Inherited Hobbies

Marc Cuiriz 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. I am one of your lovely co hosts, Marc Cuiriz and joined with me today is Josué Cardona.

Josué Cardona 0:29
Hello,

Marc Cuiriz 0:31
Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:32
Hey.

Marc Cuiriz 0:35
And the wonderful link Keller

Link Keller 0:38
ello.

Marc Cuiriz 0:41
So Oh, sway, I believe it is. Your turn this week, you so graciously volunteered

Josué Cardona 0:48
my turn.

Marc Cuiriz 0:48
So please tell us.

Josué Cardona 0:49
Yeah. So So I’ve been thinking about how there’s a story. I had a client once who, you know, with my clients, I would always start asking them, Hey, what are you into? What are your favorite hobbies? What do you what do you like to do? It was part of my intake process. And there was one client. I always remember, he was like, middle school aged. And I asked him, you know, what he enjoyed, what he enjoyed doing what is his favorite thing? And he said, shooting guns. And that kind of, you know, like, put up some red flags for me. But don’t yuck my Yum, you know, being being open, you know, GT model. I was like, oh, cool, like so. So what is it about that, that you like, and so he started telling me, and I find out that he, he loves going to shoot because that’s the only or that’s the primary activity he does with his father, who he rarely gets to see because his parents are divorced. And whatever his father comes to get him they just, like, go out to to a range somewhere and, and fire some guns. And so ever since that, I always, I’ve always thought about how, how important it is, when, like, the meaning behind the why or how we got started into some of our hobbies. My mom passed away recently, and so I I didn’t, I don’t, I don’t like procedurals, like, sure I’ll sit down and watch an episode of Law and Order anytime. No problem. But like with someone else, not not not just me when it come from, for me, but my mom love procedurals. And when she died, there was a particular one that she she just loved so much. He was really into it. And so I still, like, I still I’ll watch an episode, like I have them running. And it’s like my way of kind of like continuing what my mom like to do. But I can’t deny that like, I like it. Like I liked the show. And and I’m I’m pretty invested. And and so watching those shows now has an incredible amount of meaning that goes beyond just enjoying the show. And and like I have, you know, I play video games because of my parents. I like sci fi because of my parents. And sometimes I forget that. But but it was something that was that was passed on. And I don’t know if there’s just that that mean,

Link Keller 1:23
and anime via Astroboy which doesn’t count anime, but it does.

Josué Cardona 3:31
It’s the first anime so it does count. But my dad didn’t know it was anime. So does it count?

Lara Taylor 3:38
They cancel each other out.

Josué Cardona 3:41
Yeah, he’s like, Oh, watch this show. I like like those Japanese cartoons. You like that?

Link Keller 3:47
You gave this to me. You did this. I learned it from watching you.

Josué Cardona 3:53
Well, And this is something I want to get to later on. But like, Yeah, my dad grew up watching Astroboy and then he’s like, Oh, what’s this Japanese cartoons stuff. I’m like, Are you serious? Same with video games. Like at some point, they kind of just fell off. I used to go to the arcade with my dad every weekend. And suddenly, like oh 3d games were too much for him. And my mom didn’t want to play Tetris and Mario anymore. Now that they’re older, they play games on their phones, and it’s the whole thing. But i i There’s something weird about like, almost feel like you’re abandoned. Because you still like this, this particular this particular thing and they they don’t or they don’t as much like with my with my niece who I saw recently she she I got her into Star Wars. Like she really didn’t know what it was I got her into it. And now she has a past me in every single way like in terms of knowledge and just like she will just I don’t know how many times she has rewatched Clone Wars. And like the first time she saw Clone Wars I showed her my spreadsheet with the show in actual chronological order, and not the, not the order in which it was broadcast. And I still haven’t finished watching the show, and she’s watched it like four times. And there’s something, there’s something really, it’s like a weird sense of pride. And, and passing something down with, it’s not really a skill. It’s not, I don’t know, but I and I wonder what it will be like, like, what it means to her to be so into that, like, not just love it, but that it was something that that started with us together. Right, so I found that, you know, with, with a lot of our hobbies, it can go beyond just, I think it’s cool. Right? I think I think that’s a good way to start it. But we love these have connections to to our childhood or to our past or to and Lara, you’ve brought up, you know, your friend who passed away and kind of like, you know, the connection to some of those things. So do you all have examples of like that, you know, where your hobby like this, this passion for this thing started? And how it was connected to something or who or when? your stories?

Marc Cuiriz 6:19
Yeah. So, I mean, I’m kind of was the same way too, when it comes to when it comes to video games. My dad was one, the one that he’s the one who condemned me to this with the original Nintendo system and playing, you know, the original Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt, things like that. And then it evolved into Pac Man. So whenever we would go to an arcade, that was the game that my dad and I would take turns playing almost exclusively, we would always be at the Pac Man Machine playing that. And so that became our thing. And then obviously, over time, it, you know, I moved on to sort of the newer games, and then he sort of falling off of it. And then, you know, with the eventual conflicts that my dad and I eventually ran into, obviously, he doesn’t play video games much anymore, except for, you know, stuff on his phone. But I think one of the big things that I still have a pretty huge passion about that he and I still can kind of do together as bowling. That was something that my dad and I and my and my brother, we would do that almost every weekend. And in the town that we were living in, there used to be at a local bowling alley that we would always go to. And I loved that place. That’s also where the Pac Man Machine was. So that was also like a double whammy. But we would pull all the time, we would bowl for hours on end. And even now like, like it’s one of those things where if I could I, I would bowl every weekend. I love it. I know I’m not the best at it. But I still greatly enjoy just being at an alley and playing for a couple hours or just hanging out with people. And my dad and I don’t necessarily do that so much anymore. But when we do it’s, it’s kind of like a nice little, you know, a nice little nostalgia trip for the both of us. And it’s kind of funny, because when I was younger, I used to see how he would bowl. And I always thought it was really weird because he would like throw the ball up and it but it would have the spin on it. So it would you know, do a nice little curve. And now I try to imitate that. And now I’m doing that, that type of style and throw with the ball just to see how it works. See if I can modify it perfected a little bit so that way I can you know play a better game but I think that’s at least one of the stories of least of it from a hobby of mine that I still have a pretty good passion about but it’s one that I don’t necessarily like you know, scream from the mountaintops like like Percy Jackson or Assassin’s Creed or anything like that. So

Josué Cardona 9:20
do you like did you ever go to play and think about your father or go and play to think about your father or not play because it reminded you of your father

Marc Cuiriz 9:39
I would never I don’t think I’ve ever gone like by myself to go to like to just just like because I know I would think about him. But whenever I would go bowling, like whether it’s with friends or it’s for an outing or whatever. Or even what the countless times I’ve gone with my wife like it goes without fail that every time I’m at an alley I inevitably we’ll mention something about him, I will talk about him to some degree. But I definitely have never shied away from it. I wasn’t one of those things where even when he and I were not on the best of terms, we were, I would still go and play because it reminded me of these good times that we did have like, it was a time when he and I basically used it as a form of escapism. Like, I know he was going through a lot. I know he’s still going through a lot of stuff. But for the two, three, sometimes four hours that we were at the bowling alley, just playing games, those worries weren’t there. Those problems weren’t there. It was just us having fun. And so whenever I go, that’s kind of what I associated with it and going there to have fun and not thinking about my outside problems. And I have those more fond memories of being with my dad so

Josué Cardona 11:10
I know some of yours Lara,

Lara Taylor 11:11
Josué yeah you asked that question. My brain short circuited because I have so many.

Josué Cardona 11:19
We’ve talked about Disney parks in the past. Yeah,

Lara Taylor 11:21
I was talking about Disney Disney parks with my mom in the past. One of the ones that actually kind of gets me that came up is World of Warcraft, not necessarily something I picked up from my mom, but from one of my bridesmaids like my best friend who’s also my barber. She

Josué Cardona 11:44
so many connections,

Lara Taylor 11:46
so many connections. She would tease me all the time. When we were younger, about being geeky She’s five years younger than me, I was a counselor at camp, she was a camper when when she became staff, then we kind of became friends. But she was always kind of like a little sister to me. But she would tease me all the time, all that nerdy shit, yucking all kinds of yums. But some, at some point, in her freshman year of college, sophomore year of college, she started playing World of Warcraft. And that was the one thing I would not do. And I say that a lot. I’m not gonna watch anime. I’m not gonna play an RPG. I’m not gonna play WoW. And I played WoW, and it was a very long addiction that to get rid of. I, I am not one for video game addiction. But this one, I it’s really hard to drop that habit with the World of Warcraft, they get you

Link Keller 12:52
is this in like the 2007 2008 timeframe? because I remember almost everybody I knew who had ever played WoW was like that was when they were deepest in the hole.

Lara Taylor 13:05
She got into it. We were playing Burning Crusade. And I can’t remember when that came out. But it was right before Wrath of the Lich King. And her boyfriend at the time was my roommate. And he’s the one who passed away the one that Josué mentioned earlier. But he used to play and he reactivated his account and we would play together and she was living six hours away. So that’s how we would all hang out. And this story kind of pulls in like I don’t know, the same kind of thing Josué was talking about with passing it on further like my nephew who can I don’t remember how old he was at the time. Must have been I think he was like 12 or 13 at the time. We were playing with him too. And he still cannot kick his Wow habit. And he is raiding every week with his friends and he’s made several friends that he went to Blizzcon with and those are those are his people. But having those memories of getting to play with them to the wee hours of the morning when all my my friend she was like all I have left to eat in this house are m&ms and beer. And that’s what she was eating and drinking while we were playing. But it was really cool to have her show me the ropes like she so not nerdy, so not geeky. I was the one that was the geek and she’s showing me how to level up and how to go do this daily and how to go get my she gave me all her gold and like it was great to get her to admit that you know some Things are fun. And you can just have fun with those things. And you don’t have to be embarrassed about the fact that you like them. And then she fell in love through it too. So but yeah, that was a, that was a lot of fun. And I don’t play anymore, because I did not log in for a long time. I’m like, why am I wasting $15 a month on this? But I still think fondly on it. I mean, on my shelf behind me. I have like Funko Pop Vinyls. I’ve got a stuffed animals from from Wow. And I’ve really liked the the novels. So I’ve read a few of those. I have no idea what’s going on in the world now. But yeah, it’s pretty, it’s pretty cool to know that my nephew is still playing and still engaged in it.

Josué Cardona 15:58
Your barber bridesmaid friend was also like, you saw her grow through the camp and actually take a position just like yours. Is she still a counselor at the camp?

Lara Taylor 16:11
No, but I have seen her so we’ve been friends since she was like I said since she was in college. So I watched her go through wanting to be an artist than wanting to be a barber she, I was her first haircut. After a summer at camp where three of us directors wanted Mohawks one came with one and so they shaved my head and I needed someone to cut my hair. And when we were at Disneyland one time, she’s like, let’s cut your hair. We bought some clippers, let’s do it. And then she snapped turn the the clippers on and was like you know, I’ve never done this before, right and then cuts my hair. And other than like one or two here and there throughout the years. And now Nina cuts my hair most of the time. She’s the only person who’s touched my hair other than like I said one or two random haircuts. But now she owns her own barber shop. So I’ve seen that growth and that torch get passed along.

Josué Cardona 17:07
Did The World of Warcraft. Like Was that like a stage that? Was that just feel like part of the relationship like a normal part of that. Did it change?

Lara Taylor 17:20
it felt like part of the relationship it was she does a lot of things where she likes to tease me but she actually likes the thing kind of like I did with my friends a lot I’m not gonna watch anime no no Sailor Moon allowed on in my house. And now I’m obsessed. She did that same kind of thing. Which is interesting because she did not know that about me as she was growing up. So yeah.

Josué Cardona 17:46
There’s also that like really good feeling of having someone enjoy something that you enjoy. Especially if they were resistant to it. No, no, no. Yeah, I played World of Warcraft to play with you. I got like to level three never played again.

Lara Taylor 18:03
Never played again.

Link Keller 18:06
Smooth dodge there

Lara Taylor 18:10
I mean, free to play for so long and then they got you hooked in

Link Keller 18:16
fifteen dollars.

Lara Taylor 18:19
Not only do you have to buy the game, although now it’s got like a pack so you don’t have to shell out what like 3040 bucks and expansion but you have to buy all the expansions to play to

Link Keller 18:35
makin’ money.

Josué Cardona 18:36
Do you have a story?

Link Keller 18:37
Sure.

Josué Cardona 18:38
or four or five?

Link Keller 18:40
so many. I inherited my love of fantasy books from both of my parents. My love of d&d from both of my parents and my love of video games from both of my parents. So all all three of those I got from them.

Josué Cardona 19:11
Do you feel connected to them through the through through these hobbies still or

Link Keller 19:16
No? Not really. There are like, the first time I played d&d, I was probably like eight or nine and my mom had some of her friends include me in a game. And it was so cool that when I came back from staying with her over the summer, and I was like ranting about how awesome it was to my dad and at some point he started up a campaign with some of his friends. And me and my sister were allowed to join in that and that was really fun. Not as much fun as the game with my mom but mostly because the players that my dad played with were shitty. But I do still to this day like I am appreciative to both of my parents for introducing me to d&d as a as a thing. I was just like, I don’t know what this is, what is this? It was like, Wait, there’s, there’s textbooks, can I can I look at it, there’s a monster manual. I’m obsessed now. But I didn’t other than those first, the very first game with my mom and then two or three game is like a single campaign but a couple of play sessions with my dad and his friends. After that, I never played with either of them ever again. And it became much more of a thing I shared with my friends. And then at this point, I’m still amidst a thirsty sword lesbians game. But other than that, I’m mostly just consuming dimension 20 contents to fulfill that need I do kind of want to get a game going again with some friends, but it is a struggle to be a DM to pull all that together. But um, I don’t particularly associate playing with them anymore. Except when I go to tell a funny story about oh, the first time I played d&d, I was a rogue and I picked up a sword in the forest. And it turned me into a paladin. And that was really fucked up. Still funny, still funny story. With video games. There’s, like, we didn’t really play games together it like, my dad introduced me to a lot of like PC games, because we weren’t allowed to have consoles at that point at home. Other than my Gameboy, which my mom gave me and totally broke the rules. And I was like, haha doesn’t count. I play pokemon now. But like, baldurs gate, I started playing because my dad brought that home for him to play. And then he finished it. And he was like, Oh, well, you can have it if you want it, I guess. And then he did that with like Dungeon Siege. And he had Neverwinter Nights. And I was so excited to play it after he finished it. But it wouldn’t run on the Family Computer, it would only run on his computer. And he was just like, wow, that sucks, and then didn’t let me play. Which I’m still pretty bitter about. No, my friend Nate tried to get me to play Neverwinter Nights. I don’t know, like four or five years ago at this point. We played a little bit of it, but we didn’t finish it. I did play like more games with my mom and brother because she had consoles. So it’s like we would be playing in 64 and GameCube games. And she would like spend money on buying like the GameBoy game link cable. So I was like we could we could play more games together. And so there’s like more of an association there. But again, it’s like, it’s been such a long time since I’ve done anything with either of my parents. More more than a decade at this point. I don’t particularly like it doesn’t bring up like a strong emotional response about them is definitely more tied, like more specifically tied to like other friends and people I still care about think about, like, Horizon Zero. Dawn is so much, my my friend Hanna, who died a couple of years ago. Like she was obsessed with that game and trying so hard to get me to play. And I was like, yeah, yeah, like, it looks cool. And I want to check it out. But I’m like obsessed with Breath of the Wild because it came out at the same time. I was like, I’ll get to it eventually. I did eventually. But after she’d died, so it was sort of bittersweet to finally play this game that was so important to her, but not be able to like talk to her about it. Yeah. I’m trying to think of an example of something that I then passed on to somebody younger. That one I’m struggling with. I gotta I gotta think on that one a little bit longer.

Josué Cardona 24:20
Well, I mean,

Marc Cuiriz 24:21
I was just say like, I’m kind of right there with the link because since since my, my wife and I were starting to date, you know, she has, you know, several nieces and nephews and I have believe me I have really tried to try and implant something. Just something just to kind of see what would take I’m so far zero for seven so

Lara Taylor 24:51
I love it my nephew is like a mini me even though I mean he’s It hurts me to say this. He’s going to be 27 this year

Josué Cardona 25:01
He’s gonna be 40 this year? what?

Lara Taylor 25:03
what? you’re gonna be 40 this year

Link Keller 25:04
we’re all gonna be 40 this year!

Marc Cuiriz 25:05
I’m gonna be 27 this year.

Lara Taylor 25:10
But he like he’s my little mini me. We like I was cleaning out my stepbrother had bought a bunch of boxes over here of stuff that had been stored at his house and my dad’s house, so I could go through them. And I was going through one of the boxes, and I found a card my nephew had drawn me when he was I can’t remember how old but it looked fairly young. And he wrote, he drew keyblade on it and wrote thank you for helping me beat Sephiroth

Link Keller 25:40
awww

Lara Taylor 25:41
with hearts.

Link Keller 25:43
That’s cute.

Lara Taylor 25:44
And I have a my old answering machine is somewhere in those boxes. And I the whole thing is going to be dead if I tried to turn it on. But there is a recording that I tried to keep for a long time of him when he was like three or four. And he’d be like, not home. What does that means you can’t come over and play video games? And he got so mad at it. But like this kid when he was two could name all of the different Star Wars vehicles because we played Rogue Squadron together on the 64. So he could know at two what the difference between a y wing was and an a wing. And a TIE Interceptor and a TIE Bomber. And most kids don’t know the difference between that even if they watched Star Wars back in the day, because there wasn’t there wasn’t a TIE Interceptor in the movies. And I was so proud that this two year old could say these names of these ships. And now I just call him a nerd and try to get him to join my d&d campaigns. But he is my mini me and I love this kid so much. And he makes me proud every time he tries to introduce me to something geeky. Yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 27:17
But it seems like a weird sense of pride. Right? Like, like, it’s, it’s definitely pride.

Lara Taylor 27:23
Oh, it’s very much like, you have like, when I was two, there wasn’t like, my family did pass on all their geeky stuff to me. But there was no like, here name all the Star Wars things. Like, I mean, there’s a picture of me when I was two wearing a Space Invaders hat. Like that’s like, I don’t know, that’s my equivalent of it. But yeah, watching him grow up and become just as nerdy as me. And then have debates with me about things like I shared with him. When the Force Awakens came out, I had been waiting for that movie to come out my entire life, literally, because what Return of the Jedi came out the year we were born, Josué and it was so cool that he wanted to go with me on opening night. And he sat in line with me for like three or four hours. To to have a night like that. And he was I think that was the movie we went to that he was old enough to drink and we both got whatever drink the theater had that was mixed with patron. I think it was a dark side drink. So very nice to have that experience with him. And I think I’d taken him to every Star Wars movie that had come out in theaters, like all the prequels at that point. So to be able to do that, and then he’ll be old enough to have a drink with him. Very weird sense of pride.

Josué Cardona 29:03
Yeah, yeah. It’s interesting, because none of us have kids. Right? So so like, we’re all talking about nieces and nephews.

Lara Taylor 29:12
I mean, I did I did help raise that kid. Like I lived with him for the first like four years of his life. So

Marc Cuiriz 29:18
you know, if I have a kid i i swear they better be into Assassin’s Creed and nothing will

Josué Cardona 29:24
don’t Push it don’t push it

Lara Taylor 29:25
don’t push it

Marc Cuiriz 29:26
oh no, I would never I said I hope that’s my hope is that they get into it. And then if they do by any chance, and they have they surpass me and Assassin’s Creed knowledge I will. I will be beaming with such intense pride. You will be able to see it from space.

Josué Cardona 29:47
What is the opposite of Assassin’s Creed?

Marc Cuiriz 29:52
What do you mean?

Josué Cardona 29:53
I don’t know.

Link Keller 29:54
golf?

Marc Cuiriz 29:59
Um,

Josué Cardona 30:00
kid’s gonna love PGA 2030

Marc Cuiriz 30:04
Hey, is that mean? That just means they’re getting, they’re gonna be out in the sun. They’re getting vitamin D they’re gonna be, they’re gonna be living life. They’re gonna be living like Larry, you’re like, right there.

Lara Taylor 30:15
You’re not that far off Josué. I don’t talk about my niece much. But she played golf and did not like Star Wars and then we got her to watch Star Wars a few years ago. i She loves it now.

Marc Cuiriz 30:28
I’d say reality television. I just can’t get behind reality TV

Josué Cardona 30:33
your kids are gonna, if you push them on Assassin’s Creed, they’re gonna be like,

Marc Cuiriz 30:36
we’re gonna be watching the reboot of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Yeah,

Lara Taylor 30:41
watching love his blind season 28.

Josué Cardona 30:46
Real Housewives of the moon. So, Lara, do you remember how I felt about the sequels? I know. Would you say how would you describe it?

Lara Taylor 31:00
You didn’t you did not like them

Josué Cardona 31:03
Yeah, um, my niece now she, you know, she thinks for herself. Like I recorded her when she ran after watching. Force Awakens. She was really I mean, whatever year that was right. She’s only 12 now. And she was like, Oh, I love the movie. I love this. And now that she’s older, she’s like, I hate the sequels. I pretend like they don’t exist. I hate Rey. Like she hates rey with a passion. And yeah, Ahsoka’s her favorite character like she’s obsessed with everything. Star Wars, there’s nothing that she doesn’t like about Star Wars. Except, except Rey and the sequels,

Lara Taylor 31:44
like something she’s not gonna go watch. She’s not gonna really like the new movie that’s gonna come out

Josué Cardona 31:48
with like all of us. Like all of us, it doesn’t matter what we love or hate about Star.

Lara Taylor 31:52
We’re gonna watch it.

Josué Cardona 31:53
We’re gonna watch it anyway. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 31:55
But we can appreciate the things that we like and know that other things are for other people.

Josué Cardona 32:00
But also, like, I appreciate how passionate she is about her. I think she’s still she still cares enough to hate it. To hate the character, but she hates the character because she understands the World more. And the more she understands the world, the less the character makes sense to her. And the more it bothers her. Right. So like, it’s all part of her, of her amassing all this knowledge about it. And yeah, but I mean, I think it’s, I think, like, I can watch the sequels. I don’t like what happens in them, but like, my niece is angry. And, yeah, I don’t know how much pride I feel that she hates rey but uh.

Lara Taylor 32:42
Don’t be yucking people’s yums

Josué Cardona 32:43
I know. I know. I know. So I’m saying but but there is something about it. I’m like, oh, like, she,

Lara Taylor 32:50
you should show her the recording

Josué Cardona 32:51
what I should show her?

Lara Taylor 32:51
the recording. You should you should

Josué Cardona 32:54
share the recording. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 32:57
Yeah. Remember? Remember when?

Josué Cardona 32:54
Yeah. So I’ll say one more thing. Like my other niece. She’s a tattoo artist. And she has never mentioned this to me. But my sister has, her mom, has brought this up multiple times. She says, Josué, the whole reason that your daughter that your niece is a is an artist now is because you got her into drawing. Right? And so like there’s this, there’s this, I’m, I’m, I feel a sense of pride and like, maybe like, oh, did I have something to do with this. She’s really good tattoo artist. Like it’s great. And she’s never brought it up with to me, right. But I but I think about that, and I’m not gonna go to her and be like, weren’t you thanking me in every social media post of everyone, you know, like, but it’s like, Oh, that’s interesting. And I bring that one up, because like, I feel that sense of pride. But I wasn’t. I wasn’t trying to do anything. But I was like, Oh, she looks like she you know, she likes to doodle. Let me let me get her like a sketchpad. Yeah, I encouraged her and I showed her what I knew. And she has surprised me a lot. Like, I knew very little, but I like I was like, Oh, this is how like, You do still life and use shadow and blah blah blah. And she was like, oh what?! How did you do that it looks like an apple! And, and there’s something there’s something I don’t know, that’s something that could still I feel like it’s a card that I could play at some point to like connect. And the reason I say that is because I’ve been able to use that in, in my own life. When when my father and I there was there was a period where we didn’t speak for a few years. The TV show Smallville came out, and he was so into superheroes that I almost felt like if I watched the show without him, I was like, betraying him. somehow. And it became a catalyst for me to reach out to him. So I hadn’t talked to him in a long time. And I called him. And just to tell him like, Dad, there’s a, I just saw the trailer for a new show called Smallville. And he was like, what’s that like? Smallville, the town where Superman is from, I think it’s a young, it’s a young, Clark Kent, like, we’re gonna get to see him grow up. And he got really excited. And so for years, that was something like, the day after the episode, we talk about the episode that happened. And it was it was how we were able to like rekindle a relationship. Because I knew how much he loved that. And luckily, I love the two. So I could, I could have that built bridge. I did that with my mom as well to, to a certain extent, because I would try to whatever they weren’t into our trying to connect through that to kind of add a little extra to the relationship. It none of it was fake. It was like, Oh, you’d like this too? okay, I can do that, oh, there’s a scam on your phone. And you be like, I’ll try it out. And hopefully I like it. And then we could talk about it. And I think I’ve, you know, I know I’ve said it here before, but my sister and my, my parents who were who had been divorced for 30 years. Were like, we all played this Disney game on our phones. And we had this leaderboard. And it was a sense of the whole conversation piece for all of us. And if I don’t play and my dad calls me to see if I’m okay, because he doesn’t see that I’ve that I’ve had a high score. So they could, you know, there’s such like, important parts of the, of the family dynamic and relationship. I don’t know if I could separate that stuff from them. Like my earliest memories of me playing Mario with my mom. Like, that’s, that’s something. And it’s hard to I think, you know, sometimes I forget, but ultimately, it’s so it’s just yeah, it’s just like, I can’t I can’t separate them. Now, I’m taking my niece and nephew to Comic Con, to send me a Comic Con in July. My my little sister is sometimes this I do forget, I forget how big of a nerd by my sister is too. Because she’s a mom, and you know, all that stuff. And we don’t you know, our relationship isn’t like it used to be when we’re kids, obviously. But like, we were both members of the Power Rangers fan club, right? We were a little. And she was she was actually really excited about the Power Rangers once in something and always right? once and always, that’s what it’s called. I don’t know that the special with the original cast members that came out on Netflix like a month ago. And she was excited. When have you watched it? I watched it. It’s like a 30th anniversary special. That’s on Netflix.

Lara Taylor 38:09
I just know about this special talking about like the tragedy of being a Power Ranger or something like that.

Josué Cardona 38:16
Well, yeah, but it’s so it’s like a 30th anniversary thing with the original cast and a lot of members of the original cast. And my sister really wanted to watch it, because she hadn’t really watched any of the new stuff. And but my nephew does watch it and my niece used to. So she’s watching it. And that night that she was watching it. She she texted me. She’s like, have you seen the thing? We’re watching it now? Like, oh, wait a minute, so I started watching it at the same time. So we can talk about it later. And then I remembered I’m like, oh, yeah, no, my sister was a big nerd. So I invited them to come to Comic Con with me, because I had an extra ticket. And yeah,

Lara Taylor 38:53
and kids are free.

Josué Cardona 38:53
Kids are free. Yep. Yep. And so it was like, she is so excited about this trip. We haven’t done a trip like this in a very I don’t think we’ve ever done a trip like this, where it was just a nerdy trip that just and it will be for the four of us. Right? Like, I can’t, I can’t wait to see how excited the kids will be to, to go to this. So yes, I mean, like, so many of these of these interests are. Like, they’re so meaningful to me. And I think that’s something that there’s like this additional piece to it that we can that we can use to connect with our with our clients and with our students. And our friends, right? It’s like, oh, what does that mean to you? Like, why is it such a connection? And I don’t think I think sometimes it’s hard to get to that point, or to push but like follow that thread. Because maybe sometimes somebody’s like, Oh yeah, and I really, you know, I watched this show or watch this thing and it made me sad. I don’t know why. And sometimes it’s easy to verbalize and see where that connection is, but sometimes it is not. So, you know, I hope the stories that we’re telling are good to kind of show all the different types of meaning that that our hobbies can have based on family good or bad experiences good or bad. Anyone want to share anything else. And the other versions of this

Link Keller 40:34
I’m still sort of struggling with the like, inheriting something and then passing it on to somebody and then like, surpassing and feeling pride about like, that aspect I don’t like I’m having a hard time finding something that like fits that trajectory. But like, there are lots of things that I’ve introduced to people that I feel a lot of pride when they talk about to other people how much they love it, or how like cool it is. And oh, you should check this out like the forwarding the recommendations, I do get a lot of pride from that

Josué Cardona 41:17
why?

Link Keller 41:18
i It makes me feel valued in a relationship. Even if they’re not like, Oh, hey, Link recommended that I play this game and I really loved it and you should play just being like, Oh, I really loved this game. You should check it out. Like feeling like I participated in them. Having enjoyment and growing as a person and sharing that like the ripple effects. I feel like pride about that aspect. But yeah, I’m having I’m having a hard time thinking of something specifically, but I do I feel a great deal of pride. Having successfully like recommended things to you guys like that makes me feel great.

Josué Cardona 42:06
I haven’t surpassed you but I didn’t watch horror until like I didn’t enjoy horror. Until you

Link Keller 42:12
I still I still brag about that. That recommendation horror movie episode back in 2018.

Josué Cardona 42:22
I watch horror movies now that you don’t recommend. Yeah, that’s the whole thing.

Link Keller 42:26
That’s pretty good. Yeah, I’m sure I’m sure my my brother listens to this podcast. I’m sure he’ll text me later and be like, What the fuck you like taught me about this thing. And I’m obsessed with it. You don’t even care anymore. and I’ll feel really stupid, that I couldn’t think of anything. But I guess Over the Garden Wall is the thing that I have most consistently spread to as many people as possible, including the baby I live with toddler now. And she really loves garden wall is what she calls it. So every time we see a pumpkin she’s like pumpkin garden wall. Wait, that’s right. That’s right.

Josué Cardona 43:06
I mean, that is one example of something where you, you introduced me to it. And then in a few weeks, I had read all the comic books and like gone deep into it. And I don’t know if you had gone that

Link Keller 43:18
I haven’t I haven’t read the comic books. So there. There we go. There’s my example. I passed I passed Over the Garden Wall to you.

Josué Cardona 43:25
I still say ‘ain’t that just the way’

Link Keller 43:27
same.

Josué Cardona 43:28
Yep, yep. Every chance I get.

Lara Taylor 43:31
And it’s not something you may have seen come to fruition yet. Link but like you are sharing things with Roz, right? Like

Link Keller 43:39
yeah, she’s she’s two and a half and she’s just starting to like, talk and communicate and have like, memory, which is both incredible to watch and also like, oh, no, I said I would do that thing and not intending to do that thing. And she actually

Lara Taylor 43:53
holds you accountable.

Link Keller 43:54
I watched her the other night. We were making dinner and she wanted to watch. She’s like watch a movie. And I was like, Okay, let’s watch a movie. What do you want to watch? And I pull up Disney plus, and I’m on the front page. I was like, Oh, do you want to watch tangled? Do you want to watch brave because she’s been watching those ones a lot. No, no, it’s like, do you want to watch strange world? No. And she’s saying something I’m I couldn’t figure out like what are you saying? What I can’t I don’t understand. And so I picked her up and held her in front of the TV so she could point to what she wanted to watch. She wanted to watch Venom and she’s pointing at it and goes teeth! teeth!! wanna watch teeth!! and I’m just like Oh my god. I’m so I don’t know maybe that’s the thing that I will be passing on to her is a deep, deep love for Tom Hardy Venom it’s actually I did I put it on for her just to like distract her for like the five minutes I needed to finish making dinner and like put it together. Put it on a plate to bring it out to her. So she’s watching it. And she she goes, it’s scary. It not because anything on screen scary was happening but because the soundtrack backing that goes is like boom, boom. She goes it’s scary. Like she was like, yes. Scary. I was like yeah, she because teeth I was like well, he’s not the teeth guy isn’t here yet. But do you want to watch a different monster movies like we’re gonna redirect so we watched beauty in the beast, which she was enjoying teeth. And she goes, she says teeth. I was like, yeah, he’s he’s beast. And she goes the beast, again, over garden. The garden wall is just like that. It is obviously not the beast. So it’s like, you’re right. You’re right. It’s not the beast. This is beast. He’s just beast. Different. But he’s a monster. He’s got horns, and he’s got claws and teeth. She’s like, Yeah, teeth. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 45:56
that’s, that’s pretty Be sure to associate her Yeah, her love of teeth.

Link Keller 46:00
Man, if she ends up being just a little weirdo who’s into horror like me, that would be pretty rad. Because neither of her parents are into it as much as I am.

Josué Cardona 46:11
Yeah.

Link Keller 46:12
But yeah,

Josué Cardona 46:13
it is funny. I can’t think of Assassin’s Creed without thinking about Marc.

Link Keller 46:17
That’s, that’s also true. I definitely like my relationship with Assassin’s Creed is very shallow, but is longer than I have known you marc but I absolutely I associate it with you.

Marc Cuiriz 46:30
That is my goal. You you you cannot think of one thing without thinking of the other that is, that is my my ultimate goal in life is to be forever associated with this franchise.

Link Keller 46:42
Great success.

Marc Cuiriz 46:42
And I’m happy about that. I’m proud about that. And also, you were talking about Josué, How like, when Link introduced you to Over the Garden Wall within a few days, you had consumed every form of media that how is final space?

Josué Cardona 47:01
So excellent question. Because it is unavailable. And like Warner Brothers did what it’s done with a whole bunch of stuff and basically removed it from existence. For tax purposes, apparently. Yeah, yeah, I have procured a copy that I will be watching very soon. And I did actually pre order the book just because of how cool the idea is, like I saw this creator, so excited about the fact that he got he’s gonna get to finish his story. And they put so many limitations on him. And he said, Fine, I’ll do it. Whatever limitations you put on me, I’ll do it. And he he’s made millions of dollars already without even writing a single page because he his fans are supporting him so much. I think it’s a cool story. So I will let you know. But if I like it, I’m sure I will associate it with you. If I don’t like it, I will definitely associate it with you.

Marc Cuiriz 48:04
That’s, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. But I’m also like I said, I’m also kind of in the same boat with with link in terms of like, I have Yes, like Assassin’s Creed, like we, I joke about it all the time I talk about it all the time, but like it, it is the one thing that like I feel like I have spread to numerous people, or there are people that like I’ve known that have played the games, but never really got into it. And then I talked to them about it, I let them know about things and then they go back and they start paying attention more. And then they come to me and they start telling me things about it. And of course there was the Codex as well, which I’m actually now getting really interested in wanting to reboot that.

Josué Cardona 48:51
What is The Codex?

Marc Cuiriz 48:53
it is my my Assassin’s Creed podcast. And it’s my way of trying to bring more people into it. And I have some some fun ideas as to how I can revive it and bring it back and keep it a part of the GT network. So stay tuned for that time. Yeah, yeah, make it relevant this time, not just just fangirling about it. But I think at least in terms of that, that example of like, introducing someone to it and then watching this like as as the watching them grow and things like that. I guess I could use myself as an example because, you know, Patrick O’Connor was the one who introduced me to Geek Therapy. And it took one podcast episode to score basically. But it took one podcast episode for me to listen to, for me to become completely enveloped in this whole group that that we’ve that you guys have started and have fostered and grown and now it’s it’s this huge, wonderful community. And I make the joke of like, one day, I’m going to be the president, I’m going to be the one in charge. And I truthfully do not want that ever, ever. I do not

Lara Taylor 50:14
I was gonna say could probably convince Josué right now.

Marc Cuiriz 50:17
No thanks, I, here’s the one thing I do not wish to surpass you guys in. But, no, it’s one of those things where, you know, it was started off as a concept that I was thinking about, and was trying to find that niche within psychology. And then I take this class, and I’m introduced into Geek Therapy. And from there on, you know, my journey, as a part of this whole group and organization has been one that I never would have seen happening. Like, I did not imagine myself sitting here. Approximately four years after I listened to the first episode of GT radio. And now here I am, and never would have imagined that

Josué Cardona 51:06
you’re skipping over the fact that you also like binged like all the episodes.

Marc Cuiriz 51:11
Well, let’s see, I’d have to go back into my apples podcast. But I think because

Josué Cardona 51:15
it wasn’t just this show, it was

Marc Cuiriz 51:16
no it was

Lara Taylor 51:18
all the shows

Marc Cuiriz 51:18
everything that I think there was only like two shows I didn’t fully listen to. But that’s also because I started doing HCAT. So my time became a lot more limited. And I think there are just some shows that, you know, branch off, decided to do their own thing. And I just was like, eh Okay, I just wasn’t that into it. But everything else like I, I listened to it. And I know we were talking before, before the show of some episodes with I Kill Giants that I’m definitely going to want to go back and re re listen to, to refresh my memory on all the wonderful things that you guys have talked about that, that book and the movie and everything like that. So but yeah, I think in terms of that, like you, this was introduced to me by one other person, and then with all of you guys, you guys have helped foster that growth and that passion for this wonderful mission.

Josué Cardona 52:22
It’s funny, I feel very proud of all of you. And I didn’t think you know sometimes I forget about why. But it is it is that right? Like you were exposed to the stuff that we were doing. And look at you now. You’re all fighting to be President.

Marc Cuiriz 52:41
I’d like to concede

Josué Cardona 52:45
there’s always next election. Yeah, I think I mean, this skills to other conversations we’ve had about parasocial relationships and things like that, where it’s like, these people you don’t even know kind of introduce you into something and you start caring. But in terms of Yeah, I think I think thank you for sharing that story. Because sometimes I forget too have like, Oh, right. Also, when will the next marc come along? You know, like,

Marc Cuiriz 53:17
that will be that will be something? Yeah, that will be something that there are a few that are

Josué Cardona 53:23
that are that are kind of, you know, you were ambitious, though, you were pretty ambitious. Yeah.

Marc Cuiriz 53:32
I mean, 300 episodes

Link Keller 53:34
unhinged is the word I would use.

Marc Cuiriz 53:37
And I didn’t even listen to it at an accelerated speed. This was all at one time speed. I sat there and soaked every single word.

Josué Cardona 53:48
I’d say Lara was it was not difficult to get Lara to join in. Link, It was a little I had to make a case a couple of times, but but it was but it was you were you were you were in. But Marc I had to like, hold him back. I was like he no I had to say no, a few times.

Marc Cuiriz 54:14
He did. He did tell me no a few times. And I was like, okay, one day though, one day.

Josué Cardona 54:19
So much perseverance. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hope this conversation, you know, kind of did a good job of exploring that kind of meaningful piece of how sometimes our our hobbies or geeky interests are so tied to moments personal relationships that we sometimes we don’t even think about it. And I think maybe some most most of the time capitalize on it, and we take it for granted. We don’t even think about it. But it is also something that we can tap into when when there’s a need he’d like, things suck, things are sad. Let’s go shoot something in a video game or let’s go assassinate some people while we say the Creed

Lara Taylor 55:12
glitch our way through a roof and guns continuously fall and laugh at the makers of the game.

Link Keller 55:26
I’m very excited to hear from our dear listeners who have more young people around them that hopefully have lots of good examples of this.

Josué Cardona 55:38
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it’s so funny. No, none of us have kids. So like, you know, those are stories where other than, you know, Marc’s kid, the hating Assassin’s Creed with a passion just to spite you.

Marc Cuiriz 55:52
It’s fine. I will. I will not yuck their yums but I will cry myself to sleep every single night.

Josué Cardona 55:59
Every single night.

Link Keller 56:01
Assassin’s Creed sucks, dad. I’m gonna go play beach volleyball.

Marc Cuiriz 56:06
You know what I wouldn’t I actually would be a okay with that. I’d be like, You know what, that’s fine. Here. I have an anime for you to watch.

Josué Cardona 56:17
Dad I don’t like that old Haikyuu!! garbage. I like the new one the remake

Marc Cuiriz 56:22
As long as it’s still Haikyuu, I don’t care.

Josué Cardona 56:25
But you don’t like the new one? Because you’re a curmudgeonly old man

Link Keller 56:29
cuz it’s the sequels

Josué Cardona 56:30
Yeah, it’s not as good as the original.

Link Keller 56:32
oh yeah oh why is Rey here??

Lara Taylor 56:35
Oh, we’re all 40 This year, all of us.

Josué Cardona 56:41
Like link said, yeah, please share your your stories with us and anything that resonated with you about this episode. Share with us in the community spaces. You can reach them through all of the links that are in the show notes. For more Geek Therapy, visit geek therapy.org Thank you so much for listening. Remember to geek out and do good. And we’ll be back next week.

Link Keller 57:06
mBye!

Josué Cardona 57:08
Geek Therapy is a 501 C three nonprofit organization dedicated to making the world a better place through geek culture. To learn more about our mission and become a supporter, visit geek therapy.org

Transcribed by https://otter.ai and Link Keller

• Law & Order
• Astroboy
• Star Wars / Clone Wars
• Super Mario Bros
• Duck Hunt
• Pac-Man
• Percy Jackson
• Assassin’s Creed
• World of Warcraft
• Sailor Moon
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Thirsty Sword Lesbians
• Dimension 20
• Pokémon
• Baldur’s Gate
• Dungeon Siege
• Neverwinter Nights
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Kingdom Hearts
• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
• Space Invaders
• Sta Wars: The Force Awakens
• Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
• Smallville
• Power Rangers
• Over the Garden Wall
• Tangled
• Brave
• Strange World
• Venom
• Beauty and the Beast
• Final Space
• I Kill Giants
• Haikyuu!!

Conversation Topics:

* Cultural representation
* Death
* Family
* Finding Oneself/Identity Development
* Making new friends
* Working with others
* Inheriting hobbies

Relatable Experience:

* Clarity/Understanding
* Coming of age/Getting older
* Death
* Divorce
* Loss (other than death)
* New Life Event (New Rules)
* Sharing hobbies

Check out the GT Network: network.geektherapy.com

GT Forum: forum.geektherapy.org

GT Discord: geektherapy.com/discord

GT Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/geektherapy

Find us at www.GeekTherapy.org | @GeekTherapy | Lara: @GeekTherapist | Link: @CHICKENDINOSAUR | Josué: @JosueACardona

Ask us anything through the Question Queue and we’ll answer on the show: geektherapy.org/qq