We Back!

Summary

The Friend Zone – “We Back!”

Podcast: The Friend Zone (Loud Speakers Network)
Hosts: Dustin Ross, Hey Fran Hey (Francesca), Assanté
Episode Date: January 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

“We Back!” marks the lively season return of The Friend Zone. Hosts Dustin, Fran, and Assanté reconnect after a break, sharing their personal journeys, tech gripes, adulting challenges, and the podcast’s exciting plans for 2026. The episode vibes with renewal, intentionality, and a focus on community—a group effort to stay sharp, organized, and “stand on business.” As always, the trio blend candid storytelling, wellness, humor, culture, and mental hygiene.

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Main Themes & Discussion Points

1. Setting the 2026 Mantra: “Receipts, Proof, Timeline, Screenshots—Everything”

• Kickoff quote inspired by Heather Gay (Real Housewives of Salt Lake City):
  • “Receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots, fucking everything. Because that's what we on, all 2026. You got to prove, you got to show and prove this year.” – Francesca (01:24)
• The hosts stress truth, accountability, and substantiating claims in 2026.
• They encourage listeners to put action/receipts behind words and to counter misinformation.

2. Personal Check-ins: Rest, Holidays, and Life Updates

• The crew reflects on their breaks, with a focus on rest, family, and intentional self-care.

Francesca:

• Major holiday highlight—became a “dog dad” to a pup named Real (03:36).
• Great break, family gatherings, and a vibrant New Year’s Eve spent at a nostalgic Brooklyn spot (04:59).

Dustin:

• Prioritized rest, reading, and home organization.
• Inspired by best friend Claude Kelly to read more — finished five books in a weekend (10:01).
• Emphasis on “adulting admin”: organizing digital files, contacts, and home spaces for a fresh start (13:33).

Assanté:

• Surprise New Year’s Eve at church: “It was amazing to, you know, bringing the new year with the Lord...” (07:37).
• Spent his break catching up on reading and books, optimizing business, and decluttering contacts (08:00).
• Assembled a reading “rubric” for 2026, ready to engage the group in more reading (08:18).

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3. Adulting & Digital Decluttering

• Organizing files, contacts, and digital lives:
  • Group shares struggles with phone storage, bloated email inboxes, unmanageable contact lists.
  • Laughs about old work contacts, duplicate files, and being triggered by past texts—“I can't wait to go through and get mad again.” – Francesca (18:19)
• Fran: “I have like 11,000 [photos]... you add two or three thousand more pictures and then you have twenty plus thousand and you don’t even know how to get to the picture you need” (13:33)
• Assanté: “Sometimes you just have to move to the burner professional [email] because I actually can't sift through...” (20:32)

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4. Reading & Book Club Culture

• The hosts hype up their love of reading, their Patreon book club (“The Situation”), and share upcoming picks:

  • Book picks:
    • “My Train Leaves at Three” by Natalie Guerrero (08:33)
    • “Sugar” by Bernice McFadden, “She’s Come Undone” by Wally Lamb, “A Mercy” by Toni Morrison (12:03)
    • “Culpability” by Bruce Holsinger as the next group read, aligning with the 2026 theme of accountability (63:12)

• Notable Quotes:

  • “A lot of us talk about wanting to spend less time on our phones or less time watching tv… you have to actually put systems in place” – Dustin (11:41)
  • “You should be proud of that.” – Francesca, after Dustin's reading spree (12:52)

• On Kai Cenat and Drag Queens:

  • Assanté praises public figures for pivoting towards reading and skill-building (55:25).
  • Shoutout to TS Madison for thriving beyond TV appearances; Monet X Change as a model for capitalizing on momentary fame (57:34–59:13).

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5. Tech, Phones, and Cost of Upgrades

• Extended riff on phone upgrades and value.
• Fran: Defends holding onto her iPhone 12, “But I can…text. All my apps work just the same as y’all’s.” (22:49)
• The crew roast each other over their devices, discuss old flip phones (“the razor was that girl”) and two-phone systems for digital wellness.
• Dustin: “Sometimes you don’t want to be inundated with work emails or texts…” (34:07)
• Tinkering with ideas: dual SIMs, hard drives vs. cloud storage, managing notifications, and the overwhelming pace (and cost) of tech changes (41:55).
• DoorDash and delivery fees: “Everything is $30 right now. That’s the least amount of money you gonna pay for anything right now…” – Francesca (41:55)

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6. Security Concerns: Ring Cameras & Community Apps

• Assanté’s Amazon Fresh order gets stolen, prompting investment in a Ring doorbell (45:04).
• Discussion of Ring cameras, notifications, and the “community tab” culture:
  • “White people are going to use a lot of fear mongering. Literally. They're just scared of everything all the time and they're constantly surveilling the neighborhood.” – Dustin (50:24)
• Apps like Citizen and Nextdoor are called out for anxiety, nosiness, and fear-based community culture (51:06).

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7. Patreon, The Gated Community, and Upcoming Programming

• Invites listeners to join their Patreon for:
  • Ad-free show access and a vibrant community
  • Book club (“Situation”): Next up is “Culpability” (63:39)
  • Original watch parties: New series to binge—“His & Hers” on Netflix starring Tessa Thompson (74:42).
  • Recaps of fan-favorite viral content, like Arlette’s “Pop the Balloon to Find Love” (68:32).

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8. Pop Culture and Drag Brunch Reminiscence

• Fran and Dustin reflect on the formative, unifying power of drag shows and local performers.
• Fran: “Them performers would do literally like gospel songs and have everybody in the whole club, like, emotional… It was just a really big deal. So I have a huge appreciation for the art…” (59:31)
• Assanté: Recalls Atlanta's drag scene and its traditions (60:44).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “We standing on business. Like King Harris implored us, too.” – Francesca (01:24)
• “You got to prove, you got to show improve this year…because we're not having this misinformation game go on on our watch this year.” – Francesca (01:24)
• “You should be proud of that.” – Francesca to Dustin about reading five books (12:52)
• “You a dummy fee. You be like, damn, we playing in your face fee, and you going to pay it cuz you hungry and lazy.” – Francesca (44:08)
• “White people are going to use a lot of fear mongering…they're constantly surveilling the neighborhood. That's what I've learned from the ring app.” – Dustin (50:24)
• “You don't even be shit about safety sometimes…it could be anything that's of value to us.” – Francesca on Ring/Citizen community alerts (50:53)
• “We just were trying to get our ducks in a row.” – Dustin on intentionality for the new year (16:41)

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Important Timestamps

• 2026 Mantra, Receipts & Proof: 01:17–02:59
• Personal Holiday Breaks: 03:15–10:01
• Book Club Kickoff & Recommendations: 08:18–13:09; 63:12–65:47
• Digital Organizing & Adulting Admin: 13:33–22:09; 18:18 (contact cleanout anecdote)
• Phone Upgrades & Nostalgia: 22:49–41:55
• Food Delivery Frustrations: 41:55–44:08
• Security Cameras, Community Apps: 45:02–51:06
• Book & Binge Announcements: 63:12–75:22
• Drag Brunch & Local Culture: 59:31–61:18
• Closing Gratitude & Energy for 2026: 78:24–79:47

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Closing Vibes

• The trio express gratitude and energy for the year ahead, emphasizing connection, intentionality, and the importance of community and creativity.
• “This is about to be our 11th year, which is crazy. We love you guys so much. We don’t take you for granted.” – Dustin (79:26)

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Summary Takeaway

“We Back!” is equal parts reunion, pep talk, and practical self-improvement summit. Fran, Dustin, and Assanté deep-dive into reading for wellness, simplifying digital lives, making smarter tech choices, and embracing a new year of accountability and collective uplift. Wry humor, friendship, and a sense of purposeful fresh starts set the tone for what’s to come on The Friend Zone in 2026.

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Patreon, books, and more at:
patreon.com/thefriendzonepodcast
Social: Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook: @thefriendzonepodcast

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Contact: [e-mail]

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Transcript

[Francesca]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Asante]

And fees vary.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Asante]

Credit stop if you cancel any lines.

[Commercial Announcer]

Qualifying Credit required.

[Asante]

The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV.

[Francesca]

It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar. Your lucky jersey, your chairs and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space. And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist and the tech to stay a step ahead.

[Commercial Announcer]

It's more than an suv.

[Francesca]

It's your Equinox Chevrolet. Together, let's drive. Welcome to the friend zone.

[Dustin]

Every time I'm in the zone, My name is Dustin. I'm Francesca, also known as K. Friend.

[Asante]

Hey, my name is Asante. This is the friend zone.

[Francesca]

Let's start the show.

[Dustin]

Receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots, everything.

[Asante]

We back.

[Francesca]

You know what I'm saying? And I felt like what better way to kick things off this year than. Than with our mantra, right? And it comes from none other than. None other than Heather Gay. Rather. Now, I didn't want to wait and do this in February because I would feel inappropriate having a white woman yelling at the top of our show like that, you know what I'm saying? In Black History Month. So we're using it in January where it belongs. And that was Heather Gay from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and her infamous Season 5 rant where she took the front of her hand and hit the inside of her other palm and said, receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots, fucking everything. Because that's what we own, all 20, 26. You got to prove, you got to show improve this year. You know what I'm saying? You got to stand on it. You got to have receipts, fucking proof everything. Timeline, screenshots. Because we're not having this misinformation game go on on our watch this year. So we not. I just want to encourage everybody to be about their business, about their receipts, about their proof. If you say you that nigga, you that girl. Where's your proof? Where's your timeline? Where's your screenshots, fucking everything, okay? We backing it up this year. We standing on business. Like King Harris implored us, too. Okay. In his legendary.

[Dustin]

Oh, my Lord.

[Francesca]

His legendary inspirational speech. That was King. King. His last name.

[Asante]

King.

[Francesca]

He had a dream. You know what I'm saying? He did so. Or his first name is King. Either way, that's his goddamn name. So I just wanted to share that because that's our mantra. Welcome back, you guys.

[Dustin]

Hey, hey. Let's pop it up. We are back 20, 26. Wow. My Lord. Ain't that crazy, insane Time is just passing. How are you guys feeling? Did you. Do you feel rested? You have a good break?

[Francesca]

Well, yes, I actually did. I had a great break. I do feel rested. I enjoyed myself. I had a life change during the break. During our off time, we made a life decision.

[Dustin]

Can you share or.

[Francesca]

Well, yeah, I actually already broke the news on Instagram, but I'm a dog dad now. I got a dog. Wait, are you serious?

[Dustin]

I can't. You know, I can't.

[Francesca]

This is my dog. You see him? And I finally decided a name for him. You know what his name is?

[Dustin]

That is really damn cute, though.

[Francesca]

His name is real.

[Dustin]

Real.

[Asante]

He real, y'.

[Dustin]

All.

[Francesca]

This my dog. This is real?

[Asante]

Yeah, it's real.

[Francesca]

Yup. So I'm a dog that. He said something. Okay.

[Asante]

He cute.

[Dustin]

He's really cool, though. I'm. He is sitting like, wait, I missed a dog announcement.

[Francesca]

Nope, that's my dog. That's real. You know what I'm saying? But, no, I had a great break. We needed that rest and that recharge, man.

[Dustin]

Who you telling me?

[Asante]

Yes.

[Francesca]

Yeah, I was working and shit, though. I had to. I had a comedy show in Detroit that was. Went incredible.

[Dustin]

That's right. That was the last stop. Right. Of the 2025. How'd it go? How was Detroit?

[Francesca]

Incredible show. My family came, my mom came. It was just like a. It was a beautiful moment, very beautiful night. The city came out. We had a good time, so I got to spend the holidays with my family, you know what I'm saying? Got on they damn nerves, I'm sure. And, you know, I just had a great holiday break, so. Yeah. And then, you know, New Year's Eve was over the break, too. And y' all know how much I love New Year's Eve, so I got a chance to enjoy that. I celebrated the hell out of that holiday.

[Dustin]

I was in. Did you stay in New York? Did you travel?

[Francesca]

I was in New York this year. I went to a party in Brooklyn at this really, really dope spot that I hadn't been to in Years. Last time I went, I was. And it was like a straight party. And it was such a dope venue. It was just one of the magical nights where you bouncing around and shit. And so I had forgotten about it. And. Because that was many moons ago, you know what I'm saying? I had forgotten. So when I got to the space and we got to this back part that's, like, hidden, it all came rushing back to me, and it made my night even more fun. So I had a great time on New Year's Eve.

[Dustin]

That's so good. I know it's your favorite. So I was curious, did you end up doing Asante? How was your break? How you feeling?

[Asante]

I had a great break. I'm feeling nice. I'm feeling rejuvenated. You will never guess where I was for New Year's Eve. It's the only thing I'm gonna tell you, and then we can move on. You'll just never guess where I was for New Year's.

[Francesca]

Adonde.

[Asante]

Just. Just. Just take some guesses. Home. Keep going.

[Dustin]

Did you go back to Atlanta?

[Asante]

Keep going.

[Francesca]

The S and M spot.

[Dustin]

Keep.

[Asante]

Keep going with Megan. Where.

[Francesca]

Where'd you go?

[Asante]

I went to church.

[Dustin]

Love that for you. Tell us more. I'mma sound like Cam Newton. Tell me more.

[Asante]

The fact that both of y'.

[Dustin]

All.

[Asante]

No, I went to church. I was like, I was with somebody, and they. They go to church regularly, and I went to church with them. And it's so funny, because afterwards I was like, kia. I went to church, and she was like, what church you went to? And I told her, and she was like, I'm familiar. And I don't want to say how familiar she was with the church, but I was like, I knew I liked that church girl. If you vetting it, then I knew it. Like, you know how you know something is good and then you tell somebody else? And like, I agree. Like, the fact that both agreed. I was like, see, I knew I wasn't just crazy. I knew I wasn't just, like, down real bad, just taking whatever was necessary. Because I saw this viral tweet of this man. He was like, it's like him getting saved or something. He's like, y', all, I found a church home or whatever. And then he retweets and was like, never mind, y'. All. That shit was a cult.

[Dustin]

Oh, hell. Wait. But how was it church?

[Asante]

It was beautiful. It was bomb. And actually, before we recorded Dustin, you were doing a particular dance, and it was so funny because the church was so modern. And they were doing that dance in the church, and I was like, oh,

[Francesca]

they had to be modern. Y' all was up in there.

[Dustin]

Oh.

[Francesca]

You know what I'm saying? Because that's the place they're throwing y'.

[Asante]

All who you know.

[Francesca]

You know y'.

[Asante]

All.

[Dustin]

Who this friend that you went with?

[Asante]

Well, the friend that I went with. We had a great time. It was amazing to, you know, bringing the new year with the Lord and

[Francesca]

whole new take on a Bible thumper.

[Dustin]

Oh.

[Asante]

Yep. And so glad I shared this much at the first episode. And that's all you guys would get this year.

[Dustin]

Wait, what about your break overall?

[Asante]

Yeah, the break overall was really, really good. Yeah, I was able to get some rest in. I was able to catch up on some things. I bought a bunch of books because I was, you know, revving up for. I was revving up for this year's reading rubric. I was. I have a bunch of stuff planned out and mapped out so I could just pull little things.

[Dustin]

Yes.

[Asante]

I've been trying to optimize my business.

[Dustin]

That's so real.

[Francesca]

It's so funny you brought up the book shit. Because I went to go get the book that we have to get, and they didn't have it, so I had to order it. But I bought the book that we're gonna read. When it's my turn, I'm gonna show it to you.

[Dustin]

Perfect.

[Francesca]

So exclusive shit. You know what I'm saying? The book is called My Train Leaves at Three by Natalie Guerrero. And it is just when I read the sleeve, I was like, let me get this book right now, because this is what we're gonna read next. So exclusive for, you know, our Patreon. Thank you. We love you, Patreon.

[Asante]

You know what's funny? Patreon, the book that I wanted to start with. Well, the book that I wish I could have chosen because I just found out that there was going to be a follow up, but it doesn't come out till May. Midnight library there.

[Dustin]

There's a sequel to it Ain't that Crazy. Literally. One of our listeners actually commented that, and I was like, are you kidding? I need it.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin]

But I figured you'd want to read it. So I was like, well, maybe I'll

[Asante]

if it comes around. Your turn, friend. You are more.

[Francesca]

No, no, I don't mean for me.

[Dustin]

No, no, no. I don't mean for me to facilitate. I meant, like, I was gonna go read it now, but you're gonna do it. I'll wait till you have a decision.

[Asante]

Yeah. So I think it comes out May in May, so we'll be. We'll be able to all have, like a new book together when it.

[Dustin]

I'm excited around.

[Asante]

Yeah, I forget. I know it's the Midnight Library and I forgot what the next one is. And I was gonna say it's the Midnight Train, which I feel like it is, but I feel like that might be.

[Dustin]

You know it.

[Asante]

But yeah. Exciting year for books this year, Fran. What about you? How was your break? How was your holiday? How was your New Year's? How are you crying this New Year?

[Dustin]

No, I wasn't. I was asleep. I don't know if that's better. She hogy was fucking. That's a good way to avoid crying. Go your ass asleep. No, but I actually, it's funny you mentioned books, because that was a big thing for me this break. I inspired by Claude. Let me shout out my best friend, Claude Kelly, who is Santa Claude on Book Talk. A lot of you are familiar with him because he's so good on there. But I was telling him at the end of the year, I saw him say that he read 100 plus books or something for 2025, and he was kind of going through his favorites. And I was like, that is mind blowing to me. Like foreign to 100 plus books. And I told him I found that so inspiring. And I wanted to read a book a week during my break just to see if I can get myself acclimated to that. Yeah. In the space of, like, always having a book that's being read throughout the year outside of what we're reading for the situation. And so I did it. I read five books over the weekend. And I was really proud of myself because I was like, this is wonderful. It took. It was just nice, like, to just have this thing that you do for a couple hours every single day. And it took me away. You know, a lot of us talk about wanting to spend less time on our phones or less time watching tv, but I realized, like, you have to actually put systems in place and create something in your day that doesn't include your phone or the tv so that you can actually, like, follow through. And, man, let me tell you, I totally get the high now. Like, I get why he's reading 100 plus, because it felt so good.

[Francesca]

And I would be high. I'd be so high reading our books. Me too, y'.

[Asante]

All.

[Francesca]

Is so I could just see it, you know what I mean?

[Asante]

It just makes it so much more fun.

[Francesca]

So what is that?

[Asante]

Let me get this before I go to this next chapter. Yeah, give us the books.

[Dustin]

Well, I read. I got put on to this writer named Bernice McFadden and she had a book called Sugar and then as well as like a follow up. So I read those two books. I read She's Come Undone by Wally. He's another, like, famous author that everyone's been talking about.

[Francesca]

He's a rapper first friend.

[Dustin]

And so it just. I just read so many good books. I read a Toni Morrison book called A Mercy, which is a book I never heard of, never heard anyone talk about. So I was curious about it. So, you know, just like, in it, in it. And I just felt really happy to see that little stack of five books complete on my couch that I completed. And seeing that, visually, I felt so inspired.

[Francesca]

You should be proud of that.

[Dustin]

I really am. And I think it's a good way to come into the new year because I ended and started that way. So now I feel like I'm gonna absolutely continue reading throughout the year in that same way. And that's gonna feel really good. I have to shout out Claude for that inspo.

[Francesca]

I watch all his little videos. I shouldn't say his little videos, but I watch all videos that he posts right. About his reading because he shares them on Instagram as well. You know, I'm not active right now. Stay tuned. But I'm not active right now on TikTok. But I watch all the videos he posts about his library and, like, his books and shit on. On Instagram. It's so dope. And the room that he's in makes me want to read.

[Dustin]

Well, yeah, he got. He got a library custom built out and this little, like, he had like a little open space at the top of his stairs, and he came and he got someone to come and build it out. And it's gorgeous and inspiring. I'm like, my God. So, yeah, that was something I was really proud of. And I did a lot of, like, adulting admin, if that makes sense. Like, I have, like, for example, I've been wanting to get all these photos off my phone. I have like 11,000. And, you know, you end up paying for icloud and then you need extra storage. And it's just like, this is ridiculous. 11,000. And when I'm looking for something, I can't find it. I'm just like, I don't know how. I wish I could organize this in some way. So I started to do that. I got everything off my phone. I bought, you know, the little orange hard drives with the terabytes like huge space in it. Got everything off. And now I'm going to start figure out how do you organize 11,000? And I'll figure it out. I have to develop a system because this feels ridiculous. And I think what happens is we just get a new phone and then you add two or three thousand more pictures and you get another phone, you add two or three, and then you have twenty plus thousand and you don't even know how to get to the picture you need when you need it. And I just. It's overwhelming. So I was doing a lot of little shit like that. Even like my Dropbox. I have a Dropbox with all my campaigns over the years. Yeah, I got that off of the Dropbox. Organized my campaigns by files, you know, so like I have space and then that. Stop paying for Dropbox. I barely use it. I'm paying what, 18.99amonth.

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Dustin]

For something that I don't use. Yeah. For years, probably the past decade, who knows? And I don't use it that much when I could just buy a hard drive.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Dustin]

So that was like one of my projects, just buying hard drives and organizing that sort of adult admin that we just need to get together. And then, you know, just a lot of house stuff, like, you know, buying a new couch for my office because I want a cozy space to be able to read like a little nook, you know, just creating like systems and decorating, just nesting. I don't know, I just felt like I wanted some new energy. So we, you know, new bedding, new bathroom, stuff like this. Yeah, just right. Just in that space. New kitchenware just there. So, yeah, very adult break. And yeah, for New Year's, literally, I was like cleaning, doing laundry. We were just in a very focused prepping for the new year. It was not a thing. Yeah, we're just getting our life in order because this, this year is going to be big for the both of us in my household, collectively and individually. And so we just were trying to get our ducks in a row.

[Francesca]

I know that's right. Goddamn.

[Dustin]

You know, as a team, it's like, let's just get our head right. Let's be in the right energy at

[Francesca]

the end of the year as a record label, a staff, and a motherfucking crew. Did you. Did anybody else make Black eyed peas on January 1st? I did.

[Dustin]

No, I didn't.

[Francesca]

My friend said that they was the best Black Eyed peas he ever had in his life.

[Dustin]

You know, I love Black Eyed Peas. I want to taste what yours tastes like.

[Francesca]

I don't fuck around. For real.

[Dustin]

I love them.

[Asante]

I would like to. I, too, would like to taste the Black Eyed Peas.

[Francesca]

I don't have. No problem. I will make y' all some. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

[Asante]

Fran. It's so funny that you were talking about adults admin ing, though, because I was doing the same thing with my contacts. Like, it's just.

[Dustin]

Oh, that's a big deal.

[Francesca]

Like, the people you know are your eyes.

[Asante]

Whoa. Okay. Hence the glasses today. No, the people that I know, because I was just going through my phone book, and there's a lot of like. Like, people I used to work with that are still in my phone book. Like, I'll see people I used to text only to, like, switch shifts with. I'm like, why are you so.

[Dustin]

That's so real. Like, I did the same thing. Even. Even people that, like, you're like, why are you in my phone?

[Asante]

Yep.

[Dustin]

Like, you shouldn't even be in my phone. Just. Even that. Just getting them out of there. I did a lot of that, too. It felt good. It was crazy, too, to see how many people I deleted. I was like, damn, it's.

[Asante]

It's a doozy. And it's definitely. It's definitely funny, like, to go back through that and have to, like, just look through old messages, too. Sometimes you're like, who is like, which. Which Brandon is this?

[Dustin]

Which Chris is this?

[Francesca]

Yeah, I can't wait. I want to go through my. And get mad again.

[Asante]

I want to do it.

[Francesca]

Yeah, I can't wait. I want to do that.

[Dustin]

And also reorganizing names, too. I don't know if you did that. Sometimes people put that thing in, but they'll do it with, like, their last name. And you're like, well, that doesn't help me when I'm looking for so reorganizing names. I'm also kind of psycho. Like, I like having pictures.

[Asante]

Oh, yeah.

[Dustin]

The pictures are nice. Aesthetically. It just makes your phone look nice when you're. When you look at your inbox of your text, everyone's face. I like how that looks.

[Francesca]

The uniform.

[Dustin]

Yeah. Just how that looks to me. So I've always done that. Like, especially people I speak to the most. Like, I have pictures of y' all and Ty and all the girls, all my friends, you know, Claude, everything. My mom, my partner. So it's like, it just looks nice. And when the text comes in, how the whole screen fills up with your picture. Love it.

[Francesca]

I'm looking at my phone now with shame. Like, look at this Raggedy shit. Y' all got me looking at my phone now.

[Asante]

Oh, if you go through my camera roll, it's extra raggedy just because. Oh, that's when you were talking about getting a new phone and just transferring the pictures over. I still would probably have, like, duplicates of photo videos because whenever they made that initial switch and they introduced the icloud or whatever, things got doubled, and I was too lazy at the time

[Dustin]

to delete the doubles.

[Francesca]

My contacts are fucked up like that.

[Asante]

Contacts are.

[Dustin]

That happened to me. They brought in emails. Like, people that have. Anyone that emailed me, even if you emailed me once, imagine how many people that is over the span of years, they added it as a contact.

[Asante]

Imagine how many not people over the span of years that have emailed you that have ended up contexting your damn phone. It's like, what the fuck is this?

[Dustin]

That I was going through my damn phone

[Asante]

tonight.

[Francesca]

Absolutely. Y' all got. Thank you for saying something, both of you.

[Dustin]

Those are. Those are, like, the subtle things that. That we don't really think of. But it really felt like a relief, you know, just to clear all that up. And even just also my emails, I had to go through that because I'm at, like, 99% full, which is crazy. I didn't even know you could reach that in an email. And I have to delete. I've been deleting a little bit every day. I'm gonna.

[Asante]

I'm gonna be very transparent.

[Francesca]

And right now, 41,000 email.

[Asante]

The email is getting charged to the game. I have burner emails. So you know how you have, like, your professional email? I have, like, burner professional emails. So whenever that one is, like, done, done for real, I'm like, all right, we're just gonna move to the burner professional because I actually can't sift through. I feel like every time I get a hold of, like, all right, there's no more spam coming in. All of a sudden, random launch of spam from I don't even know what. And I'm like, I don't even know. What am I subscribed to? Did I tweet my fucking email? Like, what? Like, who's emailing me? What is this? So it's just like, I'm just gonna have to switch. I'm gonna, like, all right, no longer this one now this one would've won.

[Dustin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Francesca]

That's the only time I switch, you know what?

[Dustin]

Dustin Ross and now. But that was. That was essentially my break. Just being real adult sounds really intentional. New Bed sheets. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, we'll get into what I feel the energy. You know, how we do at the top of the year. The energy forecast next week, which will be my episode. But I just. This year feels different in a lot of ways, and I'm hopeful for it and excited for it, and I just felt like. Had to just really be prepared. Yeah. Like, in a really, really adult way. And I feel good. And I felt it, like, now I feel the house feels better. My mind feels better. I hate the new phone update.

[Francesca]

Yeah, me too. All these bubbles. Every glass.

[Dustin]

Is that what it's called? Glass? It looks so.

[Asante]

It don't look like glass.

[Dustin]

So angry.

[Francesca]

It looks like a television show. Like when people put. Like when the graphic designers put the templates on the tv. Yeah. And it just looks like that. It looks like what somebody, like, created to mimic what it actually looks like. You know what I'm saying? A parody of what it's supposed to look like. I hate it.

[Dustin]

I hate it. And then I have the 12. So it looks like when you have, like, a old. You take a old shoe to the cobbler and tell them to modernize it. Just put a new heel on. Just looks.

[Francesca]

And Fred, you don't. There's no reason for you to hold on to that phone. There is no. There's literally no. It's a 12. That's what's wrong with it.

[Dustin]

But I can. I can text. All my apps work just the same as y'. Alls.

[Asante]

She's not high maintenance.

[Dustin]

I can see my pictures. I can see. I don't really use the camera.

[Asante]

She's not a hyper texter. She's not a hyper scroller. She's not a hyper.

[Dustin]

But even if I am, she's a modern woman. No different. It works so different.

[Asante]

She's got an iPhone. She is a modern woman.

[Francesca]

She's a lady. Whoa, whoa, whoa. She's a lady. Welcome to the friends.

[Asante]

Every time.

[Dustin]

I'm in.

[Asante]

All right, guys, there is this app out there that helps you with your finances, and it's been helping me, so now I'm telling you guys about it. It's called Rocket Money. That's right. It's been a year. It's a new year. I spent a lot of money last year, and Rocket Money showed me the categories of where I spent those dollars, and now I can budget appropriately moving forward so I can get my dollars back. And if you want to do the same, you should try out Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitor your spending like I've been talking about, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. That's right, y'.

[Dustin]

All.

[Asante]

If you need your bills lowered, using the Rocket Money app will help you. You just put your login for your banking in there and you know it'll verify that with your institutions and whatnot and it'll help you see some of your bills and sometimes it'll on your behalf try to get those bills down. I love Rocket Money and I feel like you guys will love it too. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] Zone that's RocketMoney.com Zone RocketMoney.com Zone

[Dustin]

this podcast is brought to you by Squarespace Squarespace Is that All in One spot? That makes building a website actually feel easy. Whether you're just getting started or you're enhancing your thriving business, it's got everything in one place. Secure your unique domain, make a beautiful site to show off what you do, build up your brand and get paid all in one place. Get discovered fast with integrated Squarespace SEO tools. Every website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions, an auto generated sitemap, and so much more. So you show up more often on search engines and bring in more of your ideal customers. And with Squarespace's collection of cutting edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Start with Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI Enhanced Design Partner, or choose from a library of professionally designed and award winning website templates. No matter where you start, your website is flexible to what you need with intuitive drag and drop editing, beautiful styling options, unrivaled visual design effects on brand AI content, and more ways to list what you offer with no experience required. We've mentioned how much we love Squarespace because of how easy and user friendly the interface is. Building a website is intimidating, or at least you would think it would be, right? But with Squarespace, it's actually really easy to follow and comprehensive. So go to squarespace.com friendzone for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, use code FRIENDZONE to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com friendzone for a free trial and code friendzone to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain.

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[Dustin]

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[Asante]

Angel Soft.

[Dustin]

The only the only difference from the 12 to the 17 is most likely the camera. For real? For real. What else? What technology has Apple come on because

[Asante]

you only got what, two cameras, is it?

[Dustin]

No, it's a few.

[Asante]

Oh yeah, you do. Still got the three. Okay.

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

It ain't that crazy the way that friend governs herself with her phone device.

[Asante]

You just would never expect that.

[Francesca]

It's so funny because Fran is a person who is notorious for making sure things are the most efficient that they can be right. Which looks like sometimes Fran is the person who will be like, no, y', all, let's just get the best one because we know it's gonna have all the things we need today.

[Dustin]

Very true.

[Francesca]

So your philosophy when it comes to

[Asante]

your cell phone, like friend is legit.

[Francesca]

So funny to me.

[Dustin]

But I'm efficient, but I'm not wasteful.

[Francesca]

There's a no, you're not.

[Dustin]

Like, let's say with upgrades with this show things on the back end, we're gon to get top of the line because it's something that is visually different. Like, you see the difference in whether we get this or that. And so that's. If I'm gonna do that where you can see it, then yes.

[Francesca]

But a phone, it's really everything in your life, though, friend. Like, think about the way that you bought your vehicle. Think about the way that you. Your home. Think about it, friend. When you do stuff, you do it the right way to ensure that you have quality and you have stability and shit. And so the fact that you. When it comes to your phone, you be like, I refuse.

[Asante]

Okay.

[Dustin]

Cause it just feels like I think it's y' all that gets new phones every year. Do y' all get new phones every year? I don't understand that mentality.

[Asante]

I usually don't.

[Francesca]

This is everything I got right now.

[Asante]

This, honestly, was my first.

[Francesca]

I'm scratching my neck like pooji. You know what I'm saying? Cause I need it. I need it.

[Asante]

You know what? I'm actually going to be really transparent with you because I'm not wasteful when it comes to phone upgrades. Actually, I'm not wasteful at all.

[Francesca]

That's right.

[Asante]

I called AT&T recently because my bill had went up, and I was like, well, why did my bill go up? And then the at&t man did something crazy that brought my bill down. And I feel, like, weird about it because I'm like, well, why do I have xyz? But my bill is down, so I shouldn't feel guilty about this at all. But the reason I said all of that was because I kind of want me a flip phone.

[Francesca]

Y' all really?

[Dustin]

Really. Like the Android one that folds.

[Asante]

Well, they. Not that one. It was something about the razor back in the day that was just like, she was that girl. And so the fact that Motorola is still like, we make razors still, and they touch screen, like, we're still in the game. I'm just like, they still make razors. They still make ra. Like, they. They make new razors. Like, I mean, how would that work

[Dustin]

with, like, your apps, you know?

[Asante]

And see, I don't know. You know, it's an Android device, I believe. So it's, like, going to be a different interfacing issue. So y' all going have to, you know, forgive me if I send y' all green bubbles.

[Francesca]

I can't imagine having nothing but an iPhone. And if you get a phone that's not an iPhone, it's gonna piss me off when it comes to our group messages.

[Asante]

So here's the problem, right? I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna end up having two phones. Because I called AT&T and they said the reason that your bill went up is because I had upgraded. I just upgraded this phone. Like we were just talking about. I don't upgrade every year. So this was my first upgrade in, like, three, four years. And so the plan that I had, I had to change to a different plan. And my bill was still going to go up unless I added a. An additional line to my bill. So, like, once you add a certain amount of lines, the price per line goes down.

[Dustin]

Interesting.

[Asante]

That brought my bill down, like, $50.

[Dustin]

50.

[Francesca]

That's a big difference when it comes to yourself.

[Dustin]

Yeah, because it's not. I mean, cell phone is what, 150, 200, depending. I don't know.

[Asante]

You know how we were doing, like, our, like, exercise before the show when we were, like, going through that email, like, trying to figure out, like, the math of that. I have to sit on the phone with this customer service representative and, like, really do the math with him. Cause I'm like, I don't believe what he's saying. Like, I feel like he's trying to get me somewhere. And maybe on the back end, he still got me. Like, I don't know if I'm in a contract. He was great at his job because he was like. He was like, you know, if you. He was like, once you get this device paid off, you're gonna be down another 30, $40. And then, hell, if you added another line and device, if you ran the special, you might could get it down. This sounds like, see, now this is just too much, sir. This is too much.

[Francesca]

You know what fucked me up? I kept losing my phone. Like, at one point, I was in LA a lot, and for some reason, like, two Uber drivers drove off with my phone in the car. I left it in there, but they drove up and heard me. I'm in la, in the middle of the street. This happened to me twice, yelling, yeah, my phone. You know what I'm saying? And they went on with it. Then, like, my phone had fell. It fell in, like, some water one time. But each one of those times, instead of waiting for the insurance because I was traveling and shit, and I needed a phone immediately. And so instead of filing an insurance claim and waiting the two, three days and all that other shit, I would just go to AT&T, add a line, get a new device, and then transfer my number over. Simple, right? But after. At a certain point, I was like, why is my phone bill xyz? You know what I'm Saying, like, what the fuck? And I was paying for all those lines, so I had to go back and.

[Dustin]

Oh, rectified.

[Francesca]

But I had to do what I had to do. You know what I'm saying, in that moment?

[Asante]

So that's real. And. But it's so funny because so by adding this additional line, he was like, you know, you don't even have to get another device, because with the new iPhones, they got dual sims, so I can have both my numbers on one device.

[Francesca]

Brand.

[Asante]

Fran, you have to come to the future. You have to come to the future, because these are things that I'm like, you know, I'm a nerd. I'm geeky. So I was like, okay, this is kind of cool.

[Dustin]

Yeah. I don't know. I want to do like Haas, she has two phones. For those of you who are Lou. Wow. For those of you who are newer listeners, Haas is one of my best friends, and she is very earth mother goddess. You know what I mean? And she has two separate phones. She has one phone that she calls her mat matrix phone, and that's the one that has all the apps, you know, her email, everything that has to do with work creation. But then she has a flip phone, and that's just her life phone, and that's the one she carries. And it has nothing. It's just. She can call, she can text. You can't even FaceTime.

[Francesca]

That's a great program.

[Dustin]

And it's just separate. And so she don't have to bring work with her if she doesn't want to. And she kind of separates that. And I was like, that's so smart, because sometimes you don't want. Yeah, sometimes I don't want to be inundated with work emails or texts or this about that or this. Or even. Or even the reflex. Right. Of going on the apps while you're supposed to be resting or relaxing somewhere. And so if you just don't have that but you still have your phone, you can still do what you need to do. I think that's the perfect way to go about.

[Asante]

That's why I want my razor. You know, that way that would be perfect. I'm not gonna be like, let me go get on my. Let me go get on tick tock on my razor and be like, all right. Like, you know, somebody's calling.

[Francesca]

I just. Having anything I'm so accustomed to after having an iPhone for so long.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Francesca]

You know what I mean? And I use my. Obviously I use my phone for work and personal use. I can't imagine Abandoning that. It's all. I know

[Asante]

that's real. That's real, like, something.

[Dustin]

And the ease of it. Right.

[Asante]

Apple has appealed to you so deeply that, like, you feel like you need it and, like, that's like, a real thing. But I remember, like, we were in that era of, like, we just started getting these little phones. And, like, I remember just being in that era of, like. Like how we talk about upgrading every year. That used to be part of the program as a child. Like, all right, we got our little Nokia phones. You got to get no phone.

[Francesca]

I think I'll be eligible in three months.

[Asante]

You got the Nokia phone with the antenna on it, but now you're gonna upgrade to the newer Nokia that's smaller and ain't got no antenna. Or you can upgrade to the other flip phone with the antenna that pulls out. So you got a real antenna. Now it's like, those were things, but now it's like you're upgrading to the

[Dustin]

same style, size, the same movement.

[Asante]

Like, where's the excitement? Where's the extravaganza?

[Dustin]

I remember switching from at our older ages.

[Asante]

We appreciate the success.

[Dustin]

I think it was a Samsung, I think my very first phone, and it was the one that wasn't fully flipped. It's just like the bottom. It had a flip that cover the keyboard.

[Francesca]

Was it a Sprint phone? Did it flip up or down?

[Dustin]

I think up.

[Francesca]

Was it like a beige, like, taupe.

[Dustin]

Ish color?

[Francesca]

That was that first Sprint. Yep.

[Dustin]

You know, so I remember going from that, and then I think my next phone after that was the razr. And that was a huge deal. Cause it was, like, smaller and sleek. And I remember thinking, oh, this is so fly. What an upgrade from that, you know?

[Francesca]

So I was a Nextel.

[Dustin]

We use iPhone. IPhone.

[Francesca]

IPhone instead of Nextel. Yup. I have Next. I remember all the different Nextels. I remember when they added the camera feature. I remember when they got the color screens. I remember all of that shit. And Nextels were the shit. I also come from the era where we changed the antenna and got the antenna that lit up.

[Asante]

The blinging one.

[Francesca]

Yes. It would light up different colors. You couldn't tell me shit. That is also from the era where you would go buy ringtones. Remember that? You would go to the store.

[Asante]

The ringtones, ring dads.

[Francesca]

Oh, my God. All right, so, yeah. Oh, my. How far we've come.

[Asante]

Wow.

[Dustin]

And putting music in your voice.

[Francesca]

You reached us in this is the right number. Unfortunately, at the wrong time.

[Asante]

Hey, y'.

[Dustin]

All.

[Asante]

You reached?

[Francesca]

Yeah.

[Asante]

Tay, remember Fucking ringtones used to be like, literally do, do, do, do, do. And now you can actually put music

[Francesca]

once you can actually put the song. I went crazy. I would go to that phone place all the time and have them add new songs on my phone and shit. And I will of my friends named Al had at the time. This was when Precious came out. The Precious woman. He had Monique Impressions on his as his ringtone. So when you called him and when you text him, you hear you a dummy bitch. Like, when his phone ring, that's what you hear.

[Dustin]

That is so. Damn.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Francesca]

Memories.

[Dustin]

Anyway, yeah, see, but that was a different time, right? Where you, like, witnessed the evolution of phones. Now I feel like they be playing with us. I really feel that way. And we just be so hyped. And the difference I always see is the camera. The camera does evolve. Like, when I see the 17 on YouTube, when it was, like, first coming out and people were doing reviews, I was like, that shit's crazy. Yeah, it's like a DSLR level of

[Francesca]

that shit turns me on. I love it.

[Dustin]

It's beautiful, no? Yeah, it's nice.

[Francesca]

My work is the same way. Damon be like, I'm getting. I think they already have the 17s. Him and his wife. Damon, I'm sure get the big one with the biggest big memory, the pro and the big meal. That's how they be.

[Asante]

Yep. Yeah, I was at that festival back in October, and when I zoomed in, I was like, oh, I zoomed in too much. Like one Music Fest. Yep, one Music Fest. I thought I was just gonna zoom in, you know, close to the artist, but I was, like, all up in that grill. And I was like, well, I didn't to want and see in your mouth. I just want to see what you. The faces you was making. Damn. My bad. But yeah, 18.

[Dustin]

The 18 supposed to drop this September, right?

[Francesca]

Damn.

[Asante]

Probably.

[Dustin]

That's what I said. Someone was. I saw someone, I think, on Twitter saying they were gonna upgrade. And then someone was like, don't just wait till the 18th.

[Francesca]

And I'm like, damn, wait till the 19th.

[Dustin]

Get your phone right. Cause that is September fucking January.

[Asante]

Friends.

[Dustin]

Crazy.

[Asante]

Okay,

[Dustin]

I'm good with my 12. You hear me?

[Asante]

I'mma. I'm. I'mma hold on to the 17 for a couple years. You know what I'm saying? Like, I still got to pay the device down or whatever. So I was like, all right, well, once she's paid off, you know, maybe we'll think about it. But now they have it to where it's like, you paid out a piece, you paid off a piece of it. Do you want to trade it in for the next one? It's like, this is not a car. I can still make phone calls on the other one. Just like you're saying, friend. Like. Like, if I'm at that point, I don't try to upgrade unless I really feel like, all right, I do have to have XYZ on it. But I haven't felt that way, you know, to my original point about a phone or an iPhone. So long.

[Francesca]

Shout out to Quinn. Funky Dyneva. Funky Dyneva. You know, that's our boy. But on one of his lives, he was talking about how he upgraded his phone recently, and he went into the phone store, and they gave him, like. I think it was, like, $800,000 for his phone. And then he just paid the other, like, three out of pocket. And he owns.

[Dustin]

Oh, I wish they would.

[Francesca]

So check on that. Check and see. Even if they give you whatever they

[Dustin]

give you, they probably like, girl, even if it's 250.

[Francesca]

You know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

Well, no.

[Dustin]

Anything they give us.

[Asante]

And the thing is, well, you're gonna need to update sooner or later, too, because, you know, the older your device gets, the lesser they gonna give you for. But during the holiday.

[Dustin]

That's what I'm saying. I'm sure now they're looking my like, girl, we going. We doing you a favor.

[Asante]

Well, you got to be diligent, because

[Francesca]

during the holiday, how much you gonna give us for us to take during the holidays?

[Asante]

They'll do. Sometimes they run promotions where they'll take your iPhone, any condition, you know, whatever it is, and they'll give you, like, the full retail cost on the phone if you sign the plan or whatever.

[Dustin]

That's crazy. And my phone is fine. There's no cracks on the screen, no damage whatsoever. This could be reset and refurbished. It's so perfect.

[Asante]

So sometimes they're all a scam, y'. All.

[Francesca]

They are. All this is a scam. Yeah.

[Dustin]

Yeah. All. It's. It's crazy how expensive is.

[Asante]

Yep. Like.

[Dustin]

Like, we've been talking about Friend Zone doing some upgrades. If you're watching on Patreon, you can see that there have been some upgrades with our tech, and it kind of blew my mind. Like, I'm like, wow, this stuff. Everything. Microphones, lights, like, wow, everything.

[Francesca]

I feel like everything is $30 right now. I feel like that's the least amount of money you gonna pay for anything right now is $30. Really, you know, What I'm saying, that's how I feel. Like you order food. Order food on DoorDash. $30 for a McDonald's combo. You know what I'm saying?

[Dustin]

Which is crazy because you order one thing and you're like, how is this

[Asante]

even a Waffle House order be. I was pricing our Waffle House and it was like to deliver, it was 40 what now? And I put one thing in.

[Francesca]

Even though you want it right now?

[Asante]

Even though I got it and I do want what I want do y' all deserve but some shit?

[Dustin]

You just feel like this is stupid.

[Asante]

Yes. Because a lot of it was fees to whoever too. And I was like, why am I paying y' all the fees? I'll just, you know, I actually save if I uber back there and back my damn self. So why would I do that?

[Francesca]

You feel like Michelle and Deggy Ocello on Fool of Me. You know that part on fool of Me when she goes, I feel so dumb. You know what I'm talking about? What kind of fools am I?

[Dustin]

Why did you sound just like

[Francesca]

you look. You know why I sound just like.

[Dustin]

The inflection was just like you take you. You know what? I've actually made it a point too. Especially that I'm driving. Girl, get your ass in the car and go to the supermarket. Yeah, or go get the food or go get the ingredient. Like, chill out. Because sometimes they really do be feet playing with us on those feet. And then you know you want to tip well. Like I'm someone that I consider the person is going out their way to go to the market and buy this for me to then bring it to my house. I want to tip well. Same with doordash and all that. And it just ends up being ridiculous. $70 and you ordered two meals. Why am I is my thing is $70 when I can just go get and probably pay 40.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Francesca]

And get outside of the size of

[Dustin]

moving and being and get out and

[Asante]

outside of the tips, sometimes those service fees too. And I'll be like, girl, well, why do you. Why are you taking this? Like there's more that could have gone

[Dustin]

towards the tips and it be four different fees. It'd be like service fee, local fee, regulatory, state regulatory.

[Francesca]

You a dummy fee. You be like, damn, we playing in

[Dustin]

your face feed and you going to pay it cuz you hungry and lazy.

[Asante]

Speaking of playing it in your face, I've had to get a some security systems.

[Dustin]

Me too.

[Asante]

What's wrong? I had some. I had some things delivered and now. And usually things are sent to, like, a package room, a package area. But sometimes things are left on my doorstep, and for the most part, nothing has ever been moved. I've actually seen things on people's doorsteps. I'm like, wow, that's real brave. You know, like, walk back and forth. My damn is still sitting out. That's crazy. I got caught slipping once. I'm not gonna lie to you. I had ordered some Amazon Fresh. It came sooner than expected. Your boy was snapped out. I was like, 30 minutes. Like, I saw the notification say your order was delivered. It was 30 minutes ago. I go to look, my order is not there.

[Dustin]

Not your groceries.

[Asante]

But in the Amazon app, the driver posted a picture of having left them outside my door. So I'm like. Like, one of two things happened. Someone that lives here took my groceries or this driver took the groceries back. I don't actually know what happened, because when I called up to my leasing office, they were like, oh, if you want the camera, you know, the front camera footage, you got to pay for that or get a police report for that.

[Dustin]

What you mean that's the point of the camera?

[Asante]

What's the point of the rent? You know? So that's what I ended up. So that's what I ended up having to do because I was like, well, this ain't gonna happen again. Amazon gave me my money back. So I was like, well, as long as y' all know that I did not get this stuff, because I'm not, you know, pulling one over on y'. All. So once they get my money back, I just went on ahead and put it towards that ring camera. And I was like, well, this will never be happening again.

[Dustin]

Wait, so you have the doorbell? The ring.

[Asante]

I do. Oh, cute. And my doormat is fly. So what you got the Jocelyn one?

[Francesca]

Why is you.

[Asante]

No, I don't even want to say what it says, Just in case someone was sitting there like, oh, I know someone that has that. But it's so funny because my footage on my ring camera is a lot of people just walking by, looking at my doormat and, like, making faces and stuff at it. Like, they're like, yeah. Or just, like, high five and a quarter. I'm like, y' all have got to move it.

[Francesca]

Send it to the group text.

[Asante]

I'm gonna send you this video. This one woman, she has been taking me out.

[Francesca]

That's so funny.

[Dustin]

That's the only thing with the ring doorbell that I have to figure out. It's just too many dang notifications, and I'm not A notification, girly. Like, yeah, I don't even have my ringer on. I have no notifications for any app,

[Francesca]

even for my time friend.

[Dustin]

Nothing. Yeah, like, I'll get back to you because it's just not gonna notify me. I just don't have that. So this shit making my phone light up whenever someone even walks past. But then I tried to adjust it where it's like, okay, that's the hard part, because it's like, it's a porch. I want anyone that is near. But people walk by your porch. So it's like every fucking person walking their dog, kids running, playing in front of our porch. And I'm like, I don't. I don't know. I can't. I can't do this.

[Francesca]

You get overstimulated.

[Asante]

You might not like what I have. You might not like what I have to say, but you're gonna have to go all in. And you're gonna have to get you a second device, whether it's the Amazon, like, Echo or whatever that has the screen on it. That way you could turn the notifications off on your phone. And so, like. So I have an echo dot, which. It doesn't have a screen on it. So when people, like, hit the thing, it'll ring. So the dot rings, like in my room. Room when I can't hear the front door. But you can get it big. But you can. You can actually get you something with a screen on it.

[Dustin]

Oh, okay.

[Asante]

Oh, I don't like the. I don't. So this is why I'm suggesting the screen, right? Because the notifications that come up on your phone there, if someone does walk by and doesn't, like, you know, ring your doorbell. So on the screen, you can actually just see or, like, look at the ring live on there, as opposed to having to do it on your phone. So you can separate those worlds a little bit.

[Dustin]

That's interesting. Now that I would do, because it's just too much. It's too much.

[Asante]

Now I'm suggesting it to you, but I haven't got. I haven't purchased mine yet because I'm debating if I want to get one of the big ones that I could put in my kitchen so I can, like, kind of cook off of it too. Or if I just need to give

[Dustin]

me, like, a little one. That's what that is. See that in people's house.

[Asante]

You know what I'm talking about?

[Dustin]

Y. That little screen that sits up on the. On, like a stand in their kitchen. I always wondered what the hell that was in people's house.

[Asante]

Right. Cuz it just started.

[Francesca]

An answering machine.

[Asante]

Yeah.

[Dustin]

Like what is that?

[Asante]

Is this like the new alarm clock? Like this is alive.

[Dustin]

Because it's just huge. Huge. I'm like, why? But a lot of people have that. That makes sense. Okay, I never knew.

[Francesca]

So when you say cook off of it, what do you mean?

[Asante]

Like you know, watch the grilling with AV videos right there in the kitchen.

[Francesca]

Smoking and grilling with av.

[Dustin]

That's so smart too. Instead of having. Because I'd be bringing my whole ass phone or laptop with me when I'm doing recipes. That's very.

[Asante]

See my TV luckily is positioned in my living room to where and it's on a stand so I can swivel it. But it is a big ass tv. So I don't like like actually having to do that back.

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Asante]

So yeah.

[Dustin]

Oh yeah.

[Asante]

See Technological optimizations.

[Dustin]

This ring is so funny though. Have you looked at the like community? Like the community community and consider where I live.

[Asante]

Okay, I should not read my community.

[Francesca]

What's on the community tab on there?

[Dustin]

So it's basically like a feed. Like Facebook. A Facebook Facebook feed, let's say. But it's on the ring. It's the community. It's everyone around you and people just be on there. Like beware. This weird lady is, you know, checking people's doors and then they'll show. The lady gives two fucks about the ring camera. That's the part that kills me. No, no, no. It'll be like an actual weirdo.

[Asante]

Someone doing something.

[Dustin]

They don't care. Face right in the camera, look dead at it and check to see if your door was open. Then went to see if your car was open. So people share these videos. But then it's people also using it in ways that I'm like, you need friends. But they're like, they're like, hey, does anyone know where I can get, you know, X, Y and Z? You're like, what? White people are going to use a lot of fear mongering. Literally that they're so. They're just scared of everything all the time and they're constantly surveilling the neighborhood. That's what I've learned from the ring app.

[Asante]

And I hate them.

[Dustin]

When you walk past, you're in everyone's damn camera feed.

[Francesca]

First of all, we don't need a community tab on my personal ring doorbell app. That's not. There's no community.

[Asante]

We talking about my trying to get updates about my shit.

[Francesca]

This ain't got nothing to do, but they need that.

[Dustin]

They need to be able to swap.

[Asante]

You remember the citizen app?

[Dustin]

Yeah, I remember that. Scary.

[Asante]

It's literally like I'm checking, like to your point, Dustin, it's like I'm checking on my household, but I've just opened up the citizens and I see everybody's business and all these things. And to Fran's point, it don't even be shit about safety sometimes. And it's like it could be anything

[Dustin]

that's of value to us.

[Francesca]

You know yellow citizen app, don't you?

[Dustin]

Jade?

[Asante]

Jade.

[Dustin]

She's the one that put me on Jade.

[Francesca]

Oh, you won't fucking believe this, Dustin. I'm like, jade, she put me on

[Dustin]

when I moved to her neighborhood, right when we were like three minutes from each other. And I remember turning it on and I, I deleted that app. I said, this will make me not want to leave my house. It was like murder. And Building 253 in the lobby, this person got graped. I was like, you know what? I don't actually need to know what's happening.

[Francesca]

And Jade, you're nosy. Just like I told her ass. That's the only reason you like this shit, because you want to know.

[Dustin]

And the nextdoor app, that's the other one too, where people love to Next

[Francesca]

Door mail is gay porn gossip. It there a gay porn company called Next door Mail. M. And so when you said in the next door app, I was like, that ain't what she talking about. That ain't what she talking about. She talking about something else.

[Asante]

In the world of. You guys, as we get older, there are issues that need to be addressed. Well, one issue in particular that I was talking to one of my home girls about was my hair. Y', all, y', all, I've noticed that my hair has been thinning in the front. And my homegirl, she's been going through the same thing and she told me about something in particular that can help. Nutrafol. Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand trusted by over one and a half million people. And someone close to me has recommended it and I'm so glad we get to recommend it here. Nutrafol has multiple formulations designed to target the many root causes of thinning, like stress and hormones as they evolve throughout different life stages and lifestyles such as post childbirth to menopause, giving your body what it needs to grow. Nutrafol supplements are peer reviewed NSF content certified and clinically tested to measure results in growth, quality and strength. Helping you reach your hair goals with confidence. Consistency is the key to meaningful results and Nutrafol makes staying consistent simple, setting you up for long term success with automated deliveries. Free shipping, up to 20% savings, free one to one naturopathic doctor consulting and a complimentary headspace membership included. See Thicker, Stronger, Faster growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months with Nutrafol. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month subscription and free shipping when you go to nutrafool.com and enter the Promo Code Zone. Find out why Nutrafol is the best selling hair growth supplement [e-mail] spelled n u t r a f o l.com promo code zone that's nutrafold.com promo code

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[Asante]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this,

[Francesca]

but anyone can get the same Premium

[Asante]

Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities, so do

[Francesca]

like I did and have one of

[Asante]

your assistance assistants switch you to mint mobile to today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail]

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[Asante]

and fees, extra fee, full [e-mail]

[Dustin]

let's

[Asante]

get away from app talk. I just want to piggyback to Book talk real quick.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Dustin]

Oh, yes.

[Asante]

I love the fact that we are talking about books so much like, like we've been doing. We've been having, you know, a, a world of a time here on the Friend Zone reading books, but the fact that, like, KAIAT has pivoted and it's like, been reading. I know people have had their comments and been making fun of him and I was so stupid. I love that he's a streamer. And, and this conversation's kind of been coming up in different arenas of entertainment. It's always an ongoing conversation of, you know, what do you do after, you know, your 15 seconds of fame are over? You know, do you get you a regular ass job or, you know, how do you improve yourself? You know, how do you plan for the next step? So I think it's dope that Kai was like, you know, I'm not going to stream no more, blah, blah, blah. And people were like, well, shit, you could do this, you could do that. And now he's like, well, fuck it. I want to be taken more seriously too, so I'm going to also improve my literacy. So I love that he's making this pivot. And I was saying that in Drag Race there. I know you guys don't care about the drag queens, but I care about drag queens.

[Francesca]

I just don't watch Drag Race. And I actually care about it because TS Madison is on there. Shout out to TS Madison.

[Dustin]

Oh, she's one of the judges.

[Asante]

Yes. And she's one of the, she's one of the best judges. Judges, like, we love Drag Race has had a lot of really, really good judges. I can't discredit the cast, the rotations, but TS Madison is one of those people that, like, she showed up. We knew we were going to love her, but she showed up. She immediately took control in a way that was so, like, warm, loving and fulfilling of, like, and, and caring of the other girls, while also still being her funny, shady, overly, you know, crazy self. Because Drag Race, there's Pines. It's stupid, but also it's serious. Even though these men are wearing dresses in some cases, you know, to that point, RuPaul's Drag Race has become so big that the fandom, you know, they. The stars of the show, they make a lot of money when they're booked. But how often are drag queens booked outside of, you know, RuPaul, drag race engagements or, you know, these brunches that they do and stuff like that? So it's crazy watching conversations happen with drag queens saying, you know, like. Like, you know, some of us. Some of the girls go broke after the show. Some girls stop doing drag. And I was just like, damn. When you look at how this shit's set up, it almost looks like these bitches are like football players. Like, they out here getting contracts or they should be getting contracts.

[Francesca]

The way they should be ramping up everywhere. They should be right. To me, some of that is on the talent. Like, you can't expect things to just come to you all the time. You have to make yourself fit, how

[Dustin]

to capitalize on the moment.

[Francesca]

That's a huge moment with a lot of visibility and a lot of reach.

[Dustin]

Reach.

[Francesca]

And it's up to you to. To strategize and figure out how you go. It's just like us. We ain't sitting in these chairs for 10 years for nothing. You know what I'm saying? You use that to fuel something else.

[Dustin]

Your personal interest.

[Francesca]

Yeah. So I don't like to. Me. Get up. Get up. What did. What the girls say, Kim Kardashian, get off your ass. Get her. Get off your ass. You know what I'm saying?

[Asante]

Look at that. Look at traders this season. Monet Exchange. Monet Exchange was on.

[Francesca]

Great player on season. Great player.

[Asante]

Great player. Season, like, six or seven of Drag Race. We're on, like, season, like, 32. No, we're on season, like, 17, 18. I don't even know where. But, like, the show has been going on for so long, and Monet's one of those people that's been like, all right, well, I still have to eat. I still have to work. You know, if Mama Ru calls me back for another Drag Race, cool. But while she's not calling, she used to have a show right by where we used to record. We used to pass by that studio and be like, damn, Monet X Change records there. The exchange rate. And I was like, that's how you do it.

[Dustin]

Oh, in the corner with the glass. Yep, that's. Oh, I remember that. That's crazy.

[Francesca]

Don't even watch Drag Race. But I know who Monet x Change is. And so I think that that same. That in itself is representative of the work that Monet has done in whatever

[Dustin]

Space to step outside of the shadow of the show.

[Francesca]

I think that's dope as fuck, you

[Asante]

know, she got commercials, you know what I'm saying?

[Dustin]

I know her from Crystal and Jade. Cause they're like lovers go to her shows. Yeah, so that's how I'm familiar.

[Asante]

She's one of those top tier drag queens that we love over here.

[Francesca]

That's how it should be, baby. Let me tell you something. Them drag shows in Detroit, back in the day, it was a club. Shout out. If anybody from Detroit is listening, they gonna know what I'm talking about. It was a club called Club Innuendo. And on Sunday night, they would have the drag shows and they would do two sets where each performer would do two numbers. And it was like a 30 minute intermission in between this. Back in my black and mild days and yikes, those drag queens would be. Cause I would be in there with a black and mild. You couldn't tell me shit. They'd be like, you look like you been around before. I'd be like, yeah. Anyway, so. But them performers would do literally like gospel songs and have everybody in the whole club, like, emotional. They would do classic R and B songs. Barbra Streisand shout out to mafia.com, she used to do Prisoner by Barbra Streisand and tear it up like so it would actually expose you to different types of music that you wouldn't normally listen to. It was just a really big deal. So I have a huge appreciation for the art. You know what I'm saying? A drag performance and shit. I just ain't been watching Drag Race, you know?

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Asante]

And you know what? I love that you said that, because I used to. Those are drag. I've been to drag shows back in the day, back in Atlanta.

[Francesca]

Oh, fuck, yeah.

[Asante]

Like, there was a club called a Chaparral and on Sundays, the Shop.

[Francesca]

Yeah, you better know. You know who you talking to. Okay, you already know.

[Asante]

Look, you ain't. You ain't an early club type of. So at the shop, if you got there early, they would have the drag show.

[Francesca]

Okay. Yep, yep.

[Asante]

Before. Before they would set it off, it was the drag show. And for the drag show, everybody would have their numbers or whatever. And then they would end it with all the drag queens coming out doing seasons of Love by Rent. And I was like, why are we doing that?

[Francesca]

Whoever. Whoever produced, whoever threw that. That was. They shit. And they was like, you know what? I think I want to see all these performers together doing the Rent song.

[Asante]

We have to come together at the end, it's a celebration of love.

[Francesca]

Listen, they wanted to. Them ladies wanted to work, so they. With the program. You know what I'm saying? They said, well, let's do it then. That's hilarious.

[Dustin]

Wait, speaking of things, y' all watch, did you guys watch, do any, like, binging or watching of anything during break? Anything new? That's good.

[Francesca]

Yeah. I started the show that must not be named, that we're gonna talk about on Patreon. I started it already.

[Dustin]

Well, we should tell people, so maybe we should check. No. Yeah, we gotta let them know. That way. Stay up there with us.

[Francesca]

Okay.

[Asante]

Well, friend, do you mind if I segue us. If I. If I take us back to the book and then go into the. The show?

[Dustin]

Yeah, because I have my book here too.

[Asante]

So for those of you listening, if. If you're a newer listener, because this is our first episode of the year. Hey, this is the Friend Zone podcast, and we love having fun with our listeners. We have a private community. It's a gated community. It's [e-mail] the Friend Zone podcast. If you're listening to this show and you would like to see us or you would like to listen. Episode, commercial, free, Join the gated community. You get this episode, you're gonna get future episodes, you'll get the past episodes, access to that back catalog, and you also get access to our premium shows where we watch TV together, we read together, and we even do a live stream at the end of every month. Oh, my God.

[Francesca]

That's where it's at.

[Dustin]

That's next week already.

[Asante]

That's next week already. I'm so glad that this moment just happened.

[Francesca]

We back.

[Asante]

If y' all caught that, Y' all caught that. Lachette chat.

[Francesca]

Happy New Year, lechat.

[Asante]

Happy New Year. Oh, my God. Next week's gonna be so much fun. Okay, I reset now. So to the business at hand. Our premium content, our book show that we have. It's called the Situation. I am heading off the lit.

[Francesca]

For Christ's sakes.

[Asante]

What did I say?

[Francesca]

It's a book club. It's not our show.

[Asante]

So, yes, over at our gated community, we have tons of fun. We have this book

[Francesca]

club.

[Asante]

Book club. Because I still was thinking show. We have a book club. And for this month, I'm starting. Well, for this, you know, couple months, maybe few, we'll be reading this book. Culpability. That's right. Culpability is a book by Bruce Hollinger. Hallsinger. Excuse me, Mr. Holsinger was on Oprah's Book Club for 2025. And I decided to read this book because it talks about an autonomous vehicle, a family that is in an accident in this vehicle. And I feel like the way that technology has been going and is going, this would be a good little read. Especially because we talked about the responsibilities at hand with these new technologies introduced and how laws and reform happens or can happen.

[Francesca]

And right, dialing back to the show intro. We holding the culpability matters these days because whose fault was it? Okay, culpable. So culpability, God damn it. And it falls on our theme for this year. We ain't taking it.

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin]

And I love that you found an AI based novel. I was like, this is so asante.

[Asante]

As soon as I started something right up my alley. It's something that I feel like we all could have a great discussion and surrounding. So for those of you that want to join that discussion, please, please sign up for [e-mail] the Friendzone Podcast. For those of you that are already on Patreon, we will be reading part one this week of culpability. This week. Part one is only like 36 pages. So from page one to page 36, that is chapters one through five. And that is how we will be starting this off. And from there we will be reading that book. I'm excited.

[Francesca]

You'll be picking good ass books. I need to pick books.

[Dustin]

This is a very good book.

[Asante]

But I don't know. Look, I don't know yet. Okay? We're going in blind together. I've read some of the book and I knew it was along the lines of something I'd want to read, but to be honest with you, it might be paced a little bit like the Heaven and Earth grocery store. I don't know, but I don't.

[Francesca]

That's fine.

[Asante]

I'm open, right? Because the payoff for the Heaven and Earth grocery store was still good. So that's why I wasn't too like, too much like, eh, you on the

[Francesca]

road, you ain't really pick. No. You know what I'm saying? Like, y' all both have been making excellent picks.

[Asante]

So thank you.

[Dustin]

I'm proud of. I have my little stack. You can't see it from here because of the way the camera's positioned, but it's a stack of all the books we've read. And that, that just makes me proud.

[Francesca]

I see a stack of awards, darling.

[Asante]

That's what I see.

[Francesca]

A stack of awards.

[Asante]

Most decorated. So yes. I'm so happy that we'll be doing that over at the Lituation for our watch party. Our watch series. We have the binge last year for the binge. We started off with a crime series called Damn, what's that man name? Cross on Prime. And I love Cross.

[Dustin]

Season two is coming, I hear is coming.

[Asante]

It was not here yet, so I didn't know. People thought or assumed that we might start it here. That's why I want to make sure I mentioned it. We're not doing Cross because it's not available yet. And also, I kind of want to know if I'm going to like the season before I commit to us doing it again.

[Francesca]

That's fair.

[Asante]

I was on the fence also because I wanted us to watch. And I guess we'll get into the things that I did watch. I wanted us to watch 60 Days in because I saw that there was a new season on Netflix, but there were a lot of episodes. And I don't know if it'd be a tall ask ask to say, you know, we're gonna watch two episodes a week of that to get through that. So I rested on. Right. Because I didn't know if y' all were gonna want to do that or not. So I was like, well, let me just move on to something that I know well. Some depending on the interest, because if the show is good enough. But I didn't know. I couldn't gauge it.

[Francesca]

Y' all gotta watch two episodes of a show about motherfuckers in jail.

[Asante]

Some people binge 90 Day Fiance and stuff like. Yeah.

[Dustin]

Unlocked. Have y' all seen that?

[Asante]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Dustin had us watch that. No, the. Oh, the one about the girls. Nevermind.

[Dustin]

No, this is like where it was an experiment where they unlocked the doors of jail.

[Francesca]

Yeah. And they were at Arkansas.

[Dustin]

It's a new season. Yeah, right?

[Asante]

Yes.

[Dustin]

There's a new season.

[Asante]

Yep. There's a new season of it.

[Francesca]

Where are they this time?

[Dustin]

Ooh, I could. I don't remember the city. I do not.

[Francesca]

When I hear the city, I'll be. Once I saw that they was in Arkansas, I got mad. Cause I thought about racism. So I was like, this is the new city. The location be mattering to me. It affects my mood.

[Asante]

Well, the new season is 60 days in. They're in Salt Lake City.

[Dustin]

I don't like seeing Chenshaw on there. Unlock.

[Asante]

No, she is not.

[Francesca]

She's 60 days out.

[Asante]

But to be real with y', all, I really, really, really want y' all to watch it because there were some things that happened on There. That. That's why I was like, Arizona, okay, They're in Arizona.

[Francesca]

Look.

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Asante]

Out there with. With a. What's the show? Balloon Pop of Love.

[Francesca]

But yeah, I put them on my story yesterday. First of all, we gotta do this. First of all, shout out to Arlette and her husband, who own it and produce it. And Arlette is one of the best game show hosts. Like, she's critically, like, criminally underrated to me as a game show host, let me say that she deserves an Emmy. It's always so funny to me when they have women holding the balloons because they do not be playing with them niggas that come up to that thing. And this guy came up the other day talking about.

[Dustin]

About.

[Francesca]

Oh. When she asked him what he likes to do at spare time, he gave some cockamamy answer and then he gonna say and sing. And the girls was like, oh, okay. You know what I'm saying? They like. He's like, you wanted to sing now?

[Asante]

He's like.

[Francesca]

They was like, yeah. He was like, okay, something older, new. And they was like, old school. He says, I'm assuming something from the 70s. Freddie Jackson, you are my Lady. First of all, that didn't come out in the 70s.

[Dustin]

But also, what are we doing?

[Francesca]

And when I tell you what horrible. It might still be up on my Instagram stories right now. But as soon as he started you are my lady, he sounded like me. And then all you seen was this girl, like. Like, she popped her. I am obsessed with Pop the Balloon or Find Love, but I only watch the original. I know there's a lot of variants and a lot of people have taken that concept and they use it, but I only watch our last. I only want to see her hosting it. I only want to see their version.

[Dustin]

What happened to the Netflix version? It got deaded.

[Francesca]

I'm not sure. Maybe they finished the season. I'm not sure if it's returning or not, but I wasn't watching it.

[Dustin]

I watched it out of curiosity, but I didn't. I don't. I think her version on YouTube was way better.

[Francesca]

Way better.

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Asante]

She knew it was going.

[Dustin]

I was in LA this past weekend and I popped into a friend's crib and they had. They had a whole friend group in there. They were just on the couch watching Pop the Balloon.

[Francesca]

Yes.

[Asante]

Yep.

[Dustin]

I love that. And when I walked in, one of the friends was like, is this too low vibrational for you, friend? I said, it's fine.

[Francesca]

You said, well, yes, it's fine. I thought you was gonna say they was watching Baddies Friend.

[Dustin]

No, that would have been worse.

[Francesca]

My house. Cause I literally be making people watch that shit when they come over here anyway. But I love Pop the Balloon. It's so entertaining.

[Asante]

I love Pop the Balloon as well. Hers is the one that I enjoy the most out of. Like, actually, hers is the only one that I watch out of the heterosexuals. And then I think I watch all the gay ones just because I'm like, all right, let me.

[Francesca]

I haven't watched any of those yet.

[Asante]

Oh, my God. I just knowing it's always an experience. And as of late, because it was Pride weekend. Well, Winter Pride in Atlanta this past weekend. Yeah. It was a clip of two of the boys that was on one of the gay balloon pops. They was fighting each other.

[Francesca]

Was it a good fight or was it just like a tussle? Because if it was a good fight, send the link.

[Dustin]

But wait, this is Arlette that. Does the gay balloon separate.

[Asante]

That's doing someone separate.

[Dustin]

Oh, okay.

[Asante]

Okay. Yeah. So you know when something take off, everybody want to do it, so everybody hate.

[Dustin]

It's so weird to me. Like, don't you feel weird recreating something that someone already made? I don't understand that mentality.

[Asante]

And it's so bad that this is going to sound so stupid because Arlette doesn't do a gay one to like the original thing almost happening here right now. I would never go on it if I'm not going to have Arlette there. So it's like, why? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I don't want to go on the RL1 anyway because it's like, this is scary. But like. Like, if it's not Arlette doing it, then what are we talking about?

[Francesca]

I'll be feeling like people that copy ideas. I'm not speaking specifically about people that have copied that idea. Right, right. But people that copy ideas like that. To me, you only want views or numbers type shit. It's no original. It's nothing original. No originality. Like, I just don't respect that shit personally. So I'm not. It doesn't make me want to like, watch it.

[Dustin]

Right.

[Francesca]

If the original exists.

[Dustin]

I just don't view you as a creative.

[Francesca]

No. Wow. You just another motherfucker on the Internet.

[Dustin]

Yeah, it's weird. But shout out to her for not caring and continuing on, creating through it.

[Asante]

Okay. And cutting clear through all of the other ones.

[Francesca]

But she doesn't have any competition, her and her husband, because they together, literally their own lane. They don't have any competition to me. It was their idea. And so we know that. That's where we go for that. I'm glad. Everybody else eating and getting money, but.

[Asante]

Right.

[Francesca]

That's the one I watch.

[Dustin]

Yeah.

[Asante]

Well, outside of the balloon pop. Because we will not be binging that for our Watch series on our Patreon, we will be binging the series on Netflix called His and Hers. His and hers stars Tessa Thompson and some other people.

[Dustin]

No, you didn't.

[Francesca]

One of the other people who plays her mother on the series, she comes from the haves and have nots. And y' all know.

[Dustin]

Oh, I love to have that.

[Francesca]

Yes.

[Asante]

When I seen Hannah, the moment I seen Hannah, I was stood up.

[Francesca]

Asante. I stood up in my living room.

[Asante]

Have you finished the show?

[Francesca]

I'm on episode three.

[Dustin]

I watched it before you told us that's what we were watching. I had just binged it, like, maybe the day prior.

[Francesca]

I'm on episode three.

[Dustin]

For those watching, I won't say nothing. Cause Dustin's still watching.

[Francesca]

But it's so good.

[Asante]

I can't wait to talk about it. It's gonna be so funny to talk about it. I knew it. I knew it.

[Dustin]

My partner knew it. He said it. In this episode. He literally was like, boom. And I was like, you're tripping, Fran. And then he was right.

[Asante]

It was so funny.

[Francesca]

I must be wrong. Cause I feel like he did.

[Asante]

Wait till we. Wait till we talk about the whole thing. Because that is so funny. And it's funny that you don't know who anybody is. Never mind.

[Dustin]

It's well done. If you like plot twists, it's definitely well done.

[Asante]

His and hers is a thriller on Netflix. It's only six episodes, so we'll be doing this weekly on the binge, obviously starting with episode one. Again, it stars Tessa Thompson and some other people, but it's about a murder that happens in Georgia. She's a news anchor out of Atlanta, but she's originally from a town called Dahlonega, which is, I want to say, not far from Atlanta. But Dahlonega is far from Atlanta because it's, you know. No, it's not. That's not Atlanta. She goes back to Dahlonica because of this murder that happens, and she's trying to get her career back. Through that, we find out a lot of twists and turns, things that have happened in her past, from her relationship with people in the town.

[Francesca]

She has Helen Wang

[Dustin]

Stank.

[Francesca]

She is so mean. I was like, damn.

[Dustin]

The whole time, too.

[Asante]

Like,

[Francesca]

anyway.

[Asante]

Well, I don't want to say too much because it's going to be a good watch. I. I just can't. I can't wait to dive in and talk about that. So that's the rundown of the events that happen over on Patreon. The event that we mentioned earlier is our live because next week is the last Wednesday of the month already we will be going live over on patreon.com friendzonepodcast at 8pm Eastern Standard Time. You will join us at a link provided. You will get to react with us to conversations about Lord knows what. And you will have a very special place in the community because you get to be part of LeChat if you choose to engage. Lachat, I know you're listening. We love you. We love you all over at Patreon. Y' all are the best lechat. We love that you guys like to engage back with us. It lets us know we get a good, you know, gauge on what we're doing over here and we know we're doing things right, but we just love, love when you guys are enjoying us as we enjoy you. So, yeah, that's the rundown of our Patreon, the gated community again. You get to see us commercial free if you ever so choose. Or you get to just listen to us. And there's other programming if you don't want to listen to the podcast and there's tons of back catalog of different things. So if you watched the show or read a book previously and you joined the community and you see that we talked about it, you get to listen to us or watch us talk about it and enjoy it. Yes, and we get to enjoy you because we're talking about content that you like too. Right? Right.

[Dustin]

It's over a thousand pieces of content on our Patreon. I saw the counter last week and I was like, wow, we did that. It's a lot. Three pieces of content a week. So really, they say it's a totally

[Francesca]

different experience when I run into people who fuck with the show. They say it's a totally different experience watching us on Patreon.

[Dustin]

Of course, the reaction to the podcast, yeah, it actually adds so much to it, you know, and so. And don't forget to also follow us on social media. Shout out to our editor and Ty, our engineer, who really encouraged us to have social media presence. He really felt that it would be great for us to be on there and showing clips. And there was a little bit of resistance, but then we were like, fuck it, let's just roll with it. And it's actually Been really fun to engage with you guys in the comments and just have that additional outlet, I guess, as a way to. To connect with our listeners. So definitely check us out. We're everywhere. We're on Tick Tock, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. We'll be adding YouTube shorts very soon as well. So yeah, we'll be everywhere that you guys can. Can find us. Just the friend zone podcast, but I think that's good. You guys feeling like anything else you want to say or mention before we. We head on out here as the first episode of 2026.

[Francesca]

That's it for me. I'm glad to be back, though. I missed y'. All. I miss you. I miss the audience and I love doing this job. So I'm very happy to be back.

[Dustin]

Amen.

[Asante]

It feels good to be black. It feels good to have made it to another year. We're into this year, so it feels like it's moving fast already. So hopefully we get to enjoy each other more as we continue this new year together.

[Francesca]

Hallelujah.

[Dustin]

Absolutely excited too, for all the new guests, new conversations, new ideas, the new gadgets. Right?

[Asante]

And new because I know you pre ordered that robot, didn't you, Dustin?

[Francesca]

I'm gonna be. I'm gonna have my trained on facial expressions. You talk about facial recognition software. When I look at that, it's gonna know that

[Dustin]

and excited for not him having you say he gonna be rolling up for him. Is that what you were just doing?

[Francesca]

He was breaking it, breaking down the ganja. That's what he was doing. Yes.

[Dustin]

And most importantly, just all the new conversations that we will bring to the landscape. That's always my favorite part. So 100% love you guys as always. Thank you for joining us. Yet another year. This is about to be our 11th year, which is crazy. We love you guys so much, much. We don't take you for granted. And we'll catch you guys next week.

[Asante]

Stay black and protect your magic.

[Dustin]

Bye, y'. All.

[Francesca]

Bye.

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[Asante]

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