Feb. 1, 2023
Season 5, Episode 1
Eric and Gil are back for season 5, discussing politics, pop culture and life.
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Transcript
Eric:
hello and welcome to the Q Lounge. I'm Eric. And I'm
Gil:Gil.
Eric:And we're back.
Gil:Hey. Hello
Eric:everyone. welcome back. We are in season four, five. Season 5, 4, 5, huh? No, it's season five. Four.
Gil:It's five. Oh, wow.
Eric:Here we go. We don't
Gil:even know. It's all a blur.
Eric:But welcome back everybody. Thank you for joining us. A couple things you may have noticed when you clicked onto this podcast that we have new theme music. Yes. So you can see Yes. We have new theme music now, so we're super excited. We want to give a shout out to Spel with Spellbound Productions out of the Sound Box studios. So thank you so much for remixing our theme music and our clips and yeah. So thank you so much for that. We also have a new logo. Yeah, sweetie. So thank you to Diane from Demtees, the designs, thank you Diane for that as well. how are you?
Gil:Oh my goodness. I am good. I survived the holiday season. It we survived the rain since we last. Oh yeah.
Eric:You guys had a lot of rain in California. Oh,
Gil:we got a lot of rain. I was practically like swimming to work every day. Oh my God. It was very needed. Obviously I like every Californian. I think we only say that every year. We need the rain. We came in biblical matter, so we like I said, we almost built a damn a midway through But we definitely got the rain. So you guys should be outta your drought now. Huh? Pretty close. Yeah. Yeah, this is pretty close. It, a little snow pack in the mountain, so it's really nice. Yeah. Yeah. Super snowy in Tahoe, so I like, I wanna go see it probably in March. Okay. I'll wait a little bit. Yeah, but no. was really nice. Holidays were nice with the family. Kept it low key obviously for New Years because I was recovering from this perpetual cough that I have right now. Oh, that's, so if you guys hear me, I'm sorry. I tested negative for covid twice then I've take it every ex, every test. It just, I had a cold starting Christmas day and it's lingered from there but I'm good. No fever with it. It was just lack confidence, sneezing and stuff like that. Are you doing Yeah, it's more of a nuisance. Yeah,
Eric:I'm doing well actually, I have nothing to complain about on my end. My. Holiday season was pretty chill and quiet and a little reclused. But yeah, that was fine. I got in a fight with somebody on Christmas that I was supposed to hang out with for New Year's, and obviously that didn't happen, but it was actually probably for the best. So yes. Nothing to, yeah, everything's been fine. Everything's been pretty chill for me.
Gil:How was your trip to Denver?
Eric:Oh I, my trip to Denver was great. It was a lot of fun. It was very peaceful, very chill, very Oh, good. Cathartic in a lot of ways. Yes. So we can talk about all that later though.
Gil:Yes. Yes. Have you heard, oh, so the news Yes. The
Eric:news. I'm sure you've heard about this m and ms.
Gil:Yes.
Eric:So the spokes candies have been put on indefinite pause. Oh yeah. The brand m and ms has decided to put them on pause after their inclusive redesign. And all the people complaining that m and ms were now too woke and having issues with the fact that the female m and ms were no longer wearing high heels, and they were wearing shoes, and they did that whole m and m packaging of flipping with the three female m and ms. And they flipped it and said that uhhuh basically like to symbolize how women are flipping everything. And it's about empowering women and people were mad about it, so they. Have decided to redesign and put them on indefinite pause. Talking about the changes, M&M's said we weren't sure if anyone would notice, and we definitely didn't think it would break the internet, but now we get it. Even at candy, shoes can be polarizing, which was the last thing m and ms wanted. Since we're all about bringing people together, see now you're appeasing the side that wants to divide everybody. And this, I think, plays into further division, personally profit,
Gil:To try to protect the profit margins.
Eric:No, I, no, I get it. I get it. I get it. But I just think that it's, I think it's going about it the wrong way, and I think they're actually going to upset the people who are like, oh, they're being really inclusive, and now you're saying, oh, we're not gonna be inclusive of you or of these marginalized groups. And so you're, you may very well push that audience away now. because you have people crying about, and we're talking about people like Tucker Carlson,
Gil:of course. Whitey Bitch
Eric:Yeah. So that happened. I think Maya Rudolph is now the new spokesperson for M and mss.
Gil:I heard. Yes. And she's fabulous. Is she
Eric:allowed to wear shoes? We'll see. Can't believe they got women only wear high heels. Exactly. if they're even allowed to wear shoes. Sometimes they have to be barefoot and in the kitchen.
Gil:That's true. All right. They just have to Oh my goodness. You'd think it's 1923 instead.
Eric:you would think. Or 1940 something. Yeah.
Gil:Yeah. Which is, it's very, I don't know. Like I said, here's the Republicans again and conservatives and it's always the culture wars. You think they'd actually get regular policy going anyway, Yeah.
Eric:What else is in the news? What was it? The first H i V vaccine that had advanced to, that had gone into advanced trials has failed, so that's sad news. Yeah. The only vaccine still being tested against h i v in late stage clinical trials has failed. Researcher researchers announced on January 18th. So I know we have a lot of ways to mitigate it and mitigate the transmission of it, like with preps. And we have Truvada, Descovy and aptitude now, which is a every two month injection. to help prevent the transmission of it, which is great. Not everyone can take prep, but still that's a tool in the arsenal. So that's still a positive. And we have great therapies that can make it undetectable, so therefore it's untransmissable, which we've talked about a few times in the Yes. Podcast. So those are great things, but it's sad that we still, what, 40 years later, don't have 40 plus years later that we don't have any type of cure for it, I think that's really disheartening. What do you think about that?
Gil:It's definitely I just can't wait till the day it, it becomes a non-issue. Yeah. It's preventable, but it's almost just like everything else. It just takes the research, the, getting the stigma away. and I think it's, It's, this is a bigger issue cuz it's obviously start, it's big within the L G B T Q I A community, but, it's a huge thing in third world countries when you're looking at Yeah, in Africa it's widespread. So this is a much bigger effort and I'm hoping that at some point that they do figure, they're able to figure it out as well.
Eric:And I don't know the figures off the top of my head, so I apologize to our audience for not coming through with the actual figures right now, but I believe most transmissions now are, it's up in the heterosexual community, so Yeah. And it's down in the gay community. I'm not saying that it's not an issue in the gay community, it's still very much correct. And there's still all that stigma around it as being a quote unquote gay disease like Monkeypox was recently considered, but
Gil:but it's not the death. Neil that it used to be no, very true. Where once you got it, it was, your days kind of thing. Yeah.
Eric:So we have, Right wing religious activists want to ban children with same sex parents from going to Christian schools.
Gil:Oh,
Eric:a Christian nationalist is calling for religious schools to exclude same-sex couples for the safety of its students. Far-right. Religious attorney, Matt Staver said, allowing lgbtq plus parents near Christian schools was like putting kids in a viper pit. Who is the group that has all the priests that are predatory?
Gil:Not coming from this community.
Eric:Yeah. Look at all the sexual assault that happens in the churches.
Gil:Have to worried about Yeah. Yeah.
Eric:It's just like with all these, and we'll get into this, I'm sure all the drag queen bans and the trans bans that are happening, right? So I saw something the other day and I think I actually even posted it, that you are more at risk of if you're, if you take your child to a drag show, the only like actual risk of anything is that some far right Christian's gonna come in with a gun and start shooting up the place. Correct. That's where your child's gonna be in
Gil:danger, but it's not the guns. Eric, don't forget. No, I know it's not the guns.
Eric:No, it's not the guns. But you have a six-year-old who just shot his teacher in
Gil:Virginia. No. Again, it's not the guns. No,
Eric:no. And had a whole spree of like killings in California, like just this past weekend, right?
Gil:We had one ride here in half Moon Bay. Yep. It was targeted against some of the Asian community. We, it's, of course they're investigating the state. It was a hate crime. But like I said, it's, it seems very targeted.
Eric:Yeah. You had one in Oakland, like that night. You had one what? Like near la? I forgot what it was called. Monterey something.
Gil:Yeah, I forgot the exact number, but just the amount of killings this year, mass shootings is astronomical.
Eric:Yeah, we're like in, we're like in the, like last figure I saw was there were like 35 mass shootings this year and there's not even, we haven't even had 30 days
Gil:I know. 27, 27 days
Eric:in, and I saw this figure probably like three or four days ago it's definitely increased since then. And let's just dive into the trans bans right now. Yes. Arkansas is, let's put another big one. Edging cl. There's so many states right now. You have Arkansas, which I'm about to talk. We're gonna about to talk about Oklahoma, North Dakota, Mississippi, Utah, Why am I not remembering other states right now? Florida, West Virginia. It's a lot of
Gil:Montana. There's already been 124 anti L G B T Q bills introduced? This year? Yes. Like I said, it's January 27th as we're recording this. Yeah, that's it. A 124 I
Eric:Jesus. And they're trying to say that like drag shows are now classified as adult oriented, the same way that strip clubs are and adult theaters are. This is in Arkansas. Drag performances would also be prohibited from taking place on public property and would not be able to happen within a thousand feet of churches, schools, parks and libraries. Senate Bill 43, SB 43 was passed on January 24th in a 29 to six party line vote, which saw all six chamber Democrats opposing it will now head to the majority Republican House if passed. This will make Arkansas the first state to place these kinds of restrictions on drag shows.
Gil:This is what you, as people in the state of Arkansas are paying your tax, your representatives to worry about drag shows. This is what they're paying them. I would be pissed off personally if I was a taxpayer in that area. I'd be like what y'all doing This is the focus. And then you
Eric:have go ahead.
Gil:No. It just it, I mean they also have House Bill 1, 1 56. That's another similar thing with with, within their public school districts as well, that are concentrate around student sex to make sure that whatever they were born at, born as, it stays all the way through. So that's gonna be another bill that should be heading soon. And that's in Arkansas. That's in Arkansas.
Eric:Yeah. And you have North Dakota who's citing, do you remember when, I think we talked about it, I don't know if we talked about it on this podcast, I think we may have, about the litter boxes and the cat thing, where there was like some stupid story that, oh, these kids are now identifying as cats and oh, we're gonna put litter boxes out. Do you remember that whole n
Gil:I? I do not personally.
Eric:Okay, so maybe we didn't talk about it. Maybe I had this conversation with somebody else, but the anti-trans bill from North Dakota is citing the litter box hoax. Oh,
Gil:it's
Eric:crazy to me. It's ridiculous. And you have a bunch of, and I think it's also in North Dakota where they're trying to find you if Affirming care is given sex affirming care.
Gil:They currently have seven, seven bills regarding L G B T Q in North Dakota. People in just North Dakota seven that are active as we speak right now. Some are in the committee stages right now. Several of 'em are, we have two state SB 2, 2 60 and SB 2 20 31 are both heading for final votes in their state senate, which is a good Republican controlled. Yeah, we have it between couple around school education. Three of 'em are regarding school education, one about healthcare. One is affecting accurate. I. And then a freedom of speech. And expression.
Eric:Yeah. Those are the ones I heard about.
Gil:Yep. Absolutely ridiculous.
Eric:And then Mississippi has consenting to trans care under the age of 21. Could be a felony in New Mississippi. Bill, the crime carries a 10 year prison sentence. This is the latest and anti-trans bills that target adult populations. Some states continue to seek the criminalization of trans people and caregivers.
Gil:They have 15 bills currently attacking our community. Yeah. All healthcare related.
Eric:I don't get why I just don't get the whole, we're gonna take your rights away. It just doesn't make sense to me. If
Gil:I was a resident, I am born in Mississippi. I am, God forbid I, I don't know. I find I would be very disgusted. From always being on the wrong side of history in almost everything from the beginning of their statehood. And that's the part I just don't understand. They love to be on the absolute wrong side of history for everything. Yeah. They're the wrong end of the Civil War, then the wrong end with the civil rights movement, then the wrong end clearly of, how they treated the gay community. They're always on the wrong end. Yeah. You would think they would be Learning of the ways that we're thinking is clearly wrong and it's not moving with the, with time. Yeah.
Eric:Yeah. I mean in this bill would make gender affirming care. In Mississippi, classified as child abuse would ban gender affirming care under 21 years old and would make consenting to providing or administering gender affirming care to a person illegal. It would define the crime as gender disfigurement and provide a five year PRI prison sentence for those who violate it. Here's the thing though, gender affirming care or surgeries, as they're saying, don't happen to children. They don't. They don't. And why are we putting 21 as the marker when at 18 we're sending kids off to. Correct. So if we're gonna say under 21, you are still a kid, then why are these kids being forced to sign up for the military or given the option that may not necessarily be forced. Depending on where you're from though, you may feel like you have to, as a means out we're gonna send kids off to war. But yet they can't make decisions about their own health. Correct. They can't drink until they're 21. they're trying to move the voting aid up to 25 are they? Yeah. There's some states that they're trying to move it up to 25 and they've floated the idea on the national level. because they're trying to keep Gen Z from voting
Gil:It doesn't, this is rich coming from, just I think I've bitched this quite a few times now. The irony of putting the restrictions aren't voting. when you've literally have sent our men and women to die on behalf of voting in other countries that they deem on, on democratic. That's the part that I just find so ironic with it. But they're doing everything in the power to restrict their own people from voting. Yeah. I just, I don't get it. I just don't get it. It's like one of the biggest hypocrisy of the modern. Times. Yeah. It
Eric:is It's baffling. Yeah. It goes back into the whole again, like I just said, like you're literally taking people's rights away. You're showing that you don't care. And it's all like in the name of quote unquote Christianity. Here's the thing, I'm just, and I'm just gonna make this comment a lot of times in this country, we get mad at like other parts of the world because, oh their religion is so extreme and blah, blah, blah. This country tends to pick on the Middle Eastern countries a lot. Correct. Because a lot of their, a lot of their religious beliefs seem to be very extreme as though how we know them and how we perceive them. But I'm like you, when you look at it, we're doing the exact same thing. We're just doing it under the name of Christianity rather than, Islam. And the thing is you're looking at it from the extremes of those religions. Correct. So we're doing the exact same thing. And actually in Middle Eastern countries, it's better to be trans than it is to be gay.
Gil:Yes. Cuz some of them do pay for the Yeah. Yeah. The the transformation to, you know
Eric:so it's just the community is getting attacked a lot and it's, right now focus on the trans community, which is already such a marginalized group. Correct. And we've talked about this on this podcast too, like a lot of times in the L G B T Q I community, we don't seem to acknowledge the trans community and the identity part of the umbrella. We just think about the sexuality part of the umbrella. but we need to observe the whole thing and we have to stand with our community as a whole because it affects one part of the community, it affects the whole community, and then it also affects society at large. Yeah.
Gil:And I, like I said, a thing for me is just. For the party that's likes to preach, less government. like I said, their government overreach and what they want to regulate. Your personal day-to-day life, your social life, your, stuff that I, personally, to me, the government has no fucking business in. They love to, this is what they keep doing. It's these culture wars that we get suckered into and this is why I just don't, like I said, I just, I don't get it. And I think that's where it, I don't know, it's just at what point do we just, how do we convincingly vote people out unanimously so that we don't end up with this? Because I'm personally tired of talking about the culture wars. We've been talking about it. for me, I've just been frustrated for, what, 22 years I think
Eric:at least. And there like at least 2000. There's always different culture wars though happening so,
Gil:Yeah. But just, just in general, it's just the same thing. It's just we went from black people, now it's the gays. It's to, the Jews back in the day before that, it was the Italian immigrants coming in. It was, yeah. Pick a color. It's the
Eric:same shit. Yeah. And it's, and yes, if you're from
Gil:Mississippi, you're still on the wrong side every time.
Eric:My stepdad's from Mississippi, and he's not on the wrong side, but he doesn't live there anymore either. Yeah, But here's the thing it's not even oh, it's this group now, and this group. It's okay, it's always been people of color, whether you're Black, Asian, Latino, Native American, it's bipo is always scrutinized. And then you have. People of this religion, religious background, and this religious background that are now scrutinized. But it's not like moving from one group to another group. It's basically now we're gonna add this group to this group that's already scrutinized and now we're gonna add the L G B T Q I group to this group that's being scrutinized. So now the scrutinized group is just this large melting pot of marginalized communities, and you have a bunch of infighting within that community because they say the people in power, white people, white men, oh, this group is trying to take this from you, and this group is trying to do this to you, and this group is doing this and this group is doing this. And then it has all this infighting. And like you've said before, we have so much infighting and we're so focused on what's happening there that we're like ignoring the larger picture
Gil:when, because they're still getting
Eric:away. Yeah. And if we band together, there's more of us.
Gil:And I would almost stand corrected where I would throw in white women with those cisgendered men. Okay. And the reason I do is because a lot of 'em sit silent and they still vote lock. Yeah. Head in shoulders with their men. You're right, you're
Eric:You're
Gil:absolutely that's the one thing I think they liked because we're looking at 'em as females, so we're obviously, we're always gonna give 'em that. Oh. Because the gays, we know that we support women. But white women love to get shielded with that. But still like the privilege that they do get. Yeah.
Eric:Cuz they still have that white privilege.
Gil:They do. And that's what, to me, that's why I've always been that hesitant. Where I'm like, yes, but,
Eric:But you also say too, you have to look at it too. Look at your cis white, gay ma, your cis white gay males. Absolutely.
Gil:they turn their back. What do people see first? It's white. Yeah. That's the first thing people will see. They don't, the gay will come after that but it's, they can get away with it.
Eric:I have all the privilege of being male and being white. Yeah. I have a little less privilege cuz I'm gay, but I can keep that secret and I can just take advantage of all this privilege and I'm okay with that. Yeah. And that's
Gil:not okay. You can get away with it. Yeah. Yeah. We know we, they do. Which we've talked about Yeah.
Eric:We have also pretty sad to think about is that England has recently put in some laws against the L G B LGBTQ community. It's is trans inmates with male genitalia have been banned from women's prison by UK government. The UK government has announced that it will no longer place trans women with male genitalia. That's in quotes in women's prison, unless there are exceptional circumstances. Again, it's going under this lens of it's thinking what cis straight men would do in this situation. Correct. And it's not even that. It's not that it's a totally different population, totally different group. Because you have cis straight men who are perverts,
Gil:Uhhuh, who are
Eric:pulling that card, who are going to dress up as a woman to get into the women's bathroom. That is straight men doing that. Yeah. Your issue is with straight men. Yeah. Your issue is not with trans women.
Gil:You've been to the club how many times? Once or twice. I've seen women come right in. twice Like I've had women come into the men's restroom. E I could tell you, everyone has gone in, gone to the restroom and gone out, washed her hands and they're out the door. Yeah. With no issue. Like I said I don't know. I personally have not ever had an issue like it's a, with within our community about that. It's just, it keep going. Yeah. Take care of it and get out. But
Eric:no, you have again, straight people are putting their insecurities with themselves cuz they know how perverse they are. Correct. And projecting it on the trans community. Again, your issue is with straight men who would sexually assault women in a bathroom.
Gil:didn't they have movies about like Porkey's and stuff like that back in the eighties? Fantasizing about this anyway. Not the trans part of it, but just a guy, oh my God, I'm gonna see a woman. Yeah. They're having, come on now. They're like, no, it's about this. Glorifying it. Yeah.
Eric:It's crazy to me. And then you actually have the Pope who is criticizing the anti-gay laws Yes. And says that homosexual is not a crime. I know he still does not approve of homosexuality as far as like marriage and everything else under the Catholic moniker or, yes. We can go into a lot of debate and discussion on that. All I'm gonna say is that everyone, ocean eight O'Connor An apology. Yeah. But at least he's, I'm gonna, I don't wanna say at least he's standing up for this cuz it goes back to something that you said, I think last season when I don't remember what we were talking about. We're giving them credit for doing the bare minimum. Yeah.
Gil:I am. It's a big thing for him to say. It is being the head of the church. Not that anyone's gonna listen because we know there's a lot of people in the churches who are holier than now. They are much holier than him. But I, and like I said, you're taking positive baby steps. I still think they have issues within their own four walls. They need to figure out altar boys, molestations. Yes. That they need to get under control themselves. But, they are, at least there's an acknowledgement out there. said it. I'm sure in time it will. Things will change. The, it has to be relevant, you have to change. Yeah. They knew it. They do. He knows it
Eric:It's just I saw an interview with Laverne Cox. phenomenal woman,
Gil:queen. Oh yes,
Eric:absolutely. And she was talking about all these anti-trans laws and EL anti L G B T, qia A laws that are bills that are being pushed and reminding that like during the Holocaust. Yes, there was. And then I know to the day that we're recording this is a day of remembrance for the Holocaust. There were also a lot of gay people that were in the Holocaust that were murdered and brutalized and everything else. And the Nazis started with that. So Yep. We're just going down that exact same path. Like the things that we're doing is a lot of how, is a lot like how Nazim started. Yeah. Or at least their actions started towards getting into the concentration camps and everything else.
Gil:And when people, I know I've heard people who are not like that, this is no way in hell when allowed the tea party to start gaining traction. The, your people on the fringe of the, the Republican party. Once you start giving them power, just giving just a tiny bit, it's our normalizing that this is okay. Their behavior is okay. It's acceptable. it's changed. We know that. Come on now. It's it's sad when I'm watching video clips from Bush in 2004, the guy that pissed me off so badly that I, when political, I had no interest in politics prior, and suddenly it clicked. I'm like, this motherfucker, and yeah, I listened to him now and I'm like, oh my God, he sounds decent. Like reasonable. that's bad. Yeah, that's terrible. Because you know how far off the grid we are now when that looks normal, when Cheney looks normal. Yeah. That's not good. And I think that's where, as Americans, we need to re-look at ourselves about that and are we really left to center or is it we're just back to center. And the far right has just really moved the needle to far that's
Eric:how, that's actually honestly how I think of it. I think the right has moved very far. Like extreme. And the democrats or the le quote unquote left side is literally just right of center. Correct. So it's like the more moderate crowd. Correct. I want to go, I want it to swing the other way. Where your Republicans are more your moderate crowd and then you just have extreme progressiveness. I would consider myself on the far left side, not the extreme left side, but I'm pretty close.
Gil:I you're kissing it politely.
Eric:Yes. I will say or I might be having a little glory hole fun with it. I will say I and I've, I say this all the time and I just said it not that long ago on the socials. Just burn the, burn it all down and let's rebuild it and start over. Yeah. Because it is not working. Yeah. At all. It's working for 1%
Gil:and the same thing that trickled down. Economic bullshit outta keep hearing it. We have 40 plus years of evidence it does not work. The rich keep rich. they will not get back. We. Let's just like now, whenever we hear tax cuts, that is money, revenue that is not going back into the system to help provide for the country. Yeah.
Eric:Speaking of tax cuts, you have a lot of people sitting here saying oh, Biden's screwing us with the tax, with taxes. Taxes are going up, blah, blah, blah. Biden hasn't changed the tax codes, the last time tax codes were changed was when Homeboy 45 had his tax cuts and everyone was like, oh look, we got more money. Yeah, but now those breaks are expiring for the majority of the population and only keeping for that top like 10% of the population that he just so happens to fall into. Correct. So that they have, they're getting all these tax breaks, but yet, The rest of us are having to, like now pay for their tax breaks. And then them trying to put into play a 30% sales tax across the board. You heard about this, right? I
Gil:I heard about that and I'm sorry, my eyebrow raises every time. So okay,
Eric:you were looking at me, what are you talking about? So I was like, you've heard about way but you, sorry.
Gil:Okay. I, every time I hear it, I'm just because 30% to one group to when I, like I said, Chris, when Chris and I in Seattle, like we had our very broke dates. Like we were every, we had 20 bucks. Like here's 20 each to make it last two weeks. We had to stretch that bitch as much as we could. Yeah. For, food or whatever we needed to get. And that's it. So if I, somebody's oh, I'm gonna take lot of ramen, percent of that, that $3 from that 20 bucks. Makes a big damn difference.
Eric:Wouldn't it be, it would be six
Gil:bucks. Oh, $6. So $6 from it. I would completely be fucked. Yeah. Because every dollar went somewhere. So 30% is no I just couldn't believe it. I'm like, huh. And what are we gonna get back in return with this one? Probably nothing.
Eric:Nothing at all. And I, it's weird because you have the rich, the conservative rich, I'm gonna say the right wing rich who are like, oh yeah, let's do this. As long as my money is not touchable. Eventually you're gonna run out of quote unquote people who you believe are beneath you, and then you're gonna have to fetch your own shit because there's not gonna be anyone to do any of the work.
Gil:this is my thing with them, they're so about state rights, state, right? why in the fuck would you implement a federal level tax? And like I said this is why I just, I don't understand with the current politics and the way that they love to preach certain values that what their party let's be wrong, they have no values. They don't, none. They have no standard, no, call it what it is, but, they, everything that they're doing is a complete hypocrisy to what their base of what they, and I'm just looking at Ronald Reagan Republicans, which apparently are much dead at this point. It even Republicans are so bullshit, but it's that they're not even following with that.
Eric:They look at it as like the good old days of us Reagan Republicans we're true Republicans. He was a shit person too. He was a
Gil:terrible human being. No, he does not rest. And guess what? Fuck
Eric:him. He was a Hollywood actor too.
Gil:Yes. Another joke. Oh my God. He came from California. I'm like, oh my God. Yeah.
Eric:Then you have a there's a few jokes in California though. So McCarthy, that whole I'm not, we're not gonna go too much into that, but that whole speaker thing was just a joke
Gil:That was hilarious for me. Oh my
Eric:God. It was disgusting. Like it was
Gil:the way he, it's something that we will not
Eric:see the way he sold his soul to just get the fucking gavel. Yeah. All the concessions he had to make. To get a fucking piece of wood because, for two
Gil:years, let's be real, we're gonna get it back in 2024.
Eric:better. I hope so.
Gil:This thing was way too close. They sh blew us out of the water. Oh no, we got 20, 24.
Eric:So let's talk a little bit about your favorite person, George Santos.
Gil:George Georgie He's such a mess. Enlighten us with that. He's such, he is such a mess. Oh God. Where do we begin with our Jewish. How do, let me his, he's not
Eric:Jewish. He's Jew
Gil:ish. Pause ish. His mother passed away in nine 11, but was in Brazil, correct? Yes. She was out of the country when nine 11. Yeah, when it
Eric:happened. Okay, when, so like when I first heard about the nine 11, they're like, oh, she died in nine 11. And they're like, oh, actually she died was it five years later? I'm like, okay, maybe she had like lingering illness from ground zero. She wasn't even in the country.
Gil:She was in Brazil
Eric:probably watching him do
Gil:drag. Yes. Which it was just a festival, a one time situation that he got dressed up for. Yeah. Yeah. One time.
Eric:Here's my thing with George San. He's just an idiot and he's stupid and he's correct. Can't believe he's has any power. Here's my thing, we all get upset. Like you watch a movie, I don't care who dies, as long as you don't kill the dog homeboy literally killed the dog. And people don't care. He literally set up a quote unquote GoFundMe for our veteran whose dog had cancer and then pocketed all the money. And the dog died. Died. He literally killed the dog. And people don't care.
Gil:No. Like I said, it, the days of people caring or making people upset over certain things like those, they're gone. They're long gone. They'll vote for. I like, it could be killing somebody daily. No one would care because why? Mean they do, but if it was like a, an abortion, maybe. Yeah.
Eric:But then you have some, yeah. But you have sex traffickers like Matt Gates, who still gets away with everything too.
Gil:It's just, Even if you look at Jordan, this is the, he won this time around, but a part of it's with the Democrats where the voting matters. Yeah. He lost the first time around badly. Democrats didn't show up. We're talking a couple hundred thousands votes swing. and he's won this time around. And that's the thing is like, how the hell did we not fact check him to begin with?
Eric:No, here's the thing is a lot of local media and a lot of local journalists were fact checking him in. No, this isn't adding up. This is wrong. Take a look at this, take a look at this. But it didn't get the coverage and it didn't get the traction on a national level. So no one paid attention. You had local journalists and local news outlets screaming, saying no, look, check this out. And the bigger peop, the bigger fish in the pond were like, eh, whatever. We're not gonna worry about it. And now it's oh my gosh, how come we never heard about this? We were trying to warn you at the time. you just didn't pay attention to us.
Gil:You were thinking from like the voters, but what was the big change from couple a hundred thousand Democrats not voting it. The swing was big and I'm just looking at the Democrats particularly. Yeah, you knew this. It's the same guy running from the year, two years prior coming again. Yeah. Still bullshit. And the Democrats failed it. They beat 'em the first time around and then several hundred thousand did not show what changed. And I think that's what my question also, it's but a blame. I get
Eric:it. didn't they do a lot of redistricting? Redistricting in New York?
Gil:They did some redistrict redistricting.
Eric:I mean they did redistricting everywhere.
Gil:But yeah, it was a whole, but there was still a big, this was still a big enough drop in turnout also. It wasn't just Democrats, it was just turnout in general. General was low and whenever, just like we all know this, whenever voting turnout is low, who wins publicans.
Eric:And that's why they're trying to keep the votes low,
Gil:low. And that's the thing. That's why I was just like, what the fuck? We all knew what our assignment was in 2022. I vote in California, this shit, it's bluest blue to the get true, but we still vote I'm just saying cuz you don't ever take it for grant. And really quickly just don't, no, sorry. No,
Eric:you're fine. Really quickly, cuz I know Feinstein is probably not running or people are like buying for her seat. She's retire. She does. Yes. But Schiff is now throwing his hat in the ring. I'm sorry. Katie Porter said announced she was running. I am. I'm, I don't live in California, so what I think doesn't really care matter, but I'm team Katie Porter because
Gil:Katie Porter and I already put bad hat behind Katie Porter. Yeah I'm
Eric:ready for Katie Porter, personally. Badass. She is that bitch.
Gil:I can't wait to see her with a white, little white porter. Front of Mitch McConnell
Eric:Oh my God, that'll be so amazing. Katie Porter is where it is
Gil:at. Yeah I'm very thrilled for that. So that's why I'll just tell it now, what, two years in advance. I, that's who I'm voting for. Yeah. As soon as she announced her candidacy for the Senate seat. Yes. I was like, and there's my candidate.
Eric:Yes. Here is a story that I think is worth mentioning. I came across this today. Ooh. The f d A is is going to overhaul its blood donation rules related to gay sex.
Gil:Yes. Yes. Oh my God. Ho Hold up,
Eric:Hold up. Men who haven't had a new anal sex partner in three months will no longer face restrictions. Correct. But the thing is again, we were talking about it. There's such a high influx of h I V transmission amongst the heterosexual group. They still have no restrictions. you are testing all of the samples as they come in. So it's cause the, while this is just an ex, this is another example of oh, we're gonna dangle the carrot and take a half a baby step and Oh, what's gonna be all this progress. But is it really, I know it's some progress, but is it really I don't know. I'm just, I'm asking you legitimate. Like legit. Do you think it's progress? I can read what they, the, an excerpt from
Gil:what? Oh no I knew about it this morning. I remembered. Sorry. That's I'm excited. I was like, I just remembered this one. It's gonna be progress for the sake of on paper.
Eric:Yeah. But it's still rooted in homophobic ideology. Absolutely. Look at how many straight guys have sex with however many women rape women all the time. And they can still give blood. You have dudes that are having anal sex with women. Yeah. No issue. They could have slept with 15 women last night. Most guys can't last that long and can't don't, and have way too long of a refractory period. So they could have slept with 15 people in the last we'll be very generous and say in the last month. Okay. And they can still, they could have with three people in the last week and no problem. three different people in the last week. No problem. But you have a guy who like, oh yeah, I had sex with one person. This month and one person like two months later. Nope.
Gil:Correct. Which we know that'd be a very low number.
Eric:for me, that would actually probably be a high number cuz I don't get it. But
Gil:You're, you are later. You just don't tell your numbers, y'all. What is that? You're waiting for marriage, Eric. We stand by that. Yeah.
Eric:We'll say that marriage that I can barely have now. Yeah. So
Gil:not that I'm giving my blood anytime soon or ever, but Yeah. I wouldn't, I don't, I'm not gonna be a hypocrite about it either. I don't know that
Eric:I can because I, even if
Gil:it was legal, I wouldn't.
Eric:Yeah, it is legal for you now cuz you un unless you've had more than one partner in the last three months. But I know. No, but it's, unless
Gil:still like it's something don't know that I
Eric:don't do. I don't know that you and Chris have opened up your relationship yet
Gil:No No. What was that si for? Like even if I, is it the option to give out? No. Like for me to give blood? Yeah. I have no desire.
Eric:I know that, but what was that sigh for when I said, you guys have you opened your relationship? You're like,
Gil:No. Oh no.
Eric:I'm just kidding. I'm trying to get you in trouble. Hi, Chris.
Gil:Yeah, the donating blood for me, I just, I'm good.
Eric:can edit that part out if we need to. We're not going, but we could So let's talk a little bit about, did you hear about Simon Dunn, the rugby player and Bob s letter from Australia openly gave pro athlete? No. He died at the age of 35. He was found dead. What? Oh no. And what happened? All I can, all, the only thing I can find is that It looks as though, He may have committed suicide. I don't know for a fact, but from the articles they send, if you know someone who's in distress, here's health, suicidal hotlines, blah, blah blah. But that's just really sad cuz he was a very, he was a pro athlete who was very vocal for gay rights.
Gil:Oh, that's very sad. So very sad. That's a loss for the community. Yeah, it is
Eric:huge. And then Adam Lambert, did you hear he made some waves?
Gil:No. I know he has a new album, Al does. He, I didn't know that. But yeah, he has a new album coming out.
Eric:He, they're doing a biopic on George Michael. Here's the thing. So they're doing a biopic on George Michael. Okay. Or the, it's rumored that they might be doing a biopic on George Michael. And the front runner is Theo James. From White Lotus season two, who had the male Nu to T scene that everyone was like all gaga over, but I believe it was a prosthetic, but still people, it was a prosthetic. I haven't seen White Lotus. I'm still trying to get through the first season. I keep falling asleep, so I don't know. I'll have to sit down and watch it when it's not late at night. But anyways, Adam Lambert made the comment, oh, great. Another straight person playing a gay role. He's, I don't think he's, we talk about the, we've talked about this a lot and I know I always oscillate back and forth, like it's the whole discussion of should people who don't understand our story play our roles or do we just need to get the numbers in there so people Yeah. Hear the story. True. True. It's true in some regards. now at the point though, where I think if the, if being gay is pertinent to the story, then it should be a gay actor. If it's not important or it's not per a pertinent part to the story, like the character just happens to be gay, but it's not an important part, then maybe yeah. So what do you think about that? That's my opinion. I think I, I don't think
Gil:he's wrong. No I don't think he's wrong. It's the same thing as could we have found I guess it's from Okay. if you're looking for more financial standpoint, do we have anyone which is, that can relate from the gay community. Yeah it, I think it's gonna, looking down from a numbers game, from it, from what I would prefer. I'm sure we could pick somebody who also looks a little bit closer to George Michael. I don't think Theo James looks like him. Yeah. But I, a couple of makeup, maybe you could change it, but I think you're too much. Is my mic working?
Eric:It is now, but it sounds different. But yes it is now. It's not now. Hello? Hello. Okay, you're back.
Gil:Am I back? I can't hear myself. You're back. I can hear you.
Eric:We're having technical difficulties. Everyone. I might have to pull out this podcast by. There? Yes.
Gil:Okay, good. I could hear now I could hear everything. Okay. Sorry. Yeah.
Eric:This is, I dunno, I'm just gonna happens. Technical difficulties happen, right? you don't know
Gil:what you think. I had to buy New Mike. I know. I'm just gonna say I just, I don't know. I would probably, if it wasn't a numbers game and you just made a movie to depict Mike, George Michael, then I think we would've picked an actual, probably a gay. There has to be more. There's gay actors. There has to be, there just has to come on now. Yeah. More than you'll pass. But I think they're looking from a numbers game. Yeah. Because the Otherwise you'd be playing everyone. Yeah, everyone.
Eric:The thing is he wasn't even, yeah. There could be it. He wasn't even out though when he got all his big breaks. No.
Gil:It's seemed obvious, but no, he was not out
Eric:Yeah. I have a friend who actually slept with him before he was out anyways Taylor Swift ha released a video for her Lavender Haze song and she hired Laith Ashley transactor Lath Ashley as her love interest. Ooh. So
Gil:yeah, prop. That's good.
Eric:Props. Miss Swift. She Yeah. Is literally not just saying I'm supportive of the community. She's a, she's, at least she's showing it. Yeah. So I applaud her.
Gil:I know we, I know the Be the Beehive. Doesn't like to hear us say anything positive like that because I just can't remember Beyonce hiring any anyone from the community in
Eric:so long. She just performed in Dubai. That's a big F you to the community. Yeah, but we're not gonna talk about that. Let's talk a little bit about the Rolling Stone list.
Gil:let's get everyone's blood boiling again. I don't, absolutely.
Eric:I don't have the list in front of me. I can pull it up if I need to. I don't know that we wanna go through all 200 people, but if anyone doesn't know what we're talking about, which I think we're a little late discussing it, but the podcast is just coming back, so that's why we're late on discussing it. Rolling Stone compiled a list of the 200 greatest singers of all time. That's what it's Correct.
Gil:Okay. Correct that, that is what is let's actually start off with the Rolling Stones. Exactly what they defined it, because I, some people before we talk to omissions, they had,
Eric:but they had to clarify. They had to clarify because they fucked themselves and their clarification didn't make it any better.
Gil:And here it goes. This new list was compiled compiled our staff and key contributors, and it encompasses, encompasses 100 years of pop music as an ongoing global conversation. They're looking at originality, influence the depth of an artist's catalog and the musical legacy. So that's what they defined it? Yes. That's their, yes. There are four walls that they have provided for us. Yes. Now, Looking at their top, out of the 200 artists that they have chosen 90 were women because I always looked at the women, obviously. Yeah. that's the first thing I look for. Aretha Franklin was number one,
Eric:which I don't have an issue with that. Do I think she should be number one? No, but I can accept that and I can appreciate that and it's fine.
Gil:Yeah. Did you wanna look at the top 10? Let's look
Eric:at the top 10. I, there are a few people that are not in, that are in the lower that I want to address as well. But let's start with the top 10.
Gil:Okay. So number 10, Al Green. Al Al Green kicks us off at number 10. Otis Redding. At number nine, Beyonce at number eight. Tr trash. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. My. I am just a mess with my, oh, number seven is Stevie Wonder. Okay. Number six is Ray Charles. Okay. Number five is Mariah Carey. Yes. But I
Eric:think she should be higher.
Gil:Number four is Billy Holiday. Okay. Number three is Sam Cook. Okay. Number two is Whitney Houston. Okay. And as we discussed, number one is Aretha Franklin. I'm
Eric:fine with Whitney Houston being number two. I think she could have been number one too and that would've been fine. Mariah Carey should have been top three, at least Mariah Carey. I'm not a huge Mimi fan. Like I like some, a lot of her music, but I'm not a huge fan of Mariah Carey. But she is like a vocal beast
Gil:co. Correct? I mean her,
Eric:yeah. She's a gifted songwriter. her vocal range is insane. No one, know like you have Mimi Riperton and other people who were hitting whistle notes prior to Mariah Carey. Correct. But Mariah Carey popularized the whistle note in the whistle register. Correct. No one even, knew what that was until Mariah, Carrie, the
Gil:scene because like Mimi Ripton and, God rests her solely know, but she had a very short span of career also. She, passed away. Very young as well. But Mariah, that's Mariah. Yeah. Like that sucker blew that it out of the water. We know that. Yes. Yeah. I, but I definitely, if they didn't put her to top five, I think I, there would've been more people up in arms.
Eric:Yes. And we will discuss that in a second. I want to address this though really quickly. Kelly Clarkson, she's on the list. But she's 194. Yes. Yes. Kelly Clarkson can sing any and every genre of music out there. She is a power vocalist. Yes. She should at least be top 15, maybe top 20. I'm gonna be a little loose with it. Maybe top 20, but she should be
Gil:top 20. They have Lana Delray at 1 75 ahead of her. Yeah.
Eric:Lana Delray is fine. I like what her music, but she's not like Kelly kicks in.
Gil:But that's the same thing I'm looking at when they're talking legacy, they're talking, the depth of someone's record, you know their albums they produced and the quality it is very hard for me, especially if an artist is 10, 15 years in, do we consider a legacy? Cuz they're still in modern memory. Yeah. I would give it 20 years enough and okay, from this is the cutoff. Because then by then you could really tell, does the artist make it when you're talking, especially legacy, when they're including Billy Eilish. Yeah. Who was 1 98. 1 98. So you're telling me that makes no sense to me that this artist has No, is she possibly be gonna be big? But I feel like we've heard her before and I know people are like, that's she's so new. If I wanted a whispering singing, we have other artists who have done that.
Eric:Patty LaBelle's, number 74. Yeah, I don't get, Janet Jackson's not even on the list. And when the list first came out, I was like, okay. Like I can understand. Everyone knows I love me, so Janet Jackson. But I can understand her not being on the list cuz she's not a vocal, like she's not a power vocalist. I get it. Yeah. She can sing, she can harmonize, she can do amazing things. With her register, she can sing in head voice for an entire song. An entire set. Yeah. But when you go by what their requirements were, her contribution hello. Without a lot of her music and her sets and the way she compiled stuff, you wouldn't have any of your pop stars or your r and b stars. You wouldn't have a lot of the albums you have now. People would not be talking about mental health if it wasn't for her. The depth of her catalog is insane. Correct. And she's not on the list. Rihanna's with number 68. She's ahead of Kelly Clarkson. I like Rihanna, don't get me wrong. And I'm looking forward to her Super Bowl halftime show.
Gil:Absolutely. But kinda weird. That's the same thing. Would you have put her ahead of Kelly Clark? It just, no. Some of the shuffling on this was very, I was eye twitching on it. Because it was almost like artists that historically have done really well, and they're normally in the top, let's say 20 of or top 30 of their, yeah. Registered area are suddenly well out of the league. That's the part that I'm just having the hardest time where it's
Eric:and Gaga's number 58 Gaga is an amazing singer. Yes. She really is. I know Ariana Grande's high up on the list too. I don't remember exactly where she's at, but
Gil:but it's the same thing of like, when you're looking at some of the males that they have, they had, Bruce Springsteen pretty high. Bruce Springsteen cannot sync for shit. Yeah. He's a, like Dylan. It's like Bob Dylan, same thing. They're great lyricists. Yes they are. Songwriters, they could write the hell out of it. Joni Mitchell love her. her writing, her singing. Yeah. Not a fan at all. Like I, I could do without, yeah. But they're rated very high. So it's like this back and forth of is it really the voice or is it more the catalog or is it the li no, exactly. The contributions. It just didn't make sense. Madonna's not on the damn list. No. And I know we can't, she can't see. But same thing, contribution. What has she provided? Yeah.
Eric:We know that she kicked the door down for women and women in video. Her catalog is intense. Yes. Like her catalog is insane. She should definitely be on that list For her, their requirements, I think it's a little interest, the requirement, passionate and heated over pop culture. And we were like blase about politics, but go ahead. I just had to make that observational
Gil:now, but it's something. Like I said, we're just, we're very passionate about, this is something that, support them. Yeah. And same thing. It's not just Madonna and I know Celine Dion was one of the first people that popped in everyone's mind on Matt was like, how do you not get her to the thing? Yeah. Celine d not even on
Eric:the list. Yeah. Like she's considered part of the vocal Trilogy Whitney. Correct. Mariah Celine. And to go by their requirements like Cel, I'm not a big Celine Dion fan, but the woman can sing and she can sing opera. She can sing pop. She is a power vocalist. She has given you two of the biggest songs of all time. My Heart Will Go On for Titanic and Beauty and the Beast. Yeah, because before John Legend and Ariana Grande sang it, it was her and Peabo Bryson.
Gil:Thank you, which is my favorite So
Eric:it's great. I like both. I like both versions. But without Celine Dion, you do not have Beauty in the Beast. Correct. You do not have the Titanic song, which I'm still like the only person in the world who hasn't seen that movie. But
Gil:she gave you two of the biggest songs. Don't worry,
Eric:huh? I know how it ends. She gave you two of the biggest songs of all time, right? And she's not on this list. Yeah. She also gave, because You Love Me, which is like my favorite Celine Dion song from that. Forgot what the movies call it. Has Robert Redford and Michelle Pfeiffer in it, where she plays a weather person. Don't remember the name of the movie right now, but still she gave you like some of the biggest songs of all time. You also wanna talk about Andrea Bocelli's Not On Here. No, Josh Groban not on here. Yeah. Those are some insane vocalists people are like, oh, it's not re it's more pop music and it's more, they're a different type of music. You have Oum Kalthum here who definitely deserves to be on the list. She's number 61. She is like Egyptian royalty when it comes to music in Correct. And she absolutely, I was gonna say, deserve to be on this list. I was super happy to see her on the list. That's,
Gil:but they brought in international artists also. This wasn't just American artists or UK plus American. Yeah. This was a global thing. And they're looking at different artists. Edith Poff is not on this list. You're thinking French music, French pop music in a day. Yeah. There was no one real classic on here because they started doing the cutoff. You're thinking legacies. And that's the part that I just, I was scrolling through, I'm like, huh, there's some, like I said, it was just interesting where they put people. I like what? I have put in a Fiona Apple at a 111. I think that's high for her.
Eric:I like Fiona Apple, but no, I get what you're saying.
Gil:Not a fan. Yeah. You're not a fan of Fiona Apple? No, not at all. Okay. Not a, I have listened to, I just, not my, yeah. Like Debbie Harry, 1 68 yes. She was with Blondie and, but Debbie's not necessarily the best focal. Let's be real and like at all. No one says they
Eric:Michael Jackson, I know he's on the, listen, I don't remember what number he is at, but 86. You want to talk Legacy
Gil:86? Yeah. The king of pop.
Eric:Yeah. It's ridiculous. That list is bullshit. Yeah. And the fact that you don't have. a lot of those people on it. Celine Dion Roben. Belli. You don't have, I don't think Cece Winans is on that list. Nope. And sh and or Yolanda Adams. I don't even listen to gospel music, but I know that those women can sing
Gil:Sang No, absolutely. I'm just double checking our list right here, Leslie. No, I don't see her. Yeah,
Eric:no. So
Gil:that list is I was glad they put in some, they put in some country I love me Simp Patrick Line. So they put our 13. She should be on there. Yeah. And normally every list they ever release, she's always, this is Lean Reims on that list.
Eric:No, Leanne Rimes should be on that list. Leanne Rimes can sing.
Gil:Yeah. My favorite song for her is Blue, like 1993. I think that's a proud song. Like that
Eric:song, that's a great song that like I love, she was just on the Mask singer not that long ago, like I think two or three seasons ago. And she can sing. I didn't realize how well she could sing. Oh
Gil:yeah no. She could sing. No it is the same thing. It's like Carrano is the lead singer for the Yay Ass. And I love the Yayas and get me wrong, but the same thing is if you're thinking pure vocals and stuff like that, just singing Can't she like, which is she her voice power more powerful than like she's the head of Kelly Clarkson. Yeah. Or does she have a better, music catalog versus a Janet or an Annie Lennox. That's the part that I just don't understand. Exactly.
Eric:And Cher's not on the list either.
Gil:Cher's not on it either. No.
Eric:And talk about catalog and legacy and.
Gil:Sure. Bitch Sure. It's like she, yeah. Cindy Lauper's not on it. Judy. I was kind like thinking of artists that just, Judy Garland's not on it. No, Judy's not on it. How
Eric:is Judy Garland not on it?
Gil:You have Barbara She on it. She should be on it. Yeah. Absolutely. How is Judy? Judy not? Wow. You were thinking you, she gave you one of the,
Eric:I know she gave you one of the biggest songs of all time. Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Yeah. And Gaze. If you do not know who Judy Garland is, go watch Wizard of Oz and that's a theme song. We're Over The Rainbow. His
Gil:horrific kid on it. Birth Lizza. Yes. No. Eartha Kit is not on there. How was Earth a Kit? Not on there Trust me, I we're going through the list. I'm like, what?
Eric:I love me some Eartha kit.
Gil:Yeah. She's not on it either. Wow. Yeah. No. Trust me, I It's a lot of, I
Eric:twitching, it's a lot of, I twitching. That's crazy. Yeah.
Gil:Cause I know they're trying to modernize it. They're try to put, some how would newer artists, but like I said, they're big things about legacy these artists, like the Adele's and all that. Billy Eilish has no legacy right now. No. There is none to speak of. Come back in 20, 25 years. And then tell me, how do they do? Yes. Will people still listen to their music? Yes. What music is to be listened
Eric:to. That's and we were talking about Taylor Swift earlier. I know Taylor Swift's on the list and she's, I think in the, she's somewhere in, I don't know what number.
Gil:Hold on. Hold it. She's 1 0 2. She's higher
Eric:than Kelly Clarkson. I still don't get, like Kelly Clarkson should be like top 20 at least.
Gil:Yeah. Taylor Swift is 1 0 2. She barely is right behind Gladys Knight at 1 0 1. What? Gladys Knight could sing. God. Yeah. Gladys Knight's 1 0 1. This is such
Eric:a bullshit list.
Gil:Yeah. Diana Ross was 87 right behind Michael Jackson. Okay. This is why I got her blood pressure.
Eric:How are you doing, Gil? What is going on with you? What's new with you? What things can our listeners look forward to from
Gil:you? Okay, so let's see. Something new I. Let's see. I have been very excited because you guys all know, like Eric and I, we love our sports. football, that little thing called N F L. So yeah, I've just been very thrilled as a Niner fan because we sent the Dallas Cowboys home again, This is consecutive years. Anyone who's a Niner fan growing up, like I said, we don't ever do this. Normally we dread the Cowboys goes like, how are they gonna hurt our hearts this year? So this was very wonderful
Eric:and for people who can't see, since no one can see, he's wearing a San Francisco 49ers sweatshirt or hoodie. Go ahead.
Gil:A little hoodie. Yes. So I've just been very excited about that. I have no expectations going into the championship game because I'm just happy we beat the other Seahawks and Cowboys in the season. Yes, I'm good. But no, I would definitely take a Super Bowl also obviously one in my lifetime, but. We all can't be his Steelers, but six Shoot out. Yes. But yeah no, that's been really I've been just keeping up with my sports. And let's see. Chris and I actually a big thing with us. So Chris and I are actually be working for towards an adoption. Are you guys in time? Yes. Oh, some congratulations. So we're gonna start in March congrat March. Congratulations. Process. Congratulations. It's gonna take time.
Eric:No, and I get that, but still, I know you had talked about it like about a year ago. You guys were like dis in the
Gil:discussion. Yeah. Discussions. So we're thinking it's realistically it's gonna go through the Foster, foster to adopt. Okay. So we're gonna go that route. So we're, prep, we're prepping and it's. I'm the nervous one. I'm not gonna lie, Chris. It's yes. Finally Gil's. Ready. And I'm just like, oh, Jesus, here we go. I figured it's no. Yeah. I'm never ever gonna be ready. Ready. Congratulations.
Eric:That's beautiful. I'm super happy to hear that. That's awesome.
Gil:Thank you. I, oh boy. We'll be barred from every school notes. Kidding? Yeah. So that was like the more major news. But otherwise, like my health right now I am, I got tested for the just sleep apnea, pretty much. It's Gil, you need to lose weight and I need to get my health together with that part. my glaucoma and all that's beyond normal, so I'm happy with that. All of the sugars and everything like that. Oh, your glucose, okay. Yeah. But glucose and all that fine, because that's the first thing I got worried about. because my family runs heavy with diabetes. That Say Lavis is Latinos. It's part of our thing. We're just sweet. But it has, most of my family has it as they're getting older. So that's where, it's one of those, I have that fear, but they said, so far I've been, I'm good. Nothing to worry about right now. Just keep, yeah. Everything else except for my health, just if I'm losing just a few, few pounds here and there just keep an eye, kinda like what I'm eating just from a dietary stuff like that, just to keep in check. That's something that I'm trying to work on more for this year is definitely health, obviously for the adoption. And then retirement. Little by little, just because I'm a millennial, let's be real. I have nothing really in saving, I'll be quite honest. not nothing crazy but trying to work towards retirement because I, at our luck, something will crash. By the time we get there, 401K will be wiped out. It's just the way it's been my entire life. as a millennial, something, some shit happens. Yeah. We're, I'm just trying to get that kind of also under control, so at least I have something hopefully saved up by the time I'm old. Older. I'm reminded at work every day like, oh my God, your birthday starts. So the 19 hundreds, oh my God, your music's what my parents listen to. Oh my. You he would be fired. Yeah. The rudeness, So I shared more than I thought I was about my personal health.
Eric:No, that's great. Thank you so much for that. Something,
Gil:because nobody knows, I never really dis I'm not gonna lie, I don't disclose stuff about me like I No, you don't. I'm finally trying to get under control. Let people know I'm, yeah. Eric
Eric:is
Gil:letting him talk. Yeah. Oh, with you. What's going
Eric:on? What's going on with me? Not a whole lot to say. Just a lot of healing and growing. Actually that kind of takes me, I wanna try something new this season, which you don't know about, so I'm gonna Oh, surprise you, but you already went there with it. So we may not have to backtrack, but I wanna end each episode, not necessarily end it, but it'll be towards the end with something of this past week that you felt growth from. So how have you grown this week? And it can be like, Something new that you discovered about yourself? Something that you rediscovered about yourself, some habit that you changed, something that you embraced about yourself. It can be any, it can be a plethora of things. But like one example, but I think you went there with it, with the adoption and all that other stuff. But if you have anything else, if you thought you wanna share, please by all means do
Gil:Something, let's see. I've learned about myself is that I've learned to be, especially in the last, a couple of, not last couple, it's been really in the last year, but really as I've gotten in. Back from working in the pandemic and stuff like that for myself, is that value and asking for help. because I think before, especially in, at least in my work career, I've always been very you bottle it up, you take the criticism, you're going to make yourself work and grow. And now I'm like, I'm asking for help. I'm like, I don't know the answers. Can someone help me? Show me? Like, how do I become better at this? Because I don't know the answer. And that's huge. I know I could be very ego, not egotistical, but it's just that, I'm the little Napoleon in me and I'm like, I got it. Everything's such a control. we're all good here, but I don't know it. And I've been like, today I asked for help. I'm like, I wanna be, get into my second assignment for my job and what's another area, another store that I could shadow for a couple of days. And just so I could get her, get a better idea of what next role I want to be instead of just jumping in and I'm completely unprepared. Because I don't also don't like to fail too badly. Yeah. Or at least fail with dignity, I should say. Yeah. So that's something that I've noticed with myself since the pandemic. It's not burdening everything. Yeah. And I finally asked for help today. awesome. Today actually. Oh, would
Eric:cheer. Let me go back just cuz you, you gave us a whole rundown on what's going on with you and I just as I was saying Oh yes. Everything with me is pretty good. I actually went to Denver for a specific reason. I'm not gonna get too much into detail about it, but while I was there I just realized that was no longer a part of who I was as a person. So the thing that I went there for no longer mattered to me. Like I was basically validating the 25 year old in me. looking for outward validation for the 25 year old in me when I'm not 25 years old anymore. I am past that. I don't need outward validation to realize my greatness. So I guess that's one thing that's happened in this last, just this last week, is finally being able to validate myself as a person with, from within and not looking for outward approval and outward validation from others. That's love, I love that. So I think right now, like this, that happened literally like within this last week, but it's a bi it's a big thing for me because it is, I've always been so concerned with what I think other people think. And to know that no, it's all a matter of how I perceive myself and what I'm doing for myself. Yeah. I've also, Grown in the way of not necessarily people pleasing as much. If I need to cut someone out, I can just let them go so I don't have to be the meek quiet, take it person at some point. Yeah. I'm just gonna be like, back the fuck up. Yeah. That's how I grew this recently.
Gil:That's excellent. Holy shit. But how does it feel relieving not having to please that 25? Like I said, that 25 years is Yeah. Does it, does long gone.
Eric:Yeah. So not long gone. No. Pretty much long on yeah, no, it feels really awesome and it's very liberating and very freeing. To not be concerned with looking for that outward validation for someone that I no longer am. Correct. And holding that and taking up space because of that. So that makes sense. It's pretty brave.
Gil:Yeah. Oh, Eric. Clap. Clap.
Eric:Clap. Clap to you too. You taking some big strides. But
Gil:I just, part of, like you and I, we've grown so much from, remember when we first met, we were 21. To now it's like I was leaps and bounds. Yeah. 21 ish.
Eric:plus six. Okay.
Gil:But yeah, I think your birthday cake, when I brought it to 21 It did. It
Eric:did actually. And I was like, oh, thank you. A little off, but thank
Gil:you. We count down from there. 21
Eric:but one just one thing I thinking of that,
Gil:like when I first met, like when we first met Yeah. Uhhuh. Yeah. Oh, did I say we grew a lot from there? We
Eric:have grown a lot from there. Yeah. No, you're right. We have, things have definitely changed. So really quickly, just Yeah. Because we have new theme music and all of our stuff is no longer in our opening and closing credits. please visit our website at the q lounge podcast.com. Please leave us a review, preferably on Apple Podcast or Spotify. A five star review would be amazing. Please tell your friends about us. Please leave a review, help us get bigger and more known. You can catch us on Instagram and Twitter at the Q Lounge and on Facebook at the Q Lounge podcast. Anything else that I'm forgetting as far as that's concerned? Another big shout out to spell with Spellbound Productions out of the Sound Lab Studios and Diane from Dem Tea's Designs for our music and logo. Anything I'm forgetting, Gill?
Gil:No, I think we've covered all the all of our social schults. Yes.
Eric:And you can always make a donation if you wanna be our sugar daddy, as Gil would say.
Gil:Yes,
Eric:thank you for tuning in and remember to live in your authenticity. Bye.
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