Dose of Delusion
Two professionals serving up witty banter, unfiltered opinions, and contagious laughter. Join us in Dose of Delusion as we dissect life's absurdities and navigate the world with humor and touch of delusion.
Dose of Delusion
Travel Tales and Holiday Humor: From Hotel Havoc to Gift Giving Traditions
In this episode, the hosts share humorous stories of travel chaos, including noisy hotel experiences and memorable work trips. They also explore the unique joys of celebrating Christmas in Puerto Vallarta, comparing holiday climates with Australian friends. The conversation delves into the impact of travel on holiday spirits and traditions, teasing a future stargazing session with an astrologist. The hosts discuss the personal aspect of gift-giving, highlighting the small joys of sharing travel-inspired presents. Shifting gears, they explore the comedic world, discussing the balance between humor and sensitivity in performers like Matt Rife and Joe Rogan. Overall, the episode offers a backstage pass to the laughter, luggage, and little things that make travel and life rewarding.
Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to this week's dose of delusion. It is me, yours truly, your host, jay, and I am not sitting in front of AJ. I am 550 miles still away from the fabulous, fur-wearing, glamorous, quintessential AJ. How are you?
Speaker 2:Hi, I am good this lovely evening of our work day. I'm so trying to get used to not being live in front of you.
Speaker 1:I know it's a little different, but I mean, like I said before, not that I understand it Fully thank goodness for technology, because I mean we'll get to this in a minute, but I know we have some other trips coming up between the two of us. Aj, first of all, I have to dive right into the hellish start of my work trip. So are you ready for this? Yeah, what's going on my hotel? Okay, a listener, you really can't see, but right now I am in my office and there's a reason why I'm in my office and not in my hotel room, because let me tell you what happened. So I get to my hotel and I'm being super fancy and friendly and nice and I don't want to admit this, but I did lose my platinum status with that hotel chain because I didn't travel as much with that chain as I did others ones, but no big deal, oh my God, yes, okay, I know, I know All right.
Speaker 1:So I'm like hi, I know I'm not platinum anymore, but you know, if there's a way you could please, you know, hook me up. And she's like don't worry, I got you. She was super sweet. And then she put me on the top floor. I'm like no, honey. I'm like listen, thank you, I appreciate that, but I cannot stand waiting for an elevator, so please put me somewhere lower, that way, If I have to, I can take the stairs. She's like don't worry, I got you, Would you mind a King's suite? I'm like oh, my God, I would love a King's suite. So she puts me on the second floor. I'm like thank you.
Speaker 1:And so I get to my hotel. That's late, I'm exhausted. I finally lay down and all I hear is like okay, see, if you can follow this. I hear dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun dun. I'm like what is this noise? And I realize that people above me are pacing back and forth in their room and I can hear it so loud. Why the infrastructure is not this great? I don't know. But you know what. I'm going to ignore it. I can usually sleep well through things. I'm just going to go to sleep.
Speaker 1:Then I started hearing a baby crying, also from upstairs, and I'm like what is going on? I'm hearing this pacing going back and forth. I'm hearing this baby crying. I'm like I can't do it. I can't do it. So I call the front desk. It's me in room 201. Thank you again. But you know, it's really loud upstairs and if there's any way, I could, you know, switch rooms. And she's like cuts me off. Well, sir, what's wrong with your room? And I'm like nothing is wrong with my room. It's the people upstairs and she goes, you know what? Let me finish with this guest and I'll take care of you.
Speaker 1:30 minutes goes by, I hear nothing. So I call back again and I'm like hi, by any chance, were you able to get me situated? She goes, what room are you? Again? And I tell her she goes. You know what? Let me call the people above you and ask them to keep it down. And I'm like, oh my God, no, I was like absolutely not, Do nothing.
Speaker 1:So I throw my clothes back on. I shall let my way downstairs, Go to the front desk, and I'm like listen, did you call those? She's like no, I'm like good, I was like I would rather raw dog could be higher than you call them. I was like they want to go to sleep too. They have a crying baby. I'm like, just please move me rooms. So, AJ, what does she do? She moves me rooms, right. I'm like, thank you. And she's like, don't worry about it, there's nothing above you, it's just the floor above you. That area is the housekeepers like closet, so you're good to go. I'm like, thank you so much. I get to my new room, I get to bed, Finally, can go to sleep, and then I hear and I'm like, what is that? And I ignore it.
Speaker 1:And I ignore it right. A few minutes later I hear it again. I'm like who the hell left their 2001 Nokia 5165 cell phone in this room? Why am I hearing this tune? What housekeeper upstairs in her closet.
Speaker 1:No, no. So now I'm out of bed again trying to figure out where the noise is coming from and I realized as I approached the door to my hotel room, it's from the other side of the door. I'm like, okay, that's weird. So I put my clothes back on, I go to investigate and I realize I am right across the hall from the laundry facilities and it's not the commercial white coin activated because it's a little fancy hotel. It is like LG front loaders and it is the when the dryer finishes. It's that tune. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. So, like you know what I'm going to do, I'm just going to go ahead and prop the door open, that way it thinks the clothes are done. So I prop the doors open and I go back to my room and I'm in bed again and then I hear I'm like what the fuck is this? Two minutes later it's the door's left open. Alarm For the washrooms.
Speaker 1:I'm like are you fucking kidding me? So here I am, back down at the front desk and I'm like hi, it's me again, your favorite guest. And then so she moves me again and she's like don't worry, sir, I got you near a stairwell, I got you away from this, away from that, you're good to go. There's no laundry facilities. And I'm like thank you. Then, when we're recording last week, I'm sitting here and all I hear is doodoon, doodoon, doodoon. There's people above me again. So I will be switching hotels, but for now, for today, I am here at my office so we can record in peace. I don't have any interruptions. No washer and dryers, no people wearing 2007 Timberland boots upstairs. We are good to go, but AJ.
Speaker 2:No, hold on. Here's what I have for today. I always want something to say. Had you been patient for an elevator, you wouldn't have had the power to go to one extra and say I don't want to wait for elevators. It's impossible, bitch. How tall is that fucking building? It's all past Big stories, what? No, I mean, come on, you're not going to be waiting for minutes.
Speaker 1:Aj ask me, ask me how many floors, how?
Speaker 2:many floors, four Ridiculous. I can't. You deserve this. This is what you deserve. You did it yourself. You have no sympathy for me whatsoever.
Speaker 1:Well, well, well, that was my ordeal. It's been fun. It's been a lot of luggage carrying you back and forth. I'm switching hotels to one of my preferred hotels, so hopefully we'll have much better stories in the future. But, aj, I am looking at you right now and I don't recognize where you are sitting. I see a gorgeous Christmas tree.
Speaker 2:Isn't it amazing?
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:Okay. So I mean I want to move. There's so much holiday decor around me right now. My bestie is traveling with his husband. They went to go see his family in California for the holidays and he regurgitates Christmas inside his home. And whenever he travels I always I come in a house for a little bit, I catch up on my housewives, I do all of the necessities whenever he's gone and I mean I need to. I'm off the pod or I'm going to post it on Instagram, but I'm going to take all his he does so well. It's, I mean it's. His tree is fabulous. He has a lot of these super amazing he has like Santa Claus's figurines from around the world that were his mother's that he inherited.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow so it's, I guess, a lot of these little fancy little Christmas. He loves Christmas, so any chance I get around the holidays, I'm like, oh, you're traveling, oh, okay, sure Go, I'll pop in. I couldn't, I wanted to. I wanted to show off his Christmas stuff and decor, so I couldn't wait to have a little recording session while he was. Oh, this is his tree and this is his house.
Speaker 1:So you know that is that is so great Cause that is something that, as much as I love it, I've never really got into my own home decorating. Of course I love being at my parents house because my mom, you know she'll recur to take Christmas and it looks like Santa Claus came in and just vomited. But keep in mind you know she has been doing this for decades and has, you know, bins and bins and storage units of stuff that she's collected over time. And I'm just not schlepping that stuff around when I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up and where I want to live, right.
Speaker 2:You're in your 30s, you need to, you need to already kind of grow up.
Speaker 1:So, but any of course you do. Oh, my goodness. Okay. So listen. What you can't see is he's wearing this gorgeous fur around his neck.
Speaker 2:Honey, I live for her, I love her. I worship her in Coelentavilles and I live for her, I worship her. Is there anything you would want to live for more?
Speaker 1:Oh wow, aj, tell me, do you have any like other holiday plans you're gonna do? I know that we talked about you, know you're under the weather so you couldn't attend the other ones, but what do you have coming up?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, no. So in regards to friend misses, friends misses, I don't think I'm doing anything. I'm still doing some shopping. I decided to stop shopping for myself and start focusing on my few little secret elves that I'm going to buy Listener.
Speaker 1:you heard it here first. He's stopping shopping for himself.
Speaker 2:But mostly because I'm actually going to be in Puerto Vallarta for Christmas, so my money savings is gonna be towards Zan.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you're still shopping for yourself, just for after Christmas, that's exciting Puerto. Vallarta though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've never been. The deepest I've gone to Mexico has actually been Guadalajara and I had gone for like some little like DJ momenting and it was amazing and I'm super excited. Have you been to Puerto Vallarta?
Speaker 1:I have not. I was supposed to go for. Oh, this is such a great story. I was supposed to go for a wedding in 2020. Now, this is actually kind of funny.
Speaker 1:I got invited to a wedding by a coworker who I had rarely even spoke to and I was like, I mean, and first I'm like I don't really know this coworker, but he's like, oh, $500 to people, all inclusive, four days, five nights, including flights. So I'm like, oh, hell, yeah, I wanna go to your wedding. I'm so honored. You invited me. So I signed up to go to the wedding. Goes and take my friend with me, booked everything, paid the whole thing off. Then he asked me a little bit later do you wanna be a groomsman? And I was like, well, I'm gonna say yes, because if I say no, I might as well not go to this wedding. So I was like, yes, I'd be honored to be a groomsman.
Speaker 1:The wedding was scheduled for, I think, may of April of 2020. So if you look back to that timeframe, everything was canceled and I was unable to go. But we still have credits. I still have credits to use. They never expire at this resort. So I need to make it down there or over there. I can not know where it's at. I gotta make it there.
Speaker 2:It's actually close to the Bahamas, so if you-.
Speaker 1:I have been to the Bahamas.
Speaker 2:Actually Bahamas, right next to Canada, by way of last time.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, I am not. I have been to Canada. I know that's up, all right. I've been to the Bahamas and I know that's down, so-. No, it's not silly Kind of like when we leave from Florida, we go away from Florida.
Speaker 2:That's not how it works.
Speaker 1:That's not how any of this works. Okay, anyway. So you're going to PV. That is for your first time.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm so excited, so I'll be there for a week. So I'm excited to do all that stuff and I'll be there from the 22nd through the 29th, so-.
Speaker 1:How are you going to feel about having a warm Christmas?
Speaker 2:Listen, I'm excited. I have just listened. Professional work, work, work, work, work. I need to get the fuck out of here and away and just like not think about anything else, and I feel that this is going to be an amazing end to 2023. 2023 has been fantastic. It's been amazing. I think that just ending it on such a high, relaxing, uso you know, fabulous time is just going to lead into a fabulous 2024. The energy that I'm going to be coming into 2024 is still going to be coming off the high of being on a vacation like that that I feel that it is getting me in a mood for change and growth and everything, and I'm a very big believer in like energies and planets lining up and astrology and all of this stuff which, oh yes, by the way, I have an expert astrologist that I'm going to have to invite. We're going to have to get birth times and locations and all of this information.
Speaker 1:I know it all.
Speaker 2:Two weeks to compile it all together and he's going to give us. I had a brief little insight with him and I was just like, oh my God, I need you to do our charts for my friend and I. And he was like, no for sure, I just need X amount of time. So that'll be something else, so I'll just be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, producer Lindsey, write that down because I have a lot to say on that. I had a recent experience a few years ago, so just notate that.
Speaker 2:Perfect. I also have a little bit of just a reality for you guys.
Speaker 1:PV is actually on the west side of. Mexico, not over by the Bahamas and the Caribbean. It's in the Caribbean. I actually think once he said it was near Canada. Bahá'uáá of Alaska, I think he was trying to fuck with me. Had he not brought Alaska into it, I would have completely believed it.
Speaker 2:Now now producer Lindsey.
Speaker 1:Okay, AJ.
Speaker 2:I appreciate your dose of reality. That was for him. It was maybe a pretty sneaky and tricky because I am done with his geography, geography.
Speaker 1:It is not my fault. You can blame the Texas education. They taught us years of Alamo history. Okay, all right. So the reason I asked about your warm Christmas is because, for the first time last actually last year I wanted to cruise. My parents paid for it because they love me.
Speaker 1:And we went to the Bahamas actually and it was weird because I'm still on social media a little bit and I'm seeing all of my friends in San Antonio and in El Paso and everywhere else posting 50 degrees, 40 degrees, 10 degrees, and I'm like it is 84 degrees here and I am on a beach and it is oddly amazing and that's what you're gonna experience.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to experience that. And actually an Instagram friend of mine that I actually I follow and he's Instagram famous and he's so hot. I don't know if you follow him earliest, I will. He's Australian, he's beautiful, with a beard, sexy, sexy man who actually just came out on like some kind of like Australian show, similar to Big Brother, but not Big Brother, I don't know. Anyways, he has like hundreds of thousands of followers. Well, just through chitchatting and commenting on pictures and stuff, he followed me back and we actually like communicate through Instagram and it's his summer right now in Australia. So the Southern Hemisphere it's like summer. So every year is his like summer. His Christmas for him is always summer and he's like I want a white Christmas for once and I was like wait a minute, and I thought about it and I was like he is always posting at the beach right now around this time of the year. So I mean it's like yeah, I mean that's all for a lot of people.
Speaker 1:I just learned within the last few weeks that Australia was a different hemisphere. Do not ask me what a hemisphere is, but I learned Australia is in a different one. And I was listening to another podcast and this her name is Abby Holland and she was talking about how it's hot and this and that and I was just like wait what? And then I started like Googling and I'm like wow, like that's true. And then I told one of my other friends I said you know, I wonder if they find it weird having a hot summer and then a hot Christmas? And my friend was like no, but they would. That's what they're used to. They would find having a white Christmas difference. So, yeah, that is so wild. Would you ever fly to Australia? It's a really long flight.
Speaker 2:You know, I, I definitely it would be a really long flight, but I do want to definitely do the Australia thing. I want to see kangaroos. I want to see, not just like in his two. I want, I want to go see koalas and kangaroos and, like you know how, we have like ugly, like black birds just like flying around, like they have these beautiful, like crazy tropical birds that are just like and like flying around and like it's like those are there, like those are there, are crows and stuff, like it's insane, I think that's so beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yes, the person I was listening to was saying that, like all the animals that we have in the zoos in America, they are their stray animals over there, and I'm just like I can't wait to see a Pateridactyl one day flying around. It's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2:I can't, I can't with people Um.
Speaker 1:I'm still. I'm sorry, I'm still a little jelly that you're going to be in PV for Christmas. Make sure you pack appropriately, do what I did and not look at the weather, and pack sweaters and long johns and coats, have you?
Speaker 2:traveled like. For I have like friends that like always travel for the holidays and I this is my like if I travel for the holidays, it's like driving down to see my family or you know what I mean. Like that's my holiday travel. It's not like in an airport. Is there like any tips? I asked some of my friends. I asked these friends that always go that I'm how sitting for it, but I mean they're like diamond started with a fucking Delta and they're like they have clear, they have that Okay, they have all of that shit and I'm like your tips aren't like beneficial for me because I don't have that Okay.
Speaker 1:I do actually have a handful of travel chips for the average traveler on a regular budget. Okay and lucky for me, I don't travel. To answer your question, I don't really travel a lot for the holidays because I traveled extensively for work and so when our work travel settles down for the holidays, the last thing I want to do is travel Like, for an example, I'm here and I'll pass it for work, which is also my hometown, and I am leaving four days before Christmas so that I can enjoy some stability at home before I get back into my work and my travels and whatnot all over the place. But I do travel a lot. Pre-check is incredibly beneficial and it's not very expensive and it's good for five years. I think it's $75 going to look that up a producer and chime in for the right with the right amount, but it's like less than $100. It's good for five years and that is really great because you can speed through. It's not as fast as clear, but let me tell you about clear and I don't know if your friends might disagree with me, but I've been at the airports. I've been to the airport thousands of times and I see people who will go to the clear line and they'll skip all of us in pre-check like we're little peasants, which is fine, and they go to the clear line but they have to wait for somebody to come and help them scan their eyeball. And then they have to get escorted to the front of the pre-check line and have to wait because they have to let the person, the pre-check TSA agent but this is the clear person Like they're not speeding through, they're not, they're still not speeding through. It's a little bit quicker, but I don't know if the time you save is worth the amount that it's going to cost for clear. So I'm very happy with my pre-check. Also, my employer pays for it, but again, it's not that expensive. If they didn't, I would still pay for it.
Speaker 1:Packing yeah, it's usually $28. Thank you, producer Lancy. Pre-check $78 for your pre-check Perfect. Now packing, I pack. I a lot of people. If you can do a carry on, please do a carry on, because losing luggage happens so often. It's happened to me a handful of times already. I don't get too upset about it, but they can get really finicky with how much they want to reimburse you or give you money to buy things. But if you can do a carry on pack a carry on. Pack your underwear. Cut that in half because you're not going to use it all, even though we always pack 15 pairs of underwear for a four day trip. Condense it down to carry on. If you can condense everything down to carry on in a backpack, what are you?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I don't know what. I need two pairs of underwear per day just in case, like what I ship myself. I don't know, but I do.
Speaker 1:We all do it. I also do the same thing with socks. I will sit here and I will pack every pair of socks that I own for a five day trip. I'm like why? I think, well, I need my socks for working out in, and then in my socks for you know, working the day in, and then socks going to dinner, right, and then let's them in a room around the hotel and slides, I need a pair of socks for that. So four, I don't do any of that, like no, and it was condensed it down. Now here's another trip, right here.
Speaker 1:If you do check luggage and most of us will, depending on the length of our trips, invest in air tags and put them in your luggage.
Speaker 1:And here is why Air tags if your luggage gets lost, the air tag is not going to miraculous sleep your luggage next to you. But what will happen is you get off your plane, you open up your app If your airline has an app to track your luggage and it might say, oops, we don't know where your luggage is at, if you're lucky. But typically you go down to the luggage carousel and you wait, and you wait, and you wait and then you and every other passenger on that plane realizes my luggage is in here and make your way to the one window and you're in line with everybody else stuck there forever trying to get your luggage. However, if you have air tags in your luggage, you land on that plane. You land that plane. The first thing you do is see if your luggage is with you and, if it's not, your first in line at the lost luggage counter and you're going to save yourself hours of time every single time. Promise you that.
Speaker 2:That's great. I'm going to get one right now. Yes, please do, this is not going to be meidän for Amazon, so maybe it's time for the holiday shopping.
Speaker 1:But yeah, air tags on luggage has saved me a lot. That is it. Toiletries are great. When I go for a long stay is I try to bring a little piece of home Either it's a coffee cup, you know something simple like that. But other than that, I think we can all do it.
Speaker 2:I don't think I need anything from home. I think I.
Speaker 1:You're like I want to get away from home.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I want to get away from home, I want outfits, I need clothes. It's PV, so I did do a lot of my spending on myself that I had told you last time was in preparation for this trip. So I did buy a lot of like outfits and stuff, warm, so I'll get to warm in PV and then re-emerge them for summer here in town. So I'm super excited about that. I can't wait.
Speaker 1:And the cool thing about that is we're talking about four to six months in between Christmas and summer. So even if you post photos, we have months to go by so you can wear it again and no one's going to call you an outfit repeater except for maybe me, but actually I would never. I would never because I cycle the same four outfits for an entire year.
Speaker 2:And I still haven't said anything about that.
Speaker 1:This is why I love you.
Speaker 2:You know I don't believe you.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, you're right. What other travels do you have coming up that you know of?
Speaker 2:So I okay, oh, so I'm thinking my little. Okay, bernoulli, what are you doing? Are we going to talk about New Year's already? Are we going to talk?
Speaker 1:about New Year's already. We could probably hold off on that because, also, I haven't made any New Year's plans. We had a great time last New Year's, but I would love to do something, since I'm what happened last New Year's, I'm trying to think hold on.
Speaker 2:I I do recall ringing in the New Year at Agave, but I wasn't with y'all.
Speaker 1:I do recall yes, you must have been, because I did not ring in the New Year at Agave, I rang it at. Rang it in at a local to San Antonio warehouse club 1919. I don't know what it's called. Had a great time. What was that?
Speaker 2:I said, oh yeah, yeah, remember actually getting that invite and me just not being interested, so to lightly touch. No, never mind, we'll talk about that. Okay, let's retract, let's not go there yet I don't have.
Speaker 1:I don't have any other holiday trips coming up, because I'm sort of listening to. You'll hear this in the New Year future. I have a nice quiet month of January and then, starting February, I am gone all over the place for like four and a half months straight. So I'm going to stay home. I might pull another Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2:Wait. So okay, I can't do this recording long distancing. So the the happiness from the videos, the the sound. I need to see how the sound quality is, but I'm just, I'm not interested. I'm here to have a partner host in podcasting that is going to want to be present, oh my God. Or? Or pay for my flights to be there with them. We can record there too.
Speaker 1:Oh, let me just let me contact the PJ and get the PJ for you to come right back to San Antonio for an hour and a half and I'll send you right back to PV. Pj for PV. Love that for you.
Speaker 2:What's that? What's PJ for PV?
Speaker 1:Private jet for Poto Verde.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, how'd you know? Or you know, listen, if I'm stuck in somewhere fabulous and you still happen to be recording from a password or wherever I mean, well, then that's fine and dandy, then I'll deal with the distance at that point. But if you're also were fabulous and I'm stuck home, I would be very upset.
Speaker 1:I promise you, aj, not to get into too many details. I'm going nowhere. Fabulous for work. San Antonio is gonna be fabulous compared to Albee. I'm gonna be in Iowa in the dead of a winter in February Trust.
Speaker 2:Don't they have tornadoes?
Speaker 1:Hopefully not in winter.
Speaker 2:Okay, I have them all in my game.
Speaker 1:I don't know. Listen, I don't know how the weather works. I don't even like to follow the weather app on iPhone, because I'm fairly certain that the iPhone weatherman wakes up and picks his weather numbers like he picks his lottery numbers. They're never accurate, they never make sense and they're incredibly random. So I just live each day as the weather gives it to me. The weather, I love it.
Speaker 2:Like you. Just, I mean, you're wearing a beanie, so I'm trying to cold over there.
Speaker 1:I'm freezing, absolutely freezing.
Speaker 2:Well, El Paso is also like higher altitude, right? So it is.
Speaker 1:We're practically I don't wanna say I'm gonna be corrected right here in the air, but we're practically a mile high. We're a little less maybe, maybe like 3800 feet, I don't know, I don't care to know, but it's a little bit colder out here. It has been. Then in San Antonio I've been complaining about why we're so hot in December. Meanwhile my friends back home were like what are you talking about? It's 40 degrees. And I'm like I hate this. But I did pack appropriately this time I packed, I know I'm so proud of it. Aj, have you figured out the rest of the gifts you're gonna get for your list of people?
Speaker 2:So this is what's gonna happen. So I believe I don't know if you said it or I saw it somewhere recently, but I'm gonna call it a holiday gift and they may get it after the new year and it'll be something from like PV, like a little magnet from somewhere, something like that. That's super cute.
Speaker 1:A lot of people love collecting magnets.
Speaker 2:So I think that I could tie in, like, oh I missed it from Christmas, so just tie it in and get like, which means I'm gonna have to like leave room in my luggage so that way I can bring more stuff back. But I want to be selfless in my purchasing internationally and I want to like bring back stuff for friends. So, for family is what I'm gonna concentrate on before my trip and then my friend circle that I haven't already gotten stuff, for which there's a few main ones that have already. I have stuff for them, any of them but I think that, like there will be other like trinkets and this, and that like again, it's the thought that counts and not like anything other than that. So I think I'm gonna like lean towards that and get a holiday gift, and they'll get it after the new year or whenever I see them, since I'm not getting back to the 2019, I'm not getting back to the 2019 anyway.
Speaker 1:You know, I actually really like that idea, because as we get older, we kind of stop caring about, oh, the biggest and bestest gifts. It's all about the thought that matters, if we even care about receiving gifts. I like the part where you want to bring, you know, little trinkets or knickknacks or magnets or whatnot. I think you should also consider like an ornament, because I went to a gift exchange a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to mention, and this is me being fucking delusional. But I walk in and she has this beautiful, like nine foot tall, pencil thin Christmas tree. I'm like, oh, my goodness, I love a pencil tree, kayla, this is fabulous.
Speaker 1:And she's like, oh, this is my travel tree. And then she starts talking about her travel tree and I just kept thinking how the fuck does this bitch break this tree down and take it with her everywhere she goes? And then she's like no, what it is is, every time I travel, I'll buy a knickknack or an ornament, or when I get knickknacks or ornaments, I put them on the tree. So this tree is nothing except representing everybody's travels. And I'm like, well, that makes a lot more sense, but that's something that I might want to consider doing. So, yes, I would love some sort of hangable trinket from PV.
Speaker 2:Well, you were actually a part of the group that had already gotten something for her, so I guess you'll be getting a little something then.
Speaker 1:Okay, I need to update my Amazon shopping cart for you again, but the time we're done with this, you're gonna have 19 gifts from me.
Speaker 2:You're gonna expect anything left.
Speaker 1:Of course not. Of course not, but no, that is super neat. I am still struggling with buying gifts. It also doesn't help that I shop at only two places. One is Amazon and Costco. I love I'm sorry, I love Costco. I cannot get away from Costco, and so Hold on, can we when we're in person?
Speaker 2:can we do the Costco peach jar thing together? I wanna shove it in my mouth.
Speaker 1:I have no idea what that is, but I am down to do anything Costco related. Do you wanna tell me what it is?
Speaker 2:Hold on, okay. So apparently at a certain time of year and I think it's now and they're gonna be gone they jar these peaches that are just like in their syrup and juices and they're like completely peeled, like they're skinless, so they're not fuzzy, and you pierce it and either halves or holes and you shove them in your mouth and you like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and then like spit out like the pit.
Speaker 1:Are we still talking about peaches? Maybe I'm talking about the peaches. Okay, I will have to look at the reddit thread for this, but I am down for anything, Costco.
Speaker 2:Listen, do just like. Look up Costco peaches and you'll see the jar we need to get one. They're apparently amazing, Like every like. I saw a couple like videos on it and I'm just like and this isn't the first year I've seen this happen, like consecutive, like several years in a row, that it always happens, but it's only a short window of time and if we miss it, we have to wait a year.
Speaker 1:Alvin look it up as soon as we're done with this video and recording. And my hotel that I'm about to leave is a block away from Costco, also two blocks away from Taco Bell. So me, costco and Taco Bell all within a three block radius is perfection. But anyways, I will be lying to Costco if they have this jar of peaches, and I've never heard of it, but I am super down to try it.
Speaker 2:And, mind you, I'm not a fan of peaches. I don't like peaches.
Speaker 1:Don't worry, we can connect the dots. I too my fan of peaches.
Speaker 2:Power, Anyways. So but like, like nectarines were more my thing. Maybe it was like the texture of like, but like, every now and then I just get a craving and I just want to dive in, and I want to dive in. I can't.
Speaker 1:I can't. Woo, hey, you're getting me. Woo, okay. Well, costco has never turned me on like that before. But no, I love a Costco. So if it's not a Costco or if I can't find that on Amazon, I'm just not buying it. So that's. My struggle right now is I have already browsed Costco twice as I've been here to find my niece something and nothing's really jumped out at me. I thought about getting her a book on all things Costco, but I just don't think she'd appreciate it like I would. I might get it for her, so she can casually forget it and I'll steal it right from her, which is shopping for me. But yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:You know. So I was thinking and I just kind of wanted to like call myself out, because one of the things that I wanted to do was one of the things that I kind of like to do also, gift wise when I don't shop for myself and I'm shopping for other people is get a gift of experience where it's like a ticket to something and I'm also going with them. Aj.
Speaker 1:That's horrible because, like for the, you had me in the first half and I was like that's brilliant, I would love to receive show tickets. You know, I one of my good friends, actually producer Lindsay last year for my birthday Wait, she did the same thing. You did Wait a minute. She got me tickets to go see rent, but also herself, so you two are cut from the same cloth. But no, that's brilliant, that's actually really brilliant because you do get to give the gift. They get to feel enjoyed and also you give them the best thing, which is your gift of presence.
Speaker 2:Right, but you listen and but also I'm choosing to do that with that individual because I enjoy their presence just as much. You know what I mean. Yes, I'm choosing to do something with them which is like it's I want. I want to to shower them with my love and gifts, but also I want to, I want to be there with them and witness their joy that they're going to have with it, and then that's my gift.
Speaker 1:I love how you've worked that out to you know, work it. But you know I have a little gag gift of no pun intended that I want to give to my friends this year, because I and one of my college courses we had we're doing a history on I'm sure you've heard of it what they call black people time. Right, because they're always late, and by they I mean I can say that I can say that black people are always late apparently, which is true because I'm literally everywhere I go. But there was a, there was a study on it and it's actually in you know, collegiate books and whatnot, where it says the reason why black people are late is that black people are late is because other cultures I don't know my god, but Caucasians will say it are their gift or what.
Speaker 1:What's important to them is, you know, being punctual is like I'm punctual and you should appreciate my punctuality, right, like that's, that's what the gift is to, whereas other cultures not just black people, but other cultures are people of color. I should say they recognize that. No, like, my presence is the gift. So, like, when I show up, you will be happy. You shouldn't be happy that I showed up on time. You should be happy that I'm here with you, right, and that's a really grossly watered down version of, you know, chapters and chapters and chapters, but it came to that. So, like I have a little Gag gift that I want to give, I want to give everybody coupons are like 15 minutes with Jay washing dishes, 15 minutes with Jay doing laundry. That's my god gift and then I hope they take me up on it.
Speaker 2:Wait, so you're gonna do my laundry, my dishes, whoa, whoa, whoa. It's with.
Speaker 1:Okay, I need to reword this gift now. I'm still workshopping it.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay. Thank you, we already got it. No words, that's fine.
Speaker 1:Oh my god, but yeah, so. But I'm laughing because that what you're saying about getting the gift of like a show or experience and you going with them it is true. You know people do appreciate the people's company and you know what they click and you guys have the same mindsets and thought process and so, yeah, of course, why would I not want to one see a great show or have an experience with somebody who I know I'm gonna have a good time with you know? So I complete, I'm on board with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So that's my sneaky way to also give myself something as well.
Speaker 1:I like it. I like it a lot, so have you seen a wicked.
Speaker 2:I have, but it's been a while so.
Speaker 1:Are you gonna say boring?
Speaker 2:Amazing, and it was. I saw it there at the wait. Okay, when you saw the Jesus Christ superstar, was that at Tobin or was it at majestic?
Speaker 1:that was that Tobin.
Speaker 2:Oh well, that would have changed many things.
Speaker 1:Have you? Have you been to the Tobin?
Speaker 2:I've been to the Tobin. I've seen comedians there. I haven't seen like theater there, so I've only, I've only gone to see like a comedian which was she's what, the, what, the whole surname. She's like the lesbian. I can't.
Speaker 1:Is she like getting popular right now again the no material girl?
Speaker 2:I don't think so she's, she looks, she's like a butch lesbian, but has a very feminine name. I can't, I can't think of it.
Speaker 1:I have no idea, but while you're focusing on that, you brought up comedian and you sparked something that I heard of. You know who Matt Rife is. Right, oh, oh, okay, okay, yes, he is so good to look at, but have you heard, like, about the rise and fall of Matt Rife?
Speaker 2:Yes, what are?
Speaker 1:your thoughts on that, like do you want to enlighten the listeners on what's going on with him right now?
Speaker 2:Okay, so I actually been following him for quite some time actually, both after he got cute looking and got his teeth fixed.
Speaker 1:Yes, and and jaw and like puppy filler in his jaw as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whatever he did to make himself look better, because he was got a snaggle tooth and just wasn't as cute as he is now. But I've always thought he was easy on the eyes. So I was like okay, and he's kind of clever and but he was rather demeaning towards women. But also he would, he would play towards the gaze and he would, and so so I fell for it and then like he'd be like oh you know, and like put down women in such a way that I was just like, haha, that is funny. So I fell for it. I was there with it until enlightened people woke, people started being like no, that's not, that's not being funny, it's actually like playing off of being demeaning and being like you know what I mean and like Making a joke out of it, when you know his biggest followers were women.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:And the gaze. Yes, and then you get the guys by insulting and belittling and being demeaning towards the ones that were his main and were making him famous.
Speaker 1:His brand and it's.
Speaker 2:Are you kidding? Is that what you do? Is that he's? I mean, has he's on his it's? I don't think it's. I think he's still on the rise. It's not quite a fall as of yet, but he's like it's about to happen, and it's a slow fall if it is already happening.
Speaker 1:He is why equals MX plus B sloping down so damn fast. I just came across this, I think last, last night, and I got into a rabbit hole of videos and articles and people giving their opinions on it, and it blew my mind because one I have not watched his Netflix special yet and I actually I haven't had desire to because I've heard nothing good about it. And it makes sense. Everyone loves crowd work, right, and that's what he's post. And he did say something a few months ago, like six, seven months ago, where he said people just want to do crowd work and he's like that's actually a very small part of the show. That's what we post, though because it's not my material, I'm not going to post my material on social media because then you would feel you know, jipped out, spending hundreds of dollars. I hear his tickets were more expensive than Dave Chappelle Hundred dollars on tickets for something you already saw on tiktok. So people are disappointed because, though his crowd work is absolutely hilarious and he's attractive, his regular bits weren't that great. Have you watched it?
Speaker 2:You know seeing, I've seen some of his old stuff where he was just starting and he had his snaggle tooth and stuff like that. And it's right, it is the same joke. It is slightly tailored to the city that he's in, but it's the same joke that he's playing about a homeless person going up to him, making a face for doing whatever and he's like damn your aggressive. I don't know whatever the punchline was. It was just like hmm, I don't know, and like we like again, I, it's crowd work. You know who else is like about the crowd work, but I saw like a whole special on it, the cute little gay muscle with the message Ah, Mateo, I love him so much.
Speaker 2:It's super fun and but also I there were two, there were two specials or two came out on Netflix for him also and, like the one that I ended up seeing was all crowd work and wasn't like you know what I mean. So I'm like is that what they do now, which is great? I mean, then it's always going to be different, it's going to be towards the crowd and you're going to be at a show. You know what I mean, like a part of it.
Speaker 1:So that is what they do. There's a girl who she has a Netflix special. I kind of want to go and watch it and the name of a special is no material because she's she's riding the gravy train where people want crowd work, so her entire show I can't even say set, her entire show is just crowd work.
Speaker 2:You know, older lady yes yes, that carrot is like older and she's like all the gays go out in the front. I've been seeing her. I don't know her name, but she's a little rougher on the edges.
Speaker 1:Oh, the rough upper face. Yes, yeah. So I definitely want to. I kind of want to go check hers out because again, I do like the crowd work, but you know who else I've been seeing a lot. Well, first of all, have you seen Joe Rogan's comedy? Not his podcast, but his comedy.
Speaker 2:No, I mean not really All right.
Speaker 1:So I, I I got really lucky in the fact that I wasn't a fan before and I can't even say I'm a huge fan now. But we got tickets to a comedy show in Austin and it was just like a basic comedy club 30 bucks for a front center table, that's it. And we're like, yeah, we're going to go as friends, it was a work trip, we're all going to be there from the whole state. Get together, go do something. Then, day of the show, we're like, hey, what time is it? So we log back in our tickets to the time and the comedy show title changed to Joe Rogan and friends.
Speaker 1:But we got to keep our $30 front center table and got to see Joe Rogan and apparently it's his comedy club that he owns and he goes there to practice his material before he actually takes it on the road or records a special. So I thought that was, I thought that was pretty cool and it was pretty fun. It was my first time experiencing Joe Rogan's comedy other than just his Spotify podcast that he's always in hot water over, but it was a good time. But anyways, I could go on a comedy, a comedian tangent, forever. I love standup comedy. We should definitely look for tickets, though in San Antonio and go see a comedy show. We should.
Speaker 2:I don't think that there's like enough venues and there's only like one or two. And the last one that I went to, I was like not a fan of the. I think it was like the Laugh Out Loud Club in off of North Park or something like that, and I was just like not a fan of the layout.
Speaker 1:No, I want a real theater.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, yeah, yeah, maybe like Tobin.
Speaker 1:Sorry, but hey, you know, just be happy that you were first choice, okay.
Speaker 2:No, I'm saying I went to Tobin for a comedy show, for her name was right there. Destiny, her name's Destiny, something? No Destiny.
Speaker 1:I have no idea who you're talking about.
Speaker 2:It's a reality next time, I guess.
Speaker 1:Um, okay, well, we have so much to cover, especially coming the new year. Uh, what, do you have any shopping tips?
Speaker 1:I do for yourself, of course, you have that you could write a book on shopping for yourself. No, okay, so I for myself, I'm an impulse buyer, right. So typically I uh close or whatever I'm Amazon. Two day shipping, overnight, same day, uh, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. So no, I'm not really getting a bargain because it's already Amazon, right. But if there is something that I'm actually like interested in, like maybe I want to buy a new appliance or you know a nice long P coat or whatnot get on your, get on your vendor sites, whatever it is, whether it's J crew, amazon banana, wherever you want to shop, add it to your cart and let it sit there. Yes, I love this.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Zara, is that 40% off?
Speaker 1:Yes, Cause it'll be like hey, wait, wait two, three days. Hey, you forgot something in your cart. Hold out, wait a day or two more. Then they'd be like, hey, 15% off everything in your cart right now. Boom, got it Sold, so open up your 40% off 40. Zara Yep, can I tell you a secret? I've never been in a Zara.
Speaker 2:Well, it's more petite sizes, so I could see them.
Speaker 1:You know what folks? This has been a great show. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to touch base next week and we can talk about other parts of our final Christmas days. Aj, it's been so fun. No, but for AJ, thank you so much. I am so excited. Listener, I hope you enjoyed our travel tips and our shopping tips and I cannot wait to hear more about AJ's warm Christmas in PV. Are you excited? Obviously you are. Why did he even ask?
Speaker 2:Exactly, I'm so excited and then we'll be able to discuss New Year's plans, right.
Speaker 1:I have one week to make New Year's plans. The pressure starts. It will be.
Speaker 2:It's just an impossible idea. I think I might be out of town, but we'll talk about that next time.
Speaker 1:Possum, possum, grul Folks, thanks again for chiming in with us. We love it. Can't wait to see you guys next week, and with that said AJ, it has been a pleasure. Thank you, producer Lindsey, and we will see you guys later. Bye-bye now, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye.
