Super Familiar with The Wilsons
Marriage 2.0 with kids…and all the side quests!
Super Familiar with the Wilsons is a weekly comedy podcast about second marriage blended family life, and the beautiful chaos of parenting, aging, and figuring it all out (again). Hosted by Amanda and Josh, partners in life, love, and side quests, each episode dives into real-life stories, quirky observations, listener emails, and spontaneous tangents that somehow always circle back to relationships, resilience, and the absurdity of modern life.
Whether you’re navigating your own second act, raising kids who don’t want your help, or just wondering why birds seem to aim for your head, you’ll find humor, honesty, and heart here. Expect: offbeat storytelling, second-marriage dynamics, parenting fails, philosophical detours, and new friends you didn’t know you needed.
Familiar Wilsons Media produces content to bring people together. We are curious, hopeful, and try not to take ourselves too seriously...admittedly, with varying degrees of success.
Super Familiar with The Wilsons
Find us on instagram at instagram.com/superfamiliarwiththewilsons
and on Youtube
Contact us! familiarwilsons@gmail.com
Super Familiar with The Wilsons
Nuclear Family Meltdown, Gym Betrayal, and the Return of the Buzzfeed Quiz
In this rambling episode, Josh and Amanda tackle the Coldplay concert scandal, Balloon Boy’s comeback, and why BuzzFeed has decided Josh's relationship status. Along the way, they review restaurants by a different metric (food is for cowards), invent two useful new words, and dissect why the “nuclear family” is more marketing myth than timeless tradition. Plus: listener emails, celebrity sightings, a poetic meltdown about a neurotic dog, and relationship revelations over scallops. It’s funny, chaotic, and slightly sweat-drenched...just like Florida.
Super Familiar with The Wilsons
Find us on instagram at instagram.com/superfamiliarwiththewilsons
and on Youtube
Contact us! familiarwilsons@gmail.com
Familiar Wilson's Media Relationships are the story. You are made of meat, my friend, all the way down. The following podcast uses words like and and also If you're not into any of that shit, then now's your chance. Three, two, one run. I'm super familiar with the Wilsons Get it.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Super Familiar with the Wilsons. I'm Amanda.
Speaker 1:And I'm Josh. Amanda, I have got such news for you.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, does it involve a Coldplay concert?
Speaker 1:No, we can briefly touch on that in a few minutes.
Speaker 2:Well, that seems to be all the news.
Speaker 1:So I just thought that was the news. It is, but it's almost, I think, run its course, because this is, yeah, this is the news cycle. Now it's like 15 seconds literally, and then boom, we're on to the next thing.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Someone had commented I don't remember who it was, but it was in a conversation that was having through text and they said imagine how many Halloween costumes couples are going to have this year that refer to that like trying to be cute, and my point was that'll be so forgotten by then.
Speaker 2:By a handful of people we'll still remember, probably those who are directly involved, but I don't think they'll be dressing up like that for Halloween.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny because I was going to do a segment about this whole thing, as I guess all content creators have decided. Ooh, this topic is going to be so hot and trending. Then I got online and everyone has a take on it, so boring. Here's my only take on it, right, because I was trying to think of what could possibly happen as a result of this, like, what are the consequences of this? I think it's possible that this is going to turn into a new way, a new power move.
Speaker 2:how to resign? Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1:Romantic resignation.
Speaker 2:Frolicking at a concert, or you just mean like, maybe sending an email accidentally to the wrong person, or like, what do you mean? I don't know you can do it sending an email accidentally to the wrong person, or like what do you mean?
Speaker 1:I don't know. You can do it as an email. Auto reply.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, I have to set mine up because I'm going out of town for work this week, so I'll be mindful.
Speaker 1:All right. So then type this down. I am currently unavailable as I'm dramatically throwing away my corporate career for passion and love. Okay, virgin Matter, urgent matters. Please contact for my replacement. Or, like your new linkedin status, oh yes, change it from senior vp of operations to unemployed but deeply in love, that's right. So there, that's. My unique wilson's take on this whole thing is that this is going to spawn a movement, because everything spawns a movement until something better comes along. But that's not what I wanted to tell you. That's not the thing that's not the news.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry do you remember balloon boy?
Speaker 2:no, you don't remember no I remember bubble boy, who was in a bubble and like a giant hamster wheel thing.
Speaker 1:He wasn't really in a giant hamster wheel, but no, no, no, balloon boy, it's a hoax right that occurred in oh yeah october 2009, you remember this they Like he floated away or something.
Speaker 1:So a homemade helium-filled gas balloon shaped to resemble a silver flying saucer was released into the atmosphere above Fort Collins, colorado, by the Heen family. They then claimed that their six-year-old son, falcon, was trapped inside of it. Do you remember this? I do remember this now the authorities spent all this money national guard helicopters, all the police pursuing this balloon. It fly it. It flew for more than an hour and and went about 50 miles right and it landed and falcon was not found inside had had Falcon disintegrated within the helium.
Speaker 1:Well, it was reported that an object had been seen falling from the balloon, and then they searched, but later the boy was found hiding in the attic of his home, where he had apparently been the entire time.
Speaker 2:How much did this? I hope these people had to pay for all of the first responders and all of the money that was spent looking for this child who was just upstairs.
Speaker 1:Suspicions of a hoax arose, particularly after an interview um on larry king live that same evening. When asked why he was hiding, falcon said his father. You guys said that, um, we did this for the show what show? Right? Well, they didn't. They didn't say that, so anyway, they concluded that it was a hoax. The, the parents served a few days in jail and then there you go right now. They always maintain their image.
Speaker 2:Now, they always maintain their innocence they say he was in the balloon and he fell no, they say that he like hid and they didn't know that he was hiding so they didn't check the balloon before they released it into the air dude, what's happening right now?
Speaker 1:I'm just telling you I can't speak to, to what they did, not the point of any of this. You remember the incident and like it was a big deal for a while I found out on the in-law and the outlaw podcast which is a familiar wilson's media podcast done by chicken tom yes and his son-in-law. They live right down the street from Chicken Tom.
Speaker 2:No, they don't. Those people live here.
Speaker 1:They moved and they live here now.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:How about that? That's like celebrities. We should get them on the show.
Speaker 2:Balloon Boy is like 15 now.
Speaker 1:No, I think he's no, no, no.
Speaker 2:That was 16 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, now. No, I think he's 16. I think, no, no, no, that was 16 years ago, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's older than all that now. So I what chicken tom says is that he thinks balloon boy works in, um, and get this selling tiny houses. And so I asked him are they around and filled with gas?
Speaker 2:right, or is it like the up house?
Speaker 1:that's the house from up they.
Speaker 2:That's how he can combine his two loves balloons and tiny houses.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but isn't that?
Speaker 2:something that's crazy. So does Balloon Boy live here with his parents or just by himself? I've given you all the information that I have and he's still in the attic.
Speaker 1:I don't well, no, he's selling tiny houses. Keep up. Have you ever lived near someone famous or found out that you live near someone famous?
Speaker 2:I mean, John Travolta doesn't live too far from us, but not like a couple of streets away or something Freaking half an hour to 45 minutes away. So the answer is no.
Speaker 1:That's super interesting though. It's interesting because Jeff sent us his refined gay Jeff thoughts and we'll read a little bit of that. But one of his things that he writes in there is that he encountered Yao Ming last week or the week before in Houston. Yao Ming, the seven foot six Chinese NBA player, a former NBA player, which I think is super interesting. But to find out like this famous person lives down the road, especially if it's a famous person for a slightly offbeat thing very interesting. Like what do you do if, like Balloon Boy's, parents come over and ask for like butter or something?
Speaker 2:Wait, wasn't the guy who had like the Christian World Center? Wasn't he in this town?
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Bob Jones or Jim Jones or Jim Jones had the Kool-Aid.
Speaker 1:I don't remember who. Yeah, no, terry, terry Jones. Yeah, so he was the one who threatened to destroy or burn the korans yes uh, way, way back gosh. It's like 10, 15 years, 20 years ago. How long ago was that um? I mean, it was like 2010, I think anyway, he lived in gainesville and I think he was last seen in was it tampa or some other florida town running a chicken place out of a mall food court. Nope, oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Excellent.
Speaker 1:So anyway, have you ever lived near a celebrity, especially a celebrity for a weird reason? Let us know at familiarwilsons at gmailcom. Also go ahead and listen to the In Law and the Out Law podcast. That's a Familiar Wilson's media joint and you can get that on your streaming apps Pocket watch, ticking constricting coat and vest. I invented a couple words this week.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:The combination of heat and humidity outside in this state.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, what is that called? It's the worst. I have a word for it. It's called the seventh layer of hell or the surface of the sun. I don't know what it's called, but it's awful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, we are experiencing that right now. We were just in St Petersburg, florida, which was lovely, but it was so hot, as we were walking around outside, that I had to take off my wedding ring because it was too hot, and I don't mean that it was too hot, it was burning me. It just felt like my God. I got to get all the things off and I could not take off all of my clothes.
Speaker 2:Thank you for not taking your clothes off at the farmer's market.
Speaker 1:That wasn't an option, so I took off my wedding ring and I actually felt cooler.
Speaker 2:I had. I mean, I constantly had sweat like dripping from places, like down my back, like just rolling down my back constantly. It was so bad. And yesterday we were out and our heat index and so that's like not the actual temperature but what it feels and that's what matters Until seven o'clock last night was 111 degrees Fahrenheit. Like that's just not okay.
Speaker 1:This is what I call that, though, that mixture of moisture in the air with heat. It's flora damp.
Speaker 2:That's a very good one, because it is flora damp, that's actually very, very good. I'm very proud of you.
Speaker 1:Okay, the other word that I created is that migraine that's brought about by decorating.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:There's this particular pain that you get as you're trying to decide will this match Will?
Speaker 2:that match.
Speaker 1:You go to Pinterest and you look at the pictures and you're like, oh shit, that's awesome, I'm going to have that in my house. Your house is never going to look like that picture. In fact that house in the picture does not look like that no no, no, no, no, it like that.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no, it's, it's impossible. And then you know, if you were starting from scratch and you had all the money in the world, maybe you can, but you know, invariably you have like grandma's vase that you can't get rid of and that's gonna screw up your picture. Perfect pinterest picture there, because you got like the vase with the ashes in it.
Speaker 1:That's because grandma's in it, okay yeah, so that's called an aesthetic oh, okay, excellent, yes, good so those are your two words, your two wilson coin words that you can fold into your vocab aesthetic and floridamp the more you know keeping time till kingdom come. Every heartbeat, every backbeat, every breath we draw. Dear listener, as you may be able to suss out from my voice, I am sick, you're on the other side of sick. I am on the other side of sick. All I know is that I was doing fine, doing great, hadn't been sick in a while, and I go to the gym.
Speaker 2:You did.
Speaker 1:I forgot For the first time in like literally years I forgot you went to the gym last week, the next day I'm sick.
Speaker 2:Because I was sick so I totally forgot that's what you did. Oh, you're right, that's funny.
Speaker 1:So I think I've learned a very valuable lesson.
Speaker 2:You shouldn't go to the gym.
Speaker 1:Don't go to the gym, don't work out, don't quote, unquote. Get healthy, because it's just going to screw me. Maybe my body now is allergic to that because it's been so very long. I rode a bike like three blocks yesterday. Yes, I have not recovered. I'm probably going to get sick again.
Speaker 2:Are you sore?
Speaker 1:My legs hurt, my knees hurt, my ankles hurt, my neck hurts, my ear hurts. I don't understand.
Speaker 2:Your neck hurts from riding the bike.
Speaker 1:Well, my neck hurts and I'm blaming riding the bike, because that's the only unusual thing that happened. So I'm just saying that perhaps the gym and I we got to break up because we're not good for each other.
Speaker 2:All right well.
Speaker 1:At work. Someone suggested that it would be a funny podcast a bit to have you impersonate me when I'm sick, when I'm ill, because you know, the whole cliche is that men can't handle being sick, and yet women regularly pop things the size of bowling balls out of their vagina and then still go back to work.
Speaker 2:But no, this wouldn't work with you, because you don't do that. You texted me and said must have been when you were having this conversation. You said am I, um, stereotypically like whiny when I'm sick?
Speaker 2:it was, and then I didn't answer because I was in a meeting and then he wrote it's okay if it's yes, and I was like, and I still didn't respond, and then it was hello with all these question marks. I was like I'm sorry, I'm in a meeting, but no, you don't. You are the opposite of that. You don't want help, you don't accept help, like if I say go lay down no, no, and then you stand around like you're a martyr and then you get.
Speaker 1:Okay, wait a second now. Now, okay, here it is, there it is Like you're characterizing, like I say no, no, I'll be all right, I'll be okay, and then I'm a martyr nailing myself up on a cross.
Speaker 2:so you are saying that, that I know you're not like I can't stand up, I'm sick, I have a sneeze. No, you're like I'm fine, I'll be, I'm okay, I can be here. It's not fair. You do this a lot. It's not fair when I say go, it's not fair if I don't help. No, it's okay, please go, lay down, because if I lay down, I'm like I, if I'm not feeling well, I I'm check out right.
Speaker 1:That's not true. That's not true. I want to check out, yeah, but you don't. You fight through it and you do the things that need to be done.
Speaker 2:I was talking to somebody the other day who was also going through perimenopause and she and I were talking about how, like maybe like an appendectomy at this point wouldn't be bad, like a week-long stay in the hospital for nothing like really bad, the hospital for nothing like really bad. I was like you know, it's bad when you're like just minor surgery would be okay with me right now, cause then I could just like disassociate from everything for a little bit. But no, but you don't even want medicine. I'll be like let me get you some mucinex. No, let me get you this. No, I don't want to become reliant on medicine. It's not like you take it daily, it's when you're sick. So if I forced a shot of nyquil down you the other day because I had spent two nights sleeping in muffie's bed, because your snoring was so loud because of all the congestion, that I forced a shot of nyquil on you and you and I both slept and you woke up the next morning you were like I feel a little better.
Speaker 1:I'm like, yeah, because you slept well, I have two things about that. Yes, it was helpful to do, but then also I didn't before know that liquid NyQuil could be used as a suppository, so also thanks for that You're welcome. Moving on from that, I have a new idea for a podcast segment. Right, we talked before about doing reviews and how review podcasts do really well, like movie reviews and restaurant reviews and this, and that I think that I enjoy the idea of doing a restaurant review, which we've kind of done bits like that before.
Speaker 1:But going in and rating restaurants based on how the food tastes, that's boring.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:So an idea we either do restaurant reviews based on number one the decor.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Just go in and rate the decor of the restaurant, nothing else. Not the food, not anything else, or on the friendliness.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Now I think that that idea has legs, the idea of rating restaurants on friendliness.
Speaker 2:Do you have a particular restaurant experience in mind while you're thinking about this?
Speaker 1:I do. We went to an Italian restaurant when we were in St Pete, a very expensive Italian restaurant.
Speaker 2:I wasn't in an.
Speaker 1:Italian restaurant, so I was confused. It was so freaking Italian that place Okay fine, go ahead. I was thinking let's do a review of that. But that's boring because we go in and the food was very expensive. It was good food, mine was fabulous, right, but like that's boring, it's like of course that's what your expectation is. You go into a really expensive restaurant. The food should at least at a baseline, be fine or be good Right. Mine was OK, nothing special.
Speaker 2:I made the mistake of ordering scallops.
Speaker 1:you got like three yeah, I got screwed, but it was good it was just like I got screwed. But as far as the friendliness is concerned, did you find that place pretty friendly? The service I thought it was yeah I think that as we rate places for friendly, we need to adjust it also the rating based on price and setting. Okay. So if we had gone into that italian restaurant with no other factors and rated it on friendliness and hospitality based on price and setting Okay.
Speaker 1:So if we had gone into that Italian restaurant with no other factors and rated it on friendliness and hospitality, it would have been a four out of five. But we adjust it for price and setting. It was at best 2.5 out of five.
Speaker 2:Oh, I thought the setting was beautiful. It was by the water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but like again with how much this bill ended up being Okay but you need to concede because I was going to pay for dinner.
Speaker 2:You paid for dinner and then you've done nothing but complain about how much this dinner was. A good portion of that was alcohol, because you and I had two drinks each, which I think I wound up only drinking a half of each one of those and then you wound up drinking them so and I drove friends. By the way, I almost A third of that bill was alcohol, was four drinks. Okay, so I can't say the food was like super, because my food was like 20 something dollars for a really lovely mushroom pasta, right. Muffy got a salad that was like $15. The eight-year-old whatever his name is, winthrop got a cheeseburger that was 12.
Speaker 1:The rest of that was scallops and alcohol, okay, but still it's part of the price. I mean, you can't deny it. I'm going to go out in a restaurant, I'm going to get alcohol. It's just a fun thing to do. That doesn't matter to me. I'm just saying that for what we paid, I want them to rub my feet. I want them to bring out a hot towel, like mid-meal, as I've got, like the eating sweats, like they do on airplanes. Yeah, absolutely. Now let's take the opposite approach. The hotel that we stayed in right, and I'm not going to name it or whatever they had a, a hotel bar. I woke up early one morning. I went down. I had an egg burrito and I got you coffee?
Speaker 1:that you ended up coming down later. It was two out of five yeah right, it wasn't great wasn't great. It was good. It's not great, but adjusted for the setting and for the fact that the the lady behind the thing was relatively friendly and she actually brought my food to my table. 4.5 out of five.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm glad you had that experience, because I had to go to the front desk to get somebody to give me coffee the other day because nobody was working there.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then that would Mine was like a one out of five.
Speaker 2:Well but but my coffee was good, so that was a three out of five.
Speaker 1:See, there you go, but this will be the basis of our new restaurant reviews, Like based on hospitality and friendliness alone. We take all the other stuff into account, but we don't, we just don't, you know we don't rate that.
Speaker 2:We will have plenty of opportunity and Savannah supposed to just be the city of Southern hospitality. The nickname is the hostess city, so let's see if they do it right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but again, if they charge more, then my expectation is going to be a whole hell of a lot more than wandering into the Burger King. Listen, at Burger King, if they acknowledge my presence and get the order right five out of five.
Speaker 2:All right, let's just don't order any scallops in Savannah because it's on a river. River scallops don't need it. We were at least on the bay when we were in St Pete.
Speaker 1:There Done. So, Amanda, this whole thing that happened with the CEO at the Coldplay concert. Not the first time something like this has happened.
Speaker 2:Really.
Speaker 1:Not exactly like this, but check this out. In 2013, a woman in Russia discovered her boyfriend was cheating when she saw a photo of him with another woman while searching an address using Yandex Maps, which is the Russian equivalent of Street View.
Speaker 2:So Google Maps just happened to catch this guy with a girl and take a picture of it, and then she happened to be looking for an address and saw a picture of him. And what? She happened to be looking for an address and saw a picture of him. And what were they doing outside that clearly he was cheating.
Speaker 1:I mean they must have been locked in an embrace. But can you imagine that? Now again, it's like the Russian equivalent.
Speaker 1:I know on Street View now they blur the faces because they don't have permission to show people although they're in a public place, so you shouldn't have presumption of privacy when you're in a public place. That's why newspapers can take a picture of an event that's happening in a public place, and they don't need to get everyone's permission. But isn't that just a kick in the teeth right there, though, because that's not just even a one time like that's up forever, unless they sue to remove that. That is something though you gotta think at that point like the universe just wants you. That's karma.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, that is karma hard because, right, no, that like the, the percentage probability, whatever math I can't do of that, is so like one in millions that it has to be karma it has to be, has to be.
Speaker 1:So there you go. So this executive guy I mean sorry it happened to you, but come on, you're at a public place, you're at a concert, everyone has a phone.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Everyone has a phone. You show up on the big screen. At that point you're like well, this isn't going to work. One of the things that people have been saying and that I said when I saw it, was if they hadn't reacted, no one would find out. But that's not true.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's not true, because what would have happened is is they were on this screen. They're in their hometown, I assume.
Speaker 2:They weren't, they were in Boston. Oh, they weren't in their hometown, and they're I think from New York. Okay.
Speaker 1:They're on this screen. At some point someone would have recognized these people Also. He's like he's a public figure.
Speaker 2:He's kind of well-known. I guess I've never freaking heard of him. I mean in that sphere I don't.
Speaker 1:I just think that it would have come out no matter what, even if they would have played it off Now, worst possible thing you could have done. I mean, where did he go? He just disappeared. I don't know that's such a good question. I have this comic impression in my mind of him crawling around on all fours amidst the peanuts and the popcorn, just trying to get away. But the interesting thing is that we've not seen any video from the other direction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like them from someone on the row when they realized what's going on very quickly just whipping up their phone. And that's what I want to see. I want to see where he went, I want to see what he did and where he went.
Speaker 2:So there's so, many, many memes, but my favorite that I've seen is the Philadelphia Phillies mascots. You know these goofy? What are they? They're like big green blobs. I don't even know what they are, but it's the girl version and the guy version and they're recreating this at a Phillies game. But when the camera pans, he does, he just drops. And it's so funny to watch this big blobby mascot just drop to the ground and so you assume he's just laying there in a heap. But is that what the guy did? I don't know.
Speaker 1:I don't think that he can be hired now, and I say that not because of the incident itself, because unfortunately, unfortunately, people cheat all the time and they get caught all the time and it's public all the time. It's for what he did after, like we're looking for a leader of our company, but not the guy, when, faced with difficult times, drops to the floor and cockroaches his way away I mean that is like some toddler level stuff right there, right like just throwing yourself on the ground.
Speaker 1:I can't deal with it anymore. See, you say that. What if he threw himself on the ground, just started crying?
Speaker 2:I know right, that's what I'm saying that's what he would do in a boardroom Arms and legs in the air.
Speaker 1:That'd be amazing. You're on a Zoom with him, like a very tense Zoom.
Speaker 2:Sunny goes down. Zoom, he's just gone. I think the thing that I find the most annoying about this because I was not personally like it's really none of my business, it has nothing to do with me I feel for their partners and their families and their children the thing that I am the most hung up on is the name of the company is astronomer.
Speaker 2:That's does not tell me what you do. Astronomer is a job description. Astronomer is a career. It is a profession description. Astronomer is a career. It is a profession. What is his? Wealth management company or whatever. It is just called astronomer. That's not a name for your company. I thought he was an astronomer. When people kept saying astronomer, ceo, I thought it was like businessman CEO. He was an astronomer CEO. I'm more annoyed about the name of his company right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there we go, and that explains my wife's mindset ladies and gentlemen, one, two, three, four. We used to do a segment called what Did I Learn this Week?
Speaker 2:Remember that I do and I don't think I learned anything this week. Did you learn something this week? I did? What'd you learn? I do and I don't. I don't. I don't think I learned anything this week. Did you learn something this week? I did? What'd you?
Speaker 1:learn. I did learn. Okay, you heard this idea of a nuclear family.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Do you know where it comes from or what it means?
Speaker 2:I mean it's, it's talking about the idea of not just mother living in the home.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I thought that's what that was.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Well then, clearly I need to learn something this week. What is it?
Speaker 1:In most of the world, extended families were and are the norm right, Especially in pre-industrial societies way back through history Right. So households included grandparents aunts and uncles cousins. Everyone contributed to, like the farming or the caregiving that lived in big clumps. You couldn't travel and move to another city necessarily so easily, so everyone tended to stay together right, and that's the norm for hundreds upon thousands of years. The idea is that families function, not as just emotional units, but as caregiving units, as economic units yeah sure, like to survive, and it worked.
Speaker 1:It worked a storm, it was great, it was fine. Units like to survive, and it worked. It worked a storm, it was great, it was fine. Industrial revolution comes along and people started to move to cities for factory jobs, right. So you had smaller, more mobile families, and so the idea of, like smaller, two-parent households gained traction in like these urban settings, and that's the direction that it went Post-World War II America.
Speaker 1:This is when the nuclear family truly became idealized, especially in the United States. Not only did you have the economic impetus for people to move to cities, to get jobs and to support themselves, but also you had this idea in TV advertising politics, pushing the opposite of communist collectivism, the opposite of socialism, which was what they termed as this basic building block, this strong foundation of the nucleus. Yeah, of society, which is this quote unquote nuclear family. This is new. Again, I'm talking about 1945-ish.
Speaker 2:I had that really wrong in my head, though.
Speaker 1:But this is a new invention, this idea of nuclear family, and I think that it really contributed and contributes to the breakdown of society, this whole idea of American individualism. We can go it on our own, we don't need other people. You know, as long as we have this little perfect family, we're okay. Now, what we do as Americans, or what we have done, we have pushed this idea out beyond the United States and globally. Now they've been affected with the idea of, oh, like the nuclear family, and it's falsely seen as a universal tradition or as traditional values, when it's not, it's relatively new.
Speaker 2:I had no idea. I thought it meant extended family all living in one place.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no.
Speaker 2:I think it's interesting that they call it nuclear family, because when something bad happens in the nuclear plant, you know, you see what you get. The fallout is wide.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's what.
Speaker 2:I learned this week. That's cool. Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1:And it really kind of gave me a perspective or made me re-examine, like, how our family is. We don't have a nuclear family. Well, we kind of do and kind of don't, because we have kids from our first marriages and now we have this little being from this marriage. That's not what I would call a traditional nuclear family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have a lot of like chosen family too, though, because you and I don't have very many relatives left really, so it's more the idea of the people that we choose to surround ourselves with.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because the idea of chosen family I resisted for the longest time Because I came from like a single mother. Yeah Right, she couldn't take care of me.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I was adopted by a single man who happened to be very good friends with my mother's family, and so, in that way, he chose me.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:But also very miserable person.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah. So I was provided for physically by and large, but emotionally my childhood and early adulthood was a fucking train wreck.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I did not enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now I can appreciate the benefits that I got from him adopting me, but also like I needed to have a family family and I did not have a family, family, yeah. So it took me a long time, when I heard this idea of chosen family, to really embrace the good parts of what that means I guess in my head I would think it would be more like he chose you and that wasn't.
Speaker 2:you have this very dichotomous relationship because you recognize that he, you know, physically provided for you but not emotionally or psychologically.
Speaker 1:But then therefore, you choosing family would be you having control over that and who you choose yeah, but we're all a product of, of, yeah, our upbringing, and I know that living with me ain't the easiest, you know, pumpkin pie no, but it's true, like I carry baggage, so we all have it we do all right.
Speaker 2:so we're talking about nuclear families, we're talking about extended families, we're talking about chosen family, but really the the center of all of that right is the relationship of whatever people have started this family. One thing that we used to do a long time ago that we've not done in a while, if you notice, that was the Game Time music by AJCW. It's four letters that I never get right. So that was that pause. That was that dramatic pause. I have to do his full name in my head before I can do it AJCW, is that right?
Speaker 1:Yes, or is it AJWC? You had it, man you had it, I know Anyway. That's our son Andrew, who does music. You should check him out by searching AJCW on your music streaming apps of choice.
Speaker 2:Yes. So one thing we used to do a while ago and I loved it with my whole heart and you hated it with your whole heart is that I used to torment you with BuzzFeed quizzes. Oh shit, and we have not done this in a while. Like, I got real serious with my flashbacks. Some people were learning things. No, no, the BuzzF buzzfeed is back. And since we're talking about how families get started or how they um continue, this buzzfeed quiz I have for you is can we guess your relationship status based on the grocery shopping you do? So, people, this is not necessary to guess what is so people have been concerned about the the state of.0.
Speaker 1:Of our 2.0 marriage, our second marriage.
Speaker 2:They are worried that I am leaving you because I'm grumpy all the time. So this is a way for us to assure the listeners that we are okay as long as you get your grocery list right.
Speaker 1:This is a trap. This is a trap. You're trapping me and go ahead, and go ahead, go ahead, but you have to promise not to be upset with any of the answers it comes up with, because BuzzFeed don't know shit about me.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, pick some ice cream, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry.
Speaker 1:Neapolitan is my favorite.
Speaker 2:I can't pick all three of these Joker.
Speaker 1:All right, strawberry then.
Speaker 2:All right, so is my favorite. I can't pick all three of these, joker. All right, strawberry, then. All right, so you picked strawberry ice cream. Now pick some pizza to eat.
Speaker 1:Pepperoni cheese or supreme Pepperoni.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is what you're buying in the store. Pick some bread Cinnamon raisin bread, wheat bread, white bread.
Speaker 1:Those are my choices. Yeah, friend.
Speaker 2:You get three. No, no here pick one wheat okay um choose a type of pasta spaghetti, fettuccine or pasta salad fettuccine, that's easy.
Speaker 1:Love me some fettuccine. Linguine though is, I love that better. You know, what I hate is I hate bow ties and I hate the spiral ones, because I don't rotini don't like them. I don't know why. I don't feel like they.
Speaker 2:They deliver the they don't get the as a medium they don't deliver uh as well to me as I want. Okay, choose your favorite, damn it, I was hoping to to totally redirect you there? Nope, choose your favorite cereal, honey, nut cheerios, special k, red berries or cocoa pebbles no, none of them.
Speaker 1:Okay, but you have to choose from this, the only place.
Speaker 2:This is the gorgeous store you go to only has three choices for everything all right, whatever the whatever the first one was Honey Nut Cheerios. Okay, choose a type of shellfish, lobster, shrimp, oysters I don't like shellfish Lobster. Pick a vegetable Broccoli, sweet potato or eggplant.
Speaker 1:Oh God. Well, everyone's going to pick broccoli out of that, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Choose a type of rice Brown rice. I don't know. Choose a type of rice brown rice.
Speaker 1:I don't like rice, white rice, uh brown choose fruit, avocado, grapes, banana avocado it's only one banana, but multiple grapes. Okay, ready yeah, sure, and whatever this says, I guess this is what we got to do.
Speaker 2:BuzzFeed says according to your grocery picks, you are single. Oh, fuck off, all right. So, friends, if you were worried about the state of our relationship, you might have had a reason to, because BuzzFeed has spoken and we must listen.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing I think that I do shop as if I'm single because no one in this house wants to eat the same thing.
Speaker 2:No, it's really frustrating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but no no, no, no, no. You don't want to eat the same thing that I eat. I know, and you don't want to eat at dinner anymore. You know that's the breakdown of the nuclear family. Right here is we're supposed to all be sharing a table right At mealtime is sharing our day and just getting to know each other just a little bit more and providing support and love and freaking.
Speaker 2:no one will eat at the table or near the table you pace in the kitchen when you eat Right, because no one wants to sit at the table Lies you're telling lies. This is why you're single. You lie. No, you stand in the kitchen and eat because you don't want us to get on to you about whatever's falling into your beard or whatever.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ, eat because you don't want us to get on to you about whatever's falling into your beard or whatever anyway, but no one wants to eat the same thing either. It's like winthrop, like only has a selection of four things. He will eat if four, and maybe it's two, I don't know. Um, and then muffie is a vegetarian, which good on on muffie with trina and sesame allergies.
Speaker 1:With allergies really hard yeah and then you never want to eat dinner anymore because you eat lunch and therefore you don't want to eat dinner, which I applaud again, the intermittent fasting and all this and that, but can we adjust it somehow so that we all eat the same thing at the same table?
Speaker 2:Well, so the issue is that out of six people in the family, we've always had some version of dietary restrictions, choices, choices and or food allergies. You have food allergies. She has food allergies. Daniel, our oldest, was gluten-free vegetarian for a while. Andrew, me and Winthrop will try anything, and then you and Muffy have. You don't like vegetables, clearly based on how you didn't want to choose any of them from the grocery store. And she there are a lot of things she cannot eat, because I mean sesame's in so much now. So I've always amended just a food for her based on her food allergies. But then I think back to like my mom made dinner and this is what dinner was.
Speaker 2:Yep, same and you ate it, or you didn't eat it, but this is what dinner was.
Speaker 1:Same.
Speaker 2:I have created this with him because I'm constantly, you know, like thinking what's she going to have? Because it's typically different if we're having a protein or you know there's something that she can't eat in it. But now you're right, he will eat grilled cheese, he will eat a veggie burger, he will occasionally eat a nugget, but that's it. And so I don't know, do we just pivot and be like, hey, this is what we're eating, you can eat, or not? Like, is he too old to do this?
Speaker 1:No, of course he's not too old to do this. People go on like new diets and new ways to eat all the time. It's never too late.
Speaker 2:All right, well, let's start it this fall.
Speaker 1:And then we also eat at the table or near the table at the same time.
Speaker 2:Near the table, you can stand near the table.
Speaker 1:And then you'll eat too at dinnertime.
Speaker 2:Yes, ooh, very good, love that. Maybe you don't have to be single anymore.
Speaker 1:Yes, Email that sound tells us it's time for our emails. We have a couple of emails this week. First of all, Mark Plant got in touch and we talked a little bit about people drinking during work hours last week. He says this. Back in the early 2000s we had a rule in the call center where we were allowed an alcoholic drink with a meal at lunch.
Speaker 1:So that's they had to have a rule about it, number one. So that's interesting, he said. When England played Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, I managed five pints and in my hour, oh and a sandwich oh my god, did you go back to work and answer any of the questions I?
Speaker 1:feel like he did, and maybe he did a better job maybe. But an alcoholic meal with a drink does that mean he had a five pint bucket that he was drinking from, because I think that that's the way you get around that right, you just have a bigger container. One receptacle, or you just drink directly from the tap.
Speaker 2:From the tap. Okay, fair.
Speaker 1:Yeah, where's Mark? Oh, he's off doing keg stands in the cafeteria. Refined Gay Jeff got in touch and he had some feedback on a couple of things that we talked about. We always love that. A couple of episodes ago we talked about, and we always love that. A couple episodes ago we talked about how I had given up coffee. So he says, um, that he drinks only decaffeinated coffee and tea, because he discovered many years ago that caffeine affects his system in a way that is not at all pleasurable.
Speaker 1:His heart races uncontrollably, he starts to perspire and it gives him a feeling that he does not enjoy at all yeah, no, that does not sound good yeah, so he only drinks decaf coffee at home and and tea, and then he laments the price of tea going out, like he's saying it's just water with some brew tea leaves, but why is that four dollars?
Speaker 2:yeah, I know right it everything's expensive.
Speaker 1:Now, I think that that's the point. He does mention this idea. We're talking about teaching Winthrop and Muffy how to ride a bike. Yes, he says that one of his earliest memories is learning how to ride a bike, his dad pushing him on the driveway while everyone basically crossed their fingers for success. And success did come. I think I remember mastering it pretty quickly. I was maybe late, four, early five years old possibly. Anyway, that's a happy core memory that he has. He says that swimming also was very easy and we have determined that you don't teach your kids how to ride a bike, they just learn how to ride a bike.
Speaker 2:We had no teaching, no teaching was involved.
Speaker 1:You can't teach someone how to balance. Now, winthrop and muffie picked up really quickly. But let's just, let's just take the, the myth out of it, because I was really stressed like, oh, how am I gonna teach them? No, no, they just learn they just learn.
Speaker 2:Yep, I mean, and they are. They are champion bikers now so it was what. Let's not go, okay well, but I was amazed watching him last night and then I remembered do you remember when he was three and we got him his first scooter? Yeah and we lived in a in a street that had a cul-de-sac and he would just whip around that cul-de-sac so fast and you and I were talking about how like nerve-wracking it was yep now that he can ride he's going fast, like we kept telling him to stay behind Muffy and he was just like on her heels and waiting to pass her.
Speaker 1:Like I think this kid has a need for speed why couldn't we have just had a little sloth come out?
Speaker 2:well, I mean, he can be a sloth when it's time to take a shower.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true, jeff continues. He talks about how um he had some celebrity sightings this past week so talked about yamming a little bit. He says he doesn't have photographic proof that that happened. But he was um he I had to run to dxl.
Speaker 2:He said if you don't even know what.
Speaker 1:That is okay, but it's a big boy store, okay as I entered the store, turned the corner while walking to where the shorts are and practically ran into someone I've been waiting to at least see in person since I moved to Houston 24 years ago Yao Ming Absolutely could not believe my eyes. All seven foot six inches of him. All you saw all of him Was he in the changing room. I never made it to a Houston Rockets game when he played here and just thought that I would never realize that dream of seeing him. Not only did I see him today, I also spoke with him. I rarely get nervous or bashful when I do meet famous people and I've met a few, but I was absolutely awestruck today. I was just humbled seeing and talking to one of the tallest people currently on the planet right now he also says that that Yao Ming's wife 6'3".
Speaker 2:Oh, wow, I mean, I guess she would have to be yes.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you want to have kids, yes, Things need to be similar. At least it can't be as if it's two different species. You know what I'm saying. So he said that he said his goodbyes to the store employees and to Yao Ming, got in his car and had to decompress and then realized that he had parked right next to Yao Ming in his all-black Mercedes Sprinter.
Speaker 2:I don't know what a Sprinter is, cars that I don't even know what's a Sprinter.
Speaker 1:I don't know Very tall, I would assume. Or the seat goes all the way back and he just like a, like a shower rod that you buy from home depot and then you got to put all the seats back to put in there. He says of course he had a driver. Maybe they put yow just on the roof and strapped him down looking like he's a kayak he says in closing.
Speaker 1:let me share with you this little bit of strangeness that I have started doing josh in your closing. Every week, when you list the contributions of everyone, you invariably get to this one person, whom I have no idea who he is because I don't even remember you talking about him, but Amanda always repeats his name, joey, so he has gotten into the habit of saying Joey in tandem with Amanda. Don't ask me why it brings me joy.
Speaker 2:Thanks, because Joey brings me joy. Jeff Joey is a listener of the podcast and he is a good friend of ours and his family, and so while we've never had Joey on the podcast, Joey is a fan of the pod and so I'm just happy. Every time I see Joey in person, I say Joey and give Joey a hug, and his wife and his children are lovely too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he is a big teddy bear of a guy and just the friendliest dude. So, that's Joey. Everyone should have a Joey in their life. Yes, we need to have more Joey in our life. No one likes to be told what to do. Now is the time in the show, in the big program, where we tell you what to do, amanda. What should we do?
Speaker 2:If you haven't yet go see Superman, so you haven't yet go see superman. So you took andrew and muffie um earlier in the week, and then muffie loved it so much that she really thought I would love it and she wanted me to go see it with her. So I went to see it with her I don't know wednesday or thursday, a couple days later, but it was so good, it was just so charming. It. Um, I had good messages. It made you feel good. The end of it made me cry. The guy who plays Superman is cute. I don't know where he came from. He's got nice dimples and also Crypto the dog, cgi, but I still love him. So anyway, I recommend you go see Superman.
Speaker 1:This is the reason why we have art Just to make us feel better about the world, to make us feel like there's hope, and none of that is silly. All of that is essential to the human spirit, and it also doesn't matter that it is a quote, unquote, silly, cartoon comic book movie. So we look at that these great works of art from history, from Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci and yeah, they're good and they're skillfully made, but also, because they're hundreds of years old, we revere them like this is the pinnacle of art.
Speaker 1:Well, no bullshit. There's things that are created today that are just as meaningful and contribute to beauty to society as those things did. It's just that they're new and for whatever reason we deem them to not be those things did. It's just that they're new and for whatever reason we deem them to not be worthy Nah, that's BS. Art is art. Art that contributes to your sense of well-being and your sense of hope in humanity and in the future, that's good art, that's great art, that is holy art, that is elevated art. I don't care what form it takes.
Speaker 2:Well, and also, I think, if we did a little bit of dive into the history of graphic novels or comic books, I think a lot of these stories are born out of suffering and out of feeling like you have no agency, and so that's therefore the creation of the superhero is to feel like you have some agency, and I would argue that just by expressing, you're taking back some agency yep, love that.
Speaker 1:All right, so go see that comic book movie with the cute dog yeah, and the dimples all right, amanda, that's all there is. There is no more. What do you think about that giant conglomeration of kind of random bits this week?
Speaker 2:It was random this week and I'm sorry. I've got a headache going that I've had about four days straight, and it's not from decorating. I don't know what it's from, but it's not from decorating. So I just ramble and moan about the world, so thanks for listening. Okay, on the back of ramble and moan about the world, so thanks for listening.
Speaker 1:Okay, on the back of that, do we have a birthday shout?
Speaker 2:out. Yes, our friend, our good friend, rachel Plant, celebrated her birthday this week, and so we are sending happy, happy birthday thoughts across the pond to the north of England, to Rachel Plant.
Speaker 1:And also I think that coming up really soon is Joey's birthday.
Speaker 2:Joey.
Speaker 1:I think I saw that on a calendar somewhere. So happy soon as joey's birthday, joey. I think I saw that on a calendar somewhere. So happy birthday, joey.
Speaker 1:We have our credits, without whom this podcast would not be able to be produced this week. Of course, we talked about the nuclear family, and so let's recognize today's nuclear heroes, thanks to antonio, who still won't wear pants in the reactor core. To matt, who successfully diverted the meltdown. To leo, who keeps mistaking uranium rods for pool noodles. To josh scar, the head of lunchroom safety he has banned irradiated tuna forever. To danny buckets, who installed a basketball hoop above the coolant tanks. To chicken tom, who is technically a, but he runs the entire facility scheduling software. To Monique from Germany, our safety compliance officer, who just keeps saying this would never happen in Germany. To Refined Gay Jeff, who redesigned the hazmat suits into something more chic. To Joey Joey. To Rachel and Mark from HR, who recently added emotional contamination to the incident report forms. And to Dan and Gavin, co-managers of the Nuclear Karaoke Night. And, of course, to my love Amanda, our plant's emotional core, who only occasionally melts down.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you. I was going to say you never thank me in this list. How did you know? I was thinking that.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, until next week, remember, if it glows, don't touch it. Go, be kind Bye, Thank you. That dog's at it again neurotic vigilance, barking at the postman's left shoe with canine diligence, A phantom menace in every dust speck that floats this hairy paranoid with dental overbite. Notes the wind picks up. He's off his daggum head, barking at the concept of Tuesday. Instead of lying down like normal dogs should do, he's protesting the color magenta. He apparently also hates blue. Tax returns, microwaves, the neighbor's toupee. He's barking at shadows cast by Earl Grey.
Speaker 1:The doorbell rings he thinks it's a conspiracy between the cat next door and fancy French pastry. Ballpoint pens drive him up the wall. Abstract paintings he hates them all. Clouds shaped like Nebraska. Silent documentaries his endless complaints about modern dentistry. In the dead of night he'll start without warning, barking at the concept of global warming. I haven't slept right since 2002, thanks to his vendetta against bamboo. So why does my dog bark at the wind and IKEA furniture that needs assembling and a harsh critic of interpretive ballet? I reckon he's just wired that way. In a world where garden gnomes plot revolution and sock drawers require canine retribution from quantum physics to leftover curry, real or imagined danger. He's a Karen, but furry. He will remain my barking friend. His hatred of jazz bands will never end. The neighborhood thinks we've gone insane with his howling dislike of cellophane.
