“I SOLD MY HUSBAND”

Summary

Therapy Gecko Podcast Summary

Episode: “I SOLD MY HUSBAND”
Release Date: March 9, 2025
Host: Lyle (Therapy Gecko)
Produced By: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

The episode begins with Lyle, the unlicensed gecko psychologist, expressing his contentment after returning from Japan. He reflects on aging and the continuity of life, emphasizing a sense of stability and readiness to engage with callers.

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Janet's Story: Marrying and Selling Her Horse

[04:16] Janet Calls In

Janet's Unique Marriage Ceremony:
Janet shares her unconventional decision to marry her horse as part of her 60th birthday celebration. She describes crafting a distinctive wedding suit for her horse, complete with a tie, socks, and a bouquet of carrots.

Janet (05:06): "For my 60th birthday, I had a wedding party, so I made a suit for my horse out of a blanket... It was really fun."

The Decision to Sell Her Horse:
Due to the demanding care required by her mother, who is battling dementia, Janet made the difficult choice to sell her horses. She explains the financial and emotional strains that led to this decision.

Janet (05:48): "I'm taking care of my mom full time right now. She's dementia and so that's time-consuming and very, very expensive. So, since I sold my horses, I have money now."

Emotional Impact and Future Plans:
Lyle is taken aback by Janet’s decision, questioning the reasoning behind selling her beloved horse. Janet elaborates on her future plans, including traveling with her new travel trailer and eventually settling in Pennsylvania. She reminisces about her long history with horses, dating back to her childhood, and her varied career in horse management and veterinary technology.

Janet (07:57): "I just bought a 30-foot trailer. My mom is on hospice, so we're looking at months, not years. My next adventure is traveling a little bit with my camper."

Inventions and Career Achievements:
Janet discusses her innovation in developing a safer method for anesthetizing lab animals, highlighting her dedication to animal welfare and safety in scientific research.

Janet (19:06): "I invented a device that made anesthetizing cats and rats and mice safer for people and less stressful for the animal... it sucked the gas out of the box before you opened it."

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Discussion on Reinvention and Creativity

Reinventing Oneself at Any Age:
Janet and Lyle engage in a conversation about continuous self-reinvention and pursuing new passions regardless of age. Janet expresses her desire to start a podcast focusing on the paranormal but hesitates due to the associated workload.

Janet (10:30): "I love the idea of podcasting and talking to people, but I don't like the idea of doing all the work editing and posting and advertising."

Advice on Starting a Podcast:
Lyle encourages Janet to pursue her passion project with a simplified approach, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the process over the end result.

Lyle (13:35): "You could just take your iPhone, hit record, and just have fun talking to people without getting bogged down by intensive work."

Embracing the Creative Journey:
The conversation highlights the significance of enjoying the creative journey and maintaining authenticity, rather than solely focusing on metrics like followers or views.

Lyle (18:25): "Revel in the joy of the process of where your life is at right now. Because from where I sit, your life seems really cool and fun."

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Callers Share Their Stories and Seek Guidance

1. Pierce's Struggle with Post-College Anxiety
   [24:30] Pierce Calls In

   Creative Passion vs. Practicality:
   Pierce discusses his passion for comedy and film, grappling with the uncertainty of turning his creative interests into a viable career post-graduation.

   Pierce (26:02): "I feel like I got a creative bone. I can't be doing anything but creating. I love comedy and sketch comedy."

   Lyle's Advice on Balancing Fun and Ambition:
   Lyle advises Pierce to enjoy the creative process with his friends without being overly fixated on metrics, encouraging him to engage more with the local comedy scene in Denver.

   Lyle (35:55): "Revel in the joy of the process... enjoy the fun of it because it is such a joyous thing to be a part of a community with friends."

2. Moaz's Battle with Loneliness and Career Milestones
   [50:37] Moaz Calls In

   Life as a Refugee and Career Achievement:
   Moaz shares his journey from Syria to Germany as a war refugee, his academic achievements in computer science, and his recent milestones, including obtaining German citizenship and securing a corporate job.

   Facing the Void Post-Achievement:
   Despite his successes, Moaz feels a sense of emptiness without new goals or milestones to chase, leading to feelings of loneliness and depression.

   Moaz (56:00): "Ever since I landed my job, I basically tried to live for the weekend... I feel like life is passing me by a little bit."

   Lyle's Reflections on Continuous Growth:
   Lyle empathizes with Moaz's feelings, discussing the importance of setting new goals and enjoying the present while striving for future achievements.

   Lyle (60:35): "How do you break them up into something manageable... What do you want yourself to look like in X amount of years?"

3. Miranda's Psychedelic Experience and Existential Thoughts
   [71:17] Miranda Calls In

   A Trippy Walk and Existential Reflections:
   Miranda recounts her experience taking a psychedelic gummy, leading to a surreal walk where she encounters a severed deer leg, prompting deep existential thoughts about life and nature.

   Miranda (73:16): "It was like bone... It's freezing cold out and I want to not be outside anymore, but it's tolerable because it's just silly."

   Lyle's Socratic Engagement:
   Lyle engages Miranda in a light-hearted yet meaningful conversation about her experience, emphasizing the importance of walking and being present.

   Miranda (77:44): "Go on a walk more. Go on more walks."

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Host's Personal Reflections and Insights

Lyle shares his own struggles with existential crises, the balance between enjoying life and striving for continuous growth, and the challenges of finding purpose after achieving significant milestones. He discusses the importance of aligning daily actions with long-term goals and maintaining mental well-being.

Lyle (23:00): "I think the antidote to that is bringing yourself back to reality by doing things, not giving your brain too much time to spiral."

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Conclusion

As the episode wraps up, Lyle reflects on the diverse stories shared by his callers, emphasizing the universality of struggles with purpose, creativity, and personal growth. He invites listeners to join his upcoming art exhibition and continues to promote community engagement through his unique gecko persona.

Lyle (81:58): "Thank you all very much for listening. I am a gecko. Bless. See you around the universe."

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Notable Quotes

• Janet on Her Unconventional Marriage:

  “For my 60th birthday, I had a wedding party, so I made a suit for my horse out of a blanket... It was really fun.” [05:06]

• Janet on Selling Her Horse:

  “I'm taking care of my mom full time right now. She's dementia and so that's time-consuming and very, very expensive. So, since I sold my horses, I have money now.” [05:48]

• Lyle on Enjoying the Creative Process:

  “Revel in the joy of the process of where your life is at right now. Because from where I sit, your life seems really cool and fun.” [18:25]

• Pierce on Creative Passion:

  “I feel like I got a creative bone. I can't be doing anything but creating. I love comedy and sketch comedy.” [26:02]

• Miranda's Call to Action:

  “Go on a walk more. Go on more walks.” [77:44]

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Upcoming Events

Lyle invites listeners to his art exhibition titled "Lyle Forever Presents Trash from Around My Room" on March 14th in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He encourages attendees to check the episode description for more details and join him in celebrating creativity.

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Note: For more episodes and to engage with Therapy Gecko, follow Lyle on Twitch to receive notifications for live call sessions.

Transcript

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[Lyle]

And I'm Leah and we're from the Grown Up Stuff Podcast and just in.

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[Lyle]

Hello what's up, everybody? How you guys doing? Welcome to the Therapy Gecko podcast. Thanks for being here. I'm feeling pretty good today, actually. I am back from Japan, and I am chilling and ready to talk to some people on the phone today. As of recording this, it is March 8, 2025. I'm feeling pretty good. It's. It's interesting to still be here. I don't. I know that's a weird thing to say, but I think. I always thought that once you hit a certain age, you just explode and you become, you know, it's hard to, like, imagine you ever have those things where it's like you can't even imagine what life is like at a certain time, and then you're there and you're like, oh, I'm still me. I'm still here. I didn't just explode. Life just keeps going. And that. I think that feeling used to. Oh, I'm. I'm live on Twitch. Someone on the Twitch chat said they turned 62 last year. Was it. How's. How you feeling? Wool. Fourth. Turning 62. I'm curious. But anyway, you know, I'm actually feeling pretty good today. I'm ready to take some phone calls. I'm ready to talk to people. I've been doing a lot of Geck mail lately because I don't think I was in as great of a position to take phone calls. But now I feel good, and I actually feel pretty ready to talk to some people on the phone. So I'm gonna do that right now.

[Janet]

Hello?

[Lyle]

Hello? Oh, my.

[Janet]

Hello, Lyle?

[Lyle]

Yes. Is this Janet?

[Janet]

It is.

[Lyle]

Yes, indeed, Janet. Well, Janet, I'm calling you back for. You sent me a text, but I read an email on one of the previous Geck mails from a woman who married her horse, and I believe that is you, and so I am.

[Janet]

That is me. Did you see the picture?

[Lyle]

I did see the picture. I did see the picture. So you are. For people who didn't hear that email or that episode or whatever. And do you want to just give us some context of, you know, what happens?

[Janet]

Sure. So I. For my 60th birthday, I had a wedding party, so I made a suit for my horse out of a blanket. You know, a horse blanket. I converted it, and he had a tie and everything, and he had some socks on his legs, and I had a bouquet of carrots. And, yeah, it was a hoot. It was really fun.

[Lyle]

And are there. What have been the benefits thus far of marrying your horse?

[Janet]

Well, you know, I don't even have the horse anymore. So I actually sold the horse.

[Lyle]

You saw it? You sold the fucking. What do you mean? What do you mean you sold the fucking horse? That's. Janet, that's so up. That's one of the most up things ever. You got married to a horse and then you sold it? Why did you sell it?

[Janet]

Well, lots of reasons. I'm taking care of my mom full time right now. She's dementia and so that's time consuming. And the expense, very, very expensive. So, yeah, since I sold my horses, I have money now.

[Lyle]

Can I ask it? And it's okay if it's a personal question you would like not to answer, I'm sure. What do you sell a horse for? What's the horse market look like?

[Janet]

So I sold him for $2,000 and then I had another horse. I had two horses at one time, and so I sold the other horse for $5,000. So the other horse was younger and had. Well, they both had papers, but I just felt like she was more valuable mare. She was a mare. She was younger.

[Lyle]

Now, are you in the horse you sold? Are you guys divorced? Are you still married?

[Janet]

Yeah, I don't see him anymore at all. We have no kids together, so.

[Lyle]

Well, thank God for that. What else is going on in life, Janet?

[Janet]

Well, I just bought a travel trailer, so 30 foot trailer. And mom is currently on hospice, so we're looking at months, not years. And so I'm looking at my next adventure is traveling a little bit with my camper and. Yeah. And then eventually I want to settle in Pennsylvania. I love the Hershey Harrisburg area in Pennsylvania.

[Lyle]

Yeah. Like. Like Hershey Park.

[Janet]

Well, do you know Penn National Race Course?

[Lyle]

No, I never heard of it.

[Janet]

Okay. Small track in near Harrisburg. It's in Grantville, Pennsylvania. And so I worked there when I was much younger. I did, you know, galloped race horses and ponied horses and hot walked horses. And I'm actually gonna come full circle back to that lifestyle again.

[Lyle]

Cool.

[Janet]

Yeah, I don't think I'll be riding, exercising.

[Lyle]

How long have horses been. Been a part of your life?

[Janet]

Yeah, pretty much since I was seven. I started riding lessons.

[Lyle]

Cool.

[Janet]

So, yeah, I took 10 years of lessons and then I got my own horse and did 4H. And then I went to horse management school and managed to race horse farm. Worked on the track, worked on the dude ranch and then decided to do something safer. So I went back to school to be a veterinary technician. Yeah. Yeah.

[Lyle]

How long did you. How long did you do that for?

[Janet]

I did 10 years in small animal practice. And then I did 20 years in research. So I worked with mice and rats and I even did blood collection and injections and surgery and wrote some papers and invented some things.

[Lyle]

Cool.

[Janet]

And yeah. Yeah, it was a good, good life. And then. And then ended up back in small animal practice for a while right before I started taking care of mom.

[Lyle]

And for all this time, were you. Where were you located?

[Janet]

Michigan. Michigan. So I worked at the University of Michigan a little bit at Wayne State University also.

[Lyle]

Cool, cool, cool.

[Janet]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lyle]

And where. Taking care. Where is your mom at? Where are you taking care of her?

[Janet]

At home. We live together in our. In a house. Yeah.

[Lyle]

Still. Still in Michigan.

[Janet]

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we like Michigan. But I'm ready to. Ready to move again. Yeah.

[Lyle]

And, you know, you told me a little bit in the email that you sent that I read that you wanted to do, you're gonna do a podcast where you interview folks about the paranormal.

[Janet]

I thought about that. So I have a lot of ideas. I always, you know, I'm thinking about what I can do and. Because I don't want to take Social Security till I'm 67, 70 maybe, you know, I'm perfectly capable of working, but. Oh, podcasting. I love the idea of podcasting and talking to people, but I don't like the idea of doing all the work editing and posting and advertising and generating clicks and, you know, all that.

[Lyle]

Yeah, well, you know. Well, let me ask you this. Do you like. Because I'm curious. Do you. When you think about, like, doing a podcast, is it like something you like? Would the podcast need to make money for you to, like, be able to do it, or do you have. Are you able to just do it?

[Janet]

Well, that's a good point. I guess I wouldn't. Maybe I'd have to have a job. I do. I do need income, so I suppose I could do it on the side, spare time kind of thing for fun.

[Lyle]

Because. Well, here's the thing is, like, well, so people, the listeners can tell from the ads, but like, the phone call podcast, this podcast, you know, I do for a living, but I do another kind of version of my show where I, like, do it in person, you know, and like, I set up my little. And I actually might start doing more episodes like that on, you know, I might start releasing more episodes like that on audio on, like, you know, this podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts and stuff. But I've recorded several of those episodes where, like, I'm out on the streets interviewing people. Yeah. And I've just. I'VE just, I don't know why, but I just haven't even posted them. You know, I haven't posted them probably because I got lazy or whatever. But it was like, right. It was like I have episodes like that recorded. I never posted, but I don't. I'm not tripping out about it because it's like I just liked.

[Janet]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

Doing the interviews. I just liked being set up and getting a chat with folks that I never would have chatted with before. And I just like. So, I mean, look, I guess that I say all this to say to you that like, you know, unless if you, I don't know if your whole thing is like you have a hankering to build or whatever, but like you could goddamn very well just take a camera, take. Take your. I take. You could take your iPhone or whatever. You could do a minimal cheap, crappy setup, hit record, you know.

[Janet]

Yeah. Get people to talk.

[Lyle]

Do the, just to get people to talk. And like, you don't, you don't have to, you know, go crazy. You don't, you don't have to start a clip page and make Instagram reels and I mean, you know, like post the thing. You can just post it on YouTube, I'm sure, you know, right folks.

[Janet]

Yeah, I got a channel.

[Lyle]

It doesn't. I guess what I'm saying to you is like, you don't like you the, the, the intensive labor short if you want to. And if you really want to make like a business out of it and you really want to do whatever you can. In fact. Yeah. You know, do, do do labor intensive clipping and YouTube thumbnails and all that stuff. But if you're just doing a podcast for fun can be. It can truly be as labor intensive as you want it to be.

[Janet]

Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Just keep it simple.

[Lyle]

Right.

[Janet]

Make it fun. It's not like I'm trying to get rich off it. I'll have my part time job so I have enough income to survive in my little trailer. Yeah. Good way to meet people in the community.

[Lyle]

And also another thing is, you know, I don't know, you there may maybe you, you know, I know you, you, you said you worked at a university.

[Janet]

I did.

[Lyle]

You know, maybe I don't know if there's any Internet savvy folks in your life who might be able to help you out a little bit. You know, that's, that's another option if, if you know that happens to be a thing in your life.

[Janet]

Right, right, right.

[Lyle]

But yeah, again, that's, that's the thing is like, it can be as you don't like when you, you know, I assume that because you are familiar with me that you're on, you know, Instagram and TikTok or whatever and I'm sure.

[Janet]

You see, I am. Well, my daughter introduced me to you like four years ago.

[Miranda]

Cool.

[Moaz]

Yeah.

[Janet]

And actually you were in Romulus at one time. Does that ring a bell? Romulus, Michigan.

[Lyle]

Hold on, let me.

[Janet]

It was three or four years ago.

[Lyle]

Romulus, Michigan. R O M. You look. Am I. Hold on, where is it? Is that near Lansing?

[Janet]

No, it's near Detroit.

[Lyle]

Yeah, yeah, I've been Detroit a few times. Yeah, I've been to Detroit like three times.

[Janet]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were at this. I'm. I'm super close to Romulus.

[Lyle]

Cool.

[Janet]

But I actually had breast cancer at the time. It was right after I was diagnosed. You came in February 2023. So I couldn't go. Huh.

[Lyle]

Well, hopefully I'll. We'll say, you know, I. I might do another tour in 2026. I'll try to come back to. To Detroit.

[Janet]

Yeah. Excellent.

[Lyle]

But anyway, yeah, I was gonna say, yeah, I'm sure you see like people clips or whatever, but yeah, like, like I said, yeah, have to be. It can. It could be as labor intensive as you want it to be, or it could just be like a fun passion project that you do just because you want to talk to people. And I'm in that too a little bit because again, like this podcast, this version of the podcast, like taking phone calls and stuff is like, you know, my, my business and career and whatnot. But like the, the stuff that I do outside of this where I'm just chat with people on the street is, you know, I just do that. Cuz it's fun.

[Miranda]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

That's why sometimes I don't even post the episodes.

[Janet]

Huh? Yeah, Yeah, I like that idea. Yeah, I have all kinds of random stuff on my YouTube channel. It started with horse training because I had a farm where I boarded and trained horses. So I've got some. It's Equine Charm School. Drop the name.

[Lyle]

Oh, hold on. Yeah. Okay, let's get another plug going. How do you spell equine?

[Janet]

E Q, U, I, N, E School.

[Lyle]

Equine Charm School. Well, I didn't, you know, either way. I mean, I love the idea. I love. Oh, is it Kennedy Equine Center?

[Janet]

No, no, just Equine Charm School.

[Lyle]

Oh, this is you, Janet.

[Janet]

Yeah, yeah. Cool, cool, cool, cool.

[Lyle]

Well, I love it. I think it's. I think it's awesome. I'm, I'm, I'm. I'm. I am in. Truly, I. I am inspired by you continuing to, at all stages of your life, reinvent yourself and, and try new things and do stuff. I think that's like the coolest thing. Thing.

[Janet]

Oh, definitely have done a lot of that, for sure. Yep, yep. Did some traveling, did a lot of career changes and. Yep, just keep moving forward.

[Lyle]

Let's see.

[Janet]

Actually, actually invented a device that made anesthetizing cats and rats and mice safer for people and less stressful for the animal, but it just never took off. I put a lot of time and money into it and eventually I Finally, after like 15 years, finally dropped it. And I still have parts. Like, maybe I'll go back and do something with it. But. Yeah.

[Lyle]

What is anesthetizing putting to sleep for surgery? Oh, you mean you invented a thing that allows you to put mice to sleep so you can do surgery on them?

[Janet]

Yeah, they made it safer for people because the way they currently did it exposed people to a lot of the gas. You know how they put a face mask over your nose and tell you to breathe, and you're breathing that gas? Well, in the research world, you have a box. It's a little box, like five by eight size. You put a little mouse in there and you fill it with the gas and the mouse goes to sleep. And then you open the box and all that gas escapes into the air and you're breathing it, which is not good for you. So I came up with a way that sucked the gas out of the box before you opened it.

[Lyle]

That's cool that they care enough about mice to put them to sleep before.

[Janet]

Oh, yeah. Oh, there's. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of rules and regulations and oversight and. And they're pretty, you know, pretty. It's, it's very well regulated.

[Lyle]

Interesting. That's not how I thought it. Well, I thought that they were just like. I thought that. I thought in general, the consensus in the scientific community was just mice.

[Janet]

Well, yeah, it depends who you ask, I guess. I mean, because. And that's where I found my niche. Because scientists, biologists, you know, they, they know their research, they know they're a lot smarter than me in a lot of ways, but they don't know how to handle a mouse. And a lot of times they didn't have the respect for the animal. So I was able to go in and help them do things better. More respectful for the animal and better for the animal and safer for them. And yeah, and help them, you know, pass all the inspections and regulations and things like that.

[Lyle]

Yeah. Nice, nice, nice.

[Janet]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

Well, I'm sorry to hear that you're. You got divorced from. I mean, I don't. You didn't even get divorced. You just. I think the horse thinks sold him down the road. Well, whatever, actually. I mean, I guess he probably doesn't know a lot because he's a horse or maybe he knows. Horses know stuff sometimes.

[Moaz]

Yeah.

[Janet]

Yeah. They have good memories, for sure. They have excellent memories.

[Lyle]

Janet, is there anything else you want to say to the people, the computer, before we go?

[Janet]

Yes, I would say that. Do you agree that animals sleep and they dream?

[Lyle]

Do I agree that animals dream? I think so, yeah. Like, I've seen. I got a golden retriever back home with my family, and I've seen it have nightmares and shit.

[Miranda]

Yeah.

[Janet]

Like, they're running and they move around. So their unconscious mind is dreaming. Right. So if they have an unconscious mind, they have a conscious mind, and if they have a conscious mind, they are pretty similar the way they think. There's a lot of differences, but they have feelings, they have consciousness.

[Lyle]

Well, thank God for consciousness. I don't know why I said. But I said you did. Well, thank you very much, Janet.

[Moaz]

Awesome.

[Janet]

Thanks for calling.

[Lyle]

Have a good one.

[Janet]

All right. Love you.

[Lyle]

Love you, too.

[Janet]

Bye.

[Lyle]

D. People got. They got. People got me telling them I love them again. Ah, I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't leave Janet on hold. I'm not. I. But you know what? Whatever. Whatever. Who cares about anything? Who cares about anything? I feel good right now. That was a nice conversation with Janet. I feel good right now. I've been talking a lot about. I think I've been talking a lot in the past few episodes about being in, like, a weird existential crisis state and the antidote to that besides, you know, I mean, fucking, you know, I'm gonna go get on meds or whatever. But I think the antidote to that is, like, bringing yourself back to fucking reality by, like, doing things. Not giving your brain too much time to just fucking spiral. So, yeah, feeling good. Hello?

[Pierce]

Hello.

[Lyle]

Hey, what's up, man? How you doing?

[Pierce]

Good. How you doing?

[Lyle]

I'm actually doing pretty good. I haven't taken phone calls in, like, a week or two. I was just kind of focusing on, like, chilling out and stuff. And I'm actually. I'm feeling pretty good. I feel very connected to reality in this very moment.

[Pierce]

That's good. You were just in. Sorry.

[Lyle]

No, go ahead.

[Pierce]

In Japan, right?

[Lyle]

Yeah, I Was. I was in Japan for two months. I might go back. I have no. I kind of don't really know what I'm gonna do with my life moving forward. But, yeah, I might go back. It was a great time. It was a great time. It's interesting being back in New York. It's a different vibe, but there is. It is nice to be in a place where you speak the language and you feel a little bit more like you belong there in some sense. But yeah, man, that's this. What's up with me? What's up with you, sir?

[Pierce]

Oh, goodness.

[Lyle]

Sorry.

[Pierce]

I'm, like, very nervous. I know the lowest stakes thing I'll ever do. I've just. I've just been calling for a while. I've been listening to you for a while. You got me through a very rough breakup, so thank you for that.

[Lyle]

Cool, cool.

[Pierce]

Yeah, yeah. But right now, let's see, just like what I want to talk about, kind of.

[Lyle]

Yeah, sure, sure. I mean, any. Anything, man. I'm not. I'm not pressed. What? Yeah, yeah, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

[Pierce]

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, I've been listening to you and one reason I really resonate with you is because you're. You went to school for film and so have I. I'm in Denver right now. I got a film degree, and I'm kind of just like, I'm so back and forth between I got something, I can do something with this, or. And also, like, it's a waste of my time. Sometimes I'll just kind of feel like an idiot because I do little comedy sketches, you know, and there's such a back and forth between I really got something here, I gotta keep trying, or, you know, it's time to do something else.

[Lyle]

Okay. When you. Well, yeah, I'm curious about a few things. When you say I really got something here, what does that mean? What do you feel like you've got?

[Pierce]

I feel like I got a creative bone, you know, I feel like I can't be doing anything but creating. Yeah, I love comedy. I love sketch comedy. I love everything about it. And every time I'm like, filming something, I create something. There's no other feeling like that for me. It's. It's. Yeah, it's such a great feeling to really have something out there that's like mine.

[Lyle]

I don't know. So if you really. So I guess, what's the dilemma here? Is it like, are you. Is it like, you know, here's. Here's the thing, and I'll go on A little bit of a spiel. Is it like dreaming of being able to do it for money?

[Pierce]

That's also the struggle because like I just posted something on YouTube. I just revamped everything. It's like my first video up there. And I know it's such a stupid thing to post something and hope for views and like attention because that's kind of what it's all about. But at the same time, if I'm not posting stuff because I like it and it's authentic to me, then there's no point. But I, I feel so driven by like my views and not fame, but like, like a following.

[Lyle]

Yeah. You want people to see it. Yeah. If you're gonna work really hard on something. Yeah. You want people to see it.

[Pierce]

Yeah, exactly.

[Lyle]

Yeah. Yeah. How long you been doing this for?

[Pierce]

So, I mean I. It all started because I was undecided coming into college and so was it like my sophomore year of college. I was like, I have no fucking clue what I want to do. And then I guess there's film club, you know. And then I made, I pitched my idea and we made it. It's like a film noir stoner murder mystery and our bong gets murdered. So that was super fun and I just really fell in love with it from there. And so I kind of been on and off, but right now I'm trying to be more consistent with it. But yeah, that's where it started with me. And right now I'm at. I got like a few videos in my stockpile and I'm trying to upload weekly.

[Lyle]

Are you just graduate from college? Like, are you like 22?

[Pierce]

Yeah, I'm 22, but I got my, my last quarter here.

[Lyle]

Okay.

[Pierce]

Coming up. So I'm about to graduate and it's been freaking me out.

[Lyle]

What's freaking you out about it?

[Pierce]

It's just I feel like I'm very reliant on my parents still.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Pierce]

And it's kind of like leaving college, especially going into something, it's like intense is like film trying to break into that because you got to be non stop and relentless. You know, you gotta be able to take it on the chin. And sometimes I worry about having that. This thought I've been having. It's like that hunger almost, if that makes sense.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Pierce]

Like really being hungry for it.

[Lyle]

And it's good.

[Pierce]

I don't know if it's just. Yeah, but it's. Sometimes I'm sitting there and it's. I struggle with being productive and doing things I want to do. And sometimes I'm like, am I hungry? Is that something that some people just have and some people don't or do I just have to tap into it?

[Lyle]

Yeah, I've wondered that too. I mean, some people are just like, it's, it's interesting. Some, sometimes you like see other people and you just have this image in your brain that like something in their fucking like brain chemistry allows them to like flawlessly, with zero resistance do things and you get a little bit jealous. You're like, wow. Fucking. I wish that my brain worked that way. And I don't. It's interesting because I do actually believe that some people are just wired fucking differently than other people. But with, with the stuff that you're telling me now that I've like, I'm from a place of like. Oh, I've run the gamut of like, you know, having a following and all that stuff is like, what do you. Do you do, stand up or do you do anything like in person?

[Pierce]

I don't do anything in person. Which I've been really. I need to get my. What do they call it? The five minute stand up bit, was it called again? I don't know, but I, I've been like wanting to get into it, you know, but I gotta like sit down and write an actual.

[Lyle]

Are you, are you gonna stay in Denver? Like is that where you grew up?

[Pierce]

I grew up in Virginia.

[Lyle]

Okay.

[Pierce]

Yeah, I came out to Denver for school and just kind of chose film out here after the fact. But yeah, Denver has a pretty good stand up scene.

[Lyle]

Yeah. Are you, are you planning to hang out in Denver? Are you gonna try to go to like la? Are you gonna go back to Virginia? Are you just kind of gonna go wherever you can find a job? Job?

[Pierce]

Yeah. See that's another thing. This is why I like the whole graduating cost, it's like freaking me out because I got nothing planned out. You know, I'm trying to think like I can if, if like I am uploading these YouTube videos and I have my like group of friends out here who help me out. I'd stay here and keep doing that and work a job.

[Lyle]

Do you, do you. Yeah. Your friends, do you have friends out there in Denver?

[Pierce]

Yeah, I got lots of good friends out here.

[Lyle]

And, and do you make videos with them? Yeah, you know, I have a lot, I have a lot of thoughts about your situation, actually. I have a lot of thoughts.

[Pierce]

I'd love to hear them.

[Lyle]

What I would say is that first of all the fact that you're like a young guy and you have Friends that want to make videos with you. I plea. Please understand, please, please understand this, that having a following is great and all, but having a, being like a young guy and having a group of like other young folks and you're together making videos and you're having fun, whatever you do through your attempts at trying to be viral and trying to have a following, still, you know, there's a lot of like, you know, we could sit here and do business class and I could say things like, you know, you have to kind of make content in the context of short, short form video. And the way that they kind of teach you to make stuff in film school is completely antithetical to how things work in the real world. And those are all things you should be thinking about and whatever. And you should still be striving to have a following. But, but just please, the fact that you've got a good group of friends, you guys are making videos together and you're talking about jokes and you're laughing and maybe you get into the stand up scene in Denver or the sketch scene in Denver and, and you, you work your fucking whatever thing you need to do to make money during the day and you're hanging out with your friends, making stuff at night. Revel in how much fucking fun that is. You know, don't be too, don't be too, like, if you get, don't be too hung up on, like, oh, I got to get out of my day job. Like, you know, if you got to fucking go wait tables or be a barista or whatever and live in a thing with like five other dudes, you know, just, at least for right now, just, just revel in how fucking fun that is. Like you, you just are in such a position to just have so much fun, you know, regardless of, of how many people like are seeing the shit. And it's still, it's good to I think, be ambitious and to be like, okay, that didn't work. Maybe we try it like this and maybe you scroll on TikTok one night and you're like, oh, this person's doing it like that. Maybe I'll try something like that, like just if anything. But, but the thing I want you to know is like, revel in the joy of the process of where your life is at right now. Because from where I sit, your life seems really cool and fun, you know, to have again, to confidence, have a group of friends that want to make this videos with you and to be in a place like Denver where it's like, you know, it's not as cutthroat and fucking like, you know, brutally expensive and vast and expansive as, you know, in LA or a New York or whatever, but there's still so many. I don't know exactly what the comedy scene is like there. Shout out. What is it? The comedy.

[Pierce]

Comedy work.

[Lyle]

Shout out. Comedy work. I fucking love the comedy works. Dear God, the comics.

[Pierce]

I'm actually going there tonight.

[Lyle]

Oh, who you seeing?

[Pierce]

Josh Wolf.

[Lyle]

Oh, cool, cool. Shout out the Comedy Works. That's one of my favorite comedy clubs in the country. It's a great place. But like, dude, go do the open mic at the Comedy Works. Go explore the old scene, go start a sketch show at some bar. Go do. Write your five minutes and get into the thing and your friends go with you. Like, I, I don't know, just. Dude, like, you know, here's the thing, being having a following and like, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's good. It's, it's, it's a good thing to strive for, but just the. Where you are right now is just so fun and you should just like, enjoy the fun of it and enjoy the process of it. Because here's the thing, if you're not enjoying the process of it, right, it's like, it's not going to change suddenly once you have 24,000 TikTok followers or whatever the fuck. So I don't know, I'm excited about your life. I think it's, you know, if that, if that's helpful, if that makes you feel better in any way, shape or form, you know, I think you're entering actually a very fun and exciting time, you know, where you're in a community and you're in this thing with your friends. I think it's cool. So those. That's. That's my. I don't know if that's advice. That's just my, that's my perspective on your situation.

[Pierce]

No, that's. I mean, that's really just because, you know, if I, if I spend my time going after the following. Because that's just kind of a byproduct of, like you said, just spending time with your friend, you know, doing. Doing like something you love so much. And I'm just like, recently, I'm just so strung tight, you know, really anxious about everything going on when I could just really kind of enjoy what I'm doing because I didn't really think about it, like you said, because even if I have to wait tables or whatever, I get to like, you know, 22 I'm young. I get to go out there and do all that stuff, and it's just. Yeah, it's just figuring that out without, like. I don't know, it's the anxiety of it all just kind of gets to me. And it kind of. Kind of. It can take away from that a lot.

[Lyle]

Is the anxiety. Is the anxiety about. I mean, I know it's about a lot of things, but, like, if you had to pick it apart, you know, what's it about?

[Pierce]

Yeah, I mean, definitely recently it's been, what the hell am I doing after college? Because, I mean, there's just. God, there's just so much I've been going back and forth on.

[Lyle]

Yeah, go ahead. What are the options?

[Pierce]

Yeah, I mean, right now, I mean, I. I'm graduating with just a film degree, and I know how you feel about film degrees. And I. I'm like. I'm trying to figure out if I go back to school and get a second degree for a second.

[Lyle]

Oh, like, oh, I get a second degree for what? Right.

[Pierce]

Well, I was thinking, like, going back to marketing, and then I could do something with, like, commercials or production. Commercial stuff like that. But then, like, exactly. For what? And then it's just kind of like, is it a split focus thing if I go back and get a second degree? Or should I just, like, graduate with my film degree and run with it, you know?

[Lyle]

Yeah. I mean, are you. Are you. No shame in it, by the way, but are your parents helping you out or would you go into more debt?

[Pierce]

No, my parents are helping me out.

[Lyle]

All right. All right. I mean, another. I don't. I know. I'm not. I'm personally not a fan of, like, getting another degree, especially if it's like. If you want to go. I mean, look, like, what are you thinking? Like, you're gonna go, like, be a PA or something.

[Pierce]

Oh, goodness. So, I mean, I've talked to people in the industry, and because I like directing and writing my sketches, and then they're always like, if. If you go in and be a pa, you're gonna be stuck in the kind of the crew side of things. So, like, they're saying, go work at an agency was their suggestion.

[Lyle]

What kind of interesting.

[Pierce]

Like an acting agency.

[Lyle]

Oh, okay. It's not a horrible idea. Yeah.

[Pierce]

Because they're like, the only thing you need is those, like, grassroots connections. So you go work at one of those. She was like, don't go to grad school. Go work here. That's. You'll learn everything you need to know.

[Lyle]

I Don't. I also don't. I also don't love the idea of a second degree.

[Pierce]

Yeah. Why do you say that? I'm curious.

[Lyle]

Well. Cause, like, what do you. What do you. I guess I just don't. I. Nothing you've said that you aspire to do requires. If you told me that you wanted to do biology research, I'd be like, yeah, you need a second degree. Or if you told me you wanted to be a lawyer, I'd be like, yeah, you need a second degree. But it being like you've said nothing where. Where that makes me feel like you need to go get a second degree.

[Pierce]

Yeah. I think I'm almost like, preemptively planning my failure, if that makes sense.

[Lyle]

Oh, sure.

[Pierce]

I'm kind of like making a fallback plan. I was even thinking of going back again, like. Like a teacher certificate, so I could do that while I'm like, yeah, but you could.

[Lyle]

You could always do that later, you know?

[Pierce]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

I don't know if I'm. Again, if I'm. If I'm you, I'm like, okay, I'll do whatever thing to make money. And if it's film adjacent, then great. PA Work sucks ass, though. And it's not gonna. If you. Because if you're. If you're a pa, then you're gonna be like, by the way, just for the listeners. I know that this conversation might be alienating to 99% of people, but rarely do I feel it's. It's so funny because sometimes people will ask me for advice on stuff and I'll be like, I don't know what the fuck to say. But this being 22 and graduating from film school, I'm like this. I feel actually genuinely very primed to give advice about this. So I'm. That's why this conversation has lasted so long. But anyway, you know, yeah, PA Work would suck because you don't want to be in some job that's like. You don't want to be in some job that's like 80 hours a week. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, do some. That's like. If it's industry adjacent, then great, but if it's just some 9 to 5 marketing job in Denver and like, at night you can go out and do stand up and make sketches with your friends, like, so I can. I think that you can have a fun, cool life. You can have a fun, cool early 20s doing that. I really do think that's. It's. It's fun to. I don't know. Again, I don't know exactly what's going on in the Denver scene, but I. There's something going on. And, you know, you can build locally by, again, having sketch showcases, and if you have a bunch of friends there, that's great. I mean, you know, by the way, like, when you're. When you're saying, like, because you said to me, you were like, oh, I really got something, you know what I mean? The potential of being able to make a living or the. The fleshing out of the thing that you feel like you've got is not going to happen in your day job. It's gonna happen on the Internet, and it's gonna happen when you're hanging out with your friends, talking about comedy and making jokes and doing things in the physical Denver scene. So I don't. I really just wouldn't stress out about your day job that. That much, you know, I mean, I wouldn't stress out about any of this stuff that much because, again, I would just be reveling in the fun of it because it is such a. It is a joyous thing, I think, to be a part. To have a community of friends and people who you can work on this kind of stuff with. So that's. What. That's. That's okay. That's. The baseline I would go at this from, is like, I am having fun making stuff with my friends, and I'm making enough money that I can live on my own without my parents help. And then on top of that. And then on top of that, you can go like, what's best for the algorithm or, you know, whatever the. But so that's. That's. That's all I really have to say.

[Pierce]

Yeah, no, I mean, yeah, that makes perfect sense. And right now I'm trying to figure out how to just relax a little bit, you know?

[Lyle]

Yeah. Try Xanax.

[Pierce]

Yeah, that should go well.

[Lyle]

But, yeah, you.

[Pierce]

You inspired. Partly. I think you subconsciously inspired. The sketch I just uploaded, it's a guy in a frog costume. It looks a lot like the gecko costume. The magic frogman.

[Lyle]

The magic frogman. I love it.

[Pierce]

The magic frogman.

[Lyle]

I love it. I love it. I feel. I feel like a magic frogman every day. That's not even remote.

[Pierce]

Really are.

[Lyle]

What's your name again? Pierce.

[Pierce]

Yeah, Pierce.

[Lyle]

Pierce. Great talking to you, Pierce. I'm. Again, if it makes. I hope it makes you feel better. I hope it makes you feel better that I'm sitting here and I'm like, oh, this guy sounds like he's in for a Fun adventure.

[Pierce]

Yeah, totally. I mean, it also makes me feel better seeing someone as, like, creative as you making it, you know? That always helps.

[Lyle]

Well, thanks, man. I appreciate your kind words. Is there anything else you want to say to the people at the computer before we go?

[Pierce]

Yeah, would you be cool with me shouting out my YouTube channel?

[Lyle]

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

[Pierce]

Yeah, It's Dumpster Champagne. One word.

[Lyle]

Let me. I'm gonna audit you. Hold on. Dumpster Champagne. Yeah. Dumpster Champagne. How the. Do you spell champagne? Hold on.

[Pierce]

I know, right? C, H, A, P, A.

[Lyle]

How the. Hold on. Dump. Dumpster. Oh, camp. Oh, I. Dumpster. Say, how do you spell this again?

[Pierce]

C H, A, M, P. Oh, my God. Wait. Yeah, wait.

[Lyle]

Oh, yeah, I got it.

[Pierce]

I got it.

[Lyle]

I got it.

[Pierce]

I got it.

[Lyle]

Okay. The Magic Frogman. Okay, here you go. This is you. You look. Why did. What. Is this a. Is this a mug shot? What the. No.

[Pierce]

Okay, so funny. Funny story. I was trying to get into. There's, like, a school trip to India, and I had to get a visa, but I didn't have, like, a passport photo, so I showed up, like. Like, 10 minutes late to my passport photo picture. They made me put on, like, the purple shirt, and they took that picture, and I wasn't allowed into India, actually. They wouldn't let me in.

[Lyle]

Oh, shit. Do you have to wait? Do you. Wait, wait. Did you show up at the airport and they sent you back?

[Pierce]

No, I was trying to apply for a visa. I literally went to the embassy in D.C. and they denied me, like, four times.

[Lyle]

Well, they don't want. Fuck them. Fuck them all. I don't just. I'd. Never mind. All right, man. Have a good rest of the night, Pierce.

[Pierce]

All right. I love you, Lyle.

[Lyle]

Bye.

[Pierce]

Bye.

[Lyle]

Take care, man. You know, like I said, I know I alienated a lot of. I know that was a. I know that was an inside baseball kind of a call, but, you know, again, it's like. That's a bit of the perspective I think I've gained over the years of doing this and. Because I spent some time in, like, a local comedy scene when I was in college and whatnot is like, yeah, it's just fun. Like, I think you forget that you. You always. If. When you're, like, doing things and you're kind of trying to make a living doing it or trying to make a name for yourself or a following or whatever, you kind of forget that, like, oh, this is supposed to be fun, you know, but good luck, Pierce.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Lyle]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

And just in time for tax season. On this week's episode, we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.

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[Lyle]

So can't blame them.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

[Amy Brown]

Hey, it's Amy Brown from the Bobby Bones Show. Join me in supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for a chance to win a trip to meet Megan Maroney at the 2025 I Heart Country Festival in Austin, Texas on May 3, hosted by Bobby Bones. We're going to hook you up with tickets, flights, hotel, food credits and a meet and greet with Megan Maroney. Take action now to support St. Jude and help cure childhood cancer and you're going to be entered for a chance to win. Visit iheartcountrytrip.com to learn more.

[Moaz]

Oh my God. Surreal.

[Lyle]

Hey, hey, hey. What's what's up? What's your name?

[Moaz]

My name is a little bit hard to pronounce, but I hope you try your best. It's Moaz.

[Lyle]

Moaz. Moaz. What's up? Where are you calling from?

[Moaz]

I'm from Germany actually. Well, I was born and raised in Syria, but I've been living here for the good part of nine months, so. Nine months, nine years, I meant. Sorry. So. Yeah. Yeah.

[Lyle]

Okay. So from Syria, been living in Germany for nine years.

[Moaz]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Lyle]

Cool, man. What's, what's, what's happening with you?

[Moaz]

Well, I'm going to be completely real with you. It's around 11pm right now and I was feeling incredibly lonely and a little bit depressed and I got a notification that your stream started and yeah, I've been listening to your show for the past few years now. Three years, I guess, since the pandemic.

[Lyle]

Cool.

[Moaz]

Actually, yeah, the pandemic is now five years ago. But yeah, a long time listener, first time caller, definitely a big fan of the show, man.

[Lyle]

Thank you, sir. Great to hear from you. What's. As your. Yeah, I'm familiar with 11pm loneliness, depression, for sure. What's. I mean, well, it's, you know, what's funny is I've been thinking a lot like I was about to ask what was on your mind and then I was kind of like, you know, what's funny is I'm really, I've talked about this on the podcast before probably recently, but like I'm really torn between like it is the cure for depression or whatever. Is it like talking through your problems or is it distracting yourself from your problems? And you know, I don't know, I haven't come to a internal consensus on that. But. Well, let me ask you, are you feeling, are you feeling a talk through or a distraction?

[Moaz]

I'm actually more on Team distraction. So to be honest with you, because, you know, in the last few years whenever I listen to your podcast, kind of an afterthought that I have is what would I want to talk to you about whenever I eventually make it. And so what I always thought about was telling you about, you know, the last nine years of my life and what I've done with them since I've came to Germany. If you would be interested in hearing that, I would be more, you know, than glad to tell you all about it.

[Lyle]

Here. Here. Hit me.

[Moaz]

So like I said, I was born and raised in Syria and I and we came around here 2016 with my family. So we're war refugees basically. And since then a lot has happened. I mean, I was 17 years old at the time. I didn't speak any German or anything like that. But my parents were the typical immigrant parents. So, you know, they wanted us to succeed as fast as we could and as hard as we could sort of say. And so I went directly to a high school at the time and managed to get my diploma within the normal range. Three years. And after that, there were way too many options open for me, so to say. And for the longest time, actually, I was really interested in video games. You know, playing video games and how they're made and all that. And so I was definitely interested in studying, you know, game development. However, in Germany and I guess all over the world, most likely that is not something offered in public universities or public colleges, community colleges, as they call them in the US I guess. And so it was a privilege that I didn't have at the time. And so I decided to study computer science instead. And just last year I managed to finish my bachelor's degree. And yeah, I have to say, man, it's been an insane journey. A lot has happened. Last year in particular has been, you know, an incredible milestone. I managed to finally get my German citizenship. I landed my very first, you know, big corporate job, like I said, graduated uni and everything. And I guess this year is starting off a little bit slower because there's not much going on anymore and there's no goal to chase, if you know what I mean. And so I guess all this emptiness is kind of coming from that. Like, ever since we came to this kind of new country, there's always been something to chase and something to run after. But this year in particular, there's not been anything to motivate me to, you know, do more or, like, there's no new milestone to catch up to. Does that make sense?

[Lyle]

It makes 8,000% sense. But why, and forgive me if you explained this already, but why is it that this year specifically, there's nothing to go after?

[Moaz]

Well, you know, ever since we were here, I had either school or college, and there was always something for me to work towards, whether that's, you know, finishing school or finishing college. But ever since I landed my job, I basically tried to live for the weekend. And whenever I am at the weekend, there's kind of this dread of, oh, the week is about to start again and I'm losing time and I'm not doing enough and all of that. Even though, please don't get me wrong, I love my job. My job is, you know, everything that I've ever dreamed of and more, but it's still, you know, 40 hours a week. You still spend more time at work than with your friends or family. And so I feel like life is passing me by a little bit, I guess. Yeah, I don't know, some as like, in that in that realm, more or less. We're around the same age. By the way, I think I'm like, I don't think I'm 26. I think you're 27. I'm not sure.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Moaz]

Yeah, but, yeah.

[Lyle]

Well, so you say that life is passing you by and that you don't have any like, things to go after. And by the way, I'm having like a similar thing. Not to push it back to me, but like, you know, I'm having a bit of a similar thing going on. I'm curious, when you say that, like, don't you get to kind of decide for yourself if you have any things you want to push towards? And, and in that sense, like, do you not have any other goals or any other like things that you want to do?

[Moaz]

That's a good question. I mean, I tried to think about that around Christmas time, kind of setting my New Year's resolutions or goals for the coming year. And I was only able to think of really long term stuff like, for example, I'm single at the time being. And so I was trying to maybe get back into the dating world or maybe try out new hobbies and all of that. And then I was thinking about stuff even more long term, like eventually buying a house or some sort of property. But that's not something, you know, realistic in the next few years. But I have to some extent tried to stick to those goals, you know, trying out new stuff, new hobbies. For example, Magic the Gathering. Actually, even though I'm not that big of a, of a card game guy, I want. I went to a local tournament recently and it was, it was pretty fun. Even though a little bit scary and a little bit intimidating. But. Yeah, but you know, like you said, at the end of the day, it's like 11pm I'm sitting here and talking to a guy with a, in a gecko suit on the Internet.

[Lyle]

That's true. Yeah, it's true. It's true. You know. Yeah, I've been thinking about this for myself a lot of like, how do I. Because I have a weird obsession with like, I, you know, I kind of snapped recently and was thinking about the, how short life is and like, I want to be doing something every day to make it so. So that my, I was like, how am I gonna make it so that at 27, like when I'm 30, like my life feels like it's progressing forward, you know, and then like, what does that look like? Does that look like some radical action or does that look like doing some Shit for an hour a day, you know, and so, I don't know, I guess it's like, yeah, these long term goals, it's like, how do you break them up into like some shit that you can do every day or every week or, you know, like, how do you make shit manageable, right? And like, what do you want yourself to look like in, you know, X amount of years? You know, do you want to learn French or whatever the fuck? And like. Yeah, how do you.

[Moaz]

Oh, God, no.

[Lyle]

Yeah, like, how do you, how do you progress? How do you move life forward? It's an interesting question. It's a conundrum. I'm dealing with myself and I don't. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just trying to like fucking pick something and do it and keep it going.

[Moaz]

No, you don't have to worry about that. I mean, I guess it's. It's at least comforting to know we're all in the same boat.

[Lyle]

No, yeah, of course you can't. Yeah, you can never get out of it. You can never escape. I thought I could rest on my laurels for a little bit because that's what happened. As I was like, okay, I was. I did this successful thing and I can just rest on that. And there's a lot, there is a lot. I'm not. I would be lying if I said there was zero comfort in that. But I also, I also. I was talking to my friend the other day. No, I was talking to my friend last night and I was like, man, I don't want to be like, you know, 38 years old, 10 years from now and being like, you know, I used to be the therapy gecko, you know what I mean? I gotta like, keep figuring out shit to do, you know, you, life never, it never lets up. I mean, even, even.

[Moaz]

Like a 40 year old gecko. A 40 year old gecko is pretty funny, I have to admit.

[Lyle]

Yeah. I mean, who, who knows? But I mean, even like our caller from earlier, Janet, I mean, she's 60 and she's was. We were talking and she was like, yeah, I have plans and I have ideas and I have, you know, things I want to do. And it's like, you know, it never ends. But that's like, that's good, right? Because once you, you don't want to be done, that's when you're just going to wither if that happens. I don't know if anything I've been saying is relevant to any, to what you were talking about, but.

[Moaz]

No, no, man, I totally get what you mean. This actually kind of reminds me of, you know, the. The Sisyphus meme, the guy that's pushing the rock up the hill.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Moaz]

I guess we're all kind of in that motion and you have to. You have to imagine Sisyphus enjoying his. His. His journey. You know, it's not about the. The goal. It's about enjoying every day, enjoying pushing up that boulder.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Moaz]

You know.

[Lyle]

Yeah. It's a way. It's a weird balancing act. Right. Because you want to just enjoy fucking life as it is. You want to be able to go see a movie without hating yourself, but you also wanna, you know, keep moving things forward. And everyone's brain is wired so differently. Like, some people just genuinely don't. Some people genuinely are very happy to just, like, not do anything, and that's great. And other people are wired in this weird way where they're like, I have, you know, I have to do shit or else I will go insane. There's probably something to be said about understanding your own wiring and making plays towards it. Man, it's so fun. It's so funny how I think about these things when I'm, like, talking about them to other people on my podcast versus when I am alone and depressed at 11pm on Reddit looking for answers of some kind. You know, I'm trying to watch less.

[Moaz]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

Motivational content. You know, I'm like, I. I found myself recently looking. I'm like, looking for answers whether it's like, on the Internet or from other people, whatever. And part of me throws up my fucking hands after. I like, after. Because stupid Instagram, right? You look at one motivational thing and then it's. And then all of a sudden, now, like, that's everything. You know that it just keeps showing you and showing you. And I'm. I'm like the ant. I'm like, this tweet is not gonna have the answer. You know, I. The answer is, first of all, there might just not be an answer. A. And you have to accept that. And then second of all, the answer is gonna be within my own stupid balls. So I gotta look there and not on Reddit, I guess.

[Moaz]

Well, you. Well, you let me know if you find something in there.

[Lyle]

I will let you know if I find something that's helpful in my balls for you.

[Moaz]

Well, I actually wanted to say when you were on your. On your Instagram thing, I love the Hope core videos on TikTok, you know, the slideshows. Those always did for me. Sometimes they're stupid sometimes they're just full of dark soul memes. But, you know, they. They hit the spot most of the time.

[Lyle]

Yeah, I know. I like those too. I like those too. I think I'm just, I'm at a point now where I'm just fed up with like, you know, at what point do I am. I like, you know, I trust myself enough that I don't need it. But maybe that's not true. Maybe that's bad, actually. Maybe it's good to be constantly trying to learn from other people and other things and, you know, I mean, that's one of the fun things about doing this podcast is I'm constantly getting to like, learn from other people and then I get to share that with other people too. So, as you know, it's cool. Yeah, let me think.

[Moaz]

As a watcher and a listener for a long time. Sorry.

[Pierce]

No, sorry.

[Moaz]

You go ahead.

[Lyle]

I was gonna say anything.

[Pierce]

Okay.

[Moaz]

I was gonna say. I was gonna say that as a long time listener, you know, for the past few years, it's actually also very clear that about. Actually very clear how much you're learning about yourself in the, in the whole process. You seem to, you know, kind of more and more share stuff about yourself, and it's kind of, you know, it makes the whole thing a little bit more authentic. You know, I know you're. This is all an entertainment thing or whatever, but it still, you know, gives off a vibe of authenticity, which I think most listeners connect very well to. And I think that's a part of why the show is so successful, whether it's, you know, the live shows or the streams or the podcast itself. So, you know, kudos to that. Hats off.

[Lyle]

Thank you, man. Thanks, man. I was gonna ask you, where in, where in Germany are you?

[Moaz]

Oh, I am in Lower Saxony. I wouldn't want to, you know, say the exact city, but I'm in Lower Saxony. Actually. I bought tickets to see both of your shows in Amsterdam and Berlin last year, and I was sick for both. You better come around next year again or I don't know what I would do.

[Lyle]

Yeah, I'll try. I'll try to come around. I'll try to come around.

[Moaz]

Okay.

[Lyle]

Yeah, if I once I. I gotta, I gotta kind of build up some new act or some ship. I'll try to come around. I always have a good time in Amsterdam and Berlin. Beautiful places. Beautiful places, huh? What's your name again? I know you said it's hard to pronounce.

[Moaz]

Yeah, it's. It's Moaz. But no worries. People call me Mo also, so that will be fine.

[Lyle]

Moaz. Moaz, it's been lovely talking to you. It's been lovely talking to you, man. Is there anything else that you want to share with the people of the computer before we skedaddle on out of here?

[Moaz]

Keep grinding, keep hoping and take care of your pets. And I really hope I end up on the podcast.

[Lyle]

Oh yeah, this will be. This will be. This will be in the podcast. This will be in the podcast.

[Moaz]

Oh great.

[Lyle]

Mo. Take care. Have a good one, man.

[Moaz]

You too, man.

[Lyle]

Bye bye, bye bye. I liked that guy. That was a lovely, lovely guy.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's Stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for store wide deals and earn four times the points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible cleaning items from ALL and Cotton now and dinner essentials from Daisy, Skippy, Hellman's and Barilla plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event long savings. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Lyle]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hi, I'm Matt.

[Lyle]

And I'm Leah and we're from the Grown Up Stuff Podcast.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And just in time for tax season. On this week's episode, we're chatting with CPA Lisa Green Lewis about how small businesses can tackle their taxes using TurboTax Business.

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A Forbes study mentioned that a whopping 93% of small businesses overpay their taxes and 17% of Gen Zers believed that you could write off any expense as a business expense.

[Lyle]

So can't blame them.

[Lenovo Ad]

It's really important to do your taxes right.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Listen to Grown up stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

[Amy Brown]

Hey, it's Amy Brown from the Bobby Bones Show. Join me in supporting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for a chance to win a trip to meet Megan Maroney at the 2025 I Heart Country Festival in Austin, Texas on May 3, hosted by Bobby Bones. Going to hook you up with tickets, flights, hotel, food credits, and a meet and greet with Megan Maroney. Take action now to support St. Jude and help cure childhood cancer. And you're going to be entered for a chance to win. Visit iheartcountrytrip.com to learn more.

[Miranda]

Hello.

[Lyle]

Hi. What's your name?

[Miranda]

Miranda.

[Lyle]

Miranda, what's up, Miranda, right now walking.

[Miranda]

On some railroad tracks.

[Lyle]

Okay. That you're. You make. Are you doing like a. Like a Tumblr thing?

[Miranda]

I guess it could be, but no, not really, I guess. You know, Ashley, this is crazy. We start. I started. I took like a shroom gummy thing like about three hours ago and then walked to a science museum for kids, went in there, and now I'm walking back on railroad tracks.

[Lyle]

Are you tripping?

[Miranda]

I was more, but not. Not too much. Now I kind of just feel like silly.

[Lyle]

You kind of just feel like silly? That's good. That's good.

[Miranda]

Yeah.

[Lyle]

So you're on that you're in like a come down a little bit.

[Miranda]

Yeah, but not in a bad way. I've had, like, bad comedowns. This one's kind of just like it's freezing cold out and I want to not be outside anymore, but it's like tolerable because it's just silly.

[Lyle]

Well, let me. I mean, it's. What? What is it? It's ok. It's completely okay if. If not anything. But. Did you have something particular you wanted to talk about today?

[Miranda]

Dude, not really. I was just calling and calling and calling.

[Lyle]

What is it that. Well, let's do this. What's your life like, Miranda? What's going on in your. In your universe?

[Miranda]

I don't really know. I go to work, and I also don't go to work sometimes. And I like to ski sometimes. And I like to go outside sometimes.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Miranda]

But also I like to go inside.

[Lyle]

Yeah.

[Pierce]

Yeah.

[Miranda]

But where are you?

[Lyle]

Are you. Where are you? Are you like walking through snow and we're hearing a lot of snow crunches?

[Miranda]

Yeah, that's. That's the. That's the snow. Yep.

[Lyle]

Nice.

[Miranda]

It's like it was. It was. I don't know where you are. You felt this, but it was like 50 degrees for like a couple of days. And it was just a nice sneak peek to spring and summer. And so I've been thinking, like, I need to go outside. Like, it's not as cold anymore. And then right now it's not working out for me. There's no more sneak peek.

[Lyle]

Well, what's your plan for the rest of the day now that you've already done so much?

[Miranda]

Well, my boyfriend's, like, walking so far behind me. I keep turning around and thinking, oh, okay, cool.

[Lyle]

I just. This is cool. I thought you were alone, which would be fine, but it's nice to have someone with you.

[Miranda]

No, I'm pretty much alone. He's like, 25ft behind me. But I don't know. Today's like, a weird day because I haven't remembered. It's kind of nice, but I feel like regularly I'm, like, super stressed out about absolutely everything. But today's a nice day to forget about life and just walk.

[Lyle]

Okay. I won't. I won't ask you what's stressing you out. We can just walk. How's your boyfriend doing?

[Miranda]

Yeah, he's good. I think he looks good. He looks healthy. He's. I think he's also. He was never tripping his head as, like. I actually, in the beginning of this, we, like, parked at a trailhead. Like, we were walking on snow, like, the whole time. We parked at a trailhead, and there was, like, a severed deer leg just, like, hanging out there. No body, just, like, the leg. And I had, like, just started feeling it, and so I was like, what the. Like, what is going on? And then we started walking on the trail, and I looked back, and my boyfriend had, like, picked up the leg, and he was, like, chasing me with it.

[Lyle]

Oh, God. He picked up the severed deer leg.

[Miranda]

Dude. Yeah. I was like, put that down.

[Lyle]

What a psychopath.

[Miranda]

It was kind of like, I don't know. It must have been there. I don't know how long it was there for, but it was, like, dry. It wasn't, like, bloody. It was like. It was like bone.

[Lyle]

Does he still have it? Is he. Well, it's funny because, I mean, I know what it's like to be walking around and pick up a stick. Right. And be like, oh, I'm cool, now I have a stick. But I don't know if I'd do that with a deer leg.

[Miranda]

Yeah, no, no, I wasn't. Dude. I was surprised that it was in his hand. That's actually insane. And it was freaking me out, so I started running. But it's like, dude, I don't know. You never see just, like, a severed animal leg hanging around.

[Lyle]

You don't. And that's probably a good thing.

[Miranda]

Yeah, but it's like. Yeah, because you never see how the world really works outside of society. Like, you just, like, having to kill for Your food.

[Lyle]

You never see how the world really works outside of society. Yeah, it sounds like this. This deer leg really gave you, made you do some kind of existence. Existential questioning.

[Miranda]

Yeah, dude, I've never had to kill for my food, you know.

[Lyle]

No, no, you just make other people do it for you. It's the great American way. I mean, it's a life way, but.

[Miranda]

People think about it, and they become vegetarian.

[Lyle]

Miranda, is there anything else you want to say to the people at computer before we go.

[Miranda]

Go on a walk more. Go on more walks.

[Lyle]

I like that. I'll sign off on that.

[Miranda]

All right.

[Lyle]

All right, take care.

[Miranda]

Have a good day. Yeah, you too. Bye.

[Lyle]

Walking is good. I will sign off on that. Do I have anything else to say about walking? It makes sense. It's. That's probably my favorite thing to do, is to walk around. Okay. That's all I have to say about walking. This has been a lovely episode. This has been really fun. Thank you guys all for listening. I am a gecko. And. Yeah, I know. I know the past couple episodes have been me going insane slowly. But it's such a weird thing with this podcast, man. Like, I'll have. And this has been going on since it started, and maybe this perspective is helpful to people. Maybe they can apply it to something going on in their own life. But it's. It's so weird because I'll have, like. And again, this has been going on all five years that I've been doing this show is. I'll have, like, a month where I'm recording this thing, and I'm just like, I fucking. This is beyond me. And I can't. I'm. I like this feeling of, like. I don't know if I can be the. Like, if I can, like, show up to this. You know what I mean? And then I'll have a month where I'm like, wow, this is so awesome. I'm so stoked to get to talk to all these people and to have these, like. It'll just like. Like, I'll be in my brain thinking, like, okay, well, that's. This is all. That's all over. And, you know, now it's. This is just. You know, it's just gonna be despair forever. And then I'll have a month where I'm like, wait, actually, we're back. Things are good. Life is real world. The world continues, you know. And today, recording the podcast today was definitely one of those times where I'm like, wait, this is actually pretty awesome. So thank you guys for listening. Thanks everyone for calling and I am excited to continue to be a gecko and talk to people about life and stuff. Thank you very much and oh once again please in on Friday, March 14 Friday, March 14 I am doing an art exhibition in Bushwick, Brooklyn on March 14th from 7pm to 10pm and it's free. And the closer we I don't. I don't actually know why I decided to do this. I was looking at my phone and I was like why the am I doing this and that? But you know what? Why the fuck does anyone do anything? Come see my trash. The exhibition. The exhibition is called Lyle Forever Presents Trash from Around My Room. You can find the link in the episode description and you can put your phone number in there and I'll text you more details about it. And also if I'm doing anything else, it's in Brooklyn, New York. Come hang. Yeah, check the episode description for the link to that. Alright. Thank you all very much for listening. Geck. Bless. See you around the universe. See ya. See you in a few days when I drop another episode of the podcast. As always. Okay, thanks. How to live your life but he's not really an expert.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. It's stock up savings time now through March 25th. Spring in for store wide deals and earn four times the point. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible beverage items like Red Bull and sparkling ice, or breakfast favorites like Kellogg's Pop Tarts, Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Kellogg's Eggo Waffles plus many more. Then clip the offer in our app for automatic event. Stack up those rewards to save even more restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

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[Lyle]

Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most.

[Amy Brown]

Difficult life skill to teach.

[Lyle]

Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families With Greenlight, you can.

[Janet]

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[Lyle]

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[Janet]

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[Lyle]

Learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] iheart CBS.

[Lenovo Ad]

Monday, February 24, introducing the new daytime drama beyond the Gates. Welcome to Fairmont Crest Estates, where the wealthy and glamorous Dupre family rules the community with poise and sophistication. That is, until a cheating husband and his trophy wife start stirring up trouble. Find out what happens beyond these majestic gates and behind closed doors where scandal, romance, betrayal, passion, secrets and revenge await. CBS Daytime is about to get soapier. The new daytime drama beyond The Gates premieres CBs Monday, February 24th and streaming on Paramount.

[Lyle]

Plus.