Keeping Sane & Lame Nicknames

Summary

The Book Lisp Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: The Book Lisp with Jon Ryan & Sarah Colonna
Episode: Keeping Sane & Lame Nicknames
Date: September 15, 2025
Hosts: Jon Ryan & Sarah Colonna

Episode Overview

This week on The Book Lisp, Jon Ryan and Sarah Colonna take a nostalgic and lighthearted detour from their usual book club fare, reflecting on pandemic living, spontaneous nicknames, and travel adventures. In between, they provide updates for Patreon members, tease upcoming episodes, and share the origins of Jon’s “Ginger Ninja” moniker. With characteristic humor and candidness, Jon and Sarah discuss how they kept sane during lockdown, the culture of nicknames (both inspired and never-should've-been), and what’s next for the podcast.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Travel Surprises and Podcast Scheduling (00:20–03:37)

• Jon’s Sudden Germany Trip: Jon recounts getting a last-minute invitation from the Seattle Seahawks to fly to Germany for a football event.
  • “I got a text from the Seattle Seahawks...they said, can you go to Germany tomorrow? And at 1:59 I said, yes, I'm in.” – Jon (00:47)
• Logistics and Anticipation: Jon discusses concerns about jet lag and excitement about attending his first European soccer match in Cologne.
• Sarah's Perspective: Sarah expresses excitement for Jon—“I get to experience that with you. And then all of a sudden…you get to go to Germany twice in two months.” (01:00)

2. COVID-19 Lockdown Reflections (10:05–31:42)

• Lockdown in Los Angeles: The couple shares personal experiences from the peak of LA’s strict lockdown.
  • “LA was very shut down for like a year...just locked down, down.” – Jon (12:02)
• Socializing & Sanity Maintenance: Their support for local businesses, including Friday "walking happy hours," creative to-go drinks, and sidewalk socializing with drinks in salsa containers.
  • “Walking down the street during the pandemic holding a salsa container full of warm margarita with just a freaking straw on top of it. No shame whatsoever.” – Jon (17:26)
• Creating ‘The Pandemic Room’: The conversion of an unused home space into a gym/entertainment hub complete with a bar and TV.
  • “It just felt like, let's go upstairs to our pandemic room.” – Sarah (14:30)
• Moments of Levity: Brunch on the balcony, five-hour lasagna recipes to “burn the day," and delivering cookies to friends' doorsteps.
  • “One Sunday, you put chairs and a little high top table up on the balcony...and you served me pancakes up there or mimosas...You made it like a little cute brunch spot.” – Sarah (20:42)
• Reflections on Slowed Life: Both appreciate the time together and the silver linings despite unique challenges.
  • “There was a lot of COVID divorces. We weren’t one of them. Not even close.” – Sarah (30:34)

3. Performing, Traveling, and Social Life Amid Shutdowns (24:54–28:58)

• Sarah’s Comedy Gigs: Sarah describes the weirdness of performing standup to masked audiences and the attempts to keep venues alive.
  • “You couldn’t tell if anyone was laughing. And you’re like, what are we doing?” – Sarah (27:38)
• Drive-in Shows: Both note the fleeting resurgence of drive-in events, with Jon lamenting their disappearance: “That was something I was hoping was going to stick around. I don’t think it really did.” (28:22)

4. Reflections on the Book Club & Patreon Updates (07:31–08:43, 43:56–45:06)

• Upcoming Patreon Short Story: "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson will be discussed a little late due to Jon’s trip; they consider filming themselves reading and reacting to the story.
• Next Main Book: “The Good Lie” by A.R. Torrey promises twists and top-tier psychological thriller content.
  • “I was...resisting trying to Google what happens because I couldn’t put it together...I resisted so I would be able to discover as the book intended.” – Sarah (08:16)
• October Podcast Lineup: The upcoming review episode, plus a fifth Monday special interview with the owner of Lovestruck Seattle, a romance-focused indie bookstore.

5. The Big Nickname Chat (32:09–42:48)

• Book-Inspired Prompt: Inspired by “Wedding People,” they reminisce about the weird, wonderful, and self-imposed nicknames from their youth and Jon’s time in pro sports.
  • “Did you have any other friends...who nicknamed themselves?” – Sarah (33:16)
• High School and Sports Nicknames: Stories involve “Pteroid,” “Teabag,” and “Jono." Sarah shares about “Bucky” and the evolution to “Wheat.”
  • “You nicknamed for the nickname...You just nicknamed your nickname.” – Sarah (36:50)
• Pro Football Handles: How sports nicknames come and go: “Most nicknames are like...B Wags, Bam Bam Cam, but no one with, you know, two balls would call him that.” – Jon (38:02)
  • “Beast Mode is obviously the biggest one…He’ll text me once a year...‘what up, it’s Beast Mode.’” – Jon (38:40)
• The Origin of “Ginger Ninja”:
  • “So when I competed on American Ninja Warrior...I wanted to be the Ginger Ninja.” – Jon (41:40)
  • The nickname stuck, became part of Seahawks merchandise, and is still fondly used by fans.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We were so locked up that we thought Tiger King was amazing. That’s how squirrely we were going.” – Jon (13:21)
• “Every Friday, how we do our little walking tour for drinking...could not see a single car...it was like the apocalypse.” – Jon (15:11)
• “I just want to go to f***ing brunch.” – Sarah (21:08)
• “There was some things about COVID that I...do miss...Sometimes you want to be lazy and do nothing all day...During COVID, I was like, what else am I gonna do?” – Jon (22:01)
• “We weren’t one of the [COVID divorces]. Not even close. No, we had a nice time together, because we like to do the same things.” – Sarah (30:34)
• “Walking down the street during the pandemic holding a salsa container full of warm margarita...This is where we're at, people.” – Jon (17:26)

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Important Timestamps

• Jon's last-minute Germany trip: 00:20–03:37
• Lockdown lifestyle and pandemic stories: 10:05–31:42
• Performing and travel during COVID: 24:54–28:58
• Book and Patreon updates: 07:31–08:43, 43:56–45:06
• Nickname discussion and stories: 32:09–42:48
• Ginger Ninja origin story: 41:28–41:53

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Upcoming Content & Ways to Connect

• October Book: The Good Lie by A.R. Torrey
• Patreon Short Story: “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (delayed, releasing Sept 15 or 16)
• Guests: Fifth Monday interview with Lovestruck Seattle bookshop owner
• Stay Connected: Join the Facebook group “Book Listeners,” follow them on socials, and leave a five-star review for the podcast

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a warm, funny, and relatable discussion about how Jon and Sarah coped with pandemic monotony and created new routines, their affection for both Seattle and pandemic memories (“the pandemic room”), and a hilarious deep-dive into the world of nicknames. With trademark banter, they keep book talk accessible, engaging, and always rooted in the shared experiences of their audience.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Sarah Colonna.

[B]

And I'm John Ryan.

[A]

And you're listening to the Book List. The Book List.

[B]

The Book Lisp.

[A]

Oh, that's right. You're listening to the Book Lisp. Hello and welcome to the Book Lisp with John Ryan and Sarah Colonna. Hi, John.

[B]

Hello.

[A]

What are you doing?

[B]

I'm just getting ready for a trip.

[A]

You are. We are actually recording on a Thursday, Monday episode a little earlier than we normally do because John, we got a text yesterday to see if he was available to go to Germany. Today.

[B]

I got a text from the Seattle Seahawks. I got a text at 1:58. They said, can you go to Germany? Can you go to Germany tomorrow? And at 1:59 I said, yes, I'm in.

[A]

It's a good thing you're retired.

[B]

Literally 20 hours ago. And I'm getting picked up in two hours to take a flight to Germany.

[A]

I know, I'm so excited for you. I. So I. You guys have heard us talk about how we're going to Europe in October for Very Good Friends wedding. We're going to Austria and so we are also going to Germany. We're going to Munich, Switzerland and then Austria and then back to Munich because we wanted to spend some time in Munich as well. And so I haven't been to Germany since I was born there. And John, you know, for like 30 years. Because I'm 30 get one baby. I know. Thank you. So I, and then John's never been. So it was, it's, it was so funny for. He was like, this is my first trip to Europe and I'm like, oh, I get to experience that with you. And then all of a sudden they bring this up and you get to go to Germany twice in two months.

[B]

I know it, it's going to be a very quick trip though. So I'm a little nervous about the jet lag.

[A]

I know, I know.

[B]

I go. So Basically it's a nine hour time difference. It's a 12 hour flight. Luckily it's direct to Frankfurt. And so I think I'm land tomorrow at like 3 o' clock or something like that.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Like, or whatever time it is. And I'm gonna at p.m. so you basically lose a day in a way because it's a nine hour time change plus 12 hour flight. So you're kind of there. It's like almost like 24 hours. And then right when I get there, I have to drive two hours to Cologne and then checking the hotel, they're taking me to a professional soccer game. That night.

[A]

I'm so excited about that part for you, John. Like, if you guys don't know. John is a huge fan of professional soccer. Loves to watch his Swansea team. Loves. He's just. And he's never been to a soccer game in Europe and no. Or football game I guess you would call it there.

[B]

I've been. I mean going to a soccer game in Seattle is about the closest thing I. A lot of people think it's even a better experience because there's fans that are so crazy in Seattle. But yeah, this is gonna be, this gonna be really cool because I've always wanted to do it. Then for our trip coming up, all the, like all the dates didn't really line up so we couldn't go to a soccer game. So I'm about that. But I'm just like I'm gonna be fricking tired by that point. So I'll. We'll see. I've never been on like, I've never been on a 12 hour flight before. The longest flight I've ever been to was Miami to Seattle, which is like a seven hour flight coming back that way. That's a long flight.

[A]

But the good thing, you have a book club podcast because you have things to read.

[B]

Yeah, I do. I definitely have things to read. But the nice thing is they put me, I'm up front in a pod. So I'm not in 37B, which I don't think I can even do. I wasn't just being £250. It's not comfortable to sit in a seat that's made, not made for you.

[A]

If you can sleep on the way there, it would be. I've very beneficial. I am going to give you a Xanax to sleep on your way home because then you will. Then you can be kind of copped back up on your sleep on the way home. But I don't know if you want to take one on the way there because you have to get. When you get off the plane, you have stuff to do. Even though it would be worn off by then. You're not as familiar with Xanax as I am.

[B]

Ideally, if I can sleep for four hours on the flight, so then I can kind of get through tomorrow. And then I'll be tired by like tomorrow night in Germany at 11 o' clock when I get back to the hotel, even though it will be 2 o' clock in the US in LA, I'll already be kind of ready for bed because I'll be pretty tired.

[A]

Yeah. And I think that's kind of what they say. Try to go to bed at. Just at night, their time. It'll be interesting. I'm excited for you. I think the coolest part is that you get to see different cities than we're going to, because at first we were like, I wonder if you're going. If is he going to Munich? And. Because. Yeah, because, you know, they asked me to go.

[B]

We didn't. We didn't even know where we. I was going. So, like, people like, where you going? I'm like, I don't know. I don't have a flight yet. Yeah, I'm flying to Frankfurt and then driving to Cologne. Yeah, they have a driver for me, but. And then the Ryan Fire, which is a football team in Europe, in Germany, that I've followed since 1991. I know them very well and they're having like their end of the season dinner. So I'm going to go that on Saturday and then on Sunday, which is so crazy because I'm used to waking up at like 5 o' clock in the US for their soccer games. Now, for them, when we go over there, football games start at like 9 o' clock at night.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Or 7 o' clock is the first game and then the late game's at like 10:15. So I was like, we're going to watch football with a big seahawk party. Watching two games and it goes. It's like 1am yeah, because it'll be. I'm not used to.

[A]

So at 10 o', clock, game will be 7pm over there. So, yeah, it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be a super fun experience. It's gonna be a quick whirlwind, a stamp on the passport and you can get a little taste of. Of that area. I don't. I know you won't really have time to go around. Probably visit a beer hall or something.

[B]

On Saturdays, I don't really have anything until I think until like the late afternoon and then I think on same thing on Sunday. So I'll kind of have a bit of the days to kind of wander around a little bit. Yeah, I hope all the employees in the Seahawks know that I don't want any company. Well, you're not dragging me to some crappy museum. If you listen to this, the Seattle Seahawk employees. I'm going. I'm going on my own and sitting in beer halls and I'll see you at night.

[A]

Yeah, he doesn't want. He doesn't need a tour of any museums. Thank you, though, but I Think they know you by now.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

So, yeah. So we're recording a little early and if you are a Patreon member, it's only $5 a month. We do three exclusive episodes for that month and then we do a little couple. We've done added stuff before, like a bonus chapter, different things that we've read, come up with seen and we'll be adding more as we go. But so we do on the 15th, which is also the day you're listening to this is when the short story would be up on Patreon. Usually first thing in the morning. However, since John is leaving today, it's probably going to be up that night instead. We decided when he gets back, he's going to. It's the Lottery by Shirley Jackson, right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. And it's an old 1948 or something short story. It's considered one of the greatest of all time. So when we cover the short story for Patreon, just know if you're there and I'll put a message on Patreon for you guys too to see it. But it will be probably that night that it will be up. And what we're thinking about doing so that we can get it up that night and not have to bother editors and stuff is just filming ourselves reading it. Like we did one of the bonus chapters last month for whatever that was. So my books are melding together in my head. We are reading the good lie by A.R. tory. I just finished it for October. It is. And it's really good. It's really good. I was, I. I had to resist trying to Google what happens because I couldn't put it together. I couldn't. I kept wanting to know what happened but I couldn't figure it out. And it was. But I, I resisted and so that I would be able to discover as the book intended when she revealed the twists and the turns and the whatnot. So it's very good. It's about a serial killer. It's not, you know, is what it is. My books.

[B]

So lots of great topics next month.

[A]

Yeah, well, shut up. I've been actually, it's funny, I started highlighting things that just, just words and stuff that I go, okay, this can spark a conversation. This can spark a conversation. Different things. Because I know that it is harder during my month to come up with light hearted topics. But yeah, this is right now. We're still in the wedding people. It's week three. Next week is the review.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Week four.

[B]

Big week.

[A]

Yeah. And. And then we have. What's the Name of the bookstore, babe Lovestruck. Love struck. We should be for the fifth Monday having the owner of Lovestruck Seattle on to talk to us. We have emailed with her. We're just setting a date, but that should be our fifth Monday, which we're really excited. She owns a all romance bookshop in Seattle. Started it as a pop up. Now she's getting a brick and mortar. I think it's gonna be super fun to talk to her. So that's a really cool thing that since we have five Mondays this month because your review is always on the fourth Monday. So I'm very excited that we get to do that.

[B]

Yeah, that'll be great.

[A]

Yeah, I reached out to her and, and then May and we made it happen. So we'll be talking to her soon and it'll air on the last Monday of this month. Follow us at the Book Lisp. Join the book listeners Facebook group. You know all the things. Join us on Patreon, give us a review. If you don't want to join us on Patreon, great way to support us is to give us the old five star review, help us raise our profile. Now one thing that's very common in this, in this book and referred to, I'm sure based on when it was written is there's a lot of discussion in the wedding people about what people did during lockdown. During COVID lockdown. And I, you know, she says that she drank a lot. And I thought, yeah, yeah, a lot of us did. Yeah, a lot of us did. A lot of us. I remember at one point they were talking about how like that Christmas or something because of the restrictions on shipping or production or whatever, there wasn't going to be maybe as much wine or something. Remember that?

[B]

There's a few stories, there's a few panic attacks by people here.

[A]

Yeah. About like, oh, they're not going to be able to get it shipped or the, I don't know, the pri. Everything was more difficult then, as we know. Well, not more difficult, but difficult. And, but I was like, I don't. I think it's just because we drank it all. Everyone drank it all.

[B]

Yeah. I said exactly what.

[A]

I don't know that it has anything to do with the amount of production. I think it has to do with people going to the liquor store every day. And I know not everyone did that and it's not. I mean, we also, God, we worked out a lot during COVID We would get up because, you know, you don't really have much to get up. For when everything is shut down. My business was shut down for the most part.

[B]

LA was very shut down for like a year. Like, it was. It was shut down. And it was one of the last cities to really reopen. And even that they're opening restaurants, but like just outside and then like one third capacity. And a lot of restaurants in LA are like one little room. So it's literally, you go, these restaurants have like four tables. You know, there's no way they can make money. But any. Anyways, it was just like, it was really, really locked down here. So I remember like the first night, they're like, we're gonna lock everything down for 15 days. We're like, what? Like, we thought that was like the end of the world. And then it was like another year after that. We were just locked down, down.

[A]

It felt never ending, never ending. I kept going back and forth and yeah, there was a lot of eating on sidewalks. And then those same restaurants would be closed the next day because they changed the rules. And then there was a lot of. We've probably mentioned this before, but we had. On Fridays we would. Because we would get up, we would work out. We would get up. I'd say we work out like two, three hours because we, we just. We had to kill a certain amount of hours. And John was trying to, you know, he needed to stay in shape because he didn't know for sure when the football was coming back. And then. So we would do that and then. Yeah, we would read, we would watch, we would. Oh, God, we watched all of yellow stuff.

[B]

Oh my God. We watched all of everything. Mimi. We were so locked up that we thought Tiger King was amazing. That's how, that's how squirrely we were going. Like, there was a lot of shows that we watched back then. Like, that show is amazing. That show kind of sucked. Like, it was just like. We just wanted something new to watch. Like the second Netflix released something, everyone in the us would watch it all on the same night. I swear to God. Like just about, like. Yeah, it was crazy.

[A]

Yeah. Luckily they had some things in the can for that.

[B]

I guess right before the pandemic happened, just by coincidence, we had started building, building out our gym upstairs. We had a 500 square foot room above our garage in the backyard that was all finished. And we just weren't really using it for anything. So we just started finishing it bar before that. And so luckily we had the gym all set up. And then as Covid went on, we ended up putting a big TV in there. We got two Lounge chairs and we bought a bar. It became like we'd work out there, we'd go do whatever, probably in the house. Then every night we'd end up watching movies and drinking up there, watching tv. We watched TV up there almost every night after the pandemic. We never went up there again for tv.

[A]

I know. It was such a. It just felt like a different place to go. It was. And we had a little bar behind us. We had the big tv. Yeah. We got those big comfy chairs we had. We just. It just felt like, let's go upstairs to our pandemic room.

[B]

We're calling the pandemic room.

[A]

Somewhere different and. But I. Go ahead.

[B]

I was gonna say every Friday, how we do our little walking tour for drinking. And I remember one day our friend's place that we went to, his bar, it's right on Ventura, right in Ventura Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in LA. I remember standing like on the street at 5 o' clock and looking in both directions and you could not see a single car as far as you looked.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, it was like the apocalypse. It was just like the craziest thing I'd ever seen.

[A]

It was. It was. And it was. So what we would do, because it was a get out, do something, be support local businesses. So we would go up to the Tipsy Cow, which you guys have heard us talk about our. And so you could walk up to the window and you could order a drink and. Yeah, it's not legal to walk around with.

[B]

No one cared at that time.

[A]

Nobody cared. I mean, it's like they're. It's there. You're not harming anybody. Right. You're just. It's just in a. It's in a to go cup and you're walking and who gets.

[B]

Everyone was doing it at the time. Tipsy Cow had that two for one to go drinks. And so we go there and the bartender was. The manager was always there, Jade. And she already pours, like, doubles for us. So we'd get out there like two. We basically have four drinks for the price of one. To walk down the street with two doubles.

[A]

It was our Friday walking happy hour. And then the second place, the local peasant that our friend. That's who John was talking about, is a part owner in. It's about a mile and a half, I'd say.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we would walk down there. So it was. It was again, keeping us out of the house for a little bit. So we'd walk down there and by then we were done with our Drink. So that from Tipsy Cow. So then we get a drink from there. They had its. Opens, like, storefront thing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Where you could order your drink, and then we would, you know, slowly walk back home. And one time we stopped at El Torito on the way home, because I said, well, it's right there on the way, and we have finished our drink from the local peasant. So we go there, and they have basically, again, this is talking about COVID So they had these tables out front to pick up your. To order your drinks. So we got our. To go margaritas. Well, they didn't want you to. They're. They were trying to help, I guess, avoid people putting.

[B]

They're being real.

[A]

Yeah. They're being rule followers. And so there was. So they gave them to you in, like, salsa containers so that there was no hole.

[B]

It was taped down so that there was no get to it.

[A]

Yeah. To put a straw in. But we sure walked past there. And then. Did you take a key? Was that what it was?

[B]

Yeah, I was like, well, can I get two straws for when I get home? And then we'd walk by, and I'd take my house keys, punch in the middle of the top, and then make a little hole in both of ours, and we'd sit there like one. Walking down the street during the pandemic holding a salsa container full of warm margarita with just a freaking straw on the top of it. No shame whatsoever. This is. This is where we're at, people.

[A]

This is where we're at, people. It was. Boy. When you punched a hole in the top of that salsa container for me to put a straw into my. Was that the horn margarita? It was. Because they didn't put ice in it either. It was just, like, everything to take when you get home. I. That's when I. I knew that I really hit the jackpot.

[B]

Thank you, baby.

[A]

Yeah. Really, really had someone, you know, me.

[B]

We did that walking tour probably 20 times.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, it was. It was a way to kind of go out without being out and to support businesses and to be out of the flipping house, because we were there all the time.

[B]

We were. We were really trying hard to support local businesses. We'd often order food and they'd have, like, pickups. We. Casita. It was something before casita.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I always had, like, a really good dinner and all. Everyone was serving, like, drinks to go with their dinners, too, which is really great. And there was just a bunch of places in our neighborhood that we try to try hard to support. Some of them didn't yeah.

[A]

To the point where I actually would feel guilty when I. Because I got on a cooking kick then, too. And so I would feel guilty that I was on a cooking kick because I felt like I was. I'm like, oh, my God, suddenly I know how to make lasagna. That's never been a thing before. I've never had the patience for it. But I would look up things that would take a while because then, oh, my God, I would be. I would be like, this will kill five hours.

[B]

Yeah. You found a lasagna recipe that takes like five hours. Like, perfect. Like, really, you spend five hours. I just want to burn the day. Okay.

[A]

So I couldn't wait to make something. But then I would feel guilty, like, oh, man, we're not ordering. But from a restaurant tonight. But also it's. That's how, you know you can't. Can't eat out every night even if you wanted to. And it was keeping me sane to cook things that I had never tried before. I haven't made lasagna since, I can tell you that much. Thanks, Covid.

[B]

I'm done. It was a good lasagna.

[A]

It was a good.

[B]

It was really good.

[A]

I think I gave it. I like made some and gave to people. I remember we made cookies at one point and then went and left them on. Left them on our friend Lindsay and Melanie's doorstep. Yeah, they didn't. It was, you know, people had their pods or whatever, but they, They. I don't think we ever went into their house. And it was really. When it was because they had. And they had a baby.

[B]

They had a baby. So they were really.

[A]

Yeah, so they were being very extra. I mean, everyone's being careful, but they weren't really doing a pod type thing at all. And. And they. Probably because they heard about us wandering the streets of Ventura Boulevard with salsa containers full of margarita, but we, like, left cookies on their doorstep and ran and she had it on her ring doorbell. And it was funny. But yeah. It was one thing, though. I meant to tell the listeners that you did, which was very sweet.

[B]

What did it do?

[A]

Well, so at our old house, as John was talking about, we had this. The 500 square foot place that we turned into a gym above our garage. And as he mentioned, we spent time up there. And I don't know, it was like one Sunday where I. Believe me, I understand that people had a lot bigger problems than not being able to go to brunch during COVID I get that. But it doesn't mean that we didn't all have our moments of like, I just want to go to fucking brunch. Like, what the. Right. Like big babies or whatever. But I just remember I. One Sunday, you put chairs and a little high top table up on the balcony of that. Because they had a little balcony on the. Off that garage, off that room. And he served me pancakes up there or mimosas.

[B]

I put lights up there too. Really?

[A]

Lights? Yeah.

[B]

Hit the mood for you.

[A]

Yeah. He made it like a little cute brunch spot so that it was a different place than our brunch spot, which was our kitchen.

[B]

So, yeah, it was a change of scenery every once in a while. You just need to, like, invent something new.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To do. Yeah. I don't miss those times. Well, there was some things about COVID that I. That I did miss, that I do miss. What's the thing that was like. Well, when you'd wake up, you'd work out, and then, you know, sometimes you want to be lazy and do nothing all day. Now you feel kind of bad about it. Then you're like, I literally have nothing else to do. There's no work to go to. There's no work to do. I can't, like, laying around at noon and drinking beer and be like, ah, okay, whatever. I shouldn't be doing that. During COVID I was like, what. What else am I gonna do?

[A]

Right?

[B]

We ain't playing baseball right now. I can't play football right now. I have no job.

[A]

Yeah. We all felt the craziness of that. I remember. And again, there was a big topic in the wedding people, which is why we're bringing it up now, Just kind of reflecting the way they did in this book. And we. I remember. I think it wasn't until. I don't think I did. I think what started, like, March, right?

[B]

Yeah, March 15th.

[A]

Right. Because it was right after my mom's birthday.

[B]

Because when they canceled everything, you and I were literally in a car going to the Burbank airport to go to spring training. And on the way there, they canceled spring training.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Got to the airport, turned around. We're like, we probably have one last day to go to a restaurant. So we went straight to Casabaga, the Mexican place, and let. Literally closed down the next day as well.

[A]

Yeah. Luckily. I mean, just for Covid, but luckily it's still there. But yeah. Yeah, that was. We were. It's funny because even getting in the car and going to the airport, we kind of thought, what, are we in denial? Are we in denial that we're going to go to spring training is this. But they hadn't really made a decision yet. And we were like, let's just go in case. And then we do have a place in Arizona. So we at least had somewhere we could. We got there and everything was canceled. We had our condo there. So it was. It was kind. Yeah, it was like two people in denial just go to the airport. And they were like, we're. This isn't happening.

[B]

There. There. Sorry, go ahead.

[A]

No, go ahead. That.

[B]

There was like a week there. Well, it felt like every few hours something would happen. It'd be like, the NBA season's canceled. NHL season's canceled. They're closing down this. They're closing down that. Forest Gump now has Covid. Once Forrest Gump got for. Got Covid, I was like, it's real now.

[A]

America Wilson. Yeah.

[B]

Tom Hanks got it. Like America's dad just got it. It's. It's not that I wasn't done. Well not be real. But it felt more real when that headline came up because it felt like he was one of the. They were the. One of the first people that we kind of heard of that were celebrities to. To get it. Whereas, you know, people were openly talking about it.

[A]

Right. They were in Australia or something at the time.

[B]

Feel more real for whatever reason. But it just felt like every hour to just something major would happen. You're just like, oh, my God, like, when's this going to stop?

[A]

And then I. I think. I don't think. I feel like I didn't go do a show until I think it was October. And that was in Appleton, Wisconsin, because they were more open than we were. They still had pretty strict rules. They were doing the, you know, certain amount of people in restaurants. Things that, looking back, we're not sure made a ton of sense. But you, you know, we're. We're respecting them at the time. Just. We know everyone's trying to figure it out as they go.

[B]

We're all trying to figure it out.

[A]

We're all trying to figure it out. So. But I. I remember they offered me to go do standup there, and I was like, yeah, I. I don't know. I mean, do I want to or. But then I thought, well, they have the rules in place, and I. Okay. I mean, if they're. They're. It's legal. They're not doing anything they're not supposed to be doing. It was all. And the club was at a certain amount of capacity and seats were a certain amount of, you know, Feet apart. And I flew on a plane that was like basically empty. Yeah. And they weren't, you know, they couldn't serve like water even or anything on these flights. Just all the things you guys remember. But it was really weird. And I love Appleton, by the way. I'll be back there in February for Valentine's Day weekend at the Skyline Comedy Club. Please come see me there. Come see me November 14th at the Woodlands, Texas. The. At the Do Si. Do those tickets look a little pricier, but it's because they include a full dinner and the place is amazing. So you get dinner and a show for that price. That's why they look a little more then and they're not. It's like $108 or something like that for the premium seating. And you get a full, I think two or three course dinner along with the show. And then Spokane Comedy Club, New Year's Eve, Tacoma, January 1st and 2nd, Skyline Comedy Club, Valentine's Day weekend. And then I have a Chicago Day at the Chicago Winery Followed by the St. Louis at City Winery. And those are all on my website. So I just can't remember the dates right now. But they're up there.

[B]

It's all in the website.

[A]

Thank you. So, yeah, so I get there and I love that club Skyline. We always have fun when we go there. John played in Green Bay. He has fun going back to Appleton. We always go to the Christmas bar.

[B]

Oh yeah, that place is great.

[A]

There's a Christmas bar there that's like Christmas year round. That of course John is. You understand. You know how John loves. John loves his Christmas, so.

[B]

Sure do.

[A]

Yeah. But performing during that time and people had to wear masks and you couldn't tell if anyone was laughing. And you're like, what are we doing? But. But what we were doing was trying to keep places open and we were trying to make money. Everyone, you know, everyone was trying. It was. Everyone was following these rules, but the rules were just so, like not conducive to the action that you were taking. Right. It's like. You're right. It's like I'm doing stand up and people have masks on.

[B]

I don't know if I. I know some comics were doing shows and drive in movie theaters, which is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like would just be the absolute freaking worst for your timing because people like, you can't hear them laugh when they're in their car. So people, instead of. Instead of laughing, people are honking, which probably be even more annoying.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But that, that was one thing that I was really hoping Was gonna, like, drive in movie theaters. Made a big comeback during COVID Yeah. And I was. That was something I was hoping was going to stick around. I don't think it really did. Like, they were even. We went to a drive in movie theater. They was, like, turning the airport parking lot into a drive in movie theater. At one point, we went to watch, like, a Christmas movie.

[A]

It was amazing, Right? That's right. It was. I know. I. I feel like they. I was. It's a bummer that they didn't stick around as much. I actually saw Chelsea Handler. You guys know she. She did. She had a new special come out.

[B]

Oh, right.

[A]

During some. And. And they ended up putting it on a big screen at basically a. Yeah. Drive. A movie theater. A drive in movie theater. And we all had hung our little, you know, the speakers in the cars. And she came. She walked up onto this. There was a stage in front of it. She walked up and welcomed everybody. And everyone started honking at her to say hi. I was like, this is so. Yeah, this is so weird. But it was fun. People figured times out. It was weird times. And the book is very reflective of that due to when she wrote it. So I just thought we do a little bit of that.

[B]

I remember at one point, because we just kind of missed trap. We travel a lot and we hadn't traveled. And at one point you're just like, I just want to fly to New York. I'm like, new York is completely shut down, babe. Like, it's more shut down than la. She's like, no, no, no, Just go there, turn around and come right back. I just want to get in the air, have a drink, go in the lounge. We didn't. But you were thinking about it.

[A]

I did want to, but also, by the way, the lounge would have been there. Probably weren't serving anything either. And you couldn't have a drink on a plane. But I think. Yeah, I just.

[B]

But that's where we were at.

[A]

Yeah. I just wanted to. I'm not used to not traveling. And in some ways, like you said, there were some good things that slowed you down. And it was the most time we've ever spent together. Until you retired.

[B]

It was. Up to that point, we had never lived full time together. Like, we spent, like, you know, three, four months at a time, in the off season, whatever. But that was the first time we spent, like a whole year living together.

[A]

Yeah. So that was ending. You know what? There was a lot of COVID divorces. We weren't one of them. Not even close no, we had a nice. We had a nice time together because we like to do the same things. And yeah, when John would see. Would walk into a room and see the. My right eye start twitching, he'd just go upstairs to the COVID room and disappear for a couple hours to give me. To give me some space. I was also very tan.

[B]

Very tan. A lot of laying out, a lot.

[A]

Of laying by our pool. A lot of. Yeah, very. I admittedly very lucky during that time to have a full gym at home, which is something I've now stuck to. I never thought I would be that person, but I love it. Don't care about going back into a class. Sometimes I miss one certain class. I just miss like Edward's Soul cycle class, which I can easily still go to. He's the best if you live in Southern California And Edward at SoulCycle is the best. Um, but every time I start to think about going, then I'm like. But then I gotta get in my car and it's half an hour and I could just go downstairs.

[B]

The Soul Cycle workout was like 45 minutes or an hour long, but it was really like two and a half hours. Like you have to go leave 30 minutes before and then you drive it home. It just la. Everything takes so long.

[A]

Yeah. So that's the one thing that. But yeah, I very lucky admittedly having that and that space to do that and places to walk to and it being Southern California so we could walk the. During all of lockdown. There was. It was never too cold. We were never trapped in our homes. And then we had a pool. So reflective, but just wanted to chat a little bit about that. Now another thing that comes up in this book is nicknames. I mean, first she calls like high a high bun and neck pillow. And you know that. I'm not sure how far you guys are all in. This is not a spoiler. There never is spoilers until week four. But the LLA's soon to be stepdaughter calls, wants to be called Juice. And for no real reason, she wants to be called Juice. I think later on we find out why, so I won't spoil it. Even though it's not a big deal, but it's just a ran. It's not like her name starts with a J and then it sues. It's not. There's a very funny moment where someone says to her, well, you know, there was a. Oh, it was Lila, I think that says there was a very famous killer whose nickname was Juice and then basically ruins her nickname. For her. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about nicknames. Now, I know that we. I know we've talked about Logan before, so we won't repeat that.

[B]

Logan. Real deal, Richard.

[A]

Yeah, I think that was on an episode recently. So we won't repeat our. Our friend's nickname just because. But did you have any other friends other than Logan who nicknamed themselves Dave?

[B]

No. No one that nicknamed themselves. I think it. There was no, like, a lot. There was kind of. Most nicknames, like in high school stuff, were things that didn't really stick. They would stick for a few weeks or so or come back up, you know what I mean? And then, like, my buddy Terry Young, he was all. He was always, like, really big. He got to grade or ninth grade, as we say, as USA in the US Got to ninth grade. And he looked like he was one of the teachers at 14. Like he was, you know, 6 foot 3, 240 pounds, is like, who is this guy? So we call them Pteroids.

[A]

Wait, that's pretty funny, though.

[B]

Yeah. Every once in a while, Pteroid still comes up.

[A]

And we had a friend, like, next time I see him.

[B]

Yeah, Taro is a good one. Friend named Tara. And for some reason, we just called her Teabag. Not all the time, but it was a thing, you know, I don't know, but it's just like, stuff like that that would happen.

[A]

My Teabag is not a nickname any girl wants.

[B]

But it's funny, for a long time, everyone just called me Jono.

[A]

Yeah, yo, Jono.

[B]

There's a show on TV there called Jono Vision at the time, so I think just. I don't know. I had a friend, he's called me JB because it was short for Johnny Boy. There was always a little, like, stupid nicknames, taking weird.

[A]

Taking weird liberties with things.

[B]

Very much. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I was always just. People just always called me Kelowna. For some reason, my last name caught on.

[B]

I would say in the late 80s, in the 90s, a lot of people just called each other by their last names in, like, in that. Around that age group.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah, I think so.

[B]

I still call my friend Steven Bivins. I call him Bivins most of the time. Like, the other day he was here and his fiance called him Stephen. And I call him Steven just, like, out of, like, not even thinking. He's like, you've never called me Steven before.

[A]

I know, I know. And I call him Bivins because that's how I met him, too, is because that's what you call him. That's really funny. Well, as you know, my high school boyfriend had a nickname of Bucky.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And it was Bucky, Buddy, and Butch. So that was. Butch was the dad, Buddy was the brother, and Bucky was the other brother. And their names didn't. They didn't like. The dad's name was Arvin. The. The. The other brother's name that was called Buddy was Robert, and Bucky's real name was Richard. So nobody really knows where those nicknames came from, but it was what it was. Everyone just called him Bucky. Uh, I don't. I mean, I don't think I ever even called him Richard. And then what? He played football? Apparently I have a thing for football players. And he. At one point, he put the name. I know you know the story, but he put the name Wheat on his helmet.

[B]

You know, where you just. A lot of evolution of the nickname. Yeah, Buckwheat.

[A]

Yeah. And so it just said Wheat. And I was like, who's Wheat? And he said, that's my nickname. And I was like, I thought Bucky was your nickname. And he's like, well, Bucky's my name. And I'm like, but it's not. It's your nickname. Your name's Richard, who's Wheat. And he's like, that's my nickname from Bucky. And I'm like, you nicknamed for the nickname you just nicknamed your nickname.

[B]

That's hilarious.

[A]

But whatever. Whatever made him happy.

[B]

When we were kids, we played in this, like, baseball league, North Regina, Little league baseball. And I felt like almost everyone in the league had a nickname. There's one kid, he wore number six, and his dad was a big drinker, so he was six pack guy with his last name was McIntosh. So they called him Apple. My friend. My friend, his name was Cole. They called him Slaw. Coleslaw.

[A]

You didn't have to explain that one to me, but thank you.

[B]

And also, we had no reaction. I thought that was very funny.

[A]

I was taking a sip of water when you said it, and I was about to say, that's the best nickname I've ever heard at that age.

[B]

Almost every nickname is like a dad joke, right? Cole's sister's name was Tasha, so they called her Nona. Because there was Nona. It's not Natasha, it was Tasha. So Nona.

[A]

Oh, that's a reach. Real stretch to get to that nickname.

[B]

But then like, other. But at least nicknames, like Cool back in the 90s, but like, football. When I played football, it was almost like Richard Sherman was sure. Bobby Wagner is B Wags. Cam fans would call Cam Bam Bam Cam, but no one with, you know, two balls would call him that. Marshawn. Marshawn Lynch.

[A]

I think he embraced people.

[B]

Yeah, he did. They have a. I had a Bam Bam burger at the game on Sunday.

[A]

It was delicious, too, I guess. I saw him eating one and I almost wanted to say, look at you eating your own burger. But then I didn't because I thought that would be weird, and I'm glad I did it.

[B]

Beast mode is obviously the biggest one, and that's one like. Like, he. He doesn't text me very often, people, but he'll text me once a year. He go, hey, what up? It's Beast Dog.

[A]

Be.

[B]

I'm sorry. Hey, what's up? It's Beast mode. What up, big dog? It's Beast Mode. And then you know how one time in a meeting, Pete Carroll said how she's so money, so he's all started calling house money.

[A]

I was wondering how he got that nickname. I actually never knew, and I called him that too, and I didn't know why, and now I do.

[B]

Yeah. Cliff Averill. In the media, they call them the Haitian creation.

[A]

Oh, really?

[B]

Because he's Haitian?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. What else did I. Oh, you know, most. Most nicknames are like, Clint Gresham was Grash. I used to call him Clintorus. I used to call him Auris. I thought it was really funny. He did not. That's a great nickname, isn't it?

[A]

I. For some reason, of all the Clints I've known, I've never heard anyone call Clint Taurus. And boy, I wish I had at one point in my life.

[B]

Yeah, I. That's why I used to call. He did not like that one, I don't think. I don't blame him. I. I was always like, everyone always says John Ryan. Like, my whole name. Ever since I was a kid, like, every football team ever played for, the coaches called me John Ryan. It's one word.

[A]

I hear a lot of people call you Ryan sometimes to me, and I can't figure out if they're calling you by your last name or if they think that's your first name.

[B]

Yeah, I think most of the time, people think it's my first name.

[A]

Yeah, every once in a while, they're like, I had former.

[B]

Former teammates this last weekend say, call me Ryan, and I know it's cause they just forgot my CT is real. I just forgot my name. I was like, you totally forgot. You just remember what was on the back of my jersey. And that's what you just spouted off, right?

[A]

Or they were lovingly calling you by your last name, just like they did with like Sherm and stuff like that.

[B]

That's how I met a guy this weekend. Like we, you and I were staying a different hotel from the rest of the team because we like this other hotel. So I went to the lobby of the hotel to get a ride or to get the, the car service down to the practice. And I walk in and I right away I see a guy and I know, I know him, but I don't really like. So I sit there, shake his hand, talk to him, what's up, what's new? Blah, blah, blah. Then I go to the walkthrough and John Schneider walks by him and talks to him a little bit. And he comes over to me, he goes, who's that? I go, I only know because I just saw his name tag. But I couldn't like, you know, you play with so many guys like John Schneider. Like you signed him, you idiot.

[A]

Yeah, but I mean, think of how many people he signed. I guess, like they don't play very long.

[B]

I played pro football for 19 years. And you're looking. People think it's like 53 guys on a roster. It's not. You're like working with, you're working with hundreds of people.

[A]

Not just player.

[B]

You're working with hundreds of people every day. And those, a lot of them, half of them get recycled every year. So just a lot of people to remember. So I thought it was funny that even he didn't know, so that I didn't feel as bad.

[A]

Yeah. Now, to close out the nickname discussion, you, you did get the nickname Ginger Ninja.

[B]

Oh, right.

[A]

In Seattle. And they actually.

[B]

I kind of gave it to myself.

[A]

I guess that's what I was going to ask. I wanted to know where it came from because I don't think I've ever heard the origin story of the Ginger Ninja.

[B]

So when I competed on American Ninja Warrior, all those guys have like a nickname, Tarzan, whatever. And I was like, I want to be the Ginger Ninja.

[A]

Right. I remember I held up a poster board that said, yeah, with the fans.

[B]

To see how it kind of stuck. And they even had for a while, the Seahawks were making socks with my face on them. It said Ginger Ninja.

[A]

Oh, I know.

[B]

Even, even yesterday I, I, I on Instagram, I wrote that I was coming to Germany to see the the 12s there, which is what we call our fans, the Seahawk fans. If you don't know. And instantly people were like, Ginger Ninja coming to, coming to Germany and all this. I was like, it kind of stuck.

[A]

See, I thought you were already called that when I. Because I held up a sign. I'll. I'll put it on our Facebook group, the Book Listeners. I held up a sign that said Ginger Ninja at your American Ninja Warrior. And I thought, I didn't realize that you. I thought you had already been called that for some reason.

[B]

I don't, I don't think so. I think I kind of came up with it just to, to compete on the show. I thought they were going to put, you know, they put your name on the bottom. Yeah, Ginger Ninja Ryan. I wanted something, so I think, I think I kind of came up with it.

[A]

All right, well, now we have the origin story and that makes me happy. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. This was unexpectedly fun. It's always fun. Yeah, no, it's always fun. I just. We kind of scrambled today because of the fact that John is going to Germany and I had radio this morning and we're doing this as quickly as we could between. But we, we got it. We did it and we had a lot of fun. And again for the short story this month, this month, which is a Patreon thing that we do. It's very fun. It gets you to read the different authors little short stories. They're only. They're always very short, won't take you too long to read. And it's on the 15th of every month. So since Monday when this episode comes out is also the 15th. But John is leaving and we don't have time to do the short story before he leaves and he doesn't get back till Monday. It will be up either Monday night as a video that we just do ourselves that we just like we did one of those bonus chapters la last month for, for what was the book that we did the last bonus chapter for? Oh, Meet Me at the Lake.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. So that's. And all that still is on Patreon, by the way. So you should. You join and go listen. $5 a month. And. And so we filmed ourselves reading that bonus chapter. And so we might just do that to. To do our discussion of the lottery and if, if John's too out of it for that, then we will just do a reg. Do it the way we've been doing it and then have Alex and Olivia or Olivia upload it for us Tuesday. But you will get it within either tonight, if you're listening Monday or tomorrow Tuesday, you'll have it. It's just going to be a few hours later than usual. So thank you guys so much for listening again. Please rate, review and subscribe. It really helps us. We appreciate you. The Good Lie by A.R. torrey is your October book. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is your Patreon short story. As I just said, next week is the full review Week after that we get to talk to the owner of Love Struck Seattle, which we cannot wait. And bye.

[B]

Bye.

[A]

The Book List.

[B]

The Book Lisp.

[A]

The Book list.

[B]

The Book lisp.

[A]

The Book list.