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Jordan Myrick
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Christina Ariel
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Kendall Landrin
Welcome to Happy Wife, Happy Life. We're your hosts. I'm Kendall Landrin.
Jordan Myrick
And I'm Jordan Myrick.
Kendall Landrin
And we are two incredibly unqualified but.
Jordan Myrick
Deeply in love comedians who are here to help you with all things relationships. And on today's episode, we are joined by the queen of fandoms, Christina Ariel. You know her from the Star wars fandom. You know her from the Doctor who fandom. You know her from Dropout Green. Christina Arielle, thank you so much for being here. It's so exciting to have you. We really don't know much about fandom and nerd culture, so you ultimately are here to kind of guide us through helping our fans who identify as nerds or want to date as nerds. I will just address the elephant in the room. It's interesting to have someone so nerdy and so hot.
Christina Ariel
I feel like I come off more nerdy than hot.
Jordan Myrick
Really?
Christina Ariel
Maybe it's like the mom aspect where I've kind of, like, chilled into this place of like, oh, I'm too old to be hot now.
Jordan Myrick
Insane.
Christina Ariel
But I really appreciate that on a sincere level that you think that I am hot.
Jordan Myrick
You're so entrenched in nerd culture. You're an expert on all things nerd.
Christina Ariel
It seems like I like not all things, but I have. My brain has just been storing things since 1986. And do I know how to do math? No. Do I know how to talk to you, you about One Tree Hill in depth and all of the entirety of the Real Housewives, which even reality TV has its own version of nerd culture? All of these things are. If you are passionate about something, then I would consider that to be like Your geeky thing, your nerdy thing. Like, you nerd out about this thing because you are so passionate about it. You love it and it just excites you. And I love seeing people talk about what they're passionate about because you get so excited because it's like, this is this thing. And as a kid, like, I loved Star Wars, I loved comic books. My grandpa Jack took me to my first comic book store and I got an X Men comic book and a Rugrats comic book. And it just. It was great. It was like the time of, like, the Nicktoons era. And I also was collecting pogs at the time. And I had this slammer that was a Mighty Morphin. I know I'm probably. This probably makes no sense.
Kendall Landrin
No, this is exactly what we're looking for. This is what we cannot give our audience. So they're eating this up.
Christina Ariel
So I loved it. I loved Polish pogs, slammers, all the things. And all that just kind of continued. And it wasn't really a thing where I think necessarily made fun of for people. Just look at you weird. And I just would keep talking because I just like to talk, but I just. I've always loved it. My dad was a big, like. Like, my mom married my dad when I was in, like, third grade mud. But he, like, was always, like, playing, like, Marvel versus Capcom with me. Or we would stay up, we watch X Men animated series, we would do all of these things, and he just, like, let me be a part of them. Watch Star Trek Next Generation with him. Salary really had a choice because this was back in the day where it was like, at 8 o' clock. Children do not have a voice in what is coming on television. You gotta sit down, watch these Dallas reruns and be okay with it.
Jordan Myrick
Absolutely. So your mom married a nerd.
Christina Ariel
My mom married a nerd. My dad, until the day that he passed away, like, had, like, manga in his drawer. And, like, when I taught him that he could read it online, you know, he would go in his room, like, all the time, like, and that was just. What he was in there doing, was just sitting there. And he had just, like, deep voice. So he sounds like James Earl Jones. Which is really funny because one time when I was younger, not younger, I think I was like, 17, I'd gotten in trouble. And he was like, child, Jehovah said to you. And I was like, huh? And he was like, what did I say? And I was like, you have forgotten who you are.
Jordan Myrick
So did he like that?
Christina Ariel
He thought he, like, it's one of those times where your parents are so upset with you, but they have to laugh because you're hilarious. And that is the trouble my parents were born with because I'm so funny. It's. No, I, like, my mom married my dad. My mom, like, in her own way. Like, my mom, her nickname in the house, like, was Storm too. My sister is extremely into it. My sister's baby shower was a Star wars themed baby shower. Oh. And like, it's. We've all just kind of been like that. I think it's this idea that, like, nerds are one thing or look like one thing. But I know so many people that are just, like, so passionate about these things. You don't. There's a reason that, like, Marvel movies, all these things have become blockbusters and things like that. It's because it's a part of all of our childhoods. Like, it may seem like it's like, intrinsic to one group, but people love. You could love anything.
Kendall Landrin
Right.
Christina Ariel
Be obsessively into anything.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
Football. Football is just like, that's your nerd. That's a nerdom.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
You're going to the game, you're collecting multiple jerseys, you're painting your face and getting dressed up. Nerdom.
Kendall Landrin
Exactly.
Christina Ariel
Real Housewives thinking about the like also, because really, Bravo is connected to pretty much anything that you can think of.
Jordan Myrick
Sure.
Christina Ariel
Because of the format that they did it, which is founded pretty much on the person. When you think about Bravo, back in the day, you would think about Inside the Actors Studio.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Kendall Landrin
Right.
Christina Ariel
And then it became Queer after the Straight Guy. Queer after the Straight Guy is basically the house that built Bravo because of the tenants that it was founded on with, like, culture and food and all these things. So then you have Top Chef, then you have Culture, so you have the Housewives. All of these different things that kind of bled together then with the people that you start to get coming in Lisa Rinna. Lisa Rinna was in one of the OG Marvel Avengers things. The role that Julia Louis Dreyfus plays in Thunderbolts is actually played by Lisa Rinna in one of the OG and like, Marvel type shows.
Jordan Myrick
I did not know that.
Christina Ariel
Garcelle Beauvais. Garcelle Bevet was on Real Housewives in Beverly Hills, but she's also in Spider Man.
Kendall Landrin
Wow.
Christina Ariel
So, like, all of these things kind of connect culturally. Larsa Pippen was married to Scottie Pippen. Real Housewives of Miami. Like, all of these things and culture, they all intersect in Bravo, which is why it's great. Like, It's a feast for me, knowledge wise, to be able to sit and get deeply into these shows and nerd out about it. But also then I have Dungeons and Dragons. And Dungeons and Dragons is a theater kid's dream. You're telling me that I can make up a character for who is anything that I want them to be, Talk in a wild voice and then just get lost for a few hours. What if I'm grieving? Process some trauma along the way. Oh yeah, like it is this.
Kendall Landrin
Have you larped?
Christina Ariel
I have larped. I did the. But I did it for Labyrinth. I was a singing dragon at Labyrinth a couple years ago. Labyrinth is the festival of Jareth Labyrinth Ball that's held in downtown LA at the Biltmore. Every year. I think it's like August or September. Nate. See again, dates, times, numbers, not a thing.
Kendall Landrin
Well, that's like I always. It's so true that you can be a nerd about anything. And I feel like the Internet has made us all realize because you learn about so many different things and you have so much access to so many different things. Because I have so little information about so much. I did not do well in school, but there are just very niche topics that I could talk about every detail. And they're so unhelpful most of the time. But I guess that's just being a nerd.
Christina Ariel
Yeah. That's your fandom. Like what. What you choose to be a fan of. And I think it's easy because. Because the gatekeeping part of it always gets to be so much. We don't know what people's stories, journeys are that led them to the place that they are.
Jordan Myrick
Sure.
Christina Ariel
If you decide tomorrow that you want to get into Star wars or you want to get into Star Trek and you go. And once you watch it, you are all in. You are buying merchandise. You start collecting things, watching it religiously, then that's your fandom. You're a fan of that thing. And nobody can quantify, qualify that you have decided that you're a fan of that. So do the thing.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, yeah.
Christina Ariel
And it's. What was it Beyonce said at her concert? She had this big sign and it was like, don't ask permission for what belongs to you. Your joy belongs to you. So somebody doesn't get to come in and tell you you can't enjoy this thing because you don't fit XYZ criteria. You go out there and you enjoy the thing and you take up the space.
Jordan Myrick
That's true. I think too. It's so Interesting. You pointed out football being fandom. I never would have thought of that.
Kendall Landrin
But it so is.
Jordan Myrick
Why do you think that some things get written off as nerdy? Geeky fandom, whatever, like Star wars and anime and cartoons or things like that, and other things that are just as much a fandom, like football, like the Taylor Swift of it all. Why do those things get written off as not fandom?
Christina Ariel
I feel like a lot of those things are based in stereotype. And, like, our ideal, if we think about a nerd, the first thing somebody's gonna think about is, like, Coke bottle glasses, tape on the rim, Just those different things that we've always seen. And it's like that kid in the corner reading a comic book, and then the jock comes over and pushes him. But most of those jocks are actually a Troy Bolton.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
Like, it's a High School Musical kind of conundrum situation. We just have this idea of what people are supposed to be in these boxes and. And the status quo of it all, that it's easier to not think of those things as nerdy because of who is doing them. So if you see a group like male sports fans, and they're all, like, buff and excited, however, like, they're still painting their faces and getting dressed up and doing fantasy leagues and doing all of this stuff, that is the same thing that we're doing over here. And, like, I know there's people who have, like, Bravo fantasy leagues and things of that nature. Like, all of these are different fandoms. But it's so much. I think it is just the ideal that this is what this person looks like. This is what this is in my brain. And television and media have reinforced those stereotypes for so long. But then it's also as we have the Internet and we have more access to each other, and we're seeing so much of each other in a way that we never have before that we're seeing that, like, we all contain multitudes.
Kendall Landrin
Right.
Christina Ariel
We all are fans of different things, like, different things. But at the end of the day, like, we should be able to come together over those mutual. Like, that's why conventions are so fun.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
You have a bunch of people in the same space that love the things that you do, that you're bonding. You don't have to worry. I look like this. I did it. You just are finding kinship. You're finding community.
Kendall Landrin
Right. That's like, the other day we went to the Ripped Bodice, which is a romance bookstore. I'm a freak for romance novels. I love them. So much. So we go. Jordan is not a. You're not a romance novel fan.
Jordan Myrick
I would say I'm not.
Kendall Landrin
And the way me and the people at the front counter were connecting, I was. We were both like, oh, have you read this? I just got chills. This is. And Jordan was like, I feel like I'm at a book convention. I feel like I'm so out of my element.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Kendall Landrin
But it is nice. It's very fun to talk to people who are a pervert in the same way I am.
Christina Ariel
Well, when you say romance novels, do you mean, like, romance novels?
Kendall Landrin
Oh, well, all of the above. Like, I. I feel like I have read well. And I'm sure there's stuff I haven't, but I feel like I've gone into every genre of the romance.
Christina Ariel
Have you ever read a Zayn book?
Kendall Landrin
No.
Christina Ariel
Put this author on your list. This is one of my favorite. It's. The stories are great. They're not. Not for. Not adult. It's very, like, tawdry and. But it's. It's. It's sensual and not, like, overtly, like, it's just a good book.
Kendall Landrin
Okay. I love that.
Christina Ariel
They're a great author. Fantastic. And I love them. I used to be a Harlequin Girl, but, like, then I got on these and I was like, okay.
Kendall Landrin
All right, Jordan, what fandom are you in?
Jordan Myrick
I mean, partially Bravo. I'm a huge Top Chef fan. Have been since the beginning, but also have consumed a lot of Bravo. I watch some of the Housewife franchises below deck. There's a lot of Bravo stuff I consume. I would say I'm big in the horror fandom, so horror movies, TV shows, things like that. I'm very involved in, I guess, movies.
Kendall Landrin
You love movies?
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. Comedy, I guess, is. I don't know. No, comedy's a job as an adult. But when I was younger, definitely, like, I was trying to eat up anything comedy related and improv related was very important to me in high school. I feel like those are probably the big ones.
Kendall Landrin
But you never went down, like, a fan fiction rabbit hole as a teenager?
Jordan Myrick
No, I don't. I've never really read fan fiction.
Kendall Landrin
I was there like a celebrity, though, that you were like, I'm obsessed.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, of course.
Kendall Landrin
Who is that?
Jordan Myrick
What do you mean? Like, a bunch of them?
Kendall Landrin
But would you. But that's who I would, like, read fanfiction about. I would, like, look up like. Like Hanson. Like Hanson, Exactly.
Jordan Myrick
Which, if I may bring up, that we recently found out that one of the Hanson brothers follows this podcast On Instagram.
Christina Ariel
Listen, Isaac Hansen follows this page. Don't know if he's an avid listener. Maybe his wife is an avid listener.
Jordan Myrick
Sure. But you did tell me that he was following us.
Christina Ariel
I did.
Jordan Myrick
And I wasn't gonna blow up your spot. I just was kind of going to open it and say, hey, just this is what we know. And I wasn't going to say the source of the information, in case you didn't want that out there. I hope he's listening.
Christina Ariel
Yes, it's. It's very important to me, as Hanson is also one of my other fandoms that I have been in for a very long time. I've seen Hansen in concert, I think, three times. Wow. I got. My mom got us backstage at a Hanson concert once in, like, the dopest way possible. Mom does artist management, promotions.
Kendall Landrin
Okay.
Christina Ariel
This thing where she, like, we're in Atlanta. Me and my friend had skipped school to go and, like, go to this concert. My mom ends up, like, coming up. Like, she was in. Like, this was not her car. She was. And she, like, whips it back. Just, like, goes in through the gate. And then by the time she left, we had press passes, and we were in the back interviewing, like, Maria, Minna, and Hanson.
Jordan Myrick
Oh.
Christina Ariel
And my friend was like. My friend loved Taylor Hansen. I love. We all, like. It was. It was fair, right? It was like, I was Isaac, she was Taylor, and then we had another friend who was that girl.
Jordan Myrick
So Isaac is the one that follows us.
Christina Ariel
Yes.
Jordan Myrick
And you were an Isaac girl. Isaac.
Christina Ariel
Wow.
Jordan Myrick
Say something.
Kendall Landrin
And we're gonna bring him in, right?
Jordan Myrick
Can you imagine? Listen, Isaac, come to the podcast. We'll bring you back. We'll bring Isaac on.
Kendall Landrin
We'll just be silent. We won't say anything.
Jordan Myrick
We won't say anything. I think it really could be cool. But, yeah, I guess bands I was really into, like, emo music when I was younger, and then I became, like, a scene kid.
Christina Ariel
Favorite emo band.
Jordan Myrick
Oh, hard to say off the top of my head. I was really into. And once again, all these have a lot of, like, sub genres. So I'm sure someone in the comments can be like, that's not emo. That's emotional screamo or, like, whatever. But I was, like, really into from first to last, which is crazy. The lead singer of that band became Skrillex.
Kendall Landrin
Wow.
Jordan Myrick
Very bizarre. Isn't that wild?
Christina Ariel
That is exceptionally wild.
Jordan Myrick
Very strange. So that was a big band. I listened to Hawthorne Heights, Taking Back Sunday. Like, all of those kind of bands I was really into. And, yeah, Then I became a scene kid that was like, I was really big into that. South Florida had a really big like scene kids scene. Yeah, I feel like there's like a bunch of.
Kendall Landrin
I'm only asking because I'm really trying to unlock Jordan's fandom side.
Jordan Myrick
Recently Kendall wants me to read porn and I'm not interested in that. And I don't know why.
Christina Ariel
Are you trying to get her down the court Fae and flowers?
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, I'm trying to get Jordan to read some stuff that maybe is not pg. I'm trying to get you to enjoy or even just really delve into the whole. Because even. Okay, romance books aside, when I was a kid and a teenager and now as an adult, if I like something, it is. I'm all in. Like there is. I'm, I'm getting. Which you have this with stuff for sure. But like I'm getting the merch. If I liked a TV show, I'm immediately reading the fan fictions of it. 8,8000 fan fictions of it. I'm writing my own. Fanfictions aren't even shared to anything. It's just for me, like I would get so into it and I, and I for some reason want that for you because it brings me so much joy.
Jordan Myrick
But, well, I'm a classic gal. I'm just watching good old fashioned porn and that's not enough for Kendall and it hurts. Honestly, it hurts me. Why isn't that enough?
Kendall Landrin
Because we're a dating podcast. Have you ever dated someone where you were like they were not excited enough about my interests, about my nerdy fixations that I want to talk about all the time? And you're like, that is a deal breaker for me.
Christina Ariel
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Jordan Myrick
This was my next big question. Is your husband a nerd?
Christina Ariel
No. He's like, my husband is a magician for. By hobby. So, like, that's.
Jordan Myrick
That's its own nerd.
Christina Ariel
Yes, he is a nerd, but, like, he has his own, like, lane that he is in, which is magic. And then.
Kendall Landrin
Incredible.
Christina Ariel
It's like, I talk to him, and I'm just like, and so and so. But he does go into the Bravo a little bit with me sometimes, like, by default, because it's on, and I'll pause it when he leaves the room, and he's like, you don't have to pause it. And I'm like, we're watching together. But he's like, yeah. No. I mean, I've dated people who, like. I've never really downplayed my interest about the things that I'm into.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
I've just always been a weirdo.
Kendall Landrin
But you don't need someone who's like, I'm on the exact. I'm into all the same stuff.
Christina Ariel
No. I think I like having my. Especially, like, as a mom, like, having my own space to kind of, like, go and get deeply into the things. And then it's like, I share them with my kids now, too, so it's like, I don't really need him to be into it when I like, can be like, do you want to watch Star wars with Mommy? Do you want to watch Gummy Bears? You want to watch Darkwing Duck?
Kendall Landrin
Do you have one kid that you're like. They are aligning with all of my. They're really eating up the interests I'm showing them.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. Which one of your kids is the biggest nerd?
Christina Ariel
Ooh, all three. Okay.
Kendall Landrin
Incredible.
Christina Ariel
Evenly. But no, my daughter, like, for my. There's so much of my daughter that I see with what she, like, she got into Barbie, and she's still very, very deeply into Barbie, like, to the point of, like, she wanted to watch the Barbie movie. She wanted to watch all of the Barbie movies with, like, Swan Lake and all of those. It was just like, she'd wake up in the morning, she would listen to, like, the pink. She, like, learned how to tell Alexa to play pink by Lizzo, like, the opening song from Barbie. She gets up, she goes, I want my Barbie dress. She has the exact, like, pink gingham dress and the pink bow and the shoes. She puts on a little pair of heels. It has all this little toy jewelry that comes with it. And she dressed like Barbie every day for like, a month and a half. And then she still does it occasionally now. And I'm like, yeah, you get it.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, that's cosplay, essentially.
Christina Ariel
Yeah. She cosplays. Like, she'll be like, I want to be a dinosaur.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
I want to be a princess. I want to be Barbie. My son is also, like. He's, like, deeply into Sonic the Hedgehog right now.
Kendall Landrin
Okay.
Christina Ariel
So that's his, like, big thing. So we've been watching, like, Sonic Underground and kind of getting deeply into all of the Sonic lore. And then my daughter is now into Sonic because Amy Rose is pink. And, yeah, we love pink in our house. And my oldest, he's always been kind of, like, on the wavelength with me where he would kind of, like, try to tell me stuff about things. And I'd be like, I taught you that.
Kendall Landrin
That is.
Jordan Myrick
So you're like, I'm the Yoda in this situation.
Christina Ariel
I am. I am Yoda. I am teach lessons. I do. Like, that's what I'm here to do is, like, make sure that they. And my daughter. I always say that my daughter. I'm making sure that her nerd cred is straight and no one will ever try her. My daughter hosted Star Wars Celebration in utero. I was, like, seven, eight months pregnant when I hosted Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim. And so I feel like thereby, by proxy, she has hosted Star Wars Celebration.
Kendall Landrin
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Myrick
I mean, absolutely. That's going to be her Instagram bio at some point.
Christina Ariel
I hope so. I hope it says. Well, actually, no. I hope it says no, because that's her favorite thing, and I want her to keep that back.
Jordan Myrick
Just in quotes. No.
Christina Ariel
Like, she just, like, if she doesn't want to do it, she doesn't. And I love that about her.
Kendall Landrin
Like, she.
Christina Ariel
She believes that no is a complete sentence. She doesn't have to tell you why anything. It's just no is a complete sentence.
Kendall Landrin
I love that I gotta get back into doing that type of thing.
Jordan Myrick
No, you don't. Yeah, no, you don't. Don't try that on me. It's cute when a kid does it, but it's not gonna be fun when you and I do it to each other.
Kendall Landrin
I'm trying to think what I was into. Like that, like, Barbie into it in that level. And I am, like, so sad. Cause all I can think of was Krispy Kreme. I was, like, obsessed with Krispy Kreme.
Jordan Myrick
It's a sad story.
Kendall Landrin
My mom knew someone who worked at Krispy Kreme. And of course, I mean, I love donuts. They're absolutely incredible.
Jordan Myrick
And I think it's important to point out that your mom and this person were not friends. No, they kind of had a bad knowing of each other.
Kendall Landrin
But I knew this person who worked at Krispy Kreme and I just, like. I don't know, you know, so little as a kid that, like, when you learn something, you really grasp onto it. So I really liked Krispy Kreme and it became kind of like my whole personality. And I was like, I really want to work there. That's like, my dream is to work there. And then for my birthday one year, I got a tour from this friend of the Krispy Kreme, which is really funny looking back. I remember being so excited and being like, I am truly touring. I'm going like backstage at the Oscars is what it felt like when it was just like the employee only area where they like, hung their backpacks.
Jordan Myrick
Because the lockers in the bathroom.
Christina Ariel
Yeah.
Kendall Landrin
Because looking back to him, like, Krispy Kreme kind of famously has open concept where you can like, see where the donuts are made.
Jordan Myrick
Private tour. Yeah. It's like a public restaurant.
Kendall Landrin
And Jet restaurant may be too much to call it.
Jordan Myrick
Sorry, Brasserie. Yeah.
Kendall Landrin
But that was kind of my thing that I, like, thought about all the time. And until, like second grade, people would be like, what do you want to be when you grow up? And I was like, I want to work at Krispy Kreme. And they were like, well, you probably can.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. So you can do that if you want.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, yeah.
Christina Ariel
I believe in that dream.
Kendall Landrin
I know. I'm still working. I apply every year.
Jordan Myrick
But you still love Krispy Kreme.
Kendall Landrin
I do. They're good. They're good.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. I was a gay little animal kid. You know what I mean?
Kendall Landrin
What does that mean? Gay animals or you were gay and you liked animals, Barrel?
Jordan Myrick
No, you were like, gay? Yeah, I was gay. Slash animal kid. No, but like, gay kids tend like gay adults. A lot of times they look back, were like, obsessed with animals when they were little.
Kendall Landrin
Really?
Jordan Myrick
In a very real big way. And that's how I was. I wanted to be a whale doctor. That was the first thing I remember ever wanting to do. And then I was obsessed with dogs, especially dogs at our local animal shelter. So every day I would go to their website and I would write down in a notebook all the dogs that were at the that shelter. And I had them all, like, listed on, like, big dogs, small dogs, and like. Oh, they had their picture changed. Oh, she's not on the site anymore, so she got adopted.
Kendall Landrin
Oh, my dad must have loved this.
Jordan Myrick
My dad's a big dog person, so my dad did love this. And I had a little briefcase that I would keep all my dog notebook information in. What I thought I was doing, I'm not sure because all this information was on a website. That's how I was getting it. So I don't know what I thought. Me also kind of redundantly logging it was also doing, but very into that.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
I live near the ocean, so we, like, snorkeled a lot. So I was really into, like, different kind of fish and things like that. So I would say probably when I was really little, animals were a big thing for me.
Christina Ariel
Were you a TV kid? Like, did you watch a lot of. I did, but, like, were you like a. Like a Nickelodeon, a PBS Kids, or a. Like, a good question.
Jordan Myrick
I was a Nickelodeon kid, so I was big into, like, real Monsters and Rugrats and things like that. Also some Cartoon Network, so, like, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog. Courage the Cowardly Dog was big for me, which is cute because I'm still a horror. Big horror fan. So it was like that kind of. That started that Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Kendall Landrin
Is still kind of scary.
Jordan Myrick
Absolutely. Absolutely. But I will say, in terms of tv, I think the biggest thing that I was a consumer of, which I think your children will probably also experience, is simply consuming the adult content that my parents consumed. So by the time I was, I don't know, 12, I had seen more Frasier than, like, any adult on planet Earth, probably. So, like, Frasier. Cheers. I was, like, a big fan of BB Neuwirth starting at a very young age because my dad loves BB Neuwirth. Things like that, where I'm trying to think of what other ones were like. No, I feel like Dharma and Greg, like, you know what I mean? Just like those kinds of Will and Grace. We were a big Will and Grace house.
Kendall Landrin
I was the same way because I had older siblings, so it was just like, whatever they were watching, and they were much older than me, so it was just like friends immediately or. Yeah, I feel like any show like that. But also you had so much less access, so it's kind of just like my sister had an ipod, and she downloaded videos that she would pay for on the ipod, and that was, like, what I got to watch. So if we were, like, traveling anywhere that I remember she had downloaded one sketch from SNL that was like, Kristen Wiig. And I can't remember who else, but they played these twins that were really weird and they, like, held a doll. It's crazy. I don't remember much about it because I watched it probably 8,000 times because it was just when I was out and we were. I was bored. That was the only video I could consume. So you didn't have as many options. I feel like now people can be fan, like, in fandoms of millions of things because they can watch anything all the time.
Jordan Myrick
Absolutely. Okay. Speaking of fandoms of millions of things, we have a lot of fans that wrote in questions. Let's say fans of the show. Of this fandom.
Christina Ariel
For your show or for me?
Jordan Myrick
For this episode with you on the show?
Kendall Landrin
For the show for you.
Jordan Myrick
Are you okay with that?
Christina Ariel
I didn't know if it was going to be like, one of those things where it's like, oh, like we're doing advice. But it's like you just sit there while we do this closing segment. I don't know.
Jordan Myrick
You thought that we invited you on this podcast. You thought that I. You and I like each other. I do. You thought that I invited you on this podcast to sit and watch me and Kendall talk.
Christina Ariel
I mean, I figured we'd have a conversation, but I didn't. I like. You don't know. You don't like the people are.
Kendall Landrin
They yearn for the advice. They need the advice. And you.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, I feel like you were going.
Kendall Landrin
To give some really good advice.
Christina Ariel
On Patreon.
Jordan Myrick
We post on Patreon, we post on Instagram, and Kendall, that leads us to a great thing where you can say.
Kendall Landrin
If you're just like, where the heck can I ask a question? I feel like I didn't even get the opportunity. Now I've got all these questions I want to ask. That's okay. You can get them next time. Go on over to our Instagram. It's hwhlpodcast or pod. I'm sorry, I can't remember, but you'll find it.
Jordan Myrick
Or Instagram. Hwhl podcast.
Kendall Landrin
Hwhl Podcast. And you can ask questions. Look, when I made the URLs for all this, some were available. I put podcasts on some POD on others. My point is it's not too hard to find. Follow us there. And we post questions all the time. Or you can ask us on Patreon, if you join and become a member.
Jordan Myrick
And you should do that because there's a lot of good stuff on There, multiple tiers. It's not that expensive. And as always, a healthy reminder that this is a completely independently produced podcast by me and Kendall and our producer, Blake. And now John, who's here in studio with us. Say hi, John. He just kind of works here and now is a part of this whether he wants to be or not.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, we really keep dragging. We, like, say hello.
Christina Ariel
We're like.
Jordan Myrick
And our good friend John. But ultimately we love him and he's here too. But Kendall and I make all of this and pay for all of this. So by joining our Patreon, by watching our TikToks, anythings like that, you are supporting the podcast and helping make it possible. So thank you.
Kendall Landrin
All right, what's the first question you got?
Jordan Myrick
Well, to be clear, the question we posted was drop your questions about dating as a nerd. Slash, dating and nerd culture. So there are questions specifically tailored to you.
Christina Ariel
Oh, okay. Nice.
Jordan Myrick
Our first question. How do I deal with dating a nerd who doesn't consider my hobbies interesting?
Kendall Landrin
Oh.
Christina Ariel
Oh, That's a big communication issue. I think that sometimes it's hard to tell somebody that they're not paying attention to your feelings or that they're like, I had a friend who was obsessively into video games and was like, he would date people and they would end up breaking up because it was just into the video game. And it's like, no. Like, even if they would try to, like, get into it, it wasn't really, like, he wasn't taking the time to give them that. And that's not really sustainable. You have to say what your feelings are. You have to say, this is how I'm feeling. Because it's one of those closed mouths, don't get fed type situations. You can sit and you can stew about it and you can get upset about it, and it is hard to, like, confront things head on. But the issue is just going to continue to grow until you say, this is where we're at. This is the problem that I'm having. I'm not feeling seen. I feel as if I give you this time for the thing that you're into, but I need that on the other side of this.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And I think sometimes people just don't realize that they're not being as sensitive as they are.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, I'm sure you can relate to this, Jordan, because whenever I get to page, like, 300 of a book, the world doesn't exist. I am so rude. I feel what happened the other day, I was being very rude. It was like, breakfast. And Jordan, like, made breakfast. I was like, thank you so much. But I was at the climax of this book.
Jordan Myrick
It was just. I got to an argument the other day.
Kendall Landrin
I was eating it up, and apparently I didn't even notice. I did this. I didn't say a word the whole breakfast. And I really was like, that's pretty rude.
Jordan Myrick
But I made Kendall breakfast. I brought it to her. I sat down across from her, was eating the breakfast. She did not look at me or speak to me all breakfast.
Kendall Landrin
She said, thank you. I did say thank you for the breakfast.
Jordan Myrick
Is irritating because if I look at my phone for one minute, if I get on my computer for one minute, Kendall is in my face, trying to sit on my lap, being like, you never pay attention to me. What's going on? This is abuse. And so I'm like, you're gonna sit here and read your book. All you're not even acknowledge me. Ultimately have to be happy for you. Same thing with your horses. Kendall just started horseback riding. Nice. Kendall's obsessed with it now, and that's.
Kendall Landrin
All I think about, even right now. I'm like, when can I book my next horseback riding lesson?
Jordan Myrick
I know. And that's rude to both of us, but I am happy for you because I'm. I'm happy if you're happy.
Kendall Landrin
But sometimes when you're in the zone with something, it's easy to, like, be just not even aware of your surroundings. And so I think it was good that you were like, hello.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, absolutely.
Kendall Landrin
I think sometimes you. But being interested, I think you have to. I think we deal with this a lot in, like, the comedy world, where people will be like, oh, I would need to date. I've heard people be like, I would need to date a comedian or someone who gets this world. And I'm like, I think anyone can get anything if they, like, want to get it. Like, I know people who are in this industry, and they date someone who's not, and that person is, like, equally knowledgeable about the industry because they, like, listen and learn and understand. So I do think that's important to kind of at least know a little bit about what you're and to not.
Christina Ariel
Be hateful if you're not into it. Like, you don't have to love all the same things, but you also don't have to deride or be dismissive of the thing that somebody's into. Like, if you're really into a show and the person is sitting there just, like, bad mouthing it the entire time, that's not enjoyable for anybody. Like, are you my partner or my op?
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
So I think it's just kind of important to say the thing, address it, but also, like, hope that your partner hears you when you say it.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
I'm also like, if you hate the thing that much, why do you want to date someone that's obsessed with it?
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Or someone that hates. You know what I mean? Like, if I'm. If I love cooking and I. I've said this before, people have gotten offended, but I don't think I could date someone that was a super picky eater that was really interested in food and trying food and types of food and learning about food. Because that's something that's very interesting to me. It doesn't mean I think they're a bad person. It just means to date me specifically. I'm like, I think that sometimes you want to have common ground. So if you're dating someone and you consistently find yourself bumping up against the fact that, like, you love video games and they don't, and that's bothering you, you might be the type of person that wants to date someone similar to you, that has similar interests to you, and that's also okay. Whether, you know, that's kind of up to you. Do you want to date someone that has similar interests or dissimilar interest? It doesn't really matter. Neither one of them is, like, morally right or wrong. It's kind of just like what your preference is.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And it's about finding, like, a thing that you have together so that you do have something to enjoy, even if it's just picking a show. And listen, I'm going to give you the greatest life hack. If you're watching a show with your partner and your partner is prone to fall asleep and you need to be ahead of it, but you can also watch things multiple times. You need to go into a separate account. And then you watch it on that place, and then you keep your place there. And so that way the next time your partner is up and alert and into it, and so you don't fall behind and get lost on the Internet because people are spoiling it, then you can just go back to where they are.
Jordan Myrick
I think that's smart. That will save you. And as always, we're huge proponents of lying on the show. I think if you can lie to make things better, and I truly mean that, I'm like, what's wrong with a harmless.
Kendall Landrin
Harmless.
Christina Ariel
And I'm not lying about it. I'm just telling you I'm Gonna keep watching this show. I'm gonna hold your space. Oh, so I'm going to. Oh, yeah, No, I think you're doing.
Jordan Myrick
This a little more covertly.
Christina Ariel
No, I'm like, listen, I'm not that person. I can't sit here, especially if I'm, like, deeply into it. My brain is gonna keep going and keep thinking about it until I do it again and until I watch it again and again until the story is solved. I'm gonna go online. I'm gonna read a recap. I'm gonna go online. I'm gonna do a deep dive. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna find all these things and all these little clips, and I'm gonna find out. And then I'm gonna find out who that one actor was that was in the third episode at, like, point, 2 minutes and 22 seconds that was actually on a show in 1994. These things are important.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah. And. But spoilers, do they bother you? Because to me, a spoiler, you could tell me the very end of a TV show doesn't bother me at all. And, like, if anything, it helps me understand what's going on.
Christina Ariel
No, I just treat it like foreshadowing. It's like, oh, obviously, this is the thing that was coming. I don't care about a spoiler. I'm gonna read ahead. I want to know what's happening. And then when I get to it, I'm like, then I can look for it. Kind of like. Like a little Where's Waldo. I can look and see what's gonna happen.
Jordan Myrick
You two are wild.
Kendall Landrin
That's my problem.
Jordan Myrick
I hate a spoiler.
Kendall Landrin
I don't mind at all. Sometimes I'll be reading a book. I'm halfway through the book. I'll just do a little flip, flip, flip to the last page, see what goes on there.
Christina Ariel
And then I'm synopsis about episode eight.
Jordan Myrick
Like, unbelievable. Well, our best friend Lily, I had to have words with her eventually because we would be in a movie theater, and I'd look over, and she'd be trying to look up on her phone. I'm like, why are you on your phone in this movie theater? She would be looking up the IMDb or Wikipedia page.
Christina Ariel
Lily do.
Jordan Myrick
Yes.
Christina Ariel
Respect for Lily du.
Jordan Myrick
Absolutely zero. The most Lily dude thing I've ever heard. Respect for Lily do for this. None whatsoever. She would look up the whole plot, middle, beginning, and end of a movie in the movie theater. First of all, if you're on your phone in a movie theater, you're done. You're done. I'm having words with you. Whether I know you or not. We're having words. Second of all, we're watching the movie.
Kendall Landrin
I know. But you know what?
Christina Ariel
Sometimes bother her until the end, until.
Jordan Myrick
She knows to take more of her medication, because that's unbelievable. She can't watch a movie without knowing what the ending is.
Kendall Landrin
But sometimes I need to know, especially if it's a sad or, like, a disturbing movie or a horror movie. I'm like, I need to know what happened so I can calm down so I can enjoy the rest of the movie. Or I'm gonna be anxious the whole time, being like, is that person gonna die? Is that person. Are they gonna break up? I don't want that to happen. I'm not going to a movie or reading a book for any emotions other than calm, calmness.
Christina Ariel
I think I had to. You have to adjust. And we live in a world where, if you, like, if there's an appointment television type thing like Game of Thrones, any of that kind of stuff. I'm terminally online. I have no choice but to see spoilers. People, like, even in Housewives, they now post these clips the day of the episode before it airs. And I'm obviously gonna click the button because it's right there, and it says, click me. So I'm gonna click it, and then I end up like, oh, I've now seen seven minutes of this episode. I'm still gonna watch it. I'm still gonna get deeply into it, and I'm still gonna be like, when it happens, if it's good.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, good.
Jordan Myrick
All right. Wow. I guess drop in the comments. Are you pro or anti spoiler? I do want to know how people feel about this.
Christina Ariel
I'm indifferent. I'll put it that way. Like, certain stuff I don't want spoiled, but, like, that's on me to get in there when it happens so that I'm not. And if I can, most of the time, I can't do that because I have children. I'm not, like, going to movies like that with sinners. I did, though. I was like, I'm gonna be in that theater. And I like. Like, my kids were going off for spring break. My husband was going to the office, and then he actually ended up coming in with me because I was gonna go by myself and just, like, sit, which is great. Go into the. Like, I wanted to do it for the first time and just be by myself. And it was just a masterful film.
Kendall Landrin
Oh, my God, it was unbelievable.
Jordan Myrick
Well, if you haven't seen it yet. You gotta go see.
Christina Ariel
Oh, my gosh.
Jordan Myrick
It's so good.
Kendall Landrin
I know we're having to, like, move on to the next question because I'm like, we could just talk about sinners.
Christina Ariel
I know I saw Beyonce in the last week and I saw sinners in the last. You cannot tell me.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, yeah.
Christina Ariel
I like the confidence that I'm feeling in a way that I haven't. Where I'm like, I will take up space. People are gonna say what they want to anyway. Like, I remember for there was a certain time period where, like, I, like, not tempered the way that I was. I could still like myself, but, like, I got more, like, scared to, like, record things or, like, kind of like, in my own head about it. And now I realize I should be in my head because I'm funny, not because I'm worried about what anyone else has to say about it. Yeah, I'm not. And listen, I know I keep saying that, and I know that I'm not funny funny. I'm moderately so polite. Oh, shut up.
Kendall Landrin
Moderately to severe.
Jordan Myrick
Like, that is extremely funny. You're making me angry. Okay, this person wants to know, how do you define slash, make sure of what is safe territory when it comes to nerd versus geek versus, like, incel weird freako behavior? Because sometimes I'm not saying all. Not, you know, not all freaks are nerds or geeks, and not everyone's the same. But sometimes there is. There can be a lot of crossover, I think an Internet culture at large, right? And I think a lot of nerdy fandom stuff happens on the Internet. And I think sometimes you can slip and slide right into, like, right off a cliff, right into bad stuff.
Christina Ariel
And I did read a really good write up about this and like, that type of, like, to incel pipeline that exists because it is easy to be like, oh, like, look at this. They're taking fandom from you. Look at all these people coming in here and taking up your space. Where were they when you were crying in the cafeteria? Where were they like, well, I know where I was hiding in the library because I had too much anxiety to go and sit in the cafeteria. So that one's out. I think for me, personally, I'm kind of. I'm a black woman. I'm. I clock a lot of stuff. And with that type of behavior, I feel like the more negative it is. I feel like there's so much money and anger and rage and in the clicks of saying the most negative thing, and those are the ones that you're getting first. So if you go and you're not a discerning person who like, fact checks or goes and is like, hey, this says that it's NBC.com but it also says NBC x14 3777. And I'm not paying attention to that. Like, media literacy is important. And listen, I grew up in the cite your sources era, so I really am firmly in that. But I think people, it's so easy because it's shiny, it's there. Then you have a personality who you don't even realize is, like, slowly but surely, like, getting more and more, like, violent about it it and hateful about it. And if you've ever had, like, the Internet come for you or any of those kinds of things, it's not exactly the most comfortable place to be if you are going, I look at it like this. If you find yourself not just, like, conversing about a show or an actor or any of those things, if you find yourself at the point where you are harassing a human person that's playing a character or harassing someone that wrote something to the point where it's like, you feel like they need to hear your negativity. If you don't realize that if I comment on this page, that is this person's page, and I'm in the comments, like, what a fugly. Like, all of these hateful things. Like, I hated the way that you played this character. You should die in a fire. Like, if you're saying things like that, then you don't need to be online. You need to take a step back. And I think it's hard to realize when you've crossed into that. And I will say my big feeling about this, honestly, is that during the pandemic, we were forced to be so terminally online for any form of a connection.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And we all have so much unprocessed trauma from that time where we went from living our lives normally to living in a chronic state of fear, trapped in our houses, like, only surviving on these small connections that we got online and from our friends and from those little dopamine hits. And if you already were a person who was lonely and isolated, like, I still remember, like, a time before that where I was listening to, like, I was still teaching Sunday school. Our pastor at that church had said, like, we live in the loneliest city in the world, but everyone is afraid to reach out. So you take a bunch of people who are already lonely, already sad. I was like, I had just had a baby and was going through like postpartum and didn't know it. And like fortunately got on medicine like the day before the shutdown happened to like process that. I was scared to leave my house. I already had like crippling. I couldn't walk my baby outside. It was just like the. All of these things and just imagine every person has a story. I think about like my kid was like, went from being in first grade to like the next time he's in school is in like third grade. And other than that, you're on a computer. All of those things have combined with the ability to have access to be an asshole to people or like the abuse of that. The combination of all of those things has resulted in this abusive culture. And we're so desensitized to so much stuff violence if it's just we're so mean. And there's this joy that people find in like saying like the nastiest neg thing to people. That kindness has gotten to the point where it's radical. So if you are online and you see hatefulness, you can counteract that. You do not have to be like, oh, like I really hate this movie. I need to let the actor, the director, the this and everyone else knows. If you have that big of a problem with something creative, go create something for yourself. Go see how hard it is. Go see how much of yourself that goes into all of these things and then come back and be that mean and that hateful about someone who has taken the energy to put themselves out there. You have to be discerning enough to know yourself. Act like you have some home training and like you have been somewhere before, but be able to be self aware enough to know that I don't have to say the most hateful thing that I possess.
Kendall Landrin
Well, because I think we're too. In this like era of hot takes, everything has to be viral and so everyone has to have a hot take. And it's like what a hot take usually is. It's kind of like a glorified devil's advocate most of the time where it's just like, what's the negative thing I could say about this thing that people are liking?
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, it's just someone. It's just like. Oh. And a lot of times I feel like it manifests in like a white person being like actually sinners wasn't good and here's why. And you're like, you actually don't know. You know what I mean? It's like you can like or not like a movie privately.
Kendall Landrin
Well, but also things have to be so extreme. If it's a hot take, it can't just be, oh, I liked the movie, or oh, I. It was fine. I didn't really care. It's always either I was obsessed with it or was absolutely terrible. Like, I feel like we were. We just watched the show Yellowjackets, and I feel like the discourse was so intense around it, which is something I'm new to. I'm not really usually keeping up with discourse on stuff, but when there's lesbians involved, I'm like, okay, I gotta see what's going on on the Internet. And it was just so intense where people were like, either they're like, well, this is the greatest show that's ever existed. Which I'm like, okay, well, I don't know if that's probably. That's probably not true, or oh, this is the worst show that's ever. This is the. They have just ruined the show. And I'm like, it could just be a nice show that. Well, maybe nice is the wrong word to describe yellow jackets about children who eat each other. But it's a fun show, an interesting show. That's just fine. And some people might really like it, but it always has to be so intense that people get so worked up about it. We, like, can't have any neutrality or any just like small feeling about a show.
Christina Ariel
No, there's no nuance in it. It's just easier to be either extremely upset. And I think the hard part about it too is just like, that's what's gonna show up. You're gonna keep seeing that. You're gonna keep seeing that. And it's easy to use that as a medium to get people to be more hateful and to be more divisive. Like these, like, if you go into fandom, like, some of these things have gotten so, so aggressive. I went through a thing a few years ago that was really hard for me. And it's just wild to see, like, when I went through it and you see all these people that are saying, like, horrible things about you that aren't true or that have cherry picked things that you've said to, like, make you this person that you are. And my thing is you can say a lot of things about me. You could say whatever. I don't generally care or I will laugh at most things. But I believe in kindness and I don't like to leave people worse than I found them.
Jordan Myrick
Sure.
Christina Ariel
I don't like that.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And I think the thing in those situations, like, usually it's like oh, like, this person destroyed. Whatever that time period, I was grateful. Like, I continued to, like, show people, show up, show people who I am. So this. You can read an article or you can watch. And then as it was happening and all the stuff was getting so, like, heavy, I started to see, like, my friends, people that I'd work with, people that I didn't know, that I had affected, that are like, that's not who this person is. And that they knew my character enough. But not everyone is. Is that fortunate. I feel like we need to just take a beat and remember, like, when will you get into, like, I'm hoping I'm answering the question properly, but when you get into that part where it's destroy, destroy, destroy, destroy, I think it's easy to forget that there's another person on the side of that. And so to kind of, like, in going through all of that while also dealing with postpartum depression, pandemic, all of these different things. Like, it almost broke me as a person.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And so I take that kind of stuff very seriously. Like, I have to check myself on what I'm saying online. I have to make sure I'm not going out here and doing something or being intentionally and willfully hurtful under the guise of my opinion. Like, everyone feels like their opinion is so important. And your opinion is important. It is valid. Your feelings are valid. Are your actions. Are you out here trying to make someone feel bad? Are you the first thing that somebody sees from your hand, from your account, from your thing, Is it going to be, I hate you? This is horrible. What if it's their birthday person? A bad day on their birthday because you needed to say the negative things so bad, because you knew that they would see the negative thing. And the interaction culture of it comes into the thing because it's like, okay, yeah, you're saying thank you to them. Thank you to them. But I want you to get mad. I want you to respond to me. And then when you respond to me, I'm gonna be like, I'm either gonna keep negging you and keep, like, engaging in bad faith, or I'm gonna be like, sorry.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Like, I just so often what it.
Christina Ariel
Is, and it is. It's because we are yearning for connection so bad. It's like a child, like, misbehaving to get your attention.
Kendall Landrin
I was just gonna say. Cause it's like some of these people, it is like. Like the people they watch on the Internet is like their family, which is, like, so sick and dark in its own way.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. It could be really cool and fun, but I think it can let some people affect themselves in a really negative way.
Kendall Landrin
So then when. If your mom is not paying attention to you, that is like, the classic thing that super nanny taught me is that your kids are gonna do is they're gonna act out and they're gonna say things that they don't mean or they're gonna say mean things to get your attention. And I think that is kind of what can happen, which is really scary.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. Because I think it's hard because once again, I think these dropout personalities are not your mom.
Kendall Landrin
Well, but also it's, like, hard because these are. These are. Unless they are your mom, and then.
Jordan Myrick
Unless Rekha Shankar's your mom. Yeah.
Kendall Landrin
But also these are adults, which is so hard because I recently we've also been watching the Last of Us, which I know was a video game, which we did not play, but I know that is created. People are very passionate about their opinions on the Last of Us. And I guess a girl who was on the show, and I'm terrible. I don't remember a single actor's name or any character's name, but. But the girl who plays a girl, that's bad. I'm gonna try to not even.
Christina Ariel
Kayla Deaver.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah. Yeah. Apparently she was getting so much hate. And I was like, that is so wild. Because that she's playing a. Like, for what her character does. I was like, that is so interesting. And it reminded me of way back in the day when wizard of Oz came out and the girl who played the Wicked Witch of the west would, like, go out into public and kids would, like, kick her and, like, like, throw stuff at her. But young kids, because they're like, oh, my God, that's the Wicked Witch of the West. Also, they had, like, one movie a year, so they really probably were like, this is a real witch.
Christina Ariel
Soap operas, too. Villains on soap operas that would go out into the streets and, like, people would slap them or, like, be like, how dare you put that baby down a well? And just, like, all of the stuff that, like, they didn't actually do. And I think that it's. It is with that parasocial aspect to it that we forget that some of these things, like, especially if this is all you're engaging with.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
Like, you are going to feel that connection where you're like, I want to go and, like, talk to this person or see this or did it. If I've met this person, I'm gonna cry. I'm gonna fall on the Floor. But I think it's important to just remember that boundaries are a thing and that people are people. And on the other side of it, especially like with the last of us, is this. It's the same thing that happened, same character in the video game. And don't break people. Yeah, like, it's not worth it. Nothing that you. Your opinion on this piece of art. Go form a blog. Like, do whatever you need to do. Like, but don't go to these people and just harass them. And we're not going to be able to stop the negativity of it. The algorithm is going to force it to you. There's more clicks in it. And sometimes again, the mean people are funny and that just is what it is.
Kendall Landrin
And that's how sometimes people contain multitudes.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, they're mean, they're very funny.
Christina Ariel
But we just, we gotta be so mindful about that, man. Just be discerning about what you read to go. Like to make sure, to make sure I circle back to this question. You have to fact check. You have to go back and look at things. You also the most important of all of these, a lot of movies, you see these big negative scores and reactions for negative ratings and things for have the most loud voices in them. And the issue with that is a lot of people are not forming their own opinion. They're just going with, I saw so and so said it was terrible, so therefore it's terrible. Be your own critic. Go and see the medium and if you don't like it, then let that be it. But you go and make up your own mind. Stop letting people on the Internet make up your mind for you. You are capable. You possess so much. Go and find out and form your own opinions. Stop forcing your opinion about what someone else is doing upon them.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
Because that is your issue, not theirs. Yeah, they put the art out there, feel the way that you want about it. But you don't have to be hateful.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Yes. I'm curious. In terms of dating, let's say one of our followers sees somebody on a dating app, they're like, oh, he seems so cute. He seems so nerdy. That's my type. Are there any red flags that they could look out for to make sure that this person is a cool nerd and not an incellie type nerd?
Christina Ariel
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Jordan Myrick
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Christina Ariel
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Jordan Myrick
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Christina Ariel
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Christina Ariel
I like to ask people their opinions on certain things and see how they respond to them. One of the things I like to ask people about what are your feelings on the Star wars prequels?
Jordan Myrick
Okay. And what would be a good answer and what would be a red flag answer? I'm scared because I have thoughts on the Star wars prequels.
Kendall Landrin
Uh oh. And I might have to break up after this.
Christina Ariel
I mean the thing is, obviously you're entitled to the opinion that you are, but I think that one of the things that we forget is remembering that some things are not necessarily meant for us. Like George Lucas made those movies with like 12 year olds in mind and to be extremely and exceptionally hateful about movies and for children especially considering like I did an interview with Hayden Christensen at Star Wars Celebration of London. It's one of my favorite things in the entire world that I have ever done because like 20 years of hate on this movie and it took that 20, he said, George Lucas said it takes 20 years for that to come back around with him with Ahmed Best, with Kelly Marie Tran, with all of these people, John Boy, with all of these incredible, kind, wonderful people to be in a position to see him get his flowers. And like that's my, like I saw that man in movie theaters. Like those things are to know what people say and how that affects a person and how to be able to come back out there to a room full of people that are like now realizing like, oh, this did mean something to me, this was powerful. And to have those kids who at that point though, yes, the adults who saw the originals were louder and these kids that got to enjoy it and that those were their characters, that was their generation, now get to give those people their flowers and be present at those celebrations and give them that feeling of just like, you. Your art mattered to me. It's like, listen, on One Tree Hill, when Chad Michael Murray, as Lucas, went up to Peyton, and he was like, your art matters. It's what got me here. That's such a powerful thing to say. And those things are important. It's like, that interview was so special to me.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
But to know that, like, to see someone get that emotional and not know that they mattered that much to someone, because the other part of it was so loud. Like, I think that that's a thing to be remembered, that there's a power in kindness and grace and understanding that some stuff is not for you. You.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
I feel thoroughly relieved. I'll start by saying that I love the Star wars prequels. I was a child for them, and I thoroughly enjoyed them, and I thought they were great. And the costuming of Natalie Portman, and I thought Hayden Christensen performance and all these things. I loved them. I still really like them. They're my Star wars movies. And. But I think that's such a great litmus test on, like, a dating app or something to. Because I do think. Yeah. Men that are so loud about hating something so passionately for no real reason that isn't intended for them. I think you could, you know, ask the same kind of questions with, like, the Lady Ghostbusters, things like that. And that kind of answer. I think that's so smart.
Christina Ariel
Just wait till they hate something about you.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And then you got to sit there and deal with that and, like, all the, like, the nitpicking in the gr. Find someone that can see the positive in a situation. Find someone that lets you have a silver lining or someone that changes their mind when presented with new information that shows that kind of growth.
Jordan Myrick
Yes.
Kendall Landrin
And just so. Yeah. Awareness. Not everything is made just for you, which I'm sure is hard to explain to people who. Most media has been made just for them, but we see that all the time with, like, LGBT representation and stuff, where people are like, I don't know. I just don't like it when it's like, I'd rather have it be two straight people. Like, why would they change this character to be gay? And I just want. And I'm like, but we have to sit through that all the time, and we get bored. We would also rather everything be gay, but we don't expect that. I think that is a really smart thing to ask.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
You want your world to reflect the world that you live in. And I think, oh, also another good litmus test. And this is not just A nerd geeky thing, Please. This is in general, if you're looking to see, like, what's my world gonna be like, go to someone's Instagram and scroll back and see how far you have to go to find a person of color or any to, like, anything of this sort to know, like, just, like, what's your exposure level to, like.
Jordan Myrick
Different cultures and people and who they follow?
Christina Ariel
Oh, yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Can also be a big thing because, you know, especially if I'm sure some of our listeners might be younger, and it's like, if you live in Idaho and you don't have a very diverse friend group, that you know where you live when you're younger is not necessarily always your fault and not necessarily always not your fault at all, most of the time. But I think there is something of, like, if you feel like what you're shown is something that's not very diverse, going and pursuing diversity in your own space. And a lot of times for young people, that space is social media. So I think if you feel like you want to diversify your life and your mind and your education and things like that that follow other types of people that are different than you. And I think if I were to go follow someone and they were only following all white people or all straight people or all thin people or whatever it is, I'd be like, this is weird. This is, like, almost a fetish. Right? Like, why are you only following one kind of person?
Christina Ariel
I always think about, like, when Garcelle Beauvais joined Real House West Beverly Hills, and I was losing my mind. Like, Garcelle is, like, famous. Yeah. When you think of, like, if I were to think about, like. Like, let me look. Jamie Foxx show coming to America, all of these, like, iconic roles, and there's really, like, a. You realize that there's, like, a black famous and a white famous because, like, people were not as impressed as I needed them to be because it just, like, her career didn't cross over. It's like the people that grew up, and it's like, you either watch, like, Friends or you watch Living Single.
Kendall Landrin
Right.
Christina Ariel
Or you watch, like, Seinfeld or you watch Martin.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And it was just like, what was it? I think it was like, the people versus O.J. where they had, like, like, a whole thing about this and, like, the jury, like, what they were watching and, like, part of the jury that was watching, like, it's like, we want to watch Friends. Like, no, we want to watch Martin. And, like, it was just this, like. Or I think it was I think it was Seinfeld versus Martin. It's like that little conundrum. It's very interesting to me like, that. Like, it's what you make sure that you are watching things with people that don't look like you or live like you. Like, that's a part of culture. It's why people travel to go and expose themselves to different things. Movies and books and pop culture. All of these things have the means to take you outside of the bubble that you live in if you are willing to step out of it.
Kendall Landrin
Well, that's the thing. I think it's like, we got. I think some people get so. Like. But, well, I didn't. It didn't fall right in my lap. And it's like, it's. Well, it's not going to because, you know, media makes sure it doesn't. So you have to go and seek it out. And, like, that is. Is expected of you. So I think that is also. Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And give it a chance. And it's like, even, like, look again, sinners. Like, just looking at the. Like, the richness of the culture. Like, not just black culture, like, Irish culture, how it connects to, like. Like, Asian culture. Like, how all these communities are intertwined. Like, it was. That was. Felt like. And I'm from the south, like, seeing, like, a depiction of a world that looks like mine. And that I understand in a different way. It's like, those things are important. Those stories are important. And supporting. We're seeing. As we're seeing, supporting those stories is so important.
Jordan Myrick
Okay, we have one last segment. This is called Normal Nerd or Give it the bird. So we made this segment specifically for you. We're gonna give you scenarios, and then you're gonna tell us that's normal nerd shit. It's cool. I like it. Or it gets a pass. Whatever. Or you give it the bird. Fuck that. That's bad. You're not into it.
Christina Ariel
It. I'm down.
Jordan Myrick
Sound good?
Christina Ariel
It feels like a game on. Watch what happens live. You're like my Andy Cohen.
Jordan Myrick
You like that?
Christina Ariel
I do.
Jordan Myrick
Hell, yeah.
Christina Ariel
Thank you.
Kendall Landrin
Okay.
Jordan Myrick
You find pictures on their phone of cartoon characters with boobs Photoshopped onto them. Is that normal nerd or give it the bird?
Christina Ariel
I literally just sat with Izzy talking about, like, on. I'm actually about playing games where you add fake titties to stuff. So I think that's very normal nerd.
Jordan Myrick
Normal nerd.
Kendall Landrin
To me, I'm like, you have to know if they added the titties or was it something they found on The Internet.
Jordan Myrick
No context. You just go on their phone. Oh, and there. There she is.
Christina Ariel
Anime titties.
Jordan Myrick
Yoshi with big fake titties.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, like the. The Raika.
Jordan Myrick
Reika's obsessed with this picture of Yoshi with big titties.
Christina Ariel
I feel like you need to consider the friends that we have at dropout, and that sounds very normal and on brand for a lot of people that I know. So personally, I'm gonna say in my life, normal nerds.
Jordan Myrick
Okay. Common. At least they have a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows symbol from Harry Potter, but they really hate it. They hate that they have that tattoo. Is that normal nerd or is that giveth a bird?
Christina Ariel
They regret it.
Jordan Myrick
They regret it. They hate that they have it.
Christina Ariel
Okay, then we'll say normal nerd. They're allowed to have that reservation about that commitment that they made to something that ended up being an absolute trash box.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah, absolutely.
Kendall Landrin
Because I think about that often. I'm like, not only did a couple people get that tattoo, that is maybe I would say, one of the more common tattoos. It's like, the cross, and then the.
Jordan Myrick
Deathly Hallows symbol is what it feels like.
Christina Ariel
Yeah. I always think about the fact of, like, that I never got, like. I think I had that one true phantom tattoo, and that's my, like, Dungeons and Dragons tattoo, and that's. That's for life. But I think about the fact that I'm, like, almost did, like, do, like, a wand on my finger.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
And how annoyed I would be at this point in life. Like, we went to Universal the other day, and my son was like, don't you want to ride this thing with me? And I was like, I don't. I have absolutely no desire. And he's like, why? And I was like, talk about trash.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Christina Ariel
In my trash. Like, I mean, people who are exactly. Exceptionally hateful, who have every means and every outlet to do good and take the money that they have to hurt communities that are already marginalized just because they get some sick kick out of it when they could really just go and be a decent person or retire or do anything else in the world. It's always franchise. Other people retire.
Jordan Myrick
You have so much money. I'm begging to not work. What's going on with you? I want to keep working. That being said, I think if you're a cisgender person that has the Deathly house tattoo, I think cut that skin off your body and then go to J.K. rowling's house and throw that skin at her house. I think that's the one trend.
Kendall Landrin
What a trend that would be.
Jordan Myrick
Way to repent, I think. Let's get it going. Hashtag Deathly Hallows tattoo skin at house.
Christina Ariel
That's the hashtag disclaimer. I do not support you harming yourselves. Please do not cut your skin yet. If this transforms, write a very angry letter. In this case, we write. Sometimes we write angry letters that we don't send to process our feelings. This is one of those situations where.
Kendall Landrin
You can send angry letters. I also want to throw my hat.
Jordan Myrick
A little top, top layer of skin off.
Kendall Landrin
I don't want to be.
Christina Ariel
You could just have a. Like a surgery, a tattoo.
Jordan Myrick
Like a Pete Fine Davidson. Remove the surgery to remove the tattoo, but have them save the skin shavings and go to England and throw the skin shavings like ashes, because in a way, they are. Okay. He wants to have a LARP camp honeymoon.
Christina Ariel
That sounds amazing.
Jordan Myrick
Okay, that's that.
Christina Ariel
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
Normal nerd. We like. Okay. They want your wedding cake to be shaped like a tardis.
Christina Ariel
My wedding cake was a tardis.
Kendall Landrin
Is that true?
Christina Ariel
Yes.
Kendall Landrin
I'm obsessed with it.
Christina Ariel
My house is a tardis. My mailbox is a tardis.
Jordan Myrick
What do you mean your house is a tardis?
Christina Ariel
I told my husband I wanted to live in a TARDIS blue house. And our house is TARDIS blue with a white picket fence. It's designed after the cafe that Clara rode off with in Doctor who.
Kendall Landrin
Talk about a gay awakening. Clara. The. The craziest part about Clara is that I did not really watch Doctor who, but my freshman and sophomore year of high school, I would just watch compilations and edits of Clara. I didn't watch the show.
Christina Ariel
Oh. I got into Doctor who originally because of, like, I think it was when I got Die Hard into it, like, obsessively, was because of a fan video that I watched on YouTube. There were all these, like, fan fiction videos of 10 and Rose set to almost love her by a fine frenzy.
Jordan Myrick
Oh, fine Frenzy.
Christina Ariel
Shout out.
Jordan Myrick
I have not heard about Fine Frenzy in quite some time.
Christina Ariel
And I still will hear that song and, like, see, like, clips from the episode Doomsday put together and ball my eyes out there. Like, it is so important to me. But, yes, it is absolutely normal to me. Like, my husband made my TARDIS mailbox so that I could have a TARDIS mailbox.
Kendall Landrin
See, this is what we're talking about. You don't have to be into the thing, but that's supporting your partner's interests.
Christina Ariel
Like, he doesn't. He doesn't not care about It. But he wore like. Like Doctor who socks at our wedding so that when he pulled up his thing, like, you could see they were mine. But, like, they. He was in TARDIS socks. And then we had the TARDIS wedding cake because, like, of course. Why not?
Kendall Landrin
Yeah.
Jordan Myrick
That's very sweet. Because that's normal nerd. They want to name your kids Natalia and Yelena because they're such big Marvel fans. Normal nerd. Or give it the bird.
Christina Ariel
What's wrong with that? That's really cute. What if they're twins?
Jordan Myrick
Nothing's wrong with it. I'm just asked. I'm just curious.
Christina Ariel
Yeah, that's normal.
Jordan Myrick
Okay.
Christina Ariel
That's like, totally normal.
Jordan Myrick
I love that.
Christina Ariel
At some point, I think we all read a, like, see a thing that we're deeply into fandom wise, and we're like, I would name my kid that.
Jordan Myrick
Okay. I love. The last one we have for you is they dress as the Joker every Halloween. Normal nerd. Or give it the bird. They're an adult. Every Halloween they're dressing as the Joker. Heath Ledger's the Joker, not the Joker.
Christina Ariel
There's no, like, deviation. There's no, like, each year they do a different joke.
Jordan Myrick
Every year they're doing the Heath Ledger Joker. Okay.
Kendall Landrin
So not creative. And they're not.
Jordan Myrick
And they're an adult.
Kendall Landrin
Wow.
Christina Ariel
I mean, I kind of feel like that's also normal nerd. Like, there's somebody out there that is doing that, like, on a religious.
Jordan Myrick
And that's not a red flag to.
Christina Ariel
You that they dress as the Heath Ledger Joker all the time?
Jordan Myrick
Every.
Kendall Landrin
All the time.
Jordan Myrick
Not even. I guess. I guess all the time. All the time's not a red flag for you?
Christina Ariel
I mean, all the time would be a red flag, but if it was.
Jordan Myrick
Like, every Halloween they're dressing as Heath Ledger, the Joker, and being like, you want to know how I got these scars? You're adding stuff. I'm adding context. Because if a man is dressing as the Joker, Heath Ledger Taylor's version, every single Halloween, you know, he's really into it. You know, he has a Joker bumper sticker on his car. You know, he posts an Instagram post every year on the day that Heath Ledger dies. You know that he sang all the lines from the movie.
Christina Ariel
I feel like that's a normal, intense fan. Like, an intense, intense fan.
Jordan Myrick
Okay. And you see nothing wrong with a fan that intense.
Christina Ariel
I mean, I'm like, we're probably not on the same wavelength or like, in the same space, but, like, I mean, do you.
Jordan Myrick
I love that that's beautiful.
Kendall Landrin
That is the.
Jordan Myrick
I think that's. Honestly, it feels like kind of what we think on this podcast is you kind of have to just be yourself out loud, and that's the only way your relationships are gonna work.
Kendall Landrin
Yeah, exactly right. Exactly right. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for being here. This was such a absolute delight, and I feel like I learned so much. I know nothing, so I really do when Jordan says that I know nothing about pop culture. So I was really soaking it in like a sponge. And thank you all so much for listening. If you are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere you get your podcast, make sure to rate and review us. And if you're on YouTube, make sure to, like, comment and subscribe and follow us all over on the socials. We post questions there. You can connect with us, see what we've got going on. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I always. Jordan says I always do a little radio voice. At the end of the podcast. I start being like, happy Tuesday.
Jordan Myrick
She delivers it to only her camera. It's supposed to be this camera over here. The weather's great.
Kendall Landrin
I hope you're having a nice drive to work this morning. All right, thanks, Delilah.
Jordan Myrick
Yeah. Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you next week. Bye.
Happy Wife Happy Life: Episode 63 – "Nerds Need Love Too!!!" with Krystina Arielle
Release Date: May 12, 2025
Hosts: Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick
Guest: Krystina Arielle
In Episode 63 of Happy Wife Happy Life, hosts Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick dive into the vibrant world of nerd culture with their special guest, Krystina Arielle. Known as the "queen of fandoms," Krystina brings her extensive experience from various fandoms, including Star Wars, Doctor Who, and her work with Dropout Green. The hosts humorously acknowledge Krystina's blend of nerdiness and charm, setting the stage for an engaging conversation about navigating relationships within geek communities.
Krystina Arielle initiates the discussion by dismantling common stereotypes associated with nerds. At [02:08], she explains, "If you are passionate about something, then I would consider that to be like your geeky thing, your nerdy thing." She emphasizes that nerdiness isn't confined to traditional realms like comic books or sci-fi but extends to any intense passion, such as football or even reality TV shows like those on Bravo. This broad perspective highlights the inclusivity within nerd culture, asserting that anyone can belong to a fandom if they harbor a deep enthusiasm for a particular interest.
Krystina shares her own journey into nerd culture, tracing back to her childhood in [02:08]. From her first visit to a comic book store with her grandpa to her enduring love for Star Wars and Doctor Who, she illustrates how early exposure and familial support can cultivate a lasting passion. Personal anecdotes, such as her experiences with collecting pogs and bonding over Marvel vs. Capcom with her father, underscore the meaningful connections fostered through shared interests.
A significant portion of the conversation centers on the diversity within fandoms and the importance of breaking down preconceived notions. At [09:17], Krystina states, "I feel like a lot of those things are based in stereotype." She challenges the narrow image of nerds often portrayed in media, advocating for the recognition that fandoms are diverse and multifaceted. By highlighting examples from Bravo and linking popular culture elements like the Real Housewives to broader fandoms, she demonstrates how interconnected and varied nerd communities truly are.
The hosts and Krystina delve into the dynamics of being in a relationship where one partner is deeply entrenched in nerd culture. At [18:00], Krystina discusses her marriage to a magician who shares her nerdy interests to some extent but also maintains his unique passions. This balance illustrates the importance of mutual support and respect for each other's hobbies. She advises that partners don't need to share identical interests but should appreciate and support each other's passions to foster a harmonious relationship.
A recurring theme is the challenge of managing spoilers and maintaining healthy online interactions. Krystina shares her proactive approach to spoilers, likening them to "foreshadowing" and embracing them as part of the experience rather than viewing them as detrimental. At [08:51], she reflects, "I'm gonna be like, I always do a little radio voice..." emphasizing the necessity of adapting to the inevitable spread of information in the digital age. The hosts further explore how internet culture influences fandom interactions, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects.
Krystina raises concerns about the intersection of nerd culture with toxic online behaviors, particularly the rise of incel mentality within some segments of fandoms. At [39:27], she warns against the "incel pipeline", where individuals may transition from benign fandom participation to harassment and negativity. She advocates for media literacy and self-awareness, urging fans to engage thoughtfully and respectfully online to prevent the erosion of supportive community environments.
The episode features a segment where Krystina addresses audience questions about dating within nerd culture. A prominent question is, "How do I deal with dating a nerd who doesn't consider my hobbies interesting?" At [29:11], Krystina emphasizes the importance of communication and expressing one's feelings openly. She advises that partners should address issues directly rather than letting resentment build, ensuring that both individuals feel valued and understood in the relationship.
In a playful and insightful segment titled "Normal Nerd or Give It the Bird," Krystina and the hosts evaluate various nerdy scenarios to determine their acceptability within nerd culture. Notable examples include:
Cartoon Characters with Added Boobs: Krystina considers this "normal nerd" behavior, especially within communities like Dropout, where creative modifications are part of fan engagement.
Deathly Hallows Tattoo Regret: They discuss entrepreneurs who regret their tattoos associated with fandoms, affirming that personal growth and change are natural aspects of being a fan.
TARDIS-Themed Weddings and Home Decor: Krystina celebrates couples who integrate their fandoms into their personal lives, viewing them as "normal nerd" actions that foster deeper connections.
This segment not only entertains but also reinforces the idea that nerd culture embraces a wide range of expressions and passions.
As the episode concludes, Kendahl and Jordan reiterate the significance of embracing one's passions and fostering mutual respect within relationships. Krystina emphasizes the power of kindness and understanding in combating negativity both online and offline. The hosts encourage listeners to engage with their fandoms thoughtfully, maintain healthy boundaries, and support their partners' interests to cultivate fulfilling relationships.
Notable Quotes:
"If you are passionate about something, then I would consider that to be like your geeky thing, your nerdy thing." – Christina Ariel [02:08]
"Your joy belongs to you. So somebody doesn't get to come in and tell you you can't enjoy this thing because you don't fit XYZ criteria." – Christina Ariel [08:35]
"Media literacy is important." – Christina Ariel [39:27]
"Communication is key. You have to say what your feelings are." – Christina Ariel [29:13]
"You need to be discerning about what you read to make sure you're not let people on the Internet make up your mind for you." – Christina Ariel [39:18]
Final Thoughts:
Episode 63 of Happy Wife Happy Life masterfully explores the nuances of nerd culture and its impact on personal relationships. With Krystina Arielle's expertise and the hosts' relatable anecdotes, listeners gain valuable insights into fostering mutual respect, embracing diverse passions, and navigating the challenges of modern fandoms. Whether you identify as a nerd or navigate relationships with someone who does, this episode offers thoughtful guidance and heartfelt discussions to enhance your relationship dynamics.