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- [00:00]
Lyle
You're listening to an iHeart podcast. Hey folks, this episode is sponsored by ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT plus is free for college students now through May. That means you have no limits on how many ways you can prompt ChatGPT to help you through the worst part of the school year. There's many ways you can do this, like uploading your class notes and having ChatGPT quiz you on them, or or asking ChatGPT to take a complicated concept and try to explain it to you in simpler terms to help you understand. ChatGPT plus free for college students through May. Restrictions apply.
- [00:38]
Gemma Spaeg
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- [01:18]
Lyle
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- [01:53]
Gemma Spaeg
Steps to first dates.
- [01:55]
Lyle
From all nighters to all time personal best. From building pillow forts to building a life for all the big and small moments that make up your whole world.
- [02:05]
Gemma Spaeg
DSW is there and we've got just the shoes. Find a shoe for every you from.
- [02:11]
Lyle
Brands you love at brag worthy prices at your DSW store or dsw.com hello. Hi, welcome to Geck Mail. For those who have not listened to this before, this is me ranting and reading viewer mail. It's a solo podcast. A lot of podcasts are conversations between two people, but this particular episode is a monologue. It's a monologue. It's a one log, one person. That person is me. And I'm gonna try to make words come out of my mouth for an hour based on Emails that people are sending me. Normally I take phone calls from people, but, you know, I like to throw in these little Geck mail episodes from now and then. And just now, just now I was like, what the. I'm gonna just fucking start recording and I don't even know what I'm gonna say. I'm just gonna have to rant. The, the. There's a thing like I'm having a thought right now that's like, oh my God. I have to keep talking. Just making words come out of my mouth for the next 90 minutes. It's only been like one minute, but I learned. But here's the thing. When you're climbing a mountain, you can't be looking at the peak. You gotta look at the. Your shoes. I read that on Reddit somewhere. I'm a crazy person. Okay. All right. I am alive. I have escaped my existential crisis for today. Who knows when demons will visit me once more? But in this very moment, which is all I have and all I know for sure, the demons are at bay and I'm ready to motherfucking pod. So let's do that. Let's talk to some people telepathically via email. So let's do that. Okay, this first one, they said keep it anonymous. So I just, I guess I could just make up names for all the emailers. Alright, whatever. Alright, the subject line is guys in relationships liking thirst traps on Instagram. Okay? This person says, hey, Geck, please keep this email anonymous. How do you feel about guys who are in relationships liking obvious thirst traps on social media? Do you find that disrespectful towards their partner? Social media has really blurred the line of flirting. If a guy is taking a second to like a post with sexual photos, it's an obvious I'm interested. And I like what I see point blank. I don't see why some men don't see this as a problem when they're in a serious relationship. What are your thoughts? I mean, the funny thing. Well, here's the thing is like, I guess I'm curious if this person is talking about, like, I'm gonna assume this person's talking about like Instagram models and shit. Like, I mean, I don't know, man, Instagram just throws porn at you. Life just throws porn at you. As you, as you. As you. You just constantly. I mean, maybe, I don't know, maybe it's just me, maybe it's my own algorithm, but yeah, that's, that's, that's. I'm sure a lot of people's algorithms is you go to your Explore page and it's just. It's just thirst traps. I get like, look, it's a. Here's the funny thing is that it's like, obviously it's like natural inherent to like, look at it, you know, But I guess what I don't get is liking it. Like, what's the point? Like, it. What is the point? I mean, I guess what's the point of a like on anything? Now I'm getting nihilistic. But like, yeah, if somebody lady is like an Instagram model and she has like 8 million likes on her photo. I guess I don't, I don't understand what the like is. I guess I don't understand. I mean, I could say that about a lot of things, to be honest. I don't understand what the. I mean, some. Here's the thing. Mark Zuckerberg and his, his homies created the like in a lab with psychologists to make us feel inclined to do it for some reason. But, I mean, what do I think? I don't see why some men don't see this as a problem when they're in a serious relationship. Relationship boundaries are kind of like. There's no. I mean, this is just my opinion is that like, these are things that are like, worked towards with other people. So look, if you're, if you're dating some worked, you know, they're, they're, they're imagin. They're imaginary. So I mean, there's. Some of them are obvious and implied, but it's like, look, if you're with a guy and you don't want him to like sexual photos on. You don't want him to like, Instagram models photos. You know, in an ideal world, you tell him that and he decides whether or not that, you know, that's a, That's a deal breaker for him. If it is, then cool. You guys were meant to be, and if it's not, then great. You know, I'm not a good relationship advice person. This does remind me of a. I'm gonna tell this story. This is a fun. This is one of the hardest times I've ever laughed in my life. My. I was with my friend and we, we were like, we were just hanging out and we noticed that. I think I, I'm like friends with my friend's dad on Facebook and I was like, dude, your dad commented on this. There's like, these. Okay, so there was this like, Facebook group and I think it was called Beautiful Tits or something like that. And There was like a hot lady who posted a photo and it's like, you know, it's clearly not the lady's profile. It's just like a post. It's like a. It's like a profile that like just posts these kinds of photos. And my friend's dad, like, commented on it being like, where do you live? And I brought this up to my friend and we were laughing about it and we. So my. My friend calls his dad and his dad answers and he's like. He's like. He's like, devin, what do you want? I'm his. My friend's dad is like. Like a. Like a. He's very into yoga. And he was like, devin, what do you want? I'm trying to teach a bunch. I'm trying to teach a class on how to become a beam of light. This better be an emergency. And my friend Devin is like, yeah, it actually is an emergency. And he's like, so you know when you comment something on Facebook, everyone can see it, right? He goes. And my friend's dad goes, oh, fuck. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. And then we. And then me and my friend just. We walk his dad through how to. How to. He's like. He's like, so you mean like your cousins and like aunts, like, they can all see that. And I'm just laughing my ass off while my friend coaches his dad on how to delete those Instagram comments. And then eventually my friend's dad cools down and he's like, look, I just wanted to know where that lady lived. She was pretty hot. And I was like, I. You know, I respect that. All right, moving on. Alright, this is from Fish Hat subject line Funny Gecko Man. Okay. Hello, Lyle. I am a fella who likes watching movies and playing videos. I'm gonna assume that means video games. I am a fellow who likes watching movies and playing video games and doing nothing. I just finished high school and now I am in uni. I haven't got a driver's license or a job, so I just feel like a lazy bum most of the time. I'm constantly rotting in my room and watching slop. I've got three friends I hang out with and I have only made two friends in university. My course is filled with too many odd people that I don't know how to interact with because so many of them got weird Reddit humor and I don't know how to interact with those people. Anyway, any advice on how to make life more fulfilling? I'm quite bored. I Have a lot of thoughts about this. I mean, look, at the end of the day, man, it's like the, the, the world, I, I think like the most part kind of reflects back whatever you put into it, you know, and you also kind of like tend to find what you're looking for. So if you're like, oh, these people are weird and I'm not gonna get along with them, well then yeah, those people are weird and you're not gonna get along with them. But if you're kind of like, alright, maybe by the way you sound, by the way you're on your computer all the time watching weird shit, I'm sure you're not. You, you. Here's the thing, fish hat is you're too chronically online, I think to other yourself from chronic, from other chronically online people, you know, I mean, I, I don't know. I don't know you, but I don't know. I think, I mean, you just gotta do shit. That's the thing. You just gotta do things. Like what do you, like, you're in university, you're on a fucking walkable campus with thousands of other people. I assume you got to find something to do, I don't know, kickball, start a movie club. Yeah. Again, all this shit, all this shit just reflects back whatever it is that you, you put into it. So I mean, you just got to do shit. I don't have a better. I think I feel like I've talked about this a lot and, and I'm. By the way, funny thing, this is a lesson I keep having to relearn in my own personal life because there's been plenty of times where I'm like, you know, in my room rotting and being like I'm just rotting. And you know, I've had, I've had a lot of iterations of things in my life where I have put out into the world. Whether it's like, you know, I mean just doing the fucking whole gecko thing or doing stand up or like going on a trip or fucking, you know, joining a club or like joining an email list that has events going on and going out like to a thing or talking to someone I haven't talked. Like you, you have to exert your, like, you have to like exert yourself upon the universe, you know, because nothing, nothing will just like come to you naturally. But that's, but that's kind of like by the way, like that I've had that thought and it scared me a lot. You know, I've had that thought and it's recent recently, like in the last week actually I had that thought, the whole thought of like, nobody's coming to save you. And I had that thought at a time where I like during a like emotional period where I felt very physically weak. And so the idea that nobody is coming to save me was like kind of fucking terrifying because it's like, well, if nobody's coming to save me, I know me. I know how my executive functioning works. I know how my brain works and my body works and all that shit. And if I am my only hope, we're fucked. You know, I've had that thought and had it be depressing, right? But I've also had that thought and had it be the opposite where it's like, okay, well if no one's coming to save me, that's good cuz I can look at, you know, there's like, there's very e. This is by the sounds like armchair philosophy shit that I'm just diarrhea ing from my mouth because I'm, I've been just thinking about it in my own life is like the actual actions that I think you have to take to create some form of change are not like crazy like you don't have to climb Mount Everest to make a friend. You know, they're, they, they're kind of like, I think they're interactions that are like process wise quite simple but like emotionally difficult and like scary. You know, like talking to new people or going out to do new shit. But it's, it's a good thing, right? Because if the whole idea of like, oh, no one's coming to save you and it's just yourself if you looked because. And the reason I say it's a good thing is because like if you looked into your soul and you looked at yourself in the mirror and you were like, I have literally tried everything. And you know, God bless some people can do that and they, I don't haven't found a salvation of any kind. But if you can like look at yourself in the mirror and honestly go, I can try everything. And most, I don't, I don't even think that's even physically possible because nobody can physically. There's not enough, there's not enough life, there's not enough years in our lifespan to literally try everything. But it's good because it means there's still, it means that there's probably still shit you haven't tried that might work for you to make friends and enjoy your life. And I'm gonna talk about a little. I'M going a little crazy here, but I'm gonna talk about a little thing called. It's called the 8020 principle. I think about it all the time. Hold on, I'm gonna Google this. It's called the Paratio principle. It changed my fucking life. I learned about it from this guy, Tim Ferriss back when I was in like high school. Okay? The 8020 principle suggests that 80% of results come from 20% of causes. Which means that you might think that the, like making a bunch, the making friends and creating changes is like going to be this crazy endeavor. But it might just mean changing like literally 5% of your routine. You know, like you could like, you could do one really like just even, just like going out like for this guy in college. Like just go start going to a club. How fucking easy is that? Take your body and move it into a room once a week. You know, it's not. You don't have to or. I don't know. I don't know. These are just, these are just all. These are just suggestions and thoughts and, and, and philosophies that I'm. I'm kind of working through because yeah, I have, I have these same thoughts. But yeah, think about that. The 8020 principle. Research that. All right. Eating. Eating warm. All right, this is from cj. Subject line eating warm versus cold meats. Hi, Geck, I'm wondering if you have an opinion on warm versus cold as in deli meats. Warm versus cold deli meats. My sister thinks it's extra up to eat cold meat because the animal's body is warm. So it's creepy for humans to kill them and then cool down their bodies before eating. Hold on. There's more to this email, but to your sister's point, in terms of like the creepiness of like eating a thing that was alive, I feel like the opposite is creepy. Oh, okay, wait, okay, okay, hold on. I like my. I skimmed the rest of this email and it. Okay, I'm gonna read the rest of the email. It's creepy for them to, but I think eating worm. Eating warm meat is weirder because it's closer to the experience of taking a bite out of a living animal. I love to eat a nice cold turkey sandwich. Thoughts? Thanks. Kick. Okay, I was about to agree. I was about to agree with you before even knowing that we were on the same page. But if we're talking strictly in terms of like what's fucked up or like what's like, creepy, yeah, it's definitely creepier to eat the Warm one. Because it's like, oh, this is like what the chicken's body. This is what the chicken felt like when it was still in the body. But I don't really think about my meats in terms of creepiness, in terms of just the pleasantness of eating them. I'm gonna go warm. Yeah, I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna go warm. I like my ass. Some. Some chicken parmesan sandwiches. I was. This is a dumb observation, but I always forget that it's like a. Like a living thing. Anytime I eat chicken, I'm like, oh, yeah, this thing had. Was sort of conscious. And then I. Now I'm eating it. I've had that thought a bunch of time. I'm not going. I'm not going vegetarian. Don't. Please don't comment on this being like, you need to go vegetarian. Vegetarian. Because I'm not doing it. Yeah. I mean, there's thoughts and philosophies and beliefs and whatnot. And then there's like. And then there's the human brain that I have that's like, I want to eat a fucking chicken parmesan sandwich. And that usually. Whatever. I don't. I don't know anything about neuro jizz, but that part of. That part of the brain is gonna win. It's gonna win pretty much every time. Okay, this is from Eli. Subject line. I have not watched anything from you. Hey, Lyle, I have never watched a single video of yours, listened to a single podcast, or watched more than a few clips from you. I stay following, though, because I think you bring something special to this blue ball that I'm compelled to keep my eye on. I don't know exactly what that is, but I know it's there. Have a good one, Lyle. Sayonara. Yeah, but that's. Hold on. If you follow me, you have to have at least watched something, though. You. In the body of the email, you just. You. The. You contradict the subject. If you had said you have literally don't have any idea of, like, you don't even know what this email is. And it was just whatever. Well, well. All right, well, thank. Thanks for the. Thanks for the premonition, Eli. It's nice. All right. This is from Simone. Okay. Subject line is vasectomy for a PlayStation 5 couple from Auckland. Hey, Lyle, hope you're well. Wondering if you remember us from your show at the tuning fork in Auckland, New Zealand, a couple years ago. I remember that show is a fun show. My partner Liam was the first guy to be brought up and Our submission was trading a PS5 ver vsectomy. Okay, I vaguely remember this. I'm gonna. I vaguely remember this, but I'm gonna fill in the. The vagueness with context clues and say that you promised that you would buy your partner a PlayStation 5. You got a vasectomy. Okay. We are now happily married. Our one year wedding anniversary is in October. At the wedding, we had a picture of you, me and Liam all together, pulling peace signs, printed and stuck up. That's cool. God damn. However, for this submission I will explain a recent fight we had over a chair driving along in Avondale. Parentheses, a suburb of Auckland for all the non aucklanders which. Okay, Avondale. I spot a beautiful old chair on the side of the road. Bright yellow, my favorite color. Wooden handles and legs, mid century modern design. We immediately pull over and I claim this chair is mine. Liam is immediately not pleased. To be fair, it is slightly tattered on the bottom and in need of a sand, but perfectly fine after a bit of tidying up. And I am an avid DIYer. The argument pertained to him feeling like I never let him pick up random things off the street. Okay, I'm gonna assume is your. If the rest of this email is gonna be hilarious to me. If your boy Liam is like a taxidermist and by the way. And I haven't read the rest of the email by the way, if your boy Liam is a taxidermist, he's fucking right. I don't know what the rest of this email is, but he's. Fuck. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna answer an email that you didn't send me based on facts about your life that aren't true. Because I want to make this statement because. Because. Because whatever is. I think if. I think picks up furniture from the street to fix it up wife and picks up dead animals from the street to tax taxidermize them husband. I think that's a fair thing. I think that's a fair thing. I don't think that that's what this e. I don't think that's the direction this email is going, but. Oh my God, what if it is? I was right on the last time. All right, let's see what direction this email is going. Okay. He feels like I never let him pick up random things off the street. And the fact that we have a small place that is hardly struggling with the amount of stuff we have. My POV is this is a quality piece of furniture that I will hold on to for years to come. These kind of Roadside finds are rare. We often dream about having in our furniture. We often dream about having in our future home a grandma and grandpa chair each in the lounge. And this is to be my grandma chair, bro. How old are. How old are you that you're like. I mean, this is. It's sweet. That's actually a sweet thought. How old are you that you're like. This is the chair I'm gonna be in when I'm 90, by the way. You're gonna. By the way, by the. What year is it? 2025. Let's say you're no older than 30. I'm gonna assume by 2085. Holy shit. Yeah, by 2085. Wait, no, I'm an idiot. 90. How fucking old will I be when I'm in 2085? 60? Let's say you're 90. Yeah, whatever. Let's say you're 90. Alright, fuck it. 2085. No, that math is still wrong. No, 2085. 2085. They're. They're the chairs that they're gonna have. Are you're gonna hate them or we're gonna have chairs that like can talk to you? I don't know why I said that. Like, it's cool. Whatever. Anyway, the fight is now over and we've arranged the house and bargained a deal that Liam gets to pick the couch we get in the future. But what is your take on this fight? And more importantly, whose side are you on? We look forward to coming and seeing your next show in Auckland. Love and miss you, Geck. Cheers, Simone and Liam. I gotta. Yeah, maybe I'll do another. I want to do another down under run. Okay. What the was I going to say? I mean, I kind of get. I. I kind of get it. Here's the thing is I don't have enough information about his side of the argument. I. Although I'll say this if, if there has been. Yeah, actually, hold on. I'm kind of. If I have to fill in the blanks on the information here, I'm going to say that I agree with Liam because I'm gonna. Let's assume my boy Liam like saw like an HD saw. Like he saw like a TV on the side of the road and he was like, babe, babe, stop. Let's. Let's pick up this tv. And you were like, no, we're not picking up a TV from the side of the road. Okay. And then later down the drive, you're like, ooh, ooh, let's stop. Let's pick up this chair and we pick up the chair. And I'm. Liam, I would be pissed. I would be like, what the fuck? You can just pick up shit from the side of the road, and I can't. I still think maybe he's. I still think he wants to pick up dead animals from the street. And by. And look, if. If that's what he wants, I. I still. I think that's fair. I think that's fair, if that's what he wants to do. So I. I'm. I am on Liam's side, I think, because I don't really have. My understanding is that he wants to do the same. He wants to pick up furniture from the street. But you can. Because you. The furniture is what you. You like the furniture more. Yeah, I'm on his side. Let him bring home a dead raccoon, and then maybe, you know, when he dies, he can. The technology will be around so that he can place his spirit in the raccoon, and then you can hang out with the raccoon. Okay. Uh, let's just keep going. This is from Theo. Subject line. I am obsessed with Garfield. Hey, Lyle. I am probably autistic, and my special interest is Garfield. I have an entire bookshelf in my house dedicated to Garfield. I have a Garfield landline that I won in an ebay bidding ward. It's pretty cool. I'll attach a picture of it. And he attached the picture of his. His Garfield phone. This is pretty cool. Does it. Is this landline connected to anything? Okay, that's all. Love you. God bless Lasagna. I really wish I could talk to this person. There's a lot of times when I'm doing the email podcast or I'm like, I wish I could talk to this person because I want to know. I don't know how autism works in the terms of, like, picking the special interest. And if it's like. Like, this is my special interest because it just is what it is. Or if, like, this guy can give me a detailed, genuine explanation as to exactly why he likes Garfield so much. I'm not. I'm not sure, but I like this landline. Yo, I'm gonna shout out. There's this YouTuber I like. I forget his name. It's Polygon something. But he does, like, cursed products, and he did. He did a video about cursed Garfield products. When you're having an existential crisis, there's really nothing better to watch than, like, some fucking YouTube video of a guy, like, talking about, like, Garfield plushies. Because that's that. Because that guy in that video is so grounded in reality, you know? Okay, this is. Okay, this is from Felix. Existential career crisis. Need Gecko wisdom. I'm gonna try my best, man. I'm gonna try my best. I don't know how. I don't know. Yeah, I'm gonna try whatever. Okay? Let's just try because we're here. Hey, Lyle. I'm Felix. 28, industrial designer. For the past few years, I've been bouncing between corporate jobs, hoping to land the right one with a cool apartment, a partner, some recognition would finally make the depression fade. Ooh. Okay. Right Now, I design 3D custom consoles and controllers for AAA game studios. That sounds cool. And then he writes, it sounds cool, and it kind of is. But the job pays less than my last one and still leaves me with that gnawing, what's the point? Feeling. I smoke weed daily, morning to night, just to stay afloat. This past year has been rough. I lost several people around me, and it cracked something open. Now I'm seriously considering leaving the big city, moving back to the floor forest where I grew up, building a workshop, maybe getting a dog. A simple life with low consumption and minimal stress. But I've been in Montreal 10 years. My friends, my girlfriend who's doing her master's and wants an academic career, they're all here. Part of me worries I'll miss out on building something real for myself if I drop out now. So should I lean into the quiet life and say screw it, to ambition? Or is this just another escape hatch from the work I still need to do? Would love your take, Gekko. Ooh. You know, actually, I'm. Actually have a lot of thoughts about this, and they're all kinda dependent on a few things, and it's. Actually. What's funny is I. I think, you know, I've been doing the. The gecko since I was 22, and I'm 27 now. And I think I probably would have answered this differently then. Then I would now, because I think then I would be like, yeah, go into the woods. Do. Leave your thing. Do you go. Go for it, brother. But now I'm a little bit more like, look, the people in your life, like your girlfriend and your friends and the people that you know in Montreal are like, you know, I mean, that. That's the meaning of life is the relationships that you cultivate with other people, and those people ground you into reality. And it's like. It's like one of, if not the most important things is having fucking people around you who can ground you into reality. Some people Aren't like that. Some people would be super happy living in the fucking woods alone. I'm not one of them. And I don't know if you are one of them because I don't know you. I would prefer to be in a big. If I. If, you know, being in a big city with a bunch of friends and a girlfriend sounds great, but clearly you're like has. Have. Are getting gnawed by some shit that you gotta escape from. Smoking weed, which I have no idea about. I've never done that before, so I can't relate there. No, I'm just. I'm just messing around. I can relate there. And let's see. I'm gonna reread this email considering why, I guess you I. Building a workshop, getting a doll. A simple life with low consumption and minimal stress. Why do you have to. Here's what I'm. Here's. Here's one of the points that this email is making that I disagree with is this idea that to achieve a simpler life with low consumption and minimal. Well, there's a few things is like, do you have to leave Montreal to achieve this? Like, to make your depression fade? I've been doing a lot of. I've been doing a lot of like, research on depression. Research used to mean you go to the library and you read several books and now it just means you frantically Google and talk to ChatGPT and go on Reddit and sit and think. So I've been doing whatever that means, if that means research. And I. I don't know if. I don't know if. I don't know if I'll. I'm telling you this not to say that it doesn't because I'm not sold on the fact that it doesn't. But I, I wrestle. You said I hope I land the right thing and I wrestle with the idea that such a thing exists. I Low key thinking I hold out hope for the fact that, that, that like, alignment is not a myth. You know, that everything's not just like, random and you kind of pick. I'm holding up hope that like, alignment is like a real fucking thing, but I don't know. You want to build a workshop? What kind of workshop do you want to build? You want to get a dog? Why can't you, like, can you not, like, can you not find. Why do you have to move to the woods to find peace? I would, I would ask yourself that. Because you might not have to. I don't know. I don't know enough about you to know. Kind of what you want and what you're like, what the. What the underlying feelings beneath this are. But, I mean, yeah, you could get a dog. That sounds. That sounds like a lot of work. I don't know if this was how. This isn't this, by the way. Geck mail. I don't. Geck mail isn't really like me. I feel like geck mail is less me giving advice and more give me your life and I'm going to ponder about it from an external perspective. I'm not. I don't know if I have advice. I have. I don't know if I have advice for any of these things. I'm not. I'm not an advice guy, but I like to ponder, so I'm gonna ponder you, Felix. My pondering, though, is telling me that there's a weird, like, all or nothing thing going on here of, like, I can either stay in the city or, like, what is it? I can either. Like, it's like, either. Why is your only option abandoning your life and moving to the woods? You know, men will abandon their life and move to the woods before going to therapy. And God. And God don't. I know that firsthand. Okay, well, good luck, Felix. What? What? What? What's the game Studio? It does sound cool. Okay, let's keep going. Hey, folks. This episode is sponsored by ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT plus is free for college students now through May. That means you have no limits on how many ways you can prompt ChatGPT to help you through the worst part of the school year. There's many ways you can do this, like uploading your class notes and having ChatGPT quiz you on them, or asking ChatGPT to take a complicated concept and try to explain it to you in simpler terms to help you understand. You can even use it to help design a diet and exercise plan that optimizes your energy for studying. You can use the voice feature to practice interviewing for jobs post graduation. You can use it to practice a new language for a summer trip abroad. It can help you organize your hectic schedule so you can block out time to study certain subjects and make sure you're getting things done. There are endless ways that ChatGPT plus can help you on your academic journey. ChatGPT Free for College students through May. Restrictions apply.
- [37:14]
Gemma Spaeg
This is Gemma Spaeg from the Psychology of your twenties. Are you shopping for a new laptop while trying to keep up with all the new technology and AI? Talk about feeling burnt out. But no more. Lenovo.com makes it easier than ever. To find the perfect PC. In fact, they'll break it down for you. Step 1 Shop their lineup of AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra processors. Because why deal with downloading new software when you can just buy a smarter PC that already comes with all of the AI features and tools? Step 2 Find the one that fits your passion. Whether you're a creative genius, a research scientist, a hardcore gamer, or a future CEO, no dream is too big. That is the power of Lenovo. With intel inside, you can keep up with your ideas as well as any challenges you may face. Step 3 add to cart and purchase. Oh, and if you're a college student or a teacher, make an education account through Lenovo and get 5% off your whole order. Shop now@lenovo.com A Better Future is waiting and it needs you.
- [38:20]
C
Not everyone who handles your personal information is going to be as careful as you are, and it only takes one mistake to expose it to hackers and identity theft. Maybe that's why there's a new victim of identity theft every five seconds in the United States. Fortunately, there's Lifelock. Lifelock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity. If your identity is stolen, a LifeLock US based restoration specialist will help solve identity theft issues on your behalf, guaranteed or your money back. Plus, all LifeLock plans are backed by the million dollar protection package, meaning Lifelock will reimburse you up to the limits of your plan if you lose money due to identity theft. You can't control how diligent others are with your personal information, but with Lifelock you can help protect it. Act now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code iheart or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off. Terms apply.
- [39:15]
Lyle
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms@mintmobile.com oh this one's fun. This is from Kendall, subject line I'm good friends with the caveman now. Hey Lyle, a while back I listened to the caveman episode while sweeping at my dead end job and followed him when you post Instagram. For those who aren't aware, I had a phone call on the podcast a month ago, a few weeks ago, with this guy who moved to the Cayman Islands to go live in a cave. And I posted his. A clip of it on my Instagram along with like his Instagram. And so I guess this person, like became friends with him. That's cool. Okay, she uses his name, so I'm not gonna say his name. I'm gonna give him a different name. Turns out Devin has a totally great taste in music. I replied to his story and we called for an hour that day making playlists and Spotify blends. Since then, it's been really amazing getting to know each other. We've had a lot of talks and I cherish him deeply. Thank you for doing what you do and letting me meet my friend. Yeah, that's really cool. Thanks for sharing that. That's pretty cool. Let's read this email again. I, I really, I want to like, just set the expectations straight about kind of what I'm doing here, because I don't have. There are actually, there are some things that stick out at me where I'm like, I will confidently give advice about that, but they don't. I mean, this podcast is like, you know, everyone's talking about every different subject of every different thing. And I. And if, if you, if you claim to have good advice about everything, you're a fucking moron, because nobody has good advice about everything. So again, this is mainly just. This is. This is pondering. It's Ponder Mail. Maybe, maybe I'll start calling it Ponder Mail. All right, Anyway, okay, this is from Jalen. Subject line. My fiance broke up with me because of my adhd. I'm interested in this because I've been doing a lot of research, aka talking to ChatGPT, frantically googling and frantically looking around on Reddit and thinking to myself in my own head, I've been doing a lot of quote unquote research about adhd because I think, I think I have it. So anyway, I'll read this fucking email. Hi Lyle. I know it looks long, but I swear this is brief. A number. A year ago today, I moved States to close the distance from my partner. I got an apartment with my fiance and they proposed to me. Since then I've worked overnight at a monotonous, mind numbing job with no one to talk to, making just a bit more to cover my bills. I haven't had Much chance to meet friends. I've slowly become more depressed and my ADHD symptoms have gotten much worse. My partner expressed their concerns with me on how I had started lacking on giving them the energy to show my appreciation and love for them. I would have ideas for dates and want to get them flowers and anything extra to show appreciation, but I would always fail to follow through with it. Feeling that ADHD paralysis. Yeah, it took me until recently when the weather has gotten a bit better, to really get it into my head and try to get on top of it. I started to make a little bit of progress and I scheduled therapy and medication treatment. The day before my evaluation, my partner told me they had given me too much of themselves. I made them feel like they weren't worth me changing for them and their patience had run out. They say they still love me, but that they need to have energy for themselves as they'd really lost many aspects of their life trying to keep the relationship together. And I could see it too, getting a full diagnosis the next day. I definitely have had ADHD my whole life with massive symptoms, and many of them correlate to why I couldn't keep up with life. Our lease ends in fall, and at the same time, we're both starting college. I'm hoping to make friends there and work on myself to try to get back with them. I love them so much, I. Wait, hold on, let me backtrack this. Our lease ends in the fall. We're both starting college. Or at least ends in the fall. At the same time, we're both starting college. Wait, how old are you? You're not like 18, are you? Because anytime. I only say this because, like, if. Are you. Maybe, maybe. Maybe it's like a grad school or something, but I don't know what. I'm gonna assume that you're not just 18, because if you're 18 and you're getting married and shit, you're already. This is. This whole thing is good. Our lease ends in the fall, and at the same time, we're both starting college. I'm hoping to make friends there and work on myself to try to get back with them. I love them so much. I just hope I can get back on track with my mental health and have the ability to not only be a responsible adult, but give them the love they deserved. I love the podcast people of the computer. Go buy your partner flowers. Go buy yourself flowers. You deserve it. Okay, I have a bunch of thoughts about this. First of all, and I'm telling you that this is incredibly New, because I actually, I literally. You've caught me on, like, the, the, You've caught me in the middle, Jalen. You've caught me in the middle of me getting my shit together with my adhd. So, again, let me ponder this. First of all, I mean, you. I think. I think you're approaching this in actually a pretty mature way, you know. That's fucking painful, dude. It's really, it's painful because I'm sure that when you're fiance or whatever tells you that they still love you, I'm sure they mean it. I'm sure they do love you. There's. There all the fucking time. There are situations where, like, you, you, you love somebody, but you know that the relationship won't work. That's like a bit. That's like a very adult breakup, you know? It's not, not every breakup is like, oh, I hate them, or, oh, I'm out of love with them, or like a messy thing. A lot of breakups are just like, you know, two people share a deep love for each other and deep connection with each other, but that deep love and deep connection is incompatible with so many other aspects of their life and their future and their goals, and so they just don't. You can't hack it. So I get it, the whole thing. I, I. Look, I. Here's the thing, Jalen. First of all, if you're like 18 and you just graduated from high school and you're starting college, please just, please forget about this woman. You know what I mean? Like, you're, you have. I don't, I don't really know where you are in your life with this shit, but if you have a lease, I assume you're like, but if you're. Your lease ends in the. You've got an apartment with your fiance and you're moving states, you've got to be older than 18 or maybe like at 19. I don't know. I don't know. I could see you being older than 18, but younger than 20. You sound. The fact that if you're starting college, you're pretty young, so I, you know what? You know, all right, fine, I'll. I'll do advice. I'll do it. Okay, no, maybe this isn't advice. It's the results of my pondering. The results of my pondering are that. Oh, fuck. Can you guys hear that? There's a. There's a lawnmower. You guys hear that? Lawnmower. I don't know who. I'm not live. I don't know who I'm talking to this about. By the time I get the answer of whether or not you guys could hear that lawnmower, this podcast will already be up, and I won't be able to do anything about it. But let me know in the comments if you. If you could hear that lawnmower, just so I know for the future to not. To also not do anything about it and just put it in the podcast. Okay. The results of my pondering are that I, Jalen, I understand that you're very young, probably, and you very much love this person, but, like, ideally, you want to get better. First of all, I believe that you can get better and that you can, like, take control of your ADHD and, like, build a fulfilling life. I. Most of my. My. You know, my. I. I have adhd. Most of my very successful. Most of my friends who are, like, very successful also have, like, pretty fucking crazy adhd. Can you guys hear this lawn mower or am I insane? I'm gonna assume you can't hear it because it's far away, but a microphone is like, ears. So if I can hear something, what then the. Okay. Anyway, I'm gonna be optimistic for you that you can, like, overcome ADHD symptoms, you know, especially if you haven't. Okay. Yeah, I started to make a little bit of progress. I scheduled therapy and medication, treatment. Okay, sick. Because here's the. If you've never done that before, that's actually great because it means that you can figure. It means that, like, this is an untreated thing that you're now gonna put effort into figuring out, which is great. So may I hope, make the. But make it about. Make it about yourself, man. Not like this lady. Cuz who knows what this lady's about to go do? Who know? Who knows? Who know? This lady. This lady is moving on with her life. She has this feeling where she's like, I have spent a lot of time and energy. I've put a lot of time and energy into this guy. And she did that because she loves you and loved you and probably still does, honestly. It's probably hard for her, but she can't do. But she also loves herself and she can't do it anymore, you know, so she's. She's going on to make whatever decisions are, you know, work for her. So the results of my pondering are that you kind of got to do the same thing for yourself. Like, you know, you get. You're gonna get your. You're trying to get your. You're trying to get your together, because you want your together not because you want to get this lady back. I also, I also really truly feel like you're like super young and that this. You're. You, you. You're better honest, dude, honestly, if you're like, if you're like 21 and you're like. And if you're 21, if you're, if I'm going to guess whatever, maybe like 21. If you're like 21 and your, your fiance broke up with you because of your ADHD and this is the catalyst of like getting your ADHD shit under control. This is like the best thing that could ever happen to you. I think, you know, having a catalyst to be like, oh yeah, there was a problem this whole time and I'm need to fix it. So I. Who this could be a great thing. That's. I mean, I don't. I, I'm saying that many miles away reading this email without being in the emotions of it, but maybe that maybe that's the perspective you want. Maybe you want the perspective of somebody reading this with no emotions without, you know, having being in the emotions of it. But yeah, that's what I think about all that shit. Wow. It's been 46 minutes. We're still. And we're going, we're podding, we're potting it up. Let's see here. Okay, this is a. A confession for therapy. Gecko parentheses. I promise I'm normal. Hey, Geck, huge fan. I listen and re. Listen to your podcasts so often. Thank you for what you do. Thank you, Ross. This guy's name is Ross. I would appreciate some advice on a rather unique issue I have been experiencing. I will ponder your issue. I don't know if I can advise it, but I will ponder it. I am a 26 year old man and I have developed a rather unique fetish. I have a fetish for when girls are sick with cold or flu. What the fuck, man? I haven't, I've never, I've never heard of that in my life. I, I feel like, you know, I've been on the, you know, besides just doing this podcast. I've browsed the Internet for, for many wasted hours and yet this is the first time I am hearing of this fetish. Okay. I have a fetish for when girls are sick with cold flu. This is for the most part been relatively healthy for me as I have always been able to find women who are willing to indulge this ridiculous desire. Dude, what, what does that mean? What the fuck does that mean? Does that Are you like, are you like, like, are, are these like, are you convincing women to like, intentionally get sick for you? Now that I am single, I have found that my fetishistic nature has been leading to other problems in my life. In the bedroom, asking the women I've been with to sniff or rub their nose has never been a major issue because, of course, this is a very easy thing to do. Okay, so you're, this is. Okay, so you. Alright, okay. All right. This is less weird than I thought that you, you want women to act as if they have a coal and like, like fake sneeze and fake cough. Can you fake cough? Can you fake cough? You can only really real cough. You can go, achoo. How do you fake sneeze but you can't fake cough? I still coughed. Even though, I mean, you can cough intentionally, but you can't like fake a cough. Okay, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. In the bedroom, asking the women I've been with to sniff or rub their nose has ever been a major issue, because of course, this is very easy to do. And my enthusiasm for seeing that usually leads to better sex for us both. But I have began to experience some issues with it outside of the bedroom. Now, whenever I am with a woman who has a cold, I instinctively become overly affectionate, offering to help them with things, complimenting them, etc, but the moment they're well again, this altruism goes away. This ridiculous fault in my brain has been causing a lot of stress because as funny as it may sound, it's incredibly frustrating to become temporarily infatuated with people you barely know just because they happen to be unwell. I meditate and exercise and avoid poring and avoid porn to manage this ridiculous fetish. But I was wondering if the Geck himself could give me some advice. Well, this one definitely is. Is. Is a ponderer more than an advisor. I am. I wish we could talk on the phone. You got to call into the podcast because there's so many more questions I have about this temper. Here's it. I'm temporarily infatuated with people I barely know. Why are you. I. In what situations are you with people who you barely know who are also sick? Because you. In, in most situations where you're with people, most of the situations where you would be around people that you barely know are situations where people who are sick avoid. So is it, I mean, is this like, is it like ladies who are like on Tinder or something and you like, they're. They're sick, but they meet up with you anyway? I have no advice for this at all. This is. This is. I appreciate the vulnerability that you have in sharing this. It's advice. No, I. The whole, like, having like a. You know, it's weird. Like, these. These are. You don't control. I empathize with you on this, like, thing of, like, you don't. You don't really control what you're attracted to. That's. That's the thing. You. You don't have control. So if you're like, fucking. If this is your thing and you're like, I am just a tr. I find women who have a cold or flu attractive. That's just this. Just something I think you were just cursed with. I don't know if you can beat it. I'm not an expert on these things. I. There's people who are like. Like sex fetish therapist people. I mean, go talk to one of them because I don't know. I don't know if, like, fetishes can be beaten or, like, controlled. Most of the time they're just surrendered to. So, yeah, I don't know. This. Probably go talk to, like, a sex therapist or some shit. Maybe they could give you. Maybe they could give you a real perspective on this. I wish I had a joke. Let me think of a joke. Something about, like, a sneeze is as good as an orgasm. I wish I had jokes. I don't have any jokes. I'll try. I'll come up with jokes later. Okay. All right. Okay. This is from Marco. Subject line, Chat GPT as a therapist. Hey, Geck. I started using chatgpt as a therapist. It's actually working pretty well. The worst part I had with therapy was actually doing the stuff that we Talked about with ChatGPT. I can go back and read the output to get motivated again. I can use it anytime I want. And it's free. Did you ever try it? Thanks, Marco. Um, so, okay, first of all, I actually, like. Okay, hold on. I'm gonna get into an argument with myself about, like, we all fucking know the whole, you know, like, pros and cons of AI type of. But on a personal level, me, Lyle, I. I use Chat GPT for this kind of all the time. I do. Like, what I do is I'll. I journal, and then I copy and paste it into Chat GPT and then Chat GPT, like, kind of spits back reflections to me. And I know, I know it's, like, a controversial practice, and I'm. I don't have thoughts about that, but I do. I do. Personally, I Personally, I do this, you know, I do this. Like, I use it every day. I use it. You know, I was talking about like, you know, with like, like, like, I'm trying to work on like, ADHD shit. And so I'll be talking to it and I'll be like, you know, I, I have like an actual psych. You know, you should, like, you should have an actual psychiatrist. You should have an actual therapist. You shouldn't like, chatgpt shouldn't like, be replacing these things. And by the, by the way, just to like, these are just expressions of how I'm living my own life. These are not endorsements of like, Well, I did do an ad read for Chat GPT, which I guess is literally an endorsement. But I mean, I, I, I do, I, I do endorse. I like chat. Here's it. I like Chat GPT as a therapist. It, I'm gonna just say it. I like it as a therapist. I use it as a therapist. I get why people are freaked out. But here's the thing, man. Here's the thing. It's like, people, like, real therapy is just so goddamn like, there's ways to get it. There's ways to get it. If you're like, financially struggling, there's shit like going to, there's like going to like a, like a college campus or whatever. And you can like work with psych students. There's probably clinics that will help you for free, but. Oh, but like, overall, it's really hard for a lot of people to get therapy without having to pay. Like, I mean, God damn, dude. In New York City, a therapist without Insurance is like $220 for like 45 minutes. Like, it's, it's, it's insane. And not only that is like, you, when you schedule an appointment, like, you can be like in a, like, you can be in like a crazy. Like, like, like you get like, like you could be going crazy, right? And you'd be like, I need to fucking talk to someone right now. And so you call a therapist and they're like, all right, I have, I can schedule you in, in two weeks. And I'm like, bitch, I'm fucking going crazy right now. I don't know what the fuck I'm going to think in two, two weeks. I don't know how I'm gonna feel in two weeks. That's a different guy. This guy right now needs to, you know, and so look, for, for me personally, I, I, like, this is just, this is purely an expression of my own life and why I Like the tool is. You can use it anytime you want. You can use it at 3 o' clock in the morning. It's free. And I like what it has to. I like what it tells me. It tells. And I'm like, and I, and I say shit like, dude, can you explain this to me from like a brain, chemical perspective? You know, can you give me like authors to read up on? Who, who philosophy wise, could help me with it? Like, it's, it's a good, it's a good, good tool for this. I don't. Look, look, I have no idea what some people are like, don't ever put anything personal in it because who knows where it's going? And I guess, I guess, yeah, it's being used to train the thing. But this is just again, an expression of how the tool has genuinely, personally been very helpful to me in my life and apparently into the life of this, this emailer. But yeah, I think it's. I think it should be like supplementary. I don't think you should like use it to replace a therapist, but it works well. I mean, like, here, let me go to my fucking chatgpt. Shit, what did I just do? Also, I don't know. Part of me is like, like, yeah, like I'll fucking be like, yeah, I use it, I use it a lot for like helping me with my. Like, like today I was like, can you recommend me? I kind of, I kind of use it. The way ChatGPT is kind of becoming. It's becoming like the new Google search. It's kind of the evolution of the, of the Google search where I'm like, you know, tell me about this thing where normally people would just take their whole question and throw it into. And throw it into Google where it's like, now they can do it into Chat GPT and it kind of goes, goes into like, you know, searches for. Anyway, that's just that, that's just my experience and apparently this guy's experience. P.S. i have a loud stomping upstairs neighbor. How should I resolve that? Ask them politely to stop doing that. Okay. All right. This is from Kayla. There's no subject. Hey, Geck, I just wanted to say I'm such a fan of your show and happy I found it. I recently got into the dental hygiene program. Previously my advisor said how I was. Wasn't not going to get in the. Previously my advisor said how I. Okay, I'm gonna assume this is a typo. Previously my advisor said how I was not going to get into the program for three to five years. So this is such a huge change of plans for me. I have a trip scheduled for this October to go to Maine. I don't want to cancel and I mean some of the stuff I have already paid for is refundable, is unrefundable. The program is super competitive and overall hard. Is it bad? I still want to go on this week long trip and bite the bullet. Or should I call it off due to not wanting to fall behind? I haven't been on vacation in so long and not getting. Getting not. The program was def. Not in my. Okay, hold on. There's a bunch of spelling errors in this. Or not. Typos. Okay. I haven't been on a vacation in so long and getting. The program was def. Not on my list of things. Very grateful. It is there though. But should I stay or should I go? Oh, you should probably. You should probably not go to Maine. I'm gonna. That's. Yeah, that's. That's the result of my pondering is that if you just got into a fucking thing that is super competitive that you've been dying to go go into. I do not think. Yeah, I think. I think falling behind for a week is not a good idea. I mean, you can always do that. You can always do the trip later, I would say. But I think. I think it would be good to prioritize doing the program, especially because the trip is like a very like short term thing and you'll always be able to take more trips. This is my thought about your life. Um. Hey folks. This episode is sponsored by ChatGPT Plus. ChatGPT plus is free for college students now through May. That means you have no limits on how many ways you can prompt ChatGPT to help you through the worst part of the school year. There's many ways you can do this, like uploading your class notes and having ChatGPT quiz you on them. Or asking ChatGPT to take a complicated concept and try to explain it to you in simpler terms to help you understand. You can even use it to help design a diet and exercise plan that optimizes your energy for studying. You can use the voice feature to practice interviewing for jobs post graduation. You can use it to practice a new language for a summer trip abroad. It can help you organize your hectic schedule so you can block out time to study certain subjects and make sure you're getting things done. There are endless ways that ChatGPT plus can help you on your academic journey. ChatGPT plus free for college students through May. Restrictions apply.
- [68:12]
Gemma Spaeg
This is Gemma Spag from the psychology of your twenties Are you shopping for a new laptop while trying to keep up with all the new technology and AI? Talk about feeling burnt out. But no more. Lenovo.com makes it easier than ever to find the perfect PC. In fact, they'll break it down for you. Step 1 Shop their lineup of AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra processors. Because why deal with downloading new software when you can just buy a smarter PC that already comes with all of the AI features and tools? Step 2 Find the one that fits your passion. Whether you're a creative genius, a research scientist, a hardcore gamer, or a future CEO, no dream is too big. That is the power of Lenovo. With intel inside, you can keep up with your ideas as well as any challenges you may face. Step 3 add to cart and purchase. Oh, and if you're a college student or a teacher, make an education account through Lenovo and get 5% off your whole order. Shop now@lenovo.com A Better Future is waiting and it needs you.
- [69:18]
C
Not everyone who handles your personal information is going to be as careful as you are, and it only takes one mistake to expose it to hackers and identity theft. Maybe that's why there's a new victim of identity theft every five seconds in the United States. Fortunately, there's LifeLock. LifeLock monitors hundreds of millions of data points a second for threats to your identity if your identity is stolen. A LifeLock US based restoration specialist will help solve identity theft issues on your behalf, guaranteed or your money back. Plus, all LifeLock plans are backed by the million dollar protection package, meaning LifeLock will reimburse you up to the limits of your plan if you lose money due to identity theft. You can't control how diligent others are with your personal information, but with Lifelock you can help protect it. Act now and save up to 40% your first year. Call 1-800-LIFELOCK and use promo code iheart or go to lifelock.com iheart for 40% off terms apply.
- [70:13]
Lyle
Think advertising on TikTok isn't for your business? Think again. We've generated over 100,000 leads which has converted into over 40,000 thousand sales for our pet insurance policies. My name is Trey Farrow. I am the CEO of Spot Pet Insurance, TikTok Smart Plus AI powered automation takes the guesswork out of targeting, bidding and optimizing creative if I can advertise on TikTok, you can too. Drive more leads and scale your business. Today only on TikTok. Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTok ADS let's see. This is from Simon. Hey, Lyle, my name is Simon. Feel free to give me any name you want. Okay, I'm gonna call you Simon. The subject line is I keep being disappointed by women with daddy issues. Okay. I'm a French guy into arts and music. Love your expo idea, by the way. Thank you. And I keep having problem with my relationships lately. Should I read this in a French accent? No. Sorry, I'm a dump. My boring life. But I feel like you could help me out. I can ponder you, Simon. I will ponder your situation. Okay, well. Oh, it's been an hour already. Look at that. Well, to get straight to it, in my love life, I tend to end up with more alternative kind of women since I'm kind of alternative myself, but having somewhat of a fatherly figure by being a bigger guy with a movie dad bod, kind of fat, kind of buff, and by being very caring and nice with a thick beard. Okay, so you have. You have a fatherly vibe is what you're telling me. Okay. All of that to say I literally only dated girls with daddy issues and it always ended poorly. Where I need help is that. The only relationship I've been in was with my first girlfriend, which was four years ago, And I keep stumbling on her. She doesn't recognize me since I changed a lot physically. But I feel like if I had another chance with her, I would end up. Well, should I respect her and leave her be, or should I try to talk to her and see if I can have another chance with her? Well, I mean, you keep. What do you mean by you keep stumbling on her and she doesn't recognize you? What is that? Does it. When you say stumbling on her, is that like, like her shit comes up, like in your, like, social media feeds or like, because if she. If you're saying she doesn't recognize you, that means you guys have talked enough for her to say that, bro, it's worth a hail Mary. What? Unless. Unless if she, like, unless. Unless if she was like, unless of like, when you guys broke up, she was like, never talk to me ever again. I don't really. I don't know where this. I don't know where this relationship ended or how it ended, but if it didn't end in like a horrible way, there's no harm in having a conversation, right? If it didn't end in a horrible way, you know, fucking go for a. Go for a hail Mary. I mean, don't. I mean, look, I. I think maybe Not a Hail Mary in the sense of like I've always been in love with you and I can't live without you and but you know, Hail Mary and like, you know, hey, how you doing? What's up? You want to talk on the phone? Like what you been up to? Like you like, like I think it's very, I think it's. Again, unless if she was like, never talk to me ever again. I think it's fair to just initiate like a normal ass conversation. Why not? What does daddy issues mean? Does that just mean like she had a poor relationship with her dad or she just likes, you know, I feel like, well, I feel like, don't women in general like kind of like the daddy or like the like the fatherly arc? Like, I mean women in general I think are like just attracted to like competence, you know, so maybe it's just like you're, you know, you're, you're a nice competent guy. I don't know. But yeah, fucking do your, do your thing. Throw a Hail Mary, why not? Alright, let's see. But yeah, again with that Hail Mary. Don't be like, hey, wid you up, but just be like, hey, how you been? Can we talk? Just want to see how you're doing. See if it maybe naturally evolves from there, I suppose. Okay. This is from Laura, subject line Shrooms and the delusion that I'm incredibly interesting. Lyle. In my day to day life I mostly keep to myself. But on shrooms I become violently convinced that the world would benefit from a 10 part docu series about my life. And not because of any trauma or triumph or character arc. I mean the monotony, like how I organize my spice drawer. I live a very regular existence that everyone on earth can relate to, but I get this deeply persuasive feeling that if I could just explain myself well enough, people would be fascinated by me and I by them. Sure, I go down the usual rabbit holes about how we're all connected and life is amazing, yada yada, but I also believe I could talk about how I store my cereal or how I avoid making eye contact with mannequins or. And the world would lean in like I'm giving a TED talk. I also get weirdly emotional about handmade and thrifted things. Like I'll stare at a vintage mug and think about the entire life it lived before ending up in my room. The craftsmanship, the stories, the tragedy of being microwave safe, yet so emotionally fragile. I spiral. So is this narcissism? Is it the mushrooms Is it just being a person in the Internet era? Anyway, thought I'd ask a lizard. Spiritually yours, Laura. I have. I have a lot of ponders on this. First of all, no, you're not a narcissist. All right, I'm gonna get. I'm gonna get like a little woo kind. I'm gonna get like a little bit woo woo. I'm gonna try not to get too woo woo because I don't want to, like, I don't know. But I mean, I think there is. I mean, human beings. Yeah, okay, I'm gonna get woo woo. Human beings contain this kind of innate, you know, creativity within them just by nature of like, we all are. Like, we all are. We know two people have the exact same experience. Even if, like, you know, they're fucking conjoined twins, they're still looking at it from a physically a different perspective because they're not sharing eyes, right? So I think people have like an innate desire to share of themselves. Whether that and whether you have the innate desire to share of yourself by just like telling a friend about your day or by, you know, creating some kind of art centered around your life experience. And you can really talk yourself out of doing it. And I've done this to myself a lot. I've done this to myself a lot. You can talk yourself out of doing it by saying that you're not interesting. But I don't know, what's the point of that, Right? What's the point of that? I mean, even just reading this email. This is a nicely written email. Like, no, it's not, Mark. You're not a narcissist for wanting to create or wanting to. I typically think narcissism. Narcissism is kind of like, I don't know, why am I sitting here pretending like I know what narcissism. Let me Google it. What really is narcissism? That word kind of gets thrown around all the time. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by an excessive sense of self importance, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. I think that. No, I don't think it's like narcissistic to want to express yourself. I think it's like, pretty inherently human. And I'm not reading. This is. I'm not reading an. You being a narcissist. I'm reading that you just want to express yourself good. Become. Be, you know, become convinced that the world would benefit from what you have to say. Why the fuck not? That doesn't. That doesn't that's. I can't see a universe where that's a bad thing. Right? I mean I think it only, it's only become an only ones a bad thing. If you like self importance is not like self importance and self esteem is not like I am so much better than everyone else and I am awesome and what I have to say is the most important thing ever. But it like, like I think, I think like healthy self esteem is probably something of like I am confident that I am a human being of value. I am confident that I matter and the things I have to say matter. And you know, and that confidence can complete. Does can completely coexist with also other people matter. Also what other people have to say is important. And you don't have to believe, by the way, you don't have to believe that every single person is important or that every single thing that everyone has to say is important because that's. But that's an unrealistic belief to hold. But I don't know. I don't know. This is man, this is like super. This is super like therapy fucking bull. But it's like you, you are a person. So when you like if a friend came to you and was like, hey, I have this idea to do this thing and you were like, you were like, nah, that's stupid. Nobody gives a fuck what you have to say. And you're just kind of being a narcissist. So you shouldn't write a book and you shouldn't make a thing. You'd be a fucking asshole. You'd be a. You'd be a dick. Right? So when you do that to yourself, you're just being a dick to yourself. Damn, that makes perfect sense. People have been saying that a lot throughout to me throughout my life. And it's clicking, it's starting to click a little bit. It's honestly clicking with me a little bit as I'm talking about it. This is not an original, by the way. These are not original thoughts. These are ponders that are just kind of clicking. Clicking to me, you know. Anyway, you should do. Go make. Make a fucking TikTok. Why not write a book. Do something you don't have to attend part docu series. Oh, make a 10 part docu series on your phone, in your room, on your computer that used to write this email. Yeah, do so. I mean there's the. We live in. We live in a world where it's easier than ever to express yourself to the masses. So take advantage of that for whatever the fuck it's worth before. No, I'm not gonna be a doomer. I'm not gonna end that with a doomer perspective. But, yeah, go, go do a thing. Also, a lot of the boring, you know, boring things are good to talk about because they're like, most of life is kind of boring. So, I mean, yeah, talk about how you store your cereal. Someone will find it interesting. Everyone's crazy. All right, sorry. Let's keep going. All right. This is from Kdog. Subject line, Some words about seeing you in Portland and traveling to Japan. Hello, Mr. Gecko Man. My name is Kdog and I am being so brave and sending you some words for Geck mail because I think about calling you a decent amount, but I get phone call, stage fright about it. I've seen you twice in person in Portland and met you both times after the show. Both of the pictures I have with you are not great. So I need you to come back so we can try again. Okay, I'm gonna try to do that. The last time you were in town, I went to a show with my ex and they were an evil manipulator and I should have taken someone else. I hope that the guy you talk to on stage who was saying something about hooking up with his ex's friends or sister, something who everyone in the crowd hated, got broken up with by his girlfriend that was with him there. I don't. Okay, I'm trying to remember that. I really want to go to Japan next year, and I'd love to know what your recommendations are for things to see, especially if it's something I couldn't find out from a Google search about the best things to see in Japan. Do you think I would be safe to just go by myself as a woman? I'm tired of waiting for one of my friends to be able to afford traveling so I can have a travel buddy. Love you. K dog. Here's the thing. I don't really. I. I don't really want to answer that. Do you think I would be safe to go by myself to Japan as a woman? Because I have never gone to myself by Japan as a woman. So I'm not like, you know, I don't really. I don't want to, like, speak from that perspective that I do not have. But. But I will say that. I'll say this. Japan is like the safest fucking place that I've ever been. It's. It's. I think it's consistently ranked. I think Tokyo is, like, consistently ranked as, like, one of the safest. Let me Let me actually Google this. Is Tokyo the safest city in the world? Tokyo is. Yeah. Tokyo is generally considered one of the safest cities in the world. There is. There's a huge culture of safety and security. There's no. There's really like no crime. There's not. There's really like, not a lot of poverty. It's like. It's like a. Incredibly. I can't. Again, I don't have the. I don't have the equipment to speak about specifically like the, you know, going there alone as a woman. But like in general, it's like the safest place I've ever been. I don't have recommendations for things to see. I just go. Just go to the. What I would do is I would just write down there's a lot of neighborhoods that you should just walk around in. You know, there's Asakusa, there's Akihabara, there's Shibuya, there's Shinjuku, there's Kabukcho. Yeah, just go to all those fucking places and just walk around, figure shit out. It's awesome. Have a fun time, man. Japan rocks. And good on you for going by yourself. If you've never. If you have a place you really fucking want to go to and you can afford to go and you can make it and your friends don't just fucking go, you know, I'm with you on that. Okay. All right, let me do a couple. Few more. My grandma has a crush on a football player. Hello. My dad and I are fans of a certain football team that just recently got good and my grandma was intrigued by our excitement. She doesn't understand the game at all, but when I taught her about some of the players, she caught feelings for one of them in particular. Her passion is now greater than my dad's and mine combined. I think it's cute and hilarious. But I also don't live with my family anymore where my dad is subjecting her subject to her asking the same football questions every day. And it's taking a toll on him. Is there anything I can do to help my dad's sanity? Wait a minute. Your dad is going insane because his mom is asking him questions about football? You're that. You know what, man? Look, we know we have no idea how long we have with our parents. We have no idea. We have no idea how long we have with our parents. We have no idea how long we have with any thing or any one in our lives. So any stupid, non malicious interaction that you can have with people that you like Is good. Sorry I'm giving you too existential of an answer, but that's where my head is at right now. So that's. That's what I got in my pondering. Alright, I can do a few more. Let's see. Alright, Geck. Mail. Hey, Geck. My name is Steven. I am 34 years old and work as a truck driver for Wegmans. I'm writing to you because lately I have been feeling like I am just wasting my life away. I wake up, go to work, come home, watch some TV and go to bed every day. Even on my days off. I just feel like a couch potato and do little to nothing because I don't know how to be productive with my time. Is there anything you do to keep yourself productive when you're not podcasting? Thanks for what you do, Stephen. You know, it's funny man. I. This is a lot of what I've kind of been thinking about with my existential crisis and a lot of like the concept of quote unquote wasting time and like, you know, like life optimization and shit like that. I can't really answer the question of what would be productive with your time. I'm coming around to the idea. I'm coming. I used to not. I'm coming around to the idea that like there's inherent value and productivity in simply existing. I'm lately coming. I'm not. I'm not. I've been thinking about that a lot. I'm pres. I've been presenting that as my. As an idea to myself that there's just inherent value and productivity in existing on Earth. Because if you're like a nihilist and you're like nothing really matters, then just existing is like good enough. Which again, it's like you could look at. You could take a fucking nihilist thing and be like. You could run with it in a very negative direction, but you could really run with it in a positive direction and be like, you know, just existing is productive. But okay, that's again, that's an existential thing. And I want to get into what. What I, what I, what I think, I really feel that's just an idea. That's just an idea that is entering me. What I really feel, honestly at this point is like the problem I have with the just existing is enough or the, the problem I have with the whole idea of like just existing is enough and like you are enough is this thing of like, if somebody, if you're like unhappy and you're restless and you're sad and you're miserable and blah, blah, blah, and somebody tells you, well, you're enough, that feels like shit. Because if I'm so enough, why am I miserable? You know, so that's, that's the catch 22 of just existing is enough. And that's kind of the problem I have with that argument. But it's coming into my head and I'm entertaining it and thinking about it. But. Okay, back to you, Steven. I. The whole idea of like, I do nothing because I don't know how to be productive with my time. It depends on what your goals and your values are and what you, what you want out of life based on what your experience has been thus far, you know, and I can't. And so I guess not. Advice. Pondering. My pondering about you, Steven, is to just like, think about your, like, what do you want? What you want? Like, do you want to have more fulfilling relationships? Well, then, okay, productivity would look like do. Taking action on things that would put you in places where you can make more connections with more people, you know, do you want more money? Okay, then being productive would be, you know, trying to figure out how to make more money by like, fucking looking at what jobs you can do or what schooling you can get or maybe a business that you could start or something like that. You know, do you just want to be physically healthy? You know, you can be productive by eating better, you know? Yeah, the whole like, like this, this email kind of, I guess, presents. Productivity is this like, objective thing when it is kind of subjective. Although it's weird because if you, if you ask someone why they're doing something and then you keep going and you're like, well, why are you doing this? Well, because this. Well, why that? Well, why that? It goes to a, it kind of goes to a. It kind of brings, it kind of brings me to a full circle of the just existing is enough thing. But that's a bunch of woo woo. But that's a bunch of woo woo. I'm in, I'm entertaining the idea of, of that. But I, it strikes me a little bit as some woo woo, because as a human being we're endowed with like, consciousness and ability to, you know, identify whatever tools are at our disposal, however maximal or minimal they are, and go, huh? How can I use these tools to like, do something new and get out of the rut? You know? And I, and I, and I think that that's good, but I'm still entertaining the idea of enoughness. I'm still, I've been thinking about It. Yeah, that's my ponder about your life, Steven. Okay, let's see. An hour and 25. Let's. Let's make it to an hour and a half. Let's make this a nice, juicy, nice, juiced up geck mail. Let's see. Okay, this is from. No, let's not do this, not do that one. Let's do. Let's do something. Something chill. Let's just find something chill to do. Okay. All right. This is from Dylan. Subject line, marijuana and music. Dylan says, hello, my green friend. I recently got out of the army, so I tried weed and loved it. But recently I discovered Pantera, Metallica, and Pink Floyd. That shit elevates me and makes me want to run through a wall. That's the whole email. Is. Is that good to want to run through a wall? Is what. Is wanting to run through a wall a good thing? Or is that. Is that like a Superman thing? Like a powerful thing? I mean, yes. Smoking weed and listening to music is pretty awesome. I'm. We. We talk about weed all the time on this podcast, and sometimes. And I weed. Weed is a catch 22 lately, I think. Weed. I don't know. I don't know how I feel about weed. I don't know if it's destroying me or my brain is in a bit of a fragile state, and I'm always trying to solve for X on my own, you know, mental stability. And I don't know where weed fits in that. But I can say, over the course of my life, I've had a lot of awesome times smoking weed. I've had a lot. I've had a lot of. I've had a lot of time smoking weed where I'm like, this sucks. I'm never gonna do this again. And then a lot of times where I'm like, wow, this is fucking awesome. I love doing this. Say with that. Do with that what you will. Okay, let's do. Okay. I'm okay. This is from ej. I'm playing all the Devil May Cry games instead of revising. Hi, Geck. Long story short, I'm writing this about eight hours before my final psychology exam in the uk and instead of revising as much as I should have, I decided to complete the entirety of Devil May Cry. One and three, parentheses. We don't speak about two. What's wrong with Devil May Cry? And I'm planning on playing. I've never played Devil May Cry. What is it? What is. I'm gonna Google this. Devil, Devil May Cry. Is it like a. Which. Which One. Are we on? Okay. Okay. Ninja theory. Okay. Looks like Ron. 5, 5, 6. Anyway, I don't know. I don't know why any of that's important. Okay, I'm planning on playing through 4 and 5. 2. Only problem is I might be risking going to university and getting kicked out. Is it worth it? Definitely not. But will I keep doing it? Probably. Any. Anyways, by the time you're reading this, I will probably already have sat the exam. Wish me luck. And I hope you're alright too. If you decide to include me in the podcast, please refer to me as Eggman. Thank you. And then he sent me screenshots of all the achievements he's gotten on Devil May Cry. All right, what's my. Do I have a ponder about this? No, I don't really have a ponder about this. I mean, I love video games. I don't know if I've ever let a video game ruin my life. Maybe I have. I mean, yeah, I mean, look, if you told. If you tallied up all the time I've spent in my life playing video games and say, hey, instead of doing that, you could have learned Spanish and you'd be in Mexico right now with a beautiful woman and all these. A bunch of, you know, friends. A bunch of new Mexican friends, and that would be your life. Then I guess I ruin. I guess I've. I've ruined. I've never. I don't think I've ruined my life playing video games. I've ruined an infinite amount of potential lives by playing video games. I've ruined an infinite amount of. But I. But we ruin infinite amounts of potential lives every day with every action that we take. You don't. You don't get through life without ruining infinite amounts of potential lives. So maybe that's what. That's what this guy's doing. He's just ru. He's just ruining an infinite amount of potential lives with all the decisions that he makes with his life that don't lead in the infinite directions of those infinite lives. And you know what? I don't know, man. I love video games. I think video games are awesome. I'm really. I'm really powering through Grand Theft Auto 6. Is. Is the thing I think I care about the most in my entire life right now. I might be saying that. No, I'm. I'm actually not saying. I. I was about to say I'm not exaggerating, but no, I'm. That's actually not what I'm. What I'm thinking. That's not it's not an exaggeration. I, I love video games. I'm so excited for Grand Theft Auto 6. I saw this. Com. I saw. I was. I was thinking about making a video about this, but I saw this comment on. I. Since it came out eight or nine days ago, I've been watching the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer at least four times a day. That's not, that's not an exaggeration. In fact, that's actually, that might actually be an embellishment. I might, I watch it all the time. I saw a comment that said something like hey, hey everyone, we should use. First of all, before I say this comment. First of all, this game is. This is like the, this is the first time in a long time I have really felt like I was part of something of like, of like a. I felt I, where I felt like I was deeply connected to like a massive world event on a personal level. Maybe that's a little fucked up to say, but it, it, it's true. Maybe Covid. I felt deeply, but you know what I mean? I have, I feel like this is an experience because this like the whole comment section of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer is just people being like, Dude, I was 15 years old when this came out and I had to like convince my parents to buy it for me. And now I'm 28 or 27 and I can just get it myself. This is all like, like we all remember cuz it was too. When the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 came out. I was in middle school. I was taking a shit in my, in the bathroom at my middle school and I had the, I had the iPhone one or whatever the fuck and I was watching the trailer for Grand Theft Auto 5 and I watched the Grand Theft Auto 5 trailer every single day when I was in middle school and, and I haven't had a feeling like that since. It's been, it's been 13 years. 12, 13 years since I had that feeling that I had when Super Smash Brothers brawl and Portal 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5 came out. I haven't had that feeling in a long time. There's been a lot of, there's been, there's been games that I've played. I, I can't think of a game on that level of magnitude that I've played. I mean, read the Redemption 2 was fucking sick. But I, I played that game way, way, way after it came out. I played that like five years after it came out. I mean I haven't been like anticipating a video game this much. Since Grand Theft Auto 6. And anyway, in the comments section is a bunch of people who have. Who have had my exact life experience who. Who are like, damn this. Like, I haven't. I haven't had this feeling for so long. And, like, people write this and then the comments get. Have like, you know, Millie 4. A comment will be like, oh, I haven't had this feeling in so long. And have like 400,000 likes. And that's. It's the most seen, I think I've felt in a while. Which is funny because I posted a video about depression and then a bunch of people commented on it, and I feel more seen. Not. Not. Not. Not to. Not to. Not to Down. The comments I got on that video are incredibly sweet, but I just. There's something about the comments of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer where I'm like, I have never. I have never been more happy to be a nameless entity in a sea of infinite other people than I am to be, you know, a hundred of the 286 million views on the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer. I feel deeply connected that it's like a religion at this point. Anyway, I saw a comment that said something like. On May, I said. I saw a comment and said something like, so the game was delayed. The game was supposed to come out this September, and then it got delayed to May 26, 2026. And I saw a comment that said, hey, everyone, let's use this as a way to better ourselves so that we can make a plan on how we could improve ourselves. And, you know, I don't remember the exact comment, but it was like, how we can improve ourselves and achieve our dreams and fix up our lives so that a year from now, when the game comes out, we can feel like we earned it. And a couple people wrote under that being like, that's fucking gay. Shut up. Which is. Which was an inevitability. When he posted that comment, that was an inevitability. But I saw this, and I was like, that fucking comment slaps. This is just some. I wish. I wish I took a screenshot of it. I wish I had it because this was just some random fucking guy who caught this comment. We had, like, 26 likes, but I saw it and I was like, wow, this person is spitting with that comment. So I'm gonna try to. I'm gonna try to take that to heart. I'm gonna try because of. Because I. I am fully optimistic that I will continue to be a conscious human being a year from now. This. We're not Slowing down. We're gonna be we're gonna continue existing at least until this game comes out. And I would like to I that comment inspired me. I like, I'd like to look back on, you know, May of 2025 when I'm in May of 2026 and be like, that was a good year. It was a good year's time. We improved. And as the reward, I will be playing Grand Theft Auto 6 for like a month. There is no youo know, the whole like wave a magic wand and you could be literally doing anything. There's no I was thinking about it and I think what I would be doing is playing Grand Theft Auto 6. There's no other because sometimes you're like playing a video game or you're scrolling red or you're doing some kind of like what is traditionally considered a low value activity and you're like, oh, I should be doing something productive right now. You know, that's we covered a few emails like that today. That thought will not enter my brain for a single second that I am playing Grand Theft Auto 6 when I'm playing Grand Theft Auto 6. I will the only thought I will be having when I'm playing Grand Theft Auto 6 is me on my couch holding this PlayStation controller at this moment in time between two walls of oblivion of all the time there ever will be and all the time there ever was. I am, I am exactly, exactly who I want to be and where I want to be in this infinite universe at this time. That is the thought I will be having the entire time I am playing Grand Theft Auto 6. Anyway, okay, thanks for listening to Geck mail. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to probably do more of these so you can send an email to therapygeckomailmail.com and maybe I'll read it at some point in the future. Also, I also like, you could send me an email and I maybe, maybe I'll read it in six months because I don't know how. I don't really have a schedule as to when I do these episodes. Thank you all for listening. Thank you all for hanging out. Let me know in the comments section on Spotify if you, you know, anything. I don't know. I read all the comments. I'm crazy. I probably shouldn't. I don't think it's good for my health. But I mean, they're all nice. Everyone's particular, everyone's, everyone's been nice. But I don't know, I think you only want to, you only want to take in so much information at a time. Our brains were only meant to take in so much information at a time. Okay, all right. Thanks, everyone. See you. See you. See you. Next Episode hey folks. This episode is sponsored by Chat GPT Plus. ChatGPT plus is free for college students now through May. That means you have no limits on how many ways you can prompt ChatGPT to help you through the worst part of the school year. There's many ways you can do this, like uploading your class notes and having ChatGPT quiz you on them. Or asking ChatGPT to take a complicated concept and try to explain it to you in simpler terms to help you understand chatgpt. Free for college students through May. Restrictions apply.
- [107:37]
Gemma Spaeg
This is Gemma Spaeg from the psychology of your 20s. Let your imagination take flight with an AI powered PC from Lenovo. Whether it's creating digital art, designing new software, or building a portfolio for a Future career, their PCs are powered by Intel Core Ultra processors to help students unlock smarter learning and unleash their creativity. That's the power of Lenovo. With intel inside, all you have to do is choose the one that fits your passion. Head to Lenovo.com to shop AI PCs and find your perfect companion. Plus, get 5% off when you create an education account.
- [108:16]
Lyle
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. And and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the Now It Pays to Discover. Learn more at discover.com credit card Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report, Summer on the south side of Chicago is heating up. You planning revenge? Aren't you? The Shy is back. May 16th on Paramount Plus.
- [108:53]
Gemma Spaeg
It's the season of the women.
- [108:54]
Lyle
Women. This is our chance. It's time to it to work. But the men aren't giving up without a fight. Trees always gonna have a villain. No one is backing down in the Showtime original series from Emmy award winner Lena Way. Why do black women always have to save the day? If we don't do it, who else will? The shy new season streaming May 16th on the Paramount plus with Showtime Plan. You're listening to an iHeart podcast.