I find myself to be a lover of whimsy.

0:11 Yeah. Hi, I'm Travis. And I'm Taylor. And this is Bestie Approved. So this is a fun switch up because Taylor, my cousin, is coming on. Because Emma is seconds away from having baby August. And she's miserable. Yeah, the poor thing. The last episode we recorded, she's like, I don't know if I can do anymore until August is here. I'm so happy for her and I miss her. I love her so much. Um, but yeah, I, I'm, we're, we're excited to, to do a little, a few more collabs. I, uh, I had a couple of meetings with, actually we'll get into it before we do anything else. Um, what's the last song you listened to? I'm so happy you asked. First of all, I'm so excited to be asked that question on this podcast. Anyways, the last song that I listened to is called The Wall by Yana. I absolutely love that artist. I found her on TikTok. And she's been around for at least a couple of years, but I'm obsessed with her.

1:19 And I'm currently learning the song in sign language because that's my current hyper fixation right now is sign language. I love that. It's something I'm trying really hard at, but it's really it's really fun to learn, but obviously very hard. So I love that. What was the last song you listened to? Love on the Dance Floor by Vince Palmieri. Palmer Palmieri. I don't know. It's something I also found on TikTok. And it's like one of those songs that was like, oh, pre save now because it. That has to be a new thing that artists are doing on TikTok, but it's a very good song. I'm very into it. You know, on TikTok right now, I think the genre is called house music. Is that what it is? Go on, tell me about house music of all people. Yeah, don't ask me a single thing about house music except for the fact that I think that you would love house music and house music is trending right now. You know what I mean? House music has been trending for 20 years.

2:17 Right. Okay. I've loved house music for my entire life. Well, lucky for you, it is trending on TikTok right now. Thank God. And everybody's doing funny little TikToks of like one particular song. What's the song? I don't even know. I forget what it's called, but it's like... I know exactly what you're talking about. And thank God you do. Cause I wouldn't know the rest of a little bit closer to you. I'm listening. Sorry. So yeah, it's trending and I love that for you. Thank you. I love that for me too. Yeah. Um, so this is the first of several collabs. Taylor's going to be on, um, several times, but I've had a couple of meetings with podcast friends. Um, One is I had a meeting with her today. She's so cool.

3:08 And like, I can't I'm gonna I'm gonna edit this later. But I one of them is a fellow housewife watcher. And we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna do a collab for the for one of the most iconic episodes of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. I'm very excited about that. Yes, I'm really excited. Incredible. Josh is going to be on several times. And for those of you who don't know, my cousin Taylor is Josh. And I'm doing husbands watching housewives for the real housewives of Beverly Hills for me. You can be on for that, too, if you want to. Maybe I've really been enjoying those episodes with those husbands. They're really funny and really like charismatic. And I'm really enjoying your guys's interaction with them. So I like them a lot. They're very fun. Like I wasn't so like I met with them. It was before I went to Dallas, like forever ago. I was a little bit nervous because I was like Emma and I are so Emma's not as bad about it but I'm very like I I know what I know about these housewives and like I've I've I've I'm obsessed with them and like I'm very I mean you know this better than anyone I'm very opinionated yeah and Scott and Jeff also are opinionated and they like some of the housewives that i don't believe have shined as brightly as they could but i i also think they're willing to listen which is what i really really like about them i think they're just they're fun people i really love doing the episodes with

4:41 scott and jeff they're very fun good i like those episodes as well so you keep them coming That's the plan. Keep them coming for the people. Because, dear listeners, I don't know if you understand this, but I've literally listened to every single episode of this podcast. And I can say this genuinely and sincerely because I do love very specific podcasts. But I would not. listen to my own cousin's podcast if i didn't actually like it i've listened to every single episode and i enjoy every single episode and might i also take the mic for a second longer and please by all means and i will thank you and i knew i would without or with your permission um guys for like literally years travis has said whether it was just him or whether it was me and him he was going to be on a podcast or he was going to have a podcast and so I did want to steal the mic and say I am so proud of you and I love what you're doing and it's really fun getting to hear you outside of a phone call or outside of in person interacting with other people that you love and that you share like commonalities with. And it's very endearing.

5:56 It's very special to me. So this also like me being here is very special because it's very much full circle. So I love you too. Thank you. I love you so much. That was. Thank you. Why was I nervous to say that? I don't know. I could, like, my chest was tight. No, go on, keep going. You can say whatever you want. Yeah, so that's just that. I love that. Thank you so much. That was very sweet. I'm also very proud of you. I think you know this. You know that I'm proud of you. I've been proud of you my whole life. You're a teacher, and, like, we're going to get into this, but, like, that's... the most thankless job on god's green earth and like you are so not good at good at it doesn't begin to explain it you are so passionate about it and like you're you care about the people you're teaching and you you put a lot of work in where I know every teacher puts in a lot of work, but like the the level of care that you put into that is so impressive to me. And I've just I'm very proud of you and I love you. And thank you, Josh. Thank you for being here today. This is going to be so cool.

7:09 Thank me. Thank us. Thank everybody. Thank you. That is very sweet. I it's like you said, it is a thankless job. I am lucky that, you know, I have people that support me in. the profession itself not just like with my admin because that's very few and far between to have support from your own administrators and other people in your school but my mom loves what Bailey and I do Bailey's my sister and she's also a teacher on the opposite end of the spectrum she does like kindergarten first and I'm in high school always um but also you know like my boyfriend wants me to have everything in my classroom that I want and need and that's one thing about me I do not love spending money on my classroom so like I have so many people that do share the love and share their support with me in this endeavor which is very nice because that doesn't happen very often for everybody else no it doesn't and like I I've always or I guess we're just gonna jump right into the teaching thing because like this is something that I think people do need to hear whether or not they have kids I I've when Bailey it was she was going into her first year teaching and she like shared the uh the like wish list with uh with all of us of like oh this is like what I need for my classroom and I was like what are you talking about like I didn't realize and Em and I have talked about this before I didn't realize like you don't just

8:40 get a budget to do that like you don't have like Like a corporate credit card from the district. Oh, I would do anything. The amount of money that I would be spending on things like air purifiers or air fresheners or tissue boxes. It's so desperately needed. Now, nothing like that happens where there's like a corporate credit card. That would be so lovely and so fun and special. Sometimes. um, either like in the middle of the year or at the end of the year before the school year even ends, sometimes you'll get some sort of budget, like $50 or $100. Or I think last year, my school in the middle of the school year was like, Hey, we're gifting like, you know, some other entity gives the school a certain amount of money where teachers can get like 50 to $150 each. to spend on whatever they want for their classroom. So like, I use that money on a couple of posters for my room. I bought like a 1000 pack of pre sharpened pencils, like wooden pencils in a huge box. Post -it notes, highlighters, because I make my kids highlight and annotate things all the time. And a lot of the times they don't. By their own. But like what you're saying out loud right now is wild to me that there's not just a closet that you can go to and like obtain these items from. Sometimes there is.

10:12 A lot of times there's not. That's insane to me. Yeah. Like also part of that, I had to buy folders and notebooks and like loose leaf paper because there isn't enough supply in the school itself. And kids are constantly. ripping their folders don't have folders at all i just this week two kids asked for folders and thankfully i had them because i was given a budget at the end of last school year that i spent on like 30 folders 30 just like cheapo i'm gonna go to meyer and just like buy you a ton of folders and stuff the kids need it well i don't know what to do with that and emma and i have talked about this where it's like the the discourse on tiktok before the beginning of the school year this year was I can't believe I have to buy school supplies for my kid. And I'm like, I don't know how we got to this place of like, I don't want to buy school supplies for my kid.

11:06 Cause like, I mean, when you and I were growing up, it was a big deal to go to school supply shopping. And like, I don't remember. It was the best part of going back to school. Yeah. And just like. No, it was so incredibly fun. And I don't I also don't know where the expectation shifted from what we are used to to what people are used to now. But there's very much been a shift and it's embarrassing in a way now. And that's coming from a privileged place where like I know that if I had kids and they were going to school, I would be able to buy them school supplies. So there's that. But it's it doesn't seem like it's coming from a place of not being able to. It seems like it's coming from a place of this is. Someone else's job or like whatever the case may be. And I I have a hard time with that because I'm I'm just like, how did we get here? I don't know. I don't know. I was looking at a couple of the TikToks that you had put in our notes and I forget which one that I'm about to refer to. But someone was talking about the No Child Left Behind Act and everything really did go downhill when it. I am extremely passionate.

12:23 Dear listener, think what you want about me, but keep the children accountable. Keep them held back if they deserve it. Keep keep them like hold them back a grade level if they don't meet those standards, don't meet those expectations. And if you don't feel that they are ready to move on to the next grade level, I think that it is done. so much damage for children to graduate high school without being able to read at a 12th grade level i mean my kids currently i thankfully i have two pre -ap classes so those kids are very smart very capable my english 10 kids are probably reading at a fifth grade reading level sixth grade reading level do you think that was covet or do you think that's like Do you think that's like the technology in the classrooms or like what do you think? How do you think we got here? I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think that it is a combination of COVID and the technology that we have. I also think that this is kind of a generation where parents are way more hands off, way more. uninvested in their children's lives, whether that be because they don't have the energy due to like, maybe they're working, maybe there's something going

13:55 on in their life, or some people and Bailey, my sister can also account to this, that some people just shouldn't be parents. Some people shouldn't have kids if they're not ready to take on that challenge, because It is a challenge, not just from a newborn to an 18 year old, but beyond that, too. So some parents are just not they're not present in their kids lives. And for a lot of my kids in the area that I'm in, some parents are on drugs. Some parents are dead. Some are just not. very good people, let alone parents. So it's hard for children to meet expectations when those expectations aren't modeled in other aspects of their life, like at home. That's hard.

14:53 That's really hard. Yeah. But that's also despite all of that, despite all of those different factors, it is hard for a teacher or for an administrator. To keep up with all of the needs of a school when nobody else is willing to help. And so it's crazy when, you know, like a parent on TikTok that's wearing like full Lululemon and driving like a Range Rover is saying that I didn't know it was expected of me to buy my children crayons. What? This is a weird thing that I'm like, it's a weird trend that I'm noticing because it's like, I know growing up, like. I was conscious of the fact that like there were things that were expected that like our granny and papal just had to like write a check for sometimes or whatever. And like I knew that I knew this.

15:48 So like were other people just like not as aware as like we were of these things growing up? Or like do you think that like something in society has shifted to like almost more of a selfish place? Or like I guess I don't know where that's coming from. students and their parents are inherently very selfish. And obviously there's a good side to that and a very bad side to it. So I think it's a lot of things. And I think that we also, I think there's a lot of factors in our family that we saw that things cost money. Are we able to access them? Are we able to not access them?

16:33 All these things. I think that as children of divorce, That's just a thing because all of a sudden, if you are living in one single household with a parent that had a partner to help out with things up until a certain moment, that's one aspect. And then, of course, we did have Granny and Papa who blessed us in a million ways and was able to get us whatever we needed if our parents couldn't do it. So I think that. That's something. But the selfishness and the apathy in this time that we're in is really poisoning the learning environment and the educational landscape. It's crazy. I would like to devote like an entire episode to like just what it's like to be a teacher today, because I think that.

17:31 I think there's a lot there. And like, I don't know how I ended up on teacher TikTok. But like, I feel like I'm constantly seeing teachers be like, you don't understand what it's like. It's like it is like they're going to war. And I. It's what it feels like sometimes. I can't imagine what it's like, because it's like, I don't want kids. I don't have kids. Like, my only interaction with kids is like some of our cousins, like in their kids or Emma and Jack. So I'm just like. I want nothing to do with it. Like, I want I don't know. But yeah. But yeah, well, I do want to dive into that. Like, and there's we have a lot of like of just stuff that like comes from like on a political level, like how much I hate Linda McMahon and like what's going on with the the Department of Education in the United States today. But we'll get into all that. Like we've.

18:30 We've got time. We've got time. But I do want to, like, I want to let people know. I want to give people a picture of, like, what it was like growing up with the two of us. Yeah, for sure. The lore. The lore. So. Shivers down my spine. I have my favorite story on this list of, like, taking. Taking you to an establishment that I don't shop at anymore, but Target. And I hate us and Target. I do hate us and Target. But I want to talk about how you and I were. I don't remember why we were in the feminine care aisle, but like we were we were by the pharmacy at Target and you picked up a. What I can only describe as. a silicone cup and you said they have diva cups here yeah and I said what's a diva cup and there was another family in this aisle with us and you proceeded to explain to me what a diva cup was and that family was just entirely uncomfortable with that entire concept and I said well that's what a diva cup is and there you go what is your favorite story about growing up with me well I actually would love To discuss. So after my

20:01 mother divorced, after my mother and father divorced, we lived in Shelbyville in a house. Yes. In a house in Shelbyville. In a house in Shelbyville. That's the first mistake, really. Yes, for sure. Travis Michael here would sometimes babysit me when my mom would go out with her friends or go out on a date or whatever. Now, there's. bits and pieces it all it's all flashes to me um my first i wouldn't call it sexual awakening because it wasn't that but my first experience with seeing sex on a screen was you forcing sex in the city onto me at the age of i could only imagine to be eight nine ten which you were like 10 and i was probably 14 or 15. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. And what a good time that was. I actually didn't hate it at all. I just didn't know what was going on. I don't think that I actually knew. I obviously did not know the premise of the show. I didn't know anything about it. But that was my first like on screen experience. And I have. I only remember this from my mom telling me this, where my mom wanted to go out with her friend, Brianne.

21:28 Are you going to tell the story about the knockdown drag out fight? Probably. Go on. Okay, great. So my mom was going out with her friend, Brianne, just a night on the town with the girls. They were being girls together. And my mom explains this to me like today, as in. she was just one second she was having a good time I don't know where she was maybe broad ripple I don't know but then all of a sudden she just had a horrible gut feeling and she immediately just thought I have to go home I have to go home I don't even she told Brianne she's like I've got a horrible feeling right now I have to go home she goes home and she this is the funniest part because I genuinely don't remember it but I she said that she pulled into the driveway and she was looking out the window. She said, I remember this like it was yesterday. I'm looking out the window like longingly as if I'm just trapped in there or something. I'm like sitting at my desk against the window. And my mom was just worried sick about me. She opens the door and I think she sees your friend Lindsay absolutely canoodling the boots down with some other guy on the couch. Yes. And then you're in her bedroom.

22:42 You're on my mother's bed, also canoodling the boots down. And she was, from her side of the story, mortified. She was like, and thank God I had that horrible gut feeling no wonder. So and thankfully, I actually don't remember this day at all. So I I'd say you managed it pretty well because I don't remember anybody being in that house. Yeah, because you were in bed. Taylor, you were in bed. Allegedly, I was at the window. You were dead asleep. I made sure you were asleep before we invited the guys over. I would imagine. I would imagine because I don't remember a thing about this. So my mom's probably making half of it up. I'm going to let her have her experience.

23:25 I won't take her experience away from her. But when she does tell that story, she loves to make sure that I look as bad as I possibly can in that story. Like, she hasn't had guys over before. Right, of course. Anyway. So, yeah, it's things like that, like us, like you babysitting me. I loved when you had Lindsay around me because she was so hot. Biggest boobs in the whole world. Natural, too. Natural. And that was incredible to see as like a 10 year old. Yeah. So you just always had beautiful people around you. You wanted.

24:07 me to be cool like I would wear my zip up jackets all the way up top and you'd like zip it back down halfway because that's how they did it at Hollister when you worked there like all these things it's just really fun I love that yeah um yeah I think my other favorite story from our childhood is dear listener you might know this about me I'll fly off the handle about anything um literally anything And Josh and I were at, it had to have been the target in Plainfield. And someone cut us off in the parking lot and almost hit us. And I decided I would not let that injustice stand. I rolled down the window.

24:52 My window. Your window. Yes. I followed this woman through the parking lot and I let her know how badly she had messed up that day. Yeah. Now. Yeah. To be fair, she had cut you off in a way that like you're not supposed to drive that way in the parking lot. Like you were going down a lane of the parking lot and she was going horizontally at a stupid speed and genuinely cut you off. Like we were both frightened by it. But I need to let her know. Dear listener. One thing about Travis Michael is he's going to let you know.

25:32 And especially during that time, I was so shy. I was so in my little cocoon. I'm not, you know, I can hold my own now for sure. But back then I was not confrontational. I didn't want to make any waves. So the fact that I am in the same car. With a tsunami that makes waves for sure. That's what really frightened me. I made waves for both of us, if you will. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that is one that I look back on not fondly, but in the space that I am in now, I would also do the same. I see what you saw and you walked so I could run. And I appreciate that. I really laid the groundwork. Yeah. What else? What else is on it? What do you want to get into? We have a lot on our list, but I'm down for whatever.

26:33 What's on your mind? If we want to get into some teacher things, we totally can. Let's do it. What should we start with? Anything in particular? Do you want to just like hear me complain about what's up with these days? Actually, you know what? Let's do complaining. Complain about what's going on these days. And then before you get into complaining, have you watched any of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City? No. Okay. And I know that that's pretty blasphemous for me to say on this podcast. It's okay. We can... We can do... You know what? Let's just get it.

27:15 Let's let's get into teacher things today and then we'll do a reality roundup next week. Sure. OK. OK. Beautiful. Anyway, if you want to hear just like some random things that I'm dealing with just this week and then we can get into specifics if we want. This week, something that really annoys me. I said it in our notes, like some kids will just literally say anything. And it's like. What gives you the gall? and the right to just sound like the world's biggest idiot. Like it's really hard as a professional in a classroom setting to handle that professionally. Like for instance, on Monday, we had an e -learning day. Sometimes e -learning is very much scheduled out. There's usually at least one e -learning day per quarter and that's synchronous work.

28:07 You have to have like 25 minutes per period on like a live, basically a Zoom. So 99 % of the time, the kids do not interact during that time. The cameras are off. They're muted. I'm just spewing whatever I want to spew. And then I give them something to do just to say that we did it. For my E10 kids, my English 10 kids, all they had to do was listen to me yap about chapter two of Of Mice and Men. And then they had to take a quiz, a chapter two quiz. It took probably 15, 20 minutes total. And I even let them off early. Like, you're welcome. It's a gift from me to you. And then the next day, one of my students who has been a menace since day one or whatever, he comes up to me and he goes, Miss Ramseyer, Miss Ramseyer, what did we do yesterday? And I'm like. Why are you asking me? I took attendance.

29:04 You were there the entire time on the Zoom. What do you mean? What did we do? He's like, well, obviously I wasn't listening. I was playing Fortnite the whole time. Why would you do that? Why would you do that? And also, why would you say that? Do you think they think it's like a cutesy little thing? Yeah. It's so annoying. And guess what it is? What? Ugly. It's ugly. It's ugly and I hate it. And in very... In much more professional terms, I said, get the fuck out of my face and leave my room. Like, you're not even in this period. And don't come at me saying this. Obviously, I didn't say that. But I basically said, you know good and well to not sound this way to me.

29:51 You know what's on my Canvas page. You can go check it out yourself if you didn't want to listen yesterday. Goodbye. And then why are they being a little demon monster, though? Like, I don't I don't get it annoying because that's like what it is. Like some of them think that it's funny. And I'm like, do I look like I'm laughing? Do I look like I think you're cute and funny? No. It's literally embarrassing these days. Like the the things that kids will say, like I had to get a kid kicked out of my class on the last day of the first quarter because. My mistake, I had to talk to a kid privately out in the hallway for one minute. And in that minute, that kid was running around my room acting a menace and said crazy wild things. So I've had to get kids kicked out for just saying this, just the most foul, horrific, disgusting things. Because like, what are you doing being 14, 15 years old and saying that in front of 25 other kids? You're embarrassing. I hate that. Isn't it ugly? It is ugly. And, like, this is something where I think that, like, I don't know if parents aren't holding kids accountable anymore or, like, because, like, I know that there were certain things I could get away with saying when I was growing up, but there were other things where, like, I would have been beaten within an inch of my life. Uh -huh. And. For sure. I don't know where

31:21 that's gone. Well, here's what it is. Half of it is parents are holding their kids accountable and the kids genuinely don't care. And then the other half of it is the parents are not holding the kids accountable. And so they're not getting any consequences. They think that they can do anything and not be touched. The kids that are being held accountable at home, they are being held accountable. But 99 % of the time, those kids are so apathetic that. They don't care if things get taken away. They don't care if they get in trouble. They don't care if they get their door taken off its hinges. They don't care. They literally don't care about consequences or how they make other people feel. Because, I mean, imagine the 25 other kids in that room, like hearing such uncomfortable words coming from a 15 year old. That kid doesn't care. He likes to make people uncomfortable. And it's. Very scary. That's very weird. It's very weird, very gross and very scary because that kid is probably going to turn into an adult that is just as bad.

32:32 I do have a theory about this where like I do wonder if. Like because I don't think kids get enough credit for like how smart and like how observant they are sometimes. Yeah. And like I wonder if there is some level of like. Well, a literal felon can find his way into the White House. So like, why can't I like, why can't I do that? Like so. And especially being a teacher during both of those elections. A lot of kids did have that mindset of like, I can truly get away with anything and it doesn't matter. I hate that. Anyway, what else? What else about being a teacher? Um, I'm really, I mean, old news, like literally every teacher on the planet is saying this. I'm really tired. I'm really tired and burnt out. Yeah. And I think that now I've been a teacher for six years. This is my sixth year. And I've really laid my own groundwork to make my job as easy as it can be. But it's the other aspects of it that are harder. Like lesson planning isn't very hard for me. I I'm lucky enough to where I teach generally the same grade levels every year. And I know what my sweet spot is in particular. Like I love teaching freshmen

34:03 and sophomores. And thankfully, nobody else does. Everybody hates freshmen and sophomores. You've always been the person that like takes on the roles that everyone else like. either hates or like doesn't want to do isn't that sad kind of like but you've also like you're very good at that though i feel like yeah um i think that i'm still young enough to where they are very comfortable with me um i'm gonna be 28 in december but that's so weird because i'm gonna be 29 in april Isn't that so funny? Isn't that so funny how that works? Age is just a number. Somehow I was four years older than you when we were kids. Yeah, it's so funny. It's like someone's math is off. Is the math in the room with us?

34:47 I don't know. I don't know. Anyway. But when I, like my first year teaching, I was freshly 22, basically. And I was teaching juniors and they're 17. And so that was a very not. incredible dynamic especially being a brand new teacher also in the middle of covid like my first year of teaching was um 2020 so oh yeah it was wasn't it yeah it was right because i graduated i had to graduate at home i didn't have like a graduation or anything like that school for me basically stopped in march and i was able to do a little bit of things for maybe about a month on zoom with like the school that I was student teaching at. And then the president of Ball State was like, hey, you can just stop early. We'll send you your diploma in June or something like that.

35:44 And then I was a teacher for that school year starting in August of 2020. So that was really hard. That was a weird age dynamic teaching juniors as a 22 year old, especially with. covid and all that stuff and just being a first year teacher but i'm in a really comfortable place now where i can be fun and goofy with my kids while also really setting solid expectations and expecting them to meet them and at this point they're 15 16 years old and so I always say that my job is very different and a lot easier than my sister's job because she does kindergarten and first grade.

36:26 She has to not only teach the expectations, but teach them how to meet the expectations. And that's not something I really have a patience for. Whereas right now, like with me. teaching 15 and 16 year olds, I'll set the expectations, I expect them to meet them. And if they're being out of their minds, crazy, weird and annoying, then I get to be like, you're being crazy, weird and annoying. And that's not the kind of learning environment I'm trying to cultivate here. So you can go to the office if you're not gonna chill out. Do you feel like that? Like that's more helpful than like pulling them aside because it's not like public shaming. It's just being like, hey, what are you doing? Now, I do my very, very best to squash the problem with the child individually. I don't ever mean to embarrass.

37:22 I don't ever mean to shame, for lack of a better word. There's also a point where if I've tried my very best to meet a person where it's at and they're not going to work with me and they want to continue to be a menace to me and 25 other kids in the room, then if they want to be embarrassing in front of the whole class, I'll embarrass them in front of the whole class. I think that's fine. Yeah. I mean, it's genuinely only when it gets to the point where it's a distraction to myself and others. Yeah. Because I. Very much. I'm very passionate about the space that I'm in, like my classroom specifically. I love my classroom.

38:03 I try to make it a place where I want to be in. I make it cute. I make it nice looking. And I also want to make sure that I have a safe environment for students to learn, grow, make mistakes, have fun and do something good in their lives. If somebody is messing that up for me, I don't want you in my room. I don't want that. And you're going to make other people in my classroom uncomfortable to your peers. That's weird. Like you're doing way too much. And if I've told them in five, six other ways that you are doing too much and you cannot be in here, if you're going to continue to act this way, then guess what? If you're going to continue to do it, I'm going to say in front of your 25 other peers. You are doing way too much. Get out. I'm going to call the administrator and let them know you're on your way. I had to do that multiple times this year, which honestly is better than past experiences. I love that.

39:05 Yeah. We've got a lot on the teacher list, but one thing I do want to get into is AI and academia. Yeah, for sure. Emma and I have talked a lot about artificial intelligence and large language models on this podcast because I'm in a weird middle space where, like, I, like, I think a lot of you remember our Uncle Roy. I think about Roy a lot who, like. If you would have introduced him to chat GPT, that would have become his best friend. Like, yeah, I don't know if you remember him in this way, but like he had to have the newest of everything. And he loved technology.

39:50 He loved, loved computers, loved like he was the first person. I mean, like I remember when dial up Internet was first becoming a thing, even though I'm not that old. I don't remember dial up, but like I remember when he like first. Got a hold of like that America Online CD that they would send you in the mail. And you couldn't tell him that he was not like you couldn't tell him he wasn't Steve Jobs. And then like he got he had the first iPhone. He had the first like I remember the first iPod. He had all of it. So I think like I took a little bit of that from him because Papo's kind of been similar in that we're like he has always been very encouraging of us like learning. about technology right yeah so I think about AI and I'm like oh the the the possibilities are limitless right where it's like there there are there are real applications to like teaching there are real applications to problem solving but like when it becomes a crutch that's where I've started to like I've started to open my eyes a little bit where Emma from the beginning has been like I don't like it I want nothing to do with it I hate it and I support her in that But like I've in this podcast, I've like stopped using AI to like write the show notes like I do that all myself now. And I think that because I think when you start using it in place of creativity, that's where your mind starts to like just get really lazy. Absolutely.

41:24 But I I don't I don't know what it's like for kids now who. They've just had chat GPT for the last three years. I'm like, how does that look for them? What does that look like? Oh, let me tell you what it looks like. It's from the teacher's perspective. It is nothing short of a boldface nightmare because it's like what you said. There's there's no creativity. There's no critical thinking. There's no practical problem solving when students are truly and sincerely using this. any way that they can in the school setting. And at my school, we have like school issued Chromebooks. So each student has their own Chromebook computer and chat GPT and things like that are blocked. Well, even if they're blocked, students are either students can either use it on their phones, use it on their iPads, or they can find, you know, like little firewalls and stuff like that. Yeah.

42:25 And so it's always, always a problem. And even if none of that is true they have a computer at home and they're using it there like I obviously I'm an English teacher I'm gonna make a kid write an essay one thing I love is teaching how to write essays you've loved writing your whole life oh I love writing everything creative not creative essays research personal narrative everything I love it so I love teaching that and What's really annoying to me is I will put in so much time, so much work, so much notes, so much modeling, so much effort into giving them a week to two weeks to write, say, a five paragraph essay.

43:11 And I think the first essay of this school year, I gave like 10 kids zeros without the option to resubmit because there was evidence of. ai and stuff like that and i know that that you know what grammarly is it's my personal hell i hate grammarly it doesn't even work half the time it's not that it doesn't work it's that like grammarly was the really one of the first um first applications like one of the first apps To force AI into every facet of what you were trying to do. Absolutely. And it's like, okay, so you open up the extension to, like, add itself to Microsoft Word or to Chrome or to Gmail. I think were the first three places you could use it. And, like, it was in my undergrad at IU, it was we got it all for free. Like, Graham really had to have come to IU and said, hey, we want.

44:13 you to be early adopters of this. And the way that it was so aggressively like, like, I'm gonna get in here and I'm gonna like, I'm gonna recorrect what you're doing. I hate Grammarly. Absolutely. And like you said, that's it, it uses AI to help you with that. So when I use my own AI detectors, when assessing essays, I go into it with the expectation of they are told to use Grammarly. I tell them, hey, if you want to use Grammarly to, you know, edit and revise your work, go for it. So I know that if one of my AI detectors says, oh, 12 % of this essay is AI generated, then I'll be like, okay, maybe it was just Grammarly.

44:54 I'm talking 60, 80, 95, 100%. of a child's essay is AI generated. And it was even embarrassing recently. And this is actually funny to talk about because recently my school has been issued a grant for this AI program called Magic School AI. And that's specifically for schools, for students and for teachers. So I was also part of a like a committee where I had to be a part of like an all day professional development about how to use it, how to utilize it in the classroom, how I can use it as a teacher, how students can use it on their end. And I was supposed to make a lesson involving Magic School AI. So essentially what I did. I know this is a long story, but essentially what I did was I have a question in one second. Don't let me forget that. I have a question very specifically about magic school.

45:54 I have a go ahead. OK, so essentially. What I wanted to do for my kids was I wanted them to take what they learned from George and Lenny of Mice and Men chapter one. And I wanted them to write a diary entry in one of their perspectives. And in order to do that, because we had just met those characters, we only read one chapter. I made a custom chat bot in Magic School AI that was specifically going to help them with this assignment, give them ideas, offer them guidance. check their work, give them feedback, give them an estimated score based on a rubric I made and uploaded to this chatbot. And thankfully, with Magic School AI, it specifically will never write anything for a student. Which as far as I know, that that is the whole truth. And that's great.

46:43 I had a student come up to me on day two of this assignment, being like, Mr. Ramsey. Your chatbot's not helping me. I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm like, okay, well, let me see what you've got so far. She had a fully written diary entry and it looked good. I'm like, what do you mean? You did a really great diary entry. Mind you, she's showing me this on her personal iPad. Okay. So. And I'm very comfortable with this student. I've been on her iPad once or twice. So what I do is she's showing me this on like her notes app, like she's typing it on her notes app. I'm like, well, let's see what your conversation with the chatbot was. So I went ahead and like scrolled up to see her open tabs. The latest open tab was ChatGPT. And I go, and she goes.

47:37 I said, I said, Miss girl, there's no way. She said, that wasn't me. What? What do you mean? What do you mean? I fear that you're a liar. So I immediately click on it. I mean, I said, well, let's see what ChatGPT has to say. This girl said, write me a diary entry and George's perspective from chapter one of myself. You're sick. I gave you an AI chatbot. What do you mean? She thought so boldly that my issued chatbot would write the whole thing for her. And when it didn't, she was mad and went to chat GPT.

48:24 I said, you're getting a zero and I promptly need you to get out of my face. She walked away. And mind you, she got a zero on her huge essay because she also used chat GPT and admitted it. Are we ever going to learn? No, I fear we're not. And like this is this is the problem for me. I want to come back to this magic school, I think. You say your school received a grant. Yes, a two -year grant. My question is, did this grant come from the Department of Education or did this grant come from the parent company of Magic School AI? I actually couldn't tell you. I don't know. I'm going to do digging into this.

49:05 I'm going to do a mama list research because this scares me when you have these companies. Because I'll tell you our pretty close experience with this. Zachary, my brother, your cousin, he was in high school at Triton Central after I graduated. And there was a corporation called New Tech Corporation or something like it was they were the initiative was New Tech. And it was all owned by this corporation who said, we're going to make these schools technology first schools. Right. They came in. They it was it.

49:47 I think it was two years after I graduated high school because Zachary was two or three years behind me. He would have been a junior or a senior. And I guess they came in, they took complete control of the curriculum and said, you will teach this way. This is how your classrooms will be structured. They like paired teachers together. Like it became a thing where they. The idea was you'll be more ready to go into the workforce if college isn't for you, because I think that was where that was where like the data was trending was like some kids coming out of Triton just didn't go to college. And that's fine. If you don't go to college, like it's not for everyone.

50:29 And like, I'm not going to be the person that's like, no, every kid needs to go to college because I don't I wholeheartedly don't believe that. But what it did is it ruined. That, like, I mean, I'm telling you, like, the amount of money that taxpayers had to pay to get Triton Syndrome out of that contract, because it was a complete and total disaster for, I think it was two years that they were at Triton. And when these companies come in and kind of... push their technology push their product push whatever in the schools that kind of stuff scares me because i'm like what's the ulterior motive here because like if it's a for -profit thing i don't want it i want it to have no involvement in the schools yeah and i that the first question i have After hearing that is did every single teacher quit?

51:17 Because if somebody if I'm teaching the way that I've been teaching for six plus years, and then all of a sudden someone comes in and says, you're going to revamp everything you've ever done, and everything that you will do for the next one, two years, and you will do things this way. And if not, they were going to have issues, I would be so gone if i had the means and wherewithal they did lose a few teachers and i have a feeling that like you had um mr mendenhall like i like the teachers like mr mendenhall do you remember mr mendenhall from you might have been i don't think you would have you wouldn't i don't think you ever would have had him but like there were teachers like mr mendenhall who like rebuked the idea of a computer in his classroom like if he showed us movies like he would pull out like and i'm not joking like the the big tv on the big thing like there was never any use of of um like computer like he didn't know how to turn on the computer at his desk like and he never used it like it was all graded with like red pen and paper yeah and like probably the literal grade book yeah he he had a little like he had all of it and like i mean he was i mean he was a world war ii vet like he was old when i was in school so like if he's still around like i'd be astonished but like i know he was still teaching when zachary was there and i have a feeling like he never instituted those things in his classroom and like i would imagine because he was I will tell you, he was an advocate for his students. And, like, he was one of these people that if he didn't agree with something, he would just close his classroom door. And he'd be like, you can come in between classes. Like,

52:49 that's the end of that conversation. Wonderful. But, like, I mean, they did lose a fair amount of teachers. And I have a feeling that's why they had to pair teachers up. Because I know they were pairing classes together to use in, like, those big classrooms that we had. So. Yeah, I imagine that. I mean, we lost the guidance counselor. We lost a fair amount of teachers there. Well, I'm starting to realize now I am. I don't know if it's due to my age or due to like me just being a teacher in this time, but I am loving. Loving it when students have their personal devices, like a school issued device, like a Chromebook or like I taught at a Catholic school for two years in Tampa. And that was and they had personal iPads for classes. And I love it. I love technology in the room because my work is so accessible that way. And my lessons are so accessible that way. And also handwriting is crazy. So I love it when they type essays.

53:52 But now I'm starting to see that there are potentially detrimental. um, consequences to 100 % technology in the classroom. Like, I think, I don't know if it was a TikTok that I saw randomly on my For You page or one that you had linked in our notes, but a teacher had mentioned, these kids don't know how to hold pencils anymore. Don't know how to hold pencils? What are we talking about? That's crazy. And of course, like, as a lover of cursive, Nobody knows how to do cursive. Nobody knows how to do anything like that. Did you learn how to write in cursive? I did. I did. I didn't. They taught it to us in like second or third grade. And that was the last time we ever used it. Like Mrs. Doss was the last time that I ever remember seeing cursive. Absolutely.

54:39 I don't. I was never taught it like in consecutive years or anything like that. But yes, around like second grade, we probably learned cursive. I don't think that I actually used it often until probably the end of high school and going into college. In college, I was really passionate about trying to write in cursive all the time. And I like writing in cursive now. I do both. It's kind of half and half for me. It just depends on the vibe, I guess. But I would never. I don't think I think the only taught us for one year. So I don't. cursive for me you know your mom has like an insane like conspiracy theory about cursive but have we talked about those no i don't know what you're talking about tanya when she found out that schools weren't because cassie doesn't know how to read cursive like this is something that tanya like has a bone to pick with well she has very beautiful cursive my mom your mom does have very beautiful like she's she ought to be passionate about it yes but um she wholeheartedly believes That the reason they don't teach cursive in schools anymore, it's a liberal conspiracy that they don't want kids to be able to read the Constitution anymore so they can change whatever they want. It's the most insane thing I've ever heard in my life.

55:57 Dear listeners, I literally can't believe the words that I'm hearing. Yeah, Tanya wholeheartedly believes. Dear listeners, this is the first time I'm hearing about my mother in this light. All I have to say is no comment. That's crazy. No, that's an absolutely wild thing to say. But yeah, it is sad. But there are I I would do anything for to have like a whole unit where we don't touch a phone. We don't touch an iPad. We don't touch a Chromebook. We don't touch a smart board that we literally do something like pen, paper, book. Anything like that. No technology whatsoever.

56:41 I'd even have the lights off if that's. Do you not have the option to do that? Do you not have the option just to say, put it all away? We're going to I'm going to write on the board. You're going to take out a piece of paper and that's how it's going to be for this period. I have every right to do that. Yes, I can. But these kids and I don't mean to sound 60 years old and senile when I say this. Kids these days. will not survive without their phone, like, within arm's reach. It's embarrassing and weird. Like, I can take their phones. They'll literally go hysteric, like, into hysterics if they don't have it. Can I just tell you something? And this is something that, like, truly, like, I've stayed up at night about this before. So, like. Our cousin and this is not this is not a knock on Logan's parenting. Right. Our cousin Logan has two wonderful kids. Wonderful. Yes. I have watched the iPad be taken away from one of them and the meltdown that followed. Yes. Like because I.

58:00 And they have done studies about like the way technology does really rewire your brain. That's why there should be a limit on screen time. That's like there's like the blue light like does something to your brain. It's like it's a thing. And I'm I'm I fear and I I'm sure that she's like reeled it in. But like I fear that like they're. could be an addiction there and i'm like it's it's wild to talk about a four -year -old and say like he's addicted to something but like what do you do with that it's i'm telling you i think that a lot of you know the last generation of parents and this current generation of parents have really lost the plot when it comes to things like that where you know if if they Didn't want to deal with a tantrum if they didn't want to deal with something hard. I mean, I as someone who is not a parent, I will say that being a parent is probably the hardest job in the world.

58:59 Oh, 100 percent. There's not a doubt in my mind. Of course. Yeah. But parents will just throw a screen in front of a kid in order to shut them up or to make a hard situation end or whatever. And we really screwed it up in that way. I I truly don't know what it will take now for a child who I mean, I mean, let's think about it. I have I have 16 year olds in my room. They have now they were born in like 2009, 2010. That's insane. Isn't that disgusting? That's insane. That's crazy. But yeah, most of their birthdays fall in 2009, 2010. I mean, were iPhones a thing back then? The first iPhone was launched in 2008, I think. Yeah, so there's always been iPhones, always been iPods, always been YouTube. I'm pretty sure YouTube has been around that long. YouTube's been around since 2005, I think. Now, for me, being almost 28, I remember my childhood, in regards to technology, mostly consisted of just TV. I don't even, like, but... I you say that and like I don't even think you had cable at the house in Shelbyville. Like I I think we watched like exclusively DVDs. Yes. And I think back to that and like and I I don't think this was on purpose by any stretch of the imagination.

1:00:31 Like I genuinely think this is just something where like if you guys did have cable, it was like the six channel cable. Yeah. And. But, like, the amount of access that we did not have. Like, I mean, at Granny and Papel's, we always had, like, whatever. It was Dish Network or whatever it was. And, like, Huck let me watch Sex and the City growing up. But, like, I, like, even that, there was, like, some level of control over, like, what we, not control, but, like, there was some monitoring over, like, what we had access to. Absolutely. And, like, the amount of access that kids have today, like. It's unprecedented. And I think that's why a really big issue is like that even I struggle with is that we are not meant to have this much information accessible to us at any given point. And at the drop of a hat, because I always think back to it as like 200 years ago, we would never know. unless somebody else went to the town over what was happening in that town we would never know unless we visited that town itself or somebody that we know visits and then tells us like word for word like oh my gosh you'll never believe the the thing at the saloon that happened in the town of her but we know the most horrendous absolutely unbelievable information that happens all across the world and not only that but we are seeing things that

1:02:05 no regular human actually has the capacity to understand and on one side of the coin it's good to know things it's good to be aware and it's good to be conscious of all of the bad things that are happening around us but on the other side of the coin it's literally rotting brains like these these kids are so It's either people are traumatized or kids are now apathetic to it because that's all they've known. They've always, always, always had a phone, had an iPad, had a computer, had a TV. And all of that was so easily accessible to them. Whereas when we were kids, yeah, we had TV. Yeah, we had DVDs.

1:02:47 We had the VCRs. What is that? The big block videos? Yeah, like VCRs. I don't. Did we have VCRs? We had like. We had them at Granny's house. Yes, at Granny's. Yeah. But at the same time, we had such a fun time playing outside, jumping on the trampolines, like Bailey and Zachary playing army outside the backyard. This is something really interesting. We're like, I, I remember like Papa built that like tree house thing for us. And like, I remember like that was like. You couldn't tell me that was not like I wasn't the king of the castle there. And it's like, I feel like kids don't have that anymore. And it's like, on some level, I feel kind of bad because I'm just like that. We had good childhoods.

1:03:37 It's like as messed up as things got, like just with family stuff or whatever. We still had incredible childhoods that I wouldn't have traded for anything in the world. I don't think. I hope that kids still have that level of imagination that you and I were able to have. I don't know. Well, it's exactly what you said earlier, that AI itself is cutting off all the creativity. I even had, you know, in my pre -AP class, part of the unit has to do with analyzing arguments being made in editorial cartoons. An editorial cartoon that I showed on Monday on e -learning day was like a big robot arm holding a pair of scissors to this one thread that represents creativity of the human body. And like it's about to cut the single thread. And I mean, that's what everybody knows. And it's so acknowledged yet AI is so deeply ingrained. Like the. The reason why we got this grant for Magic School AI in the first place is because my principal had to tell it to us, like the people as part of the all day PD about it was, yeah, we know that AI is a problem in schools, yada, yada, yada. We're too deep into it now and we might as well embrace it.

1:05:00 The genie's out of the bottle like that. Yeah. And like I get both sides of it. Like I know that it's not something that we can escape anymore, but also why? Do we have to feed into something if it's only going to do absolutely nothing to enrich these kids? Now, I'll say magic school AI as somebody who, you know, has had professional development about it, has used it. That's definitely the best use of AI in a school because it's specifically made for a school setting where it will not let students. have it written for them which is great um it's supposed to be used as tools as resources as guidance um whereas the kids have to create the end product whether it be like some sort of written response or whatever but i i'm just i am certainly at my wits end when it comes to chat gpt and stuff like that i'm even trying to stop using it in my personal life because I don't want to be saying, oh, AI is bad, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then use it to be like, what's a recipe I can, what's a salad that I can make with pecans and cranberries? I'll figure that out myself like I used to in the good old days. Are you kidding? Not the good old days. In the good old days. Josh, do you believe in horoscopes? I'm so glad you asked.

1:06:33 I'm so glad you asked this question. Used to be really passionate about it, but let me tell you about my sun sign. I'm a Sagittarius. I don't align with any, anything regarding a Sagittarius. Sagittariuses are, um, they're, um, what's the word I'm looking for? What's the, what's the words where it's like, I'm in, uh, not outspoken. Introverted? Yes. OK, I'm looking for those. So cut all that thinking. So for Sagittarius, they're supposed to be very extroverted and very like whimsical and all these things. And in some cases I can be extroverted. I find myself to be a little, you know, a lover of whimsy, but I'm not as busy. I'm not as like. I find myself to be a lover of whimsy. I find myself to be a lover of whimsy. That's the episode title.

1:07:39 I want you to know that. For sure. I find myself to be a lover of whimsy. I do. I love whimsy, but not in the way that Sagittarius people do. Like, I also, I'm very much a homebody. I'm very introverted in a lot of ways, which obviously, why am I a teacher? You know what I mean? I can fake it till I make it for sure. And I do it well. But I'm very introverted at heart. I'm very much a homebody, all these things. Now, if you asked me about like my moon sign, which is a Capricorn, I align with almost all aspects of Capricorn. So some of it I do believe and some of it I really don't. What are you thinking about horoscopes? Well, you mentioned it earlier, and that's the only reason I added it to the list. I know. So the whole thing with horoscopes, I believe that, like, some of this stuff is so broadly written that, like, anyone can see a little bit of themselves in anything. But I will tell you, like, any time someone finds out that I'm an Aries, like, they're like, yes, you are.

1:08:46 And I'm like... I don't even know the first thing about an Aries. What's the deal with Aries? Okay, so according to CoStar, the app, Sun and Aries, the Sun determines your ego, identity, and role in life. It's the core of who you are, and it's the sign you're most likely to already know. I don't know what that means. Your Sun is an Aries, so you are fundamentally assertive and persistent and courageous. I hate that they put assertive and persistent. And courageous. Some very hard hitting in your face things. So naturally competitive and fiercely independent. You push things forward with energy and enthusiasm and persevere through anything. You need to learn to understand other people as complex holes.

1:09:34 That's a lot of word salad, I feel like. Do you know what I mean? It's like, yeah, like I'm loud and aggressive, but like I don't. Think that I could be wrong. I don't know. Well, when you say some of those things, I can see that in you. But like you said, like that can be said about all kinds of people with all kinds of signs. And I I think that I like horoscopes for people who like them because it's kind of similar to like when you get a tarot reading where a lot of it can be very general and. that it can apply to anyone but if they genuinely need that message and they needed that verbalized in some sort of way whether it be from costar or from a tarot card i think that that's great and you heard what you have to hear and i used to be a little woo -woo when it comes to like crystals and stuff like that and i think that at that time i genuinely needed to be a little woo -woo And I'm really happy to have had those experiences because I also learned a lot. I feel very smart learning about different minerals and not just like their metaphysical properties, but other properties as well. I think it's all very fun to learn about and it's very fascinating. And I think that a lot of people get that out of horoscopes as well.

1:10:52 But my honest question is, do you. Did you then or do. And or do you now truly believe that like different rocks have like different powers? No, I don't think that they have powers. But I but what I do believe then and what I what I did believe then and what I do believe now is certain rocks, minerals, crystals represent something that maybe you want to manifest and they can be a visual. reminder of what you're trying to manifest and what you want to be and accomplish. So it only has the power you give it. Yes. Okay.

1:11:33 I believe that. That's fair. Like, I believe that about any number of things. Like, I, I don't know. I like, I mean, I, the Harry Potter one that I have, like that I, the elder one, like I am like, Oh, well that obviously it's not like a real thing, but like, I'm like, Oh, this represents like me wanting to. I'm going to cut this because I have no idea where I'm going with it. But it only has the power you give it. OK, that's whatever. Yeah. Do you have anything to complain about to close this out? Oh, my God. You know what I have to complain about? Tell me, tell me, tell me. If I see one more useless, ugly husband in a grocery store, I'm going to lose my marbles.

1:12:16 Tell me everything. So. Recently, I went to a Meijer. I love a Meijer. I love Meijer. Oh, I love Meijer. It's my favorite now. I don't go to Walmart anymore. I especially don't go to Target for groceries very, very often. I know. Cut that out. Cut that out. I don't go to Target anymore. I don't go to Walmart anymore. I love grocery shopping at Meijer. Oh, I love to put. Let me just tell you, like Emma and I have talked a lot about this. We're like, you remember you and I used to do this. Target used to be like our church, like where we would go. And like it was you, me, Tanya. And you had to lock in for like three and a half hours. And you were not leaving that store for three and a half hours.

1:12:57 And you would go in and you would get a cart. You would get Starbucks. You'd put the Starbucks in the cup holder in the cart. You would silence your phone and you would say, we're going to talk for three and a half hours and we're going to be here together. And we're going to go through every single. I don't care if you don't need tampons. I don't care if you don't need condoms. We're going through those aisles. My mouth is watering at the idea of salivating. But like after Target, I pulled their games in our faces. I did that at Meijer. And let me tell you, I like it better at Meijer. Perfect. Well, I love going to Meijer specifically for groceries. There's something like if I need something, then absolutely.

1:13:42 I'll be going through all the like the like the kitchen aisles. And sometimes I rummage the tchotchkes and the little things. Please. Yes. Well, one time recently, I wanted to specifically make some sort of recipe. So I was grabbing things. I knew exactly where I was going. Grabbing things, grabbing things. From the moment I walked in to the mire, I saw this woman. on the phone with what sounded like a doctor. And she had a cart, her cart was half full by this time. We were like in the produce, she was already in the produce, I was walking up to the produce. And I'm like, what a busy woman, look at her go. I grab all of my things. And I go to the self checkout.

1:14:26 I see this woman, her cart is now full. She's still on the phone with what I believe to be a doctor. And she's scanning things with one hand. She's got a full cart in the self checkout. Okay. And then all of a sudden, to my demise, I see a man on his phone walking slowly into the checkout and he stands in the middle. And I, you know, like at Meijer, it's kind of like a big square situation. I hate when people do that. Yeah. And so he's in the middle and he's on his phone. And I'm like, who's this man? Like, what a creep. What a weirdo. That's just how I think of 99 % of men these days anyways. And he's literally in the way where like women. it's basically all women with all these carts. They're trying to get around him to go to an open register.

1:15:13 And they're like, excuse me, excuse me. Finally, he moves over, but then he gets in the way of somebody else. And so then he moves over again. And then this woman, I I'm in the, I'm on the register next to her. And then she, she goes, sweetie, sweetie, please come here. I go, oh, he's yours. Oh, my God. He's yours. Oh, my God. That's yours. Oh, what a nightmare. So he's still on his phone. She's scanning every single item while on the phone with her doctor. And he's not helping. And I'm like, what? And he's like, got the flat slides where like he's worn them down so much. That's what he's wearing. No socks.

1:15:58 Right. And just looks like he hasn't showered. Looks like he hasn't shaved. Nothing of the sort. And I'm like, why do we let them out of the house? I wanted to be like, are you okay, Blink, twice if you need help? Like, you let this one out of the house? What's going on? And why is he not helping? Why is he not scanning the groceries while you're on the phone with your doctor? Guess what I have to complain about? Men. Men in a grocery store. Men in a grocery store. Ew. If you're not going to help, don't go. I agree. Yeah. So that's what I have. What are you complaining about these days? What am I complaining about?

1:16:43 What did I have to complain about this week? I feel like... Guys that are too into the cold plunge at Lifetime... Ew. What a nightmare. Please, tell me. I... At the Lifetime in Castleton, they... So they had two hot tubs at one point. They replaced one of the hot tubs with a cold plunge pool. Great. Cool. It has amazing health benefits. Love that for everyone. The issue that I have is like... This is one of these health movements that like a lot of these like alpha bros have have adopted that is like, I can stay in the cold plants for seven minutes. You don't understand.

1:17:37 And I'm like, and they're just talking about it and talking and talking and talking and talking. And like when I asked. No one. Yeah. No one on God's green earth asked. And. I think it's amazing that you are taking charge of your health. You're like resetting your like nerve. I don't know what you're doing. Whatever it is. I know that I can get into my belly button and then I'm like I promptly get out. So you're doing more than I can and I love that so much for you. Good for you. I don't want to hear. I don't care. And like this is something that Emma and I have talked about on the podcast. We're like. This is this is the thing. I don't I don't think it's specific to Lifetime because they used to do this when I worked out at L .A. Fitness, too. But like it is guys need everyone in the locker room to know everything going on in their lives. Like they're going through a divorce. They're like whatever the case may be. And I'm like, babe, I don't care. I swear to God, I don't care. And they've got to have so much confidence to do that. Whereas it sounds like I was going to say it's got to come from a place of severe insecurity where they have to share everything with everyone because maybe they're lonely elsewhere. But it's also if I'm in a locker room, I better not hear a word in my direction. I don't want anybody to talk to me. No one. And so it's crazy that a stranger just wants to open up. And I think

1:19:07 that. I don't know. Do you have that kind of personality where people will just spew things at you because they feel like you're you've got this aura about you that makes people feel open and vulnerable and they want to be that way? And I'm happy to talk to anyone like, you know, I'll talk to any stranger on the street. I don't care. But like when I'm. I'm in I'm locked in at the gym, I'm like my pre workouts kicking in or I've got my headphones in or. I have my eyes closed in a steam room or in the sauna. I don't know what about me gives the signal of like, hey, buddy, what's a good restaurant around here? Literally. See, because I have the same problem, too, where. And I think that this is an issue where there's not a lot of social awareness anymore. People aren't very keen on social cues like you with your headphones on you with your eyes closed. That doesn't say interrupt what is going on and say something because people do that to me, too. And I try to be as nice as I possibly can, while also being assertive in my own comfort to where, like, I'm not going to continue to initiate a conversation if I don't want to. So don't talk to me. You know what I mean? And this is the thing is, like, I say this knowing full well, I have sparked up conversations with guys at the gym where, like, if I am in a place where I want to talk, great. But, like, I think you've always had this problem where

1:20:39 you're, like, nice to your own detriment. Yes. I am mean to people. Incredible. And I've burned a few bridges at Lifetime Fitness. Yeah? Yeah, where I'm just, like, where I've fully been, like, the worst of it is, like, when they want to bring up politics in the locker room. I swear to God, there's a guy that works at Lifetime who drives a Cybertruck who is from Russia. Like, he's been here since. He's 10 years old, but, like, he... holds on to a lot of those values and he brought up one time he's like all right sometimes you just gotta keep these women in line and like let them know you're gonna move right on to the next one and i looked him dead in the face because like he had very clearly done three lines of coke in the locker room like right before he got in the sauna and it was me and like three other guys and like you know how like my liberal mind will not let it stop and like everyone else in there was just like oh my god like just let it come to it and let it come to it i got to the point where i was like This is not a conversation any of us are willing to participate in. You need to stop. Like, I swear to God, I don't care who you voted for.

1:21:45 I don't care who you don't want to have rights. At the gym, this is not a place for that. Like, shut your mouth. And he was like, uh, uh, uh. And I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I said shut. This wasn't an invitation for a conversation. Nope. This is not a conversation I'm willing to participate in. We're done here. Shut your mouth. Yeah. Like. I. And maybe that's got something to do with the male loneliness epidemic where like they if they don't have any. Be lonely. Be lonely. Be lonely. Maybe there's a reason you're lonely. Hmm. Have we ever considered maybe you're lonely for a good reason? Perhaps. Keep men lonely. Keep men lonely. I I should be more lonely. I would argue. Well, thankfully, there are. I could probably count on. less than two hands good men who don't deserve to be lonely who don't deserve to be lonely and you are One of them. Thank you. You don't deserve to be lonely.

1:22:45 And I think that's because you are a genuinely good person and you make meaningful connections with others that don't involve you spewing politics in the sauna at a lifetime fitness. And I don't see politics anywhere else. But like the gym in my mind is a sacred place. I'm like, you go in there and you shut your mouth. Well, people literally need that for their mental health. Yes. Half the time. Like, so don't mess that up and make people uncomfortable. Exactly. People need that for their. mental health or their physical health. And sometimes both of those things are very vulnerable. So do not mess it up by being a douchebag. Don't be weird at the gym. You're messing everything up for everybody else. It's so embarrassing. I can't stand it. I can't stand that for you. Keep men lonely in the sauna. Keep men lonely, period. Judge, thank you for being here. I am ecstatic to be here and to have been here. Did you have a good time? I had the best time. Do you want to do this again next week?

1:23:39 I would literally love to do it next week. Same time, same place. Will you, um, I'm going to have you watch the hip hop and heartbreak episode of the real house as a Salt Lake city season one. Oh my God. Um, that's the episode we're going to talk about next time for reality roundup. Incredible. Should I probably watch everything else before that? Well, it's only, it's only nine episodes. So watch the first nine episodes, right? Is it? Hang on. Let me make sure. Um, yeah that's season one episode nine so like it gives you a good foundation for like where where everyone's at right now um we'll do that I'm so excited thank you for being here this is really great thank you so much for having me thanks for wanting me to be here I love you and I love Emma and while I'm kind of sitting in her seat I'm I'm wishing her all the best I know that I know that she's having a terrible time, but it's not terrible. I think I think the last couple of weeks of pregnancy for anyone are like extremely difficult, exceedingly miserable. Yeah, for sure.

1:24:47 So I love you. I love her. I love this. I'm so excited to be back. And this is going to be like my first real. housewives watch i can't so i can't wait to talk to you about it next week i'm so excited okay love you so much love you bye