there who are divorced deal with this, it's what do you do?
00:19:37
Speaker
all You can only lift so much weight in a day. I know guys that have taken up cooking. That's great. I don't necessarily enjoy it. I like grilling. I don't really like cooking.
00:19:47
Speaker
Same. oh i guess I can't sit down and watch TV. That's just not here. And again, I'm getting comfortable. And if I get comfortable, I get sad. i don't I don't do well with comfortable.
00:19:59
Speaker
And I've learned this about myself. So I do a lot of audiobooks. um I'm reading the or I'm listening to the comfort crisis right now. And that's helping my walks go longer.
00:20:09
Speaker
Getting an hour and a half walk in. two hour walk in and I'm listening to the comfort crisis. I read, I go down to the pool and I read a so I'm sitting outside and B because and it I'm not reading hard things. I could read hard things, but get bored. Like I just ADD.
00:20:26
Speaker
So I'm reading, I'm reading with the old, the old breed. Is that what it's called? Yeah. I'm reading. It's a Marine Corps book. I got it. I was like, I got to do something. Summertime, it's warm outside. So i'm reading that stuff.
00:20:38
Speaker
With the freedom of time I do have, I do get the advantage. I get to work out more. I get to do what I love, and that is pushing myself physically. ah i get to grocery shop more.
00:20:50
Speaker
I get to do those little things that when you have kids and a fan like ah wife and all these other projects at home going on, you don't get to – you run at the grocery store. You just grab what can and you get out. oh I get to think about what I buy.
00:21:01
Speaker
i get i get a little bit more of a way to live my life the way I want. But I've learned things about myself. When I was married and always busy, ah couldn't just sit down.
00:21:12
Speaker
I could do what Blake does at night once everyone's asleep, just turn on the TV and boom. just let it all go. But since being divorced and on my own, i can't do that.
00:21:23
Speaker
I have learned that's not where I'm happy. oh And because I'm not as busy as I was there. So it's it's different. My my personal time is a lot different from y'all's personal time. but It sounds like and that's how your family time has got to be, too.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, and that that we were we've got it on here to go into family time, so I kind of already stressed on it. Family time, is it's half my time for me. um Though that does, ah and I'm not saying i ignore my kids on days I don't have them.
00:21:52
Speaker
If they have events going on, of course I go to those. I do those events. If it's a birthday or something, there their mom asked me to be involved with that. like ah Even though we are exes, we still involve each other and in events that it may not be their parents' day.
00:22:07
Speaker
So there there are definitely days that I still, even if it's not my day with the kids, i that feeds into my family time. ah I'm going to be with the kids. I'm going to do the pool with them or we're going to do something.
00:22:19
Speaker
um so that But my family time when I have my kids, I'm full on data mode. um We know. full on dad mode when i have kids so um and that that that trumps everything people at work know like if i got my kids that day like deuces i'm not staying late like um i might miss the gym i missed plenty of workouts because i got my kids um that's just that they are number one and i've already given them a setback by being divorced so i gotta do what i can now to bring the
00:22:54
Speaker
to give them every advantage humanly possible.
Family Time and Its Importance
00:22:56
Speaker
What about you guys in family time? Like what' what's that looking like on a daily, weekly, monthly? I'll let Blake go. Hit it, Blake.
00:23:05
Speaker
I'll try to be in the brief of the camp. I mean, mine's 6 a.m. Father's waking up screaming daddy. So I'll hop out of bed and we'll play for and an hour until I put, you know, my wife takes the oldest to school and I'll put her in the car seat and say goodbye and I rush to work as fast as I can.
00:23:23
Speaker
you know, pre-family or pre the youngest two anyway, man, I was out the door by 6 a.m., 6.15 and at the office early cranking it out and, you know, working extra hours whatever. And now it's like, man, I don't, you know, I'm i'm spending time with the kids and I show up at 8.15 instead of 8 or, you know, when we open it or whatever. And at five o'clock, I'm trying to get up out of there. i mean, don't get wrong. There's some days I stay late or, you know, work over or I'm out, log in.
00:23:50
Speaker
and night after kids go to bed, but that's, that's my number one. That's what I want to do. Um, my biggest like prideful boast right now is that when my kid's sick, she's been sick this last week. She asked her dad every time, you know, and not that she doesn't love her mama and mom's not there. Don't get me wrong. It's just, uh,
00:24:07
Speaker
I make it a priority to do everything I can with her. And, um, you know, that's, that's what, that's what I'm here for. It's not just toddlers. It's my teenager. It's my new dude. You're wrong. Just right now. She's one that's been, uh, been most addicted to dad time, I guess. But, ah that's, white yeah that's kind of where it starts. Uh,
00:24:27
Speaker
yeah yeah exactly um teenager you know she wants to do her own thing i'm gonna go hang out in room watch tv whatever you know see guys later kind of thing and uh you know the other one's four weeks old so not a lot there but um after work like said i get home as quick as i can and do the same thing put her give her bath uh we usually take turns we'll just split up whoever takes one other the two youngest gives them a bath and put that one to bed and kind of try to catch a little bit of time with the wife and then I'll sit down on the couch and like i said, do my thing that I mentioned earlier, but and man, just family time is.
00:25:02
Speaker
Did we lose him? Uh-oh, we lost him. Technical difficulty, folks. All right, Brandon. Sorry. You go, going to invite him back. Oh, no, he's back, he's back. We got him back, folks. He's back.
00:25:13
Speaker
He's back. Are you connected to Wi-Fi? I am. I don't know what happened. You got that Kmart connection. Yeah, you do. Yeah. We got the AT&T name. I don't know what's going on.
00:25:26
Speaker
I'm up here. Sorry. I don't know where to cut out. Open your door. I'm not sure either. that I stopped paying attention. You're kind of talking about back and forth between you and the wife with the the youngest. Yeah, yeah. We'll just kind of swap out on on who does what as far as bath and put downs. But, I mean, honestly, that's just that's my number one priority, ah just putting but family first. It used to be work first and then got married and had a 10-year-old at the time trying to figure that out. And it took me a couple years to figure out that
00:26:01
Speaker
Hey, work's going to be work and kids and and wife is more important. And so i made that transition pretty hard, like i said, about a year and a half ago. And that's, ah you know, if I miss work because I needed to go do this or whatever, I worked still going to be there the next day or later that night, whatever, when I get to it.
00:26:19
Speaker
I'm going to some badass bragging on Blake. So Blake lived a single man's life. And sorry if this is saying too much, but Blake lived a single man's life, making good money.
00:26:31
Speaker
living on a private lake. Is it private? I don't fucking know. On a lake. and with a boat. Man had a good life. Blake's wife is awesome.
00:26:42
Speaker
Blake has, hit when Blake and her got married, her daughter, she has full custody 100% of the time of her daughter. So Blake went into that relationship understanding and knowing that if that relationship worked out,
00:26:57
Speaker
he would also have to take on a 10 year old daughter at that time, never being a parent himself, giving up a single man's life to accept that responsibility. So I'm just bragging a little bit. You don't meet a lot of guys that are willing to do that, especially in their younger thirties.
00:27:13
Speaker
um So good on you. appreciate It it was the, it's a hard transition. I worked, I mean, I, you know, Monday through Wednesday, I was working 18 hours a day. And then Thursday was working half day, Friday,
00:27:26
Speaker
probably taking off to enjoy the lake time. Um, and so switching that up to work in, you know, every day, just so I can make sure that there's food on the table and whatnot. It's a lot different providing for yourself than is a family, right? Like, uh, you know, by yourself, it's like, man, if I don't, if I mess the mill, it's whatever. But now it's like, I gotta make sure i get home, get dinner cooked or help out with dinner or,
00:27:46
Speaker
keep kids while dinner's cooked, whatever. So yeah, it was, it was a big transition from just working and not having a care in the world to, to coming home and making sure that I spend some time with them. Like I said, started with homework and we go down the list of what he's done and just jump on it.
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah. I think all of us here with, with like kids or families, i mean, the majority of us anyway, we try to put them first. I know in my life, I'm, I'm a yes man.
00:28:12
Speaker
I'm a very big helper. So if somebody needs my help, i and I hate to do this, i I always say yes to others and I say no to my family a lot. I've said no to my family a lot for many years. And recently, starting last year, and I've been saying yes to my family and no ah no to others a little bit more, which has been really nice. I've kind of finding a balance with my family time, which has been awesome because my wife's been a lot happier with it. my My child's been a lot happier with it.
00:28:40
Speaker
um Sometimes I find it to be unfair now that we're going having a newborn and she's going have a different side of me than what 11 year old had. You know, I don't drink anymore. I don't. want anymore and i i have straight edge so i feel bad for her but she's my oldest daughter loving my loving life where we're at right now she's loving this new we have time but like you said too she's got a neighbor friend and they're gone from sun up sundown outside i never see them i hear them in the woods but i never see them i feel like you're stepping out to vietnam or something out there you know the trees are talking to you but
00:29:17
Speaker
fortunate son's gonna start playing one of these mornings so but no it's been it's been really it's been really good to to to do that i mean my My upbringing was is you, your man, you work hard, you provide for the family. That's your family time right there.
00:29:35
Speaker
You know, you're seen maybe every so often. i mean, you you have your times where you're totally 100% dedicated, but to to actually spend more more quality time with them, it's been it's been awesome. you know Plus, I got my dad here with me now.
00:29:51
Speaker
And so we've been spending a lot more time together, too. So it's been awesome. all around family time it's been it's awesome that's all little foot what you got for us what what do you leona and vader do well first i just want to say like respect to you guys just for everything you do for your family like i don't have kids so i look to you guys as inspiration and oh it's coming it's a big learning uh experience to hear the way you guys do it and uh it there's just so much sacrifice and and you guys are not only providers but like you're like small time heroes like you're you're a hero to your family so just the fact that you guys are all stepping up for your you know loved ones is really respectful because like when there's ever every day you said you say that and it might be our job but there's a lot of fucking people who don't do it
00:30:45
Speaker
A lot of people, deadbeat dads, deadbeat family members who just don't step up for their family. i I've dealt, I've known some people whose ex-husbands are not involved.
00:30:58
Speaker
Or if they are involved, it is it is they're they're strictly involved to keep child support at a minimum. And it's like, dude, you're not even a dad. like You're not a dad. you are That is somebody that you're financially responsible. like You're not a dad. That's That's fucking terrible to me. like I can't faddle that.
00:31:17
Speaker
and so but if you are and I'm with you, man. I'm with you. in If you're a dad and your family is your number one priority and you're doing what you can, you're fucking hero.
00:31:28
Speaker
um ever ever kids, to you, to your kids, it doesn't matter what the world thinks of you. To your kids, you're a hero. Yep, exactly. So, I mean, my parents were divorced and, you know, I was blessed to still have like both of them be such good supporting roles in my life. And my dad really stepped up in ways that my mom didn't. And my mom stepped up in ways my dad didn't. And they just balanced it out.
00:31:50
Speaker
You know, they still have a nice friendly relationship, which made my life a lot easier growing up. yeah And we're all able to just go out and, you know, spend time together as families for birthdays and holidays like that.
00:32:03
Speaker
And it's cool having, you know, my mom and stepmom in the same room and getting you know, just it's just a family to me. So it's um it's hard finding that that kind of family time now.
00:32:15
Speaker
um Just, you know, everybody's crazy busy. And but we're we seem to be doing a little bit better about like, you know in a group chat saying like hey let's pick a day to you know have like a family dinner and just go out and talk about everything a lot of life changes happening right now um so people are i guess kind of like being reflective on it um so that's good and then ah just at home home life uh You know, with the wife and the dog, we're it's so hard, like balancing two people's different jobs with different schedules.
00:32:50
Speaker
And um you just have to find the time like you have to make time. And it it has to be an everyday thing like you have to be committed to that.
00:33:01
Speaker
And you don't have to spend time together every single day, but you have to make a conscious effort to recognize that it's important and you need to set aside time for it. um for For me, like it's even just like the little things like a day where we're going to you know have dinner together.
00:33:19
Speaker
and I can, you know, grill food outside and we can just sit down and eat together or take the dog on a ah long walk or, you know, something, just do activities together.
00:33:31
Speaker
It's important. And, you know, it's, it's hard to make it happen all the time, but you just, like I said, you have to make it a conscious effort because it matters.
00:33:43
Speaker
Yeah, it does. I think, I think in your personal life, family time, I think that it's, in ah In a real man's world, no matter what social media says, no matter what anybody else fucking says, I think in a real man's world, family time is his most precious time.
00:33:58
Speaker
um that is That is probably what a man will give like most of his time too because that's not just – that's your legacy too, man. Like we're all going to die at some point.
00:34:09
Speaker
our kids are what Our kids are versions of us in how we treated them and how we raised them. And they are they are our gift to the world. And that's kind of, I mean, how you raise your kids is how they're going to turn out. And that's not always true.
00:34:25
Speaker
It's always, always 100%. But if you're a good person and good person to your kids, very likely good chance that they're going to, be good people and they're going to turn out to be good people.
00:34:37
Speaker
And I think that's where as a man, I think that most men without even thinking about it, that's, that's our personal time to our family time is our personal time. It's our happy time. It's our good time.
Managing Overtime and Work Events
00:34:48
Speaker
Um, so, but well, not to be just cutting it off. You guys want to do one more, perfect work life one more life balance or do we want to go into work now just for the sake of time um we'll try to do we can do that would that would give us three life balances and then we could do like two work balances since one really gives a shit about work let's be honest let's let's let's go into work yeah yeah yeah you want to work all right we can jump into work um right work and let's just start with The most annoying thing we all, it doesn't matter your job, all of us have to do that.
00:35:21
Speaker
That overtime that you have to spend on a day that you had planned off, let's just call it working on the weekend. ah How do you deal with having to work on the weekend, especially when like you're like, that's my Saturday. like If I'm Blake, the Hogs are playing Alabama.
00:35:40
Speaker
we are we're We're cracking bush lights, and we're we're watching the game. oh I got kids at work.
00:35:49
Speaker
but got burgers to grill we got people coming over we got extra kids like i got a plan and then the boss is like hey fuck your plans with work is your number one priority today you're working saturday um how does everyone deal with that how do how does your how do you deal with it with your family how do you deal with it mentally emotionally oh When you go to work, how motivated are you that day? What do you are you just doing exactly what you're told or you're like, fucking I'm here, let me work.
00:36:19
Speaker
ah I can go first. or You got whoever wants to call it, call it. running it I don't care. ray I'll jump in over overtime. Overtime. me Oh, up no, no. Go for it. Brandon, go and then we'll but we'll jump on Blake.
00:36:34
Speaker
Brandon, and then we'll go to Blake. Well, it depends on where I was working overtime at. I was doing shift work overtime. I was miserable. It was embrace the suck, my friend. was, all right, put on that fake it till you make it smile, get through this eight to 12 hour shift, you know, and that was aluminum extrusion, very hot, very itchy, set and dies, you know, press work. It was, it was what it was, you know, it made me, it made me money.
00:37:00
Speaker
um My wife, that was more unpredictable over time, over time when EMS in the fire hall, That was normally set. You knew you were working that 96-hour week. You knew you had that 72-hour weekend. or you know it was That was already set in stone. um Same with like duty in the Marine Corps. I always picked up weekend duties because I could make a little extra scratch on the sides. We all did it.
00:37:22
Speaker
so Hell yes. but i've had My wife has been a rock. My entire our entire marriage, our entire relationship of 17 years, 18 years.
00:37:34
Speaker
And she has always been if I got over time or if there's something she has been the one to adjust fire. You know, she's shifted everything to the right or left and and taken it like a champ, you know, like. Okay, I'll be with the kid today. She'll move her plans around to include Alessa or, you know, whatever needs to happen.
00:37:52
Speaker
And it's just been to have a partner like her over time was never a problem. know, I almost look forward to it. little extra money in the holidays or. Yeah. Hell yeah. There's a benefit to it.
00:38:05
Speaker
That was the biggest thing for overtime for me. Blake, what about when lawyer duties call you and you got a case rolling up? What's that look like? So mine's pretty unpredictable for the most part, as far as anything extra. um You know, we always have big push. our Our payout is basically compensation for what you've gotten and put in the bank, essentially on attorney fees, right? So each quarter we have a big push. End of year's a real big one.
00:38:29
Speaker
and So my wife kind of knows end of the quarter, you know, like right now really, um I'm probably going to work a little bit extra, go in early, say little late, log on at night once I get them put down.
00:38:42
Speaker
You know, I mean, ah last quarter, I think I spent the last few days of the week, I would come home, put them to bed, and go back to the office at 8 o'clock and work until 12, 1 o'clock.
00:38:53
Speaker
get the last few things done they need to be done so I can get those fees in the bank and I mean that's that's what we make our living off of and gotta put food on the table right so trying to crank out those those last few bonuses and just make make the money when you can basically is what looks at it we don't really have a drop out for my work but thankfully it's pretty busy but you know you want to make the money when you can and cool Tyler, what you got with me?
00:39:19
Speaker
For me, like, my job, it's just name of the game. Like, you know you're working holidays and weekends, and work is just work. Like, there's no – you don't focus on, like, what day of the week it is – if there's a special occasion because you know you're working it. like we We all do it and we might not.
00:39:41
Speaker
So, like for example, just the way the schedule works out, for the next like four or five years, I got to work Christmas and Thanksgiving. like That's the way it fell on the calendar.
00:39:53
Speaker
it's It sucks, but like oh well. um you The good thing is like we're allowed to have our family members come to the firehouse and have dinners with us and... like We make it a thing there.
00:40:05
Speaker
You know, you make. was going ask about that. Yeah. And we it it's a little community, you know, you got the wives and the girlfriends and, you know, whoever come over and be there with us. And we we still make it into a thing.
00:40:19
Speaker
And I got to say, like, I i kind of like working holidays because there's certain how like for Thanksgiving, for example, I never I don't have a big family. Right. I usually for Thanksgiving would go to my mom's and it would be me, my mom and my brother having a little Thanksgiving dinner together. Now I have Thanksgiving. And if I'm there working with the firefighters, like this is a whole big old family I got. And like, you know, the fucking food is going to be delicious yeah because firefighters, not myself included, know how to fucking cook. I've been to a couple of firehouses on Thanksgiving.
00:40:54
Speaker
There are some excellent cooks there. All the wives get together and make them meals. You get that spread. So they bring stuff, but usually the firefighters are the ones cooking stuff. That's awesome.
00:41:05
Speaker
The spouses will usually bring, like, side dishes and things like that and pastries. But we usually cook the main meal. but if Family doesn't have to be blood, man. That's that's holidays with the family right there.
00:41:16
Speaker
So I don't mind it, man. And just regular overtime, like, who gives a shit? You're making money, and whaty what are you missing? It's just another day. I'm with you on that, man. When not when I was working the road, overtime was just like, I worked the evening, so most of our overtime was tagged on to the end of shift. so like The kids were already asleep.
00:41:36
Speaker
my My ex-wife was already asleep. I would just shoot her text, like, hey, they're looking for someone to stay late an extra two to four hours. and like Just to let her know, like when you're working the road and you don't come home all the time, and like if you ain't texted your wife, like hey, gotta be at work. Bad like bad thoughts start happening. so It was always apparent like you gotta text your spouse, be hey, I'm not um nothing's wrong with me. I'm just not coming home until 4 a.m. and I'm going to make time and a half for a little while.
00:42:03
Speaker
um Overtime, there are days that I took extra shifts, especially when we to 410s. I'd take an extra day. I'd go work a fifth day, get an eight-hour overtime shift in,
00:42:14
Speaker
I did overtime jobs. I worked at chiefs parade one time. That was cool. That's 16 hours overtime. ah But those were before I would take them unless it was attached to the industry after.
00:42:26
Speaker
And most of the time, sometimes we had them at the beginning of shift. You just come in on day shift. um I would communicate with my ex-wife. I'd ask her like, Hey, you mind if I go, I'm off Friday, Saturday Sunday. Can I go work Saturday?
00:42:40
Speaker
um or something like that and most of the time she was cool with it um because we were a single income family and time and a half when you're working public safety is insanely good pay um so um i don't know i've already worked a weird shift i worked at two to midnight three to eleven shifts or worked midnight so tagging overtime on that like it wasn't never really a big deal um I never missed anything.
00:43:09
Speaker
i mean, i miss things, but i never missed any big events because I was working overtime. Growing up with a dad that worked overtime, I don't remember him missing anything. I think it was the same way. I think he communicated with my mom. Hey, one of the troopers is out. i gotta I'm going to take a shift for him.
00:43:26
Speaker
you know i think I think it was just communication on my mom and dad's part too of us boys not not realizing it. And I think that my ex-wife and I did a good job of that too. And the kids never really, they just thought dad was at work.
00:43:40
Speaker
And dad worked a lot anyway. So current job, I don't, if I don't have the kids, they don't know about it. So it's just, again, it's just my time that it's taken up work knows that if I got the kids, like good luck getting me to stay late.
00:43:56
Speaker
So, um, but we'll move into, uh, Oh man, what do you want to talk about? What about work events, forced work events that like,
00:44:08
Speaker
you don't want to be there it's on a friday afternoon and you're like just get me the fuck out of here like or like a saturday event like ah a holiday party on a saturday evening and everybody's supposed to be there bringing your families and you know the food's gonna be shit um i don't know maybe the firehouse doesn't have those but i've been at work events where i'm like yeah um how do you guys deal with that how do you How do you go into a work event and be like,
00:44:38
Speaker
okay, I don't want to be here, but I don't need to be like Debbie Downer and be an asshole to everybody. how do i How do I emotionally manage this to make it through that I'm not i'm not coming in Monday and being like, oh, man, Mac was a fucking asshole at the work event on Friday. He really didn't want to be there. Now got to answer to your boss like, hey, next time don't be such a prick.
00:44:59
Speaker
um How do you guys go into that? For me, it's kind of weird dynamic with the firehouse because like you're not really required to go, do those specific events for like the public events it counts as overtime so you're getting paid um there are every once in a while like some kind of like volunteer things going on but for like public events usually you're getting paid and it's like yeah you might not want to be there but then you see some smiling kid like and you just made his day and it's like you know i never really thought about the whole public uh education and safety like
00:45:37
Speaker
what The way like kids look at firefighters. and they love you guys. It's it's adorable. Thank you. know I'm not always the biggest fan of kids, like depending the kid. butter it It really is cute to see like how engaging they are and like how much they think it's cool to you know go jump on the trucks like that.
00:45:58
Speaker
Other than that, the the work events that we got, usually there's alcohol and it just becomes a big party like with with your wet buddies, like yeah everybody just drinks. So.
00:46:10
Speaker
And I imagine in the firehouse, everyone's probably pretty close already. For the most part. There are there is some ah rivalries and people who don't like each other. But at the at the end of the day, it's a job that we all do and have to work together.
00:46:25
Speaker
And you have to be there for each other in moments where your life is on the line. So do you guys – are you guys a small enough eight department that you know everybody at different firehouses? like Or do are each of you just in a firehouse? A lot of firefighters know other firefighters in other departments since i am basically new to the fire service and I didn't have all that volunteer time and all that shit.
00:46:49
Speaker
I don't really know other firefighters aside from a handful of firefighters. in other departments. um But so like we're the only firehouse in our fire district.
00:47:00
Speaker
um So we don't like have actual other agencies connected to us. um But let me put it this way. We're a very small department. We have I think like 28 or 29 guys right now.
00:47:13
Speaker
I got hired in July, 2022. I'm already ninth in seniority and I have like 12 guys under me. Wow. Which is insane. Yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
Like you look at, you look at bigger departments and like their senior guy, their senior guy has like 30 years on the job. Our senior guy got hired in like 2011 or 2012. Wow.
00:47:35
Speaker
So it's like, it's just wild. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. Oh, we lost Blake again. He should hopefully pop back in. There we go. There he is. He's back. He's back. he's back what's the What's the law firm like, Blake, when you guys get forced oh forced to do events?
00:47:52
Speaker
Mandatory fun talk. man, typically there's alcohol on some level. ah Lawyers getting drunk? No way. It may be like restricted on how many they serve or something like that. But ah honestly, a lot of it's, you know, just kind of make sure that we're friendly with everybody. And, you know, that's, that's the fun thing is like,
00:48:12
Speaker
you know, it's, it's not necessarily a family, but everybody's kind of friends. Right. So you get to just kind of hang out and, uh, you know, people that I work with, my case managers, you know, I'm not their boss by any means. Don't get me wrong, but it's like, I can always seem that way to the mask and reduce stuff for me. Right.
00:48:27
Speaker
But then you get to these events and you can just kind of hang out and get to know their kids or, uh, introduce them to your kids. Cause they heard you talk about them a hundred times or whatever in between. So, um, It's just more of a friendly hanging out.
00:48:41
Speaker
Pretty chill. you know Usually not super long or anything like that. sorry ah So we have to usually have good food. and Pretty much everything we do, we have somebody catered that's pretty pretty good at what they're doing. So it actually works out pretty well.
00:48:55
Speaker
Nice. Slammin', what you got, man? A lot of my... A lot of my employment outside of the the core really didn't have many mandatory events that we had to show up to.
00:49:08
Speaker
i mean, we do like a Christmas party. um we didn't have to show up to it, but you kind of just did. um Nothing was really. I mean, I always like doing the parades, especially working on either like the fire department or as a VSO. I love going to the parades, handing out stuff to people, just spreading awareness, spreading name out there. you know, I always loved going to the elementary schools for the kids during fire prevention week.
00:49:35
Speaker
We'd set up like the tower truck and we'd set up us like make it like a sprinkler for them out there, put the ladder over the the yard and they'd have it like a slip and slide. You know, we'd let them go through the trucks.
00:49:46
Speaker
Same with like EMS. ah The only ones that ever bothered me were before I got married and had children, mandatory fun days in the Corps. yeah all right we're all going to onslow beach um you can't drink you gotta you gotta stay here and and it's like dude i'm i'm 18 years old man this is but don't get me wrong i look back at it and i had fun had fun with the with the people that i knew and the the friends that i had because we all enjoyed it together and loathed it at the same time you know i i remember
00:50:22
Speaker
more or less not really with the mew, but like our get togethers, we would have a Johnson's house or my place or whatever the fish fries we had the Fourth of July we had a Johnson's place. Oh, yeah. I still remember those.
00:50:33
Speaker
Yeah. I still remember. I remember Caleb being ah in my garage, just like fried all the fish he got from the ocean that week for like three hours straight. Yeah.
00:50:44
Speaker
Like I just i remember those more than ah I remember the mandatory days of the Marine Corps. That 4th of July was fun at Caleb's house. I remember that one. When I worked the police department, mandatory fun days, we so we had work events. we were think we were like 200 uniformed officers. I don't remember exactly how big we were.
00:51:03
Speaker
Maybe just under that. um But we had events and always worked. Like I worked evening, so like when the events are happening, I was always working. So my family never really went to those. oh But what we made sure of was my team.
00:51:22
Speaker
My team, we always had it. We would do a holiday party. If somebody left, we'd have a going away party. Or we just get together and watch Chiefs games. um we We had a lot of team events. And that was always fun because those are the people you work with every day.
00:51:38
Speaker
Those are your friends. um our sergeant would show up uh everybody would show up so we i i hosted a a handful of barbecues my my partner up there hosted barbecues we would meet up at bars and meet up at restaurants or like just things like that um but as far as the department-wide ones i was always working didn't i didn't and then i found i'd volunteer for calls so i didn't have to go to them i didn't have to show my face
00:52:10
Speaker
But like a good cop does. What are you going to do? Still got those sharp skates. Yeah. yeah they were I was good at skating out of a department shit when I was working the road.
00:52:21
Speaker
So that's all right. that They didn't care. They didn't care. they They would rather you be out on the road than in the building. So I know their answer calls for service all day long. But this, I think this stop topic could go on forever. um We could talk about all sorts of aspects and we can always circle back around to this one. I think it's a good broad topic that we can deep dive in on multiple things, especially just in personal life.
00:52:46
Speaker
That's something we all have. i mean, we got a list here. eight or nine different topics just under personal life that I think every man, woman, person deals with on a daily basis. And how do you scrunch it all into a 24 hour period? How do you get your sleep, get your food and get all your responsibilities taken for them?
00:53:06
Speaker
And maybe somewhere in there, take care of your mental health. ah Give a little back to yourself and And I think we all struggle with that. The days, day, and age is busy. It's reckless.
00:53:18
Speaker
Everybody's trying to keep up with everybody. That's hard. So any final thoughts on all these before we get to the quirky closeout and um move move on until next week?
00:53:28
Speaker
and I just want to say thanks for Blake. Thanks for coming on, man, and thanks for supporting us. Yeah. Thanks for putting up with us for this hour, man. I've enjoyed it all. I believe it's 20, 21 episodes, I think. So I've enjoyed every one of them. I appreciate you guys having me on. It's been fun.
00:53:47
Speaker
It's kind of, I told Caleb or Mac earlier, excuse me, man, I'm nervous. Like I can stand up and speak in courtroom. I've given presentations to, you know, I don't know, 50, 60, 100 other attorneys and like, doesn't bother me at all. But the thought about this was like freaking me out.
00:54:03
Speaker
You did wonderful, Seth. We're the last group you want to be nervous around. Yeah. Well, no worries. We're going to bring you back on. you If you're a loyal listener, there's always one of us missing, it feels like now.
00:54:15
Speaker
So if we've got a topic we need more, we we need and people get tired of listening to us. So the the more episodes you do, the more comfortable you get with it. Um, We have found that.
00:54:26
Speaker
yeah And Johnson, he's a good ringleader of us. He kind of keeps us in tow most of the time. We get little sidetracked when he's not here. He is the arbiter of time for the podcast. Yes, he is. He really does a good job at it.
00:54:42
Speaker
Thank you for being here tonight. You've had a very busy 48 hours. have. I'll make sure my internet's a little bit better next time too. Well, we'll get through this quirky closeout and you can go get some sleep because I have this feeling the rest of your family has passed out
Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
00:54:58
Speaker
right now. Yeah.
00:54:59
Speaker
All right. So what's what you got? Since our our dear beloved swamp is not here to close out, I will take the mantle. I Googled some options and one that looked intriguing to me is have you or anyone you know encountered any paranormal activity?
00:55:19
Speaker
Ooh, I like this. Yeah. Oh, So I'll jump on it. It's not something that I necessarily believe in.
00:55:31
Speaker
ah So I had this apartment in law school and i don't know what had happened before, right? It's one of those, you know, 500,000 people live in these apartments, right?
00:55:43
Speaker
um So one night I'm laying in bed and I'd i was i'd been there like a week maybe. ah My closet door just like magically opened on its own. I'm like, oh, must not have closed it, right?
00:55:54
Speaker
So I go and as I walk to it, the light turns on and then the light turns off as I get to it. So shut the door and the next morning I woke up and there was an X on the wall, like written in pencil above my bed.
00:56:08
Speaker
Don't know how I got there. ah I mean, literally had just moved in a few days before. it wasn't on the wall. Nobody had come in as far as maintenance that I knew of anyways. I'll say it that way.
00:56:19
Speaker
erased the X the next morning, you know, of course. And from then on, i uh had this little like stool thing that i would set in front of the closet door every night when went to bed just it just freaked me out fuck no i'd have broke my lease i'd have been lived there for two years god fuck no nothing else ever happened it was just that first or you know was like that first weekend or something like that i think it was no that's weird no i don't fuck with that shit I don't don't fuck with the paranormal.
00:56:50
Speaker
Well, for me, I've never, honestly, paranormal like activity or experience, nothing really. in my life that I can think of. I do remember and recall uh, there was an old, this old school we used to go into a lot of weird graffiti inside of it, but nothing really that was is like off the wall or anything paranormal that's ever happened in my life.
00:57:13
Speaker
Okay. All right. I didn't expect that from you being in upper Michigan in the backwoods of the world. I thought, I thought there was some creepy, like ghost girlfriend you had ghost girlfriend. No, I mean, there's like, there's eerie areas up here. Don't get me wrong. I mean,
00:57:28
Speaker
like what I think more anything more paranormal would have happened in Marine Corps or anything. Some them buildings was old and weird and creepy. Yes. Dude, my bar my barracks in fucking Japan was haunted. You could you could just Google barracks 5696 in Camp Foster and there'll there'll be stories on there.
00:57:45
Speaker
Nope. but um ree Dude, recently. ah so I never had like a haunted house growing up, but my fucking firehouse is haunted. 90% of the people there don't believe it.
00:57:57
Speaker
It mainly happens with activity in the basement. And there's there's people who sleep in the basement. Nothing. Nothing happens. Or they're just so oblivious because like they're they have zero fear like of that kind of shit.
00:58:12
Speaker
But like I'm so hypersensitive and like I feel and hear things and... like react to it one day i saw a straight up shadow figure standing over my friend when i was getting up for the next day like after our shift and he was still in bed um and i like there was like a little light that was past me and like the exit and like i literally like went around a corner and like peeked out to see if like i was the shadow like causing that and i was not like it was still there and like shine my light on it still there i was like all right i'm getting the fuck out of here
00:58:47
Speaker
Nope, nope, I would quit. Time to go to a new department. you know a lot of people even though they think it's bullshit like we'll be sitting down at the kitchen table eaten dinner and ah random door will open or you'll hear footsteps in the bay where like the ambulances are like right outside the kitchen And we're all just looking like, what the fuck is that? Like, is somebody here? And, like, we'll go out there and just nobody.
00:59:12
Speaker
So i'm I'm thinking of getting a ghost camera and just, like, setting it up in the basement and just seeing what I catch. Do it, man. See, like, i am super, super interested in paranormal shit. Like, I watch ghost videos online all the time, but it's nothing I want to experience myself. Like, I'm very freaked out over it.
00:59:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, no. Like, what do I got to do to help you go to the afterlife? Like, don't stay here. I don't want, please, for my peace of mind and your peace of foreverness, like, let's not do this.
00:59:39
Speaker
yeah Man, when I was growing up, the people I consider grandparents, they had a farmhouse. The family had been on this farm for over a hundred years. they had a farmhouse and this house was fucking haunted. And they they figured out who they think the ghost was. It was an old family member.
00:59:55
Speaker
but like everybody had a story of how to deal with the ghost i never personally saw the ghost but i had to stay there a few nights as a kid after hearing all these ghost stories and i never fucking slept like i would fall asleep and then wake up false like terrible sleep just no i i don't like the paranormal i don't enjoy the paranormal um there was a in the county i grew up in there was ah a i uh old church that was out of and so we would go out to the church and there was like a civil war era graveyard to the next of it and that place was creepy as shit like the church wasn't used anymore but it was a private property so we weren't supposed to be out there but we all want went out there anyways
01:00:37
Speaker
um and like they there was a tree that they're like if you park underneath it you could hear car like footsteps of hangings on top of your car um by the time i the last time i went out there i was in college and we since i was a local we had taken some of the out of town's friends out there and it was like theres there was a pasture down like a little hill back and it was all surrounded by woods and it was foggy across the pasture.
01:01:04
Speaker
And then like that hanging tree was like right at the front of the fog. and it was like one 30 in the morning. And dude, I was just like, I am done coming out here. I like, you just got that like, yeah, eeriness, the moon would shine and like, it just didn't feel right.
01:01:23
Speaker
And um I think i was 19 or 20 when I did that. And I was like, I don't want to be out here anymore. Plus, the old man that owned the land, he was really getting tired of teenagers. I mean, teenagers have doing it for 20, 30 years, but he had multiple reports of calling the county deputies at that point. I think he was just getting old enough that he was getting tired of us being out there.
01:01:42
Speaker
and But everyone knew about it. so But yeah, they was that was, if you wanted, where I grew up, you wanted to get the f freaky feeling on, you would go out to the chapel. and uh i won't say the name of it so i didn't fully give it away um but you can go out to the chapel and uh it was weird man if you got if you got a good moonlight and a little fog out there it was especially staying in the graveyard it was weird so unfortunately i hate the paranormal i don't like dealing with the paranormal i don't even like ghost movies and yes i i love it it's it's an interesting thing oh no
01:02:19
Speaker
I'm like, how do I get you to the forever life? I'm just so curious about it. like it I really do believe in like energy. you know like you're yeah i believe like your energy is left here in some capacity.
01:02:34
Speaker
And I think certain spirits or people are able to harness that energy that they had and use it after they're gone. But I don't know. It's just such an interesting topic. like the And some of the videos I watch, dude, some of the videos I watch online, like, you know, me, like I do video editing a lot. Like I know what's like obviously fake.
01:02:56
Speaker
There is some super convincing footage out there. Like, crazy shit. I got the goosebumps just talking about it right now. If you ever want, go on YouTube and watch Nukes Top 5. It's this channel, and they always do, like, the top ghost videos that are trending.
01:03:11
Speaker
And there are some fucking crazy things on there, man. So do you do haunted houses? Yes. Well, I used to. ah You mean like the the fake ones like for Halloween? No, like real fucking haunted houses. i have only done like one kind of thing like that, but Leona, ah so in my fire district is this old insane asylum that is being currently torn down. Like there's a bunch of different buildings on this big ass property.
01:03:39
Speaker
There was used to be a giant building on the property and a lot of people used to, you know, sneak on the property, break in and just travel around it because, you know, there was stories about it and it's freaky and creepy.
01:03:52
Speaker
So Leona had some experiences in there and she thinks that something got attached to her. So she she won't even. So like that whole property is getting torn down. And now there's like a supermarket there and a bunch of other shit.
01:04:06
Speaker
she's still She still won't even go on that property like at all now. There is one here and in Traverse City, Michigan you can go to They set it up every every Halloween. It's an actual shutdown state asylum.
01:04:19
Speaker
They're not turning down. fuck that i'm like man That's some dark ass energy shit. like yeah bad Bad things happen there. All right, boys. Yeah. I think this is another successful episode.
01:04:30
Speaker
and This was fun. This was good. Good topic, Blake. Thank you all for having me on. I appreciate it. Enjoying it. course, man. We'll get you back on here. Like always, guys. Love y'all and we'll see you later.
01:04:41
Speaker
All right. Love you guys.